Editorial

It was a letter published in this newspaper last week from Mr Shawn Johnson on behalf of other residents of Malgre Tout-Versailles which first drew wider public attention to the destruction of vast swathes of mangrove on the West Bank Demerara.

A year ago the Indian writer Arundhati Roy chronicled the early stages of the pandemic in her “poor-rich country … suspended somewhere between feudalism and religious fundamentalism, caste and capitalism.”

Matters connected to race are the trickiest subjects in the country, and ill-considered remarks, whatever their intention, often have a way of boomeranging back to strike the person who uttered them.

Over the last week, international media have been somewhat preoccupied yet again with stories of sexual misconduct.

We reside in a world today in which rapidly developing technology is not only changing the way we experience life on a daily basis, but also, it could be suggested, as a spin-off, is having a deleterious effect on the way we treat each other, even in basic everyday functions.

Last Saturday, in close proximity to news that we may be in the midst of another rash of smuggling of Towa Towa birds into New York, the Irfaan Ali administration made public the installation of $400 million worth of new baggage and body scanning equipment at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri. 

Last Monday, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo convened a forum for the media on the questions that have arisen around plans for piping associated gas from the Liza-1 oil well to shore for conversion into fuel for electricity generation.

Sharon’s Mall situated at Charlotte and King Streets was destroyed by fire last Wednesday evening. 

One good measure of the change in Washington during the last 100 days is the number of false and misleading statements made by the new president.

On Monday Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire threw out the petition which had been brought by APNU+AFC challenging the results of the March 2nd 2020 elections.

It is possibly audacious to suggest that a multi-billion-dollar company, one which managed to secure a $3.89 billion after-tax profit last year despite the global negative impact of COVID-19, has disappointed.

Two Sundays ago, media headlines worldwide screamed a leaked story from the football world.

It is now a year and more since millions of children across the world, including here in Guyana, have had no access to formal education, that is, the transfer of knowledge that derives from face to face communication and which includes the simultaneous sharing of information in a real time, interactive, learning-friendly environment.

While there is still much to be learnt about what has transpired, the ongoing turmoil at the Guyana Oil Company will be a test of the PPP/C government’s professed intolerance of corrupt behaviour and commitment to good governance.

There are some instances of carelessness on the part of public officials which result in actual physical harm.

The ambitious carbon reduction targets announced at Washington’s virtual climate summit are equal parts aspiration and political strategy.

Periodically letters are printed in this newspaper calling for an inquiry into the killing of former Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh, his sister Phulmattie, his brother Rajpat and his security guard Curtis Robertson, and this month two of these were published in our letter column. 

Today is Earth Day. The brainchild of Ameri-can Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson, an environmentalist of Wisconsin, Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, but only in the United States.

Last Friday, the current fastest man in the world – both on the track and for shopping – Christian Coleman, was informed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that his appeal to overturn the two-year ban imposed for missing three no-notice out-of-competition drug tests in a 12-month period, had failed.

Pity indeed that 2021, the year designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), had to coincide with a period when we are confronted with one of the sternest global challenges of our time, that is, the challenge of pushing back the scourge of the coronavirus pandemic.