From abject poverty to one of Guyana’s leading lawmen-David Ramnarine is a special person

Apr 11, 2010 News

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Many people argue that poverty is a crime. Some have even gone further to suggest that crime is directly linked to poverty.
But the life of David Ramnarine, Assistant Commissioner of Police, would certainly dispel those myths.
From abject poverty, directly linked to an alcoholic father, Ramnarine rose out of the ashes to become one of Guyana’s leading lawmen.
A Berbician by birth, Ramnarine defied the odds to become one of Guyana’s most professional police officers. His parents initially could not afford to pay his O’level examination fees.
Ramnarine, born on June 5, 1969, is the sixth child of Kenneth and Amo Ramnarine of Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, where the youngster pursued his primary and secondary education.
His father worked at the Rose Hall Estate doing all kinds of job to try to make ends meet for his family of eight children.
The young lawman described his late father as a serious alcoholic, while his mother on the other hand tried desperately to raise a good family. Of course her efforts were derailed by her alcoholic husband.
“Any home that has the experience of a father that drinks a lot cannot be a comfortable, peaceful or a quiet home. Peace you’ll have for brief periods until your father comes home drunk, and then all hell breaks loose.
“That was one of the more traumatic periods in our lives when we were growing up. People in the community always used to be sorry for us because our father used to neglect us a lot. My mother used to try washing wares, being a domestic servant.
“In those days you basically slaved it out, washing wares and doing all kinds of odds and ends for people so that your children could get an education and something to eat,” Ramnarine recalled.
His youngest sister made the sacrifice of working as a waitress to supplement his mother’s meager income so that the others could pursue their secondary education.
“I recall clearly my father used to give my mother $40 per week and he used to put a licking on her when he wanted his rum. He would take back $20 from her. There were times when my brother and I had to tie my father down on the main post of the house to prevent him from doing a lot of nonsense.”
“I recall this lady Mrs. Kyte, I don’t know if she is still alive, always used to rescue us on the weekend – tea, breakfast and dinner.
“Clothing? The Beharrys, who are overseas now, they helped us out a lot too. The Somrah’s in Rose Hall Town. My father used to take a lot of credit from them. When he could not pay, they will write the bill off,” said Ramnarine.
His school life was also one of turbulence.
He remembered that whenever he or his siblings attempted to study, his father whom he described as a wicked man, would take out the main fuse.
“He would know when it was examination time. I don’t know what happened to him or why he used to behave like that, but we used to go in the backyard under the coconut trees and we used lanterns.”
Ramnarine attended the Rose Hall Town (Scot) Primary School and the Lower Corentyne Secondary school.
He remembered some of his headmasters, including Mr. Budnarine Tehal and Adam Hussein, who lived at the head of their street and who were quite aware of some of the hardships the family faced.
“When it arrived at a time when I had to write CXC, my mother couldn’t find the money for me to write eight subjects and I was forced to repeat fourth form because once you had gone over to fifth form you had to find the money to write the exams. I couldn’t find the money,” Ramnarine said.
This was despite Ramnarine being one of the ‘high-flyers’ in his class since according to him every one of his siblings read a lot.
He even used this to his advantage to raise lunch money on many days.
“I used to be helpful to a lot of my classmates. They always used to come to me when they had mathematical problems. In those days, too, for laughs, I never used to have snack money to take to school. So when they have a problem or they want an answer I would say that ‘it will cost you. At break time you will have to take me to the stand and buy something. So that was how it used to work out.”
At one time he even washed cars.
He credited some of his language skills to former teacher, Miss Leila Jaglall, who saw his potential from an early stage.
“I recall that I completed the second year in Fourth from, and ended up in her hands again, and I could not get to write a particular subject because I did not have the money. She called me and said, “Look, I know that you can pass literature. I’m gonna pay for you to write the subject.’ And she gave me$60 and said that she did not want it back. I passed with a grade two and she said that was her reward,” Ramnarine said.
But in those early years, Ramnarine and his siblings learnt some very important lessons. One of those lessons came about when his father actually sold their house with them inside unknown to them.
The family was rescued by a very good neighbour, who at the time was a Police Constable named John Newton Ross.
“Having married an East Indian woman, he lived next to us and he was eyewitness to what my father used to do. He always used to tell my father that he should be ashamed of his behaviour,” Ramnarine said.
At around that time, Ramnarine and most of his siblings had already left school.
Four of the family members had completed high school and were all teaching at secondary schools, which according to him was quite an achievement, given their turbulent upbringing.
“You know, when you look back you realise that a lot of people, in different ways, had a hand in maybe who you have arrived to be today.”
After leaving school at the age of 17, Ramnarine was not quite old enough to get a job in the Public Service like most young men.
So his first job was at a store owned by then Mayor of Rose Hall, John Merai, the brother of current Assistant Commissioner of Police, Steve Merai.
There was no thought at that time of becoming a policeman.
“It was twelve hours a day, six days a week. I started working for $20 per week. Mr Merai who knew my ability would always encourage me to go either to work at the estate or at the Ministry of Education. “
After reaching the age of maturity he applied to the Ministry of Education as well as the Albion estate for a job.
Soon after, he received a letter from the Ministry of Education, inviting him for an interview.
To his surprise, after completing the interview he left, feeling every bit as a newly appointed teacher.
That same day also, he received another reply, this time from the sugar corporation, inviting him for another job interview.
“But I had already made a decision with the Ministry of Education and I turned out the very next day, teaching at the Lower Corentyne Secondary School,” Ramnarine said.
He continued to teach for four years, gaining valuable experience which impacted his self confidence.
“I never regretted the choice. Teaching laid that foundation. It helped me to understand human behaviour. But there was a significant turn of events which I think propelled me into the police force.”
Although he was receiving rave reviews and initially thought of continuing in the profession, teaching had become too monotonous.
So a chance meeting with then Deputy Superintendent of Police, Clinton Conway, changed the course of his life.
“When I saw him all decked out in his brown clothing (uniform), I had to approach him to find out what opportunities there were in the police force. At that time I recalled that the police were conducting a recruitment drive.
“I met Mr Conway and he said, ‘Boy, we could well do with you’, and he gave me some advice,” Ramnarine stated.
He still was not committed to enlisting in the force. But an event changed his life for sure.
Ramnarine, the teacher, had administered corporal punishment to a student. A few days later he was attacked by the student’s father who punched him into unconsciousness.
The matter was taken to court and there Ramnarine had a firsthand experience of how the police operated, and he was impressed.
“At that time at the Rose Hall Outpost, Sergeant Mars was in charge and he was a very serious guy,” Ramnarine said.
But Ramnarine was not interested in retribution. He wanted to make a difference.
“Right away I said I’ve had enough of teaching. Something snapped in me. I felt there was nothing teaching had to offer me unless I went and got trained. I remembered Mr. Conway’s words to me and the following day in April 1991 I went to the training school in Adventure and I enlisted.”
That’s where it all started.
Ramnarine used his earlier body building and power lifting skills to his advantage during his training as a young policeman.
He also traded on the leadership skills that were evident in him from an early age.
“In school the teachers always picked me to say a poem whenever the President was visiting or things like that. I was always the captain of the cricket team. In church when there was a skit, I used to play three roles sometimes,” he said.
Upon completing his training he was posted to the Central Police Station New Amsterdam under the command of Assistant Commissioner Sydney Bunbury.
“At that time you had the three Bs in Berbice— Brathwaite, Brummell and Bunbury.”
His potential in the force was recognised when former Deputy Commissioner Sultan Kassim was retiring from the force.
Ramnarine was chosen by his officer, Stephen Collins, as the constable to deliver the vote of thanks at a special ceremony held in Kassim’s honour in Berbice.
Without a script, the young constable impressed all with his presentation, so much so that he was summoned to the Commander’s office the following day.
At first, Ramnarine thought that he was about to get a roasting but instead he was highly commended for his presentation by his Commander.
“He said to me, ‘what you said yesterday afternoon, you cannot be a Constable for long.’”
Following that episode, Bunbury took a special interest in moving Ramnarine around the various police departments to gain experience.
The young Constable continued to learn fast and it was no surprise when he was chosen to join the Guyana Defence Force’s Cadet Officer programme in April 1992.
He was the only policeman in the programme.
For the next 11 months he underwent the rigorous training the course offered and thanks to his earlier body building experience he successfully completed the course.
“After about 11 months on the Square of the Revolution, only nine of us stood up.”
However, the course had not been without hiccups for the young Ramnarine.
He had sustained an injury but since he had been excelling in the earlier part of the course he was allowed to continue by the then Chief-of-Staff, Retired Major General Joe Singh, through the recommendations of then Captain Gregory Gaskin of the Guyana Defence Force.
He also recalled limping into Police Headquarters Eve Leary and was met by the fiery Deputy Commissioner at the time, Deryck Thompson.
“Mr. Thompson said, ‘Ramnarine, what are you doing here? Don’t tell me you quit the programme. Get back there!’ He virtually sent me back. He said ‘you don’t know what you’re playing with, you’re playing with a future that is glorious for you.’”
It was only after Ramnarine explained that he had come to go to the quarter master stores that Thompson’s viciousness subsided.
“Anybody who takes that programme seriously will survive. The values you’re taught there, the method of instructions, the leadership qualities will remain with you. It is sad to see young officers throw this type of training in the gutters just for a few dollars more,” Ramnarine stated.
Soon after his graduation, Ramnarine was thrust into the real world of law enforcement.
In 1994, a big breakout had taken place at the Mazaruni Prison and the young cadet officer was sent as part of a 30-man unit to recapture the escaped convicts.
After a month in the jungle terrain of the Mazaruni, Ramnarine and his team managed to restore order with the killing of three of the escapees. The others finally surrendered.
“The result of the exercise was very positive. We hadn’t any negatives in terms of allegations.”
Then in 2004, Ramnarine, now an Assistant Superintendent in Berbice, was again chosen to lead a 10- man team to capture the notorious Hilton Rodrigues, called ‘Chammar, this time by his new Commander Larry George.
After sleeping in a barrack room for about five months, the team finally got good intelligence on Rodrigues, who was subsequently taken out, although, unfortunately one of the policemen lost his life.
He served in many other departments of the force and is grateful to current Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, who was then the commander of the police’s A Division for placing confidence in him, while he was a young officer.
Ramnarine then was transferred to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, where he co-ordinated the Community Policing arm of the force.
His language potential was soon recognised by the then Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis, who assigned him to the Police Public Relations Department.
At least Ramnarine appeared well fitted to handle both portfolios.
Then came the crime wave and Ramnarine had the unenviable task of recapturing the forces’ public image which had been taking a battering.
He succeeded to some extent with the help of Royston King who was at the time a Public Relations consultant to the Guyana Police Force.
Several overseas engagements were also afforded him and he grasped the experiences with both hands.
He also had a sting as the court superintendent where he had the opportunity of meeting with magistrates and the director of public prosecutions on a regular basis, engagements which he treasures. Being a police officer, Ramnarine was posted to several divisions where he acted as Deputy Commander on several occasions.
It was while acting as Deputy Commander of the West Demerara division that another notorious criminal, Neil Bovell, was finally taken out.
But crowning of his career so far was when at the age of 40, he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Police and took over the running of Guyana Police Force’s largest division in terms of geography, E&F Division.
Ramnarine said that despite his rapid elevation in the force, he does not aspire to be the Commissioner just yet.
He believes that there are other colleagues who are more endowed at the moment and he is just prepared to support them in every way.
But if he had the choice to live his life all over again, even under different circumstances than that of his formative years, he certainly would be a policeman again.

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