Editorial

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.

Before the end of the school term last year, on December 10 to be precise, this newspaper had reported on the situation at the Nismes Primary School.

Indications by the new Governments of St Lucia and Jamaica that efforts will be made to have their countries join the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will have once again raised popular hopes that our governments are willing to implement the commitments that they make – even if belatedly.

A matter of mere hours after the close of poll following Jamaica’s December 29 general elections, Portia Simpson-Miller, perhaps surprisingly, only one of four women ever to be elected head of government in the Commonwealth Caribbean, had delivered her victory speech; outgoing Prime Minister Andrew Holness had conceded defeat, his two-month tenure as the country’s youngest ever prime minister having been the shortest ever.

The case of the allegation of rape made against the Commissioner of Police, Mr Henry Greene has given rise to various perspectives and concerns including one by attorney at law, Mr Neil Aubrey Boston that Mr Greene was being subjected to a trial by the press.

If the political landscape has changed since last year, in practical terms the things that impinge on the daily lives of citizens remain very much as they were.

Earlier this week the writer Pico Iyer wrote a thoughtful essay for the New York Times on ‘The Joy of Quiet.‘

It cannot be mere coincidence that both Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI had special words to say about the importance of family in their Christmas Day and New Year’s Day messages, respectively.

The election of a minority government in Guyana has been a collective shock to all our systems.