Set-up of arbitration panel snagged by stalemate over chairperson
Attempts to set up an arbitration panel to settle the wage dispute between the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) fell apart yesterday after the two sides failed to agree on a Chairman. According to GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald, the union proposed former Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashleigh Jackson, former Minister of Education Jeffrey Thomas and Dr Aubrey Armstrong as possible chairs, but they were all rejected “without reason” by ministry representatives. Armstrong is best known for his chairmanship of the 1999 Arbitration Tribunal between the Guyana Public Service Union, the Federated Union of Government Employees and the Government of Guyana. McDonald revealed that MoE, for its part, proposed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications Derrick Cummings, and Glendon Harris, the Human Resources Manager of the Guyana Revenue Authority. According to GTU President Mark Lyte, these men were rejected by the union on the basis that they are serving members of the public service, hence government functionaries. Therefore, to select either as chair is to create a situation of conflict of interest, he said.
Freeman St youth succumbs after being stabbed in fight
A young Freeman Street resident died in hospital yesterday morning, almost 12 hours after he was stabbed during a fight with a man whom police say he attacked at D’Urban and Chapel streets, Lodge, in Georgetown. Dead is Roger Allen, of Lot 60 Freeman Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown, who received his fatal injuries on Thursday afternoon. The police said Allen, a Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) worker, sustained two suspected stab wounds about his body during a scuffle with fellow Freeman Street resident Matthew Parks. Both men were subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where Allen underwent emergency surgery. He succumbed early yesterday morning while receiving medical attention. Parks, 20, of 214 Freeman Street, East La Penitence, who was also treated for injuries he sustained, was discharged and taken into police custody. In a press statement, Guyana Police Force spokesman Jairam Ramlakhan yesterday said investigations had revealed that prior to the fatal encounter on Thursday, Allen went to a Mini Mart, located at D’Urban and Chapel streets, Lodge, where Parks was on duty, in order to make a purchase. The two men had an exchange of words due to a misunderstanding and Allen subsequently left. Around 5 pm, Ramlakhan said, Parks exited his workplace and he was confronted by Allen, who was reportedly armed with a piece of wood and a knife. “A scuffle ensued and both men received injuries,” he added.
Boys, 15, held over Annandale pensioner’s murder
Investigators have arrested two teenage boys in connection with the murder of Krishnachand Dabee, the pensioner whose lifeless body was found in his Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD) yard late last month and one of them has since admitted to being at the crime scene. This was confirmed by Commander of ‘C’ Division Calvin Brutus, who told Stabroek News that the first arrest was made on Thursday evening and the other was made yesterday afternoon. The youths are both 15 years old and they are residents of neighbouring Buxton, East Coast Demerara. Brutus said the police, acting on information received, arrested the first suspect on Thursday evening. During questioning he reportedly admitted to being present at the crime scene. He, however, denied killing Dabee. However, based on what he told investigators they arrested his alleged accomplice just after midday yesterday. He was being questioned up to yesterday afternoon. Dabee, 72, of Lot 149 Annandale Public Road, ECD was discovered dead around 7 pm on August 28th by his daughter, Ramona Dabee, after several calls to him went unanswered.
Sunday, September 16th Dep’t of Energy to hire overseas firm to help with oil audits – Bynoe
With the country’s limited capacity to audit pre-contract costs for oil recovery, Head of the Department of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe, says that an international firm will be hired to aid both the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the state audit office to discharge their obligations. Dr. Bynoe believes that the process will take time but he is preparing interim measures, such as recruiting an international company to assist with the fostering and transfer of oil and gas content knowledge. “While both the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Office of the Auditor General have some capacity to conduct the first cost recovery audit of ExxonMobil, they tend to have limited subject expertise. In this vein, therefore, the Department is working to procure the services of a reputable international firm that can assist these entities in conducting said audits,” Dr. Bynoe told this newspaper, when contacted. Following calls for ExxonMobil’s US$460 million pre-contract charges to be audited, the GRA announced that it will not only audit the costs up to the end of 2015 but the 2016 and 2017 cost recovery charges that are believed to be over US$500 million.
Monday, September 17, 2018 Inquiry ordered into City Hall
Following a “plethora” of complaints against City Hall by residents, vendors and members of the business community, the Local Government Commission (LGC) has ordered a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) and is calling on the public to submit statements. This newspaper understands that Town Clerk Royston King will be sent on leave to facilitate the process. “What has occasioned it? We would have received a plethora of complaints; from individuals, organisations, institutions the business community…,” LGC Chairman, Mortimer Mingo, told Stabroek News, when contacted yesterday. “In keeping with the Local Government Act, the commissioners met, deliberated and we decided that we will hold a CoI,” he added. Mingo informed that former Chancellor Cecil Kennard has been identified to head the CoI. Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan have been formally notified, although not legally required, of the LGC’s decision. An advertisement from the commission in the Sunday Stabroek yesterday notified the public
Jagdeo to be interviewed by SOCU today
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo is to be interviewed by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) today at 2 pm as part of the long-running probe into the Pradoville 2 Housing Scheme. Jagdeo’s office made the disclosure of the appointment last night. This would be Jagdeo’s second encounter with SOCU on the matter. In March last year he and other former Cabinet members were questioned by SOCU on the matter. He visited SOCU after being arrested at his Church Street office On Thursday, Jagdeo said at a press conference that appearing before SOCU in relation to the Pradoville 2 issue with the expectation that charges will be laid against former Cabinet ministers of the previous government will set the precedent for a new People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government to pursue corruption charges against the David Granger government. Once members of his former government are charged, which he expects would happen, Jagdeo told the media on Thursday, “Once that happens with former ministers then we set a precedent. Hopefully that would be followed when we pursue their other contracts. Trust me. They don’t know what they have just done.” He said that not only would the PPP deal with the $14 million a month contract for a bond in Sussex Street and the $150 million contract for the feasibility study for a new Demerara River bridge but Granger’s Cabinet would also have to answer for the D’Urban Park project and “tons of other things.”
Man arrested in New York over killing of Guyanese corrections officer
The New York Police Department says an employee with the city’s transit system has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a Guyanese correction officer, according to the Associated Press (AP). Authorities said yesterday that Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus maintenance worker Gifford Hunter, 30, of Queens, was arrested on murder and other charges in the death of Jonathan Narain. Narain, 27, of Queens, and of Guyanese parentage, was on his way to work at Rikers Island early Friday when a man on a motorcycle shot him once in the left temple after a brief conversation. Police, the AP report said, did not know what the two men argued about before the shooting.
Tuesday, September 18th Jagdeo invokes immunity during SOCU questioning
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday declined to respond to questions from investigators concerning ‘Pradoville 2,’ invoking his presidential immunity from prosecution, although he has declared his readiness to defend himself in court if the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) decides to charge him. “We intend to file a full defence at some point once it gets to the court. That’s where you will see all the issues that you have been asking me about. At this stage, like the other members of the Cabinet, we choose the right to be silent and in this case I chaired the Cabinet in an official capacity, so we invoked that…,” Jagdeo told reporters shortly after meeting with SOCU investigators. Last week, he was invited to the unit’s Camp Street Headquarters to be questioned about a 2010 Cabinet meeting, where the allocations of parcels of land and other matters concerning the housing scheme were discussed. In addition to Jagdeo, eight other Cabinet members were questioned and it is unclear who else will be summoned in the coming days.
Patterson, other ministers for questioning by SOCU
Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson along with other government ministers will soon be invited to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Headquarters to answer questions on Cabinet’s award of a contract to Dutch firm LievenseCSO for a feasibility study for a new bridge over the Demerara River, according to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. This was disclosed by Jagdeo shortly after his interview with SOCU investigators yesterday on the ‘Pradoville 2’ housing scheme probe. SOCU officials later confirmed to Stabroek News that as part of an investigation, the minister and other members of the Cabinet will be questioned. It is unclear how soon this aspect of the investigation will be undertaken. In a request made to SOCU Head Sydney James in August, Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, had urged that there be a comprehensive investigation, with a view to instituting criminal charges against Patterson. The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) found that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) breached the country’s procurement laws in the single-sourcing of the contract to the Dutch company.