Dear Editor,
Mr Rampersaud Tiwari, a proud, outstanding Buxtonian, and a long serving senior civil servant of the Guyana Civil Service, passed away in Toronto on September 18, 2022. Pre-deceased by his loving wife of 55 years, Hemraji, a former teacher at the Dharmic Rama-Krishna Primary School in Kitty, he leaves to mourn his four children, two grandchildren and several siblings, relatives and friends in Guyana and abroad.
He was born in Buxton village in 1932 and attended Arundell Congregational School. Subsequently, he won scholarships and attended Wortmanville Educational Institute then Alleyne’s High School and finally Wray High School, all in Georgetown. After passing the overseas Senior Cambridge Examination, he joined the Civil Service in May 1953 in the clerical category at the Vigilance Magistrate Court and this was the beginning of a stellar career as a Civil Servant. Shortly after, he wrote and passed the “Cadetship” examination of the Civil Service and moved up the rank to the Office of the Chief Secretary where he worked on publications for the Government Information Service and the Schools Broadcasting System.
In 1961 he was promoted to the Office of the Cabinet and served as Deputy Secretary of Cabinet during the years of the interim self-government of the colony under Premier Dr. Cheddi Jagan. As Independence drew near, he was moved to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and was sent abroad for training at universities in Puerto Rico and Canada. After the change in Government in 1964, Mr. Tiwari, being a consummate professional civil servant, successfully transitioned to working under the new administration of Mr. Burnham. A highlight of his years at the Ministry of Foreign Service was the visit to Guyana of then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, in 1968. He was a member of the welcoming delegation at the airport and later, a member of the team that accompanied her to various official functions.
Subsequently, he held senior positions with various ministries and in 1978 was sworn in by then President of Guyana, Mr. Arthur Chung, as a Permanent Secretary. He retired in 1983 and immigrated to Canada in 1985 where he commenced a career in customer relations at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. At his retirement from the Bank, he was given a special commendation award for outstanding customer service. Rampersaud had extensive experience as a public servant in Guyana under several administrations since colonial times. As such, he developed an encyclopedic knowledge of the inner workings of government. His knowledge of the history of Guyana, its politics, its culture, its geography, its multi-ethnic make-up, its population distribution, and its race-related issues has caused researchers, writers, and journalists to seek his advice.
He has often been consulted by senior government officials and politicians on the machinery of government given his wealth of public knowledge and experience. He has also been consulted by the Organization of American States (OAS), Commonwealth Secretariat, and European Union on electoral issues relating to Guyana. He was one of the founder members of the Canada-Guyana Forum (1989-2015) which was headed by Sister Hazel Campayne, a former Headmistress of St Rose’s High School in Georgetown. In 1992, he and Sister Campayne were members of a team of observers from Canada to the elections that saw the return of democracy to Guyana. In 2000, he was selected by the OAS to be an observer of the general election held in Suriname. In addition, he functioned in an advisory capacity to Caricom and the Caribbean Development Bank on a number of projects.
He received a Guyana Lifetime Achievement award for his years of service to the Guyana Government in the early 1980s. In 1966, he edited the first edition of Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s political biography The West on Trial. He has contributed articles to various publications and presented papers at conferences on Indian culture and Indentureship, and Hindu religious practices. His paper, The October 1986 Non Pareil Uprising – The Unknown Story, presented at a UWI conference in Trinidad in 2013, reached India and was mentioned in an article, Reconnecting with dispersed communities, in the newspaper, The Hindu. He had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances encompassing individuals of all races, religions and political affiliations in Guyana and abroad. He is an outstanding Guyanese and his biographical sketch is now featured in a book, Biographical Dictionary of Guyana, by Lal Balkaran.
Sincerely,
Harry Hergash