Guyana News

Citing its inability to produce due to the continuing obstruction of traffic in the Berbice River, RUSAL’s subsidiary Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) yesterday fired 326 workers and announced the suspension of its operations, prompting both government and the workers’ union to accuse it of instigating upheaval in order to influence the upcoming March 2nd general elections.

Finding that Guyana lost out in an “unfairly exploitative” deal with the 2016 revision of its Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Exxon and its partners for the offshore Stabroek Block, international corruption watchdog Global Witness yesterday released the details of an investigation to support its call for government to push for a renegotiation, which it says should also be supported by Washington. 

Without imputing any wrongdoing on his part, United Kingdom-headquartered Global Witness yesterday released a report calling on the Guyana Government to investigate the role of the Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman in the negotiation of the much criticized 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with an ExxonMobil subsidiary.

A farmer was yesterday charged and remanded over the recent murders of a Canadian hotelier and his watchman at Number 63 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

The families of three Linden men, who were shot and killed by police in 2012 as they protested the then government’s proposed electricty hike for the bauxite mining town, are each suing the state for more than $150M in damages.

Floyd Ramit was yesterday morning sentenced to 30 years in jail for killing his boss, the owner of Hamson’s General Store, Abdool Farouk Ghanie, during a robbery.

The lack of access to justice in indigenous communities was yesterday highlighted by female toshaos and village representatives, who bemoaned having to travel long distances in order to make reports to police and attend court.

President David Granger has conferred on Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Guyana’s second highest National Award, The Order of Roraima.

The Guyana Gold Board (GGB) yesterday opened an office at Port Kaituma, Region One, in response to a request from small miners for its services in the area.

According to the current Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),  Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, it would be inappropriate for CARICOM to pass judgment on Suriname President Desi Bouterse until the matter of his conviction for 15 murders in 1982 is fully resolved by Court.

Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall has dismissed attacks on oil and gas deals clinched by the Ramotar administration in the run up to the 2015 general election as baseless, noting that the government had been fully empowered compared to the caretaker status of the governing APNU+AFC coalition.

CARICOM is being advised to resist the temptation to panic when responding to the Coronavirus which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a “global emergency”.

An autopsy performed on the remains of 24-year-old Clifton Richmond, the man who succumbed on Saturday two days after stabbing his wife, revealed that he died as a result of pesticide poisoning.

The driver of the garbage truck that crushed Herstelling resident Chatterpaul Kabir has been  released on station bail and has resumed his work.

A man who went into hiding after being sentenced for robbery was yesterday ordered to begin serving his time after he was brought to a city court on a separate charge of wounding.

The 15-year-old student of the Linden Foundation Secondary School who was  stabbed by one of her schoolmates during a fight two weeks ago remains hospitalised and is slowly recovering as the police investigation into the matter continues.

A miner charged with committing a violent robbery was granted bail last Friday after he denied the charge and told a city court that he only punched the victim.

Twenty families from the Broad and Lombard streets area were last week presented with keys to their new homes as part of a Relocation and Resettlement project.

A Mahdia miner has been charged with attempting to break and enter the Mahdia Post Office living quarters.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua,  CMC – Left-handed stroke-makers Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetymyer have been axed for this month’s One-Day International tour of Sri Lanka after failing Cricket West Indies’ new fitness standards.