Amerindian conference: Toshao says Govt should take responsibility for non-achievement

As the eleventh Annual National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference concluded on Saturday, another toshao has come out in stinging criticisms of Yupukari Toshao Russian Dorrick, accusing him of being “an apologist” for the Government regarding issues relating to the development of Indigenous (Amerindian) people in Guyana. Dorrick had told this publication that the NTC Executive did not stick to the agenda for the conference. “To be honest, I am not too sure what I am going to tell my people. I came to the NTC with the hope that I…

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“When Unity in Diversity?”

By Ravi Dev In my last two articles, I examined the ideas the late Indian political leader Deen Dayal Upadhayaya put forward towards creating a really independent nation in a society that had been colonised for a thousand years. As I followed the hearings of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into “land titling issues”, I could only think of how far away we are from being a “nation” by Upadhayaya’s definition, much less an “independent” one: “When a group of persons live with a goal, an ideal, a mission, and…

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Financial analyst says increases in ‘bad loans’ troubling for Guyana’s economy

Given the reported deterioration in non-performing loans in Guyana’s banking sector, when compared to last year, a Guyanese financial analyst says it tells a bad picture that things are not going right in the local economy and the banking sector is performing poorly. In citing the recent Bank of Guyana 2017 Half Year Report, Sasenarine Singh said the Central Bank recorded 12.6 per cent or G$3.4 billion deterioration in non-performing loans compared to a year ago. This is 11.6 per cent of total loans. In addition to that, non-performing loans…

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Report of feasibility study for new Demerara River bridge handed over to Gov’t

The Feasibility Study and Design for the new Demerara River bridge has successfully been completed and a copy was on Wednesday afternoon presented to Minister within the Public Infrastructure Ministry, Annette Ferguson. The 57-page final report was presented by the project team, which includes Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) General Manager and Project Manager, Rawlston Adams; Chief Transport and Planning Officer, Patrick Thompson; and Team Leader of the consulting company, LievenseCSO, Arie Mol. During the document’s handing over, a rundown on its main conclusions were highlighted. From the feasibility study…

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Keys to my own home!

…Model Village houses handed over to owners By Lakhram Bhagirat The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) on Tuesday handed over the keys to the owners of the homes in its Model Village at Perseverance Housing Scheme, Providence, East Bank Demerara. The model houses were constructed for the CH&PA’s Housing Solutions Housing Expo in May. Minister within the Communities Ministry, Valerie Patterson, handed over the keys on site to the new owners and urged them to preserve it, while noting that their homes would be the center of attraction for…

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Missing the boat…

  …on oil local content With every passing day, it’s becoming clearer that the hope of oil solving our underdeveloped woes is growing dimmer. It might soon be “out,” unless the citizens of this country take matters in their own hands. We can’t leave it to their fingers, come elections 2020 – since by then it will be all signed away by Trotman and Co. First was his nonsensical mumblings that the PPP’s 1999 contract couldn’t be renegotiated – even though he’d announced earlier in the day about assembling a…

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Works for Bartica beach boulevard commence – Bartica Mayor

Bartica Mayor Gifford Marshall has said works have begun to transform the Golden Beach into a boulevard. In a recent interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), the Region Seven Mayor said works are ongoing to renovate the beach area between Third and Fourth Avenues. “That area is primarily where the regatta is kept, so persons coming to Bartica next year will think they are in some other place,” Marshall boasted. The project, estimated at G$40 million, will see the beach front transformed with the installation of palm trees…

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Spinning wheels…

…on GECOM Chief? Your Eyewitness has to hand it to Opposition Leader Jagdeo: the fella’s certainly sticking to his constitutional duties on selecting the next GECOM Chairman!! Most others would’ve chucked it in and left it to the courts by now, after the first two lists were submitted and rejected by Pressie for all those reasons which were rejected by the said courts. After all, parsing words like “or” and “is” to reject the meaning of the constitutional clause on criteria for selecting the GECOM Chair – which has been…

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Guyana Govt’s attitude to Constitution worrying, says former House Speaker

The Government’s track record of losing court cases in which interpretation of the Constitution is involved has not gone unnoticed. Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, has become the latest legal mind to express worry over decisions made by the President that have been overturned by the Judiciary. Referring to an editorial which stated that the Government’s attitude to the Constitution signals a willingness to ignore legal precedents whenever it finds this suitable, Ramkarran has cited several cases that seem to support this view. Among those…

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Children rescued from abusive home in State’s care

…father remains in police custody The Department of Public Information has said that the three children who were rescued from their allegedly abusive home in Region Nine on Monday have been brought to Georgetown. Medically examined, results have proven that the two girls have been sexually molested, but their male sibling was not sexually abused. Additionally, a 14-year-old female sibling who had relocated earlier in the year was also examined and found to have been sexually abused. The children’s father has also been brought to Georgetown to further assist with…

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