In light of delays in the Marcus Bisram case, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan says it is embarrassing that the State is not ready to prosecute the extradited murder accused, who is charged with orchestrating the murder of a 26-year-old carpenter in 2016. When the case was called up at the Whim Magistrate’s Court, the prosecution indicated that it is not fully prepared to move ahead with the case. The matter was then adjourned to December 9 for the prosecution to submit all files relating to the matter. But on…
Read MoreYear: 2019
US analyst finds SOCU focuses too much on PPP officials, politicians
In his analysis on Guyana’s geopolitical state and its security, United States analyst and author, Dr Evan Ellis, has documented the fact that persons have complained about the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and its witch hunt against People’s Progressive Party members. According to Ellis, in his publication Journals of America, 3rd edition, SOCU was originally formed as one of the highest-profile elements of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to investigate persons who were flagged by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). “SOCU has been criticised, however (particularly by the PPP),…
Read MoreJagdeo talks up opportunities for youth in a PPP Govt
Contrary to the coalition Government, which is dominated by senior citizens at the top of the hierarchy, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is assuring that his party, if elected into Government, will propel youths into positions that will allow their dynamism to bring about real change. Jagdeo was at the time being interviewed on the radio show “Hot Seat” by radio host Curtis Armstrong, popularly known as “DJ Casual” when it was pointed out that the majority of the voting population are youths. “We have always kept our promise to young…
Read MoreProbe continues into rape of 6-yr-old boy
…parents call for perpetrators to be removed from school In light of reports that a 6-year-old pupil of an East Coast Demerara Primary School was sodomised by older boys in the school’s washroom, the parents have come out in solidarity and called for the removal of the perpetrators. The parents turned up in their numbers in front of the school’s premises and voiced their concerns by expressing fear for their children attending the school, where the alleged attack occurred. One parent stated that her child was cut with a razor…
Read MoreSugar workers kept Guyana economically alive during turbulent 1970s and 1980s
Dear Editor, We need big structural changes in Guyana that create new value and we need a grassroots movement to get it done. This is what Team Granger does not understand – they are economically destructive rather than value creative. What Team Granger did to the sugar belt was a failure to do three vital things: improve operations; effectively tap the potential value of the human beings in the industry, and finally, unleash the potential of the assets. The sugar industry in Guyana is a “country within a country” and…
Read MoreScapegoating sugar
Because of its ethnicised workforce due to historical circumstances, the sugar industry has been used by the People’s National Congress (PNC) as a trope for accusing the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of making decisions based on political or racial considerations, to favour its traditional base. The decision to embark on the Skeldon Modernisation Project, which included a new factory, has been severely criticised by the PNC when in Opposition, conveniently ignoring that the project was approved by all stakeholders including the World Bank (as a lender) and the European Union…
Read MoreDuo to face High Court trial over plot to kill businessman
The proprietor of Rocky’s Hotel and his alleged hired ‘hitman’ who were jointly charged for conspiring to murder a businessman in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) were on Monday committed to stand trial at the Demerara High Court after a prima facie case was made out against them. Fifty-seven-year-old Mark Grimmond, of Grove Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD), and Chatterpaul Singh, a 36-year-old miner of First Street, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD), were charged with the offence on June 13, 2019. It is alleged that between April…
Read MoreExposing
…PNC’s panic Even without the benefit of all the fancy-schmancy psychological verbiage that’s thrown around so glibly nowadays, even five hundred years ago, they’d figured out that when you jump up and down carrying on about something you insist ain’t true, you’re just confessing that, in fact, it IS so!! “Methinks thou protest too much,” said the Bard!! So when the PNC issues an official but hysterical press release about a report in an online news portal that headlined: “PPP ‘likely’ to win next elections” is flawed, you know that…
Read MoreRoad carnage claims over 115 lives in Guyana so far for 2019
With just over three weeks remaining for 2019, the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has already recorded 115 road deaths throughout the country, a figure that surpasses the total number of road fatalities for the entire 2018. Traffic Chief, Superintendent Linden Isles told Guyana Times International last Saturday that for last year, there were 92 deaths recorded from a total of 79 accidents while in 2019 to date, 98 accidents claimed the lives of 115 persons. On December 3, 18-year-old cyclist Deshon Morris lost his life while…
Read MoreOpposition maintains Housing Minister is ‘lying’ about house lots allocation
Hours after Junior Communities Minister Annette Ferguson denied that she was not the holder of three house lots, the Opposition – People’s Progressive Party (PPP) – has called her out for lying on the issue. In photos and videos shared on social media, the minister’s sprawling mansion sits on a huge plot of land. This also led to questions about her meteoric rise in wealth in just a couple years as minister. Ferguson called a press conference on Tuesday morning, inviting only a selected group of media houses, where she…
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