Editorial

Two Fridays past, Naomi Osaka, the World’s Number Two ranked women’s lawn tennis player, and arguably the most popular athlete in Japan at the moment, lit the flame at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Last week’s public announcements regarding procedures for public access to government offices and the requirement that unvaccinated minibus drivers not provide a public transport service unless they acquire the Covid-19 vaccine must, it seems, be taken as an indication that the authorities are seeking to employ every measure short of overall compulsoriness to ensure that the country is fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic.

A year ago today, Irfaan Ali was sworn in as President of Guyana following the months-long attempt to rig Guyana’s March 2nd 2020 general elections in favour of APNU+AFC and a return of the incumbent, former President Granger. 

One hundred and eighty-three years have passed since those freed from enslavement on August 1st crowded the churches to give thanks to God.

Covid-19, the little virus from Wuhan, China has arguably had more of an impact on the modern world than World Wars I and II, the Great Depression and 9/11.

On the 14th of this month a Cessna Caravan belonging to Jags Aviation of the BK Group ran off the runway in Eteringbang, Region Seven. 

On Sunday last, as part of its ongoing UK Child Abuse Inquiry series, the Guardian newspaper published the chilling account of celebrated English judge Lord Patrick Devlin’s insidious and horrific sexual, physical and psychological abuse of his daughter Clare, which began before she was seven years old in the 1940s and continued for well over a decade.

Large forests have been felled for the paper to print endless volumes and numerous research papers on the all-consuming subjects of leaders and leadership, compared to the smattering of trees sacrificed for the oft overlooked Second-in-Command (2IC) position which has not garnered the attention of organizational scholars as it deservedly merits.

Yesterday’s lead article in the Stabroek News bringing to public attention the unease of economist Tarron Khemraj over what he says may be the political administration’s particular preference for the creation of a specific type of Natural Resource Fund (NRF) for the country’s collectables from the sale of oil will, in all likelihood, not be the last we will hear on this issue.

As it vowed it would do after acceding to office on August 2nd last year, the PPP/C government has formally served notice that the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) is back on the agenda with the expectation that construction will begin in the second half of next year.

Commander Dion Moore with responsibility for Region Seven said on the GPF’s online programme last week that Guyanese vessels were being attacked by Sindicato and other guerrilla gangs along the Cuyuni River.  

Anyone who shops in any of the country’s vibrant markets – from Corriverton to Parika via Bourda – will have witnessed over the past two months astonishing price increases for fruits and vegetables.

One of the obstacles in the way of achieving any kind of rational governance in Guyana is the politicisation of so many organisations in the society.

On Monday last, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) seized and destroyed yet another quantity of inferior electrical merchandise.

Last Sunday’s British Grand Prix will, in all likelihood, be the main topic of heated discussion for the rest of this Formula One (F1) season, following a high-speed collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton during the first lap of the race.

Hardly a week goes by these days without the occurrence of some particularly gruesome accident on our streets which leaves us numbed and, more than that, leaves behind mangled corpses, horrific injury-related disfigurements and devastated families.

With the official COVID-19 death toll now at 512 and growing, an existential threat faces those persons who have refused to be vaccinated with one of the several shots available here.

There has been little evidence of cohesion in the PNCR since the election, although disaffection has until recently expressed itself not in the form of a comprehensive response to perceived shortcomings, but as a series of reactions to individual issues.

The announcement on Thursday by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr.

“‘Mona Lisa’ of stamps returns to Britain for first time in 143 years”, blared the Sky News headline yesterday.