Dear Editor,
Rickey Ramotar Singh was one of the English-speaking Caribbean’s most respected and radical professionals.
His life and works spanned the Cold War era and extended into the decades of neoliberalism.
Certainly, those who preceded and collaborated with him in the field of journalism, such as the late Carl Stone of Jamaica, Carl Blackman, David de Caires, Cecil Griffith, Sandra Baptiste and Hubert Wiliams of Guyana, would have rated ‘Ricky’, as everyone called him, ‘a Role Model’.
But he was also a leader.
For several years he directed much effort towards Caribbean unity, often setting out in substance what leadership priorities in various parts of the Caribbean would adhere to as agenda issues.
As editor of the Caribbean Contact and in close association with the Caribbean Council of Churches, Ricky Singh achieved remarkable liberation theology-type acclaim amongst the various religious communities.
Here in Guyana, his journalism and ingenuity expressed in the Guyana Chronicle were crafted and designed to empower the masses of working people.
He was ingenious in interpreting complex political issues to make these accessible to large sections of the reading public.
Perhaps in our polarised society Rickey Singh recognised that, essentially, truth would invariably transcend misinformation and the impacts of what was once described as an administrative dictatorship – by no other than our great freedom fighter Dr Cheddi Jagan.
Perhaps it would have been this trait that brought him close to other erstwhile Guyanese, including Miles Fitzpatrick, Martin Carter, Joshua Ramsammy, Boysie and Ralph Ramkarran, as well as B. H. Benn and Eusi Kwayana.
This historical periodisation spans several decades when he practised the option that ‘spoke truth to power’ and maintained high principles whilst being optimistic as to the power of the pen compared to that of the sword.
I recall several occasions delivering statements to his Bourda residence, either from the Water Rodney Solidarity Committee or the Guyana Friendship Societies. Many of these would have been re-edited or revised prior to being carried in the Guyana Chronicle, which at that time was controlled by the PNC (paramountcy).
Beyond this, Ricky Singh’s peer group extended to include highly regarded leaders such as Janet Jagan, Basedo Panday, Lloyd Best and Rafique Shaw.
And it could also be part of reality that Ricky Singh, up until the end, lobbied the case for Guyana’s sovereignty and independence specific to the issue of the false territorial claims of the Maduro ruling group. Guyanese will always owe a debt to the contribution and unique efforts of Ricky Singh.
