Dear Editor,
On the passing of Ms Janet Jagan, OE, former President and First Lady of Guyana, I take this opportunity to express on behalf of my family sincere condolences to her children, grandchildren and other relatives.
As we travel along the corridor of life we experience so many incidents and events which create lasting impressions and guide our conduct. Our late President has been the beneficiary of varied and various lessons that enriched her life which she lived beautifully, to the end. I remember witnessing at first hand her courage and her determination, and despite the circumstances and environment in which she found herself in 1954 after the suspension of the constitution in 1953, her grace and charm.
I was clerk to magistrate Mr Harold Brodie Smith Bollers at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court when Mrs Jagan appeared under police escort, charged with being in the unlawful possession of a police manual. It was the allegation of the Crown (we were a British Colony then) that such a manual was restricted to the possession of and use by certain police officers, and it was illegal for such a document to be in the possession of private citizens. Her defence, led by Mr Forbes Burnham, was that the manual was planted in her home by the police when they invaded her residence ostensibly looking for banned literature. The magistrate did not believe the defence and convicted her as charged. The prosecution was headed by Sgt Carl B Austin (later Commissioner of Police).
The trial was for me a learning experience and the wit of defence counsel Burnham enlivened the proceedings. At one stage Mr Burnham was making submission after submission and the magistrate was getting ruffled. At one point he responded to Burnham saying, “Mr Burnham, I disagree and I submit…” Counsel got quickly to his feet, and with a wry smile and a bow retorted, “With respect, Your Worship, you cannot submit but only rule.” The court was immediately adjourned by the magistrate, and Mrs Jagan had been enjoying the exchanges. During the trial she remained calm and completely relaxed and took the verdict with a smile. To me that displayed the strength of her character.
The magistrate sentenced her to a term of imprisonment of six months. The unenviable position fell to me to prepare the warrant of commitment for her to be taken to the prison.
The next occasion when I was in very close proximity to her was forty-four years later when she was President of the Republic. In July, 1998 she administered the oath of office to me when I was appointed to act as Chief Justice. She apparently remembered, and said to me, “Times and circumstances have indeed changed over the years.” It was indeed a nostalgic moment and brought home the fact of our late President’s humility and memory for things long past.
It may not be inappropriate at this time to sum up her philosophy of life, and in the words of our own poet Martin Carter, as if she had spoken:
And so if you see me looking at your hands
Listening when you speak
Marching in your ranks you must know
I do not sleep to dream but dream to change the world…
Yours faithfully,
Prem Persaud
