Environment
Hess to buy US$750m in Guyana’s carbon credits over 10 years, 15% of monies to go to Indigenous communities: Hess Corporation, one of the partners in Guyana’s lucrative offshore oil block, on Friday inked an agreement for the purchase of US$750m of this country’s carbon credits over 10 years and 15% of the monies will go to Indigenous communities. The Hess purchase followed an announcement on Thursday by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) of the issuance of over 33 million carbon credits to this country. Hess will purchase the first 30 per cent of that amount for a minimum of US$750 million over a ten-year period. However, while the agreement period between the two partners is from 2022 to 2032, government says that it was able to negotiate a ‘legacy credit’ amount of 12.5 million credits at US$15 per tonne, thus receiving a US$187 million sum for the period 2016 to 2020. In two weeks, US$75 million of that amount will be deposited into the account and the remainder paid within 18 months.
Historic issue of 33m carbon credits to Guyana: The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) last Thursday issued Guyana over 33 million carbon credits. The credits, which were accumulated during the five-year 2016 to 2020 period, are certified based on ART’s standard for measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification, The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard, known as TREES. In a statement announcing the decision, the Arlington, Virginia, US-based ART said the issuance of the credits marks a milestone as it is the first time a country has been issued carbon credits specifically designed for the voluntary and compliance carbon markets for successfully preventing forest loss and degradation – a process known as jurisdictional REDD+. However, critics have already raised concerns over such agreements and what they mean for Indigenous communities, which may not directly benefit from the control and sale of carbon credits from the forest within the boundaries of their titled lands. ART said the approval of 33.47 million TREES credits was granted to Guyana following completion of an independent validation and verification process and approval by the ART Board of Directors. Guyana’s TREES credits are also the first market-ready credits issued to a jurisdiction classified as “High Forest, Low Deforestation” (HFLD), the statement said, explaining that this has high forest cover and low historical rates of deforestation. Carbon markets have historically focused predominantly on areas that have already experienced high rates of deforestation. This is now starting to change with the first TREES credits issued to Guyana.
Commerce
House passes new Hire Purchase Bill: Opposition members last Thursday registered strong objections to the Hire Purchase Bill citing the absence of crucial safeguards for the protection of consumers but this did not stop its passage. Government members in rebuttal brushed aside their objections and told the National Assembly that the bill, once enacted, will be a win for both seller and purchaser. After hours of heated debate from members of both sides of the House mainly in support, as well as calls for amendments, the bill was passed. The opposition abstained from voting on the bill. Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond, who presented the bill for second reading, said the long overdue legislation will provide a statutory framework to govern contracts between buyers and sellers under conditional sale arrangements. The Hire Purchase Bill, once enacted, makes provision for the regulation of hire purchases, credit sales, and conditional sale agreements. The four-part Bill now makes it illegal for sellers or their agents to forcibly enter any premises to seize goods. It also compels the sellers to allow the buyer the right to determine the hire-purchase agreement or conditional sale agreement and prevents sellers from absolving themselves of liability in cases where any person acting on their behalf in connection with the formation or conclusion of the agreement is found in default.
In the courts:
APNU scrutineer mounts legal challenge to GECOM’s method of compiling voters’ list: A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith Joseph has moved to the High Court for an urgent hearing challenging the Guyana Elections Commission’s method used in compiling the voters’ list to be used in the March 13 Local Government Elections (LGE). The fixed date application, which was filed on Friday by her attorney Roysdale Forde, is seeking 21 declarations from the High Court. The Guyana Election Commission (GECOM), the Chief Election Officer, the Commissioner of Registration, and the Attorney General, are listed as respondents in the affidavit in support of the application and a further affidavit. Joseph is asking the court among other things to declare that GECOM acted unlawfully in not compiling the Preliminary List of Voters for Local Government Elections in accordance with the Local Authorities Act and the Chief Election Officer and/or the Commissioner of National Registration’s action of extracting a List of Electors pursuant to GECOM’s order was unlawfully prepared pursuant to Section 5 (6) of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act. The Chief Scrutineer is arguing that GECOM, in its preparation of the current voters list did not act in accordance with the law and the constitution mandate. Through this claim she is alleging that the registration of electors was not done as the act outlines. “The process employed by the Commission to prepare a Register of Voters for use at the next Local Government Elections has deprived the Electors and or voters of the opportunity to object to persons on the Register of Voters in the manner provided for in and contemplated by Local Authorities (Elections) Act Cap. 28:03,” one of the grounds on which she is arguing the case states.
IDPADA-G moves to court to recover $8M monthly subvention: The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) has moved to the courts over the Government’s refusal to pay its $8 million monthly subvention. The body is seeking an order mandamus directing the Minister of Finance to immediately pay to it, the sum that the Government has committed to. This move by the organisation comes months after the Government abruptly stopped the monthly payment forcing it among others things, to send staff members home and discontinue some of its activities. According to IDPADA-G’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, a fixed-date application has been filed and this allows for an expedited hearing of the case.
Billion-dollar battle over bridge damage rumbles on: Three employees of the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) have been sent on leave to enable a probe of how the ship that slammed into it last month departed without official notification. The attorney for the ship, the MV Tradewind Passion however told Stabroek News that an action on behalf of the government to stall the departure of the ship had failed in court and there had been no impediment to its departure. The departure is seen as a major embarrassment to the government, which has said that the ship caused $1 billion in damage. No money has yet been paid over but the court has accepted the lodging of a Letter of Undertaking to the value of $247.4 million. This would ostensibly be paid over if court action by the government against the ship owner succeeds. Kamal Ramkarran, the attorney for the ship’s owner, Canama Trading told Stabroek News that the vessel was finally released by the court on November 19 but that there was an appeal of that decision by the DHB and Andy Duke, the bridge employee who was injured in the collision. “The appeals and application for a stay were heard on 21 November in the Full Court and the Chief Justice [Roxane George] and Justice [Simone] Morris-Ramlall dismissed them as being completely without merit. And [they ordered] both the DHB and Andy Duke to pay $1,000,000 in costs to the vessel, each,” he added. However, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill has argued that there is still ongoing court litigation and that regulatory approvals for the vessel’s departure were not given. “There is ongoing litigation,” was all Edghill would say, noting that he did not want to transgress the sub judice rule. Nonetheless, he spoke on the probe which was initiated to ascertain how the vessel left its anchorage station and sailed off without requisite regulatory permissions. Three persons were sent home to facilitate the investigation, Edghill explained. They are the Traffic Manager who coordinates with the company and with all vessels passing in and out of the river; the Radio Operator who communicates with incoming and outgoing vessels to allow for smooth passage and the Shift Supervisor. “People who are directly responsible for the operations were sent home to allow for the investigations,” he said.
Crime
Woman, 75, stabbed to death on Princes St: Audrey Harris, a 75-year-old woman of Lot 11 Princes Street, Georgetown, was murdered on Friday morning and her “mentally ill” nephew is being sought in relation to the killing. According to a police press release, the murder was committed by Harris’ 50-year-old nephew. Investigations revealed that Harris lived with her reputed husband, Laurence Hayde, a labourer, and her nephew. At approximately 7 am on Friday, Hayde left home for work, leaving Harris and her nephew at home.
According to the suspect’s sister, Lois Byass, at around 9 am, she was on her way to work when she received a phone call from Harris’ neighbour stating that she had heard Harris screaming. Byass said she rushed to the scene and on arrival, observed her aunt lying motionless on the ground in her yard at the side of the house in a pool of blood. She immediately reported the matter to the police. Further investigation revealed that the suspect and Harris had an argument because she had wanted him to leave the house and he refused. Information gathered, disclosed that the suspect is mentally ill, and during the argument the suspect, armed with a knife, dealt the victim two stabs on both sides of her neck. At the time also, Harris was armed with a hammer. After being stabbed, she fell to the ground while her nephew was seen running out of the yard.
Bushlot woman, 85, stabbed to death on birthday, niece charged: A Bushlot, West Coast Berbice woman was remanded to prison on Friday over the murder of her 85-year-old great aunt. Roshanie Basdeo, also known as ‘Mala’, 35, of Lot 84 D Bushlot Village appeared at the Weldaad Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Peter Hugh where the charge of murder was read to her. The charge says that on Monday, November 28, at Lot 131 Section B Bushlot Village, Basdeo murdered Sumintra Sawh. The unrepresented woman was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was remanded to prison. The body of Sawh, also known as “Aunty Betty”, of Lot 131 Section ‘B’ Bushlot Village was found on her bed with stab wounds – one on both sides of her temple, three on the forehead, and one to the back of the head on Monday morning – the day she would have celebrated her birthday. According to a post-mortem examination, the woman sustained a total of seven stab wounds. Sawh resided alone following the death of her husband a few years ago. However, her great niece, Basdeo, 35, who she regarded as her granddaughter, would spend the evenings with her. Initially, Basdeo had claimed that the kitchen door located in the lower flat was left open and two men entered and carried out a robbery. She had claimed, one took her downstairs and tied her up while the second went upstairs where he killed Sawh and robbed her of $350,000 cash and personal documents.
Charity woman stabbed to death, granddaughter held: The police reported the murder of Angelica Agatha Gamell, a 75-year-old of Lot 168 Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast, which occurred at about 4 am at her address last Sunday morning. Her granddaughter, 21, is in custody. Police enquiries disclosed that while the now deceased woman lived alone, she was visited on the evening of November 26 by her granddaughter, who is the murder suspect, along with her one-month-old baby. At about 4 am last Sunday, one of Gamell’s neighbours told investigators that she heard loud screams, trampling and the crying of a baby coming from the home of the now deceased woman which lasted for about fifteen minutes. The suspect then knocked at the door of the neighbour, who opened her door and saw the suspect with a baby, naked in her hands. The woman told the neighbour that the baby had just died and attempted to hand the baby over to the neighbour, who refused to take her. The police say that the suspect then walked out of the yard onto the street with her baby. Gamell was found with suspected blood stains lying face up on a floor mat in the kitchen. The body was examined and one large wound was seen behind the neck and one to the right side of the temple. Two large wounds were seen on the back of the elderly woman’s head. A pair of scissors with what appeared to be blood stains was found on top of a gas stove. A broken glass jar was found on the floor next to the body and cooking salt was seen scattered on the floor. The suspect, who has since been admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital psychiatric ward, was later arrested. The baby who she had with her at the time seemed to be in good health, the police said. The baby was handed over to a family member.
Woman murdered at Hill Foot, husband held: Swift action by lawmen on Friday led to the apprehension of a man after he brutally murdered his common-law wife at Hill Foot, Linden/Soesdyke Highway. The man, who is currently in police custody for murdering 42-year-old Omadai Lall, called ‘Samantha’, was arrested in the vicinity of the Diamond Diagnostic Centre on the East Bank Demerara. Police Commander, Superintendent Mahendra Singh, of Region Four ‘B’ told Stabroek News that from preliminary reports, it was ascertained that Lall had been subjected to constant domestic abuse.
Travel
Talks on visa-free travel to Canada occurring: Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Mark Berman last week disclosed that discussions for visa-free travel for Guyanese to Canada have been taking place. The High Commissioner also disclosed that there have been ongoing conversations with major Canadian airlines to operate on the Guyana-Canada route. Even as he noted that there has been no decision, Berman, speaking on the sidelines of a welcome reception for a Canadian trade delegation here, said the issue of visa-free travel has been discussed with the relevant authority in Ottawa, Canada. He said that the Government of Guyana has also indicated that it is interested in having that discussion with the Government of Canada. According to Berman, “it is something we are looking at and we will make a decision.” Berman explained that his office has been making the case to attract Canadian carriers on the route.
Manufacturing
Mottley stresses development of non-oil sectors: Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley last week made a pitch to this country’s manufacturing sector to involve the entire CARICOM community and she underscored the importance of diversifying away from the oil economy. The Barbados PM made these remarks as the featured guest speaker at the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) dinner and awards ceremony at the Ramada Princess at which she spoke virtually. She exhorted the attendees, “May you use this milestone moment to reflect and where necessary to reset and retool, to further elevate your organization, your country, and indeed our region. I say our region because I truly believe the time is right for a more strategic and collaborative approach on the socio-economic development of the Caribbean.” And even as she expressed regret at not being able to attend the event in person, Mottley underscored that this country’s manufacturing sector, and by extension its private sector and people, can count on her and her country as partners to make the collaboration she explored, a reality.
