Guyana News

The National Assembly last evening completed its consideration of the 2020 Budget Estimates and passed the $329.4 billion Appropriation Bill.

Two more COVID-19 positive patients died yesterday and a total of 130 more cases were confirmed, while Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony admitted that better enforcement of the emergency measures in place, including the national curfew, is needed to curb the spread of the virus.

Scores of Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) workers yesterday joined their counterparts from the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WRDH) and the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) by staging a protest to demand salary increases and better working conditions for all frontline workers.

Calling the 2020 emergency budget a “colossal disappointment,” Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon yesterday knocked the PPP/C government’s refusal to increase the salaries of public servants while saying that the administration is engaging in wasteful spending.

photos by Bebi Oosman After being closed for almost three years, the Rose Hall Estate yesterday began humming back to life with the hiring of 105 workers and operations are underway to restart some field operations.

A 65-year-old Den Amstel man is now in police custody for allegedly killed his younger brother after a drinking session at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara (WCD) on Thursday night.

A recent survey has found that local farmers have seen a loss of income of up to 50% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, who says while the prospects for the rest of the year do not look good, there is room to reposition the agriculture sector, including through wresting local and regional markets dominated by imports.

Those who successfully complete online courses under the government’s Work-force Recovery Initiative will be issued certificates by the Ministry of Education (MoE) that will be recognised by both private and public sector employers following the signing of a key agreement yesterday.

Over 150 witnesses are expected to testify at the trial of District Four Re-turning Officer Clairmont Mingo, who is accused of seeking to falsify the results of the March 2nd elections.

Prison authorities are not investigating how the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) entered the Lusignan Prison, where more than one hundred inmates were infected.

A bid to break up a row between two men on Thursday has landed a policeman in the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) with multiple stab wounds.

The Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has made around $73m available to Guyana in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guyana has recorded its 74th COVID-19 death. The latest fatality is a 71-year-old female from Pomeroon – Supenaam (Region 2) who died while receiving care at the ministry medical facility.

Controversy has erupted here and in other parts of the Caribbean over what has been described as the “shockingly low” and flawed grades awarded by CXC in this year’s  CSEC and CAPE examinations.

ExxonMobil has secured approval for its Payara project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana and an agreement, which would also cater for stiff fines for flaring violations and a commitment that reservoir water be treated to international standards before dumping, should be signed soon, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat has said.

Yuri Garcia Dominguez and Ateeka Ishmael, the principals of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc (ACFI), who are currently facing close to eighty charges in what has been described as a huge Ponzi scheme were yesterday released from prison after posting bail of around $30M.

Staff of the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) yesterday staged an early-morning protest over late salaries and the conditions they claim they are forced to work under at the hospital.

By Readawne Henery Relatives of Earl Graham, one of the inmates who was fatally shot last Saturday at the Lusignan Prison, are questioning the decision by guards to use lethal force and they say evidence shown to them suggests that he was not among those who were reported to have been rioting.

Forty-four additional cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and two more deaths were confirmed by the Ministry of Health yesterday.

The Guyana Bar Association (GBA) in response to an article published in yesterday’s edition of the Stabroek News under the headline `High Court criminal trials set to recommence October 6’ has express-ed the view that given the COVID-19 pandemic, trials should not recommence at this time.