Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo says he is in favour of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of cannabis sativa (marijuana/ganja) to allow for non-custodial sentences, such as community service and rehabilitation. He gave the pronouncement during a press engagement held at the Leader of the Opposition’ Office in Church Street, Georgetown on Thursday. The former President was adamant however, he ...
Read More »Business
Guyana wants talks with Caribbean nations about oil spill response plans
Guyana wants to meet with a number of sister Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states to discuss the impact and response to any oil spill here on those island nations, even as concerns have been raised about the legal liability of wide-scale pollution should such an incident occur, officials said Thursday. Acting Director-General of Guyana’s Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Col. Kester ...
Read More »City Hall restoration will cost more than GY$400 million
More than GY$400 million are now needed to restore the dilapidated Georgetown City Hall that has been poorly maintained for several years, even as a European Union (EU)-funded restoration plan nears completion, officials said Wednesday. After the opening of a one-day consultation on a ‘Comprehensive Restoration Plan and Sustainable Conservation Management Plan for City Hall,” Town Clerk Royston King told ...
Read More »Guyana prepares to assist Cuba in probe of deadly aircrash
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is preparing to assist Cuba with any information about the crashed Boeing 737-200 jet that was banned by Guyanese authorities more than one year ago, officials said. GCAA’s Acting Director General, Saheed Sulaman told Demerara Waves Online News that the regulatory agency was already in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate ...
Read More »Granger’s concerns about “sections of the media” raise red flags
David Granger, Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)- the biggest party in the governing coalition- has raised concerns about sections of the media, triggering a warning of a government crackdown on media that report critically of the now three-year old administration. The Editors-in-Chief of the privately-owned Stabroek News and Kaieteur News newspapers have also expressed some concern about ...
Read More »Top Suriname police officers in Guyana to probe piracy
A high-level team of Surinamese police officers is in Guyana widening their probe into last month’s deadly piracy attack off the coast of that Dutch-speaking neighbour, the Guyana Police Force said. “During the visit the team will be engaging with senior investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department and intelligence officers,” the local law enforcement agency said in a statement. The ...
Read More »Former Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar arrested, released on bail
Former Finance Minister, Saisnarine Kowlessar was Monday arrested by agents of the Special Organised Crime Unit after he failed to turn up at that law enforcement arm of the Guyana Police Force. He arrived shortly after 9 AM and was released from custody after 2 PM on GY$200,000 station bail. Sources said he might be required to return at a ...
Read More »Updated: Gun found in possession of dead bandit was stolen from security guard
One of the handguns that police said they found in possession of one of two bandits, who were shot dead Friday morning, was hours earlier stolen from a security guard, investigators found out. Police sources said the 9MM pistol was stolen from KGM Security guard, Odinga Wills at about 1:30 AM. Sources said two Chinese nationals were also robbed at ...
Read More »ExxonMobil concession should remain “intact” for strategic border security reasons
Guyana is not eager for ExxonMobil to relinquish any of the 60 blocks on the offshore concession that extends to the borders with Venezuela and Suriname, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman. He said the ExxonMobil block should “remain intact” as it had been granted in 1999 because “we believe that the circumstances have not diminished”. Contradicting critics that the handing ...
Read More »Unemployed man arraigned for the murder of Mahaica village vendor
An unemployed man was Thursday arraigned for the alleged murder of a Mahaica vendor at his home. Indicted for the offence is 30-year old Malcolm Brown of Belmonte, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara. He is accused of the murder of 34-year old Fareez Yassem of the same village. Police accused Brown of the stabbing death of the vendor while attempting to ...
Read More »