THE FUTURE OF THE PNC

The spectacle displayed by the APNU+AFC in Parliament during last week signals the PNC’s return to the Opposition. Its loss of office in 1992 after 28 years was marked by ethnic violence, disruption of the National Assembly and vocal hostility therein to a PPP Government Minister of African Guyanese ancestry. As if history is repeating […]

AT 53, IT’S TIME TO PLACE A POLITICAL SOLUTION ON THE AGENDA

To the sounds of Buju Banton and the echoes of the Wismar and Sun Chapman massacres, Guyana celebrates it 53rdIndependence Anniversary. Our political and economic future are as uncertain as they were 53 years ago. Guyana’s emergence from authoritarian rule in 1992 was not only a major landmark in its post-Independence history. The promises at the time were of “the dawn of a new era” and of […]

FAIR COMMENT ON A MATTER OF PUBLIC INTEREST

In English law, fair comment on a matter of public interest is allowed. Generally, it guarantees the freedom of the press to make statements on matters of public interest, as long as the statements are not made with ill-will, spite, or with intent to harm the subject of the comment. For decades, English courts have […]

‘A HOWLING PACK OF LEGISLATIVE HOSTILES’ IN ‘A BRAWLING PARLIAMENTARY SLUM’

A scathing editorial in the Kaieteur News last Friday shockingly castigated Members of Parliament in most unparliamentary language, from which the headline is taken. Here is another sample: “In some respects what Guyana has is not a legislative body, but a Roach Motel overflowing with a cast of creepy characters, a real life Bates Motel […]

SEX AND POLITICS IN THE US

Sex and politics intersected in an explosive controversy that has gripped the United States as Professor Christine Blasey Ford gave evidence last Thursday to the United States Senate about a sexual assault perpetrated against her in the summer of 1982 by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the US […]