Year: 2017

Hindu Heritage Camp Empowers Youths

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The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) Guyana, which translates to Hindus for Selfless Service, is a non-profit and non-government organisation that has been empowering youths for over two decades. One way HSS seeks to empower youths is through its camps. Since 1996, the same year the organisation was founded, HSS has been conducting camps all across Guyana. One of the camps conducted, Hindu Heritage Camp, is held every three months at various locations in Guyana. The last camp was held in April 2017 at Hague Hindu Temple, which saw about 65…

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Ms Renaissance pageant exemplifies womanhood – President

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President David Granger on Wednesday recognised the Ms Renaissance Pageant as one that exemplifies not only womanhood but the sanctity of motherhood, individuality, and the achievements of women. The Head of State made these remarks during a courtesy call by the contestants of the Ms Renaissance 2017 Pageant at State House. The Head of State said that given the level of interpersonal violence in the country, the Pageant reinforced the need for women to be more respected in society. “I do hope that pageants like this one could help to…

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Conclave…

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…of coalition comrades The long-awaited meeting of the Executive Council of APNU finally met for the first time in TWO years – in effect, the first time since they slid into office. Your Eyewitness wondered who were invited to this conclave of the much-touted “terrific ten” that had launched their “coalition” back in 2011. There would’ve been, of course, the PNC, the WPA, the National Front Alliance (NFA), the Guyana Action Party (GAP) and the Justice for All Party (JFAP). But were the other five political parties and civil society…

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Why is such a huge investment in Guyana’s economy being made to eventually fail?

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Dear Editor, I am a firm believer that the private sector in every country must be the engine of growth and development, and this must be facilitated by an enabling environment created for the most part by governments. Guyana is no exception. I am currently in Guyana, and was on Saturday given a tour of the Sleep Inn hotel and casino on Church Street by Mr Clifton Bacchus, the owner. I had never met Mr Bacchus before, nor was I aware of the principal(s) in the Sleep Inn investment. However,…

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Granger inherited a stable economy and is making a mess of it

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Dear Editor, No proper historian can doubt that the most difficult economic years for the ordinary man in post-independence Guyana were during the last years of Forbes Burnham, during the period 1984 to 1985. Unfortunately for Desmond Hoyte, he was given the unenviable task of leading the turnaround of the economy post-1985. Significantly, he chose the “Economic Recovery Program” as his tool to assert his leadership, and eventually, by 1991, did turn around the economy. We have to remember that the economy did not grow at all during the last…

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Govt stubbornly refuses to release ExxonMobil contract

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Dear Editor, Many persons have been calling on the Government of Guyana to release the full text of the Production Sharing Agreement with ExxonMobil and its partners, but the Government has refused consistently to publish this document. The previous PPP/C Administrations of former Presidents Janet Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar also failed to disclose it and kept it secret since June 1999. So, in a sense, they are all the same. At the GYEITI ‘Outreach’, held at the Marian Academy on July 20, 2017, this question was again put…

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The Old Man’s Waterfall

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By Odeen Ishmael Once upon a time, there was a little village on the Potaro River, just above the huge waterfall now known as Kaieteur. In that same region was a large stretch of grassland where several animals like deer and anteaters lived. Near the village too, the people cultivated farms of cassava, sweet potatoes, corn and green vegetables. During that period, an old man named Kaie lived in the village. As a young man, Kaie was a hard worker, a clever hunter, and a skilled fisherman. Even though farming…

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Guyanese Diaspora in the US could help secure free and fair elections come 2020

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Dear Editor, A handful of overseas-based Guyanese assisted in the struggle for free and fair elections in Guyana during the 1970s thru 1992, when the country held its first democratic election after independence. An appeal is being made to the diaspora to help secure a fair election in 2020. The group of freedom fighters who led the overseas struggle for democratic elections is no longer enthusiastic to lead, or even join, the campaign for an election that is free and fair and free from fear, which is due by 2020,…

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High drama in Court as PI begins into Berbice carpenter’s murder

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The teenager who is the key witness against murder accused Marcus Bisram in the Faiyaz Narinedatt murder trial and who was poisoned turned up at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, but before he could take the stand, he had to leave for medical reasons. As the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) was about to commence, an attorney was also arrested by the Police for trying to interfere with the course of justice in what could be described as a day of high drama. Attorney-at-Law Chandra Sohan was taken into custody after…

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‘Years of High Hopes’

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The Shaping of Guyanese Literature By Petamber Persaud Extract of an interview with Dorothy Irwin, Georgetown, Guyana, March 2017. Ms Irwin compiled and edited the book “Years of High Hopes: A portrait of British Guiana, 1952-1956” from family letters, mostly written by her mother.PP: Guyana is a relatively young nation, but its history is tied to the history of other countries, countries which at one time or the other had a say in its affairs. Our literary history is also tied to the literary history of other countries. The history…

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