Recent events review Saturday November 26 to Friday December 2
Rio murder probe snared in standoff over security firm’s guns
the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant and it is circulated to member countries listing persons who are wanted for extradition. It said the names of persons listed in the notices are placed on lookout lists and if such persons come to the attention of the police abroad, the country that sought the listing is notified through Interpol and can request either his/her provisional arrest—if there is urgency—or can file a formal request for extradition.
Ramjattan pledges probe of allegations against cops over carpenter murder
Following allegations of misconduct and lawbreaking levelled against police at the Springlands Berbice Precinct, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan on Saturday assured residents in the county that thorough investigations will he conducted. The Public Security Minister promised that those found guilty will face the full brunt of the law. “We not only going to go one cop, two cop, the whole set of cops must be investigated”, Ramjattan told a gathering at the Number 70 Village home of murdered carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt. United States-based Guyanese businessman Marcus Brian Bisram, has been charged in absentia with Narinedatt’s murder and an Interpol ‘Red Alert’ notice has been issued for him. It has been alleged that several policemen and community liaison personnel sought to thwart the probe. Bisram had donated large sums to the community and police in recent months. Ramjattan explained the latest law enforcement developments to those gathered and how the extradition process for Bisram will be initiated. “Once arrested, we will have to provide the evidence, that he is indeed wanted for murder, to start the extradition process to have him here,” he noted. Five other men, including Bisram’s bodyguard, have been formally charged with the murder. Bisram, police have alleged, procured and commanded Orlando Dickie, Radesh Motie, Diodath Datt, Harri Paul Parsram, and Niran Yacoob to murder Narinedatt between October 31 and November 1, 2016, at Number 70 Village, Berbice.
GuySuCo could be rationalised to four estates
With the 2017 budget to be presented today, a major announcement is likely on the way forward for sugar with GuySuCo Chairman Dr Clive Thomas telling Stabroek News on Friday of a possible rationalisation of the industry to four estates. Thomas said the board hopes to rationalise to four estates and that two local and very experienced consultants, have found that the Rose Hall estate in Berbice is in a pretty bad shape. As such, they are thinking about marginalising Rose Hall or they would “certainly have to diversify it.” The consultants, who have worked out of Guyana, reported to the board last Tuesday that the “state of the factory and the attitude are very bad. They were bemoaning it…” According to Thomas, they have “found problems in every area; the factory, agriculture, relations, management and they are not confident about reports on what is happening there.” When asked how the estate has been performing in terms of production, he said the revised target was 11,454 tonnes up to the second week of November but Rose Hall is ahead with a production figure of 11,700 tonnes. Rose Hall has over 2400 workers and many have expressed fears about being displaced amid reports of rationalisation. the $250 billion 2017 budget yesterday in the National Assembly. The GDP growth projection next year is 3.8% on the back of mining and quarrying and an expected recovery in other sectors. Delivering his third budget presentation, Jordan said that at the middle of this year, real economic growth was 2 per cent but since several industries and sectors including sugar, rice, construction, and the wholesale and retail trade, were “showing signs of distress”, the rate of growth was revised downwards to 4 per cent. There-after, several unexpected developments arose including the downsizing of Barama Company Limited and Demerara Timbers Limited’s operations in the forestry sector.
Budget ‘immensely ominous’
“Immensely ominous for the future of country,” were the words used by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo describe the 2017 Budget presented by Finance Minister Winston Jordan to the National Assembly yesterday. Calling Jordan’s presentation “eventful,” Jagdeo at a press conference immediately after the reading of the budget, said that initially he thought the budget was “immensely resourceful,” but when the Minister announced the measures he found it ominous. According to him, during Jordan’s presentation he “meandered from cliché to cliché” and did some rehash of old information. And as for the project ideas, according to the former president, they were not thought out clearly. “For example, the proposal to start the road from Georgetown to Lethem going to phase one when no feasibility… or even the pre-feasibility studies have been done at this point in time; given the traffic between Brazil and Guyana, it is unsustainable to spend US$400 million on a road of that nature which is $80 billion in the long run,” Jagdeo said.
City to get $176M from Communities Ministry to pay garbage contractors
Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan has managed to secure funding from the Ministry of Communities specifically to pay garbage collectors contracted by the Mayor and City Council monies. Duncan along with the City’s Solid Waste Director Walter Narine over the weekend met Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan and discussed the city’s financial crisis, which has been preventing the city from making payments to the contractors. “I had to take the initiative and meet with the minister because the collectors had threatened to go on strike last Sunday…,” Duncan said. Duncan revealed during yesterday’s statutory meeting that after discussions, it was agreed that the sum of $176 million would be given to the council to pay Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers Disposal Inc. The money is being granted with the understanding that it would only be used to pay the contractors a chunk of what is owed to them and not for any other project being undertaken by the city.