Opinion

Dear Editor, A statement released by the Ministry of the Presidency on Thursday (October 19, 2017) sought to explain the basis on which President David Granger moved to unilaterally appoint the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), in the person of retired Justice, James Patterson.

Dear Editor, The unilateral selection and appointment by President Granger of Justice Patterson to be the new Chairman of the Elections Commission takes the country backwards for decades.

Dear Editor,   Recently I was privileged to experience a different side of City Hall. 

No one who is reasonably au courant with events in Guyana will believe that President David Granger did not anticipate the consequences of his actions.

Dear Editor, According to the tinkered and flawed 1980 constitution, the President can unilaterally select someone to be chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission under the following circumstances: (i) The Leader of the Opposition fails to submit a list or (ii) the list submitted by the Leader of the Opposition is unacceptable to the President.

Dear Editor, While Guyanese slept, the Granger-led dispensation took an axe to Guyana’s fledgling democracy.

Dear Editor, The Ministry of Public Infrastructure finds itself once again denouncing a grossly incorrect report published by the online news outlet, iNews Guyana, this time on October 19, 2017, under the headline ‘Sheriff St/Mandela Ave upgrade now a US$61M project as price doubles’.

Dear Editor, I am shaking in anger, livid, boiling with outrage.

Dear Editor, When I read Mr Ralph Ramkarran’s Blog, ‘The Conversation Tree’ on ‘The Fall of the PPP’ I am bewildered as to why the Leader of the Opposition is still hell-bent on accelerating this downward slide of the PPP.

Dear Editor, Mr Granger has built a reputation of being unable to play a fair game.

Dear Editor, My first reaction was: James who?  Then followed thoughts of going it alone and deciding unilaterally. 

Dear Editor, Sugar was first cultivated in Guyana in the 1630s, and on a plantation scale, probably in the 1650s, that is, nearly 400 years ago.

Soil degradation is hardly a commonplace phrase in the media, and it looks dull next to the vocabulary we use for oil (ultra-deepwater wells, synthetic crude, hydraulic fracturing), but the ground beneath our feet is literally disappearing because of over-intensive industrial farming and global warming; and, like petroleum, soil isn’t a renewable resource.

Dear Editor, As the person who has been advising the Minister of Public Security for the past three years on the dates to be declared as public holidays, I think I should be given an opportunity to comment on Kaieteur News article ‘Deepavali controversy: Majority of Guyanese boycott Govt.

Dear Editor, The loss of five lives at one fell swoop on Sunday, 15th October, 2017 on the Corentyne Highway because of a pothole makes me recall the rhyme quoted by Benjamin Franklin, ‘For the want of a nail…’  The essence of its message is that the neglect of seemingly minor things can lead to colossal losses later.

Dear Editor, I refer to an article I read recently in the Stabroek News headlined ‘Corentyne labourer gets life sentence for raping three-year-old’ Justice Jo Ann Barlow.

Dear Editor, Past President and Past Prime Minister, Mr Samuel Hinds, who in his letter to the editor: ‘We African-Guyanese must free and empower ourselves’ (Sunday Stabroek, October 8, 2017) demonstrates why he could not have contributed to that process, even as he occupied high office that could have been used to contribute to enabling African-Guyanese freedom and empowerment.

Dear Editor, As the leading researcher, analyst and writer for almost a decade in the still emerging field of Caribbean Intellectual Property law and policy, my work has catalogued the laws and policies related to intellectual property rights within the Caricom states and their relation to international IP regimes such as the WTO’s TRIPS agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights).