Daily Archive: Monday, March 24, 2014

1                                                           Introduction   1.1              Mr. Speaker, I rise to move the motion for the approval of the Estimates of the Public Sector and the Budget for the Financial Year 2014 and, in so doing, I wish to indicate that, pursuant to Article 171 Paragraph 2 of the Constitution, the Cabinet has recommended that the National Assembly proceed upon this motion.

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh today presented a $220 billion budget which will see an attempt to spend down what ails Guyana’s sugar industry, with $6 billion earmarked for that subsector. 

Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran today met with the staff of the Medex Annex at Liliendaal that was recently destroyed by fire, to discuss their relocation and to identify possible venues for temporary accommodation.

(Jamaica Observer) GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman — Contractor General Dirk Harrison is warning governments of the Caribbean, and in particular Jamaica, that failure to effectively squeeze corruption will lead to their ultimate demise.

(Jamaica Gleaner KINGSTON, Jamaica: Kern Omar Spencer, the former legislator who for more than five years has fought corruption charges related to the Cuban light bulb programme, was released from court this morning a free man.

KUALA LUMPUR, (Reuters) – The Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared over two weeks ago crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, Prime Minister Najib Razak said today.

The AFC today boycotted the reading of the 2014 budget in protest at what it said was the government’s violation of the constitutional requirement to hold meaningful consultations on the budget in line with Article 13.

The police today said that at about 1900h last night, businessman Bannsingh Guyadin, 72 years, of Maida, Corentyne, and Kissoondat Madhoo, 28 years, of Bush Lot, Corentyne, were shot and injured to their feet during an armed robbery.

CAIRO,  (Reuters) – An Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death for murder and other offences today, in a sharp escalation of a crackdown on the movement that is likely to fuel instability.

SYDNEY/PERTH,  (Reuters) – An Australian navy ship was close to finding possible debris from a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner today as a mounting number of sightings of floating objects raised hopes wreckage of the plane may soon be found.

(Trinidad Express) Minister of the People and Social Development Glenn Ramadharsingh will have to submit a report to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, detailing what transpired between him and a flight attendant on board a Caribbean Airlines flight from Tobago last weekend.

The haphazard supply of pumps and fittings from the Indian company, Surendra under an $800m contract is clear evidence that the job should not have gone to it, AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan has said.

Godfrey Pollydore out sprinted Alanzo Greaves to win the third and final leg of the Cheddi Jagan Memorial road race in a thrilling sprint finish yesterday in Essequibo, but Greaves’ +consistency enabled him to lift the overall trophy of this year’s event.

A Guyana Defence Force Private drowned on Saturday evening when the boat he and another soldier was in capsized in the New River area in the south east of the country.

Day two of the CARIFTA trials to select Guyana’s representatives at the Easter Weekend Games in Martinique came and went just as swiftly as some of the times the junior athletes recorded on the track yesterday.

Land which has been historically leased to residents is under threat from the encroachment of big businesses which are taking up government reserves along the Railway Embankment Road from Mon Repos to Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.

Guest poser of this year’s Hugh Ross Classic (HRC), IFBB Pro Jeff Beckham, is scheduled to arrive in Guyana today.

Opening batsman Bhaskar Yadram was yesterday retained as Captain for the Demerara Under-15 team ahead of the upcoming Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Limacol U15 tournament which gets underway shortly.

Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell yesterday said that the police investigation into Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh’s accident on Mashramani night has been finished and the file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)  for recommendation.

Benjamin Mekdeci claimed the category-A title while Shomari Wiltshire was crowned the category-B champion when the Kraft Junior Skill Level Tournament sponsored by Toucan Industries concluded at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street yesterday.

Reports of kickbacks to officials are being probed as the investigation into a surveying dispute involving the Santa Fe mega-farm continues and two Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) officials have been ordered to proceed on further leave.

An inspired second half team performance propelled Fruta Conquerors to a 3-1 victory over arch-rivals Sunburst Camptown when Georgetown Football Association (GFA) division one league commenced on Saturday.

By Jeff Trotman   Opposition Leader, David Granger, has accused the PPP/C administration of lacking the political will to implement strong recommendations for the contentious Anti Money Laundering and Counter-ing the Financing of Ter-rorism (AML/CFT) bill.

The Port Kaituma hospital in the north west does not have a functioning generator and nurses and doctors are forced to work under intense pressure especially in emergency situations, residents say.

CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – An explosive, maiden first-class hundred from Shacaya Thomas combined with another destructive spell from off-spinner Ryan Austin put Combined Campuses and Colleges in a superior position against Guyana in the Regional Four-Day Championship on Saturday.

The three teenaged, orphaned girls who were last year sentenced to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) after being held at the Albion Police Station on the Corentyne for 24 days, have been reunited with relatives after authorities were forced to remove them from the Canaan Home at Port Mourant.

Queen’s College mauled North Georgetown Secondary 5-0 when the round of the 16 knockout matches in the Milo/Petra Organization Schools Football tournament commenced yesterday at the Ministry of Education ground, Carifesta Avenue.

For some elderly patients, a trip to the city’s public hospital is turning into a permanent stay as they are being abandoned at the institution, which in some cases becomes their final stop.

The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) is embarking on the sixth cycle of continuous registration today and is urging all eligible persons to have in their possession the relevant supporting documents and apply to register.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The Obama administration is sending about 150 Special Forces troops along with military aircraft to Uganda to help in the search for warlord Joseph Kony, the Wash-ington Post reported yesterday.

THE HAGUE,  (Reuters) – Leaders of the G7 nations are to hold talks on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in The Hague today to consider their response to Russia annexing Crimea, amid doubts that sanctions can constrain President Vladimir Putin.

Dear Editor, The Ministry of Education (MOE) wishes to respond to an article carried in Kaieteur News Wednesday March 19, 2014 entitled: ‘Crammed classrooms concern Teachers’ Union,’ in which the General Secre-tary for the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Ms Coretta McDonald, on behalf of the union, expressed her concerns about overcrowding in classrooms throughout the public school system.

Upsets would highlight the second day of the round of 16 knockout stage as Bishops’ High defeated North Ruimveldt Secondary 4-3 on penalty kicks after normal time ended 3-3, when the Milo/Petra Organization Schools Football tournament continued yesterday Captain Nathaniel King would open the scoring for the Carmichael Street side with a 12th minute effort.

Sugar workers on the Blairmont Estate in Berbice have resumed work after striking in protest at GuySuCo’s non-payment of rates from a 2013 arbitration award but will continue industrial action if their monies are not paid, their union’s General Secretary Kenneth Joseph says.

SYDNEY,  (Reuters) – Australian authorities said yesterday they are still examining French radar images showing potential floating debris and have not yet shifted the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in the southern Indian Ocean further north to look for the objects.

Dear Editor, The PPP/C seems hell bent on blaming the opposition for their failures and their incompetence in managing our country; the failure of the sugar industry is also being blamed on the opposition, which is something only a fool will believe.

DhAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – Title-holders West Indies produced an anaemic all-round performance to crash to a seven wicket loss to India, as the defence of their World Twenty20 title hit an immediate snag here yesterday.

Newly accredited Plenipotentiary Representative of the United Kingdom to the Caribbean Community, Victoria Glynis Dean (current British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean), on Wednesday, pledged to support Caricom.

The Pepsi Hornets shut out the UG Wolves by handing them a stinging 38-nil defeat when the Bounty Farm 15s rugby tournament continued yesterday at the National Park.

Dear Editor, Note is taken of the call made  by Mr Yesu Persaud  in  Stabroek News (March15) to President Donald Ramotar, Messrs David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan to pass the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism  (AML/CFT) Bill in parliament.

Five families are now the recipients of new two-bedroom homes complete with sanitation facilities, while work continues on the remaining four being built via a partnership between Food for the Poor (FFTP) and Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited.

BERLIN,  (Reuters) – Chinese telecom and internet company Huawei defended its independence yesterday and said it would condemn any infiltration of its servers by the U.S.

Alpha United got their Caribbean Football Union (CFU) club championships campaign off to a positive start by defeating Defence Force of Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 on Friday at the Harbour View Stadium, Harbour View in Jamaica.

MADRID,  (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, who died yesterday, steered Spain through one of the most turbulent periods in its political history and built bridges between the “two Spains” after fascist dictator General Francisco Franco died in 1975.

Lakeram Raghubir, who was found guilty in January of verbally abusing a lawyer, made another appearance in court on Friday, for allegedly insulting another woman.

MIRPUR, Bangladesh, (Reuters) – A lionhearted effort by Pakistan’s bowlers powered the 2009 champions to a 16-run win over Australia in a high-scoring World Twenty20 match in Mirpur yesterday.

Dear Editor, Days before President Donald Ramotar’s beleaguered administration is set to present what threatens to be the most contentious budget in the history of the PPP’s twenty-two years in government, the ‘results’ of a clearly concocted poll appears in the Guyana Times, owned by former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s good friend Dr Bobby Ramroop, declaring that Jagdeo is by far the best PPP candidate for the next general elections. 

Tonya Haynes is a founding member of CODE RED for Gender Justice and CatchAFyah Caribbean Feminist Network.

JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Israeli diplomats launched an unprecedented strike yesterday, forcing the complete closure of embassies around the world as they escalated a dispute over pay, officials said.

Dear Editor, Corporal punishment violates human rights, physical integrity and human dignity; it leaves lasting scars on children and must be thrown out of our schools.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top state prosecutor yesterday said security forces had committed “excesses” in breaking up nearly two months of opposition protests against the government of Presi-dent Nicolas Maduro that have left at least 34 dead.

Two Thursdays ago, President Donald Ramotar held a national stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the stalemate in the passing of amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009.

The body of 39-year-old Andrew Miguel, who had toppled into the Pomeroon River on Wednesday last from the Farmers Wharf at Charity was on Saturday found by relatives.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Saying his emails are likely monitored by intelligence agencies, former President Jimmy Carter is using an old-fashioned method of communication with world leaders these days – the post office.

Dear Editor, As a patriotic Guyanese, no matter where in the world I am, I find it many times disconcerting when Guyanese who have settled in the USA keep on disparaging their country in some way. 

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – South Africa captain Faf du Plessis will undergo a fitness test before today’s World Twenty20 match against New Zealand after missing the opening game with a hamstring injury, Cricket South Africa said  yesterday.

Interviews and photos by Kenesha Fraser Given the continuing suicides, we asked people along the Essequibo Coast what more they feel needs to be done to reduce the rate of suicides.

In last Monday’s editorial `Pass this bill’ Stabroek News argued that it was time for the groups in Parliament to reach a compromise on the passage of the anti-money laundering bill as there was a growing risk of financial sanctions hitting the ordinary woman and man.

Metro Office & Computer Supplies answered the needs of the Berbice Regional Health Authority (BRHA) and the New Amsterdam Hospital (NAH) by providing two multimedia projectors and screen last week.

A section of the gathering at the Family Fun day, celebrating the life and work of Dr Cheddi Jagan on the lawns of State House today.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh (right) and staff putting the final touches to Budget 2014 at the Ministry’s Main Street office yesterday.

(Trinidad Express) Bollywood playback singer Vineet Singh was unstoppable as he performed for his local fans at “Everybody Loves Raymond–The Concert” on Saturday night.