…President says in response to Bar Association’s call for current Chancellor, CJ confirmation President David Granger last week dismissed calls made by the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) for the confirmation of acting Chancellor, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and acting Chief Justice Roxane George. The Head of State was at the time fielding questions from media operatives about the appointment of a Chancellor, saying he went through the constitutional process and recommended the appointment of Justice Kenneth Benjamin as Chancellor but Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, whose approval is needed for a substantive…
Read MoreAuthor: TIMES INT'L
2020 Elections: PNC leadership appears lethargic and incompetent
Dear Editor, I must advise at the outset that even though the PPP is still run by an Executive Committee in between Congresses, it is my observed view that the post-1992 PPP leaders have no desire to take Guyana to any communist or socialist system. So what is it that they are trying to promote? It is my observed view that they are hell bent on completing the hundreds of necessary deals to uplift the lives of the Guyanese people economically after failing under the Ramotar term. Deals like completing…
Read MoreVictims’ families lost confidence in Police investigation
…Attorney Hughes tells Lindo Creek CoI Attorney Nigel Hughes told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the 2008 Lindo Creek massacre that the victims’ families lost all confidence in the Police Force’s investigative capabilities after independent forensic services were denied. The CoI heard that following news of the Lindo Creek massacre, the mining camp’s owner, Leonard Arokium, retained the services of Attorney Nigel Hughes to ensure that a proper investigation was done since the families of the victims were suspicious of the Joint Services’ involvement in the incident. When Hughes…
Read MoreNew York duo charged for smuggling birds from Guyana
Two New York City men were arrested on Wednesday at John F Kennedy International Airport and charged for illegally smuggling Finches from Guyana, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said, according to an ABC News report. The article published on Wednesday detailed that 26 of the birds were found stuffed in hair curlers and placed in the socks of the defendants, identified as Victor Benjamin, 72, of Brooklyn and Insaf Ali, 57, of the Bronx, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York. “My investigation has revealed…
Read MoreLethem Industrial Estate likely to become operational by next year – Gaskin
Business Minister Dominic Gaskin conducted a site visit to the Lethem Industrial Estate while he was in the border town over the weekend. Construction of the facility, which is located on the outskirts of Lethem in Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo), is right on schedule and, once completed, will be a stimulus for many of the entrepreneurs within Lethem and the wider Region Nine area. Minister Gaskin, who also has the responsibility for tourism, pointed out that a business incubator is being established to give small businesses an outlet where…
Read MoreNandlall takes Govt to task over Exxon contract
…says agreement contradicts Minister, prohibits impromptu visits Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall is taking the Government to task for its utterances regarding its right to make impromptu visits to ExxonMobil’s operations, noting that the contract it signed with the oil giant prohibited this. Recently, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman was quoted in sections of the media saying that impromptu visits would still be carried out. Nandlall, in a statement on Monday, however, dismissed this as absurd. “How does Minister Trotman conceive the Government making impromptu visits to the oil operations…
Read MoreOne own’s drummer
By Ravi Dev Last Saturday was Ram Naumi, the celebration of the birthday of Sri Ram, the seventh incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu. I returned to my boyhood Mandir at Uitvlugt because it insists on following the prescribed time line of the sacred appearance of Ram at 12 noon precisely. It brought back memories of fervent debates as to how we could practice Hinduism after what we would later understand as the “hegemonisation” imposed on us during the colonial period – and which was still glaringly obvious in the late 1960’s.…
Read MoreJury empaneled to hear case against EBD man accused of murdering wife in 2014
Vindra Siriram on Tuesday denied murdering the mother of his three children, Shelly Ann Persaud, at their Friendship, East Bank Demerara home in June of 2014. The woman was found with her head in a bucket of water but when Siriram appeared before Justice James Bovell-Drakes at the High Court, he entered a not guilty plea. As such, a 12-member jury was empaneled to hear the case. The State’s indictment read that Siriram committed the act between June 9 and 10, 2014. In September 2014, Vindra Siriram was committed to…
Read More‘Do not let excitement about oil deflect us from the attention to Agriculture’
…warns UG Vice Chancellor Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Professor Ivelaw Griffith has urged that Guyanese not lose sight of the important role agriculture continues to play, even as the oil and gas sector comes to the fore. According to a DPI release, he made the comment recently while indicating the university’s plan to inaugurate a pilot Institute of Food and Nutrition and Security. The University of Guyana has organised a feasibility team to seek out the possibility of establishing the institute and has already received a US$50,000…
Read MoreGuySuCo to rehire over 1000 workers
…as divestment plans continue to take shape While it remains impossible for everyone to be re-employed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), there are immediate plans to rehire some 1200 workers in various categories at the remaining estates. This disclosure was made by Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited’s (NICIL’s) Special Purpose Unit (SPU), Colvin Heath-London, who told this newspaper in an exclusive interview that this move is being made as the divestment plans continue to take shape. “The SPU operations, in conjunction with GuySuCo, will be…
Read More