Ramtallie revered as patriot, political stalwart
FORMER PRIME Minister P.J. Patterson has described the late O.D. Ramtallie as a public servant with a record of distinction during his six-year tenure as minister of construction and housing.
At the same time, president of the People’s National Party (PNP), Mark Golding, has hailed Ramtallie as a revered stalwart of the 83-year-old party.
Ramtallie died on Sunday at the age of 96.
In paying tribute to the party stalwart on Monday, Patterson said the country has yet again lost another person who had fought to improve the standard of living of the Jamaican people.
Patterson said that when Ramtallie worked as a minister of government from 1989-1995, he made sure that as many houses as could be built were constructed.
The former prime minister said that Ramtallie also did everything he possibly could to improve the country’s road network.
“He was one who operated on the ground, so that whenever any project of significance was being undertaken, he was there always striving to make sure, with his technical officers, that we got true value for money,” he said.
Patterson described his former colleague as a very pleasant person by disposition but was never prepared to yield any ground of principle.
“He was a family man. He loved his cricket, and whenever the music was being played, he was always first on the floor,” Patterson added.
Commenting on Ramtallie’s commitment to the PNP, Golding said that even when he was in his 90s, the veteran found the energy and the drive to attend certain party functions.
Admired by political colleagues, Golding said that for Ramtallie, the party was the most important institution in his life and he had served it long and well.
“O.D. Ramtallie is a revered name in the annals of the People’s National Party, somebody who is easy to get along with and very committed to the movement,” Golding added.
Ramtallie had been ailing for some time after suffering a series of strokes years ago.
A former vice president of the PNP, Ramtallie also served as member of parliament for Clarendon Central from 1976 to 1980.
He was beaten by incumbent Mike Henry in the 1980 election but remained a formidable politician for the PNP.
In 1989 and 1993, Ramtallie ran on the PNP ticket in Clarendon South Western and won in both elections.
After Ramtallie lost his ministerial position in a Cabinet reshuffle in 1995, he cited among his achievements an increased number of joint-venture housing projects islandwide. Some of the projects were Red Hills Phase Two, Moneague, Toby Abbott, Norwich, and Mandeville housing schemes.
Ramtallie had said that despite the dictates of structural adjustment and the pressure exerted by multilateral agencies, many results were gained during his ministerial tenure.
Among the results were two of the largest and most impressive housing projects ever undertaken in the English-speaking Caribbean. These are the Greater Portmore Housing Scheme in St Catherine with 10,000 units and the Oaklands apartment complex on Constant Spring Road in St Andrew with 512 units.