Category: News

Labour Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul on Monday disclosed that more than 31,000 persons in Guyana will benefit from the Gy$35,000 minimum wage standard slated to take effect from July 1. He told Guyana Times International that the minimum wage standard caters for fulltime employees working for 40 hours per week or more. “All will benefit across the board, from security guards to janitors to domestic workers, all will benefit,” he said. Boasting about the progress made thus far, Minister Gopaul said for the first time in the history of Guyana,…

A technical team from Guyana and Suriname is expected to continue talks shortly concerning the monitoring and regularisation of the Nikerie ‘backtracking’ route. When contacted on Monday for an update, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said the matter has been under discussion since the last meeting between the two sides in August last year. She noted that a decision has been taken that both Guyana and Suriname must be integrally involved in any attempt at addressing the way forward. “Those discussions are on the agenda for the next encounter… when…

Local air carrier, Roraima Airways last week honoured former pilot Miles Williams, who also served in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), at a special ceremony held at Duke Lodge, Kingston. In brief remarks at the ceremony which coincided with Williams’ birthday, Roraima Airways’ Managing Director Gerry Gouveia said many times people live their lives, and do extraordinary things and then they fade away. He said life’s challenges and family obligations consume and direct what “we do and where we go”. He described Williams, a former Special Forces officer, who was…

As Guyana continues to face challenges in addressing many social issues, a new guidance and counselling services group dubbed ‘Social Life Issues’ was launched on Tuesday. The organisation is the brainchild of its coordinator and well-known counsellor, John Greaves, who worked for several years with the Salvation Army’s Drug Rehabilitation Programme. Greaves told media operatives on Tuesday that the organisation hopes to address a range of issues that plagues society to bring about changes in family life and to create a better society for all. “We intend to move into…

Guyanese writer and poet Dr David Dabydeen has defended his management of the Caribbean Press, while labelling some Guyanese writers as lazy and declaring that doggerel or ‘puppyrel’ would not be published at the facility. Dabydeen, who is also Guyana’s ambassador to China, made the comments in a letter in response to local writer Ruel Johnson who has been challenging him on a number of issues regarding the functioning of the press. Dabydeen also flayed Johnson personally, calling him lazy and mentioning that he had gone as far as purchasing…

Blasting them as moribund, illegitimate and a total disgrace, former City Hall consultant Ramon Gaskin called for the wholesale sacking of the longstanding Georgetown City Council. He also chided Mayor Hamilton Green for harassing the current acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba, saying that the incompetence of Green and the entire council is legendary. There has been a fierce battle for control of the cash-strapped municipality, with Green mobilising vendors, councillors, and other citizens to pressure Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud into sacking Sooba.  Green has never gotten along with any…

Shaka Chase, charged with murdering corporal Romein Cleto, was on Thursday freed based on advice from the DPP. The prosecutor told the court that based on advice from the DPP the charge was being withdrawn. An overjoyed Chase ran out of the court room into the arms of waiting relatives. He told the media that he was happy for his release and thanked all those who stood by him. Amid much drama and a heavy police presence on Monday, Police Prosecutor  Sergeant Ramsahoye Rambajue told the court that the deceased,…

An immigration officer charged in wake of allegations of human trafficking was released on bail when he appeared in the District A Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. Ryan Rudolph Jordan, of St James, Barbados, was not required to plead to the charge that, being a public officer on February 20 this year, he provided information to a Guyanese woman he knew to be false and which he knew would be used to obtain an extension to her stay. There was no objection to bail and Magistrate Deborah Holder released Jordan with…