The PPP’s onslaught continues. They have now ditched the constitutional consultations with the Leader of the Opposition. They are unilaterally appointing persons to constitutional commissions. There is not even the pretense of democratic governance. On the economic front they continue to splurge money on areas of the workforce that are dominated by their supporters. There is not even the pretense […]
Hindsight
Guyana is 56 years old. At the end of the day, we have survived as a Nation State. But have we made the transition from Plantation to Nation? Have we turned the aspiration of “One People One Nation One Destiny ” to much more than an emotional slogan? Any serious analysis of where Guyana has been these last 56 years […]
Guyana is in a very bad place. But we are too divided a society to come to a mutual understanding of exactly where our society is headed. When the authoritarian PNC government was removed from power in 1992, many felt that Guyana would invariably move towards a democratic order. But we have been proven wrong. What has occurred since 1992 […]
This past week images of homes at Linden being bulldozed on the orders of the government of Guyana brought African Guyanese back to reality. I say African Guyanese, not because I feel that other ethnic groups condone the action, but because our ethnic politics have driven us to the point where we no longer feel the pain of the other. […]
After almost two years in office, the PPP has shown no inclination to tone down the harshness of its rulership. It has made it clear that nothing will stand it its way as it marches forward towards absolute control of State and society. There is no self-restraint—absolutely none. Even mild criticisms from some of its friends and from the Americans […]
It is difficult to accurately predict political behavior. What is true for fifty years could change in a day. Guyana’s recent elections have proven the validity of that formulation. All of us got it wrong, even if we got some parts right. The narrow victory by the APNU+AFC Coalition at the 2015 election went against the traditional grain in Guyanese […]
I start my analysis from the conclusion that there have been two PPP’s. The first one which arose from an attempt to build a multi-ethnic Independence Movement lasted from 1950 to 1956. It ended with the two splits in 1955 and 1956. The second PPP (1956 to the present) has its genesis in the Jaganite PPP which represented one of […]
After more than three months of the most unusual political drama, newly elected leader of the PNC, Aubrey Norton has been appointed to the National Assembly and has become the Opposition Leader . It has been a long three months that have evidently sapped the political energies of the party and by extension its support base. Someone said some time […]
This past week, the president of the Guyana Bar Association captured the news-headlines with her observation that the system being used to appoint the Chief Justice and the Chancellor of the Judiciary is not working. If one had no knowledge of Guyana’s political reality, that declaration would seem quite straightforward–if a system is unworkable, then fix it and move on. […]
Had Walter Rodney lived, he would have been 80 years old on March 23. As is customary his many admirers, academic and political colleagues and comrades across the world remembered and eulogized him as a remarkable human being who was a product of a defining historical moment and who in turn helped in no small way to define that moment. […]
