Year: 2018

Keep religion out of the schools

TIMES INT'L

Every morning at Queen’s College, I started my day with a recitation of the Lord’s prayer. A Christian prayer, prior to my attendance at Queen’s College I had not been exposed to. It always bothered me then, and it continues to bother me now that a public school, run by the Government of Guyana, a State which claims to be secular, practiced such a thing. Personally, I believe that in public schools, there should be a complete separation of religion and education. What aggravates me is that when this is…

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Guyana establishes support group for Venezuelans seeking refuge

TIMES INT'L

A new group, deemed the Venezuela Support Group (VSG), has been established in Guyana to provide advice and assistance to Venezuelans seeking refuge from the deprivations and insecurity currently gripping their homeland. A release from the Human Rights Association on Saturday stated that the VSG, consisting of eight civic and faith-based organizations, was assembled to establish possible partnerships with the Ministry of Citizenship in regard to the above situation. The founding members of the VSG include the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Guyana Institute for Transparency…

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Multiculturalism and Politics

TIMES INT'L

The PNC-led Government insists that “multiculturalism” is the order of the day; but, upon closer examination, its pronouncements go little farther than glibly announcing that “we’ve arrived from various parts of the globe, bringing our ‘cultures’ with us”. Its “multicultural policies” go little farther than encouraging us to “express our culture” at various stipulated times of the year. This expression is typically confined to food, music and clothes. Is this what multiculturalism is really all about? Essentially, the notion of multiculturalism includes three premises. Firstly, that we are each born…

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Keeping NCDs on the national development agenda

TIMES INT'L

The issue of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the impact it is having on countries has always been a matter of concern for governments and international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations and others. It has always been said that too many people are dying prematurely and urgent actions must be taken to prevent these deaths. According to the WHO, of all the major health threats that have emerged over the years, none has challenged the very foundations of public health so profoundly as the rise of…

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Court orders State to hand over forensic audit reports

TIMES INT'L

…or charges will be quashed High Court Judge, Justice Navindra Singh on Tuesday ordered the State to hand over a copy of the Forensic Audit report within five days, otherwise a permanent stay of prosecution will be granted against former Deputy General Manager of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), Madanlall Ramraj. Back in May 2017, Ramraj along with former GRDB General Manager, Jagnarine Singh, were jointly charged with 17 counts of omitting to enter true entries of over G$4.2 million into the company’s ledger, knowing that it was contrary…

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Berbice man hammers wife, daughter to death

TIMES INT'L

…then hangs self An East Bank Berbice man was on Wednesday morning found hanging from a rafter under an abandoned house at Glasgow Village, moments after he killed his wife and daughter. The double murder was witnessed by the couple’s 11-year-old son. Dead are Dindamattie Behari, 37, a housewife; her daughter Surujdai Khan, 20; and their killer, Jainarine Seetaram, 41, also called “Radoo” all of Lot 1078 Glasgow, New Housing Scheme, Greater New Amsterdam, Berbice. Behari’s body was found in a hammock, while her daughter died on her way to…

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Rodney’s ideas and knowledge are not lost

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor, June 13 marks the death anniversary of Guyana’s dear son, Walter Rodney. It is with great sadness that we are not more aware of his great work on the global stage, and more so for bringing a solution for racial unity in Guyana at a time when no one else was able to do so then and now. Rodney understood and empathized with the poor and disenfranchised of the world, and defined with great detail and intellect how the world system works to keep people in poverty. His…

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President refuses to budge on Chancellor, CJ appointments

TIMES INT'L

President David Granger on Wednesday confirmed his unwillingness to confirm the two judges who have been acting in the capacity of Chief Justice and Chancellor respectively since last year, as he declared that he was sticking with his original nominees for those posts even though they have been rejected by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. The Guyana Constitution does not allow the President to confirm a substantive Chief Justice or Chancellor without the agreement of the holder of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. President Granger on Wednesday continued…

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Mae’s teacher adds salt to wound

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor, Please allow me a space in your newspaper to vent my anger at a Mae’s Secondary School teacher who teaches Social Studies and Business Education. This teacher decided to argue in favour of his place of employment via social media on May 28th. The incident involved a nine-year-old pupil at the institution being prevented from attending class in full traditional Amerindian wear during a Culture Day. The teacher clearly has limited knowledge of the clothing of our indigenous people. Thus, absolute ignorance! I am deeply sadden by a…

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Let’s be…

TIMES INT'L

…who we are Your Eyewitness is pleased as punch that Guyana’s first Gay Pride Parade came off without any confrontation between the LGBT marchers and the Neanderthal Tribe that evidently still survives in Guyana!! Islam takes about the hardest line based on some of the same passages that are cited by the Neanderthals, yet Pakistan, as staunch a Muslim country as could be and created as the land of the “pure” – along with India and Bangladesh, created a “third” gender category to accommodate folks who just don’t fit in…

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