Year: 2017

An East Bank Demerara (EDB) man, who allegedly drove his motorcycle in a dangerous manner and reportedly caused the death of his reputed wife, who was his pillion rider at the time, was on Wednesday charged and appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. Lawrence McGarrell, 24, of Lot 66 Golden Grove, EBD appeared before the Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan and Magistrate Sunil Scarce to answer to the seven charges brought against him. He pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on July 23, 2017 at Providence Public Road,…

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Scores of persons gathered at the Lyken Funeral Parlour on Norton Street, Newburg, Georgetown on Tuesday to mourn the loss and pay their final respects to prison officer Odinga Wickham, who succumbed after being shot by a prisoner while on duty during the July 9 Camp Street Prison riot and fire. Among those gathered to pay their respects to the deceased was embattled Director of Prisons (ag), Gladwin Samuels. He was hailed as a hero by his colleagues and friends. Relatives of the dead prison officer were in tears as…

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By Samuel Sukhnandan In light of Guyana being named as one of two countries that have the highest mortality for premature cardiovascular disease and diabetes in the Americas, former Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that this may be as a result of Government abandoning the Non-Communicable Diseases (NDC) Strategy, which was formulated and implemented during his time as Minister. The former Minister believes that Guyana is not doing enough to fight against the NCDs, although there was an NCD strategy in the years 2003-2008 and again in the…

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Despite the Coalition Government’s continuous presentation of early budgets, the rate of Government spending remains woefully short, so much so that Finance Minister Winston Jordan has admitted that Government is more than 30 per cent behind in its Public Sector investment. The Minister made this admission during the opening of the Finance Ministry’s Budget 2018 preparation and sensitisation training workshop on Monday. According to the Minister, at the end of June 2017, less than 30 per cent of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) had been expended. Jordan cautioned the…

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…focuses on reducing prison population, youth detention With the aim of reducing the population within the local prison system, Trinidadian expert Peter Pursglove, SC, has returned for a second round of consultations this week in an effort to garner the relevant information and data to complete a study on alternatives to pre-trial detention. Pursglove was contracted under the Government of Guyana and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP). The consultant is currently meeting with a number of senior Government functionaries, members of the Judiciary and magistracy, technical…

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Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, said that the forestry sector brought in an estimated US$19M in the first half of 2017 adding that it is significantly less owing to the fact that one of the major exporters no longer operates in the industry. Trotman explained that the sector is going relatively well and that they are on target to bring in good earnings from foreign exchange. He added emphasis is now “on sustainable development, sustainable use of our forest so Guyanese can expect less logs being shipped out.” The minister…

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