Editorial

There will be a genuine sigh of relief on the expected conclusion today of a deal between the government and a delegation from Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) on a raft of economic issues for Linden.

While events in Linden were commanding public attention, the National Toshaos Council Conference was held in Georgetown between August 6 and August 10. 

Many years ago, a primary school teacher in Georgetown divided her class into two halves on opposite sides of the room and placed a cardboard box on a table between them.

Jacques Rogge, the Belgian surgeon who is president of the International Olympic Committee, is probably a very charming man to those who know him well.

When schools reopen in a few weeks’ time, some 830 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years at Linden will be at a loss.

As both Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica have been celebrating fifty years of independence this month, the rich results of their countries’ participation in the recently concluded London Olympic Games will undoubtedly have brought a welcome relief to their citizens, and even more importantly, to their governmental leaderships.

Presumably, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) would have much preferred that the verbal jousting between supporters of David Granger and Carl Greenidge, the two candidates for the leadership of the party, not enter the public domain.

It is refreshing to see ministerial initiative embedded in a results-oriented framework and targeted at enhancing service to the public. 

The arson which took place in Linden on Friday simply cannot be excused.

Watching Usain Bolt, flanked by two fellow Jamaicans, leap onto the podium after his unprecedented defence of two sprint gold medals, it was clear that his arrival in the pantheon of Olympic legend owes as much to personal charisma as it does to athletic prowess.

When the United Kingdom made its pitch to host the 30th Olympiad in 2007, one of the key messages underlying the bid was the wonder of the rest of the world coming to London in 2012 rather than the old stereotypical notion of the post-imperial power still seeking somehow to impose its will and its presence on the rest of the world.

The discovery of the decomposing body of missing 14-year-old Basmattie Moonsammy of Woodley Park Village, West Coast Berbice in a rice field in the area on Sunday last, coupled with the battering of 19-year-old Alana Farley at the hands of her ex-beau reveal more than the obvious – the fact that violence against women is as prevalent and horrific as it ever was.

A ruffling of the leaderships of the police forces in the Caricom area has been going on for some time, and the changes last week at the top of the police force of Trinidad & Tobago have served to remind us of this.

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan would probably be the first to concede that his assignment as the United Nations and Arab League Peace Envoy to Syria which he undertook in February this year was always likely to be a tough diplomatic task and that the chances of failure were high.

President Ramotar’s admonition to contractors that penalty clauses in their contracts and blacklisting would be imposed if they produce substandard work is an important statement even if only to evaluate the intent and seriousness of the government.

The Minister of Local Government is a very busy man. There he sits, ensconced behind his capacious official desk positively snowed under by a blizzard of petitions from all over the country (especially opposition areas), complaining about non-functioning Neighbourhood Democratic Councils.

With track and field just getting underway, many spectators may feel that the best is yet to come at the London Olympics, but the first week of these games has already produced enough competitive drama to silence rumours that the city was not ready for an event of this magnitude.

No one is in any doubt that the Private Sector Commission (PSC) has a vested interest in the outcome of the Linden talks which took place on Tuesday.

There are two particularly smart looking schools on the West Coast Demerara – one at Greenwich Park and one at Leonora; smart looking but not smartly built.

As seems to have become almost normal now, the approach of the American elections has produced a necessity for candidates to demonstrate their loyalty to the cause of Israel in the continuing encounters with which that country is faced, or has involved itself, in the Middle East.