Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 08-10-2022

Old-age pensioners rejoice

–– say one-off cash grant provides much-needed brace

WITH plans to purchase medication and much-needed essentials, old-age pensioners are commending the government for the oneoff $28,000 cash grant initiative which, gov ernment said, will put $1.8 billion of income directly into the hands of old-age pensioners.

Loul Thomas, 85, noted that she will be using the extra cash to purchase much-needed medication. The woman, who has a blood circulation condition, said she is currently on several medications that prevent the formation of blood clots.

Most recently, she complained of muscle pain, expressing a need for acupuncture treat ment. “I got this pain in my leg and I want to try acupuncture, so I’ll use the money for that,” Thomas said.

On Thursday, in a video message broad

cast on his official Facebook page, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali said old-age pensioners will receive a one-off grant of $28,000 from the government by the end of 2022.

More Jamaican investors eyeing Guyana

WITH Guyana being a “fertile region” for econom ic growth, more Jamaicans have expressed an interest in investing in Guyana, according to Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, In vestment and Commerce,

Aubyn Hill. Minister Hill was, at the time, addressing the “Net working Cocktail Reception, Collaboration for Growth” event hosted at the Guyana Marriott Hotel on Wednes day.

He stated that the two nations have had positive social and political ties for many years and strengthen ing such links would not be difficult.

According to him, some Jamaican business persons

had already benefitted from earlier connections in Guy ana and he is looking for ward to a greater desire to strengthen ties between the two CARICOM nations. see full story on page 10

Global food Prices drop for sixth consecutive month

‘Be your own motivator’

–– says hairdresser who refused to let disability kill her dreams

460 two-bedroom, low-income houses are under construction at Little Diamond and Great Diamond while 160 Young Professional houses are being constructed at Prospect, East Bank Demerara as government advances its expansive housing programme (Photo credit: President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s facebook page)

FAO Food Price Index drops for sixth consecutive month

— prices of vegetable oils lead the decline in September

THE gauge for world food commodity prices declined for the sixth month in a row in Sep tember, with sharp drops in the quotations for vegetable oils more than offsetting higher cereal prices, according to a new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 136.3 points in September, down 1.1 per cent from August while remaining 5.5 per cent higher than its value a year earlier. The Index tracks monthly changes in the interna tional prices of a basket of commonly traded food commodities.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index drove the decline, decreasing by 6.6 per cent over the month to reach its low est level since Febru ary 2021. International quotations for palm, soy, sunflower and rapeseed oils were all lower. Lin gering heavy inventories of palm oil, coinciding with seasonally rising production in Southeast Asia, pushed palm oil prices down. Higher soy oil export availabilities in Argentina, increased sunflower oil supplies from the Black Sea region and lower crude oil prices also contributed to the drop in this subindex.

The FAO Cereal Price Index, by contrast, rose 1.5 per cent from Au gust. International wheat prices rebounded by 2.2

per cent, linked to con cerns regarding dry crop conditions in Argentina and the United States of America, a fast pace of exports from the Euro pean Union amid high internal demand and heightened uncertainty about the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s continuation beyond November.

TIGHTER SUPPLY OUTLOOK

World maize prices were mostly stable, as a strong United States dollar countered pressure from a tighter supply out look linked to downgrad ed production prospects in the United States of America and the Euro pean Union. The FAO All-Rice Price Index rose by 2.2 per cent, largely in response to export policy changes in India.

The FAO Dairy Price Index dropped by 0.6 per

cent in the month, to a great extent reflecting the impact of the weaker euro versus the United States dollar, along with market uncertainties and bleak global economic growth prospects.

The FAO Meat Price Index declined by 0.5 per cent. World bovine meat prices fell on high export availabilities from Brazil and elevated cattle-liqui dation in some producing countries, while poultry meat prices inched down due to subdued import de mand. By contrast, world pig meat prices rose due to a supply shortfall of ready-to-slaughter an imals in the European Union.

The FAO Sugar Price Index was down 0.7 per cent during the month of September, mostly relat ed to good production prospects in Brazil along with lower ethanol prices

and currency movement effects.

FAO on Friday also published the latest Ce real Supply and Demand Brief, which further low ered the global cereal production forecast for 2022, now pegged at 2 768 million tonnes, 1.7 per cent below the 2021 outturn.

World coarse grain output is forecast at 1 468 million tonnes, down 2.8 per cent year-on-year, due largely to adverse crop conditions in the United States of America. World rice production is forecast at 512.8 million tonnes, down 2.4 per cent from its all-time high reached in 2021, but still an above-average crop. Downward revision to rice output since Sep tember reflects summer dryness and high tem peratures in China and flooding in Pakistan. FAO

raised in September its global wheat production forecast to 787.2 million tonnes, up 1.0 per cent from the previous year and on track to mark a record high, due to bet ter-than-expected yields in the European Union and the Russian Feder ation.

REDUCED FEED USE

World cereal utilisa tion over 2022/23 is now forecast to decline by 0.5 per cent from the pre vious season to 2,784 million tonnes, with the reduction mostly reflect ing reduced feed use.

World cereal stocks at the close of the 2023 seasons are forecast to contract by 1.6 per cent below their opening lev els, down to 848 million tonnes. The world cereals stocks-to-use ratio is ex pected to drop to 29.7 per

cent in 2022/23 from 31 per cent in the previous year, still relatively high from a historical perspec tive.

World trade in cereals is predicted to decline by 2.4 per cent in 2022/23 (July/June) from the pre ceding marketing season, with foreseen contrac tions in trade of all ma jor cereals. Among other factors, the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the strength of the United States dollar are seen con tributing to this decline.

Some 45 countries around the world, includ ing 33 in Africa, nine in Asia, two in Latin Amer ica and the Caribbean and one in Europe, are in need of external assistance for food, according to the latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, a quarterly publication by FAO’s Global Informa tion and Early Warning System (GIEWS).

Multi-year droughts have engendered a grave food insecurity situation in East Africa, with fam ine expected in parts of Somalia unless humani tarian assistance is scaled up. High inflation rates, challenging macroeco nomic environments and depreciating currencies are aggravating food in security conditions in low-income food deficit countries.

The report also fore casts that cereal pro duction in Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) in 2022 will decline by 0.4 per cent from 2021. (FAO)

A wheat flour mill in the Russian Federation (FAO photo)

Old-age pensioners rejoice

— say one-off cash grant provides much needed brace

By Naomi Parris

WITH plans to purchase medication and much needed essentials, old-age pensioners are commending the government for the one-off $28,000 cash grant initiative which, gov ernment said, will put $1.8 billion of income directly into the hands of old-age pensioners.

Shelia Lespuer, an 88-year-old resident of Victoria Village, noted that the money will come in handy, espe cially during the cur rent economic climate.

“Everything is a lot more expensive; so a little more money in people’s pocket, espe cially big people like me, is appreciated,” she told the Guyana Chronicle in an inter view.

The woman who lives with her young est daughter noted that while she is blessed to have someone who takes care of her basic needs, there are many old folks who don’t have the same luxury. In this regard she said, “there are a lot of people who aren’t blessed like me and this money will really help them”. She called for continued support like this.

Meanwhile, 85-year-old Loul Thomas noted that she will be using the ex

tra cash to purchase much-needed medica tion.

The woman who has a blood circulation condition, said she is currently on several medications which pre vents her from having blood clots.

Most recently, she complained of muscle pain, expressing a need for acupuncture treat ment. “I got this pain in my leg and I want to try acupuncture, so I’ll use the money for that,” Thomas said.

On Thursday, in a video message broad cast on his official Facebook page, Pres ident, Dr. Irfaan Ali said old-age pensioners will receive a one-off grant of $28,000 from the government by the end of 2022.

President Ali said that since his govern

ment was elected in 2020, emphasis was placed on ensuring that the lives of all Guy anese are improved, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups in society.

“Among these,” the President said, “we have focused on our senior citizens, recog nising that they have served our country and the society within which they live for decades.”

The $28,000 grant will be the second oneoff grant that pension ers will receive. Oldage pensioners had re ceived a one-off grant of $25,000 in 2021 which placed an addi tional $1.6 billion of disposable income in the hands of that sec tion of the population.

The grants are among a number of

measures that the gov ernment has been im plementing since 2020 to improve the lives of pensioners across the country.

Prime among those measures is the in crease in the old-age pension from $20,500 in 2020 to $28,000 in 2022, reflecting a 36 per cent increase which has placed a total of approximately $22 bil lion more in the hands of old-age pensioners annually.

Aside from direct cash transfers, other measures that senior citizens have benefit ted from since 2020 include the reintroduc tion of water subsi dy for old-age pen sioners. Over 27,000 pensioners benefitted. This resulted in oldage pensioners having $200 million annually

of disposable income.

The government has also made it eas ier for pensioners to access their monthly pension through alter native payment meth ods such as direct bank payments, as well as direct payment to shutin pensioners including persons living with dis abilities and persons who do not have access to a post office.

Other interventions by the government in clude the restoration of the children’s cash grant that was stopped by the former AP NU+AFC Govern ment, and increased the sum from $10,000 to $25,000. This grant has since been extend ed to learners in private school, and there is a promise to further increase it to $50,000 by 2025.

The children’s school uniform vouch ers have also been in creased from $2,500 to $5,000; old age pen sion has been increased by 40 per cent; some 20,000 scholarships have been made avail able to Guyanese, and this number could in crease to 50,000; the end-of-year bonus for the Joint Services has been restored; VAT has been removed from water, electricity, ma chinery, agricultural inputs, among others; unjust D&I charges have been resolved and concessions have been granted to miners to make their operations more profitable; corpo rate tax on healthcare and education has been removed; more than 11,000 house lots have been distributed thus far and the government is now helping persons with private lands, who do not have the capital, to build their homes.

Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had also said that educa tion at the Univer sity of Guyana will be made free before 2025; 1,000 homes will be built in Lin den and electricity cost is expected to be reduced by 50 per cent by 2025, with the coming on stream of the Wales gas-toshore project and other major energy projects.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud interacts with pensioners

New York City declares emergency over migrant ‘crisis’

NEW York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared a state of emergency to address a “crisis situation” over an influx of migrants.

More than 17,000 have arrived in the city from the southern border since April.

Republican states like Texas, Arizona and Florida have been sending migrants to Democratic areas in recent months.

It’s part of a row with the White House as unprec

edented numbers of people arrive at the US- Mexico border.

Since September, an av erage of five to six buses have been arriving in the city each day, Mr Adams said at a press conference on Friday. He said that one in five people in the city shelter system is currently an asylum seeker.

Many of those arriving are families with schoolaged children and are in

serious need of medical care, he said.

The influx is on track to cost New York $1bn (£900m) this fiscal year, and the mayor is calling for federal and state funding to help with the costs.

“New Yorkers are an gry,” said Mayor Adams. “I am angry too. We have not asked for this. There was never any agreement to take on the job of sup porting thousands of asylum

Mayor Eric Adams said that since September, an average of five to six buses have arrived per day in New York (Getty Images)

seekers.”

He added: “The city is going to run out of funding for other priorities. New York City is doing all we can, but we are reaching the outer limit of our ability to help.”

The city’s social ser vices are “being exploited by others for political gain”, he added.

Three states - Texas, Ar izona and Florida - have transported migrants to Democratic-led areas, fo cusing on self-proclaimed “sanctuary” cities that limit their co-operation with fed eral immigration authorities.

Republican officials in border states say the tactic is aimed at mitigating the impact of migration flows.

They have also said the measure is designed to in crease pressure on the ad ministration of President Joe Biden to do more to reduce the number of mi grants crossing the southern US border, which has hit a record high this year.

The Democratic-run city of El Paso, Texas, has been offering migrants free rides to New York City and Chi cago as a means of alleviat

ing the strain on city resourc es. El Paso alone has trans ported more than double the number of migrants - nearly 9,000 - to the two northern cities than have been sent by the Texas governor.

El Paso officials say the rides are voluntary, and that they co- ordinate with the destination cities to help the migrants upon arrival.

As part of his emergency declaration, the New York mayor issued an executive order that allows the city to dedicate resources to support the asylum seekers and ex pedite any response efforts.

A spokeswoman for Tex as Governor Greg Abbott dismissed the declaration by the mayor on Friday.

“The true emergency is on our nation’s southern bor der where small Texas bor der towns are overrun and overwhelmed by hundreds of migrants every single day as the Biden administration dumps them in their commu nities,” said Renae Eze.

Eze said that, as of October, Texas had sent around 3,100 migrants arriving in the state to New York on more than 60 bus es. (BBC)

Brazil’s presidential race is far from over

WHEN the results came through last Sunday eve ning, there were cheers for Lula – as well as tears – but the atmosphere felt more like a sense of relief than outright celebration.

This wasn’ t the firstround victory that his sup porters had wished for. The polls released a day before the elections had predicted a 14 percentage point gap between Lula and Bolson aro.

They had hoped Lula could avoid a run-off but they vastly underestimated the support for the rightwing leader.

“ I’ve never won an election in the first round, it’s like destiny wants me to work a bit more,” Lula said, trying to reassure people of his chances. “We are going

were also elected to con gress and as state gover nors – has taken people by surprise.

“Bolsonarism is much more alive and has a fur ther reach than people had thought and polls had cap

“I know there’s a desire to change from people but there are certain changes that can be for the worse,” he said.

“We tried to show that during the campaign but clearly that didn’t get through to the most import ant layers of society.”

Bolsonaro vowed to show people how to ensure Brazil wouldn’t become Venezuela - it’s a common comparison that the farright makes when criticis ing the left.

In the run-up to this vote, Bolsonaro repeatedly said that the polls were a lie - and to many it looked like he was just a bad loser. But reflecting on Sunday’s results, there are people who think that Bolsonaro has a point. It’s certainly

what Bolsonaro’s support ers believe.

“It’s time for liberty, for justice,” said teacher Selma Cardoso who said the polls were biased. If Lula wins she’s prepared to take action. “We’ll go to the streets saying people are making a mistake. It’s time to change - but peace fully.”

But others who support the president threaten to take a more violent ap proach.

“There’s going to be beautiful blood spilled in this city,” Alessandro Fer reira Soares, a parachutist, told if Lula takes the pres idency. “I’m prepared to kill all the socialists and communists in the world.”

It’ s these ominous threats that make people worried. These next four weeks are going to be in tense – and personal. With two powerful political foes now going head-to-head, the campaign steps up sev eral notches.

There’s everything to play for in this presiden tial race - and everything to lose if you’re on the wrong side. We saw po litical violence in the runup to the first round and there’s real fear there will be more of that ahead of the run-off. (BBC)

Vaccinations removed as entry requirement to Guyana

AS countries the world over return to complete normalcy following the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Guyana on Friday lifted the requirement for incoming travellers to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering the country.

This was revealed in a letter by the Director-General

of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). This correspondence was copied to Ministers of Public Works, Juan Edghill and Deodar Indar and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Narine Singh, among others.

The letter stated that the Ministry of Health has re moved the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for entry into Guyana effective October 7, 2022.

The removal of the vaccination requirements follows the removal of the COVID-19 testing requirements for international travellers by health officials in June.

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, at the time, had said that the decision came after authorities exam ined where Guyana was in terms of vaccinations and felt comfortable to remove that requirement.

to win the elections again, it’s just a question of time.”

Lula is still the front-runner and his posi tion is still strong. But there is no doubt this has been a blow to the Lula campaign. In the past few weeks, there had been a concerted effort by his supporters to try and encourage wavering vot ers to choose Lula, to end the Bolsonaro presidency promptly.

The show of strength from the right – not just from Bolsonaro but prom inent Bolsonaristas who

tured,” said Esther Solano, a political scientist and Bolsonaro expert.

“What we underesti mated was the network of regional Bolsonarism. We have to rethink how we are failing to measure the true reach of Bolsonarism in daily life across Brazil.”

In his post-results speech, Bolsonaro adopted a more humble tone than in the past - a break from his often fiery politics about the left. Perhaps a conscious ef fort to win over those who are still undecided.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the first round by a smaller margin than expected (Reuters photo)

Jair Bolsonaro won 43 per cent of the vote (Get ty Images)

Musk buys time

COULD this month be a time of reckoning for billionaire tech entrepre neur Elon Musk? Musk’s fate is left at the mercy of a small but significantly powerful court in the state of Delaware, United States of America (USA).

The potential outcomes are thus: Musk will be forced to follow through with the US$44 billion pur chase of Twitter or he will be made to pay US$1 Bil lion to Twitter for exiting the buy-out deal. Either way, Twitter has not budged its position that Musk must complete the purchase.

The big question re mains, ironically, how will one of the world’s richest

men finance the deal? Musk made a pitch to the Dela ware Court that he would proceed with the buyout, seemingly borrowing more time. The Judge of the Court of Chancery accepted it.

“This action is stayed until 5pm on October 28, 2022 to permit the parties to close on the transaction. If the transaction does not close by 5pm on October 28, 2022, the parties are instructed to contact me by email that evening to obtain November 2022 trial dates,” Judge Kathaleen McCormick according to DEADLINE.

Twitter wanted Musk to close the deal by October

17 which was the official commencement date of the five-day trial. “At a mini mum…Defendants should be arranging to close on Monday, October 10. But they aren’t. Instead they refuse to commit to any closing date. They ask for an open ended out, at the expense of Twitter’s stock holders (who are owned $44 billion plus interest), all the while remaining free to change their minds again or to invent new grounds to avoid the contract….

“Until Defendants com mit to close as required, Twitter is entitled to its day in Court, to demonstrate its entitlement to specific

performances and prove defendants’ breaches so as to ensure complete relief in the event the closing should for any reason not occur. Defendants can and should close next week. Until they do, this action is not moot [as Musk’s motion insisted] and should be brought to tri al,” Twitter has maintained, according to media reports.

It appears that Musk’s ability to pay for the deal rests largely on the perfor mance of his Tesla shares. Those shares, however, have seen a decline, according to Reuters. “Tesla shares fell more than six per cent on Friday, heading for their worst weekly drop since

March 2020, as investors worry Musk may dump more shares after Tesla an nounces its quarterly earn ings on Oct. 19,” Reuters said.

“Musk has pledged to provide $46.5 billion in equity and debt financing for the acquisition, which covers the $44 billion price tag and closing costs. Banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp, committed to provide $13 billion of debt financing to support the deal.

“Experts say banks’ commitments to the deal are firm and tight, limiting their ability to walk away from the contract despite prospect that they may face major losses.

“Twitter on Thursday cited one of the banks as saying that Musk had not communicated to them that he intends to close the trans action. Musk said that banks

were ‘working co-operative ly to fund the close’ on or around Oct. 28.

“Musk’s $33.5 billion equity commitment would include his 9.6 per cent Twitter stake, which is worth $4 billion, and the $7.1 billion he secured from equity investors, including Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Elli son and Saudi Prince Al waleed bin Talal,” analysts Hyunjoo Jin and Chibuike Oguh wrote in Reuters. Musk still needs US$22.4 billion to cover the equi ty financing portion of the deal, the agency. It noted additionally, that the billionaire could also sell more of his shares in Tesla or turn his attention to SpaceX. Whatever the case, the clock is ticking on Musk and it’s unlikely he will be allowed further clemency.

Professor Hunte continues to baffle me

Dear Editor,

Reference is made to Professor Hunte’s letter dated October 6th, 2022, published in the Kaieteur News on oil cost and profit shares.

With due respect for Pro fessor Hunte, he continues to baffle me with his “applied economics” in respect to the Production Sharing Agree ment (PSA) for the oil and gas industry. In his recent missive, Professor Hunte is contending that with the 75 per cent cost oil ceiling, when the price for crude increases from $50 per barrel to $100 per barrel, the cost per bar rel increases relative to the increased price. He went further to question how is the 75 per cent determined and why was it not 50 per cent or something else?

Editor, if Professor Hunte was not an economics profes sor, I would have been more sympathetic towards him. However, in his most recent

letter, I am immeasurably hard-pressed to characterise the contentions therein as “magicnomics” and NOT economics, which bewil ders the mental faculties of the intellectuals and equally confounds the mind of a layman. Professor Hunte is profoundly clueless how the fiscal terms in the PSA work, the purpose of the 75 per cent cost ceiling, how the cost is distributed and what cost items constitute the 75 per cent ceiling.

Let me explain. The 75 per cent cost ceiling include two cost components: (1) recovery of the capital expen diture (CAPEX) which was invested upfront to explore and develop the oil fields for production and (2) the operat ing cost (OPEX). The 75 per cent cost ceiling essentially has two benefits for both the country and the oil compa nies as explained hereunder:

It allows for faster recov ery of the capital investment (CAPEX) by the oil com

panies and by doing so, the company and the country would be able to cash in on a higher profit-share sooner rather than later.

The second benefit is such that it allows for the de velopment of new commer cially viable oil fields and the exploration of new oil fields since the oil companies are able to recoup their invest ment quickly.

For illustration purpose, the table below shows how this would work (as ex plained above) in practice.

The table above shows the allocation of cost oil in terms of how much of the 75 per cent is allocated towards OPEX and how is allocated towards recovery of the CAPEX. Typically, the OPEX which is made up of both variable costs and fixed costs would remain relatively constant in a given year and is likely to incur marginal year-on-year (Y-O-Y) in

creases. For example, if in a given year the OPEX is $2M as shown in the table above under the $50 price scenario and the $5M revenue scenar io for 100K barrels of crude, OPEX represents 40 per cent of revenue and 53 per cent of total cost which is capped at 75 per cent of gross revenue. In the second scenario, if the selling price per barrel of crude increase from $50 to $100, the OPEX would remain the same for this period but represent a lower percentage relative to the gross revenue and total cost.

It is understood, there fore, that if 53 per cent of total cost from the 75 per cent cost ceiling which is the total cost in any given year, represents the OPEX, then the remainder which is 47 per cent would be allocated towards cost recovery of the initial investment / CAPEX.

More so, as shown in the second scenario, with a price increase from $50 to $100 per barrel of crude, while the

OPEX would remain relative ly constant (unchanged), the amount allocated towards re covery of the CAPEX would naturally be higher which means an even faster recov ery of the CAPEX. After the CAPEX is fully recovered, then the only cost deduction that remain would be the OPEX which is relatively low (ranges from 12 per cent to 30 per cent of revenue). As a result, there will be a higher profit share that will accrue for both parties.

The overall objective is faster recovery of the invest ment cost, encouraging future development of additional re sources (new oil fields), and to ultimately obtain a higher profit share towards the end after having fully recouped the investment cost.

In essence, the country and the companies accrue far greater value in the long-term by developing and unlocking more of the resources into the future. This, in turn, extends the life of the industry for as

long as the industry remains commercially viable, and to the extent that the oil and gas resources which are finite are available in abundance. In other words, the proven re serves in the Stabroek block to date are an estimated 11 billion barrels of crude.

Hence, with a produc tion rate of one million bar rels per day (by the end of this decade) or 360 million barrels per year, the total proven reserves of 11 bil lion barrels of crude will be exhausted in 30 years’ time. That said, with ongoing exploration over the com ing years, should there be fresh discoveries of another 11 billion barrels or more, then effectively, the indus try’s life will be extended by another 30 years, all things being equal.

October leaves us mystified, mortified and mesmerised

Dear Editor,

Marina Hyde, a Guard ian columnist, reminds us about fragments of historical writing from the British writ er, Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, a 2009 and 2012 Booker Prize win ner who passed away on 22nd September’2022: “Facts are not truth, though they are part of it… And history is not the past – it is the meth od we have evolved of organising our igno rance of the past. It’s the record of what’s left on the record.” As the columnist puts it, “Mantel could trans port you so completely that you felt you were breathing the air of an other century, feeling the emotion of other people, moving through other times.”

It is a fact that many from the Opposition bench, both at home and abroad, are claiming that East Indians are respon sible for their (Afro Guy anese) economic depri vation. But, of course, this is not the truth and as a Mr. Whittaker writes, “…often it is the choice we make.” In Life, peo ple make choices per taining to their welfare and the opportunities available for the impro visations of their lives. Some choose to sacri fice and build with min imal resource becoming successful ultimately, while others choose to neglect or squander and evidently secure minimal achievement.

George Lamming wrote “….those Indian hands – whether in Brit ish Guiana or Trinidad – have fed us. They are, perhaps, our only jewels of a true native thrift and industry. They have taught us, by example the value of money. For they respect money as only people with a high sense of communal responsi bility can.” When one plays the blame game and points the figure at the other, that person has to remember that there are three fingers pointing backwards!

Burnham’s history of dictatorship is certainly not the past as evidenced from the ruling hands of Desmond Hoyte and Da vid Granger. The method we have evolved of or ganising our ignorance of the past is clearly reflect ed in the demonical atti tude and aptitude of the PNC when they attempt ed to rig the 2020 general and regional election. Their record of fraud will be glorified and the last bash will be recorded as the clumsiest, foolish and idiotic endeavour in the history of election record-keeping. It was a ‘window to the world’ as the international com munity looked on mock ingly and nicknamed the PNC as the ‘laughing stock for the century’. It’s an albatross that they will never be able to get rid of and will forever haunt them in any delib erations.

A quick and quiet stroll down memory lane through the eye of a nee

dle will see the month of October is certainly a classified month to coincide with histori cal events which left us mystified, mortified and mesmerised. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in this month. He fought for truth and non-violence. Rosa Parks died in this month. She was an American civil rights fighter and she refused to give up her seat in the bus when it was demanded from her. Actor Roger Moore was born in October. He played James Bond, the famous 007 role. John Lennon was born on Oc tober 9th. He was one of the four famous “Beat les.” The 39th US Pres ident, Jimmy Carter’s 94th birthday was on 1st October. He has a lega cy of monitoring Guy ana’s election through the Carter Center and contributing towards the restoration of democracy for this nation. He will not be forgotten for his stand against Desmond Hoyte which ensured

that the PPP/C was duly elected the legal and jus tified winner in the 1992 election. Cheddie Jagan, the Father of the Nation, finally became the Pres ident of Guyana. Abdul Kalam, India’s 11th Pres ident was born on 15th October. He was also a scientist, aerospace engineer, poet and poli tician. He was known as “the People’s President.”

After 33 days at sea, Christopher Columbus landed in the New World at El Salvador on 12th Oct., 1492. He thought he had landed in Asia and he called the first islanders he met, ‘Indi ans.’ Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded on the orders of King James 1 on 29th October, 1618. The famous writer and explorer visited Guiana in 1595. The People’s Republic of China was founded on October 1st’1949 with Mao Ze dong as Chairman. After 70 years of American control, the Panama Ca nal Zone was formally handed over to Panama

on 1st Oct.’1979. On 3rd October, after 45 years of Cold War division, East and West Germany were united as the Federal Re public of Germany. The Russians launched the first satellite into orbit on 4th October, 1957 to be gin the Space Age. Sput nik 1 weighed just 184 lbs. and it sent a shock wave through the Amer ican political leadership.

On 8th Oct., 1993, the UN General Assembly lifted economic sanc tions against South Af rica following the end of racial apartheid. Green wich was established on 13th October, 1584, as the universal time from which standard times throughout the world are calculated. The US embargo of Cuba began on 19th Oct.1960 on all shipments except med icine and food. On 24th October 1945, the United Nations was founded. Grenada was invaded by the US on 25-30 Octo ber’1983 to restore ‘or der and democracy.’ On 27th Oct.’1904, the New

York City subway began running from City Hall to West 145th St., being the first underground and underwater rail system in the world. Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gand hi was assassinated on 31st Oct.’1984 by three Sikhs, members of her bodyguard.

Back to October 1992, Jimmy Carter had to deal with many of the Elder type in order for Guyana to realise its first free and fair elections. Many of the guardians of morality from various societies, be it civil or otherwise, were silent over the monstrosities and atrocities which took place, still are and will be. The October phenomena also caused many to cross the floor while others resigned in disgust. The Hunt for Red October was a movie many Guyanese became intrigued with.

Yours respectfully, Jai Lall

Is Article 13 fake news?

Dear Editor

I fully agree with Kit Nascimento who re cently observed that “we are a remarkably free country when it comes to the public ex pression of opinions by small groups of people who set themselves up to speak with political authority while repre senting no one in par ticular and are given a platform in our national

newspapers.” This freedom, however, is being doubly abused, first by the media in Guyana, and secondly by groups such as Article 13 (A13).

With regards to the former, I refer you to Frederick Kissoon’s col umn (“Open letter to Is abelle DeCaires and Ian McDonald) in Kaieteur

New, October 7, 2022.

Regarding Article 13, I think Nascimento posed a pertinent question when

he asked “…how should a small group without any evidence of signifi cant popular support be taken seriously, using an article of our Constitution to give them the right to pronounce upon the political performance of the elected government of the day and the major opposition?”

In essence, what we have in Guyana is a small outfit with un known groundings, and

with no public support, that is given full licence by media establishments to publish monumentally false information about governance in Guyana.

Operatives who de fend Article 13 say that they (A13) are a civil society group dedicated to transparency and de mocracy. Yet, the only thing Article 13 has done to date is to hold up a few pickets in and around Georgetown. These pick ets with about four or five people are then photo graphed for display in the media. They often get the front page. The photo graphs are accompanied

by some quotations by the nominal leader of A13, most of which are well beyond verification by even the minimum journalistic standards.

Article 13 seems to relish praise from foreign NGOs and other neo-co lonial-type organisations that dabble in the Global South, mostly looking for some measure of redemp tion. These groups are sometimes referred to as “international watchdog groups.” Many of the local institutional pro tectors (in the media) of Article 13 have close connections to foreign interests (that is, the same

“international watchdog groups”) that want oil and gas to remain a monopoly of the Western world.

Given the totality of circumstances, namely, insufficient information about the groundings of Article 13, its pen chant for wild, emo tional statements that are never supported by evidence, as well as its persistent attacks on the national interest of Guyana, might one not ask – is Article 13 a form of fake news?

Yours sincerely, Dr. Randy Persaud

‘Early detection saved my life’

–– say Breast Cancer survivors

TWO members of the Per iwinkle Cancer Survivors Group have said the impor tance of early detection in saving persons from cancer cannot be overstated, as they shared moving stories about their triumph over the deadly disease.

Speaking during an in terview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Nandranie Singh said it was her awareness that saved her life.

Singh is a breast cancer survivor for the past 15 years.

“In my case , I had this experience years ago; I saw a young lady on the television and I was looking at her , what she came out with, and when I felt the lump, I had a brochure that tell me how to do the breast self-exam ination, and from that bro chure, this is how I am here today,” she said.

After her diagnosis, she had a mastectomy and che motherapy. She is still on medication, and does fol low-up clinical visits.

“If there was someone in your family that had breast cancer, you start doing it

earlier (self-examination) than when they had been diagnosed,” Singh said.

She advises anyone bat tling cancer to be constant with their clinics, and take their medication and follow the right diet.

“The general public should not put a stigma to cancer and say I cannot have it; we all need support from each individual, whether it be in your family or a club. You need that support that helps you to be motivated,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, another can cer survivor, Mitchell Smith noted that self-examination helped her detect that she had cancer in her breast at an early stage.

“I did my self-examina tion, and I realised I had a lump in my breast, and immediately I checked the doctor and immediately I took the step further from there, and that’s why I’m here today. So, the screening has a lot to do with it,” she told DPI.

She noted the impor tance of support from fam ily, friends and clubs such

as the Periwinkle group, which supports survivors financially, and through counselling and other ser vices.

‘FULL OF LIFE’

“There is life after can cer, because I am a sur vivor, and I’m full of life. And I have seen a lot of cancer survivors, and they are there and they are liv ing and they are happy.

So , all I want to say to you, have support from like your relatives, friends, join a lot of support sys tems,” Smith said.

Advisor to the Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsam my, reiterated Thursday, that early detection remains key to increasing the number of cancer survivors in Guyana.

And while cancer re mains a challenge here and around the world, survival rate is increasing.

“We also have the good news part, which is, in our country, there is a growing number of breast cancer sur vivors. When I first joined the Ministry of Health, the mortality rate from breast

Mackenzie businessman remanded to prison on assault, other charges

HILTON Lyle, a 36-year-old busi nessman of Silver town, Mackenzie, Linden, was arrest ed on Wednesday and charged with several offences.

According to police in a release, the charges are Malicious Damage to Property Contrary to Section 160 of the Crim inal Law Offence Act Chapter 8:01; Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm Contrary to Sec tion 49 of the Criminal Law Offences Act Chap ter 8:01; Threatening Language Contrary to Section 141 (a) of the Summary Jurisdiction

prevent and manage breast cancer, but people must be aware, said Dr Ramsammy.

“Because if we improve early detection in our coun try, we will keep increasing the survival rate from breast cancer and if we have that as a concrete real thing, then not doing it is unacceptable and criminal,” he, noting that no one is too young to learn about breast cancer.

Hilton Lyle

(Offences) Act Chapter 8:02; and two counts of Threatening Behaviour Contrary to Section 141

(b) of the Summary Ju risdiction (Offences) Act Chapter 8:02, all of which occurred on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, at Phase 2 Ame lia’s Ward, Linden.

Lyle appeared be fore Magistrate Wanda Fortune at the Kwak wani Magistrate’s Court on Friday, where the charges were read to him. He pleaded not guilty to all of the sum mary offences, but was not required to plead to the indictable ones.

He was remanded to prison until Thurs day November 3, 2022 for report, the police release said.

cancer and other cancers was higher than the global aver age mortality rate. Guyana was one of those countries where it was a death sentence to have cancer,” he said.

Guyana has the tools to

“Breast cancer is not a woman’s issue . It’s all of our issues because men have breasts too… and not for a minute must we think that men cannot have breast can cer.”

He explained that Guyana now has more sophisticated diagnostic tools and is now developing a regime of bio

chemical and biogenetic tests along with the expansion of mammography services.

The health advisor also noted the importance of getting the HPV vaccines to prevent cancer. (DPI)

Cancer survivor, Nandranie Singh

Cancer survivor Mitchell Smith

More Jamaican investors eyeing Guyana

WITH Guyana being a “fertile region” for econom ic growth, more Jamaicans have expressed an interest in investing in Guyana, ac cording to Jamaica’s Minis ter of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn

Hill. Minister Hill was at the time addressing the ‘Net working Cocktail Reception, Collaboration for Growth’ event hosted at the Guyana Marriott Hotel on Wednes day.

He stated that the two na tions have had positive social and political ties for many years and strengthening such links would not be difficult.

According to him, some Jamaican business persons had already benefitted from

Chief Executive Officer of Go-Invest, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop and President of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Diane Edwards, sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as Jamaican Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn Hill, looks on (Elvin Croker photo)

earlier connections in Guyana and he is looking forward to a greater desire to strengthen ties between the two CAR ICOM nations

It was ex-plained that Guyana is a fertile region for economic growth and Jamai ca is prepared for expansion.

Jamaica is skilled in hu man resource management, hospitality management, tourism management and logistics for business process outsourcing (BPO).

Minister Hill also stated that he believes that Guyana is a perfect fit from an eco nomic, political, and social standpoint, and that financial institutions in Jamaica have the resources and expertise needed to assist in financing the significant projects that are being pursued in Guyana.

Despite not having a physical presence here, sev eral organisations, such as NCB Capital Markets Lim ited, are already offering crucial funding for regional initiatives.

Minister Hill does not believe that Jamaica is “late to the party” since Guyana is changing so quickly and profoundly.

A 38-member business delegation visited Guyana recently, and according to the Jamaican Minister, a larger delegation is expected to join him here in about two months on another trade mission.

President of the Jamai ca Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Diane Edwards, subsequently spoke with the Guyana Chronicle

She echoed most of what Minister Hill said, adding that this was her second visit to Guyana; her first was in May when she attended the AGRO Investment Forum where she saw Guyana’s potential.

Edwards expressed her enthusiasm about investing in Guyana’s economy.

“ Guyana is an exciting country with an exciting future,” she said adding, “We had to get onboard with

Contractor charged for attempted murder

VISHAUL Kumar, 35, a contractor of West Rui mveldt Housing Scheme, Georgetown, was on Friday charged with the offence of attempted murder commit ted on Ravindra Dhari.

According to police in a release, the accused ap peared at the Vigilance Mag istrate Court to answer to the charge. He was not required to plead and was subsequent ly remanded to prison.

The matter was ad

journed until November 10, 2022.

Vishaul Kumar is ac cused of committing the offence on Dhari, 25, on Oc tober 4, 2022 at Non Pariel, East Coast Demerara. Dhari is currently hospitalised in a critical condition.

Kumar was subsequent ly arrested on October 5, 2022 by a police constable stationed at the Vigilance Police Station, the release noted.

Guyana and the opportunity of working together.”

With Jamaica having one of the most mordernised and sophisticated ports in the re gion, Edwards suggested that Guyana can export some of its products through the port, specifically to North Ameri ca, considering the logistics and that Kingston is the “per fect” transshipment port.

She also emphasised the warmth and hospitality of President, Dr. Irfan Ali, his government and the people of Guyana.

Edwards noted that Pres ident Ali is not just looking at developing Guyana and Guyanese, but he is look ing at developing the entire Caribbean region which is welcomed by all.

During the event, Ed wards and Chief Executive Officer of Go-Invest, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, signed a Memorandum of Under standing (MoU) to strength en business ties between the two nations.

Vishaul Kumar

Modern Providence Post Office Commissioned

due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were several delays as well as increases in costs of ma terials which naturally resulted in the original four-month construction time being extended and the total cost increasing.

The Director of Cor porate Affairs said the construction extended to some 12 months and the final cost increased by 27 per cent.

“The Providence Post Office stands equipped with mod

ern facilities including facility for the physi cally challenged and we would like to open our post office to you and your relatives and ensure that you uti lise it for its purpose,” Marks said.

THE Providence Post Office was, on Friday, officially commis sioned as the Guyana post Office Corpora tion (GPOC) began celebrations for World Post Day.

The facility was re cently retrofitted and renovated.

GPOC Director of Corporate Affairs, Tra

cy Marks, in giving an overview of the proj ect, said Providence is one of many loca tions through which the GPOC carries out its mandate of bringing postal services to the people of Guyana.

The GPOC, she said, is strategically po sitioned in a location with growing postal de

mands.

The support and call for the upgraded Prov idence facility came from the Office of the Prime Minister and the design of the one-story concrete structure was provided by the Minis try of Public Works.

The initial cost of the project stood at just over $23.5 million; however,

GPOC Director of Corporate Affairs, Tracy Marks

The exterior of the newly commissioned Providence Post Office (Elvin Carl Croker photo)

‘Be your own motivator’

— says hairdresser who refused to let disability kill her dreams

By Cindy Parkinson

ASHA Alli, a different ly-abled hairdresser,

has encountered many obstacles on her way to success. For her, it was a long and tiring journey,

but she chose to push on and make the goals she had set for herself, a reality.

Asha’s Beauty World

Born with both sets of fingers not fully devel oped and stuck together, Asha’s parents, with the advice of their doctor, de cided to perform an oper ation to separate them so that she could have some amount of “normalcy” as she grew.

Growing up as a child, Asha was faced with many challenges, but the one that stood out the most to her was being bullied by her peers while in secondary school. She was teased and called many names for being differently-abled and even though these remarks were hurtful, she learned to ignore it and develop strength through it all.

Asha enjoyed learning despite being ridiculed at school, but she was forced to “drop out” in the fourth form due to financial is sues at home.

Her mother worked as a maid while her fa ther was a cane-cutter. Their income was barely enough to pay the bills and put food on the table, let alone fund her educa tion.

Asha always had a love for doing makeup

and hair as a child and as faith would have it, one day while she was read ing the newspaper, she stumbled upon an ad that was offering hairdressing training at a salon.

With her parents’ en couragement and her de termination, she applied for the course and got through. Not having the financial means to pay for it, her aunt and her parents came together and paid for it in installments.

Asha did not limit her self or feel intimidated by anyone because of her fingers, but she also found it very challenging to hold a comb and a pair of scissors while figuring out how to cut the hair.

Being different ly-abled, the salon’s own er did not want to take any chances with her ruining the customers’ hair, so she spent most of her days sitting and observing the other trainees as they worked. This put a damp er on her spirit, but it did not stop her from chasing her dreams; instead, it motivated her.

She decided to prac tice at home on her aunt and neighbour and even

offered to work for free at another salon.

With practice, she be gan to master her skills as a hairdresser. Even tually, she got her own clients and was paid for her work.

During her three years of working at the salon, Asha met her husband Ashaad Alli, got married and migrated to Nevis, the smaller of the two Caribbean islands making up Saint Kitts and Nevis. While there, she further developed her skills and passion for hairdressing.

After giving birth to her first daughter, Aaliya, Asha and her husband re turned to Guyana, where she established a small sa lon for herself. She subse quently gave birth to her second daughter, Amelia, and watched excitedly as her business grew.

Asha is now the proud owner of Asha’s Beauty World, located in Cour bane Park, Annandale, East Coast Demerara. She has employed sev eral young women from the community and sur rounding areas. She trains them, and gives them an opportunity to earn their own money.

According to Asha, she is a strong believer in giving back to others. She urged the public to “stop the bullying of people who do not seem normal to you.” Given her own experiences, she empha sised that regardless of whether it is a child or adult, they will feel hurt when that is done to them.

She also believes in staying humble and grounded in life.

“Believe in yourself, do not give up on your dreams and you can be anything that you want to be if you are deter mined to work hard for it,” she said as she offered words of advice to members of the public, especially young people.

Rice, sugar production could improve with better weather

By Naomi Parris

WITH the anticipation of moderate weather condi tions in the coming months, Agriculture Minister, Zu lfikar Mustapha is opti mistic that Guyana’s rice and sugar sectors will see improved production.

Mustapha, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said that the rice industry is still on the road to recovery from the floods of 2021 and early 2022.

RICE

“When you look at the yield, we are getting good yield; almost six tons per hectare. So, it’s showing good signs of recovering,” Musta pha said.

He added, “But I am op timistic that we will pass these 200,000 acres for the new crop coming in so that we can increase production substantially.”

In the first half of 2022, the cultivation of paddy re quired expanded support from government due to the ad verse weather conditions and the increase in the prices for fertiliser.

Government’s quick re

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

sponse to the drainage and irrigation challenges helped to contain the negative im pact on rice production in the first crop. A decrease in production was, however, still recorded.

“We have seen constant heavy rainfall over the last two years and because of that, rice is a crop that you have to have proper land, proper weather condition.

“Because of the condition of the land, we have seen a decrease in the cultivation of the land in terms of the acre age,” the Agriculture Minister added.

Mustapha explained that during the wet seasons, where

above normal rainfall and flooding was recorded, many rice farmers were unable to reap their paddy. This re sulted in farmers only being able to cultivate a total of 180,000 acres, thus missing the 200,000-acre target.

“Some people were able to reap their paddy, [and] some people weren’t able to get back in the land, to pre pare the land. We never had a dry ploughing,” he added further.

SUGAR

Meanwhile, as it relates to sugar, the minster disclosed that there was significant damage as a result of flood ing. This, he said, caused a

decrease in the production of sugar. He noted that several young crops were destroyed.

“We would have seen what the flood has done and when you have problems in the sugar industry in terms of damage to the cane, it’s a long-term effect.

“And a lot of canes would have [been] destroyed in Al bion, and as a result of that, GuySuCo [Guyana Sugar Corporation] would have had to replant and replant,” he further explained.

Despite the inclement weather conditions, several

upgrades were made to the various sugar estates to boost and improve production.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s mid-year report, works were undertaken at the factories at Albion, Blair mont, Uitvlugt and Rose Hall.

Improvement to the Albi on Estate included upgrading of a knife turbine, replace ment of mill rollers, and an overhaul of one of the main diesel generators.

At Blairmont, the crush ers and mill rollers are being replaced, and the sugar wharf is being rehabilitated. Works

at Uitvlugt included the re placement of the feeder table and the rehabilitation of a boiler.

At Rose Hall, a complete rehabilitation of the factory is being undertaken. Further, works were advanced for the conversion of the fields for machine harvesting and rehabilitation of the access dams at all four of the estates.

With the rehabilitation works completed and the rehiring of several factory workers, Mustapha is op timistic the industry will make a full “rebound”.

401 residents sign on to $600M

Lethem Housing Programme

SOME 401 residents of Lethem, Region Nine, signed on to the Central Housing and Planning Authority’s (CH&PA) Le

them Housing Support Programme, a govern ment assistance initiative for the Lethem Housing Construction Project.

This was disclosed by Housing and Water Minis ter, Collin Croal on Thurs day.

The Lethem Housing

Project is an initiative an nounced by President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, during an outreach to the township in August this year.

The initiative, valued at $600 million, will see the government contribut ing $1 million each to 600 low-income homeowners to mitigate the cost of their home construction.

President Ali had also announced that the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) and the New Build ing Society (NBS) would finance the remaining $2 million for the prospective

homeowners at a rate of 3.5 per cent.

The collateral-free ges ture from the two financial institutions would see the 600 allottees repaying just about $14,000 per month.

Republic Bank is the most recent bank to come on board with the project.

Speaking during an in terview with the Depart ment of Public Informa tion (DPI) on Thursday, the minister stated that the materials and labour for the home construction will be procured locally.

“The beneficiaries from

those programmes come from three cluster areas. That is for the Tabatinga area, Culvert City, as well as our new housing develop ment in Lethem. And those are persons that would have benefitted from an alloca tion recently,” he said.

He explained that the housing development pro gramme caters to persons who are not financially equipped to construct their homes upon receiving a house lot to begin building their new homes

“So here you have a programme that has never been implemented before in Guyana. And there is an op portunity for people to own their own homes, and start. But the key criterion is that you must own your lot. So those are the persons who are the beneficiaries,” the minister said.

The collaboration be tween the government and commercial banks sees up to $1.8 billion being injected into the district to promote the housing drive. (DPI)

Man admits to killing workmate

FORTY-FIVE-YEAROLD Phillip Solomon, on Tuesday, pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing his workmate in 2018.

Solomon of Ice House Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, appeared before Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Demerara High Court for the capital offence of murder. However, he opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

He admitted that, on Oc tober 24, 2018, at Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he un lawfully killed 51-year-old Vernon Cummings.

Justice Reynolds deferred sentencing until October 25.

According to reports, Cummings and Solomon were known to each other, and worked as labourers on the Timehri wharf, where they would usually consume alcohol and get into argu ments.

On the day in question,

the men were drinking and had a misunderstanding which led to an argument and subsequently a scuffle.

It is alleged that Cum mings armed himself with a piece of iron and the accused with a wooden paddle. They subsequently began hitting each other.

Solomon’s brother, on being informed about the

fight, rushed to the scene to make peace.

It was after he (the broth er) took away the iron from Cummings that the accused dealt Cummings a lash to his head, causing him to fall.

Cummings was rushed to the Diamond Public Hos pital where he died while receiving treatment.

CONFESSED KILLER: Phillip Solomon

Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal

Region 10 ‘takes the win’ in MoE Jeopardy competition

PRIMARY School teachers from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), on Friday, walked away with the winning trophy for the Ministry of Edu cation’s National Litera cy Department’s Primary School Teachers’ Jeopardy competition.

The competition, which was held at the Princess Hotel, East Bank Demerara (EBD) saw teams of teach ers from eight education districts participating. The event was the third of its kind since being introduced in 2016.

The contestants com peted in the quiz game with questions covering a vari ety of topics from the cat egories of Science, Social Studies, English Language, Mathematics, Literature and School Administration.

The first round of the competition consisted of five categories with clues

that were valued from 100 to 500 points, which were doubled in the second round.

After several intense rounds, the team of teachers from Region 10 compris ing Yvonne Nazir, Cheryl Wills and Diane Retemyer emerged victorious.

Region Four (Demer ara-Mahaica) teachers Bhanmattie Dewoekmar, Samina Shaw and Colis Dublinin placed second.

Meanwhile, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) teachers Sherlene Bancroft, Anita Embleton and Eshiva Laketaking finished the competition in third place.

All other contestants were awarded consolation prizes for their partici pation. Pupils who were in the audience were also given opportunities to answer questions and win prizes.

Pastor appeals rape conviction, sentence

PASTOR Andrew Hanni bal, who is currently serv ing a 40-year jail term for raping a 15-year-old girl, has moved to the Appeal Court to have his convic tion and sentence over turned.

In 2018, Hannibal was sentenced by Justice Sandil Kissoon at the Berbice High Court, after a jury found him guilty of rape committed between January 29 and 30, 2016, in the County of Berbice.

The judge had sentenced Hannibal to serve 40 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

In his appeal documents, the convict claimed that the trial judge erred in law and

that the sentencing was ex cessive, and too severe.

As such, he is asking the court to reserve and/or set aside his conviction and sentence.

According to the facts, a sibling of the victim awoke and discovered that she was not in her bed.

As a result, their guardian was informed and a search was carried out. She was seen in an outhouse.

In response to questions, the girl confessed that she was with the pastor.

A report was made to police. Subsequently, she was seen and examined by a medical practitioner who indicated that the child had been sexually violated.

Andrew Hannibal

Teachers during the competition (Ministry of Education Photo)

Medium and long-term strategies needed

— for Latin American

LATIN AMERICAN and Caribbean coun tries must work togeth er to develop mediumand long-term strat egies to reduce their strong dependence on the import of chemical fertilisers, agreed ex perts convened by the Inter-American Insti tute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The crisis situation with respect to fertiliser prices and supply, which began to materialise in 2021, has resulted in serious imbalances this year due to the war in Eastern Europe. It has also given greater visi bility to an issue that is a serious threat to food security and the envi ronmental sustainabili ty of agriculture in the region, concluded the specialists.

This topic was dis

cussed during a work shop held at IICA Head quarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, which was also attended virtually by a large number of participants. The pur pose of the activity was to analyse the impact of the global fertilis er crisis on consumers and farmers throughout the Americas, as well as its cost for govern ments. Participants also reviewed and assessed possible avenues for countries in the region to overcome the chal lenges posed by future scenarios.

A research project commissioned by the hemispheric agricultur al development agen cy was also presented during the workshop. The project involved the development of a simple methodology that

could be immediately applied by countries in the region to analyse the potential effects of alter native or complementa ry measures to mitigate current conditions with respect to fertiliser im

crisis that is threatening food security

search on fertilisers has primarily focused on the impact of subsidies, not the market itself.”

“At the World Bank, we are trying to moni tor the fertiliser market in the region. There is a lack of information and, in Central Amer ica for instance, prices vary greatly even with in countries. We can join forces with IICA to foster greater market transparency,” he added.

port prices and their re percussions for the main agrifood stakeholders.

The workshop was opened by the Director General of IICA, Man uel Otero, and the meth odology was presented by Carlos Pomareda, Manager of Internation al Services for Business Development (SIDE SA).

Participating in the discussion were Diego Arias, Agriculture and Food Manager for the World Bank in Latin America and the Carib bean; Carolina Trivel li, a rural development specialist and researcher at the Institute of Peru vian Studies; and Hugo Chavarría, Manager of IICA’s Bioeconomy and Production Develop ment Programme.

In turn, Joaquín Arias, IICA Specialist in Policies and Sectoral Analysis, encouraged participants to exchange knowledge on this topic via the Public Policy Observatory for Agri food Systems (OPSAa), a digital tool that the institute created this year to help countries navigate this period of instability.

“Fertilisers are the Achilles’ heel of ag riculture in the hemi sphere—its most vulner able area,” said Manuel Otero.

“It is an issue that

was somewhat unex posed, but that has re cently resurfaced for Mercosur, Central American and Andean countries, which must respond to demands for more sustainable pro duction while facing rising production costs. It is a very serious situa tion,” he added.

TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY COSTS

Otero pointed out that the fertiliser mar ket has a highly con centrated supply, with most production cen ters located far from the Latin American and Caribbean region, which aggravates the situation due to transportation and energy costs.

IICA has been carry ing out various actions to address the fertiliser issue, including provid ing the ministers of Ag riculture of its member countries with concrete and clear information on the impact of the crisis and alternative scenarios.

Diego Arias of the World Bank remarked that “the work carried out by IICA adds value and knowledge to the discussion, because we are not very knowledge able about the fertiliser market and the impact of this price volatility on food security. Re

Pomareda shared details on a research study on the fertiliser market in Peru, devel oped with contributions from technical special ists, businesspeople and producers.

“We started to see rising fertiliser prices in 2021, but values shot up starting in February, following Russia’s in vasion of Ukraine. In July, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement to resume exports, which has enabled prices to drop,” said Pomareda. He explained that the biggest challenge is the availability of urea for crops such as rice and sugarcane, noting that farmers have faced fewer obstacles finding solutions for other in puts.

Chavarría, in turn, re ferred to the importance of governments having access to ideal tools for designing and imple menting public policies, and underscored the need to develop a longterm strategy for fer tilisers in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Chavarría also highlighted the grow ing interest in bio inputs in the region. “Countries of the re gion are working to foster the use of these products, which are not intended to replace the current technological package, but rather to complement it in order to increase the efficiency and environ mental sustainability of agriculture.”

Hugo Chavarría, Manager of IICA’s Bioeconomy and Production Development Programme; Joaquín Arias, IICA Specialist in Policies and Sectoral Analysis; Director-General Manuel Otero; Carlos Pomareda, Manager of International Services for Business Development (SIDESA); Diego Arias, Agriculture and Food Manager for the World Bank in Latin America and the Caribbean; and Carolina Trivelli, rural development specialist and researcher at the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IICA photo)

APNU+AFC confirms claims of ‘bloated list’ false

— by refusing to participate in claims and objections exercise, says Attorney-General

ATTORNEY-GEN

ERAL and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, SC, said the non-participation of the APNU+AFC in the claims and objections exercise shows that the allegations of a bloated list are false.

The Legal Affairs Minister was at the time speaking during his televised pro gramme ‘Issues in the news’ streamed on Tuesday. Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, had revealed recently, that the APNU+AFC did not participate in the claims and objec

tions exercise which concluded on Septem ber 21.

“He can’t do that be cause what he’s saying is not right. He can’t do because one, he’s lazy,

that’s the first thing […] What he’s alleging is not true, so he can’t go and remove nobody off the list legally through the claims and objec tion period,” Minister

Nandlall explained.

The Attorney-Gen eral reminded that in 2015, it was the same APNU+AFC that at tempted to take 1,500 names of persons from Moraikobai, Region Five, off the list, claim ing that those persons were dead.

“We had to bring the 1,500 people down with boat – 65 miles up the Mahaicony Riv er… and bring them to Region Five, to show that they were alive, to reject their claim…” the minister said.

He also noted that this was the same list

that earned the AP NU+AFC a one-seat majority during the 2011 General and Re gional Elections.

“It’s the very bloat ed list that won them the elections in 2015. It wasn’t bloated then? It’s the same list,” he reasoned.

Minister Nandlall said every argument of the Opposition Leader can be dissected and demolished as there is no intelligent argument.

The Guyana Elec tions Commission (GECOM) had extend ed the claims and objec tions exercise to seven

days, concluding on Sunday, September 21.

The Claims and Ob jections exercise within the continuous registra tion process is conduct ed at the registration offices and sub-offices for a specified period.

This exercise pro vides eligible electors, who did not register, the opportunity to gain entry to the list of electors or to up date their particulars (transfers and chang es) and it also provides the opportunity for objections to particulars in the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE).

Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton

Eight Guyanese selected for 61st edition of ‘Know India Programme’

THE High Commission of India in Georgetown, Guyana has selected eight Guyanese for the 61st edi tion of the ‘Know India Programme’ (KIP) to go to Gujarat, India.

According to a release, the programme will be con ducted between September 29 to October 16, 2022, in India. The selected partici pants are Themeshwar Par manand (Research Tech nician) from East Coast Demerara; Stephen Seer aj (Research Technician) from East Bank Demerara; Yudister Gharbaran (Spe cial Projects Officer) from East Bank Demerara; Vish Kistama (2021 CAPE stu dent) from Berbice; Hema Manniram (Secretary) from East Bank Demerara; Sarah Bovell (Legal Assistant) from Georgetown; Indy Ramnarine (Entrepreneur) from East Bank Demerara, and Ravita Klass (Super visor) from East Coast Demerara.

On Friday, High Com missioner, Dr. KJ Srinivasa met and interacted with the selected participants, briefed them on the pro gramme, and encouraged them to make the best use of the initiative and to con nect to their roots in Indiathe land of their ancestors.

The participants were very appreciative and thanked the Government of India for the opportunity to visit India and expressed their enthusiasm to learn and explore more and get a first-hand experience of the fastest growing large economy and the current

fifth largest economy in the world, the release said.

The programme pro vides local hospitality in cluding boarding, transpor tation within India, and air tickets both ways between their country of residence and India. The participants will be visiting New Delhi

for a two-day orientation programme, Agra, and a se lect state (in this case Gu jarat) in India along with visits to places of histori cal, economical, cultural, and religious significance.

The participants will be meeting influencers, lead ers, and various department officials to get an overview of India’s economy, soci ety, ongoing growth, and development, etc.

‘Know India Pro gramme’ is a flagship pro gramme of the Ministry of External Affairs for en gagement with the youth of Indian origin (between 18-30 years) to enhance their awareness of India, its rich cultural heritage, and exquisite art and to fa miliarise them with various aspects of contemporary India.

The minimum qualifi cation required for partici pating in KIP is graduation from a recognised Univer sity/Institute or enrollment

into graduation and the ability to speak English. The requirement is that the applicant should not have visited India by using any programme of the Govern ment of India.

“Those who have not visited India before will be given preference.

In addition to the above, there is one more KIP for the year 2022, the 62nd KIP Edition. This is between the 1st and the 21st of November 2022 in Rajasthan. Applications received for this KIP be fore the due date are currently being reviewed. There will be many op portunities in the coming year to take part in KIP in the near future. Please refer to http://kip.gov. in/home/guidelines for future opportunities. Ap plications need to be filled out online at http://kip. gov.in/home/register,” the release concluded.

High Commissioner, Dr. KJ Srinivasa (centre) and a senior officer of the commission (right) with the six locals selected to participate in the 61st edition of the ‘Know India Programme’

GMR&SC Race of Champions to ignite South Dakota November 12-13

… Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart up for grabs

The Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart car that will be given away by the GMR&SC at the November 12-13 Race of Champions and Automotive Expo

THE Guyana Motor Rac ing and Sports Club (GM R&SC) annual November race meet, will take a differ ent twist this year as the club teams up with Impressions to host what they’re calling the premier Auto Event of the year, Guyana Automo tive Expo and the Ignite Race of Champions.

The South Dakota Circuit, home of motor racing in Guy ana, will welcome some of the region’s fastest cars in various groups, along with radical cars, from November 12 to 13.

Over the past 50 years, GMR&SC officials said they have transformed the auto motive industry in Guyana through the strategic creation of high-level race meets and events which cut across vari ous demographics: status, re ligion, gender and age, attract ing more than 30 000 patrons in a single space for one day.

The highly anticipated annual November Race of Champions is said to be the single-largest sporting event that is consistent, well man aged, and attracts a steady fol lowing and equal investment, and is also the GMR&SC’s marquee event on their local motor-racing calendar.

According to organisers, the ongoing Radical Caribbean Cup (RCC) will culminate in Guyana with fans being given the opportunity to cheer-on Kristian Jeffrey, the lone Guy anese competing in the series.

As the series heads to Trin idad this weekend, Jeffrey, with four wins in the six races so far, leads RCC standings with 125 points.

Jamaica’s Senna Summer bell, son of multiple Caribbean Motor Racing Champion Da vid Summerbell Jr, is also ex pected to compete in Guyana.

Zane Maloney, the

19-year-old ‘Bajan’ 2022 FIA Formula 3 Vice-Cham pion, is also listed among the star-studded drivers touted to be part of the event.

Apart from the high-oc tane events at South Dakota, the Guyana Automotive Expo, the GMRSC said, will be the first of its kind to be held in the country, catering to auto dealers, banks and other en thusiasts.

The GMR&SC pointed out that in the last years, major work has been done in South Dakota, as it aspired to ac commodate high-level action, such as Formula 4 cars for the North and Central American Championship (NACAM) in the near future.

Meanwhile, GMR&SC, for the first time, will be giv ing away a brand new Mit subishi Colt Ralliart car to one lucky patron attending the event.

With every purchase of a ticket to the November 1213 event at South Dakota, an opportunity will be given to enter a draw to win the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart car.

The GMR&SC plans to host a series of events to promote the November meet.

President Irfaan Ali had listed motor racing as one of the sports his government intends to target for invest ment, as his administration pushes to make Guyana the premier destination for sports tourism and entertain ment in the Caribbean.

Junior Sammy, E-Net works, Banks Beer, Prems Electrical, Vitality, Behar ry Automotive limited, Secure Innovations and Concepts, Government of Guyana and Ministry of Tourism are listed as the sponsors.

USA Cricket commercial partner deeply concerned over board's financial situation

portunity with Ireland was presented to ACE, there was some pushback over the costs of staging the series with several board sources stating that ACE did not give their full back ing to go forward with the event.

Srinivasan confirmed ACE's hesitancy, but says it was based on projected budgets to stage it during the Christmas holiday pe riod in Florida, a peak cost destination during that time of year. Bio-bubble guidelines in place at the time also escalated costs.

portunity to play and host a Full Member was super exciting for us," Srinivasan said. "As we got more details… we felt that the projections were too rosy and that it would fall well short of being a break-even event. We felt that the rev enue projections were not realistic, so the shortfall would be much larger than they expected us to cover. And the timing of it and the location of it, we felt the costs were going to be too large to fund."

keep 100% of the reve nues and we would pro vide an advance - since their feeling was that they could break even on thisand when you get revenue back, just pay us back."

In the end, Srinivasan says ACE provided a $150 000 advance on future disbursements.

(ESPNCRICINFO) - Vijay Srinivasan, a co-founder of Ameri can Cricket Enterpris es (ACE) - USA Crick et's commercial partner and parent company of the forthcoming Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 competition - has told ESPNcricinfo of ACE and MLC's concern regarding USA Cricket's current perilous financial situation.

USA Cricket's debt has been an ongoing issue since the board suffered six-figure losses after the three-match home ODI series against Ireland was cancelled last December due to COVID-19. But it was highlighted once again in a letter sent out last week to all members, by USA Cricket interim board chairman Atul Rai, ahead of the next AGM tomorrow.

"We are quite con cerned at the current state of the finances at USA Cricket," Srinivasan told ESPNcricinfo. "The fact that the ICC has had to withhold funding, that gives us a lot of concern. We are here to help them out. As long as it's con structive, positive engage ment, we want to work

with USA Cricket to find a way to help them work through this current finan cial crisis."

Of particular concern to Srinivasan is the fact that Rai's letter highlighted that board employees - includ ing national team players - have gone unpaid: this, in spite of the fact that much of ACE's payments to USA Cricket have been precisely earmarked for this purpose.

"Contractually we have an agreement that guaran tees them a minimum of $8M over the first 10 years of the agreement," Srini vasan said. "Now where we are today is that we've already spent close to $5M in the first three years di rectly to USA Cricket, which is close to $1.4M above what we are contrac tually obligated to spend.

"Since 2019, we've spent $1.7M on player pay ments directly to players. So, when we read things in Atul's mail that they are not able to pay player sala ries, it's a little bit concern ing given that we currently pay seven of the players on the USA men's team."

"We pay them 5% off the top. We take 100% of all the costs; we take 100% of all the losses. All

the exposure is ours. So I think it's an immensely fair deal."

According to Srini vasan, ACE has also given USA Cricket an additional $800 000 as "discretionary funding" that is outside the scope of the contracted $8M. Yet even with this additional money, Srini vasan says that the details of the issues outlined in Rai's letter caught his at tention.

The root cause of the situation was that Ireland series. What started off as a momentous occasion for USA - they recorded a win in the opening T20I, their first over a Full Mem ber - turned into a finan cial catastrophe when the three scheduled ODIs were shelved after a COVID-19 outbreak in the Ireland squad.

Though USA Cricket was not in debt at the time, it also did not have the requisite cash on hand to host the Ireland tour and needed ACE's intervention.

As part of ACE's commer cial agreement with USA Cricket, there is contractu al wording that states that ACE will manage all com mercial activities for ODIs and T20Is that USA hosts.

However, when the op

"Let me be completely clear on one point. The op

"So what we did say was that we would forego any of our revenue shares. We said USA Cricket could

ACE also covered the costs of sending two staff members to help run onsite operations and lo gistics for the series. But only the two T20Is were played, triggering heavy losses.

ACE and MLC co-founder Sameer Mehta with USA Cricket board members - and former playersNadia Gruny and Sushil Nadkarni•Peter Della Penna

Mercedes duo lead rain hit second practice in Japan

Mbappe tops Forbes richest footballers list

(FORMULA 1) George Russell led a Mercedes one-two at a rain-ham pered second practice session at Suzuka, with the Briton topping the timesheets ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton and championship leader Max Verstappen.

The teams were once again greeted with wet conditions at Suzuka as rain continued to fall, re sulting in the drivers stay ing in the pit lane at the be ginning of the session. But after they emerged, the first half hour of the 90-minute practice saw Hamilton lead the way with a time of 1m 49.489s.

With an hour left, Ham ilton and Russell became the first drivers to make the switch from the wet tyres to the intermediates, resulting in the Mercedes pair trading fastest laps as track conditions improved.

In the end, it was Rus

RACING TIPS

American Racing Tips

Belmont

Race 1 Ein Gedi

Race 2 Dot’s Dollar

Race 3 Double Shot

Race 4 Smokie Eyes

Race 5 Eastern Bay

Race 6 How Lovely

Race 7 Shipsational

Canadian Racing Tips

Woodbine

Race 1 Film

Race 2 Lodo Key

Race 3 No Kay Never

Race 4 Menagerie

sell who won the contest between the pair, setting a time of 1m 41.935s that bettered Hamilton’s at tempt by 0.235s.

Championship leader Max Verstappen was third quickest – 0.851s behind Russell – with team mate Sergio Perez rounding out the top four.

Kevin Magnussen –whose team mate Mick Schumacher took no part in the session after crashing into the barrier at the end of FP1 – continued his good Friday form, with the fifth quickest time overall.

Carlos Sainz was sixth fastest ahead of his com patriot Fernando Alon so – who was quickest in FP1 – in seventh, with his Alpine team mate Esteban Ocon further down the order in ninth.

It was a good session for Alfa Romeo, with Valt teri Bottas – who won at Suzuka in 2019 – eighth

quickest, with team mate Zhou Guanyu, in 10th.

Charles Leclerc set a time good enough for 11th, ahead of the Williams duo of Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon, who were 12th and 13th, respectively, in the timesheets.

Home favourite Yuki Tsunoda was down in P14, ahead of four-time Japa nese Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel, in 15th.

The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were 16th and 17th, respectively, ahead of Lance Stroll in P18, with the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly the last of the runners in P19.

There were no red flags in the session al though we did see drivers – including Leclerc and Tsunoda – make their way through the gravel as they wrestled with the tricky conditions.

(BBC) - Kylian Mbappe has topped the Forbes list for highest-earning footballers - the first time someone other than Lionel Messi or Cris tiano Ronaldo has been number one, for nine years.

Forbes estimate Paris St-Germain for ward Mbappe, 23, will earn $128M (£115.2M) this season.

Mbappe's PSG team-mate Messi is second on $120M (£108M) and Man chester United for ward Ronaldo third on $100M (£90M).

Neymar and Mo hamed Salah complete

the top five.

PSG and Brazil striker Neymar will earn an estimated $87M (£78.4M) in 2022-23 and Liverpool forward Salah $53M (£47.7M).

The last player to top the list other than Ronaldo or Messi was former England cap tain David Beckham in 2013.

Mbappe signed a lucrative new threeyear contract with PSG in May, which end ed speculation about a summer move to Real Madrid.

The France World Cup winner has lifted 11 trophies at the club,

including four Ligue 1 titles, since joining from Monaco initially on loan in 2017.

Erling Haaland, who has scored 19 goals in 12 games for Manchester City since his summer move from Borussia Dortmund, makes his debut in the top 10 at number six.

The Norway striker is one of four Premier League players in the top 10 along with Ron aldo, Salah and Man chester City team-mate Kevin de Bruyne.

Haaland and Mbappe are the only players on the list aged under 30 years.

Race 5 Spirit Belle

Race 6 Verdejo

Race 7 Bound For Nowhere

South Africa Racing Tips

Turffontein

08:25 hrs Prophet

09:00 hrs Elusive Swann

09:35 hrs Perfect Witness

10:10 hrs Paton’s Tears

10:45 hrs Strange Magic

Irish Racing Tips

Curragh

08:25 hrs Milwaukee

09:00 hrs Gozen

09:35 hrs My Eyes Adore

You

10:10 hrs Curraheen

Princess

10:45 hrs Maxine

11:20 hrs Firstman

11:55 hrs Knocknakilla

12:30 hrs Princess Sefa

English Racing Tips

York

08:30 hrs X J Rascal

09:05 hrs Alpha Capture

09:40 hrs Marching Army

10:15 hrs Lethal Nymph

10:50 hrs Garden Route

11:25 hrs Atacama Desert

12:00 hrs No Nay Nicki

Chepstow

08:42 hrs Tuddenham

Green

09:17 hrs Tea Clipper

09:52 hrs Mcfabulous

10:27 hrs File Ou Voyon

11:02 hrs

Didtheyleaveutto

11:37 hrs Bagheera Ginge 12:12 hrs Pentire Head

Newmarket

08:50 hrs Flying Honours

09:25 hrs Silver Knott

10:00 hrs Aesop’s Fables 10:40 hrs Call My Bluff 11:15 hrs Desert Order 11:50 hrs Chil Chil 12:20 hrs Alflaila

CRICKET QUIZ

Kylian Mbappe has scored 182 goals in 228 games for Paris St-Germain

Warner, David smash West Indies series dreams

DAVID Warner and Tim David produced spar kling innings as Australia wrapped up a 2-0 victory over a West Indies side still working into their World Cup build-up. Warner dominated the first half of the innings and David turned on the power in the latter stages before West Indies' chase struggled to build a consistent tempo then faded away.

Warner and Aaron Finch who this time batted No. 3, added 85 for the second wicket, of which Finch con tributed 15. A brief wobble, where three wickets fell for five runs, was then righted by David who struck at over 200.

Brandon King was the most assured of West In dies' top order but when he charged and missed at Adam Zampa no one else threatened to take the chase on. Mitchell Starc topped and tailed the innings to take a career-best 4 for 20.

West Indies now con tinue their preparations with two official warm-up matches against UAE and Netherlands while Austra lia - minus their first-choice

bowlers and Glenn Max well - head to Perth to face England before two more games in Canberra.

WARNER GOES IT ALONE

It wasn't so much Austra lia against West Indies early on, but Warner against West Indies. Of the 45 runs in the power-play, Warner made 37. Of the 96 when he was dismissed, he had made 75. His first six was a sweep off Jason Holder's slower ball and the timing was impecca ble throughout with his last six, a straight drive off Obed McCoy, among the best of his strokes.

Given the way he had dominated the scoring, and the fact the innings was only just past halfway, there were thoughts turning to wards what could be possi ble, when he was caught and bowled by Odean Smith.

DAVID FIRES BUT MIDDLE ORDER NOT SO MUCH

It was an innings of con trasts from Australia. While Warner motored, Finch stut tered with an ungainly 15 off 19 balls. Then as David

lit up the latter part of the in nings, life was much harder for Steven Smith who man aged 17 off 16 deliveries. To add to that was Maxwell's run-out, which ultimately looked his error albeit Smith had started to come, and it meant another short stay.

Maxwell's lack of recent runs makes it a little curi ous he is missing the next game in Perth. However, David did what he has done so many times around the world in recent times - leath er the ball into the stands with awesome power. And

again he gave himself a little bit of time: 12 off 10 balls became 42 off 20 in the blink of an eye.

OVER-RATE ISSUES

West Indies were so slow that they had to have an extra fielder inside the ring for the final two overs. But they contended with it well, the last two going for 16 runs as Australia didn't quite pull off the ideal finish. Af ter David's dismissal they made just 21 off the last 19 deliveries. A big part in the good finish from West In

dies was Alzarri Joseph who went for 11 in his last two, completing an impressive pair of outings early in the tour.

Australia, too, were slow and bowled their last over with five inside the ring. Neither team faced severe consequences for their error, but they may not be so lucky at the World Cup.

Can West Indies find the batting balance?

Both power-play scores were identical: 45 for 1. So it may seem harsh to single

out West Indies, but the 24 dot balls they faced in the first six suggested there were a few runs left unscored. Australia faced 18 in the same period. The batters are still trying to find touch after a long journey, but there was a significant amount of swinging and missing, especially from Johnson Charles.

ANOTHER GABBA SPE CIAL FROM STARC

It didn't quite have the same impact or feeling as his first ball in the Ashes to Rory Burns, but Starc again did something special in his first over at the Gabba. After

Kyle Mayers, who played a shot for the ages at Metricon Stadium, produced a won derful straight drive for six, Starc somehow managed to grab hold of a fiercely struck straight drive in front of his shin

It was a good evening for Starc who also claimed the key wickets of Nicho las Pooran and Holder as West Indies never really threatened to chase the target. They have work to do before their World Cup begins.

Sterling supports Courts Pee Wee football

… Tournament commences today

THE Annual Courts Pee Wee football tournament commences today at the Ministry of Education ground and this year’s edition will see Sterling Products as a sponsor.

During a brief yet sig nificant ceremony yester day, the company, through Marketing Manager Dellon Lynch, contended that its association with the tour nament comes squarely off the fact that the entity is impressed by what it has offered in its nine years of existence.

“It is indeed an hon our for Sterling Products to play a part of such an

amazing project. It has a lot to do with the personal development of young boys which we see as a very im portant aspect of the initia tive and the fact that Petra has been doing this - this is now the ninth year - shows that they are doing an im portant and strategic job.”

He added that the pro gramme does wonders for both the mental and phys ical health of students in a safe environment and laud ed the Petra Organisation for the works done.

Meanwhile, Petra co-di rector Troy Mendonca stat ed that they are happy to have the support of Sterling

Products.

“Sports can only be suc cessful with the support of these agencies, private and the government, so we at Petra and the entire football fraternity are very happy to have Sterling Products join us in this venture. I think that they enjoy being involved with this pro gramme.

It is providing a plat form for the kids to en joy the sport through this programme,” Mendonca added.

He noted that over 300 children will be in action on Saturdays for the next seven weeks, noting that

the body has plans to de centralise the tournament in the coming editions.

Meanwhile the tour nament commences today with the March past from

10:00hrs at the Ministry of Education ground.

In the opening day’s fixtures, Sophia Primary School will oppose Victo ria from 11:00hrs on pitch

A with Colaaco playing Winfer Garden Prima ry School on pitch B. At 11:50hrs, Den Amstel Pri mary play St Pius Primary while Craig Primary and Enterprise School clash on pitch B.

F.E. Pollard face Soes dyke from 12:40hrs on pitch A with Marian Acad emy and Timehri Primary clashing on pitch B; Ann’s Grove Primary oppose Graham’s Hall Primary at 13:30hrs while Mocha Primary meet St Agnes Pri mary on the opposing pitch.

St Stephen’s Second ary will battle West Rui mveldt at 14:20hrs along with North Georgetown versus Redeemer Pri mary.

Dellon Lynch, Marketing Manager of Sterling Products Limited hands over sponsorship for the Courts Pee Wee football tournament to Petra co-director Troy Mendonca (Adrian Narine photo)

Akeal Hosein prepares to swat the ball away (AFP/Getty Images)

Warner, David smash West Indies series dreams

Sterling

Courts

Dellon

photo)