CO-OPERATIVES AS A VEHICLE FOR DEVELOPMENT

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Monday, 21st June 2010, 4:33 pm

Guyana is still officially named “The Co-operative Republic of Guyana.” The name was devised at the time when Guyana discovered its own path to socialism – through co-operatives. Thus Guyana’s theory of co-operative socialism was reflected in its name.
The spectacular collapse of “co-operative socialism” and the co-operative movement led to the complete abandonment of co-operatives as a method of economic organization. Thousands of people had lost millions of dollars which had been invested in agricultural, housing and other types of co-operatives. Bad management and corruption in a situation of declining economic growth had taken their toll.

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INCREASING INVESTMENT

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Thursday, 29th April 2010, 6:53 am

A news report said that a World Bank team was in Guyana to discuss with officials the “adopting of modern legislation that will  allow customers to offer assets other than real estate as guarantees for loans.” This is welcome news. But this work has already been done.
In the mid 1990s a Canadian expert visited Guyana and examined our laws for the same purpose. He made several visits and spent several months on the project. He finally produced a report which is gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. It is not clear from the newspaper report if the authorities are aware of this report. 

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T. E. S. P. A. AND THE WORKERS OF DIAMOND ESTATE

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Thursday, 29th April 2010, 6:51 am

T.E.S.P.A. is the lawyers’ acronym for the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act. It was passed in 1997 and is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of Guyana. Its objective is “to provide for the conditions governing termination of employment and grant of redundancy or severance pay to employees and for matters connected therewith.”
 

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THE AMALIA FALLS HYDRO PROJECT

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Wednesday, 21st April 2010, 12:26 pm

The President’s announcement that the US$15 million contract for the access roads to the Amalia Falls, in preparation for the construction of the hydro power facility, has long been awaited. It comes after years of effort by Synergy Holdings and creative assistance by President Jagdeo in encouraging Synergy and in assisting to secure the financing. This expenditure alone, a small part of the US$450 million project, will create many, much needed jobs.

Synergy Holdings has been doggedly persistent. Even when oil prices were too low to make hydro an attractive alternative to oil, it never gave up. Now that all the circumstances have come together – confidence in the economy, high oil prices, support from the international banking community and, of critical importance, President Jagdeo’s support – Synergy’s confidence in the ultimate acceptance of its proposal has paid off, for the company and shareholders no doubt, but big time for Guyana.

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POSSESSION BY EVIL SPIRITS

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Wednesday, 21st April 2010, 12:26 pm

I do not believe in the existence of evil spirits. Many, perhaps most people, do. Had I so believed, I would not have hesitated to conclude that I must have been possessed to have done some of the stupid things I did in life. But that’s another story.

During the 1960s I witnessed several Kali Mai Pujas conducted in my community. The major parts of the ceremony consisted of blood and violence – the sacrifice of a goat and the whipping of the evil spirits from persons who were thought to be possessed and brought for the purpose. In the frenzy which was generated by the beating drums, the possessed person would begin dancing in a hypnotic trance to the pulsating drumbeat. The officiating priest would then proceed to mercilessly beat the evil spirit from the possessed person with a ‘wild cane’ until the possessed person fainted, a sign that the evil spirit had departed. Several members of the audience would then display signs of possession and begin dancing similarly. They would also have the same treatment meted out to them.

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The Conversation Tree is both physical and philosophical. The physical is the tree itself, which has given its name to the road from which it originates at the intersection of the Rupert Craig Highway. It was reputedly first planted by Napleton William King in 1876 to celebrate the birth of his son Napleton Walter. As...
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