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The accident occurred as Murphy attempted to evade a party of Policemen who were conducting a roadblock at the time outside the East La Penitence Police Station.

He was riding an unmarked motorcycle without a helmet on the wrong side of the road when he collided head-on with a car in oncoming traffic.

Murphy and his family maintained, however, that the injuries sustained from the accident were minor and not life threatening enough to render him cripple as he remained up to the time of his death.

But the Traffic Chief has rejected those assertions and said the Police Force has cooperated with the family in all ways reasonable.

An active investigation is ongoing with a file soon to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.

“One of the things with a lot of persons, we do not want to take responsibility for our own actions but blame others for the problems we are facing in Guyana.

“Now how the Police will beat you and you unconscious? If Police beating an injured man why the whole village didn’t keep noise?” Superintendent Stephen quizzed when contacted by the News Room.

Notwithstanding, the family is insisting on seeing the full video, beyond the collision, for their own closure. That has not been afforded to them.

“The video that we have shows up to when everybody flagged the area… it doesn’t show what happen after because we are not interested in what happened after,” the Traffic Chief noted.

22-year-old Collin Murphy called ‘Day Day’

 

Murphy’s mother and siblings told the News Room that the Police have not fully cooperated with them and they only found out that he was hospitalised one day after the incident when they received a call from a doctor.

The News Room spoke to his sister, Amanda Murphy on Saturday and amid tears, she recalled that although she engaged a Sergent Johnson from the East La Penitence Police Station, Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken and then the Traffic Chief, she was unable to see the full video of what transpired the night on February 13.

The man’s sister said she was shown a video by the Police but it cuts abruptly at the moment the car (HD 2280) and motorcycle collided. The car is from the Green Ice taxi service and was reportedly driven by Trevor Betham.

Murphy’s spine was severely damaged. It rendered him cripple from his neck down.

By Sharda Bacchus

Shardabacchus@newsroom.gy

As he encouraged owners of companies to think big, outgoing President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Rafeek Khan is urging the future leadership of the association to foster greater mentorship of small business owners.

“Now is the time for manufacturing to grow…We need to see industries in Guyana. Industries is all about manufacturing. With manufacturing you are going to see greater employment, higher earnings, increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” Khan said.

He was at the time delivering the President’s address at the GMSA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held on Friday at the Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown.

The GMSA Annual General Meeting was held on Friday at the Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown. (Photo: GMSA/March 28,2023)

According to Khan, “now is the time” to boost secondary sector of the economy.

“We need be growing, we need to be supplying volumes to the shelf, we need to be supplying volume to our export market. As you think, think big, think large, think manufacturing, think industry development and think collaboration, think partnership,” Khan told the gathering, which included the GMSA membership.

As such, the outgoing President charged the future leadership of the GMSA to cater for the small businesses.

“I would like to see mentorship, greater mentorship to small businesses from big businesses or from medium size businesses. Giving of your money is easy but giving of your time is harder.

“I want to see companies giving your time, helping, adopting small businesses, coaching them alone, taking them on a path of success to see how they are going to achieve and get to your heights,” Khan noted.

But generally, he said he would also like to see greater Corporate Social Responsibility (CSRs) from all companies.

He further encouraged companies to think beyond.

“Each of your businesses…We are not competing with each other. Sometimes we lose focus on the greater market, export market, even our domestic market. The market share is so huge many times we miss our priorities, we mis our focus by trying to compete with each other,” Khan advised.

He added, “We need to compete with the world. We need to go beyond and support our businesses to grow.”

Outgoing GMSA President, Rafeek Khan was on Friday presented with a plaque for his service as President. (Photo: GMSA/March 28,2023)

Khan highlighted that when he took up the tenure two years ago, seven pivotal, important needs of GMSA were identified, each of which were achieved with “excellence.”

They included capacity building within the secretariat, membership growth and representation, increased government collaboration, financial support and more visibility.

And over the two years, he disclosed that the GMSA membership grew by 75% while their income increased by 278%.

For the year 2022, Guyana’s manufacturing sector generated over $55 billion while the services sector saw another $460 billion.

And, this year, the manufacturing is projected to grow by 5.7 per cent while it is forecasted that the services sector will expand by a further 5.6 per cent.

Khan was elected President of the GMSA in March 2021. A new president and members of the Board of Directors members are expected to be named soon.

Starting next month, the Ministry of Health will be rolling out a registered nursing programme aimed at training 1,000 people annually and upon successful completion, persons are being guaranteed a job within the health sector.

“In about a month’s time, we are going to open up to the general public and to persons who are qualified…We are opening a call for persons who are interested in doing the registered nursing programme. We want to start a programme with 1,000 persons this year,” Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony announced on Saturday.

Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony

He was at the time delivering an address at the commissioning of a comprehensive diabetes centre at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.

According to Dr Anthony, while training has been available for persons interested in nursing over time, space has been limited.

“And because of limited space, persons would apply for nursing and then they are turned down. Now with 1,000 spaces being available this year, we expect that every person who (has) an interest in doing nursing would have an opportunity to nursing,” he said.

“I can assure you that everyone who is interested in doing this now, we will have a space for you on this programme,” Dr Anthony pledged.

The target, Dr Anthony said is to train 3,000 people in nursing over the next three years.

Once successfully completed, Dr Anthony said persons will be guarantee a job with the Ministry of Health.

Persons interested in the programme are required to have a minimum of five CSEC subjects, including Mathematics and English.

There will be an online enrollment process.

The government has embarked on a massive transformation of all sectors across the country.

And as it relates to the health sector, Dr Anthony said seven new regional hospitals are currently being built and all of the hospitals in the hinterland are being updated.

As such, he said with the infrastructure and equipment available, the ministry has recognised the need for trained individuals in the area of medicine.