Frankly Speaking

It really was a bit of a co-incidence finding a batch of my “historical” notes on CARICOM, along with a related newspaper clipping of a few years ago.

I suspect that I’ve “grabbed” your attention with my lead caption.

Hello there my nationalistic, patriotic Guyanese friends, please try to tolerate my vastly different view and perspective – perhaps provocative – on the issues mentioned in my lead caption today.

Today this should be my most brief in weeks. Much of it is necessary summarised repetition.

What should a citizen – young, or matured and experienced – understand about (the concept of) patriotism?

This man-in-the-street, 23-year-old column welcomes the Presidency of David Granger, as well as his brand-new administration which should be unfolding, personnel-wise, as you read this.

Pardon me, but dammit! I have a deadline to meet editorially which precludes me from awaiting even the significant, substantial preliminary results from Dr Surujbally’s GECOM, the authorized, Constitutional Election Commission.

I hinted at this intriguing editorial which appeared in the State-controlled, PPP-oriented, government-friendly Guyana Chronicle of last week Tuesday (April 28, 2015).

I am not surprising myself today – my penultimate piece before our May 11 D-Day-when I am finding it challenging to write on something different and relevant at this time.

Next week Friday is Labour Day. If ever one of Guyana’s too–numerous Public Holidays was justified and valid it is this national occasion which recognizes and celebrates the local and global contributions of the working class to a nation’s development and sustenance.

Determined to be time–out brief today even as others plunge real deep into the electoral politics of the current robust campaigns.

As I wrote and promised three columns ago, today’s very brief piece is another contribution from me to GECOM’s and the political parties’ Voter Education process and efforts.

“At the graveside the emotional outbursts of the windows and relatives of the deceased had been intensely distressing and I could not restrain my tears.

Months before the 2011 elections, I wrote a very short piece in this column which carried the same caption as the lead today.

Hello you electors/voters. Perhaps I’m impertinent enough to dare to present a few pointers/discussion points with respect to elements of current voter-education initiatives now being contemplated, or implemented – But I do so never-the-less.

There will be those amongst the Guyanese population who will be indifferent towards the May General Elections.

I trust I’m not guilty, today, of editorial laziness, content-wise. Because I know I’ll be guilty of using Elizabeth Anne (Lis) Harper’s Prime Ministerial candidacy as a kind of reminiscence relevant to female Guyanese who dared to enter the robust world of both routine and electoral politics over the years.

Since Sunday, after the PPP’s announcement identifying President Ramotar’s Prime Ministerial running mate, speculation has been vigorously rife on two fronts: Why and how was that quiet-spoken, charming professional chosen?

-Are Banks allowed to be naughty?I spared myself a day or two before finally deciding that I would dare offer a reminder–comment to the populace, generally, and to African-descended Guyanese specifically that February is usually deemed African History Month.

– ISIS: A global threat? I suppose it’s no irony; just his many assignments and publications which resulted in Historian David Granger- currently the political Opposition Leader- producing a booklet on a summarized history of Guyana’s (earliest) Newspapers.