“In recognizing me I want to say that you really have recognized all the staff members who you don’t see in the newspapers and you don’t see on the TV that work behind the scenes.”
This past weekend, the New York Guyana Medical and Humanitarian Mission (NYGM) held a special recognition ceremony, where Education Minster Priya Devi Manickchand was bestowed with one of its accolades.
It was described as “long in the making” since the award gives recognition to the Minister for her work during her tenure as Human Services and Social Security Minister.
Manickchand, in accepting the honour, told those gathered, inclusive of Cabinet colleagues, family and staffers of the Human Services Ministry that it is the “team” that deserves the honour.
She explained that as she contemplated what to tell the audience she realized that she is being honoured for something that she feels “privileged to be doing.”
Manickchand was adamant, however, that none of what she has been able to achieve over the years was done in isolation.
“I am being honoured tonight for doing something I have been privileged to do…In recognizing me, I want to say that you really have recognized all the staff members who you don’t see in the newspapers and you don’t see on the TV that work behind the scenes. Without the workers at Human Services, the very dedicated workers who are not celebrated, usually we could not have done the work.”
The Minister added that in her new post as Education Minister she is heartened to be in the company of “officers working night and day thinking about what next we can do to make the lives of Guyanese better”.
NYGM singled out the Minister for special mention as a result of several pieces of critical legislation she managed to successfully pilot through the National Assembly.
It was pointed out that the Minister was being honoured “for her services and contributions to the development of key legislation for the development of children’s lives and for her contributions and integrity in executing her duties”.
Manickchand is credited with successfully bringing to the law books of the nation: the Protection of Children Act, the Adoption of Children Act, the Status of Children Act, the Childcare and Development Services Act, the Custody, Contact, Guardianship and Maintenance Act, the Childcare and Protection Agency Act and the Sexual Offences Act.
“Priya is undoubtedly an inspiration to us at NYGM, as well as other groups and the Guyanese people…We are extremely grateful for her support and encouragement which are incalculable. As a token of our appreciation, we feel that it is appropriate to award her with this citation.”
Those were the words of NYGM’s Project Administrator Holly Persaud before presenting the Minister with her recognition plaque.
Persaud reminded that during the group’s interaction with the Minister, “we could discern the fire in her eyes, and she always spoke passionately about the welfare of our children.”
Additionally, Manickchand is also credited for the establishment of the Childcare and Protection Agency, expanding Legal Aid Services from being accessible in the capital city alone to six of ten regions, conducting a countrywide sexual violence campaign and passing a modern Sex Offences Act which revolutionized the way such offences are viewed and treated in Guyana.
Minister Manickchand was also responsible for publishing the National Policy on Domestic Violence and establishing a Men’s Affairs Bureau to work along with the Women’s Affairs Bureau to counter ills people, especially women, face such as gender-based violence.
Manickchand, during her stint as Human Services Minister, a position she assumed and became the youngest Cabinet member at the time, also established the Women of Worth programme, which is a collaboration with a private bank to provide a micro-credit facility for low income earning single-parent women which features a collateral free, low interest loans.
Tasked with addressing the psycho-social needs of victims of Trafficking in Persons, Manickchand has also implemented many policies that saw real change happen in the manner victims were treated and perpetrators dealt with.
Following the Regional and General Elections in 2011, newly-elected Head of State Donald Ramotar extended an invitation for Priya Manickchand to join his cabinet, this time to head and reform the Education Sector.
Manickchand, a mother of two, will celebrate her second wedding anniversary to Captain Bhageswhar Murli of the Guyana Defence Force tomorrow.
NYGM is a charitable non-profit organisation incorporated in the state of New York.
Its mission is four-fold in nature – cultural, educational, medical and humanitarian – and targets communities in New York, the Caribbean and Guyana, having been established some 14 years ago
Source: By Gary Eleazar; https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/08/07/manickchand-cops-humanitarian-accolade/