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DPP to prosecute NEWS Keith Lowenfield, Mingo and others

Saturday Edition

AIETEUR

August 22, 2020 - Vol. 14 No. 33

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Exxon will have to spend more to protect the environment - VP Jagdeo p.

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WPA leaves Coalition Christopher Jones - released on contradicts over sidelining Granger on arrested for $100,000 bail of small partiesconsultation simple larceny p.

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Ponzi scheme operators

64 lbs of weed, 3 motorcycles found stashed among tombs

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to regulate political

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The detained Yuri Dominguez and wife, Ateeka Ishmael

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If Pres. Ali is serious, he will bring legislation parties - Ram

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Fraudsters with forged Good Hope Secondary Power-of-Attorney tries to School Project's delay - Minister sell owner his property is unacceptable Priya p.

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Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

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GuyOil CEO says screenshots about illegal fuel transactions are fake T

h e C h i e f Executive Officer of Guyana Oil Company, Renatha Exeter, sought to set the record straight yesterday regarding purported screenshots of emails between herself and former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan. The emails suggest that both parties were complicit in facilitating

illegal transactions related to fuel for a local company. The CEO stressed that these correspondences are completely false. While it is quite easy for anyone to easily detect that the screenshots are fake, Exeter said she was disappointed to learn that it continues to make the rounds on social media, with some

individuals lending credence to it. Taking this account, she took the decision to release a statement to clear her name.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) also spoke out against the dissemination of the fake screenshots which it deemed to be a targeted harassment towards women in leadership roles.

In a missive to the press, the GCCI noted that in many instances, professional women are subjected to harassment which manifests in threats of violence, privacy violations, verbal attacks and smear campaigns. In this regard, the GCCI said it strongly condemns acts of intimidation, bullyism and abuse directed towards women in every sphere of society, including those actively involved in the judiciary, business and politics.

GCCI added, “As women continue to push the boundaries of educational attainment, economic participation and political representation, let us make it our responsibility to ensure that women's rights as citizens in their private, public and professional lives are upheld.”

See below for full commentary of GuyOil CEO on the matter.

Recently an image of an

GuyOil CEO, Renatha Exeter

email message purporting to have originated from my company email account has been circulated via social media.

The message in question supposedly captured conversations between me and a named individual, implicating collusion to conduct an illegal transaction and containing a salacious comment. Initially

I was not planning to acknowledge or respond; I expected that readers would immediately see through the obvious falseness of the assertions. Over the last week the accusations have taken on a life of their own, and so my response.

I write this statement to categorically declare that these images are fraudulent and contrived and that their

content is false. Although particularly vile and personal in nature, this incident is only the latest of a slew of attacks on my integrity.

All previous accusations directed toward me have been discredited, and the internal review of this last attack, has already disproved the authenticity of the alleged email.

I make this statement also to address the pervasive nature of misogyny in Guyana and the role of social media in perpetuating gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and violence against women. I was never concerned that the accusations would bear merit.

After all, basic IT forensics are easily used to verify or disavow an email's origin.

That only a “screenshot” was shared was no accident. But then these attacks were not designed to withstand scrutiny.

They were intended to cast aspersions on my character; and after previous false accusations of professional impropriety proved unsuccessful, the attacker(s) went for the lowhanging fruit: my womanhood and sexual innuendo. It is misogyny at its worst! It is weaponised gender discrimination, and yet another form of violence (continued on page 8)

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

PAGE 03

Exxon will have to spend more to protect the environment - Jagdeo V

ice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has said that ExxonMobil and the other oil companies will have to spend more in order to ensure Guyana's natural environment is safeguarded.

He appeared on last Thursday's edition of Kaieteur Radio's Guyana's Oil & You with host, Kiana Wilburg, and discussed the new administration's plans for the oil industry.

The Vice President noted that bigger countries have flouted their responsibilities to international climate conventions, while Guyana is a carbon sink, meaning the country absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits. It is in that context he noted that, while concerns about the environmental impact of oil production are considered, Guyana needs development and infrastructure which oil can fund for decades to come.

He elaborated on some of the plans the new government

has to ensure Guyana operates sustainably, and explained that these will require ExxonMobil and other oil companies to give much more than they are currently giving. These include regulatory systems to fine the consumption of fossil fuels in Guyana, and renewable energy projects.

He also noted that there has to be discussions, where the Payara project is concerned, about offsetting emissions. It is yet to be ascertained that ExxonMobil and its partners on the Stabroek Block are committed to maintaining the health of Guyana's natural environment, in terms of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the operations they are funding on the Block.

ExxonMobil, the operator, has racked up several infractions which constitute a going concern about the integrity of and permissions for its future operations. It has already

received approvals to produce at the Liza Phases One and Two projects, and has been pressuring the government to grant swift approval to Payara, Payara is the third oil well ExxonMobil intends to develop on the Stabroek Block. As each Field Development Plan (FDP) is reviewed, the government, which is a fledgling in the i n d u s t r y, d e v e l o p s i t s capacity to better scrutinize oil companies' plans. In the case of Payara, the government has met up with several issues pertinent to c o n s i d e r, w h i c h h a d previously slipped through the cracks.

These include ExxonMobil's refusal to pay paltry fines stemming from small fuel spills at its Liza Phase One project. Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams has said that the refusal says a lot about Exxon's attitude, and that it could spell disaster in the

OIL COMPANIES SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO SLOW POISON GUYANESE

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ead of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr. Vincent Adams has made it clear that he has a duty to protect the nation and ensure that the same blunder made with the first two permits issued to Exxon is not made again.

He is of the firm view that Guyana must be protected first and foremost. He said: “I am already rewriting the permits for Liza One and Liza Two.” This would ensure the American oil giant is not allowed to continue burning gas offshore and release more

than 250 toxic chemicals into the airspace.

Dr. Adams also said that he is taking ExxonMobil to court for failing to pay a meagre fine of US$2,500.

He added, “… When you consider this issue with flaring and then this refusal to pay this fine, it is clear to me that the culture of this company is production above safety.

They are all about cutting corners to maximize their profits. We cannot continue like this…We have to take a firm position against ExxonMobil.”

This is a Public Service Announcement

future, as much larger spills are always a possibility in this industry. The EPA has said that it intends to take ExxonMobil to court.

Secondly, the company has flared over 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas at the Liza Destiny Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, despite the fact that the gas is supposed to be re-injected into the reservoir.

The company has blamed the

issue on a defective gas compressor system which is reportedly being repaired in Germany.

Dr. Adams had informed this newspaper that there are issues in the Liza Phases One and Two permits which relate to flaring, and that the EPA would work toward plugging those loopholes. However, ExxonMobil's third development plan indicates that it wants to keep the ambiguous provisions which

allow it to flare.

Jagdeo has said that the PPP/C Government does not want flaring. In his view, the company will have to expend what is needed to fix these issues.

He had also said in a recent conference that before any further approvals are granted, the Government must be able to ascertain that there are adequate provisions to safeguard Guyana against any environmental disaster.

If Pres. Ali is serious, he will bring legislation to regulate political parties - Ram

C

h a r t e r e d Accountant and anticorruption advocate, Christopher Ram is of the firm conviction that one of the biggest issues in Guyana relates to the absence of legislation to regulate political parties and the moneys they receive from local businesses, particularly during the election season.

Ram posited that the absence of such a key piece of law leaves the nation's politicians open to requests for generous tax favours from those businesses, w h i c h u l t i m a t e l y, t h e taxpayers would have to pay.

In light of this, he stressed that if the Irfaan Ali government is serious about improving transparency and accountability in Guyana, one of the key

Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram things he would ensure is done is the passage of legislation to regulate political parties.

Ram made these and other statements during an appearance this week on the pilot episode of Kaieteur Radio's programme called,

“Governance, Corruption& Justice”, hosted by Kaieteur News senior journalist Kiana Wilburg.

There, Ram said, “Our politicians don't have to account for a penny that they take from businesses and then they have to give tax favours and we have to pay for it…Billions of dollars were probably spent in the March 2 elections but where did it come from? How was it accounted for and what kind of dishonesty might have taken place?”

The chartered accountant added, “Business people do not give anything for free.

Everything is an investment for a business person…”

Ram said he strongly believes that if this matter is addressed, democracy and governance will be strengthened.

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Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

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

The Elections Petition We are now approaching the fourth week since official results of the March 2 General and Regional Elections were declared. At this point, all parties would have submitted their list of parliamentarians and the business of the people, particularly in the legislature, should continue.

We have delayed that business of the people for five long, traumatic months, during which the entire country – and our regional and international allies – were fed disprovable fiction after disprovable fiction as justification for, as Bruce Golding summed it up, the “most transparent attempt to alter the results of an election” he had ever seen.

With so much going on and with such intensity – an economic downturn, a country under lockdown, rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, and with the country still smouldering from the racial divisions stoked during the half year – active measures have to be taken towards national reconciliation. Our people have bled enough.

On the part of the government, it has to ensure that it does not engage in triumphalism, and while it has given the commitment to bringing the corrupt members of the previous administration to justice (a commitment made and not honoured by the previous administration), theatricality, gamesmanship and propaganda do not constitute justice.

Due process and the truth should be foundations for any action taken by the Dr. Irfaan Ali administration, wherein justice is not only done, but also seen to be done.

For its part, a similar burden lies on the political opposition, but a far greater one. The primary responsibility for undermining the rule of law and a sickening attempt to try to steal an election lies squarely on the collective shoulders of the David Granger administration, and individually on the former President himself. Considering the continued revelations about corruption and thwarting of the democratic process since March 2, the campaign slogan of Honest Integrity Decency has taken on an Orwellian irony, comical, absurd, deluded and dangerous.

In the wake of a lengthened great trauma, human memory tends to be both short and self-protectively curatorial. We either don’t remember the worst events of the trauma or we reflexively block them out – forgetting allows us to cope, to move on, to recollect some sense of normalcy and cast our eyes towards the future. However, as the philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

With this in mind, we should be reminded about certain key things that happened shortly ago, and which were used by the Granger administration to justify its corrupt action post-elections. The first has to do with the Statements of Poll by Region Four Returning Officer. As this paper has covered extensively, Mingo’s figures were pure fiction, inventing 15,000 votes that did not exist to give the Coalition a false electoral win, yet not once but twice Granger surrogates put their signature to that corrupt invention, with the President himself endorsing it repeatedly. It is only when forced into a recount by international players that this was abandoned, and even then only temporarily.

Next, there was the not so clandestine attempt by coalition candidate Ulita Moore, notably a recipient of generous State contracts over the past year, to block the recount, an attempt originally described by the former President as being an attempt by a private citizen, before subsequently owning up to that and similar litigation by Eslyn Davis and Misenga Jones as part of a direct, and deliberate strategy by his political machinery.

After that, there was the ironically and aptly titled Operation Eagle Eye – a similarly titled Republican Party initiative in the 1960s in the United States was aimed at voter suppression and electoral manipulation including through the massive spread of misinformation. In the Granger administration’s case, the misinformation was based on two main pillars: persons voting in place of the dead, and persons voting in place of persons who had migrated out of Guyana. As also exposed in this paper, both claims were completely ludicrous and based on no credible evidence.

No evidence whatsoever was presented with regard to dead voters, although repeated lies by the administration had persons swearing that this was so. The same applied for the supposed migrant votes, except in this case literally

The PPP’s parliamentary list is a testimony to diversity DEAR EDITOR, I think the PPP parliamentary list of 33 names have some positives going for it. It also incorporates a couple of other elements, on which I also would touch upon to share the way I see them.

First, the list is expressive in its blend of old and new.

My hope is that the old does not continue in the ways that were not constructive for this society, that the new do not get too wise too early in too much errancy, whether schooled by the veterans, or as developed from their own native cunning. If this is going to be really about the new and the fresh and clean and transparent, then let it be just those ingredients prevailing and overpowering.

Second, the list is a testimony to diversity, and I doff my Top Hat to the PPP for an expansive and inclusive group of citizens, men and women, urban and rural, and reflective of our demographic sprawl to a commendable extent. In terms of a colour scheme, it is a kaleidoscope reflective of

Guyana. Now those named must perform, they must deliver and confirm that they have what it takes in addressing the many hard challenges ahead for this troubled society.

Third, I cannot help but noticing that there is nary a whimper from the party’s longstanding and long serving veterans - those who literally grew up and cut their eye teeth in the party’s workings - who have been left off the list. It tells me about the ironclad nature of the dominance and control that is at work, and which is the norm, within the party’s sanctums at PPP leadership levels. As I compare that to the hullabaloo and raucousness in the camp of its PNC adversary, I see-and so does the rest of Guyana the undisciplined and uncontrolled nature of those lovelies on the other side. In the bluntest terms, there are no mavericks within the PPP, no adventurers, no experimenters; it is a real situation of one for all and all for one, with a cult leader waving a wand that reduces

all the others, including those with ideas, to swooning and abject subservience.

And now, rather disturbingly, I must go down a different road and venture into the dark side of Guyanese politics. What are some of the people on that list doing in our National Assembly? How could they ever be considered by any clear-headed, clean thinking, ethically inclined leader or leadership trust for membership in the exclusive national club that is parliament? Or to state differently, and more brutally frankly, what could enter the mind of those responsible for considering and then agreeing on the final decisions as to who is on the inside, and then deposit them in the hallowed (still) halls of the people’s house? That is, we cannot have, and the PPP should not want to foist, those who have had close encounters of a specially troubling kind with the law, as part of Guyana’s house that is dedicated to lawmaking.

My position is clear and always remains in the same unmoving place. It is that

when the faithful, the industrious, and the proven must be rewarded then find something else for them. Do not put some of them in parliament to make laws for us. The rest of Guyana may not care, but I do not wish for the suspect to make laws for me. Find something else in some other place for them, with more money, more perks, more of the usual riches associated with local public service and political ascendancy in this country.

Just do not put them in the Big House of Legislature.

I think that this is insulting to the nation, and none more so than supporters, who are looking for the different and (let me see) the positive and the progressive. Those faithful are expecting much, a brave new world. Me, I am not expecting anything at all. All my expectations for this country, especially as such relates to political people, have been scorched into non recognition. Smithereens, it is.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

PPP once again given the unenviable task DEAR EDITOR, This is not the first time that the PNC has bankrupted this country through a proliferation of incompetence, failed social and economic policies, forthright corruption and barefaced theft. Once again, it is the PPP/C which is given the unenviable Herculean task to bring forth this nation from the social morass and economic decay which has progressed rapidly since the PNC took office in May 2015.

Sadly, this is not the first time that the PNC has attempted to sell off GUYSUCO in its bid to squander State assets as a last resort when they have clinically bankrupted the economy and emptied the Treasury.

We saw that between 1989

and 1992, the PNC went berserk to sell off State assets to friends and cronies at obscenely low prices under the guise of the Economic Recovery Programme to privatize the ‘socialist economy’. Massive ‘kick backs’ was the order of the day. For instance, the Guyana Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Corporation. A profit making entity was sold for a meagre US$16.5 million when it was earning a profit of US$2-4 million annually. This happened in 1991. Another profitable company, the National Paint Company Limited was sold for US$1.15 million despite the workers wanted to buy it for US$1.2 million. Also the Guyana Timbers Limited was sold for US$23.2 million but was

dozens of persons – including their own supporters – that the coalition claimed to have been out of the country on E-day and having voted provided ample, clear and credible evidence that they were in fact in the country. The most embarrassing case was prominent lawyer, Devindra Kissoon, who was not only in the country and voted but served as elections observer.

Forced into a legal cul de sac and his government, likely including himself, being sanctioned by the Western powers, Granger finally accepted that he had lost the election on August 2, but claimed he has not conceded, vowing even before the declaration was made that he would file an elections petition based upon the numerous ‘irregularities’ highlighted during the recount process. By the end of that same week, that adamant commitment to the elections petition had mellowed to a nebulous and lukewarm promise of “legal action.” In a subsequent and predictably restricted and prerecorded interview early last week, the former President committed to filing an elections petition by last Monday, the 17th.

This deadline of course was not honoured and in another predictably restricted and prerecorded interview earlier this week, Granger glossed over his failure to file the petition. To

valued at US$130 million.

Another highly corrupt deal was the sale of Demerara Woods Limited which was sold in 1991 for 9.7 million pounds and was sold 2 months later for 61 million pounds. But what is more alarming is the fact that in 1992, it was valued at 74 million pounds and the rain forest concession was valued at US$206 million. These were just a few, rain forest concessions were given away like ‘cheap hot cakes’ by the PNC. Fortunately, the PNC’s attempt in 1991 to sell off GUYSUCO was met with strong resistance from the PPP led by former President Dr. Cheddi Jagan, GAWU and the sugar workers. The PNC always try to sell off before

an election.

An important point which must be noted is the fact that all these pre-1992 State entities were engulfed by massive corruption, squandermania, political interference and employment of political appointees in strategic positions, siphoning off profits to other government agencies where it is either stolen or squandered. This is not unlike what transpired from 2015 when the PNC dominated coalition government assumed office.

In 1992, when the PPP/C took office, the fortunes of the remaining State entities began to progress and despite challenges faced by GUYSUCO due to the EU (Continued on page 5)

be clear, elections petitions are – here as elsewhere – part of the theatre of failed leadership. The PPP lost the election in 2015, and filed their own petition to tie into their “Cheated not defeated” narrative.

What makes the Granger petition significantly different however is that the premises of the promised petition constituted the administration’s indecent attempt to retain power months after it knew it lost an election.

The quandary the former President now finds himself in is that the standards of evidence for a propaganda war and the standards of evidence for even an unsuccessful court case are completely different. Presenting a concocted claim of evidence to rouse gullible supporters is one thing, particularly when only the claim of the evidence is necessary.

Putting concocted and easily refutable evidence on the record in a court of law threatens the removal of the last thin thread of respectability in which the Coalition has tried to clothe itself. The other option is to tender paper thin ‘evidence’ in stark contradiction to the tens of thousands of votes that they had claimed were invalid. Let’s see what the next eight days hold.

Saturday August 22, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Rushing to Judgment DEAR EDITOR, It is an interesting construct for possible debate – that is of (voted) ‘Political Appointees’ terminating the employment of (non-voted) ‘political appointees’, and for no other explicit reason.

Arguably, the exercise may be justified purely in the interest of change, except that the change process to which one has so far been alerted in the press, appears to be somewhat uncoordinated.

Each Minister seems to speak specifically in respect of his/ her portfolio, as that individual interprets it to be –

albeit on the presumption that though a nouveau arrivée, each is already fully informed of the historical strengths and weaknesses of that portfolio’s performance.

Already is evidence of a communication style in which one speaks down to the other, rather than with the experienced, and sometimes, specialist professionals.

P u b l i s h e d pronouncements speak to targets to be achieved, without reference to any work plan, not yet consensually agreed with those to be responsible for

PPP once again given the...

From page 4 price cut, sugar was still making a significant contribution to the economy.

The PPP/C government had embarked on a capitalization programme, which saw marked improvements in the field and factory operations.

If these programmes were allowed to continue in 2015 and until now, GUYSUCO would have already been on the road to recovery. In the PPP/C’s 2015 Manifesto, $20 billion was pledged to continue to upgrade the industry. Unfortunately, despite empty rhetoric by Granger and his Government, the Granger’s ‘sugar bowl’ came under the PNC collateral damage programme and the workers became expendables.

GUYSUCO was strangled and left to die. The PNC’s drama to give subsidy will not fool anyone, since the political hacks who oversaw the spending guaranteed that the capitalization programme was starved of much needed resources while they became ‘fatter cats’. The PNC also used GUYSUCO as its personal ‘dharamshala’ to provide a living for its many incompetent and senile geriatrics who placed further burden on the operational estates. In fact as it is now seen, the entire Government became a ‘vacation destination’ and ‘old folks home’ for the PNC’s les incompetents.

Then in 2016, the PNC made a second attempt to sell off 4 estates by first closing them and dismissing more than 7,000 employees. It is basic business sense that if you want to sell a business, you do not first close it and then sell it. Any prudent businessman will try to improve it and sell it as a going concern. But in this case, it was first to exact revenge on the sugar workers who are seen as PPP/C supporters, destroy their livelihoods and the industry and then use the industry as their personal ‘milking cows’ to fill their pockets, to sell off lands,

machineries and equipment to cronies at rock bottom prices to collect massive kickbacks.

The PNC squandered millions to ‘sell’ but that was never the intent.

Moreover, the Coalition procured a $30 billion bond, which in addition to being squandered became a millstone around an already drowning entity due to the service costs. The SPU was created to ensure that the resources never reached GUYSUCO and the bond was never used as it was intended: to upgrade the operational estates-both field and factory, to establish co-generation plants and to produce ethanol commercially. The SPU was the corruption filter.

Today, the PPP/C Government’s task would have been so simple if the 4 estates were not closed but had remained operational.

What the Coalition did to the sugar industry is utterly reprehensible and downright criminal and once again, I am calling for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate this criminal act. Fortunately, the PPP/C Government had appointed an Agriculture Minister whose competence will once again bring back GUYSUCO to its former glory.

It is not a ‘mission impossible’, the PPP/C has a track record of bringing back progress and prosperity to this country and President Ali ,Vice-President Jagdeo and their team will achieve this again. Let us not forget that Dr. Jagan and Dr. Jagdeo did the impossible before!

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

implementation.

One is uncertain as to whether some of the Ministerial pronouncements heard are merely the entrées to be consumed by the public, ahead of much manifestoed main courses. One would expect that the President, having overheard their various dreams, would challenge the respective Ministers to submit as comprehensive a reality plan as possible, that would reflect the undertakings of the campaign manifesto.

For it is not as if each Ministry will operate independently. That rare attribute called ‘common sense’ dictates the need to function as a team; and therefore it behoves Cabinet members to inter-relate most proactively in order to conclude what human resource needs will be required, and more critically, how they would be fulfilled – albeit within the context of the thousands of jobs promised to be created. So that preliminary offers of scholarships must relate to assessed organisational needs instead of individual perspectives.

Which means that there must be a development strategy that would involve the identification of specific programmes and the relevant

skills and competencies needed therefore.

In the process, it would become necessary to review and analyse the thousands of suspect skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled personnel in the Public Service proper, and first address the capacity available (or to be made available) for their being upgraded. Such an exercise will obviously involve all the skills training and development institutions in the country, including of course those of the private sector.

But the Public Service has long been subverted by systemic management and performance deficiencies, some of which have been addressed in the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service, which incidentally was not even read by the very sponsors, or else they would have been impressed by one fundamental apolitical recommendation – that is of raising the retirement age from 55 years to 60 years of age.

Guyana is certainly the only country in the Caricom where the retirement age for Public Servants is below 60 years.

Actually, in Barbados the retirement age in the Public Service has been 65 for nearly two decades now. Meanwhile the Audit Office of Guyana, Guyana Revenue Authority, Guyana Geology and Mines

Commission – are only few of the Public Sector Agencies that observe a retirement age of 60 years.

It is also in the named Report that the matter of ‘Contracted Employees’ so much over-indulged in by Ministers has also been frowned upon, most appropriately. For intricated in any ‘Contract’ must be a performance standard to be achieved.

But one fundamental contradiction is the employment of persons into normal pensionable positions, nevertheless on ‘Contract’ which earns gratuity half yearly, while a colleague with exactly the same set of responsibilities has to await pension at age 55.

What is interesting is that the politically appointed Minister exercises discrimination regarding the conditions of employment of the recruit. Intricated in the process is what is well known as the ‘theory of relativity’ – translated as meaning ‘caring for friends and relatives’.

Consequently, there is insufficient specialist discipline assigned to valuing the job – totally ignoring the constipated 14 Job Grade System instituted in the Public Service some forty years ago – overlooking all the technological and other

specialised skill changes that have taken place since.

Despite the mythical institution of a Public Service Commission (and a Police Service Commission) which, 20 or more years ago were ‘politically’ twinned - in contradiction of the Constitution, absolutely no attention is paid to the once respected conduct of a Performance Evaluation System in the Public Service – a vivid contrast to semiautonomous Public Sector agencies.

As a consequence of this glaring management deficiency all Administrations merely issue regular increases ‘across-the-board’ – consistent with the ‘theory of relativity’. In blatant defiance of logic ‘contracted employees’ also benefit from these ‘across-the-board’ awards. In the end, if they become ‘victims’ of illinformed decision-making and are likely to suffer at times of ‘political’ change.

Much of this behaviour is captured in Dr. Harold Lutchman’s Commission’s informative analyses of the Public Service.

There is also the human resources management component disdainfully embraced (or ignored) by all the appointed decision – (Continued on page 6)

Pyramid Scheme or FOREX Trading DEAR EDITOR, I’ll start off by saying that I have seen the advertising flooding Facebook and other social media and they are indeed very alluring. Who wouldn’t want to get rich quick without trying and all from the comforts of your very own home with just a few clicks? Some might actually be tempted enough to ‘invest’ their hard-earned money in these hard times to their own detriment possibly.

So will these FOREX trading opportunities give you untold riches or are they simply a pyramid scheme? I’ll try to

explain simply without the complicated textbook definitions that are used to convince people one way or the other. I decided to write this because I see many of my friends falling prey to this scheme and many I know are honest individuals who work hard, save and are simply looking to make some extra money and to ‘save for the future’.

First off, pyramid schemes are a scam. They are marketed as being very legitimate and offering great opportunity but they are simply ‘rip-offs’. So what should you be looking for? Well let’s identify some red flags:

1) Those who are the promoters of a pyramid scheme try to recruit new persons by enticing them with messages of what they will be able to earn. Some of the appealing pitches would include, “change your life and work from home”, “leave your job and be your own boss”, “get financial freedom”. If you’ve seen such messages being used as the primary marketing attraction then it is likely a pyramid scheme with promises that are too good to

be true.

Pyramid schemes are created in such a way that they need a constant supply of new participants and of course their ‘money’ to keep the business flowing and they do so through ‘out of the world’ promises’. Your income would not mainly be based on the selling of a product (FOREX) but on how many people you are able to recruit.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is (Continued on page 6)

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Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

...Pyramid Scheme or FOREX Trading From page 5 the scheme you’re investing in giving the vast majority, if not all, of your income, through your ability to attract other people? If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

2) Pyramid schemes often offer extravagant rewards and bonuses for ‘investors’/participants who are able to meet certain goals such as bringing in a number of new recruits or attending a certain number of trainings and advertise these to bait the unsuspecting.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø y 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is the scheme you’re investing in giving higher rewards or so-called bonuses based on the number of new persons that you are able to bring in and attaching fancy marketing names and levels to that number such as ‘Diamond’, ‘Platinum’, ‘Crown’, ‘Conqueror’? If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

3) Pyramid schemes usually require repeated fees for such things as so-called ‘training sessions’ or expensive marketing materials.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is the scheme you’re investing in charging ‘fees’ for training sessions and other materials?

If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

4) Pyramid schemes play on emotions and generally use ‘high-pressure sales tactics’.

You will hear such lines as ‘act now or you’ll lose the opportunity to work from home and gain financial

freedom’. The ploy is to encourage emotional buying and reduce the time you take to research the scheme.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is the scheme you’re investing in using such marketing lines? If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

5) Pyramid schemes require new investors to pay a fee for the right to sell the products to others or in other words, pay a fee for the right to recruit others into the scheme so as to gain rewards/ income for bringing more people in and not rewards/ income related to the actual product sales (FOREX).

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is the scheme you’re investing in requiring a fee for the right to recruit others? If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

6) Pyramid schemes under the guise of FOREX traders, do not have actual brokers who are the promoters of the scheme.

Therefore, the person who brings you on to the scheme is not a broker who can actually trade and chances are that the company you are signing up with is not a broker either.

This means that all trades will be done through someone else; not the person who brings you on or the company you are joining with.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is the person bringing me on to the scheme or the company, which I’m joining up with a broker? If not, then chances

...Rushing to Judgment From page 5 makers, that is the existence of the position/grades of Personnel Officer – an organisational uniqueness found only in Guyana’s Public Service, while counterpart Public Sector Agencies have long practised ‘Human Resources Management’ – an embarrassing contradiction that all our Cabinets in the 21st century determinedly overlooked.

The question must be

asked: how and when those resuscitated decision-makers from the past will address the future – in terms of human resources management and development, particularly since the incumbent ‘Personnel Officers’ do not appear to be appropriately trained and prepared – all the more to catch up with a challenging pandemic future.

Old-timer as I am, I cannot wait.

E.B. John

are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

7) Pyramid schemes do not have regulatory clearance.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Does the scheme have regulatory clearance and has the Guyana Securities Council given authorization?

If not, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

8) Pyramid schemes usually defend themselves by claiming to be Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). MLM is basically a method of selling products directly to consumers without the inbetween ‘retailer’. The products are sold through a network of salespersons and when the MLM is set-up, it resembles that of a pyramid with each salesperson recruiting and training additional salespersons to earn commission on others they get to join on. The pyramidal structure of MLM companies allows many pyramid schemes to be passed off using this fancy name but there is a distinct difference between the two.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Does the scheme you’re investing in pay you based on your actual product sales to customers without you having to recruit new customers so as to earn income or is your income primarily based on how many people you recruit? If it’s primarily based on the number of persons you recruit then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

9) Pyramid schemes tend to involve the sale of products (in this case FOREX) through salespersons so as to show legitimacy.

This is, however, a mere smokescreen that is done simply to sidestep the regulatory bodies and attempt to show that the potential for profit stem from the sale of products and not from recruiting other investors.

This allows them to claim that they are not a pyramid scheme but rather an elaborate MultiLevel Marketing company.

The bottom line is that if the majority of your income comes from the recruiting of

new investors rather than the sale of the product itself (FOREX) then it is a pyramid regardless of the explanation.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Does the majority of your income come from the recruiting of new investors rather than FOREX trading?

If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

10) Pyramid schemes usually offer products of little or doubtful value that serve as a simple tool to promote the scheme while the real value lays in recruiting new persons.

5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø ‘ Ü 5 Ø Ü 5 Ø — Ü5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ5ØÜ: Is the product being offered of doubtful value? Is the income derived from trading FOREX little and in most cases doubtful? If so, then chances are it’s a pyramid and a scam.

As a note, FOREX trading in itself is not illegal and not a pyramid scheme. However, it is not the trading of FOREX that is the issue but the requirement for you to recruit others or pay monthly fees if you want to learn from certain persons.

When your income is primarily through the recruiting of others then you have moved away from FOREX trading and entered the realms of a pyramid scheme.

FOREX trading in itself is legal; however, the act of recruiting persons for a fee and the promise of a financial return that is dependent on the recruitment of additional participants is illegal.

The Guyana Consumer Affairs Act, No. 13 of 2011 states that “For the purposes of this section, the term “pyramid selling scheme” means a scheme — that provides for the supply of goods or services or both for reward; and that, to many participants, constitutes primarily an opportunity to sell an investment opportunity rather than an opportunity to supply goods or services; and that is unfair, or is likely to be unfair, to many of the participants in that — (i) the financial rewards of many of the participants are dependent on the recruitment of additional participants; and (ii) the number of

additional participants that must be recruited to produce reasonable rewards to participants is either not attainable, or is not likely to be attained, by many of the participants.”

Note well “financial rewards of many of the participants are dependent on the recruitment of additional participants”. If you trade FOREX, trade FOREX but there’s a difference between FOREX trading and the companies that operate the scheme.

The reality is that most of those on social media today openly promoting FOREX trading are not FOREX traders but in fact, mere recruiters or salespersons and the majority of their income earned is based on commission from bringing more people in.

When you’re joining a pyramid scheme, you are made to purchase a product which in this case will be training modules, seminars, videos, and the opportunity to market and bring more people on board that are provided by more experienced traders. After you purchase the product, you are then added to the recruiter’s downline.

This means that the person who recruited you gets a commission for bringing you on board. That person will also get a commission when you recruit someone else into the scheme (your own downline).

Most of these FOREX trading schemes offer memberships where you are awarded a certain rank and then offered the chance to grow your rank through recruiting people and the higher up the ranks you go, the more you earn as there will be more people in your downline.

Since only a very small number of traders will actually make profits off of trading (most analysts estimate less than 10%); the focus then shifts from trading and the profits earned there to attracting new members in an attempt to move up the ranks, increase their own downline and earn commission from you and those you recruit.

That’s your problem right

there; it is not the FOREX trading but the fact that the majority of income earned may be from recruiting rather than trading.

In addition, for those who believe that FOREX trading in your free time or lunch break on your phone or home laptop is your way to financial security and a longterm investment plan then you are grossly mistaken.

FOREX trading is risky, complicated and even money managers with years of training and experience fail.

According to the Institutional Investor (2020), a Federal Trade Commission complain is that these FOREX traders/teachers “tell prospects that it’s a groundfloor opportunity because for the first time ever, you can make money off the product and not by recruiting and it’s not true at all.

They are selling people the fake dream that the big bucks come from trading, not recruiting.”

Pyramid schemes offer the promise of high returns from a small initial investment upfront.

However, while the early investors usually do gain some sort of return on their money and become motivated by this success, the truth is that the ‘investment opportunity’ does not really exist and the initial return is simply funded by money that is paid in by other members of the scheme. When the investor numbers start to drop, the scammers will close the scheme and we will hear from them no more.

Bloomberg noted in a 2014 article that 68% of investors had net losses from trading currencies in the prior year; while some stats indicate as much as 90% of traders lose money.

Keep that in mind 68% and now couple that with the fact that many are trying to beat the odds and get rich in their free time with basic training in a complex market. I’ll stop there as this is not about the actual pros and cons of FOREX trading but about pyramid schemes that can be disguised as such.

Terrence Jaskaran Chartered Accountant

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

PAGE 07

Christopher Jones arrested for simple larceny F

ormer Sports D i r e c t o r , Christopher Jones was arrested and later released on $100,000 station bail yesterday over allegations of simple larceny of a quantity of barber chairs among other items reportedly belonging to the State.

The search was conducted out in relation to an audit carried out at the former Ministry of Social Protection, which showed that they had approved the payout of almost $5 million under the Region Four administration for the procurement of equipment for a barbershop under the Sustainable Livelihood and

- released on $100,000 bail Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme.

A review of a grant received by Jones revealed that the full amount was spent by December 31, 2019; however over $1M in items were in fact not delivered and the project was not executed. The balance of the items, were stored at Jones' home.

Two vanloads of armed policemen had turned up at Jones' Tucville residence in search of the equipment on Thursday evening but the

entire ordeal was laced with controversy, caught on live camera. The ranks arrived during a power outage and reportedly did not possess the requisite documentation needed to carry out the search.

Jones' attorney, Darren Wade who was present at the scene told Kaieteur News that he obtained a court order from Justice Brassington Reynolds aimed at preventing the ranks from conducting the search.

Despite this, Wade said, the ranks pushed their way

through, carrying out the search and later arrested Jones at around 1 am on Friday morning.

Commander of A' Division, Simon McBean had told Kaieteur News on Thursday evening that he was not informed of any such operation from his ranks nor is he aware of the allegations made against Jones, making it clear that ranks at Jones' house were not under his jurisdiction. Reports of the harsh treatment meted out to Jones by the police flooded the media and the Force in a

Govt. to procure 25,000 solar panels for hinterland communities

I

n its pursuit of transitioning to renewable energy, the People's Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration has engaged the Government of India in procuring some 25,000 solar panels that will see the electrification of hinterland communities across the country.

This announcement was made by the Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill in a press briefing on Wednesday. The Minister noted that hinterland electrification has always been a top priority for the PPP/C both prior to 2015 and now even more under the President Irfaan Ali administration.

“The Government of Guyana continues to pursue renewable energy initiatives, and one of the programmes that was in the Ministry and not really moving in a manner that we would have expected because we would have complained about the incompetence and mismanagement and maladministration that occurred,” the Minister said.

The Minister explained that President Ali has since engaged the Indian High Commissioner in formulating a programme that will see household in the hinterland communities as well as the riverine communities benefiting f r o m s o l a r e n e r g y.

According to the Minister, the units being procured will feature an upgrade from the regular 60-watt units to that of 100 watts.

The Minister further noted that the project will be accelerated based on discussions and decisions made by President Ali and the Indian High Commissioner.

In addition to this, Edghill noted that both himself and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar have been fervently working to ensure the continuation of the project.

During the briefing, Minister Edghill expressed his dissatisfaction in the lack of proper management of the Hinterland Electrification Programme by the previous administration.

“When we arrived at the Public Works Ministry, the seven areas that are to be served by generated power in the Hinterland Electricity Programme, those generators have not been adequately maintained and serviced and there was an immediate request for $281M, almost $282M to carry out much needed repairs to these generators,” the Minister stated.

“There was a lack of maintenance and as a result electricity at Matthew's Ridge was down for several months. Last night, I checked personally with

residents of Matthew's Ridge who have reported receiving power because the generators are up and running because of interventions that were made,” Edghill noted.

Further to this, Minister Edghill explained that the lack of proper maintenance can result in places such as Mahdia , Port Kaituma and Mabaruma experiencing difficulties with their generator sets.

“This is something,” he noted, “that the Ministry will have to pursue, almost immediately, but like I said, the day that we arrived, there

Christopher Jones before he was released

was the request for $281M to carry out this particular operation.”

The Hinterland Electrification Project, which was launched in 2011 by the PPP/C administration, was aimed at expanding access to clean and affordable energy throughout Indigenous communities in the hinterland and was a component of the Low Carbon Development Strategy.

The project is expected to play a major role in achieving the country's goals for sustainable development.

bid to offer clarity said that they were “acting on reports received.”

“The Guyana Police Force wishes to state that acting upon a report received with regards to State assets and Mr. Jones, police ranks did conduct a search and items fitting the description of the State assets that were first observed as being in the residence of Christopher Jones were recovered,” the Force said in their release.

The release, though aimed at seeking clarity left more questions than answers as several key aspects of the operation were excluded.

Journalists via the Force' media group inquired which arm of the GPF carried out the operation and most i m p o r t a n t l y, i f a n y documentation was provided to the police to show that the items in his position did not belong to him. Those (continued on page 8)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Ponzi scheme operators arrested

O

w n e r o f Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. (ACFI), Yuri Dominguez and his wife were arrested by police on Thursday evening for operating an alleged Ponzi/Pyramid Scheme.

Dominguez, a 34-yearold Cuban national along with his 32-year-old Guyanese wife Ateeka Ishmael, were said to be operating ACFI, which posed as private investor group which educates members to operate in the Stock and Foreign Exchange Markets.

In 2014, an investigation was launched into a similarly titled entity in the US by the name of “Accelerated Capital Group” which later resulted in them being fined US$400,000.00 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on accusations of them executing unauthorized trades in, selling customer investments and executed trades in customer accounts.

Dominguez' firm had recently come under the radar of the new government when several complaints were filed by members of the public about their operations. This prompted a full investigation where it was found that the operation has received hundreds of millions of dollars from thousands of Guyanese, according to Attorney General Anil Nandlall , and has also violated several pieces of legislation.

Police sources disclosed that several persons have surfaced, giving their stories about their investments into the fund and being owed significant amounts of money. As previously reported by this newspaper, a high-level team consisting of the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police, Governor of the Central Bank, Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit and Head of the Guyana Securities Council, assembled to swiftly investigate the operations of ACFI. It was found that the firm was not legally registered to obtain investments in Guyana and their application to be legalized was never approved.

The man's electronics

and bank accounts have since been ceased and he was directed by the Guyana Securities Council to give account for his wealth obtained on the stock market. The GSC previously stated that, “Under the AntiMoney Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act, it is required for all investors to provide the source of funds and ensure that the financial activities and money laundering risks associated with a customer are properly recorded. The Guyana Securities Council is not in receipt of that information from the application submitted.”

They also disclosed that in the ACFI's application, this was not included.

Citizens have since launched a petition to the GSC to have the firm's licence to operate in Guyana granted. The petition started

by Deenanauth Seemadray laments that the firm is licensed by the Financial Market Relations Regulation Centre (IFMRRC) to @speculate and trade on the online stock market platform. The petitioners argued that the firm's activities have been honest and has helped many Guyanese to become financially stable.

They also stated that Dominguez is more than happy to reimburse those who may have invested and lost money due to the firm's accounts being frozen.

However, the government and the banks would need to un-freeze the firm's money so that the persons can be paid.

Up until press time, 3805 persons had signed this petition.

Saturday August 22, 2020

DPP to prosecute Keith Lowenfield, Mingo and others T

he Director of P u b l i c Prosecution (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C, has decided to take over the criminal charges that were filed against the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, Returning Officer of Region Four Clairmont Mingo, and others in relation to the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections and the events that followed.

This is according to a release from the Guyana Police Force (GPF), which also states that the police will be conducting a comprehensive investigation into the allegations.

The release highlighted that, “The DPP indicated that in exercise of powers vested in her under Article 187 of the Constitution, she will take over the private criminal charges currently pending in the Magistrates' Courts in relation to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the aftermath.”

This decision was made almost two weeks after Lowenfield's lawyer, Nigel Hughes made an application to the DPP asking her to review and take over the prosecution of the private criminal charges that were filed against his client.

The charges leveled against Lowenfield allege fraud, misconduct in public office, and breach of public's trust, while the charge that was filed against Mingo allege unverified declaration of results for Region Four.

On June 30, 2020, the criminal charges were filed against Lowenfield by Opposition People's Progressive Party (PPP) member Desmond Morian and The New Movement Party (TNM) executive Dr. Daniel Josh Kanhai while in March 2020, the charge was filed against Mingo by People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) attorney Charles Ramson.

According to the release, the police yesterday received formal reports which alleged

Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C. criminal conduct by Lowenfield, Mingo and others in relation to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the aftermath.

The release stated that as a result of the formal reports being made, legal advice was obtained from the DPP who advised the GPF to launch an investigation into the allegations in accordance to its mandate.

On August 14, 2020, when Lowenfield made his second appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates'

Courts before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty, the court was informed that the DPP had written to the prosecutors in the matter – attorneys-at-law Sanjeev Datadin, Glenn Hanoman, Mark Conway and George Thomas – asking them to submit the evidence in the matter so that she can decide 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 Lowenfield.

Lowenfield is currently out a total of $450,000, bail and is expected to make his next court appearance on August 24, 2020. However, the charge is still to be served on Mingo for him to make his first court appearance.

expended almost $250M to increase employment opportunities at the community level through the project. What remains unclear at this point is what criteria was required for grants to be issued via the project and under what arrangement Jones qualified as a recipient.

Former President, David Granger and leader of the People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) sought to condemn the actions of the police and others, deeming it a violation of “rights and freedom of Christopher Jones.”

In a statement, Granger

said, “The actions of ranks of the Guyana Police Force, who blatantly disregarded an order of the court and unlawfully entered the premises of Mr. Christopher Jones; arrested him and illegally seized personal property, must be stoutly condemned and immediately investigated.”

He added that the PNCR will not allow this type of harassment of former public servants or any citizen “by agents of the State to stand” and called on all Guyanese to strongly condemn “this abuse of State power and the persecution of an innocent man.”

Christopher Jones arrested for...

From page 7 questions remain unanswered.

Subsequently after his release, the former Sports Director took to social media in attempts to clear his name from the allegations being presented. Jones explained that he applied for a “loan” last year through the SLED programme via the then Social Protection Minister led by Amna Ally.

It should be noted that the SLED programme does not provide loans, but in fact grants which do not have to be repaid. Jones explained that he applied for funding to buy 16

barber chairs, an airconditioning unit, and other equipment for a barbershop in Festival City and same was granted by the subject minister at the time.

He was adamant that the items that were removed from his home were his.

“Having been granted the approval through the SLED programme and the RDC, those items are my possession.

Nothing illegal was done, the only thing illegal done was the police entering my premises and removing my property,” Jones added. Then Minister Anma Ally had said that the previous administration had

GuyOil CEO says screenshots about illegal fuel...

From page 2 against women.

But let us not forget the role of social media, or rather, its users, who eagerly reposted the screenshot without any attempt to ascertain whether it's authenticy. Social media has given us incredible information technology platforms and I can't imagine our world without it. But this tool that often brings us together for good, also makes

it easier for the ill-intentioned to get others to do their dirty work for them.

This statement is not an attempt to police social media - I can't and I wouldn't want to - but to ask everyone, my fellow women in particular, to take a second before hitting 'share' and 'like' and question if the post is denigrating women?

Is it harmful? Ask yourself if you are inadvertently perpetuating the deepseated misogyny embedded in

Guyanese culture.

My position at GUYOIL is not a political appointment.

I responded to an advertisement and was hired after going through a rigorous interview process. Studies, hard work and the confidence to know I could stand equal to any other candidate, are what led to me becoming CEO, nothing else. GUYOIL has thrived under my leadership, a fact to which I am proud.

Women still face enormous

challenges attaining corporate leadership positions because of gender discrimination and misogyny. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be here, we become open to persons attempts to tear us, often by only going for stereotypes and depicting women as sexual beings (as if that's a bad thing). Let's not help them!

I thank my family, friends, colleagues and all others who

have reached out to me in support. I acknowledge with gratitude the Women's Chamber of Commerce & Industry Guyana (WCCIG) and The Association of Women Entrepreneurs for their public statements of support. Finally, I would like to thank the Board of Directors and Management Team of The Guyana Oil Company Ltd (GUYOIL) for working expeditiously to address the false allegations.

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 09

The PPP/C is asleep at the wheel T

he PPP/C is “hard ears'. When it comes to national emergencies, they wait until the “boat done gone a falls” before they act.

In other words, the PPP/C does not like to listen to the view of others especially when these views do not accord with or is critical of the government's stance on an issue. It is only until someone close to the leadership of the party is affected directly that the party is plunged into action.

T h e P P P / C ' s management of the COVID19 situation is nothing short of a calamity. In other parts of the world, and notwithstanding the newness of the government, there would have been calls for the Minister of Health to immediately step aside.

It may not be too late for him to do so. The carpet seems to have been pulled from beneath him in the management of this pandemic. It seems as if instead of being treated as health emergency, this pandemic is now being approached as a financial emergency.

The Minister of Health seems to have gotten his priorities mixed-up. Instead of addressing fake rumours of contaminated results – rumours which originated from an opposition rabblerouser – the Minister of Health should be addressing that which is not fake: the spike in positive cases and deaths.

More than 218 cases

have been recorded over the five-day period August 1520. Yesterday, there were 35 additional cases, bringing the total over six days to 253.

The first COVID-19 case was recorded on March 12, 2020. It took another 112 days for the caseload to reach 250 cases. It has taken the PPP/C only six days.

One of the explanations for this steep rise in cases has been that more testing is being done. Logically with more testing, there will be more positive cases. But with more testing, the percentage of persons testing positive should be reduced.

This is not happening.

The percentage of positive tests has increased significantly, and this is not supposed to be the norm with higher testing. Out of 205 tests done on the 20th March, 70 came back positive. This is more than one in every three.

Testing alone therefore does not explain the steep rise in cases. It is true however, that the caseload had begun to rise steeply just prior to the PPP/C assuming power but its precipitous spike since then has been unexpected.

Not only is the number of confirmed cases rising at an alarming rate but so too is the number of deaths. Ten persons have died over the past week; a staggering statistics but not as disturbing as the fact that the majority of these were only tested positive after they died which means that they

may not have been treated for COVID-19.

What is even more worrying is that among the dead are persons in their 40s.

The deaths of two women below the age of 50 should be a wake-up call to the entire country but more so to the Health Minister.

At present, there are eight COVID-19 patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The probability – and this is not a nice thing to say - is that two of these persons are going to die.

The health system is now overwhelmed. The number of active cases is more than 400. There is no longer any mandatory institutional isolation because the numbers are too overwhelming. And when positive cases are asked to self-isolate, community spread will increase.

Unless arrangements are being made to have persons vaccinated with the vaccine developed by the Russians, we should not be speaking about any other matters with the Russian ambassador. The number one priority for now should be to convince the President and his sidekick, the Vice President, that a national health emergency should be formally declared and there should be a reversion to some of the restrictions, which were originally in place from the second week of April.

The time has come to declare a national COVID19 emergency. This will allow for the sort of lockdowns that are

Dem boys seh...

A man and he stones dead

D

em boys seh you should not speak ill of de dead. But dem boys seh deh still gat people who talk bad about Cheddi and Burnham when dem bin alive, when dem bin dead and even after dem dead.

Dem boys nah like talk bad about de dead. But dem gat some people wah dem boys gat fuh talk about.

Like Walter de Rum-SoHigh. De man did believe dat he was de brightest thing dat ever come out of Guyana. At one time he , he could tek on de whole cabal at Freedom House.

He bin tek on de boss man of de Waterfall paper.

He sue de Waterfall paper and de case go all de way to de CCJ which order he fuh pay costs.

He nah pay it yet and when de boss man of de Waterfall paper hear how Walter de Rum-So-High dead, he worry about how he gan get pay.

But he seh dem gan meet up. And if dem end up in different places, he gone leff weh he deh and go and look fuh Rum-So-High so dat he can get he money.

Dem boys keeping far from boss man though. He

neighbour dead yesterday also. He did name Tool-See. And he and all gat de boss man in a fix.

De boss man did pay he fuh some readymix fuh do some foundation wuk.

Before all de ready mix pour, Tool-See gone and dead.

Tool-See readymix close down in mourning. So de boss man foundation get leff half-done.

He need some stone fuh finish it but Tool-See quarry close also.

So Tool-See dead and like de stone dead too.

Talk half and nah go and live next to Glenn.

necessary to stabilize the spread of infections. Time is of the essence. The people will have to demand that the government revert to the longer curfews and greater social restrictions because unless that is done, the virus will spread more quickly and widely.

And that outside number of 20,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths may become a reality. Let us hope that for the sake of the country that the President and his team stop being so concerned with the economy and become more concerned with human safety.

(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 22, 2020

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Walter Ramsahoye, the nature of humans and correcting history W

e humans are inherently dishonest and uncaring. We only show concern for life when it directly affects us. We never stop to put ourselves in the place of others.

When the former Acting Chief Justice, Ian Chang, died, I felt no emotions whatsoever. I don't care how

good a lawyer he was, for me he was an unacceptable person.

When Mark Benschop and I were languishing for three days in the Brickdam Police Station holding cell for a traffic violation that carried a $7,000 fine, Chang refused to look at a writ of habeas corpus filed by Nigel Hughes. When Glenn Lall

objected to what he did, he told Lall, he wanted to go home to see cricket.

If I had died in that lock up for a harmless traffic offence, my daughter may have never seen a university door because she would have had no father to finance her education. There is the saying: “who feels it, knows it.” Those who sang the song

of praise to Change, then jumped in their $40 million vehicle and went to dine at the Marriott, should cross my path and I will lecture to them on philosophy then let them have my scatological vocabulary.

If we choose not to write about the bad deeds of people because of some silly tradition of not saying bad things about the dead then we are falsifying history by o u r s i l e n c e . Wa l t e r Ramsahoye died two days ago and if we do not contextualize his infamy in Guyanese society then we are allowing history to be falsified.

Ramsahoye sued the Kaieteur News for libel four times. Twice I was the first defendant. In all four libels, Ramsahoye had as his chief witness, Ramon Gaskin.

Gaskin and Ramsahoye went on the witness stand and said fictional things that should never come out of the

mouths of a human and the courts in Guyana allowed these infamies.

In one of those cases, Gaskin told the court that one of my professors at the University of Toronto was his friend and the professor told him my doctoral dissertation was rejected.

None of my professors would want to even look at Gaskin muchless talk to him.

When asked by my lawyer to name the professor, Gaskin could not remember him. Yet this man was Gaskin's friend.

Obviously, Gaskin and Ramsahoye lost.

Each time Ramsahoye came to court, he would point out his white skin colour and tell me it was such a colour that rules Guyana.

He would say the most racist things quietly so the judge would not hear and when in one of the cases, the judge warned him, he sought in the next hearing to have her removed. When in one of

Frederick Kissoon the cases, Adam Harris was called as a witness, all hell broke out before the judge could take her seat.

In writing about Harris, I always mention that I am married for 41 years (soon to be 42) and I have known Harris longer than I know my wife. Ramsahoye referred to Harris' dark skin and told him that he was a nobody at Queen's College. In my 42 years of knowing Harris, I never saw him so enraged.

Harris rose from the bench he was sitting on, and told Ramsahoye, “Would you like to say that to me outside?”

We produced a video in court of a Channel 6 television programme with Ramsahoye and CN Sharma in which Ramsahoye referred to me as ugly, darkskinned with fake university degrees. Yet this was the very man who sued the Kaieteur News four times. One of the libels originated from a column of mine in which I brought up the issue of the University of Guyana withdrawing an invitation for Ramsahoye to speak. He told the court that was untrue. We produced the evidence.

Then editor-in-chief of the Stabroek News, David De Caires, penned an editorial note to one of Ramsahoye's libelous fulminations informing the reading public that Ramsahoye criticizes people but refuses to take criticism.

When the De Caires note was brought up in one of the trials, Ramsahoye in what can only be one of the most malignant and repugnant answers ever heard in a court of law in Guyana, told the judge that he doesn't mind being criticized but they aren't people in Guyana who are in his class and matches his learning to criticize him.

I will never forget the look on the face of that judge when she heard those words.

After losing his libels, and owing Kaieteur News about a million dollars in cost, Ramsahoye told Lall he will not pay. He didn't live to pay.

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

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Cummings Lodge/Sophia squatters served with contravention notices Officials serving the contravention notices

Officials inspecting one of the newly constructed structures

T

he Ministry of Housing and Water (MHW) on Thursday served a number of contravention notices to squatters residing along the Cummings Lodge/Sophia area.

The Ministry in a statement noted that although it is working to meet the housing demands of the residents, it continues to maintain its “zero tolerance policy� on squatting.

The MHW noted that the contravention notices were issued after the Ministry had received several reports of structures being built at the locations – the contravention notice in this case is a document informing the occupant of an illegal structure of that nature and that they are in breach of the law.

According to the release, the illegal occupation of State lands at Cummings

Lodge has continued to hinder the Ministry from carrying out a number of budgeted projects.

It stated that squatting impedes infrastructure development and, more importantly, has a serious impact on the health and safety of those involved.

The Ministry also reminded citizens that government reserves are not suitable living conditions for anyone as they lack the

basic necessities for daily human activities, adding that in these cases, the reserves run along critical waterways posing a serious threat of contamination.

Earlier in the month, ministers with the responsibility for Housing and Water, Collin Croal and Susan Rodrigues had conducted a walkabout and fact-finding mission as per residents' request in the communities of Block X

Liliendaal, Section A Sophia, and Block R Turkeyen in an effort to address the concerns of residents occupying State lands.

The residents were given the assurance that despite the Ministry policy in regards to squatting, there will be no strong-arm approach but rather an inclusive and humanitarian approach in addressing the situation.

During the walkabout,

residents had complained that they were invited to an outreach by the previous administration to address the issue of land allocation.

The residents informed the ministers that they were made to add their names and contact information to a list so that they could be reached when lands are available.

To date, the residents said, they have not been contacted.

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 13

BUSTED: Fraudsters with forged Power-of-

Attorney tries to sell owner his property

I

t appears that a gang of fraudsters who were targeting empty house lots across the coastland has run of out luck.

Yesterday, a number of them were arrested after they attempted to sell a businessman his own property.

It was high drama at a lawyer's office when the gang, confident they were about to score big, instead ran into the arms of detectives. They had not catered for the quick actions of city businessman, Bonny Singh, who had been alerted to attempts to sell a Georgetown property, which he owns. According to the businessman, he was called by a friend on Thursday night asking about an empty lot he owns on Vlissengen Road, Newtown.

“The friend ask me,” he said, “how come I selling the land and did not tell him. I told him no, I still own the

land and it was not being sold.”

The businessman said he was sent a copy of his own transport. He was told that someone was attempting to sell his land. The worried businessman immediately retrieved his original transport and in comparing to the one he was sent, they matched.

A plan was hatched for the businessman to 'buy' his property from the 'sellers'. It was agreed that the 'buyer' was to buy the property for $36M and pay an advance of 40 percent or just over $14M. An appointment was set up at the offices of a city lawyer for yesterday morning. Undercover police and relatives of the businessman staked out the lawyer's office and sure enough, a woman and another man turned up. The woman introduced herself as a real estate agent.

64 lbs of weed, 3 motorcycles found stashed among tombs

P

olice, including the Commanderin-Charge of Region 5 Edmond Cooper, acting on information received swooped down at the Kingelly Seadam, West Coast Berbice where two large parcels wrapped in transparent plastic were found tucked between tombs. Also found were three motorcycles CK 4203, CK 1363 and CH 7170 along with a green haversack containing one Samsung cellular phone.

A male, well known by the police as Shawn Storm, was seen in the area and the

police pursued the individual on foot but he escaped.

The plastic parcels, the motorcycles and the green bag containing the cell phone were taken to the Weldaad Police Station.

There, the parcels were opened and inside was a quantity of leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be that of the plant cannabis sativa.

They were weighed and amounted to 29,030 grams or 64 pounds. The suspected cannabis was lodged, along with the motorcycles.

Efforts are being made to located Shawn Storm.

The real estate agent and her client…they were both arrested They presented what appeared as a Power-ofAttorney, which purported to show that the businessman had nominated Hosea

Hopkinson of Friendship, East Bank Demerara to have the power-of-attorney. A copy of the document seen

by Kaieteur News raised

several alarm bells.

For one, the General Power-of-Attorney was prepared by one Notary whose stamp identified him

as Cecil Sullivan. It appeared that the document was hurried through as it even identified the businessman, Bonny Singh, as a woman. It even carried a signature and ID card number of the businessman.

It was then that the police moved in and held the woman, who said she is a real estate agent, and Hopkinson. They claimed they were given the land by an overseas man to sell.

They were leading detectives outside to meet another man, who was sitting in a white car, PYY 3878, when he suddenly drove away. The car is said to be registered to one Kabul Reece, of Liliendaal. The real estate agent and Hopkinson, in whose name the fake Power-of-Attorney had been made out, were both arrested.

Kaieteur News has been told that the gang has been linked to a number of other questionable land transactions.

“It seemed that someone is alerting people about properties that have been lying undeveloped around the place. This is a big scam and people gotta be careful,” a lawyer told Kaieteur News yesterday.

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

Good Hope Secondary School Project's delay is unacceptable - Minister Priya M

inister of Education, P r i y a Manickchand has stated that the long delay of the Good Hope Secondary School project is unacceptable. This comes after the Minister paid a visit to the school's construction site to assess its progress.

The construction of the school fell under a multimillion dollar project funded by the World Bank.

The Guyana Secondary School Education Improvement Project (GSEIP) aimed to build two new secondary schools: the Westminster Secondary School in La Parfaite Harmony and the Good Hope Secondary School on the East Coast of Demerara.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Adele Clarke had announced i n 2 0 1 8 t h a t a US$4,082,506.80 contract for the construction of the Good Hope Secondary School was awarded to BK International Inc.

Project Coordinator of the GSEIP, Jimmy Bhojedat had stated that the school was supposed to be completed in 15 months; however during her site visit, Manickchand was told by technical experts that the project might not see completion until next May. The Minister noted that it is “wholly unacceptable” and that people who bid for contracts and win them must ensure that they do what they have to do to realize the terms they have signed in the contract.”

She also gave a stern warning to contractors saying that the MOE and the Government of Guyana will not be tolerant of projects extending way beyond their time.

A c c o r d i n g t o Manickchand, the People's Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) had designed the project and secured funds since 2014. She further added that the project should have been completed by January 2020 and its

Minister Manickchand touring the construction site

Sections of the school being constructed

incompletion has hampered hundreds of students from

reaping the benefits of the project. The Minister also expressed zero tolerance for contractors seeking to blame the school's incompletion on COVID-19, as the pandemic would have started until after January 2020 when the

project was expected to be completed.

The Ministry of Education's Public Relations Department stated that the school is intended to a c c o m m o d a t e approximately 800 students.

It will contain an IT lab, several technical vocational labs, a multi-purpose hall, and a modern library.

It will also see 26 classrooms and an extensive focus on the Sciences and (continued on page 15)

Saturday August 22, 2020

PAGE 15

Kaieteur News

WPA leaves APNU coalition over sidelining of small parties - Contradicts Granger on consultations The Working People's Alliance (WPA) has decided to part ways with the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition over what it considers violations of governing principles of coalition politics and the sidelining of the collective's smaller constituents.

In its rebuke of the actions of the People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) leadership of APNU, WPA has notably contradicted the statement of the coalition leadership, David Granger, who had said that all stakeholders were consulted in the decisionmaking on the parliamentary list of the APNU+AFC coalition.

The WPA makes the second constituent of the coalition to speak in reproof of the internal politics of the APNU coalition, and by extension, APNU+AFC, after it became known that the Justice For All P a r t y (JFAP), led

by Chandra N a r i n e Sharma, is actively reviewing its membership within the coalition.

The period leading up to the publication of the list saw Granger casting aspersions on 'cardboard parties' which, in his view, did not deserve representation in the National Assembly. Coming to its own defence, the party said that its contributions to the formation and evolution of APNU have been “relatively formidable”.

“For a party without much material resources,” it stated, “we have endeavoured to compensate in areas in which our strengths are manifest. “ In that regard, the WPA noted its contribution toward the development of the APNU+AFC coalition's elections 2020 manifesto, participation on the campaign platform “when we were allowed”,

and in the coalition's defence during the five- month postelection standoff.

That being said, the party registered its discontentment with the fact that it was informed by media reports that APNU decided on its representatives for the next National Assembly, with no prior consultation. It said that it was only informed that its Chairperson, Tabitha SaraboHalley was selected as one of the persons after it wrote the PNCR General Secretary, Amna Ally to enquire about the state of affairs.

“We view this as uncomradely, disrespectful, insulting, a gross disregard for principle and, therefore, unacceptable,” the WPA stated. It requested the removal of its two nominees from the APNU list for Parliament and the Region Four Regional Demo-

cratic Council (RDC).

It also noted reports of exclusions of representatives for the other small parties, and said that such actions have changed the electoral image of the APNU and destroyed the organisation's election franchise.

Kaieteur News was informed by JFAP that it was left out of the list, presumably because it spoke out against the coalition's “wrongdoings” during the 2020 electoral saga. It had called on Granger to concede, but he had claimed that he had no record of those concerns being raised.

Granger's APNU had come out with a statement recently, dismissing any such accusations of non-consultation as “mistaken, misleading

Good Hope Secondary School Project's delay is unacceptable From page 14 Technical Education.

Minister Manickchand also expressed that she remains committed to seeing the completion of the school and is wholesomely looking forward to hundreds of students benefiting from that project and the many more her administration has in store.

Just recently the Minis-

try of Education published a notice inviting bids from contractors for the construction of various things under the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project.

They also stated that they have received US$12,606,000 from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) which will be allocated to its cost.

and misplaced”. The statement claimed that all stakeholders were consulted before the list was submitted. According to the APNU statement, “it would be false and regrettable, for anyone to state that small parties within the APNU are being used, abused and discarded.”

This adds to a much larger conversation about consultations within APNU. WPA, for one, said that the rights of the partners to contribute to decision-making have not been recognised, nor have the rights of each party to decide on its own representative(s) to the Parliament, RDC or Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).

It said that it had made that position clear before in the Ministry of the Presidency Media Centre, but later found out that its Region 10 nominee was left out of the list of candidates.

“These violations have threatened to dismantle the APNU,” The WPA stated.

Notably, the party pointed out that it has on several occasions drawn attention to a culture of non-consultation within the coalition, with decisions being made without the input of some constituent parties.

“In other words,” it said, “we have had to live with PNC's decisions being imposed on the rest of the APNU. Unfortunately, although the Coalition is now out of power, nothing has changed for the better within the APNU.” It posited that its posturing to preserve the longevity of the coalition, in the context of those actions, have attracted “the worst kinds of criticisms imaginable.”This newspaper had reached out to the WPA during the election season with questions on various electoral matters, but they were not answered. In the face of that recently concluded electoral saga, the WPA said that it can no longer be business as usual.

The party noted that it believes coalition politics is necessary for Guyana's survival as a nation-state. However, due to the “bludgeoning” of the APNU partners, it has not ascertained that there will be significant changes within the coalition on the issues it has raised.

Yet, it has left the door open for reconciliation, on several conditions. It has requested that the WPA be immediately accorded the right to determine its own representatives, and that the principle

be enshrined in the APNU Charter. It has also asked for the implementation of the recommendations of the Corbin Report. If these recommendations are fulfilled within the next two months, the WPA will revisit its decision.

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PAGE 16

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 17

PAGE 18

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

Pioneering businessman, Toolsie Persaud dies

Juvenile among 22 caught at appear Mary's Bar -inTocourt on

P

opular Guyanese businessman Toolsie Persaud passed away yesterday after reportedly being ill for some weeks. Persaud was in his early 90s.

He was the proprietor of Toolsie Persaud Ltd. (TPL), a timber and hardware company which has been in operation since 1956.

Toolsie Persaud Ltd. has been a pioneer in developing Guyana's hinterland and producing quality construction materials.

Monday

Some of the patrons at Mary's Bar on Tuesday

A

juvenile is among 22 persons that were caught at Mary's Bar on Tuesday breaching the COVID-19 regulations, according to Region Three Commander, Errol Watts.

During a telephone call with this publication, Watts stated that the owner of the

bar was slapped with two charges, breaching the regulations and allowing an underage boy in her bar imbibing. She was released on $25,000 station bail, while the others were released on $5000 station bail for breaching the regulations.

On Tuesday, Watts and

PAGE 19

his officers decided to make an unexpected visit to Mary's Bar, located in Crane, West Coast Demerara. He then instructed a police officer to take the names and record the faces of all the persons in the bar. They are all expected to appear in the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrates' Courts on Monday at 9am.

Toolsie Persaud Photo Credit: INEWS

PAGE 20

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

Saturday August 22, 2020

PAGE 21

Kaieteur News

Messi contemplates Barca exit - reports Majority of Japanese BARCELONA (Reuters) Lionel Messi still wishes to leave Barcelona after meeting new coach Ronald Koeman, according to reports in the Spanish media yesterday, as all four sports newspapers dedicated their front covers to the Argentine’s uncertain future.

Marca, Spain’s biggest selling daily, said the Argentine told Koeman that he was more likely to leave the club than to stay, while AS declared on its cover ‘Messi sees himself leaving’.

Barcelona-based daily Mundo Deportivo said Messi ‘does not see his future clearly’, but stressed that the captain has little hope of leaving the club immediately due to his 700-million-euro ($827.05 million) release clause.

Messi, who joined Barca aged 13, has scored a record 634 goals for the Catalans in 730 matches and is also the club’s most decorated player with 33 trophies.

He is 37 games away from matching Xavi Hernandez as the club’s all-time appearance maker.

But the 33-year-old is into the final year of his contract at the club and doubts about his future have grown since last week’s historic 8-2 thrashing to Bayern Munich to exit the Champions League, which Barca have failed to win since 2015.

Sport, also based in Barcelona, talked of a ‘first summit meeting’ between the captain and coach, adding that Messi interrupted his holidays in order to meet with Koeman.

firms are against holding Olympics next summer: survey

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

(Manu Fernandez/Pool via REUTERS) The Dutch coach said in his presentation on Wednesday that he wanted Messi to stay, although he

Saturday August 22, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) There's a fiery tone to the day that can't be ignored. You may find that adjustments need to be made in your own plan of attack in order to get on the same page with other people.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You may need a translator to get through to people today, Libra. It could be hard to make decisions, but not impossible. Today's tip is to err on the side of adventure.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) There's an extra spark in your eye that people won't be able to ignore. Today's a good day to get your point across, because you'll find people more open and receptive to new things than usual.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Use your power resources today, Scorpio, as you have a great deal of dynamic energy at your disposal. You have the ability to transform and conquer anything now.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Take yourself on a mental adventure today in which you explore new aspects of your world. Discuss philosophy and religion. Get to the core of a matter that seriously interests you.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) You could be asked to make some spontaneous decisions today that you might not feel entirely comfortable making, Sagittarius.

CANCER(June21–July22) Take yourself on a mental adventure today in which you explore new aspects of your world. Discuss philosophy and religion. Get to the core of a matter that seriously interests you.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Be careful that you aren't acting in a way that you dislike in others. You could find that you're slowly taking on the traits of the people you despise.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) The day's general mood should fit quite well with your agenda, Virgo. There's no need to fixate on the negative.

Keep things light and upbeat and worry about the consequences later.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) Emotionally, you may feel as if you're running up against a brick wall, Capricorn. It could be that your first reaction is to drown your sorrows in drink.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Your emotions could be extra powerful today, Aquarius, although something may not feel as if it's sitting right. It could be a feeling of manipulation.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Take hold of this day as if it's your own and use it to grow your dreams, Pisces.

You'll find a great deal of power and dynamism in the air urging you to take the adventurous route. There's no need to hold back.

did not show as much reverence to the player as some of his predecessors.

Koeman said he “did not know if he needed to convince Messi to stay” although he did call the Argentine the best player in the world and said he would be happy if he chose to remain at Barca.

With his contract running out next June, the six-times world player of the year is free to negotiate with other clubs from next January.

Yet even without a transfer fee, Messi’s colossal salary, reported to be the highest in world football, means very few clubs would be able to afford him.

A study by French newspaper L’Equipe earlier this year said Messi earns 8.2 million euros per month from Barca, way more than Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris St Germain striker Neymar, who earn 4.5 million and 3 million respectively.

TOKYO (Reuters) - More than half of Japanese companies believe the Tokyo Olympics, originally planned for this summer but postponed for a year due to the novel coronavirus, should be cancelled or put off again, a survey by a Japanese think-tank found.

Of some 13,000 companies that responded to the poll by Tokyo Shoko Research, 27.8% said the sporting event should be cancelled while 25.8% saw another postponement as desirable.

Japan lifted in late May a state of emergency imposed to stop the coronavirus, as it

recorded fewer infections, but cases started to increase again in July.

“With the end of the spread of infection nowhere in sight, companies are divided into for and against holding the event in 2021,” the research group said in a report, published on Thursday. Of the companies surveyed, 22.5% believed the Tokyo Olympics should be held as planned while 18.4% said they ought to be held with fewer spectators and 5.3% said they should be held with no spectators.

The poll was conducted over the Internet between late July and early August.

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Saturday August 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

Sir Mo Farah to set the pace at Clijsters pulls out of Western & elites-only London Marathon Southern Open with injury

Sir Mo Farah placed fifth in the elite men’s race in 2019. (Eddie Keogh Photography/PA) PA Sport - Sir Mo Farah will act as a pacemaker for the London Marathon after the elite field was revealed.

The race will only involve elite athletes, with the usual 45,000 runners unable to take part because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele headline the race, which will be held on a bio-secure closed course on October 4.

World Athletics will lift its suspension of the Olympic qualification system for marathon races from September 1, meaning athletes have the chance to achieve the Olympic standard of two hours 11:30 minutes.

Farah, who came third in the race in 2018, said: “The London Marathon has been so important to me since I was a schoolboy and when they asked me to do this I thought it would be great to help.

“I am in good shape, I’ll be in London that week and it fits in with my training.

“I’ve been training in Font Romeu with some of the British guys who are going for that Olympic qualifying time and they are good lads.

“I know just how special it is just to compete for your country at an Olympic Games and it would be great to help other athletes achieve this.

Kim Clijsters in action during the New York Empire v Orlando Storm match. (Ryan Nixon/Handout via REUTERS) (Reuters) - Kim Clijsters has withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open due to an abdominal injury, the former world number one said yesterday, but she is hopeful of playing in the U.S. Open later this month.

The Western & Southern Open which began this week in New York serves as a warmup event for players ahead of the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 U.S. Open — where Clijsters, 37,

received a wildcard entry.

“It’s disappointing to have to withdraw but after discussions with medical and my team, I need a little more recovery time,” Clijsters, who won the event in 2010, said in a statement.

“I’m grateful to be able to stay in the ‘bubble’ and continue to prepare with my team here at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.”

Clijsters, who made her return to tennis this year after nearly eight years away from the sport, won the U.S. Open in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

The four-times Grand Slam champion’s planned comeback in January was pushed back to February because of a knee injury and she played in Dubai and Monterrey before the tour was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lasith Malinga set to miss initial part of took a wicket, of Shardul mentor, but last year IPL in UAE then Thakur, on the final delivery Mumbai paid INR 2 crore to The men’s elite file will include two of the big names in the distance event. (Twitter) “With the current global situation and lack of races, the Virgin Money London Marathon in October is the best chance for athletes to run the Olympic qualifying time.”

Farah will return to the track to defend his 10,000m title at next year’s delayed Olympics while Callum Hawkins has already been pre-selected for Team GB. Steph Twell, who ran a

personal best of 2:26:40 in Frankfurt last year to go sixth on the British all-time rankings, will compete in the women’s race.

The route will be around St James’s Park in central London with the finish on The Mall remaining the same as in previous years.

It is the 40th anniversary of the race and the first time it has been elite athletes only.

ESPNcricinfo – Lasith Malinga is set to miss the first part of the 2020 IPL for Mumbai Indians.

ESPNcricinfo understands Malinga will not be travelling to the UAE, where the IPL will be played from September 19 to November 10, and will miss the initial games due to personal reasons.

It is understood Malinga’s father has been ill and may require surgery in the coming weeks. The fast bowler wants to be by his side and will be training in Colombo. It is believed Malinga is likely to join Mumbai during the business end of the tournament, including the playoffs, where his experience will come handy.

Malinga defended eight runs in the final over of the IPL final against Chennai Super Kings last year, that too after he had leaked 42 runs in his first three overs. Bowling the last over, he conceded just seven runs off the first five balls and

when the Super Kings needed two to win, to seal a record fourth title for Mumbai.

One key factor that is likely to have contributed to Malinga’s decision is the current quarantine protocol imposed by the Sri Lankan government for people entering the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As per the rules, anyone entering Sri Lanka needs to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine, which means Malinga would have had to remain in quarantine if he flew to the UAE and then came back to see his father at any point.

Malinga, who turns 37 on August 28, has been one of the most valuable players in the IPL for Mumbai. He is the second-highest wicket-taker in T20s, behind Dwayne Bravo, and is also the highest wicket-taker in IPL with 170 wickets.

He joined Mumbai in 2009 and has been retained by the franchise in IPL ever since. In 2018 he served as a bowling

bring him back as a player, a decision that proved to be a winning investment.

Although IPL is yet to release the tournament schedule, Mumbai are expected to play 2019 runners-up Super Kings in the first match as per the norm.

Malinga last featured for Sri Lanka in a T20I during the home series against West Indies in March this year. Incidentally, he did not participate in the residential conditioning camps Sri Lanka Cricket organised in June and July.

Mumbai may have numerous options in their pace reserves which this time include Jasprit Bumrah, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Dhawal Kulkarni, and allrounders Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, but it is Malinga’s experience that they will miss more than anything else.

Saturday August 22, 2020

PAGE 23

Kaieteur News

Warriors battle Tallawahs, Patriots take on Zouks today - Double header on Sunday

By Zaheer Mohamed The stage is set for an exciting weekend as the Guyana Amazon Warriors will take on Jamaica Tallawahs in what is expected to be a keenly contested affair, while St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots will play St. Lucia Zouks when the Caribbean Premier League continues today. Both matches are set for the Brian Lara Stadium with the first encounter commencing at 10:00hrs, while the Warriors will play the Tallawahs at 14:15hrs.

Another double header is set for tomorrow with Knight Riders playing Barbados Tridents at 10:00hrs and Warriors taking on Zouks at 14:15 hrs.

The format of this year’s tournament will see the top four teams contesting the semi finals so the fourth place finisher at the end of the preliminary stage can still claim the coveted trophy.

However, the teams will want to ensure that their places in the final four are secured soonest and they do not have to scramble for points at the last minute for

berths in the semis.

Having lost their opening game to the Trinbago Knight Riders by four wickets, the Warriors rebounded to beat St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots by three wickets in their second game at the Brian Lara Stadium. Shimron Hetmyer has started off the tournament in fine fashion with consecutive halfcenturies, while Paul produced an economical spell, picking up 4-19 to earn the man-of-the-match award.

Hetmyer and Paul were the Captain and Vice Captain respectively of the 2016 West Indies U19 World Cup wining team and will know that consistency is one of the key attributes of a successful team.

After seemingly set for an easy win in their previous encounter, the Warriors suffered some nervous moments, losing a few quick wickets in the latter stages of the chase before Romario Shepherd prevented further hiccups with a boundary to seal the win, but skipper Chris Green said they want to be peaking at the back end of the tournament. “There is no

point peaking in game one or game two, we want to be peaking at the back end of the tournament, that’s what our aim is, and doing something we haven’t done yet,” he said following their win.

“Doing something we haven’t done yet”, implies winning the tournament, so it is vital for the players to be in their best form, more so in the second half of the competition so they can cross that final hurdle. The Warriors have reached the final on five occasions and the players are aware that team work and executing well on the day are also important ingredients of successful teams.

Getting off to solid starts are essential and the Warriors will be hoping that Brandon King and Chandrapaul Hemraj captialise on the power-play so the middle order can marshal the middle overs well on a pitch that is expected to deteriorate.

Having an in-form Hetmyer is a major boost to the batting line up, but the others must contribute consistently to give the bowlers decent totals to defend. Paul and Shepherd can hit the ball cleanly down the order so the fire power is

there to accelerate. The Warriors bowling have shown tremendous improvement in the last game and will have to continue in this vein, especially against the likes of Andre Russell, Glenn Phillips, Asif Ali and Carlos Brathwaite.

Spinner Sandeep Lamichhane can be difficult to read in these conditions, while Fidel Edwards and Oshane Thomas can prove more than a handful with the new ball.

Teams; Guyana Amazon Warriors - Anthony Bramble, Ashmead Nedd, Brandon King, Chris Green, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Imran Tahir, Jasdeep Singh, Kevin Sinclair, Keemo Paul, Ross Taylor, Nicholas Pooran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Odean Smith, Qais Ahmad, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford and Shimron Hetmyer.

Tallawahs - Rovman Powell (c), Asif Ali, Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Carlos Brathwaite, Fidel Edwards, Nicholas Kirton, Sandeep Lamichhane, Ramaal Lewis, Preston McSween, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Veerasammy Permaul, Ryan Persaud, Glenn Phillips, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas and Chadwick Walton.

Asif Ali clubs one away on CPL debut, Jamaica Tallawahs v St Lucia Zouks, Trinidad, CPL 2020, August 19, 2020 © Randy Brooks - CPL T20 / Getty

Sevilla beat Inter 3-2 to Broncos, Lions playing early games without fans lift Europa League title COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Sevilla clinched the Europa League title with a 3-2 win over Inter Milan after an overhead kick by defender Diego Carlos deflected by the Italian side’s top scorer Romelu Lukaku settled a thrilling contest yesterday.

It was an astonishing anti-climax to Lukaku’s first season at Inter after he had set the longest scoring run by a player in UEFA Cup/ Europa League history when he netted in the 11th successive game to give Inter an early lead.

Lukaku also equalled former Brazil striker Ronaldo’s club record of 34 goals for Inter in a season in all competitions, but it was scant consolation as gritty Sevilla claimed a recordextending sixth title in Europe’s second-tier competition.

Lukaku fired Inter ahead with a fifth-minute penalty after he raced away from Diego Carlos when the Italian side broke away from inside their own area.

The lightning counter ended with the Sevilla

defender tripping Lukaku before the towering Belgium striker steered his spot-kick past goalkeeper Yassine Bono.

De Jong, who came off the bench to score Sevilla’s winner in a 2-1 semi-final win over Manchester United, showed his predatory instinct again with a pair of headers which turned the tide.

The Dutchman levelled in the 12th minute after a delightful cross from the right by Jesus Navas and then beat Inter keeper Samir Handanovic in the 33rd with a looping header after Ever Banega floated in a free kick.

However, Sevilla’s joy was short-lived as they were also undone by a fine set piece three minutes l a t e r, with Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic swinging in a free kick for Diego Godin to head home from close range.

A rip-roaring first half ended with Lucas Ocampos shaving the bar with a header as both sides surged forward in relentless end-to-end action.

The pace dropped after

the break before Lukaku spurned a gilt-edged chance in the 65th minute, as he could only muster a tame shot at Bono after racing clear of Diego Carlos again from the halfway line.

Lukaku compounded his second half nightmare in the 74th minute as Carlos, who was lucky not to be sent off when he conceded the penalty, unleashed a speculative overheaded kick after Inter failed to clear yet another set piece.

The ball seemed to be going wide of Handanovic’s left-hand post but Lukaku instinctively stuck his foot out and it ended up in the roof of the net.

Inter missed their best chance of forcing extra time when Jules Kounde cleared the ball of his line after a goalmouth scramble and Sevilla held on in the dying minutes under intense Inter pressure.

It was a joyful end of the season for their coach Julen Lopetegui, who won his first trophy as coach at senior level after a torrid period which saw him sacked by Spain and Real Madrid.

The Denver Broncos will play their home opener and the Detroit Lions will play their first two home games without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the teams announced yesterday.

The Broncos kick off the season at Empower Field at Mile High on Monday night Sept. 14 against the Tennessee Titans. The stadium’s normal capacity is 76,125 for football.

“We are grateful for the loyalty and enthusiasm that Broncos fans have shown this year,” the team said in a press release. “... But this is the responsible thing to do right now.”

The Broncos are hoping to host a “limited number of fans on a gradually increasing basis” as the season goes on.

Their second home game is Sept. 27 against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Lions’ first two home dates at 65,000-seat Ford Field are Sept. 13 against the rival Chicago Bears and Oct. 4 against the New Orleans Saints.

The Lions said a decision about their third home game, Nov. 1 against the Indianapolis Colts, and other

Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock (3) and quarterback Brett Rypien (4) warm up during training camp at the UCHealth Training Center. (Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports) dates will be determined after further evaluation.

“Lions fans have traditionally created an intimidating environment for visiting teams at Ford Field,” the team said in a statement. “... We are hopeful for an opportunity to host fans at the remaining six 2020 home games.”

Both teams said these decisions were made in conjunction with state and local officials and with the

health and safety of fans, players and stadium staff members as the top priority.

The Broncos and Lions joined a growing list of NFL teams who will begin the season without fans, including the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, Titans, Bears, Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Giants and the Washington Football Team.

(Field Level Media)

PAGE 24

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

50-year-old ‘newcomers’ PSG finally make the biggest stage LISBON (Reuters) - The Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain tomorrow is a clash of two of the modern giants of the European game but in terms of footballing history, it is the French club who are the relative newcomers.

For not only will this be PSG’s first final in the competition, it comes 11 days after they celebrated only their 50th anniversary as a club.

To give some perspective, Bayern are 120 years old while last year’s winners Liverpool were formed in 1892.

Indeed, when Bayern won the first of their five European Cup titles in 1973, PSG were just three years old and playing in the French third division.

While French football has a long and rich history, the capital city was noticeably absent from the elite with Parisians showing little interest in the game as provincial clubs like St Etienne and Reims enjoyed continental success.

Those in the capital who followed the game made the most of brief moments of promise for the small, older traditional clubs, Red Star and Racing Club, until the creation of PSG. The merger of the new

General view outside the Estadio da Luz ahead of the Champions League final. (REUTERS/Matthew Childs) Paris Football Club and Stade Saint-Germanois in 1970 created a team for the changing population of the capital. A French Cup win came in 1982 and four years later, they won their first league title.

With backing from television company Canal Plus, the club attracted top talent such as winger David Ginola and Liberian striker George Weah.

By 1996, the club had made its mark on the

international stage with a team featuring Brazil midfielder Rai and France international Youri Djorkaeff helping them win the European Cup Winners’ Cup with a 1-0 victory over Rapid Vienna.

PSG started being able to attract big names, with Ronaldinho joining in 2001, but the key moment of change came 10 years later when Qatar Sports Investment took control of the club The Qataris began a huge investment in talent and top

managers as they sought to create a ‘superclub’ to match global brands such as Barcelona and Real Madrid.

David Beckham ended his career at PSG while Zlatan Ibrahimovic brought his huge personality to Paris and, domestically, the club have dominated the French league, winning seven of the last eight championships.

Success in Europe has been harder to find however.

For all the money spent, including a world record 222

million euros for Brazilian Neymar, PSG failed to get beyond the quarter-finals stage in the Champions League.

Until this year.

Wins over Italy’s Atalanta and Germany’s RB Leipzig have propelled Thomas Tuchel’s side, powered by local hero Kylian Mbappe, to a place in club football’s biggest game.

Luis Fernandez, who played for the club in the 1970s and ‘80s and was

manager of the team which won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996, appreciates the sense of history. “Generations follow one another, but you can feel that those who have lived our adventure know it and have loved it,” he said.

“I also remember playing in the Champions League. It’s a always a beautiful night of football, it’s a different approach. Every year there are expectations. We opened the way with the Cup Winners’ Cup.”

NBA roundup: Bucks pound Magic, even series

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and forward Kyle Kuzma (0) and guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (third from right) and forward Anthony Davis (3) huddle during the first half of a NBA basketball first round playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2020 NBA playoffs at AdventHealth Arena. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

Anthony Davis scored 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Thursday, and the Los Angeles Lakers played to their credentials as the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs, earning a 111-88 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 of their first-round series near Orlando.

LeBron James added a modest 10 points with six rebounds and seven assists in 27 minutes as the Lakers rebounded from a 100-93 defeat to the eighth-seeded Blazers in Game 1. It was his lowest point total in a playoff game since he had seven points for the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers earned their first victory in the playoffs since Game 3 of the 2012 Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Blazers guard Damian Lillard was held to 18 points while CJ McCollum added 13.

Portland was limited to 40 percent shooting from the field and 27.6 percent (8 of 29) from 3-point range.

Milwaukee Bucks 111 Orlando Magic 96

Top-seeded Milwaukee held eighth-seeded Orlando to three first-quarter field goals en route to a doubledigit lead, then rode Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 28 points and game-high 20 rebounds to even their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series at one game apiece.

Nikola Vucevic went for a game-high 32 points, but no other member of the Magic topped 12 as Milwaukee avenged a poor defensive effort in a 122110 loss in Game 1 on Tuesday.

Brook Lopez chipped in with 20 points, while Pat Connaughton added 15, Eric Bledsoe had 13 to complement a game-high seven assists and Donte DiVincenzo 11 for the Bucks, who outshot the Magic 47.2 percent to 34.8 percent.

Miami Heat 109 Indiana Pacers 100 Duncan Robinson tied a franchise postseason record with seven 3-pointers in just his second career playoff game, helping Miami take a 20 lead in its first-round Eastern Conference series against Indiana.

Robinson finished with a

game-high 24 points, Goran Dragic added 20 and Jimmy Butler had 18 in a balanced attack that allowed the fifthseeded Heat to successfully follow up on their 113-101 triumph in the series opener.

The Heat never trailed in the second half.

Victor Oladipo, playing two days after suffering an eye injury that required brief hospitalization, led the fourth-seeded Pacers with 22 points. Myles Turner and Malcom Brogdon added 17 apiece.

Houston Rockets 111 Oklahoma City Thunder 98 James Harden had 21 points and nine assists to power Houston past Oklahoma City for a 2-0 series lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Houston, which hit 19 3pointers and had seven players in double figure, scored 17 straight points in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to win again without Russell Westbrook.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 31 points. Chris Paul shot just 6 of 15 from the floor and scored 14 points.

(Field Level Media)

Kaieteur News

Saturday August 22, 2020

PAGE 25

Caribbean to have Zak Crawley’s maiden Test century puts coaches’ virtual England in driving seat against Pakistan boxing seminar next month

E

SPNcricinfo Zak Crawley’s imposing maiden Test hundred put England into the driving seat on the first day of the third and final Test of their series against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl.

Crawley, the 22-year-old Kent batsman, became the first England No. 3 to score a Test hundred at home since Joe Root in 2016, as he put on an unbroken 205-run partnership with Jos Buttler to give them every chance of posting a first-innings total that will wipe out any chance of Pakistan securing a serieslevelling win in the final Test.

Despite him possessing a middling record in first-class cricket and never winning England Under-19 recognition, Crawley has been tipped as a long-term option at the top of their batting order for several years, and looked the part as he drove, swept and flicked his way to three figures from first drop.

Powering England forwards with the ruthless Buttler for company, he pressed on past the 150 mark, and has every chance of becoming England’s youngest double-centurion since David Gower on the second morning.

Despite a delayed toss, cloud cover and strong winds, it was no surprise that Joe Root opted to bat first on a wicket that both captains said looked relatively dry.

Despite the early loss of Rory Burns - who has averaged 5.00 in this series -

Jos Buttler and Zak Crawley put on a valuable stand. (AFP) England scored at quite a lick in the first hour, rocketing along at four runs per over. Crawley had demonstrated his positive intent early on, clipping a half-volley for four off his first ball and dispatching anything loose from Naseem Shah. Dom Sibley scored uncharacteristically quickly himself, using his feet in an attempt to throw Yasir Shah off his length after his early introduction, but it proved his undoing.

Skipping down to a length ball, Sibley tried to work Yasir to leg but was surprised by the turn, the ball skidding into his pad as Michael Gough raised his finger. Sibley reviewed, but DRS showed that it would have gone onto smash into middle. There followed a tricky passage before lunch, in which Root and Crawley had to cling on; despite both flirting at balls in the offstump channel, they just about managed to do so.

Pakistan came out energised and refreshed after the interval, and Naseem soon accounted for Root with a ball that nipped away viciously. Root groped at it but was undone by the seam

movement, edging through to Mohammad Rizwan, and Pakistan sensed an opening.

Three overs later, Yasir slid through a quicker ball on a length, which Ollie Pope rocked back to, leaving a gap between bat and pad and seeing the ball skid through onto the top of the stumps.

That left England 127 for 4, and in desperate need of a partnership with only allrounders and bowlers left to come.

But Crawley looked utterly unfazed, with Buttler providing the support from the other end. He did provide a couple of half-chances, edging the relentlessly accurate Mohammad Abbas short of slip and pulling Shaheen Shah Afridi uppishly towards midwicket, but moved into the tea interval unbeaten on 97 after ticking over fluently and comfortably with a series of flicks and drives.

Buttler, meanwhile, survived an optimistic review, playing and missing outside the off stump off Afridi.

He brought up three fingers with a punch through the covers off Abbas, bursting into a Cheshire cat

grin and kissing the England badge on his helmet as the balcony applauded. He batted with authority before the second new ball, coverdriving Afridi for four and bringing out some deft flicks and reverse-sweeps off Yasir and part-timer Fawad Alam.

Buttler, meanwhile, looked completely assured, spanking Yasir for two sixes and a four shortly before the drinks break in the evening session and reaching his half-century with a nudge through square leg.

Afridi was profligate when the new ball did arrive, overstepping three times and going for a boundary and four leg byes, but quickly adjusted and had Crawley flashing outside his off stump twice in two overs, while Abbas threatened Buttler with the nip-backer.

And yet England continued to rocket along, putting away anything wide as Buttler eased towards what would be only his second Test hundred. His a s s a u l t o n Ya s i r notwithstanding, Buttler was generally measured in his aggression and orthodox in his approach, driving effortlessly through the covers and scoring the vast majority of his runs in front of square.

Crawley walked off with a career-best first-class score to his name - no doubt with every intention of turning his unbeaten 171 into a maiden double-hundred on Saturday morning.

Scores: England 332 for 4 (Crawley 171*, Buttler 87*) v Pakistan.

Young Seales shows the right mentality but Pollard wants to protect him SportsMax - Trinbago Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard was pleased with what he saw from 18year-old Jayden Seales during the team’s sevenwicket win over the Jamaica Ta l l a w a h s i n H e r o Caribbean Premier League action on Thursday night.

Seales bowled three overs and took two wickets for 21 runs to help restrict the Tallawahs to 135-8.

More impressive for the 18-year-old, was the fact that he was entrusted with opening the bowling along with Ali Khan against a powerful Tallawahs top order.

“Today, opening the bowling was not on the cards but after we saw the first couple of balls swing I thought might as well go pace out and see what we get,” said Pollard in an interview with Ian Bishop after the game.

But according to Pollard, the young talent has to be protected and he won’t be putting him in that kind of pressure situation regularly.

“We want to try to protect him as much as possible. He is young so we try not to throw him into the fire. Give him easy roles,” said Pollard.

Despite the need to protect Seales, Pollard did

point out that the pacer seems to handle pressure well.

Seales first wicket was that of another youngster in Nicholas Kirton, trapping the number three batsman leg before wicket with a beautiful curling delivery.

The pacer was also given the 16th over with opener Glenn Phillips (58) trying to push the pace of a flagging innings and had him caught, trying to lift a fullish delivery over backwardsquare-leg, only to be snapped up by Dwayne Bravo on the boundary. “[…] in the heat of the moment we’ve had to throw

him into the fire and the couple of times he has come on, he has shown that he has that mental capacity you know, to take that sort of pressure,” said Pollard.

But Seales night with the ball ended after his third over, even though he had been bowling well, Pollard again deciding to ease him into the thick of things.

“It is not one where we gonna consistently give him the bowling in those pressure situations. I could have easily brought him back in that last over as well but, again, you leave him with that confidence and that high,” he said.

T

he Guyana B o x i n g Association, in a release to the media has announced that Chairman of the Caribbean Steering Committee for Boxing; Steve Ninvalle, has organized a virtual seminar for coaches to be conducted on September 20.

The seminar will be conducted by respected chairman of the AIBA Referees/Judges Commission, American Ray Silvas.

Ninvalle explained that Silvas will work with Caribbean coaches to update them on what Referees and Judges look for during fights. He explained that, “We think it is important for our coaches to be equipped with the knowledge of how Judges score fights and what a r e c o n s i d e r e d infringements by the referee.

Many coaches are not fully aware of some of these rules which can result in an unconscious’ defeat of our boxers.”

This is the third such seminar to be organized by Ninvalle in a short span of time.

Just recently Silvas completed a two-day

Steve Ninvalle seminar for R/Js from the English-speaking Caribbean, Haiti, Curacao and Suriname.

Over one hundred and fifty officials participated in the event which marked the largest gathering of Caribbean referees and judges ever.

In July, Ninvalle who is also Vice President of the 43-nation Americas Boxing Confederation, organized a virtual seminar for coaches in the English Speaking Caribbean which was conducted by Puerto Rican Jose Lauren. Eighty officials from the Caribbean participated.

Pollard pleased with win; Powell wants an improved Tallawahs The Trinbago Knight Riders defeated Jamaica Tallawahs by seven wickets at the Brian Lara Stadium on Thursday and Captain Kieron Pollard says he is pleased with the win.

Knight Riders restricted the Tallawahs for 135-8 before they responded with 136-3 to register their second win in as many matches in this year’s CPL. Speaking following the contest, Pollard said he is pleased with the win and credited his players for showing improvement. “We spoke about improving in all aspects of the game prior to the toss and we did that.

The power hitting today was good, it was set up by excellent opening spells from Ali Khan and Jayden Seales. This shows that once you plan and execute things will go well and I think restricting this power line

up was fantastic.”

Pollard credited young pacer Seales and opener Narine for his attacking half century. “Narine hasn’t played for a while so he is really hungry for this. He is determined and hopefully he can continue.”

Meanwhile, Tallawahs skipper Rovman Powell said he is looking for an improvement from his boys.

“We spoke about not losing early wickets, and to find myself, Chadwick Walton and Asif Ali back in the pavilion early is a problem for us. We have to go back to the drawing board and ensure we don’t lose many wickets in the power play.”

“You don’t become a bad team after one game, so the self belief is still there.

We dropped a few catches, so there is something to work on so we have to improve.” (CPL)

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Kemo Paul (sitting) Shimron Hetmyer (left) and Nicolas Pooran celebrate a wicket. (CPL)

Glenn Phillips attacks during his half century, Trinbago Knight Riders v Jamaica Tallawahs, CPL 2020, Trinidad, August 20, 2020 Š Randy Brooks - CPL T20 / Getty

Warriors battle Tallawahs, Patriots take on Zouks today - Double header on Sunday

Sevilla beat Inter 3-2 to lift Europa League title

Sevilla players celebrate winning the Europa League Final, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). (Martin Meissner/Pool via REUTERS) 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.