Guyana-Chronicle-Epaper_03_24_2020

TUESDAY 24th March, 2020

' No.105949

'Total lockdown possible'

SEE PAGE 03

if Guyanese ignore precautionary measures

…Schools to remain closed until April 03

‘SOPs were used to tabulate votes’ …Lowenfield tells Court; says elections report submitted

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‘The GPF is apolitical’

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--Force flays Seelall Persaud, GCCI for unfounded, biased remarks

Aishalton establishes checkpoint for 13 visitors, residents PAGE

… village gates to close from 18:00hrs to 06:00hrs

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…Banks shorten opening hours 11 PAGE

…RBL defers loan 15 payments, reduces interest rate on overdraft PAGE

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Schools to remain closed for rest of term

SCHOOLS, across the country, will remain closed for the remainder of the academic term because of ongoing efforts to reduce the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) locally.

This decision was taken by the Ministry of Education, which, in a public notice, said schools will be closed for an additional week, March 30, 2020 to April 03, 2020. This will lead into the Easter Term vacation which will last from April 06, 2020 to April 17, 2020.

Although there has been an extension in the closure, the education ministry said the commencement of the third term for the current academic year remains on schedule for April 20, 2020.

Since the detection of the first case COVID-19 locally, the education ministry had taken a decision to close schools for two weeks from March 16, 2020.

Anyone with concerns can contact the ministry on 226-1175 or the Public Health hotline on 227-

4986 between 08:00hrs and 16:00hrs or 624-3067 between 16:30 and 20:00hrs.

Guyana has so far recorded no new cases of the global pandemic. To date five cases, including one death, of the virus has been recorded.

Though social distancing is one of the primary measures in preventing the spread of the deadly coronavirus, many Guyanese are failing to take heed to this advisory, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Boyle, said on Sunday.

Many religious halls of worship have remained opened as well as recreational facilities such as bars, though the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has advised against large gatherings.

Social distancing entails persons keeping safe distances between themselves and others. It is a measure that many countries have been demanding so as to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, which has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

While acknowledging that behaviour change takes time, the DCMO said it cannot be business as usual when the virus is spreading rapidly across the world, and

The Bishops' High School

as such persons need to refrain from certain activities. “Some churches are still having regular services; people are still in some instances greeting persons with handshakes and kissing. Greetings need to be as non-contact as possible and it is possible,�

Boyle stated. She noted, however, that though slow, some persons are getting the message and are being proactive.

According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging

from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).

The coronavirus outbreak reportedly originated in Wuhan, China, and has since spread to many other countries, including some in the Americas. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, coughs, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syn-

drome, kidney failure and even death.

Persons who suspect that they may have the virus are advised not to visit a health facility, but instead call on several provided hotlines where it can be arranged for a health team to visit. Lawrence noted that additional hotline numbers have been added, and staff has been increased to facilitate efficiency. The numbers are 226-7480; 229-7490; 231-1166; 2274986; 624-6674; 624-2819; 624-9355.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

‘Total lockdown possible’ …if Guyanese ignore precautionary measures

By Navendra Seoraj A “total lockdown” is imminent if Guyanese continue to ignore the public health authorities’ advice and guidelines related to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), said Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Boyle.

Some countries have already taken a step to “lockdown” amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, but while the virus has reached Guyana’s shores, Dr. Boyle believes a total lockdown is not necessary at this time unless people continue to ignore the guidelines.

“If people continue to ignore the advice we are giving and guidelines in place, we may get to the point where we have to do that,” said the DCMO in an invited comment, on Monday. A lockdown would entail businesses and other establishments, including public offices, closing their doors temporarily.

In further explaining this measure, Dr. Boyle said: “All businesses would have to shut down...people will not be working and business people will not have money to pay workers…there would be economic downturn because mortgages and everything would still be due, bills will still have to be paid…so it will be chaos.”

While this measure is available, Dr. Boyle said she trusts that Guyanese people, who are a brilliant set of people, would understand the

severity of the pandemic and take responsibility by doing the “right thing.” “If they do this then we won’t have to get to the point where we may have to have a total lockdown because that will be no fun for the business community, not for workers or anybody,” the DCMO asserted.

Guyana has so far recorded no new cases of the global pandemic. To date five cases, including one death, of the virus has been recorded.

Though social distancing is one of the primary measures in preventing the spread of the deadly coronavirus, many Guyanese are failing to take heed to this advisory, Dr. Boyle, said on Sunday.

Many religious halls of worship have remained opened as well as recreational facilities such as bars, though the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has advised against large gatherings.

Social distancing entails persons keeping safe distances between themselves and others. It is a measure that many countries have been demanding so as to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, which has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

While acknowledging that behaviour change takes time, the DCMO said it cannot be business as usual when the virus is spreading rapidly across the world, and as such persons need to refrain from certain activities.

“Some churches are still having regular services; people are still in some instances

and isolate” persons suffering from the disease or those who may be affected from expo-

DCMO, Dr. Karen Boyle

greeting persons with handshakes and kissing. Greetings need to be as non-contact as possible and it is possible,” Boyle stated.

She noted, however, that though slow, some persons are getting the message and are being proactive.

President David Granger had issued executive orders in alignment with the Public Health Ordinance.

With Guyana recording five cases of COVID-19 so far, President Granger, through the order, said immediate action is necessary to address the virus. In that regard, he directed Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, to “restrain, segregate

sure to the infection.

President Granger, as part of the order, has even called on the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and other law enforcement agencies to provide assistance with the enforcement of the various measures, where necessary.

Among the menu of measures ordered by President Granger was the containment of persons who may show signs of COVID-19 and the provision of curative treatment for persons who are suffering the disease.

The President also directed Minister Lawrence to remove, disinfect and destroy the personal effects, goods, buildings and any other arti-

cle, material or thing exposed to the virus. The minister was also ordered to prevent the spread of the virus on the seas, rivers and waters of Guyana, and on the high seas within twelve miles from the baseline, as well as on land, among other things.

President Granger had said funding the various initiatives will be handled by the Minister of Finance, who was directed to expend from the Consolidated Fund such sums of money as may be necessary for the effectual carrying out of any or all of the measures listed.

Section 20 (2) of the Public Health Ordinance provides that the President may, in case of an emergency, expend from the public funds of Guyana such sums of money as may be necessary for the effectual carrying out of any or all of the provisions of Part III of the Ordinance which concerns “notifiable infectious diseases.”

“All government agencies and local government authorities are urged to render assistance and cooperation to undertake critical, urgent and appropriate response and measures in a timely manner to curtail and eliminate the COVID-19 threat,” said President Granger.

He also said all citizens, residents, tourists and members of the private sector must act in accordance with the law and comply with any lawful directives and advisories issued by appropriate

government agencies to prevent further transmission of the COVID-19 and ensure the safety and wellbeing of all.

According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).

The coronavirus outbreak reportedly originated in Wuhan, China, and has since spread to many other countries, including some in the Americas. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, coughs, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Persons who suspect that they may have the virus are advised not to visit a health facility, but instead call on several provided hotlines where it can be arranged for a health team to visit.

Lawrence noted that additional hotline numbers have been added, and staff has been increased to facilitate efficiency. The numbers are 226-7480; 229-7490; 2311166; 227-4986; 624-6674; 624-2819; 624-9355.

Police rebuke rabid, biased GCCI statements

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has called on the private sector and others in positions of leadership to refrain from compromising the independence and integrity of the Force through baseless perspectives placed to the media.

One such media article highlighted by the GPF on Monday was a release sent out by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) under the caption “GCCI Condemns Aggressive Posture taken by GPF and Political Interference in Electoral Process”.

The Force stated that the release was seemingly aimed at tarnishing the reputation

of the Administration of the Force and will not be condoned. “From the outset the rubric of the press release by GCCI is highly prejudicial to the Guyana Police Force with reference to its posture during an incident at the Arthur Chung International Conference Centre (ACICC) on March 16, 2020, and has likened its duties conducted to ‘interfere in the Electoral Process.’ In the apparent absence of any understanding or appreciation of the statutory role, responsibilities and functions of the Police within the State of Guyana, this is unfounded, bias, unmerited and highly fallacious,” the GPF stated.

It pointed out that all of its actions

during the period have been in keeping with the law provided for by Section 3(2) of the Police Act Cap. 16:01 and article 197A (4) of the Constitution of Guyana which refers to what the Police can do to ensure safety in ‘all places’.

“The pontification of GCCI that the action by ranks of the GPF has set an uncomfortable precedent is of utter proclivity and very misleading to say the least. The GPF is a professional organisation and maintains impartiality, a position which has been consistently demonstrated during its daily engagements with the citizenry throughout the ten Administrative Regions,” the GPF said.

It maintained that there is no evidence to the contrary and called on all stakeholders to exercise restraint and refrained from interfering with or compromising the independence and integrity of the electoral process and to act only in a legal framework in accordance with the Law. The Force stated: “[It] is wholly deceitful and malicious, with a myopic view, intended and purposefully so, to malign the professionalism and integrity of our noble organisation.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 24, 2020

Coronavirus: Strict new curbs on life in UK announced by PM (BBC) The prime minister is announcing strict new curbs on life in the UK to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

From this evening people must stay at home except for shopping for basic necessities, daily exercise, any medical need and travelling to and from essential work.

Shops selling non-essential goods will also be shut and gatherings in public of more than two people who do not live together prohibited.

The UK death toll has reached 335.

If people do not follow the rules police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings, Boris

Johnson said in a televised statement from Downing Street.

Other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship must also close immediately.

Parks will remain open for exercise but gatherings will be dispersed.

The government is also stopping all social events, including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies - but funerals will be allowed.

Mr Johnson said the restrictions would be kept under constant review.

“We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows

we are able to,” he added.

The prime minister said the measures were necessary to tackle “the biggest threat this country has faced for decades”.

“Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses,” he said.

“And as we have seen elsewhere, in other countries that also have fantastic health care systems, that is the moment of real danger.

“To put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to handle it - meaning more people are likely to die, not just from coronavirus but from

other illnesses as well.”

The UK has been under growing pressure to follow other countries by ordering the closure of more shops, and enforcing rules on social distancing, amid concerns people have been ignoring government advice.

The prime minister said he knew the “damage” the restrictions were causing to people’s lives, businesses and jobs but at present there were “no easy options”.

“The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost,” he said.

However, Mr Johnson said there was “a clear way through”, by strengthening the NHS with former clinicians returning to work, accelerating the search for treatments and a vaccine and buying millions of testing kits.

Tuesday, March 24, 05:00hrs - 06:30 hrs

Coronavirus: Pandemic is ‘accelerating’, WHO warns as cases pass 300,000

(BBC) The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease pandemic is “accelerating”, with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed.

It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid-19 to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000, and just four days for the third 100,000.

But WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was still possible to “change the trajectory”.

He urged countries to adopt rigorous testing and contact-tracing strategies.

“What matters most is what we do. You can’t win a football game by defending. You have to attack as well,” he told a joint news conference with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to launch a “kick out coronavirus” campaign featuring footballers.

Dr Tedros said asking people to stay at home and other physical-distancing measures were an important way of slowing down the spread of the virus, but described them as “defensive measures that will not help us to win”.

“To win, we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics - testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and chasing and quarantining every close contact.”

Dr Tedros expressed alarm at reports from around the world of large numbers of infections among health workers, which appeared to be the result of a shortage of adequate personal protective equipment.

“Health workers can only do their jobs effectively when they can do their jobs safely,” he warned. “Even if we do everything else right, if we don’t prioritise protecting health workers many people will die because the health worker who could have saved their life is sick.”

He said the WHO has been working with its partners to rationalise and prioritise the use of protective equipment, and to address the global shortage of it.

But he noted: “Measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus may have unintended consequences of exacerbating shortages of essential protective gear and the materials needed to make them.”

The WHO chief called for “political commitment and political co-ordination at the global level” and said he would ask leaders of the G20 group of nations this week to work together to boost production of protective equipment, avoid export bans and ensure equity of distribution on the basis of need.

Europe’s battle against virus intensifies UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday night that, with immediate effect, “people will only be allowed to leave their home...for very limited purposes”. They include shopping for basic necessities, taking one form of exercise per day, fulfilling any medical need, or travelling to work if working from home is impossible.

The number of people who have died in the UK rose to 335 on Monday.

In Italy, the worst-hit country in the world, the authorities said 602 people with Covid-19 had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll there to 6,077.

But the daily increase was the smallest since Thursday, raising hope that the stringent restrictions imposed by the government were starting to have an effect.

Spain, however, said its death toll had risen by 462 to 2,182 - a 27% increase.

France reported 186 new deaths, bringing its total to 860. The government will tighten the lockdown there from Tuesday, strictly limiting physical exercise and closing most open-air markets.

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be postponed by one year because of coronavirus. However, the IOC has not yet formally announced a decision on the future of the Games.

The IOC has given itself four weeks to decide on the future of the games, but Australia and Canada have said they will not compete in Japan this summer and Great Britain has said it is unlikely that it would be able to send a team.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 24, 2020

NIS pensioners assured of punctual payment

THE management of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has assured the public, that, despite the anxiety surrounding the COVID -19 pandemic, its staff is working beyond the normal hours of duty, in order that its pensioners can uplift their monies on Monday, April 6, 2020, the date designated for the April payment.

General Manager, Ms Holly Greaves, in an invited comment, told the Guyana Chronicle, the NIS administration is cognisant that a great majority of its pensioners depend on the monies to meet their financial requirements, and, in some instances, it is the only source of income for some of those people.

It is as a result of this, she applauded the commitment of the staff who, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, have remained

resolute to their task. “We continue to hear of the provisions being granted to staff of some ministries and other agencies, but the staff continue to report for work dutifully because they are aware of the importance of money for everyone,” she added.

Meanwhile, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the NIS as a precautionary measure, has suspended indefinitely the distribution of snacks to the pensioners, while they await to collect their monies. Instead, each pensioner will be given a bottle of water, Public Relations Officer, Ms Dianne Lewis-Baxter-Dennis has advised.

She noted that security at all of the payment offices will be beefed up, as doors will be opened promptly at 06:00hrs in an effort to alleviate the expected build-up.

In January, this year, the NIS announced an increase

in the minimum rates for Old Age and Invalidity Pensions from $32, 100 to $35, 000 per month, with the minimum rate for Survivors’ Pension elevated from $16, 050 to $17, 500 per month.

The January 2020 increase did not cater for the NIS pensioners who are above the minimum wage.

However, in late February, the NIS announced a four percent increase for persons falling under that category, effective from March 01, 2020.

Also, the NIS recently announced that it has put in place a number of measures to ensure that visitors and others are protected, as part of the measures to combat the coronavirus.

The measures which became effective on March 22, 2020, include limiting access to NIS Offices to persons encashing vouchers and those paying contributions,

Inquest into death of former soldier set for today

A CORONER’S inquest is expected to commence today (Tuesday, March 24, 2020), into the death of Ex-Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier Rolex Clay, 22, who was found hanging from a tree on March 03, 2011 at Dartmouth, Essequibo Coast An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdiction, and is held to determine the cause of a person’s death.

In Guyana, a sitting magistrate who acts as the coroner empanels a jury, after which the inquest is conducted.

Magistrate Esther Sam will preside over the inquest at the Anna Regina Magistrate’s Court with a five-member jury to determine whether anyone was criminally responsible for Clay’s death. A total of five witnesses are expected to be called.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that, on the day in question, Rolex Clay had helped his father, Robert Clay, to repair a gate to their yard in Hoppie Street, Dartmouth, Essequibo Coast.

After completing the task, he left to visit his grandmother, at her home,

a short distance away, but, instead, took off his jersey, tied it to a supporting beam of the bottom flat of their two-storey house and hanged himself.

His body was found dangling from the jersey but his family could not offer a motive for what the young man did

Dead: Rolex Clay

are in keeping with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for social distancing.

Persons seeking to access NIS records for information on their contributions can do so online [www.nis. org.gy]; via the company’s live-chat platform, email address [records_queries@ nis.org.gy] or Telephone Numbers 226-8059 or 2252798. Others are asked to place all requests for change or correction to names, along with supporting documents at strategic points at the entrances of NIS office.

The signing of Life Certificates for pensioners

by NIS officers has been suspended until further notice. In the interim, this process can be done by a Justice of Peace, Notary Public, Minister of Religion, medical practitioner, headteacher, manager of a bank or branch of a bank with the requisite designation stamp affixed.

Jamaican accused of drug trafficking remanded

CHIEF Magistrate Ann McLennan, on Monday, March 23, 2020, remanded a 46-year-old Jamaican to prison, for drug trafficking.

Jerwayne David Salmon, a father of 8 and a diabetic, appeared before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that, on March 21, 2020, at Itaballi Landing, Mazaruni River, he had 456.6 grams of cannabis in his possession, for the purpose of trafficking.

However, he confessed to another charge which read that between December 22, 2019, and March 21, 2020, he failed to comply with conditions granted to stay in Guyana which was from June 21, 2019, to December 21, 2019, when he arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).

According to the facts presented by Police Prosecutor, Inspector Matthews, Salmon arrived in Guyana June 21, 2019, via the CJIA and was granted six months’ stay.

However, on March 21, 2020, Salmon was nabbed by police at the Itaballi Landing with a plastic bag which contained three zip-lock parcels of cannabis.

Salmon was then arrested and escorted to the Bartica Police Station where police, after checking the defendant, found that he had overstayed in Guyana for almost three months.

In court, the unrepresented man told the court that he had no interest in staying in Guyana and was making arrangements to travel to Suriname.

However, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) the Guyana-Suriname border had closed and he was left stranded.

The Chief Magistrate, however, remanded Salmon to prison and transferred the case to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court for April 16, 2020. He was discharged from the latter charge.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The PPP is guilty

RECENT reports of acts of violence against known and perceived supporters of the APNU+AFC coalition are most disheartening.

It all began on Friday, March 6 when supporters of the PPP, apparently at the urgings of that party’s leadership, launched a series of violent attacks on innocent citizens, including schoolchildren and law enforcement officers.

These perpetrators used the occasion, by way of protests against what they were led to believe were attempts to disenfranchise them, to target their fellow citizens. The rage was expressed in broad daylight, and the ethno-racial intent was hardly disguised.

This publication had editorialised on those events, and in the process, we bemoaned the fact that foreign and some local observers had failed to grasp the gravity of

those developments. Hence, there was not enough denunciation from those quarters. We were very sure then that that failure would only embolden the so-called protesters. That the PPP did not forcefully denounce the March 6 violence was a telling signal that it had embraced violence as both a tactic as well as a strategy to further its narrow partisan agenda. Violence of any nature is unbecoming; but that which emanates from a place of racial animosity is especially dangerous.

Guyana is no stranger to civil unrest. The scars of the ethnic disturbances of the 1960s are still very fresh in the psyche of our country; we have not yet fully recovered from that brutal period of our national journey. Since then, we have, from time to time, flirted with ethno-political violence, but have managed to hold our country together. But we know only too well

that there are forces which are bent on invoking that which they view as legitimate forms of political expression. We, of course, strenuously reject that world view, and call on all Guyanese to do likewise.

If we cannot compete for political office without resort to violence, then we are unfit to be part of an enlightened world. It is not always prudent to name culprits in a tense situation. But we are forced to identify the PPP as a guilty force in this instance; its rhetoric long before the election, and especially since March 2, has become an open licence for the violence we have witnessed these past few weeks.

That a political party vying for control of our government could feel comfortable spewing such hateful rhetoric speaks to a dreadful side of our national being that must be pushed back.

We, therefore, lay the responsi-

bility for the recent acts of terror in Region 5 squarely at the feet of that party; the instance of arson on the property of a known supporter of the PNC cannot be read as anything but that. The PPP has a history of “disciplining” Indo-Guyanese who deviate from the majority’s political thinking and action. Those who reside in areas of predominantly PPP supporters are especially vulnerable. These citizens are labeled betrayers whose actions fly in the face of religious-cultural mores, hence the resort to extreme forms of violence, which serve as both penalty and notice to others that the breaking of political ranks would not be tolerated.

This extra-judicial action is nothing short of mob-rule, which has no place in a civilised society.

We again call on the authorities to be vigilant against such actions. In this regard, we stand with Presi-

Verify voters’ whereabouts

Dear Editor,

I MUST thank you for publishing my letter on the implications of the foreign diplomats’ active involvement in the elections aftermath debacle at GECOM. Please, once again, permit me to throw in my penny’s worth to the issue of our elections credibility.

For a process to be deemed credible, it has to pass certain litmus tests from beginning to end. So, here is my suggestion for a litmus test: All Party agents and several of GECOM’s staff at a given Polling Place would have been armed with a copy of the OLE for that particular Polling Place.

Am I not correct? As an elector casts his/ her ballot, his/her name is ticked off by all persons so armed. Am I not correct?

Well, let us go back to those lists to ascertain a few things. We have to assume that once a name is ticked off, that that elector did cast his/her ballot on Elections Day. 1: We must then ascertain the whereabouts of each elector on Elections Day. That is to say, if Mary Paulin voted at Shulinab, was she in Shulinab on March 2, 2020? Obviously, if she was in Brazil, she could not cast her vote.

2: Similarly, if Joseph Marco was in

hospital on March 2, 2020, and he voted, then a valid ‘proxy’ had to have been produced to enable someone of his choice to vote for him. If a ballot was cast in his name, then the ‘proxy’ has to be produced.

3: Again, if Juliet Casimero voted, but it was discovered, during the litmus test, that she is dead, then we must ascertain the date of her death. Obviously, if she died before March 2, 2020, then it would be impossible for her to vote. During this exercise, we must have the database of Immigration and GRO at our disposal to cross- check every name, inclusive of the Database of the Guyana Prison Service and any other database that will show where our citizens were at any given point in time.

If, as I suspect, we have discovered any person voting who was not supposed to vote, then the entire process would have lacked credibility; not just the count. If, as I suspect we will find in abundance, certain names who voted on March 2, 2020, who were nowhere near Guyana, then we would know that a certain Pompous Political Party certainly engaged in Electoral Fraud. Once this is discovered, then all their other claims will be void.

The results of this exercise will then be shared with the International Observers. I know the exercise will take

time, at least three weeks, depending on how much resources we throw into it; but we have already waited three weeks for a result that the other Parties want to go a certain way. So, another three weeks should not be a problem, as long as we get to the bottom of this charade.

At least, we will know for sure who engaged in fraud. This is so necessary, since there were reports of Party operatives in possession of large quantities of Identification Cards. My suspicion is that that was not an isolated incident.

Let the verification of persons’ whereabouts begin. As I am on, I wonder why has there, up to now, been no condemnation of the post-elections violence by the International Community, the PSC, the GCCI, and other otherwise vocal Civil Society. I am still wondering why no one has come out in indignation at the obvious arson committed at Bush Lot, WCB. Can you imagine the noise that would have reverberated around the world, were these acts committed

by APNU+AFC supporters?

Just wondering.

Regards, Carl Parker

dent Granger in his denunciation of the violence in Region 5, and his call on the police to ensure the safety of citizens. This publication continues to respect the right to peaceful protest as a legitimate expression of political grievance, but the protests we have seen since March 2 do not fall into that category. President Granger’s words are most pertinent: “I urge the law enforcement agencies to act swiftly to ensure the safety of citizens, and to bring perpetrators to justice. The Guyana Police Force must ensure that Law and Order prevail, in the interest of the protection of citizens and the State.”

COVID brings increased risk of gender-based violence and child abuse

Dear Editor,

WORLDWIDE measures to prevent, protect against and respond to COVID 19, including social isolation, school closure, reduced hours/ days at workplaces, are resulting in lack of employment, reduced money for households, especially poor and vulnerable ones, increased stress and tension and increased reports of all forms of gender-based violence, exploitation and child abuse.

Guyana is no different.

CSOs in Guyana who work on child protection and response report that during school vacations there is a large spike in reports of child abuse, including child sexual abuse. COVID 19 greatly increases these

risks. As such, special measures must be put in place to respond effectively to this vulnerable and at risk population and women and girls and children in general.

We call on the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Protection to take all measures to ensure that health, education, child services, police and social service agency frontline workers are alerted to the increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence and the increased risk for children of physical, sexual, psychological abuse and neglect, have standard operating protocols (SOPs) readily available outlining steps for immediate survivor support and assistance, including referral numbers

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Kit, you have established yourself as a pen and mouth for hire Dear editor, WITH the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, many are struggling with having to stay indoors, and, clearly, a subset is not doing well in their new restrictive environs. One such character, whom I doubt is fit and proper to be characterised as such, is our local dinosaur who is way past his expiration date. Today, in anger, he penned a very perplexing missive in the local PPP media outlet, the Stabroek News. The dinosaur, now restricted to eating foliage and not his regular soup, went on a shock- and-awe literary attack on President-elect David Granger. I saw the headline, “Mr. Granger is a hypocrite in all he does,” and immediately wondered if our wonderful First Lady, Sandra Granger, had gone on the other side, namely the PPP. For, surely, only Mrs. Granger would have knowledge of all that the President does. Then commonsense prevailed, and that thought was immediately dismissed.

No one walks away from 50 years of marital bliss, an endearing slow hand, and a romantic easy touch. At this point, I immediately thought of the usual suspect who is forever peeping through the windows of the Grangers, so much so that he can confidently report what time they go to bed. But it struck me that he is, most likely, busy reprimanding Irfaan Ali for “came-ing out.” Ultimately, I scrutinised the foot of the letter, and the author was established. It was none other than the Political Prostitute Personified (PPP), Kit Nascimento.

Imagine this dinosaur, with a vacuous credibility, characterizing our loyal President as a hypocrite. It is this unusual characterisation of our President that motivated me to immediately, out of an abundance of caution, do an Online check to ensure that the meaning of hypocrite had not changed.

My research established this meaning, “someone who says they have particular moral beliefs but behaves in a way that shows these are not sincere.” Seriously, Kit! It is only prudent that I have a closer look at the dinosaur’s proposition to first establish if he has the moral authority to be casting such aspersions.

Please forgive me, but I will have to do a summary because of space and time limitations.

Kit started out as a PNC loyalist and someone who swore allegiance to LFS Burnham at a time before I was conceived. He was so committed that the PPP just had to sneeze, and without waiting for instructions, he would go on a full-scale attack of why he despised them. Dr. Cheddi Jagan was not excluded, as he characterised him as a “communist hypocrite”.

This relationship went on for decades, until the PNC lost the election in 1992. And in a wink, Kit unashamedly jumped ship to the PPP, and in the process changed his diet from PNC palm tree foliage to boneless soup. The whole world looked on as the Political Prostitute Personified went on a full-scale attack on the PNC, his previous loyal employers. This charade he carried on for over two decades, until the PPP lost the elections in 2015. And once again, the opportunistic dinosaur tried to jump ship, but a severely arthritic hip made that an impossible task, hence he was stuck with the PPP, who provided his daily boneless soup. Kit was optimistic that in 2020, with the conniving tricks of Mercury, he would have a change in diet to the more expensive crude oil, but, unfortunately, that was not to be. Now facing the end-game, he is hitting out, like a child who was denied a toy, at our President. From the above, it is clear that Kit lacks any credibility to be casting any aspersions, but I will proceed, even though the outcome is inevitable, out of fear of his claiming that I rigged the end result.

Let’s examine the Lady who Kit would rather not excercise her constitutional right. Lady Ulita Moore is not dissimilar to Master Cedric Richardson who was Jagdeo’s front-man for his Third Term case. If Kit’s memory serves him correctly, Jagdeo was running around Guyana, lying through his teeth that he has no further interest in public office. While saying this, he was simultaneously paying millions to have the CCJ overturn the Presidential term limits, which would have paved the way for him once again being the PPP’s Presidential Candidate. That, rightfully, failed, but he then

selected two puppets as the PPP’s Presidential Candidate, so that he can be the de facto President. Kit, isn’t that hypocritical?

Then Bharrat was on record, while he was President, as saying that GECOM is an autonomous body, and only they can determine the nature of the verification process.

Now, recognising that he will be opposition leader for life, he has changed his position to argue that GECOM is no longer autonomous, and our President can interfere with their work. He is also now saying that he can determine the nature of the verification, and not GECOM. Kit, isn’t that hypocritical?

Then, while Bharrat was President, he banned all State ‘ads’ from Stabroek News, because they had caused him to place them in his black books. Now, Stabroek News unilaterally terminated their contract with this Government, then went on a bawling spree that it is a repeat of Jagdeo’s actions. Jagdeo came out with great condemnation of the Government. Kit, isn’t that hypocritical? Kit, you know that Jagdeo is the most hypocritical politician in Guyana, but you would rather give him a pass; reason being that you are the mouthpiece of the PSC, which is an arm of the PPP. Unlike Ruel Johnson, you are not so stupid as to bite the hands that feed you.

Then, we all know about the 1997 elections, and what the PPP did. In essence, they defied a court order and swore in Janet Jagan as president.

Now, today, we are facing similar circumstances, and Kit and the PPP are saying to the APNU-AFC that they should not do what they the PPP did in 1997. It is clear, from our President’s actions, that he is staying on the right side of the law, something that PPP did not do in 1997. Kit, isn’t that hypocritical of PPP? Kit, you are now having a go at Lady Ulita Moore for exercising her constitutional right. When Anil Nandlall’s driver did it a few weeks ago, on behalf of the PPP, he was considered a private citizen and not PPP. When Cedric Richardson did it on behalf of the PPP, he was considered a private citizen and not PPP. Now Lady Ulita Moore is exercising her constitutional right, the party she allegedly supports is being used to define her. She is considered

APNU-AFC. Kit, get yuh notebook out and jot this down for future reference.

That is double standard, sexist, and hypocritical! So, with your double standard and hypocritical position, you have placed the blame on Mr. Granger for what a private citizen did, even though it is her constitutional right.

You wish for Mr. Granger to breach the Constitution and demand that she abort her case. You wish for him to be unconstitutional. Sounds familiar? Mr. Granger now has to carry the blame, even though it was he who invited CARICOM, and was working overtime to have the recount.

Kit, while you are at the blaming game, why not blame Mr. Granger for the Coronavirus which started in China? Why not blame him for climate change? Why not blame him for global warming? Why not blame him for the rising sea levels in Guyana? Everyone is seeing through both the PPP and yourself. Our President is beyond reproach; you can’t find any negative labels for him, hence you manufacture one. You will fail! You have failed! You are a big hypocrite! The PSC is a pack of hypocrites. The PPP is a cohort of hypocrites.

Roy Beepat is a hypocrite. Try focusing on those, and leave our President alone.

In concluding, I would say this. Kit, you have established yourself as a pen and mouth for hire, once the price is right. Based on the evidence, you are likely sexist. You are likely racist.

A black woman should not enjoy the rights that the Constitution states that she should have. You are an unapologetic hypocrite! A big hypocrite; a hypocrite who says what he is paid to say, and not what he genuinely believes! I know the burden of being a hypocrite is getting too much for you. That is a problem of your own making. Don’t try transference techniques to place it on the shoulders of an innocent man; a man who is beyond reproach; a man who is loved by all; a man who is the President for all of Guyana and not the oligarchs like yourself!

Regards, Dr. Mark Devonish

The brain is one’s best friend during a pandemic Dear Editor,

IS there a sanitizer for the brain? Yes! Prayer, meditation, yoga, music, laughter, nature. Whatever healthy and legal activity brings pleasure to the mind can relax the brain and the body. My miniature Paradise is a steamy cup of cinnamon tea, a blanket, and a book. What is your brain bliss?

Do you need to quarantine the brain from information overload? Yes! Too much sunshine is a desert, and too much rain is a flood. Give your brain a break from obsessive viewing of news about the coronavirus.

Decrease your daily dose of health facts. Watching funny animal videos brings warm fuzzies to my crispy brain. Do you need to go on a social media diet for a while? Yes! However, connecting via technology can be therapeutic during disease isolation. But avoid ardent complainers, dooms-day prophets, and fault-finders.

Give your psyche some positive word food with hopeful conversation. Escaping into Pollyanna la-la land is not what I’m suggesting. Stay in reality, but balance brain and body exposure to data and statistics. A brain buffet of panic is not healthy or helpful.

Recently, the Washington Post penned an article with advice from mental health experts about easing anxiety during the pandemic. Psychologist Kathy Hogan-Bruen recommends that individuals prone to anxiety “really try to limit the news consumption, or just staring at your phone and your computer, because, for most of us, that makes mental health worse rather than better.”

“The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the thinking brain.”—Daniel Goleman.

Emotions are created in the brain and show up in the body. Fear is a natural reaction during a pandemic.

However, anxiety and panic ensure when fear jumps on the emotional rollercoaster, and speeds up and down with uncertainty. Fear of the unknown can paralyze logical thinking. The unexpected can derail us and catapult us into a brain hullabaloo. The fight, flight, or freeze response begins in the amygdala, which is an almond-shaped bundle of neurons that forms part of the limbic system in the brain.

“You are not your emotions. Emotions are, by their very nature, strong. However, it’s important to get clear that you are not your emotions. You are a person with values and commitments who happens to have emotions that are triggered on a regular and ongoing basis. This point might seem semantic, but it isn’t. When we become fused to our emotions – thinking that ‘they’ and ‘we’ are one and the same thing – we are effectively hijacked by them. If you can notice emotions without becoming them, they no longer determine your behavior.” Visit www.psychologytoday.com.

Beliefs, perception, and perspective are created inside the amazing skull setting on the neck. Challenge scary thoughts instead of inviting them in for a tea party. You are the boss of your brain. And thoughts are just thoughts. When you can’t control the situation, you can change how you think about the situation. The brain is connected to the body.

What is healthy for the brain is also healthy for the body. What is healthy for the body is also healthy for the brain. Hydration, sleep, creativity, fresh air, nature walks, having fun with children, petting animals. Replace fear with faith. Replace panic with prayer. Rekindle hope in humanity. Your brain is your best friend—so take care to treat it well during stressful times. “I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.”—Catherine the Great Regards, Dr. Melissa Martin

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Is Kit Nascimento the real hypocrite --or is he Nascimento, the Kid?

Dear Editor, TEMPER tantrums can be frustrating for any parent.” (kidshealth.org) I know the adult population of Guyana must be frustrated by the tantrums thrown by someone like Kit Nascimento who is simply reacting like kids throwing a temper tantrum when they don’t get what they want.

The fact that things are not going his way or according to the nefarious plans of the ‘mob’ he represents, Kit Nascimento throws this tantrum, calling Guyana’s most highly-respected and distinguished Statesman, His Excellency the President of Guyana, David Granger, a hypocrite.

‘Kidshealth.org’ encourages parents and adults to be patient in the face of kids’ tantrums, and to use them as opportunities to educate.

This response to ‘Kid’ Nascimento’s tantrum is an effort to do just that.

Assuming that there is a pause between tantrums, we can now patiently and politely remind ‘Kid’ Nascimento that Guyana is a country of Laws. The Rule of Law does not work exclusively for one elite group of society, although we recognise clearly that he and his cohorts would relish that, and are working to make it so. In fact, Guyana is a democracy which is “a system of government by the whole population or ALL the eligible members of a State”. If we have not yet lost the kid’s attention, the adults around him must go on to explain that the definitions above create no scope for Mr. Granger to determine who must approach the courts, and when and who must not. Calling him

a hypocrite for his observance of, and respect for, the Rule of Law does not make him one, even if you do so, kicking and screaming like a child in pampers. Got that so far big ‘Kid’ Nascimento!

Ok! Let’s proceed. When you say that ‘all Guyanese and all the democratic world has witnessed the failure of GECOM to deliver credible results’, there are a lot of reasonable people who would agree with you. Some have argued passionately, for example, that they have hard evidence of election fraud by the PPP in Region 3, and have asked for a recount, but the RO said NO!!!

(His right under the law).

Others said the same for Regions 2 and 6, and in those cases, the ROs again said NO!! (Their right under the law). Was ‘Kid’ Nascimento aware of those facts?

But no one has any right

to call Bharrat Jagdeo or Irfaan Ali a hypocrite, because they did not fight those ROs who are perceived to be loyal to the PPP. If their loyalty to any Party led them to do anything that was unfair towards another is a matter of concern, and for GECOM to address. The evidence should be presented at an appropriate time and place, and those allegations must be addressed. It would be unfair to call the PPP leadership hypocrites, if they benefitted unfairly from those ROs’ exercise of their rights, under the law, UNLESS, of course, that same leadership would require a different standard in other regions. To the best of my knowledge, Nascimento did not call anyone in the PPP a hypocrite. No one threw any tantrums because of Nascimento’s and the observers’ deafening silence on those matters. Everyone accepted that they were respecting the Law in Regions 2, 3 and 6.

For some strange rea-

Foreign interference in Guyana’s elections --CARICOM should be very worried Dear Editor, FOREIGN electoral interventions are attempts by governments, covertly or overtly, to influence elections in another country.

There are many ways that nations have accomplished regime change abroad, and electoral intervention is only one of those methods.

In fact, Corstange and Marinov have identified two types of electoral interventions, partisan foreign influencer takes the side of open of the parties and process – this is when the foreign influencer tries to dictate a democratic electoral process i.e. how the electoral process and system ought to work.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) hired Mer-

cury Public Affairs to engineer foreign interference in Guyana’s General and Regional Elections, Guyana’s electoral system and the constitutional agency responsible for managing and overseeing the electoral system - GECOM. In addition to this, the PPP hired Mercury to engineer social unrest and deepen divisions among the Guyanese people. Such blatant disregard and disrespect for Guyana’s Constitution by the PPP follow a track record of the PPP. In 1997 Janet Jagan threw a Court Order preventing her swearing-in because she was secretly sworn in before the Court Order was served, thereby nullifying the effect of it.

In short, Mercury was hired to solicit and shape the opinions of a several US

Government Officials, elections observer missions, the US Foreign Relations Senate Committee, the Ambassadors of the ABC countries, and the President of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. among others. The range of topics that Mercury and the PPP sought to influence public opinion and the narrative on including the no-confidence motion, the Caribbean Court of Justice, performance of the economy and a range of elections issues including the presumptive winner, riggers and the use and threat of sanctions to influence and dominate public opinion in Guyana and further afield.

Encouraging foreign interference in Guyana’s elections is unprecedented. In fact, this has nev-

er happened in any other CARICOM member state. This should be a grave concern for CARICOM as we can expect more of this type of strategy being used by political parties in the region. If this continues in short, this will bring greater political instability, social unrest, and denial of the will of the people in each member state. Foreign electoral interventions are attempts by governments, covertly or overtly, to influence elections in another country. There are many ways that nations have accomplished regime change abroad, and electoral intervention is only one of those methods.

Regards, R. Chung-A-On

son, everyone, local and international, appears to struggle with that same Law when applied to Region 4. I believe what Nascimento’s tantrum has highlighted is that he and his strange bedfellows, locally and internationally, are appalled that one group of Guyanese has the audacity to expect equal rights under the Law. His obviously infantile tantrum amounts to the following question they posed themselves, and the self-serving answer they provide themselves: Why can’t the members and supporters of the APNU-AFC coalition not accept that whereas all persons are equal under the Law, ‘some are more equal than others’?

Now for their self-serving answer: Since Mr. Granger seems unwilling or incapable of imposing his personal perspective upon every single stakeholder in the ‘Coalition’, that leads to the erroneous conclusion

that it must be that he is a hypocrite.

If Kit is not the kid his baseless tantrum depicts, then he must agree that Mr. Granger’s efforts to bring resolution were very well-intentioned; that’s a truth even the blind would recognise. Mr. Granger, however, must not be held responsible for every single action of every member of the ‘Coalition’ he leads, especially when those members/supporters are exercising their democratic right under the Law. All Guyanese are equal under the Law. Ulita Moore’s struggle is really one to keep it so. Kit Nascimento’s tantrum is nothing but childish. Having used it as an opportunity to educate, let us now move on… And I am sure that Kit, the kid, will soon catch up.

Regards, Mark DaCosta

COVID brings increased ... and addresses for state and NGO support services, and adequate transportation to places of safety when and if needed.

Public education safety advisories should be widely issued to alert the public about emergency hotlines so that adults or children at risk or members of the public who are aware of such situations know where to report and what services are available. We ask that both GT&T and Digicel issue such advisories often and consistently and that all media outlets, TV and radio stations and social media platforms are given the advisories and transmit them often and consistently.

UNICEF has issued advisories and full use should be made of these and adapted if needed for Guyana.

The contact numbers for the undermentioned NGOs and agencies and the services they offer are as follows: Help & Shelter Psycho social counselling, Shelter Services for abused women their children and TIP women and girls 225 4731, 227 3454, 227 8353

Red Thread Peer counselling & referral support for abused women and children 227 0909, 227 2575, 641 7326, 646 5075 Blossom Inc Child protection support for children & families affected by sexual abuse Emergency contact 680 6700 ChildLink Inc Counselling for children &families experiencing any form of violence 223, 3500, 227 2023, 623 8496 United Bricklayers Psycho social counselling and support for SGBV, child abuse, suicide, substance abuse 696 9803, 683 0283 Yours faithfully, Danuta Radzik for Help & Shelter Karen de Souza for Red Thread Ayo Dalgety-Deen for Blossom Inc. Omattie Madray for ChildLink Inc. Roxan La Rose for United Bricklayers

GUYANA CHRONICLE TuesdAY March 24, 2020

Jagdeo wants GECOM to produce SOPs in court

9

…CEO objects, arguments set for today

By Svetlana Marshall IN another twist of events, an application was filed in the High Court for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to produce the Statements of Polls (SOPs) for the votes cast in Region 4 (Demerara-Mahaica) during the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

The application – an Application for Discovery against GECOM – was filed by Bharrat Jagdeo, the Leader of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) List of Candidates. Today in High Court, Justice Franklin Holder will hear arguments for and against the application.

However, ahead of those oral submissions, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, through his attorney – Senior Counsel Neil Boston, objected to the application on Monday.

Outside of the Court, Boston told journalists that an Application for Discovery could only be brought by way of an Election Petition. “The Court doesn’t have jurisdiction to deal with that issue that is for an election petition” the Senior Counsel said.

According to the Laws of Guyana, an Election Petition ought to be filed within 28 days of the declaration of the results for the General and Regional Elections by GECOM. Boston made it known that the CEO is not prepared to produce the SOPs at this stage.

“It is only the Elections Judge could ask for that. Only the Elections Judge could ask for that, there is no such thing as discovery.

You can’t want to bring through the backdoor, something that is expressly shut out from coming through the front door in a process like this. That has to be done by way of an Elections Petition,” the Senior

Counsel said.

Jagdeo’s Attorney, Anil Nandlall was not physically present in the Court on Monday but appeared via Skype. However, PPP/C nominated Elections Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, who was present in the Court, was outraged over the CEO’s initial objection to the Application for Discovery.

“What I have observed today is a very stringent objection by those two parties’ representatives, when I say those two parties I mean the Chief Elections Officer’s Lawyer to that application. And I want to ask the question, why? Why is there a very stringent and almost violent objection to the disclosure of those documents that are in the possession of the Chief Elections Officer,” Gunraj questioned, during his engagement with the press.

Confronted with the question of an Election Petition being required, Gunraj, though not highlighting the legal basis for such a request, argued that it is an entitlement of the people.

“Citizens who vote have a right to proper and transparent processes for the declaration of their results and, the Statements of Poll, which are the conclusive evidence of the results of those elections, of course, I believe, are an entitlement of electors who participated in the process,” he reasoned.

He added: “I disagree strongly with the contention that this is not the forum and it should be for an election petition.”

Attorney-at-Law Mayo Robertson, who is representing Ulita Moore in the case brought against GECOM, its Chair Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh and the Chief Elections Officer, said once the arguments are submitted, it would be for Justice Holder to decide.

“Essentially, they are trying to

Attorney-at-Law Mayo Robertson

Senior Counsel Neil Boston

get some information that they believe is relevant to supporting their case but there are some rules that govern what is available in these kinds of cases, and the judge will decide whether they are entitled to it or not,” Robertson told journalists outside of the High Court. The legal arguments will be made today before Justice Holder .

CONSOLIDATION OF CASE Aside from the Application for Discovery against GECOM, Justice Holder, on Monday, granted an application to consolidate the case filed by Ulita Moore with the case filed by Jagdeo and Reeaz Holladar, a private citizen.

Jagdeo and Holladar’s application is seeking to set aside the second declaration made by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo on Friday, March 13, 2020 while the application filed by Moore seeks to bar the GECOM from facilitating a National Recount on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and in breach of the Representation of the People Act.

The application to consolidate the two cases was filed by Jagdeo and Holladar last Friday, and when the matter came on Monday, Moore, GECOM, its Chair and CEO had no objections, and as such the application was granted.

With the cases being heard simultaneously, the Chief Elections Officer and other respondents in the case brought by Jagdeo and Holladar, have until 10:00hrs on Wednesday to file their Affidavits in Defence while Jagdeo and Holladar are required to file a reply by 12:00hrs on Wednesday.

“We then have to put our written submissions in relation to both matters by 4pm Thursday, and on Thursday, we may know, what date the Judge will deliver,” Boston told journalists.

According to him, the cases are being heard with a certain degree of alacrity. “So we are moving at a certain pace. Probably by Saturday, everything is over, if not Saturday, Sunday it is all over. So we are moving with a certain degree of alacrity,” he posited.

On Saturday March 14, Presi-

One of three accused of larceny sentenced, two granted bail ON Friday, March 20, 2020, Ceon Singh, a 23-year-old of North East La Penitence, Osmond Wayne, a 36-year-old vendor of Tucville, and James Rodney, a 45-year-old of Sophia, appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, having been slapped with several charges.

The first charge alleged that, on Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at North East, La Penitence, Georgetown, Singh broke and entered the home of Tinesha Edwards and stole one Iphone 7 valued at $70,000, one LG cellular phone valued at $40,000, one amazon tablet valued at $15,000, one handbag valued at $5,000 and $40,000 cash.

The second charge alleged that, between Tuesday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 18, 2020, at Stabroek Georgetown, Wayne received an amazon tablet valued at $15,000 knowing that the item had been stolen or unlawfully obtained. The item being the property of Tinesha Edwards.

The third charge alleged that, between Tuesday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 18, 2020 at Stabroek Georgetown, Rodney received one LG cellular phone valued at $40,000 knowing that the item had been stolen or unlawfully obtained. The item being the property of Tinesha Edwards.

When the charges were read to them, Rodney and Wayne pleaded not guilty to the charges whilst Singh pleaded guilty.

According to the report, on the day in question, Tuesday, March 10, at about 01:15 hours, Edwards secured her home and retired to bed. At about 05:45 hours on the said day, Edwards woke and discovered that her home was broken into and the items mentioned in the charge were missing.

She reported the matter and an investigation was launched. On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at about 20:00 hours, Ceon Singh was arrested. While he was being interviewed, he disclosed his involvement in the alleged crime

as well as, the involvement of Wayne and Rodney. The information provided, led to Wayne being contacted on Wednesday, March 18, and the stolen tablet was found in his possession.

Consequentially, he was arrested.

Singh disclosed further information in regards to finding one of the phones which he had stolen, which led the police to another suspect, Rodney.

Rodney was contacted and one of the stolen cellular phones was found in his possession. As a result, he was arrested and subsequently placed into custody.

All three individuals were then charged for the offences committed.

Magistrate Daly proceeded to grant Wayne and Rodney $35,000 bail and $25,000 bail respectively. They both were ordered to report to the Brickdam Police Station at the Criminal Investigation Department on Mondays at 09:00 hours. However, Singh was sentenced to 9 months in prison.

The matter was adjourned until Friday, May 15, 2020.

GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj

dent David Granger and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo, following an intervention by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), had agreed that a national recount was necessary but by Tuesday, March 17, Moore secured an interim injunction blocking GECOM from facilitating the national recount of all the votes cast at the March 2 Elections.

Moore secured a total of four interim orders, which will in effect brought the electoral process to a halt until the judicial review is completed. In the FDA, Moore is seeking a total of 25 declarations from the High Court. In effect, the declarations, if granted, would set aside any decision of the Elections Commission to facilitate a recount, thereby paving the way for the Chief Elections Officer to submit his report to the Elections Commission for a final declaration of the results of the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

Once this is done, GECOM will inform the Chancellor of the Judiciary and the President will be sworn in.

Body in Church Street trench identified THE body of a man of African descent that Police removed from the Church Street trench, in close proximity to Peter Rose Street, on March 17, 2020, has been identified.

The victim is Rown Tappin, a resident of Sophia, whose body was identified by his wife, according to Commander of `A’ Division, Phillip Azore.

Tappin was clothed in a white t- shirt, pants and boots and a birth certificate was in one of his pockets.

A post-mortem examination was conducted on the body and the cause of death was recorded as drowning.

The commander said, while they had no further details, the investigation has not been closed as they would still like to find out what led to the man drowning in the trench.

Deceased Rown Tappin

Contacted the evening the body was discovered, the commander told the Guyana Chronicle that the police had received a call via the Emergency 911 line around 17:45 hrs. Ranks proceeded to the area, cordoned off the scene and proceeded to extract the body as a small crowd of curious onlookers gathered.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Guyanese must join hands against COVID-19 – PM URGES Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has said that no call in Guyana today is greater than that for national unity.

Writing in his weekly column My Turn, under the caption “Invisible but not Invincible”, Mr. Nagamootoo pointed out that both the coronavirus pandemic and the fragile political situation, when combined, would make an explosive time-bomb.

Our major ethnic groups, he said, are dagger’s tip apart in a situation that requires astute leadership. “COVID is not a terrorist. It has no suicide belt. It would not self destruct. We have to collectively defeat it. COVID-19 may be invisible but it is not invincible if all of us, not only have clean hands, but we join hands!” the

veteran journalist-politician appealed.

Returning to his pet theme of shared governance Prime Minister Nagamootoo observed that our leaders might feel that it is wrong to have reproachment now.

But the time is now, he added, when they must indicate that they are committed to a government of national unity.

He delved into the country’s contemporary history when he claimed that the major political parties forged unity in the face of threats to Guyana’s sovereignty.

The coronavirus, he said, is the deadliest threat of all times. “It is slowly but surely seeping into the sinews of our soul that we are waging a war against an enemy that is invisible…At the speed with which it is spreading,

if it is not contained, COVID-19 could destroy within months a big portion of the world’s population. As Chairman of the National Coronavirus Task Force, Mr. Nagamootoo pointed out that our people are living in dire fear of the virus, and have gone into what he described as “lock-down modes”.

“We go to work if we have to, travel only when necessary, and observe advisories on good hygiene and sanitation.” He further noted that Guyanese across the board understand that Caronavirus is not about party politics or racial sentiments, and it presents national leaders with an opportunity to work together for the common good of our people.

Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo

‘The GPF is apolitical’ --- Former Commissioner, Seelall Persaud chastised for unfounded, biased remarks

Former Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud has come under fire by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for several accusations leveled to the Force regarding its actions during the breakdown in the final tabulation of ballots cast in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

On Monday, the GPF sent on a lengthy release reprimanding the Former Commissioner for his position on the matter which they noted reveal a clear bias although non-partisan was claimed.

Persaud had written an open letter to the GPF on March 18, 2020 urging the police to take opposite actions to what they took during the chaos which unfolded at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) command center regarding the tabulation of the Region Four Statements of Poll (SOPs).

Leaders of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and other small opposing party – mostly men --- had invaded the center with the intention to bulldoze their way into the office of GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.

The police were the only persons standing between the irate men and the office of the chair.

They were also present when loud arguments and confrontations took place earlier days at the Center and when its doors were shut by order of the Commission and those refusing to leave were escorted out.

In his assessment, Persaud said that “hardship and suffering” would ensue due to the tabulation challenges and blamed the same on the “anti- democratic action of a few in our society”.

In his open letter he urged the Police Force not to act as they did in they did at the Center but to protect citizens from a “tyrannical regime”.

“It is crucial that you do not act as you did at the Region 4 RO’s Office and the Arthur Chung Con-

vention Center when you evicted people who had a legal right to be there and who were advancing the protection of Construction Rights of the Guyanese People,” Persaud said.

“On the other hand, in a tyrannical regime, the Police are employed against ordinary and law abiding people who are delivered into the hands of injustice and impunity. In the latter case, the Police loses its professionalism, independence and Control and the people that suffers includes their relatives, friends and themselves. Is that what we want?”

GPF IS APOLITICAL In a release on Monday, the GPF stated that it is concerned about the remarks of Persaud which suggest that the Force engaged in the practice of unprofessional and partisan acts.

It pointed out that the intention of Former Police Commissioner was apparently to negatively influence a particular section of the society towards the GPF in general; to sully the image of its senior administration and perhaps to sow discord within the Force and society.

“The Administration of the Force has utmost respect for freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana. However, any misrepresentation of fact(s) needs to be strenuously addressed and in this regard necessitates perspicuity,” the release stated.

“It should be further noted that the GPF is apolitical and not officious. In that regard ranks were reminded to keep their personal political preferences to themselves, off and away from all police locations, and absent in the execution of their duties.”

The GPF also stated that likewise to Persaud’s position that he stayed away from political activism and expressions during his tenure, so does the current Administration of the GPF.

On different occasions, the GPF Senior Administration has met with leaders of the PPP/C; diplomats, Ambassadors and High Commis-

Former Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud

sioners out of America, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union and head representatives of the Carter Centre, Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) and Private Sector Commission.

The GPF said that the aforementioned parties can attest that the Force GPF gave its assurance --- and kept the same --- that during the Election period the police would maintain its professionalism.

Persaud had also called into question to the acts of the GPF regarding their request that all persons leave the Arthur Chung Convention Center last week following a change in the planned national recount.

Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers had informed those in the building that the center would be closed for the night and no recount would be taking place.

Inside the compound of the Center, things escalated when Opposition-nominated Commissioner

Robeson Benn refused to leave and took up firm position by lying flat on his back on the floor of the walkway out of the building.

After speaking to Benn sternly and noticing no change, Benn claimed that the police sought to physically remove him from the compound but he held on to the rails.

In the Monday release, the GPF stated that it can rest assured that it operated within the confines of the Law provided for by Section 3(2) of the Police Act Cap. 16:01 and in keeping with the Constitution by virtue of article 197A (4) which empowers the police to maintain law and order for all.

SERVED DESPTITE CIRCUMSTANCE The GPF said that while Persaud’s letter seems to focus on the two locations, it completely ignores all other efforts of the Force to duo its duty it the challenging of circumstances.

“It should also be noted that the post-election activities where the police exercised a high degree of restraint were not given any recognition by the former Commissioner of Police. Such partisan commentary speaks volumes. There were incidents which saw ranks being subjected to verbal abuse by some persons of civil society. Ranks were also attacked by protestors armed with firearms, cutlasses, wood, iron and other crude weapons which resulted in several police ranks being seriously injured, and hospitalised, while others were so traumatised that professional counselling had to be sought. Also school children were injured and hospitalized, public buses and private motor vehicles were damaged and public roadways were blocked with tyres, lamp poles and other materials which were set on fire,” the GPF pointed out.

The release indicated that

throughout these episodes ranks of the GPF continued to exercise much restraint and, through widely aired on both social and print media, Persaud had played a blind eye to the same and chosen other justified matters to highlight which speaks volumes.

Furthermore, the GPF said that Persaud’s remarks on the consequences that are likely to manifest into “hardship and suffering” should be cause for grave national concern based on the manner he expressed the same with “certainty and conviction”.

It rebuked the Former Commissioner for his sentiments which suggested the selective deployment of Officers reminding Persaud that the deployment of Officers has always been the Commissioner’s call.

“This is a phenomenon that can be examined historically and one which has been a part of the modus operandi of successive post-independence Commissioners, without exception,” the GPF said.

“In the case of the two scenarios highlighted and compared by the author i.e. Free Regime and Tyranical Regime, it must be emphasised that Guyana is a democratic State. The GPF, which is an institution of the State, is a professional organisation and in the conduct of its mandate that professionalism is exercised daily which is in keeping with any government that is deemed to be democratic. Notwithstanding the distracting views of the author, the Administration of the Guyana Police Force remains resolutely committed to its motto of ‘Service and Protection’ for all in the maintenance of public safety and security without fear or favour.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Banks to close from midday today LOCAL banks have taken a decision to reduce their opening hours as a precautionary measure to protect staff and customers.

According to the Guyana Association of Bankers Inc, banks will be opened from 08:00hrs to 12:00hrs (noon) until further notice. This will take effect from today.

“This is a temporary measure, with potential for an extended period, contingent on the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Association said.

Customers are also be-

ing encouraged to utilise Online and mobile banking services to monitor their accounts, view account balances, make payments, and transfer funds. Additional facilities such as ATM services, debit and credit cards, night depository and drivethrus, where available, can be used as an alternative.

According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe dis-

eases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).

The coronavirus outbreak reportedly originated in Wuhan, China, and has since spread to many other countries, including some in the Americas. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, coughs, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and

Larceny mastermind remanded, accomplice granted bail ON Friday, March 20, 2020, Carlton Akeem Bourne, a 25-year-old of Chapel Street, and Charles Cozier, a 41-year-old Goldsmith of River View Ruimveldt, appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, having been slapped with several charges.

The first charge alleged that, Bourne, on Monday, March 16, 2020, at Roxanne Burnham Graden / Rasville, Greater Georgetown, while in the company of another and armed with a gun, robbed Lorrain Brower of 2 gold chains (with pendant) valued $85,000.

The second charge alleged that, Bourne, on Monday, March 16, 2020, at Roxanne Burnham Graden / Rasville, Greater Georgetown, discharged a loaded firearm at Lorraine Brower with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or to cause grievous bodily harm.

The third charge alleged that, Bourne, on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at East La Penitence Dam, Greater Georgetown, had, in his possession, a 0.32 revolver without being the holder of a valid firearm licence.

The fourth charge alleged that, Bourne, on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at East La Penitence Dam, Greater Georgetown, had, in his possession, two live rounds of 0.32 ammunition without being the holder of a valid firearm licence.

The fifth charge alleged that, Cozier, on Monday 16, 2020, at River View Ruimveldt, Greater Georgetown, received from Carlton Akeem Bourne, 2 gold chains with pendant valued at $85,000 knowing the item to be stolen or unlawfully obtained. The item being the property of Lorraine Brower.

When the charges were read to them, Bourne and Cozier pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to the report, Brower and Bourne were not known to each other.

On the day in question, Monday, March 16, 2019, Brower was painting her fence at her Roxanne Burnham residence, when Bourne and his accomplice approached

her and snatched her two gold chains from around her neck. Brower responded by looking at Bourne and he shot her once with the firearm, that he had at the time, causing her to receive injuries to her left foot. He and his accomplice then made good their escape on a motorcycle.

Brower was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation to receive immediate medical attention. The police, after receiving information, proceeded to arrest Bourne on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. He was told of the allegation and cautioned. Bourne provided oral and written statements, admitting to robbing and shooting Brower. Bourne further proceeded to surrender the firearm with the two live rounds of 0.32.

Bourne’s statements led the police to Cozier, the person to whom he had allegedly sold the gold chains that he robbed Brower of. The police went to Cozier’s home and he was told of the allegation. Cozier admitted under caution that he had purchased the two chains from Bourne for $65,000. He further mentioned that he unfortunately had already melted them and made his own thing. Nevertheless, he was willing to pay to resolve the matter. Further investigations were conducted and he was charged. Brower, a 62-year-old pensioner is still hospitalized with the bullet presently lodged in her left foot.

The prosecutor mentioned to the court that Brower was still hospitalized nursing the gunshot wound and that Bourne had assisted the police with their investigations by providing them with information which led them to the firearm. However, there was no special reason for Bourne to be granted bail.

Magistrate Daly, remanded Bourne to prison until Friday, May 15, 2020.

Magistrate Daly granted Cozier $30,000 bail and adjourned the matter regarding his charge until Friday, May 8, 2020.

even death.

Persons who suspect that they may have the virus are advised not to visit a health facility, but instead call on several provided hotlines,

where it can be arranged for a health team to visit.

Health Minister Volda Lawrence has noted that additional hotline numbers have been added, and

staffing has been increased to facilitate efficiency. The numbers are: 226-7480; 229-7490; 231-1166; 2274986; 624-6674; 624-2819; & 624-9355.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

IMF sets aside US$1trillion in loans for poor countries …says COVID-19 impact could be worst global financial crisis

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that the Coronavirus pandemic could be worse than the 2008 Global Financial Crisis as the expected negative global growth could push recovery into 2021.

The Global Financial Crisis in question was the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. World leaders are reassessing the outlook and extent of the negative possibilities

of COVID-19 with over 100 countries now affected, over 300,000 with the virus globally and over 15,000 dead.

Following a conference call of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on Monday, IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva said that the human cost of the pandemic is “immeasurable”. “First, the outlook for global growth: for 2020 it is negative—a recession at least as bad as during the global

financial crisis or worse. But we expect recovery in 2021.

To get there, it is paramount to prioritize containment and strengthen health systems— everywhere. The economic impact is and will be severe, but the faster the virus stops, the quicker and stronger the recovery will be,” she said.

The extraordinary fiscal actions taken by many countries to boost health systems and protect affected workers and firms has been lauded by

the IMF. Georgieva said that the body further welcomed the moves of major central banks to ease monetary policy.

Guyana’s Central Bank, the Bank of Guyana (BOG), has urged local financial institutions to offer relief to customers to counteract the economic and financial fallout of COVID-19 in the form of reduced interest rates on loans and credit cards; deferred loan payment, waived or reduced fees for banking transactions

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva

and reduced in-person transactions.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotia Bank) and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company are among some already facilitating delayed bill payments. “These bold efforts are not only in the interest of each country, but of the global economy as a whole. Even more will be needed, especially on the fiscal front,” the IMF Managing Director said referring to measures taken globally.

She acknowledged that advanced economies are generally in a better position to respond to the crisis but emerging markets and low-income countries could face significant challenges.

Georgieva informed the public in her statement: “They are badly affected by outward capital flows, and domestic activity will be severely impacted as countries respond to the epidemic. Investors have already removed US$83 billion from emerging markets since the beginning of the crisis, the largest capital outflow ever recorded. We are particularly concerned about low-income countries in debt distress—an issue on which we are working closely with the World Bank.”

Local media reported just days ago that ExxonMobil halted its construction of its headquarters at Ogle while JetBlue’s launch in Guyana has been pushed to October.

Several other events planned by the entertainment industry have been curtailed while the ongoing 14-day ban on international travel to the country has also cut off possible investors.

As Guyana continues to ramp up efforts to safeguard against the virus, the government, through the Ministry of Finance, has requested US$5M from the World Bank under the Banks’ Rapid Response Facility.

If approved, the fund will boost efforts coordinated by the Ministry of Public Health and other ministries to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The request is still being processed.

In the meanwhile, the government is also examining possible support from the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) which is currently organizing a Rapid Response Fund.

When it comes to the IMF, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan has stated that the government will not reach out to the body for funding, unless it is for a grant.

Nonetheless, for countries like Guyana which are IMF members, the IMF has made available a number of relief measures. One of which is the replenishing the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to help the poorest countries.

Georgieva said, on Monday, that the IMF stands ready to deploy all its US$1 trillion lending capacity and is stepping up emergency finance as nearly 80 countries have requested help.

The IMF Managing Director noted that several lowand middle-income countries have asked the IMF to make a Special Drawing Right (SDR) allocation as resorted to during the Global Financial Crisis.

The option is still being discussed. In addition to international financing, there is also the option of accessing funds from the Natural Resources Fund (NRF), which is in the United States of America (USA)’s Federal Reserve Bank.

The IMF has also stated that it is working closely with the other international financial institutions to provide a strong coordinated response while concentrating bilateral and multilateral surveillance on the crisis and policy actions to temper its impact.

Meanwhile, major central banks have initiated bilateral swap lines with emerging market countries and the IMF has urged that as the global liquidity crunch takes hold, members are needed to provide additional swap lines. “These are extraordinary circumstances. Many countries are already taking unprecedented measures.

We at the IMF, working with all our member countries, will do the same. Let us stand together through this emergency to support all people across the world,” Georgieva encouraged. “The human costs of the Coronavirus pandemic are already immeasurable and all countries need to work together to protect people and limit the economic damage.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

COVID-19…

Aishalton establishes checkpoint for visitors, residents … village gates to close from 18:00hrs to 06:00hrs THE Deep South Rupununi village of Aishalton has established a checkpoint to monitor the entry of persons to the area.

At the same time, the village council has erected a gate at the entrance to the village, Toshao Michael Thomas noted on Monday.

He stated on his Facebook page that the checkpoint has been established at the Kabanwao Bridge and comprises village officials, police and health staff.

“We are calling on all persons traversing the area to cooperate with the team who will be at the check point,” Thomas said.

He said the gate will be closed from 18:00hrs each day until 06:00hrs the following day until further notice.

”This effort is to safeguard our people from the dangerous COVID-19,” Thomas said.

He said that the village council, the police, health staff, village officials and the people of the area are committed to taking all necessary precautions against the dreaded disease.

Already, several indigenous villages across the country have put systems in place to protect its residents from the global pandemic. They include Santa Rosa at Moruca, Orealla and St Cuthbert’s Mission.

The coronavirus has been sweeping the globe since the first outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It has since spread to 176 countries, infecting over 332,900 persons, and being

US Embassy assisting Americans stuck in Guyana over COVID-19 THE United States (US) Embassy in Guyana is assisting Americans currently in Guyana who are having difficulty departing the country, following a high number of inquiries on same.

Taking to its Facebook page on Monday, the US Embassy put out a survey of six questions which sought to determine the nationality of those who might need help and how many.

“If you are an American citizen having difficulty departing Guyana, please complete the survey so that we can better track how many Americans may need help,” the short message encouraged.

“We are trying to keep up with high numbers of calls and emails from American citizens.

There are no flights departing Guyana today. We will keep you informed when we learn of possible flight options.”

On March 17, 2020, Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Lt. Col. (ret'd) Egbert Field, announced that, to slow the process of COVID-19 in the country, Guyana would close its airports to all international flights for two weeks, beginning at midnight on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

Exception has been given to outgoing flights, cargo flights, Medevac flight, technical stops by airplanes for fuel and special authorised flights. Based on consultation with the Ministry of Public Health, if deemed necessary, this period can be extended. The survey put out

by the Embassy, on Monday, sought to determine whether the person taking the survey was an American citizen in Guyana seeking flight departure to the US; his/her name and contact information; the number of American and/ non-American citizen family members he/she hopes to travel with; their US destination state and whether they are enrolled in the US Department of State Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).

The STEP is a free service to allow US citizens and nationals travelling and living abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest US Embassy or Consulate. Through the programme, persons can receive important information from the Embassy about safety conditions in their destination country and can help the Embassy contact individuals in the case of an emergency, whether natural disaster, civil unrest, or family emergency.

Meanwhile, as both the US and Guyana work to stop the spread of COVID-19, non-immigrant visa appointments and immigrant visa appointments were suspended as of March 16 and 17 respectively by the local embassy with no new date for recommencement. “Recognizing that some American citizens travelled to Guyana to accompany their family members applying for immigrant visas, we continue to provide emergency visa appointments,” the Embassy stated.

responsible for over 14,510 deaths, as at Monday, according to World Health Organisation statistics.

Officials of the village at the checkpoint on Monday (Toshao Michael Thomas photo)

14

GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

‘SOPs were used to tabulate votes’ …Lowenfield tells Court, says elections report submitted

By Svetlana Marshall CONTRARY to reports by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and other opposing political parties, Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield has said that Statements of Poll were used to tabulate the votes cast in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) during the General and Regional Elections and not a spreadsheet.

And with the votes already declared for all 10 Electoral Districts, Lowenfield informed the High Court that his report is now with Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECO), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh. The Chief Elections Officer was at the time presenting his Affidavit in Defence in the case brought against himself, GECOM and its Chair by Ulita Grace Moore, a private citizen who wants the High Court to bar the Commission

from facilitating a National Recount of all the votes cast during the March 2 Elections.

While acknowledging that the initial declaration made by Region Four’s Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo was set aside by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, Lowenfield told the High Court that during the final tabulation exercise, SOPs were used at all material times.

He explained that after the Chief Justice’s ruling on

March 11, 2020, the Returning Officer, on the morning of March 13, recommenced the tabulation process to ascertain the votes cast for each List of Candidates. That, he said, was done in the presence of the persons who were entitled to be there, as outlined in Section 86 (1) of the Representation of the People Act. Denise Babb-Cummings, Shefern February, Carolyn Duncan, Tandieka Hytimiah and Kirk Gravesande were the Election Officers present at the time at

the Office of the Returning Officer at Ashmin’s Building. “The Election Clerks, in the presence and under supervision of the Returning Officer, took turns, and called out the votes cast for each List from each Statement of Poll in the presence of persons entitled to be there,” Lowenfield explained, adding: “As the votes from each Statement of Poll for the List of Candidates cast were read, the said votes were imputted into the Commission’s computer by Kirk Gravesande.”

He told the High Court, in his Affidavit in Defence, that the process continued until 10:20hrs when a Court Marshall served the Returning Officer with contempt proceedings.

According to Lowenfield, while the Returning Officer proceeded to the High Court, the Elections Officer continued the tabulation process, and at all material times used SOPs. However, at around 11:00hrs that day, the Returning Officer brought the process to a halt.

“At no time during the process of ascertaining the votes cast for each List did the Returning Officer, or the Elections Clerks, read from a spreadsheet, or called out votes from a spreadsheet purportedly extracted from the Statements of Poll. At all times, votes cast were read from the Statements of Poll,” Lowenfield submitted.

Later that day, he said, the tabulation process was then moved to GECOM’s Headquarters, where three scanners with corresponding laptops were set up to facilitate the display of the SOPs, as ordered by the Court. The Chief Justice had made it clear that the Returning Officer must produce the SOPs during the tabulation of votes for his Electoral District.

Lowenfield told the High Court that once the process recommenced, the SOPs were displayed for the party agents and observers to view, in accordance with the Representation of the People Act. “The Statements of Poll were scanned in the presence of persons entitled to be there and displayed. All the Statements of Poll were picked up, one after the other, in the presence of the persons entitled to be there, and were scanned in their presence, and also displayed in their presence on the screen set up for that purpose… At no time did the Returning Officer and the Election Clerks read or call votes cast for the List of Candidates from a spreadsheet,” he maintained.

According to him, any allegation to the contrary is false and malicious.

Nonetheless, he said that at the end of the tabulation process on the night of March 13, the Returning Officer declared the votes cast in favour

of each List of Candidates, but that that, too, was met with objection by the PPP/C and a number of small opposing political parties.

In fact, he said that a total of eight (8) political parties had made requests for a recount on March 14, but that those requests were disallowed, due to their failure to comply with Section 24 (2) of the Representation of the People Act. He gave as a typical example of the non-compliance with the Act at reference the PPP/C’s appointment of four (4) agents, when Section 24 (4) of the Act provides for only ONE agent at a given time.

He submitted that while the PPP/C and other parties have alleged that the Returning Officer breached Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act, it is his belief that the Act was followed “scrupulously”.

THE RECOUNT Lowenfield said that while President David Granger and Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, on March 14, agreed to a National Recount under the supervision of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), he only knew of the agreement hours after it was reached. At the time (15:30hrs), he said, he and the Chair of GECOM were at the Diamond-Grove Magistrates’ Court.

“By this time, I had already prepared my report, manually and in electronic form, for the benefit of the first-named Respondent, pursuant to Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act, and sent same to the second-named Respondent (the GECOM Chair),” the Chief Elections Officer informed the court.

Nonetheless, Lowenfield said he was instructed to facilitate the National Recount, and, in keeping with that instruction, made every effort to facilitate the process until they arrived at a stumbling block.

The CARICOM high-level team, which had arrived to supervise the process, had informed him that in an effort to give legality to their work, GECOM must first gazette the order, and it was then that legal advice was sought from the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Charles Fung-A-Fat. In offering his legal advice, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel informed GECOM that it was unlawful to delegate its function to the CARICOM high-level team. GECOM was subsequently served with an injunction, thereby blocking the recount from taking place. And with the legal challenges faced, the CARICOM team withdrew from the process.

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15

GUYANA CHRONICLE TuesdAY March 24, 2020

‘Republic Bank’ defers loan payments

--reduces interest rate on overdraft CONSIDERING the anticipated impact of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the local economy, Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited (RBL) has taken a decision to defer the payment of loans and has reduced the interest rate on overdrafts.

“In response to the anticipated impact as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republic Bank recognises that we have a collective responsibility to ensure the sustainability of the business

community, our employees, customers and ultimately the nation,” RBL said in a public notice on Monday, and that in order to bolster support to its “valued customers,” it has introduced a number of measures which took effect the very day. These measures will be for a period of six months initially, following which a review will determine whether to continue or not.

Among measures that have been taken are the reduction in overdraft interest

and moratoriums on personal and mortgage loans for up to six months. The latter will be available upon request.

The Bank has also waived late fees on loan payments; late and over-the-limit fees on credit cards; penalties for early withdrawal of Certificates of Deposit; and disposable commercial depository wallet fees. There will also be a temporary increase of overdraft and credit-card limits on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to individual

LEN to commence housing construction in Wismar GIVEN the positive response received from Lindeners for its housing drive, the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN), the small business financier in Linden, is considering expanding the programme to residents on the Wismar shore.

The organisation has only been constructing houses in Amelia’s Ward. Senior officer of LEN, Dominic Henry, related that, initially, the project catered for two bedroom houses constructed of strictly bauxite overburden interlocking blocks, but since more clients were coming on board, contractors had commenced

no one in Linden is presently manufacturing, he was urging business-minded residents to think of getting into a similar business and LEN would be sure to come on board with financing, if needed.

The organisation continued to work with the New Building Society as a partner in the housing project, but was also looking to widen the horizon and seek out other commercial banks that were willing to come on board, to finance the construction of the low-income houses and to take in applicants that generally do not meet the requirement for home financ-

ers can own their own home.

The houses, which have the same facilities as regular two and three-bedroom houses are constructed at a lower comparative cost of $7M to $8M. In addition to the bedrooms, each has a washroom area, a living room, dining space and a kitchen. The houses are also cooler, since the bauxite bricks are very dense, thus heat takes a longer time to penetrate them.

This housing project is part of LEN’s five-year Strategic Development Plan, which is a guide for further expansion and diversification of the company. Although

One of the new model house being constructed by LEN

using concrete to meet the growing demand. “We still hold the indigenous material which is the bauxite overburden dear to the project, and so the interlocking blocks are being used to the front and back as the project initially set out to do,” Henry said. Now the organisation was able to recruit contractors who are more skilled in the laying of the interlocking techniques, and therefore the houses were looking more attractive.

While Linden Bricks Inc, the company that manufactured the blocks in Amelia’s Ward, has ended operations, Henry said that the company has some quantity of bauxite blocks stock-piled but since

ing. “LEN is providing some amount of comfort for persons who may not meet the requirement so that they too can be able to afford a home,” Henry said.

The two-bedroom houses cost $3.5 M, while the three-bedroom houses cost $4.5 M. The mortgage payment for the successful applicants was relatively lower compared to those that meet the requirement for mortgages at commercial banks.

Those that benefit include low-income earners and single mothers.

Henry said that LEN will be pushing for the housing project to grow to another level, so more and more Linden-

LEN continues to receive a yearly subvention from the Ministry of Finance, the latest being $200 M in 2019, it is also aiming to acquire financial self- sufficiency rather than being totally dependable on the government.

Rather than focus only on financing small businesses at a low interest rate, LEN has been targeting every sector where diversification is possible, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and hospitality. It has also targeted several of the outlying communities in Region Ten, so those residents can benefit from the many offers from the company.

Republic Bank has unveiled a series of COVID-19related measures

customers, RBL says there will also be a moratorium on loans for up to six months, for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), commercial and corporate customers. This will also be available upon request.

Debt restructuring will also be considered on a case-by-case basis for those customers.

There has also been automatic waivers on late and over-the-limit credit card fees; late fees on loan repayments; penalties for early withdrawal of Certificates of Deposit; and disposable commercial depository wallet fees.

“To be eligible for the

Moratorium and Automatic Waivers, customers must be in good standing with the bank,” RBL says.

All non-cash services, including requests for moratoriums and debt restructuring can be initiated via email to gyemail@rfhl.com. Customers should include the branch at which their account is held, in the Subject of the email.

“Please note that Republic Bank will not send customers email requesting that they respond sharing any confidential banking information,” the bank said.

As the bank continues

to do its part in limiting the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and in line with the advice of the relevant authorities, the RBL has requested that customers consider minimising their visits to the branches where possible by utilizing the bank’s digital and electronic channels such as Republic Online, Republic Mobile and ATMs. The Bank is also encouraging customers to use debit and credit cards at Pointof-Sale terminals instead of cash. Persons were also asked to avoiding banking halls if they have flu-like symptoms and instead contact the bank at 223-7938-49 or any other branch. In addition, the bank asked persons to postpone transactions if they are not urgent.

“Republic Bank wishes to urge customers to continue observing the recommended hygienic practices to help prevent the spread of the virus, and be mindful of those who may be more vulnerable around you. By observing these practices, together we can help protect ourselves, our families and communities,” it said in closing.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

CCJ implements measures to combat COVID-19

AS the world’s economies take proactive steps to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has implemented several measures at its Trinidad and Tobago headquarters.

According to a release issued by the CCJ, under the guidance of the local Ministries of Health and National Security and in order to ensure the safety of staff members, visitors and stakeholders, it has decided to take several measures including the postponement of the 12th CCJ Annual International Law Moot.

The Court has taken the necessary precaution to postpone this event as it brings together law students from throughout the region to participate in its flagship mooting competition, the CCJ said. It said that alternative modes for conducting the moot and dates are under consideration and decisions will be communicated in due course.

The regional court has also suspended Court Tours to the public in an effort to restrict the free flow of persons throughout the CCJ

building and to control the level of interaction among persons. The move also includes tours comprising students from every educational level. The court has also restricted Library access by closing its Main Library.

Queries can be emailed directly to library@ccj.org.

In addition, any visitor to the Court, inclusive of contractors and suppliers, will be screened at entry points

by Security Officers before being granted access to the building. Also, visitors who are required to be at the Court will be requested to complete a form detailing specific information. Where possible, this form must be submitted at least 24 hours in advance. Hand sanitisers and disinfecting wipes have been provided at both entrances of the Court as well as at strategic points throughout the building for the mandatory use of visitors.

The CCJ has implemented a rotation cycle for all non-shift staff members.

“This will enable us to facilitate our stakeholders while maintaining social distancing as is necessitated at this

COVID-19 | Employers urged to contact Labour Department on contingency plans CITING its concerns regarding employers’ contingency plans for workers, the Labour Department has opened its doors to have such issues discussed with officials of the unit.

In a release issued on Monday by the Ministry of Social Protection, Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle, noted that the current contingency plans of some employers, corporations and companies in their fight against the spread of the Coronavirus may result in reduced employment for persons.

It was noted that, as a consequence, the spending

power of workers would be reduced and this would eventually impact the economic structure of the country.

In addition, it was noted that some employers are providing work on a rotational basis while some are contemplating temporary closure.

Although rare, Ogle said that the situation can be addressed through the labour laws. As such, he asked that employers who are experiencing problems relative to the ongoing health situation to contact the Labour Department and its senior officers for advice on the issue.

time,” the CCJ said.

The guidelines are in effect until further notice and the CCJ encourages everyone to safeguard themselves and be vigilant and safe at this time.

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Mason caught with forged driver’s licence granted bail DANIEL Delanno Watson, a 26-year-old mason of Bachelor’s Adventure, was, on Friday, March 20, 2020, granted $25,000 bail by Magistrate Leron Daly, having been charged with uttering a forged driver’s licence.

Watson appeared before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and denied the charge, when it was read to him.

The charge alleged that, Watson, on Thursday, November 7, 2019, at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, uttered to Police Corporal 16779 Walcott of Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary, one forged motor vehicle driver’s licence #14890211211147 in favour of himself, purporting to show

that the licence was issued by the Guyana Revenue Authority, knowing it to be forged.

According to the report, on Thursday, November 7, 2019, Watson was driving a Mini Bus #BXX7614 in the vicinity of Commerce Street, Georgetown, when ranks attached to Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary, stopped and detained him after it was observed that he committed a traffic offence.

Watson was subsequently escorted to Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary, where he was asked to produce his driver’s licence.

He did. It was discovered by the police that Watson’s licence appeared to be forged. Consequentially, Watson was arrested

and was subsequently escorted to the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters, where a thorough investigation was conducted. The Guyana Revenue Authority was contacted and checks were made with the Licence Revenue Processing System (LRPS). It was revealed that Watson’s licence does not exist in the Licence Revenue Processing System (LRPS) Database. It was therefore not authentic. Based on the foregoing facts, Watson was later charged for the offence committed.

Magistrate Daly granted Watson $25,000 bail.

The matter was adjourned until Friday, May 8, 2020.

Security guard accused of manslaughter granted bail DEVON Harris, a 40-yearold security guard of

Friendship, East Bank Demerara, was, on Friday,

March 20, 2020, granted $200,000 bail by Chief

Magistrate Ann McLennan, having been charged with

manslaughter.

Harris appeared before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and was not required to plead to the indictable charge, when it was read to him.

The charge alleged that, on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at Blackwater Landing, Konowaruk Region eight,

Harris unlawfully killed Akeem Ceaser.

Chief Magistrate McLennan granted Harris $200,000 bail and ordered that he must report to the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters every other Friday at 09:00 hours, until the completion of the case.

FROM PAGE

14

‘SOPs were used to ...

GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh

Lowenfield told the Court that it is his belief that GECOM is not entitled, in its exercise of its power under Article 162 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, to direct the Returning Officer to revisit the objections which were delivered following the final declaration.

But while the Chief Elections Officer believes that GECOM cannot instruct the Returning Officer to facilitate a recount, the Chair of GECOM, in her Affidavit in Defence, told the High Court that she remains committed to a transparent process, as was indicated during her appearance before the Chief Justice on March 13. Justice Singh, who is represented

by Attorney-at-Law Kim Kyte-Thomas, told the court that she had given the Chief Justice her word.

“I indicated to the Court that the tabulation process was in progress, and that should there be discrepancies in the Statements of Poll, as called by the Returning Officer and those held by political parties, then the discrepancy should be noted, and at the end of the process, if they could not be addressed, then I will endeavour to facilitate a recount, at the level of the Commission,” the GECOM Chair pointed out to the Court as she renewed her position.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, March 24, 2020

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 24, 2020

CPL to go ahead as... Boards brace FROM BACKPAGE

ment to take place as scheduled whilst also looking at alternative plans should they be needed,” the statement continued.

“Our thoughts at this time are with the many CPL fans, players and staff from around the world who have been impacted by this crisis and we hope that they and their families stay safe and healthy.”

The coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has al-

ready led to the scrapping of several global tournaments, with organisers of the Indian Premier League – the world’s leading T20 tournament – last week announcing a delay in the original March 29 start until April 15.

There was fresh speculation Monday that the tournament could be further delayed or rescheduled until year-end.

The coronavirus has infected over 372 500 people worldwide and resulted in over 16 000 deaths.

Tokyo 2020 Games...

FROM BACKPAGE

Canada and Australia both bluntly said they would not participate if the Games were not put back to 2021 and Britain may have followed suit.

“We are in the midst of a global health crisis that is far more significant than sport,” Canada’s Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee said in a statement.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Paralympic athletes may be at particular risk from the epidemic as some have underlying health problems.

“Our athletes have been magnificent in their positive attitude to training and preparing, but the stress and uncertainty have been extremely challenging for them,” said Ian Chesterman, Australia’s Olympics Chef de Mission, or team manager.

A raft of other nations and sports bodies piled pressure on the IOC to make a quick decision.

“I understand where the athletes are coming from,” Greece’s Olympic head, former water polo player Spyros Capralos, told Reuters. “When you cannot train, you are stressed, you live in agony, which is disastrous. Postponement is inevitable.”

The head of health and safety at the London 2012 Games, Lawrence Waterman, said one of the reasons it was unsafe to hold the Games during a pandemic was that venues had to be

tested with “real crowds to iron out problems”.

Advertisement “That’s simply not possible if people are to be two metres apart,” he said.

Athletes were sad but broadly supported a delay.

“The right choice was made, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” said Canadian world champion swimmer Maggie MacNeil, who was hoping to make her Olympic debut in Tokyo.

“Sometimes you just need a good hug.”

THE TIDE TURNS Japanese authorities seemed to be bowing to the inevitable, despite the losses and logistics headaches it would entail.

“We may have no option but to consider postponing,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was hoping for a boom in tourism and consumer spending, told parliament.

The organising committee is already scaling back the torch relay to avoid crowds, national broadcaster NHK said.

Both Japan and the IOC have said calling off the Games entirely is not an option. But finding a new date could be complicated as the summer 2021 calendar is already crowded, while 2022 will see the soccer World Cup and the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Japanese sponsors, from Toyota Motor Corp to Panasonic Corp, were watching nervously.

But Tokyo stocks sensitive to the success of the Olympics surged on Monday, after sharp falls in prior weeks, thanks to expectations of a delay rather than a cancellation.

Ad agency Dentsu Group’s shares jumped 12%.

Pound told Reuters the IOC had tried to hold fire in order to be able to present the hosts, sports federations and sponsors with a clear alternative plan.

“Probably what turned the tide in the last couple of days is the curve on the COVID-19 virus.

It is getting very, very steep now and this is clearly not something that is going to be under control

by June or July and probably not by the end of the year.”

We Stand United...

FROM BACKPAGE

Both Mc Kay and Newton echoed Wilson’s sentiments as regards the Coronavirus and implored upon the riders the need to protect themselves at all costs. They were also encouraged to equip their cycles with the necessary items that would allow them to be safe when riding the roadways and to look out for each other.

Burrowes, who spoke with the members via the clubs WhatsApp group, said that he was more than happy to be able to continue supporting the club and especially the young riders who he would continue to support.

“We are happy to have some exciting and talented cyclists who I would continue to invest in to see

Irish Racing Tips Clonmel 10:00 hrs Coolagh Park 10:30 hrs Elusive Star 11:00 hrs Shantou Sisy 11:30 hrs Bitsandpieces 12:00 hrs Bachasson 12:30 hrs The Trigger 13:00 hrs Frontal Assault South Africa Racing Tips Turffontein

them excel for themselves and our country. They need the help and I am committed to assisting, something I have been doing for some years now; it’s a sport that I dearly love and would continue to give my all to see these guys do well. I must also say that we have some very experienced and dedicated stalwarts the likes of our co-captains and their experience would serve this club well.”

The co-captains also expressed thanks to Burrowes for his commitment towards the club and each rider, noting that he has been advising and working with them when it comes to training the club members. WSUCC will also be focusing on the holistic development of its members.

08:35 hrs Barak 09:10 hrs Super Duper 09:45 hrs Rebel Renegade 10:20 hrs Pidgeon Rock 10:45 hrs Promise 11:30 hrs Tigermil American Racing Tips Will Rogers Downs Race 1 Hooked On a Hit Race 2 O S U Kickoff Race 3 Kirk Of Diamonds Race 4 Fast One Race 5 Meeka Race 6 Bling Springsteen Race 7 Dak Da Man Race 8 Karate Hottie Race 9 Big Guy Ian

for losses in the time of coronavirus

The BCCI earlier decided to halve the winner’s purse at this year’s Indian Premier League

..a curtailed or cancelled IPL would mean a significant losses for the Board of Control for Cricket in India

By Amlan Chakraborty NEW DELHI (Reuters) - When the mighty Indian cricket board decided this week that only the chief among its national selectors would travel business class, it merely confirmed straitened times for the game amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The uncharacteristic austerity by the world’s richest cricket board follows its decision earlier this month to halve the winner’s purse at this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), a cash cow with a brand value of $6.8 billion.

The franchise-based Twenty20 league was scheduled to begin on March 29 but has now been postponed until April 15.

To many, a condensed tournament, possibly without foreign players, later this year looks like a more realistic prospect.

A curtailed or cancelled tournament would mean significant losses for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which gets around 40 billion rupees (453.6 million pounds) annually from broadcaster STAR India and its central pool of sponsors.

“The loss at this stage is notional. The biggest loser in any economic dynamics is always its biggest gainer, which is BCCI in this case,” SportzPower co-founder Thomas Abraham, whose company monitors sports business in India, told Reuters.

“For STAR India, it’s also a loss of opportunity.

It was building the India launch of its Disney+ OTT (streaming service) around the IPL.” A truncated tournament would necessitate renegotiation with Disney-owned STAR India, which was not available to share how it plans to dovetail the launch of its new platform with the IPL. Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, which bagged the 2018-22 title rights for 219 million rupees, is unlikely to suffer a big loss.

“They would have been preparing for new launches around IPL. They can still do it,” Abraham said.

Vivo did not elaborate if the truncation had disrupted their plans to leverage their tournament rights.

“In light of the global health risk ... we at Vivo completely support BCCI’s decision to postpone the series,” Nipun Marya, Director of Vivo India’s Brand Strategy, said in a statement to Reuters.

“We shall continuously evaluate the situation as it progresses.”

MONITORING SITUATION The BCCI and IPL franchises also pay 20% of a player’s annual fee to his home board, which stands to lose that money if it does not allow the cricketer into the IPL due to fears about the coronavirus for

example.

A shorter tournament will mean a smaller share from the shrunken central pool of revenues for the eight IPL franchises, not to mention a reduction in gate receipts.

Further afield, the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup narrowly escaped the health crisis but the outbreak has cast a shadow over the men’s event in Australia, which begins on Oct. 18.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), which runs the tournament, said it was monitoring the situation.

“We are planning for the event to go ahead as scheduled,” it said on the tournament website.

Cricket Australia stands to lose some A$300 million (150.4 million pounds) should the coronavirus outbreak derail their high-profile home test series against India later this year.

“We’re in uncertain times, and it’s difficult to project precisely what will transpire over the next number of months,” CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said this week.

“But we will be working through with advice from experts, externally as to what are the various scenarios that are plausible, how likely are they, and how would we plan to deal with each of them.”

IN THE BALANCE In England, the fate of the inaugural ‘The Hundred’ championship hangs in the balance after the epicentre of the pandemic moved from Asia to Europe, shutting down most sport on the continent.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have invested heavily in promoting the competition in the 100-ball format, which is scheduled to begin on July 17.

“It is clear that every industry, including cricket, will be impacted by this unprecedented situation,” Tom Moffat, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), told Reuters.

“It’s more important than ever for the cricket industry to work together collaboratively at this time.”

Individually, top players from outside India risk losing IPL contracts worth millions of dollars if they are unable to travel or their boards deny them permission to play.

As far as FICA is concerned, Moffat said, the wellbeing of the players while the world deals with an international health crisis is far more important than cash.

“Governing bodies, employers, and leagues owe a duty of care to provide players with a safe workplace,” he added.

“And enforcing that players travel to, or work in conditions that are unsafe, would not meet that standard.”

UEFA formally postpones Champions League, Europa League finals 2

BERN (Reuters) - This season’s Champions League, Europa League and women’s Champions League finals scheduled for May have been formally postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Tuesday.

All three competitions are currently suspended along with almost every European domestic league because of the coronavirus while UEFA last week postponed the Euro 2020 tournament until next year.

“No decision has been taken on rearranged dates,” UEFA said in a statement. It also did not say whether it would be able to complete the competitions in the current format or would have to shorten them.

The Champions League was halted halfway through the return legs of the round of 16 with four ties still to be decided. The final was due to take place in Istanbul on May 30.

Some media reports have suggested ties could be reduced to one leg instead of two from the quarter-finals with a “final four” tournament in Istanbul.

In the Europa League, two of the round of 16 first leg matches have still to be played and all of the second legs. The final was due to be held in Gdansk, Poland, on May 27.

The women’s Champions League final was scheduled for Vienna on May 24.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 24, 2020

Beuran Hendricks earns CSA national contract, Dale Steyn left out

..Faf du Plessis re-contracted by CSA and remains available to play

By Firdose Moonda BEURAN Hendricks, the leftarm seamer who made his Test and ODI debuts for South Africa in the past season, is the only new name on the national men’s contracted player list for the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, pacer Nadine de Klerk, who was part of South Africa’s squad at the T20 World Cup earlier this month and wicket-keeper Sinalo Jafta have been added to the women’s national contracted squad. Both lists include the same number of

Former Test and T20 captain Faf du Plessis players as least season - 16 men and 14 women - with the option of a 17th men’s player being contracted through the season.

Anrich Nortje, Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius are all examples of players who did exactly that. The trio were not originally named on the 2019-20 contract list but were upgraded over the course of the previous summer by virtue of the number of matches they played for the national side.

All three have been contracted for the 2020-21 season.

Top-order batsman Theunis de Bruyn has been dropped from the men’s contract list, while Dale Steyn, who remains available

Beuran Hendricks and Quinton de Kock celebrate the end of Jason Roy’s knock (Getty Images)

in white-ball formats, has been excluded and Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander have retired.

Offspinner Raisibe Ntozakhe and allrounder Zintle Mali are the two women’s players who no longer have contracts.

Faf du Plessis, who stood down as Test and T20 captain last month, has been re-contracted and remains available to play for South Africa in all formats suggesting his retirement is at least a year away.

Du Plessis was part of the ODI squad that traveled to India earlier this month and has committed himself to his role as a senior player and in assisting his successor. While Quinton de Kock has taken over as white-ball captain, South Africa have yet to name a Test captain.

Contenders are believed to include de Kock, Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram who remains on the contracted player list despite missing most of last season on the sidelines. Markram broke his wrist during the October Test series in India, a self-inflicted injury caused by “lashing out a solid object,” after bagging a pair in India. He recovered in time to play the 2019 Boxing Day Test against England but fractured a finger in the match, ruling him out of the rest of the

summer’s internationals. Markram returned for his franchise, the Titans, in late February and scored two hundred in six one-day cup matches before the competition was suspended.

Markram’s replacement at the top of the order in the Test XI, Pieter Malan, has not been contracted.

Neither has his brother Janneman Malan, who scored a century while opening the batting in his second ODI. Also missing from the list are Heinrich Klaasen and JJ Smuts, who have both been part of South Africa’s white-ball squads this summer and have both had decent returns, and Zubayr Hamza, who played in the Test team. However, all of them have the opportunity to earn a contract in the coming season.

South Africa’s men’s team has a busy schedule and are due to play away tours in Sri Lanka (white-ball) and West Indies (two Tests, five T20s) between May and August, although the future of those trips will hinge on the impact of COVID-19, which has already seen two men’s ODIs in India postponed. That will be followed by the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and the home season, which sees visits from Sri Lanka (Tests), Australia (Tests), Pakistan (T20) and India (T20).

The women’s team is due to trav-

el to West Indies and England over the winter - tours that may prove unlikely - and will then turn their attention to the 2021 ODI World Cup. They automatically qualified for the event before their home series against Australia, due to take place this month, was forced to be rescheduled because of the ongoing pandemic.

Last Monday, all activity in South African cricket was put on hold for 60 days, after South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster as a result of the coronavirus. Although the impact on the season has been minimal - with the semi-finals and finals of the one-day cup and two rounds of first-class cricket unable to be completed - it does mean that off-season camps, aimed to upskill South Africa’s cricketers, will have to wait.

Behind-the-scenes, CSA are continuing to plan for next summer and now that the central contracts have been announced, the six domestic franchises are expected to finalise their player pools in the coming week.

Nationally contracted men’s players:Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen Nationally contracted women’s players: Trisha Chetty, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloe Tryon, Dane van Niekerk, Laura Wolvaardt.

(ESPN Cricinfo)

‘If Ruiz can knock him out, I can’ - Whyte still eyeing Joshua fight DILLIAN Whyte has no doubt he could knock out Anthony Joshua if he were granted a huge domestic rematch with the heavyweight champion.

Ahead of his Manchester bout with Alexander Povetkin, presently scheduled for May 2, Whyte wants to maintain his momentum and earn a shot at fellow Briton Joshua.

IBF, WBA and WBO champion Joshua is the only person to have defeated Whyte (27-1), having knocked him out in 2015.

But Whyte believes the outcome will be different in a second meeting, citing his superior

skillset to Andy Ruiz Jr. Ruiz stunningly stopped Joshua in New York last June, only to lose the December rematch in Saudi Arabia.

“If Ruiz can knock him out, I can 100 per cent knock him out, because I’m a harder puncher than Andy Ruiz, pound-forpound,” Whyte said to Sky Sports.

“I’ve got better feet than him as well, and better boxing technique than Andy Ruiz. He’s got fast hands, but his feet are slow.

“I’ve shown also in fights that I can come back from being down on the scorecards and I

carry knockout power in the later stages of the fight as well, which is a big thing for a heavyweight.

“A lot of heavyweights can only get you in one to six rounds.

If they don’t get you early, then that’s a wrap for them.

“I showed you that I can get you round one, round two, round three, round four, or even round 11 and round 12, I can get you.”

Eager not to get lost in the shuffle once again, Whyte is mandatory challenger for the WBC, whose champion Tyson Fury is pencilled in for a third battle with Deontay Wilder

‘If Ruiz can knock him out, I can’ – Whyte(at right) still eyeing Joshua fight and is also being targeted by Joshua.

Oleksandr Usyk is another name in the heavyweight title mix, but amid multiple lucrative opportunities, there remains one standout for Whyte if he could pick an opponent to fight for all the belts.

“I would love to fight Joshua again, at a drop of a hat,” added Whyte.

“It’s one of the biggest fights out there. I’m

in the game to have the biggest fights and the most meaningful fights.

I’m trying to make history.

“Imagine, to get one shot at all the marbles at once, how unreal that would be after all this nonsense - out of nowhere, me and Joshua fight, I knock him out and became undisputed champion of the world.”Omnisport).

Formula One expects shortened season of 15-18 races Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 13, 2020 Formula One group CEO Chase Carey during a press conference after it was announced the Australian Grand Prix would be cancelled after a McLaren team member tested positive for coronavirus REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy

By Alan Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - Formula One expects to run a shortened season of 15-18 grands prix once racing can resume after the coronavirus pandemic, hopefully during the European summer, chairman and chief executive Chase Carey said on Monday.

The original 2020 calendar had a record 22 races but the season has yet to start with the first eight postponed or cancelled and more likely to be called off.

Two, the opener in Australia and the showcase Monaco Grand Prix, have been cancelled while the others — Bahrain, Vietnam, China, the Netherlands, Spain and Azerbaijan — need rescheduling.

“We are all committed to bringing our fans a 2020 championship season,” Carey said in a statement.

“We recognise there is significant potential for additional postponements in currently scheduled events, nonetheless we and our partners fully expect the season to start at some point this summer, with a revised calendar of between 15-18 races.”

Formula One needs a minimum of eight races for the season to be a proper championship.

The next race that is still on is the June 14 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal but that also looks uncertain, as does France on June 28, and some are already questioning whether Formula One will race at all in 2020.

The coronavirus has laid waste to the sporting calendar, with the European Championship soccer tournament moved from June to next year and the Tokyo Summer Olympics in July-August set to be postponed.

REVISED CALENDAR Carey recognised that nobody could be certain when the situation might improve but said the 10 teams would be ready to go racing when it did.

The revised calendar would be considerably shaken up from what was previously published, he added.

Formula One has already brought forward the traditional August break to three weeks in March and April so that it can create a space for rescheduling some of those races that had to be postponed.

Carey said he expected the season, which was due to finish in Abu Dhabi on Nov 29, to run into December “with the actual sequence and schedule dates for races differing significantly from our original 2020 calendar.

“It is not possible to provide a more specific calendar now due to the fluidity of the current situation,” added the American.

“But we expect to gain clearer insights to the situation in each of our host countries, as well as the issues related to travel to these countries, in the coming month.”

He said the situation also offered an opportunity “to evolve the sport, experiment and try new things” through initiatives such as esports and developing more innovative content.

“We’re confident we’ll all get through this and see better days ahead, and, when we do, we’ll ensure that everyone invested in this sport at every level feels rewarded,” said Carey.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 24, 2020

Ponting’s epic 2003 World Cup final ton …Legendary batsman struck one of his best centuries and leads Australia to World Cup triumph on this day in 2003 HAVING gone through the tournament unbeaten, Australia saved their most complete performance of the 2003 World Cup for the final in Johannesburg.

Sent in to bat by India skipper Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden provided a lightning start before captain Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn combined for a record partnership that all-but secured Australia’s third World Cup title.

Ponting took 74 balls to reach his half-century, hitting just one boundary, before he unleashed an extraordinary attack in the final overs.

“It had taken me about 70 balls to get to 50,” Ponting recalled recently. “And because the game was so under control and we were scoring quickly, I wanted to make sure I was there at the end.

“The 12th man came out and I said, ‘Tell the boys to strap the seatbelts on, I’m gonna go flat-out from now and see what happens’.

“I got most of them in the middle from there on in.”

The skipper launched consecutive sixes off Harbhajan Singh in the 39th over before peeling off

another six maximums in an impressive display of power hitting.

He finished unbeaten on 140, with his second 90 runs coming from just 47 balls, while Martyn overcame a broken finger to finish on 88 not out from 84 deliveries.

“As the captain, it was my turn to stand up and I walked off 140 not out, having shared (an Australian record) partnership with Damien Martyn at the time and posted 360 in a World Cup final.

“You’re walking off there and you’re thinking, ‘Well that’s done, game over – we’ve stood up here’.”

Former Australia coach John Buchanan said it was “one of the finest innings in World Cup history, given the situation”.

“You’d go a long way to find better. As captain ... leading by the front and leading by example, taking the attack, both to the spin and the quick bowlers of India ... at the end of a long tournament. Probably hard to go past that one,” Buchanan said.

Ponting and Martyn’s unbeaten stand of 234, which included 55 from the last four overs of the

Australia’s third World Cup triumph // Getty

Ricky Ponting salutes his century // Getty

innings, remains a World Cup final record.

While Ponting’s knock is rightly heralded, Ponting paid tribute to the often

Joseph misses out on million-dollar derby win

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, (CMC) – Barbadian trainer Saffie Joseph Jr just narrowly missed out on one of the biggest wins of his career when his entrant, Ny Traffic, finished second in Saturday’s feature US$ one million Grade Louisiana Derby.

Going off at the long odds of 27-1 under jockey Joe Bravo, the three-year-old bay colt followed home eventual winner, favourite Wells Bayou, by 1-1/2 lengths in the 1-3/16th miles trip, in the final race on the cash-rich 12-race card at Fair Grounds.

“The last couple races he really stepped up to the plate and the horse is just getting good,” Bravo said.

“The thing that makes him so good is that he listens.

He broke great, put him in front, he relaxed off the other horse. He turned for home and my horse did not want to lay up.

“We are not fortune tellers, the horse is getting good and

overlooked efforts by Martyn, who struck an unbeaten 88 from 84 deliveries – with a broken finger, no less.

It was a knock Ponting

the sky is the limit.”

Saturday’s finish marked yet another improvement for Ny Traffic who ran third in last month’s Risen Star at Fair Grounds.

More significantly, Ny Traffic now has 50 points and lies fourth in the Road to the 2020 Kentucky Derby – a series of races through which horses qualify for the prestigious first leg of the storied American Triple Crown.

The 33-year-old Joseph, who moved to Florida in 2011, logged a single winner at Gulfstream Park on Saturday when favourite French Quarter captured race five over six furlongs on the 12race card at the southeastern Florida oval.

French Quarter, a nineyear-old brown gelding ridden by Paco Lopez, completed the trip in one minute, 11.39 seconds.

want you to play.’

“The morning of the game I went to him and said, ‘Look me in the eye and tell me you can play’.

“He looked at me and said, ‘I can play’.

“He went out and played alright – he got 88 not out and it was a special moment in the career.”

India’s faint hope of victory seemingly evaporated in the very first over of their run chase, when Glenn McGrath removed Sachin Tendulkar for just 4.

A brilliant bowling display and some outstanding fielding eventually secured the win by 125 runs and Ponting celebrated the second of his three World Cup triumphs.

Buchanan – who has the highest winning percentage of matches of any coach in both Test and ODI formats – said his entire squad played a part in the tournament victory.

“One of the reasons why you win tournaments is the depth of the group that you have, everybody works together to achieve an end point. It was a good group and we achieved some special things,” Buchanan said.(Cricket Network)

World Athletics willing to move 2021 championships to accommodate postponing Tokyo Olympics

By Gene Cherry

Barbadian trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

believes showed “the other side” of the cavalier middle-order batsman’s character.

“He had a badly broken finger but I was desperate for him to play because he’d played right the way through, he was an experienced player, and ‘Marto’ was one of those guys who, when things got toughest, he was at his best,” Ponting told The Howie Games podcast.

“If you think about some of the Test tours to India and Sri Lanka where conditions were hard, he found a way and got it done.

“Most people that looked at him and the way that he played, probably don’t see that side of him. They see the other side of him – the arrogance and the swagger and the class with the way that he played.

“But they don’t see the other side of him very often.

“I remember going to him a couple of days before the (final) and saying, ‘Look, needle it [his finger] for me today, get through training, I’ll watch you catch a few balls and hit a few balls, and then when you’ve finished, look me in the eye and tell me you can play, because I

(REUTERS) - World Athletics said on Monday it was willing to move the dates of the 2021 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, to accommodate postponing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for a year.

“World Athletics has already been in discussion with the Oregon 21 Organising Committee regarding the possibility the Olympic Games may move to next year and they in turn have held discussions with their key stakeholders and have reassured us they will work with all of their partners and stakeholders to ensure that Oregon is able to host the World Athletics Championships on alternative dates should that prove necessary,” athletics’ global governing body said in a statement.

The Oregon world championships are currently scheduled for Aug. 6-15, 2021 but Oregon organisers said it would be possible to hold the

championships on an alternative date.

“The Organising Committee of Oregon 21 is aware of the possibility of date changes should the 2020 Olympic Games be postponed to the summer of 2021,” organisers said in a statement.

“We have discussed this possibility with all our key stakeholders and can reassure World Athletics that we will work with them to ensure that Oregon can still host the World Athletics Championships on alternative dates should that prove necessary.”

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2020) COMPLIMENTS OF XTRA ENERGY DRINK – STABROEK BAZAAR (Tel: 683-9500) & CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL COMPANY LTD-83 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158) Answers to yesterday’s quiz:

(1) Jagaval Srinath-13/132 (IND vs PAK, Kolkatta, 1999) (2) Andy Roberts-12/121 (WI vs IND, Chennai, 1974-75)

Today’s Quiz:

(3)

(1) When and where did the WI & AUST contest a Test match against each other for the first time?

(2) When and where did the WI defeat Australia in a Test match for the first time?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

27

GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 24, 2020

FIFA teams up with WHO to Nedd says GVF adhering to ‘self-isolation’ rules support fight against pandemic -upcoming National (REUTERS) - Soccer’s global governing body FIFA has joined with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic with the organisation’s president Gianni Infantino calling for teamwork to tackle the crisis.

Infantino joined WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a media conference on Monday to launch the “pass the message to kick out coronavirus” video campaign.

“We need teamwork to combat the coronavirus,” Infantino said. “FIFA has teamed up with WHO because health comes first.

“I call upon the football community worldwide to join us in supporting this campaign to pass the message even further. Some of the greatest players to have played the beautiful game have put their names to the campaign and are united in their desire to

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left) and FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the media conference.

pass the message to kick out COVID-19.”

Twenty eight players including Argentina forward Lionel Messi, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Brazil keeper Alisson Becker have backed the initiative aimed at reinforcing five WHO guidelines

in stemming the spread of the virus.

They are featured in video clips issuing reminders about washing hands, sneezing etiquette, distancing, face-touching and what to do if you develop symptoms.

“This virus is a global problem and it has shown

to all of us two things. One, is how vulnerable we are and the other is how global the world is. Exceptional situations require exception measures and global problems require global solutions,” said Infantino.

“We have to be strong and follow the guidance of WHO and our governments, and after we will have to rebuild our relations with maybe, and hopefully, more solidarity and understanding for each other. Football is ready to play its part for that.”

FIFA have pledged $10 million to support the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO. World soccer’s biggest leagues are all suspended because of the pandemic that has infected at least 300,000 worldwide.

This year’s UEFA Euro 2020 Championship has also been postponed and is now scheduled to take place next year.

Improved Jangoo rues inability to reach triple figures PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Trinidadian Amir Jangoo says he is disappointed at failing to notch his maiden first class hundred, despite twice flirting with the landmark during the current first class championship.

The left-hander, who plays for Leeward Islands Hurricanes, fell for 90 against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the sixth round and also perished for an identical score in the seventh round against Guyana Jaguars.

“I studied the opposition and their bowlers,” the 22-year-old told the Express newspaper here.

“Obviously, I knew Trinidad and their bowlers, having been on the same team as those guys in the past. So I think I had a good understanding of my game and what I had to do going into the match, and I just had to execute on the field.”

He added: “It was disappointing not getting triple figures because those two innings came when the team

was in very bad positions and getting to triple figures would have helped the team even more, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be as yet.”

Jangoo has scored three half-centuries overall this season en route to 373 runs at an average of 31 from his 12 innings. Last season, he featured in just three matches for his native Red Force, managing only 92 runs.

His best season came in 2017-18 when he gathered nearly 500 runs for Red Force with three half-centuries.

After a slow start to the current season, his consistency has gradually improved and Jangoo said that was down to becoming more knowledgeable about his own game.

“I am not really changing much with my batting,” he said.

“But I understand my game better and [I am] understanding more about batsmanship in terms of 50over and four-day cricket, so I really think it has helped

Left-hander Amir Jangoo

me improve my game.”

Having joined Hurricanes, Jangoo has found himself playing alongside the likes of West Indies players Alzarri Joseph, Rahkeem Cornwall and Kieran Powell.

And as the only “foreign” player, Jangoo said he was aware of the pressures to produce sustained performances.

“I think it is just a relaxed environment. Obviously as an overseas player getting picked for another team, you always have to perform, so there is that added pressure,” he point-

ed out.

“I think the franchise understands that so I guess I just have to go out there and do what I have to do and once I do my part, everything else will take care of itself.”

Jangoo has a career average of 28 from 22 first class matches.

Hurricanes have struggled this season and currently lie bottom of the table with a single win from eight matches.

The championship was last week suspended for 30 days due to the coronavirus pandemic.

U-16 tourney put on hold PRESIDENT of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF), Levi Nedd, said he has stopped all upcoming plans following the Covid-19 outbreak which has made its way to South America, adding that athletes locally should follow safety tips.

With a number of new cases now popping up around the Caribbean and Guyana, while at a minimal, containable stage continues to prepare for what seems like a likely spread; Nedd said the GVF have followed other local sport bodies who have decided to halt all activities.

The GVF boss told Chronicle Sport on Monday that the spike by a handful of cases with a single death recorded locally to date, has abruptly forced sport associations, schools, places of business, albeit Government or private sector entities, to practise the global trend of “Self-isolation” and volleyball is no different.

“We have decided to stop all group participation, players were encouraged to stay home during this period and self-isolate themselves.

We also spoke on the importance of refraining from the gym because the outbreak is serious”, explained Nedd.

The team recently returned from French Guiana where they had a good outing in the 2020 Inter-Guiana Games

GVF President Levi Nedd

(IGG), returning home prior to the outbreak being deemed a pandemic.

Nedd, who also wears the cap of the senior National headcoach, a role he had been fulfilling for a number of years now, further pointed out that he had been in contact with some overseas counterparts who have also lent crucial advice for the athletes.

Due to the current state of things, Nedd further confirmed that the upcoming national Under-16 tournament will now be put on indefinite hold. He added that he believes that players can now use this time to selftrain, heal and recover while doing things outside of volleyball.

“We will be putting the U-16 tournament on hold for now; like I said, we don’t want any form of group participation or group training and we have advised our players and all athletes locally to upkeep their personal fitness and training while they can”. He ended.

FIFA wants changes from Jamaica Football Federation

THE Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is the next stop for world football governing body, FIFA, after it ordered that a normalisation committee be installed to guide the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) back to good governance.

A release from FIFA said earlier this month, Sarah Solemale, Senior Manager Governance, led discussions with the JFF hierarchy about its statutes.

Also at that meeting were Director of Caribbean Member Associations Affairs, Horace Reid, and One CONCACAF and Caribbean Projects Senior Manager, Howard McIntosh.

According to Solemale, FIFA has since 2016 been targeting improved governance structures throughout the organisation, first within FIFA itself, and then throughout its member associations.

FIFA wants legislative, strategic, operational, and separation of powers among its member states and wants these changes to be made within the JFF before December 2020. (Sportsmax)

There are no plans to shift the Caribbean Premier League.

CPL to go ahead as planned for now: organisers

GROS ISLET, St Lucia, (CMC) – Caribbean Premier League (CPL) organisers said Monday they had taken no decision to reschedule the upcoming tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic, but would continue to monitor the “evolving situation” in coming months.

The eighth edition of the domestic Twenty20 tournament is set to bowl off from August 19 to September 26 but the outbreak of the virus has now disrupted most global sporting leagues, forcing postponements and some cancellations.

“CPL has been in constant communication with our medical advisors in recent weeks, as well as speaking with Cricket West Indies about the current situation with regard to cricket around the world, and at present there has been no discussion about moving the event,” a CPL statement said.

“CPL believes it is too early to make such a decision,

but this is an evolving situation and we are carefully watching how events unfold in the Caribbean and around the world.”

CPL’s announcement comes following CWI’s decision to suspend all its competitions for 30 days starting from last week, including the last two rounds of its marquee first class championships.

While there has been no word on international fixtures, CWI chief executive Johnny Grave recently told CMC Sports that home series against South Africa and New Zealand could also be peril due to the ongoing crisis.

CPL will come at the back end of the home series but organisers said optional dates would be considered in the event changes need to be made.

“At present the CPL team are planning for the tourna-

See page 24

Tokyo 2020 Games will be postponed, says IOC member Dick Pound

By Steve Keating, Leika Kihara TORONTO/TOKYO (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee has decided to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games because of the coronavirus pandemic, IOC member Dick Pound said on Monday.

Major sporting nations Australia and Canada had already withdrawn on Monday as organisers came under global pressure to postpone the event for the first time in its 124-year modern history.

“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said in newspaper USA Today. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

Pound told Reuters that a one-year postponement looked like the best solution. This would mean the Games, which had been scheduled for July 24-Aug. 9, are likely to be held in the summer of 2021.

A postponement would be a blow for the host country, Japan, which has pumped in more than $12 billion of investment, and huge sums are also at stake for sponsors and broadcasters.

WSUCC President Franklin Wilson (left) holds up one of the skin suits with veteran Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton as other club members display uniforms and other equipment presented.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound

But a groundswell of concern from athletes - already struggling to train as gyms, stadiums and swimming pools close around the world - appeared to be tipping the balance, along with the cancellation of other major sports events.

More than 337,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus worldwide and over 14,600 have died in a pandemic that the World Health Organisation said was accelerating.

The IOC and the Japanese government have both edged back from weeks of insistence that the Games would go ahead, announcing a monthlong consultation.

‘STRESS AND UNCERTAINTY’ The Olympics have never before been delayed, though they were cancelled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during the two world wars, and major Cold War boycotts disrupted the Moscow and Los Angeles Games in 1980 and 1984 respectively.

“The moment the IOC indicates that it is thinking about other solutions, it has already decided to delay the Games,” said French Olympic Committee president Denis Masseglia.

See Page 24

We Stand United CC members receive over $600,000 in uniforms and other equipment PAGE 24

MEMBERS of the We Stand United Cycle Club (WSUCC) were recently presented with new uniforms along with other equipment as the club seeks to continue supporting its members.

Owner of the Club, Horace Burrowes, procured the custom-made uniforms, tyres, tubes and chains in his adopted homeland and the items were presented to the members by WSUC President, Franklin Wilson.

In handing over the items to the members including leading local cyclist, Briton John, as well as seasoned campaigners and co club cap-

tains, Warren ‘Forty’ McKay and Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton, Wilson expressed sincere gratitude to Burrowes for his continued commitment towards the individual and collective development of the club.

“Mr. Burrowes has shown tangible unflinching support towards this club over the years and we must express gratitude to him and his family for their continued support. It is now up to you as cyclists to show gratitude by being the best you can possibly be when you take to the road and track to showcase your talent.”

This sport is not a cheap sport and we are all aware of what

Printed and Published by Guyana National Newspapers Limi ted, Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown. Telephone 2 2 6- 3243-9 (General); Editorial: 2 2 7- 5204, 2 2 7- 5216. Fax:2 2 7- 5208

it takes financially to equip each rider to be able to perform. So we are thankful to Horace once again for being the backbone for this club over the years. We have some exciting young riders and we intend to give each of you the opportunity to shine for yourself and country.”

Wilson encouraged the cyclist’s to be very disciplined and follow the advice of the Ministry of Health during these testing time of the COVID – 19 World Pandemic.

See Page 24 TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2020