LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

Against the background of the passage in the National Assembly of the Local Authorities (Election Amendment) Bill, not yet assented to by the President, which provides that local government elections be held by August, the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Dr. Steve Surujballi, announced that the Elections Commission is ready to ‘go into election mode’ […]

‘NO DEMOCRACY WORKS WITHOUT COMPROMISE’

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 […]

‘THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROAST’

As expected, the anti money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism legislation (AML/CFT) has not been passed in the National Assembly. The months of discourse, debate, committee meetings, efforts to compromise, public statements, even a visit by a CFATF official, have not yielded any positive results. The losers and victims of the failure to […]

THE CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE IN GUYANA

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will sit in Guyana for the first time this week. It is long overdue but welcome nevertheless. Guyana and Barbados were the first countries to accede to the appellate jurisdiction of the Court and our own Justice Desiree Bernard, now retiring, has been one of its first members. Guyana’s […]

ELECTION RESULTS

Last week’s headlines highlighted efforts by GECOM to speed up the reporting of election results by introducing electronic counting and compilation of votes for a limited area, presumably as a pilot project. The last general and regional elections were characterized be extensive delay in announcing election results in Guyana and there was an outcry against […]