Black Immigrant Daily News

Following a lead after receiving information of a juvenile being trafficked, police officers proceeded to the Bartica Stelling where they contacted a 35-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl who had just disembarked an incoming speedboat.

The incident occurred at around 13:30hrs on Wednesday. The woman, a housewife of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) and the teen of Tuschen Housing Scheme, EBE, were taken to the Bartica Police Station.

A search was conducted on the woman and her belongings where a quantity of marijuana was discovered. The quantity of ganja was weighed in her presence and amounted to 438 grams. The woman was placed into custody.

Meanwhile, the 14-year-old girl was interviewed during which she revealed that she and the 35-year-old woman are friends.

The girl said she was told by the woman that she was being taken to Blue Mountain Backdam to work at a shop to sell alcoholic beverages.

A Child Care and Protection Officer was notified along with the TIP unit at CID Headquarters and an investigation is underway.

The 14-year-old girl is currently with the Child Care and Protection Agency as investigations continue.

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The Cayman Islands will consider the implementation of a dynamic tax regime during the quieter shoulder months in a bid to lower the cost of travelling to the country.

Kenneth Bryan, Minister of Tourism, said on Monday that the suggestion of dynamic taxes from Nicola Madden-Greig, President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, is one that he will also take to the members of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO). Bryan is the new Chairman of the CTO.

“It is a strategy that I think should be introduced across the region. As Chairman of the CTO I want to see if there is a better analysis of each country’s taxation and work with economists to see if we can maneuver the taxes to move it away from the flights,” he said, speaking on a private/public partnership panel discussion at the Caribbean Travel Forum.

The Forum was a new element of the CHTA’s annual Travel Marketplace, which was held in Puerto Rico.

Bryan was addressing the topic of inter-regional travel, which remained a major theme throughout the event.

CHTA President Nicola Madden-Greig

In her opening address at the Forum, Madden-Greig said while travel to the Caribbean has increased more than any other region in the world, intra-regional travel is lagging with only 14 per cent of business coming from that area.

Business, she said, is the top reason for intra-regional travel with Leisure/vacation, conferences and meetings, events and festivals, and shopping as other motivators.

She cited travel restrictions, testing and quarantines as top obstacles to recovery and noted the difference in growth since most islands dropped all of their COVID-19 entry protocols.

She said while 70 per cent of the region’s tourism boards pro-actively promote intra-regional travel, visitors are prone to visit one destination instead of two or more because of connectivity issues.

Stating that the Caribbean must be seen as a multi-destination similar to Europe, Madden-Greig repeated a suggestion made at the IATA conference in the Cayman Islands last month for dynamic taxation.

She suggested that instead of each island doing away with their taxes completely, they could adopt a seasonal approach to airline taxation with a two or three-tiered system. Taxes, she said, could be applied in the low, peak, or shoulder months.

Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica

Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, called for an air service agreement that would allow open skies so airlines from anywhere in the world can fly into the region.

He said there is no need for an airline owned by the Caribbean as there will be connectivity once access is created.

Bartlett also supported the call for multi-destination marketing for the region, stating that the Caribbean needs to be marketed as a product instead of simply a geographical space.

He also advocated for the harmonisation of protocols in the region.

“That is a political ambition that we have to get. The leaders of Caricom have to come together to provide that political ambition that puts aside nationalism for a minute and sovereignty for a second. We need the harmonisation of airspace to allow for air connectivity across the Caribbean,” he said.

He also advocated for a common visa regime, which would allow people to visit all the islands in the way that the Schengen visa operates in Europe.

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By: Feona Morrison

The transformation of Guyana’s legal landscape is moving apace and will soon see the construction of a central courthouse in Demerara with a full-service consolidated facility for criminal, probate, Family Court, Land Court and Court of Appeal matters, complete with registries and support staff.

This is according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, who, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday at the Demerara High Court, boasted that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has one of the most aggressive legislative agendas in recent times.

Speaking about the timeframe for the construction of the modern and massive judicial complex, he said, “…we want to move ahead as quickly as possible, because the system requires great speed in the disposal of cases for there to be justice efficiently and in accordance with the law”.

He said that the Government was proposing after consulting with the Judiciary and Bar to amend the law to increase the complement of Judges at the Court of Appeal in Kingston, Georgetown.

“Currently the complement is not less than two and not more than five. That, obviously, is inadequate, having regard to the caseload that is leaving the High Court… The Government is proposing to increase that complement from not less than five to not more than nine. The Government is proposing and we hope that the consultation will find the agreement.”

The Court of Appeal has one courtroom and is presided over by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.

From time to time, the Chief Justice, who is an ex-officio Justice of Appeal, along with High Court Judges, are called, if necessary, for a full bench sitting.

“We believe also that the Court of Appeal should become itinerant,” the Attorney General added.

Once the appellate court becomes itinerant, while there is a complement of Judges sitting in Georgetown, there will also be a complement sitting continuously in Berbice and Essequibo if the need arises.

“After 50 years of independence, we cannot continue doing things the way we have been doing them conventionally. The litigation load has increased one thousand times from independence to now and therefore as an institution, the Judiciary will also have to be innovative,” said Nandlall.

Construction works are ongoing at the Court of Appeal to accommodate another courtroom.According to the Senior Counsel, the judicial officers will be provided with the necessary resources and “backup staff” for them to proficiently discharge their duties.

“It’s an all-encompassing exercise,” he pointed out, adding, “So, we intend to do that, because our Government considers the administration of justice central to our country and an important factor in the democratic, economic and social equation of our country…”

Since taking office, the Dr Irfaan Ali-led Administration has been bombarded with calls to swiftly establish the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to appoint more High Court Judges and to increase the number of Judges at the Court of Appeal to deal with the backlog of cases.

There has been no JSC since 2017. The last JSC was appointed by former President Donald Ramotar on September 11, 2014. The tenure of each appointed member is for three years, therefore, the tenure of the last Commission expired on September 12, 2017.

Among other things, the function of the JSC is to advise the President on the appointment of Judges, with the exception of the Chancellor of the Judiciary and the Chief Justice.

There is also a shortage of Judges at the High Court. Guyana Times understands that while the required number of High Court Judges is 20, there are only 12, and one of them is due to retire shortly.

The findings of a recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report highlighted that the backlog in cases that has been plaguing the criminal justice system for years was the result of, among other things, a shortage of Judges. “If the present cadre of Judges is not increased, then the issue of backlogs will not be addressed. It is recommended that further options for increasing the human resource capacity including for judicial legal research assistants, Judges, Prosecutors, and trained mediators be explored,” the report had noted.

Last week, Nandlall announced all preparatory works have been done for the establishment of the JSC and that once Parliament resumed this month, the process would move swiftly.

Another issue the judicial system has had to deal with over the years is the non-appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.

The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) has filed legal proceedings in this regard and has called it a gross dereliction and abdication of duty by President Ali.

But the Head of State has indicated that he would deal with the substantive appointments “when the time is right”, and after the various service commissions are set up.

The Opposition wants the High Court to compel the President, through the Attorney General, to initiate the process contemplated by the Constitution to fill the vacancies.Justice Cummings-Edwards has been acting as Chancellor since 2016 while Roxane George, SC, has been acting as Chief Justice since 2017.

Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Vinceroy Jordan, who filed the action, submitted that Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has expressed to President Ali that he was committed to agreeing to the immediate confirmation of Justice Cummings-Edwards and Justice George, in their respective positions.

The procedure for the appointment of the Chancellor and Chief Justice is outlined in Article 127 (1) of the Constitution which states: “The Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition.”It has been over 21 and 17 years, respectively, since Guyana has had a confirmed Chief Justice and Chancellor. The last confirmed Chief Justice was Desiree Bernard who served from 1996 to 2001; she also served as Chancellor from 2001 to 2005.

The country’s inability to appoint a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice for an extended period has been a cause for concern for several bodies like the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ); the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO) and the Bar Association of Guyana.

The Attorney General has conceded that the current formula that requires consensus between the President and the Opposition Leader has not worked in the more than two decades it was put in place and that a constitutional amendment is needed to remove the gridlock.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is not over and Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony is not ruling out the possibility that newer strains of the virus may still pose a challenge to the health system.

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has had several subvariants that affected the globe.

Subvariants like the BA 1, BA 2, BA 3, BA 4, BA 5, BA2.75 and others that are continuously evolving, making the future of the pandemic uncertain.

“If these strains become dominant and they have a totally different clinical picture, then we might have trouble all over again and that is why we have to be prepared, because we don’t know what these future variants are going to be like and whether they will cause more hospitalisation, some of the researchers are predicting that as winter is coming, in some of the temperate countries, you will start seeing a new surge of cases and if that is the case then we have to be prepared.

“During this pandemic one of the interesting things that we were doing, when we saw something in the US in two to three weeks’ time, we will see it here in Guyana because of the connections and so forth so if we start seeing a surge in the US, I think we ought to be prepared,” Dr Anthony said.

The Health Minister noted that even the current low numbers do not accurately reflect the rate of infection, since most people are mistaking it for the flu and not visiting health facilities.

“While we are not seeing a lot of cases here, we must not be lull into a false sense that there aren’t cases. The big challenge that we have, I think there is a lot of covid fatigue, if there is such a term, meaning that people just fed up, nobody wants to wear a mask, nobody wants to come and get vaccinated so we have this challenge, but we are going to see people getting sick anyhow,” Dr. Anthony said.

Health workers from across the country are currently engaged in a two-day workshop on Intensive Care Units Management as part of a COVID-19 response programme.

The programme is a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Dr Anthony noted that preparedness is important, since at the start of the pandemic, the health system was not prepared to deal with this and a lot of adjustments had to be made.

This is just one aspect of the collaboration; antigen tests were also donated to Guyana, and training in COVID-19 protocols for diagnosis and treatment among others.

“I think that the preparedness that we are working on now will help us to be better prepared for any future pandemic and that’s why these trainings are very important,” the Health Minister said.

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Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Governor Timothy Antoine has declared that the region needs more entrepreneurs and has urged more youth involvement in job creation.

In an address amid the observance of Financial Information Month (FIM) in October, Antoine explained that the benefits of entrepreneurship go well beyond businesses and their owners.

 He observed that entrepreneurship is often the foundation for inter-generational wealth and a driver of innovation and job creation.

“Our region needs more entrepreneurs. We want to see more of our youth pursue and fulfill their dreams to own businesses and create their own jobs,” the ECCB Governor stated.

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But he noted that one of the biggest impediments to their aspirations is a lack of access to credit and finance.

In this regard, he pointed to the launch in October 2020 of the Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee.

And Antoine disclosed that under this programme, qualifying loans of up to $750,000 issued by participating financial institutions receive a 75 percent guarantee, making credit more accessible to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

I encourage you to ask your financial institutions about this programme,” the ECCB Governor said.

The ECCB and its partners launched Financial Information Month 2022 throughout the eight ECCB member countries on October 1.

The overarching theme for the month is Financial Empowerment Through Education.

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