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 […]

VIRTUAL REALITY.

Guyana exists politically in a state of virtual reality. In the film The Matrix and in George Orwell’s novel, 1984, such realities were creatively and brilliantly portrayed.  The Government says to the Opposition, which has a majority in the National Assembly: You are obliged to pass my Budget but I’m not obliged to assent to […]

THE TRIPARTITE COMMITTEE

A Tripartite Committee, comprising the three political parties represented in the National Assembly, was appointed last year during the Budget controversy and is now revived. There was no agreement in 2012 on anything in relation to the 2012 Budget except for the aborted deal relating to pensions and Linden electricity rates. This unraveled when the […]

BUDGET BLUES

Formal exchanges of letters between the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, and the Shadow Minister of Finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge, seeking to fix a date for a meeting to discuss the proposed Budget, and the inevitable name calling when the exercise proved unsuccessful, ought to have alerted everyone that no serious discourse will take […]

CREATE A NEW VISION FOR GUYANA – WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR CHAINS

The rejection by the National Assembly of the re-tabled Supplementary Estimates, rejected previously, elicited headlines, accusations and counter accusations recently. According to statements in the press the Government re-tabled the Estimates because the Opposition had indicated that it was prepared to reconsider them. To its surprise the opposition voted against the Estimates without asking a […]