Guyana Chronicle E-paper 12-02-2019

MONDAY 2nd December, 2019

No.105839

‘Don’t trust Irfaan’s plan’ PAGE

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...Lincoln Lewis, Harmon deem PPP talk of reopening estates empty promises …say party sees sugar estates and adjoining communities as voting farms E

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Know your status!

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Constitutional reform will be back on front burner after March polls

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$45M food franchise opened at Vreed-en-Hoop

Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence (second right) and United Nations Resident Coordinator to Guyana, Mikiko Tanaka (second left), along with other officials during the route march in observance of World AIDS Day on Sunday (Ministry of Public Health photo)

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14 $25M water system commissioned at Sand Creek

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

‘Don’t trust Irfaan’s plan’ 3

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

...Lincoln Lewis deems PPP talk of reopening estates empty promises …says party sees sugar estates and adjoining communities as voting farms

VETERAN Trade Unionist, Lincoln Lewis has said that the utterances by Presidential Candidate for the PPP, Irfaan Ali that he would reopen sugar estates should not be trusted and he flayed the opposition for floundering opportunities during its time in office to reform the industry.

At the launch of the party’s manifesto last Friday Ali reiterated the PPP’s promise that they will reopen shuttered estates of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuco), even as the party and its presidential candidate continue to dodge specifics on how they plan to go about that without pumping losses into the industry.

“These promises in very many cases bear no semblance to reality. For the PPP now in their manifesto to say they would reopen the sugar estates, I would like to know on what information basis they are going to do that,” Joseph Harmon, APNU General Secretary asked last week during a PNCR news conference.

“This blank statement that we will reopen sugar estates, when you examine it, when you go into the details you will see how fake this promise is. And it is not something that any right thinking Guyanese can take on face value.” Tearing into the issue further, Harmon questioned how the PPP could revive the industry given their stellar record of mismanagement, decline and unaccountability in the industry across the 23 years they oversaw it.

“We need to go back a little bit so that we understand where we are with this PPP promise about reopening sugar estates.

For the tenth parliament for almost every single budget the PPP promised to turn around

GuySuco. There were so many turn around plans in the National Assembly that we were getting eye-turn. Every year,

rotting, because it represents the single largest debt incurred by government. All of these millions have gone for naught

recent call on the Government by the Leader of the Opposition to find money to pay sugar workers. “In principle I am not opposed to workers receiving better wages and improve conditions of work, for as a trade unionist this is what I’m committed to. The management of GuySuCo must return to the negotiation table with the sugar unions and engage in Collective Bargaining. The law must trump egos or bruised feelings.”

of their bounty not to ensure their sustenance.”

“And here’s why I say this. This nation can attest to instances where Government and Opposition have had engagements where either side construe its constituents are adversely affected and the nation’s stability threatened.

Some of these are:- the Forbes Burnham/Cheddi Jagan commitment that realised recognition of GAWU and employment in the public sector for

Trade Unionist, Lincoln Lewis

so many billions for a turn around, so many billions for a turn around,” he said.

INCAPABLE OF SALVAGING INDUSTRY Weighing in on the issue in his Sunday column which appeared in the Kaieteur News Lewis said Ali sought to assure society the PPP has grand plans for the sugar industry when it was during the PPP administration that sugar’s fortune changed drastically, and it proved incapable of salvaging the industry. Lewis said presented with the opportunity to diversify and retool with financial support offered from the European Union, that government blew it. “The nation witnessed a scatter-shot approach in decision-making. US$200-plus million was wasted in building the Skeldon Sugar Factory which became a white elephant. It is sad to see this factory standing idle and

and the taxpayers are saddled with the burden of repaying the loan,” Lewis who is also General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress said.

ALI WAS PART OF IT According to Lewis, in its restructuring plan the PPP had closed sugar estates and workers were sent home. “How can we not be shocked by Ali’s announcement that a PPP government will reopen the estates? This gentleman sat in the Cabinet that took the decision to close estates. He was part of the administration that floundered around in managing the industry. Why must workers/citizens believe that he has found a resurrection plan, and having before closed estates, will now reopen them? He has to know he better come good, because the tomfoolery is not accepted.”

Buttressing the empty promises, Lewis said is the

PPP Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali

That notwithstanding, Lewis said the Opposition is seeking to pull wool over people’s eyes. “Given [the PPP’s] track record in sugar, the utterances of Ali cannot be trusted nor should we believe that Jagdeo is interested in sugar workers being paid any increase. He has made a political calculation and is gambling on GuySuCo’s action angering the workers to the point where it creates alienation and resentment. To him the sugar estates and adjoining communities are viewed as voting farms, to reap

recipients of PPP scholarship; Desmond Hoyte/Cheddi Jagan electoral reform; Janet Jagan/ Desmond Hoyte constitutional reform; Bharrat Jagdeo/ Desmond Hoyte Agreement; and Jagdeo/Robert Corbin communiqué. The latter two were never honoured by Mr. Jagdeo.”

Lewis said nothing prevents him, were he serious about the welfare of sugar workers, from laying before President Granger issues of concern and hammering out an agreement. “He could have

done what his predecessors (Opposition Leaders) did, and whereas during his presidency he failed to honour any commitment, there are positive precedents to rely on. People’s suffering/concern should not present political currency to exploit for self-interest.”

CARRYING HIS LEADER’S BITTER CHALICE According to Lewis unfortunately, Ali as a relatively young leader is quite comfortable with the status quo of the opposition. “By carrying his leader’s bitter chalice, he has allowed himself to be wholly restrained, acting only on command. He has passed over the opportunity to say to the leader, who desires total compliance, that he refuses to be chained to a politics of destruction and vindictiveness.

He could have asserted himself by making known such conduct carry dire consequences for society, and moreso his generation,” he said.

Lewis said approximately two-third of this nation’s population is 40 years and younger. He said a Member of Parliament, Ali earns a salary of not less than of $264,500 per month. For the last 11 months, taxpayers paid him a princely sum of approximately three million dollars to go to work, on their behalf, in the Parliament. He has accepted monthly salary and benefits for not working.

“It must not escape attention or accountability, for it is not for the want of forces in society calling on our politicians to do something about the petroleum sector and sugar, yet the opposition continues to demonstrate it cares not for the people and its constitutional duty,” he said.

GPF concludes road safety week with Drivers Symposium THE Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force concluded National Road Safety Week with a Drivers Symposium on Saturday.

The symposium was held at the Officers’ Training Centre where Traffic Chief, Senior Superintendent of Police Linden Isles educated the drivers in attendance on the importance of defensive driving; Isles also applauded the efforts that were made by those who attended the event.

The traffic chief elaborated on the fact that it is the responsibility of every driver who operates a motor

vehicle to practise the road safety rules, to ensure that one is not involved in an accident.

“It shall be the responsibility of every driver who is in charge of a motor vehicle while using the roads to ensure that he or she is not involved in an accident or an accident-causing situation. No action or lack of action on his or her part shall contribute to an accident; as such, he or she should be on the lookout for those errant drivers and irresponsible road users,” he stated.

Also Speaking at the symposium was Deputy Su-

perintendent of Police Timothy Williams, who highlighted minor traffic offences and the consequences.

The drivers were also reminded about the importance of signs, signals and road markings by Traffic Education Officer Inspector Reaun Clarke.

The drivers present at the event were from the GPHC, the Fire Service, GPL, BK International, Banks D.I.H, GTM, GTT, GRA, Republic Bank, the Ministry of Finance, members of the Guyana Police Force and other private agencies

Several drivers gathered at the Officers’ Training Centre for the symposium

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

Daphne Caruana Galizia: Malta prime minister Joseph Muscat to resign in new year

India vet murder:

(BBC) Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has announced on national TV that he will step down in the new year, amid a crisis over a murdered journalist.

He said he would ask the ruling Labour Party to begin the process to choose his successor on 12 January.

Demonstrators have demanded his immediate resignation over the inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death.

She was killed by a car bomb in 2017 as she investigated corruption among Malta’s business and political elite.

A businessman with alleged links to government officials was charged with complicity in the murder on Saturday.

Mr Muscat has been in power for six years, winning two elections by a landslide and presiding over a period of prosperity and social reform in the EU’s smallest member state.

“Malta needs to start a new chapter and only I can give that signal,” Mr Muscat said on Sunday.

He took the decision after a four-hour meeting with Labour’s parliamentary group, at which MPs gave “unanimous support to all decisions which the Prime Minister will be taking”.

Why do they want Muscat to go?

A large crowd of protesters earlier rallied in the capital Valletta to demand Mr Muscat’s immediate resignation.

Copies of a photo showing Mr Muscat’s former chief of staff, Keith Schembri, alongside Melvin Theuma, an alleged middleman in Caruana Galizia’s murder, were pinned to the gates of the building.

Fury over Mr Muscat’s handling of the crisis grew this weekend when businessman Yorgen Fenech was charged with complicity in the murder, an allegation he denies.

Mr Fenech was identified last year as being the owner

of a mysterious Dubai-registered company, 17 Black, listed in the Panama Papers - a massive leak of documents from an offshore law firm in 2016.

There were allegations that 17 Black planned to make secret payments to companies set up by Mr Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.

Both men resigned this week but deny any wrongdoing, and Mr Mizzi has denied any business links to Mr Fenech.

Three other men are in custody charged with Caruana Galizia’s actual murder, which involved a car bomb.

The murdered journalist’s family said the prime minister had been left deeply compromised and should resign because he had failed, for the past two years, to take action to clean up politics in Malta.

They argued that as long as he remained in place, a full investigation into Caruana Galizia’s death was not possible.

In another development, Mr Muscat’s Economy Minister, Chris Cardona, was reinstated on Sunday after suspending himself on Tuesday after he was questioned by police.

He denies any wrongdoing.

What do we know about the murder inquiry?

Three men - brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio and their friend Vincent Muscat, all in their 50s - have been charged with triggering the bomb which killed Caruana Galizia near her home in October 2017.

They were arrested in December 2017 and pleaded not guilty in pre-trial proceedings.

Vincent Muscat later told police the bomb had been placed in Caruana Galizia’s car while it was parked outside the walled compound where she lived. The killings earned the trio 150,000 euros (£132,000), Reuters news agency reports.

Outrage mounts over Hyderabad rape killing

(BBC) Outrage is mounting in India after the alleged rape and murder of a 27-year-old vet in the city of Hyderabad.

Thousands protested outside a police station in the city, demanding accountability.

Police have suspended three officers.

Meanwhile family members have turned away visiting politicians and police officials, demanding action instead.

Rape and violence against women remain at high levels despite widespread public anger at high-profile cases.

The victim’s charred remains were discovered after she disappeared on Wednesday.

WAS DELHI GANG RAPE INDIA’S #METOO MOMENT? Why India’s rape crisis shows no signs of abating Police allege she was gang-raped before she was killed. Four men have been arrested in connection with the case.

Two of their mothers have spoken out, calling for them to be punished if they are found guilty.

“You give whatever punishment (to them). I have a daughter too,” one told The Press Trust of India.

WHAT HAS THE WIDER REACTION BEEN? At a police station on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Saturday, thousands of people gathered to protest, insisting the culprits must face the death penalty.

Elsewhere in the country there were other protests and vigils for the victim - who cannot be named under Indian law.

MON. December 02, 2019 - 09:00hrs ~10:30hrs

In the community of Shamshabad in Hyderabad, where the victim lived, residents locked the main gate and held placards saying: “No Media, No Police, No Outsiders - No sympathy, only action, justice.”

Prominent politicians have also spoken out, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the main opposition Congress party.

“Our mindsets have to be jolted into changing, into rejecting violence, into refusing to accept the abhorrent manner in which women are being brutalised on a daily basis,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet commented on the case, however.

Three police officers have been suspended following allegations by the victim’s family that they had not acted quickly enough when the victim was reported missing.

Officers suggested she may have eloped, relatives told the National Commission for Women, a government body.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VICTIM? The woman had left home on her bike at about 18:00 local time (12:30 GMT) on Wednesday to go to a doctor’s appointment.

She called family later to say that she had a flat tyre, and a lorry driver had offered to help. She said she was waiting near a toll plaza.

Efforts to contact her afterwards were unsuccessful, and her body was discovered under a flyover by a milkman early on Thursday morning.

Under Indian law, a rape victim cannot be identified even after death, but on Friday the woman’s name was the top Twitter trend in the country for several hours as tens of thousands of angry tweets demanded justice.

Rape and sexual violence against women have been in focus in India since the December 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in the capital, Delhi. But there has been no sign that anti-female violence is abating.

According to the latest government crime figures, police registered 33,658 cases of rape in India in 2017 - an average of 92 every day.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

T&T: Deadlock over security ─Shooting near SEPOS school

(TRINIDAD NEWSDAY) Teachers and staff from the Ministry of Education were unable to come to an agreement on security at the South East Port of Spain Secondary School (SEPOS), after a shooting nearby on Wednesday. They have decided to meet again on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference at Education Towers, St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, on Friday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said the main concern outlined at the meeting was safety and security at the school.

The meeting, which was also attended by Port of Spain mayor Joel Martinez and acting Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Anthony James, sought to address the concerns of teachers and other stakeholders after the shooting.

Since the incident teachers have stayed away from classes and the school has been closed.

Garcia said, “We were not able to arrive at a decision to move forward with at this time.

“We understand the position of the teachers, we understand their concerns and we understand their fears, because in their own words what happened on Wednesday was not the first occasion when teachers and students had to take protective action.

“We want to do everything possible to meet the demands of the teachers and the parents.

We want to do everything possible to meet all stakeholders and we will be working closely

with the mayor of Port of Spain and the police.”

The two groups at the meeting shred common ground. There was nothing that they expressed that we (the ministry) did not want,” he said. “They expressed their views and we decided to reconvene the meeting.

“They spoke freely and we listened to them.”

James said he intended to use a “multi-pronged” approach, different strategies of

Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez. left, Education Minister Anthony Garcia and DCP Anthony James, respond to questions from reporters during a press conference at Education Towers, St Vincent Street, Port of Spain on Friday. - Shane Superville

patrols as well as community-based programmes to reduce violence and deal with issues in the community.

He said while the investigation into the shooting was still continuing, there was no reason to believe the school was the target of the shooter.

He also said police were following several leads and was confident there would be an arrest.

“It is well known some of the activities in that area are the subject of serious investigation from the police. As we speak...we are having serious leads and receiving vital information, and we anticipate that some closure in the not too distant future should be brought to this incident.”

He admitted there was “a serious problem in that part of Port of Spain.”

He said the police planned to set up “a dedicated patrol and certain resources not only on the streets outside the school but also in the community.”

Irving Burgie: Songwriter of calypso hit Day-O dies aged 95 (BBC) US composer Irving Burgie, who helped to popularise Caribbean music with hit songs like Day-O, has died aged 95.

His death was confirmed

by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who called for a moment of silence for the man who wrote its national anthem.

Mr Burgie is best known for helping singer Harry Belafonte bring calypso music to the mainstream.

The 1950s song Day-O went on to be used in films, adverts and even as a wakeup call for astronauts in space.

The calypso hit, also known as The Banana Boat Song, featured in the popular film Beetlejuice and has been sampled by rapper Lil Wayne and singer Jason Derulo.

US media reports say Mr Burgie died on Friday as a

result of complications from heart failure.

His website says his songs have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Irving Burgie wrote the lyrics to the national anthem of Barbados

Mr Burgie wrote eight of the 11 songs on Harry Belafonte’s 1956 album Calypso, which was the first album in the US to sell more than a

million copies.

During his career, the composer worked with artists including Jimmy Buffett, Chuck Berry and Sam Cooke.

His other well-known songs include Island in the Sun, Jamaica Farewell and Mary’s Boy Child, which he co-wrote.

Brooklyn-born Mr Burgie did not begin pursuing a career in music until he returned

from serving in an all-black US Army battalion in World War Two. He then used the benefits he received as a war veteran to fund his studies at New York’s prestigious Juilliard performing arts school and went on to launch a career as a singer and guitarist before moving into writing songs for others.

Trinidad PM: Gambling is ridiculous pastime (TRINIDAD NEWSDAY) THE Prime Minister has identified gambling as one of many social ills in TT which the Opposition UNC has no interest in addressing.

At a PNM public meeting in Sangre Grande on Thursday night, Dr Rowley declared, “All over this country, people are gambling left right and centre.”

He said those people were “threatening the country’s economy, with money laundering. encouraging criminal conduct and wasting our money in a very ridiculous pastime.”

Rowley claimed TT is “the only country in the world where there is gambling, but no regulation of gaming and gambling.”

While Government has brought legislation to Parliament to establish a gaming commission to regulate the domestic gaming sector, Rowley said, “The UNC is saying, ‘We are not interested in that.’”

The legislation is currently before a parliamentary joint select committee.

When arrangements were made through the Australian government to bring two new fast ferries for the domestic seabridge, Rowley said, the UNC tried to scuttle the deal by making unfounded corruption allegations.

He supported Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan’s view that the proposed Toco port and other developments would open up the eastern part of TT. Rowley said all surveys showed that the people in that area constituted five per cent of the economy. He added that only the PNM has demonstrated a commitment to ensure that they benefited from whatever the country had to offer.

Reminding his audience that Government brought legislation to Parliament to abolish child marriages, Rowley said the UNC did not want that. He recalled that when the legislation was being debated in the Senate, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar appointed three men as temporary opposition senators to “argue why underage girls should get married to hard-back old men.”

While the UNC will argue otherwise, Rowley declared, “That is their record.”

He claimed the UNC also had a record of losing nine successive elections in the recent past, and predicted the UNC would “lose ten times” on Monday.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

The value of human life and road safety

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HE recent deadly accidents on our roadways are of tremendous concern to everyone. Safety continues to be a pressing problem as there is an accident almost daily on our roadways due to reckless and lawless driving.

There is no denying that ours is a country where road usage by vehicles is becoming more and more dangerous and catastrophic. With the advent of an increase in newer vehicles, and recognising that our roads are not up to standard or capable of handling such traffic, there needs to be a regulation of speed based on the condition of roads, the pedestrian traffic, and the number of residents living there.

Conditions can incorporate types of roads, rain, standing water, flood areas, etc.

The problem has become more complex as we struggle with the significant increase in the number of vehicles which outstrips the increase of road networks. This is one of the serious dilemmas in countries where there is continuous economic growth and improved living standards.

In our case, the rate of accidents is extremely high and per capita we are the country with the highest number of accidents.

What is most disturbing is the fact that most road accidents are preventable; they simply occur because road users do not adhere to traffic rules. While some blame must be placed on the police force for this unfortunate state of affairs, it must at the same time be borne in mind that it is impossible for police officers to be everywhere at the same time. It is the duty of all road users to adhere to traffic

rules and to act responsibly when using the roadways. No matter how many police officers patrol our roads, accidents will continue to happen at an alarming rate if road users do not obey the rules of the road and act in a responsible manner; so the fundamental issue is that road users have safety on our roads in their hands. The agonising loss of life, limb and property in Guyana and globally cannot be over emphasised and this has to be stopped now, because the trend is indeed a frightening one. One shudders to think what our country would become in a few years time if this trend continues.

A 2013 study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that nearly 3,400 people die on the world’s roads every day. Tens of millions of people are injured or disabled every year. Children, pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly are among the most vulnerable of road users. WHO works with partners – governmental and non-governmental – around the world to raise the profile of the preventability of road-traffic injuries and promote good practices related to helmet and seat-belt wearing, not drinking and driving, not speeding and being visible in traffic. WHO adds that about 1.24 million people die each year on the world’s roads; and between 20 and 50 million sustain non-fatal injuries. Young adults aged between 15 and 44 years account for 59% of global road-traffic deaths.

The report shows that road-traffic injuries remain an important public health problem despite progress in a number of countries. To reduce the number of road-traffic injuries, the pace of legislative change and enforcement needs to be

hastened and more attention paid to vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and motor cyclists. Apart from the actual deaths, injuries and suffering, accidents also put a tremendous financial squeeze on the public health care system and depletes a country’s human resource capacity.

It is therefore of absolute necessity that no effort be spared to minimise the unacceptable number of accidents on our roads.

Unlike what some are wont to believe, the problem is not exclusively one for the government. On the contrary, road safety is everybody’s business and it has to be tackled from every possible angle and level. Therefore to begin, drivers must be better trained and educated in road usage; traffic education should be intensified in schools and other educational institutions and at the community level; traffic laws and regulations and penalties need to be periodically reviewed and amended if necessary, and of course road networks have to be modernised and expanded to cope with increasing volumes of traffic. With regard to the latter, availability of finance would be a key factor, but with the trend in Guyana this is becoming an imperative.

Not all accidents can be avoided, but there are too many that occur that could have been. Driving can become routine, but what persons fail to realise is that while many routes we take may be the same, the situation never is. As such, vigilance must be exercised on the part of both authorities and drivers; the 5 Cs must become a mantra, and the value for human life must be a top priority when getting behind the wheel.

Let us return karate-do to an activity that allows students learn and master self-defense techniques Dear Editor,

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believe the time has come for the relevant Ministries/Organizations such as the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Ministry with responsibility for Sport to keep a closer eye on what is being presented in some quarters, to the people of Guyana, particularly the younger people, as the art and combat sport of Karate-do.

My first concern has to do with the significant role that some ‘Masters’ as they call themselves, play in the depletion of Guyana’s scarce foreign reserves when they frequently arrive from overseas, host a grading examination, convert the fees paid by the students to be graded into foreign exchange and then cart it back to the country that they live without paying any PAYE, VAT or other local taxes.

One has to wonder whether audited and qualified ac-

counts for these Karate clubs are submitted to the relevant authorities on yearly basis and whether all of them operate in compliance with the laws of Guyana. It has been observed that foreign karate students from Barbados and elsewhere are setting up dojos here. One is left to wonder if these individuals are properly accredited and have the requisite immigration status to be working and teaching in Guyana.

Money is seeming to make some people in this sport do some stupid things, not the least of which is watering down a martial art for mass consumption in pursuit of profit. Traditionally, students were graded every four to six months, now some of these ‘Masters’ are travelling every two to three months to Guyana to test the students. Of course, not only do the students have to pay to be examined, but they also have to purchase the new coloured belt that they have been moved up to.

I would like to suggest that more emphasis be placed

on training and learning in these karate schools, instead of the new accent of selling them these little pieces of cloth [coloured belts] that don’t mean much without the skill to back them up. There are dojos popping up all over the place, in Georgetown, in Bartica and all over the country but how will prospective students know whether it is just another “black belt factory” or whether it is a serious martial arts school. Persons seem to be becoming instructors overnight. One day they get their black belt, the next day they are calling themselves a Sensei or teacher. Let us return karate-do to an activity that allows students learn and master self-defense techniques, improve their physical and mental health, build their self-esteem and strengthen their self-confidence and not just be a money-making enterprise.

Regards Amakali Morgan

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

The simmering resentment between Guyanese who stayed and the diaspora must end Dear Editor,

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l m o s t d a i l y, I check out Mr. Freddy Kissoon’s editorial in the Kaieteur News. Some days I nod my head in agreement with his commentary on the state of the nation and the hypocrisy of too many of our elected officials on all sides of the aisle; other days I shake my head in wonder at his pronouncements; and on a few occasions, I have actually laughed out loud. What I absolutely admire about Mr. Kissoon is that he has the courage of his convictions. On Wednesday, 20 November 2019, however, I was saddened by the stance Mr. Kissoon chose in his Op-ed “The words of Carl Greenidge.”

Mr. Kissoon’s column ended with these words: “I am not against expatriate Guyanese taking important jobs in Guyana; I just feel if we have local talent available, their sacrifice should be recognized.”

There is not one reasonable Guyanese who would argue this point. I believe that Mr. Kissoon could have put a well-deserved exclamation point after the word avail-

able. However, he also stated that his “ideological position is INFLEXIBLE and DEFINITIVE – rulers…not give preference to diaspora people who had opportunities the locals longed for.”

Who are these “diaspora people” Mr. Kissoon refers to? Fellow Guyanese?

This divide, the simmering resentment between Guyanese who “stayed”, and the diaspora must end now, before it is too late. It poisons every transaction between us. My friends have said to me on several occasions, “We stayed!” and I reply, “We PAID!” Annually, the hundreds of millions of US dollars (amounting to more than 7% of Guyana’s GDP) pouring into this country through remittances, come at huge sacrifices to those who live and work abroad.

Mr. Kissoon is well aware that those in the diaspora pay for land bought and homes built and for thousands of children to be better educated right here at home, an experience many wish they could afford their own children “in foreign.”

Sacrifice is also being away from one’s beloved country, family and friends; lost time with and loss of our

elders and loved ones; the constant indignities played out in micro and macro acts of racism and xenophobia; adjusting to climates most hate, especially super storms and bitter winters; the extra work shifts; etc.

Guyanese in the diaspora try in myriad ways to ease the suffering of loved ones at home.

Migration is not a Guyanese story. It is the story of all humanity told through religious texts, archeological digs, mythology, history books, biographies and fiction. It is thousands of years, possibly millions of years old, and sacrifices are made by those who stayed, as well as those who ventured off to new lands.

At a function recently, where she was a panelist, Ms. Paloma Mohamed (Mr. Kissoon mentioned her in his column) was asked how to breach the divide between those who stayed and those in the diaspora, to which she replied, and I quote “When yuh abandon…, yuh got fuh beg back.” I wanted to ask her “Why?” If this is the thinking of our educated minds, we have no chance, and we can just give the country over to the REAL foreign-

ers, who are laughing all the way to their banks with our resources, while we verbally, emotionally and physically fight one another. Do we really need another thing that divides us?

With less than a million people, resource rich, and a massive land mass, we are still a struggling, Third World nation, and oil alone will not make us less so.

Guyana needs ALL her children, period! If it were not so, this country would look more like Singapore, which gained independence only one year before Guyana, has a population of 5.6 million, 278.6 square miles, and pitiable natural resources.

If Guyana’s “stayed” population does not make space for her children who wish to return and genuinely serve with their expertise gained abroad, then other countries will continue to benefit from the great minds we have produced, and Guyana will be the slower and poorer for it. We are everywhere contributing to other societies. This July, every newspaper in Kenya and many beyond mourned the death of Bob Collymore, a Guyanese, who

don’t believe that the opposition party is being genuine when several of its candidates suggested that they are an inclusive party. I believe that this is a ruse to fool people into voting for them to gain power.

Firstly, it is common knowledge that the Guyana Times newspaper is utilised mainly as a mouthpiece of the opposition party. There has been several instances where the Guyana Times newspaper continues to promote and incite discord against the Haitian and other Caribbean migrants who visit Guyana. I have also seen incitement from vocal PPP/C supporters who post conspiracy theories and alleged racist comments on a popular Guyanese Diaspora message board. This is ironic knowing that Bharrat Jagdeo was recently in Canada begging the Guyanese-Canadian Diaspora

nose to spite their face?

Then again it appears as though we do. Although there are well respected Guyanese experts in the diaspora, none accompanied the uninitiated sent to negotiate on our behalf with the world’s corporate oil giants, and we all know how that ended.

Mr. Kissoon you are an important a member of our civic society, and I am asking you kindly to replace your intransigence on this important issue and instead use your platform to foster a national discourse on bridging the divide between those who stayed and the diaspora. We could all air our grievances, ‘buse out a little, cry, laugh and heal together. Lest we forget, we are family, and Guyana is home.

Regards Cheryl E. Noel

Republic Bank should compensate customers Dear Editor,

A

to return home and vote for the PPP/C. This political party also has a history of scandals and misusing funds, while discriminating heavily against Guyanese. The pain of such discrimination exists to this day, and today this is manifested notably against the Haitians.

This is the reason that I have a fear that discrimination will persist, and become worse if the PPP/C is elected.

Therefore, I am not fully convinced that the PPP/C is for equality, because the mentality of supremacy is embedded within their psyche, and this isn’t going to change. It will get worse because they are thirsting to get their hands on the oil reserves for themselves. Be aware!

s a concerned customer of Republic Bank it is of my strong opinion that the bank should compensate customers adequately for time wasted because of their faulty service.

Customers in default cannot give excuse to the bank and banks are not normally lenient in such instances except maybe for some corporate customers in good standing.

Being fair it is only logical that Central Bank seek some sort of monetary or monetary related compensation for customers for time wasted due to Republic Bank negligence in service.

If a survey is done to determine this cost because of time wasted and resources utilised to be back and forth because of the system backup and faults it will more than likely be in the millions of dollars in total. Sorry cannot help at the bank and many customers are turned away daily for miniscule idiocrasies by newly trained or incompetent staff and the bank should not be allowed to only say sorry under such instances. Central Bank is responsible for indemnifying all banks so that such instances do not occur to the cost of consumers.

Regards Riaz Hamid

Regards Concerned citizen

PPP not an inclusive party I Dear Editor,

oversaw the expansion of Safaricom into East Africa’s biggest mobile network operator. I can only dream of what we could have done with his expertise in the land of his birth.

Should Mr. Greenidge be made to feel ashamed of the opportunities his parents afforded him?

What percentage of this population would have rejected similar opportunities? Bringing his gifts of decades of experience, we so desperately need, should our country not benefit because “untold numbers in Guyana could not have accessed” his academic opportunities?

If you had a brain tumour and you had the choice of a world-renown Guyanese brain surgeon (and I have a friend who happens to be one) and the best of a locally educated one, whom would you choose? Who cuts off their

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday December 2, 2019

Constitutional reform will be back on front …PM says buy-in from gov’t, burner after March polls opposition crucial PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has defended his handling of efforts by the Coalition Government to push through constitutional reform, even as he noted that the recent troubles regarding the no- confidence motion could have been avoided, had the process been allowed to move forward.

Writing in his Sunday column My Turn, Prime Minister

Nagamootoo said constitutional reform cannot be an academic exercise or a bureaucratic escapade, as it involves a process which must start with consultation and consensus. Upon entering office, he immediately set up a steering committee which produced a report. Subsequently, a Constitutional Reform Commission was established in Parliament, comprising Attorney-General

and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams, who is the Chairman; Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan; Minister of Education Dr. Nicolette Henry; Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman; and Minister of Public Service Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine. Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Commission include Anil Nandlall, Priya Manickchand,

Dr. Frank Anthony, and Adrian Anamayah.

However, reform requires the support of at least twothirds of the House, and while the government is willing, Minister Nagamootoo says that the Opposition has been ambivalent about the process.

Just in December 2018, a meeting called by Minister Williams was only attended by the government MPs. He

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

stated at the time that the Opposition continues to stall the work of the committee, which has only met five times since being constituted.

Seeking to advance constitutional reform in September 2018, the Prime Minister’s Office, in partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNCEF) Guyana had released a joint report on the ‘Review of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic in Relation to the Rights of the Children’. PM Nagamootoo had expressed optimism that it will become a base document to be shared with the constitutional commissioners.

PICKING A ROW Prime Minister Nagamootoo noted that recently, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, the former Chairman of the Reform Commission and now leader of a new political party, tried to pick a row with him as if he had failed to effect constitutional reform. “I did what, in law, should be done; that is, to table in the National Assembly a Bill to set up a Constitutional and Consultative Constitutional Reform Commission. After its first reading, it was, by consent of the parliamentary political parties, sent to the House’s bi-partisan committee that was established under the Constitution to look at matters such as this,” PM Nagamootoo explained.

He said the committee did not, for some three years, conclude its examination of the Bill. “The facts will show that the APNU+AFC Government had taken an initiative; there is no evidence, however, that the Opposition wanted to review or reform the Constitution; at least not now,” the prime minister declared. He said that in a society where any major reform has to receive the support of two-thirds of all the elected members of the National Assembly, it would be

futile to get any such changes until the government and the opposition fully buy in to the process. This, he said, has to await the 2020 elections, after which constitutional reform would be placed on the front burner.

“For me, constitutional reform is not a political slogan; it is not a protest note on a placard,” the PM said, adding: “We have seen how a no-confidence motion to remove a democratically-elected government on December 21, 2018 had spawned protracted legal contentions regarding the threshold for a simple, as distinct from an absolute majority, and the role of dual citizens in our national parliamentary system. Had the reform process got underway, as I was hoping, certain ambiguities would have been cleared up. The society could have been saved the unnecessary burden of literally marking time, now for just under one year.” Meanwhile, speaking on the recent constitutional awareness programme being run off by his office, Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that by taking the Constitution to schoolchildren, government is hoping to promote a new awareness in our society, that all of our citizens should obey our laws, as our National Pledge commands us to do. “At the same time,” he said, “we should work towards strengthening these laws, and not blame our Constitution for the political fissures and ethnic polarisation in our society.” He said that as this awareness grows, “I am confident that the major players would amend constitutional provisions to provide for broader inclusion in our governance system to strengthen our democracy and fortify national sovereignty.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Monday December 2, 2019

IMF Working Paper confirms Caribbean countries highly exposed to external factors WASHINGTON-CMC–An International Monetary Fund (IMF) Working Paper has confirmed that Caribbean countries are highly exposed to external factors.

Using data from 19802017, the paper, “The Caribbean and Its Linkages with the World: A GVAR Model Approach,” says that a fall in oil prices and an increase in the US gross domestic product (GDP), as examples, have a “positive and large impact” on most Caribbean countries after controlling for financial variables, exchange rate fluctuations and overall price changes.

The paper uses a Global Vector Auto-regressive (GVAR) model tailored for the Caribbean region, which includes its major trading partners, representing altogether around 60 percent of the global economy.

“We provide stylized facts of the main interrelations between the Caribbean region and the rest of the world, and then we quantify the impact of external shocks on Caribbean countries through the application of two case studies: A change in the international price of oil, and an increase in the US GDP,” say the authors Mauricio Vargas and Daniela Hess.

“The results from the model help to disentangle effects from various channels that interact at the same time, such as flows of tourists, trade of goods, and changes in economic conditions in the largest economies of the globe,” they add. The report says that global spillovers are a central element in international economics and that Caribbean countries are “as acutely exposed to them as many others.”

It says that production and trade in goods and services, and financial flows depend not only on internal market supply and demand forces but also on competitiveness and world growth.

During the past decades, the paper notes that many small and large countries have leaned towards trade openness and financial liberalization, stating that some evidence suggests that this might benefit their econo-

mies. Notwithstanding, the paper says a strong degree of integration poses additional risks to small open economies that may suffer disproportionately from shifting economic conditions in the largest economies of the globe, “as they are less able to diversify away from the sectors in which they have comparative advantages.”

“That is the case for most Caribbean countries, which are highly internationally integrated, especially through tourism flows – a sector often hit hard by downturns in larger economies,” the paper says. To quantify the strength of macroeconomic linkages between Caribbean countries and the rest of the world, the paper introduces a Caribbean-tailored GVAR model.

The IMF GVAR model features 45 developing, emerging market and advanced economies, of which 15 are Caribbean. The analysis focuses on specific spillovers for Caribbean countries, such as the effect of an expansionary policy in the United States or an oil price drop. The paper says one of the main advantages of implementing a GVAR model to assess macroeconomic impacts of external shocks is that “it allows to internalise second round effects that are usually considered as exogenous or static in less sophisticated models.” The IMF Working Paper says measuring linkages between different regions of the globe is a challenge.

However, it says the GVAR methodology “shows itself to be useful to condense large amounts of information in a way that permits researchers to isolate global shocks or country-specific shocks and gauge their impact across the board.” “Given its size and large dependence of external markets, the Caribbean region is particularly sensitive to policy changes or shocks in large trading partners, such as the US, Canada, or the UK (United Kingdom),” the paper says.

While most of the Caribbean countries can be classified as tourism dependent, it says a few others are also affected by external condi-

tions “due to the significant size of their trade in goods.”

The paper notes that Trinidad and Tobago recently terminated its refining operations and is currently shifting from oil to gas production, “which will likely change some of the impacts estimated in this paper.” According to the paper, the GVAR model suggests that an oil price shock might negatively affect important Easter Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) trading partners that are oil exporters, such the UK, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, “while an initial negative effect on GDP followed by a recovery in the medium term would be expected in the US.” “Overall, and given their condition as oil importers,

our findings reveal that most ECCU economies would expect a positive impact on their GDP,” the authors say, adding that those results coincide with the outcome from the recent drop in oil prices in 2014. The paper also finds “a strong impact from an expansionary policy” in the US on most Caribbean economies.

Simulated by a positive shock on the domestic GDP of the US, the paper says an expansionary policy would strongly affect tourism-dependent economies while having mixed effects on the set of Caribbean goods exporters. “The results are not surprising given the relevance of US tourist flows for the region and contribute to confirming results

from country-specific models while taking into account a richer set of interactions,” the paper says. “External shocks represent a large source of uncertainty and volatility to small states and structural policies might help to downgrade their impact,” it adds.

While the questions raised in the paper are not new to IMF’s Staff Reports and research papers, the Working Paper says the GVAR methodology represents an alternative way to tackle them in a more integrated fashion while including second round effects from the dynamics of trading partners.

The paper says that the observed large impact of external factors suggest that

Caribbean countries may benefit from preventive measures, such as increasing competitiveness, diversifying their economies and reducing their dependence on critical commodities and services, namely, oil-based energy and tourism.

“These policies might reduce exposure to external imbalances and, at the same time, promote economic growth,” the paper says. It says the GVAR methodology is capable of providing responses to a broad range of questions, stating that the model represents “a promising avenue for empirical analysis and could be expanded to include more countries or idiosyncratic variables for particular countries.”

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‘Know your status’ MINISTER of Public Health, Volda Lawrence has called on Guyanese to do away with the gossip and stigma about HIV/AIDS and do their part by knowing their status and seeking treatment if needed.

This was her message at a World AIDS Day Walk and Inter-faith Service hosted by the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health on Sunday.

“Stigma and discrimination does not add to us. When we speak ill of someone, when we speak bad things about persons that we don’t have any facts about, it doesn’t add to our stature, rather, it takes away from us; it takes away how people will trust us,”

Lawrence said.

“Let us put an end to those conversations because you know, persons living with HIV/AIDS they have the right to live a free life; free from stigma; free from discrimination and, like any one of us, they should be able to partake of all the opportunities available to us.”

Lawrence also reminded medical workers of their oath to keep patient information confidential as this will bring greater respect to the health profession.

Meanwhile, United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Resident Representative to Guyana, Mikiko Tanaka reminded that of 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Guyana

was found to be the number one in the Region affected by femicide. Femicide is the killing of a woman or girl on the account of her gender.

However, she noted the country’s concentrated efforts over the years to reduce its suicide rate which is also high.

She said that likewise, combatting HIV/AIDS requires concentrated efforts and the UNDP will continue to lend its support. Several organisations and groups participated in the event such as the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD); the Guyana Police Force (GPF); the Guyana Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS; the Guyana Fire Service; the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation (GPHC) and more.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday December 2, 2019

---Minister Lawrence urges at World AIDS Day service

Scenes from the World AIDS Day Walk (Samuel Maughn photo)

The walk’s route touched areas such as Hadfield

Street, Norton Street, Mandela Avenue and more while

the Inter-faith Service took place at the D’Urban Park.

Team ‘Smoke’ wins Hackathon 2019 TEAM SMOKE on Sunday emerged winner of this year’s Ministry of Public Telecommunications’ Hackathon, when the three-day Information Technology (IT) challenge concluded Sunday evening at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

Rayon Hunte, the leader of ‘Team Smoke’ said he was not surprised when it was announced that his team won, because of the hard work they invested on creating their software. Hunte added that himself and his teammates made sure that they followed the defined rules, which he believed resulted in their win.

“The rules were clear, we

were able to code towards that and I think that was the major part of our success, the fact that the rules were clear, and we were able to work towards the goal,” he stated.

Jairo Valverde, Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who gave brief remarks to the gathering on Sunday evening at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, expressed immense pleasure with participants of the Hackathon programme and highlighted the fact that they were several female programmers who participated in the challenge.

“I am very pleased to return to see the outputs of what

‘Team Smoke’ Ryon Hunte, Lloyd Browman and Deson Alleyne

I understand must have been a gruelling but exciting 24hrs for our participants. I am especially

happy to know that there are teams that included female participants.

I am told that in the past the Min-

istry executed a highly successful ‘Guyanese Girl Code’ programme; this is a positive sign that, as we move forward, there will be many more skilled women who will participate in these challenges,” Valverde stated.

Six groups of programmers from across Guyana were tasked with creating software or an Application which aims to strengthen evidence-based decision- making in the areas of crime and violence by improving data collection systems within 24 hours.

The wining team, ‘Team Smoke’ was awarded with a contract from the UNDP to further build their software.

Valverde stated that UNDP is looking forward to working with the wining team of Hackathon 2019, to develop a crowdsourcing platform to capture reports on crime, including gender-based violence, across Guyana.

Also speaking at the gathering was the head of department of Industry and Innovation, Mr. Lance Hinds, who announced that another Hackathon Challenge will be held sooner rather than later in February 2020, and urged persons who are interested in programming to participate to not only develop their skills but to further develop Guyana’s technology skills.

Nismes accident

Injured victims still in serious condition The seven persons, including the driver of the minibus, Hensley Alleyne, who were transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after being involved in the horrific Saturday night accident at Nismes on the West Bank of Demerara are all said to still be in serious conditions.

Another four persons also remain admitted at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH), Divisional Commander Simon McBean confirmed on Sunday. “At the end

of the night 12 persons were regarded as serious, seven were transferred to the GPHC, four remained at the WRH, and one was treated and sent away,” McBean related.

Four persons, including a 12-year-old child died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident, which involved a minibus and a car. A total of 21 persons were confirmed to have been involved in the accident; 20 of which were in the 15 seater minibus, while 52 year old Rawle William, the driver of the car, was the

only occupant of the car.

Those confirmed dead are: Williams, 29-year-old Ayesha Sealey of Patentia Housing Scheme; 12-year-old Maria Bisnauth, of Side Line Dam, Sister’s Village, WBD; and 22 year old Zavira Jona also of Patentia Housing Scheme, WBD. Bisnauth died while undergoing medical attention at WDRH. According to reports, the minibus, BYY 2981, crashed into the car, PTT 691, a Toyota Preimio around 1900hrs as the latter was exiting the D&L

Gas Station. Persons on the scene reported that the Route 31 minibus was heading north on the western carriageway, when the car exited the D&L Gas Station and ended-up in the minibus’ path as he attempted to turn south into the eastern carriageway.

The minibus is said to have been speeding.

The accident sent shockwaves throughout the country as the nation as it added to a series of road fatalities within the past week. Commander McBean said on the West

The two vehicles involved in the accident

The minibus driver, Hensley Alleyne

Bank the division has an active road safety programme and will be stepping up activities in the next few days. “We have identified our road traffic operations and there would be police along the roadway dealing with all aspects of the road issues. Drunk driving and speeding, those are two of the main things. We are doing daily exercises, yes there is a need for more and we are pushing ourselves to ensure that we have maximum presence on the road. We’ve

been doing that daily,” McBean said.

He acknowledged that even as the police are trying to put measures in place in the Region they continue to face challenges, and more can be done. “With policing there is always room for improvement and we will continue to improve our service as the demand arises. At this time it requires some more initiative pushing forward and we will continue to do that,” he said.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

THE ASSAULT ON TRUTH: EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS MUST NOT BE CONFUSED WITH GENERIC CRIME STATISTICS

THE mother of all elections will produce the most dangerous and Machiavellian political manoeuvrings. Tis the season of desperate pens and hazardous ideas designed for political objectives that seek to revise history and conduct a totalitarian assault on truth. The prevalence of extra-judicial killings from 1992-2015 has not escaped the attention of this phenomenon. It seems the proponents of the intellectual scorched-earth strategy to regain control of the state apparatus by all means necessary, have determined that they must erase and discredit our recent sordid past of extra-judicial killings. They have decided that this is the bugbear that hampers their political efforts in Afro-Guyanese communities. As a consequence, they have decided to conduct a wanton assault on the truth and this must not be allowed to go without robust interventions. Extra-judicial executions, the likes of which reigned supreme pre-2015, should not be confused with generic crime statistics. It is an assault on truth and a complete disregard for the suffering that families and communities across Guyana experienced during the uncaring tutelage of successive PPP/C administrations.

EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS AND CRIME STATISTICS An extra-judicial killing (also known as extra-judicial execution) is the killing of a person by government authorities or individuals without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process. These executions bypass the due process of the legal jurisdiction in which they occur. Extra-judicial killings often target leading political, trade union, dissident, religious, and social figures and are only those carried out by the state government or other state authorities, such as the armed forces or police, as extra-legal fulfilment of their prescribed role. The culture of extra-judicial executions is engendered when the state apparatus embraces this policy. This is what obtained in Guyana from 1992-2015. The state propagated the Stalinist philosophy of ‘no man, no problem.’ The Gestapo, Guyana style, came in the form of the ‘Black Clothes,’ ‘The Death Squad’ and ‘The Phantom Squad.’ These murderous manifestations came in the form of the executions of Yohance Douglas, Ronald Waddell, the ‘Mandela Four’,Satyadeow Sawh, Shaka Blair and numerous victims of this state-sanctioned deadly policy. Crime statistics attempt to provide

statistical measures of crime in societies. Given that crime is usually secretive by nature, measurements of it are likely to be inaccurate. Several methods for measuring crime exist, including household surveys, hospital or insurance records, and compilations by police and similar law-enforcement agencies.

Typically, official crime statistics are the latter, but some offences are likely to go unreported to the police. Public surveys are sometimes conducted to estimate the number of crimes not reported to the police. To confuse this with the state murdering its citizens, borders on intellectual criminality. Such confusion and obfuscation is usually the work of ideologues who seek to erase history for political gains. There is a clear distinction between executions of citizens at the hands of other citizens and state-sponsored pogroms.

CONFUSION, OBFUSCATION AND REVISIONISM Tom Stafford, the revered psychologist, reminded us, ‘repetition makes a fact seem truer, regardless of whether it is or not. Understanding this effect can help you avoid falling for propaganda.’ Every Guyanese knows about the death, blood and mayhem that filled the streets in the ‘dark period.’ Every single Guyanese knows that it was coming directly from the highest office in the land. All suspicions were proven correct, because when David Arthur Granger assumed office, it completely ceased. This was no accident. Yet, the intellectual authors of this diabolical state of affairs between 1992-2015 wish to wipe the slate clean and act as if these things never occurred. They have adopted a bravado posture by loudly calling for an inquiry into this period. This has been coupled

with confusion, obfuscation and revisionism which harks back to the days of the totalitarian rule of the likes of Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Confusion, obfuscation and revisionism were key strategies by these ignominious leaders to cling to power. This involved denying the clear and blatant truth, repeating a lie until it became a fact and revising history to suit the evil aims and objectives. Confusing crime statistics with extra-judicial killings, is for all intents and purposes, the practice of the illusion of truth which was perfected by the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. It is usually the refuge of political desperadoes. Generic crime statistics are vastly different from organised extra-judicial executions coming from the state apparatus.

THE NEED TO SEPARATE EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS FROM GENERIC CRIME STATISTICS Besides being insensitive to the plight of families who are made to suffer by the state which ought to be protecting them, confusing crime extra-judicial executions with generic crime statistics teems with dangerous implications for policy-making and development. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in its ‘International classification of crime for statistical purposes (ICCS) Version 1.0 Report’ documents, ‘Reliable crime statistics are critical for measuring changes in crime levels, monitoring state responses to crime, evaluating policies and understanding the various facets of crime in different contexts. Often, raw data from different stages of the criminal justice process are available, but the purposeful collection and organisation of this data into a statistical form is required to produce valuable information for use in decision-making.’ Carlson Anyangwe noted, ‘Extra-judicial killing is a complex phenomenon covering various types of unlawful homicide. When women are the targeted victims, it constitutes an extreme form of gender violence.’ There should be no juxtaposing of crime and statistics and extra-judicial killings.

CONCLUSION The assault of truth, disinformation, misinformation and the revision of history usually come from a place where there are dishonourable intentions. Concern for the welfare of the people seldom dwells in such a state of mind.

Bouterse says he is victim of political game after murder conviction PARAMARIBO (Reuters) - President Desi Bouterse said he was victim of a “political game” when he returned to Suriname on Sunday after a court found him guilty of murder in absentia for the 1982 execution of 15 activists in the former Dutch colony.

The court on Friday sentenced Bouterse, who was on an official visit to China, to 20 years in prison for the murder of 15 adversaries who spoke out against his seizure of power in a February 1980 coup.

Bouterse, who has dominated Suriname’s politics in recent decades, has denied the charges. He is able to appeal the decision. The former military officer returned to Suriname on Sunday before dawn and was greeted by a crowd of some 1,500 supporters dressed in purple, the color of his National Democratic Party.

Many shouted “We want Bouta!”, his nickname, as security struggled to control them. “The political game is played openly, so it was clear what was going to

Supporters of Suriname’s President Desi Bouterse (not pictured), who was convicted of murder for the execution of opponents by a court in Suriname, cheer upon his arrival from China, in Paramaribo, Suriname December 1, 2019

(REUTERS/Ranu Abhelakh)

happen,” said Bouterse, 74, during a news conference at a nearby resort. “We will stay within the law and regulations. Politics needs to be answered with politics.”

He promised to consult with leaders of his National Democratic Party. Opposition parties have called for Bouterse to step down. The military tribunal that issued the ruling has not served an arrest warrant and it remains unclear whether Bouterse will serve any jail time. As a junior military officer, Bouterse took part in the 1980 coup against Suriname’s first prime minister, Henck Arron, just five years after independence from the Netherlands. He immediately promoted himself to army chief-of-staff, becoming effective ruler of the nation of 560,000 people. Bouterse led the South American country through the 1980s as head of a military government, then assumed office again in 2010 and secured re-election five years later.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday December 2, 2019

…working to open up new residential, commercial areas

in for areas such as the oil and gas sector; the hotel industry; housing and agriculture, with the demand in Region Four being “through the roof”. The Commission is encouraging businesses to seek out land outside of Region Four, as new land availability there is unlikely, and if the quality of one’s service is exemplary, the people will follow. Just recently, InterOil Group and Guyana’s Mings Products and Services (MPS) announced a joint venture in the form of a state-of-the-art Oil and Gas (O&G) Shore Base Inc. for Guyana by 2021, which would take up some 330 acres of land along the Essequibo River in Region Three.

Meanwhile, some 700 acres of the now-closed Wales Sugar Estate has been leased by the newly-launched Amazonia Expert Services Ltd (AES) for coconut processing, proof that persons have begun to look outside of the coast. With the remapping of Guyana also underway, Benn knows that the government will soon able to better understand how best to dis-

Land commission to reclaim unused leased lands

By Lisa Hamilton “THE interest has ballooned in this country for land. People are coming from all walks of life,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) Trevor Benn told the newspaper as he sought to answer the question of how Guyana will deal with the coming spike in business development and population.

Oil production for the country is expected to commence this month, but long in advance, investors have been flocking to Guyana, seeing the prosperity ahead, while local businesses are scurrying not to be left behind as well.

And, with a population of less than a million people expected to take a gradual climb with the arrival of expatriates, land remains crucial for all forms of development. Sitting down on the Guyana Chronicle’s Online programme, Vantage Point, recently, Benn said that approaches from international investors and locals are “a daily affair” at the Commission.

“Our office is inundated with requests for land. We are not able to respond as we would like,” Benn said.

Asked why this is so, and the CEO listed a string of issues, many of which date back to management under former administrations. For example, he pointed out that Guyana

has not opened up new lands in over four decades. “Some people are still waiting after 15 years for an application to be processed,” Benn said, adding: “That, too, is a part of the problem we face, because we have not opened new land in this country; since the 1970s, we have not opened up new lands. The last time lands were opened up is at the Mahaica/ Mahaicony/Abary Agriculture Development project, so there are not new land areas that we can point persons to.”

UPHILL BATTLE Looking at this in the larger context, and one can see how it has contributed to squatting.

This occupying of unowned land continues to affect land administration, as well as the cleaning of canals and road construction projects of the government. Benn said that the GLSC is examining ways in which it can curb the trend of squatting, even as it realises that this may be due, in part, to the lengthy time the Commission has taken to administer land over the years.

In 2018, the Commission had announced its plan to make available some 6,000 acres of residential and commercial lands in the Demerara-Mahaica Region (Region Four).

The total land allocation will represent some 51 per cent of Georgetown’s landmass, and

will be designed as an “upgraded Georgetown”, with modern development for residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural purposes. Benn has opted against stating the exact location, to guard against premeditated squatting.

To make more land available, the GLSC is also on a mission of reclaiming the high number of unused leased lands in the country. According to Benn, of the thousands of acres of land along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway which have titles, more than 70 per cent of them are unoccupied.

The Commission hopes to step up its efforts to ensure that persons who lease lands are held to their agreement to occupy said land within a certain timeframe, or face penalty. “One of the things we have to be wary of is because people know that there is a lot of interest in Guyana, they’re coming for land, but they are not necessarily ready to undertake the project that they have in mind… They come; they give you a really good project proposal of what they’re planning to do, the cost and where the funding is coming from, but when you dig very deep, there’s a number of issues with the proposal,” he said.

REPOSSESSION CHALLENGES Benn also believes that the thousands of acres of unoccupied land is due to migration

and persons leaving behind lands leased for as much as 50 years. But, even in repossessing these lands, there is a challenge. The CEO said that it costs the Commission every time it has to invest in policing and visitation efforts to the many locations of unoccupied leased lands.

Of his own, he has been encouraging clients who visit the Commission to ensure they are ready and have the capacity to follow through with a project before pitching it to the Commission.

However, the GLSC knows that this is not enough, which is why it has begun to work on the development of a National Land Use Policy, which will examine how the country should proceed with the development of its land.

BROADEN YOUR INTERESTS Benn said that recent expressions for land have come

tribute and manage its lands sustainably. More than 70 per cent of Guyana’s land mass is owned by the State and the remapping project will help government agencies, the private sector, farmers and many more to make wiser decisions and improve their services.

Benn explained: “We would like to be able to know where all of our police stations are located; how do you access those police stations…we would like to be able to show where the schools, where the health clinics are located. With this map we hope to be able to have a good comprehensive knowledge of Guyana and where all of its services are located…where is the best place to place government infrastructure; where should we place a new road; which river to place a new bridge across.” The CEO said that infrastructural development, especially, in Guyana has suffered because of the failure of the previous administration to put the same in place.

Last day to claim ID cards --questionable names to be put on Supplementary List TODAY is the final day for a list of over 18,000 persons to collect their Identification (ID) cards from the offices of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), or be placed on a separate List.

As of Sunday, the number of persons who have collected their ID cards thus far still at only around 300.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Commission told this newspaper on Sunday that she would be providing a breakdown of the total number which came forward, the Regions from which they came, and those who had written to the Commission on the question after the deadline has passed.

Asked whether the Commission is considering an extension of the 21 days given for the collection of the cards, and what would become of the uncollected cards, she noted that that will be up to the Commissioners and Chair, who are to meet again tomorrow.

“When the deadline has passed, it will be better for me to speak definitively on this aspect of ID cards,” the PRO said, adding: “I will have a better and detailed report in terms of the breakdown where those persons came from, and I might be able to say to you what’s the reason for them not collecting their ID cards.”

The list of names was published in the local newspapers earlier in November, while registered mails were also sent out to the individuals. Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh has stated that it is

“worrying” when such a high number of persons, some for more than 11 years, have not taken the opportunity to collect their ID cards.

Meanwhile, last Tuesday, Commissioner Vincent Alexander said that he is not surprised that this number is very low, as he had long put forward that a number of these Guyanese may be deceased or overseas. “If these people who haven’t collected their cards consist of possibly the overseas dead, the local dead, and the overseas people who haven’t uplifted their cards, it’s nothing alarming. The number who haven’t uplifted their cards is in itself alarming; but the categories, there’s nothing alarming about it,” he said.

In keeping with the law, the decision has been taken that the names of the individuals who fail to collect their ID cards within 21 days will be excluded from the Official List of Electors [OLE] and placed on a Supplementary List on Elections Day. They will still be permitted to vote should they turn up with other appropriate identification, and will remain on the National Register of Registrants Database (NRRD).

Alexander explained that the matter is less about the failure to collect the ID cards, but the failure of the persons in question to present themselves as existing.

He stated: “We just have to deal with the issue to ensure that we don’t have these names hanging around to be

manipulated at the electoral process… From observation, we don’t have that large number of people who don’t use ID cards, but, secondly, whether or not they’ve done it in the past, we have made an effort to say to these people ‘Come and uplift your cards.’ One has to take a non-response as a problem; we’re trying to determine these people’s existence.” Although just hours now left, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) General Secretary Joseph Harmon urged the individuals at a press conference on Friday to come clean, stating that when the opposite is experienced, one ought to question it.

He criticised the Opposition for its standoffish approach to the situation. Harmon stated: “The PPP/C’s attitude to the electoral roll is further manifested in their approach to the distribution of ID cards. GECOM has failed in its repeated efforts to locate several thousands of persons for the purpose of delivering ID cards. At this time, over 17,000 ID cards remain uncollected. While those persons existence remain in question, the only concern of the PPP is that those names --- representing the dead, the living or the non-existent --- should remain on the list. We must all ask ourselves why.”

The highest numbers of uncollected ID cards come from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) at approximately 9,343 cards, and Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) at some 3,267.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

Texila University Int’l Conference on NCDs

Doctors agree treatment for NCDs must suit patient’s environment

By Tamica Garnett

EVEN as the Ministry of Public Health and other stakeholders continue to advocate and put measures in place to combat the risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCD), there needs to be consideration that treatment is tailored to the environments of patients they hope to impact.

This was shared by several speakers as they delivered remarks last Thursday at the opening ceremony of the Texila American University (TAU) International Conference at the institution’s Providence Campus.

This year the event was held under the theme: “Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean Region: Current Scenarios and Future Perspectives.”

In Guyana, four main NCDs – diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases – account for over 70 per cent of all deaths.

NCDs are also an issue on a global level, with poor diet, physical inactivity, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption having long since been identified as the major risk factors that predispose persons to the diseases.

Despite public health systems putting increasing measures in place to address these risk factors, the struggle persists in addressing them; and Guyanese continue to die of these diseases in increasing numbers.

Medical Director of Caribbean Surgery Inc, Dr Surendra Persaud, opines that the impeding factor remains the lack of consideration for the environmental, cultural and psychological challenges that many patients and citizens face in effecting lifestyle changes necessary for reducing their risks to NCDs. “We know what the problem is, we know what the solutions are, so why are we failing? The fundamental problem is that the biggest obstacle to change is human beings; we are collectively the biggest problem,” Persaud said, as he delivered remarks to the audience of mainly medical students.

“As students I beg of you, pause with your patients and get to understand

the circumstances in which they find themselves , or you are not going to be the doctor that you should be. There are guidelines everywhere in the world how to treat hypertension and diabetes, but what we can’t beat is what is happening in the home.”

The conduct of doctors and health care providers is a major contributing factor to the challenge.

“We have the greatest role to play to impacting the lives of our patients.

We, as physicians, sit on our high horses and say do this and do that, and then when patients come back we abuse [them] for not doing that, that and that; we never ask [them] could you have done them? Did you have the resources? What is most important in your life?

We may think it is ok for people to do this, but how many of us as physicians and students have had to take medication for two weeks and have failed to do that,” Persaud said.

Medical Director of Caribbean Surgery Inc, Dr Surendra Persaud

Also touching on the point was Chief Medical Officer Shamdeo Persaud.

“In our minds as professionals we know what needs to be done, but putting yourself in that person’s shoes, then you will see how challenging it will become,” Persaud shared during his remarks at the conference.

Dr Surendra Persaud firmly believes that unless our culture is changed, the burden on public healthcare systems in treating NDCs will continue to grow.

“The public health system with all its efforts has a denominator that is impossible to fix. No amount of public health expenditure is

going to fix that. It is what is going to kill most of us and it is what is going to bankrupt most countries,” Dr Persaud said.

Also building on Dr Surendra Persaud’s point was Communications Specialist Alex Graham. Graham emphasised during his remarks, the need for education campaigns against NDC risk factors to utilise communication tools better tailored to target audiences. Graham’s presentation was entitled “Simple but difficult.”

“For you who are health care providers, treating NCDs is easy, but for us doing them [reducing risk factors] it is difficult,” Graham expressed.

In countries such as Guyana and the wider Caribbean, cultures and traditions run counter to many of the lifestyle changes required to reduce the risk of NCDs; this is particularly so in the case of diets. Many persons also face social constraints in lifestyle changes involving reductions in alcohol consumption or cutting out tobacco use.

Graham highlights that even as lifestyle changes are being requested of the individual, corresponding changes are needed in the wider society.

“Our culture and regional community was founded on suga; it’s in our DNA; hardwired into our thinking; built into our lifestyle; it’s critical to who we are, so fighting chronic diseases requires us to be different from who we are,” Graham noted.

“Somehow we have not filtered into the rest of our society that they need to be making some transformations to help all of us.

Healthcare professionals are good at telling their patients what to do, but we are bad at telling the system and the society what to do.”

Notwithstanding the slow pace of cultural changes in society, government has been putting measures in place to get that change going. In 2017 the National Tobacco Control Act was passed after a five-year process. The Act regulates the sale and use of tobacco products, with the aim of reducing its consumption.

Tobacco use harms every organ of the body and causes more deaths than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents and suicides combined. Dr Surendra

Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Public Health, Shamdeo Persaud

Persaud stressed the need for cutting off tobacco use among everyone.

“There is no normal dose of tobacco. It is the single biggest thing you can do for your health.

There is no surgery or intervention that I will perform that will give you the benefit that quitting tobacco will do,” he asserted.

On the issue of diet, the government is also doing what it can to address the issue of encouraging healthy eating. Addressing it where it will have the most impact, with children.

“In the education system we’re spending a lot of time working on lifestyle choices, including healthy eating,” notes Minister of Education Nicolette Henry, as she added her remarks to the issue

during her address.

She too highlighted the need to address the issue from a cultural standpoint.

“Are we prepared to make the changes that are necessary? We have to address the behaviours [and] look at the patterns and trends,” she said.

The doctors agreed that reducing risk factors of NCDs are most effective when inculcated at a very young age.

“Unless we look at how we are instructing our children from the day they are born, on making healthy choices, we are not going to win this battle,” Dr Surendra Persaud said, as he shared a personal story of his child being teased at school for taking “grass” when she took lettuce.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

$25M water system commissioned at Sand Creek ─over 1000 residents to tap potable water for first time

SATURDAY, November30 2019 was a historic day for the people of Sand Creek in the South-Central District of Region 9, as the first Water Supply System in the village was commissioned, signalling first-time access to potable water in the homes of more than 1000 residents.

The $25M Water Supply System, which is located approximately two-and-a-half hours from the Region Nine (UpperTakutu-Upper Essequibo) town of Lethem, was funded by the Government of Guyana, Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) and executed

by GWI in close collaboration with the Sand Creek Village Council. It was declared open

by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock, and Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan. Also in attendance were GWI Managing Director Dr. Richard Van West-Charles and other officials.

The system is the fourth to be officially opened in just one week. During the weekend of November 23 and 24, GWI commissioned the Yupukari, Kaicumbay and Moco Moco Water Supply Systems, the water company said in a release.

The new Sand Creek system comprises a well, drilled to a depth of 236 feet, a photovoltaic system equipped with 18 solar panels, individual service connections, as well as standpipes at strategic locations throughout the village, five kilometers of transmission

and distribution mains and two main trestles with four storage tanks each.

Currently, the system supplies 95% of the community with direct access to potable water, including the schools, dormitory, health centre and sports ground. The remaining 5% of the community is scheduled to be connected to the system in 2020. GWI has

progress and realise their full developmental potential.

Minister Bulkan emphasised that the provision of water provides the opportunity to transform livelihoods, noting that government is committed to improving the lives of all Guyanese, even as he highlighted President David Granger’s strategic plan to reduce the disparity between the

was extended to the Board of Directors, Management and staff of GWI, PAHO, the Village Council and Regional Administration.

Meanwhile, Minister Allicock in his remarks to the gathering said that development comes when there is foresight. The system, he stated, was not done overnight but with constant planning and

At the unveiling of the plaque by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock (third left), and Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan (third right). With them are GWI Managing Director Dr. Richard Van West-Charles (Centre) and other Regional and GWI officials

also conducted repairs to the sanitary blocks at the Sand Creek Health Centre, Primary and Secondary Schools and major upgrades to the plumbing systems at those facilities.

Further, 26 showers were installed for pensioners in the community, with several more to be done. Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Bulkan stated that access to safe water is important for the health and well-being of citizens, and to ensure that communities

hinterland and the coastland.

Minister Bulkan also took the opportunity to reinforce that this Government is interested in realising development for all citizenry of Guyana, regardless of their political preferences.

The Sand Creek Water Supply System, he noted, will make a big difference in the lives of the women who utilise water to do household chores as well as the rest of the family. His commendation

implementation. Healso noted that Sand Creek residents now have the convenience of easy access to water to satisfy their daily needs, even as he encouraged the residents not to give up on agriculture, while declaring that now is the time for food security.

Administration, Ministry of Communities, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). Dr. Van West-Charles explained that even before venturing into Sand Creek, a parent informed him of the challenges faced by students in Sand Creek with regard to water. Subsequently, GWI met with the Village Council and villagers, and the decision was made to construct the water supply system. Since then, GWI held three more meetings with the village so as to monitor works, update residents, and ensure the project was completed in a timely manner.

Turning his attention to the importance of water quality, he informed that testing will be done not only in Sand Creek, but all villages across the Hinterland. Sand Creek has two servicemen, who will be trained to use the water quality testing kits and develop the test results within the community. Due to the magnitude and complexity of their work, they will now be paid a salary rather than a stipend, as was agreed by the Board of GWI, Dr. Van West-Charles added.

Additionally, a total of 12 residents from Sand Creek, Shulinab, Quiko, Kathur and Shiriri were trained in the management of small water supply systems and water quality, which will allow for

the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health is fundamental to a life of dignity. Health status, he stressed, reflects a broad range of determinants, which include access to good quality water, sanitation and a healthy environment. He highlighted the burden of diseases associated with poor quality water and lack of sanitation and hygiene as he expressed confidence that with the new water supply system, the occurrence of those diseases will be greatly reduced.

Sand Creek Toshao, Mr. Maxie Pugsley, like many other residents, expressed gratitude to the Government for allowing history to take place in Sand Creek, particularly for pensioners who no longer have to dip water from the well, but even have their own showers.

Chairman of Region 9, Mr. Bryan Allicock also delivered remarks at the event, and noted that he welcomes any development in the Region.

He commended GWI for the effort and interest shown in the Region, noting that 26 wells have been drilled since he has been at the helm of the Regional Administration.

During the commissioning ceremony, GWI also handed over sporting equipment to the Sand Creek Football Club and Secondary School Football Team. Residents of the com-

Minister Bulkan ceremonially turns on the tap as Minister Allicock fills a bottle to sample the water

He also said that it is time to understand what it means to help Mother Nature, so that they can have continuity of water supply and a healthy ecosystem. He urged the residents to care for their water supply system.

Van West-Charles stated that it was in this community that GWI first utilised newly acquired technology to identify the depth of a well. He underscored the importance of cooperation to development as he highlighted the support GWI received from Toshao of Sand Creek, Mr. Maxie Pugsley and his Village Council, and by extension the residents.

Further, he highlighted the roles played by the Regional

the sustainability of the water supply systems in the respective communities. The Managing Director thanked the staff who worked tirelessly to complete the Sand Creek water system. PAHO/WHO Health Systems and Services Advisor, Dr. Paul Edwards pointed out that although PAHO is not generally a funding agency, the importance of the project prompted them to contribute. Water safety and water quality, he said, are fundamental to human development and well-being. He noted that providing access to potable water is one of the most effective instruments in promoting health and reducing poverty.

Dr. Edwards noted that

munity were also awarded for their participation in the compilation of songs that speak to the new water system.

Several other water supply systems, located in areas of Region Nine such as St. Ignatius, Karasabai and Aishalton; and Campbelltown and Paramakatoi in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); and Ituni in Region Ten ( Upper Demerara-Berbice) are scheduled to be commissioned in the near future. This is in keeping with GWI’s goal to provide clean water for all Guyanese by 2025, a good five years earlier than the time-frame set out in Sustainable Development (SDG) Goal 6.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Monday December 2, 2019

Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical School gets accreditation

THE Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School made history when it became the first educational institution in Guyana to achieve Institutional Accreditation from the National Accreditation Council of the Ministry of Education, Guyana.

In a release, the school said it is proud to announce accreditation by the National Accreditation Council for Institutional Accreditation. The school offers a Level 6 - Associate Degree in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, along with its Completion Certificate for Licence Application for aspiring aircraft maintenance engineers.

On September 7, 2017, The Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School (AW&HWAES) commenced its accreditation process by applying for Institutional Accreditation of its Ab-Initio and Modular Programmes by the National Accreditation Council of Guyana (NAC-G). This exercise has served to engage the management, staff, faculty and students in a critical assessment of its operations; and identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

As a result, the school conducted a thorough self-examination of its operations, focusing on quality of service, meeting customer needs, and engaging all stakeholders in ensuring that the school’s vision and mission respond directly to the students’ needs. A self-study was conducted to meet the five Criteria of the National Accreditation Council of Guyana’s Ministry of Education. It sought to demonstrate how the Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School works towards its vision, as well as achieving its aims and objectives.

Having met all the criteria, the school was informed on Wednesday, November 27, 2019, that is has been qualified for approval and has since uplifted its Certificate of Accreditation.

The Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School offers, upon completion of its Ab-Initio Programme, an Associate Degree in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, along

Pirara Bridge reopens to traffic LESS than three weeks after Pirara Bridge - just outside Lethem - was damaged, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure has completed rehabilitative works to restore the structural integrity of the bridge.

On Saturday, the bridge accommodated vehicular traffic into the township. This remarkable change of events was made possible due to the replacement of the upright piles that support the bridge in addition to horizontal beams.

Vehicles will no longer be subject to traversing along the bypass road that extended over the creek that runs beneath the bridge. The bypass road, while a safe alternative as the emergency work was being conducted, was a challenge for heavy-laden trucks. However, the Public Infrastructure Ministry had positioned equipment to assist any vehicle along the bypass.

During the rehabilitation phase, the subject Ministry issued numerous advisories to motorists and pedestrians that the damaged beam had rendered the Pirara Bridge inaccessible. During that period, the Ministry’s engineer responsible for Region 9, Rafael Lewis told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that all necessary measures were instituted to ensure the safety of commuters.

with Completion Certificates for Theoretical and Practical Courses which are prerequisites for the Aircraft Maintenance Engineer’s Licence Application.

An Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME), also Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME or L-AME), is a licenced person who carries out and certifies aircraft maintenance. The licence is internationally acceptable and is recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The International Civil Aviation Organization is

a United Nations (UN) specialised agency, established by States in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

The Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School and the Governing Board is chaired

by Mr. Anthony Mekdeci, AA, Chairman, and Capt. Paul Ronald Reece, Vice-Chairman, and is managed by Ms. Nalini Chanderban, Accountable Manager and General Manager.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

$45M food franchise opened at

Vreed-en-Hoop The ‘Chicken n Burger Delight’ franchise at the Vreed-en-Hoop junction

DIRECTOR-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon on Saturday lauded Mr. Lakenauth Puran and his family for their $45M investment in the ‘Chicken n Burger Delight’ franchise at the Vreed-en-Hoop junction, West Coast Demerara.

Speaking at the formal opening held at the location, Mr. Harmon said the investment is a strong demonstration of the confidence that the family has in Guyana and its economy. He noted that the investment is one which must be applauded since it showcases what Guyanese can do, if they put their minds to it.

the company to other sections.

The fact that you have been able to invest and succeed in your investments shows that once you are prepared to work hard and make the effort, you will succeed. I want to congratulate you for this bold step, for having faith and confidence in this country.

You have to take that step,” he said.

The Director-General noted that as a Government, the administration will continue to create a level playing field so that local companies can continue to grow and develop their potential to compete on the international market with established brands. “We do

Director General, Joseph Harmon with guests and the owners of the business entity

“This is an achievement.

This is a testimony to the confidence which the Puran family has in this region and their confidence in the investment possibilities in this country.

Many people complain that business is bad and nothing good is happening and all of that but as you can see, so many companies are coming to do business in Guyana. I have known the Purans for many years and I have seen them grow from one section of

not give any specific treatment. The Puran brothers have no special edge. However, I am happy to be here in this region where I can provide some guidance and see for myself, the developments that are taking place here. People talk about all the foreign companies coming here, but you have to understand that Guyana belongs to us and it is we who must take those steps to develop our country.

We will not allow a foreign

entity to come here and take benefits over our local population. Local content is about our local people and we must look out for our people. That’s the role of the Government. I think you have set a wonderful example for local companies of what you can achieve when you set your mind to what you want and you work hard,” he said.

Mr. Harmon further noted that as the Government continues to pursue developmental projects and transform the various regions, he is confident that the business environment will continue to be transformed as well.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chetan Puran, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the franchise, in his remarks, said the fast food restaurant begun in 2012 as a small, family-run business. The family felt that there was a need to expand and therefore took the giant step to further invest. Mr. Puran noted that it took many sleepless days and nights to make the business establishment a reality but he is most pleased with the outcome and expects that it will be a hub in the region.

The CEO said the outlet currently employs 25 persons, who are all drawn from surrounding communities on the West Coast of Demerara.

The event was also attended by the Regional Executive Officer of Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara (Region Three), Mrs. Jennifer Ferreira-Dougal, who said the franchise is a welcomed investment in the region. She noted that the region is rapidly developing with Vreeden-Hoop becoming a prime hub for residents in the areas of business, government services and recreation.

Director General, Joseph Harmon assists the owners of the food entity to cut the ribbon to officially open the business

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Members of the new Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA)

GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

New miners’ association president calls for unified front NEWLY-elected president of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) Andron Alphonso has called for unity in the industry to project a single front to promote mining interests in Guyana.

He made the call on Wednesday at the GGDMA’s Annual General Meeting where he was elected unopposed to succeed Terrence Adams as president.

Noting that he needed to meet with the new executive to chart the way forward, Alphonso nevertheless outlined a number of areas he said he would be putting to the body.

This included a continuation of the fight to ensure that policies detrimental to the industry were not adopted.

“As your new president I will continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure that there’s no policy or any agendas that will result in the desolation of our industry. We fought many dragons over the years and the reality with this industry is that even six presidents ahead of me will still have fights to fight.”

Alphonso stated that the association will continue to lobby for the entire sector and added that another area of focus for him will be to build consensus with sister organisations and secure a unified mining industry to boost those lobbying efforts.

He also pledged to work for more mining incentives, including recouping some of those they had previously enjoyed.

Alphonso also noted that he has been the youngest member on the association’s executive for years and said he will be working to bring more youth into the organisation.

“We need new blood, we need the next generation to step up and come to these meetings, have meaningful participation in the direction in which this association is going. That is something that we’re definitely going to be working on, to bring that younger element into the association.”

Meanwhile, Alphonso also took note of general elections which are due next

year and urged his membership to vote for the political leadership that represents mining interests. He stated that a study done by the association has shown that some 100,000 Guyanese adults are involved either directly or indirectly in the local mining industry and that could be a source of significant political influence.

“Now, if you’re looking at 100,000 people and let’s say the voting population is approximately 400,000 or thereabouts. We represent, you could say 25 to 30 percent of the voting population.

That equates, I think it’s 5,000 a seat, that is about 20 seats in parliament. Our miners and everyone who works in our support industries represent that. We are the swing vote.”

“This association is an independent association, we’ve always been and we will maintain that. However, one thing we can agree on is that we want our membership to vote on a mining agenda and think about the future of mining, which party is going to ensure that you could continue to ply your trade, maintain your independence in this oil economy. Mining has to continue to be an economically feasible activity period, that’s it. I’m not saying there aren’t things we need to improve on, there’s always room for improvement, miners need to obey laws, be more responsible, but this association would never endorse any policy that we know would bring an end to our industry in no way, shape, or form,” Alphonso declared.

He urged the members to put the needs of their families, the industry, and Guyana above any international agenda.

The other members elected to the 2019-2021 executive management committee are Vice President, Hilbert Shields; Immediate Past President, Adams; Secretary, Azeem Baksh; Treasurer, Patrick Harding; Organising Secretary, Alfro Alphonso; and Committee Members, Terry Singh, David Bacchus, Dabria Marcus, and Charles DaSilva.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

ECLAC: The Region has underestimated inequality

“FOR nearly a decade, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has positioned equality as the basis of development. Today, we confirm once again the urgency of moving ahead on the construction of Welfare States, based on rights and on equality, which provide male and female citizens alike access to comprehensive and universal social protection systems and to essential public goods, such as quality health and education, housing and transportation. The call is being made to forge social compacts for equality,” Alicia Bárcena, the regional organisation’s Executive Secretary said last week at the launch of the Social Panorama of Latin America 2019 report.

A decrease in income inequality is key to resuming the path of poverty reduction and achieving the targets established in the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goal 1. “It is necessary to grow to equalise, and equalise to grow.

Overcoming poverty in the region not only requires economic growth; it must be accompanied by redistributive policies and active fiscal policies,” ECLAC states in the study presented at a press conference today in Santiago, Chile.

The document emphasises the growth of middle-income strata, although they continue to experience numerous shortfalls and vulnerabilities, both in relation to their income, as well as in terms of exercising their rights, the Commission warns. Between 2002 and 2017, the share of low-income strata as a proportion of the total population fell from 70.9% to 55.9% (a percentage that includes people in situations of extreme poverty and poverty and in non-poor low strata). At the same time, the share of middle-income strata (divided into lower-middle, intermediate-middle, and upper-middle) grew from 26.9% to 41.1%. Thus, 76.8% of Latin America’s population belongs to low-income or lower-middle-income strata, ECLAC underscores.

Finally, the people belonging to high-income strata rose from 2.2% to 3.0% of the total.

MIDDLE-INCOME STRATA Of the total adult population belonging to the middle-income strata, more than half had not finished their secondary studies as of 2017; 36.6% had occupations with a high risk of informality and precariousness (non-professional self-employed workers, non-professional salaried workers in microbusinesses and in the domestic service industry); and only half of all economically active people were affiliated with or contributed to a pension system.

The main recipient of labour income in these strata receives $664 dollars a month on average, while in low strata, this income falls to $256 dollars.

In this way, the report shows that a high proportion of the middle-income population experiences significant deficits in terms of social and labour inclusion, and a high degree of vulnerability to falling back into poverty, due to changes prompted by unemployment, a decline in their income, or other catastrophic events such as grave illness or disaster.

Continuing the upward trend that has been recorded since 2015 in Latin America, 30.1% of the region’s population was below the poverty line in 2018, while 10.7% lived in situations of extreme poverty; rates which are seen rising to 30.8% and 11.5%, respectively, in 2019, according to ECLAC’s projections.

This means that approximately 185 million people were below the poverty threshold in 2018, of whom 66 million people experienced extreme poverty, according to the Social Panorama of Latin America 2019.

In 2019, the number of people in poverty is seen rising to 191 million, of whom 72 million are forecast to be living in extreme poverty.

Within that evolution, it is worth noting that practically all the people who were included this year in the poverty statistics were classified straight away as being in extreme poverty.

The 2.3 percentage point increase in poverty between 2014 and 2018, based on the regional average, is basically due to the increase seen in Brazil and Venezuela. In the rest of the countries, the predominant trend in that same period was towards a reduction, mainly because of

an increase in the labor income of households with the fewest resources, but also due to public transfers from social protection systems and private transfers, such as remittances in some countries.

Meanwhile, in Uruguay (based on data from 2014), the proportions also rise: 7.3% (with household surveys), 14% (tax information) and 17.5% (net wealth).

Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC Executive Secretary, during the presentation of the report Social Panorama of Latin America 2019

Poverty mainly affects children and adolescents, women, Indigenous and Afro-descendant people, residents of rural areas, and those who are unemployed.

INCOME DISTRIBUTION ECLAC’s study also indicates that inequality in income distribution, expressed in the Gini index, based on household surveys, has continued to trend downwards (on average it fell from 0.538 in 2002 to 0.465 in 2018 in 15 countries), but at a slower pace than in previous years: while between 2002 and 2014 it dropped by 1.0% a year, between 2014 and 2018 the decline was 0.6% per year.

However, if the Gini index is corrected, utilizing other sources of information which are better able to capture the income of the wealthiest 1%, it can be seen that inequality is higher, and the downward trend is attenuated when compared with the estimate made on the basis of household surveys alone.

For example, in Brazil in 2014, the share of the wealthiest 1% of the population in the country’s overall income was 9.1% according to household surveys, but this percentage rose to 27.5% when tax information was taken into account. In Chile (based on data from 2015), the share of the wealthiest 1% in total income, also measured by household surveys, was 7.5%, with that proportion increasing to 22.6% based on information from tax records and to 26.5% in the case of net wealth (financial and non-financial assets minus liabilities).

SOCIAL SPENDING, MIGRATION In another vein, the Social Panorama of Latin America 2019 indicates that social spending by central governments rose from 10.3% to 11.3% of GDP between 2011 and 2018, reaching 52.5% of total public spending. South America has the highest social public spending aver-

age in the region (13.2% in 2018), while in Central America, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, that figure is 9.1%. In the Caribbean, average social spending versus GDP is higher (12.2%), but in 2018 it returned to 2014 levels, with a weight equivalent to 43.2% of total public spending. The study warns that it is precisely those countries with the lowest levels of social spending that face the greatest challenges to achieving the 2030 Agenda’s targets.

Finally, the document calls for addressing the structural causes of migration and for strengthening multilateral cooperation to ensure the social protection and social and labour inclusion of migrant persons in all stages of the migratory cycle. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean rose from 30 million to 40.5 million, which is equivalent to 15% of the total migrant population worldwide. And between 2000 and 2019, the propor-

tion of intraregional migrants increased from 57% to 70% of the total.

Remittances play an important role in alleviating poverty in several countries, the document sustains. In El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, the incidence of poverty among the total population would be between 1.5 and 2.4 percentage points higher if it were not for these money transfers.

In the report, ECLAC emphasises that policies for social and labour inclusion are needed to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality and the vulnerability of low-and middle-income strata. This also requires a labour market that guarantees quality employment and decent pay, eliminating women’s barriers to labour insertion, and strengthening the development of comprehensive and universal social protection systems in the framework of Welfare States centered on rights and equality.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

Counselling for warring Richard Ishmael Secondary students …teachers to be included also

THE two students, a boy and girl, of the Richard Ishmael Secondary School who were involved in a fight uploaded via video on social media on Wednesday, November 27, 2019, are to benefit from counselling to be provided by one of the ministry’s mobile psychosocial units.

The unsavoury and alarming incident had prompted the immediate intervention of Minister of Education Nicolette Henry.

Teachers of the school will also be counselled, Minister Henry reportedly told the school’s educators when she visited the school the following day and spoke with both teachers and students.

However, the Chronicle was yesterday unable to verify whether the professional guidance has commenced, as Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Marcel Hutson, when contacted for an update said there was nothing further to

what the minister has said.

He noted that an investigation is still in progress.

During the `pow wow’ with the students, the minister caused the two students involved to publicly apologise to each other in a show of brotherly and sisterly love.

The minister impressed upon them and the other students that they need to be their brother’s keeper; also, that in future, only good news must be forthcoming from the school.

The students were urged to find other ways than reverting to violence to deal with conflicts and to take maximum advantage of the opportunities afforded them; they were reminded, too, of the need to adhere to the school’s policy governing students’ behaviour. behavioural pattern in accordance with the school policy.

Those who fail to conform to such policies will be firmly dealt with, Minister Henry cautioned the students.

As regards the school’s teachers whom she engaged separately, they were reminded of the role expected of them as the cornerstone of the education sector. They were also assured that their welfare and safety are the highest priorities.

When the video showing the students fighting was initially uploaded, there was widespread condemnation

on social media of the `beat down’ of the girl by the male.

It was also seen as an extension of the `atrocious’ behaviour by students of some secondary schools.

Prior to the surfacing of that video, callers on an early-morning radio call-in `What Frets You’ programme on 94.1 FM by Gordon Moseley, had reported that there are daily fights at some city secondary schools that were identified. Persons also spoke of a six-year-old student of an East Coast Demerara (ECD) primary school being traumatised after being slashed on the hand by another male student. Callers called for the vigilance of school welfare officers and for the hosting of regular ‘pep talks’ on issues such as bullying. It was the general view that what is happening in local schools appears to be ‘copycat’ behaviour, based on what is

seen and heard occurring outside of Guyana.

Ironically, the day prior to airing of the video, the Ministry of Education’s capacity to provide counselling to children across the country was enhanced with the commissioning of two new mobile psychosocial units valued at $21M. Minister Henry was quoted as saying then, “It is my hope and my desire that these units will operate not only in Georgetown, but will go beyond Region Four and reach other students who are most in need and most vulnerable and live in perhaps some of the most difficult parts of this country.”

The report noted too, that as of April 2019 following the launch of the first unit, over 100 learners had benefitted from counselling which had met their psychological and social needs.

Guyana Gov’t/ UNDP/ USAID survey finds…

Nearly one in 10 pregnant Guyanese women experienced violence

…violence was continuation from pre-pregnancy period …84 per cent reported increase in severity of violence during pregnancy VIOLENCE during pregnancy is directly and indirectly detrimental to the health of both the child and the mother. Additionally, direct physical violence can injure both mother and foetus during physically vulnerable periods; indirectly, the physical manifestations of emotional stress during a period of physical stress increases the risk of negative outcomes; these are miscarriage, premature labour, haemorrhaging and antenatal death.

Violence during pregnancy also increases the foetal risk for intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight and neonatal complications associated with these; this is according to a recently launched report on Guyana Women’s Health and Life Experiences.

The survey was executed as a collaborative project between the government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN

Women; the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); the Global Women’s Institute of George Washington University; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the University of Guyana (UG) and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Meanwhile, in the post-partum period, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) during pregnancy affects mother-child bonding and breastfeeding and contributes to post-partum depression and increases the risk of maternal suicide (World Health Organisation (WHO)-2011).

The report further noted that the majority of women-about 97 per cent--who participated in the survey have been pregnant at least once and nearly one in 10 reported having experienced at least one act of violence during pregnancy.

Among women who experienced violence in pregnancy, the vast majority--92

per cent--reported violence during their most recent pregnancy; the violence was perpetrated by the child’s father, with 30 per cent targeting the pregnancy by punching or kicking her in the abdomen.

For half of the women who have experienced violence during pregnancy, the violence is a continuation of pre-pregnancy violence with a substantial majority--84 per cent--reporting that the severity worsened by 57 per cent; or remained the same, 27 per cent, during pregnancy, the report added.

Violence is defined as the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person or against a group or community that either results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, physical harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.

The study used additional terms such as aggression or abuse to refer to such violence.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, December 2, 2019

Violence against Guyanese women, girls ‘rooted in gender inequality’ ― survey

THERE is need to focus on actions that aim to change cultural norms and attitudes that promote inequality, since it has been determined that violence against women and girls in Guyana, as in other regions of the world, is rooted in gender inequality.

Also, like many in countries that have made women’s rights systematic, social norms a n d

gender attitudes have remained unchanged, even as women have increased their presence in public life. This is according to the findings of the recently released first report of a comprehensive examination of the nature and prevalence of violence against women and girls in Guyana. Titled `The Guyana Women’s Health and Life Experiences Survey 2018,’ the document is the result of a national mixed-methods study to better understand the magnitude of and women’s experiences with gender-based violence (GBV) in all of this country’s regions.

The study includes a comprehensive quantitative survey and in-depth qualitative study comprising focus group discussions and interviews with victims and key stakeholders. It was conducted with support from United Nations (UN) Women; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United States ; U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in collaboration with the Global Women’s Institute of George Washington University and the University of Guyana.

The study also recommended that evidence-based programmes that have been shown to be successful in

other areas to the multicultural Guyanese context, be adapted; that there be a review of local, regional and global initiatives, including those that target youth, persons with disabilities and men and boys, that have been demonstrated to change gender attitudes and norms and to decrease the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in the community; create national prevention programmes, deployed to all areas, to decrease the fragmentation of prevention programmes and to ensure that programme information reaches all sectors and locations with message consistency; for support of the transformation of gender norms through educational initiatives in primary, secondary, technical, vocational e d ucation and training (TVET), and tertiary-level education institutions; employ community-based programmes to discuss gender equality and violence in the public sphere and implement comprehensive, school-based interventions with the aim of shift attitudes and norms around gender roles.

Also, that policy requirements at all levels be developed with a gender perspective, particularly in the context of preventing GBV; an independent national task force for gender-based violence (GBV) should be created and funded; create multi-sectoral sub-committees (e.g. prevention, response, etc.) to decrease programmatic silos and uneven resource distribution and, establish a mandatory policy to include the institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women in all national policy recommendations.

The research further advocated the strengthening and expansion of existing bodies, policies and protocols that seek to address GBV through both prevention and response; creation of a national plan of action to create a time-bound plan to address and decrease violence against women and girls; increase professional education and monitoring of GBV response in all sectors

to ensure consistency of service; finalise legally enforceable guidelines for GBV responders, particularly in investigation, confidentiality and referral protocols; develop resource networks of GBV responders to increase continuity of care between sectors; create a national information system to share information between sectors and regions. Also, that the GBV response coordination among health care, law enforcement, and social service sectors, and chief security officers (CSOs), particularly in the hinterland, be prioritized; and for the community capacity for non-formal support for victims, including awareness programming; material, social and spiritual

support; and multiple entry points to formal sector services be developed..

It was suggested too that protective services such as shelter systems to all regions be expanded; alternatives to traditional shelters to better serve women and their children in all areas be considered; hinterland access to magistrates and other legal resources be reviewed, as well as, effects to seek opportunities for further research into the experience of violence, its aftermath and its effects in different settings and cultural groups, should be continued.

Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, in delivering the feature address

at the launch of the report which took place at Cara Lodge Hotel on November 13, remarked: “It is a crucial and long overdue report on violence against our women and girls in Guyana.

This report marks a huge advancement for women’s health and rights for the first time,” commented Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, as she delivered the key address at the launch.

“Many Guyanese women and children are suffering physical and mental hurt within their homes through verbal abuse, threats, harassment, bullying and violence. Yet too often fear and misplaced shame are preventing those victims

from breaking the silence on which these forms of violence thrive. All of us owe it to the women who suffer from domestic violence and the women to step up, speak out and end domestic violence now.” Patriarchal norms in which the social status of men and boys is higher than that of women and girls, is said to be a primary contributory factor to violence against women and girls (VAWG). She committed to ensure that attention be paid to the recommendations coming out of the research with a view to having them implemented, with collaboration from multi-sector agencies.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Monday December 2, 2019

Hamilton secures win in Abu Dhabi as Ferrari escape fuel issue

(REUTERS) - Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton wrapped up the Formula One season in style on Sunday by cruising unchallenged to a dominant victory in Abu Dhabi in his 250th grand prix.

The 34-year-old Mercedes driver led every lap from pole position to chequered flag, banging in a fastest lap for good measure to emphasise his supremacy under the Yas Marina floodlights.

Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen was runner-up, 16.7 seconds behind the Briton, to cement third place in the championship.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third after a stewards’ enquiry into a fuel irregularity that could have led to his disqualification. Ferrari were fined 50,000 euros for the breach.

Valtteri Bottas finished fourth for Mercedes after starting last on the grid due to engine penalties, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel fifth.

“That was an absolute master class,” said Hamilton’s engineer over the radio, congratulating the Briton — who won his sixth title in Texas last month — on the cool-down lap. “You look like you didn’t break into a sweat.”

“I can assure you, I am definitely sweating!” Hamilton responded.

His 84th career victory, record fifth in Abu Dhabi and 11th of the season meant the Briton equalled his own Formula One record of 33 consecutive finishes in the

American Racing Tips Mahoning Valley Race 1 Last Crusader Race 2 Hero Of Heaven Race 3 C J’s Flair Race 4 Status Symbol Race 5 To Honor And Run Race 6 Into My Dreams Race 7 Nothinglastsfor-

Race winner Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit on December 01, 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

points.

The 11 wins in a season matched his personal best for a campaign, achieved in 2014 and 2018, with a record points haul of 413. He is now only seven wins short of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91.

Mercedes had already won both championships for an unprecedented sixth season in a row.

“Even though we had the championship won, I just really wanted to keep my head down and see if we could learn and extract more from this beautiful car that’s a piece of art,” said Hamilton.

“I feel so happy with today, man.”

Hamilton gazed across to the two 22-year-olds completing the podium and looked forward to more battles.

“I really feel privileged to be in the period of time

when they are here,” he said.

“I hope it gets closer for us next year.”

While Hamilton was out ahead, Verstappen and Leclerc engaged in a battle for second place.

The Red Bull driver started alongside Hamilton on the front row of the grid but could not stop Leclerc from sailing past on the first lap.

Having pitted much later than his rival, Verstappen was able to catch and pass the Ferrari on his fresher tyres forcing the Maranello team to switch to ‘Plan C’, meaning a two-stop strategy.

“Our pace was quite decent but Mercedes and Lewis were too quick,” said Verstappen who suffered from engine-braking issues during the race.

“Overall it’s been a positive season and to be P3 in the championship is encour-

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aging.”

Leclerc’s race had a cloud hanging over it after regulators found a ‘significant’ discrepancy between the amount of fuel Ferrari had declared and what was actually in the car, later revealed to be 4.88kg.

Ferrari tried everything, including a botched double-stack pitstop, to squeeze something positive from the final race of an ultimately disappointing season.

Leclerc, who has won two races this season and taken the most poles, still saw the positives.

“I’m extremely happy about this year,” said the Monegasque who has beaten four-times world champion Vettel in his first season with the team.

Alexander Albon finished sixth for Red Bull ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.

Lando Norris was eighth for McLaren, who end the season fourth in the constructors’ standings and ahead of engine suppliers Renault.

Daniil Kvyat was ninth for Toro Rosso, who will change their name to Alpha Tauri next season, ahead of Norris’s 10th-placed team mate Carlos Sainz.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was 12th in what may have been his last Formula One race.

Robert Kubica, who is leaving Williams, ended his comeback season in last place after banging wheels with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday December 2, 2019

Australia edge toward victory (REUTERS) - AUSTRALIA edged toward a dominant victory and a series whitewash on Sunday after leaving Pakistan wobbling at 39 for three in their second innings on day three, still 248 runs short of making the hosts bat again in the second test.

Opener Shan Masood was 14 not out, with Asad Shafiq on eight when rain brought stumps early in the day-night test at a floodlit Adelaide Oval.

After bowling Pakistan out for 302 before dinner, Australia enforced the follow-on and Josh Hazlewood duly rewarded skipper Tim Paine with two early wickets, with Mitchell Starc chipping in one.

Hazlewood trapped opener Imam-ul-Haq lbw for a duck on the cusp of dinner and later returned to have Babar Azam caught behind for eight.

Starc, who took 6-66 in the first innings, grabbed his seventh wicket for the

test by dismissing Pakistan captain Azhar Ali for nine, with Steve Smith diving for a fine catch in the slips.

Having thrashed Pakistan by an innings and five runs in the Brisbane opener, Australia appear well set to sweep the series 2-0 unless weather intervenes.

Anchored by a magnificent 335 by David Warner, the home side declared their first innings closed at a mammoth 589 for three on day two and then reduced Pakistan to 89 for six in the evening session.

Australia were made to work hard for the remaining wickets on day three as Yasir Shah dug in for an unlikely century.

The stocky leg-spinner was eventually caught in the deep for 113 but not before warming hearts from Peshawar to Karachi as he defiantly clung on to record his maiden test ton.

He batted superbly in partnerships with Azam and tailender Mohammad Abbas but was all nerves

Mitchell Starc acknowledges his five-wicket haul © Getty Images and Cricket Australia

when on the brink of his hundred.

Stuck on 99 with Hazlewood steaming in, hearts were in mouths as he threw his bat at a fuller delivery, with the lofted shot sailing close to a man at mid-on.

It just evaded the outstretched hand of a back-tracking Pat Cummins, allowing the 33-yearold to scamper through for a single.

Yasir, whose previous highest score in tests was 42, gave David Warner a

run for his money with his exuberant celebrations as he knelt down to touch his forehead to the turf before rising to brandish his bat like a sword.

Following a 104 in the Brisbane test, Azam missed out on a second consecutive

century, falling for 97 when he tried to blast Mitchell Starc through the covers.

A fired-up Cummins ended Yasir and Abbas’s brave ninth wicket rearguard at 87 runs with a brute of a short ball that pinged off Abbas’s glove and went to Warner at gully.

Starc earlier dismissed Azam and Shaheen Afridi in consecutive balls before Abbas survived the fierce hat-trick ball.

Australia’s hopes of rattling through the tail were hurt by a sloppy day in the field.

Part-time legspinner Marnus Labuschagne put down a simple caught and bowled chance to reprieve Yasir on 43 and dropped him again on 106 when fielding at short leg.

But Paine’s team strode off the sodden Adelaide Oval turf satisfied with their work, with the luxury of time to knock off the seven wickets for victory.

Root, Burns score tons against New Zealand

REUTERS) - JOE Root ended a poor run of form when he scored his 17th test century and led England to 269-5 before rain ended play early on the third day of the second test against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday.

Rory Burns (101) also scored his second test century and combined with his captain in a 177-run third wicket partnership that resurrected England’s first innings.

Root, who had not scored a test century since early February and was averaging just 27.10 this year prior to his current innings, was on 114 at stumps with Ollie Pope on four and England within striking distance of New Zealand’s 375.

Rain had forced the players off the field at about 5.30 p.m. (0430 GMT) and umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Paul Wilson decided to abandon play 15 minutes later.

The final two days of the match are also expected to be affected by rain, increasing

Rory Burns celebrates his century © AFP / Getty Images

the chances that New Zealand will win their fifth successive test series at home in the last two years after they won the first game by an innings and 65 runs.

“I think the game is reasonably even,” New Zealand pace bowler Tim Southee told the BBC. “The ball is still reasonably hard.

“Hopefully we can turn up tomorrow, grab some assistance early and knock a couple over ... especially Root - then who knows?”

Root (84) and Ben Stokes (10) had resumed the final session on Sunday on 218-3 and were aggressive against the second new ball, which had been taken just before tea.

Stokes, however, was caught by first slip Ross Taylor off Southee for 26 just before Root brought up his century.

The England captain reached the milestone with successive boundaries off Neil Wagner in the next over.

He moved from 95 to 99 with a leg glance and then to 103 with an under edge that

bounced over the stumps and past wicketkeeper BJ Watling’s head for his 13th four.

Debutant Zak Crawley lasted just six balls, during which he survived a close run out as he scored his first test run. He was caught behind by Watling off Wagner for one.

Burns was the only wicket to fall in the first two sessions when he was run out two balls after he reached his century.

He flicked a delivery from Wagner to the leg side and jogged a single but was then called through for a second run by Root and despite almost making his ground he was unable to beat Jeet Raval’s flat throw from midwicket.

“I thought when Rooty asked me straight away, I was there,” Burns told Britain’s Sky Sports. “I thought I had enough in the tank but I wasn’t quite there.

“Rooty was giving me a nudge and I thought ‘go on then’, I thought a big one was there so I was disappointed to miss out.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Monday December 2, 2019

VAR helps Leicester past Everton (BBC) - Leicester City inflicted the cruellest of blows on beleaguered Everton manager Marco Silva as Kelechi Iheanacho’s stoppage-time winner - awarded by the video assistant referee - kept the Foxes on the heels of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Silva appears to be managing Everton on a game-by-game basis after the club’s power-brokers met to discuss his future following the dismal home defeat by Norwich City - and it looked like he would claim a precious point here until just seconds before the end of a pulsating game.

Iheanacho placed a composed finish past Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with the linesman’s flag raised for offside but after a lengthy wait, the goal was given amid wild celebrations from Leicester’s players and manager Brendan Rodgers as they kept Liverpool’s lead at eight points.

Everton deservedly led at half-time after Richarlison headed in powerfully from Djibril Sidibe’s cross, although Leicester had a penalty rightly ruled out by VAR after Ben Chilwell went down in a challenge with Mason Holgate.

Silva’s side were pulled back after 68 minutes when Jamie Vardy arrived unmarked at the back post to steer in Iheanacho’s effort as it flew across the face of goal.

Vardy missed a good chance to win it for

Leicester but then came that dramatic finale - and now Silva must wait to see if he is in charge for Wednesday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield.

Everton manager Silva was seconds away from a result that may just have offered him breathing space and respite from the sense he is one defeat away from dismissal.

Silva’s players had battled for their manager and put a shift in that was a sharp contrast to the capitulation against Norwich City at Goodison Park. If Everton had left King Power Stadium with a point, no-one would have begrudged them and he may have earned himself some wriggle room.

Instead it was more heartbreak and pressure for the 42-year-old Portuguese, who once again saw an Everton game heavily influenced

by VAR, as it was when they lost controversially at Brighton after a penalty harshly awarded against Michael Keane saw a lead eventually turn to defeat.

Leicester 2-1 Everton: Defeat was harsh on Everton - Marco Silva Everton pushed Leicester all the way and, with more of a cutting edge, could have cashed in on spells when they were comfortable and in relative control, with Sidibe causing all sorts of problems down the right flank.

Silva was animated, his players dug deep and yet the manager was left broken again and

Kelechi Iheanacho’s dramatic winner was his first Premier League goal since September 2018

looking a lonely figure as Leicester players and staff danced in jubilation after that most dramatic of conclusions.

All eyes will now turn towards the Everton boardroom, with majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and director of football Marcel Brands having already dis-

cussed Silva’s future before this game.

This was not the performance of a team trying to get its manager the sack but it is another loss - and Silva’s fate is sure to be the subject of more discussion before Wednesday’s visit to Premier League leaders Liverpool in the Merseyside derby.

United held to draw by Aston Villa (BBC) - Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Manchester United’s league position is not a concern after a home draw with newly promoted Aston Villa left them ninth after 14 games.

Tyrone Mings’ first Premier League goal levelled the scores shortly after Victor Lindelof had given United a 64th-minute lead, though, the England defender did have to wait to see if it would be ruled out by the assistant video referee (VAR).

But the assistant referee kept his flag down and VAR proved he was correct to do so as Villa avoided defeat at Old Trafford for the first time since 2009.

Villa skipper Jack Grealish gave his side a deserved lead with a magnificent curling shot after 11 minutes only for United to equalise against the run of play just before the interval when a Marcus Rashford header hit the inside of a post before bouncing in off the back of former United keeper Tom Heaton.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men pushed forward looking for a late winner but Anthony Martial failed to convert their best chance as United

Tyrone Mings’ first Premier League goal came in his 31st appearance in the competition

had to settle for a second successive draw against a promoted team.

United have now taken just 18 points from their opening 14 league games.

That means Solskjaer must guide them to wins in their next three games if they are to surpass the 26 points Jose

Mourinho amassed when he was sacked after 17 games in 2018-19.

“I wouldn’t have sat here and talked about us being fifth if we had got that one goal extra, so the league table at this point is not the biggest concern because it is so tight,” Solskjaer said.

“I just need to make sure that we get performances and get three or four performances after each other - and results.

“So far we have had the lead in so many games and we haven’t been able to win those games, six or seven times we’ve been 1-0 up, or

2-1, or 3-2 like last week.

“We should be better at seeing those games into wins.”

No improvement from United Manchester United 2-2 Aston Villa: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says his team have to be better

Seven days ago, Solskjaer said he could have replaced all 10 outfield players after an especially dismal first half at Sheffield United.

The general feeling in the media room - from journalists, former players and staff alike - was that their performance before the break here had been no better.

There was no obvious benefit gained from Solskjaer’s decision to excuse his entire starting line-up, plus coaches Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna, from the draining midweek Europa League trip to Astana.

United’s equaliser came against the run of play and the lack of invention in midfield contrasted sharply with the threat posed by Grealish.

There were sporadic boos for the home side at the final whistle but in a period where Tottenham and Arsenal have both sacked their managers, United are behind both in the table, putting Solskjaer under scrutiny, even if the United hierarchy remain supportive of the Norwegian.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday December 2, 2019

Rio Indoor Streetball Championship …Sparta Boss, Gold is Money advance to quarter finals

FOLLOWING a thrilling night of elimination matches, the likes of Sparta Boss, Bent Street, Rio All-Stars, Gold is Money, Back Circle and Leopold Street advanced to the quarterfinal stage on Saturday in the inaugural Rio Indoor Streetball Championship.

Staged in front of a large crowd at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, Sparta Boss, Rio All-Stars, Bent Street, Leopold Street and Rio All-Stars secured easy wins.

Newcomer Rio All-Stars mauled Tiger Bay 5-0. Doubles from Cecil Jackman in the third and 15th minutes and Kelsey Benjamin

in the fourth and 17th minutes led the rout.

Adding a goal in the 12th minute was Job Caesar.

Similarly, Bent Street mauled Sophia 4-0.

Pernell Schultz, Daniel Wilson, Clive Nobrega and Adrian Aaron scored in the fourth, seventh, ninth and 14th minutes apiece.

Likewise, Back Circle cruised past Broad Street 4-1. Trayon Bobb scored a hat-trick in the second, fourth and eighth minutes while Jermaine Beckles netted in the seventh minute.

On target for Broad Street was Brad Evans in the sixth minute. Also, Sparta Boss overcame Avocado Ballers 3-1. Eusi Phil-

lips, Ryan Hackett and Deon Alfred scored in the second, 15th and 18th minutes respectively. For Avocado, Wesley Greenidge netted in the 13th minute.

Leopold Street crushed Alexander Village 4-1. Darren Benjamin smashed two goals in the 15th and 17th minutes. Assisting with goals in the fifth and 14th minutes were Rafael Edwards and Dorwin George respectively.

For the loser, Shem Porter netted in the ninth minute. On the other hand, Gold is Money edged Albouystown 2-1. Josiah Charles and Randolph Wagner scored in the eighth and 24th minutes respectively. For

the loser, Omari James scored in the 16th minute.

In other results, BV squeaked Showstoppers 3-2. Shemar Fraser scored in the eighth and 14th minutes while Jemar Harrigon netted in the 26th minute.

For the loser, Stephon Jupiter scored in the fourth and ninth minutes. Also, Future Stars edged Kingston 2-1. Daniel Ross and Rondell Bowman scored in the 16th and 17th minutes respectively.

For the loser, Simon Emmanuel netted in the 14th minute. The aforesaid winners will now advance to the quarterfinal round at the same venue on December 7th.

Bermuda’s Vice Captain Trott misses ICC CWC league B

CMC – Bermuda’s cricketers have flown to Oman for the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League B without Rodney Trott after an administrative oversight regarding his passport forced the vice-captain to stay at home.

Trott, 32, who impressed as a stand-in captain midway through the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Dubai last month, has been grounded because of a bureaucratic technicality, as his passport expires within six months of the team’s departure for the Middle East.

Trott has blamed the Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) for missing out on the trip.

“It is something that could have been avoided,” Trott, who claims the BCB was in possession of his passport since Bermuda hosted the T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in August, told the Royal Gazette newspaper.

“It’s disappointing because I’ve wasted my time with all the training, only to be told

at the last minute that I can’t go. This could have been sorted out during the summer when we had the tournament.

“My passport is going to expire in the first week of March, but when you travel to countries like that your passport has to be valid for at least six months.

“I got away with it in Dubai and have been telling them (the BCB) since summer that I needed a new passport.”

But BCB executive director Cal Blankendal hit back, saying: “The board had offered to assist with British passport applications for all players, and those players who came in and provided the documentation to get their passport received theirs with the assistance of the board.

“The responsibility of having a valid passport for travel is the responsibility of the passport holder, as they are the only ones who can make an application in person. There were others who asked for services and received theirs, and they have

Bermudian Rodney Trott.

travelled.”

Trott’s place in the team has been taken by 38-year-old Coolidge Durham.

Trott was initially named as Terryn Fray’s vice-captain in the 15-man squad for the 50-overs format, with the team looking to bounce back after a disappointing time in Dubai, where Dion Stovell stood down as captain for personal reasons.

Bermuda lost all six of their matches, but Trott came away with his reputation as a potential leader enhanced.

The CWC Challenge League B is the first of three overseas engagements, comprising 15 matches in total, that Bermuda will participate in as part of qualifying for the 2023 World Cup in India.

The initial phase of League B runs from December 2-12, with Bermuda’s first match coming against Hong Kong next Tuesday in the capital city of Muscat. Fixtures follow against Italy, Jersey, Kenya and Uganda.

KFC Goodwill series to begin on December 14

THE inter-country schools football series, also called the KFC goodwill series, is set to begin on December 14.

The 2019 edition of the tournament will now feature six teams, up from the four that participated in the inaugural edition last year.

It will feature the winners and runners-up of the current TradeWindTankers/GUYOIL schools Football League as well as two hinterland teams: Annai and Waramadong.

French Guiana side, USL Montjoly, along with the returning Shiva Boys Hindu College from Trinidad, will also be a part of the five- day tournament.

The teams will be drawn into two groups of three, with each side play-

Action in the Inaugural edition of the KFC Goodwill series

ing the other twice before moving onto the semi-final and final.

The first playing day will feature Annai against the GUYOIL runners up (GUYOIL B) from 17:00 at the Ministry of Education ground with the Winners of the GUYOIL tournament (GUYOIL A) playing USL Montjoly.

On day two, (December 16), the GUYOIL A will play Waramadong with Shiva Boys playing Annai in game two.

On the third playing date, Shiva Boys will play GUYOIL B with Waramadong playing USL Montjoly.

The semi-finals are billed for December 20 with the third place play off and final set for December 22.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Monday December 2, 2019

Julien 84, Sinclair 4-20 lead WI emerging players to Super50 title IT was an experiment that went right, as the West Indies Emerging Players (WIEP) thrashed Leeward Hurricanes by a whopping 205 runs to clinch the 2019 Regional Super50 tournament, in Sunday’s thrilling final.

The WIEP had been playing like champs and pulling a number of surprises all season, but were not fan favorites to win up until qualifying for the semis and didn’t disappoint their fan-base as they completed their mission with utmost success.

It was Leonardo Julien’s brilliance with the bat which led WIEP to a robust total of 293 for 7 in 50

overs. The stylish left-hander hit 83 from 85 balls, decorated with 11 fours and 2 sixes as he led the batting charge.

Skipper Kimani Mileus (28), Roland Cato, Yannick Cariah (34), Guyanese Kevin Sinclair (28) and Dominic Drakes (38) all played great roles as the supporting cast.

The Leewards bowling took a pounding as Quintin Boatswain and Sheeno Berrige returned 2-59 and 2-60 respectively.

Much like the bowling, Hurricanes failed to do any damage as it took the ruthless WIEP bowlers a mere 26.5 overs to get the job done.

The more experienced Hurricanes were ironically blown away for a paltry 88 runs with their leading run-scorer, Devon Thomas, making 15.

Not much more could be said for what has been a good batting and bowling unit, with Sinclair ‘spinning webs’ around The Leewards, bagging magical figures of 4-20 from just 5 overs.

Cariah too followed up his runs by coming back to snatch 3 wickets for just 8 runs from 5 overs, as WIEP surged to a commanding win and their maiden Regional Super50 title. (Clifton Ross)

Clean sweep for T&T clubs in Diamond Mineral Water Hockey final TRINIDAD and Tobago clubs made a clean sweep of the 15th edition of the Diamond Mineral Water Hockey Festival that concluded on Sunday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, which meant that they were able to gain revenge on their local counterparts, who had dealt them a similar hand in the finals of the 2018 festival.

As if the 2019 finals were scripted, it again came down to a penalty shootout to dictate the male winners, but unlike the 14th edition, when the Pepsi Hikers had triumphed, this time it was the visiting

Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC), who would end with the championship trophy.

Meanwhile, George United and QPCC registered wins in the finals of the female and Over-35 competitions respectively.

George United withstood a spirited run by the GBTI GCC Tigers, while four goals from Raphael Goveia and three from Jerazeno Bell spurred QPCC to a three-goal victory against Bounty GCC Vintage in the Over-35 battle.

In the male final, QPCC were able to score three quick goals in the third period after both sides were scoreless at the half. The Hikers, though,

George United captured the female title.

QPCC also won the Over-35 title.

battled back with Jamarj Assanah, Aroydy Branford and Andrew Stewart all finding the back of the net to leave the score tied at 3-3 by the end of regulation time.

It then came down to penalties, and QPCC made no mistake, winning 3-2.

Earlier, QPCC had also won the Lucozade Over-35 final by an 11-8 margin, owing to an early dominance.

Goveia had scored twice, and Bell had scored one of his goals early to carry the visitors 4-0 ahead by the end of the first quarter. Although Kevin Spencer single handedly led GCC’s comeback with a game high six goals, five of which were consecutive, GCC could not match the

firepower of their opponents.

The ExxonMobil Women’s final was also an exciting clash as the local women battled back from four goals down, but again it was not enough as the clash ended 5-4 in favour of the T&T team.

Brittney Hingh scored the opening goals for the winner, before captain Brianna Goveia scored a pair and Savannah de Freitas sealed the win.

For the GCC Tigers, Captain Sonia Jardine opened the scoring in the 28th minute, before Princessa Wilkie made it 2-5 in the 32nd minute. Although Marzana Fiedtkou and Gabriella Xavier also found the back of the net, time ran out on the Tigers, which left the game at 5-4 in favour of the visitors.

Julien 84, Sinclair 4-20 lead WI emerging players to Super50 title

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QPCC regained their title after a 3-2 penalty win against rivals Pepsi Hikers.

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Clean sweep for T&T clubs in Diamond Mineral Water Hockey final Printed and Published by Guyana National Newspapers Limi ted, Lama Avenue, Bel Air PaGeorgetown. Telephone 2 2 6- 3243-9 (General); Editorial: 2 2 7- 5204, 2 2 7- 5216. Fax:2 2 7- 5208

MONDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2019