Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries say they have reached a consensus on policy objectives for agriculture that would allow for improved food and nutrition security. Caricom agriculture ministers recently met with their counterparts from Latin America in Argentina at the 32nd Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) regional conference. A statement issued by the FAO Monday said that the Caribbean countries say the new policy objective would result in a transformation of the sector towards market oriented, internationally competitive and environmentally sound production of agriculture products, as well as increased production, productivity…
Read MoreMonth: April 2012
Manickchand, Ally square off on education delivery
By Pushpa Balgobin Education Minister Priya Manickchand and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian Amna Ally locked horns on Monday on the budgetary allocation for the education sector. Ally told the House that the 2012 budget was a reinforcement of “figures with no meaning”, recounting that Gy$ 24.3 billion have been spent on the National Strategic Plan (NSP), Gy$ 919 million spent on producing trained teachers by 2013 and Gy$ 769 million spent on the University of Guyana, but there has been no real development. She called on Manickchand…
Read MoreA vindictive act
Dear Editor, Recently, much has been said by some of the opposition members of Parliament about the former presidents’ pension package. My first reaction to this would be; what nonsense! Only in Guyana would such a thing be tolerated. Nowhere else in the world is such petty, nasty and vindictive politics being practiced. Editor, not only were these politicians engaged in spreading lies and creating mischief about the benefits former presidents will enjoy, but they sought to give the impression that this is a “Jagdeo pension package”. I can’t seem…
Read MoreSpare a thought for the youths
Dear Editor, I have some piercing questions regarding the state of education and youths in Guyana. All of a sudden, I want to vent my spleen. This ‘jolting to respond’ came about, after reading a letter, in one of the dailies. In summary, the writer is expressing “… concern about the heavy school bags being carried by primary students… some in backpacks and some in trolley bags.” The writer revisits his era, when there was a timetable of the subjects for each day, with this being the guide, for what…
Read MoreBudget 2012 is a manifestation of the prudent fiscal and macroeconomic policies of successive PPP/C governments
Dear Editor, Following the presentation of the 2012 Budget in Parliament, I held the belief that this budget would have been embraced by all simply because it is a People’s Budget; one geared to improve the lot of the working people of this country. Instead the opposition has resorted to its typical practice of insular and dogmatic politics. The leader of the Opposition has called it a bail out budget; The AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan has expressed his disappointment with the budget without actually proffering any plausible reasons. The combined opposition…
Read MoreGuyanese in New York are upset at treatment meted out to Shah Rukh Khan
Dear Editor, Guyana Times and other media reports say popular Bollywood film icon Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) was detained and questioned by U.S. immigration authorities last week during a visit to New York to attend a function at Yale University. This was the second time the Bollywood superstar was detained by immigration officials and most Guyanese here in New York are upset at the manner in which this true super star was treated. The detention was unnecessary given that SRK is well known internationally and does not fit the profile…
Read MoreEU-funded project in Rupununi nears completion
The European Union and the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development are currently collaborating on a sustainable tourism development and fisheries management project in the North Rupununi area. The EU is providing 90 per cent of the funds for this euro 300,000 project, which began in December 2009 and will end in June 2012. The remaining funds have been contributed by Iwokrama. According to a release from the EU, the head of the European Union Delegation to Guyana, Ambassador Robert Kopecký, was accompanied by officials from Iwokrama on…
Read MoreRegional CEOs call for greater integration among Western nations
Chief executive officers of the Americas have called for greater cooperation among Western Hemisphere nations on matters ranging from trade and investment to education, science and technology and security, in order to boost prosperity from Canada to Chile. At the end of a one-day conference last week held ahead of the Sixth Summit of the Americas, Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and Barack Obama of the United States participated in a roundtable discussion in front of an audience that included more than 700 top executives…
Read MoreMedia (against) Development
In a previous editorial – “The Media and Development” carried in our daily edition on April 15, 2012, we traced the history of our media and its role in “development”. From being an arm of the colonial state imposing a hegemony over our ideas; through the turbulent 70s when the fledgling third world states tried to seize a measure of control; to the 90s and the present with the neo-liberal order stressing private ownership and private agendas. With its overall ‘market fundamentalist’ premises, the private interests were somehow supposed to…
Read MoreFighting for their jobs
– Hundreds protest AFC’s budget cuts proposal By Bhisham Mohamed Several government ministers on Wednesday joined hundreds of public servants on the picket line remonstrating against the Alliance For Change-sponsored motion to cut billions of dollars in spending from the national budget by targeting contract employees who the party say are earning super salaries. The workers assembled at the Housing and Water Ministry on Brickdam and marched to the Parliament Building where they stood for a few hours, displaying placards before dispersing. The peaceful protest was led by Housing and…
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