A few days ago, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Aubrey Retmyer, was reported as saying that his known political loyalty would not affect his work. His response was in the context of perceived bias by SARA against members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) who continue to be placed before the courts. The PPP has consistently labelled the charges as baseless and frivolous and more recently the Party’s General Secretary described them as a means of reputational damage. To some, Retmyer’s statement can…
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180th Arrival Centenary: Indian connections I By Ravi Dev
It is, of course, widely known today that Indian immigration continued until the SS Ganges docked on 18th April 1917. It disgorged 437 persons: 268 men, 130 women, 22 boys and 17 girls, who went to plantations in all three counties. Since one-third of them was picked up from Madras and the remainder from North India, it was quite a representative bunch. Twenty-five came to my village of Uitvlugt, and, like the others, brought with them direct knowledge of life in India. The constant influx of new immigrants during the…
Read MoreMost beautiful English word is “mother”
According to a survey by the British Council among English speakers, about forty thousand people agree, the most beautiful English word is “mother”. Last Sunday was Mother’s Day; the day where we honour the influential women in our lives. The idea of honouring mothers is certainly not a new one. Since the time of the Greeks, women were celebrated with the festival of Rhea, the mother of the Gods. The Romans too, had a mother of all Gods, Magna Mater, and every March, people would bring gifts to her temple…
Read MoreWaiting for the ‘good life’
In the 1995 movie “Waiting to exhale”, four women are waiting to “breathe easy” after they find a “good man” to share the “good life”. Guyanese have been “waiting to exhale” since 2015, when the PNC-led APNU/AFC government took office and promised them the “good life”. After three years, it is certainly time to decide, since the AFC made the task easier by offering their conclusions, which we can then evaluate from a citizen’s perspective. However, being an “interested party”, maybe they should have announced that fact in the interest…
Read MoreBuilding a resilient and ‘green economy’
The local Private Sector and the Government of Guyana must redouble their efforts to ensure that no stone is left unturned in transforming Guyana into a modern and resilient “green economy” that caters to the socioeconomic needs of its citizenry in an environmentally sustainable manner. This is critical because Guyana has unparalleled opportunities for green business development and immense potential to be green business leaders, not followers. It is therefore imperative for the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to be active partners in the effort to realise the immense potential of…
Read MoreOp-Ed: We must speak out against political victimization
The following is an opinion piece by former Government Minister Dr Lesile Ramsammy: I stand with Dr Ashni Singh, I stand with Winston Brassington, I stand with all those who are being victimized, I stand against political victimization. I reject the policy of belittling political opponents. I will not let apathy be my solace. I will raise my voice to say unequivocally, political victimization is wrong. There can be no dispute, no vacillation, APNU+AFC is on a mission to harass, intimidate, embarrass, humiliate and victimize their political opponents and any…
Read MoreNewfound respect for teachers
By Ashley Anthony My relationship to the education sector has always been that of a recipient- a student. I have upon many occasions criticized the way that our students are taught, and whilst I do believe that these complaints are still very valid and need to be addressed, I have developed a newfound respect for teachers. Let me be clear, in this instance, I mean teachers who honestly try their best. The kind who don’t tell you that you have to attend their lessons to pass, and who are dedicated…
Read MoreAddressing domestic violence
Within the last four months alone, seven women have been killed by their partners in what can only be described as monstrous acts, while three more unfortunate victims were brutalised at the hands of their partners. Recent statistics point to a disturbing reality: incidents of domestic violence by an intimate partner in Guyana rose from 74.8 percent in 2011 to 89 percent in 2017, with females accounting for upward of 80 percent of the victims. The highest number of these crimes occurs in Region Three, Essequibo Coast and Islands; Region…
Read MoreThe promised “Good Life”
The PNC-led APNU/AFC coalition Government is now well past the halfway point of its term of office, in which it promised to deliver “the good life” to the citizens of Guyana. Sadly, by its own measure, that promise has receded even further under this regime, which is characterised more than anything else by the disjoint between its rhetoric and its actions. The rhetoric for achieving the “good life” was captured in its “joint manifesto”, in which the goals were stated right up front. It began with the need for “healing…
Read MoreJagan and WI Pan Africanism
We noted CLR James saw Cheddi Jagan’s vacillation, in 1958, and refusal to clearly state his personal position – as the leader of the PPP — on the WI Federation as trying to have it both ways: maintaining the support of his mainly Indian base while signalling he was “principled” for not accepting a toothless British WI Federation. In his 1956 address to his rump PPP, he accepted Burnham had taken most African support after the 1955 split. But we want to suggest Jagan’s seeming vacillation arose out of his…
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