Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
An encouraging list of National Awardees
The 2019 list of national awardees is encouraging; it manifests a well-thought out and rather balanced group of recipients. Comprehensive it is, with the list stretching to seventy-seven names. There is 
something for everyone, be he or she either critic lurking in ambush to dismiss; or detractor seeking to dilute; or the thoughtful moving to praise.
There is Monsignor Terence Montrose of the Roman Catholic Church with his Cacique’s Crown of Honour. It is a fitting honoring of a man of the cloth who has contributed to church, many near and far-flung communities and to the country as a whole for quite a few decades.
His service has been tireless and humble; an example and model for all Guyanese. Indeed, he is a Guyanese of a rare kind, a much desired and sought-after type of citizen. Congratulations to the man of God.
Congratulations are extended, too, to his fellow recipients from the fields of diplomacy, public service, and the legal courtyard.
Here are some longstanding public figures, a few of the known and everyday faces and voices, who need no introduction to the Guyanese public. There is Halim Majeed, Hamley Case, and Senior Counsel Fung-a-Fat.
Truly, they are indicative of the diverse rainbow that is Guyana. There are some names in the list, truth be told, that represent recognition of long serving stalwarts from the realm of politics, and a national award is some measure of gratitude for loyalty and comradeship.
Next, a place on the raised dais, with a bow, medal, and ribbon are given to several scores more of those who have risen up and given to this society and its peoples much of their energies, their time, and their life in one field of endeavor after another.
Some are from the military and law enforcement, others from the school of education, and others again in such unconnected arenas as politics, technology, sports, mining, and aviation. Unconnected as those individual calls may have been, what, however, connects these sons and daughters of the soil is that devotion through thick and thin, through light and dark, through joy and distress to lift up town and country, environment and themselves.
They have done so through lifetimes of stirring achievement. And this Mashramani Day announcement should stand as testimony and celebration of the steady, broad-minded work, approach, and results of first the nominators, reviewers, and final decision makers; and second to the legacies left and now enshrined publicly for these Guyanese and for what they have delivered to their fellow countryfolk. It is laudable work all around.
For next year, already oily with promise, and visibly and audibly pregnant in a turbulence of temper, more than passing thought should be given, and is recommended, towards the recognizing of some others, who have also given long and hard, and have registered indelible imprints on this always moving, always heaving society.
For purposes of the constructive and progressive, the fair and the all-encompassing, such identifications and recognitions ought to include, like him or leave him, Mr. Frederick Kissoon; Sister Marie Harper, OSU; and the late Lennox Beckles (posthumously).
There are others who have languished unnoticed and unheralded on the periphery of the tributary and that of the memory.
Such national encomia are way overdue; they have been a long time in coming. It is now that time to fix the record. It is time to maintain and improve upon what is a real sound and praiseworthy cluster of gems and stars in this year’s national awardees.
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