Of Princes Presidents Prime Ministers & Paupers – A Caribbean PM’s Secret 90 Bday Wish

An Unscathed Birthday Tribute To The Silver Fox

Now what secrets Presidents and Prime Ministers may share with a journalist in the warm glow of an awards ceremony?

In the cool evening air at the courtyard of the National Academy of the Performing Arts former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday walked up to commend me on receipt of the National Award for the Development of Women/Journalism, moments earlier pinned on by President Paula Mae Weekes.

Former President Anthony Carmona joined us. President Carmona, the distinguished Order of Trinidad and Tobago hanging on a ribbon down his shirt front, commented on how the former Prime Minister seemed to be looking enviously at the freshly minted gold medal.

Escaped Unscathed

Gone was the wary tensions that exist between politicians and journalists – and clearly the man who threatened ‘non shall remain unscathed’ seemed unscathed himself by the critical insights he was subject too in my weekly columns and other investigative pieces. Indeed, he was even subject to one of my legendary scathing, ‘Dear Mr Politician’ letters!

Controversy & Bacchanalia

The controversies that have surrounded the award of national medals, not to be outdone by the award of silk to legal luminary, have attracted its fair share of bacchanalia. And a professional dramatist, Panday has stirred-up a fair share himself!

Both former Prime Ministers, Panday and Patrick Manning had decline the offer of nomination from former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who had wrested the leadership and Prime Ministership from both. Panday, who often declared if you see me confronting a lion, feel afraid for the lion, had finally met his match!

The wound is a scar which the Silver Fox is still occasionally seen licking on social media, though the laughter that rang out from our corner that award evening showed no evidence of that tabanca.

Confessional Mode

Instead, the Silver Fox was in confessional mode – revealing a long held, deep-seated secret wish.

It made President Carmona and I laugh hilariously.

The former President Carmona, too, had an admonition, and confession of his own, and he had even held out hope of fulfilling Panday’s secret wish!

Now readers may think it might have something to do with returning to office, returning his daughter to office and securing the Silver Fox’s legacy and political dynasty. Be that as it may, it also could not be further from the truth of the now-nonagenarian’s deepest yearnings.

To learn of this nonagenarian’s secret wish, the reader would have to read on and wait a bit!

News Behind the News

The news behind the news is sometimes more gripping than the news itself and what lies behind this article, From the Canefields to the Twin Towers, in the wake of Basdeo Panday’s victory as Prime Minister is as poignant as they come. Here’s why.

From the Canefields to the Twin Towers

Months before she would declare a ban on Prime Minister Basdeo Panday from the front pages of the newspaper she commandeered, as she slapped the article I presented her, From the Cane Fields of the Twin Towers, onto the lead commentary spot on the editorial page, Trinidad and Tobago’s matriarch of journalism, Therese Mills declared it ‘the most objective piece of journalism’ she has read about Basdeo Panday’s election victory.

Therese had a keen eye on multicultural nuances that went beyond the racial pandering of columnists that newspapers seem to continue to cultivate with loving indulgences. That there was no love lost between Panday and her, from her days at the Trinidad Guardian, was no trade secret.

Non Aligned Nuances

Panday’s victory as the first Indo Trinidadian to win an election to become Prime Minister was greeted with similar euphoria that met the welcoming of the first woman Prime Minister in his now arch-rival Kamla Persad Bissessar and thereafter the first woman President in Paula Mae Weekes as their occupation of these offices signalled opening-up of spaces for broader communities – ethnicities and gender. Assessment and Judgement on performance would only come after.

There were many nuances – political, social, cultural, ethnic and economic – to Panday’s victory in 1995 which marked a break in the 30-year reign of the People’s National Movement, so being labelled ‘most objective,’ was no mean commendation in a political climate that labels on mere appearance. And that, given that the subject in question was hometown boy, whose name was already a household name and a legend in the district even before i was born! It was easy to lose equanimity as many others in the profession had – both during the elections and in the days that followed.

Celebrating Objective journalism

A morale-booster, it was, nevertheless as striving for objectivity is one of the pillars of journalism. It certainly grew my confidence in the opinion pieces that Therese encouraged, including the pioneering ‘Between The Lines’ satirical column. Therese had enlisted me as one of her lead journalists in the founding of Newsday, as the island’s third daily newspaper.  

My objectivity is well documented in the countless scathing commentary of regime after regime that form my journalistic repertoire, cultivated in the framework of non-alignment that was the core of the diploma in journalism I had pursued at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication through an ITEC scholarship. India was one of the leaders of the non-aligned movement. The sessions had both exposed and shaped the stance of non-attachment that seem to pervade the commentaries even through the masks of cutting satirical humour.

The home-town boy

Almost half a century separated us – Panday and I – in the elementary school, St Julien Presbyterian, we shared and the multicultural district that nurtured us.

It was not unusual when driving or walking through the district someone would point out Panday went to school there – and he wasn’t yet Prime Minister.

The Nonagenarian, Ma called him her ‘brother’ though her years, there was no family relation. She knew his mother and the women in the district, meeting for village events and ceremonies shared that sisterhood.

Founded in 1905 as the St Julien CM school, it was location about half a mile away from its current location. It was still a mile walk to and from school each day, sun or rain, for me.

It would be more than half a century before my name too would be added on the small village school’s hall of fame.

Of Princes Presidents Prime Ministers & Paupers

The article, From the Canefields to the Twin Towers, the short form biography, captures Panday’s rise to Prime Ministership through trade unionist, actor, lawyer, economist & politician, from the canefields of our home village, St Julien in New Grant, Princes Town – the town named for the grandfather of the now reigning King Charles III of the United Kingdom.

I would meet King Charles years later in Africa in an interface with civil society of the Commonwealth as I moved from conventional journalism to new media and as an educator and consultant in empowering civil society through media

A little tit-bit therein is that President Noor Hassanali, the first Caribbean Indo-Muslim President who presided as Basdeo Panday was sworn in as Prime Minister, had given Panday his career break when he, Hassanali, as a magistrate in the San Fernando Courts, employed Panday as a magistrate’s clerk.

Passing the Baton of Presidents

Justice Hassanali had succeeded the first President, Sir Ellis Clarke, whom I had, against expressed warnings, with abeer as a school girl at a national Phagwa/Holi Festival – an incident Sir Ellis remembered to the time I did the last full-ranging interview with him in his post retirement from the Presidency, when we had a hearty chuckle at the memory.

I would also have cause to interface with the two other Presidents, Arthur NR Robinson – Panday’s ally and antagonist at various times, and Profession Max Richards in various professional and other capacities as the legendary LiTTribute to the Republic with LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction, the official publication of the golden jubilee of Independence but espousing on that may lead to too much of a digression from an already long-winded Timeless Tale from a Small Island – Where Fact is Stranger Than Fiction!

Out of the Canefields

Suffice-it to say that the job as Justice Hassanali’s Magistrate’s clerk with took Panday out from what might have been a life in the canefields – to law school, trade unionism and thence to the Twin Towers as Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, as the article, From the Canefields to the Twin Towers, recounts.

Happy 90^th Birthday Mr Basdeo Panday – from the village that seeded you and the Nonagenarian ‘sister’ who would have loved to be here to celebrate with you!

And about that fervent secret wish…. you, an readers, will have to wait for the encore …

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About Dr Kris Rampersad

Dr Rampersad is a certified UNESCO Heritage and National Geographic Educator, Global Woman Tech Makers’ Ambassador, Google and Worldpulse Digital Skills Ambassador, and Island Innovators’ Ambassador.

She was awarded the Trinidad and Tobago National Medal Gold for contributions to the development of women and journalism and is recognised as a pioneer in development policy blogging for new media by the UNESCO/BBC & Partners’ Communication’s Initiative, among other accolades.

First PhD

She was the first sitting journalist/editor in the Caribbean and first in her family to complete a PhD. She holds PhD in Humanities, encompassing developmental studies of post-colonial societies with a diploma in Mass Communications from the Jawaharlal University/Indian Institute of Mass Communications. She is a Fellow of Foreign Press Centre of Japan, University of Cambridge and a Commonwealth Professional Fellow.

Tracking Migration, Displacement

Her dissertation tracks the migration, settlement, adaptation and processes of society-formation. It has since published as Finding a Place which is considered groundbreaking in international contexts of tracing identity-retrieval from distorted colonial knowledge systems. It is now being redeveloped for multimedia as are other elements of the educational research and she is inviting investments for this initiative. Contact her to discuss how you can get involved.

Dr Rampersad is also the author of the highly acclaimed LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction, a springboard for engaging all ages – she says from ages 3 to 103 in literature and cultural appreciation beyond the textbooks through live events and tours aimed at cultivating heritage appreciation and to develop Caribbean Literary & Heritage Tourism.

• Dr Kris Rampersad speak on value of migrants & Migration: Engaging the Diaspora at LiTTribute to Toronto
• Dancers at i1LiTTribute to the Americas in Florida pay tribute to Arrivals with LiTTscapes author Dr Kris Rampersad global intercultural engagements
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• Signature Heritage LiTTours and Learning Journeys customised for any age district industry or sector
• Cricket Lovely Cricket Sprts heritage in games we play resonate with various cultural influences and practices explored in LiTTscapes – Landscapes of fiction from Trinidad and Tobago
• Sir Vidia Naipaul Lion House Hanuman House in A House for Mr Biswas from LiTTscapes Landscapes of Fiction
• LiTTribute to LondonTTown inspired by LiTTscapes – Landscapes of Fiction by Dr Kris Rampersad
• Dr Kris Rampersad debuts on the steelpan at LiTTribute tot he Americas Florida A Celebration of Arrivals pays tribute to migrants contribution to musical culinary and Americas heritage
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• Heritage and Literary Tours Explorations through Global Caribbean Local Landscapes
• Dancers at i1LiTTribute to the Americas in Florida pay tribute to Arrivals with LiTTscapes author Dr Kris Rampersad global intercultural engagements

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Heritage and Literary Tours Explorations through Global Caribbean Local Landscapes

She authored Through the Political Glass Ceiling that captures the ascension to office of the First Woman Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and I the Sky & Me the Sea – The Adventures of Munnie Butterfly and Danny Dragonfly, the first of a Caribbean EcoCultural Adventure Fable Series.

Reengineering Education in the Digital Age

Now focusing in reshaping education for the digital age, she pioneered the newest creative genre, the MultiMedia MicroEpic during the Pandemic lockdown. It adapts the long form classical epic for short form new media.

Dr Rampersad has long experience in multilateral relations and served as President of the UNESCO Education Commission, as an Independent Member of the UNESCO InterGovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage. She was the first UNESCO ICH educator/facilitator for the English speaking Caribbean and was actively involved in local to international stakeholder engagement processes that significantly augmented the Caribbean presence on UNESCO Lists  – World Heritage sites for Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Reggae on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Registry, and enlisting of Port of Spain, Nassau, Kingston as UNESCO Creative Cities.

She has trained, guided, mentored and worked with many of the diverse cultural communities of the Caribbean from indigeneous peoples to the more recent migrant communities,  devising innovative user-responsive mechanisms for communicating culture-centred development for Latin America and the Caribbean, Small Islands, the Global South and the Developing World. 

Find out more at Website www.krisrampersad.com. LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @kisramp