MAHDIA

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 27th May 2023, 9:00 pm

Leading up to the 57th Anniversary of Guyana’s Independence, a searing tragedy occurred in which fire destroyed the girls’ dormitory of the Mahdia Secondary School and took the lives of 19 children, all but one being girls. This catastrophic event transformed the observance of Guyana’s Independence into a remembrance for the children who had tragically lost their lives. The children are: Mary and Martha Dandrade (twin sisters), Bibi Rita Jeffrey, Sabrina John, Loreen Evans, Belnisa Evans, Omefia Edwin, Natalie Bellarmine, Andrea Roberts, Lorita Williams, Nickleen Robinson, Sherena Daniels, Eulanda Carter, Lisa Roberts, Cleoma Simon, Tracil Thomas, Delicia Edwards and Ariana Edwards (sisters) and five-year old Adonijah Daniels. Memorial events have been held for the children countrywide and all Guyanese are in sympathy and solidarity with the parents, relatives and friends of the children. 

Continue reading “MAHDIA”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 20th May 2023, 9:00 pm

Notwithstanding the controversies that have bedeviled the processes leading up to local government elections, it appears as if Guyana will have a date with local democracy on June 12. While local government elections are carefully watched by those interested in public affairs, including the media, the voting public has generally yawned at the prospect. In Guyana and elsewhere the turnout is generally in the vicinity of just above 30 percent. This being the case, the most that can be said about the results is that they indicate a trend. The 61 percent vote for the PPP and 34 percent for APNU on a 36 percent turnout in 2018 merely indicated a trend for national election results. The PPP won and APNU lost, but each by a hair’s breadth, and only after a monumental struggle against election rigging.

Continue reading “LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS”

TREADING IN MURKY WATERS

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 13th May 2023, 9:00 pm

Some weeks ago, the Chief Justice found that the Local Content Secretariat, a regulatory agency, had wrongly refused to issue a Local Content Certificate to Ramps Logistics. The Chief Justice ordered that the certificate be issued within a week. Two weeks ago, Justice Sandil Kissoon found that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), also a regulatory agency, had breached its statutory duty in failing to ensure EEPGL’s compliance with condition 14 of the Environmental Permit (Renewed) to obtain an unlimited liability guarantee from the parent company or an affiliate company. The Judge gave the EPA five days to issue the required notice to EEPGL under the EPA Act. There was no appeal in the Ramps Logistics case. The appeal in the EPA case will determine if Justice Kissoon was right.

Continue reading “TREADING IN MURKY WATERS”

THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 6th May 2023, 9:00 pm

The Coronation of King Charles III took place yesterday in London, United Kingdom, with great pomp, pageantry and fanfare. As expected, the event was a solemn but spectacular display of both temporal and spiritual dedication in colourful regalia and with priceless robes, orbs and sceptres. British people turned out in their numbers to witness the historic occasion, whih last took place in 1953 when King Charles III’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was coronated as Queen. For most people alive in the UK and in Guyana this would be the first time that an event of such spectacle is being experienced. And the British coronation is unlike any other. It has its ’majestic’ roots in the celebration of Britain’s power in its glory days as the largest and most powerful empire ever established, ruling much of the Black and Brown world and parts of the White world.   

Continue reading “THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III”

THE REPORT

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 29th April 2023, 9:00 pm

The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the General and Regional Elections of Guyana on 2 March 2020 is the first of its kind, despite the fact that the first rigged general elections in Guyana occurred in 1968, some 55 years ago. It found that the Chief Election Officer (CEO) first disenfranchised 275,092 voters for the PPP by unilateral nullification. In a second report he disqualified “another 115,884 persons.” It concluded: “The idea that the CEO or GECOM could, in an unaccountable, non-transparent and seemingly arbitrary manner, without the due processes and the legal standards established in Article 163 and in the Validation Act, disenfranchise scores of thousands of electors is entirely inconsistent with the constitutional framework.” The Inquiry found that the actions of the CEO “were a brazen attempt to prevent GECOM from declaring the true results of the elections of 2 June 2020.” There are many more findings in the Report confirming the attempts to manipulate the elections. The conduct of the Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers, and Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, were examined.

Continue reading “THE REPORT”
The Conversation Tree is both physical and philosophical. The physical is the tree itself, which has given its name to the road from which it originates at the intersection of the Rupert Craig Highway. It was reputedly first planted by Napleton William King in 1876 to celebrate the birth of his son Napleton Walter. As...
Read More

Recent Posts

Other Posts