Guyana_Chronicle_Epaper_06_16_2020

TUESDAY 16th June, 2020

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‘Short on facts’ No.106031

…Alexander says CARICOM observers not privy to records that confirmed electoral fraud

…deems report “a basic electoral report”

SEE STORIES ON PAGES 02&12

…team admitted to scrutinising only 18% of ballot boxes

GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, addresses members of the media (Adrian Narine photo)

ORs to be examined

…GECOM agrees to deliberate on observation reports despite PPP/C’s objections 03 PAGE

CARICOM calls for new voters’ list PAGE

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GuySuCo to receive funds this week --President says gov’t has done everything to bring industry to normalcy, profitability

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‘Short on facts’

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

…Alexander says CARICOM observers not privy to records that confirmed electoral fraud they saw was sufficient to …deems their report ‘a basic electoral report’ reflect the will of the people,” ELECTIONS Commissioner Vincent Alexander, though not dismissing the Observation Report compiled by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Observation Team, said it failed to take into full consideration the impact voter impersonation would have on the 2020 General and Regional Elections, on the simple basis that it was not privy to the records that confirmed that electoral fraud had in fact taken place. “[The] CARICOM Report, essentially, is a basic electoral report. I don’t think the CARICOM people were

disposed, or had access, to the death information or the immigration information…,” Alexander told reporters on Monday, while explaining that whereas the three-member delegation was aware of the allegations, it was not in possession of the official records submitted by the Immigration Department and the General Registrar’s Office.

The delegation, which comprised Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, John

Jarvis, and Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sylvester King, said that while there were irregularities at the 2020 Elections, none of those irregularities and shortcomings are sufficient to call the results of the elections into question.

“Yes, the recount suggests that the poll was far from perfect, but the imperfections cannot deny that the elections and therefore the recount were reasonably credible,” the CARICOM Observers submitted in their report to the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d)

GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander

Claudette Singh.

But according to Alexander, the CARICOM Report is based on the 18.08% or 423 ballot boxes it observed from a total of 2, 339 during the 33-day National Recount at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC). “What they said… the recount that

the Elections Commissioner said. He said that based on the CEO’s Report and supporting information, the credibility of the 2020 Elections is in question. “At this point in time, I am of the view that there are serious questions about the credibility, given the irregularities that have been verified,” Alexander said, and that his position is not likely to change.

The Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield in his report said that the General and Regional Elections were far from credible, as over 200,000 ballots cast in the General and Regional Elections have been impacted by anomalies, irregularities and voter impersonation with Region Six seeing the highest percentage of ballots being affected. Said iirregularities led the CEO to conclude that the elections did not satisfy the criteria of impartiality, fairness and compliance

with the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act. In Region One (Barima-Waini), where there were 99 ballot boxes counted, the total number of affected ballots stands at 4,194 or 34. 6 per cent of the ballots cast in that region. In Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), where there were 135 ballot boxes, 19,913 votes were affected, representing 74.8 per cent of all ballots cast. For Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) where 355 ballot boxes were present, there were 49,286, or 67.9 per cent of ballots affected.

Region Four (DemeraraMahaica), home of 879, the highest number of ballot boxes, saw 112,039 or 55.4 per cent of ballots cast being affected. Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) saw 16,737 or 50.5 per cent of its ballots cast being affected out of 158 ballot boxes; and in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), where there were 378 ballot boxes, there were a total of 49,952 or 77.4 per cent of ballots cast affected, the highest percentage witnessed. In Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), with only 82 ballot boxes, there were 6,763 or 70.5 per cent of ballots cast affected.

Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) had only 55 ballot boxes, and saw 2,507, or 53.7 per cent of ballots being affected. In Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), with 125 ballot boxes, saw 3,873 or 17 per cent of the ballots cast affected.

ORs to be examined

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

…GECOM agrees to deliberate on observation reports despite PPP/C’s objections …commission to continue review of CEO’s report today

By Svetlana Marshall AN attempt to shelve the Chief Elections Officer’s (CEO’s) Observation Reports, which emanated out of the National Recount, was met with objection at the level of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on the basis that those reports are critical in the Commission’s quest to determine the credibility of the General and Regional Elections held last March.

The Elections Com mission, chaired by Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, is expected to meet again today (June 16) to continue deliberation on the CEO’s Report on the National Recount, which includes a tabulation of the votes recounted and a Summary Observation Report for each of the 10 Electoral Districts.

The Elections Commission initiated discussions on the CEO’s Report on Monday (June 15), and from the onset a discussion emerged on whether the Observation Reports should be considered.

“There were those who attempted to contend that we need to get to, what they call ‘the chase,’ and simply give effect to the tabulation. A discussion therefore ensued, which eventually led into a commencement of a discussion on the Observation Reports,” Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander said. Guyana Chronicle was told that the Chair was in agreement for the reports to be considered.

At the time, he had just exited the meeting of the Elections Commission at GECOM’s Headquarters at High and Cowan Streets.

Based on the votes tabulated at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) – the site of the National Recount – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) secured 233,336 votes while the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU+AFC)

raked in 217,920 votes. But while the recount shows the PPP/C in the lead by 15,416 votes, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, in his Observation Reports, said that the Elections were not credible because more than 200,000 votes had been compromised due to widespread irregularities and cases of voter impersonation.

Much to the objection of the PPP/C and smaller political parties, the APNU+AFC had pointed to thousands of cases in which persons are alleged to have voted in the place of the dead and Guyanese who were listed on the Official List of Electors but were out of the jurisdiction on Elections Day. The Opposition had argued that many of the claims were unsubstantiated – an issue that Commissioner Alexander sought clarification on.

Secretariat gets evidence on migration, deaths “I sought clarification on whether the commission had in fact garnered evidence in relation to the deaths and the migration, and so, the Secretariat has now provided us with documentation to show that they, in fact, had gotten verification in relations to deaths and migration,” the Elections Commissioner disclosed.

The CEO, in his Report, said that the claims of voter impersonation were confirmed when Reports from the Chief Immigration Officer and General Registrar’s Office were consulted. There were 4,864 cases of voter impersonation, according to the CEO. Alexander explained that while GECOM receives periodic reports from the General Registrar’s Office on deaths recorded, the Secretariat had instituted a cut-off time so as to prepare the List of Electors. “Subsequent to that cut-off date, there would have been reports coming in that would not have been part of the deletions from the National Register of

Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander speaking with members of the press outside of the GECOM Headquarters on Monday.

Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj (Photos by Adrian Narine)

Registrants, so those persons would have appeared on the National Register and on the Voters’ List. And so it seems as if, in the main, where instances of persons died voted, there were persons who would have died, and would have had their deaths registered subsequent to GECOM’s cut-off date for the preparation of its list,” the Elections Commissioner further explained.

Aside from the issue of voter impersonation, the CEO, in his report, had pointed to a string of anomalies including missing Certificates of Employment, Oaths of Identity, Counterfoils, Unused Ballots and Official Lists of Electors (OLEs) among other statutory documents. Added to that, Alexander said a live issue remains in relation to

the 81 ballots from Sophia that were rejected because of the absence of the official six-digit stamp. It was found that the Assistant Presiding Officer had only stamped one half of the ballots and not the other half. Reference was also made to the 47 ballot boxes that were void of statutory documents required by Law. “My own disposition on this matter is that I start off on a position of principle, that every vote should be counted, no one should be disenfranchised, and therefore in that regard, with respect to the 47 boxes, I had previously said to you that we should find a mechanism to allow for those people not to be disenfranchised,” the Elections Commissioner opined.

Also before the Elec-

tions Commission is the CARICOM Observation Team’s Report. In contrast to the CEO’s Report, the CARICOM team said while there were defects and malpractices, they were not sufficient to thwart the will of the people.

Missing documents warrant probe Notably, however, the CARICOM Observers said that the missing statutory documents from the 47 ballot boxes warrant an investigation by the Elections Commission. They said too that there was evidence to suggest that Presiding Officers at the March poll failed to comply with GECOM’s manual resulting in missing statutory documents such as Oaths of Identity, Certificates of Employment, Official Lists of Elections, and Counterfoils among others.

“A far more egregious issue was the absence of counterfoils which are critical to verify the number of ballots cast in as much as the OLE’s often differed in the

number of serial numbers marked as having voted,” it said.

The Elections Commission is likely to pronounce on the 2020 General and Regional Elections this week, Commissioner Alexander told reporters while not ruling out the possibility of the elections being annulled.

Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj, who from the onset of the National Recount indicated that it is not for GECOM to deliberate and rule on the Observations cited, refrained from offering a comment on the recount but to say that the meeting will continue today.

According to the gazetted Order, the Elections Commission, upon deliberating on the CEO’s Report, will determine whether or not to instruct him to use the data to compile a report for the declaration of the results in accordance with the Representation of the People’s Act.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

US Supreme Court backs protection for LGBT workers (BBC) America's top court has ruled that employers who fire workers for being gay or transgender are breaking the country's civil rights laws.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court said federal law, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, should be understood to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The ruling is a major win for LGBT workers and their allies.

And it comes even though the court has grown more conservative.

Lawyers for the employers had argued that the authors of the 1964 Civil Rights Act had not intended it to apply to cases involving sexual orientation and gender identity. The Trump administration sided with that argument.

But Judge Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump, said acting against an

employee on those grounds necessarily takes sex into account.

"An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex," he wrote. "The limits of the drafters' imagination supply no reason to ignore the law's demands."

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex as well as gender, race, colour, national origin and religion.

Under the Obama administration, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces the anti-discrimination law, said it included gender identity and sexual orientation.

Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - 01:30 hrs &13:00 hrs

But the Trump administration has moved to roll back some protections in health care and other areas.

While some states in the US had already explicitly

was removing transgender health-insurance protections only puts the issue in stark relief.

Transgender rights is becoming a political battlefield,

affirming the dignity of transgender people and all LGBTQ people," said Sarah Kate Ellis, president of GLAAD. "We cannot and should not

The Supreme Court has issued a major ruling on LGBT rights

extended such protections to LGBT workers, many have not.

It's difficult to overstate the significance of the decision.

While the court is establishing a long history of decisions expanding gay rights, this is the first time it spoke directly about the legal protections for transgender individuals.

That the ruling comes out just days after the Trump administration announced it

and a majority of the Supreme Court just announced which side it's on.

WHAT IS THE REACTION? LGBT ADVOCATES HAILED THE DECISION. "Especially at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back the rights of transgender people and anti-transgender violence continues to plague our nation, this decision is a step towards

go back to a time when people felt that had to hide who they are in order to feel safe at work," Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, wrote on Twitter.

The American Civil Liberties Union shared a prepared statement from transgender plaintiff Aimee Stephens, who died last month. Her case was the first major transgender civil rights case heard by America's top court.

"I am glad the court recognised that what happened to me is wrong and illegal," Ms Stephens said. "I am thankful that the court said my transgender siblings and I have a place in our laws - it made me feel safer and more included in our society."

But the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian non-profit that asked the court to hear Ms Stephens' case, said it was disappointed in the ruling. It warned it would "create chaos and enormous unfairness for women and girls in athletics, women's shelters and many other contexts".

What did the court say?

In his opinion, Mr Gorsuch said such matters were not before the court.

"The only question before us is whether an employer who fires someone for being homosexual or transgender has discharged or otherwise discriminated against that individual 'because of such individual's sex'," he wrote.

The answer, he said, was "clear" - even if such a sce-

nario had not been anticipated when the law was written.

"It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex," he wrote.

Three conservative justices opposed the ruling: Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh.

"There is only one word for what the court has done today: legislation," Mr Alito wrote in his dissent.

WHAT ARE THE CASES? The ruling resolves three cases brought by people who said they had been fired after their employers learned they were gay or transgender.

Ms Stephens had previously presented as a man at work for six years before writing a letter to colleagues saying she would return to work "as my true self, Aimee Australia Stephens, in appropriate business attire".

Two weeks later, Ms Stephens was fired for insisting in working in women's clothes.

In a court filing last year, the funeral home owner argued it wanted Ms Stephens to comply with a dress code "applicable to Stephens' biological sex".

A lower court sided with Ms Stephens.

Donald Zarda, a skydiving instructor from New York who died in a skydiving accident in 2014 , had filed one of the other cases.

He was dismissed after joking with a female client with whom he was tandem-diving not to worry about the close physical contact because he was "100% gay".

The company maintained he was fired because he shared personal information with a client, not because he was gay, but a court in New York ruled in Mr Zarda's favour.

Gerald Bostock, a former child welfare services co-ordinator from Georgia, lost his job after joining a gay recreational softball league, thereby publicly revealing his sexual orientation.

His employer, Clayton County, said his dismissal was the result of "conduct unbecoming of a county employee".

Mr Bostock lost his discrimination case in a federal court in Atlanta.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

CARICOM calls for new voters’ list

MAKING a case for electoral reform in Guyana, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Observation Team said, at a minimum, a new National Register of Registrant Database (NRRDB) should be generated.

“As a minimum condition of electoral reform, the Team recommends that the urgent need for the total re-registration of all voters in Guyana,” the three-member observer delegation recommended, while adding that “it is clear that given the state of the voter registration of the country that Guyana was not adequately prepared for the 2020 poll.”

Undoubtedly, Guyana went into the 2020 General and Regional Elections with

a bloated List of Electors.

Interestingly, the country has a population of 750,000 people, and the Official List of Electors is almost equal with well over 600,000 voters listed – among them the deceased and Guyanese who have long migrated. The records show, however, that approximately 460,000 persons went to the polls.

The A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) have long championed the cause for House-to-House Registration so as to pave way for the generation of a new NRRD but while the country-wide generation process was initiated in 2019, it was aborted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), af-

ter the Court of Appeal, in February 2020, ruled that residency is not a requirement for voting in Guyana, thereby upholding the 2019 decision of the High Court to block the removal of persons from the NRRDB. The urgent need for elections to be held in Guyana in wake of the 2018-No Confidence Motion was also a contributing factor when the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh handed down her decision August 2019 decision to bring the registration process to an early halt.

CARICOM, while acknowledging that circumstances beyond the control of the Commission prevented greater preparedness, it said efforts should be made to ad-

dress the issue of the “bloated list.” “It therefore behoves the Commission to create a new voter voter registry especially given the suspicion that the 2020 register was bloated, a suspicion which is not without merit,” CARICOM said.

Weighing in on the issue recently, well-known businessman and former MP, Stanley Ming said his biggest disappointment with the 2020 elections is that the said List of over 661,000 persons was used to take Guyana into the crucial elections. He believes that Guyana’s electoral system has been manipulated by various entities for years and such a List should not have been endorsed given the case.

“For you to have —which is what they’re saying

A Bitter Election. Accusations of Fraud. And Now Second Thoughts ….a close look at Bolivian election data suggests an initial analysis by the O.A.S. that raised questions of vote-rigging — and helped force out a president — was flawed.

By Anatoly Kurmanaev and Maria Silvia Trigo (The New York Time, June7, 2020)-The election was the most tightly contested in decades: Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was running for a fourth term, facing an opposition that saw him as authoritarian and unwilling to relinquish power.

As the preliminary vote count began, on Oct. 20, 2019, tensions ran high. When the tallying stopped — suddenly and without explanation — then resumed again a full day later, it showed Mr. Morales had just enough votes to eke out a victory.

Amid suspicions of fraud, protests broke out across the country, and the international community turned to the Organization of American States, which had been invited to observe the elections, for its assessment. The organization’s statement, which cited “an inexplicable change” that “drastically modifies the fate of the election,” heightened doubts about the fairness of the vote and fueled a chain of events that changed the South American nation’s history. The opposition seized on the claim to escalate protests, gather international support, and push Mr. Morales from power with military support weeks later.

Now, a study by independent researchers, using data obtained by The New York Times from the Bolivian electoral authorities, has found that the Organization of American States’ statistical analysis was itself flawed. The conclusion

Evo Morales, the former president of Bolivia, left the country following a contentious election.Credit...

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

that Mr. Morales’s share of the vote jumped inexplicably in the final ballots relied on incorrect data and inappropriate statistical techniques, the researchers found.

“We took a hard look at the O.A.S.’s statistical evidence and found problems with their methods,” said Francisco Rodríguez, an economist who teaches Latin American studies at Tulane University. “Once we correct those problems, the O.A.S.’s results go away, leaving no statistical evidence of fraud.”

Mr. Rodríguez conducted the study with Dorothy Kronick, an expert on Latin American politics at the University of Pennsylvania, and Nicolás Idrobo, a doctoral student at the same university who is the co-author of a textbook on advanced statistical methods.

Their study is a working pa-

per that has not yet been peer reviewed.

To be sure, the authors said their analysis focused only on the O.A.S.’s statistical analysis of the voting results, and does not prove that the election was free and fair. In fact, there were a lot of documented problems with the vote.

In an attempt to quell the protests set off when he claimed victory, Mr. Morales called on the O.A.S. to conduct a “binding” election audit.

The resulting 100-page report, published in December, contained evidence of errors, irregularities and “a series of malicious operations” aimed at altering the results. These included hidden data servers, manipulated voting receipts and forged signatures, which the organization said made it impossible for it to validate the election’s results.

The O.A.S. found evidence of tampering with at least 38,000 votes. Mr. Morales claimed outright victory by a margin of 35,000 votes. “There was fraud — we just don’t know where and how much,” said Calla Hummel, a Bolivia expert at the University of Miami who witnessed the election and analyzed the O.A.S.’s findings. “The issue with the O.A.S. report is that they did it very quickly,” Dr. Hummel said. That shaped the narrative of the election before data could be properly analyzed, she said.

That initial claim by the O.A.S. is specifically what the academics are disputing in their study. Mr. Morales’s downfall paved the way to a staunchly right-wing caretaker government, led by Jeanine Añez,

which has not yet fulfilled its mandate to oversee swift new elections. The new government has persecuted the former president’s supporters, stifled dissent and worked to cement its hold on power.

Seven months after Mr. Morales’s downfall, Bolivia has no elected government and no official election date.

The O.A.S. said it stood by its statistical analysis, because it successfully detected early initial indications of fraud.

“It’s a moot point,” the organization’s head of electoral observations, Gerardo De Icaza, said in response to questions raised by the new study. “Statistics don’t prove or disprove fraud. Hard evidence like falsified statements of polls and hidden I.T. structures do. And that is what we found.” The organization’s initial accusation came right after Bolivia’s most disputed elections since the return of democracy in the 1980s.

To run for a fourth term, Mr. Morales subverted laws, staffed the electoral council with loyalists, and ignored results of a referendum that banned him from seeking re-election. Claiming the results of the October election could not be trusted, some opposition leaders said they would paralyze the country if Mr. Morales declared victory. For their part, Mr. Morales’s largely Indigenous supporters, fearing a return of the conservative politicians of European descent who had been the rule in the country before Mr. Morales took office in 2006, vowed to defend their political gains at all cost.

is going to come out of this election — a voter turnout and valid votes cast for the two major parties and the small parties of 440,000, it means that the people who were eligible to vote had to be 586,000. For you to have 586,000 people eligible to vote, you would have had to have a tabulation of 837,000 people because it’s only 70 per cent of the people are above the age of 18; the other 30 per cent are below,” he said while a guest on Benschop Radio 107.1 FM. Ming’s position is that had political parties involved allowed for the completion of the house-tohouse registration exercise, the current problems would have been significantly

avoided. This opinion was shared by Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes who was also on the programme. “As Stanley has said, the List is a major problem and there should have been full house-to-house registrations prior to elections because most people are of the firm view that the List that existed prior to elections was bloated,” Hughes said.

In his view, the Court’s decision that migrants cannot been removed from the National Register of Registrants Data Base (NRDB), was not in the best interest of Guyana’s elections and Guyana was “begging for trouble” heading into the elections with such a List.

Greenidge chairs OACPS negotiations FOREIGN Secretary Carl Greenidge last Friday chaired the eighth meeting of the Ministerial Central Negotiating Group (CNG) of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), which is currently in the process of re-negotiating a successor agreement to the Lomé Convention and its successor, the Cotonou Accord.

Greenidge also attended the seventh meeting of the OACPS Chief Negotiators of the Organisation and the European Union (EU), which is also working on a replacement of the Cotonou Accord.

The seventh meeting of the Chief Negotiators of the Organisation and the European Union (EU), was chaired by Togo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Robert Dussey, and focused on the current status of the negotiations; endorsing texts negotiated at the technical level; and agreement on the way forward.

Other Chief Negotiators included Greenidge and the Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Malielegaoi.

Signed in June 2000, the Cotonou Agreement was signed between the members of the OACPS, then called the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), and the members of the European Union standing as the overarching framework for EU relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is

a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975.

The Cotonou Agreement aims to reduce, and eventually eradicate poverty and contribute to the gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy, based on the pillars of development cooperation; economic and trade cooperation; and political dimension.

The Cotonou Agreement expired in March 2020, with formal negotiations for a successor arrangement launched in September 2018. Negotiations are expected to conclude in August 2020.

This Agreement provides the basis for cooperation and donor support with the EU at the bilateral and multilateral levels. The EU is the largest provider of concessional development funds and assistance to Guyana.

“The new Agreement will ensure the maintenance of the acquis of the previous ACP-EU ones while also being supported by three regional protocols, one each for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, so that regional specificities and needs are addressed,” a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.

The parties also agreed to the inclusion of language that would allow for current and future cooperation and support on issues such as COVID-19, in particular.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Self-determination and the Enmore Martyrs SEVENTY-TWO years ago on this date, five sugar workers were shot and killed by police on Enmore Estate, East Coast Demerara. The victims were Lallabaggie and Dookie from Enmore, and Rambarran, Harry and Pooran from Enterprise/ Non Pareil. The story that led to this incident has to do with the workers’ demand for improved working conditions, which is an element in workers’ struggles for self-determination. On this fateful day about 400 workers were on strike to bring attention to their displeasure with the “cut-and-load” system which they wanted to be abolished.

Sugar workers were arguing that the “cut-and-load” system be replaced by the “cut and drop.” While the former entailed cane-cutters having to load the canes they cut, the latter would have allowed for division of labour, where one set of workers would cut, and another set

load. This struggle was against the backdrop of the workers’ desires to have the right to freedom of association respected and to be represented by the Guyana Industrial Workers Union (GIWU), which is today known as the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU). GIWU was in 1946 co-founded by Cheddi Jagan and Joseph P. Lachmansingh, with the former departing from the Man Power Citizens’ Association (MPCA), which he joined in 1943 on his return to then British Guiana. In that period, outside of the trade union movement, the struggles of workers for improvement in their conditions of work and standard of living were supported by the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), which was co-founded in 1946

by Jagan, Janet Jagan, Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbard.

Workers’ struggles of this period also included that of one-man-

one-vote (universal suffrage) and internal self-government, among other socio-economic and political issues that became principles for the movement cemented at the 1926 Caribbean Conference for Labour Leaders, hosted in Guyana with the participation of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow. It should be said that while the MPCA at the time represented sugar workers, the workers considered it a “company union” and doubted its quality of representation. With respect to the right to freedom of association, systems should have been put in place for the workers to express their will in determining which of the unions they reposed confidence in. This fundamental principle was never applied until 1976, which led to the recognition of GAWU as sole bargaining agent for workers that were represented by the MPCA. Thus, the 1948 struggle carried with it both industrial

and political intent and desire.

Given the co-mingling of this relationship between Jagan and the sugar workers, one remembering the Enmore Martyrs can understand the union’s affiliation to the party.

Outside of the political influence, sugar workers were prepared to challenge the estate owners for weeks, given that the strike had commenced on 22nd April, which speaks to an unflinching determination. When the estate authorities called in the colonial police, the workers did not relent, preferring instead to challenge and confront. This led to an exchange between workers and the police who shot the latter, killing the five and injuring others. This massacre led to the rallying of workers and citizens across the country, in what evidently was seen as the wrong way to defuse the situation or resolve the conflict. When the five were buried at Le Repentir, there was a procession that moved from

Why is it in Guyana that Indians always want to speak for Africans?

Dear Editor FREDDIE Kissoon has been doing it for years, even though he is irrelevant to the African community.

His last 100 daily columns have been anti-black and anti-APNU+AFC. His latest racism is in the words, “Singh considers herself an African Guyanese sympathetic to the PNC. She is in fact related to Lincoln Lewis, a fact Lewis has not brought out and a fact that the press should ask him and Singh about. Singh does not want the PPP in power.”

How vile and immoral.

First we had Ravi Dev. Then for quite a while we had Prem Misir.

Then Vishnu Bisram .

Then Ryhaan Shah.

Then the Indo-Caribbean

Diaspora Network (ICDN).

Then Vassan Ramracha.

And now the latest Rakesh Rampertab, who in his recent article stated “Rodney most likely would have rejected the coalition.”

The deep racism and daily psychological subliminal and direct mental war against African-Guyanese are surpassed only by the anti-blackness that is endemic in Guyana. Just prior to the 2011 elections, the Mulattoes had their going with Bishop Juan Edghill abusing, using the Christian religion that is practised by so many Africans in Guyana. He stated at the People’s Progressive Party/Civic rally at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara one Sunday, “I believe if Jesus Christ, who I serve, was in Guyana and he had to vote,

he would have voted for the PPP/C, because Jesus loves justice.” At this time he was the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission and a PPP candidate.

It is clear that Edghill was smoking something stronger than a cigarette and continues to this day as he is now threatening public servants. Most recently, we heard some noise from the invisible Brigadier (rtd) Mark Phillips, Joseph Hamilton, Hugh Todd, Gillian Burton-Persaud, Mae Thomas and Bishop Juan Edghill, who wrote in the Guyana Chronicle and not the Guyana Times which does not publish any of my letters, “We regret the unethical, mischievous and down-right race hate and race-baiting that has [sic] been prevalent

on social media, emanating from all sides of the political, cultural and ethnic divides.

This is unacceptable and no one should be selective in their condemnation.’

This came 100 days late when they realised that African-Guyanese would react reciprocally to threats against them. Editors, this election has shown the true colours of many in Guyana.

Many have shown their anti-blackness, including many mulattoes who have been masquerading and Mixed, a classification they believe makes them better or lighter in colour. As I have stated before, Guyana has changed forever because of the 2020 elections.

Respectfully Eric Phillips

Enmore to the cemetery. The demands by the people of the colonial authority to conduct a Commission of Inquiry into the event were loud and clear, and met with the needed response in the establishment of such a commission. The determination of the sugar workers and the struggle that led to the demise of some have not been in vain and have been immortalised. In 1976, the Government of Guyana, based on a recommendation by the Inter American Organisation of Workers (ORIT), which the Guyana Trades Union Congress via then General-Secretary Joseph Pollydore pursued, the five became known as martyrs. A monument was built at Emnore in these workers’ honour.

In this year, even as our nation is gripped in a political storm, where incidentally external forces are bent on influencing, let us remember these martyrs and the pivotal role they played in our country’s self-determination.

Rodney would have been a formidable force

in the 1992 elections

Dear Editor,

ON June 13th in Guyana and around the world the assassination of Walter Rodney is commemorated.

His life, work and struggle are reflected on and evaluated and re-evaluated.

This year is no different. It is within this context that I pen this brief response to Mr. Ralph Ramkarran’s “The Conversation Tree” column captioned, “Had Rodney lived, Guyana would not have faced the current dilemma.” My preference is to insert “likely” after “would” in the caption.

This letter is restricted to issues related to Rodney and not to the other matters that were dealt with by Ramkarran in his column. For some time I have found it difficult

to agree with commentaries in The Conversation Tree, which happens to be one of my favourite columns. I concurred with most of Ramkarran’s analysis of Walter Rodney and his role in national politics. Acknowledging this fact is important, since in the present degenerated political culture that has developed in Guyana, with its emphasis on expounding differences in a way that blindsides the other rather than a meeting of minds.

Having said the above, I disagree with Ramkarran’s opinion “Rodney would not have been able to prevent the electoral demolition of the WPA at the 1992 elections, which were dominated by the PPP and PNC, by ethnic voting patterns.”

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

We commend Mr Lowenfield A greener Caribbean: a pathway to and staff for their diligence job creation and economic recovery

Dear Editor

CUFFY 250 and the undersigned organisations noted that the Chief Elections Officer Mr. Keith Lowenfield has presented his report to the elections commission and has concluded that based on his findings, “it cannot be ascertained that the results meet the standards of free and credible elections.”

Mr. Lowenfield and his dedicated staff have obviously worked assiduously to review the recounted ballots and the observation reports before completing these comprehensive assessments and arriving at this conclusion. We commend the chief elections officer and his staff for their diligence.

We are firmly convinced that all parties who participated in this revealing comprehensive recount process must embrace its findings and allow the elections commission to complete the process for the satisfaction of the people of Guyana.

Regards ACDA Pan-African Movement Rastafari Initiative for Social, Cultural and Economic Empowerment Sea View Cultural

Organisation Another Chance for the Nation Ithaca Culture Group Jessamie Culture Group IDPAD Summit Israelite Research Institute Lighttown Agricultural Cooperative Society, Ltd. Lighttown Gangoo Creek Community Development Group Marfriends Cooperative Society Nation of Rastafari Nile Valley Economic Community African Movement Linden Anbessa Foundation Belladrum Co-op Society Blak Business Council Community Organization for Rehabilitation and Neighbourhood Development (Uitvlugt) Confederation of African National & Descendants Ethiopian Orthodox Church GNTEA INVEST Women for Green Economy Queenstown Development Association Small Farmers Association Cuffy 250 FROM PAGE

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Rodney would have ...

This conclusion could only be valid if it is assumed that by 1992 Rodney and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) had failed to achieve the removal of the Burnham regime by popular revolt. For the sake of argument, if Rodney were alive and politically active in 1992, with the WPA going against PPP/PNC, there was no certainty of WPA ‘s victory, but I am doubtful that we would have been demolished as Ramkarran indicates. But all this is pointless speculation which can never be proven one way or the other.

There is also another point of departure between me and Ramkarran: this is his contention that the PPP and the WPA had reached an agreement, “on the basic principles of shared governance.”.It

would be more correct to say that both parties were in agreement that the country needs “shared executive power,” but differed on the details and the path forward.

The above does not take away in any significant way from my concurrence with most of Mr. Ralph Ramkarran’s analysis in his column. As writers supportive and critical of Walter Rodney and the WPA’s activism share their thoughts to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his assassination, the information will be of great benefit to the younger-generation Guyanese who did not have the opportunity to witness the struggle of that important period.

Regards Tacuma Ogunseye

Dear Editor THE hurricane season began June 1 and is predicted to be more active than usual. The Caribbean is still recovering from the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Dorian, Maria and Irma. Like the rest of the world, the Region is also rapidly adapting to prop up its economies to withstand COVID-19 impacts.

As recently featured on CBS 60 Minutes, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Caribbean partners are working to transform island economies by using local, renewable energy

sources. Clean-energy projects create high-skilled jobs, diversify island economies and build resilience to extreme weather events.

RMI’s new study launching tomorrow, describes core principles of stimulus and recovery that can guide the Caribbean’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. The principles lay a framework for decision makers, regional agencies, and financial institutions that demonstrate how the Caribbean can build back better and advance their economies for a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future.

The four core principles outlined in the paper are:

* The Power of Distributed Energy Resources: Creating jobs now, increasing resilience to climate and economic factors, and support the development of a diversified economy. * Short-term — Focus on Jobs: Highlighting opportunities across the solar photovoltaic, wind, vehicle electrification, and energy-efficiency sectors. * Longer Term—Focus on Increased Resilience and Economic Diversification: Examining undergrounding and a focus on critical facilities as ways to build local resilience, while utilising clean energy to support upcoming sectors such as agriculture.

* Immediate Stimulus Recommendations: Outlining three tangible next steps for the Region and decision-makers.

If you would like to learn more about Green Stimulus in the Caribbean: Resilient Distributed Energy Resources Can Support Job Creation and Economic Diversification report, I would be delighted to share the paper under embargo with you and arrange an interview with David Gumbs, RMI’s Islands Energy programme senior consultant.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Regards Katie Lau

PPP remembers the Enmore Martyrs

Dear Editor

JUNE 16, 2020, marks the 72nd anniversary of the shooting to death of five sugar workers at Enmore, East Coast Demerara in 1948. The five – Rambarran, Pooran, Lallabagee, Surajballi, and Harry – are national martyrs whose lives were snuffed out during the struggle by sugar workers for better working and living conditions and higher wages on the sugar estates. Their fearless and selfless sacrifices have not only remained relevant at present and a source of inspiration, but also led the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan to make a silent pledge at the gravesite of the five slain workers at Le Repentir Cemetery in Georgetown, to dedicate his

entire life to the cause of the struggle of the Guyanese people against bondage and exploitation. Dr. Jagan subsequently founded the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in 1950, This incident added motivation and propelled Dr. Jagan and the PPP to fight against colonialism and for the betterment of the lives of all Guyanese. Those unrelenting struggles, during which he became a political prisoner, have characterised the PPP in their efforts to advance Guyana and the lives of Guyanese as is evident from the unprecedented growth and development that hallmarked the various periods while it was in government.

Today, those struggles continue as the PPP, along with law-abiding Guyanese and

well-wishers, are fighting for the preservation of our hardfought democracy.

The sacrifices of the Enmore Martyrs, therefore, have tremendous relevance in today’s context, given renewed and unremitting struggles that intensified following the historic no-confidence motion (NCM) against the APNU+AFC government on December 21, 2018; struggles which continue to prevent a most uncaring regime from subverting democracy.

The PPP wishes to state that it will not only continue to honour the memory of the five martyrs so that their sacrifices will not be forgotten, but it will remain steadfast in dedicating its efforts to oppose all attempts by the illegal APNU+AFC Coalition

regime to oppress Guyanese and to strangle democracy.

As we remember the Enmore Martyrs 72 years after their horrendous deaths, let us be inspired by the fact that hope will never be lost and that we will endeavour together to safeguard our freedoms and rights. Over the past 100plus days, we have persisted together and the People’s Progressive Party wishes to thank the opposition political parties, civil society, and our regional and international partners for standing with us in the fight to preserve our democratic gains.

Regards People’s Progressive Party

The abuse of GECOM operatives must stop

Dear Editor,

AS the nation continues the recount process, it is shocking to see how representatives of GECOM continue to be attacked by forces sympathetic to the PPP/C. Even the Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh has not been spared the vitriolic attacks.

It indeed seems to be open season for the likes of Roy Beepat, Christopher Ram, Jerry Gouveia and Kit Nascimento. The individuals and groups with special interests seem to have willing allies in most sections of the private media who are bent on seeing a return to the

criminalised state of affairs in the country that obtained under the PPP/C. The continued attacks on senior GECOM operatives and in particular the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Mr. Keith Lowenfield must be condemned. The public should know that Retired Major Lowenfield has served in the CECOM apparatus for over two decades and has come through the ranks at GECOM unlike predecessors Gocool Boodhoo and Stanley Singh. Lowenfield played an integral role as Logistics Manager for the 2001 General and Regional Elections. After the 2001 Elections, Lowenfield was

appointed ACEO Administration. Lowenfield’s extensive experience in electoral operations was enhanced in 2003 by a training stint with the Electoral Commission of Jamaica. To date, Lowenfield happens to be the only CEO to have presided over two local government elections 2016 and 2018.

Editor, it was not so long ago that in 2015 Lowenfield’s performance in the 2015 General and Regional Elections was given high accolades by the International Observer groups: The OAS, Carter Center, European Union, Canadian High Commission, British High Commission and the US Embassy.

Now, as Mr. Lowenfield has done his duty by highlighting electoral malfeasance, he is being vilified.

History has shown us that there are those amongst us who do not want some voices to be heard; they do this by trying to drown out our voices, by trying to make us feel as if we do not matter. They must know that what we feel matters and we will let them know how we feel.

Yours faithfully, George Williams

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

GuySuCo to receive funds this week --President says gov’t has done everything to bring industry to normalcy, profitability

By Navendra Seoraj THE cash-strapped Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is expected to receive much needed funds this week, said President David Granger.

It was reported that the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other prevailing national conditions have rendered the national treasury incapable of providing a bailout to the “cash-strapped” GuySuCo, but all hope is not lost, as the company is expected to benefit from $1.5 billion, paid to The National Industrial Commercial and Investment Limited (NICIL) for the sale of land.

“As the Ministry of Finance announced, we have made arrangements for money to be available this week…this is considered as bridging finance,” said President Granger in a recent interview.

The finance ministry in response to GuySuCo’s request for a bailout, cited a $30 Billion bond backed by NICIL’s assets and guaranteed by the Government of Guyana, which was secured through NICIL to retrofit and revitalise the three remaining sugar estates.

During the period July

2018 to February 2020, $9,720,759,568 was disbursed to GuySuCo to fund its capital and operational expenditure – much of which was outside the terms of the bond.

Additionally, NICIL, through the Special Purpose Unit (SPU), sold lands that were vested to it, and as such garnered deposits of $2.1 billion.

According to the finance ministry, the full sum was used to offset bond payments that became due in May, 2020. And, the balance of $1.5 billion for the lands will be paid over to NICIL when the vesting orders are signed and gazetted. The corporation will benefit from part of this sum.

In a letter to President Granger on May 15, close to a month ago, Chairman of GuySuCo’s Board of Directors, John Dow, said the sugar corporation was in a “dire financial crisis” with billions in debt, and insufficient finances to execute critical factory maintenance.

“Despite improvements in the productivity of cane, GuySuCo’s sugar production for the last two crops has fallen short of expectations and the current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problems experienced in

meeting the 1st crop 2020 production targets…As a result, the cash generated from operations cannot meet the

In referring to the condition of the sugar corporation, President Granger said, “it is very unfortunate we are

President David Granger

‘outgoings’ particularly when external funding has been difficult to obtain,” Dow said as he painted a vivid picture of the financial challenges facing the sugar industry.

GuySuCo’s condition could dwindle even further if “crucial creditors” are paid, said Dow, noting that if the corporation takes this recourse the company would be out of cash before the second week of June.

in this position. Throughout the tenure, we have been engaged in trying to resolve the issue of the industry.”

The incumbent A Partnership for National Unit and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition had initiated the resuscitation of the sugar industry with the presentation of a “White Paper” to Parliament.

Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder had unveiled

Government’s White Paper on the Future of the Sugar Industry at the commencement of 64th Sitting of the National Assembly. He had said the plan, dubbed ‘State Paper on the Future of the Sugar Industry’, will focus on the poorly-performing estates and have them shift from sugar to diversification.

To this end, government had retained three sugar estates and three sugar factories. Those estates are Blairmont on the West Bank Berbice, Albion-Rose Hall in East Berbice and the Uitvlugt-Wales estate in West Demerara.

Those estates produce approximately 147,000 tonnes of sugar annually, to satisfy the demand in the local markets (25,000 tonnes pa), CARICOM and regional (50,000 – 60,000 tonnes pa), USA (12,500 tonnes pa) and the World Market (50,000 tonnes).

In executing its plan to resuscitate the industry, President Granger said government had to make “hard decisions,” which included the retrenching of workers.

But, despite the scaling down of the industry and provision and future provision of government bailouts, the President said there is no guarantee that the corporation

could produce sugar at world market prices and function economically.

Scaling down of the industry had started under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration, which, according to the president, also left the industry in a terrible state, as evident at the Albion Sugar Estate. And, even though there have been resuscitative measures, he believes this will continue to be the fate of the industry unless workers and managers generate sufficient profit and revenue, an achievement which would be in line with the coalition government’s vision of making the sugar industry efficient.

“We have done everything possible to return the industry to normalcy and even profitability…we will continue to help and not send anybody home…we want an efficient sugar industry which can produce sugar at competitive prices,” said President Granger.

The idea is to compete with Brazil, Cuba and other “heavy” sugar producers, but in order for Guyana to do that, the industry needs to be economically viable and feasible.

Guyanese scholarship students in India safe ---High Commissioner says High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa has assured the public that Guyanese on scholarships India through the High Commission are being well taken care of during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are two Guyanese who were on the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scholarship in India when the virus spread rapidly across the world resulting in the closure of several international airports.

The High Commission facilitated the travel of one Guyanese who wanted to go to his family in the United States (U.S.), as flights were active between Miami and India while the second Guyanese has completed her course and is being provided for in India. She and another student from Antigua are still in India.

“We’re taking good care

of them. The institute is taking care of all their needs and we are assuring them that the first flight we get from New York to Guyana we will facilitate,” the High Commissioner told the newspaper on Monday.

He added: “We’re in touch with her [the Guyanese female] every week. We talk to her and we provide for her stay, her food and they are giving them per diems.”

Meanwhile, a few students from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship programme have already been in India for quite some time. They usually utilise the scholarship’s provision to travel home once yearly but are currently doing classes.

“There are a few people already studying there who went there in previous years.

They don’t want to come [home] because their classes are on,” Dr. Srinivasa explained.

High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa

With a population of about 1.4 billion people, India has a little over 300,000 cases with over 8,000 deaths. Over the years Guyana has benefitted from the ICCR scholarship which provides fully-paid scholarships to learn music, dance and art in India and the ITEC scholarship which offers a range of degree programmes to post-CXC graduates.

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Two in COVID-19 ICU

GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

--No new cases detected

By Navendra Seoraj GUYANA has again gone 24 hours without a new case of the Novel Coronavirus, but two of the existing cases have turned severe, and those persons have since been admitted to the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The country has consistently recorded “bittersweet” developments over the past few days, but positive indicators, though minute, have given Guyana hope that the fight against COVID-19 is bearing fruit.

Health authorities have conducted no new tests within the past 24 hours, but to date, some 1,959 persons have been tested for the disease, with the results showing that 1,800 persons were negative and 159 positive.

Of the total number of those who presented with the virus, 99 have recovered, and 12 have lost the battle, but there are 48 active cases, 46 of whom are in institutional isolation, while the remaining two are in the COVID-19 ICU. Health authorities remain watchful, especially as children have returned to school to prepare for the upcoming National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), and Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations.

“Today, our children at

the Grade Six and CXC levels return to school to prepare for their respective examinations scheduled to begin in July. I encourage all students, teachers, auxiliary staff, parents and guardians to continue to have that dialogue as often as possible. Remember to follow all guidelines to protect everyone,” said Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Shamdeo Persaud on Monday during one of his regular virtual COVID-19 updates.

“To you our teachers, the Ministry of Public Health wishes to reiterate special thanks to you for responding to the call during this COVID-19 pandemic to assist in preparing our Nation’s children,” he added.

Besides the upcoming examinations, health authorities are also cognisant of the fact that there is now a host of Guyanese who’d been either living abroad or gone there on vacation when the virus struck, and have since been repatriated within the past two weeks.

WELCOME HOME Dr. Persaud welcomed those persons home, but seized the opportunity to remind them about the importance of being tested for COVID-19, using the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method, since the health authorities here are not accepting the rapid- test results.

“Further, I wish to encourage those returning to take every precaution to remain safe on their arrival home, even as they are required to adhere to the week’s quarantine… Do remember to call our hotlines, use the mobile units, or one of the COVID-19 facilities, if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19,” the CMO said.

Health authorities here continue to work towards strengthening the healthcare system to respond to COVID-19 on a long-term basis. The potential and existing activities are part of a plan to have a comprehensive COVID-19 health network, whereby patients across the country’s 10 administrative regions will be able to access these services.

Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) is still the epicentre of the disease, and there are a number of communities outside of Georgetown which have recorded cases.

Among communities on the East Coast Demerara (ECD) where cases have been recorded are: Atlantic Gardens, Friendship, Golden Grove, Good Hope, Lusignan, Plaisance, and Strathspey. Among communities on the East Bank Demerara (EBD) where there were cases are: Diamond, Grove, Land of Canaan,

‘Outliers’ understands, wants to help --those going thru rough financial patch because of COVID-19

OUTLIERS Zone, a relatively young company that specialises in wellness and financial matters, is looking to help those persons going through some sort of economic situation because of the stress associated with dealing with the coronavirus.

Banking on its wealth of experience in providing financial growth training to employees and entrepreneurs, Outliers reasons that given that the mental impact of reduced income is far-reaching, the sessions are intended to be done virtually, and will be facilitated by its well-trained staff.

To test the efficacy of their programme, Outliers conducted what it calls “an informal study” with 200

employees and employers from within the public and private sectors whose companies are engaged in small to medium-scale business in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

The study was done between April and May 2020 to see what impact COVID-19 has on their proposed clientele.

And what they found was that in most cases, the epidemic tended to have the most impact on the personal finances of both employees and employers.

According to Outliers Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Athalyah Yisrael, companies can derive massive benefits from providing employees financial training during

this time.

The company is also in the process of creating a financial plan to address reduced or ceased income, along with integral information to aid in smart choices for the remainder of this crisis; and choices to recover faster.

Outliers also posits that when employees are less financially troubled, they are physically and mentally healthier, more productive, loyal, and less likely to steal or contemplate suicide.

For more information, it can be reached on: 6170173, or outliers zone@ gmail.com.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud

Providence, and Timehri.

Health authorities are also placing emphasis on the four hinterland regions, especially now that three of them have recorded cases of COVID-19.

The need for surveillance in those regions is also important, because Guyana’s South American neighbour, Brazil, is now rated as the COVID-19 epicentre of the Americas.

“We continue to plead with the residents of Regions

One, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine to remain on high alert, recognising that our neighbours, Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname, are reporting new cases,” said Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Boyle in a recent report.

“Residents of Region Seven, with the new cases in Venezuela, and the upsurge in your region, your vulnerability is increased.

We are calling on the Toshaos and other authorities to ensure that residents do not

cross borders, and that persons from those other countries are not entering your community. Community members must report any migrant entering your community and anyone who has signs and symptoms, and immediately bring this to the attention of the health authorities,” Dr. Boyle advised.

As is evident, COVID-19 remains a serious issue, not just here in Guyana, but globally as well; and, according to global statistics, there are 7.6 million cases of COVID-19, with over 427,000 deaths. And, with no approved treatment or cure, there is no assurance that persons will survive after contracting the disease.

In the absence of approved medications, governments and authorities across the world have employed a number of preventive measures to contain the spread of the disease.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

ICJ hearing is for Venezuela to adhere to an international treaty it signed on to ….Greenidge tells Town Hall meeting THE upcoming June 30 public hearing on the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hear the Arbitral Award of 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) case, is about the need for Venezuela to adhere to an international treaty it signed on to.

This was the argument put forth by Foreign Secretary, Carl Greenidge, last Saturday, as he cited Venezuela’s refusal to adhere to its obligations outlined in the Geneva Agreement, of which the Spanish country is a signatory.

Greenidge was, at the time, addressing a virtual Town Hall meeting to present an update on Guyana’s quest to bring some

finality to the longstanding controversy that exists between Guyana and Venezuela, about the validity of the

Attending the meeting was former US Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway; Public Sector Commission

Foreign Secretary, Carl Greenidge

1899 Arbitral Award, which delimited the land boundary between the two States.

(PSC) Chairman, Gerry Gouveia; DDL Executive Chairman Komal Samaroo; and

Guyanese American Chamber of Commerce President, Wesley Kirton. Greenidge reminded the meeting that even as Guyana continues to fight for the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, the foremost issue at this time was Venezuela’s need to follow its commitment to the Geneva Agreement.

“The issue in the first instance concerns the standing of a treaty and the obligations of the signatories under international law. Both states voluntarily entered into the Geneva Agreement and both agreed to the role of the United Nations Secretary-General in the event of a disagreement over the resolution of the problem,” Greenidge underlined. Signed in 1966, the Agreement to Resolve the Controversy over the

it to continue this state of destabilisation in perpetuity,” Greenidge said.

The hearing had initially been set for March 23 – 27 but the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic derailed those plans, and it was rescheduled to June 30 by video conference. “In a few weeks, on June 30, we will be given an opportunity to plead our case, based on a magnanimous decision of the Court to go ahead with the case despite the current global crisis. We are grateful for this opportunity. It is an opportunity to which we have looked forward to for decades. Once the Court decides that it has jurisdiction, it will proceed to the merits phase, where the validity of the Arbitral Award will be examined in detail,” Greenidge noted.

tire Essequibo region, and the appurtenant maritime spaces belong to her. A favourable decision by the Court will be of tremendous benefit to Guyana. Guyana has suffered tremendously over the years at the hands of Venezuela from acts of intimidation, threats of military action, incursions into our sovereign territory and the stymieing of our economic development,” Greenidge said.

He reminded the meeting that the fight to have Venezuela recognise the land boundary has been a long one notwithstanding the Spanish country’s lack of evidence to back its claims. “Since its independence, Guyana has been engaged in trying to persuade Venezuela to provide meaningful evidence

Attendees at the virtual Town Hall meeting

Frontier between Venezuela and British Guiana, commonly called the Geneva Agreement, detailed steps for resolution of the border controversy to settle Venezuela's contention that the "Arbitral Award of 1899 is invalid”.

In January 2018, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, ruled that the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela should be decided by the ICJ. Venezuela, headed by President Nicholas Maduro, however, has questioned the ICJ’s jurisdiction to hear the matter. Even before the court deals with the case, it therefore needed to rule on its jurisdiction to hear the case.

“It concerns the ability of a state to repudiate a treaty because it has a feeling that the benefits it enjoys under it are now not enough and that in spite of its inability to force its will on a smaller neighbour, that neighbour and the rest of the world should allow

The Court required the two countries to provide their arguments on jurisdiction, as a first step. However even in that instance Venezuela has refused to participate and the Court has moved forward with the proceedings nonetheless. “Guyana submitted its arguments on jurisdiction to the Court on the stipulated date… The Court then took the decision to go ahead with the case, always leaving the door open for Venezuela to join the proceedings,” Greenidge reminded.

Guyana seeks to obtain, from the Court, a final and binding judgement that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding, and that Guyana’s Essequibo region belongs to Guyana, and not Venezuela. ”Venezuela’s contention is that that Award is invalid and as a consequence, the en-

of her claim in order to bring the matter to an end. For at least twenty-five of those fifty-two years, discussions took the form of a Good Officer Process, under the aegis of the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” Greenidge noted.

The controversy between Guyana and Venezuela dates back to the 1800s.

The borders of Guyana and Venezuela are rooted in the European colonization of the Americas. When tension between Venezuela and Britain emerged in the 1800s, and heightened in the 1890s the United States and Venezuela were united in an alliance against Great Britain. At stake were more than 60,000 square miles of territory that Venezuela claimed on its eastern boundary from the then colony of British Guiana,” Greenidge noted.

GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

CARICOM team admits scrutinising only 18% of boxes …but concludes that elections results should be declared

THOUGH acknowledging that it only scrutinised 18% of the ballots counted during the recount process, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Observation Team, in its report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), said the 2020 General and Regional Elections were not without defects, but it will not thwart the will of the people.

“Overall, while we acknowledge that there were some defects in the recount of the March 2, 2020 votes cast for the General and Regional Elections in Guyana, the Team did not witness anything which would render the recount, and by extension the casting of the ballot on March 2, so grievously deficient, procedurally or technically (despite some irregularities), or sufficiently deficient to have thwarted the will of the people…,” the three member delegation said in the report.

IN STARK CONTRAST The CARICOM team’s report, however, is in stark contrast to that of the Chief Elections Officer’s, which highlighted a plethora of anomalies and cases of electoral fraud in the form of voter impersonation. In fact, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, in his report, said that due to the anomalies and instances of voter impersonation, the Elections did not satisfy the criteria of impartiality, fairness and compliance with the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act. On that basis, he said it could not be

ascertained that the elections were free and credible.

But, notwithstanding more 7,000 anomalies and allegations of voter impersonation that, according to the CEO, have compromised well over 200,000 votes, the CARICOM delegation (which comprised Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, John Jarvis; and Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sylvester King) said the elections results should be declared by the Elections Commission.

“The Team does not view the irregularities identified amounted to sufficient grounds to invalidate the tabulation of the votes at the recount, and therefore these irregularities DO NOT constitute sufficient grounds to challenge the integrity of the recount process.

While there were some irregularities, and violations of the Gazetted Order and work processes as outlined

by GECOM, these were insubstantial. We found no intentional miscounting of the ballots which would constitute an election fraud necessitating further action,” the CARICOM Observers said as they made a case for the results of the elections to be declared, based on the recounted votes.

‘MORE OF AN AUDIT’ “The actual count of the vote was indeed transparent,” the three-member delegation

posited, while referencing the process as a “so-called recount”. In the eyes of the three-member delegation, the National Recount, which lasted from March 6 to June 7, 2020, was more of an audit.

Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), several boxes were void of statutory documents.

According to the CEO, there were 47 such boxes that had no Official List of Electors, Counterfoils, Poll Books,

cials dubbed APNU+AFC’s search for the truth “bizarre”.

“The numerous requests for information on serial numbers were so bizarre, that on one observed occasion, an APNU+AFC agent was prepared

Flashback: Ambassador Colin Granderson (left), with members of the CARICOM high-level delegation: Mr. Sylvester King, Ms. Cynthia Barrow-Giles, and Mr. John Jarvis shortly after their arrival at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport on May 1. Members of the team returned to their respective countries on Monday.

While the CEO’s Report points to clear breaches of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, the CARICOM Team, after observing just 423 ballot boxes or 18.08% of a total of 2,339 boxes, concluded that there was nothing to suggest that GECOM’s Polling Day workers conducted themselves in a manner which indicate illegality, or a deliberate intent to benefit a particular list of candidates over another. It, however, acknowledged that towards the end of the Recount, which was conducted at the Arthur

Unused Ballots, Certificates of Employment, Oaths of Identity or other critical documents. Such a situation, the Observers said, was “troubling” but not grave enough to render the recount or the elections fatal. However, they said that a serious investigation by GECOM is needed to ascertain the reason behind the missing documents. Aside from the more than 2,000 anomalies cited by GECOM staff during the recount, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) unearthed approximately 4,800 cases of voter impersonation, in which unscrupulous people voted in the place of the deceased or Guyanese who were out of the jurisdiction on Elections Day. In his report, the CEO said the claims were substantiated when the Immigration and Death Records were checked, as provided for by the Chief Immigration Officer and the General Registrar’s Office.

But the CARICOM offi-

to query serial numbers on the OLE in a workstation where no one had voted. These challenges were often made on the grounds of death and migration,” it explained.

‘A FISHING EXPEDITION’ As they went on to say in their report, what the APNU+AFC did in their quest for the truth was nothing but a “fishing expedition” designed to gather information for a likely election petition, which resulted in considerable time being wasted during the National Recount. “Furthermore, the net was cast extremely wide, in the hope of at least making a small catch, and at times the anticipated harvest ended in slim pickings,” the CARICOM Observers said as it denounced the actions of the ruling Coalition. “The team did not view the objections raised by the APNU+AFC as materially relevant to the recount of the ballot, though these objections, based on

the information provided by GECOM to the party agents, signaled the possibility of a padded voters list, which GECOM, as a body, must deal with expeditiously,” the Observers said, while noting that from where they stand, it is unclear who were the ultimate beneficiaries of the alleged “ghost voting and voter impersonation”.

The CARICOM Observers said the administrative shortfalls were that of GECOM, and not as a result of the electorates, as they categorically rejected what was described as “concerted public efforts to discredit” the 2020 Elections.

“Despite our concerns, nothing that we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 02, 2020 elections,” they concluded, while positing that any aggrieved political party can seek redress before the courts in the form of an Election Petition.

The CARICOM Observation Team’s Report on the National Recount was submitted to the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh on Monday.

Hours later, CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque issued a statement acknowledging receipt of the report.

According to the statement, the Secretary-General thanked the team for the commitment, professionalism and integrity with which they undertook an arduous task over the past six weeks.

CARICOM Chair Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, also thanked the team for their service to Guyana and the wider Community, particularly being away from their families at this difficult time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Commonwealth, OAS pleased with CARICOM report SECRETARY-GENERAL of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland has said that she welcomes the report of the CARICOM Scrutinising Team for the recount of Guyana’s March 2, 2020 elections and commended them for their brave and selfless service.

“The CARICOM Observer report is clear that the recount results are completely acceptable and that nothing that the CARICOM Observers witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the 2 March elections,” Scotland said in a release.

She added that President David Granger and the leader of the opposition demonstrated commendable leadership when they agreed to

the recount and committed to respect and adhere to the recount results. “This continued leadership and commitment is [sic] needed now more than ever. The people of Guyana have been patient and deserve finality as determined by the recount results.

I also wish to thank Senior Commonwealth Adviser, Dr Afari-Gyan, who remains faithful, steadfast and resilient in his professional and experienced support to the Guyana Elections Commission. The Commonwealth continues to stand with Guyana and urge the leaders and the people of Guyana to live up to the lofty aspirations set out in your constitution, your electoral laws, and the Commonwealth Charter,” the statement added.

For its part, the Organisation of American States (OAS) has called for a tran-

sition of government. In a media release on Monday, the OAS came out in support of the June 15 submitted report of the CARICOM Scrutinising Team on Guyana’s national recount which states that the results of the recount were “transparent and credible.” The report, though it highlights a number of cases where defects were present, upheld the results of the recount as reflecting the will of the people.

The OAS believes that nothing should therefore prevent the Chair of GECOM from now declaring the election based on these results.

The recount results show majority votes cast in favour of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic. As such, the OAS has called on the current administration of Guyana to “begin the process of transition.”

The report of Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, submitted on June 13, had noted glaring irregularities, anomalies and voter impersonation as coming out of the elections.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General (SG) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, on Monday received the report of the CARICOM team. The team was led by Ms. Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI), and included Mr. John Jarvis, Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda

Electoral Commission and Mr. Sylvester King, Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The SG thanked the team for the commitment, professionalism and integrity with which they undertook an arduous task over the past six weeks. Chair of CARICOM, the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, thanked the team for their service to Guyana and the wider Community, particularly for being away from their families at this difficult time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team arrived on May 1 for the recount exercise, which began on

May 6 and ended on June 9 with the final certification. The need for a CARICOM Scrtinising Team was agreed by the leaders of the two main political parties in Guyana following their discussions with Prime Minister Mottley and Secretary-General LaRocque. A team was invited to scrutinise the recount by Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, (GECOM), Madame Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh. The report has been submitted to Prime Minister Mottley and to Madame Justice (Ret’d.) Singh.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Turnout encouraging as schools reopen tentatively --parents say COVID-19 or not, it’s all in God’s hands

By Gabriella Chapman THE turnout was surprisingly encouraging on Monday as the parents of children attending government-run Primary and Secondary Schools around the country responded positively to the Ministry of Education’s directive to have schools open their doors so that those pupils and students preparing to write certain exams shortly may do so in a classroom setting as they’ve been accustomed to over the years.

The examinations at reference are the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), and the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), all of which are due to be held next month.

And the reason what transpired came as a surprise was because the ministry didn’t make attendance mandatory but rather optional, given the uncertainty whether parents would indeed comply with their decision and send their children out to school, in light of what is happening globally, especially in places like neighbouring Brazil for instance, with the out-of-control spread of the coronavirus.

However, as far as the Guyana Chronicle could tell from a fleeting visit to a number of schools around Georgetown on Monday morning, the ministry had nothing to fear, as they had the full backing of the parents on their decision.

The Guyana Chronicle also spoke with a few parents who were taking their primary-aged children to school to hear what were their thoughts on the subject of reopening in spite of the pandemic.

Indranie Lall, a mother of a Stella Maris NGSA pupil said that the reopening of schools was long overdue.

“Some parents may have mixed emotions about this, but for me as a parent,” she said, “I’m happy, and I’m glad that we can eventually get this done. I’m sure our teachers will take all precautions; our children are well-learned with all the practices at home and going places. I think they are ready for this.”

That said, Ms. Lall did not leave it there, but went

on to offer a word of advice to other parents like herself.

“I’m urging parents not to keep their child at home; just send them out and let them do their thing,” she said, “because you’re depriving them of all the hard work they’ve done for the past five years, and so you just want them to come out and study. The exam is just two days; talk to them and let them do the right thing, and in the end, everything gonna be okay. Put everything into God’s hands; He will protect all our children.”

ALL IN GOD’S HANDS Another mother voiced similar sentiments as Lall, saying that God is in control of the entire situation, and that everyone should have faith that the country’s children will be safe. She also spoke of the role of parents in the entire process as well.

“Instead of being complacent about this,” she said, “we as parents need to understand the critical role we play in this critical time.

Driving fear in our children about this virus is not the answer; we have to help them understand the dangers fully, and sensitise them on

and he said that he’s not 100% comfortable with the idea of sending his daughter to school, but yet at the same time, he doesn’t want to jeopardise her chances

the safety of their charges.

Schools had mats soaked in bleach water to walk on before entering the compound; sinks with soap and hand sanitisers; infrared thermom-

A teacher at North Ruimveldt Multilateral School preparing to test a student's temperature

A North Georgetown Primary School pupil being sanitised upon entering the school’s compound

A CSEC student at North Ruimveldt Multilateral School

Two Stella Maris Primary School Pupils heading to school

A section of the sick bay at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School

A CSEC class at North Ruimveldt Multilateral School adhering to the COVID-19 measures

how they can protect themselves from those dangers, so when they go into school now, they know and understand that they just came to focus on exam preparations, while adhering to the safety measures, then they’ll return home.” A woman who no doubt finds solace in the Scriptures, she said in closing, “This, too, shall soon pass, and our children will ride this wave. Guyana will rise again.”

We also had a word with the father of a North Georgetown Primary School pupil,

where her exams are concerned.

“Even with the dangers out here,” he said, “I think that as it relates to my daughter’s performance at the ‘Common Entrance’ exams, this coming to school will do good for her, as compared to keeping her home.

We just have to keep them in our prayers and hope all goes well.”

MEASURES IN PLACE All the schools visited by this publication had measures in place to ensure

eters; and face masks for children who came without.

The ministry also provided care packages with all the items that the children will need to keep themselves safe.

No parents were being allowed into the compounds; only teachers and pupils or students. The schools also had a system set up, whereby the children kept their physical distance while awaiting their turn to be sanitised and have their temperature checked; even in the classrooms, the furniture are po-

sitioned six feet apart.

On the walls of some classes, there are also posters with COVID-19 guidelines to better sensitise the children about the virus.

And while face-to-face contact is permitted between child and teacher, classes will not be held every day, the ministry said.

It was noted by the ministry that it will ensure each school has sanitation stations, with adequate water supply and soap, and bins with covers.

The MoE said the school’s administration will also ensure that each school has a designated sick bay for any pupil or student exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms until emergency assistance arrives.

It also stipulates that all examination candidates must wear a face mask before entering the school compound, but that a supply will be on hand for those in need.

Among the raft of measures put in place, the ministry said, was that cleaners will be provided with the requisite personal protective equipment to protect themselves from COVID-19, and that transportation will be provided for those vulnerable pupils or students who live outside their catchment areas and cannot sit the examination at the centre closest to their home.

CSEC has been set for July 13 - August 4, 2020; CAPE for July 13 - July 31, 2020; and NGSA for July 1 and 2, 2020.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

East Coast, East Bank schools see 90% turnout --as school opens to facilitate those writing exams shortly

ON Monday morning, students and pupils residing on the East Coast and East Bank corridors showed up in their numbers as they prepare to sit the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) commencing next month.

The Guyana Chronicle visited the Victoria Primary School, on the East Coast Demerara, where the Headteacher, Ms. Nanette Grandison said that to her delight, there was a 100% turnout of pupils for the in-class sessions.

She also said that in addition to the children being placed six feet apart from each other, each was instructed to wash their hands, and have their temperature tested before entering the school building. She noted, too, that upon entering the classroom, each child and teacher was presented with an essential care package, each of which contains a hand sanitiser, face masks, toilet paper and disinfectant wipes for them to use during the two-week period they have to attend classes.

She noted that the ministry provided the said number of items, and the school is equipped with a sufficient amount of sanitation supplies to cater to the needs of all its pupils and teachers.

Meanwhile, in the classrooms, the pupils were particularly quiet, which is not a norm on the first day of school.

Ms. Karen Gillis, a Grade Six teacher at the said Victoria Primary, began the day by enforcing the basic rules and guidelines for the in-classroom sessions.

She stressed to the pupils that they should at no time take their face masks off, and must at all times maintain their social distance.

Over at the St. Andrew’s Primary School, also located on the East Coast, the headmistress, who asked that her name be withheld, said that 13 out of the 15 pupils scheduled to attend classes that day were present, and that the parents of one pupil had indicated that because their child has an underlying health condition, she will not be able to make it.

She said that the school has established a sanitisation area at the entrance of the auditorium, where classes are being held, and each

pupil and teacher is expected to make use of the facility before entering the classroom.

Meanwhile, on the East Bank Demerara at the Houston Secondary School, Mr. Williams, the head-teacher, was seen standing at the entrance at the school’s auditorium testing the temperature of each student and teacher A Victoria Primary School pupil washing her hands before entering the school compound on Monday morning

Ms. Karen Gillis reminding her pupils of the COVID-19 guidelines before beginning the morning lesson

Houston Secondary School’s Mr. Williams testing the temperature of a student before she enters the classroom

Houston Secondary School students practising social distancing during revision classes (Photos by Delano Williams)

before they entered their respective classroom. He noted that as was expected, the students turned out in their numbers, clad in their facemasks and ready to start the day’s work. He, however, noted that it was necessary to remind them of the COVID-19 guidelines before classes commenced.

And at the Diamond Sec-

ondary School, while some 76 students and 13 teachers were present for the first day of school, one teacher disclosed that during the course of the week, the number of students will vary, depending on the subject being taught that particular day.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, June 16, 2020

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Tuesday June 16, 2020

GBA working...

FROM BACKPAGE

seeking clearance for a flight to bring several nationals back to the Caribbean. A response is awaited.”

Ninvalle, who also sits as a Vice President of the American Boxing Confederation (AMBC) had told Chronicle Sport recently that Olympic Qualifier tournament tentatively is now set to take place between February and March of 2021.

He had admitted that despite being disappointed that the initial event was postponed, they will head back to the drawing board as soon as the boxers return home from Cuba.

Apart from the boxers based in Cuba, Canada-based Taveena Kum is the lone female on Guyana’s five-member team that were set to feature in the Qualifier which was scheduled for March 26 to April 4 in Argentina.

Ninvalle also felt that with the amount of work done, Guyana was robbed of not seeing a boxer qualify for the Olympic Games, stating “the four boxers that we have in Cuba,

they were trained to a peak; their mental strength was there to a peak and I think it would’ve been the first time that we would’ve had a qualifier for the Olympics in a very, very long time.”

John Douglas, Guyana’s flag bearer for the 1996 Olympic Games, was the last boxer to represent the Golden Arrowhead at the IOC’s flagship event, where he lost in the first round of his light heavyweight clash with Germany’s Thomas Ulrich, who went on to claim bronze.

As it relates to the sport’s return, Ninvalle said “as it is, our boxers have all been advised to do nothing in close proximity of each other. So they can run and they can shadow box, but there’s no sparring.”

He added that the boxers will be “just training to keep fit, because they can’t train for a competition that they don’t know when it’s going to be held. So, as soon as we have the green light, then we will put our plans in place; but if you ask me, I don’t expect any boxing to be held in Guyana within the next four months.”

Allen/Morrell Jr fight set for July 25

By Rawle Toney GUYANA’s Lennox ‘Too Sharp’ Allen has confirmed that his World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Middleweight title fight against Cuban David Morrell Jr, will now take place on July 25.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport from his base in Brooklyn, New York, Allen revealed that his bout, which was originally set for April 11 at the Armory in Minneapolis, will now be held in either Florida or Los Angeles.

According to the 35-year-old Allen, training has been progressing smoothly and he’s all set and ready to step into the ring to face Morrell Jr, and a victory could make him the mandatory challenger to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Callum Smith (WBA Super Champion).

Allen had told Chronicle Sport that even while in ‘lock-down’, with advice from his team, he stayed in shape by sticking to a specific training regimen.

The Allen/Morrell Jr. bout felt the impact of

the domino-like effect in cancellation of sporting events because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

It is not yet known if the fight will take place with fans in attendance, since the latest numbers, despite its rapid decline, has shown that Florida had recorded 75,568 COVID-19 cases, with 2,931 deaths.

In Los Angeles, latest figures show 73,018 cases and 2,907 deaths.

Allen, the country’s highest ranked/rated fighter on the international scene, vaunts a perfect ring-record of 22 wins, 14 of which came by way of TKO, as well as one draw from his 23 outings.

His latest win, a unanimous-decision victory over Derrick Webster, saw him claim the WBA’s gold title at the Super Middleweight division last year.

Morrell Jr is the WBA’s No. 3-ranked Super Middleweight contender. A native of Cuba now fighting out of Minneapolis, Morrell recently joined the pro ranks after winning 130 of 132 amateur bouts.

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Tuesday June 16, 2020

From the Vault: Faf’s match-saving century on Test debut

By Martin Smith

PETER Siddle is crouched down on his haunches, hands clasped around his head, sucking in every possible breath.

For more than 120 overs in energy-sapping Adelaide heat, Siddle has led an undermanned Australian bowling attack in the way he always does; diligently, stoically, and whole-heartedly.

And for more than 120 overs, an unknown Test star in the making has stood in Australia’s way.

The sight of Siddle bent over and gasping for air remains the enduring image of the 2012 Adelaide Test between Australia and South Africa, a match that would tilt the balance of world cricket and launch a Test career that, just two years earlier, appeared destined to never happen.

“Credit to Peter Siddle … that battle for me was like I was in a fight in a high school bar or something and this guy was trying to get me,” Faf du Plessis recalls to cricket.com.au.

“But I could see that his tank was lower than mine, and that gave me more strength. I was winning the battle.

“Every time I could see him going down on his knees, I was like, ‘Well done for going this deep into your tank, but it means I’m there. I’m breaking the back of the bowlers here’.”

In his own words, Francois du Plessis “took the dirt road” to Test cricket.

A star at school level at the esteemed Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool, better known as Affies, a teenaged du Plessis outperformed most of his teammates on the cricket field, including a young man named AB de Villiers.

He went on to captain South Africa’s Under-19 side and by the age of 21 was offered a multi-year professional contract by UK county side Nottinghamshire – worth 10 times what he was earning at home – with the caveat that he had to turn his back on his homeland and qualify to play for England.

He considered it, but his desire to play for his country was simply too strong. He turned it down and instead returned to the lowly-paid grind of South African domestic cricket, where he languished for the next five years.

As his close friend de Villiers made an instant impact on the international stage as a 20-year-old, du Plessis stagnated and spent his early twenties in the cricketing wilderness.

By early 2011, aged 26, he had improved enough in whiteball cricket to earn his first senior international call-up and a spot at that year’s 50-over World Cup, but his first-class career – and his Test dream – was going nowhere.

With just four first-class centuries to his name in seven years, he was demoted down the order to No.7 at domestic level and told he

Faf du Plessis celebrates his first Test hundred. (Getty) was a leg-spinning all-rounder who should use his white-ball batting skills to work with the tail and clatter some late-innings runs.

At his lowest ebb, he even considered giving up on red-ball cricket altogether.

But having made an immediate impression for the Proteas in the coloured clothing, a move back up the order in first-class cricket in the 2011-12 season and some improved performances suddenly resulted in his being viewed as a Test batsman in waiting.

Picked in the touring party for South Africa’s 2012 Test campaign in England, his selection as the sole reserve batsman for the tour of Australia later that year brought the prospect of a Test debut sharply into focus.

And as he sat in the Gabba rooms after day one of the first match of that series, watching his teammates stretch their legs on the outfield, playing Test cricket was suddenly pushed front of mind in the most unfortunate of circumstances.

“I remember watching JP (Duminy) running and he just collapsed,” du Plessis recalls.

“I went and checked on him and we knew it was bad. We all knew straightaway that he’d snapped his Achilles and it was a serious injury.

“I’m really good friends with him so at that stage, I was genuinely concerned for my mate.

But about five seconds later, my stomach dropped.

“I thought, ‘Oh s..t, that means it’s me next’.”

Before he’d even faced a ball in Test cricket, du Plessis told himself that his debut could not get any worse.

It wasn’t just because South Africa’s bowlers had been pummelled for the better part of four sessions, or because they were in the middle of a potentially game-changing batting collapse,

that the debutant was a jangle of nerves when he walked onto the Adelaide Oval on November 24, 2012 At the fall of South Africa’s fourth wicket on the third morning of the second Test, as he started to make his way down the stairs of the Members’ Stand and onto the ground, the reception from the home crowd left him in no doubt that he was in enemy territory.

As he began to jog through the wall of noise, his heel clipped the edge of a stair and his foot lifted out of his shoe. With his laces tied firmly in a double knot and his efforts to force his foot back inside proving futile, time suddenly stood still.

“I was like, ‘Ohhhhhhh sh.., surely this is not happening’,” he says.

“I had to kneel down to try and get it back in with my finger, but you can’t use your glove because your finger is too fat. So I had to take my glove off and put my finger in there. And in that time, it was just a free for all for everyone sitting there, welcoming me to Australia.

“I’ve had those nightmares where you can’t get your pads on; Where’s my gloves, where’s my bat, am I going to get timed out? As you’re going through it, you’re thinking ‘hurry up, hurry up, hurry up’ but you’ve probably got a lot more time than you think you do. But I had a little jog to the pitch just to make sure I got there in time.

“I remember walking onto the field as I got my boot back on, and I thought; ‘OK, that’s the worst thing that could have happened … you’ve had the worst debut already, it can’t get any worse from here so just go out and give it a go’.

“I remember hoping that none of the Australian players saw it (because) you don’t want to give an Australian cricketer any more ammunition to abuse you. The magazine is already full.

“Luckily, they didn’t see it and

first ball Peter Siddle bowled to me, I clipped it through (the field) to get off the mark. That moment of scoring your first runs, it felt like a hundred in domestic cricket because you don’t want to get a pair on debut.” du Plessis would add another 76 runs to his tally before he was the last man out in South Africa’s total of 388. Having waited so long for a taste of Test cricket, the debutant was already hooked.

“That innings, to get the runs, it was the confidence that I belonged,” he says.

“All those doubts and fears that I was a better white-ball cricketer than a red-ball cricketer, that I didn’t belong in the Test arena, to get a score in your first innings for me was like, ‘Right, I’m ready, I want to play Test cricket for the rest of my life’.

“It’s the best version of the game and just playing one innings, I loved everything about Test cricket.”

It was just as well du Plessis was ready for the fight because by late on the fourth day of the Test, his country needed him.

Set an improbable 430 to win in a little more than four sessions, South Africa were in full-on survival mode at 45-4 when du Plessis walked to the middle, this time with both shoes firmly in place.

It was there that he was greeted by de Villiers, his long-time friend and ally who had flown past him to reach Test cricket eight years earlier, and who was regarded as one of the best players in the world.

But having taken very different career paths in their twenties, for the next 68 overs spanning three sessions and two days, the pair was in perfect sync With victory out of the equation, they simply looked to survive, blocking and leaving everything that came their way. They blocked and left and blocked and left until it felt like they could

block and leave no more, scoring at only marginally better than a run an over as the Australians grew more and more frustrated at the lack of a breakthrough.

Despite his inexperience, du Plessis was drawing on a resilience most people didn’t know he had, a psychological “superpower” that he would tap into again four years later at the same venue amidst the biggest scandal of his career.

“Probably the only other time when I was so motivated was the pink-ball Test in Australia after the ‘Mintgate’ thing,” he says of his century in Adelaide in 2016, after he had been publicly vilified and labelled a cheat over charges of ball-tampering.

“There was a strength mentally that I still try and tap into every time I play. But I suppose when you have a superpower like that, it’s only meant for small occasions. You can’t tap into it all the time. “(I was thinking) ‘You will have to kill me if you want to get me out. I’m prepared to die for my wicket’.”

And he did it all with de Villiers by his side.

“It was special for me because I’d looked up to AB for a long time,” he says.

“In school cricket, I was probably better than he in terms of performance … so people had this expectation that I was going to be the guy that went down AB’s route, and I didn’t.

“AB, like a star, he just went Michael Jordan style, he just went quickly. I took the long road, the less scenic route, the dirt road. That was my story.

“There was a point in my career where I thought I had to get out of this bubble of ‘Me and AB’ … and just put all my energy into supporting a mate, wanting him to do well as best as I could, and whatever happens to my journey, happens to my journey.

“And I had peace with that …

I was happy to be in his shadow.

“I started learning a lot about myself … (and) I had that confidence that I wasn’t trying to impress anyone and trying to be someone else.”

All of which made the partnership, produced in the most intense environment imaginable, all the more meaningful.

“I said to him, ‘You have no idea how special this is. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, not just to play for South Africa but to bat with you, against Australia’,” du Plessis remembers.

“I would wake up at two in the morning watching him and South Africa play against Australia. I remember Shane Warne bowling to AB and thinking, ‘How amazing is this, this is everything’.

“So that moment, for me, was special.” de Villiers would be dismissed

in the middle session of the final day for a defiant 33 from 220 deliveries, but his role in a momentous South African rescue act was far from over.

As du Plessis walked off the ground at the tea break, six runs short of a century and with the Australians still five wickets from victory, he was absolutely spent.

The draining Adelaide heat combined with the longest innings of his career had resulted in debilitating cramps, which left him begging for rehydration and any other help he could get to simply survive the final session.

Of all du Plessis’ memories from that unforgettable day, what de Villiers told him next is one of the most vivid.

“He said, ‘I know you’re tired, it’s hot out there … but you don’t know how much this means to people back home’,” he recalls “And that got my switch back on. Suddenly, that was me lying at two o’clock (in the morning) in my house watching South Africa play Australia in some iconic series.

“So I was like, ‘Right – I’m ready to go. Let’s get back out there’.”

It was just what du Plessis needed to survive the next 31 overs and outlast Siddle in their final-round battle that would define the match and the series.

With more than an hour still to bat, he reached his first Test hundred – just his ninth in firstclass cricket – from the 310th ball he faced, his muted celebration befitting of a job not yet completed.

And he would stay there till the last, South Africa finishing eight wickets down to draw the match, and ensure the series remained all square heading to the decider in Perth just four days later.

Where, with an exhausted Siddle unable to play, an emboldened Proteas stormed to a crushing victory that secured both the series and the world No.1 Test ranking.

For du Plessis, who would go on to captain his country to another series win in Australia four years later, nothing he’s achieved in cricket has surpassed how he felt when he walked off the Adelaide turf that evening.

“You honestly can’t put it into words,” he says. “It’s like taking a picture and trying to describe what this amazing holiday was like, but it looks ordinary in a picture.

“And we didn’t even win the game, it was a draw. But after that, the team had so much confidence; and you get confidence through individual performances in teams.

You think, ‘What has just happened there has inspired us to do something amazing in the next Test’.

“I was going through so many emotions. This is what I’d waited for my whole life.

“I’d played for South Africa before but that moment, till today, it’s the best moment of my career.” (Cricket.com.au)

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GUYANA CHRONICLE, Tuesday June 16, 2020

Royal Ascot 2020 ready to start without the Queen and spectators

…for the first time in her 68-year reign, the Queen will not be present at her favourite meeting WHEN a jubilant Frankie Dettori and his mount Stradivarius were saluted by a 70,000 crowd at Royal Ascot a year ago, life was very different.

Covid-19 and social distancing were unheard of. Now flat racing’s biggest meeting is set to take place behind closed doors with jockeys wearing face masks.

Today, there will be no Queen, Royal procession or much of the glitz and glamour so associated with one of Britain’s most famous sporting occasions, but there will be elite sport and plenty of it.

An expanded programme sees six additional races for a total of 36 contests over five days.

Still Royal - but no procession For the first time in her 68-

year reign, the Queen will not be present at her favourite meeting.

While the fixture retains its regal title and branding, it is out with the top hats and in with the temperature checks as numbers at the meeting are restricted to the hundreds.

“The attention of the world is on the biggest sporting event globally to take place since sport resumed,” says Ascot director of racing Nick Smith.

“That is a heavy responsibility for us but it is a statement that racing is back. We must put on the best show we can.”

The fixture will retain an international feel - horses can travel from the United States, France and the Republic of Ireland even if there are restrictions keeping their trainers away.

Television coverage is on ITV and Sky, with pictures broadcast in 120 countries, including the United States, Australia and India, and countries in the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Like other racehorse owners, the Queen is expected to follow from home - in her case down the road at Windsor Castle.

Owners will be able to follow horses in the parade ring with a live 360-degree camera feed, while some trainers and jockeys are expected to give post-race debriefs by Facetime video calls.

Punters are being urged to wear a hat and dress up at home as part of the racecourse’s #StyledWithThanks initiative which will benefit four frontline

charities.

‘Still a great meeting’ “It’s going to be strange behind closed doors but will still be a great meeting with high-quality racing,” says jockey Jim Crowley.

He is back to one meal a day after the “novelty” of three daily during the 76-day suspension of racing before the sport returned on 1 June.

“I put on about half a stone it was lovely being able to have a fry-up in the morning,” adds Crowley, whose racing weight is 8st 10lb.

The 2016 champion jockey, who grew up just a furlong or two from Ascot, admits it has been strange adhering to the new safety protocols.

“It’s different wearing masks in a race, and some-

Flashback: Frankie Dettori celebrates victory on Stradivarius in the 2019 Ascot Gold Cup Adrian DENNIS AFP/File times your goggles steam up.

You can’t have showers which can be a bit uncomfortable if you’ve had six or seven rides, but it’s good to be back,” he tells BBC Sport.

The lack of a big crowd could suit his mount, Battaash, odds-on favourite for Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes, one of eight top-level Group One races at the meeting which are part of the British Champions Series.

“I think it will be a positive as it should help him in the

preliminaries. The first year he ran at York, he was close to the crowd and he boiled over,” said Crowley.

A quieter atmosphere could help the horse settle, and Blue Point - who beat him into second twice at Royal Ascot - is not around this time.

“When Battaash does win, it’s explosive. He’s put in some monster performances. If he’s on his A game, nothing can beat him, “ said Crowley.(BBC Sport)

Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts set to be replaced

Kevin Roberts has been criticised for his handling of the shutdown

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Kevin Roberts is set to be replaced by an interim CEO after losing support of the board over his stewardship of the game during the coronavirus shutdown, local media reported on Monday.

Members of the board held an emergency meeting on Sunday to put handover arrangements in place for a replacement, The Australian newspaper said.

The reports did not give details about the interim CEO, while CA did not immediately comment when contacted by Reuters.

Roberts has been criticised for his handling of the shutdown since a decision to furlough about 80% of staff at head office in April to “proactively” manage the impact of COVID-19.

State associations that nominate members to the CA board have pushed back against proposed cuts to their grants, while the players’ union has called for dispute resolution with the governing body after rejecting its forward estimates for the revenue that underpins player payments.

CA’s decision to snub Perth as a venue for one of the four test

matches in the lucrative India tour in the home summer also angered Western Australia’s state association.

Roberts said earlier this month the domestic game stood to lose A$80 million (£43.4 million) due to COVID-19, with fans barred from stadiums and the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October likely to be postponed.

But with the India tour for December all but confirmed and spectators expected to return to stadiums from next month as COVID-19 infections dwin-

dle, media pundits have accused Roberts of concocting a financial disaster.

“The good news for cricket has put further pressure on Roberts with states and players emboldened about their claims the game is not facing a financial crisis,” The Australian said.

Roberts would become the third CEO of a major Australian sport to lose their job during the coronavirus outbreak, with National Rugby League boss Todd Greenberg and Rugby Australia chief Raelene Castle stepping down in recent months.

U.S. Open will go ahead without fans amid COVID-19 - reports (REUTERSD) - The United States Tennis Association will hold the U.S. Open this year without fans amid the COVID-19 outbreak even though some top players have expressed concerns about attending the tournament due to the virus, according to multiple reports.

Forbes, which cited unnamed sources, said the men’s ATP Tour and the WTA, which runs the women’s circuit, are both expect-

ed to approve a plan for the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 event in New York and that a formal announcement is due soon.

The USTA’s agreements with the men’s and women’s tours are “happening or almost there,” one source told Forbes. ESPN, which cited a source familiar with the plan, said the USTA is waiting for a green light from local and state health officials.

The USTA did not immediately respond when asked by Reuters via email to comment on the plans.

“We’re following each step in the (restart) procedure in the great hope that we can announce that the 2020 US Open will be played in its regularly scheduled date,” USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said in the ESPN report.

“We hope to make an announcement in the very near future.”

No professional tennis tournaments have been held since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which

has left the sport’s calendar in tatters, and the shutdown will extend until August.

Wimbledon was cancelled altogether while the French Open has been moved to September and is due to start one week after the scheduled U.S. Open men’s final.

World number one Novak Djokovic and reigning U.S. Open men’s champion Rafa Nadal are among the players who have expressed concerns about attending the New York tournament.

Nadal said earlier this month he would not travel to the U.S. Open in present circumstances while Djokovic said playing the event this year would be impossible given “extreme” protocols that would be in place.

In mid-April the USTA said its decision on whether to hold the Grand Slam this year will be made in June, and playing it without fans is on the table but highly unlikely.

The U.S. Open is held

annually in New York City, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was even turned into temporary hospital to help in the battle against the virus.

Last year’s edition drew an all-time attendance record of nearly 740,000 fans and the event is the engine that drives the governing USTA. Caption: Reigning US Open men’s champion Rafael Nadal

22

GUYANA CHRONICLE, Tuesday June 16, 2020

September IPL in Sri Lanka is viable option: Gavaskar New Delhi (AFP) - Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said the Indian Premier League could be staged in Sri Lanka in September with Australia’s chances of hosting the Twenty20 World Cup in October looking bright.

The Twenty20 international showpiece is scheduled to take place from October 18 to November 19 but had been under threat because of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Australia’s decision to allow crowds of up to 10,000 in sports stadiums from June has breathed life into the staging of the tournament, with the International Cricket Council set to make a decision next month.

“If the ICC believes that the

World T20 can happen, then having the IPL looks difficult because it could only be held if the World T20 is postponed,” the former India captain told local television channel Aaj Tak. “But after the announcement (of opening the stadiums for fans

by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison), the IPL in October looks difficult.”

Indian cricket chiefs are desperately trying to salvage the cash-rich IPL this year even if it means taking it overseas or playing in empty stands.

IPL chairman Brijesh Patel said the league could be moved out of India if the virus threat does not ease in the next two months.

The league has earmarked a possible September-October window for the event.

With the monsoon expected to bring heavy rains to India in September, staging a shortened version of the competition in Sri Lanka that month could be a viable option, Gavaskar said.

“In September, you can’t have the IPL in India due to monsoon,” said Gavaskar.

“But maybe (it can be held) in Sri Lanka from early September with teams playing each other once instead of double-headers.

Maybe you can think of that,” said Gavaskar.

The United Arab Emirates and Sri Lankan cricket boards have already shown interest in hosting the tournament this year.

Mumbai Indians players celebrate winning the 2019 Indian Premier League final. This year’s tournament has been postponed because of the coronavirus (AFP Photo/NOAH SEELAM) The world’s wealthiest Twenty20 tournament has twice been held outside India

in years that it clashed with national elections.

South Africa hosted the

second IPL in 2009, and the first half of the 2014 season took place in the UAE.

Simmons says Windies spirits high despite quarantine lockdown MANCHESTER, England, (CMC) – Head coach Phil Simmons says West Indies have shown great character over the first week of their quarantine since arriving here for next month’s threeTest series against England.

The 25-man contingent comprising a 14-member Test squad and 11 reserves have been locked away at Old Trafford since touching down last Tuesday, while also undergoing intense training amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the protocols adopted for the seven-week tour, the tourists will be isolated from the public in what have been termed “bio-secure” facilities at Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

“Training has been going good, it’s been going very good,” Simmons told media via Zoom.

“The facilities at Old Traf-

ford are second to none so we’ve been enjoying that. To be honest, the bio-secure [environment] is a little bit similar to what we would’ve done for our training camp so we’ve not had to do much different to that.”

He continued: “I think we’ve been good from the point of view that we have everything here so far. The lockdown, as you would call it, has been eased because we all have been locked down for a number of months which ever part of the world you were in.

“Now part of the lockdown is coming out to practice in the morning and having lunch and practice in the afternoon and having dinner, playing some games with some of your colleagues. So I think this part of lock down is better than what we’ve had in March, April.

“But it’s early days and it’s been very educational because

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (TUESDAY JUNE 16, 2020)

COMPLIMENTS OF XTRA ENERGY DRINK - STABROEK BAZAAR (Tel: 683-9500) &CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL COMPANY LTD-83 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158) Answers to yesterday’s quiz (1)Jalal-ud-Din (vs AUST, Hyderbaad, 1982) (2)Franklyn Rose-5/23 (St. Vincent, 2000) Today’s Quiz: (1) Which Pakistan wicketkeeper has effected most dismissals against the WI in ODIs to date?

(2Which WI wicketkeeper has effected most

dismissals against Pakistan in ODIs to date?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

Seamer Kemar Roach goes through his paces at Old Trafford. (Photo courtesy CWI Twitter)

you have some characters here including the captain who keeps everything lively.”

The United Kingdom has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, with authorities here recording 296 000 infections and over 41 000 deaths.

Unsurprisingly, the public health crisis forced the the England and Wales Cricket Board to postpone the series from last month, and following negotiations with Cricket West Indies, settled on new dates in July.

The first Test will be played at the Ageas Bowl from July 8-12, with the second Test scheduled for Old Trafford from July 16-20 and the final Test set for the same venue here starting July 24.

Simmons, who resides in England and linked up with the squad upon arrival, said team spirit was high and players were making the most of inhouse entertainment.

“There’s always dominoes and if you’ve ever been to the Caribbean it’s a highly explosive form of entertainment especially when you’re getting six-loved so that’s been part [of the entertainment],” the former West Indies player explained.

“We have a golf simulation centre, we have cards, we have a few things that guys are playing and enjoying themselves and like I say, when you have characters like Jason Holder everyone’s always laughing and having fun.”

Rashford steps up campaign over free meals for children

LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford has stepped up his campaign for the government to fund free meals for struggling children through the summer, support he himself had to rely on as a boy.

The 22-year-old striker has helped to raise around 20 million pounds ($25 million) with charity FareShare UK to supply meals to those families who are “existing on a knife’s edge”.

He wants the government’s food voucher scheme to continue when the schools are shut in the summer.

Of the 1.3 million children who are registered for free school meals in England, a quarter have not

received any support since schools closed in response to COVID-19, he said.

“As a family, we relied on breakfast clubs, free school meals, and the kind actions of neighbours and coaches,” he wrote in a letter to the government posted on Twitter.

“Food banks and soup kitchens were not alien to us; I recall very clearly our visits to Northern Moor to collect our Christmas dinners every year.”

As a black man from a low income family in Manchester, Rashford wrote that he could have been just another statistic. Instead, due to the support of his mum and his community,

he is known for the goals he scores and the England caps he has won.

“Do you know how much courage it takes for a grown man to say, ‘I can’t cope’ or ‘I can’t support my family?’ Men, women, caregivers, are calling out for our help and we aren’t listening,” he said.

A spokesman for Boris Johnson said the prime minister would respond as soon as he could. He added that the government had agreed to give 63 million pounds to local authorities to help families in need.

“He (Rashford) has been using his profile in a positive way to highlight some very important issues,” he added.

23

GUYANA CHRONICLE, Tuesday June 16, 2020

AAG will do everything to protect athletes and officials - Hutson ...World Athletics issues guidelines for return to Track and Field

Aubrey Hutson AAG president

By Rawle Toney

WITH World Athletics over the weekend publishing health and safety guidelines to assist competition organisers to minimise the risk of spreading coronavirus when staging in-stadium outdoor events during the current pandemic, the Athletics Association of Guyana said they are not only ready to comply with the track and field’s governing body, but is ready to put whatever is needed in place to see the sport’s return locally.

The guidelines, drafted

by World Athletics’ Health and Science Department, also address the post-peak period, as described by the World Health Organization (WHO) and are based on scientific and medical knowledge of the virus responsible for Covid-19.

The document offers guidance for professional athletes, support staff, technical officials, workforce, volunteers, medical staff and media. Although it doesn’t include guidelines regard-

Guyana’s Winston George (right) in action during the Aliann Pompey Invitational.

ing spectators, the WHO has produced a document and risk-assessment tools for mass gatherings.

Competition organisers are advised to undertake a four-point risk assessment for all accredited attendants. If an individual scores two or higher, it is recommended that they should undergo a medical clearance protocol before the event.

“Our plan is to comply with the guidelines set out by World Athletics and our local health ministry.

The AAG will source the necessary protective gears for our officials and observe all other protocols in preparation for local competition. We

must do this to protect our athletes and officials,” AAG president Aubrey Hutson told Chronicle Sport.

Hutson noted that the AAG is “humbly hoping for early August,” to see track and field return in Guyana.

Meanwhile, in the guidelines sent to the respective member associations, World Athletics said that organisers should provide a welcome bag that includes single-use masks (three per day, minimum), bottles of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and a leaflet to explain the health and safety protocols for that particular event.

World Athletics also recommended that spectators and accredited personnel should have two completely

separate entrances and the flows should not cross.

Accredited personnel should only be granted access to the competition venue if wearing a face mask and with their personal hand sanitizer.

Face masks should be worn by everyone in the stadium, with the exception of athletes when warming up or competing in their event.

Warm-up zones should be large open-air areas within a short walking distance of the competition stadium, and access to it should be strictly controlled. Athletes should be invited to enter the warmup area following a specific timetable. All accredited personnel should wear a mask and wash their hands before entering warm-up zones or dedicated toilets.

Masks should also be worn in call rooms, which should be arranged in an outdoor location. It is also mandatory to disinfect chairs between each use.

IN COMPETITION The number of people on the field of play should be kept to a minimum, and officials who will be coming into close contact with athletes should wear protective glasses or a plastic face shield, in addition to their mask.

Once athletes have crossed the finish line, they should try to keep their distance from the public and officials, where possible, until they collect their belongings from the call room.

SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL DISCIPLINES

clean their hands or use disposable gloves after each handling and in combined events, the room used by athletes to recover between disciplines should be openair, if possible.

Coaches should be encouraged to interact with their athletes using electronic devices.

As it relates to on-field, World Athletics said starting blocks should be cleaned between each race and chlorine should be added to the water jump for the steeplechase.

Relay batons should be cleaned between each use, and relay teams should be discouraged from gathering or hugging after a race, while the use of hand sanitizer should be recommended before each attempt in vertical jumps.

Officials, the sport’s governing body said, should clean the landing mat between each jump, using a mop and veridical solution or use a thin layer of recyclable plastic or tissue that can be placed on the jumping mat.

Sand in jumping pits should be mixed with a solution that contains biodegradable and non-skin-aggressive virucide agent.

Officials who handle throwing implements should

AFTER COMPETITION The Media mixed zones, World Athletics stated, should also be outside, if possible, and the number of people in the area should be kept to a minimum.

A plexiglass screen should be placed between the athletes and the media, and cleaned after each interview, and separate interview boxes should be used if there are multiple positions. Without screens, a safety dead zone of three metres should be adopted when journalists interview athletes, and masks should be used by both parties.

To keep the number of people on the field of play to a minimum, live award ceremonies are not recommended, but alternative digital solutions are encouraged.

Once the competition has concluded, a thorough disinfection procedure should be undertaken.

West Indies quicks excite Estwick ahead of England Tests Julian GUYER

London (AFP) - The West Indies are showing signs that they are developing a pace attack that could stand comparison with the great Caribbean sides of the past, assistant coach Roddy Estwick said on Monday.

The West Indies were world cricket’s dominant team from the mid-1970s to the 1990s when they could call on a succession of superb fast bowlers including Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

Their quicks also played a key role when the West Indies beat England 2-1 in the Caribbean last year.

Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph and captain Jason Holder are all in the Caribbean tour party for the Test series in England.

The squad are quarantining in Manchester because of the coronavirus as they prepare for the three-match series, which starts next month.

Estwick said the West Indies were “beginning to get blessed with fast bowlers again” but urged against premature comparisons with earlier generations.

“We’ve got four fast bowlers we think can challenge any team in the world,” he said in a conference call.

“I don’t know about living up to the greats, they’ve

West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick (AFP Photo/Glyn KIRK )

got to forge their own identity.”

“We’ve (also) got a group of youngsters coming through,” he added, citing

Chemar Holder and Oshane Thomas.

Estwick, a former Barbados paceman, said the new crop of were showing the

stamina displayed by previous generations.

“What we’ve done is improve our fitness,” he said.

“Now you can sustain pressure. If you look back at the 80s, that’s one thing the fast bowlers had.”

The West Indies also had formidable strength in depth in their golden era.

“When I played firstclass cricket in the 80s, we had six outstanding fast bowlers,” recalled Estwick.

“But the likes of Wayne Daniel and Sylvester Clarke only played 10 and 11 Tests and yet they both had about 900 first-class wickets each.”

Next month’s series will be played behind closed doors as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19 but

Estwick said England newball veterans Stuart Broad and James Anderson would be just as dangerous without home support.

“The ‘12th man’ isn’t going to be there but I don’t think experienced bowlers like Broad and Anderson will be too fazed by the crowd not being there,” he said.

Estwick said there had been some benefits to the quarantine restrictions.

“It’s a different situation but we’ve spent a bit more time as a group together. The spirit has been good. We’ve got no complaints with the way things have gone so far.

The excuses stop now.”

By Rawle Toney

...Ninvalle says flights continue to be a bugbear

FLASH BACK! John Douglas, Guyana’s flag bearer for the 1996 Olympic Games, was the last boxer to represent the Golden Arrowhead at an Olympic Games.

GBA working overtime to bring boxers home

Steve Ninvalle -- GBA president

THE Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) is working overtime to see the return of Colin Lewis, Keevin Allicock, Desmond Amsterdam and Dennis Thomas back home, after the quartet were unable to leave Cuba before the country closed its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“Today marks the 87th day that the boxers are stranded in Cuba,” GBA president Steve Ninvalle said in a release yesterday, while adding the “GBA continues to do all within its power to have the boxers return home the earliest possible time.”

The boxers had journeyed to Cuba, thanks to the help of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and the National Sports Commission (NSC), to prepare for their now postponed Olympic Qualifier tournament in Argentina, but after countries around the world, in an effort to stop the spread the coronavirus, had closed their port of entries, they were left locked down on the Island.

The GOA, the NSC and the Guyana Embassy in Cuba, came together and had taken up the responsibility to cater to the boxers until they’re able to leave.

“In recent time, the association has even sought the assistance [of] local aviation savant, Capt. Jerry Gouveia, who willingly offered advice,” Ninvalle said.

According to Ninvalle, “although approved to return home, the boxers face another hurdle as there are no approved flights to bring them back home. We (GBA) understand that over a week ago Caribbean Airlines have written to the COVID-19 Task Force SEE PAGE 19

Allen/Morrell Jr Qatar dedicates new fight set for July 25 stadium to COVID-19 PAGE 19

...Florida, Los Angeles possible venues

frontline workers

The 40,000 capacity Education City stadium, a ‘Diamond in the Desert’

Guyana’s Lennox ‘Too Sharp’ Allen

(REUTERS) - Qatar showed off the latest stadium to be completed for the 2022 soccer World Cup in a virtual presentation on Monday and dedicated it to frontline workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 40,000 capacity Education City stadium, a ‘Diamond in the Desert’, is the third venue to be ready with five more under construction.

The Al Rayyan Stadium, also with a 40,000 capacity, and the 60,000-seat Al Bayt Stadium are due to be completed by the end of this year.

Gianni Infantino, president of world soccer body FIFA, looked forward to a time when matches no longer had to be played without spectators due to the crisis.

“We must not forget, health comes first.

In some parts of the world, it is already possible to look ahead to better times. In others,

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we still have to be extremely careful, stay strong and united.

“In the meantime, the new stadium in Education City reminds us that football will return and with more passion than ever,” he said.

“When the time comes, we will be sharing the stands with families and friends. In this beautiful and modern stadium, we will come together to celebrate the FIFA World Cup in 2022.”

The stadium will drop to a 20,000 capacity after the tournament with the surplus seats going to stadiums in developing countries.

“Three down, five to go. We’re on track,” said 2022 World Cup chief executive Nasser Al Khater. “This is a virtual launch, not something that we ever imagined we’d do. But who would have imagined that the world would be where it is right now.”

TUESDAY,JUNE 16, 2020