Month: April 2012

Local, international journalists given tour of Essequibo

TIMES INT'L

Several international, regional and local media operatives were given a tour of the mighty Essequibo River on Sunday, compliments of BK International. This was the first event to usher in the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s 13th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development (STC-13) that was held in Guyana from April 15 to 18. The journalists said they were amazed by the exotic nature and historic sites located in that part of the country. The one-day tour commenced at the Princess International Hotel and the media team were taken along the…

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Ali plugs greater integration at tourism confab

TIMES INT'L

By Svetlana Marshall Acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali told delegates and other officials at the opening of the 13th Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development (STC-13) on Sunday evening at the Guyana International Conference Centre that there is need for greater integration to drive tourism. “In the Caribbean, tourism is too big to fail, and singularly, we are too small to compete, thus our goals and recommendations would be that we utilise our time and energies to move towards an integrated partnership plan.” Acknowledging the fact that a percentage of…

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Caribbean youth to benefit from novel job training alliance

TIMES INT'L

A ground-breaking alliance between major corporations and the public sector will expand effective job training and placement models, reaching one million youths in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next decade. On Friday, the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, and the International Youth Foundation (IYF), joined with five of the region’s leading employers: Walmart, Caterpillar, Microsoft, CEMEX, and Arcos Dorados/McDonald’s to launch a new partnership called New Employment Opportunities, or Nuevos Empleosy Oportunidades (NEO). These five companies together currently employ more…

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AFC urges more attention be paid to region 8

TIMES INT'L

Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament (MP) Eula Marcello is calling for a beefing up of security and an increase in pay for nurses at the Mahdia District Hospital. During the budget debates last week, Marcello who represents Region Eight, said the infrastructural works in the region for the health sector was very welcome, but she painted a sad story of the nurses who worked at the Mahdia District Hospital. Marcello said that nurses go beyond the call of duty, treating persons at all hours of the night with…

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Khemraj “bargaining” and Amna and Felix is VP!

TIMES INT'L

De race is on in de USA as Mitt Romney look fuh a vice presidential (VP) candidate fuh de upcoming elections there. Plenty speculations going on as de media tout some fuh de position. De set that get touting very vocal and always present in de media, but using de opportunities fuh deny that dem want de job. Experts seh is normal fuh people who really want de job fuh deny it so dem don’t “upstage” de presidential candidate before he mek he decision. But de real story is that…

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House clears estimates for several ministries

TIMES INT'L

The National Assembly on Wednesday evening cleared the estimates for several ministries and departments, although the Alliance For Change (AFC) voted against an allocation of over Gy$ 18 million for the provision of security services to the Housing and Water Ministry. Fireworks were expected in the House on Wednesday, following the opposition’s postures during the debate, but for most part, government ministers were able to provide satisfactory answers to inquiring opposition parliamentarians. Also the contentious issue of contract workers, which the AFC had highlighted in a motion, also did not…

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Felix to Rohee: ‘Search my house’

TIMES INT'L

By Pushpa Balgobin Former Police Commissioner Winston Felix has accused Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee of witch hunting, and denied having in his possession a radio of the Guyana Police Force. Rohee last Sunday was quoted in a Government Information Agency (GINA) release as saying that Felix still has in his possession government’s property in the form of a radio that is tuned to the police frequency. He noted that Felix is not authorised to have the equipment. “Minister Rohee indicated that necessary actions will be taken against Felix should…

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Let freedom ring…

TIMES INT'L

AFC Bondage When Ramjattan and Trotman ran off together from the PPP and PNC to start the AFC, they didn’t relinquish their seats in Parliament. The two lawyers defended their action with devious sophistry. They claimed that they were representing the people who had voted for them and so they could not be removed by the PPP or PNC. They waxed eloquently about the ‘free mandate’ theory of representation: an MP should have the right to vote his ‘conscience’ rather than being forced to go along with the party. To…

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Budget Times

TIMES INT'L

Budget times are taxing times. So Satiricus wasn’t visiting the back street dives today. Satiricus cannot be faulted for being a bit on edge. It’s not that he had to submit his taxes. It was having to cover the interminable debates in Parliament. But after listening to the opposition in the debate, he was wondering whether paying taxes was a good or bad thing. Before this budget, Satiricus had thought that your views as to whether taxes were good or bad would depend upon which of the two segments of…

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Jagdeo proposes one Caribbean visa to spur tourism

TIMES INT'L

By Samuel Sukhnandan Guyana’s former President Bharrat Jagdeo has urged tourism officials to whip some of the Caribbean governments out of their sleep in an effort to help promote a stronger global push to fight climate change. He also called for a revamp of immigration policies to designate a single visa for entry to the region as it would make travel easier for residents of large developing countries, which are crucial to sustaining tourism in the future. Jagdeo, who delivered the keynote address to the ongoing Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference…

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