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Friday Sept. 24, 2021

DIVISION IS A MAJOR PROBLEM ON GLOBAL STAGE —IRFAAN ALI

CANE HARVESTER CRUSHED AT UITVLUGT

PALMS STAFF PROTEST, RESIDENTS SUFFER

Friday Sept. 21, 2021

DIVISION IS A MAJOR PROBLEM ON GLOBAL STAGE —IRFAAN ALI

President Irfaan Ali this morning addressed the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly and used the occasion to address the issue of division, which has only caused many

problems around the world.

The UN General Assembly is a main policy-making organ of the Organization which accommodates all Member States

and provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations.

There are 193 member

states. Sessions are held annually.

President Ali used the forum to bring the attention of the assembly to issues affecting Guyana and the world.

One of such is division,

which will not help the future of all but will incur devastating results.

President Ali said the division among countries even at a time where the need for a collective effort to fight the COVID-19 Pandemic is needed.

President Ali who started off his speech on the unity of our countries said that while we continue to face the global pandemic, it has exposed how we are divided more and more. In all the years we remain divided for our own selfish reasons.

“After all these 76 years, since the founding of the United Nations, it is not the collective wellbeing of our one planet and our one humanity which motivates us; it is selfish national interests that drive us.

“And, in pursuit of that selfish nationalism,

PALMS STAFF PROTEST, RESIDENTS SUFFER

Palms Nurse of the Elderly, yesterday staged a protest outside of the home over-vaccination requirement for staff

Palms Geriatric Institution is set to operate at a disadvantage.

A majority of its staff, including Nurse of the Elderly, yesterday staged a protest outside of the home over-vaccination requirement for staff and the way in which the home is being managed.

Staff, both vaccinated and unvaccinated today who insisted that working condition remains in at an inconsiderate and as such, staff of the institution decided to protest the outside of the building in hopes that they will be changed.

Armed with placards the group, including those

that are not vaccinated and those vaccinated, protested the general manner in which the institution is managed, as the group to protest the home and noted that until there is change and their issues are addressed.

“We have been locked out for being unvaccinated even though, we worked two weeks now with COVID-19 cases, which have been isolated right in the palms and we were working with them.

“So, now that everybody has recovered, they have decided to lock out the nurses. So, if you don’t have a vaccination card you can’t go in.

“However, some of my colleagues have been vaccinated; all of us who are out there, some of us have vaccination cards, while some of us are exempt. We have a new deputy who would not wait until staff comes to verify and see who was vaccinated, and who was unvaccinated, who would have passed in. The heads came very early and told the security to lock the gate,” said Nurse, Rhonda Valentine.

Nurse Valentine explained that over time staff have been complaining about the state in which they function at the facility

and with an angry administration.

The vaccination requirement, they felt, came as a direct reaction to them being vocal about their issues.

Ms. Valentine said that with that consensus from those who are unvaccinated and vaccinated, they felt that they would use the opportunity to first stand together and secondly, use the time to air the issues that they face in the home.

“We have a lot of issues going on in here, issues we brought up in a meeting that we had Monday and as a result of that, the Deputy and the acting administrator took offence.

“We heard about the lockout which should have been yesterday after the meeting but they did it (Wednesday) and you can see that it was premeditated because the deputy came in, let’s say minutes to 6 am and she brought persons to work in the kitchen because she knows she would have

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already locked out the head cook and assistant head cook,” Nurse Valentine explained.

According to the staff, the issues that bother them are the requirement if you want to go out the gate you have to get a pass if you want to use the washroom you have to seek permission.

Additionally, the staff said that the administration is lying to them about which patients are COVID-19 positive and they are being exposed to these patients since they are told to attend to each elderly person.

The protesting staff also said that they would need new protective wear to then treat the patient but protection is not provided. The staff also complained that the Deputy was being very disrespectful to them when speaking to them.

The staff also explained that over Institution is also not looking at the wellbeing of its staff when they are

we overlook the truth of our shared cohabitation on one planet, one Earth, and we ignore the reality that what affects one, affects all,” President Ali said.

The President pointed to the issues around the world that have either resulted in innocent lives lost the deterioration of the planet, or the creation of more issues. This, he said, must be addressed in order for us to move forward.

The President insisted that more and more the pandemic has revealed this division and as result, those lives are lost and more nations continue to suffer.

President Ali expressed that in order to fix the world and its issues, we first must deal with the division among ourselves

injured or have a medical condition.

The staff said that they continue to work under stress and today was the breaking point.

With many of the staff outside, the ones who protested said that their issues must be addressed since they are already understaffed.

“We only have four PCA in their working wards now and they have instructed the maids to assist in sharing meals to the residents.

However, we don’t have anybody on the ward to administer medication, and provide tidying care for the residents because everyone is outside,” Nurse Valentine noted The staff insisted that they planned to protest until things have changed with the institution.

The protest has so far sparked an emergency meeting with the administration to discuss the way forward. The outcome of that meeting is set to be announced within 24 hours.

CANE HARVESTER CRUSHED AT UITVLUGT

Friday Sept. 21, 2021

Six months after Ricardo Fagundes killing His household stages protest over police silence

A Cane Harvester’s family from the Uitvlugt Estate is mourning his demise after he was crushed to death by an excavator while picking up the cane.

The dead man has been identified as 62-year-old Deochand Lallchand of Patentia Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara.

The incident occurred Wednesday just around 10:30 hours.

Reports are that at the time of the incident, Excavator Operator,

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Vickram Seepersaud, was driving in the fields nearby where Lallchand was working in the estate backdam, Seepersaud reportedly backed up suddenly and started to reverse east at a slow rate of speed without stopping. The now-dead Deochand was behind the excavator.

The excavator track then crushed Lallchand’s feet causing him to fall to the ground and the excavator rolled over him crushing his body.

Lallchand was picked up and escorted by the police to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where he was examined by a doctor on duty who pronounced him dead on arrival.

His body was later escorted to Ezekiel Funeral Home for storage awaiting post mortem examination.

The excavator operator was arrested and placed into custody as the further investigation continues.

The family of the Fagundes staged a vigil/ protest outside Palm Court

It has been months since gold dealer and close friend of drug convict, Shaheed Roger Khan, Ricardo Fagundes, was gunned down just after he exited the Palm Court Bar on Main Street, Georgetown.

To date, the Guyana Police Force has not named a suspect nor has anyone been charged.

The family of the Fagundes staged a vigil/ protest and declared that the force know who killed Fagundes.

Fagundes was murdered in a hail of bullets after exiting the Palm Court to take a phone call back in March.

While taking the call Fagundes was met by two men who exited a white wagon on the opposite side of the road and opened fire on him.

Fagundes was reportedly shot close to 10 times and died on the spot.

Since the killing, those who may have been behind the killings were never brought to face prosecution and as such, the family last night, six months after his death, held a vigil/protest at the spot where he was killed.

They said that they are fed up. They feel the force knows who are the killers but has chosen to cover up the murder.

“I think in April, two

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times we went up to Eve Leary and nothing up to now. It is time. They are overdoing it now. They know and they are not doing anything about it,” Ricardo’s mother, Carol Fagundes, related.

Ms. Fagundes added that the way in which the matter is being handled suggests a cover-up.

“I think it’s a cover-up because just so they killing people and it wiping off, just like that. We need some kind of answer.

“It is not fair. It six months now; he didn’t do anybody anything, no wrong. He more would help people than do

continues to have sleepless nights.

“We can’t take it like this. Every day you have to cry,” Ms. Fagundes noted.

Closure, Ms. Fagundes maintained, will come even if the person who paid to have her son killed contact her or the police and admit to the crime.

Since the night Fagundes has killed surveillance footage from the area was used but was not enough to point to the killers.

Some said that Fagundes was killed in a well-lit environment and thus far no one has faced

The family of the Fagundes staged a vigil/ protest outside Palm Court

people wrong things. So, I don’t know why they killed him. They can’t find the killer. they can’t find anything. Is time we need justice.” Ms. Fagundes added.

She further noted that it is time to close the chapter in their books by finding the killers.

According to the mother, the family

a murder charge.

Later 40-year old Rondell ‘Killa’ Bacchus was held in connection in the murder but was released.

Thus far little is known of the case since the force has been silent on the matter and has not given any updates on the investigation in the months after the killing.

Friday Sept. 24, 2021

SHUNNING PROFESSIONALISM FOR POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY

Adam’s note book

Guyana is probably the country with an abundance of talented people. The reality is that the man in the street does not see these talented people.

In fact, older people are now wondering whether it would not be long before mediocrity becomes the new norm.

The government must have determined that there was more than enough talent to keep the wheels of the country turning because it quickly removed some of the talented people who were in the system.

It then set about replacing them with people it feels comfortable with. Of course, some of these new employees are the beneficiaries of elections promises.

I listened to the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams, talking about his removal from office.

Undoubtedly, he has been the most qualified head of the EPA. He resurrected a dead agency at a time when Guyana is preparing to become an oil-producing nation. He spoke of the

EPA is a revolving door for staff members who simply wanted a stepping stone.

The result is that precious little got done.

In fact, the EPA was largely ignored by all and sundry. It was merely required to rubber-stamp certain government pronouncements.

Vincent Adams changed that to the point where the EPA began to make an impact on national life.

It challenged Exxon Mobil to do the right thing by paying for its indiscretions in the industry. It flared gas to the extent that the environment was threatened. The Vincent Adams-led EPA made the company pay. It even threatened to take the company to court for some other indiscretion.

That has changed.

I am left to wonder whether Dr. Adams’s removal was due to pressure on the government.

Of course, the government claimed that Dr. Vincent Adams was a political appointee. It did not stop to consider that Dr. Adams had responded to an advertisement

for the job, that he was interviewed by a panel, and that he was the most qualified applicant.

There is a new Director of the Environmental Protection Agency but the EPA is once more a toothless poodle.

In fact, it has lapsed into obscurity and the government seems content. At least it does not have to pacify Exxon Mobil.

It is the same in numerous other areas. In the field of communication, English has all but disappeared.

There is no relationship between subject and verb, no question of tense, and of course, pronunciation is no more a sign of knowledge.

There are new heads in radio, television, newspaper, and public information, all chosen by the government.

The COVID-19 situation is horrible. I am not sure whether it is due to the absence of a national plan or simply a case of Guyanese bad luck. Not so long ago I complained that people were no longer dying by the twos but by the fours.

I should have shut my mouth. People are dying

in droves. More than 100 people will die this month.

The irony is that the government is linking the deaths to the vaccination. You die if you are unvaccinated.

But people also die if they are vaccinated. That is when the government talks about underlying conditions.

The records will show that about 60 percent of the population is either diabetic, hypertensive, or both. Most of us have underlying conditions.

So vaccination or not we are likely to die if infected. At least the Minister of Health said as much when two fully vaccinated people died from COVID-related illness.

Yet, there is the drive for everyone to be vaccinated. I am vaccinated.

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There is talk about herd immunity. There will be no herd immunity because the variants are different from the original virus. But we can only hope that there will be some protection against COVID. The authorities are saying that wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing is not enough.

There is another issue that I find worrying.

There was the COVID relief distribution.

Some people got and many did not. Both President Irfaan Ali and the Opposition Leader called for an audit. The Auditor-General has come back to say that COVID has impacted his ability to audit the distribution.

So as long as there is COVID-19 there can be no successful audit.

Many dishonest people would be able to escape.

However, this should not be the end of the audit. My belief is that even if the auditors take two years, they must complete this audit. A lot of money was voted for the relief.

It is now the same thing with the flood relief. A lot of money has been set aside. Some people are complaining that they have been badly assessed.

If indeed COVID is a limiting factor, how could anyone be successfully assessed?

But the Agriculture Minister says that he would correct the situation.

Would he go into the fields to visit every affected farmer despite COVID? He may wish to take the Auditor General with him.

Friday Sept. 24, 2021

CH&PA Launches Block-Making Workshop

even as the COVID-19 pandemic has created more challenges for persons living with disabilities.

“It has exacerbated the inequalities within communities and its impact is devastating to persons with disabilities, those who are unemployed, women and children, the elderly, indigenous and other minorities,” Minister Croal noted.

He also highlighted a number of other government initiatives including scholarships under the Guyana

Learning Academy.

CESP is the brainchild of Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali. It was officially launched in early May 2021 to provide economic opportunities for persons living in vulnerable communities.

Minister Rodrigues later initiated the expansion of the programme for not only vulnerable communities but also for persons in vulnerable groups, with the inclusion of the Guyana Council of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD).

“Persons living with disabilities have a unique set of talent and skills to contribute toward the development of our country and towards their own personal upliftment.

“We want to be able to help them and to provide as many opportunities as possible,” said Minister Rodrigues.

Minister Rodrigues also noted a number of other interventions which have seen differentlyabled persons receiving

house lots over the past year and the provision of a plot of land for the construction of a new office for GCOPD. The training will be done for two days (for three hours each day).

Twelve visual impaired persons from the Guyana Society for the Blind and the Ruimveldt Parent Support Group are expected to be trained during this session.

The trainees will be educated in the areas of block-making, money management, life skills and job readiness. The CH&PA is also looking to train another nineteen persons living with various disabilities in the next month.

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards will be testing the blocks to ensure that they meet the necessary specifications and quality.

Minister Walrond stated that her Ministry is pleased to be collaborating on any project that provides employment for small and micro-businesses/

organizations and expressed her optimism at GCOPD’s competence and ability to meet quality standards.

An $875,000 blockmaking shed donated

by CH&PA was also commissioned at the opening ceremony and a quantity of equipment was handed over including wheelbarrows and spades. Programme Coordinator of GCOPD, Ganesh Singh, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity, which he also noted will significantly improve their livelihood, as persons within the community encounter many challenges.

All blocks produced through the CESP programme are expected to supply contractors under CH&PA’s housing programmes, as the demand for construction materials increases.

The project will run from 2021-2025 at an estimated cost of $20 million, however, $3.9M has been allotted to pilot the project in 2021.

the APNU-AFC hosted a press conference with Dr. Karen Cummings and Dr. Richard Van West Charles.

During the press conference, the APNUAFC Opposition Member today insisted that the increases in cases and death are due to the mismanagement of the health situation by the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.

Dr. Cummings said that Dr. Anthony should step down from his post as Minister since he cannot provide any answers to the situation.

“Dr. Anthony has been so general and evasive.

For this reason, we are saying that he either steps aside or steps up because this is a serious matter. I agree that the cases are escalating but we cannot continue as a responsible political party to witness

the uninformed nature by which Dr. Anthony is answering questions posed to him.

“There is no specificity and when we are talking of the variants he doesn’t know if, ‘maybe so, or whatever.

“Those answers are unacceptable and if he is serious about the issue and the Ministry is serious about the issue, and the Government is serious, he either provides the answers to the population, as we see in every other country around the world.

It is important that he does so that the citizens could make the right decision “If he cannot do that, he must step aside immediately,” APNUAF, Member, Van West Charles noted.

Dr. Van West Charles said that Minister Anthony has not given an answer to the issue which has simply

shown that the situation remains out of control.

He insisted that while there may be a presence of the COVID-19 Variant that could be blamed for the increase in the number of cases, there is the way in which the situation is being handled by the Minister.

“You can’t place that on the behavior of the virus singularly, it has to do with the management of the programme.

“It has to do with how the program is being managed and that is why we are saying Dr. Frank Anthony has taken a more serious approach with his advisors and to ensure that we are clear of what is going on.”

He said the entire programme is a black box since the Government has chosen to operate on its own and not seek the intervention of others,

including the opposition.

“There are Guyanese here and in the diaspora that can make a contribution to what is going and with the management of the programme. They would need to just relax and include people who can work with them to make this thing come under control.”

Guyana since March 2020 has recorded over 30,000 positive COVID-19 cases and over 730 deaths.

This number continues to be on the increase.

Only yesterday, the country recorded its highest number of cases in a 24-hour time span– 362.

The Government has maintained over time that the situation is under control and the number of cases seems to be only a direct reaction to more tests being done.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal; Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond; Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues; and Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Sherwyn Greaves

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Housing and Water-Central Housing and Planning Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of TourismGuyana National Bureau of Standards launched a block-making workshop for several persons within the differentlyabled community.

This was done under the Community-based Employment Stimulation Program (CESP).

The opening ceremony for the workshop was held at the Guyana Society for the Blind at High Street, Werk-en-

Rust Georgetown.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal; Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond; Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues; and Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), Sherwyn Greaves were the officers present.

Minister Croal noted that the training will provide a number of economic opportunities.

It will mitigate unemployment levels,

Opposition leaders call for Health Minister to step down

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony

As Guyana continues to grapple with the COVID-19 Pandemic, first under the APNUAFC Government and now the PPP/C Government, the APNUAFC is insisting that the current Government and by extension the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, should step

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down from his post due to his mismanagement of the situation.

Guyana over the past months has seen an increased number of positives cases and deaths as compared to last year.

The APNU-AFC has been critical of such.

Some of those criticisms came today as

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