Day: June 9, 2017

A different kind of care

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Not only is US-based Guyanese Obstetrician/Gynecologist Dr. Yvette Westford focused on self-development, but through her practice she aims to improve the lives of women. Dr. Yvette Westford is a board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist with a pending board certification in Laser Medicine. She specializes in Cosmetic Gynecology and Aesthetics. Westford was raised in Guyana, but migrated to the United States after high school to attend college in New York.  She received her AAS in Physical Therapy from Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York; and her BS in Biology from Pace University…

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Man who fatally chopped teen girlfriend in 2015 claims “evil forces” affected him

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…gets 12 years for manslaughter A young man who fatally chopped his then teenaged girlfriend, Tenicia McAllister, in the presence of his mother and siblings has claimed that “evil forces” were at work when he committed the heinous act nearly two years ago. This is what presiding Judge Navindra Singh was told moments before Joshua Baveghems pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for his crime. Baveghems agreed with the State’s contention that on August 13, 2015, using a cutlass, he murdered…

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Our National Songs

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In the grip of the desire for independence from colonial rule and a fervour for a national identity beginning perhaps from the 1940s, a proliferation of patriotic poetry flowed from the pens of a group of men and women, over the years leading up to and just after Guyana’s eventual independence, that was made into music. Few young people are aware of a genre in the country’s musical heritage known as national or patriotic songs, excluding the national anthem; and even fewer can be said to be familiar with the…

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A story of hardship and triumph

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By Isahak Basir A tragic scenario of a second migration of more than 50 indentured Indian families, all of whom hailed from several abandoned sugar estates. This took place between the period 1860 and 1940, when they had no alternative but to migrate to the uninhabited and desolated Pomeroon River district. It was their only chance of survival, and hence abandoned all hopes of returning to India as promised by the colonial owners. Similarly, in Jamaica, the Africans made an appeal to the colonial government to have “coolies” sent back…

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Public Security Ministry still paying ‘corrupt’ staffers after they were sent on leave a year ago

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The Public Security Ministry has for more than a year paid three members of staff their full salaries despite the fact they have not been on the job – after being suspended as a result of suspected involvement in a multimillion-dollar scandal. Permanent Secretary Daniella McCalmon made the revelation to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which met on Monday to query findings raised by the Auditor General in 2015. The Ministry was unable to account for in excess of G$15 million, since the payment vouchers were not handed over to…

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DENIED!: Speaker rejects request for public input on fate of Guyana’s sugar industry

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The Parliamentary Committee on Economic Services has been denied the approval of the Speaker of the National Assembly to conduct public forums on the future of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the sugar industry, following the announcement by Government to downsize it. In a letter dated June 5 and addressed to Clerk of Committees, Letta Barker, House Speaker, Dr Barton Scotland said that a public forum did not seem appropriate for the Committee to undertake. “I, therefore, disallow the request and withhold my consent for the Parliamentary Committee on…

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Meaningless…

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…meetings Every business executive has some basic rules on “meetings,” and one of the first rules is to ask, “What’s this meeting about?” If you aren’t clear about the goals of the meeting, you’ll be wasting your time, and you might as well don’t show up. We don’t know about politicians, but here it is: Prezzie’s rejected the Opposition Leader’s second list of nominees for the GECOM Chair, and now wants a meeting. Is it your Eyewitness, or is it déjà vu? What happened after the meeting following the first…

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Shooting Guyana’s foot…

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…with rice Guyanese were, last week, informed by the head of the RPA in Berbice that less rice was planted this crop, because farmers were losing their shirts over the prices they were getting for paddy. That’s not surprising…and in fact the question that occupied your Eyewitness’s mind was why they’d kept planting at the old rate for so long. After the PNC-led APNU/AFC government let the lucrative Venezuelan market of US$780/tonne slip away when they slipped into office in 2015, what was left for them?? A world market price…

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Vendor to spend 20 years behind bars for murdering sex worker

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Forty-five-year-old Andell Forde of Rahaman’s Park, Houston, Greater Georgetown, was sentenced to 20 years for killing transgender sex worker Nephi Luther, born Noel Luther. The father of six, who had worked as a fish vendor, appeared before Justice Navindra Singh on Tuesday at the High Court, where he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. The State contended that around 01:30h on July 22, 2015, near Carmichael and Quamina Streets, Forde confronted and shot Luther who plied his trade in the area. It followed an argument which Luther had…

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An artistic legacy

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Richard Gui Pennington Sharples, better known as R. G. Sharples, was a man of extraordinary ability who demonstrated a wealth of talents.  Alongside his legal career, Sharples is recognised equally for his artistic legacy and his contribution to the development of a ‘local style’ in the history of fine art in Guyana. Sharples was born in Georgetown on May 1, 1906. He was the youngest son of Mary Johanna (née Scott) and John Bradshaw Sharples, the famous architect and builder. He began his early education at the Ursuline Convent and…

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