BEFORE I get to the main subject of this article, I’d like to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who called and e-mailed, commending me on the last article I published, ‘Sex, Schooling and Technology’. I’ve published it twice, the past two consecutive Sundays, at the suggestion of some readers, primarily parents, who said, in effect, that the piece struck a chord with them. The second thing I’d like to note is — and I may be subject to correction — the initiative taken by Survival Supermarket to establish special shopping days for elderly people. This sort of innovation is in the spirit of what I was trying to communicate across several articles that I wrote on how we can create systems to better serve those among us who are advanced in years. While I am going to repeat my suggestion of the establishment of a one-stop shop for the elderly to access State services, I think Survival’s initiative provides the opportunity for the private sector to creatively come up with ways to make their services more elderly-friendly.
On that note, I’d like to turn now to the main point of the article, a farewell to a remarkable man — Sharief Khan. When I took over the Chairmanship of the Board of Directors of GNNL, I got to know the true character of the small-statured Editor-in-Chief of the Guyana Chronicle. For those who don’t know him, Sharief Khan was, on first sight,  a short, unassuming man, bristling with an energy that belied the fact that he was anywhere above his late forties, and this is after his first struggle with the heart problem that would eventually out his fire. It was amazing to me the amount of force and authority that emanated from someone so seemingly physically inept to wield it.
I remember Board meetings where Sharief would be in disagreement with some Board member or the other, and once he held a position on something that he felt was right, he would give no quarter. For a man known to be in complete control of the Editorial Department during his tenure at the top, his disagreements with the Board were without the arrogance that so many in senior positions are known to adopt. If Sharief was unconvinced of your position, he communicated so in his deep, measured tones, making his case with the sort of eloquence and clarity that would make some of the more learned lawyers among us envious.
Coming on as Editor-in-Chief in 1992, in many ways, the Chronicle was Sharief’s paper. He commanded a level of respect among his staff that is rare anywhere, but also rarer was an admiration that came coupled with that respect. I’ve spoken to staff members who worked under Sharief, and the general picture was that while he had no issue with being swift with sanction, such was his leadership skill that there was seldom the need for it in the first place.
I can’t speak with any authentic detail with regard to his legend as a journalist, frankly speaking, because, like most outside of the media fraternity, I live in relative ignorance of how the news gets to me, but there was proof of it enough in simple interaction with the man. Disagreements notwithstanding, or even included, it was engaging with Sharief that provided me and other members of the Board with our first knowledge of the internal ‘machinery’ of a newspaper.  He was my principal guide in creating a Journalism Protocol for the entity, something he strongly believed in.
Sharief was never stingy with his journalistic experience, as those who worked with him can attest; and when he inevitably had to leave (due to the strenuous pressure the duties of Editor-in-Chief put on his heart), his chief concern was the continued development and training, which he generously offered to oversee, of the younger journalists.
The last time I saw Sharief, and this was about a month or so ago, he promised to pay me a visit for us to sit down and talk in a way we haven’t had the chance to for quite a while. He seemed relatively healthy, his energy up as usual, so it was shocking to hear of his sudden death, despite knowing about his health problems. I guess the last ‘lesson’ Sharief had imparted to me is that life is something that should be lived fully, despite the circumstance.