Conversation Tree

JUMBIE UMBRELLA AND BUSH TEA; THE PRESIDENT AND THE OPPOSITION; ARTICLE 13

Jumbie Umbrella and Bush Tea

The covid-19 pandemic is one of the most serious outbreaks of an infectious disease the world has ever seen. There have been 219 million cases and 4.55 million deaths worldwide. The infection is raging in most parts of the world. The headline is therefore not meant to be facetious. It is deadly serious because supposedly serious people are treating the pandemic as a joke. A member of one of the highest bodies in the land, the National Assembly, elected by the people of Guyana to make laws and otherwise look out for their interests, has pronounced that bush medicine cures covid-19.

ARTICLE 13 AND US CONGRESSIONAL CONCERNS

Article 13 of the Guyana Constitution was invoked by Minister Gail Teixeira during last week in response to the call of US Congressmen Albio Sires and Hank Johnson for more political inclusion in Guyana and for the country’s wealth to benefit all of its citizens. The event was a Congressional hearing on “The Biden Administration’s Efforts to Deepen US Engagement in the Caribbean” by the Western Hemisphere Congressional Sub-Committee chaired by Congressman Albio Sires. He said: “I am glad we are holding this hearing to talk about a region that is too often overlooked. The countries of the Caribbean are among our closest neighbours, yet we often frequently fail to pay enough attention to this region.”

WHITHER THE PNCR?

The answer to the question posed in the above headline is that the PNCR is not going to wither away, despite the spate of recent resignations, the departure of the WPA from APNU and the slow death of the AFC. Neither is it going to be helped by the comical addition of two ‘new’ one-person political parties formed by Jaipaul Sharma and Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and welcomed to APNU with a straight face by President Granger.

VACCINE POLITICS – SHOUTING ‘FIRE’ IN A CROWDED CINEMA

News reports on June 17 reveal that 224,853 persons in Guyana, representing 46.2 percent of the targeted adult population had taken the COVID 19 vaccine. Of these 94,243 persons or 19.4 percent have taken the second dose. Region 10 with 14 percent lags far behind the other regions. In all except Region 8, which is at 29.6 percent, more that 40 percent have been vaccinated with at least one dose. Region 6 is at 54 percent and Region 1 is at 55.9 percent.

TO RIGHT A TRAGIC WRONG – RESTORING WALTER RODNEY’S HUMANITY

The modest measures taken by the Government of Guyana, described in the announcement by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, “to right a tragic wrong,” marking the 41st anniversary of his assassination, are welcome. Too long, many will say, but they restored the humanity of one of Guyana’s most famous sons, Walter Rodney. His stature as a world class intellectual, scholar and revolutionary have been long established. His vast contribution the liberation of Guyana from authoritarian rule, and the liberation of all oppressed peoples, particularly Africans, in whose history he was an acknowledged expert, are recognized by grateful Guyanese. The corrective measures will restore the dignity with which Walter Rodney carried himself throughout his life. It is only in the country of his death, and birth, that every petty effort has been made by little people who cheated his family, his country and the world, of his life, to diminish him. They will never succeed.