Editorial

The British political system has been thrown into turmoil by the decision of the Scottish Minister of Justice to release the Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi,  convicted of the bombing of the Pan Am aircraft in 1999 with 270 persons on board, over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Three events – the outbreak of the Black Sigatoka leaf spot disease allegedly affecting Guyanese banana plants, the contraband ‘backtrack’ trade in assorted commodities and the continuing controversy over jurisdiction of the Corentyne River – intersected last week.

In their ruling in the case of Trinidad Cement Limited and TCL Guyana Incorporated versus the State of Guyana, the justices of the CCJ said it was important that a coercive order be issued against Georgetown for the re-imposition of the CET on cement in the interest of the rule of law in the single market.

Amid all the gloom in Georgetown last week, there was one little ray of comedy in the form of some bashful protestors in front of Mr Khemraj Ramjattan’s office.

Usain Bolt’s sprint double at the World Championships in Berlin has established him, unquestionably, as the greatest sprinter of all time.

It is generally accepted that the current global financial crisis was brought about by a toxic combination of greed and gullibility.

Indigenous village leaders attending a national caucus which was held in Georgetown late last month brought with them lists of issues which affect the residents of their areas and which they would like addressed.

The suspension of the constitutional arrangements – the ministerial system and the House of Assembly – of the Turks and Caicos Islands, promised by the British government earlier in March this year, is upon the islands, and is to last two years. 

The dangerous lawlessness on this country’s rivers and coastal waters is taking a toll on human life.

Headlined by a whopping loss of $4.08b, GuySuCo’s Annual Report for 2008 lays bare the enormous challenge that sugar faces in coming to grips with the fundamental changes in the European market and the re-jigging of the local sugar industry vis-a-vis the new Skeldon factory.

Whether it is because of the revelations emerging from a federal courtroom in Brooklyn, or whether it is because of the other innumerable problems which beset him, President Jagdeo does not appear to be hanging around the country much these days.

Within the Caribbean, we often tend to think that our politicians are uniquely ignorant and venal, and that in places like the United States, public life is pursued with a proper respect for facts and reasonable arguments.

Numerous regional commentators, including former cricketers, past and current cricket administrators, journalists, political analysts and academics – as well as (shame of shames) foreign sportswriters, some well-meaning, others not – have opined on the well-documented events of the past few years and, more specifically, the past few months, that have brought the once proud and mighty institution of West Indies cricket to the sorry pass at which it now finds itself.

Last month when the man/woman in the street at Linden addressed issues relating to the medical facilities there, a recurring complaint was the dearth of human resources; seven out of ten people bemoaned the fact that there is a shortage of doctors and nurses.

Rumblings seem to be rising about the position of the Western powers in Afghanistan.

Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigation Department Seelall Persaud made an astonishing announcement last week.

The stark issue that faces President Jagdeo and his government following the months of revelations from courts in New York is simple: good governance.

The government and ruling party appear constitutionally incapable of addressing allegations against them in a rational fashion, despite the fact that these allegations by virtue of their provenance cannot be dismissed out of hand.

In many ways, Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment to the US Supreme Court is a great victory for the Obama administration.

The coup d’état in Honduras, the original banana republic, thanks to the almost feudal predominance of the notorious United Fruit Company in the first half of the twentieth century, has given rise to fears among some Central America watchers that the age of the banana republics – characterized by combinations of brutal and venal dictators, electoral fraud, bloody coups, endemic corruption and all sorts of guerrilla movements – might once again be upon us.