GUYANA: Decarbonisation with US$83.3M in renewable energy projects – IDB

ByOilNOW – June 19, 2022

As efforts continue with the implementation of the Guyana Utility Scale Solar Photovoltaic Programme (GUYSOL), the country is poised for a transformational leap towards decarbonisation, says the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The financial institution noted on Friday that the GUYSOL programme will invest US$83.3M in eight utility-scale, photovoltaic solar projects totaling 33MWp with associated 34MWh energy storage systems distributed across three areas in the country.

Specifically, it will invest in 10MWp in the Berbice area, 8MWp project in the Essequibo system with a minimum of 12MWh battery storage, and a 15MWp plant connected to the Linden system, with a minimum of 22MWh battery storage.       

AFRICA: Why France faces so much anger in West Africa – “Neo-colonial arrogance” – BBC News

By Paul Melly – Africa analyst – Published5 December 2021 – BBC NEWS

It all started so positively. Where have things gone wrong? Why does France now appear so unpopular in Africa?

French President Emmanuel Macron has increased aid to the continent, begun the return of cultural artefacts stolen during the colonial wars and reached out beyond the usual inter-government ties to engage younger generations and civil society.

He has kept French troops in the Sahel to fight the jihadist militants that kill so many local civilians, police and soldiers and supported the regional bloc Ecowas as it tries to defend electoral politics against military takeovers.

Yet his country is now the target of embittered African complaints and criticism on a scale that is probably unprecedented.     

GUYANA pushes for architectural transformation with upcoming International Building Expo — July 22-24, 2022

GUYANA INTERNATIONAL BUILDING EXPO — July 22-24, 2022

Website: https://buildingexpo.gy/

Guyana is expecting more than 150 international and local companies to participate in the International Building Expo, set to take place July 22-24 at the National Stadium, Providence, East Bank Demerara.

The expo will create an opportunity for local, regional, and international investors to showcase innovative building and construction techniques, government said.

The country is experiencing a construction boom fueled by the offshore oil and gas operations which is creating higher demand for accommodation for tourists, investors, and industry expatriates. The government said it expects the construction sector to be propelled into a more innovative direction with this Expo.       

GUYANA: Cabinet approves G$60,000 minimum wage for private sector employees – Pres. Ali

June 16, 2022 – https://newsroom.gy/

After two years of discussing an increase in the minimum wage of private sector employees from G$44,200 to G$60,000, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday evening announced that it has been approved by the cabinet. This increase to G$60,00 is approximately US$300 per month at the exchange rate of 200-1.

“Cabinet has agreed with the recommendation of the tripartite committee and that is, we are in support of the minimum wage, that is, the $60,000…” President Ali said while addressing the 74th commemoration of the Enmore Martyrs.

The minimum wage was increased to G$44,200 in 2017 from G$35,000.             

GUYANA: India delivers new US$12.7M North-West Guyana ferry

MV Ma Lisha launched

Jun 16, 2022  – Kaieteur News

Works on the new ocean-going passenger and cargo vessel which is set to benefit the people of Region One has been completed.

The vessel which is called MV Ma Lisha was being built in India to the tune of US$12.7 million by Gardens Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) as part of the Government of India’s Line of Credit-cum-Grant project.

The newly built MV Ma Lisha, which will soon set sail for Guyana     

GUYANA: Commission of Inquiry into 2020 elections to open next week – President Ali

– President to empanel commissioners Tuesday

Jun 17, 2022 —Kaieteur News

In what can be seen as an about-face decision, President Irfaan Ali announced on Thursday that next week Tuesday, he will be naming the persons to sit on an international panel to inquire into the chaotic 2020 General and Regional elections.

Ali made the announcement while wrapping up his speech at the Enmore Martyrs’ Commemoration Service. “In honour of these martyrs and all Guyanese who fought relentlessly to ensure that our country did not go down as an undemocratic state…we will have an international CoI into the last elections.

Not a review…we promise, particularly your President promise a CoI and I say to all of you before dawn on Tuesday, your President will name the members of that CoI and those who sought to subvert democracy… the COI will set the truth from the untruth…” Ali declared.             

REFUGEES: No room for today’s ‘tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ — By Mohamed Hamaludin

By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN

The number of free African Americans increased from around 60,000 in 1790 following the Revolutionary War to about 300,000 in 1830 and European Americans feared they would help the still enslaved to escape or revolt and believed anyhow that they were an inferior race who would be better off elsewhere. The American Colonization Society and others came up with this solution: send them to Africa.

African Americans, in general, objected strongly, with some pointing out that they had lived in the United States for generations and were “no more African than white Americans were European,” as Wikipedia puts it. “Shame upon the guilty wretches that dare propose and all that countenance such a proposition,” abolitionist and scholar Frederick Douglass declared. “We live here—have lived here—have a right to live here and mean to live here,”

Still, 4,571 African Americans were relocated between 1820 and 1843 to West Africa, in a collection of settlements with names such as Mississippi in Africa, Kentucky in Africa and Republic of Maryland that formed the nation of Liberia by 1857. Because of diseases, only 1,819 survived.

CARIBBEAN: David Jessop | Rapid action needed on food security

   June 12, 2022 |  Jamaica Gleaner

Could the threat of global food shortages finally unite Caricom? Will it cause member states to act together, making real the Caricom Single Market & Economy’s promise of effective regional cooperation and economic security?

These are questions that should be on every Caribbean citizen’s mind, as food and energy prices skyrocket globally, with worse forecast to come.

The causes of what will likely become a lengthy and pervasive crisis are multiple. At the start of 2022 food prices were already high because of pandemic-related supply chain problems, increasing input costs, and lower yields due to climate change.         

CANADA: Toronto Police Chief apologizes for years of systemic racism on the force

BlogTO – 15 June. 2022

Chief of Police James Ramer addressed the media on Wednesday morning, delivering a brutally honest apology in response to the Toronto Police Service’s (TPS) 2020 Race-Based Data Collection Strategy findings, admitting the frankly obvious fact that profiling and discrimination against members of racialized communities are a systemic issue on the force.

The Toronto Police and all law enforcement services in Ontario were directed to begin collecting race-based data in instances of reportable use of force back in 2019, leading the TPS Board to approve a “Race-Based Data Collection, Analysis and Public Reporting” policy with an aim to identify a problem that was already plainly obvious to even the most casual observer.

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GUYANA: Recalibration Required between Central Government and Georgetown

Stabroek News

By Stabroek News Editorial – June 10, 2022     

The PPP has never reconciled itself to the fact that Georgetown, the capital city, is under the control of the PNC now APNU with the AFC in tow. It is not a reality which is going to change in a hurry; the demographics are what they are and this is a universe where ethnicity largely dictates voting patterns. The southern wards of George-town are the APNU heartland, and while far more Indians and members of other groups live in the city than ever used to be the case, they will not outnumber the African population for the foreseeable future.

Twenty-three years in office saw the PPP/C starving the capital of funds so the rubbish mounted up on street corners and one Minister of Local Government infamously declared that he would be happy if there was a health crisis as a consequence because it would supply a justification for removing the City Council. It was the most open acknowledgement from the ruling party of what they were trying to achieve in Georgetown. Miraculously, however, there was no health crisis, and so the central government continued to operate in what the citizenry regarded as punishment mode.