RUDLPH INNOCENT CASTILLO…… A MEMOIR

Today we gather to celebrate the life of Rudolph Castillo,    Belizean nationalist. who dedicated his life to public service and diplomacy for which he was awarded the Order of Distinction in 2006.  The Eulogist will amply reflect upon his lifetime achievements, his strength of character, his sense of humanity, and his deep devotion to family, and his numerous friends.

I have the honour to reflect on his contribution in public service and diplomacy in the formation of the post colonial independent nation of Belize

The history of the Belize Public Service is sparsely documented and little remembered. On the other hand the history of our colonial past and the nationalist, anti colonial movement that it endangered is well documented. It is self evident in the fact of our existence as an independent nation state for the past twenty eight years.

Inasmuch as the transformation from colonial political control was a long, politically divisive and volatile process, so too was the transition process of the colonial administrative apparatus into a national public service.

With little real preparation, the Colonial Civil Service of British Honduras became the British Honduras Civil Service when the British government granted the colony self government status in January 1964. The appointment of Belizean Ministers for the first time meant that the inherited administrative elite had a new, nationalist source of political direction. It was not an easy transition.

Rudolph Castillo, joined the Colonial Civil Service on 20^th June 1952   as an Announcer in the Information and Public Relations Service. By 1962, on 1^st November of that year, he had risen to the rank of   Chief Information Officer, Government Information Service. In this capacity under the Information portfolio assumed by the First Minister of Belize, George Cadle Price in 1964, he became the voice of this dramatic change in the governance of Belize  that occurred with the advent of self government .For many he was the credible symbol of a new way of  government working to attain the goal of national independence. For others he was the reviled propagandist of the new system of parliamentary democracy that, notwithstanding its Westminster origins, was in the hands of a new political elite, intent on asserting its power, riding rough shod over all manifestations of colonial domination; including the inherited bastion of the Creole societal elite, the Colonial Civil Service.

In the ensuing period of mutual adjustment, the leadership structure of the Public Service, headed by Permanent Secretaries, re emerged to display a sustained level of   professionalism, integrity and general adherence to well honed  administrative  principles. This became a hallmark for public sector performance in the development and implementation of public policy. Over time, there was increased emphasis on recruitment into the leadership structure of a politicized administrative elite. The pace was to accelerate in the post independence period producing a hybrid of the British White Hall model, with a permanent main public service, and a Republican type. Today the top managers of the bureaucracy,  are now directly selected by the party in government for appointment to the leadership level in the public Service. Recruitment is largely from outside the service

The names of the highly respected public service leaders of the pre independence period are worthy of mention. They represent the range of the ideological perspectives and debate that simmered in the changing organizational culture of public service during that time:

Rafael Fonseca, Donald Gill, Earnest Fuller sr., Earnest Fuller jr, Raymond Fuller, Hugh Fuller, Gilbert Young, Evan Young, Edward Young, Carol Campbell,  Raymond Barrow, Douglas Barrow, William Hoy, Boysie Smith, Michael Hulse, Eldred Dakers, Walter Brown, Edmund Marshalleck. Hugh McCain, Ronald Clark, Egbert Grinage, Severo Pinto, Justo Castillo, brother of Rudolph Castillo.

Some would argue that the last vestige of the White Hall public service model disappeared in 2000 with the constitutional amendment that replaced the post of Permanent Secretary with that of Chief Executive Officer.

Others opine that only a change of nomenclature was accomplished and that none of the sought for improvements in public management leadership can be observed….. Public Sector Reform is moribund, and the public service continues generally NOT to be public friendly. It is also a generally held view that the now historic pattern of party political influence on Public Service recruitment requires assessment if the establishment of a truly merit based system of appointments and promotions is to function

One truth can be identified. It is that knowledge of the art of leadership in public management and the implementation of public policy is not easily acquired. Many of the inherited methods of organizing and getting things done continue to be relevant and unique to the realm of public management. And  experientially acquired know how is a necessary ingredient for the preparation of public managers. .

Rudolph Castillo was promoted to the post of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture , Land and Cooperatives on 23^rd August 1974.On 6^th October 1976 he was posted to the Ministry of Education and Housing. On 28^th December 1979, he was posted as Secretary of the Cabinet in the Premier’s Office.

.In 1982 on reaching the retirement age of fifty five years,  he was rehired and continued to work in the capacity of Secretary to the Cabinet. IN December 1983 w he received his first diplomatic appointment as High commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to the European Economic Community, France, West Germany, the Holy See, and UNESCO. He served with distinction until November 1985.In 1990 he was appointed as Belize’s first High Commissioner to Ottawa where again he did much to strengthen Belize’s relations with the government in Ottawa. He served there until 1993 when he retired from the Diplomatic Service

It was not therefore an incident of history when he re entered the Public Service in 2000 as a Researcher in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the age of seventy years.

For the professional and administrative staff in that Ministry, it   was a rich and rewarding experience to tap into the generously offered advice steeped in many years of public service and diplomatic work.His assignment to the Secretariat on Relations with Guatemala headed by Ambassador James Murphy came at a time when Belize was deeply engaged in the OAS brokered Facilitation Process that required intensive archival research support. Rudy, as we eventually dared to call him, became the erudite source whose knowledge of the history of the territorial dispute was augmented by his journalistic skills, his keen insights in the fields of international relations and diplomacy, his vast understanding of the working of Cabinet and of party politics. All this came together at the time when his expertise was direly needed to support the stellar efforts of Belize’s Bi Partisan negotiating team.

For us in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was a rare privilege and a pleasure to work with Rudy. We highly appreciated and valued his quick wit, sense of humor, and prudence in problem solving. Certainly we were proud to work with someone who was living proof that public service is very possible beyond the mandatory retirement age of fifty five years…..   .

I hope that I have shed some light on one of the legacies in his impressive list of achievements.

I know that if he has not already done so, Hugh McCain, retired Permanent Secretary now residing in Houston Texas, will be entering the name of Rudolph Castillo in his kept record of departed peers, perhaps reminiscing on the challenges of national development  they faced  in that time of transition.

It is an appropriate time for introspection,  and for contemplation of the future of governance in Belize as we remember the life and times of Rudolph Innocent Castillo……..

May he Rest in Peace.

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