Speeches in the National Assembly

Mr. Nagamootoo: I rise in support of the motion in the name of the Hon. Prime Minister that we express sympathy to the wife, children and relatives of the late Dr. Moti Lall, former Member of this National Assembly.
In doing so, I am very conscious that, in an atmosphere of gloom which hangs over this country, Dr. Moti Lall will forever shine as one of those very distinguished sons of Guyana who had set an example in modesty and incorruptibility; some values that we would miss and some values that would allow us to be constantly reminded of the contributions of Dr. Moti Lall. Nikolai Ostrovsky, in his How the Steel Was Tempered, a novel that was well known to Dr. Moti Lall, had reminded us that man’s dearest possession is life and, to paraphrase him, it must be so lived, not to be bothered by trivialities and regrets, but in dying we know that all our life, all of our energies have been spent towards the greatest cause, that is, in the service of man. Dr. Moti Lall epitomised, in a reality, in those sixty-nine years of his life, dedication to the cause of the people.
I have known him for more than thirty-five years and my memory of him is as fresh as when I first met his mother Mrs. Lall, Aunty Betty, and his sister Radica at the Mirror newspaper company, around 1971 and1972.  She worked there, and the modesty which was shown through was that one day she said that her son was returning from Canada and he had wanted her to look for a gal to marry. It is a rare quality of a son who would vest the confidence in a mother to help him start his life. That is the modesty I remember Dr. Moti Lall showed throughout his life when I served with him and have been associated with him, not only in the People’s Progressive Party leadership, as a member of the central committee, in excess of thirty years, but also in his pioneering role as the President of the Guyana/German Democratic (GDR) Republic Friendship Society, the Guyana/Cuba Friendship Society and in the Guyana Peace Council. Dr. Moti Lall had been a pioneer of promoting the friendships of people not in Guyana alone. His origin was from Buxton, as an East Indian, showed that he transcended the environment from which he came and he wanted to epitomise and represent the unity of all of our people which he showed in the associations he pioneered.
He was also, as the Prime Minister reminded us, totally dedicated to the practice of medicine. His expertise in the field of lung diseases would be something that we would miss, particularly among the Amerindian communities, which, at one point, were proned to be victims of tuberculosis and he would have treated, day in, day out, hundreds and thousands, both at the chest clinic and at, what we would have called, the Best Hospital, now the West Demerara Regional Hospital, and in private practice.
I have had the modesty of being attended to by this physician and it was through him, his instrumentality and his connections with the German Democratic Republic, that I was sent to a hospital for treatment and was successfully treated for a lung ailment. So I owe a personal debt of gratitude to him for his assistance. It could not have happened without Dr. Moti Lall having opened up that connection with the so-called, then Eastern Bloc, socialist countries. I want to record in the National Assembly that that was done to the benefit of all Guyanese, because hundreds of Guyanese followed him to study medicine in the so-called, former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, socialist bloc countries.
Finally, our own Martin Carter reminded us: “Death must not find us thinking that we die.”  I am confident that Dr. Moti Lall did not think about death. At the time of his death he knew and he was confident that he had left his footprints in the sand of our times. He knew that he had made a contribution for the democracy of this country - for human rights in Guyana. He knew that he had made his mark in the field of medicine and service to humanity. He had richly deserved the Cacique Crown of Honour. When Mrs. Jagan solicited support, when Dr. Moti Lall first fell ill in Canada, I believe, all of his colleagues enthusiastically supported her nomination -  I would say  the recommendation -  that he be conferred with the Cacique Crown of Honour in recognition of his work in the field of medicine, and in other fields.
I know that as a tribute to his fine character, a tribute to his incorruptible character, he had become a close friend, ally and comrade of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, and that is what most people would aim to aspire for in one lifetime.
I join in expressing sympathy on this solemn occasion to Chritrarakha, Renuka, Pravin and Aruna, and other members of the family, on the passing of Dr. Moti Lall. I am associated with the Alliance For Change in subscribing to this honour accorded him today. [Applause]