UG must become tech incubator for green development – Granger tells diaspora conference
In its quest to drive the “intellectual processes of green development,” the University of Guyana (UG) must become an incubator of technology, President David Granger said yesterday at the opening ceremony for the inaugural Diaspora Engagement Conference.
Under the theme “Dreaming Diaspora Engagement, Doing Diaspora Engagement,” the five-day conference, Kerry Cromwell - Murder Twenty-three-year-old Cromwell, an ex-convict was remanded to prison in April last year after he was charged with the murder of Linden bus driver Alvin Lorrimer. Lorrimer was shot while he was standing outside his bus at the Linden bus park seeking passengers in March 2015. Cromwell who was previously convicted and sentenced to community service on a narcotics offence, has been charged in connection with several armed robberies.He was charged in March 2011 with robbing two persons, one while armed with a knife, of $124,000 and $19,000 in cash and articles. On this occasion, he was shot by police while being apprehended.In September 2014, Cromwell, along with Nicholas Brazil, was charged with robbing Ashanti Lawrence at gunpoint at Enachu Street, Section ‘K,’ Campbellville.In December 2015, he was charged with robbing Deon Hilkin of articles valued $97,000, while armed with a broken bottle. He was also accused of stabbing Hilkin with the bottle and of assaulting a police officer and escaping from lawful custody.
Pascal Smith - Smith, 25, was charged and remanded to prison only last month over the murder of John Houston which opened at the Ramada Princess Hotel, East Bank Demerara, will see over 200 stakeholders and leaders in the diaspora engage in various forums and symposiums towards the strengthening of partnerships with overseas organisations.
“The university is central to fulfilling the scientific which occurred on May 27, at Alexander Street.
Kendell Skeete - Skeete, 34, was held during May 2015 after seven years on the run. He was charged with the October 2008 murder of Kenneth Allen who was stabbed to death allegedly during an ill-fated rescue attempt at Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara.
Paul Goriah -Robbery/Murder - Goriah, also known as ‘John John,’ 28, of Timehri was among the three men charged last year with the murder of Hill Foot farmer Anthony Breedy, which occurred between March 12 and March 14, 2016. Breedy was found dead in the bottom flat of his Lot 67 Hill Foot, Soesdyke/Linden Highway home. His hands and feet were bound and his head was bashed in. The trio was committed to stand trial for the crime in May. and technological objective which the green state requires. The university must drive intellectual processes of green development by becoming an incubator of technology and the nurturer of skills and talents,” Granger said in his keynote address.
While Granger noted the strides UG has made in
Shawn Harris -Murder - Harris called ‘Shawny’ or ‘Bruk Up’, 31, of Pike Street, Kitty was charged with the murder of vagrant, Sunil Singh, also known as ‘Grey,’ on February 5, 2017, at Owen Street, Kitty. Singh was fatally stabbed after he attempted to rescue an employee of a Lamaha Street nightclub from an attack by three men.Harris is also one of the suspects who was charged in connection with the robbery of the Bank of Baroda branch at Mon Repos in January 2016.Four men, one of whom was armed with a gun, had entered the bank and held up the lone female private security guard on duty and took away her .32 service revolver.During the attack, which lasted for about five minutes, the men then held up the two female tellers, grabbing over $2 million in cash and escaping in a waiting car bearing false registration plate PNN 8984.
several fields, he stated, “This country needs biologists, botanists, zoologists to document and study its unique and unmatched biodiversity. It needs engineers to erect infrastructure in the hinterland.”
Also giving brief remarks was UG ViceChancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith, who sought to give a framework of some of the unstated objectives that he hopes will be achieved at the end of the conference.
Alluding to the economic gains expected to come out of the conference, Griffith said that “another unstated goal is to use the conference to inject into our economy some badly needed finances to help with job creation.”
He added that it is hoped that the university will become a neutral zone “that irrespective of your political apprehension or your racially-driven or other related apprehensions, you should feel comfortable working with the University of Guyana….”
Griffith, in a statement last month, had said that the conference will contribute to the development of diaspora policy and a framework to effectively attract direct diaspora investment and engage the diaspora in nation building.
UG had also said that the conference will comprise three components – an academic symposium, a business forum and community engagement. While the community engagement dimension will focus on building relationships with key stakeholders, such as diaspora community leaders, the business forum will consider the process for facilitating investment, trade and enterprise development.
Meanwhile, during a roundtable session, several ministers also engaged the conference on how the various ministries can aid in effectively engage the diaspora.
For his part, Business Minister Dominic Gaskin told the gathering that he would like to see the diaspora invest in and visit Guyana. “Our domestic laws do not discriminate… there is plenty of space for the diaspora to insert itself into the national economy,” he said.
Speaking to the development in the infrastructural arena, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson said that the arrival of passengers in Guyana is up 14%, when compared to the same period last year. “The reason why this may sound like a really good thing for tourism… I am about to complete a terminal at the airport which was developed as a project in 2011… At those initial projections in 2011, the projected growth for passenger growth was 4% per annum. So you understand… that if the current passenger arrival and departure continues, it will be over capacity in 2019,” he explained.
The conference also saw the launch of the 2017/2018 edition of the Invest Guyana Magazine, by publisher Lokesh Singh, a businessman and Guyana’s consul St Lucia.
He said that for the magazine, which was launched some five years ago with an aim of attracting to investment into Guyana, they partnered with Go-Invest two years ago. “We signed a longterm agreement where this magazine is the official magazine of the Guyana Office of Investment and by extension the Ministry of Business and government of Guyana,” he noted.