For De Record

Continuing its recent attacks on the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), the PPP is currently waging a public campaign against the recent hiring of Richard Francois as the commission’s Public Relations Officer (PRO).

Something happened earlier this year which reminded me that government policy and programmes are not for all of us.

Last month, a young woman came forward to share a horrific report of being drugged then brutally raped by three men at a business in Mahdia where she had worked.

Guyana has a long way to go in regards to respecting the rights of the child and ending violence against our children, according to a recent United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) study, which found that 76 percent of our children are victims of violent discipline.

This week, I found myself reflecting on my journalistic career and the toxic nature of the relationship that develops between the independent press in Guyana and our government, particularly within the last few years of the PPP/C’s scandal-filled management of the state.

Just days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) named Guyana as the country with the highest estimated suicide rate for 2012 globally, the findings of a local study were released and together they confirmed the growing mental health crisis we are facing.

By Guest Contributor Life for the average Guyanese parent, and especially the thousands of single- parent mothers left to struggle because fathers opt not to honour their obligations, remains a struggle.

With little or no comment, persons with mental illnesses are being fed into our badly overcrowded prison system and health authorities appear to be making no attempt to correct this situation.

Ferguson, Missouri’s response to the shooting of teenager Michael Brown mirrors a similar narrative that unfolded here when three unarmed protestors were gunned down at Linden just over two years ago.

Within a relatively short time, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and its messy internal politics have become a major distraction in the country, which is an unfortunate development at a time of popular dissatisfaction with government.

It has been over a century and a half since slavery was abolished in the Caribbean, but the wide-ranging consequences of one of the most oppressive and intolerable institutions in human history continue to shape life in the region.

By Andre Haynes, Guest Contributor   If the AFC has its way, we could soon find ourselves facing new general elections a lot earlier than expected.

Killed on a city street in our capital while committing a robbery earlier this week, Kevin Fields achieved the kind of notoriety in death that he seemed determined to attain during his young life.

The issue of gay equality remains unresolved and contentious here despite the vigorous efforts of activists and supporters to promote a more open and equal society.

Last month, I travelled to Buxton to stand in solidarity with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community as they protested the detention of a 15-year-old who was locked up following a fracas in which he was booked by police as both aggressor and the victim.

The following is a guest column addressing LGBT rights in light of recent public statements: Two weeks ago, the Vice-Chairman of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO), Pastor Ronald McGarrell, went on the radio and shared his view that homosexuals should live on island by themselves in order to spare heterosexuals God’s wrath.

It’s no secret that the quality of education being offered at President’s College has deteriorated.

Under customary international law, Guyana is obligated to prevent torture, and this obligation exists whether we would have signed the UN Convention against torture or attached any reservations.

With his recent elevation, new acting Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud has tried to signal that change was coming to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), promising improved accountability for unlawful killings and unjustified shootings, sustained efforts to end excessive police corruption, and policies that treat citizens with dignity and respect.

The ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ campaign is unsurprisingly trending here. We are expressing our outrage on social media, sharing countless images that have gone viral and organising vigils in support of the international movement to ensure the safe return of the abducted Nigerian school girls.