With bonuses for sugar workers in doubt and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) missing targets, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder has noted that the Corporation is so cash-strapped that paying sugar workers a bonus may not be possible. In an interview with this publication on the sidelines of an event, Holder acknowledged that sugar workers are supposed to be able to get their bonuses once sugar production targets are met. However, he also noted that GuySuCo’s cash-flow woes could be a deciding factor. “The incentives are built-in. But GuySuCo doesn’t have…
Read MoreAuthor: TIMES INT'L
The Burgeoning Jonestown Bookshelf
(Extract of a conversation with Laura Johnston Kohl and Jordan Vilchez, Guyana, March 2018, both are back in Guyana on the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown episode. Kohl has already published one book on Jonestown with another forthcoming while Vilchez is preparing two books for young adults.) PP No one book can account for a people’s history. Parts of our history are still stored in diaries and memoires and in foreign archives. However, sometimes we are fortunate to have people who are still alive and in our midst and to…
Read MoreGuyana Golden Lives Organization tacking Children’s Grief
The Guyana Golden Lives Organization (GGLO) is inviting you to join in observing Children’s Grief Awareness Day on November 21, 2019. As a not-for-profit organization that provides support to bereaved children in Guyana, GGLO will be organizing a series of activities to draw attention to issues involving childhood loss and the need for special support services for bereaved children. To mark this special day, GGLO invites the members of the public to wear a blue ribbon or item of blue clothing, as this is the colour dedicated to the cause.…
Read MoreGECOM fails to reach consensus on H2H data following ‘marathon’ meeting
In what was described as a ‘marathon’ meeting on Wednesday afternoon at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Commissioners would have left the discussions with inconclusive decisions on a number of discoursed topics – including that of the House-to-House Registration data. After exiting the five-hour-long deliberations at the Kingston, Georgetown headquarters, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj expressed that they could not reach a consensus on the usage of the House-to-House data – a process which was halted since August 31. This is even though Chairperson Retired Justice Claudette Singh had prophesied a…
Read MoreTroy Resources sends almost 400 workers packing
After days of uncertainty on the way forward, Australian mining company Troy Resources has taken a decision to dismiss almost 400 workers, a month after it suspended major parts of its operations following the death of one of its employees. According to an internal memo that was circulated, workers who were initially sent off were told that they would be released by the company as of this week and paid their severance by Friday, November 22. “The Board has thus decided that all personnel currently stood down will be terminated…
Read More159 children placed into foster care homes in Guyana thus far in 2019
One hundred and fifty-nine (159) children were placed into foster care while 37 were adopted thus far for 2019. This was disclosed during an interview with Senior Probation and Social Services Officer Monique Meusa as the Social Protection Ministry and Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) observe foster care month under the theme “every child deserves a champion: become a mentor or foster parent today”. Every year, November is set aside for this celebration. With respect to foster care, the Social Protection Ministry has developed a national alternative care policy for…
Read MoreTough times for families of sacked sugar workers in Guyana
…children forced to find odd jobs to support schooling Ever since the Wales Sugar Estate closed – leaving thousands of workers without jobs, many of their children are now forced to find odd jobs around the community to offset expenses for their schooling. During a visit to the village last Saturday, parents who were sent home from the sugar industry indicated that it was very difficult to send their children to school, owing to transportation expenses and other supplementary spending for textbooks and studying materials. One parent, who gave her…
Read MoreMan gets life sentence for murdering uncle
After being found guilty for the brutal murder of his uncle back in 2017, 29-year-old Dwayne Tappin was on Monday handed a life sentence when he made his final appearance for the presentation of his probation report. The murder convict had initially pleaded not guilty to the capital offence of murder when his trial commenced last month. However, a 12-member jury unanimously found him guilty of the indictment on October 18, 2019, which had stated that on August 6, 2017, in the county of Demerara, he murdered 51-year-old Randolph Seenauth,…
Read MoreDenouncing dictatorial rule
The dictatorship that Burnham created did not creep up on the Guyanese people in the dead of the night but was constructed, brick by brick, in the brightness of day. It started when he decided in 1967 that he would rig the 1968 elections. His junior coalition partner, Peter D’Aguiar of the United Force, had protested Burnham’s unilateral actions, especially to subvert the Ministry of Finance, headed by himself. Deciding he would not become the PNC’s handmaiden to destroy democracy, D’Aguiar left the Government in late 1967 and denounced Burnham’s…
Read MoreHospitals in Guyana to use new device to reduce maternal, child deaths
More than 40 midwives from both the private and public sectors benefited from a training programme hosted by the Public Health Ministry and the Midwives Association. The programme, which brought together practitioners from the 10 administrative regions of Guyana, was aimed at preparing nurses and midwives for cases of postpartum haemorrhage (bleeding after childbirth). At the event, held at the Guyana Nurses Association (GNA), facilitator Dr Narine Singh explained that one-third of the country’s maternal deaths were a result of postpartum haemorrhaging, something that the public health sector has been…
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