Guyana News

Two billion-dollar bids were opened yesterday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for the acquisition of emergency pharmaceutical supplies for Regional Health Services under the Ministry of Public Health.

Poor preparation by officials of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs on Monday saw the deferral of a scheduled hearing before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for the second time in the space of a month.

The 15-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed an Upper Corentyne hire car driver in his neck killing him, was on Monday refused bail.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is moving to improve its database management software system in order to improve its efficiency, according to Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia, who on Monday reported that it would be only a matter of time before the agency moves from the Total Revenue Integrated Processing Systems (TRIPS).

A man was yesterday fined and ordered to perform two months of community service for cultivating cannabis.

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is advising the general public, particularly those living in close proximity, that construction works will be ongoing over the next 72 hours at the Camp Street Prison.

The Police say they are investigating the murder of Tedroy James, age unknown, a route 32 minibus driver which occurred about 11:30hrs today at McDoom Public Road, East Bank Demerara, during which several passengers were robbed of personal items.

The number of prisoners missing from the Camp Street Prison following Sunday’s breakout stands at eight, Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels today told Stabroek News.

Matthew Shivtahal, the taxi driver who says he was abducted by the prison escapees on Sunday in the vicinity of the Camp Street jail  is grateful to be alive but says he is fearful for his life.

The construction of secure temporary structures to accommodate displaced inmates of the razed Camp Street Prison is among the measures in an emergency plan agreed to by the National Security Committee (NSC), President David Granger announced to the nation last evening.

Despite the lessons that should have been learned from last year’s deadly fire at the Camp Street prison, witnesses say both the Guyana Fire Service and Guyana Water Inc (GWI) were not prepared for the fire that devastated the jail on Sunday.

A Kaneville man was who had been missing since Sunday afternoon after he was reportedly abducted at gunpoint by prisoners who broke out of the Camp Street jail, turned up alive last night at the Vigilance Police Station.

In the aftermath of the devastation of the Camp Street prison, which left authorities scrambling to accommodate the roughly 1,000 inmates who had been housed there, the magistracy yesterday moved to release some prisoners being held for petty crimes.

– sympathises with family of slain officer Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday expressed condolences to the relatives of the now dead prison officer and commended the security forces for their work during Sunday’s horrific destruction of the Camp Street prison, but blasted the administration for what he described as an “outrageous spectacle of a bumbling inept, incompetent” government in full display.

In late breaking news, Stabroek News learnt at press time this morning that a prisoner who was not earlier said to be among the escapees was captured on the West Demerara.

The police yesterday issued wanted bulletins for two other inmates believed to have escaped on Sunday afternoon during the Camp Street prison unrest, but last night withdrew one of the names stating that the prisoner had been accounted for.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has said that the government acted on the recommendations it could afford from the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into last year’s deadly riot at the Camp Street Prison, while stressing that most of the major ones, including the construction of a new prison, require large sums of money.

Prison Warden Hubert Trim, who was chopped and beaten during the unrest at the Camp Street prison yesterday is currently hospitalised and his relatives are calling for the authorities to provide security as he recovers.

Prison Officer Odinga Wain Wickham who was killed on Sunday evening during the unrest at the Camp Street prison was yesterday remembered as a hardworking and kind-hearted person.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday said that the Joint Services’ ability to relocate just over 1,000 prisoners following Sunday’s destruction of the Camp Street Prison bordered on the “miraculous” and was deserving of praise.