Year: 2017

“It was a waste of time”

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…Ram says of meeting with Govt officials regarding VAT on private education Social activist and Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram has accused the Government of giving parents a raw deal on the recent Value Added Tax (VAT) on education consultation, and it was a total waste of time. Ram, who joined stakeholders in another protest held outside the Education Ministry’s Brickdam office on Wednesday, said the people who attended felt disrespected. The outspoken lawyer told Guyana Times International that he had no hope that the Government would make any changes even though…

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The judiciary is supposed to be an independent arm of the State

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Dear Editor, It is ironic that the conduct of the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs in Justice Holder’s Court took place during the hearing of the suspension of the holder of an independent constitutional office by the President acting on the advice of his next in command, Prime Minister Moses Nagamoottoo. It is public knowledge that the President allegedly called in Carvil Duncan, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, a member of the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission. He admitted demanding his resignation from these…

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A guideline for Minister Gaskin

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Dear Editor, The recent article “No guidelines in place to avoid abuse – Gaskin” illustrates a lot of the problems that the Coalition Government has gotten itself and Guyana into with the fantasies it promulgated to the public about billions of dollars of corruption in the way Guyana had been grown and developed and jobs created during the twenty-three years of PPP/C in office. Minister Gaskin recognizes an important role for “Public-Private-Partnerships” but laments that there are no guidelines to avoid abuse. Were it not for he and his Government’s…

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Education is now significantly more expensive and harder to access in Guyana

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Dear Editor, I am appalled to learn that the tuition fees for University of Guyana (UG) students will increase by 35 per cent over the coming three years. This is yet another assault on education. Since the beginning of the Governments’ term, there has been an unrelenting attack on education in Guyana. In less than two years, education is now significantly more expensive and harder to access. This goes against the utterances of promotion of education and, instead, aims at reducing the country’s already limited human capital. This assault has…

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Drug shortages should not be looked at as a political problem

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Dear Editor, The shortage of drugs and medical supplies is a matter of life and death, and not just a political problem, as some may want to believe. (Earlier this week), we at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition were confronted with this reality in a very direct way. Two children, juvenile diabetics (Type 1, diabetics who have been on insulin all their lives, and who will always be on insulin) travelled with their mother from Lima Sands, Essequibo Coast to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), only…

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Conflict arises over SARU’s role in high-profile tax-related investigations

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The State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) has been accused of taking over the functions of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) with its ongoing moves to carry out investigations into the tax operations of businesses in the city. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday had said that the Unit, which was yet to have its bill passed in the National Assembly, has been acting illegally as it has sent a list of names of persons building high-rise structures in the country to the GRA. But questioned about this on Wednesday, SARU’s…

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Armed bandits rob paint company employees

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Two employees attached to Automotive Arts on Croal Street, Georgetown were on Wednesday relieved of a bag containing close to G$1 million in cash by two armed men. The incident occurred just after 13:00h. The workers, according to reports, had just returned from a commercial bank and as they exited their motor car, a black car pulled up alongside them and stopped. As the black car came to a halt, one man who was carrying a hand gun exited and grabbed the bag that contained the money. The gunman then…

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Child rights activist calls for child sexual abuse cases to be expedited

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Commissioner on the Child Rights Commission, Nicole Cole wants to see child abuse cases move expeditiously through the justice system. Cole told Guyana Times International in an exclusive interview on Sunday that cases concerning a child complainant in sexual abuse matters particularly, should be heard within a reasonable time. “When these cases are delayed, often for years, those children are re-victimised by not being able to put the matter behind them, and by having to rehash the facts many years later,” she insisted. Cole pointed out that there were cases…

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The national discourse on Constitutional reform

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With a national discourse hopefully opening up on constitutional reform in Guyana, against a background of accusations of subversion of our Judiciary for political ends by the Executive, the mechanism of “separation of powers” needs to be relooked at in general, and in reference to the Judiciary, in particular. While the doctrine was first enunciated in the middle of the 18th Century by the Frenchman Montesquieu, it was given life in the first written Constitution of a nation – that of the 13 colonies that rebelled against the tyranny of…

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Opposition ups call for AG Williams to apologise to Justice Holder

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…as debate on controversial SARA Bill commences Kicking off the debate on the controversial State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) Bill, in the National Assembly on Thursday, was Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams. However, on standing to speak, the AG faced calls by Opposition Parliamentarians for him to apologise to Justice Franklin Holder – the judge involved in Williams’ latest public debacle. “Apologise to Holder! Apologise to Holder! were the chants from the Opposition benches. The Leader of the Opposition, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had previously suggested that…

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