Editorial

As stated in yesterday’s editorial, the complaint by nurse, Ms Sherlyn Marks against the former Region Five councillor Ms Carol Joseph raises issues as it relates to protection of whistleblowers and whether the transfer of the nurse was a blatant attempt to punish her for being forthright.

Last week we reported on the case of a Berbice nurse, Ms Sherlyn Marks, who was transferred from the Fort Wellington Hospital after her complaints relating to a Region Five Councillor, Ms Carol Joseph became public.

President Trump’s imaginary ”armada” – a description that suggests a certain historical illiteracy – has set the stage for a genuine military confrontation with North Korea.

On April 15, 2017 a new multi-million dollar investment was unveiled in Guyana, uniquely labelled as both “state-of-the-art” in terms of the technology involved, and “first of its kind” indicating its singular presence in Guyana and the Caribbean.

Late last month, this newspaper carried a report about flooding affecting an octogenarian in Delph Street, Campbellville.

Last Saturday, 15th April was the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, founder leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (commonly referred to as North Korea), and observed as the Day of the Sun, the most important national holiday in that country.

Nothing has happened over the years to persuade informed observers that government is even remotely close to securing the upper hand in the fight against serious environmental transgression by mining operations in remote regions of Guyana to which, as a general rule, we pay less than merited attention.

In a blunt statement in response to a column in the Guyana Chronicle by presidential advisor on the environment, Rear Admiral (ret’d) Gary Best, the Director of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative, Per Pharo has set out in stark terms what decisions have to be made by the government here to access monies accrued under the 2009 forest protection partnership.

A former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education under the PPP/C administration, Mr Hydar Ally, had a letter published in this newspaper on Good Friday.

For the first time since its establishment in 1957, Guyana’s Bureau of Statistics has moved into its own dedicated building – the former Customs House on Main Street.

Just how gullible the government thinks Guyanese are was revealed on Tuesday in the news that the Cabinet had decided that the Value-Added Tax (VAT) would remain applicable to private school tuition fees, but would be reviewed in the preparation for next year’s budget.

As the spring thaw continued, it was an interesting week in the world of politics.

It would have come as no great surprise to political watchers that South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma is facing yet another political crisis.

On Thursday, the eGovernment Project Execution Unit, accompanied by the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU),  descended on the Enmore/Hope Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and seized 15 computers.

Last month through letters to this newspaper, the public’s attention was drawn to visits to some of our secondary schools by a US missionary group called the Faithful Word Baptist Church, led by Pastor Steven Anderson.

As President Trump announced his decision to authorize a “targeted military strike” against “Syrian dictator” Bashar Al-Assad on Friday morning, he spoke of America’s “vital national security interests” in responding to the use of chemical weapons in Idlib earlier this week.

Caricom education ministers together with their senior education officials and other education sector stakeholders met on Friday last at the Caricom Secretariat to finalise a regional strategy for education and human resource development, which is to be presented at the next Caricom Heads of Government Summit for approval.

On Saturday last, ten-year-old Roseann Akeila Harris, a Grade Five pupil of St Stephen’s Primary School lay in her bed at home and died.

On Sunday whilst the West Indies were capitulating to Pakistan in the fourth T20 international at the Queen’s Park Oval, sporting fans throughout the world were privileged to witness two of the greatest tennis players of the modern era, arguably of all time, in action at the Miami Open.

There is nothing new about arrogant, high-handed and downright boorish behaviour among high officials, not least ministers of government and other well-placed political figures in Guyana.