Editorial

On Wednesday a letter was pinned up on the notice board of the Rusal-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) informing 146 workers whose names were listed that they had been laid off.

On Thursday and Friday last week, two women were violently attacked in their homes by men wielding sharp instruments; one was killed and the other critically injured, adding to the ever-growing statistics of Guyanese women killed or affected by domestic violence.

On Sunday, the sporting world received the shocking news that basketball icon, former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, along with his thirteen year old daughter, Gianna, and seven other people, had died in a helicopter crash, Calabasas, California.

The Ministry of Education’s run of ‘bad form’ persists The protracted run of ‘bad form’ which our education system has been facing was alarmingly extended last week with the horrendous stabbing of a schoolgirl in Linden, during the course of an out-of-school fight in which the attacker allegedly intervened on behalf of the injured child’s opponent.

The only positive attribute of the thoughtless and irresponsible call of the PNCR Chair, Volda Lawrence for the governing coalition’s supporters to work the ‘night shift’ outside of polling stations is that it has now crystallised great interest in security arrangements for March 2nd.

There has been no election prior to this one when there has been so much talk of constitutional reform, and in the case of some of the parties, specifically of shared governance. 

The International Court of Justice’s Thursday ruling against Myanmar is a legal triumph.

On the evening of Election Day, May 11, 2015, an angry mob gathered at the home of Mr Narine Khublall in Sophia shouting that ballot boxes were in the PPP/C command centre which was located there.

Two reports published in this newspaper over the past seven days demonstrate the stagnation in thought that hinders progress.

The preliminary conclusions of a French Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (COI) released in late November, 2019, have found that the state is “the first person responsible” for the Chlordecone pollution on the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

So the Ministry of Education has finally verbalized a commitment to supporting   teachers who come under in-school attacks by parents.

Can the decision announced late Friday by ANUG, the LJP and TNM to join their lists for the purpose of assigning parliamentary seats be a game-changer in alliance politics in this the 50th year of Republicanism?

Constitutional reform seems to be this year’s watchword for nearly all parties going into the elections. 

Earlier this week, a joke went viral on Twitter. “It’s been 6 months since I joined the gym and no progress,” wrote Tony Starch.

First there were nineteen, then there were thirteen, then there were eleven and now there are nine.

When the Brazilian indigenous leaders gathered in Xingu Park in the Amazon end their four-day meeting tomorrow, they will likely have consensus on how they will approach opposing the planned legalisation of between 500 and 800 garimpo mines, as well as the opening up of their reservations to logging and large-scale farming.

The fallout from the decision by the Trump Administration to approve the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani continues to grow.

A few weekends ago during the course of a conversation with a female University student the young woman declared that the real problem with workplace sexual harassment is that the magnitude of the problem for exceeds official and wider public understanding of its nature and extent.

With Nomination Day over, the focus will now intensify on ensuring that the March 2nd 2020 General and Regional Elections are free and fair.

Anyone who thinks Guyana’s politics are complicated, confusing and exhausting has not been following the events which have been convulsing Venezuela’s political universe.