Kaieteur News

K

AIETEUR Exxon’s subcontractor

August 12, 2021 - Vol. 14 No. 29

inks new contract for additional offshore surveys

NEWS

Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly

Thursday Edition Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

…Govt. silent to date on new pact

Price $80

Online readership yesterday, 99,741

Countries must end all new fossil fuel exploration, - There is no production and shift timenoforroomdelay, for excuses to renewable energy - UN Secretary General

Govt. boasts of not spending oil proceeds contained in NRF …Opposition MP says PPP/C borrowing will put dent in savings

Anti-COVID-19 vaccination protest escalates in Linden - Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge blocked, minibuses en route to interior locations affected

Public-spirited Executed citizens help businessman’s save motorcyclist friend still critical from watery grave Regent St. shooting…

More oil finds present additional opportunities

The protest continues for change to the ….as helicopter provider boasts of ‘nice Exxon contract. cash flow’ from Guyana’s oil operations @11:00hrs on OL Harmon sees cussing down and busing down VP Jagdeo as more important Kaieteur Radio than fighting to ensure all Guyanese have a comfortable life from our resources. 99.1/99.5FM

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Thursday August 12, 2021

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Exxon's subcontractor inks new contract for additional offshore surveys Oceaneering International DP-2 Cape Davis vessel which is said to be equipped with the 3,000 m-rated OS-VI AUV, towed geophysical sensors and geotechnical sampling and testing equipment.

…Govt. silent to date on new pact

E

sso Exploration and Production G u y a n a (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana—has inked a contract with Oceaneering International for two surveys offshore Guyana, as the company expands its operations in the Blocks it holds controlling interests in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The new contract awarded covers a towed and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) geophysical survey and a shallow geotechnical survey off the coast of Guyana.

Exxon's subcontractor inks new contract for additional offshore surveys O c e a n e e r i n g International made the announcement on Tuesday last by way of a public missive, which disclosed that the company would be utilising its DP-2 Cape Davis vessel said to be, “equipped with the 3,000 m-rated OSVI AUV, towed geophysical sensors and geotechnical sampling and testing equipment.”

A geotechnical survey consists of gathering information about the physical characteristics of the soils and rocks that make up the land.

According to the announcement, the surveys are slated to commence in the third quarter of the year.

Eric Smith, Director, Oceaneering Survey Services, in making the announcement noted, “we are excited to continue to provide support for operations offshore Guyana and to have the opportunity to expand

that into geophysical and geotechnical survey services.”

Notably absent in the company's announcement was the quantum or duration of the contract.

According to the company's missive announcing the contract with ExxonMobil Guyana, “in addition to the geophysical and geotechnical survey, Oceaneering will also be working with RPS Group to provide Protected Species Observers (PSO) and perform an Environmental Baseline Survey (EBS) of the area.”

O c e a n e e r i n g International is said to have been providing related support since 2017 including ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and subsea tooling services.

The missive added, “As part of these services, Oceaneering is committed to growing our local Guyanese workforce as well as ensuring that all of our subcontractors are progressing their c o m m i t m e n t t o nationalisation…

A cornerstone of our commitment is a sustainable career development and investment program that will allow Oceaneering to offer best in class services to support the growing industry in Guyana for years to come.”

ExxonMobil initiated oil and gas exploration activities in Guyana in 2008, collecting and evaluating substantial 2D and 3-D seismic data that led to the company safely drilling its first exploration well in 2015.

I n M a y 2 0 1 5 , ExxonMobil announced an oil and gas discovery in Guyana representing the first significant discovery for the country. EEPGL holds interest and is the operator in the Stabroek, Canje and Kaieteur Blocks, offshore Guyana. The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers) and is (Continued on page 8)

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Countries must end all new fossil fuel exploration, production and shift to renewable energy - There is no time for delay, Secretary no room for excuses - UNGeneral

By Kiana Wilburg

O

n the heels of a damning report b y t h e I n t e rgovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which speaks to the devastating effects human activity on the earth, United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said the message facing the petroleum industry cannot be any clearer.

In a statement he released this week, Guterres said the message before the industry unequivocally states that oil and gas exploration and production must not continue; there must be a swift shift to renewable energy.

Guterres stressed that this word of caution must be heeded since the internationally agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius is “perilously close.”

He said, “We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near term.

The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts, and pursuing the most ambitious path…We are already at 1.2 degrees and rising.”

The UN Secretary General added, “Global Warming has accelerated in recent decades. Greenhouse gas concentrations are at record levels.

Extreme weather and climate disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity.

That is why this year's United Nations climate conference in Glasgow is so important.”

Further to this, Guterres said all nations, especially the major emitters like the USA and China, need to join the net zero emissions coalition and reinforce their commitments with credible, concrete and enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions and policies before COP26 in Glasgow.

Without deep carbon pollution cuts now, he

underscored that the 1.5degree goal will fall quickly out of reach. To change the current trajectory, Guterres said there must be no new coal plants built after 2021, while adding that nations that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) must phase out existing coal by 2030, with all others following suit by 2040.

Guterres added, “Countries should also end all new fossil fuel exploration and production, and shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy.

By 2030, solar and wind capacity should quadruple and renewable energy investments should triple to maintain a net zero trajectory by midcentury.”

The UN Secretary General said there is a clear moral and economic imperative to protect the livelihoods of those on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and noted too that adaptation and resilience finance must cease being the neglected half of the climate equation.

In this regard, he highlighted that only 21 percent of climate support is directed towards adaptation.

“I again call on donors and the multilateral development banks to allocate at least 50 per cent of all public climate finance to protecting people, especially women and vulnerable groups. COVID19 recovery spending must be aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. And the decade-old promise to mobilise US$100 billion annually to support mitigation and adaptation in developing countries must be met,” the UN Secretary General expressed.

If there is a collective action on the situation at hand, the official opined that a climate catastrophe can be averted. “But, as the IPCC's report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.

I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success,” the UN official concluded.

ABOUT IPCC & ITS REPORT The IPCC was created in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the Wo r l d M e t e o r o l o g i c a l Organization (WMO) to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options.

Through its assessments, the IPCC determines the state of knowledge on climate change.

It identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community on topics related to climate change, and where further research is needed.

The reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.

The IPCC is now in its sixth assessment cycle. The first report from this process is called Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. It was released this week.

The report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations. A total of 234 scientists from 66 countries are behind the first chapter of the IPCC's sixth assessment report. Also, over 14,000 scientific papers are referenced in the report.

Some of the key findings of the report are as follows: · Keeping to 1.5 Degrees Celsius will require “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions” in emissions while slower action leads to a

temperature of 2 Degrees Celsius and more suffering for all life on Earth. · Drought is increasing in more than 90 percent of regions across the world · The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850 · The recent rate of sealevel rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971 · Extreme sea-level events that occurred once a century are projected to occur at least annually. · Under all the emissions scenarios considered, all targets for reductions will be broken this century unless huge cuts in carbon emissions take place.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.

· 2,400 billion tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) have been emitted by humanity since 1850. The world can afford to only leak another 400 billion tonnes to have a 66 percent chance of keeping to 1.5 Degrees Celsius. · Many changes due to past and future greenhouse gas emissions are irreversible for centuries to millennia, especially changes in the ocean, ice sheets and global sea level. · Under scenarios with increasing CO2 emissions, the ocean and land carbon sinks are projected to be less effective at slowing the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere.

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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

When will emancipation be true?

We recently observed Emancipation Day. But are we really emancipated? It should mean not only freedom from physical restraint, but also psychological ones. Guyanese have been free from the yoke for over a half century now, yet they race in haste to get away from this place with so many riches. Though a people have been set free from the enslavement of the human body and mind, those most bestial of crimes that can be committed by man against man, there are those tribal and communal and national slaveries that not just remain deeply ingrained here, but in the totality of the crippling shackling that they instill actually flourish.

We don’t have to go far into the past, only a mere year ago, to the 19 months before that is focused upon and there is the picture and proof of the slaveries that exist in full flow here. First, there is the racial slavery that isolate and hold hostage the greatest segments of this country’s population.

Those enslaved segments cannot move, cannot even think clearly and naturally anymore. Guyana’s prosperous racial slavery enables its fettered peoples to harbour, speculate, or imagine the worst about those that are believed to desire nothing but to stand over them, and harness them with oppressive beastly burdens. So, a society struggles to get by, while always looking warily for those, who would make virtual slaves of one feared side or the other.

Then, there is leadership slavery, which takes two forms.

The first is where parts of a population are committed and helplessly tied to political leaders, on the one hand; and, on the other, of the leaders, who prey upon the fears and vulnerabilities of those same willing segments of a largely unthinking population to dance to their driving whips, to submit to their chains. Those would be the chains that racial and political leaders wrap around the minds of trapped Guyanese, so that they can no longer think straight or for themselves and, not satisfied with that inhuman cruelty, leaders then proceed to apply chains in a vice-like grip around the necks of weakened Guyanese, so that they can’t breathe.

This is the kind of emancipation that a high percentage of Guyanese live with, even welcome. They prefer the oppressions of the masters in their ‘big houses’ which they have made for themselves, off the sweat and backs of toiling Guyanese, always mostly falling short of citizens. But in addition to the racial and leadership slaveries that have an irreversible stranglehold on this nation, and with all of their associated social, environmental, and financial ills, there is still another slavery with which the peoples of this country must now contend. It is a new one, which they have failed to grasp, because of the unemancipated state in which they languish, and which make them into objects of utter contempt, ripe for absolute exploitation. That of which we speak is oil slavery.

One massive oil discovery after another have provoked the worst states of mind conceivable in us: who should and should not get the nation’s oil bounties? Who has already tried to rob, or is now planning to rob, of this incredible oil patrimony?

And who must be prevented, at all costs and by any means, from getting to the upper level and, hence, the upper hand in the Guyana’s crab-like oil barrel? Alongside the fresh slavery of oil, and its still unimaginable riches, there follows in lockstep, those raw and rank enslaving racial prejudices that keep us circling each other fearfully and suspiciously, and reaching to do one of two things. That is, grab by the throat and tear out windpipe; or stab in the back, by entertaining the most deep-seated and widespread uncertainties about motives, agendas, and where developments could lead.

So, there was an Abolition Act in Great Britain in 1833 (Earl Grey), an Emancipation Proclamation in America in 1863 (Abraham Lincoln), and the equivalent of emancipation from colonial servitude from the mother country in Guyana in 1966 (Harold Wilson). We should have been better and freer in the years since, but we have not been. Now new enslavers are here, and all because of the newer slavery of oil, and its countless oppressions.

Try to convince, never coerce in a democracy Dear Editor, There are different degrees of certainty in science. Some laws are certain beyond present dispute, e.g., the laws of chemistry and physics that are confirmed by daily experience.

A match of a certain quality lights when struck on the box, and every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

We often do not have to await perfection before applying the science. When a car is engineered, all the uncertainties must add up to a certain tolerance that requires accepted levels of

maintenance. As technology improves, we get better cars.

The law of gravity is so certain that we should legislate proper harness for workers on high-rise buildings. However, some laws have not attained such a status of certainty, and the current vaccines belong to this category.

Therefore no one should be forced to accept a bodily intake on the say-so of any authority or have other public rights withdrawn because of a belief by some sections of society, even if a majority.

Those who have a belief in a certainly imperfect and

uncertain vaccine, which is allowed only for emergency use in countries that researched, developed, manufactured and sell them, ought not to impose their belief in the degree of certainty on others who do not. Try to convince, never coerce in a democracy. Every person we think ignorant ought to be respected for his rights.

If necessary, let those who do not want the vaccine be served by those who also do not want the vaccine. We do have smoking and nonsmoking places, do we not?

The most certain science

we have is mathematics.

Scientists and engineers use it to assess the degrees of uncertainty in any scientific and technological undertaking. Why don’t I see these uncertainties published with the exhortations to take the vaccines? But even though mathematics is the best we have, here is what a master practitioner had to say about it. ”As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” ¯ Albert Einstein.

Yours truly, Alfred Bhulai

Pitting PPP leaders against each other?

Dear Editor, This is my rejoinder to Ms. Sharmila Ally’s (KN Aug 9) castigation of the PPP, its General Secretary, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall. Is this an attempt to pit the two political giants against each other?

The writer recognises and praises Messrs Jagdeo and Nandlall for their substantive role in rehabilitating the PPP since 2015, catapulting it into office in 2020 – Jagdeo for political and Nandlall for legal acumen.

Both are skilled in their respected fields, and their talents and expertise merged.

As a political analyst, I feel they did what was required to get the party back in government. No doubt, these two giants are responsible for the PPP being democratically restored into office; without them, the party would not

have been in office today.

Others also played significant roles, some publicly and others quietly behind the scenes, and their contributions are not undervalued or underrated.

But while praising Jagdeo and Nandlall’s roles, Ms. Ally attempts to pit the two giants against each other, alleging unsubstantiated skullduggery in the selection of the Presidential nominee more than two years ago.

Nandlall ran for the nomination within the PPP central committee; the party selected Dr. Irfaan Ali. The issue was long settled. The nominee was chosen a whole year before the election. Dr. Irfaan won the Presidency, illustrating the voters’ confidence in the party’s choice.

It does not serve the interest of the party or the government or the nation for

Ms. Ally to try to pit one person against another. That is a strategy of political opponents – to create rift in the other side. One should encourage and promote unity. One recalls that rift led to PPP losing its majority in 2011 and ousted from office in 2015.

After the electoral victory in August 2020, as best as I was informed, the party made collective decision and appointment to parliament, cabinet, and government boards (as well as corporations). The President, the PM, the Vice President, the AG, and other Ministers have received very high approval ratings over the last year.

I wish to point out to Ms. Ally that several unidentified persons combated the attempted rigging in their own way. Intelligence gatherers provided critical information

about the plan to rig, selection of judges for court cases, and expected judgments, etc.

A few individuals confidentially collected and shared information with this writer; they used personal funds, to combat electoral fraud. Strategic measures were undertaken to successfully crush nefarious plots.

The rigging was thwarted at each stage including at the GECOM level. Had key individuals not been involved in underground operations, the rigging would have been successful.

Several unsung heroes, whose names would never be revealed to protect their identity, contributed to the declaration of the PPP/C as the winner of the 2020 elections.

Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

EQUAL Guyana commends the Government of Guyana for auctioning this essential legislative amendment Dear Editor, During the early morning hours of August 10, 2021, the National Assembly of Guyana debated the passage of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) (Amendment) Bill (No.6 of 2021). This bill was presented to the National Assembly by the Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall, S.C., who in his explanatory memorandum attached to the bill, iterated that the amendment merely gives effect to the judgment of the Caribbean court of Justice in the McEwan case of 2018, to delete paragraph xlvii, of Section 153(1) (the “cross dressing” clause) of the act. Minister Nandlall further explained that this procedural formality is a signal of the “Government’s

commitment to fulfilling the human rights of all Guyanese.”

EQUAL Guyana, as a legally registered human rights organisation, commends the Government of Guyana for auctioning this essential legislative amendment to bring Guyana closer into compliance with its international human rights obligations including the UN’s ICCPR. These human rights are universal; that is, they are afforded to all Guyanese and are protected by the constitution, which is the supreme law of Guyana.

Fortunately, progressivethinking minds understand that the laws, which govern Guyana, protect all persons from discrimination, but whilst some archaic colonial laws still have not been adequately

reviewed, Guyanese of all backgrounds are entitled to life live authentically and free from fear of stigma, discrimination, and violence.

These same principles apply to every cross-section of the Guyanese population regardless of race, religion, sex, gender (expression and identity), socio-economic background, or any other human characteristic.

It is with much regret that EQUAL Guyana must explicitly express concern about many of the remarks made in the National Assembly by Ms. Annette N. Ferguson and Mr. Richard E. Sinclair. These remarks, in the opinion of mental health and human rights professionals at EQUAL Guyana, were inherently discriminatory, misinformed, intolerant, and

collectively abhorrent to any forward thinking, learned Guyanese. The remarks made predominantly about LGBTQ persons included inferences about “sinful distortions,” “abominations,” “disgusting acts” and “defacements” based solely on unilateral religious perceptions, despite the religious diversity of Guyana, which we celebrate.

Undeniably, there is no place for the perpetuation of such ruthless discrimination in a democratic, developing state, governed by overarching principles of inclusivity and unity.

Such blatant derogatory statements have no place in our society and are outrightly condemned by EQUAL Guyana.

EQUAL Guyana also wishes to make it clear that it, (Continued on page 6)

Thursday August 12, 2021

I have received no response from EPA on radio material storage facility Dear Editor, Sometime in June of this year, I wrote a ‘Letter of Appeal’ to the Environmental Assessment Board and copied it to the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minister of Health, on behalf of residents of Coverden on the East Bank of Demerara, expressing our objection, relative to EPA’s ‘Public Notice’ in relation to ‘Non-Destructive Testers Limited (Guyana) Inc. Storage of Sealed Radioactive Source – Industrial Radiography Device,’ to be located at Lot 1 of Lots 1 and 2 Thuiste Te Coverden, East Bank, Demerara (the former Clay Brick Factory).

I also wrote a letter to t h e e d i t o r, w h i c h w a s published in June, expressing our objection.

Our position was very clear that we did not agree for storage of radioactive devices to be done in the c o m m u n i t y, a n d t h a t position was nonnegotiable. However, since June, I have not heard from the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

However, it is rumored that apparently, permission was granted, and radioactive devices are being stored at the location mentioned above. Editor, I wish to enquire of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Environmental Assessment

Board or the Vice President, whether permission was granted to the NonDestructive Te s t e r s Limited (Guyana) Inc. or a n y o t h e r c o m p a n y, t o store radioactive devices or conduct any business relative to radioactivity at Lot 1 of Lots 1 and 2 Thuiste Te Coverden, East Bank, Demerara? Secondly, if permission was granted, what was the process for granting the permission? I trust that this is just a rumor.

Editor, can you imagine, the EPA did not require that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or an Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) be done for a radioactivity project? Additionally, the EPA regulations require that the project be more that 200m away from the closest residents, however, someone can stand on the premises of the Clay Brick Factory and easily throw a stone into the closest home that is how close the project will be to residents.

However, the EIA and the distance is not relevant in this case because the position of the residents on the storage of radioactive devices at the location, is nonnegotiable.

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E d i t o r, t h e E PA a n d EAB ought not to put Guyanese in the position where they are forced to choose between oil and gas and life. I know that many if not most Guyanese will choose life over wealth.

I am a big supporter of the oil and gas industry in Guyana, we need money and resources to develop the country, however, there are very good examples of countries which are involved in oil and gas production but have sustainable and responsible ways of developing and managing the industry.

I understand that our country and people will be required to make certain compromises in order to facilitate the production of oil and gas, however, I insist that the approach must be a sustainable development and sustainable business one.

It seems that Guyana is afraid to set high standards for the oil and gas industry.

I know that the Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, is

in the ‘engine room’ reviewing many of these investments and proposals; I wish to challenge the Vice President, to set higher standards for the oil and gas industry. Our leaders cannot serve two masters, they must choose; it is either they will serve the people of Guyana or another master.

The residents at Coverden welcome investments in their community, but investments, which will be done in sustainable and responsible ways, investments where there will be mutual benefit.

What the residents of Coverden would like to have in their community, is a US$200 – 600M ‘Shore base’ facility, like the one at Vreeden-Hoop on the West Bank of Demerara, not the storage of radioactive devices. People are paying keen attention!

I look forward to receiving a response from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Environmental Assessment Board to my questions.

Yours truly, Citizen Audreyanna Thomas

Coalition claims of “cheated not defeated” have long worn thin Dear Editor, Since the election fiasco of March 2020, none of the political parties has presented its full list of reforms on election laws or on GECOM. The PPP has been explicit only on what and whom it will not accept in the conduct of any future election.

APNU+AFC, on the other hand, continue to mostly hide behind its election petitions and the squabbling at GECOM. As a major political force, the coalition must not shirk its obligation to formulate and articulate the changes (legal, institutional, and administrative) it proposes for the next and following elections. The maneuvers of its lawyers and commissioners are no substitute for a coherent plan with a constructive objective.

In thinking through its plan, the coalition must display courage and embrace several realities. For one, it must never lose sight of its own responsibility to ensure this nation does not ever approach the precipice of election-related ethnic

implosion. Brinksmanship from any party has no place in Guyana. Second, it must accept that the next election can only proceed with significant changes to GECOM and our election laws. Seeking to preserve the status quo is unrealistic.

Third, the coalition must confront the reality that a majority of its supporters has accepted, at various stages since March 2020 that it lost the last election properly.

Should the coalition leaders therefore admit electoral defeat, expect no great drama and trauma among party supporters. The claims of “cheated not defeated” have long worn thin. Most supporters now see it as only political posturing rather than a sincere assertion. Even so, the coalition must reflect on whether such posturing could be self-defeating.

Fourth, the coalition must be proactive and set the national agenda on election reform— rather than await the PPP to set the stage. The PPP proposals will be far-reaching (Continued on page 6)

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Thursday August 12, 2021

COVID-19 claims three more lives Vishnu Bisram defends brilliant Attorney General, PPP Dear Editor, Reference is made to Jamil Changlee (KN Aug. 10) and on the narrow victory of APNU+AFC and to Sharmila Ally’s (KN Aug. 9) alleged let down of those who were/are close to him in political battle.

Yes, the PPP won a narrow victory of one seat and just under 51 percent popular vote. But since its inauguration August 2020, the party has several things going for it: a crumbling opposition and several opportunities to spend money to combat COVID-19 and flood to build support. The stimulus, COVID-19 grant to state employees, and educational grants, as well as the planned flood relief have all worked for the benefit of the government.

I beg to differ with Ms. Ally’s castigation of Mr. Nandlall. I agree that Nandlall is a political giant and a most brilliant speaker. This was amply illustrated in his presentation in parliament on August 9 where he blazed the opposition with witty and sarcastic remarks on their governance and behaviour since a year ago.

Ms. Ally criticised the AG for not enforcing laws on the oil contract and alleged corruption. The oil contract was entered into by PNC. Then Minister Raphael Trotman said he was instructed to sign the contract. Nandlall excoriated him in parliament on Aug. 9. Government’s hands are tied vis-à-vis the oil contract.

Trotman was negotiating with skilled negotiators. Apparently, he and or the gov-

ernment did not seek expert advice on the contract. Exxon outwitted Guyanese negotiators by inserting a stability and sanctity clause that precludes unilateral renegotiation – inviolability of renegotiation. The country Chad has the same stability clause.

Chad and Guyana have been caught with pants down by bad, inexperienced negotiators. Nandlall and PPP can’t be held accountable for the blunders of the preceding government. In fact, Nandlall did say it was the most lopsided contract ever signed by Guyana. Guyana is caught in an awkward situation. Unilateral renegotiation would land the government in trouble with powerful nations and multi-nationals. Guyana’s international relations would be seriously affected.

On local content enforcement, Vice President Jagdeo has been making a strong case for increased local content’s use by the oil companies. A local content committee was set up by the President. It collected data and drafted recommendation.

These are being reviewed.

Nandlall says Guyana lacks expertise on local content.

The government has hired consultants to review the recommendations and guide on legislation. My readings as an economist on local content informed me that it is an involved process. It will take some time before legislation is brought to parliament. But it is a fair question for the administration and the AG. I agree government should expedite legislation on local

content and enforce it.

Ms. Ally says that the AG has not been cracking down on alleged or perceived corruption. The writer should refer cases of corruption to the President or Vice President or the police for action. I support punitive actions against corrupt officials. But evidence is needed for prosecution. I note that similar complaints were made against PPP pre-2015. When APNU was installed in office, forensic audits were done but did not find credible cases to convict anyone. It is callous to make statements based on speculations without evidence. I can’t vouch for the integrity of politicians, but the Vice President and President said they have zero tolerance for improprieties. If there is evidence, please go to the police. Fighting corruption is the responsibility of the police (SOCU) and Director of Public Prosecution.

Finally, I wish to point out to Ms. Ally that in addition to those mentioned or identified as contributing to the restoration of democracy, several other figures combated the rigging in their own way. A party was infiltrated by intelligence gatherers who provided information about its plan to rig and advising precautionary measures that helped to deter undemocratic moves. Several unsung heroes, whose names would never be revealed to protect their identity, contributed to the declaration of the PPP as the winner of the elections.

Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

GECOM must waste no time Dear Editor, The Guyana Elections Commission must finally let go of the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers, and Region Four Officer, Clairmont Mingo.

The way is clear, with the court action removed or stopped. After all, Stabroek News of August 10, 2021, reported that the “Granting permission to discontinue the proceed-

ings and discharging the interim injunction previously imposed against the Commission, Justice Barlow declared the matter ended.” GECOM has no more excuses and no legal or administrative thing that it must do except for firing the trio. GECOM Commissioners, Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick, as well as the other Commissioners can vote on the motion.

Since the election fiasco, they should have exited

GECOM. I am feverishly waiting to hear when they are terminated. GECOM needs to breathe freely again and move forward.

The local government elections depend on the trio’s departure. This election will take place under new management and watchful eyes. The opposition Commissioners have held the process up for far too long.

Let them go!

Regards, Suraj Singh

Yesterday the Ministry of Health reported that three more persons, who contracted the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, have died. According to the Ministry, the latest deaths are that of a 74-year-old man from Region 10 (Upper DemeraraUpper Berbice) and two women, an 83-year-old and an 82-year-old both from Region

Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

Because of this, the country’s COVID-19 death toll has moved to 567. All three persons died over a two-day period (August 9 to 10) while receiving care at a medical facility. Further, via its daily COVID-19 dashboard, the Ministry revealed that during the last 24 hours there were 86 new cases, bringing the

total number of confirmed cases to 23,156.

Presently there are 86 persons in institutional isolation, 14 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit, 690 persons in home isolation and seven in institutional quarantine. To date, a total of 21,799 persons have recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.

...EQUAL Guyana commends the From page 4 like many other high-standing human rights organisations in Guyana, will continue to fight for and protect the fundamental rights of systemically disenfranchised Guyanese including women, girls, people with disabilities, LGBTQ persons and other vulnerable groups.

Notwithstanding, EQUAL Guyana has noted that the bill received support from many other members of parliament including the Minster of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Hon. Gail Teixeira; Minster of Legal Affairs, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall; and Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan.

Government MPs reiterated that Guyana remains a secular

state, and the same protections and freedoms, which are afforded to religious persons, are applicable to all. Their thorough presentations clarified that cross-dressing laws are not strictly circumscribed to transgender persons as was being peddled by the two members of parliament; rather, it is a more holistically impactful issue, which affects various facets of fundamental human rights and Guyanese culture.

These include entertainment, the arts, celebratory traditions, and the rights of all people including heterosexual, cisgender women and men; even going on to explain that lots of cultural garb may in

fact have been in contravention of that outdated law.

EQUAL Guyana trusts that the Government of Guyana will continue to recognise the rights of Guyanese and make every effort to emancipate Guyana from archaic laws, which have oppressed Guyanese of all backgrounds for generations.

As Guyana shifts its focus to rapid development and economic diversification, the Guyanese culture of unity, peace, compassion, and democracy still resonates, and our motto remains “One People, One Nation, One Destiny.

Yours truly, The Trustees of EQUAL Guyana

...Coalition claims of “cheated not defeated” have long worn thin From page 5 and likely gain instant and strong support locally and externally.

Should the coalition therefore allow the PPP to act first, any criticisms of the PPP’s main ideas would inevitably be seen as the

utterings of political fomenters and schemers.

The Coalition, let us recall, complained stridently and extensively about the defects it detected during the last election, especially as the recount proceeded.

Surely, by now, it must

have worked out the fixes it would wish to propose to the nation. The Coalition must rise on these nationally significant matters with a holistic and constructive approach.

Yours truly, Sherwood Lowe

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BL TLUNT.. UNT...B BL Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

Strange things are happening in this land. Apart from this newspaper's steady campaign, it is as if we have no one else to truly defend this nation's honour.

Yes, a change of government was indeed needed, and we got it, but did we really get a change or an exchange? We need men and women of substance who are driven by a burning desire to see Guyana developed for ALL Guyanese, not just a few and the ever-present foreigners.

While we expect that it will be a tall task to ensure that each Guyanese has the best possible life, it certainly isn't impossible for those in Government to choose to make responsible decisions that would at least give Guyanese the impression that we have a Government that truly cares.

PAGE 07

PAGE 08

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

More oil finds present additional opportunities …as Helicopter provider boasts of 'nice cash flow' from Guyana's oil operations One of the Bristow helicopters contracted by EEPGL to provide support services for its oil exploration and production activities offshore Guyana.

President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bristow Group, Chris Bradshaw—the United Kingdom (UK) based company that has been contracted by ExxonMobil, Guyana, to provide its onshore and offshore helicopter support services, believes offshore drilling, particularly in the Guiana basin, “continues to be one of the bright spots for the global offshore oil and gas industry.”

In fact, the Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname region, where the company currently boasts a “leading position,” was acknowledged as a region that “is one that generates a nice cash flow return for the company.”

The company's involvement in Guyana was raised during its recent 'Results Conference Call', held on August 5, last, with shareholders and company executives.

Bristow's CEO, Bradshaw, when asked to provide an update on that aspect of the company's operation said, “yes, happy to do that,” and pointed to “the reserves that have been discovered by Exxon, in particular, in Guyana are absolutely world-class and prolific.”

He noted too that Guyana still presents additional opportunities for the company, since not only “they continue to make prolific discoveries; there are now other oil and gas companies becoming involved there in Guyana.”

He noted too that in neighbouring Suriname, which is just across the border, that country “has very similar characteristics and

similar success in early drilling programs there from Apache, Total, PETRONAS and others.”

He told shareholders the Suriname end of the Guiana basin, “really is looking a lot like Guyana, just a few years behind it in terms of the development of where they are in the life cycle there.”

He used the opportunity to observe too that “Trinidad is an area where Bristow has enjoyed a leading market position for the last 60 years, continues to be a fairly stable and active basin for us…So that Caribbean triangle region of Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, where we have very much the leading position, is one that generates a nice cash flow return for the company.”

Reflecting on the company's financial position, during the period under review, the Chief Financial Officer, Jenifer Whalen, reported that the Bristow group saw revenues increasing US$7 million, primarily due to higher utilisation in oil and gas and government services.” This, in addition to operating expenses being some US$4 million lower, “due to lower personnel and maintenance costs.”

The helicopter operator had in 2018, announced that it had renewed a multi-year contract to provide support services for the US oil major ExxonMobil's operation in Guyana, with production commencing in 2019.

The service provider is currently servicing the offshore operations in the Stabroek and other oil Blocks offshore Guyana out of E u g e n e F. C o r r e i a International Airport.

Exxon's subcontractor...

From page 2 located approximately 120 miles (193 kilometers) offshore Guyana.

The company has since discovered more than nine billion barrels of oil equivalent crude with a number of promising recent discoveries currently being appraised and analysed but signs pointing to the proven

reserves easily topping its current assessment.

Only recently as part of its heighted activities offshore Guyana, the company applied to the E n v i r o n m e n t a l Protection Agency (EPA) seeking permission for a 12-well drilling campaign in the Canje Blocks.

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAGE 09

The AFHP belongs in a funeral parlour Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana's second Vice President, is attempting to resurrect the dead. The resuscitation of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project (AFHP) is an attempt to soothe the bruised ego of the PPP/C following the decision of the developer of the project to walk away.

The then Opposition APNU and the AFC refused to support the project. At the time, the combined parliamentary Opposition parties held a slim one-seat majority. Following their non-support for the project, the developer considered going ahead as risky and so they rightfully walked.

If the PPP/C had been in a similar position as the APNU+AFC it would have found some excuse to not support the project. Why would the Opposition parties, with a one-seat majority in the National Assembly, support a project which would become the PPP/C's re-election ticket?

Notwithstanding, this element of realpolitik, there were serious concerns about the AFHP. The PPP/C's decision to grant a contractor the contract to build a major access road to the project site mired the entire project in controversy from which it never recovered.

The APNU+AFC also had another major concern. It was about hydrology – or water flow to the falls site.

They were not convinced that there was sufficient water available all year round to guarantee a stable energy supply.

As part of the financial model, Guyana was required to deposit equity into the project. As such, the PPP/C

approached Norway for the injection of this equity. In 2014, Norway deposited US$80M into the IDB for this purpose.

After the PPP/C lost office in May 2015, the APNU+AFC agreed with the Government of Norway to have an objective and factbased assessment of the project. That review was undertaken by Norconsult in 2016.

The review was, overall, favourably disposed towards the project. But this was only because of the absence of other feasible alternatives to allow Guyana to meet its 100 percent emissions-free target by 2025.

The APNU+AFC had made this pledge as part of its nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement. All countries to the Paris Agreement are required to state what they intend to do to reduce emissions. Norconsult found that given this commitment –that hydropower was the only realistic path towards an emission free electricity sector, and the fastest way to do this would be to maintain the AFHP. Norconsult did not give a blanket approval for the AFHP. It said that in the context of Guyana's ambitions under the Paris Agreement, the quickest way to achieve these ambitions was through the AFHP since it was, at that time, the only project with a “full feasibility study completed, it has a higher plant load factor than the alternatives, a smaller reservoir and a levelised unit cost in the same range as the most attractive alternatives.”

Norconsult, however,

had some of the same reservations as the APNU+AFC relative to the hydrology of the project.

Norconsult found data inadequacies in relation to the flow of water to the site.

This is what the report said, “The hydrology for Amaila Falls Hydropower Project is not very well established since continuous series of direct flow measurements in Kuribrong River at the project site do not exist.”

Yes, “do not exist”!

The study also found that the need to run 270- 280 km of power lines from the project site to the power grid in Georgetown, increased construction costs by 40 percent.

According to Norconsult, this explains the high cost of the energy which the project will be selling to the Guyana Power and Light Inc. These two aspects alone –the high cost associated with the transmission lines and the cost of the electricity – should have caused the PPP/C to reconsider the economic viability of the project.

At the time of the Norconsult study there were not many alternatives. And to its discredit, the APNU+AFC had no major power project – renewable or non-renewable – other than the gas-to shore project.

However, since 2016, the price of solar power and the time it takes to establish solar power farms have been slashed considerably. A viable alternative to the AFHP exists. It is solar power. It is estimated that a 250MW plant would cost on average US$250M as compared with the almost US$1B cost for the AFHP. The power lines added 40

De Delta boys variant is a sicko! seh...

Dem

Dem mekking dem policy straight. If yuh is a doctor or a nurse or a visitor to a hospital yuh should be vaccinated.

If yuh nah vaccinated yuh gat fuh produce wan negative PCR or antigen test every day before yuh enter de wuk place.

Dem boys bin read nuff allegation bout people complaining how dem family been get COVID in dem hospital.

And dem boys reason dat if dis is true, den somebody had to carry de virus in de hospital.

Dem boys seh is not fair if yuh get admit to de hospital and den somebody infect you with de virus when you in de hospital. Dat is why dem boys seh dem doctor, dem nurse and dem visitor muss

get vaccinated. But not dem patients.

Is de same thing in dem ole people homes.

De staff muss get vaccinated because if one ah dem get infected and carry de virus in de ole people home, yuh could never tell if de virus could spread and kill out dem ole people.

Dem nurses and doctors was de fuss fuh get offer de vaccines when it fuss come to Guyana.

And de reason is dat dem expose to sick people and suh dem need fuh be protected.

But dem also can infect dem patients and dat is all de more reason fuh get vaccinated.

But yuh gat a right not to get vaccinated. But if yuh exercise dat right, yuh gat fuh get tested every day. Dat is what dem boys feel is de right thing.

Talk half and who vex, vex!

percent to the estimated construction costs of the AFHP. With a solar power plant, there would be no need for such a high burden and therefore the cost of the electricity sold to the GPL and consequently to consumers would be far cheaper than the AFHP. The AFHP died when the APNU+AFC administered

its last rites in 2013. No investor is going to be interested in that project anymore, not with the PPP/C holding a one-seat majority, not with the high added construction costs of the power lines, and not with the questionable hydrology data, and definitely not with the jungle swallowing up the road. But do not tell that to

Jagdeo. He is hell-bent on providing that he can raise the dead.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 10

Thursday August 12, 2021

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Why should President Ali help the PNC get out of its prison?

T

here is a person or persons penning editorials for the Stabroek News that are not being screened by the editorial management of the newspaper.

A newspaper has the right to criticise the government of the day. This is a task that no sane person would argue against.

Governments are too powerful to just support blindly.

The danger in leadership in any country in the modern world is that the leader's psychology is shaped by consistent sycophancy.

After being told incessantly by party loyalists that he/she is a genius, the leader begins to internalise

that fiction and comes to believe it (see my column of Monday May 17, 2021, “The stupidest yet deadliest person alive is the party sycophant).

The leader then lacks a school of open-minded party loyalists that can point out wrong pathways.

In a world of the internet where there is more

information available than the brain can scientifically digest, leaders need independent guiders around them. The press in such a changing world helps government to see when mistakes are made.

The press' role is to be a watchdog. It has a moral commitment to the society in general and though it must carefully scrutinise the vast power of the state, it must also confront and expose malice, mischief and fiction in society in general.

There has been a consistent line in the Stabroek editorial page the past year attributing nonpolitical status to Dr. Vincent Adams during his time in the APNU+AFC government, the latest is another editorial of August 9, 2019.

I have cons is tently repudiated this fiction with an outlay of facts. Please see my columns of September 1, 2, 19 of 2020 and December 9, 2020. I will examine the fictionalisation of Dr. Adam's non-political status in a follow up column.

On August 8, the Stabroek News ran an editorial that had to be penned by someone who has a pro-opposition perspective.

And it may be that person that has been pushing a proAdams line.

Here is a quote from that editorial, “But it is not his (the president) place to penalise them (the PNC) for their shortcomings by demanding they acknowledge his legitimacy publicly.

He knows very well that after all they have told their

constituents they do not dare confess to them in any public sense that they were wrong; it Frederick Kissoon would be too t hose shortcomings were humiliating. A later leader may be able to do it at deliberately nurtured and some point, but not the were not born by accident.

From March 4 to the current complement.”

This statement goes current date, the PNC has against the grain of modern told over 150,000 of its electoral politics but also voters that the PPP did not a g a i n s t t h e g r a i n o f win perpetuated fraud and reasonable understanding of stole the election from the PNC. Given this labyrinth the human faults.

If you have to score one PNC walked into, the more goal to become the Stabroek News expects the world's record-holder but PPP to sympathise with this you skipped curfew, got self-destruction of the PNC drunk the night and was by understanding that it dropped from the game why cannot go to those 150,000 should you blame the coach? voters and exclaim, “Well we You are in no position to did lose.”

The editorial went on to help your coach win his match so why should he observe that the president “knows very well that after sympathise with you?

It was not the ruling party all they (the PNC) have told that imprisoned itself in the their constituents they do depravities of deception and not dare confess to them in the immoralities of illusions any public sense that they were wrong; it would be too by fooling a nation.

The PNC did that to itself. humiliating.”

It is confusing to any In electoral politics, a competitor is forced by the p o l i t i c a l t h e o r i s t t o nature of the game to take understand that observation. advantage of the flaws of Why the elected president of his/her opponents. It happens a country must be concerned in every country in the world. about his/her opponent It happens each day in all facing humiliation if the opponent does a volte-face? countries of the world.

The Stabroek News is If the president does show c o m p l e t e l y a n d empathy, and help the PNC's nonsensically wrong when it image with its supporters, observed that it is not the w i l l t h e r e b e a m o r e president's place to penalise cooperative opposition? You the PNC for its shortcomings. really think so?

(The views expressed in But that is exactly the nature this article are those of the of the game.

An opponent cannot a u t h o r a n d d o n o t gloss off the flaws of his/her necessarily reflect the adversary, especially when opinions of this newspaper.)

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

PAGE 12

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAHO to begin procuring COVID-19 vaccines to expand access in Latin America and the Caribbean - launches "new opportunity" to help countries procure enough vaccines to control transmission

T

aking action to expand access to the COVID-19 vaccines, the Pan American Health Organization ( PA H O ) w i l l u s e i t s Revolving Fund to help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean procure enough vaccines to control t r a n s m i s s i o n , PA H O Director, Carissa F. Etienne

has said.“The region is still short of the doses needed to turn the tide of the pandemic,” she told reporters at a media briefing yesterday.

“We need a significant influx of vaccines and a more equitable process for distributing them. With this in mind, PAHO is offering our Member States a new

opportunity to access COVID-19 vaccines.”

PAHO's Revolving Fund will go “beyond the 20 percent COVAX offers,” Dr. Etienne explained, referring to COVAX's commitment to procure vaccines for 20 percent of the region's population—the most at-risk groups.

The Revolving Fund,

which has procured other vaccines for the region at low prices for 42 years, is already receiving requests from countries for COVID-19 vaccines for the last three months of 2021 and for 2022, Dr. Etienne said. “So far, more than 20 countries have formally expressed interest and the number is growing by the day.”

Up until now, the Revolving Fund has served as one of the C O VA X p u r c h a s i n g mechanisms and worked directly with countries requesting support to deliver donations through bilateral agreements.

It has deployed over 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Latin American and Caribbean countries procured through COVAX. “Our region needs to pursue all possible avenues to expedite access and ensure countries reach their vaccination goals,” Dr. Etienne said.

“We still need more donations; and we still need COVAX to deliver on its original commitment. We also need to create new opportunities that meet the diverse needs of our Member States, and that increase the supply of vaccines to the people and communities at greatest risk.”

The Revolving Fund initiative “will benefit every country in the region, but especially those that lack the resources and negotiating power to secure the doses

necessar y to protect their people,” she added.

D r. E t i e n n e d r e w attention to the Revolving Fund's pivotal role in the history of strong immunisation in Latin America and the Caribbean, where countries have enjoyed high rates of vaccine coverage, “regardless of their income or

than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases and more than 19,000 deaths were reported over the past week.

Cases and deaths continue to rise in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In Central America, cases are decreasing in Panama and Costa Rica but increasing in Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador.

In the Caribbean, cases

infrastructure.”

The Revolving Fund consolidates regional demand so that vaccines can be procured in bulk.

It also procures syringes, cold-chain equipment, and other supplies.“For decades, the Revolving Fund has been a catalyst of equity and solidarity and has been responsible for protecting generations of children across Latin America and the Caribbean from vaccinepreventable diseases,” Dr. Etienne said.

She addressed the pandemic's continuing toll on the Americas, where more

are rising in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Martinique, the Bahamas, and Dominica.

“Over the past month, infections increased 30-fold in Martinique and there has been a significant spike in h o s p i t a l i s a t i o n s , ” D r.

Etienne said.

In South America, the news is better, she said.

Cases and deaths are declining in the Andean region and Brazil, and across the Southern Cone.

This includes substantial decreases in cases in Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

(PAHO)

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAGE 13

Govt. boasts of not spending oil proceeds contained in NRF …Opposition MP says PPP/C borrowing will put dent in savings

A

n announcement in the National Assembly on Monday by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, of the accumulation and management of US$436 million in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) stemming from the completion of seven millionbarrel oil lifts, royalties and interest, was met with objections from Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Shurwayne Holder.

Holder objected to Bharrat's presentation to the National Assembly about the People's Progressive Party C i v i c ( P P P / C ) administration management of the country's NRF. Bharrat said that the fund is well managed by the government without spending a cent from the s u m . H o w e v e r, i n a subsequent presentation, Holder, an A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) M P, c a l l e d o u t t h e Government for exuberant borrowing saying, it will eventually put a dent in Guyana's NRF. “Since taking office just a year ago, the People's Progressive Party/Civic Administration has not spent a single dime or a single

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat. dollar from the Natural Resource Fund.

We have not embarked on a squandermania of the oil revenue.

We have not misused the oil revenue. We still have every single dollar from the direct proceeds of the oil and gas sector in the Natural Resource Fund, which will be spent to ensure that every single Guyanese benefit,” Minister Bharrat said.

However, Holder noted that while the PPP/C seeks to take credit for not spending from the NRF, it was the former administration that put restrictions to doing so

with o u t t r a n s p a r e n c y.

“The reality is that they can't spend the money from the oil revenue without the involvement of the Opposition.

That is the reality, Mr. Speaker. It was the coalition that passed legislation to protect our national patrimony as it relates to oil and gas, so they can't touch it Mr. Speaker.

They can't touch it without our involvement, without Parliamentary oversight and civil society and that's the problem that they have,” he said.

Opposition MP, Shurwayne Holder.

Holder noted too that while the Government may not have spent from the NRF directly, it has borrowed in such large amounts that the same will have to be repaid in the future, likely from the

oil revenues.

“This Government is a very clever one…they have spent the money without touching …Every lending agency overseas is ready to lend whatever amount of money to Guyana since we have oil and so they're accessing these funds and spending it,” Holder said.

According to the O p p o s i t i o n M P, t h e government is taking the backdoor approach to spending the sums.

“The loans borrowed now will likely attract huge interests in the future and where are they going to get the money to pay for that? It will eventually come from the NRF.” Meanwhile, Bharrat retorted by saying “We will ensure that there is Parliamentary oversight of the sector, we will ensure that there is proper

transparency and accountability in the sector and this is something that we intend to fulfill, hence, not spending any monies from the Natural Resource Fund.”

The parliamentary debate followed an announcement by President Irfaan Ali that Guyana will not start spending its oil revenues on priority areas until the Petroleum Commission is established and the Natural Resource Fund legislation is amended, “We have a number of things that we have to do in terms of setting up the Petroleum Commission.

We have to also look at the legislation for the Natural Resources Fund.

Those are things that we have to do but at this moment, we are not looking at the oil revenue to meet government expenditure,” Ali told the press in April.

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAGE 15

Anti-COVID-19 vaccination protest escalates in Linden - Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge blocked, minibuses en route to interior locations affected

By Vanessa Braithwaite Yesterday Lindeners came out in their numbers to join frontline health workers who were locked out of healthcare facilities across the Region. This is the second day the 'no vaccine, no entry policy', has been enforced and residents have joined the healthcare workers who were denied access to their place of employment for failure to produce a COVID-19 vaccination card. The

irate protestors assembled first at the Linden Hospital Complex where they were addressed by Members of Parliament Jermaine Figueira and Devin Sears. The two MPs who were both vaccinated, collectively stressed that they are not against the vaccination campaign, but against mandatory vaccination imposition and moves to deny frontline workers their right to access their place of work.

“You are standing for your rights, you are standing for justice, you have been

on the frontline serving this community without vaccine, putting your lives at risk every single day for the residents of this community and here you are denied access to your place of employment,” MP Figueira said.

The protest action then moved to the centennial arch where scores of residents blocked traffic from the Mackenzie shore. They chanted, 'my body, my Choice', 'no mandatory (Continued on page 22)

Scenes from yesterday's protest.

Minibuses with passengers en route to interior locations were also affected by yesterday's protest.

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 16

Executed businessman's friend still critical Regent Street shooting…

S

till clinging to life in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), is the friend of the Brazilian businessman who was executed by gunmen late Tuesday night. This is according to information released by the GPHC. T h e e x e c u t e d businessman, Euclides Erian DaSilva, and his friend were sitting in DaSilva's black Toyota Tacoma pick-up which was parked in front of the Shamdas Kirpalani store on Regent Street, when gunmen attacked.

According to police, the exact time of the attack was around 22:30hrs. It is believed that the businessman and his friend were in search of a location to purchase some fast food that evening.

CCTV footage showed that a heavily tinted white car pulled behind the pick-up and two men dressed in black hoodies stepped out with high powered rifles.

They flanked the pick-up,

one on the right side where the friend was seated and one on the left side where DaSilva was seated, and opened fire.

After riddling the vehicle and men with bullets, they reentered their car and sped off east along Regent Street A security guard from a nearby building recalled that all he heard was rapid gunfire, and when he rushed out he saw a crowd gathering around the parked pick-up.

Police and paramedics were summoned immediately after. When they arrived the emergency response team pronounced DaSilva dead but his friend was still conscious and was rushed to the GPHC. Based on reports reaching this media house, he arrived at the hospital in a conscious state but had lost a lot of blood.

Photos of the wounded man receiving treatment showed that he was shot multiple times to his arms, face and legs.

It appeared that some of the bullets might have exited,

A screengrab from the CCTV footage of the attack.

Executed Brazilian businessman, Euclides Erian DaSilva.

because there were visible exit holes on his arms.

Up to press time, detectives were yet to ascertain the wounded man's identity.

As investigations continue, doctors at GPHC are said to be trying their best to ensure that he survives.

The wounded friend who is clinging to life at the GPHC.

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 17

GPHC boasts of third successful triplets' delivery in six years - elated, first-time parents were expecting one child

By Alliyah Allicock

T

he Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on July 22, 2021, delivered its third set of triplets within the last six years to a young couple, Alicia Bacchus and Darrel Simon, of Meadow Bank, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

Yesterday, during a brief press conference at the GPHC, the couple, who found out on Christmas Day that they were expecting said that they were extremely shocked at the news that they were going to be parents to triplets.

“Well I was expecting one, honestly we were

expecting one.

A few days after, we went and did an ultrasound, we saw three little eggs there, and they told us that we were having triplets.

It was like shocking, I started crying and he was like wow,” the young woman recalled.

The first-time mother went on to share that during the early stages of her pregnancy she was a bit sick but was able to pull through with the help of her doctor, Dr. Abel Caesar, and his team. For that, she said she is grateful.

Simon, who also expressed his gratitude to the doctors, said that he did not think he could have triplets.

Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Dr. Abel Caesar.

“I didn't think that I could have triplets, I know that I am a twin and my mother is a twin as well, but triplets, I was like wow!

Having to see my three kids it was really joyful and I would like to thank the doctor as well for being patient with my wife,” he added.

When asked how they plan on taking care of their babies, the two said, “By the grace of God and taking one step at a time is the plan.”

The three babies – Khaleel, Addial and Reya Simon – were delivered minutes apart at 34 weeks and four days via C-section at the hospital.

However, according to Dr. Caesar, with triplet deliveries, there average is usually about 32 weeks.

The doctor, who thanked the couple for choosing GPHC, said that the delivery went smoothly without any complications.

He added that they had to borrow two incubators from the radiology department just in case the babies would need any additional care.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Radiology Department, the pediatricians and nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who played a crucial role in making sure Bacchus and her triplets were well cared for.

The other doctors who were involved in the delivery of the triplets.

Alicia Bacchus and Darrel Simon and their triplets.

According to the doctor, with triplet deliveries there are a lot of risks when compared to a single baby delivery.

Some of these risks are that the mother may

experience hypertension and diabetes, increased fetal abnormality, morbidity and preterm delivery.

“With the triplets delivery there is normally around a seven-fold increase

in still birth or babies dying before birth; around fivefold increase in neonatal death and this is primarily due to the risk of prematurity,” Dr. Caesar shared.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 18

Thursday August 12, 2021

Agri. Minister commits to desilting clogged canals in Bee Hive, Greenfield - Residents also appeal for improved roads

Some of the farmers who attended the meeting.

Minister Mustapha engaging a group of farmers from Cove and John.

During a recent community outreach to the community of Greenfield, on the East Coast of Demerara, A g r i c u l t u r e M i n i s t e r, Zulfikar Mustapha, told residents that his Ministry, through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), will be carrying out a series of works in the area to ensure residents benefit from better drainage.

These commitments, according to a Ministry release, were made after residents who attended the meeting appealed for a number of drains to be desilted. Farmers and residents also told the Minister that the koker there needed to be desilted and appealed for rehabilitation works to be carried out on the roads.

While responding to the issues raised, Minister Mustapha told residents that the government, since assuming office, has been making the necessary investments to develop the sector. “The President and the Vice President see agriculture as the backbone of this country's economy so we have to develop agriculture in a smarter way,

especially with the impacts of climate change. This is why this government will continue to make the necessary investments to develop the sector. People who left the sector prior to August 2020 are once again returning because they see the interest and investment this government is placing in agriculture.

Over the last year, we've seen an increase in production in all of the agriculture sub-sectors.

We've seen this because of the investments. The investments we've been making to improve critical infrastructure among other things. Today I want to make a commitment; we will clean all the drains and canals in the area. Our officers will

return in a few days to do an assessment. Once that assessment is done, we will see how best and how soon we can have those works done,” Minister Mustapha said.

He also told farmers that officials from the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) will be returning to the community later in the week to form a farmers' group.

Farmers present told Minister Mustapha that they experienced losses as a result of the recent flooding.

Minister Mustapha informed the farmers that President Irfaan Ali recently announced a multi-billion dollar relief incentive for those who were severely affected.

“ Te a m s f r o m t h e Ministry were tasked with doing an assessment. Based on that assessment, the President recently announced the $7.6 billion relief package that will be given to the farmers who suffered losses. We are currently vetting the list and disbursement of those funds will commence soon so that farmers can get back to the land,” Minister Mustapha said.

Minister Mustapha also told residents that he will speak with his colleague Ministers about the roads in the area and encouraged residents who still haven't taken the COVID-19 vaccine to make every effort to do so, so that Guyana can achieve herd immunity.

A resident raising an issue during the meeting.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 20

Thursday August 12, 2021

Car used in multi-million dollar gold heist found in front of driver's home - had reportedly shopped canter load of goods before heading to interior

D

etectives were yesterday able to locate the white car allegedly used in last Thursday's multi-million dollar gold heist at Wallison

Enterprise located at Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

Confirming the discovery of the getaway car with Kaieteur News was Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum.

Following leads, his detectives were led to the getaway driver's home located in Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown.

Abandoned in his yard

Some of the items the getaway car driver bought from the Fon Roje Variety Store before leaving for the interior. was the car he allegedly used to transport the armed bandits to and from the business establishment.

Based on information received by the detectives, he has since fled to an interior location in Guyana but before leaving, he had reportedly purchased a canter load of household items.

Kaieteur News was told that the getaway driver had gone shopping at the Fon Roje Variety Store located at the corner of Cummings and Robb Streets Georgetown, one day after the heist.

Some of the items he purchased included a smart TV, a music system, a refrigerator and a blender.

As investigations continue, police are on the hunt for the driver and an ex-

Guyana Defence Force (GDF) rank whose Sophia home was deliberately set on fire last Saturday.

Cops are also looking for two others who had accompanied the ex-GDF rank into Wallison Enterprise to rob the business place.

They had carted off $38 million in cash and $20 million worth of raw gold, along with gold jewellery and cell phones.

Kaieteur News understands that one of the stolen phone s w a s a n iPhone. That iPhone was key in assisting detectives to crack the case, leading them directly to the suspects.

As the investigation progressed, detectives had learned that the ex-GDF rank

The getaway car, which police said was used in the heist.

might have outsmarted his accomplices because he had hidden the gold from them.

At his house, they had only divided the stolen cash and some of his accomplices had only learned of the gold via media reports.

S o f a r, c o p s h a v e managed to arrest three suspects who are currently on remand for the robbery.

Among them is a serving member of the GDF, Keyon King, in whose backyard part of the stolen cash – a sum of $18 million – was found, buried.

The others are Delroy Jackson and Peon Lee, both security guards of the business establishment.

It is alleged that they were the inside men who had setup the heist.

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAGE 21

Public-spirited citizens help save motorcyclist from watery grave

By Malisa Playter-Harry The heroic actions of public spirited citizens Tuesday night, helped to save the life of a man who had been struck down from his motorcycle on the Eversham Public Road, Berbice.

Hospitalised with a broken right leg and right arm is Videsh Persaud, 33, of lot 85 Maida Farm Village, Corentyne, Berbice, while

the driver of motor car PJJ 3641, who collided with Persaud's motorcycle, has been identified as 47-yearold Romanand Singh called 'Cake Man' of No. 46 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

According to reports the accident occurred at 22:30hrs Tuesday as motor car, owned and driven by Singh, was proceeding south along the eastern drive lane on the Eversham Public Road at a fast rate. Persaud,

The injured Persaud being rescued by villagers.

The motorcycle Persaud was riding.

Singh's car that got stuck on the muddy dam.

who was riding his motorcycle CK 3315, was proceeding north along the western drive lane on the said public road.

Singh alleged that he saw the motorcycle coming in the opposite direction before it made a sudden swerve into his path. This, he said, resulted in the front, side portion of his car colliding with Persaud's motorcycle.

As a result of the collision, the motorcyclist was flung

off the motorcycle and landed in the Eversham outfall between the sluice doors, located on the western side of the public road.

Singh, who had a passenger with him, recalled that his car skidded a bit on a muddy dam before it got stuck there.

Eyewitnesses at the scene told Kaieteur News that Singh did not try to assist the motorcyclist but seemed more focused on getting his car out of the muddy dam.

It was a female security guard attached to the Queensway Security Service who heard the impact and rushed out to see what had occurred, this publication was informed. As she approached the sluice, she heard loud cries from between the sluice and, upon checking, she noticed the injured man holding on to the sluice door with one hand.

Eventually villagers ran out and they helped to pull the

man up and stopped a car which transported him to the Port Mourant Hospital. He was later transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he was admitted in a stable condition.

Breathalyzer tests conducted on Singh read 95 and 98 micrograms of alcohol.

He remains in custody assisting police with their investigation.

PAGE 22

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

Members of Guyana’s first Law Reform Commission sworn in - to help modernise legislation WANTED

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One domestic maid contact 233-2865 & 226-5793.

Puri Roti Cooks.Apply @Shanta's,225 Camp & New Market Streets.

Mechanic 5-7000 day for machine equipment to maintainand repair, Excavator,loader, grader.China Railway First Group.Tel:632-1122.

One male able bodied clerk.Tel:231-2029/616-5954.

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Two houses one yard income generator,Diamond H/SchemeE.B.D.34M negotiable.Contact 6572951/612-9697.

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Handyman to work 2 days per week to clean up yard.Must have both vaccinations.Excellent salary.Call:226-2322.

VACANCY Maid to cook and clean for East Bank.Call:615-9132.

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.

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Auto Electrical apprentice age 19-25 yrs.Apply in person, Lot 120 Forth Street Albertown G/Town or call 610-0340.

Cashier,Sales representative (in doors),Driver-Lorry/ Canter & Porter.Tel:2275286/609-2995. Email: survival.humanresources@ gmail.com.

One cashier to work at Superbet.Tel:691-7123.

Members of the Law Reform Commission, along with President Irfaan Ali (fifth from right), the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall (fourth from left), and Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards (fourth from left).

Guyana’s first ever Law Reform Commission (LRC) has been launched with those appointed as Commissioners and the Chairperson taking their Oath of Office before President, Irfaan Ali, at the Credentials Room, Office of the President, yesterday.

The seven-member LRC was selected and appointed through a consultative process in which important stakeholders such as the Legal Profession, the Private Sector, the Labour Movement, the Religious Community, the Toshao’s Council, the Rights Commission’s and the Consumer Movement had an

input.

The Commission will be chaired by Retired Justice of Appeal, B.S. Roy, and the other Commissioners are Teni Housty, Clarissa Riehl, Deenawati Panday, Brian O’Toole, Emily Dodson and Roopnarine Satram, all of whom received their instruments of appointment yesterday. The LRC has a duration of three years.

In his remarks to the gathering, President Ali noted that LRC would fill the gaps in the country’s legislative architecture, and harmonise Guyana’s laws with international obligations to the demands of modern

justice.

He stressed that the Commission is also integral in ensuring that Guyana keeps abreast with emerging and evolving trends in the world.

“The Law Commission will ensure that our country’s legislation does not stagnate or become or become backward,” the Head of State told those gathered.

“With society everexpanding, the law as a central pillar of society must also be updated regularly, in order to keep abreast with social changes,” the President explained.

Meanwhile, Attorney

General, Anil Nandlall, noted that the LRC as an advisory body to the State that would work to recommend to Parliament amendments to existing laws, new legislation, and repeal existing legislations.

He noted that the LRC, which is part of a fundamental component of the US$8 million Inter-American Development Bank-funded Support for the Criminal Justice System Programme, would work to modernise and remedy Guyana’s legal system and legislature making it on par with societal norms and international standards.

...Anti-COVID-19 vaccination protest From page 15 vaccine’, ‘we have a right to choose’ and ‘open the gate let the nurses come in’. At this point there was heavy police presence on the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge and Commander of Region 10, Hugh Winter, urged residents to desist from blocking the road and obstructing the flow of traffic.

Winter, using a loud speaker, said, “when you are picketing you cannot block the road, VACANCY Vacancy @People's choice kitchen for 3 experienced cooks.Tel:679-9449.

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C l e a n e r, m a i n t e n a n c e worker,labours to work with P.S.G.C.S.Call:621-6969 or 615-7784,7-4pm.

you can protest but please go into the corner and allow the traffic to flow.”

Another set of protestors were successful in completely blocking traffic from the Wismar shore.

Only motorcycles and bicycles were allowed to pass until protestors decided to form a human barricade to place large items such as wood and steel to block the bridge.

On the Wismar shore too, there was a pregnant woman who was panting for breath while in traffic but despite appeals from the police force for the protestors to clear the road, they refused, insisting that they prefer to “fetch her over, than to allow the car to pass.”

Also minibuses en route to Mahdia, Lethem and other interior locations were not allowed to pass the bridge, which up to press time, was still blocked by the residents.

As they chanted loudly and waved their placards, the

protestors were joined by former Member of Parliament, Vanessa Kissoon. The Regional Chairman, Deron Adams, also stood in solidarity with them and reiterated that he is against mandatory vaccination.

“While I am concerned about your safety, I am also saying plain, that vaccine should never be made mandatory.

What I also want to say to you is that, I believe it is a sinister plot behind this action, you know that under the previous government, the feasibility study was started for the road to Linden to Lethem to commence, that project is before the IDB to commence.

There is a specific word that this government is aware of, that speaks to stability in the region, for that project to be executed, to bring economic activity to our region.

The reason why we believe they have been

pressuring Region 10 and Linden is because they are attempting to destabilise the region to pull that project that will bring economic activity to the region,” he said.

In an invited comment, Regional Health Officer, Dr. Gregory Harris, said that following concerns that the Upper-Demerara Hospital, which is the COVID-Unit, has been locked. As such he reached out to the doctor-incharge to ensure that the facility remains accessible to persons seeking COVID-19 testing on the basis of contact tracing.

Relative to the functioning of health centres across the region, the two that were mainly affected were the Christianburg Health Centre and the One Mile Health Centre.

In Linden, which has a low vaccine uptake, and across the country, a mandatory vaccine imposition has been enforced at all government agencies.

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAGE 23

Kaieteur News

Bids submitted for Ministry of Public Works rehabilitation road projects The National Procurement and Tender Board Administration (NPTBA) on Tuesday opened bids for seven road

rehabilitation projects which come under the Ministry of Public Works.

These projects are: the rehabilitation of Black Bush

Ministry of Public Works: Procurement of One Reconditioned Crane Truck

Lot 16: Rehabilitation of Black Bush Polder main Access - Section 1- Mibicuri

Polder Main Access –Section 1, Mibicuri, the rehabilitation of Black Bush Polder Main Access - Section 1, Yakasuri, the rehabilitation of Sharp

Street, Seafield, Leonora, the rehabilitation of Black Bush Polder Main Access - Section 2, Johanna, the rehabilitation of Garoo Street, Leguan,

Miscellaneous Roads Lot 3: Rehabilitation of Garoo Street, Leguan Region Three, Lot 4: Rehabilitation of Belle West Road network, Belle West, Region Three, Lot 5: Rehabilitation of Kortberaadt, Mud Dam, Kortberaadt, Region Six.

Region Three, the rehabilitation of the Belle West Road network, Belle West, Region Three, and lastly the rehabilitation of

Kortberaadt, Mud Dam, Region Six. Below are the companies and their bids:

Consultancy Services for the Supervision of Pump Station at Greenwich Park/Barnwell area

National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Construction of Pump Station at Greenwich Park/ Barnwell area Ministry of Health Supply and Delivery of Reagents

Lot 14: Rehabilitation of Black Bush Polder Main Access, Section 1, Yakasuri

Lot 87: Rehabilitation of Sharp, Street, Seafield, Leonora

Construction of Drainage Pump Station to irrigate Black Bush frontlands

National Data Management Authority Procurement of Computer and Monitors for NDMA

Construction of Farm to Market Road right bank, Mahaicony Creek

Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Supply and Delivery of Medical Supplies

Deeds & Commercial Registries Authority Procurement of 24 hours Baton Security Service at Registrar of Deeds Residence Construction of Sluice at Capoey, Essequibo

Construction of Drainage Pump Station at Adventure, East Berbice

Ministry of Agriculture - ASDU Rehabilitation of existing irrigation structures on the northeastern dam of the East Demerara Water Conservancy Lot 1 to 3

Consultancy Services for the Supervision of Capoey Sluice, Essequibo Lot 15: Rehabilitation of Black Bush Polder Main Access, Section 2, Johanna

(Continued on page 24) Ministry of Legal Affairs Rehabilitation Works at Court Superintendent’s Office, Leonora

PAGE 24

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

Heatwave gripping countries around Mediterranean…

At least 65 killed in Algerian wildfires, Greece and Italy burn ATHENS/ALGIERS (Reuters) - Exhausted Greek firefighters battled blazes for a ninth day yesterday amid sweltering temperatures that also helped stoke wildfires in Algeria, where at least 65 people died, and in southern Italy.

From Turkey to Tunisia, countries around the Mediterranean have been seeing some of their highest temperatures in decades, as the United Nations climate panel this week warned that the world was dangerously close to runaway warming.

Greece, in the grip of its worst heatwave in three decades, evacuated around 20 villages on the Peloponnese, though ancient Olympia, site of the first Olympic Games, escaped the inferno.

About 580 Greek firefighters, helped by colleagues from France, Britain, Germany and the

Czech Republic, were battling blazes in Gortynia, near Olympia.

Flare-ups continued to r a v a g e E v i a , G r e e c e ’s second-largest island, just off the mainland east of Athens and scene of some of the worst devastation in the past week.

At the other end of the Mediterranean, Algeria’s government deployed the army to help fight fires that tore through forested areas in the north of the country, killing at least 65 people, including 28 soldiers.

The worst hit area has been Tizi Ouzou, the largest district of the mountainous Kabylie region, where houses have burned and residents fled to shelter in hotels, hostels and university accommodation in nearby towns.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune declared three days of national mourning for

the dead.

In southern Italy fires ravaged thousands of acres of land as temperatures hit records well above 40 degrees Celsius (104°F) and hot winds fanned the flames.

Firefighters said on Twitter they had carried out more than 3,000 operations in Sicily and Calabria in the last 12 hours, deploying seven planes to try to douse the flames.

Tunisia’s capital Tunis recorded its highest ever temperature of 49C (120F) on Tuesday, the Meteorological Institute said.

Turkey has also suffered nearly 300 wildfires over the past two weeks which have devastated tens of thousands of hectares of woodland, though only three were reported still burning as of late yesterday.

Turkey’s northern coast, however, faced a different challenge - floods after

Forest Guard workers dig the ground as they make preparations for possible wildfires, in Monte Vetore on Mount Etna, Italy, yesterday. REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello unusually heavy rainfall that tore down a bridge and left

Democratic divisions emerge on U.S. Senate’s $3.5 trln spending plan

villages without power.

The wildfires are not limited to the Mediterranean region. California has suffered the second-largest wildfire in its history that by late on Sunday had covered nearly 500,000 acres (2,000 sq km).

The U.N. climate panel published a report on Monday that said greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were high enough to guarantee climate disruption for decades if not centuries.

...Bids submitted for Ministry From page 23 Ministry of Education Construction of the Faculty of Health Sciences Building, Turkeyen Campus, University of Guyana

Senator Joe Manchin Senator Kyrsten Sinema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hours after the U.S. Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint chock-full of investments in new domestic programmes, new fissures emerged between the moderate and liberal wings of the Democratic Party over the size and scope of the spending.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat representing the conservative-leaning state of West Virginia, issued a warning shortly after the Senate completed a marathon session early yesterday and passed the budget deal that would carry out President Joe Biden’s top priorities.

Manchin, who often acts as a bridge between his party and the Republicans, voiced

concerns about potentially “grave consequences” for the nation’s debt as well as the country’s ability to respond to other potential crises.

That followed his colleague Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s earlier warning that she does not support the $3.5 trillion price tag but would work “in good faith” to develop an alternative to include in implementing legislation.

The plan addresses key Democratic priorities, including climate change and immigration reform, and would create new social programmes such as universal preschool education and subsidized home healthcare for senior citizens.

Progressive members of the House of

Representatives have warned they won’t back the bill unless it has enough funding for all those goals.

Democrats hold extremely narrow margins in both chambers of Congress, with just one Democratic “no” vote in the Senate or a handful of them in the House enough to doom the bills.

The Senate approved the $3.5 trillion budget plan in a 50-49 vote along party lines, about 14-1/2 hours after passing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill in a bipartisan 69-30 vote, proposing to make the nation’s biggest investment in decades in roads, bridges, airports and waterways.

The Democrats plan to push the larger package through over the next few months, using a process called “budget reconciliation,” which allows

them to pass legislation with a simple majority vote.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he believed his party would stick together on the package.

“Look, there are some in my caucus who might believe it’s too much; there are some of my caucus who believe it’s too little,” Schumer said when asked about Manchin and Sinema’s concerns about the $3.5 trillion price tag.

“And I can tell you this: In reconciliation, one, we are going to all come together to get something done. And two, it will have every part of the Biden plan in a big, bold, robust way.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat, said the House would return from its summer break early on Aug. 23 to consider the budget resolution.

Ministry of Finance Main Building, Ground floor networking re-cabling

Supply and Installation of Air condition units

Guyana National Bureau of Standard Procurement of New Equipment Laboratory Centrifuge for Basic Sediments with Accessories

Thursday August 12, 2021

PAGE 25

Kaieteur News

Some Australian Olympians face 28-day quarantine

Of the Australian Olympic team’s 56 members, 16 are already quarantining in Sydney. (Getty Images)

Thursday August 12, 2021 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Try not to rock the boat too much today, Aquarius. Hold fast to your point of view, but don't get down when other people don't share your sentiments.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Your emotions and fantasies are strongly tied today, Libra. Let your feelings revel in a surreal state. Let your daydreams filter into your decisions.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Be a little selfish, Taurus. Be honest and straightforward with what you want. There's no need to beat around the bush simply because you want to spare someone's feelings.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You should enjoy a good mood today, so head toward something you believe in, Scorpio. There will most certainly be a magical element to this day that you should not only believe in but also encourage.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Your dander might be up today in reaction to someone's strong opinion.

You don't want to back down, Gemini. The fire burns hot within you.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Not much will happen until you decide to give up a few vices that have a serious effect on your well-being. Realize that if there are certain things that control you, you don't have complete control over your life.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Move boldly toward your dreams today, Cancer. Your sense of reality may not be perfectly in tune with the actual situation, but don't worry about it.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) There's extra action in your day today, Leo, so go with it. Don't fight against the wave of unconventional support that's brewing at your back door.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Today is a great day for you.

You should communicate a lot, Virgo. Talk in riddles and say your sentences backward. Be fanciful and outlandish. Most of the information will be relayed in a nonverbal manner.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) This is a whirlwind day for you. You will finally feel like you're getting things back on track, Capricorn. Any lag you've felt in the past few days will be eliminated.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Try not to rock the boat too much today, Aquarius. Hold fast to your point of view, but don't get down when other people don't share your sentiments.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Let the child within come out and play. Return to and relish your most primal state.

Some of life's most important lessons are the ones you learned when you were a child.

BBC Sport - Rules meaning some Australian Olympians are having to quarantine for 28 days after returning to their country from Tokyo have been described as “cruel”.

Athletes returning via Sydney to the state of South Australia are facing an extra two-week quarantine.

That is on top of the two weeks already required for all overseas arrivals.

The AOC said: “While other countries are celebrating the return of their athletes, we are subjecting ours to the most cruel and uncaring treatment.”

They added: “They are being punished for proudly representing their country with distinction at the Olympic Games.”

16 members of the Australian Olympic team are already quarantining in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.

The government of South Australia said “the high risk of the Delta strain of COVID19 in NSW” is the reason for the additional requirements, for which the AOC has had an exemption request turned down.

AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said in a statement: “Not only are our Olympians fully vaccinated, but they have also been living in a highly controlled bubble in Tokyo, taking the utmost

...RMA’s react to being empowered receiving from the GFF? AM: It would be a great injustice if I were to say the GFF is not doing enough for its member associations. The MFAP initiative will no doubt go the distance in helping the associations in so many areas that were lacking before.

Now having our own ATC will certainly light a fire under Guyana’s football...and the results will be seen in no time.

Of course I’m satisfied with all that the GFF is doing.

...GCB’s President delighted with From page 31 conduct skills assessment of the players under the supervision of CWI Head of Talent Identification Mr. Robert Haynes, with a view of being drafted into the ongoing training programme for the ICC Under-19 World Cup scheduled to be played in the West Indies in January and February 2022.

President Bissoondyal Singh expressed gratitude to all those who assisted to ensure these four young Guyanese get the opportunity to showcase their talent.

precautions, tested daily over many weeks.”

“We have received no explanation as to why our application on behalf of these athletes has been rejected.”

The 28-day quarantine could pose a significant risk to the physical and mental wellbeing of the athletes affected, according to Australian Institute of Sports chief medical officer David

Hughes.

The state of South Australia, capital city Adelaide, has a population of over 1.7m and covers some of the most arid parts of Australia.

Australia has recorded fewer than 37,000 COVID-19 cases during the pandemic and a death toll under 1,000, fewer than many other developed countries.

PAGE 26

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 27

PSG boss says Messi is ‘big asset’ for the club commercially PARIS (AP) — Lionel Messi is a “big asset” for Paris Saint-Germain from a commercial perspective, team president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said yesterday.

The 34-year-old Argentina star joined PSG on a two-year contract with the option for a third season after leaving Barcelona and was unveiled at a news conference at Parc des Princes stadium. “There’s a lot of positive he’s bringing to the club and you can see (it) in everything, in terms of commercial, in terms of social media, that’s amazing,” Al-Khelaifi said, sitting alongside Messi. “He is a big asset for the club.”

Al-Khelaifi said all key figures have increased in the past few days since it became clear that PSG was the frontrunner to land Messi, whose No. 30 jersey was quickly made available for sale in the team’s online store after the signing.

“You’re going to be shocked, honestly, in the numbers that we have,” he said, before joking that “I hope that Leo doesn’t ask for more salary.”

PSG has been transformed over the last decade since the influx of Qatari sovereign wealth investment linked to the emir. Once

Lionel Messi, right, and PSG president Nasser Al-Al-Khelaifi hold Messi’s jersey Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Messi’s Barcelona contract expired — and the Catalan club was unable to afford to keep him — PSG was one of the few teams that could finance a deal to sign the six-time world player of the year.

Al-Khelaifi insisted that his club complies with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play.

Some flexibility has been provided in the rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic and changes are due to the system that were designed to stem losses.

“We follow the Financial Fair Play regulations from the day one that we started until the end,” he said.

“Before we do anything, basically we look with our commercial people, with financial people, with legal people so as soon as you see that we sign Leo that means we could, we had the capacity to sign him... We know that we could sign him,” Al-Khelaifi said.

Al-Khelaifi, as chairman of the European Club Association and a member of UEFA’s executive committee, is involved in the process of discussing a wider update to FFP that could allow more unchecked spending again.

PAGE 28

Kaieteur News

Thursday August 12, 2021

Jamaican gold medalist Williams sisters, Kenin withdraw from Western & Southern Open Parchment tracks down volunteer who gave him cab money after he got lost en route to Olympics race

Venus Williams (USA) and Serena Williams (USA) change sides during their third round match in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Venus Williams won the match. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports) (Reuters) - Venus and Serena Williams as well fellow American Sofia Kenin on Tuesday withdrew from the upcoming Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, dimming the star power at the U.S. Open tune-up event. “Unfortunately, I will not be playing in the Western & Southern Open next week as I am still in recovery from my leg injury at Wimbledon,” two-time champion Serena said in a tournament press release.

“I will miss all of my fans in Cincinnati whom I look forward to seeing every summer.

I plan to be back on the court very soon.”

Williams, who was forced to retire during her first round match at Wimbledon in June, will instead focus on being healthy as she aims for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam title in Flushing Meadows later this month.

The tournament did not give a reason for why her sister and seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus had withdrawn.

World number four Sofia Kenin also announced that she had made the “difficult

decision” not compete at the venerable Premier 5 event, which is also known as the Cincinnati Open.

“I am rehabbing well in hopes to play the U.S. Open later this month,” said the 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin.

“I feel another week of recovery is necessary. I want to thank the USTA for all their efforts in holding the event during such challenging times. Best of luck to all the players.”

While the tournament will miss those players, the field still boasts world number one and reigning Wimbledon champion Ash Barty, four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka and reigning French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Two-time and defending champion Victoria Azarenka and past Cincinnati champions Madison Keys (2019), Garbine Mugurza (2017) and Karolina Pliskova (2016) will also compete at the outdoor hard court event.

Sofia Kenin of the U.S. during her fourth round match against Greece’s Maria Sakkari. (REUTERS/ Sarah Meyssonnier)

The Insider - Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment won gold in a major upset of the reigning world champion - Te a m U S A’s G r a n t Holloway - in the men’s 110meter hurdles final at the Tokyo Olympics.

But for a moment, it appeared as though Parchment might not even make it to the race in time.

The 31-year-old speedster found himself at an aquatics center rather than a track shortly before his event was set to begin. He had accidentally taken the wrong bus on the day of the final.

After seeking help from Olympics officials and learning that his only option was to head back to the Olympic village and take another bus to the correct venue, according to Jamaican publication The Gleaner, Parchment looked poised to arrive at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium without time to warm up for the biggest race of his life.

That’s when a stranger stepped up to become Parchment’s hero.

Despite the strict regulations preventing her from doing much to help, 25year-old Olympics volunteer Tijana Stojkovic gave Parchment money to take a taxi directly to the stadium, the 6-foot-5 star said. Thanks to her assistance, Parchment arrived at the correct venue with adequate time to prepare for the event.

And after he won gold, he retraced his steps to find Stojkovic and thanked her

Tijana Stojkovic and Hansle Parchment after he tracked her down and repaid her kindness. (Twitter video grab)

for her help. Two days after the race, Parchment posted a video to Twitter - which was later reshared by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness - that shows him finding her at a bus stop, expressing his gratitude to her, and saying she was “instrumental in getting me to the final that day” before handing her his gold medal.

“That’s just because you helped me,” Parchment said.

He then gifted her with a yellow Team Jamaica shirt and paid her back for the cab fare. The pair then posed for a photo together.

After the clip - and Parchment’s story - gained traction on social media, the

Hansle Parchment gestures after winning gold.

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Jamaican government invited Stojkovic to their country in another display of appreciation for her kindness, per The Gleaner.

It remains unclear whether she has accepted their gift. Still, Stojkovic has already posted about her surreal interaction with Parchment through her social media accounts - and she’s even wearing the Tshirt he gave her in the photo: It appears as though Parchment has already gotten back to work on the track, but we’ll have to wait and see if the now-gold medalist reunites with Stojkovic in his home country.

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 29

Bodybuilding West Indies ‘starting from CAC Championships Grimes confident of scratch’ before Pakistan out-flexing the competition Test series T

Coach Phil Simmons played 26 Tests for the West Indies.

AFP - West Indies and Pakistan commence a twoTest series at Sabina Park in Jamaica today with head coach Phil Simmons concerned about the readiness of the home players for what is expected to be a formidable challenge from talented but mercurial opponents.

With the vulnerability of the hosts’ batting mercilessly exploited by South Africa two months ago in a similar two-Test duel in St Lucia, Simmons made clear his displeasure on Monday that most of his Test match specialists did very little, if anything, while away from the international scene.

Over the past six week the Windies took on the South Africans, Australians and Pakistanis in a succession of limited-over fixtures.

“A lot of the players said they didn’t get any work done in their home territories before this camp and the four-day game,” said the former West Indies allrounder following a four-day warm-fixture ahead of the opening encounter.

“It’s disappointing to find out there’s nothing done and we have to start from scratch here.”

That is not an encouraging sign going into the series, especially if the pitches for the two matches at Sabina Park have anything like the pace and bounce of the Daren Sammy Stadium.

Kraigg Brathwaite’s team were thrashed by the Proteas in consecutive matches with the pace trio of

Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi obliterating a batting line-up that failed to get past 165 in four innings.

On the back of four consecutive Test wins, including convincing successes over the same South Africans on home soil, Pakistan would not appear to be burdened by similar concerns.

Back-to-back innings triumphs over an extremely weak Zimbabwe outfit in Harare in their last series could hardly be considered a reliable indicator of anticipated performance against more formidable opponents.

Given that they have already experienced much of the worst impact of the early stages of the rainy season in the Caribbean – the fourmatch T20 International series had just one completed fixture with the tourists prevailing by seven runs in Guyana – Simmons’ Pakistan counterpart Waqar Younis will nevertheless be concerned about his team’s readiness for the traditional format of the game even if recent history suggests that they have the proven quality to overcome their beleaguered opponents.

While he did not feature in the Zimbabwe series and claimed just one wicket in his last Test, against South Africa in Rawalpindi, Yasir Shah must be favoured to make a return to national duty in a part of the world where he emerged as “Man of the Series” and dramatically bowled his

country to their first-ever Test series triumph in the West Indies when they last toured the region in 2017.

Interestingly, fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, the man whose dismissal by Shah in the final minutes of the series decider in Dominica four years ago sealed the historic success, is ruled out of this series as he continues to struggle with match fitness in light of the absence of domestic competition in his native Trinidad and Tobago.

It leaves senior pacer Kemar Roach to spearhead a West Indies bowling attack that, if the conditions are pace-friendly, could see promising fast bowling talent Chemar H older playing his second Test after being inexplicably omitted since a creditable debut in New Zealand at the end of last year.

However whether the conditions favour the faster bowlers or spinners, the West Indies headache remains very much with their batting as captain Brathwaite’s struggles at the top of the order in the last two series seem to have become a template for those who follow him in the line-up.

It is an obvious vulnerability that Pakistan will seek to exploit, although their own tendencies towards the irrational and the inconsistent leave the window slightly ajar for an underdog home team to push these visitors to a degree which was completely absent amid the annihilation at the hands of the South Africans in June.

he International Federation of Body Building and Fitness’ (IFBB) 48th Central American & Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships gets underway from today in San Salvador, El Salvador and will conclude on August 16th.

The Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GBBFF) will be fielding eight athletes in this annual competition and the general consensus is that the team will do well.

Mr. Guyana 2017, Yannick Grimes, who is a part of the team heading to the Spanish speaking island to compete, during an invited comment with Kaieteur Sport has expressed great satisfaction with his preparation for the tournament.

He stated that, “I feel great about this year’s prep, I feel I’m better equipped this year mentally and physically and I intend to do my best come Sunday morning when I step on stage.”

Grimes had copped the Bronze medal at

the 2019 CAC Championships in the under 170 Class and he is very optimistic about going at least one better this weekend, he explained that, “I am way ahead of what I looked like in 2019.”

He made special mention of all his sponsors and supporters. He said that, I would like to thank Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Minister Charles Ramson Jr., Chairman of the NSC Kashif Muhammad, Director of Sports Steve Ninvalle, Windjammer International Hotel & Restaurant, Space Gym, John Lewis, Banks DIH Ltd, and others, who are too numerous to mention that would have helped me along the way. Grimes co-signed on the belief of the immense potential of the GBBFF 8-member team. He posited that, “This team is made up of a lot of local champions in various divisions and for everyone to represent Guyana, I think it is huge. I think this is our best put together bodybuilding team to leave these shores.”

RMA’s react to being empowered to take charge of GFF Academy Training Centers With the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) passing of the ball to their Regional Member Association’s (RMA) when it comes to owning, controlling and being accountable for the Academy Training Centers (ATC), many of the RMA’s have reacted with delight at being fully empowered to shape a solid foundation for the sport.

Last week, at its Providence based National Training Centre, the GFF handed over thousands of dollars worth of equipment including full size goalposts to its members to ensure that when the ATC’s are up and running, executing the job with ease at every level amongst boys and girls is done with efficiency.

The GFF would continue to be responsible for payments to the respective Technical Development Officers (TDO) attached to each ATC with the RMA being further empowered to sign off on the required deliverables in for payment to be executed.

T h e n i n e R M A’s a r e Rupupuni, Upper Demerara, East Bank, Georgetown, East Demerara, Berbice, West Demerara, Essequibo and Bartica Football Associations. A list of five questions was posed to the respective RMA’s Clayton A. D. Lambert is an East Bank FA Vice President.

How do you feel about the ATC programme now that it will be owned and

operated by your association?

CL: I think it’s a step in the right direction. This will enable the Association to cover wider areas and attract more players.

Do you believe the ATC programme is a good youth development programme?

CL: Yes it is, we were already starting to see the fruits from the ATC when covid-19 struck.

How do you feel about owning your own academy and being able to test your players at the various age groups against your peers?

CL: This is a good thing which will contribute towards the upliftment of football on the East Bank and Guyana at large; competition always causes standards to raise.

Do you think you have the talent and firepower to win the inaugural ATC competition at any particular age group?

CL: Without a doubt, East Bank has the talent to win it, that talent now has to be harnessed and guided.

Are you satisfied with the support your association is receiving from the GFF? CL: 1000% satisfied; thanks and congrats to President Forde and his Executive Team.

Bartica FA President, Alden Marslow.

How do you feel about the ATC programme now that it will be owned and operated by your association?

AM: Decentralising the

ATC is a great idea by the GFF, because it positions the RMA to be directly involved in a national football development programme.

Do you believe the ATC programme is a good youth development programme?

AM: I believe that the ATC is the ideal catalyst for the development of the sport a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y, especially among younger players, because it is geared towards crafting a singular style football, as is the vision of GFF TD, Ian Greenwood.

How do you feel about owning your own academy and being able to test your players at the various age groups against your peers?

AM: Owning and maintaining such a programme is certainly a source of great pride for the Bartica Association. We can hardly wait to launch our activities and to start recognising talent at the various levels...and also to put on display against players from around the country.

Do you think you have the talent and firepower to win the inaugural ATC competition at any particular age group?

AM: I think Bartica will do well at the U15 and U17 levels, because we have so many talented boys at those ages right now. We also have a good showing of young females who are asking to play the game.

Are you satisfied with the support your association is (Continued on page 25)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 30

Thursday August 12, 2021

Investment in national hurdles programme bearing fruit says SDF Chairman George Soutar Jamaica had an outstanding display in the sprint hurdles at the just-concluded Olympics.

Chelsea players celebrate Hakim Ziyech’s goal in the Belfast encounter.

Chelsea win Super Cup on Penalties SportsMax - The chairman of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) George Soutar, was left ecstatic following J a m a i c a ’s o u t s t a n d i n g display in the sprint hurdles at the just-concluded Olympic Games, an area in which the foundation has invested heavily in recent years.

Since 2019, the SDF has provided 20 hurdles each to 53 schools, that’s over 1,000 hurdles across Jamaica in a concerted effort to widen the hurdling pool in the island.

Soutar pointed out that the established schools were not a part of the programme as the strategy was to reach out to the more disenfranchised schools to build them up. “The SDF looks forward to Jamaica becoming as dominant in hurdling as in the sprints, in

the 100m, 110m and 400m formats,” said Soutar.

Jamaica won three hurdling medals at the Olympics courtesy of Hansle Parchment who struck gold in 110m hurdles and was followed home by Ronald Levy who won the bronze medal.

Jamaica did not stop there as Megan Tapper became the first female to win a hurdles medal in sprint hurdling when she copped bronze in the Women’s 100m hurdles.

The SDF also extended congratulations to the Jamaican team on yet another outstanding display in securing nine medals inclusive of four gold, a silver and four bronze.

There was a special mention for another rare sweep of all medals by the women’s 100m runners,

something some Jamaicans may take for granted, not appreciating the magnitude of this achievement.

“For these three homegrown, born and bred Jamaican women to take on the might of the world, in the middle of a pandemic and swept to victory over all else, is an achievement worthy of the highest accolades,” said Soutar. “ To a l l w h o h a v e contributed to this magnificence, we say thanks. To their coaches, the JAAA, the JOA, their families we say thanks on behalf of all Jamaicans at home and in the Diaspora,” added.

“Jamaica is forever in the debt of these athletes, who have sacrificed to take us all with them to the pinnacle of world athletics,” Soutar noted.

Jamaica’s sports minister greets country’s returning Olympians with promise of greater assistance SportsMax - The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange has said that every arriving athlete from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be greeted by her on arrival.

“They will all get the same treatment, not just the medalists,” Minister Grange said as she welcomed home Candice McLeod, Demish Gaye, Sean Bailey and Tovea Jenkins earlier this week. She also welcomed back President of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Christopher Samuda, Head Coach Maurice Wilson and several other coaches and team manager Ludlow Watts. In welcoming home the contingent, the Minister promised that greater assistance for the country’s athletes was in the pipeline.

“The Government realizes that it is not easy for all the athletes. Some of them come from really humble backgrounds and challenging situations,” she said of the team that won nine medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games, including four gold medals, one silver and four bronze medals.

“I am repeating this, do not to hesitate in letting me know what help you need. I may

not be able to do all but I will certainly help as much as I can. I am here for you, whatever the ups and downs, we will face them together going forward. I am saying to the JOA here today that we must work together as a family.”

Minister Grange emphasized that whatever the differences that exist among organizations in the sector, “It is important that we come together from now because over the next three years we will be faced with major international meets, the World Games in Eugene, Oregon in the United States in 2022, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, also in 2022, culminating with the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Around the corner is the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya from August 17 to 21.”

The sports minister said she was impressed by the youthfulness, manners and humility that characterized the delegation that went to the Tokyo Olympics. “I got a response in return for every message that I Whatsapped to every one of them who I reached out to,” she said.

BBC Sport - Chelsea beat Villarreal 6-5 in a penalty shootout to lift the Uefa Super Cup for a second time after a draining 120 minutes of action ended 1-1 in Belfast.

Substitute goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga saved captain Raul Albiol’s spot-kick at Windsor Park on a night that began superbly for the Blues with an excellent first-half performance before the Spaniards stormed back into the contest after the break.

Hakim Ziyech opened the scoring for the Blues midway through the opening 45 minutes but was then forced off with what looked like a worrying shoulder injury before half-time.

Cameron Burrell

USA TODAY - Cameron Burrell, the son of two Olympic gold medalists who became an NCAA track and field champion, died Monday at 26.

No cause of death was given.

Burrell starred at the University of Houston, where his father, Leroy, is the longtime track and field coach.

“My family is extremely saddened with the loss of our son, Cameron, last night,” Leroy Burrell said in a release Tuesday. “We are going through profound sorrow and ask that all of our friends, extended University of Houston family and the track and field community in the U.S. and abroad allow us to gather with our closest family and friends. We are profoundly grief stricken, and thank everyone for the outpouring of prayers and support.”

C a m e r o n B u r r e l l ’s

The Spaniards hit the woodwork either side of the break before Gerard Moreno equalised in the 73rd minute to force extra time. Chelsea, who look set to complete a deal to re-sign striker Romelu Lukaku for a club record fee of £97.5m from Inter Milan, failed to rediscover their first-half vigour in extra time but did come close to a winner through Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount.

It was the first time the Super Cup was played in Northern Ireland and 13,000 spectators generated a fantastic atmosphere in the south Belfast stadium, the highest attendance at any sports event in the country since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former NCAA track and field champion Cameron Burrell dies at 26 father won gold in the 4x100-meter relay at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and gold on the same relay at the 1991 and 1993 world championships. His mother, Michelle Finn-Burrell, won an Olympic gold medal in the 4x100 relay in 1992 and was an All-American sprinter at Florida State Burrell was a member of the Houston Cougars track and field team from 201318. He captured the NCAA individual national championship in the 100meters in 2018, matching his father’s feat from 28 years earlier. That season, he also ran the anchor leg of the Cougars’ 4x100-meter relay team, which successfully defended its NCAA championship.

He earned multiple AllAmerican honors throughout his collegiate career. Burrell ran the 100meters in 9.93 seconds, topping his father’s school

record by 0.01 seconds.

“Words cannot express how we feel for Leroy, Michelle and their family.

Cameron grew up around the Houston Athletics Department, worked hard and developed himself into one of our greatest Track and Field stars,” university athletics director Chris Pezman said in a release.

“To lose him so suddenly is tragic. We ask all University of Houston and track and field fans to keep Coach Burrell and his family in their thoughts and prayers.”

Burrell was a member of the United States 4x100meter relay team, which won gold at the World Junior Championships in 2012 and captured silver at the 2019 World Relays. He also anchored the U.S. relay team to gold at the 2018 Athletics World Cup. Burrell is survived by his parents and his brothers, Joshua and Jaden Burrell.

Thursday August 12, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 31

Fempower overcome Vanskinamites in circle tennis fixture

F

empower of Pomona defeated a youthful Vanskinamites of Zorg by five wickets in a circle tennis fixture which was contested on Sunday last at Zorg Beach, Essequibo Coast.

Vanskinamites batted first and posted 216-16 off their allocation of 120 balls.

Melissa Mohamed struck 55, while Omadevi Goberdhan made 46, Sarika Goberdhan 40 and Ashley Mohamed 36.

Amrita Laltoo, Amanda Persaud, Meera Sankar, Choreesa Persaud and Kim

Takeram picked up two wickets apiece.

Fempower responded with 217-13 off 108 balls.

Captain Meera Sankar scored 51 and Maribel Pearson made 37, Kim Tekaram got 26, Sonie Mahesh and Shellon Fiedtkou got 20 each.

Omadevi Goberdhan, Sarika Goberdhan and Shivana Smith took two wickets each. Both teams consisted of 18 players.

Trophies were provided by the Regional Democratic Council.

Indian wrestler Phogat suspended for Olympics Indian wrestler misconduct Vinesh Phogat

The victorious Fempower team

The runner up Vanskinamites

went into the Games as world number one in the 53kg but crashed out in the quarter-finals.

GCB’s President delighted with addition of 4 more Guyanese to CWI U-19 Training Camp AFP - India’s top wrestler Vinesh Phogat has been suspended for misconduct at the Tokyo Olympics, where she had been one of the country’s top medal hopes, the national federation said yesterday.

The 26-year-old from a famed Indian wrestling dynasty went into the Games as world number one in the 53kg but crashed out in the quarter-finals.

Wrestling Federation of India assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told AFP that Phogat had been suspended on “three counts of indiscipline”.

Phogat refused to share an athletes’ village room with India’s other women wrestlers, would not wear the team’s official shirt in competition and would not train with the rest of the team, Tomar said.

“She refused to stay with the rest of the women wrestlers due to Covid fears

as she flew in from Hungary with her coach while the rest had come from India,” said the official.

Phogat is a cousin of Commonwealth Games gold medallists Geeta and Babita Phogat whose story was featured in the Bollywood hit movie “Dangal”.

She has yet to make a public comment about the charges but has been told to respond by Monday.

Teenager Sonam Malik was also charged with similar misconduct ahead of the Olympics where she suffered a first-round exit.

“These up-and-coming girls think they are stars and can get away with such things, but they should realise that they are representing the country,” said Tomar.

India’s men’s wrestlers got a silver through Ravi Dahiya in the 57kg and bronze through Bajrang Punia (65kg).

Fruitful consultations between President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Bissoondyal Singh and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have resulted in four (4) Guyanese Under-19 players being added to the squad of 56 players currently in training in Antigua. Mr. Singh expressed his gratitude to CWI President Ricky Skerritt and VicePresident Dr. Kishore Shallow for their favorable consideration to include these players.

President Singh noted that due to the absence of Regional Under-19 Tournaments in 2020 and 2021 that a challenge developed in identifying the best regional players to represent West Indies on their tour of England 2021 and for the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022.

Chairman Andre Percival and his Junior Panel selected Marvan Prashad, Alvin Mohabir, Zachary Jodah and Jonathan

Rampersaud. Rampersaud who was playing minor league cricket was scheduled to arrive in Antigua from the United States of America yesterday, while the other three players will arrive in Antigua today. Given the limited flights available due to COVID-19 and its impact, the GCB decided to have the players travel to Antigua via New York to ensure they arrive at the earliest opportunity.

The CWI’s Director of Cricket, Mr. Jimmy Adams indicated that the four players will be taken through special assessment exercises prior to August 20, 2021.

However, the players will first have to satisfy the COVID-19 measures that are in place under the guidance of Dr. Oba Gulston, CWI’s Head of Sports Science.

These measures are expected to see the players spending a specified quarantine period prior to their assessment.

Thereafter, the four players will be able to commence

Jonathan Rampersaud

Alvin Mohabir

Marvan Prashad

Richard Jodha

official training.

However, the scheduled arrival of the four players will make it difficult for them to participate in trial matches geared at the selection for the UK Under-19 Tour. The Team Management will (Continued on page 25)

GCB’s President Bissoondyal Singh