Daily Archive: Friday, October 12, 2018

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday commissioned a new $117M two-storey Mackenzie Police Station, which will also serve as the headquarters of ‘E’ Division, Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice.

(Trinidad Express) Police killed three robbers on Friday. The three were allegedly among a gang of four men suspected of hijacking a cigarette salesman at Todd’s Road, Caparo and robbing him of $80,000 in cigarettes.

Sittings of Parliament will resume on Thursday following the end of the annual recess and President David Granger will deliver an address.

The High Commission of Canada and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador are working with the Government of Guyana through GOINVEST to bring a Canadian oil and gas trade mission of approximately 50 persons from the province’s offshore oil and gas industry here from October 15th – 18th, 2018.

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is advising the public that asphaltic concrete paving operations for the East Coast Demerara Public Road Widening and Improvement Project – Better Hope to Belfield Village will begin on Tuesday, October 16, 2018.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) today struck a deal on a three-year agreement on wage increases for the country’s teachers, thereby averting another nationwide strike.

(Trinidad Guardian) Vindicated.  That’s how Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress MP Roodal Mooni­lal said he felt yes­ter­day af­ter he claimed sev­er­al “pieces of the puz­zle start­ed com­ing to­geth­er” con­cern­ing the re­cent al­le­ga­tions he’s made against Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley.

(Jamaica Observer) MARRIAGE licence fees are to be increased in line with charges in other jurisdictions, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has announced.

(TRINIDAD GUARDIAN) Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 500 po­lice of­fi­cers in the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) are cur­rent­ly on sus­pen­sion and sick leave.

Although saying it is expected that “some party work” will be done during government outreaches, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday accused the APNU+AFC administration of indulging in “beyond obscene” level spending to carry out such activities.

The police are now tasked with investigating the allegation that the Alliance For Change (AFC) fraudulently procured the names of residents listed as backers of its candidates for the upcoming Local Government Elections in the Whim/Bloomfield Neighbourhood Democratic Council area.

A Trinidadian national became Guyana’s latest road fatality victim after being struck down on the Industry, East Coast Demerara (ECD) Public Road on Wednesday afternoon.

Security guard Eon Archibald was yesterday morning sentenced to five years behind bars for chopping a man whom he had accused of having an affair with his wife.

The Police in Berbice have arrested a man who they believe may have been responsible for the abduction and rape of a Corentyne teenager after a home invasion on Sunday night.

The request for $3 billion for the conduct of a national house-to-house registration in the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Secretariat’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year “is a cause for worry,” says Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo. 

While declining to discuss the circumstances that led to the recent dismissal of the fraud case against two former Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) members, Special Prosecutor Lawrence Harris yesterday hinted at the possibility of an appeal being filed by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).

HYDERABAD, India, (Reuters) – West Indies, boosted by the return of regular captain Jason Holder and fast bowler Kemar Roach, have a plan for young India opener Prithvi Shaw in the second and final test in Hyderabad, all-rounder Roston Chase said yesterday.

Following complaints to police by former Head of the Alesie Group of Companies Dr Turhane Doerga and others, the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the Panama rice deal and its rejected shipment.

Government is working to put in place all legislative and institutional frameworks necessary for the burgeoning oil and gas sector, according to Business Minister Gaskin, who has cautioned that it is the private sector which is at risk of being ill-prepared for the changing business climate.

The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) Junior National Indoor Hockey Championships continued last evening at the National Gymnasium with a number of entertaining matches.

A Canada-based Guyanese has donated more than 100 computers and books to half a dozen educational intuitions, which include schools in regions Two and Six and the University of Guyana.

The approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by councillors of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) now paves the way for vendors from the Stabroek Market wharf to commence construction of their stalls at Russell Square.

TAROUBA, Trinidad, CMC – Guyana Jaguars defeated the Windward Islands Volcanoes by 93 runs in their Group A match in the Regional Super50 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy here last night.

Kobras handed Plaisance Guardians their first loss in the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) League Championship, defeating the East Coast Demerara side 74-67 in their 1st Division clash on Wednesday.

At Monday’s statutory meeting of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), it was disclosed that the city’s Solid Waste Department is looking to introduce a 24-hour garbage collection system within the commercial district of the city.

Team Family, Dream Team, Hard-ball and Church Boys secured lopsided wins, when the GT Beer-sponsored ‘Ballerz Entertainment’ Soft Shoe Football Championship continued on Sunday.

While the recently announced ‘new rules’ setting out conditionalities for the importation of drugs into Guyana, including the stipulation that the labels be printed in English may be well-intentioned, they are likely to have very little effect unless the Government Analyst-Food & Drug Department (GAFDD) is given “both the authority and the tools” to ensure that the news rules are “rigidly enforced, an experienced local Hospital Administrator has told the Stabroek Business.

Bikers get ready! The most lucrative one-day cycling event on the racing calendar will pedal off this Sunday on Homestretch Avenue.

With just over three weeks to show time, the ‘Stage of Champions’ is picking up steam, adding Subs and Salads and Life’s Gym to the list of sponsors for the bodybuilding event.

The capital’s two biggest waste disposal companies, Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers appear poised to take steps to press City Hall into making good on payments due to the two companies for services provided earlier this year, the debt now having reached a figure well in excess of $150 million dollars since government’s intervention last year to liquidate the more than $300 million owing to the two companies up to that time.

Feedback from the public on the draft mining policy is being urged by Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman and the crafters of the document, who believe that ample civic engagement and input is needed before it is finalised.

Some 200 persons benefitted from free eye tests and sensitisation sessions hosted by Eye Clinic at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday in observance of World Sight Day.

The Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club’s (GMR&SC) ‘Ignite’ National Championship is set for November 10th and 11th at the South Dakota Circuit.

Dear Editor, One continues to be concerned about the non-technical approach of the contending parties towards addressing the salary structure in which teachers are bound.

STEM Guyana and its partners have launched a nationwide Reading and Robotics programme in order encourage students   to   read   more,   while creating   opportunities   for   them   to   learn   about   robotics,   coding   and   Mathematics, and Chairperson of STEM Guyana Karen Abrams has said that support from the diaspora and the business community will be critical for its success. 

President David Granger on Wednesday received the “Jungle Warrior Machete” from the Brazilian Army’s Jungle Warfare Training Centre (CIGS).

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – USA Cricket’s spinning duo of Nosthusha Kenjige and Timil Patel bamboozled the Leeward Islands Hurricanes’ batsmen to record a shock victory in their Regional Super50 contest at Kensington Oval on Wednesday.

If you look hard enough and for all the ‘tough times’ associated with doing business in Linden there are still a number of micro and small businesses run by proprietors who simply refuse to ‘throw in the towel.’

Rabi Hemraj, the Kitty resident who sustained burns about his body during a gas bottle explosion at his Railway Line, Kitty home during last month, remains hospitalized, while his wife has since been discharged.

MUMBAI, India, CMC – Once he is physically fit and willing, West Indies’ skipper Jason Holder wants Chris Gayle in the regional squad for next year’s World Cup.

Dear Editor, There is a disturbing comment attributed to President David Granger in the article headlined, “Union’s concerns for joint review – Granger ‘astonished’ at new matters raised” (SN, 11/10/2018). 

The planned inaugural Green Guyana Expo and International Small Business Summit is being touted as a demonstration of Guyana’s plan to promote economic diversification using oil revenues.

(Reuters) – Usman Khawaja batted bravely for nearly nine hours to make 141 and help Australia salvage a draw in the first test against Pakistan in Dubai yesterday. 

In 2015, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) data for 2011–2014 showed that non-traditional exports averaged 0.6% of all Guyana’s exports.

(Prepared by the Guyana Marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek Business as a public service)The New Guyana Marketing Corporation has agreed to provide us with the above information which we will publish on a weekly basis subject to receipt.

  Dear Editor, Parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, including Guyana, have committed to reaching “net zero emissions” of CO2 by 2050.

A 27-year-old Venezuelan national will be spending the next two years in prison after admitting to charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

(Reuters) – Hurricane Michael’s violence was visible yesterday in shattered Florida coastal towns, where rows of homes were ripped from foundations and roofs were peeled off schools by the near-record-force storm blamed for six deaths.

Dear Editor,  With a CoI in progress, is it prudent and wise for the City Administrator at the centre of several allegations to be speaking on media broadcasts? 

At Moco Moco village in Region Nine, Central Rupununi opportunities for sustainable employment are few and far between.

(Reuters) Rapper Kanye West, with a stream of consciousness speech in the Oval Office and a burst of profanity, defended his support for President Donald Trump yesterday, to the great delight of Trump himself.

The attorney for Matthew Munroe, who is charged with murdering school teacher Kescia Branche, yesterday presented written submissions in response to the case presented against his client at the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the charge.

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has not paid referees their officiating fees for the entirety of Elite League Season III which concluded on September 23rd, as well as for several matches in Season II.

Andrew Glasgow, the 24-year-old motorcyclist who allegedly struck down and killed pedestrian Orin Roberts on Sunday afternoon at the junction of Princes and John streets, Georgetown, remains in a critical state.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies Twenty20 captain Carlos Brathwaite warmed up for next month’s tour of India with a scintillating Man-of-the-Match all-round performance as Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners stunned Barbados Pride by seven wickets here Wednesday.

Dear Editor, I learn that the government is planning to take serious aim at alcohol.

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said yesterday that he saw no reason to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, possibly setting up a clash with the U.S.

Introduction In an advertisement appearing in the national media yesterday, the Ministry of Natural Resources, on its own behalf and that of the Government of Guyana, invited expressions of interest by Consultants desirous of providing services to the Project Execution Unit, presumably of the Ministry, to “conduct an audit of the Recoverable Contract Costs as called for in the signed Production Sharing Contract(s).”

An autopsy revealed yesterday that Number 69 Village, Corentyne block maker Mahendra Sooknanan, who was fatally stabbed over two dozen times on Sunday evening by a friend, died from shock and hemorrhaging due to multiple incised wounds.

(Reuters) – Brazil’s presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro would tackle chronic energy shortages by expanding nuclear and hydroelectric power in the Amazon despite environmental concerns, the adviser overseeing his infrastructure plans told Reuters.

Concerning the GNBA and NFMU No. It’ll be appropriate for me to “boast” that I was first to “advise” that the imminent Local Government Elections (LGE) would generate robust, even rancorous divisive contention for the rest of the year.

Dear Editor, It did not escape the attention of the GAWU that Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, in the October 6 Kaieteur News, said “…come the 18th of October when Parliament reconvenes, a Supplementary Paper with the severance balance payment which I believe is $2.41B will be on that paper.” 

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 794’s trading results showed consideration of $10,293,428 from 141,832 shares traded in 17 transactions as compared to session 793’s trading results which showed consideration of $32,677,425 from 213,163 shares traded in 12 transactions.

Against the backdrop of the frustrating ‘on-off’ relationship that has obtained between government and the private sector for many years, one has every right to wonder aloud as to precisely how we should interpret the recent media release from the Private Sector Commission (PSC) arising out of its meeting with President David Granger.

The state of Guyana’s network of roads and streets leaves much to be desired.

(Reuters) – Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant could make his one-day international debut for India after he was picked in their 14-man squad for the first two matches against West Indies, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said yesterday.