The AFC wants General Elections. The APNU wants Local Government Elections. The PPP wants no election. The AFC and APNU have threatened to take action if their calls are not heeded. Political parties should be interested in elections for at least two primary reasons– to get into or remain in political office and to ensure that the rules of engagement ...
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Dissolution of PetroCaribe hangs over regional economies by Natan Levy
Reproduced from Business News Americas (http://www.bnamericas.com ) The PetroCaribe energy accord of 2005 stands at a point of significant uncertainty, according to a report from Scotiabank, posing substantial risks to Central American and Caribbean member states. While the collapse of the agreement is not a certainty, the fiscal dependence on Venezuela created by the agreement, which provides subsidized Venezuelan gasoline, is ...
Read More »Op-Ed: No Man is an Island…or should be sent to one
by US Ambassador Brent Hardt. GEORGETOWN – As my tenure in Guyana draws to an end, I was saddened to hear the recent outburst from a prominent religious leader suggesting that his fellow citizens with different sexual orientations should be sent to live on an island. It was of course John Donne who famously observed that “No man is an ...
Read More »Burnham Foundation talks up on Rodney Commission of Inquiry
The Burnham Foundation’s initial disposition, to the announcement of the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Walter Rodney, was one of optimism. The Foundation envisaged that the issue of Rodney’s death would be finally put to rest, although it was and is the view of the Foundation that many lives pre, peri and post 1978 have ...
Read More »For Tribe or Country
by Sara Bharrat (reproduced from the blog: http://sarabharrat.wordpress.com ) “My name is… Bharrat. I am an East Indian Guyanese…” (The beginning of a Primary School composition in the early 90s). The relative of a high ranking public official engaged me in conversation on January 15, 2014. We spoke briefly about the connotations of a certain word. They believe the word is an ...
Read More »The Missing Nigerian girls: PPP’s sham solidarity and police brutality
by Sherlena Nageer Recently, I read a news article in which the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee, when asked his opinion about the case of Alex Griffith- the 15yr old boy who was taken away from his mother and shot in the mouth by Cadet Officer Franz Paul- said that he was not aware of this issue. (Exact ...
Read More »Darren Sammy’s Captaincy and the Unfinished Quest for the Return of National Purpose
by Dr. David Hinds This past week the West Indies cricket selectors named a new captain of the region’s team for Test Cricket, which despite frequent obituaries remains the soul of the game. But the news was hardly about the new captain; it was more about the one who was fired—Darren Sammy. This was inevitable as Sammy is one of ...
Read More »Silent Concurrence, Accomodation and Police Violence against Poor Africans in Guyana
by David Hinds, Political Scientist and Poitical and Social Activist This time it’s a fifteen year old shot in the mouth in the open space. Another poor African Guyanese youth. The numbers swell. Again we mourn, bemoan, condemn. Some of us will picket and hold another forum. Police brutality will again be on the lips of those who are not ...
Read More »Attorney General bemoans opposition reaction to High Court ruling
by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall. I view with deep regret, and indeed, with profound concern, the pronouncements emanating from lawyers who appeared in the recently concluded constitutional challenge to the cuts inflicted on the 2012 Budget. I refer to the lawyers who appeared for the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition, respectively, and who, ...
Read More »Release govt’s files on US-funded democracy project
First, I must express my most sincere gratitude to you, and by extension the Government of Guyana, for responding to my concerns regarding democracy, trust and tragedy in our nation. I hope that our interaction will inspire generations to come. I hope it serves as evidence that our leaders, our politicians, like you, are not unreachable or unwilling to engage ...
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