NEWS
Late Massy Energy worker's sister agrees with CoE on financial assistance
Ruthlane Ramkissoon-Gobin, the sister of late Massy Energy worker Allanlane Ramkissoon, says she agrees with the suggestion made in the Paria Commission of Enquiry (CoE) report that the families of those who die owing to industrial accidents should get financial assistance. In addition, she thinks compensation should also be mandatory. Last June, Ramkissoon, a pipefitter, was burned while working at NiQuan’s gas-to-liquids plant in Pointe-a-Pierre. He died three days later in Colombia, where he was being treated. Massy covered wake and funeral expenses but Ramkissoon-Gobin said the family is still waiting for answers. Read more here
OSHA sends Paria diving tragedy matter to Industrial Court
The Occupational Safety and Health Authority and Agency (OSHA) has already filed a matter against Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd and Land and Marine and Construction Services (LMCS) in the Industrial Court. OSHA executive director Carolyn Sancho yesterday confirmed that the matter was filed on December 13, two weeks after President Christine Kangaloo received the report into the Paria/LMCS tragedy from Commission of Enquiry chairman Jerome KC. The President received the report on November 30 and last Friday, Energy Minister Stuart Young laid the document in Parliament. Read more here
POLITICS
UNC: DPP can bring more charges against Paria managers
Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein said on Sunday that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) can legally prosecute a manager of Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd for the deaths of four divers sucked into an undersea oil pipeline at Pointe-a-Pierre two years ago. At a briefing at the Opposition Leader's office in Port of Spain, Hosein said the DPP was not limited by the recommendation of the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the tragedy that Paria could be charged with corporate manslaughter but could go further to prosecute an individual manager. Energy Minister Stuart Young on Friday told the House of Representatives the report will be sent to DPP in reply to a question by Naparima MP Rodney Charles. Read more here
Farley: Not my place to amend existing autonomy bill
Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Farley Augustine says the proposed changes to the Tobago autonomy bill will not be twisted and used as a tool by politicians to create chaos among Tobagonians. In fact, Augustine says it is not his and his executive’s place or job to propose new amendments to the bill. Speaking to the media about the issue on Friday, Augustine explained that the THA is not drafting its own amendments but rather preparing a document highlighting the differences between the original proposals from Tobagonians and the current bill in Parliament. He said his recent comments on the completed document, which was worked on by former chief secretary Hochoy Charles—who died on December 31—and himself, were misconstrued. Read more here
BUSINESS
What after Carnival?
While there may be heightened police patrols during the preliminary Carnival events, business chambers are worried about what comes after Carnival. President of the Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Industry and Commerce Ramon Gregorio said for quite a while crime has been a concern, but his biggest worry is what is in store for businesses after the Carnival season. Read more here
REGIONAL
Gov’t ‘rigorously’ pursuing development, unification of Guyanese
Less than 24 hours before government and opposition parliamentarians were set to commence debating Guyana’s largest fiscal package of $1.146 trillion in the National Assembly, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Sunday used facts to debunk criticism of the budgeted sums for the country’s infrastructural transformation and other major programmes. The Head of State in a live broadcast on his official Facebook page, responded to the numerous inaccurate comments made by the main opposition since the reading of Budget 2024 one week ago. “I’ve been listening a lot to some of the usual commentators on the budget and they are deliberately trying to mislead, because some of our political operatives believe that policy-making is something that should be partisan,” President Ali said. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Cameroon starts world-first malaria mass vaccine rollout
The world's first routine vaccine programme against malaria has started in Cameroon, in a move projected to save thousands of children's lives across Africa. The symbolic first jab was given to a baby girl named Daniella at a health facility near Yaoundé on Monday. Every year 600,000 people die of malaria in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Children under five make up at least 80% of those deaths. Cameroon is offering the RTS,S vaccine free of charge to all infants up to the age of six months old. Read more here
22nd January 2024