The headline statement of President Barack Obama was of general application. It assumed more resonance when the Democrats lost the majority in Congress. The PPP learned the lesson that politics is the art of compromise before President Obama was born. Compromise was the basis of its early leadership. It was attempted during the crisis years […]
Category Archives: Analysis
RESOLVING THE BUDGET CONUNDRUM
The Chief Justice’s decision in the budget case will not necessarily lead to what Opposition Leader, David Granger, said might be a ‘car crash’ or ‘unintended consequences.’ If the Government and Opposition extrapolate from the Chief Justice’s conclusions, a budget can be produced. Stripping away the complexities from the Chief Justice’s analysis, a procedure can […]
WHAT THE CHIEF JUSTICE RULED
The section on Financial Procedures in the Standing Orders of the National Assembly is the same today as it was in 1969. In that year the Standing Orders were amended, no doubt to bring them in line with the provisions of the Independence Constitution of 1966. The Standing Orders had been approved by the same […]
A SOCIAL CONTRACT FOR GUYANA
(This article, slightly amended, was first published in 2010 in the Mirror and Guyana Chronicle. It attracted no comments. Though somewhat dated, the views might be considered still relevant). Guyana is not unique in its system of adversarial politics. In fact, Guyana shares with most democratic countries an elected legislature to which competing parties seek […]
LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND
The struggle of the working class and the organised activity of the trade union movement have substantially determined the course of Guyana’s history. While Guyana was not unique, it led the way with the formation in 1922 by Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow of the BGLU (British Guiana Labour Union), the first trade union registered in the […]