Category: News

By Svetlana Marshall   As Guyana battles with a high rate of teenage pregnancy, the head of a leading reproductive health agency is calling for safe sex and contraception to be taught in schools. Recently, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) disclosed that Guyana has the second highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in both the Caribbean and South America. It is estimated that 96 out of every 1000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth, according to the State of the World Population 2013 Report. With a…

Read More

Despite political opposition to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project, works commenced on the runway some two weeks ago, the airport said Monday evening. According to the CJIA, the contractor China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is “tackling a trial section in the Timehri North area (beyond the localiser)”. “I know we had some hiccups, but I am happy to see works have commenced for this transformational project,” Public Works and Transportation Minister  Robeson Benn told CHEC technicians during a visit to the site on October 31. At the…

Read More

Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr Nicole Giles last week paid a courtesy call on opposition leader, retired Brigadier David Granger, at his Hadfield Street, Georgetown office. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) members of Parliament, Deborah Backer, Joseph Harmon and Ronald Bulkan were also in attendance. According to an APNU release, the high commissioner took the opportunity to reaffirm her country’s commitment to programmes related to her government and the government of Guyana. Among the many things discussed was the restructuring of the Canadian Foreign Trade Ministry. The high…

Read More

The Organisation of American States (OAS) opened on Tuesday at its headquarters in Washington, DC, the Youth Conference of the Americas, with the participation of OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, and Panamanian First Lady Marta Linares de Martinelli. They all spoke of the important contribution young people make to the development of the nations of the hemisphere. Secretary General Insulza welcomed the attendees and panellists, and stressed the importance of the meeting and the need for governments to provide the means to ensure that…

Read More

The ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/ C) said it is deeply concerned about Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire gag order on the Guyana Times newspaper regarding reporting issues pertaining to the operations of Guyana Stores from the company’s audited financial statements. Noting that some of the matters are not even relevant to a case pending in the court, the PPP/ C said the information which the newspaper is prohibited from publishing concerns the proceeds from a sale of a state asset, Guyana Stores Limited, which are therefore public funds. “The information…

Read More

The Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Wednesday conducted a simulation exercise involving more than 300 persons inclusive of airport, airline, hospital, fire service and other emergency personnel, testing their readiness to respond to an emergency. Public Works Minister Robeson Benn, who witnessed the full-scale emergency exercise, explained that it is staged every two years, and is a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). “These simulations are part of the certification requirements for an international airport. So every six months, there is table-top exercise, every year there is…

Read More

The sixth batch of apprentices was welcomed to the Republic Bank family at the launch of the bank’s Youth Link Apprenticeship Programme last Friday, in the Woodbine Room of the Cara Lodge Hotel, Quamina Street, Georgetown. The programme commenced at 16: 00h with a prayer, followed by speeches and cocktails. This batch of 29 apprentices will delight in the same experiences the young men and women have enjoyed over the past five years during their respective seven-month stints, the bank said in a release. The new apprentices will be exposed…

Read More

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Tuesday presented its 2012/ 2013 Chief-of-Staff Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) Awards, to four deserving young women. Receiving the awards were Maya Phillips, daughter of Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Mark Phillips; Roopa Devi Seenarine, daughter of the late Lieutenant Commander Coast Guard, Latchman Seenarine; Belinda Frelicia Bess, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Godfrey Bess; and Crystal Crawford, daughter of GDF civilian employee, Michelle Crawford. Each was awarded Gy$ 100,000 for gaining at least five grade ones, with an additional Gy$ 25,000 being awarded for every additional grade…

Read More

– but Lall, Ram yet to do so The wife of Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green, Jenifer Basdeo-Green has paid the full Gy$ 10.2 million owed in rates and taxes for her Jelante Pharmacy on Mandela Avenue to the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC). This is according to M& CC acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba. She said on Wednesday there was some misunderstanding regarding this issue, but she was happy that the payment was made in such a timely manner. “I am happy to say that Mayor Hamilton Green…

Read More