Inspiration, legal luminar

-Miles Fitzpatrick hailed at m

Senior Counsel Miles Fitzpatrick was cremated yesterday following glowing tributes at a memorial service to celebrate his life where he was remembered as an inspiration, a fighter for justice and a family man and friend of many.

Fitzpatrick passed away on Tuesday night at his home after a period of illness. He was 83.

He was one of the founding partners of the law firm, de Caires, Fitzpatrick and Karran and was also one of the original directors of Guyana Publications Inc (GPI), the publishers of Stabroek News, when it was launched in November 1986.

The memorial service was held at the Demerara Cricket Club and was chaired by law firm partner and close friend Timothy Jonas. Tributes were shared by his family, friends and political and legal colleagues.

Those present included executive members of the People’s Progressive Party including former President Donald Ramotar, Clement Rohee, Gail Teixeira, Dr Bheri Ramsaran as well as former executive members, Feroze Mohammed, Ralph Ramkarran and former Civic member Dr Henry Jeffrey.

Singling out the legal work he has done for this country in the area of constitutional reform, Ramotar lauded Fitzpatrick not only for works with the PPP, but for being instrumental in the crafting of Articles 106(6) and 106(7) of the Constitution - which guides a confidence vote in relation to government among other inputs “too numerous to mention.”

“Miles also played a significant role in rewriting our Constitution in the beginning of this century. He was a prominent member of the commission that made more than 200 reforms. All those reforms served to reduce the powers of the President and increase the powers of Parliament. He was instrumental in crafting Articles 106 which was to give the Parliament the power to remove the government if it lost confidence in the regime,” Ramotar said.

Fitzpatrick’s contribution to Caribbean political life was also highlighted by Ramotar who pointed to his role serving as Attorney General for the Maurice Bishop government in Grenada.

And with Venezuela creating a controversy about the 1899 Arbitral Award and claiming Essequibo, Ramotar observed that from 1964, Fitzpatrick had written that the matter should be addressed lest it return, and Caracas became more aggressive.

The former President echoed a lot of what he had told this newspaper previously about Fitzpatrick, as he hailed him as a true Guyanese patriot and champion for the cause of social and economic progress and stalwart in the advocacy for justice and fair play. “Miles, as you are all aware, had a long distinguished career. He had been many things in his life. He was a distinguished and respected lawyer by profession, he was a journalist because of his need to communicate to the masses of people and made an important contribution to our political life. Most of all, he was a man of deep convictions with a strong social conscience. At all important junctures of our national life, Miles emerged to stand up and play his part. He used his multi-faceted talent and abilities to defend and protect the vulnerable in our society,” the former president said.

Fitzpatrick’s friend, author and poet, Ian McDonald, honoured him with a recitation of Martin Carter’s ‘Tomorrow and the world’ where the poet dreams of a tomorrow where the world is changed for the better of humanity; traits he saw in his friend. Fitzpatrick himself, according to McDonald, loved poems by Carter and he thus felt it apt to share. He said that whenever one h F c k u b

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