Guyana Chronicle E-Paper 20-11-2022

President Ali’s Men on Mission initiative launched across Guyana

Hinterland connectivity

Rockstone

President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Saturday morning participated in the Regional Kilo Walk to commemorate CARICOM Energy Week 2022. The three-mile walk was organised by the CARICOM Secretariat, in conjunction with the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) under the theme, “Our Future is electric”.President Ali was accompanied by Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d ) Mark Phillips; British High Commissioner to Guyana Ms. Jane Miller; GEA Head Dr. Mahender Sharma; CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Alexis Armstrong; and representatives from the respective agencies. The activity was held to raise awareness of renewable energy and energy efficiency. (Office of the President photos)

Hinterland connectivity boosted - as new telecommunications company powers Rockstone

was intentional.

He related: “We want to show what connectivity can actually do, and how it can transform a small commu nity by enhancing the lives of the people.”

Singh is excited that Green Gibraltar will allow the people of Rockstone to get an opportunity to engage and do business with the rest of the country and the world, without having to leave their homes to travel the long distance to Linden, Georgetown, or any other part of Guyana.

“In keeping with the One Guyana theme, we have to include everyone, and not only the coastland, and that is what our company and the Government of Guyana are working towards,” Singh said.

By Cindy Parkinson

GUYANA is one step clos er to bridging the digi tal divide between coastal and hinterland areas, as a new telecommunications company, Green Gibraltar Inc., was able to establish Internet services at Rock stone village in Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Ber bice).

This is the first time the community is benefitting from Internet connectivity, and Prime Minister Briga dier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, who attended the company’s launch in the village on Fri day, underscored that this venture will prove trans formative for the residents there.

“This means better con nectivity for the children of this area; they can now better pursue their education without depending solely on the books and reading mate rials that are only available in Rockstone,” the Prime Minister told the Sunday Chronicle.

He added: “With the In ternet, they can also have access to libraries and other Online educational materials that will help them further their education.”

During a simple launch ceremony on Friday, the Prime Minister and repre sentatives of Green Gibraltar Inc., a new locally-owned

telecommunications busi ness, introduced the service and tested its capabilities in Rockstone.

The company was able to secure a licence to offer these services, because the Dr. Irfaan Ali-led admin istration, in October 2020, liberalised the local telecom munications sector. Prime Minister Phillips said that the licence for Green Gibral tar Inc. took about a year to process, and was obtained in March of this year.

After getting its licence, the Prime Minister said that Green Gibraltar opted to provide Rockstone with free Internet connectivity for 90 days.

He, however, noted that the company’s efforts at con necting the hinterland com munity is part of the gov ernment’s focus on equalis ing services throughout the country.

And so, Prime Minister Phillips praised and thanked the company for bridging the “digital divide” between the Rockstone community and the rest of the world through their love for rural connectivity.

He also emphasised that it is part of the People’s Pro gressive Party Civic (PPP/ C)’s Manifesto promise to improve connectivity be tween Guyana’s hinterland and coastal locations and the rest of the world.

The Prime Minister re minded those gathered at the launch that the government of Guyana is open to all telecommunications inves tors and businesses that are desirous of expanding the industry locally.

With these services now being offered in the commu nity, residents explained just how they will benefit.

RELIEVED

“I am relieved that we can quickly contact a doctor, so that patients can get the right medications when they need them in a timely man ner,” Nurse Torres related.

She is thankful that the medical department will be able to manage their patients better.

Miss Allen, a teacher in training at the Cyril Pot ter College of Education (CPCE), highlighted that these services will help her in doing her studies remote ly, and also benefit the pupils and other teachers in the community.

One of Green Gibraltar’s Directors, Don Singh said that connecting Rockstone

The director also said that Green Gibraltar was formed in early 2019 and now, at the end of 2022, he is happy the company is providing much-needed services to Guyanese. In fact, it was noted that one of Green Gibraltar’s main objectives is to connect the hinterland communities with the rest of the world through health, education, tourism, or commerce and well-being.

Miss Allen guides some of her pupils as they connect to the Internet (Delano Williams photo)

Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips (fourth left), with other officials of Green Gibraltar and Secretary of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Chairperson of the Green Economy Committee, and manager for the main branch of Demerara Bank Limited, Ms. Shaleeza Shaw (Delano Williams photo)

GTT launches massive Christmas promotion

THE Guyana Tele phone and Telegraph Company (GTT) on Friday evening launched its massive Christmas promotion under the theme, ‘Tis the Season to DRIVE’. According to a press statement from the company, as part of its promotion, four cus tomers will drive away with the grand prize of a stylish and fuelefficient Toyota Raize, powered by BM Soat Auto Sales and Rentals.

To be eligible to win, new and existing GTT customers must either activate a prepaid data bundle by dialing *100*3#, sign up for a new Fibre+Voice plan, or join the GTT family by purchasing an instore handset and SIM.

The mmg+ subscribers must pay two bills via the mmg+ app, or at any mmg+ agent across the country.

The company made the announcement last evening during its endof-year engagement with their media and marketing stakeholders. Chief Executive Of ficer (CEO) Damian Blackburn said that GTT wants to continue to impact the lives of Guyanese in a tangible way.

“Throughout our many products and ser vices, we have quite a diverse customer base, and we thought about how we can truly im pact their lives. Many of them have been with us for decades,” he said.

He added that the

company that has been making transforma tional progress with services such as Fibre + Voice and mmg+ will continue to demonstrate its commitment to its customers.

“We want people to really feel the impact when we say strength en the community; we have made many changes over the years to continue to provide the support the indus try needs. Our custom ers are standing by us, and the base is quickly growing, so I think this is going to be a very impactful promotion, and will bring real joy to some of our custom ers, their families and friends this season,” Blackburn said.

In addition to the

car, customers could also win up to $10,000 mmg+ cash in their wallet, dinner, gro

cery and spa vouch ers among other daily prizes throughout the season when they tune in to their favourite radio stations.

Throughout the sea son, people across the country can get exclu sive deals with GTT.

Customers can also get deals on handsets and 4G LTE SIMs, or conduct any oth er transaction at one

of the company’s re tail stores, and win big prizes from Santa Clause in-store.

The promotion runs until January 13, 2023. The com pany is encouraging its customers to stay tuned to GTT’s social media pages to find out about how they could get other valu able deals, and more opportunities to win.

CEO of GTT Damian Blackburn

Eight per cent increase follows

$200B in relief interventions

By Dr. Tara Singh

ONE day before President Dr. Irfaan Ali, an nounced a wage increase of eight per cent acrossthe-board for all public sector employees, wellknown trade unionist Dr. Nanda Gopaul and myself were engaged in a discussion on wage in crease for the public sector.

We both agreed that given an inflation rate of 5.8 per cent (which is be low most countries) that an eight-per-cent increase across-the-board is reason able.

We premised this forecast also on the un derstanding that the gov ernment has made sev eral interventions into the economy to soften that heavy punch of inflation, partly attributable to the supply chain problems and the Guyana flood.

Public Service workers’ increase would be payable with their December sal ary, and it would be retro active to January 1, 2022.

The President listed some of those interven tions, including the remov al of 50 per cent excise tax on gasoline, and dutyfree allowance on certain building materials. How ever, Guyanese might not necessarily appreciate the cumulative impact of inter ventions, as those occurred at separate times under dif ferent circumstances.

To provide a perspec tive on this, Financial Analyst Joel Bhagwandin conducted an analysis, and found that relief measures totalled over $200 billion (equivalent to $254,452 per capita or 33.5 per cent) of the country’s 2022 na tional budget.

The President also an nounced that work is be ing done to improve the salary scales of employees in the Public Sector with low pay (such as in the

Armed Forces, nurses and doctors, teachers, frontline workers, etc.), and that an announcement on these ad justments would be made next week.

When asked if these measures have relevance to the 2016 “Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service of Guyana” (I.e., the role, functions, recruit ment, training, remunera tion, and conditions of ser vice in the public service), the Minister of Labour Jo seph Hamilton said “No”, and noted that the PPP/C Government has been in the process of evaluating the economic situation of workers and families continually, and making the necessary interventions for relief.

As Guyana contin ues to strive to narrow the income gap as part of the country’s economic development strategy, it has become apparent that, given the current increase in wage and the impend ing adjustments of the lower-level salary scales, the disparity between the minimum wage level of the private and public sec tors will remain high.

The disparity in 2013 was 9.8 per cent; in 2017 it increased to 35.7 per cent; it dropped to 23.9 per cent (when the government increased the private sec tor minimum wage from $44,200 to $60,147); and it has increased again with the current increase in pub lic sector wage (excluding the additional impending adjustments) to 33.8 per cent.

While the government cannot fix wage rates for the private sector, they could enact minimum wage legislation. They enacted one in July 2022, and another one could take place later, if the private sector minimum wage rate continues to lag behind the government’s minimum wage rate.

While the Minister of Labour is aware that the private sector is taking note of the various govern ment interventions in the economy, he also says that the impact of the disparity at the minimum wage level is not as great as depicted by these figures, since 90 per cent of private sector workers earn more than the minimum wage (of $60,147), and only 10 per cent of the workers are at the minimum wage level.

Paul Cheong, Chair of Private Sector Com mission (PSC) supports

this ratio and added: “In most places, the starting salary is above the mini mum wage. If you offer the minimum wage, you will not get staff.”

Cheong said that it is difficult to get a labourer for less than $4,000 a day. This works out to $100,000 (25 days x $4,000) per month. He envisages that more companies would need to move beyond the minimum wage to attract workers.

Minister Hamilton emphasised that while wage increase is impor tant to keep pace with inflation, and is compat ible with workers’ wel fare, this (wage increase) must be considered part of a package that includes workplace safety, leave al lowances, uniform grants, scholarship awards, and duty-free concessions among other things.

It is assumed that State agencies like Bank of Guyana, and Guy ana Revenue Authority, would benefit from the wage increase. While this wage pay-out would increase the disposable in comes of households and individuals, it is unlikely to increase the inflation rate, as productivity has also increased across all economic sectors.

Bartica Joins The Fight

A FEW days ago, Presi dent, Dr Irfaan Ali an nounced a movement which has always been a passion of his, long before being elected as Guyana’s Head of State. A movement which he believes, could help mend many of the ills which our society faces and a movement which could become part of the solution in restoring the moral fab ric of the Guyanese society, while aiding the national transformational agenda of “One Guyana.”

The President has called upon the men of this country to come together to share ideas, pool energies and resources and develop mis sions in collaboration with their government, faithbased organisations, trade unions, the private sector, and other civil society bod ies, towards a common ob jective.

Throughout the history of humanity, from biblical times to the modern age, the male specie has been at the forefront of evolution, side by side with the women folk in many instances, but pre

dominantly at the forefront.

Scientists at the Smith sonian Institute have given countless hours and years researching the origins of things and the scientific achievements across every stratum and threshold of human life, from theories in evolution, to how human ingenuity placed first man on the moon.

National Geographic Explorer, The Discovery Channel and other scien tific journals and media con tinue to examine theories in evolution, anthropology, and geographic discoveries, proving and disproving rea sons and causes for human movements, migration, and choice of habitats; while sociologists, to my mind, have had the toughest tasks of trying to decipher human behaviours and what is now simply referred to as “the human condition.”

The human condition comprises all the characteris tics and key events of human life, including the mysteries of birth, learning, of our emotions, our aspirations, morality, conflict, and death.

It is this concept of “the human condition” that has attracted the most attention of anthropologists, artists, biologists, historians, philos ophers, our literary geniuses, our psychologists and of course our religious leaders.

In practical terms, when we talk about the “human condition” among ourselves, we’re talking about why people do the things they do, what drives them, what are the excuses each of us produce to explain or justify the many smart actions and decisions we take and fool ishness we do or encourage. Why we chose to speak up and speak out on some mat ters, while ignoring or just staying mum on others.

Why Guyanese men have been accused and even con victed far too many times of beating their wives or abus ing their children; why we speed when driving or get physical when confronted; why do we allow our egos to get ahead of our rational thoughts, instead of guiding our thoughts and actions with the basic instincts of right and wrong which flow

from our hearts and brains?

These questions might seem more appropriate for our sociologists, but we ask ourselves these very ques tions all the time and, in many instances, we can very well figure out the answers for ourselves with extraordi narily little effort.

So, when these social issues begin to affect the moral and other fabrics of our society, what can we do, what should our men folk be doing?

President Ali’s idea, as Guyana’s leader, is one which he believes can be effective in Guyana’s cur rent circumstances and for the country we want to build together, is that we come together. One thousand and perhaps thousands of other men coming together, to gen erate ideas for solutions to the many problems we face.

Men influencing a stronger focus on education among our youths, a stronger focusing on skills training among our young and adult men and women; men lead ing the way in reducing drug abuse and domestic violence;

men leading the way in re ducing speeding and reckless driving on our roadways; crime and the root causes of criminality; men saying NO to racism and wicked divi sions among our people; men leading the way in restoring the integrity of the family and the moral fabric of our society; men -- Guyanese men -- taking stock of their own circumstances and de termining what we can each do and what we can do as a collective to make daily, tangible contributions to the national transformational agenda.

Men -- Guyanese men-lifting up our women folk, protecting them physically, safeguarding their dignity, creating, and enabling their spaces to grow and thrive and stand shoulder to shoul der in full equality with us, in every sphere of our so ciety.

The men of Bartica can do this! The men of Bar tica are historically known for exploring the interior of our country, mining its natural resources, building up their families and their

livelihoods, making strong businesses and contributing to the growth of their com munities and our country as a whole.

The men here are no dif ferent from the men else where, you might be more courageous, you might like to “sport” a little more than others, but you are Guyanese men!

Today is a historic day for Bartica, today is a mo mentous day in our coun try… today is the day the men of Bartica join with the men of New Amsterdam, Corriverton, Anna Regina, Rose Hall, Linden, Mahdia, Lethem and Mabaruma, and of course the men of our cap ital city, Georgetown, to take a stand, make your voices heard, and above all… to do whatever you can indi vidually and collectively to become Men on a Mission!

Let this day go down in the history of Bartica and Guyana, as the day the men of Bartica started the new journey to building a better community and a better, stronger and more united “One Guyana.”

Dear Editor,

The APNU+AFC cabal con tinues to operate in an alter nate universe, completely insensitive to the anguish, pain, and suffering Guya nese endured during their tenure, which was marred by inhumane economic poli cies that ultimately ended with a failed attempt to in fluence the outcome of dem ocratic elections in 2020.

This notion was cemented as I read with great horror and utter disgust a statement issued by the APNU+ AFC’s Coretta McDonald, in which

she attempted to criticise the recent announcement by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, of an eight per cent retroactive salary increase across-theboard for public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, consti tutional office holders and government pensioners as well as his intention to an nounce an adjustment to the salaries of lower categories of public sector workers in the coming week.

McDonald’s willingness to sacrifice truth at the altar of political expediency to fulfil

the APNU+AFC’s mislead ing narratives is extremely disheartening.

She deliberately inflated the inflation rate to 50 per cent, which is another spuri ous claim used to buttress her argument against the salary increase announced by the President.

The inescapable truth is that McDonald knows all too well the unjust and harsh treatment teachers endured at the hands of David Granger and the APNU+AFC regime.

McDonald and her party believe that all of Guyana

was asleep between May 2015 and August 1, 2020.

They believe that Guya nese have forgotten that it was McDonald herself who proclaimed in 2018 that life for teachers was better under the PPP/C Government.

In fact, so good and at tractive are the PPP/C poli cies towards workers that McDonald advanced her de sire, through discussions, to become the PPP/C’s 2020 elections, prime ministerial candidate, up until a different approach was taken.

Therefore, the slap in the

face McDonald refers to in her statement should really be directed inwards to her col leagues in the APNU+AFC because the most dehumanis ing treatment workers have ever faced in this country was during the tenure of the Granger-led regime.

Teachers were forced to take strike action in 2018 fol lowing three years of delay in renewing the five-year salaries and benefits agree ment first signed under the PPP/C and which had expired in 2015. Their suffering, like every other Guyanese except

for the coalition elites, was further compounded by the imposition of, an increase of over 200 taxes and fees.

And for daring to stand up for their rights they were called “selfish” and “uncar ing” by a sitting Minister in the former APNU+AFC government.

Instead of focusing on the overall well-being of public sector workers, officials of Coretta McDonald’s party re warded themselves with a 50 per cent salary increase three months after taking office.

People are simply gravitating over to the PPP/C from the PNC

Dear Editor,

THE previous week ended with a heavy storm damag ing many houses in Regions Six, Seven and Eight. Re membrance Day was ob served on Sunday to usher in the new week along with the roaring sounds of racing cars and motor bikes at a meet ing held at the South Dakota Circuit by the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club.

England is also the white ball superpower having won the T20 World Cup 2022, beating Pakistan in the final on Sunday in Melbourne, Aus tralia. The big news for the week was President, Dr. Irfaan Ali’s announcement of an eight per cent retroactive acrossthe-board salary increase for public servants.

A countrywide beautifica tion project is being spearhead ed by the Ministry of Public Work’s National Enhance ment Committee, involving various stakeholders. A British trade mission and investors from Louisiana District Export Council are here to explore investment opportunities.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand turned the sod for the expansion of the East Ruimveldt Secondary School and the St.Winefride’s Sec ondary School. Donald Trump announced his candidacy for another White House bid. The world’s population has reached eight billion.

Work has started for the adjustments of the low salary scales of public servants. The International Court of Justice started to hear oral arguments on Venezuela’s objections. The Guyana Water Inc. will be expending some $6 billion to upgrade 12 water-treatment

plants to benefit an additional 60,000 persons throughout Guyana.

The Republicans have won the US House majority, now making it difficult for Presi dent Biden’s agenda. A $619 million contract was signed to complete phase three of the Mon Repos Market project. India took over the presidency for the G-20 Summit. Minis ter Manickchand announced that trainee teachers will be paid salaries from next year. Minister Manickchand also commissioned a spanking new CPCE at Vreed-en-Hoop. Cricket and football will again dominate the weekend along with the usual chores. What ever is occupying your time, do relax and review the week’s comments.

1) President Ali told resi dents at Charity, “Every single community, regardless of how you look, feel, or voted, all the roads in the in this region, every single community, has been placed on a list. And we have 251 roads to be done.”

The PPP/C Government will be spending over $200 mil lion to regularise squatting at Charity as dozens of squatters received their land titles.

2) At the opening of the Business Development Forum 2022 at the Pegasus Corp. Centre, President Ali charged the private sector, saying: “We must share collective respon sibility and burdens in achiev ing success… let’s walk this walk now.” The Head of State expressed his disappointment with the private sector, noting that they have not utilised the financial opportunities which the government has stream lined.

3) President Ali warned:

“We have given enough time, enough education pro grammes; enforcement is go ing to become a major aspect of what we are doing.” The President made this remark while taking part in a nationwide clean-up campaign.

4) US Ambassador to Guy ana, Sarah-Ann Lynch admit ted: “So, with all these things we really find the climate promising.” The US wants to be ‘partner of choice’ for Guyana.

5) Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said: “I want to make a special appeal to citi zens, whether there is organ ized leadership or not, let’s clean up.” The minister was at the time overlooking the Na tional Enhancement Exercise clean-up effort at the Stabroek Market.

7) The US business maga zine Forbes stated: “While there are many reasons why someone might leave the place where they were born, small countries are most often af fected by the phenomenon as they are inherently at a disadvantage when offering opportunities and chances to move within the country first.” Guyana is listed as the country with the world’s larg est diaspora (per capita) when compared to the rest of the world, with 36.4 per cent of its population (750,000) liv ing abroad. This figure is also suspected to be understated. This is mostly due to the large exodus of Guyana fleeing the country from the Burnham and PNC dictatorial era.

8) Former Georgetown Mayor and PNC member con cluded in a dismissive tone about the AFC: “That won’t change a thing... the last elec

Workers were stabbed...

FROM PAGE 6

They spent billions of dol lars on food, fancy vehicles, and upgrading offices for themselves.

Had the APNU+AFC remained in office during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian/Ukraine conflict, Guyanese would have been eating from gar bage bins by now because of how poor and incompetent the coalition’s leadership was.

On the other hand, since returning to office, the PPP/C government is implementing holistic economic policies to lower prices for goods and services which have increased globally.

At the same time, we have reversed the punitive

taxes that had been imposed by APNU+AFC on electric ity, water, medical services and educational supplies, ba sic household necessities, and basic construction materials.

The salary increase an nounced by the President should not be viewed in iso lation, but in unison, with the several other measures we have implemented since assuming office, all with the aim of improving disposable incomes for public sector employees and Guyanese at large.

As announced by the President, the increase, which is retroactive from January 2022, is part of the govern ment’s wider efforts and also includes adjusted salary

scales for various categories of workers to be announced next week.

The APNU+AFC will fully omits to mention this information in their haste to be critical. The APNU+AFC plunged the economy into freefall. They governed in a way that brought hopeless ness and despair to people.

The unabated theft of state resources and the trauma of the five-month period APNU+AFC spent trying to interfere in the 2020 Regional and General Elections were not just a slap in the face, but a stab in the back of Guyanese.

Yours respectfully, Hon. Joseph Hamilton Minister of Labour

tion they contested on their own how many seats did they get {?} Look take a seat at the back of the class. Won’t be missed.” An AFC state ment reported that the Party will not contest the upcoming Local Government Election. Meddling in muddy water, the AFC Party can only muster up excuses about bloated and illegitimate list and lending support for reform. It’s not the list they are petrified of but the licks.

9) Prime Minister, Briga dier (Ret’d), Mark Phillips said: “The Government of Guyana is committed to ensur ing that all our service mem bers, all our veterans benefit from an improved economy in our country… it is our resolve to utilise the revenues from oil and gas to improve the lives and livelihoods of all the people of Guyana.” The PPP/C Government handed over a cheque for $1 million to the Guyana Veterans Legion.

10) Brian Lara comment ed on the lack of accolades for Shivnarine Chanderpaul: “That guy with the most test matches for the West Indies, playing for over 20 years, I don’t think people in the West Indies understand exactly his contribution.” The “Tiger” was

recently inducted in the ICC’s Hall of Fame, joining cricket’s most celebrated players.

11) Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony said: “We, of course, have a big challenge in terms of mental health and this has been a problem that we’ve been working on for many years.” The Canadian High Commission on Thurs day launched a Cdn. $2.9 mil lion (G$456.5M) mental health project targeting over 67,000 vulnerable Guyanese over a five–year period.

12) President Ali remind ed the religious community: “There is great opportunity for us to fuse ourselves to gether. I see the church as fundamental to the develop ment, and advancement of our country.” The PPP/C Government intends to dis mantle racism and discrimi nation with the involvement of the church as the govern ment’s partner in achieving “One Guyana.”

13) UK High Commis sioner Jane Miller remarked: “From what I have heard, I think the list is good enough, and I think we just need to make sure that there are those mechanisms in place to make sure it is regularly updated and verified.” Mischief afoot?

Only from the Opposition!

14) Leader of the Op position, Aubrey Norton be moaned: “We will protect our strongholds. How we do it, we will disclose once we complete all our analysis.” It’s not that APNU will try not to allow PPP/C to “take over” strongholds, the issue is that people are simply gravitating over to the PPP/C from the PNC because they are being realistic and know who really has their interest at heart!

15) President Ali wrote to Guyanese-born British Ac tress Letitia Wright, saying: “The Government of Guyana would be honoured to host you… I trust that your sched ule and plans will permit such a visit at the earliest opportu nity. Please accept my best wishes for your continued success. May you continue to make our country proud.”

Letitia Wright has gained international screen fame and has acted in numerous film hits including Black Panther.

As you prepare for an other week, do remember to continue to smile, for, “Beauty is power, a smile is its sword.”

Yours respectfully, Jai Lall

Salary Increases

ON Thursday last, President, Dr Irfaan Ali announced an eight per cent increase in the salaries and wages of all gov ernment employees.

He announced too that the eight per cent increase would be retroactive to January 1, 2022.

Also, President Ali gave a long list of measures that the government rolled out since 2020 to cushion the effects of the rising cost of living and inflation. He also pointed to measures implemented over the last two years to increase the disposable incomes of all Guyanese.

Dr Ali then carefully an nounced that an adjustment in the salaries of members of the disciplinary services and healthcare professionals would take place this week.

Before the Guyanese pub lic could digest the President’s announcement and do a proper analysis, members of the po litical and parliamentary oppo sition took to their social media platform and propaganda sites to peddle the view that the President’s announcement was disrespectful to the workers.

They continued to spread videos in which President Ali allegedly said, when he was in the opposition, that the PPP would increase the salaries to

20 per cent.

Then came a statement from Opposition Leader Au brey Norton who criticised the increase. He said the increase was measly and that President Ali was giving “the small man crumbs while he enjoyed the entire bread.”

He then said: “A critical component of our peoplecentred vision is the elimina tion of taxes from the working poor and we will ensure public servants do not have to struggle to make ends meet. Further, we will eliminate taxes for public servants.”

In entries, the Guyana Public Service Union again slammed the announcement and said it was minuscule. It said: “Workers should treat any handout that is being made available to them as an interim payment and it must be tax-free like all other handouts given to PPP/C supporters.”

Firstly, the President’s an nouncement was well received by the apolitical public serv ants who still believe that an increase, regardless of the figure, is better than nothing at this time of the year.

Surely, they will bless and accept it because the salary increase will certainly come in handy.

So, if one took the seven

per cent increase in 2021 plus the eight per cent in 2022, one would have over those two years, a 15 per cent increase.

Those people who are rant ing and raging about the in crease might have spoken too quickly and do not have an appreciation for microeconom ics and macroeconomics, and development and growth.

As a matter of fact, a ma jority of them are not public servants.

So, it is good and welcome that the President made his an nouncement at this time, and Guyanese must wait till this week on part two of the Presi dent’s announcement.

Secondly, increasing a per son’s pay or salary does not necessarily mean that their well-being and welfare are being addressed. The salary increases have to be seen as another phase in the PPP/C government’s thrust to develop the lives of workers by empow ering them to acquire their own homes and lands.

Also, public servants have benefitted from access to thou sands of GOAL and other forms of scholarships this year that did not exist prior to Au gust 2020. Their lives and welfare have been positively transformed since then by this government’s socio-economic

policies.

For example, the restora tion of the one-month, taxfree, year-end bonuses to the disciplined services totalling more than $1 billion per annum and the increase of about 40 per cent in the monthly oldage pension from $20,500 to $28,000, providing a total pen sion payout of more than $21 billion to our senior citizens.

Further, restoration of the cash grants to parents of school-aged children, increas ing the amount provided for each child to $30,000 and ex tending the programme to chil dren attending private schools. In total, this provides $6 billion in direct cash transfers to the parents of over 200,000 school children.

So, salary increases could be higher, but if the govern ment is not making the invest ment in improving the liveli hoods of ordinary people and has the right fiscal policies, it is useless.

Thirdly, the opposition politicians are being less than

creative and smart with their spin on the President’s an nouncement. They must tell the public that they too will take home the increase, including the Opposition Leader who will be pocketing a sizeable sum in December.

Recall, some of these same politicians were a part of the APNU+AFC Administration which plotted and engineered the famous 50 per cent salary increases for then ministers and other officials. So, how dare they speak about the sal ary increase of public servants when they did not even include them back in 2015?

Also, who is to say that President Ali is not going to increase the salaries of public servants by “far more than 20 per cent” in the coming years?

Surely, he did not give a timeframe for doing that in the video clip the opposition is clinging to for dear life. So, the arguments coming from the opposition politicians on the increase are puerile, petty and frankly, have no substance.

As for their commitment to reducing and eliminating taxes, one should not hold one’s breath because they had said so in 2015, but when they were in the executive seat, did the opposite.

Search the record and one will come across former Fi nance Minister Winston Jordan announcing more than 200 hardship taxes on Guyana’s poor and struggling economy.

Finally, the GPSU should be condemned in the strongest possible manner for calling the increase a PPP handout.

Workers deserve every cent that will be paid to them and more. It is irresponsible and derogatory to tell the workers that the government is giving them a handout.

What the GPSU should do is sit down with the gov ernment to resolve the salary increase debacle and sort its affairs out with its credit union. The GPSU is behaving like an arm of the PNC-led APNU and AFC with its con frontational stance.

Over 1,000 students benefit from GOGEC’s O&G sensitisation seminars

THE Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) has successful ly conducted oil and gas training for secondary school students in Ber bice, East Coast, George town, West Demerara, Essequibo, and Linden.

The final training semi nar was hosted on Friday at Leonora for secondary students from Endeavour &

the Commons, Essequibo Island, Leguan Second ary, L’Aventure Secondary, Leonora Secondary, Parika Salem Secondary, Paten tia Secondary, Stewart ville Secondary, Uitvlugt Secondary, Vergenoegen, Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary, West Demerara Secondary, Westminster Secondary School, Zeeburg Second ary, and the Leonora Tech

nical and Vocational Train ing Centre.

“This training plan was developed to introduce high school students to Guyana’s new and emerg ing oil and gas sector. The training programme was designed to help these stu dents become familiar with the basic knowledge of the sector and ensure they are enticed to further expand

their knowledge in the sec tor and one day contrib ute to its development,” GOGEC said in a press statement.

This massive year-long training programme was expected to educate over 50 schools and 1,000 stu dents. The chamber has successfully met its target by completing training with a total of 65 schools

and 1,095 students.

According to the Presi dent of GOGEC, Man niram Prashad, the training plan covered an introduc tion to the sector, players in the sector, job opportu nities in the sector, explo ration activities, PSA, the gas-to-shore project, and an overall understanding of Guyana’s economic, politi cal and social history and

where the country is today. This training pro gramme would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship by Guyana’s Telephone and Telegraph Company – GTT -- and other mem bers of the chamber, who participated in sensitising the students about Guy ana’s emerging oil and gas industry.

The Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) has successfully conducted oil and gas training for secondary school students in Berbice, East Coast, Georgetown, West Demerara, Essequibo, and Linden

Oil has far-reaching impacts for Guyana’s energy security

ACCORDING to the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy se curity is defined as the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price. The en ergy security of a country relies on a complex web of long-term investments, adequate supply and insu lation from global shocks to ensure a supply of en ergy that is in line with both “economic develop ments and environmental needs.”

Guyana’s long-term en ergy security is dependent on the investments made today that will impact the future of tomorrow. Last week, Dax Driver, the Chief Executive Officer and Pres ident of the Energy Cham ber of Trinidad & Tobago joined others in discuss ing their perspectives on Guyana’s energy strategy during a webinar hosted by the Guyana Business Jour nal titled, “Transforming Guyana: Guyana’s role in a world that still needs oil.”

Experts made the point that Guyana has histori cally been highly depend ent on oil imports, not just for vehicle fuel, but for the heavy fuel oil (HFO) that currently powers the elec tric grid. HFO is not only an expensive and heavily polluting source of electric ity, but one that is tied to the global price of crude oil.

That has historically made fuel imports one of Guyana’s largest expenses and left the country at the mercy of high global oil prices. Guyana still suffers from some of the highest power prices in the region.

But experts are optimis tic that is going to change as Guyana becomes a major oil producer. The gas-to-en ergy (GTE) project prom ises to begin a decade long

transformation of Guyana’s electric grid, decoupling it from oil using cleaner burning local natural gas discovered offshore.

The government also plans to use oil revenues to build significant amounts of hydropower and other renewables over the com ing decade, including the Amaila Falls Hydropower project.

The government will own the gas plant outright, while CH4/Lindsayca, an international firm, will be the operator under an En gineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) con tract.

The plant will be a stateof-the-art 300-megawatt Combined Cycle Power Plant with a Natural Gas

Liquids (NGL) facility and should be able to meet more than half of Guyana’s future electricity needs. The pow er plant is expected to be built as soon as December 2024 and is to cut power prices for homes and busi nesses by half.

Bringing the plant on line will be a crucial part of meeting the rapidly grow ing demand for electric ity as Guyana’s economy develops. Demand in Guy ana is expected to triple in the next five years as the economy continues its fast-paced growth. Rural households could also ben efit greatly from the devel opment of infrastructure to expand access to electricity into the hinterland.

Using gas to build a

diversified economy could also be an important step towards greater energy se curity. Natural gas is also used to produce cooking and industrial gasses like butane and propane and for manufacturing fertilisers.

The agricultural indus try is heavily dependent on imported fertilisers and oth er chemicals, which have seen global prices skyrock et as a result of the war in Ukraine. Producing these goods domestically could help alleviate many of the pressures faced by farmers and poorer households.

Dr. Lorraine Sobers, a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering Petroleum Studies Unit at University of the West In dies, also weighed in on the

long-term implications this kind of project could have for the country’s energy security.

“The good news is Guy ana has begun taking steps to move from that state of energy insecurity by be coming a net exporter of crude and low-carbon de velopment strategy [which includes] the gas-to-power and renewable energy,” Dr. Sobers said.

As Guyana’s long-term energy strategy continues to evolve, it is clearer than ever that the oil discoveries

represent a generational shift. For decades, Guyana was an energy importer with little control over global prices, dependent on systems like PetroCaribe.

Now, Guyana is set to be a major global oil pro ducer. The development of affordable and relia ble electricity generation that does not depend on international markets is yet another landmark for the country that further positions Guyana for its new role as a regional leader.

I challenge the ‘World’s Biggest Diasporas’ report by Forbes Magazine

I have been studying and writing on Guyanese and Caribbean migration for decades, and so, natu

rally, when information surfaces on that theme, particularly from outside of Guyana, I am drawn

to it.

A recent report, “The World’s Biggest Diaspo ras” by Statista data jour

nalist, Katharina Buchhoiz, in Forbes magazine, repub lished in the dailies and on social media, caught my attention.

The gist of the report is that the largest movement of people occurs in devel oping and less developed countries rather than in developed ones, and the reasons for this unfortu nate event - the hierarchy of migration - are wars, economic stagnation, and a lack of vision regarding development, which the writer dubbed as “a lack of perspective.” It is also stated that the size of coun tries and their remoteness add to out-migration.

Although the writer has repeated the obvious in the field of migration, there are some merits in the missive. By looking at “global de velopment strata”, the writ er espouses, “the world’s least developed countries saw the biggest exodus with diasporas making up an average 12.5 per cent of their native-born popula tions, way ahead of less developed and more devel oped countries at around 3-6 per cent of people liv ing abroad.” Nonetheless, I am confused with these labels: least developed, less developed, and developed countries in the above dec laration.

To clarify, it is Emma nuel Wallerstein who de veloped the world system theory to explain how the world has been stratified. He used and applied a host of indices such as access to basic life needs, education, healthcare, per capita in come, and so on to explain why some countries fall into specific stratification brackets which he labelled as the core, semi-periphery, and periphery, later modi fied into developed, devel oping and less developed or industrialised, industri alising, less industrialised. World migration, in all forms, is directly connected

to Wallerstein’s stratifica tion theory. I would call his theory smartification.

By now, you should know that I am leading up to something. I am not sure why the dailies and indeed politicians felt comfortable sharing and discussing the world diaspora report with so much intensity other than to say it is news that Guyana leads the list of countries with the largest diasporas, meaning that “Guyana had the biggest share of its native-born population -- 36.4 per cent -- living abroad.”

If you are a Guyanese living in the jungle of Guy ana since Forbes Burnham died some decades ago and you are reading the Forbes Magazine report, you would not get through the first pages because you would know that the figure of 34.4 per cent of native Guyanese living abroad is dead wrong. It is much higher.

Let us use common sense which seems to be the methodology, as op posed to empirical evi dence which the writer used to arrive at some con clusions in the report. Let us assume that the popula tion of Guyana is 750,000. I know some sources cite a somewhat lower figure, but we accept the former for the sake of argument. The following is an es tim ation of native-born Guyanese who are current ly living outside of Guy ana: Suriname (50,000), Trinidad (20,000), Barba dos (15,000), Venezuela (10,000), wider Caribbean (10,000), Canada (200,000) and US (300,000).

I am not sure about the size of the Guyanese popu lation in England. These are modest estimates. If you do the mathematics, you will see that substan tial numbers of Guyanese have been living outside of Guyana. I take it that when the writer stated that

“its native-born popula tion” meant Guyanese who were born in Guyana but out-migrated. If we were to add children born of Guya nese parentage outside of Guyana, for example, my children were born in St. Croix, the United States Virgin Islands, and those born in New York, the fig ure would be much higher. However, I suggest, or I feel comfortable with the thought that Guyana’s na tive-born population over seas is around 60 per cent.

My purpose here is not to embarrass the writer. It is always difficult to write about “foreign” places, but small population countries are sensitive as to how they are portrayed, especially since that “Sh.. Hole” com ment from once the most powerful person in the world.

I must admit that I like one point, and that is, “they [Guyanese included] are inherently at a disadvan tage when offering op portunities and chances to move within the country first.” This is factual. De spite internal movements after slavery and indenture from the plantations to set tlements and from rural to urban areas brought about by economic opportuni ties, individual aspirations, and violence such as the Wismar massacre, the pre dominant pattern of Guya nese migration has been to overseas countries, already stated above.

Apart from the move ment from the other re gions to Georgetown, there have not been any major movements from one county to the other. For example, individu als from Berbice do not migrate to Essequibo and vice versa. May I tout this aphorism: Mi gration is the wave in which Guyanese have sailed to greener pastures (lomarsh.roopnarine@ jsums.edu).

The local perspective on malaria

TO KEEP the flame burn ing on the discussions and sensitisation of getting an ti-malaria efforts back on track for the most affected countries, participants and stakeholders were urged on November 4, 2022, via a Pan American Health Organisa tion (PAHO)-hosted webinar, to urgently play an active role in their countries’ stra tegic responses.

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Guyana had forged ahead since April 2021 with an aggressive campaign, “Reach ing the Zero Malaria Target”, according to the Department of Public Health. The disruptions due to the pandemic, along with the heightened mining activities over the previous five years, had contributed to an increase of 46 per cent of cases.

This year, however, a breakthrough collaboration with Harvard University had heartened the ambitious view that we may meet our coun try’s target five years ahead of time.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in April 2022, Guyana accounts for three per cent of the total cases of the Americas, which equates to 20,000 annually, and is found predominantly in five out of the ten admin istrative regions. These ar eas are within the high-traffic hinterland region, where the primary economic activities are logging, and gold and dia mond mining. Hence, malaria is labelled as an occupational hazard.

In Volume Five of the Lan cet, dated October 2021, it was inferred that the combination of climatic conditions, along with gold mining activities contributed to the prevalence of malaria, predominantly falciparum malaria, which was found to dominate during 2008 to 2014. The number of malar ia cases correlated to the gold prices, because heightened mining activities created more traffic within those zones.

In Guyana, some of the challenges faced when dealing with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment are the acces

sibility to treatment sites, due to geographical constraints and the high illiteracy rates of the affected population. So, as part of the strategic campaign to re duce malaria by 75 per cent by the year 2025, and to a further 90 per cent by 2030, training to use rapid-test kits, treating simple cases and reporting data commenced in 2016 in several regions.

Those trained are not med ical persons, but mostly those people who tend to stay within the communities, such as camp managers, camp cooks, shop owners and village leaders. Early detection and treatment helps to break the transmis sion rates, and hence the actual number of infected persons.

The campaign of “Little Mosquito, Big Problem” was launched in 2020, using so cial media, radio skits, televi sion advertisement and cricket adverts. We are all familiar with the humorous creole ‘ad vert’ on television played by popular local comedians who placed emphasis on seeking treatment early, instead of “boiling bush” because his wife “Love da car bad!”

Also, sensitisation on the distribution of “free” insecti cide-treated bed nets and how to properly take care of these resources were done. Within coastal communities, fog ging activities were done as a prevention mechanism, since the anticipated rainy season combined with heat and high humidity are also a breathing ground for mosquitos.

In July 2022, WHO in dicated, globally, that during 2010 to 2019, 78 countries showed mosquito resistance to one out of four classes of insec ticide as vector control, whilst 29 countries showed mosquito resistance to all main classes of insecticide used in spraying.

Additionally, WHO recom mended, since October 2021, an approved malarial vaccine for use in children living in areas with high prevalence of P. falciparum. This vaccine has been piloted since 2019 in three African countries, and was shown to prevent disease progression to severe status. According to the 2021

World Malarial Report, four of the African countries account for over half of the malarial deaths. Although safety has been established, there are hurdles with compliance, espe cially to administer the fourth scheduled dose.

The first line of the treat ment protocol recommended for uncomplicated malaria is the artemisinin-based com bination drugs. Like all other drugs, this class of drugs were initially only available by the brand, Coartem. However, due to stockouts and cost barriers, an alternative brand, Artefan, which is more affordable, be came available on the market. From several comparative studies, Artefan was found to be equivalent and as effective as Coartem, and, hence, was approved for use. Since arte misinin derivatives have been officially in use since 2004 in Guyana, a watchful eye is kept for resistance.

Therefore, Sentinel site surveillance, through PAHO, the Pasteur Institute and Har vard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have collabo rated since 2010 to spot any resistance to such compounds, which, to date, there has been none in Guyana. If resistance develops, this would be a ma jor threat to the aim of malaria eradication.

However, the malaria drug-resistance situation is different in Africa, and mir rors the threat of resistance with other antimicrobials such as antibiotics. Hence, at the November 18 webinar this year, sponsored by PAHO, the new anti-malarial drug resist ance strategy for Africa was launched. This took place to synchronise with World An timicrobial Awareness Week.

For further discussion, contact the pharmacist of Medicine Express PHAR MACY, located at 223 Camp Street, between Lamaha and New Market Streets. If you have any queries, comments or further information on the above topic, kindly forward them to medicine.express@ gmail.com or send them to 223 Camp Street, N/burg. Tel #225-5142.

President Ali’s Men on Mission initiative launched across Guyana

IN observance of Inter national Men’s Day on Saturday, ministers and other government officials

fanned out to launch Pres ident Dr. Irfaan Ali’s Men on Mission (MOM) initia tive throughout Guyana.

This initiative is the brainchild of President Ali, and is meant to uplift the younger generation

of men who face many societal ills, such as drug abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, and other

violent crimes. The inten tion is to provide men with guidance and counsel ling, recreational and fit

ness activities, and create economic empowerment through temporary em ployment schemes.

DPI and Indra Natram photos

UK faces biggest fall in living standards on record

THE UK faces its biggest drop in living standards on record, as the cost-of-living crisis eats into peo ple’s wages.

The government’s forecaster said that dis posable household in comes, when adjusted for rising prices, would dive by seven per cent

in the next few years.

Living standards will not recover to the levels they were last year until 2027-28, it added.

It came as the Chan cellor said the UK was already in recession, and set to shrink fur ther next year.

However, Jeremy

Hunt said his Autumn Statement, which un veiled £55 billion of tax rises and spending cuts, would lead to a “shallower downturn” with fewer jobs lost.

Energy and food bills have shot up due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, and are squeezing house

hold budgets.

Inflation, the rate at which prices rise, is at a 41-year high, and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warns it is dragging on the economy.

The forecaster said that overall, the UK economy was forecast to grow by 4.2 per cent

this year.

But the OBR said it would shrink by 1.4 per cent next year, be fore rising by 1.3 per cent, 2.6 per cent, and 2.7 per cent in the fol lowing three years.

A recession is de fined as when a coun try’s economy shrinks for two three-month

periods, or quarters, in a row.

Typically, compa nies make less money, pay falls, and unem ployment rises. This means the govern ment receives less money in tax to use on public services.

(BBC)

STARR Computer to offer Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station

STARR Computer is planning to introduce its universal Charging So lution for Electric Ve hicles (EV) during the first quarter of 2023 with its new hybrid AC/DC STARR-LOOP solution for residents in Guyana.

It reduces Carbon Foot print, offers zero cost to drive, caters for a wide cross-section of citizens, creates employment, and generates revenue for both residence and the business sector.

When contacted, Mike Mohan, President of STARR Computer, indi cated that vehicle import ers expressed hesitancy to import and resell Electric Vehicles due to the ab sence of an official local EV Charging Agency.

He confirmed that the company plans to distrib ute EV Solutions within months throughout Guyana.

This solution, he said,

will support not only elec tric cars, vans, and trucks but also agricultural EVs, which will help reduce the cost of agricultural prod ucts.

Noting that, while elec tric vehicles offer a great driving experience, it also facilitates carbon footprint reduction in Guyana at a significant pace. By en couraging and support ing EV growth in Guyana, Mohan told this publication that it would create new employment in Renewable Energy installation across Guyana.

He explained that pric es for Solar Panels had dropped significantly over the past few years, and with the new tie-grid system now offered by Guyana Power and Light (GPL), users no longer have to invest in expensive storage batteries.

Further, Mohan added that energy harnessed from

the sun via solar panels connected with a few mis cellaneous components is returned/sold directly to Guyana Power&Light (GPL) for a credit which offsets against the GPL AC power consumption used to charge the EV at night. Hence, the said energy be comes free of cost to EV Consumers.

“Government can fasttrack the reduction of Car bon Footprint generation by subsidizing the cost of electric cars and chargers through a credit allowable to the users via their annual Tax Returns. This initiative will help Guyana meet its timely green economy tar get,” Mohan said.

He emphasized that combining solar energy with EV charging is the key to drastically reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

While electricity comes from a variety of sources, deploying renewable en

ergy for electric vehicles and later expanding this technology to power homes and offices is crucial.

Mohan said electric cars are immensely popular in developed countries and will be strongly adopted in Guyana in the coming years as this will create disinflation.

“Over time, we antic ipate more Commercial Banks will enter the mar ket, create competing bank rates and help make these electric vehicles more af fordable to all,” he said.

He explained that STARR COMPUTER would be providing three optional types of charging systems from its Brickdam Georgetown location, these will include: EV-Flex Lite level 2 Station which can charge EV Cars at night and facilitate full Charge within four to six hours; EV-Fleet Level 2 Charging Station which offers twice the charging speed of the Flex Lite version as it pro duces full charge between two to four hours; and EVFast Level 2 Charge Station that can full charge between 15 to 60 minutes.

Quoting from an energy publication report, Mohan noted that up to 40 per cent of EV drivers already have rooftop solar. When drivers

plug into a home system us ing solar panels, they drive on clean, sunshine energy.

Further, he added that green urban planners are considering how EV charg ing stations can be a part of a community microgrid in America.

He said that study af ter study shows that EVs are cheaper to charge and maintain than gas cars. When a community sup ports EVs and charging, it’s an economic boom for its residents and businesses.

Further, Mohan added that the future of trans portation is green, and the change to Electric Vehi cles is becoming in high demand, which enforces a

need for robust EV charg ing infrastructure.

Mohan explained that one of the many scenari os for payment to use the EV charger requires a cus tomer to download an app to their Smartphone. The Smartphone is configured with their Bank Account, and after that its QR code can be scanned by the EV Charging Unit for energy supplied and billed to cus tomer’s account. This will be a straightforward pro cess.

He noted that the cost of ownership for an EV is cheaper to drive with “sunshine energy” than the standard fossil vehicle fill ing up with gas weekly. The options for consumers will be EV Charging Solutions for Single homes, Fleet services and Commercial service Station.

In the U.S, he under scored that the current administration is aiming to reach a 50 per cent electric vehicle (EV) tar get by 2030. These ag gressive targets have, in turn, pushed many vehicle manufacturers, including Ford, BMW, and Volkswa gen to step up their game and align climate commit ments. In Guyana, EVs will open the mindset of Guyanese to expand their Renewable Energy array of solar panels and power up their entire homes to help meet our carbon foot print reduction.

Notably, STARR COM PUTER has been harness ing energy from the sun to power its operations for over 15 years.

“We must all play our part to save the earth while a dollar saved is a dollar earned,” he noted.

Mike Mohan, President of STARR Computer

One of the charging stations that will be installed at STARR Computer

28 certified in fibre-optic installation

TWENTY-EIGHT individuals are now internationally certi fied in Fibre Optic Installation after successfully completing a comprehensive training programme facilitated by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).

The graduation ceremony was held recently at the Min istry of Labour and saw the attendance of Minister of La bour, Joseph Hamilton, BIT’s Chief Executive Officer, Rich ard Maughn, BIT’s Human Resource Officer, Melinda Kelly, JD Carn ICT Guyana Incorporated, Country Manager, Sherissa Phillips, among other officials.

Minister Hamilton, in brief remarks, told the graduates that their succession will now allow them to play a role in govern ment’s plans to modernize the country’s telecommunication infrastructure to provide reliable

connectivity to all Guyanese.

He said that while the pro gramme was deemed quite expensive to provide, it is im perative to create skilled person nel to be a part of the country’s economically flourishing sector. A vision he is grateful that BIT could drive through collabora tion with JD Carn Guyana ICT.

Since taking up office as Minister of Labour in August 2020, the Ali-led Administration outlined its intention to better the country’s telecommunica tion sector to provide improved cell and internet services, which led to the telecommunication sector being liberalized from Guyana’s once dominating Tel ecommunication Company, Guyana Telephone and Tel egraph (GTT).

BIT’s CEO, Richard Maughn, thanked the graduates for participating in the training programme and completing it,

as it demonstrates their seri ousness in being involved in the country’s development. He urged them to use this oppor tunity to make a difference in the country by mentoring other willing parties, much like what BIT and JD Carn Guyana ICT was able to do for them.

Maughn noted that the pro gramme is quite costly for the agency. However, himself and the labour minister saw the need to facilitate the programme since it opened a wide array of opportunities for those who did not think it was possible due to their financial standing.

According to the Ministry of Labour, JD Carn Guyana ICT agency started collaborat ing with the BIT in 2020, and during the period 2020-2021, trained a total of 32 persons, who graduated in ETA Fibre Optic Install programme. How ever, the physically demanding

programme mostly saw male graduates and the agency is now calling on females to join classes, since it is financially re warding within the Information Technology (IT) and Telecom agencies.

The Labour Ministry noted that JD Carn is not just a train

ing agency but also caters to its graduates’ securing employment with major telecommunication companies in Guyana, whether sub-contract or permanently.

Out of the 32-BIT gradu ates, 16 were engaged for employment placements. However, eight went on to

further studies and the other eight were gainfully employed as Technicians, Splicers and Service Delivery Technicians at leading IT companies such as, JD Carn, GTT and the Guyana Public Hospital Cor poration (GPHC) Fibre Optic Backbone.

(Seated at centre) Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton; (seated second from left) BIT’s CEO, Richard Maughn and other officials flanked by the individuals certified in Fibre Optic Installation

The blackwater adventure

ile most of the r vers and their tri butaries are used as tr ansportation routes for both people and cargo, it is ho

me to some of the most bea utiful flora and fauna. Thi s tour experience on the Canj e River, in Berbice, is truly fascinating and whi le I’ll attempt to descr

ibe my experience, it hone stly is the kind of thing one m ust see and experience for on eself. The blackwater adventur e is a must do if you ever fi nd yourself visiting New Amst erdam, the central town o f the region. Although the r egion is fairly new to t ourism, the package offers an exhilarating boat ride, a visi t to the only maroon village in Guyana, fishing, bird-watch

ing and of course, I can’t forget to mention the food an d drinks. How could you not go to Berbice and hav e roti and curry on the wat ertop? THEJOURNEY Thetou r begins at the New Amsterdam stelling , where there is a panorami c view of the Berbice River Bridge, the country’s second largest floating bridge. I t is quite refreshing to see it floating on the water top or to sit in a vehicle a s it driv es across. The journ ey continues along the Canje River or Canje Creek as some would sa y. It is a tributary of the Berbice River and r uns parallel to the Atlanti c Ocean coast in the East

Berbice-Corentyne region. Aft er several minutes of cru ising down the serene wate rs, the sound of the waves an d croaks of the frogs living in t he vegetation gr owing on the banks of the river, fill the air. Tucked between the lush gr eenery, were flocks of the Can je Pheasant. They quickly scurried away as the noisy d iesel-powered boat approac hed. Canje Pheasan t is Guyana’s national bi rd. Its feathers and most o f its body is reddish-brown, streaked with green. The feathe rs on its shoulders and sides are edged with creamy-white and its b elly is a pale brown. Th e bird’s crest looks like

a crown and completes it s majestic look. While the bi rds tried their best to st ay hidden, I was able to capture the flight of a few as they le aped from the trees shading the river banks, and soared t owards an unknown destinati on. CAMERA-READY Asthejourne y continued, a few parrots were spotted sitting o n the branches of towering t rees. Unlike the Canje Phe asant, they wer e not afraid of the clicking sounds of cameras and stay ed still as photographers took pictures from every angle Of course, there were a f ew stops for bathroom breaks and to grab more beve

The majestic Canje Pheasant (Delano Williams photos)

The Canje River

A farmer passes through Baracara with his produce

Boat captain missing after allegedly pushed overboard by passengers

and Elden Hermanstyne, a 24-year-old unemployed man of Red Cresent Road, Mackenzie, boarded the boat for Wismar shore.

While the boat was about 40 feet off the Wis mar shore, Alexander was allegedly “pushed” out of the boat. The boat report

edly then proceeded north on the Demerara River.

The matter was reported to the Police at 01:10 hrs, and officers visited the scene around 01:20 hrs.

Police then mounted a drone, and during an aerial search, the boat was located in the vicinity of

Spieghtland. The boat was then brought to shore along with the two suspects. They were told of the allega tion, arrested, and escort ed to Wismar Police Sta tion, where they remain in custody. The boat was searched, but nothing of

evidential value was found. The boat was photographed and lodged.

Searches were car ried out in the Demerara River for Alexander, but he was not located. State ments were taken, and an investigation is in pro gress.

POLICE in Regional Di vision #10 are investigat ing a report of an alleged incident involving Elick Alexander, a Silver City boat captain, who was al legedly pushed overboard by two passengers who both appeared to be of unsound mind.

The incident occurred around 01:00 hrs Saturday morning in the Demerara River, just about 40 feet off the Wismar shore in Linden.

Enquiries disclosed that Leslie Orna, who resides overseas, is the owner of a blue and white passenger boat which operates from the Wismar shore to the Mackenzie shore. Alexan der, 55, is the captain of the said boat.

At around 01:00hrs this morning, Alexander was on the Mackenzie shore await ing passengers when Brian Hermanstyne, a 25-yearold unemployed man of Amelia’s Ward Mackenzie,

The blackwater...

FROM PAGE 18

CAMERA-READY

As the journey continued, a few parrots were spotted sitting on the branches of towering trees. Unlike the Canje Pheasant, they were not afraid of the clicking sounds of cameras and stayed still as photographers took pictures from every angle.

Of course, there were a few stops for bathroom breaks and to grab more beverages to cool down from the scorch ing midday sun.

The grand finale of the trip was passing through the only standing maroon community in Guyana, Baracara.

There, you will be greeted with warm smiles and wel coming waves from the locals. If you’re lucky, you’ll even catch a glimpse of the people’s day-to-day lives. Farmers were carefully navigating boats filled with crops.

I must mention the fishes. There were some that were not every kind, like the red-eye piranha, but once handled carefully, the experience was trilling.

The Canje River is home to many kinds of fishes, and there are several hotspots or local breeding grounds where piranhas can be found.

There is no need to worry about one’s safety. Dillon Ross, the tour guide, is a licensed boat captain with a wealth of experience and knowledge.

He is also an experienced fisherman. If one wants to catch piranhas during their adventure, Dillon is there to help.

The tours are offered to both locals and foreigners and have accommodations for children, the elderly and the differently-abled.

Qatar's moment of truth has come!

(REUTERS) - Predicaments began mounting as early as December 2010 when it was announced that Qatar would host the finals amid a storm of international criticism.

"For me it is clear: Qatar is a mistake; A bad choice," Sepp Blatter, the former president of world soccer's governing body FIFA, said last week.

Always held during the close season of the majority of leagues, it was difficult to maintain such a schedule with tem peratures reaching more than 45 degrees Celsius in Qatar's blazing summers.

Two studies carried out by FIFA in 2014 and 2015 were enough to conclude that it would be impossible to hold the tournament in June-July, prompting the move to November and December.

Constructing the new stadiums wit nessed many controversies regarding la bour rights, amid media reports that thou sands of foreign workers either lost their lives or were mistreated in the process.

Qatar responded by altering its labour laws to contain global dismay.

Additionally, Qatar's strict Islamic laws against LGBT rights or alcohol consumption faced yet another storm of criticism.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, told the United Nations General Assembly last September that his government was ready to welcome everyone from around the world without discrimination.

Qatari Olympic high jump champion, Mutaz Barshim, a World Cup ambassador, said the tournament is an opportunity to unite people.

"The World Cup will positively impact our society by showcasing our culture to the world and by helping people create friendships and build networks. It is a golden opportunity to change negative perceptions about the region and create new and meaningful connections," he said in an interview with the Qatar 2022 website on Wednesday.

Qatar will be the first team since Italy in the second World Cup in 1934 to participate in the finals for the first time as hosts without having previously qualified for the tournament.

In order to avoid a similar fate to that of Switzerland, Chile and South Africa, who all hosted but exited the finals in the group stages in 1954, 1962 and 2010, the Qatar team underwent a thorough process of preparing for the tournament.

Qatar started by appointing Spanish coach Felix Sanchez in 2017, whose knowledge of the region helped him guide Qatar to the 2019 Asian Cup title, winning all matches in the process.

Sanchez's men raised eyebrows with a number of notable performances, including a 3-1 defeat of Japan in the final.

The team continued preparations by rubbing shoulders with South America's best with participation in the 2019 Copa America.

Nonetheless, the experience proved to be a little too much for the team as they finished bottom of their group following defeats by Colombia and Argentina and a draw against Paraguay.

Qatar, similarly and upon special request, took part in the CONCACAF Gold Cup last year, where they showed improvement by topping their group and beating El Salvador in the quarter-finals before losing 1-0 to United States in the semi-finals.

The team will be under pressure by fans to achieve the desired results on home soil, especially after the Qatar Federation’s decision not to allow its players to play for the domestic clubs since the beginning of the current season in order to devote themselves to preparations for the finals.

CONTROVERSIES

The decision to award Qatar hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup has been marred by controversy, including alle gations of corruption and human rights violations, since it was first announced 12 years ago. Here is a look at the issues:

FIFA awarded the tournament to the Middle Eastern country in 2010, with the understanding it would be held during the summer, where temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

In 2015, FIFA recommended that Qatar host a shorter World Cup over the cooler months of November and December in a move that was sure to put soccer's world governing body on a collision course with the major European leagues.

The schedule change to the northern hemisphere winter marked the first time that the World Cup moved from its reg ular slot of June and July when Europe's lucrative domestic leagues have concluded their seasons.

The leagues will pause their 2022-23 campaigns to allow players to compete in the November 20 - December 18 World Cup.

CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS

The organisers of the 2022 World Cup have strongly denied allegations from the U.S. Department of Justice that bribes were paid to secure votes when the hosting rights for the tournament were awarded 12 years ago.

Suspicion and rumours have long surrounded both the 2010 vote by FIFA's executive to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar and prosecutors set direct, formal allega tions regarding both tournaments down in an indictment in 2020.

Qatar's Supreme Committee for De livery & Legacy -- which is responsible for the delivery of the required infrastructure and host country's planning and operations -- has rejected the charges.

Qatar 2022 CEO, Nasser Al Khater, told reporters when the Middle Eastern country marked a year to go for the tourna ment that Qatar had been "unfairly treated and scrutinised" for a number of years.

WELFARE OF MIGRANT WORK

ERS

Qatar has faced intense criticism from human rights groups over its treat ment of migrant workers, who with other foreigners comprise the bulk of the coun try's population.

A 48-page report by Amnesty, Reality Check 2021, said that practices such as withholding salaries and charging work ers to change jobs were still rife, despite labour reforms in 2014.

The government of Qatar said its

labour system was still a work in progress but denied allegations in the report that thousands of migrant workers in the 2022 World Cup host nation were being trapped and exploited.

Amnesty and other rights groups have led calls for FIFA to compensate migrant workers in Qatar for human rights abuses by setting aside $440M, matching the World Cup prize money.

The Football Associations of 10 European nations, including England and Germany, have pushed FIFA to take action to improve the rights of migrant workers in Qatar.

FIFA has written to World Cup teams urging them to focus on the football in Qatar and not let the sport be dragged into ideological or political battles.

LGBT+ AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Homosexuality is illegal in the con servative Muslim country, and some soccer players have raised concerns for fans travelling to the event, especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and women, who rights groups say Qatari laws discriminate against.

But World Cup organisers have repeatedly said that everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or background, is welcome during the tournament.

Less than two weeks before the finals, Khalid Salman, a Qatar World Cup ambassador and former international, told German broadcaster ZDF that homosexu ality was "damage in the mind".

He added that the country expects more than one million visitors for the World Cup and anyone coming to Qatar for the tournament should "accept our rules here".

The Australian soccer team has spo ken out against Qatar's record on human rights and same-sex relationships, while Denmark's players will travel to the tour nament without their families as a protest against the country's human rights record.

ALCOHOL BAN

The Qatar World Cup is the first to be held in a Muslim country with strict controls on alcohol, presenting challenges for the organisers of an event, sponsored by a beer brand and often associated with beer-drinking fans.

The country said it would let ticketed fans buy beer at matches starting three hours before kickoff and for one hour after the final whistle, but not during the match.

Plans were made to have areas for drunk fans to sober up, with tournament chief Al Khater saying the move was to make sure fans were safe and not harmful to others or themselves.

But FIFA said on November 18 that alcoholic beer would not be sold at sta diums, a last-minute reversal that raised questions among some supporters about Qatar's ability to deliver on promises made to fans.

OPENING CEREMONY

* The opening ceremony of the World Cup will take place on tomorrow morning (NZT), ahead of the opening Group A match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador.

* The opening ceremony will be held at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium, located 40km north of Doha.

* Named and designed after the tents used by nomads in the Gulf, the Al Bayt Stadium is the farthest venue from central Doha but also one of the biggest and has a retractable roof.

* FIFA is yet to announce a full list of performers for the 2022 World Cup opening ceremony.

* South Korea's BTS said Jungkook, one of seven members of the boy band, will perform at the ceremony.

* Other names reported to be in volved in the opening ceremony include Colombian pop star Shakira, who sang the 2010 World Cup's official song, the Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams and Nora Fatehi, according to The Telegraph.

* British singer Dua Lipa denied a report that she was set to perform at the ceremony. Some Spanish media reports said Shakira would also not perform.

* Singer Rod Stewart told The Times he had turned down an offer of "over $1 million" to perform in Qatar.

Players’ remuneration, prize money for One Guyana President’s Cup football announced

From page 32

ward and represent their community thus increasing their chanc es of making the final regional squad.

“The One Guyana President’s Cup has opened up a new fron tier in community foot ball. We are already seeing quality young players who were not part of the established football grid,” Forde said.

With the unprec edented investment from Government in the tournament, the Head-of-State is call ing on the most import ant assets to his master plan – the players – to be fully committed.

With several enti ties known for support ing football, particu larly during the festive season, President Ali is hoping to bring all of corporate Guyana under one umbrella for the President’s Cup.

He further stated,

“This doesn’t take away the community football and the small goal football. That is an important part of community life and building up capacity.

“But, here is where you have a serious na tional tournament that is geared at identify ing a pool of national players that will go into an academy, that will have a three-year engagement to ensure that they’re doing the right thing, that they are disciplined; that they’re practising and having the right nu trition and they are having an opportunity to have a future after football.”

President Ali, be fore the kick-off of the tournament on Novem ber 12, said the idea is to use the ‘Beautiful Game’ as part of his Government’s plan to integrate sports into national life.

President Ali said

the first-of-its-kind programme gives the Government of Guy ana “an excellent plat form which we can reach communities. We can reach disad vantaged people. We can reach young peo ple. And football is an important sport for Guyana.

“I’ve been around football, I’ve looked at football, and I think we have the capabilities and capacity to get to the World Cup. We will be using this brand to project football in a very positive direction, to launch a regional competition,”

President Ali also believes that football has an opportunity to bring people together, adding that "this is why, in conceptualising this tournament, I asked the guys to look at how we can bring every region on board, so it goes beyond clubs”.

Sport Director spearheads clean-up of West Ruimveldt

DIRECTOR of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, yesterday organisaed and spearheaded a clean-up drive in West Ruimveldt.

The clean-up drive targeted the Shopper's Lane area and included weeding and grading of the playfield and the removal of debris from the roadside and drains.

The exercise follows on the heels of His Excellency, President Irfaan Ali's launching of Operation Clean Up, which is aimed at restoring the Capital City to it rightful name of ‘Garden City’.

Following the clean-up exercise, football and cricket competitions were down to be held at the same playfield which was cut and graded as part of yesterday’s clean-up programme.

Ninvalle said he was heartened by the response from the resi dents and the enthusiasm shown by the young people in the area, and promised to continue such exercises in the surrounding communities.

… The moment of truth for Qatar's ability to organise the World Cup after years of failed overtures and criticism over labour rights and strict laws has come!

Neymar, one of Brazil's stars, during the International Friendly between Brazil and Ghana in September. (Photo: Matthieu Mirville )

Aussies clinch ODI series after crucial Starc, Zampa bursts

AUSTRALIA have clinched the Dettol ODI series over England after Mitchell Starc sensation ally struck twice in the opening over of the chase.

James Vince and Sam Billings' 122-run stand threatened to turn the game back in England's favour but Australia, through Starc and Adam Zampa, held their nerve to seal a 72-run win in Sydney.

Chasing 281 for victory, England's pursuit was in tatters before the first over was complete.

Starc removed opener Jason Roy and Game One centurion Dawid Malan for ducks to enhance his reputation as the greatest new-ball bowler in one-day cricket.

While he was fortunate with a leg-side ball that caught the glove of Roy, describing his delivery to Malan as 'unplayable' would not be an overstate ment.

Both sides featured debutant captains, with Josh Hazlewood and Moeen Ali replacing the rested regulars of Pat Cummins and Jos Buttler.

Despite Starc's roaring beginning, Hazlewood's first two overs at the oppo site end cost him 21 runs.

But the latest Aussie leader kept himself on and bowled the attacking Phil Salt (23 off 16) with the first ball of his third over

to leave the tourists reeling at 34-3.

From there, Vince (60 off 72 balls) and Billings (71 off 80 balls) built a partnership that put the visitors into the ascendancy with excellent shot place ment and running between wickets.

At that stage England needed 126 off 138 with seven wickets in hand and the game was on their terms.

The turning point of the match came when Aus tralia's 28th men's ODI captain, Hazlewood, rein troduced himself in the 28th over and snared the wicket of Vince lbw five balls later.

It sparked a collapse of 4-13 in three overs, with Adam Zampa ripping through the middle order with three wickets for no runs in the space of nine balls.

The leg-spinner re sponded to a massive six from Moeen (10 off four) by bowling him with a quicker delivery the fol lowing ball before cleaning up Billings with a flatter, fuller delivery.

Zampa (4-45) is enjoy ing a stellar run in the for mat, claiming a minimum of three wickets in five of his eight matches since the August series against Zim babwe.

England couldn't re cover despite a late cameo from Liam Dawson (20)

and were bowled out having lost their last seven wickets for just 52 runs.

Starc finished with fig ures of 4-47 from eight overs – his best return in an ODI in Australia since he took 6-43 against India in 2015 – as Australia took an unassailable 2-0 lead heading into the third and final ODI at the MCG on Tuesday.

Australia's innings of 280-8 was set up by another Sydney special from Steve Smith, who finished on a stylish 94 from 114 balls.

Smith narrowly missed what would have been a third-consecutive ODI cen tury at the SCG following his back-to-back rapid tons against India almost exactly two years ago.

It takes his ODI average this calendar year to an extraordinary 74.00 (the best year of his career in the format) and his one-day average at the ground to an equally sublime 62.86.

While Smith effortless ly glided to yet another half-century without offer ing a genuine chance, the master batter explained to Foxtel that condi tions weren't exactly bat ter-friendly.

"It felt quite difficult out there. It was reverse-swing ing after about 25 overs or thereabouts," Smith said at the innings break.

"It was quite two-paced and spin was a bit holdy, a bit stoppy, and then one would skid (on).

The prolific right

hander, who hit five fours and a six in his innings, arrived at the crease in the sixth over after stand-in skipper Moeen surprised everyone with the wicket of David Warner (16) after bringing himself into the attack after just five overs.

It marked the first of 20 straight overs of spin from the Paddington End of the ground as the short er boundary towards the Members' and Ladies' Stands was protected at all costs.

Travis Head was unable to back up his 69 in Ade laide, miscuing a pull shot off Woakes for 19.

That wicket brought Smith together with Marnus Labuschagne and the pair's partnership, much like their

well-publicised friendship, blossomed from the outset with the latter coming out in an aggressive frame of mind.

Labuschagne has had a difficult 2022 in the 50-over format, averaging 22.08 in the year to date, but set the tone with a crisp six off Moeen with the second ball he faced after coming down the wicket

Smith and Labuschagne compiled a century stand, their fourth in ODIs to go with their seven in the Test arena.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid was on a hat-trick after Labuschagne (58 off 55 balls) and Alex Carey (firstball duck) both fell after attempting sweep shots - Labuschagne caught at mid-off and Carey stumped.

Rashid (3-57) also end ed Smith's innings just as the local boy was looking to up the ante.

The crafty leggie, who hadn't found too much turn during his spell, pulled his pace back to 70.4kph to which the advancing Smith couldn't clear Phil Salt on the long-off boundary.

Mitch Marsh (return ing to the XI in place of Cameron Green) hit some telling blows on his way to an even 50 and some lusty hitting from Ashton Agar (18 not out off 12) saw the Aussies climb up to 280-8 from their 50 overs.

(Cricket.com.au)

Schedule announced for Australia Women’s tour of India

AUSTRALIAN Women are set to tour India for a five-match T20I series in December.

All five matches of the T20I series will be held in Mumbai with the first two matches at the D.Y. Patil Stadium and the subsequent three at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) Stadium.

Australia could be with out their regular captain Meg Lanning, who is currently on an indefinite break from

cricket to focus on her men tal health after their Com monwealth Games triumph. It was also the last time the two teams met where India fell short by just nine runs in a thrilling final.

The series could be cru cial to both sides in the preparation for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa which is now less than three months away. Both the teams are in oppo site groups. India will be up

against England, Ireland, Pakistan and West Indies in Group B while Australia are pitted with Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group A.

India will be hoping to build on the momentum from the Women's Asia Cup triumph and carry it to the marquee event in South Africa in February 2023.

Australia, on the other hand, are defending champions and will be looking to win

the coveted trophy for the sixth time in the history of the competition.

SCHEDULE:

First T20I: December 9, D.Y. Patil Stadium

Second T20I: December 11, D.Y. Patil Stadium

Third T20I: December 14, CCI

Fourth T20I: December 17, CCI

Fifth T20I: December 20, CCI.

England appeared on track for victory at the SCG before losing 7-52, as Josh Hazlewood sealed victory in his captaincy debut for Australia

Australia Women could be without regular captain Meg Lanning

Curry scores 24 as Golden State Warriors beat New York Knicks

Djokovic beats Taylor Fritz to reach ATP final

STEPHEN Curry scored 24 points as Golden State Warriors continued their fine form at home with a 111-101 victory over New York Knicks on Friday.

Curry completed a dou ble-double and a gamehigh 10 assists, while Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins each scored 20. Draymond Green also

contributed 10 points nine rebounds and seven assists. The Warriors have a 7-1 home record but are winless in eight on the road.

Elsewhere on Friday, Boston Celtics extended their winning run to nine with a 117-109 victory over New Orleans Peli cans, with Jaylen Brown

and Jayson Tatum both scoring double-doubles.

In Dallas Mavericks' 127-99 win against the Denver Nuggets, guard Luka Doncic recorded his 50th career triple-double in his 279th game.

Doncic becomes just the 10th NBA player to reach 50 triple-doubles and he is the second youngest

(23 years 263 days) and second fastest (278 games) to reach the milestone be hind Oscar Robertson (23 years 42 days; 111 games).

Los Angeles Lakers secured just their fourth win of the season as An thony Davis scored 38 points in a 128-121 home victory over Detroit Pis tons. (BBC Sport)

Windies batters miss out in tour match

WEST Indies bat ters missed a chance to find their groove on Australian pitches before their tour game against a NSW/ ACT XI was declared a draw.

The visitors were 114-4 in their second innings yesterday at Manuka Oval when play was called off, the hosts having de

clared earlier in the day on a mammoth 426-4.

Opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the son of Windies great Shivnarine Chander paul, made just four after not batting in West Indies' first in nings effort of 424-9 declared.

Jermaine Black wood, who retired on

42 in the first innings, made just one.

West Indies were 77-4 before Roston Chase (31 n.o.) and Joshua Da Silva (12 n.o.) ensured no fur ther damage was done.

Earlier Blake Mac Donald finished un beaten on 177 after No.3 Oliver Davies had smashed 115 off just 106 balls on Fri

day in a wake-up call for the West Indies attack.

The tourists will play a four-day twi light fixture against a strong Prime Minister's XI from Wednesday before their NRMA Test se ries against Australia in Perth and Ade laide. (AAP)

The Serb was made to work by the 25-year-old Califor nian, with both sets going to a tie break.

But Djokovic, 35, edged it both times, winning 7-6(7-5), 7-6(8-6), and now will face either Casper Ruud or Andrey Rublev in today’s final.

"I had to fight to survive," said Djokovic.

"I knew coming into today's match from yesterday's gru elling battle against (Daniil) Medvedev I knew it would take me some time to adjust and find the dynamic movement I need against Fritz, who is one of the best servers on the Tour.

"I am very pleased to have overcome this one as I don't think it was one of my best days with my tennis, but I man aged to hang in there."

Despite not winning the end-of-season showpiece for seven years, five-time champion Djokovic is now only one match away from equalling Roger Federer's record of six titles.

BRITAIN'S SALISBURY REACHES DOUBLES FINAL

Joe Salisbury will also be part of today’s finals day lineup after the Briton and his American partner, Rajeev Ram, beat top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 7-6(9-7), 6-4 in the first doubles semi-final.

It means Salisbury and Ram remain undefeated in Turin after also winning all three matches in the round-robin stage.

However, fellow Briton Skupski and his Dutch partner Koolhof - who also lost to Salisbury and Ram in the US Open final this year - will remain the number one doubles pairing in the world this year after wining seven tour-level trophies in 2022.

Another Briton, Lloyd Glasspool, missed the chance to go up against his compatriot in today's doubles final as he and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara were beaten in the second semi-final.

They lost 6-4, 6-7(4-7), 10-6, to Croatian pairing Ni kola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who will now face Salisbury and Ram.

NOVAK Djokovic is one step away from his first ATP Finals crown since 2015, after defeating Taylor Fritz in straight sets in Turin.

Stephen Curry is an eight-time NBA All Star

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning his semi-final match at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, yesterday against Taylor Fritz of the U.S. (REUTERS/ Guglielmo Mangiapane)

Guyana’s exclusive dealer for grand power line firearms supports GSSF

SLOVAKIAN manufacturer, producer and exporter to more than 60 countries world wide, recently expand ed its Grand Power Line Firearms now officially in Guyana, with El Dorado Secu rity Service of Lot 136 Young Street, Kings ton, Georgetown be ing given the exclusive dealership.

The X-Calibur is the top of the line “sport” pistol aimed at the IPSC/ USPSA and general practical shooter. Like many of the guns for this market, it’s a DA/SA full-frame 5″ slide 9mm with a 15+1 capacity. It looks and feels like many of the High Pow er/CZ-75 guns currently vying for the compet

itors’ trophies at sport shooting events.

In this regard, El Do rado Security Service came on board as an official sponsor of the Guyana Sport Shooting Foundation’s (GSSF) upcoming final compe tition for 2022. During a simple ceremony held at the headquarters of El Dorado security service, in Young Street, Kings ton, Secretary of the GSSF Ms Vidushi Per saud-McKinnon, in ac cepting the sponsorship, conveyed thanks to both Mr Tamesh Jagmohan and the .management of El Dorado Security Service and expressed her congratulations on the dealership and the CEO’s usual unhesitat ing support as Mr Jag

mohan continues to give towards building Sport Shooting in Guyana.

The upcoming Prac tical Shooting Match will feature four excit ing stages to challenge local handgun Practical Shooters. Their knowl edge of firearm safety will be foremost while competitors’ skills of marksmanship and handgun reliability will be put to the test in the fast-paced run-and-gunshooting for which the sport of practical shoot ing is well known.

In this regard, the Grand Power’s X-Cal ibur’s 1mm wide fibre optic front sight and adjustable rear sight and long sight radius ((over 8-1/2 inches) are ideal for accuracy-minded

shooters. Left-handed shooters are particular ly delighted since the X-Calibur’s safety, mag azine release and slide lock are on both sides of the pistol.

A fun fact is that the older K100 pistol by Grand Power was im ported by STI in Texas, with STI branding on it. STI is the maker of the familiar 2011 race guns and the heritage of that manufacturing is present in the X-Cal ibur as well. Remem ber: this is a ‘race’ gun, not an everyday carry gun. As such, it is much anticipated to see the firearm in the hands of local sport-shooters.

In-form Smith 'chilled' about Australia captaincy

STEVE Smith says he is "chilled" about the Australia captaincy after Josh Hazlewood stepped in for Pat Cummins for the second one-day inter national.

Smith's classy 94 against England helped Australia complete a 2-0 series win, with Cummins rested in Sydney.

The batter was relieved of the captaincy after the ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in 2018.

"I'm not sure if there was a conversation. I just do what I'm told," Smith said.

"I was vice-captain for this game, and helped out where I could. They're looking to build some new leaders, some younger leaders. I'm pretty chilled, I'll just do my thing."

Smith captained the Test side against England

at Adelaide during the 2021 Ashes series, when Cum mins missed out because he was deemed a close contact of someone with COVID-19.

Questions over whether he will lead the side again remain because of the con troversy, with suggestions that going back to Smith would be a step back for

Australia, but former bowl er Stuart Clark says he is now more suited to playing solely as a batter.

"If they want him to be captain, he will, and if they don't, he won't.

"He is happy to help out when he can, but he doesn't have those ambitions to be charging in with it any more," said Clark.

"He has got a bit older, he's married, and he's prob ably closer to the end of his career than the start. He's still got a long way to go as far as cricket goes, but he was captain for a long time."

There have also been ominous signs for England and other nations regarding Smith's form during the series, as he has scored 174 runs across two innings and has only been dismissed once.

He described himself as a "work in progress" over the past year, having batted well without quite reaching the giddy heights of the 2017-18 winter, when he scored 687 runs during Australia's crushing of En gland - before missing a year of international cricket because of the ball-tam pering.

"It's my movement, my hands, the time I feel like

I've got and just where I'm hitting the ball. I feel like I'm in a good place," said Smith.

It is a statement that will delight Australia fans before the Test series against West Indies and South Africa, followed by the Ashes in the UK next summer.

"He held Australia to gether today and that's what we know him for," said Clark.

"He is starting to look like the 2018 Ashes version of himself again. He's changed his tech nique, his feet, his hands. It just looks easy for him now."

(BBC Sport)

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER

(Sunday November 20, 2022)

CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL COMPANY LTD -83 Garnett Street, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158)

Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) Curtly Ambrose-7/25 (Perth, 1992-93)

(2) Graham McKenzie-8/71 (Melbourne, 1968-69)

Today’s Quiz:

(1) What are the best match figures by a WI bowler in a Test against AUST to date?

(2) What are the best match figures by an Australian bowler in a Test against the WI to date?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

Mrs Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon (left), GSSF Secretary receives sponsorship funds from Mr Alvin Holladar, Chief Security Officer of El Dorado Security Service

Steve Smith last captained Australia at Adelaide during the Ashes in 2021

FIFA president Gianni Infantino accuses West of 'hypocrisy'

By Shamoon Hafez & Emma Sanders

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has accused the West of "hypocrisy" in its reporting about Qatar's human rights record on the eve of the World Cup.

In an extraordinary mono logue at a news conference in Doha, Infantino spoke for nearly an hour and made a passionate defence of Qatar and the tour nament.

The event has been over shadowed by issues in Qatar including deaths of migrant workers and treatment of LGBT people.

Switzerland-born Infanti no said that European nations should apologise for acts com mitted in their own histories, rather than focusing on migrant workers' issues in Qatar.

Infantino opened by saying: "Today I have strong feelings. Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel dis abled, I feel a migrant worker."

Hosts Qatar will kick off the tournament against Ecua dor at Al Bayt Stadium today (16:00hrs GMT).

In February 2021, the Guardian said 6 500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lan ka had died in Qatar since the country won the World Cup bid.

The number is based on fig ures provided by the countries' embassies in Qatar.

However, the Qatar gov ernment said the total was mis

leading, because not all the deaths recorded were of people working on World Cup-related projects.

The government said its accident records showed there were 37 deaths among labourers at World Cup stadium construc tion sites between 2014 and 2020, only three of which were "work-related".

However, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says this is an underestimate.

Infantino said: "We have been taught many lessons from Europeans and the Western world. I am European. For what we have been doing for 3 000 years around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3 000 years before giving moral lessons.

"If Europe really care about the destiny of these people, they can create legal channels - like Qatar did - where a number of these workers can come to Eu rope to work. Give them some future, some hope.

"I have difficulties under standing the criticism. We have to invest in helping these people, in education and to give them a better future and more hope. We should all educate ourselves, many things are not perfect but reform and change takes time.

"This one-sided moral les son is just hypocrisy. I wonder why no-one recognises the prog ress made here since 2016.

"It is not easy to take the critics of a decision that was made 12 years ago. Qatar is ready, it will be the best World Cup ever.

"I don't have to defend Qa tar, they can defend themselves. I defend football. Qatar has made progress and I feel many other things as well.

"Of course I am not Qatari, Arab, African, gay, disabled or a migrant worker. But I feel like them because I know what it means to be discriminated and bullied as a foreigner in a foreign country.

"As a child I was bullied be

cause I had red hair and freckles. I was bullied for that."

England defender Eric Dier said of the criticism: "The World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010 and I was 16 at the time. We as players have no decision on where we play, those decision are made above us.

"It's a difficult situation for us. Every team and player will face it through the tournament. It's disappointing."

Qatar boss Felix Sanchez added: "A lot has been said about this, some misinformation and some of the comments were not completely fair. The loss of human life during working hours is the greatest tragedy, whether here in Qatar or anywhere in the world.

"Let's hope at this World Cup we can all together work to benefit the conditions for these groups, not just in Qatar but everywhere in the world."

Qatar has been under pres sure to build a migrant workers' centre and Infantino announced a "dedicated and permanent of fice" in Doha, following discus sions with the Qatar government and the ILO.

He also said every worker that has an accident "receives compensation by law".

"Depending on the magni tude, it can be several years of salary," he added.

Infantino also said FIFA'S Qatar 2022 legacy fund will go into education, signing an agreement that will help 25 million children and women in India. (BBC Sport)

U.S. lose top FIBA rankings after 12 years as Spain take over

(REUTERS) - The United States men's basketball team have been knocked off the top of the International Bas ketball Federa tion (FIBA) world rankings for the first time in over 12 years, with Spain taking over.

Spain, who have enjoyed success in recent years includ ing winning the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and FIBA EuroBasket 2022,

lead the November table ahead of the U.S.

"It's not exactly a new title and it prob ably can't be main

tained for too long, but it's something so unique, prestigious and historic that I feel tremendously proud of everyone who ... has contributed to it," Spain coach Sergio Scariolo tweeted.

Spain top the rankings with 758.6 points followed by the U.S. with 757.5 points. Australia are third on 740.3 points.

The U.S. team had led the rankings since 2010.

The sponsorship was obtained from Professional En gineering and Construction Services along with Charlyn Artigua and Associates Law Office.

BCB president Hilbert Foster stated that the sponsor ship was presented by Nolan France, an engineer who was born in the riverine area and wanted to contribute to the development of the game. Foster expressed delight at the sponsorship, stating that the BCB has now obtained spon sorship for two tournaments in the space of one month for the remote area.

The first one was for the Dave West Indian Imports 40 overs tournament and now the 20/20. The tournament is sponsored in memory of the late James France, the father of Nolan France.

The late James France was an outstanding educator in the riverine area and was also active in sports. The tournament would be organised by the Berbice River Cricket Association and Floyd Benjamin, a cricket coach attached to the BCB. Among the teams expected to play are Kimbia, Wiruni, Ebini and Sand Hills.

After the round-robin matches, the two top teams will travel to Albion cricket ground to play the final under lights. The winning team, the runner-up and man-of-thefinal would receive financial prizes and/or trophies.

Mr France who is the owner of Professional Engi neering and Construction Services stated that he was very impressed with the work of Berbice cricket and wanted to play a role in the development of the game in the area where he was born and attended primary school.

He noted that now that he has become a very success ful professional engineer, he wanted to give other youths in the area an opportunity to fulfil their potential on the cricket field.

He stated that his father played a very important role in his educational career and the cricket tournament would be a fitting tribute to him. Mr France also announced that the tournament would be an annual event.

THE Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) as part of its effort to develop cricket in every area in the Ancient County has attracted sponsorship to host a 20/20 tournament for teams in the Berbice riverine communities.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino

Ricky Rubio of Spain in action at the rim with Edrice Adebayo of the United States Tokyo 2020 Olympics Basketball, Men’s Quarterfinal v United States at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan, August 3, 2021 (Pool via REUTERS/Charlie)

BCB obtains sponsorship for ‘Sir’ James France Memorial round-robin tournament for Berbice River sub-associations

Legal Clerk Devya Roopnarine hands over sponsorship to BCB secretary Angela Haniff in the presence of Hilbert Foster and Nolan France

Players’ remuneration, prize money for One Guyana President’s Cup football announced

Enterprise win Courts Pee Wee title

Story on page 27

THE One Guyana President’s Cup foot ball tournament will see, for the first time, players handsomely rewarded for each match played at the Regional stage.

Following the conclusion of the In ter-Ward fraction of the tournament, play ers will be selected for their respective Region al teams.

Apart from the $2M up for grabs for the win ner, each player will pocket $80 000 per match. Team captain will receive $100 000. The head coach of each team will collect $100 000, while members of

his coaching staff are to receive $80 000.

Teams advanc ing to the quarter-fi nals will pocket $200 000, and semi-finalists will collect $400 000. Second-place teams will collect $1M and third-placers $500 000.

For the current In ter-Ward stage, cash prizes are awarded to the respective winners.

President of the Guy ana Football Federation (GFF), Wayne Forde, highlighted, “With the huge committed incen tives being offered by President Ali, I would like to encourage more young men to step for

Continued on page 27

Sport Director spearheads clean-up of West Ruimveldt

FIFA president Gianni Infantino accuses West of 'hypocrisy'

ENTERPRISE Primary are the new champions of the 2022 COURTS Pee Wee football tourna ment following the final yesterday at the Ministry of Education ground, Carifesa Avenue. The East Coast side emerged winners after a 2-1 scoreline following a tense encounter against St Pius Primary.

See details in tomorrow's edition.

Part of the action in the Inter-Ward stage of the One Guyana President’s Cup Football Tournament

Enterprise are winners of Courts Pee Wee football tournament

Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle (left), with youths and other residents of the West Ruimveldt area during yesterday’s clean-up exercise