Ralph Ramkarran

This article under the caption of “November 22 and 23,” now slightly amended, was published on 23 November 2015 about Stanley Greaves, but included references to Roy Brummel and Wordsworth McAndrew, cultural and artistic giants in their own right. Since we will, sadly, not be having the opportunity of a 90th Birthday Stanley Greaves exhibition, as we did the landmark 80th Birthday exhibition, I ask Guyana to join with me in paying tribute to and honouring Stanley Greaves, a unique Guyanese monument.

In 1961 the PPP was elected as the government for the second time, 1957 being the first. My father, Ram Karran, was appointed a Minister of the Government in both 1957 and 1961. On this latter occasion I distinctly recall that in December, 1961, a large number of Christmas gifts were delivered to our home. I vaguely remember the decision that the gifts were not opened. They were stored in our verandah. Some time later, but before Christmas, the gifts were returned unopened. Again vaguely, I recall discussion to the effect that government ministers were not allowed to receive gifts.

In some circles in Guyana there might be sympathy for Republican Candidate Donald Trump in the US elections. It was the American Government under

Donald Trump’s resounding victory has shattered the Democratic Party and the coalitions that sustained it since Franklyn Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal. A Republican Party that has been having great difficulty in recent decades in sustaining an electoral majority captured enough of the white working class in 2016 to give it electoral victory. It has now expanded that support to include enough African-American men, Latinos and youth to give Trump an overwhelming victory. Trump is no longer an “outlier,” an “aberration” or a “fluke.” He is a transformative figure engaged in reshaping a new coalition for the Republican Party on a dark vision of an economically crumbling United States, beset by hordes of criminals illegally entering through an “open” border and a world exploiting the US.

The three members of the Elections Commission representing the Opposition recently issued a joint letter calling for the implementation of biometrics by way of electronic fingerprint technology, to identify voters at elections. This is a longstanding demand by the Opposition that picked up speed after the 2020 elections when the Opposition, in a deflective manoeuvre, incredulously accused the PPP of rigging. As an aside, we should understand that if and when fingerprint technology is implemented, reasons will then be found to continue to allege that the PPP is rigging the elections. Demands will then emerge for retina identification technology. These demands for additional measures, including applicable AI technology, will continue indefinitely into the future, as long as the PPP wins elections. With fading memories, it is difficult to believe that it was the PNC governments from 1968 to 1985 that applied the most unusual, open, measures to rig elections. Its attempt to do so in 2020, creating great trauma across Guyana, suggests that if it ever achieves office again, the appalling crudities witnessed in the Ashmin’s building and in Kingston in 2020 will be once again applied.

“The law is a jealous mistress and requires long and constant courtship. It is not won by trifling favours, but by lavish homage.” So said US Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story in 1929. Much has been written about this statement, including its origins. One suggestion is that it was first used by James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, in a letter to a friend in 1789. The phrase reflects the demanding nature of the law which requires constant attention and devotion. Recognition of the aphorism is among the first lessons urged upon newly qualified lawyers when they are admitted to practice. The admission ceremony takes place in court before a Judge who, in admitting the newly qualified lawyer to practice, and congratulating him or her, admonishes him or her to adhere closely to the message contained in the statement. To one degree or another, most lawyers observe the adage to one degree or another. Those who do, give “lavish homage,” and those who don’t, giving only “trifling favours.” These groups are easily identifiable.

The A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM), which contested the 2020 elections, utilized section 22 of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) for the first time in Guyana’s history and wrote to the Chief Election Officer informing him that they have “joined” their lists. The section provides that two or more lists of candidates can be “joined” for the distribution of seats, but not votes. The lists so joined are called a “combination of lists.” The media baptized them as “the joinder parties.”

Jonestown is once again in the news and is attracting widespread and serious comment. This article, from the paragraph below, was written by Roger Arjoon,

With only minimal fanfare and little public notice, the National Assembly last week unanimously passed into law the Security Interests in Movable Property Bill 2024. The statutory protection of a credit system over immovable property has long been an aspiration of many who are and were involved in the financial industry. The need became evident as early as the late 1980s as Guyana’s economy began to look to external sources for economic development. By the early 1990s the Government invited a Canadian lawyer who was stationed in Guyana for several months, at intervals, who prepared draft legislation. It then silently vanished, never to be heard of again.

In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the PPP, I write about a little known event that formed part of the circumstances that shaped Guyana’s entry into the democratic fold of nations.