Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 11-10-2022

$100

Harbour Bridge back in operation

By Tamica Garnett

THE Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) reopened to ve hicles weighing up to 12 tonnes at 21:00hrs on Monday night after the successful completion of repairs.

Loan

of

There were claps and cheers and an air of celebration by the repair team as the retrac tor span of the bridge was successfully closed just before 19:00hrs, some 64 hours since the repairs began, and way below the 72 - 96 hours that

was initially estimated for the repairs to be completed. The bridge suffered severe damage when fuel tanker, MV Tradewind Passion, collided into it on Saturday.

The reopening of the bridge was announced by Public Works

Minister, Juan Edghill, during a press briefing held on the bridge on Monday night, mo ments after the successful clos ing of the retractor span. Min ister Edghill explained that a pivotal part in the bridge returning to operation was the

delivery of a necessary pontoon.

“Sufficient work is done to ensure that we can get up to 12 tonnes moving. The [DHB] General Manager has just ad vised me that with the tidying up and the cleaning up of get ting all of the equipment and

welding torches and everything off [the bridge] we will open to vehicular traffic at 9 o’ clock tonight (Monday night) and we will be able to carry up to 12 tonnes,” the minister an nounced.

‘We are in this together!’

Former employee in custody for armed robbery at Kaieteur

THOUSANDS of Guyanese flooded the social media platforms with patriotic messages defending Guy ana’s territorial integrity on the days after October 3, which marked the 123rd Anniversary of the Arbi tral Award that settled the land boundary between British Guiana, now Guyana, and Venezuela. Brandishing the slogan “All of it belongs to all of us”, Guyanese social media users across the Face book, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms showed solidarity by spreading the #OneGuyana image showing a topographically-correct image of the country first released by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali.

A few charges were extracted from the comment sections of social media accounts of senior govern ment officials. “We are together in this… for our beautiful Guyana,” wrote Rahul Abdool Kadir.

“Guyanese people must protect and take care

of what is theirs. One Guyana. One Love,” commented Bibi Haniff.

“Not one rice grain unless they’re buy ing it,” quipped Simone Mackintosh.

Members of the team who worked to restore the Demerara Harbour Bridge celebrate as the retractor span of the bridge was successfully closed, getting the bridge back in operation (Adrian Narine photos)

Construction work on St Rose’s High on schedule

CONSTRUCTION works on the Yarrowkabra Sec ondary School is moving ahead of schedule with the school some 65 per cent complete while works on the St Rose’s High School, in Georgetown, is on schedule with some 55 per cent of the work already completed.

This was reported to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, when she recently paid visits to the construction sites of the two schools. According to a statement from the Min istry of Education (MoE), the Yarrowkabra School is five per cent ahead of the timeline, and is expected to be completed by May 2023, as per contract.

“[The minister] ex pressed her satisfaction that the school is ahead of sched ule,” the statement said.

The progress represents significant developments for the two schools which had both previously been plagued with issues in their

construction under their previous contractors.

An $827 million con tract had previously been awarded to BK International Inc for the construction of Yarrowkabra Secondary, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, in 2020, while Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited had been awarded a $352.7 million contract for the construction of a new building for St. Rose’s High School in 2018.

The Yarrowkabra Secondary, the very first secondary school in Yar rowkabra, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, had initially been scheduled to be completed in March 2021; however by November 2020, the con tractor had only completed five per cent of the work.

The government sub sequently terminated the contracts with both contrac tors and commenced legal action against both compa nies. A settlement was later reached with Courtney Benn Contracting Services while

proceedings are still going on against BK.

The new contract to construct the St. Rose’s High School was awarded to Shandong Degian Inter national while the contract for the construction of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School is being carried out by R. Bassoo and Sons.

Each project has a con sultancy firm which is su pervising the quality and pace of ongoing works. Ka litech Inc is the consultancy firm for the St. Rose’s High School project while Vikab Engineering is working with the Yarrowkabra Secondary School project.

These two new schools are expected to be outfitted with modern classrooms, laboratories and industrial arts departments which will cater to TVET subjects, sanitary blocks and other auxiliary buildings.

A new addition to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, the Yarrowkabra Secondary school, is expected to ac

commodate approximately 600 students from Yar rowkabra and neighbour ing communities along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

ERASE

The new secondary school will complement the already existing Yarrowka bra Nursery and Primary Schools in the community and will erase the need for the use of Primary Tops, and enable the ministry to close some primary tops that were opened or re-opened between 2015 and 2020.

The construction of the two schools, is among works ongoing at a number of secondary schools across the country, and is part of the Ministry of Education’s goal to achieve universal secondary education by 2025.

In addition to the re building of St. Rose’s High School and construction of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School, recently constructed schools include the Good Hope Secondary School on the East Coast.

A contract was recently awarded for the reconstruc tion of the North Ruimveldt Secondary, which was de stroyed by fire, and the expansion of other schools such as East Ruimveldt Secondary, Queen’s Col lege and The Bishops’ High School, to create more space to accommodate the grow ing number of learners.

According to Minister Manickchand, the increase in the number of learners is due to the education system retaining more children in school; however, this has placed some strain on space within schools.

The construction ongo ing at the various secondary schools is of crucial impor tance to provide comfort able access to secondary education for the students.

“We’re working really hard to achieve univer sal secondary education within this first term [in office]. So you will see two new schools going up in Region Three, one in Upper Mazaruni (Region Seven), one in Region One, the rebuilding of the North West Secondary School in Region One just to ensure we can bring in universal secondary education just as we were able to achieve universal primary educa tion. So you are going to see Universal Secondary Education before the end of 2025 and we will be very happy to do that,” the minister is quoted as saying.

The Yarrowkabra Secondary School under construction

Minister

Senior Projects Manager

Ron Eastman

Harbour Bridge back in operation

By Tamica Garnett

THE Demerara Har bour Bridge (DHB) was reopened to vehicles weighing up to 12 tonnes at 21:00hrs on Monday night, after the successful completion of a number of repairs on it.

There were claps and cheers amid an air of cel ebration from the repair team as the retractor span of the bridge was suc cessfully closed just be fore 19:00hrs, some 64 hours since the repairs began. It was also way below the 72 - 96 hours that was initially estimated for the completion of the repairs to the severe dam age that was caused when fuel tanker MV Tradewind Passion slammed into the bridge on Saturday.

The reopening of the bridge was announced by Public Works Minis ter Juan Edghill during a press briefing held on the bridge on Monday night, moments after the success ful closing of the retractor span. Minister Edghill ex plained that a pivotal part of the bridge returning to operation was the delivery of a necessary pontoon.

“Sufficient work is done to ensure that we can get up to 12 tonnes mov ing. The [DHB] General Manager has just advised me that with the tidying up and the cleaning up of getting all of the equip ment and welding torches

and everything off [the bridge], we will open to vehicular traffic at 9 o’ clock tonight (Monday night) and we will be able to carry up to 12 tonnes,” the minister announced.

“By tomorrow [Tues day] morning, we will be able to get back to some semblance of normalcy. The only outstanding thing will be the trucks up to 18 tonnes, because you will be doing up to 12 tonnes,” he added.

Minister Edghill show ered praises on the men and women who all played a role in getting the bridge up and running in record time.

“Getting this to where it is right now was no ordinary job. Our Guy anese men have shown their capacity, and I don’t think after this anybody should speak a low word or downgrade the capacity of Guyanese contractors, Guyanese engineers, and Guyanese fabricators. You saw the men welding, cut ting and moving at a fast rate. They tested many of the things that needed to be tested,” Minister Edghill told reporters.

The minister credited the speedy work to the quick response and sup port from the private sec tor. He also thanked the operators of the George town to Vreed-en-Hoop water taxis who rose to the occasion when the Maritime Department

(MARAD) opened a 24hour service for the route.

Minister Edghill ex plained that by no means has all of the work that has to be done on the bridge been completed; however, enough has been complet ed to allow for the passage of some vehicular traffic.

He noted that while initial checks recorded damage to one pontoon, subsequent investigations have revealed that two other pontoons have also sustained damage and will have to be replaced.

“So what we have right now are pumps being in stalled to keep the water out of the pontoons. We have to go into emergency mode in procuring two ad ditional pontoons. Build ing a pontoon from scratch

takes about 120 days; so we’re going to see if we need to start from scratch, or look to see if we have pontoons that exist that could be rehabilitated. We are going to get it in the shortest possible time,” the minister explained.

He did not give a de finitive cost of the overall works.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

“Don’t let’s discuss figures right now,” he said, “because everything we were doing here cost tens of millions, if not hun dreds of millions. But I don’t want to put a fig ure yet; let the technical people putting everything together give us the figure. I prefer to wait on that.”

However, what is known thus far is that the bridge has sustained the worst level of damage recorded to date.

Questioned about the pilot and crew of the Tradewind Passion, Min ister Edghill shared that they will all remain con fined to the vessel while the ministry carries out an investigation to deter mine culpability for the incident.

“Everybody who was on the boat at the time of the accident remains on the boat; that’s all I will say,” the minister related.

The ship is currently docked on the East Bank Demerara, where it was allowed to offload its fuel

cargo. It will not be al lowed to pass through the Harbour Bridge until the investigations have been concluded.

A Board of Inquiry (BoI) has been commis sioned to investigate all the details surrounding what transpired in the ac cident. The BoI began its work on Sunday, and is ex pected to take seven days to put together its report on the incident.

“They have seven days to wind up everything, and to give us a report to tell us what really happened, the recommendations to ensure it never happens again, and also to estab lish culpability, if there’s anyone that is culpable, because we’re not treating this very lightly,” Minister Edghill said.

At approximately 02:00hrs on Saturday, the MV Tradewind Passion, a ship consigned by GuyOil to transport fuel, which also carries a Panama nian flag, crashed into the bridge.

Four vessels had suc cessfully passed through the retraction opening prior to the Tradewind Passion, which came at the bridge in a south-easterly direction, hitting Spans Nine and Ten with its front and rear.

The collision resulted in the two spans of the bridge shifting some 45 degrees out of alignment, and also affecting several

other spans on the bridge.

The collision sent sev eral DHB workers, who were on the bridge at the time, literally running for their lives. One staff, An drew Duke, who was com municating with the vessel via radio up until the point of collision, sustained a fractured leg and has been hospitalised.

On Monday night, Minister Edghill explained that Duke remains hospi talized, and is awaiting an operation on his leg. The Private Sector Commis sion (PSC), in a release on Sunday, expressed concern at the increasing number of accidents involving the bridge, and urged the government to assidu ously pursue the highlyanticipated new Demerara River Bridge.

“It is evident that Guy ana needs this project to allow for the passage of larger vessels which are required for the proper functioning of the Oil & Gas sector, as well as the traditional ones.”

The release added that the PSC envisages that a modern four-lane solid-state bridge will lead to faster economic growth, and maximum utilisation of resourc es on both sides of the river, as there will be 24-hour access daily, thereby positively im pacting private sector business, and the lives of the citizenry.

Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill looks on during the final moments as the retractor span of the bridge is closed (Adrian Narine photo)

Workers putting on the finishing touches on the Demerara Harbour Bridge to get it up and running in time for its scheduled reopening on Monday night (Adrian Narine photo)

$94M road at Lima Sands completed

FARMERS and residents of Lima Sands, Region Two are now benefitting from an asphaltic road with concrete drains, as the second phase of a road project is now fully com pleted.

The contract was award ed to United Contracting Service to the tune of $94.3 million, and works com menced on April 28, 2022.

Engineer from the Min

istry of Public Works Kester Hinds had responsibility for the project. He explained that the road measures 640 metres, with a width of 6.1 metres. A concrete drain was also constructed on one side of the road.

The engineer said the road was fully completed on September 19, 2022, and is now in use. Phase One of the project was completed earlier this year. Works

were carried out to the tune of $136 million.

Meanwhile, Vice-Chair man of Region Two Hu mace Oudit said, “this road will help farmers, school children attending Lima Sands Primary and also children attending second ary school.”

The government contin ues to advance infrastruc ture development in com munities, as $15.2 billion was allocated for the con struction and rehabilitation of urban and community roads across the country.

Additionally, $4.439 billion was set aside in the supplementary budget, which was passed earlier in August, for the reha bilitation and upgrades of roads and drains country wide. (DPI)

Phase Two of the Lima Sands Road was recently completed

Loan for reconstruction of Soesdyke/Linden Highway approved

Labour Ministry to engage Surinamese company on mobile TVET training

THE Government of Guy ana has secured approval for financing to the tune of US$120M from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for upgrades and repairs to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

This was confirmed by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali dur ing a walkabout in Linden on Monday, where he met with residents from several com munities in the mining town.

“The loan has been ap proved a few days ago,” a section of the media quoted President Ali as saying while engaging residents at Wis mar, in Linden.

The President’s an nouncement comes just days after the government adver tised for contractors and/or firms to pre-qualify for the upgrading of the existing 72.43km two-lane, singlecarriageway, and rural arte rial highway.

The scope of work entails the milling of the existing asphalt surface course, appli cation of varying pavement structures above the milled sections of pavement, inclu sive of asphalt, sand asphalt, and sub-base; full-depth pavement reconstruction in certain sections, construction of two roundabouts along

the alignment, sidewalks extension to nine multi-span bridges, drainage work and utility relocation; and instal lation of roadway lighting.

Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Fi nance Dr. Ashni Singh had disclosed that the govern ment was pursuing the fi nancing, given the fact that the Soesdyke-Linden High way is in dire need of an upgrade.

In June of this year, a team from the IsDB had visited Guyana on an ap praisal mission for the loan.

Snow’s claim of ‘burning sensation’ being investigated

POLICE are investigat ing a complaint of ‘burn ing sensation’ experienced by Anthony Snow, 40, of Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, while on a visit to the Criminal Investiga tion Department (CID) at the Brickdam Police Sta tion in the company of a female (name unknown) to report a Cyber Crime matter.

The incident occurred on Monday, and at the time, a Detective Inspector, a Cor poral, a Lance Corporal, and a Constable were present in the office, police said in a release on facebook.

The cops noted that while Snow was being inter viewed by one of the ranks, he began to remove some documents which had some brown spots on them from an envelope, and suddenly he complained that his hand was burning, because he felt like something dripped on his hand from the ceiling.

“The female who was with him then said her throat was burning, and Snow said

Anthony Snow

his skin and eyes started to burn. The ranks, who were around, also complained of feeling a burning in their nostrils, and itching of the throat, followed by cough ing. Snow was taken out of the office, and was given wa ter to wash his face, but he continued to complain that his eyes were burning, and that he was unable to see.

Checks were made in the CID office, but nothing of evidential value was found in relation to the burning sensation that Snow and the female, as well as the ranks,

were feeling. Nothing was seen, and there was no in dication that something was dripping from the ceiling in the office,” police said.

They also noted that an ambulance was summoned, and Snow and the female joined same and left en route to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Investigations are in progress, the report con cluded.

THE Ministry of Labour, as part of further efforts to enhance the capacity of the local labour force, will be engaging a Surinamese company on the possibility of establishing a mobile technical and vocational education training (TVET) service.

This was according to Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

He said a decision was taken to pursue this initiative following an engagement with stakeholders at the re cently concluded Guyana Basin Summit.

“I was looking to see what technologies are avail

able to help with our techni cal and vocational training that we do here. I had con versations with a Surinamese company, they have some facilities that I think might be useful to help with our training,” Hamilton related.

The company, he said, offers a mobile training ser vice, which could positively benefit Guyanese, especially those persons in far-flung areas.

“They have a mobile training centre that can exe cute technical and vocational training, primarily welding and fabrication,” Hamilton related.

With this initiative, the

ministry would be able to directly address some of the challenges to administering training.

“One of the issues that we have had is facilities… some of the areas where we want to have programmes implemented, we will look at that,” Minister Hamilton said.

He noted that the repre sentatives of the company are scheduled to return to Guyana shortly.

“We will continue to have conversations with them to see what type of collaborations we can have,” Minister Hamilton said.

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton engages stakeholders at the recently concluded Guyana Basins Summit (MOL photo)

President, Dr. Irfaan Ali meeting with residents in Linden on Monday

Salute the change-makers

A MAJOR debt of gratitude is owed to people who are change-makers in their communities. It’s even more heartening when those changemakers are young people working to transform their com munities. This is the story of 22-year-old Dwright Ward who recently launched a Technical and Vo cational Education and Training (TVET) workshop in his home village of Buxton. The programme is tar geted to out-of-school youths and unem ployed youths.

This newspaper fea tured Ward just a few

days ago. The young change-maker formed a partnership with the Ministry of Labour’s Board of Industrial Training (BIT) to con nect others like him with the skills they needed to excel.

In his own words: “I came up with this initi ative by seeing persons like myself dropping out of school, walking the road, loitering, not doing anything with their life [sic]…

“I wanted to find a solution to this, and I wanted to reach out to these persons… I thought of different ways I can get these people involved in training… Skill is

wealth and with skill today, you are being [sic] able to earn as much as possible; when you have a skill no one can take that away from you, especially when you are certified in that skill.”

The thrust towards TVET in Guyana is aggressive. In January, this newspaper reported that $3.6 billion was budgeted in the nation al budget for improv ing TVET. $2.5 billion of that sum was for improving TVET pro grammes at the postsecondary level, the January report said.

Only in August, the Caribbean Examina tions Council (CXC®),

Guyana’s Education Ministry, and the Coun cil for Technical Voca tional Education and Training (CTVET) hosted a post-stake holder meeting after concluding the assess ment of 34 secondary schools about offer ing the Caribbean Vo cational Qualification (CVQ) here.

At a more communi ty-level, Dolphin Sec ondary School in South Georgetown recently benefitted from an up grade to its technical and home economics laboratories. As far as CVQ is concerned, the school already offers Agricultural Science, Commercial Food Pro

duction, and FurnitureMaking.

In his budget pres entation, the Senior Minister for finance, Dr Ashni Singh out lined the overall value of TVET to Guyana’s development thrust.

“Government has iden tified human capital development through technical and voca tional skills as one of the critical impetuses for our development agenda. Guyana’s rapid development trajectory requires a skilled, qual ified and innovative population, capable of meeting the needs of our labour market….

“Altogether, these technical vocational

skills training will re sult in almost 10,000 persons being available to enter the job market during 2022, and the government will be fo cusing on ensuring that trainees are gainfully employed,” Dr Singh had noted.

Young people like Mr Ward are right ly taking advantage of the opportunities placed before them in a changing Guyana. Even better, they are working to connect their communities with those opportunities. It’s truly about ensuring that you leave the door open for others, once you make it through.

Commendation for the charitable work of Mohamed’s Enterprise

Dear Editor, I TRAVEL around Guyana to survey the public on their views about governance is sues, as well as to as sess the state and con ditions of communi ties. People complain about a host of prob lems at the community level all the time.

Much work needs to be done in rural and outlying communities, areas that historically have been neglected or underserved since

the colonial era. Gov ernments have tried to assist, but the prob lems are many. The pre sent government has made continued efforts to reach the poor of all communities with various forms of grants (agriculture, cash relief, education, school uni form, old age pension, disability, housing, etc.) and other social welfare assistance. Problems are formidable, and government can’t meet all demands and needs.

Businesses, charitable organisations and grant foundations, as well as generous individuals, including from the dias pora, have also stepped in to assist underserved areas. The diaspora, including this writer, has helped with a lot of cash assistance, food hampers, and medical outreaches, including distributing medical kits. Some local busi nesses have assisted more than others. Re grettably, some local

businesses that have made a lot of money have very tight hands, and have not helped the poor at all.

I commend the char itable activities of Mo hammed’s Enterprise and several other so cially responsible busi nesses that served the neglected, marginal ised, poor, and dispos sessed. As I read in the media, Mohamed’s Enterprise and several other businesses have helped communities

and low-income people with cash grants and other forms of charita ble assistance, includ ing to build homes.

The media notes that Mohamed’s En terprise helped to rehabilitate schools, build flush toilets at community health centres and schools, and offered scholar ships to poor students (especially from Essequibo). The busi ness is noted for giving out continuous cash

grants to poor col lege-bound students and dozens of others, and also offered other forms of charitable as sistance. The helping hand of Mohammed’s corporate welfare has touched many, and should be emulated by other businesses. Corporate charitable assistance is critical to address pressing needs of low-income folks and communities.

Some critics are essentially asking the Vice-President to be God

Dear Editor, THE Wales gas-toshore facility (GTSF), one of the high, if not the highest, cost PPPC Manifesto’s projects has gener ated a plethora of media articles and discussions, mostly negative. There are several reasons for the negative media coverage. Among these are opponents bent on preventing the PPP/C from ex ecuting its manifesto’s projects, overzeal ous environmental ists with and without attachment to pres sure groups, economic analysts making all sorts of estimates, and journalists wanting an exact not estimat ed construction cost. The Government has not provided enough publicly available, di gestible information on the project, and its messaging is de ficient. The crux for the negativity is the estimated construc tion cost of the GTSF and whether the criti cal benefit of about 50 per cent reduction in consumer energy cost as proposed by the Government would

be realised. In this ar ticle, the writer takes an objective look at the GTSF with respect to the engineer ing process and cost estimation to allow readers to make in formed judgment on the initial construc tion costs.

The GTSF is a mul tidisciplinary project involving multiple dis ciplines in Civil Engi neering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electri cal Engineering, and so on. There are sev eral well-established phases/steps that are followed in developing such projects. A deci sion on continuation is made at the end of each phase/step. The initial step is conceptualisa tion. Guyana relies on environmentally dirty, fuel oil to generate nearly all of its power needs with demands outstripping supply. The Government has decided on a matrix of natural, cleaner power sources that include solar, wind, gas and hydro to replace fuel oil. Gas is presently located offshore and is burned (flaring) and/or pumped back into the

ground during petro leum extraction. Both flaring and pumping are environmentally damaging and the cost goes towards “cost oil”. The Government conceptualised the GTSF to monetize this valuable, natural nonrenewable resource that is currently going up in flames or return to the ground where it can ooze out over time.

The next step, Phase 1, involves conducting preliminary studies, sometimes called desk study, by collecting, analysing, and syn thesising available in formation including making a very rough estimate of the project cost, consideration of alternatives, and costbenefit. If the project is feasible, especially if the estimated pro ject cost is financially viable, Phase II con sisting of preliminary geotechnical investi gations, environmen tal impact studies, and similar commences. The primary purposes of this phase are to find a suitable location for the facility and refine the estimated cost. If the decision is made to continue, Phase III

involving preliminary design, public scrutiny and further cost estima tion are conducted. For a project such as the GTSF, it is best to make life cycle cost analyses (LCCA) in addition to initial construction costs. Phase IV is the production of final de sign, specifications, contract documents, and refinement in es timated costs. Phase V is the tendering and award of a contract.

The key benefits of the estimated costs are (1) to make decision on project continuation, (2) budget allocation and identification of funding sources, and (3) evaluating con struction bids. A cli ent should not publicly disclose the estimat ed cost because it can prejudice contractors’ bids and prevent the client from getting a good deal - a bid that is lower than the esti mated cost. Because of the vagaries of any construction project, whether it is a shed or a GTSF, an actual cost is impossible before the construction is fully completed. The call for the Vice-President to provide “No estimates,

please; hard numbers only” (Financials for gas to energy project need to be updated by gov’t, Stabroek News, October 10, 2022) is asking him to be God. Whether or not the Government satisfac torily conducted the various phases outlined here or considers alter natives or performed LCCA is beyond the scope of this article.

Several “experts” have challenged the initial estimated con struction costs provided by the Vice-President and put forward their own values {“Jagdeo pulling numbers out of thin air to justify US$2 billion Wales gas plant – Engineer”, KN, Oct 9, 2022). Neither the Vice-President nor any of the “experts” estimates is reliable to gauge the actual cost. History is rife with ex orbitant cost overrun for engineering pro jects. The Boston Big Dig, a transportation project in the USA, had an estimated cost at the beginning of con struction of US$2.8B. The final project cost was US$14.6B. The estimated cost for the Three Gorges Dam in

China was US$9.85B; the final project cost was US$25.96B. This is the reality of engi neering projects.

The writer is offering a challenge to the “experts” and anyone else to estimate the GTSF final project costs within plus or minus US$1m prior to contract award. The prize will be G$1m. The news me dia should participate in this challenge by publishing the esti mates from persons accepting the chal lenge. The conditions for the challenge is that the participants must sign legal docu ments and provide a guarantee for G$1m to be donated to the writer’s chosen char ity in Guyana if he/ she loses.

Please come for ward and accept the challenge. “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” Rumi, The Essential Rumi.

Dr. Muniram Bud hu Professor Emeritus

IMF commends Guyana for significantly reducing public debt

By Navendra Seoraj

THE International Mon etary Fund (IMF) has commended Guyana for its consistent reduction in public debt, accomplished through the government’s strategic and prudent management of the local economy.

“Directors welcomed the significant decline in public debt and favour able debt dynamics going forward, the authorities’ commitment to maintain ing debt sustainability and stressed the importance of anchoring fiscal policy in a medium-term frame work,” the IMF said in a report documenting the conclusions of its Article IV Consultation with local authorities.

Public debt, at the end of 2021, stood at 42.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), one of the lowest in the region, ac cording to the IMF.

Guyana, at the end of the first half of 2021, had

reported that the financial system reflected monetary and financial stability, with a moderate level of credit growth as well as a wellcapitalised and profitable banking, insurance and pen sion industry.

The prospects, in this regard, remain positive, as the IMF projects that Guyana’s public debt will decline steadily, reaching a record low of around 13 per cent of GDP by the end of 2027.

The country, according to the Ministry of Finance’s website, is being guided by the Public Debt Policy 2021-2024.

According to the policy, the graduation of Guyana’s economy from lower mid dle-income to upper middleincome status has occa sioned a decline in access to the concessional financing.

“This has necessitated a heightened focus on ef fective debt management in order to ensure the financ ing of Guyana’s develop ment initiatives in a man

ner which simultaneously ensures long term sustain ability. The policy covers all external and domestic public and publicly guaran teed debt, from 2021-2024,” the document stated.

Guyana’s primary debt management objective, based on the policy, is to ensure that the country’s financing needs, and its pay ment obligations are met at the lowest possible cost over the medium and long terms, consistent with a prudent degree of risk.

“Prudent risk manage ment is integral to the cul tivation of a stable macro economic outlook, as well as the avoidance of sharp increases in funding costs and dangerous debt struc tures and strategies (includ ing monetary financing of the government’s debt).

“Furthermore, Guyana’s debt objectives shall be aligned with the need to cover its funding gap and the goal of long-term debt sustainability,” the docu ment related.

Total gross public debt has declined significantly over the past decade, driven by repayments, and prudent debt management.

External debt, accord ing to the IMF, accounts for over 40 per cent of total public sector debt, mostly to multilateral institutions. Multilateral creditors ac counted for over 65 per cent of total external debt in 2021. The IDB is the largest multilateral credi tor, accounting for 46.1 per cent of total external debt at end-2021.

China’s state-owned Export-Import Bank is the largest bilateral creditor, comprising 17.3 per cent of total external debt at end-2021. Eurobond hold ers are the only private (commercial) creditors. Domestic debt comprises mainly Treasury bills (Tbills) and borrowing from the central bank, which is now securitised.

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION

Debt management will continue to be crucial as the government moves ahead with plans to diversify the economy and support longterm growth by investing in infrastructure and edu cation.

“In response to the pan

demic in 2020, the authori ties reallocated expendi tures towards cash grants and transfers to households and “shovel ready” public investment projects, pri marily focused on improv ing road networks and pro viding affordable housing,” the IMF said.

Further, the 2022 budget includes a substantial in crease in public investment, and the government is plan ning to maintain this ef fort over the medium term to address bottlenecks to growth, focusing on trans port infrastructure and edu cation (including greater access to education in the hinterland by building new schools).

Public capital spend ing is projected to increase from 9.5 per cent of non-oil GDP in 2021 to 12.1 per cent in 2022, and to 12.5 per cent of non-oil GDP over the medium term.

According to the IMF: “Additional support for long-term growth is ex pected to come from further progress on strengthening the governance framework, as it ensures a good use of public funds. Several pil lars of the anti-corruption framework have been re cently strengthened, in cluding the Integrity and

Public Procurement Com missions (IC and PPC) and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).”

The international finan cial institution went on to acknowledge the publica tion of audit reports on public expenditures, includ ing for COVID-19, and the government’s efforts to follow up on recommenda tions made in those audit reports.

“Asset declarations of a large number of public officials are submitted an nually, and public procure ment tenders are streamed live,” the IMF said.

The authorities, the or ganisation said, also made progress in implementing the recommendations of the 2019 and 2021 Extractive Industries Transparency Ini tiative (EITI) reports, notably on the reconciliation with the fiscal regime.

“Some progress has also been made on information sharing and publication of extractive industries’ fi nancial statements, and the authorities are strengthen ing capacity to address re maining gaps, including in moving towards electronic disclosure and adequate follow- up,” the IMF re lated.

Alleged ‘fake doctor’ to be charged today

THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) confirmed, on Mon day, that Mikhail McLen nan, the man who report edly impersonated a medi cal doctor for years, will be charged.

Following input from the Police Legal Adviser, the law enforcement agency said McLennan will be charged with Improper Use of Medical Title, contrary to Section 13 (1) (c) of the Medical Prac titioner Act, Chapter 32:02. He appears at the Diamond Magistrates Court today.

McLennan’s qualifica tions were first publicly called into question in July when the Guyana Cancer Foundation distanced itself from him after he had been named prior, as an affiliate of the organisation.

“Guyana Cancer Foun dation wishes to notify the General Public that Mikhail Radius McLennan is not a doctor and they [sic] are no records showing he is registered at [the] Medical

Council of Guyana.

Mikhail McLennan

“He had asked to vol unteer with Guyana Cancer Foundation. I took him as a Volunteer but then persons from the Media and others called to confirm that he is not a doctor. I questioned him about his Medical De gree and he refused to send a copy of it to us.

“He said he is working as a Medical Officer/Pharmacist

at ROK Pharmacy and there is no such Pharmacy exist [sic]! He no longer affiliated with Guyana Cancer Foun dation!” the foundation’s President and Founder, Bibi Hassan, had shared on social media.

A copy of a document reported to be McLennan’s curriculum vitae was also published by the founda tion.

‘We are in this together!’

THOUSANDS of Guya nese flooded the social media platforms with patriotic messages de fending Guyana’s ter ritorial integrity on the days after October 3, which marked the 123rd Anniversary of the Ar bitral Award that set tled the land boundary between British Guiana, now Guyana, and Ven ezuela.

Brandishing the slo gan “All of it belongs to all of us”, Guyanese social media users across the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms showed solidar ity by spreading the #On eGuyana image showing a topographically-correct image of the country first released by President Dr. Irfaan Ali.

A few charges were extracted from the com ment sections of social media accounts of sen ior government officials.

“We are together in this… for our beautiful Guy ana,” wrote Rahul Abdool Kadir. “Guyanese people must protect and take care of what is theirs. One Guyana. One Love,” commented Bibi Haniff.

“Not one rice grain unless they’re buying it,” quipped Simone Mack intosh. Another social media user, Holly Klass, called for divine protec tion: “God bless us as a nation… Guyana is we own [sic] and we can [and] must and will stand up for what is ours.”

After years of passive and active aggression from Venezuela, Guyana, acting on the guidance of the chief of the United Nations, approached The Hague-based Interna tional Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Netherlands to have the controversy settled, and to declare the 1899 Arbitral Award valid and binding.

The Ministry of For eign Affairs and Inter national Cooperation, in a document published on its official website which detailed the pro

cess to this point, said: “On 30 January, 2018, the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, His Excellency António Guterres, pursu ant to his mandate under the Geneva Agreement of 1966, chose the Inter national Court of Justice (ICJ) as the means of settlement of the contro versy.

“Guyana, thereafter, on 29 March, 2018 filed its Application with the ICJ, requesting the Court to adjudge and declare, inter alia, that the 1899 Arbitral Award is valid and binding upon both Guyana and Venezuela.”

In June 2018, Ven ezuela communicated to the Court that it would not participate in the case, despite continuing to question the legiti macy of the Award, and even criticising Guyana publicly.

Venezuela had mis chievously maintained that the International Court of Justice, although empowered by interna tional law to deal with such matters, had no ju risdiction.

The ICJ went on to examine the question of jurisdiction. “The Court considered, pursuant to Article 79, paragraph 2, of its Rules, that, in the circumstances of the case, it must resolve first of all the questions of the Court’s jurisdiction, and that this question should accordingly be separately determined before any proceedings on the mer it,” the MoFA document said on the subject. Guy ana and Venezuela were invited to submit their positions.

“On 19 November, 2018, in accordance with the ICJ’s time-table, Guyana submitted to the Court its Memorial on Jurisdiction. The Court had established 18 April 2019 for the submission of a Counter-Memorial by Venezuela. However, that date passed with no response from Venezuela.

“It later sent to the

Court a Memorandum‘to assist the Court’,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry recounted.

The question of the ICJ’s jurisdiction was decided on December 18, 2020. The Court ruled, in a judgement published on its official website, that it “has jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s claims concerning the validity of the 1899 Award about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela and related question of the definitive settlement of the dispute regarding the land boundary be tween the territories of the Parties.”

After a case manage ment meeting, the ICJ is sued Order No. 171 dated March 8, 2021 which set time-limits for Guy ana and Venezuela to file written pleadings on the merits of the case. Guy ana met its March 8, 2022 deadline to submit its Memorial on the Merits of its case to the Court. Venezuela, on the other hand, will now have until March 8, 2023 to submit its Counter Memorial.

For the 123rd anniver sary of the 1899 award, the Guyana government, through the Foreign Af fairs Ministry, said: “we celebrate the rule of in ternational law and the sanctity of Treaties. We celebrate that our quest for justice has led us to the hallowed halls of the International Court of Justice.

“Guyana is optimistic that the Court will decide the case in its favour, and that the validity of the Arbitral Award and the boundary will be upheld.”

As recently as October 4, the United States gov ernment reaffirmed the validity of the 1899 Arbi tral Award, and solidified its support for a “peaceful resolution” to the Guy ana-Venezuela border controversy through the proper court, if there is any deviation from that Award.

“The 1899 arbitral

award determined the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela and should be respected unless or until otherwise determined by a com petent legal body. The U.S. supports a peace ful resolution to this is sue,” Ambassador Brian Nichols, Assistant Secre tary of State for West ern Hemisphere Affairs in the State Department, wrote on Twitter.

Framework being established to integrate Venezuelan migrants into local labour force

that are happening.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton related that the ministry has made provisions for its technical staff to be trained in several languages. This, he noted, is an ongoing training exercise within the ministry, involving staff who are taught Spanish and Portuguese to cater for the influx of both Venezuelan and Brazilian migrants.

THE United Nations High Commissioner for Refu gees (UNHCR) and the Ministry of Labour have started work on the devel opment of a framework to integrate Venezuelan mi grants into the local labour force, through the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).

Minister of Labour, Jo seph Hamilton, in an in terview with the Guyana Chronicle, said technical of ficers from the ministry and BIT have been tasked with developing a framework to create a programme which will provide much needed Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to migrants.

“We have had the techni cal officers who have had conversations with UN HCR… they are to put in

place a framework and they are to report to me,” Minis ter Hamilton said.

The minister noted that the Venezuelan ambassador to Guyana has also been engaged for a potential col laboration to offer English Language training.

“We are hoping to have the programme developed… importantly too, we are hop ing to have English language training before we can move into other areas of training for the people in the techni cal skills,” Hamilton said.

He added: “I have had preliminary conversations with the Venezuelan ambas sador to see if we could use the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation [IVCC] to see if people could be trained there; so those are the conversations

“I had recommended that officers do foreign languages and I know they have started some interventions and I know they have started both Spanish and Portuguese. Those are labour officers, OHS [Occupational Health and Safety] officers and BIT officers,” the minister said.

Additionally, he related that some preliminary dis cussions have been held with China’s Ambassador to Guyana to facilitate a mandarin programme for technical officers at the ministry.

“I had some prelimi nary conversations with the Chinese Ambassador; perhaps we can facilitate mandarin programme, because we have a lot of Chinese. All and all, I’m saying that officers should know one or two foreign languages so they can properly supervise peo ple who are involved in work here, both employer and employees,” Hamilton said.

Woman fatally stabs ‘abusive’ husband

A 30-year-old woman is currently in police custody for allegedly killing her reputed husband during a domestic dispute at their Sideline Dam, Golden Grove, East Coast Dem erara home, on Monday.

Dead is Michael Wilson, a 40-year-old labourer, who was reportedly stabbed to death around 08:15 hrs.

According to a police release, Wilson and the suspect are common-law partners and were living together at Sideline Dam for the past two years. They occupied the upper flat of a two-storey concrete build ing.

Investigations revealed that domestic problems ex isted between the couple and Wilson would frequent ly accuse his wife of being unfaithful, which caused him to physically and ver

bally abuse her.

It is alleged that during an argument on Sunday, the suspect told Wilson that she was ending their relation ship and would be returning

to her parents’ house.

On Monday morning, an argument erupted while the woman was in the process of packing her belongings to move out of the house.

Police said that the vic tim armed himself with a knife, assaulted the suspect and cut her on the left fore arm. However, the woman managed to disarm Wilson and dealt him two stabs to his abdomen.

Wilson was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hos pital Corporation (GPHC) and subsequently died while receiving treatment.

The woman was es corted to the Nabacalis Hospital by the police where she was seen by a doctor and was sub sequently taken to the GPHC, where she remains under police guard, the release added.

DEAD: Michael Wilson

Labour Minster, Joseph Hamilton

IICA celebrates 80 years of service to rural development

THE Inter-American Insti tute for Co-operation on Ag riculture (IICA) celebrated its 80 years of existence with the official opening of the Plaza of Agriculture of the Americas, a public space constructed at the front of the organisation’s headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The new plaza, which was declared a site of public interest by the Government of Costa Rica, seeks to highlight the value of agriculture, the rural world and biodiversity in an urban setting.

The commemoration cere mony was attended by Stephan Brunner, Vice-President of Costa Rica; Lydia María Per alta, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship; Jannixia Villalobos, Vice-Minister of Science, Innovation, Tech nology and Telecommuni cations; Rolando Méndez; Mayor of Vázquez de Coro nado; Saboto Caesar, Minister of Agriculture of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Manuel Otero, Director-General of IICA; as well as numerous spe cially invited guests, including parliamentarians from Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of inter national organisations, private

sector executives and residents of Vásquez de Coronado – the canton where the institute’s headquarters is located.

The plaza was launched as one of the activities to com memorate the 80th anniversary of the organisation whose mis sion is to spur agricultural and rural development in the hemi sphere. IICA was established on 7 October 1942, under the name Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences. The ceremony also launched “The Soul of Rurality”, a book that recounts stories of the men and women who are making a difference in rural areas of the Americas, while also paying tribute to the Directors General Emeritus of IICA.

The ceremony recognised the institute’s founder, Henry Wallace, who was a US agron omist that also once served as his country’s Secretary of Agriculture and Vice-President. Moreover, the book paid trib ute to former IICA Directors General Armando Samper, José Emilio Araujo, Francisco Morillo, Martín Piñeiro, Carlos Aquino, Chelston Brathwaite and Víctor Villalobos.

The commemorations fea tured a video message by cel ebrated Argentinian composer and singer León Geico, who

was one of the popular musi cians who took part in a 2020 IICA campaign to recognise and thank the farmers and food chain workers whose toil in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic guaranteed the food supply for the countries of the Americas.

CENTRAL ROLE OF AG RICULTURE

“Have you ever asked your self what our lives would be without those men and women who work the land? I don’t think so,” Bruno reflected, in reference to the particularly challenging situation that farm ers are now facing, given the impact of the war in Eastern Europe, the high prices of agricultural inputs and climate change.

“IICA—said Brunner—has been one of the key partners for farmers in Costa Rica and the Americas. Its programmes, studies and publications have assisted millions of people. Not only has it become a benchmark for good production practices, but is also a forum in which research and internation al co-operation come together to foster food self-sufficiency and food security.”

The plaza covers a total surface area of 455 square meters, surrounded by green

Participating in the opening of the Plaza of Agriculture of the Americas were Lydia María Peralta, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship; Beatriz Arrieta, Regional Director of Bayer’s Food Value Chain; Manuel Otero, Director-General of IICA; Rolando Méndez, Mayor of Vázquez de Coronado; and Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General of IICA

zones. It has a linear-meter water trail running along its promenade, designed to depict a watershed. It also contains planting beds featuring the var ied topography of the Ameri cas, with designs symbolising rectangular, flat, orderly, as well as curved and terraced farms. The vegetation is also representative of the countries of the Americas.

The plaza boasts a miniamphitheater that can accom modate cultural, artistic and

commercial activities for the entire population, particularly for small farmers and artisans from Coronado, which is con sidered as one of the most rural municipalities of Costa Rica.

Manuel Zamora, a Vásquez de Coronado resident, re marked that, “The canton is overjoyed at IICA’s decision to open up a space for the public to facilitate recreation and to strengthen relations with the community, as part of its social responsibility and humanistic

vision.”

Similarly, Rolando Mén dez, Mayor of Vázquez de Coronado, congratulated IICA on opening its doors to the community and expressed the canton’s pride in having “housed the Institute for sev eral decades, during which time we have witnessed the perhaps silent but produc tive efforts that have made a significant impact on agricul ture throughout the Ameri cas”. (IICA)

Grounding with the people

Dr Irfaan Ali’s

Linden, Region

Former employee in custody for armed robbery at Kaieteur News

Ryan Wharton, a for mer Research Assistant at Kaieteur News, is in police custody. He is alleged to be one of the perpetrators involved in the armed robbery at Kaieteur News in the wee hours on Monday.

Three News em ployees were robbed at gunpoint when masked bandits stormed the com pany’s Saffon Street, Georgetown location.

In addition to valu ables from the employees, the gunmen who spent about five minutes in the building, broke into a locked drawer and es caped with an undisclosed

amount of cash that was in a safe.

According to a po lice release, the incident occurred around 01:15 hrs., when three men in a gold-coloured Spacio mo tor car, registration num ber unknown, stormed the building through an eastern door on the bot tom flat and held security guards Noel Junior, 63 and Joshua Junior, 35, and Wayne Little, a 20-yearold Graphic Designer, at gunpoint.

The three employees were taken to an office where they were instruct ed to lay on the ground.

Police said Noel was

robbed of $5,000 cash, Little was robbed of a $44,000 cellphone and Joshua was robbed of a Samsung S7 cellular phone valued at $40,000.

One of the suspects remained with the victims while his accomplices went straight to the Ac counts Department which is located on the upper flat of the building.

“ The door was se cured with a Yale pad lock which was wrenched off by the suspects. The lock on one of the desk drawers inside the Ac counts Department was also broken off. Under the said desk had a small

safe with an undisclosed amount of cash which the suspects took. The suspects spent about five minutes in the building and exited through the front door and escaped in the said motor car in a southern direction,” the police release stated.

Police investigators have reviewed the com pany’s CCTV camera footage; however, due to the face masks that the suspects were wearing, it was difficult to identify the bandits.

The investigation is ongoing.

This is not the first attack on Kaieteur News.

On the evening of Au gust 8, 2006, five Kaiet eur News pressmen were gunned down in cold blood at the newspaper’s printing press at Eccles, East Bank Demerara.

Chetram Persaud, Richard Stewart, Mark Maikoo and Shazeem Mohamed were shot at close range. Another worker, Wordsworth Grey, of 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, was shot dead shortly before the killers stormed the printery.

Senior pressman Ram chand Harripersaud and security guard Julian De Grace were the only sur

vivors of the ‘bloodshed’.

In 2016, officers were summoned to the Saffon Street location following a report of a grenade at tack.

Leroy Williams, Janeil Howard, and Alfie Gar raway, were later charged over that incident. It is alleged that they con spired with other persons to cause an explosion by way of grenade, likely to endanger lives and cause damage to property, on June 4, 2016, at 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown.

They are current ly awaiting trial at the High Court for the crime.

Coroner’s inquest into police shooting of two murder suspects commences today

ONE year after two mur der suspects were killed by the police during an alleged shootout in the UG/Cummings Lodge area, East Coast Dem erara, a coroner’s inquest will commence today.

An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions and is held to determine the cause of a person’s death. In Guyana, a sitting magistrate who acts as the coroner empan els a jury, after which the inquest is conducted.

Magistrate Annette Singh will preside over the inquest at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court with a five-member jury to deter mine whether anyone was criminally responsible for

in the alleged robbery and murder of 19-year-old Joshua Denny on Septem ber 30, 2021.

telligence that the two suspects were in the UG area, on October 2, 2021, launched an operation to

the deaths of Kwase Jupi ter called ‘Ding Docker’ and David Smith called ‘Burlyn’.

A total of 22 persons, including police and civil ian witnesses will testify during the inquest.

It is alleged that Jupiter and Smith were involved

Denny, an electrician, was shot dead moments af ter leaving his Festival City Georgetown house. He was robbed of his 18-pen nyweight gold chain and shot twice by the suspects.

Police Headquarters said ranks, acting on in

capture them.

The police further stat ed that the suspects man aged to escape from ranks, the day prior, in Albouys town, Georgetown.

Police reported that two firearms, as well as eight rounds of 9mm ammuni

tion, were found in the pos session of Jupiter moments after he was shot dead.

The police also recov ered a motorcycle bear ing registration number CK8784 and several mo torcycle parts, along with two ski masks. These items appear to match

those which were seen on the suspects – as captured by CCTV cameras, mo ments after Denny was killed.

Both men were known to the police. They were released from prison sev eral months before Denny was murdered.

Dead: David Smith called ‘Burlyn’

Kwase Jupiter called ‘Ding Docker’

Murder victim: Joshua Denny

Papaw on the Seashore’ premieres at Theatre Guild

THE Embassy of Argentina, the High Commission of Canada and the Embassy of Chile partnered last Satur day with Guyanese filmmak er Rae Wiltshire to host ‘New Beginnings’, the LGBTQ+ Short Film Festival.

According to a release, the festival included LGBTQ+ themed short films from Ar gentina, Canada and Chile.

However, the featured short film for the event was the Guy ana premier of ‘Eating Papaw on the Seashore’, which was

written and directed by Wilt shire himself.

The film also consisted of a cast and crew made up of notable names including Sonia Yarde, Mark Luke-Edwards, Nickose Layne, newcomer Isaiah Lewis, and Melissa Roberts.

The release noted that the film festival was organised to support the arts in Guyana, and promote LGBTQ+ rights and equality through the film.

“Several themes were ex plored at the festival, with the cast and crew of ‘Eating Papaw on the Seashore’ participating in a panel discussion at the end of the film. The audience and moderator were able to ask

questions of the cast and crew who discussed working in the creative sector and the budding film industry in Guyana.

“Points raised included the lack of financial support for Guyanese film makers and the sacrifices that actors, actresses and crew members make to produce quality work.

“The team also discussed their choice in being a part of the production of a LGBTQ film which is unconventional given some of the stigma still experienced in Guyana,” the release noted.

Writer and Director Rae Wiltshire explained that Guya nese filmmakers do have the talent to create amazing work,

but more community support is needed for the film industry to grow in Guyana. He also expressed gratitude to High Commission of Canada and the Embassies of Argentina and Chile for their support.

The Argentine film shown at the event was ‘El Puto In olvidable’, and Deputy Head of Mission Dolores Kuunst explained that the film docu mented the journey of Carlos Jauregui, an Argentine LGBT activist who promoted the country’s first Pride March, and whose advocacy changed Argentine history and its gay rights legislation.

Both the High Commis sioner of Canada Mark Ber

man and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Chile Alejandro Peres em phasised that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights, and these individuals deserve to be respected.

The event, which was held at the Theatre Guild, was well attended by mem bers of the diplomatic com munity, human rights activ ists, members of the LG BTQ+ community, and mem bers of the creative industry.

The Embassy of Argentina, the High Commission of Canada and the Embassy of Chile are hoping to make the film festival an annual event, the release said.

From left: Rae Wiltshire; High Commissioner of Canada Mark Berman; Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Chile Alejandro Peres; Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Argentina Delores Kuunst; and Political Counselor at the High Commission of Canada Caroline Mireault

A section of the audience

Netherlands add Kirsten, Christian to world cup staff

(Espncricinfo) - Nether lands have added Gary Kirsten and Dan Chris tian to their coaching staff on short-term deals for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.

Kirsten's academy in Cape Town, where Nether lands coach Ryan Cook has worked for a number of years, hosted the squad for a training camp in late Septem ber ahead of the tournament, while Christian joined up with the team in Adelaide after their recent arrival in

Australia.

"We are very excited to welcome both Gary Kirsten and Dan Christian to our coaching staff for the T20 World Cup," Roland Lefeb vre, the KNCB's high perfor mance manager, said. "They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, which will be of great help in the lead-up to and during the World Cup."

Kirsten has been part of three previous T20 World Cups as a head coach - in 2009 and 2010 with India, and in 2012 with South Af rica - but his sides have nev er progressed as far as the semi-finals. This year, he was batting coach as Gujarat Titans won IPL 2022 but his Welsh Fire side endured a winless season in the Hun dred, picking up the wooden

spoon.

"I really enjoyed work ing with the Dutch team in Cape Town and I look forward to joining them as a consultant in the T20 World Cup," Kirsten said. "I was impressed with the level of skill and professionalism during the camp. They will be ready and determined to make a big impact at the T20

World Cup."

Christian was part of Australia's squads for the 2010, 2012 and 2014 T20 World Cups and was a trav elling reserve when they won the 2021 edition in the UAE.

He has extensive knowledge of conditions at each venue for the 2022 edition as the most-capped player in Big Bash history.

Gerrard needs headline...

strike to earn them a draw in an encounter where they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities despite having more than 60% possession.

Of their 12 efforts on goal, Watkins was the only other Villa player besides Young to find the target, and they rarely looked like adding to their tally from their 27 touches in the Forest

penalty area.

"I don't think there was too much wrong with the performance up to a certain point," Gerrard added.

"It was a fantastic strike and it was one of a few moments of quality in the final third. Ashley [Young] is leading by example for us at the moment and we are really pleased with him.

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER

(From page 20)

"We are grinding at the moment. We are close to turning draws into wins, but to do that we need big players to step forward for

Christian added: "I've had a great couple of weeks getting to know the guys, and I've been extremely im pressed with everyone's work ethic at practice. I'm looking forward to seeing them have some well-deserved success on the field."

Netherlands played their first warm-up match on Monday, losing to Scotland by 18 runs, and will play West Indies in Melbourne on Wednesday before travelling to Geelong for their firstround fixtures against UAE, Namibia and Sri Lanka.

They have named an ex perienced squad for the tournament, with coun ty stalwarts Colin Acker mann and Roelof van der Merwe returning to the national set-up after long absences.

American Racing Tips

us and give us a little more quality in the last bit of our play. In the last couple of games we are going away frustrated."

11:05 hrs Maxxum

hrs Balkito

hrs Mollys Mango

English Racing Tips

Hereford

08:35 hrs Times Are Blue

hrs Iceman Dennis

hrs Ernesto

hrs

South Africa Racing Tips

Red

hrs Getaway Cory

Leicester

hrs

hrs Highbank

hrs Hawkes Blue

hrs Beautiful

Aisling

11:15 hrs

The Bar

hrs Ausience

hrs Bling On The Music

Huntingdon

09:02 hrs

Tips

Owl

hrs Mullenbeg

hrs Zyon

10:47 hrs No Recollection

11:22 hrs Lord Sparky

hrs Presenting

Netherlands are keen to take advantage of Gary Kirsten and Dan Christian's vast experience

Red bull found guilty of cost cap breach

(BBC) - Red Bull have been found guilty of breaking Formula 1's budget cap by the sport's governing body, the FIA.

Red Bull exceeded the

$145m (£114m) limit during 2021, the FIA said, adding that the offence was "minor", the lower of the two catego ries of breach.

This means the team ex

ceeded the cap by less than 5 percent, or $7.25m.

Both Red Bull and As ton Martin were also found guilty of a procedural breach of the cap.

The FIA did not reveal the amount by which Red Bull exceeded the cap, how it had done so, or what penal ties would be applied. It said it was "currently determining appropriate action".

Red Bull said in a state ment that they noted the FIA's findings "with surprise and disappointment".

The team added: "Our 2021 submission was below the cost-cap limit, so we need to carefully review the FIA's findings, as our belief re mains that the relevant costs are under the 2021 cost-cap amount.

"Despite the conjecture and positioning of others, there is of course a process under the regulations with the FIA which we will re spectfully follow while we consider all the options avail able to us."

Both teams have the pos sibility of appealing against the decision.

Potential penalties for a 'minor' breach include: a reprimand; deduction of drivers' and/or constructors' championship points for the

season in question; suspen sion from one or more stages of a competition; limitations on aerodynamic or other testing; and a reduction of the team's cost cap.

The FIA statement add ed: "With respect to this first year of the application of the financial regulations, the intervention of the FIA cost-cap administration has been limited to reviewing the submissions made by the competitors and that no full formal investigations were launched."

A procedural breach is not an overspend, but rather a failure to fill in forms cor rectly. Williams were also found guilty of this and fined $25,000 earlier this year.

Earlier on Monday, Red Bull team principal, Chris tian Horner, repeated his belief that the team were under the cap in 2021, a season in which Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won a close championship fight with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in controversial circumstances at the final race of the year.

"We're very confident we're within the cap and within those financial reg ulations," Horner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"So, we've been shocked at the speculation and accu sations that have been made by other teams. We wait for the FIA to conclude their process and we wait to see what comes out. Anything other than compliance we'll be extremely surprised at."

In addition to the poten tial of an appeal, Red Bull also have the opportunity to enter into a 'settlement agree ment' with the FIA.

In this scenario, a team accepts its guilt and the FIA imposes a penalty it deems appropriate.

If a settlement agree ment cannot be reached, the dispute will go to an adjudi cation panel of independent judges, who will look at the case and come to the con clusion whether the offence should be penalised.

If the team is still not happy after that, it can take its case to the FIA's inter national court of appeal.

Gerrard needs headline writers

(BCC) - Steven Gerrard says he needs his Aston Villa players to become "headline writers" if they are to improve on their disappointing early-season form.

Villa missed the op portunity to move up to ninth in the Premier League with Monday's 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.

While Villa are unbeaten

in four, they have managed just seven goals from their nine top-flight matches so far.

"The important thing is how I get this team to be more potent," Villa boss Gerrard told Sky Sports.

"[For] Effort and appli cation a lot of our play is OK until you get to a cer tain point. But look around the dressing room and you

see [Philippe] Coutinho, [Emiliano] Buendia, [Ollie] Watkins, [Danny] Ings and [Leon] Bailey will be back soon.

"I need these players to step up and provide big moments and go and be headline writers for us."

Against Forest, Villa were reliant upon 37-yearold Ashley Young's superb

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner (centre) has strongly defended his team

Campbell considering appeal to Anti-Doping ban

(ESPNCRICINFO)

- West Indies batsman John Campbell is consid ering appealing against the four-year ban he was handed on October 7 for an anti-doping vio lation. The decision to ban Campbell was taken by an independent pan el, after he was accused of refusing to provide a blood sample at his home in Kingston in April by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).

Campbell's legal repre sentatives, Nunes Schole field Deleon & Co, a Ja maican law firm, said in statement that "he was not properly notified by JAD CO" with regards to in cident where he did not provide the sample, and

that there were "several mitigatory factors support ed by evidence which were not challenged by JADCO and which ought to have militated against the impo sition of the maximum pen alty". The statement also emphasised that Campbell has "to date never returned an adverse analytical find ing for banned substances".

"Mr John Campbell and his legal team are very dis appointed with the ruling of the Independent Anti-Dop ing Disciplinary Panel," the statement, which was put up on the West Indies Play ers' Association (WIPA) website, read. "Mr Camp bell has been a clean athlete throughout his outstanding career as a batsman and he remains committed to clean

West Indies beat UAE in official warm-up

CMC – West Indies brushed aside minnows United Arab Emirates by 17 runs in their first official warm-up match but concerns remained ahead of the Caribbean side’s Twen ty20 World Cup campaign.

Brandon King’s 64 off 45 balls allowed West Indies to post 152 for nine from their 20 overs after they were sent in, Captain Nicholas Pooran lashing 46 off 31 deliveries in support.

West Indies recovered from a difficult position of 22 for three in the fifth over to reach 117 without further loss before 29-year-old seamer Junaid Siddique snatched five for 13 from his four-over spell to scythe through the middle and lower order.

In reply, UAE were re duced to 82 for six in the 16th over before Muhammad Waseem stroked an unbeaten 69 off 52 deliveries and Zawar Farid, a 14-ball unbeaten to provide a scare for the former World champions.

Left-arm seamer, Raymon Reifer, picked up three for 17 from his four overs to shine for West Indies.

Coming off two successive defeats to reigning world cham pions Australia, West Indies found themselves wobbling

early when openers Evin Lewis (2) and Johnson Charles (1) fell in consecutive overs and late call-up Shamarh Brooks fol lowed in the fifth over for four.

King, arriving at number three, counted seven fours and two sixes while the left-handed Pooran struck five sixes, the pair rallying the innings in a 95run, fourth-wicket stand.

Once Pooran was bowled by pacer Zahoor Khan (2-24) in the 15th over, West Indies lost six wickets for 28 runs in quick time.

UAE lost an early wicket in their run chase but Waseem helped them recover by anchor ing a second-wicket stand of 31 with Vriitya Aravind (9).

Reifer intervened, strik ing twice in the ninth over to trigger a slide that saw five wickets tumble for 32 runs, before Waseem, who lashed four fours and three sixes, partnered with Zawar in a 53-run unbroken sev enth-wicket partnership to provide UAE with a strong finish.

sport...

"The allegation con cerned refusing or failing to submit to sample collection after proper notification pursuant to Article 2.3 of the JADCO Anti-Doping Rules. Our client has, to date, never returned an ad verse analytical finding for banned substances...

"Mr Campbell's posi tion was that he was not properly notified by JAD CO. There were several breaches by JADCO of the mandatory International Standards for Testing and Investigations in respect of the notification of the athlete which, in our view, were not adequately ad dressed by the Panel.

"Additionally, there were several mitigatory

factors supported by ev idence which were not challenged by JADCO and which ought to have mili tated against the imposition of the maximum penalty, even if the Panel found that the athlete committed a violation...

"Our client will there fore at this time consider exercising his right of ap peal ... and will make a decision shortly."

Campbell, 29, has played 20 Tests, six ODIs and two T20Is for West Indies. While he has not played white-ball cricket for them since 2019, he opened in all five Test matches they have played so far this year, scoring 248 runs at 35.42 with one fifty.

Athletico resign Griezmann from Barcelona

(BBC) - Atletico Ma drid have re-signed France forward, Antoine Griezmann, from Barce lona on a contract until 2026.

Griezmann became the sixth-most expensive player in history when he joined Barca for £108m in 2019.

He scored 35 goals in 102 games before returning to Atletico on a two-year loan at the start of last season.

The 31-year-old has three goals and two assists in 11 appearances so far this campaign, though only three of those appearances have been starts.

According to Spanish football reporter, Guil lem Balague, there was a clause in Griezmann's loan contract that would oblige Atletico to buy the forward for 40m euros should he play more than 45 minutes in more than 50 percent of their games.

In response, Atletico boss Diego Simeone has used Griezmann as a sub stitute after 60 minutes in eight of his 11 appearances this season to ensure that clause was not triggered.

Griezmann could make his first appearance back as a permanent Atletico Madrid player against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday.

He is the fourth-high est scorer in the club's history with 144 goals in 304 appearances over two spells, having initially joined from Real Sociedad in 2014.

He was a part of the team that won the Euro pa League, Spanish Su per Cup and Uefa Super Cup during his time at Wanda Metropolitano.

John Campbell was handed a four-year ban for a doping violation (Getty Images)

Antoine Griezmann spent 10 years at first club, Real Sociedad, before joining Atletico Madrid for a reported £24m in 2014

Left-armer Raymon Reifer sends down a delivery during his three-wicket spell (Photo courtesy CWI Media)

USA Cricket in $650,000 debt; senior tournaments cancelled

(ESPNCRICINFO) - More details of USA Cricket's worrying financial situation were unveiled during an Annual General Meeting on Sunday in Los Angeles, as a financial audit showed that the governing body was approximately $650,000 in debt by the end of 2021.

As a consequence of the current debt, it was an nounced that the men's Se nior and Under-19 National Championships had been cancelled for 2022 and will not resume until 2023 at the earliest.

The report showed that USA Cricket had net pos itive assets of $868,000 at the start of 2021, but had subsequently overspent projected budgets by $1.5 million during the calendar year. This included spending $400,000 to host Ireland in December 2021, a series that had not been budgeted for at the start of the year and was only hastily announced in November 2021. The costs were particularly hefty in retrospect considering that it amounted to two just T20Is following the cancellation of the subsequent three-match ODI series due to Covid-19.

Another section of the re port showed that USA Crick et had budgeted $136,000 in administrative costs, but

wound up totalling just short of $800,000 in administrative expenses. No explanation was provided as to what these excess administrative ex penses were. The report also showed that USA Cricket had expected to received $1.1 million in sponsorship money for 2021, but only wound up receiving $829,000.

In a piece of promising news, though, USA Cricket interim board chairman Atul Rai confirmed that overdue financial submissions to the ICC had finally been deliv ered and that this should soon result in USA Cricket's fund ing suspension being lifted by the ICC. Rai had stated in a letter to members on Sep tember 30 that part of USA Cricket's debt was a result of missing financial statement submission deadlines to the ICC and that the ICC had suspended funding until these statements were submitted.

The AGM was attended by ICC Global Development Manager Will Glenwright and ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Fara Gorsi.

But the full picture re garding USA Cricket's entire debt still remains unclear. Following the financial report presented by newly appointed treasurer Kuljit Singh-Nijjar, it was stated by fellow board

member Avinash Gaje that USA Cricket's financial ac counts currently remain un reconciled.

"We are still discover ing some expenses coming through that were not docu mented," Gaje said after the financial report was present ed. "We have done 80-85% of the reconciliation and there is still more to come."

USA Cricket board mem bers Nadia Gruny and Sushil Nadkarni chat with ACE and Major League Cricket co-founder Sameer Mehta• Peter Della Penna

Any attempts to get clar ification on USA Cricket's financial situation were se verely limited during a ques tion and answer session for

members that lasted less than 15 minutes and was restricted to questions submitted and pre-screened by a 36-hour deadline prior to the start of the AGM. When a member asked USA Cricket to explain what they had spent the $5 million that was received by commercial partner ACE - cited by ACE co-founder Vijay Srinivasan in a recent interview with ESPNcricin fo - on since the signing of the commercial deal in May 2019, board member Venu Pisike said that members should check financial state ments on the USA Cricket website from the last three years.

However, complete fi nancial statements from 2021

have not been made pub licly available. Separately, USA Cricket board meeting minutes are also supposed to be publicly available - as required by US non-profit law - but there are no board minutes available to access from the time the board was formed in August 2018 through the start of 2020, a time frame that includes the signing of the deal with ACE.

Other information re leased by the board stated that membership had risen from approximately 12,000 individual members who were eligible to vote in the most recent USA Cricket election, to approximately 16,0000 as of September 2022. USA Cricket had pre

viously said that it had more than 20,000 members, but Gaje clarified that the 20,000 figure was based on people who attempted to become members via the USA Crick et website but never actually carried out the complete reg istration process including paying a membership fee.

Gaje stated that aside from individual membership growth, clubs had risen from 1300 to 1860 members and leagues from 86 to 140, as well as 44 academies, show ing a 60% growth rate in these areas. Of these figures, women's board representative Nadia Gruny stated that there were 283 female players registered.

USA Cricket interim board chairman Atul Rai also told members that the organisation was identify ing CEO candidates and hoped to announce a new CEO shortly. This contra dicted Rai's own words from the letter sent out to members on September 30 in which he said that "until we bring back financial stability and we are able to balance our budgets, we will not be able to move forward with any such ap pointments". The role has been vacant since Iain Hig gins resigned in November 2021.

Ronaldo improper conduct charge to be determined by FA

(BBC) - Manchester United forward Cristiano Ron aldo's improper conduct charge will be determined by an FA hearing.

Ronaldo is understood to have responded to the Foot ball Association's charge of breaching rule E3, which relates to improper and/or violent conduct.

It relates to an incident af ter United's Premier League defeat by Everton in April.

Ronaldo was filmed ap pearing to knock a phone out

of an Everton fan's hand as he made his way to the dressing room.

It is not known whether Ronaldo has accepted the charge, although given the 37-year-old was cautioned by police in August and apolo gised to the young fan imme diately after the incident, it is the most likely scenario, with the player set to argue there were mitigating factors that led to the incident.

The Premier League de feat at Everton dealt a blow to

United's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, and they went on to finish sixth.

In an Instagram post after the incident, Ronaldo said it was "never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing".

He added: "Nevertheless, we always have to be respect ful, patient and set the exam ple for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game.

"I would like to apolo

gise for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair play and sports manship."

Under FA rules the case must go to a hearing, al though witnesses can be allowed to submit written evidence.

Ronaldo had a happier trip to Goodison Park on Sunday, scoring his 700th club career goal as United won 2-1.

USA Cricket is facing uncertain times (Peter Della Penna)

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 700th club goal in Manchester United's win at Everton on Sunday

President promises sporting upgrades for region 10

Residents of Amelia’s Ward in Linden, Region 10, will soon have a volleyball court and other upgrades to the recreational space in the community.

President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, during a walk about in the community on Monday morning, requested that the area be cleaned and the fence be completed so that a volleyball court could be added to the existing bas ketball facility.

During his interaction with residents, the president heard monies that were al located to upgrade the fa cility were misused under the previous administration resulting in the works coming to a halt.

The president then in structed Regional Execu tive Officer (REO) Dwight

John and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, to work out the cost of completing the fence.

“What we should do now is just clean up the place, fin ish off the fencing and so, see if we could get the volleyball court, a hard court complete for the volleyball, and clean up the rest of the area so chil dren also can use the area, make it a children-friendly kind of environment,” Pres ident Ali said.

The president told resi dents he was willing to work on other community projects, pointing out that there is a need for recreational facil itates.

“A heavy demand for recreational facilities, whilst we are completing the syn thetic track, whilst we will be working on the Mackenzie

Club ground, whilst we are going to fix the basketball court and so on, in these small communities, we are going to come in, we are go ing to see where we are going to partner with you and work on projects to support young people and support sports and support development,” he noted.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport will also be part of the interventions.

President Ali also vis ited other communities in the mining town where he restated his administration’s commitment to meeting peo ple at the grass roots.

“One of the important pillars of the government now is that we deliver what the people want, we un derstand what the people want,” he said. (DPI)

Demerara

Berbice opened their ac count with a massive 189run win over Demerara, thanks to a sublime century from Anthony Bramble sup ported by half-centurions Johnathan Foo and Shim ron Hetmyer, who dazzled the spectators during yester day's opening round.

It was pure batting car nage at the legendary Bourda Ground, as the Berbicians came out with guns blazing, racking up an imposing 363-6 in 44.5 overs, thanks to an allout assault led by Bramble.

Fast-bowler Ronaldo Al imohamed was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-66 as the Demerara bowlers toiled at home.

Batting at the top of the order, Bramble made the most of the good conditions, smashing 14 fours and 2 six es, facing 86 balls for his topscore of 106.

One of Guyana’s most experienced 50-Over bats men, Foo, clobbered 71 off 45 balls upon his return to action for Berbice. Hetmyer, fresh off a decent batting expo at the Hero CPL, stroked 58 while all-rounder Romario

Shepherd thumped 40 off 28, wrapping up a T20-like batting approach from the Ancient County Boys.

The Berbice spinners were clinical during their operation, with Versammy

Permaul (3-30) and Kevin Sinclair (3-42), Gudakesh Motie (2-32), eating up the majority of Demerara's wick ets, with Skipper Permaul having the honour of taking the last wicket to complete a

comprehensive win.

The chase was the op posite to the first innings as Demerara struggled with the 300-plus total, being steam rolled for 184 all out in 29.3 overs.

Captain Leon Johnson was the unsung hero, oozing class for his 51 off just 46 deliveries, helping himself to 7 fours and a one 6, more importantly, finding form ahead of the bigger tourna ment which lies ahead.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul looked confident during his opening knock, grafting 39 with four fours and a maxi mum.

Middle-order batsman Akshaya Persaud supported his captain with a brisk knock of 37 clobbering 4 sixes and a four, capping off an ordinary batting outing as not much was done by the others.

The likes of Chandrapaul Hemraj, Chris Barnwell and Tevin Imlach will be keen on making amends in the next game, as a very talented team, they will likely unlock their full potential as the competi tion progresses.

Berbice opener Ramp ertab Ramnauth (36) was classy as he lent support to Bramble during his blitz. But when he was dismissed by spinner Steven Sankar, the tempo increased significantly with the arrival of Hetmyer.

The left-hander batted himself into form early, team ing up with Bramble who motored past a half-century as Berbice continued to pile on the runs.

Hetmyer crunched 2 fours and 3 sixes during his stay. After reaching his fifty, a few runs later, the left-hander found himself caught by John son off the bowling of Tor rington.

Foo then picked up where Hetmyer left off, hammering anything loose, finding the ropes on 5 occasions while 4 sailed over the ropes. The former Guyana T20 batsman then raced to his half-century.

Looking good in his 70s, Foo unfortunately succumbed to disciplined bowling from Alimohamed, giving Johnson another easy catch. Shepherd had some fun as well, smack ing 4 huge sixes and a pair of fours during his cameo.

Sinclair then ended the innings for Berbice with a few lusty blows of his own, end ing off 15 not out off 6 balls with a four and a maximum, for good measure.

Action continues tomor row.

The Amelia’s Ward recreational space

President promises sporting upgrades

President