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The Guyana Fire Service was called into action just around 1:40 this morning to put out a fire at Third Street, Montrose on the East Coast of Demerara. That fire quickly spread and completely destroyed a wooden house. Three persons were in the house at the time but they were all able to escape unharmed.

Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn updated media operatives on the fire and posited that while the origin of the fire is unknown at this point the Guyana Fire Service was able to bring the fire under control. No one was injured in the fire. An investigation is currently ongoing to ascertain the origin of the fire.

The Guyana Police Force are probing the robbery murder of a maintenance/ baggage handler of Trans Guyana Airways. The dead man was identified as  Ronald Omar Smith.

That incident occurred on Friday afternoon  on the western half of Camp Street between Church and Quamina Streets. The Police are reporting that the 40 year old man  of Wakapow, Pomeroon, Essequibo was pounced upon by two identifiable males on a white XR motorcycle.

The Police are reporting that their enquiries revealed that the victim made several stops via car, while conducting business in and out of the city, in the company of a miner who was driving him in motor car PZZ 6065.

The victim made a sale of gold and placed the $437,000 dollars in cash he received in a haversack and went to visit his girlfriend.

According to the police, after the visit, Smith and his girlfriend were standing in front of the Impeccable Beauty salon when they were confronted by the suspects who came from an unknown direction.

The pillion rider dismounted and discharged two rounds at Omar Smith who fell to the ground, then took away Smith’s haversack containing the cash, after which he and his accomplice made good their escape north on Camp Street.

The police report added that Smith was picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died while receiving medical attention.

His  body was examined and three circular wounds were seen, one to the upper left shoulder, one to the middle region of his stomach and one under his right armpit area. The driver is in custody assisting with investigations.

The president made the remarks while addressing the Caricom Regional Food Systems Dialogue. He noted that the Caribbean’s high dependence on food imports leaves it vulnerable to external shocks caused by sudden spikes in food commodity prices.

The Caribbean must aim at becoming more food secure. This exercise must be sustained and must involve increased production of foods consumed within the Region. But it must also entail increased intra-regional trade in agricultural commodities. The dismantling of barriers to the trade in agricultural commodities will enhance regional food security.

If the Region is to become more food secure, it has to begin to source more of its food needs from within the Caribbean, and this will require the removal of unnecessary non-tariff barriers to intra-regional trade.

The Region is not short of solutions for improving food security.  These solutions are to be found in proposals, reports, studies and regional strategies.

Statement by the Leader of the Opposition Hon. Joseph Harmon, MP

PPP neglect of public infrastructure has contributed to extreme flooding and widespread suffering

Continuous rainfall over the past week along with high tides have resulted in flooding in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10. Several communities have experienced extreme flooding, including Kwakwani, Black Bush Polder, Bartica, Hosororo and Aishalton among others.

There has been disruption to lives and livelihoods, considerable damage to property and loss of crops and livestock.

A public health crisis is developing with dead livestock rotting in the flood waters in a number of areas.

The APNU+AFC Coalition empathizes with the thousands of persons who have been adversely affected and asks that you take all necessary precautions to ensure you remain safe from contracting potential illness or disease as a result of exposure to the flood waters.

While the Civil Defence Commission has been responding, such response is insufficient and inadequate. Thousands of citizens who have been adversely affected and who are trapped in the flood waters are in dire need of urgent relief and assistance.

Addressing the nationwide flood situation requires a national coordinated effort at the executive level.

People are suffering from extreme flooding, including in areas which have not been known to be prone to flooding, in significant part, as a result of the PPP regime’s lack of maintenance of flood prevention infrastructure left in place by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

The PPP’s neglect of such infrastructure has now imperiled the lives of thousands of Guyanese, have destroyed thousands of acres of crops and have caused millions of dollars of damage to property and loss of household appliances and other items.

We call on the PPP regime to immediately establish a National Flood Relief Task Force comprising representatives of all sectors of the society and to take decisive action to:

• address the flooding
• offer relief and compensation to persons affected.

The Guyana Police Force is today denying that it received instructions to ban Haitians from entering Guyana. Today, Tuesday, May 25, seventeen Haitian nationals were returned to their country of birth after being held in Guyana for two days.

The force in a press statement it had not been directed by any authority, neither has the commissioner of police been instructed by the Minister of Home Affairs to ban Haitian nationals from entering Guyana. According to the police there is no ban on Haitian nationals seeking to enter Guyana.

The PR department of the force said between Sunday May 23^rd and Monday May 24^th, seventeen out of a total of sixty-one (61) Haitian nationals who arrived aboard Caribbean Airlines Flight at Eugene Correira International Airport, Ogle were refused entry because they did not satisfy immigration requirements. The police said the seventeen Haitians were kept at the airport until a return flight was available.

Last year the Irfaan Ali led government came under fire for its treatment of Haitian Nationals. Then more than twenty Haitian including children were illegally detained at a facility on the West Coast of Berbice. Before the court could rule on the matter, they were dumped on the street in close proximity to the hotel where they were initially arrested from on suspicion of being smuggled. The Chief Justice did rule that their detention was illegal.

A seventeen year old boy is among seven COVID-19 related fatalities recorded today by the Ministry of Health. The deaths occurred between Saturday May 22 and Monday May 24. The other fatalities are that of three females and three other males between the ages of 53 to 78 years old. These fatalities take the country’s death toll to now 368. The fatalities are from Regions 3, 4, 5 and 7.

Meanwhile, 85 new COVID-19 related cases have been reported taking the country’s case count to 16,320. Nineteen persons are said to be in the COVID-19 ICU while 1,880 cases are active in the country of which 1,783 are on approved home isolation while 97 are in institutional isolation.

A seventeen year old boy is among seven COVID-19 related fatalities recorded today, Tuesday by the Ministry of Health. The deaths occurred between Saturday May 22 and Monday May 24. The other fatalities are that of three females and three other males between the ages of 53 to 78 years old. These fatalities take the country’s death toll to now 368. The fatalities are from Regions 3, 4, 5 and 7.

Meanwhile, 85 new COVID-19 related cases have been reported taking the country’s case count to 16,320. Nineteen persons are said to be in the COVID-19 ICU while 1,880 cases are active in the country of which 1,783 are on approved home isolation while 97 are in institutional isolation.