Guyana News

By Bhisham Ojha When Kanhai came out to bat there was that sudden, expectant, almost fearful, silence that tells you that you are in the presence of some extraordinary phenomenon… – Ian McDonald.

Wendell Gibson, 55, who has lived all of his life in Karia Karia, Region Three  recalled that Christmas in his younger days was celebrated with a lot of unity.

With the 30-day period for objecting to the EPA’s decision not to require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the new Demerara Harbour Bridge having ended on Wednesday, geologist Simone Mangal-Joly has submitted that the agency lacks adequate information to arrive at such a conclusion.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) was forced to modify its annual production target of 97,420 tonnes of sugar after floods from earlier this year battered its cultivation and it managed only 57,995 tonnes.

The Ministry of Health may have possibly committed a criminal offence when it authorized a payment of $7.956 million for works at the Diamond Drug Bond on the same day that the contract was signed, the Auditor General’s report for 2020 states.

This year, the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has recorded the lowest rate of serious crime and highest cocaine seizures in the last ten years.

The Ministerial Tender Board (MTB) of the Ministry of Home Affairs has been accused of splitting 33 transactions in an effort to avoid the contracts going to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for adjudication, the Auditor General’s report for the financial year of 2020 found.

As Guyana continues its COVID-19 vaccination programme, health authorities have reported that over 10,000 COVID-19 booster shots have been administered to date.

A Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo man was denied bail after being charged with trafficking over $113 million worth of cocaine.

Police are on the hunt for two bandits who shot and robbed a Linden taxi driver of more than $300,000 in gold jewellery shortly after he arrived home on Tuesday night.

Two Linden men are wanted by the police for allegedly trafficking a quantity of narcotics in Linden more than three months ago.

This is the second year of celebrating Christmas during the Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), which caused many lives to be disrupted.

APNU+AFC Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul on Thursday questioned Prime Minister Mark Phillips on how computers could be procured prior to the approval of the supplementary provision by the House.

Tenders were yesterday opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board for the reconstruction of the Moblissa Bridge which attracted two bidders.

Two men were yesterday arraigned at two Magistrate’s Courts to answer to possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking charges.

Two more COVID-19 deaths were yesterday reported along with 32 new cases According to the Ministry of Health,  the country’s total fatalities increased to 1,042.

President Irfaan Ali says that he has charged Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, to meet with bankers and representatives from the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to chart a way forward that will be beneficial to the business community and ordinary Guyanese alike.

Parliament’s Committee on Appointments has agreed on four names for the new Police Service Commission and a motion to this effect is to go before the National Assembly.

The Ministry of Housing and Water yesterday awarded contracts to the tune of $13.3 billion in 12 lots for the construction of an alternative four-lane highway between Eccles and Great Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara which is expected to ease chronic, daily traffic congestion on the stretch.

Declaring that frontline health workers  are awaiting a well-negotiated retroactive payout of risk allowances, the GPSU yesterday lambasted as “meagre” government’s announcement on Tuesday of a two-week, tax free payout to all health personnel.