Ralph Ramkarran

There appears to be no consensus among parliamentary parties about a date for the first sitting of the National Assembly after the just concluded recess.

The death penalty has not been carried out in Guyana since 1997.

Leader of the PNCR, Chairman of APNU and Leader of the Opposition, David Granger, has had to field questions recently about the effectiveness of the opposition which together control a majority by one of the seats in the National Assembly.

The government has been given the choice by APNU to determine whether it wants local government elections or general elections.

Since Rudy Collins, Chairman of what was then known as the Elections Commission, put his life on the line in October 1992 against rampaging mobs determined to trash the Commission’s offices and derail the electoral process, the Commission has been the target of politicians who seek an excuse for losing elections.

I had the privilege of being interviewed on the Spotlight TV programme on Channel 9 in the distinguished company of Henry Jeffrey and Tacuma Ogunseye, both knowledgeable and experienced observers of the political scene.

In his article last Wednesday in ‘Future Notes,’ (‘Some suggestions for constitutional reform’), Dr Henry Jeffrey, advanced extensive views on constitutional reform.

The middle class, which supported the PPP in 1950 and was heavily represented in its leadership, began to divide on the basis of the ethno-political developments after 1955.

General Secretary of the PPP, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, declared at his press conference last week that the PPP has no problem with shared governance and the ‘winner does not take all’ principle.

Even if the PNCR had been minded to support the proposed AFC motion of no confidence against the government, it is not now likely.

The PNCR Congress is always an interesting time for political observers, not least because in recent times there has always been a challenge to the leaders and energetic contests for other positions.

The AFC released on Friday last a letter to the President of Guyana in which it advised that it will be tabling in the National Assembly a motion of no confidence in the government.

The census figures substantially confirm the analysis I made in an article ‘The future of the PPP’ published in November, 2012.

Contempt such as Ambassador Hardt is accused of in relation to the Head of State is a serious matter.

AFC Vice Chair, Moses Nagamootoo, announced that his party was contemplating a motion of no confidence against the government.

Once again the issue of an apology from the PNCR has become topical.

The Peoples’ National Congress (PNC) government nationalised the Demerara Bauxite Company in 1971.

Violence and corruption in the police force can no longer be classified as allegations.

The first appointment of a Queen’s Counsel in England was that of Sir Francis Bacon, made by Queen Elizabeth 1 in 1594, for a political purpose.

This is an appropriate time, on the occasion of the celebration of Guyana’s 48th Independence Anniversary, only two years before age 50, to begin the assessment of our condition as an independent nation and try to assess the future.