Editorial

At least 2.2 billion people around the world today suffer from impaired vision.

“Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins” – Ayn Rand The subject of firearms, the application and subsequent approval process for their possession, the accompanying inherent responsibility imposed upon the registered owners, and the increasing circulation of illegal weapons coupled with the alarming rise of gun-related crimes in our society have provoked many heated discussions and raised concerns about our apparently pointed progression into a modern-day Wild West society.

Last Thursday, we learnt that two students of a city school had been charged and remanded into custody following the murder of a Govern-ment Technical Institute (GTI) student, Samuel Grannum, who reportedly died from injuries sustained during a confrontation between ‘rival gangs’ two Fridays ago.

On Friday October 7th, the US Department of Labor (DoL) issued an order to ExxonMobil to reinstate two scientists who the DoL believe had been fired on the suspicion that they had leaked information to the media about potentially fraudulent production projections by the company.

The case of police Detective Sergeant Dion Bascom has so many convolutions it is hard for the public to keep up.

On Tuesday President Ali announced that his government would be inviting expressions of interest from investors for the construction of a 30,000 barrels per day modular oil refinery. 

We are now an oil nation, shortly to become a gas one too. 

Of the approximately 7.9 billion people in the world, an estimated one in every 150 (some 50 million in total) was in a situation of modern slavery on any given day last year.

On the 5th October, 1962, sixty years ago today, the film “Dr No” premiered in London, England.

Part of the reason why troublesome issues tend, sometimes, to grow ‘from bad to worse,’ to fester, has to do with the fact that insofar as many of us are concerned there is considerable virtue in what we are wont to describe as minding our own business. 

On November 8, 2021, a $346m contract was awarded to St8ment Investment Inc for the construction of a primary school at Bamia, Linden.

Last week the Department of Public Information reported on the government’s policies and measures with regard to advancing education in Guyana.

One of the first initiatives the PPP/C government undertook upon returning to office in 2020 was to offer generous concessions to the gold mining sub-sector.

On Sunday Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha was in Essequibo to attend a memorial and thanksgiving service to mark the 181st anniversary of the founding of Queenstown village.

Two Wednesdays ago, ahead of the UN Transforming Education Summit, which was held on September 16, 17 and 19, UNICEF revealed that it was estimated that only one in three ten-year olds in developing countries globally are able to read and understand a simple story.

‘I can resist everything but temptation’ – Oscar Wilde (1854 -1900) Last week, the sporting world was once again rocked with allegations of a bribery scandal, which seems to have now become par for the course in today’s universe.

The season of the General Assembly is like no other in the timetable of the United Nations.

While more voices are needed, the yeoman’s work being done by members of civil society in relation to the travesties in the oil and gas sector must be strongly applauded.

Last week President Irfaan Ali was holding forth on his favourite topic again:  One Guyana.

Justice Claudette Singh’s 40-year judicial career, including stints as the Deputy Solicitor General, a Puisne Judge and a Justice of Appeal has been marked by professionalism, rectitude and discretion.