Author Archives: admin

First published in Apsara Magazine, Issue 2, 2008 The swizzle is Guyana’s long lost, but once favourite, alcoholic drink. It seems that it got its name from a combination of two 1800s words: ‘switchel’ meaning ‘a mixed rum drink’ and ‘fizz’, an effervescing drink, and it once enjoyed fame the world over as being part […]

Robust public scrutiny of the administration and dispensation of justice is vitally necessary to preserve the rule of law and the independence and integrity of the magistracy and judiciary. A public debate is raging in the press at the time of writing this article about the right of a Magistrate to reject a confession statement […]

A parliamentary procedural device called an “Adjournment Motion” was in the news recently. I have been asked on this occasion as well as in the past when the issue arose, usually in controversial political circumstances, what it is all about. It is a rule, called a Standing Order, of the National Assembly which allows a […]

The argument that the constitutional arrangements which exist in Guyana today are an obstacle to national unity, or at least, fairness and legitimacy of the political system, was not started by Eric Phillips, but he is its most recent advocate. The advancement of this idea, but not with the vehemence of Eric Phillips, began shortly […]

August 3, 2009. Dear Editor, I refer to Mr. Winston Murray’s letter published on August 1, 2009, captioned: “This was an obvious and serious violation of the Standing Orders.” Mr. Murray accused me of countenancing a violation of the Standing Orders when I allowed a motion approving the Report of the Special Select Committee on […]