Editorial

What on earth did Minister of Home Affairs Mr Clement Rohee have in mind when he decided to present only an edited summary of the proposed Security Sector Reform Action Plan for the National Assembly’s approval last week?

With crude oil prices likely to rise above US$100 per barrel by the end of this year, there has never been a better time for petroleum-rich countries to buy their way out of chronic debt and underdevelopment.

Thus far, the government has offered two reasons why the call by GECOM and opposition parties for a new ID card for upcoming elections would not be acceded to.

The latest municipal drama is a piece of theatre with which Georgetown residents are only too familiar.

It is welcome news that the Ministry of Health recognizes the disease that is alcoholism as a national public health issue and is planning strategies to address it.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, there are a couple of leaders, like Cuba’s Fidel and Brazil’s Lula, who are instantly recognizable by their first name alone.

The simmering civil unrest that now seems to be part of the prevalent pattern of public protest against perceived mismanagement of public safety and public utilities erupted into an ugly showdown in Ruimveldt in mid-October.

A pattern of low-intensity, non-violent, issue-centred, community-based but boisterous protests has sprung up in certain coastal villages.

The past few months have witnessed a flurry of diplomatic and business activity between Guyana and Barbados as the two CARICOM member states appear to be positioning themselves for closer bilateral relations in the field of investment and commerce.

Earlier this month at the formal opening of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting at the National Cultural Centre, President Jagdeo must have seriously surprised some of those in his audience as he wrapped up his presentation.

Developing a sense of nationhood means developing a historical consciousness. Perceptions of the past inevitably change from one era to the next, but that does not mean that each generation should not attempt to come to its own understanding of the events and movements of earlier periods, or indiscriminately sweep away the cultural remains left behind by predecessors.

Five years ago, when the fight to rout Al Qaeda was still concentrated in Afghanistan, a witty UK resident painted these words on the side of his garbage bin, “Bin Laden – unless you emptied it”.

The establishment of President Hugo Ch

How must the administration respond to the recent spate of road deaths at Supply Village on the East Bank Demerara, at Bel Air Village on the East Coast Demerara and at Amelia’s Ward in Linden?

Writing her regular column in the Weekend Mirror newspaper of 6-7 October, former president Mrs Janet Jagan stirred the ashes of the smouldering controversy about the fatal fire in which members of the Abraham family were murdered.

Last week the Sunday Times published a fascinating profile of a man who made one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century.

In his most recent defence of the government’s decision to withdraw ads from Stabroek News, President Jagdeo attempted to dismantle the argument by this newspaper that its editorial independence and criticisms of the government were behind the cut-off.

There is clearly some move to balance the negative image of the late President Forbes Burnham by recalling his positive achievements.

A dialogue in this newspaper’s ‘Letters to the Editor’ column recently, focused on the dynamic in male-female relations.

With the Commonwealth having come to Guyana this week, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on the situation in Zimbabwe, which withdrew from the Commonwealth in December 2003.