Black Immigrant Daily News

Nouvel absent de marque au Qatar: l’attaquant sénégalais Sadio Mané a été contraint de renoncer au Mondial-2022 et ne se joindra pas au défilé des stars du football prenant leurs quartiers à Doha, telles l’Allemagne et l’Espagne jeudi, à trois jours du coup d’envoi.

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FLASHBACK: Police and crime scene investigators near the bullet-riddled van in which two security guards were killed after they were attacked by bandit shortly after leaving the Pennywise Super Centre in La Romaine on September 19. FILE PHOTO –

ANOTHER man has been charged with the murders of security guards Jeffrey Peters and Jerry Stuart of Allied Security Ltd.

Police said Kemo McSween, 26, of Union Hall, San Fernando, who was initially charged with possession of arms and ammunition arising out of the deadly heist, was charged on Wednesday.

Regiment officer Ishmael Salaam, 24, was charged with murdering the two men earlier this month. When he appeared in court Salaam, was alleged to have murdered the two together with others.

It is alleged that on the same date and place, he and other people wounded the guards’ colleague Peola Baptiste, as well as Allister Harris, with the intent to do them grievous bodily harm.

Harris is also a security officer, but works with another company.

Mc Sween was also charged with wounding the two.

Salaam faces an additional charge of robbing Baptiste of $38,000 while using personal violence.

The murder charges follow charges of gun possession and robbery brought in September against four people, including Mc Sween, arising out of the attack.

Christopher Noreiga, 24, and Brent Walcott, 23, both of Ballantyne Street, Five Rivers, Arouca were charged with trafficking in firearms and possession of ammunition. Rennico Khan, 32, of Midas Lane, Corinth Hill Extension, Ste Madeleine, was charged with possessing arms and ammunition. He was also charged with resisting arrest.

On September 19, security officers Peters, 51, Stuart, 49, and Baptiste, 57, were transporting money collected from several businesses on the Pennywise compound when they were ambushed.

Peters and Stuart were killed during the robbery. Baptiste was taken for medical treatment and has had two emergency surgeries since.

Immediately after the deadly robbery, police killed four Fyzabad men involved. They were brothers Kyle and Keyon Ramdhan, Greg Dodough and Deaundre Montrose. The four were cornered at a house in La Romaine and died after a reported shootout with police.

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Ex-FIFA vice president Jack Warner . –

ON THURSDAY, five Law Lords of the London-based Privy Council delivered their decision in former FIFA vice president and ex-government minister Jack Warner’s final appeal of the dismissal of his lawsuit challenging the request by the United States to have him extradited there.

He is indicted in the US on wide-ranging allegations of criminal conduct stretching back some 30 years during his tenure at the world governing body for football.

Warner’s appeal was heard at the Privy Council in April. Ten months later, Lords Hodge, Briggs, Hamblen, Burrows, and Sir Declan Morgan unanimously dismissed his challenge.

In his challenge of the extradition request, Warner alleged that Trinidad and Tobago’s extradition treaty with the US contradicted the Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories) Act.

He contended the act afforded citizens certain protections which were ignored by the treaty and there should be conformity between the two.

He also challenged the process by which the extradition proceedings were carried out and sought to quash the authority to proceed (ATP) which was signed in 2016 by then-attorney general Faris Al-Rawi.

In September 2017, then High Court judge, Justice James Aboud said Warner’s concerns about the inconsistencies between the treaty and legislation were exaggerated and speculative. He held that Warner’s rights would be protected at the extradition proceedings in the magistrates’ courts. That was stayed pending the outcome of Warner’s challenge, but will resume now that he has exhausted his appeals.

On Warner’s complaint that he was not given a fair opportunity to make representations to Al-Rawi before the ATP was signed off to kick off the proceedings before the chief magistrate, Aboud said the former FIFA VP had no right to be consulted.

In July 2019, Justices of Appeal Gregory Smith, Prakash Moosai, and the late Andre des Vignes upheld Aboud’s ruling.

In their decision, the appellate judges ruled that the extradition treaty had not been shown to lack conformity with the act and there was no merit in Warner’s case that the US order, which declared that country a declared foreign territory, was not valid.

At the Privy Council, Warner raised four issues of contention. All four were dismissed.

The decision, written by Morgan, set out the legislative background of the act. It also addressed Warner’s four challenges. On his complaint about whether the conformity and its legality should fall under the current law or the original act, the judges said TT operated a dualist system of law, so international treaties did not have a direct effect in domestic law.

The ruling said the US order made by the AG after the US request was an exercise of the power given to him by Parliament and had only to be satisfied that there was compliance with the act. They said amending the act did not affect the lawfulness of any order made before the change was effected, and the test of conformity should be assessed by referring to the form of the act at the time the order was made.

On the contention relating to the degree of conformity between the act and the treaty, the London court said a narrow interpretation could restrict TT’s ability to achieve beneficial extradition arrangements with other territories.

“There are undoubtedly differences in the detail of the specialty arrangements between the act and the treaty, but these are an inevitable consequence of comparing detailed statutory arrangements with whatever treaty may need to be considered.

“These differences were catered for within the act to secure the protection of the rights of the person being returned.”

On the issuance of the ATP, the Privy Council held that the process did not determine the entitlement to extradition, nor were there provisions for representations to be made to the AG before it was signed off on.

“In this case, however, the appellant was aware that there had been an application for an ATP as a result of his arrest under the provisional warrant issued by the magistrate…

“It is the court which determines the requirements of fairness and the Attorney General, like any other participant in the proceedings, is bound by those determinations.”

Warner wanted the court to quash the ATP. However, the Law Lords held, “It was not standard practice in the domestic context to warn a person of impending arrest and there were obvious practical reasons not to do so in the case of a fugitive criminal.”

They noted, “After the general election the new Attorney General (Al-Rawi) provided an opportunity for representations as set out above. Although there was no obligation upon him to do so he was perfectly entitled to take that course…

“In light of the timetable set by the magistrate requiring any ATP to be issued by September 21, 2015, the offer by the new Attorney General was inevitably subject to agreeing to a fresh timetable with the court.

“It was the appellant’s choice to decline that opportunity. The Attorney General did not act unfairly.”

The Privy Council also held that it was not necessary for it to consider the constitutional issues on the relationship between the executive, legislature, and the courts raised in the appeal.

Warner was represented by King’s Counsel Clare Montgomery, Fyard Hosein, SC, Anil Maraj, Rishi Dass and Sasha Bridgemohansingh. The State was represented by King’s Counsel James Lewis, Douglas Mendes,SC, and Rachel Scott.

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President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced an eight percent increase for public servants. He made this announcement during a live broadcast moments ago. According to Head of State this increase will be retroactive from January 2022. This is the first of several other salary increases he will be announcing within the next week.

Please see below full statement by President Dr Irfaan Ali

My Fellow Guyanese:

You would recall that Budget 2022, which was presented in Parliament by the Finance Minister on behalf of my Government on 26 January 2022, included financial provisions to meet the cost of a public service salary increase for 2022. This fact has been frequently reiterated by several members of my Government over the course of the year since the enactment of Budget 2022.

You would also recall that, as recently as two weeks ago, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo confirmed during a press conference he held that there will be a salary increase paid in 2022.

This commitment by my Government comes against the backdrop of the several other measures we have implemented since assuming office, all with the aim of improving disposable incomes to public sector employees and Guyanese at large. These measures include:

The payment of a 7 percent across-the-board increase in 2021;
The restoration of the one-month tax-free year-end bonuses to the disciplined services totalling more than $1 billion per annum;
An increase of about 40 percent in the monthly old-age pension from $20,500 to $28,000, providing a total pension payout of more than $21 billion to our senior citizens;
An increase of 55 percent in public assistance payments from $9,000 to $14,000 monthly, providing a total of more than $3 billion in annual income support to the beneficiaries of this programme;
Restoration of the cash grants to the parents of school-aged children, increasing the amount provided for each child to $30,000 and extending the programme to children attending private schools. In total, this provides $6 billion of direct cash transfers to the parents of 200,000 school children; and
An increase in the minimum wage for private sector employees by 36 percent to $60,147, in keeping with the recommendations of the tripartite committee.

Needless to say, these and other similar measures augmented the many other steps taken by our Government to remove the punitive taxes that had been imposed by APNU/AFC on electricity, water, medical and educational supplies, basic household necessities, and basic construction materials.

Additionally, my Government remains mindful of the extraordinary shocks experienced this year in relation to the cost of living, especially arising from imported factors. It would be recalled that we implemented a number of measures to mitigate the effects of these imported shocks. These include removal of the excise tax on fuel, capping the freight charges, used in calculating import taxes, providing fertiliser and other support to farmers to boost food production, and direct cash transfers to especially vulnerable communities.

Fellow Guyanese:

Consistent with all these earlier measures, I have instructed that options be identified for adjustment to the salaries paid to a number of specific categories of public sector employees. These include, in the first phase, ranks of the Police Force, Prison Service, and Fire Service. Additionally, a similar exercise is currently being conducted and recommendations being made in relation to specific categories of employees in our public healthcare system, including nurses, interns, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. In relation to these categories of employees, I am planning to make a more detailed announcement during the course of next week.

Meanwhile, Fellow Guyanese:

My Government continues to value highly the hard work that Government employees do every day in delivering services to the People of Guyana.

In this regard, I now wish to announce that my Government will be paying an across-the-board increase of eight (8) percent to public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, constitutional office holders, as well as Government pensioners. This increase will be granted retroactively to 1 January 2022.

Work will start immediately to ensure that this increase is processed and paid to eligible employees together with their December salary.

As I just indicated, further announcements will be made next week in relation to the specific categories of employees to which I referred earlier in the first phase of adjustment.

Fellow Guyanese:

My Government remains resolutely committed to ensuring that the lives of all Guyanese are improved steadily, and in a tangible and demonstrable manner, as we work towards realising national prosperity for the benefit of All Guyanese.

Thank you very much, and may God bless you all.

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