Editorial

Guyana has a history based on European intrusion into the land of the indigenous peoples, their enslavement of African peoples brought forcefully to these parts, and finally, the luring of indentured labour from India, China and Madeira to work under very poor conditions and for minimal pay.

It is noteworthy that the government and non-governmental organisations in Guyana have come together and done a study on child neglect.

Last Friday, the Minister of Security Khemraj Ramjattan broached the topic of raising the age limit from eighteen years to twenty-one years for purchasers of alcohol.

Up until now, relations between the incumbent political administration and the private sector have not exactly been characterized by an abundance of warmth and eagerness to work together.

Since the historic March 2016 Local Government Elections, one of the principles underlying Stabroek News’s coverage of any story is to determine whether it pertained in the slightest to any local government authority and if it did, then a valiant effort must be made to engage with that authority and to canvas its views on the matter being reported.

The Freemasons Hall in Company Path, Georgetown, the largest and oldest of the buildings owned by Freemasons in general in the city and possibly the country, is in a disreputable state.

Ethnic violence in Myanmar has now displaced more than 400,000 members of the Rohingya minority and the ongoing military crackdown on the group has been described by UN High Commissioner Zeid Raʼad al-Hussein as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

The Hurricane season in 2017 has seen the rise of three hurricanes of epic proportions – Harvey, Irma, and Jose – and while Hurricane Harvey mainly caused widespread flooding in Texas, it was Hurricane Irma that hit the islands of the Caribbean Sea the hardest.

On Sunday last, the world observed Suicide Prevention Day; the global theme was ‘Take a Minute, Change a Life,’ in a push to reduce the annual worldwide death rate, estimated at some 800,000 by the World Health Organisation, based on statistics gathered from around the world.

“In time to come,” to borrow the title from Crazy’s masterpiece calypso, West Indian cricket fans will look back at the events that took place last week – 3rd-9th September, 2017 ‒ at the MCC at Lord’s and their feelings will run the gamut from hope to utter disgust.

Guyana is by no means the only country that espouses political democracy but where, nonetheless, general elections are usually marred by controversy over the electoral process, charges of ballot rigging and attendant protestations that have sometimes been violent and which are driven by political and ethnic differences.

In the April 30th, 2014 edition of Stabroek News there was a Page One comment lamenting the absence of local government elections over the preceding 20 years and criticising the PPP/C government for not holding them.

The marathon meeting of the Georgetown City Council on Thursday ran the gamut from the rational to the risible. 

The World Meteorological Organization has a master list of names for storms that originate in the Atlantic.

In a statement issued from his office recently, Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott, announced his bold intention to “minimise in the first instance and eventually eliminate night work for single mothers within the Private Security Industry.”

September marks the beginning of the new school year and it is also the time when Education Month is observed.

Tomorrow morning cricket fans from around the world will tune their radios, whether it be via analogue, digital or over the internet (where broadcast rights will permit, perhaps) to the world renowned British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Test Match Special (TMS).

Every year, without fail, a matter of days before the new academic year begins, teams of builders can be seen frantically trying to remedy and repair school houses defective in one way or another, for the start of classes.

In October 2015, with Guatemala wracked by decades of poor governance, the aftermath of death squads and corruption, comedian and political neophyte Jimmy Morales won an astounding 70% of the vote in the final round of the presidential election.

Three weeks ago David Jessop in his Sunday column wrote about the resuscitation of railways in some parts of the Caribbean.