The notable features of the so-called Arab Spring have been its suddenness, its intensity and its awesome and altogether unforeseen outcomes; three well-entrenched and seemingly secure regimes – Egypt, Tunisia and Libya – toppled in a matter of months, almost entirely – save to a considerable extent in the case of Libya – without external intervention on tides of popular domestic protest, while a fourth, Syria, seemingly edging inexorably towards ‘tipping point.’
Even though it did not produce the desired result, Guyanese, particularly sport aficionados, should be exceedingly grateful to Ms Angela Haniff whose legal action against the executive of the Guyana Cricket Board, following the latter’s thoroughly scandalous elections, has exposed the quagmire in which cricket bodies have been functioning.
There has never been an election quite like it. Party alignments, re-alignments, coalitions, annexions and defections are happening so quickly, voters hardly have time to catch their collective breath.
Every schoolboy knows that a week is a long time in politics – but we often fail to reflect on the truth in this truism.
We have no physical space where citizens can meet to discuss and debate the issues of the day, preferably in an atmosphere of mutual respect and civility, to help build a national consensus.
Next Monday, October 31, will be a red letter day in the world.
It seemed almost inevitable that once Colonel Gaddafi went on the run from Tripoli, with the fighters of the National Transitional Council in hot pursuit, that his death would be next on the agenda of his pursuers.
If we can never afford to ignore the external threat to Guyana’s territorial integrity, the immediate and pressing issue as far as interior security is concerned has to do with an internal threat rather than an external one.
Following a conference in Beirut earlier this year the International Freedom of Expression Exchange – a network of human rights and free speech groups with representatives on all five continents — declared November 23 the International Day to End Impunity.
The crudeness of the current PPP/C efforts to appeal to voters has set a very low bar for campaigning.
At this stage in the elections season the focus is, quite properly, on the potential candidates for government.
We have just over a month to go until our fifth election since President Desmond Hoyte ushered in the current phase of our democratic process in 1992, by not only holding the nation’s first free and fair elections since 1964 but also recognising the result.
The courtship drama that plays out every five years in Guyana is in full swing.
For most of this year, the United States has been visibly in pursuit not only of persons in the Caribbean allegedly involved in drug trafficking, but in so doing, the authorities seem to have been seeking to ensure that those perceived to be involved in behaviour deemed unacceptable, do not received the protection of Caribbean governments.
Nothing that we have read or heard about Mr. Ralph Turpin has caused us to believe that he was anything but an ordinary Guyanese, a man, apparently, of modest means, possessed of a caring spirit and a passion for reaching out to those most in need.
On September 22, 2011, the government mysteriously decided against proceeding with two bills to liberalise the telecommunications sector: The Telecom-munications Bill, 2011 and the Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Bill.
Gecom’s Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) performed an important service before, during and after the 2006 elections, and has been resuscitated again for the purpose of the 2011 elections.
Every election in the Caribbean produces broad, often uncritical assertions about democracy, usually with the implicit assumption that those hymning the loudest praises are best placed to lead the country beyond the miserable, hidebound ideological fixity of its incumbents.
An interesting analysis, entitled CARICOM’s Future in Doubt, was published by the Economist Intelligence Unit on October 5.
Guyanese are known for their love of partying. We have moved from a situation some years ago where there was a dearth of entertainment in the country to there now being a tad too much.
