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launched an attack on employees at the president’s official residence – State House, stabbed a Presidential Guard and took away his gun in 2022 was sentenced to three months imprisonment on Monday.

The sentence was handed by Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court after Chimezie pleaded guilty to the offence of discharging a loaded firearm with intent to harm Police Constable Quacy Cummings.

Apart from the sentence, Chimezie was granted three years supervised probation.

“The court started the maximum sentencing guideline at fifteen months and took into consideration the time Chimezie spent on remand,” Police Headquarters said in a statement.

The incident occurred on December 15, 2022.

Following his discharge from the hospital, Chimezie was charged on January 19, 2023. He was not required to plead to the offence of discharging a loaded firearm with intent committed on Quincy Lewis, at State House, Carmichael Street, Georgetown.

Chimezie, who possesses a Nigerian passport showed up at State House – the official residence of President Ali and his family – and confronted the Presidential guard in a hut stating: “I want the President.”

Presidential Guard Telon Perreria was then stabbed five times by the man, who was armed with a knife.

Chimezie was charged separately for attempting to murder Perreria. The matter is still engaging the court.

The attacker then proceeded to disarm a female rank of her gun, walked out of the guard hut, and started firing outside of the compound on Carmichael Street.

Chimezie was shot at by other officers. He received three gunshot wounds and was hospitalized under police guard.

changes in the operation of the GDF in the coming weeks in order to meet the demands of the environment.

And in doing this, he said key focus will be placed on assets, technology and partnership, all areas in which significant investments are being made to boost capacity of the defence force.

Young athletes test their skills in the javelin event

During the Academy, the athletes were required to compete in all of the events before an assessment was done on their skill level.

Athletics is one of the 12 core sports identified to benefit from the National Sports Academy Programme.

Meanwhile, the AAG reminded athletes that February 17 and 18 at the National Track and Field Facility, West Coast Demerara, will be the last trials to select the country’s team for the CARIFTA Games, which are set for March 30 to April 1 in Grenada.

Thus far, Tianna Springer (400m and 200m), Athaleya Hinckson (100m), Duel Europe (Long Jump), Attoya Harvey (1500m and 800m), Kaidon Persaud (400m and 800m), Javon Roberts (800m), Ezekiel Newton (100m and 200m), Charissa December (High Jump), Ryan Joseph (High Jump) and Jaheel Cornette (200m) have qualified.

engaged in the industrial action for higher salaries protested outside the ministry building for the sixth day. Though not all teachers are active on the streets, minimal teaching was ongoing in schools across the country and Lyte told reporters that this “standstill” will continue.

“The whole country is at a standstill because we are seeing schools are not operating as they should, you drive down the road and you are not even seeing children the entire country is affected and if the government does care about the future of our generation they will adjust the concerns of our teachers,” Lyte told reporters.

President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Mark Lyte.

The Ministry of Education and the GTU have been engaging since 2020 on a proposed Multi-Year Agreement that includes salary increases. The GTU believes talks have broken down and the process should move to arbitration but the Education Ministry and the Labour Ministry maintain that talks are still ongoing and the strike is illegal.

The Education Ministry issued a statement informing striking teachers that their salaries will be deducted for unauthorized absence from the classroom.

These actions, Lyte said, will be legally challenged. The union also plans to challenge the government’s decision to discontinue the deduction of union dues.

Teachers and supporters hold placards during their protest.

“You can’t just wake up and decide that you are not deducting and if you are doing that for the GTU you have to do it for all the other unions and bodies where the teachers have authorized you, they have instructed you to deduct the money, it’s not the government money it’s the teacher’s money,” Lyte said.

He further explained that legal advice was sought and that the union’s lawyers were going to take action on the union’s behalf.

“No one has reached out to us and we have been saying we are ready to speak…we have explored our legal actions and our lawyers have advised us well so there are legal reports that are being taken right now.

“The law requires that unions are engaged in collective bargaining and right there, there is a breach of the constitution by the government,” he said.

second week of strike action, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Sunday urged teachers to “be fair” and reflect on the positive interventions from his government so far.

And he also reiterated his earlier promise of improving the lives of teachers and other workers.

President Ali, during a live broadcast on his official Facebook page, detailed many of his administration’s positive interventions thus far.

A huge focus, he said, has been getting more teachers trained which, in turn, means they can be promoted and earn higher salaries. And for all trainees in pre-service training at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), they are now paid $90,000 instead of a $10,000 stipend.

On the administrative side, he said the Child Development Index Card (CDIC) is no longer a required school document. The General Scheme of Work as a curriculum document is no longer required. Teachers are also being provided termly grants to purchase school supplies.

Dr. Ali also noted that the government has been offering other incentives such as increased duty-free concessions.

He said many other interventions were implemented in the interest of improving the teaching profession. As such, Dr. Ali urged teachers to be patient with the government as it works “incrementally” towards improving the lives of all workers.

“This is all I ask, for us to be fair, for us to look at all we have done, for us to understand the commitments that I have made and for us to put the children first,” Dr. Ali said.

The Ministry of Education and the GTU have been engaging since 2020 on a proposed Multi-Year Agreement that includes salary increases. The GTU believes talks have broken down and the process should move to arbitration but the Education Ministry and the Labour Ministry maintains that talks are still ongoing.

Some teachers started to strike across the country last Monday as part of industrial action planned by the GTU. The strike action continued all week and President of the Union, Mark Lyte said it will continue this week.

Vishani@newsroom.gy

The cost of electricity in Guyana is expected to reduce significantly by 2025 as the Wales gas-to-energy project becomes operational and the country’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali believes that local investors should explore how electric vehicles can be manufactured locally.

Natural gas found in the lucrative Stabroek Block offshore Guyana will be used to fire at a 300-megawatt (MW) power plant at Wales on the West Bank of Demerara.

Part of what the Wales Development Area will look like. The massive Gas to Energy project will be built here

For years, the Irfaan Ali administration has been saying that this project will slash the cost of electricity in half, thereby giving ordinary consumers more disposable income and stimulating the growth of businesses, including manufacturing ventures, in Guyana.

Manufacturing is a huge focus as part of plans to diversify the local economy. This sector has been hamstrung for decades because of the exorbitant cost of energy generated primarily from imported fossil fuels.

President Ali told private sector stakeholders last week that the government is keen on developing this sector once there is cheaper electricity.

“We’re going to go out to look at a number of facilities in the manufacturing sphere of things that we can bring to Guyana,” President Ali said during an address at the Private Sector Commission’s Annual Dinner last week.

And one venture in the manufacturing sector the President wants the local private sector to seriously consider is making electric vehicles (EVs) locally.

“If you can sell an EV that is manufactured in a carbon-negative country, it opens up opportunities on the marketing side,” Dr. Ali emphasised.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali speaking at the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) annual dinner (Photo: Office of the President/February 5, 2024)

He argues that the purchasers of EVs, at least right now, are primarily those who are conscious of their carbon footprint and would prefer to use vehicles with fewer harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

He believes those buyers interested in “social consciousness” would be more inclined to purchase EVs from a country with a good environmental standing, like Guyana.

President Ali and Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo are among those officials who have been touting Guyana’s environmental credentials internationally for years.

Guyana’s intact forests cover about 85% of the country’s landmass. For illustrative purposes, the area of Guyana covered by the forest is equivalent to the area of England and Scotland combined. They help to trap carbon dioxide, one of the harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and bring about extreme weather events such as fires and flooding.

President Ali believes these credentials can almost automatically position Guyana as a more trusted supplier should it develop this EV manufacturing venture.

“…You can find partners in China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (US) and come back with a proposal and you will benefit from tremendous fiscal incentives (now) and then down the line, energy will go down,” the Guyanese Head of State told the private sector stakeholders.

Already, Guyana seems to be slowly embracing EVs as the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) introduced six EV charging stations for public use across the country last year.

Is cheaper electricity a reality?

Developing the EV manufacturing venture or the manufacturing sector rests heavily on a cheaper cost of electricity.

Much of Guyana’s electricity needs are satisfied through supply from the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS), run by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc.

Consumers pay about 30 US cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, a figure higher than the Caribbean’s average cost. According to the World Bank, the average rate in the Caribbean is around 25 US cents per kilowatt hour.

With the gas-to-energy project, Vice President Jagdeo has said that electricity can be generated at a cost of about five US cents per kilowatt hour. Even with a reasonable markup, electricity rates would be much lower than is currently charged.

ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge (right) and the company’s new Production Manager, Huzefa Ali (Photo: News Room/ February 6, 2024)

President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge last week told reporters that the company and its coventurers, Hess and CNOOC, will be drilling at least five more wells in the Stabroek Block this year to determine exactly what natural gas resources are available.

The consortium led by ExxonMobil is currently producing at least 640,000 barrels of oil daily at that Block and production is set to ramp up to 1.2 million barrels per day by 2027.

Already though, ExxonMobil has been delivering on its end of the gas-to-energy deal; that is, constructing the pipeline that will bring the gas from the Liza I field in the Stabroek Block onshore to Wales. That pipeline is roughly halfway completed and should be ready to connect to onshore facilities by year-end.

But President Ali also told the private sector players that the planned 300 MW might not be sufficient for the government’s development plan for Guyana.

“Based on our assessment, the power plant that we are engaged in now from the natural gas will be inadequate for the type of development that will come our way… (and) for the type of investment that will come to Guyana,” he said.

So, a second plant is already being considered and that venture adds to the government’s plan for a massive hydropower plant that generates electricity from the Amaila Falls in Region Eight (Potaro- Siparuni) and solar projects in various locations.

Hunt for lithium

There is another piece of the puzzle that Guyana hopes it can find, and find quickly. That is lithium.

This metal is used in the massive batteries that EVs have. It is also used in the batteries that accompany some solar panel projects.

(Photo: Carbon Credits. com)

In January, a $400 million sum was also approved for the Natural Resources Ministry, as part of the 2024 National Budget, to engage in the first phase of a long overdue “mineral mapping” exercise.

The $400 million will help the ministry conduct the exercise in three main mining districts: Mazaruni, Puruni and the Northwest District. Aside from pinpointing where more gold and diamond deposits are, the government hopes it can also find lithium.

“(Lithium) is a much-sought-after element around the world and we know that there are a few countries around South America producing lithium and we believe that it may be here too,” the Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat told the National Assembly recently.

Should Guyana find lithium, that will act as further impetus for the manufacturing of EVs in Guyana. The venture is certainly one that the President is keen on.

“All of this will allow us to bring industries of the future,” President Ali said during his address at the dinner.