Led by their unions, thousands of sugar workers attached to the Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt Sugar Estates downed tools on Tuesday demanding an increase in their wages. While some remained at their various posts, some picketed the Ministry of Presidency reiterating their calls as they demand that President David Granger intervenes. Speaking at the protest line, President of the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand, stated that the Government ought not to ignore the plight of the workers who are employed by a State-owned enterprise— the Guyana…
Read MoreAuthor: TIMES INT'L
Berbice teen charged for killing ‘drinking buddy’ over raw gold
An 18-year-old was on Wednesday remanded to prison when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to face a murder charge. Nelson Cambridge, a miner of Number 40 Village, West Coast Berbice, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. The charge stated that between November 29 and November 30, 2019 at George Creek, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), he murdered Romel Roberts. Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers stated that on November 29, 2019, the two men were “washing down” the production of the dredge when they found 4.5 pennyweight of raw gold, which they…
Read MoreFrom on high…
…into politics When a big storm is brewing, you can tell ahead of time by the cockroaches streaming out of the ground. With what some have dubbed “the mother of all elections” scheduled in three months, the intensity of the coming political storm can be judged by the number of political players coming out of the woodwork. They can’t be called “political parties”, since none of them has shown that they’ve got ANY following on the ground. All we see are “leaders” gathered in air-conditioned rooms in G/town pontificating on…
Read MoreThe Tradition of Advert
Advent is the period of four Sundays and weeks before Christmas (or sometimes from the 1st December to Christmas Day!). Advent means ‘Coming’ in Latin. This is the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas. There are three meanings of ‘coming’ that Christians describe in Advent. The first, and most thought of, happened about 2000 years ago when Jesus came into the world as a baby to live as a man and die…
Read More“This is critical medicine,” SASOD says ahead of PrEP introduction
By Lakhram Bhagirat Guyana’s premier Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) activist group, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) is starting its own movement in the fight against the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Guyana. SASOD has been advocating for the introduction of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), to the most at-risk group – the LGBT community, for over three years now. However, very little has been done in that time, causing the organisation to start its own movement with the introduction of the critical medicine. SASOD’s Managing Director, Joel…
Read MoreWorld AIDS Day – Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets the immune system weakening the defence system against infections and diseases. As the virus destroys and impairs the function of immune system cells, infected individuals gradually become immunodeficient. Immunodeficiency results in increased susceptibility to a wide range of infections, cancers and other diseases that people with healthy immune systems can fight off. The most advanced stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which can take from 2 to 15 years to develop depending on the individual. AIDS is defined by the development…
Read MoreElections…
…and the PNC Manifesto Miffed that the PPP were first off the blocks with their Manifesto, the PNC petulantly accused the former of cogging from their playbook!! One isn’t sure why the PPP would want to do that, since the few accomplishments the PNC coalition managed to scrape together were all PPP-conceived projects they inherited. Like the CJIA and ECD/WCD highways. And even then, they managed to screw up the airport by conspiring with the Chinese company to fob off a shoddy makeover, rather than a new, modern structure. Like…
Read More26-yr-old jailed for 3 years for stealing woman’s underwear, cash
Twenty-six-year-old Yudhister Samjawan of 158 Third Street, Alexander Village, Georgetown, who was accused of breaking and entering a woman’s home and stealing a pair of her underwear, along with a cellphone and cash appeared before Senior Magistrate, Dylon Bess in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. The charge read that on October 4, 2019, at West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, the taxi driver broke into the dwelling house of Yanti Stephens and stole one phone valued G$35,000, a pair of female underwear valued G$400 and G$50,000, belonging to Yanti Stephens. The Police prosecutor told…
Read MorePresident says “Iwokrama must change to survive”
Reflecting on the floods, savannah fires, depleted forests and contaminated waters that presently pervade Guyana, President David Granger has opined that the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation must change if it was to survive the coming decades. He shared this position during the 30th anniversary of the organisation, which manages one million hectares of Guyana’s rainforest, set aside particularly for preservation. Speaking at the ceremony at the Umana Yana, Georgetown on Saturday evening, Granger stated that Guyana’s biodiversity was more precious than the boon of oil and must be…
Read MoreFormer SOCU boss being investigated over missing confiscated gold, cash
Embattled Assistant Police Commissioner Sydney James, the former Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), is now under further Police investigation following instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chambers. This was confirmed by acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston on Wednesday. Kingston explained that the file pertaining to James had been sent to DPP Senior Counsel Shalimar Ali-Hack by the Police some time ago. Kingston noted that the Police have, as a consequence, been asked to do some more investigations. While Kingston was tight-lipped on the details of…
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