Daily Archive: Friday, January 9, 2009

Opposition boycotts debate The government yesterday moved ahead with a controversial amendment to the trade union laws, which was passed in the House despite concerns about its legality.

Money collected  for the dead Fourteen employees of the pension department of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Brickdam office were yesterday sent home as investigations intensify into the discovery of a fraud in that department.

PNCR leader Robert Corbin has called the appointment of new Police Commissioner Henry Greene “unconstitutional,” saying that he was not consulted by the President.

The National Assembly last night passed a bill that will see the establishment of a Childcare and Protection Agency that will oversee care facilities for vulnerable children, as well as supervise homes and closely monitor adoptions.

Broadcaster Anthony Vieira tendered his resignation as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the main opposition PNCR-1G, but hastily withdrew it after being convinced to stay on by party leader Robert Corbin.

A heated argument over a house resulted in a Lusignan carpenter being shot by a businessman yesterday afternoon.

More areas under threat As the rain continues so has the flooding, with the Mahaica Creek experiencing a rise of about one inch yesterday and water beginning to pour into the villages of Little Biaboo and Handsome Tree.

Police arrested a man yesterday afternoon who was wanted pending investigations into the attempted murder of his girlfriend.

Slams PUC for `bias’ The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) says its promotions battle with DIGICEL is being contested on an uneven playing field and that the Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) showed bias against GT&T.

Reverend Kwame Gilbert and Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo were sworn in as PPP/C parliamentarians when the National Assembly convened yesterday, occupying two seats that had become vacant at the beginning of the year.

Local distributors also setting up outlets in Suriname, T&T A new multi-million dollar shopping mall is to be built in Georgetown later this year to serve exclusively as a distribution outlet for the internationally famous Hanes line of apparel.

None of the various predictions about the likely performance of the Guyana economy in 2009 has failed to sound a note of extreme caution.

A 40-year-old vendor yesterday appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson to answer to the charge of simple larceny.

Dear Editor, Recently, three prominent legal personalities in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have referred to the need for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to be adopted by all the member states as Caricom’s final Court of Appeal – a step only Barbados and Guyana have so far taken.

Heavy rain in December led to flooding in Canals Number One and Two polders over the past weeks but the water drained off last week and earlier this week but farmers have reported that they have lost crops.

A city businessman has issued a call to the local business community to create “more structured arrangements” for supporting worthwhile charitable causes including institutions, families and individuals in need since, he says, these can actually redound to the benefit of the business community as a whole.

Farmers of flood-affected areas will not be receiving any cash but rather will be benefitting from other forms of assistance, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud stated yesterday.

A West Berbice man was remanded to prison when he appeared before Magistrate Tejnarine Ramroop at the Blairmont Court on Monday to answer charges of three counts of attempted murder.

Dear Editor, The madness on our roads continues. Traffic lights, road signs, etc, in the minds of many drivers, are mere decorations which have no real meaning.

Residents of Bush Lot Railway Embankment, West Coast Berbice say their main access dam at First Street is almost impassable and that their vehicles have been marooned since the rainy season started in December.

Senior Vice President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Clinton Urling has told Stabroek Business that the importance of the Guyanese diaspora to the country’s development may well warrant the establishment of a state institution, “perhaps, even at the level of a Ministry,” to administer relations with the overseas-based Guyanese community.

Dear Editor, The appointment through the agency of the Police Service Commission, of Mr Steve Merai, a newsmaker of sorts, of undisclosed whereabouts, as Assistant Commissioner of Police is an act of open provocation.

Dear Editor, I wish to respond to your news article, ‘PNCR infighting ruined political cooperation – Jagdeo,’ (January 8), in which the President reportedly said on Wednesday, that an initiative to improve cooperation between the political parties unravelled because of infighting within the main opposition party.

– liquidator mulls move to court Nizam Ali and Company, liquidators of Globe Trust and Investment Company Limited (GTICL) has said that debtors need to pay up and or “come in and say something”, as the push towards an earlier liquidation intensifies.

President Bharrat Jagdeo says Guyana condemns absolutely the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians which seem to be a form of sanctioned genocide.

A sno-cone vendor accused of murder walked out of court a free man after Magistrate Krishndat Persaud upheld no-case submissions by attorney-at-law, Kim Kyte-John at the New Amsterdam (NA) court recently.

It’s the battle of the also rans, the lowly-rated, the cellar dwellers and there might be a host of other similar phrases that can aptly describe today’s game between Guyana and the Windward Islands.

-Persaud Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud says work is being done on the Cunha Canal to boost drainage from the flood-inducing East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) and several distinguished engineers have been enlisted to advise on a range of issues.

Republic Bank has appointed Keith Johnson managing director of its Grenada branch following a banking career of just over three decades at its offices.

Dear Editor, Technology has opened windows of information to us some of us, which at times could be considered graphic and at others useful.

Residents crowded the kerosene pump at this Victoria Gas Station yesterday afternoon.

At the Fort Wellington Court yesterday, Magistrate Tejnarine Ramroop granted pre-trial liberty in the sum of $150,000 to the driver who reportedly caused the death of a 15-year-old pedal cyclist.

– 2,600 state-of-the-art homes for Friendship Mews, Sara Johanna GardensTwo ultra-modern, gated communities being set up on the East Bank Demerara and slated for completion in three years’ time will boost local housing with the addition of 2,600 more homes.

THE West Indies will turn to the ever reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul in an effort to solve their chronic opening partnership problem in the fourth ODI against New Zealand at Eden Park here tomorrow (tonight east Caribbean time).

A Guyanese man, who reportedly shot a man dead last Saturday in the US, was apprehended by law enforcement authorities at Miami airport as he attempted to board a plane to Guyana.

Dear Editor, The Guyana Chronicle of Wednesday, January 7, 2009 (‘Guyana condemns atrocities perpetrated against Palestinians – President Jagdeo’) carries the unfortunate comments of Guyana’s beleaguered President on the Gaza situation, noticeable in its carelessness and misrepresentation for the outrageous comments that Israel’s strong military response to years of day-by-day, unprovoked, Gazan missile-fire is somehow tantamount to “sanctioned genocide.”

In the preface to his magisterial account of the formation of the modern Middle East, Robert Fisk observes that when the “war to end all wars” was over in less than two years “the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies [and] they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East.”

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 285’s trading results showed consideration of $711,412 from 45,992 shares traded in 7 transactions as compared to session 284 which showed consideration $4,418,281 from 313,883 shares traded in 14 transactions. 

A 78-year-old pensioner yesterday pleaded not guilty to the charge of unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to a building when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson.

Dear Editor, Since this new Israeli massacre of the Palestinians has started I have watched BBC, CNN, Fox News and other reporters interview Israeli leaders and sympathizers and all I hear is that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

The Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) plans to stage six cards this year, president of the association Affeeze Khan has disclosed.

Mashramani 2009 survives CARIFESTA 10 – And the other side of entertainment Naturally, it had and has to.

No decision has been taken on new cabinet appointments, President Bharrat Jagdeo said on Wednesday though there will shortly be another vacancy with the impending retirement of the attorney general.

Anti-cramp jacket: This donkey at Victoria was given a plastic wrap yesterday to keep him warm and dry amid the heavy rainfall and flooding.