Government back-bencher Charandass Persaud voted with the opposition Peoples  Progressive Party to win the no-confidence motion in the 65-seat National Assembly that was sponsored by the opposition, after several hours of debate. Despite repeated urges by fellow parliamentarians to change his vote, Persaud declined. Minister of Health Volda Lawrence also unsuccessfully asked for a brief suspension to allow for a ...

Guyana is moving to establish a “blueprint” to strengthen protection of intellectual property and copyright in a country where copying of books, movies and music and other works is almost routine, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday. Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge said Guyana would soon be drafting the National Intellectual Property Strategy (NIPS) with assistance from the Switzerland-based World Intellectual ...

Guyana on Thursday welcomed the United States’ (US) decision to lift its sanctions on UC Russian Aluminium (RUSAL), the majority owner of the Aroaima-based Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), suggesting that workers would not lose their jobs. “The Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Natural Resources are cautiously optimistic, and happy, with this recent development of the matter ...

President David Granger has pardoned 11 juveniles who were charged with wandering and ordered to reside at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), Onderneeming, Essequibo Coast, government announced Thursday. Under the Prerogative of Mercy, the nine girls and two boys, whose ages range from 13 to 17 years, were pardoned with effect from Thursday, 20th December, 2018. Wandering is no longer ...

Guyana has spent GYD$780 million (US$3.7 million) from the US$18 million signing bonus from ExxonMobil on legal fees for the settlement of the border controversy with Venezuela, expenditure Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge is a huge value for money. “The 15 million is what is funding the legal fees…  and it will fund the fees in 2019 until it is ...

by GHK Lall From time to time, I have shared thoughts on the terrible state to which the local National Assembly has deteriorated.  Is it really this bad today? How does parliament here stack up against other equivalent bodies elsewhere? I remember Dr. Cheddi Jagan waxing poker face about a King, a Jack, and a pack of jokers.  He was ...

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan has reportedly assured his Alliance For Change ( AFC) political party of water-tight security on Friday when the no-confidence vote is expected to be debated. “We have been assured that the security forces are fully mobilised and prepared to ensure that there is no breach of the peace,” the AFC said in a statement. ...

As Friday nears for debate on the opposition People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP)-sponsored no-confidence motion, that party has formally asked the Guyana Police Force to prevent what it says is a plot to stage disruptions before, during and after the debate. “We, therefore, call on you to take the necessary interventions to ensure that the rule of law prevails and not only ...

Television journalist Travis Chase will not be charged with shooting a labourer behind his leg, but the injured bottle-throwing man would have to face the court for throwing missiles, police said. “The case file in respect of journalist Travis Chase has been returned with advice given to the effect that no charge be instituted against him but rather against the ...

The Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) has begun plans to map Guyana properly for the first time since the 1960s to assist government and the private sector about land use and mineral deposits, GLSC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Trevor Benn said. Benn said Region One (Barima-Waini) would be the firs to be mapped, a process that could take at ...