Mazaruni Prison within manageable control – Director of Prisons
-confident escapees will be caught
Georgetown, GINA, January 13, 2007
Following the escape of nine prisoners from the Mazaruni Prison in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), Director of Prisons Dale Erskine at a press conference today said members of the Joint Services who were dispatched to the surrounding areas are still conducting searches for the men.
“As I speak right now members of the Joint Services are combing the areas for the men, who, from all indications are not armed with any fire arm, but rather, with sharpened metals,” Erskine said.
Erskine said the two cops and two warders that were shot during the search were not injured by the escapees, but rather, by members of the Joint Services.
“Members of the Joint Services who were sent up to help in capturing the men were responsible for shooting the men. They thought that the men were the escapees as it was dark. So they fired and this was the result,” Erskine explained.
The injured servicemen are currently being treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Erskine said he is confident that the law enforcers will be able to catch the men since it is believed that they are in nearby areas.
“So far our intelligence-gathering has shown that the men are still within the neighbouring areas, and I have confidence that the Joint Services will capture these men,” Erskine stated.
Assurances have been given that the Mazaruni Prison is under manageable control.
“The Mazaruni Prison is not overcrowded and the prison is always guarded. That I can assure you,” Erskine said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, is urging the residents of Region Seven to support the law enforcement officers in capturing the escapees.
“I am appealing to the local populace not to support these men and to support the Joint Services because these men, though they are not armed with any fire weapons, they are considered dangerous,” Minister Rohee said.
On January 13, about 16:15 hrs, the nine prisoners escaped during a feeding routine exercise at the prison.
The prisoners were all serving time for serious offences, including murder and manslaughter. One of the prisoners was scheduled for release in July, 2007.
The escaped prisoners are: Dineshwar Sooklall, Kenneth Richardson, Asrudden Khan, Anil Sanichar, Ryan Rambharose, Trevor McLean, Alvin Shivnarine, Randolph Rodrigues and Royston Reid.
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Government will ensure VAT evolves into a functional system
- President Jagdeo says burden on consumers will be addressed
Georgetown, GINA, January 13, 2007
Implementing Value Added Tax is proving to be a bit challenging for consumers and Government as some businesses are using the new tax system for extra profit gains and projected price decreases on selected goods are not happening as quickly as anticipated.
“We need to address this, we will review the situation and next week we probably will be making some adjustments. That is what we said at the beginning. We will implement VAT, monitor its implementation until we have a functioning system that does not bring too much burden on the consuming public,” Head of State President Bharrat Jagdeo said in a statement issued today.
He said Government through the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance, since VAT’s introduction, has been closely monitoring the new taxation system as it unfolds and the feed back is mixed.
“We are very pleased that the system seems to be settling down now, although there are many areas of concern and we have expressed these concerns prior to the introduction of VAT. The biggest fear of the government at that time was that the adjustments we are making to many of the taxes paid before by consumers, would be at a lower rate and that benefits would not pass through to the consuming public. Many of their fears and concerns are justified because we have seen a lot of items not reflecting those downward changes,” President Bharrat Jagdeo said.
The Head of State in his New Year’s Message to the nation and at other previous fora had predicted that unscrupulous businesses would have hiked their prices.
“My big concern is that unscrupulous businesses may want to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on the old prices which would have already included the hidden taxes that you are paying,” the President had told Guyanese. In this light, he had warned that they be vigilant against this taking place.
“Many people are putting it down to transitional changes and that finally after the next month or two prices should start to settle down. The business community has been saying they have old stocks and when these go there should be lower prices for many commodities.”
He said over the past couple of days he has had meeting with representatives of several businesses.
“What we have found in some cases is very encouraging,” President Jagdeo said, citing the example of the cost of bread at one of the larger bread companies in the country. “Bakewell said they have retained their wholesale prices of $152 and the recommended selling price is $180 so there is no price change to the retailers.”
He said despite the price remaining the same some people have been retailing a loaf for $200 and in some cases $220.
“There is no justification for this. They do not have additional cost, bread is zero rated,” the Head of State said adding, “We are also very concerned about the movement in the price of basic food stuff with protein. In some markets the prices for meat did not move much but in the supermarkets that have the 16 percent VAT we have seen some upward movement.”
He explained that this has led to a number of consumers reverting to the informal market place instead of purchasing meat products at supermarkets.
President Jagdeo said concerns have been expressed about the cost of school uniforms.
“We have to examine that …the tax came down on clothing from 30 to 16 percent so the price of clothing should fall,” the Head of State explained
He said Government will also look at the issue of interior travel to ensure the impact on the hinterland community is minimal.
The Head of State concluded, “I hope that the public does not let itself be ripped off because many people have been using the introduction of VAT to push their profit margin and to raise their prices in an unjustified fashion. We have to be vigilant about that but we will review the situation and make adjustments as we go along.” |
