THE MUSLIM STATE OF ‘ALI IRFAAN.’

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 17th December 2022, 9:00 pm

Former Prime Minister and Mayor Hamilton Green, writing in one national newspaper on December 15, suggested that Guyanese should not be surprised if Guyana is renamed the ‘State of Ali Irfaan.’ Unlike current Mayor of Georgetown, Pandit Ubraj Narine, who sees the emergence of a Muslim State in conflict with Hindus, the now self-styled ‘Elder,’ sees the new State as embracing Hindus. His prediction is that the Georgetown will be renamed ‘Bharrat City.’ This convergence of a Muslim State with a Hindu Capital should give some solace to the Mayor, who feared personalized conflict. At least the Mayor, a Hindu Priest, would be presiding over a capital city that bears a Hindu name, ‘Bharat,’ an ancient name for India. 

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FR. MALCOLM RODRIGUES S.J.

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 10th December 2022, 9:00 pm

The life and work of Fr. Malcolm Rodrigues represent and symbolize much more than his individual efforts, courageous though they were. The violent rigging of the 1973 elections facilitated by the seizure of the ballot boxes by the Guyana Defence Force and their sequestration at Camp Ayangana, enabled the PNC to declare a two-third majority victory. This frightening event gave an impetus to political activities. Opposition to the PNC had been led mainly by the PPP through parliamentary debates, political meetings, industrial action by GAWU and modest civil society activity for civil liberties orchestrated mainly by the PPP. The traumatic rigging of the elections, in which two PPP activists, Bholanauth Permanand and Jagan Ramessar, were shot at No. 63 Village, Cornetyne, arrested, and bled to death over hours at the back of a police land rover, shocked the nation. It brought additional forces in the campaign for free and fair elections, civil liberties and human rights. The launching of the WPA in 1975 introduced new and dynamic voices, mobilised additional support and created optimism. Fr. Malcolm Rodrigues was one of these voices.

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WOULDN’T IT BE A GREAT DAY FOR GUYANA IF….?

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 3rd December 2022, 9:00 pm

On September 27, 1965, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) delivered a 1965-page report into Racial Problems in the Public Service of British Guiana. By letter dated April 6, 1965, Prime Minister Burnham, in his invitation, said to the ICJ that his Government had been “deeply concerned with the need to remove from our society sources of racial disharmony and to promote the right of each individual, whatever his ethnic origin, to have an equal opportunity to play a meaningful part in the community.” He said that his Government’s concern had been to “determine whether such [racial] imbalance as may exist in any particular field can be corrected and, if so, what is the shortest practicable period for such correction.” Burnham may well have been pressured by the UK to invite the ICJ having regard to searing ethnic strife of the early 1960s and the perceived undermining of Indian political representation by the imposition of proportional representation to defeat the PPP.

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BLOAT AND BIOMETRICS

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 26th November 2022, 9:00 pm

Guyanese are well aware of the Opposition allegations that the electoral list is bloated and needs to be ‘cleaned.’ In recent letters to the press, the Attorney General has pointed out, in a more direct manner than I have done in the past, that the electoral list cannot be bloated if the Chief Justice has ruled that names are validly on the list even if the persons cannot be located at their addresses.

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VENEZUELA’S PRELIMINARY OBJECTION IS “TOTALLY HOPELESS.”

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 19th November 2022, 9:00 pm

Although Venezuela’s official position is that it is not participating in the case before the ICJ relating to the controversy arising from the claim that the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 is null and void, it seeks every opportunity to intervene. Venezuela now makes a preliminary objection to the effect that the Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s Application on the ground that the United Kingdom is a necessary party to the proceedings.

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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...
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