Daily Archive: Tuesday, January 8, 2008

This article was received from Project Syndicate, an international not-for-profit association of newspapers dedicated to hosting a global debate on the key issues shaping our world The problem of succession in the Arab secular republics highlights their predicament in the transition to a post-revolutionary phase, for succession in regimes that fail to build strong institutions always risks triggering a systemic crisis.

A Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officer who attempted to pervert the course of justice by failing to give evidence in a narcotics matter appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on two charges.

A pregnant 18-year-old who is accused of stealing a quantity of items including cellular phones and accessories from her ex-boyfriend yesterday appeared before Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle and was released on $50,000 bail.

Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys yesterday issued an arrest warrant for James Gibson, an ex-soldier, who once again failed to show up at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court for his possession of ammunition and firearm trial.

Magistrate Fazil Azeez yesterday jailed a man for three years and fined him $30,000 after the man changed his plea and admitted to having 140 grammes of ganja for trafficking last year.

Magistrate Oneidge Waldron-Allicock set the commencement of the preliminary inquiry into the sex assault charges against businessman Kevin Jordan for January 31, when he appeared before her yesterday.

Public safety initiatives that had been incubating in 2006 during the tenure of Ms Gail Teixeira as minister of Home Affairs slowly metamorphosed into an insufferable incubus by the end of 2007.

John Barnes, Liverpool and England football legend and head coach of the Digicel Kick Start Football Clinics said the local players participating in the three-day programme which opened yesterday were very enthusiastic.

Compliments of: GT&T, Travel Span, P&P Insurance Brokers, Camille’s Enterprise, Trophy Stall, Lifetime Real Estate and Demerara Power and Light.

Chris Gayle reluctantly but realistically made the decision yesterday that removes for the last and decisive Test against South Africa, the West Indies’ most commanding batsman and, even more significantly, a captain who has immediately inspired his team.

Guyana will be well represented at Ventures Hockey Club 6th annual six-a-side Indoor Festival which will bully off on Thursday in Trinidad.

Matthew Khan overcame a 5-point handicap and the rest of competitors to cart off the top prize in the inaugural Paul David handicap tournament held last week-end at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

It has come to this. The eagerly anticipated start of the Digicel-sponsored football coaching clinics in Guyana scheduled for the National Park yesterday morning (after no other suitable venue could be found) had to be moved to the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall following sustained rainfall.

Dear Editor, Permit me to respond to some of the comments made by Mr.

Dear Editor, This move by the authorities to make part of Carmichael Street a no parking zone maybe can be justified.

Dear Editor, Why are the police seizing persons’ vehicles for traffic offences like ‘running’ traffic lights, overloading, loud music, failing to comply with road signs, and other infractions’ ?

Dear Editor, January 3rd marks the 50th year since the passing of Simeon Josephus Wills, self-designated Prophet, at the age of 83(he died in 1958).

Dear Editor, It looks like another year of woes for the Guyanese people.

Dear Editor, Minister of Home Affairs the Hon. Clement Rohee has now discharged a loaded revelation in public.

Dear Editor, In 1996 I purchased a few house lots and transport was advertised and passed with no objection.

Dear Editor, Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on a first class newspaper.

Dear Editor, I thought I was alone in thinking that Clement Rohee, the Minister of Home Affairs, is living on another planet, when he said recently that people in Guyana were “more interested in the barrels that were coming from abroad than torture,” speaking of two Guyanese, reportedly in the hands of the security forces .

Dear Editor, Colin Bynoe’s record as Regional Vice- President Berbice of the Guyana Teachers’ Union leaves much to be desired.

Dear Editor, Someone needs to remind President Bharrat Jagdeo that an important reason why there is a separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government is to facilitate the effective functioning of the checks and balances system.

Dear Editor, As sickening and as repulsive as I find the Home Affairs Minister’s recent remark that Guyanese are not as concerned about torture as they are about where their next meal is coming from, I think that the statement itself may well be an important wake-up call to a large segment of the population.

Dear Editor, Over the last few years I have observed an increased volume of Hindi music being continuously played on the NCN radio network.

The government through the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion (GFC) has granted a State Forest Exploratory Permit to American wood processing outfit Simon and Shock Inc (SSI), after months of due diligence and some tension between the company and the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest).

A 23-year-old woman was on Sunday night stabbed to death, allegedly by another female, while visiting her New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop marital home.

Faced with a number of challenges, local dairy company Moogoodies is shifting to concentrating on primary production instead of value-added processing, until some measure of viability returns to the local dairy manufacturing sector.

Police have held two more persons as investigations continue into the murder of 56-year-old Colleen Forrester, whose bloated body was recovered from inside a septic tank at Campbellville on Sunday.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) said it found it very disturbing that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was now allegedly engaged in torturing citizens — atrocities previously associated with the police – and it would seek answers from the army.

Since his history-making heart surgery nearly two months ago, Manmohan Singh has been adjusting to a life of restricted movement, a smaller diet and selected hours for medication.

A Guyanese mother of three became a New York jackpot winner last month when her numbers matched the $18 million jackpot up for grabs.

Countrywide house-to-house registration got underway yesterday and is expected to continue over the next six months in preparation for local government elections.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a fire of unknown origin that totally destroyed a Lusignan, East Coast Demerara home on Friday night.

An Essequibo youth who went bathing at a creek in the company of a relative died yesterday after hitting his head on a boat during a dive.

The first New Year baby born in Ontario, Canada, was to a Guyanese family, who said the baby was ten days early.

A Guyana-born businessman ‘Dennis’ Alphonso, who was described as one of the territory’s most prolific and prominent businessmen, died on Christmas day in Maryland, USA at the age of 65 and was laid to rest last Saturday in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) where he lived.

The University of Guyana in partnership with the Nova SouthEastern University of Florida, USA has introduced a one-off Masters of Education programme, which will be effected through interactive classes at the local campuses and online.

Two persons who were seriously wounded in separate stabbing incidents outside the city yesterday morning are currently nursing injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

A Diamond woman who was reportedly assaulted with a broken bottle by another woman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital nursing injuries to her face yesterday.

A 45-year-old mechanic accused of causing the death of a 17-year-old boy by driving in a dangerous manner, while under the influence of alcohol, was granted bail when he appeared at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Justice Jainarayan Singh Jnr yesterday issued a nisi order prohibiting the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack from moving to reopen the Preliminary Inquiry into the murder of Farouk Razac following the freeing of his wife Carolan Lynch on the charge.

The United States government has admitted to brokering Benazir Bhutto’s ill-fated return to Pakistan.

(Courtesy of: GT&T, P&P Insurance, RHTYSC, Travel Span, Camille’s Enterprise, Lifetime Realty and Trophy Stall Bourda Market.)

The West Indies were backed up against the ropes but still standing and still scrapping after another round of intense struggle in the second Test at Newlands yesterday.

Dear Editor, I am not sure whether it is Operation Safeway or Operation Sureway.

Dear Editor, There has been some mention about expatriate Guyanese participants and winners of the Guyana Prize for Literature not being adequately involved in the literary processes at home.

Dear Editor, Barack Obama has crossed the first hurdle and won convincingly in Iowa.

Dear Editor, I refer to a letter captioned “This store gives no bill, refused a refund ” (08.01.03).

Dear Editor, Minister Lall finally made an unconvincing statement in the Chronicle and Kaieteur News.

Dear Editor, I do not always agree with Micheal Sinclair (Teachers are free to pursue studies out of school hours SN 2008-01-03).

Dear Editor, I am of the opinion that the government and the Ministry of Agriculture have tried to grapple with the drainage systems to divert any sort of large scale flooding.

Dear Editor, Hardly a day goes by without having to read distressing news about armed robbery, killing, drug trafficking, disappearance of weapons in government’s custody, lawlessness on the streets.

Dear Editor, I started travelling in Africa around 1979 then extensively in 1980.

Dear Editor, Mr. Clement J. Rohee, in his letter captioned Dr Jagan made a decisive contribution to the return of democracy in 1992″ (08.01.03) took umbrage with my letter captioned “Cheddi Jagan was not responsible for restoring democracy in 1992,” (07.12.21), but failed to submit specifics to support his own contention.

Dear Editor, In my readings on global warming and climate change on the Internet and from other sources, I have encountered conflicting claims being made by scientists in the field.

Best-selling children’s author C.M. Rubin, who is largely unknown in the Caribbean but is Guyanese-born, left British Guiana at the age of six, but she vividly remembers her childhood, from the street she grew up on to the interior design of the home she left and even where her aunt kept decorations for Christmas.

A film we would recommend is the recently released The Great Debaters.

Hi Everyone, You can turn up your nose all you like, scoff all you like and even feel sorry for me if you like, the fact is, there is nothing quite like opening a can of sardines to whip up a fast, delicious meal.

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Guyana’s Sonia Noel has been named the official designer of the third Annual Barbados Music Awards, deemed the musical event of the year on the island and set for January 27.

The year 2008 may have just begun, but already persons are making plans for events for 2009 as is the case with the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, who has set up a special committee to plan and execute a Miss Tourism Amazon pageant billed for next year.

The American musical Singin’ in the Rain is the choice for next week’s ‘Classic Tuesdays’ at the National Gallery, Castellani House Co-directed in 1952 by Stanley Donen and dancer Gene Kelly, Singin’ in the Rain opens the 2008 season of ‘Classic Tuesdays’ on January 8 at 6 pm, a release from Castellani House said.

Two members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) who were held in connection with a missing AK-47 have alleged they were tortured and beaten by members of a military unit but the army yesterday said it was unaware of any physical abuse and was committed to probing such reports.

The AFC says it is being forced to withdraw from mounting scrutineers for the house-to-house registration exercise and blames the elections commission for ignoring a court order which instructed it to allocate monies equitably to the parties to offset scrutineering expenses.

Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle yesterday granted bail to two police constables accused of taking a quantity of US currency from a man after ordering him into their vehicle and driving him to another location.

A Guyanese man was on Thursday given three life sentences in Boston after being convicted of three rapes – two of which were committed on two minors – but will spend 30 years behind bars as two of the sentences will run concurrently.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the University of Guyana (UG) yesterday signed an MOU that seeks to formalise and expand agriculture development.

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is to restructure its tariff system, which may lead to a possible increase in rates, but Water Minister Harrinarine Nawbatt said the increase in tariffs by the power company would in no way be responsible for this.

Education Minister Shaik Baksh is proposing a nationwide literacy programme in schools this year that involves classes being extended in the afternoons and on weekends and holidays, in an effort to improve the quality of education locally.

A 25-year-old Robb Street bartender has been hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation after he was shot in the hand during a fight late Thursday night and up to yesterday police were still looking for the shooter.

Conservation International Guyana (CIG) says it expects to enhance its role in safeguarding Guyana’s natural heritage with its appointment of Dr David Singh as its executive director.

Guyana’s honorary consul in Barbados is urging all Guyanese nationals on the electors list to vote in the January 15 national elections.

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has approved the power company’s application to increase tariffs, while chastising it for being “unreasonable and unfair” to announce the hike without giving adequate notice to consumers.

Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, on Monday refused to pronounce publicly on the rum shop brawl between his Cabinet colleague, Kellawan Lall, and a teenager at an East Coast Demerara bar back in November, saying his position on the issue was ventilated internally.

The Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO) said despite achievements last year the country faced many challenges and it hopes that 2008 will bring many new triumphs.

The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) said its First Vice President, James Gregory Jodhan, died recently after a brief illness.