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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 64 - Friday January 28, 2005
A Tribute to Ronan David, Former Attorney General of Dominica
by Honorable Charles Sevarin


When I learnt of the death of my friend Ronan David, I knew it was a time to think deeply as death always causes us to do, about the meaning of a life, about what is life�s purpose, why are we put here on earth and what should be our main business here? So I began to search for words to express our feelings and our hope as we are always in the midst of life and death. I realized that my remarks would have to focus mainly on Ronan�s role in public life as I came to know him first as a civil servant and then as a party member, a minister of government and a friend. But as I thought about his life a few things came to mind. Ronan David was always a gentle soul, always one you could approach for understanding since even in the midst of great stress and difficulty he maintained a calmness of demeanor. He had that certain dignity of bearing that is sometimes associated with holding high office. I knew that he could be tough, when the times required of you to have a thick hide. In his capacity as a government Minister he displayed that toughness and as those of us who shared the Freedom Party Platform with him can attest, he could hold his own well on the public platform. There are times in the life of those who are called to occupy public office, when you have to take the high road, that path that may not be popular but public office requires. As and when it is required, you have to take it, the high road though you may be misunderstood and even hated for so doing. He had a unique combination of tasks in the pubic business. He was at one time Attorney General and at another time he was Minister of Health. In both positions he brought to bear on the business of Government, his great qualities of charm, fairness, a desire to serve, and what is most important a sense of goodwill towards all and hatred towards none. One senior official who served with him recalls on occasions going to him and expecting a certain tit for tat response because of what was said or done following a decision he made. Often when it was thought he would say, �let us go for them� which is not unfamiliar territory in the world of politics, he would often respond by saying, �let it go�, and, �it is not worth it�. This would come as a surprise because in his platform rhetoric he gave the impression that he would �go and get them�. It was not as if he went through some great period of reflection, he was always as I mentioned earlier a very gentle soul, ready to forgive and willing to let go. In that respect he had much to teach us, as so often we find it difficult to overlook a fault or a blow which we thought was the belt. My friends let me tell you that perhaps there are few areas of life in which we are called to serve as that of public service in the field of politics where the forgiveness of our trespasses as others are required to forgive us ours, is a prerequisite. The central mandate of the Lord�s Prayer is that call for forgiveness. We might say, if we cannot do that in the cut and thrust of Political life, we could have many sleepless nights. Because of the stuff of which Ronan David was made, he gave us a great example here of how to overlook, how not to carry a hatred and nurse a grudge as part of our portfolio of life here on earth. It is not always easy but we have to work at it as Ronan often did and succeeded. He was a skilled debater and would take a cause and make us follow his line of argument by his sheer grip on the matter at hand. This was of course fortified by his legal armory. He loved the law and brought his skill in that field to government as an asset for doing the business of the country. He was my personal lawyer and represented me in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal in the matter of a petition against my election as the Member of Parliament for the Roseau Central in 1995 on the grounds that as General Manager of the NDC I was a civil servant and was not eligible to be elected as a Member of Parliament. We won, as the Court of Appeal agreed with Ronan that I was not employed in the service of the state �in a civil capacity�. The period Ronan served as Parliamentary Representative for the Roseau South was, I can unhesitatingly say, an exiting period in the life on this nation. He was a key figure. We must be grateful that he took that road, hazardous as it often is, when he could have remained in the comfort of his private practice. It was always refreshing to be in his company. He had a great sense of humour, another essential quality that is deemed necessary if you have to serve in the public domain. He knew how to laugh. This may sound straightforward, but it is not always the case that we can laugh, more so have the ability to laugh at ourselves. A colleague of mine would say you require this in heavy doses if you have to survive in public life. As I saw him and spoke with others about him, I often felt he had a zest for life. In plain terms he loved life. We meet here today to celebrate a life, his life. We have as the scriptures tell us to mourn with those who mourn and therefore to express our condolences to his wife and family. In doing so however let us thank Almighty God for giving us this wonderful human being. If we today reflect on his qualities of gentleness and his sense of being able to overlook a fault and bring it to bear on our nation, there will be for him no more fitting memorial. On behalf of all of us and in particular on behalf of so many of those who served with him in the civil service, in the Freedom Party and in Parliament many of whom I see here as I look around, we say farewell Ronan and May God Bless in his great Mercy receive you into his everlasting arms.


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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 64
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