News

CARACAS, June 10, 2015 (AFP) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday blamed Exxon Mobil for strains with neighboring Guyana over disputed territorial waters, and said diplomacy should ultimately win out. A decree issued by Caracas on May 27 lays claim to waters off the Essequibo River region, a disputed territory that borders Venezuela and encompasses more than half of Guyana. The Venezuelan ...

Veteran Guyanese legal expert on the Law of the Sea, Dr. Barton Scotland has been confirmed as the new Speaker of the 65-seat National Assembly. A usually reliable source in the coalition administration confirmed that Scotland, a former Guyanese diplomat, would be taking up his seat after he is voted into office by government parliamentarians who enjoy a one-seat majority. ...

Permanent Secretary of the now defunct Ministry of Labour, Patrick Findlay on Tuesday became the latest such public officer to have been sent home following the change of government. A disappointed Findlay told Demerara Waves Online News that Senior Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence summoned him to a meeting, advising that his position was now redundant because there is ...

The Ministry of Finance is to implement stricter measures, including blacklisting persons from travelling, to rein in “recalcitrant” beneficiaries of the Student Loan Fund. The Fund was set up by government in 1994 to assist persons with financial constraints in acquiring a tertiary education at the University of Guyana (UG). Since then, over GUY$400 million has been put into the ...

Venezuela on Tuesday accused Guyana’s newly elected government of provocation at the behest of American oil-giant, Exxon-Mobil, and sought to justify its maritime boundary demarcation in line with its claim of the mineral and forest-rich Essequibo Region.  “It weighs note that the unique and surprising aggression, is that the government of Guyana has allowed such a powerful transnational as Exxon ...

Three suspected robbers were Tuesday afternoon arrested by police at Den Amstel back dam, West Coast Demerara. Police said that at about 0545h. today Tuesday June 09, 2015, two men, one of who whom was armed with a handgun, entered the home of Wazim Khan, 54 years, of Anna Catherina, WCD, through an open door and held him at gunpoint. ...

The Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) has decided to boycott the first sitting of the 11th Parliament which is scheduled for Wednesday, June 10th, a top party official says. The official, who agreed to divulge these plans under the condition of anonymity, also says that the party will stage a picketing exercise Wednesday in front of Parliament building in protest ...

by Zena Henry Junior Minister of Social Protection Simona Broomes has rubbished claims of   “executive lawlessness” made against her by the opposition. She stating that a letter written to the Public Service Commission (PSC) on staff appointments was a mere request to put the appointments on hold so that they can first fix the broken system. Boomes said that the ...

by Zena Henry and Chevy Devonish Prime Minister (PM) Moses Nagamootoo says he has no issue with President David Granger chairing Cabinet meetings,  even as former Attorney General Anil Nandlall says a provision in a pre-election pact between the parties now in government violates Guyana’s constitution. Under the Cummingsburg Accord, Nagamootoo is to chair Cabinet meetings even if the President ...

Members of the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Power and Light  workers in Bartica have complained to government about the poor conditions under which they are made to work and live. Their concerns were made known to Junior Minister of Social Protection, Simona Broomes and a team of Occupational Safety and Health Officers. At the police station, the officers complained ...