Patriotic son of the soil, JP Shakir Bacchus, is a ‘Special Person’

Apr 18, 2021 News, Special Person

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“We should live as one nation and pursue one destiny, that is, the betterment of good for Guyana so that the future generation can build from what we have left and mount up to Mount Everest.”

By Malisa Playter-Harry

 

Kaieteur News – It was Albert Einstein who said “strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value” and Shakir Bacchus, a Commissioner of Oaths and Justice of the Peace (JP) from the Ancient County of Berbice, has lived up to this thereby becoming a valued asset in his society.
The 73-year-old, who lives at Hampshire Village, Corentyne, Berbice, is known by many persons throughout the length and breadth of Berbice and some other parts of the country as well. The work that he has done for many has made a lasting impression in their lives.
Born on Valentine’s Day back in 1948, Bacchus grew up with his parents and eight siblings. He spent his childhood days on the sugar plantation at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, where his parents worked to maintain their large family. Because of their dedicated work on the sugar plantation, his parents were each afforded the opportunity of acquiring half an acre of rice lands, which they cultivated for family purposes.
In a recent exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, the now well-known Bacchus recalled that during his formative years he attended a primary school at Lusignan. His siblings, he said, attended various other schools in Georgetown.
When he completed his primary education at the age of 12, Bacchus said that he was given a scholarship to attend the Kitty Progressive College. “The school offered it just when it was opening, so they had a placement application for entrance and some of us applied…they offered five persons a scholarship and I was among the five and I progressed there,” he shared. There, he completed the College of Preceptors examinations and then went on to pursue three subjects – English Language, English Literature and Geography – at the GCE O’ Level. Bacchus, at the age of 20, applied and was successful in his bid to become a teacher at his Alma mater (Kitty Progressive College).He would teach there for one year before deciding to apply for a position as a Clerk at the Enmore Sugar Estate. He qualified instead for a senior position.
Without getting into specifics about his Estate job, Bacchus went on to speak about his marriage life, recalling that in 1982 he got married to his lovely wife, Bibi. The union, he said, yielded two beautiful daughters, Farona (now deceased) and Zarifa. He is currently a proud grandfather of two as well.
While he worked at the Estate, Bacchus said he chose to become involved in the “political scene,” even joining Dr. Cheddi Jagan in campaign activities. He campaigned at the Rose Hall Estate for the People’s Progressive Party in 1992 and admitted that he was motivated to do so because of his father. “I grew up in it,” said Bacchus.

 

INSPIRED BY HIS DADAs he recalled his father’s political involvement back in the day, Bacchus mentioned that he (his father) was an executive member of the Manpower Citizens’ Association, which started back in 1937 with the aim of representing sugar workers. His father, he said too, was a Trade Unionist “but felt that injustices were meted out to sugar workers and they had no voice.” As a result, Bacchus said that his father had raised these concerns with the then leader of the Manpower Citizens Association, Mr. Richard Ishmael. But his father, Bacchus said, got no satisfaction because “it appears they were all in collusion with the sugar planters against workers.”
Bacchus said that his father then left the Association with a plan to represent and fight for sugar workers independently. But he was ostracised, Bacchus recalled.
His father, he said, had moved from the Lusignan Estate to the Enmore Estate but later returned to Lusignan as he was offered the position of Shift Hand there.
“Because of his consistency in his work whether there was strike or no strike, he worked continuously when they offered him a Shift Hand (position) on the drainage and irrigation pumping station at Lusignan,” Bacchus said of his father.
The pensioner, who now operates as a JP and Commissioner of Oath from his Hampshire residence, said that his father “inspired me to go into politics becaus

e I grew up in poverty. We had to go to school up until high school with bare pants; no bukta (underpants) was under it. My life was challenging in the form of obtaining wealth but it was a pleasant way of living in the unity of the family. We were brought up in such a home that there was always joy in us and there was always sharing with family and parents, love towards brothers and sisters; grandparents were kind and helpful, and in their eyes, we never committed an error.”

LOVE FOR COUNTRY
When he started out in politics, Bacchus recalled meeting a man by the name of Rohit Persaud, a former organiser for the PPP on the East Coast Demerara. He noted that it was Persaud who advised him to advance himself academically. He mentioned that after working at the Enmore Estate he was transferred to the Albion Sugar Estate and worked on the broiler. Nevertheless, he continued to further his studies. While working he attended the Port Mourant Training School for two years before moving on to the New Amsterdam Technical Institute for three years. He subsequently acquired “structural engineering theory and compliance and I became a structural engineer within the contractual confines at the project section at GuySuCo.”
Reminiscing on his past Bacchus said, “when I went on the platform with Forbes Burnham when he took over the sugar estates in nationalising it at Rose Hall, Canje…we gave our support and said that the patrimony and the national treasury belong to Guyanese and not expatriates and we were one and said that Guyana is our property, Guyana is our home, here is where we belong and Guyanese is our people.”
Working in the sugar industry, Bacchus had a keen eye for what worked and what did not. Reflecting, Bacchus shared his belief that while he worked at GuySuCo under the leadership of Harold Davis Snr., things were very “straightforward.”
“He was a good leader; he saw people and not machinery as the asset for the sugar industry. He saw people and ensured that the safety regulations, labour and fair wages were all maintained. But then we got political interference where we got mismanagement of the sugar industry,” Bacchus added. Continuing, he said, “One of the objectives of being an engineer on the estate was that we built (things) and I can tell you that what we built, up to today, it still stands.”
“I will agree that you have to give way to modernisation and technology for improvement, but I was very disturbed when the last government made the run for less caring for the sugar estate and one of the things I vehemently oppose was closing of Enmore, Rose Hall and Wales,” he asserted.

STILL PASSIONATE
Bacchus, who is still very passionate about the industry he once worked in, said that he also made recommendations to the board of inquiries and recalled that one of those recommendations was that there was no need to close sugar estates since taking care of them could ensure their sustainability.
“I said you don’t need to close them. I have a motor car PCC 204, it’s 53 years old and it’s still working first key start because of its maintenance, its oil change, its caring and cleanliness and similarly, new factories, if you were to put in that care, that maintenance and that proper management, you would have gotten them till today…a better sugar factory than what we have right now,” he added.
After serving with pride in the sugar industry, Bacchus took on many other portfolios. In fact, he has served with distinction in many capacities in Region Six over the last 50 years. Bacchus has been Local Government Chairman, Child Rights Chairman, Director of the Board of the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI), Legal Affairs Chairman of GWI, Finance Officer of GWI and Finance Officer of Region Six. He had also served as Works Chairman and headed the Region Six Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme for many years. At one point too, Bacchus sat on the Teaching Service Commission in the Region. The Commissioner of Oaths and JP is a legal marriage officer and a peace councillor in the Region.
Bacchus said he decided to follow his current professional path after he had become ill and was sitting at his desk preparing some legal documents for an agre

JP Shakir Bacchus is a ‘Special Person’ement settlement between two parties in a minor accident. That was a decade ago.
These days too he also offers voluntary services in the areas of engineering, accounting and management.
He has also taken up the mantle to sign application forms and student loan forms for University of Guyana students at no cost to them. Without charging a dime too, he offers to sign old age pension, estate and business community pension forms.
“I feel I am contributing to the development of my country because at the moment I am having a good pension from NIS and good old age pension and I don’t have additional expenses, so I don’t see why I can’t volunteer my services to help other people to attain those standards and stature,” he said with a smile on his face.
Happy to be a patriotic Guyanese, Bacchus recounted that he chose to stay in Guyana, although his siblings and mother had migrated. “Since I was born, I haven’t applied for a passport because I don’t need one. Here is where I belong, this is my home,” he passionately underscored.
His appeal, therefore, is that people should love their country and love their fellow human beings.
“We should live as one nation and pursue one destiny…that is the betterment of good for Guyana so that the future generations can build from what we have left and mount up to Mount Everest,” said Bacchus who we are happy to be called our ‘Special Person’ this week.

 

 

 

 

 

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