Journalist Rickey Singh passes

Veteran journalist Rickey Singh passed away this morning in Barbados.

Singh, who was born in Guyana, lived and worked in several Caribbean nations, sharing his opinions and analyses of issues affecting the people of the region.

His column Our Caribbean was published in The Nation and he was a regular contributor to publications in Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

After completing his “A” Levels, he landed a job at the Guyana Chronicle, where at age 18, he was invited to write for the Junior Chronicle.

Singh moved through the ranks from reporter to editor and his focus eventually became the political beat.

From the Guyana Chronicle to the Guyana Graphic, he continued to write, drawing the ire of then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham who often disagreed with his analyses. The state eventually bought the publication, leaving him without a job.

Singh left Guyana for Trinidad and Tobago, but he again fell afoul of a politician, branded a communist for supporting the bloodless coup in Grenada under Maurice Bishop. With his work permit not being renewed, he came to Barbados.

This time, it was late Prime Minister Tom Adam who took exception to his comments in The Nation and did not renewed his work permit. Singh’s family – his wife Dolly and the children – remained in Barbados and he roamed the Caribbean as a freelancer.

On Adams’ death in 1985, he was invited to return to Barbados, but refused the work permit in favour of the right to be able to live and work as a citizen. Singh continued to “pen” columns from his home in Strathclyde, St Michael. He never worked for another newspaper, but his work appeared in the publications which supported him when he was roaming.

In 2002, the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus conferred on him an honorary Doctor of Letters.

“I see journalism as the most vital profession in the postcolonial restructuring of the Caribbean,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Sun at that time.

“As journalists we have a social responsibility: we are the gatekeepers of the society, the conveyor belt of competing views helping to stimulate informed public debates.

“Journalism is my life. I think and breathe news.” (SAT)

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