Marcelle Thomas

Following the submission of 26 recommendations in their report on the 2020 General Elections where eight were singled out as priority areas, the European Union Election Observation follow-up mission yesterday said that many of them are still concerns of stakeholders today, with only two implemented.

Underscoring that as part of a diversified economy the tourism sector will play an integral role, President Irfaan Ali said that the government will provide support to locals who see a future in building this country’s unique product, but urged that those investments should start swiftly.

As the 30-day timeframe winds down for the implementation of Justice Sandil Kissoon’s ruling on ExxonMobil’s parent company guarantee, the US oil major yesterday said that should their appeals fail and parent companies refuse to supply one, it could lead to the halting of operations at the Liza 1 Phase 1 project in the Stabroek Block.

In a bid to protect local farmers against chicken smuggling while at the same time safeguarding against contaminated produce entering the country, the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) has notified that poultry and poultry products would not be allowed into the country.

ExxonMobil is expected to submit its response on Wednesday to findings of a nearly 180-page document on the audit of its US$7.3 billion post-contract costs from 2018-2020, in which, according to sources, there are “minimal anomalies”.

The multi-million US$ Sheriff Hospital at Leonora, West Coast Demerara was yesterday officially opened with its principals committing to a charge from President Irfaan Ali that while patients will have access to world class healthcare service it must be affordable.

Some 661.78 acres of former East Demerara estate land will be transformed into an industrial zone that will see factories producing myriad products, aimed at making Guyana competitive in manufacturing, and the infrastructure is currently being developed to facilitate this, President Irfaan Ali has said.

The PPP’s welcoming of  former mayor and PNCR member, Patricia Chase-Green, into its fold although she was critical of it and was a central figure in the controversial parking meter contract, is because it is a forgiving party and believes in giving second chances, party General Secretary  Bharrat Jagdeo says.

Declaring that he is not involved in any `scampish’ business, businessman Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed has secured the Washington DC public relations and lobbying firm, Barbour Griffith & Rogers [BGR], to investigate why he has been blocked for more than a decade from securing a US non-immigrant visa.

The IHS Markit audit of oil expenditure by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has revealed that not only did it procure the services for the Transocean-owned Deepwater Champion drill ship way above costs for similar vessels available but that the company had submitted US$500,000 for seismic works prior to 2008 and had no supporting documents for it.

After lying in a Cabinet sub-Committee since 2020, the draft Engineers Bill has been reviewed and will soon be laid in Parliament, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall has announced.

-gov’t has kept report hidden for two years The first ever audit report of the cost claims by ExxonMobil and its partners for 1999 to 2017 found that a whopping 12.8% of its US$1.67b expenses could be disputed by the Guyana Government as they were not allowable or did not have sufficient supporting documentation.

Guyana’s High Court has awarded Eureka Medical Laboratories Inc (EML) a $62.4 million judgment against United States offshore medical provider, RemoteMD LLC, after that company packed up business here and filed for bankruptcy in its home country, leaving over $100 million owed to locals for the third party services it received.

The Guyana Poultry Producers Association (GPPA) yesterday called on government to urgently address the smuggling of chicken over the country’s eastern and southern borders and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) said it was aware of the problem and is addressing it.

After being hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant constriction of the global supply chain, the Region Nine Santa Fe Farm is preparing to resume work with its eyes set on assisting Guyana to cut its food imports by 2025, Farm Director Eldon Bremner said.

In 2017, the BV/Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council sold 33 house lots for $1 million each, using a system it described as a lottery, however there are no records to substantiate the process, and the list of names reveals that most of the allottes are council members and their families, and persons not from the community, Councillor Elton McRae has alleged.

Considering the stone shortage that periodically affects infrastructural projects and construction, local oil and gas service provision company Excel Guyana Inc hopes that its Duraflex cement compound will fill that void as it offers a product of better durability and lower cost.

As Movietowne Guyana celebrates its fourth anniversary this month with a series of giving back activities, its Chairman and Founder Derek Chin is hoping that the legal impediment on the land nearby would be cleared up and he could put in an offer for a staggering US$500 million “dream” development or that government greenlights a Guyana DinoWorld project.

As the construction of government’s mega drying facility in Region Ten forges ahead, the Tacama Gold mega-farm is preparing to reap a second successful crop of soybean and both are even more optimistic of reaching desired targets.

Both Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat and Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI) Head Prem Misir remain mum on their respective roles in the country’s suspension from the EITI, as civil society group Policy Forum yesterday warned of even more serious sanctions if actions are not rectified and systems upgraded.