Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 30-10-2022

PPP/C’s track record of equality undeniable

PRIME Minister, Briga dier (Ret’d) Mark Phil lips has affirmed that as an Afro-Guyanese, he is proud of the pathway to prosperity for all Guyanese that is being created

under the “One Guyana” framework, and the lead ership of President Dr. Irfaan Ali.

The Prime Minister shared the foregoing posi tion as a direct response to

the People’s National Con gress Reform (PNC/R)’s “systemic race-based cam paign” to purportedly de rail Guyana’s progress and curtail the People’s Progres sive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C)’s

transformational agenda.

He said the government has been working in all com munities across the country, including the Opposition’s strongholds, and by shift ing the conversation, the

APNU+AFC is hoping that Guyanese will ignore the infrastructural works tak ing place in Afro-Guyanese communities across the country and the award of contracts to Afro-Guyanese,

among many other things.

Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa congratulated Guyanese for supporting

culture as one people, living in harmony (Elvin Croker photo)

Indian High Commmissioner commends Guyana for unified celebration of cultures

celebration, the ceremonial lamp was lit by Dr. Srinivasa and Mrs. Srinivasa; Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir; Former President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar and Mrs. Deolatch mee Ramotar; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Inter national Cooperation Hugh Todd; Member of Parlia ment Ganesh Mahipaul and the Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine.

By Cindy Parkinson

INDIAN High Commis sioner to Guyana, Dr. K.J. Srinivasa has commended Guyanese for supporting each other’s culture as one people living in harmony.

“This is a great example that I give back home to all

my friends, that Guyana is such a wonderful example for the two secular syncretic traditions in any place in the world,” Dr. Srinivasa said during his remarks at a Diwali function on Saturday evening, organised by the High Commission of India.

To begin the auspicious

In his remarks, Minister Todd said: “The practise of Hinduism is undoubtedly the oldest religion in the world and we have it right here in Guyana.”

He related that the cul ture inherited from Indians has helped mould Guyana into a “strong and multicul tural society” that is being embraced by all Guyanese.

Minister Todd also said that Guyanese recognise that

as a society, there must be a strong culture that gives the people their values and norms so as to keep the gov ernment in check.

He believes that Hindu ism is a practice that has helped to mould Guyana, shape the Guyanese people, and bring Guyana to where it is today; a strong inde pendent nation with “a very

bright future”.

Minister of Human Services and Social Secu rity Dr. Vindhya Persaud, who is also the President of the Guyana Hindu Dhar mic Sabha, implored all Guyanese to work together to strengthen the nation through the festivals that were brought by the ances tors to these shores.

The minister asked all Guyanese to radiate light from within themselves, and share it with each other.

An emotional House Speaker Nadir, in his mes sage, called on all Guyanese to come together and love each other.

“Let’s spend the time that we have with love,” he said.

To begin the auspicious celebration, the ceremonial lamp was lit by Dr. Srinivasa and Mrs. Srinivasa; Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir; Former President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar and Mrs. Deolatchmee Ramotar; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd; Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul and the Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine (Elvin Croker photo)

Minister of Human Services and Social Security

Dr. Vindhya Persaud

PPP/C’s track record of equality undeniable

PRIME Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips has affirmed that as an Afro-Guyanese, he is proud of the path way to prosperity for all Guyanese that is being created under the “One Guyana” framework, and the leadership of Presi dent Dr. Irfaan Ali.

The Prime Minister shared the foregoing position as a direct re sponse to the People’s National Congress Re form (PNC/R)’s “sys temic race-based cam paign” to purportedly derail Guyana’s pro gress and curtail the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/ C)’s transformational agenda.

He said the gov ernment has been working in all com munities across the country, including the Opposition’s strong holds, and by shifting the conversation, the APNU+AFC is hoping that Guyanese will ig nore the infrastructural works taking place in Afro-Guyanese com munities across the country and the award of contracts to AfroGuyanese, among many other things.

“There are opportu nities equally available to Afro-Guyanese and other ethnic groups through the policies and interventions of the PPP/C Govern ment. Our govern ment’s plans of pros perity include every single Guyanese,” the Prime Minister said.

He added: “With the truth out in the open, the APNU+AFC wants to shift the con versation, thereby seeking to downplay the government’s en gagement with AfroGuyanese communi ties and leaders, many of whom are seeing high-level ministerial engagements for the first time.

“More citizens from these communi ties have been benefit ting under our govern ment than when the APNU+AFC coalition was in office. People have been benefitting from roads, develop ment and upgrade of sports facilities, uni versity scholarships, while our local artistes are being given the op portunities and support that they’ve never had before by performing regularly at many gov ernment events.”

All of the govern ment’s initiatives ben efit Guyanese of all races, the Prime Min ister reiterated.

According to the PM, the APNU+AFC coalition, of which the PNC/R is the largest party, is trying to shift the conversation, so that they could contin ue to “fan the flames of division”.

“The Opposition wants to shift the con versation to the mes senger, as they are confronted with the truth; the leaders of the APNU+AFC are well known to cower when faced with the truth. One would recall this

same unscrupulous group fed their sup porters a steady dose of lies about possess ing Statements of Poll (SOPs) to prove that the party had won the 2020 Elections. The SOPs are still to be produced,” the Prime Minister said.

He related that he had cause recently to publicly confront the APNU+AFC with the truth, and expose their vicious crusade of race-baiting to stir tension in communi ties across the country.

“The response from the PNC camp flowed with great adhocracy, drawing on a few for gotten individuals to engage in ad homi nem attacks, instead of addressing the truth of government’s pro grammes and policies I had outlined. The respondents cannot be engaged in any serious way,” the Prime Min ister said.

He added that the Senior Minister with responsibility for Fi nance, Dr. Ashni Singh has already publicly pronounced on Ni gel Hinds’ “personal agenda”, and exposed the reason for his con trived attacks against the government.

The Prime Minis ter has also addressed questions of his char acter raised by former Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green, and Sherwood Lowe.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

To justify the PPP/ C’s position regard

ing equal and equita ble opportunities, PM Phillips pointed to the government’s ongoing massive housing drive.

“Our government has already distributed over 11,000 house lots. Roughly 50 per cent of the allotments went to Afro-Guyanese; 41 per cent to IndoGuyanese; and just over seven per cent to mixed-race,” the Prime Minister said.

In light of the fore going, he is appealing to Guyanese to not become entrapped by the perversion of the Opposition, which is

not only increasingly becoming more iso lated, but also losing significant ground in communities.

“Race-baiting poli tics is their only re sponse, which we all must continue to re ject,” the Prime Min ister said.

He added: “Under the PPP/C, there will be harmony and unity among our people, and this seems to hurt the Opposition, as it goes against their vision and agenda to have a united Guyana.

“I will continue to resist and expose

the PNC’s ridiculous claims with every fibre of my being, by pre senting the truth about the government’s many initiatives in in frastructure, education, health and other sec tors that are creating bountiful opportunities for all Guyanese.”

The Prime Min ister went on to say: “President Ali and our Cabinet Minis ters will continue to deliver to the people, and our focus will remain towards developing our country, and doing what’s best for our people.”

Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips

Phillips says in response to

‘systemic race-based campaign’

Halloween stampede in Seoul leaves at least 149 dead

AT least 149 people, mostly teenagers and young adults in their 20s, were killed in a crush when a huge crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a nightlife area of the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Saturday night, emergency officials said.

A further 65 people were injured in the melee in Seoul’s Itaewon district, Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station said in a briefing at the scene.

Nineteen of the injured were in serious condition and receiving emergency treatment, the officials said, adding that the death toll could rise.

It was the first Hallow een event in Seoul in three years, after the country lifted ‘COVID’ restrictions and social distancing. Many of the partygoers were wear ing masks, and Halloween costumes.

Some witnesses de scribed the crowd as be coming increasingly unruly and agitated as the evening deepened. The incident took place at about 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT).

“A number of people fell during a Halloween festival, and we have a large number of casualties,” Choi said. Many of those killed were near a nightclub.

Many of the victims were women in their twen ties, Choi said.

Witnesses described chaotic scenes moments before the stampede, with the police on hand, in an ticipation of the Halloween event, at times having trou ble maintaining control of the crowds.

Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alleys before the incident.

“It was at least more than 10 times crowded than

usual,” he said.

Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile, as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.

Choi, the Yongsan dis trict fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the

crush in the single narrow alley.

Other footage showed chaotic scenes of fire of ficials and citizens treating dozens of people who ap peared to be unconscious.

Fire officials and wit nesses said people continued to pour into the narrow alley

that was already packed, wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the sloped street fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

An unnamed woman, who said she was the mother of a survivor, said her daugh ter and others were trapped for more than an hour before being pulled from the crush of people in the alley.

A Reuters witness said a makeshift morgue was set up in a building adjacent to the scene. About four dozen bodies were carried out later on wheeled stretchers, and moved to a government fa cility to identify the victims, according to the witness.

The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Sat urday for Halloween, after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.

“You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks, but this was sev eral ten-folds bigger than any of that,” Park Junghoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.

Two foreigners were among the dead, and others were transferred to nearby hospitals.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife sent their con dolences and wrote: “We grieve with the people of the

Republic of Korea, and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “All our thoughts are with those currently responding, and all South Koreans at this very distressing time.”

With the easing of the ‘COVID’ pandemic, cur fews on bars and restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April. An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.

Authorities said they were investigating the exact cause of the incident.

The disaster is among the country’s deadliest since the sinking in 2014 of a ferry that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.

The sinking of the Sewol, and criticism of the official response, sent shockwaves across South Korea, and prompted widespread soulsearching over safety meas ures in the country that are likely to be renewed in the wake of Saturday’s crush.

President Yoon Sukyeol presided over an emergency meeting with senior aides, and ordered a task force be set up to se cure resources to treat the injured, and to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster. (Reuters)

Investigators inspect the scene where many people died and were injured in a stampede during a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea (REUTERS/Kim Hong-ji)

Reject perpetrators of race-baiting

Minister McCoy tells Sophia residents

MINISTER within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame Mc Coy has called on res idents of Sophia to reject persons who practise race-baiting.

In his address to resi dents during an out reach at “B” Field, So phia, Minister McCoy expressed disgust at persons who try to di vide Guyanese on the basis of race.

He related to the people of Sophia that division among Guya nese will never serve anyone’s best interest.

To this end, he called out the Opposition for spreading misinforma tion that some Guya nese are being discrimi

nated against by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government.

All Guyanese, re gardless of race or gen der, are catered for in all health and educational institutions.

The minister asked the Opposition to show which system in Guy ana deprives or denies Black people of full service.

He went on to say: “I would like to know which one of our chil dren is deprived or de nied access to school; from nursery to even university.”

Minister McCoy en couraged the residents to challenge anyone

that goes before them with “that nonsense”, and confront them with the questions so that it would expose their “silly” behaviour.

The minister encour aged all Guyanese to work together, so that the country could move

forward faster.

He assured Guya nese that the govern ment is working for every stakeholder, and will continue to deliver what is promised to them, so that they could live a better life.

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McCoy

Men of Mission

GUYANA has taken yet another bold step forward in terms of protecting our women against the scourge of domestic violence. This time it is the inaugura tion of the Men of Mission (MoM) initiative intro duced by President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, at Camp Ayanganna on Fri day.

The statistics on domes tic violence are alarming. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in three women world wide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate-partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence against women, according to the WHO, is a major public health problem and a serious

violation of women’s human rights.

The situation in Guyana as it pertains to sexual and domestic violence is no less worrying. According to sta tistics emanating from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, some 17,000 calls and 1,800 app notifications of domestic violence were made between December 2020 and June 2022. And this is despite the robust attempts of the PPP/C administration to empower women and strengthen the legislative framework to protect women by imposing tougher measures against offenders.

The Sexual Offences Act was enacted by the PPP/C administration in 2010, with the aim of reforming and

consolidating the laws relat ing to sexual offences and other related matters. The legislation also made provi sion for the establishment of a Sexual Offences Court. Through this mechanism, there are much speedier tri als.

Currently, the Domestic Violence Act enacted in 1996 is being examined with a view to having a complete overhaul and to broaden the scope and definition of domestic violence. Despite these policy interventions, there has not been any sig nificant reduction in the inci dence of domestic and sexual violence in the country.

The spotlight has now shifted to our men. The 1,000 Men of Mission initiative is aimed at making our men

more conscious of the ar eas in which they are falling behind in society. The initia tive could not have come at a better time as the country advances in the direction of greater inclusivity and tolerance. The One Guyana initiative is picking up mo mentum, but more remains to be done in terms of attitudi nal and behavioural changes, especially as they relate to men in our society.

“We as men, we have dropped the ball on com munity, family and society. Today, it is about us picking up back that ball. Today, we want to create this movement that portrays men in a posi tive light, that will work in a network in a collective man ner to resolve the problem,” President Ali said during his

address to participants.

From all indications, the initiative was well received from men in particular and the society as a whole. Over 3,000 men out of an initial target of 1,000 signed up as mentors on the opening day; this is an indication of the interest the initiative has generated among Guyanese men.

The fact is that when it comes to the protection of our women and girls, there is zero tolerance by the PPP/C administration against of fenders. There is and cannot be any “holy cow” when it comes to the exposure and bringing to justice those found guilty of any form of abuse against our women. There are, of course, some in our society who, mainly out of partisan political interests, seek to project an alternative view even though the facts demonstrate otherwise.

As pointed out by Presi dent Ali, there is much room for improvement attitudinal

ly and behaviourally, among men our society. Males con stitute the largest cohort of school dropouts and lon gevity rates among men are lower due, in many cases, to preventable illneses.

This project initiated by President Ali is both timely and necessary. This initiative will no doubt be a catalyst for social transformation in our society as we embark on our journey to higher levels of prosperity and gender equity. More importantly, as President Ali has consist ently reminded us, despite our newly found oil-and-gas riches, we are not defined by our material riches, but by our history and by the way we relate to each other, both sociologically and economi cally.

In this regard, Men of Mission can play an inte gral role in the social trans formation of our society for which President Ali and his PPP/C administration must be given full credit.

Immediate electoral reform necessary to stop all forms of rigging

Dear Editor, I WISH to raise my voice in advancing strong commen dations to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance of the PPP/C Government for hosting the highly successful National Stakeholder Consultation on Electoral Reform. The conference discussed fully, the proposed changes to electoral laws and amend ments to applicable stat utes.

The support from Presi dent, Dr Irfaan Ali; VicePresident and General Sec retary of the PPP, Dr. Bharat Jagdeo and other senior party stalwarts, sends a strong sig nal. In fact, it demonstrates the government’s strong commitment to the delivery of a promise that they will facilitate electoral reforms, to ensure that our beloved country never has to experi ence a repeat of the blatant attempts of rigging and steal ing of power that took place following polling day on March 2, 2020.

Those unforgettable five months, during which clan

destine elements purportedly attached to the APNU (PNC/ AFC) held their knees on this nation’s neck, must never happen again.

Factually, there is much evidence to confirm the dif fering levels of compliance by the PNC clan with our current electoral laws applied in previous elections run by the Guyana Elections Com mission (GECOM).

When compared to what emerged in the months fol lowing March 2, 2020, their non-committal to playing by the rules is obvious. The prec edence observed in previous elections serves to validate that the antecedent approach of the APNU is to create a ‘suck sand type’ manoeuvre, aimed at swallowing up and suffocating any policy that does not support their sur reptitious agendas. Typical in this respect, is the convenient exercise of the well-known ‘party paramountcy’ against any measures of decency, practised by the PNC for decades before 1992.

Contextually, it is known that a few circumstances exist

where GECOM through its chief elections officer, allows a particular decision option based on occurrences associ ated with perhaps duplicitous legal inclusion in associated legislation. These shades of grey areas in the 2020 elec tions were stretched beyond the limits of their transparent and flexible thresholds, as far as the expected exercise of rational discretion by par ticular designated officers of GECOM was anticipated. Of ficials charged with electoral fraud certainly went beyond allowing flexible thresholds, using subjective interpreta tions as a false cover for their egregious actions.

In the last elections, com mon practices, reasonable ness, and rationality by these persons were thrown out of the window. Consequent ly, abuse and greed over whelmed the required dis cipline of key officials who took advantage of perhaps a lack of specificity in some cases to justify blatantly bi ased decisions. The circum stances certainly justify the strongest review of applica

ble legislation to eliminate any areas of duplicity, deter deliberate fraudulent intent and provide greater clarity to prevent abuse.

The Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister and the Attorney General, over several months, have justifiably advanced Bills for consideration of the National Assembly that address neces sary corrective mechanisms. As is required to support the advancement and accept ance of proposed changes and amendments, consulta tions with the widest array of stakeholders must be had.

These commenced in 2021, in some cases, with stakeholders across the coun try. Of note, thorough discus sions were held with the Guy ana Elections Commission, political parties, trade unions, and all the civic-minded citi zens who showed an interest in participating in the very wide discussions. After tak ing copious notes from all of the very lengthy discussions, draft proposals were prepared and circulated for consulta tion at the last Electoral Re

form Conference.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, S.C., gave a com prehensive outline of the intent and purpose of the pro posed consolidated amend ments to the updated ver sions of the RoPA Bill and Regulations, which were made available once again. Additionally, the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made accessible for public perusal via a link pub lished on the ministry’s Face book pages. In keeping with the need for broad-based, objective, and comprehensive feedback considerations, 157 organisations were invited to the consultation on October 25, 2022.

Notably, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, along with Nandlall, held one-on- one discussions with several emi nent persons and representa tives of organisations before the final draft was prepared and sent out, to guide thor ough internal discussions that were followed up with the reviews at the recent national

conference.

Readers should note that some representatives of Rig gersville operated under cover, as they attended the conference under the disguise of representing alternate or ganisations. Although they did not announce their pres ence as PNC, and representa tives of the PNC, they did participate in the conference and contributed to its success.

The National Consulta tion Conference was well organised, and it was made clear that the relevant amend ments will give no political party any advantage over an other. Further, it will ensure greater accountability and transparency in the electoral process. The public consul tation along with the just concluded national consulta tion is sufficient for a simple majority in the Parliament to give consent.

Let us have the electoral reform amendments now and support the improve ment of legislation to halt rigging.

Yours respectfully, Neil Kumar

The Opposition’s race-baiting agenda exposed

A FEW weeks ago, I had cause to publicly con front the APNU+AFC with the truth and expose their vicious crusade to incite racial hostility in our communities.

Therefore, it is not sur prising that the response from the PNC’s camp flowed with great adhoc racy, drawing on a few forgotten individuals to engage in ad hominem at tacks instead of addressing the truth of the govern ment’s programmes and policies I have outlined.

The responses provide ample proof that the PNC and their agents are en gaged in a systemic racebased campaign to derail our democracy and curtail the government’s transfor mational agenda.

The respondents cannot be engaged in any serious way.

Firstly, Senior Min ister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, has already pub licly pronounced on Nigel Hinds’s personal agenda and exposed the reason

for his contrived attacks against the government. I do believe he is seeking to erase his comical political blunders of the past at the expense of destroying our democracy.

Secondly, Mr Hamilton Green also raised ques tions about my character through the letter pages.

Lastly, Mr Sherwood Lowe needed two letters to muster his overall mi niscule response.

Before my retirement as a Brigadier and Chiefof-Staff in October 2016, I have held appointments at all levels of the Guyana Defence Force, an organi sation made up of predom inately Afro-Guyanese.

Over my 36 years of military service, I have counselled many young men and women, prepar ing them for leadership positions not just in the military, but wherever life takes them.

It bears repeating that as an Afro-Guyanese I am proud of the pathway to prosperity for all Guya nese under the One Guy

ana framework and the leadership of President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

Nonetheless, the Op position wants to shift the conversation to the messenger as they are con fronted with the truth. The leaders of the APNU+AFC are well known to cower when faced with the truth.

One would recall this same unscrupulous group fed their supporters a steady dose of lies about possessing Statements of Polls (SoPs) to prove that the party had won the 2020 elections. The SoPs are still to be produced.

The APNU+AFC wants to shift the conver sation so that they can con tinue to fan the flames of division, using sociopaths to fuel their message.

With the truth out in the open, the APNU+AFC wants to shift the conver sation thereby, seeking to downplay the govern ment’s engagement with Afro-Guyanese leaders and communities, many of whom are seeing high-lev el ministerial engagements

for the first time.

By shifting the conver sation, the APNU+AFC is hoping that Guyanese will ignore the infrastruc tural works taking place in Afro-Guyanese communi ties across the country and the award of contracts to Afro-Guyanese.

As I have previously outlined, there are op portunities equally avail able to Afro-Guyanese and other ethnic groups through the policies and interventions of the PPP/C Government.

Our government’s plans for prosperity in clude every single Guya nese. Our President, my self and all ministers of government have been working in all communi ties across the country, including the Opposition strongholds.

More citizens from these communities have been benefitting more un der our government than when the APNU+AFC coalition was in office.

People have been ben efitting from roads, devel

opment and upgrading of sports facilities, university scholarships, while our lo cal artistes are being given the opportunities and sup port that they’ve never had before by performing regularly at many govern ment events.

All these initiatives benefit Afro-Guyanese, Indo-Guyanese, ChineseGuyanese, AmerindianGuyanese, PortugueseGuyanese, European-Guy anese and Mixed-Guya nese.

There is a massive housing drive taking place. Our government has already distributed over 11,000 house lots. Roughly 50 per cent of the allotments went to AfroGuyanese; 41 per cent to Indo-Guyanese; and just over seven per cent to mixed-race.

I appeal to Guyanese not to become entrapped by the perversion of an Opposition that is increas ingly becoming more isolated and that is los ing significant ground in communities. Race-baiting

politics is their only re sponse which we all must continue to reject.

Under the PPP/C, there will be harmony and unity among our people, and this seems to hurt the Opposi tion as it goes against their vision and agenda to have a united Guyana.

I will continue to re sist and expose the PNC’s ridiculous claims with every fibre of my being by presenting the truth about the government’s many initiatives in in frastructure, education, health and other sectors that are creating bounti ful opportunities for all Guyanese.

President Ali and our Cabinet ministers will continue to deliver to the people and our focus will remain towards devel oping our country and doing what’s best for our people.

Isabelle deCaires’ critique supports my arguments in parts but is inaccurate in other parts

Dear Editor

I REFER to Isabelle deCaires’ letter in Sta broek News (October 28, 2022) titled, “The only culture that mat ters in business practice is the value placed on our assets.” Before going into the substance of my reply to Ms. de Caires, allow me to say how pleased I am that we could debate these critical issues.

Her critique inadvert ently supports my argu ments in parts, but is inaccurate in other parts. Let us take the former to start. On the question of

sanctity of contracts, de Caires writes “In 2018, shortly after the infa mous ‘tweaking’ of the PSA with ExxonMobil by the Granger admin istration, a delegation was dispatched from the UK under the auspices of Chatham House. Its mission: to lecture the APNU+AFC Cabinet on the ‘sanctity of contract.”

Well, that is exactly my point, right down to the ‘agent’ (in this case Chatham House) dispatched to lecture the GoG. A contract is a contract and cannot be ‘tweaked’ by mere whim and fancy. That was the

essential point of my SN letter. In fact, Chatham House’s journal, Inter national Affairs, on its 100th anniversary, pub lished my critique of the kind of practice Ms. de Caires complains about. In my article, published in January, 2022, I drew attention to the role of the same Chatham House and its journal in defend ing Western interests for an entire century.

I wrote: “In the UK, the central challenge for foreign affairs thinkers was how to claim lead ership in promoting de mocracy and freedom while denying national

independence...”

We can now move on to the inaccurate parts of Ms. de Caires’ let ter. In this instance, the argument is that the US, under Donald Trump, and the UK, under Bo ris Johnson, reneged on international agreements previously struck. This is an elementary mistake because while my argu ments concerned cor porate culture, deCaires points to inter-state rela tions.

Finally, the writer claims that “intercultural relations may also cloak other anachronisms such as a craven mindset.” The

reverse is true. “Craven mindset” is applicable to those who think that cultural solipsism is the answer. The add-on argu ment to deCaires’ “craven mindset” argument is that we should have turned down ExxonMobil’s of fer and not worry too much if they leave. Ms. deCaires put it thus – “So what if they do? Others will come in their place. We have assets that are currently much prized on the international market.”

I am keen on find ing out more about these benevolent oil compa nies that would come to Guyana and give us a

better deal. Please name them and provide at least the case history of their kinder and gentler busi ness practices. We live in a capitalist global econo my, and while corporate social responsibility is highly praised, the logic of capitalist business is the maximisation of prof its.

I again thank Isa belle deCaires for en joining a debate on our hydrocarbon resources. I look forward to a con structive exchange of perspectives.

Sincerely, Dr. Randolph Per saud

Sincerely, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Anthony Phillips Prime Minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana

Xi, CPC building a new silk road to socialism with Chinese characteristics

THE week-long 20th Con gress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), from Sunday, October 16 to Saturday October 22, drew the best efforts by the Western media to pour cold water over an event that would confirm China’s future course in pursuit of a socialist state China-style, through adoption of a na tional system of socialism with Chinese characteris tics by 2049, the centenary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The CPC celebrated its own centenary in 2021 and the world’s largest and old est party of its type opened its congress with 2,300 del egates representing over 96

million members.

But through it all, the international mainstream media’s emphasis was on one man: CPC General-Sec retary and PRC President, Xi Jinping, depicting him as a totalitarian leader who appointed himself to decide everything for everyone in China, forever...

BBC and CNN corre spondents in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei described it as “highly-choreographed” and President Xi as having moved, in his first two terms, “from a relative unknown, to chairman of everything…”

They acknowledged Xi had become the most popular CPC and PRC leader since the CPC’s Founding Chair

man, Mao Tse Tung -- the PRC’s first President – but claimed it’s “because he gave life to everyone’s China Dream,” he’d “fought cor ruption” and “reformed the military.”

So, by their reporting, President Xi had now “ar ranged to give himself an unprecedented third term” and “making himself unchal lengeable,” as he starts “his ultimate journey” as “Presi dent and General-Secretary, For Life.”

The CPC Congress de livered on all it promised – including Xi’s third term – but nothing on the hypedup predictions and expecta tions that China would have changed course on its “Zero

COVID” policy.

Same with the Taiwan issue: Xi said China wishes for a peaceful reunification process, but won’t rule out the use of force – and his repetition of the 73-year-old CPC position, adopted in 1949 after the defeated Kuo mintang (KMT) retreated to and occupied the island after the mainland civil war, again deflated their overblown ex pectations.

The reports also claimed, inter-alia, that “no successor was identified,” so “Xi will now remain in office for the rest of his life…”

When the congress fi nally ended, the speculation moved into higher gear, this time into last-lap predictions, including that China may soon “call Washington’s per ceived bluff” on its claimed adherence to the One China Policy; more Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) investment in countries neighbouring China and in the developing world, and that China and Russia will eventually have “problems over Ukraine,” while “cooperating on dedollarization.”

The Western media war riors also fought tooth and nail to convince viewers and listeners, readers and brows ers that President Xi sim ply wants to “rule forever” through “accumulation of excessive power,” complete ly ignoring that Xi Jinping’s thoughts were adopted by the CPC as its main guiding philosophy, since 2018.

They also ignored (but cannot deny) that Beijing is a leading member of the BRICS group of larger de veloping nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which already jointly represents the major ity of humanity -- and has more nations knocking on its doors, including Argentina and Saudi Arabia.

And they convenient ly overlooked the fact that China’s role on the world stage today -- in economics and finance, politics and diplomacy, war and peace, Climate Change and glob al trade -- is such that, as President Xi remarked in his closing remarks, “The world needs China.”

But while the mainstream international media reports span far and wide across the Caribbean and some media houses would choose to opt for the saucy but misleading headline coverage, not nec essarily so in Guyana, where the two governments, last June, observed the 50th An niversary of establishment of bilateral ties back in 1970.

Fraternal ties have only flourished over the last five decades, resulting in mutu ally beneficial trade and people-to-people ties that have long historical bases, including the arrival of Chi nese immigrants.

Indeed, the parents of the nation’s first President of the Republic, Arthur Chung (after whom the conven tion centre in Georgetown is named) arrived from China’s Fujian Province.

Today, Guyana-China ties are strongly manifested in China’s National Offshore Oil Company’s sizeable in vestment in the growing and expanding oil and gas indus try and consistent growth in bilateral trade.

Guyana-China ties have been maintained and re spected by administrations of both the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the main opposition People’s National Congress (PNC); and both parties have his torical ties with the CPC, established under earlier PNC administrations with the likes of Shridath Ram phal, Rashleigh Jackson and Carl Greenidge in the For

eign Ministry and continued under veteran PPP/Civic Foreign Minister Clement Rohee and his successors -and being kept warm today under Minister Hugh Todd, Secretary Robert Persaud and Director-General, Eliza beth Harper.

There once existed a flourishing Guyana-China Friendship Association and during the year of the 50th anniversary, interest is be ing expressed in its revival, with positive expressions of interest by past players and former office holders at home and abroad, who feel that in the current context, it’s important that peopleto-people ties, while grow ing, are accelerated at and between both ends.

China’s global foes will naturally be concerned that the PRC has established stronger ties than (they) ex pected in this part of the world, with trade and com merce, construction and other developmental ties also growing exponentially in the Caribbean and South America.

Guyana-China ties are also set to grow exponen tially during President Xi Jinping’s third term, and for as long as his thoughts guide the routes along the new silk road, which will lead the PRC to Xi and the CPC’s crowning centennial achievement: proclamation, declaration and adoption of the new philosophy of socialism with Chinese char acteristics.

Another long march is underway, this time from Beijing to the rest of China, over the next quarter-centu ry, leading to the centenary of the Republic in 2049.

And that the PRC’s foes simply can’t stand, but will continue to sell short, though unable to prevent!

The Village Peeper: A Short

WHO is the fastest man in the village of Victori ous along the Coren tyne coast? One young man asked a group of men hanging out on the side of the road, a typi cal pastime practice in rural Guyana.

Tex.

Nope.

What about Deola ll? Another young man guessed.

Maybe.

The rest of the men in the group were confused and silent, wondering why the question of the fastest person in the vil lage mattered, especially since no one had ever participated in track and field at the national level in the history of the vil lage.

The topic of “passion ate” murders that had occurred over the past decade would have been more of an in-tune ques tion. But that too would have been a lame ques tion leading to an abrupt end. You see, this is the daily dynamics when young men gather espe cially along roadsides in rural villages when the sun cools down. There is no rhythm, no formal filtering, and no penalty for saying the weirdest thing. If you had told this group that there was a “Man Fire Rass” in the village sucking people’s blood when they go to sleep, they would be lieve it.

So, one buzzing story was that someone was visiting small stilted houses on the backlands of the village in the ear ly hours of the morn ing. These houses were owned by sugarcane har vesters whose wives nor mally got up around four

o’clock in the morning in the skimpiest clothing in the tropical heat to prepare meals for their husbands to take to the sugarcane fields. A few nights previously, one housewife said she saw a tall-looking figure di rectly under her four feet high stilted house. Whenever she moved from one section of the kitchen to another to prepare the meal, she noticed from the rays of lights escaping through the cracks in the wooden kitchen floor that the person underneath her house was moving along with her. She could not recognise the person, but when she hollered he was gone, scaling the wire fence into the bush es like a sprinter prepar ing for the Olympics.

The next night, the person showed up in the east of the village and did the same thing. On the third night, the person showed up in the south of the village, and on the fourth night in the north of the village. The villagers now believed that there was a peeper in the village with a dis tinct pattern, and they were determined to find out who he was.

The villagers planned and waited for the peep er. Housewives who normally awoke early in the morning to pre pare food readily moved around in their kitchen wearing the skimpiest of clothing to lure him into a trap. The husbands sharpened their machet es even more with the intent to place marks on the peeper’s body so the villagers could identify him in broad daylight. The villagers knew it

was a man. They knew he disappeared very quickly if noticed. They knew he did not steal anything. They knew he liked to peep at wom en. But why this rather unusual behaviour in such early hours in the morning, in the most dangerous sections of the village, when cane harvesters were sharp ening their machetes for the day’s work—a tool they could use without much thought if some one intruded into their territory? Six months passed and the peeper was never seen, or so it seemed.

“Ramlall, wake up, wake up, I see he!”

“Who? Who?”

“Quiet, the peeper!”

“Where is he?”

“Directly under the kitchen.”

Ramlall, got up in a rage, heading towards the kitchen for his ma chete. “Oh no,” said his wife. “Do not chop he.”

‘What, I want to mark he up.”

“No, no, I have a bet ter plan. You go back to bed, and I will take care of this.”

The housewife, Dola rie, said in mock disgust, “Man, this damned place is getting so hot and the sun is not even out yet. This place does get on, you know.” She mur mured under her breath in the local village pidg in dialect while fanning the flame under the pot of boiling water on the fireside. The hot water was there to boil rice but this morning the rice had to take second place.

“Oh my God, it is he, the man that walks with a limp!” She grabbed the pot of hot water and

moved towards the win dow. The peeper also moved underneath the stilted house, now hav ing a clear view of her. The peeper started to make odd noises, and just when it was getting louder, Dolarie threw

the entire pot of water on him.

“Ramlall, I got him! I threw the pot of hot water on him, and I am sure he is burned. We will recognise him in the morning.”

“Where is he?’

“I do not know but he is gone. He has disap peared.”

“I tell you I should have mark he up with my machete.” “Did you recognise him?” (To be continued) lomarsh. roopnarine@jsums.edu

Development of local capacity continues

AS Guyana’s oil-and-gas sector continues to expand, developments such as new shore bases and the relo cation of companies from historic oil producers have created both opportunities today, and the potential for transformational economic benefits in the future.

Steady growth in the oiland-gas sector is helping a rising number of local companies participate in the industrialisation of Guyana. There is a growing need for innovative and ambitious lo cal firms across many sectors of the Guyanese economy.

But building the capac ity internally to handle the new and growing needs of the oil-and-gas industry is still ongoing. This is not just a matter of technical or specialised skills, but also scale. Many local compa nies simply do not yet have

experience providing goods and services at the scale and consistency demanded by international companies, or may simply not have the resources to rapidly expand their capacity.

Joint ventures and multicompany partnerships can be some of the most effective ways for companies to scale their operations, and build capacity to meet the needs of the industry today. For example, Guyanese caterers have discussed establishing a catering consortium to serve the needs of the growing number of workers on drill ships and offshore platforms, a figure that will increase exponentially if the expected ten FPSOs are put into pro duction. Recently, Minister of Natural Resources, Vick ram Bharrat committed to helping identify a team of le gal counsellors, accountants

and consultants to support the creation of this caterer consortium.

Minister Bharrat made it clear that the implica tions of joining this consor tium would benefit Guyanese businesses, and have positive results for local content, not ing: “[You] can own as an owner or a supplier; be a member of this consortium or be a part of a preferential list that will supply goods and services offshore. Either way, you, as Guyanese businesses, get to tap into this market, and earn massive revenue.”

Notably, this develop ment is as a direct result of Guyana’s push to give local operators preferential market access, allowing Guyanese companies to partake in the procurement of goods and services for oil-and-gas op erations. This Local Content Act and the now operational

Local Content Secretariat require preferential treatment for local companies, and mandates that percentages of Guyanese labour, goods and services increase each year. It also encourages capacity development of companies and the workforce.

One of the largest “Tier I” contractors operating in Guyana, SBM Offshore, recently received its Letter of Approval for its Local Content Master Plan. This development signifies the seriousness the government is taking in its approach to ensuring local businesses can seize opportunities in the oiland-gas sector. Additionally, this promotes the engaging of more local suppliers of goods and services, while expanding training and ca pacity building programmes through SBM Offshore.

In the latest episode of a webinar series from the diaspora group, the Guyana Business Journal, Professor Leyland Lucas, Dean of the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation at

the University of Guyana, highlighted that one of the “critical things for the ef fective local content policy to really take shape is skills development.”

Professor Lucas also pointed to the necessity of skills development to round out Guyana’s local content policy, focusing on the im portance of “how quickly we can ramp up those skills in order to take advantage of the advanced components of local content. It is important for us to recognise that that skills vacuum is not going to be fixed overnight.”

Progress has been made, but to maximise Guyana’s ability to capture the most value from its resources and move Guyanese into more technical and managerial roles, effective training and worker development pro grammes must play a central role.

The industry-funded Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) has been a central plank of the government’s strategy to

grow local capacity, and provide guidance for com panies that want to get in volved. The direct engage ment the CLBD has with local businesses has helped home-grown companies like Puran Brothers, a Guyaneseowned solid waste collec tion and disposal company, to provide a wide range of services to the oil-and-gas sector, including waste haul age and trucking services. The company took advantage of training opportunities and certification programmes through the Centre.

Guyana’s energy sector continues to grow, and as the country settles into a competitive role as a major oil producer, it is impera tive that local businesses have the right resources available to them to partici pate as much as possible. It is evident that progress has been made, but it is still more important than ever that Guyana continues to foster development, and explore additional ways to encourage local innovation.

Antimicrobial Stewardship

THE International Pharmaceutical Fed eration (FIP), a global non-governmental or ganisation with four million members com prising pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, set aside Oc tober 28, 2022 to focus on antimicrobial stew ardship (AMS).

Antimicrobial stew ardship is the vigilant and accountable man agement of agents used to treat suspected mi crobes (fungi, bacteria, viruses, and parasites) that invade and infect hosts, either humans, animals or plants. Anti microbial agents include antivirals, antifungals, antibacterials/antibiot ics, antiparasitics, bio cides and disinfectants.

The question is, why is there such an em phasis to monitor how these antimicrobials are consumed? The answer lies in your imagination of the world before peni cillin (first antibiotic) was discovered in 1928, when mankind was threatened by plagues with no line of defence at hand.

Although we cur rently have a selection of antibiotics from vari

ous classes and levels from first generation to fourth generation, no novel antibiotic has been released. So, the pool of reserves is re stricted. This is the treat ment challenge facing healthcare professionals, to effectively fight es tablished and emerging infections, in spite of resistance to antimicro bial agents.

Antimicrobial resist ance (AMR) is caused by the misuse and over use of antimicrobials, where the microbes change over time and no longer respond to the drugs. We have wit nessed the challenges of dealing with the vari ant forms of the COV ID-19 virus (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, omicron and sub-variant BA.2).

These new drug-resist ant pathogens which emerge, make it near to impossible to treat patients and curb the spread of infections.

The direct and in direct consequences of AMR are exorbitant in dividual and national costs for higher levels antimicrobials, pro longed hospitalisation, disability and, in worstcase scenarios, death.

FIP partnered with the lead organisation, the World Health Organ isation (WHO), since pharmacists are strategi cally placed to champion the fight against AMR, which is considered one of the top 10 global pub lic health threats against humanity. The FIP not only focused on policy and advocacy, but also sent strong signals to the global ministerial meet ing, indicating that 144 countries had a national action plan to address AMR.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that more than half of the antibiotics prescribed in hospitals were in consistent with the rec ommended prescribing practices. The follow ing stats released by CDC show unjustified prescriptions in the fol lowing:

> 79 per cent in com munity-acquired pneu monia

> 77 per cent of pa tients with urinary tract infections

> 47 per cent of pa tients who were pre scribed fluoroquinolone

> 27 per cent of pa tients prescribed van

comycin injection, the last-resort drug

From the practical toolkit done by WHO in 2019 for low- and mid dle-income countries, the following basic an timicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions were recommended, building on the existing limited healthcare infra structural system:

> Education of the involved healthcare workers (prescribers, pharmacists and nurses)

> Design a standard ised record system to view all patient medica tions

> Review rationali sation of treatment pre scribed against docu mented indications

> Review treatment prescribed for patients with three or more broad-spectrum antibi otics

> Review dosage of treatment

> Review surgical prophylaxis treatments either as single dose or for a 24-hour period

> Develop and im plement standard treat ment guidelines for common conditions such as communityacquired pneumonia, urinary tract infections,

skin and soft-tissue in fection, surgical prophy laxis and catheter-relat ed infections

> Identify leadership and expertise in infec tion management

> Establish a drug and therapeutics com mittee and ensure con tinuous availability of essential antibiotics through a robust supplychain management

> Establish basic microbiology laboratory facilities

> Regular surveil lance of AMR, AMC and healthcare facilities and hospital-acquired infections

If AMS intervention is already established, then continuous quality improvements are moni tored by:

> Setting SMART goals in changing how antibiotics are consumed which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

> Establishing a measurement matrix

> Identifying behav ioural changes that will be transformative in AMS

AMS must be a co ordinated programme and designed to meet

the need of the citi zenry in their unique situations, whether con strained by geographical or economic factors. Hence, the framework must have a practical approach, taking into consideration those rare scenarios that might oc cur.

Antimicrobial stew ardship is a tall order and requires a con certed effort from all stakeholders such as the general public, the healthcare profession als, professional associ ations and councils, the governing entities such as the Food and Drugs Department (FDD) as well as the national and international policy makers.

For further discus sion, contact the phar macist of Medicine Express PHARMACY located at 223 Camp Street, between Lama ha and New Market Streets. If you have any queries, comments or further informa tion on the above topic kindly forward them to medicine.express@ gmail.com or send them to 223 Camp Street, N/burg. Tel #225-5142.

The President and Charrandass Persaud

LAST week, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali and Charran dass Persaud had a mutual agreement that the latter would return home from his diplomatic posting as Guyana’s High Commis sioner to India following the surfacing of serious al legations against him.

Persaud was facing an al legation of verbally abusing a woman in a foreign land. Ad ditionally, there was footage with audio, in which Persaud could be heard lambasting the woman with the use of a string of expletives.

The incident occurred more than a year ago and came to light only recently.

The President, after a series of unrelated engage ments on Tuesday last, re viewed the video and tele phoned Persaud while asking the Foreign Affairs Ministry for a report on the matter.

President Ali belaboured the point that Persaud’s be haviour, as seen in a viral video, was not acceptable as a representative of Guyana abroad, and certainly was not in the country’s best interest at the time.

This is despite the fact that the former High Com missioner had documented evidence that nothing came out of the matter, noting

that he was cleared of any allegations of misconduct or otherwise.

Dr. Ali appeared, in his Facebook message on the matter, to be concerned about Guyana’s image, relationship with India and other coun tries, and the incident itself. He said that Guyana would continue working to build and improve its relationship while it transitions through this phase in its diplomatic history.

Soon after, the Oppo sition Party, the PNC-led APNU+AFC said the Presi dent took too long to act and was more critical of the language used in Dr. Ali’s video message. The PNC-led APNU+AFC now wants Foreign Affairs Minis ter Hugh Todd to resign or be dismissed for dereliction of duty, Guyana to apologise to the alleged victim, and a host of other things.

Firstly, President Ali showed political maturity and made the right decision in the quickest possible time.

He knew the former dip lomat’s conduct was not in keeping with the standard that he had expected of him as a member of Guyana’s Diplomatic Corps.

In fact, one could even say that he was embar

rassed by the many exple tives he heard lured at the woman, given that he would not encourage or entertain any member of his Cabinet speaking to another person in that way, much less a woman.

So, he did the right thing, regardless of the evidence of innocence, to recall the former High Commissioner back to Guyana. President Ali showed by this move, he had no interest in defending or sticking by Persaud in the de fenseless act of verbal abuse.

He could not defend it morally or ethically much less politically.

Secondly, any objective mind would see the response by the combined opposition as neck-jerk, opportunistic and meritless because every single response has no cred ibility, double standards and hypocrisy.

The APNU+AFC had scandals involving the rep resentatives and persons ap pointed to hold ambassador posts, but where were the voices like Amanza Desir, Ganesh Mahipaul and others then?

Recall, the very same man at the centre of the in cident was also the person who cast the crucial vote of no-confidence in the former

APNU+AFC Administration. He was part of the reason many of them ended their political and public careers.

Now, the Opposition is going to use this incident to its full extent and even be yond to get back at Persaud.

Even though the Presi dent acted out of mere fore sight and took the just and high road by agreeing to re call the High Commissioner, the Opposition now wants more heads to roll and politi cal consequences.

Calling for Todd’s res ignation is not smart and is frankly taking it too far. This minister is guilty of nothing as there was no evidence or anything showing an at tempt to cover up Persaud’s debacle.

Calling out civil society and women groups to get into

a political firestorm is not smart, since the President has already dealt with the matter sufficiently.

Further, the historical records, campaigns to end domestic violence against women, stern policy ap proach of this and other PPP Governments on women, and more recently the Gender Gap Report 2022 would bear all the evidence that Guya nese need to know what is PPP’s position on women, equality, abuse, and violence in general.

So, there is no need for apology to be given on Guy ana’s behalf directly to either India or the woman, as the PPP Govt has already demon strated their value to Guyana by its actions on this matter and many others that have occurred.

The APNU+AFC appears to be basically using these groups to add flames to an already extinguished fire.

Finally, this matter ex poses the need for Guyana to keep training and retooling its diplomats and members of its foreign service.

They must be equipped with the right conflict-solving and mitigation tools to handle emotive, political, diplomatic and other situation whether they are a political appointee or career diplomat.

Now that President Ali has set the bar so high, one expects that it will be maintained because if it is good for goose then it must be good for the gander. The issue is closed for many right thinking Guyanese, and now it’s back to busi ness as usual.

Norton’s actions purportedly led to fallout with PNC General Secretary

mond has been seen at a public event hosted by the party or its umbrella, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).

In addition to supposedly being sidelined by Norton, Chandan-Edmond has also been keeping a low profile, giving up public appearances. Several calls to her phone went unanswered in the past few days.

this year as PNC General Secretary, is being forced out of her position.

Based on reports, Chan dan-Edmond, an attorney and former magistrate, does not see “eye-to-eye” with the positions and policies of Norton, and their relationship prior to her going on leave was extremely “rocky.”

AS the People’s National Congress (PNC) continues to insist that the party’s General Secretary, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, remains on leave, there are more details emerging about a strained relationship be tween her and the party’s leader, Aubrey Norton.

Several sources within the party laid blame at Nor

ton’s leadership style for the wedge driven between Chandan-Edmond and the party’s leadership.

The sources pointed to Norton’s “arrogance” in his approach to contentious is sues, oftentimes seeking to silence dissenting voices within the party.

It has been close to three months since Chandan-Ed

There are growing con cerns by party stalwarts about the confrontational stance adopted by Norton that al ienates parts of the party membership.

Chandan-Edmond, in August, went on leave to reportedly deal with personal matters, but has since then not been seen among her col leagues in the party. Sources close to the PNC, speaking on the condition of anonym ity, alleged that ChandanEdmond, who replaced PNC veteran, Amna Ally, earlier

Several party members had told this publication that Norton does not enjoy the support of all the Opposition members in Parliament, and his leadership style has alien ated many from the party.

There are reports that several employees at Con gress Place, in recent months, have either resigned or parted ways with the PNC/R’s head quarters for varying reasons.

In May of this year, Misenga Jones, the woman who challenged the use of votes from the recount of the March 2, 2020, elec tions as the basis for the declaration of the results,

was fired from her position as office clerk at Congress Place, PNC/R Headquarters, Sophia, Georgetown.

According to a friend and associate of Jones, who is familiar with the situation at Congress Place, her firing stemmed from the behaviour of a PNC member who was very confrontational to in ternational observers during the attempt to rig the 2020 elections.

Also, in February, Nor

ton had written Vishnu Per saud, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of GECOM, to inform him that he had selected Carol Smith Joseph as a replacement for Amna Ally as Chief Scrutineer for the APNU+AFC.

Joseph is before the court on electoral fraud charges, as she was a cen tral figure in the coalition’s alleged interference in the March 2, 2020, General Elections.

General Secretary of the PNC, Geeta Chandan-Edmond

Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton

GSA’s curriculum to be more policy-related

Agriculture Minister says change needed to better equip youths for careers in agriculture

THE Dr. Irfaan Ali-led ad ministration has signaled its intention to make ag riculture in Guyana more youth-oriented as part of its plan to further develop the sector and maintain food security.

According to a press re lease from the Agriculture Ministry, the government has called on youths and women to be actively involved in

fession due to it being cat egorised as a labour-intensive sector. Despite this, President Ali and Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha have been engaging youths across the country to develop initiatives that would see more youths actively involved in agri culture.

Earlier this year, the Head of State launched the Agri culture and Innovation En

value crops such as carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Additionally, President Ali, while at the launch of the Black Belly Sheep initiative, said that some 35 per cent of the farms must have youth involvement; that is, people below the age of 35.

Minister Mustapha met recently with a team from the South Carolina State Uni versity, which is in Guyana

to better equip young indi viduals who wish to pursue a career in agriculture. He also said that the government was working to make the sector less labour-intensive and more profitable.

Keeping in line with the government’s plans for the sector, Minister Mustapha said that the ministry was looking to revamp the curric ulum of the Guyana School

the direction agriculture is heading regionally and glob ally.

“I think there is room for improvement and that some collaborative effort should be put forward to achieve this goal. We need to ensure our young people are taught that agriculture is a business and are given the necessary tools to thrive as budding ag ripreneurs,” Minister Musta pha said.

area of agriculture such as the current Premier of Mont serrat, Easton Taylor-Farrell.

The team, which com prised Dr. Williams Whi taker, Acting Dean, and Dr. Haile Selassie, Professor of Agribusiness and Economics at South Carolina State Uni versity, are also scheduled to meet with the head and other officials of GSA.

agriculture, as systems are being put in place to make the sector more attractive to the country’s youth.

In the past, many young people with agriculture-re lated qualifications did not pursue agriculture as a pro

trepreneurship Programme, which saw the government through the National Agricul ture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), construct ing shade houses and offering technical support to youths for the cultivation of high-

meeting with various aca demic bodies with the hope of establishing international institutional linkages within the local agriculture sector.

During the meeting, Min ister Mustapha indicated that the government was working

of Agriculture.

“The Guyana School of Agriculture is one of Guy ana’s premiere agricultural learning institutions. As a government, we want to make the curriculum more relatable to our policies and

Highlighting that the University’s Agribusiness Programme focuses on the marketing and distribution of food and fiber products and the unique characteristics of the food and fiber sector of the U.S. economy, Minister Mustapha said that GSA’s curriculum should also focus on similar areas in the con text of Guyana’s agriculture sector.

Since its establishment in 1963, GSA has produced some of the Caribbean’s most outstanding leaders in the

Other officials who are part of the delegation are Dr. Maria James, Acting Chair for the Department of Family and Consumer Science; Dr. Moreen Jo seph, Assistant Professor of Nutrition; Dr. Learie Lukc, Associate Professor and Di rector within the Office of International and National Student Exchange Pro grammes, and Ms. Odeidra Williams, Director of Pub lic Relations for the College of Agriculture and Family and Consumer Affairs.

Over 800 persons apply for steel, cement housing subsidy

OVER 800 persons from Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and 10 have ap plied for the govern ment’s steel and ce ment subsidy.

According to infor mation from the Min istry of Housing and Water, persons turned out in their numbers to the Central Hous ing and Planning Au thority (CH&PA) after the application process

opened last Tuesday.

Through this initia tive, Guyanese con structing homes to the tune of $6 million and below could benefit from 80 lengths of ½ inch steel rods, 60 lengths 3/8 inch steel rods, and one sling of cement, while builders with estimates of above $6 million-$25 million will benefit from two slings of cement.

Interested applicants

can apply at the minis try’s main office at 41 Brickdam, George town, any CH&PA Re gional Office, or Online at mohw.gov.gy / chpa. gov.gy. Qualified per sons will be issued with a voucher to purchase the materials at selected merchants.

“Persons must be aware that we will have officers following up to ensure that they receive what they are supposed

to receive, and they utilise it to the full est,” the Chief Execu tive Officer (CEO) of the CH&PA, Sherwyn Greaves said.

Greaves related that the programme is ongoing, so those persons who are yet to approach the banks for loans, or are still waiting to identify their land, will benefit from the programme.

A section of the Guyana School of Agriculture

Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha

UN Security Council boosts commitment to fight digital terror

A TWO-day meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council Coun ter-Terrorism Commit tee in India has ended with the adoption of a document committing Member States to prevent and combat digital forms of terror, notably those using drones, social me

dia, and Online terrorist financing.

The non-binding docu ment, known as The Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerg ing technologies for terror ist purposes was adopted in the Indian capital on Satur day, following a series of panels that involved Mem

ber States representatives, UN officials, civil society entities, the private sector, and researchers.

The Declaration aims to cover the main concerns surrounding the abuse of drones, social media plat forms, and crowdfund ing, and create guidelines that will help to tackle the

growing issue.

“The Delhi declaration lays out the foundation for the way ahead,” said David Scharia of the CounterTerrorism Executive Com mittee.

He added: “It speaks about the importance of hu man rights, public-private partnership, civil society engagement, and how we are going to work together on this challenge. It also invites the CTED [the Sec retariat for the Committee] to develop a set of guiding principles, which will re sult from intensive thinking with all the partners.”

HUMAN RIGHTS AT THE CORE

Respect for human rights was highly stressed in the document, and dur ing the debates. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres underscored that there must be “concrete measures to reduce these vulnerabilities, while com mitting to protect all human rights in the digital sphere.”

In a video message, Guterres added that hu man rights could only be achieved through effective multilateralism and inter national cooperation, with responses that are anchored in the values and obliga tions of the United Nations

Charter and the Univer sal Declaration of Human Rights.

Representing the Hu man Rights Office, Scott Campbell, who leads the digital technology team, echoed the SecretaryGeneral, explaining that “respecting rights when countering terrorism is fundamental to ensuring sustainable and effective efforts to protect our se curity.”

“Approaches that cross these important lines not only violate the law, but they also undermine ef forts to combat terrorism by eroding the trust, net works, and community that is essential to successful prevention and response,” he said.

Campbell argued that international law and hu man rights present many answers to the issue, recall ing that the Member States have a duty to protect the security of their population and to ensure that their con duct does not violate the rights of any person.

REGULATION AND CENSORSHIP

He also stressed that companies and States should be cautious when filtering and blocking so cial media content, as it can

“affect minorities and jour nalists in disproportionate ways.”

To overcome the is sue, Campbell suggested that restrictions should be based on precise and nar rowly tailored laws, and should not incentivize the censoring of legitimate expression. He argued that they should have transpar ent processes, genuinely independent and impartial oversight bodies, and that civil society and experts should be involved in de veloping, evaluating, and implementing regulations.

During the closing ses sion of the meeting, the Committee chairperson, Ambassador Ruchira Kam boj of India, stated that the outcome document takes note of the challenges, and proposes “practical, opera tional, and tactical possibil ities of addressing the op portunities and the threats posed by the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.”

She added that the global policymaking com munity “must be agile, forward-thinking, and collaborative” to meet the changing needs of States facing new challenges from digital terror. (UN News)

Members of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee hold copies of the Delhi Declaration (UN News)

Scores benefit from Live2Lead 2022 conference

IT is a global phenom enon that leadership is essential, and Guyana is no exception, since everything depends on leadership. Organisations learnt this on Saturday when Live2Lead 2022 hosted one of its largest conferences at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

This event, birthed by leadership coach John C. Maxwell, created an oppor tunity for persons to network with like-minded leaders who share a passion for leadership and learning.

John C. Maxwell is the number one New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker, who has sold more than 30 million books, has been identified as the number one leader in business by the American Management Asso ciation, and the world’s most influential leadership expert by Business Insider and Inc. magazine.

The one-day event, aired Online this month, was seen by participants at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, and focuses on leadership and personal growth.

The international speak ers included John Maxwell, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Eric Thomas, Patrick Lencioni, and Tim Elmore.

Local presenters includ ed the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Paloma Moham ed-Martin, and the Guyana Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Interventional Car diologist, Dr. Michael Chin, amongst others.

Attendees learned from renowned leadership experts from various industries, gained a new perspective on relevant topics, and got practical tools to take home with them.

Local certified coach trained by John Maxwell, Dr. Shanti Persaud said good leadership differentiates pros pering nations from those that are not, which is why lead ership must be everyone’s business.

She also launched the L2I Leadership Foundation, with the aim of targetting 10 per cent of Guyana’s popula tion by 2027.

“As a nation, Guyana needs to be intentional about raising and grooming leaders with the integrity of heart,

the strength of character, and unquestionable competence to form a critical mass for selfless nation-building that benefits the larger society.

That is why Live2Lead is happening in Guyana and around the globe,” Dr. Per saud said.

Dr. Persaud also noted

that the programme is intended to give partici pants meaningful and relevant insights that they can utilize, and return

to their jobs and home ready to implement a new action plan to lead with renewed passion and commitment.

Chinese Medical Brigade assists Juvenile Holding Centre

THE 18th Chinese Med ical Brigade offered its services on Saturday to the Juvenile Holding Centre where youths benefitted from a vari ety of services at Dennis Street, Sophia, Greater Georgetown,

At the outreach, each teenager received a physi cal examination, which in cluded height and weight, cardiopulmonary auscul tation; ophthalmic and visual examination; teeth examination; spine and limb examination, and mental health scale as sessment, amongst other services.

The medical team found some adolescents with congenital heart dis ease, scoliosis and mental health problems.

According to the Cap

tain of the 18th Chinese Medical Brigade, Dr.Chu Xuehui ,“Although these young people have com mitted criminal offences, they also need health and psychological care. Good physical and mental health can accelerate the group’s return to normal life, suc cessful reintegration into society and prevention of re-offending.”

Dr.Chu continued: “The spirit of the Chi nese medical team is filled with boundless love and carries out its duties regardless of na tional boundaries, race, colour and language. We also focus on the special groups in Guyana, and provide health services within their capacity and professional knowl edge.”

The 18th Chinese Medical Brigade with representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Juvenile Holding Centre after their visit

Attendees from a cross-section of society attended the Live2Lead programme on Saturday at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre

Sophia residents urged to capitalise on educational, training opportunities

- during ministerial outreach

IN advancing the govern ment’s people-centred agenda, Minister within the Office of the Prime Min ister Kwame McCoy, and Minister of Tourism, Indus try and Commerce Oneidge Walrond met with residents of ‘B’ Field Sophia and sur rounding areas.

They were accompanied by personnel from the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).

At the meeting, which was hosted at the ‘B’ Field Community Centre Ground on Saturday, the ministers addressed the concerns of residents, and encouraged them to tap into the training

opportunities being offered by the government.

“We have to all work together with you to make sure that we can bring our youth on board, and to guide them in the right direction, through the programmes of the GOAL scholarship; and there is the GROW pro

gramme. Through the BIT programme; through all the programmes that we offer as a government, and that we can make available to the community. I would like us all to consciously make that effort,” Minister McCoy said.

Minister Walrond assured the residents of the admin

istration’s commitment to meeting people and listening to their concerns, so that there could be informed pol icy decisions.

“The reasons we are out here is because it is our job as a government. We can’t sit in our offices in town and figure out what is happening with the residents in ‘B’ Field, Sophia; what are the things that are really affecting you; what are the things affecting your family, your commu nity. And, as a government, our service is to you; you the

for us to speak. And I think it was well received by the residents.”

Another resident, Marcia Kato, said: “In regards to the ministers visit here today, I think it was very good that they could come; it’s not the first set of ministers that came here to interact with the people, and we can see that they are not sitting in their offices; they are coming out to meet people; to hear our needs in the community, and see how best they can address our issues.”

people,” Minister Walrond noted.

Residents expressed their satisfaction with the meet ing’s outcome. Colin Marks said that it was an oppor tunity for residents to have their longstanding issues addressed.

“I think it was a tremen dous engagement,” he said. “I must say kudos on the part of the government to come out and reach the people; I’d like to say any government worth its salt should always be listening to its people, and this was an opportunity

The ministers will be fol lowing up with BIT to ensure that residents take advantage of the available opportuni ties to upskill themselves in various vocational and other training programmes.

Minister Walrond also informed the residents that several other ministerial meetings will be held in the other fields in Sophia, as the government is in terested in addressing the concerns of every citizen, regardless of where they live. (DPI)

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McCoy engaging with Sophia residents on Saturday

Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Oneidge Walrond listens keenly to what one Sophia resident had to say during the outreach (DPI photos)

ANSA McAL gets challenge to distribute Guyanese products overseas

cause of our govern ment’s sustained com mitment to broad-based development all across this country,” the minis ter said.

She referred to state ments by ANSA McAl’s Managing Director, Troy Cadogan, who expressed full confidence in the government’s policy de cisions, as the company continues to examine further areas for invest

ments.

Those decisions on further investments in the country are being made as a result of the confidence in those poli cies.

With those types of expansion, Walrond add ed that the company is aligned with the govern ment’s vision for Guya nese in every region of the country to experi ence the best of what is

offered, as well as the realisation of the vision of broad-based inclu sionary development.

She noted that it is the government’s vision for citizens in Region Eight, for instance, to be able to access and enjoy goods and services of the same standard as citizens in Georgetown, and they should also be able to access all ben efits available to those

on the coast.

She added: “Your expansion brings not only goods and ser vices, but also employ ment to people wher ever you operate, you will therefore find us in government to be will ing partners wherever you seek to establish a meaningful presence and to build on our platform of One Guy ana.”

INVITING ANSA

McAL to think of the economic landscape of Guyana in the com ing years, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond has said that she would like to see the company be not only a distributor in Guyana for foreign products, but also a distributor overseas for Guyanese products.

In its 30 years of operations in Guyana, ANSA McAL Lim ited has recorded im mense success and rapid growth, which is testi mony to the country’s commitment to region alism, Minister Walrond said.

In her address at the company’s ceremony to celebrate its 30-year journey in Guyana, the minister said the success of regional companies such as ANSA McAl provide a fitting example for other regional com panies to emulate.

She added that the success and longevity of those companies also prove that with patience and good faith, there are rewards for all others

who operate locally.

According to Min ister Walrond, from the original establishment of trade and distribu tion operations here, the company has since ex panded to ANSA Mo tors, ANSA Construc tion, ANSA Logistics and ANSA Rentals.

She highlighted that the company has also chosen to extend its branches outside of Georgetown, and launched a new facility on the lower East Coast of Demerara, and, most recently, commissioned a US$2 million facility at Palmyra, in Berbice.

Such a significant in vestment in that County, Minister Walrond under scored, was something that probably would not have been thought of 30 years ago. However, suc cessive PPP/C adminis trations have shaped the environment in which companies are able to make these types of ex pansions.

“I would argue that the fact ANSA now finds it profitable to invest at this scale outside of Georgetown is in no small part possible be

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond

Canadian companies eyeing long-term partnerships with local private sector

MANY Canadian companies are look ing to forge long-term partnerships with lo cal firms, Canadian High Commissioner, Mark Berman has said.

Berman, in a recent Online interview, said that through the Ca

nadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), Canada has been in discussions with the government about the Amaila Falls Hydro power Project (AFHP), and is also among the bidders for the Gas-toShore project.

“Canadian compa

nies want to be here for the longer term and look for partnerships. And the one thing that I’ve learned is that peo ple-to-people contact in Guyana is really impor tant,” Berman said.

He related that the Canadian Government has been doing what

it can to foster and strengthen relationships between the Canadian and Guyanese private sector, and has been im pressing upon Canadian businessmen to visit Guyana and meet with local companies.

“Our number one piece of advice [to Ca nadian businesses] is to come down here. You need to come down here and meet the po tential partners, have meetings with the gov ernment, and seek out potential partners. And that is the Canadian model,” Berman said.

He noted that fo cus has been placed on increasing the mem bership of the Canada Guyana Chamber of Commerce (CGCC), which was formed in 2020 with just 28 mem bers. The CGCC now has over 60 members.

“One of the chal lenges, and one of the goals is to continue to grow the membership, both on the Guyanese and the Canadian side,” Berman said.

One initiative to achieve this goal was the Chamber’s inaugu ral gala and fundraiser in Toronto last month.

Held at the Hilton Markham Suites Hotel in the Greater Toronto Area, the event was attended by Guyana’s Senior Minister with responsibility for Fi nance, Dr. Ashni Sin gh, and Guyana Office for Investment (GoInvest)’s Chief Execu tive Officer (CEO), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop.

“One of the main ob jectives of the gala held in Toronto was to be able to make the Cham ber more visible to the Canadian private sector. So, one of the goals is to have a strong Cana dian membership, and then the next goal is

to strengthen the part nership. The Chamber is important for Ca nadian investment. It provides advice; it provides guidance to provide potential part nership,” Berman said, adding: “[The intention is] marrying up Ca nadian and Guyanese companies that could work together. There is a very interesting pol icy committee that has a business-to-business policy dialogue on vari ous issues that will be relevant to investments in Guyana, so there’s a lot of work to do. We want to ensure that this is an equal partnership between Canadians and Guyanese in the Cham ber.”

The High Commis sioner’s Office sits on the Chamber as an ad visory member, sup porting the activities and partnerships among businesses. The High Commission has also created a unique Cana dian Trade Commission to provide services for, and work closely with the Chamber.

Also, in the inter est of supporting the investment of Cana dian businesses in Guy

ana, in April, Guyana signed a Memoran dum of Understand ing (MoU) with the Canadian Commercial Corporation, which acts as prime contractor for foreign government purchases from Canada.

As prime contractor, every contract signed by the CCC has the legal effect of being signed in the name of the Government of Canada, thereby giv ing foreign government buyers the assurance that the contract will be delivered as per the agreed terms and condi tions guaranteed.

“CCC is a very in teresting government agency that allows for government-to- gov ernment contracts. That would mean if the CCC gets involved in a project, they are providing the govern ment of Canada guar antee and will act as the contractor. And if there are issues with the contract, the Gov ernment of Canada guarantees to see it through in terms of financing and that the work is done on time,” Berman said.

Canadian High Commissioner Mark Berman

Police win Inter-Service T20 final after super-over thriller

THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) were crowned champions of the Com mander-in-Chief Inter-Ser vice T20 cricket competi tion after a nail-biting final at the Police Sports Club ground yesterday against rivals, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

Police won the toss and decided to bowl first and had the visitors in trouble early at 49-4 after 10 overs, but middle-order batters Jermey Basdeo and David Longe repaired the innings.

Basdeo started off watchfully and included a number of singles and dou bles before he began to play big shots. In the end, he was

run-out for 48 (3x4, 2x6).

Longe supported with 22 (1x4, 2x6), while Hakeem David finished with 20 (2x6) which propelled GDF to 134-8 in their allotted overs.

Michael Newland and Stephen Harris led Police’s bowling attack with two wickets each.

Needing to score at 6.75 runs per over, the home team took to the middle with As sistant Superintendent Troy Benn and Deputy Commis sioner ‘Operations’ Ravin dradat Budhram opening the batting.

Budhram fell early, but a third-wicket partnership between Benn and Harris pushed the side forward.

When Benn, who paced his innings well, fell for 48 (6x4, 1x6) off the bowl ing of Longe, the Lawmen still looked in control. But Longe with his medium pace and off-spinner Paul Castel lo wrested and took quick wickets, which restricted the lawmen also for 134-8.

Harris, who anchored the innings, was left not out on 49 (1x4, 1x6).

Castello finished with 2-24 from his four overs, while Longe ended with 2-37.

With the scores tied, the two teams battled in a super over.

Benn (five runs) and Harris (two runs) opened

and managed to score seven runs off their allotted six balls.

GDF, in response, buck led under pressure and ended up losing two wickets via the run-out route while making just three runs.

The event was well at tended and was watched by the President of Guy ana, Dr Irfaan Ali; Prime Minister Mark Phillips; the Minister of Home Af fairs, Robeson Benn; Chief of Staff of the GDF, Brig adier Godfrey Bess and Police Commissioner (ag), Clifton Hicken.

Chanderpaul gets maiden...

FROM BACK PAGE

we believe his experience and skill set will be bene ficial and Shamarh Brooks has also returned to bolster the middle-order batting.”

The West Indies Test squad is expected to assem

ble in Australia on Novem ber 10. As part of the prepa rations for the two-match series the visitors will have a three-day warm-up game against an ACT/NSW XI at the Philip Oval, Canberra on Thursday to Saturday, November 17-19.

This will be followed by a four-day pink-ball match against the Australia Prime Minister’s XI at the Ma nuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday to Saturday No vember 23-26. The day/night match will be played under lights and will recognise the anniversary of the inaugural fixture in 1951, also against the West Indies.

The Test series will be contested for the presti gious Frank Worrell Tro phy – named in honour of the legendary West Indies captain. It will also form part of the ICC World Test Championship.

FULL SQUAD: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Jermaine Blackwood

(vice-captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Alz arri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Anderson Phillip, Ray mon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Devon Thomas.

FOR the fifth year BM Soat Auto Sales has supported the Guyana Sport Shooting Foundation in their Annual Costume Shooting Match.

This themed competi tion has once again been exclusively sponsored by B.M Soat Auto Sales and is expected to be an exciting one when it gets going today.

Over the years, members turned out in their costumes, with appearances from Poca hontas, The Joker, Superman, Cowboys, Hondo, Magic Mike, Contractors, Con struction Workers, Arrow,

Super Girl, Farmer, Racer, Cricketer, Biker, Black Pan ther, Lara Croft, Gold Tooth Gangster, Rifle Shooter and Witches, Count Dracula and all sorts of characters would come out and participate, all doing so within the safety confines of the sport.

This year the match is bound to be even more excit ing with invited participants expected to once again take part, donning costumes of their liking, with hats, wigs, paint and garb, but will have to be within the safety con fines of the sport.

Three exciting Steel Challenge stages are ex pected to be set up under stringent security at the GDF Timehri Range and partici pants will fall under three di visions - Limited, Production and Wildcat.

Prizes will be awarded to the top three shooters in each division and medals for a special category - Unclas sified Beginner.

GSSF directors collect ed the sponsorship at the showroom of B.M Soat Auto Sales, located at Lot 9 Croal Street, Georgetown.

THERE were big wins for West Ruimveldt and Redeemer primary schools as the Courts Pee Wee football tour

nament got down to the business end of things yesterday.

The round-of-sixteen action commenced with

Ann’s Grove being the first team to move onto the semi-final rounds and St Pius and Soes dyke following suit.

THE Guyana Crick et Board (GCB) has congratulated Tage narine Chanderpaul on his maiden call-up to the West Indies Test squad.

Tagenarine, who is the son of former West Indies batting prodigy, Shivnarine Chander paul, made his firstclass debut against Lee ward Islands in 2013 and has to date accu mulated 2 669 firstclass runs, including five centuries and ten fifties with an average of 34.21.

The 26-year-old Chanderpaul also had outstanding perfor mances during the re cent West Indies/Ban gladesh-A team tour, recording 109 not out and 49 in two first-class

matches played.

West Indies will begin their 2022 Test tour of Australia with a three-day practice match against ACT/ NSW, from November 17, 2022, at St Philips Oval, Canberra.

This match will be followed by a Day/

Night four-day practice match against the Prime Minister’s X1 which is scheduled to commence at Manuka, Canberra.

These matches will provide useful practice and game-readiness for the two Test matches. The first is scheduled to be played from Novem ber 30, 2022 to Decem ber 4, 2022, at the Perth Stadium and the second from December 8, 2022 to December 12, 2022 at the Adelaide Oval. The president and executive members of the GCB wish to extend best wishes to Tagenarine Chander paul and to encourage him to emulate qual ities that have made his father a great batter of Guyana and West Indies cricket.

Captain Gary Sahai (second from left), Match Director receives sponsorship funds from Mr Vijay Desemangrazon , Manager of B.M. Soat Auto Sales in the presence of GSSF Secretary, Mrs Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon (extreme left) and Ms Mona Ruhoman, Supervisor of Sales Department, B.M. Soat Auto Sales

GCC men, Vets dominate fourth night

THE Bounty National Indoor Hockey champion ship continued on Friday evening with the GCC men and Vets dominating the night.

The opening match-up saw the YMCA Old Fort Top Form go down to the GCC Pitbulls 3-2.

The Woodroffe men were on point for their team as two goals came off the stick of Samuel and one from Vladimir, giving their team the advantage of 3-2.

Simeon Moore marked his name by scoring two field goals for Old Fort Top Form.

The first female game of the evening saw the YMCA Old Fort Igniters narrowly defeat the Saints women by one goal. A penalty corner was awarded to Old Fort women and captain Carolyn Dean led from the front. She took the shot and success fully found the back of the nets of the Saint women.

The faced-off in the Vets Over-35 category was be tween Bounty GCC and YMCA Old Fort. The lat ter suffered another defeat at the hands of GCC as their nets were riddled four times.

Old Fort opened the

scoring in the 3rd minute when former skilful national player Askofu Simon punc tured the GCC net with a field goal. But this small victory did not last long as Kevin Spencer responded, followed by a double from Devin Hooper. The other goal for Old Fort came from Jason DeSantos. The game ended in favour of GCC 4-2.

The final match of the evening took place between GBTI GCC Spice and GBTI GCC Tigers. The Spice ladies were on point and netted four goals, with Ash ley DeGroot-Khalil opening

the scoring for her team and ending with another. She was followed by Sonia Jardine and the hunter Abo saide Cadogan.

The Tigers put up a good fight but only managed three goals, with captain Gabriella Xavier making a double and being supported by the aggressive and quick Sarah Klautky.

Woodpecker Hikers remain undefeated in the women’s category earn ing them the No. 1 spot to date. In the second po sition are GBTI GCC Ti gers. In Group ‘A’ men, Bounty GCC stand on top

B

teams

DEFENDING cham pions Melanie-B, Lil iendaal Hustlers and Old School secured quarter-final berths, following impressive wins when the Guin ness 'Greatest of the Streets' East Coast Demerara zone com menced on Friday eve ning at the Haslington tarmac.

Witnessed by a large crowd after a two-year absence, two-time win ners Melanie-B bested Portmore 2-0. Jermaine Gustav and Philip Wil liams scored in the 12th and 14th minutes respec tively.

Similarly, Liliendaal Hustlers crushed Has lington 3-0. Pernell Schultz bagged a firsthalf double in the sixth and ninth minutes, while Raushan Ritch scored in the seventh minute.

Likewise, Old School downed Uprising 5-1. Jahall Greaves recorded 'Guinness Goals' (a goal scored in the final three minutes counts as two), in the 19th and 20th min

utes, while Travis Martin netted in the 14th minute.

For the losers, Shawn Adonis scored in the 16th minute. Up to press time, the quarter-final matches as well as the plate sec tion of the tournament were underway. Over $450 000 in cash and prizes are up for grabs in the three-day tourna ment. The final will be staged at the same venue on Saturday, November 5.

Quarterfinal fixtures

(1) Melanie-B vs Vry heid’s Lust (2) Victoria Eagles vs Non Pareil

(3) Church Yard vs BV-A (4) Hustlers vs Old School Plate Section

Portmore vs Belfield, Paradise vs Buxton, Team Cruel vs Bareroot, Haslington vs Uprising Complete Round of 16 Results

Guinness Goal (GG) 2 goals

Game-1

Belfield-0 vs Vryheid’s Lust-1, L. Roberts-12th Game-2

Buxton Diamond-0 vs Non Pareil-1, Andrew Murray-8th Game-3

BV-A-4 vs Bareroot-3 BV-A scorers Dexroy Deen-2nd and 9th, Akin Curry-11th, Tyrice Den nis-14th

Bare Root scorers Jamal Inniss-17th and 18th, Dequan France-13th Game-4

Church Yard-1 vs Team Cruel-0

Rashleigh Morrison-15th Game-5

Paradise-A-0 vs Victoria Eagles-1 Game-6

Liliendaal Hustlers-3 vs Haslington-0 Pernell Schultz-6th and 9th, Raushan Ritch-7th Game-7

Melanie-B-2 vs Port more-0

Jermaine Gustav-12th, Philip Williams-14th Game-8

Uprising-1 vs Old School-5

Old School scorers Jahall Greaves-(GG)-19th and 20th, Travis Martin-14th Uprising scorer Shawn Adonis-16th

and Group ‘B’ GCC The Sequel lead. GCC Vintage are ranked one after play ing three games in the Vets

Abosaide Cadogan

category. Action continues this evening with the semi-fi nal and final.

WIFBSC Championship 2022 Guyana maintain status as Long Range Kings of the Caribbean

THE excellent shooting, led by the younger brigade in Roberto Tiwari, Sher win Felicien, and Peter Persaud, coupled with the tested, tried and proven marksmanship of seasoned campaigners the likes of captain Dylan Fields, Leo Romalho, and Caribbe an Individual Champion, Lennox Braithwaite, saw Guyana retain their status as the Long Range Kings of the Caribbean on Fri day at the Twickenham Park Range, St Catherine, Jamaica.

As has been the norm over the years, the Guyanese contingent, missing the USA duo of Sigmund Douglas and John Fraser, still kept the rich tradition going by blowing away the opposi tion with a solid combined performance.

COVID-19 had put paid to the championships like other sports over the past two years but the Guyanese marksmen proved that they are still the team to beat in this part of the world. Tiwari and Felicien contributed the same points, but Tiwari had 7 V Bulls to Felicien’s 3. They were the two leading shots for the lads from the Land of Many Waters.

The host nation, Ja maica, also known as the Land of Wood and Water, brought up the rear as Canada and Antigua & Barbuda, ended ahead of them as the below ta ble shows. The curtain was set to come down on this year’s championships yesterday with the ShortRange competition.

Bounty

From right, Ransford Goodluck, Peter Persaud, Lennox Braithwaite, Sherwin Felicien, Mahendra Persaud, Leo Romalho, Roberto Tiwari, Dylan Fields and Ryan Sampson

Bounty

GCC men, Vets dominate fourth night

Ascofu Simon

THE Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel today named the Men’s Test squad for the upcom ing series in Australia. West Indies will be under the leadership of Kraigg Brathwaite and will face the hosts in two Test match es at the Perth Stadium (November 30 to December 4) and the Adelaide Oval (December 8-12).

The Selection Panel named one newcomer in Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the left-handed opening batter and recalled two experienced players in all-rounder Roston Chase and middle-order bat ter Shamarh Brooks.

Lead Selector The Most Hon. Dr Desmond Haynes said: “We have a core group of players who have been part of the Test squad and have performed well. We

have played two series this year – against England and Bangladesh – and won both. We have been playing good Test cricket and expect to do well against the Australians on their home turf.”

“We have one newcomer to the team in Tagenarine Chanderpaul. He acquitted himself very well in the West

Indies Championship fourday matches and also did a very good job at the top of the order against Bangladesh A in Saint Lucia this sum mer. He has what it takes to do well at the highest level.”

Haynes added: “Roston Chase has returned to the squad as an all-rounder and

President Irfaan