They departed the stage in 2018
(Mar 11th 2018): The former University of Guyana (UG) professor, who is credited for his work in overseeing the establishment of UG back in 1963, passed away in the United States. He was 89. “Dr Drayton’s resourcefulness played an important role in the transformation of the idea to the successful opening of the University of Guyana in October, with night classes at Queen’s College. Dr Drayton served as the university’s inaugural ViceChancellor and Professor of Biology, and was one of the few lecturers who served the then three faculties at UG. Dr Drayton would render eight years of service to UG,” one of his colleagues wrote in a tribute to him.
His longtime friend Harry Hergash said that Drayton received his secondary education at Modern High School, where one of his classmates was Sir Shridath Ramphal, whose father was the founder and Principal of the school, and later, at Queen’s College. In 1948, he won an open scholarship to the University College of the West Indies, Jamaica, now University of the West Indies, but was soon expelled because of his left wing political activism. After a stint of high school teaching in Jamaica, he entered the University of Edinburgh, Scotland where he completed his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees before taking up a lectureship position in Ghana. In December 1962, he heeded Dr Jagan’s call to return home and take on the “university project”.
(May 31st 2018): The Guyanese Calypso icon, known for bold and unapologetic political commentary which challenged the state of affairs, died after a period of illness. He was 72. In 2011, Rebel was honoured for his contribution to the local music scene at a private ceremony organised by Natasha Corrica, Marci Forde and Stanley Phillips in the wake of the announcement of his retirement earlier that same year.
“I was thinking about retiring for some time, but I keep coming back because of my fans and because I love singing… I want to make it clear that I am not done with singing, just with competition,” Phillips had said then. The six-time Calypso Monarch winner had under his belt the 1988 hit “Secondhand,” “Dessie You Wrong” (1993), “Political Lie” (1997), “Ask de President” (2001), “Is We Put You Deh” (2007) and “All Awee Know De Man” (2010). He was also the runner-up nine times in the competition. Many of his popular songs questioned the policies of the president of the day.
In an interview with Stabroek News in 2007, the calypsonian had said he nearly was not Rebel. When he first burst onto the scene and had to find a stage name, he came up with The Midget. It was a name he thought of, given his stature, but a close friend urged him not to use the name and suggested Mighty Rebel instead. He decided to go with it. Rebel had opined that soca music was rising in Guyana to the detriment of calypso music. He said the soca tunes have very little to offer yet many follow them more closely. He said calypso has a message and is more than “rags and flags” but has been neglected at all levels.
(Jun 13th 2018): The popular sports commentator and former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) city councillor passed away following a lengthy period of illness. A glowing tribute was paid to him by former President Donald Ramotar who lauded his work for the party and his concern “for the ordinary man.”
“There are some things I can testify to about his character. He was a strong supporter of our party; the People’s Progressive Party for decades. He stood with us during some of the most difficult times, for example in the 1970s, when supporting the PPP could have been seen as inviting oppression from the then government – the People’s National Congress,” Ramotar said.
“He never made a secret of his admiration for Dr Jagan and his teachings and refused to join with those who succumbed to the pressure to deny the PPP and it tells the type of person he was. When PPP returned in 1992, he was one of the close supporters of Cheddi. He later served at the Georgetown City Council where he felt he could impact the ordinary citizens of the town he lived in. He did an outstanding job for the citizens of Georgetown from 1994 until he got sick and came off,” he added.
Ramotar lauded Mann’s contribution to sports as a commentator. “He was a commentator of especially cricket and boxing, at a time when many persons did not have television in Guyana. Rocky gave vivid imagery when he was commentating and you felt as if you were there.” Mann was also an insurance salesman.
(Jun 21st 2018): The ex-army officer died at the Kitty-based Mercy Resident Care Home where he was recovering from a stroke. Hinckson, who was 74 years old and a father of seven, died peacefully, his nephew Royston Meredith had told this newspaper. Aside from his successful military career, which included being the first Guyanese to attend the UK-based military academy, Sandhurst, the outspoken Hinckson was also a teacher, an entrepreneur and author. He authored several books but his failing sight forced him to shelve manuscripts he was working on.
Under the Bharrat Jagdeo Presidency, Hinckson was charged on March 11, 2008 with advocating the commission of a terrorist act and uttering seditious statements, both of which were later dismissed. The second charge stemmed from a statement he made during a press conference at City Hall.
Abdul Kadir (Jun 28th 2018): The former PNCR parliamentarian died in a US prison where he had been serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up fuel tanks at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York. He was 66. From 2001 to 2006, he had served as a regional Member of Parliament for the then opposition PNCR. He had also previously served as Mayor of Linden from 1994 to 1996. Kadir was sentenced by a US court to life in 2010 after being convicted, while his co-conspirator, another Guyanese, Abdel Nur, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 15 years in 2011.
Prosecutors had said that the bomb plot was hatched in January 2006 by Russell De Freitas, a Guyanese who is a US citizen, and reportedly involved blowing up jet fuel tanks leading to the airport. Kadir, formerly Michael Seaforth, was convicted of conspiracy to attack a public transportation system; conspiracy to destroy a building by fire or explosive; conspiracy to attack aircraft and aircraft materials; conspiracy to destroy international airport facilities; and conspiracy to attack a mass transportation facility. He had maintained his innocence and testified that he was not involved in the terrorism scheme but that he had feigned interest in the plan because he hoped its architects would help him raise money to build a mosque.
(Jul 10th 2018): The Head of the Committees Division of the National Assembly passed away at the Georgetown Public Hospital after suffering from a brief illness. She was 56. A resident of Dr Miller Drive, Triumph, East Coast Demerara, Cadogan had served the National Assembly for 19 years, having begun to work there on October 6, 1999.
According to the Parliament of Guyana’s website, the Committees Division was established in May 2003 and provides secretarial and administrative support and procedural advice to all the Committees of the National Assembly. Each Committee is provided with a Clerk and an Assistant Clerk of Committee and, where necessary, a researcher. “The Division is managed by the Head of Committees Division who plays an important role in the coordination of resources between the other departments and in the dissemination of information to and from the Committees Division,” it further read.
(Jul 31st 2018): The prominent Guyanese doctor died in Jamaica two years after retiring and after a prolonged period of illness. The certified obstetrician and gynaecologist retired in 2016 at age 79 after 50 years in practice. At the time of his retirement, he had told Stabroek News that he suffered a near-death experience in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago while attending the graduation of his granddaughter.
Mitchell had called for local politicians to stop interfering in the policy decisions made by medical professionals that are aimed at developing the nation’s healthcare system. On speaking of political influence on polices in the health sector, he spoke of how he ached to see his daughter, who was a serving doctor here, retire from serving on the Medical Council of Guyana after just four years because of such interference.
Her fights were exhausting and draining, not with patients or peers but with the then Ministry of Health, which, according to him, is supposed to be the partner of the local medical fraternity in the fight to improve healthcare. Born in Linden and raised in Industry, the Queen’s College alum told this newspaper that he always knew he wanted to be a physician.
In pursuit of this dream, he studied medicine at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and later underwent specialised post-graduate training in Barbados, at the Yale University in the United States and at Hammersmith in the United Kingdom. Mitchell, a fourdecade member of the Medical Council of Guyana and former Superintendent at the Suddie