Guyana News

An ex-soldier was fatally stabbed yesterday morning during a clash in Beterverwagting (BV), East Coast Demerara (ECD), which began when he confronted his assailant with a cutlass.

After two years of wrangling, the Ministry of Social Protection has taken control of the affairs of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Limited (GPSCCU).

Despite a four-hour late start, the inaugural Guyana Carnival yesterday saw hundreds of participants take to the streets of Georgetown, where they were joined by hundreds more eager to take in the spectacle.

Haniff Bacchus, the 70-year-old Guyanese national who was caught with a quantity of cocaine hidden in his motorised wheelchair at the Maurice Bishop International Airport in Grenada earlier this month, was fined EC$50,000 last Thursday for trafficking the drug.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan will be making a request to the Surinamese police, seeking consent for at least seven Guyanese witnesses to be returned here for questioning in relation to last month’s fatal attack on almost two dozen fishers off the coast of Suriname.

It is an early mid-morning and 50-year-old Andrew Allen is calmly removing the copper from small pieces of electrical wire, which he plans to sell.

Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo has said that concessions are part of the daily life of a government and that he will not “beat up” on the APNU+AFC administration for giving concessions to any foreign investor whose investment was transparent and administered by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Attorney General Basil Williams SC yesterday denied that he had attacked members of the Bar and says recent remarks he made pertained only to the failure of persons who have been entrusted with legal cases on behalf of the state to advise him of this.

Santa Rosa Village in Region One (Barima/Waini), the largest Indi-genous community in the country, has elected its first woman toshao in businesswoman Whanita Phillips.

Local anti-corruption watchdog Transparency Institute Guyana Incorporated (TIGI) yesterday crticised both the Guyana Nursing Council and the Guyana Medical Council for their unwillingness to provide information on the current status of investigations of the conduct of nurse Sherilyn Marks, who was transferred last year after complaining about the alleged abuse of office by a Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) Coun-cillor to access prescription medication.

With the creation of an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system, government stands to save in excess of $200 million annually by increasing the use of electronic payments, according to the National Payments System Development Plan (NPSDP).

While expressing his desire to make the Department of Law an independent faculty, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG) Professor Ivelaw Griffith said last Thursday that a review of the unit’s operations will be done as part of planned institutional strengthening.

The Demerara Timber Limited (DTL) has signalled expansion plans with a recent advertisement of vacancies for more than 40 positions for its Mabura and Georgetown operations.

Eight of sixteen young ladies (14 Venezuelans, one Cuban and one from the Dominican Republic) rescued during a raid by the Guyana Police Force (GPF), are currently under protective care and are assisting with investigations for alleged Trafficking in Persons, according to the Department of Public Information (DPI).

In full view of her two-year-old son, a young Hope, East Coast Demerara woman was stabbed to death yesterday morning by her former common-law partner, who later succumbed at a city hospital hours after ingesting poison.

Calling Guyana’s failure to make substantive judicial appointments a “significant stain” on the rule of law, President-Designate of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Justice Adrian Saunders said on Thursday that the situation is inexcusable but stopped short of offering a remedy.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) is certain that despite differences of opinion, legislators from both sides of the House can find common ground in reducing custodial penalties for the possession of small quantities of the drug.

A mother of three was yesterday arrested by the police, who say she has admitted to strangling her common-law husband to death during an altercation at their Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara house two weeks ago.

Derrick Patterson, the 47-year-old Guyanese who was charged last Monday in Grenada for cocaine trafficking, has pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined EC$75,000.

All eyes were on Guyanese youths yesterday as thousands came out to witness the flag raising ceremony held at D’Urban Park in recognition of Guyana’s 52nd Independence Anniversary.