Guyana_Chronicle_Epaper_17_05_2020

17th May, 2020

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‘We’ve got

No.106002

SEE STORy PAGE 03

the evidence’

... APNU+AFC tells GECOM, as it maintains that persons voted on behalf of the dead …Commissioner Trotman to lobby full Commission to investigate grave irregularities Recount exposes PPP/C’s attempts at gerrymandering PAGE

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…AG says PAGE

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One new COVID-19 case recorded ----Two persons in ICU, 64 in isolation

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18 APNU+AFC high-level delegation that met with GECOM on Saturday included: Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Joseph Harmon and Attorney, Roysdale Forde (Delano Williams photo)

Cops break up illegal protest

by PPP/C

…former MPs ignore social distancing guidelines

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Recount exposes PPP/C's attempts at gerrymandering …AG says

By Gabriella Chapman THE Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams SC, has said that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) gerrymandered the March 2 elections, and given the purpose and what the national recount process entails, all the unscrupulous acts of the opposition will be revealed.

Speaking with the media on Saturday, Williams said that he is in receipt of information based on numerous acts of skullduggery committed by the opposition, and as time goes on, “these things will be revealed and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will have to make a decision on what to do with the information.”

“What is clear on the outset of this recount is the

discrepancies, the clear attempts on the part of the opposition, at gerrymandering the elections, and at the end of the process, these decisions will have to be addressed by GECOM,” Williams, a senior counsel, said.

Williams also reiterated the stance of several other ministers who remarked on previous days, that this recount system is not just simply counting the ballots.

“This system is run in which you look at poll books, you look to see how many people GECOM fixed to vote at a polling station, and how many voted. It’s a system in which you have to look at the discrepancies which occurred. It’s a holistic approach that they have. If you have 188 persons fixed by GECOM to vote at a polling station, and 259 voted, what do you do? So you can’t

just count the ballots. What you do you do with excess voting,” AG posited.

In fact, he said the example given is a true scenario.

“We certainly have cases like that. I know of a case in Mahaica, where 188 people slated to vote and 259 voted.

We have situations where our votes have gone to other parties. We have situations where our votes have been given to ANUG, 338 or so.

A presiding officer posted results, and posted that we had no votes and we had 277. So these things will come up,” he disclosed.

Stating further, that this was discovered from the copies of the Statements of Poll (SOP) that their party is in receipt of, Williams said that the only SOPs relevant under elections laws are the ones GECOM has, and that is the reason his party has not released their SOPs. Giving more grounds to substantiate his case of gerrymandering, AG cited an encounter he witnessed

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams SC

during the declaration of Region Four results. “There was a situation, I was there at GECOM’s office in Ashmin’s building because as the East Coast chairman, I had to go there for the ascertaining of the votes by the Region Four returning officer. They told us that we were entitled to three persons at our table, we started and about half hour later, there was an invasion by members of the opposition, including the opposition leader. And so I got up and I indicated to them that they were only allowed three persons, I made that protest and they left. But I subsequently left the room, only to see a reinvasion. No one has to tell me, I was there. The observers that were there, of course never raised any complaints about the behaviour of the PPP and they (the opposition) largely contributed to the reason why the declaration of Region Four votes were not completed, so to speak,” he said.

The non-completion of the count had resulted in the opposition going to the court and the Chief Justice had said as the count was not completed, Region Four’s Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, should go back and complete it.

“And he (Mingo) could use his own procedure, he could determine whether

he would restart the entire count or continue from where he left off. And that’s a problem we have. People have short memories, or they play like they forget.

And Mr. Mingo went back, and he did because the court gave him the discretion to determine how he will continue the ascertainment of the votes. And then they (the PPP) went with a contempt motion as to suggest that he was breaching the order…

It eventuated into a situation wherein the contempt motion was not heard, and Mr. Mingo completed his ascertainment of the votes, in accordance with section 84 of the Representation of the People’s Act and he made his declaration. And that declaration was submitted to the Chief Elections Officer, and he has it. So that second declaration of RO was never challenged.

That second declaration was never challenged, never set aside by any court. So it is valid and subsisting, all ten are valid and subsisting.

And under our law, the only way they could be rendered nugatory is by the decision of an elections petition. So it comes to the question, what is the status, purpose of the national recount and how does that eventuate… Only an election petition can say that the declarations are not legitimate,” Williams said.

GECOM TO DECIDE As such, he opined that after the recount process, “We will be at a stage where the Chief Elections Officer has to take the 10 declarations to a duly constituted meeting of GECOM, and GECOM at that stage, will be armed with the national recount and the declarations and they will make their decision in accordance with the next steps of the system that is there to complete the elections.”

He made clear that GECOM has to work within the framework of the electoral laws of Guyana. Therefore, the powers the commission has Under Section 22 of those laws allow them to solve prospective problems that would occur but cannot erase or act retrospectively to reverse concluded decisions made during the process of the elections.

“The recount process is not taking place under the Representation of the People's Act. It is being conducted due to an agreement with the President, Opposition and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), AG Williams reminded. The opposition, he said, recognises that the results previously announced are legitimate, hence their efforts to discredit them. He, however, pointed out that only an election petition can discredit those declarations.

"The law remains the law, so, at the end of the day, the law will determine what happens. As I said, the electoral laws state that 10 legitimate declarations have been made, they have been laid over to the CEO [Chief Elections Officer].

The national recount falls under a constitutional provision and the purpose that it is serving is to examine what happened on that day." AG Williams noted that notwithstanding the anomalies that are uncovered or which party it affects, the recount only impacts the issue of credibility of the elections. “And thus far, the recount has shown an attempt by the opposition to gerrymander the elections.”

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

‘We’ve got the evidence’

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... APNU+AFC tells GECOM as it maintains that persons voted on behalf of the dead …Commissioner Trotman to lobby full commission to investigate grave irregularities

By Svetlana Marshall IN a high-level meeting with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Saturday the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) said it has all the necessary evidence to support allegations that unscrupulous people voted not only on behalf of the dead, but also for Guyanese residing overseas.

Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman strongly believes that these allegations should be investigated by the commission before the conclusion of the national recount. The high-level APNU+AFC delegation included Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence; Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Joseph Harmon; and APNU+AFC candidate and Attorney-at-Law, Roysdale Forde.

SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE Moments after exiting the meeting, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the site for the national recount, Minister Ally told reporters that the coalition had informed the commission that it has substantial evidence to back its claims that persons voted for the dead and also for Guyanese who have long left these shores.

“I must tell you that we have been able to tender a number of death certificates for such an anomaly,” Minister Ally told reporters, but fell short of disclosing how many death certificates the APNU+AFC has submitted to GECOM since commencement of the recount of votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE In shutting down reports that the APNU+AFC was abusing its powers in office to access people’s death certificates and immigration records, the Social Protection

Minister, who is also the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) general secretary, said access to such documents is not rocket science. “Anybody could access a death certificate,” she said, while pointing out that death certificates can be secured from the General Register Office (GRO) at a cost of GUY$300.

Further to that, Minister Ally said that APNU+AFC did its homework heading into the 2020 General and Regional Elections. “We have done quite a lot of work in every nook and cranny of this country, and so we are

there were no records, and we are contending that that might very well be a fake box,” Ally posited.

Minister Ally, while noting that the coalition sought clarity on how the elections commission would be treating with the Observation Reports, said no commitment was given during Saturday’s meeting, but it is the APNU+AFC’s expectation that

forthcoming. Absolutely nothing has been forthcoming from that particular stake-

Gunraj, Trotman said anomalies with merit ought to be investigated.

Statements of Poll. We are not dealing with Statements of Poll,” Minister Ally said in

Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally addresses the press in the presence of the Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence and APNU+AFC candidate and Attorney-at-Law, Roysdale Forde.

Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman

aware of all those people who departed these shores, and did not come back. We also know who are the dead, and who were not in the country and they voted,” Minister Ally maintained.

IRREGULARITIES Ally said to verify the information and documents tendered thus far, the elections commission could request information from the General Register Office and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Support Services.

But aside from “ghost voters,” the Social Protection Minister said other anomalies have been unearthed since the national recount commenced on May 6. These are the unsigned Affidavits or Oaths of Identities, missing poll books, and ballot boxes with no records only ballots alleged to have been cast.

“There was a case in which only the ballots came and

the issue at hand will be frontally addressed.

MATTERS FOR ELECTIONS PETITION However, PPP/C-nominated Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj, while confirming that the APNU+AFC met with the commission, contended that the allegations being raised by the coalition ought not to be addressed during this recount. According to him, the issues raised

by APNU+AFC are matters for the court by way of an Elections Petition.

“The court is the legal authority with the ability and wherewithal to enquire into that. I respectfully submit that is not GECOM that has that responsibility. GECOM does not have that responsibility,” Gunraj maintained.

Gunraj told reporters that no supporting evidence was tendered to the commission or the GECOM Secretariat by the APNU+AFC since the recount started. “You are hearing about a plethora or countless irregularities, but as we speak nothing has been

holder in support of the allegations that are being raised,” Gunraj contended. According to him, on two occasions the APNU+AFC attempted to submit documents, but those were rejected at the level of the workstations.

The PPP/C executive member, in a separate interview, had echoed those sentiments, emphasising that the allegations levelled by the APNU+AFC are matters to be addressed via an Elections Petition, and not during the national recount.

ANOMALIES SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED But APNU+AFC appointed Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman, in a separate interview, told reporters that the APNU+AFC, in some cases, have submitted documents such as death certificates and immigration records to support their claims.

“I understand that the APNU+AFC did provide a few death certificates,” Trotman said, noting that in time to come, the coalition may be called upon to provide further evidence to the commission.

Trotman said that based on his understanding, the GECOM Secretariat, upon completion of the recount, will summarise the observations recorded throughout the exercise and submit a report to the commission. Unlike

“The commission will have to investigate these allegations before the process ends because this process is not merely about a recount.

It is intended also to find out if the elections itself were credible, and so you have to take all of those factors into consideration to make a determination about credibility,” Trotman told reporters.

However, while clarifying that while the commission has not decided on how it will treat with the Observation Reports, Trotman made it known that he will lobby for allegations with merit to be investigated.

“If it is that you are talking about credibility, if you want to ascertain if the elections were credible, once you have information supported by proof that something went on, that shouldn’t have taken place, you have to look at it,” he submitted.

WE HAVE GONE PAST SOPS Meanwhile, on the issue of Statements of Poll (SOPs), Minister Ally contended that such documents are irrelevant to the ongoing national recount, and as such the coalition will not be releasing its SOPs-- at least not at this stage.

“The coalition is not a bedmate of Bruce Golding, and we don’t go hunting with him. We have gone past

response to a question posed on whether APNU+AFC is prepared to make public the SOPs in its possession.

While iterating that the issue of SOPs is water under the bridge, Minister Ally was keen on pointing out that the only SOPs that are authentic as those within the possession of GECOM. “You can have a SOP. I can have a SOP. But let me tell you, prior to the announcements of these results the PPP, they already had their results prepared and published…and they made their SOPs in accordance to what they published,” Minister Ally contended.

Head of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Electoral Mission to Guyana, Bruce Golding, in offering a recent comparative analysis between results declared by Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo, and Statements of Recount published thus far by GECOM, had reported that the numbers were inflated in favour of the ruling APNU+AFC, but Minister Ally again dismissed Golding’s contention.

In echoing a position long established by President David Granger, Minister Ally said at the end of the recount, the APNU+AFC will accept results of the elections as declared

by GECOM.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Félicien Kabuga: Rwanda genocide suspect arrested in France (BBC) Félicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, has been arrested near Paris, the French justice ministry has announced.

Mr Kabuga was detained in a dawn raid in Asnièressur-Seine, where he had been living under a false identity.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has charged the 84-year-old with genocide and crimes against humanity.

He is alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu extremists who slaughtered 800,000 people in 1994.

They were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents.

The United States had offered a $5m (£4.1m) reward for information leading to Mr Kabuga's arrest.

Who is Félicien Kabuga?

The businessman from the Hutu ethnic group is accused of being one of the main financiers of the Rwandan genocide, paying for the militias that carried out the massacres.

He also founded and funded the notorious Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), a Rwan-

dan broadcaster that actively encouraged people to search out and kill anyone who was from the Tutsi ethnic group.

The fact that he has been found on the outskirts of Paris living under a false name is surprising.

For many years, Félicien Kabuga was thought to be living in Kenya, where powerful politicians were accused of thwarting efforts to get him arrested.

More than a quarter of a century after the genocide, he will go on trial at an international court.

How was he found?

The French public prosecutor's office and the police said Mr Kabuga had been living under a false identity in a flat with the complicity of his children.

He was arrested at 05:30 (03:30 GMT) on Saturday in what the chief prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) at The Hague - which is handling outstanding war crimes cases for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia - called "a sophisticated, co-ordinated operation with simultaneous searches across a number of locations".

"The arrest of Félicien Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to

Sunday, May 17, 2020 –– 2:00hrs &13:30hrs

The United States offered a $5m reward for information leading to Félicien Kabuga's arrest

account, even 26 years after their crimes," Serge Brammertz said in a statement.

"For international justice, Kabuga's arrest demonstrates that we can succeed when we have the international community's support," he added.

Mr Brammertz expressed his appreciation to France, but said essential contributions had also been made by Rwanda, Belgium, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the US, Europol and Interpol.

Following completion of appropriate procedures under French law, Mr Kabuga is expected to be transferred to the custody of the IRMCT, where he will stand trial.

Mr Kabuga was indicted in 1997 on seven counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, persecu-

tion and extermination.

The leader of an association of genocide widows in Rwanda, Valerie Mukabayire, said every survivor was happy that he had been arrested.

There are now two people earmarked for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda who remain at large - Protais Mpiranya and Augustin Bizimana.

How did the genocide unfold?

On 6 April 1994, a plane carrying then-President Juvenal Habyarimana - a Hutu - was shot down, killing all on board. Hutu extremists blamed the Tutsi rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) - an accusation it denied.

In a well-organised campaign of slaughter, militias were given hit lists of Tutsi victims. Many were killed with machetes in acts of appalling brutality.

TURN TO PAGE

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Coronavirus: Italy to lift travel restrictions as lockdown eases (BBC) Italy's government will allow travel to and from the country from 3 June, as it moves to ease its coronavirus lockdown measures, PM Giuseppe Conte has said.

Travel between the regions - which has so far been tightly restricted will also be possible from the same day.

Mr Conte said gyms, swimming pools and sports centres would reopen on 25 May, and cinemas and theatres on 15 June.

This is a major step in the country's efforts to restart its economy after more than two months of lockdown.

Italy has one of the highest death tolls in the world, but its infection rate has fallen sharply in recent days.

Italian officials say 31,763 people have died with the virus in the country, the third highest figure behind the US and UK. It was the first country in Europe to impose nationwide restrictions when coronavirus cases began to surface in northern regions in February.

But it began to relax those measures earlier this month, when it allowed factories and parks to reopen on 4 May. The latest decree to further ease the restrictions was signed by Mr

Conte earlier on Saturday.

Some Italian regions had called for a swifter easing of restrictions, but the prime minister id they would be relaxed gradually to avoid a second wave of cases.

Shops and restaurants are also due to reopen from 18 May providing social distancing is enforced.

Catholic churches are preparing for the resumption of Mass on the same day, but there will be strict social distancing and worshippers must wear face masks. Other faiths will also be allowed to hold religious services.

Mr Conte's announcement came shortly after the country, which was once the global epicentre of the pandemic, reported a further decline in its daily death toll.

It reported more than 900 deaths on 27 March, but the authorities said there were 153 in the past 24 hours.

Earlier this week, the government approved a €55bn (£48bn; $59bn) stimulus package designed to offset the economic impact of the pandemic on businesses and families.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Three charged with possession of card skimming devices (TRINIDAD GUARDIAN) Three persons are expected to appear before a Port of Spain Magistrate on May 18th charged with possession of counterfeit cards and card-making equipment.

Trivan Guytan, 30, Karishma Mohammed 25, and Luann Boyce, 47, all of La Pastora, Santa Cruz, are each charged with one count of possession of card-making

equipment and two counts of possession of a counterfeit card, while Guytan faces an additional charge of trafficking in counterfeit cards.

According to officials, officers of the Fraud Squad’s ABM Task Force received a call for assistance from the North-Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) on May 12th and proceeded to Santa Cruz.

There, they met with NEDTF

officers who showed them several items appearing to be card skimming devices which were found in the home of a male suspect.

Further searches resulted in more cards and equipment being discovered inside a black KIA Sportage motor vehicle which was parked on the premises.

The officers seized all the equipment and cards. They arrested three suspects who were

on the property at the time of the search. A quantity of cash was also seized and handed over to officers of the Financial Intelligence Bureau for further investigations. Following ex-

tensive enquiries, Cpl (Ag.) Nowbutt of the ABM Task Force charged Guytan, Mohammed and Boyce, in connection with the offences on Friday May 15th 2020.

Mitchell's supporters challenge Manning's Sando East nomination

(TRNIDAD GUARDIAN) The ruling People's National Movement (PNM) national screening committee led

by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will have to decide in a couple of hours what to make of a letter signed by 13 members of the San Fernando East constituency, in which they claim that they never voted for Brian Manning and instead for the incumbent Randall Mitchell to be the party's standard-bearer for the constituency in the upcoming general election.

The letter, which the T&T Guardian has seen a copy of, was sent to the Prime Minister and copied to party chairman Colm Imbert and is the latest development in an increasingly contentious battle for nomina-

tion in the constituency once held by Manning's father, the late prime minister Patrick Manning.

According to the letter, the voting was supposed to take place between 2 and 5 pm on Friday but this was not observed as some people were invited to vote early and there are allegations of the voting process being tainted.

The letter read: "However contrary to the designated voting process, certain members of the constituency executive were apparently invited to vote early on that morning, the ballot box was then left by the election officer at the South Regional Office between the hours of 9 am and 2 pm. During this time, several members were seen going into the South Regional Office."

It added: "At 5.20 pm, the vote was tallied and the result told to us was 14 v 10 in favour of Brian Manning. This is odd to us because there were more than 10 votes cast in favour of Randall Mitchell. To make the issue very clear, we the undersigned signal to the screening committee now that we have cast our vote in favour of Randall Mitchell and recommend him to the screening committee."

Manning is trying to become the PNM standard-bearer in the upcoming general election for the constituency his father held for 44 consecutive years.

However, if his 14-10 win over Mitchell is not upheld due to the dispute by the incumbent’s camp, the PNM screening committee may likely face a scenario in which it either calls for

a fresh process to be conducted or screen both men.

Mitchell, who is the Tourism Minister and an attorney, became the San Fernando East MP after he won his seat in the last General Election. He had replaced Manning’s father after the late prime minister opted to bow out of politics following ill health. Manning subsequently died at the San Fernando General Hospital on July 2, 2016.

Under the PNM’s screening process, a minimum of one party group has to nominate a candidate. They are then screened by the constituency executive and the executive votes for the candidate of choice. If the vote is not unanimous, then all who received votes are free to go before the party’s national screening committee.

When the initial nomination for the San Fernando East constituency came in, four party groups supported Manning while Mitchell got the support of 22. But this is different from the executive voting process.

If both Manning and Mitchell face the committee today, Mitchell will face an uphill battle having not been able to command the support of the executive.

Mitchell also faces an opponent whose family name is synonymous with politics in San Fernando East and whose father never lost an election, even when the PNM was trounced in the 1986 and 2010 general elections.

Sources in San Fernando East say Manning also has the full backing of his mother Hazel,

Félicien Kabuga: Rwanda genocide ...

One of the militias was the ruling party's youth wing, the Interahamwe, which set up road blocks to find Tutsis, incited hatred via radio broadcasts and carried out house-to-

house searches.

Little was done internationally to stop the killings. The UN had forces in Rwanda but the mission was not given a mandate to act, and

so most peacekeepers pulled out.

The RPF, backed by Uganda, started gaining ground and marched on Kigali. Some two million Hutus fled, mainly to the Democratic Re-

FROM PAGE

who is expected to campaign for him if he gets the nod from the national screening committee.

His late father Patrick Manning joined the PNM as a youth and went on to become its third leader in 1986, rebuilding the PNM after the National Alliance for Reconstruction’s crushing 1986 victory. A geologist, he was T&T’s fourth and sixth prime minister over 1991/95 and 2001/2010. The longest-serving MP, Manning represented the PNM in San Fernando East for 44 years, retiring from politics in January 2015 although he’d initially indicated interest to contest the September 2015 general election.

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public of Congo.

The RPF was accused of killing thousands of Hutus as it took power, although it denied that.

Dozens of Hutus were convict-

ed for their role in the killings by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and hundreds of thousands more faced trial in community courts in Rwanda.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Guyanese are beginning to feel invaded by hostile elements SOME political scientists have long contended that elections have consequences that go far beyond the ballot. We in Guyana have known this for some time now but have found ways to contain it. However, the current elections have brought out that scenario with a vengeance. Nowhere has it been more blatant than in the manner in which the foreign observer groups and the diplomatic community have become immersed in our elections and, by extension, our national affairs. It has not reached the point where Guyanese have begun to question whether our very sovereignty is under threat.

It is globally accepted that electoral observation is a fact of life in contemporary politics. After all, we live in a globalized world that has, over the last few decades, developed formal and informal rules of in-

ternational and inter-state relation. Because of the new system of globalization, what happens within the borders of one country could have varying impacts on other countries. The current Covid-19 pandemic is a vivid example of this scenario.

There is no doubt that the world has become a smaller place where national borders do not insulate countries from the gaze of the rest of the world.

Yet, despite those changes, sovereignty still matters. The relative size of a country or its influence in the world should not be reasons to divest a sovereign state of its right to determine its own domestic affairs free from the tyranny of other more powerful countries.

Guyana is a small post-colonial country of recent vintage. It came into being as an independent nation-state with its own constitution and government fifty-four years ago and has had to ne-

gotiate the disadvantages of smallness and underdevelopment. But, at the end of the day, we have survived as a nation and in the process, we have matured enough to be able to manage our own affairs. Like other countries with a similar history, we have had our challenges, but we have survived.

It is for those reasons that the attitude of the foreign observers and sections of the diplomatic community to our recent elections is most perplexing. Guyanese are being treated to almost daily threats and directives to our government and, by extension, our people from these forces. These threats and directives pay little regard for our independent status. It is beginning to feel as if these forces believe that Guyana is a dependency or ward of theirs. It is one thing to express adherence to international electoral norms.

But it is completely out of order to tell another country

how to conduct its elections and to seek to overtly or covertly influence the outcome of elections in your host country.

It is high time that we Guyanese raise our voices against this imposition from the outside. Our country has institutions and laws that are positioned to mediate whatever difficulties we may encounter. We are not a rogue country; we are part of the family of democratic states and expect to be treated as such. When our president and other elected leaders along with our institutions are being dictated to, it strikes at the heart of our independence. We did not overcome the sting of plantation slavery and the succeeding lashes of colonialism for others to come into our home and disrespect us. We may be poor and uninfluential in world affairs, but we have dignity.

Nobody can point a finger at Guyana and charge it

with needlessly meddling in the affairs of another country. Then why must we be subjected to that deformity?

We have been trying since March 2 to work though the roadblocks that have ensued from our most recent election. Our historical circumstances have left us with many underlying problems which, from time to time, have exposed our national fragility. But we have the capacity to overcome those if we are left alone to do so.

In fact, the kind of intrusion which we have witnessed these past few weeks may in the end exacerbate those difficulties.

This publication therefore pleads with our diplomatic community and the foreign observer teams to step back from the confrontational posture they have assumed. We urge respect for our sovereignty and the dignity of our nation. Inserting yourselves in the middle of a national disagreement

and openly advocating for one side is a recipe for instability. We stop short of labelling such intervention as meddling, but a spade must be called a spade—Guyanese are beginning to feel invaded by hostile elements.

Dejected local forces have always pandered to external intervention as a form of political expediency. But external forces must muster the courage to discourage such pandering. Guyana’s respect for the sovereignty of other countries is undiluted. We ask nothing less or more from our international partners. As we prepare to observe another anniversary of our cherished independence from colonization, we want to do so in a spirit of thankfulness and selfhood.

What if Lennox Shuman’s party is a front for the PPP/C or an ally Dear Editor, I write this letter in response to one aspect of Freddie Kissoon’s column, published in the Kaiteur News May 13, 2020 edition, captioned, “ 50 shades of David Hinds”. Editor and readers, this is not an intervention in defence of David Hinds, there is no need for me to do so since he can better do that himself. My concern is Kissoon’s simplistic approach to political matters when it suits his purpose in ignoring complexities, and its subsequent negative effect on the political consciousness of the younger generation who unwittingly gets sucked into his nonsense. In his column, he questions Hinds (Rodneyite) continued support of the APNU+AFC in the 2020 election and lamented

that Hinds did not do as he did vote for one of the small parties.

To emphasize the importance of the issue of complexity in political life and to give context to this polemic, I posed this observation for readers and Kissoon to ponder.

The late Presidents Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan, for the greater part of their long political life, were renowned socialists/communists, anti-imperialists and opposed to the US global and regional hegemony. And for decades they had the privilege of accessing the best medical services in the USSR/ Russia, Eastern European Communist countries, and Cuba free of cost.

When Dr Jagan came to power in 1992, these options were available to him and his party. Despite their historic political alliance with the communist countries, the Jagans

sought the medical services of the US government, not Cuba or the USSR. Our most ideological President passed away in a military hospital of his historic arch enemy, the US. Kissoon, PPP/C propaganda agents and Indian rights activists often question the commitment of WPA personnel as Rodneyites, seeking to hold us to ideological and political correctness. But they fail to do the same in relation to the PPP/C and the Jagans. Kissoon will do a great service to the political consciousness of PPP/C supporters and that of the nation by directing his “analytical mind” to the above contradiction of Jagan seeking medical services of the US government. I am sure, if and when he does his analysis, he would not make the same simplistic argument which has become his trademark

when dealing with the WPA and its members. Instead, he will offer a complex analysis in defence of the Jagans and the PPP/C. Returning to Kissoon’s utterance in his column, he stated, “ Personally, I am disappointed that someone like David, who is a Rodneyite, did not see the value [of] rooting for one of the smaller parties. That makes sense for people who feel that the power of the PNC as a government by itself have to be tamed if we are going to get good governance. David, why did you join one of the two ethnic monsters?” There are contradictions in Kissoon’s position here. His premise for calling on Hinds to vote for one of the smaller parties is carried in the following statement: “That makes sense for people who feel that the power

of the PNC as a government by itself have to be tamed if we are going to get good governance.”

The APNU +AFC government is a coalition government – not the PNC by itself. I now ask Kissoon, why in the 2015 General and Regional elections did he support the APNU+AFC? By his reasoning, he supported one of the ethnic monsters. I wish to remind Kissoon that in the 2015 election campaign, as a supporter of the AFC, he spoke at more public meetings than most of the leading members of that party. And to the extent those public meetings contributed to the coalition victory, he made a larger contribution in that area than David Hinds in those elections. Kissoon, why did you support one of the ethnic monsters?

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Op-Ed

By Adam Harris

Changing goal posts and an accommodating GECOM

NO ship in the roughest of seas has ever been buffeted like the Guyana Elections Commission has been in recent weeks. And for sure, no member of the commission has ever been as vilified as Chairperson Claudette Singh.

Such has been the attacks that some persons would have packed up and left. That she has persevered is testimony to her determination to see the elections through to its conclusion.

This all started some time ago; in fact, after the no-confidence motion on December 18, 2018. The People’s Opposition Party argued that elections were constitutionally due within three months of the vote.

But for a free, fair and credible election there must be certain basic things, one of which is a proper voters’ list.

Justice Singh was appointed even as the commission was undergoing its own turmoil.

Chairperson Justice James Patterson’s appointment had been contested all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

But he had already sanctioned and approved house-to-house registration to ensure a clean preliminary voters’ list. Needless to say, the PPP objected. It wanted power at all cost even if it

meant circumventing certain necessities for a poll.

It was Justice Claudette Singh, who, on being appointed, was pressed by the PPP to halt the house-tohouse registration. She, in her own deliberate judgement, did just that but ruled that the names compiled during the house-to-house registration be linked to the existing voters’ list. Again the PPP had a problem with this.

Every move to sanitise the list was protested by the PPP all the way to the courts where Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire ruled that names could not be removed from the list. The result was that people who died but whose information never reached GECOM remained on the list.

So it was that the March 2, 2020 elections were held with a vastly bloated list, a situation that the People’s Progressive Party used to great effect as the recount is now showing. There are seven commissioners, three of whom are appointed by the PPP. But when the PPP decided to abuse the commission it was at pains to ignore its own members on the commission.

To really divorce its commissioners from the rest of GECOM, the PPP centered its attacks on the chairperson.

The GECOM Chairperson is like the Chairman of a Board

of Directors. The real power in the company is the Chief Executive Officer. GECOM has a Chief Executive Officer in Keith Lowenfield.

These attacks against Justice Singh came from just about every quarter aligned to the PPP. Kit Nascimento, Freddie Kissoon, Gerry Gouveia ostensibly for the Private Sector Commission, those news media aligned to the PPP and more recently, Bharrat Jagdeo, were some of the most irrational and vehement attackers.

It was Jagdeo who touted the independence of GECOM when he was in power and when GECOM has as its Chief Executive Officer Gocool Boodoo, the man who gave the PPP a seat that was won by the Alliance For Change.

In 2020, GECOM is only independent when it appears to rule in favour of the PPP. After the elections and declaration which was never faulted by the court, GECOM had every right to swear in a president. The very PPP swore in a president days before the electoral declaration.

What was right and good then could not be right and good now.

Former Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding who left office under a cloud has suddenly joined the call for democratic elections in Guyana. It was not surprising that

Adam Harris

simultaneous with Bharrat Jagdeo, Golding, who is not in Guyana, could recount aspects of the vote declared so far in District Four.

Without GECOM releasing its statements of poll based on calls for the PPP to have them released, Golding seemed to have access to them, unless he decided to use those presented by the PPP. Having resigned as chairman of his elections observer team, he still manages to speak for that team.

He has pronounced on the District Four count although less than 10 per cent of that count has been completed.

Justice Claudette Singh, acting on a decision by President David Granger and Bharrat Jagdeo to undertake a recount of the votes cast on March 2, 2020, decided that

GECOM had the power to order a recount. Initially, the PPP only wanted a recount of District Four, hoping to hide all the irregularities in those districts it controlled.

The decision was taken that the recount would involve every district. That should have been the end of the matter except that the PPP started to wage a campaign that the recount should be limited to District Four. That campaign is still ongoing.

The erroneous argument is that there were no complaints about the other districts.

GECOM IS STANDING ITS GROUND The recount has obviated the need for statements of poll but again, the PPP is still insisting that GECOM release those statements of poll in its possession. GECOM has stood its ground.

The PPP then sought to have officers attached to GECOM dismissed or removed. GECOM has ignored the calls. Recently, Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers, executed a decision taken by the entire commission. The PPP immediately called for her dismissal because the decision did not suit that party.

The recount is ongoing.

GECOM made some gazetted orders but from time to time it goes back on those orders,

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modifying them sometimes after a hue and cry by the PPP. For example, when GECOM used figures provided by a PPP Commissioner and calculated that the recount would take 156 days, the PPP howled to high heaven, none louder than Bharrat Jagdeo.

That conclusion by GECOM was withdrawn.

The PPP asked for 20 counting stations despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visiting Caricom special mission had said that four counting stations would suffice. Justice Singh in her own judgement ruled that there would be no more than ten.

Based on numbers agreed to by the PPP, there were to be no more than 180 people within the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at any given time. There are some 400.

Today, after noise by the PPP GECOM is considering further amending its gazetted order to allow for between six and eight more counting stations. Suddenly the recount duration deadline is written in stone. Indeed additional counting stations would increase the number of people at the facility in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heaven help if anyone is infected at the conference centre.

A timely reminder to Jagdeo that he is accountable to the public

Dear Editor

“If you don’t want to answer leave’’, is read as an ultimatum that had been given to Leader of the political opposition, Bharat Jagdeo, after he was reported to have behaved in a disrespectful manner to a member of the media corps that is currently gathered at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, covering the recount process.

I do not want to applaud those media persons for deciding finally to let Jagdeo understand that he is accountable to the public, and where they stand on such an important principle of communication, if only because for far too long, just too long, they have been giving him a free pass, allowing him to build an aura of intimidation around his person,

from which he has continued to show scant regard and gross disrespect for the media.

This has been a continuing key attribute of the leader of the opposition, even when he was president, when being asked about matters pertaining about his former government and party. Even the Press Association of Guyana must be held responsible for this seemingly disgusting line of cooperation concerning Jagdeo’s disrespectful attitude towards the press, by its dumb silence since 2015. It is instructive that sometime in April, 2019, that it was demanding an apology from a very senior coalition minister for what were fair comments made about another media house; but not attempting to hold Jagdeo to the same standards of media deportment. It is such a body that would have continued to give

rise to Jagdeo’s trenchant disregard for the media.

Editor, I hold no brief for any section of the media, because they are all bounded by time-honoured principles to be truthful, fair and balanced especially when it comes to fact checking dubious claims/ statements such as what the nation continues to be confronted daily from a mostly pro-opposition PPP/C media.

Maybe, there are now media workers who are aware of their principled role as asking uncompromising questions of such leaders of the ilk of Jagdeo; however, because they are mostly in the employ of a media that is now mostly pro-PPP/C, that they must have been very hesitant to assume such an aggressive course, because of fear of losing their bread and butter. There was

the case of a former leading staffer from a media house who had been ordered not to write articles critical of Jagdeo and the PPP/C – she was terminated. Then there is the recent case of what I would describe as the Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Adam Harris, who decided that he had had enough of the dark descent of the Kaieteur News, a newsprint that he would have spent almost two decades of his media life, building to a professional level, only to witness its descent into the dark pits of PPP/C fake news, disinformation and all the notorious aspects that are inherent of alternative facts. Which editor that is worth his/her salt would have wanted to continue in such an environment of dangerous daily deceit and distortion? I am glad that Mr. Harris has had the courage to finally walk away from a rag, which continues every

day in the mould of the Nazi Julius Schliecher horrible anti-semitic, Die Sturmer.

As the state-owned media, it is good to read that its senior reporter took the lead in posing such questions to Jagdeo. But from his answers, it would appear that Jagdeo is still in the mindset belief of a print that is publishing in the past era of his and the Donald Ramotar regimes. But times have changed, with the paper becoming the carrier of a better reportage of balanced reports than the lopsided and disgusting toadying crap that the readership can well remember during the 1992 – prior may 2015 period.

Regards Carla Mendonca

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Canadian envoy has crossed the line Dear Editor, A few days ago, I watched Mr. Enrico Woolford’s interview with the Canadian High Commissioner, Ms. Lilian Chatterjee. This interview was aired on national television for all the world to see and hear.

Ms. Chatterjee’s posture throughout the interview leaves much to be desired.

Her comments raise questions as to whether she has a full understanding of her role, as a diplomat assigned to an independent sovereign nation. Unless you had prior knowledge that Chatterjee was a member of the foreign diplomatic community, you could not have assumed or contemplate this to be a fact, based [on] her display during the interview. There was nothing diplomatic about Ms. Chatterjee’s demeanor. In fact, throughout the interview, she came off as being snobbish who appeared to have embroiled herself into Guyana’s domestic political affairs. We have seen GECOM commissioners complained about her actions at the GECOM office on March 3rd. Many Guyanese have expressed their dissatisfaction with her actions on that day, however, my opinion of her was solidified after seeing the Woolford interview.

During the interview with Mr. Woolford, Ms. Chatterjee said a lot of things that were undiplomatic. However, the most

disrespectful moment during that interview was her blunt refusal to apologise for the “frivolous” comment she made about the Ulita Moore case. Prior to the Woolford interview, Ms. Chatterjee decided that she had more authority than the Appeal Court of Guyana. So, she decided that a case that the Appeal Court entertained (The Ulita Moore Case) was “frivolous.” What audacity! Chatterjee’s “frivolous” comment demonstrated that she does not understand her role as a diplomate or that she simply believes that she can disrespect the Guyanese people at her will. During that interview, the Canadian High Commissioner was given several opportunities to apologise to the people of Guyana for her comment and each time she refused. In fact, I was shocked to hear her boldly state “NO” when asked if she wishes to apologise. I was speechless! By her actions, Ms. Chatterjee seems to be saying to Guyanese that she can care less about what they think about her disregarding their judicial system. Her comments and ensuing posture amount to a grave insult and disregard for the government of Guyana, the people of Guyana and the institutions that help to preserve democracy in Guyana. Ms. Chatterjee ought to have known that the Guyanese people find her “frivolous” comment to be highly offensive, but clearly, she did not care. Is this the way a diplomat behaves!

Her attitude throughout the interview seemed abrasive and grossly undiplomatic!

What was also very disturbing about Ms. Chatterjee’s comments during that interview was her remark that she is “friends” with “David and Sandra”, referencing the president of Guyana and his wife. Her decision to insert this caveat into the comments when she was being asked to apologise for her “frivolous” comments seems to be deliberate. It appeared that her motive was to suggest to Guyanese that because she might be friends with the president and his wife, whom she decided to call by first names, provides her the latitude to say and do as she pleases. This thinking amounts to a boldface assault on the intelligence of the Guyanese people. It is perplexing that the Guyana government has not yet place a formal request with the Canadian government to have Ms. Chatterjee recall.

Her “frivolous” remarks amount to a direct attack on the judicial arm of the state. I am therefore, surprised that, to date, the usually vocal Bar Association has not issued a statement to condemn her actions. I am also amazed that the “all involved” Private Sector Commission remains mute on this matter.

It is also disappointing that the “press ready” opposition PPP refused to denounce Chatterjee’s attack on the nation’s democracy. Remaining mute on such a fundamental attack on Guyana’s

democracy is not how we “guard democracy.” Chatterjee’s disrespect for the judicial arm of the state crosses political sides. Whether you are in the corner of the opposition or the governing parting you ought to be outraged by her obvious insult.

An attack on the judicial branch of the state is an attack on all Guyanese. She has abandoned her diplomatic training and has clearly embroiled herself into the local political controversies.

Her pronouncements, during the interview, regarding Canada’s assistance to get the CARICOM team to Guyana to observe the recount process, does not provide an additional opportunity to her to expand her intrusion into the domestic political affairs of Guyana. Ms. Chatterjee has demonstrated a brazen contempt for the Guyanese people whom she seems to believe are a bunch of dupes, but I guess she has not done her research prior to taking up her assignment in the country.

Her blatant political inference seems to have no bounds. So, on Saturday May 15, 2020, a social media account in her name and bearing her photo came to my attention. Under this account, Ms. Chatterjee took to social media to attack the Guyana government. I wonder if she has adopted a policy of conducting diplomacy by tweet, maybe that is her level. So, at 19:42 pm Saturday, Lil-

ian Chatterjee took to her twitter account and posted her anti-Guyana Government sentiments regarding the Carter Center. Which diplomat worth his/her salt, will do this! Doesn’t Chatterjee understand the concept and purpose of diplomatic channels!

This woman seemed to have also appointed herself GECOM’s spokesperson on this matter; a total misunderstanding of her diplomatic portfolio.

What was clear in Chatterjee’s twitter political commentary is that she sought to believe that, for some reason, the CARICOM Team is somehow given some kind of preferential treatment that the Carter Center is entitled to. Herein lies the political damage and fall out she might be desperately trying to create and promote. This appears to be a flagrant attempt at stirring up political mischief. Hence, I conclude that perhaps Chatterjee’s seeming acute interest in meddling in Guyana’s internal politics may have connection to a more sinister motive. Guyanese must therefore ask, what political interest does Ms. Chatterjee have in Guyana, as there is nothing diplomatic about her actions. Clearly, she seems to have partisan or selfish political interest.

Guyana, over the years, has had a long and healthy diplomatic relationship with Canada. However, it appears that Lilian Chat-

What if Lennox Shuman’s party is a front for ...

Kissoon often reminds his readers that he is not a member of any political party. In this sense he is a political “freelancer”. This allows him the latitude to do and write as he pleases. Since he is a political scientist, he is aware

that members of political parties are constrained and often can’t act as he does. Even in a party like the WPA with little or no restraint on the expression of independent thought, convention and party political culture requires that we

exercise individual right to differ responsibly. Kissoon, conscious of this constraint, exploits it to his advantage, and given the political culture in the country, he gets the attention of a section of the population as he wages

his “unholy war” against the WPA. I end this polemic by pointing out to Freddie Kissoon that good governance in Guyana is not only the responsibility of political parties and their

terjee’s mission is to ruin that relationship, especially while the APNU-AFC government is in power and during this period of political tension. I also noted that in Ms. Chatterjee’s twitter diplomacy, she took the decision to tag the local media to her anti-Guyana Government twitter post.

What diplomat engages in such bold face political malice! Guyanese are a peaceful, hospitable people who roll out the red carpet to welcome diplomats and visitors alike. However, they will not stand idly by and watch those that they welcome take advantage of their hospitable nature.

This disrespect must be of concern to all, as some matters are apolitical and must be treated that way.

Lilian Chatterjee must know that Guyana is an independent, sovereign nation. I am quite sure she would not dare refer to the US judicial system as “frivolous”. So, if she cannot display her ignorance in a country like the US, she must understand that similarly, she must be equally respectful to Guyanese.

Maybe, it is time that the Guyana government make a formal request to the Canadian government to have Ms. Lilian Chatterjee recalled.

Sincerely Lurlene Nestor

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leadership – the role of the masses is equally important. And party “taming” is no guarantee of good governance. Freddie, what would be your position if it subsequently turns out that Lenox Shuman’s party is

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a front of the PPP/C or an ally? I guess that it doesn't matter since, at this point, you are all supporters of the PPP/C – an ethnic monster.

Regards Tacuma Ogunseye

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

THE GRANGER PRESIDENCY DURING 1997, Guyana went to the polls after which Mrs. Janet Jagan was sworn in as President at a secret ceremony. Those elections were subsequently deemed by the court as null and void; and were vitiated on grounds of fraud.

I remember how a horde of overseas-based party backers had swarmed Freedom House, among them being “experts” and “hackers” who later claimed that they had “fixed” those elections for the PPP. I might have brushed that aside then. But recently I saw one of those backers who was exhibiting credentials as a former diplomatic operative.

It struck me that foreign interference in Guyana’s elections was no longer an idle boast.

ETHNIC CONFLICT Those “fixed” 1997 elections had opened the raw wounds of acute ethnic polarisation between the country’s dominant Indo and Afro-Guyanese sections of the population. The dark and ominous shadows of open and bloody ethnic conflict had loomed over Guyana.

Amidst social upheavals which cynics would from time to time refer to as “slow fire; mo fire”, I was asked to give guidance to the PPP’s leadership on the way forward. In the course of my talk at Freedom House, I

advocated a power-sharing political solution. I stated that while the Janet Jagan presidency was non-negotiable, everything else should be on the table for dialogue and negotiation between the government and the opposition.

I had appealed for the PPP to reach out towards liberal and progressive elements who might be associated with the opposition. I identified by name one such person – David Granger - a former army officer and, then, publisher of the Guyana Review.

President Janet Jagan had ordered that my speech be published in a booklet, and that 100,000 copies be distributed widely. But as soon as the dust settled on the potentially explosive post-elections conflicts, a counter order was given for the booklets to be destroyed.

As for dialogue towards a political solution, that too was consumed in the flames of opportunism and unprecedented hubris in which the PPP was engulfed after Mrs. Jagan prematurely surrendered the presidency to a political neophyte. Many would claim that “baby doc” strangled national unity and power-sharing in his cradle.

OLIVE BRANCH Fast-forward almost 17 years later, the arrogant and corrupt PPP lost power to a six-party coalition. That movement was headed by

David Granger who, for the 2015 elections, had given content and meaning to the need for national unity.

As he took the Oath of Office as the 8th President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana on May 16, 2015, five years ago yesterday, he pledged to promote multi-party democracy. President Granger offered an olive branch and extended a hand of friendship to the opposition PPP to join in the quest for an inclusionary democracy and a government of national unity.

On reflecting on that day, as Sita and I stood at the side of President Granger on the balcony of Parliament Buildings, I felt vindicated that we have elected to office a multi-party government, headed by a leader who publicly proclaimed himself “a President of all the people of Guyana.” He promised to be a “good president” as the crowd spontaneously cheered him on, from then and to this day.

As I watched from Parliament Buildings that day, I visualised what Walter Rodney must have meant when, with clenched fist, he had clamoured for “people’s power!” I was looking past the crowd at the balcony of the court-house where I once stood with the martyred Walter as he agitated for an end to one-party authoritarian rule.

PEOPLE-FRIENDLY For President Granger, quoting the lyrics from a Fred Hammond song, “this is the day that the Lord has made…”

The Granger Government made great strides in delivering the good life for all. It was not a perfect first term, but the government remained planted among the grassroots. The Granger presidency was characterised by its people-friendly policies and measures.

Initially, the new government lacked the resources to delivered on the many promises. By 2014, the last year of the PPP regime, direct private investment started to slow down. Guyana was denied strategic funds from the international community because of fears that there was no accountability under the corrupt former regime.

By then, the bankrupted sugar industry was crippled; Venezuela blockaded Guyana by ending purchase of our rice by and refusing to sell us fuel.

But, to its credit, the Granger Government kept the country going. The changes were evident everywhere.

The economy grew from 3 to over 5 per cent. The private sector was given stimulus such as a reduction of corporate taxes and other concessions; the draconian VAT was slashed by 2%; wages in the public service were increased by 68%; old age pensions went up in excess of 60%, etc..

MUTUAL ADVANTAGE As I noted last week, the Granger presidency shored up the sovereignty of Guyana against the false claim by Venezuela to two-thirds of our territory by invoking the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

That claim had stalled investments in Guyana, particularly in the vital petroleum sector, against which Venezuela had deployed war-boats to frustrate exploration off Guyana’s shore.

Against a backdrop of no love between Georgetown and Caracas, the Granger presidency concluded agreements with the oil majors on terms that brought mutual advantage to both Guyana and the investors. That was done against virulent objec-

tion and obstructions from the political opposition PPP and sections of the compromised media. But it was the Granger presidency that took us out from that period of uncertainty as to whether we could ever develop our oil and gas industry, and to become a petroleum state, as Granger proclaimed on November 20, 2019.

This is the strength of the Granger presidency, that it defends our sovereignty, and maintains internal stability.

These five years have brought out in genuine Guyanese, our true sense of patriotism and pride.

Now that fickle-minded elements are waving the flag of surrender to new invaders, we take strength from the words of the Jamaica-born poet, Claude McKay: “Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack.

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”

The will of the people cannot be sacrificed on the altar of mere discrepancies AS you may have observed by now, the attention of the nation has been gripped by the national recount stemming from the March 2nd regional and national elections. At this juncture, it has become apparent that the process has discovered troubling anomalies and irregularities that border on criminal negligence, which point to a criminal scheme being afoot on March 2nd.

Despite this fact, some have dismissed these dastardly findings as ‘mere discrepancies’. Due to that regrettable posture, perhaps it is an opportune time to ventilate the sacred connection between the will of the people and credible elections in a democracy.

Elections are the crown gems of a government by the

people and for the people. As a consequence, developments that invite doubts are worthy of eminent review and investigative consideration, and cannot be swept under the proverbial carpet.

ELECTIONS AND THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE Free elections denote the right to take part in an election, fairness and credibility following the prescribed constitutional processes of that engagement. In my estimation, the best elucidation of the role of elections in a constitutional democracy that I have seen is contained in the words of Said Adejumobi, in his article, ‘Elections in Africa: A failing Shadow of Democracy’ contained in the International Political Science Review, Vol.21, No.1 59-73

on page 60: ‘….Further, elections typify the representation of the popular demands and a basis for leadership recruitment and socialization…Renewal in democratic systems usually occur via elections.

Any political system which does not undergo such, will ultimately atrophise and suffer decay. In other words, elections constitute perhaps, the most important element in the conception and practice of liberal democracy’.

With this in mind, one ought to be revolted by the suggestion that missing documents, ghost voting and incompetence bordering on illegality should be ignored.

Elections are the conduit through which legitimacy is established and it seals the social contract in which the people agree to give a selected

few scrutinised Lordship over their affairs with the expectation that those appointed will protect their welfare. This sacred process cannot be the remit of fictitious numbers, the migrated or the graveyards.

THE MALAWI EXAMPLE The prosecution of the case above is well served by bringing to attention the nullification of the Malawi

elections and the subsequent legal challenges and judgments that ensued. General elections were held in Malawi in 2019. On the night of those elections, President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party was declared the winner.

Opposition leaders challenged the results by alleging that the election was rigged by altering results sheets using correction fluid. Leader of

the United Transformation Movement (UTM), former Vice President Saulos Chilima petitioned the High Court of Malawi. During the case, evidence was submitted of widespread irregularities that called into question, whether the outcome was a true reflection of the will of the people as expressed on the day of elections.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Losing loved ones to mental illness

By Melina Harris MAY is mental health month, and, in last week’s column, I took a more formal look at some of the global statistics and the pervasiveness of certain mental health conditions globally and locally here in Guyana. In this week’s column, I wish to share a few of my personal experiences dealing with mental illness and the loss of a loved one from this scourge.

Most Guyanese would have been personally affected by suicide; the statistics alone suggest this. Sadly, my first encounter with suicide happened before I was old enough to really understand what had happened. I was quite young when one of my male cousins took his own life, but I remember, quite clearly, how I felt hearing that he had passed away. It was shocking and I had so many questions. I was so sad. He was always so funny, vivacious and loveable so when I had heard what happened, I could not understand why. It just happened and we all mourned and moved on.

Unfortunately, my cousin was not the first member of my family to have taken his life, at least three other members of my family have taken their own lives, some during my lifetime and others before I was born.

Clearly, we have some issues in my family and although it is sad and perhaps alarming to some, there are many other families who have been affected by mental illness in this way.

Although I have never suffered from any diagnosable mental health condition, I have always been painfully aware that perhaps I might be more susceptible to a mental illness because of my family’s history. From my research, the likelihood of me developing a mental health illness is quite high, if familial patterns are anything to go by.

This is perhaps the reason why I have always been so fascinated by the inner workings of the mind.

By my early twenties, I started to read a lot more books about the mind, psychology and spirituality. Living in the UK, one is confronted by mental illness on a daily basis. Depres-

sion and anxiety are two of the most common mental health conditions that people in the UK face. As a young woman living away from home for the first time at University, I became even more aware of just how common mental health conditions are. My student halls were mixed and I made friends with everyone whom I lived with, especially the young man across the hall from me. He was an introvert but hilarious and would play video games all day long. At the time, he literally lost himself in World of Warcraft, a ridiculously addictive online game. He spent days in his room, barely sleeping or bathing and would just play this game incessantly. By the second term, it became clear that he was socially isolated, and I started to notice that his moods were different. By the end of the summer term, it was obvious that he was struggling with depression. He had missed most of his lectures and was now faced with the option to re-do the entire year. I think moving back home with his family over the summer helped

him and the following semester, he seemed more like himself.

By my mid-twenties, many more of my acquaintances started to talk about experiencing depression and anxiety. At this point, most of us had obtained a degree and had started working in the real world. Needless to say, many were unprepared for the transition from an academic life to a professional one. The resultant stresses forced many of my peers into depression, that, coupled with the economic situation following the great recession of 2008/09, meant that many of us were working for much less than we had been told we would have, and it seemed like the value of our degrees had dropped. That, coupled with student loans and other debts, definitely contributed to feelings of depression and anxiety amongst my colleagues.

My late twenties were challenging because I lost two friends to mental illness by way of suicide. The first friend I lost was a beautiful white South African girl who moved to the UK when we were in secondary school. We went to the same

college after secondary school and to separate universities after college. She was an artist and wonderfully talented but had been battling depression since childhood. I remember some conversations that we had where we would talk about her depression and make light of it, that was just her sense of humor. A few days before she passed away, I was on her Facebook page and was about to send her a message to check on her as we hadn’t spoken in a while, something distracted me and I never sent the message.

A few days later I received the news that she had taken her life.

I was haunted for months with thoughts that I could have done something to prevent that outcome. Her funeral was one of the saddest days of my life and I cried uncontrollably throughout the service, unable to speak because I was stifled by grief.

My other friend came from Uganda and was really my best friend’s pal but we all hung out together over the years and knew each other well enough to call ourselves friends. She suffered from schizophrenia

and psychosis and had sought help to deal with the symptoms which were quite severe sometimes. My best friend was with her throughout the ordeal until she too decided to take her life.

We all grieved again.

I share these stories because I know that there are many of us out there who have lost loved ones to mental illness and although it is painful, whilst we are here, I believe it is our duty to help others where we can.

Mental illness does not have to be a death sentence and certainly does not have to dictate the course of anyone’s life. Help is available and healing is very much possible so I encourage anyone suffering silently to seek help from a professional, it will be the best thing you do for yourself.

Next week will be focused on those who have sought help and who have overcome mental illness.

Understanding Energy

During an oil supply glut, the cupboards are overflowing JUST like the lady who has more shoes than her cupboard will hold, the vast elaborate global system to store unwanted crude oil has come close to bursting at the seams.

For the past few weeks, concerns that the world was about to breach the “storage wall” has roiled global oil markets, putting pressure on an already bearish oil price. In the United States futures market, oil prices for benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell below $0 per barrel for the first time in history when those holding expiring futures positions paid buyers to take the contracts off their hands.

According to the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based global energy watchdog, global crude oil inventories are expected to continue to rise to near operational capacity by the end of June as the global corona virus pandemic takes its toll on economic activity and demand for oil. Combine the demand slump with a price war between OPEC and other key oil producers and we are faced with the glummest oil market fundamentals in decades.

Fortunately for us here in Guyana, OPEC, Russia and other key producers buried the hatchet last month and agreed to slash production. The low price also led U.S. suppliers to shut in wells in Texas and elsewhere and set down drilling rigs. And with some countries easing stay-at-home restrictions on signs that the spread of the virus may be slowing, demand for gasoline and other fuels is slowly creeping up. The price of benchmark Brent Blend, which serves as a price marker for our Liza crude oil has risen more than 55% over the past month.

In fact, analysts, Clearview Energy Partners, last week noted that latest monthly data from the IEA, OPEC and the U.S. federal Energy Information Administration (EIA), project oil demand may even exceed supply by a “material amount” in second half 2020.

But anyone who follows volatile commodity markets knows, perception has a lot of influence on daily price swings. Until the market is able to significantly off the oversupply, traders

and other market watchers will be tracking tanker movements and crunching storage data for signs that the tide is turning.

And there are many more places to monitor than before when looking for the barrels. From government-held stockpiles in underground salt caverns to oil terminal facilities and even tankers loaded with crude -- floating storage -- off the coast of California, traders are stashing oil wherever they can, awaiting buyers. Canadian pipeline company, Enbridge, announced, recently, that it would make room for some crude oil storage on its natural gas pipeline system that stretches across the country and into U.S. markets.

In fact, some savvy entrepreneurs rushed to cash in on the storage crunch.

The Wall Street Journal recently told of a water company selling space in giant above-ground containers that look like swimming pools.

So should Guyana invest in its own deep water cavern or massive onshore storage tanks to stash away production to wait for better prices? The answer,

according to some experts, is not yet.

First, Guyana’s production is very small in the global oil market with a cargo setting sail only once every 7-10 days and that oil is pre-sold. Plus the costs and complicated logistics of expanding storage facilities in Guyana outweigh the reward at this time.

Energy Department Director, Dr. Mark Bynoe, said it was too early for Guyana to consider onshore storage options. He noted that Guyana had already sold its first three cargoes of Liza crude so it is covered for the next few months and he questioned whether it would be wise for Guyana to incur the costs of hiring space on tankers that would be parked offshore waiting for buyers.

“As we have seen, there are a number of companies that are hiring the VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) to store their fuel given the shortage of space. Those costs are escalating on a daily basis. So, we have to take the totality of costs and benefits into consideration before we arrive at a single position,” Dr. Bynoe said.

Dean Foreman, Chief Economist at

The will of the people cannot be sacrificed...

The High Court of Malawi accepted the arguments presented by the legal representation secured by Mr. Chilima and reinforced that widespread irregularities negate the will of the people. President Mutharika and the electoral commission Chair, Jane Ansah, appealed the decision and argued that the High Court overstepped its powers.

The Republic of Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal sitting at Lilongwe affirmed the decision of the lower court and, in so doing, re-emphasized that the will of the people was too celestial to be sacrificed by mere discrepancies. In its deliberation, the court noted, ‘Elections define the roadmap and lifeline of soci-

ety, in that elected few become responsible for the welfare and the wellbeing of the rest of the society. We should, therefore, avoid, at any cost and on any account, ushering leadership into office through an electoral process that is flawed because the chances are that such a process will not reflect the will of the people’.(MSCA Constitutional Appeal No.1 of 2020 p.6) THE DISCREPANCIES ARGUMENT Despite the well-established above, some argue that elections are complex engagements and anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies are inevitable. In addition, they contest that it

the American Petroleum Institute, told reporters recently that Guyana should take a fit-for-purpose approach. “Every oil producer requires some floating storage, cavern storage or tankage, and the challenge differs by country. Guyana should collaborate with industry to consider storage alternatives that are appropriate and right-sized for its production.”

Foreman noted that in the United States, storage has become scarce locally near the trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, for West Texas Intermediate crude oil. However, storage capacity still remains available across the broader system, provided firms have pipeline capacity to reach it. The U.S. also has a variety of storage options, from tankage, to underground caverns, to ships/floating storage.

Overall, it would seem we remain in a good position relative to others.

And, we have some time to decide what storage for us will look like in the future.

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is impossible to follow electoral laws and procedures to its perfection and letter. Such utterances proceed from voices that are not respectful and pay little or no deference to the consecrated concept of the will of the people.

Intimidation of elections monitors, bribing of elections monitors, presiding officers influencing voters on their choice, tampering with ballot sheets, unauthorized persons being found with papers and ballot boxes, failure to deliver ballot boxes under absolute security, non-verification of voters and ghost voting are not discrepancies. They are deliberate attempts to thwart the will of the people.

Book review:

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

A Review of David Granger’s Local democracy and regional development …Stronger communities for a stronger country UYANA’s PRESIDENT, David Granger, is reviving his country’s system of local democracy. He launched a ‘quiet revolution’ that is repositioning local democratic organs to better build economically-robust regions for a strong country.

David Granger’s book, Local democracy and regional development. Stronger communities for a stronger country, is rich resource which provides a valuable understanding of his vision for local democracy, local government and regional development.

The book emphasizes local democracy’s essential role in ensuring a stronger country. It argues a convincing case for leveraging the latent potential of the local government system to drive national development.

Guyana’s government operates at three levels – central, regional and local. President Granger argues that, if development is to permeate throughout the country, there must be cooperation between these three levels. He makes a cogent case for such cooperation and collaboration.

The local government system of Guyana was never intended to be a mere appendage of Central Government. It comprises municipalities, neighbourhood democratic councils and village councils. The President, quite correctly, treats these as sub-divisions of the regional administration system. He calls for cooperation between central, regional and its sub-divisions to make local government truly transformative.

The Guyanese Head of State has begun to reshape the traditional relationship between these three tiers of government. His administration’s policies are replacing the disposition to dominate and subordinate with a willingness to cooperate and collaborate.

The President has established a mechanism for promoting cooperation and col-

laboration. The mechanism, however, has been shunned by political Opposition which controls the majority of the country’s Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) while other parties control the Central Government and, as a Coalition, held the majority in the National Assembly. It would have been expedient for the collaborative mechanism to be pursued more delicately in light of the high levels of political mistrust.

The mistrust is not totally misplaced. The new forum – the National Conference of Local Democratic Organs – is by no means uncontroversial. Its name is almost identical to the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs which was established under the 1980 Constitution which [at Article 79] provided: There shall be a National Congress of Local Democratic Organs which shall have the responsibility for representing the interests of local government in Guyana and such other duties and functions as may be assigned to it by the Constitution and any other law.

The ‘Congress’ was criticised in the past as being an instrument to control local government organs and was repealed by the Constitution (Amendment) (No.3) Act of 2000. The establishment of this new organ, though intended to promote cooperation and collaboration but bearing an almost identical name, was bound to generate suspicion and mistrust. It was likely to be perceived, also, as an indirect means of reintroducing a repealed organ aimed at emasculating Opposition influence over local democratic organs.

Nothing could be further from the truth. David Granger has sounded, consistently, his unwavering support for greater autonomy of local democratic organs.

He has said, repeatedly, that he is President of all of Guyana

and is prepared to work with all Regions – whether controlled by the Government or

months after becoming President in May 2015.

President Granger, ad-

Opposition.

David Granger has an unassailable record on local democracy. He restored local elections, refreshingly, after the previous administration failed to conduct them for more than two decades. He had agitated for local government elections while he was Leader of the Opposition, indeed, including through picketing the Office of the President in December 2014.

He promptly held local government elections within ten

dressing the National Assembly on 12th May 2016, pledged that Guyanese would never again be deprived of their Constitutional right to participate in local government elections. He honoured that pledge by holding local government elections again in 2018. Many who criticised his credentials as a democrat have paid only lip service to local democracy.

The previous administration removed thirty-six freely-elected neighbour-

hood democratic councils and municipalities, arrogantly installing its own nominees as so-called ‘interim management committees’.

They refused, adamantly, to hold local government elections for more than two decades.

David Granger inherited a local government system in 2015 which lost its autonomy completely and had become abjectly submissive and subservient to the Central Government. He has pursued policies which empowered local democratic organs and encouraged community-based cooperation and decision-making, thereby weaning them off of excessive dependency on Central Government.

The book reveals President Granger’s visionary outlook on local democracy.

This, in his eyes, must be seen not only in terms of energizing popular political participation through voting at elections but, also, as facilitating citizen’s involvement in decision-making. Residents should see democracy as a catalyst for “…transforming their neighbourhoods, villages and communities into centres of human interaction.”

The book provides insights into President Granger’s progressive people-centered, rather than impotent process-centered, approach to local government which existed prior to his assumption to the Presidency. Local government, for him must be: … aimed at satisfying the basic needs of [the] people particularly at the community level. It is concerned with ensuring safe, secure and economically sustainable communities.

The book emphasises the importance of local government as a national, rather than merely a coastal, undertaking. President Granger has pursued policies intended to extend and expand local government and reinforce regional administration in the hinterland.

The President’s programme of regionalisation has witnessed the establishment of capital towns in each of the four town-less hinterland Regions – Mabaruma, in the Barima-Waini; Bartica, in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni; Mahdia, in the Potaro-Siparuni; and Lethem, in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo – respectively. These capital towns are aimed at “…making each region resourceful, administratively, geographically and infra-structurally integrated, economically robust and demographically populous.” They are integral to strengthening regional development.

The book, Local democracy and regional development. Stronger communities for a stronger country, makes a profound statement about the link between democracy and development. Development must involve and benefit every citizen. Local democracy is the key to ensuring that citizens have a role in making the decisions which affect them and can benefit from those decisions.

The book outlines what has been done, thus far, and what still has to be done, to realize the vision of a strong country comprising of strong regions.

Local democracy now rests on sturdy pillars.

The steps taken by David Granger in entrenching local democracy over the past five years – and which are subject of this remarkable publication – have laid the foundation for a stronger and more democratic Guyana.

This book represents the ideals of a visionary leader’s efforts at restoring local democracy and re-energizing regional development. Its value transcends Guyana’s territorial boundaries. It is primer for anyone who believes that democratic government should be devolved and that development should be decentralised to extend benefits to everyone, everywhere.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

COVID-19 Task Force advice on additional workstations pending … Minister Lawrence says safeguards must be in place

By Svetlana Marshall EVEN as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) awaits the advice of the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) on the establishment of additional workstations within the Arthur Chung Conference Centre so as to accelerate the pace at which ballot boxes are being processed, Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence said safety is paramount to diminishing the risk of contracting the deadly virus.

In responding to a number of questions posed by reporters outside of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Saturday, Minister Lawrence said it is not for political parties to dictate how many more workstations should be added to the existing 10, even as she underscored the importance of having the safeguards in place to suppress any possible spread of COVID-19.

“It is not for the APNU or any other political party to say at this point ‘I want 10 or 20 [workstations],’” Minister Lawrence said, adding: “The main thing should be, ‘Can we carry out this operation within a safe environment?’”

She said it was with safety and

pandemic, sought the advice of the representatives of the Health Emergency Committee, through the COVID-19 Task Force, on the utilisation of space within the Conference Centre, and the number of persons that could be present at any given time.

“Guyana is not safe right now, with regards to this pandemic; COVID-19 is real,” the Public Health Minister said.

Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence security in mind that the Elections Commission, in light of the COVID-19

TOOK A DECISION Last week Tuesday, the Commission took a decision to have the number of workstations increased.

However, before concretising its decision, it sought the advice of the Task Force. A site visit was conducted by the health experts on Thursday, and it was expected that a report would have been submitted to the Commission by Friday.

However, the report containing the advice is still pending.

Already, six locations within the Conference Centre have been identified where workstations could be established.

It is unclear at this point, whether the Commission would finalize its decision on the number of workstations to be

added, in the absence of a report from the Task Force, or whether it will move to extend the 25-day timeline.

The delay in the submission of the report, according to the Opposition, is a delaying tactic being employed by the ruling A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) to frustrate the electoral process, but Minister Lawrence said that nothing could be further from the truth. She said that it is the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) which has been politicising COVID-19.

“If anybody wants to talk about politicising COVID-19, see the PPP; they are the ones that put people’s lives at stake. Since January when we were talking about it, they were telling people that I was lying; I was using it as a political gimmick. Well, we have 10 persons dead, and over 100 people who would have contracted this virus, including children, and four families,” Minister Lawrence said, while iterating the need to take the virus seriously.

She sad that like any other stakeholder in the process, the APNU+AFC is awaiting the report from the Task Force, so as to move the process forward.

528 ballot boxes completed …GECOM releases decisions on basket of issues

AT the end day 11 of the national recount, the Guyana Elections Commission announced that it has completed another 49 ballot boxes, taking the total number to 528.

Of the 528 completed boxes, the tabulation for the General Elections was completed for 500, and for Regional, 501, at the end of Saturday.

With the Barima Waini Region (Region One) being completed on Friday, Region Five has commenced, and a total of 11 boxes have been completed thus far. In Regions Two, Three and Four, the completed numbers on Saturday were 11, 14 and 13, respectively.

In addition to the stats on the count,

GECOM also released a table outlining all the issues, a total of 28, that were raised thus far in the recount process, along with the decision the commission has decided upon, for each issue.

Among these issues are: the reading of the observation report in the tabulation centre for the benefit of persons with disabilities. It was decided that the observation report will be read and sign language will be used to accommodate the above-mentioned group.

In the instances where party agents supply death certificates to workstations, those death certificates will be attached to the observation report.

For valid, rejected and spoilt votes,

GECOM has said that, once the intent of the voter is clear, the vote is valid, whether they use a pen, fingerprint, or any of the other methods raised as issues. But in a case where a voter identifies him/herself on the ballot, the vote will be rejected.

Comments written on the Statements of Recounts are prohibited. The Commission said that no comments must be written on the SORs, only on the observation report. In addition to that, observers will not receive copies of the SORs, only the CARICOM team will be given the SORs. The Commission is looking at the possibility of increasing the number

of workstations in an attempt to accelerate the pace at which the ballots are being processed. Currently there are 10 workstations and the commission has identified six locations within the conference centre where workstations could be established. However, it’s awaiting clearance from the National COVID-19 Task Force in light of the emergency measures that have been put in place.

With a visit conducted by representatives of the task force on Thursday, a report was expected on Friday, but that was not received.

To date, that is the only pending decision of the Commission.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

MoPH puts spotlight on Senior Citizen’s Homes –– as gov’t steps up war on COVID-19

THE Ministry of Public Health has put the welfare of the elderly under the microscope in a bid to help stave off any outbreak of the deadly coronavirus among that particular population.

According to Dr. Melissa De Haarte, who is the Ministry’s Coordinator of Elderly Health, the exercise is spearheaded by the COVID-19 Mobile Unit, and so far the team has completed nine of the 18 homes officially documented in the Ministry’s registry in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica).

The Mobile Unit team is expected to complete the current exercise in the most populated of the country’s 10 Administrative Regions shortly, Dr. De Haarte said.

She said that as part of the team’s duties, they will “interview workers, caregivers and occupants, and take detailed history of their travels and contacts,” to determine who will be tested for the coronavirus if perchance someone might have been in contact with any COVID-19-positive patient.

Of the 21 Homes for the Elderly serviced by the MoPH, the Palms Geriatric Home on Brickdam, in Georgetown,

which comes under the Ministry of Social Protection (MOSP), is the only one where residents have tested positive for the deadly virus.

In a media statement last Thursday, the MoSP said five residents, four of whom are male, and a Patient Care Assistant (PCA) tested positive for the COVID-19 virus at the Palms Elderly Care Facility.

NINE-POINT PLAN Noting that one of the four males who tested positive has since died, the MoSP went on to say that through its nine-point plan, it has managed to thwart “any possible threat of an outbreak” at the government-managed facility.

“The Ministry of Social Protection wishes to assure the general public that it continues to be guided by the protocols established by the Ministry of Public Health,” the agency said, “and will continue to take steps necessary for the protection of residents, care personnel, and staff at the Palms Elderly Care Facility.”

Dr. De Haarte said that to date, she has

received no report of inmates at the other 20 government-run institutions testing positive for the coronavirus.

The gerontologist said that the inspection team will scrutinise the remaining Homes, all of which are located in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), when they have completed examining the facilities in the capital and its environs.

She is appealing to administrators of any existing elderly homes not in the government’s official records to ensure that their institution is regularised to benefit from existing support packages. She said the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is backing the 21 State-run Homes every month with support packages to help fight the coronavirus.

Just recently, the CDC donated some 2,000 masks to the elderly institutions in their ongoing quest.

“We are doubling our efforts to visit, demonstrate and provide explanation about the use of personal protective equipment (PPEs), including gloves and masks; how to sanitise surfaces and surrounding environment correctly, and how to treat unclean clothing to prevent their likely contamination spreading in the

Dr. Melissa De Haarte

Home,” Dr. De Haarte said.

The Public Health Ministry has also teamed up with Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the fight against the coronavirus overwhelming the vulnerable residents of these institutions.

Diabetic Association makes donation to Ministry of Public Health THE Guyana Diabetic Association on Friday donated 2,000 high efficacy insulin pen fills and 75,000 insulin syringes to the Ministry of Public Health, Director of Pharmacy Services, Mr. Oneil Atkins said.

According to a press release from the ministry, Atkins said that the donation from Diabetic Association President, Ms Glenys Beaton on the behalf of the body’s donors, would help reduce the daily insulin intake among the country’s diabetic patients.

“Because of the efficacy it is predicted that in some cases, their daily dosage will be reduced by some 50 percent,” Atkins said.

The Pharmacy Director said he wants to en-

sure that the best use is made of the donation and pleaded with the country’s diabetic patients not to uplift the insulin pen fills “and put it down.”

“Please be responsible. The insulin pen fills are very pricey,” Atkins pleaded.

The release said that Atkins was elated with the timing of the Diabetic Association’s donation because diabetics are susceptible to the COVID-19 deadly disease because of their pre-existing condition.

“All diabetics and those prone to the disease, have a tough task to control their glucose (sugar) level. Global trend analysis reveals that diabetics who contract COVID-19 have a not-so-good prognosis,” Atkins explained.

The release said that according to research findings, COVID-19 worsens the chances of survival for persons with diabetic complications such as diabetic kidney disease.

It said that the new virus makes them frailer and in some instances could cause acute cardiac (heart) injury with heart failure, leading to poor circulation of blood.

“Patients with diabetes need intensive attention to reduce the risk of dying.

These “should follow the general prevention advice given by the authorities thoroughly to avoid infection with COVID-19,” an online report counselled.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Guyana in March, almost 1,100 persons have been tested with 117 confirmed cases

and 10 deaths according to official government records, the ministry said.

“Many of the COVID-19 deaths in Guyana were diabetics,” Atkins said.

The ministry said the latest census figures of Guyana estimate that the South American multiracial Republic has some 780,000 residents with the bulk inhabiting the narrow coastal strip.

“About 15 percent of the descendants of former slaves from Africa and indentured immigrants from Asia and Europe according to a local survey are diabetics. This means that an estimated 117,000 Guyanese are suffering from some form of the debilitating ailment,” said Atkins. He said of this figure, 65 percent (76,000)

have to use insulin regularly to help protect their eyes, kidneys, nerves and other body parts often ravaged by the disease.

The release said that Diabetes also increases the risk of heart attack and stroke and often causes sexual problems. Three years ago, Guyana’s diabetes prevalence rate, according to an online report, was 11.6 percent, the release said.

While Atkins encouraged health workers and the rest of the population to continue paying keen attention to COVID-19, the Pharmacy Director cautioned that this should not be at the expense of other non communicable diseases (NCDs).

“Do not forget to use your medications for other NCD conditions,” Atkins

Ministry of Public Health’s Director of Pharmacy Services Mr. Oneil Atkins reminded.

The Pharmacy Director said the Public Health Ministry is currently in talks with major global donors to help secure medication and other miscellaneous articles to benefit the country’s juvenile and other types of diabetics.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

West Berbice says poignant farewell to ‘The Guru’ --one of three youngsters laid to rest, military-style, this past week

HE was just 20 when his life came to a tragic end on the morning of Thursday April 20 at Timehri, all the way up on the East Bank Demerara, some ways away from West Berbice where he was born and raised.

But the military send-off he was given on Friday must have warmed the hearts of his parents and extended family, as they were joined by several officers and ranks of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), which he so proudly served to the very end, to pay their final respects.

Known to close friends as ‘The Guru’, Private 25340 Shaqueel DeHarte was one of three soldiers who died that fateful day late last month when a stack of pyrotechnics they were attending to at the GDF’s Arms Store Complex at Base Camp Stephenson accidentally exploded, kill-

ing them instantly.

His two colleagues, Lance Corporal Tooney Peneux, 28, of Orealla, on the Corentyne River; and Lance Corporal Kevon Samuel Nicholson 23, of Angoy’s Avenue, New

Amsterdam were buried on Wednesday and Thursday last, respectively, and, like him, with full military honours.

The funeral service was held outside his parents’

Members of the Paradise Invaders Football Club paying tribute to their late colleague

Lieutenant Colonel Selwyn Austin paying tribute to the fallen soldier

Army ranks making their way with De Harte’s remains to the St. Alban’s Anglican Church at Belladrum

home at Paradise, West Berbice, and the final goodbyes were said during his interment at the St. Alban’s Anglican Church ground in neighbouring Belladrum.

The service was conducted by Army Chaplain, Rev. J. Nicholas Corbin, while Lieutenant Colonel Selwyn Austin, Commander of the

Saying the final goodbye

Fourth Engineer Battalion, to which De Harte belonged, spoke on behalf Chief of Staff, Brigadier Patrick West, Officers, Warrant Officers, other ranks and the civilian members of the GDF. He also spoke glowingly of the young soldier, describing him as an exemplary member of the Army, who,

besides being very disciplined in his approach to his work, also willingly participated in whatever activities he was assigned.

Also in attendance at the funeral were members of the Paradise Invaders Football Club to which De Harte belonged.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

Cops break up illegal PPP protest … former MPs ignore COVID-19 measures LED by former Opposition Members of Parliament, Priya Manickchand and Jennifer Westford, a protest action by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in direct violation of COVID-19 measures, was dismantled by the police on Saturday.

Reports are that the group of protestors gathered outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest the decision of the government regarding a request by the US embassy for the Carter Center to return to observe the ongoing recount process.

The group was informed by the ranks that it was illegal to gather at the location.

Manickchand attempted to justify the gathering by stating that there are other gatherings across the country of 10 or more people. At least 20 persons were among those gathered with the group.

Political hop-scotcher Peter Ramsaroop was also a part of the gathering.

One of the protestors was arrested by the police and following his arrest, the

protestors dispersed.

On Friday, the Government of Guyana decided not to accept a late re-entry of The Carter Center and the International Republican Institute (IRI) into Guyana to observe the ongoing national recount, on the basis of the sufficient presence of CARICOM as “the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation” and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was conveyed to United States (U.S.) Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Karen Cummings, by way of letter, on Friday, following a previous request for the entry of the international observer group.

Earlier on Friday, in an interview with the 94.1 FM’s Jumpstart Morning Show, the U.S. Ambassador had stated that she believes “additional credibility” is needed in Guyana’s national recount process, in the form of The Carter Center, so that Guyanese can have “complete confidence” that their elections were free, fair and credible.

The protest action was short-lived after police ordered the gathering to disperse.

However, the Foreign Affairs Minister wrote back stating: “Owing to the Public Health situation which arose as a consequence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the series of emergency measures that were promulgated since 16th March, 2020, including the imposition of a curfew

and the closure of its international airports, it may not be possible for The Carter Center and the IRI Adviser to participate in the overseeing of the recount of the votes cast on 2nd March 2020 General and Regional Elections which, as you are aware, [has] already commenced.”

SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

South Rupununi residents accuse miners of breaching COVID-19 regulations …call for suspension of mining in the area

By Alva Solomon SINCE the discovery of the first Coronavirus case here was made public in March, several South Rupununi villages have been putting measures in place to prevent the pandemic from reaching their communities.

Recently, the villages which fall under the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) have been facing an uphill task, since miners who pass through the villages en route to the mining areas have had little regard for the preventative measures put in

place to ensure the safety of their residents.

The SRDC noted on Saturday that it is particularly worried about the continuous influx of miners into the villages while en route to the Wakadanao and Marudi gold mines, and that business people from Georgetown are also adding to the issue. “We find this to be disrespectful and a violation of our right to safeguard the well-being and health of our people. We are very concerned that persons coming in can bring undetected cases of the Coronavirus into the mining areas, which

can then spread into our villages,” the SRDC said.

On Monday last, a Guyanese man with Brazilian citizenship tested positive for the coronavirus, the first confirmed case in the Rupununi.

The man fled the isolation facility at the Lethem Regional Hospital, but was arrested hours later by the Brazilian federal police. It was then revealed that the man village-hopped several areas in the Rupununi, as well as parts of Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), including Monkey Mountain and Paramakatoi.

“The confirmation of the

On April 6, 2020, this Route 94 minibus was stopped at the Deep South Rupununi village of Aishalton with goods and passengers, several hours past the 6pm curfew. The SRDC said the bus was en route to a mining area with persons who travelled from Brazil.

The operator of the bus service has vehemently denied that the bus was breaking the law, although it was stopped well past the 6pm deadline. (SRDC photo)

first case of COVID-19 in Lethem, Region 9 on May 11 underscores the urgency and necessity of the measures our villages have put in place,” the SRDC said.

Sources say that the man reportedly travelled across SRDC territory to and from the Marudi mines, making stops within several villages along the way. “This case reveals how easy it is for the coronavirus to enter our communities, and why we sent an urgent request on April 14 and 21 that the Government halt mining in the South Rupununi,” the village councils said.

MINING NOT ‘ESSENTIAL’ It was noted that a request was finally acknowledged recently after the Council presented a copy of its requests to Minister of Health, Volda Lawrence, when she visited Aishalton Village on May 8.

“The case also highlights the question of why Guyana has designated mining as an “essential service” and put the lives of miners and the communities living near mining areas at risk,” the SRDC said.

It was noted by the SRDC that with the participation of village councils, it has been working “hard to protect our people during this global public health crisis.”

It said that this is being undertaken by ensuring that residents have updated, ac-

curate information regarding the pandemic; and that 15 illegal border crossings have been blocked, and monitoring checkpoints and gates into Wapichan territory have been established.

“We find the suggestions by the Region 9 REO that we ‘misunderstand’ our role to be offensive and misguided.

The fundamental duty of governments is to safeguard and protect its people, and we have taken up our responsibilities with the heavy burden of knowledge of the devastating impacts of past pandemics on indigenous populations. Miners, on more than one occasion, have misrepresented information to authorities in order to gain passage through the gates,” the SRDC said.

It said that in one instance, police ranks from Lethem travelled the hourslong trip to demand that the keepers of the gate at the village of Shulinab open the gate for a particular miner who has had a history of exploiting Amerindians. The SRDC said it has complained to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) about the miner on numerous occasions.

“We therefore again repeat our urgent request for support in this cause by the Government and relevant agencies to protect our people and to minimize the infiltration and spread of

COVID-19 into Wapichan communities. In particular, we demand that mining be halted for the duration of the public health crisis and that our authority to monitor entry and access into our territory be respected,” the villages said.

“We remain vigilant and hopeful in overcoming this dreadful pandemic and stand in solidarity with all who are affected during this time,” the villages noted.

INCREASINGLY WORRIED Rupununi residents are growing increasingly worried over the state of affairs in neighbouring Brazil, as that country’s positive cases of the Coronavirus have climbed sharply past the 150,000 mark in recent days.

More than 10,000 persons have died from complications attributed to the virus in the neighbouring country.

On Friday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Boyle called on miners who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 to seek medical assistance before venturing into the mining communities.

At the moment, a debate is ongoing as regards mining being deemed an essential service.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

One new COVID-19 case recorded ––Two persons in ICU, 64 in isolation

GUYANA continues to record a consistent increase in the number of novel coronavirus cases, with the latest statistics showing that the country has recorded one case over the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 117.

The recent increase was detected after 24 persons were tested over the past 24 hours. To date, health authorities have tested 1,089 persons for the disease, with 972 of those persons being negative. In addition to the high number of negative tests, some 43 of the infected persons have recovered and were medically cleared by health authorities.

The fact remains that Guyana has lost 10 lives to COVID-19 and according to health authorities, two persons are battling for their lives in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Additionally, 64 persons are in institutional isolation and five are in institutional quarantine. The Guyana Chronicle had reported that detected cases of the disease could be higher than expected, as a number of persons are asymptomatic, meaning they do not show signs of the disease. At the time of the report, the number of confirmed cases was 116, but health authorities said over 35 per cent or over 40 persons are asymptomatic.

Medical professionals conducting COVID-19 screening in South Ruimveldt, on Saturday (Delano Willaims photo)

“You should note that over 35 per cent of our COVID-19 cases were actually asymptomatic – had no typical signs or symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath etc…, so even if your temperature is normal, you have to continue to behave as if you have the virus,” said Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Boyle, during a COVID-19 update, on Friday.

This now brings to bear the fact that a person’s temperature may be normal, but it does not mean that they are not infected with COVID-19.

As it is now, various medical institutions do preliminary screening by testing the tem-

perature of persons, but additional measures may have to be employed. Considering the prevailing circumstance, Dr. Boyle said: “You must continue to wear your mask, wash your hands frequently, maintain physical distancing, stay at home and immediately report to the COVID-19 hotline should any symptoms arise.”

With the hope of detecting more cases of the disease, testing and screening will be expanded, said Dr. Boyle, adding that persons should make full use of the existing mobile units, which are available in some communities, mainly in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

For the weekend and the

upcoming week, the focus for the mobile-testing activity will be in La Parfaite Harmonie on the West Bank of Demerara and South Ruimveldt.

“We are pleased to announce that very soon residents of Region Three and Six will have similar facilities available for their residents. Please refer to our Facebook page for a more detailed location of these

units,” said Dr. Boyle.

Health authorities are working on strengthening the healthcare system to respond to COVID-19 on a long-term basis, and the potential and existing activities are a part of the plan to have a comprehensive COVID-19 health network, where patients across the 10 administrative regions will be able to access these services.

Region Four remains the epicentre of the disease, and there are a number of communities, outside of Georgetown which have recorded cases. Among communities on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) where cases have been recorded are: Atlantic Gardens, Friendship, Golden Grove, Good Hope, Lusignan, Plaisance, and Strathspey. Among communities on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) where there were cases are: Diamond, Grove, Land of Canaan, Providence, and Timehri.

“Please understand that transmission can only be reduced or stopped if we are able to separate those who test positive from those who are not infected. “We hear the concerns of you our citizens in relation to your fellow countrymen as

it relates to compliance with isolation and quarantine. On those matters we are hoping that the love we have for our families, fellow citizens and country will be enough to have us act responsibly and join forces with your local health authorities and the ministry of public health in containing this disease,” said Dr. Boyle.

Measures can be continuously implemented, but it is up to the individuals, that is the average Guyanese, to adhere to those measures and think seriously about flattening the curve (reducing the spread). The disease remains a serious issue, not just in Guyana, but globally. And, according to global statistics, there are over 4.3 million cases of COVID-19, with over 297,000 deaths.

And with no approved treatment or cure, there is no assurance that persons will survive after contracting the disease. In the absence of approved medications, governments and authorities across the world have employed a number of preventive measures to contain the spread of the disease.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Gov’t commits to supporting Komal Chand's family GOVERNMENT has committed to supporting the family of veteran trade unionist, Komal Chand, who passed away in Cuba last month.

According to a press statement from the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chand’s son met recently with Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Karen Cummings, who conveyed a message of condolence to him and said government is ready to support the family.

She said the government of Guyana is prepared to con-

tinue its support for the family of the late Guyanese stalwart.

Chand died in Cuba, where he was undergoing treatment for a prolonged period of illness.

Chand, who, prior to his death, served as President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), was pivotal in championing the rights of sugar workers.

Chand also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) since 1992. In the last Parliament, he was that party’s represen-

tative for the Essequibo Islands--West Demerara region.

GAWU noted in a release that he was most committed to his work and tasks and for that he enjoyed the respect of the workers. It was his dedication that saw him rising to become the union’s general secretary and later its president, the union said.

“He was, in our view, an outstanding trade unionist and very much committed to the upliftment and advancement of the working-class in our country and even beyond,” the

body said. Outside of GAWU, he served as the Vice President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and a member of the Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

“Cde Komal was also deeply admired by those who worked along and together with him. It was from this vantage point that many of us got an opportunity to see up close how deeply he cared for the workers and more so the working-people and

Mavindra Chand, son of former President of GAWU, the late Komal Chand

their families. He always embraced and espoused policies and initiatives aimed at improving the standard of living and well-being of the ordinary people. He also recognised that unity was an essential pre-requisite in order for the workers to win out their principled and justifiable demands. He was always supportive of measures to bring about unity as he brought to bear his own ideas and experiences,” GAWU said.

Murder accused recaptured at Parika bus park

MURDER accused Ganesh Dhanraj, who escaped from the Lusignan Prison on April 20 was on Saturday afternoon recaptured by the police.

Dhanraj was recaptured at the Parika bus park at around 14:10hrs, when he was seen in a motor car.

A statement released by the Guyana Police Force said that the police "acting on information went to the Parika bus park where the suspected escapee was seen in a motor car. He was questioned and then escorted to the Parika Police Station where he was further questioned and positively identified."

It was noted that the arrest of the 32-year-old was also due to the efforts of public-spirited citizens.

Prison authorities com-

Recaptured Lusignan Prison escapee Ganesh Dhanraj

mended the Guyana Police Force for its swift action and also expressed gratitude to members of the public for providing the information to the police. With the recapture of Dhanraj, who was one of four to escape the Lusignan Prison, Kenraul Perez remains on the run. He is also on remand for murder.

Man dies in SoesdykeLinden Highway accident A 22-year old pedal cyclist of Kairuni village, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, died on Saturday following an accident involving a motorcar.

DEAD IS TYRON JEROME Reports are that at around 12:30hrs on Saturday, a motorcar bearing registration PXX 2588, was proceeding south along the eastern side of the public road near Silver Hill, when it is alleged by the 26-year old driver, that the pedal cyclist, who was proceeding in same direction, in the center of the road with no hands on the bicycle handle, swerved

east while the motorcar was in the process of passing the cyclist.

The driver alleged that he applied brakes and swerved west to avoid a collision, however, the left front of the car collided with the cycle.

The man fell onto the road and sustained injuries to his head and body. He was picked up in unconscious condition by the police and public spirited citizens and rushed to the Linden Hospital Complex where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The driver was taken into custody. Investigations into the accident are ongoing.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

ERC urges Guyanese to observe COVID-19 measures THE Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) is calling on Guyanese to practice social distancing and only go out when it is absolutely necessary.

While noting that cases continue to increase in Guyana, the ERC said that “there is no existing playbook to combat this pernicious virus, but what is known is that having fewer gatherings, wearing of face masks, constantly washing of hands and the use of an alcohol-based sanitiser daily, would slowdown the spread of the virus.”

It said that despite the pandemic, the body continues its work although its office remains closed due to the unprecedented COVID-19

lockdown.

The work of the commission continues virtually, and contact can be made via email to its Investigations Unit at investigate@ erc.org.gy or the Public Education and Awareness Unit at peau@erc.org.gy.

The ERC reminds persons, who feel they are being discriminated against based on their ethnicity, to file a complaint with the ERC. It said that any accompanying evidence would also be useful. It noted that letters with complaints can also be sent to the ERC Office: 66 Peter Rose and Anira Sts. Queenstown, Georgetown. A complaint can also be made by filling out an online form on

the ERC website at erc.org.gy or by downloading MY ERC APP to one’s mobile device While commenting on its work, the commission said it

recently undertook initiatives to strengthen awareness and celebration of Guyanese diversity. The Public Education and Awareness Unit of the

ERC recently launched the ERC ‘Diversity Challenge’ on its Facebook Page and is inviting Guyanese to celebrate their culture by visiting the page and connect especially with friends and family who are of different ethnic backgrounds.

The ERC encouraged persons to visit its web page to download and use the ERC’s “Let Harmony Come In” song in their videos with the participation of friends and family.

The videos can be uploaded with hashtag #ERCDiversityChallenge and in-boxed to the ERC Facebook page to be shared. The ‘Diversity Challenge’ runs until the first week of June,

2020. More similar events are planned for 2020 and 2021.

According to the ERC, although a great amount of concern exists due to COVID-19 and the elections impasse, the body urges Guyanese who are spending most of their time at home to take advantage of the ‘Diversity Challenge’ and celebrate our many cultures.

The ERC said it remains resolute to promoting national harmony among the various ethnic groups and its work involves conflict resolution, public education, investigation and research.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Reg. 10 readies COVID-19 accommodation facilities

FOLLOWING a tour by the Regional Health and Emergency Committee (RHEC) of Region Ten, the quarantine and isolation facilities in the region have been deemed ready for accommodation.

Head of the Committee, Orrin Gordon made this disclosure after completing an extensive tour of the facilities with several members of the Regional Committee, the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) said in a release on Saturday. **The RHEC Head disclosed that the quarantine centre is housed at the Linden Foundation Secondary School, while the isolation centre is housed at the Wismar Hospi-

tal. He said that the quarantine centre has the capacity to accommodate 40 persons, while the isolation centre is equipped to accommodate 13 for now.

“I am hoping that the numbers would always be small, as I hope that we don’t ever have a situation where we have to secure more beds and space,” Gordon said, adding: “As such, I trust that residents would use this information to ensure that they comply and adhere to all guidelines and to remain safe.”

FACILITY TOUR Among those who toured the facilities were Regional Heath Officer, Dr. Pansy

Armstrong; Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Maylene Stephen; Regional Chairman Renis Morian; President of the Linden Chamber of Commerce, Victor Fernandes; Acting Regional Education Officer, Sonia Fraser-Pearce; Regional Labour Officer Eleze Benjamin-Hall; the contractor; and a number of doctors and medical staff.

The tour was geared to determine the centre’s readiness, and to ensure that all works executed on the buildings were done according to the Ministry of Public Health’s specification and requirements.

Gordon stated that in keeping with those requirements, each room will have a fan and radio, while the building will have access to WIFI and a library, thus ensuring that persons can feel relaxed and comfortable.

He said that while a number of pillows and linens were procured, there is need for

One of the beds at the facility

more, but those items will be purchased soon.

The building will receive another paint job as part of the completion of the preparation process. “We are set right now, and can begin to accommodate,” Gordon said, adding that though they could do with few more linens and pillows, another

coat of paint on the building would crown preparatory works.

“It certainly isn’t going to be their home, but at least it will allow them to feel somewhat homely, as we want to ensure that they are comfortable,” he said.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE, May 17, 2020

Reg. 10 readies COVID-19 accommodation...

FROM PAGE

The RHEC Head urged members of the committee to recognise that with Region Ten being in the limelight with regards to having a quarantine and isolation centre, that performance of those required to offer services must be of a high standard. “We established

clear criteria of those who we are looking for, as we must ensure that those selected can perform their work unimpeded,” he said.

He said that the condition of the facility and the quality of meals offered must remain at the highest standard.

Gordon said that while

there are plans to increase both the quarantine and isolation centres, the region is starting with limited numbers owing to severe financial challenges.

He said that the Ministry of Finance in the initial stages caused undue delay and frustrated the process, thus setting back prepara-

tion work.

Gordon was adamant that he who feels it knows it as he himself has suffered with close family members being victims in the US. “We have had to pay contractors and for other services, unfortunately we are very limited in this

area,’ Gordon said.

Said Gordon: “I have written the PSs and Ministers of both the Ministry of Social Protection and Public Health more than once because these officers should be playing a part as it's their expertise.

Unfortunately, we are not getting the kind of as-

24

sistance and cooperation from them.”

Gordon disclosed that all the region’s positive cases are currently being housed at Diamond on the East Bank Demerara.

The region has recorded nine cases thus far with one death and one recovery.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

Guyana to host prestigious CARIFTA ...

From page 31 situation to exceed the expectations of the people.

“It is a very significant milestone and we at NACAC will be giving all the necessary support to make this a memorable one. I feel this is an opportunity for Guyana to propel the sport and inspire the next generation of athletes but it must be done holistically,” Sands advised.

“I always look at the silver lining in a dark cloud and must admit so far my tenure at the helm is like a baptism of fire. It’s like you have taken charge of the ship and then there comes a storm which was never on the radar.

But guess what? The hotter the battle the sweeter the victory and so I am optimistic Guyana will be a good host,’ a confident Sands told Chronicle Sport.

The 11 countries that participated in the inaugural Games are: Barbados, Bermuda, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, The Lesser Antilles, St Kitts/Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Guyana finished 6th with 5 medals, including its first gold won by Gladstone Hopkinson, who clocked 4:08.8 secs in the 1500m while Olympia Abrams captured a silver in High Jump and there were bronze medals for Aubrey Wilson in the Long Jump, Roxanne Sills in the 100m and Joy Renville in the Javelin.

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Tyson wows Donald Trump in a ‘Greatest Fight’ with Michael Spinks

By Luke ReddyBBC, Sport boxing reporter THIS was the greatest version of Mike Tyson, and Donald Trump wanted to make sure Frank Sinatra could see it.

The current US president demanded the ring at his Atlantic City casino be lowered so that the legendary American singer did not have to arch his neck for a view of the action.

After all that, Sinatra did not turn up on fight night - but Tyson did, with menace. And Michael Spinks was there too, briefly.

It took 91 seconds. Spinks never fought again. A man with 34 straight wins, one of which had ended the 48-fight unbeaten record of Larry Holmes, was bowled over by fear, fury and ferocity.

The 1988 bout - unpicked by Mike Costello, Steve Bunce and former world heavyweight champion David Haye as part of the new BBC Sounds Greatest Fights podcast - was the pinnacle for ‘Iron Mike’.

Thereafter a cocktail of mismanagement, distraction, defeat and prison would turn an unbeatable force into a fallible human.

Trump sat ringside. The $11M he paid to stage the bout worked out at around $121 000 a second.

But the spotlight was on his resort and the Monday night fight allowed gamblers a full weekend to wager an estimated $344M (£282M) in the city’s casinos, almost $130M (£107M) more than an average four-day take.

Tyson was bringing crowds - and fear - like no-one else in the fight business.

FEEL THE FEAR In the changing rooms, Tyson punches a hole in a wall after Spinks’ manager objects to the way his hands are gloved.

“In the other changing room, the real story is how Spinks is

Mike Tyson moved on to 35 wins from 35 fights by beating Michael Spinks. falling apart,” says Bunce. “Emanuel Steward said Spinks told him he was not going to be able to leave that room.”

In his white gown, 31-year-old Spinks raises his hand in the ring. Watching it back, Haye remarks: “He just looked petrified, absolutely petrified. I was about seven and remember fearing for him.”

Tyson, three days short of his 22nd birthday, is pushed by a security-heavy entourage of around 100 through the crowds. The eerie accompanying music conveys to the 22 000 attendees that something menacing is in the air.

Ring announcer Michael Buffer has already reeled off the names of around 80 celebrities at ringside. Sinatra may be missing but actor Jack Nicholson looks on as Muhammad Ali - who tipped Spinks to win - stands in the ring and tells his pick to hit and move.

Within 45 seconds Spinks throws a right hand and Tyson ducks it before hammering back. If Spinks was tentative initially, such moments suck away even the faintest belief.

“The punches Spinks are throwing are ‘stay-away-from-me’ punches, ‘how-long-can-I-last punches’,” remarks Haye.

A left uppercut followed by a right to the body sends Spinks down for the first time as a professional. He nods, steps forward and instantly walks into a right hand that ends the show.

Brief it may have been, but Ring Magazine named it round of the year. Spinks would later admit: “Fear was knocking at my door big time.”

Costello says: “It was one of the most destructive performances in the history of the heavyweight division.”

Haye replies: “I think this was the best Tyson there ever was. At this stage he is as unbeatable as you can ever imagine any fighter in history ever being. Prime Lennox Lewis, prime Muhammad Ali - whoever you say, they are going to have one of the hardest nights of their life against this guy.”

Promoters Don King (left) and Butch Lewis (right) worked with Donald Trump to deliver the fight in Atlantic City Tyson had 35 wins and seemed unstoppable. He used his press conference to ask journalists why they ignored his boxing ability and only gave him credit for his ferocious knockouts.

Bunce adds: “There was no-one at that time talking of what we talk about now - a great defensive boxer. All they talked about was annihilation.

“That Tyson belongs with the greatest on great nights.

Unfortunately where he went after that, with each calamity and disgrace, he starts to issue himself with an exit warrant from any top list. But on that night, that was a fighter that could go anywhere.”

SINATRA’S ADVICE UNHEEDED Tyson picked up $22M for beating Spinks and held the three major heavyweight belts at the time.

‘Iron Mike’ had it all.

But within months he and actress Robin Givens were heading for divorce, manager Bill Cayton was ousted and long-time trainer Kevin Rooney - who had steered Tyson’s career following the death of former trainer and father figure Cus D’Amato - was replaced.

The few elements of consistency in an otherwise chaotic life had disappeared. Within two years his titles were gone too, surrendered to James ‘Buster’ Douglas in one of sport’s greatest shocks.

A fighter who had become an icon for a generation of young would-be boxers had already seen his best days come and go.

“If he is having that impact surely he belongs in the top 10 heavyweights of all-time but the argument against that is that on those nights he was really asked to find something he didn’t,” Costello says.

Haye replies: “I find it hard to say someone is in the top five of all-time if they have never had to come back to win.

“He was a baby in boxing terms, but at 21 he peaked. Had he had Rooney in the corner, people looking after him and investing his money, he could have been number one, without a doubt.”

Less than four years after that night in Atlantic City, Tyson was imprisoned for rape. After his release a brief reign as world champion followed by losses to the likes of Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. A career that promised everything, and delivered plenty, left behind too the disappointment of potential unfulfilled.

“Listen kid, it’s not how good you’re doing, it’s how long you’re doing good,” Sinatra once told Tyson.

We will never know how good Tyson might have gone on to be.

But on the night in Atlantic City that Sinatra missed, he did not need long to do good.

Actors Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty were among the famous faces ringside in Atlantic City.

SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

FIFA to choose 2023 women’s World Cup hosts on June 25 BERN (Reuters) - The hosts for the 2023 women’s World Cup will be chosen at an online meeting of the FIFA Council on June 25, the global soccer body said on Friday.

FIFA will choose between Brazil, Colombia, Japan and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand in what it said was the “most competitive bidding process” in the event’s 29-year history. None of the bidding nations have staged the event before.

The hosts were originally due to be chosen at a FIFA Council meeting in Addis Ababa in June but that was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“FIFA remains committed to implementing the most comprehensive, objective and transparent bidding process in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, said FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura.

FIFA said its evaluation report on the four bids will be published in early June. South Korea and South Africa dropped out of the race in December.

The 2023 tournament will feature 32 teams for the first time, up from 24 in France in 2019.

Grave says CWI ‘optimistic’ ...

From back page would be no professional sport played until June 1 at the earliest.

Grave acknowledged the UK situation was a fluid one which the ECB was continuing to monitor carefully, while also keeping CWI apprised.

“It’s changing and evolving all the time. I don’t know which version we’re on of the medical plan but there are several iterations of it,” the Englishman said.

“The players would basically be in a bubble and certainly from the point of arrival in the UK, they would be very much isolated from anyone who doesn’t need to be in direct contact with them the entire length of the tour.

“We’ve said to the ECB we would want four weeks of preparation before the first Test … and we’re looking at three back-to-back Test matches. It would be seven weeks of pretty much training at the ground, staying at the ground and very much being isolated within that hotel environment.”

CWI this week identified 30 players who would possibly make the trip, a “logistical” decision to ensure the board was prepared in case the tour went ahead.

Grave said he remained “optimistic” the tour could proceed once the UK situation remained stable and the ECB secured government’s approval.

“Actually I’m optimistic and I said before, it’s in everyone’s interest to get the live sport back being played because without it, broadcasters won’t pay and sponsors won’t pay if we’re not delivering the live product,” he said.

“The ECB has got a long way to go to get UK government approval to be absolutely certain that ‘bio-secure’ cricket will work, and then logistically here (in the Caribbean), you’re going to have players across at least eight or nine countries all with different levels of restrictions in terms of COVID-19.

“Logistically to get the players all to one airport and then probably out on one plane is going to be a logical challenge but certainly not insurmountable, and I think certainly if everything goes well and we don’t get spikes of outbreaks or any kind of adverse news … I think we have a right to be optimistic.”

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

Serena Williams (REUTERS) - The ATP Tour and International Tennis Federation (ITF) have extended their suspensions of professional tennis until July 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they said on Friday.

The ATP and WTA announced in April that they were suspending all tournaments until July 13, with the WTA saying on Friday it had further suspended four events due to be held in July.

The WTA added that it will provide an update in June on the tournaments scheduled for the latter half of July.

The WTA Rogers Cup, which had been scheduled for Augist 7-16 in Montreal, had already been postponed to 2021 after Quebec government prohibited holding events until August 31, 2020.

ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag, Atlanta and Kitzbuhel will not go ahead as scheduled, while WTA events in Bastad, Lausanne, Bucharest and Jurmala scheduled for July will not be held.

“Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we regret to announce our decision to extend the suspension of the Tour,” ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement here

ATP, WTA, ITF extend suspensions due to COVID-19 pandemic “We continue to assess all of our options in an effort to resume the Tour as soon as it is safe to do so, including the feasibility of rescheduling events later in the season.”

While for tournament owners it is a blow, the decision was hardly unexpected.

The Croatia Open in the picturesque setting of Umag on the Adriatic is one of the most popular ATP tournaments and is in the process of improving the showcourt named after former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic.

“I believe that all of us will feel a bit empty without Stella Maris (the name of the venue) and its July buzz,” tournament director Lawrence Frankopan said.

“But the health and safety of our players and fans are the most important. This cancellation is an even bigger reason for all of us to feel excited about July 2021 and the 31st edition of the tournament.”

Organisers of the Austrian Open in Kitzbuhel said they were looking at rescheduling the claycourt tournament for September while Hamburg organisers were “focussing on a possible postponement of the tournament.”

“We have to closely monitor the rapidly evolving situation related to COVID-19

and we will wait for the next decisions of the ATP and the ITF regarding the North American swing, in particular the U.S. Open,” Hamburg tournament director Sandra Reichel said in a statement.

The Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island has been cancelled and organisers said the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 induction ceremony will not take place. Spain’s Conchita Martinez and Ivanisevic will now be inducted in 2021.

The WTA said in a statement that it would make a decision on tournaments in Palermo and Karlsruhe, which were to begin on July 20 and 28 respectively, when the announcements to its revised calendar are made in June.

The ITF said all events - including ITF Juniors, Seniors, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Beach Tennis Tour and the men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour - would be suspended.

However, the ITF suspensions will not affect any of the Grand Slams with Wimbledon having already been cancelled for the first time since World War II. The U.S. Open is scheduled to begin on August 24 while the postponed French Open is now due to start on September 20.

In Haiti, football world backs federation boss accused of rape PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — At a training facility outside the Haitian capital, where young female football players are living under a coronavirus lockdown, the atmosphere is heavy, following allegations that the head of the sport’s national federation raped several teenage girls there.

But at the academy—once a ranch owned by Haiti’s former strongman Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier — players and staff are largely on Yves Jean-Bart’s side, calling him a father figure.

“President Jean-Bart is like a father to us all...he loves and respects everyone,” says Yvette Felix, a 38-year-old former national team captain who has worked as a coach since 2006.

The claims stem from a report by The Guardian, in which the alleged victims and their relatives said the 73-year-old Jean-Bart had raped or sexually assaulted them over the past five years.

Several alleged victims —who said they were pressured to keep quiet — told the British newspaper that at least two minors were forced to have abortions to cover up rapes.

Haitian police have launched a probe into the allegations, first revealed late last month, and a judge has already summoned several federation employees to answer questions.

Two women’s advocacy groups, SOFA and Kay Fanm, have issued a statement in support of the alleged victims.

Nevertheless, at the Haitian Football Federation centre, which was founded after the devastating 2010 earthquake, multiple people told AFP they were shocked by the claims.

“The president treats us like his own children. I don’t think that all that really happened. I don’t believe it,”

Immense value of sports will be realised post COVID-19 … lack of sports disrupting finance, entertainment industries

By Clifton Ross SPORTS has taken its first-ever hiatus, isolating itself from fans and athletes alike, resulting in a chaotic situation which has been plaguing the financial as well as the entertainment world for roughly two months.

COVID-19 spared no expense as the novel pandemic virus has spun the world into a post-apocalyptic way of living. It has been close to two months and no live sports have been played anywhere on earth since the global lockdown came into effect.

The negative result has left things in a financial rut for most if not all, taking into consideration the trillions of dollars used to bail out the flustering economy in the United States, primarily.

The athletes have also taken a blow as some of them were forced to take pay cuts while some other leagues have managed to cover their players over a significant period, resulting in consequential fiscal backlashes.

Most leagues and associations have

now been staring at bankruptcy since choosing to put their stars first. Bodies such as Cricket West Indies (CWI) and other regional as well as international authorities are under financial pressure as most of their tours and tournaments have been either cancelled or are being currently monitored.

However, it is the fans who have suffered the most from this as they have been the catalyst behind the money-making cash cow which is the sports industry.

Also, the fans are the ones who have been more robbed of their recreational time, being forced to watch reruns of sports or find other less popular means of passing the time.

Lack of fan support, due to quarantine and social-distancing rules, has also created a boring atmospheric world for those who use cricket, basketball, football, golf or contact sports like professional wrestling, the UFC (Mixed martial arts) and boxing as a way to unwind or in the athletes case; a means of earning their livelihood.

The indefinite pause has cast uncertain-

ty and fear for team owners, players, investors, stakeholders and shareholders alike.

Should coronavirus linger for a more indefinite period and should the infection as well as the mortality rate continue to spike as it has been, it will be left to see how fast the economic and social damage continue to spread globally and the results.

It will also be interesting to see how the athletes respond to such uncertainty of not being able to earn income due to lack of sports or lack of fans at events, which suffice for a mega aspect of income; due to any health fears or regulations.

Sports has also been used as a tool to keep youths on the right path or to help heal one’s troubles by helping them find alternative ways to have fun or as in contemporary times to earn an honest way of living.

In conclusion, the subtraction of sports from the world has certainly created a ripple effect which, if not fixed, could spiral terribly out of control and will take an immense global, financial effort to be resolved.

said one 12-year-old female player, who has lived at the facility since December.

In the wider sports community in the Port-au-Prince area, the view of Jean-Bart as a father figure spans generations.

He has led the country’s football federation for two decades. His re-election in February for a sixth term was a mere formality. He ran unopposed.

Reached by telephone, Jean-Bart categorically denied all allegations against him.

“This is an insult to the nation,” he said, adding that he planned to file a complaint in Paris against the French journalist who co-wrote the Guardian piece.

“He defamed our country. He left a stain on our flag.

He insulted the girls.”

Football is revered in Haiti, and has given the impoverished Caribbean nation a few moments in the international spotlight.

For some, attacking Jean-Bart —often referred to by his nickname, “Dadou” — is akin to attacking the country as a whole.

After the Guardian article was published, several players organised a protest at the training camp. Photos of them circulated on the Internet.

“We made signs to say ‘Stop sullying our image, stop sullying the image of the nation’,” explained Kerly Theus, the 21-year-old goalkeeper for the women’s national team.

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SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

CWI boss says more money needed to improve women’s cricket PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — In order for West Indies’ female cricketers to be better prepared for competition, improve their performance and get bigger salaries, the women’s game needs to attract more investment, says Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Ricky Skerritt.

And he has hinted at changes to come.

Speaking on i95FM Sports here, Skerritt agreed there was need for more competitive cricket for the women to improve their fitness, and therefore their playing, and acknowledged the disparity in pay between professionals working with the West Indies men’s and women’s squads.

But he stressed that “the problem still is that women’s cricket needs money, it needs investment”.

Flashback: Windies women celebrate their first World Cup title in 2016.

“It needs a lot of things but it needs investment. More cricket needs to be played regionally. The players come back from a tour, they go home for a little while…most

of the players end up not doing much work.

They go back to a preparation camp, go off on another tour, and a lot of the times they come back perhaps hav-

ing lost fitness because there is no big set of cricket that they can enter into when they go home,” he said.

Skerritt said he had also discovered that there was

“quite a gap” between the level of pay for coaches, managers, physiotherapists and other professionals working with the men’s team and women’s team.

“Some people with the same skill are getting less pay with the women’s team, so some of the professionals didn’t really want to work with the women’s team. Not because they don’t want to work with the women, but because they’re gonna get paid less than if they got a job with the men’s team. All of that has to change and for that to change, you need money,” he said.

“So, there’re a lot of intrinsic problems which are not going to be fixed overnight.”

The CWI boss said efforts were ongoing to increase pay for West Indies Women cricketers, noting that process had started even before his

administration took office in March 2019.

Skerritt disclosed that CWI’s Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams had a report pending on women’s cricket and shared that “there will be some things happening relative to women’s cricket that might sound a little bit different”.

West Indies Women won their first T20 World Cup title in 2016 but failed in their title defence in 2018 when they struck out at the semi-final stage.

Then earlier this year they won just one of their four group matches — beating minnows Thailand in their opener before losing to Pakistan, England and South Africa — to finish third in the preliminaries of the tournament and miss out on the semi-finals for the first time in six appearances.

No retainers approved as yet: Grave

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Cricket West Indies (CWI) has not received any recommendations for the award of new central contracts for the coming year, chief executive Johnny Grave has said.

Attempting to put to rest speculation on social media that West Indies Test vice-captain Kraigg Brathwaite had not been issued a retainer, Grave said CWI had not yet approved a list for the new period starting July 1.

“The Board is waiting on the recommendations from

the Financial Strategy Advisory Committee before deciding on when new contracts will be issued,” the Englishman told Barbados Today online here.

“All current contracts expire on the 30th of June 2020, with new contracts due to start on July 1.”

A social media post from a senior Barbados Cricket Association official earlier this week sparked debate over Brathwaite’s future, especially in light of his poor form with the bat over the last 18 months.

The obdurate right-

hander, the most senior player in the current squad with 59 Tests, has averaged 12 in his 10 Tests dating back to 2018.

He also struggled in the recent domestic first class championship, garnering just 468 runs at an average of 33, without a single hundred, and three half-centuries from 15 innings.

In fact, Brathwaite averaged 25 at the start of the eighth and final round but struck 48 and an unbeaten 84 against deposed champions Guyana Jaguars, to improve his record for the season.

The 27-year-old Brathwaite, who made his debut as a 19-year-old nine years ago, has emerged as West Indies’ leading opener but has now seen his Test average plummet to a modest 33.

Grave said under CWI policy, senior team players not awarded an international contract would not be left in the cold.

“If any international contracted players lose their contract, they are automatically offered a grade A contract for the next year, which is the highest level franchise

England series in CWI best interests, says Bishop PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Well-respected television broadcaster Ian Bishop believes it would be in the best financial interests of Cricket West Indies (CWI) and regional players, to take up the England and Wales Cricket Board’s offer of the three-Test series in the United Kingdom this July.

The series was postponed from the original June 4-29 dates because of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, but now seems poised to go ahead under a new set of radical suite of safety proposals aimed at mitigating against the health threat.

“I don’t know that the West Indies board can afford to go for prolonged periods with inactivity. I think that would be the death of them financially and by extension the players around the region will suffer greatly, as have most people in this country and around the world,” Bishop told i95FM Radio here.

“I know that sports seem like a back

burner (issue) to many when so many have been losing their jobs but … sport is not a game. Sport is a job and career as well for all of these players and the people surrounding it.

“So if it happens, I think it would be a good thing as long as it happens safely. I don’t want to put anybody’s life at risk.”

Reports emerged last week that CWI had identified a 30-man training squad for the tour, though the governing body subsequently clarified this was only to “help with the planning and logistics of flying to the UK” in the event the series was approved.

Under ECB proposals, the tour would be played at “bio-secure” facilities like Manchester, Southampton and Leeds which boast hotels on location.

Teams would also undergo strict isolation, quarantine and testing protocols, prior to and during the series.

Bishop, who played 43 Tests between

1989 and 1998, said he believed both CWI and ECB would only proceed with the tour after getting the best medical advice possible.

“First of all, I believe that the cricket boards will be guided by the medical personnel. So for (the tour) to happen, it means they would have had to be clearance from the medical people,” said the 52-year-old.

“I speak under the proviso that the medical folk have given it a pass. I am not going to circumvent people’s health for the sake of money.”

The UK has been one of the hardest hit regions with 237 000 infections and nearly 34 000 deaths. The outbreak forced the ECB to postpone the start of its domestic season until May 28.

Bishop said it was important cricket officials understood the fluid nature of the pandemic and made the requisite adjustments.

contract,” Grave explained.

A similar situation arose four years ago when Darren Bravo rejected an international contract, after being downgraded to a ‘C’ grade retainer.

At the time, then CWI president Dave Cameron rejected seniority as a basis for the award of high-grade contracts, pointing out that it was up to players to determine their contract based on the quality of performance.

“All we are saying is that you write your own contract. At the start of the season you are told what averages you need to have, volume of runs, volume of

CWI chief executive Johnny Grave wickets, behaviours, whatever. It’s up to you,” Cameron had said at the height of the Bravo controversy.

CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Sunday May 17, 2020) COMPLIMENTS OF XTRA ENERGY DRINK – STABROEK BAZAAR (Tel-683-9500) & CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL COMPANY LTD- 83 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown (Tel: 225-6158)

Answers to yesterday’s quiz:

(1) Alok Kapali (vs PAK, Peshawar, 2003) (2) Jermaine Lawson-6/3 (Dhaka, 2002)

Today’s Quiz:

(1) Which BANG wicketkeeper has effected most dismissals against the WI in Tests to date?

(2) Which WI wicketkeeper has effected most dismissals against BANG in Tests to date?

Answers in tomorrow’s issue

31

SUNDAY CHRONICLE May 17, 2020

Guyana to host prestigious CARIFTA ... 50th edition Games for the first time confirmed by NACAC

By Ras Wadada

PRESIDENT of the North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Area Association of World Athletics, Mike Sands, sees a big opportunity for Guyana as host for the 50th edition of the Caribbean’s Premier athletics championship – CARIFTA Games.

The Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), despite being a guest member of the 36-nation NACAC, has been given the greenlight to stage the event which has evolved to become the most looked-forward-to Junior Athletics showpiece of the world.

The annual pride and joy of the Caribbean which began with 11 countries in Barbados in 1972 continues to be the platform for lots of world famous athletes, chief among them the fastest sprinter to have graced a track, Jamaican Usain Bolt.

And while there is continuous moaning and groaning as well as cancellations and postponements of proceedings due to the current Global Pandemic COVID-19, AAG can smile with a sigh of relief since the Games have now been pushed back to the customary Easter weekend by a year. The staging of the 49th version is now, tentatively, set for next year in Bermuda and the 50th here, at the Leonora Track and Field Stadium in 2022.

The two-time Bahamas Olympian (1972 and 1976), Sands, who was voted in as the head of NACAC last year, visited Guyana earlier this year and confirmed that he is satisfied with the accommodation and track facilities though he hinted that his only concern is the warm-up track at Leonora on the West Coast of Demerara.

Thirty-one countries have got voting rights as full members of NACAC while five, including Guyana, are Associate Members. Guyana is one of four countries that signed the Dickenson Bay agreement on December 15, 1965 to establish the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), with Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago being the other

President of the (NACAC) Mike Sands signatories.

Seven years later CARIFTA became CARICOM (Caribbean Community) and as part of the transition, the-then president of the Barbados Athletics Association, Austin Sealey, his Trinidadian counterpart Dr Jesse Noel and his compatriot Rawle Raphael birthed the idea of the Junior CARIFTA Games to mark the occasion.

“We cannot dismiss what the Games have done for the region and NACAC taking over the organising and responsibility of the Games is the best thing that happened to the Games as we make financial contribution to each edition of the Games which was inaugurated in Barbados, April 1-4, 1972 and from that time it has been held every Easter weekend.

This is the first year the Games, which caters to age categories in Boys and Girls U-17 and U-20, has been postponed and

regrettably so I must add. These Games are now considered as one of the best organised sporting events in the world and some of the greatest athletes of the world announced their arrival at these Games including Jamaican Usain Bolt”, the 65-year-old Sands, who is a graduate of the Penn State University, told Chronicle Sport via WhatsApp. “The Global Pandemic has had a very negative impact on the games and continues to have a negative impact simply because there is such a level of uncertainty … it’s so unlike a storm which you know will not last forever and you know you will get back to normalcy, but the problem is that this current storm has such a devastating effect that you can only plan in theory and the question is how do you rebuild since all meets and athletes’ preparations are affected and when it’s over you still don’t know what travel restrictions will be like … it’s a long process getting back to normalcy and all we can do now is plan on paper,” Sands explained.

“The question of lifting the age barrier by a year for the postponed 49th edition is coming up more and more and we have not addressed it in its entirety. There is a school of thought by some that we make an exception for this one time and there is also another school of thought that it will create problems.

“My position is that we are in the business of promoting our sport and not trying to disenfranchise any athlete so we have to carefully await the decision of the executive and the NACAC membership.

“It will have to be addressed and I assure you because the question is coming up by member Federations and the press so it has to be a matter to be addressed in its entirety and we have to weigh the pros and the cons because every action has a reaction; but we have to make sure at the end of the day that the membership understands what they are being asked to consider.

“It must be clear as it is like amending a constitution whereby you have to understand what you are doing because you do not want to

set a precedent you cannot maintain even though this is an exceptional circumstance. Hopefully it will be settled in an amicable way where all are satisfied,” Sands explained.

“There were sentimental reasons for Barbados to host the 50th but they declined and Guyana offered to host and we will be working hand-in-hand with Guyana and the LOC to ensure we have a successful 50th. They can rely on us for the necessary support as this is a big edition of the Games and I am sure Guyana will be up to the task of making it happen.

“We visited the track and the only concern is the warm up area which we will work on and we are also pleased with the accommodation available. We are partners in this to make sure we have a high quality 50th Games in Guyana.

We will provide a Competition grant which is not a lot but we will sit down with the AAG after the budget is ready and work closely with them.

There is big economic boost for the country because you are talking over 700 athletes, families and friends and lots of International coaches as well. I will encourage all to get on board and become partners with the AAG since it is hosting for the first time and a lot of people will be coming.

The Games have firmly established that lots of US College coaches attend to offer scholarships and recruit athletes. These are just some of the positive ways the country stands to benefit as Guyana will be showcased to the world. Definitely a positive economic impact the Games will bring to the host country; so it is especially important for the partnering among the Government, sponsors and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to make this a success,” the NACAC boss stated.

“There is only one 50th Anniversary so there should be a collaborative effort by all and sundry to make this the biggest edition.

This is the biggest Track and Field sports event of the Region and Guyana has the ideal See page 27

CBC basketball officially over for 2020 ALL tournaments planned for this year by the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) have been blown off until 2021.

President of CBC, Glyne Clarke, said that the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has mandated that all championships this year including those hosted by the CBC be suspended.

Clarke explained that going forward they would monitor closely what is happening around the world because even though they are planning to have those tournaments played sometime next year, there were no guarantees that the host countries would be ready.

“We will be monitoring to see how the world is recovering and it is subject to the governmental restrictions this will have on countries. Even though we may restart, some

countries might not be in a position to start as well.

“We are actually in the process of sending out some communication to the member countries, not only to check on their state of readiness but in terms of being able to play and what the government restrictions are.

“In terms of financing, as you know many of the Caribbean countries depend heavily on assistance from the government in their competitions. So it is how well they are able to recover and to get the funding both governmental and corporate to help the teams to compete,” he said.

During a recent meeting, Clarke noted that the CBC management had decided to use this time to do some online training, particularly for the coaches.

“We have already started from the Americas doing

some virtual programs like Zoom and so on with coaching at different levels. But what we are going to be doing too at the Caribbean level is working on developing our mini-league coaches and the mini-league programs, and also doing some training for the referees and table officials.

“We are capitalising on the downtime to make sure people get the training and in many areas now people are more receptive now to doing training online than before.

This also saves some cost as well,” he said.

Clarke who is also chairman for the FIBA Americas Competitions Commission noted that among the events called off this year were the women’s championship which is a qualifier for the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, the Under-15, 17 and18 Cen-

tral Baskets for junior boys and girls. Then there is the FIBA 2023 Caribbean qualifier.

Every year CBC, a subsub-zone of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), has a packed schedule. Clarke explained that each year there were different qualifying championships within the zone.

According to the CBC president, one of the challenges they are usually faced with was hosting junior and senior championships in the same year. He also said it was dependent on the country’s ability to participate.

“We’ve had lots of challenges especially in the junior category. The last junior championship we had was an under-18 in Guyana back in 2016. So the challenge is when you have a junior championship like an under-16, 18

in the same year as a senior championship.

“That’s the challenge we are having, we have lots of countries who are interested in competing in the senior championship, the Women’s Caribbean Cup and the men’s pre-qualifiers. The challenge is getting teams to play both . We find that in many cases when it comes to senior championships that a lot of countries opt to play in the senior championship and leave out the junior championship.

So it is always a challenge when we have to host two championships in a year,” he said.

To avoid such a challenge, Clarke explained that when CBC sends out its bid to host, they ask countries to host both males and females.

“When we give people the opportunity they choose to host the men. The men are

CBC president Glyne Clarke more competitive, they draw bigger crowds and are better able to manage the championship because they would get the receipts from the men’s championship.

We found that over the years in the women’s championship, the spectatorship is not as big as the men’s,” he said. (Reprinted from Barbados Today).

Dortmund players celebrate after the match in Germany, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (Martin Meissner/Pool via REUTERS)

Dortmund explode back into action as Bundesliga restarts with no fans

By Karolos Grohmann (REUTERS) - Borussia Dortmund provided much-needed fireworks with a 4-0 demolition of bitter rivals Schalke 04 yesterday after the German league restarted in front of empty stands after a suspension of over two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bundesliga is the first major soccer league to return to action since the virus earlier this year shut down sports; and its return in a country that still has hundreds of positive virus cases a day is being closely watched by other leagues.

With a strict health protocol governing the fragile restart, which includes no fans, face masks for everyone but the players, no handshakes and no group celebrations, it was up to title hopefuls Dortmund, who face leaders Bayern Munich in 10 days’ time, to find a spark badly missing in the eerily empty ground.

The Ruhr valley club, in second place,

scored the first goal of the match-day after nearly half an hour when teenager Erling Haaland connected with a Thorgan Hazard cutback.

The exciting 19-year-old Norway striker, who knocked in his 13th goal in 12 appearances for Dortmund in all competitions, picked up exactly where he left off in March.

He has already gone to the top of the transfer wish list of every major European club and, with an expected audience of a billion for the Bundesliga this weekend, his immediate return to scoring will have only enhanced his already stellar reputation.

Portuguese midfielder Raphael Guerreiro added two more goals and Belgium international Hazard also got on the scoresheet as Dortmund climbed to 54 points, one behind defending champions Bayern, who are in action at Union Berlin today.

When Schalke brought on Timo Becker to replace Jonjoe Kenny in the 87th minute at the 80,000-capacity Signal Iduna Park it was the first time in Bundesliga

history a team had made five substitutions after FIFA announced the temporary rule change.

MUTED CELEBRATIONS Goal celebrations around the Bundesliga yesterday were limited to smiles, thumbs-up and the occasional fist or elbow bump as mask-wearing substitutes, dispersed in the stands to keep them apart, applauded from the sidelines.

The league’s strict health and safety rules had already claimed their first victims, with Augsburg coach Heiko Herrlich and Union’s Urs Fischer having been banned from the bench after they left the seven-day pre-match mandatory squad isolation.

While Dortmund’s comfortable victory cranked up the pressure on leaders Bayern, third-placed RB Leipzig suffered a major setback in their title challenge when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Freiburg.

Leipzig, who used airplane stairs in the stadium to keep their substitutes in the stands

and at a safe distance from the bench, are now on 51 points, four behind Bayern who visit lowly Union Berlin today.

Hertha Berlin coach Bruno Labbadia enjoyed a winning debut as his side enjoyed a 3-0 victory at Hoffenheim that moved them further away from the relegation zone and into 11th place.

VfL Wolfsburg reignited their hopes of Europa League football next season with a 2-1 win at Augsburg courtesy of Daniel Ginczek’s stoppage-time winner that moved them up to sixth on 39.

Fans across the country followed police orders to stay away from the stadiums, including at the Ruhr derby, as the league tries to finish the season for contractual reasons

by June 30.

With a poll for German state broadcaster ARD showing 56% of Germans consider the restart at this stage to be wrong, the league will aim to complete the last eight Bundesliga match-days with as few problems and controversies as possible.

Grave says CWI ‘optimistic’ ahead of second ECB meeting ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) – Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are scheduled to meet again tomorrow to hammer out further details, in an effort to ensure the three-Test tour of the United Kingdom comes off amidst the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to CWI chief executive, John-

ny Grave, the two boards had a productive first meeting two weeks ago which included all the key stakeholders from captains to chief medical officers.

But with the situation in the UK – one of the hardest hit regions – still evolving, Grave said CWI was expecting a further update on planning for the series from the ECB, especially with the UK government

See story on page 28

FIFA to choose 2023 women’s World Cup hosts on June 25

FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura

Plans are on the table for West Indies to face England in three-Test series announcing an ease in lockdown measures this week which could see sport resume behind closed doors.

The series would be the first of its kind to be played at “bio-secure” venues and involves strict quarantine and social distancing protocols, and Grave conceded the experience would be a novel one for players, officials and administrators.

However, he cautioned that despite the ongoing planning, both sides were still “a long way off” on deciding if the tour should go ahead.

“We’ve got to get back playing cricket and the cricketers pretty much across the Caribbean have been in complete lockdown in 24-hour curfews, are champing at the bit

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to get back playing the game they love,” Grave said.

“We’re not going to rush it but it is going to be very, very different, and we’re a long way off being able to confirm whether the tour will happen or not.”

The UK has recorded 237 000 infections and nearly 34 000 deaths but authorities believe the infections have passed their peak.

Earlier this week, government announced an ease in the lockdowns which would see a partial reopening of parks and some businesses.

However, government also said there See page 28 SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020