Editorial

Last Friday morning, when nobody from the Nobel committee rang to congratulate him, Al Gore realised that he hadn’t won the peace prize so many had thought was his due.

The news that heart bypass surgery was successfully performed here for the first time on Saturday is a shining indicator of the progress that has been made on several fronts by the Ministry of Health and the public/private sector partnerships which will also see important developments in kidney health care and other areas.

Since the 1st November 2006 the Government of Guyana has withdrawn advertisements for some 29 government ministries, agencies and state owned corporations from the Stabroek News.

Last Sunday two letters were published in this newspaper about GuyExpo, one of which was from Dr Joyce Jonas.

The history of the United States of America, as is the case with most of the countries around the world, is replete with stories of migration.

Amidst all the rumours, speculation, fears, hopes, fudging and hedging about whether President Bharrat Jagdeo is interested in a third term of office, people seem to be forgetting one key point: Mr Jagdeo has only just completed one year of his five-year term and is no lame duck.

The recently released UN-HABITAT publication – Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 – should remind governments around the world of some inconvenient truths which they already know but would like to ignore.

It took British High Commissioner Mr Fraser Wheeler only a year after arriving here to discover that “Guyana has a lot of strategies” for dealing with its intractable security situation.

Pity Marion Jones. Now that she can no longer deny using steroids at the 2000 Olympics, the sprinter formerly known as the most successful female athlete in history has admitted cheating and announced her retirement from track and field-probably as part of a plea bargain in the ever-widening BALCO scandal.

On June 15 this year in a column in Stabroek Business, commentator Mr Christopher Ram reflected on the perils facing the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and emphasized the need for swift action.

Guyana is full of rumours, some of which have greater resilience than others.

Finally! The archaic laws governing sexual offences are set to be reformed with drastic changes proposed throughout the entire Criminal Law (Offences) Act Cap 8:01 and with some new offences and harsher penalties recommended.

Let us pick up where our editorials of last Friday and Sunday left off in their discussion of the warm glow caused by the maritime award and the way forward with respect to our foreign policy in general and more specifically, the management of the border controversy with our western neighbour.

According to the BBC the government in the UK recently unveiled a new 10-year youth strategy in order to tackle teenage delinquency.

The seemingly unsolvable security situation on the East Coast of Demerara needs more than arrests, detentions, interrogations, searches and joint police-military operations.

Colonels in the Guyana Defence Force have had a hard year.

In his opening address at GuyExpo 2007 where he spoke feelingly about his vision for Guyana, President Jagdeo adverted to three areas in which he desired a partnership with business.

The withdrawal of ministry advertisements from this newspaper by GINA started in November 2006.

Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee recently told this newspaper that he had identified a connection between the escape of inmates from the Mazaruni Prison and a similar escape from the Lusignan Prison in 1999.

Religious and political protestors last week must have been so consumed by the controversy over the coming of casino gambling and by complaints about the confusing introduction of the value added tax that few found of them time to contemplate the worsening plight of this country’s girl children.