Stabroek Weekend

We have emerged from a very fraught period. The 2015 election was beautifully run until the time came to convey the results to a tensely waiting world.

There has been a lot of excitement among critics of Venezuela’s authoritarian populist government about new reports confirming that US authorities are investigating Venezuela’s No 2 official on drug trafficking charges, but — unfortunately — the news will have very little political impact in that country.

The PPP’s boast has always been that it never lost elections.

As part of the series on managing Guyana’s public investment regime, today’s column proposes a mechanism whereby our newly elected government could, at this unique democratic opening, embark on seeking bread (investible resources) and justice for Guyanese whose national wealth has been rapaciously plundered in recent years.

Official announcement The official announcement last week that Guyana had oil in significant quantities is something that Guyanese were waiting a long time to hear.

Here are two incidents with a common thread. The first came in a recent interview on the Charlie Rose television programme in the USA.

India’s International Master Nisha Mohota concludes her remarks in relation to British grandmaster Nigel Short’s criticism that women are inferior chess players.

Delonix regia commonly called Flamboyant or Royal Poinciana belongs to the Leguminosae family and originated in Madagascar.

After years idling in the doldrums, visitor arrivals to some parts of the region are increasing rapidly, travellers are spending more, and the yield for hoteliers is improving.

(continued)   Cataracts   If the lens of the eye loses its transparency, for whatever reason, one can speak of a cataract.

  Sometimes many of the combinations and things I cook, and the dishes I come up with are borne out of happenstance, experimentation, making do or laziness.

Sunday  Cartoon

Hi Everyone,  Do you find that as you get older, that you repeat yourself?

I got the chance to style Lisa Punch again last Saturday for the Swearing-In Ceremony for President David Granger.

Vrede en Vriendschap is such a tiny place in Canal Number One that you could easily pass it unawares.

Introduction I was caught completely off-guard at the depth of the consternation and disbelief expressed by quite a few readers who responded to the estimates that I had provided of the amount of money Guyana loses due to three corrupt practices (public procurement fraud; illicit capital flight; and the underground economy) in last week’s column ($313billion or about US$1.5billion).

With the election dust almost settled, I have some suggestions for important items the new government needs to tackle as soon as it gets in harness, but I am sure there will be a flood of other voices raising suggestions – some have already begun – so I’ve decided to shelve my big items for now and focus on some of the minor irritations or inefficiencies that we have to wrestle with every day, in the hope that the folks coming into power may be listening.

Several promises By the time this article is published Guyana will have a new government.

An excellent thing about America is that no one dissects America better than Americans.

I should like to take this opportunity to express my congratulations to the APNU+AFC alliance on its historic victory at the general and regional elections and to David Granger, Guyana’s new President.