NEWS
Wives of 2 Teteron detainees complain about their treatment
Although the State of Emergency (SoE) ended last weekend, the wives of inmates Rajaee Ali and Earl Richards say their loved ones continue to be denied basic rights at Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas. According to Stacy Griffith and Tricia James, their husbands are being exposed to dehumanising conditions, even being denied access to Qurans, as the Holy Islamic month of Ramadan approaches. “We are just asking for things that he is entitled to... In court, they would say that we could bring clothes et cetera, but when we get to the prison, it’s a whole different ball game. They tell you you could come and buy things, when you go there, you can’t buy things. You have to put the money in the canteen. They don’t know they have money in the canteen, because they have no communication with us or their attorneys. They could only purchase six things,” Stacy Griffith, Ali’s wife, said. Read more here
POLITICS
Alexander on probe into police killing
Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander has rejected claims of a cover-up as investigations continue into the police killing of Joshua Samaroo and shooting of his common-law wife Kaia Sealy, saying authorities must be allowed to complete their work and “let the chips fall where they may.” Alexander made the comment yesterday, in response to sustained public anger following the January 20 incident, which has fuelled renewed distrust in the police service and prompted calls for Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro to step down and accountability at the highest levels in the T&T Police Service. Addressing reporters at a United National Congress media briefing at its Chaguanas headquarters, Alexander said Guevarro has given a timeline for the completion of the investigation and confirmed once the file is finalised, it will likely be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Government, he added, will abide by whatever decision is taken. “This Government is not here to cover up anything done by any agency, especially under my responsibility. We are here to ensure that law and order and justice must fall where it’s supposed to. And not designed by persons to encourage it,” he said. Read more here
BUSINESS
Young calls for action to halt equity decline
By any serious measure, T&T’s stock market is in trouble. Not cyclical trouble. Not a short-term correction, but structural trouble. Over the last four years, local equity prices have moved in a downward direction. Since 2022, the T&T Composite Index and the All T&T Index have recorded losses every single year. Cumulatively, the market has shed close to 40 per cent of its value. That kind of decline is not noise. It is a signal flare. Former chairman of the T&T Stock Exchange, Richard Young, has framed the issue bluntly in a letter circulated to some listed companies. This is not underperformance, it is sustained decline. His warning matters precisely because the familiar explanations no longer hold up. Global uncertainty, geopolitics, commodity price volatility and regulatory drag are real, but they are now permanent features of the global economy. Read more here
REGIONAL
Non-oil GDP growth reflects real production, not State spending
President Dr Irfaan Ali has strongly rejected claims that Guyana’s recent economic growth is being driven primarily by government spending, describing such assertions as “comical” and rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of basic macroeconomics. Speaking on the performance of the non-oil economy, Dr Ali, on Wednesday, stressed that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures production, not payments, and that sustained growth in non-oil GDP reflects increased output and productivity across sectors such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture, services, transport, and trade. He noted that government spending is not itself a production sector and only appears in GDP when it results in real economic activity, for example, when a contractor builds infrastructure, a supplier delivers goods, or workers are employed. Dr Ali reiterated that the assertions being peddled by some critics are “devoid of facts, reality, or any understanding as to how the economy works, how systems work, and how governments operate. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Target and US firms urged to act over ICE raids
Target and other major Minnesota businesses are facing rising discontent from staff, as workers fear the Trump administration's immigration crackdown puts them at risk on the job. Employees are pushing firms to provide clearer guidance about how to respond if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrive at their worksites - and asking them to do more to limit agents' access to stores and parking lots. The pressures have been particularly acute at Target, a national name and one of the state's flagship employers, after the detention of two workers inside one of its suburban Minneapolis stores last month. Read more here
5th February 2026