Press Statement By Guyana’s Parliamentary Opposition Alliance For Change

AFC Leader Attorney at law Raphael Trotman

The AFC views the chilling disclosures of alleged high level complicity by at least a serving member of the Guyana Government in the extermination of citizens of Guyana made yesterday in the US Federal Court , with outrage.

The testimony under oath of a confessed conspirator involved in the murder of at least two Guyanese citizens which disclosed the involvement of High Government functionaries in the murder of Ronald Waddell and Donald Allison have left the nation stunned.

At the very minimum the Minister identified must immediately step aside to facilitate a full blown independent international commission of inquiry into the alleged involvement of the Minister and or other Government functionaries in the deaths of Ronald Waddle and Donald Allison.

Governor Marion Williams Says Foreign Reserves “Sufficiently Adequate”, No Need To Approach The IMF At This Time

Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Marion Williams

Yesterday Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Marion Williams delivered the quarterly review of the economy for the second quarter. In light of the prevailing economic conditions her presentation was eagerly awaited and continues to be analyzed given of the unprecedented global economic conditions.

Governor Williams was unequivocal in her assessment of the adequacy of the foreign reserves. There has been much comment on BU concerning the rate as which the foreign reserves are being depleted. The Governor quoted in the daily press suggests the foreign reserves are “sufficiently adequate.” Barbados’ foreign reserves currently register at 1.3 billion dollars. Barbados will join International Monetary Fund (IMF) member countries allowed to withdraw USD80-85 million dollars from the special drawing rights facility which will serve to provide support to the reserves.

The willingness of G20 countries to approve the SDR drawdown is interesting and ironic. Wasn’t it the G20 countries who precipitated the the destruction of the global financial markets? The result of it all has been to decimate the economies of developing and emerging economies around the globe.

Who Were The Intellectual Authors Of The Fires That Destroyed The Ministries Of Housing And Finance?

Submitted by Rickford Burke, Former Special Assistant to the Leader of the PNCR

The Tuesday, July 28, 2009 edition of both the Stabroek and Kaieteur Newspapers reported Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, to say that the fire which destroyed the Ministry of Health’s main building was well orchestrated by a ring of “intellectual authors, planners and actors”, all working within an established network.”

Mr. Rohee is more known for manifesting symptoms of “foot-in-mouth disease, than the display of intellectual prowess. His career highpoint came when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was directed to cast a vote at the United Nations for the Commonwealth of Dominica- the sister Caricom country. But instead of voting for Dominica, Mr. Rohee ended up voting against his sister Caricom state and instead casted Guyana’s vote for the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic – He had not known the difference between the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Dominican Republic.  The good news is that he is no longer the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The bad news is that he is now the Minister of Home Affairs and National Security

His challenges notwithstanding, even Mr. Rohee should know that the Guyanese nation is not oblivious to the blatant fact that the Ministries of Finance and Housing were mysteriously destroyed by fire simultaneously as calls were made for probes into alleged fraudulent activities at those agencies, and amidst serious scrutiny of questionable activities by their relevant political heads.

Homosexuality Maybe Linked To Our Ancestral Experience

Submitted as a comment by Junior Burchall in response to a commenter

There’s so much that I could take apart in your response (the false equating of homosexuality with paedophilia; the focus on anal sex, which effectively erases the reality of women who love and have sex with women; the pseudo-fact that ‘most homosexuals in the first world belong to the upper social and economic strata’ in their home nations -  I’d love to see the data on that!), but I think I’ll narrow my focus a bit and deal with, as you say, ‘our ancestral experience’.

Allow me to take you on a quick tour of what our family was into on the continent…..well before the first European landed there. Your whole ‘it’s against nature’  argument is at best, intellectually dishonest. I mean, nature has ingenious ways of allocating the limited resources found on the planet in ways that will ensure optimal species balance, infertility and same-gender interactions are but two of the built-in mechanisms that allow the ecological balance to be maintained, …and, let’s be real: we humans have always used our body parts for the achievement of multiple aims – hands for masturbation, mouths for cunnilingus and fellatio, etc etc, etc –, so are we to conclude that these pleasurable practices should be done away with simply because the body part in question was not primarily designed for this purpose?

Afrocentric homophobes (an oxymoron if there ever was one!) are fond of claiming that homosexuality was the result of an alien cultural incursion and that, prior to the arrival of the whites and Arabs, nary a batty bwoy could be found…seen, seen…..yet, among the Maale of southern Ethiopia, men who took on female roles and had sexual relationships were called ASHTIME. Among the Meru (of Kenya), same-gender loving [SGL] relationships were seen as normal. indeed, some Meru who occupied positions of religious leadership (they were known as MUGAWE) often wore women’s clothes and hairstyles. they were also sometimes married to men. These PRECOLONIAL expressions of sexuality and gender-identity fly in the face of impassioned pronouncements within the ‘conscious’ community that SGL is un-Afrikan.

What Is Happening At The Inland Revenue Department of Barbados?

If our sources are correct not one income tax refund cheque has been delivered to a Barbadian taxpayer for 2008 filing. We don’t have to stress the point given the depressed economic situation how Barbadian taxpayers would welcome a few extra dollars in the wallets.

Barbadians are so obedient a people we have not heard any major outcry from citizens demonstrating annoyance on the late payment.

Earlier in the year Barbadians would have been exposed to a Public Relations campaign by the Barbados Government Information Service which highlighted the introduction of electronic filing. Barbadian taxpayers were encouraged to file online to facilitate easy processing of tax returns. A BU source confirms the e-filing project has been mangled and has brought the processing of tax returns to a stop, for the moment. While our Inland Revenue works feverishly to resolve the problem we are unsure if one PR announcement has been issued to Barbadians about the problem to date.

Support Online HPV Support Group

Submitted by MDJunction.com

My name is Beth and I volunteer to help spread the word about a new free HPV online support group.

As I know this falls within your interest I thought that you might want to help us in the quest to reach as many people as possible (the more people know about the group the better help they will get). You can support us in many ways (not financially): telling people you know, linking to it, writing a blog or forum post and participating in the group discussions.

Your help is much needed and any support will be most appreciated. You can check out the group at the following link.

Have a great day,
Beth

Bharrat Jagdeo Throwing Stones At Barbados From His Glass House

Jamaican Harvey Anderson is thankful to his ‘Good Samaritan’ Philippa Pearson/Kaieteur Newspaper.

The immigration matter has gone off the boil in recent days. Barbadians maybe waiting on Prime Minister David Thompson to provide an update on the effectiveness of the controversial amnesty scheduled to expire end of year.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the immigration debate sparked by the amnesty has been the vitriolic commentary delivered by Caribbean citizens who should know better. Among those we have academic Professor Norman Girvan who in an interview with a Jamaica radio station used the word ‘Gestapo’ to describe the action of the Barbados government when rounding up illegal immigrants. On the same program Videographer Annalee Davis agreed with the provocative term spewed by Girvan. Soon to follow was former Secretary General of the Commonwealth Shridath Ramphal  who went one step further by referring to the Barbados government actions towards illegal Caricom immigrants as using intimations of ethnic cleansing. He subsequently retreated when he explained he made the statement based on a Nation newspaper report. If we wanted to we could cite several other examples from Prime Minister Ralph Gonzales of St. Vincent, David Commisiong who has been exposed using a fork tongue, Head of the Caribbean Development Bank Compton Bourne a Guyanese tossed his two cents into the pot at the risk of compromising his position which convention regards to be independent, we had many other examples.

Invasion of Cultures

Sydney Symmonds the host of the CBC Talk Yuh Talk show  had an interesting discussion on Thursday morning regarding the adoption of low pants and cornrow hairstyle by young people in Barbados. The argument posited to explain the low pants style which has been popularized by the American hip hop and prison culture was -  it is just a matter of style. Interesting is the fact some states in the USA have instituted laws to ban the low pant style.

We have those who say a person should have the right to style as they please. There is the other camp who is concerned about the future of our Black  youth given their willy nilly acceptance of American and other foreign cultures. How can any intelligent being who understands the meaning of pride and industry retreat to a position that our society should surrender to the culture of the USA or Jamaica?

A strength of the Bajan society historically has been our willingness to deal with issues in a Bajan way. The challenges which have started to emerge given the nature of a pluralistic society which Barbados is transitioning to must take centre place as concerned Bajans question the type of society we want to become. This is a difficult discussion which must be taken out of the realm of economic mumbo jumbo. The emphasis must be to raise the discussion to appreciate that a society in our view which is socially cohesive will naturally create economic wealth.

Accused Are Being Silenced In Guyana: Human Rights Violations Continue

Submitted by Our Guyanese Friends

David Leander

The below case is just another example of human rights violations in Guyana and how the facts regarding crimes is prevented from ever being told. Persons accused of crimes are denied their day in court . They are murdered extra judicially or silenced by other forces bent on covering up crimes.

The case of Leander is similar to those of Kerzookie and the Bacchus brothers  who were engaged in murdering people identified by Roger Khan’s death squad. Kerzokie was poisoned in the Lock- ups and the Bacchus brothers were executed. All were key persons in the death squad of which PPP Minister Gajraj and Minister Ramsammy ( recently burnt Ministry of Health fame) were associated with.

This accused and two others accused of crimes and the assignation of Minister Sash Sawh were victims of torture at the hands of three Indian GDF officers.

Again Guyanese are being cheated from justice a. The voice of the accused is not being heard. Accusations in the medi a are used as social indictment. Criminal masterminds are free as mercenaries are sacrificed.

Little Of Dis, Little Of Dat

Hartley Henry - DLP Political Strategist

It’s that time of year when Under The Microscope takes a break from the “hard stuff” and focuses, for a few weeks, on some of the not so profound issues we tend to sidestep or overlook. In this regard I am returning today to the issue of dieting and the growing difficulty persons like me find in eating healthy.

The challenge is that modern day scientists are contradicting a great deal of what culturally and habitually we have grown to accept as good for our bodies. I recall several years ago being talked out of drinking aerated beverages, as they were “not good for you”. Thus, I developed this affinity for fruit juices instead. They were “healthy” with all the natural vitamins and other nutrients a body needs.

So imagine how shocked and depressed I became when recently I came across the following perspective, extracted from an article in the Daily Telegraph of London.