Category: News

Self-confessed ‘Bishop’, Joseph Persaud who was late last year accused of raping one of his female church members was on Tuesday slapped with a rape charge and taken before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. The 37-year-old man, of Lot 62 Avenue A, New Scheme, Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD), was arraigned for raping a 23-year-old woman when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. In court on Tuesday, he was granted G$350,000 bail. As a condition of bail, he was required to surrender his passport to the court and stay 50…

President David Granger, as leader of the Government of Guyana, is ultimately responsible for re-negotiating the contract with ExxonMobil – a contract which will see Guyana missing out on earning well in excess of US$10 billion more, or over GS$2 trillion Guyana dollars more in revenue. This article is the first in a series of articles which would seek to identify how Guyana lost out in the re-negotiated contract with ExxonMobil, and in so doing, argues that this is the consequence of the APNU-AFC government’s determination to “go it alone”…

The Guyana Government said on Wednesday that it was unaware that legal action had been filed by a private citizen in the country’s top court with the aim of compelling it to deposit the signing bonus it received from US oil giant ExxonMobil into the Consolidated Fund. The action was filed on behalf of Troy Thomas by Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram in the High Court. Thomas is the current Head of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Incorporated (TIGI), Transparency International’s local arm. He wants the court to grant orders directing Finance…

Two men held in connection with the death of the Brazilian miner who was found murdered in February of 2016 at Fish Creek, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) was on Tuesday taken before the Bartica Magistrate’s Court slapped with a murder charge. Phillip and Fidel Williams were not required to plead to the capital charge which stated that on February 9, 2016, they murdered Naldinho DeCosta Souza. They were both remanded to prison and were scheduled to return to court on January 10. Reports are DeCosta Souza’s throat was slit…

The Centre of Excellence in Information Technology, an advanced Information and Communications Technology (ICT) training school is expected to be commissioned March 2018 at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen campus. The Centre will provide training that “bridges the gap between the Public and Private Sector,” Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes explained in a recent interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI). “We have several individuals in the Public Sector that need retraining and constant upgrading to skills, but also it provides training that the Private Sector needs.” According to…

…Gaskin says of Exxon contract As part of the new agreement signed with U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil, the Natural Resources Minister will have to file the company’s tax returns with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), something outspoken political analyst and economist Ramon Gaskin has described as “foolish!” According to Gaskin, this agreement which the Government signed on to makes the Government look silly in the eyes of many, and only puts the Minister (Raphael Trotman) in a bad situation, where he has now become the oil company’s “water boy”, who…

In discussing several challenges faced in 2017 at the Public Infrastructure Ministry, Coordinator of the Works Services Group (WSG), Geoffrey Vaughn has said that one of the greatest challenges was attracting experienced personnel for most of the major projects. The WSG Head explained that while there was in excess of 500 plus contractors who would have been prequalified for works to be done by the Ministry, this issue kept arising throughout the year. This, according to him, is also one of the main reasons for many of the public contracts…

By Shemuel Fanfair One month after a transfer that saw him answerable to the Commander of A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara), the tenure of replaced Substantive Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum remains uncertain as it was indicated that there was no change in his position. Acting Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine had first tied Blanhum’s transfer to the “arrangements” that were in place for the Christmas season, observing that his “reposting” was not without precedent. Now that 2018 has commenced, Guyana Times International sought to ascertain whether or not the former…

In what could be called an ongoing project, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown has commenced a G$150M restoration exercise of the Le Repentir Cemetery. The project which commenced late last year is part of a wider strategy to sustainably restore the city of Georgetown. According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), Town Clerk Royston King said that the Council is taking an aggressive approach to ensure the thorough restoration of the area. “We have hired under the emergency clause of the Act, a contractor with the…