THE People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on Thursday night hosted a night of reflection at Freedom House for the late Senior Counsel Ashton Chase, a founding member of the Party, and a prominent figure in the country’s political, legal, and labour history who passed away on Monday evening.

General Secretary of the PPP, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during his address at the function, said that Mr. Chase was a special person who was there at the very beginning, even before the PPP was formed in 1950.
“He was part of the group that planned the formation of the PPP, and he has been associated with this Party since then,” Dr. Jagdeo related.

He said that throughout the fight for freedom, Chase had always been at the centre of the fight for the freedoms which Guyana currently enjoys today.
“Ashton played a central role in the fight for Independence, and then again in the fight for democracy, and thereafter the fight to maintain freedom,” the General Secretary said.

Kamal Ramkarran of the Bar Association related that throughout Chase’s life, he spent most of it fighting for justice with ordinary working-class Guyanese, whether in politics or in law.
“He worked tirelessly to help them paddle their little cases through the justice system against the tide of big businesses and government interests, at a time when courts favored the colonial government,” Ramkarran said, adding that Chase did this with great energy, skill and charisma, from 1957 to just before the COVID-19 pandemic, when he stopped going to court every day.
His daughter, Pauline Chase, said that the PPP was her father’s life and his legacy. She noted that he loved the Party as he loved his children.