T&T and the wider Caribbean re­mem­ber with grat­i­tude and ad­mi­ra­tion the lives and work of two me­dia gi­ants who passed away over the week­end.

Hans Hanoomans­ingh was one of the most for­mi­da­ble voic­es in broad­cast­ing and

Rick­ey Singh had chron­i­cled the re­gion’s tri­umphs, tur­moil, and trans­for­ma­tion for more than half a cen­tu­ry. Their voic­es, words, and un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to truth and cul­ture left an in­deli­ble mark on the re­gion.

Hanoomans­ingh ded­i­cat­ed his life to telling the sto­ries of his peo­ple. As a broad­cast­er with Ra­dio Trinidad and lat­er at the state-owned Na­tion­al Broad­cast­ing Ser­vice (NBS Ra­dio 610 AM), he ex­em­pli­fied the high­est stan­dards of jour­nal­ism and pub­lic ser­vice.

His res­o­nant voice, im­pec­ca­ble dic­tion, and thought­ful in­ter­views earned him the re­spect of col­leagues and lis­ten­ers alike.

Hanoomans­ingh was far more than a con­sum­mate broad­cast­er. He was a pas­sion­ate pro­mot­er of East In­di­an cul­ture, work­ing tire­less­ly to pre­serve and show­case the tra­di­tions, lan­guage, and artis­tic ex­pres­sions of his com­mu­ni­ty. His pro­grammes were plat­forms that cel­e­brat­ed lo­cal mu­sic, lit­er­a­ture, his­to­ry, and re­li­gious ob­ser­vances, en­sur­ing that cul­tur­al nar­ra­tives were wo­ven in­to the na­tion­al fab­ric.

He al­so con­tributed sig­nif­i­cant­ly to pub­lic life through his roles on na­tion­al com­mit­tees, cul­tur­al boards, and his in­volve­ment with or­gan­i­sa­tions ded­i­cat­ed to in­ter­faith un­der­stand­ing and cul­tur­al preser­va­tion.

In 2012, T&T ho­n­oured him with the Hum­ming­bird Medal (Gold) for his dis­tin­guished con­tri­bu­tion to broad­cast­ing and cul­ture—a tes­ta­ment to a ca­reer marked by ex­cel­lence, in­tegri­ty, and love for coun­try.

Hans Hanoomans­ingh’s pass­ing leaves a void in the world of Caribbean me­dia and cul­tur­al ad­vo­ca­cy. May his mem­o­ry re­main a guid­ing light for those com­mit­ted to truth, cul­ture, and na­tion­al uni­ty.

Born in Guyana, Rick­ey Singh was a com­mit­ted re­gion­al­ist whose ca­reer em­bod­ied the ideals of Caribbean uni­ty, democ­ra­cy, and free­dom of the press. From his ear­ly days at the Guiana Graph­ic to his in­flu­en­tial columns for the Na­tion in Bar­ba­dos and his eru­dite re­port­ing at Caribbean News Agency (CANA), Singh brought clar­i­ty, courage, and con­text to the com­plex so­cio-po­lit­i­cal ta­pes­try of the Caribbean.

His writ­ing was known for its pre­ci­sion and fear­less­ness. Whether dis­sect­ing the in­tri­ca­cies of re­gion­al pol­i­tics, call­ing out cor­rup­tion, or de­fend­ing press free­dom, Singh main­tained an un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to truth and fair­ness. His analy­ses were trust­ed not on­ly by read­ers across the Caribbean but al­so by politi­cians and pol­i­cy­mak­ers who knew that his ob­ser­va­tions car­ried weight.

Yet be­hind the sharp com­men­tary lay a man deeply in­vest­ed in the Caribbean’s progress. He be­lieved that jour­nal­ism was not sim­ply about re­port­ing facts but about hold­ing pow­er ac­count­able and nur­tur­ing de­mo­c­ra­t­ic in­sti­tu­tions. His in­tegri­ty and pas­sion in­spired gen­er­a­tions of jour­nal­ists, set­ting a stan­dard of ex­cel­lence and eth­i­cal con­duct.

Rick­ey Singh’s lega­cy lives on in the count­less ar­ti­cles, columns, and ed­i­to­ri­als that con­tin­ue to in­form and ed­u­cate. Even more en­dur­ing is the ex­am­ple he set—a jour­nal­ist who cared pro­found­ly about his re­gion, who used his words to fos­ter un­der­stand­ing, and who, above all, stood res­olute in the pur­suit of truth.

Rick­ey Singh was not on­ly a dis­tin­guished jour­nal­ist but a Caribbean son who helped shape the con­scious­ness of a peo­ple.

The Caribbean is rich­er for the con­tri­bu­tions of Hans Hanoomans­ingh and Rick­ey Singh. May their lega­cies con­tin­ue to in­spire new gen­er­a­tions of jour­nal­ists and cul­tur­al ad­vo­cates and serve as guid­ing lights for all.