President Bharrat Jagdeo said, on Friday,NFL Jerseys Outlet, that the government will continue to provide services to residents of the city despite its heavy criticism of the Georgetown municipality.?“There are little things that can be done in the City. We have a lot of workers that we support. I keep saying to them to just cut the grass on the parapet and remove some of the garbage and the city will look different. A simple thing as cutting the grass becomes a major rocket science task for the Council,” President Jagdeo said.??However, Jagdeo said he was pleased with developments in the city.?“…We see a growing city and if you drive around you would see better services on the part of the private sector, better buildings, nicer buildings, more modern facilities,” Jagdeo told reporters.?Jagdeo said that the government is spending over US$10M in setting up a modern waste management facility,NFL Jerseys China, even though this is an obligation of the Council.?He said that Local Government elections may take place at the end of the year and if this does not happen it will have to happen after general elections next year.?If that happens, Jagdeo said Georgetown residents will unfortunately have to bear another year with the “visionless council.”?The City Council has been pushing for the government to pay outstanding rates as this will help to pay garbage collectors, warning that if a health crisis develops in the city then this can pose a threat to the entire country. Central Government owes the Council $42 million in taxes for the third quarter. This was due on July 1.?Minister of Local Government, Kellawan Lall, came in for heavy criticism when he said he would be glad if there is a health crisis in the city as a result of the non-collection of garbage, because this would lead to the removal of the City Council.?Garbage has been piling up in all areas of the city after garbage collectors pulled their services to protest non-payments a month ago.?Waste Disposal contractors, Puran Brothers, Waste Disposal Service Cevons Waste Management Incorporated,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, and Crawler and Wheeler Waste Disposal Service, on June 21, made good on their threat to withdraw their services from the Georgetown municipality.?The contractors are owed $75 million.********************Mahaicony Rice Mills blocked by unpaid rice farmersSeveral farmers on Friday blocked the entrances of the Mahaicony Rice Mills (MRM) at Black Bush Polder, East Berbice, demanding payments for paddy supplied during the last crop. According to a number of angry Black Bush Polder farmers yesterday,Cheap NFL Jerseys, they have attempted in vain to get answers from the company.“Dem keep telling we that de boss man not in or come back in two days or next week… somebody gat to do something…we ain’t get no money to even plant we coming crop,Air Max 98 Sale,” a resident of Johanna, Black Bush Polder said.Farmers placed old tyres and pieces of machinery at the entrance to the mill forcing police to send in ranks. However, no one was arrested.Officials of the rice regulatory body, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), have received reports of the incident.A senior official, who requested anonymity, said that it was forced to dispatch officers to the Mahaicony mill where farmers descended on the facility on Friday.“We (GRDB) have been trying to ascertain how much money they owe farmers but they keep pushing us around. We went to their mills and they told us that only the General Manager can speak. We call for the General Manager but he is never in.”According to the GRDB official, at Mahaicony on Friday, an official came out and took the names of the farmers there.This latest development comes even as Essequibo farmers are also reporting that they too are suffering heavily from non-payments from millers.On Thursday,Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys, the Ministry of Agriculture tabled another amendment that will mandate millers to put down a 10 per cent deposit on their previous crop purchase to ensure that at least farmers get payments.Non-payments by millers had been a thorn in the side of the rice industry in the past decades with several amendments made to the law reducing the time farmers have to be paid.This recent amendment is the latest salvo by government regulators to further tighten the screws.With MRM also purchasing almost 40 per cent of the paddy produced by farmers in Guyana, officials have also signaled its intentions to put legislations in place to reduce the possibilities of monopolies in the industry.In expressing its “disgust”, the Ministry had also lashe

The late Hugh Desmond Hoyte was remembered as a transformational figure in Guyana’s history, according to Major General (rtd) Joe Singh who was the key speaker at the fourth annual memorial lecture.The event was held on Wednesday at the Pegasus hotel. It was well attended by politicians and civil society.Major General Singh, who was requested by the Late President’s now deceased wife,China NFL Jerseys, singled out six decisions that Hoyte made which he said can be seen as pivotal in the transformational history of Guyana.The decisions he itemized were: Undertaking the Georgetown to Lethem Overland Safari in 1973; instituting the Guyana Prize for Literature in1987; Launching the Economic Recovery Programme in 1989; Committing to the Iwokrama Rainforest Project also in1989; Facilitating the Free & Fair Elections in 1992 and Ensuring the Peaceful Transfer of Power in 1992.According to Major General Singh leaders are elected or appointed to make decisions that can have short term or longer term impacts on the country and on its citizens.He posited that on the one hand, there are leaders who are myopic, who tend to look at what short term political gains such decisions can produce and invariably, such decisions do not address systemic issues, which will continue to fester.“On the other hand, leaders who are visionary tend to make decisions which they consider to be in the longer term interests, even if they may cause short term pain. But there are also some decisions which are thrust upon leaders…Does history make the man or does the man make history?”He said that the failure by leaders to act decisively can cause short term as well as long term pain.“Decisions that are transformational bring about thorough or dramatic change…In such cases,Nike Air Max 98 Og, leaders have to be bold and pragmatic…They have to be prepared ‘to bite the bullet’ and incur the criticisms of both their detractors and their own supporters.”He said that such bold display of pragmatism relies on the leader’s own sense of values and knowledge of the possible consequences of both indecision as well as the decision, on the interests of human beings.“Desmond Hoyte’s strategic vision and the decisions he influenced in making a reality of the establishment of this road link from the Coast to Lethem, and in personally identifying with this project through his stewardship of the Ministry of Works and Communications and his leadership of the Safari,Authentic NHL Jerseys, are part of our history.”He said that the decision by Hoyte laid the foundation for the developments currently taking place in south-western Guyana, through bilateral cooperation between the two governments and implementation of Agreements by public and private sector agencies.Major General Singh told the gathering that the establishment of Guyana Prize for Literature was visionary and transformational.He said that it was the instrument for giving deserving recognition of the role of writers and poets.It was announced on February 23,Cheap Buffalo Bills Jerseys, 1987 and is the most prestigious literary award in the English-speaking Caribbean.Speaking to the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) the Major General said that it was transformational in that it sought to break radically with the past and re-position Guyana’s economic recovery and growth.“In fact, in 1983,NFL Jerseys Outlet, the writing was already ‘on the wall’ as far as the economy was concerned.”Singh said that the focus of the ERP launched in 1989, was macro-economic reform and in particular: sourcing external financing, exchange rate devaluation, price deregulation, privatisation, and public sector wage control.He said that towards the end of 1990, the then President Hoyte introduced the cambios where foreign exchange could finally be purchased legally.Prior to that, foreign exchange had to be bought on the black market.“Hoyte was also pragmatic enough to realize that the ERP had to go hand in hand with other freedoms…No longer could he remain arrogant, stubborn and unmoved by the agitation of opposition parties, and civil society- including the churches, for freedom of expression and freedom from fear…He permitted the importation of newsprint and the establishment of a private newspaper— Stabroek News.”According to Major General Singh, “These should be seen as incremental gains, engineered as a result of pragmatic review of the inhibiting factors to governance, prudent financial management, and national development, as well as to enhance the credibility of a government striving to come to terms with the past and preparing to chart a new beginning into the future.”On the issue of the establishment of Iwokrama, Singh said the decision in

Magistrate Priya Beharry yesterday refused to grant bail to a man accused of stabbing his friend six times.Ryan O’Neil Barker was not required to plead to the indictable offence of attempting to commit murder.The allegation was that Barker attempted to murder Terrence Jaikissoon,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, on October 18.Police Prosecutor Lionel Harvey yesterday told the court that the virtual complainant and the defendant were engaged in a heated argument. According to Harvey,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, Barker whipped out a knife and began stabbing Jaikissoon about the body.He was stabbed six times and had to be rushed to the Georgetown Hospital.The prosecutor said that the victim had to be rushed to operating theatre,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, where his condition was listed as critical.He asked for bail to be refused and a date for statements set. That application was granted by the magistrate.Barker was remanded and is expected to make another court appearance on October 27.

–As National Week of Testing gets underwayA total of 30,000 persons are being targeted for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) testing next month as part of the Ministry of Health’s National AIDS Programme National Week of Testing 2010 programme.National Week of Testing will be observed from November 22 through 26 but will be kicked into motion today with the public testing of Disc Jockeys (DJs) at the National Communications Network (NCN)’s Homestretch Avenue headquarters. The activity is set to commence at 09:00 hours.This year’s Testing Week will be held under the theme “confidential and reliable; get tested now” and will mark the fifth time Guyana will be hosting the activity.According to NAPS’s Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Coordinator, Mrs Debra Success, it was just last week that NAPS was able to establish relationships with local DJs. The DJs were represented by Kester Dean.According to Success, it has been discovered that DJs are very important to the testing drive as they are thought to be very influential persons, thus the need to partner with them. And as part of the partnership, Success noted that efforts will be geared at raising awareness about the National Week of Testing activity in order to amplify the need for persons to know their status.“We are hoping that persons will be educated, sensitised and motivated to utilise the testing sites that will be established in the different administrative regions.”From left: Debra Success, Dr Shanti Singh and Hydar AllyThe VCT Coordinator disclosed that at present there are over 400 testing sites that can be utilised during testing week.In clarifying the purpose of the testing activity, NAPS Programme Manager, Dr Shanti Singh, noted that often it is assumed that VCT is simply about finding HIV positive people.“I want to re-emphasise the point that voluntary counselling and testing while it is about finding positive persons and referring them into a treatment programme it is about ensuring that those people that are negative remain negative.”For this reason, she disclosed that the activity includes a counselling component,Nike Air Max 1 Mens Cheap, which is characterised by pre- and post-test counselling. Some of the issues discussed during these sessions,Wholesale Jerseys China, she revealed, are risk reduction,Nike Tns Wholesale, particularly as it relates to the number of partners an individual has, and correct and consistent condom use for those persons who are HIV negative.“Our mandate here at the Secretariat is really to control the spread of this disease. But for us to control the spread of this disease, particularly important first is how do we reduce new infections?”Dr Singh noted that it must be appreciated that it is because of VCT programmes that new infections have decreased. HIV prevalence, she said, has moved from 2.4 percent in 2005 to about 1.3 percent as at the end of last year.“I think that the voluntary counselling and testing programme was key and instrumental in ensuring that we continue to reduce new infections. Therefore it represents a key programme within our overall gamut of prevention services that we provide.”According to Dr Singh, last year the testing activity had comfortably surpassed the 20,000 targets that were set, thus the expectation that the 30,000 targets this year, which was called for by Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, will be easily exceeded. Close to 29,000 persons were tested last year, an undertaking that Dr Singh regarded as a tremendous amount of work.“We anticipate that this year will be no different…but we look forward to everyone’s participation.”And in living up to the theme there will be certain elements that will be guaranteed during National Week of Testing,China Jerseys Cheap, according to Dr Singh. Among these, she said, is that of confidentiality,Cheap Hockey Jerseys, and she insists that quality will not be compromised in anyway.Quality teams will be dispatched to make sure that the services provided with regards to both counselling and testing will be of the same standard as if conducted as a regular VCT sites.At the end of last year just over 85,000 persons were tested through the VCT programme,Cheap Jerseys USA, Dr Singh revealed.“When you add that to the close to 12,000 testing in the PMTCT programme which is the prevention of mother to child transmission programme and the blood bank screening of blood products we have conducted a little over 100,000 tests for 2009.”Despite all of the tests conducted, Dr Singh said that when the results were received from the Demographic Health Survey, it was discovered that only 25 percent of the people su