Tag Archives: Government

Guyana Politics – EXPLOITING THE SENTIMENTS OF THE ELECTORATE – By Ralph Ramkarran

January 17, 2019 – 12:38 am

Ralph Ramkarran

SHARED GOVERNANCE

Conversation Tree Blog – January 12, 2019  – by Ralph Ramkarran

In a lengthy article written in 2011 before the general elections of that year, for “Freedom House” on “Countries at the Crossroads 2011: Guyana,” Assistant Professor Joan Mars, of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice of the University of Michigan-Flint, said: “Elections are constitutionally due to be held in 2011.

Calls by the political opposition for shared governance have not been endorsed by the ruling PPP/C administration headed by President Jagdeo; with its consistent absolute majority in parliament, the PPP/C has had little incentive to agree to share power, but the idea may be gathering momentum as a major rallying point in the forthcoming elections.“ Assistant Professor Mars, a former practising lawyer in Guyana, concluded: “The current system of majority rule should be reformed to provide for a power-sharing model that is representative of the ethnic diversity in the population.           Continue reading →

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Guyana: The Government’s Fall Was Always A Distinct Possibility – by Ralph Ramkarran

December 23, 2018 – 12:03 am

Ralph Ramkarran

Posted on December 22, 2018 – by Ralph Ramkarran – Conversation Tree Blog

What transpired in the National Assembly on Friday evening was always a distinct possibility, with the Government’s one seat majority. Election results mean something. In 2011, the electorate told the PPP/C that it wants that party to join in a coalition to manage the affairs of the nation. The PPP/C ignored the message. The electorate removed it from office in 2015. Then it proceeded to give the APNU+AFC coalition a mere one seat majority.

This conveyed another message – that the APNU+AFC coalition government should proceed cautiously and engage with the Opposition.             Continue reading →

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Guyana’s Legislature: “A Brawling Parliamentary Slum” – By Ralph Ramkarran

December 16, 2018 – 2:06 am
‘A HOWLING PACK OF LEGISLATIVE HOSTILES’ IN ‘A BRAWLING PARLIAMENTARY SLUM
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 Written by Ralph Ramkarran – Conversation Tree Blog – Saturday, 15th December 2018

Ralph Ramkarran

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A scathing editorial in the Kaieteur News last Friday shockingly castigated Members of Parliament in most un-parliamentary language, from which the headline is taken. Here is another sample: “In some respects what Guyana has is not a legislative body, but a Roach Motel overflowing with a cast of creepy characters, a real life Bates Motel horror of shocks that frightens the public. It is obvious that the great majority of members have little by way of shame or nonnegotiable moral imperatives.
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“This is a set of people paid well to perform and deliver the crass and the cheap. They like being the way they are. They do not prepare, do no research, have no pride. They falsify, they exaggerate, they dissemble and all the while revel with their fellows in what has been reduced to a brawling parliamentary slum. They care neither about the image projected nor the impressions left.”               Continue reading →
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Guyana: Thieving and Corruption Now Part of National Culture – By Ralph Ramkarran

November 19, 2018 – 12:17 am

– By Ralph Ramkarran – Conversation Tree Blog

(On behalf of this blog and its readers, I extend to President Granger best wishes for a speedy recovery).

Ralph Ramkarran

Firemen are first responders who are required to help and protect victims and their property. While purporting to do so, many fireman seize the opportunity to steal from victims. The stealing of property by firemen from the Fly Jamaica aircraft which had mechanical problems and landed with some difficulty at the CJIA, is a shameless and sickening disgrace. It was far more extensive than has been reported.    Continue reading →

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Guyana Politics: The Familiar Ring of the Elections Season – By Ralph Ramkarran

October 12, 2018 – 12:22 am

The Familiar Ring of the Elections Season 

By Ralph Ramkarran – 6th October 2018

Local government elections are to be held on November 12. With it, the never-ending stream of suspicions emerged as the Government established new local government units and merged others. The Opposition argued that these were done to give an advantage to the Government and the Opposition, through one of its representatives, promptly launched legal proceedings. This event provided the explanation for the ‘disappearance’ of the Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, on one of the most critical days of the elections process, namely, the day after the submission of lists, when corrections have to be made and defects rectified.       Continue reading →

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BUDGET BLUES – By Ralph Ramkarran

August 23, 2015 – 4:00 am

BUDGET BLUES – By Ralph Ramkarran

Posted on August 22, 2015 by  – Conversation Tree Blog
Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

The population has learnt not to expect much that is edifying in the annual budget debates. This ritual by the political classes throws up with mundane regularity all that is wrong with our political culture. It gives them the opportunity to reinforce the principles that underlie that political culture so as to fuel it up for another year.

It also facilitates the deteriorating behaviour of parliamentarians in attempting to prevent each other from being heard. They must have tried the patience of Speaker Scotland, whose dignified management of the proceedings, and silence at a most insulting and patronizing reference as the ‘new kid on the block,’ were among the bright spots of the week.   Continue reading →

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VENEZUELA’S BREATHTAKING AUDACITY – by Ralph Ramkarran – (maps added)

June 16, 2015 – 2:28 am

VENEZUELA’S BREATHTAKING AUDACITY

Venezuelan claims

Venezuelan claims – click to enlarge

Posted on June 13, 2015  – by  – Conversationtree blog

Venezuela’s proclamation of its “Atlantic Coast” on May 27, which includes all of Guyana’s maritime space, having already maintained since 1962 its fictional claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s land territory, is breathtaking in its audacity. Venezuela’s claim violates the Geneva Agreement and international law and threatens the peace, security and stability of the Region.

Oblivious to this fact, the heirs to Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s late, transformative leader, have damaged the credibility of his legacy. They are attempting to take by force, and at Guyana’s expense, the Atlantic outlet they have always craved and with it Guyana’s newly discovered petroleum resources.   Continue reading →

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E-governance contract: AXE THE DAX – By Ralph Ramkarran

May 6, 2015 – 12:40 am

AXE THE DAX

Posted on May 2, 2015   –  by

Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

In 1962 the slogan ‘axe the tax’ became well known in then British Guiana. The United Force adopted it in its campaign against a tax on beer in the Kaldor Budget and against the PPP Government. The campaign was the beginning of a successful three-year, multi-national effort, marked by tremendous violence and property damage, to remove the PPP from office.

 The PPP had justice on its side in 1962 but in terms of strategy and public relations, shot itself in the foot. Fifty years later, shooting itself in the foot has become an occupational hazard for the PPP and its Governments.   Continue reading →

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President Carter, a true Friend of Guyana, visits again – by Ralph Ramkarran

April 23, 2015 – 9:10 pm

PRESIDENT CARTER, A TRUE FRIEND OF GUYANA, VISITS AGAIN.

Posted on April 18, 2015  – by
Jimmy Carter

President Jimmy Carter

When the US Government under President Bush decided in 1990 that it would support free and fair elections in Guyana, it was the Carter Centre that was called upon to act as the midwife for a new era of democracy in Guyana. Even though the Hoyte government’s lifeline of international financial and diplomatic support had been partially severed, the government still resisted the reforms demanded by the then opposition. It required the renowned stature and nuanced diplomatic skills of President Carter to negotiate the necessary concessions that would guarantee free and fair elections. President Carter’s name will remain forever associated with Guyana’s democracy.

President Carter and the Carter Centre remained engaged with Guyana. It established a permanent office, mounted a second full observer mission for the 2001 elections and conducted a focused observation for the 2006 elections. On both occasions it concluded that the elections were free and fair.   Continue reading →

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Jagdeo and the PPP – Lifestyle and Politics – by Ralph Ramkarran

March 24, 2015 – 1:44 am

JAGDEO AND THE PPP – LIFESTYLE AND POLITICS

Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

Posted on March 21, 2015 –  by

In an article for my blog, www.conversationtree.gy, published in SN last Sunday, I took issue with a statement by former President Jagdeo that implied that Cheddi and Janet Jagan lived in luxury. His argument that the Jagans lived such a lifestyle, comparable to his own at the time his house was built, was an attempt to justify his own Cadillac lifestyle, which over the past few years has come under severe scrutiny and criticism.

There were outraged responses by many people to Jagdeo’s statement, including from Clem Seecharran and, more indirectly, Peter Fraser, two distinguished Guyanese historians living and working in the UK. But the most telling came from Nadira Jagan-Brancier, the Jagan daughter, Dr. Tulsie Dyal Singh and Sadie Amin. Dr. Singh, who conferred with Dr Jagan about his medical condition just before he died and visited his home, said that his own family home in Palmyra on the Corentyne when he was growing up in the 1950s was of similar size to the Jagan home. Sadie Amin gave a description of the modest lifestyle and home of the Jagans, including its leaking roof.   Continue reading →

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