Black Immigrant Daily News

Boris Johnson, the UK’s prime minister since 2019 and the spearhead of the 2016 Brexit campaign, resigned today.

Johnson’s resignation follows a huge revolt from his Conservative party, during which more than 50 lawmakers resigned in a 36-hour period starting on Tuesday night, when Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary, quit the government. Many of those resigning said they could no longer continue to serve under Johnson, and most called for him to step down.

In a speech outside 10 Downing Street today Johnson said he would stay on as prime minister until a new leader is selected.

Addressing the British people, Johnson said: “I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world; but them’s the breaks.”

Why Boris Johnson quit as prime minister

Scandal and controversy have dogged Johnson’s government and the man himself, particularly in the last months. In April, Johnson was fined for breaking his own laws, by attending and permitting several parties during the UK’s covid 19 lockdown. At least one party was at his official residence, 10 Downing Street.

In June, Johnson’s ethics advisor, Christopher Geidt, resigned, citing the prime minister’s willingness to break his own ministerial code. Later that month, the Conservatives lost two important by-elections by large margins, indicating that the party’s mandate was becoming less secure. Johnson argued to the last that his huge mandate—his December 2019 general election win with a landslide majority—meant he should continue even in the face of great internal opposition.

The final straw for many came at the end of June when Chris Pincher, the Conservative deputy chief whip, resigned after allegedly groping two guests at a private members’ club. Johnson initially denied having ever been told of any specific allegations against Pincher, but later admitted that he had been briefed on the issue in 2019.

Ministerial resignations and calls to leave

After Javid and Sunak’s back-to-back resignations, Johnson faced a slew of ministers leaving their jobs and distancing themselves from his leadership. Some ministers—unusually—called for him to resign while not resigning themselves.

These included lawmaker Michael Gove, also a key Brexiteer and a cabinet member, who called on Johnson to resign on Wednesday and was then summarily fired, and Priti Patel, the home secretary, who reportedly told Johnson to quit but remained in her post herself.

Today (July 7), Nadhim Zahawi, named by Johnson as the new chancellor just a day earlier, called for him to step down in a tweeted letter. Michelle Donelan, appointed as the new education secretary yesterday, resigned within 24 hours.

What happens next in the British government?

Reports suggested that Johnson will stay on as prime minister until the fall, to give the party time to elect a new leader. It will be up to the Conservative party, however, to decide on the process. Many Conservatives have expressed anger that Johnson chose to cling to power for so long rather than stepping aside when his support began to crumble.

If Johnson is forced to leave office immediately, though, his job will be filled temporarily by an interim prime minister. One likely candidate for this role is the deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, who fulfilled those duties when Johnson was in hospital with covid in 2020.

In choosing a new leader, the Conservatives may trigger a general election to seek a mandate for their candidate. But they may also elect a new party leader internally, and that person will become the next British prime minister.

There are many candidates for the top job: Penny Mordaunt, a former defence secretary; Sunak, Zahawi, Javid, and Gove; the defence secretary Ben Wallace; the foreign secretary Liz Truss, whose dealings with Russia and Ukraine have recently brought her to the fore; the hard Brexiteer Steve Baker; Jeremy Hunt, a former health secretary; and Suella Braverman, the attorney general, who said she would stand in any leadership election but didn’t herself resign.

Boris Johnson’s legacy

Johnson’s time in office has been marked by three huge events:

Brexit: When Johnson took over from Theresa May in 2019, the UK was still embroiled in talks about leaving the EU, for which a majority of Britons voted in 2016. Johnson, who spent time on the fence before ultimately campaigning to leave, promised to “get Brexit done.” In a painful and protracted process, and at great economic cost, he did indeed shepherd the country out of the EU, although difficult questions surrounding the status of Northern Ireland remain unanswered.
Covid: Johnson has been prime minister for the entirety of the pandemic so far. He ordered a national lockdown and also flouted it. Most notably, he oversaw a huge vaccine rollout, which saw the UK’s citizens vaccinated and boosted in large numbers more quickly than most international counterparts.
Ukraine: Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Johnson has been a vocal critic of the invasion and a supporter of Ukraine. This support has included sanctioning prominent Russians and the Russian economy, and providing £3.8 billion ($4.6 billion) in military support so far this year. (Quartz)

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Uitvlugt Sugar Estate factory is gearing up to begin producing 1000 bags of sugar per day from this weekend – a move which is expected to bring some relief as citizens continue to complain of an apparent shortage of sugar on the local market, a situation which is driving up prices where the commodity remains available.

Citizens have been complaining of an apparent shortage of sugar on the local market, something which has persisted for some two months.

On social media, hundreds of persons have shared their experiences of a sugar shortage at their local shops, and in some cases, supermarkets.

“I just went to four shops and there was no sugar…ended up paying $180 per pound of sugar in the sugar-producing Republic of Guyana,” one person commented.

“Sugar is scarce on the West Coast (of Demerara)…whoever has, they selling for $200 a pound,” another individual stated.

Another social media user contended that “I paid $1200 for 4lbs of sugar two days ago. What is going on in this country?”

This publication also spoke to several persons, who indicated that none of their local shops are selling the product. One individual told this publication that she resorted to buying imported white sugar.

Where is the sugar going?

When asked about the widespread reports of a sugar shortage, a senior official at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) contended that this should not be the case. It was noted that some 18,000 bags of sugar were sold by the Corporation last week.

The official revealed that GuySuCo had found out that some wholesalers have been buying the commodity in bulk and sending it to Venezuela, where it is sold for higher prices.

“It’s not a suspicion,” the official contended. It was disclosed that on June 5, 2022, some 2000 50kg bags of sugar were shipped to the North West District (NWD) – a region which reportedly does not consume that much sugar.

“Region One has a population of 26,000…Georgetown has a population of about 90,000 people and they don’t use so much sugar in a week,” the official reasoned. “So, what are they doing with the sugar?”

As a result, GuySuCo had taken a decision to only sell sugar to three categories of users: supermarkets, bakeries, and manufacturers.

While the local shops may not have had access to the commodity for resale, the official insisted that the supermarkets have access to the product.

However, when the Uitvlugt Estate resumes sugar production at 1000 bags a day, the goal is to restart the sale of sugar to wholesalers. Moreover, it was noted that when drier weather prevails, the Uitvlugt Factory can produce 2000 bags of sugar per day.

“And Guyana don’t use more than 3000 bags of sugar a week,” the official pointed out.

At this point when the sale of sugar is resumed to wholesalers, it is the hope of GuySuCo that they service the local market first.

“The Corporation has to be careful because our mandate is to supply to Guyana…once [we start] reselling to wholesalers from next week, what the wholesalers do with it, that’s out of our control,” the official explained.

Assured of no shortage

Reports of a sugar shortage on the local market have reached Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, who raised the issue with GuySuCo on Wednesday morning.

In discussion with the top management of the sugar company, the Minister was assured that there was no shortage of sugar.

“I’m not aware of it. I met GuySuCo this morning (Wednesday), and they assured me there is no shortage of sugar…I told them to call in the distributors and inform them what are the views around the country, of people saying sugar short and the price gone up…they told me, they assured me, there is no shortage of sugar,” Mustapha said when contacted by this publication for a comment on the issue.

He said the suspicion at the moment was that “some people want to create a shortage”. Against this backdrop, he warned that any supplier hoarding in a bid to increase the price for the commodity would be dealt with accordingly.

The Minister had directed further questions on the matter to the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at GuySuCo, Threbowan Shiwprasad as substantive CEO Sasenarine Singh was on leave. When contacted, Shiwprasad indicated that he was in a meeting and asked this publication to call back at a later time. However, subsequent calls went unanswered.

Meanwhile, GuySuCo, in a subsequent social media post, said that the price for a 50kg bag of sugar is $9900. This publication understands that anyone desirous of purchasing sugar can do so directly at GuySuCo, but the minimum number of bags to be bought is 50.

Sugar production

It was reported two days ago by GuySuCo that the Uitvlugt Estate Factory team has successfully completed machinery and steam trials with the installation of a new gearbox, a critical part of the factory’s operations.

The Uitvlugt Factory has been out of operation since March of this year after a mechanical issue was detected, forcing the estate to call off its first crop for 2022. The issue has since been rectified.

The mechanical issues developed at the Uitvlugt Factory earlier this year dealt a significant blow to the estate’s sugar production target for first crop of 4000 tonnes. The estate was only able to produce 66 tonnes.

In 2021, total sugar production stood at 58,025 tonnes. This was a significant reduction in comparison to the 88,868 tonnes produced in 2020. However, it is projected that the sugar sector will grow by some 11.8 per cent this year, with GuySuCo targeting 65,000 tonnes of sugar.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

La producción del concierto “Un Verano Sin Ti” de Bad Bunny aclaró este jueves que la fila oficial para comprar boletos para el evento que se celebrará en el Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot comenzará mañana, viernes, a las 10:00 a.m.

“La fila oficial empieza el viernes, 8 de julio a las 10:00 a.m. Las personas que lleguen antes de esta fecha no contarán como parte de la fila oficial y no podrán comprar boletos. Se puede traer una lonchera con comida y agua a la fila, pero está prohibido traer neveritas”, estipuló la producción mediante declaraciones escritas.

En el comunicado, la producción indicó que la compra de boletos se hará dentro de las instalaciones del recinto y la entrada será por el área de Arena Oeste. El máximo número de boletos que podrán adquirir por persona es cuatro. Además, tampoco permitirán los relevos de turnos.

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