Year: 2017

Govt’s tax-oriented approach to growth among key factors responsible for deteriorating economy – Opposition

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The Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is gearing to table a slew of Budget measures it wants to see for 2018 – the proposals coming days before Finance Minister Winston Jordan is set to present the coalition’s third annual Budget. The measures have been documented in a Parliamentary Motion piloted by Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and PPP/C Member of Parliament, Irfaan Ali, along with party Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira. Parliament formally emerged from its recess this week, but there would not be any sittings until after October…

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Govt engages Houston residents over compensation for land, property

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Officials from the Public Infrastructure Ministry on Monday met with residents of Houston, East Bank Demerara (EBD) on the possible acquisition of their land for the new Demerara River bridge. The residents were told that the Legal Affairs Ministry would be responsible for negotiating any compensation for the acquisition of the land and property. During the engagement, Greene explained that the “first grassroots community meeting” was an effort by the Ministry to foster a transparent process as the project gets underway. Even though the project is in its initial stages,…

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Turmeric factory in Region 1 will result in many positives

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Dear Editor, The recent commissioning of the Turmeric factory in Hososroro Hill in Mabaruma in Barima-Waini will provide immediate economic empowerment to the region through job opportunities among other benefits by empowering the people and creating jobs in these communities. More than 50 farmers from turmeric producing communities of Region One, namely Arukamai, Barima River, Aruka River, Hotoquai, Port Kaituma, Morawhanna, Hobodia, Yarakita, Aruau, Koberimo, St. Anslym, Kachi Kamo, Black Water, Kamwatta, Wauna and White Water have benefitted from planting materials, technical advice and training through the National Agricultural Research…

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Majority of Guyanese citizens want President to name GECOM Chair without any further delays

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Dear Editor, Dear Editor, An opinion survey I conducted for the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) last week found that the overwhelming majority of the nation wants President David Granger to appoint, without any further delay, the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission from the latest (third) list of six nominees submitted by Opposition Leader Dr Bharrat Jagdeo last month.Gecom has been without a Chair since last February, when Dr Steve Surujbally resigned from the position. The Commission’s critical election work has been largely suspended since that time. Jagdeo…

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Still no Local Govt Commission in place

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Dear Editor, I refer to an article captioned “Local Government Commission (LGC) will be given some consideration – Granger”, which appeared in sections of the media. The article stated, “Granger told reporters at State House, when asked about the establishment of the commission, that he was abroad for about a fortnight, resulting in this and other matters being held up.” For the record, the PPP submitted its nominations to the LGC since July 2016, and Granger being out of the country for two weeks has very little to do with…

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Tax reform appears to have been relegated to the back burner

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Dear Editor, President Granger did not mention the phrase (tax reform) once in his “2015 manifesto” message, while his PM Candidate stated that his team “proposes to restructure the tax recovery system, not to oppress the wage earner, but to catch the tax dodger”. But after some two and a half years, although the Government’s Tax Reform Committee made sweeping recommendations, tax reform appears to have been relegated to the back burners. I want to focus on one particular set of tax measures against the backdrop of the Guyana Business…

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Right action

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Over the past few years as the Government settled into office, there has much discussion about morality – or conversely and more frequently, its lack in governance and in the rest of society. In Government, the predilection for corruption has astounded even its loyalists, while in society, the murders and general violence continue unabated. The solutions or at least the approaches to address this moral decline have taken two forms – encoding morality into law then seeking enforcement through legal sanctions and through the creation of institutions that herd individuals…

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Two held over daring robbery of Chinese Supermarket

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Two men – one of them a 17-yr-old were on Wednesday evening apprehended by Police ranks moments after they allegedly committed a robbery on a Chinese Supermarket located in Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE). According to Police “D” Division Commander, Leslie James during a telephone interview with this publication on Thursday, the incident occurred at around 20:00hrs. Based on information received, the proprietor of the Golden World Supermarket, located at lot 302 Parika Highway, EBE, was in the process of closing up her entity when two males entered and carried…

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Guyana’s Tax Boss confirms no reduction in VAT planned

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…as Private Sector cries “what we don’t want is an overtaxed sector” The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has not been privy to any planned reduction in the Value Added Tax (VAT) when the Budget for 2018 is presented in six weeks’ time. The bombshell was dropped on Thursday on the final day of ‘Business Summit 2017’ when GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia on Thursday formed part of fiery discussion panel on ‘Taxation’ in Guyana and was joined by vocal social activist and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),…

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Massive unemployment, heavy taxes since APNU/AFC took office

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…Jagdeo tells Diaspora in Canada Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is currently on an outreach to the Canadian Diaspora where he told the overseas-based Guyanese about the hardships facing the country. Jagdeo was at the time joined by Danny Doobay, former Honorary Consul General to Canada, Mani Singh of the Association of Canadian Guyanese (ACG), and Member of Parliament Irfaan Ali. The activity, which was hosted by the ACG, heard the Opposition Leader’s dim report on the Guyana economy, which is being compounded by a rapid loss of jobs across traditional…

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