Heritage Games 2026 officially opens, bringing Indigenous athletes together

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September 25, 2026

Heritage Games 2026 officially opens, bringing Indigenous athletes together

September 24, 2026

The 2026 Amerindian Heritage Games officially got underway on Thursday evening at the Everest Sports Ground, Georgetown, bringing together athletes from across Guyana’s ten regions for four days of sports competition, while making way for talent development.

The ceremony, held under the theme “Observing Our Cultural Heritage During Our Diamond Jubilee,” featured a march past by the participating teams, cultural performances, and a parachuting display by the Guyana Defence Force.

A parachuting display by the Guyana Defence Force on Thursday

Prime Minister, performing the duties of president, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips officially declared the Games open.

He highlighted the importance of such an event in advancing the government’s One Guyana development approach and expanding opportunities for young people across the country.

Prime Minister, performing the duties of president, Brigader Mark Phillips on Thursday at the opening of the Heritage Games

“No longer must development be centred only on the coastline. Development must reach the communities in the hinterland,” the prime minister said.

He noted that the government has invested in sports infrastructure, equipment, trainers and coaches across hinterland communities, which has helped to strengthen sporting opportunities for young people.

Another cultural display at 2026 Heritage Games

The prime minister noted that the participation of hundreds of indigenous athletes is a demonstration of the government’s efforts to bridge the development divide.

“You have a government that is connected to the people. A government that will continue to support the development of sports in all your communities, in every region, every part of Guyana,” he said.

Also attending the opening ceremony was Minister of Amerindian Affairs Sarah Brown-Shadeek who also welcomed the athletes and highlighted the importance of sports in creating opportunities for young people from hinterland communities.

Minister of Amerindian Affairs Sarah Brown-Shadeek interacting with the patrons of the Heritage Games on Thursday

She said sports can serve as a stepping stone to wider opportunities, noting that several athletes who participated in previous editions of the games have gone on to represent Guyana at different levels.

Minister Brown-Shadeek said the 2026 Games will feature football, cricket, volleyball, archery and novelty events, while also welcoming the participation of new teams and defending champions.

Meanwhile, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr. added that the Heritage Games represent more than a sports competition, describing them as a platform to recognise the talent that exists throughout Guyana.

“The games started as an idea, an idea that represents a belief in talent that exists in every single one of us as Guyanese people,” Minister Ramson said.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr. and the delegates of this year’s Miss Amerindian Heritage Pageant

He pointed to continued investment in community grounds, noting that more than $1 billion has been invested in hinterland community grounds over the past five years.

Meanwhile, Minister within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Steven Jacobs, during his brief remarks noted that the games also provide athletes with opportunities to be identified by national sporting associations.

Prime Minister Phillips is flanked by Minister Brown-Shadeek, Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development Pauline Sukhai, Minister within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Steven Jacobs and Minister Ramson along members of a cultural group

“This is not only about competition, it’s about opportunities,” Minister Jacobs said, noting that representatives from football, cricket, volleyball and archery will be present to scout emerging talent.

The first night of competition continued with football, with Mahdia facing Paramakatoi, as the participating teams began their quest for honours in this year’s Games.

The 2026 Amerindian Heritage Games continue through Sunday, providing a platform for just over 700 male and female Indigenous athletes to compete, showcase their abilities and celebrate their heritage through sport and culture.

MV Barima salvaging bids still being evaluated – Ali

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September 25, 2026

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Last Updated on Thursday, 24 September 2026, 22:35 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali addressing United States (US)-based Guyanese in Queens, New York. He is in the US for the 81st United Nations General Assembly debate.

More than two months after the MV Barima ferry sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the Essequibo coast and claimed more than 100 lives, President Irfaan Ali late Thursday night said bids for salvaging the vessel were being evaluated to ensure the right company is picked.

“The technical people are evaluating those bids so that the company can be selected to do the salvaging. That is the reality,” he told a town hall meeting held in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

He rejected repeated suggestions in some quarters that his government was attempting to escape a probe.

“We are not hiding from salvaging. There is a process, and that process is ongoing. We are not hiding from investigation,” he said.

Of the estimated 179 passengers and crew members, 77 persons were rescued and 72 others went missing in the ferry tragedy on July 18.

Last Saturday, opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian, Ganesh Mahipaul said, “Thirty-seven days after the EOI (Expressions of Interest) process closed, the Government has still not publicly provided the country with a contractor and a clear mobilisation date. That is inconsiderate. That is unacceptable and in my view, the manner in which this matter is being handled is becoming inhumane. Government cannot reduce the MV Barima tragedy to another file sitting on a desk somewhere in a Ministry. People died. The Government has a responsibility to demonstrate urgency in getting that vessel recovered.”

At the end of the August 14 deadline, nine companies had submitted EOIs and three submitted bids.

The bidders are Industrial Fabrications Inc. (InFab), BK International Inc and the Netherlands-headquartered KMS B.V.

President Ali also told the town hall meeting that the public tendering process was used to avoid any accusations that he picked a company that might be perceived to be linked to his friends.

KMB B.V. is associated with Koole Contractors that was hired five years ago for an initial GYD$787.6 million to remove sunken vessels from the Demerara River and along sections of the coast to ensure safety of marine traffic.

InFab has over the years done extensive emergency repairs to the now defunct floating Demerara Harbour Bridge.

According to the National Procurement and Tender Administration (NPTAB) records, KMB B.V. has offered to salvage the MV Barima about 10 miles off Devonshire Castle village, Essequibo Coast, for US$2,035,100.

InFab is proposing to do the job for US$1,895,000 while BK International’s asking price is US$1,034,000.

Among the terms of reference in the request for the EOI is that the salvager must be able to preserve forensic evidence for the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the incident.

The COI is yet to begin public hearings this month.

The captain, first mate and the Transport and Harbours Department’s goods superintendent are hoping to get their murder charges quashed based on arguments that there was an abuse of process.

Their lawyers say there should have been a marine accident investigation under the Shipping Act before the police were called in.

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Tags: evaluation Guyanese MV Barima ferry tragedy President Irfaan Ali Queens (New York)salvager bids

Source: Demerara Waves

Mia Mottley and the Power of Principled Leadership – Guyana Graphic – Current & Historical Events & Figures

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September 25, 2026

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Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados has developed a rare quality in international diplomacy. She can speak with the moral urgency of an advocate, the precision of a lawyer and the pragmatism of a head of government, often within the same address.

The excerpt of her speech at the United Nations earlier today (September 24, 2026) featured in the accompanying video below is another example of a style that has become increasingly familiar on the international stage. Mottley asks nations to confront uncomfortable history, but she does so without making history a prison from which present generations cannot escape. She uses it instead as evidence, a record of human choices whose successes and failures should inform the choices being made today.

That distinction matters. Mottley has repeatedly returned to a simple proposition throughout her years in office: a world governed primarily by power will inevitably disadvantage countries that possess little of it. Small states therefore have a profound interest in international law, functioning multilateral institutions, equitable access to finance and rules that apply with reasonable consistency to powerful and vulnerable nations alike.

This is not a theme Mottley discovered recently. As early as her 2018 address at the Global Climate Action Summit, shortly after becoming Prime Minister, she argued that the physical survival of Caribbean island states was threatened by climate change.

At the United Nations in 2019, she spoke of the need for “fairness, equity” and an international order capable of accommodating the different circumstances of nations. She also argued that multilateralism provides small states with protection against the unrestricted exercise of power by larger countries. That argument has matured rather than disappeared.

From Climate Vulnerability to Global Equity

Mottley’s speeches over the years reveal remarkable thematic consistency. Climate change, debt, development finance, inequality, colonial history, institutional reform and the vulnerability of small states might initially appear to be separate subjects. In Mottley’s international advocacy, they form parts of the same argument.

Her contention has been that the international system was largely constructed under political and economic circumstances very different from those confronting developing nations today.

That argument became particularly visible in her advocacy for reform of international development and climate finance through what became known as the Bridgetown Initiative. The initiative sought changes to the global financial architecture so that vulnerable and developing countries could obtain financing on terms better suited to climate shocks and development needs. The United Nations subsequently described the Bridgetown agenda as an effort to make finance work for “people, planet and prosperity.” This is where Mottley has moved beyond rhetoric.

It is relatively easy for political leaders to tell international institutions that the system is unfair. Humanity has accumulated a formidable supply of speeches explaining what is wrong with humanity. The more difficult task is proposing mechanisms through which it might be changed. Mottley has attempted to do that.

Bold Without Abandoning Diplomacy

One of the most interesting characteristics of Mottley’s international speeches is her willingness to challenge powerful countries and institutions without routinely turning those challenges into personal attacks. That is a difficult political balance.

Diplomacy can become so cautious that nothing meaningful is said. Political rhetoric can move in the opposite direction, becoming so confrontational that audiences who might otherwise listen simply retreat to their respective positions. Mottley frequently operates somewhere between those extremes.

At the 2022 United Nations General Assembly, for example, she questioned the structure of the Bretton Woods institutions, challenged the representativeness of the G7 and G20, and called for reform of the Security Council and its veto structure. These were substantial criticisms of institutions dominated by the world’s most powerful states. Yet her broader argument was about inclusion rather than exclusion. That distinction helps explain her effectiveness.

Mottley can criticize the architecture of international power while continuing to engage those who benefit from that architecture. She can demand greater consideration for developing countries without suggesting that cooperation between wealthy and developing nations is either impossible or undesirable.

Her diplomacy therefore seeks something more useful than agreement with her diagnosis. It seeks participation in the remedy.

History Without Permanent Hostility

Another important feature of Mottley’s rhetoric is her use of history. For Caribbean societies, discussions about slavery, colonialism, exploitation and economic inequality can quickly become politically charged. There is no legitimate reason to sanitize that history. Equally, recounting historical injustice without identifying a path forward can leave nations arguing indefinitely over inherited grievances. Mottley’s approach frequently asks a different question. What can history teach us about the institutions we should construct now?

That allows her to discuss colonialism, slavery, racial inequality and economic exploitation while still appealing to countries on different sides of that history to participate in building something better. It is an important diplomatic skill because empathy cannot simply be demanded. It often has to be cultivated.

Effective diplomacy requires a leader to explain the experience of one society in terms that another society can understand without requiring either side to surrender its identity. Mottley has demonstrated an unusual ability to do precisely that.

Her message to wealthy countries is rarely that prosperity itself is objectionable. Her argument is that the international system should provide poorer and vulnerable countries with a realistic opportunity to achieve prosperity themselves.

Her climate argument follows much the same construction. Small island states contributed relatively little to the accumulated greenhouse gases driving climate change, yet they face disproportionately severe consequences. The answer, in her formulation, is not simply assigning blame. It is constructing financial mechanisms that allow vulnerable countries to survive, adapt and develop.

The United Nations itself has recognized the reach of that advocacy. In 2021, Mottley was named a UN Champion of the Earth for Policy Leadership, with the UN Environment Program highlighting her advocacy for vulnerable developing states and climate finance.

A Voice Larger Than Barbados

Mottley became Barbados’ eighth Prime Minister and its first female Prime Minister following the 2018 general election. Her political career, however, stretches back decades. She was first elected to Parliament in 1994 and previously served in portfolios including education, home affairs, economic affairs and as Attorney-General and Deputy Prime Minister. That experience is evident when she speaks internationally.

She does not sound like a leader who suddenly discovered foreign policy after becoming Prime Minister. There is an understanding of institutions, law, economics and political negotiation beneath the rhetoric.

It also helps explain why a country with a population and economic weight that could easily be overlooked in international affairs has acquired such visibility in debates over climate finance and reform of the international financial system.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has publicly described Barbados as an influential regional leader and praised Mottley’s international advocacy, particularly on climate change, debt, development and the circumstances facing small island developing states.

Her 2025 address to the 80th United Nations General Assembly extended the same philosophy into another increasingly fractured international environment. She addressed overlapping financial, social, geopolitical and climate crises while again questioning whether existing global institutions remain capable of responding effectively. The consistency is important.

Political charisma can command a room. It cannot by itself sustain an international policy agenda. Mottley’s influence has increasingly rested on combining rhetoric with specific proposals.

Leadership From a Small State

Guyana Graphic’s assessment is that Mia Amor Mottley represents one of the most consequential political voices to emerge from the modern Caribbean.

That is an editorial judgment, rather than a measurable fact. Political leadership should ultimately be assessed against domestic outcomes as well as international reputation, and Barbadians themselves will continue to judge her government’s record. But her international contribution can be examined separately.

On that stage, Mottley has demonstrated an unusual combination of charisma, intellectual command, political instinct and diplomatic discipline. More importantly, she has refused to accept the proposition that the size of one’s country should determine the size of one’s voice.

Barbados cannot compel the major powers to change the international financial architecture. It cannot dictate climate policy to the world’s largest economies. It cannot independently restructure the United Nations.

Mottley nevertheless behaves as though Barbados has both the right and responsibility to participate fully in those debates. That may ultimately be one of the most important examples she offers other Caribbean leaders. Small countries need not behave as spectators in the international system.

An Ambassador for the Vulnerable

There is also something broader occurring in Mottley’s diplomacy. When she speaks about climate vulnerability, debt or access to development financing, Barbados frequently becomes a platform for concerns shared by countries thousands of miles beyond the Caribbean.

Pacific island nations threatened by rising seas, African countries confronting debt and development constraints, Caribbean economies repeatedly exposed to hurricanes and other developing states struggling with the cost of capital can recognize elements of their own circumstances in her arguments.

She has consequently become an important advocate for a constituency much larger than Barbados. Her strongest speeches do something particularly difficult. They challenge without automatically alienating. They remind without simply accusing. They demand change while leaving space for those being challenged to become participants in that change. There is firmness, but there is also an invitation. That is diplomacy at its most useful.

The Lesson for the Caribbean

The Caribbean has produced many formidable international figures. Its small population has never prevented the region from contributing disproportionately to diplomacy, literature, economics, law, culture and political thought.

Mottley belongs within that tradition. Her example also offers a lesson for contemporary Caribbean leadership. A small country’s influence does not have to correspond to its population, military strength or gross domestic product. Influence can come from preparation, intellectual credibility, consistency and the ability to articulate an argument that other countries recognize as relevant to their own circumstances.

The speech featured here demonstrates that principle again. Mottley is prepared to confront the failures of the international system, but she does not appear interested in destroying international cooperation. She wants that cooperation to work better.

She invokes history, but her destination is the future. She speaks for Barbados, yet deliberately broadens the conversation to include countries and peoples whose economic and political influence often leaves them unheard.

And perhaps that explains much of her international appeal. Mia Mottley does not ask the world to forget its history. She asks it to understand that history well enough to avoid repeating its failures.

For a world again confronting war, inequality, climate disruption, economic uncertainty and growing distrust of international institutions, that is a message worth examining, regardless of one’s political perspective.

The measure of leadership is ultimately found not in applause following a speech, but in whether ideas survive after the room has emptied.

Mia Amor Mottley’s ideas have increasingly entered the international conversation. For Barbados, for the Caribbean and for developing societies seeking a meaningful voice in determining the rules under which they must live, that alone is significant.

Source: Guyana Graphic

Guy Expo 2026 launches, positioning investment at heart of future opportunities

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September 24, 2026

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Guy Expo 2026 launches, positioning investment at heart of future opportunities

September 24, 2026

Guy Expo 2026 is positioning investment, innovation and enterprise at the centre of Guyana’s next phase of economic opportunity, as the four-day exhibition prepares to bring businesses, customers, investors and partners together at the National Exhibition Centre, Sophia, from November 12 to 15.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Susan Rodrigues, officially launched Guy Expo 2026 at the National Exhibition Centre, describing the longstanding exhibition as an important platform for showcasing Guyanese talent, creativity and enterprise while creating opportunities for businesses to expand and build new partnerships.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Susan Rodrigues addressing the launched of Guy Expo 2026

“The future is shaped by the investments we make today,” Minister Rodrigues said, underscoring the central message of this year’s Expo, which is being held under the theme, “Creating Tomorrow’s Opportunities Through Today’s Investments.”

Guy Expo, which began in 1995, has grown from a local exhibition into a major business platform where enterprises can showcase their products and services, connect with customers, build partnerships and explore new markets.

The 30th anniversary edition held last year was the largest in the Expo’s history at the time.

Minister Rodrigues said the 2026 theme reflects the direction in which Guyana is moving, noting that future opportunities depend on investments being made today in businesses, skills, technology, infrastructure and ideas.

She pointed out that investment is not limited to large scale capital, but also includes a small business owner purchasing new equipment, an entrepreneur investing in training, a manufacturer improving product quality or a young person developing a new skill.

“These decisions may seem small on their own but collectively they build stronger businesses, create employment and expand the opportunities available to our people,” she said.

The minister said Guy Expo will continue to provide businesses with opportunities for business to business engagement, allowing exhibitors to meet potential customers, partners, investors and suppliers while exploring avenues to enter new markets.

The growing tourism sector is also creating new opportunities for Guyanese businesses.

She noted that Guyana welcomed 453,489 visitors in 2025, while 320,174 visitors had already arrived by the end of August 2026. August recorded 48,582 arrivals, the highest August on record.

With visitor arrivals projected to exceed 500,000 by year end and an ambition of reaching one million visitors by 2030, Rodrigues said the growth presents opportunities for hotels, restaurants, tour operators, transportation providers, artisans, farmers, entertainers and community businesses.

At the same time, access to finance remains an important component of business development, with the Guyana Development Bank providing another avenue for entrepreneurs to access financing of up to $3 million, alongside technical assistance and business development support.

Through its agencies and programmes, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce is also supporting entrepreneurs through training, business development, standards, market access and other forms of assistance.

“Our objective is to see more Guyanese businesses growing, employing more people, producing more locally and becoming competitive in regional and international markets,” Minister Rodrigues said.

Guy Expo 2026 will provide exhibitors with opportunities to forge connections, identify new customers, develop partnerships and explore avenues for growth.

As Guy Expo moves beyond its first 30 years, the focus is now turning towards the businesses, products, markets and opportunities that will shape its next chapter and contribute to a more dynamic Guyanese economy.

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