Daily Archive: Saturday, October 21, 2017

The Guyana Bar Association (GBA) today expressed deep concern over President David Granger’s unilateral naming of a Chairman of GECOM and says in keeping with the ruling of Chief Justice Roxane George he must provide reasons for rejecting each of the 18 nominees supplied by the Opposition Leader.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) today flayed President David Granger for his unilateral decision on a GECOM Chairman and it also raised questions about the suitability of Justice James Patterson for the post.

(Trinidad Guardian) Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has admitted the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) and other State agencies must improve their disaster relief response times.

GENEVA/LONDON, (Reuters) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) should overturn its decision to appoint of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador, global health leaders said on Saturday, describing the move as unjustifiable and wrong.

The Parade from the Airstrip to the Rodeo Ground was led by the mounted police.

Governing coalition partner the Alliance For Change (AFC) has accepted President David Granger’s unilateral selection of the new Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Chairman, saying that it was necessary to avert a “looming constitutional crisis.”

The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) yesterday announced plans to launch peaceful protest activities against President David Granger’s unilateral appointment of retired judge James Patterson as the new Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Chairman, saying it is part of a series of interventions to protect the country’s democracy.

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) is still to pronounce on President David Granger’s unilateral selection of the new Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Chairman but party executive David Hinds says that the decision would only further divide an already “political trust-fragile” country.

With the appointment of 84-year-old Justice James Patterson as the new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), President David Granger has done an about-face on his administration’s move to establish an age limit for membership to state boards, agencies and commissions.

The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) has been given an additional two weeks by the High Court to produce key documents which the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) says are pertinent to its ongoing US$500M Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) probe.

Guyana women secured their second win of the Pan American Indoor Hockey Cup, dismissing Barbados 4-1 yesterday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Homestretch Avenue.

Finding that the prosecution failed to prove its case, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan yesterday dismissed the joint charge against the former General Manager of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) Nizam Hassan and the wife of an engineer over payments purportedly made for substandard work on the company’s headquarters.

The Golden Jaguars will return to the International Circuit in the month of November after being invited by the Trinidad and Tobago and the Indonesia Football Association respectively for overseas International Friendlies.

The Private Sector Com-mission (PSC) yesterday said it believes President David Granger’s decision to unilaterally appoint the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) poses a threat to democracy and has the potential to divide the nation and destabilise the economy.

Former Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) General Manager Jagnarine Singh and agricultural consultant Madanlall Ramraj were yesterday read 34 new fraud charges, including for allegedly misappropriating over $9 million in funds.

West Indies Under-19 selectee Raymond Perez, yesterday produced an impressive knock to spur the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) to a thrilling four-wicket win over Everest Cricket Club in the first semi-final of the Georgetown Cricket Association, Carib Beer, first-division T20 tournament at the DCC Ground.

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in collaboration with the Keem Foundation, and Carib Beer Thursday launched its “Cricket Care” T20 charity match set for 5pm tomorrow at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

The Full Court will soon begin deliberations on the appeal filed by Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, who is seeking to have the election petition brought by opposition PPP/C parliamentarian Ganga Persaud struck out.

A truck driver was yesterday charged with causing the death of the security guard, whom he struck down on Wednesday morning along the Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara (EBD) public road.

Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, yesterday said that he was proud  that the Department of Sport was able to host the second Special Schools Athletic Sports.

Residents squatting at Broad and Lombard streets on Thursday protested the Mocha/Arcadia Neigh-bourhood Democratic Council (NDC) over its attempts to block their relocation to the community.

Dear Editor, According to the tinkered and flawed 1980 constitution, the President can unilaterally select someone to be chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission under the following circumstances: (i) The Leader of the Opposition fails to submit a list or (ii) the list submitted by the Leader of the Opposition is unacceptable to the President.

The round of 16 stage in the seventh annual Court’s Pee Wee Primary Schools Football championships commence today at the Thirst Park ground.

Dear Editor, While Guyanese slept, the Granger-led dispensation took an axe to Guyana’s fledgling democracy.

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) officially concluded their CONCACAF D-License programme last Saturday at the federation’s boardroom.

The ownership of land at Calabash Lake, near Queenstown on the Essequibo Coast, reportedly included in the Amerindian reserves, is being contested by Queenstown residents, who believe it was bought by their ancestors.

Dear Editor, The Ministry of Public Infrastructure finds itself once again denouncing a grossly incorrect report published by the online news outlet, iNews Guyana, this time on October 19, 2017, under the headline ‘Sheriff St/Mandela Ave upgrade now a US$61M project as price doubles’.

Following government’s recent agreement with the Guyana Lottery Company (GLC) to allow the placement of gambling machines at some city bars, attorney Anil Nandlall has voiced concern that they are the same as the ones used in casinos but are not governed by the corresponding laws.

St. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Player-of-the-Match Hayley Matthews and fast bowler Shakera Selman turned in handy performances, as West Indies Women trounced Sri Lanka Women by 71 runs in the opening Twenty20 International here Thursday night.

Bamboo craft was among the items on show yesterday, when the Ministry of Communities held its inaugural Waste to Resource recycling exhibition.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Oct 20, CMC – Head coach Stuart Law is envisioning a trial by spin when West Indies clash in the opening Test against Zimbabwe starting here Saturday.

Dear Editor, I am shaking in anger, livid, boiling with outrage.

Dear Editor, When I read Mr Ralph Ramkarran’s Blog, ‘The Conversation Tree’ on ‘The Fall of the PPP’ I am bewildered as to why the Leader of the Opposition is still hell-bent on accelerating this downward slide of the PPP.

Decades after the construction of the Bartica-Potaro road, Phillip Allsopp, the man after whom the famous Allsopp’s point was named, returned to view the sign re-erected to mark the location.

FLORENCE HALL, Jamaica,  CMC – A batting meltdown on day two of the second four-day “Test” left West Indies A facing the possibility of a heavy defeat to Sri Lanka A here yesterday.

The contenders and contestants of the Mr and Miss Guyana African Roots 2017 pageant were awarded their prizes and certificates of participation in front of a small gathering at the African Museum of Heritage recently.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s tax reform plans won partial support yesterday when Republican U.S.

Vending and vehicular traffic on Bourda Street, between Regent Street and North Road, will be suspended in the coming weeks to facilitate the resurfacing works, which are expected to commence shortly.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe  CMC – For the first time in some while, West Indies will enter a Test series with the title of firm favourites, when they take on minnows Zimbabwe in the opening Test of the two-match series here today at Queens Sports Club.

BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May won a modest reprieve in stalled Brexit talks yesterday, with European Union leaders signalling their readiness to move the negotiations forward in the coming months.

Hi Everyone, What’s Cooking is a series in which I share advice and answer questions you may have about food and cooking, but are too shy to ask.

Dear Editor, Mr Granger has built a reputation of being unable to play a fair game.

KABUL,  (Reuters) – Suicide bombers attacked two mosques in Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 72 people including children, officials and witnesses said.

The Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) is calling for Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Hutson to withdraw or amend a memo directing that teachers supervise students at all times, including during their lunch periods.

As news outlets became embroiled during the course of last week with the revelations of American film producer and co-founder of Miramax Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault and rape accusations, the hashtag #metoo surfaced on Facebook and Twitter with women around the world sharing their own individual stories of sexual assault and harassment.

(The Sports Xchange) –The Oklahoma City Thunder’s new-look roster got off to a big start Thursday night.

OTTAWA,  (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been badly shaken by a conflict-of-interest controversy about his finance minister, but the Liberal government’s upcoming fiscal update offers an opportunity to reset the public focus on Canada’s strong economy, political observers say.

Dear Editor, My first reaction was: James who?  Then followed thoughts of going it alone and deciding unilaterally. 

(Trinidad Express) Soldiers have been engaged to assist other State agencies in the rescue of some 200 citizens marooned in flood waters in Woodland and Barrackpore.

The holders of the Miss India Guyana franchise have announced that they no longer have any interest in maintaining it.

(Reuters) – Fast bowler Dale Steyn is hoping to make a comeback following a year out with a shoulder injury at next month’s South African domestic Twenty20 competition.

Not every mother deserves praise or respect. The process of bringing a child into the world is not a simple task and maybe all women who commit to nine months of drastic changes to their bodies and possible health risks, such as hypertension and diabetes, should be commended for that.

Dear Editor, Sugar was first cultivated in Guyana in the 1630s, and on a plantation scale, probably in the 1650s, that is, nearly 400 years ago.

An excavator operator died on Monday after he was attacked by a swarm of Africanised bees while he was working in a backdam at Weldaad, West Coast Berbice.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s government will issue a new decree changing the country’s definition of slavery following an earlier order that was widely criticized as a reversal in the fight against forced labour, a presidential aide said on Friday.

Soil degradation is hardly a commonplace phrase in the media, and it looks dull next to the vocabulary we use for oil (ultra-deepwater wells, synthetic crude, hydraulic fracturing), but the ground beneath our feet is literally disappearing because of over-intensive industrial farming and global warming; and, like petroleum, soil isn’t a renewable resource.

I have often had the argument with myself, and with others, about what should be expected from purported film “genres.”

Former Miss Global International Guyana Poonam Singh is again blazing the airwaves with her third and newest single “Touch Meh”, in which she collaborates with one of Guyana’s finest, Natural Black.

(Reuters) – Gold miner Acacia Mining Plc does not have the ability to make a $300 million payment to the Tanzanian government to resolve a tax dispute, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Wray said on a call with analysts.

A fire, suspected to be electrical in origin, destroyed a family’s home at La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara on Thursday morning.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuba unveiled a replica of a New York statue of independence hero Jose Marti yesterday, putting a gift from the hometown of U.S.

Dear Editor, As the person who has been advising the Minister of Public Security for the past three years on the dates to be declared as public holidays, I think I should be given an opportunity to comment on Kaieteur News article ‘Deepavali controversy: Majority of Guyanese boycott Govt.

(Reuters) – Pakistan offspinner Mohammad Hafeez has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action during Wednesday’s third one-day international against Sri Lanka, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday.

As of today, the identification of Allsopp’s Point, 19 miles outside Bartica, is unmistakable following the re-erection of a large road sign by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) .