Guyana News

Port Kaituma, in Region One, has been without electricity for a week and the Port Kaituma Power and Light Company (PKPL) has announced that residents should brace themselves for another two weeks without electricity.

Former Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Thursday announced that he is no longer a citizen of the United States of America (USA).

With first oil on the horizon, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has lamented the fact that the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government is yet to provide feedback on and finalise the third draft of the national Local Content Policy that was released to the public some weeks ago for comments.

A convicted thief will be spending the next nine months behind bars for breaking into Christ Church.

Vishnu Sookdeo, a homeless man who claimed he broke the window of an ambulance to get back at the government, was yesterday sentenced to nine months in jail.

A construction worker, who asked a city magistrate for community service after admitting to stealing toilet bowl and receiver sets, has been ordered to serving nine months in jail for the crime.

A man who pleaded guilty to “taking” money from a woman’s purse but denied stealing it was yesterday jailed.

Selwyn Lancaster, the Linden man who was sentenced to 15 years behind bars after being found guilty of raping and fondling a six-year-old, has moved to the Appeal Court to have the sentence overturned.

After two years of planning, the Natural Resources Ministry yesterday announced that a number of mining properties are to be converted from prospecting permit status to mining status, which is expected to benefit a number of big players in the industry and others.

Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) yesterday announced that it has entered an oil and gas service joint venture partnership with Trinidadian company CWSL and their plans include the development of a “world-class” shore base facility.

Local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Youths on the Rise Guyana will be hosting a blood drive today at Summertime Travel Agency, Lucky Dollar Building at Vreed-en-Hoop.

Demerara Distillers Limited today announced that it had entered a joint venture partnership with Trinidadian company CWSL for the oil and gas sector which includes the development of a “world-class shore base facility”.

A number of mining properties are to be converted from prospecting permit status to mining status and this will benefit a number of big players in the industry and others.

The Board of Australian gold mining company, Troy Resources Ltd will on Sunday decide the future of its Region 7 operations, even as Chief Executive Officer Ken Nilsson said that they would need about US$5M per month to sustain it and hinted at a possible short-term scaling down.

Government on Wednes-day announced a series of wage and salary increases for the Public Service but the total cost to the treasury remains unclear and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has claimed that the coalition government is planning to dismiss 20,000 workers to make the increase sustainable.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is calling for enhanced transparency in the allocation of state-owned lands, inclusive of a public reporting mechanism to show how, and to whom, for how much, and for how long state lands have been leased.

President David Granger yesterday told a visiting IDB team that Guyana must be prepared in the shortest possible time for the coming of first oil.

While the Alliance for Change had been adamant that yesterday would have been the last day in negotiations with the APNU for a new Cummingsburg agreement,  sources say that they buckled under pressure and have  agreed to meet again on Monday as a formula for seats saw a deadlock again.

Sources at the dorms of the Anna Regina Multilateral School in Essequibo are angry over a report in yesterday’s Guyana Times about the students being affected because the kitchen was out of “essential food items.”

Cabinet has taken note of a series of contract awards by procurement agencies which include $215.1m and $208.5m for police divisional headquarters at Anna Regina and Mabaruma respectively and $137m for the rehabilitation of the Lethem aerodrome.