Latest update September 11th, 2026 10:26 AM
Our martyrs, the heroes of Guyana
– IN TRIBUTE TO SHAZIM, EON, CHETRAM, RICHARD AND MARK
It seems as if it were only yesterday that they were here with us. Today, however, marks two years since the untimely martyrdom of our five beloved employees, Shazim Mohamed, Eion Wegman, Chetram Persaud, Richard Stewart and Mark Maikoo. Today, we remember them in this special editorial.
The five were all slain on August 8, 2006 while they were at work at our printery, which at the time was located at Eccles, on the East Bank of Demerara. They were slain just three weeks before the country went to General and Regional Elections.
These five ordinary men have become heroes for press freedom. They were killed while serving this newspaper. They were all slaughtered without provocation and without offering any resistance.
Those who carried out this heinous act were interested only in creating public terror so as to set the stage for instability, with the ultimate goal of thwarting the elections that were scheduled for August 28, 2006.
The deaths of our five workers shocked the entire world, but, more importantly, it galvanized an entire nation, which committed itself to ensuring that the elections of August 28, 2006 would be peaceful.
That those elections were conducted in the most peaceful of climates is a tribute to the Guyanese people who were outraged by the deaths of our five workers.
Not only were the elections peaceful, but they were, in a remarkable way, followed by a period of calm and stability. In this regard, our five workers are martyrs of a free Guyana. Today, we so salute them.
Throughout the struggles for freedom in Guyana, the press has suffered casualties. But no media entity in Guyana has paid as high a price as this newspaper. No newspaper has suffered the losses that we have suffered.
When, therefore, we hear politicians, who ought to know better and who ought to appreciate the sacrifice that we have made to the cause of freedom in Guyana, associate this newspaper with the “hostile media,” we wonder whether they are not trampling on our history and, more especially, on the memories of our five heroes — Shazim, Eion, Chetram, Richard and Mark.
On that terrible night when our five colleagues lost their lives, the staff of Kaieteur News took a remarkable decision that the next day’s edition, which the men were preparing to print, would hit the streets.
It was a courageous decision that was, in part, tribute to the men — something that we knew they would have wanted — and also showed the character of this newspaper, which refused, even amidst such a terrible human tragedy, to be intimidated. Our five workers knew what we stood for.
They became part of our family, because they stood for the same values and they embodied the same inner strength which has allowed this newspaper to survive and thrive to the stage where it is now — Guyana’s leading daily.
We shall not allow the baton to drop. We shall not be pressured into submission. We have the example of Shazim, Mark, Eion, Chetram and Richard to inspire us.
More importantly, we shall ensure that their deaths are not in vain — that press freedom, democracy, and the Kaieteur News remain strong.
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