Messrs. Co-Chairs,
Dean Massey,
Mme. Conference Director, Melanie Smith,
Moderators and Panellists,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
AMBASSADOR BAYNEY KARRAN SPEAKS
Saturday, 9th April 2016, 5:00 pm
THE BRIAN TIWARI AFFAIR
Saturday, 2nd April 2016, 9:00 pm
President Granger’s swift and decisive action, tersely announced, to terminate the appointment of Mr. Brian Tiwari as a government adviser on business, dramatized an event that has titillated the political classes and has energized the media. It is clear that the President allows his officials enough latitude to get on with the job but that he also expects them as politicians, or holding political offices, to be sensitive to political currents so that they know when to consult or seek clearance for decisions which may have political ramifications. No one should now doubt that President Granger is prepared to boldly intervene, if and when he considers it necessary.
Brian Tiwari abandoned traditional methods and began to overreach since 1992. It made him into an enormously wealthy man. Refining basic skills of negotiation and transforming the magician’s mantra of ‘the more you watch the less you see’ into business strategies that won vast variations of already vast contracts, high prices for suddenly scarce quarry products, buying and selling land at enormous profit, acquiring and selling mining properties at even greater profit, BK International has grown into a diverse conglomerate.
NO POLITICAL COMFORT
Saturday, 26th March 2016, 9:00 pm
The results of the local government elections should give no political comfort to our political parties. The PPP won 48 out of 71 NDC elections, similar to 1994 when it won 48 out of 65 and 28,000 more votes than the APNU+AFC. The APNU+AFC won 5 municipalities, the PPP 3 and 1 is a tie. The turnout at the local government elections was low, at least lower than the national elections, as occurs almost everywhere, and it is therefore unsafe to make any enduring political conclusions from the results. But some glaring issues have emerged.
In the 1994 local government elections for the Georgetown municipality the PPP/Civic won 8 of the 30 seats. The GGG (Good and Green Guyana) won 12 and the PNC 10, a total of 22. In these elections the PPP won only 2 seats. There was a suggestion that the result was a consequence of the PPP/C Government’s abandonment of the City. While this may have played a role, these types of failures have only a marginal impact on our rigid ethnic voting patterns. The PNC’s 40 percent of the vote at the 1992 elections when every political indicator suggested that it should have been wiped out proves the point.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Saturday, 19th March 2016, 9:00 pm
Once upon a time, during the colonial era, Guyana had a local government system that functioned. It emerged from the establishment of village democracy in estates purchased by freed slaves. It did not cover all of Guyana and its functions were limited. But legislation throughout the 20th century improved and expanded the local government and municipal systems. These became so well organized that there was a national body called the Guyana Association of Local Authorities, which had great influence in the early years of our modern political development.
Many might be tempted to attribute the destruction of Guyana’s local government system since 1970, or thereabouts, by the failure to hold no more than two elections since then, as a conspiracy between the main political parties. But it was not. Local governance was a victim of the perpetual struggle for dominance between the two main political parties. For both parties, but for different reasons and in different ways, local democracy became a humbug, and got in the way of the exercise of political dominance, so that after one try each, they discarded local government elections altogether.
CAMP STREET WAS A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN
Saturday, 12th March 2016, 9:00 pm
There are approximately 2,000 prisoners in the five facilities in Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Mazaruni, Lusignan and Timehri. Of these 35 percent is on remand awaiting trial. The Georgetown Prison at Camp Street was designed to accommodate 600 prisoners but holds nearly 1,000. Violent incidents or escapes have occurred in Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Mazaruni in the past. There was always a great fear among those responsible for security that Camp Street could explode at any time. The problem of overcrowding was well known.
The recent studies and reports are as follows: Continue reading “CAMP STREET WAS A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN”
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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