Black Immigrant Daily News

As the Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations got underway on Thursday evening with a cultural extravaganza, President Dr Irfaan Ali has pledged to Guyana’s indigenous people that his government will ensure that they will be part of and benefit from the country’s development.

Addressing the gathering at the National Stadium Tarmac in Providence, East Bank Demerara, the Head of State pointed out that all Guyanese are entitled to the same treatment and opportunities. As such, he committed to stand by indigenous people from every community and take them on the pathway to prosperity, telling them that they should celebrate this month with this in mind.

“Celebrate with the confidence that your future is going to be better. Celebrate with the confidence that the opportunities of the future will come to you. Celebrate with the confidence that you will be an equal partner in the development of our country. Celebrate with the confidence that you are deserving people. Celebrate with the confidence that you are equal to anyone else. Celebrate with the confidence that this govt is with you, for you and by you,” President Ali stated.

The Guyanese leader went to noted that Government has the responsibility to create the environment for indigenous people especially the youth to prosper. To this end, he reiterated that government will support and provide all that is necessary, including the finances, for those qualified Amerindians who wanted to be trained a particular field – nursing, teaching, medical technician, environment and so on.

“We will make sure you get all the opportunities… You have what it takes to be all you can be and we will create the environment to ensure you be all you can be,” he posited.In fact, the President revealed that 60 per cent of the junior teachers trained in the last three months came from hinterland and riverine communities across the country amounting to approximately 500.

Moreover, in the area of agriculture, President Ali again encouraged hinterland communities to produce crops, reassuring that government will assist them with the transportation to get those items to the markets.

He contended that hinterland communities too have a role to play in Guyana’s food security agenda, and by extension, the Caribbean region’s plan.

“So produce, we are going to get the produce out [to the markets] for you,” he implored.To further empower indigenous people the Head of State went onto outline the other initiatives government has undertaken such as the Hinterland Housing programme across the country. Only last week during a visit to Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), President Ali announced a series of measures to push homeownership in hinterland communities.

This includes a $1 million grant to some 600 land title holders so that they can start construction on their homes. Added to this, government has also partnered with two commercial banks to provide low-interest $2 million loans to each of these persons to supplement the construction cost since a typical house in the region racks to about $3 million to build.

To further assist with village economies, government also be procuring some two million building blocks from Region Nine communities. At least one village, Shulinab in South Central Rupununi will be getting $10 million to supply 300,000 clay bricks to be used in the region’s housing programme.

According to President Ali on Thursday, the best investment government can make is in its people. On this note, he underscored the importance of empowering individual persons, especially young people.

He explained that transformation is not only seen in physical infrastructure but also in individual development. The Guyanese Leader stated that by transforming individuals, then collectively they will transform their communities and ultimately, the country.

“Our country will do better and everyone must be better,” he asserted. The Head of State also used the opportunity to highlight Guyana’s rich culture embedded in its six races.“What we have is unique, what have cannot be taken away, what we have can only be celebrated and shared… because what we have is a united people and united culture,” he pointed out.

During Thursday’s Amerindian Heritage Month Cultural Extravaganza at the National Stadium Tarmac, there were performances of traditional dances and songs as well as spoken pieces by cultural groups from various hinterlands communities across all 10 regions in the country.

The event saw the attendance of Prime Minister Brig Ret’d Mark Phillips, Cabinet Ministers, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, representatives from hinterland villages and other officials.

This year’s Heritage Month being held under the theme “Celebrating our traditional culture, while building One Guyana.” According to Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai, this theme is appropriate. Pointing out the importance of the indigenous culture, she noted that it is personal, unique and scared.

In the same breath, the minister said this rich culture is slowly fading away. However, she explained that there is an advantage to avoid this especially with government as a committed partner in the drive to promote and preserve traditional culture coupled with Constitutional provisions for the protection and preservation of Amerindians way of life and culture.

In fact, Minister Sukhai said that Guyana is the only country that has a government supporting a month-filled activities aim at celebrating and promoting indigenous traditional knowledge and culture.

“But in actively working to celebrate and preserve of our culture, we have to each do our part. Indigenous leaders, elders and youths have a specific role to play and we must take our roles seriously, proactive steps must be taken to not only celebrate and promote our culture but to keep it alive, to transmit it to the nexy generation, to embrace it and ensure we have pride in our identity,” the Amerindian Affairs Minister stated.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Derrick John, who urged that at no time must indigenous people forsake their heritage.

Instead, he implored, they must preserve it for future generations. He added that this requires renewed efforts to work on passing down various indigenous traditions to generations.

Amerindian Heritage Month is observed in September annually. However, this year’s celebrations have returned after a three-year hiatus caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

By: Feona Morrison

The use of capital punishment in Guyana is reserved for certain categories of murder, including the killing of members of the Disciplined Forces in the line of duty. High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon, on Thursday, sentenced 33-year-old Mark Royden Williams to suffer death by hanging for the January 23, 2008 murder of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Corporal Ivor Williams.

Back in July, the father of three of Friendship, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was found guilty by a 12-member jury of fatally shooting the soldier, who was acting in the execution of his duties.

Mark Williams, called “Smallie”, who is currently on death row for murdering eight persons during the 2008 Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) Massacre, and who appeared in court virtually on Thursday, sat expressionless as a ninth death sentence was imposed on him at the Demerara High Court. Corporal Williams, 24, a father of one, was shot dead by the members of the notorious Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins gang while he and other soldiers were carrying out a military operation in Buxton and neighbouring ECD communities.“I salute this young hero”

The Judge, in his sentencing remarks, condemned the senseless murder of Corporal Williams, describing it as a “shocking, brutal, horrific, violent and premeditated crime”.

This crime, he highlighted, was designed and calculated to entrap, ambush, and “murder in mass” members of the Disciplined Forces acting in the lawful execution of their duties to preserve and maintain calm in Buxton and neighbouring communities during the bloody crime wave.

Alluding to the fact that Mark Williams and his accomplices were on a killing spree, not only in Buxton but in other communities across the country, the Judge said that the gangsters set out to murder Disciplined Forces members for no reason, other than the fact that they swore to uphold the rule of law and the Constitution of Guyana.

“I salute this young hero, Corporal Ivor Williams,” Justice Kissoon said, adding that the soldier stayed true to his oath, even when his life was under grave threat by the criminal gang’s attack on his patrol vehicle which came under rapid fire from machine guns.

Given Mark Williams’s previous convictions for mass killings, the Judge noted that he has chosen a “path of violent criminal existence”—one which he has pursued with much “enthusiasm”.

According to the High Court Judge, extreme violence was unleashed by the criminal gang on the night of Corporal Williams’s death. He pointed out that there were “absolutely no mitigating factors”. In light of the exceptional seriousness of the crime and the convict’s “reprehensible” conduct, Justice Kissoon saw it fitting to impose the death penalty on him.

Through a victim impact statement, the dead soldier’s grandmother said that she missed him and that she was proud when he chose to enlist in the military to serve his country.She related that she had cared for her grandson from infancy to adulthood, fondly recalling that he had a habit of “spoiling her” with treats and other items whenever he came home.The elderly woman expressed that she would like her grandson’s killer to know that she has forgiven him, since he, too, was a young man, and she had no ill feelings towards him.At the time of his death, Corporal Williams had a young daughter.

Meanwhile, a serving GDF Sergeant, who was also part of the military operation, shared that the night of Corporal Williams’s death would “always be a nightmare to me”. A Lance Corporal at the time, the Sergeant said that his colleague’s death was a “great loss for us”, adding that even though he wanted to leave the profession after the attack, he stayed in honour of the late Corporal’s memory.

Residents of Mark Williams’s community labelled him as a quiet and respectable young man. Via interviews with a probation officer, they said that Mark Williams and other youths of the community were targeted by criminal gangs during the crime wave to take part in unlawful acts.

According to the residents, had it not been for the criminals that “hijacked” their community, the convicted killer and other young men could have had a different life experience.

Mark Williams’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes beseeched the Judge for leniency, submitting that his client was “deserving” of being placed in a position where hope for the future was available to him.

Hinting at an appeal of his client’s conviction for the soldier’s murder, the lawyer added that Mark Williams continued to maintain his innocence because of his strong belief that he was not a party to the plan to murder the soldier. The defence counsel also asked Justice Kissoon, in passing sentence, to give the statements of forgiveness by the soldier’s close relatives “due weight and consideration”.

For their part, State Counsel Muntaz Ali and State Counsel Taneisha Saygon, who prosecuted the matter, had submitted aggravating and other factors they wanted the court to consider ahead of the sentencing hearing, and only asked, on Thursday, for the maximum punishment to be imposed.

While leading his defence, Mark Williams, who elected to give unsworn testimony, had adamantly denied fatally shooting the soldier, claiming that “[investigators] got the wrong man”.

In his social report, he professed his innocence and expressed no remorse for the crime for which he was found unanimously guilty by a jury of his peers.

In 2017, Mark Williams and Dennis “Anaconda” Williams were sentenced to death by hanging for their involvement in the 2008 Bartica Massacre, which left 12 persons, including three Policemen, dead. The jury found them guilty of eight and seven of the 12 counts of murder, respectively. In relation to the remaining killings, they were found guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter, as it was proven that it was the gang leader, Rawlins who had murdered five of the murdered dozen.

They were given death sentences for each of the murder convictions, and life sentences for each of the manslaughter convictions by now acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC.The two men have since filed appeals against their convictions and sentences. Those cases are yet to be called at the Court of Appeal of Guyana.

On February 17, 2008, gunmen carried out a brazen attack on the community of Bartica while members of the mining community were watching a game of 20/20 cricket on television. On that fateful night, Police Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir and Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne were fatally shot. Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian, Irving Ferreira, Deonarine Singh, Ronald Gomes, Ashraf Khan, Abdool Yasseen, Errol Thomas, and Baldeo Singh were the civilians killed.

Then, in 2021, Mark Williams was found not guilty by a jury of the December 16, 2007 murders of 35-year-old Rajesh Singh and 25-year-old Fazal Hakim, at Triumph, ECD.Another man, Michael Caesar, called “Capone”, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter for the deaths of Singh and Hakim.In February 2019, Mark Williams and Sherwin Nero, called “Catty” or “Pussy”, were both found not guilty of the murder of businessman Kumar Singh, which occurred on August 30, 2007.

Singh, 51, also known as “Mango Man”, of Cove and John, ECD, was shot and killed by bandits.

In May 2013, Mark Williams and another man, James Hyles, called “Sally”, were found not guilty of murdering 11 persons, including children, in the January 2008 Lusignan, ECD Massacre.

Following the men’s discharge, the State appealed their acquittals to the Court of Appeal of Guyana, arguing, among other things, that several material irregularities had rendered the not-guilty verdicts unsafe and unsatisfactory.

The appellate court unanimously allowed the State’s appeal, thereby remitting the matter to the High Court for a new trial. But Mark Williams and Hyles appealed that ruling to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which, in May 2018, restored their acquittals.In 2017, Mark Williams was among the high-profile prisoners who escaped after a fire gutted the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown. He was, however, apprehended weeks later by Police ranks while he was on a public minibus on the Weldaad Public Road, West Coast Berbice (WCB).

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

– Advertisement –

by Neval Auguste

Agriculture Minister, Hon. Alfred Prospere, has spoken on the efforts made to reignite the banana industry.

The minister highlighted several initiatives facilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture aimed at bolstering the agricultural sector, while reducing Saint Lucia’s food import bill.

Working with the National Fair Trade Organisation on the banana industry was one of the successes.

– Advertisement –

“We were able to assist the NFTO with getting the $3.8 million dollars to assist them with the operations. We had a banana task force established to look into the whole industry; where it is, where we want to go, and what were some of the challenges. We had a special consultancy done to review the operations of NFTO and then we moved to further reengage the farmers to ensure that they produce the quality of fruits exported to the UK market.”

The minister states that that Saint Lucia is currently exporting about 6500 boxes of bananas to the region.

SOURCE: Government Information Service

– Advertisement –

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Un grupo de estudiantes indios de noveno grado ató este lunes a su profesor y a un empleado escolar a un árbol y los golpeó, en represalia por las malas notas que recibieron tras un examen práctico, informan los medios locales. 

In #Dumka the students’ anger erupted for giving fewer marks in the exam, the teacher was beaten up by tying him to a tree. #Jharkhand #Trending #Viralvideo #India pic.twitter.com/EedCC4o2w2

— IndiaObservers (@IndiaObservers) August 31, 2022

El profesor de matemáticas Suman Kumar y el empleado Soneram Chaure, de una escuela en el estado de Jharkhand, denunciaron que fueron atados y golpeados por instrucciones del director. Los alumnos “enfadados” también rompieron una silla durante el incidente. El informe contra el director y 11 estudiantes quedó debidamente registrado, declaró Nityanand Bhokta, responsable de la Policía local.

Los alumnos se quejaron ante funcionarios del distrito escolar, llegados al lugar de los hechos, de que el profesor les había puesto injustamente muy bajas notas en el examen. Esto hizo que 11 de ellos, de un total de 36, reprobaran la materia. Además, no les dio ninguna explicación, y luego el director y Chaure se negaron a atender su reclamo.

Por su parte, Suman Kumar explicó que los estudiantes los llamaron para celebrar una reunión y se quejaron de que sus calificaciones no se correspondían con lo que habían hecho. “Esto ocurrió porque sus notas en el examen práctico no se incluyeron en los resultados finales. Eso lo tenía que hacer el director. Así que no pudimos tomar ninguna medida al respecto“, detalló el profesor.

Noticia original de RT en Español.

NewsAmericasNow.com