Dear Editor, There is a cacophony of drums in the land; drums of the masquerade bands as they herald the arrival of the festive season; drums of political parties, urging supporters into action, register, vote, support! And then there are the oil drums, not playing sweet calypsos as yet, empty, sitting, waiting to be filled and then sold, yet this silent oil drum is louder than all combined, its melody different to every ear, some hear sounds of hope and prosperity, others are dancing entranced by greed and avarice. As…
Read MoreCategory: Letters
The PNC and Walter Rodney’s death
Dear Editor, On the evening of the 13th day of June 1980, the world stood still as the news of the death of Dr Walter Rodney, blown to pieces by a bomb in South Georgetown, sank in. Dr Rodney’s death and the circumstances under which he was killed invoked universal condemnation. Expectedly, because of Rodney’s political activism, the accusatory finger pointed to the Government of the day. Prime Minister Burnham’s calm reactionary statement that “sad as I am at his inglorious end, I know that somewhere therein there is bound…
Read MoreAFC betrayed Guyanese and weakened the notion of “third force” politics
Dear Editor, The party whose leader said they would be “dead meat” if they combined with the PNC, grovelled and licked boots to be first mate on a sinking PNC ship, now an illegal Government. Knowing that Moses got larwah as PM, why did it matter so much to Khemraj that he was the PM candidate and will get larwah too? Was it just the large pension later? And now that the AFC man cannot become President if for some reason Granger’s sickness forces him to quit early, as they…
Read MoreAPNU/AFC busy dividing ministries instead of the commitment of service to nation
Dear Editor, Joe Harmon had the temerity to exit a ‘Cabinet’ meeting held 325 days after his party’s Government fell to a no-confidence vote and question whether former President Bharrat Jagdeo could serve as a Vice President in an Irfaan Ali Administration, Harmon said “It is testing the patience of the Guyanese people and their tolerance for lawlessness, because clearly there is a decision by the Caribbean Court of Justice that says that this gentleman [Jagdeo] cannot be the President or Prime Minister. That is really getting through the backdoor”,…
Read MoreSugar workers have been left behind, and far behind for that matter
Dear Editor, The GAWU saw media reports regarding responses of officials from the PNC and the AFC in regard to questions posed by the media about the wage freeze imposed on sugar workers since the coalition took office in 2015. While the responses by the leading officials are not identical, they are very similar. If a person were reading about the state of the sugar industry for the first time, they would no doubt believe the caretaker Government was an angel and had ‘clean hands’. This, of course, we know…
Read MoreGranger must dissolve Parliament by proclamation on or before December 4, 2019
Dear Editor, I read with utter disgust the words of former Minister of State and now Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency that, “the President has not yet signalled when he plans to issue a proclamation in this regard” ie to dissolve Parliament. Well, Mr Director General, the time to dissolve Parliament was since December 2018 and your caretaker Government has the temerity to tell the Guyanese people after one year that the caretaker President would dissolve Parliament at his time of choosing, supposedly of eventualities and neither…
Read MoreGECOM desperately needs oversight in its data processing department
Dear Editor, It remains a serious concern that Claudette Singh, the GECOM Chairperson plans to integrate the highly flawed and incomplete House-to-House (H-t-H) Registration dataset with the existing voters’ list. This move will never yield fair and credible elections. The H-t-H exercise lacked integrity on many fronts. The Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was never even invited to scrutinise such an important exercise, even though it was a requirement. The H-t-H Registration exercise was monitored exclusively by the PNC (APNU). How can this ever be fair? On this basis alone,…
Read MorePNC grabbing what they can get on their way out
Dear Editor, Does Mr Ganger, who likes to say he is following the Constitution while he is actually trampling on it, understand that in a lame-duck status, the Government cannot give away such large tracts of land to favoured friends? The CCJ said Government is now on a different footing. But since Parliament has not extended their stay, the PNC is now an illegal Government. First, they gave away 400 acres in No 19, Corentyne; 700 acres in Wales; other acreages given here and there. What’s going on here? Are…
Read MoreOur courts need to regain the confidence of the public
Dear Editor, Paragraph 5 of the judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice delivered on July 12, 2019, on consequential orders flowing from the passage of the No-Confidence Motion passed by the National Assembly on December 21, 2018, stated: “The Judiciary interprets the Constitution. But as we intimated in our earlier judgment, these particular provisions [Article 106 (6) and 106 (7)] require no gloss on the part of the Court in order to render them intelligible and workable. Their meaning is clear and it is the responsibility of the constitutional…
Read MoreThe most progress in Guyana occurred during the Jagdeo era
Dear Editor, Dr Irfaan Ali’s disclosure that he will consider former President Bharrat Jagdeo as a Vice-President is good news. The former President is quite experienced, well known internationally, and has “been there, done that”. He has proven to be a formidable Opposition Leader, has access to networks of support, and has the PNC on the ropes. How quickly Mr Jagdeo’s leadership as Opposition Leader saw the PPP trashing the PNC at Local Government Elections in 2016 and 2018, walloping them by margins of 25,000 and 45,000 votes, and defeating…
Read More