Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 12-05-2022

THURSDAY 12th MAY, 2022

No. 106720

Local businesses in US$40M joint venture - to service O&G sector; investment to create some 450 jobs

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PCG Inc. was, on Wednesday evening, launched in the presence of members of the business community. Also present were Minister within the Ministry of Public Works (seventh left), Deodat Indar; Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Paul Cheong (third from right); Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud (right) and Indian High Commissioner, Dr K J Srinivasa (Second right)

Vice-President calls out Digicel donates $500,000 Over 45 Guyanese businesses for Barbados Opposition for attempting to to storm-affected Bath block development in Region 10 Settlement residents AgroFest 2022 SEE PAGE

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Vice-President calls out opposition for attempting to block development in Region 10

Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo VICE-PRESIDENT, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has called out the opposition, APNU+AFC, for its attempts at blocking development in Region 10.

Speaking during a social media interview on Tuesday, Dr. Jagdeo said the APNU+AFC is spending more time on the ground now than it did during its five years in office, creating mischief and trying to stymie development in that region.

He pointed out that, “The regional Chairman doesn’t want part-time jobs, because we’re going to put in maybe 1,000 part-time jobs, where persons are going to get $40,000 per month and work 10 days. 1,000 families will get these jobs.

They don’t want part-time jobs, but APNU took away jobs from the community.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Local businesses in US$40M joint venture to service O&G sector

- investment to create some 450 jobs

By Shamar Meusa A LOCAL consortium of businesses, on Wednesday evening, officially launched a new company, Pipe Coating Guyana Inc. (PCG) that will create over 400 jobs and cater to the local oil and gas industry.

This was disclosed during the launch at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Kingston. PCG Inc was founded by a group of Guyanese led by Suresh Jagmohan, who is the owner of S. Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Construction Services.

The group approached two international pipe coating specialists to support PCG, and, as such, the project will see the operationalisation of a state-of-the-art facility to support the deep-water harbour and plans for the new gas-to-shore project in Guyana.

According to PCG Director, Narine Tulshi, after the company was established, they had engaged two world class companies to partner in the implementation of the plans and thus combine the experience in civil works and the two foreign

companies’ decades of expertise in pipe-coating and thermal insulations.

“This joint venture will include a collective investment of approximately $US40 Million comprising of some of the world’s most technical pipe-coating equipment, managed by a team of world-renowned engineers and oil and gas experts,” Tulshi said.

The international companies, WASCO Energy and Patagonia Shale Services (PSS) joined the local consortium as minority partners with some 49 per cent of the shares

FROM PAGE 2 The Vice-President said the opposition is also against infrastructure development in the region by encouraging persons to engage in the illegal act of squatting.

Noting the government’s intent to provide 400 families with house lots in Linden, VP Jagdeo said, “they don’t want that, because if that happens, it shows the PPP is making progress.”

The Vice-President called on citizens to ignore these rantings, reaffirming the administration’s commitment to enhancing the lives of all Guyanese.

Referencing the statesponsored scholarships being offered through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), Dr. Jagdeo said Guyanese from all walks of life can look forward to this opportunity to receive tertiary

and other technical qualifications, unlike what obtained under the previous government, where only a select group of persons were awarded scholarships.

“This is for the whole country, that is what they can expect, APNU supporters, as well as our supporters, the whole country can expect, working to educate all the people.”

Further, VP Jagdeo highlighted the fact that opposition Member of Parliament, Khemraj Ramjattan found virtue in APNU+AFC’s decision to close down the sugar industry, placing some 7,000 persons on the breadline.

“Claiming they didn’t have money but they were busy spending money on themselves, billions of dollars on food in government, rentals for government, fancy things, travel for government, medi-

cal insurance for ministers and their families, we don’t have that, we stopped that under the new PPP government,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

He also noted Ramjattan’s praise of the APNU+AFC’s ‘lop-sided’ agreement with ExxonMobil.

The Vice-President said the only expectations that can be garnered from the APNU+AFC are hypocritical assertions.

“If you strip the lies out the propaganda and everything else, you will see that every single time we [PPP] have been in office, the country has moved upwards,” VP Jagdeo added.

During his outreach to Region 10 back in April, the Vice-President told residents that the government is committed to having every citizen have access to Guyana’s oil wealth through improved health care and better education. (DPI)

Vice-President calls out...

which, Tulshi noted, was in keeping with Guyana’s new local content law.

He further revealed that some 450 jobs will be created from the venture and will add to the thousands that have already been created by the local partners throughout Guyana.

Meanwhile, Director of Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr Peter Ramsaroop, in brief remarks at the launching, stated that this collaboration between the consortium and the international partners was in keeping with President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s vision of creating jobs for the people of Guyana.

Additionally, present at the launch was Minister within the Ministry

of Public Works, Deodat Indar, who told the gathering that such an investment was quite important as it related to both local content and the oil and gas sector here.

Minister Indar said that having a coating facility here in Guyana will cut out the additional step of having pipes set for offshore destinations being coated in other countries and then sent to Guyana, thus reducing costs associated with importing same. “So, it cuts out that and brings the service in country,” the minister said.

He further added that when these joint ventures are done in such technical sectors, Guyanese benefit as it means that foreign technicians will come to

train persons here and the knowledge will be passed on. Indar then noted that such was the example that many Guyanese businesses should follow.

“So here is a prime example of what the local content legislation is driving in Guyana. It is really delivering prosperity to everyone,” the minister said.

According to the officials, the first intended location for the pipecoating facility in Guyana was expected to be on the East Bank of Demerara in the vicinity of the Guyana Shore Base Inc (GYSBI). The company has intentions to then expand to West Demerara in the near future.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Modern technical cooperation is only possible with a strong social component - stressed Ambassador Gustavo Martínez Pandiani, during his visit to IICA headquarters

TECHNICAL cooperation today must include a strong social component, and be closely tied to the demands and collective needs of its direct beneficiaries.

This was the view expressed by Ambassador Gustavo Martínez Pandiani, the Undersecretary for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs in Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and National Coordinator of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) during a dialogue with Manuel Otero, Director-General of the organising entity, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

IICA’s mission is to promote agricultural development and rural well-being in the Americas.

In the conversation, which was entitled “The challenges of cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean in the new global context”, the attendees discussed the new scenarios posed by the multitude of global crises that are creating widespread uncertainty.

Martínez Pandiani and Otero expressed the commitment of Argentina and IICA to work with other governments, the private sector and civil society organisations to increase cooperation with the most vulnerable of countries. They agreed that in this new era, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Eastern Europe that is reshaping international relations, and the threat of climate change, the region has been presented with an op-

Ambassador Gustavo Martínez Pandiani, Undersecretary for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs in Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Coordinator of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), with Manuel Otero, Director-General of IICA (IICA photo) portunity, given its decisive contribution to global food security and its extraordinary

wealth of natural resources.

The event was part of a series of dialogues between

Otero and senior officials and international specialists on agrifood-related issues promoted by IICA since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

Ambassador Martínez Pandiani is also the National Coordinator of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), for which Argentina holds the current presidency pro tempore. Moreover, he was a former ambassador to Barbados and other Caribbean nations.

Martínez Pandiani visited IICA headquarters in San Jose as part of his commitments in the Costa Rican capital, where he represented the Argentine government at the inauguration of Rodrigo Chaves, the Central American country’s new president.

“The pandemic and other current events have created a challenge across disciplines and agricultural cooperation is no exception. The world of the future is now. We still using a classic model of cooperation for a world that no longer exists, but yet persists, and the demands of a new world are forcing us to rethink our approach,” stated Martínez Pandiani.

“Cooperation was conceived as a discipline for experts, but today we know that above all it is a social issue. Projects must be designed from the bottom up and not the other way around as in the classic paradigm of cooperation. The first thing

an expert in cooperation must do is ask questions and learn to listen rather than to speak.”

ESSENTIAL ACTIVITY The diplomat summed it up by saying, “Cooperation is still an essential activity for economic development, but it is no longer acceptable for it to be seen exclusively as a technical issue unconnected to the collective life of societies. If that were the case it would be at the whim of technocrats.”

In turn, Manuel Otero underscored the importance of technical cooperation focusing on social issues, in which both the conceptualisation and development of projects are as important as the final product.

“The secret to modern cooperation is asking the right questions to empower the countries that want to be the protagonists of their own development. Here at IICA we say that in these changing times, we need to have an outward perspective from our continent, we need to promote collective action and coordinate the efforts of the public and private sectors, universities and civil society organisations to ensure no one is left behind”, said IICA’s Director-General.

Martínez Pandiani spotlighted the need for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Over 45 Guyanese businesses for Barbados AgroFest 2022

Earlecia Hieronymo has been given the opportunity to showcase her business, Khayr organics, at the Barbados AgroFest OVER 45 Guyanese businesses ranging from agroprocessors to furniture manufacturers and jewellers will be part of the Guyana delegation participating in Barbados’ upcoming “AgroFest”, which is slated to be held at Queen’s Park, Barbados, from May 26-29.

The Guyanese delegation to the AgroFest is being organised by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) in collaboration with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the government.

Though individual Guyanese businesses would have attended AgroFest on their own in the past, this year will be the first time the government and private sector are collaborating to have an official delegation at the event.

This delegation will be providing the opportunity for many up and coming businesses owned by young entrepreneurs to be given the chance to showcase their products internationally.

Khayr Organics, headed by young entrepreneur, 23-year-old Earlecia Hieronymo, is one such business.

Hieronymo shared that it fits well into her business plans to expand the reach of her products.

“I feel anxious, I don’t know what to expect but I am heading into the opportunity with positivity, and I am going there to be able to network and expand my reach

into the Caribbean regions since that is one of my longterm goals for Khayr Organics,” Hieronymo shared.

Hieronymo started Khayr Organics at the beginning of 2020, with a focus to provide plant-based manufacturing companies that provide hair and skin care solutions, as well as self-care and wellness products to persons desirous of seeking mental and physical wellness.

“We emphasise on the holistic approach to wellness; we don’t just focus on products alone but we focus on the entire experience, making sure that persons who use our products are grounded in the mental and physical health,” Hierynomo said.

While Khayr will be among those newer, small businesses that will be part of the delegation, the contingent will also include more seasoned establishments such as Mohamed’s Manufacturing, the makers of Peppy’s line of products.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Managing Director, Saleema Mohamed, shared that her company already exports to a number of Caribbean countries and is hopeful that attendance at the exhibition will open a door for them to export to Barbados.

“I’m hoping to get a good turn out because we want to extend our market reach in the regional market. I don’t have anybody in Barbados distributing our

products, so we are excited to be part of AgroFest,” Mohamed shared.

Mohamed’s Manufacturing has been in business since 1971, having first started out with just three products and now producing over 50 different products under its Peppy’s Brand. The company currently exports to St Martin, Anguilla, Antigua and Suriname, while it also has very big customer base countrywide in Guyana.

AgroFest is a major investment exhibition on the island, with more than 12,000 persons passing through each year. It will see a display of culture, food, sport, agriculture, and timber products The organising of a delegation to the event came following visits between Guyana and Barbados in March, where the GMSA and PSC hosted a special Barbadian delegation in an effort to deepen bilateral connections between Guyana and Barbados.

The visiting delegation included Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Barbados to Guyana and Suriname, Alphea Wiggins and Consultant of the Ministry of Agriculture,

Food and Nutrition Security of Barbados, Dr. Leroy McClean.

The visit and cooperation are as a result of the St. Barnabas Accord which was signed by President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, in October, and seeks to create one domestic

space between both countries in areas across multiple sectors.

The Barbadian delegation visit would have included stops at a number of manufacturing businesses.

This included a visit to furniture manufacturer GuyAmerica, which was also invited to be part of the del-

egation when Wiggins was impressed by the quality of the furniture.

Owner of GuyAmerica, Mohamed Haniff, said that he too is looking forward to using the exhibition as a means of getting a foot into the door of the Bajan market and widen his market reach.

Mohamed’s manufacturing, the makers of Peppy’s line of products will be among the Guyana delegation at AgroFest

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

A Repeated Pattern

REGIONAL attention continues to focus heavily on the ongoing situation in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where Premier Andrew Fahie was arrested on April 28 and later pressed with drug-related charges following a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), with Britain also moving quickly to dissolve the elected selfgovernment, suspend the Constitution and rule the BVI directly from London for two years.

Immediately after Fahie’s dramatic arrest in Miami, the colony’s British Governor suddenly released the long-delayed findings of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into allegations of corruption against Fahie’s administra-

tion.

The premier resigned and has been replaced while awaiting the outcome of his legal troubles, but the islanders -- and both government and opposition parliamentarians -- have united in opposition to the UK’s clear intent to adopt the recommendations for direct rule.

Virgin Islanders have been protesting daily, with support of all Caribbean governments -- through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as the University of the West Indies (The UWI), all of which released separate statements in the past week condemning the UK and urging it to keep its ‘Hands off the BVI’.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, CARICOM’s longest-serving leader, also criticised the British move.

Dr Gonsalves quoted then Premier of Barbados Errol Barrow’s condemnation of the British suspension of the Grenada Constitution in like manner in 1962, when the Eric Gairy Administration was accused by London of corruption and Barrow said in the Barbados Parliament: “You cannot draw-up an indictment against a whole nation!”

Gonsalves, a historian and former Lecturer in Government at The UWI, pointed to the similar earlier 1953 suspension of the Guyana Constitution by the British, because the People’s Pro-

gressive Party (PPP) -- with Dr Cheddi Jagan as General Secretary and Forbes Burnham as Chairman -- had won elections and the party’s anticolonial stance threatened Britain’s plans for its then colony, British Guiana.

The very same process was again repeated in 1967 on the tiny island of Anguilla, after the islanders voted in two referenda for self-governance within the colonial realm, in protest against the neglect of the elected administration in Saint Kitts that governed the colonial Federation of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla.

After the islanders revolted under the leadership of Ronald Webster, the British dispatched two warships and over 350 Special Air

Services (SAS) paratroopers to the tiny 39.3 square-mile island of less than 3,000 people “to restore order”.

The same pattern was yet again repeated in 2009 in the Turks and Caicos Islands – another British colony in Caribbean waters -- when London suspended the Constitution and imposed two years with direct rule from London, dissolving the government led by Premier Michael Misick, also alleging widespread corruption by his administration.

It is partly for this brazen ease with which Britain punishes entire populations in any of its overseas colonies (by taking away their democratic rights to elect their own internal self-governments) that all CARICOM

and OECS governments have so strongly condemned London’s moves to restore direct colonial rule over the BVI. Such brazen repeated exhibitions of outright colonial domination over the past almost seven decades are among the reasons two British Royal Family delegations found out on their recent tours of six Caribbean nations that seven more CARICOM member-states intend to become Republics at the soonest, to shed the last direct colonial yokes around their necks.

Times and climates change, but by the evidence, not Britain’s attitude to its colonies in what London still obviously regards as its British West Indian territories.

Differing with the editorial ‘blackouts – a leadership industry’ Dear Editor, WHILST I imagine that the KN editorial of May 2, “Blackout – a leadership industry” might have been written in a fit of great anger after a most aggravating loss of electricity supply (blackout), I must point out how wrong, inaccurate and unhelpful that editorial is. As the editorial speaks about successive PPP/C governments and having been the Minister Responsible for Electricity over October 1992 to May 2015, I sense an obligation and beg for an opportunity to say something reassuring to my fellow Guyanese people.

The editorial must have been written in such anger that memory, reason and facts were thrown to the winds. Our GEC/GPL-grid electricity supply was tremendously improved over the 1992 to 2015 period: from about 75,000 families receiving electricity about

60 per cent of the time, to 175,000 families receiving electricity about 95 per cent of the time. The PPP/C Administration was certainly not “a crooked cover under which there is pretense of doing something better for Guyanese plagued by blackouts for decades”. The proportion of Guyanese households on-grid in the coastal grid area was increased from about 50 per cent to about 90 per cent. 100,000 of our Guyanese families received grid electricity for the first time, and all had supply improved to about 95 per cent of the time. That was truly a period of great improvements.

Yes, the PPP/C carefully spent lots of money, millions of dollars in bringing about the improvements above. It was money well spent in installing step by step new generation, transmission facilities and abandoning or upgrading much of what we found, and in

regular payments to purchase fuel. I assure my fellow citizens that GPL was not “machinery, one of the many but one of the bigger ones through which the leaders of the country rob the people blind”. There was no robbery.

During the period, Guyana was in a World Bank/IMF monitoring programme. Most of the projects were financed through the IDB which kept a continuous review on total management including all spending, from all sources.

We, PPP/C have not been taking the Guyanese public for a ride. A quality electricity supply takes a lot of money and trust. When GEC/GPL was offered for privatisation, one attractive consortium which had been prequalified, declined to submit a final proposal, saying that it had been mulling on and was finally yielding to the observation, that there is often social and political troubles in a society with a

GDP less than USD 3,000 in getting the citizens to pay the prices required for the good quality electrification they want. In 1992, Guyana was just getting to a GDP of 300 and we were at about 1,000 at the time of the privatisation, October 1, 1999.

We PPP/C over 1992to 2015 put a lot of thought and time and work in getting as good electricity as we could for our Guyanese people, in our Guyanese circumstances of the day. The editor’s assertion about “blackout” being improved during the five years of the Coalition in office is an assertion that should be demonstrated – my recall is different, and the Coalition inherited a very much improved wicket anyway.

Allow me to refer to two news articles subsequent.

The article telling of Giftland having generation problems and falling short of its publicised, intended electricity de-

liveries to GPL shows what a real challenge it is. The report by the CEO of GPL about an increase in the number of trips of the GPL grid caused by large infrastructure and other equipment coming into contact with GPL transmission and distribution and other equipment is a good indication that things are taking off (not orderly enough) in our country. I have no doubt that with experience, improved communications and awareness between GPL and all contractors and investments over the next two years to increase the stability of the grid, such trips will be reduced. And we look further out, towards the coming on line of the Wales gas generated electricity and Amaila hydro in the next four to seven years.

Editor, history and fate have thrown to us Guyanese the challenge of knitting ourselves together as a nation. It is a challenge

that most of us are accepting and are taking up, and we are making much progress. My concern is that your editorial “Blackouts – a leadership industry” (and other editorials), playing fast and loose with facts and feelings, even if driven by your understandable frustrations, would have unravelled billions of person-hours knitting ourselves together; undermining the confidence that we will make good of the recent fortunate strikes of oil off our shores. That editorial is the greatest robbery of hope and trust in our Guyana, in our people and country. On my figuring, you owe our nation an apology.

Yours sincerely, Samuel A A Hinds Former Prime Minster, Former President, and Former Minister Responsible for GEC/GPL

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Caribbean Food Insecurity Post-COVID and Ukraine Part 2: Linking Food Security and Consumption

By Earl Bousquet THE socio-economic strain of COVID-19, now being compounded by the conflict in Ukraine, has opened up new possibilities for new approaches to Caribbean food production and consumption.

A recent survey conducted by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) found that Food Insecurity has affected nearly 40 per cent of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean (an estimated 2.8 million people), one million more than in April 2020 – and now 72 per cent higher.

The survey showed deteriorating food consumption and diets with 25 per cent of respondents eating less preferred foods, 30 per cent skipping meals or eating less than usual and five per cent going an entire day without eating (in the week leading up to the survey).

According to Shaun Baugh, Agriculture and Agro-Industrial Development Programme Manager at the CARICOM Secretariat, the survey of more than 20,000 respondents across the past two years “has provided the CARICOM Secretariat with invaluable data that is being used to inform regional priorities in the short and medium term”.

The data suggests all is not over -- or even well.

According to Regis Chapman, WFP Representative and Country Director for the Caribbean Multi-Country Office, “With most COVID-19 assistance programmes having concluded, many families are expected to face an even greater challenge to meet their basic food and other essential needs in the months to come.”

This is already a stark but understated reality regionwide.

But apart from the links between COVID, the Supply Chain Crisis and the Ukraine War’s impact on world food prices, there’s also the matter of necessary adjustment of consumption patterns.

In an oceanic region where most people can’t swim but will die fighting for their right to access to beaches, it is important that enough attention is paid to Caribbean people’s consumption habits and encouraging adjustment to Eat What We Grow.

The messaging in this regard has to be all-round, including highlighting the unhealthy aspects of substitut-

ing local poultry for imported chicken parts and the foolhardiness of people refusing to use Caribbean-made banana ketchup ‘because it’s yellow, when ketchup is supposed to be red…’

More research has to go into taking the historical findings of the nutritional benefits of home-grown Caribbean foods and fruits already found by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) to the next stage of popularising them in more meaningful and direct ways.

Take banana and coconut, soursop and pawpaw (papaya), mango and guava, dasheen and yam, breadfruit and cocoa, oranges and limes and lemons – all found everywhere across CARICOM and the wholeness of each tree having dozens of uses, from roots to fruits.

But we still mainly only eat the ripe banana and cook the ‘green fig’ and don’t care or know about the multifarious other uses of the stem, leaves and fruit in producing everything from health products to healthy foods.

We know banana is so high in nutritional content that it’s held that every Olympic athlete must have at least two bananas per day, every day, including during The Games – yet, banana farmers have gone into ruin in the Windward Islands (Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent & The Grenadines) for loss of preferential treatment on the European, while no government has yet decided to create a home market by ensuring every student -- from Infant and Primary to Secondary and Tertiary levels (and teachers) -- get at least one banana (if not two) per day.

Our hostility to local foods can be so base that when Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, soon after taking office, urged citizens to adjust consumption habits and ‘Eat More Bananas’, partisan political opponents claimed he was ‘lowering people’s tastes’ and discouraging Saint Lucians from ‘appreciating better quality foods’ (meaning imported foods).

But Pierre’s message did get home: two days before the Ukraine War broke out on February 24, the Holy Trinity Anglican Church and collaborating entities hosted an Independence Day Banana Festival (February 22), which featured many extraordinary banana products, from paper and pastries to body soaps and hand sanitisers.

This past Mother’s Day weekend, another Banana Festival was hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture in downtown Constitution Park in central Castries, with wider participation by mainly

budding entrepreneurs already creating banana-based products.

Now there are plans for a Breadfruit and Breadnut Festival for Emancipation TURN TO PAGE 8

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Housing, Culture Ministries collaborate on $20M Golden Grove recreational facility HOUSING and Water Minister, Collin Croal and Culture, Youth and Sports Minister, Charles Ramson, on Tuesday, engaged residents of Section A,

Block Y Golden Grove, where they outlined development plans to upgrade a community ground.

The two agencies will be collaborating

to upgrade the community ground which will be a model for other communities around the country.

Minister Croal said the venture was reflec-

Caribbean Food Insecurity Post-COVID...

FROM PAGE 7 Month in August (Breadnut also being known in Guyana as ‘Katahar’).

Such activities have to be consistent and nation-wide in scope and the message also has to be clear about making choices, by identifying and highlighting foods with capabilities of producing high levels of body immunity, as already being done in Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the

Grenadines with respective related ‘Seven Crops’ and ‘Nine Crops’ projects being pursued by their respective Agriculture Ministries.

Jamaica has gone quite some way in planting, growing and profitably marketing and exporting Dasheen, seen and treated as a ‘blue diamond’ alternative to bananas.

Exploration of the medical potential of the age-old cannabis plant is also way

ahead in St. Vincent & The Grenadines, where, this past weekend, its first legal and public government-approved Cannabis Lounge opened, where licensed persons can consult a group of different medical doctors for advice before making the correct or desired choice of medical or recreational cannabis.

Hooking chefs and dieticians, nutritionists and related persons at home, community,

town and village, city and national levels, is a good way to go to help Caribbean people make that link between the healthiness of what we produce and its helpfulness in building our immunity to infectious and other diseases, naturally refreshing our bodies and its potential as a new revenue stream for not just attracting youth to agriculture, but also providing a basis for them to turn hobbies into paychecks.

Challenges always bring opportunities and this is one of those times; it all depends on if, when and how the old and new challenges are turned into fresh opportunities.

Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal, addresses the residents of Section A, Block Y Golden Grove tive of the government’s “One Guyana Vision”.

He added that while the Housing Ministry was moving ahead with its housing drive, synergies were necessary for holistic development and rounded communities.

Meanwhile, Minister Ramson noted that the facility will be a stateof-the-art one and will boast a footpath, green spaces, play equipment and other amenities.

He noted that citizens and their children

must have a safe space for recreational purposes and investment in overall wellbeing was key to a developing nation.

The Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport has been working with communities across the country to upgrade existing playgrounds.

Likewise, the Ministry of Housing has been giving support to several communities with similar initiatives.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Zara Computer lab enrolls 49 youths in Linden FORTY-NINE youths and young adults from the Linden community were enrolled at the recently commissioned Zara Computer Centre, located at the Wismar Police Station.

According to Police Headquarters, the group will be the first batch of civilians to commence computer studies at the centre, which was officially launched on Saturday, April 23, 2022 and handed over to the Force’s Regional Division

A section of the gathering during class at the Zara Computer Centre located at the Wismar Police Station

10 by representatives of the Jay and Sylvia Sobhraj Foundation.

The construction of the Zara Computer Centre in Region 10 is geared at assisting members of the community, especially the youths and ranks within the division who are studying at tertiary institutions and need to have research done, police said in a statement.

The centre is fully furnished and equipped with 30 new computer systems,

one 65-inch Samsung smart board, one projector with screen and a server room.

Present at the orientation ceremony were Regional Commander, Superintendent, Hugh Winter; Regional Deputy Commander, Deputy Superintendent, Wayne De Hearte; Regional Traffic Officer, Inspector B. Harry; Facilitator of the Centre, Sergeant Telston Handover and other ranks.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Lawyers: Mother, step-dad wrongly tried for Neesa Gopaul’s murder - as appeal hearing begins at CCJ

THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), on Tuesday, heard that Bibi Shareema Gopaul and her ex-lover, Jarvis ‘Barry’ Small, should not have been tried together for the 2010 murder of 16-year-old Neesa Gopaul.

The pair moved to the Trinidad-based court to challenge their conviction and 45-year sentence for the brutal murder of the teen.

The matter is being heard by the President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders, along with Justice Jacob Wit, Justice Maureen RajnauthLee, Justice Denys Barrow, and Justice Peter Jamadar.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Small’s attorney, Nigel Hughes, and Bibi’s attorney, Arud Gossai argued that the decision of trial judge, Navindra Singh, and the

manner in which the case was considered on review by the Court of Appeal, were deeply flawed.

Both attorneys submitted that the reduced sentence that was imposed by the Court of Appeal was severe and not within the guidelines of modern sentencing principles.

According to Hughes, the indictment should have been severed, allowing for two separate trials to be conducted. However, since that was not done, the evidence led by the prosecutor against Bibi was prejudicial to Small.

The attorney also said that the only evidence led during the trial against his client was a pair of dumbbells that was found at the crime scene by the police, which they assumed belonged to Small.

Additionally, he argued

that there was no nexus between the dumbbells and Neesa’s death, nor was there any direct or circumstantial evidence linking his client to the crime.

Against that background, the attorney argued that his client should not have been committed to stand trial at the High Court, given the insufficient evidence which was presented during the preliminary inquiry at the Magistrates’ Court.

He also contended that the evidence of the main witness, Simone DeNobrega, during the trial was highly prejudicial to his client.

DeNobrega was Bibi’s former cellmate and she had testified during the trial that the woman confided in her that it was Small who killed Neesa.

“There is no doubt that

the testimony of DeNobrega was strong, powerful, and implicated the second name accused (Bibi), in no uncertain terms. It’s also evident that the testimony of DeNobrega could not have been

used against the number one accused (Small),” Hughes said.

Meanwhile, Gossai said that the trial judge failed to inform the jury that DeNobrega was not a reliable wit-

ness since she was convicted for fraud-related crimes, which were of a “dishonest nature.”

This, he said, was “fundamentally flawed” since the TURN TO PAGE 11

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Mother, step-dad wrongly tried for... headless but was, instead, clobbered beyond recognition.

Dumbbells similar to those found in a gym owned

by Small were found tied to the suitcase in which the body was found.

In addition to the body, a passport bearing the name

Bibi Shareema Gopaul

Jarvis ‘Barry’ Small

FROM PAGE 10 trial judge made an error by not warning the jury as to how they needed to assess the evidence of DeNobrega.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, during her submission addressed the pair of dumbbells, which allegedly belonged to Small.

The DPP stated that a witness had testified to seeing Small with the dumbbells at Bibi’s home. Among other things, the DPP said that there was no miscarriage of justice in the case.

When questioned by the CCJ president as to whether Bibi’s conviction could have been possible without the evidence of DeNobrega, the DPP responded in the affirmative before explaining that this was so, because there was circumstantial evidence against the accused.

She pleaded with the CCJ judges not to interfere with the sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal given the nature of the case.

“Your honours, I just ask that whatever decision the court makes that it communicates society’s condemnation of the gruesome murder of this child, by someone no less than her own mother and the lover of her mother,” the DPP said.

Meanwhile, the CCJ president commented on the

lack of forensic evidence presented during the trial.

“It’s unfortunate that there was not any serious forensic evidence, in this case, to help to provide proof of who committed this murder… that is very unfortunate,” he said.

It was at this point that the CCJ decided to reserve its judgment in the appeal.

In 2015, a jury found the accused guilty of murdering the child. They were later sentenced by Justice Singh to 106 years and 96 years, respectively. The murdered teen was Bibi’s elder daughter.

The pair subsequently approached the Court of Appeal challenging their conviction and sentence and, in September 2021, the court reduced their respective sentences to 45 years; the conviction was however upheld.

Prior to the murder, Small and Bibi were in a relationship, and, at one time, Small had even lived with the woman and her daughters at Leonora, West Coast Demerara.

Neesa’s body was found submerged in a suitcase in the Madewini Creek in the vicinity of the Emerald Towers Resort on October 2, 2010, around 14:00hrs, and at the time was believed to be headless.

A post-mortem later revealed that the body was not

Neesa Lalita Gopaul was also found. The teenager was reported missing just days before the gruesome discovery was made.

Subsequent to the discovery of the body, Bibi and Small were arrested and were later charged for the crime.

Neesa Gopaul

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Digicel donates $500,000 to stormaffected Bath Settlement residents

RESIDENTS of Bath Settlement who were severely affected by a freak storm stand to benefit from $500,000 in support, which will be administered through the Civil Defence Commission (CDC).

The funds were donated

by Digicel Guyana to Deputy Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Major Loring Benons, on Wednesday.

Major Benons considered the donation timely, since many houses and other infra-

structure were damaged as a result of the storm.

Residents of the Bath Settlement community are in the process of rebuilding their homes and other structures, and have so far received a quantity of zinc sheets from the CDC. Chief Commercial Officer at Digicel Guyana, Simone Pierre, said the company remains committed to assisting the Government of Guyana in the areas of risk management and preparedness.

Chief Commercial Officer at Digicel Guyana, Simone Pierre, hands over a replica of the cheque valuing $500,000 to Deputy Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Major Loring Benons

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Woman awaiting sentencing charged for escaping custody

DAYS after she was found guilty of attempting to extort money from her exboyfriend, Princess Williams, was, on Wednesday, charged for escaping from police custody.

At the time of the alleged escape, the 20-year-old Providence, East Bank Demerara resident was on remand pending sentencing.

She appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Williams was further remanded to prison and the case will be heard again on June 1, 2022.

According to reports, on May 7, Williams while in custody at the East La Penitence Police Station complained of feeling unwell and was subsequently taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

After receiving treatment, Williams asked to use the washroom and was permitted.

It is alleged that she escaped, but was later arrested by police after she was seen walking along Thomas and Lamaha Streets, with a cloth

Princess Williams wrapped around her hands, hiding the handcuff.

One day earlier, she was found guilty by Magistrate Rhondel Weever of threatening to accuse her ex-boyfriend of attempted rape, in a bid to extort $10 million from him.

In February 2021, Williams made her first court appearance and pleaded guilty to the charge. However, she later changed her mind and

pleaded not guilty.

The charge stated that between Monday, January 4, 2021, and Thursday, January 7, 2021, at Georgetown, Williams, with intent to extort money from Kenrick Thomas, specifically $10 million, threatened to accuse him of attempting to rape her.

The court was informed that Williams and Thomas were in a sexual relationship for approximately four

months, during which time he would invite her to his home to hang out and have dinner.

But then, as they were about to get into the act, an argument ensued between the two, and he told her to get dressed, and proceeded to take her home.

T h e f o l l o w i n g d a y, Thomas reportedly ended the relationship with Williams, but she, not wanting to take no for an answer, still tried to get the relationship back on even keel, but he refused to have anything to do with her.

Then one day, in a fit of rage at being spurned, she sent him a video message via WhatsApp. She said that having tried to rape her, he would either have to pay her $10 million or she’d go to the police with the evidence.

After receiving the threatening message, Thomas immediately reported the matter to the police, and an investigation was launched.

During the course of the investigation, Williams reportedly admitted to the police that she’d sent the message to scare Thomas into giving her the money, as he’d faithfully promised that he’d give it to her for her birthday.

‘Short Man’ pleads not guilty to murder

MURDER ACCUSED: Donell Trapp called ‘Short Man’ A MIXED 12-member jury was, on Wednesday, empanelled before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow at the Demerara High Court for the trial of Donell Trapp called ‘Short Man’, who is accused of murdering 60-year-old remigrant Agriculturist, Anthony Breedy, in 2016.

Tr a p p f o r m e r l y o f Timehri, East Bank Demerara, pleaded not guilty to the indictment which read that between March 12 and 14, 2016 at Hill Foot, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, he murdered Breedy.

He is being represented by attorneys-at-law Dexter Smartt and Javon Cox,

DEAD: Anthony Breedy while prosecutor Lisa Cave and State Counsel Latifah Elliott are on record for the state.

The trial commenced on Wednesday with a series of witnesses.

Based on reports, Breedy’s body was found with the hands and feet bound, on the lower flat of his two-storey house.

It was also discovered that he’d sustained multiple injuries in his head, and that after committing the act, his killers had made off with his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and other belongings, including an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Modern technical cooperation is only possible...

FROM PAGE 4 happened when we had a shortage of vaccines to happen with food security. I believe the region learned that

we must bolster our health and food systems, because when there is a global catastrophe, we are not necessarily a priority for other parts

of the world. COVID-19 revealed global inequality. It was clear that the most vulnerable sectors of our societies paid a very high price and

that cannot be the case for the food sector. We mustn’t await a food crisis to realize that we must do things differently,” he said.

The diplomat also underscored the importance of IICA given its presence in each of its 34 Member States, including the islands

of the Caribbean. “Very few institutions have a presence in each and every one of the countries of the Americas.

The value of this isn’t simply symbolic, but rather is the Institute’s foremost geopolitical capital. In fact, when I was ambassador to Barbados and travelled around the Caribbean, it was IICA that supported me, given its close relationship with the governments, academia, civil society and farmers in each country. Food security is a challenge for everyone and IICA can contribute much to the topic.”

CENTRE OF DISCUSSIONS Along those lines, Otero explained that for IICA, it is important to generate regional public goods and to ensure that farmers are at the centre of all discussions on the future of agrifood systems.

“There are 16.5 million farmers in the region that need empowering,” said Otero, who maintained that the basic premises on which the future of agriculture must be built are the centrality of science and innovation; the leading role of women and youth; the bolstering of trade; the strengthening of associate enterprises and the indestructible alliance with the environment.

Martínez Pandiani and Otero also revived the issue of the value of Triangular and South-South Cooperation and highlighted the achievements of the API-Caribe project, which aimed to strengthen the beekeeping industry and boost the productivity of hives in Barbados, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis, with the support of Argentine specialists. The initiative was the result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Argentina and IICA in 2009.

In 2021, the parties signed a new agreement to provide joint technical assistance to the countries of Central America and the Caribbean in different areas related to developing the productive capacity of the agriculture sector and to improving rural well-being.

“Through the API-Caribe project”, concluded Otero, “we demonstrated that technical cooperation doesn’t require a milliondollar investment, but rather solidarity and a willingness to join forces.

Our continent is young and green. We have natural resources and are a region of peace. We are called on to be protagonists as we face new challenges in terms of the food, nutrition, environmental and energy security of the planet.” (IICA)

GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

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Mazaruni Prison escapee recaptured with knife in neck

SAMUEL Gouveia, 27, who was sentenced to 18 years, nine months for manslaughter, was arrested at the Mahdia District Hospital with a knife stuck in his neck on Monday.

He had escaped from the Mazaruni Prison on February, 15, 2021 and was recaptured by police ranks at the Mahdia District Hospital where he was attempting to seek

Recaptured: Samuel Gouveia

medical attention for the wound to his neck.

According to Police Headquarters, Gouveia was reportedly wounded at about 23:30 hrs on Monday last at Mowasie landing, Konawaruk.

It is alleged that Gouveia had a heated argument with an identifiable male over money and the man stabbed Gouveia to his left-side neck, resulting in the knife being stuck in his neck.

Gouveia was escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation as a patient. He was positively identified by a Prison Officer, as well as by records and tattoos to his left hand.

Police said that Gouveia is currently under police guard at the hospital as investigations continue.

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Werleman re-elected as Caribbean RADO Chairman

PATRICK Werleman has been re-elected as Chairman of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO).

Werleman, the Member Country Representative (MCR) for Aruba, was returned unopposed during the 2022 Annual General Meeting which ended on Sunday in Curaçao.

Werleman has expressed his gratitude to members for entrusting him with a second term, particularly after the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on anti-doping programmes in the Caribbean. He says the main objectives of the Caribbean RADO over the next three years include improving communication with various key stakeholders, and the further development of anti-doping programmes in Member Countries.

According to Werleman, “Every Member Country should have an active anti-doping programme that includes a solid education plan, and of course testing. These are the basic requirements for compliance with the (World An-

ti-Doping) Code. Education is the fundamental tool to create awareness, so this should be an area of focus in each Member Country.”

Werleman is joined on the Executive Committee by returning Vice-Chairman, Dr Adrian Lorde of Barbados, along with Directors Dr Karen Pilgrim of Guyana and Ephraim Penn of the British Virgin Islands who were all re-elected unopposed.

There is one new member on the Executive Committee as Rheeza Grant of Trinidad and Tobago was also elected unopposed for the remaining vacant position of Director.

The Caribbean RADO AGM was held May 7-8 in Willemstad, Curaçao at the Renaissance Wind Creek Curaçao Resort.

Seventeen of the 18 Member Countries participated in the two-day hybrid meeting which facilitated delegates both in-person and online.

A Sports Diplomacy Workshop was conducted on the opening day of the session by Dr J, Simon Rofe, Sports Diplomacy expert, at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS, University of London. During the workshop, there was a special guest presentation from IOC vice-president Nicole Hoevertsz who shared valuable knowledge on navigating relationships and building strategic partnerships at the highest levels in sport.

On Day 2, participants focused on Risk Assessment and Test Distribution Planning for the Anti-Doping Programmes in their respective countries with representatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency - María José Pesce Cutri, Director, Latin American Office; Ieva Lukosiute-Stanikuniene, Senior Manager, NADO/ RADO Relations and Federico Perroni Sánchez, Manager, Latin American Office.

Werleman is looking forward to even greater collaboration among Member Country Representatives.

The Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization is based in Barbados and acts as the secretariat for anti-doping issues for 18 member countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Montserrat, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands (US).

… Guyana’s Dr Karen Pilgrim returns as Director

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Bent Street, not Sparta, will win Magnum Futsal title – Lambert

TROY Lambert, head coach of defending champions Bent Street, affirmed that his charges are solely focused on defeating arch-rival Sparta Boss in their titanic semi-final clash in the Magnum Independence Cup on Saturday at the National Park tarmac, Thomas Lands.

This was disclosed in an official correspondence from the tournament coordinators.

According to Lambert, “Most obviously we are here to win. We are not participating to play, we are here not to play for second or third, we came to win and try to be consistent throughout the event. We will try to score as

much as possible and defend well and get to the finale. We are focused on winning the tournament.”

Lambert revealed that the two-time winners are always happy to battle their fierce rivals, adding, “We are never scared of them. There is never a time that when we play them we are worried.

It’s actually a job to us and it brings out the best in us.

It’s a very serious rivalry. It’s a rivalry that we are always prepared for and the fans love and want to see. We are coming to play our game and get the win.”

He further said, “It’s like we are playing the final, given the quality of the teams

THE Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) will be conducting its Women’s Inter-county tournament from tomorrow to the following Sunday (May 22, 2022).

The two-format tournament will be played among four teams - Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice and a Select X1.

The event will be two formats, namely a T20 segment and a 50-over segment.

and from 13:30hrs Berbice will oppose the Select X1.

Head coach Troy Lambert

and the way the teams play.

It’s the two most successful teams in this format. It’s often in the draw we meet in the final and it’s always a very competitive matchup.

Now everyone is coming to see us battle in the semi-final like a final.”

The resulting winner of the clash will face off with the victor of the other semi-final matchup between Gold is Money and Back Circle.

The winners of the tournament will collect the package of $700 000, and the championship trophy, while the runners-up will receive $400 000 and the corresponding accolade. The third- and

fourth-place finishers will walk away with $200 000 and $100 000 respectively.

Meanwhile, the four losing quarter-finalists will feature in the Magnum Plate Championship, with the resulting victors walking away with $40 000. Melanie will lock horns with Future Stars at 19:00hrs while North-East La Penitence takes aim at Showstoppers from 19:30hrs.

The other sponsors of the event are MVP Sport, Nigel Hinds Financial Services, Andrews Supermarket, Bold Expressions Barbershop, Fireside Grill ‘N’ Chill, Star Party Rentals, and Lucozade.

ey sponsorship adding that “we have the confidence with 39 days of football and over 78 games that during this two-month period sponsorship will be secured.”

He appealed for the support of the 13 clubs participating in the round-robin format championship which begins this Sunday and will conclude on August 10 at the tournament venue Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground.

Bethune said that he was aware of the challenges ahead but asked for all parties to work together to combat those challenges to make the tournament a success.

He told the teams that there will be an official March Past this Sunday and the players must be decked out in their club colours.

Some 78 games are to

be played and among those clubs that will be contesting this time around will be Elite Team Milerock FC and Kwakwani Strikers out of Sub-Region Two of Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) area.

The other clubs are Hi Stars, Coomacka United, Botofago, Blueberry Hill United, Amelia’s Ward Panthers, Winners Connection, Topp XX, Eagles United, Net Rockers, Capital FC and Silver Shattas. Each club can register up to 25 players.

At stake in this tournament once the UDFA secures the corporate sponsorship will be a winners’ purse of $800 000, with the runners-up collecting $400 000, third collecting $200 000 and fourth $100 000.

GCB Women’s Inter-county Thirteen clubs for tourney to start tomorrow UDFA/GFF 2022 League

T20 The T20 section will feature rounds. In round one, matches will be played at Albion Community Centre ground where from 09:00hrs the Select X1 will play Demerara and from 13:30hrs Essequibo will do battle with Berbice.

In round two, matches will be played at Everest Cricket Club (ECC) ground from 09:00hrs when the Select X1 will oppose Essequibo, then from 13:30hrs Demerara will compete against Berbice.

In round three, at ECC ground from 09:00hrs, Essequibo will oppose Demerara

50 Overs In round one, Select X1 oppose Demerara at ECC ground, while Essequibo take on Berbice at Enmore Community Centre ground.

In round two, Demerara play Berbice at Enmore Community Centre ground, whilst Select X1 will compete with Essequibo at ECC ground.

In round three Essequibo will take on Demerara at the Enmore Community Centre ground, while Berbice will oppose the Select X1 at the Albion Community Centre ground.

The teams are as follows: Essequibo: Analesia D’Aguiar, Lavina Ragobeer (wkp.), Kumarie Persaud (captain), Cyanne Retemiah, Navika Narine (vice-captain), Nafeeza Sabar, Devine Ross, Desmona Hill, Natalie Chaitram, Varuni Petambar, Roxanne Hendricks, Engrid Gouveia, Carina Smith, and Ann Francis. Manager is Milenda Cornelius. Coach is Nandkishore Andrews.

Demerara: Laushuna

Toussaint, Latoya Smith, Mandy Mangru, Kavita Yadram, Heema Singh, Akaze Thompson, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Kaysia Shultz, Emalissa Whyte, Lyndia Sylvin, Lessha Jordan, Shameka Edwards, Jo-Ann Vansertima and Tilkaha Madramotto.

Berbice: Shabika Gajnabi (captain), Tremayne Smartt (vice-captain), Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond, Devona Frank, Marian Samaroo, Plaffina Millington, Ashmini Munisar, Dian Prahald, Oma Matadin, Kimmone Thomas, Shemaine Campbelle, Kentana Mentore, Sherica Campbelle. Shemaine Campbelle will join the team on May 19, 2022. Manager is Angela Haniff. Coach is Winston Smith.

Select XI: Adena Smith, Lorraine Williams, Alliya Clarke, Karishma Ramnauth, Trisha Hardat, Leah Kamalall, Kamani Mahadeo, Dharshanie Subramanie, Realanna Grimmond, Jamie Campbelle, Nirveena Ramnauth Renata Liverpool, Kimberly Sookdeo, and Tamar George.

T H E U p p e r D e m e rara Football Association ( U D FA ) o n S a t u r d a y launched its 2022 Senior League tournament at the Linden Mayor and Town Council’s Chambers.

President of the UDFA, Wainwright Bethune, at the launch stated, “We know that this game was on a twoyear hiatus and for reasons that we all know, there was a pandemic for two years. With the support we know that this league will be a success.”

Bethune reported that Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has committed through the Member Football Associations Programme (MFAP) to take responsibilities for all the operational costs in this tournament.

He also stated that the UDFA is pursuing prize-mon-

UDFA president Wainwright Bethune (centre) addresses clubs at the launch

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Capitals stay in mid-table battle after beating Rajasthan

(ESPNCRICINFO) - Delhi Capitals stayed in the mid-table muddle with an important win over Rajasthan Royals that took them to 12 points, two behind the third- and fourth-placed Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

On a sticky pitch they managed to keep Royals down to a par score of 160. Mitchell Marsh, who also took two wickets, led the chase with 89 off 62, letting David Warner play the anchor role on a night he spent most of his innings around a run a ball.

In the innings break, Marsh said it was a difficult pitch to hit boundaries on if the bowlers bowled into the pitch and used the longer boundary. He said it would need a lot of running ones and twos, but still managed to score 62 of his runs in boundaries, seven of them sixes.

If Capitals could set up for a traditional base for the chase, Royals had to be more funky: they used R. Ashwin as pinch anchor, who did score his maiden fifty, but their big hitters Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag couldn’t follow it up with a finishing kick.

For the third game in a row, Capitals were without opener Prithvi Shaw, of whom captain Rishabh Pant said at the postmatch presentation: “We miss him, but at the same time that is something we can’t control because he got typhoid or something like that because doctor told me that. Hopefully he will be back. We don’t know it yet.”

BUTTLER’S RARE FAILURE Jos Buttler has carried the batting for Royals, a side with a short batting line-up and only one toss won in 12 matches, but he was stifled and then taken out for his lowest score this season and his earliest dismissal.

just 14.

ROYALS’ FIERY START Royals needed a good start if they were to entertain defending, and they nearly had the perfect one. Boult removed KS Bharat second ball, Prasidh Krishna followed it up with his third maiden of this IPL, and then Boult had a close lbw shout against Marsh turned down. Samson and Boult felt Marsh might have hit it, but replays showed he hadn’t.

David Warner remained unbeaten on 52 as Capitals coasted to an eight-wicket win (BCCI)

Chetan Sakariya, coming in for the injured Khaleel Ahmed, didn’t give him anything to hit away, and when he saw a full ball finally - the fifth of the third over - all he managed was a hit straight to mid-on. Gone for 7 off 11!

THE PINCH ANCHOR Seeing there was something in the pitch, Royals promoted Ashwin to No. 3 presumably in a bid to use the powerplay overs without necessarily risking a more indispensable - and limited - batting resource, especially with Shimron Hetmyer missing.

Ashwin might have got stuck twice, but on both occasions he came out of the situation. First he responded to a run-a-ball start by hitting Axar Patel for a six and a four in the sixth over. Then he went after Kuldeep Yadav and Sakaria later in the innings to get to a fifty.

He wouldn’t ideally have wanted to bat on for this long as he had begun to go after ev-

erything in the eighth over, but Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Marsh in the ninth over, which delayed Ashwin’s hit-out or get-out charge because you don’t want two new batters at the wicket.

When Ashwin fell for 50 off 38, he left Samson and Parag 35 balls to do damage.

CAPITALS KEEP STRIKING Anrich Nortje and Sakariya, though, bowled two excellent overs at the death to take out Samson and Parag. Samson got too far under the hard length from Nortje, and Parag fell to the back-of-the-hand slower ball from Sakariya.

It was in fact Devdutt Padikkal, batting in the unusual No. 4 position, who kept Royals in the game with his 48 off 30, but when Nortje got him out at the start of the 19th, all of Royals’ measures to prolong their batting were defeated. Rassie van der dussen and Trent Boult faced the last two overs, and managed

THE MARSH SHOW Having been reprieved there, Marsh went on to his reprise knock in the T20 World Cup final last year. He backed himself and didn’t make much of a four-off-12 start - some of the most difficult bowling Marsh said he has faced in T20 cricket - before he launched into his first six, over extra cover off an Ashwin carrom ball.

He picked on Kuldeep Sen with two straight sixes in the seventh over. Warner was still only 12 off 12, but Marsh had raced away to 39 off 28.

Some good fortune came Warner’s way too as he sliced one to long-off off Yuzvendra Chahal but Buttler couldn’t quite get there and then the bail refused to fall when Chahal hit his leg-stump. If it was stutters for Warner, it was smooth acceleration for Marsh.

The highest the asking rate was allowed to reach was 9.4 with five overs to go, but then Marsh ended Ashwin’s night with a six and a four to give him figures of 4-0-32-2 - exactly what they were left needing in the last four overs.

Marsh fell 11 short of a hundred, but Pant brought about a swift end with two sixes in four balls. Warner ended with 49 off 40.

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Guyana Cricket Board practice match …

Beaton 5-for leaves Johnson XI in tatters

RONSFORD Beaton’s five-for shook up the Johnson XI during day three of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) four-day practice match leaving them a mammoth 92 runs for victory with only two wickets in hand.

Beaton, playing for Chanderpaul XI snagged 5 wickets for 60 runs off 13.2 overs to add to the three taken in the first innings as the Johnson XI ended on at 171-8.

He accounted for the dangerous Chandrapaul Hemraj among others in his spell, with support from Kevin Sinclair, Steven Sankar and Gudakesh Motie, who bagged one wicket each.

The lone bright spark in the Johnson XI came at the very top, with a half-century from Tevin Imlach.

Imlach’s 55 (108 balls, 6x4) was the standout performance for the side who never really got a firm partnership going in their second innings.

Leon Johnson’s 18 (51 balls), Keemo Paul’s 21 (12 balls) and Anthony Bramble 20 (29 balls) along with Clinton Pestano’s 34* (20 balls) are the only other double-figure scores thus far for the side; Pestano has Anthony Adams at the crease yet to score.

Resuming the day on 245 for the loss of six, wickets the Chanderpaul XI eventually ended at 346 all out, Tagenarine Chanderpaul himself moving on from his 139 to 163 off 278 balls (21x4, 1x6) before he was dismissed by Demetri Cameron.

Sinclair (1), who opened the day with Chanderpaul provided vital support with 33 (47 balls) along with Motie (31 off 42 balls).

Joshua Jones 3-24 was the pick of the bowlers with Junior Sinclair bagging 2-49 and Paul, Cameron, Pestano, Sylus Tyndall and Anthony Adams each taking one.

The action resumes today at 10:00hrs and this match serves as vital preparation before the Guyana Harpy Eagles return to Trinidad and Tobago for the remaining three rounds of the Regional Four-Day Championship from May 18.

Guyana Harpy Eagles squad: Leon Johnson (captain), Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Chandrapaul Hemraj, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Tevin Imlach, Vishaul Singh, Akshaya Persaud, Anthony Bramble, Veerasammy Permaul, Gudakesh Motie, Nial Smith, Demetri Cameron, Antony Adams, Kevin Sinclair and Ronsford Beaton.

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Thursday May 12, 2022)

COMPLIMENTS OF CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL COMPANY LTD-83 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) Murali Vijay (CSK) (2) Chris Gayle (RCB) Today’s Quiz: (1) Who scored most runs in IPL 2011?

(2) Who struck the highest individual score in IPL 2011?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 12, 2022

Bent Street, not Sparta, will win Magnum Futsal title – Lambert Story on page 26

Bent Street, the defending champions and two-time winners of the Magnum Cup

Werleman re-elected as Caribbean RADO Chairman … Guyana’s Dr Karen Pilgrim returns as Director Story on page 25

Guyana Cricket Board practice match …

Beaton 5-for leaves Johnson XI in tatters

The Caribbean RADO Executive Members

Ronsford Beaton bowls

Printed and Published by Guyana National Newspapers Limited, Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown. Telephone 226-3243-9 (General); Editorial: 227-5204, 227-5216. Fax:227-5208

Story on page 27 THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022