The Culture Digest - Thursday, December 9, 2021
GPL IS BROKE! - MOE investigates lewd videos shot at Secondary School - Guyana expands air travel routes - Driver arrested with stolen goats
Good morning Guyana!
Welcome to the Thursday, December 9, 2021, edition of The Culture Digest.
Here’s what happened since yesterday’s edition… GPL IS BROKE!… MOE investigates lewd videos shot at Secondary School… Guyana expands air travel routes… Driver arrested with stolen goats.
TOP STORY
GPL IS BROKE!
From the sound of yesterday's press conference, GPL is a hot mess bordering on a dumpster fire. While they claim to have the capacity to power the electrical grid this holiday season, they can't make any promises for a blackout-free Christmas. According to GPL's CEO, the State-owned company is drowning in debt, and the government is seemingly uninterested in throwing them a lifeline. They are $2.6 billion in debt and must borrow funds to sustain daily operations as the government is not subsidizing the company like in the past. He also blamed the lack of money on why the workers could not get the 7% increase they are fighting up for. In fact, they could even forget about getting a Christmas bonus as that was not even up for discussion either. This is why they hired a new Loss Director to help them reduce the $5 billion loss annually through theft. They also said that theft accounts for 7.5 percent or half of the company's 15 percent of non-technical losses. So they plan to prosecute electricity thieves during the holiday season.
MOE investigates lewd videos from Christ Church Secondary School
The Ministry of Education says it is investigating videos featuring students of Christ Church Secondary School in Georgetown. The Education Ministry said they would give this matter the seriousness it deserves. And by that, I hope they mean they will provide the teens with something more productive to do besides dry hump each other in empty classrooms. (Also, I'm tired of y'all circulating this mess on Facebook talking about "Sharing for awareness," knowing darn well they are the tenth person on their timeline to share what I'm pretty sure was an illegal video.)Hopefully, there won't be an increase in such incidents as the Ministry also said that it wants all secondary school students to return to the classrooms in January.
BUSINESS/NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The skies over Guyana are getting a little friendlier as the government has signed agreements with Colombia and The Netherlands, paving the way for greater connectedness and direct flights to those destinations and Guyana.
That's not the only significant agreement signed recently. On Tuesday, the private sector group, the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Petroleum Commission of Ghana for cooperation in the form of information and resource-sharing in the oil and gas sector. Collaboration is also intended between the wider private sector representatives of Guyana and Ghana, who had met over the past few days.
Got Wood? The President said they are currently building export-ready timber homes in collaboration with the GMSA. The prefab wooden houses are expected to measure some 700 square feet. They will be constructed and exported for about US $25,000 or approximately $5.2 million GYD.
POLITICS
Nandlall defends arresting Winston Jordan, calling the nature of his alleged transactions "vulgar." (The things these politicians consider vulgar. It is astounding.)
To speed up the pace of work, the Public Accounts Committee has agreed to merge the review of 2017 and 2018 audit reports.
HEALTH/PUBLIC SAFETY
Fun fact: 14,000-15,000 babies are born in Guyana per year. Also, if you're Guyanese, there is a 40% chance you were born at Georgetown Public Hospital. 5,942 babies were born at the Georgetown Public Hospital in 2020, a slight decrease from the number of babies born in 2019. Nevertheless, the maternity ward at GPHC is always busy; this is why they have just expanded by 33 beds.
In recognition of the 16 Days of Activism, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security launched the Community Advocates Network or ‘CAN’ to help address gender-based violence in Guyana.
The Ministry of Agriculture is telling the nation's farmers to brace themselves for a long and wet rainy season possibly lasting well into February.
CRIME
57-year-old Colin Bailey was recently freed after spending nearly six years on remand accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, even though the State had no evidence against him the whole time. Bailey is suing the State for over $100 million, claiming unlawful arrest and detention and inhumane and degrading treatment.
Early Wednesday morning, a 23-year-old man transporting two suspected stolen goats was arrested at Liverpool Village, Corentyne Berbice. The driver claimed that three men hired him to transport the goats from No. 35 Village. Police are searching for the three men while the driver and the two goats are currently in police custody.
On Tuesday night, two sisters in Parfait Harmonie were the victims of a home invasion. Two gunmen assaulted the women and ran off with thousands of dollars in personal electronics.
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You’re all caught up with your news for the morning. You’re welcome.
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