Shridath Ramphal

Sir Shridath Surendranath " Sonny " Ramphal, GCMG, AC, ONZ, QC ( born October 3, 1928 in New Amsterdam, Guyana ) is a politician from Guyana and former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Life

After schooling at Queen's College in Georgetown, he studied at King's College London and then law at the Law School of Harvard University. He subsequently worked after his admission to the Bar in 1953. After that, he was 1954-1956 Assistant to the First Kronanwalts and then took a position as legal advisor (Legal Draftsman ) for the legislative process and received as such in 1958 was promoted to Senior Legal Adviser ( First Legal Draftsman ) of the West Indies. Subsequently, he was Solicitor General from 1959 to 1961 and then assistant of the First Kronanwalts the West Indies. In 1965 he was elected a deputy of the National Assembly of Guyana, to which he belonged until 1975. In addition, he was from 1965 to 1973 eventually even the first Attorney-General.

After the sovereignty of Guyana from Britain on 26 May 1966 he was Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry. Ramphal was beaten for his services in 1970 Ritter ( Knight). 1972 he was appointed foreign minister in the government of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham.

In 1975 he was elected to succeed Arnold Smith as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations. This post he held for his re- election in 1980 and 1985 until its replacement by Emeka Anyaoku until 1990.

Subsequently, he was from 1989 to 2002 Chancellor of the University of Warwick. In addition, he was until 2003 also Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and at times the University of Guyana.

Ramphal has won several awards and received, among other things, the Order of St Michael and St George, the Order of Australia, the Jamaican Order of Merit and the Order of New Zealand.