Editorial

During his presentation on the 2020 National Budget, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony claimed that the former APNU+AFC Govern-ment did not test samples from deceased persons who displayed COVID-19 symptoms.

Our boy, Dave Martins, songwriter extraordinaire, and leader of the famous Tradewinds band, has penned many songs which have provided insights to our unique approach to life in the West Indies.

Last week, in a somewhat thespian sort of manner, Minister Kwame McCoy summoned members of staff of the Office of the President to a ‘sit down’ meeting to declare that the President’s staff would be leading the way in the reopening of the Public Service to full time work, departing from the rotation arrangement that had been in place in recent months as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement by the High Court that it is preparing to have criminal trials resume on October 6th when the final assizes for the year is expected to be declared open must be welcomed.

Despite the fact that in May nearly all territories had asked the Caribbean Examinations Council to rethink their proposals for this year’s CSEC and CAPE exams, their concerns were not taken on board. 

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, Senate Republicans blocked president Obama from installing his successor as a matter of high principle. 

Minister Kwame McCoy who holds responsibility for Public Affairs within the Office of the Prime Minister told Stabroek News in an interview that the government could see no immediate reason for disbanding any section of the state media. 

In many societies, a gift of jewellery is an expression of love and sometimes a form of commitment.

“We are facing a global health crisis unlike any in the 75-year history of the United Nations – one that is killing people, spreading human suffering, and upending people’s lives.

Setting aside the loss of life resulting from the advent of COVID-19, the next biggest tragedy has been the erosion of our education system, the requisites of social distancing resulting from the nature of the pandemic wreaking havoc with our accustomed method of education delivery in circumstances where there exists no feasible option that can match what, in the short to medium term at least, has been lost.

Saturday’s uprising at the Lusignan Prison in which two inmates were shot dead by prison guards and five others wounded requires emergency steps by the PPP/C government to alleviate squalid conditions at the facility which has seen the spread of COVID-19 and a host of other grouses.

A great deal of speculation preceded the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to this country, some of it reflecting a tenor of considerable disquiet. 

In the last two weeks, despite trailing vice-president Biden in every poll, president Trump has  encouraged his supporters to believe that he can only lose a “rigged” election.

It is never easy for an Indigenous population to preserve its culture in the context of a dominant society whose language, economy and social structure are quite different. 

There have been alarming reports recently of what appears to be an impending implosion in Ethiopia.

Politicians the world over mistakenly think that they, and they alone, have the sole rights and reserved privileges to expound on matters of national interest.

With preparations now underway to facilitate the visit here later this week by the United States’ Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, there has been a brisk burst of chatter in some quarters over the significance of his coming here and just what the key issues on the agenda for the visit might be.

When he presented the high-deficit $329.5b budget for 2020 on Wednesday, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill highlighted two “overriding priorities” in the last quarter of the year: bringing the spread of COVID-19 under control and opening up the economy and restoring economic activity to some level of normalcy.

Nothing illustrates better the ethnic stresses in the society than the events in West Berbice and Region Six last week. 

“Mother Earth is angry,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as wildfires raged across the western edge of the United States.