Former Journalist Mondale Smith loses battle to COVID-19

Former journalist and popular broadcaster Mondale Smith has lost the battle to the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19), throwing the media fraternity into a deep state of mourning.
The Health Ministry confirmed Smith’s death on Monday morning. He passed away while a patient at the Infectious Disease Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara. However, his death was not reflected in the daily dashboard update on Monday.
Smith became ill with COVID-19 sometime last week and later became hospitalised after he encountered breathing issues.
President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), Nazima Raghubir indicated that Smith’s death was confirmed by the Health Minister when she contacted him.
GPA extended its condolences to the family and friends of Smith via a statement.
Smith started his media career at the Guyana Broadcasting Authority in the early 1990s, he produced as well as hosted radio shows at the State broadcasting agency. He would later join the Evening News and eventually became one of the faces of Prime News newscast. There, he anchored the news, covered hard news and sports for that entity.
Smith also worked at the Guyana Times for over three years as a senior journalist. We was also a feature writer for Guyana Times.
Smith also worked at Kaieteur News among several other places.
“Throughout his media career, he never backed down from a challenge or a story, he was known for his many stand-ups and for going after stories that showed the reality we lived in. All of this spoke of Mondale’s versatility and love for journalism, he was always eager to tackle an issue or go after a story. Even as Mondale had moved on to another career, he would share stories or highlighted issues that came to him,” GPA President Raghubir said in a statement of condolence to his family.
A number of Smith’s former media colleagues took to social media to express profound sadness and share good memories of working with him.
Smith’s most recent job was that of personal assistant to former Education Minister Nicolette Henry. He was appointed to the post sometime in 2016 and served until 2020.
He was an avid cook and had been running a catering business while employed with the Ministry. After the change of Government, he was offered another role but declined to focus more on his catering business.
It resulted in him opening Chef Mondale’s Kitchen on Church Street, Georgetown. There he served “creole cuisine catering to everyone seeking quality, healthy, Guyanese cooking… Because you are from Kings and Queens you must eat like Royalty”.
Smith had a deep love for food and culture and would often be seen either covering or participating in various cultural activities. He was also well known for assisting to tell the stories and share the struggles of everyday Guyanese.
A devout Christian, Smith’s last Facebook post was that of a link to Tamela Mann’s performance of “Take Me to the King.”
The Education Ministry in a statement on Monday said, “The Ministry of Education is truly saddened by the passing of Mr Mondale Smith, who served the Ministry in various capacities. His presence and contributions will not be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends as we wish them courage and peace during this time of mourning.”
Education Minister Priya Manickchand also expressed her condolences to the family of Smith and urged everyone to ensure they get vaccinated against the deadly virus.
The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) said that Smith had always been a supporter of its activities and even participated in some of its earliest activities, like community support groups which were held in 2005.
“As a journalist, he took great pride in covering our events for various media houses where he worked over the years. Mondale was also the Master of Ceremonies at several #SASOD events. Most recently, in December 2018, he was the MC at our 15th anniversary cocktail reception at which then Minister of Education, Dr Nicolette Henry, was the guest speaker. At the time, Mondale was the Minister’s Personal Assistant with Responsibility for Public Relations. #MondaleSmith is a household name in #Guyana. His contributions to the media, arts, culture and entrepreneurship are too numerous to mention,” SASOD said via a statement on its Facebook page.
Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon said “Mondale was an outstanding journalist with a strong sense of social justice whose contribution to media in Guyana has been significant and whose absence from media and the society will be deeply missed.”