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Emancipation – so many freedoms taken away, missing Aug 02, 2024 Editorial Editorial… Kaieteur News – Emancipation in its smallest significance is about freedom.  There are many facets to this freedom, many freedoms for citizens in a country, none of which must be restrained.  For when taken one by one in a country, no one, no matter how powerful, no entity, no matter how dominant, should impair those precious freedoms through caprices or artifices.  However poor or powerful, however he or she is found acceptable or objectionable, the freedom of the individual must not be shackled, nor any attempt be made to do so. The only qualifier, the only restraint, is that any freedom must yield to the requirements of just laws.  This is what we at this paper believe the Emancipation of man, anything that can be defined as truly emancipatory, is at its core. When there is Emancipation in its fullest forms, there is no place for government tyranny.  Not even the smallest fissure should be created for such tyranny to shelter.  We would betray truth were it to be said that government tyranny does not exist in Guyana today, in this its era of the greatest promise.  This, we regret.  It is to our immense regret also that the freedoms that real Emancipation foster are now subject to revolting leadership tyrannies.  When political leaders are constrained by artificial circumstances of their own making to speak with clarion clarity, then they have done something, made some arrangement that tyrannizes their already fragile hold on frankness, unambiguousness. When leaders dissemble, they have yoked themselves to some tyranny.  When leaders are cornered for straight answers and they find every excuse not to give them, then they are not emancipated, they exist under a harness that controls and steers even what they are free to say.  Those are not leaders that know what it is to be emancipated, or even ones that appreciate the workings of democracy’s ideals.  It is of leaders who have allowed himself to be duct taped, consumed by some selfishness, for the return of some cheap, low-quality oats.  When leaders retreat from providing honest answers to simple questions, retaliate with an outpouring of vitriolic abuse, that is tyranny not emancipation.  When leaders are vicious and vindictive towards those exercising the rights of citizens, or performing the duties of professionals, then that is one more expression of tyranny.  The unvarnished truth is that leaders living and operating with the fullest strengths of complete emancipation are free, have freed themselves, from any inhibition that controls their tongue, manages their minds.  We invite honest thinkers, the free thinkers in Guyana, to check what we have in our leaders and how they are, then to decide for themselves whether they are emancipated or whether they are enslaved. Emancipation at its brightest is the freedom to participate fairly and fairly in the national natural resources’ patrimonies, with none bigger and more beautiful than the national oil patrimony.  When any single citizen of Guyana, little one or big one, poor one or rich one, is prevented in some manner from that fullness and fairness of participation, then that can never represent emancipation.  We shall say it loud, and we say it clear: any limitation to enjoy the fruits of the national oil harvest is not emancipation at its truest.  It is an abomination at its vilest, it most decayed.  Being defined as the richest people in the world is an emancipation of an unequalled kind.  What Guyanese live with, however, are the manacles of poverty: they trap tightly, they bite deeply and painfully.  When a government is for the people, then it fights to its last breath for those same people, all of them.  Neither government nor any of its leaders make it a point or practice to obfuscate with the facts, or retaliate with venom, or prevaricate with a stream of deceptions. The incomparable national oil patrimony (plus other components of it) is the key to the emancipation that all impoverished Guyanese have yearned for, waited on, so long.  This is the time of emancipation without condition.  This is the time for Guyanese to enjoy true economic freedom.  Guyanese are going to have to rise for the freedom that is now denied them but is due to them. Related Similar Articles

Labour Minister urges private sector to give apprenticeships to youth trained by Ministry Aug 02, 2024 News Some of the participants of the Learning Business by Doing Business (LBDB) initiative with Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton and other officials. Kaieteur News – Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, on Wednesday, urged Guyana’s private sector to supplement the government’s efforts to increase the employability of the nation’s youth. The comments came while the Minister was delivering his remarks at the launch of the Guyana Ignite Project. The project is a Learning Business by Doing Business (LBDB) initiative by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Youth Resilience, Inclusion, and Empowerment (Y-RIE) program. Its goal is to provide training and mentorship, and subsequently facilitate employment or investment, for youth 16-25 years of age from the Sophia, Werk-en-Rust, Albouystown, and New Amsterdam areas. This initiative, which is a partnership with Male Empowerment Network (M.E.N.), will directly benefit Guyana’s workforce and the target communities by improving the employability and entrepreneurial skill of its young participants. Minister Hamilton took the opportunity to urge the private sector to invest in apprenticeship programs in order to develop long-term employees for the benefit of their respective companies and the workforce. “I’m saying to the private sector, while we’re here, these people we train is for you! So you have to give us support. Apprenticeship programs, where you can develop monthly employees, you have to spend some money there,” he said. He proceeded to highlight the disconnect between the private sector’s desire for skilled labour and its contribution to the development of the workforce. “The data from our National Apprenticeship showed limited private sector involvement… the private sector is on me: ‘We need so many of this [profession], we need some…’ Where you think they coming from, heaven?!” Finally, he implored that they offer their assistance and resources to the Guyana Ignite Project in ways that would directly benefit the young participants. “So I call out on the private sector to open their businesses to ensure the success and expansion of this initiative, I call upon our private sector partners to open their businesses for the exposure tours, volunteer their time as mentors, and engage more deeply with our programs,” Hamilton said. Meanwhile, Richard Collymore, Coordinator of the Ignite Project and founder of the Male Empowerment Network, urged the youth to take a chance on both themselves and the Ignite initiative, and put their all into the next several weeks of training. Other speakers at the launch included Tiffany Daniels, Guyana’s Y-RIE Country Director who explained the role that USAID and its Y-RIE program intend to play in the life of Guyana’s youth. Adrienne Galanek, Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy to Guyana, and Marlon Joseph, President of the Together We Win Business Network, also attended the event and gave brief remarks. Additionally, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by representatives of the USAID Y-RIE program and the Ministry of Labour’s Board of Industrial Training. The participants of the program expressed a readiness and willingness to improve themselves via the program, which will run for a total of 10 weeks. “I hope to gain the skills to become a welder. So I will come every day and take in everything that they teach so that I can get my degree and become a welder,” 18-year-old Samuel Allen told Kaieteur News. Another Ignite Project participant, 21-year-old Annalisa James, told this publication, “I see myself doing electrician, carpentry, and plumbing work mostly. I will try my best to bring as much as I can to the project, but other than that I will just learn as much as I can. I need to do this because I see myself doing something more in the future, and that’s what I’m looking for, for myself in the future.” Related Similar Articles

PPP Govt. – an int’l obscenity, an entity that fears truth, light Aug 02, 2024 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column Hard Truths by GHK Lall Kaieteur News – There are some hard truths that all Guyanese must face up to, particularly PPP Government supporters.  The leadership of the party and national government is now an international obscenity, mocks democracy, defaces even the smallest standards.  Except for a handful in its leadership cohort, this is the PPP: a group that races from anything that has to do with truth, what represents the light that Guyana needs.  A million miles of roads do not speak to the pure truth; their twisted truths are buried in their tombs.  Nor can all the local building hideaway the decayed nature of a government and party gone wild, now rickety and sordid from an excess of power.  Here are some hard truths for Guyanese to savor; they are about how hard the PPP Government and leadership endeavor to bring down conscientious objectors, stifle dissent, frighten citizens. The PPP Government and leadership try state media.  They fail.  The PPP Government and leadership work through social media.  They keep losing.  The PPP Government and leadership use private media, dark media, underground media with the same result: defeat and disgrace.  What is the objective?  To intimidate, to browbeat, to corner and kill off honest commentary, to suppress thinking.  I am honored to be targeted by all those media and media operators.  So much manpower, so much money, spent to derogate and deny one man (a few women, a few others of Guyanese heritage) from speaking their minds, for spreading some light.  On oil.  About governance.  Relative to transparent leadership.  When the indefensible becomes the norm, PPP agents are consumed with what next will be written, what issues bared.  They watch, they rail up, they stain themselves, rush for dark holes.  This is how I invade the heads of government leaders and their minions, control their minds. Because the PPP Government and leadership cannot stand the light of truth, both seek shelter in deep darkness.   What kind of government runs from truth, hides behind extravagant falsehoods, slink towards darkness?  What does it say of the servants and their leaders that they have such a morbid dread of truth and light that they seek refuge behind high fences, higher government offices, and the grossest deceptions?  From life, we all know what those who have terrible secrets to conceal do.  They cannot face honest people.  They can’t deal with straight talk, so they steal away and twist things that expose their vulgar character, their corruption practices that diminish this nation so much.  So, they disappear behind thick bushes to bushwhack law-abiding Guyanese exercising their sacred Constitutional rights to speak and write what they think, how they assess developments.  Not as a government or any cult leaders push them to see it.  But as they see what is really going on in Guyana and care enough to expound upon such, come what may.  By way of slight digression: PPP defenders who are ignorant of what bushwhack means can check with Mr. Alistair Routledge; it is the lingo of Texas. For years, a few intrepid citizens have appealed to president, vice president, minister: do something, about those masquerades from Exxon passed off as public consultations on pending oil projects.  Now there is movement: government will attend, listen, check things out; plus, the startling admission that “stupidness” could be in operation.  Some Guyanese boldly pointed out that Exxon’s billboards deceive citizens.  Immediately, government defensive postures were trotted out (by Guyanese collecting Exxon’s money) in efforts to persuade locals that all is well.  Recently, after nonstop highlighting that Exxon’s billboards are misleading, there is belated agreement from the political mandarin in charge of the oil.  The billboards are wrong.  Why only now?  Why so long?  Why not listen to citizens who only want the best from oil for this country. Government and leadership can collect the accolades.  But the leadership is so consumed by the destructive poisons of power that there is no listening, only wasting of time trying to whip messengers with unwanted messages into submission. The latest example of the PPP Government’s fear of light and truth is related to a simple question: how many new barrels of oil have been found in Exxon’s last eight discoveries?  The usual cover-ups from both government and leaders came and stayed.  Exxon is focused on monetizing the already discovered oil assets.  Perhaps, the company was keeping those millions of barrels as strategic reserve, not selling them (marketing, monetizing) to rake in the billions.  The follow-up answer to that same question was that appraisals take time, as long as years, on occasion.  In the past, Exxon had announced new oil discoveries, and was enough of a frank partner to share its estimates of new barrels.  But then came the stonewalling under different disguises (monetizing and appraisal time needed).  Now, Guyana’s oil boss, Vice President Jagdeo announced that Guyanese will be given the new current reserves (barrels) within a week.  Why was there delay and dissembling before?  What caused the change of heart: public clamor from the usual naysayers’ sources, deviationist voices and keyboards?  My hope is that it is an all-inclusive number, and not some fabricated one. The last hard truth is this: if there was no calling out, no objection, no disagreement, then nothing would have changed.  The PPP Government and leadership would still be stuffing down Guyanese throats that all is as they say, everything is clean and straight.  My last word to President Ali and VP Jagdeo is stop bludgeoning Guyanese who want what is right and fair from their patrimonies.  To fight and try to foul from behind fowl pens only smears the record of the PPP Government, the standing of its leadership cohort, confirming the obscenity and putridity of both internationally. Related Similar Articles

Man injured as cars collide on Linden Highway Aug 02, 2024 News Kaieteur News – Police are investigating a ‘serious accident’ which occurred on Tuesday evening,  on the Soesdyke Linden Highway, resulting in one person being hospitalised with a ‘fractured backbone’. The accident involved motorcar #PAB 1807, owned and driven by Seon Sagon, a 40-year-old of Yarrowkabra Village, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, and motorcar #PYY 6817, owned and driven by Michael Major, a 26-year-old  from Silver Hill, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, and occupant Joel Howell, a 23-year-old from Amelia’s Ward Linden. Enquiries disclosed that motor car #PAB 1807 was proceeding south along the eastern side of the highway when the driver of PYY 6817, which was proceeding behind in the same direction, started to overtake PAB 1807.  Police said in a press release that in the process, the vehicles collided, and both drivers, along with the occupant, suffered injuries. They were taken out of their respective cars, placed in a Police vehicle and escorted to the Diamond Hospital, where they were seen and examined by a doctor on duty. Major and Howell were treated and sent away. The driver of PAB 1807, Seon Sagon, was referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was further examined by a doctor on duty and was admitted as a patient suffering from a fractured backbone. Related Similar Articles

VMFA U12’s off to Trinidad for International tourney Aug 02, 2024 Sports Vurlon Mills Football Academy U12’s at the CJIA yesterday ahead of departure to Port of Spain. Kaieteur News – Former national footballer and founder of Vurlon Mills Football Academy along with a 16-member squad have departed local shores yesterday headed for Trinidad and Tobago to compete at the Athletic International Academy (AIA) Summer Cup invitational 2024. A spirited group of Under-12 players along with four support staff will be in Port of Spain from August 1-4. The tournament will provide a valuable opportunity for the young players to test their skills against international competition. The VMFA boys will be in action today from 2pm at the Eddie Hart Stadium. The selected players for the tournament include; Davin Smith, Leslie Khan, Noel Persaud, Aderemi Simon, Adiel Hamilton, Lamar Lovell, Jarell Mendonca, Dontay Kowlessar, Wyatt Fernandes, Omari St.Hill, Fabio Kowlessar, Tyrese Robinson, Raheem Gill, Godfrey Greaves, Avion Lynch and Simeon Devonish. Coaches Vurlon Mills, Oshazay Savory, and Wheatland Fordyce accompany the team, and Marisha Fernandes serves as the Team Manager. Related Aderemi Simon, Adiel Hamilton, Avion Lynch and Simeon Devonish, Davin Smith, Dontay Kowlessar, Fabio Kowlessar, Godfrey Greaves, Jarell Mendonca, Lamar Lovell, Leslie Khan, Noel Persaud, Omari St.Hill, Raheem Gill, Tyrese Robinson, Wyatt Fernandes Similar Articles

27.7 % of Caribbean people can’t afford a healthy diet – New FAO report Aug 02, 2024 News Kaieteur News – Rome – More than a third of the world’s population could not afford a healthy diet in 2022, and some regions have yet fully to recover from the harms wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an innovative data set published in the 2024 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, the flagship hunger report issued last week by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and four sister United Nations agencies. While food prices increased throughout 2022, pushing up the average cost of a healthy diet, this was largely offset by economic recovery and the ensuing positive income effects. As a result, some 35.4 percent of the global population, equal to 2.826 billion people, were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2022. That compares to 36.4 percent and 2.823 billion in 2019. However, this recovery to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 was achieved in an uneven manner across regions. “In 2022, the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet dropped below pre-pandemic levels in the group of upper-middle- and high-income countries. In contrast, low-income countries had the highest levels since 2017,” the first year for which FAO has published estimates, said Maximo Torero, Chief Economist of FAO.  The finding highlights “a major structural problem of our agrifood systems,” said David Laborde, Director of FAO’s Agrifood Economics and Policy Division. He noted this part of the SOFI 2024 report revealed significant variation across and within regions that in turn point to where national and international attention should be prioritized. Key findings The share of people in Africa unable to afford a healthy diet was 64.8 percent. In Asia, the figure is 35.1 percent; in Latin America and the Caribbean, 27.7 percent; in Oceania 20.1 percent; and in Northern America and Europe, 4.8 percent. In low-income and lower-middle-income countries, the number of people unable to afford healthy diets grew from 2019 to 2022, an outcome that reflects how post-pandemic economic recoveries were unevenly shared and how more advanced economies were better placed to cope with supply-chain shocks and worldwide inflationary pressure on food commodity prices. The SOFI 2024 report details the methodology used to calculate the affordability of a healthy diets, defined as comprising diversity, adequacy, moderation and balance. The main takeaway is that the prices, in purchasing power parity (PPP), rose significantly – a global average of 6 percent in 2020 and 11 percent in 2021 – but the impact was diluted where income growth was also robust and where food as a share of household budgets was lowest, as in higher-income countries with greater fiscal capacities. “The uneven progress in the economic access to healthy diets cast a shadow of achieving Zero Hunger in the world, six years away from the 2030 deadline,” the SOFI report says. “There is the need to accelerate the transformation of our agrifood systems to strengthen their resilience to the major drivers and address inequalities to ensure that healthy diets are affordable for and available to all. But there is also a need to assure people that can access and consume healthy diets,” said Torero. Mapping the details The global average cost of a healthy diet rose to 3.96 PPP dollars – a measure that compares purchasing power parity across economies – in 2022. Subregional variations were considerable, ranging from a high of 5.34 PPP dollars in Eastern Asia to a low of 2.96 PPP dollars in Northern America. For Africa, the average price was 3.74 PPP dollars; for Asia 4.20 PPP dollars; for Latin America and the Caribbean 4.56 PPP dollars; for Oceania 3.46 PPP dollars and for Northern America and Europe 3.75 PPP dollars, with a sizable difference between Southern Europe, at 4.15 PPP dollars and Western Europe at 3.01 PPP dollars. 1.677 billion people living in lower-middle-income countries cannot afford a healthy diet, and the same holds for 503 million people living in low-income countries. Combined, these account for 77 percent of people unable to afford healthy diets. People who cannot afford the least-cost healthy diet in their countries are likely facing at least some degree of food and nutritional insecurity and thus face the risk of swelling the ranks of the hungry as measured in SOFI’s traditional measures of chronic hunger as well as chronic conditions such as stunting and wasting. FAO’s ongoing foray into gauging and tracking the cost of affordable diets offers an early warning indicator of sorts. As the alarm is greatest where countries’ fiscal capacities are weakest, and where the cost burden perpetuate itself by dragging down economic growth, the data in SOFI 2024 highlight the need for greater and more innovative investments in agrifood systems, the topic of the second section of the flagship report. Related Similar Articles

Spartans dominoes club competition set for August 11 Aug 02, 2024 Sports Kaieteur Sports – Spartans dominoes club will be hosting a fund raising dominoes competition on August 11 at YMCA, Thomas Lands. Entrance fee is $15,000 and the competition will be played on a two in, one out, six sitting basis. The winning team will pocket a trophy and $500,000, runner up a trophy and $250,000 and third place a trophy and $150,000. The most valuable player in the final will receive $30,000. Teams can contact Referee Harry on 697-7777 for registration. Double-six time is 14:00 hrs. Related Similar Articles