Editorial

The laws of Guyana in so far as they are intended to protect the rights of the Indigenous people are clearly defective, but even allowing for this the courts too have played an unnecessarily unhelpful role.

An incident in Montgomery, Alabama in the US last weekend has been trending on social media and has given rise to memes and commentary, some of which only serve to fuel the narrative of hate that appears to be inexorably seeping into society, despite much effort to the contrary, like the parasite it is.

The Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) strike, the first in fifteen years, which began on 2nd  May shows no immediate signs of abating and will surpass the 100-day mark this week.

The advent of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry-staged Small Business Week provided a platform for local small businesses, across the sectors, to showcase both their creative skills and their entrepreneurial strengths in a country where state support for micro and small businesses remains well below what it ought to be.

Ninety percent (3.1 billion) of the women in the world today live in countries where there is a mammoth women’s empowerment deficit and the gender gap is a yawning chasm.

The killing of Dr Olato Sam on Friday morning has focused public attention yet again on the danger which lurks on our streets, the prevalence of guns in the society and the continued inability of the Guyana Police Force to keep citizens safe.

Breaking News: Ice cream production was down in the first quarter of 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.

Next month the Ministry of Education will be introducing a new enhanced literacy programme in schools across the country.

On Sunday, this newspaper reported that Charrandass Persaud, the disgraced and disgraceful former high commissioner to India was still on the payroll of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where “the accounts department has been instructed to keep sending his money to his account.” 

Today marks the third anniversary of the PPP/C government in office and this period could well be evaluated through the prism of the words oil and gas and what they have come to mean for the country and its people. 

One doesn’t have to look too hard to discover that there are significant (and growing) numbers of young Guyanese women – some of them still in their teens – who, these days, are drawn to one entrepreneurial pursuit or another.

Wildfires induced by extreme heat forced some 20,000 tourists this week to flee the Greek island of Rhodes. 

The week before last the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, normally referred to by its initials, IACHR, issued a resolution on a petition from the Indigenous residents of Chinese Landing in Region One.

With two platforms in the Atlantic producing oil in excess of nameplate capacity, a third set to come on stream shortly and dozens of exploratory wells to be sunk in this frenetic drive to extract petroleum, the government and its regulatory authorities will come under increasing pressure to be vigilant and to be able to respond to a crisis.

While the public has been labouring under the impression that the government’s bargaining agent with the Guyana Teachers’ Union on a multi-year pay package for teachers was the Ministry of Education, it has now been revealed that this is not so.

Last week, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony expounded on the need for data collection in the health sector, stressing its importance to planning and policy-making.

On 14th July, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) issued a media release announcing a new fee structure for match officials and referees for the 2023/24 football season.

It really matters little how much we shout about our ‘oil economy,’ make pronouncements about envisaged transformations and ‘soak up’ the credentials bestowed upon us by the assorted experts about just where we rank in the pecking order of oil-producing countries.  As has been the case elsewhere, oil can just as easily deliver a poisoned chalice, as it can, some measure of development, for reasons, some of which are already painfully apparent in our altogether deformed socio-political condition.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the rape allegation against the now resigned Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall, it is worth reviewing key developments.

The PPP sees development in purely material terms. Progress is all about the physical things: the new highways, the bridges, the multi-story hotels, the futuristic town and so on.