Kaieteur News

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AIETEUR NEWS

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

Winston Jordan still

Saturday Edition August 15, 2020 - Vol. 14 No. 32

to answer challenge to cancel ECD land deals p.

7

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

Price $80

Online readership yesterday 140,984

Govt. scraps Granger's shortlist- toofretender tainted oil contract to market Guyana's oil traders Acres of land vested p.

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by NICIL without payment - Jagdeo

p.

12

- agency operating without financial scrutiny

Harmon sacked, refuses to move p. 7

Ocean View COVID Hospital deal might have been incestuous... 17p.

Owner will have to wait a long time for payment - govt.

Jagdeo to assist Pres. Ali Canadian expert to to keep a watchful eye complete Payara review on Oil and Gas, Finance in less than 10 days p.

3

p.

12

Govt. uncomfortable with unfair aspects of Exxon deal p.

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- we want Exxon to do well but Guyana must share in the prosperity- Vice President

Kaieteur News

PAGE 02

Saturday August 15, 2020

US$5M mobile container scanner donated by China M

inister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, yesterday accepted a donation from the People's Republic of China in the form of a mobile container scanner.

Handing over the machine, which costs in excess of US$5 Million, was Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Cui Jianchun.

The ceremony was held at the Guyana National Industrial Company Incorporated (GNIC) compound at Lombard

Testing: A container about to be scanned

Minister Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar with the Chinese Ambassador, Cui Jianchun (c) at the Lombard Street, Georgetown site yesterday

Street, Georgetown which has been converted as a container scanning site.

Edghill said he looks forward to the relationship between China and Guyana bearing more fruits, as this step is a firm one towards developing Guyana.

Meanwhile, a company representative from Nuctech, Clinton Williams, explained that the new mobile scanner will allow

for improved security and a high level of reliability.

It will add to another one that had been operating on the site.

The scanner is critical to Guyana's capacity to continue trading, in keeping with international requirements.

It will reduce the time taken to scan each container, which will reduce traffic congestion, as was pointed

out by the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia.

T h e C h i n e s e Ambassador added that he was quite happy with the donation, especially since the new Government is focusing on the economy.

The gift, he pointed out, will undoubtedly play an important role in the import/export sector.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 03

Govt. uncomfortable with unfair aspects of Exxon deal - we want Exxon to do well but Guyanese must share in prosperity - Vice President

T

h e n e w Government has raised “major concerns” with ExxonMobil about certain provisions of the Stabroek Block agreement it is not comfortable with, according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. During a press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre yesterday, Jagdeo noted, in this regard, that the guiding philosophy of the government's negotiations with ExxonMobil and other oil companies is that the people of Guyana must benefit from oil.

“We made it clear in the meetings with ExxonMobil that we want them to do well,” Jagdeo said.

“This is directly with ExxonMobil. Forget the

sector for the time being, we want them to do well here, to make money. But Guyanese must share this prosperity. It's not sustainable otherwise.

And we will insist that that happens, that Guyanese must share the prosperity; that if they're doing well, our people must do well too, in terms of opportunities, employment, etc.”

Jagdeo noted that there are several areas in which the government has noted shortcomings. He said that in the near or medium term, those issues can result in enormous benefits for the Guyanese people, once they are remedied.

“ExxonMobil has to treat these areas seriously,” the Vice President said.

The issue he delved into was local content. In this

regard, the contract has a section titled 'Employment and Training'. While this section makes reference to the utility of local content, it has nothing to say about giving Guyanese people and businesses first preference or consideration.

On that matter, Jagdeo noted the need for local content legislation so oil companies have a legal mandate to follow. He noted that, at this time, all the Department of Energy has are “various position papers” with no draft legislation in the works.

Jagdeo noted reports in the newspapers about experts who had suggested ideas which were ignored by the former Government.

Trinidadian local content consultant, Anthony Paul,

had made two earlier drafts of Guyana's local content policy which would have ensured transparent reporting on oil companies' local content commitments had they been implemented.

They were ignored, as the former Government hired, in Paul's place, an affiliate of ExxonMobil, Dr. Michael Warner. Warner removed the safeguards in Paul's drafts, and created a policy that held confidentiality provisions which was later accepted as the final policy.

Jagdeo noted that the government has reached out to Paul, and that it intends to pursue local content legislation with “the best technical inputs.”

The Vice President made a point of noting that, during consultations for the

legislation, the President will meet with local stakeholders himself, instead of delegating the work to the Department of Energy or junior staff.

Exxon would have to ensure, Jagdeo indicated, that its operations, as well as those of its sub-contractors, demonstrate sufficient commitment to local content.

In this regard, Jagdeo noted that the government will oppose what he described as “discriminatory wages” being paid to Guyanese people working in the oil industry. When it comes to training, the government intends to see that ExxonMobil commits much more than it currently does.

The contract requires ExxonMobil to pay a paltry yearly amount of US$300,000 for training of

Guyanese. Jagdeo said that that amount is inadequate, and will have to improve.

As for the gas-to-power project, Jagdeo explained that government is eager to move along with it, ensuring that Guyanese receive lower cost electricity. However, he said that Government will have to get the gas at a cost that is very different from what it is in the contract, and that the price will depend on technical assessments.

The Vice President spoke too on the environment and the provisions of the contract, or the lack thereof, which speak to environmental justice. He said that the Government will have to sit with ExxonMobil and be satisfied that there are adequate provisions in the agreement to cater to that.

Canadian expert to complete Payara review in less than 10 days High Commission.

According to documents submitted to the Environmental Protection A g e n c y ( E PA ) b y ExxonMobil's subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), the Payara development will be located in the eastern area of the Stabroek Block which is approximately 190 km (118 miles) from Georgetown.

The operator notes that oil production from Payara is expected to last at least 20 years with startup of the facilities expected to occur

V

ice President, D r. B h a r r a t J a g d e o , disclosed yesterday that the Canadian consultant who was hired to review ExxonMobil's Payara Field Development Plan, is expected to complete this task by August 24, less than ten days from today. The official made these and other comments during a press conference that was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.

There, Dr. Jagdeo said the government wants to move the Stabroek Block

production along but at the same time, ensure that the country benefits from this third oil development project.

He told reporters, “We don't want to delay but all the i's must be dotted and the t's crossed. We want to ensure that a proper evaluation is done.”

Though pressed to disclose the name of the consultant and the cost of the review, Jagdeo would only say that the Consultant is Canadian and that the expenses are being covered by a grant from the Canadian

approximately in mid-2023.

EEPGL noted that it will drill approximately 35 to 45 wells offshore to support extraction of the oil from below the seafloor. It said

that each well will be drilled using a floating drill ship.

Also, each well will be directionally drilled to specific reservoir targets (continued on page 18)

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Kaieteur News

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

Let Payara be test case and precedent The new government wants to do the right thing but goes about it in a strange way. The features of what is clearly pedestrian thinking are present at both the tactical and strategic levels. This outlook returns citizens and country to what it should be leaving behind.

Returning to the traditional sectors is not the most constructive of visions, arguably not the most positive of steps. Diversification is fine, but sugar and rice, among others, have had their time, and helped to this point of imprisoning contentment. This is an exciting and revolutionary hour, not the time for the sentimental or nostalgic; our leaders must be devoted and determined to get the most out of where the real money is, the burgeoning oil sector. Payara emerges to test the mettle of the new administration. Instead of returning loyal supporters to the fields with cutlass and punts today, we urge focusing on Payara as the standard for the future.

It is appreciated that some elections promises must be fulfilled and sugar represent a solid voting base. In politics, such realities compel poor decision making. The sugar community would be better served with alternatives, subsidies, retraining, and small business development. In Suriname’s President Santhoki’s words, involve “small and medium enterprises” from the private sector. We suggest mechanized harvesting and modernized supporting structures that empower workers, lift them up. That would be delivering to a faithful constituency. It is time to put a stop to them slaving away on the ground, continuing to ‘scratch out a living’ close to the poverty line, while keeping them trapped and beholden to political expediency.

They can be the job generators and community inspirations leading the way forward. The long-term prospects of sugar compare unfavorably to the oil possibilities at our feet. The moment must not be wasted.

The reality is that returning to the noncompetitive agricultural realms to ‘scratch out a living’ and continue the grinding back-breaking labor regimes is a mentality that condemns workers, their families, and communities to what limits, entraps, and hobbles the rest of this society with its weight. There are better ways of doing things with the traditional and this comes from working tirelessly and fearlessly to maximize first the returns from what lies beneath our feet and belongs to us lock, stock, and in every barrel below the seabed. Payara looms.

Instead of the old shortsightedness, Guyanese leaders must manifest a new profoundness that comes from deep foresight, and which results in the financially rewarding. It is why we strongly and unceasingly recommend focusing on extracting as much as could be gleaned from the abundant oil wealth first; do not retreat from that priority. It is the way to go from the get-go. The revenues gained from our oil could then be used to power those same traditional sectors, with unprecedented and fresh visions. The lucrative returns are there, we simply must summon the will to work hard to get our fair share from stubborn and greedy foreign partners. If we cannot get what is due to this country and its peoples from renegotiating that enraging contract, then we must pursue the host of other businesses and revenues that flow naturally from oil production. Payara stands as a test case of what could be. We must outthink and outwit Exxon.

The key is getting what is rightly due to Guyanese from our oil wealth, which is holding out for as much as possible, and with which there should be no pushback and no beating around the bush. We must demonstrate that we are serious.

Though the going will be hard, the new Guyanese leaders and their team of advisers must not shrink from the challenges at hand. What we get from Payara can be the start to making so much more possible in the largely antiquated and wounded sugar sector.

We say let our other Third World brethren, who do not have oil in any commercial quantity exploit their agricultural lands with their labor force. We can buy their products, while we concentrate on the special gifts we have, and rise to be among the best at managing and controlling not only what we have, but what is our destiny.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Applaud President Ali for Govt.’s decision to review Payara, putting Guyana’s interests first DEAR EDITOR, President Ali’s decision to seek technical assistance to review the Payara project is most commendable, and is a good sign that our new government would listen to the voice of Guyanese stakeholders concerned and invested in making sure our oil wealth is to the benefit of Guyanese first. This change of heart is most welcome as it had been reported that Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat said, “We are hoping to resolve the Payara issue very soon…I would say by the ending of this month,” he said during a radio interview. Such a decision could pave the way for ExxonMobil to issue its Final Investment Decision (FID) on moving to the production-development stage.

In an updated statement the Minister is reported as saying the Payara approval will not be rushed, that “we want maximum value for Guyana.”

It was also reported by another news outlet that Neil Chapman, Senior VicePresident of Exxon is in a hurry to move forward to “FID this project,” but that the 5month delay in the conclusion of elections held since March 2 and installation of a new government had contributed to a delay in approval of the project (so the PNC’s rigging attempts were also hurting the nation economically and they did not care). “What we continue to stress to the government is that if the project does get delayed, it’s a loss of value to

the country, and they understand that,” Chapman said.

While the oil interests may argue that delays will delay earnings, it is also true that oil giants use tactics like those salesmen who would pitch their product and tell you if you sign up right away, you get a discount and a good deal, which will not be available later. When sugar was king under the British Bookers company, Guyana was sometimes referred to as “Bookers Guyana.” We are not “Exxon Guyana.” We love Exxon and their investment in Guyana, but we want a happy marriage not domestic violence against Guyana.

Exxon must understand the Guyanese people are not happy.

I would advise the new Government to not ever make the same mistakes of the defeated PNC government and rush into a contract that has not been disclosed, shared, and vetted in keeping with the President’s inauguration promise of “transparency and accountability.” In case the politicians have any doubt, they should know the masses of Guyana care about what the government is doing with oil.

“The masses are not asses.” When you tell them at election time that the government sold us out and we lost $55 billion, and they would have to continue to live on $2US a day, they understand that. The Payara deal should wait until Parliament is convened and all the Opposition parties must

also be involved in this decision making. The PPP promised to govern differently, promised to revisit the oil contracts, and anything less is simply unacceptable. If the PPP acts just like the PNC, the people will not forget that. They did not forget all the promises the PNC made to them. So, Mr. President we appreciate your wise decision to seek help and review the project. It may not be a bad idea to ask Global Witness to review the project too, and many in the diaspora stand ready to help. The Oil and Governance Network led

by Mr. Darshnand Khusial and his group of Magnificent 17+ is one such resource (See: http://www.oggn.website).

Notwithstanding the “oil curse,” and “oil corruption,” usually associated with oil, we cannot continue to be a nation so rich in resources yet the majority of our people continue to live like paupers.

While the business class and political elites are guaranteed to lounge in luxury and wallow in the good life regardless of whether the contract is good or bad, the working class remains the working poor and is still catching hell.

Someone said if you are not outraged by what’s happening with the oil contracts, you are not paying attention.

Mr. Glenn Lall, a true patriot, and the Kaieteur News has been running ads and articles exposing how Guyana is being shafted in oil arrangements skewed against our country’s best

interests. Advice was given by those who have been down the oil road before but the PNC did not listen. The PPP must not make this same mistake. The international group, Global Witness (GW), warned of an enormous loss of revenue in a February 3, 2020 report, titled “Signed Away: How Exxon’s Exploitative Deal Deprived Guyana of up to US$55 billion.” This is money that Guyanese people have said could be used to build muchneeded roads, hospitals, schools, and sea defences to protect the 90% of the population at risk from rising sea levels, according to GW. Key findings were: 1. Guyana is set to lose out on up to US$55 billion from the Stabroek Block license – an average of US$1.3 billion per year in a country with an annual budget of US$1.4 billion, according to a new analysis.

2. To get its deal, Exxon employed aggressive and rushed negotiating tactics.

3. At the same time, Guyana’s negotiators were inexperienced, acted against expert advice, and underplayed Guyana’s strong bargaining position.

4. One official – Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman – even knew Exxon would soon announce the results of its new oil find, but rushed to sign Stabroek anyway, despite advice from experts to seek further information.

5. Guyana is set to make up eight percent of (Continued on page 6)

Guyana stands to benefit more than Scotland from the twinning of Georgetown and Aberdeen UK DEAR EDITOR, I congratulate the new government as it appears to be taking a keen interest in the established twinning of Aberdeen, UK and Georgetown and the benefits accruing. It is always gratifying when one’s initiative and energetic involvement result in a beneficial union of cities and States willing and able to learn from each other.

In 2018, as Guyana’s High Commission to the UK I was invited to Aberdeen in Scotland by the Lord Provost, Mr. Barney Crockett. The event was facilitated by ABIS Energy a leading global energy consultancy based in Aberdeen, which has been working in the long term interests of Guyana for some time now.

As a result in February

2018, I travelled to Aberdeen by train with my friend who was visiting from Guyana.

The Lord Provost had arranged a sumptuous dinner in my honour, co-hosted by Francis Kierman CEO ABIS Energy, at the Aberdeen Town House. The dinner was attended by Scottish politicians, the media, Oil and Gas executives, the world renowned Petroleum Economics Professor Alex Kemp from the University of Aberdeen as well as Mr. Bobby Gossai, one of our own, a Guyanese PhD student at the University of Aberdeen.

During the dinner, I was asked to make a speech.

Fortunately, I had prepared one on the nine-hour train journey to Scotland.

Aware that Abderdeen is considered the oil capital of Europe, I recognised that the

twinning of Georgetown and Aberdeen represents an opportunity for Guyana to learn and implement best practice in our nascent oil industry and avoid some of the more serious mistakes.

Guyana, through Aberdeen could learn the ropes in stimulating and supporting offshore energy. We would learn to build capacity which is vital if we are to become effective in managing our own resources. Aberdeen, Scotland, with three of the world’s top ranked Oil and Gas Universities including Aberdeen Heriot Watt and Robert Gordon, seemed the ideal city from which to forge links with our UG and other local centres of education, apprenticeship and skills development.

We have harvested significant benefits from this

relationship and collaborations, Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce and GCCI have signed a formal declaration of cooperation and mutual interest. Formal Links have been established between UG and the Universities of Aberdeen, Heriot Watt and Robert Gordon. For UG, the exploration of knowledge transfer, course content, curriculum development and degree courses is well advanced. There are many other initiatives to be explored. It is rewarding to note that the early work and investment by the Guyana High Commission in London has flourished and I hope it will continue going forward.

Yours faithfully, F. Hamley Case CCH Former High Commissioner to the UK

Saturday August 15, 2020

Both sides of the divide are guilty of savaging excesses that maim the mind DEAR EDITOR, I have no interest in any ongoing wrangling over elections controversies, regarding who did what and all the rest of that sordid 19month interval in Guyana’s history. I distance from that, and do not wish to delve into any of that and stain my hands. But there is a single post elections postmortem on which I comment.

I think that the worst thing that ever came down this side of the equator must be the modern technology that powered the phenomenon called social media. Despite its potential for great good, in the starkest terms, social media brought out the very worst in us. Both sides of the divide are guilty of savaging excesses that maim the mind. We have mangled, pierced, shredded, and brutalized adversaries from within the confines of a raging and dangerous electronic mob totally out of control.

Some may name it the rights of freedom of speech and assembly. That may be so, but I wonder about the obligations of individual and group responsibility. Although I am nowhere near social media platforms, what came to me secondhand brought shuddering and recoiling; it was bad, and it continues. I am a little thicker skinned than most, view things more benevolently, and have a much tolerance for the frailties and follies of my fellows.

This is partly traceable to my passage in life and has a lot to do with my belief system.

But what came to light in the racial frenzies and hysterias which took center stage and pride of place in the quarrels that blazed across cyberspace caused sickening.

We took a revolutionary development and profaned it.

We took Facebook and Instagram and Twitter (and

whatever else there is) to batter each other hatefully and grievously. I would venture even mortally, which times may confirm.

It was obvious that Guyanese relished the occasion and opportunity to dish it out to racial obstacles and racial enemies (that was opponents degraded to) in endless salvos and fusillades.

It is not accidental that I settle for the language of conflict and war to register the indepth character of what went on with such electric energy.

Almost all participants seized the moment to jump on a soapbox and make destructive speeches.

Everybody was on show and made a production of exhibiting to the world how destructive the passions raging.

Regrettably, there were few cooler, sober, and tempered heads to slow down comrades and the likeminded on either respective side. Of course, the anonymity contributed mightily to righteous wrath and furnished the camouflage for borderline criminal conduct.

From raw bigotry to naked hating and the worst of demeaning language, it was all hung out in public in prideful authorship.

Everybody was an expert, every functional illiterate and epitome of those who could be derogated as dumb had their many moments with posts that celebrated their appalling stupidities. It was playing to the crowd and sticking it to the other side.

Tit for tat and on and on were the gutting stories that came to me.

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Kaieteur News

With so many maddened people around, how can we have a country? With so many reckless and uncaring, what probability, what options, what room for healing and rebuilding? I know of situations where some are no longer attending their regular places of worship but have switched locations because of the vitriol and venom that were exchanged, they were privy to, or want no part of going forward.

It is enlightening that in our houses of worship this is the reality. That is, the sanctuary that should serve as a bulwark against the excesses and seepages of the secular has been reduced to the garbage of the political and racial. If we don’t have that, then what do we have?

Where are we as a nation? As individual citizens? As Guyanese who thrilled to the wantonness of the heinous via cyber channels that now leave us without a clue as to how to take the first indrawn breath to live again?

To be clear, the political powers cannot offer solace or save us from ourselves, as we struggle to coexist. So, now what do we do? Perhaps, since we are so far gone, we are unable to stop or separate.

Unfortunately, this is how I see and measure matters. It is harrowing and alarming. If this is the price of victory, then we are all losers. And this is my last word on what went on before, and which I try to purge from consciousness. It may not cooperate.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

Spotlight on upstream carbon dioxide emissions tax DEAR EDITOR, Now that a decision has been made to “put on hold the approval of the Payara offshore oil project until a full review of it is undertaken by technical experts (“Peeping Tom,” August 13, 2020),” it is a good time to draw attention again to a University of Guyana GREEN Institute Policy Brief titled “Towards a Green-Petro State: A Carbon Tax at the Wellhead in Guyana as a Measure to Reduce Pollution,” written by Dr. Thomas B. Singh and Dr. Timothy Liang. Perhaps the authorities might use the space that has been created by the decision to solicit a full review of the Payara project, to consider the significant potential of an upstream tax on the carbon in each barrel of oil we produce.

An upstream tax on carbon dioxide emissions sequestered in the crude oil that is now being extracted in the Stabroek Block by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd. (EEPGL), is fundamentally a measure to reduce pollution. It is entirely consistent with the provisions of Section 4 (4) (a) of the Environmental Protection Act and also with the Production Sharing Agreement that was signed with EEPGL. While there is an emerging global consensus that pricing carbon is essential for climate stabilisation, there is particular enthusiasm for the use of a carbon tax to achieve the stated objective of the Paris Agreement on Climate

Change, to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and [pursue] efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” ExxonMobil itself supports the Paris Agreement and also the carbon tax as a serious emissions reduction strategy. Indeed, it has even donated US$1 million to support a carbon tax policy proposed by former US secretaries of state James Baker and George Schultz.

There are two principles, one physical and one economic, behind the upstream carbon tax proposal. The physical principle holds that a unit of fossil fuel will emit the same amount of carbon wherever and whenever it is burned.

The economic principle that justifies the use of upstream carbon taxes is known as the “irrelevance of who pays” a tax on economic decisions, and it says that the incidence of a tax (i.e. who ‘really’ pays the tax) is unrelated to the point of collection of the tax.

As such, an upstream carbon tax in Guyana will achieve the same emissions reduction results as at tax imposed at (say) the pump in the United States.

While the upstream carbon tax proposal is not merely about revenues, the authors pointed out that with a carbon tax of US$40/ton of CO2, Guyana stands to earn US3.4 billion annually if natural gas flaring was assumed to be 15 million cubic feet per day; and US$1.4

billion per annum rising to US$4.7 billion per annum by 2025 as oil production itself increases. The UGGI Policy Brief pointed out that the revenues raised from the carbon tax could be used to achieve Guyana’s energyrelated Nationally Determined Contributions made under the Paris Agreement.

In the absence of an explicit depletion policy, the upstream carbon tax will reduce the incentive for oil companies to extract Guyana’s oil when price is low; and it will allow Guyana to get a bigger share of the oil rents than is now possible.

Ironically, while Guyana has been unable to attract payment for the carbon sequestration services provided by its rainforests, the upstream carbon tax would enable it both to contribute to finding a climate change solution and to advance the case for ‘climate justice.”

Yours sincerely, Thomas B. Singh Editor’s Note: We wish to note that Guyana’s agreement with ExxonMobil for its operations in the Stabroek Block bears strict provisions denoting the revenue shares allotted to Government, ExxonMobil and its partners Hess and CNOOC. The contract has specifically been crafted to ensure that, if Guyana were to make any changes to alter its economics, the Government would have to repay the contractor(s) for any resulting losses.

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Kaieteur News

Guyana Legal Aid Clinic clarifies DEAR EDITOR, In response to two articles that have appeared recently in the daily newspapers, the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic writes to clarify the scope and locations of legal aid services provided by it.

The first, in Stabroek News of 2 August 2020 h t t p s : / / www.stabroeknews.com/ 2020/08/02/news/guyana/ access-to-legal-aid-woefullyinadequate-in-guyana/ - gave the impression that the clinic’s criminal legal aid services are only available to persons char g e d w i t h murder. This is far from the case. Whereas the law provides that only persons charged with a capital offence may be provided with a lawyer by the State if they cannot afford one, the clinic (NB Guyana Legal Aid Clinic and not G e o rg e t o w n L e g a l A i d Clinic) provides legal advice and representation in all criminal matters to adults who qualify for legal aid and automatically to all children (persons under 18).

The second, in the Guyana Chronicle of 11 August 2020 -https:// guyanachronicle.com/ 2020/08/11/idb-criminaljustice-programme-to-bereviewed/ - reported new Attorney-General Anil Nandlall as saying that legal aid should not be confined to Georgetown.

The Guyana Legal Aid Clinic has offices in New

Amsterdam (which also serves Fort Wellington) and Anna Regina in addition to Georgetown, and the Linden Legal Aid Centre provides legal advice and representation in Region 10.

We r e c o g n i s e t h e urgent need to make legal aid accessible throughout Guyana, but pending the substantial funding that would be required to establish clinics in other towns and villages, anyone unable to visit the clinic can: 1. Call, text or WhatsApp us on 664-4126 (Digicel) Georgetown office, 665-1396 (Digicel) Anna Regina office, or 6645838 (Digicel) New Amsterdam office.

2. Call or text us on 6235586 (GT&T) or 600-3971 (Digicel) Georgetown office, 600-4123 (Digicel) Anna Regina office, or 600-4122 (Digicel) New Amsterdam office.

3. Send us a message on our Facebook page.

4. Send an email to legalaid@networksgy.com.

The clinic reopened on 4 May with comprehensive COVID-19 prevention systems in place to protect the wellbeing of clients and staff and is currently open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9am to midday.

Yours sincerely, Josephine Whitehead Director/Secretary Guyana Legal Aid Clinic

Saturday August 15, 2020

The contradictions of inter-racial relations in Guyana DEAR EDITOR, It is an indisputable fact that at the individual level, people of Indian and African descent genuinely love and appreciate each other.

This is not only a modernday occurrence but a fact which existed a very long time ago. I am in my 60s and of mixed race. My paternal grandmother was of Indian origin. I believe that there are hundreds of others of my age who are like me.

In the 2012 population census, people of mixed race were found to comprise 19.9% of the population. According to the Bureau of Statistics, the mixed population from 1980 to 2012 has doubled.

Analysis of the census data shows that there is a constant increase of the mixed population, while in the case of Indians and Africans there is a decrease.

The positive trend of the mixed population is obviously due to increases in inter-racial marriages and inter-racial relationships, which are very common today.

It is therefore very likely that mixed people today would account for well over 20% of the population. This is a significant number in all spheres of human endeavour.

But it is not only romantic relationships which exist between individuals of the

two major races. There are also genuine friendships and camaraderie, as is evident among children at school, people at the work place, in the market place, in clubs and other social organisations, in the villages, the police force, even in criminal gangs – indeed in all spheres of life.

But our elections bring a different dynamic to the fore, which fractures the society and causes deep rifts, even between husbands and wives.

This is not to say that only at elections time racism raises its ugly head. However, at other times, racial problems are inconsequential. The big question therefore is, if very good inter-racial relations exist at the personal level, why isn’t this replicated at the group or community level?

Editor, both Africans and Indians harbour the outlandish belief that being in control of the Executive arm of government is their birth right.

And this intensifies the inter-racial rivalry at elections time, and sometimes causes raw e m o t i o n s t o b o i l o v e r.

Hence, the strife we see at elections time is inevitable.

I have lived through the disturbances of the early 1960s as a child, and I don’t think that anyone who

experienced those atrocities would like to go through that again.

Yet, almost 60 years after the most violent racial confrontations took place, successive governments have failed to effectively address the racial problem in our country.

Once in government, our leaders, with their misplaced priorities, and perhaps their heads in the sand, treat racism as an afterthought.

It is disappointing also that influential people in the society have failed to pressure our governments to implement the necessary reforms.

Why were we so concerned then that it took five months for the results of the 2020 elections to be declared? Lest we forget, it must be emphasised that racism is an age-old problem in Guyana, which would not go away. Like COVID-19, racism is real, unless we manage it carefully, it will consume us.

Editor, little children must be the most colour-blind people in any society. The obvious place then to start to effectively address racism in our country is in our schools – from the nursery level.

But this obviously is a long-term plan. Since our politics is inextricably linked to race, decisive action is

required now to remedy the imbalance in the current system of governance, which is out of date and must be overhauled to be in step with present-day realities.

Do we have to be told that we are at that juncture in our history where neither Africans nor Indians desire or intend to be governed by the other? Our fiercely contested elections which produce results which are split virtually down the middle are screaming at us to remedy the imbalance sooner rather than later.

The current political situation is so bad that at the local government level, would you believe that elected officials who do not support the party in government, prefer to cut their nose to spite their face, when it comes to the development of their own communities.

As we can see, fifty-four years after gaining political Independence, our people have not yet attained the level of maturity required to play by the rules which apply to the current system of governance.

So we have no choice but to overhaul it in order to preserve our nation. The ball is in our political leaders’ court.

Yours sincerely, W. Richards

Applaud President Ali for Govt.’s decision to...

From page 4 Exxon’s entire crude oil output through to 2056.

6. Global Witness calls on Guyanese officials to demand a new deal from Exxon.

Similar advice and sentiments were made by Chatham House, the IMF, the World Bank, Former Minister of Energy of Trinidad and Tobago Kevin Ramnarine and other oil experts who have gone down this road before - Dr. Jan Mangal, Melinda Janki, Christopher Ram, Anthony Paul, and disaporians such as Darshanand Khusial, Nicholas Ramsaywack and others who have been warning us that if we don’t’ amend the oil contracts, Guyanese will hold what the village people call “larwah”

and “catahar.”

It cannot be right that Exxon and Hess and the big corporations should get the bulk of the oil profits and Guyana receives a pittance.

For all our lives, it has been every Guyanese dream that one day Guyana will find oil, and we would all be rich.

Today, Guyana is pumping oil, and we are still very destitute and the future looks bleak, if the new PPP government does not renegotiate oil contracts as it promised during the election campaign. We must all speak up now and hold them accountable to this promise.

Please help them to understand not to break promises, the way the PNC did.

The government just got in so why rush and sign a

contract that has not been disclosed, discussed and vetted. What exactly is in the contract that the PPP will sign by month end? Mr. President, if it was wrong for the PNC to sign a secret contract, it would not be OK for the PPP to do the same. So we are glad the government has decided to engage in more planning and review.

The Coalition politicians promised “the good life” premised on oil revenues flowing in to our economic coffers like a river. What we have instead is “trickle-down economics”. The ones reaping the hog of the benefits are Exxon and the related oil businesses, many of them foreign. The PNC’s mistake is that they rushed to have oil flowing during their reign. The oil giants obliged and moved up their starter date of production knowing they are in an advantageous position, because the Guyana government was ill prepared for first oil. We did not have the planning, training, environmental, accounting, auditing, accountability measures, and an oil infrastructure in place to monitor and police the process to make sure Guyana’s interests are

protected and we are maximizing the returns from oil. In fact, a proper local content policy was not in place, and the one now is inadequate. A local content policy is what ensures that Guyanese people and companies will have a share of the oil action in which Guyanese are employed and Guyanese companies are getting contracts for related oil support services.

My fellow Guyanese, look at what is happening now with billions of cubic feet of gas being burnt out and lost forever for our country’s use and the government and our EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) says there is very little they can do about it.

How come we are not compensated for such loss and Exxon is not penalized with hefty fines? What nonsense is this? How long will we sit by and see our national patrimony destroyed right before our eyes? Please speak up and let our new government know we want the good life now and a better deal now. I know our government would listen and keep its promises.

Sincerely, Dr. Jerry Jailall

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 15, 2020

PAGE 07

Winston Jordan still to answer challenge to cancel ECD land deals F

ormer Finance Minister Winston Jordan is still to file an affidavit in answer to the legal challenge by Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall over the sale of prime lands on the East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Lall moved to court last July to have the sale of 130 acres of lands on the ECD by A Partnership For National Unity +Alliance For Change government quashed.

The case lists Former Finance Minister Winston Jordan, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited, (NICIL) and the Attorney General as respondents.

However, weeks after the litigation began, nothing has

been filed by or on behalf of the former Finance Minister as it relates to his role in the sale of the state properties.

During the hearing of the case yesterday, Attorney for Jordan, Olayne Joseph indicated that she still had no submissions to file.

The Court was also informed that the newly appointed Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall needed time to consider his response since his office is in transition mode.

In the meantime, Devindra Kissoon, the lawyer for NICIL has moved to have the matter struck out.

Presiding Justice Sandra Kurtzious heard arguments on the application to throw out the case yesterday. She is

scheduled to rule on her finding next Thursday at 2:00 pm.

At the interim, the Judge is left to consider issues raised by Lall's Attorney, Sanjeev Datadin and the Counsel for NICIL. Kissoon had laid over submissions in which he contended that among other things, Lall had wholly misinterpreted Section 8 of the Public Corporations Act (PCA), Cap. 19:05.

The Attorney had referenced the explanatory memorandum, which states that “Section 8 of the Public Corporations Act was amended by the passage of the Public Corporations Amendment Act 1990 to empower the Minister

Harmon sacked, refuses to move J

oseph Harmon, the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Campaign Manager was fired from his position as Director General of the Minister of the Presidency but remains adamant that his position still stands and refuses to move from the post.

The then David Granger administration had created the post of Director General specially for Harmon after he was forced to resign as a Member of Parliament and Minister of State in 2019, after the courts ruled that holders of a dual citizenship cannot sit as Members of Parliament; Harmon was a US citizen at the time.

Harmon as Director General pocketed a monthly salary of $900,000 along with a string of benefits. In addition to that salary, Harmon also received a nontaxable duty allowance of $250,000 per month; a nontaxable entertainment allowance of $100,000 per month; a nontaxable maid allowance of $128,000 per month and a nontaxable gardener allowance of $65,000 per month.

His housing telephone, internet, and electricity bills and security were funded by the State. He also received a personal driver and motor vehicle provided by the State along with 22.5% gratuity every six months.

SACKED: Joseph Harmon In the termination letter seen by Kaieteur News, Harmon was informed by Attorney General, Anil Nandlall that the post of Director General did not exist prior either in the Public Service nor created by the Constitution or the Legislation.

“It appears to have been the creation of political expediency,” the termination letter said.

Further, Harmon was informed that his “terms of contract” were not consistent with the usual contracts executed between the Government and its employees.

“Having regard to the nature of the job,” the letter said” which you were engaged to execute and did

execute, it is no longer possible or practical for you to perform those tasks under the new Government.”

Moreover, Harmon was also reminded of the fact that he no longer held the post as Director General after his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National COVID-19 Task Force. “ P r e s u m a b l y, y o u accepted that decision, in as much as you accepted the new assignment in lieu thereof, thereby rendering your removal as Director General consensual and the termination of the attendant contract, mutual,” the letter said. Harmon in response to the letter told the Attorney General that his authority is not recognized.

“Please take notice that I do not recognize your authority and your convoluted attempt to explain the arbitrary capricious actions of a fraudulent Government to deny me of my contractual benefits,” Harmon said.

His reply warranted another response from the AG who in turn told Harmon that from the tone and content of his letter, “reason has not yet resumed its natural seat”.

Nandlall also sought to remind Harmon that he no longer has an enforceable contract therefore he is not entitled to contractual benefits.

Attorney-at-law, Sanjeev Datadin assigned general responsibility for public corporations to transfer by order under that section to a private company or individual the undertaking or any other property of any public corporation or body corporate owned or controlled by the State…”

He explained further in the defence, that from at least 1992 to present, Vesting Orders have been used to vest numerous State lands to NICIL and from NICIL to private companies or persons.

According to the lawyer, the practice facilitated the resale of state lands to various individuals and companies.

However in response to the contention, Datadin told the Court that it was NICIL that has misconstrued its position in the action filed.

The lawyer stressed that the matter was challenge to the Minister of Finance and not NICIL. “The allegation is against Minister and not NICIL,” he said. He stressed that NICIL is just a party to the

Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall

Former Finance Minister Winston Jordan proceeding: “NICIL has no power or authority to transfer State land under the PCA.” The lawyer noted that it is the action of the Minister that is being challenged.

He noted too that in the absence of an affidavit in answer from Jordan it would be difficult for the court to assess whether action by the former Minister was lawful.

He said that because

Jordan acted on June 1, 2020, after elections, when there was no Parliament or Cabinet in place, his conduct is brought into question.

Further, Datadin told the Court that Kissoon's reliance on the explanatory memorandum to the 1990 Bill which amended the PCA 1988 is only available for consideration by the Court in determining the meaning of Section 8.

He noted that external aids to statutory interpretation are not to be used when the statute has clear and precise words capable of interpretation.

“There is no ambiguity,” he said.

Further the lawyer denied that the PCA has ever been used to transfer government assets from NICIL to private companies.

Datadin argued too that the words of Section 8 of the PCA refer to a “corporation” which is defined in the Act itself to mean an entity incorporated under the PCA or its predecessor legislation.

This, according to Datadin, could not in any way lend itself to private companies.

He emphasized that the legislation could not be interpreted in a manner to defeat the common law and statutes which relate to the conveyance of land.

“The need to have transfers advertised and gazetted with the right to opposition could not be implied in the statute,” he said. The lawyer held that in the circumstances, the Minister is obliged to act reasonably and act in a manner consistent with the common law and all (continued on page 18)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Saturday August 15, 2020

Govt. scraps Granger's shortlist of - to retender contract to tainted oil traders market Guyana's crude

By Mikaila Prince

V

ice President Bharrat Jagdeo has disclosed that the government has scrapped the shortlisted tainted oil and commodity traders shortlisted by the previous Granger administration to market Guyana's oil.

During a press conference yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) in Liliendaal, VP Jagdeo made it clear that the PPP/C has put a hold on the evaluation of the bids that were submitted to market Guyana's crude for the next 12 months.

It was under the previous APNU+AFC administration that the Department of Energy (DoE) had shortlisted 19 oil traders out of 35 applicants to market Guyana's oil.

However, upon examining the list of traders which was publicized by the Energy Department, Kaieteur News found that 15 out of the 19 shortlisted companies have been linked to scandals, foreign bribery and widespread corruption.

These well-documented malpractices, which have resulted in convictions and fines, have ensnared senior executives of these oil companies and traders, while others are still under investigation.

During the press engagement, VP Jagdeo reminded reporters that during the campaign season, the PPP/C had staunchly advocated for businesses not to submit bids to the “illegal” APNU+AFC government, while adding that “it would be unfair to the companies

who acted decently and did not put in a bid because they recognized that there had an illegal government”.

Jagdeo indicated that the PPP/C government has taken a decision to reopen the tender for that contract.

The tainted companies One of the companies shortlisted is China Offshore Oil International Pte Ltd. In 2015, this state-owned Chinese company had their former Deputy General Manager, Wu Zhenfang, under criminal investigation for accepting an undisclosed amount in bribes although it is unclear what the outcome of the case was. Another C h i n e s e c o m p a n y, Sinochem, saw Du Keping, the former Vice President sentenced last December to 11 ½ years in prison for accepting USD $1.8M in bribes.

Russian energy c o m p a n y, L u k o i l O i l Company & Litasco, is currently being criminally investigated by Geneva's top prosecutor on suspicion of corruption of foreign officials and moneylaundering.

Gunvor Group, one of the world's top energy traders was found criminally liable for corruption in the Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast, after failing to avert its employees and agents from bribing public officials. The trader was subsequently ordered to pay almost USD $94 million to the Swiss Attorney General (AG) in October of last year.

According to Reuters, the settlement includes a fine of 4M Swiss francs, out of a maximum of 5M, as well as gross profit plus interest it gained from oil deals in the

two West African countries from 2009 to 2011, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

E q u i n o r, f o r m e r l y known as Statoil, a Norwegian company was in 2018 fined ROK $20M for misconduct and extensive corruption in Iran in 2002/2003 attempting to secure lucrative oil contracts for the company in that country. The Director for International Operations, Richard John Hubbard was also ordered to pay NOK 200,000 in fines for his involvement in the case. This was mainly achieved by hiring the services of Horton Investments, an Iranian consultancy firm owned by Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, son of former Iranian President Hashemi

Rafsanjani. Horton Investments was paid US$15.2 million by Statoil to influence important political figures in Iran to grant oil contracts to Statoil.

French oil major, Totsa Total Oil Trading SA, was found guilty of corruption in the United Nations' oil-forfood programme for Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule. In 2016 the Parisian Court of Appeal found the company guilty of corrupting foreign officials and was fined USD $820,863.

According to the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC), an independent government agency in the U.S, British Petroleum Products agreed to pay a total of $303M in sanctions to settle charges of

manipulation and attempted manipulation in the propane market in 2003 and 2004.

Adding to the list of infringements, a BBC World Report exposed how BP agreed to pay billions for Petro-Tim, a West African oil company owned by Romanian businessman, Frank Timis. This West African corporation was found to be in the centre of corruption in Senegal.

Documents showed that BP knew about the suspicious payments, which totaled to millions to the Senegalese President's brother, Aliou Sall, and it went ahead with the deal anyway.

In 2015 Jiang Jiemin, the former chairman of PetroChina, International Brazil Trading Limited, was sentenced to 16 years in

prison for taking bribes and abuse of power. A report stated that authorities also confiscated about 1 million Yuan ($157,600) from Jiang, after he failed to explain where it came from. Later in 2017, the Chinese court found Liao Yongyuan, the former vice chairman guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 16 years imprisonment. According to Reuters Liao had abused his various positions in the energy industry between 1997 and 2014 for personal gain, and between 2003 and 2015 took 13.4 million Yuan ($1.95 million) in bribes, and was unable to account for the origin of 21 million Yuan in assets.

Then there is the case of major, Stabroek Block (continued on page 18)

SOCU withdraws fraud charges against President Ali

By Renay Sambach

T

he 19 fraud charges that were leveled against President Dr. Irfaan Ali, alleging the illicit sale of state lands, were yesterday morning withdrawn by the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU).

When the matter was called in the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts, SOCU's Prosecutor, Patrice Henry informed Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, that the unit no longer wishes to continue with the charges. When contacted, Henry told this newspaper that as a result of SOCU directing him that they no longer wished to proceed, the charges were withdrawn as opposed to them being dismissed for lack of merit. He added that SOCU is cognizant that by Ali taking the oath of the President, he automatically receives immunity and it is not in SOCU's interest to go against Article 182 (2) of the Constitution.

Article 182 (2) stipulates, “Whilst any person holds or performs the functions of the office of President no criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against him or her in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him or her in

President, Dr. Irfaan Ali his or her private capacity, and no civil proceedings shall be instituted or continued in respect of which relief is claimed against him or her or anything done or omitted to be done in his or her private capacity.”

Henry noted that SOCU has no intention of continuing with the matter even after Ali comes out of office.

In 2018, after the charges were instituted against Ali, his lawyers moved to the High Court against the Commissioner of Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Chief Magistrate, and Detective Corporal Munilall Persaud to seek a

pronouncement that there was no legal or common law duty to obtain a valuation prior to the sale of property.

The High Court had ruled against the application but Ali later moved to the Court of Appeal.

The ruling for the matter in the Court of Appeal was scheduled for yesterday afternoon. However, earlier this month Ali's lawyer, Devindra Kissoon had made an application in the Magistrates' Courts for the charges to be dismissed. His application was never granted so he later wrote a letter to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C, and contacted S.O.C.U. In an invited comment with this newspaper Kissoon shared, that as a result of the date for the ruling of the matter in the COA; he renewed his application in a letter to the DPP in which he outlined Article 182(2) of the Constitution and the Code of Prosecutors.

Kissoon's letter argued that the two sections of the law mandated that the charges must be withdrawn since (i) they have no lawful basis, (ii) proceeding with the charges would be unconstitutional, (iii) President Ali is immune from prosecution, (iv) the charges constitute an abuse

of the criminal process, and (v) the public interest does not warrants the prosecution of the President.

Kissoon noted that as a result of the renewal of his application SOCU agreed and instructed Henry to withdraw the charges in the Magistrates' Courts which led to the matter being discontinued in the Court of Appeal.

On his first court appearance, Ali was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts where the 19 fraud charges were read to him. Ali was accused of defrauding the Government of over $174 M, by selling several plots of State lands, below the market value, to former ministers of the then PPP/C government. He was not required to plead to the indictable charges which had stated that between the period 2011 and 2015, he conspired with persons unknown to defraud the Government when he acted recklessly by selling19 plots of State Lands at Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara. The lands which allegedly sold for a mere $39.8M, were valued at $212.4M, according to SOCU.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 09

One instead of three A

public servant enjoys security of tenure. What this means in theory – and it is only in theory because there are many ways to circumvent this guarantee – is that a public servant cannot be removed from his or her position at the whim and fancy of his superiors and/or on political grounds.

Public servants enjoy security of tenure, except where they are employed on contract and thus can be terminated in accordance with the terms of that contract. Generally contract workers are not public servants but it is possible for a contract worker to be appointed to a public office.

The services of a public servant can also be terminated during their probationary period or if their employment was less than one year one month. Or where the office is abolished or no longer deemed necessary.

Public servants, apart from the above situations, are entitled to permanent employment. This right, however, is not absolute since a public servant can be dismissed or terminated for negligence, indiscipline, malpractice or incompetence (unsatisfactory performance). Generally, a public servant can only be appointed, dismissed or disciplined by the Public Service Commission and not by any Ministry or political official.

The Public Service Commission was established to prevent political meddling in the

appointment, dismissal or disciplining of public servants – but that is only in theory too. The reality is that the Public Service Commission has historically delegated its power to employ persons to the various line Ministries and agencies to the extent that it merely 'rubber stamps' the employment of those who are selected by government Ministries.

The Public Service Commission is not totally insulated from political control and influence. In practice it is not. The members of the Public Service Commission are appointed by the government and, regardless of the process involved, the political directorate invariably selects persons with whom it is politically comfortable.

When a public servant is accused of a criminal act, the Head of the Department or Permanent Secretary is required to advise the Public Service Commission and to recommend whether that person should remain on the job. The practice has usually been to interdict the public servant pending the outcome of any criminal investigation or charge. Usually, the public servant is placed on half-pay.

This may have changed in recent times but it would be quite unusual for the Commission to send anyone on administrative leave, with full benefits, during the course of an investigation unless that person is simply being removed for the purpose of not prejudicing the investigation.

Administrators, however, have found ways of having their way and circumventing the Commission. One such method employed is to send the accused officer on administrative leave. This is usually done to keep the unfavoured off the job where there is no legitimate cause to dismiss or terminate that person's employment. The downside is that full pay and benefits are enjoyed by the worker.

If the public servant that is charged or being investigated is exonerated, then the interdicted person is entitled to his outstanding pay and benefits. But that individual, notwithstanding, may still be removed to protect the reputation of the public service.

I t is th er ef o r e n o t difficult to comprehend why a public servant, whether on contract or otherwise, can be on administrative leave for one year four months. This is reported to be the case in relation to the Director of Youth in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

But there is another issue which needs to be addressed in relation to this matter.

Why should a small country like Guyana have a Director of Youth, a Director of Sport and a Director of Culture?

Large countries with more resources do not have the heavy-layered bureaucracy.

Why not abolish all three posts and simply have one person as the Director of Culture, Youth and Sport?

The more money which has to be spent on financing the administrative costs of

Dem boys seh...

Jagdeo is a blow-blow

J

agdeo gat a lot of spunk. De man is o n l y w a n Vi c e President without any portfolio. He is Vice President in charge of helping out. But de man behaving like he get re-elect as President.

When he was Opposition leader, de man had a lot to say. He used to call Press Conference every week.

And he used to buse out.

He still in dat mode. Like he nah realize dat de PPP/C win de election and dat he is nat de President.

Jaggy call a Press Conference yesterday as if he is the President. He announcing plans fuh all

dem Minister. Dem boys know that is only a President can do dat.

Dem boys bin glad though when he mention de oil sector.

He seh how Exxon must get something and Guyana must get something. Dem boys agree with dat. And dat is why dem boys big up Pressie Ali fuh putting Payara on hold until a technical review is done.

But dem boys jaw almost drop yesterday when Jaggy seh how de review can be done in 10 days. Is den them boys realize that de man is wan blow-blow. He nah know what he talk. He bluffing.

There is no way that any review of such a major project can do in 10 days.

Jagdeo deh pun stupid-ness.

Which oil project de size of Payaya can finish in 10 days?.

Jaggy like he wan a hurry-up review. Just like how Exxon did want a hurryup approval.

Dem boys want Jagdeo fuh know dat dem nah accepting no hurry-up review. Dem gan watch he and dat review with Eagle Eyes Talk half and tell Jagdeo de next time he feel like holding a Press Conference he should go and sing in the bathroom.

the Ministry, the less there will be to spend on culture, youth and sport. What is needed is a slimmer, flatter organization which would be better for the management of the portfolios.

In the distant past, Youth, Sports and Culture were never assigned their own Ministry. Those portfolios used to be part of the Ministry of Education and were usually assigned a small department. And that fact did not seem to affect the organization of cultural, sporting and youth events. If anything, sport culture and

youth organizations thrived under such a system because persons were not dependent on government help.

The separation of Culture, Youth and Sport from the Ministry of Education created an additional Ministry and the need for an additional M i n i s t e r. T h i s i s a n extremely costly and unnecessary arrangement.

The funds to manage a Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport could have been deployed to other uses.

What can also release substantial funds, is the

flattening of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport by abolishing all the three directorships and creating a single Director of Culture, Youth and Sport. Why have three posts when you can have one person manning all three portfolios.

(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

Saturday August 15, 2020

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

A conversation with Vincent Alexander F

reddie Kissoon (FK): Vincent, w h e n f i v e CARICOM Prime Ministers came here to assist in finding a solution to the election impasse, you contacted them and turned an election controversy into a political problem. They rejected your agenda.

Vincent Alexander (VA): Freddie, what nonsense are you talking? An election problem is a political problem; it is not an engineering issue. All election issues are political issues to be resolved.

FK: In the context I am using, you are talking nonsense. Context is everything. You ought to know that. The five PMs came here to see how they can determine the legal results of an election. The picture they saw in front of them was the controversy over counting of ballots.

They were not concerned with solutions to Guyana's

sociological dilemmas. If I am invited to Timbuktu to discover where the 10 ballots boxes that were used for voting at the general hospital went, then that is my mandate, not to solve the ethnic complexities of Timbuktu.

VA: You see, it comes back to the political issue. As an Indian you see the election drama as an election thing. As a Blackman, I see it as more than elections that is why I wrote to the five PMs. FK: Why do you think I am a mental and philosophical East Indian?

Genetically I'm Indian but why you think I am psychologically driven by the relentless, conscious awareness that I am Indian?

I'm not. People like you, David Hinds, Eusi Kwayana must stop this race thing.

VA: Freddy, leave that old man out of your discussion. Kwayana is 96.

He doesn't need to be dragged into this. This is

about you and me. Next question.

FK: I don't want to talk too much. I want you to get in as much material so my readers could look into your mind because it has been a questionable mind the past five months or so. My next question is a long one.

Vincent what was going through your head?

You revealed in a letter to the newspaper that when the five CARICOM PMs came here to discuss the election deadlock, you wrote them urging them to see that the election drama is a reflection of a deep ethnic problem and asked for them to go beyond the current election crisis.

But you signed the missive as head of the International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) –Guyana committee. Wasn't that a horrible case of conflict of interest because you are a GECOM commissioner advocating for an election result for APNU+AFC?

VA: I didn't sign the letter, Eric Philips did. We actually got the five PMs to act on our letter but Kwame McCoy ruined everything.

FK: Can you elaborate?

VA: The five PMs met with a delegation from IDPD, PPP and PNC. During the meeting, Kwame got up from across the table and whispered something in the ear of the PM from Dominica, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit. There and then the meeting was adjourned and the five PMs requested to see me.

They enquired how I could be asking for CARICOM to go beyond the election and initiate dialogue between the PPP and PNC on ethnic power-sharing when I was involved in accepting the Mingo-Lowenfield declaration. They insisted that if I am representing IDPAD, then I could not speak to them while being a GECOM commissioner.

FK: What happened?

VA: Let me finish. I went down to GECOM head office to see the other two PNC commissioners. My decision to quit GECOM would be announced because I had succeeded in CARICOM going beyond the election. Desmond Trotman was at the gate and before I could talk about my resignation, he told me Claudette Singh will vote with them to accept the Mingo-Lowenfield declaration. So my thing with the five CARICOM PMs was over.

FK: But since we know that did not take place you lost out.

VA: Not really. I don't think the five CARICOM prime ministers would have scrapped the election recount. Kwame had too much influence on them.

FK: Or you mean the people saw through your con. You were asking them to sidestep elections in Guyana, while at the same

Frederick Kissoon time you and Desmond Trotman were facilitating the manipulation of the election to ensure there was an ethnic victory of an African party, the type of negativity you told the five PMs that is not good for Guyana. Surely, Vincent, your conspiracy was horrible.

VA: Why you think politics on Guyana isn't about horrible conspiracies.

Anyway, I have to go.

FK: So will you still be drinking every Friday night at the National Service Sport Club on Carifesta Avenue after this election drama?

VA: My drinking is not based on which government is in power.

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

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Acres of land vested by NICIL without payment - Jagdeo - Agency operating without financial scrutiny

V

ice-President Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday that within the week that the People's Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has assumed government, it has unearthed a number of concerning details ranging from squandering of government funds to the mismanagement of assets committed under the previous government. He revealed, specifically, that the PPP/C administration has discovered that the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) body had transferred acres of land to private citizens and companies without collecting any monies.

During a press engagement yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Jagdeo related that he has seen evidence of large properties vested in individual and companies' names, without documentation that they had been paid for.

“Now, that's a transfer”, Jagdeo said, “Once it's vested, it's transferred to

them without them paying the requisite fee or price, or paying a small portion of the sale price.”

One case of this practice dates back to early July, when Kaieteur News had reported that despite refusing an offer on three separate occasions and holding an outstanding $925M balance on the transaction, housing d e v e l o p e r, N a v i g a n t Builders, was gifted 30 acres of prime lands in Ogle on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) by NICIL. These 30 acres form part of a total 1,000 acres of prime lands, said to be worth billions of dollars, which have been opened by NICIL for commercial development.

According to vesting orders, which were published in the Official Gazette in June, 123 acres of lands were given to 10 developers. These include Supergraphics (5.058 acres); GUYOIL (1.500 acres); the Residences at Earl's Court Incorporated (10.281 acres); Navigant Builders Incorporated (30.000 acres); Premier Sales and Services

Incorporated (5.015 acres); Trinuyana Investments Incorporated (19.678 acres), Caribbean Marketing Enterprise Incorporated (21.096 acres), American Marine Services

Incorporated (20.000 acres) and Cardiology Incorporated (8.000 acres).

The VP went on to state that the new administration has requested a number of documents regarding the sale

of state assets, but noted, however, that “a lot of them have not been produced.” He shared, in fact, that NICIL has selectively submitted some of these documents to (continued on page 18)

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo

Jagdeo to assist Pres. Ali in keeping watchful eye on Oil and Gas, Finance

W

hen it comes to the role he will play in managing the affairs of the nation, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, disclosed to members of the media yesterday that he will be assisting President, Irfaan Ali in keeping a watchful eye on the Oil and Gas sector as well as other natural resources. He would be helping the Head of State execute his budgetary agenda too.

The Vice President made these and other disclosures during a press conference that was held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.

Even as he reminded of the oversight role the Office of the President (OP) would have for the areas of natural resources and finance, the Vice President noted that this would not overshadow the functions to be executed by substantive ministers.

“There must be core Ministers,” Jagdeo said, “with oversight responsibilities too, so day to day functions of those offices must not be done by Office of the President. We will have more oversight responsibility especially in the transitional period so as to give guidance to sectors and establish systems in

ministries that can be selfpropelling.”

With regard to the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, Jagdeo said that he would be in charge of the oil sector while noting that the Department of Energy that is currently housed at OP would be transferred to the Minister. He said that this move would be in keeping with the government's campaign pledge to keep the heavy hand of the President out of the management of the sector.

He reminded that former President David Granger, had admitted that he did not read the oil contracts but was still signing off on technical documents for the sector.

The Vice President said that the PPP administration does not agree with that ad hoc governance style hence the restructuring that is taking place.

Further to this, he said that the government intends to swiftly establish the Petroleum Commission. He

said that this could happen in a matter of six to eight months.

The Vice President said that the Commission will be, for the most part, a technical regulatory body with some of the best local and foreign minds.

Once the Commission is in place, Jagdeo said, it will also handle the day to day operations of the sector. By that time, OP and Minister Bharrat would only have input on clearing policy.

He added, “...We hope Guyanese can be heavily involved there with the help of foreigners until we can train our own.

But let me say this, the president has made it clear that for oil and all other sectors, we want to see a prominent place for Guyanese in the management of these areas.”

Jagdeo informed the media that President Ali will soon establish an Advisory Group on Oil and Gas, one expected to be made up of mainly Guyanese.

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 15, 2020

Schools to remain closed for September

T

he Minister of Education Hon. P r i y a Manickchand yesterday announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all schools throughout the country will remain closed for the month of September while the Ministry continues to review and evaluate the evolution of the disease and the preparedness of schools.

During her video address, Manickchand stated that the Ministry's inability to reopen schools physically does not necessarily curtail its ability to deliver education via other means of communication.

The Minister noted that despite the changing circumstances surrounding the evolution of COVID-19, her ministry will remain committed to providing regular and effective learning opportunities.

“We are developing relevant curriculum content,” the minister said, “for delivery on the learning channel and are working to actually get the channel broadcasting widely in geographical areas where it has stopped broadcasting or has never broadcast before.

We are working to deliver education on the internet and we are developing learning

PAGE 13

Homeless man found dead in D'Urban Park

- Minister of Education

Minister of Education Hon. Priya Manickchand kits and packages with print and other materials to deliver to specific categories of students.”

In addition to this, the Minister announced that training will be provided for teachers to ensure the delivery of education through the various methods is done in an effective manner “Going forward,” she stated, “we know that no single approach will provide regular learning opportunities to our children across the regions and across

the grades. We will therefore have to use blended multifaceted learning approaches in the coming months.

We will have to tailor our approach based on epidemiological patterns, physical spacing, internet connectivity, television reception, teacher availability.”

Manickchand pointed out that the Ministry of Education has begun collaborating with the Ministry of Health to develop the necessary protocols for the eventual physical reopening of schools across the country.

She said that once this becomes possible, an adjustment will therefore have to be made to the school term.

A

homeless man was found dead at the D'Urban Park around 06:00hrs yesterday.

According to a Guyana Police Force release, the man was identified as 51-year-old Clint Gravesande and inquiries revealed that he would usually occupy Stand Number Five on the southern side of the park.

The police report states that the man's body was found lying motionless and the three-quarter multicolored

pants he was wearing were pulled slightly below his buttocks.

Upon further inspection, it was discovered that the victim suffered stab wounds to his neck and several parts of his body.

Gravesande was picked up and transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

They also related that the man's sister said that he was last seen alive around 16:30hrs on Thursday. They

were unable to pinpoint an exact time of death, but stated that the murder would have occurred between 16:30hrs on Thursday and 06:00hrs yesterday.

The body has since been taken to Lyken's Funeral Parlour where post mortem examinations will be conducted.

The police have launched an investigation and will be running through CCTV footage within the area in attempts to locate a possible suspect.

Republic Bank reports fraud on online payments

R

epublic Bank ( G u y a n a ) L i m i t e d yesterday advised that its monitoring systems have detected fraudulent online payment card activity at some global online merchants.

According to the Trinidad-owned bank, which operates several branches in Guyana, it has identified cases where some customers' cards were compromised and their accounts debited.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

“Unfortunately these attacks are quite common when there is online card usage. The bank wishes to assure customers that it continues to follow existing standard global practices for disputed international debit card transactions, and all affected customers will be reimbursed the sums proven to have been fraudulently withdrawn.”

According to the bank, customers who suspect fraudulent transactions to

their accounts are therefore encouraged to contact their nearest branch to validate their transactions and initiate claims where necessary.

“Customers are also encouraged to remain vigilant in monitoring their account activity through their statements of account, or the bank's online banking platforms,” the statement said. The bank vowed to continue exploring avenues for reducing further exposure.

Three of four killed in Le Ressouvenir smash-up were Transport and Harbour employees

DEAD: Lindon Pryce, Latoya Jones and Chris Bradshaw (Photo credit: Newsroom)

T

hree of the four victims killed in We d n e s d a y ' s smash-up along the Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara (ECD) Public Road, were employees of the Transport and Harbour Department (T&HD), Ministry of Public Works.

The employees identified as Lindon Pryce, 55, of Vr y h e i d ' s L u s t ; C h r i s Bradshaw, 35, of Laluni Street, Queenstown and Leknarine Lall Sewpaul, 40, of Da'Silva Street, Kitty; died with Latoya Jones, 31, of Betterhope, ECD., while travelling in the same car towards Georgetown.

According to reports, the car which was driven by Bradshaw slammed head-on into a canter around 17:55Hrs on the highway. Eyewitnesses said that the vehicle suffered a blowout causing the driver to lose control before the collision; it crashed into the median and ended up on the other side, in the northern carriageway, into the path of the canter which was heading east.

Jones, Bradshaw and Sewpaul died at the scene, while Pryce succumbed later on at the Georgetown Public Hospital. In a press statement sent out late yesterday by the Ministry of Public Works, it was noted that, Minister Juan Edghill personally reached out to the widows of the three men, who worked with T&HD for a number of years.

It was highlighted that Pryce had worked with the government agency for more than 20 years as a forklift operator and had only retired last month. Sewpaul has been serving the agency as a marine DEAD: Leknarine engineer for the past nine years Lall Sewpaul while Bradshaw was also an (Photo credit: Newsroom) engineer completed eight years with T&HD. T h e P u b l i c Wo r k s home when his co-workers Ministry expressed shock and friends came to pick him over the tragic loss of three up in a car that afternoon. He technical personnel who did not tell her where he was served the agency well. The heading. However, at around m i n i s t e r e x p r e s s e d 18:30 Hrs. she received a call condolences on behalf of from her sister-in-law the ministry to the families notifying her that Pryce met with an accident and is at the of the deceased.

Speaking with Kaieteur hospital receiving treatment.

News last evening, the Pryce' By the time relatives arrived, wife recalled that she was at he had passed away.

COVID-19 emergency measures extended to August 31

T

he Ministry of Health (MoH ) y e s t e r d a y announced that it will be extending the existing C O V I D - 1 9 E m e rg e n c y measures to August 31.

In a press release yesterday, the Ministry noted that the order, which was published in the Official Gazette on July 30, and was scheduled to expire on August 15 will now be extended by an additional two weeks to allow further assessments and consultations on the development of updated

protocols leading to the systemic opening of Guyana's economy. The MoH release further stated that the government of Guyana has initiated a complete overhaul of the current public health response system and have taken into consideration multiple approaches used in other parts of the world, particularly in the Caribbean.

According to the release, these current regulations would be extended for a limited period, to allow for further assessments and

consultations as we develop updated protocols, leading to the eventual and systemic opening up of the economy.

Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony explained that the extension will provide adequate time for the formulation of safety measures for persons returning to work after being home for an extended period of time. The minister noted that the wellbeing of Guyanese continues to remain a top priority for the Government of Guyana.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 15

Coalition gave political Investigators analyzing additional appointees 'lifetime information in missing cop case contracts' - Gail Teixeira

A

ccording to M i n i s t e r responsible for Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, the former Coalition administration failed to include termination clauses in the contracts of politically appointed government employees.

“What we discovered is that a number of the contracts for these political appointees, for some strange reason, is not like the normal standard contract that is used in the public service as the APNU+AFC deliberately left out the clauses of termination in contracts” the minister told Kaieteur Radio during an interview on Room 592, hosted on Wednesday by Dr. Yog Mahadeo and journalist, Leonard Gildarie.

Minister Teixeira went on to disclose that the contracts of these political appointees, which will now take them into 2022, were renewed as late as July 30 of 2020, three days before the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) had declared Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali as President.

“Some contracts” the minister said, “were for persons who were already in the system but were getting extensions, or new contracts with

did indicate that, “We're still discovering, so we haven't had a chance to add it up as yet, but that will be done in the upcoming week.

I thought I found all there was to find, but I found more today, which I now have to go and investigate. We discovered that there is another layer of political appointees that we haven't addressed.”

Teixeira shared that a former minister under the previous PPP government who had recently reassumed office found that 21 of those in her secretariat were political appointees. “That's just one area of her ministry and that ministry is very big” she said, while adding that, “ To s e e 2 1 p o l i t i c a l appointees in one office is absolutely mindboggling, Minister of Parliamentary and they were not working Affairs and Governance, for small, basic salaries— quite generous in fact.”

Gail Teixeira The Governance Minister maintained that she wishes not known by April that he had “to take food out of anybody's lost the elections, and to go mouth” but noted that one has to and renew contracts is a level bearinmindthe extent of political of depravity,” Teixei r a appointees across ministries highlighted. and the cost it imposes on the While she could not state national treasury. how many cases the ministry has She indicated that the discovered with the strange Attorney General and Minister contract clauses or how many of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, political appointees they found has been challenged to across the board, the minister investigate the matter. extensions.”

“This is what I am taking about; the level of depravity to do this. One can even call it criminal.

There must be something about decency or righteousness.

Mr. Granger must have

Guyana records 104 recoveries, 18 new COVID-19 cases

G

u y a n a yesterday recorded 104 recoveries from COVID19 under new guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Along with this, the country saw 18 new cases. The WHO recommendation states t h a t o n c e a n asymptomatic person (a person showing no symptoms) in isolation tests negative for COVID on two separate tests 24 hours apart they can be released from that isolation ten days after being admitted.

Persons that tested positive and are showing symptoms will have to remain in isolation for 14 days. Guyana's total amount of confirmed cases stands at 649, with 306 total recoveries.

From August 10-14, Guyana has recorded 59 new cases coming from Regions Four, Seven, Nine, and Ten.

A

lmost two months after his disappearance, investigators in the matter of missing police officer Quincy Lewis, on Thursday handed over additional findings to the Crime Chief, Senior Superintendent, Wendell Blanhum. When contacted, Blanhum stated that they are currently in the process of analyzing the new findings.

However, he noted that he could not go into details since doing so could hamper with their investigation.

Lewis left his West Bank Demerara home for work on June 16, 2020, and has not been seen or heard from since.

Police are currently carrying out a joint operation in hopes of locating the missing constable. The Missing Persons Unit (MPU) is being supported by ranks on the West Bank of Demerara and also by investigators along the East Bank and Georgetown areas.

According to reports, Lewis left for work around 17:15hrs in a grey-coloured lightly tinted Toyota Premio, which has also disappeared.

MISSING COP: Quincy Lewis Camera footage revealed that Lewis crossed the Demerara Harbour Bridge towards the East Bank Public Road, which is less than 10 minutes away from where he is stationed at Agricola Police Outpost.

His colleagues at the outpost have since told investigators that Lewis never made it to work that day.

Kaieteur News was told that

Lewis has had debt problems and had owed a car rental company some money for a car he was renting at the time.

T h e r e w a s a misunderstanding and Lewis was forced to return the car.

However, Lewis later made an agreement with a friend to borrow a car to conduct personal business and work taxi part time. The agreement between the two men is that, out of the money earned from the part time taxi job, Lewis would give a percentage to his friend.

Kaieteur News was also informed that Lewis owed a car rental company back in 2018. The cop had managed to secure a loan from a credit union to pay off the debt.

Nevertheless, Lewis had only paid part of the sum owed.

The car rental company has since resolved the issue by writing off the debt because Lewis failed to make the necessary payments.

Anyone who might know the whereabouts of Constable Quincy Lewis can contact the numbers 677-6547 and 6801436, or the nearest police station.

PAGE 16

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India is a constructive, dependable actor globally - Through the pandemic, it has not only met its domestic requirements but taken a range of steps for global good

By Harsh Vardhan Shringla COVID-19 continues to exact a heavy toll worldwide.

In India too, positive cases are rising. However, our effective domestic response has led to a significant improvement in our recovery rate, which is now 68.78%. The case fatality rate at 2.01% remains one of the lowest in the world.

High recovery and low-fatality outcomes can be attributed to proactive measures taken to deal with the outbreak from its early stages. We started screening COVID-19 cases a full 13 days before the first case was detected in India. We implemented full lockdown on the 55th day of the outbreak when we had only around 600 cases.

Our public health response has been appreciated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The government took rapid steps to augment health infrastructure. As Prime Minister (PM)?

Narendra Modi noted, India now has over 11,000 COVID19 facilities and 1.1 million isolation beds. We have ramped up testing to over half-a-million tests a day, to be scaled up to a million.

India's response has not been confined to meeting our domestic requirements. We have been significantly engaged with the international community in providing the leadership that the global situation demanded.

As a responsible stakeholder in global health supply chains, we ensured timely access to essential drugs and medical items for over 150 countries, while meeting our own domestic requirements.

We reaffirmed our position as the first responder to humanitarian crises in the region by deploying medical teams to

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help Maldives, Mauritius, Comoros and Kuwait deal with the pandemic. India also dispatched naval assets to the Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles to deliver assistance. This demonstrated our strong commitment to the PM's vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

From being a net importer of COVID-19-related medical items, we have emerged as a net exporter. Today, we are manufacturing over 500,000 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and over 300,000 N-95 masks every day. Our system has shown the necessary adaptability and agility to significantly ramp up production to go beyond our domestic requirements.

The repatriation of Indian nationals stranded abroad and the evacuation of foreigners from India to their home countries have been among the most successful aspects of our response. In the initial days, the ministry of external affairs had promptly set up a COVID cell and a 24x7 control room to assist Indian citizens abroad.

The PM had also personally directed our heads of missions to extend all possible assistance to our nationals stranded abroad.

Subsequently, the Vande Bharat mission, launched to repatriate our nationals stranded overseas, has been the largest exercise of its kind ever undertaken by the government and has demonstrated our capacity to effectively carry out complex humanitarian missions.

Over one million Indians have returned under the Vande Bharat mission so far through flights, across land borders and on naval ships. We have been able to bring home Indian nationals from distant locations, and also facilitated the return of Bhutanese and Nepalese nationals stranded in other countries to their homes on Vande Bharat flights.

Rigorous screening of returnees by our diplomatic missions has ensured that the proportion of positive cases remains extremely small (less than 0.2%). Testing on arrival by the health ministry and state governments has helped detect these cases. The mission just doesn't end with the arrival of our nationals. We are also mapping their skills on arrival to link them with companies

for job opportunities.

There has also been no let-up in our diplomatic outreach during the pandemic.

We have initiated and been part of several important conversations globally.

Our Neighborhood First policy was on full display when the PM hosted a video conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders early in the crisis — our first such engagement on COVID19. He announced a series of measures to deal with the pandemic, including the creation of a COVID-19 emergency fund with a commitment of $10 million from India. We have also called for a better multilateral response to global crises in the future.

The PM has, on several occasions, including in the G20 and Non-aligned Movement virtual summits, proposed the reform of multilateral cooperation by bringing people to the centre of our efforts. Our own initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure are prime examples of this approach. The decision of the G20 on debt service suspension for developing countries, which India fully supported, reflects this people-centric approach.

At the virtual Global Vaccine Summit, the PM highlighted how India's contribution to the global response in terms of sharing medicines was guided by our philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbkum.

The PM also hosted the first virtual bilateral summit with Australia, which was followed by the India-European Union summit.

In addition, the PM has spoken to his counterparts from 61 countries during this period. The external affairs minister has spoken to foreign ministers from 77 countries.

We have kept open channels of virtual communication to strengthen partnerships and deal with situations that require diplomatic engagement.

We have been constantly adjusting, adapting and innovating to deal with the changed reality, particularly in our engagement with the world. And in the process, we have been successful in elevating India's profile as a constructive and dependable actor on the global stage.

(HINDUSTAN TIMES / ANALYSIS / Aug 10, 2020) [Harsh Vardhan Shringla is Foreign Secretary, Government of India. The views expressed are personal.]

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 17

DPP to review private criminal charges against Lowenfield

T

he Director of P u b l i c Prosecution (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C, is expected to make a decision by August 24, 2020 on whether or not the private c r i m i n a l c h a rg e s w i l l continue against the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield.

Lowenfield yesterday made his second appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty. However, instead of the lawyers disclosing the statements in the matter, Magistrate McGusty gave an adjournment so that they can await the decision of the DPP. O n M o n d a y Lowenfield's lawyer, Nigel Hughes had written a letter to the DPP asking her to review the charges, take over the prosecution and possibly dismiss the cases. He is also represented by Senior Counsel Neil Boston.

The DPP has since met one of the requests from

Director of Department of Public Prosecution, Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C.

Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield

L o w e n f i e l d ' s l a w y e r.

According to one of the prosecutors, Sanjeev Datadin, the DPP on Thursday sent a letter to them requesting that the files in the matter be sent to her so that she can review the charges and decide if the matter will continue.

The charges leveled against the CEO allege fraud, misconduct in office, and breach of public's trust. He was released on a total of $450,000 bail.

The charges were brought by Opposition People's Progressive Party (PPP) member Desmond Morian and The New Movement Party (TNM) executive Dr. Daniel Josh Kanhai. Morian is represented by attorney-atlaw Glenn Hanoman while Kanhai is represented by Mark Conway and George Thomas; attorney-at-law Sanjeev Datadin has since joined the prosecution.

Lowenfield was not

required to plead to the charges, the first of which stated that between the 5th day of March and 23rd day of June, 2020, at Georgetown, conspired with person(s) unknown to commit the common law offence of fraud, to wit, by representing to the Guyana Elections Commission that tables attached to his Election Report dated 23rd June, 2020, accurately reflected the true results of the said election, in order to materially alter the results of the said election, with intent to defraud, knowing the said tabulation to be false.

The second charge stated that between the 5th day of March and 23rd day of June, 2020, while performing his

duty as the Chief Elections Officer of The Guyana Elections Commission, without lawful excuse or justification, willfully misconducted himself at Georgetown, by ascertaining results of the 2nd March, 2020 General and Regional Elections for Guyana knowing the said results to be false, the said willful misconduct amounting to a breach of the public's trust in the Office of the Chief Elections Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission.

The third charge alleges that Lowenfield accepted falsified figures from the District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, knowing that the said figures

do not match the results from the National Recount.

The particulars of that charge allege that Lowenfield, between the 5th day of March and 23rd day of June, 2020, at Georgetown, conspired with person(s) unknown to commit common law fraud, to wit, by representing to the Guyana Elections Commission, that tables attached to his Election Report dated 14th day of March, 2020 accurately reflected the true results of the said election, in order to materially alter the results of the said election, with intent to defraud, knowing the said tabulation to be false.

He was not required to plea to the indictable charges that were read to him.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 18

Saturday August 15, 2020

Granger's statement on dual citizenship criteria “odd” - Gail Teixeira - says opposition candidates M should have already been vetted

inister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira has said that she finds as very odd former President David Granger's statement that the criteria of selection for the coalition's members of parliament (MPs) includes a prohibition on dual citizens.

In a discussion with Kaieteur News Senior Journalist Leonard Gildharie and Dr. Yog Mahadeo on the Room592 program, Teixeira was asked about her previous dual citizenship and what position the government holds on MPs with dual citizenship possibly in the opposition seats.

“Nobody should have been on the list of candidates for any party if you are a dual citizen of any country”, Teixeira said, further adding

that there is now a court order which stipulates that this mandate must be followed.

Early in the week, Granger had stated that the f i r s t o f “ T e n Commandments” he had for potential opposition parliamentarians was that none should be a dual citizen.

Granger had referenced the complications his government had faced with the revelation that several of his government MPs were dual-citizens.

Teixeira, in her interview on Room592, said the issue should have been resolved way before the coalition's list

was submitted. She added that that means Granger would have assumed that the candidates are not dual citizens and therefore allowed them to go on to sign an oath without being vetted.

Teixeira also briefly stated that she had relinquished her citizenship with Canada last year, following her resignation as an MP to keep with the constitution which mandates that a person with dual citizenship cannot serve as a Member of Parliament.

The announcement of her resignation was made by Bharrat Jagdeo who also stated that she will be relinquishing her citizenship

and will be on the next candidate list.

A ruling made by Chief Justice Roxanne George last year stated that any MP that signs allegiance to a foreign state violates Article 155 (1) (a) of the Constitution of Guyana which states, “No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who is, by virtue of his or her own a c t , u n d e r a n y acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.”

This saw several members of parliament on both sides of the aisle being removed from parliament –

Winston Jordan still to answer...

From page 7 statutory provisions.

“The statute could not be interpreted without recourse to reasonableness; no public official is entitled to absolute authority. Every public official must exercise their authority in a reasonable manner; the failure to do so would render the exercise of the discretion unlawful,” he added.

Further, Datadin told the Court that even if one is to assume that the Minister was entitled to transfer property to private companies/ individuals, the gazetted orders relates to the sale of the lands.

He advanced therefore that “The transfer powers mentioned in the PCA are different.”

“The transfer of state

property pursuant to Section 3 of the PCA is vastly different from Section 8. In Section 3, there is the ability of the Minister to have his order stand as a title; this is not permitted in Section 8… [it]is more limited and does not permit a full transfer to be done,” the attorney held.

He noted further that the orders all provide for “amendment.” to have the actions reversed by a Minister.

“That is inconsistent with the transfer of title. The transfer must be absolute and cannot be fettered.” Further, describing the transaction as inchoate, the attorney said that transfer pursuant to Section 8 could not be in the terms expressed as being final.

“In so far as the gazetted

order reflects that position, it's ultra vires.

In the event reliance is being placed on Section 3, that would be inoperative because it would require a negative resolution in Parliament,” he stated.

Last July, publications of the Official Gazette of orders numbered No. 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72 and 73 pointed to the sale of several plots of lands on the ECD. The massive land deal came to light after the vesting orders, bearing Jordan's signature, were posted on Facebook, mounting suspicions that the then Coalition government was giving away lands before demitting office.

As such, Lall filed an application seeking orders from the Court to reverse the

action that the former Minister on the ground had no power or authority to transfer State lands to any person or entity under the control of the Minister, pursuant to Sections 8 and 11 of the Public Corporations Act (PCA); Cap. 19:05.

PCA. The newspaper publisher believes that the patrimony of the country must be disposed of transparently and in a manner which ensures value for money.”

He noted that “if the lands and the country's natural resources, which are being given out, are done in a transparent manner and at real market value, Guyana can alleviate poverty, eliminate its foreign debt and triple the salaries of public servants.

Acres of land vested by NICIL without ...

From page 12 the government.

He reminded that during the campaign season, the PPP/C had advocated for transparency, as he maintains that the citizens must know who bought the state lands, at what prices, along with ascertaining what procurement methods were utilized.

He added, “You know, all the sugar assets were transferred to NICIL, and NICIL owns GuySuCo at this point in time because the

shares were transferred to NICIL too.”

The VP added that the government has requested a list of all the assets that were disposed of by NICIL on the estates of Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), including the large properties that were situated on the estates, along with the method in which the assets were disposed of. He noted, however, that NICIL has so far failed to provide those lists. According to Jagdeo, the last NICIL audit was in

2014 when the PPP/C was in office, a situation the new government has sought to remedy in part by the installation of a new board. “[They have not] had an audit of their accounts for the past five years,” he said, “We asked about the loan, the bond. We're told just over $17B were received by the government, and the balance now is just over $4B remaining in NICIL. There are a whole range of other issues that can't be dealt with remotely, and that is why we

thought it so urgent to put in place a board because the tonnes of assets there that the people of the country need to know what transpired with these assets.”

N o t a b l y, J a g d e o indicated that the PPP/C has seen evidence of change in contracts, like removal of certain clauses from certain leases, depending on who is acquiring the asset.

He promised to release further details of the land sales once the government becomes in receipt of them.

some relinquished their foreign citizenship while others did not.

The Minister also commented that eyes will be kept out for new opposition MPs who possess dual

citizenship. She further stated that these members can see themselves being removed from Parliament if it is discovered that they are being silent about their dual citizenship.

Govt. scraps Granger's shortlist of tainted...

From page 8 p a r t n e r, E x x o n M o b i l .

Another GW investigation conducted in 2018 uncovered that the US oil giant was complicit in corruption in Liberia, with the US $120 million purchase of Block 13 of the country's oil lands, a block the company allegedly was aware had been previously awarded through bribery. It also suspected the block was partially owned by former Liberian politicians who may have illegally granted it to themselves while holding office.

But despite its concerns, Exxon went ahead with the deal. As has been covered by this paper, Exxon has also been linked to scandals in other countries, including the United States.

Finally, there is the company contracted to buy Guyana's first three lifts of oil. In 2011, Global Witness (GW) revealed how Shell Western Supplies & Trading Limited (Bahamas) participated in a vast bribery scheme for one of Africa's most valuable oil blocks,

known as OPL 245. GW reported that Shell and Italian Oil Company Eni paid over US$1.1 billion in a murky deal for this lucrative asset located off the coast of Nigeria.

Following a lengthy investigation by the NGO, it was able to access documents showing that this money did not go to benefit the Nigerian people. Instead, it went to convicted money launderer and former Oil Minister, Dan Etete, who had awarded himself ownership of the block in 1998 via a company he secretly owned, Malabu Oil and Gas. GW stated that the money paid for the block equals more than the African nation's 2016 health care budget. It is also one and a half times what the United Nations says is now needed to respond to the current famine crisis.

The deal which allegedly paved the way for billions to be siphoned off to agents and middlemen in corrupt payments has also sparked law enforcement inquiries in six other countries.

Canadian expert to...

From page 3 generally 4,000 to 5,500 meters (m) below the sea level.

Further to this, EEPGL said it will install some of the oil production facilities on the seafloor at approximately 1,500 -1,980 m (4,900-6,500 ft) water depth. It said that these subsea facilities include various types of pipes and hardware.

Kaieteur News understands that the subsea facilities allow the oil from the wells to be gathered and moved to the surface of the ocean for further processing.

EEPGL will then install other oil production facilities on a vessel which floats on the surface of the ocean. The vessel is called a Floating Production, Storage, and

Offloading (FPSO).

It will be moored on location in approximately 1,800-1,980 m (5,900-6,500 ft) of water depth and will remain on location throughout the life of the facility. EEPGL said that oil production facilities on the FPSO will further process the oil extracted from below the seafloor.

The operator also stated that the FPSO will have the capacity to produce up to approximately 180,000 to 220,000 barrels of oil per day. During the early stage of production operations, the FPSO is anticipated to produce up to an average of approximately 5,700,000 to 6,600,000 barrels of crude oil per month. These estimates are preliminary and are subject to change.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

Ocean View COVID Hospital deal might have been incestuous...

Owner will have to wait a long time for payment - govt

By Shikema Dey

Businessman and owner of the Ocean View Infectious Diseases Sanatorium, Wilfred Rambarran will have a “long wait” to receive the rent monies owed to him after Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo vowed to conduct a thorough

investigation into the deal he said “may have been incestuous.”

The Vice President at his first press engagement with the media stated, “You would also know that the individual who claims he owns the land, he stayed quiet throughout the several months that the

media was questioning what’s going on with the hospital.

And suddenly, the first week of the new government, he sent a lawyer’s letter.

He wants to be paid billions of dollars.”

Rambarran, who was visibly silent for months on end regarding the agreement

between him and the former A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government had recently presented an ultimatum to the new Irfaan Ali led People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration in a letter dated August 6 addressed to the

Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Health Minister Frank Anthony.

The APNU+AFC had initially claimed that the building was being rented from Rambarran but later issued a notice of compulsory acquisition for the property.

Rambarran however, claimed that no official agreement was made between him and the APNU+AFC regarding the sale of his property and as such, he demanded that the new administration fork out some $52 million in rent within 14 days of the letter being sent.

If defaulted, Rambarran threatened to terminate the existing tenancy and take steps to recover possession of his property. That deadline was Thursday.

The Vice President however, made it clear that the businessman will not receive a cent until an investigation is completed. He said “Well, I must say that he’ll have a long wait, have a long wait because we believe that a lot of irregularities, illegalities took place through this deal, and that will be fully investigated.”

Rambarran told the new PPP/C administration in his letter that he was approached by representatives of the Public Health to lease his property solely for the purpose of establishing a COVID-19 Sanatorium.

In the letter, he explained the health officials underscored the urgent need for the facility to accommodate the expected increase of COVID-19 cases as estimated by PAHO/WHO. The hotel was then visited by a number of officials representing the State including doctors, engineers, officers of the Guyana Defence Force, staff of the Ministry of Public Health and members of the COVID19 taskforce.

Subsequent to this, the letter noted that a tenancy agreement was reached with the Ministry of Health for one year at a monthly rental of $13 million since, at the time, the government did anticipate that they would need the property beyond one year.

According to the letter, a lease was drafted following approval by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and other officials.

However, the letter outlined

Ocean View owner: Jacob Wilfred Rambarran that after it was submitted to the Ministry of the Presidency it was never executed —no rent whatsoever, was ever paid to Rambarran.

According to the letter too, the Government later issued a notice of compulsory acquisition of the property, without entering into any negotiation of purchase with the businessman. It was because of this fact that Rambarran claimed that the notice was “unconstitutional and ineffective in law.”

The entire Ocean View Hospital deal received major media attention after important aspects of the agreement were shrouded in secrecy. In fact, the only piece of information originally made public by the then Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence was a $1 billion price tage for rehabilitation.

But even this cost varied.

It was stated that the cost for rehabilitation would have been $1 billion but when the cost was revealed at the commissioning ceremony, a $600 million variance was added with no explanation given to account for it. The Minister had also revealed that it would cost “three times” the construction cost to equip the hospital with the necessary medical supplies needed.

The project was termed an “absolute disaster” by the new Health Minister, Frank Anthony who revealed that the building lacked the basic amenities for a COVID-19 facility.

Jagdeo also commented on this, stating that “they spent huge sums of money on this hospital which as you are aware by now is not equipped to deal with the pandemic and therefore will have to either undergo major renovation or equipping and retrofitting, and even that may not work.”

Saturday August 15, 2020

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Kaieteur News

David Warner, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins set to miss start of IPL 2020 ESPNcricinfo - Twelve of the 21 players including captain Aaron Finch (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and vicecaptain Pat Cummins (Kolkata Knight Riders) who have been named in Australia’s squad for the three T20Is and three ODIs in England, are set to miss the start of IPL 2020 because of the IPL’s Covid19 testing protocols.

But Andrew McDonald, A u s t r a l i a ’s senior assistant coach, will not join the touring party to England as he has been allowed by Cricket Australia to head to the UAE to link up with Rajasthan Royals, where he is the head coach.

Apart from Finch and Cummins, David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Steven Smith (Royals), Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab), Mitchell Marsh (Sunrisers), Josh Phillipe and Kane Richardson (Royal Challengers), Alex Carey and Marcus Stoinis (both Delhi Capitals), Josh Hazlewood (Chennai Super Kings) and Andrew Tye (Royals), are among those in the England tour group with IPL contracts.

A u s t r a l i a ’s l i m i t e d overs tour of England kicks off on September 4 and will end on September 16, three days before the start of the IPL in the UAE. According to the IPL’s SOPs, once the squads land

in the UAE, all members will undergo a test at the airport before heading to the team hotels. From this point, the IPL testing protocol kicks in: every squad will undergo a mandatory seven-day quarantine in their hotel, and every squad member will be tested three times during the week - on the first, third and sixth day. If all three results come back negative, the squad can start training. After that, all the players would be tested again on the fifth day of every week throughout the tournament.

The franchises had recently requested the IPL to relax the quarantine period for the group of players travelling to the UAE after the England v Australia series, but they got an unofficial thumbs down even as they wait for a final set of SOPs,

Saturday August 15, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) If your lifestyle is very different from others, resist feeling self-conscious about it today.

Remember that you chose your life for specific reasons.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Enhanced determination could motivate you today, Taurus, giving you the zip to plow through your work. Finish projects that have been pending and think about what you want to tackle next.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Are you feeling the effects of today's low-key planetary aspects, Gemini? Take heart - it's only temporary.Do your best to take things one step at a time and make some plans for a little fun this evening.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Getting through any work you have to do shouldn't be a problem for you today, Libra. Even if you flag for a bit, you're likely to get a second wind, and this will give you the drive.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Working within boundaries and restrictions could get to you today. Yours is an independent spirit, and your best achievements are often born of doing things your own way.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Chances are that you'll feel upbeat and positive today.

Share this energy with others who feel less than content.

CANCER(June21–July22) Make some plans for recreation, Cancer. Having something fun to look forward to can make even the toughest times far easier to handle.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) Chances are that you'll feel upbeat and positive today.

Share this energy with others who feel less than content. Who do you know?

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Don't judge someone just because his or her lifestyle differs from what you consider normal. You may be traditional, but not everyone shares your view of relationships.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Try not to let the blues get you down, Aquarius. While it's true some days can seem to drag, the busier you stay, the faster time will pass.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Friends seeking advice or a shoulder to cry on may be plentiful today, Virgo. And you're one of best people to provide the support and caring they need. Just don't give so much to others that you have nothing left for yourself.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Dare to be different, Pisces.

It's easy to fall into routines - sleep and eat at the same time, wear the same style, and do your work the same way every day. Before you know it, you're in a rut. The only way to pull out of it is to decide to break free.

Andrew McDonald will skip Australia’s white-ball tour of England. (Getty Images) which also need to be approved by the UAE government Defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians are the only franchise that will remain unaffected in terms of player unavailability, as Nathan Coulter-Nile and Chris Lynn, the two Australians in their squad, weren’t selected for the tour. Lynn is instead preparing to turn out for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League, which will kick off on August 18.

It is understood that Royals will be among the first teams to land in the UAE, most likely on August 20 and should h a v e t h e i r h e a d coach, the former Australia allrounder McDonald, in their ranks. McDonald was appointed Royals’ head coach for a period of three years from IPL 2020.

“When Andrew came on board that was part of our agreement with him that he would be able to continue as head coach of the Rajasthan Royals - and we’re really comfortable with that,” Ben Oliver, Cricket Australia head of national teams, said. “We believe that’s a beneficial o u t c o m e f o r A n d r e w ’s development as a coach, but also for our players.

Having someone who has had that experience and bring it back into our environment, particularly with three white-ball World Cups coming up in the next three years; two of them in I n d i a . I t ’s [ a ] r e a l l y valuable experience for

Andrew and our team.”

McDonald’s availability for Royals comes as a significant boost for the team after their fielding coach Dishant Yagnik tested positive for Covid-19. After his 14-day quarantine, Yagnik will undergo two more tests

as per the BCCI’s protocols.

If he tests negative in both, he can leave for the UAE where he will have to selfisolate for six days before undergoing three more tests.

Only after clearing those would he be allowed to join the team.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday August 15, 2020

Guyana Amazon Warriors appoints Chris Green as Captain, Nicholas Pooran as Vice Captain

Chris Green in the Amazon Warriors skipper this season.

The Guyana Amazon Warriors have appointed Chris Green as their captain for the 2020 season. The Australian off-spinning allrounder is back with the Amazon Warriors for the third year having first played for the Franchise in 2018, and he has taken 23 wickets at an average of 22 in his 23 matches for the team.

Green stood in as Captain during the 2018 season so this will be his second spell in charge of the Amazon Warriors. A firm fan favourite, Green was part of the Guyana team who finished as runners up at the Hero CPL in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons and he will be hoping he can lead the team to their first title in 2020.

Chris Green said: “I am hugely excited to be back with the Amazon Warriors for another season and honoured to be leading them for this season. Guyana is somewhere I am hugely fond of and we are very confident that this is the year that we can win the Hero CPL title for our amazing fans back home.”

Nicholas Pooran, the Franchise’s marque player, and one of the most exciting T20 batting talents in the Caribbean, has been appointed as the Vice – Captain of the team and will definitely lend quality support to Chris Green.

Pooran, who joined the Franchise last year, was the

Nicholas Pooran slammed a fiery half-century, Guyana Amazon Warriors v Barbados Tridents, CPL 2019, Providence, September 8, 2019 ©CPL T20/ Getty Images youngest players to play in the CPL in the first year of the League in 2013. He has played in all the editions of CPL to date and brings that experience to the team.

Omar Khan, Guyana Amazon Warriors Team Operations Manager, said: “Chris has been a fantastic part of the Amazon Warriors family since he joined us for the 2018 season and he was the natural choice to take the

reins for this season. He is a fantastic cricketer and a fine leader and we are very confident that he will guide the team to a successful season.

“Nicholas as Wicketkeeper/batsman and one of the inspirational players of the team last year has demonstrated leadership qualities which has seen him elevated to the Vice Captain position this year.’’

F1 Spanish GP: Hamilton reverses Mercedes positions in second practice Autosport - Lewis Hamilton beat Valtteri Bottas to the top spot in second practice for Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen again best of the rest in third.

As the track temperature at the Barcelona circuit increased over 10 degrees compared to FP1, which was topped by Bottas, the Mercedes drivers did not beat their times from the morning session, although Hamilton was able to reverse their positions at the top of the order.

McLaren’s Lando Norris set the initial pace at the start of the 90-minute afternoon session with a 1m19.260s, before Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc improved the P1 benchmark to a 1m19.050s.

Approaching the 20minute mark, Hamilton took

the top spot with a 1m17.960s on the medium tyre as Bottas started his FP2 running on the hards, slotting into second before Verstappen - also on the C1 rubber - bumped him down. With 30 minutes gone, Bottas emerged from the pits on the soft tyres and used the C3s to go quickest with a 1m17.170s.

As Bottas completed two “cool down” laps before pushing again, Hamilton used his own softs to return to the top spot with a 1m16.883s that remained the best time to the end of the session.

Bottas attempted another flying lap on the softs after his two slow tours, but ended up 0.3s slower than his personal best, with Hamilton 0.6s down on his fastest time after going again following his own cool down laps.

Daniel Ricciardo popped

his Renault into third echoing his strong practice and qualifying form from last weekend’s 70th Anniversary GP at Silverstone - before Verstappen usurped the Australian to wind up 0.8s adrift of Hamilton’s time, using the soft rubber.

Ricciardo was just ahead of Romain Grosjean, who backed up his sixth place in FP1 with fifth for Haas, but he did have to end his session early after reporting a possible power unit problem during the long run efforts that concluded FP2 as usual. During that running, Nicholas Latifi (19th in the order ahead of George Russell, who returned to his car after Roy Nissany had driven it in FP1) appeared to hold up Daniil Kvyat and the following Sergio Perez at Turn 1.

Saturday August 15, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Brilliant Bayern humiliate hapless Barca with 8-2 crushing LISBON (Reuters) German champions Bayern Munich utterly humiliated Barcelona with a stunning 82 victory yesterday that sent them through into the semifinals of the Champions League in an extraordinarily emphatic manner.

Thomas Mueller scored twice for a rampant Bayern, who led 4-1 after 31 astonishing minutes, as Lionel Messi and his team mates were condemned to a thrashing that felt like the end of an era for the illustrious Catalan club.

Both teams have been crowned European champions five times. But, while Bayern look to have a real chance of added a sixth title next week, Barca are clearly facing major reconstruction work and it remains to be seen how many of those involved in this debacle will survive at the club.

The scoreline recalled Germany’s 7-1 win over Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, a game where Bayern coach Hansi Flick was on the bench as the national team’s assistant coach.

It began with Bayern grabbing a fourth minute lead when Mueller collected Ivan Perisic’s cross from the left and played a clever one-two with Robert Lewandowski

before drilling home.

But within three minutes Barca had struck back Clement Lenglet’s super long ball found Jordi Alba in space and David Alaba’s attempt to deal with his searching cross ended up flying past his own keeper Manuel Neuer.

Neuer then had to be quick off his line to foil a goalbound Luis Suarez but was almost caught out by a crossshot from Messi from the right which drifted through the area and struck the post.

But just as Barca seemed to have established themselves, the Germans regained their lead in the 21st minute — Serge Gnabry fed Perisic on the left and the Croatian glanced up to see his options before drilling past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Bayern then added the third as Barca’s defence was opened up again with ease.

Thiago Alcantara was given plenty of space in midfield to find Leon Goretzka whose superb ball picked out Gnabry, who had got behind Lenglet and then made no mistake with the finish.

Flick’s side were running riot and it got worse for Barca when a low cross from Joshua Kimmich was turned in at the near post by Mueller — another goal of ruthless simplicity making it 4-1 at the break.

Barcelona’s Luis Suarez is fouled by Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (Manu Fernandez/Pool via REUTERS) OUTSTANDING WORK The Spaniards desperately needed to find a way to shift the momentum after the break and Suarez, one of the few Barca players to emerge with any credit from the encounter, provided a route back into the game with a fine strike, in the 57th minute.

Jordi Alba found Suarez on the edge of the box and the Uruguayan jinked passed Jerome Boateng before

blasting home.

But Bayern were in no mood to turn down the heat and six minutes later they restored their three goal advantage thanks to some outstanding work from their Canadian teenager Alphonso Davies.

The left back dribbled in from the flank, danced past Nelson Semedo to get to the byline and then pulled the ball back to fellow full back Kimmich to slot home and

make it 5-2.

Somehow Bayern had managed to score five goals without their prolific striker Robert Lewandowski, who had scored in his previous seven Champions League matches - however, eight minutes from the end, the Pole put that right.

Substitute Philippe Coutinho, who is on loan at the German club from Barca, floated over a cross from the left which Lewandowski firmly

headed home at the back post.

To add insult to the already painful injury, Coutinho then scored two more before the end, as Barcelona fell apart in unimaginable fashion to the brilliance of the Bavarians.

Bayern, who last won Europe’s biggest prize in 2013, will meet either Manchester City or Olympique Lyonnais, who play today, in the last four.

Rizwan 50 frustrates England as Pakistan pass 200-mark SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) - Pakistan middle-order batsman Mohammad Rizwan hit a defiant half century on a difficult batting pitch to guide his side past the 200-mark in their first innings and frustrate England in the second test yesterday.

Having resumed on 126-5 overnight, Pakistan, batting first, reached 223-9 when bad light forced the second day’s play to finish early with Rizwan, who was dropped by Jos Buttler on 14, on 60 and Naseem Shah on one.

With Pakistan’s first innings stretching into a third day and more rain forecast, a draw is already beginning to look the most likely result.

England lead 1-0 in the threematch series.

“We are a bit disappointed we have not bowled Pakistan out – they have played really nicely at

Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Rizwan, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (Glyn Kirk/Pool via REUTERS)

times and we have missed a few chances and maybe not been as ruthless with the ball as we could have been,” said England bowler Stuart Broad.

After the start of play was delayed by 90 minutes by bad light, Babar Azam and Rizwan managed to negotiate a onehour session before lunch without further loss.

Azam went shortly after lunch for 47 when he was victim to an excellent delivery from Broad which straightened just enough to shave the outside edge.

A key moment followed when Buttler, diving high to his left, dropped a difficult chance offered by Rizwan.

Buttler, however, made no mistake when Yasir Shah nicked James Anderson’s outswinger to him and was out for five as the England bowler claimed his 593rd test wicket.

Shaheen Afridi followed

when he was naively run out for a 19-ball duck, setting off from the non-striker’s end and getting caught out of his ground as Dom Sibley scored a direct hit.

That left Pakistan on 1768 which prompted Rizwan to adopt a more aggressive approach, hitting two fours off the same Sam Curran over before driving Chris Woakes to the extra-cover boundary for four more.

England began to show signs of frustration and Pakistan reached 200 thanks to a gift from Woakes who conceded four byes from a loose delivery down the legside, before Rizwan completed his 50 off 104 balls.

Mohammad Abbas was lbw to Broad for two after the tea break before bad light stopped play again.

Scores: Pakistan 223 for 9 (Rizwan 60*, Naseem 1*) v England.

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Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

32 more youths benefits from RHTYSC, MS/BCB Basil Butcher Trust Fund - 20 clubs receives scorebooks, donates cleaning detergents to public institutions Another thirty two under 13 and under 15 cricketers last week benefited from donations of cricket gears as the ten cricket teams of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club MS with the support of the Berbice Cricket Board continued their work under the Basil Butcher Trust Fund. The cricketers were drawn from Upper Corentyne, Central /Lower Corentyne and New Amsterdam and each player received a piece of cricket gear.

The gears shared out included batting pads, batting gloves, wicketkeeping pads and gloves along with batting helmets.

BCB President and RHTYSC Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster stated that a total of 67 cricketers have so far benefited under the fund, while another 20 would benefit shortly. Foster explained that the joint team agreed to assist 87 cricketers in total as Mr. Butcher would have celebrated his 87th birthday had he lived on the 3rd of September.

The legendary West Indies middle order batsman died last year December after a prolonged illness in the United States.

Foster urged the young cricketers to take care of the

Simon Naidu hands over donation of cleaning items to the Rose Hall Town Council. donated gears and to work hard if they want to fulfill their dream of one day wearing the maroon cap like Butcher. He recalled the 44 test veteran telling him that he achieved success through sheer hard work, personal sacrifice and dedication. Foster stated that it is okay to dream but dreams only become reality if you work hard.

The BCB also took the opportunity to blast the attitude of some cricket club administrators in Berbice toward fulfilling their duties.

He noted that the county has

no place for laziness, indifference and carefree attitude and urged non performing club officials to step aside so that others can be given a chance to step up.

Foster noted that many persons only take up positions in organisations for the glory, to add to their CV or to assist them otherwise and urged clubs to get rid of such persons.

The next set of cricket gears would be shared out in Butcher’s adopted hometown of Linden along with bicycles.

Foster also stated that school

Two youths poses with the donated cricket gears along with a portrait of the legendary Basil Butcher.

bags would shortly be shared under the fund. The RHTYSC and BCB last week handed over one hundred liters of cleaning detergents to several public institutions including the Port Mourant Public Hospital, Rose Hall Town Council, Rose Hall Post Office, Rose Hall Police Outpost and the Rose Hall Fire Station.

The fund has also distributed a total of 940 food hampers out of a projected 1000 to families across the county. Distribution of medical supplies would also

be done shortly to children homes, while the fund would also sponsor this year’s edition of the Gregory Gaskin Memorial Region Six Sports Award programme.

The management of the RHTYSC would like to express thanks to the donors who contributed towards the latest distribution of gears. They include Dr Vincent Adams, David Yhann, Lens Craft, Esuan Crandon, Colin Elcock, Leyland Grant, Harry Dass Ghaness, Ramesh Sunich, Pearl Arokuim, Farfan and Mendes Ltd, Food for the

Poor, Mike’s Pharmacy, Mr Jones, Persaud Funeral Home, Rodwell Jagmohan, Chandra Sohan, Forde Snackette, Surindradat Beharry, ABS Services, Louise Nero, Massy Motors and Farook Khan.

The ten cricket teams of the RHTYSC, MS are the Poonai Pharmacy under 12, under 13, Farfan and Mendes under 15, Bakewell under 17 and Second Division, Pepsi under 19 and Intermediate, Metro Female and Namilco under 21 and First Division teams.

Reliance Hustlers Australia confirms England tour, Maxwell returns to squad beat Leguan Warriors by 58 runs Reliance Hustlers defeated Leguan Warriors by a comfortable 58-run margin on Sunday at the Reliance ground, Essequibo in an Invitation T20 match.

After all outdoor sporting activities were halted owing to the COVID19 Pandemic during the last five consecutive months, the action returned with a relatively large crowd in attendance in fairly good weather.

Hustlers took first strike at the invitation of Leguan Warriors and they posted up a respectable 190 for 9 from the 20-overs while the visitors only managed 132 all out in the 18th over when they replied.

Hustlers began dangerously losing opener and former Demerara under19 Inter-county player Anthony Ifill (04), but exEssequibo youth opener Mark Austin and under-19 player Abdool Nasir participated in a steady and impressive 84-run second-

wicket partnership. Austin, the diminutive right-hander, scored 66, while Nasir contributed 31.

Towards the end of the innings, Hustlers also benefitted significantly from a 50-run sixth-wicket stand between former senior Essequibo Inter-County batsman Ramesh Narine and skipper Trevis Simon. Narine scored a blistering 44, while Simon chipped in with 14. T. Narine grabbed two wickets for 23 runs from his four medium-pace overs.

In Leguan Warriors’ innings, only Shem Persaud made an impact with the bat by scoring 33. Off-spinner Simon returned with the ball to claim 3-8 from 2.3 overs, while fast-bowler Seon Frazer snatched 3-25 off three overs and Ifill with 2-7 off two overs.

After the match, Simon expressed his gratitude to the visitors for making the trip. He stated that all necessary precautions were taken during the match.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) Australia confirmed yesterday next month’s limited-overs tour of England, boosting the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) bid to navigate past a financial crisis brought by the novel coronavirus.

Beginning on Sept. 4, Australia will play three Twenty20 Internationals in Southampton before moving to another bio-secure venue in Manchester for an equal number of one-dayers, all of which were scheduled to take place in July.

“We owe a significant debt of gratitude to the players, staff and administrators of Cricket Australia for their efforts in getting this tour underway,” ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said in a statement.

“It will also provide muchneeded financial aid at all levels of cricket in England and Wales as we work through the challenges in front of us.”

The tour would allow the ECB to complete all 18 international fixtures it had scheduled before the

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell edges a shot past England’s Joe Root. (Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers) pandemic struck. The Australian government on Wednesday granted travel exemptions for Aaron Finch and his men, Cricket Australia (CA) said while announcing a 21-member squad for the team’s first international tour since the coronavirus outbreak began.

“It’s vital for cricket that we do everything we can to keep the game going in these tough times,” Australia coach

Justin Langer said.

“I am delighted with how the players have returned to their states from the break back in March. The whole squad has come back fitter and stronger, which is great testament to each of them.”

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who took a break last year to address mental health issues, returned to the side having recovered from an elbow injury.

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Saturday August 15, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 25

GBA pays courtesy Deon Carter dominoes call to Sports Minister commences today Head of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle, visited newly appointed Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport; Charles Ramson Jr. yesterday to discuss the way forward for the sport.

In an invited comment with Kaieteur Sport, Ninvalle noted that, “The meeting was very insightful, the minister clearly outlined his scope and intentions as it relates to bringing about order in sport, particularly boxing. A lot of the things that the Minister proposed are things that we at the GBA have been advocating for a long time.”

Ninvalle continued, “I think that with him at the helm, not only boxing but all the sport fraternity will see some measure of development or progress.”

“We at the GBA would like to thank him for taking some time out to meet with us in the early stages of his tenure and we intend to meet with him regularly to give him updates on whatever we would be planning going forward.”

Steve Ninvalle (right) and Sports Minister Charles Ramson Jnr.

Another exciting competition is expected this weekend.

S

ome of the top city domino teams will be in action from today as the Deon Carter birth anniversary competition commences at 13:30hrs at Turning Point.

Entrance fee is $12,000, while $40,000

will be added to the prizes. Among the teams expected to take part are Mix Up, Providence, Gold is Money, Turning Point and Blue Bird.

The competition will conclude tomorrow and teams can contact Mark Wiltshire on 6598672 for registration.

Chris Green was handed the captaincy of Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL ŠRandy Brooks - CPL T20 / Getty

rt o p S Nicholas Pooran partnered with Keemo Paul to effect two run outs, Guyana Amazon Warriors v Barbados Tridents, CPL 2019 final, Trinidad, October 12, 2019 ŠGetty Images

Guyana Amazon Warriors appoints Chris Green as Captain, Nicholas Pooran as Vice Captain

Bayern are the first side to score five against Barcelona in a European Cup/Champions League game. (Getty Images)

Brilliant Bayern humiliate hapless Barca with 8-2 crushing Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd., 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Tel: 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/226-8210.