Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 22-01-2022

SATURDAY 22nd JANUARY, 2022

No. 106612

VP Jagdeo: Local Content Law seeks to recoup losses from lopsided Exxon deal

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Wednesday is Budget Day

- oil funds to help finance Budget 2022; major focus on infrastructure, tax reductions, welfare of Guyanese

SEE PAGE

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‘Determined and disciplined mindset helped me prevail’

- says top regional CSEC student Zaynab Shaffie 12

SEE PAGE

A young girl at Parika/Salem, Region Three, during a virtual class at her home (Delano Williams photo)

Norton attempts to direct journalists’ work SEE PAGE

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- does not want focus to be on leadership confusion in PNC/R camp

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

Wednesday is Budget Day

GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

Senior Minister in the Office of the President, Dr. Ashni Singh

AFTER months of preparation, the highly-anticipated national budget of 2022 has been finalised and is slated to be formally presented to the National Assembly on

Wednesday, January 26, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance.

The release, issued on Friday, indicated that the contents of document were

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confirmed after several months of consultations with various stakeholders, including government ministries, members of the private sector and other agencies. These consultations were led by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.

According to the ministry, the upcoming budget is expected to comprise a number of critical developmental programmes and projects designed to catapult government’s agenda of taking the country forward.

“It will also be a continuation of the fast-paced development path which served to be of benefit to citizens all across the country since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic

(PPP/C) entered office on August 2, 2020,” the statement noted.

The 2022 Budget is the third budget presented by the PPP/C administration and the second for Dr. Singh who has been serving as Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance from November 2020 to present.

The first budget was an emergency budget presented in August 2020. This saw the immediate reversal of a number of punitive taxes instituted by the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government among other significant measures while Budget 2021 was a landmark plan that outlined $383.1 billion in developmental initiatives across

all sectors.

The 2021 Budget, presented in February 2021 under the theme ‘A Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamism, and Resilience’ included funding for the construction of various housing schemes and expansion of existing ones, investment in the revitalisation of the country’s sugar industry, programmes in partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders for investment in the tourism and hospitality sector, the construction of a number of new roads and other infrastructure as well as a number of cash grants to citizens that assisted them after the destruction of crops and livestock during the devastating floods of June 2021, a seven per cent increase to the public

sector and several other cash grants throughout the year which, allowed for the stimulation of the economy.

Additionally, the 2021 Budget provided for large injections into the healthcare sector and assistance to frontline health sector workers, as well as the purchases of critical medical supplies including lifesaving coronavirus vaccines.

“The developmental programmes included in the budgets all in all represent the fulfilment of promises made by the PPP/C administration in its 2020 manifesto,” the Finance Ministry said.

The government has since indicated its intention to fulfil every promise made to the citizens of Guyana and for which it was elected to office.

Oil funds to help finance Budget 2022 -major focus on infrastructure, tax reductions, welfare of Guyanese

Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo VICE-President Dr. Bharrat He reminded that Guyana Jagdeo has said that Budget is spending more now on big 2022 will be financed partly capital projects, and as they

by Guyana’s oil revenues. come on stream, the fiscal This will be Guyana’s first deficit may widen. However, withdrawal from the Natural because oil revenues will help Resource Fund (NRF) since to address the deficit, financing Guyana started collecting oil needs will be reduced. revenues in early 2020.

As some have criticised In a virtual interview with the government’s decision to the National Communications make early withdrawals from Network (NCN), Dr. Jagdeo the Fund, the government has said the oil revenues will re- emphasised that it is better to duce Guyana’s reliance on use Guyana’s own resources, borrowing. instead of continuing to build “The fiscal deficit this year up debt, unsustainably. in this budget would be lower A significant part of the than the fiscal deficit in last borrowing, Dr. Jagdeo said, year’s, because, from a financ- started with the previous goving perspective, that means ernment; “$90 billion a year we’d have to borrow less, be- was coming from the domestic cause some of the oil-and-gas market!” revenue will go to replace the As this will not happen to high level of borrowing that such a degree, Dr. Jagdeo said we have had,” Dr. Jagdeo said. that more funds will be left in

the domestic market for private sector lending.

Fortunately for locals, the government expects this to have a favourable effect on interest rates. He said banks will have to be a bit more aggressive in seeking out people to lend to, because they do not have so much ease of lending to the government.

This, the Vice-President said, is part of the government’s strategy to deliver an element of sustainability in finances.

More positive impacts are to be expected from the use of Guyana’s oil revenues, as government has said it will spend from the Fund to make people’s lives easier.

Currently, US$607 million sits in the Fund. While the withdrawal rule restricts withdrawals from the Fund to deposits made in the previous fiscal year, the first schedule of the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 allows for an exception in the first year, giving the government the latitude to withdraw the total balance in the Fund at once.

The Ministry of Finance has said that such a withdrawal is pertinent to addressing Guyana’s pressing development needs.

Budget 2022 will be read on Wednesday, January 26.

Infrastructure, tax reductions, and the overall welfare of Guyanese will take a huge portion of Budget 2022.

MANIFESTO COMMITMENTS The Vice-President said the framework of the budget mirrors the commitment made in the PPP/C’s Manifesto to provide a better life for all Guyanese.

In the area of infrastructure, Dr. Jagdeo said the budget will focus on the future growth of the country.

“New highways, roads, investing in power grids, in ICT; the same things that make our businesses more competitive, so we can generate more jobs and more diverse jobs in agriculture, in ICT and other areas, not just oil and gas,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

The national fiscal plan, he said, will also focus heavily on creating a business-friendly environment, and ensuring there is job creation for all of Guyana’s peoples.

He said the recently passed Local Content Law will be enforced, so that Guyanese will be able to benefit from jobs.

This, he said, will be done by way of “tax reductions, making the business process easier for people and, of course, implementing the Local Content Law, which will bring big benefits to Guyanese.

He added: “You see some countries now trying to muscle in on our opportunities; we are not going to allow that to happen.”

Major focus will also be placed on welfare enhancing

areas, including education and healthcare. In addition, government will be working with Guyanese to find ways of alleviating the rising cost of living.

“On cost of living, we will have to work with communities during the course of the year to see how we can mitigate some of it,” the Vice-President stated.

He said those are some of the factors that influenced the crafting of the budget, which will be more detailed when it is presented to the country.

The national budget will be presented by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.

(DPI)

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

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Police launches investigation into ship found with ammunition

THE Guyana Police Force said it has noted with great concern an online news article which states that a purportedly Guyana registered motor vessel named Eolika has been detained in Dakar, Senegal and the crew arrested, after a search by Customs officials there unearthed a quantity of illegal arms and ammunition.

According to a release, the GPF has launched an immediate investigation into this matter during which officials of the Guyana Maritime Administration Department have confirmed that the vessel was not registered by any competent authority in Guyana.

“The Guyana Police Force is working with regional and international law enforcement agencies and has alerted the INTERPOL General Secretariat with the view to informing all member states, to confirm the veracity of the weapons seizure and to assist in the questioning of one Suneil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of a Company

Inc. that is involved in the registration of motor vessels and with which MARAD had severed ties during last year,” the police release said.

Reports published by TradeWinds, the global shipping news source, reported: “[A] Greekcontrolled general cargo vessel was detained in Senegal with ammunition on board. The 1,400-dwt Eolika (built 1983) was held in Dakar on 27 December with 11 deficiencies.”

It continued: “Domestic reports claim the munitions were only found during a subsequent inspection, but the grounds for detention listed by the Equasis website include dangerous goods — harmful substances [in] packaged form.”

The report further stated that other grounds for detention were non-payment of wages and a fault with the auxiliary engine.

The ships and ports website cited the Senegalese customs agency as saying the Eolika was searched when it stopped to take on fuel.

According to the

ciencies, according to the website.

“It was also inspected in Mykonos, Greece, last October, when four

TradeWinds, the vessel had “inconsistent declarations”, the agency added.

The munitions are reportedly worth $5.2 million, according to the Liberation daily. The four Ukrainian crew members are now in custody as an investigation continues.

The ship had arrived from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

Meanwhile, authori-

ties have estimated the ship to be worth some US$1.38 million and listed its sale last June

by Arch Shipping in the United Arab Emirates.

The Eolika, which flies the Guyana flag, was called Europe until last May. It has been detained four other times in the past four years. In 2018, it spent 52 days in Santander with 17 defi-

faults were found, including deck corrosion, but it was not held,” the TradeWinds website noted.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

Saving Lives

THE Ministry of Health (MoH) is doing an excellent job in making vaccination available to all eligible Guyanese desirous of being vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. This is reflected in the large number of Guyanese who have already been fully vaccinated and those already in receipt of their booster shots.

Despite the best efforts of the ministry to ensure a critical mass of Guyanese are being vaccinated, a significant number of Guyanese still continue to be affected with the virus, and from the look of it there appears to be some correlation between the emergence of the Omicron variant and the recent surge in infection rates. In fact, the number of Guyanese tested positive for the COVID-19 virus was the

highest since the outbreak of the virus nearly two years ago, reaching 1,186 in a single day on January 13, 2022.

This is not unique to Guyana. In neighbouring Brazil, the number of COVID-cases has increased dramatically over the past few weeks, putting pressure on the healthcare system to cope with the numbers. A similar situation is taking place in North America and Europe where infection rates are surging. The World Health Organisation (WHO), in response to the growing crisis, has added two more drugs to its guidelines for recommended treatments for the virus. The drug Baricitinib, which is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical COVID-19, in

combination with corticosteroids, according to a panel of international experts.

The drug reduces the need for ventilation and had been found to improve patient’s chances of survival with no evidence of any increase in adverse reactions. The panel also gave a ‘conditional recommendation’ for sotrovimab, an experimental monoclonal antibody treatment for those with non-severe COVID-19 but at the very highest risk of hospital admission.

Monoclonal antibodies, are lab-created compounds that mimic the body’s natural defence mechanism, according to experts.

The new treatment recommendations come at a time when the pandemic is showing signs of acceleration. More than 15 million new cases of the

COVID-19 virus were reported to the WHO in just one week, by far the most in any week since the outbreak of the virus, driven by the Omicron variant which is replacing the Delta variant almost everywhere.

These are indeed some encouraging news. The drug Baricitinib is produced in the United States and generic variants are available in India and Bangladesh. It is expected that the drug will be made available to other countries soon, especially those in the developing world where high-level intensive care are extremely limited.

The situation is further compounded by the lack of adequate storage capacity for the vaccines. According to UNICEF, more than 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were rejected in December last

while 681 million shipped doses remain unused in about 90 countries due to short shelf-life. This is all the more unfortunate given the fact that just around eight per cent of the eligible population was vaccinated in the poorer countries as compared to 67 per cent in the richer nations. A significant number of those unused vaccines were donations from the COVAX facility. Wealthy countries donating vaccines with a relatively short shelf life has been a major problem for COVAX, according to a source.

There are, however, some encouraging news.

Only recently, a number of new oral treatments were approved by the relevant authorities including Pavlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral pill which showed close to 90 per cent efficacy rates

in terms of prevention of hospitalisations from the COVID-19 virus including the Omicron variant, especially among high-risk patients.

Guyana, unlike many other countries, especially in the developing world, are doing well in terms of hospitalisation rates and according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, the ministry is well prepared to deal with any upsurge as a result of the new Omicron variant. The need however, for Guyanese to be fully vaccinated, cannot be downplayed especially in light of rising infection rates.

And, as pointed out by the WHO, allowing the virus to spread through populations of any age or health status will lead to unnecessary infections, suffering and death.

‘Tik tak’ Lall competing with Norton for attention

Dear Editor, INCONGRUITY has become endemic among Guyana’s talking heads; from ‘tik tak’ performer/ Kaieteur News Publisher Glen Lall to the recycled men now grouped under Article 13 and the PNC’s newly- reformed Leader, Aubrey Norton. There is the commonality of lacking logical flow to arguments, pleas, and statements. A few instances are particularly irksome.

The ‘tik tak’ star/publisher Glen Lall’s irresponsibility has cost his newspaper dearly as he continues to lose libel cases to Winston Brassington.

This has not deterred Lall from making even wilder assertions on the Tik Tok social media platform.

Lall recently organised a protest to pressure the Guyana government to renegotiate the ‘oil deal’ to get a better deal for all Guyanese, however, incongruously, Glen Lall is also against spending a cent of the ‘oil money’ under the NRF Act. How the benefits would then accrue to all Guyanese using Glen’s logic is an unsolvable mystery.

The men of Article 13 want to be consulted on how everything should be done in Guyana, incon-

gruously, the men of Article 13 refuse to face the electorate to acquire that mandate. Forming an association does not translate into a ‘right’ to speak for the masses. I look forward to Article 13 making an effort to gain legitimacy and mandate from the electorate and not the Deeds Registry. I also venture that the men of Article 13 save and except Christopher Ram (who asks for audits of everything #Ram&McRae) would have great difficulty agreeing upon anything among themselves and cannot be considered ‘decision makers’ much less without a democratically

acquired mandate.

The PNC’s new leader, Aubrey Norton, had a presser to call for a ‘people-centred budget 2022’ and asked that the vulnerable in our society be given special consideration and that the budget process be reformed to allow input from the main opposition parties. I applaud his awakening to the plight of those who do not receive monies via money transfer services but must point out the incongruity of his call to assist the vulnerable and his vexed/aggressive stance against cash grants to schoolchildren and pensioners, not to mention

assistance to farmers hurt by recent floods.

Aubrey Norton must surely know that budgets are prepared by governments, ministers set policy, projects, and programmes and the civil service technocrats work out the cost of delivery. The Granger administration’s 1.2 trillion may have been set by Congress Place but that is not how the Irfaan Ali administration functions.

The incongruity of a PNC leader who pontificates one thing during the ‘rumshop gaffs’ in Bam Bam Alley and contradicts himself at Con-

gress Place is only surpassed by the mathematical disability of Glen Lall and the righteous arrogance of the self-appointed men of Article 13. There is a place for consultation in building Irfaan Ali’s One Guyana but it must be with those who possess intellect, logic, and vision and certainly cannot include these selfish, self-centred, self-appointed, egotistic men incapable of making logical arguments. I suggest they ‘humble’ themselves and come again.

Yours sincerely, Robin Singh

GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

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The West Indies management must change from inside out

Dear Mr. Editor RECENTLY we wrote to you describing West Indies’ myopic view of itself as an organisation. Following the publication of the letter, we have received nearly 455 responses via phone messages, text, email and social media shares. The letter was only published yesterday, January 20, 2022. We believe that is a good indication that the letter was having the intended effect.

As such, we I will use this opportunity to highlight a few other issues that are constantly being discussed in rum shops, cricket grounds, on social media, amongst friends, professionals and fans.

First I want to respond to Viv Richards portrayal of the organisation’s failure. I am confident that Viv did not intend to criticize the West Indian Cricket Board for their failure to monitor, supervise, evaluate and recommend necessary as actions to improve the pitch conditions. Yes, he suggested that the problem NOW, is that our wickets are the reason we are not performing. I wonder how Jimmy Adams and company feel about Viv’s comments.

I am equally confident they are angry as hell about Richard’s observation and wish he had not said those things.

What do you think is going on here? Sounds like Viv is blaming the men who prepare the wickets. One cannot blame

the low level grounds keepers for preparing bad pitches. In fact preparing pitches is a science and requires significant knowledge and experience.

Curators they are called, and countries like England hire only the best in the business. Here is a look at what a grounds staff must know: the nature of soil, type of soil, the soil ability to retain moisture under various conditions. For example, how much moisture will this wicket retain after the rains have passed? How will the pitch behave after the covers have been removed? And when watering the wicket, a curator must follow specific formulas that maximise a combination of soil, water, sunshine, humidity, and rolling. Which rollers to use?

What is the output going to look like once watered, and rolled.

Curators of golf courses are similarly trained and educated so that they can deliver the best conditions on the golf course, which often resembles the surface of a pool table. Curators are paid handsome salaries in exchange for the years of experience and education.

Let’s compare how our people of the Caribbean stack up against their English counter parts. Or perhaps we should just let the reader explore that for themselves. My observations about grounds staff in the Caribbean are that most of the staff are running onto the field barefooted, or pants torn, cut, ragged clothes. Is this an

indication of how we treat our grounds people? Do these images convey that they are poorly paid? Do these images convey a sense of professionalism like the English who are in uniform?

My observation leads to this question: Where are these individuals coming from? Have they been handpicked from bystanders on the street corner to come and do a day’s work?

They could not have been part of an organised team of grounds staff, could they?

Following these observations, the readers will then ask “what is the structure of the grounds staff? Who is the director? Who supervises him?

What are the accountabilities and deliverables he is responsible for? Is he a contractor to the West Indies organisation?

If so what are the expectations in terms of creating a playing surface that ensures satisfaction from both teams. Again, I focus on standards and benchmarking to evaluate these performances.

Are we even aware that such metrics exist and can be used in monitoring day to day operations?

If I was Viv Richards I would have knowledge about how the West Indies goes about managing the ground staff. Why has he not shed any light on the issue? To suggest the wickets are not prepared properly also suggests that West Indies management is ultimately responsible for the bad wickets.

Yes or no? Ask yourself, if you

have a gardener who is doing a bad job with your lawn will you continue to use him? Or if you do decide to hire someone new, I am sure you would explain that the previous gardener did a bad job; moreover, you would establish specific expectations, or deliverables, before hiring the new guy, correct?

According to Mr. Richards and several others like the incoming Chairman of selection for Guyana cricket, Rabindranaught Seeram, they all believe that the wickets are the main cause for failures. Yes, I did have a video call last week with Mr. Seeram and he is resigned to the same idea of Richards, but like Richards, Seeram had no solution to the problem. It is not clear how and why prominent individuals continue to identify problems of the West Indies cricket, but do not offer solutions. Is that not a strange thing?

Prominent people within the West Indies organisation have been given responsibilities like a management role without knowing a single thing about management. And in those roles, their lack of education and experience quickly begins to show. We see in Pollard’s case that he has not been trained how to give a press conference, and so we see regular evidence of it on TV. When this happens, we look the other way when it comes to validating, verifying their actual experience in grounds

Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley

recalls the role played by the Barbados Prime Minister in saving Guyana from becoming a dictatorship and calls for continuation of friendly relations between the two countries.

The statement reads: “Our organisation takes immense pleasure to congratulate you, Hon. Mia Mottley, on your massive re-election victory as Prime Minister. Our group commends your party’s splendid performance sweeping all thirty seats in the January 19, 2022 General Elections, unprecedented in your nation.

“You have scripted an ‘impressive victory’ in the general elections. The results are a re-approval of your leadership by the voters.

Guyanese, Caribbean peo-

ple, and the world are most impressed with your victory.

Winning all the seats in a legislature is a magnificent feat. It is a reflection of the overwhelming confidence and awe Bhajans have in your leadership and for the Barbados Labour Party. It is an affirmation for continuance of your work.

“Best wishes for more success as you continue to tackle the responsibilities and challenges of your high office. Your great leadership and work will make your people and region proud.

“Madame PM, our group remembers very well the critical role you played in saving democracy in Guyana in the March 2020 general elections and working closely with the President Irfaan Ali adminis-

tration. We remain grateful to you for your assistance that allowed for the triumph of democracy.

“Our organisation looks forward to the continuation of the close and friendly relations and co-operation between Barbados and Guyana based on mutual benefits.

“We are convinced that, as the Prime Minister of Barbados, you will further strengthen bilateral ties and the friendship between the peoples of our two countries and develop a partnership for development. President Ali has assured of Guyana’s commitment to continuing the friendly ties with Barbados.

“Best wishes for your good health and success at the helm of the new government!”

management. Instead, a man with a lawn mover and weed wacker gets a contract for cutting grass on various Georgetown grounds. Cutting grass is one thing and you do not need a college or university education to be successful, but to deliver world class playing surfaces do need a tonne of experience, and knowledge. Unfortunately, the weed wacker man gets a bigger contract to prepare wickets... and so the issue can be understood throughout the region. Now if you want to know why our pitches are not meeting international standards, look no further. Ask, however, how or when does West Indies management get involved at the granular level to evaluate the problem. Have you ever seen a team of management experts at your local ground talking to ground staff? No. How then will management be able to understand this problem? To fix a problem, one must understand it. Sitting in your offices and staring at computers, or relying on what local so called experts are saying will not deliver the information that will lead to change.

And speaking of change, to regain the support of millions of fans, the West Indies management must change from inside out. Resignations should be pouring in, or heads rolling.

Competent people who care about our cricket are out there.

Find them. It’s time to end this global embarrassment. Let new people establish management standards, accountability, performance expectations and tying performance at every level to compensation. Team failures mean management failure. Teams are operating on management decisions like what data the analyst give players before a match.

Finally, we must stop placing blame, for players are only a partially responsible for any success or failure. Statisticians, analysts, psychologists, coaches and captains must all take responsibility. Everyone mentioned here plays a part in the end result. Analysts in particular, must be evaluated and monitored because I strongly believe they are causing much of the mental problems and lack of clarity for players. I believe that we are trying to emulate what top teams are doing but we do not know what we are doing simply because we put people in positions that they are unqualified for.

Respectfully, Gopaul. S Rampersaud Chapel Hill NC USA To contact: gopaulzcornelia@gmai.com or whatsapp 802-299-5394

Dr Yesu Persaud NY Guyanese Group Commends never lost the Barbadian PM on Re-election common touch

By Vishnu Bisram

THE New York-based Guyana Democracy Project (NYGDP) issued a statement on Thursday commending the Prime Minister of Barbados on her re-election. NYGDP commits to championing democracy in Guyana. The statement

Dear Editor,

GUYANA, Caribbean and the global community is poorer for the loss of an outstanding visionary with many plans executed with successes, for many, globally.

During 1975-1979, I served with Yesu as founding directors at Guyana Co-operative Insurance Services, Main Street, Georgetown, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Harold Wilkinson, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance.

Since my departure from Guyana in 1979, I stayed connected with Yesu and met him at the

Pegasus Hotel on my trips to Guyana.

Dr. Yesu is/was a “Man for All Seasons” with his private, public and philanthropic activities, who never lost the common touch. Rest in peace, esteemed brother, Dr. Yesu, for your most distinguished services, in all your varied endeavours.

Our condolences to his family, Guyana, and friends with God, Bhagwan and Allah’s graces, will and blessings.

Dr. Shamir Ally North Carolina, USA.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

Chronicles of a Chronic Guyana Chronicler

Part 7: 20th Century ‘Lockdown Saturdays’ in GT

By Earl Bousquet

WORKING in Guyana in the mid-1990s, after putting the Mirror newspaper to bed every Friday, my next day would be Lockdown Saturday – nothing to do with anything like a ‘COVID-1990’, just the day I exhaled and cleansed my spirit with selected Demerara spirits at my favourite watering hole.

It was simply a personalised therapeutic method of locking oneself away after five days -- and nights -- of living the rigid life of a Caribbean journalist accustomed to living and working in different places at different times.

I’d start-off the day’s therapy at Yip Sin (a small Chinese restaurant-and-bar opposite Freedom House on Robb Street), the actual verbal and virtual offloadingand-reloading featuring Hot Talk on Hot Topics over NotSo-Soft drinks, with Mouthwatering and Finger-lickinggood snacks between Meaty soups and Saucy variants of the Talk-of-the-Town, as reflected on the front pages of the weekend’s newspapers.

The always-spirited dra-

ma often featured regulars, the likes of my ‘over-theriver’ friend Haroun Hussain, Neil Kumar, Kellawan ‘Peck’ Lall (and many like others) virtually ‘Called to the Bar’ after the morning’s political meetings to debate and argue (not ‘discuss’) different contemporary political issues in the Court of Guyanese Public Opinion.

By the end of each fourhour session, I’d head home with a treasure trove of topics for consideration for the next week’s articles, opinions and commentaries.

Some 28 years later in GT ahead of Christmas 2021, I didn’t get a real chance to check if Yip Sin’s replacement bar was still around, so I opted instead to do the next best thing: take Yip Sin to my hotel room, the select Demerara Spirits and varied Foods for Thought ordered through the front desk receptionist, including a hearty request for ‘as many old newspapers you can find…’

Back in Yip Sin time, Guyana Chronicle and Stabroek News were the only two dailies and between David DeCaires and Sharief Khan, their pages reflected news, issues and opinions

on all issues, each clinging to its mandate as a state-owned and private newspaper, respectively.

Stabroek News editorials and DeCaires’ opinions, alongside those of literary chroniclers like Ian Mc Donald and a host of other contributors, were absolutely and loudly critical when necessary, but always respectful in content and argument, giving the widest elasticity possible to the concept of a Free Press in the then-emerging digital age when computers started to replace typewriters in editorial departments and information started becoming available between fingers and keyboards, faster than the stroke of any pen.

Like everywhere else where life is given to buried natural resources, the speed of new changes outpaces the society’s ability to adjust, resulting in the discussions and debates remaining anchored in the past instead of visioning the future – so that, the differences between the major parties is more about which feels it can do better in office, than how they can see the same future with different eyes and work together when and where

possible, in joint national interests, learning lessons from the past to better shape the future.

The handling of oil by Dr Eric Williams’ People’s National Movement (PNM) in neighbouring Trinidad & Tobago after Independence is a living story pregnant with lesson for Guyana today.

The ‘Doc’ insisted ‘Oil can’t spoil’ while workers and peasants were split between ‘Sugar and Rice’-and for a good while T&T reigned as the only oil economy in CARICOM and its richest member-state, the political directorate(s) watering a sort of insular nationalism that led Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to remind fellow memberstates that ‘Trinidad & Tobago is not the Caribbean’s ATM machine!’

But oil did eventually start to spoil in the postWilliams era, in ways that didn’t smell well for too many of those middle and upper-class wage-earning and private sector citizens who’d become accustomed to flying to shop in Miami, weekend parties in New York and Toronto, Playing Mas in London and generally ‘cutting style’ on other CARICOM neighbours with blue hundred-dollar bills lining their purses and wallets.

Venezuela’s experiences

in the post-Hugo Chavez era, when his Bolivarian Socialist administration started paying dearly very early for daring to take drastic steps to ensure earnings from the nation’s oil riches reached and benefitted the most-needy, is another free catalogue of lessons for Guyana today.

I later flipped-through the pages of two copies of the previous weekend’s newspapers (Kaieteur News of December 17, 2021 and Guyana Chronicle of December 18, 2021) -- and after a perusal with pen-and-paper in and on hand, I stoutly resisted just sliding into a Yip Sin-type ‘Back to the Future’ moment by coming to a much-too-early judgement of the extent to which the respective headlines could be an accurate yardstick for measurement of the present, or even a fleeting or flying weather vane or windsock signal for Guyana’s future.

Here’s why…

One paper featured frontpage headlines focusing on political and financial controversies such as Cost Overruns by a foreign exploring firm, ‘Domination of Oil Fund Committees’ by Government, ‘PPP/C Pays US $10M for Helicopter, Before Tender Board Approved Deal’ and ‘Minister Given Power to Waive Oil Companies’ Compliance

Earl Bousquet with Targets in Local Content Bill’...

The other highlighted ‘More Than 1,000 Jobs To Be Created’, a multimillionUS-dollar investment in a ‘Multipurpose Fuel facility’, ‘$1.58 Billion (Guyana) in Contracts Terminated in 2020 For Poor Performance’, a ‘Modern, 11-storey Police Station to Replace Burnt-out Brickdam Structure’, ’40 Housing Units in Linden to be Constructed by February 2022’ and ‘New NRF Bill Dismantles APNU+AFC’s Architecture for Ministerial Involvement and Interference; Strengthens Transparency and Oversight’.

Nothing I read offered hope that in the current political dispensation there would soon be any chance of a multilateral revisiting by political stakeholders -first and foremost -- of the cumulative and accumulated lingering effects of historical approaches to Governance of Guyana that haven’t worked over six decades of division.

But the eternal optimist in me still has hope, if only because I never hope against hope! (ends)

Norton attempts to direct journalists work

- does not want focus to be on leadership confusion in PNC/R camp SEVERAL members of the media on Friday took Leader of the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) Aubrey Norton to task over his avoidance of the media and refusal to respond to questions over what is going on with the various leadership positions in the main opposition party.

As questions were fielded at the PNC/R weekly press conference, Norton was asked about issues surrounding the uncertainty over the leadership of the APNU+AFC, the Leader of the Opposition (LOO) post, and the Representative of the List of APNU+AFC, of which the PNCR is the larg-

PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton est member.

Stabroek News journalist Marcelle Thomas was the

first to call Norton out, noting that she has been making several efforts to contact him to no avail.

She highlighted the fact that Norton has been outright avoiding answering questions about his party’s leadership confusion.

“This is a question that the public is interested in.

The thing is, Mr. Norton, my newspaper has been trying to get you for the longest; we have messaged, we have called, but you are not making yourself accessible. You don’t pick up your calls,” Thomas said.

In his defence, Norton said he was disappointed that the media chose to ask TURN TO PAGE 14

GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

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PUC awarded over $53M to consumers in 2021

THE Public Utilities Commission (PUC) awarded $53,407,551 in credits to consumers from the various utility companies in 2021, with 88.8 per cent of the payments being from the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL).

GPL was ordered to pay out a total of $47,881,088.00 while the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) had to hand over $3,928,712 and the Guyana Water Inc (GWI), $1,597,751. No amounts were awarded against Digicel or E-Networks, which are the other utility companies monitored by the PUC. The monies were awarded to consumers by the service providers mainly for adjustments due to incorrect billing to the customers’ accounts, breaches of standards and as rebates.

The PUC considered the payouts as being one

PUC Complaints Manager, Destra Bourne of its biggest achievements for the 2021 period, where it was also able to place stronger emphasis on the efficiency of the operators and their quality of service. The Commission also worked with the service providers to ensure that new statutory areas of reporting to the Commission were met.

For the year, the Commission received 529 complaints from consumers,

and was also able to resolve 88 per cent of the complaints, and believed that was due to the Commission having rekindled collaborative efforts with the various service providers to expedite the resolution of matters filed against them “88 per cent of all complaints received in 2021 were resolved despite challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the highest rate of resolution for the past five years,” PUC Complaints Manager, Destra Bourne, said.

For yet another year GTT racked up the most consumer complaints at the PUC accounting for 65 per cent or 344 of the complaints received for the year. However, 333 or 97 per cent of those complaints have since been resolved.

GPL had the second largest number of complaints—127 – lodged against it at the PUC in 2021. Of those complaints,

61 per cent were resolved by the end of December 2021 Fifty-three complaints were lodged against GWI, of which all but four have been resolved. Digicel had five complaints while there were no complaints against E-Networks for the period.

The PUC explained that the complaints were mainly due to billing issues.

“Billing issues formed the majority of complaints filed against GPL and GWI. Of the 344 complaints filed against GTT, 68 per cent related to technical issues.

With respect to Digicel, all complaints received were technical in nature,” Bourne informed.

Responding to questions on what GTT is doing to address its continuous position as the company with the most complaints, GTT Chief Executive Officer, Damien Blackburn, noted that the majority of the complaints against the company had to do with its

DSL service.

According to Blackburn, the company is trying to directly address this by expanding the coverage of its alternative and upgraded fibre network, and getting more customers to switch to that service from the DSL. “We’re working very hard to reduce the number of complaints, not just at the PUC but any complaints we receive. Our mission is to make all of our customers happy. We are very committed to doing that and made massive strides in reducing the backlog of repairs by two thirds by the end of November and we’re working to further reduce it in Q1 [of 2022],” Blackburn said in an interview on Friday.

Blackburn noted that, notwithstanding the high number of complaints, the company did make some progress in reducing the rate of complaints during the fourth quarter of last

GTT CEO, Damien Blackburn year.

“We’ve made significant progress since we launched our customer promise to reliably connect customers and the PUC complaints were reduced by 55 per cent in Q4 compared to earlier in the year. That’s as a result of all of our efforts in that regard and it’s not the end of the journey,” Blackburn said.

Foreigner jailed, two Guyanese remanded for $14M ganja ‘bust’

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A SEAMAN from the Dominican Republic, was, on Friday, sentenced to four years, six months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to trafficking $14 million worth of cannabis, while his two Guyanese co-accused were remanded to prion.

Fredy Diaz Cabrera, a 56-year-old whose local address was given as Montrose, East Coast Demerara; the mother of his child, Epiphany McLennan called “Tiffany” of ‘B’ Field Sophia and Eustace Rodrigues called “Fine-Man”, 45, of Albouystown appeared before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Cabrera and McLennan were charged jointly for trafficking 16.046 kilograms of cannabis, on January 19, at Guyana National Industrial Company Incorporated (GNIC) Wharf on Lombard Street, Georgetown. Cabrera opted to plead guilty to the charge, while McLennan, in entering a not guilty plea, told the court she knew nothing about the narcotics.

Rodriguez was charged

GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

(From left) Epiphany ‘Tiffany’ McLennan, Eustace Rodrigues, and Fredy Diaz Cabrera separately. He denied that, on January 18, 2022, at his Albouystown home, he had the said amount of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Cabrera in his address to the court, claimed that he met with Rodrigues on January

18, at Albouystown, and was allegedly given the cannabis to traffick to Barbados.

In his plea for leniency, he disclosed that he previously served a two-year sentence in a United States prison for trafficking cocaine, but was released early

in 2001.

After considering his plea, the magistrate sentenced him to serve four years, six months in prison together with a fine of $14 million. Rodriguez and McLennan were later remanded to prison until February 25.

A release from the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) had stated that ranks attached to the Special Operations Section were con-

ducting a narcotics operation onboard a foreign-registered vessel on Wednesday, January 19, which was slated to leave Port Georgetown later in the day with a shipment of cement.

However, during the search, CANU ranks unearthed parcels of suspected cannabis throughout the vessel.

The parcels, along with the vessel’s 19 member crew which included

Cabrera, were taken to the CANU headquarters, where the narcotic was tested and confirmed to be marijuana – a foreign type known as ” creepy ” with a total weight of 16.046 kgs (36 lbs.)

The street value of the drug is approximately $14M (US$68,293) which would have increased if the drug had reached its intended destination.

GPF partners with CIOG, US Embassy to host COVID-19 vaccination drive GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

THE Guyana Police Force (GPF), in collaboration with the United States Embassy’s Military Information Support Team and the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), on Friday, hosted a COVID-19 vaccination drive for its ranks at the Police Officers’ Mess Hall, Eve Leary.

According to Superintendent Shivpersaud Bacchus, the initiative was birthed as a way to give ranks access to a COVID-19 vaccination site that would allow them to quickly take their vaccine or booster shot.

Government has been rolling out an aggressive

COVID-19 vaccination programme that targets persons 12 years and over.

The vaccines being offered are the US-made Pfizer, the Russian-made Sputnik V; the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine and the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine.

According to Bacchus, even though permanent vaccination sites were established across the country, many ranks have to take time off from duty to get vaccinated. He said that in some cases, they had to leave the site because of the amount of persons who were waiting in line.

He stated that it was with this in mind that the idea for the vaccination site to be set up at the

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police headquarters was birthed.

“We saw it fit to host this drive because we have seen ranks requesting time off. They get dressed in their uniform and have to stand in lines for their vaccines or boosters only to be told that they would have to return. So, we decided that we should host a drive so that our ranks can get the necessary vaccine or booster shots, in an environment that they’re comfortable in,” said Bacchus.

He noted that while the vaccination drive was created with the GPF ranks in mind, it was open to all other persons including persons from the joint forces and civilians.

Superintendent Shivpersaud Bacchus and leader of the Military Information Support Team of the United States Embassy, David Giraldo Bacchus stated that the force intends to make this a regular event so as to facilitate the varying timelines for ranks

requiring their booster doses. He noted that the collaboration will continue throughout the first quarter of the year so as

living in Bartica, Region Seven and Port Kaituma, Region One. He noted that the embassy saw the need for such a programme after noticing a severe lack in mental health training within several communities across the country, largely in the hinterland.

“One of the points in our training is to realise what triggering events are and to realise that you’re going to think differently after triggering events. So currently in their world there are a lot of triggering events [like] getting COVID-19 or losing a loved one to COVID-19 [or] losing your job. Breaking up all of these are triggering events. These trainings are especially important now because we have seen in the world as a whole and in Guyana that suicides have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

FREQUENT TRAINING

Staton stated that while the initiative has been able to impact over 200 persons, the team intends to increase the frequency of the sessions as part of its efforts to impact more people.

He noted that one of the major issues faced while facilitating the training is social distancing, which minimises the number of persons that could be trained at a time.

“In all honestly the training is more effective in smaller groups because then there’s more interaction with the instructor, so maybe it’s a good thing that we can’t teach groups of 70-80 people and stick to 40 because it means that more people can come up and talk to the instructor afterward.”

He disclosed that the team intends to host similar training programmes during the first quarter of 2022 in Skeldon, Region Six and Wakenaam, Re-

to ensure that all ranks of the GPF are able to become fully vaccinated and to take their booster shots.

US Embassy to host mental health training for 40 Lindeners COGNISANT of the raising level of suicides worldwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Civil Affairs arm of the United States Embassy will be hosting a one-day mental health training programme today at Kara Kara, Linden.

This is according to the team’s leader, Aaron Staton, who told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, that about 40 residents are expected to benefit from the programme.

He explained that it will focus on resiliency training, which is designed to reduce suicide rates.

Staton stated that the training will equip the participants with the necessary tools to analyse triggering events and create healthy coping and resolution situations.

According to him, peer teaching is one of the goals of the programme as the idea is for participants to become

Civil Affairs arm of the United States Embassy’s team leader, Aaron Staton – Delano Williams photo equipped with the necessary tools to teach other persons in their communities how to use resiliency training to combat suicide.

Staton told this publication that so far, the embassy’s Civil Affairs arm has provided similar training to over 200 persons

gion Three, after recognising a high number of deaths by suicide in both communities.

Meanwhile, as the team continues its quest to take the training across the country, Staton told this publication that plans are underway to collaborate with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to include teachers in the training sessions.

He noted that equipping teachers with this type of knowledge would greatly benefit the school system as it would equip them with the necessary tools to address issues facing learners. “ We ’ v e a l r e a d y met with the MoE to talk about the initiative. They took the slide shows that we teach and they’re reviewing it then they’re going to get back to us and we’re going to train the trainers who will go teach other teachers themselves,” he added.

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‘Determined and disciplined mindset helped me prevail’ - says top regional CSEC student Zaynab Shaffie

Zaynab Shaffie graduating from Queen’s College

PREPARING for an examination, especially one that can alter your future career and plans, can be stressful. However, it could be double the anxiety and nervousness, if it is written during a global pandemic.

For 16-year-old Queen’s College student Zaynab Shaffie, preparing for the 2021 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination was not an easy task. When she received her outstanding results, she was, in fact, surprised that she had obtained 18 Grade Ones and two Grade Twos.

An even bigger surprise was in store for Shaffie, as she recently learnt that she was named the overall outstanding student by the

Caribbean Examination Council (CXC).

“When I got it [the results] I was extremely elated, but then at the same I was in a state of befuddlement, because I actually did that… I was perplexed because I didn’t expect it,” the teen said.

She emphasised that the preparation process was no walk in the park, since she had encountered some difficulty adjusting to the new mode of learning, like many children across the world.

“Everybody was trying to adjust to this new mode of learning, and it wasn’t like the same, of course.

And I feel like we just comprehend a lot more when we are actually in the classroom, and that put everybody off track a little,” Zaynab said, adding: “With regard to studying, that part was a bit ‘iffy’ because some of the resources were psychical, and then you had some of them being Online, and it was hard to make it work together.”

She noted that her anxieties and fears of the pandemic were further heightened when it was announced that students would have to return to the normal face-to-face classes. “ Yo u n e v e r k n o w when you could contract the virus; you can contract it leaving your home or returning home, while you’re at school, and, of course, that could have affected your ability to write the exams,” Zaynab said.

Despite her worries, she managed to prevail, with a determined and disciplined mindset.

The most important aspect for her was managing her time, she said.

“I think balance is very important. When we have examination, we tend to go over the top and really push ourselves; we can have a lot of late nights,

and being sleep-deprived, and what’s not.”

Her advice to her peers is that when preparing for an examination, persons should not overwork themselves but should rather create a balance to manage their health, life and academics.

“I think it’s very important to take some time back for yourself; this is something for the longrun, and you don’t want to damage your health, and then you are going to regret it later,” Zaynab said, adding: “It is important to take care of yourself, and it’s also important to chase your goals. So, you just have to have some sort of balance in between.”

The teen noted that she is not the only winner in this achievement, since she had many great motivators and teachers to guide her.

“Firstly, of course, I owe my gratitude to Allah, for He made this all possible. I’d also like to thank my parents, albeit, the absence of my dad due to his passing; my grandparents, aunt, and uncle,” she said, adding: “I am indebted to all of the teachers who have imparted knowledge to me, and as they are too numerous to name, I’ll just mention a few: Mr. Yamin, Sir Mohan, Sir Chabbilall, Mr. Hardyall, Ms. Benn, Ms. Cave and Miss Sally.”

She also used the opportunity to thank her fellow students and friends who were extremely supportive.

Meanwhile, Zaynab indicated that her next step will be to continue her academic pursuits.

The teen stated that she will be returning to the classroom to pursue Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) studies, and later a tertiary education at an overseas university.

Schools to receive ‘report cards’ on performance

GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

MoE Assistant Chief Education Officer (Inspectorate), Saddam Hussain

By Tamica Garnett PUBLIC schools across Guyana are soon going to be given “report cards” based on performance and quality output as part of a new system that will be implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE) Inspectorate Unit, which is expanding with the hiring of approximately 200 new field inspectors.

In a sit down with the Guyana Chronicle earlier last week, Assistant Chief Education Officer (Inspectorate), Saddam Hussain, explained that the employment of the new field inspectors is part of efforts to improve the work of the Inspectorate Unit to hold schools accountable to work.

“In all we are looking to train about 200 field inspectors but for this year in all we expect to have about 75 field inspectors. This will be people who are experts in nursery, primary and secondary, people who are part of the education system, or have retired, and have special skills. They will be recruited, trained, tested and appointed to serve as field inspectors,” he explained.

He added: “There were some areas which the inspectorate could not have inspected because we don’t have the kind of people in the unit that could do so.

With the field inspectors, we could now get somebody and go inspect a Home Economics Department, and IT Department, or an entire nursery literacy or numeracy because the field inspectors will be people skilled in that, nursery literacy, numeracy.”

The Inspectorate Unit is the arm of the Education Ministry which looks at

quality assurance issues at schools throughout the country.

“We look at the schools and try to figure out how close they are in terms of policy to the ministry’s policy. Figure out whether the schools are using the best practices in education,” said Hussain.

REVAMP He noted that the hiring of the field inspectors was also part of the work to revamp the Inspectorate Unit.

“This year we are going on a restructured platform.

We are going with a new methodology. Previously, we went to a school and focused on the records and documents kept by the schools and not doing an intrusive inspection into what is happening at the schools,” Hussain explained.

This new method of inspection will also see the Inspectorate Unit surveying parents as well as students to get a holistic understanding of the quality of teaching and learning at schools across the country.

From this, the Inspectorate Unit will create a “report card” for each school, which will be made public.

“Going forward, each school will have a rating, just like how people can rate a product on a website,” he noted, adding: “When we go to our new dispensation we will have our inspectors sit in the classroom and look at the teachers teaching. We want to see what are the good practices being done, what are the weak spots and then this information will be fed to our training division or the ministry to develop programmes to fix deficiencies.”

He noted that emphasis will also be placed on the physical infrastructure of schools and through this new method there will be improvement in how issues at schools are detected and dealt with.

ACCOUNTABILITY All will be held more accountable for deficient areas under their authority.

Hussain hopes that schools will see the unit as an agency that they can work along with to bring improvement to all the schools and noted that schools will be consulted throughout the process.

“Before we go to the school we say that we are coming and that we are

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looking at x, y and z; that’s two weeks in advance and then we do our inspection and write the report but before we do anything to the report, it goes back to the school for their approval.

Once they approve and we come to a mutual understanding then we give our report to the MoE and the public,” Hussain explained.

This information will be available on the website of the Inspectorate Unit, which is also currently being upgraded to make it more user-friendly to parents and students as well as staff of the ministry.

The expansion in staff of the unit will also allow for an increase in the number of schools visited per

year.

Guyana has some 1,175 public schools; however, the Inspectorate Unit only has scheduled visits for 125 schools this year. All of the schools are inspected in a five year cycle.

Hussain explained that even outside of the schools scheduled for visits by the Inspectorate

Unit, all of the schools across the country are still visited throughout the year by the various District Education Officers (DEO) of each region. They are tasked with school inspections.

The DEOs are tasked with sending reports to the Inspectorate Unit on a monthly basis.

Local Content Law seeks to recoup losses from lopsided Exxon deal

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

-VP Jagdeo

THE 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil has been widely criticised for its lopsidedness. But with the passage of the local content legislation, Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said the law now recoups the benefits lost from the Exxon deal.

“This has suddenly made Guyanese companies very attractive, and Guyanese nationals who will be registered there,” the Vice-President said during an interview on the National Communications Network (NCN) on Friday afternoon.

“There is more money to give to support our people more, and to expand the opportunities; that is what I

mean by transferring some of our wealth to people, “ he said, adding: “We can’t build the FPSOs, but apart from the royalty that we get, apart from the share of profit oil, we have to get some of the business opportunities. That is how you seek to rebalance the lopsided agreement; by forcing some of the business opportunities to come to our people.”

Dr. Jagdeo reminded that the Local Content Act demands oil-and-gas companies, their contractors and sub-contractors to hire/ procure goods, services and employment from Guyanese companies and Guyanese nationals. Outlined in the first schedule of the Act are 40 different services that the aforementioned parties must utilise by the end of 2022.

For instance, companies must procure from Guyanese companies 90 per cent of the office space rental and accommodation services; 90 per cent janitorial services, laundry and catering services; 95 per cent of the pest control services; 100 per cent of the local insur-

ance services; 75 per cent of the local supply of food; and 90 per cent of the local accounting services.

Importantly, the definition of a Guyanese and a Guyanese company is clearly defined to avoid foreign companies disguising themselves as locals.

FROM PAGE 8 questions about his party’s leadership, and not focus instead on issues that he would prefer that they focus on, particularly his statements on the upcoming 2022 National Budget.

However, the journalists refused to back down from Norton’s avoidance of the issues.

“You commented on media not asking questions [about your statement]. How do you move on to serious

issues when you are refusing to address, what I would say, is a leadership confusion in the Opposition,” Thomas pointed out.

She added: “Mr. Norton, sometimes you are not easy to communicate with; you put up an aggressive front that doesn’t make for easy engagement of the press at all. The press is trying to get information from you, as leader of the PNCR, which is the largest party in the Coalition. There seems to be

this whole confusion with the whole makeup [of your party] right now; you have a leader of the biggest party who is not the Opposition Leader, who is not the Representative of the List, who is having talks, who is not giving the press any information on those talks. You haven’t even given us a timeframe for when these issues would be resolved; we can only ask questions, but then you get upset when we ask questions.”

Questions on leadership in the Opposition have been swirling since Norton became leader of the PNC/R in December.

KEPT IN THE DARK With it being customary for the leader of the party to also simultaneously hold a number of other leading positions such as Leader of the Opposition (LoO), Leader of the APNU+AFC coalition, and Representative of the List for the APNU+AFC, the public is in the dark as

Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

“We don’t have to build the capacity there,” the VicePresident pointed out. “We believe that we can supply those goods and services now; this could be US$400 million to US$600 million in a year in those areas that we have carved out for our people already. This is before we start any training; and now we are establishing a training institute from this budget, and we have set aside money to train welders and everyone else.”

He said that as training continues and capacity is built, the list of services outlined in the first schedule of the Act will expand. Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat has aired similar sentiments, noting that though the Bill has been passed, the government will continue to hold consultations on how to further strengthen the Act for the country’s benefit.

“The local content law is very strong; we sat and we worked through this. This is a pledge that we made; I remember that when we were in opposition, we talked about this. We were pushing the then government to do this, but they didn’t do any of this to protect our people; this is huge for our people now,” Dr. Jagdeo related.

Importantly, no other country has been able to lead in the oil-and-gas industry as Guyana, the Vice-President highlighted. He linked this to the fact that the government was able to enact a local content law in its first year in office.

Regarding the implementation of the local content legislation, work has already begun to create the two Local Content Registers that deal with the provision of goods and services. (DPI)

to what is going on in the PNC/R camp.

Despite Norton being leader of the party, he is not a Member of Parliament (MP).

Joseph Harmon, who is currently the LoO, is not even an executive member of the PNC/R. Harmon would have run against Norton for the PNCR Leader position in the party’s elections last month, but had lost to Norton. Since Harmon was not vying for any other position, he was left out of the party’s executive body. However, according to reports, it was thought that Harmon would have been coopted into the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC); however, only Norton has the power to make that call.

Newsroom journalist Kurt Campbell questioned Norton about this issue, but, again, Norton swerved from giving a direct answer, and would only say that the party is still having internal discussions on the issue.

“The party intends to treat these matters as internal matters; we will discuss, and when we think it is necessary that the press be informed, we will inform the press.

We are not in the business of allowing the press to dictate what we say, when we say it, and how we say it,” Norton

said.

However, Norton did seem to confirm that Harmon has not been coopted, noting that: “Anybody we have coopted we have informed the press.”

In his first press conference as leader of the PNC/R, Norton had indicated that the CEC had made the decision that he should also be the LoO. However, only the Representative of the List can make that decision, and, yet again, there is conflict.

Former President David Granger is currently the Representative of the List.

Granger is also Leader of the APNU+AFC, being Norton’s predecessor as Leader of the PNC/R. However, the leader of the PNC/R is customarily the leader of the APNU+AFC coalition as well.

Questioned about this issue, Norton again sidestepped the question and commented that the press should focus on other matters.

“I promise that at the appropriate time, I will update the press on the situation you refer to,” he said.

Notwithstanding the current situation, Norton has denied that there is confusion in the party’s leadership. He also denied being inaccessible to the media.

Norton attempts to direct work of..

Alleged purse thief remanded GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

DENISE Hilliman, called ‘Denise King’ and ‘Joy’, who allegedly stole a woman’s purse which had in excess of $600,000, was, on Friday, remanded to prison.

Hilliiman of Lamaha Park, Georgetown, was arraigned before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and pleaded not guilty to the simple larceny charge.

Particulars of the charge alleged that, on January 17, 2022, at Robb

Street Georgetown, she stole US $3,070, along with $70,000 from Maylin Ortiz Rodriguez.

The unrepresented woman returns to court on March 25, 2022.

According to reports, on the day in question, Rodriguez was shopping in a Robb Street store when she realised that her purse was missing, Rodriguez made checks around the store but did not find it.

She subsequently reported the matter to the police, who reviewed

footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside the store.

The officers allegedly observed Hilliman removing the victim’s purse and exiting the store.

Hilliman, who is known to the police, was later arrested. During a search of her shoulder bag, $65,700 was found.

Under caution, Hilliman, who is a vendor, told the police that she was in the Robb Street area but did not steal the woman’s purse and money.

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Denise Hilliman, called ‘Denise King’ and ‘Joy’

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CWI president to attend Berbice Cricket Board annual awards ceremony

IN another momentous move by the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), current Cricket West Indies (CWI) president

CWI president Ricky Skerritt

Richard 'Ricky' Skerritt has been chosen to be the Guest Speaker at the Brian Ramphal Awards ceremony on April 24.

According to a release from BCB yesterday, the Board will host its annual Awards ceremony for players, clubs, and officials at the St Francis Community Centre from 13:00hrs.

Several outstanding players and long-serving officials would be honoured by the BCB while the historic Berbice Cricket Umpires Hall of Fame would also be opened.

“We are very delighted to inform the general public that for the first time a president of CWI would be in the Ancient County,” said BCB president Hilbert Foster, who is also a CWI director.

“The BCB continues to create history as we (the officials) forge ahead with the development of the game. Several major announcements would also be made shortly about the Brian Ramphal Awards Ceremony,” the release added.

Next month, BCB will have the services of the great Sir Curtly Ambrose to conduct a fast-bowling clinic in the county.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

Windies crash out of U19 World Cup

(CMC) - Hosts West Indies crashed out of the ICC Under-19 World Cup after suffering a disappointing three-wicket defeat to unbeaten Sri Lanka in their final Group D game here yesterday.

Starting the morning at Conaree Sports Club needing a big victory in order to qualify for the Super League quarter-finals, Rising Stars failed to muster the effort required. The defeat left them third in the group behind winners Sri Lanka on six points and second-placed Australia on four points.

Sent in, West Indies Under-19 gathered a competitive 250 for nine off their 50 overs, debutant Kevin

Wickham top-scoring with 56 from 91 deliveries, Jordan Johnson striking 47 from 56 balls and Teddy Bishop along with wicketkeeper Rivaldo Clarke stroking 45 each.

In reply, opener Sadisha Rajapaksa underpinned the run chase with an excellent 76 off 115 deliveries as Sri Lanka Under-19 overhauled their target with ten balls to spare.

Anjala Bandara carved out 40 from 52 balls while Shevon Daniel struck a busy 34 from 33 deliveries but it was Ranuda Somarathne, who belted an unbeaten 28 from 27 balls and sealed the win for the Asian side.

“I think the fielding let us down today,” said stand-in

captain Giovonte Depeiza, deputising for Ackeem Auguste for the second straight game.

“We didn’t save enough runs in the field or take the catches. I think the catches were very important at crucial stages. We dropped (Rajapaksa) who scored the runs.

“We really batted well.

We put a good score on the board with the wicket. I think just 20 more runs on that wicket would have been a better game but we really fought hard.”

Not for the first time, Rising Stars lost both openers Matthew Nandu (7) and Shaqkere Parris (16) cheaply to be 34 for two in the ninth over before Wickham

inspired two successive half-century stands to rebuild the innings.

A right-hander called up from the reserves as one of two temporary replacements for Onaje Amory and Jaden Carmichael who tested positive for COVID-19, Wickham put on 68 for the third wicket with Bishop before adding a further 58 for the fourth wicket with Johnson.

Bishop hammered seven fours before falling in the 27th over while Wickham counted five fours and a six before he was fourth out in the 38th.

Johnson, who punched four fours and six, rallied the innings in a 34-run, fifth-wicket partnership with

Rivaldo Clarke who then blasted two fours and four sixes in a 35-ball cameo as he put on 46 for the eighth wicket with McKenny Clarke (21 not out), after three wickets tumbled for eight runs in the space of nine balls.

Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage proved outstanding, picking up three for 39 from his ten overs.

In reply, left-arm seamer Nathan Edwards removed Chamindu Wickramasinghe for four to the fifth ball of the innings with four runs on the board but Rajapaksa stitched together several partnerships to keep Sri Lanka’s run chase intact.

The right-hander counted only five fours but added

52 for the second wicket with Daniel, 40 for the third with Liyanage (9), 78 for the fourth with Bandara and 25 for the fifth with captain Dunith Wellalage (15).

By the time Rajapaksa perished in the 40th over, lbw to seamer Isai Thorne (2-41), Sri Lanka required a further 52 from 62 balls and Somarathne staged a 33-run, seventh-wicket stand with Raveen De Silva (13), to deny West Indies any late comeback.

West Indies will now enter the Plate phase of the tournament where they will face the fourth-placed finishers in Group C in Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.

Novices, Doubles to begin GTTA National Junior and Cadet TT Championships today

THE Novices Division and Doubles will serve off the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) National Junior and Cadet TT Championships from this morning at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

According to information from the president of the association, Godfrey Munroe, a number of seasoned players are carded to compete, including defending Cadet and Junior champion Jonathan Van Lange, and female Junior and Cadet champions, Crystal Melville and Thuraia Thomas.

The Novices will play from 10:00hrs to 13:00hrs, while the Boys’ Open Doubles, Girls’ Open Doubles and Mixed Doubles will also start early.

In the afternoon, the Boys and Girls 15 years-and-under singles and the Boys and Girls 19 years-and-under singles will serve off. Those games are expected to be concluded tomorrow.

Unlike previous years, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) decided to extend the age range for the Junior age division from U18 to 19-and-under in 2022 to facilitate those players who would have been hampered due to COVID-19 restrictions.

This weekend’s event is the first of three weekends of action, with the C Class, B Class and U21 (men’s and women’s divisions) set for January 29-30, before the Men’s Singles, Women’s

det Table Tennis Championships was last played in 2020, Van Lange, then 13, defeated Kaysan Ninvalle in both finals, while Melville had defeated Thomas in the then U18 event, after Thomas had defeated her in the U15 battle.

With both girls now 16, Jasmine Billingy should be one of the favourites for the female Cadet title.

Jonathan Van Lange will have a chance to again defend his National Junior and Cadet table tennis titles

Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles are played from

February 5 to 6.

When the Junior and Ca-

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Saturday January 22, 2022)

COMPLIMENTS OF CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL COMPANY LTD 83 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) Shamar Brooks-137 runs (2) Harry Tector-159 runs Today’s Quiz: (1) Which WI bowler took most wickets in the recent WI/IRE ODI series?

(2) Which IRE bowler claimed most wickets in the recent WI/IRE ODI series?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

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Crystal Melville (left) and Thuraia Thomas won the Junior and Cadet titles in 2020

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22, 2022

Big Man Cricket Banks Beer/Maximum Vodka T25 set for re-start

BIG Man Cricket (BMC) Guyana received approval this week from the COVID-19 Task Force to resume its Banks Beer/Maximum Vodka T20 tournament.

The tournament, which can re-start from February 14, would however have to be guided by regulations in place, including the vaccination and social-distancing rules.

Organisers are however unsure if they will continue the competition, which was halted in April of 2021, due to the weather and COVID-19 restrictions, or start it from scratch.

“The BMC Committee is currently in negotiations with the major sponsors on

whether we should continue the competition from where we left off or just squash the 2021 version and start afresh with a brand-new competition.”

A release from the body noted that a number of the matches were also seriously affected by rain, with several ending in no-results.

At the end of the last round of play, Jai Hind Jaguars were ahead with a whopping 139 points from four matches.

West Bank Warriors were on 91 points from three matches, Essequibo Eagles 78 points from three matches and GT Royal Rangers 69 points from four matches.

West Demerara Vipers were fifth with

Big Man Cricket was halted last April

54 points from three games, with Timothy MC Masters on 35 points from three games, Legends 27 points from three games and Real Warriors 17 points also from three games.

Teams are awarded match points, batting

points and bowling points.

While a decision is being made, the BMC Committee is calling on all teams and players to recommence training for the next fixture.

West Indies to open T20 Pollard’s West Indies to campaign against Scotland start from ‘ground zero’

West Indies finished down the tables at the 2021 T20 World Cup

(CMC) – Recently dethroned champions, West Indies, will start their ICC Twenty20 World campaign against minnows Scotland, in their quest to qualify for the main draw of the Australian showpiece in October.

The Caribbean side are two-time champions but produced a wretched defence of their 2016 title when they finished one from bottom of their group at the tournament staged in United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year, and failed to qualify for the final four.

They will clash with the Scots on October 16 at Bellerive Oval in Hobart – one of three first-round matches for the Kieron Pollard-led unit at the Tasmanian venue.

West Indies also take on a yet-to-be-determined qualifying team on October 19 and yet another qualifier two days later in Group B. If they win their group, West Indies will be installed in Group 2 of the Super 12 main draw alongside Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and South Africa. Should they finish as runners-up, they will occupy Group 1 with the likes of Afghanistan, Australia, England and New Zealand.

Sri Lanka are the other major Test-playing nation who will be forced to go through the first round with West Indies.

African minnows Namibia are the fourth team already in the opening round.

“T20 is the global growth format for cricket

and the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 will play a huge role in inspiring our next generation of players and fans as the world’s best players descend on Australia and showcase the very best of our sport,” said ICC chief executive, Geoff Allardice, on the announcement of the fixture list.

“The release of fixtures is always a great moment in the delivery of a World Cup as fans start to get excited about opening games, headto-heads and knock-out stages.

“This schedule offers so much, from the 2014 Champions Sri Lanka opening the event to our defending champions Australia starting with a rematch of the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup Final against New Zealand and of course India taking on Pakistan at the MCG. “We know that hundreds of thousands of passionate cricket fans will turn out to support every single one of the 16 teams across all seven of our host cities which is what makes it so special for the players.”

The hosts’ clash with New Zealand in Sydney will mark the start of the Super 12s on October 22 with bitter rivals India and Pakistan taking on each other in Melbourne 24 hours later.

The two top in each group will qualify for the semi-finals on November 9 and 10 in Sydney and Adelaide respectively, with the final carded for Melbourne on November 13.

(CMC) - West Indies will chase a reversal in their recent fortunes when they face England in the first Twenty20 International here today, hoping the five-match series can mark a fresh start for the embattled former World champions.

The Kieron Pollard-led unit endured a wretched run of form last year, winning only nine of 25 T20 Internationals while also flopping spectacularly at the T20 World Cup in United Arab Emirates, taking just one of five games to finish fifth of sixth teams in their group.

Further, the 3-0 drubbing by Pakistan in Karachi last month ensured the year finished on a low note but Pollard said the England challenge offered his side the opportunity to start from scratch.

“For us, it’s (about) execution. We have to execute in all three facets of the game. In our cricket overall, we have to improve the way how we play and that’s in all departments – batting, bowling and fielding,” Pollard told a media conference yesterday.

“The batting has definitely been a problem for us but the good thing about it is that we have new faces in the group; guys who are hoping to make a name for themselves on the international scene and in world cricket.

“So we just need to do the basics sort of right, play the situation of the game and be able to analyse, assess and make the right decisions when that is needed and whatever that decision is, it should be what the team requires at that point in time.”

He continued: “For us, it’s like starting from scratch. For me, in all three facets, we’re basically starting from ground-zero and we’ve got to do what is needed at this point in time.”

West Indies will take heart from their final T20 International against Pakistan last month when, despite their seven-wicket defeat, they piled up 207 – only their third 200-plus total in the last three years.

During that performance, they brought their dot-ball count down to 37 – one of their lowest in recent times – as they produced one of their best displays for 2021.

But while acknowledging the past criticism of West Indies’ high dot-ball percentage and exclusive focus on six-hitting, Pollard said what was important going forward was the situation awareness among the batting group.

“I don’t want it to become a big talking (point)

where that becomes the narrative coming out of our camp or think that’s the (only) thing we’re focusing on,” he stressed.

“We are trying to improve in all three facets of the game and when I say batting that means holistically – being able to assess the situation, being able to assess the conditions and being able to know what is required at that point in time.

“If it’s a rebuilding stage, if it’s one where we need to rotate the strike, I’m not going to single out anything about how we used to play or how we play. I’m personally not going to do it. We are looking to improve in all areas of our cricket in all aspects of it.

“We have identified what our weaknesses are.

They have been stated time and time again and now trying to emphasise that, I don’t think for us it’s something we’re focusing on.”

He added: “We want to play good cricket and if playing good cricket means we have to do what the team requires at that point in time and we have to come out of our comfort zones then that is something we are willing and ready to do.”

West Indies welcome back left-arm spinning all-rounder Fabian Allen from injury and left-arm speedster Sheldon Cottrell, who tested positive for COVID-19 on the tour of Pakistan but has now recovered.

The Jamaican pair last featured for West Indies in T20s six months ago.

In their last meeting with England, West Indies suffered an embarrassing defeat, bowled out for 55 – their second lowest total in T20Is and the third lowest-ever by a team in T20 World Cup history.

SQUADS: WEST INDIES - Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Dominic Drakes, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Jason Holder, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr. ENGLAND - Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Tymal Mills, David Payne, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince, Harry Brook.

24

AGE GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, January 22,P 2022

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CWI president to attend Berbice Cricket Board annual awards ceremony PAGE

23

CWI president Ricky Skerritt

Windies crash out of U19 World Cup PAGE

22 West Indies starting from ground-zero, says captain Kieron Pollard

Pollard’s West Indies to start from ‘ground zero’

Fast bowler McKenny Clarke cuts a dejected figure following his team’s defeat to Sri Lanka Under-19 yesterday

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2022