标签： Guyana

Authorities in Guyana have launched an active investigation after a gunshot was fired near the country’s Office of the President late Friday, leaving an official government vehicle damaged, the Guyana Police Force confirmed in an official update issued Saturday. The disclosure comes from Denis Chabrol, with the latest information timestamped 10:20 a.m. local time on Saturday, August 22, 2026.

According to police’s official statement, the shooting incident unfolded at approximately 9:15 p.m. Friday in the area surrounding the presidential compound. A serving police officer assigned to duty at the site told investigators they heard what matched the sound of a gunshot originating from the direction of the Square of the Revolution. Following an immediate search of the compound, law enforcement personnel discovered damage to a motor bus officially registered to the Office of the President.

The bus, which was parked on the compound’s northeastern side facing south, suffered an indentation and surrounding cracks on its windscreen. Investigators also recovered a suspected 9 mm warhead from the ground directly in front of the damaged vehicle, which has been secured for forensic ballistic examination as the probe moves forward. As part of the ongoing investigation, police confirmed that closed-circuit television footage from the area is currently being reviewed to identify potential persons of interest, and multiple individuals have already been brought in for questioning related to the incident.

On Friday, one month after the deadly sinking of the MV Barima ferry that left dozens dead and missing off Guyana’s Essequibo Coast, the country’s main opposition party We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) launched a cross-sector emergency support initiative named the Humanitarian Emergency Relief Operation (HERO), centered on aiding survivors, bereaved families and rescued personnel affected by the disaster.

Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has publicly called on the ruling government to disburse an immediate interim payment of GY$5 million to every survivor, next-of-kin of the deceased, and families of still-missing victims, a payout that would total approximately GY$800 million. Mohamed argued this urgent disbursement would alleviate the severe financial strain and emotional trauma the tragedy has inflicted on affected households. Citing his familiarity with what he claims are the governing administration’s procedural delays, Mohamed urged officials to immediately authorize the central bank to release the funds, stating: “You can call the governor of Bank of Guyana, Mr Gobin Ganga and let him open the safe.”

The MV Barima, an 87-year-old ferry constructed in Scotland, sank on July 19 while carrying an estimated 179 passengers and crew members. To date, official records confirm 72 fatalities, with 76 people rescued from the incident, the deadliest maritime disaster in recent Guyanese history.

Speaking at the launch ceremony held at opposition leader Mohamed’s residence in Houston, East Bank Demerara, WIN General Secretary Odessa Primus noted that HERO was designed as an inclusive, non-partisan platform that welcomes participation from other political parties, non-governmental organizations, and civil society groups. Primus emphasized that the initiative prioritizes the needs of Guyanese people above political, religious or sectional divides, built on the principle of collective action to support affected communities through the crisis. The initiative’s immediate interventions, funded by donations from the Guyanese public and diaspora community, include covering school-related costs for children of affected families ahead of the new school year starting in August, providing clinical psychological counselling, and distributing essential care packages and food hampers.

In addition to humanitarian support, Mohamed confirmed that a team of prominent Guyanese lawyers has already committed to providing pro bono legal representation for tragedy victims, to hold the government accountable and prevent what the opposition claims are unfair practices that sidelined survivors of a previous deadly disaster. Recalling the 2023 Mahdia dormitory fire, where the government reached a GY$5 million per-family compensation agreement with victims’ relatives, Mohamed stated his goal is to prevent the administration from repeating what he frames as unfair treatment of affected families, and to ensure victims’ rights are not violated. The legal team already assembled includes high-profile figures Nigel Hughes, Eusi Anderson, Roysdale Forde, Christopher Ram, Damien Da Silva and Siand Dhurjon, and WIN says it is open to bringing on more volunteer legal representatives to meet demand.

Senior attorney Christopher Ram accused the government of double standards in its handling of the tragedy, pointing out that the ferry is operated by the state-owned Transport and Harbours Department. Ram argued that if a private entity had been responsible for the disaster, the government would have already imposed severe pressure and penalties on the operator. He noted that existing Guyanese law already mandates compensation for disaster victims, rather than requiring families to beg for charitable handouts, and that public funds including those in the Amerindian fund are available to cover these payments. “We have laws on our books that talk about compensation, not charity. Nobody should be begging for money for you. The government owes a duty to pay it,” Ram said. Echoing the call for immediate interim payouts, Ram sternly warned victims against signing any legal documents that would waive their right to full future compensation: “If they give you money, take the bloody money. Sign nothing. Do not give up your right. If a paper is put before you, get someone to read that paper.” Ram also recommended that victims unify to demand a compensation framework structured to account for individual factors including life expectancy, earning capacity, and the role of the deceased as a household breadwinner or parent, arguing that such a unified, evidence-based demand would leave the government no justifiable ground to refuse. Fellow attorney Damien Da Silva echoed these remarks, confirming the legal team is ready to begin work on behalf of victims immediately.

Mohamed also reiterated the urgent need to salvage the MV Barima, which rests 40 feet below the ocean surface roughly 10 miles off the Essequibo Coast. He called on the government to draw from the country’s daily oil revenue of GY$6.3 billion to fund the immediate interim compensation payouts, so that victims can begin rebuilding their lives. Earlier in August, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) received expressions of interest from firms for the salvage operation, with requirements to preserve forensic evidence for the upcoming official Commission of Inquiry into the disaster.

Moving forward, WIN representatives plan to travel directly to Port Kaituma and Mabaruma, the home regions of many victims, to meet with affected families and assess their on-the-ground needs.

Political tensions are escalating within Guyana’s opposition bloc after a public dispute over appointments to key state oversight bodies, with senior opposition figure Aubrey Norton confirming he is open to negotiations but insisting on a neutral location for any upcoming talks.

Norton, who serves as both Chairman of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – APNU’s largest and most influential member party – made the announcement Thursday, responding to a meeting invitation from Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed. Mohamed had proposed the pair and their representatives convene on August 24 at 11 a.m. at either Mohamed’s opposition leader office or the headquarters of Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party in Greenfield, East Bank Demerara. Rejecting this proposed location, Norton stated he will only attend discussions at a site mutually agreed by both sides to ensure neutrality, adding that APNU is ready to restart deliberations on the ongoing impasse.

The conflict stems from a recent decision to select representatives for Guyana’s Local Government Commission, after APNU was formally invited to submit nominees for the body. In a strongly worded letter sent to Mohamed on Wednesday, Norton voiced deep disappointment that none of APNU’s two proposed candidates were selected for the commission. Instead, WIN chose to appoint two of its own party supporters and one nominee from the small one-seat Forward Guyana Movement (FGM).

Norton has argued that the selection violates the principle of proportional representation, pointing out that APNU holds 12 seats in Guyana’s national parliament and has elected councillors across dozens of municipal and neighborhood councils across the country. He has demanded Mohamed select either of APNU’s original nominees, Joan Romascindo or Ronald Daniels, warning that the current approach will split the opposition and leave it unable to effectively challenge the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration.

Beyond the Local Government Commission dispute, the talks could also address long-simmering tensions over representation at Guyana’s national election management body, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). When asked if he believed Mohamed sought to use the meeting as a trap to force discussions on the three sitting opposition-aligned GECOM commissioners appointed through APNU, Norton said he had no objections to raising the issue. He added that he would enter any talks with an open mind, though APNU has already made its formal position clear: the three incumbent commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman – have rejected calls to step down to make way for WIN representatives. The commissioners have publicly noted that Guyana’s constitution contains no requirement for their early resignation.

The opposition rift also extends to two additional local political disputes. On the issue of GECOM’s 69 unpaid scrutineers, Norton confirmed he had seen reports that Mohamed arbitrarily hired and fired staff for the roles, none of which went to WIN or FGM members, adding that the process “didn’t make sense to me.” Further, WIN has raised concerns that the Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) Executive Officer has failed to convene a new council meeting to elect a regional Chairman and Vice Chairman, after the first vote ended in an unprecedented 9-9 tie.

That deadlock comes almost a full year after WIN made history by defeating the PNCR-led APNU to win control of Region 10 for the first time. When the newly elected council held its leadership vote on October 10, 2025, a cross-party bloc of APNU, PPPC and FGM councillors combined to elect APNU’s Dominic Blair as Chairman, while WIN used all nine of its seats to back its own candidate Mark Goring, resulting in the tied outcome that remains unresolved.

On August 18, 2026, Guyana President Irfaan Ali announced that his administration is exploring the creation of a nationwide network of permanent farmers’ markets, a structural policy intervention designed to cut exploitative middleman markups and ease the growing pressure of skyrocketing living costs across the country. Speaking at a press briefing, Ali outlined that the permanent markets would integrate directly into the country’s retail food ecosystem, giving small-scale and independent producers unmediated access to consumers. He did not mince words when describing the markup issue currently plaguing Guyana’s food sector, noting that some retailers are inflating produce prices by as much as 10 times the rate they paid farmers to source the goods, pocketing exorbitant, unfair profit margins at the expense of both producers and working-class households. For years, the Guyanese government has operated temporary pop-up farmers’ markets through the New Guyana Marketing Corporation, offering select staple goods at discounted rates to consumers. But shifting consumer behavior over recent years has eroded the reach of these ad-hoc initiatives and lower-cost traditional municipal and village markets. Ali explained that more Guyanese consumers now prioritize shopping at large supermarkets, which command higher price points, while changing dietary habits have also driven increased demand for pre-prepared cooked food, further reshaping market dynamics. The president noted that his administration has already deployed nearly all available policy tools to curb rising living costs, pointing to previous measures including the full elimination of excise tax on fuel, direct subsidies for agricultural producers, and the rollback of hikes to drainage and irrigation service fees and land rental fees implemented by the prior administration. Even with these interventions in place, however, global headwinds driven largely by ongoing conflict in the Middle East have pushed up the cost of critical production inputs including pharmaceutical supplies for livestock and crop fertilizer, offsetting much of the government’s domestic relief. Ali pushed back against calls for expanded cash grants as a long-term solution to the cost of living crisis, emphasizing that recurring cash transfers can only act as a temporary buffer for vulnerable households, not a fix for the systemic market failures driving price hikes. “No amount of grant will address it,” he told reporters. “Grants are there to support different level of vulnerability and to support injection for family income. We have to address it in a structural way.” The main opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity led by the People’s National Congress Reform, has previously put forward its own policy framework to ease price pressures, calling for expanded national food production and broad-based consumer subsidies. The Ali administration has already aligned with the opposition on the core goal of boosting domestic agricultural output as a long-term mechanism to bring down food prices, and the proposed permanent farmers’ market network would serve as a complementary supply-side reform to connect that increased production directly to consumers at fairer prices.

On Tuesday, 18 August 2026, Guyana’s Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed confirmed that he has submitted three names for appointment to the constitutionally mandated Local Government Commission (LGC), following closed-door consultations with leadership from the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM).

The three nominees include two members of Mohamed’s own party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) — Leola Narine and Leslyn Lowe — alongside Nicholas Chesney, the representative selected from the smaller FGM. Sources familiar with the internal selection process told Demerara Waves Online News that APNU had put forward its own candidates Joan Romascindo and Ronald Daniels for the vacancies, but Mohamed ultimately opted to allocate two of the three opposition slots to WIN, which currently holds the status of Guyana’s largest parliamentary opposition bloc.

The selection outcome comes amid open tensions between WIN and APNU, two major opposition factions that have been locked in a dispute over representation on key national oversight bodies. WIN has repeatedly called for the three APNU-aligned incumbent commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to step down, arguing that the party is now entitled to fill those opposition positions after securing 16 parliamentary seats in the most recent election. APNU currently holds 12 seats, while FGM holds one.

Mohamed also outlined the timeline of the consultation process to reporters, noting that WIN received formal requests for consultation on three separate constitutional commissions — the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Public Service Commission (PSC), and LGC — from Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira on 24 July 2026.

In a departure from the partisan friction over the LGC, Mohamed confirmed that WIN has chosen not to raise objections to President Irfaan Ali’s nominees for the other two vacancies. For the JSC, President Ali has tapped former Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh, while the President’s PSC nominees are Maurice Gajadhar, Melcita Bovell, and Leila Ramson. Mohamed stated that he saw no strategic or procedural reason to block the President’s picks, pointing out that the government retains the final authority to advance its preferred candidates regardless of opposition pushback.