Who will you consider to be the best candidate
November 2020
Sorted by last update
General Secretary Coretta Mc Donald
November 18 ,2020
Following positive COVID-19 tests among some teachers and students, the Guyana Teachersโ Union (GTU) has called on the Ministry of Education to close schools in Bartica for 14 days to allow for isolation and quarantine where needed.
The ministry last week reopened schools across the country for in-class lessons for CXC-level students.
The GTU yesterday released a video statement urging the ministry to โact wiselyโ as it concerns the resumption of face-to-face interactions at the schools in Bartica and those with dorms across the country where positive COVID-19 cases have been recorded.
General Secretary Coretta Mc Donald told this newspaper that the union is requesting that the schools be closed until there is certainty that infected persons are not among those who are in classes.
In its statement, the union said that it is deeply concerned about the situation in Bartica, where teachers and students at two main secondary schools have tested positive for the virus since the re-opening of school.
It added that it is aware that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have tested the students but that given the possibility that these students may have been around their families and other students, all schools should be closed for 14 days to facilitate isolation and quarantining as well as needed sanitisation.
โWhen we donโt do what we have to do, then other sectors are going to feel the brunt of it. When our students and our parents and our teachers are flooding the health centres, do we have the capacity to take that off?โ McDonald in an invited comment to this newspaper. โAll we are saying is that we need to be wise and act that way. Make wise decisions so that we wonโt have to say โwe are sorryโ or โif we had knownโ or โif we had done thisโ or โwe should not have done that,โ she said.
McDonald added that the GTU is asking for all dorm schools to be closed and schools have contact tracing done along with further testing and close monitoring of the situation. She also noted that non-dorm schools may also have possible cases. In these instances, she said that if schools are open then there needs to be proper systems in place and if students are testing positive then schools should be closed, sanitised and have persons get tested before face-to-face classes are resumed.
Also concerned about intermingling, McDonald said that while some persons are isolated, there are other who might have been in contact with the positive cases but are not showing signs or symptoms.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand, who yesterday announced that teachers and students from two schools in Region Seven have tested positive for COVID-19, said that schools have been following stringent guidelines advised by the Ministry of Health.
In a Facebook post, Manickchand confirmed that on Monday evening her ministry was informed of five teachers, two ancillary staff and six students in Region Seven testing positive for the virus.
Manickchand told this newspaper that when the dorm-resident students arrived, they were tested and while there was a โsmall windowโ where persons could have intermingled with each other, they were constantly reminded not to. She further said that persons are expected to follow protocols to ensure they are not being infected. Manickchand added that as the batches of students arrived, they were not allowed to intermingle in order to ensure each batch was properly catered for.
Manickchand then said that the union is asking for something that is not medically required because if persons test positive the protocol is to have those persons isolate while contact tracing and quarantining of persons who were in contact with them is done. She said that the Health Ministry has not advised that an entire building be shut down.
Meanwhile, Manickchand yesterday also announced that teachers and students in Region Nine received negative results after testing. They were tested after rapid antibody tests yielded positive results.
The total number of dorm-resident students who have tested positive for COVID-19 stands at 18. Testing commenced last week and is expected to continue until all students who attend dormitory schools have been tested.
November 30 ,2020
File photo: Marcus Brian Bisram (centre)
Armed bandits just after 8 last night invaded the home of former murder accused, Marcus Brian Bisram, located at Number 70 Village, Corentyne, and carted off a large sum of cash and jewellery.
Based on information gathered, five armed bandits entered the premises and robbed Bisram of over $5M in cash and jewellery.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that while no-one was seriously injured some persons sustained lashes with a cutlass from the bandits.
Commander of Region Six, Jairam Ramlakhan, when contacted around 9.22 pm, said, that he could not confirm anything, since he had not received any information from his ranks at that time.
Up to press time last evening, investigators remained on the scene.
November 24,2020
Dear Editor,
Guyanese have changed governments in hopes that they will enjoy a better life. However, this is unlikely to happen under the new PPP/C Government.
It is crystal clear that the incompetent Ali and Jagdeo Government continues to traverse the old trajectory.
One that hurts Guyanese for over 50 years. This is heartbreaking. It is unbearable to witness the human misery, economic turmoil and cruelty Guyanese continue to face under this new government. I fully understand the pains of my fellow Guyanese and I am very saddened.
We all can see that the inferior Ali/Jagdeo Government is fundamentally similar to every aspect of the APNU (PNC). The PPP/C continues to trample our lives like the APNU. There is no fundamental difference between the two. Both the APNU and the PPP/C cabinets lack fundamental skills. This is undisputed.
Quality health care continues to be a problem for the poor. The poor die daily from preventable ailments because of a lack of quality health care. Under the new PPP/C Government, we witnessed how a sports minister mutated into a health care minister. This is how the PPP/C continues to take advantage of Guyanese.
We also witnessed how a COVID -19 talk show host mutated into an expert at the Ministry of Social Protection. Mr. Jagdeo cannot appreciate that this Ministry needs highly specialized skills because of a lack of knowledge and vision. Mr. Jagdeo even induced the former Minister of Social Protection to mutate into the current Minister of Education. Mr Jagdeo behaves like the Hindu god known as Lord Hanuman who carries the world in one hand. Mr. Jagdeo needs to be realistic.
I am appealing for this man to treat the Guyanese people right.
It is about lives. These are fundamental problems within successive Guyanese Governments that continue to hurt the poor and truncate lives in all of our history.
Also, the PPP/C heavily criticized the APNU about the 50% salary increase it awarded itself but the PPP/C quietly enjoys this same astronomical increase. We can all remember when the APNU rewarded itself with the 50% salary increase and it gave the poor people of Guyana a meager 5% increase in salary. Today, the PPP/C is doing exactly the same. The PPP/C gave the poor a meager $ 25,000 COVID cash grant while members of its Cabinet are collecting almost one million Guyana dollars per month in salary. Mr. Jagdeo, what can Guyanese do with this grant? This is insulting. This grant can only get you a box of chocolate. Where are our hearts in this country? Would Mr. Jagdeo like to live off of this $25,000 GYD for even one week? This is exactly how the PPP/C government disrespects Guyanese and stifles them.
The PPP/C claims that the treasury was empty when it took over power this year. However, it has funds to continue funding the 50% salary increase for ministers and advisors without the proper skills.
The only people that benefit from the change of government are friends and family of the PPP/C who are also in government positions. The poor continue to suffer.
I know that this letter will prompt the PPP/C propaganda organ to jump on me and tarnish me. However, I will continue to speak up on behalf of the poor. And last but not least, the Guyanese people need to swing power again in 2025. Please do not be afraid to swing power. Democracy will prevail.
Dr. Annie Baliram
James Bond
November 30 ,2020
The US$1M payment made to prominent PNCR member James Bond for leased NICIL lands at Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara was never flagged by the city commercial bank that undertook the transaction, Bank of Guyana sources say.
The Bank of Guyana learned of the transaction, which occurred in October of 2019, through press reports, sources told Stabroek News.
Guyanaโs Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) is currently analyzing files sent to it from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on the land deals to determine if laws were transgressed, sources close to that investigation also told this newspaper.
โThe file has been passed by the CID for SOCU to conduct the money laundering aspect of the investigations. In this regard, court orders have been applied for and obtained, in relation to all the directors of ARKEN, and James Bond and served on the bank requesting bank account information among other things,โ a SOCU source said.
The SOCU source informed that โnothing came to SOCU from FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) prior to nowโ on the said transaction.
When FIU Head Matthew Langevine was contacted yesterday, he told this newspaper that the law of this country prohibits his agency from speaking publicly on active investigations. โWe canโt, according to law,โ he said.
However, he said that his agency shares information with SOCU and has been doing so since its creation as they both collaborate on active investigations.
And with daily complaints by citizens of the red tape and questioning they endure over small sums at commercial banks, Attorney General Anil Nandall says he sees negligence in how the large transaction was handled.
โIn my view, there was negligence by the operators in the AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/ Countering the Financing of Terrorism) machinery to not have red-flagged that transaction,โ Nandlall told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
Flummoxed
As the Minister who holds responsibility for AML /CFT oversight, Nandlall says that he was flummoxed over how the transaction did not trigger a single red flag.
He said that as the transaction occurred since 2019 while the APNU+AFC was in government, the way that the AML/ CFT is structured he could not give an insight into transactions during that period.
โI would not be able to explain or account for what transpired. However, having worked closely in establishing Guyanaโs AML/CFT machinery, the way it is structured and the manner in which it ought to function, that transaction should have been flagged as a suspicious transaction by the respective bank and that bank ought to have reported it to its supervisory authority which is the Central Bank. The Central Bank in turn had a duty to transmit that report to the FIU for investigations,โ he said.
He continued, โThe FIU then determines if to send to SOCU which is the investigative arm of the structure. The reason why the transaction should have been flagged would have been because of the sums of monies involved and it could not have been a regular type of transaction, having regard to previous transactions done by that customer. That is unless that customer regularly receives such large amounts in their account. In my view there was negligence by the operators in the AML/CFT machinery; to not have red- flagged that transaction,โ he added.
Nandlall said that there seemed to be a lack of communication between the operators of the AML/CFT machinery here and โthat by itself warrants investigationโ.
After a 72-hour stay in the lockups, Bond was on Friday released from police custody after being questioned on the award of state lands at Peters Hall. He is on $200,000 station bail.
One of Bondโs attorneys, Patrice Henry, told Stabroek News that his client is required report to the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters, at Eve Leary, this morning. Henry said there has been no indication of charges but noted that the investigation is still ongoing.
Bond is alleged to have been a key financial beneficiary of the deals which did not comply with the traditional terms of such land leases.
Bond has declined to speak to Stabroek News on these matters saying that he will not be speaking to the press. โI am not going to speak to the pressโ he had told this newspaper three weeks ago. Asked then who would he be speaking to, he replied, โThe court, the police, SOCUโ.
The transaction which saw the monies deposited into Bondโs account pertains to a Caribbean joint-venture for a chemical storage facility between GLASS Holdings and Trinidadian Lennox Petroleum. Bond, it is alleged, was the recipient of some US$952,800 for the sale of lease rights for the Peters Hall lands.
In the case of Arken Group Inc., located at 34 Third Street, Alberttown, it was leased 20.8 acres in four plots by National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL); three at 5.0 acres and the other at 5.8 acres. The lands were not advertised and as such there was no Board or Cabinet approval of the deal. The date of execution of the lease was stated as 9th May 2018 and the company agreed to a 20-year lease.
The annual cost for the lease was US$16,224. For the 20-year period, it would mean that the company would have been required to pay US$324,480.
No restrictions applied and the business sold its leasehold rights of 10 acres to GLASS Holdings Inc., on October 10th 2019 for $200 million. GLASS Holdings paid the sum in two installments of US$195,000 and US$757,000 and according to the terms of their agreement with ARKEN, was given an irrevocable Power of Attorney. They were required to continue payments and meet the terms of the lease.
However, according to Managing Director of GLASS Holdings Inc., Glenn Low-A-Chee, when he went to pay his lease fee he was shocked to learn that the deal had come under scrutiny.
โThe Lease Agreement and all documents and procedures to effect the transfer of the Leasehold/ Lessee rights from ARKEN to GLASS Holdings were prepared and processed in compliance with the lease (number provided) and the general rules governing the lease transfer,โ Low-A-Chee wrote to new NICIL Chairman Radha Krishna Sharma, as he enquired about the purchase of the lease.
โPending the completion of the documentation process, we had visited NICIL in early March and again in August 2020 in an attempt to pay our lease fees as the new Lessee and we were advised by Mr. Winston Mingo, Accounts Receivable Clerk in the Accounts Department, NICIL, that there was a pending jurisdictional/ restructuring issue between NICIL and Ministry of Business regarding the collection of lease fees, and as such our payment was not accepted/processed. We were advised to follow up at a later date regarding the payments,โ he explained to Sharma.
The company had said that it would make a statement on the deal but to date has not done so.
It's with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of our young daughters. Anita Persaud Samaroo age 51 passed away peacefully on Tuesday November 10th in Toronto Canada. Anita was born in Leonora Seafield WCD.
She was the daughter of the late Raddha and Baboo(Gaj- Carpenter) Granddaughter of Mulaiya. Brother of Chris Persaud. Funeral arrangements will take place in Toronto. Because of Covid19 regulations only Family members will be allowed for visitation.
Sincerely
Raj Chandrapal
Leovision Canada.
Any one watching ? what's your thoughts ?
What are the importance of attendance registers in Guyana's primary school?
https://www.facebook.com/perma...p;id=419065912167713
CGID PRESS RELEASE
November 29, 2020
GUYANESE MUST RISE UP AND DEFEAT PPP RACISM AND FIGHT FOR JUSTICE FOR CRUM EWING MURDER FOR WHICH ANIL NANDLALL IS A MURDER SUSPECT
Guyanaโs current Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum and others from the illegal, racist PPP government have been conspiring to arrest, persecute and criminalize African Guyanese. They have falsely arrested eight African Guyanese officials of the Guyana Elections Commission and five political opponents from the opposition APNU-AFC party; including the Chairman of the PNCR and former Minister of Health, Mr. Volda Lawrence.
Under a perverted application of the law, they declared the last APNU-AFC government "illegal," without the sanction of a court, and have deemed all transactions by the agency criminal. Consequently, they falsely arrested the head of NICIL, the government agency responsible for the effective maintenance and disposal of state assets, Colvin Heath-London.
They are also falsely arresting and charging African Guyanese Attorneys who represented clients who purchased state lands, persons who purchased lands and surveyors who surveyed said lands. They falsely allege that there people were involved in a conspiracy to defraud the state. They are also unlawfully seizing lands and property legitimately owned by African Guyanese.
The PPP regime has also fired 980 African Guyanese from the government. The only reason these people were fired is because of their race and presumed political affiliation. Nandlall said they were fired because they supported the APNU+AFC party on social media during the campaign. Clearly, the policy of this racist PPP government is to take away the rights of the African Guyanese population. They are purging African Guyanese from the government service. They are targetting black owned businesses and villages and shutting them out from the development of Guyana. PPP racism and deliberate injustice is designed to incite another PPP civil war like 1963. They want to relegate African Guyanese to second class citizens. This will not be accepted. The people will be mobilized to rise up against this racist PPP hegemony.
Anil Nandlall was under police investigation for the murder of Courtney Crum Ewing, in May 2015, when he was Attorney General in the previous PPP government. His then bodyguard was also under investigation for this murder. Nandlall was identified fleeing the crime scene with the bodyguard. Nandlall was also on trial in criminal court for stealing millions of state assets from the Attorney Generalโs Chambers.
These charges were inexplicably dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) thereby establishing two systems of justice; one for the PPP, and one for ordinary citizens. Not only is Nandlall a thief, a crook and murder suspect. He is also a domestic terrorist who was caught on tape threatening to send gunmen to kill journalists at Kaieteur newspaper. His vehicle was also spotted by an eyewitness escaping from the scene of a shooting of the Kaieteur news offices.
Nandlall directed PPP East Indian supporters in West Coast Berbice (WCB) to "break the fences" of African in (WCB) and occupy their lands. He was also caught on video saying when the PPP wins the elections certain people will have to run and leave Guyana - presumably black people. Indeed this is what he is attempting to accomplish with his vendetta campaign. He is sadly mistaken. No one is going anywhere. African Guyanese are prepared to fight to the death to defend their citizenship and right to live in peace in Guyana!
CGID again calls on the Police Commissioner to disclose the status of the investigation into Anil Nandlall. Police officers should leak documents of these investigations so that the public can know the truth, if the incompetent Commissioner fails to do his job. The public has a right to know the truth about the crook who is posing as Attorney General.
This same crook, along with the crime chief, is allegedly blocking an investigation of the murder of four African Guyanese teenagers whose throats were slit by PPP supporters. The international community and civil society in Guyana should warn the PPP that its racism and racial injustice will not stand. It will inevitably lead to retaliation and bloodshed at some point if they do not cease and desist.
There should be no peace in Guyana unless there is justice, equity and an end to this racist PPP ethnocracy. CGID will mobilize the people and the international community to block investment or development until the PPP abandons its racist, anti-black agenda. The PPP will not gain anything from the civil war they are inciting. They and their supporters have everything to lose.
CGID will wage a relentless war on the racist PPP ethnocracy. We will ask the US Congress, the new US Administration and the international community to examine the PPPโs ties to drug trafficking, money laundering and persons who fund international terrorism. We will partner with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) to write all American companies doing business in Guyana to expose the PPPโs racist agenda, and will lead boycotts of companies that fail to denounce PPP racism in Guyana.
CGID intends to mobilize the people to tear down every aspect of the PPP regime's racist, anti-black agenda. We will call on the people to rise up and take to the streets to defeat PPP racism. We will bring an end to PPP racism and racial injustice. No justice, no peace!
Richard Millington, Esq.
Director of Communications
CARIBBEAN GUYANA INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY (CGID)
-- END --
Jaipaul Sharma apologises to Nandlall

Former APNU+AFC Minister Jaipaul Sharma today issued an apology to Attorney General Anil Nandlall over statements he had made on his Facebook page.
The allegations by Sharma resulted in Nandlall filing a lawsuit against Sharma and PNCR member James Bond.
Sharma said on his Facebook page today:
โMy family called a meeting and the consensus was that I apologise to the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs of Guyana MOHABIR. A. NANDLALL on Facebook and to close my Facebook Accountโฆ
I had to agree with them, since I was outnumbered and since I believe in democracy.
I therefore issue an apology to the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs of Guyana MOHABIR. A. NANDLALL.
In addition, I will close my Facebook account after 5 day of this post during which period I will not make any further post about the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs of Guyana MOHABIR. A. NANDLALL, if he discontinue with his legal action against meโ.
Nandlall this week sued Bond and Sharma individually for damages in excess of $25M for each of the alleged libelous statements they are accused of having made; in excess of $25M each for special damages and in excess of $25M each for aggravated damages.
Nandlall is also seeking court costs and any other order the court may deem just to grant.
The AG says that the publications have the potential to sully his reputation, standing and integrity especially given Facebookโs reach.
https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...logises-to-nandlall/
When you wrong, yuh wrang!!
Grangerโs withdrawal from petition is sign of confusion in APNU/AFC camp โ Nandlall
โ says does not change late service of the petition
Attorney General Anil Nandlall has posited that lawyers for the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change sponsored election petition is in a state of confusion, judging by the hearings that have so far been conducted in the High Court.

Anil Nandlall
Nandlall expressed this view during a recent interview with the Department of Public Information. He stated that the coalitionโs lawyers are in a state of disarray and confusion, evidenced by former President David Granger declining to oppose the petition.
โIt is clear that the lawyers who are appearing in these petitions, the petitioners are in disarray because one is objecting to exactly what the other did and they are on the same side. So clearly there is an implosion, there is some degree of confusion within and among ranks of the lawyers,โ Nandlall said.
โIs it that they did not consult him before they named him a respondent? Is it that they are confused about what the law says on the issue and how the procedure should be approached? Is it that they are not speaking to each other or clients? Or is it that they do not understand the law?โ he also questioned.
The Attorney General pointed out that Grangerโs withdrawal is especially odd since Grangerโs lawyers are the ones who named him as a respondent. Nandlall questioned whether this may be a deliberate strategy to circumvent the late service of the petition.

David Granger
โAll the case law authority that we have found existing throughout the commonwealth over the last 100 years, they say uniformly and consistently that once a petition is not served in the manner provided for by the rules then the court has no jurisdiction to hear that petition,โ the Attorney General explained.
โPerhaps they think that to circumvent this identified and proven deficiency they can now get Mr. Granger to file this document to say I am not opposing and if that is their thinking, they are wrong because whether a person is a proper respondent and whether that respondent being named can exercise a right, which the law gives him not to oppose are mutually exclusive concepts,โ he added.

Mayo Robertson
The election petition case will continue on Monday, where further deliberations will be held on applications to strike out the petition. Last week Tuesdayโs hearing before acting Chief Justice Roxane George saw an energetic exchange between Nandlall and Attorney-at-Law Mayo Robertson, who represents petitioner Heston Bostwick.
During the hearing, Robertson made several unsuccessful attempts to have an application by Nandlall to strike out the petition rejected. Robertson had contended in his preliminary objections that Nandlallโs interlocutory application in the case did not obey the courtโs previous orders and should not be allowed.
However, acting Chief Justice Roxane George had expressed the view that Robertsonโs objections were without merit since Nandlallโs applications did not prejudice the proceedings. George was also of the view that Robertson, having also breached court orders previously, could see his election petition being struck out if he insisted on pressing his contention.
Another of Robertsonโs contentions was that Granger was not a necessary party in the case. It was subsequently announced that Granger, who was APNU/AFCโs Presidential Candidate in the 2020 election, had filed a notice to the court that he would not be contesting the petition challenging the results of the election.
Grangerโs move was made in keeping with provisions of Section 27(1) (a) and (2) of the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Act Cap 1:04 and rule 25 of the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Rule Cap 1:04.
November 30 ,2020
With the entry of each new government into office the electorate hears the same recitations about development. And by the time they leave office that development is still on hold. Nowadays voters are fairly cynical about their politicians, believing that most of them seek power in order to benefit themselves rather than the nation, a view which has probably become even more entrenched following the display of bad faith on the part of the AFC. Guyanaโs tragedy is that voting patterns have an ethnic character, although it would not be so tragic if regular changes of government were possible. But in this country demographics is key.
As it is many electors probably see little difference in terms of integrity between the politicians of one side and those of the other. What guides their hand to mark the X on the ballot paper will either be ethnic considerations or, in a minority of cases, tactical ones. And the politicians for whom they vote act accordingly. They see their first obligation as being to their ethnic constituencies, and by extension regard it as their function to appoint loyalists to key positions.
As for their tendency to use power to look after their own interests, it is not that they do not seek to place the nation on the path of development; it is rather that they believe that self-enhancement is not incompatible with this goal. This is despite the fact that nearly thirty years after our first free and fair elections in a long time, it should have been apparent to them that any such assumption had no evidence to support it. Self-interested motives, however, are hard to override.
This time around our present occupants of the corridors of power probably think that things will be different, because with the anticipated oil bonanza, there will soon be enough money to go around to profit everyone and silence all critics in the process. Certainly Mr David Granger thought so too, which is one reason why he clung so desperately to power for so long. The Guyanese people, however, are not necessarily persuaded. They know all about impoverished nations which struck oil, and whose elites became obscenely wealthy while the poor remained wretchedly poor.
For those who seek change, the answer lies in a radical rewriting of the constitution. That, however, is not so easily accomplished. In the first place, as is often recognised by reformers, incumbents in office have no interest in reducing their own power and control. They will be amenable to any amendment they perceive as being in their interest, but after that it would be a question of tinkering and minor concessions.
There is something else too which inhibits any move towards real change, and that is the political culture of our two major parties, which, it might be noted, also contaminated the only truly viable third party this country ever produced. The PPP and the PNC have a historically antagonistic relationship, which for all of that is symbiotic at some level. What is wrong in the nation is explained in terms of the other, so the previous PPP/C administration blamed its own shortcomings on the state in which the โdictatorshipโ (as it called it) had left the country. This was still being advanced as an argument many years after it had acceded to office.
The Granger government was no less condemnatory of its predecessor, bringing court actions against some former officials in relation to the Pradoville 2 housing scheme. That both governments have been guilty of corruption there is little doubt, whether that comes to light or not, and traditionally for the most part what are probably the most egregious cases havenโt. But our parties are formed of Cyclopes โ members who see with only one eye. Wrong is what is committed by the other side, not by their own.
So vindictiveness is ingrained in the political psyche, and as mentioned earlier, when a new government comes in, officials appointed by the previous one are turfed out willy-nilly, whatever their gifts, as the case of Dr Vincent Adams in particular illustrates. In a country which suffers so much from the brain drain, and which lacks a critical mass of competent people, this is no way to pursue development. With a few notable exceptions, sycophancy and ability do not go together. And what the previous PPP/C government demonstrated was that it had no feel for talent.
That aside, it might be observed that no nation can develop which does not have a level of continuity from one administration to the next, at least where certain fundamental policies are concerned. Here, however, every government which comes in seems to want to start from scratch; there is no building on what has gone before and so development is inhibited. It is not as if the APNU+AFC administration did any better on the continuity front or in terms of retaining any proven competent officials in critical posts either. But then Mr Granger introduced an additional aberrant element into the PNC political equation: the military factor. He seemed to believe that he could run the state as the army was run, and so he appointed any number of inexperienced, ill-suited ex-military personnel to critical posts with predictable results. It was not even as if he was a populist; he hardly made himself available to the public except on official occasions and for the celebration of religious anniversary events. Even now, as the leader of the main opposition party, he is still virtually incommunicado.
The only thing his modus operandi in office and his actions last year and this have achieved is the precipitous decline of the PNC as a political entity, and his chosen successor, Mr Joseph Harmon, who also lacks political skills, will not be the one to revive it. The PPP is probably quite happy that it is witnessing what it believes could be the demise of its old opponent, which now appears to lack the power to put real pressure on it, despite the fact that the ruling partyโs overall majority in Parliament is only one seat.
It should be careful, however, about premature rejoicing. The ethnic political nexus is so entrenched, that eventually someone will appear to speak for the African constituency, whether or not within the context of the old PNC. The fact that the party now lacks spokespersons of genuine experience and ability such as Mr Carl Greenidge, does not mean that this will remain the case indefinitely. The African constituency in this latest chapter of an old story is not suddenly going to become the new supporters of the present government, even if that government thinks they can be bought off with oil money.
And even if one thought that President Irfaan Ali was genuine in his patter about inclusiveness and the like, he is a product of Freedom House, which has a long-established system and some old political hands. It was founded in the days when the PPP was a Marxist-Leninist party (its constitution still is) and while most of its members probably no longer adhere to those views, the system still retains its hold. In short it is not geared for making the kind of compromises constitutional reform and inclusiveness would require.
It used to be thought that the first step to stabilising the country and edging it towards developmental mode, was to encourage the PNC to come within the democratic framework. In 1992 Desmond Hoyte appeared to be nosing it in that direction, and in 2011, that seemed to have been achieved. Mr Granger then sabotaged the achievement, and the PNC is now back to square one, finding itself at the lowest ebb in its history. This is not good for the country either. A democracy needs a viable opposition whose bona fides are trusted.
As for the PPP, it has always had a simplistic definition of democracy, amounting only to the holding of national elections. Once in office, then Freedom House thinking takes hold. As it is, Parliament has not met for nearly three months, and the public is being informed there will be no local government elections next year, when they fall due, because Gecom would first have to be reformed. This is nonsense, apart from reflecting an undemocratic spirit. It may take a good while before the PNC addresses its problems, but the PPP can address some of its own now. Most of all it should remind itself that history shows in this country that development cannot be achieved through the vehicle of party autocracy.
Millions unaccounted for from SLED initiative
- Hamilton

Millions of dollars are unaccounted for from the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Initiative, which was rolled out under the previous government, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton announced on Friday.
Addressing a press conference on Friday at his ministryโs boardroom, Hamilton said that in Regions Nine and Ten, there is no evidence of projects on which money has been spent.
โWhat we have seen is there are shepherds but no sheepโฆ so millions of dollars are unaccounted for,โ the minister lamented.
Orhttps://www.stabroeknews.com/2020/11/29/news/guyana/millions-unaccounted-for-from-sled-initiative/
Stocks running low!
Nov 30, 2020 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists, News
Kaieteur News โ One former government Minister open he liquor cabinet and realize how it running low pon stocks. He went to pick up the phone to call he businessman friend fuh replenish supplies when he remember that since he out of power, he friends them blank he out.
All of dem who used to kowtowing behind him suddenly disappear. When dem see he, dem putting dem head straighter than an arrow. He call out to them and dem play like dem nah hear.
Dem had one Minister he had one drinking problem. He out of power and de problem disappear. He find that nobody nah want drink with he and he liquor cabinet bare.
Is suh when you lose power. All who did know yuh before does suddenly become more scarce than Lysol during a pandemic. All dem wah used to buy yuh drinks nah even want see yuh around them.
Every Christmas all dem businessmen used to send plenty liquor to some of dem Ministas dat dem does have to share out to dem friends.
Everybody sending something. But when yuh in Opposition, yuh plate bare and yuh glass empty.
Christmas time too de Ministers does get invite to plenty party. But when yuh in Opposition, yuh name does get scratch off de invitation list. But this year, dem Opposition nah gat to worry about party. All dem staff party cancel and free liquor nah gan be available.
Talk half and remember when things nice, everybody does know you but when things brown, yuh does mash dog dung.
Source - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.../stocks-running-low/
McNeill and Lal, Report
Wakenaam, Leguan get crime-fighting boat

The Community Policing Division Three, which has responsibility for the islands of Wakenaam and Leguan in the Essequibo River, now has a patrol boat thanks to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn this morning handed over the 16ft x 5ft x 2ft aluminum boat with 40 horse power to Chairman of Division Three, Mustapha Zaman, a release from the ministry said.
โOther than gunmen going around some of the incidents appear to be people getting emotional and mud ballingโฆWe have to have empathy and understanding so we donโt get things degenerated any further,โ he added.
In accepting the donation, the release said that Zaman expressed gratitude since for years the absence of a boat had hindered their crime fighting ability.
Need for accessible care for kidney failure patients led Nurse Olive Sinclair to start dialysis centres
By Lakhram Bhagirat, , Source - I News - https://www.inewsguyana.com/ne...rt-dialysis-centres/
Nurse Olive Sinclair has been in the medical profession for over 32 years now, and over the years, she has worked in almost every aspect of the hospital system. She has vast knowledge of the inner workings of the system as well as the needs of patients.
It was that knowledge of the needs of patients that moved Nurse Sinclair to establish Biomed Energy Enterprise Dialysis Clinic in December of 2015. She saw a void in providing quality care for kidney failure patients and sought to fill that gap.
Sinclair โ a Registered Nurse โ joined the health-care sector almost immediately after she left school and worked in the Laboratory, X-Ray and Pharmaceutical Departments at two hospitals. However, she soon felt as though those positions did not present her with a challenge so in 1991, she applied for the Nursing Programme.
Co-founder of Biomed Energy Enterprise, Nurse Olive Sinclair
In 1994, she graduated from the Programme as a Registered Nurse and was attached to the New Amsterdam Hospital in Berbice.
During her years as an RN, Sinclair worked in almost every department of the hospital, but was originally trained as an Operating Room (OR) Nurse. After a few years of working at the New Amsterdam Hospital, she took the bold step to move to Georgetown and took up a post at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
โAt the Georgetown Hospital, I was placed in the OR again and literally I wrote a letter asking to be removed and I was sent to [Intensive Care Unit] ICU. I worked the regular ICU, the Cardiac ICU,โ she recounted.
However, something was still missing for her and she felt that a bigger challenge was needed. She took up employment with a private clinic, but that did not work out, so she went back to the Georgetown Public Hospital. In 2011, she got a challenge when she was recommended as a nurse to work in the Doobay Dialysis Centre on the East Coast of Demerara.
Nurse Olive Sinclair preparing one of the dialysis machines
She was interviewed and appointed to serve as the Registered Nurse/Administrator at the Centre. There she was further trained and worked for four years. However, circumstances would cause her to part ways with the Centre and in 2015, when she decided to start her own dialysis unit, she already had experience in the field.
She had co-founded Biomed Energy Enterprise back in 2013 and was setting up dialysis units, water systems, and machines as well as servicing and maintaining them. She played a part in setting up the Doobay and GPHC Units as well as some private institutions.
โI was financially stable to start (my own Unit) and we started with one machine and as the months went by, I saw the need to have at least two more and Biomed Energy Enterprise grew from there. Presently, I have two locations: one at Woodlands (Hospital in Georgetown) with 14 machines and one at Anamayah (Memorial Hospital in Berbice) with four machines,โ Nurse Sinclair said.
Now she would travel to Berbice three days per week and the other four would be spent in Georgetown performing dialysis on patients.
Commencing the dialysis process
For a dialysis centre to become operational, it requires far more planning and execution than just having patients. It needs to have a water system: the reverse osmosis water system, then you need special pipes for that water to go to the dialysis machine. You would need the dialysis machines, and operators for them. Technical personnel are also required to ensure that the machines are calibrated correctly, serviced, and maintained for optimal functioning.
Sinclair and her Canadian business partner serve as a dynamic duo, since he has over 40 years of experience in the dialysis arena and is responsible for all the technical work while she takes care of the clinical aspects of the operations.
Dialysis is one line of treatment for persons whose kidneys have failed. A person can have acute renal failure which starts within one to seven days, it happens within a short period of time and then the kidneys kick back in within three months to a year.
Nurse Sinclair taking the weight of a patient
In chronic renal failure, the kidneys have lost their function and for that affected individual to survive, he or she needs hemodialysis. The process of hemodialysis starts when the blood is removed from the patient, it is then passed through a machine, through a filter or dialyser which performs some of the functions of the kidneys and then that clean blood is returned to the patient.
For that procedure to happen, the patient must have some medical intervention that provides access to the blood that flows around in that individual. There are three types of access. There is the AV Fistula where an artery is connected to a vein and then allowed to heal for six weeks to three months before it can be used. There is the option where a graft is surgically inserted between an artery and a vein, and the other type of access is the catheter.
Catheters are widely used in Guyana because most patients are diagnosed with renal failure when they show all the signs and symptoms โ that is retention of fluid, bad taste in their mouths, smelly breath and low blood count. The disadvantage of catheters is that they are infection prone.
Nurse Sinclair has been conducting her own research to determine the needs of every administrative region in Guyana concerning access to dialysis care. Thus far, she has found that there are about 175 or more kidney failure patients in Guyana, with most dialysis centres located in the city.
Setting up for the next patient
She had, under the previous Administration, submitted proposals for the setting up of dialysis units โ through a public-private partnership โ in six of the 10 administrative regions, but that never materialised. She said that there were plans in the pipeline for expansion to other regions, but noted that she preferred to set those units up within the regional hospital system for a number of reasons.
โOne of the advantages of having a dialysis unit within a hospital environment is that it takes away a lot of literal supervisory burden from you when it comes to the medical waste disposal. (In the hospital setting) The blood work can be readily done. If there is an emergency, there are always doctors within the hospital, access to the ICU is very easy, medication is readily available within the hospital setting. The hospital also does like the laundry, the attendants will move the patients from point A to point B and there are always cleaners available to keep the environment clean. It also takes away a financial burden to some extent even though you pay for that within your rent and utilities fees,โ she explained.
Another one of the driving forces for her decision to set up dialysis units in the hospital setting is the fact that there is always power available. The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is notorious for its blackouts so it is critical that her units have a steady power supply.
Nurse Sinclairโs research has found the need for a dialysis unit in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), since she has patients travelling from as far as the Essequibo Coast to access dialysis services in Georgetown. She is hoping that she will be able to meet them halfway with a unit in Region Three so that it cuts their commute as well as brings some financial relief, since dialysis sessions are in themselves a huge financial burden.
Sinclair said that if she was given permission to set up dialysis units at the regional hospitals, she could have them up and running in 14 days, noting that it has been over a year now since the Linden Hospital Complex was supposed to have a unit set up by another firm and it was yet to happen.
The dialysis machine in operation
Over the past five years, she has interacted with a number of persons and had the chance to hear of their burdens in terms of accessing care for their kidney failure. She said that the common complaint was access to transportation, and its cost.
โSome patients can go to work after dialysis. I have patients who start dialysis at 5:30am, they leave at 9:30am and then they go to work. But then there are some patients after dialysis that need to relax, to go home and relax for an hour, have something to eat before they can get around to do their regular daily chores. So, it is very fatiguing on the patientโs body travelling those long distances, and then cost for travelling is also a burden,โ the experienced nurse said.
The reverse osmosis water system set up
She is also advocating for more preventative testing to be done for those with diabetes and hypertension so that there may be early intervention for potential kidney failure patients. This, she said, will result in early acceptance of the condition and treatment as well.
Sinclair is hopeful that she will see dialysis accessible in every region, access to medication, and most importantly, more inspections of dialysis units. The Biomed Energy Enterprise Dialysis Unit has a qualified Nephrologist on staff along with ancillary staff qualified in various fields of functioning.
Would not know satire!!
Container found at Haruni; contents at AFC office
Nov 28, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News โ Just before there was a change in government in August, the police discovered a strange container deep in the bush near Haruni off the Linden highway. On reaching the container, the police removed the overgrowth, but the container had no markings on it.
A search of the structure revealed dozens of crates with Russian wordings. The police sent for pry bars to wrench open the crates but the station in Mackenzie had none. After hours of waiting for the bars, words spread that a squad of policemen was in the bushes at Haruni. A crowd gathered. People thought they found a body. The consensus of the crowd was that the police were visiting a murder scene. The police asked the viewers to leave. The police managed to secure four crow bars from a private business place.
While opening the crates, the villagers returned and were again ordered to leave but this time, the police were distracted by what they found so the crowd got closer. There were millions of pens and erasers. All the ranks were nonplussed. What a container was doing off the Linden highway with pens and erasers?
An immediate dispatch was sent to Eve Leary. A high-level team travelled up led by the officer who had ordered that Assistant Commissioner Edgar Thomas be removed from the GECOM Command centre in the Ashmin building during the rigging there. Just to refresh your memory about that incident.
A GECOM staff member had ordered GECOM commissioner, Sase Gunraj, to leave the building and he objected on the grounds that he had the authority to be there and that the staff member was junior to him and cannot give him an order. Police operations at the centre was led by Thomas who cancelled out the edict to remove Gunraj telling the lady that she was out of place to treat a GECOM commissioner like that. Thomas was immediately removed and assigned to street duty to monitor the traffic outside the Ashmin building.
It is interesting to note that the Thomas incident will be featured in two autobiographies that are being written, one by GECOM Chair, Claudette Singh, and the other by the Commissioner of Police at the time (since retired) Leslie James.
A source told me that in the James memoir, the Guyanese public will finally know why at a press conference, James said that apart from alleged bribery, the Charrandass incident also involved national security. Since Charrandass returned to Guyana, I spoke with him several times and asked him what James meant by the national security remark.
Here is what happened. After Charrandass left for Canada, and with the bribery story swirling around, the police raided what they thought was Charrandassโ home in Canje, Berbice. In the building, they found $10 million Russian rubles and fake passports belonging to several countries. One passport had the name C. Mango and another with the name. K. Lolo. It wasnโt Charrandassโ home. The building was occupied by a group of Haitians who were illegal in Guyana.
That morning they had gone fishing and when they returned, the taxi driver told them what happened, so they never returned to the building. The rubles were stored in the New Amsterdam station and were accidently thrown in the thrash by the cleaning lady who thought it was discarded monopoly game money. I donโt know if this will be in Jamesโ memoir but that is one of the explanations for James exclaiming that the Charrandass case involved national security.
The pens and erasers were taken to the AFC head office. At an AFC press conference, the AFC leadership displayed a sample of the items to prove that this was the evidence that a Russian group came to Guyana in February to rig the election for the PPP and was deported by the man who the Dem Boys Seh column refers to as โRumjattan.โ A journalist from San Marino who was visiting Guyana at the time and who attended the presser asked how the pens and erasers would have been used.
Here is what the AFC told the press conference. At the bottom of one of the crates was found a document in Russian with the wording, โOperation Rigging.โ It detailed how on voting day, the Russians would sabotage GPL. During the blackout, some paid agent provocateurs would run into each polling station exclaiming, โFire, fire!โ As the staff got up to run outside, the agent provocateurs would use a spray to alter their vision. The Russians would then take all the ballots from the boxes, erase most of the votes for APNU+AFC and mark the X for the PPP. Believe it or leave it!
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this ne
Guyana Oil
Kaieteur News Cartoon 22/2020, Nov 22, 2020 Cartoons, Features / Columnists, Source - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...s-cartoon-22-2020-2/
November 28 ,2020
David Patterson
-as Public Accounts Committee set to meet next week
Designated Chair of the Public Accounts Commit-tee (PAC) David Patterson yesterday signalled his intention to request special audits of the COVID-19 relief grant programme and the single-source procurement of 44 tractors by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
During a virtual press conference held by the Alliance for Change (AFC) yesterday, Patterson repeated the call for Speaker Manzoor Nadir to convene all standing and select committees in particular the PAC.
This committee, which last met on August 6, 2018, is a full three and a half years behind in its examination of the public accounts as detailed in the various Auditor Generalโs Reports, the opposition parliamentarian lamented.
He explained that the Parliamentary Standing Orders prescribe that the Speaker convene the first meeting of each committee so that a Chairperson can be elected from its members. The same Orders, according to Patterson, provide for the Speaker to nominate either the Deputy Speaker or another member of parliament to convene the meeting on his behalf if he is unavailable.
In the absence of government members of the committee, Patterson believes the meeting can still go on.
โThree members constitute a quorumโฆ the opposition has four membersโฆthe Chairman of the Committee must come from the opposition โ thus the attendance of the Government members, while desirable, is not necessary,โ Patterson said while explaining that the meeting is likely to be very brief since the first meeting of the tenth PAC lasted a mere 15 minutes.
He went on to note that Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones has received unofficial communication from the Speaker indicating that the first meetings of all Committees will be held on Monday and Tuesday but stressed that this has not been officially communicated as required by the Standing Orders.
โStanding Orders require Members to have three daysโ notice before the holding of a meeting, and as of [Friday], no Member of the Opposition received notice for a proposed meeting,โ he said.
Nevertheless, Patterson has already outlined his agenda for at least the first few sittings.
โWhenever the PAC sits to meet, I intend to request reports on several troubling issues that have [and] are developing,โ he said explaining that these include the procurement process at GuySuCo.
The sugar company announced on Monday that it would be purchasing via an โaccelerated procurement processโ 44 articulated tillage tractors to contribute to its soil improvement programme.
The tractors are being purchased from Game Equipment LLC, formerly Cameco.
GuySuCoโs Chief Exe-cutive Officer (CEO) Sasenarine Singh while responding to questions from Stabroek News stated that attempts had been made to reach out to the local private sector to rent tractors but after a less than satisfactory response the company has moved to procure โsugar specific tractorsโ through an accelerated procurement process.
Asked to explain this process he described it as being โfocusedโ on the procurement process and working weekly to see it through.
These tractors are projected to cost nearly half, $1.5 billion of the $5 billion allocated by government for the revitalization of the sugar industry.
Value for money
โI intend to ask the audit office to perform a value for money audit on this procurement,โ Patterson announced yesterday.
The questions he would like to see answered include: How and why was this brand of tractor selected; what investigations were conducted to ensure that these tractors are suitable for the soil and climate conditions in Guyana; does GuySuCo have any experience in operating and maintaining tractors like these and is there training for staff to drive and operate the vehicles and implement a maintenance programme?
He reminded that tractors sourced from India in the past could not work because the soil was very different, so the tractors were distributed to hinterland communities where conditions were more suitable.
โWhen you start to change the entire regime of the company an investigation has to be done to ensure itโs not a hare-brained scheme,โ the parliamentarian asserted.
In relation to the COVID-19 relief fund, the PAC, under the direction of Patterson, will be seeking an operational report.
Patterson stressed that although the financial expenditure for the project will be included in the Auditor Generalโs 2020 report, several other issues with regards to the distribution programme have arisen.
These issues include claims that several persons and areas have been bypassed. In cases where large families of more than one household occupy a single building there have been reports that only a single family or part of the building have received funds.
โWe have also received report that sections of communities supportive of the (APNU+AFC) Coalition have been bypassed and public servants seconded to outlying regions have not been paid. While the matter of payments will be in the 2020 AG report, we will seek an Operational Report before Budget 2021,โ he concluded.
The current Public Accounts Committee comprises Patterson, Juretha Fernandes, Ganesh Mahipaul and Jermaine Figueira for the opposition. Members from the governmentโs side of the House are Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, Dharamkumar Seeraj, Vishwa D.B. Mahadeo and Sanjeev Datadin.