Editorial

The dominating thought in the minds of those who would have heard of an imminent meeting between the foreign ministers of Caricom and their counterpart from the United Kingdom, William Hague, a little over a week and a half ago, must have been whether he would be bringing fresh, positive news about what Caricom considers the exorbitant Air Passenger Duty (APD) imposed by the British.

On December 3, 2011, Bharrat Jagdeo assumed the status of a ‘retired’ president.

Good governance thrives in an environment where there are robust checks and balances; where no branch of government exercises unrestrained and improper sway as for example the executive influencing decisions of the judiciary or creating conditions where judicial officers feel intimidated or beholden to the executive in the discharge of their functions.

On October 18 last, we carried a report about the University of Guyana Workers’ Union saying they would be taking legal action against UG “if moves by the government representatives on the University Council to terminate the contracts of a number of lecturers are successful.” 

We are, still, a young nation. We hasten towards our destiny and, like most youngsters, pay scant regard to the past.

One hopes that Prof Norman Girvan’s recent meeting, in his capacity as the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary General in the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy, with President Donald Ramotar and Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, also provided the opportunity for engagement on matters relating to the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, US President Barack Obama denounced that country’s bottom heavy tax system, among other things, as well the fact that in many parts of America women still do not receive equal pay for equal work done and pledged to do all he could to change both situations.

As happens from time to time, the present American presidential election process is an unorthodox one, since barring any unpredictable occurrence, the Democratic candidate is already known.

Of the few new ministerial appointments and portfolio reassignments that have occurred under the Ramotar administration, those of Ministers Robert Persaud and Priya Manickchand are probably the most significant.

As President Ramotar settles into his mandate and comes to grips with his agenda for the year and beyond, nothing will test his freedom of action and sincerity in reforming the security sector like the question of a full investigation into the rampage here of convicted drug lord Roger Khan and whether his activities ensnared senior members of the last two administrations or at worse criminalized them.

Having been handed the kind of gift which no one could have imagined a decade ago, the opposition has not been taking best advantage of it.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) currently before the US Congress, and the related Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate, have provoked a lively debate over the possible consequences of regulating the internet.

Muhammad Ali, the former, three-time world heavyweight champion, turned 70 on Tuesday.

Comments attributed to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of St Vincent and the Grenadines Mrs Girlyn Miguel, who was recently quoted on the internet news website I-Witness as exhorting women of that island nation to “dress properly” so that they don’t tempt men, sparked outrage – not only among Vincentians but also among other readers on the world wide web as the article was quickly spread via Facebook and Twitter.

In his first speech to the staff of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Secretary General La Rocque emphasized that the heads of government statement suggesting a “pause” in the integration process, naming the single currency and monetary union as candidates for the pause, did not mean a halt to the integration process itself.

Whenever, as he frequently did, President Jagdeo pronounced on the desirability of hastening the holding of local government elections, those pronouncements usually coincided with a crisis at City Hall.

It came as no surprise that the contract for the US$15.4M Amaila Access Roads was terminated.

Since it has been in office the PPP/C has never seemed to recognize that it is functioning in a modern context.

The release of video footage that appears to show four US Marines urinating on the corpses of Agfhan fighters has been greeted around the world with outrage.

While the country was still coming to grips with the delayed election results last month, another in the seemingly interminable round of Latin American and Caribbean summits was being held in Caracas, on December 2-3.