Kaieteur News

K

Myers to act as CEO NEWS as Lowenfield proceeds on more than 140 days leave

Tuesday Edition

AIETEUR

December 22, 2020 - Vol. 13 No. 51

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

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Exxon’s flaring this year equivalent to the removal of 1.6M acres of forest p.

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Oil price inches back, as countries take COVID vaccine p.

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Largest quarry Father, who licence in killed children,Finance Ministry region issued loses appeal to warns about to Jagmohan reduce 30-year paying any fee - to cater for influx of large-scale projects - at least 300M tonnes of rock available for extraction sentence Update on National COVID-19 cash grant…

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- apartment homes with no principal householder will have to fill ‘pink form’

John Fernandes Limited moves to construct storage facility for hazardous materials for oil sector p.

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Listen to the Glenn Lall Show at 11:00am, to hear how our leaders gave away our lands and saddled us with oil bills on 99.1/99.5FM Kaieteur Radio (Rebroadcast)

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Myers to act as CEO as Lowenfield proceeds on more than 140 days leave

GECOM CEO, Keith Lowenfield

GECOM Chair, Claudette Singh

DCEO, Roxanne Myers

District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo

C

ontroversial Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Roxanne Myers, will assume the duties of CEO as Keith Lowenfield proceeds on annual leave.

GECOM sought to clear up the misconception that Lowenfield was ordered to proceed on leave by the C h a i r, R e t ' d J u s t i c e , Claudette Singh, as was reported in a recent news article.

In a statement, the Commission stated that “For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that Mr. Keith Lowenfield applied on 1st September, 2020 for his accumulative 2016 - 2019 annual leave totaling 146 days.”

GECOM said that Lowenfield's request was approved by the Chairperson and his leave commenced on September 7 last.

Lowenfield is due back to work on January 30 next year.

Justice Singh was quoted in the aforementioned article as stating that the DCEO will

now assume Lowenfield's role to assist in the preparations for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).

But while the Commission addressed that issue, it remained mum on the calls for Lowenfield, Myers and contentious District Four Returning Officer (RO) to be removed before the LGE process commences.

The latest push came from the Private Sector Commission (PSC) against the officials and others who all have pending criminal matters in the court for their involvement in the protracted March 2, 2020 elections.

“It is unthinkable and certainly unacceptable that GECOM should proceed to conduct Local Government Elections while these officers remain employed and involved in the conducting of these elections,” their statement said.

The PSC call triggered a response from leader of the A (continued on page 12)

Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

PAGE 03

Exxon's flaring this year equivalent to the removal of 1.6M acres of forest

By Mikaila Prince

J

ust two days ago, ExxonMobil announced that it had ceased its significant flaring of toxic natural gas at its Liza Phase One operations, its first commercial investment offshore of Guyana. This development followed after Exxon, which prides itself on being an effective manager of emissions, failed to mitigate flaring at Liza One for one year.

Recent details from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now show that in that same year, ExxonMobil would have flared 12.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day, equivalent to the removal of 1.6M acres of forest. In simpler terms, this means that Exxon flared toxic natural gas that could have been offset by a forest the size of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

Ye s t e r d a y, A c t i n g D i r e c t o r o f t h e E PA ,

Sharifah Razack, in a report indicated that as of December 15, the total volume of gas flared from the Liza One operation was 12.429 billion of standard cubic feet (BSCF) of gas.

Her report had also stated that an average of 8.310 million standard cubic feet per day of gas was flared during December, while adding that flaring was reduced to 0.661 million standard cubic feet per day by the reporting date. “The total volume of gas injected as of 15 December, 2020, at the Liza One operation was 12.895 BSCF with an injection volume of 126.416 million standard cubic feet per day of gas reached on 15 December, 2020 itself,� the EPA report stated.

Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) reported that it experienced safe and steady operations during the prior week, with an average production of 105 kilo

barrels per day and average flaring at 8.6 thousand cubic feet per day.

The EPA indicated that the third stage Flash Gas Compressor (FGC) completed its Phase Three Test programme, including a 72 hour run on December 5, with both the LP and MP Compressors running and a flare at safety pilot levels.

During the test programme, monitoring and control parameters were developed for ongoing operations.

The FCG was shut down on December 8, the EPA noted, in preparation for restart on December 11.

Following this, the FCG is said to have undergone a seven-day endurance run to ensure reliability and to monitor operating conditions and any issues in order to make final procedural improvements for reliable operations.

Importantly, Liza One is currently operating at pilot flare, which is said to provide the ignition source

Map indicating the area equivalent to Exxon's flaring for one year

Exxon flaring at its Liza Destiny FPSO

for combustion.

Notably, at the end of October, the company had flared more than 16M cubic feet of natural gas, thereby making Guyana one of the top five countries in the world for volume flared per y e a r, p e r c a p i t a . I n September, Guyana had

trailed Libya, Gabon, Oman, Qatar and Iraq, in total gas flared per capita, judging from statistics from the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report (July, 2 0 2 0 ) . H o w e v e r, t h e increased flaring in October caused Guyana to surpass Iraq.

The company claimed it had to flare, since its gas compression equipment was defective and needed to undergo repairs overseas.

The repairs reportedly proved difficult to undergo with haste, given limitations the COVID-19 pandemic (continued on page 14)

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 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

Everybody doing their own thing A quick survey of life in Guyana conveys how costly things are for the taxpaying citizens. As official mistakes pileup, the dollars spiral, and the reckoning will come when it is debt service time.

There is Omai recording a massive gold find, but the nation is at sea as to its benefits. The culprit is secrecy on the contract signed which is the peculiar transparency intensifying here. Just like that Payara report.

From town to Timehri, there is this public back and forth between the Hon. Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, and the Chinese Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) over that airport expansion project to nowhere. Lots of talking, lots of money involved, and lots of time gone together represent a classic of people doing their own thing without a care.

The Chinese were copied by the acting Town Clerk, who had her own ideas about who she should answer to, which apparently disregarded Mayor and Councillors of the City.

Obviously, this is city where everybody march to their own drum. They have much company, and it is deafening and detrimental to more than the ear.

Then, a senior police officer had a vehicle full of allegedly smuggled liquor. His story was that he was the point person for family and friends; and later, that the taxes were going to be paid. This was upon interception in Linden, which is a little distant from Lethem. Every benefit is due to this policeman, but it is reasonable that should such a situation be brought to his attention, his reaction would most likely be, that is one cock-and-bull story.

As we examine these situations, what impresses is that open and shut appearing situations are anything but. This is because of the mental agilities displayed over and over again here. We do not think for a moment that we are off the wall with this, for those developments (Omai gold discovery, Acting Town Clerk’s muscle flexing, the Chinese airport abominations, and the case(s) of the smuggled liquor) all point to savvy people responding very fluidly to situations.

By way of elaboration, ‘fluidly’ should be interpreted to mean that those impacted negatively react by providing the startlingly creative, the off the wall. It is one case after another of Guyanese and foreigners doing their own thing in their own time to suit their own caprices.

In the matter of that Omai gold find, it would be surprising if the versatile people in the Government of Guyana do not drum up and come up with something out of this world as a cover story for contract secrecy involving the state on the one hand, and the Omai Company on the other.

In this country, as we have learned, give slick people time to put their heads together, and the magical is what results. In this instance, magical is a kind word for sorcery.

A clever cover story will be trotted out to rationalize the secrecy involved, which would be the end of that, and rapid moving on following. It would be another example of the dreary cycle of next item, next set of skullduggeries, and the next series of camouflages. Some of which are old, and some others which would be new.

It is a clever way of doing the business of the people.

And as a recent opinion column contributor pointed out, corruption has little traction and less sting these days. It is something that we have kept pounding but, however looked at, things have boiled down to this: wha is “li’l teefing”?

Try as we might, there is only one conclusion that comes from such a position: this is part of the price for our democracy.

It is a fine kettle of fish (Guyanese might knowingly identify piranhas) that the arrival of democracy, and its obligations, has heaped upon this nation. Clearly, our culture brings great difficulty to adapting to the kind of quality changes that are vital for Guyana to be viable as a society, as respected people, and as a place with wealth that could not choke it to death.

When almost everyone misuses the freedoms of democracy to do their own thing in their sleazy way, trouble comes.

Guyana’s sole objective was to determine the validity of the 1899 Award Dear Editor, Not too long after the World Court ruled on Guyana’s application concerning the ‘legal validity and binding effect of the award regarding the boundary between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela of October 3, 1899,’ the press published two rather interesting interpretations regarding the Court’s decision.

More opinions and interpretations from the editors of mainstream media and experts at home and abroad are to be expected in respect to the Court’s decision.

The interpretations published thus far have raised some interesting questions.

Ralph Ramkarran in the final paragraph of his recent Conversation Tree blog ‘Victory at the World Court.’ wrote: ‘Of interest is that in paragraph 135 the ICJ appears to be contending that if it rules that the 1899 Award is null and void, it then has jurisdiction over the related question of the land boundary.’

In a sentence before the final paragraph in his blog

Ramkarran opines; ‘Further, the Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the events that took place after the signing of the Geneva Agreement. The seizure of Anoka, Venezuela’s violation of Guyana’s sovereignty on land and sea, will therefore have to be resolved by other peaceful means.’

Dr. Bertrand Ramcharran writing under the headline ‘ A reckless World Court decision on border controversy’ in last Sunday’s edition of the Stabroek News took aim at the court’s decision.

He asked; ‘How can the Court , supposedly with a mission to up hold the international rule of law, ignore Venezuela’s illegal occupation of Ankoko island and other territorial incursions?’ He went on, ‘The Court here lost an opportunity to uphold the principles of legality and justice for a small state at the mercy of a much larger bully.’

Experts would however argue that in its application to the Court, Guyana did not ask the Court to pronounce on the legality or illegality of Venezuela’s occupation of Ankoko.

Guyana’s application to the Court was limited – it

asked the Court to pronounce on the ‘legal validity and binding effect of the Award of 1899.’

It is here that Ramkarran’s question appears relevant meaning, ‘...if it (the Court) rules that the Award is null and void it then has jurisdiction over the related question of the land boundary.’

From this assertion it is to be assumed that, at a given point in time, Guyana will raise in a further application to the Court, the question of the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela, now that the question of jurisdiction concerning the legality and binding effect of the Arbitral Award is out of the way.

In the circumstances, it appears that Guyana has opted for a step by step approach to the Court on this long running and complex matter.

From all indications, Guyana’s approach appears to be more strategic, rather than a one-off tactical one.

Ramcharran’s assertion on the Ankoko question, though an important one, appears to be preemptive, if not premature. There is no ‘lost opportunity’ here. Nor has the Court ‘failed in its mission to uphold the

international rule of law’ as Ramcharran claims.

I shudder to think that, of all courts, the World Court would dare replicate our Court of Appeal’s half of sixty-five ruling thus bringing itself into disrepute on the global stage.

My own view is that contrary to Ramcharran’s claim about a ‘lost opportunity,’ we just haven’t reached that stage as yet in the proceedings where, all things being equal, seems a long way yet to go.

My take on the Ankoko matter is that Guyana wants the matter to be resolved, it always did. It never ceded sovereignty over Ankoko to Venezuela.

Guyana’s preference as ‘a small state at the mercy of a much larger bully’ has always been to have the matter resolved, not by military, but by peaceful means, and the World Court is precisely the forum that small states have at their disposal to do so.

The mere fact that more than fifty years ago Guyana had insisted that the Ankoko issue should have been taken to the UN Security Council and if necessary, to the World Court was a clear indication of its interest in having the matter settled peacefully.

In anticipation of the Court’s ruling that the (Continued on page 6)

2020 seems to be the year of re-awakening of the Private Sector Commission Dear Editor, In a recent letter to the editor re. the Allicock matter, I focused on the need for us, as a nation, to urgently address the question of a national ethos, as a matter of importance. I pointed out the need for us to embrace mutually agreed values and elements of Good Governance. The recent statement emanating from the Private Sector Commission with respect to their perceived need to rectify ‘all that has gone wrong at the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM)’ and their contention that “Senior officials of GECOM, including Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, and District 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, and a number of other officials assisting these officers and an Information Technology Officer, are charged before the Courts with “misconduct in public office.” Nevertheless, as far as we know, none of these officers have been dismissed from their employment with GECOM speaks volumes about the Private Sector Commission

and their disposition to a national ethos which embraces core values, responsible conduct, the ruleof law, honesty, transparency and fiduciary responsibility.

2020 seems to be the year of re-awakening of the Private Sector Commission. In 2006 GECOM produced a fraudulent result and a fraudulent document purporting to be the results of constituency ten/region #10 elections and the Private Sector Commission was deafeningly silent.

Doodnauth Singh in 1997 excused himself from the deliberations of the Commission, proceeded to swear in Janet Jagan, as President, unbeknownst to the Election Commission, which was still deliberating on the draft report of the elections results. The Private Sector Commission seemed comatose during and following that occurrence. In 2011, the then Chief Elections Officer presented to the Commission a fraudulent result, in favor of the PPP/C, about which the Private Sector Commission was aware; privately

acknowledged; but remained patently silent. In 2015 the Private Sector Commission turned a blind eye on the accusation of an attempt to introduce false statements of poll during the summation of the districts‘ results.

However, in 2020 the Private Sector Commission not only identifies with the accusation of wrong doing by GECOM officials, but finds them guilty without a trial and calls for their dismissal, even as the Courts grapple with the ongoing saga of the Prosecutors who, nine months after the offences where supposedly committed, and five months after the declaration of the results, have not yet addressed the courts on the substantive charges.

The Private Sector Commission‘s posture is clear disregard for ‘the presumption of innocence until found guilty.’ Is that the national ethos by which the Private Sector Commission is guided, one in which different measures are applied to difference people, notwithstanding the similarity of the alleged transgressions?

What have been the Private Sector Commission position on the four public officials who were also before the courts and failed to have the courts dismiss the charges brought against them, but were appointed to public offices and their cases surreptitiously withdrawn under constitutional, and the Director of Public Prosecution fiats? What‘s their position on the scores of public sector employees, who have been deprived of their livelihood?

I hold no brief for the individual GECOM employees, but I am committed to ensuring that they are not targeted politically, as has been the case with employees in other state agencies. I will also continue to call out those stakeholders who seem to have agendas, as is demonstrated, in the case of the Private Sector Commission, by their nontransparency, inconsistency and duplicity when dealing with GECOM employees.

Yours truly Vincent Alexander GECOM Commissioner

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Blunders and mismanagement make Coalition’s return possible Dear Editor, The ruling PPP finds itself very delicately holding office.

It does not take much for it to lose government. In fact, PPP is making many mistakes to embolden the PNC to pursue destabilizing activities. It is continuing the mismanagement of resources and personnel as occurred under the preceding regime, with little distinguishing features from the coalition when it comes to incompetence and institutionalized corruption.

As an example, Glenn Lall exposed the mismanagement relating to awarding land for house lots and businesses.

Businesses walk into the Housing Ministry and get thousands of acres of free land while the poor people line up all day and may be lucky to get a house lot. Corruption continues!

The PPP has also brought back some who were fingered in misappropriation of money in Foreign Affairs, Energy, Finance, Housing, Agriculture, Guysuco, NICIL, oil and gas, and elsewhere. Not much has changed.

The PPP has continued the oil and gas regime as under the coalition.

The APNU+AFC coalition could return to power if things continue the way they are. The PPP is governing as though it learnt nothing from its 23 years’ experience, creating opportunities for the return of APNU. “Tricks, deceit, and conniving attitudes continue under the PPP,” as Mr. Glenn Lall said on last Friday’s live radio program.

“Dey eye pass we” is correct, giving away everything to foreigners and “coming after we, the small man, for petty taxes.”

The Coalition is biding its time before it takes to the street to destabilize the government. The PNC has been busy strategizing on how to destabilize the government. There are hard-core racists in New

York, Arizona, Georgia, and Guyana, spreading disinformation against PPP rule. And the PPP is repeating some of the same blunders it made during the post-Jagan period.

The PPP has allowed PNC henchmen to situate within the PPP, fooling its leadership about being loyal to them when in fact they carry out the bidding of the coalition.

And the PPP has not done itself any favors; it teams up with an array of unprincipled conniving persons who would do anything for money. These characters jump from party to party; they are opportunists standing for nothing but enjoying the confidence of the party’s leadership and are rewarded with high positions and or businesses contracts.

They make business deals for self-enrichment.

They would do anything for money including abandoning PPP tomorrow to suit their interests.

And there are those within the PPP who are rewarded with high positions including Ministerial portfolios for being loyalists but who had caused the PPP to lose power in 2011 and 2015.

There are also a few total strangers to PPP activism getting Ministerial positions at the expense of hard working PPP stalwarts. All of these acts of the PPP leadership make for very fragile political survival of the PPP. Meanwhile, the government is not taking measures to prevent violent instability. One must not forget that there was insurrection like civil unrest in West Berbice, organized by the coalition not even a month into the PPP administration.

The instability that included arson, vandalism, and ethnic inspired robbery and violence shut down the country for several days.

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Kaieteur News

More such violence is coming, and the government is not preparing itself with an institutionalized response.

I watch with great expectation what the opposition will do next having its attempt to rig the March election rejected by its Caricom partners and the Western democracies and the violence it encouraged in West Berbice. Political instability is expected after the New Year.

The coalition is determined to unseat the PPP administration. One need not be reminded that the PPP got only 51% of the votes or 33 seats. The coalition got 47% of the votes or 31 seats with one seat going to the small parties. Just one seat separates the PPP from the combined opposition.

In another election, a mere 8,000 votes taken away from the PPP and diverted to the opposition by hook or crook can return power to the coalition.

This is not impossible to achieve. Creating political instability to make PPP look bad can undo the PPP. In addition, the blunders of the PPP administration bringing back known scamps to manage state enterprises and government boards are breaking confidence among PPP supporters, many of whom are turning away from the ruling party.

The administration has too many who are not up to the task and who have been tainted during its earlier stint in government.

The party’s supporters are grumbling.

President Ali should look to promote or recruit credible personalities with integrity to assist with governance and managing state corporations. The PPP losing more than 15K votes is within the realm of possibility in the next election to return the coalition back in power.

Yours truly, Shawn Simmons

Black faces in the Ali administration are disdained as house servants Dear Editor, I read the media coverage of President Ali speaking of this country’s unity in the face of its border controversy, and in the glow of the ICJ’s ruling about jurisdiction. On this business about unity, the president does not glow, but waxes rather dully, because he comes across as a greater pretender than that all-time Great Pretender, Tony Williams, and his famed Platters.

The first thing that His Excellency needs to be real on in this country is that there is little unity. Political fallout aside, he must be frank and admit to that truth, which he may not be capable of, given his own strengths and predispositions. Cotton Tree revealed the raging disunity and punctured all related hypocrisies and deceptions regarding a n y s p u r i o u s claims about unity.

To be blunt, presidential selfcongratulation about unity over border controversy is a bag of garbage and the president knows this all too well to be allowed to get away with that patented piece of propaganda. It has no foundation, no merit, no standing, no following.

This has long historical and cultural roots, and is also directly due to the still festering elections and the hatreds and toxins that flourished to such a widespread extent from that cultural depravity.

Those are not going anywhere, merely intensifying in more muted fashion and underground.

The president may be happy to fool himself, which is his business. But he is respectfully advised to cease and desist from putting that nonsense out before the sharply divided public of Guyana.

Further, the cause of unity, and the claim of u n i t y, was further weakened and dampened by the now longstanding treatment of so-called

‘political appointees’ in high pitched elections aftermaths.

This last was incontestably the worst pre- and postelections sicknesses and madness that have visited here in a long time. It does not matter that ‘political appointees’ are subject to such insulting dispatch after all elections. What matters is that the handling of this last batch has angered and been leveraged for gain, and which is freshest in the mind. It matters little who did what to whom before. This is what counts today, when interpreted as racial firings and believed ethnic cleansing.

Under no circumstances were the opposition and its supporters going to allow the PPP government to escape unscathed with what it had done.

From my perspective, some of the firings were justified (but not all); while I happen to endorse some of the opposition’s positions that racial purging occurred.

This is the poisoned chalice of Guyana that no group seems ready to detoxify, but relish privately, while pretending to be otherwise in the public space. All of this is rather transparent and contributes heavily not to unity but deep disunity.

I go further still and point to the disparaging treatment meted out by the new PPP government to the new opposition in a number of areas. Though the o p p o s i t i o n ’s machinations have contributed to numerous

questions and concerns about its presence, its a u t h e n t i c i t y, a n d i t s purpose, the group did garner an almost equal share of the votes tendered in the last Dantean electoral nightmare, and for that alone it is due recognition and not condemnation to the margins. I say this even as I ponder over its silence and impotence on several burning issues of the G u y a n e s e d a y, a n d i t s present v i a b i l i t y.

Notwithstanding all of this, its supporters look on and listen and seethe as to how not so much as the opposition is treated as a political group, but how they (the voter and citizen) are disrespected and dismissed.

This does not lend itself to much of anything related to the unity of which President Ali speaks so blandly about.

That is, unless he speaks of the village along the East Coast.

While the Ali Administration can boast a bunch of black names and faces newly put in positions, or recalled, the fact is that they are disdained as house servants or worse still Uncle something.

This means nothing and does not qualify for inclusion in the unity column. As much as I would like to join with His Excellency in saying that there is unity in this society, most regrettably, I can’t.

Yours truly, GHK Lall

PAGE 6

...Guyana’s sole objective was to determine the validity of the From page 4 Arbitral Award is null and void and, as a consequence, that it has jurisdiction over ‘the related question of the land boundary,’ should that ruling eventuate, it would offer the strong possibility for a convergence in Ramkarran’s interest in the seeing the Ankoko matter being settled by peaceful means and Ramcharran’s questioning of the Court’s ruling on said issue, and their settlement much to the satisfaction of the two legal luminaries.

In addition to the above, Ramcharran raised a number of provocative issues in his article. I ticked ten such issues as follows: 1. ‘The World Court by its own volition invented a land boundary dispute between the two countries;’ 2. ‘The Court has jurisdiction to entertain the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary dispute between the two territories;’ 3. The World Court has given Venezuela a gift in holding that there is a ‘territorial dispute;’ 4. At no time did Guyana invite the Court to hold that there is a ‘territorial dispute;’ This decision is ... an irresponsible and reckless one;’ 5. ‘The Court recklessly volunteered that the Geneva Agreement uses the term ‘controversy’ as a synonym for the word ‘dispute;’ 6. ‘The Court is just wrong in holding that there is a territorial dispute when Guyana has consistently maintained that there was a controversy...;’ 7. ‘The Court blithely join the issue of a territorial dispute to that of the validity of the 1899 Award;’ 8. That ‘the Court’s finding that there is now two issues to be decided i) the validity of the Arbitral Award and ii) the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary dispute.

That this finding will be of great disservice to Guyana and its people;’ 9. That there are two perplexing issues of the World Court’s decision 1) it did not have jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s claim arising from the events that occurred after the signature of the Geneva Agreement and 2) that the Court ignored Venezuela’s

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

illegal occupation of Ankoko island and other illegal territorial incursions;’ 10. That ‘Guyana’s lawyers need to seriously consider whether to make an application for the rectification of the decision of the Court or face the risk of Venezuela opportunistically exploiting the gift that the World Court has recklessly handed them.

All ten issues raised by Ramcharran are interrelated and interconnected in one way or another, yet he makes the mistake by his misunderstanding of the fundamental questions of why did Guyana approach the Court and what was the question put to the Court? viz; ‘Does the Court have jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s application with regards to the dispute concerning the legal validity and binding effect of the award regarding the boundary between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela of 3 October 1899. The Court’s unequivocal and pellucid answer was yes.

Guyana’s sole objective in it’s application to the Court was to determine the validity and binding nature of the 1899 Award. It is in Guyana’s national interest to do so. On the other hand, Venezuela has no interest in discussing the validity of the Award per se, it holds the view that the Geneva Agreement has to do with what they claim to be a ‘territorial dispute.’

As far as Guyana’s application to the Court is concerned, it is the validity and binding nature of the award that it asked the Court to pronounce on, not the land boundaries between the two countries. At least not yet. In any event, the Court refrained from pronouncing on such matters.

Now that it decided it has jurisdiction to pronounce on the question of the Arbitral Award, the ball is now in Guyana’s court to take its case to another level.

It is now up to Guyana to move to the next stage contemplated. Herein lies the crux of the matter. An application to the Court as to whether it has jurisdiction to rule on the validity and binding nature of the Award has been decided in Guyana’s favour. Perhaps, sometime in the not too distant future, Guyana will make a fresh application to the

Court asking it to rule finally and definitively on Guyana’s land and sea boundaries with Venezuela.

Guyana never asked the Court to pronounce on that matter. Yet we learn from Mr. Ramcharran’s writing, the rather surprising conclusion that the ‘Court has handed a gift to Venezuela in holding that there is a ‘territorial dispute.’

If Mr. Ramcharran is referring to a territorial dispute vis-a-vies the Geneva Agreement, then he must know that that is a long held Venezuelan position. Not Guyana’s.

In the circumstances, the Court could not hand to Venezuela what Venezuela notionally held as its position since Noah was a boy!

From what I have read therefore, nothing of substance was handed by the Court to Venezuela by way of a ‘gift.’ As regards Ramcharran’s entreaty that ‘Guyana’s lawyers would need to seriously consider whether to make an application for the rectification of the decision of the Court or face the risk of Venezuela opportunistically exploiting the gift that the World Court has recklessly handed them.’ I defer to Ramkarran who in his blog wrote, ‘This great preliminary success was achieved after a monumental degree of work over a long period of time by a large number of foreign ministry officials, consultants, experts, advisers and lawyers.’ I note the term ‘preliminary success’ which connotes that more is yet to come that will build on what was achieved on December 18 at the Court.

Surely Ramcharran must have surmised that this must have been the case and that it could not be that ‘the mighty mountain gave birth to a tiny mouse.’

I know Mr. Ramcharran personally. We met and conversed from time to time while I served as Guyana’s Foreign Minister. He has always been favorably disposed to placing his skills, knowledge and experience at the service of his native land.

Maybe at some point Mr. Ramcharran could be involved.

Yours truly, Clement J. Rohee Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Violence against women cannot be justified in any way Dear Editor, Within the last month, there have been a spate of domestic violence against women and children in Guyana. Recently, for instance, a male set his home on fire, killing his wife and two children. This is not an isolated incident as several others were reported in the media. This missive seeks to address some of the root causes of male violence against their female partners and how to address them.

Usually, jealousy is the primary emotion driving violence against a partner.

Males sometimes are very suspicious that their partners are having an affair and often in a vengeful, rage filled state, would attack their partners, often without evidence.

Most males in Guyana socialize or interact with their partners from a position of power and control, and they think that the violence is justified. They seek to drive fear in females. We need to teach these males how to make a shift from power and controlling behaviours to social behaviours based on equality, rationality, and respect for their female

partners.

It is noteworthy that many males in Guyana adopt partner violence as a norm in their interactions with their female partner. They may have been brought up in an abusive family where this was normalized. Men should not view or define their masculinity in terms of their capacity to be violent, physically or e m o t i o n a l l y. M a n y men also justify their violence against female partners based on religious teachings, but no religion sanctions violence against women.

From the perspective of males, if we are abusive towards a female partner, it is difficult for her to love us, and this is one of our deepest emotional needs as males. So violence against females is really violence against males in a sense.

Women who are victims often have no recourse to the law because their stories are seldom taken seriously by the police.

They may be left emotionally and p h y s i c a l l y hurt, lacking in self-

confidence and little trust for males.

The roots of male violence come from a belief of entitlement and control.

Often males do not think about the harmful effects of their violence on their partners and children, who may live in the same home.

We need also to teach our males anger management skills and how to be less reactive, even in the face of provocation.

Violence against women cannot be justified in any way.

We need to create a more peaceful society where there is justice for everyone, and where communication is nonviolent. Women should be treated equally in the home and in society. The males who abuse their partners would certainly not like their mother or sisters or daughters to be abused that way. We must teach abusers coping skills such as effective communication, problemsolving strategies, anger management, and self-control rather than using brutal force and violence.

Yours truly, Dr. Latchman Narain Dr. Vishnu Bisram

The actions of the PNC are irritatingly outdated and worrisome Dear Editor, I was in a conversation with a staunch APNU/PNCR supporter and from the tone of things that party wants to be a vibrant opposition just like the PPP/C when they were in opposition.

Well, my response to that proposition was that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that approach; it is the modern, forward thinking way to keep the government of the day engaged, in other words, keep them in the straight and narrow.

This is good for any country, especially for Guyana.

Then, in similar tones I concur that an invitation from the same government that they would like to meet with the opposition should be welcomed with open arms.

I am speaking about President Irfaan Ali convening a meeting of past presidents as a gesture of goodwill and progressive approach, that the government and opposition must together be locked in earnest discussion with each other for the good of this nation. It would be the most

enlightening thing to have ever graced the halls of this great country. Again, I say this should be welcomed with open arms.

Now, that the invitation was turned down by Mr. Granger, I do not know whether he was intimidated or whatever his hang-ups were but the point is he missed out on a golden opportunity to prove himself worthy of being part of the developmental thrust for this nation.

The government for its part has left the door open for future engagements with Mr. Granger, for him to come on board and make his contribution to nation building.

However, to date the actions of the PNC are irritatingly outdated and worrisome, because Mr. Granger had rather sit it out in the wings acting very infantile at best, if not openly stupid.

I am talking about him looking here and looking there to exploit any available opportunity to stir up trouble.

This does not make for a strong opposition, and it may

only seek to alienate wellmeaning people from the party.

That naked Burnhamite aggression that has so infected the party has certainly run them into ruin.

That form of backwardness will not work in a modern world.

I am saying it is enough to be annoyed with the PPP/C - that is Granger’s right - but that does not give him any right to be annoyed with the people of this country. Our motto speaks of peace, progress and inclusivity.

F i n a l l y, i n t h e n e w dispensation of Guyanese Politics, there should be no one left out of the round table discussions on things developmental for o u r c o u n t r y, t h e i d e a s views and projections of both government and opposition must be accommodated.

The strong dogmatic approach of pure party politics must be done away with, as we set sail in the inclusive zone of nation building.

Yours truly, Neil Adams

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L B T LUNT.. UNT...B BL B Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

The Coalition, now in Opposition, has forgotten its mandate.

According to the results of the March 2 elections, more than 217,000 voters believed in them.

After just a few months in Opposition, the Coalition has done what many thought was impossible.

It has partnered with the People's Progressive Party/Civic on one issue‌oil and gas.

On this one issue, the Coalition had a chance to stand tall and do the right thing.

Instead, it has remained a silent partner in the rape of Guyana's offshore wealth.

But the Coalition still has a chance to redeem itself. Will it choose to act ignominiously or will it be able to stand tall?

We, Guyanese, deserve so much more!

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Update on National COVID-19 cash grant…

Finance Ministry warns about - apartment homes with no principal paying any fee householder will have to fill 'pink form' T

he Ministry of Finance has given the nation an update on its COVID-19 cash distribution of $25,000, but there seems to be little detail as to when tenants and others will receive the oneoff grant.

According to the ministry over the weekend, distribution of Government's national COVID-19 cash grant commenced in the hinterland regions (Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine) and then progressed to Regions Two, Three, Five, Six and 10.

Subsequently, distribution teams commenced the distribution exercise in Region Four and this is ongoing.

The ministry said it has already seen the impact of the grant.

“The cash grant was first announced by His

Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali in September this year.

It numbered among a range of COVID-19 relief measures designed to bring immediate relief to persons bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulate economic growth, put Guyanese back to work, and remove the heavy tax burdens implemented by the previous administration.

The cash grant has served as a timely economic impetus and has catalyzed business activity everywhere. We have seen how the shops have become abuzz and a smile has returned to our people who welcomed the initiative with glowing tributes.”

The ministry pointed out that President Ali, in his address to the nation, spoke about ensuring the lives of citizens are taken care of,

A police rank with distribution clerks in Region Six (East Berbice).

and this is one such initiative.

“The President's expectation, and that of his entire administration, is that the process remains peaceful and free of abuse. Every eligible household will receive the grant and it is His Excellency's expectation that the distribution process will be completed as quickly as possible.”

It was explained that the COVID-19 cash grant is one payment of $25,000 per principal household.

The ministry, however, noted that the cash is going to the principal of the dwelling.

“It is necessary to reemphasize that the grant is not one per family. We know that some households are big, and, in some cases, more than one family may be living in a household.

However, where such situation exists, the distribution clerks and regional supervisors are required to note such instances so that those families can be taken into consideration in the future.”

The cash, the ministry said, will be issued by the regional distribution teams to the primary householder. “…and wherever there are other family members or tenants, as the case may be,

those persons are being issued with a 'pink' form, which will serve as the instrument to be used to verify those candidates for future consideration.”

According to the m i n i s t r y, t h e n a m e s , addresses and contact information of persons who were not at home during the distribution exercise will be collected, and arrangements will be made for them to collect their grants at a later date.

“Primary householders are required to have a valid form of identification in their possession to receive the grant. A valid Guyana identification card, a valid driver's licence, or a valid passport are all effective forms of identification.”

It was disclosed that two community distribution clerks wearing specially designed COVID-19 identity badges will visit homes accompanied by community leaders, armed police security and their supervisors.

“Upon clearly identifying the principal householder, one clerk will issue to that householder a receipt for the grant and the other clerk will encash the receipt immediately, by giving the householder a

sealed envelope containing G$25,000.

If there are other families of the principal householder living in the same house, those members will be registered and be issued with a “pink” form.”

According to the ministry, in cases where there is no principal householder on premises, but all the families residents therein are tenants, all such families will receive the “pink” form.

“At close of business daily, distribution clerks are required to surrender unused cash along with their receipt books for security control.

At the end of the distribution exercise, each clerk submits their receipts of payments to be audited by the regional authorities and subsequently by the internal audit department of the Ministry of Finance.

In this manner there is careful scrutiny to ensure that receipts issued are reconciled with cash grants distributed.

Any discrepancies are investigated and necessary action taken.”

The ministry confirmed President Ali's commitment for transparency and accountability with the (continued on page 19)

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 09

Frank looking for some old ice-factory workers T

he Minister of Health is now looking for persons with expertise in vaccine and cold chain. He should try Weiting and Richter. They have been selling ice for a long time.

This must be a case of misreporting. After all, Guyana should have long been ready with its vaccine roll-out plan since it was long known that both of the front-running vaccines required cold storage.

The United Kingdom is now in its third week of administering vaccines. The United States is about to launch its COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Guyana is still looking for cold storage units, and now we are told also for persons with experience in vaccines.

The government says it is preparing for local immunization. But it cannot even give a projected date. It has previously said that it was ordering increased testing machines. Those machines took a very long time to reach here. It should be hoped that the vaccines are not coming on the same ship which brought the PCR testing kits.

In every country where there have been coronavirus infections, the government is being advised by epidemiologists – persons who are considered as experts in the incidence and

distribution and possible control of diseases. Those epidemiologists are known in all of those countries except for Guyana.

So far one had identified the epidemiologists who are advising the Minister of Health. The media has not asked who the local Dr. Fauci is.

If the Minister of Health is following the advice of his epidemiologists, then he should know by now that this advice is not working.

Yesterday, there were 46 more cases with seven severely ill in the Intensive Care Unit.

The daily and weekly case numbers and the number of active cases are reducing, but much too slowly. For December, so far, there have been 756 new cases identified. For the comparative period in November there were 931 new cases, about two cases more on average each day t h a n D e c e m b e r. T h e decrease therefore can be considered marginal. There have been eight deaths so far.

Last month there were 23 deaths but there are still nine more days to go. Even if we can hold deaths down to 15 for this month, it will only represent a marginal improvement. Active cases have been declining but not steeply enough for anyone to breathe a sigh of relief.

The strategy – if you can

call it that – is not working.

Dr. Frank Anthony should know that by now. The testing capacity should now be close to 1,200 per day but, at the most, the country is testing at around one-third of its capacity. Given that antigen tests are now available, it now appears that testing is still a problem.

The positivity rate is still above 15 percent. This shows that testing is still way below where it should have been. And while it is understandable that Guyana had extremely low levels of testing between March and August and while tens of thousands more tests have been done since then, the positivity rate is still far too high to conclude that sufficient testing is taking place.

The Minister of Health needs to rethink his strategy.

If he looks at what is happening in the world, the trend is that the opening up of the economy has run into a collision with colder weather, meaning more people are indoors.

Infections are rising and countries in Europe have been forced into a lockdown.

Guyana's cases are also rising. We do not have cold weather but we have Christmas and no one needs a crystal ball to predict what is going to happen over the next week or more. Next week, there will be surge in

Lil Joe boys seh... tekkin krank!

Dem

L

il Joe seh how GEEGONE must not trouble de Lolo man. He want de law to tek its course.

Lil Joe nah seem to realize dat de issue is not about due process but about lack of confidence. De Private Sector Commission nah calling fuh de Lolo man and others to be dismissed without due process. Dem saying dem nah gat confidence in de man.

Lil Joe nah gat to worry about de Lolo man. Sooner dan later GEEGONE gan hold its first statutory meeting after de elections. A motion of no-confidence gan

be debated about de Lolo man and de Bingo man. And dem boys nah gat fuh guess wat gan be de outcome. Dat is why de Lolo man should ensure dat he do de right think and come out smiling with he pension intact.

Dem boys believe dat Lil Joe gan also face a vote of confidence. De Congress of de party coming up soon and he backers gan gat to answer as to how he get promote ahead of Aunty V. Lil Joe nah gat to tek krank from de PSC. Dat is another blow-blow organization.

De PPP/C nah interested in local government

elections. Dem does think in terms of dollars and sense.

And de sense seh how instead of wasting money on local government elections, de same money wah would ah spend can be used to give every household another $25,000.

One time Burnham bin ask workers whether dem wanted $14 per day or hydro.

De workers scream hydro, thinking he meant hydroelectricity. He gave them hydrocele or what we does call go-dee.

Talk half and ask de Guyanese wah dem want: Local democracy or G$25,000?

reported cases as those infected this week begin to show symptoms and are tested. The cycle will continue. Testing has not sufficed to arrest the situation and will not suffice.

The President has established what he terms Rapid Response Unit. This has to do with addressing people's problems. Yet in his wisdom, he could not find within his arsenal of polices to establish regional and community-based COVID19 Rapid Response Units.

This failure indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic is not being treated as a national emergency. We have Rapid Response Units to help people obtain their

NIS pensions and birth certificates, but on the most important issue, one which has led to the death of 159 persons and which this column had predicted to lead to a further 150 deaths before mass immunization takes place.

While Dr. Anthony is looking for his expertise in cold chain and vaccination, the COVID-19 Task Force should order the immediate establishment of community and regional-response task forces. This should be formed immediately to help identity risky behaviours, ensure implementation of the COVID-19 regulations and help with contact-tracing.

Dr. Anthony should also

advise his rapid-response President that the time has come for a mini-lockdown at the least. The country should go into lockdown from midnight on Christmas Eve. The lockdown, except for essential businesses and government services, should not be lifted until January 2, 2021. This one week lockdown, though insufficient, will not break the Treasury. But it should help reduce the spread over what promises, otherwise, to be a super-spreader Christmas holidays.

(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

Tuesday December 22, 2020

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

I told her she offended the country not Frederick Kissoon L

ast Sunday, at M a s s y Supermarket at Turkeyen, as the cashier checked me out, Dr. Melissa Ifill, UG's Deputy Vice Chancellor, was next in line and she said to me, “Mr. Kissoon, it seemed that I offended you.”

I knew she was referring to several columns I did on her stance on the 2020 national election which I repeat here that I analyzed as dangerous, insane, and

injected with compelling thoughts of race and no embrace of love of country.

I condemned Dr. Ifill in those columns because since I was a 16-year-old employee of the Michael Forde Bookshop reading philosophy books and never went to high school, I wanted to have an education because I believed then and still do that educated people are the ones to save the world because educated people know what non-educated people do not know thus they escape the pathways of ignorance.

During the five months of election rigging, for a person who is second in charge of our country's only national university, Dr. Ifill's biased, unashamed and racially shaped support for what was taking place was a deep shock to me. I knew her well.

She participated in two

weeks of consecutive demonstrations at UG when the Ramotar presidency terminated my UG contract, an action the Ombudsman ruled as illegal.

We spent a year in Rodneyite groundings outside Parliament in which we fought for the rights of some very low income groups of people in Region Three and Region Four.

I knew the pains I felt at what the Jagdeo and Ramotar presidencies did to me, my wife and daughter.

The pain was still there when the election rigging began on March 3.

But I was not the issue when the rigging started.

Jagdeo and Ramotar were not the issue when the rigging began with Clairmont Mingo. At stake was my country where I lived and where I was not moving from.

The election fraud was

far, far, far more important to me to stop me from denouncing it than the way I felt the PPP government had treated me.

I knew that government put me out of employment. I knew that government made two attempts on my life. I knew that government kept me in the Brickdam lock-up for three nights and days for a mere traffic offence.

I knew from confidential sources in the police force that then commissioner, Henry Green, and then president, Ramotar, agreed to let me and Benschop spend the Christmas season in the lock-up.

I knew the real big wigs were involved in the attack on me for which Minister Kwame McCoy and others were arrested and charged.

Before he died, former GRA boss, Khurshid Sattaur, said to me with sadness in his eyes, “I had nothing against you, I always liked you but I was ordered to go after you.”

These traumas are emblazoned in the prison walls of my psyche. But when Mingo began to deny my daughter her right to vote, these traumas were not the issues. As I wrote

above, it was my country that was at stake.

As Dr. Ifill enquired as to what she did to me, I replied, “Not me, the country, not me, is what you did to the country.” Those were my exact words.

Let us look at the other side of the coin. On March

Frederick Kissoon 3, while covering the election in the studio at Kaieteur Radio, Leonard Gildarie and I were shown information that was unmistakable – the PPP had won. I voted for Lenox Shuman because I wanted a minority government so we would have accountable governance or a brake on majority rule. It didn't happen.

What was I to do? Two options faced me in that studio – support the denial

of the right of Guyanese to vote because the PPP who traumatized me had won thus supporting election rigging or prevent permanent power by the PNC and AFC, two unworthy groups of people that would rule my country forever.

I chose the direction I went into for the following reasons: my training in philosophy instructed me that civilization goes out the window when people's freedoms are removed; I loved my country and it came first before the PNC and AFC that I didn't care about; my education at three universities would have been consigned to the gutter had I denied Guyanese their right to vote; finally, I knew in my heart that Guyana would not have survived if we had the return of rigged election and the permanency of Burnhamism. Dr. Ifill should have joined me in saving Guyana and ignore the race she was born into.

Race will never, ever matter for me.

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

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Father, who killed children, loses appeal to reduce 30-year sentence J

By Rehanna Ramsay

ohn Blanchard, the Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara man, who was convicted in 2016 for hacking his three children to death while they

slept, has lost his bid to appeal the severity of his sentence.

Blanchard was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by Justice Jo Ann Barlow following an appearance at the High Court

in 2016. He had admitted that he fatally chopped and stabbed his three young children: Joy, 6; Belika, 10; and Daniel, 4.

The incident had occurred on October 11, 2011 at their home at Dr.

Charles Sand Road, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

The former accused, who was initially charged with murder, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter on his first appearance in the High Court. As such, Blanchard did not undergo a trial in the High Court.

He had, however, moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the sentence on the ground that it was manifestly excessive and severe in the circumstances of the case.

The Appeal Court disagrees.

Chancellor of the

Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cumming-Edwards, who delivered a ruling on behalf of the three-member bench, announced that the life sentence will be upheld since the Appeal Court is of the view that the sentence was fair in the circumstances of the case. The Chancellor noted the case involved three innocent children who were subjected to a heinous crime committed against them by their own father.

She noted that Blanchard's reason for stabbing and chopping his children was due to the fact that their mother (his wife)

Convicted: John Blanchard had refused to return home from the interior.

Blanchard, she said, told the High Court that he loved his children but he didn't know what came over him that night. The Judge noted too that Blanchard had (continued on page 22)

Myers to act as CEO as Lowenfield...

From page 2 Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition Opposition, Joseph Harmon.

“The APNU+AFC is not surprised but is astonished that the Private Sector Commission (PSC) is now openly advocating the PPP regime's position and calling for the removal of certain members of staff of the Elections Commission using the trumped up charges against them as the pretext to get rid of them. This is wicked and unacceptable.

The APNU+AFC condemns

this type of political posturing by the PSC. It is apposite to remind the PSC that the rule of law must prevail and that these persons are presumed as innocent until proven guilty,” Harmon said in a statement.

While the government is committed to upholding its promise for LGE next year, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, echoed similar sentiments as the PSC at a press conference last month where he made it clear that “criminal elements” from GECOM must be removed.

“We have no confidence

with criminals running the system. And so, we're expecting that the Commission will get rid of the criminals. They don't need any evidence.

The whole country knows that these are criminal types who tried to steal the elections and put this country through trauma.

They cannot run any election, and I hope that the Chair of the Commission now has to fight against the criminals. And so, there have to be changes there, that's what we want,” the VP had said.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Bartica woman, children burnt alive‌

File sent to DPP, suspect still hospitalised

M

ore than a week after a B a r t i c a woman and her two young daughters were burnt alive, allegedly by the woman's husband who is also the father of the children, the case file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice. Also the suspect is still hospitalized.

This is according to Regional Commander, Dion Moore, who also stated

during telephone interview that police are currently awaiting advice from the DPP on the way forward in the matter and that the suspect is still at the hospital receiving treatment for the injuries, which he sustained during the fire.

On Saturday, December 12 last, at Four Miles Squatting Area, Potaro Road, Bartica, tragedy struck after a man allegedly set a house on fire killing his wife Carolina Kennedy, 48, a

housewife and their two daughters - five-year-old Mariana and three-year-old Gabriella Kennedy.

According to police, at around 21:30hrs, an unknown caller called the Bartica Police Station to report the fire.

However, the fire truck was unable to reach the location and a bucket brigade was formed. When police and fire service ranks arrived, the wooden (continued on page 21)

PAGE 13

Appeal Court reduces 60-year sentence for 2009 Old Year's Day murder convict

T

he Appeal Court y e s t e r d a y reduced the 60 years jail sentence for 2009 Old Year's Day murder convict, Steven Allicock.

Allicock called 'Stevie' a father of six from Albouystown, Georgetown was convicted and sentenced for the murder of Wendell Tappin. Tappin, 33, was stabbed on December 31, 2009, at Hill Street, Albouystown during an altercation with three men.

Allicock was implicated as the person who inflicted the fatal stab wounds to the victim. He underwent a murder trial before Justice Navindra Singh who imposed the 60 years sentence at the Georgetown High Court in 2017.

Shortly after the judgement was handed down, the 38-year-old convict filed an appeal against his sentence and conviction.

Allicock, in his document, argued that his conviction cannot stand,

Dead: Wendell Tappin

Convicted: Steve Allicock

given the evidence presented during the trial. He contends that his sentence is excessive in all the circumstances of the case.

After examining the facts of the case, the Appeal Court bench led by Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, ruled that the evidence still reflects that Allicock is guilty of the crime. The judge noted, however, that after

considering the request and arguments for a reduction of the 60-year jail term, the Court will grant the reduction to 25 years.

Prior to his arrest in 2015, Allicock remained on the run for five and a half years before he was c a p t u r e d . H i s f a t h e r, Leonard, and his uncle Randolph, were also charged with the murder. They were acquitted at the Magistrate's Court.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

Tuesday December 22, 2020

John Fernandes Limited moves to construct storage facility for hazardous materials for oil sector C

onscious of the fact that the country is in dire need for shore base facilities needed for the rapidly developing oil sector, John Fernandes Limited has decided to approach the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to construct a 5,000 square meter storage and transfer facility.

According to the project document perused by Kaieteur News, the proposed facility is expected to be constructed at Plantation Fairfield, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara. It will be strictly used for storage of

products and equipment, repackaging of products into tanks, filtering product as they repackaged, quality control of the filtering operation, and transportation of inventory to supply vessel.

The document goes on to state that finished products imported from the US would be brought into Georgetown, Guyana and after clearance from customs, they would be transferred to the proposed site where most of the products are filtered as they are transferred into internationally approved transportation containers

through a closed-loop system to eliminate vapor emissions. The developer, who is listed as Zach Gonsalves, stated that oilfield materials would be stored in these containers at the proposed site until needed offshore.

Upon receipt of the project summary, the EPA has asked for additional information specific to the containers which include the type of chemicals that would be stored along with the make and capacity of the containers.

Kaieteur News understands that the company

plans to store materials such as asphaltene inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor, biocide, biocide filter, hydrate i n h i b i t o r, d e m u l s i f i e r, chlorine scavenger, defoamer and hydrate inhibitor.

The product will be stored in tanks constructed from stainless steel and with certification from the International Organization of Standardization (ISO).

The Fernandes Group was keen to note that material compatibility, material specific gravity, vapour pressure, and flash point are key elements which feed into the decision on the kind of container selected and used for transport and storage as well as the fill weight of the material.

The company has said that it intends to comply with UN package performance standards to ensure safety and regulatory adherence to laws and regulations.

GUYANA MUST PREPARE Earlier this year, former Energy Minister for Trinidad

a n d To b a g o , K e v i n Ramnarine, had cautioned during an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News that Guyana needs to increase its preparation to meet the demands of the oil sector or it will find itself overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, Guyana has already found itself facing this crude reality as it is unable to meet the needs of the Liza Phase One Project which is using the Liza Destiny oil vessel.

Five more oil development projects are expected to come on board by 2026.

These projects will also have floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels loading up the oil for sale and will require the services of shorebase facilities. Along with the Liza Destiny that is in operation, there are four drill ships and about 25 support vessels operating in the Guyana basin.

The former TT minister had recalled that international consultancy firm and trusted d a t a p r o v i d e r , Wo o d

Mackenzie, had said that Guyana would soon become the 11th nation in the history of the world to produce over one million barrels of oil per day.

Ta k i n g t h i s i n t o consideration, he said that Guyana has to prepare its industry to be equipped with robust institutional capacity and legislation.

He acknowledged that the Energy Department has made some moves in this direction but noted at the same time that it should have been in place since 2015.

“The country is therefore a bit behind the curve at this time,” the now business studies lecturer said.

Ramnarine also said that it is critical that Guyana does not find itself in a place where the industry grows exponentially but the capacity to manage it does not.

He said this was one of the blunders made by his home country while adding that Guyana has the good fortune of having borrowed experience as it endeavours to do better.

Exxon's flaring this year equivalent...

From page 3 safety guidelines have placed on companies.

Even as Guyana pursues the exploitation of its resources in the Stabroek Block, Conservationist, Annette Arjoon-Martins, had categorically stated that the authorities of the day must not neglect the nation's commitment to addressing climate change. ArjoonMartins had said Guyana's authorities need to, at all times, factor in the environmental costs of projects.

The Conservationist had said to this publication,

“Environmental costs associated with flaring have a significant impact on our climate and is conveniently pushed aside since these costs are not monetized in our management of these sectors like oil and gas. This untenable situation is exacerbated by failing to account for medium and longer term impacts in planning by thinking of the current impacts.”

She added, “We may not feel the impacts of flaring now but this is certainly affecting our climate for future generations. Thinking only of the current is short sighted to

the detriment of our sustainable development of future generations.”

Arjoon-Martins had also noted that Guyana has signed on to several international and bilateral agreements including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Guyana Norway Bilateral Cooperation on climate and forests.

The advocate for the protection of the environment said it is critical that every man, woman, and child understand that the recent spike in flaring puts these in jeopardy as it is counter to those commitments.

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Sink hole!

This sink hole appeared yesterday at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara. Emergency workers placed cones around the depression, warning drivers to be aware until repairs can be made.

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

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GIPEX goes virtual in April 2021 D

ue to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Guyana International Petroleum Summit and Exhibition (GIPEX) organizers have made a decision to have the third summit conducted on a newage virtual platform. It will be held from April 6-8, 2021.

GIPEX is an annual petroleum summit and exhibition attended by officials along Guyana's oil

and gas value chain, as well as public officials, policymakers, academics and other interested parties.

It allows those parties to

network, discuss developments in the industry, debate issues, showcase products and brands, and learn about the

Ministry records 46 new COVID-19 cases

T

he Ministry of Health reported 46 new COVID19 cases ye s t e r d a y, increasing the total number of confirmed cases to 6,171.

This was presented in the

Ministry's daily dashboard update which revealed, among other details, that seven persons are in the Intensive Care Unit.

It was also revealed yesterday that 34 persons are in institutional isolation,

12 are in institutional quarantine and an additional 602 are in home isolation.

The COVID-19 death toll remains at 159 and 5,369 persons have recovered from the virus, the Ministry has noted.

Finance Ministry warns about...

From page 8 initiative, saying that the Auditor General has been asked to audit the entire cash grant distribution. “Note carefully that there is no requirement for preregistration for the grant. The

grant is delivered on a houseto-house basis by authorized officials who must be wearing their COVID-19 identification badges. Only authorized officials can distribute the Grant and there is no fee for distribution.�

Distribution is currently underway on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara and in Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

Government had initially set aside $4.5B but that figure is expected to rise.

market. GIPEX is widely supported by ExxonMobil and other oil companies operating in Guyana, as well as their sub-contractors.

Speakers at GIPEX's previous annual summit came from a series of oil companies, private sector leaders, government ministers and heads of agencies.

The Summit is held to generate excitement and bring exposure to Guyana's oil sector. Since 2015, 22 hydrocarbon discoveries have been made offshore Guyana, with 18 of those determined to be commercial so far. Guyana's Stabroek Block alone has been proven to have about nine billion oil-equivalent

barrels.

The main organizer of GIPEX is Valiant Business Media. Its partners in its venture are the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association (GMSA).

To learn more about the e v e n t , v i s i t : https://www.guyanaoilexpo. com/

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday December 22, 2020

Largest quarry licence in region issued to Jagmohan - to cater for influx of large-scale projects - at least 300M tonnes of rock available for extraction “Finally, after almost one decade since the last Quarry Licence (QL) was issued, Black Jaguar Investment Group Inc.(the company), a wholly owned subsidiary of the El Dorado Trading group of companies, has obtained on December 1st, 2020, a Quarry Licence (Large Scale).”

That was how a statement from the company described the issuance of the licence. The principal is Tamesh Jagmohan, one of the biggest gold dealer in the country who has also been investing in housing.

Production of stones from the quarry will help to reduce incidences of shortages, especially with indications of a significant number of large-scale projects in the pipeline.

“This quarry licence was issued by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) for the extraction and

processing of rock to produce boulders and various sizes of aggregate.

The last QL issued was to Durban Quarries Inc. in 2010.”

The licence, obtained by the company, is located on the Mazaruni River in Region Seven in the vicinity of Marshall Falls.

“The QL covers an aerial extent of 7,086 acres, making it the single largest QL in existence in Guyana and the Caribbean.

The combined acreage of the other existing QLs in Guyana is not equal in size to this newly issued QL. The area covered by this QL hosts deposits of granite and gabbro type rocks. These rocks are excellent for use as first class aggregate in the construction industry.”

According to Black Jaguar, the elevations, within 75 percent of the area, are enclosed by the QL and are greater than 200 feet - the

maximum elevations exceed 300 feet.

“The 300 feet contour covers approximately 40 percent of the aerial extent of

The company said it is investing in state-of-the-art equipment to introduce one of the most modern operations.

the QL. The elevation at the Mazaruni River bank is less than 50 feet.

The overburden in this area is usually less than 40 feet. This leaves

approximately 200 feet of rock standing above the level of the river bank which can

be easily extracted.”

Black Jaguar said that the (continued on page 22)

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kaieteur News

New Amsterdam man dies in multiple-vehicle accident Over the past few weeks there have been several accidents involving motorcyclists that have resulted in either death or serious injuries. On Sunday December 20, 2020, at around 18:00 hrs. on Republic Road (within the vicinity of Shoe Lane and Pitt Street), New Amsterdam, there was yet another accident.

This time, motorcyclist Jamal Joseph, lost his life following a collision with his motorcycle, a car and another motorcycle.

Reports are that motor car PKK 8475 driven by a 22year-old of New Street, Cumberland, East Canje, Berbice, was proceeding north along the western side of the road, when it is alleged that Joseph was proceeding in the said direction on his motorcycle CK 1731. Police were told that Joseph tried to overtake on the eastern side, but ended up in the path of motorcycle CK 2765, owned and ridden by Sherlan Caesar of Savannah Park, Berbice.

As a result, the two motorcycles collided headon. Caesar, after losing control, ended up colliding with the front of the motorcar.

Both motorcyclists and a pillion rider fell to the road surface where they received injuries about their bodies.

They were picked up in unconscious conditions by public spirited citizens who placed them in a passing vehicle.

They were all taken to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where they were seen and examined by doctors on duty but Joseph died while receiving treatment.

The driver of the car is said to be suffering from head and other injuries about the body, while the pillion rider is conscious and suffering minor injuries about his body.

The vehicles that were involved in the accident.

...File sent to DPP, suspect still From page 13 structure was completely engulfed in flames. After the fire was extinguished, the ranks discovered the charred remains of Kennedy and her two daughters in the southeastern corner of the house.

The bodies of the victims were subsequently removed and transported to the Bartica Hospital Mortuary.

A search was launched for the suspect and he was discovered in some bushes in close proximity to the house.

While he was being placed in the back of a police

vehicle, the suspect admitted to the gruesome crime.

Based on a video seen by this publication, the suspect could be heard saying, “It overbearing, I can't bear it no more, I can't bear it no more budday…you know wuh is it to come home and meet your woman talking to another man and she brother deh right there?”

Kaieteur News had reported that Kennedy and the suspect had been living together for the past six months and during that period, the woman had made several complaints to her

mother about the suspect threatening her when he is intoxicated.

One week before the incident, the suspect had allegedly threatened to burn the house down to kill Kennedy and her daughters. The woman was encouraged to report the matter to the police and she had planned to visit the station on Monday December 14, 2020 but she was killed one day before that.

The suspect was also convicted in 2018, for assaulting Kennedy.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

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The price of Brent crude is slowly inching back up after nearly a year of sinking down, since countries have begun to accept and administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Brent, the standard Guyana’s Liza crude is being traded against, was comfortably over US$60 a barrel early in 2020. However, due to the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war and more critically, the COVID-19 pandemic, Brent crashed to US$20 in the Spring. Today, Brent is nearly $51 a barrel.

Guyana’s first million barrels had been sold at US$55 a barrel.

Earlier this month, the United Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, following Canada and the United Kingdom. The vaccine is being rolled out for first responders, key public officials and others. US President-Elect, Joe Biden, had the vaccine administered to him yesterday on national television. Yesterday, The European Medicines Agency (EMA) – the European Union’s medicine regulator – also approved the drug for its 400 million plus population.

As the vaccine becomes more widely administered and certain key sectors begin to revitalize, oil prices could continue the slow upward gains, which they have made

over the past few months.

As for Saudi Arabia and Russia, there had been a breakdown in talks between Russia and the Saudi-led Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over proposed oil production cuts in the midst of the pandemic.

By the end of the first half of the year, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to production cuts.

Due to the price crash this year, Petroleum Consultant and Attorney-at-Law turned Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, had said in March that there would be a significant dent in Guyana’s projected revenues.

While the country was expected to get US$300 million of oil revenues added to the Natural Resource Fund this year, the actual revenues came up to less than half of that.

Dado Ruvic/Reuters.

The rest of the world has suffered too. In April, Rystad projected that offshore drillers would lose in excess of US$3 billion in contract value. Many exploration and production companies like ExxonMobil and Hess were forced to sell off assets to focus cash on their most profitable projects, like

Guyana.

The fallout from the pandemic has also strengthened calls made by sustainable energy, for the transition away from oil to be sped up. Exxon, for instance, has gotten a lot of pressure from its investors to substantially cut down its emissions.

...Father, who killed children, loses appeal From page 12 threatened to take his own life but was unsuccessful in doing so. Given those circumstances, Justice Cummings-Edwards said that the accused must remain in prison and serve his sentence. The Court of Appeal, she stressed, will not grant any reduction to the 30-year jail term.

In 2011, Blanchard was living alone with his children

on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway when he reportedly went berserk and fatally chopped all three of his young children, following a disagreement with his wife.

Back then, news reports had indicated that at the time of the incident, the children's mother, Onica Blanchard, was in the interior where she had secured a job.

The reports indicated that Mrs. Blanchard left her chil-

dren in the care of their father in search of a better job in the mining location in Madhia, Region Eight. The couple had reportedly shared a strained relationship owing to Mrs. Blanchard's absence. The killings may have been sparked by a telephone conversation that Blanchard had with his wife minutes before the incident, according to the reports.

...Largest quarry licence in region issued to From page 20 aerial extent of the 200 feet contour line with the adjustments for the river bank overburden indicates that there will be approximately 300 million tonnes of rock available for extraction above the level of the river bank.

Unlike the other quarries in operation, the company insisted that it will be engaging international quarry operators to set up multiple sites of extraction and production to maximize the output of the quarry to meet the current and expected demand in the local and regional economy.

“Other quarries in Guyana have a very limited approach to extraction and production, they operate only a single extraction and processing system no matter the size of the QL and the availability of the resource.

The company plans to revolutionize the way the quarry industry operates in Guyana and to solve the chronic shortage of supply that has resulted in a resource rich country having to import aggregate to meet demand.”

Black Jaguar said that the proposed facility will be de-

Businessman, Tamesh Jagmohan; GGMC's head, Newell Dennison, and another official at the handing over of the quarry licence, a few weeks ago. veloped using state-of-the-art technology to maximize capacity and operational efficiency.

“The target for initial production is 20,000 tonnes of aggregate per week.

The chronic shortage of aggregate has long been causing government infrastructure projects to run years beyond the projected

deadline for completion. No longer will government or private construction be delayed due to shortages in the supply of aggregate.”

The company said that this highly efficient, new, large scale operation will allow the company to supply products to the local market in a timely manner and at very competitive prices to support the rap-

idly expanding development in Guyana.

The company said it is hoping to produce two million tonnes annually using new equipment.

“We will bring down cost for materials which will in turn bring down cost for expensive projects and housing, etc., that are related to the quarry sector.”

Tuesday December 22, 2020

East Bank hire car drivers still awaiting restoration of parking area from M&CC - Mayor says Council awaiting paint to proceed Hire car/short drop drivers at the East Bank Park located at the Stabroek Market area are still awaiting the restoration of their allocated parking spaces where they would usually assemble to pick up passengers. This was revealed by one of the drivers who spoke to Kaieteur News yesterday. He said that the Mayor, Ubraj Narine, has failed to honour his commitment to have their parking space restored.

Narine had engaged with the drivers after they complained of being removed from their parking spaces by police ranks.

This, they said, left many of them without work, struggling to survive and provide for their families during this Christmas season.

This newspaper had also reported on the drivers’ complaints about beer stands occupying the space they were moved out of even though the police had moved them to clear the road. The beers stands are characterized by the setting up of old refrigerators packed with ice to cold the beers on sale complemented by benches where persons sit to hang out, according to the drivers.

On December 1 last, over 60 drivers met with the Mayor and there they were told that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council would restore their allotted area for parking, enabling them to gain income and

One of 13 accused of killing Sophia man, remanded

Dead: Kevin Campbell.

Sections of the East Bank Car Park. sustain their families.

Kaieteur News contacted the Mayor yesterday to query about the restoration of the area.

He explained that the Council has not acquired the right paint to cover the no parking sign that was placed there, hampering the drivers from parking.

He said that the Council had gotten paint but it was not the correct one and despite efforts to locate the correct paint at several local establishments, they could not.

He said the Council is still trying to locate the paint and the no parking sign would immediately be repainted as soon as they acquire it.

Currently, only five to six cars can occupy a small space that has been designated to

the drivers, leaving the majority of them without work.

The drivers expressed disappointment in being removed from their parking area and being replaced by beer stands.

“It is unbelievable.

As a small man, you come out for your daily bread only to have your income shut off.

Is madness! If we get removed and the road was still clear then we woulda understand, but these people selling beers and liming in the middle of a pandemic. Is it not slackness?

It is,” one of the drivers had said.

They are contending that the Mayor was supposed to repaint the area since December 6 and weeks later, they are struggling to make ends meet in the middle of a pandemic.

Murder of Robb Street granny…

Appeal matter for convicted four deferred to January The appeal case for the four men convicted of the execution-style killing of 72year-old Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris, who was known as Robb Street granny, has been deferred to next January.

Fiedtkou-Parris of Lot 42 Robb Street, Georgetown, was killed in her home on June 30, 2011, as part of a conspiracy for money, and was related to a property dispute.

The matter came up at the Appeal Court yesterday but had be deferred after attorney-at-law, Mark Conway, indicated to the court that he had not been properly retained by one of the convicted men , Cleon Hinds.

He explained that Hinds’ family had asked for some time to accumulate the legal fees. He said they should be ready in January.

The other men were also having issues with their legal

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Kaieteur News

representation; their lawyers were absent from the virtual hearing except for attorney, George Thomas, who is representing Orwin Hinds. As such, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards therefore cautioned the parties to ensure that they have the necessary representation and postponed the matter to January 28, 2021.

Back in 2015, Justice Navindra Singh sentenced Orwin Hinds, called “Red Man,, of Burnham Boulevard, Mocha, East Bank Demerara; Kevin October, called “Troy,” of Second Street, Agricola, East Bank Demerara; Cleon Hinds and Roy Jacobs, called “Chippie” or “Black Boy” of Evans Street, Charlestown, each to serve 81 years in prison for the vicious attack.

The men must serve at least 45 years in jail before

Murdered: Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris. they are eligible for parole.

According to the facts of the case, on the day of the fatal shooting, two men entered the woman’s yard and requested an audience with her. Upon hearing the persons’ request, she moved to the door. A gunman opened fire on her, hitting her several times about the body. After the shooting, the assailants made their escape in a waiting car.

One of the 13 males accused of killing a Sophia man, who intervened after they attacked and stabbed his younger brother, was yesterday remanded to prison.

The accused, Shay Carter, appeared in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool, who read the indictable charge to him.

Carter was not required to plead to the charge which alleged that on March 21, 2020 at B-Field Sophia, Georgetown, in the company of others, he murdered 25year-old Kevin Campbell.

It was reported that Campbell was chopped and stabbed several times about his body just after 8:00hrs at his home allegedly by a 13member gang.

Kaieteur News had reported that on the day of the incident, two men attacked Campbell’s younger brother, Brandon, while he was standing in the yard of their home. He was stabbed twice with a scissors, one to his abdomen and another to his chest.

After hearing the commotion, Campbell rushed to his brother’s assistance and managed to get the attackers out of the yard.

It was reported that the two attackers returned later that day in the company of 11 other males, who were allegedly armed with knives, cutlasses and a pitchfork. Six of the alleged attackers went into Campbell’s house and dragged him outside.

The men then allegedly chopped and stabbed Campbell until he collapsed to the ground, before making

One of the suspects accused of being involved in the murder of Campbell.

Another suspect accused of being involved in the murder of Campbell. good their escape. Campbell’s neighbours then rushed to his assistance and carried him to the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation in an unconscious state where he succumbed to his injuries

seven days later.

An autopsy was conducted and it was revealed that Campbell died from a punctured liver. The matter was reported and an investigation was launched.

Pensioner robbed of cash, jewellery An 87-year-old woman of Number 67 Village, Corentyne, Berbice was on Sunday robbed of a quantity of cash and jewellery at her home.

The police are investigating the alleged robbery committed on 87year-old Homeranie Balram, a pensioner of Section B #67

Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

Reports are that the robbery occurred on the December 20, 2020 between 23:00hours and 00:00 hours at the said address by unidentified male and female suspects.

Balram told the police she secured her home and retired to bed but was awakened by

the suspects who ordered her not to speak.

They then ransacked her home and took the jewellery and cash.

The suspects then made their way to the upper flat of the building where they subsequently escaped.

An investigation is ongoing.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 24

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Another Chemical Storage Security guard remanded for raping, Facility slated for construction killing Cummings Lodge woman - but no Impact Assessment required by EPA

T

he Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is, once again, not requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) be conducted for the construction and operation of another Chemical Storage Facility.

In this instance, the proposed project -construction of a Hazardous Materials Storage Facility, is expected to be undertaken by John Fernandes Limited at Plantation Fairfield, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

An EIA is usually conducted by the EPA to evaluate the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socioeconomic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.

However, the EPA in a recent public notice stated, “In accordance with Section 11(2) of the Environmental Protection Act, Cap 20:05, Laws of Guyana, the

application for the project listed above has been screened by the Agency to assess the potential environmental impacts, and it has been determined that the project will not significantly affect the environment nor human health, and is therefore exempted from the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).”

Be that as it may, it is still allowing the general public a 30-day period to lodge any objections or concerns about the project. Appeals and objections can be submitted to the Environmental Assessment Board at the EPA's Sophia, Georgetown office.

According to the summary on the EPA's website, the project is strictly a storage and container transfer facility used for the storage of products and equipment, repackaging of product into tanks, filtering product as they are repackaged, quality control of the filtering operation,

transportation of inventory to supply vessel.

“The imported products will be transferred to the proposed site where most of the products are filtered as they are transferred into internationally approved transportation containers through a closed-loop system to eliminate vapour emissions,” the summary outlined.

The company plans to store chemicals such as “Asphaltene Inhibitor, Corrosion inhibitor, Biocide, Biocide Filter, Hydrate Inhibitor, Demulsifier, C h l o r i n e S c a v e n g e r, Defoamer and Hydrate Inhibitor” all used in the oil and gas sector.

The chemicals would be s t o r e d i n I S O Ta n k s constructed from: grade 316 stainless steel with the capacity to hold 5,000 gallons per tank; plastic tanks constructed of highdensity polyethylene with the 275-gallon capacity, along with steel drums constructed from carbon steel either lined or unlined.

Forklift crushes Aurora gold-miner's leg

A

gold-miner's right leg was reportedly crushed on Sunday after he was pinned by a forklift at the Aurora Gold Mines site, Region Seven.

The injured miner employed with the Chinese company Zijing Mining Group Limited has been identified as Collin Ambersett.

According to the Human Resources Manager of the company, Peter Benny, the accident took place around 17:00hrs.

The man said to be a warehouse worker was reportedly assisting his colleagues in offloading some materials from a truck when the forklift toppled and pinned him underneath.

One of his colleagues said his right leg appeared to be crushed and they feared that it might have to be amputated.

After freeing the man, a meeting was held immediately with the union for the company to act fast.

He was airlifted that evening by Roraima Airways

The gold-miner pinned beneath the forklift on Sunday to the city for immediate medical attention.

Benny told Kaieteur News that he was taken to the Woodlands Hospital where he was admitted.

He added that that there is no need to fear that Ambersett will have his leg amputated.

Benny admitted, however, that the man's leg was indeed broken but doctors have decided to operate on the leg to fix it back in place. That

operation was scheduled for 18:00hrs yesterday.

Kaieteur News understands that all medical expenses were covered by the Zijing Mining Company Limited. An investigation has reportedly been launched into the mishap as well. The Chinese company had acquired the Aurora Gold Mines from Guyana Goldfields, a Canadian company, in August 2020.

Y

esterday, four days after the motionless body of a Cummings Lodge w o m a n w a s discovered naked in her Eight Street, South Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara home, the man accused of the crime made his first court appearance and was remanded to prison.

The defendant, Ravindra Ramdeen, 47, a security guard of 481 Ninth Street, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara appeared in the S p a r e n d a a m Magistrate's Court before Magistrate Alicia George.

Ramdeen, who was unrepresented, was not required to plead to the indictable charge which alleged that on December 10, 2020 at Eight Street, South Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, he murdered Marilyn Singh called 'Miss Jean', during the occurrence of a rape.

Police prosecutor Thornhill asked the court for two months to complete the file and the matter was adjourned to February 1, 2021 for report.

According to reports, Singh had lived with her father, her brother, his wife and step-children. On Friday

Dead: Marilyn Singh called 'Miss Jean' December 11, 2020 around 08:00hrs, Singh's body was discovered naked by her brother, Rohit Singh.

The matter was reported and the police visited the area where Singh's body was found.

According to a police report, no marks of violence was seen on the woman's body and it was then taken for a post mortem which revealed that she died of blunt trauma to the head and asphyxiation as a result of manual strangulation.

W h i l e i n c u s t o d y, Ramdeen reportedly

confessed to killing Singh and stated that h e s h a r e d a relationship with her.

It is reported that he told the police that Singh let him into the house and they later engaged in sexual intercourse.

During intercourse the man claimed, Singh hit her head and decided not to continue, and despite her refusal, he persisted.

After constantly denying him, he claimed that he became angry and he strangled her. He then left her body, which was later discovered by her brother.

Kaieteur News had reported that the woman was allegedly being abused by her relatives.

Back in June, Singh had suffered a brutal attack allegedly at the hands of her step-niece. It is reported that Singh was beaten with a spade, which resulted in laceration to the body and a tooth was left sticking out of her chin.

She was found lying helpless on the road and public-spirited neighbours had taken her to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where she received treatment and was later discharged.

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Kristen McGregor cops 2020 Ms Olympia Amateur title SportsMax - Jamaica’s Kristen McGregor won the Miss Olympia Amateur title in the Women’s Figure category at the week-long 2020 NPC Worldwide Amateur Olympia competition that concluded in Orlando, Florida on Saturday.

McGregor, a personal trainer, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Science from the University of Technology, was competing for the first time since she finished eighth at the IFBB World Professional Championships in Tarragona, Spain from November 1-3, 2019.

She got the nod from the judges during last week’s competition that was keenly

Jamaica’s Kristen McGregor won the Miss Olympia Amateur title in the Women’s Figure category.

contested.

“I have a mouth full of words that can express this journey but all I will say with such a journey and such an achievement is that any success takes 3-5 years to be

successful and it’s not and will not be achieved on self, I or me but a team that is on the same vision and path as you,” she said on Instagram while thanking her team of coaches and support staff.

In 2019, McGregor won the IFBB Diamond Cup in St. Maarten in July where she won her pro card.

This is the second Olympia Amateur title won by Jamaica in the last two years. In 2018, Dwayne Walker won the Mr. Olympia Amateur title.

...NBA Big Tuesday December 21, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Initiate a deep, meaningful conversation with someone you've lost touch with, Aries.

It could be that a long and ugly point of contention is on the brink of resolution.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You will find strength in your inner reserves today, Libra. Don't hesitate to let your deepest thoughts shine through. Keep your antenna up.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Your transmission may be stuck in reverse today, Taurus. This doesn't mean you can't be productive. You may need to change your approach.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You may feel a bit sluggish today, Scorpio.

Your warrior spirit would rather stay home on the couch than get up and fight.

This is fine. You may simply need a break from your quest for world domination.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Things should go well for you today. There's an added serenity in the air that will help calm your nerves. There's no need to make things more complicated than necessary.

CANCER(June21–July22) It might seem like someone has dumped a bucket of water on your head today. It seems like your fire is out. Keep in mind that this is only temporary and that your internal flame will be rekindled soon.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Tension may run high today as things come to a great emotional climax. It might seem as if everyone is out to get you, Leo, but more than likely this paranoia is a figment of your imagination.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) More than likely you will be caught up in a wildly intense emotional drama if you aren't careful, Virgo. Try to stay calm and collected. Find a quiet, solitary place where you can relax. Your energy is there, but it may be more reserved and subtle on a day like this.

PAGE 25

Kaieteur News

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Your sensitivity is strong today, Sagittarius. You will find that your perception of situations is right on target with the truth of the matter.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) You may feel a bit confused today. It might seem as if the wind has suddenly been taken out of your sails. Don't get discouraged by the slow weightiness of the day. Take the opportunity to relax and recharge your batteries.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Today is an excellent day for you, Aquarius. You will be a welcome addition to any crowd. Your delightful nature is at its most active.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) The world probably isn't going to revolve around you today, Pisces, so get used to it. Even though this may not be the news you want to hear, it's probably the news you most need to hear. Use your incredible passion to nurture others.

From page 27 Christmas Day victory suggested the Clippers may have the edge, but the Lakers squared the season series by winning the only game between the two to take place in the bubble.

Recent history is in favour of the Clippers in terms of season openers. Leonard dropped 30 points to LeBron’s 18 as they tipped off last season with a 112-102 success.

The all-time regular-season head-to-head record is dominated by the Lakers, who have won 150 of the 224 games they have contested with the Clippers.

...Azam and From page 30 test. Butt scored 934 runs in the 2019-20 first class tournament at an average of 62 with four centuries and three half centuries.

In the absence of Azam, Pakistan trails 2-0 in the threematch Twenty20 series against New Zealand with the last game due to be played at Napier on Tuesday.

“It will be nearly two weeks to Babar’s injury when the first test starts, (but) it will be hard on him and the team to play him without any net sessions,” Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said.

“I remain confident and optimistic that other players will rise to the occasion in Mount Maunganui and … put the disappointment of the T20I series behind them.”

Squad for 1st test: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Butt, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah.

...NFL roundup: Chiefs down Saints for 9th straight From page 26 visiting Detroit in Nashville.

Tannehill completed 21 of 27 passes for 273 yards and rushed for 21 yards on three carries. Derrick Henry rushed for 147 yards and one score on 24 carries as the Titans (10-4) remained tied for first in the AFC South with Indianapolis.

Corey Davis caught four passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.

D’Andre Swift rushed for 67 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, and Matthew Stafford passed for 252 yards and a touchdown for the Lions (5-9).

Marvin Jones Jr. caught 10 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.

Colts 27, Texans 20 Zach Pascal scored his second touchdown with less than two minutes to play

and Indianapolis kept pace atop the AFC South with a win over visiting Houston.

The Colts (10-4) stayed tied atop the division with the Tennessee Titans by delivering in the clutch after the Texans (4-10) knotted the score at 20 with Keke Coutee’s 9-yard touchdown catch with 7:25 to play.

Pascal capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive with his 5-yard scoring grab with 1:47 left, but the critical play came when Philip Rivers found T.Y. Hilton for a 41-yard gain to the Houston 3-yard line.

In other results: Dolphins 22, Patriots 12 Seahawks 20, Washington 15 Jets 23, Rams 20 Cardinals 33, Eagles 26 Cowboys 41, 49ers 33 Browns 20, Giants 6 (Field Level Media)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 26

NFL roundup: Chiefs down Saints for 9th straight win Patrick Mahomes threw three touchdown passes and the visiting Kansas City Chiefs won their ninth consecutive game by defeating the New Orleans Saints 32-29 on Sunday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Mahomes completed 26 of 47 for 254 yards as the Chiefs improved their NFLbest record to 13-1.

Drew Brees returned from a four-game absence due to rib and lung injuries to complete 15 of 34 passes for 234 yards with three touchdowns and an interception as the Saints (10-4) lost their second straight after a nine-game winning streak.

The Chiefs led at halftime, but Brees threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Latavius Murray on the first possession of the third quarter to give the Saints their only lead at 15-14.

Buccaneers 31, Falcons 27 Tom Brady threw a 46yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown with 6:19 remaining and visiting Tampa Bay overcame a 17point halftime deficit to defeat Atlanta.

Brady completed 31 of 45 passes for a season-high 390 yards with two touchdowns, with most of the production coming in the second half. The winning points came on Brown’s first touchdown since joining the team last month as the Buccaneers (9-5) improved to 5-2 on the road.

Matt Ryan threw for three touchdowns, but the Falcons failed to put a dent in the Buccaneers’ bid for a playoff spot. Instead, it was another lead that Atlanta (410) didn’t protect. Ryan hit

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) celebrates after defeating the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.

(Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports) 34 of 49 passes for 356 yards.

Bears 33, Vikings 27 David Montgomery rushed for a career-high 146 yards and two touchdowns and Mitchell Trubisky had a passing touchdown and 236 yards of offense as visiting Chicago kept its NFC playoff hopes alive with a win over Minnesota.

Chicago (7-7) won for the second straight week on the heels of a six-game skid and is one game behind the Arizona Cardinals for the final NFC wild-card spot.

The Vikings, who rallied after starting the season 1-5, fell to 6-8 as their playoff aspirations took a sizable hit with two weeks left in the regular season.

Trubisky was 15-for-21 passing for 202 yards with one touchdown and one interception for the Bears.

Allen Robinson finished with four catches for 83 yards. Kirk Cousins was 24for-35 for 271 yards and two touchdowns for Minnesota.

Dalvin Cook had 24 rushes for 132 yards and a touchdown.

Ravens 40, Jaguars 14 Baltimore had little trouble moving one step closer to earning its third straight trip to the playoffs with a dominating home victory over Jacksonville.

The Ravens (9-5) never trailed against the Jaguars (1-13), who lost its 13th consecutive game, tied for the longest losing streak in franchise history. Baltimore won its third straight game.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson passed for 243 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 35 yards and another score.

J.K. Dobbins finished with 14 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown, which marked his franchise-record fourth straight game in which he found the end zone. Gardner Minshew went 22-of-29 passing for 226 yards and two touchdowns for Jacksonville.

Titans 46, Lions 25 Ryan Tannehill passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two more as Tennessee overwhelmed (Continued on page 25)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) runs for a touchdown against the Detroit Lions during the second half at Nissan Stadium. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Lionel Messi says he had ‘very bad time’ in summer B

Lionel Messi.

(Reuters)

BC Sport Lionel Messi says his failed attempt to leave Barcelona in the summer has affected his form this season.

In August the Argentina forward said he wanted to exercise a clause in his contract which he said allowed him to leave on a free transfer.

But Barcelona refused, saying said his 700m euro (£624m) release clause had to be met.

“I dragged everything into the start of the season a bit,” Messi, 33, told Spanish television channel La Sexta.

“The truth is right now I’m feeling fine, but in the

summer I had a very bad time.”

Messi equalled Brazil legend Pele’s record of 643 goals for a club by scoring for Barcelona in Saturday’s draw against Valencia.

It was Messi’s ninth goal in 17 appearances this season for Barcelona, who are fifth in La Liga.

Messi, who can leave Barcelona for free when his contract runs out at the end of the season, is able to negotiate with other clubs from 1 January.

Barcelona interim president Carlos Tusquets, who took over until elections in January after Josep Maria Bartomeu

resigned in October, has said that “economically speaking” Messi should have been sold in the summer.

Barcelona’s players agreed to wage cuts in November that will save the 26-time La Liga champions 122m euros (£110m).

“Right now I’m feeling good and looking forward to fighting for every competition we have ahead,” said Messi.

“I know the club is in a difficult moment at institutional level and on the pitch and everything surrounding Barca right now is difficult, but I’m feeling excited.”

Abraham double as Chelsea put 3 past West Ham United BBC Sport - Tammy Abraham scored twice as Chelsea ended their recent mini-slump by beating West Ham United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to move up to fifth in the Premier League.

Back-to-back defeats had seen the Blues slip down the table but they made the ideal start yesterday as Thiago Silva powered home a header in the first half.

Timo Werner spurned a couple of good chances to add to the hosts’ lead but he played his part in his side’s second in the closing stages as his scuffed shot was turned in by Abraham.

The Chelsea striker, back

Tammy Abraham scores goal number two for Chelsea. (Getty Images)

in the side in place of Olivier Giroud, then netted another barely two minutes later when he was in the right place to pick up the loose ball and curl home after Christian Pulisic had missed a simple header from a cross.

The scoreline somewhat flattered Chelsea with West Ham having been the better side for large periods, but the visitors paid the price for a lack of a cutting edge as they finished the game without a shot on target.

Thiago Silva celebrates with teammates after his header.

(Getty Images)

Tuesday December 22, 2020

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Jacques Kallis named as England batting consultant for Sri Lanka Test tour ESPNcricinfo - Jacques Kallis has been appointed as England’s latest batting consultant for next month’s Test series in Sri Lanka, a tour that the ECB insists is set to go ahead as planned in spite of the heightened uncertainty over the UK’s latest wave of measures to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ECB last week stepped up its search for fulltime appointments for their batting, pace- and spinbowling coaching vacancies, with applications due to close on January 10, m e a n i n g t h a t K a l l i s ’s appointment may be the last consultancy role used by the board. Similar appointments were made for Jonathan Trott during the Pakistan Tests last summer, and Marcus Trescothick on the recent white-ball tour of South Africa.

At this stage, Kallis is not expected to be involved in England’s subsequent Test tour of India - although that may yet change, with the ECB having flagged the

need to rotate their options for the foreseeable, to mitigate against the strain of living, practising and playing in bio-secure environments.

With that in mind, Graham Thorpe, England’s regular assistant coach to Chris Silverwood, has been rested for this leg of the winter, but is expected to be back on board for the India tour.

Jon Lewis, the former Gloucestershire and England seamer, travels as fastbowling coach, while James Foster continues as wicketkeeping consultant in the wake of Bruce French’s retirement last summer, as does Jeetan Patel as spin consultant.

However, it is Kallis’s appointment which is the most eye-catching for the coming tour. He secured his status as an all-time great with 13,206 Test runs at 55.37 for South Africa, in addition to 292 wickets, while his mastery of Asian conditions is renowned, with eight centuries at 55.62 in 25

Tests in the region.

This time last year, Kallis was working as a batting consultant for South Africa’s Test team during their 3-1 series loss against England.

H o w e v e r, w i t h C S A committing in September to a policy of affirmative action for future consultant roles, Kallis’s opportunities for further work within his home country are limited, particularly now that the role of High Performance Batting Consultant, a position that spans all levels of the professional game in South Africa, has gone to his former team-mate Neil McKenzie.

Discussions between Kallis and the ECB are understood to have taken place earlier this month, and have been described as “very quick and simple”. He is expected to link up with the squad when they travel to Hambantota on January 2, ahead of the first of two Tests against Sri Lanka in Galle starting January 14.

Concerns over the viability of the tour, which

Jacques Kallis has joined up as South Africa’s batting coach, Centurion, December 24, 2019 © Getty Images

was belatedly confirmed by the Sri Lankan government earlier this month after protracted negotiations, have resurfaced this week given the extensive travel bans being imposed on the UK by several countries, following the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus.

That includes England’s o t h e r n e w - y e a r Te s t opponents, India, whose

government has suspended UK flights as a temporary measure from December 2231. England’s squad are due to fly directly to India at the conclusion of their Sri Lanka tour on January 27.

ESPNcricinfo understands that a meeting is due to take place between Sri Lanka health authorities and those in the UK to discuss the implications of the latest Covid updates. However,

given the financial importance of the England tour to Sri Lanka’s finances, and the recent success of the Lanka Premier League, there is no suggestion yet that the tour is in peril.

An ECB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo: “We continue to plan as normal. We have regular meetings with Sri Lanka and there is another meeting planned for this week.”

NBA Big Game Focus: LeBron & Kawhi headline opening night as LA rivalry renewed SportsMax - The 202021 NBA season tips off again today with the Western Conference Finals matchup most expected to see last postseason headlining opening night.

A playoff meeting between LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Kawhi Leonard’s Los Angeles Clippers never materalised, however, as the latter were stunned by the Denver Nuggets.

But the city rivals will face off to begin the new campaign as LeBron sets out to do something he has not done since 2013 and defend the NBA title.

There is an extra layer of intrigue to this heavyweight clash, which marks the first game in charge for new Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. Lue was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron led them to a historic comeback from 3-1 down in the 2016 NBA Finals to beat the Golden State Warriors.

Here we break down a mouthwatering season opener.

TOP PERFORMERS Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James After leading the Lakers to glory in the bubble a matter of months ago, LeBron has more history in his sights in 2020-21.

He is six triple-doubles away from 100 in regular season games and has registered at least six in each of the previous four campaigns.

James had 13 tripledoubles in 2019-20 and, were he to replicate that this campaign, he would move level with Jason Kidd for fifth on the all-time list.

With 125 more successful three-pointers, he would become the 10th player to record 2000 made shots from beyond the arc.

But beyond his scoring, James is facilitating at a level not seen in years past - he averaged a career-high 10.2 assists last season.

Los Angeles Clippers Kawhi Leonard Leonard averaged the most points (27.1) and assists (4.9) per game in his NBA career in his first

season with the Clippers.

However, Lue is hopeful he can harness even more from the two-time Finals MVP by featuring him in the triangle offense in a role akin to those played by Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

“We have put in two or three sets from the triangle and let Kawhi play in those spaces where Kobe and Jordan played in those spots as well,” said Lue. “[Leonard] loves those two players. He really respects and looks up to those guys, so we’re just trying to put him in positions [to succeed].”

Leonard has honed his mid-range game after Jordan and Bryant and shot 45.6 per cent from mid-range last season. His career-best in that regard came in 2016-17 when he shot 46.7 per cent from mid-range, helping the San Antonio Spurs to the Conference Finals. Lue clearly believes he can help Leonard recapture that form through more triangle sets.

KEY BATTLE: WILL LAKERS CHANGE BENCH ADVANTAGE?

LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Kawhi Leonard’s Los Angeles Clippers will be one talking point of opening night of the new NBA season.

Last season, the Clippers led the league in points off the bench per game with an average of 50.3 per game, while the Lakers were down in 11th at 39.5.

But in an excellent o ff s e a s o n , t h e L a k e r s attempted to flip the script by luring Montrezl Harrell, who averaged 18.4 points off the bench, from the Clippers.

Harrell was second only

to Dennis Schroder (18.9) in bench points in 2019-20.

Schroder, of course, is also now a Laker, having arrived via a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Clippers do still have the NBA’s third-best bench scorer from last season, Lou Williams (17.4) on their roster.

However, the Lakers made a clear push to erase

the deficit in bench points Tuesday will provide the first indication as to whether that plan has worked.

HEAD TO HEAD The teams split the fourgame regular-season series in the last campaign, illustrating how close a postseason duel between two stacked rosters likely would have been. A 111-106 (Continued on page 25)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 28

Endurance Championship 2021

Harper craving silverware The 2021 motor racing season speeds off in just over a month’s time with the first of two Endurance meets set for the South Dakota Circuit, Timehri on January 24.

The Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC); the local authority on motor sport had announced a packed race calendar in 2020 but only two of those events were hosted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first of those events was round one of the Endurance Championship which almost ended with tragedy after Romeo Singh’s starlet caught fire, and the second event was the National Race of Champions.

To this end, Dawulu ‘Afo’ Harper of Team Kinshasa has signaled his longing for the Endurance Championship with a more insatiable thirst for the Champion driver accolade.

Harper competes in the 1600cc class and although he knows that it will be tough to

get past multiple-time Champion, Adrian F e r n a n d e s o f Te a m Ramchand Wreckers, he has his heart set on grabbing the 1600cc class best driver trophy.

The experienced driver, who is yet to win the class, has come agonisingly close with a couple second and third place finishes.

However, Harper who is sponsored by Smallville Apartments, One Stop Hardware, Dave Electrical, Chippy Body Work, Motor Trend Service Center and Golden Touch is hungry for success and committed to keep working towards his dream of being the best driver among his fellow competitors.

Although 2020 was a quiet year, ‘Afo’ has maintained that his Starlet is in good condition and it will be revving loud in time for t h e E n d u r a n c e Championship round 1 on January 24, 2020.

H a r p e r, w h o a l s o

frequents normal circuit racing in the ‘Starlet Cup’, expressed his brighter admiration for Endurance, noting that, “Missing the Endurance is not an option for me. I would rather sit out from the circuit race but my passion is for the Endurance.”

Following the meet on January 24, round two of the Endurance Championship will be September 12.

On February 14, drag racing will make a highly anticipated return to the South Dakota strip which has undergone tremendous work during the pandemic and records are expected to be broken on the smoother, more leveled surface.

The much subscribed International Drag Race Meet is set for August 15 and some keen rivalry will be welcomed with many drivers from Trinidad & Tobago already signaling their interest to the GMR&SC of competing as soon as possible. (Calvin Chapman)

Gladbach’s Thuram gets six-game ban for spitting at opponent

EFL postpone League Cup final until April Arsenal’s Bernd Leno makes a save versus Liverpool at Anfield. (Pool viaREUTERS/Laurence Griffiths)

Arsenal’s Bernd Leno makes a save versus Liverpool at Anfield.

(Pool via REUTERS/ Laurence Griffiths) MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) The League Cup final has been put back by two months and will be held on April 25, in the hope that a later date will allow fans to attend, the Football League (EFL) announced yesterday.

The final of the competition, known by its sponsored name as the Carabao Cup, was due to be held on Feb. 28 at Wembley Stadium.

“It is the objective of the League to stage the final with as many supporters in attendance as possible and the decision has therefore been taken to move the final to... later in the year,” the EFL said in a statement.

(Reuters) - Borussia Moenchengladbach forward Marcus Thuram has been banned for six games and fined 40,000 euros ($48,936) after he spat in the face of Hoffenheim defender Stefan Posch, German soccer’s governing DFB said yesterday.

France international Thuram spat at Posch from close range when he confronted him off the ball and was sent off on Saturday following a VAR review that upgraded the yellow card to red as Moenchengladbach lost 2-1 at home.

“Five of the six matches

are to be served directly in Bundesliga and cup games, with the sixth suspended until Dec. 21, 2021,” the DFB said in a statement.

Thuram, 23, apologised on Sunday and said he would “accept all the consequences” of his actions.

“The number of fans permitted will be dependent on Government guidance in place at the time and it is hoped that moving the date to later in the year will give clubs and their fans the best opportunity to attend in person,” the EFL added.

The quarter-finals of the competition get under way today with Brentford hosting Newcastle United and holders Manchester City at Arsenal.

To m o r r o w ’s g a m e s i n c l u d e Championship side Stoke City at home to Tottenham Hotspur while Everton host Manchester United at Goodison Park.

Windies batsmen are timid says the ‘Master Blaster’ Sir Vivian Richards

S

Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram is shown a red card by the referee.

(Pool via REUTERS/Marius Becker)

Tuesday December 22, 2020

portsMax - West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards has described the current crop of Test batsmen as timid following the recently concluded debacle in New Zealand where the team lost by an innings in each of the two Tests.

For two decades, Sir Vivian, one of the greatest batsmen of all time, destroyed bowling attacks across the globe, plundering 8540 runs in 121 Tests. The nature of his dominance was such that he once held the world record for the fastestever Test century, getting to the hallowed milestone from just 56 balls.

It is against this background that that his criticism of the current crop of West Indies batsmen is seen as being telling.

During the recent tour of New Zealand, the West Indies batsmen were harried

and bullied by the pace and bounce of Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee, who between them took 38 wickets.

In the first Test at Hamilton, New Zealand, batting first on a green wicket, made 519 for 7 declared with Captain Kane Williamson getting 251 runs.

In reply, the West Indies could only manage 138 and following on, 247, losing by an innings and 134 runs.

It was a similar situation in the second Test at Wellington where after New Zealand made 460 all out reduced the West Indies to 131, and following on, 317, losing by an innings and 12 runs.

Of note, is that no West Indies batsman in four innings cumulatively managed to score more runs than Williamson’s score in the first Test. Jermaine Blackwood, who scored a

century and a half century over the two Tests came closest with 216 runs.

Richards, in a recent interview with the Antigua Observer, said the West Indies batsmen were not able to withstand the hostility of the home team’s bowlers.

“We are struggling to play the short ball, and we look like the individuals we used to deal with.

We are looking very timid and West Indians over the years have always been part of that destructive force when it comes to playing fast bowling,” said Sir Vivian.

“There are certain improvements in the team but we are seeing it in bits and pieces and we are not seeing those pieces being out together, we are not seeing that.”

Richards said it was becoming hard to watch the West Indies play under the current state of affairs.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

PAGE 29

Digicel signs on as title sponsor, Sportsmax broadcast partner of revamped Jamaica Premier League

S

portsMax Professional Football Jamaica (PFJ) have secured Digicel as the presenting sponsor and SportsMax as the broadcast partner for the next three seasons of the redesigned Jamaica Premier League.

Heralded as a major development in professional football, the competition will now be titled, “The Jamaica Premier League - powered

by Digicel”.

As part of the agreement, SportsMax will continue its state-of-the-art production, introducing never before used broadcast technologies in Jamaica, and its broadcast of the Premier League across multiple platforms including free-to-air, SportsMax channels and the SportsMax App. Shortly after announcing this game-changing

development, Chief Marketing Officer for Digicel Jamaica, NashaMonique Douglas, commented that the sponsorship is another strong signal of the digital operator ’s support for national development through sports.

“The national sport in Jamaica is football, and it has significance in how we manage social development as a nation.

Digicel can’t be a part of the country’s future without investing in properties that change people’s lives and football hits every single community across the island,” Douglas said.

As to the primary rationale behind the sponsorship, Douglas believes giving back is essential.

“It’s a two-parter; it’s clearly business as sporting content is king at a time

Sportsmax President and CEO Oliver McIntosh signs the agreement as broadcast partner for the Jamaica Premier League while Chris Williams, CEO of Professional Football Jamaica and Nasha-Monique Douglas Chief Marketing Officer of title sponsor Digicel bear witness. when people are glued to their devices, but it’s also about playing a key role in our nation and our youth’s development as Digicel continues to be a part of Jamaica’s tapestry,” she said.

For SportsMax CEO Olly McIntosh, this is a continuation of their broadcast partnership with the Premier League that dates back to the 2015/16 season. ”The Jamaica Premier

League represents the upper level of football in CONCACAF and is the foundation for the players that will form the team and that will hopefully go to the World Cup in 2022. For us at SportsMax, the league will sit in a very good broadcast neighbourhood on SportsMax alongside the Spanish La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.

The unrivalled production and broadcast will increase as we showcase the Premier

League to viewers globally on cable and digital platforms for the next three seasons.”

Digicel now joins JMMB, Wisynco, Yummy Bakery, Jamaica Producers, Indies Pharma and Mount Pleasant Academy as sponsors.

Professional Football Jamaica are awaiting the green light from the government for the 2021 season.

PFJ Chairman Chris

Wi l l i a m s a s s u r e s a l l Jamaicans that while negotiations are still underway with a number of other sponsors in the league and club categories, the organizers are fully in sight of their targets.

He notes, “Digicel has ensured we will have a Merry Christmas and we look forward to a Happy New Year when we make the final sponsorship announcements in early January.”

Tiger Woods’ son Charlie steals show, pumps fist at PNC Golf C/Ship Yahoo Sports - Justin Thomas and his father, Mike Thomas, sat atop the scoreboard at the end of this w e e k e n d ’s P N C G o l f Championship at 25-under par.

But it was the seventhplace team that stole the show. Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie, finished six spots back on a leaderboard that also featured Lee Trevino and John Daly. The father-son duo drew most of the attention at the Orlando event held for major winners and their families.

Charlie breaks out Tiger fist pump The weekend served as a coming-out party for 11year-old Charlie, who wore Sunday red and helped his dad to a seventh-place score of 20-under par at the RitzCarlton Golf Club in Orlando. He also celebrated a good putt with a signature Tiger fist pump — the iconic celebration of his father’s that’s older than he is.

Tiger: ‘Incredibly special for us’ The pair shot a 10-under

62 on the second day of the two-day scramble. But it wasn’t about the scoreboard for Woods — as it so often is.

The 44-year-old who bonded with his late father on the golf course in his youth talked about the chance to do so with Charlie ahead of the tournament.

“It’s just so cool for me to see him enjoying the sport, feeling the shots and hitting it as solidly as he’s doing now,” Woods told reporters after a Friday practice round with Charlie ...

“The whole idea is the bonding that we have. I spent so much time with my dad on the old back nine and just having those moments.

This is an opportunity to come together and share great moments like this.”

After Sunday’s final r o u n d , Wo o d s c l e a r l y

cherished the moment.

“It was incredibly special for us to have the opportunity to spend the quality time we had,” Woods said. “It’s memories we’ll have for our entire lives.”

The weekend was the latest chapter in the Tiger Woods saga that’s seen him evolve from teen phenom to ruthless competitor and alltime great before a personal and professional downfall and rebound that culminated in the 2019 Masters championship.

S i n c e t h a t v i c t o r y, Woods has softened his hard competitor’s edge — at least when it comes to his perspective of being a father.

This weekend, he and Charlie gave a glimpse into what that relationship looks like.

Tiger Woods enjoyed the chance to compete with his 11-year-old son Charlie.

PAGE 30

Kaieteur News

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Tuesday December 22, 2020

Peters, Watts crown King and Queen champs

Rawl Peters accepts his prize from Claire Benjamin in the presence of organiser Dhyan Carter.

Rawl Peters and June Watts were crowned King and Queen Champions respectively when the Twin To w e r s d o m i n o e s competition concluded on Sunday last at Turning Point Sports Club.

Competing against 33 starters, Peters played consistently to earn his place in the final along with Terence Wills and Andrew Yhap. Peters chalked nine

points to win the encounter ahead of Wills with six points and Yhap on two points.

Watts overcame Sandra Nurse and Andrea Green to win the female segment which commenced with eight players.

The competition was sponsored by HJ 94.1 FM, DeSinco Trading, Big Boss, Royal Castle and King’s Wash Bay.

June Watts receives her prize from Claire Benjamin in the presence of organiser Dhyan Carter.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 31

rt Spo

West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards.

Tiger Woods cherished the chance to compete with his 11-year-old son Charlie on the golf course.

(Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Tiger Woods’ son Charlie steals show, pumps fist at PNC Golf C/ship

Endurance C/ship 2021

Windies batsmen are timid says the ‘Master Blaster’ Sir Vivian Richards

Harper craving silverware

Dowalu ‘Afo’ Harper on the go in his Kinshasa powered Starlet. (Calvin Chapman photo)

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