Goodbye, Kelvin. You'll live forever!

File: Kelvin's last assignment. Roodal Moonilal hands Kelvin his instrument of appointment as Chairman of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).

It's never easy to say goodbye. It's worse when you bid farewell to a good friend. Kelvin Ramnath was more than a friend. He was a relative as well, the stepson of my mother's sister.

In the more than three decades I have known Kelvin, I found that there was a measure of consistency - and honesty - about him that is uncommon in politicians. 

He believed in helping the "little person" and did it throughout his political life, most of which was spent in opposition. And his political philosophy remained the same from the time he entered electoral politics in 1976 as a fiery young representative of the United Labour Front (ULF), to his various campaigns for the successor party to the ULF, the United National Congress (UNC).

He walked away from his ministerial office when the state policy was in conflict with his own and had no problem standing up publicly and fighting back. He even fought his friend, Basdeo Panday, which is why he ended up in the political wilderness in 1995 when Panday chose to bring Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj into Couva South to "usurp" Kelvin's Kingdom.

And it was Panday himself who appealed to "Kello" to help him when Ramesh teamed up with Ralph Maraj and Trevor Sudama to undermine the Panday administration and do a deal with Patrick Manning and the PNM to try to topple Panday and hand power to the PNM.

Kelvin knew and understood national politics better than most of his colleagues and it was always an education to sit and just listen to him. He always knew when to act and when to do nothing. 

Like the time Panday told us in an executive meeting that he wanted a transition team, which included Kelvin, to prepare a succession plan to allow Panday to retire as the leader of the UNC. Following that meeting I asked Kelvin when the team would meet. His response was "never", adding, "If you think this team would meet, you don't know Panday."

Unlike many politicians who crossed swords with Panday, Kelvin lived to fight another day instead of being relegated to the political cemetery. He returned to Parliament, but never to government. 

Still he was a brilliant strategist, an orator and a patriot. He was also a loving father and husband. Kelvin's legacy will remain, and hopefully his political successor, Rudranath Indarsingh, would continue along the path that Kelvin cut where none existed before.

It is said that a man remains immortal so long as his name is remembered. If that is so, Kelvin will live forever, especially in the hearts of the people of Couva South whom he loved, and who loved him dearly.

Jai Parasram | Dartmouth, Nova Scotia - 25 July 2012