Anand Goolsarran

After 25 years, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is being replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) amid criticisms of the benefits achieved so far.

Angola, Africa’s second largest oil exporting country with a GDP per capita of US$3,230 in 2018, has recovered over US$5 billion of state funds, including $3 billion siphoned off the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) through corruption and money-laundering.

The planet is on fire and our window of escape is getting harder and harder to reach the longer we wait to act.

Climate change is no longer a long-term problem. We are confronted now with a global climate crisis.

In our article of 25 February 2019, we reported that former Maldives President Abdulla Yameen was arrested for allegedly receiving bribes and kickbacks estimated at US$80 million involving leasing islands and reefs.

Iceland’s largest fishing conglomerate, Samherji, used an anonymous shell company in the Marshall Islands to launder illegal fishing activities off the coasts of West Africa and to bribe members of the Namibia government.

This week’s article is a continuation of last week’s in which we provided a background to the United Kingdom’s (UK) proposed withdrawal from the European Union (EU), known as Brexit, following the referendum of June 2016.

The issue of the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union (EU) of which it has been a member since 1972, has seen two Prime Ministers – David Cameron and Theresa May – resigning from their positions over what is known as “Brexit”.

The Amazon rainforests provide 20 percent of the planet’s oxygen and is home to an estimated one million indigenous people from some 500 tribes as well as three million species of plants and animals.

Rain forests are quite justifiably described as ‘the lungs of the earth’.

The rule of law is a cornerstone of democracy. This is also enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles. 

According to a recent United Nations report on climate change, human activity is causing a dramatic degradation of the Earth’s land, thereby making global warming worse.

I am endeavouring to have a free, fair and transparent election … I believe in inclusivity and I will speak with everybody.

One in four people in Africa, or approximately 130 million people, pay bribes to access services, such as health care and education, according to the tenth edition of Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – Africa.

In our article of 15 July 2019, we referred to several international scandals involving companies that have been audited by the Big Four (KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PWC) and the possibility of these firms being blocked from undertaking future audit work in India.

India may be blocking the Big Four (KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC) from rendering audit services to clients in that country because of several major scandals involving entities for which they are the external auditors.

The Ministry of Finance recently issued a circular to the heads of all budget agencies to begin preparations for the 2020 Estimates of Revenues and Expenditures.

On 18 June 2019, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) handed down its decisions on two matters that were referred to it for a ruling.

Yesterday was World Whistleblower Day, the observance of which was to raise awareness of the role of whistleblowers in fighting corruption and maintaining national security.

Before beginning today’s article, we invite readers to view a BBC documentary to be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlTXRWMYpzQ&feature=youtu.be