Author: TIMES INT'L

Guyana records increase in tax collection

TIMES INT'L

The Auditor General’s 2017 report shows while the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has collected more taxes than was anticipated, revenue inclusive of rent and royalties has declined due to lower gold declarations. In the end of year budget and reconciliation report, it noted that the projected revenue for 2017 was G$186 billion. Instead, Government actually collected G$195 billion in current revenue. This includes duties, levy, personal income and withholding taxes. The highest earnings came from the internal revenue category. Personal income tax collection grew by G$2.5 billion. This, according to…

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The ghost of wales market past – a village’s slow demise

TIMES INT'L

“Two packs sausage fuh $500.” “Come get yuh bora, fresh garden bora.” “I got nice tops fuh yuh wife, bai; come buy two.” These are some of the words one would hear on passing through what was once the busiest place on the West Bank of Demerara on Friday. That place was the Wales Market, but now the once-busy area is a ghost town with very few vendors on a Friday. “Right now, what I can tell you, this market is a dead place. Almost everybody stop coming to sell,…

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Guyana’s Top Cop says Police reforms to be visible by March 2019

TIMES INT'L

Commissioner of Police, Leslie James has said that reform of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will be more visible by March 2019. Addressing media operatives at his first press conference since taking the reins of the crime-fighting agency, the Commissioner said, “As you would have recognised, we are deliberately rolling out a plan which flowed from recommendations and by March 2019 there will be a much-reformed Guyana Police Force (GPF). Three broad categories are being dealt with and these are Human Resource Management, Training and Infrastructure.” Accordign to the Department…

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Concerns about elections rigging in Guyana are valid

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor, Only last month, the Leader of the Opposition made a reasonable assumption that Guyanese fears of a rigged election are valid and based on some stark realities which have taken place and are currently taking place. These existing realities that have been affecting our electoral process in recent times have left no doubt in my mind that the People’s National Congress (PNC) has set the stage to attempt to rig the Local Government Elections (LGE) and by extension, the General Election in 2020 and future ones as well.…

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GECOM decision: Darkness at Noon

TIMES INT'L

Darkness at Noon is a 1940 novel by Arthur Koesler about the consolidation of the Soviet dictatorship by Stalin. The title is thought to be an allusion to the unnatural darkness that occurred at midday in the story of Christ’s crucifixion. After months of clear sunshine in Guyana, there were prophetic dark clouds over Georgetown last Thursday when the Appellate Court affirmed President David Granger’s unilateral appointment of the GECOM Chairman, in the absence of the “consensus” with the Opposition Leader, which each of the three Justices conceded, was demanded…

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Ex-cop found guilty of raping 3-yr-old girl

TIMES INT'L

53-year-old Deon Aaron was, on Wednesday, found guilty of raping a 3-year-old relative by a 12 member jury during a trial at the High Court in Guyana. The ex-policeman was unanimously found guilty before Justice Jo Ann Barlow, who delayed sentencing until November 8 until a probation report is supplied. Aaron was charged for raping the child on March 14, 2016, at Friendship Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara, where he engaged in sexual penetration with the child. Reports indicate that Aaron raped the child who was left in his care…

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‘Bring the evidence’

TIMES INT'L

…Jagdeo takes Minister Jordan to task over “drug economy” statement   Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has taken Finance Minister Winston Jordan to task over his statement about the economy pre-May 2015 being heavily based on proceeds of the drug trade, stating that it is just another excuse for Government’s poor performance. Jagdeo told media operatives on Wednesday that Jordan’s statement is highly political and was expecte d, especially since it is the political season that leads to the upcoming Local Government Elections. But the former President noted that the Minister’s…

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PPP/C joined sugar workers in protest for their severance

TIMES INT'L

On Thursday, the PPP/C joined hundreds of sugar workers in protest outside Parliament calling on the APNU+AFC Government to pay the workers their severance. The government, through Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan requested supplementary finances in the sum of G$2.4B to pay the second half of severance due to the more than 3,000 workers made redundant following the re-organisation of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

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Guyana’s Court of Appeal upholds appointment of GECOM Chairman

TIMES INT'L

The appeal case filed by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive Secretary Zulfikar Mustapha challenging the unilateral appointment of retired Justice James Patterson as Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman has been dismissed by two of the three judges presiding over the case. Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and fellow Appeal Court Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud presided over the matter. The PPP was seeking to have the Court reverse the June 2018 High Court ruling by acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, who upheld Justice Patterson’s…

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Merrill Lynch eyes Guyana’s

TIMES INT'L

United States-based international merchant bank, Merrill Lynch, which operates under the auspices of Bank of America, has expressed interest in helping Guyana to set up its Sovereign Wealth Fund (SVF) to manage revenues earned from the emerging oil and gas sector for local development. At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, disclosed that on the sidelines of the recently concluded United Nations (UN) General Assembly he met with a number of agencies including Merrill Lynch, during which they were briefed on the progress and process of…

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