THE TRIPARTITE COMMITTEE

A Tripartite Committee, comprising the three political parties represented in the National Assembly, was appointed last year during the Budget controversy and is now revived. There was no agreement in 2012 on anything in relation to the 2012 Budget except for the aborted deal relating to pensions and Linden electricity rates. This unraveled when the […]

‘THE OLD IS DYING AND THE NEW CANNOT BE BORN’

Antonio Gramsci’s statement, meant for a different situation, accurately depicts Guyana’s political condition. He describes this period as ‘the interregnum’ in which ‘a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.’ Our symptoms are: squabbling over the Budget, voting a hospital down, failure of the tripartite talks, the Speaker overruling the Chief Justice, Government’s support for ‘shared […]

BUDGET BLUES

Formal exchanges of letters between the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, and the Shadow Minister of Finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge, seeking to fix a date for a meeting to discuss the proposed Budget, and the inevitable name calling when the exercise proved unsuccessful, ought to have alerted everyone that no serious discourse will take […]

THE UNITED NATIONS AND MINING ON AMERINDIAN LANDS

I return to the issue of mining on Amerindian lands because of the international dimension introduced by a letter to the Government from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD). The letter expressed concern over mining on Amerindian lands of the Isseneru and Kako communities and has asked the Government to […]

THE PPP’S 30TH CONGRESS

The twice postponed 30th Congress of the PPP will be held in Port Mourant, Corentyne, on August 2 – 4. It will provide an opportunity for the Party to seek out inspiration from the birthplace of its founder. It was in Berbice, the traditional stronghold of the PPP, that the greatest loss of votes took […]