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boatbuilder nabbed with stolen boat, engine P
SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM Bartica woman, boatbuilder nabbed with stolen boat, engine
ABartica, Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) woman and a boatbuilder from the same community are in Police custody after they were found in possession of a stolen boat and engine
Police said Maurvin Garraway, an operator of Onderneeming, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), made a report at the Bartica Police Station on Friday that between April 18 and 19 his 200 horsepower Yamaha outboard engine and one 19-foot ballahoo boat were stolen from Chinese Landing, Barama River, North West District, which is the property of Orin Fernandes, who is the Toshao of the village. The items are valued at $4.5 million.
As a result, a party of Police went to Byderabo Village, Bartica, Essequibo River, where the 19-foot boat and engine were recovered in the possession of a boatbuilder.
Further investigations revealed that on April 21, a female resident of Byderabo, Bartica, and a man allegedly took the boat and engine to the boatbuilder’s workshop to change the colour.
The ranks further went to the female’s residence at Byedarabo, Bartica, where the 200hp Yamaha outboard engine was recovered partially disassembled.
She was arrested and questioned during which she alleged that on April 20, two of her friends – first names only provided – took the boat and engine to her and she assisted them with a sale.
Meanwhile, the boatbuilder and the female were arrested and are at the Bartica Police Station assisting with the investigation.
The stolen boat and engine
Support for community action and learning for successes
As evident from the articles published over the past few weeks, the Darwin Initiative, ‘Integrating traditional knowledge into national policy and practices’ project, has been engaging in a number of activities that are focused on traditional knowledge. The project has been raising awareness and building capacity at both the community and Government levels.
If you have been following this article’s series, you may have noticed that there are clear linkages of project findings to the actions being proposed in the draft Traditional Knowledge National Action Plan (TKNAP). As such, we now have a good baseline for Guyana to guide the implementation of a finalised and approved TKNAP.
There are two final actions being proposed that have been echoed in most of the communities in which the project has engaged. The first is that of funding to support the preservation of traditional knowledge. Hinterland communities in Guyana have been able to access funding in relation to community development initiatives. For example, the Presidential Grant, an intervention by the Government that is managed through the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, aims to support economic and social development within Indigenous peoples’ communities. Communities may access between $500,000 and $2,000,000. Such funded projects have been focused on areas such as transportation, agriculture, and construction related to tourism.
There is a need to provide scope for communities to also develop proposals and provide access to grants that would support the interest of promoting continued use and safeguarding of traditional knowledge. Opportunities can be taken to incorporate a focus area specific to traditional knowledge into existing funding opportunities available to Village Councils.
Proposal writing and project management are also related areas in which communities may need capacity building.
Linked to funding opportunities, but urgent enough to be an action by itself, is the need for increased efforts to preserve Indigenous languages.
Indigenous peoples recognise that their language is strongly linked to their traditional culture and practices. Each Indigenous nation needs support to document and promote the teaching of their language within their communities. The Makushi and Wapishana peoples have looked at ways in which they can teach their languages in schools. Efforts to develop dictionaries and other resources have also been considered over the years with varying progress.
Consolidated efforts to assess the status of each Indigenous language and evaluate past and current activities that support preservation efforts and opportunities to replicate and/or scale up success projects need to be a priority. Efforts in this regard need to be led by the Indigenous peoples themselves.
Indigenous peoples of Guyana significantly contribute to our unique blend of culture which makes our country a unique destination. The traditional knowledge, practices and innovations of Indigenous peoples are the backbone to their way of life, and has played a part in helping to ensure that Guyana’s hinterland regions continue to be areas of natural beauty that are rich in biodiversity. It should therefore move us to consider the actions being proposed in the TKNAP that would hopefully provide collective support and progress towards respecting and safeguarding the traditional knowledge of Guyana’s Indigenous peoples.
If you would like to learn more about some of the work that has been done in communities by the project, please visit the following website: https://cobracollective.org/ tag/darwin/. Finally, what do you think about a Traditional Knowledge National Action Plan for Guyana? Please share your thoughts via 592 650-6632 (WhatsApp or SMS only).
You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O ECEA Programme, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit.epaguyana@gmail. com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
A contextual financial analysis of the gas-to-shore project (Part 6)
- Guyana’s total public debt in the context of its future development trajectory and the potential impact on public debt
With respect to Guyana’s public debt, from examining the data below and looking at the trend over a ten-year period, Guyana has managed to maintain a debt-to-GDP ratio of less than 70% from 2013 onwards. With regard to the totalpublic-debt-to-total-Government-revenue ratio, this was at a high of 297% in 2009, but was reduced to less than 250% in 2014, and reached a low of 165% by the end of 2018.The average ratio for the period is 240%, which is well below the international threshold of 250%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). By international standard as well, debt-to-GDP ratio of 60 – 70% is considered to be relatively sustainable. Further, a perusal of the 2020 third quarter Bank of Guyana Report shows that the total public debt service ratio relative to Government revenue is just about 30%, and this level has been maintained, evidently, over the last ten years or so.
Additionally, one would observe that, from looking at the growth rate of public debt over the last ten years, the average annual growth rate of public debt is about 2.7%, or less than 3%. The reason for this is simple. Government revenue is currently over $200 billion, which means that 30% of this amount, which is about $60 billion, goes towards public debt service annually. Taking this into perspective together with the budget deficit from the data in the table above, one would observe that the average budget deficit is less than $30 billion, which is typically financed by borrowing.
Now, what this means is that if the average annual debt service is $60 billion and the budget deficit is $30 billion, then the Government is simply borrowing back just half the sum of the funds repaid in debt service annually, which explains why the average annual growth rate in public debt is less than 3%. This is practically no different from how an individual credit card works.
To be continued…
About the Author: JC. Bhagwandin is the Chief Financial Advisor/Analyst of JB Consultancy & Associates, and lecturer at Texila American University. The views expressed are exclusively his own and do not necessarily represent those of this newspaper and the institutions he represents. For comments, send to jbbankingadvice@gmail.com.
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