Deceased former TT minister assisted in Guyana’s anti-dictatorial struggle

Dear Editor,
I write to pay tribute to the former Trinidad parliamentarian for 25 years and Minister of Government, Mr. Kelvin Ramnath, who died last Sunday in Trinidad. Kello, as we called him, assisted in the struggle against the Guyanese dictatorship.
During the 1980s, I communicated with Kello, Basdeo Basdeo (leader of the ULF party), Trevor Sudama, and others urging them to raise the matter of Guyana human rights abuses with the TT government to pressure the Burnham dictatorship to yield to democratic rule.
True to his commitment, Kello raised the issue in parliament as TT Hansard would reflect as well as in the media. Up until a week ago, when I was in Trinidad, I phoned Kello, Bas, Trevor and others to discuss Trinidadian and Guyanese politics.
Kello was well versed in Guyanese history and politics and had been a regular visitor to Guyana over the last three decades. He was a great admirer of the late Dr. Cheddi and Janet Jagan and always praised them for championing the independence movement and the struggle against the Burnham dictatorship.
Ramnath was a founding member of the ULF party and was first elected to parliament as the M.P for Couva South in 1976 with Panday as his leader. He was re-elected in 1981 under an alliance led by Panday and re-elected in 1986 under the NAR party led by ANR Robinson serving as Energy Minister.
After Ramnath, Panday, Sudama, and several other Indian Ministers of Government were sacked by Prime Minister Robinson in 1988, they left along with seven other MPs and founded the UNC.
Ramnath had a conflict with Panday in 1990 and was denied a ticket to contest a seat in 1991. He was replaced by Ramesh Maharaj who won Couva South in 1991,1995 and 2000. When Maharaj challenged Panday to end corruption in the UNC government in 2001, Panday sacked Maharaj, dissolved parliament and recalled Ramnath to contest against Maharaj who had formed a new party.
Although Maharaj was the best MP in the country and loved in Couva South, ethnic loyalty led to Maharaj’s defeat by Ramnath in snap elections in 2001. Ramnath won snap elections again in 2002. Ramnath and Maharaj subsequently became friends and Panday reconciled with Maharaj who would return to the UNC fold in 2007 to lead the battle against the COP which was founded by Winston Dookeran.
When Ramnath suffered coronary problems in 2007 and could not have campaigned for re-election, Maharaj campaigned for Ramnath who was hospitalized in Toronto winning the seat (in absentia) for him and also winning his own Tabaquite seat.
Ramnath, Maharaj, and Panday were all denied a seat by new UNC leader Kamla Persad Bissessar in snap elections in 2010. However, Ramnath was appointed Chairman of the Environment Authority after Kamla won the elections and became PM.
Kamla, Panday, Maharaj and other Trini MPs paid glowing tributes to him for his wittiness and sharp tongue in parliament.
Throughout his political career, Ramnath was a keen observer of Guyanese politics. He came to New York several times and met many Guyanese (including Ravi Dev, Baytoram Ramharack, Vassan Ramracha, Vishnu Bisram, etc.) who were involved in the struggle for free and fair elections.
We hosted symposiums for him to talk about Guyana. He chided the PNM and NAR governments for not doing enough to assist Guyanese in their sufferings during the dictatorships and for embracing the dictators of Guyana. Guyanese MPs, I spoke with over the last few days, recall him very well. Guyanese owe him a debt of gratitude for his contributions to our freedom struggle. He will be missed.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram