Tributes paid to Indian origin former Trinidad president

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Tributes paid to Indian origin former Trinidad president

Port-of-Spain, July 5 (IANS) Members of the senate, Trinidad and Tobago's upper house of parliament, Tuesday paid glowing tributes to Ganace Ramdial, the Indian origin former president of the house, who passed away last weekend.

Senate President Linda Baboolal led the tributes, describing Ramdial as a man who was not afraid to correct senators and one who performed his duties to the highest standards, reports here said.

Ramdial, 72, had died after a massive heart attack Saturday at Glencoe in northwest Trinidad. He was being treated for pancreatitis but doctors said he also suffered a massive heart attack minutes before he died, according to a report in the Newsday newspaper.

'He was a true son of Trinidad and Tobago,' Baboolal was quoted as saying in a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Express newspaper.

Trinidad's acting Prime Minister Lenny Saith also praised Ramdial for his ability to remain impartial in the performance of his duties.

Other senators who paid tributes were United National Congress (UNC) party's Wade Mark and independents Eastlyn Mckenzie, Ramesh Deosaran and Ken Ramchand.

Born in 1935, Ramdial, an attorney-at-law, was called to the bar at Inner Temple in Britain in 1963.

A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Britain, he served on the boards of several public and private sector financial companies in Trinidad and Tobago.

Later, he served as president of the country's Institute of Banking. He was also chairman and CEO of the Trinidad Cooperative Bank Ltd and Trinidad Cooperative Bank Trust Company Ltd. He retired as chairman and CEO of the First Citizen's Bank and Trust Company.

He was first elected as president of the senate in 1995 and then again in 2001.

Of the 31 members in Trinidad's senate, 16 are appointed on the advice of the prime minister, six are appointed by the leader of the opposition and nine independents by the country's president to represent other sectors of civil society.

In 2003, the opposition UNC nominated Ramdial for the post of the country's president but he lost the race to current President George Maxwell Richards.

Thereafter, he had largely remained out of public life.

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Tributes paid to Indian origin former Trinidad president