Border controversy
ICJ rules in favour of Guyana: Recognizing the referendum which Venezuela had planned for tomorrow (December 3rd) as a seriously “urgent,” “real” and “imminent” threat to the rights which Guyana currently has to the Essequibo, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued a warning of refrain to Venezuela. “Pending a final decision in the case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela shall refrain from taking any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby the Co-operative Republic of Guyana administers and exercises control over that area,” the Netherlands-based World Court which sits at the Peace Palace in the Hague has ordered. The Court said it observes that the situation which currently prevails in the territory, is that Guyana administers and exercises control over that area; and so, pending its final decision, Venezuela must refrain from taking any action which would modify that situation. The 14-Judge panel on December 1st delivered a unanimous ruling in favour of Guyana which had requested provisional measures following Venezuela’s announcement of the referendum which is seen as an act of aggression intended to lay the path for annexation. The court also said unanimously that neither Venezuela nor Guyana should take any measure to aggravate conditions related to the 1899 arbitral award case currently before the court. The judge pointed out the binding nature of the order: “The Court recalls that its orders indicating provisional measures under Article 41 of the Statute have binding effect and thus create international legal obligations for any party to whom the provisional measures are addressed”. The substantive challenge over the area, regarding the merits of the controversy in the 1899 Arbitral Award of Essequibo to Guyana is currently pending before the court for determination. Reading the judgment yesterday on Guyana’s request for provisional measures, President of the court, Justice Joan E. Donoghue said that Guyana’s right currently to sovereignty over the territory in question, “is plausible.” This was the assertion made by the Court after its examination of whether Guyana had satisfied the requirements to have applied to it for provisional measures in the first place. Caracas’ contention which was outrightly rejected by the Court, was that the rights asserted by Guyana were not plausible.
US Ambassador calls on Venezuela to support current territorial sovereignty of Guyana: United States Ambassador, Nicole Theriot last week called on Venezuela to support the current territorial sovereignty of Guyana. On the sidelines of a Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association event at the Pegasus Hotel, the recently accredited ambassador was asked about Venezuelan sabre rattling against Guyana. She noted that her views regarding the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy mirror those of the US government including the position expressed by Assistant US Secretary of State Brian Nichols. “…that we support and respect the 1899 arbitral award that established the current boundaries of Guyana and we believe that those should be respected until they are determined to be different by an international body, particularly the ICJ (international Court of Justice)”, she said. “So we support the current territorial sovereignty of Guyana and we call on Venezuela to do the same”, she added. Asked what happens if Venezuela doesn’t, she said “we will cross that bridge when we come to it”. The Ambassador attended the 28th Annual awards ceremony of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) where she gave the feature address. In her statement to those in attendance, Theriot expressed that while the energy sector has been a catalyst for Guyana’s remarkable growth, investing and fostering other sectors at the same time is equally important. “Economic growth does not always result in economic diversification. It’s something that you have to make a certain effort to do,” she said. The ceremony saw a total of 18 awards being distributed to companies in Guyana that have made a significant impact on the growth of the country in various sectors. Among them were D’s Body Therapy, Energy Holdings Inc., Camille’s Academy and ExxonMobil.
Aviation
United Airlines to fly from Houston to Georgetown from April: Major US carrier United Airlines last week announced a new direct service between Houston and Guyana from April next year. This route is clearly intended to capitalise on the oil and gas traffic from Houston, Texas to Guyana. United had previously signalled interest in the Guyana route. One of United’s hubs is in Houston. In a statement, United said that from April 1 next year it will be the first airline to offer non-stop service between Houston and Georgetown, Guyana, with four times weekly service on a Boeing 737-MAX 8 aircraft. This route joins nonstop flights to more than 160 destinations from Houston, including more than 85 destinations no other carriers serve non-stop from the city – including places like Brazil, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru and more. Over the past decade, United has added more than 20 new destinations out of Houston, including to Sydney, Australia; Santiago, Chile; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Munich, Germany and more. The airline will also debut its largest-ever schedule between Houston and Florida this March, with a 25% increase in flying compared to 2023. American Airlines has been operating from Miami to Timehri and this flight has been used by oil and gas workers and executives but they first have to fly from Houston to Miami.
Investment
President eyes nearshoring jobs for 2,000 youths: President Irfaan Ali on November 24th unveiled plans to facilitate the training of 2,000 Guyanese youths in nearshoring, which he believes holds tremendous potential and has urged ExxonMobil Guyana to make these opportunities available. He made the statement during his address at the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber’s Annual Awards and Induction Ceremonial Dinner on Friday evening held at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown. President Ali identified a number of employment and training opportunities available to Guyanese and the diaspora, within the oil and gas sector. Nearshoring is a process where companies shift some production and employment from overseas to countries near its area of operations that share a market, language, or time zone. At the opening of the Agri Investment Forum & Expo in October, President Ali announced that Guyana and Canada will partner to create 3,000 innovative jobs here, especially for the younger generation as his administration is pushing towards the development of science and technology in many sectors such as agriculture and oil & gas. Against that background, the Head of State on Friday reminded that this was discussed at the inaugural Canada-Caricom Summit in October with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He said that the government will engage institutions in the oil & gas industry to offer extensive training to an initial number of 2,000 Guyanese. “In my recent visit to Canada, I was able to engage stakeholders including the Canadian Prime Minister on the importance for Guyanese to have access to these opportunities. One of the problems is that we may not have enough persons to complement that sector, and that is why we have to focus on another dimension of the oil & gas sector, which is nearshoring.” “We’re going to put our money to back our policy. That is why we are going to go with a matching grant initiative with our development partners. In total, it will be about US$10 million,” President Ali told the gathering. Highlighting the numerous job opportunities, ExxonMobil and its other consortium partners, have provided in nearshoring to many countries across the globe, President Ali said the same must be done for Guyanese youths since the oil company is operating here.
Oil & Gas
Civil society group questions audit of US$7.3b in ExxonMobil expenses: Civil society group, the Oil and Gas Guyana Network (OGGN) has raised questions about the depth of an audit of US$7.3b in ExxonMobil expenses for the years 2018 to 2020 but said that even the basic findings warrant a full-scale forensic examination being commissioned by the government. In a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News OGGN noted that the Ramdihal, Haynes, Vitality Consulting, and Eclisar Financial & Professional (RHVE) with Martindale Consulting and SGS encompassed 260,000 transactions, totaling US$7.3 billion, for the Stabroek Block for the period 2018 to 2020 and was completed in 4 months. The report is still to be finalized and has not been publicly released. How-ever, it has been seen by Stabroek News. OGGN said that the size of the audit team appeared to be about 12 people; a few members were Guyanese and it assumed that the Guyanese members had no prior experience in auditing oil & gas transactions. “It is almost impossible for such a team, in that short time period, to verify 260,000 transactions thus they sampled transactions and ignored small transactions. Where small transactions seem to be anything less than US$1,000. It appears no materiality, an accounting criteria, was formally defined by the auditing team which raises concerns about the quality of the audit. What is not clear is what percentage of the 260,000 transactions were sampled and how many fell into the bucket of too small to audit”, the group said. OGGN said that it was natural that the audit team would focus during those four months on the simpler ‘cake shop’ accounts. It noted that in a series covered by Kaieteur News, there is no mention of the ‘big ticket’ engineering items of the offshore expenses, what it takes to explore and extract the oil from ultra-deep fields. OGGN wondered if the audit team had the oil field expertise to check on the validity of ExxonMobil Guyana costings relative to the big items mentioned as cost-recoverable in Annex C of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement. “In any case, the big-ticket engineering items do need to be scrutinised with as much or more care as the go-karting and Zumba lessons have been in the recent cost-recovery audits, since the huge ticket values have a potentially great effect on the money flows to Guyana. Of course, a thorough forensic audit will cost more and take longer, but USD 214 million has already been detected, from the 1999 to 2017 IHS Markit audit, as mis-allocated. That recent audit shows the risks of not paying timely attention or having requisite technical skills. Whether the team did or did not have such expertise, for the 2018-2020 audit, clearly the time and money allowed for this sample cost-recovery audit was not enough for a thorough investigation. The findings of this limited-scale audit have easily paid for the cost of the audit.
Fire
Fire ravages sections of Corriverton market: A fire on the evening of November27th ravaged sections of the Corriverton Market in Region Six leaving vendors in dismay. The Ministry of Home Affairs last night said that the fire was electrical in nature and erupted on the south eastern side of the market at approximately 6.45 pm, causing significant damage. Upon receiving the distress call, the ministry said that Fire Tender No.101 from Corriverton and Fire Tender 110 from Rose Hall, led by Station Officer Minty and four other ranks, swiftly responded to the scene. “Their prompt action ensured the fire was contained and extinguished. Preliminary investigations reveal that the fire originated from an electric fan left plugged into the wall of one of the stalls and switched on, leading to overheating and subsequent ignition of nearby flammable materials”, a release from the ministry said. The release added that the Guyana Fire Service successfully managed to quell the flames. Two stalls were destroyed and others damaged. As of last evening, firefighters remained at the scene working, while vendors were seen relocating items from their stalls. Mayor of Corriverton, Imran Amin told Stabroek News that he received a call just around 6.30 pm and immediately engaged the fire service. He said, that after arriving at the location he noticed that one stall was on fire at the time. It is suspected that the fire started at that stall which usually sells groceries.
In the courts
Corentyne man sentenced to life for farmer’s murder:
Sunil Ally who had pleaded guilty to the 2019 murder of cash crop and poultry farmer, Deoprakash Lalbachan, also known as ‘Deo’ and ‘Williams,’ of Lot 22 Grant 1651, Crabwood Creek, was last yesterday sentenced to life in prison. Ally, 37, had entered his guilty plea at the High Court in Berbice before Justice Sandil Kissoon in late October. The state was represented by Attorney at Law, Muntaz Ali while the accused was represented by Attorney at Law, Tuanna Hardy. In February, 2019, Lalbachan, 59, was fatally stabbed during a suspected robbery at his Crabwood Creek residence. His widow, Nalinie Lalbachan had said that she was in the upper flat of her house, while her husband, a father of three, was in the lower flat when the fatal attack occurred, sometime around 10.30 pm. She stated that Deoprakash was watching television and she assumed that he had fallen asleep. However, minutes to 11 p.m., she heard him shout, “Nalinie! Come here! Them want to kill me! Them a bore me!” She said she thought her husband was having a nightmare, but after rushing downstairs, she saw that he was bleeding from his abdomen. “When me went to am, he say, ‘Them come! Them come for kill me!’ And that’s all.” The woman recounted that she placed her husband to lie on the floor and alerted other residents, who assisted her in rushing him to the Skeldon Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead. According to Nalinie, her husband, to whom she was married for 37 years, did not have any issues with anyone, and was a quiet, easygoing, kindhearted and helpful man. “I didn’t see anything missing so far but my husband usually have his money and stuff in the drawer downstairs but there is nothing…I don’t know if they went by the drawer and that where he grab them or wah,” she stated. She also noted that her husband was not able to give any details of the attack before his passing, as she found him just as he collapsed in the kitchen next to the cupboard. A police source in 2019 had told Stabroek News that they were investigating the matter as a possible robbery since several bags filled with items from a fridge were found at the rear of Lalbachan’s house. The source had said that according to their investigation, it is possible that it could have been a “kitchen thief” who was confronted and panicked. He theorized that the thief had broken into the kitchen through a window and was then confronted by Lalbachan, who was still in the kitchen at that time.
Death
‘Foremost’ Guyanese diplomat Rudy Insanally dies at 87: Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Samuel Rudolph Insanally passed away on Nivember 26th He was 87 years old. President Irfaan Ali in confirming his death last evening described him as “one of Guyana’s foremost diplomats and a distinguished international statesman. “Dr Insanally’s diplomatic acumen and leadership have earned him, deservedly, the gratitude of our nation. As Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2001 to 2008, Dr Insanally advanced Guyana’s national interest on the international stage. His was a life dedicated to diplomacy and particularly for advocating the cause of small states,” the President said in his statement. He recalled that the United Nations was Insanally’s second home. Known better as Dr Rudy Insanally, President Ali recalled that he had the honour of serving as the President of the United Nations General Assembly and was for many years Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the world’s foremost multilateral institution. “These and his tireless exertions in numerous other ambassadorial positions distinguish him as a diplomat par excellence,” the Head of State said.
Tragedy
Mother of dead Strathspey schoolboy wants justice: The mother of the Strathspey Primary pupil who died on Monday night at the Georgetown Public Hospital as a result of an incident in the school’s compound earlier that day is seeking justice for her son. Dead is 11-year-old Mark Harrypaul of Lot 4 Vigilance North, East Coast Demerara. According to the boy’s mother, Sushmita Singh, the incident occurred around 3 pm on Monday. She was informed by the school’s headmistress (HM) via telephone that another boy accidentally slammed a gate shut causing it to strike Mark at the side of his head. The blow also caused Mark to sustain a cut on his head. The HM also told her that as a result, she sent Mark home. Singh said that at first, she was concerned about her son’s condition but was reassured by the HM that everything was alright as she had dressed the wound. While at home, the boy was given Panadol to treat his headache and was put to bed. However, he was later rushed to the hospital by his father where he succumbed to his injuries. Mark’s mother also disclosed that the other boy involved in the incident was a 14-year-old student of Buxton Secondary School who she later discovered would frequently go to the primary school and bully the pupils there. This she said was told to her by other parents who came forward the next day to express their concern about incident. She said according to what her son related to her on the day of the incident, the 14-year-old student took his rag and he retrieved it. The rag was taken for a second time and when Harrypaul was attempting to take it back, the 14-year-old ran and while running slammed the gate causing her son’s head to strike it. Singh related that she asked the HM, “How can you send my child home with a burst head, [what happens] if he fall down pun the road? To which the HM allegedly responded, “No, he alright, I already dressed him.” The HM also asked the mother to give her an update when her son got home. After the conversation, Singh called for her older son to check on his brother in the event that something might “go wrong” while making his way home. When Mark got home, he was crying and she questioned him to find out what had happened, which he did. According to her son, “They went up to the HM and the HM put antibiotic and ointment and send him home.” She added that her son told her his head was hurting and she gave him Panadol for the headache and told him to rest. At around 8 pm she went to wake him up and observed that he was not responding normally, so she decided to call for her husband, to take him to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Crime
Kilcoy man chopped to death: The partly decomposed body of a Corentyne man who had been missing for days was on November 30 found in his suspected attackers’ yard at Kilcoy, Corentyne. Dead is Chetram Ramjattan, 43, a labourer of Lot 53 Kilcoy Settlement, Corentyne. The police in Berbice yesterday said that two males and one female were in custody assisting with the investigation. According to a police source, the man’s attackers have been identified as Venezuelan nationals who were residing at a house belonging to a major poultry farmer in Kilcoy/Chesney. Residents yesterday said that the Venezuelan men and women along with their children were residing in Kilcoy, Corentyne and were working on the chicken farm. Ramjattan’s sister, Kamaldai Ramjattan, also known as “Nanda”, 45, of Lot 90 Chesney, Corentyne, explained that on Saturday her brother, who lives two streets away from the Venezuelans was walking out of the main cross street when some children pelted him. She said her brother entered the yard to complain but the woman began cursing him and used an iron rod to hit him. According to the woman, her brother then went to his younger’s brother house located in the same village and told him what had transpired. “He brother tell he let he na bother with them and let he go home.” Ramjattan was on his way home when he was attacked after requesting a cigarette from the Venezuelan men.
In the courts
Anns Grove mason gets 17 years for rape: Anns Grove mason, Melroy Barry, who was convicted earlier this month of raping a 15-year-old girl, has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for the crime. The sentence was handed down on Tuesday by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow before whom the trial was conducted at the Sexual Offences Court of the High Court in Demerara. Barry had been charged jointly for the offence with co-accused Calvin Reid. While the jury found Barry guilty as charged of committing the offence, it was divided regarding Reid, who now faces a retrial. Barry called “Satan” and Reid, called “Callo,” both masons of Anns Grove village, East Coast Demerara, were charged with raping the teen on January 7th, of 2020. The prosecution’s case against them was that the girl was taken to a house where the two took turns raping her. A police report was subsequently made and the duo was later arrested and charged.
Former radio show host ‘Feteing King’ charged with rape: Former radio show host, Nikosi Bruce, popularly known as ‘Feteing King’ last Wednesday appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus charged with rape. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was placed on $150,000 bail. It was alleged that in March 21, 2020, the accused and the virtual complainant (VC) along with his two female friends were at an event on David Street, Kitty, Georgetown, consuming alcohol after which the VC along with one of the female friends returned to the accused’s home in National Avenue, South Ruimveldt Gardens, Georgetown, where she waited for a taxi to take her home. The VC told investigators in a written statement that when the taxi arrived about 10 minutes later, she got up to leave and while at the door strapping on her sandals Bruce approached her, unzipped his pants, and allegedly raped her while his female friend was in the kitchen. Afraid and ashamed at what occurred, she proceeded home without telling anyone. She further stated that on August 1, 2020, she and the female friend went to a popular cafe in Georgetown where they spoke and the female friend told her that Bruce had also abused her during their relationship. On August 3, 2020, the VC returned to the cafe where she met Bruce and the female friend since both she and the friend had planned to confront him. During the confrontation Bruce denied the allegations and said that the VC had consented to the act. On Wednesday November 16, 2022, the virtual complainant went to the Ruimveldt Police station and reported the matter after which she was escorted by police to the scene of the alleged incident (Bruce’s home). However, no one was there at the time. They subsequently revisited the scene where Bruce was identified by the VC and arrested and taken into custody. The case has been adjourned to December 12, 2023.
Carpenter wins NIS pension in landmark ruling: A carpenter has won his case for pension, after taking the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to court in what has been hailed as a landmark ruling that pronounced on the obligation of the NIS and the employer for the maintenance of accurate and complete records. The Court has further made it clear that NIS needs to be more robust in ensuring that employers comply with the law regarding deduction and payment of NIS contributions on behalf of their employees. NIS’ contention was that Shariff Zainul did not have the required number of contributions for the payment of old age pension, and was therefore entitled only to a grant. High Court Judge Damone Younge found, however, that Zainul was entitled to be credited the 354 contributions for the period he contested—which his former employer—Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL)— had said he had not been employed. This pensioner’s win over the insurance scheme would not only be seen as a victory for him, but for countless other pensionable members whose complaints against the scheme are all too similar. The court ruling will therefore be used as a precedent.
