In a recent letter, Ramesh Gampat explained in plain English why it is a ‘fantasy’ to say that Guyanese are rich because of oil. After removing oil from economic calculations, Dr. Gampat showed that ‘Of the 33 countries in the Americas for which data are available, there were 17 countries with per capita income larger…
Does His Excellency the President Mohamed Irfaan Ali live in an alternative universe? ‘We now have 18,000 Guyanese working on the offshore oil rig.’ See the DPI notice from October 14, 2024; https://dpi.gov.gy/local-content-raked-in-over-us2-billion-in-businesses-to-date-president-ali/ . There are 3 functioning FPSOs, each with a working crew of 150-160 according to the EIAs, of whom fewer than half will be…
Since few government officials respond to questions that are raised in the Press, we must thank Tejnarine Geer, Aquaculture consultant, for information on the brackish water shrimp project in Region 6 (https://www.stabroeknews.com/2024/06/07/opinion/letters/brackish-water-shrimp-project-has-proven-to-be-tremendous-success/). Through your newspaper, I ask Mr Geer some follow-up questions: In 2021, Minister Mustapha informed that ‘$58M [was] being injected to up Region Six…
Dear Editor, Your editorial ‘Govt and the Indigenous’ (SN 02 June 2024, https://www.stabroeknews.com/2024/06/02/opinion/editorial/govt-and-the-indigenous/) touches on the remarkably unthinking paternalism displayed by the current government towards Guyana’s diverse 200+ Amerindian Villages and Communities. What genuinely caring government would buy a job lot of 200 identical agricultural tractors and attachments and hand them out without considering the range…
Kaieteur News on 13 April reported, ‘ExxonMobil, EPA a no-show again at Natural Resources Parliamentary meeting’ (https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2024/04/13/exxonmobil-epa-a-no-show-again-at-natural-resources-parliamentary-meeting/). Through your pages, I call on our elected parliamentarians and staff of the National Assembly to use the legal procedures to require both ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) and the EPA to obey the law of the land. Standing…
I offer the following clarifications to apparent misunderstandings by President Mohamed Irfaan Ali in his encounter with BBC ‘Hard Talk’ journalist Stephen Sackur (KN, ‘Bring it in – President Ali’s seminal defence of Guyana’s road map’, 01 April 2024) and by General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo in his weekly Press encounters (DPI, ‘Guyana will remain a…
In his letter published in Stabroek News on 13 January 2024, Mr. Nascimento re-stated my position. In his words, ‘it is only Venezuela which is the aggressor and, by its Referendum, threatens the use of force’. Why, then, would Guyana have felt pressured ‘with equivalence’ [Nascimento’s words] to let stand Point 1 of the Joint…
Janette Bulkan is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia This column reflects on the Joint Declaration of Argyle against the geopolitical backdrop in which Guyana and Venezuela are enmeshed. One can contrast the Guyana government’s declarations of sovereignty against the tangible exercise of power and influence before and after May 2015, when…
During their first few months of life, young fish are called ‘fry’; most do not survive to adulthood. The idiom, ‘small fry’, has been used to refer to children and people of low status since the 14th century in England and is perhaps derived from the ‘fry’ of fish. Artisanal fishers in Guyana are treated…
The claim by the National Toshaos Council (NTC ) that it is the ‘sole, legal and legitimate’ body that represents the interests of Amerindians in Guyana (Department of Public Affairs, ‘NTC affirms its position as legitimate representative body of Amerindians’, 24 November 2023) has no legal basis. This claim is an unreasonable/erroneous extrapolation of the…
