Editorial

Social issues were brought to the fore this past week when at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who assumed the presidency of the WHA on Monday, in his speech, called on the World Health Organisation, (WHO) to tackle domestic violence and sexual abuse, particularly of young children.

As expected, last week’s 5th Latin America and the Caribbean-European Union Summit in Lima, Peru, produced the usual rhetoric-filled declaration, built around the well-meaning theme of ‘Addressing Our Peoples’ Priorities Together,’and the so-called Lima Agenda aimed at deepening bi-regional cooperation to deal with challenges in two broad areas: poverty eradication, inequity and exclusion; and sustainable development, environment, climate change and energy.

Last week the Tourism and Hospitality Association (THAG) President, Ms Renata Chuck-A-Sang in her report to the 16th Annual General Meeting of the organization, expressed regret that Guyana suffered from an over-inflated negative perception of crime spiralling out of control.

We in the Caribbean know well that actions taken by the global superpower, located in our hemisphere, can have an almost immediate impact on the ways in which our economies function and our diplomacy operates.

At the end of another long week of negative American politics, Oscar Wilde’s epigram that “a man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies” has rarely seemed wiser.

The surprise sale of Buddy’s International Hotel and questions about other deals such as those for the Sanata Complex and the Kingston hotel demand careful examination by the people, by Parliament and any other institution that has responsibility in this area.

Everything is back to normal. The PNC is on the streets, and the government is in ‘buse-up’ mode.

The outcome of the daycare worker murder case on Wednesday is reminiscent of another similar matter less than a year ago, as well as several others, which seems to point to a pattern of undue leniency in the court system in matters involving the violent deaths of women and perhaps lethargy by public prosecutors, who, it appears, do anything but prosecute.

This newspaper continues to advocate that the investigation into the Customs/Fidelity fraud be allowed to run its course, guided unerringly by the commitment given by the President that the investigation will be thorough, that it will “dig deep,” that there will be no immunity for people who might wish to activate their political connections, that the architects of the fraud will get their just deserts and that the investigation will extend beyond the Fidelity fraud.

Many years ago, when Hugo Chávez was a rookie President, he was wont to say that the region’s leaders were going from summit to summit while their people went from abyss to abyss.

The inexplicable behaviour of Burma’s generals in the wake of Cyclone Nargis has provoked a crescendo of outrage from agencies struggling to save the two million people stranded by the storm from starvation and disease.

As we approach mid 2008, governments all over the world are becoming more conscious of the change of administration in the United States that will take place at the beginning of next year.

The strides in the health sector such as open heart surgery have already been commended in these columns.

President Jagdeo’s relief package announced on Wednesday will be welcomed by  many Guyanese who have been groaning under the weight of the rising cost of living, VAT and other impositions.

Nothing stays quiet in this sector of the globe for long.

The US-based humanitarian organisation Save the Children has just published its ninth annual ‘State of the World’s Mothers’ report to coincide with the commemoration of Mothers Day.

Recent letters to this newspaper, online comments and the word on the street all point to a general feeling of revulsion at the escalation of terror and horror visited upon our country over the past few months.

The political causes of the global food shortage should surprise no one who has lived in the Caribbean.

In recent months there has been much discussion in the regional media about the issue of devising new institutional arrangements for the management of Caricom’s business.

Bounty Killer’s promotion of violence at last month’s Ignition Concert was very much in line with his known record; he has had performances cancelled in other places because of it.