Accountability

by GHK Lall I note with interest the development where Guyana has joined regional information sharing networks to facilitate going after financial criminals (Demerara Waves, December 11, 2022). On the face of it, this is good for Guyana, with many possible pluses. On the other hand, for those familiar with the real Guyana, the one below the surface glitter, this ...

Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo has been sent off the job into retirement, amid allegations of financial malpractice, he confirmed on Thursday. Mr. Edoo said that  his six months pre-retirement leave should have started next Monday, 17th January but he received correspondence from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Thomas instructing him to hand over to Deputy ...

Fewer than 12 employees of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation and the Asphalt Plant are to be fired, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said Monday. “There will be a major shakeup in both the Asphalt Plant and the Harbour Bridge,” he told reporters ahead of Monday morning’s Public Accounts Committee hearing. “Any party who played a role in facilitating what ...

Auditor General Deodat Sharma says procurement procedures were not followed by the then A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration to hire local and foreign lawyers to fight a series of political court cases from December, 2018 to July, 2020. Other cases for a number of government agencies were also cited in the total bill of GYD$170,828,203. The ...

Over 50 businesses participating in the upcoming Guyana Trade and Investment Exhibition (GuyTIE) 2020 scheduled for May, 2020, benefitted from capacity-building sessions in the key areas of trade facilitation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) over the course of three days. CSR is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable—to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. CSR ...

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo Tuesday night condemned a Global Witness report that concludes that the 2016 ExxonMobil deal amounts to a US$55 billion giveaway, instead saying that government fast-tracked negotiations to prevent the company from pulling out due to Venezuela’s claim. Nagamootoo criticised Global Witness’ call for a suspension of oil production to pave the way for renegotiation of the ...

Even as the United Kingdom-headquartered international natural resource anti-corruption watchdog, Global Witness, calls for a renegotiation of the Stabroek Block agreement with ExxonMobil to secure at least a 69 percent equal share of oil revenue, an independent probe has found that ExxonMobil appeared to have withheld vital information about another oil discovery before signing the controversial 2016 agreement. The UK-headquartered ...

By GHK Lall It is not much, but it is worth digesting and cherishing for what it represents, of where it has brought us from, and to where we can be taken. I am cautiously encouraged. I am encouraged by the report card that came, compliments of Transparency International, on what and how Guyana did for last year on its ...

Guyana’s central bank, the Bank of Guyana, on Wednesday formally took over responsibility for managing the Natural Resources Fund also known as the sovereign wealth fund (SWF), even as Guyana awaits word from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (or the New York Fed) on due diligence where the monies will be deposited. Governor of the Bank of Guyana, ...

The Deputy Director of the State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) Aubrey Heath-Retemyer participated in a meeting with foreigners in his “personal capacity”, Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon said Friday. “Mr. Retemyer is not an officer in the Department of Citizenship. What he has been doing is acting in his private and personal capacity and so he ...