Guyana News

By Readawne Henery Following a confrontation which saw police fire pellets and teargas, hundreds of persons who have been squatting at Success, Vryheid’s Lust and Chateau Margot, on the East Coast of Demerara, yesterday met with officials from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) in order to legally access house lots.

Over 17,000 varieties of sugarcanes belonging to the Guyana Sugar Cor-poration’s (GuySuCo) Agriculture Research Centre have been destroyed over the past three weeks by persons who are now occupying the lands at Chateau Margot.

Businessman Peter Ramsaroop is the new investment czar. His appointment was confirmed yesterday.

Saying that the PPP/C government’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic is costing lives, the opposition coalition APNU+AFC is maintaining that its rigid measures and enforcement kept the number of cases and deaths low while it was in government.

The police were on Wednesday granted an extension to further detain the suspect who was arrested earlier this week over the 2015 murder of taxi driver, Colin Clarke.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) yesterday announced that three Region Four men  who were infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have died while 35 additional cases have been confirmed.

O’Neil Jordan, the construction worker who allegedly killed his younger brother after a drinking session one week ago at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara (WCD) was on Tuesday charged with manslaughter and placed on $400,000 bail.

As it continues to move towards reopening the economy, government has relaxed the national curfew under the updated coronavirus disease (COVID-19) measures and is also now requiring that children over the age of eight wear masks when in public or travelling.

Farmers in Region Three have been told by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha that major works cannot be carried out at this time due to lack of adequate funding.

Two labourers were shot on Tuesday by an unidentified person or persons at Aurora Village, Essequibo Coast.

More than a year after its executive council mandated industrial action in the Health Sector, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has delivered yet another ultimatum to the Minister of Health.

The Ministry of Health says that as of 6 pm today, one other person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has died.

Businessman Peter Ramsaroop will be the new investment czar, sources close to the government say.

The Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C government yesterday inked the licence agreement for ExxonMobil’s US$9 billion Payara project in the Stabroek Block,  its first major oil & gas agreement since it took office on August 2. 

Twenty-nine companies on Tuesday responded to government’s retender for Request for Proposals (RFPs) to market Guyana’s share of oil from the Liza Destiny FPSO, and while ExxonMobil again did not submit a proposal, its partner in the Stabroek Block – Hess – was one of eight new companies vying to win the contract.

Talking up the benefits of the United States’ corporate investment portfolio, United States Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch has said that oil major ExxonMobil operates in line with its international standards, which Guyana should prioritise in all investments after doing its due diligence.

By Readawne Henery Police yesterday fired pellets and tear gas in a bid to remove squatters in the vicinity of  Success, East Coast Demerara who have overrun lands belonging to the sugar corporation, GuySuCo.

The Opposition APNU+AFC yesterday charged that the government has no strategy to tackle COVID-19 in Guyana and has referred to its management of the pandemic as appalling.

After managing to elude the police for almost five years, a 49-year-old man who is accused of murdering taxi driver Colin Clarke in 2015 was apprehended in Mahdia, Region Eight on Monday.

In wake of the recent unrest at the Lusignan Prison, inmates have raised a number of concerns—among them overcrowding at the penal facility which they say has become unbearable and frustrating.