Editorial

On the face of it, the declaration by the Ministry of Natural Resources that a preliminary report has shown that deforestation in 2013 has declined relative to 2012 is to be welcomed.

These have been a strange two weeks in Guyana’s politics. On September 9, Leader of the Opposition David Granger wrote a letter to President Donald Ramotar reminding him that the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill passed by the National Assembly earlier this year required local government elections to be held on or before August 1, 2014.

Sixty years ago marketing campaigns for tobacco used to focus on cigarettes’ alleged health benefits.

By now, readers will know whether voters in Scotland have taken the low road to political confusion and economic uncertainty that comes with the independence some were seeking, or the high road to preserving the benefits of three centuries of the deepest possible integration and continuing to play a part in a strong union.

Once again, the government has swooped in like a knight in shining armour to rescue distressed commuters from the monster that is our public transportation system with a fleet of 44-seat buses it has procured from the aptly named Knight Rider bus service.

As the NATO powers and Russia continue to engage over the future of Ukraine, observers might well begin to wonder whether we are seeing the first stages of a new Cold War, over twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact which encompassed the countries of what was then called Eastern Europe.

It is easy to understand why Education Minister Priya Manickchand would not want the media to dwell on the fact that a survey conducted by her ministry indicates that just 32 per cent of our children between Grades One and Six are reading at their respective grade levels.

When objectively evaluated, the only conclusion that can be drawn from the unceremonious bust up between the Guyana Government and the Indian company Surendra is that the Ramotar administration doesn’t understand the importance of good business.

On International Literacy Day on Monday, yet another literacy action plan was rolled out.

Although it took place around the time that Apple launched new products and the US government outlined its plans to attack Islamic State (IS) forces with a “coalition of the willing,” the Democratic primary recently won by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo deserved more attention than it received.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland faces a new D-Day in six days’ time which, although expected to be peaceful, could potentially bring about far-reaching and largely unpredictable change.

An election date has not yet been hinted at, but the silly season has begun.

With the participation, as full members, of Guyana, Suriname and Belize from Caricom, the small island developing states of the globe concluded their third full meeting since 1994 under the auspices of the United Nations last week.

There exists a well-intentioned but onerous and far from efficient arrangement that allows for children attending state schools to benefit from textbooks loaned from the Ministry of Education.

Two weeks ago, residents of Port Kaituma and nearby areas began to complain bitterly about the pollution of their water supplies by miners working upstream.

Guyana has earned itself another dubious world record. According to PAHO/WHO this country had the world’s highest estimated suicide rate in 2012.

Every 40 seconds, someone takes their own life. According to World Health Organization’s recent report, ‘Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative,’ during the course of a year, the global number of suicides adds up to 800,000 people – more than the population of this country.

West Indies Cricket Board CEO Michael Muirhead has defended the Board’s decision not to sanction the two cricketers who made themselves unavailable for the Test series against Bangladesh, beginning today.

To say that tact appears not to be the strong point of this administration is one way to very mildly explain the constant “eh?”

We feel almost forced to return to the struggle between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) powers and Russia over Ukraine, so soon after our last editorial on this issue.