On the first working day of this year over 130 former casual employees of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) had no job to go to and for most of them – in the current straitened circumstances of the local economy – no prospects either.
Most of our region’s people must be wondering what the new decade will bring, as most countries are struggling with the effects of the global recession or with the lack of productivity of some of the economic activities which have carried us through in the past.
The unease which some native Surinamers feel about the increasing intrusion of Brazilian miners into their country exploded into serious disorder including arson, assault, rape and robbery in the towns of Albina and Papatam on Christmas Day.
It is perplexing – as some in the union movement and other parts of society have argued – that the strike at Aroaima has been allowed to subsist for so long without the Ministry of Labour taking decisive action.
Perhaps there is something to be said after all for the fact that the calendar has these convenient divisions every twelve months, so at least for a fleeting period we can pretend we are sloughing off the old year like an unwanted skin and entering on a brand new era.
Last night, as most of us rang in the New Year, we also celebrated the end of the first decade of the 21st century.
2010 starts tomorrow. A new year and one would hope a new beginning, not just in our personal lives, but on a national scale.
As we come to the end of the last year of the decade, it is probably not an overstatement to say that in many countries the sentiment of gloom and foreboding that has accompanied the eruption of a major global economic recession remains.
The criminal justice systems of the cities of Bridgetown, Barbados and Georgetown, Guyana function differently.
The New York Times recently carried a fascinating account of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in the dying hours of the Copenhagen Climate Change conference which was aimed at salvaging some type of accord since a binding agreement was no longer possible and even a political pact which had been the minimum outcome expected was itself out of reach.
When the historians of the future look back on 2009, they may well view it as one of those ‘catalyst’ years that set up the conditions for change in the political firmament.
Most Guyanese, regardless of race, colour or creed, celebrate Christmas. Admittedly, some of us sometimes lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas and its deep spiritual significance for Christians, choosing instead to celebrate the holiday in a decidedly more secular manner.
The Jamaica Gleaner reported on Monday last that in the face of endless criticism and threats of street demonstrations Prime Minister Bruce Golding withdrew a planned J$21 billion tax package.
The sweeping victory of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s Dominica Labour Party – 18 seats to 3 – in the country’s December 18th general elections, represents a substantial vote of confidence in the party’s tenure of government.
Even as Police Commissioner Henry Greene was expressing satisfaction with this year’s performance and congratulating awardees at the Guyana Police Force’s annual Awards Ceremony last week, reports about police conduct continued to make the news.
Given the tortured electoral history of the country and the ease with which it could be spun into top gear, the rumblings about distorted images on the new ID cards being distributed by the Guyana Elections Commission were exceedingly worrying.
The latest strategic plan for the University of Guyana on which we reported last week, in its generality really doesn’t tell us anything which we didn’t know already and which earlier reports hadn’t also identified.
“Thousands have lived without love,” wrote the poet WH Auden, “not one without water.”
Tiny Dominica goes to the polls today, amid controversy over party campaign financing and allegations of dual citizenship against candidates of the two main parties, including Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who has admitted to being a French citizen.
Almost three years after he boldly announced that all schools and other buildings which fall under the Ministry of Education would be no-smoking zones, Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy is still in a fog over tobacco control.
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