THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA, KNOWN AS NORTH KOREA


President Obama is reported to have told President-elect Trump that his biggest foreign policy issue was likely to be North Korea. Testing a missile after Trump was sworn in, this prediction quickly became reality. The US believes that North Korea is rapidly developing the capability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the West Coast of the US. It already has several nuclear bombs. In US terms, such a development by an adversary will threaten not only its own national security but also that of its allies, Japan and South Korea. Its conventional army already poses an immediate threat to Seoul, the capital of South Korea and its industrial areas.

The Koreans from both North and South are a proud and dignified people who, like so many others, have been victims of imperialism. Korea was colonized and subjected to brutal rule, not for the first time in its history, by Japan from 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War. After the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in Europe, it joined the Pacific War against Japan in early August 1945, as agreed with the Allies. By late August, the Soviet Union had already driven out the Japanese from the North and had reached Pyongyang. The Allies quickly sought agreement with the Soviet Union on the stationing of their forces, each confined to positions north and south of the 38th parallel. Separate governments were eventually established in 1948, after several years of negotiations failed to agree on the terms of unification.

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SARA – A BOLD AND VITAL INSTRUMENT


The State Asset Recovery Bill (“Bill”) was passed in the National Assembly on Friday last after a robust debate. It is a bold and vital instrument in the anti-corruption effort, although modern anti-corruption legislation still remains to be addressed. When I wrote in 2012 that the PPP Governments had made efforts to curb corruption, but that by then it had become pervasive and further steps needed to be taken, it was legislation such as this that I had in mind. One of the triggers for my article was the many inquiries made of me for at least two years before my term as Speaker ended in 2010 as to whether AML/CFT legislation was pending. I knew that there was a requirement from CFATF that such legislation be passed but it was only when sanctions were threatened after the 2011 elections that the legislation was finally tabled by the last Government.

Political considerations were mainly responsible for the then combined APNU and AFC Opposition to oppose the AML/CFT Bill, just as political considerations are now mainly responsible for the current Opposition opposing the Bill.

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CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM – WHERE DOES APNU-AFC STAND?


Two Fridays ago a seminar on Constitutional Reform the Process, was held at the University of Guyana. The event, which was well attended, was organized by the Carter Centre and facilitated by the British High Commission. The PPP and a cross-section of civil society were represented, but conspicuously absent was any APNU or AFC party or Government representatives. The discourse focused on why there should be constitutional reform and the process by which it should be undertaken. The event was not intended to have a formal conclusion but to have Guyanese ownership.

Many ills of the society that needed redress were identified. There were concerns that elected officials were interfering in the democratic right to protest, of political intermeddling in Amerindian affairs, of the need for equity in the society, of implementing the existing provisions of the Constitution, of educating young people about the issues, and everything in between. The debate around the issues raised was lively and energetic. The fact that the audience remained attentive and engaged throughout the three-hour event suggested that there is much interest in constitutional reform and scope for more debate.

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DRAMA IN COURT


The Guyana Chronicle, which obtained Justice Franklin Holder’s letter to the Chancellor (ag), the Hon. Yonette Cummings-Edwards, complaining about the conduct of the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, the Hon. Basil Williams, during the hearing of a matter in Court on March 23, tried its best to obfuscate. The letter has now been published and Justice Holder’s searing comments are in the public domain.

This less than professional reporting by the Guyana Chronicle was probably the reason why the Judge’s letter found its way to other sections of the media. The Judge described Mr. Williams’s conduct as ‘despicable’ and ‘contemptuous.’ The Judge said, quoting his letter from the Stabroek News: “I am not prepared to sit and hear Mr. Williams as an attorney-at-law in any matter whatsoever, unless he makes a genuine and meaningful apology to my satisfaction, in open court, both to me and to members of the Bar since they too were scandalized by his despicable conduct.” The Guyana Chronicle, which claimed to have had the Judge’s letter, reported none of this.

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IMPROVING ACCESS TO JUSTICE


The judiciary is one of the three branches of Government. It is a vital component of our democratic system and for this reason needs to function with a high degree of proficiency. Even though most citizens go through their lives without having to invoke the assistance of the judiciary to protect or defend their rights against other citizens or the State, nevertheless the judiciary is a bulwark against the violation of those rights. Citizens need to be assured that there is a fair and impartial judiciary that can deliver justice in a timely manner in the even that they need to call on its protection.

In the business community, commercial disputes arise frequently, although, like the general population, most go through their business without ever having to revert to the judiciary to solve disputes. A judicial system that can rapidly resolve commercial disputes is necessary not only to keep business activity turning over but to sustain confidence in the business community, both local and foreign, to invest or continue to invest in Guyana.

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