Editorial

“Moderation is a fatal thing,” quipped Oscar Wilde, “Nothing succeeds like excess.”

At the risk of being accused of facetiousness, it’s difficult to say which will be the more historic event in Cuba this month: President Barack Obama’s visit on the 21st and 22nd, the first by a sitting American president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928; or the free concert in Havana by British rock superstars The Rolling Stones, on the 25th.

Initiatives expected to be undertaken during this year as announced by Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud at the opening of the Police Officers’ Annual Conference last week while not revolutionary, will certainly bring the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in line with modern policing if they can be executed well.

With the opposition Jamaica Labour Party gaining 33 of the 63 parliamentary seats in the preliminary count of last Thursday’s general elections in Jamaica, the rejoicing of its supporters will have been substantially stifled as the recount of the vote took place.

Last week brought some additional revelations from President David Granger about his administration’s ambitions for a Public Service Staff College which, taken together with the ensuing Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service, appear to provide the best ever possibility for the comprehensive reform of a public service which, over the years, has become weak and, in some areas, largely ineffective.

Historic local government elections (LGE) are just 19 days away and there is evidently need for more information from GECOM and other stakeholders to the public on a range of areas.

As we reported on Thursday, President David Granger adjudged the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry report “badly flawed”, and gave notice of the government’s intention to challenge its findings and the “circumstances under which … [it] was conducted.”

The Mayor of Port of Spain’s resignation, following outrage at his remarks on the killing of a Japanese tourist, shows the speed at which social media can transform information into political pressure.

Leftist populism continues to lose ground in Latin America. Last Sunday, voters in Bolivia rejected President Evo Morales’ attempt at constitutional reform to allow him to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2019.

The fourth phase of a brick (concrete) building being constructed inside the compound of the city prison at Lot 12 Camp Street, is slated for completion at the end of July, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan informed the National Assembly last week during consideration of the budget estimates.

The last general elections for the Jamaica House of Representatives having been held in October 2011, the country goes to the polls tomorrow, with all 63 seats being contested by the two main political parties, the ruling Peoples National Party led by Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller and the Jamaica Labour Party led by former Prime Minister, Andrew Holness.

The contract employee debate that surfaced some weeks ago and which is still ensuing in some quarters has raised some interesting questions about the prospects for a professional public service in the future.

Wednesday’s signing of a US$3m grant deal between Guyana and the World Bank is a significant development on two counts.

What might be considered a minor contretemps in the National Assembly on Wednesday could have more serious implications.

In Ciudad Juarez earlier this week, Pope Francis spoke of the “humanitarian crisis” of mass migration and human trafficking.

It is good that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued an official statement on the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Agreement on February 17.

Figures released by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) last week reveal that a staggering 75% of the girls who were sent to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) last year were sent there for wandering.

Those following the contest for the American presidency, as it proceeds with its first stage of party choices of candidates, can recognize that the process is less institutionalized and, we might say, less constricted than that with which we and other Caricom countries are familiar.

A brief media release issued by the Office of the Presidency last Wednesday alluded to a meeting on the same day between President David Granger and University of Guyana Chancellor Professor Nigel Harris.

As the 50th independence celebration will undoubtedly lead to sobering and introspective reflections on how poorly placed the country is after five decades as a free nation we mustn’t unnecessarily add to this burden by unthinking behaviour.