Civil Society

by GHK Lall There is an anticlimactic feel to the court decision(s). Now there is breathing space for re-strategizing and repositioning, and none more so than for an opposition, which prematurely overreached. Oil does make for madness. Also, GECOM gets some much-needed space to operate; and a government with a second lease on life is provided an opportunity to shake ...

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch Tuesday night cited the need for democracy and an independent civil society to sustain private sector growth and development. “Together with sound, democratic governance and an independent and active civil society, the private sector here has the opportunity to thrive and Guyana has the opportunity to become one of the wealthiest countries in ...

President David Granger and his government might remain in office as a matter of “necessity” if he does not first give into Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo’s demands to name an election date first before the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) support to extend the 90-day time-frame within which Guyanese must go to the polls, officials said. “The debate arises: what happens ...

Newly-appointed United States (US) Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch on Wednesday said the US would back free and fair general and regional elections. “Moving forward, we will continue to encourage genuinely free and fair elections, freedom of speech and assembly, multiparty representation and a constitutional judiciary process,” she said immediately after presenting her credentials to President David Granger. Ambassador Lynch’s ...

A group of non-governmental organisations calling themselves the Civil Society Forum on Monday publicly called on President David Granger to name an election date or risk his administration being labelled “illegal”. “His not naming that date thus far has increased the probability that the government will be accused of being illegal after March 21,” the Forum said in a statement. ...

By GHK Lall The road in Guyana keeps getting rougher: from hardline to deadline to immovable lines in the mud. The word is: No way! Not today! None of this leaves any room to maneuver; less space for optimism for those few citizens who do not proudly number themselves in the ranks of the unalterably committed (politically) and the increasingly ...

A broad-based Civil Society Forum on Thursday urged Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to seek a meeting with the Guyanese leader to end the almost two-month-old stalemate over the holding of general elections. “The Forum’s position is that there should be some level of compromise and so while the Forum would like to see compliance with the constitution, the Forum is ...