“[P]ublic arguments over policy often reflect the instinctive worldviews of the antagonists rather than honest dialogue to find the best possible solutions” (“What really happened in Bangladesh”, Foreign Affairs, July/August, 2014) Nowhere is this clearer than in the present discourse about constitutional reform.
“You choose a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of Parliament” (Edmund Burke – 1777 – Letter To The Sheriffs Of Bristol).
The general direction of my last two columns has been that as things stand, the most likely outcome of the coming general election – whenever it happens and if the major political parties go to the polls individually – is that the PPP/C will obtain sufficient votes to be returned to government, i.e.
Forbes Burnham did not become an autocrat after he ascended to the presidency of Guyana.
From all indications we will soon have national and regional elections, and all those who wish to see Guyana actually fulfilling its potential rather than its resources being drained away to far off places (the Bai Shan Lin affair) for the benefit of others, must now concentrate all their efforts on developing a strategy that would relieve the PPP/C of government at the next elections.
The PNCR congress has come and gone, but the major issues that faced the party, some of which arose at the congress itself, will have repercussions for years to come.
Last week, in response to the Alliance for Change (AFC) letter stating its intent to move a motion of no-confidence in his government under article 106 of the Constitution, President Donald Ramotar stated that he and his party were ready for any eventual elections, and then he did a very strange thing, which suggests the opposite.
No one vaguely familiar with liberal foreign policy analysis could fail to ponder the possibility of an expanding liberal zone of peace.
The aim of sound diplomacy … is the maintenance of amicable relations between sovereign states.
Arguably the most important issue raised in Mr. David Granger’s independence sojourn in New York was his statement of the kind of governance he would like to see developed in Guyana, and in my view, unless we want to unwittingly end up in an autocracy worse than any we have had so far, the Leader of the Opposition had better make his position much clearer and we had better pay attention to it.
Nothing exemplifies more clearly the difficulties of doing politics in Guyana and the need for clear strategic thinking than Mr.
The demand by some PPP supporters for the PNC to apologise for its misdeeds, or to at least admit that it made mistakes, demonstrates more of a triumph for PPP propaganda than for reality.
According to Prime Minister Hinds, Cheddi Jagan believed that national unity between the races and classes was so important to nation building that throughout his political life he attempted “new, bold and courageous alternatives to bring our people together” but died without his goal being realised.
Last week, I came upon the prime minister’s 2014 Cheddi Jagan Lecture “Dr Cheddi Jagan’s commitment to National Unity and National Development” (Office of the Prime Minister, April 2014) and immediately felt depressed.
Underlying the political culture of all countries is the view that morality is different in private life and politics.
“Advances for human rights and democracy depend first and foremost on the courage and the commitment of men and women working for reform in their own countries.
A few weeks ago, after reading the press release “GHRA [Guyana Human Rights Association] not convinced about purpose or process of Commission of Inquiry into death of Dr.
“The finance minister in a Third World country should have the ability to present his annual budget as a package that cannot be amended, only approved or denied as a whole ….
When the PPP decided to proceed along its current course of political dominance, it did not know that it would lead it to having to deny important aspects of its “glorious struggle” against PNC authoritarianism, for which so many of its supporters have suffered.
The records of the Ministry of Education will show that in 2003/4, when I was the minister, it began “discussions with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security (MLHSS) to discuss areas of possible collaboration, e.g.
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