Many immigrants, including those from Guyana and other Caricom countries, in the United States, especially those residing there illegally, are still very uncertain about their future in their adopted homeland. Certainly, President Donald Trump’s hardline position on immigration issues has created much fear and anxiety among immigrant communities. The immigration crackdowns across the country, especially in areas where large numbers of immigrants reside, are increasing. Just recently, according to an article by Amsterdamnews.com, in a five-day targeted enforcement action that ended on September 25, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)…
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Strategy for small parties and change
In January 2005, with elections a year away, I proposed a “Centre Force” strategy for the plethora of smaller parties then around: ROAR, GAP, WPA — the three with single seats in Parliament — together with the JFAP, Unity Party and Vision Guyana, plus individuals who would soon form the AFC. We are at a similar juncture, and I again proffer the advice against the background that it was rejected then, but the “Third Force” that emerged died in stillbirth. This is being done for several reasons, but primarily because…
Read MoreConstitutions, anyone?
With elections in the air, talk of Constitutions and constitutional change are flying fast and furious, especially after the PNC’s flouting of the present Constitution in the NCM fiasco. It should help, then, if citizens are more aware about what Constitutions are all about. Essentially, Constitutions describe the allocation of State powers amongst its various branches as defined by the Constitution itself; prescribe the rules by which those powers would be conferred and also include procedures by which the Constitution may be altered. In a fundamental sense, therefore, a Constitution…
Read MorePolitricks…
…by PNC nailed – again The major issue the PNC-AFC combination exploited to ease the PPP out of office in 2015 was “corruption”. They threw so much mud at PPP officials about “siphoning off billions and billions” from the treasury that enough of it inevitably stuck after 23 years. It’s one of the hazards of extended incumbency. Ordinary folks forget about all the good that was done for them after the ravages of the previous regime, and start believing the grass will really be greener… Once in office, the PNC-AFC…
Read MoreConstitutional reform
Facing severe domestic and international censure over its failure to deliver on its Manifesto promise to initiate constitutional change to address our political logjam, PNCR Executive member Gary Best sought to shift the blame to the Opposition PPP. He claimed, “We had to get at least two-thirds of the members [of the National Assembly] to vote for the many clauses and articles that are now in the Constitution. So constitutional reform is not an activity for the party in power, it’s an activity for all the parties in power, and…
Read MoreMaintaining healthy lifestyles
By Jainarine Deonauth Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation Dr Gillian Smith was quoted in the media as saying at a recent World Food Day event that over 40 per cent of Guyanese are either overweight or obese and of that number, the majority are women. While lauding Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean region for the immense progress made in reducing absolute hunger; Dr Smith underscored the point that overweightness and obesity is another dangerous problem which must be tackled by policy makers and other development…
Read MoreUpsurge in crime in Guyana must be tackled frontally
Over the past days, Guyanese have been waking up to the news of death as crime and accidents have claimed the lives of several persons. In a stinging statement on Tuesday, and justifiably so, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) called out the Guyana Police Force and asked that they address real crime and the crime rate in Guyana that has, once again, begun to spiral out of control. Interestingly, the Miner’s Association said in a direct question to Public Security Minister and Third Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan,…
Read MorePolice reform: The “representativeness” recommendation was studiously avoided
More than two decades ago, on January 17, 1999, when “ROAR against Crime” was launched in reference to Police reform, we cautioned: “We should not be stampeded into taking ad hoc initiatives without formulating a plan that addresses the need to make fundamental changes in its structural base – or the malfunctions will continue unabated. “Modernisation” of the Force must not be equated simply with improved weaponry”. In addition to over twenty specific recommendations, four medium-term structural changes were suggested. Recommendation #1 was “Balancing the Force”. It echoed the conclusion…
Read MorePNC and the trust deficit
Few Guyanese would disagree in principle with the proposition that, if the PPP and PNC could arrive at a modus vivendi on the sharing of authority over the state, especially with oil in the offing, the “good life” might be achieved less problematically. But that is “in principle”. In reality, proposals for “power sharing” in one form or another have been floating around for decades, but, as we know to our cost, the two parties that represent the two major groups are no closer than ever to achieving that goal.…
Read MoreSaving the democratic transition
On October 5, 1992, with the return of “free and fair elections”, Guyana joined what the Harvard scholar Samuel Huntington had only the year before dubbed “The Third Wave: Democratisation in the late 20th century”. Referring to the initial wave in the 18th and 19th century led by the US and France, and the second in the decolonisation era following WWII, Huntington noted the structural factors that undergirded the third wave after authoritarian relapses in the preceding decades. For Guyana, the external factor was the fall of the Berlin Wall,…
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