Editorial

As we count down the days to the end of 2024, four issues loom large in the national agenda.

Reuters earlier this month reported that Brazil has gone high tech in cracking down on illegally mined gold.

On December 3rd last year the Government of Venezuela held a referendum to seek the approval of the Venezuelan people to incorporate Essequibo into its national territory.

In Guyana, the crippling fear of retribution — a major detractor from democracy — thrives.

It was hardly surprising that the fifth year of oil production evoked barely disguised triumphalist declarations by ExxonMobil Guyana.

There was a time when firefighting, law enforcement and the military were considered the only occupations in which people faced a high probability of dying on the job.

On Monday, at Mar-a-Lago, US president-elect Donald Trump stated to reporters, “There is talk about the postal service being taken private, you do know that — not the worst idea I’ve ever heard.

Less than ten years after the earliest confirmation of Guyana’s status as a potential ‘world class’ oil producer had materialized, courtesy of ExxonMobil’s ‘world class’ offshore oil strike, global perceptions of the country have undergone some measure of change from what had obtained a handful of years ago.

Last Monday, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance convened a panel discussion on `Building resilient institutions against corruption’ to coincide with Anti-corruption Day.

It was in May this year that Wanderlust Tours first announced its intention of  mounting overnight tours to the Jonestown site. 

As Guyana strives to enhance its appeal as a tourism destination, it faces a critical hurdle that threatens its growth—its chaotic and under-regulated public transportation system.

The government and the various unions which reached wage deals following collective bargaining must be complimented for the maturity which had to have been shown on all sides for agreements to be clinched.

Just over three weeks ago, on World’s Children’s Day (November 20), UNICEF released its 2024 annual report – “The State of the World’s Children”.

Last Friday, 6th December, the Cricket West Indies (CWI) board  was scheduled to meet in Antigua.

Guyana has long gone past the stage of oil and gas being no more than a pipe dream.

When he announced on October 10th in an address to Parliament that the government had decided on a one-off payment of $200,000 “instantaneously” to each household in the country, President Ali gave no inkling of his thought process or that of the government in what would have amounted to a whopping $60 billion dollars or more expenditure.

While the teachers in our primary schools have been diligently instructing their pupils that Guyana has nine Indigenous nations living within its frontiers, it transpires that currently there are in fact ten. 

Guyana, a country rich in natural resources and cultural diversity, is home to a significant Amerindian population, whose communities have experienced centuries of marginalization and exploitation.

On the occasion of Suriname’s 49th Independence Anniversary on November 25th, its Presi-dent Chandrikapersad Santokhi announced an initiative that he described as Royalties for Everyone.

Disappointing. That word was in constant usage by many delegates at the final round of talks on what was supposed to be a landmark agreement on tackling plastic pollution in South Korea, but which ended with no resolution in the early hours of Monday last.