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Monday Edition Traffic Chief says NEWS probe completed into death of pensioner struck Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most down on pedestrian crossing popular weekly

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AIETEUR

February 10, 2020 - Vol. 13 No. 06

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com Price $80

Online readership yesterday 129,748

- but police still to locate other Chinese national implicated in 2019 death of Annandale teen

Report exposes Exxon’s hand in Cabinet meeting on Stabroek Block deal A day after involvement in crash that killed cyclist Jude Bentley…

Former Army Chief of Staff Gary Best admitted to GPHC’s Cardiac Ward

Ex-Chief of Staff, Gary Best

Jude Bentley

Cyclists at the memorial ride on the Rupert Craig Highway where Jude died

Guyana Forensic World Bank advises Lab likely to begin mechanisms to detect drug testing of conflicts of interest in police recruits oil licence applications

OpenOil responds to Govt.’s criticism, shows how Guyana left US$55B on Exxon’s table

Monday February 10, 2020

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Kaieteur News

OpenOil responds to Govt.’s criticism, shows how Guyana left US$55B on Exxon’s table Since the release of the report, “Signed Away” by non-governmental organization Global Witness, the Coalition administration has deemed the document to be without merit.

The administration has also said that the report stands on “fanciful” estimates; with the most bizarre one being that Guyana left US$55B on the table following poor negotiations with ExxonMobil and its partners for the Stabroek Block licence.

But the firm which Global Witness commissioned for the economic analysis, OpenOil, has responded via a five page missive to the media.

In that document which will be reproduced in several parts by Kaieteur News, OpenOil categorically states that its US$55B estimate is not only accurate, but the model used to arrive at this figure can withstand public scrutiny. On this note, OpenOil, which is based in Berlin, said that its fiscal model follows the FAST modelling standard (https:// w w w. f a s t - s t a n d a r d . o rg / about-fso/), on whose advisory board the OpenOil Director, Johnny West, sits.

The FAST Standard, which was founded over 18 years ago, and is used by thousands of Excel modelers worldwide, allows for public scrutiny and for a number of factors to be considered or amended.

Speaking to the model used, OpenOil said, “...Our model projected the revenues Exxon’s Stabroek licence

Johnny West, Founder of OpenOil would produce until 2056, and some have stated that projections like this are speculative, or arbitrary. Of c o u r s e , o u r m o d e l ’s estimates are speculative in the sense of not being empirical fact – all forwardlooking estimates are. But they are not somehow more speculative than anyone else’s.”

Further to this, Open Oil said that the model it used not only considers the money lost over a 40 year period (US$55B) but also considers for example, the difference in revenues to government by the end of 2025 which would be US$2.8 billion, and US$16.3 billion in the entire decade of the 2020s.

OpenOil also stated that it had sent its projections to ExxonMobil twice before publication: once in December and once in January. The company said that it invited critique, amendments, updated data or

Former Army Chief of Staff Gary Best admitted...

From page 2 fell onto the roadway and sustained injuries.

Eyewitnesses who were at the scene at the time of the accident said that Bentley’s body was dragged some feet away from impact before the vehicle came to a halt.

After the impact, the vehicle struck a lamppost on the southern side of the road.

Bentley was on his routine training exercise when he was struck down.

THE LEGACY HE LEFT His death sent shockwaves through Guyana and the sporting fraternity who lamented that his death was huge blow to his family and especially those who he inspired.

Yesterday, several cyclists and supporters held a memorial Sunday ride for Jude; something he was best known for.

The ride started from his Bike Shop located at Lot 33 Robb Street, Bourda to the spot where he met his demise.

Riders from all across the country stood in solidarity and called for justice to be served as they remembered the impact Bentley made in the lives of many during his time.

His wife Fauna McWatt told Kaieteur News her husband was a man of the people.

“Jude was amazing, he loved helping people; he was an inspiration to so many people, so many of these young kids started riding because of Jude and his motivation. That’s the type of person he is.”

McWatt stated that the support has been overwhelming and they hope to get Jude the justice he deserves. An autopsy is expected to be conducted soon.

specific criticisms of the model but received none of substance.

The consultancy firm,

which has worked for governments around the world, also noted that ExxonMobil and its partners, like all oil and mining majors, certainly have estimates and projections based on the entire life of the Stabroek project.

The company said, “They would not have invested billions of dollars without them, and they often refer in public statements to conclusions derived from their models. It is also uncontested international best practice that governments should have such models.”

OpenOil also stated that the same level of scrutiny it invites for the fiscal model it produced, cannot be applied to the estimates the

government has been quoting from Rystad Energy to support its claim that Guyana got a fair deal.

While OpenOil estimates government’s take from the Stabroek Block deal is 52% under the current fiscal regime, and at a base oil price of $65 in today’s money, Ry s t a d b e l i e v e s t h a t Guyana will get a 60% take.

In the face of the Rystad f i g u r e s , O p enOil says, “Show your work...”

The consultancy firm added, “The only real way to ensure that different estimates are apples to apples comparisons is to publish the entire models which generated them, just as one would for science, and in a form which can be interrogated, such as an Excel

spreadsheet. In the absence of that, comparisons of different values from different sources are too methodologically weak to be significant.”

OpenOil sought to emphasize that it holds the belief that it is Guyanese who own the oil, and are therefore important investors in the resource just as ExxonMobil is.

“And, like any investor, the Guyanese people have the right to financial analysis on which to base decisions.

This is our only institutional goal,” OpenOil said.

At the same time, the company said it recognises that decision making is a sovereign Guyanese process, as such; it confines its work to financial analysis.

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News Printed and Published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd. 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Guyana.

Publisher: GLENN LALL Editor: Adam Harris Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

EDITORIAL

The new, emerging face of America-the real one, perhaps The ugly American of cinematic notoriety is no longer exported abroad; he is a proud resident operating at home.

It was there before, but was more muted, haphazard, and subtle. Now it is blatant, as in your face, too often for comfort, and increasingly public and violent. It is as if the gloves are off, perpetrators don’t care, are proud of their bigotry, and are inclined to vile invective when unable to get their way, and even to use violence to teach the incoming a harsh lesson.

Undoubtedly, this new face of America exhibited to its immigrants took life since the current president took office.

He has been the agitator-in-chief, the inciter-in-chief, and the hater-in-chief playing to his audiences, while bringing out the worst that has been concealed for so long in America. The reports from different sources convey the powerful currents of hatreds. The targets are those who look differently, speak differently, and hail from differently diverse places, and are attacked and humiliated, with ever-increasing frequency.

On September 19, 2019, the New York Times carried a story that involved a sitting judge, which revealed the extent and heights at which bigotry reigns: Kyle R. Canning became a judge in the rural town of Altona, N.Y., in January 2018. Six weeks later, he posted an image of a noose in front of a black background on his Facebook page. “IF WE WANT TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, WE WILL HAVE TO MAKE EVIL PEOPLE FEAR PUNISHMENT AGAIN,” the post shouted in large white letters at the top of the image. He was forced to step down, but message sent, audience engaged, damage done. Sounds like something that could have come from the White House.

On September 25, 2019, the New York Daily News reported that, “A man in a Savannah, Ga., McDonald’s was caught on video telling a Spanish-speaking woman to speak English. The woman, Cristina Riofrio, posted video of the middle-aged man screaming at her to “shut the f—k up!” after claiming he “built this f—ing country.”He then accused the woman, who said she was Ecuadorian, of coming “over in a f—ing boat.” Ecuador is part of continental South America. This kind of sentiment was there before, but never so sharply and recklessly, dangerously too, as the next episode indicates.

The New York Daily News on November 9 told the harrowing encounter of a Latin American immigrant. It is of a 42-year-old Milwaukee man originally from Peru, who says he feels “scared being an American citizen” after suffering seconddegree burns to his face in a vicious acid attack on Friday night.

A 61-year-old white suspect was allegedly responsible for inflicting damage to face, self-esteem, peace of mind, and chosen way of life of this poor, law-abiding foreigner brutalised and traumatised.

As Guyana braces for waves of immigrants, its own hospitality and decency will be tested keenly. May we never resort to xenophobic violence, may our culture, and any of our leaders, never prompt us to such deterioration.

Then, the NY Post in coverage on November 25 shared the image of an out-of-control woman captured on camera in full screaming racist meltdown, with a barrage of slurs hurled at a Midtown hotel receptionist — all because the employee asked for identification before handing over a room key, according to a new lawsuit. For maintaining the standards of one’s bread and butter living, there is insult and anguish heaped upon the hapless.

There now is this swaggering arrogance, this boiling over bigotry that makes immigrants in the US fear and rethink their choices.

They feel unwelcomed, they sense that being legal and hardworking and honest and taxpaying do not matter.

And, just last week, on February 6, the caption of a New York Post headline told this ugly story: “CEO of Arizona company unleashes racist tirade against Uber driver, video shows.” Dirty and derogatory words were used, after being asked to take the back seat, where daily routines now flare viciously.

America the beautiful has metastasized into America the brutalising in words and pictures and deeds that harm most piercingly. It starts from the very top and is stoked from that same top in the Executive Mansion.

Be responsible. If you drink, DON’T DRIVE! DEAR EDITOR, I didn’t know Jude Bentley personally. Just like anyone else into cycling or who used a bicycle regularly, I remembered when his dad started their cycle shop about a decade or more ago, competing with another cycle shop on the same block which had been in business for more than three decades. I remember Jude in his earlier years getting into cycling, passing him and his colleagues occasionally on the East Coast and Carifesta Avenue when I myself was out riding, in which I had been involved since the eighties. I remember him becoming popular on the national scene as his dedication to training paid off. Jude was a most unassuming, successful person who those of us who respected cycling came to admire. He was a good son who assisted his dad much with his business. On the occasions we encountered during visits to his cycle store, he always impressed me as someone who had developed an immense sense of awareness, which was sharpened by his competitive spirit, and as with many other Guyanese, I wondered what he could have become had he pursued tertiary studies.

Jude Bentley is dead.

Purportedly, the victim of another reckless drunken adult who had all the age and experience to know better than to drink and drive.

Accidents involving injuries and loss of lives, etc., are so much harder to bear when we reflect that drunken driving is a tested topic in our national driving test, and on our own national sorry attitude of absolute disregard for government sponsored public advertisements across the media spectrum, inclusive of billboards around the country warning against driving under the influence of alcohol. This makes it so much more unforgivable when accidents and deaths like Jude’s occur, as we have no other emotion but intense anger when they do.

As with every other accident involving drunk driving, Jude’s death cannot be allowed to be a victim of our oftentimes seemingly influenced court system.

Jude was a major player in his family’s business, and contributed much to its growth and success. This death has torn a wound in the hearts of his family, friends and the national cycling arena, including many aspiring young children and

adults. Most importantly however, Jude has left a young wife with a son to take care of through to adulthood.

Jude meant a lot to his wife, his son, and they must be compensated.

During my time, I’ve observed a number of earlymorning accidents which very likely involved driving under the influence. These include another earlymorning fatal accident involving another cyclist and a bus driver just around Liliendaal a few decades ago, vehicles mashing into the same post just before the gas station on Camp Street (twice), a pick-up running under what used to be the Plaza Cinema, and a host of other accidents on the Camp & Lamaha and Camp & Church Streets intersections through the years. The absolute irrationality behind these accidents, many involving death, injury and much financial cost and lost time, was unbelievable, and continues even in spite of increased public awareness efforts.

On the score of our current national attitude of disregard for warnings and penalties for driving under the influence, we are brutally reminded once again of the

costs and personal tragedies of drunk driving with Jude’s death, and I personally add my voice to those already on record, do not drink and drive! I understand many drivers are mistakenly under the impression that driving under the influence is the supreme driving test, and they are ‘man’ enough to drive unfazed by alcohol, but we are too often reminded that our senses are undoubtedly impaired. Be rational. Alcohol has been known to alter reality and impair motor responses, and regardless of how we feel, just for a moment consider that we could well be responsible for the next fatality if we drink and drive.

Let us make a national effort to be more responsible and save a life. If you drink, don’t drive. Sleep over, take a taxi, or have a friend or someone give you a drop. Further, if you know you’re going out to have a good time, call a taxi, and have friends do likewise.

Lack of sleep also causes accidents. Just think about it and do the right thing. It takes around twenty-four hours for the effects of alcohol to wear off. Be responsible. If you drink, DON’T DRIVE! Yours faithfully, Craig Sylvester

This election will determine which party, political leader and vision is trusted by most Guyanese DEAR EDITOR, I confess to being in awe at the political strategy, its conception and operation, aimed at the unilateral control of the state by one party and a small group of individuals.

In 2015, the minority PPP/C government defiantly refused to collaborate with the AFC and preferred to shorten its term in office and risk forcing the AFC into coalition with APNU, rather than adhere to the constitutional demands for the installation of a Procurement Commission and respect the role of the National Assembly in approving budgetary allocations and expenditures.

Then, having lost power in early elections, the PPP/C claimed that they were cheated and sought to destabilise the APNU+AFC government from the onset culminating with the passage of the no-confidence vote (NCV) three years into their term. During the saga of the NCV, the PPP/C and its supporters, local and foreign, sought to obstruct the normal functioning of government by almost every means imaginable, except for the use of force. The PPP/C demanded the resignation or, at the very least, severe curtailment of the

government and resorted to the courts, international pressure and public protest and harassment to accomplish this end. They lobbied for the government to be declared illegal, unconstitutional and a pariah state to be visited by international isolation and sanction, and succeeded in aborting the National Assembly several months prematurely. In effect, they sought to weaken the government as much as they could at a time when the government was compelled to resort to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in defence of our territorial integrity and seeking to build national capacity to manage the petroleum sector and to improve its ability to deal successfully with major, sophisticated and powerful international companies.

The PPP/C was supported in these undertakings by many political, and civil society, actors who are today, at the forefront of collaborative and organised attacks on APNU+AFC’s stewardship of our petroleum patrimony and its negotiations and agreements with the international oil companies, particularly ExxonMobil. The

publicity and support given to the Global Witness report, which principal conclusions of likely corruption and incompetence cannot be borne out by facts or reason, and the obvious coordination of demands by political and civil society actors identified in their prior public support for the NCV,

to reject and terminate existing agreements, halt current and future activities in the petroleum sector, investigate and sanction government officials is reminiscent of demands made following the passage of the NCV and aimed at halting all development and progress (Continued on page 6)

The time has come for land vouchers DEAR EDITOR, I am cognizant that there’s a limited amount of land/ houselots that the government could offer to an equally limited amount of citizens. For this reason, we have a dilemma with regard to those that are disenfranchised as a result of not being the lucky one. Moreover, the undercurrent of resentment from fellow Guyanese continues to build, I believe every Guyanese is entitled to land if the government has instituted a land redistribution. For this reason, I offer the following solution of offering land vouchers to every Guyanese who was not lucky to get houselots from the government.

The vouchers would have a dollar value equivalent to the value of the houselotts awarded to the lucky ones.

The vouchers would be non transferrable and could be used to pay for houselots in private transactions, including combining several vouchers to build multi-story condo buildings.

Government would redeem the vouchers upon verification of the legitimacy of the deed and sale.

The vouchers would remove the optics of bias and cronyism from what smells like a defacto “vote buying scheme”. This in the name of One people,One nation, One nation!

Keith Bernard

Monday February 10, 2020

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Justice for Guyana DEAR EDITOR, On February 6th, The Center for Public Integrity published a report discussing the dismal conditions in California (one of the most environmentally regulated states in the USA) where thousands of oil wells were abandoned due to the boom in the natural gas industry in the USA. These wells which have not been decommissioned are causing health & safety hazards, and will cost Billions of US dollars to decommission. This burden has been left to the state budget due to many of the oil companies declaring bankruptcy and refusing to pay the cost of decommissioning the wells

because they have not set aside enough funds in reserve.

Guyana still has the opportunity to react and act swiftly to prevent this serious problem from occurring in our homeland. This can be only accomplished via renegotiation of the various oil contracts. There is no reason why any future government should not pursue this issue while in office.

The Guyanese economy can not afford to play a zero sum game in this new Industry. Where our gains are lost at the end of drilling and wealth gained has only shifted to the neglectful few while leaving the masses to

suffer and endure the resulting health hazards.

We should be considering ourselves lucky that we have leaders on both sides that have faced serious health issues and can appreciate the importance placed on good health.

However, it appears to many that greed is at their door step beckoning them to leave the path that uplifts others. If they are wise, they can rule over it and if not they will be ruled by it and fighting over riches will ensue. If the true uplifting of our Nation is to occur then an impartial and just view should be taken of the affairs of the country.

Doing the correct thing in the face of much criticism is

difficult but necessary if leadership is to be had, and the correct thing to do is renegotiate the contracts.

Those who have erred should be found out and justice for the country should prevail.

So that others who are tempted to do the same will cower in the face of swift and just judgement by a just Nation. We can only hope that our future development will be that of a new and just Guyana whose true riches and fortunes lay within the moral integrity of our people and our leaders.

Best regards, Mr. Jamil Changlee Chairman The Cooperative Republicans of Guyana

A prevailing national disaster DEAR EDITOR, The GT&T Monopoly is a saga mired in decades of controversy. I remember clearly GT&T being divested - 80 percent to ATNI and the state retaining 20 percent by former President Hoyte. This is the company that was sold with money in the bank and given a Monopoly for 20 years - a clear indication that the Government of the day did not know what it was selling or perhaps this deal was a cash cow for some people. The agreement, in my understanding, granted the company an OPTION for renewal for a further 20 years when the first time span would have expired in 2010. I don’t know in what language the word OPTION is interpreted as meaning guarantee. If my memory serves me correct, I am certain I have heard former President Jagdeo saying, “That is why I will break the GT&T Monopoly” - amidst cheers at one of his election campaign – himself complaining of being

disgusted with the poor service. Instead, in 2010 his government granted 20 more years extension on the Monopoly to ATNI. Why didn’t Jagdeo break the Monopoly when the opportunity presented itself?

Maybe it was his eureka moment…

Our political system is so deranged! The people give a party a mandate to govern and automatically the properties of the state are being treated as the belongings of the few in government. Without any consultation, the state’s 20 percent share in GT&T was sold to a Chinese company because it was reportedly felt that US$30 million was a good price. Truly speaking, this is an absurdity that has become a modus operandi.

Without consultation, our vested interest in our oil resource in a PSA with Exxon was sold for a mere pittance and GuySuCo was saved only because a buyer was not found.

Back to the point, according to a KN article last Sunday, “The current administration has been negotiating with GTT over the past four years for an agreement to end the monopoly.” This is all balderdash! Four years!

These folks are known for violating the Constitution without flinching a muscle!

You have to be utterly silly not to see a sinister trend.

The KN article stated that ATNI is worried “about the loss of revenue that would result were it to lose this monopoly.” Who gives a damn! The knowledge that ATNI is offering cheaper and better service in the Cayman Islands makes the Monopoly an albatross around the public’s neck.

ATNI expressing that “it has informed the SEC that

revenue loss is already taking place due to a decrease in customers”, is troubling.

ANTI is trying to give the impression that the SEC is expecting a constant; “set in stone” 23 percent of its yearly revenue from GT&T and any shortfall will incur consequences from the SEC. On the contrary, the yearly report is to inform investors via the SEC about the financial status and profitability of the company so they can choose whether to sell or keep their shares. The SEC is about creating a level playing field and educating and protecting investors from unscrupulous brokers and companies. The SEC will never tolerate a Monopoly where one is not wanted on American soil.

Why should our government tolerate one here?

Rudolph Singh

The Chinese and their money DEAR EDITOR, As mentioned towards the end of the article, Guyana will not need the Chinese money, we will have the oil money.

Our strategy has to be to not keep any debt with the Chinese. We will have the money to not be indebted to them.

I welcome the interest of the Chinese GOVERNMENT in helping the development of countries like Guyana.

The American companies mentioned in the article are merely businesses. They are not in our country to develop it. They are there to make

money.

Guyana needs technical and experienced help from developed countries.

USAID is not offering this level of developmental help to us.... neither are the other traditional friends like Canada and the UK. Guyana has to use China to its advantage to help develop the country FAST. In doing so, Guyana must also ensure that only skills that are unavailable in Guyana are imported to work on the projects.

The projects mentioned in the article are very good ones.

Gerry King

Lawsuit with only embolden presidential candidate DEAR EDITOR, The filing of the lawsuit against presidential hopeful of the leading opposition party, coming days before elections and on the eve of a Stewartville Rally, has to be seen as an act of desperation and a feeble attempt at sowing uncertainty.

The lawsuit will only embolden this presidential candidate.

Shamshun Mohamed

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It is not too late; just renegotiate DEAR EDITOR, Since we all make mistakes, no one is above faults. The fact that you can correct the said mistake is an achievement.

A chance to prove to the people that you care about their biggest assets; a chance to make history, by losing a fight and yet winning a war.

ExxonMobil is a giant, but God Blessed David and the

Giant can be defeated. Go back to the table and bring home the prize, US$55B is a very large size.

Guyanese want oil deals that are best in Guyana’s interest. We are looking out for the dawn of a new day.

A more respectful and richer country, so don’t give it away!

Respectfully, JC Grant-Stuart. Snr Toronto, Canada

This election will determine...

From page 4 initiated by the Coalition Government. It begs the question that if the conclusions in the Global Witness report are to be believed and the recommendations followed, where, and how, would the US$55 billion be realised and how would Guyana protect its EEZ for which they have no answer.

A central argument in the defence of President Trump in the recently concluded impeachment trial was that most persons seeking political power and office tended to

believe that their political interests were equivalent to the national interest.

It seems obvious that some persons here believe that they alone can be identified with the national interests of Guyana and that development can, and should only proceed under their direction of the state. This election, less than 3 weeks away, will determine which party, political leader and vision is trusted by most Guyanese to advance their interests.

Sincerely, Oscar Dolphin

Monday February 10, 2020

The Social Responsibility of Corporations during these Elections DEAR EDITOR, Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR has become the North Star for corporations around the world and more so in North America. Nike, for example, is one of the trailblazers in CSR after being publicly criticised by the likes of Michael Moore and university students in the early nineties.

This challenging time for Nike forced the company to change its approach on how it operates globally and reshaped itself as a true global citizen.

They did that by improving working conditions for contract employees in Asia and improving good governance in other parts of the world.

Today, Nike is the most profitable fashion retailer in the world and confirmed that their success is because of their CSR business model.

The energy sector too has strong CSR policies that governs their operations.

British Petroleum (BP) has taken more direct steps to improve systems in many countries that includes human and labour rights.

The ISO have also developed a guideline for how companies should conduct themselves in the social space by implementing ISO 26000.

The aim is to provide a detailed guideline on the role of corporations as it relates to human rights, social justice and labour rights among other areas.

Considering the above, we should understand that clearly all companies operating in Guyana have a role to play by ensuring free and fair elections are conducted.

It is the responsibility of these companies to remain objective and not influence

any unethical behaviour of leaders in any capacity that adversely affects the integrity of our democratic process.

We have seen in many cases around the world where corporations have turned a blind eye on unethical behaviours or secretly support governments that oppressed its people for preferential gains.

You just have to look at West Africa where history is littered with activists who have been assassinated in their fight to protect the rights of the people.

As Guyanese, we should expect nothing less than the full implementation of all companies’ CSR policies as they would apply it to their home countries.

Our resources are making them richer and in return, we are asking that they do their part so that our fragile system is supported and strengthened to protect our democratic freedoms.

The plan to have oil

realised today was because of the work done by Comrade Janet Jagan to have Exxon explore our waters.

The PPP/C brought back a strong democracy to Guyana which paved the way for free and fair elections once again that resulted in APNU taking part and gaining power in 2015.

But we are now seeing that APNU has disregarded the constitution and forced themselves to remain in office way beyond their legal lifetime.

These are all troubling signs for our democracy that we worked so hard on to rebuild.

I call on all corporations operating in our country to take heed of these things as they assess our social landscape.

In these elections, we are not only fighting to rebuild our country, but to restore a fair democratic process for all Guyanese.

Malcolm Watkins

Youth violence in Guyana DEAR EDITOR, It is highly undeniable that our youths hold aggressive attitudes and exert violent behaviour to others.

On any given day in Guyana, there are multiple news stories about youth violence.

Whether it’s street fighting, school violence or bullying, our country’s youth is plagued with violent behaviour. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines youth violence as violence which occurs among individuals (aged 10-29 years), who are not related or may not know each other. It includes a series of acts from bullying, physical fighting, to more severe sexual and physical assault, to homicide.

Presently, youth violence

is increasing and quickly becoming one of the major concerns in Guyana, and the world over. However, a few questions should be taken into consideration - What is making the youths today so violent and ill-tempered and, is there anything that can stop this trend?

There are a few factors, which contribute to hostile behaviour. A home is supposed to be a safe place where children are free to experience their right of love, care and protection. If they are usually faced with violent behaviour between their parents, it is highly likely that they would assume all relationships are filled with violence. Thus, they will adapt an irrational personality and indulge in unacceptable activities.

Violence in the media print and electronic -, can also contribute to destructive and violent attitudes amongst the youth. Many experts in education and psychology believe that children act based on what they visualize, which can easily be reacted due to constant exposure.

Television and video games have greatly influenced many children. When parents and teachers take the time to teach children respectful values and norms, they will learn problem solving, coping skills and conflict resolution.

Toxic environments for children, created by austerity, is another recognised cause for violence amongst youth. Homes, schools or neighbourhoods can become hostile environments for children when their relationships and

experiences fail to nurture, protect and help them achieve their potential. Such environments leave many children disaffected, frightful and vengeful. As a result, they are scared and provoked into carrying knives or guns, joining gangs and committing criminal acts. It is no coincidence that the vast majority of crime takes place in neighbourhoods suffering from huge social disadvantage.

Many neighbourhoods with high crime are already inclined to distrust law enforcement personnel, owing to their experiences of institutional racism in our country. As violence and crime has increased, the proportion of offences for which police have identified the offender has fallen, which further erodes civilians’ trust in authority. When police fail to solve or stop crime, people will bypass law enforcement and authority and tend to use violence to resolve disputes.

There is no guarantee that violence can be stopped permanently, but prevention can make a difference. Parents can start by being worthy role models, refraining from violent behaviour and making sure that they are positively involved in their children’s’ life. They should maintain frequent discussions and discipline their kids during ‘slip-ups’ as well as lending them a supportive shoulder in times of distress. Parents should make it clear that aggressive behaviour is unacceptable and therefore, they should be actively involved in the school systems to ensure that the children are safe and the environment is violent free.

Additionally, school authorities should also carry out their primary role of preventing violence amongst students. A school should be a protected place where students can achieve knowledge. Thus, teachers and other staff members should develop an appropriate attitude to students and maintain a comfortable atmosphere.

Schools should also invest in violence prevention programmes and daily assemblies where students with problems are taught the morals, values and laws of society. They should also ensure a guidance counsellor is appointed as students may have a necessary urge of speaking to someone about their struggles and experiences.

As a result, a child battling criminal attitudes and thoughts can be counselled, as well as a victim of criminal act could be provided with help and advice.

Preventing violence does not involve the efforts of parents and schools alone, but also the duty of society as a whole, by changing social and cultural conditions in efforts of reducing violence such as media violence, reshaping social norms and restructuring educational systems. The problem cannot be solved completely, however, when individuals lend a helping hand to reduce violence, the world will move towards becoming a more peaceful and safe place.

Hadiyyah Mohamed Student 6th Form – School of the Nations

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Monday February 10, 2020

World Bank advises mechanisms to detect conflicts of interest in oil licence applications

By Kemol King

Energy Director, Dr. Mark Bynoe

If an entity applies to be awarded an oil block or any other extractive sector deal, the application process should involve mechanisms to detect any conflicts of interest.

This is just one of several pieces of advice proffered by Guyana’s development partner, The World Bank, in its publication ‘Licence to Drill: How to Reduce Corruption in Extractives Sectors’.

The Bank acknowledges that extractive industries tend

to form large sources of income for rich and poor countries alike, and that they have transformational potential to support economic development. In this regard, it notes integrity screening as necessary, because natural resource sectors are highly susceptible to corruption in countries whose economies largely depend on them.

Quoting the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), The World Bank stated that a conflict of interest arises “when a public official has

private-capacity interests which could improperly influence the performance of their official duties and responsibilities”.

The Bank posited that the licence application systems should screen, in addition to applicants, officials of the licensing agency and any other officials with a decisionmaking role in the process.

The Integrity Commission would be instrumental in such a process.

The World Bank has identified three types of conflict of interest to be on the lookout for, from OECD

Guyana Forensic Lab likely to begin drug testing of police recruits The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) is likely to conduct screening of individuals seeking to join the Guyana Police Force.

An official said that occupational health screening is on the GFSL’s agenda for 2020.

The screening will be for recruits.

Stressing the importance of drug testing for members of the Force, the official said that “If they are drug abusers, they may be buying, stealing or using. Drug use affects your judgment, and the way you function on the job.”

Kaieteur News understands that recruits are at present being tested for drug use at the Force’s Forensic Laboratory,

located at CID headquarters, Eve Leary.

Drug testing is already a feature in some private companies. Some employees are reportedly subjected to monthly tests.

Just last week, several police recruits reportedly tested positive for marijuana use. The users are said to include about eight female recruits and one male.

According to reports, the recruits had planned to visit a night club on the East Coast of Demerara.

The females reportedly told investigators that a male recruit, who has also tested positive, gave them the ganjalaced ‘cakes’ some hours before they were to have visited the club.

research.

The first is the actual/real conflict, where there is in fact an unacceptable possibility of conflict between a public official’s interests as a private citizen and his/her duty as a public or civil servant.

The second is the apparent conflict, where the potential for doubt arises about the officials’ integrity and that of the organisation he/she represents.

The Bank advises that, to identify this conflict, one should ask, “Does official X appear to have a conflict of interest?”

The third type is the potential conflict, which may exist where an official has private capacity interests that could cause a conflict of interest to arise at some future time.

Some conflicts of interest, the Bank states, could be resolved by mitigation and monitoring, while others may be so serious that absolute prohibition is the only credible solution.

A suggestion by the Bank is a disclosure form, so the licencing agency could be furnished with requisite information to determine whether a conflict exists.

Energy Director, Dr. Mark Bynoe had said that Guyana may be ready to initiate the next licensing round for its offshore blocks in 2020, likely through an open bid process.

Pursuant to that, Dr. Bynoe said that he would prefer that Guyana’s Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act be updated before the licencing.

Monday February 10, 2020

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

Report exposes Exxon’s hand in Cabinet meeting on Stabroek Block deal

By Kemol King A strictly private and confidential report commissioned by Cabinet itself has demonstrated that ExxonMobil was intimately involved with the Ministry of Natural Resources in the period leading up to the signing of the Stabroek Block licence.

In fact, the report, which builds on information supplied by Government officials, states that an ExxonMobil official, Brooke Harris, wrote the Cabinet memorandum that Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, presented to Cabinet for its approval of the controversial licence.

Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram, in the Friday last edition of his Stabroek News column ‘The road to first oil’, called this ‘the most important bit of information’ in the report prepared by British law firm, Clyde and Co. The firm found that, on May 25, 2016, “Harris [Exxon’s former Commercial Advisor] provided by email a first draft Cabinet Memorandum to [Legal Advisor to Minister Trotman, Joanna Simmons Homer]”.

In that email, Harris [the Exxon official] mentioned, “We have strong operational need to complete this entire process (i.e. all agreements are signed and effective) by mid-September… The timing drives the urgency behind signing the agreements the week of June 6th (following a successful Cabinet meeting), after which we can commence the required 3

Minister Trotman’s legal advisor, Joanna Simmons Homer ExxonMobil’s former Commercial Advisor, Brooke Harris month period following our notice of intent to relinquish the current licence.”

In the same email, Harris also said that ExxonMobil has a “strong operational need” to have the Section 51 order confirmed by the National Assembly “before we relinquish the current 1999 Petroleum Agreement”. That refers to the provision, which granted ExxonMobil and its partners a permanent tax holiday.

Ram wrote, “It did not stop there: Clyde states in its report that the Cabinet Memorandum was prepared along the lines of [that] email”.

It may not have been the first draft alone, it appears.

The report states, “we were also provided with various emails exchanged from 20 May 2016 until 31 May 2016 between Hon. Minister Trotman, Mrs. Homer and Mrs. Harris regarding the Cabinet Memorandum…”

Then, “We understand that the Cabinet Memorandum was prepared further to the email correspondence and draft versions exchanged between… Homer and…

Harris during the period…”

Trotman and Homer received “daily phone calls” from the Exxon-led consortium, Clyde & Co stated.

ExxonMobil wrote the first draft, and then steered its development throughout the entire process leading up to June 3, 2016 when Trotman placed the document before Cabinet.

Why it was necessary for ExxonMobil to draft a Cabinet document on behalf of Trotman’s ministry is unclear.

The memorandum was titled, “Proposal for Cabinet’s consideration and approval of the process required for the issuance of a new Production Sharing

Dem boys seh

Dem ah twist story to fool the people and cover their A******S. Dem boys seh something wrong wid we leaders. Dem either deaf, blind, dumb or down right dotish.

Dem boys waan fuh know who gon tek a man word if it can’t prove what he saying? Nobody will, na tru?

Yet our leaders do dat all the time.

Fuh example, somebody seh to them 34 and nat 33 is the lowest majority of 65.

And dem geniuses went to the CCJ to find out dat. Then dem tried to confuse the nation’s children with their jumbie maths.

Now dem attempting the same trick again with two full-page ads in yesterday’s newspapers.

Do they really believe dat de people are fools?

Global Witness, a respectable and credible anti-corruption body dat is well-known to investigate corrupt oil deals/contracts, carried out a study of the deal Guyana signed with Exxon.

It laid its findings out in the open for all to see; it even provided the model which it used to establish its findings.

The report by Global Witness revealed dat Guyana left US$55 Billion dollars on ExxonMobil’s table in Texas.

But these clueless leaders refuse to accept dat.

Another company from Norway, which is known for working with oil companies, paints a rosy picture of how Guyana get the best oil deal.

Dem even say how we get 60% but have nothing to show how they arrive at dat

figure or what model they used.

But our BRILLIANT leaders take dat info and put it in two full-page ads in the papers to fool Guyana.

Everybody know Guyana got 50% profit oil and 2% royalty. Now Guyana, tell us how 50 + 2= 60%?

Dis is why they cannot show the model which was used. And dis nonsense is what our leaders are pushing down your throats.

Don’t forget the US$55Billion left on the people’s table can double all public servants’ salaries for the next 40 years! Or it can give every Guyanese $15M dollars.

Dat’s what they should be telling you.

Talk half and demand what belongs to us!

Agreement with Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited and its joint venture participants Hess Guyana Exploration Limited and CNOOC Nexen

Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman

Petroleum Limited”.

It provided background information and set out Minister Trotman’s concrete proposal regarding the agreement. The Clyde and Co

report shows that the proposal was actually more of ExxonMobil’s proposal than Trotman’s.

Cabinet considered the (Continued on page 22)

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 10, 2020

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

I took my wife in Buxton where youths were openly smoking marijuana One of my wife’s favourite Guyanese is Adrian Benjamin who owns a top class bakery and bakery retail outlet on Church of God Road in Buxton. Her mother knew Adrian when he was a teenager employed at a bakery in Wortmanville.

We have kept close to

Adrian over the decades. I wrote in one of my columns that Adrian makes a “wicked” cheese flap. I would urge you to try Adrian’s cheese flap. I took my wife to Buxton to visit Adrian, and while we were driving on Church of God Road, some youth braced upon the side of a car were

openly taking their sniff.

They were not in secretive mode. The smell of ganja was in the air.

All of the youth I saw looked between the age of 18 and 30. All were Africans. If the police had stopped them, then they would have been legally (but I believe

wrongfully) charged. I repeat; “wrongfully charged.”

Legal limit of possession in Jamaica is 40 grams. In December last year, Trinidad amended its law to make it 30 grams. In Guyana, one gram is illegal.

The statistics shows that about 95 percent of persons convicted for possession of ganja are between that age group and are African Guyanese.

I cite this example in an ongoing polemic I have with my good friend, David Hinds.

David continues to adumbrate a perspective where the polemic centers on the governance of APNU+AFC being superior to the PPP because it is a government of a coalition of parties and not one party rule as with the PPP. He continues with that theory elaborating on it in his column yesterday in direct response to me.

How is the marijuana example above relevant to my reply to David? Below I will demonstrate its relevance as my argument develops. I wrote last week that I find David’s paradigm that the government by being a coalition of different parties means that there is powersharing and policy-sharing completely implausible.

In office politics and street politics, there are different parties in government. In terms of practical politics, realpolitik, style of governance, and economic policy-making and most of all, political culture, I will not accept that the nature

of the regime in Guyana consists of different parties with different policy outputs.

It doesn’t matter which textbook or which professor you consult, coalition government has a onedimensional definition. A description is in order. A number of parliamentary parties join to form the government with each wanting that government to pursue and implement policies that are (1) in sync with its core ideological conceptualisations (2), bring about certain changes in the country that were the original reason for wanting to team up with others to have power (3) have the government implement an agenda that would consolidate the standing of the party with an eye to future elections (4) maximise benefits that its constituencies need and demand.

Of the two parties in the coalition with the PNC – AFC and WPA- I have failed to see where the AFC and WPA have introduced their agendas and when these agendas were implemented.

I now return to the marijuana issue. In the campaign of 2015, both APNU and AFC promised amendments to the drug law.

In 2020, one of the country’s most erudite lawyers, Nigel Hughes, composed the amendments. The Bill was put on the order paper of the House to be read in the name of AFC’s parliamentarian, Michael Carrington.

The Bill never saw the light of day. Carrington told

Frederick Kissoon the press that the PNC section of the APNU+AFC regime does not want the Bill.

Carrington went on to add that Chief Whip, Amna Ally, requested him not to go ahead with the legislation.

My understanding of coalition politics is that it is a game of give and take. Parties have to concede to each other and that becomes the game, which they will play until the next election.

The results of two Israeli successive elections show that each party is not prepared to form a government with others because agenda acceptance is the crucial reason.

What I would suggest to David is to stop repeating that APNU+AFC is a coalition of independent parties and outline for me the government’s acceptance and implementation of the WPA’s agenda.

In simple language, if as David believes the WPA has active support in Guyana, then he needs to do two things and to do so urgently.

Firstly, to outline where core values of the WPA were accepted by APNU+AFC since 2015 and show Guyanese the results by enumeration. Secondly, what is the WPA’s agenda given to the APNU+AFC leadership if it wins in 2020?

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 10, 2020

Monday February 10, 2020

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Kaieteur News

‘APATA’ returning for new generation of Guyanese readers

Guyanese novelistplaywright, Harold A. Bascom, is in the process of rewriting his first novel, “Apata: The Story of a Reluctant Criminal,” first published by Heinemann Educational books of London in 1986, some thirty-four years ago.

When asked, why? He said, “People continued telling me it’s still a good novel and I ought to republish it for a new generation of Guyanese readers. So, I thought, why not? It has long been out of print and Heinemann returned the full copyrights back to me, years ago. Right now, if someone wants a copy, they must go on Amazon and buy used copies from resellers who dig them up from God knows where. So, why not?”

Bascom has chosen to rewrite “Apata” under a new title: “Black Stay Back.”

But how different will this be from the original?

“Plot-wise, it will be the same; but since I’ve grown as a writer, I now read “Apata” and see crafting flaws in the writing—things like the sentence structures; the way I’ve used the passive voice too often—things like that. In short, right now I don’t think the writing is good enough.

The new version will be tighter and better.”

“APATA: The Story of a Reluctant Criminal,” was fashioned around the 1959 manhunt for Guyanese desperado Clement Cuffy, personified by the novel’s anti-hero, Michael Apata.

The following is an excerpt from the new version in progress: CHAPTER THREE Young Michael Apata, still filled with the calm elation of his victory at the regatta yesterday, meditates on the water washing back from the Lady Northcut’s bow. The muted rumblings of the steamer’s engines come to him in hypnotic weaves that have sent many to sleep even though it is only after ten o’clock. Teenage Apata’s eyes, however, are clear and alert. He drops a banana skin into the water; the backwash along the ship’s side whips it astern and out of sight. He looks up from the river’s face and makes out a house between the bamboos. An Amerindian house? He reasons that would be. But it could well be a Black man’s house or, for that matter, an East Indian’s.

The shoreline breaks back into flat country past the house. A forest is seen in the background. Just behind the building, there is a solitary tree, from which hangs large,

- Harold Bascom rewriting novel based on 1959 manhunt for desperado Clement Cuffy teardrop-shaped yellow-tail birds’ nests.

Water hisses from the crest of the waves formed by the thrusting bow. Even though the section of the shore with the house is now falling behind, Apata cranes his head around and manages to see a flight of yellow-tailed birds burst from the variegated greenery of the bushes. They mill around the tall tree. He turns his head away and looks up. The clouds seem to stand still and to him there’s one that’s shaped like a Seagull outboard engine.

He thinks of his girlfriend in Georgetown City. If my picture gets in the papers, he muses, Beverley will feel like a Queen, boy. Maybe when I get home. … But home is behind me. No, I have two homes: one where my grandparents are, and one where Bevy is.When I get home to her. I’ll kiss her forthwith if there’s a chance.

Apata smiles to himself. The word “forthwith”, complete with tongue between teeth, always makes him smile. The verbal precision of his language teacher, Miss Frazier, who hates vulgar calypsonians; and she never says “vulgar” but “vulgerrr.”

“But,” he whispers to himself, “I love Beverley Bailey, I love Beverley Bailey, I love Beverley Bailey, I love Beverley Bailey….” And he is happy in the freedom of the privacy of his being.

Apata feels a need to turn and does. The huge woman with the caged parrot, nearby, stares at him. Is it because he’s been smiling to himself?

In his discomfort, he re-opens the book he has been reading and finds that the sun makes the page too white to look at.

So, he seats himself under the forecastle to be in the shade and flips back to the title page. Then he decides that he has had enough of Silas Marner. He rifles through his duffle bag and finds The Thirty-nine Steps.

As he opens the book his attention is diverted to the gloom under the third-class deck. A pair of mean-faced young policemen emerge flanking a pair of men with their hands handcuffed behind them; one Black, the other East Indian. One lawman carries a .303 rifle, the other a single-barreled shotgun. The prisoners shuffle onto the grimy deck.

“Excuse me miss lady,”

Apata says to the woman with the parrot’s cage. “Who are those two men—the prisoners?”

“Who are them jail buds?”

The policeman with the rifle fishes a packet of cigarettes from his tunic pocket below his nickelplated serial number. He lights a pair and offers them to the handcuffed men. The Indian prisoner sticks out his neck and accepts one of the cigarettes between his lips.

The other prisoner shakes his

barrel. The prisoner looks as if he might be thinking regretfully of his freedom and of days when maybe he shone his shoes in preparation for the Easter Monday dance at some public school or parish hall.

To Apata, every district on the coast seems to have a Parish Hall and he thinks the prisoner he contemplates must be a coast man, for if he came from the interior, he, Apata, would have heard of him from his grandfather.

head then asks another favour. The policeman with the rifle nods and the prisoner sits meekly on a salt beef barrel which lies on its side, prevented from rolling by wooden chocks. Blankly he gazes at the undulating shoreline. He breathes deeply and evenly and Apata notes that the prisoner’s wide, flaring nostrils on his burntbrown face open and close slightly in the process. His eyes are hooded, his lips pressed tightly together.

Something about the man’s massive head reminds Apata of a picture he once saw of the American boxer Joe Louis.

“Who them?” the woman with the parrot cage asks Apata who continues to watch the man sitting on the

“Who is them two, you asking, nuh? Aye-yagga!

Who them two?”

Now there is a little ring of curious by-standers gaping at the pair of prisoners. Apata reasons that the seated one cannot be more than thirty-nine despite his weathered appearance.

“Who’s them?” the woman with the parrot cage continues. “Well, you wouldn’t know ‘cause you was probably small when Chingarus, de coolie one, take a hatchet and chop up he wife and two chirren like the beef he uses to sell at Mackenzie.

When he finish, he chop them up, stuff the parts in a rice bag and throw it in a creek at Wismar. …” She nods.

“Chingarus! Yes! That is the

one smokin’ the cigarette!”

The cigarette burns low and the glow stands less than half an inch from his thin lips.

A bit of his hair has fallen over one of his eyes in natural hollows under a high forehead and thick black brows. He lets the stub drop and jerks his head around to correct the fallen wisp of hair.

The movement makes a timid woman jump; the man she clings to laughs in her face.

“You frighten, noh?” he says loudly, “Chingarus not going bite you!”

“Who’s the other one?” asks Apata.

“The other one …” She looks keenly now at Apata.

“Wait, boy! Me know you face. … You not Josh Smith grandson?”

Apata smiles; nods.

“Boy? You don’t know me?”

“No. …”

“All the same you won’t remember me. Is good to see how big you grow though.”

Apata scratches his head in mild impatience.

“But let me continue. Well the other one sitting there?”

She points to the pensive, dark-skinned, black prisoner.

“Is passion have him where he is. He story lil different from Chingarus story ‘cause Chingarus story was a case o’ blow, you know? He wife had a Black man with he and … well, Chingarus find out about it. But that black-skin one sitting there? He name Parkinson but they’s call he “Nosegay Parkinson” ‘cause he nose-hole big as you can see. …

“They say he kill a man in front of a White man office.

They say that he went to get a job with some White people and was plenty o’ them there, and the White man had a black stooge who uses to pick out who and who the white man should give work to. Is like the White man tell he-self that since he don’t know plenty about Black people— who bad and who good—was best he get a black man to tell him who he should employ, you know, who is the lazy kind and who is the boderation kind — you know?”

Apata nods.

“But what the White man didn’t” realize was, that once any Black man get that position, he would turn bigass and would want to show off on he mattyblack man.”

The Lady Northcut changes course slightly and

now takes to the river’s centre. The parrot beats its wings; they smash into the water in its drinking cup.

Apata shies away slightly.

The narrating woman nudges the bird’s cage “Behave yourself, Lora!” she snaps then turns back to Michael.

“Yes, as I was telling you boy. …

“The Black stooge uses to come out from the White man office; he uses to look around … he uses to take a good look around at the men hoping to be hired on two long wood bench in the front office.” The woman nods … nods. “He uses to look around good!

And according to who is a fellow villager, he’d send that person into the white man’s office. …

“So, this day, Parkinson was sitting with others on the long bench, when the white man stooge come out. He start looking at the men, and then when he eyes fall on Parkinson, men say that the stooge start to act like he stifling for breath—as though he was suffocating for air.

Then he start to look around wild-wild as if he wasn’ sure who to look at, and then suddenly he look at Parkinson and shout, “Get out of here! Your big nose sucking up all the atmosphere!

“They say the rest o’ the men waiting had a good laugh.”

Baffled, Michael Apata asks, “So, why he did that?”

“People who know both of them, say that the stooge knew Parkinson well, because even though Parkinson not so good looking, he give the stooge stiff competition in a lil’ rivalry they had over a certain brown-skin girl in the village where both o’ them did come from. In the end Parkinson win the girl and marry she. So, in the White man office this chap Parris— yes that was he name—was only making insult to he old rival.” She takes a deep breath.

“So …

Nosegay Parkinson didn’ get a job. …

Men say after that story Nosegay Parkinson left and stand up by a lumber yard in Lombard Street and burst cry.

They say he stand up there for a long time until all the other men hoping to get jobs pick themselves up and gone home. They say that Nosegay Parkinson wait round the employment office until was time for the White man and he stooge to leave. …

“Man? They say that just as Parris step out the door with the white man following close behind, Parkinson fly up to Parris, and without one Gawd word of warning— Continued on page 20

PAGE 14

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

Money changer and daughter murder PI begins - Two give caution statements

Aaron Latchman, and his 18-year-old daughter, Arianna

The preliminary inquiry (PI) commenced last week into the July 2020 murders of Better Hope money changer and his 18-year-old daughter, with two of the five accused giving caution statements.

Mark Rufino, called ‘Mark’,

25, a labourer of Parika Facade, East Bank Essequibo; Paul Chan, called ‘Long Hair’ or ‘Anthony’, 37, a conductor of 10 Dennis Street Sophia, East Coast Demerara, submitted their caution statements.

The matter is being heard before Magistrate Alicia George in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Courts.

Troy Abrams, called ‘Troy ‘or ‘Rasta Man’, 44, a vendor of 34 Middle Street, Agricola, East Bank Demerara; Lloyd Sadloo, 37, self employed of 220 Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara; and Sean Thomas, called ‘Yankee’, 41 yrs, an electrician of 59 William Street, Kitty, are expected to give their caution statement when the matter is called on February 13, 2020.

The men are jointly charged for murder.

The charge alleged that on July 4, 2019 at Robert Street, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, they murdered Aaron Latchman and Arianna Latchman, during the course or furtherance of a robbery.

According to reports, Aaron Latchman arrived home around 15:15hrs on the day in question and was attempting to park his car in his yard when two gunmen struck.

One of the gunmen reportedly entered the house and shot Latchman’s daughter. The other attacked Latchman, and the two men got into a scuffle, which resulted in the gunman’s firearm ending up in a neighbour’s yard.

The gunman who had shot Latchman’s daughter reportedly then exited the house and shot Latchman as well.

Mark Rufino (left) and Paul Chan

Lloyd Sadloo

Troy Abrams

The attackers allegedly snatched up a bag of cash and escaped in a car.

Father and daughter were pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

A post mortem examination performed by Dr. Nehaul Singh revealed that the money changer was shot three times while his daughter, Arianna, received a

single shot to her chest.

On July 6, 2019 police were alerted to the presence of an abandoned car in D’Urban Backlands.

The vehicle was a white Toyota Premio, PNN 1642.

Detectives also found a false number plate, PVV 5130, in the area. The suspects were arrested shortly after and charged.

Monday February 10, 2020

PAGE 19

Kaieteur News

GUYANESE HORROR FICTION KAMARANG…

DANCING WITH THE DEAD

By Michael Jordan

Lionel Jones was dancing with a bloody, stiff, and longdead Loretta Hamilton, when his wife shook him. He woke to see her staring at him, her hand still on his shoulder.

“You alright?”

Stiff arms around him…

“You okay?” she asked again.

He blinked the image away…

“Yes,” he croaked.

“You were groaning.”

“I’m alright.”

He was glad the light was off, so she couldn’t see the fear, and the naked guilt, that he felt were printed on his face.

She looked at him a moment, then turned and went back to sleep.

He stared at the top of the mosquito net, then turned to look at the radio-clock. Threefifteen.

He had a meeting at ten…lodge gathering at five.

He should sleep…

Instead, he clambered over his wife, went outside.

Passing his son’s room, the need to go in, to see if as alright, seized him.

Relax, man…. It was just a dream…

Nevertheless, he pushed the door open. Michael lay fast asleep under his mosquito net. Shirtless and only in underwear. As he watched, Michael muttered something, then turned on his side and was still.

Now Lionel Jones seemed to detect a faint, feminine odour.

Suddenly embarrassed, he retreated, pulling the door behind him.

The faint scent, real or imagined, seemed to follow him.

Loretta Hamilton’s smell…

Stop this nonsense, chap.

He pondered going back to bed, but headed down the inner stairs that led to the bottom flat. The linoleum was cool beneath his feet. The glass door to the patio was covered with mist, a deceptive prelude to another miserably hot day. Outside, he could hear the grating cry of one of the black, long-billed birds that came from the South Ruimveldt cane-fields, to forage in the Tucville trenches.

He went to the toilet, relieved himself, rinsed his mouth at the bathroom sink, then sat in one of the chairs near the patio.

Where the heck had that dream come from?

He would have been around twenty-five back then. That would make it… eighteen years, and he still

remembered the smell of her; the way she kissed him.

“Loretta Hamilton…” He murmured the name guiltily, thinking of his wife upstairs.

He really ought to go back to bed, but the memories of the woman he had killed kept him there.

Loretta Hamilton … a name that sounded like a movie star’s. There was an air of maturity about her, even at thirteen, when her breasts hadn’t quite filled out… hair pressed…wearing perfume.

If I had only listened to Mother back then…

Her parents had a house in the street facing his home at Vergenoegen, where he lived with his father and four brothers. Her father was a seaman, his was the village carpenter. Dad…even now, the smell of sawdust got to him…

His mother, Katherina Jones, was a stern, churchgoing housewife, who, her sons joked behind her back, feared only God and stray dogs; and who had such a strange dread of lightning that she covered every mirror in the house at the mere hint of a thunderstorm.

Loretta’s mother was the seamstress and hairdresser. It seemed that women were always going to or leaving her home. Not Katharina Jones, though, with her reddishbrown hair, which she boasted came from some Scottish ancestor.

She constantly warned her boys about Loretta Hamilton.

“Keep away from that Hamilton girl, she is trouble!” she would say.

He wasn’t that interested in girls back then. He was just an eleven-year-old boy… fishing, going to school…pitching marbles in the yard…

And then Father had dropped dead from a heart attack in his tool shed.

Suddenly, all the little luxuries he had taken for granted were gone. They couldn’t afford clothes for school. He had one school shirt… ‘one-shirt-Lionel’, some had teased him.

At twelve, Mother had taken him out of school, so he could work as a post-boy to bring in extra money.

He was seventeen, but that didn’t mean that he was a man, and could stroll down the road courting a ‘common’ little thing like Loretta.

He’d just come from the post office, and there was Loretta Hamilton, heading down the street, head up, with that pouting half-smile that seemed to say: look at me, I am sooo glamourous. And

he, a working man, with his wages in his pocket, dismounted the Big Ben bike the post master had loaned him, and he was walking with Loretta Hamilton!

That was when someone had slapped him so hard, he had literally seen stars. When his head cleared, he saw his mother, Katharina Jones, her lips pressed together, glaring at him.

“You are no big man, Lionel Jones!” she had said.

All he could have done was to slink off home.

It had seemed that the entire village knew of that episode. His brothers teased him that people all the way to Bartica had heard that thump.

He wondered if Mother

found him.

By then he was living in Suddie, Essequibo. He had returned to Vergenoegen to look over the house and pay the rates. He had felt depressed, because the old house was collapsing and empty, the red water-tank now rusted, Mother now ailing and in a home for the elderly. He was standing and staring at the house, with a tightness in his throat, when someone called out to him.

It was Loretta. He had not seen her in years. He watched her look at him in open admiration, and he knew she was remembering the skinny boy who only had one school shirt, and comparing that memory with this new

Cover design and illustrations by Harold Bascom would have reacted that way if he had been walking with one of the light-skinned Da Silva girls. But Loretta was too dark….Just as his wife was dark.

She was from Bartica; this girl with the prettiest, orientallooking eyes that he had ever seen. She was training to be a teacher.

Knowing that he wanted to marry her, he had pushed himself, calculating that she would be earning more than he, a mere postman. He had returned to school, taken correspondence courses, and become a postal clerk.

And then I really messed things up…

It was after their second son was born, that trouble

Lionel Jones, with the wide shoulders and the big forearms.

She invited him to her home for a drink; not to the family house, but to a house closer to the main road…

I shouldn’t have gone. I should not have gone…

She told him she was now Loretta Levans, married to a surveyor, Hector Levans.

That surprised him. The Hector Levans he had known back then didn’t dance, wasn’t flashy…had a foul temper when he drank…some even said a strain of insanity ran in the family, but he knew that was probably just malicious gossip. He saw a little scar on her forehead that he knew had not been there

when she was a teen. And what was she still doing in Vergenoegen? He had always thought that she would have migrated to England…maybe even America.

He told her he had two sons, and a look of sadness came into her eyes. She told him she had no children…not yet, she added hastily.

She’d always had an air of confidence that seemed to say that the world only owed her good things. Now, he sensed an uncertainty in her.

But as they sat, some of that lightness returned, and the sun was going down, and he was reluctant to leave, and she laughed at a joke he had made and touched him…just touched him by the wrist, those long, elegant fingers clasping him lightly, and some pent-up emotion in that touch made him feel more drunk than the wine had made him…

Maybe everything would have been alright, if one person hadn’t seen him leave.

That person was Winslow Oudkerk, a small, sly, limping bushman with a malicious tongue. Something about him—maybe his large head and hunched shoulders and spindly arms—had always reminded Lionel of drawings of Brer Anansi.

“Eh eh, you visiting, Lionel Jones,” Oudkerk said, looking at him, then at Loretta, who had stopped short at the top of the stairs.

Then Oudkerk smiled the way Brer Anansi must have smiled, after outsmarting his family to claim the largest share of plantains; the guilt on their faces, Lionel sensed, telling him all he needed to know…

Her smell lingered in his head for days. He was amazed that his wife hadn’t smelt it on him. Lingering with him, too, was a heaviness of spirit, a sense, which he could not shake, that something terrible would come of this tryst.

Four months later, Loretta Hamilton was dead.

One of the versions that he heard was that her husband, Hector Levans, was in Bartica having a drink with some friends, including Winslow Oudkerk. The drinks were on Levans, who was going home in a few days and was finally going to be a father.

And as the liquor flowed, the teasing had started among them; rough, bushman teasing. Hector had said something to Oudkerk, and Oudkerk had said, chuckling knowingly, “Boy, you is the first surveyor I know that can’t calculate. How come you only went home to yuh woman a month ago, and she got done got a three-month

belly?” And he had looked at Hector in a way that seemed to say that he was sharing a nasty little secret with the surveyor.

The laughter had dried up at the table. Hector had given Oudkerk a long stare, then stormed off.

That very day, the postman at Vergenoegen delivered a telegram to Loretta Hamilton’s house.

Hector had sent it. He was coming home. She must meet him at a guest house in Georgetown.

She booked a room.

Two days later, one of the maids realised that the couple in room thirty-four hadn’t booked out. When no one answered, she used the spare key to enter.

She found Loretta Hamilton on the bed, her belly sliced open. Hector Levans had scooped out the tiny, three-month-old foetus and placed it on her chest, in a mocking semblance of a mother cradling her child.

Levans, dressed in bloodsmeared suit, dangled from a rope he’d tied to a rafter just above the bed. They found a note in one of his pockets. He was leaving everything he owned to his mother. He wanted music from Eddie Hooper’s new album at his wake and funeral.

Lionel Jones was at his desk at the Suddie Post Office when he got the news. He got up, went to the toilet, and wept.

For a week, he tried to put it behind him. But he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t study. In the end, he confided in Jasper, his eldest brother.

Jasper looked at him in a way that said: So, it was you, little brother….

“Let it lie,” he eventually said. “What good it would do for you to tell Laura?”

But I didn’t have to tell Laura. Somehow she sensed…somehow she knew.

Maybe she just remembered that I had gone to Vergenoegen and knew…maybe it was that intuition she has, like her grandmother…

She had been rather quiet that night, and when she woke the next morning, before they came out of bed she said: “It was you who was with Loretta Hamilton.”

It was so unexpected, said with such certainty, and she was looking at him; looking into him, it seemed, with those slanting eyes, that all he could do was stare back and say nothing.

Then he tried to explain, but it was all coming out wrong. He went to work without breakfast, and when Continued on page 20

PAGE 20

Dancing with the...

From page 19 he returned, she was gone to Bartica.

He didn’t know what Mother Hazel, God rest her soul, had told Laura, but she had returned readily to

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

Suddie when he went after her.

Michael was born a year later.

Loretta Hamilton came to him in a dream that night.

She stood by Michael’s

crib, her stomach a gaping, flapping, empty red. She held out a bloody thing, severed head in one hand, the rest of its unformed body in another.

She smiled a ghastly smile, looked at him and mouthed:

Our baby.

He had looked beyond her and seen that Michael’s crib was empty.

The same dream came to him twice more.

But I put all of that behind me a long time ago.

The dreams stopped. They stopped…

Until last night…

He’s in an empty dancehall, and one of the Eddie Hooper songs that they had pounded at Hector’s wake is playing, but it’s playing at a faster pace, at a higher pitch, and there is something sinister and mocking in its tone.

He’s waltzing with this thing with vacant, yet sad and accusing eyes, her limbs rigid as boards, her empty, flapping womb pressing

against him.

She leads him across the floor, to a mirror that is suddenly there, and he sees that he is no longer Lionel Jones, with the spectacles and dashiki and receding hair, but a boy with a huge afro and high-waist bell bottoms and platform shoes, and the thing that is Loretta Hamilton, and yet not Loretta, looks in the mirror and smiles sadly….

He felt the hairs on his arms prickle as he remembered.

What had brought it on?

Go to bed, Lionel…Look at you, the man who jokes with his wife about being able to sleep anywhere, because of your clear conscience.

No, he couldn’t sleep; not with the sad memories of

these two women he had hurt; not with this dread in the pit of his stomach that payment for that mistake, eighteen years ago, was finally due.

(Taken from the Guyanese supernatural novel, KAMARANG by Michael Jordan. Cover design by Harold Bascom.)

The illustrated edition of Kamarang is now available at Austin’s Book Store.

Kamarang is also available on Amazon (Kindle and paperback) You can also contact Michael Jordan for autographed copies on +592 645 2447, or on email a d d r e s s kamarangnight@gmail.com

‘APATA’ returning for new...

From page 13 deliver one lash in that blackman head with a piece o’ soft iron!”

“Dead?” Apata asks in a hoarse whisper, then as if not sure it has come out, asks the question once more, “Dead?”

“You askin’? Dead like a nit!”

“Where they taking them now?” said Michael Apata.

“They taking them down to break they neck! The problem for a little time was that since the last hangman dead, say ten months back, they didn’t have any other until last week—and he had to come from Trinidad.”

“We didn’t have a hangman?”

“Boy, you don’t get we men to do that work!” “Why?” The woman laughs. “Woman don’t accept man who does do them kind work!” She continues laughing good naturedly but stops suddenly to prevent her dentures falling out.

Apata smiles, but it is a strained expression. He has borrowed the apparent misery he suspects emanates from the man called Nosegay Parkinson. Apata tells himself that Parkinson’s wife must be to Parkinson what Beverley is to him. If someone locks me away from Beverley, thinks Apata, what am I going to do? Die? I don’t know if I’m going to die. I don’t think so. No! I won’t die! But, at the same time, I won’t be alive either.

Apata looks at Parkinson, dark as he, Michael, is dark; looks at the wretched figure hunched on the salt beef barrel, and fantasizes:

If I were God, I would snap my fingers and Parkinson’s trip to death row would be a terrible dream he wakes from to find his young wife lying close to his dark nakedness.”

“Whatkind of man Parris was?”

“A red man!”

“A’right boys! Enough fresh air!” announces the policeman with the rifle.

“Ow officer, sah!” begs an old man from the ring of people severely inspecting the criminals, “Ow man! Have a heart, nuh? You taking them two man to hang them; let them get a good, long look at life for last, nuh? Ow man. Let them look at water an’ sky an’ bush lil’ bit more, nuh?”

There is a murmur of agreement from the by-standers. The shotgun-toting policeman laughs. The one with the rifle stares down the old man who stares back.

“Offisah! Me not frighten you, sah!” he snaps. “Me is one black man who not frighten gun, ‘cause me handle gun in nineteenfourteen war!” The badly shaved jutting chin and the knotted brows tell the old man will not be intimidated. “Me no frighten police one backside! You hear me?”

The rifle-toting policeman now smiles.

“Alright, old warrior. I’ll let them watch at life little more, as you say.” The young policeman salutes the old man, mockingly. To the crowd’s amusement, the geezer returns the salute as a proper English soldier should: Longest way up, shortest way down.

Monday February 10, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Traffic Chief says probe completed into death of pensioner struck down on pedestrian crossing - but police still to locate other Chinese national implicated in 2019 death of Annandale teen There finally seems to be some progress in the investigation into the death of 81-year-old Parvidi Ramcharan, who was struck down on a pedestrian crossing, just over a month ago.

This assurance came last Friday from Traffic Chief Linden Isles, amid concern that the Chinese national who struck her down is still to be charged.

“The investigation is complete,” Isles told Kaieteur News.

“I read the file and sent it to the Crime Chief, and it will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).”

He was unable to say whether the file is now with the DPP. Isles had told Kaieteur News on January 23 that he had ordered his ranks to expedite their investigation.

Some ranks had reportedly given contradictory information about the investigation.

“I have intervened and ordered that the case be expedited, and by next week

Injured: Annandale teen, Reaz Shaw

Dead: Annandale teen: Karcchan Khemraj

you will see movement in the case,” Isles had said at the time.

Parvidi Ramcharan, of Albion Front, Corentyne, was struck down on January 7, 2020, by a Chinese national, who was driving a car bearing licence plate number PPP 1008.

The accident occurred while Mrs. Ramcharran, who had just uplifted her pension, was heading home, via a pedestrian crossing near the Nigg, Corentyne, Post Office.

She succumbed three days later.

Surveillance footage showed the elderly woman making her way across the pedestrian crossing when the vehicle struck her.

The driver was detained at the Albion Police Station.

He was subsequently released on $100,000 station bail after 72 hours.

ANNANDALE HITAND RUN SUSPECT Meanwhile, Traffic Chief Isles told Kaieteur News that

police are still to locate another Chinese national, who allegedly struck down and killed a teenage boy and badly injured another.

The accident occurred on December 9, 2018 at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.

Karrchan Khamraj, 15, and Reaz Shaw, 16, were heading home on a pedal cycle, when a s p e e d i n g w h i t e To y o t a Hiace ‘Pitbull’ minibus struck them from behind.

The driver of the vehicle did not stop to render assistance. Khemraj died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), while Shaw, spent several weeks in hospital.

The damaged minibus was later found covered under a tarpaulin at the back of a Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara bakery owned by a female Chinese national.

The vehicle is reportedly owned by Chinese national, C. Wen, who has a store at Lot 10 Vigilance, East Coast Demerara.

The businessman is said to have fled the jurisdiction.

Attempts were reportedly made to compensate the dead boy’s parents.

Pravidi ‘Marina’ Ramcharran

PAGE 22

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

Report exposes Exxon’s hand in Cabinet meeting on...

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From page 9 Memorandum on June 7, 2016 and “approved for the process to commence,” Clyde and Co wrote.

Speaking to Kaieteur News, Ram said that Trotman would go to an internationally respected firm (Clyde & Co) to salvage his reputation, but when it

WANTED Night receptionist needed at the Millenium Manor Hotel come in with Application.

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came to protecting Guyana’s national interest, the Minister relied on ExxonMobil to produce the draft on May 25, 2016 “exactly fifty years to the day since Independence, while we were celebrating 50.”

The Memorandum ExxonMobil steered states “the most appropriate approach to provide [the Contractor Consortium] with additional time to conduct exploration operations would be to issue a new Petroleum Prospecting Licence and to sign a new Production Sharing Agreement along the same general terms as the previous one.”

The Memorandum lays out the process Government would go on to use to give effect to the new agreement, including the recently leaked “legally questionable” Bridging Deed, as well as the elusive escrow letter, held by Sir Shridath Ramphal.

Ram said, “If ever Guyanese should be offended at… the arrogance and disrespect for us Guyanese, it is being told this by Clyde [& Co],” as the report buttresses assertions that ExxonMobil strongarmed Guyana into agreeing to an overwhelmingly lopsided deal.

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Monday February 10, 2020

Misconceptions about the Coronavirus When the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 09 reported that a 2019 novel Coronavirus (2019nCoV) was identified by Chinese authorities, it caused people to enter a sensation of fear. For the fact that the virus continues to evolve every day, which causes the death tolls to grow and infection rates to spike, misconceptions find their

way onto the pitch—and like the virus, it too spreads fast.

Thus far there have been 37, 558 confirmed cases with 813 deaths.

The virus was first identified in Wuhan, China and as with any other novel and imported disease, the 2019-nCoV is causing heightened concern in every country, including Guyana.

Nevertheless, Guyana’s

Public Health Ministry along with the Pan-American Health Organization- World Health Organization (PAHOWHO) had emphatically stated that the country’s health sector was prepared to screen, detect, isolate and treat the deadly virus, should it arrive on the country’s shores.

Even with such comforting news,

misinformation continues to advance. It is in that regard that the World Health Organization (WHO) has come out to quell the misinformation and misconceptions about the 2019 novel Coronavirus.

2019-nCoV is more contagious and spreading faster than any other pathogen During a press briefing on

January 28, 2020, the PAHOWHO representative to Guyana, Dr. William AduKrow explained that as compared to Ebola, the coronavirus is a very less contagious condition. He was keen to note that in the beginning Ebola killed about 90% of people who contracted the disease.

Dr. Adu- Krow related that, “We [the WHO] have a hypothesis linking three types of sources; one, it was likely to come from animals, or surfaces that may have come in contact with them.

Secondly, we thought of the person-to-person spread, and thirdly, we thought of food contaminants. Like I said, because it is evolving all of the time, WHO is getting more cases and finding out what cases.”

Is it safe to receive a letter or a package from China?

Yes, it is safe. People receiving packages from China are not at risk of contracting the new coronavirus. From previous analysis, we know coronaviruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or packages.

Can pets at home spread the new coronavirus (2019nCoV)?

At present, there is no evidence that companion animals/pets such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new coronavirus. However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets.

This protects you against various common bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella that can pass between pets and humans.

Do vaccines against pneumonia protect you against the new coronavirus?

No. Vaccines against pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, do not provide protection against the new coronavirus. The virus is so new and different that it needs its own vaccine.

Researchers are trying to develop a vaccine against 2019-nCoV, and WHO is supporting their efforts.

Although these vaccines are not effective against 2019nCoV, vaccination against respiratory illnesses is highly recommended to protect your health.

Every case of fever and coughing is not the result of coronavirus.

Dr. Adu- Krow urged citizens not to stigmatise people who may have a cough, “otherwise everyone is going to be hiding.”

“When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras.” That means when someone has a fever and respiratory symptoms,

PAHO-WHO representative to Guyana, William Adu-Krow chances are that it is something much more common like the upper and respiratory illnesses that you usually get rather than a 2019nCoV infection.

Can gargling mouthwash protect you from infection with the new coronavirus?

No. There is no evidence that using mouthwash will protect you from infection with the new coronavirus.

Some brands or mouthwash can eliminate certain microbes for a few minutes in the saliva.

However, this does not mean they protect you from 2019nCoV infection.

Can eating garlic help prevent infection with the new coronavirus?

Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties.

However, there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus.

Does the new coronavirus affect older people, or are younger people also susceptible?

People of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Older people and people with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus.

WHO advises people of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene.

“Nevertheless, those who must travel to and from China are advised to take precautions against contracting the virus by avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections, crowds and the consumption of uncooked food; universal precautions to take include the frequent washing of hands, especially after direct contact with ill persons or their environment,” Dr. AduKrow advised.

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Monday February 10, 2020

Monday February 10, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Swag Entertainment are Guinness...

Calm before the Storm-Swag Entertainment [yellow] and Quiet Storm posing with the match officials before the start of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden Championship at the Christianburg Hardcourt.

From page 25 received $75,000 and a trophy.

In the Plate Section, High Rollers defeated Capital Storm 1-0 on penalty kicks after the

final ended 1-1.

With the result, High Rollers walked away with $60,000. The other major sponsor of the event is

Colours Boutique, the official kit provider for the entire season.

Complete Results Final

Monday February 10, 2019 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Today's planetary energies may put spiritual matters in your mind, Aries. You may not be thinking in religious terms.

Your focus is likely to be on the state of humanity and what you can do to help others less fortunate.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) You may be thinking about political or social matters today, specifically, the deterioration of the planet. You may be worried about your future and that of your children.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Today is going to present not only a continuation but also an intensification of the strong energies that have been pushing you toward self-discovery.

CANCER(June21–July22) Today you should be asking yourself a lot of important questions. The Universe is pushing you on your journey of self-discovery. If you resist, you aren't going to be in a very good mood.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) If you're feeling unappreciated by the people around you,try going somewhere else. Begging for attention is unattractive, and so is strutting around trying to distract everyone with your gorgeous physique or charming wit.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You could be in an uncomfortable situation with friends today, Virgo. There may be gossip going around about a mutual friend and you will be tempted to join in.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) A close friend or colleague could receive special recognition for good works today.

You're pleased with your friend's success, and grateful for your own good fortune.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)You may have heard a juicy story about a friend lately and be just dying to share it with your entourage.

Be careful with this impulse!

The party in question would not appreciate hearing about what you're doing.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Today you may find all your recent efforts rewarded.

Your quick thinking and astute powers of observation have impressed others. Today you're likely to be recognized in some way.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) Today you may find all your recent efforts rewarded.

Your quick thinking and astute powers of observation have impressed others. Today you're likely to be recognized in some way.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) If you're a salesperson, expect orders to roll in today.

You're unusually persuasive, making it virtually impossible for anyone to say no to you.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) This is a good day to spend with your family, as you love to do. Try to get chores out of the way as quickly as possible and schedule something fun for the afternoon.

Swag Entertainment-2 vs Quiet Storm-2 Swag won 2-1 on sudden death penalty kicks Swag Scorer Deon Charter-(GG)-37th Quiet Storm Scorer Romell Matthews-(GG)35th 3rd Place Silver Bullets-9 vs Amelia’s Ward Russians-2 Guinness Plate Final High Rollers-1 vs Capital Storm-1 High Rollers won 1-0 on penalty kicks

PAGE 28

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

Mahadeo, Adonis are Kares Caribbean Fitness Challenge champs

Dillion Mahadeo and Delice Adonis on the podium following the presentation.

Guyanese Dillon Mahadeo and Delice Adonis have shown their worth once again as they overpowered their rivals to emerge champions in their respective categories when the sixth Kares Caribbean Fitness Challenge was contested yesterday at the National Park.

In an event that severely tested the endurance, strength and fitness of the athletes, Mahadeo of Cross Fit 592 Gym copped his fifth consecutive title, while Adonis won her second.

Urged on by a fair-sized crowd, the athletes had to battle in events such as a 1 mile bag carry, 75 overhead squats, 1 mile run, eight wall over burpees, four cleans, 100m heavy bag carry and no touch box jump.

Mahadeo chalked up 495 points to finish ahead of fellow Guyanese Omisi Williams of Perry’s Gym with 460.

Adonis rattled up 456 points, while Kim Pinas of Suriname took the runner up spot with 445 points.

Speaking with the media

following the contest, both Mahadeo and Adonis admitted that the event was highly competitive and they had to push themselves the

extra mile in order to come out on top.

More details in tomorrow’s edition. (Zaheer Mohamed)

The female athletes including champions Delice Adonis (2nd from right) during the rope climb.

Winners Connection among victors in Jermin and Family sponsored ‘Mash Cup’ Winners Connection dismissed Hi-Stars 2-0 when Jermin and Family sponsored and coordinated ‘Mash Cup’ continued on Friday at the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground, Linden.

Jaffon Figueira opened the scoring in the fourth minute for the victors, rifling a thunderous strike into the right corner from the left side of the penalty box.

Hi-Stars should have restored parity to proceedings and eventually taken the lead, as they were awarded two penalty attempts. However, both were spurned from the distance, with the first being saved by the goalkeeper in the 25th and the second being lashed over the

crossbar five minutes later.

Hi-Stars were then reduced to 10 players in the 48th minute, as Michael Peters was shown a red card.

Winners Connection then put the game to bed in the 71st minute as Akeem Caesar scored, placing his effort into the back of the net after receiving a cross from the left flank.

In the earlier encounter, Coomacka and Capital FC battled to a 2-2 stalemate.

Kwesi Tafawa stabbed home from inside the box in the fourth minute to hand Capital FC the lead. The advantage was then increased in the 36th minute as Andrew Mayers slammed his effort into the far corner from inside the penalty box.

However, Marmarlaque

Current Point Standings Group-A Teams GP W Net-Rockers 1 1 Milerock 1 0 Topp XX Group-B Teams GP W Botofago 1 0 Amelia’s Ward 1 0 Silver Shattas Group-C Teams GP W W/Connection 2 1 Capital FC 2 1 Coomacka 2 0 Hi-Stars 2 0

L 0 1

D 0 0

L 0 0

D 1 1

L 0 0 0 2

D 1 1 2 0

GF 4 1

Davidson reduced the deficit in the 74th minute, lashing home to finish off a swift counterattack from inside the box. The score was then leveled in the 85th minute, as Davidson directed his powerful header into the back of the net.

The tournament will continue on Wednesday at the same venue with another doubleheader. Winner of the event will pocket $600,000 and the championship trophy. On the other hand, the second place side will pocket $300,000 and the respective accolade.

Similarly, the third and fourth place teams will receive $200,000 and $100,000 respectively and a trophy.

The coordinator of the event is Jermin and Family.

GA 1 4

GD +3 -3

Pts. 3 0

GF 1 1

GA 1 1

GD 0 0

Pts. 1 1

GF 3 4 3 1

GA 1 3 3 4

GD +2 +1 0 -3

Pts. 4 4 2 0

Monday February 10, 2020

PAGE 29

Kaieteur News

GCA’s Noble house seafood 2nd div 2-day cricket

DCC, GCC, GDF win; GNIC & MYO play to a draw DCC, GDF and GCC were all in winner’s row when GCA’s Noble House Seafood Second Division two-day cricket tournament ended in the City yesterday.

At DCC in Queenstown, the home team beat Bel Air Rubis by an innings and 47 runs.

DCC declared on their overnight score of 243-6 in reply the Bel Air Rubis’ first innings score of 104.

Bel Air Rubis in their second were demolished for 92-9 innings closed as one of their batsmen failed to turn up.

Rayan Singh made 39 and Aravind Gainda 17, were the batsmen to reached double figures as Daniel Mootoo captured 4-43 and fellow spinner Nkosi Beaton had 332 to spin DCC to an emphatic win.

Jeremiah Scott made 44 and 21 in a losing effort for MSC yesterday.

At GYO, GCC made 215 and wreaked GYO for 64. GYO following-on began yesterday on 61-1 and four batsmen got starts to see the host 189 all out.

Joshua Ramsammy (37), Dexter Cummins (33), Jason Sinclair (25) and Darshan

Persaud (24) all failed to convert their scores into something substantial.

The spin pair of Stephon Willison (4-61) and Devon Lord (4-35) were the architects of destruction.

Set 39 to win the Bourda Boys slipped to 10-2 before the elegant Movindra Dindyal (18) and Winston Forrester (16) featured in an unfinished 30-run third wicket stand to see GCC to comfortable eight-wicket win.

At Malteenoes, GDF made 149 in their first and the hosts were 110-3 overnight.

Jerimiah Scott stroked an attractive 44 while Judel McAllister (24) and Shaquille Williams (21) offered support to see their team to a challenging score.

Joshua Jones took 2-66 while Randy Lindore had 4-

Leon Andrews followed up 88 in the first innings with by top scoring for GDF at MSC yesterday.

10 for the Soldiers who made 90 with Leon Andrew following up his first innings 88 with 32.

MSC were bowled out for 86 to lose by four runs as Clarence Baird top scored

with 28 and Scott hit a quickfire 21 as Keith Simpson had 4-22.

At QC, GNIC began the day on 54-4 and reached 319 in 89.1 overs as the game ended in a draw.

Dexter Soloman made 151, Marvin Chapman 50 and Trevon Jones 30 as Jamal Major had 4-98, Marlon Borne 3-89 and Mohammed Jameer 2-50 for MYO. (Sean Devers)

PAGE 30

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship

Bent Street, Leopold Street, Rio All-Stars and Kingston remaining teams standing

Part of the action between Kingston [orange] and Spartacus at the National Gymnasium in the Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship.

Bent Street, Leopold Street, Rio All-Stars and Kingston are the remaining elements in the Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship, following quarterfinal wins on Saturday at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue.

Former champion Bent Street dismantled Sophia 7-2.

Sheldon Holder fashioned a hat-trick in the 12th, 14th and 15th minutes, while Colin Nelson smashed a double in the 2nd and 26th minutes.

Adding goals were Daniel Wilson and Jermaine Beckles in the 20th and 29th minutes respectively.

For Sophia, Dwayne Lowe scored in the 14th and 28th minutes. They will now

meet underdogs Kingston in the final-four section on February 15th. Giant killer Kingston continued their impressive showing, disarming Spartacus by a 3-1 score.

Fresh off his hat-trick against Sparta Boss, Stephon Reynolds recorded another three goal blitz with conversions in the 19th, 21st and 24th minutes to seal the win. For the loser, Simeon Moore netted in the 17th minute.

On the other hand, Leopold Street will faceoff with Rio All-Stars in the other semi-final fixture.

Leopold Street downed fierce rival Gold is Money 3-1 in their quarterfinal encounter.

Omallo Williams, Okeeny

Fraser and Eon Alleyne netted in the 14th, 22nd and 25th minutes respectively. For the loser, Andrew Murray was on target in the 17th minute.

Rio-All Stars crushed Back Circle 3-0. Second half goals from Job Caesar, Jermin Junior and Lennox Cort in the 22nd, 27th and 30th minutes sealed the result.

In a post-match comment, tournament coordinator Esan Griffith said, “Once again another exciting night of action was witnessed, with the trend of upset results continuing. The tournament is now perfectly setup for an exciting conclusion on the 22nd. The quality of the remaining teams cannot be questioned as several high profile and established

Action from the Sophia [light blue] and Bent Street clash in the Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue. brands have fallen at the hands of emerging forces which highlights the competitive and unpredictable nature of the tournament.”

Winner of the event will pocket $700,000 and the championship trophy, while the second place side will collect $400,000 and the respective accolade. On the other hand, the third and fourth place unit will receive $200,000 and $100,000 respectively and the corresponding trophy.

Semi-final Matchups Bent Street vs Kingston Leopold Street vs Rio AllStars Complete Results Quarterfinal Game-1

Kingston-3 vs Spartacus1 Kingston Scorer Stephon Reynolds-19th, 21st and 24th Spartacus Scorer Simeon Moore-17th Game-2 Bent Street-7 vs Sophia-2 Bent Scorers Sheldon Holder-12th, 14th and 15th Colin Nelson-2nd and 26th Daniel Wilson-20th Jermaine Beckles-29th Sophia Scorer

Dwayne Lowe-14th and 28th Game-3 Leopold-3 vs Gold is Money-1 Leopold Scorers Omallo Williams-14th Okeeny Fraser-22nd Eon Alleyne-25th Gold is Money Scorer Andrew Murray-17th Game-4 Rio All-Stars-3 vs Back Circle-0 Job Caesar-22nd Jermin Junior-27th Lennox Cort-30th

Lara shines as bushfire relief raises US$5 million MELBOURNE, Australia, CMC – West Indies legend Brian Lara rolled back the years with a sparkling knock to headline the star-studded Australian bushfire rel i e f c h a r i t y match, as organisers raised AUS$7.7 million (US$5 million) from the event here yesterday.

The left-handed Lara, one of the greatest batsmen to have played the game before retiring 13 years ago, reminded fans of his seemingly ever-present class with a stroke-filled 30 in Ricky Ponting XI’s 104 for five off their allotted 10 overs.

Ponting, a successful former Australia captain, hit 26.

Lara exuded the style which brought him 11,953 r u n s i n 1 3 1 Te s t s , unveiling a series of lofted drives and straight hits which brought him two sixes and fours.

He, like Ponting, all retired their innings to

allow other batsmen a turn at the crease.

P o n t i n g ’s X I a l s o featured the likes of former Test stars Matthew Hayden, Brad Haddin and Wasim Akram.

In r e p l y, Adam Gilchrist’s XI came up just short with 103 for six off their 10 overs, with former Aussie Test stars Shane Watson blasting a nineball 30 and Andrew Symonds chipping in with 29.

Speedster Brett Lee snatched two for 11.

Former fast bowler C o u r t n e y Wa l s h , w h o h o l d s t h e We s t I n d i e s record for the most w i c k e t s i n Te s t s , a l s o featured for the Gilchrist XI. Since last September, bushfires across mostly eastern Australia have killed 33 people and destroyed nearly 28 acres of bush, forests and parks, and also leaving thousands homeless.

Monday February 10, 2020

PAGE 31

Kaieteur News

Skipper Akbar steers Bangladesh to Under-19 World Cup triumph

Rakibul Hasan salutes the crowd after hitting the winning runs for Bangladesh in the Under 19 World Cup final against India. (AFP / Michele Spatari) AFP - Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali kept his calm to lead his team to a stunning three-wicket win over India in Potchefstroom to win the Under-19 World Cup for the first time.

Chasing 178 to win, Bangladesh were struggling at 102 for six but Akbar, who finished 43 not out, dragged them towards the line.

A brief flurry of rain saw the players leave the field with Bangladesh on 163 for seven.

When they returned the target had been adjusted under DLS to 170 from 46 overs.

Bangladesh needed seven from 30 balls and Akbar and Rakibul Hasan duly knocked off the runs to claim Bangladesh’s first World Cup

at any level.

“It’s an unbelievable experience,” said Rakibul who hit the winning run.

“We came here with plans and it worked out really well.

Whichever team executes their plans better on the day wins, and that happened for us today.”

The day started well for Bangladesh when Akbar called correctly at the toss and put India in to bat.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was again the stand-out batsman for defending champions India as he carved 88 from 121 balls.

The 18-year-old lefthander from Uttar Pradash already had three fifties and a century under his belt at this competition - the only time he

The Bangladesh players run onto the field after victory © ICC via Getty failed to make a half-century was in the group match against Japan when India needed just 42 to win.

Jaiswal, who has just landed a contract with Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals, hit eight fours and a six before miscuing a short-arm pull off Shoriful Islam.

He ended the competition as top run-scorer with 400 at an average of 133.33 and was named Player of the Tournament.

Avishek Das was the most successful bowler with three for 40 and there were two each for Shoriful and Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Tilak Varma made a watchful 38 from 65 balls and

Dhruv Jurel 22 from 38 as the Indians struggled to attack the Bangladeshi bowling.

Jaiswal apart, the other Indian batsmen managed just four boundaries between them.

- Bishnoi battle Bangladesh began confidently through Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan who brought up the 50 partnership with a six off Ravi Bishnoi.

Three balls later he fell for the Bishnoi googly and holed out to Kartik Tyagi at midwicket.

Another googly accounted for Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who had scored a century in the semi-final win over New Zealand, but as he

Shoriful Islam takes off after running out Ravi Bishnoi. (ICC via Getty)

departed so did Emon who retired hurt on 25 suffering from cramp.

Bishnoi, who finished with four for 30, then removed Towhid Hridoy and Shahadat Hossain in quick succession to have Bangladesh reeling at 65 for four.

At 102 for six the game looked over but Emon returned to join pugnacious captain Akbar Ali. Together they added 41 and when Emon fell to the legspin of Jaiwal for 47, it was

left to Akbar to see his side home.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Akbar.

“We’ve had a very good experience, and this is just the beginning for us. Hopefully, this will be the starting stone for us.”

Scores: Bangladesh Under-19s 170 for 7 (Emon 47, Ali 43*, Bishnoi 4-30) beat India Under-19s 177 (Jaiswal 88, Das 3-40, Islam 2-31) by three wickets (DLS method).

PAGE 32

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

CWI Regional four-day cricket

Guyana suffer second loss in four matches as Scorpions sting Jaguars at Providence

Veerasammy Permual’s 28 took Guyana to within 7 runs of victory at Providence.

Seamer Derval Green ‌ claimed the last wicket for Scorpions.

It took Jamaica Scorpions less than an hour yesterday to send five-times defending champions Guyana Jaguars crashing to their second defeat in four matches this season and their second in their last four matches at Providence which was once their fortress.

Last season at this venue Guyana lost by two wickets to the Leewards for their first loss in a season in which they were beaten on three occasions.

Pete Samlon had 7-56 on his debut at Providence yesterday.

Scores: Guyana 190 & 174, Jamaica 187 & 184.

In sunny conditions yesterday, chasing 183 for victory, Guyana began the final day needing 27 runs with their last pair at the crease and were dismissed for 174 to lose by seven runs.

The 30-year-old Veerasammy Permaul, on the back of his sixth 10-wicket match haul, was unbeaten on 20 and with him was fellow Berbician, pacer Keon Joseph not out on five.

The last pair had joined forces on Saturday afternoon when Nial Smith was LBW for a duck at 130-9 with the game in danger of finishing inside three days.

Permaul, who made 35 in the first innings, found a useful partner in Joseph and showed great resistance yesterday by putting together 20 runs.

But with the partnership worth 44, Permaul was rapped on his pad by pacer Derval Green and for 17th time in the

game, played on a substandard pitch, the Umpire upheld an LBW appeal.

Permaul faced 103 balls in his 28 and re a c h e d t h e boundary once, while Joseph remained undefeated on 11 from 39 balls with one four.

Debutant off-spinner Pete Salmon had an auspicious start to his First-Class career; finishing with 7-57 from 25

overs to end with eight wickets in the match.

Guyana will travel to Grenada for their fifth round match against the Windwards which on Thursday.

Scores: JAMAICA SCORPIONS 187 (Jermaine Blackwood 81, Nkrumah Bonner 29; Veerasammy Permaul 4-39) and 184 (Nkrumah Bonner 57 not out, John Campbell 31,

Jamie Merchant 26; Veerasammy Permaul 6-50).

GUYANA JAGUARS 190 (Chandrapaul Hemraj 38, Veerasammy Permaul 35, Chris Barnwell 34, Raymon Reifer 33 not out; Patrick Harty 3-30, Jamie Merchant 3-38) and 174 (Anthony Bramble 32, Veerasammy Permaul 28; Pete Salmon 757).

(Sean Devers)

Albion Cricket Club whip Paradise in BCB U-15 cricket competition Albion Cricket Club U15 team trounced their counterparts from Paradise West Coast Berbice by 10 wickets to advance to the semi-finals of the BCB Under-15 50 Overs Cricket Tournament.

In the game played on Saturday at the Albion Community Center, Paradise

won the toss and batted first and was skittle out for a mere 31 in 15 Overs.

Doing the damage was off-spinner Afraz Kadir, he was unplayable as he had impressive figures of 6 for 7 and was well supported by pacer Shiv Harripersaud with 2 wickets.

Albion then raced to 33 in

4.1 overs with openers Tameshwar Manual and Travis Kadir being unbeaten on 13 and 9 respectively.

Albion was set to come up against the winner of the game between Blairmont and Tucker Park in their semifinal encounter yesterday at Albion.

Monday February 10, 2020

Kaieteur News

Swag Entertainment are Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden Champions

Bridesmaids no more!-The newly crowned Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden Champion Swag Entertainment posing with their spoils in the presence of Guinness Brand Executive Lee Baptiste [1st from right] and Banks representative Romaine Adonis [3rd from left].

Tournament favourite Swag Entertainment ascended to the throne of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden Championship, edging Quiet Storm 2-1 on sudden death penalty kicks on Saturday.

The Christianburg Hardcourt provided the setting for Swag Entertainment’s coronation, which occurred following a tense and emotional penalty shoot-out following a 2-2 score at the end of full time.

Marley Major recorded the decisive strike to seal the title for the home side in which was their second ever appearance in the final.

Prior to the penalty

shootout, the deadlock in the match was finally broken in the 35th minute as Romell Matthews recorded a ‘Guinness Goal’ (a goal scored in the final three minutes of the clash counts as two) for Quiet Storm.

W i t h S w a g Entertainment being reduced to three players for the duration of three minutes following a yellow card to Clive Nobrega, Matthews blasted his effort into the roof of the net from the center of the field.

H o w e v e r, t h e l e a d proved to be short lived as Deon Charter equalized two minutes later, blasting his strike into the roof of the net,

after latching onto a left side cross from Kendolph Lewis.

The goal was the first concession by the Quiet Storm backline in the entirety of the campaign.

For their effort, Swag walked away with $400,000 and the championship trophy. They also earned an automatic berth to the national championship.

Meanwhile, Quiet Storm pocketed $150,000 and the runners-up trophy.

In the third place playoff, Silver Bullets riddled Amelia’s Ward Russians 9-2 to walk away with $100,000 and the respective trophy. On the other hand, Russians (Continued on page 27)

PAGE 33

Skipper Akbar steers Bangladesh to Under-19 World Cup triumph

rt Spo A joyous Bangladesh team after winning the Under-19 World Cup Š ICC via Getty

Mahadeo, Adonis are Kares Caribbean Fitness Challenge champs

Delice Adonis reacts after completing the bag carry.

Dillion Mahadeo during the deadlift.

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