By Ryhaan Shah

President Dr Irfaan Ali recently urged all Guyanese to set aside at least 30 minutes each day for physical activity as concerns continue to be raised about cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases affecting the population.
Through these weekly columns, we have been learning about the absolute importance and necessity of movement and exercise if we are to stay healthy, even as we grow older. The President is right to urge everyone – young and old – to incorporate exercise into their daily routine.
Now, many of us may not be able to manage 30 minutes of exercise every day, but as we have been learning, doing as many minutes as you can will help lower the risk of developing serious and chronic illnesses.
If you are housebound and using a walker or cane, you can still do some walking for as many minutes as you are comfortable with. As we age, changes in our balance, strength, vision, hearing, and medication use can all increase the likelihood of slipping and falling.
While falls are not a normal part of ageing, they remain one of the leading causes of injury among the elderly, and injuries to arms, legs, hips, and our back can create serious issues for our mobility and our independence.
There are several precautionary measures we can take to ward off the dangers of falling, starting with our home environment. Family members can help ensure that there are clear pathways to help us move about safely and comfortably.
Walkways, stairs, and hallways should all be free of clutter, as rugs and carpets are the most common items that cause trips and slips. They should either be secured or removed completely.
Furniture placed too close together forces tight turns and awkward movements. You can rearrange rooms to create wide, direct paths for the most-used routes, such as from the kitchen to the living room area.
Lighting should also be clear and bright, and switches should be easy to reach and turn on. Grab bars should be a must in areas like bathrooms, but they can also be used in other parts of the home to ensure proper safety.
While our footwear can be stylish, they should also fit well and have soles with good grips. Loose-fitting slippers or very high heels would not be sensible options as we grow older and become unsteady on our feet.
If any medications or combinations of medications are causing dizziness or low blood pressure, these should be reviewed with your doctor to ensure you feel safer and steadier while moving about.
Head of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Dr Mahendra Carpen, also recently raised concerns over what he described as an apparent increase in sudden deaths among young adults in Guyana. He said cardiovascular disease was a leading cause and noted that individuals in their 20s to 40s have been dying unexpectedly, including during sleep or while engaged in routine activities.
He warned about the risks of severe uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and smoking. He also urged people experiencing symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, or light-headedness to seek medical evaluation and encouraged everyone to get regular health checks.
The President has also called for a holistic approach to nutrition and made a case for healthier eating habits and for health education to be added to the school curriculum. At the same time, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony highlighted unhealthy diets, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity as factors contributing to preventable illness and disease.
Over the past months, these columns have underscored the importance of proper nutrition and exercise for the elderly. Thus, the call from the President and leading health care officials adds critical voices to the national health programme as we all try to improve our health and lower our risk of developing life-threatening illnesses such as stroke, heart attack, and type 2 diabetes.
The President has also announced plans for the government to work with religious communities on public health and primary healthcare initiatives. Such a programme would include health checks, counselling, and efforts to change lifestyles and living habits for the better.
“Give your body the energy, give your body the fuel, give your body the chance to be victorious. Give your body the chance to be optimal. Let us do this together, Guyana,” President Ali urged. It is an important call coming from our Head of State, and we should heed it for the national good and for our health’s sake.

Source: Guyana Times

Guyana’s five cyclists will turn their attention to today’s road race at the Caribbean Cycling Union (CCU) Elite and Under-23 Championships in the Dominican Republic after Briton John and Aaron Newton completed their time-trial assignments yesterday.

John placed sixth in the Elite category, while Newton finished fifth in the Under-23 division. They will be joined by Ajani Cutting, Segun Hubbard and Andre Greene for the October 11 road race.

John clocked 46 minutes, 31.001 seconds in the individual time trial, putting him eighth in the combined standings. Newton’s time of 49 minutes, 9.792 seconds placed him 14th overall and fifth among the 11 Under-23 finishers.

Bermuda secured the top two Elite positions through Kaden Luke Hopkins and Nicholas Narraway. Hopkins won in 42 minutes, 3.239 seconds, while Narraway recorded 43 minutes, 1.017 seconds. Puerto Rico’s Christopher Morales Fontán completed the podium in 43 minutes, 1.956 seconds.

For Newton, Saturday’s result came a year after he earned Under-23 time-trial silver at the Caribbean Championships in Belize.

Today’s race will bring Guyana’s national road-race champions into action together. John holds the Elite title, while Cutting is the reigning Under-23 champion.

Greene secured his place in the final team after Alexis Mendes was ruled out through injury following the Tour de Bim in Barbados.

Cutting, Greene, Hubbard and Newton departed Guyana on Thursday to link up with John, who was travelling from the United States. The squad now has its full complement available for the road-race challenge.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

Aaron Vasconcellos scored twice as Santos’ four-goal first half paved the way for a 4–2 victory over Police in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Elite League U17 Ensemble competition at the Tucville Ground yesterday.

Tyrese Johnson also netted a double for Police, but his efforts were not enough to overturn Santos’ early advantage. Guyana Defence Force (GDF) were also winners in the October 10 action, beating Western Tigers 3–0.

Santos needed just two minutes to get off the mark through Alex Bentick. Vasconcellos then struck in the 13th minute to extend the lead.

Police moved back within one goal when Johnson scored in the 22nd minute. However, Santos restored their two-goal cushion through Vasconcellos in the 31st before Cosmic Thomas made it 4–1 in the 36th.

That halftime advantage proved decisive. Johnson found the net again in the 51st minute, but Santos conceded no further goals and secured the win.

GDF’s success came through goals from Daymetrian Budhan, Brandon Parks and Ravon Vannooten, with their scoring spread across both halves.

Budhan broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, and Parks followed five minutes later to give GDF a 2–0 lead at the interval.

Vannooten extended the advantage in the 42nd minute, leaving Western Tigers with a three-goal deficit they were unable to reduce.

The league will wrap up with its final two matches next Saturday at the West Ruimveldt ground.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

Fans heading to today’s Berbice Invasion Drag Race Meet will have access to four designated parking areas and shuttle buses as organisers prepare to welcome spectators to the Rose Hall Canje Airstrip.

The Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) has outlined the arrangements ahead of the October 11 event, where more than 200 races are expected. Qualifying begins at 10:00 hrs, followed by elimination rounds at 12:15 hrs.

Each parking area will have a ticket booth, allowing spectators to pay before entering the venue. Signs and directions will guide motorists, while buses will transport patrons between the parking areas and the airstrip. Return trips will be provided after the meet.

Organisers will designate general and VIP parking areas and enforce no-parking zones. Fans have been urged to cooperate with security personnel and parking attendants, with illegal parking and reckless driving outside the drag strip prohibited.

Spectators should also be aware that firearms, other weapons, outside food and drinks, and unauthorised vending will not be allowed. Security checks may be carried out on both patrons and vehicles.

The club says interest from residents across Berbice has been encouraging, giving organisers confidence in a strong turnout.

A GMR&SC spokesman said preparations had been underway at the airstrip for three days.

The organising team has been working with the Guyana Fire Service, Guyana Police Force, sponsors and support staff to prepare the venue and supporting services. According to the spokesman, contact with some service providers had been renewed to get the required arrangements underway.

The GMR&SC says the preparations are aimed at delivering a successful meet for competitors and spectators.

ENet, Tropical Shipping, Castrol, GuyOil and KFC are among the sponsors supporting the event.

VIP tickets and corporate suites are available through 632-4820.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

WPA: this ‘rare and special spirit walked among us with a deliberate purpose that touched the core of Guyana’

After more than eight decades in public activism during which social justice was at the centre of his work, Eusi Kwayana passed away yesterday at the age of 101, one of the last witnesses to the struggle for independence and the post-colonial period in Guyana.

Kwayana, who celebrated his 100^th birthday last year in the village of Buxton with a typical call for a one-day fast for justice, has been hailed as a political leader of peerless integrity who was part of the PPP during the heady days of the 1950s before moving to the PNC following the split between Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham before becoming a major figure in the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) where he was one of its premier leaders – particularly in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr Walter Rodney in 1980 – and serving it in Parliament.

A Pan-Africanist who came to be affectionately known as the `Sage of Buxton’, Kwayana was hailed for his Gandhian qualities and the equanimity with which he approached his life as politician having originally been a teacher, a vocation that never left him. Soft-spoken, Kwayana invested his time in taking up causes for those who had no access to the corridors of power.

The WPA paid a glowing tribute to him yesterday and implored the public “not to mourn Bro Eusi’s passing, but to celebrate his life and lived journey”.

In a statement, the WPA said: “Our elder, teacher, mentor, leader and inspiration has left us to go back to his ancestors. The Sage of Buxton has left this side of the river to return to the source of his spirit. His earthly duty is over. To the very end he kept the faith, cradled the civilization, protected the vulnerable, and empowered the powerless. His loss leaves an empty chair in the gallery of our Guyanese humanity.

“It is with deep sadness that the WPA joins with the Kwayana family in announcing the death of Brother Eusi Kwayana. Although we know death is inevitable and that Bro Eusi would eventually leave us, we thought this day would never come. But it is finally here. We give thanks for his life, his wisdom, his guidance and above all, his example. Guyana has lost the last of its original independence visionaries—one of Guyana’s priceless gifts to itself”.

The party said that or 101 years and six months this “rare and special spirit walked among us with a deliberate purpose that touched the core of Guyana”. Along with others and sometimes alone, the party said that he lived the Guyanese decolonization and independence narrative of freedom.

“WPA declares with certainty that our Eusi was a Founder-Pioneer of our post-colonial order. In him shone the light of the full flowering of the Guyanese, Caribbean and African fusion”, it said.

The WPA noted that in 1974 Kwayana co-founded the party  and remained a committed member until his death. Within the WPA he functioned  as Executive member, Member of Parliament and de facto editor of the party’s organs, Open Word and Dayclean.

“We remember Eusi as an excellent party organizer and mobilizer. Whenever the party was low on morale, we turned to him for confidence. We also remember him as a loyal party member who never compromised his integrity and independent praxis. It is for that reason that we label him the modern pioneer of the Independent Radical strand in modern Guyanese politics”, the WPA said.

While he gave 52 years of service to the party, the WPA noted that he also laboured in the valley for the original PPP and the PNC in which he served as Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary respectively. He served as a Member of Parliament and Cabinet Member in the 1953 PPP government. In addition to being General Secretary, he served as editor of the PNC’s newspaper, New Nation.

During the period 1964-71, the party said that Kwayana served as head of the National Land Settlement Committee; chairman of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC); chairman of the Cooperative Insurance Committee; and chairman of a committee charged with converting the Guyana Cooperative Credit Society into a Cooperative Bank.

As an Africanist leader he co-founded in 1961 the African Society for Racial Equality (ASRE), which was dedicated primarily to raising cultural consciousness among African Guyanese. In 1964, the party said that he also co-founded the African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), which, like ASRE, committed itself to the promotion of African pride, dignity, and culture among African Guyanese. He served as Coordinating Elder of ASCRIA and changed his name from Sydney King to Eusi Kwayana, which, in Swahili, means Black Man of Guyana.

African star

“He gave everything to his country and his people. Farewell African star, Guyanese treasure and Caribbean wise man. We end this initial statement by calling on Guyanese not to mourn Bro Eusi’s passing, but to celebrate his life and lived journey”, the WPA said.

Speaking at his 100^th birthday celebration last April, Stabroek News reported Kwayana as saying: “As you know, in my political activity, I have gone on hunger strikes; fasting, for various causes and reasons. Right in the Caribbean we used that weapon to draw attention and public conscience to abuses of public life.

“… Tonight, after long deep consideration I must challenge people in Guyana, who listen and are concerned about themselves and the future, I challenge them now about naming a piece of activity that they can do or join me, as I can do it and what I am talking about is … a short one day fast; a hunger strike for a maximum time of one day”.

Kwayana said then  that he kept himself abreast of current affairs by listening to local news and felt that the fast was needed. 

“We can’t go on doing what we do all the time… I hope that we take on the responsibility. I thought about some activity in which I can appeal to you members of the human planet … This includes freedom of action …asking you to consider taking on responsibility, in Guyana, for change for the better of Guyana. I am talking about deep change that comes from a deep place bigger than politics,” the centenarian said.

Having gone on his first hunger strike in 1953, he said, he believed that this medium of protest helped to highlight his cause. However, he told his audience that they do not have to announce they are fasting like him, but do so in earnest and from a point where they ask their divine to bless this country”, Stabroek News reported.

In an April 7, 2025 tribute in the In the Diaspora column of Stabroek News,  Moses Bhagwan and Nigel Westmaas wrote that one of  Kwayana’s earliest politically self-conscious memories dated back to Lusignan around 1929, when he was about four or five years old.

“He vividly recalled a woman, perhaps aged between 60 and 65, sitting in a doorway on a bench in a range yard, enjoying the warmth of the sun with her legs crossed and smoking a clay pipe. Addressing him directly, she said, `Pickney, Congo ah high nation, Congo ah high nation.’ Her words, clearly affirming African pride and heritage, emphasized that the horrors of slavery could never erase the fact that Africans originated from great and dignified civilizations. Kwayana never forgot it. Kwayana and the poet Martin Carter often rode their bicycles to and from Georgetown. On one such occasion, Carter stopped at Le Ressouvenir—a site associated with the 1823 Demerara revolt—and, in a gesture echoed in the title of one of his later poems, physically listened to the land”, they related.

They wrote that Kwayana held the unique distinction of having composed the official songs for three major political parties in Guyana: the PPP (“O Fighting Men”), the PNC (“Battle Song”), and the WPA (“People’s Power”).

Bhagwan and Westmaas wrote that Kwayana produced hundreds of works across multiple genres—poems, critical reviews, short stories, letters to newspapers, opinion pieces, song lyrics, obituaries, court motions, parliamentary interventions (motions and speeches), editorials, political statements, essays, press releases, and plays for both theatre and grassroots events.

“His literary span stretches from The Prodigal Daughter (his first play, written in the early 1940s) to the book The Legend: Post-Emancipation Villages in Guyana, Making World History (2016), co-authored with David Hinds.

“One of his most remarkable works, Buxton-Friendship in Print and Memory, exemplifies his method—a deeply democratic respect for people from all walks of life. Published by Red Thread Women’s Press (1999), this village history illuminates the minutiae of everyday life while reinforcing Kwayana’s reverence for both the printed word and the oral tradition, the latter long marginalized in formal scholarship but deeply embedded in the cultural traditions of Guyana and the Caribbean. Kwayana also wrote several plays, including Christus the Messiah, Proclamation (on the 1823 Demerara Revolt), The King and I, and the prize-winning Promised Land (1965). During the same period, he wrote theatre reviews under the alias Kiskadee Cloud”, they wrote.

Kwayana was a prolific letter writer to Stabroek News and authored a missive to Kiskadee Watch on August 31st this year on the upholding of Donald Rodney’s appeal against his 1982 conviction.

Despite his contributions, Bhagwan and Westmaas said that Kwayana remained one of the most misunderstood figures in Guyanese political history. And no political proposal dogged him more than the call for ‘partition’ in 1961.  The plan primarily advocated ‘joint and equal Prime Ministerships,’ with partition identified as a last resort.  At the time, they said that Kwayana felt that it would bring equality of rights and power for Indians and Africans and attempt to end racial antagonism.

They said that Kwayana’s philosophy of multiracialism—tailored to Guyana’s unique socio-political landscape—is best captured in his celebrated 1978 speech, Racial Insecurity and the Political System. This speech, they said, laid the foundation for a self-critical assessment of racial divisions in Guyana and became integral to the WPA’s broader philosophy of multiracialism—a legacy that continues to inform contemporary debates on race and politics, even if unacknowledged. He later expanded upon this in two major analyses of the cultural contributions of Indians and Africans at the Genesis of a Nation conference held at the Pegasus Hotel in 1988.

Because of the limitations of the 5th parliament (1986-1992) and his own preferred mode of representation, Bhagwan and Westmaas said that Kwayana made the WPA office and his frequent visits to villages and the rural areas “centres of representation,” turning Parliament into a “living forum.”

“He reopened the use of citizen petitions to the National Assembly as a means of expressing grievances.  Outside of Parliament, the WPA MP, helped by other WPA activists, assisted senior citizens; mothers due for social impact amelioration payments; farmers with water problems; and persons denied the reasonably prompt issue of passports. He visited the Georgetown hospital on several occasions, taking extensive notes of its deficiencies and speaking with patients. These were only a few of the representations he made”, they said.  

In August 1987, Kwayana stood with protesting crowds as the kero and gas crisis unfolded.

“So long as suffering of this kind is encouraged and maintained by the government my pen will not sleep in my hand, nor will my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth”, Bhagwan and Westmaas reported him as saying.

He was also credited with an immaculate understanding of parliamentary procedure.

“What were the origins of Kwayana’s skill in the Parliament? A likely possibility was his generation’s experience from the 1940s to the 1960s, with its ingrained knowledge of the ‘system’ when fighting British control of the legislature and colony. Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, HJM Hubbard, Janet Jagan, Winifred Gaskin, WOR Kendall, Boysie Ramkarran and others all exhibited a range of parliamentary prowess during their own shifts in the Chamber. These parliamentarians were forced to be creative and knowledgeable of the system out of sheer necessity to ensure their survival against the British constitutional and colonial system”, Bhagwan and Westmaas wrote.

Yesterday, the PNCR mourned Kwayana.

“Brother Eusi entered the political arena as a youth, dedicating his life to the struggles and aspirations of the Guyanese people. He served the People’s National Congress under the leadership of its founder, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, contributing his intellect, energy, and convictions to the building of our Party and the advancement of an independent Guyana.

“In the years that followed, he continued to serve the nation through the Working People’s Alliance, remaining a fearless and principled voice on matters of governance, justice, and national development. As a historian, he dedicated himself to recording and preserving our country’s story, ensuring that future generations would know the journey of our people and the sacrifices made along the way.

“Eusi Kwayana was more than a politician; he was a teacher, a chronicler, and a conscience for our nation. His life spanned generations of our political evolution, and his counsel, integrity, and unwavering commitment to principle earned him the respect of friend and adversary alike”, the party said.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

-grief, distrust and unanswered questions dominated MV Barima CoI meeting with families 

“I looked up for the life jackets. But them life jackets was under lock and key!” recalled MV Barima survivor Helena Moonsammy as she desperately tried to explain the final horrifying moments before the boat went down.  Nothing could convince her in those moments that she and the eight family members travelling with her would survive. 

“I look up; I see death; I see meh death,” Moonsammy mournfully told the five-member Commission of Inquiry (COI) investigating the July 18 disaster. 

She had been travelling with eight grandchildren who lived with her  and was showing those that were with her the coastline as they watched the lights shining from houses like “fairy lights.” 

She was lying down at the back of the boat when things started to unfold. Four guys were drinking and one of them went down to the canteen for more beers. When he came back, he casually mentioned something about sinking, so Moonsammy said she decided to get up to check on the children. Within just a short time thereafter,  the boat canted and went down.

She said the first thing she looked for was the life jackets, but unable to get to them, she recalled struggling in the water. Unable to swim, Moonsammy said she did her best to stay afloat, repeatedly  calling out to God as she fought to reach the surface.

“I drink water, drink water, I talk to God,” she recalled, eventually managing to reach the surface and holding on to a box, which she said helped her survive. In the water, she spotted another woman struggling and pulled her onto the box.

Moonsammy said she was rescued at about 7:00 am the following morning – around nine hours later – and of the eight children she was travelling with, four survived and four perished. 

Deeply emotional

Her testimony was among the deeply emotional accounts shared by survivors and grieving relatives during an informal meeting with the commissioners at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown last Thursday. 

The gathering was intended to provide an opportunity for an open and frank exchange between the Commission and those affected by the disaster. It was not a formal evidence-gathering session, but attendees came determined to speak about their experiences, demand answers and express their fears that the inquiry might ultimately yield no meaningful results.

For many, the pain of losing loved ones was compounded by frustration over delayed action, broken promises and a lack of confidence in the institutions responsible for investigating the tragedy.

‘How can I live knowing my baby didn’t get a burial?’

Survivor Samantha Ramitt broke down as she spoke about losing her only daughter and the lasting trauma the disaster had inflicted on her family. She said her family is continuing to struggle to cope with the loss even as she, her mother, son and two nieces had survived. 

Ramitt said she was left wondering how she could continue living with the knowledge that her daughter had died without receiving a burial. “How can I live knowing my baby didn’t get a burial? I have to live with that pain until I die,” she expressed. 

She described the deceased as loved members of the family and said she continued to cry day and night in her room, to the extent that she is unable to work.

Ramitt expressed little confidence that the inquiry would produce accountability, pointing to the Mahdia dormitory fire as an example of a tragedy after which, in her view, meaningful justice had not been delivered. She urged the commissioners to ensure that the vessel was raised from the seabed so that evidence could be recovered.

‘He was the breadwinner’

As for Dolly Cox, the disaster not only took her father but also disrupted the financial stability of her family and threatened the education of the younger children he had supported.

In tears, Cox said she felt her father’s demise was her fault as he was travelling on the MV Barima for the purpose of helping her to start a business. She recalled that she was the last person he spoke to, a memory that has left her struggling with feelings of guilt.

Cox said her father had always ensured that she received an education, but his death left four children still attending school unable to do so. “He was the breadwinner. My mother had to start working even though she is sickly. He left four children in school. They can’t go,” she said.

She also accused the government of failing to fulfil promises to support her family, including commitments to assist her mother and help the family build. “Up to now, they did nothing for us. And I don’t think y’all will do anything either,” Cox told the commissioners.

She recalled her own experiences on the vessel when its engine cut off and it was left floating, along with another incident in which the boat caught fire. 

‘Nothing will come out of this CoI’

A mother who lost her son in the disaster also challenged the authorities over the delay in raising the vessel, expressing doubt that the inquiry would provide answers.

The 64-year-old woman, who identified herself as a resident of the North West District and said she had travelled on the MV Barima for years, recalled using the vessel as recently as March.

She told the CoI team how assistance had been available to raise the boat immediately after the incident, but that the authorities seemed bent on wasting time. “The government cares nothing about raising that boat. They take too long,” she said.

The woman repeatedly expressed the view that the inquiry would achieve nothing, emphasising her point by spelling out the word “nothing” letter by letter, drawing loud applause from those in attendance. “The government is wasting our time, crawling like snails,” she said.

Primus warns commissioners against being used

We Invest in Nationhood (WIN)  Member of Parliament Odessa Primus said the families were being subjected not only to suffering but also to disrespect, questioning whether the inquiry would deliver results and noting that previous commissions of inquiry had failed to produce any kind of results. 

“We have had a series of inquiries in the past and nothing came out of them. I hope you won’t do the same to these families,” Primus said.

She said those with political responsibility for the lives lost must also be held accountable, insisting that the circumstances surrounding the disaster should not be reduced to political considerations.

Primus also referred to a 14-day period previously announced by the President in connection with the response to the disaster, questioning why the families were still waiting for meaningful action. “People are hurt. You feel the hurt every time you speak to them,” she said, adding, “If there is any dignity and humanity, do not allow this government to use you to further hurt these people.”

Responding to the concerns, Commission Chairman Belizean Justice of Appeal Godfrey Phillip Smith said the commissioners would not allow themselves to be directed by the government that appointed them. “Politicians appointed us but they can’t tell us what to do. We have to be neutral and we have to call it as we see it,” Smith said.

Ram questions scope of investigation

Attorney-at-law and commentator Christopher Ram also used the meeting to raise questions about the scope of the inquiry and whether it would examine the other operations of the Transport and Harbours Department’s ferry service.

Ram noted that the government had not consulted the public on either the composition of the Commission or its terms of reference. While acknowledging that the same commissioners might have been selected even if consultations had taken place, he questioned whether the inquiry would go beyond the events of the night the MV Barima capsized.

He pointed to other vessels that he said had been ordered and were available, questioning why they had not been deployed.

Ram also asked whether the commissioners would engage specialists with expertise in ferry-service management, supervision, administration and operations.

In response, one of the commissioners said the matters requiring investigation fell within the Commission’s collective expertise, adding that additional specialists could be engaged if necessary.

He also said the commissioners had not been involved in the government’s selection process and had simply been invited to participate.

On the scope of the inquiry, the commissioner pointed to the terms of reference, including a provision covering matters associated with the disaster, and said relevant issues concerning both the MV Barima and the ferry-service system could be examined.

Commissioners urge confidence 

Throughout the meeting, the commissioners listened as relatives and survivors expressed anger, grief and distrust, with some openly questioning whether the inquiry would achieve anything.

Smith and the other commissioners remained composed as the concerns were raised, responding to questions and reiterating that their work would be guided by the terms of reference and the evidence.

The panel includes Smith, Polish forensic naval architect and marine engineer Dr. Andrzej Jasionowski, Nyree Dawn Alfonso of Trinidad and Tobago, Captain Hamada Fouda of Jamaica and Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Hayden Pritchard of Trinidad and Tobago. The five were sworn in on July 30, 2026.

The commissioners said they would pursue the evidence and investigate matters falling within their mandate, while acknowledging the limits of their authority.

The meeting drew people from different sections of society, including representatives of the University of Guyana, the Amerindian Peoples Association, opposition parties, civil society organisations and activist groups.

Despite the commissioners’ assurances, the families’ accounts made clear that trust remains a major challenge for the inquiry.

As the Commission prepares to hear formal evidence, the families are demanding more than assurances; they want the vessel raised, the circumstances of the disaster fully investigated and answers that can withstand public scrutiny.

Source: Kiskadee Watch

By Harry Husbands

Harry Husbands is a man of many parts. He was an educator, trade union leader, business executive, politician, senator, radio talk show host and a newspaper columnist. He is an ardent cricket fan, avid reader and lover of kaiso, reggae, jazz and some European classical music. He is a proud Bajan Pan-Africanist.

It’s hard to explain how much my mother loved the Mighty Sparrow. But I think I know how much. She owned two record albums and they were both by him. As much as she loved him she also cussed him out as she never forgave him for the alleged crime of singing the popular Ovaltine jingle as one of the selections on a show he held at the Globe cinema sometime during the 1960s. I said alleged because I’m not sure that she was there at the show or this was just another urban legend with which he was tarred. She would regularly sing the refrain, Ovaltine highly delicious Ovaltine/ to strengthen up your vitality/ drink plenty Ovaltine.

I consulted The Great Zuckerberg and his headline hungry twin, Meta, on this issue. They responded saying, that they could find no evidence that Sparrow ever sang a commercial with those words. That means that you might be one of the only people left who remembers the words, they concluded. But they did go on to say, (1) “highly delicious” was Ovaltine’s official print slogan in the Caribbean during the 1960s. (2) “strengthen up your vitality” is almost word for word a joke Sparrow made in Bois Bande one of his songs and (3) “drink plenty Ovaltine” is a classic calypso advert ending. As interesting as this is it still leaves unresolved the issue of whether or not he sang the commercial at a show inBarbados. Assuming that he did, my mother’s disappointment was understandable. After all she and the other patrons would have much preferred to hear one of his more salacious hits like Mae Mae, Bag ah Sugar or Salt Fish.  

The first of the albums she owned was Sparrow at the Hilton. Although a 1967 studio recording it probably represented a step up for the calypso genre to be associated with such a prestigious and uniquely up sided down hotel as the Trinidad Hilton. The album included such hits as Rufus, Education a Must, Shango, No Money No Love and Sandra. But it was the Governor’s Ball that was my mother’s favourite. She played the stuffing out of it. Until this day I can still sing along with it, word for word, The Governor had a ball ah never see nothing so yet/ a mad woman jump the wall and invade the fete/ Prospect with the baton in hand conducting the Police Band/ he say the woman shake she waist in the Governor face/ telling everybody inside the place/ shake your baton like Mr. Prospect. 

“She bann she belly” the day she gave it away. Her Trinidad born Canadian resident step son-in-law on his first visit to Barbados begged her to let him have it. She gave him a firm NO! On his second visit he came prepared. He was teary eyed and carried a hang-dog look on his face so she gave into his carefully planned entreaties. From the moment he left, smiling, carrying her Sparrow from the Hilton to Toronto she regretted her decision. She spent many subsequent years looking for a replacement but to no avail.

The second LP in her possession was Christmas with Sparrow. It contained many Christmas classics such as Silent Night, White Christmas, Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. But the banger was There’s no Place like Home for the Holidays. With the volume on the radiogram on blast I can still hear Sparrow crooning, I met a man who lived in Port of Spain/ he was heading for San Fernando and some homemade pumpkin pie/ from San Fernando folks are traveling up to Maracas Bay for sure/ to a lovely moon light picnic man the traffic is terrific/ for there is no place like home for the holidays. Lord Have Mercy (or, as the young people say, LHM)! There is no better feeling than a Christmas Eve with the radiogram speakers belting out Sparrow’s beautiful rendition of No Place Like Home, the smell of ham in the oven and freshly baked Great Cake on the dining room table. 

My mother played her Sparrow LPs on her fancy sleek Philips radiogram, a combination radio and record player both encased in a dark teak wood cabinet. She got it on hire-purchase from Mannings, a popular Barbadian department store of the time. It wasn’t just an entertainment centre, it was a status symbol. It meant that we had arrived. By today’s standards we were balling. It was a step up from the private radio and several steps up from the Rediffusion. 

Whenever my aunt’s husband visited Barbados from New York he brought along his Mills Brothers 78s singing, you always hurt the one you love/ the one you shouldn’t hurt at all/ you always take the sweetest rose and crush it til’ the petals fall. Another family member hired a car regularly on Sunday afternoon and put his radiogram in the back seat and with a few of his lady friends, made a tour visiting other friends where he would play his records.

Our radiogram was pivotal in extending my awareness and knowledge of Sparrow’s music and the wider calypso genre. It permitted us to borrow records from neighboursand to listen to Trinidadian radio stations especially at carnival time.

Many years later and with this heightened awareness I could confidently propose to my tutors at Erdiston Teachers College that I incorporate calypso music as an aide in my Social Studies lessons during teaching practice. Fortunately, the Instructional Plan I was asked to teach included a sub-theme on slavery. The first song I selected was Sparrow’s Slave. The first two lines of that kaiso, I’m a slave from a land so far/ I was caught and I was brought here from Africa, contains enough material to last an entire semester. This wasn’t banja* but Sparrow at his genius-best.

In a nutshell, we integrated Social Studies, vocabulary, mathematics, map work skills and health sciences with other areas of the curriculum. This allowed us to define the word slave and then compare and contrast slavery and freedom. From there we identified and located via map work the countries in Africa from which slaves came, identifying the names they’re called today. Additional map work located Barbados, the continents, the Atlantic and the other oceans.

In my lesson plans I applied the Socratic method to interrogate the Middle Passage. We explored a number of themes including the length of time it took a slave ship to transit the Atlantic, the number of slaves each ship carried on average, how the slaves were stored for travel, the foods they ate, what were the likely conditions on board, what health issues did the slaves confront, what materials were used in the ship construction, how were the ships propelled, how do slave ships compare and contrast with ships today?

Eventually I was successful not so much for what was achieved but more for the vision of trying something different and creative. I was a young inexperienced teacher in training and couldn’t fully pull it together. I could only scratch the surface.

When it is said that the Sparrow catalogue is like no other ranging from the comical to the spicy to the historical and highly educational I know that to be accurate. So as The Mighty Sparrow sang in praise to others we sing for him in his own words, Sparrow we will always remember/ jumping when them big band pass/ playing mas’/ sugary, peppery,you were never ever one for class/ Birdie where ever you are brother/ Just for you we gine give dem real thunder everyday/ We will always remember you with pride

*Banja/banjo: secular music if played on Sunday and/or any sexually suggestive song

Source: Kiskadee Watch

Dear Editor,

I write to respectfully reject the position advanced by Mr. Clement Rohee in his recent letter, dated October 8, 2026, and captioned “Cheddi Jagan was the central figure in the October 5th story.” His account is neither complete nor balanced, and it cannot serve as an authoritative recollection of that critical period in our nation’s life.

Mr. Rohee’s letter presents the story of October 5, 1992, as though it were almost exclusively the story of Dr. Cheddi Jagan and the PPP. This is furthest from the truth. It conveniently overlooks the many other Guyanese and international figures whose contributions, had they been absent, would have ensured that the PNC still be in office today.

The evidence points to a combination of sustained regional pressure—which created the necessary influence in Washington, D.C.—and the changing geopolitical landscape following the arrival of President Ronald Reagan and his deputy George Bush, alongside the weakening of the Soviet Union and the emergence of “glasnost and perestroika”, the two reform policies introduced in the mid-1980s by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Were it not for the direct support of the USA, Mr. Rohee might still be holding a placard in front of the Office of the President today, and a PNC President would have been presiding over a full-fledged military dictatorship.

There are also the Caribbean leaders, namely Dame Eugenia Charles (May 1919 – September 2005), who served as Prime Minister of Dominica until 1995, and Sir James Mitchell (May 1931 – November 2021), who served as Prime Minister of St. Vincent until 2000. In 1983, Mrs. Charles was invited to Washington, D.C., to solidify the strong relationship between herself and Reagan around the Grenada issue. It was on that foundation that she and Mr. Mitchell were able to reopen doors in Washington at the highest levels to advocate for Guyana’s freedom in 1986.

Very few will recall the message they shared with President Desmond Hoyte at that 1986 meeting on the island of Mustique—a meeting that bore the permanent imprimatur of Eugenia Charles. In a speech delivered in September 2008 at the UWI Open Campus in honour of Mrs. Charles, Sir James  spoke from his private diaries. He revealed that she had personally advocated to Reagan that “it would become a contradiction in value should the election irregularities in Guyana remain unchallenged now that we have brought democracy to Grenada together.”

It was on this foundation that the Heads of Government of Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines met in Mustique for the first time. Dame Eugenia led the charge in that candid but tense meeting, having the full backing of Reagan to resolve the Guyana issue within the CARICOM framework. According to Sir James, she opened with this statement: “We could not have our headquarters in the capital of a country with rigged elections, nor should we tolerate keeping Guyana in the Community and sully our democratic reputation with continued indifference to repeated flagrant irregularities in the electoral process.” Others expressed similar sentiments, though without the same firmness of position as Mrs. Charles.

Sir James revealed in that speech that “Hoyte explained himself with a plethora of statistics on the elections, including references to the positive showing his party made with the Indo-Guyanese section of the population, especially the business community.” After some two hours of discussion, the Caribbean leaders secured from Hoyte an undertaking that CARICOM would be entitled to monitor the electoral process in the future, culminating in observers being permitted to be present in Guyana to determine the fairness of elections. Jagan was nowhere on the scene at that meeting and could never have secured such a commitment from Hoyte.

But Mr. Rohee appears confused because in a letter he wrote upon the passing of Dr. Yesu Persaud in January 2022, he alluded to the 1991 Washington, D.C., Mission. That Mission was led by Dr. Yesu Persaud (1928–2022) and Bishop Randolph George (1924–2016), as leading Guyanese civil society figures at the time. They successfully met with high-level U.S. State Department officials to make the case for international observers and electoral oversight, and they successfully influenced an outcome that added critical value to the process of free and fair elections in 1992.

Then there was Desmond Hoyte, who, as President, played a decisive role in the events that led to the 1992 election. Whatever one thinks of his politics, it was Hoyte who allowed the electoral process to proceed and who accepted the result. That was true statesmanship that was supported by a critical decision at a critical moment. To write about 1992 without acknowledging Hoyte’s role to democracy is to write fiction, not history. There was major support within Congress Place for the PNC to use whatever means necessary to stay in power, much like President Paul Biya of Cameroon (who has been in power from 1982 to the present). They even had a plan to institute a strategy that entailed a combination of undemocratic electoral controls, a carefully balanced security apparatus that preserved absolute loyalty to the party, and strategic management of the economic elites.

Many would not know, but Major General (retd.) Joseph Singh can attest to what took place on that fateful day in 1992, when Hoyte called him and issued instructions. Those instructions were never to suppress the will of the people or destroy their voice; they were to provide the safe space for the will of the people to be respected—to the angst of one particular former leader of the PNC, Mr. Hamilton Green, who, against the wishes of Hoyte, brought the people out onto the streets in front of the GECOM Building on Croal Street, which culminated in major burning and looting of stores on Regent Street. I listened carefully to then Senior Superintendent Paul Slowe’s programme last week, where he spoke of his personal action to contain the violence—despite his having personally voted for the PNC in 1992.  What he was clear about was the support he had from Hoyte at the time to bring peace to the land.

Beyond these few names, there were many others—politicians (including many PPP leaders, such as Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud), civil society leaders (including Clairmont Lye and Dr. Makepeace Richmond), religious figures (such as Sister Doreen Rowtie of the Catholic Church), diplomats (including President Jimmy Carter and David Carroll), and ordinary citizens—who worked with the United States Government in particular to ensure that Guyana had free and fair elections, and elections free from fear. Their efforts mattered. They helped create the conditions in which October 5, 1992, became possible.

Mr. Rohee’s letter also fails to engage honestly with the role of the United States Government in the 1992 election outcome. Without the active involvement of the USA —and the solid work done by former Ambassador Theresa Tull, Officer in Charge Denis Hays, and Ambassador George Fleming Jones—our Guyanese story would not have been the same.

Good history makes for good citizenry. But the history Mr. Rohee offers is not good history. It is a selective, self-serving narrative that elevates one man and one party while diminishing the contributions of others. It misleads people about the past and misinforms their debates about the present.

The truth matters. 

Yours faithfully,

Khemraj Harryram

Source: Kiskadee Watch

It could be said that the career of Robert Corbin straddled two important eras in Guyana’s post-Independence history. The first consisted largely of the establishment and consolidation of authoritarian rule coupled with economic decline. The second consisted largely of the establishment and consolidation of democratic rule coupled with economic growth. Corbin made his mark in both eras. He was actively engaged in supporting the former and made an important impact on the latter. 

The failure to achieve a political solution after 1992, which was on Cheddi Jagan’s and the PPP’s agenda since 1978 with its adoption of proposals for a National Patriotic Front Government, was not only the PPP’s fault. It was also the PNC’s fault. Desmond Hoyte’s PNC had time only for political supremacy, not political solution, and demonstrated its policy in the streets with ‘slow fire, mo’ fire.’ No one in the PPP envisioned an approach to the PNC in those circumstances or if one did, imagined that such an approach would be entertained for more than a minute. 

Corbin assumed the leadership of the PNC just one year after Hoyte announced that he was finally convinced that the time for ‘shared governance’ had arrived. But shortly before, in 2001, Bharrat Jagdeo had won the elections. At around the same period, therefore, new leaders had assumed office. The talks between Hoyte and Jagdeo in 2001 having failed, Corbin and Jagdeo made another effort. In 2004, agreement was reached featuring the following issues: Constitutional and Anti-Defection legislation; Commitments to Linden; Local Government and Reform Dialogues; and State Media Access and Dialogue. Within a few months this attempt at dialogue was ended by the PPP, for a reason or reasons unknown.

Corbin turned his attention to building a coalition for the elections. He appears to have understood that the PNC badly needed an alliance of forces. He came up with an outfit of one-person parties which he named PNCR-1G. He faced the 2006 elections having failed to establish a viable coalition, significant opposition to his leadership within the PNC and the newly formed AFC. The PNC obtained five seats less than in 2001. The AFC won five seats. Recognising that he might not be able to overcome internal opposition to his leadership and that the AFC posed a danger, he called in David Granger. APNU, with the WPA being the main junior partner, was established. In 2011, the new opposition party, APNU, recovered the votes and seats that the PNC had lost. The AFC gained, taking away support from the PPP, which dropped to minority status. 

APNU+AFC, an electoral coalition, won the elections in 2015 but its government failed to implement constitutional reform for shared governance which had been promised in its manifesto. Having lost the elections in 2020 and there being no constitutional reform for shared governance in place, APNU lost out completely. 

It appears that at this point Corbin lost whatever influence he may have still had. An internal critic, Aubrey Norton, won the leadership and his allies swept away the entire frontline leadership, ditched the AFC, went alone to the elections, and was crushed by WIN. APNU dropped from 31 seats in the National Assembly to 12. WIN won 16 seats. PPP/C obtained 36.

Shared governance had always been premised on the PNC being the second largest party with the objective being to reduce ethnic tension and competition at election time and generally in the society. Not only did no one expect the massive loss that APNU suffered but no one expected a large-scale migration of African Guyanese support to an Indian Guyanese-led party, WIN. For reasons other than the ethnic factor, such as the possibility that WIN could potentially draw away PPP/C supporters, shared governance is no longer an option for the PPP.

What does the future hold? APNU might make a comeback as it did in 2011. The PPP/C would be happy with such an outcome. It would remove the threat of WIN potentially winning the elections by its Indian leader taking away Indian votes. And the PPP knows that without APNU having a viable coalition partner that can draw votes away from the PPP, which APNU does not have, APNU cannot win elections. It is not likely that WIN will be that partner. In the meantime, while the capacity of the government to deliver benefits to the population because of Guyana’s growing oil income continues, there are clouds on the horizon, namely, the slow trickling down of benefits, the high cost of living and allegations of corruption. Whether the PPP/C can keep WIN at bay in these circumstances is not known. Failing to pay attention to gathering clouds on the horizon in 2006-2011 caused the PPP/C to lose its majority support in 2011 and the elections in 2015.

Is this a time for overtures to the APNU? Apart from the fact that it is always helpful to be on good terms, as far as is possible, with your adversaries in politics, good relations with APNU will assist in isolating WIN. If APNU is seen to be “gaining concessions” from the government which will benefit its supporters, maybe it will regain some lost ground at the expense of WIN. The recent discussions between APNU and WIN did not appear to bear much fruit. For the PPP to take on two opponents simultaneously would not seem to be the best course when one could be susceptible to an approach. 

Source: Kiskadee Watch