GUYANA’S PESONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO…..

Dec 31, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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This is the last day of 2009 and as is customary it is time for this column to announce the Peeping Tom Award for Guyana’s Personality for 2009.
As has been the case for the past few years, there have been many contenders for this award. The choice was not easy.
In making the final choice, this column had to consider the individual who have had the greatest positive impact on our society. Thus, it was not simply looking for the person with the greatest impact for had that been the case some very dubious characters would have run away with the award in past years. The award is value laden and thus the final choice is highly subjective. This column makes no apology for this.
The first contender was Adam Harris, the editor of Kaieteur News. Adam has done a remarkable job this year and has made a huge impact on our readership by his handling of the many investigative journalism stories carried in this newspaper.
Kaieteur News broke new ground this year when it made a number of sensational disclosures about public contracts. While this was the work of many journalists within our staff, the ultimate accolade must be given to the Editor who provided leadership and direction to the process.
Adam also broke a number of stories about the CLICO fiasco and the Kaieteur News ended the year with the best satirical magazines ever produced in Guyana. It was published in our Christmas edition. The concept was fantastic and Adam deserves a special award for that particular piece. He was thus one of leading contenders for the Personality of the Year Award.
The second contender was for Personality of the Year award was the man with the hammer, or rather the sledge hammer. I refer to the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Robeson Benn. He has my fullest support for what he is doing because lawlessness has gotten so out of hand in Guyana that it needed strong and condign action to return sanity to our reserves and parapets.
The Minister has also been active in helping to contain the effects of overtopping of sea defenses and in repairing the roadways and making them safer.
He has done a fantastic job this year. While his actions have made him highly unpopular in some circles, it must be said that he has shown great courage in undertaking his tasks. He is another leading contender for Personality of the Year Award.
The third contender is the Captain Gerry Gouveia, one of Guyana’s leading entrepreneurs. He has shown great confidence in the Guyanese economy and has been prepared to put his money where his mouth is. He has invested millions into Guyana this past year. His recent acquisition of Duke Lodge must be the envy of many a business person but it was the Captain who demonstrated that he is prepared to take the risks that others are cautious about and for his entrepreneurial achievements and especially his acquisitions this year, the good man deserves his nomination for Personality of the Year Award.
The fourth contender was none other than President Bharrat Jagdeo whose Low Carbon Development Strategy came out of nowhere and fascinated an entire country. In the process, the President single-handedly conscripted an entire nation behind this plan, with the exception of a few naysayers of course, and pursued his advocacy for a new global climate change deal with a passion that was unmatched.
He has emerged as one of the world’s leading climate change figures. For his role, he was invited to speak to a number of universities and shared the spotlight with a number of experts and leaders as he spoke of the need for a REDD+ deal.
Coming against the background of his Chairmanship of the Boards of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, his championing of the environment has assured him of being Guyana’s most internationally recognized President.
For his efforts on Climate Change he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize, most likely for his work in the environment. He can very well win.
However while the President was a solid contender for the award of Personality for 2009, he did not take the prize. The Peeping Tom Award for the Guyanese Personality of 2009 goes to someone who this column feels made the greatest positive contribution to Guyana in 2009.
That person made a landmark decision, which will change things for the better in this country. I refer here to the decision in our Courts earlier this year by Justice Ian Chang whose landmark ruling was later endorsed by the Court of Appeal in another case.
While holding that no one has an absolute right to a broadcast license, Justice Ian Chang, the Chief Justice (ag) of Guyana contended however that a delay in considering an application for a broadcast license constituted an infringement of the applicant’s right to freedom of expression. This was a historic ruling.
That decision will now lead to the liberalization of the broadcast media spectrum and the imminent tabling of Broadcast legislation. It is a decision, which will do more for press freedom than has ever been done by any other single judicial decision in Guyana.
Thus without doubt, the person who has had the greatest positive impact in Guyana in 2009 is none other than Justice Ian Chang,

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