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Kaieteur News
Several orphanages benefit from Guyana Goldfields’ $20M holiday donation
Representatives of the various organizations that benefitted from GGI’s $20M donation On December 28, last year, at least 12 orphanages benefited from a $20M donation by the Guyana Goldfields Inc. The children-centered recipient groups that were selected were the Berbice Anjuman Orphanage, Caria Caria Development Council, Centre of Learning and Afrocentric Orientation, International Vedanta University, Joshua House, Linden Centre for the Disabled, Red Cross Children Convalescent Home, Ruimveldt Children’s Home and Care Centre, Santa Rosa Secondary Parents Teacher Association, Saraswati Vidya Niketan Schools and Welfare Committee of St John Baptist R.C Church. According to the organization, the initiative comes from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Department, with its Manager, Ms. Ayaana Caldeira, making the donation.
With the development Initiative, the organization said, it is expectation that the donations to each group would provide a sustainable difference in each of the children whose lives are affected. It was highlighted that each group is unique in the work that they are carrying out but are all alike with regards to providing benefits to Guyanese children. “Our CSR department is planning on remaining in contact with each group throughout the year.” The Guyana Goldfields Inc Chief Executive Officer, Mr. John Patrick Sheridan, in his address to the gathering, said that in preparation for the New Year, the future leaders of Guyana - the country’s children - were being kept in mind. CEO of the Guyana-based Canadian company said, “We take seriously our commitment to the sustainable development of
this country through our various corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that we have taken part in for over the last 16 years.” “This particular initiative is one of our largest yet, demonstrating that as we continue to expand, the more we are willing and able to continue to contribute to the development of this country, in this case with one child at a time. “This initiative was put in place to assist with each group’s particular needs. For example, our support to the Caria Caria Development Council is to provide an improved playfield area for continuous community events centered on the children of their community,” Sheridan highlighted. The CEO said that the company sees itself as innovators of CSR-related initiatives, and hopes that their move will set a path for other companies to follow.
Tuesday January 08, 2013
New Telecoms law for Parliament Thursday New legislation for the telecommunications sector is back on the table for Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly. It had been deferred last week. The new law is aimed at breaking the so-called telephone monopoly held by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, GT&T. The Bill is to provide for the establishment of the Telecommunications Agency “and for a regular, coordinated, open and competitive telecommunications sector.” The legislation was slated for debate last week but was deferred to allow the government to carry out further consultations. Digicel Guyana, which credits itself with bringing down the cost of handsets and slashing by half, local rates in its six years of operations here, has argued that its ability to generate a better profit is stymied by the telecommunications monopoly. The company has especially been prevented from offering international services. Inbound and
outbound calls through Digicel’s network are routed through GT&T, since the company is the only one with an international licence in the telecommunications sector. Digicel has forever complained about its inability to operate the way it wants, and the only gateway is legislation. The legislation was due for the last Parliament, but was subsequently pulled by the government. Soon after, the two companies engaged in a public debate about who was responsible, with Digicel accusing GT&T of threatening legal action if the law went through. GT&T rubbished the accusation. Digicel has argued that businesses should thrive on merit and through competing vigorously, “not by sitting on a guaranteed monopoly for two decades that grants it significant advantages over other operators.” The company had said that the decision by the government to stall the legislation meant that international calling rates remained high. Recently, the
government said that there is no deliberate move to delay the liberalisation of the local telecommunication sector, since such a process is critical to the country’s national development strategy. The Bill could have gone to Parliament earlier, but the government decided to hold off allowing for further consultations with Digicel and GT&T. The Bill calls for a number of changes in the policies and operations of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which regulates rates, and as such an Amendment to the PUC Act is also due for passage in the House on Thursday. The new legal framework created is “characterized by transparency and nondiscrimination in the issuance and monitoring of licenses and authorizations to use the spectrum, seamless interconnection and access between and among telecommunications networks and services and price regulation where required to ensure competition and protect consumers.”
Doctors working on 18year-old Fernando Fredericks’s left foot are being forced to amputate the remaining toe because of two broken bones, the teen’s mother related. The surgery is scheduled for today. Fredericks lost four toes from his left foot on Boxing Day. He was standing alongside a bush shed at the Anna Regina Car Park when a utility pole belonging to Guyana Power and Light fell during a freak
storm. It was shortly after 02:00 hours. He was a patient at the Suddie Public Hospital until last week when his mother, Anita Fredericks, took her son’s discharge and transferred him to the Georgetown Public Hospital. Doctors at the GPHC have since reversed what was a rapidly deteriorating situation. Fernando Fredericks, of Maria’s Lodge, is an excavator operator. Reports of the incident
were made to both the police station at Anna Regina and to members of the Guyana Power and Light. A letter was recently delivered to senior officers of GPL but no response has been had as yet, Mrs. Fredericks added. Anita Fredericks, who said that her son would be out of work for the next year, is lobbying for some form of financial compensation for her son’s injury.
Injured Essequibo teen to lose remaining toe