Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Minister Sydney Allicock handed out another batch of licensed firearms to Indigenous residents from communities in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), the distribution was done over the weekend in the Indigenous community of Kamarang, Upper Mazaruni. “We’re very pleased to be able to deliver on our promise … I think good things come to those who wait, and today you have a good thing in your hand for your livelihood,” Minister Allicock told residents. Earlier this month, Minister Allicock and Ministers…
Read MoreYear: 2018
Serious questions remain for GECOM on what took place on Nomination Day
Dear Editor, In relation to matters of expenditure of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) — and in particular the queries regarding voters’ education activities, which are woefully inadequate — a proposal should have been submitted to GECOM for approval. Further, the CEO, Mr. Lowenfield, MUST be able to provide timely information in respect to the execution of tenders and who were the evaluators. He should also provide copies of the evaluation report, substantiate the position of the National Procurement & Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) or Cabinet, and state whether mobilisation…
Read MoreNew teachers’ strike looms in Guyana
…as Govt refuses to budge over arbitration Chair The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) on Wednesday called on its members to be on standby as it gears for another round of strike action; this time on a larger scale, if the imposed chairman for the arbitra-tion panel – for the wages dispute between Government and the Union – is not withdrawn. The Chairman of the arbitration panel is Dr Leyland Lucas of the University of Guyana. He was named arbi-trator last week and according to the GTU, they did not agree…
Read MoreFollowing along with 2018 Young Leaders of the Americas
After attending a two-day skill-building conference in Detroit, Michigan, the Guyana YLAIers and their 250 counterparts from all over South America and the Caribbean went to work with a fellowship host company in one of 20 cities across the United States. Chosen to represent Guyana this year are: Jaianan Hirai, co-founder of the A+ Computer Training Cen-ter, Evie Kanhai-Gurchuran, co-founder and CEO of Java Coffee Bar, an artisanal coffee shop in Georgetown and Nigel Anthony Peters, founder of Arcadia Agri, a cultivator of organic fruits and vege-tables in Guyana. The…
Read MoreGuyanese woman pleads guilty to illegally reentering US after deportation
…faces up to 10 years jail A news release from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of New York, has stated that a Guyanese woman, who was deported from the United States just over 20 years ago, is now facing up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to illegally re-entering the country. The Department of Justice has identified the woman as Indrawattie Sookram, 40, who returned to the United States in the very next year after she had been jailed and deported back to Guyana.…
Read MoreFour Guyanese facing drug trafficking charges in New York
…after being busted with cocaine at JFK Several Guyanese are facing drug trafficking charges after they were separately busted at the John F Kennedy (JKF) Airport in New York, United States with cocaine over the past few days. This week, Guyanese business owner Luke Kendall, was nabbed with cocaine pellets in his stomach upon his arrival on September 20, 2018, in the United States. According to reports, Kendall arrived on a flight from Georgetown, Guyana and was subjected to a routine search by immigration agents at the airport. He was…
Read MoreD’ Urban Park: Edghill says no amount of investment can justify “corrupt transaction”
Government has recently announced plans to develop the controversial D’Urban Park into a user-friendly facility that could be the venue for various types of sporting activities, but Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Juan Edghill has said he is totally against the idea, because, from day one, the project has been a corrupt deal. A former Junior Finance Minister, Edghill told Guyana Times International in an interview that the idea being proposed by Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, is aimed at trying to bring some semblance of justification to the existence…
Read MoreRamjattan promises to lobby for salary increases for prison officers
At a time where smuggling of contraband has peaked to its highest in recent days, Public Security Min-ister Khemraj Ramjattan has given his word to increase the salaries of prison officers, in an effort to stamp out corruption in the prisons. The Minister gave this applauded assurance at a recent ceremony at the heels of comments emanat-ing from the Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels. According to Samuels, prison officers are being dis-respected. “For too long the prison officers have not been given the respect they deserve, while the present re-muneration…
Read MoreHome of USA-based Guyanese goes up in flames
An unoccupied house located in Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD), went up in flames early Wednesday morning. The fire started about 05:00h at the Lot 34 Canal Dam, Ann’s Grove residence. According to reports, the house belonged to an 80-year-old pensioner, Elaine Pollard, who is currently in the United States of America (USA). Her two-storey wood and concrete home was left in the care of a fellow villager, Safraz Baksh. The 42-year-old vendor of Main Street, Ann’s Grove, said he was awakened about 05:30h, by a neigh-bour who in-formed…
Read MoreGuarding against electoral fraud
Elections are one of the crucial institutions to ensure the existence – not to mention the functioning — of democracy. Guyanese know this (or should know this) to their cost, since our country was actually birthed through electoral “fiddling” by the British when independence was in sight. The winner of the 1961 elections was supposed to lead an independent Guyana, but when the PPP fulfilled that condi-tion, with pressure from the then US administration of JF Kennedy, the British changed the electoral system to ensure a coalition between the PNC…
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