Veteran Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh has died at the age of 88. As well as his work within   the region, Rickey was also respected abroad for his in-depth political knowledge and passionate pursuit of Caribbean journalism. 

  Caribbean Intelligence’s Managing Editor Debbie Ransome paid this tribute to Rickey who also supported Caribbean Intelligence in its start-up years.

[Please also see below a tribute from veteran Trinidad journalist Tony Fraser who also supported Caribbean Intelligence from its start-up.]

Debbie Ransome writes: The Rickey Singh I knew was kind and supportive of young journalists. In the early 80s when I first arrived in the Caribbean, I grew to rely more and more on his quiet advice-giving skills.

He could be kind and understanding but he would never suffer fools or foolish behaviour gladly. 

His passion for strong and independent Caribbean journalism would drive him and those he advised to take on battles through both the national media associations (in my case, the Media Association of Trinidad& Tobago) and through the then Caribbean Association of Media Workers.

When he saw injustice and attempts to curb media freedom, he would be on the phone to one of us, driving us to keep up the battle of speaking truth to power.

I often turned to him as a veteran analyst for BBC Caribbean when I’d returned to London and I urged my team to. We did this so frequently that we’d sometimes had to stop and think “should we call somebody OTHER than Rickey”.

When BBC Caribbean closed and I set up the diaspora news website Caribbean Intelligence to keep up the pan-Caribbean news flow, Rickey agreed to sit on our editorial board, often calling or emailing me with advice on areas we should be looking into.

The best way we can honour Rickey will be for those of us who knew him to continue fighting the good fight.

RIP Rickey and Thank You.

Debbie Ransome

Tony Rakhal-Fraser writes:

 Mr. Rickey Singh determined for me a disposition that whenever a young reporter came to me later in my career for advice, I was morally bound to assist in whatever manner I had the capacity so to do. Even before I formally entered the media, Rickey as editor of the monthly regional publication, Caribbean Contact, guided and articulated for me that one of my major responsibilities was to become a journalist with an understanding that I was bound to have a Caribbean focus to my work.

The Contact, which he edited here in Port of Spain at upper Charlotte Street in the bloc before the General Hospital, published the works of the major regionalists of the period including the likes of William Demas, Allister McIntyre and reported on the operations of the governments throughout Caricom and beyond.

As could have been expected, Mr. Singh reported on regional matters and also published his thoughts on a range of Caribbean issues and he did so with a deep sense of being of and for the West Indian civilization. So too, those significant individuals analysed the major regional issues of the period.

Having grown to understand what Mr. Singh was attempting to say to a young West Indian like myself, I bravely, even though foolishly ventured forth to leave a researched piece on one aspect of Chinese immigration into Trinidad for publication by the Contact.

I somehow got it into my head that what I had researched and written was worthy of publication in the Contact as it reported on and explored the theme of all of us landing here in T&T and the Caribbean at some point.

I got up the courage to take the piece to the office of the Contact with the plan to drop it at the door and take off before Mr. Singh could lay eyes on my foolishness, more so on me and my braveness and boldness to think I could write something for the Contact.

Well it did not turn out that way. Mr. Singh got his secretary to usher me and my twaddle into his office where he proceeded to read it with me looking at him. Frankly, I wished that a sink hole could open in front of me and swallow me and my absurd ambition into its caverns.

He did not say a word during his reading and when he finished he engaged me in a conversation about it, no bouffs for my “over-vaulting" ambition, no cynical remarks and after what seemed like an hour of serious questioning about the piece and my own ambitions, which must have lasted 10 to 15 minutes but seemed like hours, he called his secretary in asked for a cheque book, made out one of the leaves for $75.00 to me (which was equivalent of  $750.00 in today’s currency) gave it to me and said I should keep in touch and bring whatever else I may write for him.  I floated out of that building and walked on air for days to come. Unfortunately, I could not keep that cheque too long for the purpose of admiration, it being my first ever payment for journalistic work, given my then state of being a borderline case for poverty. 

What Rickey Singh did was to encourage a young hopeful without too much quality to keep trying. He never published the first piece; he was giving encouragement and direction to a young upstart. But subsequently he did publish another few pieces of my work; you cannot imagine the pride I felt when those pieces were published alongside giants of the region, Including Mr. Singh’s pieces.   

In October 1980, I was sent by another senior who also encouraged and guided me, Alfred Aguiton, to Jamaica to cover that country’s general election in which 800-plus persons were killed in election related violence.

There I walked into my first news conference and saw Mr. Singh amongst senior journalists; half of my troubles about being able to fulfill the assignment fell away knowing that he would give advice and guide guidance.  

On entering I sought to demonstrate that I knew my place amongst these senior journalists by sitting at the back of the room. Mr. Singh called me to the front and invited, more like instructed me, to sit next to him. Through the news conference and after he ensured that I knew what was “going down”.

Over the many years when we met, especially at Caricom meetings, he made it his business to ensure that he was available to me for whatever learning I needed about Caricom Affairs, I always utilized those opportunities.

I found him throughout our interactions over the decades always accommodating, always willing to share. I followed the issues he raised at news conferences and the manner he raised them with the prime ministers and presidents of Caricom countries and always without fear or in any way condescending to them.

What I also found very instructive from Mr. Singh was how he found what was the story he wanted to pursue and when he wrote his opinion columns in the Trinidad Guardian and Express, how he was able to hit on the core of a problem and to chastise when he thought it fit the leaders of the region, without fear, but never disrespectful.

In his columns, Mr. Singh also highly influenced me with his regionalist position, which was at times critical of the United States. Mr. Singh for me was the quintessential Caribbean journalist who was passionate about his work and had as his guiding perspective that of the interests of the Caribbean.

The last time I met Mr. Singh (and although at a much later point I built up the courage to refer to him as “Rickey”) was perhaps a year ago. It was at the R.C. Church in St. Anns and I saw him sitting across the church from me and could not wait for the mass to end for me to go to him.

When I caught up with him, his daughter (Donna) on seeing me asked him “do you remember Tony Fraser?”. He smiled and stretched out a welcoming arm; I will remember that for a long time. We hugged each other and he asked “are you behaving yourself?” Still in awe of him I wanted to say but could not bring myself to it: “how could I, having learnt from you not to 'behave' but to continue to champion the cause of the West Indies even if it annoys anyone.”

Rickey Singh, occupy yourself in the place your God has reserved for you ... blessings and my sympathy to your family members left behind, the Caribbean will be missing you for a long time. 

[Tony Fraser originally wrote this for the Media Association of Trinidad & Tobago.]