Daily Archive: Thursday, February 23, 2017

The following is a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Georgetown.

Five mobile pumps will be coming for Georgetown under a US$4m deal with India and regions 2, 3, 5 and 6 will also benefit.

Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence last night invoked the multi-racial spirit of the ancestors of Guyanese as inspiration for future national development of the 47-year old Republic, a release from her ministry said.

This entry in the Mash parade today seems to be a riff on the controversial parking meters.

One of the Mashramani contingents preparing to set off from Main Street after today’s late start due to rain.

PUNE, India, (Reuters) – Paceman Umesh Yadav claimed four wickets on a pitch that offered big turn to help India restrict Australia to 256 for nine after the touring side had made a solid start on the opening day of the four-match series on Thursday.

(Trinidad Guardian) White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders has confirmed to the New York Times that US President Donald Trump spoke to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Sunday about “terrorism and other security challenges, including foreign fighters.”

Rain made it a bleak start to Mashramani today. On a day when hundreds would be out and about preparing floats for today’s procession, persistent rain from early this morning – accompanied by thunder and lightning –  has caused flooding in some places and could affect the readiness of some floats.

The Guyana Court of Appeal by a majority decision yesterday upheld the ruling made in 2015 by former Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang that the two-term presidential limit is unconstitutional and the matter will now be taken to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

A man was burnt to death in his son’s house early yesterday morning at Timehri.

Irish telecoms company, Digicel will cut over 1500 jobs in a restructuring that will likely have an impact on operations here and across the Caribbean.

Although threatened by showers, the rain ceased just minutes before 12pm yesterday as the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) held another midday protest aimed at keeping the pressure on City Hall for a revocation of the contract.

Dear Editor, It has been brought to the attention of the Mayor and City Council that a section of the media has been falsely reporting a statement made by the Mayor of Georgetown, Madam Patricia Chase-Green.

In observance of the 47th Anniversary of the Republic, President David Granger has pardoned nine women prisoners.

JOHN’S, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board has advised that Nkrumah Bonner and Jason Holder were fined, and Kraigg Brathwaite was reprimanded for separate breaches of the Code of Conduct during the Regional Super50 Tournament.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Uncapped Akeira Peters and Shawnisha Hector have been named in a 20-member training squad to prepare for the Women’s Cricket World Cup in June.

Dear Editor, I have no intention of joining the two parliamentarians in the debate that is taking place about the successor company, Power Producer and Distribution, Inc (PPDI) to the Wärtsilä contract, but now that we have been informed that the shareholders of PPDI will be the Govern-ment of Guyana via a state entity I am wondering if it would be asking too much for us, the citizens, to be given some information about the financial plan for this entity, for example:How much will it cost the Treasury in 2017 to get this state company in operation?

Ranks from the Joint Services on Tuesday carried out a search at the Georgetown Prison during which a quantity of prohibited items was unearthed and the Guyana Prison Service has since recommended the dismissal of five prison officers.

President of the Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (PTWU), Harold Shepherd says they are prepared to use all industrial relations avenues, and to even seek legal recourse to address the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (GTT’s) decision to start laying off employees.

Dear Editor, While I admit that I am not well versed in the origin and present day significance of masquerade, I have seen and interacted with the masqueraders on the streets of George-town over the years.

NAGPUR, India, CMC – Bermudian Delray Rawlins narrowly missed out on a historic 150 on the second day of the second four-day Youth “Test” between England and India here yesterday.

By Royston Alkins National middle-order batman and West Indies `A’ team player, Vishaul `Cheesy’ Singh says that he is anticipating a return to last season’s form when the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League Regional four-day tournament resumes next month when Guyana will face Jamaica in Kingston.

President David Granger  last night said that the Republic is committed to eliminating extreme poverty and eradicating inequalities.

Dear Editor, Fareed Zakaria reminded us of a quote from Alfred Montapert, which states, “Do not confuse motion and progress. 

  Armed bandits yesterday afternoon stormed the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) office on Woolford Avenue, where they held several employees at gunpoint and escaped with a quantity of valuables.

Dear Editor, It is an interesting development in a construct in which citizens have historically paid income tax, which accumulates in the government’s treasury, and then is prudently disbursed to fund various services not only to those taxpayers, but to non-taxpayers as well.

PUNE, India, (Reuters) – Australia’s cricket captain Steve Smith has admitted his inexperienced side will be the underdogs when they face the world’s top-ranked side India on their home turf but bristled at suggestions of a possible 4-0 whitewash.

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has acquired a new computerised system that can quickly and accurately collect pavement and asset data.

Dear Editor, Mr Gordon Forte’s letter to Stabroek News of February 22, captioned ‘REO has no legal power over works contract’, misleads on a number of issues.

Guyana’s winless record in the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer championships continued Tuesday when they went under to Jamaica 3-6 in their second group fixture at the Malcolm Beach Soccer Facility in The Bahamas.

A four-year sentence was yesterday handed to a Nigerian national who was fingered in an almost $3 million airplane ticket scam.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Chief selector Courtney Browne has sought to defend the controversial non-selection of Windward Islands Volcanoes stroke-maker Sunil Ambris, who was overlooked for the upcoming three-match One-Day International series against England starting next month.

Dear Editor, News that the Guyana Defence Force “is poised to receive two new planes, courtesy of the Chinese Embassy” is to be welcomed.

Saints Silencers secured two wins in the girls division while Old Fort secured a win and a draw in the boys division when the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) sanctioned Smalta U14 Indoor League commenced Friday at the St Joseph’s High School auditorium.

The Chief Magistrate yesterday ruled to have a caution statement and five oral statements made by Anand Narine, one of the men accused of killing Babita Sarjou six years ago, admitted into evidence during the continuation of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the crime.

Dear Editor,   I have known Mr Ifa Kamau Cush for many years beginning from when he first surfaced in Guyanese public consciousness in the mid-ʼ90s after he returned home and led a grass-roots movement in the African community that was responsible for restoring the 1763 monument. 

Colts clinched the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) ‘League of Champions’ Open title after defeating Ravens 60-50 to take an unbeatable two-game lead in their three-match series Tuesday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Homestretch Avenue.

Dear Editor, In 2012 I applied for a landline phone service and met a GTT official who assured me that the phone service would be made available.

  Two bands having pulled out, the final count of groups that will be participating in today’s Mashramani parade stands at 21, with 11 of those being from the Ministries and public sector floats, four belonging to the regions and six to the private sector.

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration yesterday revoked landmark guidance to public schools letting transgender students use the bathroom of their choice, reversing a signature initiative of former Democratic President Barack Obama.

Childlink and the Justice Institute of Guyana are calling on the Guyana Police Force to ensure that all music is kept below 85 decibels during the Mashramani celebrations.

Following the first leg of the Burnham Memorial Three-Stage event on Sunday, the nation’s top riders will return to Berbice today to do battle in the ‘Courts Mashramani’ road race.

Dear Editor,   Even a cursory look at ongoing developments makes it clear that no lessons are learned from prior mistakes, prior times, and prior regimes. 

Dear Editor,   The Mayor has indicated that she will move forward with this parking meter project, which will see the profits leaving the shores of Guyana.

Million-dollar bids were opened on Tuesday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for the construction of Fire Stations at Mabaruma, Lethem and Mahdia under the Ministry of Public Security.

CANNON BALL, N.D., (Reuters) – Several dozen demonstrators, the last holdouts from a mass protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, faced off against riot police yesterday as they defied a deadline to end their months-long occupation of an encampment on federal land.

(Reuters) – Trent Boult took the prized wicket of AB de Villiers then bowled Dwaine Pretorious in the penultimate over as New Zealand secured a series-levelling six-run victory in the second one-day international against South Africa yesterday.

The Chetwynd Learning Centre, dedicated to the preservation of ideas of the late President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, was declared open by President David Granger on Monday.

Dear Editor, There is a feeling among people not living, working or visiting Georgetown that the high costs associated with the parking meters will not affect them.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuban President Raul Castro made it clear to a visiting U.S.

PUNE, India,(Reuters) – Australia paceman Mitchell Starc has raised his game to the next level and India’s batsmen need to be wary of his ability to trouble them with reverse swing, home captain Virat Kohli said on the eve of the first test beginning today.

  MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexico reacted with anger yesterday to what one official called “hostile” new U.S.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The White House has pushed back the release of a new executive order to replace its directive suspending travel to the United States by citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries, a White House official said yesterday.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – South Africa’s High Court blocked the government’s attempt to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday, the latest blow to scandal-plagued President Jacob Zuma from an assertive post-apartheid judicial system.

(Reuters) – Australia beat Sri Lanka by 41 runs in their final Twenty20 game yesterday, avoiding a whitewash in the three-match series and salvaging some pride.

The election at Bourda WHAT has the holding of free and fair elections to do with cricket at Bourda?

    Compton Caesar powering across the line to win the boys 18 years  and over 100m event at the recent Athletic Association of Guyana Age Group Trials at the Leonora Track and Field facility. 

This week in our regular Sunday feature the World Beyond Georgetown, we carried a story on Golden Fleece, a village on the Essequibo Coast, which is one with a difference.

  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” is the famous quotation used by English Catholic peer John Dalberg-Acton, Lord Acton in an 1887 letter opposing the move to promulgate the doctrine of Papal infallibility.

Dear Editor, The PPP has gotten away with a lot in Guyana, because of our collective instinct to think in binary terms ‒ us versus them.

Starve it! Part of the protest against parking meters yesterday.

The National School of Music reigned supreme on Sunday when the curtains came down on the annual Pan-O-Rama competition at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.