Editorial

The letters column in this publication, since its inception in 1986, has served the community as a forum where all manner of thoughts, ideas, information and valuable historical knowledge are dispensed.

The report published in the Friday, January 20th issue of this newspaper regarding the flooding in parts of Charlestown and Albouystown, the result of what the report refers to as “shoddy koker work” completed by a private contractor, is a microcosm of a deeper problem of contractors seemingly failing – whether through a competency deficit or through deliberate departure from the specifications of the contract – to properly execute the specific deliverables.

Fourteen years ago today, shockwaves reverberated throughout the Caribbean when the Trinidadian government announced that it was bailing out the CLICO parent company and some of its subsidiaries.

Most of the great cities in the world were not planned. 

Writing for the In the Diaspora column in Stabroek News on August 21, 2022, anthropologist Oneka LaBennett cited the condition of “self-devouring growth” that scholar Julie Livingston had applied to the manner of Botswana’s development.

Last week Charlestown and Albouystown experienced heavy flooding as a consequence of what Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha described as “faulty work” on the part of a contractor who had installed a steel door in the Princes Street sluice.

Jacinda Ardern’s announcement last Thursday that she was resigning as Prime Minister of New Zealand not only sent shockwaves around the world, but surely occasioned a thrill among misogynists and critics of her policies, many of whom have reviled her over the years with abuse that grew increasingly nasty, personal and threatening.

West Indies cricket fans still in hibernation – the sad truth is, they are actually in hiding – recovering from the largest margin of defeat in their 95-year history of Test cricket (the 419-run loss to Australia in the Second Test at the Adelaide Oval last month), might have stirred from their slumber last Thursday, but instantly scurried back to their cocoons upon hearing the latest news.

Just over a year after the destruction by fire of the Brickdam Police Station which used to be housed in one of our Capital’s iconic buildings, much doubt still persists about what we were told were the circumstances under which the fire occurred.

There is no doubt that the 2023 budget which has been pegged at $781.9b, a hefty 44.1% above the 2022 figure, holds out the prospects of expansive development in the country.

Traditionally issues related to historical preservation have never captured the attention of governments in this country.

On January 13th, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill terminated the contract for the El Dorado road located after Moleson Creek, Corentyne.

Over the past two years there has been a spate of school fires, a phenomenon which might tempt conspiracy theorists to the view that something sinister is afoot.

The nation learned last Friday, by way of a press release from the Department of Public Information (DPI), that Guyana is considering purchasing hardware and military equipment from India.

After the fiasco of the West Indies’ performance, or rather lack of, at the 2022 T20 World Cup, one would not be surprised if the New Year’s resolution of cricket fans was to divorce themselves of any emotional attachment whatsoever to the West Indies team in 2023.

Fearful that threatened protests over the less than expected on-field performances of the English Premier League soccer club Everton for the season, so far, might target them directly, the Club’s Board of Directors, acting on an evaluation that the threat was “real and credible,” complied with a security recommendation that they stay away from last Saturday’s fixture.

As much as the police use statistics to spin the narrative that crime is under control their efforts are undermined by the bloody reprisals that characterise the underworld where ‘hit men’ operate with impunity. 

In March of last year acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards had lamented the shortage of judges in the light of the increasing case-load being placed on them.

It is not clear how genuinely concerned the administration is towards the plight of poor people and the daily stress they are under over the current cost of living crisis.

Democracy doesn’t seem to be doing at all well around the globe at the moment, and particularly not in this hemisphere.