NEWS
Jacob: Strategies underway to tackle crime for the new year
Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob says strategies are being formulated and adjustments are being made to the police’s crime-fighting plans for 2022. As of Thursday afternoon there were already ten murders for the year. At a media conference on Monday, Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said plans were udnerway to tackle violent crime at different levels, including through the removal of illegal guns. Read more here
Police association head wants medical insurance for officers
A recent increase in the number of police officers succumbing to COVID-19 has prompted the President of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association to renew calls for the Government to provide medical insurance for police officers. Inspector Gideon Dixon said the loss of 30 officers to date has rattled the service. According to him, the Government should take a different approach to bolster officers confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines. According to him, swift action is needed to mitigate the loss of life. “The State must also stand liability if persons have adverse effect as it relates to COVID vaccination. We want to see that take place in a meaningful way. Medical insurance could assist in terms of persons removing that barrier, that blockade, that hesitation from wanting to be vaccinated.” Read more here
POLITICS
Union: ‘Lockout’ of workers an offence
The National Trade Union Centre (Natuc) has warned the Government that any “lockout” of public servants over their Covid-19 vaccination status is an industrial relations offence. In a published advertisement today, Natuc told workers to show up and sign their registers and outlined clauses in the Constitution that it said upheld the rights of workers to their wages and reminded public servants of their right to non-disclosure of their medical records. Read more here
BUSINESS
Nestle prices going up
AS food manufacturers across the globe continue to reel from the economic effects of issues connected with shipping freight, supply chains, and raw and packaging materials, Nestle is set to increase prices in mid-January on some items. An official statement from Nestle yesterday said these adjustments are a result of the global well-known surge on commodities. However, it was not stated which products are set to increase. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana earns $2.6B from export of non-traditional crops
Although Guyana in 2021 was faced with the most devastating floods in the country’s recent history, the agriculture industry showed incredible resilience, recording an increase in earnings from the exportation of several non-traditional commodities. According to figures provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Guyana, between the period January and November 2021, earned $2.6 billion from the exportation of non-traditional crops alone. This accounts for produce such as fruits, vegetables, seasonings, grain crops, oil seeds, root and tuber crops, among other things. Even though thousands of acres of farmlands were devastated by the May/June 2021 floods, a swift $7.8 billion response from the government enabled scores of farmers to recuperate and return to the fields to restart production. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Kazakhstan unrest: Troops ordered to fire without warning
Kazakhstan's authoritarian leader says he has ordered security forces to "fire without warning", amid a violent crackdown on anti-government protests. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also said "20,000 bandits" had attacked the main city of Almaty, the epicentre of protests sparked by a fuel price hike. He has blamed foreign-trained "terrorists", without giving evidence. The interior ministry says 26 "armed criminals" and 18 security officers have been killed so far in the unrest. In a televised address, Mr Tokayev dismissed calls to hold talks with protesters as "nonsense", saying: "What kind of talks can we hold with criminals and murderers?" Read more here
7th January 2022