Dear Editor,
It is with deep regret that I mourn the death of a friend and close colleague, Dr Roy Ibbott, a great Guyanese patriot. We met as civil servants, he attached to the State Planning Secretariat, and I to the Ministry of Finance, about three decades ago. Even though very arrogant, his was not an empty arrogance meant to hide ignorance.
Instead, it was an arrogance due to his self confidence, brilliant mind and sharp wit. He did not suffer fools to come unto him, and could not have tolerated pettiness and lack of understanding of even basic and simple issues. He was afraid of no one − a fearlessness which was enforced by his robust physique and sharp mind. Together with Clarence Ellis, then Chairman of the State Planning Commission, Bernard Crawford, Cecil Douglas, and Joyce Sinclair, Permanent Secretaries in the Public Service Ministry, he spearhearded the transformation of the Guyana civil service into one of the most highly respected and efficient in the Commonwealth Caribbean. He brought to public sector management, including budgeting and social and economic planning, the use of the Logical Framework (Log Frame) as a basic tool for the allocation and management of resources intended to efficiently and effectively produce outcomes for social and economic development. He became known in the civil service as ‘Mr Log Frame.’ He frightened even the top executives and accounting officers who did not prepare their budgets and plans based on the Log Frame, and ever so often sent them back to recast their submissions if they had not been properly prepared. He was so committed, indeed to the level of obsession, that along with his civil service colleagues he mounted workshops throughout every development region in the country on the preparation and use of the Log Frame. Today, I still remain a disciple of his and always remember him whenever I have to apply the Log Frame.
My deepest condolences to his wife and children, and may his soul rest in peace.
Yours faithfully,
A Donald Augustin
