NEWS
Unions question Industrial Court's independence as new president sworn in
Wednesday’s appointment of Heather Seale as the new Industrial Court President is raising conflict-of-interest concerns. President Christine Kangaloo's husband is now being brought into the fray amidst demands for clarity on the appointment and disappointment of Industrial Court members. The Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) sent out a statement shortly after the President swore in Seale on Wednesday. Read more here
POLITICS
Imbert: 30,000 public servants to get Xmas back pay
Finance Minister Colm Imbert estimated that 30,000 people will benefit from his commitment two months ago that public sector workers would receive their back pay by Christmas. Imbert made this promise when he presented the 2023/2024 budget in the House of Representatives on October 26. However, police officers may not be included in this group. Imbert said efforts are being made to ensure they receive their back pay as soon as possible. Read more here
PMs Rowley, Mottley to arrive hours before Essequibo talks
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley will be the last of the Caricom Heads flying into St Vincent and the Grenadines today, to join that country’s Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, for the crucial discussion between the presidents of Guyana and Venezuela in the ongoing Essequibo matter. Rowley and Mottley are scheduled to arrive just hours before the meeting. The prime ministers of Grenada, Dominica, The Bahamas and St Lucia were scheduled to arrive on the island yesterday. Other high-level attendees include Celso Amorim, of Brazil. He is a former foreign minister who will replace his President Lula Ignacio Da Silva, who, despite initially agreeing to attend, has had to change his plans. Similarly, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also sending two of his more senior diplomats to attend in his stead. They include the Chef de Cabinet in his Executive Office Earle Courtenay Rattray, a Jamaican, who will be accompanied by a senior diplomat from the department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Read more here
BUSINESS
Countdown to Xmas: Businesses, consumers, cautious but optimistic
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for shoppers and businesses in the retail sector, with people going to the streets, as they do every year, to look for gifts, nick-knacks and items for the home. But with less than two weeks left in the Christmas season, customers and businesses alike are cautious. Businesses are saying that while foot traffic is high, customer sales are not very different from the year before and are a far cry from pre-pandemic levels, while consumers are budgeting in various ways amid higher prices and lower purchasing power. Businesses however hope that for the next ten days there would be a rush. Read more here
Witco seeks greater efficiency
West Indian Tobacco Company (Witco) has experienced a sharp fall in revenue for 2023 and this decline was attributed to the wide availability of illicit cigarettes. In the company’s unaudited financial report for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the company recorded profit before tax of $213.1 million, which represents a decrease of $91.8 million or 30 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The cigarette production and distribution company’s after-tax profit for the nine months was $47.28 million, which represented a decline of 15.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. Speaking to the Business Guardian on Tuesday, the company’s managing director Raoul Glynn said that relative to previous years, the sharp increase in the availability of illicit brands continues to have a big impact on the legal market. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana gears up for UNSC role
IN preparation for assuming its non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on January 1, 2024, Guyana initiated a two-day training session on Wednesday. The training, facilitated by the Security Council Report, is designed to enhance the capacity of the Guyana team and shed light on procedural and thematic aspects of the Security Council. Hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the training drew participation from officials representing various government agencies. The objective is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Council’s operations, aligning them with Guyana’s identified priorities during its tenure. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Israel-Gaza war: What is the price of peace?
Just getting to the end of the day and surviving the night must feel like a miracle in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians "plead for safety", wrote Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, in an "endless, deepening tragedy… hell on earth". It must be just as hellish for the hostages taken by Hamas and for the families of their victims. War is a cruel furnace that puts humans through terrible agonies. But its heat can produce changes that seemed impossible. It happened in western Europe after World War Two. Old enemies who had killed each other for centuries chose peace. Will the war in Gaza shock Israelis and Palestinians into ending their century of conflict over the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river? Read more here
14th December 2023