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Raekwon Noel was a force to be reckoned with in the pools at the Centro Olímpico Juan Pablo Duarte in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, even going on to smash a Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games record.
On Tuesday, Noel made a dominant start to his campaign in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley with a victory in heat one of the event.
The 20-year-old stopped the clock at two minutes, 01.73 seconds for the win, followed by Puerto Rico’s Xavier Ruiz in two minutes, 02.38 seconds, and Colombia’s Simon Bermudez in 2 minutes, 02.65 seconds.
Later that evening, in the final, Noel was rampant, clocking one minute, 59.35 seconds for the Gold medal win. Not only did he rewrite the Guyanese national record, but he also smashed the CAC Games record.
Noel also became the first Guyanese man to swim under two minutes in that event.
He bested Mexico’s Humberto Najera, who clocked two minutes, 0.07 seconds, and Guatemala’s Erick Gordillo, in two minutes, 1.29 seconds, who settled for Silver and Bronze, respectively.
Noel later reacted to the victory, expressing his intention to be a role model for up- and-coming athletes.
“I’d just like to say thank you to everyone back in Guyana for your support. I mean, I’m not on any social media right now, but I know the comments are flooding with love, and I’m really thankful to be a part of the entire story Guyana has to offer,” Noel shared.
He added, “We have so much potential; you know we have great athletes in the future too, and I just want to be a role model for as many Guyanese as possible to see that this is something that anyone can achieve and you can do it any day.”
On Wednesday, Noel followed up his win with another victory in the 200m Butterfly.
That morning, he clocked one minute, 59.52 seconds to become the fastest qualifier across three heats. The Guyanese was followed by Puerto Rico’s Andres Brooks in two minutes and 0.54 seconds, and El Salvador’s Rodrigo Ventura in two minutes and 0.98 seconds.
Replicating his dominance from the evening prior, Noel touched the board at one minute, 56.82 seconds for his second Gold medal at the games. The Guyanese was just split seconds away from reaching or breaking his national record of 1:56.62, set last month at the TYR Pro Swim Series.
Venezuela’s Manuel Diaz clocked 1.58.07 for the Silver, while Mexico’s Rafael Rizpe completed the podium with a Bronze medal swim in one minute, 58.77 seconds. Puerto Rico’s Andres Brooks equalled Rizpe’s 1:58.77 for a joint Bronze medal.
Noel is expected to take on the men’s 100m butterfly next, which is scheduled for tomorrow.

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…urges Guyanese to form consortiums to benefit from cluster loans

As the Government prepares for the official launch of the Guyana Development Bank, Minister of Public Service, Government Efficiency and Implementation, Zulfikar Ally, is encouraging Guyanese with viable business ideas to form consortiums so they can access cluster loans and accelerate the growth and development of their ventures.
“For example, a group of 10 individuals can come together with a consistent and worthwhile business model and benefit from up to $30 million in loans,” Minister Ally highlighted during an interview with the Guyana Times.
“One can easily imagine a scenario where five Guyanese form a consortium, apply for a loan through the Development Bank, and benefit from a loan of $15 million to set up eco-lodges in the Rupununi or the Pakaraimas to cater to our rapidly increasing eco-tourism sector,” he further suggested.

Opportunities
According to the Public Service Minister, as the country’s economy continues to expand, “we must be intentional about making sure that growth is inclusive, productive, and broad-based.”
He posited that growth cannot be concentrated among a small number of firms, sectors, or individuals.
“We are committed to building an economy where opportunity is broad-based, where citizens can become entrepreneurs, and where citizens of every region and community can participate in national development. We aim to ensure that opportunity does not remain concentrated among those who already have assets, networks, and collateral. But rather, that opportunity is available to each and every Guyanese,” Minister Ally emphasised.

Enterprise growth
Through the Guyana Development Bank, eligible applicants will be able to access zero-interest, zero-collateral loans of up to $3 million to start or expand their businesses. Additionally, the Government has secured agreements with commercial banks to leverage those funds, allowing small business owners an additional $7 million in financing, at subsidised interest rates as low as 3.5 per cent.
Minister Ally underscored the importance of this initiative, highlighting that the greatest barrier to enterprise development in Guyana is not the absence of ideas or ambition, but the lack of affordable financing options.
“Across Guyana, there are thousands of people with innovative business concepts, practical skills, market knowledge, and entrepreneurial drive. They know how to farm, manufacture, provide services, develop software, create products, and solve problems. Yet many remain unable to expand and capitalise on their ideas because they cannot access the capital necessary to move from concept to commercial success,” he outlined.
In fact, the Minister revealed that between, 2020 and 2025, 137,713 businesses were registered – an encouraging reality. He further disclosed that between 2020 and 2025, the Deeds and Commercial Registry saw 7842 companies filed.
“These metrics demonstrate that the landscape of business in Guyana today is vastly different from what it was just five to six years ago. This further exemplifies the need for additional and accommodating financing options,” the Public Service Minister posited.
Moreover, he highlighted that in 2025, Private Sector credit expanded significantly, reaching more than $531 billion. This growth, he said, was not confined to a single industry; rather, it occurred across several productive sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and services.
“The expansion of credit in agriculture indicates growing confidence in food production, value-added agriculture, and related activities. Increased lending within manufacturing suggests that businesses are investing in production capacity, processing facilities, and industrial activities. Growth in services reflects the expansion of commercial activity across a broad range of enterprises,” he noted.
“These trends are encouraging because they demonstrate that businesses are willing to invest and financial institutions are willing to lend. However, they also reveal an important policy challenge. While larger and more established businesses may be benefiting from existing financing mechanisms, many smaller enterprises continue to face barriers. This SME Development Bank is designed to address precisely this gap,” the Minister explained.
He further noted that while traditional financial institutions have played a critical role in supporting business development in Guyana, their lending models are often designed around risk management, which can make it difficult for first-time entrepreneurs to qualify for loans.
He added that there are other considerations that often present significant challenges for those at the beginning stages of their entrepreneurial journey, such as requirements for collateral, credit history, and onerously high interest rates.
“The consequence is that many potentially productive businesses remain undercapitalised. They operate below their potential. They employ fewer people than they could, and they invest less than they would like. In some cases, they never move beyond the informal sector. But worse of all, some never get off the ground,” he lamented.
This situation represents a loss for the entrepreneur as well as the economy, the Minister said, expressing that “unrealised business growth means unrealised employment, unrealised production, and unrealised tax revenues.”

Support
The Minister said what positions the Guyana Development Bank model for success is that it not only provides accessible financing options but also incorporates mechanisms to support and guide entrepreneurs through every stage of their journey.
“This is a very important point, because finance alone does not guarantee success. Many entrepreneurs have strong ideas and real potential, but they may lack access to formal business training, accounting systems, marketing knowledge, digital tools, or operational guidance. In other words, they may know how to produce or sell, but not always how to structure a business for long-term sustainability. The inclusion of financial literacy training, mentorship, and technical guidance reflects a deeper understanding of what small business growth actually requires. A business cannot grow sustainably if the owner does not know how to manage cash flow, separate personal and business finances, prepare basic records, price products appropriately, or plan for growth. By providing this kind of support, the Bank helps to close the gap between access to money and the ability to use that money effectively,” he explained.
Minister Ally added that the entrepreneur’s journey to success is also supported by the Government’s larger investments in the economy.
“We are building stronger links with Brazil. We are strengthening trade and commercial relationships with Suriname. We continue to benefit from access to CARICOM markets. We are improving linkages across our own Administrative Regions. We are creating opportunities for Guyanese businesses to serve markets that extend far beyond our borders and to expand inter-regional trade,” he highlighted.
For instance, the Minister pointed out that the farmer who starts a small agro-processing juice company is not necessarily producing only for a village, a town, or even a region.
“Through modern transportation networks, digital commerce, regional integration and expanding international connections, that entrepreneur can potentially serve customers across the Caribbean and beyond,” he remarked.
He also pointed to the Gas-to-Energy project, which, once operationalised, will cut electricity costs by 50 per cent, noting that lower energy costs will further support entrepreneurship.
“When energy costs are reduced, businesses become more competitive, production becomes more affordable, and investment becomes more attractive,” the Minister explained.
“The reality is that access to finance alone cannot transform an economy. Access to finance must be combined with affordable energy, reliable infrastructure, improved logistics, digital connectivity and access to markets. This Government is delivering on all of these fronts simultaneously,” he emphasised.

Sectors
Moreover, Minister Ally explained that the Bank will be targeting business ideas in sectors that support the development of key industries in Guyana.
These sectors include agriculture and agro-processing to ensure the country continues to strengthen food security, reduce import dependence, and build value-added production around what is grown locally.
He said another sector is tourism and hospitality in light of the country’s unprecedented level of visitor arrivals. The creative and digital industries are other priority areas, according to Minister Ally, who noted that “this is an untapped market for Guyana and Guyanese to excel in”.
The Guyana Development Bank Bill was on Monday passed in the National Assembly, paving the way for the establishment of the state-backed financial institution. The Government is in the process of establishing regional offices and recruiting the necessary personnel who can support prospective borrowers at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey.

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The PPP Govt just can’t win, can it?? Not even earn a draw!! It gotta be ground into the dust!! Your Eyewitness is referring to the charges for murder that have been filed against the Captain and two other officers of the sunken ferry!! Now it was made clear that these charges were recommended by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) – which was deliberately constitutionally made an independent office so as to prevent interference from any source, including (or maybe particularly after the Burnham excesses!) the Executive!!
But here it is – accusations are flying fast and furious from the Opposition and their camp followers that the Government is creating a diversion to take away from their alleged culpability in causing the ship to go down!! Maybe if the President and his entire Cabinet had been air-dropped as the ship went down to go down with it, you think the accusations would’ve been lessened? Naaah!! Your Eyewitness doesn’t think so. They woulda been blamed for adding to the weight!!
Now two legal worthies from the Opposition camp – Mr “34 is less than 32” Man and a younger one who is straining mightily to get some recognition – have immediately weighed in to declare UNEQUIVOCALLY that the charge is fatally flawed!! Why?? Well, according to them, a charge of murder demands that there must be a PREMEDITATED INTENT to kill – which they assert is absent with the Barima sinking!!  Now in normal circumstances, your Eyewitness would’ve figured they knew what they were talking about. But then he thought, “Whoa!!” This isn’t the DPP’s first rodeo – she’s been around the (murder) block and some!!
So he hit his search button on his trusted browser! And found that there is a murder charge based on “extreme indifference to human life” – that is, to knowingly engaging in conduct so extraordinarily dangerous that the law treats it as equivalent to intentional murder!! Applying that standard to the MV Barima disaster, prosecutors gonna have to prove something like: the Captain knew the vessel was dangerously overloaded or otherwise fatally unsafe; he appreciated that death was highly likely rather than merely possible; and despite that knowledge, he deliberately proceeded!!
By his own words after he was arrested, it’s clear he knowingly sailed an unseaworthy vessel, intentionally ignored flooding, and even became high on ganja!! The DPP’s role is simply to determine whether there’s sufficient evidence to prosecute – NOT whether guilt has been established beyond reasonable doubt!!  Whether the murder charges ultimately survive committal proceedings – or result in convictions – will depend on whether the prosecution can prove more than incompetence, negligence, or even gross recklessness!!
Gotta be conduct amounting to an extreme or depraved indifference to human life!!

…exoneration
In the wake of the Trinis and Frenchies – who’d generously volunteered to dive and reconnoitre the state of the MV Barima under the Atlantic – saying conditions were too “dangerous” for further operations – the Government said they were canvassing relatives of the dead on whether they wanted the ship to be raised or left where it is – as a monument to the deceased. They’ve received “SEVERAL” proposals for the raising.
But then up stepped Sanction Man to announce – in front of the cameras, of course! –  that he’d be willing to fund the salvage of the vessel!! He’d already been in touch with his “international partners”, who said the job could be done!!! Well, with all the experience OFAC says he’s got with smuggling gold out of Guyana, your Eyewitness is pretty sure Sanction Man does have the marine connections!!
Anyhow, if the decision were up to your Eyewitness, he’d call Sanction Man’s bluff!!  It’s pretty clear he figures the Government wants to blank him!!

…that orange jumpsuit
Sanction Man’s thought he got a reprieve when the CCJ paused his extradition hearing in the Magistrate’s Court. Sadly, for him, it merely stretched out – his swinging in the wind as he contemplates life in an orange jumpsuit!!

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Dear Editor,
The MV Barima tragedy has left Guyana mourning. Families continue to endure unimaginable anguish, many still waiting for answers while hoping against hope that their loved ones may yet be found. In moments such as these, the nation’s foremost obligation should be compassion, dignity, and unity.
It is against that backdrop that I find it deeply troubling that images of those who perished were displayed in Parliament as part of a political demonstration. While every Member of Parliament has not only the right but also the constitutional duty to hold the Government accountable, accountability must never come at the expense of the dignity of the deceased or the emotional well-being of grieving families.
The photographs of those who lost their lives are not political symbols. They are cherished sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends whose absence has left an immeasurable void in the lives of those who loved them. Before employing such images in political protest, one ought to ask whether the affected families would have welcomed their loved ones’ final images becoming instruments in a parliamentary confrontation.
Public representatives must be especially mindful that grief belongs first to the families. It should never be appropriated in a manner that may unintentionally deepen their pain.
No one should mistake this position as an argument against accountability. On the contrary, accountability is precisely what the nation deserves. The President has already publicly committed to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into the MV Barima tragedy.
Commissioners have already been identified and entrusted with a mandate to establish the facts surrounding this national disaster. The focus now must be on ensuring that the Commission is allowed to conduct its work independently, professionally, objectively, transparently and fairly, free from political interference or preconceived conclusions.
Equally, the Commission must not become an exercise in finding convenient scapegoats. The Guyanese people deserve a process that follows the evidence wherever it leads. Responsibility must not be shifted solely onto the “small man” while those responsible for policy, regulation, oversight, enforcement, operational management or executive decision-making escape scrutiny. If failures occurred at any level, then accountability must extend to every individual whose actions or omissions contributed to this tragedy, regardless of rank, office or influence. Justice commands public confidence only when it is impartial and applied equally.
Equally concerning was the manner in which the parliamentary protest unfolded. Loud desk-banging, shouting at the top of one’s voice and prolonged disorder may generate headlines, but history has repeatedly demonstrated that such tactics rarely alter a Government’s legislative agenda.
Having served as a Member of Parliament myself, I learned that Parliament offers something far more valuable than political theatre. It provides representatives with an opportunity to permanently place on the parliamentary record their ideas, criticisms, recommendations and alternative policies. Those contributions become part of the nation’s democratic history and frequently influence future policy discussions long after the day’s political drama has faded.
Regrettably, by choosing disruption over debate, the opposition missed several significant opportunities to advance the interests of the very people they were elected to represent.
They forfeited the opportunity to make substantive contributions to the National Development Bank Bill, a transformative initiative that has the potential to expand access to affordable financing, encourage entrepreneurship, stimulate small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthen agriculture, empower young people and create genuine economic opportunities for thousands of Guyanese.
They also missed the opportunity to rigorously examine the Supplementary Budget by asking probing questions, challenging expenditures where necessary, demanding explanations from ministers and proposing improvements where deficiencies were identified. That is one of Parliament’s most important constitutional responsibilities: ensuring that every dollar of public expenditure is subjected to meaningful scrutiny on behalf of the taxpayers.
These were not merely missed political opportunities; they were missed opportunities to represent the people’s interests in one of the highest decision-making forums of our democracy.
The opposition’s constitutional responsibility is not simply to oppose. It is to persuade, to scrutinise, to legislate, to propose alternatives and to strengthen public confidence in democratic institutions.
There are more dignified and potentially more effective ways to place pressure on any Government while honouring those affected by tragedy. These include presenting substantive motions, proposing legislative reforms to strengthen maritime safety, demanding regular ministerial reports, utilising parliamentary committees to examine witnesses and evidence, engaging victims’ families and technical experts in consultations, and ensuring that every recommendation arising from the Commission of Inquiry is debated and monitored through Parliament.
Outside Parliament, Members can organise respectful vigils, memorial services, public consultations and national forums where affected families, should they so choose, can have their voices heard with dignity and respect. Such approaches honour the victims while strengthening the national demand for justice and reform.
Strong opposition is indispensable to democracy. But strength should never be measured by the volume of one’s voice or the force with which one strikes a desk. It should be measured by the quality of one’s arguments, the seriousness of one’s proposals, the effectiveness of one’s oversight and the lasting value of one’s contribution to the nation.
The families affected by the MV Barima tragedy deserve justice. They deserve truth. They deserve transparency. They deserve accountability at every level. Above all, they deserve the assurance that even amid political disagreement, the memory of their loved ones will always be treated with dignity, compassion and humanity.
In moments of profound national grief, Parliament must rise above spectacle and reflect the very highest ideals of public service. Let the memory of those we lost inspire not political theatre but principled leadership, institutional reform, genuine accountability and a renewed commitment to ensuring that such a tragedy never occurs again.

Yours respectfully,
Jermaine Figueira
Former Member of Parliament

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