Editorial

There is no doubt that the 2023 budget which has been pegged at $781.9b, a hefty 44.1% above the 2022 figure, holds out the prospects of expansive development in the country.

Traditionally issues related to historical preservation have never captured the attention of governments in this country.

On January 13th, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill terminated the contract for the El Dorado road located after Moleson Creek, Corentyne.

Over the past two years there has been a spate of school fires, a phenomenon which might tempt conspiracy theorists to the view that something sinister is afoot.

The nation learned last Friday, by way of a press release from the Department of Public Information (DPI), that Guyana is considering purchasing hardware and military equipment from India.

After the fiasco of the West Indies’ performance, or rather lack of, at the 2022 T20 World Cup, one would not be surprised if the New Year’s resolution of cricket fans was to divorce themselves of any emotional attachment whatsoever to the West Indies team in 2023.

Fearful that threatened protests over the less than expected on-field performances of the English Premier League soccer club Everton for the season, so far, might target them directly, the Club’s Board of Directors, acting on an evaluation that the threat was “real and credible,” complied with a security recommendation that they stay away from last Saturday’s fixture.

As much as the police use statistics to spin the narrative that crime is under control their efforts are undermined by the bloody reprisals that characterise the underworld where ‘hit men’ operate with impunity. 

In March of last year acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards had lamented the shortage of judges in the light of the increasing case-load being placed on them.

It is not clear how genuinely concerned the administration is towards the plight of poor people and the daily stress they are under over the current cost of living crisis.

Democracy doesn’t seem to be doing at all well around the globe at the moment, and particularly not in this hemisphere.

The global data shows that confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Monday this week are a mere 12 percent of what they were at the same time last year, yet the situation facing the healthcare sector is just as dire as it was in 2020, if not worse.

Last Thursday morning about 9.00 am, in San Fernando – ‘down South’ as Trinidadians are wont to say – hundreds of people took to the streets, while hundreds more lined the sidewalks to observe the spectacle playing out in front of their eyes.

To say that 2022 was an eventful year for Guyana is to indulge in considerable understatement.

On December 15th last year, around 7.30 am on Carmichael Street, a Nigerian who had been living in this country for several years launched a chilling attack on guards at State House. 

Last Sunday fisherman Mr Kishan Budburgh and Police Corporal Dwayne McPherson were fatally shot during a police operation at Mahaicony. 

The good news is that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has finally issued  a decision on a complaint before it, almost 18 months after it was constituted.

The President in his New Year’s Address to the Nation would have us believe that Guyanese are living in the best of all possible worlds.

In this country commonplace problems in need of practical solutions are frequently prone to metamorphose into political controversies.

The President’s New Year address for 2023, replete with grand promises and projections for “transforming” Guyana, included his declaration that government intended to “step on the accelerator” with regard to the country’s growth and development.