HE DESERVES THE ORDER OF EXCELLENCE

May 31, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

He deserves the Order of Excellence, the nation’s second highest national award.
The Order of Excellence is no longer the nation’s highest award. In case you missed it, the nation’s highest award has been reserved for Cheddi Jagan. It is called the Order of Liberation of Guyana, and was created especially and only for Cheddi Jagan. It is a one-off award.
This means that no one else will be granted that award which makes Cheddi Jagan stand all alone as the recipient of the nation’s highest award.
The Order of Excellence therefore has been demoted to second place. But it still is de facto the highest national award and is so considered by the vast majority of the citizens of Guyana.
Guyana has not had national awards for many years. This was a shocking and inexcusable development which for years devalued our national independence celebrations.
That the awards were not granted for so many years required an explanation. None was forthcoming officially and therefore this left the door open to speculation.
It was one of the most puzzling developments in the history of this country, a state secret that was kept under wraps.
Finally, however, the awards have been announced. One hundred and thirty-two persons were announced last weekend as the intended recipients of national awards.
That is not unusual for Guyana except that in such a tiny country if that rate is maintained, Guyana will either risk diminishing the standards of those awards or have great difficulty in finding sufficient recipients each year.
There should not be more than two or three national awardees in each category each year, except of course where there are limitations on the number of persons who can be granted a particular award.
In the case of the Order of Excellence, this award can be given so long as more than twenty-five of its recipients are not living.
The award is sparingly given. It is not reserved for Guyanese alone but can be awarded to persons outside of Guyana. It has been given for example to former West Indies captain, Courtney Walsh, and also to the former Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula.
To be in such company is a great honour and considering some of the recipients, then the list of those enjoying the Order of Excellence is indeed an esteemed and revered grouping.
There are many persons who are deserving of the Order of Excellence but none more so that that the person who has played a critical role in the government since the time of Cheddi Jagan.
While he was politically active long before the PPP was returned to power in 1992 and was in fact a respected and highly regarded professional, his fame rose after the PPP came to office and he was catapulted into a position of powerful influence.
He has commanded power and respect. He has been a faithful servant of the ruling administration. He has been by far the staunchest defender of their policies, at times to the point of disbelief. He has been in the forefront of thwarting off criticisms of the ruling party and the government.
He is well known to the media and to the people of Guyana. He cannot be passed for a stranger in the streets even though he is not regularly seen among the masses. But even the smallest of child knows who he is.
He sometimes can irritate you with the way he speaks. But everyone has his own style and idiosyncrasies and this man’s long-winded manner of speaking, has become his trademark.
He has never been known to dodge a question from the media even if at times, the media may not always grasp the full meaning of what he says.
He is no longer a young sprightly man but he is still forceful and also a force to be reckoned with. He can hold his own in any quarter.
Like many professionals, politics is not his refuge.
His training and qualifications would have ensured a comfortable existence outside of politics, yet in the interest of serving the nation, he chose to become a politician and take all the stresses and strains that go with this type of job. For that sacrifice he deserves respect.
If there is anyone alive in Guyana who deserves the Order of Excellence it is him. There is no one more deserving of the nation’s highest award than him. He has earned it.
So why was he not given the Order of Excellence? Why was Dr Roger Luncheon not granted the Order of Excellence?

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HE DESERVES THE ORDER OF EXCELLENCE

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