Kwesi Isles

As the PNCR “town-hall style” public meetings wind down the candidates have exuded confidence that they will gain the nod at the February 26 Special Congress to be the party’s presidential candidate this year.

PPP Executive Navin Chandarpal says the recent attacks against him are being directed by a team with a mandate to discredit his political contributions, but the veteran politician adds that he remains unbowed by the efforts to bring him down.

Alliance For Change (AFC) presidential candidate and Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan said his party will institute ethnic impact audits to ensure that all Guyanese benefit equally from the projects and plans emanating from an AFC government.

Speaker of the House Ralph Ramkarran was last evening forced to suspend the sitting after remarks from AFC parliamentarian Khemraj Ramjattan provoked the ire of the MPs on the government

The PNCR’s militancy or lack thereof was among the hot button issues at last evening’s public meeting in the city, where four of the party’s five presidential aspirants face down concerns that it had gone dormant.

The five nominees vying to be the PNCR’s presidential candidate on Friday listed education, transparency in government policies and an inclusive approach to development among their solutions to bridge the country’s racial divide.

The PNCR’s presidential hopefuls yesterday laid out their plans for Guyana as they kicked off a month-long series of community visits to make their case to be the party’s candidate at the upcoming polls.

Some 1,000 of 15,000 house lots to be developed on the East Bank Demerara (EBD) will go towards establishing a high-end housing development at Providence for overseas-based Guyanese looking to resettle.

A public fight seems to be brewing between the major contenders for the PPP’s presidential candidacy with the focus being on how the party will decide who carries its standard into the 2011 general elections.

PNCR presidential hopeful retired Brigadier David Granger is confident of securing the party’s nomination to contest the 2011 general elections, following a trip to New York last week.

With general elections less than a year away, the parliamentary opposition parties are against any electoral reforms that could result in a postponement.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday declared that developed countries can no longer dictate “homework” to South America.

Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo has assumed the Chairmanship of the South America integration group UNASUR with a list of what he thinks should come next for the grouping with closer political integration a priority.

`It cannot be that you’ll be satisfied with being on the fringe looking on, hoping that either the government will step up to the plate or that the next person will do so.

-questions lack of info on mining fund The National Toshaos Council (NTC) was described as “toothless” by PNCR-1G MP Dr.

Government was yesterday unable to provide details on a fund which was to be set up since 2006 for royalties accruing to indigenous peoples from mining activities on their lands.

Georgetown, Anna Regina (Region 2) and most likely Annai (Region 9) are being targeted for the pilot phase of the government’s ambitious US$30M One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative Stabroek News has learnt.

In December 2009 University of Guyana’s best graduating student Loria-Mae Heywood in her valedictory address called on the government to do more to create an enabling environment to

-another knifed An 18-year-old man was last night stabbed to death on the Georgetown Seawall after leaving his home to go see the Diwali motorcade.

Several Amerindian leaders believe that education and job opportunities are key to transforming their communities and are voicing their concerns at the National Toshaos Council Meeting which opened on Monday.