Guyana Observer News

(Bandits stashed this car at a bar in Blankerburg, West Coast Demerara with intentions to use it as a getaway but their plans were foiled.)

A Stabroek Market businessman shot a bandit dead shortly after 21:00 hrs last night but was himself wounded during a confrontation with the robber and two other armed men who had attempted to invade the victim’s Blankenburg, West Coast Demerara home. Residents said that the robber was slain during a shootout between the businessman, Ryan Boodhoo, and the robber’s accomplices. However, Boodhoo, of Lot 66 Blakenburg Housing Scheme, was shot in the left thigh and was being treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation up to late last night. The other two robbers fled the scene, but police recovered a white Toyota Carina, PJJ 1849, that the suspects were reportedly driving.

… Neesa Gopaul saga

The head teacher, the deputy and three other members of Queen’s College staff have been recommended for disciplinary action for their poor involvement in protecting Neesa Gopaul. This announcement came yesterday from Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon. ccording to Dr. Luncheon the investigation which was carried out by the Ministry of Education found that at least five staff members including the Head Teacher and the Deputy were culpable of not doing their best to render assistance to the teen. Dr. Luncheon said that the disciplinary action will include denial of seniority and demotion. He said that reports are now available from the teams assembled to examine the roles of Government functionaries in the Ministries of Human Services and Social Security and Education.

Last year, when de government and GPL commission de Kingston Power plant dem boast how dem got surplus capacity and that blackout gun be a thing of de past. Dem boys put dem knee pun de ground and give praise because nuff time when dem enjoying something, de lights does disappear and dem boys blood pressure does go up. That is why dem was happy. But all of a sudden dem start fuh cry again. Is blackout like fuss time. Dem want to know why dem two Bharrat lie to dem. Bharrat Dindyal was de fuss one to talk bout de power. Bharrat Jagdeo just follow he and end up fooling people. Now dem same two men talking about more money—nuff more money—fuh give we de same current and to avoid de same blackout that dem seh was a thing of de past. Well dem boys now understand what people mean when dem seh that Guyana living in de past. And it really living in de past. It past redemption.
Now dem boys money got to buy another set of engines because Fip done gone wid some and no power ain’t coming.
Talk half. Lef half.

Guyana stands a fifty percent chance of being hit by a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Ocean within the next 48 hours, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last evening on its website. Chief Hydromet Officer Bhaleka Seulall says that her office is monitoring a potent tropical wave, which has a thirty percent chance of turning into a cyclone.  She said that most models are projecting that as the tropical wave moves towards Guyana it will weaken. Consequently, there may be thunder, lightning and periods of heavy rainfall during the next 36 to 48 hours, Seulall said.

Former Deputy Director of Operations at the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA), Diana Lawrence, is reiterating her position that she never handled the Neesa Gopaul case. Sixteen-year-old Neesa Lalita Gopaul met her demise in gruesome circumstances. Her mother, Bibi Sharima Gopaul and the mother’s lover, Jarvis Small, a gym instructor, have since been charged with the teen’s murder. Mrs. Lawrence yesterday in an invited comment explained that she had resigned on October 3, and her resignation was accepted through a letter she received from the agency. “I resigned from my post at the agency…..so I’m baffled about certain statements that I was fired,” Lawrence said. She said that if she is being accused of handling the matter, the agency must bring the evidence to support this claim. Furthermore she says it was the Agency’s Director, who first received the report about the now dead teen.

With the Hindu festival of lights, Deepavali due to be celebrated on Friday, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and senior police officials met with Alexander Village residents yesterday to discuss a security plan aimed at countering any disruptions. Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee (left) and Assistant Commissioner George Vyphuis as they interacted with Alexander Village residents yesterday. In recent years Alexander Village residents have complained bitterly about the uproar and commotion created by strangers who enter the area on Deepavali night. After several reports were carried in the media and letters sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Office of the President a security plan was implemented for the first time last year and the event passed off without trouble.

By Freddie Kissoon

No one in this wide world can lecture to me about the crisis in education delivery when a country’s economy slumps and money vanishes. I am in my 25th year as a university lecturer and I saw (and am still seeing) how the quality of education drastically declines when university services get stuck on hard times. The pitiful result is that the level of skills touches rock bottom. Competence no longer obtains. How does this work? Here is where my experience comes in. Limited resources reduce the availability of teaching materials. Here is where the types of knowledge become important. If you are teaching history, you can still deliver a fairly adequate product because books and periodicals and primary sources do not have to be in plentiful supply for a student to obtain competence. How many books do you need to provide a student with if they have to do world history, Caribbean evolution, West Indian literature? You can in fact photocopy the seminal works in each subject and distribute them to the students.