Category: Letters

Dear Editor, I was delighted to hear the news that former President Bharat Jagdeo has been appointed Head of the Commonwealth Observer Mission for Sri Lanka’s elections. This is at the invitation of head of the Sri Lanka Elections Commission Mahindra Deshapriya. Mr Jagdeo has never been given his due for the many developments he brought to this country during his tenure as President. He was instrumental in pushing for the University of Guyana campus at Tain; bridging of the Berbice River; consolidating the many infrastructural developments introduced by the…

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Dear Editor, On November 20, I met a delegation of the Alliance For Change (AFC) in my office.  This meeting was at my request and follows my earlier letter on the proroguing of Parliament, and subsequent meetings with President Donald Ramotar and Leader of the Opposition David Granger. The AFC was represented by General Secretary David Patterson, MPs Valerie Lowe-Garrido and Kathy Hughes, and Treasurer Dominic Gaskin. Representing the Catholic Church were myself and Mssrs Gino Persaud, Lawrence Lachmansingh and Albert Rodrigues. The AFC outlined the timeline and associated details…

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Dear Editor, I read an article in another section of the media on November 18 under the headline, “National Unity Gov’t would not include persons guilty of wrongdoing – Granger”. Mr Granger, Leader of the Opposition, said in the article that “if he is elected the next President of Guyana he will not allow suspected criminals associated with the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to be part of his administration”. Firstly, let me inform Granger that he is correct to have used the word “if”, since his People’s National Congress…

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Dear Editor, I applaud President Barack Obama for the bold reforms to the nation’s broken immigration system, albeit temporary. Immigration reform does not only impact our Latino brothers and sisters. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean, South America and Africa now qualify for relief from the threat of deportation and will become eligible for lawful employment. Almost all undocumented immigrants from the Caribbean and Guyana enter the United States lawfully, but overstayed their visas and thus are out of status. A large percent has children and/or spouses who…

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Dear Editor, The Guyanese community in New York who know Navin Chandarpal, friends in Trinidad where he visited frequently and interacted with the large Guyanese community, and myself are saddened by the news of the passing of this remarkable person. Those of us who worked with him during the anti-dictatorial struggle will not forget his role and his contribution to the liberation of Guyana. He was a terrific guy with a broad smile never to hold spite against anyone. He has made sterling contributions to various fields of endeavour in…

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Dear Editor, The political Pharisees opposed to the Government of Guyana are dancing in a circle of hypocrisy. Thanks to Guyana’s new political dispensation which has unveiled the mask of those who want to be in control of Guyana’s Governance by trying all sorts of dirty machinations, which have, so far, failed and will continue to miserably fail. And in this regard, the people of Guyana are saying that they will not forget the past which is prior to October 1992, because they do not want poverty, misery and darkness…

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Dear Editor, The Guyana Bar Association/Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GBA/GAWL) never fail to amaze me. True to form, they have called for the resignation of the Attorney General (AG) over an illegal recording of a private conversation which, according to the AG, was manipulated and distorted. However, what I find to be extraordinary is the fact that none of these self-anointed paragons will ever be able to the face the public if some of their private conversations were ever made public without their permission. I am not a lawyer,…

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Dear Editor, I am very much relieved to learn that Guyana is off the hook as regards the FATF blacklisting – at least for now. A GINA report stated that this was largely due to the high-level of commitment of the Government, coupled with demonstrated actions made to address the technical deficiencies identified in the country’s AML/CFT regime. However, Guyana will have to continue to be subjected to an “ongoing process in improving compliance” to ensure that it discharges its obligations under the Action Plan which was worked out with…

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Dear Editor, I have been reading lately that Guyana has the highest rate of suicides in the world. Most of these cases involved ingesting of insecticides or pesticides. The word insecticides or pesticides refers to the destruction of humans. However, mankind is now fighting the battle with chemical pesticides to solve their problems. All pesticides contain the active ingredients, that is, the chemicals that do the killing of people. They should be carefully controlled by the distributors and Government. The country should have its regulatory and technical requirements enshrined in…

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Dear Editor, The China Chamber of Commerce for Mining, Metals and Chemicals – a Chinese Government-affiliated body – recently launched a set of voluntary Guidelines for Chinese mineral companies that operate mining projects outside of China. The move by China provides an enormous boost for efforts worldwide to bring Governments in line with global transparency standards, in particular the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Dodd-Frank Act Section 1504, as well as the European Union (EU) Directives. Locally, this announcement, reported by Global Witness, a major international monitoring organization, represents…

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