Daily Archive: Friday, March 17, 2017

(Jamaica Observer) Despite being a part of the regional set-up for more than two-decades, former West Indies batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul believes he still had a lot left to offer on the international scene at the time of his premature retirement.

The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), through the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI), today received two state-of-the-art portable Explosive Trace Detection (ETDs) Machines from the United States Transportation Security Administration (US-TSA).

The Guyana Trades Union Congress today called on the APNU+AFC government to investigate a $605m “emergency” drug purchase deal for the Georgetown Public Hospital which has raised questions about the role of Minister Volda Lawrence.

With a possible contractual showdown looming over parking meters, questions will continue to rise over who advised the city on the deal with Smart City Solutions (SCS) that could leave the municipality with huge financial exposure.

Pursuant to SectionT2 (2) (ii) (a) and in accordance with the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act, Chapter l-0:01-, the Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack, has remitted the case of Police v.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia,  (Reuters) – Poet Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992 and helped thrust Caribbean writing into the global spotlight, died peacefully at his home in St.

(Trinidad Guardian) This country’s high murder rate continues to be driven primarily by gang and drug-related activities and a study has shown there are more than 100 gangs operating in T&T, according to the US State Department’s 2017 crime and safety report.

West Front Road-Gold is Money and Tigerbay sealed their berths to the group round when the Petra Organization Futsal Championship playoff round concluded yesterday at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue.

Guyana/T & T clash today PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC — Newly appointed Trinidad and Tobago Red Force captain, Kyle Hope, says last weekend’s comprehensive win in the Regional four-day championship has lifted the confidence levels of his side but has warned them to beware of the dangerous Guyana Jaguars who they clash with starting here today.

Skipper Kevlon Anderson leads with 61, & 2/11 By Royston Alkins Lower Corentyne Secondary skipper Kevlon Anderson stroked an eye catching half century to lead his side to a six-wicket victory over defending Champions Chase Academy in the GCB/DMLAS/MOE/ National Secondary School’s 30 overs Cricket Tournament, yesterday at the Albion Sports Complex.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC — Caribbean champions Khamal Cumberbatch and Megan Best were in outstanding form during the 2017 Junior National Squash Championships which were contested here last weekend.(

RANCHI, India,(Reuters) – Australia captain Steve Smith struck a cultured unbeaten century to steer Australia to 299 for four wickets in the third test against India on Thursday, signalling he has put the review controversy at Bengaluru behind him.

The second half of Season Two in the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Stag Beer Elite League begins on Sunday March 19th at the Camp Ayanganna ground with a doubleheader.

-Demerara face President’s XI at Everest in dead-rubber game By Royston Alkins Action in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Dave West Indian Imports Inter-County Under-15 Tournament resumes today at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary where Essequibo take on Berbice, while defending Champions, Demerara will take on the GCB/President’s XI at the Everest Sports Club ground.

Dutch speaking daredevil, Prakash Lachman has been talking up a storm ahead of Sunday’s ‘Reaction’ Dragz meet at the South Dakota Circuit .The

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Bangladesh lost four wickets in the final session to slump to 214 for five on day two of their second and final test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Rugby America’s North (RAN) Regional Development Manager (RDM) Scott Harland along with ‘Get Into Rugby’ Coordinator, Kwanieze John are currently in Guyana to assist the Union in several areas.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC — Batsman Lendl Simmons has backed his West Indies teammate Andre Russell to bounce back strongly following his one-year anti-doping whereabouts ban.

Defending champion Wisburg Secondary and New Silvercity secured wins over Private Schools Combined (Marcia Craig’s Institute and School of Excellence) and Mackenzie High, respectively, when the 2017 Edward ‘Screw’ Richmond U18 Football Championship continued on Wednesday.

(The Sports Xchange) The Boston Celtics continued their mastery of the Timberwolves, overcoming a 10-point first-half deficit and cruising to a 117-104 victory over Minnesota at TD Garden for the 11th straight time.

Town Clerk Royston King has told Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan that the suspension of the city’s metered parking system would amount to a breach of contract, for which the municipality would have to compensate contractor Smart City Solutions (SCS).

Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence’s emergency drug purchases for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) are not transparent, according to Trans-parency Institute of Guyana Inc.

Three Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldiers have been dismissed following the allegation made against them earlier in the year that they raped a teenager at an army base.

Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) officially launched the 12th edition of the National School Basketball Festival Conference Championship yesterday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Homestretch Avenue.

The trial of former PPP/C public service minister Dr Jennifer Westford and her former aide Margaret Cummings, who are charged with the alleged theft of over $600 million from the government, continued yesterday with testimony from Peter Moore, the Chief Accountant at the Ministry of the Presidency.

The Guyana Women’s senior national team, ‘the Lady Jaguars’, achieved their best ever ranking in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)/Coca-Cola Rankings of 79th, after the latest standings were released yesterday by the world body.

The Private Sector Com-mission (PSC) has voiced concerns to a visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission about increased taxation, the declining value of the Guyanese dollar and uncertainty about the direction of the economy.

Dear Editor, We stand in full solidarity with Latoya Nugent, co-founder of the Tambourine Army of Jamaica and executive director of WE-Change, who was arrested by members of the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force on Tuesday, March 14, 2017.

Amid high numbers of deaths, the Ministry of Public Health yesterday launched a $1.6b IDB-funded maternal and child health (MCH) improvement project.

  A fight resulting from an apparent love triangle landed two women before a city court yesterday.

Dear Editor, In a March 11 letter which appeared in the news media, Donald Ramotar, former President of the Republic and a Director of GuySuCo stated, “the problem with GuySuCo was due to bad management”.

As the US$20M SleepIn Hotel and Carnival Casino prepares to submit a new application for a casino licence, its staff say they are eager to not only showcase skills learned and provide the services offered by the entity but to “really start working” for their money.

Dear Editor, The handling of the Sparendaam Pradoville 2 investigation would best serve the society should it be dealt with from the position of the rule of law (ie universal principles) rather than who is involved (ie personalities).

As the public protest over the metered parking system entered its seventh week, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure yesterday pointed out that meters were placed along streets that do not fall under the City Council.

Guyana’s infant oil and gas sector will now have access to the most advanced technical support available in the western hemisphere following the signing of three key memoranda of understanding (MoU) between the governments of Guyana and Mexico formalizing a relationship that will bring on stream a regime of critical technical support and training designed to significantly enhance local capacity in a number of key areas in the sector.

Dear Editor, I have been following with interest the dismal performance of trainee nurses at their final state examinations.

USAID’s General Development Office Director, Ted Lawrence, and Guyana’s Attorney General, Basil Williams, yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will govern an impact evaluation of USAID’s Youth Empowerment Services (YES) programme.

A condition of growing uncertainty over the future of the Skeldon Sugar Estate has created an uneasy atmosphere of uncertainty at various levels in communities in the Upper Corentyne and particularly among sugar workers’ families, according to President of the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce Krishnand Jaichand.

Dear Editor, For quite some time special breed dogs have been assigned roles as sentries, protectors and defenders of property and owners, and in many instances are even held in greater regard than citizens.

Dear Editor, A Kaieteur News article dated March 7 with the headline ‘Way paved for National Mining Syndicate body to be elected’ refers.

By its constant and excessive allegations, the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) has succeeded in polarising society and presenting the impression that it lacks the political judgement and skills needed to succeed in its mandate.

Entrepreneur Managing Director, GeoTechVision Chairperson, Small Business Council   When I speak with entrepreneurs they usually have a vision of a successful business.

Dear Editor, In the preamble to the Guyana Constitution it says: “We The Guyanese People… forge a system of governance that promotes concerted effort and broad-based participation in national decision making in order to develop a viable economy…” When you are the government, you make the rules.

In my last article I posed a question that received a lot of feedback, so I thought it best to address that head on.

A fuel supplier was yesterday granted bail by a city magistrate after denying fraudulently converting over $2 million in fuel.

Against the backdrop of what its Administrator says has been a response in “impressive numbers” to the rollout in February of the Mathematics Application designed to support an emergency initiative aimed at improving the Grade Six examination results, STEM Guyana is seeking the support of the local business community to expand and intensify the Mathematics programme as well as apply the initiative to other subject areas at the Grade Six level.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 712’s trading results showed

A team from Norway met with Minister of Natural Resources (MNR) Raphael Trotman on Wednesday but a press release issued by his ministry yesterday on the meeting made no mention of the controversial Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project (AFHP) which the public has been expecting answers on.

Dear Editor, On the 16th March, 2017 at around 9.25am I was heading to Georgetown via the Rupert Craig Highway and to my surprise, I saw a truck bearing the SOL logo overtaking cars, travelling at approximately 110 k/ph.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s first budget outline, calling for a security-heavy realignment of federal spending, drew resistance yesterday from his fellow Republicans in the U.S.

On March 10, a team from GAICO Construction and General Services Inc.

Training and sensitization exercises aimed at providing “critical instructions” on the environmental considerations associated with gold mining will be one of the priorities of the Ministry of Natural Resources even as it seeks to consolidate “a culture of syndicates” as an integral part of the sector, Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources Simona Broomes has said.

ACCRA, (Reuters) – Ghana’s main opposition party and radio phone-in callers slammed new President Nana Akufo-Addo yesterday for naming an ‘elephant size’ team of 110 ministers and deputies despite a campaign promise to cut government waste.

GASCI Summary of Financials  Session 712 March 15, 2017

(Trinidad Guardian) National Security Minister Edmund Dillon on Wednesday express-ed deep concern following the discovery of WPC Nyasha Joseph’s body, but urged the population not to give up hope in the fight against crime.

Dear Editor, A Minister within the Ministry of Education erred in a speech in which Phagwah was designated Diwali.

Are they “executive criminals” or “criminal executives?” You choose any appropriate description for those greedy selfish persons who, once elected or catapulted into high public office, use governmental corridors of power to illegally secure wealth from the public purse, exclusively for their inner circle of relatives, friends, cronies and comrades.

Starr Computers Chief Executive Officer Michael Mohan delivering one of his periodic ‘tech talks’ to students of the Government Technical Institute on Wednesday.

Reporting in sections of the media on the implementation of what is being termed syndicates which we understand to mean cooperatives comprising groups of gold miners who will have mining access to traditionally closed areas has been fast and furious.

  (Jamaica Observer) Two police officers who were alleged to be members of a police “death squad” were on Wednesday freed of murder and wounding charges after they were found not guilty in the Home Circuit Court.

Gold Prices for the three-day period ending  Thursday March 16, 2017

(Prepared by the Guyana Marketing Corporation and  published by Stabroek Business as a public service)

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The leaders of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee issued a bipartisan statement yesterday rejecting President Donald Trump’s assertion that the Obama administration tapped his phones during the 2016 presidential campaign.

There is an ancient Chinese curse that reads, “May you live in interesting times.”

At 16, force of circumstances compelled Vanessa Klass-Singh to cut short her formal education and take up a job as a counter girl at the then Salt and Pepper Restaurant on Robb Street.

COMPETITION has broken out between leading com­mercial banks in the bid to at­tract business under the new Cambio Act.

Bandits during the wee hours of Thurs-day robbed the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agriculture Development Authority (MMA-ADA) at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice of an undisclosed amount of cash and several computers.

Dear Editor, The happenings at the recent commemoration event at Babu John made me sit up and take notice.