Monday 13
Fatal accidents on East Coast down by 35, but serious accidents up by 30%
GUYANA Police Force ‘C’ Division Traffic Officer, Inspector Gavin Mingo says that his Division has seen a decrease in the number of fatal accidents from January to September 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Mingo stated that fatal accidents have been decreased by 35%but there has been a slight increase in serious accidents which have been recorded at 30 %for the corresponding period last year. Mingo said that one of the issues of major concern to the police in the Division is the ‘bottom house’ rum shops as well as bars where most motorists imbibe just before becoming involved in fatal and other serious accidents. The issue of noise nuisance is also something that the police in the Division are upping the ante to bring under control.

LIAT cancels eight flights, reschedules another three
REGIONAL carrier, LIAT issued an advisory this week saying that the airline has had to cancel eight of the eleven flights scheduled for October 13, 2014 due to the impact the passage of Tropical Storm “Gonzalo” was likely to have on its operations. LIAT advised that those customers who were affected by the disruptions and wished to rebook for a later day would have been allowed to do so without added charges, or fare differences for a period of one week from their original scheduled date of travel. The airline said those wishing to travel, but are unable to complete their journey due to the disruption caused by the weather condition, should not expect the airline to provide meals, transportation, hotel accommodation or any other luxury associated with disrupted flights.

Because We Care’ initiative… Barticians can’t thank gov’t enough
THE start of the Government’s ‘Because We Care’ $10,000 cash grant initiative in Bartica, Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) was met with positive responses from the parents and guardians, who uplifted their vouchers. They cited uses of the $10,000, ranging from transportation costs, particularly for students who go to school via boats in the riverine areas, as well as supplying meals. The Chronicle caught up with several beneficiaries recently and they all lauded the Government for its vision to support parents and guardians to ensure that their children have access to education.

Tuesday 14
First batch of health care providers begin Ebola training
AS Guyana continues to strengthen its preparedness to deal with the dreaded Ebola disease, training of local healthcare providers commenced at the Georgetown Public Hospital with the training of the first batch of 20 employees. The group is comprised of doctors, nurses, porters, technicians and other categories of healthcare providers who will have to come into contact with the targeted patients. All healthcare providers will be trained, according to Chief Executive Officer, Michael Khan. However, initially 1,600 will be trained. The move by the Ministry of Health to commence training at this time is rather timely and comes just one day after Head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Tom Frieden was reported as saying: “All health care workers need to be well trained to deal with potential cases in their hospitals.”

MOU for three bio-mass projects inked…
A MASSIVE investment of US$35.6M will be made in the next coming months into three new bio-mass projects, following an agreement between the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) and a multinational company, Pinnacle Green Resources (Guyana) Limited. The three projects, using the waste products from the agriculture and forestry sectors, are the: * Construction and operation of a facility to produce three tonnes per day of activated carbon from coconut shells, primarily to service the gold recovery industry in Guyana; construction and operation of a facility to produce 200-tonnes per day of wood-pellets, for export to Europe; and construction and operation of a gasification and eight megawatts (MW) electricity generating facility in Guyana.

Welshman beaten, forced to jump from moving car
JOHNNY WELSHMAN was allegedly beaten by two men after he joined a taxi on the seawall. The young man, who has been accusing the Speaker of the National Assembly of sexually assaulting him several years ago, was walking along the Kitty Seawall when a vehicle pulled up alongside him and enquired if he needed a taxi. After he entered the car, it drove to a location in Kingstown where the driver stopped to ‘get something.’ Then two men allegedly approached the vehicle, one reportedly armed with a gun, and began beating Welshman. Welshman reportedly managed to get out of the moving vehicle and he was assisted by passersby to report the matter at the Alberttown Police Station.

Wednesday 15
Pensioner beaten unconscious, robbed of CG motor cycle
A Mc Doom pensioner was beaten and robbed of his CG motor cycle as he was about to enter his yard. 60-year-old Parmanand Jaggernauth told this newspaper that he was out transacting business and returned home. The man said he drove through the alleyway leading to his house at lot 17 Public Road, Mc Doom and parked his CG motor cycle CG 2503 as he attempted to open his gate. He recalled that as he was opening his gate, two men came up and one of them jumped on the motorcycle. Jaggernauth said that he immediately realised that it was a robbery and he attempted to take the keys out of the motor cycle, but the men began beating him until he became dizzy and fell down. According to him, while he was being beaten by the men to his face and head, one of them continued encouraging the other to shoot him.

GWI offering tamperers ‘Free-Pass’ reconnection with no penalties
THE Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) is offering free reconnection with no penalties for tampering until November 29 in its ‘Free Pass’ campaign which is targeting 10,000 domestic customers. Customer Services Manager Jeannette Thomas said the water company is offering huge incentives before the massive countrywide disconnection for non-payment. Thomas announced that domestic customers who were disconnected can apply at any GWI commercial office for a ‘GWI Free Pass’ which entitles them to a reconnected service without paying the usual $6,000 reconnection fee. She added that the ‘GWI Free Pass’ is also for domestic customers whose service connections were entirely removed for large debt and customers who would be required to pay $25,000 for reconnecting their service will also receive exemptions under the ‘GWI Free Pass’ programme.

CGX acquires short-term loan prior to drilling next exploration well
CANADIAN oil company CGX Energy has entered into a short-term loan agreement with petroleum exploration and production giant Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation for Cdn$7.5 million to cover certain expenses generated in Guyana in connection with its work commitments here. The company expects to spud the exploration well on the Corentyne Block by October 2015. Dewi Jones, Chief Executive Officer of the company, commented: “The bridge loan allows CGX Energy to continue discussions with potential joint venture partners and also commence purchasing long-lead items required to drill our next exploration well on the company’s 100%-owned Corentyne Block, offshore Guyana.” The bridge loan has a term of twelve months and annual interest payable of 5%.

Thursday 16
Rebuilding Guyana’s economy was a herculean task
FROM a state of being internationally discredited, bankrupt and infrastructurally dilapidated just over two decades ago, Guyana today has been transformed with brighter prospects than ever before in its history, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh said. The minister said that undemocratic rule under the PNC inflicted severe destruction on every aspect of national life. Every sector of the economy had declined dramatically. The imposition of a programme of mass nationalisation of industries saw foreign investors having their assets expropriated and forced out of Guyana. The financial struggles created by poor economic policies were compounded by mismanagement of public funds.

Sugar workers receiving four per cent increase
THE four per cent pay increase for sugar workers is payable, according to President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Mr. Komal Chand. He told the Guyana Chronicle that the new rate, implemented on October 5, has been used to adjust the rate of payments made to sugar workers. The increase follows the completion of negotiations with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and GAWU, among other stakeholders. Chand also noted that the increase, which is retroactive from January 1 to October 4, is yet to be paid. “The sugar workers are being paid the adjusted rate, which includes the four per cent increase, but with regard to the retroactive monies, GuySuCo has to identify the time when it will be paid. If we are to go according to what has happened in the past, then we can expect those monies to be paid in November or in December,” he said.

Chile to open embassy in Guyana- new ambassador presents credentials
NON-RESIDENT Chilean Ambassador, Fernando Scmith, presented his Letters of Credence to President Donald Ramotar at the Presidential Complex. His appointment was welcomed by the President who noted Chile’s stance on democracy and human rights. The decision of his Government to open its first embassy locally was described as a turning point in relations between the two nations by Chile’s new ambassador. This is consistent with his country’s pro-active approach to enhancing its ties throughout the Region, as he cited an “Open skies” agreement and a memorandum of understanding in mining, two of several areas being worked on.

Missing schoolteacher…DNA results expected this weekend
CRIME Chief, Leslie James has reported that the samples taken from the skeletal remains of an unidentified female found on June 3 at Pattensen, Greater Georgetown, which were sent to Trinidad and Tobago for DNA testing are expected in Guyana this weekend. The samples were taken and dispatched to the twin-island republic to determine if the remains discovered is that of missing schoolteacher, Nyozi Goodman, who had disappeared after a basketball game.

Friday 17
Health Ministry puts stringent Ebola restrictions on entry to Guyana
AS THE cases of Ebola are on the rise in some parts of the world, the Ministry of Health is assuring Guyanese here that there are stringent restrictions on entry to Guyana. The entry restrictions would apply particularly with regard to citizens and visitors from West African countries where the disease is currently raging and represents a public health threat of international concern. Lately Guyana has upped the ante on various measures to ensure that the Ebola virus remains out of the country.
There have so far been improvements at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) with training of staff members by the GPHC on how to handle cases of Ebola, etc.

GuySuCo signals its intention to move to arbitration
THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has expressed its dissatisfaction with the recommendation of the Ministry of Labour to reinstate Mr. Daniels Steven, who was suspended after an alternation with an estate manager. The suspension last month resulted in a massive strike in the sugar belt and subsequent agreement between GuySuCo and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU). GuySuCo, in a statement said, “GuySuCo has rejected the Chief Labour Officer’s (CLO) recommendation to reinstate the dismissed worker, Mr. Daniels Steven, who was summarily dismissed on September 20, 2014 for physically assaulting the Estate Manager of Skeldon Estate. The CLO’s recommendation was made in his capacity as conciliator after two meetings with the Corporation and the Union, the last being October 1, 2014.”

AFC calls for information on plans to address Ebola
THE Alliance For Change (AFC) is calling on the Government to publicly outline details of its plans and exactly what is being done to prevent the Ebola virus from reaching Guyana. The AFC stated that while the Government claims that ports of entry are being monitored, one privately-owned newspaper revealed that no monitoring was being done at the Ogle Airport. The AFC added that Guyana’s unmanned borders also pose a challenge, because the back-track route to Suriname for example, is as popular and widely used as an entry point as the authorised port at Moleson Creek. They also want to know how persons using the back-track routes are being monitored. The AFC would also like to know what measures are being put in place to educate the public on how to respond in the event of an outbreak. With no indication of when a sitting of the National Assembly will be convened, the AFC is calling on the Government to make full disclosure on how Guyana is preparing to prevent the entry of Ebola to our society.

Saturday 18
Testing of samples will prove if body is that of MFK- Crime Chief CRIME Chief Leslie James yesterday confirmed that the Guyana Police Force will be taking samples from the remains found at Cummings Lodge in September and match them against persons who are claiming that they are the relatives of missing businessman Mohamed Khan (MFK) and that the remains found are his. James, during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, explained that the police will also first have to determine if the remains which were found without a head attached is indeed a person of East Indian ancestry. In addition to that, several other tests would have to be carried out and according to James those would be done locally and whatever cannot be done here would have to be sent outside of Guyana to a destination that would be decided upon. The Crime Chief also explained that due to the absence of the number two Pathologist Dr. Bridgemohan who is on leave, Dr. Nehaul Singh is extremely overwhelmed and as such he was unable to conduct the post -mortem yesterday as anticipated by the police. He, however, assured that the post-mortem would be done in the coming week as early as possible.

Guyana captures Regional Awards for Outstanding Performance at CSEC again THE Ministry of Education has announced with pride that Guyana has once again done extraordinarily at the CSEC examinations as Guyana gains four Regional Awards for Outstanding Performance in the May/June 2014 examinations. The Ministry of Education has extended congratulations to the students on their exemplary performance and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. Last year Guyana won five of the eight awards offered.

Government/Troy Resources ink multi-million dollar mineral agreement
THE Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MRNE) and the Australian Mining Company Troy Resources Guyana Inc. inked a multi-million dollar mineral agreement, another development of the company’s Karouni project in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni). The total investment committed to date is approximately US$43M, with a further $27M required to complete construction. President Donald Ramotar, in brief remarks, stated “This represents another tangible demonstration of the confidence being shown by investors in our economy. In recent times we have been having sizeable investments…this is very good for us,” he said. The agreement was signed by Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Mr. Robert Persaud and Troy Resources representative, Mr. Ken Nilsson, yesterday, at the Office of the President.