UNPRECEDENTED!


Last Monday General Secretary of the PPP, Mr. Clement Rohee, reacting at his press conference to questions about that morning’s SN’s headline “PPP executives jockeying for top position – Jagdeo, others seeking to consolidate support before crucial congress,” deemed the media as “stray dogs, going by the smell of things and rummaging the PPP neighbourhood for new and old juicy inaccuracies and speculations.” The article in SN and the questions from the media obviously touched a raw nerve.

It would be unprecedented for a PPP Congress to be postponed except if an issue of national importance gets in the way. For example, Congress was not held in 2011 because of elections year, nor in 2012 because the PPP’s minority government was under siege. There might have been other cases in the past but there have been no postponements of Congress for purely internal reasons.

Continue reading “UNPRECEDENTED!”

INDENTURESHIP AND INDEPENDENCE


John Gladstone, the owner of Plantation Vreed-en-Hoop, was regarded as a prime mover for indentureship. In his now famous (or infamous) letter of 4 January, 1836, to recruiters in India, he painted a glowing picture of the possibilities: “They are furnished with comfortable dwellings and abundance of food….They have likewise an annual allowance of clothing sufficient and suitable for the climate; ….it may be fairly said they pass their time agreeably and happily…They have regular medical attendance whenever they are indisposed, at the expense of their employers. “

John Gladstone was guilty of monumental deception. After the Whitby and Hesperus deposited their 396 passengers on May 5, 1838, the first of 208,909, and the system was exposed, the British Anti-Slavery Society, in a statement said: “The whole system has been characterized by the grossest fraud and cruelty, and has been sustained by the most infamous tyranny and oppression.” It quotes Mr. Special Justice Anderson’s letter to the governor, that “many of them have actually been kidnapped” in “circumstances second only in atrocity to those connected with the African slave-trade.”

Continue reading “INDENTURESHIP AND INDEPENDENCE”

ABOLISH THE GOLD BOARD


The recent publication of the forensic audit into the Gold Board has raised concerns about its operations. The forensic audit revealed that “poor management of gold in its possession resulted in losses of over $10 billion for the period 2012 to 2014.” The report found that the losses were due to the maintenance of high stocks while the price for gold declined. The Board “seemed uncertain how to respond to changing market conditions and continued to hold large quantities of gold even as the price declined further.” The report, which is damning in several other respects, comes while reports of the smuggling of 450 pounds of gold to Curacao in November 2012 and Minister Trotman’s estimate of 15,000 ounces of gold being smuggled out of Guyana every week are still resonating as unresolved problems.

The Gold Board was established under the provisions of the Guyana Gold Board Act 1981 in the era when capitalism in Guyana was under official attack and nationalization of large foreign owned companies  had been executed with zeal. Foreign trade, if not nationalized, had become heavily regulated. And so the Guyana Gold Board Act was passed to establish the Gold Board as the body which would take over all trade in gold. Section 8 says that “no person shall sell any gold to, or purchase any gold from, any person other than the Board…”

Continue reading “ABOLISH THE GOLD BOARD”

A PAEAN TO CENSORSHIP


It takes a certain mindset for a person to believe that he or she has the right to determine what information, otherwise lawful, that the citizens of Guyana should receive. Inculcated among some media practitioners and political operatives during the 1970s and 1980s, and pursued with vigour and venom between 2001 and 2015, this mindset is clearly alive and well in Guyana. State-owned media has long been seen as a party asset to be utilized for the benefit of the Government and Party in office.

Given the opportunity to reject censorship, the Guyana Chronicle did the opposite. In justifying its failure to publish its own columnist, Dr. David Hinds, because it did not agree with the views he expressed on two occasions, it embarked on a paean to censorship in its editorial of April 20 entitled “The state newspaper.” It reiterated an earlier statement that “this newspaper is an arm of the state and will give primacy to the government’s agenda.” How is this different to the policy of the Chronicle during the eras mentioned above? The Chronicle is not an arm of the State. The State is merely a trustee of its owners who are the people of Guyana. I am a part owner of the Chronicle.

Continue reading “A PAEAN TO CENSORSHIP”

MERCY MUST BE TEMPERED WITH JUSTICE


The Advisory Committee, recently appointed by the President, has constitutional responsibility only in relation to persons who have been sentenced to death. But article 190 of the Constitution, which provides for its functions, omits to state what exactly in relation to the sentence of death the Advisory Council is to advise on, even though as a matter of practice it is known that the Advisory Council advises on the commuting of death sentences.

In article 188 the President is given extensive powers in relation to prisoners. After consultation with the Minister, the President may grant to any convicted prisoner a free or conditional pardon, an indefinite respite or for a prescribed period, a less severe form of punishment or a remission of the whole or part of a punishment.

Continue reading “MERCY MUST BE TEMPERED WITH JUSTICE”