Gaulbert Sutherland

The operations of start-up logging company, Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc. (VHPI) will have to be in line with forest conservation strategies, says Deputy Commissioner of Forests Tashreef Khan and many questions were asked of the Indian company on Thursday in the Rupununi.

Relocation of key facilities from flood-prone areas is a plan that should be implemented urgently, Lethem residents say.

The gold rush over the past years has not been a glittering one for the environment, with many new miners unaware of proper mining practices and others continuing to operate as they had done in the past.

Government yesterday began the third phase of recovery efforts for flood-affected communities across Region Nine, with a focus on food and food production for the agriculture-dependent indigenous villages in the sprawling savannah region.

At times it seems an ancient place slowly marking the passage of time under the shade of giant trees until modernity pushes its face out to proclaim its presence.

Up to this week, gold declarations totalled 106,000 ounces—about a third of the target this year—but Chair-man of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Board of Directors Major General (rtd) Joe Singh expressed worry that some of the production is being smuggled out of the country.

A frozen land allocation process has resulted in widespread illegal mining, while the response of the Guyana Geology and Mines Com-mission (GGMC) has been hampered by the fact that it only has 41% of its required staffing, mining officials said yesterday.

The government yesterday used its majority to send a motion by the AFC on campaign financing to a special select committee, after effecting an amendment that MP Sheila Holder said gutted it of its original intent.

Several persons remain in custody and the Police Office of Professional Responsibility has launched a probe of the Monday night Windsor Forest incident in which three persons were struck by pellets, including an overseas-based Guyanese who is in a serious condition at a city hospital.

Every weekday hundreds and hundreds of persons stream out, heading for the city, returning in waves at night.

The company that took over the Simon and Shock International Logging Inc (SSI) forest concession enjoys easier terms than the original holders.

A US-based consortium is examining building Guyana’s first oil refinery in the next 18 months, to provide cheaper fuel in an initial investment estimated at US$75M.

PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar yesterday said that he was humbled by his unanimous selection as the party’s presidential candidate and said he will stand by the party’s record of achievement.

New terms for Guyana’s forests’ deal with Norway have been agreed, with payments from Oslo to decrease should the deforestation level here increase over last year’s level.

Norway will deposit another US$40 million into the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) immediately as research shows that Guyana’s deforestation rate is lower than previously thought, Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim announced last evening.

For most of his young life Renaldo Parris has worked, fought hunger and slept on the streets with nowhere to turn.

Mohammed Rasheed returned to Guyana two years ago excited by the prospects of the Grow More Food campaign.

Persons living on state land can no longer apply for prescriptive title, with the passage of an amendment that the government stoutly defended as necessary to protect state property while opposition parties dubbed it unconstitutional.

Men face tremendous, varied pressures in society and require these to be dealt with in a masculine way was the message as the Men Affairs Bureau (MAB) was officially launched yesterday.

Broken promises to pass broadcast and Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation shows the administration’s lack of credibility, said Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan as the party picketed outside Parliament yesterday over government’s failure to act on these issues.