Guyana Observer News

Dear Guyanese:

Here is what to do….
1. Register to vote…..”you’ve got to be in it to win it”. 2. Pick-up your National ID card.
3. Encourage someone else on the importance of voting…….Family, your neighbors, friends and enemies, etc.
4. Help someone pick-up an ID by taking them to the designated GECOM office in their community.

 By Lincoln Lewis

I am a public figure and my integrity matters. In my call in to your program last evening (Saturday) you made (broadcast) some dishonest and wicked statements against me, as a person and as a trade unionist. These were also made in relation to the Guyana Trades Union Congress. This dangerous appetite for making wild statements, engaging in character assassination and brandishing lies as standard fare, gospel and authority in our public discourse I take very seriously. I shall not be a victim of it or be held hostage by it. I therefore expect the providence of the evidence to support the following charges or the necessary public retraction:

By Freddie Kissoon

Movies, like books, people, places and events, can have an early effect on you. I was young when I saw the Poseidon Adventure with Gene Hackman. Hackman played the role of the priest on a cruise ship that ran into turbulent waters and was sinking. Though he was a priest, he was cynical about the way God operated. He couldn’t understand why God, if he is omnipotent, allowed cruel suffering as what he saw as the ship went down. The theme song for the movie became a worldwide hit. Titled, “the Morning After,” this song is manifestly relevant to what is taking place in this land. To understand how pertinent the lyrics are to this dead society, a few lines should be offered;
“There’s got to be a morning after
If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let’s keeping on looking for the light”

Rehabilitation works on the Brickdam lock-ups will be completed soon and according to Home Affairs Minster Clement Rohee, he is impressed with what he has seen. Addressing reporters on Friday during a press briefing, Rohee said that the finishing touches would be completed in a few weeks’ time and that next week the media would be invited to tour the facility. He expressed himself convinced that the media would be as impressed as he was with lock-ups now. The insanitary state of the lock-ups came into the spotlight in 2009, and rehabilitation began late in the year at a cost of $10M. In the interim, prisoners were housed at the Diamond Police Station lock-ups.

Two more police ranks are facing criminal charges after demanding money from a motorist who happened to be the relative of a senior police officer. The ranks took away $4,000 and a cellular phone from the motorist who was at the time driving without his licence. This newspaper was told that on Friday night, the ranks, who are from the Ministerial Patrol, stopped a car near the 1763 Monument and demanded that the driver produce his licence. When the man told them that he did not have it on his person, they threatened to lock him up unless he ‘grease we hand”.

Mark Benschop to hold town hall meeting this evening (6pm -8pm) in New Jersey. For more information call 347-374-7112, 973-674-6409 or 973-373-9080. Address: 1120 South Orange Avenue, Newark

By Lincoln Lewis

The impasse between the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union has entered its fourth month with a seeming determination on the government’s part to continue the violations of the rule of law and the rights of bauxite workers. The refusal of the government to act consistent with its legal responsibility to bring about a closure is very disturbing. The Union has a responsibility to its members, including those wrongfully dismissed, but the Ministry of Labour, who by law, has a conciliatory role to play in the impasse is yet to act to bring the parties to the table.