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Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
16 Civil Society bodies unite against gas-to-shore project …say oil profits must be passed on to citizens, not pay for questionable pipeline
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everal civil society bodies are calling for independent, Guyanese-driven energy consultations in relation to alternatives, especially given the uncertainties and likely cost overruns, in addition to environmental and other yet unknown impacts, from the proposed US$900M gas-toshore energy initiative project. “The implications of building the pipe-line need to be appraised objectively and transparently and compared with renewable and sustainable energy options.” This, since the current, “piecemeal announcements on construction of a gas pipeline and other mega infrastructure projects in the already congested mouth of the Demerara River is generating widespread public exasperation.” The foregoing sentiments were expressed in a recent joint statement endorsed by a number of civil society bodies including: Transparency International Guyana Inc. (TIGI), Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), Guyana's Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD Guyana), Policy Forum Guyana (PFG), Guyana Society for the Blind (GSB),
Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR), East Coast Clean-Up Committees (ECD7), Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous People (GOIP), The Benab Foundation, Red Thread, Rights of Children (ROC), Silent Walls Mural Project and the Ursuline Sisters in Guyana. According to the grouping, “it is uncontested that the gas pipe-line is eminently unjustifiable in terms of Guyana's energy needs which can be summarised as replacement
of Bunker-C fuel as the main source of electrical energy.” According to the civil society bodies, justification for the pipe-line has to rely on providing energy to a range of new industrial projects, “which as yet have not been identified, much less justified.” As such, “in the absence of such projects, constructing a gas pipe-line is equivalent to building the run-way before determining whether an airport is feasible.”
To t h i s e n d , t h e organisations have since called for a systematic, inclusive and transparent consultation process on energy options available to
Guyana. Economics Addressing the finances related to the project, it was noted that over-estimating benefits and underestimating costs of large-
GHRA Head, Mike McCormack
scale infrastructure projects is routine worldwide and that nine out of 10 roads, bridges, tunnels and railways built over the past 70 years were estimated by an Oxford University study, to average cost over-runs of 30 percent and upwards. “The more spectacular international over-runs include the HS2 rail project in the UK, which will absorb costs similar to building hundreds of new hospitals or thousands of secondary schools. Dams built in China, India and Pakistan averaged
over 90 percent cost overruns.” It cited as example too, that “similarly the iconic Sydney Opera House bankrupted everyone associated with its construction, including the architect; the Denver airport, the San Francisco Bridge, the list goes on.” Guyana, the group noted, “could add the Skeldon Sugar Factory, Amaila Falls and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport as our national
contribution to this dismal l i s t o f m e g a miscalculations.” It was pointed out that “these calculations relate to relatively standard projects on land” and “against this pattern of miscalculation, the US$900M price tag on the underwater proposed gas pipe-line is notional at best and the risk assessment is 90 percent certain to be 30 percent higher – at least.” The group remarked too that, “one of the many unknowns of the project is the impact on the deep sea. The deep sea is the most difficult area on Earth to access. To date, far fewer humans have explored its deepest regions than have walked on the moon. It is also extremely vulnerable to human disturbance. No one can predict the repercussions
of a deep-sea gas-pipeline. Scientists believe that as many as 10 million species may inhabit the deep sea.” To this end, the joint missive reiterated, “the citizens of Guyana will be paying the bill for which the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) will likely be the first port of call for financing the pipe-line.” That Fund, the organisations reminded, “…consists entirely of proceeds from the sale of oil which as a shared natural resource inheritance belongs entirely to future generations of Guyanese people.” Dividends The grouping was adamant, “the current generation has a right to the interest generated by the Fund which should be distributed in some form of (continued on page 18)
Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
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Exxon & partners to rake in US$42.7B in oil from Stabroek Block by 2024 …as country pays US$100M more in taxes for oil company than it earns in royalty
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y the end of 2024, ExxonMobil Guyana is slated to receive some US$42.7B representing 85 percent of the take from some 555 million barrels of oil scheduled to be produced from the Stabroek Block during that period—representing recoverable costs such as expenses and profits. Guyana's take during the same period in contrast, sees the country earning some US$3.7B total, US$653M of which would represent taxes being paid by Guyana on behalf of the US oil major operating in the Stabroek Block. Total royalty for its oil for Guyana at the end of 2024, is pegged to be US$523M or $100M less than what the country will take from its share, to fork over to the treasury as taxes—foregone revenue from ExxonMobil Guyana. The taxes projected for Guyana to pay by the end of 2024 amounts to some $653M. These are among some of the startling revelations documented in a recent analysis conducted by Tom Sanzillo, Director of financial analysis for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). According to Sanzillo's finding, development costs alone to be recovered by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana—during the period
would amount to some US$24.7B of its total recoverable costs pegged at US$39.4B. Sanzillo in his report notes that prior to 2020, ExxonMobil Guyana had already recovered for oil produced and sold in excess of US$3.4B, while costs recovered during that year amounted to $2.2B in bills to be recovered from cost oil. This year, according to Sanzillo, ExxonMobil and its partners are slated to recover as part of its Field Development Costs, US$2.8B. Next year, the amount goes up to US$4B, then to $4.7B in 2023 and US$7.6B by the end of 2024. This publication had recently reported that among the monies being deducted as part of the recoverable expenses through the sale, of as much as 75 percent of the crude produced in the Stabroek Block, has in large part remained in the domain of the partners and has never been shared publicly. The recent study on Guyana's Oil and Gas industry and the economics involved by Sanzillo, had uncovered that EEPGL in fact pays its parent company ExxonMobil Corp.— based on Texas USA — a hefty Parent Company Overhead (PCO) fee as part of its recovery fees. A PCO fee is described in business circles as a fee charged by an operator to its co-venture partners in respect of costs of support services from its parent organisation
CLARIFICATION Kaieteur News on Wednesday carried an article in which Dr. Kwesi Sansculotte-Greenidge explained why the Amaila Falls Hydro Project is unsuited for Guyana's electricity demands. In that article, Dr. Sansculotte-Greenidge was given the title United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) policy advisor. Kaieteur News wishes to clarify however that the information used
for the article was taken from a letter that was sent earlier this week by Dr. Sansculotte-Greenidge. D r. S a n s c u l o t t e Greenidge was not aware that the letter would have been used to inform a subsequent story. He has since sought to make clear that the statements attributed to him, were proffered in his personal capacity as a Guyanese and not on behalf of the UNDP.
such as Human Resources security and procurement services, and is most commonly charged on the basis of a percentage of all other sums charged to the joint account. According to Sanzillo in his analysis, EEPGL prior to 2020 paid over US$73M in PCO fees to its parent c o m p a n y . Sanzillo in his July 2021 report said, that EEPGL paid ExxonMobil Corp. US$35M last year and will this year fork over US$4M more, or US$39M in PCO fees. Next year, Sanzillo predicts the fee being paid to the US based parent company to increase to US$53M and then US$64M t h e f o l l o w i n g y e a r. Slated to collect US$93M in 2024, it would mean that by the end of the next three years, EEPGL would have paid over to the Texas based ExxonMobil Corp. almost half a billion US$ in fees, or US$360M total. Sanzillo's analysis reviewed
the pre 2020 period up to 2024. This publication had reported too that Sanzillo in his findings had found that another of the expenditures for which Guyana is being charged a hefty amount relates to the interest being c h a rg e d o n t h e l o a n s contracted by EEPGL. He had found that on the interest alone that is being paid by the company through recoverable cost oil, the country prior to 2020 had paid US$143M. For 2020, according to Sanzillo, interest on loans accounts for US$229M and this year, he projects the amount to be some US$336M. Guyana's total share from production in the Stabroek Block is projected at US$226M, a difference of US$110M. Based on his projections, by 2024, Guyana would have had to repay some US$2.8B on loans for projects that had been approved up to July this year — the month the analyst report was published.
According to Sanzillo, next year he is projecting that the payment for interests would amount to some US$488M, while the country's total take for that year would be US$434M or US$54M less. For 2023, Sanzillo projects government's total share to increase to US$905M while the US oil major will utilise some US$661M from cost oil to use for interest on loans. In 2024, the financial analyst predicts total earnings for Guyana to be US$1.3B while the interest payments alone for that year would amount to US$946M. The total recoverable costs, according to Sanzillo, are currently far in excess of annual gross revenue from production. He observes in his analysis that a portion of gross revenue goes to retire development costs in addition to paying for operations and profit and the remaining unrecovered balance is carried over each year. “It is generally assumed
Tom Sanzillo, Director of financial analysis, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis that as each year passes, new wells (Liza Phase 2 and Payara) could be added and revenues grown commensurately.” It was noted too that robust annual revenue payments to Guyana will be delayed as additional development costs are added to the cumulative unrecovered balance.
GEA's Chairman speaks out against 'smear campaign'
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hairman of the B o a r d o f Directors of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Jerome Khan, has come out in defence of the government agency over what he describes as a “smear campaign” being waged by Director of SBF International Inc. and SBF Petroleum Inc., Dorwain Bess. Khan in a missive to the media recently accused Bess of presenting “convenient half-truths” and “blatant misrepresentations” in attempting “to paint the GEA as a villain in his fallacious tale of woe and victimisation.” The Chairman was adamant that for Bess to portray the GEA as being involved in vindictive, high handed, conspiratorial actions against his company are easily proved inaccurate by following the written
p a p e r t r a i l o f communications concerning the company's eventual eviction from a C h r i s t i a n b u rg , L i n d e n facility. SBF, according to Khan, was written to about the incident and as such was requested to provide an updated lease on June 10, 2020 and noted that it was Omai that informed the GEA of the altered lease by letter dated June 30, which was received on July 7, 2020. The Notice Before Cancellation was issued on August 13, 2020, after the GEA had already received confirmation from Omai's Director about the lease's authenticity, according to Khan.Khan in responding to Bess' claims said that it should be noted that the company utilised the said eviction as an excuse to the EPA as to why it was unable to complete the cleanup and
GEA Chairman, Jerome Khan
restoration activities required by that entity, following a spill of 59,000 litres of diesel at the site. “In fact, this failure to comply with the conditions of the withdrawal of a previous Prohibition Notice resulted in that Notice
regaining effect,” Khan noted, adding that, “nowhere in his many articles has Bess stated this.” At the time, he was referencing a series of articles published in Bess' favour in this newspaper. Khan noted that although (Continued on page 18)
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Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana. Publisher: GLENN LALL-TEL: 624-6456 Editor: Sharmain Grainger Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210
EDITORIAL
Outstanding unsung women They are here in Guyana, and they grow in numbers, yet we rarely, if ever, speak of them. Against the huge negative of the dark, dismal swamp of absentee males, we almost never find the time to speak to the great and inspiring positive of those who reside in the midst. They would be those unheard of, unspoken of, unheralded women taken for granted. From every corner and every circle, the tradition reigns and the comfort comes from shining the spotlight on the woes brought about by irresponsible males. Those who father children out of wedlock and then are not around, for all intents and purposes. Given the more modern lifestyles now prevalent, there are those absentee and uncaring fathers, who were part of the wedded circle at one time, but who are now by choice or circumstances are everywhere else, except in the home where they belong, where they are most needed. It used to be and still is one kind and colour of such fathers, such men, at whom were directed the bulk of the blames and laments about here today, but gone tomorrow, and with all the burdens of parenthood left uncaringly behind. But those errant and nonchalant men, also as is evident in split families, are no longer mostly the default of one racial group, or one mentality, or one economic level of activity and result. The gap is still wide, but the company of males, who are either absentee fathers, or irresponsibly missing parents, now has different kinds of faces. It is against these contexts that we take the opportunity to recognise our single women, left to fend on their own for those that are theirs. We appreciate them and we applaud them for their quiet sacrifices, their dogged determination not to be overcome by circumstances that leave them hanging on to hope by a thread, while scrambling for daily survival, but never giving up on either their humanity, their responsibility, and their dignity. We look and see women, who never came out of the domestic home shared before, but take the first brave, trembling steps to be the mothers and leaders in their homes. Women who, by their quiet powerful example, take charge of their own destiny singlehandedly and care for their young and groom them to get by day by day, while investing in the future. And we hail these simple, single women and mothers, who grab hold of their own futures, without fear and with the fiercest of convictions that they can and will rise above the hand that fate has played upon them. There they are in Guyana. Having been abandoned by men, who once said that they loved them and will partner with them and care for the families that they, together, brought into this world, these single women put their heads down, gather their feet, and go forth into a world that, with the passage of time, they fear no more. They sell food from humble stands on the corners of many a city street. Many times, they clean homes out of sight, but always to make food visible on the table for their little ones. Sometimes, they take care of those left in their charge; it is where those who have been disappointed with love, must still find love within them to comfort others, total strangers. Our single female parents occupy a range of spaces in the national universe. They can be a mix of the decently educated alongside those who are mostly dropouts, but are still dreaming of starting over again. They can be situations where there is a support system of caring relations, or those whose noses are rubbed in the dust for failing at the first lesson, which was that of not listening to tried and true wisdoms. And, in quite a number of instances involving our single mothers, there is simply nothing, as in no one who is in a position to help, one who is mentally or spiritually or financially able to lend a shoulder in times of dire need. But they still go on to whatever waits, however little it may be. We laud these single mothers. We are blessed by them.
It does not require a fibre-optic cable to give us the information on the oil and gas industry Dear Editor, On Sunday, we read that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that government has nothing to hide and will be transparent in all oil and gasrelated matters, and that he has suggested that the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) set up a portal for the publishing of real-time information, but that initiative has not been taken up and it is unclear how the media would be able to access the information. It strained credulity to believe the MNR would not take up the V-P’s ‘suggestion’. Next, we heard that currently ExxonMobil is forging ahead with the laying of a US$50M fibre optic cable under its ‘Fibre Optic Enablement Project’ where it plans to connect the onshore and offshore operations so that there can be real-time oversight, and that the Minister of Legal Affairs said that the government will also be given a feed and it will also be able to independently monitor works. Ignoring the many implied non-sequiturs (like having to pass more legislation for this fibre-optic cable, when there are already privately-owned, successfully installed fibre optic cables for internet in
existence), it became obvious that the Government was setting the stage for an excuse for not previously providing all the information, which the knowledgeable public has requested and that we would have to await the fibre-optic cable for all to be revealed in the fullness of time. Then, President Ali told a virtual press conference on Monday, when asked about the lack of transparency and information on the sector, “We are working now on a website that will have all the production details; that will have all the revenue details… that will have all the expenditure details. We are presently putting that system and institution in place.” He said, “I do not believe that we have been hiding anything as it relates to the oil and gas sector, … every piece of information that the government has, every discussion we have had… has been made public and shared with the public.” Poor President Ali! He has to operate in the realm of belief when conducting the country’s oil business. If he genuinely believes what he said, why did his MNR not tell Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) that the fibre-optic cable and internet
had to be set up before the information that was requested months ago could be given? Let me therefore proceed to enlighten President Ali, Vice-President Jagdeo, Hon Ministers Nandlall & Bharrat, and our benighted EPA, who is supposed to advise the government on behalf of the citizens, of the very real dangers of ignorance of the information TIGI requested. It does not require a fibre-optic cable to give us the information. Between 2012 and 2014, I engineered, installed, and commissioned meters to read electricity and other interesting variables in real time remotely over the internet so that I did not have to physically visit to monitor energy in the industries I advised. One of my associates saw such a meter installed at the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) of Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd (EEPGL). So the oil companies are very much aware of how to monitor and transmit the information, even if the politicians, the advisors they surround themselves with, and the EPA do not. The internet, then and now in existence, supported the
transmission of the data. It is not molecular biology or rocket science, because many Guyanese householders, who have installed security cameras, can, from anywhere in the world where there is internet, see on their cell phones what their home cameras are seeing. The President had better check if his security knows about this version of the internet of things. Should our leaders wish more of the clarity they professed to lack about how the media can access such information, they have only to ask. TIGI has teachers, who have lived for decades on the Guyanese teachers’ pay scales, and who can teach them about Open Data, Open Contracting, and Open Government, where citizens live more satisfactorily with opportunities more according to their abilities, and less according to who they know. The oil companies can run and monitor their operations continuously with computers and internet from satellite. And when they do eventually put in the fibre-optic cable, we will expect even better data. Let them not make more fools of us. Yours sincerely, Alfred Bhulai TIGI
Our Constitution needs to be reformed to end authoritarianism Dear Editor, We have long been warned by political theoreticians that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It does not matter which party or ruler is in office in our country. Power once taken is not easily surrendered except for Cheddi and Janet Jagan. In Guyana, we have an allpowerful party ruler wreaking havoc over party supporters and when in government over the entire nation. The party leader, once in government, is not willing to cede or share power or treat citizenry with respect. Out of power, he demands to share power with the new leader who replaced him. The tyranny of the leader (general secretary or whatever other title he has) is really the danger most to be feared, and will continue to be so for many years. For years, the nation has suffered various forms of abuses, injustices, corruption, cruelties, victimisation from an all-powerful leader (not necessarily the President) of
a party when it was or is in government. The leader has no regard for the constitution of the country or the party and the rights of the citizenry. The outcome of democratic elections makes no difference on how the leader treats citizenry as we have experienced since 1999. We have lingered since 2001 in a strange type of governance where ego trumps justice, competence, and common sensical rule. A party leader thinks he knows everything and does not solicit or accept advice from experts of any field especially when he is charge of the government. The opinion of the people is usually not considered on any issue and the party leader does not care to engage or consult supporters or the nation. We are the unwitting victims of a corrupt system. Those who speak out against corruption and abuse of power and who stand up for the rule of law and call for transparency are victimised in government are in the minority. The imperial leader is
empowered to engage in these authoritarian tendencies by a terrible constitution, racial conflict, corrupt politicians, and a disinterested populace preoccupied with meeting basic needs rather than focusing on good, transparent governance. This COVID-19 pandemic and floods have provided the party leader a perfect opportunity to execute his authoritarian tendencies in government. The pandemic and floods have provided this government with the perfect excuse to manipulate the economy to benefit friends, families, and cronies, giving out freebies and contracts enriching themselves while running up huge debts. Unadulterated power in our government is now a menace to freedom. It does not matter which political party is in government. Both abuse powers and both are dangerous with these powers. The fact that any party leader is empowered to act like a dictator is dangerous. Where we find ourselves now is in the unenviable position of needing to rein in the powers
of the leader who have exceeded his authority and grown drunk on power two decades ago. We must combat government excess and abuse and curb incompetence. We let it persist for too long, some 20 years. The country is long overdue for a check on the leader’s overreaches. We must wrest back control over a runaway government and an imperial party leader. How can this be done? It won’t be easy. We must object and resist the abuse of power of party leaders and any government. We must demand to be consulted on policies. We must demand constitutional change to weaken the powers of the President. Demand it! We must reform the constitution to shift powers to civilian bodies. We must demand intra-party democracy. Let the party members, rather than delegates, choose the leader and the party executive in transparent democratic elections. We can’t insist on free and fair elections to choose the country’s leader but oppose the same for the party. Yours truly, C. Seepersad
Thursday August 05, 2021
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Kaieteur News
We need Nobody at GTT truly understands the significance commitment to of internet access in today’s environment good governance and democracy, not websites Dear Editor, Reference is made to Stabroek News’ Aug 4 article: “Ali says Government not hiding oil sector ’s information…” I was tickled almost to unconsciousness upon hearing President Ali’s disclosure that the reason the Government and Exxon Mobil’s activities and plans in oil and gas have not yet been fully disclosed to the public is that the Government is “building a w ebsite” to publish the information. This reminds me of the Environmental Protection Agency’s claim that it was “working assiduously” to carry out consultations on the 2020 Rules and Procedures for the conduct of Environmental Impact Assessment, which it suspended without plausible
explanation to date. Maybe they are building a website for that too. And is another website being built for an Independent Commission of Inquiry into the abomination called the Guyana Elections Commission? I take it yet another website is under construction for public disclosure and consultation on the unilateral shift in our national development strategy to a More Carbon Development Policy based on basic binge economics? The Wales Development Zone? Our President does not need websites to fulfill his sacred national duties; all he needs is to commit to good governance and democracy, and to demand the same from those around him. Yours truly, Simone Mangal-Joly
Dear Editor, Many of us often have cause to suspend our TV or Internet Services for many reasons such as short travel away from home. I recently had cause to suspend both my television (E-Networks) service and my Internet (GTT Blaze) service, which provided an opportunity to compare the experiences with these two service providers. I made a request via WhatsApp to E-Networks for temporary suspension in service. The response from ENetworks was swift and efficient, implemented via WhatsApp. E-Networks uses a ticketing system which informed me within 24 hours via a message on WhatsApp that my request for suspension was received and the account was suspended. To suspend GTT Blaze services, on the other hand, requires one to make an application online via the company’s website — older technology than WhatsApp. I made the application, received an application number and that was it. I guessed that the service was
suspended because the billing showed some changes. One has to pay a monthly equipment rental service, with or without internet service, so if the monthly billing amount is significantly reduced, one can infer that the suspension is in effect. Trying to ‘resume’ the services revealed some more significant differences between these two companies. In order to resume the E-Networks TV service, I made a visit to their Camp Street location, paid in advance for a month’s service, and the TV Service was on by the time I arrived home (within an hour). A close neighbour who uses Enetworks Internet service confirmed similar experiences with their Internet service — almost no delay between payment and service resumption. Don’t try this with GTT, however, and especially not if your family’s happiness or personal life or your career or education or national GDP depends on it. At GTT, in order to resume
internet service, which had been formally suspended, one is required to make an application online for resumption of service. Once again, an application # is provided and then one is expected to make inquiries to a customer service number for ‘follow up’. If one has common sense, one would also go to the nearest GTT Office and make a payment to clear any outstanding balance.
It was my misfortune that I applied for resumption of Blaze Internet service on a Thursday and paid outstanding balances on a Friday before a long weekend. On the Friday, I was promised that the service would be resumed within three (3) hours of payment. After three hours passed and more data plans to support essential internet access in the interim, I called the customer service (on a (Continued on page 17)
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Kaieteur News
Ms. Nelson’s only crime is that she accepted an appointment to serve the city as Town Clerk Dear Editor, Now trending on social media is a press conference held by the Mayor of Georgetown, Mr. Ubraj Narine, and his clique of councillors, (six councillors from a statutory complement of thirty attended that conference) today, Tuesday August 3, 2021. It was a public “dressing- down” of the recently appointed acting Town Clerk, Ms. Candace Nelson. Apart from the fact that the conference was very comical, it was very sad to see the mayor and his councillors continue to ruthlessly attack the young woman’s character in public by calling her names and claiming that she is incompetent and unqualified. According to the reports in the media, this is the same officer, Ms. Nelson, who the council recommended for that very position in 2020. And this is the same person who the previous Local Government Commission appointed to act as Deputy Town Clerk in 2019. However, on the question of her qualifications and competencies, it would be interesting to see the qualifications of those, who are seeking to publicly disqualify and hound her out of office. The city is already witnessing the effects of their competency or lack of it. What is unfortunate about all of this is that it appears as though Ms. Nelson’s only crime is that she accepted an appointment from the Local Government Commission to serve the city, in the position of Town Clerk. I can only imagine some of the things that are going through the minds of other young Guyanese professionals, and what they might be thinking about accepting positions to serve from our national leadership. But, there is something else, the Mayor and many of his councillors represent a political party that complains bitterly about their collective perception of the way the government is treating public
servants. Yet, the Mayor has been having public spats with certain officers of the council to the point where earlier this year, he publicly announced, and subsequently, the council unlawfully attempted to fire the current City Engineer. While all of this infighting is raging between the Mayor, some councillors and officers, garbage is allowed to fester in the main business district, and in many communities, posing a risk to the health of citizens. Garbage collection as well as other public health services are infrequent and inadequate. In fact, one can easily get the impression that on the priority scale of the council, public health and good community governance do not carry any weight of importance. Finally, at that press conference, the Mayor said two things that are completely absurd: first, that the former Town Clerk has to hand over to the Mayor before he, the Mayor, hands over to the new Town Clerk. The only question that needs to be asked here, is since when? There is no provision, in any law in this country, for any Mayor (Georgetown or other municipalities and/or towns) to do a hand-over / take-over. The Mayor has no such authority, in law or in municipal policy. It is absolutely ludicrous. How can the Mayor be responsible for a hand-over when he is transient? The Mayor is not part of the formal administration of the council. Even if he were, he could not be responsible for handovers of offices at the council because he does not hold those offices and therefore cannot take or hand them over. There are heads of departments, who are officially and statutorily responsible for that and other related processes. Second, the Mayor said words to the effect that the council had no problem with the former acting Town Clerk,
Ms. Sherry Jerrick. But it is the very council that, through an inadequate recruitment process, attempted to appoint a group of hand-picked individuals, to different positions, including the position of town clerk, last year. The basic question is, if, indeed, the council had no problems with the former Town Clerk, Ms. Jerrick, then why did they (the mayor and councillors) disqualify her during the interview process from the position of town clerk as well as from the post of deputy town clerk? They never sent her name by way of any recommendation to the Local Government Commission. These facts are in the media and in the archives of the council. The other important question that must be asked of the Mayor is a political one. Are the Mayor and some councillors using Ms. Jerrick’s demotion as a rallying point for political action against the government? In my view, I think they are. If one considers the actions of the council in this matter then one will realise that, the council does not really care about either of the officers; they are concerned with their own interests. Why the fight to hold on to an officer (who the council deliberately refuse to recommend for the position, when it had an opportunity to do so) when in reality the office corps and all departments must work as a team to deliver services to citizens? Why pit the two officers against each other when they are part of the same structure and are expected to be working towards the same objectives of the organisation regardless of positions? The answer to those questions is found in one word - “interest.” Personal and political interest weight more on the priority scale of the council than the wellbeing of the environment and the public health of citizens. Time for a change! Yours faithfully, Anthony Subner
Thursday August 05, 2021
With great trepidation, I look forward to welcoming my students back Dear Editor, As educators, students, and caregivers begin to reunite and re-enter the classrooms, our hearts are filled with many emotions. First, as caregivers, we are concerned about the safety of our children once we send them back into school buildings. We wonder whether the schools can accommodate the social distancing protocols or whether they will have adequate staff to sanitise and clean the building. We wonder if there be enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for teachers and students who cannot afford to have fresh ones each day. As educators, we also have the same concerns as the caregivers in addition to our own fears about who is vaccinated and who is not. As an educator, I am also very
concerned about my students’ state of mind, whether they have experienced any loss of family or friends and how they are working through their feelings. I wonder how and if my school will provide professional development on how I as a teacher will be able to deal with my own trauma and how and what resources will be available to teachers, students, and families. I am also concerned about my students. How will they handle returning to school after more than a year of learning from home, some of whom did not have the means to learn. How will the students be grouped for learning, will those who were able to fully participate in remote learning be in the same classrooms with those students who did not participate due to the lack of a device or internet service?
How will I be able to address their learning loss? What professional development will be available to me to address these concerns? One thing I am certain of is that I do miss my students and cannot wait to be able to see them in-person again. I am sure they have grown and become wiser. Another thing for certain that we’ve learned during this pandemic is how to be resilient. We have overcome obstacles, fought off Zoom fatigue, and learned how to stay at home. We have also learned how to use technology in a manner that promoted and supported a deeper use of a cell phone or tablet. With great trepidation, I look forward to welcoming my students back. Respectfully submitted, Carla Meertens Lead Educator/Director We Are GUTSY, Inc.
Citizens would like to see all those square pegs removed from those round holes at City Hall Dear Editor, I listened today with complete horror and distress to the most recent press conference hosted by the Mayor and a few Councillors of the City of Georgetown in what was a feeble attempt to address the current brouhaha regarding the appointment of a Town Clerk. It was like the circus comes to town, but not in a good way! Let us forget for a moment what was done to the Queen’s English and focus on the absurd war that has been declared by the Mayor and a few of his Councillors against the Local Government Commission and the collateral damage that is being done to the officer corps, particularly the new Town Clerk. When the Mayor says that he will not respect the new Town Clerk, what does he mean to say? That he will not have due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of this young lady? Because that is the literal meaning of what
he said. I hope he meant to say that he does not propose officially recognise her as the new Town Clerk, because as infantile as that would be, it would be more acceptable in the modern world of today. He keeps putting forward the false narrative that the former acting Town Clerk was demoted. She was not. All that happened was that she was returned to her substantive post as Assistant Town Clerk. In fact, if the City were not so unprincipled, they would have known that each time any officer who is acting proceeds on their vacation leave, they have to return to their substantive post and the requirement is that they have to be nominated and approved to act again. But not at the Council, everyone automatically continues to act upon their return as though it is their right to do so, but then again everyone knows the venality of their HR department.
Can you believe that the Mayor then arrogates to himself the function to determine who is competent, qualified and suitable? This is just astounding. If the persons that he had in the past are so erudite, adroit and worthy, then how did Georgetown get into the state that it is in currently? He then goes on to say that he is undertaking this battle on behalf of the citizens of Georgetown. Well, I have news for him, the citizens are sick to their stomachs of the Georgetown City Council, and would like to see all those square pegs removed from those round holes at City Hall. Come on Mr. Mayor, stop being so petty by trying to seize the vehicle and preventing the new Town Clerk from accessing her office. Let the work of the city go on. Suck it up and move on. Sincerely, Anu Bihari
T N U L B . . . T B N U T L N B T . U . L . L T B . . N . U N U T L N B . U T . . L N N U T B . U . N L U BL BLUNT. B . . T . T T N N U . U L . . L B . T B . . . . N . T U T N N U N U L L U B . L B . . . . B . T . . T . N N T U N U L L U B . N L . . U B T . L . . N B T . U . . N L T U B . N L . . U B T . L . . B T . . U . N L T U B . N L . . U B . T L . . N B T . . U . N L T U B . N L . . U B T . L . . N B . T . U . N L T U B . N L . . U B T . L . . N B T . U . . N L T U B . N L . . U B T . L . . N B T . L . . N B T . U . . N L T U B . N L . . U B T . L . B . UN .BLUNT. . . B T . . . N T U N L . . U B T . L . . N B T . U . . N B T . U . . N L T U B . N L . . U B T . L . . N B T . . . LU ...BLUN B T . . . N T U N L U B T . L . . N LU ...BLUNT LUNT...B NT... U B T . L . . N B T . U . . N L T U BB T...BL U N L U B . L . . B . T . . N N T T L U U N L L B U T...BLU B L . . N . B . T . . N T U N N N U L U U B L . BL TLUNT.. UNT...B BL Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
Take a quick look at Guyana and its oil. Updated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): NO! Ring fencing provisions: NOOO! Modernising petroleum laws: No!
Transparency with oil and gas reports: No, No, No! Take more nonsense from Exxon: YES! Thank you, PPP leaders (Opposition, too)!
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Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
Funeral home takes legal action against Health Board for instructing GPF to terminate 'bodies' contract
C
o-director of Lyken's Funeral Home, Dawn Stewart, has moved to take legal action against the Health Board, an arm of the Ministry of Health, after it instructed the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to not do any more business with her company. Stewart told Kaieteur News that her attorney, Khemraj Ramjattan, has already written a letter to the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, about the legal action the funeral home will be taking. This newspaper had recently reported that GPF was instructed by the Ministry of Health to stop sending bodies to the funeral home until further notice. Deputy Director of the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) of the GPF, Stan Gouveia, had explained that the Ministry's reason for withholding business from
the parlour was because it was in breach of some health protocols. The Health Ministry had reportedly conducted health inspections on several occasions and had advised the management to make changes but it had never complied. Stewart said yesterday that “first of all the Ministry of Health has never formally informed Lyken Funeral Home by way of a notice or a letter that it had breached health protocols. Neither did the Ministry notify the parlour that it had instructed the Force to terminate the contract.” The co-director added that she was also never informed by the GPF of this development and had learnt of the matter from the local newspapers. Stewart claimed that after querying about the contract termination, she learnt that one of the protocols the funeral home is accused of
breaching is not having an extra refrigerator to store decomposed bodies separately. “They (the Health Board) are of the view that decomposed bodies can contaminate the fresher ones,” Stewart told reporters. Based on her knowledge of mortuary science, the codirector argued that this theory is flawed because from the time someone dies, their body starts to decompose. Moreover, Stewart said, “there is no law in Guyana that requires any funeral home to have two, five or more refrigerators.” Through her attorney, she is contending that the decision to terminate the contract on such a basis is wrong. With regard to other health regulations or protocols that the parlour might have broken and despite multiple warnings, they failed to make changes, Stewart said, that the health
inspectors had never disclosed to her what these are. “Every time they conduct inspections, we would ask them to tell us what regulations we are breaching. Make a list with check box so that we can know what we have to do but they have never done that,” Stewart related. “So we never had an idea of what changes and upgrades we have to make in order to pass inspection,” she added. She is therefore suspicious that the Health Board is being vindictive and “just want to shut us down.” Stewart claimed that she being accused of not paying taxes to GRA as well but insisted that she has evidence to prove that this is not true. The co-director also informed this newspaper that Lyken Funeral Home is owed around $35M by the GPF. This debt, she stated, are
Co-director of Lyken Funeral Home, Dawn Stewart.
from unpaid bills for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. Kaieteur News had reached out to the Force to respond to Stewart's allegation. Through the CCU, the GPF stated that it is possible that such an amount is owed because of how the government system works. However, the Force noted that Lyken had made such
claims before and its management was told to furnish the Force with the necessary records and bills for reconciliation but this was not done. Once again, according to CCU, if the funeral home is owed that amount, the GPF is calling for the management to come forward with its records for (Continued on page 18)
Two men are latest COVID-19 casualties Yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MoH) announced that two more persons, who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, have died. The latest fatalities are that of two men, a 48-yearold and a 62-year-old, both from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). Both men passed away
on Tuesday while receiving treatment at a medical facility. As a result of this, Guyana's COVID-19 death toll has moved to 551. Further, the Ministry, via its COVID-19 dashboard, revealed that within 24 hours, 62 new cases were recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 22,705. Out of the number
of confirmed cases, 11,652 persons are women and 11,053 are men. Presently, there are 91 persons in institutional isolation, 11 in the COVID19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 600 in home isolation and two in institutional quarantine. To date, a total of 21,452 have recovered from the virus.
Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
PAGE 09
The source of our problems The truth has been staring our financial gurus in the face. They have been looking at it but whether they have seen it is another matter. Guyana's Budget is and has been imbalanced for a long, long time. The financial gurus have been faced with this imbalance and have not done anything to correct it because to do so requires courageous and controversial action. The Budget has two sets of expenditure – capital and current expenditure. Capital expenditure is the monies which are used to build and upgrade physical assets such as roads, schools, bridges and airports, hospitals, police stations, power plants, vehicles, machinery, etc. It is comparable to the money a person would spend on a car or a house. Your current expenditure, on the other hand, is you day-to-day operating expenses. It refers to the monies you have to spend on this such as wages, rentals, supplies fuel and as water, electricity security and janitorial services. It would equate for a household for the monies you would spend on food, electricity, water bill, gasoline for the vehicles and paying your domestic help. The ratio between your current and capital expenditure is a good idea of how well you are managing your finances. If you are building a house and the labour cost is equal to the material costs, then something is wrong. It
makes no sense building that house because you are overpaying for labour. And it is the same with the country's Budget. If your current expenditure – which amounts to the cost of running the government – is higher than your capital expenses, it means that you do not have the resources to invest on long-term and long lasting infrastructure which will allow you to expand the economy. P r o f e s s o r, Ta r r o n Khemraj, did an analysis of this ratio in the country's Budgets over the period 2008 to 2020. What he found was disturbing. Guyana was spending 66 percent on current expenditure and 34 percent on capital expenditure. What this means is that the country is carrying an over-bloated bureaucracy which is absorbing monies which should be used for increasing the physical assets of the country so as to grow the economy even more and to make it more efficient. In comparison, Khemraj found that over the same period 2008-2020, Jamaica spent on average 34 percent on current expenditure, Barbados 23 percent and Trinidad and Tobago 17 percent. Guyana spends on average 66 percent, leaving only 34 percent for capital works. And guess what? A great deal of the expenditure on major infrastructural works is borrowed adding to the country's public debt. The country is saddled with an unwieldy
bureaucracy with the result that there are limited resources for long-term and long-lasting capital investments. This imbalance is unsustainable; the country will go nowhere so long as it exists. One of the main contributors to this problem is the size of government. I n s t e a d , h o w e v e r, o f trimming government, the financial gurus have been expanding it. The expansion of government has been costly to the economy. Professor, Tarron Khemraj, did an analysis of the government's overdraft. He found that the PPP/C government inherited in August 2020 an overdraft at the Bank of Guyana of G$92.8B as opposed to G$9.3B in 2014 just prior to demitting office. In his analysis he sought to examine the link between this overdraft and employment levels in central government. What he found was that when the PPP/C left office there were 14,905 workers in central government. But within a mere three years of the APNU+AFC taking office, this had ballooned to 26,354 or an increase of 76.8 percent, while non-central government employment such as at GuySuCo declined by more than 40 percent. The inference was that increased central government employment costs added to the pressures on the overdraft. No one has attempted to dispute this analysis. And it does not
Give de lil man a boys seh... bite of de cherry! Dem
De gas-to-shore project is a money-making scheme. But who gan mek de money and who gan taste de honey? No new feasibility study nah do fuh see if it cheaper and mo affordable fuh use dan solar power. But dem done gan ahead and invite investors fuh de project. Yuh know why? Guyanese people nah see no financial model but investors done see um. Dat is how Guyanese does get treat, like grass by dem own guvment. Dem boys gat a lil small piece in de bank dem wan invest. And dem only want a guarantee four percent. So
dem boys wan know why instead of inviting investors, de guvment nah design de financial model fuh allow dem small man fuh put a lil change in de project and mek a lil hustle. Dem boys done know wah gan happen. Is dem big selected investors wah gan mek de money pun dis project. But why de small man can't get a bite at de cherry? Dem boys wan know why we spending all dis money pun gas-to-shore when it gan only reduce electricity price by 50 percent. Dat nah mek sense. Every household should get
free electricity up to 200 kilowatts per month. After all, de gas is we own and we only gat fuh pay fuh transport it to land. By de way, de guvment did promise to amend de Petroleum Act. Dem pass amendment but it gat fuh do with land, nat with petroleum. Dem starting back de hydro project. But dis time dem gan get shock attack because nobody nah gan touch dat with a 40-foot pole, nat even dem friends who does call demselves syndicated investors. Talk half and watch de usual suspects!
appear as if there is any attempt at all at ensuring a leaner public sector. The financial gurus are not trimming the bureaucracy because they are afraid of the fallout resulting from the loss of jobs. But if the private sector is supposed to be the driver of growth, then the private sector should be absorbing any loss of jobs from the public sector. But this is not happening because public sector wages are now higher than the private sector. The government is now crowding out the private media by luring away staff with fat salaries paid with taxpayers' dollars. The public service is overstaffed and has to be
trimmed. Otherwise the Budget will remain imbalanced and development stymied. Cutting staff is always controversial but there are other options which could be looked at. One is to cut wastage, reduce rentals and slash overheads by moving towards renewable energy for powering government buildings. The government does not need so many buildings and does not need to be providing office space for so many workers. If the pandemic has proven anything worldwide it is that working at home and cutting the workweek has proven more efficient and less costly. The financial gurus of
Guyana should have solved this problem between the ratio of current and capital expenditure. They should fix it now. The country cannot develop when so much money is being spent on current expenditures. Guyana needs a plan to make the government more efficient. Otherwise the bureaucracy will gobble up the limited oil revenues earned. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
Kaieteur News
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Thursday August 05, 2021
THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN
From 1968 to 2020, my eyes saw election rigging
T
he most irritating and disgusting thing I found about Eusi Kwayana's reaction to the attempted rigging of the March 2020 election was his exclamation that he did not have the facts to come to a conclusion. This man who has children and grandchildren who no doubt look at things through their smart-phones in
his presence that are taking place live had the temerity to reply to me to say his distant position does not place him in a position to comment. What Roxanne Myers, Clairmont Mingo and Keith Lowenfield did was shown to the world at the time it was happening. Guyanese in their homes throughout the world were watching at what was taking place in the GECOM
Command Centre at the time these events were occurring. The videos are available of what took place on that fateful day of March 4 at the Command Centre. The only person in the Diaspora that said he wasn't in possession of the facts was Eusi Kwayana. I am accusing him of lying. At the time, I was broadcasting to the world with Leonard Gildarie
from the studio of Kaieteur Radio. I was a 17-year-old polling agent for the PPP in the 1968 election at St. Thomas Moore Primary School on D'Urban Street, Wortmanville. I saw people come in and voted two and three times. On objection, abuse met you from all inside that polling station.
From 1969 I grew up knowing that in my country, there was no real general election. Frederick Kissoon By 1992, I was getting on in age, had my father's first cousin so I multi university education, have several cousins from the was married with a child, and working as a university Mootoo family. One of them I have lecturer. In that year, a new Guyana, a new Frederick maintained contact with over Kissoon, a new population the long years because he was born. We could now vote lived one block from me in for which party we wanted to Wortmanville. He drove for the United Nation's Office see be the government. that was then on Brickdam at At the beginning of 2020, the back of my home. just two months into 2020, Since I moved out of my world came crashing down in the studio of Wortmanville, I seldom see Kaieteur Radio. Here is what him. So a few months ago, I I wrote before and will came out of Giftland to enter repeat. In the Kaieteur Radio my car and there he was studio, Jerry Gouveia was the parked in an expensive Black guest and he said that on Land Cruiser. My question Tuesday afternoon, March 3, was, “You're not with the UN there was no one doing any any longer?” He said no that counting of the remaining he is driving Ms. Roxanne ballots for Region Four. His Myers. I am not going to describe words were, “I cannot my feelings because space understand it; no one is will not provide for it but if working.” When he said those Myers thinks filing libel writs words, an indescribable all over the place is going to deter people from writing emotion came over me. What I saw as a 17-year- about her, then, she needs to old in 1968, what I saw in adjust her psychology. When I heard those 1973, 1978, 1985, I was words, from my cousin, I seeing in March 2020. But thought of how absurd my there was one difference. No one who had opposed the country is. I just couldn't understand rigging from 1968 to 1985 from all that the world saw could ever believe in their life through those videos and on earth, it would have taken the riggers five months of which are easily available to endeavour to steal the any person on Planet Earth, how Myers could still be election. employed at GECOM. How Today is two days after a year has passed and most of an ordinary clerk from a state the absurdities connected office could be hauled before w i t h G u y a n a ' s m o r e the courts for a misdemeanor depraved electoral fraud while the stables of GECOM remain. Clairmont Mingo, remain so unclean, so dirty, Roxanne Myers, Keith so fetid and so ghastly? I end with one of my Lowenfield are still favourite French quotes that I employees of GECOM. use so often on this page They still get a pay that most senior state employed because I really like it – “God lawyer, state employed is dead, Marx is dead and I'm surgeon, state employed not feeling too well myself.” (The views expressed in accountant, state employed engineer, public servant and this article are those of the author and do not UG professor do not receive. The famous Guyanese necessarily reflect the doctor, Leslie Mootoo, was opinions of this newspaper.)
Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
Overseas based businessman murdered in Berbice - one of five suspects held says robbery was the intent
O
ne of the five p e r s o n s , currently in police custody, yesterday confessed to being a part of the brutal murder of overseas-based Guyanese businessman, Hemraj Pardesi called 'Prem', of Lot 9 Reliance, East Canje Berbice. Police sources confirmed that the suspect who was arrested yesterday morning aback of the Rose Hall Estate (in the Canje
Creek) 'cracked' under questioning by investigating ranks and admitted to playing a role in the death of the man. He told police that the intention was to rob Pardesi but things got out of hand. The businessman had visited a local bank and made a withdrawal of an undisclosed amount of cash on Tuesday. He was accompanied by a close acquaintance. The funds withdrawn were to
offset expenses for ongoing renovation works at his Reliance property. Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the suspect who "spilled the beans" was a few months ago released from prison after spending two years on a robbery under arms charge. Pardesi, who returned to Guyana a few weeks ago, was staying at his Reliance property alone. He previously operated a The area where Pardesi's body was found.
The house where Hemraj Pardesi was staying.
Superbet in the bottom flat of the building but was renting it to someone else. Based on the information gathered by this publication, Pardesi was attacked in his yard by two suspects between the hours of 23:30hrs and midnight yesterday after his close associate who had accompanied him to the bank earlier in the day, left approximately 30 minutes earlier. Police arrived shortly after and his lifeless body with blood oozing from his nose and duct tape tied around his neck was found at the bottom of his outdoor step (that leads to the upper flat). Police sources said, a search was launched immediately for the suspects
Hemraj Pardesi
and further checks to the premises revealed that the
upper flat of the building was (Continued on page 18)
Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
PAGE 13
Hess had bailed from western hemisphere's largest oil refinery after lawsuits, pollution claims The Limetree Bay refinery in St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
An example of the onshore aspect of a natural gas pipeline.
- New owner files for bankruptcy amid similar circumstances By Carlos Gonsalves
T
he owners of a Caribbean oil refinery that was once the largest refinery in the Western Hemisphere has filed for bankruptcy after a series of environmental breaches and a governmentordered shut down, highlighting pressures faced by the oil industry to curb its environmental impact, according to international media company, Bloomberg. Limetree Bay Refining LLC sought creditor protection on July 12 after the US Environmental Protection Agency halted its operations earlier this year. The St. Croix, US Virgin Islands-based refinery had also filed for bankruptcy in 2015 under previous ownership. The refinery was previously owned under a joint venture between the US oil giant Hess and Ve n e z u e l a n s t a t e o i l company Petróleos de
Venezuela (PDVSA) and had a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels a day – making it the largest refinery in the Western Hemisphere at the time. After a series of pollution incidents and a number of pending lawsuits against it, the former owners had declared bankruptcy. At the time, it said it owed US$1.86 billion; however, it sold its oil terminal and storage facilities to Arc Light Capital Partners and Limetree Bay Holdings for US $184 million. As a consequence, plaintiffs who had been seeking damages from the refinery, then named Hovensa had received a mere fraction of what they had sought. The refinery has stated that it is seeking bankruptcy “due to severe regulatory and financial constraints” that forced it to suspend its refinery operations indefinitely, and has lined up as much as $25 million of socalled debtor-in-possession
financing that will help it maintain the refinery through the process of declaring bankruptcy, according to the statement. According to Reuters, lenders balked at putting new cash into the project which has a history of being dogged by environmental violations, cost overruns and regulatory troubles. The refinery, which had restarted operations in February after years of i n a c t i v i t y, w a s w e l l positioned to process sour crude oil supplies from South America and meet fuel demand in regions such as
the US East Coast. According to Reuters, the refinery in May was forced to halt operations following incidents that included contamination of drinking water, noxious gas releases and the emission of oil droplets that rained down on various areas. On June 21, the company said it was suspending plans to restart the business and cutting more
than 270 workers after efforts to raise capital founder. Reuters reports that the St. Croix refinery overhaul was the most expensive effort in nearly a decade to expand refining capacity in the hemisphere. Investors plunged more than $4 billion into the project, focused on taking advantage of its prime location along shipping routes in the Caribbean. The
plan fizzled after construction delays and the COVID-19 pandemic, which slashed demand for fuel worldwide. Limetree's woes have prompted investigations by the EPA and the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and National Resources, according to court papers. The Office of (Continued on page 18)
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Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
Finance Minister meets with World Bank Vice President Some of the sites that were visited by the World Bank team
- team here for strategic dialogue with Govt. on partnership going forward
A
high-level Wo r l d B a n k (WB) team led by its Vice President responsible for the Latin American and Caribbean Region, Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, is here on a twoday visit. According to a Ministry of Finance release, on Tuesday the team met with Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, in the Finance Ministry's Boardroom. The visit, the release noted, was aimed at reaffirming the World Bank's commitment to Guyana and to assess areas for further opportunities for expanded partnership in pursuit of the country's national development goals. The team was also slated to have discussions with the Government on a number of projects. The visit, according to the release, served as an opportunity for dialogue between the Bank and the Government of Guyana on the Government's economic objectives and priorities and how the World Bank can support these through its assistance and lending programmes. During the meeting, M i n i s t e r S i n g h acknowledged the Bank's support over the years, adding that he looked forward to further assist in strengthening the partnership between Guyana and the Bank. Following the meeting with the Finance Minister,
the World Bank team, along with officials from the Ministry of Finance inspected various developmental and completed project sites which form part of the World Bank's project portfolio in Guyana. The site visits included pump stations at Enmore, Lusignan and Liliendaal that fall under the Flood Risk Management project for Guyana. The objective of that project is to reduce the risk of flooding in the lowlying areas of East Demerara. Civil works are underway to improve drainage, update critical sections of the East Demerara Water Conservancy dams and channels, and improve hydro-meteorological monitoring.
Additionally, the team visited the Westminster Secondary School, West Bank Demerara, which falls under the Secondary Education Improvement Project. The school caters for 1,000 students residing in the Region Three area and offers amenities in TVET, Home Economics, Allied Arts, Science and Information Technology Laboratories and a library, in addition to classrooms and a dance studio. A multi-purpose hall is provided for indoor sports, large gatherings as well as seating for the canteen
facilities. The facility also caters for persons with special needs with wheelchair access to all areas on both floors. The World Bank has been supporting various projects in Guyana over the years through a number of loans and grants including a US$20M loan for the Guyana Petroleum Governance and Management Project to support the enhancement of legal and institutional frameworks and the strengthening of the capacity (Continued on page 17)
Minister Ashni Singh met with the World Bank Vice President, Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, and his team on Tuesday.
Some of the sites that were visited by the World Bank team
Exxon sub-contractor loses personal injury lawsuit brought by Guyanese worker
T
a n e s h a Fredericks, a G u y a n e s e woman, has secured a default judgment against a Trinidad and Tobago oil services company operating in Guyana. According to a statement issued yesterday, Federicks secured judgment against Centipede Offshore (Guyana) Inc., a company, which she worked for that
provided drilling services to ExxonMobil. According to legal documents seen by this newspaper, the judgment order was issued on July 20, 2021, at the Georgetown High Court by Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln. Justice Corbin-Lincoln granted Fredericks in excess of $1M for negligence by the company in so far as they
caused her to suffer chemical burns to her finger in October 2020 as well as special damages for medical expenses, loss of income, and loss of earning capacity In her claim, Frederick's outlined that the company provided her with gloves that were not suitable to her responsibilities in handling toxic chemicals and cleaning agents.
The claimant had worked as a utilities' cleaner with the company. She said she was given surgical gloves when she should have been given industrial strength gloves. After complaining several times for better gloves, she was moved around to various departments on the sea vessel. The documents went on to note that it was only after
Fredericks came onshore that she started to feel numbness in all her fingers. As a result of the burns from the toxic chemicals used on her job, she has now lost feeling in all 10 of her fingers. The document went on to note that the woman sought medical attention at a city hospital and was told that she will not be able to ever feel in all of her fingers
again. “Her disability is permanent. The damage done to the nerves in her fingers due to chemical burns was severe and permanent. She will never be able to use her 10 fingers as she did before this unfortunate incident,” the release, which accompanied the legal papers outlined. Additionally it was noted (Continued on page 17)
Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
Bids open for restoration of City Hall Repairs will soon commence on the dilapidated City Hall as bids were opened on Tuesday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for the building's restoration project. The procuring entity was the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Earlier in the year, during the budget debate, the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, had announced that the sum of $100 million had been allocated for the restoration project. Following the Minister's announcement, City Mayor Ubraj Narine, called the sum a “drop in the bucket”. City Hall, which was commissioned on July 1, 1889, had started to deteriorate over the years, which had promoted many appeals for it to be renovated. Last month, just before tenders were out for the
project, the Guyana Fire Service during a routine inspection declared the historic structure a public hazard. In 2020, a collaborative effort between the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC), the Guyana National Trust and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) saw the launch of a public trust fund which was aimed at preserving the aesthetics of the 19 th Century Gothic Revival structure. This followed the EU's GY$60 million grant, which had previously financed the feasibility study in 2018 to rehabilitate the building. At the launch, Mayor Narine explained that the M&CC was looking to raise at least US$5.2 million (GY$1 billion) to restore the building. During the opening of tenders on Tuesday, three companies submitted Expression of Interest (EOI) for the project. According to
GTU opposes possibility of mandatory COVID-19 jabs for teachers
T
he Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) is voicing its concern over the indications of a possible mandatory vaccination requirement for teachers. In a statement on the issue yesterday, the GTU noted while the President has the right to call on teachers to get vaccinated, it is the democratic right of every citizen, including teachers to make personal choices. The union said it has always supported free choice in taking the vaccine and so will neither advise against nor enforce the inoculation of teachers. Earlier this week, President Dr. Irfaan Ali had urged teachers to show leadership and get vaccinated as the government prepares to reopen schools next month for face-to-face teaching. “Because vaccines inoculate everyone against this dreaded deadly virus, all of us should be troubled by those who refuse to be vaccinated. The unvaccinated are now as
GTU General Secretary, Coretta McDonald. deadly as the virus itself for they are not only susceptible to infection, they will carry it…the government has a responsibility to defend the health of all,” Ali said. He'd added, “We cannot expose children to unvaccinated teachers,” while speaking at a press conference immediately following his address marking the first anniversary of the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) ascension to office. While he did not say vaccination for teachers would (Continued on page 18)
the engineer's estimate, the cost for the works is a sum of $630,474,424. The companies that bid were Fides Guyana Inc. with $754,703,223, Bulk & Timber Works Inc. with $465,930,926 and OM Custom Wood Working & Restoration with $686,498,800.
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A section of the deteriorating City Hall building.
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Kaieteur News
VEHICLES FOR SALE Toyota Dualis PVV 8961 2.5 neg.Tel:677-2542.Own by a Doctor,first owner.
WANTED Pilot to fly 172/206 Cessna Xen Aviation.Send a p p l i c a t i o n t o rtilak@adamtiumholdings.com
SERVICES Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Graphics design, advertisements, Wedding arch rentals. Tel: 626-7040 Installation, Repairs and parts for AC,Fridge, Washing machine,Stove etc.Call Nick#630-1600. Repair and Rebuilt of diesel e n g i n e s a l s o Caterpillar.Tel:694-5158. Book your swedish massage and get a free manicure,Home visits available.Call:623-0594.
A cook for a restaurant in the interior.Tel:677-0869. Domestic/Cook.Tel:2235273/74. Male & Female to work in factory.Apply in person R.P'S Enterprise,Area "K" L e R e s s o u v e n i r E.C.D.Tel:220-2818. Welder fabricator for grill work.Call:621-5310. M i n i b u s & Ta x i Drivers.Tel:225-3234/6281183. Experienced mechanic and servicemen needed f o r m i n i n g operation.Call:697-2533. One domestic maid contact 233-2865 & 226-5793. VACANCY
FOR SALE Pure breed German Shepherd pups,black,tanned & pure white.Contact:6659140. 2&3bedroomhomes. Onderneeming, WBD,Tuschen,EBE H a s l i n g t o n , ECD.Whatsapp:673-6210/ 694-9793.
One salesman,5 subject cxc.Experience in writing bills,stocktaking& cashing.Keyfood Trading,Mc Doom village. One female cashier & one welder/fabricator to work at Del Ice Co.Call between 8am-1:30pm.Tel:642-9191. Maid to cook and clean for East Bank.Call:615-9132. Driver Eccles office,Car/Van licence.Call:642-9823. Female cleaner office.Call:642-9823.
FOR RENT Vr e e d - e n - h o o p junction.Place for hair salon, pedicure, manicure ,other.Call:603-6400.$15,000 per month. 1 2 bedroom apartment.Lot 2043 Plot C Herstelling E.B.D.Contact:6961 6 8 0 . Av a i l a b l e 1 s t Aug,2021. 3 bedroom upstairs & downstairs apt Vreed-enhoop,1&2 bedroom furnish in Providence.604-6664/ 682-6238. PROPERTY FOR SALE 20 room Hotel on Sheriff St for sale as a going c o n c e r n . P r i c e negotiable.Tel:632-6072.
for
One clerk for TSI Eccles officeEnglish& Mathematics,grade 1 or 2 . E m a i l application:techserigy @yahoo.com or call 6429823. Vacancy for persons to assemble bicycles,apply at Alabama Trading.65 Robb Street Bourda. One male supervisor & male ice handlers @Crystal Ice House,Rosignol Berbice.Call:618-3800 between 8-12am. Receptionist & Room Attendant,25-50yrs.233 S o u t h R o a d Lacytown.Tel:225-2304. Factory workers and sale representatives.Must have a sound secondary education.Call:223-0090.
Thursday August 05, 2021
Thursday August 05, 2021
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Kaieteur News
Man found dead in alleyway Despite COVID-19 concerns NGSA sees high countrywide turn-out died from blow to head, strangulation – PM reveals The Venezuelan national, Ian Singh, 32, who was found dead in an alleyway on Sunday last was killed due to blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation. This is according to a post mortem examination (PM) conducted yesterday. Singh, popularly known in the Venezuelan migrant community residing in Guyana as “Caracas”, was found dead in an alleyway close to the Sleepin Hotel hours after he had an altercation with a group of men at the Rio Nightclub located in Queenstown. Singh had reportedly left for the nightclub around 00:30hrs on Sunday. According to his friends, a fight had erupted around 04:00hrs between one of his acquaintances and a group of Guyanese men. He had reportedly rushed to defend the individual but ended up being attacked and beaten by the men. As they pounded away at him, an eyewitness related that bottles could be heard breaking. One individual said
Dead: Ian Singh. it appeared as if they were “lashing” him to the head with the bottles. Singh had managed to free himself and reportedly ran away. Detectives initially believed that he might have collapsed in the alleyway and died from his injuries but it could be the case that he was followed and murdered. This is based on the post mortem report that
strangulation also played a part in causing his death. Some eyewitnesses had related too that shortly after the altercation, the men were spotted leaving the same alleyway where Singh’s body was found. As investigations continue into his murder, detectives are trying to trace all leads, which they hope will result in the capture of the killer or killers.
...Nobody at GTT truly understands the significance of internet access in mobile number, incurring more personal costs) to inquire and was again promised within three (3) hours. Saturday arrived, and still no internet access. However, conversation with the customer service agent (via my mobile phone again) revealed that GTT has some serious internal problems — what are referred to as inefficient business processes. The customer service agent explained that another department deals with the ‘suspension and resumption’ process, and they don’t work on Saturdays. I asked to speak to her supervisor, and she said even the supervisor can’t help. I must wait until after the long weekend. As an Information Systems Professional and a Lecturer in Management Information Systems, I could see clear evidence of misalignment: that GTT’s information systems and its business practices are not able to support excellent customer service, though this seems to be a goal of the company. If the Customer Service Department does not have access to essential data from other departments, then this is a fundamental information sharing problem. Some business process
reengineering also seems to be needed urgently, as is often the case with older bureaucratic organisations. In today’s competitive business environment, businesses who care to remain competitive by improving customer-supplier intimacy are using CRMs (Customer Relationship Management Systems) to give them a 360 degree view of their interaction with their customers: sales, marketing and support. If GTT were using state of the art information systems aligned with cutting edge business practices, they would be able to offer better customer service. So Emancipation weekend passed, Tuesday arrived and I was hopeful that the internet would just magically come on during the course of the day. No such luck, however. I visited a GTT location again and was told that I need to call the customer service number again and that there is a problem with my account that no one can solve except a certain special department. As this blog is being written, it is past 8 pm on Tuesday night and the big red light on the Zhone device remains red. There is one thing that I am 100% certain about — there isn’t a single person at GTT who is bothered that
there is a customer without internet access for days upon end. Nobody at GTT truly understands the significance of internet access in today’s environment, because if they did, the effect of their leadership would be felt by customers. And perhaps this is the greatest difference between E-Networks and GTT — at ENetworks, their leadership cares because a company does not excel by accident. ENetworks is a company that surprises its customers with reduction in prices, no unnecessary fees and general ease of doing business. That certainly compensates for any lapses by technical support. I am personally happy to see their expansion projects and wish them all success. I look forward to seeing more competition in this sector because in today’s environment, where we depend on Internet Access in every aspect of our life — for business, for banking, for work, for school, for entertainment, for shopping, for health care, for accessing government services and for communication — we cannot make progress as a society if our major ISP is just fumbling around. Only competition will wake GTT up. Yours truly, Sandra Khan
Scenes from yesterday’s sitting of the NGSA. Yesterday, there was a noticeably high turn-out of Grade Six students, from across the country, to participate in the first day of the 2021 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA). Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, urged the candidates to do their best and assured them that she believes in them. The two-day examination commenced with students writing English papers one and two in the morning and Science papers one and two in the afternoon. Today, the candidates will be writing Mathematics papers one and two in the morning and Social Studies papers one and two
in the afternoon. According to a press release, Minister Manickchand stated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, regulations and guidelines have been put in place to ensure safe and incident-free writing of the NGSA. The Education Minister also noted that positive COVID-19 students will also be able to write the exams under the COVID-19 measures. The release noted that these measures include the sanitising and washing of hands before entering examination buildings, the wearing of the recommended face mask, observing and maintaining social distancing
at all times and the cleaning and sanitising of buildings and furniture. Candidates are also not required to wear their respective primary school uniforms. However, any candidate not dressed in uniform must be dressed modestly and as best as possible with clothes that bear little or no writing, picture and or diagrams that would give cause or contribute to any form of cheating. The Education Ministry also expressed gratitude to all teachers who played a major part in making the NGSA exams a success and to ensure that the children are safe.
...Finance Minister meets with World From page 14 of key institutions to manage the Oil and Gas sector in Guyana. Additionally, the Bank loaned US$6M to Guyana under the Guyana Payments System Project to improve Guyana’s national payments system, while another US$13.3M was loaned for the Guyana Education Sector Improvement Project to improve student learning outcomes through reform of
curriculum and teaching practices, US$37.9M under the Flood Risk Management Project and US$12.5M towards the COVID-19 Emergency Response Project. Further, the Bank also provided a US$7M Grant to this country towards the Guyana Education Sector Programme Project for the improvement and learning conditions at the nursery level in select areas, the increase
use of technology-assisted learning at the primary level in select areas and to improve functionality of the education management information system nationally. T h e v i s i t i n g Wo r l d Bank team also included incoming Country Director for the Caribbean, Lilia Burunciuc, and outgoing Country Director for the Caribbean, Ta h s e e n Sayed.
...Exxon sub-contractor loses personal From page 14 that Fredericks was being paid less than 30 percent of what the same Trinidadian company pays similar workers working in Trinidad doing the same job. The statement noted that she was not given the same high quality equipment as her Trinidadian counterparts on the vessel. It went on to state that the woman was
ultimately tired after begging for better gloves and work conditions. “She never received a penny from the company for her injuries or compensation. She took matters to the Court and won her case,” added the statement. Further to that, during her employment with the company, Frederick’s claimed that she never had a problem with the company – she was
always punctua l a n d professional and there were no issues that could have resulted in her being fired. In this regard, Justice Corbin-Lincoln will assess damages in September 2021 and give a judgment sum befitting of her injuries. During the trial, Fredericks was represented by attorneys Eusi Anderson and Mr. Khawn Rodney.
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Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
In wake of deadly Apt. building blaze...
Fire Service to now enforce safety regulations In wake of the deadly blaze that claimed the lives of two Venezuelan women, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), will now get tougher on enforcing safety regulations for buildings, especially those belonging to businesses. Sharing his comments with the media, the Fire Chief, Kalamadeen Edoo, pointed out that there are certain fire safety rules that that businesses must follow. GFS, he explained, normally conducts inspections to make sure that these business places are in adherence to the rules, and has been doing
many of these inspections recently. Once a business has been found in breach, it will be given a time frame to ensure that the required safety measures are in place. If the business fails to comply within the specified period, its licence can be suspended. In terms of residential properties, Edoo related to reporters that the GFS will be seeking legal advice to see if it is possible for home owners to be sanctioned for their shortcomings as well. Building codes and safety regulations have come under the spotlight after two Venezuelan women – Maria Lina Texidor Alonso, 25, and Maria Alejandra Patino
Benjamin, 44 – perished in a fire that gutted an apartment building located at Fifth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown. The blaze was reportedly caused by an unattended gas stove. However, it is believed that the women’s lives could have been saved if the owner had not breached building codes and safety rules. It was pointed out that the apartment building was heavily grilled, preventing timely entry by the firemen and there was only one entrance and one exit. Also the apartments were not equipped with smoke detectors or fire extinguishers. A report has been
...Overseas based businessman murdered From page 12 completely ransacked. It is unclear what was stolen. There was no sign of forced entry to the building. Jaiwantie Singh, a relative, said she got the message around 04:00hrs on
Wednesday of Pardesi’s murder. She added that when she arrived at the house, police told her that “he head get a knock and dem scotch tape he up.” Police in a statement said Pardesi was last seen alive by
his nephew on Tuesday in the company of another man. Pardesi was pronounced dead at the New Amsterdam Hospital and his body is presently at the Arokium Funeral Home awaiting a post mortem examination.
...Hess had bailed from western hemisphere’ From page 13 the US Attorney in the Virgin Islands also requested to visit the refinery, and the company faces multiple class-action lawsuits related to the alleged pollution problems, the company’s chief restructuring officer, Mark Shapiro, said in court documents. Limetree is controlled by EIG Global Energy (EIG)
Partners, which said in an emailed statement that it became the “reluctant” owner of the troubled refining operation in April as part of a restructuring. EIG had previously led a group of Lime t r e e ’s s o called mezzanine lenders and has been involved in efforts to revive the refinery since 2018. EIG, based in Washington D.C.,
specialises in private investments in energy infrastructure. The bankruptcy comes at a time when the industry is struggling with shrinking profitability, excess production capacity and rising competition from megarefineries in Asia amid a push by the Biden Administration to move the US away from fossil.
...Funeral home takes legal action against From page 8 reconciliation.Stewart on the other hand claimed that she had adhered to their request more than once by taking in the records but Lyken was never paid. “Orders were given for the debts to be cleared off but probably because of the lengthy time the government system takes, it never came through,” related
the co-director. Nevertheless, Stewart told reporters that the parlour will adhere to the request and provide the necessary records to the GPF. Lyken, for more than two decades, had stored bodies in its parlour, at the behest of the GPF.
...GTU opposes possibility of mandatory From page 11 be mandatory, he did announce that “teachers are responsible enough” to understand the need for vaccination. But, in its statement, the union said, “We believe that the vaccine must remain voluntary and not made mandatory, neither explicitly
stated nor implicitly imposed. We urge all teachers and rightthinking Guyanese to resist any attempt by any individual, organisation or body to subject you to a tyrannical decision, the decision is yours.” The union, therefore, is calling for the mounting of awareness campaigns that
match the zeal of the vaccination drives, adding that COVID-19 vaccines are new and so the hesitancy expressed by many worldwide is understood. “Our teachers are no different since some of our members have reservations due to personal illnesses and/or fear,” the union said.
The two Venezuelan women, Maria Alejandra Patino Benjamin and Maria Lina Texidor Alonso, who were killed in the recent apartment building fire in Alberttown. prepared and handed over to the police force but it is unclear at this time whether any action will be taken against the owner. However, the Fire Chief confirmed that no inspection was ever done by the GFS at the premises and it might be a case of where the owner may have been unaware that he was in breach of the building codes and safety rules. With the influx of migrants here real estate businesses have been booming, especially apartment rentals.
Owners have been renovating their properties and dividing them into apartments. Others have been subleasing properties. This means that they would rent a building, make renovations, and then sublease apartments to tenants. It has been brought to the attention of this media house that on most occasions the landlords are ignorant of the fact that it is important to ensure that these apartments have safety measures in place
if there is a case of a fire or any other emergency. During a recent outreach conducted by the GFS, it was highlighted that business persons must construct buildings with fire safety in mind. The Fire Chief stated that apart from ensuring that buildings are equipped with fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and fire alarms, the owners of the building must ensure that the persons occupying the buildings are trained or exposed to fire safety measures.
...GEA’s Chairman speaks out against From page 3 Bess claims that his company “SBF International (or perhaps SBF Petroleum as the distinction between the two is negligible), has constructed large facilities, the articles published are accompanied by photographs of multiple red storage tanks standing on red soil.” But according to Khan, Bess on behalf of SBF has to date submitted no documents to the Agency with regard to this storage site, despite being aware of
the documents needed to support an application for a licence. In fact, the GEA Chairman said the site appears to be leased to another company, Alpha Petroleum Trading Inc., of which Bess was a former Director. Khan in his missive noted too that while Bess claims to have several employees on the breadline, two service stations on the West Coast of Demerara bear the names SBF Petroleum on their canopies. “What Bess has not
revealed, is that one of those gas stations is leased to Alpha Petroleum and not SBF as the canopy may portray.” Khan said too that “while Bess made much ado about having to fight tooth and nail to get [fuel] released to him, he is no doubt aware that the many checks and balances put in place not only by the GEA but also the GRA were to ensure that all the fuel imported by his company was taxed appropriately and marked effectively.”
...16 Civil Society bodies unite against From page 2 citizens’ dividend; how that dividend is to be shared and the Fund managed is another consultation longpromised but not yet delivered.” The catalogue of serious challenges posed by a gas pipe-line is lengthy, the group reiterated, citing as “most pressing,” the economics such as cost,
markets, longevity factors in addition to climate related hazards from flaring, methane leaks and emissions. According to the grouping, “It is incumbent on Guyana’s civil society to coalesce around more acceptable positive alternatives to Guyana’s energy needs.” Adamant that determining acceptable alternatives
cannot be limited solely to the convenience of the current generation of Guyanese, nor driven by industrial and commercial considerations alone, the grouping suggests, “decisions of this nature must include our obligations to future generations of Guyanese and also to resolving the world’s climate crisis.”
...Finance Minister meets with World From page 14 another US$13.3M was loaned for the Guyana Education Sector Improvement Project to improve student learning outcomes through reform of curriculum and teaching practices, US$37.9M under the Flood Risk Management Project and US$12.5M towards the COVID-19
Emergency Response Project. Further, the Bank also provided a US$7M Grant to this country towards the Guyana Education Sector Programme Project for the improvement and learning conditions at the nursery level in select areas, the increase use of technology-assisted learning at the primary level
in select areas and to improve functionality of the education management information system nationally. The visiting World Bank team also included incoming Country Director for the Caribbean, Lilia Burunciuc, and outgoing Country Director for the Caribbean, Tahseen Sayed.
Thursday August 05, 2021
Kaieteur News
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Govt. in search of project manager, senior engineer for gas-to-shore project
T
he Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Natural Resources has announced vacancy positions for a Project Manager and Senior Engineer for the contentious gas-to-shore project. According to the Terms of Reference (ToR), the Project Manager will play a lead role with influence to review and guide projects in a direction where positive outcomes will be to maximise transparency and the achievement of efficient and competitive value engineering as a standard approach. The role requires liaising with multidisciplinary teams and presents an opportunity for the manager to work closely with both Operator and Government to investigate existing procedures. Further, the Manager will develop, lead and manage the Project Management Team
(PMT) and deliver objectives in support of the gas-toshore, including an amendment to the Liza Field Development Plan (FDP) and technical input to the EISA. This Manager will also be responsible for ensuring that the design for construction, commissioning and operations, which is integral to delivering in support of gas-to-shore objectives; guarantee that relevant PMT and operator Front End Engineering Design (FEED) engineering, personally understand the contractual relationship and the techno-commercial model and their ability to impact it. This Project Manager is also expected to lead i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , documentation and appropriate integration of industry lessons learned on projects, and align PMT, operator FEED Engineering
Contractor(s), and a third party consultant scopes. The ToRs went on to say that the role will report to the Head of the Gas-to-Energy Task Force and will ensure that the economic project delivery is achieved from all activities in the area of Critical Infrastructure. For this position, the Ministry of Natural Resources requires that the Project Manager have a minimum of 15 years of infrastructure experience, preferably within onshore pipeline experience; excellent team leadership and communication skills; a higher qualification university degree, amongst other key requirements. Meanwhile, the position of Senior Engineer will be responsible for playing a lead role to review and guide projects to maximise transparency. According to the ToRs, the Engineer will be required
to attain efficient and competitive value engineering as a standard approach, as well as liaising with multidisciplinary teams. This Engineer will report to the Project Manager and will ensure that the economic project delivery is achieved from all activities in the area of critical infrastructure. These activities include supporting the team to deliver technical quality and integrity throughout the FEED process; support value engineering and procurement review process; provide
alignment with the Natural Resources Ministry Project Management process requirements; create/develop a strategic long-term plan for the development of value engineering; collaborate with and develop relationships with multi-disciplinary teams to expand successful equipment/goods categories; establish a long-term vision and communicate associated opportunities/risks, along with other critical objectives. In the area of qualifications and experience, the Engineer will
be required to have a minimum of 10 years of infrastructure experience, preferably within onshore pipeline experience; excellent team leadership and communication skills; a higher qualification university degree, amongst other key qualifications. The Ministry of Natural Resources requests that interested candidates send their curriculum vitae and a letter of interest to the Ministry's Permanent Secretary on or before August 20, 2021.
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Kaieteur News
Thursday August 05, 2021
Thursday August 05, 2021
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Kaieteur News
Seegobin, Austin propel Mahdia/Movements Family to two-wicket win over Laluni
The victorious Mahdia/Movements Family team.
Thursday August 05, 2021 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) If you feel cautious today, don't be alarmed. This can be a good thing, as you can be too trusting at times or forget to take care when going into something new. TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Taurus, personal dignity may be important to you today. This may come about when things go wrong or if you're accused of something you didn't do. GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Don't be surprised if someone describes you as conservative, Gemini. It may be true. It could indicate that it's important for you to maintain control over most things. CANCER (June 21–July 22) Your mother may be on your mind today, Cancer. Your mother probably affects how you think, act, and feel, both in the past and now. LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Focus on yourself today, Leo. Take note of your health. You probably know that this is something you must take care of always, not just sometimes. Daily routines are important. It's up to you to stick to them. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) No dream is too big or too late to fulfill. You may be thinking about your special dreams today, Virgo. Perhaps you aspire to do something really great, be a pioneer in some field, or be a prominent figure.
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Chances are good that you will receive a helping hand or comfort from someone many years your senior who cares about you. Don't hesitate to ask for their thoughts, ideas, and assistance. SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Today, Scorpio, you may think about competition and possible future goals. Imagining and dreaming can serve you well. What did you dream about as a kid? SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) You may think about your finances today. It's never too late to learn about saving and investing, especially if there's something you really want to do, like travel. CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Take the time today to consider your health, Capricorn. Do you get enough rest, eat the right foods, take vitamins, exercise every day, go to the doctor when you need to, and take time to relax? AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Today you may emphasize organizing things and managing your life. Take a look at your time management. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) ne day, I want to be…. When you were little, how did you finish that sentence, Pisces? See what your memory and imagination come up with. Is your life what you dreamed it would be? If not, consider what you could do to change it.
By Zaheer Mohamed A courageous unbeaten eight-wicket stand of 65 between Deonarine Seegobin and Raydon Austin handed Mahdia/Movements Family a two-wicket victory over Laluni in a 40-over fixture on Saturday. Staring down the barrel of defeat at 77-8 in pursuit of 141, left-handed opener Seegobin and Austin steadied the chase nicely as their team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at Laluni, Linden/Soesdyke Highway. The home team were put on the back foot early as pacer Keyon Sinclair made early inroads on an uneven track in a match which was reduced to 30 overs. The energetic Sinclair bowled opener Leon Thomas (03) before he removed national all-rounder Clinton Pestano (09). Fast bowler Leorayan Ramlakhan sent back Derick Tagenarine (09), while Austin removed Vinash Rampersaud (02) as wickets continued to tumble.
Laluni plunged into further trouble as Ershad Ali disturbed the stumps of Julian Mohabir for three, before Shock Wong and Wayne La Rose resurrected the innings with an entertaining sixth wicket stand of 75. Wong struck one four and four sixes before he was lbw to Seegobin for 40, while La Rose made 39 with five towering sixes. The lower didn’t offer much resistance as the home team were bowled out in 27 overs. Austin claimed 2-12 while Ramlakhan had 2-15, Sinclair took 2-17 while there was one each for Seegobin, Ali and Rajkumar Singh. Mahdia/Movements Family lost opener Travis Drakes, caught off Pestano for three, early in the chase while Omesh Danram was taken off John Blair for 17 which included two sixes. The visitors lost their way somewhat as the experienced Danny Narayan (05) was run out while spinner Sunil Sarjoo removed Ali (09) before Paul
Tyrell (03) was run out. More drama follwed as pacer Troy Domingo picked up the wickets of Singh (01) and Sinclair (00) in quick succession after he was brought back for a second spell, while Ramlakhan (11) was caught off the steady Sarjoo. Mahdia/ Movements Family needed something special at this stage, and Deonarine and Austin provided it as they consolidated to secure the win for their team. Despite the heavy outfield which made runs hard to come by, the duo’s reunion blossomed nicely. Deonarine was very watchful as he played the supporting role well while Austin timed the ball sweetly as their team finished on 1468 in 25 overs. Deonarine stroked one four and one six in an unbeaten 36 while Austin slammed three sixes in scoring 30 not out. Sarjoo took 2-14, Domingo had 2-19 while there was one each for Pestano and Blair.
Kaieteur News
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Thursday August 05, 2021
Canada’s Andre de Grasse wins 200, beating - ‘I shocked USA’s Kenneth Bednarek, Noah Lyles the world’
U
SA TODAY TOKYO — For both the past few years and the past few days, the focus in the men’s 200meter dash had always been on the Americans. There was Noah Lyles, the reigning world champion, an effervescent and engaging personality who spoke openly about both his goal of winning three golds in Tokyo and his lifelong battles with anxiety and depression. Then, more recently, some of the spotlight shifted toward Erriyon Knighton, the 17-year-old newcomer who had started breaking Usain Bolt’s youth records. Somehow, amid all the hype, a 26-year-old Canadian with seven Olympic and world championship medals managed to remain surprisingly overlooked — until yesterday, that is. Andre de Grasse ran the
Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse powers to Olympic gold in the men’s 200-meter final.
fastest race of his life at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium to win the men’s 200 in a time of 19.62 seconds — setting a new Canadian record, earning his first Olympic gold medal and speeding
past the Americans who had, to that point, garnered so much of the attention. “I want everybody to know: I shocked the world,” de Grasse said. “I know everyone was saying that the
Americans were going to win, but I came out here and (knew) this was my moment.” In a bit of a surprise, it was Kenneth Bednarek who led the way for Team USA, crossing the finish line in 19.68 to win silver in his first major international appearance. Lyles followed close behind, in 19.74, to take bronze. And Knighton, the youngest male to compete for U.S. track and field at the Olympics since Jim Ryun in 1964, came fourth. “It’s just another sign that you can’t take anything for granted,” said Lyles, who entered Wednesday’s race as the prohibitive favorite. “(The bronze medal) is nice to have. But I want more.” When asked how it felt to be an Olympic bronze medalist, he replied:
“Boring.” The U.S. had loftier hopes for this event, and for the sprints as a whole. In the lead-up to Tokyo, 100-meter sprinter Trayvon Bromell, 400-meter runner Michael Norman and Lyles were all considered the favorites in their respective events. Bromell did not qualify for the final. Norman will run for a medal today. In Bromell’s absence, Fred Kerley — who previously ran the 400 — ran a personal best to win silver in the 100. And in the 200, Bednarek took a major step forward to win a silver of his own, shaving a tenth of a second of his previous personal best. “I felt like I was a little bit overlooked,” said Bednarek, who ran collegiately at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
“I was running fast times in college and I just kind of wanted to be one of those people that people knew — that I was going to be a threat, a contender. I just kind of felt like I was d i s r e s p e c t e d . N o w, hopefully I get my respect there.” The story last night, however, was de Grasse. For years, he had been the proverbial bridesmaid — a frequent presence on the podium, but never the guy standing at the top of it. He won three medals at the Rio Olympics, often finishing behind Bolt, and four more at world championships. Earlier this week, he added to his medal haul with a bronze in the 100. But he hadn’t won gold until Wednesday night. “ Wi n n i n g b r o n z e , winning silver — obviously I was young back then,” de Grasse said. “Racing the GOAT, Usain. So of course, I was still proud of myself. I was still happy to be at my first Olympics and be in that moment. But I knew coming into my second Games like, I’m ready. I prepared for this.” Injuries hampered de Grasse in the years between those two Games. A hamstring injury kept him out of the 2017 world championships, then resurfaced in 2018. He said there were times when he relied on other people to believe in him, because he didn’t believe in himself. So, was it worth the wait? “Definitely,” de Grasse said.
Abrams finishes 7th in 400m semifinal N a t i o n a l women’s 400m champion, Aliyah Abrams, finished her Olympic campaign with her head held high after a good outing in which she managed to become only the second Guyanese to make it to the semifinal stage in her pet event at the quadrennial sport extravaganza after finishing seventh. Coming out of Lane 2, the 24-year-old ran 51.46 seconds, just two
hundredths of a second slower than the 51.44 seconds which qualified her to the semi-final. Abrams semifinal was won by defending Olympic champion Shaunae MillerUibo (49.60s) of Bahamas, while Great Britian’s Jodie Williams clocked a new Personal Best of 49.97s to be the second automatic qualifier to the final. The U.S. based athlete, in her second Olympic Games, did not made it to
the semi-finals in Rio 2016, and made it her mission to progress from the Heats in Tokyo. She was the first of seven athletes to qualify for Guyana at the Tokyo Olympics and the last to exit. The other Tokyo 2020 Guyanese Olympians include Keevin Allicock, Chelsea Edghill, Abrams’ sister Jasmine Abrams, Emanuel Archibald, Andrew Fowler and Aleka Persaud.
Thursday August 05, 2021
Nicholas Albert receives a supply of supplement from Fitness Express’ Jamie McDonald.
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Fitness Express continues support of athletes ahead of 48th CAC Bodybuilding C/ships Nicholas Albert and Rosanna Fung benefit
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he unflinching and committed support of athletes especially in the weights sports by Fitness Express continues to be maintained even in these challenging times. Managing Director of Fitness Express, Jamie McDonald continues to live through to his company’s commitment of empowering athletes to excel and has even expanded this support; the latest beneficiaries being Rosanna Fung and Nicholas Albert who are set to represent Guyana at the IFBB 48th Central American & Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships to be held in San Salvador, El Salvador, from August 12 – 16. The event which would be hosted by the Salvadorian Federation of Bodybuilding
& Associated Sports (FSFC) will attract the best of the best in the Caribbean and Central America with the Guyanese confident of medaling. McDonald shared that Fitness Express was proud to continue their partnership with the athletes and is wishing the Guyanese contingent the very best at this year’s competition. “We at Fitness Express understand the challenges that our athletes encounter when it comes to preparation for these elite competitions. It is never easy as it takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice to be in the best possible shape in order to medal, so in whatever way we can assist, we do. In this instance, we assist with supplements as we have been doing for years and we are proud to chip in as
it is our way of empowering these guys to do themselves and this nation proud.” Both athletes expressed gratitude to McDonald and Fitness Express for the support which they said has aided their preparation to make Guyana proud come next weekend in San Salvador. The registration and weigh-in of the athletes will take place on Friday, August 13 from 13:30hrs at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Guyana would be represented by six athletes.
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Thursday August 05, 2021
GMR&SC condemns unsanctioned racing by individuals T
he Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC), in a release to the media has condemned and distanced itself from the actions of persons who have been reported to be doing unsanctioned racing at the South Dakota Circuit, Timehri. The release read that, “The GMR&SC wishes to state that it has given ‘NO PERMISSION’ to any c o m p e t i t o r, g r o u p o f competitors or persons to host any event of any kind at the South Dakota Circuit.” “GMR&SC, the local body charged with the administration and control of
all motorsport events, has noted several instances where persons have been using parts of the ‘drag strip’ with an aim to hosting racing events/meets. Brought to the club’s attention via social media, some instances have featured persons attempting to drag race using sections of the strip. The club is in no way, shape or form associated with those events and discourages its members from participating in such. It is against the National COVID-19 guidelines to host an event without proper permission from the National COVID-19 Task Force.
The club wishes to remind all members and competitors that attending, promoting and participating
in non-sanctioned GMR&SC events may result in bans or suspension of said competitors and team
GMR&SC is against unsanctioned racing at South Dakota Drag strip.
members.” The release also noted that if any member of the club would like to utilise the
track for private testing, the club can be contacted but all covid-19 protocols must be observed.
Grant-Stuart set for Tokyo 2020 Quentin Sampson smashes Paralympics Games in Tokyo; Min. of Sport & NSC support 129* to lead Tyube Knight - GOA not yet on board Rider past Dagg Point in final
Vnet Communications/Bartica Town Council Emancipation 10-Overs cricket
The victorious Tyube Knight Rider Cricket Team displaying their trophies, compliments of Vnet Communications. Held under strict covid-19 restrictions/guidelines and aided by a vaccination drive as the authorities in Bartica continues to encourage residents to be fully vaccinated, the Mayor and Town Council held a successful 10-Overs cricket competition on the weekend which was won by the Tyube Knight Rider Cricket Team. The tournament took place at the Bartica Sports Centre and was sponsored (cash & trophies) by Vnet Communications in observance of Emancipation celebrations; it was organised by the Bartica Town Council. Contesting the final under flood lights against Dagg Point, Tyube Knight Rider took first strike and rattled up 194-4 off their 10-
overs led by a swashbuckling undefeated 129 from the Best Batsman of the competition, Quentin Sampson. Needing to better the performance of Tyube Knight Rider to post a winning score of 195, Dagg Point were restricted to 138-8 off their 10-overs falling short by 56 runs. The main wicket taker was Asif Khan who took 3-25 off his two overs; he was named the Best Bowler of the competition. The other teams which participated were Karrau, Sun Riser, Batavia and Royal Strickers. His Worship, Mayor Gifford Marshall and Regional Chairman Kenneth Williams assisted with the presentation of prizes.
Para cyclist Walter Grant-Stuart who qualified for the Paralympic Games at Tokyo 2020 in 2018 is already facing serious challenges before even touching down in Japan. The reigning 2021 Guyana Cycling Federation National Masters Champion who also finished fifth overall in the Senior category should have already been in Miami on an eight (8) weeks training/preparation programme but that has been cut drastically due to lack of funding; he is now expected to wing out on Sunday for Miami where he would be engaging in a two-weeks training stint and will leave there on August 23rd for Japan. Speaking with Kaieteur Sport yesterday, Grant-Stuart, who is no stranger to representing Guyana on the international stage with admirable success, informed that he is still awaiting support for the Guyana Olympic Association to make his quest of medaling for Guyana, reality. “I have already received support from the Honourable Minister of Sport, Charles Ramson Jr. and the National Sports Commission but am still awaiting word from the GOA on what support I would receive.” These games would be held under the auspices of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) of which the National Paralympics Committee of Guyana is affiliated. Grant-Stuart would be Guyana’s lone representative at these games and would be competing in the Time Trials and Road Race, respectively. He noted that preparation is vital for him as part of the course in Tokyo is very hilly and steep with gradients above what we have here.
Flashback! Walter Grant-Staurt competing in Canada in 2019.
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Canada Softball ‘Big-Bash’ set for September, 3rd, 4th and 5th
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he 2021 Canada Softball BigBash is slated to b e h e l d September 3-5 at various venues across the Greater Toronto Area with the champion team set to cart off a trophy and $10,000. President of Softball Cricket Canada, Rajesh Willie, is positive that the three-day 15-over event would be very successful especially with the participation of eight teams, which are expected to be selected on a draft-basis. The competition was inaugurated last year amidst the global pandemic and only six teams featured with Lara XI emerging victorious. Again, Willie is brimming with confidence that softball fans will be entertained from the first legitimate delivery. He highlighted that each team must play two under-21 players and an over-50 player as his objective is to see youngsters getting an opportunity to develop their cricketing skills at a huge
The Canadian big bash is set for September 3-5. softball showpiece, while a veteran member can share his knowledge about the game. “In keeping with the objectives of the tournament to be inclusive and also to develop the future of softball cricket in Canada, hence the 2021 tournament will
require each team to have 1 over 50 and 2 under 21 players who must play a minimum of 1 game in the preliminary rounds,” Willie declared. “Having said that, I [am] very confident that we can run off another fantastic tournament where a large number of top softball
players will get a chance to showcase their talent,” he related. It is also informed that every game will have a minimum of five overs round-arm using the whiteball. According to the Willie this mixture of bowling will most likely
bring greater excitement to the competition but at the same time there should be competitive cricket. In addition to that, fans from elsewhere can view the final on Facebook live with ballby-ball commentary. Willie stated that the last day for registration is August 10th
and the drafting to be done on the 13th. Persons who are interested of being a sponsor or player can contact: Willlie 647-408-4660, Roger 647488-3462 or Zanil 647-9792819 for further information. Notably, each team can only have a maximum of two overseas players.
Golf continues to blossom - second junior camp underway
From right Wayne Barrow, Aleem Hussain, Ivan Bentham and a member of the BV Youth Group. Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle said he was impressed by the progress golf was making in Guyana as, in addition to a handover ceremony last Friday of several million dollars of equipment, a second Golf Camp got underway on Monday. Mr. Ninvalle expressed his delight at the rapid growth stating “My goal is to ensure that every Guyanese has access to sports, something that has been a challenge with covid-19. Golf however, is the perfect answer to restrictions as its characteristics allow for play with little modifications. And I must say the President of the Guyana Golf Association/Nexgen Golf
Academy Aleem Hussain has done a commendable job of bringing the sport to its current level and the results that have been accomplished in a short period is remarkable.” The Guyana Golf Association and Nexgen Golf Academy extended an invitation to Wayne Barrow and Ivan Bentham, of the President Youth Award Republic of Guyana p r o g r a m m e ( P YA R G ) Department Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport, to bring several members of the B V Yo u t h G r o u p t o experience the sport at no cost due to sponsorship by Toolsie Persaud Ltd, Service Guyana HVAC, Ansa Mcal and Trophy Stall.
Dr. Joaan Deo, Head Coach at the Nexgen Golf Academy emphasised that the goal for Guyana to compete in golf at the next Olympics starts now. “This is why we are so focused on these camps to find the talent that we can develop into a national team.” Public Relations Officer for the GGA Guy Griffith commented, “The main reason for the growth is our Executive’s vision for the GGA to make Golf an inclusive and not exclusive sport. The results over the past year and the sheer numbers that have responded, breaking age, cultural and religious barriers are a testament to the hard work
The youth camp is currently underway at Woolford Avenue. by our team.” H u s s a i n s a i d “Partnerships with various sporting disciplines such as Table Tennis, Badminton, Archery, and Football have fueled interest in golf and we will be introducing Air Badminton, the outdoor game on Thursday with our To p N a t i o n a l P l a y e r s Priyanna Ramdhani & Akili Haynes conducting the session. GBA executives
Gokarn Ramdhani, Ayanna Wa t s o n a n d E m i l y Ramdhani will also be present. The GGA and Allied Arts Unit, led by Lindley Langhorne, will start the training of PE Teachers later in August, for 50 more schools in Regions 2, 4, and 5 to provide over 10,000 students access to the sport by end of 2021, making good on the promise to have Golf
become one of the most played sports in the country, all in less than one year! The Guyana Golf Association and Nexgen Golf Academy provides equipment and lessons for anyone interested in learning the game and the facility is open daily from 9 am to 8 pm. See nexgengolfacademy on Facebook and Instagram for details or call 668 7419 for more information.