🇬🇾 THE GUYANA BRIEF 🇬🇾
Your 5-Minute Tuesday News Circus
Tuesday, March 24, 2026 ⏱️ 6 min read
Good Morning, Guyana! ☕
Welcome to Tuesday, where our Opposition Leader is now fighting extradition on three continents simultaneously, Exxon wants to pump even MORE oil out of our seabed, and the $100,000 cash grant is making its way into bank accounts across the land like a very slow, very welcome river.
Also: somewhere in the background, a wheelbarrow full of coins is still being argued about.
Grab your coffee. We have things to discuss.
📊 TODAY’S NUMBERS
| Stat | What It Means |
|---|---|
| CCJ | Where the Mohameds’ legal battle has now arrived |
| March 25 | CCJ Case Management Conference tomorrow — this is moving fast |
| 290,000 bpd | What Exxon wants Yellowtail to produce (currently 263,000) |
| $4.5M | Court costs the Mohameds paid in wheelbarrows. Yes, wheelbarrows. |
| March 15 | The day Guyana lost Stabroek News. Moment of silence. |
🏛️ THE BIG ONE: MOHAMEDS TAKE THE FIGHT TO THE CCJ
After losing at the Court of Appeal on March 17, the Mohameds have now filed at the Caribbean Court of Justice, asking for:
- Special leave to appeal
- A stay of the extradition proceedings before Magistrate Judy Latchman
- Basically: pause everything while we figure this out
The CCJ has already set a Case Management Conference for March 25, 2026, where directions will be given on how the matter will proceed.
The regional court will now decide whether to grant special leave to appeal and whether the extradition hearings should be paused in the meantime.
The scorecard so far:
| Court | Result |
|---|---|
| High Court (Feb 4) | Dismissed the Mohameds’ challenge |
| Court of Appeal (Mar 17) | Found “no merit” in bias claims |
| CCJ | TBD — Conference tomorrow |
The Court of Appeal, by the way, found that the simple fact that Azruddin Mohamed is Opposition Leader and the Minister is a government member does NOT establish bias. A surprising legal finding to anyone who has ever met a Guyanese person.
“The legal battle is far from over.” — Everyone, every week, since October 2025
🛒 FLASHBACK: THE WHEELBARROW INCIDENT
Before we get to the CCJ drama, let’s revisit the greatest political theatre Guyana has seen since… well, since the last great political theatre.
When the Mohameds were ordered to pay $4.5 million in court costs, and their bank accounts were closed due to OFAC sanctions, they arrived at the AG’s office with:
- A wheelbarrow
- Coins
- Small notes
- Their dignity, mostly intact
AG Nandlall noted while he could accept that the sums were paid to some extent, he couldn’t say it was paid in full since there is a legal limit to which coins can be used to settle lawful debts in Guyana.
The legal tender limit on coins is: $100 for $1 coins, $250 for $5 coins, $500 for $10 coins.
Azruddin Mohamed told reporters he had to “break his children’s piggy bank” to pay the debt.
The Guyana Brief Scorecard:
Theatrical value: 10/10
Legal practicality: 2/10
Coins accepted: Not all of them
🛢️ EXXON: WE’D LIKE MORE OIL, PLEASE
Never content, ExxonMobil Guyana is seeking approval from the Government of Guyana to increase oil production at its fourth project, Yellowtail, from 263,000 barrels per day to 290,000 barrels per day.
This follows the already-established pattern of Exxon doing exactly this with every project:
- Liza One: Designed for 120,000 bpd. Now producing ~130,000 bpd.
- Liza Two: Designed for 220,000 bpd. Now producing ~263,000 bpd.
- Payara: Designed for 220,000 bpd. Now producing over 260,000 bpd.
- Yellowtail: Designed for 250,000 bpd. Exxon wants 290,000 bpd.
The pattern: Design for X, get approved for X, produce more than X, ask for more X.
Guyana Chronicle’s take: “This shows confidence in Guyana’s oil sector!”
Kaieteur News’s take: “Stakeholders have often raised concern over increased risk of an oil spill.”
The Guyana Brief’s take: At some point, the seabed is going to file a complaint.
💵 CASH GRANT UPDATE: THE MONEY IS MOVING
The $100,000 cash grant is rolling out. Over the next twenty-four hours, 48,858 central government employees comprising public servants, teachers and members of the disciplined services will receive the 2026 National Cash Grant.
This is the government’s third major cash grant initiative — following the $25,000 COVID grant in 2020 and the first $100,000 grant in 2024.
Grant math for the curious:
- 600,000+ eligible Guyanese citizens
- $100,000 each
- Total: $60+ billion in disposable income
- What it will do to inflation: That’s a question for economists, not politicians
The government is pushing bank accounts hard. If you don’t have one, you can’t get the digital transfer. If you’re Azruddin Mohamed, your bank account doesn’t technically exist anymore.
⚡ ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES: THE VILLAIN NOBODY EXPECTED
The Guyana Chronicle with a surprising villain of the week:
“Guyana’s roads are suffering from a preventable issue: Electric motorcycles, those affordable speed machines disguised as eco-friendly vehicles, are creating chaos.”
The problem: They’re quiet, cheap, fast, and apparently being driven by people who have decided traffic laws are suggestions.
Chronicle position: Something must be done.
Roads position: Something is being done to them every day.
📰 IN MEMORIAM: STABROEK NEWS (1986–2026)
Nearly four decades of independent journalism, and Stabroek News printed its final edition on March 15, 2026.
The publication reported that Chairman of Guyana Publications Inc., Brendan de Caires, said the company will shortly begin the process of voluntary liquidation. He explained that newspapers like Stabroek News faced an existential challenge from global digital platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Globally, print advertising has declined by 75 per cent, from approximately US$110 billion in 2004 to US$26 billion in 2024.
The de Caires family also disclosed that the state-run Department of Public Information had accrued a debt to the newspaper in excess of G$80,000,000 in unpaid advertisements. The debt persisted despite repeated entreaties to clear it.
We note that: a government owing money to the paper that scrutinises the government, while that paper closes due to financial pressure, is not a great look.
Kaieteur News has pledged to fill the void. We wish them robust printer ink and strong nerves.
🏆 TODAY’S SCORECARD
| Story | Chronicle Take | Kaieteur Take | GDB Take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mohameds/CCJ | Extradition process continues | Democracy being tested | The saga has more episodes than a telenovela |
| Exxon wants more | Confidence in our sector | Increased spill risk | The seabed is tired |
| Cash grants | Transformational | Who gets the overseas diaspora money? | Did you open a bank account yet |
| Electric motorcycles | Chaos on roads | (no comment) | Eco-friendly chaos is still chaos |
🎯 WHAT TO WATCH TOMORROW
March 25: CCJ Case Management Conference on the Mohameds’ extradition application. This will tell us whether the extradition hearings pause while the CCJ considers the appeal.
Tune in tomorrow. Or don’t — Kaieteur News will tell you about it either way, and we’ll be here to explain why it matters.
The Guyana Brief reads all the papers so you don’t have to. We cover Chronicle, Kaieteur, and Guyana Times. RIP Stabroek News. 🖤
Satire. Not legal advice. Not financial advice. Definitely not a substitute for a bank account.