Congrats PJ on a splendid innings!

• President confers Order of Excellence on former Jamaican PM

 

Georgetown, GINA, May 29, 2006

The highest national award in Guyana, the Order of Excellence, was this evening conferred on former Jamaican Prime Minister Percival James Patterson for his sterling contribution to regional integration.

At an investiture ceremony to mark the momentous occasion at State House this evening, President Bharrat Jagdeo bestowed the honour on Patterson.

The President on February 10 last announced the conferment during the 17 th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Conference of Heads of Government in Trinidad and Tobago.

Prime Minister Patterson retired as Prime Minister and Leader of his Party, the People’s National Party (PNP) earlier this year, bringing an end to his active involvement in politics and the regional movement. He was one of the four Heads of State present at the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973, creating the Caribbean Community.

President Jagdeo noted that the award is well-merited.

“As the citation which accompanies the award recognises his dedication and contribution to the cause of the Caribbean Community have been outstanding and exemplary. He is therefore most deserving of this distinction,” the President observed.

Acknowledging that PJ, as the awardee is commonly known, was born and bred to a life of politics, President Jagdeo said that Patterson readily involved himself in the region’s affairs during his young student years at Mona Campus, Jamaica. He later distinguished himself in legal studies at the renowned London School of Economics in the United Kingdom by winning the Leverhume Scholarship and the Sir Hughes Parry Prize for Excellence. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1963 and returning to his native Jamaica, embarked on an active political career that lasted over four decades.

And even as Paterson himself remembered, that period came with many challenges, including those of the post-colonial era.

“Fortunately, the young generation of the sixties, led by people like PJ Patterson, refused to accept failure and soldiered on to build a strong and successful Community which we have today. CARICOM therefore owes much to this champion of regionalism - PJ Patterson,” the Guyanese Head of State said.

President Jagdeo also paid tribute to the distinguished and fierce roles Patterson played in defending the cause of the region and its poor States at international fora.

“He spoke passionately on behalf of the CARICOM nations whether the issue was sugar, bananas, rum or bauxite, asserting our claim to fair treatment in foreign markets. To him goes much of the credit for the Agreement on the Sugar Protocol which is the contractual basis for our exports to Europe.”

The Head of State also hailed PJ’s formidable negotiating skills on any issue of debate, including Guyana’s border issues with sister CARICOM State Suriname.

Accepting the award with humility, Patterson said he was caught by surprise when President Jagdeo announced the conferment in February.

“I am deeply honoured in a personal way the conferment of this award,” an emotional Patterson said as he addressed the special invitees at the State House ceremony.

He recalled coming to Guyana for the first time in 1956 and since then Guyana has been like a home to him, especially when he came for the West Indian’s joy - cricket.

“It has been a long, fruitful and pleasant association with Guyana,” he remarked.

And advising his fellow CARICOM colleagues, PJ’s charge is to poll together resources to face the challenges especially those posed to small States by developed countries.

He expressed confidence that this the younger generation has the capacity to do so and succeed.

The ceremony also featured a dinner, at which Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and other members of the Cabinet were present, as well as members of the diplomatic community and other distinguished members of society.

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