Rupert Hopkinson said he was able to close the loopholes through rigorous, scrutiny of contracts for 2016.
He said the Regional Democratic Council is about to find the wrong-doers and he has the evidence.
Hopkinson feels that there is a plan in the region to undermine the current administration. He said once you are productive there are attempts to thwart your efforts so that production cannot be seen.
The regional executive officer says there is a constant attack on the REO and the administration that is doing its work.
Attorney-at-law and former magistrate, Chandra Sohan said he has written the Chancellor of the Judiciary expressing his disappointment in the way he was treated by Magistrate Marissa Mittelholzer. On Tuesday last, Sohan was cited for contempt of court by Mittelholzer. The Magistrate also ordered the lawyer be detained by the police in court. Sohan said he spent over an hour and a half in the courtroom until he sought legal representation.
He said after his legal representative arrived, to his surprise he was told that he was fined $4, 875. The attorney said at the time of the incident he was making a submission at the Albion Magistrates’ Court on behalf of a client. According to him, he took offense to being repeatedly interrupted by the Magistrate.
The alleged collaboration between the National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Police Force Traffic Department in Berbice to have drivers pay up their NIS is not sitting well with hire car drivers.
The drivers say no consultation was done with them before the move was implemented. Commander of B Division, Eon Amsterdam said he was unaware of the move involving the police. A senior NIS official by way of telephone said it is not unusual for the NIS to cooperate with other government agencies to fulfill its mandate.
Some drivers who refuse to comply, today picketed this morning at Tain to highlight their grievances. The drivers say the police stopped them and told them to report to the NIS office,8 where they were given a letter indicating that they must pay $8000 per month to the National Insurance Scheme as a self-employed person.
The NIS Official also said there is a general campaign which targets persons in insurable employment, as he dismissed claims that hire car drivers are specifically being targeted. The Officials explained that NIS will also be working with fishermen and shopkeepers.
Once a person registers as self-employed, they are expected to inform the inspector what their monthly intake is and an agreement is reached as to the amount of money that person will pay into the scheme.
A New Amsterdam, Berbice woman is trying to get justice and help at the same time for her 7 and 9-year-old children who were allegedly tortured by a caretaker. Teresa Rodrigues said some weeks ago, she left her two kids with the woman and ventured into the interior to work. The mother said she was paying the woman $40,000 per month to care for the children, but things took a turn for the worse days later. The caretaker allegedly tortured the children after a tablet, a gold bangle, and chain went missing.
The 9-year old boy said he was beaten, tortured and placed in a dog pen. The boy admitted that he removed the items and placed them under a monkey apple tree, but when he went back to the location the items could not be found. His younger sister also had some painful experience at the same time. In the presence of their mother, both of the children spoke of their abuse.
The matter is engaging the attention of the court, but the woman said she decided to face the press after she observed some unusual changes in her son’s behaviour.
Rodrigues said from time to time the boy will talk about what had happened to him and give more details surrounding the incident. He never revealed the full extent of his abuse to the police because he is fearful.
The woman said she immediately went back to the police, who took further statements.
The woman said she is leaving nothing to chance and took the children to the Childcare and protection agency in the city to relate their story.
Berbice Commander Ian Amsterdam said two persons are before the court, but not for the abuse of children, as it is now being claimed. The commander also said that the children did not complain about the abuse, just an adult associated with them.
Rodriques has since brought the matter to the attention of the childcare and protection agency and is also getting legal advice on the matter.
The Value Added Tax on Private tuition should be repealed and the government needs to go after those schools that are none compliant, those were some of the sentiments expressed at a public consultation held at the National Cultural Center this morning.
Education Minister, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine told administrators, head teachers and students that the Private Education institutions can absorb the VAT without passing it on to the students.
He reminded Private Education institutions that they cannot charge clients VAT unless the institution is registered for VAT and their current earnings meet or exceed the current VAT threshold of $15 million.
A Guyanese national was shot dead in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, in the home of his girlfriend.
He was identified as Raphael Collins of Ann’s Grove, on the East Coast of Demerara. The 22-year-old man who worked as a chef, was at his girlfriend braiding his hair when he was 9 times about his body, according to his grandmother, Volda Woolford.
The woman said Collins was living with his aunt in Trinidad since he left Guyana last February.
His Grandmother says information reaching his family here in Guyana is sketchy.
There are 16 housing schemes without Electricity, Potable Water and roads, this was revealed by newly appointed Chairman of the Central Housing and Planning Authority Board, Elsworth Williams.
Williams said what is painful, is that some homeowners are paying a rent and mortgage at the same time, due to the defects in some of the homes which were listed as completed.
A woman was found dead in the home she shared with her reputed husband their three children.
She was identified as 29-year-old, Dhanwantie Ram of Parika on the East Bank Essequibo.
The police are working on the theory that the man strangled the mother of his children to death and then fled the scene. The Police said the young mother was on her way to make a report at the Parika Police Station against the man, but her journey was cut short by the suspect who took her to their home. She was later found by a relative motionless in a sitting position with a sheet tied around her neck.
Her father and a neighbour confirmed that the mother of three suffered years of abuse at the hands of her husband.
