Editorial

The government’s inexplicable dress code is back in the news again, this time because a Guyana Chronicle columnist was refused access to the National Communications Network (NCN) compound because she was wearing a sleeveless dress.

When atrocities become a recurrent feature of contemporary life they can stretch our capacity for empathy close to its limit.

Now that the dust has settled after the publishing of the results of the National Grade Six Assessment, and the accolades have been rightly bestowed on the top performers from around Guyana, it is perhaps a good idea to take a moment to reflect upon those in the education system, particularly the secondary school system, who may see themselves as having failed, when in truth, it may be the system which has failed them.

Sonia George’s narration of the unfortunate series of events before and after the deaths of two of her five children last week while in the state’s care, reveals the callousness with which the family was treated by an arm of the government set up to care for the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

There can now be little doubt that following the referendum called by Prime Minister David Cameron, a series of unexpected political ructions have come to dominate the British political scene.

Official public acceptance of responsibility in instances of tragic occurrences for which government might reasonably be expected to shoulder the responsibility is not part of the political DNA of this country.

Friday morning’s tragic death by fire of two brothers at the state-run Drop-In Centre on Hadfield Street is a stark reminder of the dire circumstances of a prominent number of families and the state’s obligation to assist them.

More than fourteen thousand students sat down to write the Grade Six Assessment this year, only a small percentage of whom qualified for entry into the nation’s better secondary schools.

Three days ago, during what should have been a routine traffic stop to check on a bad tail light, police in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, shot 32-year-old Philando Castile four times ‒ killing him.

Back in April 2008, the Guyana Government issued a ban on two Jamaican artistes after a local concert headlined by famous Jamaican dancehall artiste ‘Bounty Killa’ descended into a glorification of guns and an odious rant against the gay community, and was further marred by actual gunfire.

Of the 14,386 children 11 years and over who wrote the National Grade Six Assessment in April, a (generous) maximum of 3,000 are happy with their results.

Mr Patrick Manning who died towards the end of last week was among the second generation of Caribbean leaders who succeeded the giant grouping of Eric Williams of Trinidad & Tobago, Norman Manley of Jamaica and Errol Barrow of Barbados, with the combination of Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham of Guyana, who had essentially fashioned the transition period to independence of the English-speaking Caribbean territories controlled by Britain.

With a host of pressing issues — not least the plethora of audits of state institutions and Commissions of Inquiry into the crisis at the Georgetown Prisons and the emergency facing the Public Service – confronting the government, other considerations that might appear to be less urgent in nature can easily slip under the radar.

CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Georgetown from today have a packed agenda on their plate but the dominant motif may not even have been pencilled in – Britain’s stunning exit from the European Union (EU) and what the political upheaval in London means for countries in this part of the world.

“A week is a long time in politics,” remarked the late Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

Post-mortems and jeremiads in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the EU offer an object lesson in the dangers of extemporized politics.

In the Magistrate’s Court last month, three of this country’s young and able-bodied citizens were prosecuted and found guilty of perpetrating one of the more violent home invasions in recent times.

On March 18 this year, the citizens of Georgetown—at least those who ventured out to vote—elected public officials to whom the careful and responsible management of the city was entrusted.

Caribbean citizens with long memories, or with knowledge of the establishment and demise of the West Indies Federation, of which of course Guyana, then British Guiana, was not a part, will probably have cringed when Prime Minister Cameron announced a referendum on Britain’s continued participation in the European Union.

The newly installed City Hall has gotten off to a bad start.