A Tribute to Rickey Singh

Jul 08, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Regarding your news report on renowned journalist Rickey Singh’s death, his demise is a great loss to the journalist fraternity. For decades, he has been considered as an icon of Caribbean journalism. During his tenure from the 1960s, he set very high standards. He served Guyana and the region well during his long innings. No one has done more for journalism or serving longer than him from the 1950sto the 2020s.

I was fortunate to engage him in Guyana and several countries around the region at CARICOM summits and during elections since the late 1980s, learning a lot about the field as well as about politics in Guyana and the region. Journalists around the region always spoke highly of him at various conferences and Caricom summits and at press conferences. He was considered as the dean of Caribbean journalists. He was sympathetic with several causes. And he was associated with several movements or struggles — against the dictatorship in Guyana and with struggle for workers’ rights and women equality in Trinidad, Barbados, and around the region. He was among the earliest voices against Burnham authoritarianism.

There was or is no other like him and no one has come close to filling his shoes. There is a dearth of journalists, editors, and writers like Rickey Singh. He was a voracious reader and incisive writer, known for his sharp and critical commentary on politics and social issues. He wrote with simplicity and clarity. His unbiased and ethical reporting is a reflection of his commitment to the profession. He had guts to expose hard truths, expose politicians, raise difficult questions, and remain committed to journalistic principles. His dedication to the field and professionalism have made him a distinguished name in the profession.

Rickey Singh was a journalist par excellence and of exceptional organizational and writing skills, objective, professional, emphatic, warm, intelligent, graceful, unflappable, authoritative, and fearless in his reporting and commentaries. His reporting was characterized by meticulous analysis. His writings or reporting have made him a celebrated figure in the field of investigative journalism.

He never shied away from expressing his opinions and explained them with real investigation. He dealt with Caribbean mandarins professionally. Caribbean leaders always call him out for they value his reporting. He never compromised his principles even when he was deported from Barbados by Tom Adams following the US invasion of Grenada. Other journalists and editors should follow his path.

I subscribed to Caribbean Contact that he published during the 1980s out or Barbados. He was high revered for his balanced yet impactful views in that publication as well as in other papers where he was a columnist around the region and in Guyana also. Academicians and political thinkers continue to reference his works to this date.

Rickey Singh will be remembered for years to come. UWI and or UG should hold discussions to establish a journalism institute in his memory and legacy.

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