Mr Charles Ramson is Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport. While his role in the Sport component of his portfolio is at least visible, the opposite is the case when it comes to Culture, except when his Ministry has to organize public events. Even then, he is not above criticism, and it will be remembered that two years ago the opposition with the exception of Mr Lenox Shuman of the Liberty and Justice Party was not invited to the Republic flag-raising ceremony on the lawns of Parliament. In fairness, the record of his Coalition predecessor in the ceremonial department was infinitely more calamitous, and at least Mr Ramson admitted after his faux pas that APNU+AFC should have been invited but that he had not ‘followed through’ with the planning.
While commemorations, parades and the like are the public face of the Ministry’s work, they are not its most important responsibility. Where the rest is concerned ‒ art, music, dance, museums and a whole variety of related and other issues ‒ there is near silence. The only significant statement which has come in more recent times has emanated not from Mr Ramson, but from President Irfaan Ali, who promised a new art gallery. To the best of anyone’s knowledge the Ministry has no overarching cultural policy.
The Minister’s most recent foray into the area of culture really was not about culture at all, although it did have implications for the administration of our only art school – the Burrowes School of Art. According to Mr Ivor Thom, the Administrator of the school, he was leaving work on September 7, and prior to driving off he noticed a red SUV parked in a way which made it difficult for him to exit the parking space without risking a collision. He went on to relate to this newspaper that he approached the SUV driver and informed him that the parking lot was reserved for students and staff of the school.
Thereafter, it seems, the situation escalated, with the SUV driver becoming enraged and verbally abusing Mr Thom in racial terms. Subsequently we were told that a passenger in the SUV had apparently called Mr Ramson, but whoever it was, it was not long before Mr Thom received a call from the Director of Culture who informed him that the Minister wanted to speak to him. En route to the Ministry Mr Thom said he received a second call, this time from the Permanent Secretary, telling him to come in.
On arrival at the Ministry he was left waiting in a boardroom for 45 minutes, and when he eventually met the Minister he recounted the parking lot incident to him. He claimed that Mr Ramson reacted with hostility, and that he was told he had no right to blow his horn at anyone or to dictate parking arrangements. Mr Thom also informed Stabroek News that this was not the first time he had encountered this kind of behaviour from the Minister, and that on two previous occasions he had been shouted at.
In the light of this disrespect and mistreatment, the Burrowes head said, he decided to resign, although this was not the end of his problems. He had been barred from entering the school compound, and had received calls questioning whether he had been entering the school at night, something which he denied.
The eventual outcome of all of this was that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo intervened and asked Mr Thom to resume his duties as administrator of the Burrowes school. After considering, he agreed to do so even although he had not been offered an apology and had not asked for one. He said that his decision had been founded on his relationship with the students and that the school had a great team which worked hard to help the students achieve their goals.
Subsequently at a press conference Mr Jagdeo was to describe the matter as having been “badly handled” and “unnecessary” although not suggestive of racism. Referring to Mr Thom he went on to say, “This gentleman served the country well, and when I learned of [his] resignation, I thought it warranted my intervention.”
Mr Jagdeo presumably recognized something which Mr Ramson did not (his designation notwithstanding), namely, that Mr Thom is a leading sculptor in this country. In terms of public works he was the creator of the Monument to Damon in Anna Regina, as well as the 1823 Memorial on the seawall. Mr Jagdeo would also remember very well that Mr Thom supported the siting of the memorial on the seawall, even although that was opposed by all the African groups and the opposition after the government had initially promised to locate it on the Parade Ground.
And what had Mr Thom been working on when he was summoned by the Minister? Nothing other than a sculpture of the late Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, a major figure in the PPP. Whatever else might be said, Mr Ramson clearly lacks political sense, not to mention artistic awareness.
There are two points which arise from this incident, the first relating to Mr Ramson’s behaviour as a Minister and not a Minister of Culture in particular. A source explained to this newspaper that the person who had abused Mr Thom in the parking lot was in no way connected to the PPP/C or the government. It really doesn’t matter. Whoever it was must have been known to the Minister or at a minimum was viewed as important enough to get an immediate hearing.
Whatever the case what on earth was a minister of government doing dealing personally straight away with an altercation in a parking lot? Even if for personal reasons he had to accept the call, the complaint should have been handed down to an official to deal with the following day at best.
Furthermore, when he did speak to Mr Thom, under no circumstances should it have been on the assumption that the Burrowes head was at fault; he had a duty to listen fairly and open-mindedly to what the latter said. This is more particularly so since racial insults were involved. It does Mr Ramson no credit that he showed no disposition to take the racist allegation seriously. This was a matter which may have caused explanatory difficulties for Mr Jagdeo in his press briefing; he ended by suggesting the use of the ERC and the police to address such issues. Mr Ramson himself has been unavailable for comment.
The source also told us that the Minister had directed that ancillary matters such as parking should be left to the staff which handles that. This is nonsense. If there are rules in place whereby only students and staff can park in the Burrowes parking lot – and there must be, given its location and the number of people looking for parking so they can run around the National Park – then any senior member of staff should enforce them whenever they are breached and Security is not present to do it. Rules do not become operational only when a designated official is there to enforce them.
Which brings us to the larger question. Culture is one of those portfolios which no government in this country has ever really taken seriously. In fact, Culture has been around the ministerial block a few times over the decades, and now it has ended up in a bundle with what the administration regards as minor areas (i.e. Sport and Youth), but which happen to have either only a limited relationship or none at all to one another.
Ideally Culture should go back to Education, but that is such an overburdened portfolio, it would need a junior minister to be appointed to take responsibility for it. However, it would have the advantage of marrying it with libraries again, from which it should never have been divorced, given that these include antiquarian collections and issues associated with history.
Such a decision if made would be on the basis of far wider grounds than the incident involving Mr Thom. As such it might not perturb Mr Ramson unduly; after all he has no forté for Culture or seeming interest in it either. But where the incident itself is concerned, he needs to take a long, hard look at his behaviour as Minister and learn a little humility and impartiality.
