Month: November 2017

Recommendations are being made for Guyana’s Judiciary to follow the lead of other jurisdictions, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which has crafted new strategies in line with international best practice. Making these recommendations was CCJ President Sir Dennis Byron, who was at the time addressing the Guyana Bar Association. According to Byron, several complaints are usually levelled against the performances of judiciaries, the most common of which are the inordinate delays for trials to start, low performance and efficiency, high costs of court operations, and the public’s lack…

Read More

– as first Children’s Forum hosted The prevalence of social issues in all regions of Guyana is likely to be addressed in a swift manner, as children representing schools and communities in various regions across the country took the opportunity to voice their concerns at the first Children’s Forum held on Monday. Held in observance of Universal Children’s Day, the event was hosted by the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), through the Ministry of Social Protection, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).…

Read More

Grief-stricken family members and friends of the late Kescia Branche tearfully bade her farewell last Saturday. The 22-year-old teacher of the Richard Ishmael Secondary School died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) two days after her battered body was discovered lying at the corner of Princess Street and Lousia Row in Georgetown on the morning of November 5. The cause of her demise has been determined as brain haemorrhaging and blunt trauma to the head. At her ‘home-going’ ceremony, those who knew Branche reflected on her life, while others made…

Read More

Following the launch of the Excise Tax Stamp programme recently, Customs Officers of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have already placed the first set of Excise Tax Stamps on imported alcohol at local outlets. According to the GRA, this process has been implemented to ensure that all duties and taxes are paid on imported alcohol and tobacco and to verify that these products are legal and safe to consume. As such, all “importers and retailers of alcohol and tobacco products are required to stamp each bottle of alcohol (excluding beers)…

Read More

In its pursuit to promote research findings by doctors at the post-graduate level, the Institute of Health Sciences Education (IHSE) held its tenth Annual Medical-Scientific Conference at the Ramada Princess Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara last Sunday. This allowed doctors the opportunity to present their research findings to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) administration and those responsible for managerial changes. Director of the Institute of Health Sciences Education, Dr. Alexandra Harvey, said she was happy to be able to continue providing a forum for local healthcare practitioners to…

Read More

…Opposition says Agency being run by “political hacks” Although the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has been accused of being politically biased, the Head of that agency has rejected those claims, stating that there was no evidence to prove that was true. Professor Dr Clive Thomas said he recognised that there have been some concerns raised regarding that very issue, but asserted: “We have not gone after any political person. There is no evidence of that.” While recognising that SARA has also been heavily criticised for its work, the Head…

Read More

The Foreign Affairs Ministry concluded a five-day orientation programme for newly-recruited Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) last Friday at the Roraima Duke Lodge in Kingston, Georgetown. Each day senior officials from the Ministry as well as national diplomats, among others, delivered a series of presentations to enrich each FSO’s understanding of Guyana’s foreign policy, the Ministry’s mission and responsibilities, diplomatic protocol and etiquette, among other topics. Director of the Foreign Service Institute, Ambassador Ronald Austin, noted that “it was a very important exercise in that it was an opportunity for the…

Read More

Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, on Friday last handed over the sum of Gy$2.6 million in community grants to the villages of Kwatamang, Rupertee, and Fair View in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), to facilitate the undertaking of green, sustainable projects under the Presidential Grant Fund. Kwatamang and Rupertree each received Gy$800,000, for construction of a community centre and a sanitary block respectively; while a sum of Gy$1,000,000 was presented to Fairview for the construction of a Village Office. Toshao and representative of the Fair View community, Lucy Marslow,…

Read More