Kaieteur News

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ExxonMobil Tuesday Edition flaring above NEWS levels set by EPA - abruptly after first mishapends press brief p.

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AIETEUR

February 09, 2021 - Vol. 14 No. 06

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

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

Price $80

Online readership yesterday, 95,019

Exxon likely to flare one billion cubic feet of gas by the time it gets faulty compressor’s diagnosis p. 16

Gas-to-shore another white elephant in the waiting!

The government is hellbent on having the expensive Wales gas-to-shore project.

Though it is a billion-dollar price tag, the PPP/C leadership has been secretive with information that all Guyanese have a right to know. If the project is so beneficial to this country, it is difficult to fathom why there must be so much resistance to sharing the details.

Guyanese need to know that the supposed bonanza of the Wales gas-to-shore project is another pipedream, a white elephant in waiting. The gas in the reservoirs, the excess of which is currently being flared into the atmosphere, could be another way in which Exxon holds the operations of the Wa l e s p i p e l i n e ( w h e n completed) hostage, and Guyana with it.

Exxon would need some of that same gas to re-inject into the second access holes around the production sites to boost the pressure to send the oil to the surface and tankers. When it does so, Wales would have to

wait; workers idled; and the plant slowed. That means additional expense, and already assumes the appearance of another Skeldon factory. The money will come from the many financial institutions falling over themselves to lend Guyana billions and indebt us for generations. The World Bank leads the lenders, and Guyanese are reminded of how it joined with the oil companies to entice Ghanaian leaders to borrow for what is a disastrous pipeline project, straining the energy sector of that country.

The government is pushing to have this billion-dollar gas to shore project. There is the likelihood that we will have far more cubic feet of gas than we need; or none when needed.

Trinidad has the entire machinery that handled its gas for decades. It is surprising that it has not been engaged to lend expertise and guidance.

No! It must be Exxon, and it has to be secret. It will be costly and yet another dud.

Guyana should partner with Suriname to meet - Suriname shore base needs Oil Boss

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Liza Phase Sophia Two ‘Unity’ motorcyclist FPSO to sail killed after for Guyana slamming into by mid-2021 utility pole p.

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Govt. engineers will be fired for sloppy - Minister project estimates Edghil p.

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“When Exxon done with Guyana women will be making babies in two months rather than nine.” Listen to the Glenn Lall Show @11:00AM on 99.1/99.5FM Kaieteur Radio

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday February 09, 2021

Liza Phase Two 'Unity' FPSO to sail for Guyana by mid-2021 T

he Liza Unity F l o a t i n g Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, which will support ExxonMobil's second production d e v e l o p m e n t o ff s h o r e Guyana, is expected to sail from Keppel Shipyard in Singapore for Guyana by mid-2021, according to

President and Chief Operating Officer at Hess Corporation, Greg Hill.

During the company's 2020 Q4 earnings call on January 27, Hill said “The Liza Phase Two development remains on track for first oil in early 2022. The overall project, including the FPSO, drilling and subsea infrastructure is

The Liza Unity FPSO (Photo: SBM Offshore)

approximately 85 percent complete. We anticipate that the Liza Unity FPSO, which will have a capacity of 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day, to sale from the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore to Guyana by mid-year.”

The development of this project is estimated to cost a total of US$6 billion. It will target 600 million barrels of oil.

N o t a b l y, H i l l t o l d analysts that the installation programme to be implemented at the site could result in completion “a little bit earlier” than expected, “if everything goes right.”

The Liza Phase One project had achieved first oil earlier than expected, as it had been anticipated to start in 2020 but actually did so in December, 2019.

The Liza Unity will add to production already occurring in the Liza field, in which production began with the Liza Destiny over a year ago.

This will move ExxonMobil's production in the Stabroek block to 340,000 barrels per day, and more, if the operator succeeds in increasing the nameplate capacity of the currently producing Liza Destiny.

“In terms of preserving the long-term value of our assets,” Chief Executive Officer , John Hess, said, “Guyana, with its low cost to supply and industry-leading financial returns, remains our top priority.”

This is due to the fact that, as revealed by Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Hess, John Rielly, during

President and Chief Operating Officer at Hess Corporation, Greg Hill last October's earnings call, L i z a P h a s e Tw o i s “arguably” the best project in the exploration and production industry because of the low breakeven price.

The breakeven price, in

economics, is the price at which the production and sale of a commodity would not return a profit or a loss.

Oil companies utilise this, among other indicators, to determine whether an operation would be economically feasible.

The Liza Phase Two breakeven is estimated at US$25 per barrel.

“Guyana will still be generating free cash flow even at very low prices once Phase Two comes on,” Rielly said during January's earnings call.

Liza Phase Two is so valuable that Hess sold out its interest in a producing field in the Gulf of Mexico called Shenzi, freeing up cash to plug into the 2022 project. Rielly said Hess completed the sale last November for net proceeds of US$482 million.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Govt. engineers will be fired for sloppy project estimates

By Sueann Wickham “Government engineers are not being paid to waste taxpayers' dollars.” This was the assertion of Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, as he made it clear that the government is prepared to sever ties with those engineers who prepare sloppy estimates.

Sloppy estimates, the Minister explained, can eventually result in contractors being overpaid for works under government projects.

The Minister, who was at the time responding to a question during a telephone interview with Kaieteur News, pronounced on the PPP/C's plan to prevent overpayment on contracts.

Under the previous administration, the Ministry of Public Works (then Ministry of Infrastructure) was flagged by the Auditor General (AG) for instances

- Minister Edghill Minister Edghill is of the firm belief that the administration in its current form will not misuse tax dollars. Achieving this, he said, will be guided by looking at some key areas.

SUBSTANDARD ESTIMATES

The Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill of overpayment.

But the PPP/C, while in government previously, had committed similar indiscretions, which were also cited by the AG.

Edghill explained that for a contractor to be overpaid for works, the engineer designated to that project would have had to conduct substandard estimates and evaluations.

He said, that includes overmeasuring and, in some cases other miscalculations, and engineers simply not being on the work grounds to execute their duties.

The role of a government engineer is to manage these projects and ensure correct

GAMIP lobbies for health professionals law to cater for licencing of advanced medical imaging practitioners

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he Guyana Association of Medical Imaging Practitioners (GAMIP) has been leading the way in lobbying efforts to update health laws, which cater to the licencing of advanced technologists in the field.

During a live-aired interview on Kaieteur Radio yesterday, Vice President of t h e G A M I P, R a m o n a Chanderballi, disclosed that the association has started to push for the Allied Health Professional Act to be amended to cover the various types of medical imaging professionals.

Chanderballi explained that as it stands, the Allied Health Professional Act only covers radiographers, x-ray technicians, ultra sound technologists or sonographer.

“For instance, I'm a cardiac sonographer which means I do ultrasounds of the heart, yet I'm licenced as a radiographer because the Allied Health Professionals Act does not cater to this

Vice President of the GAMIP, Ramona Chanderballi specialised area of medical imaging. We are working to change that!” Chanderballi stated.

T h e G A M I P representative said that while the current legislation mentions the specificity of the several professionals listed, it fails to leave room for the advancement of studies, technology and for

those employed in the field.

“Medical imaging is an area of medicine that technology is always developing and the practitioners are constantly expanding their research, studies and training so there is always room for growth, so I believe the law should leave room for this,” Chanderballi added.

She explained further that the Act, notes that in the course of practice of radiography as an X-ray technician, other ultra sound technologist or sonographer professional in the field is subject to terms and limitations imposed on his certificate of practice.

“We want to change that as well because we want to have the laws in to protect the other types of medical imaging professionals who would have spent years working and studying a specific area that the law fails to cover.

We a r e c u r r e n t l y discussing the way forward (continued on page 16)

calculations are made.

The Minister noted that for a contractor to receive money, someone has to sign off on the works conducted and ensure they are done at the right volumes, and that person is the engineer.

Any engineer who signs off on work and is found to be absent from the work grounds, inherently failing to ensure proper estimates are done, will be fired and dismissed from the project immediately, according to Minister Edghill.

Government engineers, he added, are not being paid to “simply hand contractors money.”

They are therefore expected to ensure they save public funds from being expended wildly by doing proper estimations.

Overpayment on contracts and repayments Minister Edghill also acknowledged the previous

administration's failure to collect monies overpaid to contractors on projects.

He noted that the Public Works Ministry would be robustly going after overpayments made on projects.

In the 2019 AG report, it was revealed that the previous administration overpaid some $166 million of taxpayers' dollars on contracts.

The report stated that several Ministries, government departments a n d r e g i o n a l administrations were found to be doing so. The Public Infrastructure Ministry accounted for $63.7 million, and $73.7 million was overpaid by regional administrations.

In the report, it was noted that as of September 2019 only $20 million was recovered meaning that a significant portion is still outstanding.

Zero tolerance policy for non-repayment Edghill listed his administration's third principle as a zero-tolerance policy for non-repayment from contractors.

He spoke about contractors who refuse to repay overpaid funds to the state, noting that once a contractor refuses to repay the overpaid sum, they cannot be considered for future projects from the government.

Additionally, Edghill had previously said that once a contractor refuses to repay, his administration would pursue all avenues to recover the sums, which include pursuing legal action if necessary.

Since taking office in August last year, Edghill's Ministry would have dismissed a number of contractors from projects who were guilty of delayed works.

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Kaieteur News

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

Publisher: GLENN LALL-TEL: 624-6456 Editor: Sharmain Grainger Tel: 225-8465, 225-8491. Fax: 225-8473, 226-8210

EDITORIAL

Bad news for Guyanese hopefuls The COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated a trend that had started before. Since 2016, New Yorkers have been leaving the lush attractions of the City for elsewhere; and with the consequence of the first population decline since the decade of the 1970s. This is not good news for either the couple of hundred thousand Guyanese who call New York City their home and place of earning and growing, or for the many Guyanese hopefuls who patiently wait their turn in the emigration line over here, while counting the days until their names come up for that thrilling call.

According to a recent online article, “New York is not dead, but it is on life support” (BBC, January 7), things are bad, really bad. Since March of last year, “property firms and moving companies have reported a rush of demand from people leaving New York,” which took wing in the throes of the pandemic. As confirmed by Liz Nunan, president of property firm Houlihan and Lawrence, “so far, it has shown no signs of slowing.” In fact, the exodus from New York City had been so great that last year, it helped to push New York State to the biggest population decline of any state in the Union. Some of it started prior to the pandemic, then from the pandemic fears and anxieties themselves that sent people scampering for the exits, and last from the hard economic fallout, which is expected to outlast the virus.

William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institute said it well: “This is a difficult time for everybody” to which he added the million-dollar question: “The real issue is: can these cities hold their economic vitality? Straight from the hip, it appears, as based on the continuing pandemic related assaults on life in the city, that some of its lifelines are hemorrhaging at a rapid rate. The stark examples are that of the “closed theatres, emptied offices, halted tourism” that have “turned shopping and dining into hazards to be undertaken at your own risk.” The result is that those businesses and sectors that employed 20 percent of the City’s workforce have been gutted. They are closed and gone from vibrant entities to empty shells wondering what their chances of survival are, and for how much longer they can hold out. Some firms have left the city and they are not coming back, and the Partnership for New York City, a local business group, estimates that “as many as a third of the city’s small businesses may not survive the pandemic.”

It is a bad time for all, which includes Guyanese resident in the city, and who are bound to be affected through direct employment, or for services associated with those businesses, inclusive of delivery, maintenance, and construction. Nothing is doing and nothing is going on, which leaves many empty handed and wondering where this will lead and how it will end. The jobless rate is now 12 percent, which is twice the national average of the U.S. and homelessness is on the rise. In terms of unemployment, the immigrant is usually the one that feels the axe first.

In the meantime, there is talk of that despised two-fisted blow, which is raising taxes and cutting essential services.

The first targets in the past have been transportation and garbage collection, both of which have serious impact on the quality of life. Things are worrying, which was what Michael Hendrix, director of state and local policy at the free-market Manhattan Institute think tank, had to say: “It’s not really so much the pandemic that is the greatest challenge to New York City. It’s really the second order consequences that have dealt a blow to the city’s recovery and its citizens.”

And as if to underscore the gravity of the situation, he said this, “New York City is not dead, but it is on life support.” He thinks any recovery - whether measured in months, years or decades - would be dependent upon the quality of leadership seen in the city. Clearly, a compelling figure is needed and urgently to whom stricken New Yorkers can rally around and vest their confidence. These are the circumstances, which anxious Guyanese here are likely to face, as they square up for their day at the Consulate and then off to the Big Apple. Right now, it doesn’t look so rosy, but rather dull and dispiriting.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Is it any surprise as to where we are, given how our trusted leaders are?

Dear Editor, I read two recent developments, and I think to myself when, if ever, will we get things right. I wonder about the kind of thinking that goes on here, if it can be called that, and how such is believed to benefit the citizens of this struggling country. I chose two in the hope of laying the table and enlightening, not to embarrass or insult, but that some listening and adjusting will come.

The news of our detained fishermen is known by almost all Guyanese, in what rose to the level of a national concern. The longer they were held, the deeper this nation’s uncertainties across the board. Then, they were released and came home late last week.

That is the good news, and all parties from the Hon. Foreign Minister, and Guyana’s and Venezuela’s leaders, must be appreciated for their continuous efforts to bring about a healthy conclusion to what threatened to become a ballooning impasse. I so appreciate them. But I am

somewhat taken aback that when the released fishermen returned, there were no dignitaries, no political leaders (‘big ones’) to welcome them and embrace them. ‘Glad to have you back; we are as one with you.’ I think that such a moment would have meant something, conveyed the right messages, reflected deep commitment to working for peaceful solutions to our thorny border controversy, and reassured all Guyanese.

Reassure that we are all in this together, and that we are grateful to have our brothers back. I did not see any of that when they arrived. If I missed what actually did occur, then I quickly apologize. I believe that that might have been asking too much for the president himself; but I think that the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation should have been there, along with others of his stature. Again, I could be wrong, and I readily withdraw what might be inaccurate, if it is so.

Then there was what I would term a clear

abomination involving land and money and comrades. I read of a plot of land valued at GY$5 billion, which was sold for a fraction of that huge amount. It is not for any fraction, but of a minute one, as in single digit percentage of that valuation. How do we ever get to places like these?

If that valuation is accurate, and the price paid is on the money, what does it say of the kinds of stewards that we have or had in place to make such repulsive and costly things occur? I see and answer this in the limited knowledge possessed, the awareness of how people and practices truly are in this town, and why this society is stagnated at the depths that it is stuck helplessly; perhaps, hopelessly.

It just can’t be right. I compare such a bonanza of a giveaway in the clandestine corridors of what passes for governance to that of our ordinary citizens lining up and waiting at the Providence Stadium and the Brickdam location of what I was made to understand is a Ministry of Housing office for a house lot. Most times they have to

line up repeatedly, and then wait patiently, and it had better be quietly. But here we are with this billion-dollar savaging of Guyana’s Treasury. I can describe it so, because it is from there that the lost billions in money never made their way, but into the balance sheets of conspiratorial comrades, all characterized by this endless greed, this eternal corruptibility of person and presences.

They contaminate; they profane; they make ill. In their world, it is a phone call and a reciprocally exciting proposal that promises much personal profit. Some seem to get so many slices of the apple that there is none left for the little people. Thus, they line up and wait and hope. Today may be a different day, save that the new people have so far not shown themselves to be any different from those that went before, only more careful, more cunning in their corruptions. Is it any surprise as to where we are, given how our trusted leaders are?

Sincerely, GHK Lall

We must applaud case workers and institutional caregivers Dear Editor, “The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” – George Santayana. Though the make-up of individual families may differ from case to case, many aspects actually remain the same.

Especially in the instance of the amount of love, attention, and support that children should be receiving regardless of where they live or spend most of their time.

In institutional care there have been many reported cases and admissions that the children do not receive anywhere near the right amount of affection, love or support. Considering that the children heavily outnumber the institutional caregivers, it will be virtually impossible for the caregivers to stretch themselves so thin while attending to each child. It is known that each child requires his/her own levels of attention and socialization, having to cater to these for one child is quite demanding, much less 20 children at a time.

We must applaud the case workers and institutional caregivers as they, every day, put themselves forward and take on the tasks that many persons would not be able to maintain.

The case workers do work around the clock to ensure

that children, regardless of where they are, receive love, affection and care that they require. Though there are many instances where a child remains in institutional care, we do have many positive instances where children are actually reintegrated into their biological homes.

This case was one that really showcased the love and care of motherhood, and it encouraged the case workers to continue their work. This case represented the perseverance, drive and dedication that this mother had and the strides she took to ensure that she was able to be reunited with her children. This mother of three - one son and two daughters - did not have her finances in order, housing or support which is necessary to support her children. She was separated from her youngest at birth who was taken to a children’s institution while the others were sent to institutional care as well. The youngest child spent close to two years and the two other children girls spent several years each. Considering that this case occurred during the initial phase of Covid-19’s presence in Guyana, the mother was even more concerned for her children’s safety.

Even while in institutional care the children received love and support from their mother and visitation was done constantly. ChildLinK’s counselor held group sessions with the parent and children. These sessions were done via the telephone and bonding sessions were done over WhatsApp. Unfortunately, in some cases, many parents make little to no effort to make contact with their children, but this was not the case for this mother. The parenting counselling to a large extent, was responsible for this mother turning her life around. What helped much was her mental preparedness and eagerness to get her children back. She also made great strides to get her life together. The mother was able to get a house to rent and secure a job. In light of COVID-19, visitation decreased but the mother’s desire to be in contact with the children increased. Calls were constant. Since the mother constantly showed concern, reassessment was done on whether she can provide adequate care to her children. The time apart from the children even allowed the fathers of the children to reassess their roles in the children’s lives. The father is now actively involved in the

children’s lives. All the mother’s efforts were not in vain. The decision was made for her to reintegrate the children. The Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) had to give parental skills, counseling for the parent before the child is reintegrated and the final go ahead. They had the final say essentially in that decision.

This was a great moment in the lives of the children, their mother and even the case workers. CPA provided her with a care package.

While they are united with the mother, they have each been receiving counselling. She has been receptive to the counselling provided, her children are accepting the help being offered by the case workers at ChildLinK with support from the CPA and the communication channels and transparency are at an all-time high. ChildLinK’s Family Counsellors continue to conduct monitoring visits and provide emotional support where needed.

ChildLinK was able to secure additional support hamper from the business community to help the mother during the Christmas season. The mother initially, had limited financial stability, and no (Continued on page 6)

Tuesday February 09, 2021

When will Guyana get its vaccines?

Dear Editor, Barbados received 100,000 doses of Covishield/ AstraZeneca vaccines as a donation from India. Prime Minister Mottley wrote personally to the Indian Prime Minister. She did not ask her cabinet to do that. She took up the mantle.

Barbados will be the first CARICOM country to begin vaccination. Not long after that news, the Indian High Commissioner to Guyana gave an indication that Guyana will receive a donation from the 500,000 doses promised to CARICOM.

The entire CARICOM block will receive 500,000 doses, while the PM of Barbados got 100,000 doses separately and will still receive from the 500,000 CARICOM does because Barbados is a member.

I sometimes wonder if our politicians truly have the people’s interest at heart.

Every day on the news you see developing countries lobbying the vaccine makers Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca and others for vaccines and are able to make deals some already receiving small batches.

For Guyana, all you hear is the government is working hard to get vaccines. The government needs to ramp up their efforts to have treatment available to Guyanese.

The government should also encourage the private hospitals and drug companies in Guyana to seek vaccines and treatment since these organisations procure medicines from some of these vaccine makers.

The health minister should give in his daily briefings, the stage of vaccine procurement for our people.

Yours truly, Name provided

No Minister should have the power to grant or revoke fishing or any other licences Dear Editor, The controversy continues around the issuance of the two seabob fishing licences. The Ministry of Agriculture has issued a statement saying that a Mr. Rampersaud Sookhdeo from La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara, was granted the two licences. The statement described Mr. Sookhdeo as a Guyanese who was operating in Trinidad for the past fifteen(15) years but recently had to return to Guyana because of the COVID-19 restrictions and regulations in Trinidad.

The Stabroek News article, reports the Guyana Association of Trawlers Owners and Seafood Processors (GATOSP) as having no knowledge of Mr. R a m p e r s a u d Sookhdeo.(Trawler owners say they have never heard of the holder of the controversial licences, News, S. 3rd Feb 2021.)

The Minister has been recorded, claiming that the new Licencee is a Guyanese who is well-known and wellestablished in the Fishing industry. However, the GATOSP has no knowledge of, nor information about, him nor his Trinidadian company, Haseed Enterprise. This leads to the questions, “Wellknown to who?” and, “What is considered well established?”

This now opens the door to insinuations of corruption, cronyism and nepotism surrounding the two licences.

Unfortunately, Guyana has inherited systems from the British colonials, which we have kept to ourdetriment but to our Governments’ benefit.

The British employed systems which were designed to centralise the power and authority into the hands of a few persons, trusted by them.

These people were the ones who gave, if pleased, or who took away, if displeased. Fifty five years after independence, we continue to use those systems. We continue to concentrate the powers into the hands of the few Ministers of whichever Political Party is in Government at the time.

We desperately need to change these antiquated systems, which continue to allow for: corruption, cronyism and nepotism to occur and become rampant.

There is limited transparency and democracy within these systems.

No Minister should have the power to grant or revoke fishing licences or any other such, for that matter. The Minister should be a policy maker and not the granter of benefits.

Corruption, cronyism and nepotism are rampant in third World countries because our Governments refuse to

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change the systems left to us by the Colonials. Our Governments benefit from these systems and choose not to change them because they are used to control their populations. Some members of Government believe they are better than and above the rest of the population and can therefore e.g, issue and/or revoke licences at their will.

This type of system is abhorrent.

Our present Government has the golden opportunity at-hand, to start changing these systems. New systems which are fully transparent should be developed and installed, in order to combat the corruption of the present one, and the bribery which has become the norm in it.

For example, with the issuance of Fishing Licences, the Fisheries Department can determine, in consultation with the GATOSP, how many licences are needed for the Industry to be economically viable and sustainable. The agreed number of licences could then be sold at a yearly, public auction, which would have a starting bid price of an agreed amount, maybe $1,000,000 per licence. Each trawler would be required to have a licence. There is presently a limit of 87 trawlers for the Seabob Industry.

An auction of the licences for these eighty-seven (Continued on page 6)

This crusade against Brian Tiwari and his companies is quite disgraceful Dear Editor, I read with growing disappointment how the PPP/ C is using the full weight of its administrative power and media influence to harass a private businessman and citizen of Guyana for his constitutional right to freely associate with a political party. This crusade against Brian Tiwari and his companies is quite disgraceful and shows how unreformed the PPP/C is from its previous 23 years in office.

1) Note how at every turn they look to denigrate Mr. Tiwari’s reputation in the state owned Guyana Chronicle and other aligned news outlets. Case in point is the seawall work on the Essequibo – BK has been doing seawall defense work for decades to the satisfaction of successive governments, the IDB and the European Union.

2)Note the award, without any competitive bidding, of an 11,000-acre quarry in the Mazaruni which could serve to squeeze out Mr. Tiwari’s own quarry operations. In the interim, before this is being set up, the government is actually importing aggregate from Suriname at a higher price. So much for creating jobs for Guyanese.

3)Most egregious is the invitation to a large Trinidad construction company to set up operations in the country so as to fill the void left by what is now a blacklisted

company. This firm, which has a mixed reputation in Trinidad, has already shipped in millions of dollars in equipment to its Providence offices. Was it not Minister Deodat Indar as then President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry who in 2018, when he heard about the investment MOU signed with Trinidad, warned hysterically: “It could mean the end of the private sector.”

He was a true patriot then – now his silence is

hypocritically pungent.

Attorney General Nandlall’s latest move to try and seize BK’s Kingston wharf will be tied up in court for years with no resolution but it will serve the purpose of freezing any investment for the facility. Mr. Tiwari would be well advised to seek the finest legal counsel, based on his right under the constitution for free expression and association and to ask for relief from state persecution.

Yours truly, Francis Newton

Mother who handed over sons allegedly involved in killing must be commended Dear Editor, The mother, who unhesitatingly handed over her sons, allegedly involved in the killing of the Belle West youth, to law enforcement, must be commended. You are an example for others to emulate. But what of the

unidentified female who was allegedly with the youths urging them on in their brutalising acts.

My condolences to the family, relatives and friends of the deceased.

Yours truly, Shamshun Mohamed

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Tuesday February 09, 2021

Renegotiating the ExxonMobil Agreement may be difficult but there are other options Dear Editor, I have decided to write this letter in response to Kaieteur News publisher Mr. Glenn Lall’s appeal for professionals to get involve in influencing the direction of our oil and gas industry. I had decided to stay out of the public space and discussions on oil and gas for two reasons: one, I wanted to give the government a fair chance to roll out their plans for oil and gas, and the second reason is that I felt the space was a bit busy.

In 2019, I was awarded a scholarship from a university to study, however, it required residing abroad for a few months. I did not have enough financial resources to live abroad while studying and my only means of getting the additional G$3M that was needed was to sell my home which I had owned for fifteen years.

It was indeed a high price to pay to pursue a dream, but I thought that it was worth it.

It was an opportunity to further invest in my education, also I wanted to focus my research on an area in oil and gas and the extractive industries, so that I could contribute to the development of the oil and gas sector in Guyana.

So, I took no-paid leave

and went abroad and studied.

I did my thesis/project on ‘Development Preparedness: Strengthening Cross-sectoral Governance in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to Maximise Opportunities for Maintaining Rule of Law as Guyana Transitions into an Oil and Gas Society’. Other research work which I did during the programme included: ‘Integrating Human Rights, Gender and Conflict Management into Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Engagements in the Oil and Gas Industry in Guyana’; ‘An Examination of the Legal Systems and International Obligations (Global Regulations) for Countries of Investors and Businesses Currently Engaged in the Oil and Gas Sector in Guyana’; and an ‘Assessment of Reforms in the Mexican Legal Framework in the Energy Sector Since 2013 and Development of Recommendations as to What Further Related or Follow-on Reforms can be Considered which would Benefit the Largest Number of Low-Income Mexican Citizens’.

I got an ‘A’ Grade in my thesis and my review professors were of the view that the project was highly implementable. In the research

for my thesis, I also examined the World Bank funded ‘Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project’, which commenced in 2019, and identified some of the gaps and incorporated them into my project as a way of bridging those gaps.

I also did extensive research on how Guyana can address the issues relative to the International Investment Agreements. I researched what some of the resourcedrich countries, such as the USA, Canada, Botswana, some Gulf countries, and others, are doing in terms of investment treaties and agreements.

Therefore, while these agreements are extremely difficult, almost impossible to renegotiate, I was hoping to work with the Government on a programme similar to reforms that was done in Mexico. One of my recommendations to the government would have been to reform the judiciary, criminal justice system, law enforcement, etc. so that investors would develop more confidence in the independence of the judicial and law enforcement systems, in an effort to strengthen Guyana’s negotiation ability. One

...No Minister should have the power to grant or revoke From page 5 trawlers would bring in a minimum $87,000,000 yearly.

A system such as this, will remove the authority for issuing a Seabob Fishing Licence from the Minister.

It will be transparent, everyone will know who has made a bid for a licence and

for how much. A licence will be only valid for twelve 12 continuous months.

Trawlers found operating without a valid licence should be impounded and the owner(s) taken before the Courts.

This type of public auction can be repeated for each of the different types of

licences issued for trawlers.

This system would not be foolproof, but it would remove the claims of: corruption, cronyism and nepotism from being attached to the Minister and allows for much more transparency than the present system does.

Yours truly, Jonathan Yearwood

...We must applaud case workers From page 4 partner or family to come forward to offer support in her time of need. However, over the course of the case, the mother as a result of the counsellors, both from CPA and ChildLinK, has proven her stability, her determination, and her willingness to be the mother she needs to be for her children.

I hope this case has motivated other mothers who have had their children removed from their care, that there is a bright light at the end of that tunnel and there are many forms of support for them to utilize that will readily help their children be reintegrated into their households. Various parenting styles and

methods may result in parents making choices or being in circumstances that are positive or otherwise inclined.

This in and of itself is proof that there needs to be continued collaboration between government (Child Protection Agency) and civil society (ChildLinK). It is essential for the maintenance of support and to strengthen families to care for children and to create safe spaces for children to achieve their greatest potential.

Yours truly, Khadidja Ba Communications Officer ChildLinK Inc.

aspect of negotiation could then be for investors to agree for at least a clause to be included in investment agreements for certain matters to be resolved in our local courts.

Foreign investors are protected under International Investment Laws, and one of the reasons why both the APNU+AFC and the PPP/C governments have been relatively silent on the renegotiation of the ExxonMobil agreement is because they are aware of this. These are international contractual agreements that have serious contractual obligations attached to them.

Which brings into the discussion, international mechanisms for ‘InvestorState Dispute Resolutions/ Settlements’. There are specific mechanisms internationally for foreign investors and states to settle disputes, which is another reason why both the APNU+AFC and the PPP/C government are almost silent on the renegotiation of the agreement in question.

For example, it is very difficult for Third parties to join international dispute resolution cases, therefore if Guyana reforms its judicial system and investors’ confidence in the

independence and professionalism of the local judicial system increases, our new model for agreements could include that in some areas, for example, on environmental and human rights matters, third parties would be allowed to bring these matters against foreign investors, before the local courts. For example, if there is some kind of pollution in the waterways in an Amerindian community, representations from those communities would be able to seek redress in the local courts.

Yours truly, Audreyanna Thomas

On Guyanese appreciation of traditional American football Dear Editor, Guyanese Americans showed their appreciation for the annual Super Bowl on Sunday evening by tuning in to the game that was carried live on television. It is the custom to host parties and invite friends, neighbours, and relatives to watch the game and have a fun time.

Guyanese hosted super bowl parties as mainstream Americans did. Because of Covid, invited guests were restricted.

Viewers all over the world usually watch the game that probably has the largest audience and viewership of any American sports. More and more people globally are into the sports that is similar to soccer but played differently.

The game historically has the largest TV and live audience in the US if not globally. This year, because of COVID-19, the audience was restricted to just around 5000, mostly health workers who received gratis trickets chosen from among raffled names. Normally, attendance was some 70K in a giant size stadium.

Very few Guyanese play or watch American football.

Virtually every American is into the game. It is talked

about on all TV and radio programs and print media.

Students and colleagues talk about it. So Guyanese adults and youths show interest because of their colleagues or peers and because it is part of the American culture.

Football is to America what cricket is to England or Guyana. Once you live in America, you become acculturated into it — part of American cultural diffusion to immigrant communities.

The Super Bowl is usually on the first Sunday of February. It is the final of the annual American football league. The season begins around September and ends in January with playoffs between the various division leaders. It is a multi-billion dollar business. The rights to the super bowl itself is probably hundreds of millions of American dollars. The top teams are in the playoff of each division. The two winners of the playoffs of each division goes into the Super Bowl.

American football is not the same as soccer or mainstream world football.

American football is played mostly with the hands and hardly with the feet. The ball is oval shaped. The players tackle opponents to prevent

them from moving the ball into the “goal post”.

It is the tradition on Super Bowl Sunday for Americans to watch the game with friends and families or at restaurants or bars. But this year, there are restrictions not only for live audience at the game but also at restaurants and bars. The snow on Sunday did not make it possible to patronize restaurants and bars. Most people watched the game at home. Guyanese did the same.

It is the tradition to snack on assorted chips, dips including guacamole (pear or avocado choka), pizza, cutlets, sandwiches, fried chicken, cookies, cakes, pretzels, hot dog, chili, salsa, ice cream, and the like. These are washed down with beer or hard drinks and off course soft drinks. Guyanese have introduced their phulourie, bara, baiganee, channa, salt saye, black eye, chicken foot, dhal puri and varied curries, pine tarts, black eye cakes, and other traditional delicacies into the snack pool.

It is a case of Guyanese inserting their cuisine and snacks into a traditional American rite.

Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

What are the government’s plans for swimming?

Dear Mr. Editor It appears that the Government’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports has made efforts to facilitate cricket, football, lawn tennis; this is a laudable approach.

What plans does the Ministry have in relation to

the use of the existing swimming facilities which lie dormant even though there are reasonable to useful approaches to having this avenue i.e swimming for addressing the fitness and health of our youth?

Certainly, efforts should be made and information

provided to the public and to the various swimming o r g a n i s a t i o n s including GASA for the use of the swim facilities. Swim clubs, I am certain, are eager to get their wards in the pools.

Yours truly, Name provided

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L B T LUNT.. UNT...B BL B Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

ExxonMobil's Country President, Alistair Routledge, claims ExxonMobil's flaring is so concerning to him that he goes to bed thinking about it.

When former EPA Head, Dr. Vincent Adams, slashed production last year to keep Guyana safe after the first equipment mishap, production was at 30,000 barrels a day.

Now, as the PPP/C seems to not have a care in the world about this environmental destruction, ExxonMobil has taken the freedom to produce at 120,000 barrels a day, and Routledge expects Guyanese to believe that he cares.

When asked how ExxonMobil justifies keeping production at those levels, Routledge said ExxonMobil is concerned about revenues for the country.

The Guyanese people are not stupid, Mr. Routledge. We see right through your games. You have never cared about the people of this country, only your shareholders and your bank account.

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Tuesday February 09, 2021

ExxonMobil flaring above levels set by EPA after first mishap

By Kemol King

E

xxonMobil G u y a n a yesterday held a closed press briefing during which it told media operatives that flaring is now at about 16 million cubic feet of gas per day.

“So we are currently producing around, as the Minister said, around 120,000 barrels per day,” ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge, said in his opening address. “At that level, we're currently flaring about 16 million cubic feet per day.”

It is notable that this is higher than the rate of flaring early last year when former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams, slashed ExxonMobil's production at the Liza Phase One project to reduce the environmental destruction of flaring. Dr. Adams had cut production low enough that Exxon was flaring 12-15 million cubic feet per day.

When asked how ExxonMobil justifies flaring above this precedent set by Dr. Adams, Routledge pointed to a need for revenues for Guyana.

“We're working with the EPA and the Ministry of Natural Resources, GGMC,”

- Abruptly ends press brief he said, “to ensure we're striking the right balance for Guyana. None of us are happy to be flaring above the pilot.”

“But we all know the times that we live in. It's challenging times. COVID19 has shut down a lot of businesses, revenues for the country, and so it's important that we can do our part to contribute. So that's what we're trying to do, work with the government to find the right balance.”

“We're not happy to be where we are. We're just trying to find the right balance for Guyana that ensures that we're still generating revenues for the country while minimizing the amount of impact that comes with that. And so, you know, that's the balance that we struck at the moment.”

To flare at this rate, ExxonMobil had claimed in a previous operational update that it reduced production levels since it started flaring above pilot – the minimum level of flaring required for a safe operation.

In that February 5 update, ExxonMobil gave no numerical detail of what the production levels were.

When asked at the time to

ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge provide the figures, ExxonMobil's Government and Public Affairs Advisor, Janelle Persaud, refused.

However, details provided to Kaieteur News

by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat and Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, indicated that ExxonMobil had been producing at 120,000 barrels per day – the nameplate capacity of the operation – as late as two days before the operational update was provided. ExxonMobil had

been flaring above pilot for about a week, by then.

The lingering question on the minds of political commentators and journalists after this was – If production is at nameplate capacity and ExxonMobil claims to have lowered production, is the company lying to the Guyanese public?

Some coaxing from a reporter during yesterday's briefing led Routledge to reveal that leading up to the moment ExxonMobil noticed the equipment defect, the Liza Destiny Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel was producing about 130,000 barrels of oil per day.

This appears consistent with statements made by Chief Operating Officer of Hess Corporation, Gregory Hill, during an earnings call last month, that ExxonMobil intends to evaluate options to increase the nameplate capacity of the vessel.

He had said that the operation is producing better than thought and that ExxonMobil was producing about 127,000 barrels per day in January. However, he had said that the piping

changes and debottlenecking ExxonMobil planned to do to increase the production capacity of the vessel, wouldn't occur until the third quarter of 2021.

Routledge informed reporters yesterday that ExxonMobil was already conducting higher production tests in January, but sought to note that the equipment failure is not linked to any higher production capacity test that ExxonMobil was doing.

Nevertheless, “In order to minimise flare, we have cut back from those higher production tests,” Routledge told reporters yesterday.

There are many lingering questions following ExxonMobil's press engagement yesterday, but it was abruptly ended after the brief question and answer segment. This segment had followed a relatively lengthy presentation given by the production manager, Mike Ryan, about the design of the FPSO, which was substantially unrelated to the specific concerns raised by the press in the days leading up to this engagement.

Routledge said the company will issue updates every two days or so on the

developments related to flaring and the defective gas compressor.

During cursory consultations following the press briefing, an expert knowledgeable about the industry told Kaieteur News that Exxon's numbers don't appear to make sense.

F o r e x a m p l e , ExxonMobil's production was at 30,000 barrels of oil per day when Dr. Adams mandated a reduction in production last year. The corresponding rate of flaring was 12-15 million cubic feet per day. Now, the production level is 120,000 barrels a day with a rate of flaring of 16 million cubic feet per day.

Kaieteur News will seek answers from ExxonMobil on this and other unclear developments.

Ryan said he understood journalists wanted a detailed understanding of the equipment defect, but added that the issue is complex.

Even ExxonMobil's understanding of the issue at this point appears to be less than comprehensive, if this briefing is any indication.

“What we do know is that the seal failed,” Ryan told Kaieteur News. “What we don't know is why it failed, and there may be something else in the machine that we discover, and ask why we (continued on page 17)

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 09

Shut it down!

V

ery little has been heard, publicly, from the Public Service Minister.

The few times in which she has been in the public limelight has been to highlight the scholarships, which her Ministry has been granting.

Training is no doubt a priority of her Ministry. But there are far more important issues to be addressed in terms of the public service than scholarships and other forms of training.

The public service has become extremely bloated.

Under the APNU+AFC it has become so enlarged that it was a drag on the public purse. It is costing taxpayers G$500M per day to run this public service. The government is not obtaining value for money in the public service.

Her most recent announcement was to indicate that the Bertram Collins College is going to be restructured. This follows reports of a number of the College's employees being terminated recently.

There is absolutely no need for the Public Service Ministry to restructure the College. It should be closed, not restructured. It is a waste of resources.

The APNU+AFC loved to create bureaucracy. It created a number of unnecessary agencies including the Department of the Environment, the Guyana Youth Corps and the Bertram Collins College.

The latter was widely believed to have been done to allow for the APNU+AFC

to control who is employed in the public service. Instead of persons competing for entry-level employment, the college was created to take its cadets who would then go through a period of training and then were sent out to the various Ministries.

The PPP/C when it was in power in the past had attempted a similar system.

But it did not have a need to build any college. The trainees as they were known were rotated throughout the public service and received on the job training.

When the Bertram Collins College was created, it generated immediate concerns about the selection criteria for the cadets and the staff. In 2017, this newspaper quoted a senior official of the College as admitting that the institution had a diversity problem.

But by far the greatest concern should have been whether such a college was necessary. This column had argued against the establishment of the college pointing out it was a bad idea.

The Bertram Collins College appeared to be patterned after a military academy. The modern public service however is not the military, which usually requires training colleges.

Modern public services perform mainly regulatory functions and provide services to the public. Most of these functions require technical skills at the senior level and only basic skills at the junior level.

Persons leaving school are expected to have the

basic skills to function at the entry-level in the public service. If they cannot, it means our school-leaving qualifications are worthless.

Those wishing to enter the public service are looking for employment.

They do not wish to have to leave school and then to again enter a classroom to prepare them to do a clerklevel job.

The cadets who are fortunate to be selected for entry into the public service have to be fed, given uniforms, paid a stipend and taken on tours to various parts of the country, and all at taxpayers' expense.

The College also took the form of massive campus, taking over the old GuySuCo headquarters at Ogle.

There was no need for such a facility. Previously public servants were adequately trained either inhouse or at the Public Service Ministry's Training Centre in Vlissingen Road. It was even reported that some of the personnel of the College were enjoying million dollars plus monthly remuneration, and all to train a few school leavers and run some other courses for middle-level management within the public service.

Taxpayers should not be burdened with that monstrosity for a college. It should be closed and the Department of Energy should be moved to that location since a great deal more resources need to be ploughed into the oil and gas sector. That location is near where the Exxon headquarters will be located.

Tantalize is boys seh... not cuss out!

Dem

T

imes changing eh? Long ago, people used to mek jokes and ridicule dem politicians by mekkin' up funny stories about dem.

These days people busing out dem politicians.

Dem calling dem all kinds ah nasty names, and it all so classless.

Not like long ago when people used to poke fun at dem big ones.

Dem boys remember wan of dem story wah people used to talk: It had a guard who used to wuk at de

official residence of Prime Minister Burnham, which is de same building weh dem now call Castellani House.

De story go dat one night de guard passing by Cuffy statue, when Cuffy call out to he.

Even though de guard frighten, he go fuh hear wah Cuffy want. Cuffy tell he how he deh standing up too long; he tired. He ask de guard fuh go and get a horse fuh he.

De guard get scared and he run to Burnham and tell Burnham how Cuffy ask he

fuh a horse. Burnham get vex and shouted at de guard, “Wha foolishness yuh believe. Come, I will take you to the monument of Cuffy and prove to you that it does not speak.”

So Burnham and de guard gone across de road to de monument. When Burnham look up, he hear Cuffy shout to de guard, “I ask fuh a horse not a jackass.”

Talk half and hope we return to dem days of tantalize rather than cuss out.

This makes its suited for a Department of Energy.

Or, alternatively, the large buildings at the College should be turned into a dialysis hospital or a maternity hospital.

The College, even if restructured, will not improve the quality of the public service. The public service, as was noted years

ago, does not have a problem with training. It has a problem with efficiency. Its problems cannot be resolved through training but through downsizing. The public service is overstaffed and there are thousands of pen pushers in the service who are not needed.

The Minster should shut down that college and free

herself of an administrative behemoth, which is a burden on the backs of taxpayers.

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

Kaieteur News

PAGE 10

Tuesday February 09, 2021

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

When vision is not there, power is never guaranteed I

t was a shock to every supporter of the PPP, PNC, AFC, and independent onlookers when the 2015 election results were pronounced. The APNU+AFC won by less than a percentage point, by a mere 4,500 votes, less than what is needed to clinch a parliamentary seat.

For the PPP aficionados, they probably thought the margin would have been wider because the PPP had become complacent and authoritarian. For the PNC

and the AFC it was agonizing chagrin. They could not imagine the margin would have been a coat of varnish.

For independent onlookers, it was confusing because they thought that the electorate wanted a change.

You couldn't speak of a change in the meaningful sense of the word – a victory by less than a percent was not a victory. The entire society was perplexed at the result when it was announced.

The result generated a

formidable question in both the PNC and AFC but the question was different for each party. For the PNC, a deep bitterness against East Indians was immediately born. The PNC knew that Indians did not vote for them and hardly voted for the AFC. How then do they approach the race problematic?

For the AFC, they were mentally shattered at their showing. As early as June 2015, the AFC decided that its star had faded through its marriage with the PNC and

that it would leave the PNC to decide the shape of governance and just comfort itself with the huge authority given to it by the Cummingsburg Accord.

From June 2015 then, the decision as to how to rule was exclusively a PNC one.

Two pathways faced the PNC. Forgive Indians for the way they voted, court them, appease them and do things for them, thus winning their confidence. The second direction was to invoke the wrath of disappointment and miniaturize Indian society in Guyana.

The PNC chose the latter and the sugar industry was the first target.

In the eyes of the founder of the PNC – Forbes Burnham – sugar was the PPP, the PPP was sugar. It was not far from the truth. Once there was a sugar industry in Guyana, the PPP would be a challenge to beat electorally.

Burnham brought in the Sugar Levy of 1974 simply to penalize the industry and show the PPP that sugar money would be used to finance development projects in the entire country.

But David Granger was no Forbes Burnham. The founder of the PNC was not an incompetent strategist.

He knew when and how to tame his excesses. Granger was and is essentially a political dunce. Sugar was indeed a problem, even under President Jagan. Sugar was being sold below cost of

production. From Jagan to R a m o t a r, e v e r y P P P president was prepared to subsidize the industry.

Where Granger went wrong (and I think it was deliberate), was that the closure of the industry was not a decision based on

Frederick Kissoon economic science but out of political vendetta.

This explains why there was no cushioning scheme put in place. When President Hoyte succumbed to IMF edicts, he stitched together a cushion named SIMAP. The 28,000 persons affected by the estate closures needed a SIMAPtype of arrangement. But political spite prevented that to the point where the laidoff workers were denied their financially entitled compensation, which they had to go to court to secure.

For the AFC, they could not have been bothered with what happened to the industry. They knew the AFC was dying and they just

wanted to enjoy the perks of power. Only Charandass Persaud felt the hurt deeply and wanted to get back at the AFC. So from 2015, the PNC had no intention of reaching out to Indians. But the PNC had no intention of reaching out to the mass of African people too.

Public servants, teachers, state security services, street and municipal vendors, UG staff and unemployed urban youth and other areas where Africans were to be found were not earmarked for income elevation. In fact, Granger telegraphed his thoughts to African Guyanese that the state cannot provide employment for them.

The PNC knew by late 2015 that it was not in a mood to pursue election politics. It knew from the 2015 results that it could no longer win elections. It knew by its treatment of Berbice and the sugar industry that it does not need to placate exsugar workers.

As 2015 wore on the PNC had made up its mind about permanent power. But fools who cannot read reality will never see the light. The PNC was not aware that Burnham and the world that nurtured him were both dead and gone forever.

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

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Hung Jury verdict for ex-cop Man slapped with accused of raping 15 year-old ganja charge

A

hung jury verdict was delivered by a mixed 12-member jury before Justice Jo Ann Barlow at the High Court yesterday.

As a result of the failure by the jury to reach a verdict, accused rapist, Enfield Prince, an ex-cop, was ordered to return to the Court where he is likely to face a new trial in the next sitting of the Demerara Criminal Assizes.

Enfield Prince

F r o m t h e commencement of his trial before Justice Barlow, Prince had pleaded his innocence to the rape charge and was given legal representation from Attorney-at-law, Latchmie Rahamat.

The facts of the case were presented by lead counsel in the matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Nafeeza Baig, in association (continued on page 18)

- wife charged with assaulting cop

A

man and his wife were yesterday placed on bail after they appeared in court to answer to individual charges. The man, Kennard Reid, 34, was charged for having a quantity of cannabis in his possession and his wife, Fabian Cooper, 26, a hairdresser was charged with assaulting a peace officer.

Charged: Fabian Cooper

Charged: Kennard Reid

Reid and Cooper made their first appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.

Both defendants are being represented by attorney-atlaw Lawrence Harris.

Reid denied the charge which alleges that on February 6, 2021, at Bamboo Drive, Meadow Brook Gardens, Georgetown, he had in his possession 137.3 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.

Cooper also denied the charge that was read to her.

The charge alleged that on the same date and at the

same location she assaulted a peace officer.

Their lawyer told the court that based on CCTV footage from Reid's home, the cannabis was not found in his client's home but rather fished out of a nearby trench by ranks.

He further stated that the police have visited his client's home on three occasions within the last two months.

The court heard that after the ranks' first search of his client's home, $200,000 from Reid's bedroom went missing.

The lawyer also alleged that on the ranks second search a total of $1.1M, property of his client's mother and father, went missing, along with jewellery, and on the third search the ranks found a bag with the alleged cannabis in a nearby trench.

The police prosecutor then informed the court that based on information, Reid threw the bag with the cannabis in the nearby trench while the ranks were searching his home.

The lawyer then stated that the CCTV footage from Reid's home shows that Cooper did not assault the officer but that she was arrested when she went to visit her husband.

However, the police prosecutor stated that Cooper assaulted the ranks while they were conducting the raid.

The Chief Magistrate granted Reid bail in the sum of $60,000, and Cooper was placed on $10,000 bail. Both matters were adjourned to March 15, 2021.

(Renay Sambach)

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 13

Guyana should partner with Suriname to meet shore base needs A

s it stands, neither Guyana nor Suriname can independently offset the shortfalls in their shore bases for the oil and gas sector.

Cognizant of these deficiencies, Rudolf Elias, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Suriname's state oil company, Staatsolie, has posited that both countries should partner to meet and supply those shore base demands.

A shore base is an onshore support facility, which during drilling, development, maintenance and producing operations, provides services to the oil companies.

These services include: h a n d l i n g w a s t e management, chemical storage, warehousing, construction, berthing of supply vessels, cargomarshaling area, loading and offloading, supply chain management, expatriate management, and customs services.

During his debut appearance on Kaieteur Radio's Guyana's Oil & You, the Suriname Oil Boss reminded that one of the basic things both Guyana

- Suriname Oil Boss while indicating that, that is not enough to supply the value chain of the operations offshore in a “commercial efficient way.”

It is against this backdrop that Elias posited, “That is also something where the Government of Guyana and the Government of Suriname

CEO of Suriname's Staatsolie, Rudolf Elias

and Suriname need to prudently manage the oil sector would be that of building effective shore bases.

Elias based this advice against the reality that both countries have similar river depths.

To t h i s , t h e C E O explained, “Our rivers are like the Berbice and the Demerara. They have drafts of four, four and a half meters with low water,”

'Trustee' inmate escapes from Lusignan Prison

Prison escapee: Davo Simeon

T

he Guyana Police Force has launched a manhunt for a 32-year-old prisoner, who reportedly escaped from the Lusignan Prison yesterday.

According to reports, Davo Simeon, of Lot 75 Community Centre Road, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, who was a trustee at the prison, made his escape sometime before 11:50 hrs.

Prison Officials on

conducting their regular checks at intervals during the day, found that Simeon was missing.

Simeon, who was serving a 16-month sentence for break and enter and larceny, was an orderly at the senior staff kitchen at the facility and would normally assist with duties there. The 32-year-old was scheduled to be released from prison this August.

Investigations are ongoing.

may try to work together in order to say, 'Let's build one of these shores bases together, so we can keep a lot more local content into Suriname and into Guyana' so that it does not go to Trinidad or Houston or to one of these other places where they have a bigger oil

industry and where they have deep-sea harbours.”

Notably, the Guyana shore base located at Houston is unable to handle the Liza One demands.

The former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, had revealed this in 2018 in a parliamentary sectoral committee.

He had said to that committee that, “What we have at Muneshwers

Limited, now, which is already causing major traffic accidents and traffic jams every day, is only to service the Liza-One field.

The Liza-One field has approximately 1.8 billion barrels of oil because it is going to be tied with another field, Payara, but we are still talking about another two to three billion barrels of oil that would have to be developed.”

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Motorcyclist killed after slamming into utility pole

T

he family of K e m s t o n Richards, 25, called 'Super' of Plum Park, Sophia has been thrown into a state of mourning after he lost control of his motorcycle, slammed into a utility pole and died.

Kaieteur News understands that during the course of the accident two pedestrians, a 15-year-old and a 24-year-old, were injured.

The incident that claimed Richard's life occurred at around 15:30hrs on Sunday at Turning Point Arapima Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown.

Reports are that Richards was riding motorcycle CK 7533 on the northern side of the street, reportedly at a fast rate, when he lost control and collided with a utility pole.

As a result of the collision, the 25-year-old ended up falling onto the

r o a d w a y, w h i l e h i s motorcycle ended up crashing into two pedestrians who were standing some distance away.

In a video seen by Kaieteur News, the man was seen lying on his back in front of the utility pole panting for breath, while being circled by policemen and public spirited people.

Persons were heard in the background saying that he

Kemston Richards at the scene of the accident.

was riding away from the police. “He paper straight, so I don't know wah he riding away fuh,” one man yelled.

The father of two was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation (GPHC) where a doctor pronounced him dead on arrival. Both pedestrians were treated and sent away.

Richards' body is presently at the hospital's

mortuary where it is awaiting a post mortem.

Meanwhile, one of Richards' brothers related to this publication that he was in a meeting when he received the news about his brother.

The man shared that his brother was a good person and will always do anything for his two children. “Everybody in shock, everybody still in shock after hearing the news,” he added.

Richards leaves to mourn

Dead: Kemston Richards called 'Super'. his two children, his partner, his parents and seven other siblings.

An investigation has since been launched.

Motorcyclist, pillion rider hospitalized after colliding with mini-bus

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motorcyclist and his pillion rider are now hospitalized after they reportedly collided with the side of a mini-bus, which was picking up passengers.

The injured motorcyclist has been identified as Stephen Gordon, 27, of Lot 38 East La Penitence, Georgetown, and his pillion rider was Jamal Bourne, 31, of the same address.

According to a police report, the incident happened on Sunday last, at around 21:00 hrs., on the Annandale Public Road, East Coast Demerara. The bus was being driven by Chaitram Persaud, 24, of Lot 67 Belmont, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara.

The report stated that, Persaud was proceeding east along the northern lane in mini-bus BPP 4237, while Gordon and Bourne were

also proceeding in the same direction at a fast rate on motorcycle CK 8532.

Persaud was in the process of picking up passengers, when Gordon reportedly collided with the right side rear of the mini-bus.

As a result of the collision, Gordon and Bourne fell on to the road's surface, causing them to receive injuries to their bodies.

Public-spirited persons picked up both men in an unconscious state and rushed them to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Both men were seen and examined by a doctor on duty and admitted.

A breathalyzer test was conducted on the driver of the mini-bus and it revealed no trace of alcohol.

However, he was arrested and placed in custody, and an investigation into the accident is ongoing.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 15

Kaieteur News

PAGE 16

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Exxon likely to flare one billion cubic feet of gas by the time it gets faulty compressor's diagnosis

By Mikaila Prince

C

ountry Manager of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, revealed yesterday that the oil giant is currently flaring 16 million cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere per day.

These details comes after Exxon, on January 29, had reported that a third stage gas compressor had failed, thereby causing it to increase flaring from its pilot levels.

At 16 million cubic feet per day, calculations by Kaieteur News show that in the 11 days that Exxon had increased its flaring, the United States (US) oil company has already flared 176 million cubic feet of natural gas.

What is further concerning is that Routledge, during yesterday's virtual ExxonMobil press engagement, stated that it would take “approximately eight weeks” for the manufacturer of the compressor, MAN Turbo in Germany, to inspect the defective gas compressor.

This would be executed to ascertain what the issues and complications are with the equipment.

However, within those eight weeks, Exxon, which boasts of its effective management of waste, will continue to flare 16 million cubic feet per day, thereby taking the total volume of toxic gas flared to, since

January 29, to 1.072 billion cubic feet. This would increase the total volume of gas flared by Exxon since 2020 to 13.6 billion cubic feet. This number is equivalent to the removal of over 1.6 M acres of forest, the size of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and a small section of Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara).

When Exxon had first started flaring in December 2019, due to defective flash g a s c o m p r e s s o r, t h e Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the leadership of Dr. Vincent Adams, had slashed the oil company's production by 60 percent. This meant that Exxon could have only produced 30,000 barrels of oil per day.

The numbers had been reduced to those low numbers, Dr. Adams had indicated, so that flaring can be kept between 12 million and 15 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Fast forward to September 2020, after it had been able to fix a part of its d e f e c t i v e c o m p r e s s o r, Exxon had increased their production to 105,000 barrels of oil per day.

Information that had been supplied by the new Director of the EPA, Sharifah Razack, had indicated that the company flared 16.496 million standard cubic feet of gas per day – up from its previously publicized rate of

Exxon flaring at its Liza Destiny operations

15 million cubic feet per day.

Then in mid December 2020, Exxon reported that it had managed to repair its flash gas compressor, thereby significantly cutting down its toxic flaring to pilot levels. This type of flaring is an industry practice, which flares a minimum volume of gas as to ensure safe operations.

However, this was shortlived as by January 13, 2021, Exxon had started reporting failures in its flaring system once more, which it had claimed were rectified. But exactly two weeks later on January 27, the oil giant began experiencing more

failures in its gas system that it could not repair, which eventually resulted in Exxon increasing its flaring from pilot levels on January 29.

Dangers of flaring Based on research, the flaring of gas is extremely damaging to the environment. A special study conducted by the World Bank notes that flaring releases more than 250 toxins, including cancer causing agents such as benzopyrene, benzene, carbon disulphide (CS2), carbonyl sulphide (COS), and toluene. It also releases metals such as mercury, arsenic, and chromium and

nitrogen oxides.

Flaring is also hazardous to human health. Nigerian scientists, Omosivie Maduka and Charles TobinWest, in a joint paper lodged with the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), had explained that flaring in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria has polluted the air and

water, and precipitated the formation of acid rain. All of this, they said, has caused negative outcomes in the communities there, including chronic and recurrent respiratory diseases, abnormalities in the blood, increased susceptibility to certain diseases of the blood and others.

GAMIP lobbies for health professionals law to cater...

From page 3 on this,” she said.

At the interim, the GAMIP Vice President said that the Association's effort to continue to spread awareness is just a part of what the association is seeking to do.

“We are also seeking to build a network and to host a radiology conference here in Guyana to continue to help as well as, secure funding for research and training for the advancement of medical imaging professionals,” she added.

She noted that the association is currently gathering data on those working in making the conference a reality.

Previously, Chanderballi had explained that this is not the association's first attempt at lobbying efforts to improve the work of those employed in medical

imaging.

She noted that GAMIP was founded in the early 2000s, by a group of radiographers but it became defunct shortly after a few years, partly due to Guyana's notorious brain drain.

She explained the resuscitation of the association advanced after a GAMIP contingent attended the International Society of Radiographers and Radiation Technologists (ISRRT) World Congress in Trinidad in 2018 which was hosted by the Society of Radiographers of Trinidad and Tobago.

Then after several concerted efforts, the medical imaging community moved to restore GAMIP in 2020, with a younger and diverse executive committee, i n c l u s i v e o f d i ff e r e n t modalities and private-public sector practitioners.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

Region Four pensioner is latest COVID-19 fatality

A

74-year-old man is the country's 181st COVID-19 fatality. He resided in Georgetown. Information about the man's demise was made public by the Ministry of Health yesterday.

It was noted that the man

died while receiving treatment at a medical facility. The Ministry also reported 41 new cases. The number of cases has increased to 8,023.

The Ministry's COVID19 dashboard also revealed that seven patients are in the

COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit, 817 in home isolation, 41 in institutional isolation and eight in institutional quarantine. Additionally, a total of 6,977 persons have recovered from the virus with 11 new recoveries recorded yesterday.

PAGE 17

GDF captain among 23 arrested during police exercise

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G u y a n a Defence Force (GDF) captain is among 23 persons who were arrested Sunday night during a cordon and search exercise by ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

According to a police report, between 21:00hrs on Sunday and 04:30hrs on M o n d a y, a g r o u p o f patrolling ranks conducted cordon and search exercises at the seawall (between Camp Street and the Round About), in the areas of Kitty, Alberttown and Plum Park/Mercy

Wing.

The report stated that several motorists, pedestrians and bars were searched during which 67motorcycles including XR, Trip and CG models; 11 bicycles, two laptops and a mixer were lodged.

The report also stated that the 23 persons who are in custody are for offences ranging from robbery under arms, breach of COVID-19 restrictions, assaulting a peace officer, among other offences.

Kaieteur News was informed that around 22:30

hrs. police ranks arrived at the Kitty seawall in a patrol vehicle and a white canter.

An eyewitness said that the officers first loaded all of the motorcycles into the canter and took them away, while the officers that were in the patrol vehicle stayed back and rounded up the persons who were riding the motorcycles.

“After the police round up them bike man, the group of girls they had at the back of their bikes had to go out on the road and stop taxi to go home,” an eyewitness recounted.

ExxonMobil flaring above...

From page 8 need to get the machine where the experts are, and do a full assessment and then we'd be able to make decisions based on the facts.

We don't know it all.

The machine is highly complex but it's very sensitive as well, and we wanted to bring it over to a controlled environment and make sure we open it and see exactly what's going on in there so we can piece the

issues together and get to the root cause and make sure that when we do fix it, it comes back as [reliable].”

ExxonMobil has, as had also happened after the last mishap, removed the defective gas compressor and sent it to Germany for a diagnosis from the manufacturer, MAN Turbo, in Germany. Asked how long it would take to receive a diagnosis, both Routledge and Ryan gave an estimate of about eight weeks.

In the meantime, Routledge said, ExxonMobil will work as much as it can to find other ways to reduce the flaring.

He said, “But at the same time, Mike and the team are working incredibly hard trying everything they can do in the process to tweak the process to further reduce that flaring if, at all, possible…

Clearly, we do not want to have extended flaring of any significance.”

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday February 09, 2021

Earthquake aftershock shakes Region Nine - Minister urges residents not to relocate

Some of the affected properties in Lethem. (Source: Karlos Kroft)

R

esidents of Region Nine (Upper TakatuUpper Essequibo) have been experiencing continuous earthquake aftershocks from the past week. This is according to Lethem's Deputy Mayor, Debra King, and Head of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Colonel Kester Craig.

A c c o r d i n g t o information from the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, has since dispelled the fears of the residents of South Rupununi and urged them not to relocate.

On January 31, 2021, at around 15:10 hrs., a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit near Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil.

T h e e ff e c t s o f t h e earthquake was felt throughout Guyana but was mostly felt in Region Nine which shares a border with

Brazil.

Reports by the Unites States Geological Survey (USGS) indicated that the earthquake was at a depth of 9.7 kilometers and 83 kilometers from Lethem.

Based on an update posted on the South Rupununi District Council's Facebook page on Sunday evening, the Deputy Toshao of Katoonarib Village, South Rupununi, reported that around 18:43 hrs. the community felt their second hardest tremor, which was reportedly followed by thunderous rumbling.

When Kaieteur News contacted Deputy Mayor King, she stated that since then, residents in some communities have reported that they are feeling aftershocks and hearing thunder peals. Head of the CDC told this publication that it is normal to have aftershocks after an earthquake.

Over the weekend,

Minister Benn, who is a geologist by profession, fellow geologist Leandro Pires, the Head of CDC and other members of the CDC, visited the communities that were affected, and conducted various assessments.

According to a DPI report, during a community meeting in Katoonarib on Saturday last, Minister Benn noted that earthquakes in that area were rare and persons should not migrate.

The Minister said, “This is not necessary, and it will only cause enormous distress, dislocation and unnecessary expenditure of money.

There is no need to leave your homestead to go to any other place.”

The Minister also rebuffed rumours that the earth's plate shift was caused by the oil extraction activities in Guyana's maritime space. He stated, “That is completely

impossible. If that were the case, we would have lost the seawalls, the city of Georgetown and everything would have been in the ocean already.

Not to happen all the way out here, some 700 miles in the Rupununi. It is totally unrelated, and I want to dispel those suggestions that it is related to oil extraction out on the coast or in the ocean.”

Kaieteur News had reported that Guyana did not record any loss of lives, but the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), reported that based on an assessment done by the Regional Disaster Response System, it was revealed that the walls of two schools were cracked, two homes and some earth surfaces were damaged in the Katoonarib a n d S a w a r i w a u Communities, located in the Deep South Rupununi.

Following the first tremor, the CDC, in a press

release stated that a series of assessments would be conducted to determine whether or not the country needs preparations for any future earthquake tremors.

In that press release, the CDC noted that the Commission would be collaborating with the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, to conduct further analysis, observation, and assessments.

The release further stated that the assessment would be done to get a comprehensive perspective of Region Nine's vulnerability to seismic hazard.

A seismic hazard is the possibility of an earthquake occurring in a given geographical area.

According to the release, the Commission is also in discussion with the Seismic Research Centre of the

University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency to provide technical support if needed.

The findings will determine future actions that will be taken by the CDC. The release stated that the actions include: conducting earthquake preparedness, response planning and training, and evacuation drills.

It also includes exploring the possibility of developing earthquake-resilient infrastructures for Region Nine and by extension Guyana.

However, the actions by the Commission are not limited to those measures only, as the Region Nine Administration is providing support to the families that were affected by the impact of the earthquake.

Hung Jury verdict for ex-cop accused of raping 15 year-old From page 12 with Attorney-at-Law, Sarah Martin.

According to the facts, Prince was a police officer at the time of the offence which occurred on January, 23 2015.

On the said date, the complainant, a 15-year-old girl was at Jerries Restaurant and Bar when her friend borrowed her phone and made a call to her taxi driver intended boyfriend.

The taxi driver showed up and the complainant and her friend entered the car and went to Sophia.

The complainant was reportedly under the impression that she was going by her friend's house in Sophia but the car took the

two girls to Prince's home in Sophia instead.

It was there that Prince and the driver of the car took the complainant into a bedroom and had sexual intercourse with her.

A few minutes after the police and welfare officers showed up at his house.

Prince is said to have verbally abused them before leaving the premises on his Guyana Police Force motorcycle.

The driver of the taxi also left.

The girls were subsequently taken from the house to the Turkeyen Police Station.

There the offence (rape of a child under 16 years) was imposed on Prince.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday February 09, 2021

PAGE 19

Gold miner who admitted to killing man for motorcycle remanded police that the bike was spray-painted before Heyliger allegedly removed it from his home. A few days later, he claimed, Heyliger

A

gold miner, 25 who admitted to gunning down a construction worker on December 7, 2020 for his XR Honda Motorcycle, was yesterday remanded for the man's murder.

The construction worker, 60-year-old Peter Gonsalves of Pere Street, Kitty was riddled with bullets around 21:30hrs in front of Red Bar located on Garnett S t r e e t , K i t t y , Georgetown.

Appearing before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts to answer the murder was Daniel Parris of 'D' Field Sophia, South Pattensen, Turkeyen.

It is alleged that on December 7, 2020, Parris while in the company of another, murdered Gonsalves at Garnett Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

Parris was not required to plea to the indictable charge and is expected to reappear in court, alongside his alleged accomplice, Kacey Heyliger, 28, on March 1, 2020.

Heyliger a resident of S h e l l R o a d , K i t t y, Georgetown was the first to be arrested by police for Gonsalves' murder and was charged and remanded on December 11, 2020.

According to reports, Parris was arrested months later, on February 3, after cops received information about his whereabouts and involvement in the crime.

After intense grilling by detectives, Parris buckled

Murdered: Peter Gonsalves

and, according to sources, confessed that he was the one who fatally shot Gonsalves.

Parris had told police earlier that evening that he was contacted by his accomplice, Heyliger. He added that Heyliger told him that he needed to get an XR bike.

Heyliger, he said, arrived later on a motorcycle and allegedly informed him that they need to make some spins to rob someone of a XR bike.

Parris further claimed Heyliger handed him a gun and instructed him to shoot anyone who might resist them.

As part of his confession, Parris said that he joined Heyliger on the bike as his pillion rider and they made several spins around Sophia before heading to David Street, Kitty.

While in the vicinity of

Remanded: Daniel Parris (Photo credits: Newsroom)

the 'Cheese Please' establishment, Parris told detectives that they zeroed in on their target (Gonsalves) who was riding along with a pillion rider.

They trailed their target until they (Gonsalves and his pillion rider) stopped in front of Red Bar. Parris recounted to police that they rode up beside their victims and he jumped off.

He said that he grabbed Gonslaves, who was still sitting on his bike at the time, and pulled out the gun and shot him.

Parris further claimed that as he was about to escape with Gonsalves' motorcycle his (Gonsalves') pillion rider held onto him.

He proceeded to shoot Gonsalves again before riding off with the stolen bike towards his home in Sophia.

Parris also related to

Also on remand: Kacey Heyliger

returned, paid him $40,000 cash and told him that the bike was sold.

Kaieteur News learnt too, that Parris even led

detectives to a location at K u r u - K u r u , Linden/Soesdyke Highway where the stolen bike was recovered.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 20

Tuesday February 09, 2021

More compliance being observed in certain sectors - COVID-19 Task Force Director T

he Director of the N a t i o n a l COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF)'s Secretariat, Colonel Nazrul Hussain, has stated that increased compliance with the gazetted COVID-19 measures has been observed in certain sectors of Guyana, while there are cases of decreases in others.

Speaking with Kaieteur

News recently, he noted that a portion of businesses have been complying with the measures well. He revealed too, that the Task Force has been carrying out regular enforcement exercises to ensure people are complying with the measures, and in the case of breaches, businesses are issued with warning letters and sometimes notices of closure. The

NCTF's Director had earlier told this publication that the Task Force has the power to withdraw the licence of any business found breaching the COVID-19 measures. He noted too that enforcement is not limited to a particular set of businesses.

As he spoke of the enforcement work of the Task Force, Hussain stated that local laboratories and

hospitals are not exempted from the consequences of breaches. From last year to date, over 100 businesses would have been served with warning letters for breaches and even as some measures have been relaxed, the Task Force is still ensuring there is maximum compliance, Hussain said.

Businesses would have recently benefitted from the

Director of the Task Force's Secretariat, Colonel Nazrul Hussain government's lifting of the prohibition on indoor dining and the reopening of bars both at a 40 percent capacity.

Adding to that, even with limited capacity, the six feet spacing is still mandated as well as other sanitary protocols.

The Guyana Tourism Authority was handed the responsibility of ensuring that the establishments that have been granted approval for reopening, comply and that they place the number of persons considered to be 40 percent on their doors.

At a recent briefing,

President Irfaan Ali thought it necessary to highlight that managing enforcement is not an easy task. In fact he said that while the authorities have been doing a good job in most instances, enforcement is not only removing people, it is also education, the distribution of masks and getting people to understand in a soft manner.

“Sometimes when you pass on the seawalls and in other crowded areas you wonder what is taking place.

The question is, well as Dr. Anthony says, you wonder sometimes whether if people understand we are living in a COVID-19 environment,” the President had stated.

“Do we take in 500 persons on the seawalls? Or go through Stabroek Market or Bourda Market where we get calls all the time or even some establishments and remove everyone from the market,” he added.

Ali maintained, “We have to be realistic” because when the authorities pick up persons you have to find somewhere to put them. As it relates to imprisonment, he said that they have to keep prisoners safe, since prisons are high-risk areas for infection.

Police need help identifying dead accident victim

Unidentified accident victim

T

he Guyana Police Force (GPF) is seeking the public's assistance in identifying an accident victim who died on February 6 last, at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The slightly grey-headed man of East Indian descent, appears to be in his late 40s or early 50s, and was brought to the GPHC clad in a greycheckered T-shirt.

According to a police report, the man was struck down by a motorcyclist around 18:40 hrs. while crossing the Rupert Craig Highway in the

vicinity of the Russian Embassy.

Both the man and the motorcyclist had received injuries as a result of the accident and were picked up from the roadway unconscious.

They were rushed to the GPHC for treatment. However, the unidentified victim passed away around 19:00 hrs.

Anyone with information leading to his identification is asked to contact the Guyana Police Force on telephone numbers 268-2353, 268-2223, 268-2298, 268-2222, 2682328, 268-2329, 225-3650, 226-1929, 911 or the nearest Police Station.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday February 09, 2021

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Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Lewandowski brace books Bayern final place Shakib Al Hasan to miss

Robert Lewandowski © Getty Images

Tuesday February 09, 2021 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You and your friends may have been planning a party for some time. Now you realize it's entirely up to you to actually make things happen, Aries.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) The period just ahead of you promises a lot of luck and success. The initiatives you will take in your career or personal life will come off without a hitch.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) The stars are pushing you to accept more responsibility in your life. In fact, you may not think you can do it, but everything will work out just fine.

CANCER(June21–July22) You seem to have the bad habit of putting off until tomorrow what you can do today, especially those little daily things that seem to pile up, like writing letters, paying bills, getting a health checkup, or cleaning the house.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) When you least expect it, success comes into your life. You can say goodbye to the dreariness of daily routine, fears, and changing moods.

You're now entering a period of wonderful good luck and success.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Life just seems to be smiling on you at the moment, Virgo.

Some sort of mystical force has entered your life and is enriching your contact and with other people. It allows you to make a success of anything you undertake.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) At the moment, the planets are aligned in a way that encourages communication and the written word. Therefore, you may feel like taking the plunge and writing that book you've been thinking about for a long time.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) For a while now, you've wanted to change something about your lifestyle or behavior toward the people you love.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) The period just ahead of you promises a lot of luck and success. The initiatives you will take in your career or personal life will come off without a hitch.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) After a recent financial problem, you've decided to take the bull by the horns and do what you need to do. You're used to being in control of a situation, and small financial worries aren't going to get you down.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) After a recent financial problem, you've decided to take the bull by the horns and do what you need to do. You're used to being in control of a situation, and small financial worries aren't going to get you down.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Certain people close to you are very demanding today. They may ask you to deal with thankless tasks that use up your precious energy.

FIFA Robert Lewandowski’s double saw FC Bayern München beat an admirable Al Ahly SC 2-0 and book a FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020™ final against Tigres UANL. The European champions were swiftly into their irresistible rhythm, and the African kings were indebted to goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy for keeping the deadlock intact in the opening quarter-hour.

Minutes later, however, the breakthrough came.

Kingsley Coman’s right-wing cross found Serge Gnabry in a shooting position, but he cannily cut the ball back to Lewandowski, who took a touch and fizzed a low drive past El Shenawy before he could react.

Al Ahly quickly had their first chance, but Taher Mohamed’s header from a fine Mohamed Hany centre went straight at Manuel Neuer, while Lewandowski, the impressive Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies all spurned chances to amplify Bayern’s lead before the break.

Bayern continued to enjoy the best of the possession and the chances in the second half, but Al Ahly threatened on the break, albeit failing to test Neuer.

With minutes remaining, substitute Leroy Sane dinked a cross to the back post to give Lewandowki a simple header and put the contest to bed.

second West Indies Test because of thigh injury ESPNcricinfo - Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of the second Test against West Indies, beginning in Dhaka on February 11, because of the left-thigh injury that kept him away from large chunks of the action during the first Test in Chattogram. According to a BCB statement, the board’s medical team will continue to treat Shakib, who will, however, leave the team’s biosecurity bubble for the time being. “After careful consideration it has been confirmed that he will not be available for the second Test,” read the BCB’s press statement.

Shakib picked up the injury during the second day’s play in Chattogram, when he attempted to stop a ball off his own bowling with his foot.

He continued to bowl for a while longer, but neither batted nor bowled after leaving the field later that afternoon. Bangladesh, who had a 171-run lead after the first-innings exchanges,

eventually lost the Test by three wickets with debutant Kyle Mayers hitting a stunning 210* to take West Indies to victory. Shakib had scored 68 in nearly four hours’ batting in the first innings.

Shakib had earlier suffered a groin niggle during the third ODI against West Indies, on January 25 in Chattogram. He had left the field on that occasion too, and joined the national team’s training a few days before the first Test, which began on February 3.

Despite the injuries, Shakib’s return to international cricket following the one-year ICC ban has been a successful one. He was the Player of the Series in the ODIs, where he returned 4 for 8 in the first game and hit 43* and 51 in the next two games as Bangladesh won 3-0.

No replacement has yet been announced by the Bangladesh selectors, who had earlier named an 18-man Test squad for the two matches.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 26

Tuesday February 09, 2021

India reach 39-1 vs England, need another 381 for win

C

HENNAI, India (AP) — India needs another 381 runs for an unlikely victory against England after reaching 39-1 at stumps on day four of the first test yesterday.

England opted to back its bowlers to finish India off in 90 overs on the final day, after deciding against buying extra time in the game with an earlier declaration.

England captain Joe Root decided not to intervene in his side’s second innings, allowing them to bat into the final hour and pile up a lead of 419 - setting up what would be a world record chase - in a bid to take an unlikely India win out of the equation.

Jack Leach’s dismissal of Rohit Sharma gave the tourists a further shot in the arm and nine further breakthroughs are needed in the final three sessions to cap what would be a memorable away success.

Earlier, Root declined to enforce the follow-on despite dismissing the hosts for 337, a deficit of 241 runs, preferring to give his bowlers a rest and stretch the advantage.

He went on to top-score with 40 as his side were

bowled out for 178 but his apparent conservatism was always likely to cause some debate. It doubtless loomed large in his mind that the record chase in India came against England at this ground.

In 2008, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men scored 387 for the loss of only four wickets, while Virat Kohli’s side are just a couple of weeks on from their audacious pursuit against Australia at The Gabba.

India had started the day o n 2 5 7 f o r s ix , w ith Washington Sundar and Ashwin turning an already frustrating stand of 32 from the previous evening into a substantial one worth 80.

It took the introduction of Leach to end their stand, with the left-armer making a breakthrough despite unimpressive figures of nought for 100 to dismiss both Ashwin and Shahbaz Nadeem. Washington had batted well for 85 not out but ran out of partners.

James Anderson wrapped things up, bouncing out Ishant Sharma before Ben Stokes held a difficult catch at slip to remove Jasprit Bumrah.

Despite easily clearing the 200-run threshold, Root

The game seemed to be headed towards trial-by-spin territory by the fourth afternoon as R. Ashwin took six wickets, India vs England, 1st Test, Chennai, 4th day, February 8, 2021 © BCCI

was never likely to send India back in to bat, preferring to let his bowlers have a break from the heat.

That meant Rory Burns and Dom Sibley faced the thankless prospect of two overs before lunch, a slim window of opportunity that Ashwin accepted. He clipped Burns’ outside edge

with the first ball of the innings and wheeled away in joy as Cheteshwar Pujara held on at slip.

There was no shortage of incentives to score quickly but the reality was harder, with Dan Lawrence and Sibley restricted to 34 between them in 84 balls.

Ashwin set Sibley up nicely,

drawing him forward outside off stump and drawing an inside edge that pinged to leg-slip.

Lawrence lasted for another 20 minutes before Ishant had him lbw, in the process becoming just the third Indian seamer to claim 300 test wickets. But the arrival of Root heralded an instant shift in tone.

Twice in his first four balls he stooped to sweep Nadeem for four and Ashwin was soon treated with similar disdain.

When the latter adjusted his line, Root simply swapped his hands and reverse swept yet another boundary.

By now there were two matches unfolding simultaneously, with Root dominating one and India making good headway in the other. Even the arrival of Stokes could not alter that, one muscular blow for four his only real intervention before he nicked Ashwin out of the rough to make it 71 for four.

Root’s one-man mission to speed things along ended with a slice of reverse swing and an lbw for Bumrah, who had been held back until the 22nd over but quickly made his presence felt.

The question of the declaration loomed over the rest of the innings, with Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler stretching the lead to 360 at tea.

Pope started the final session by reverse sweeping ambitiously out of the rough, a tactic that soon got the better of him as he picked out midwicket.

With all eyes on the balcony, Root opted to not intervene as Buttler was stumped for 24 and Ashwin mopped up the tail to finish with six for 61.

Despite their position of dominance, there was now some pressure on England to make inroads with the new ball.

Rohit is not the kind of opener built to dig deep and defend and he played to type here, pulling Archer for four and six successively before e x i t i n g f o r a n inconsequential 12.

Root’s decision to use Leach first up instead of Anderson paid dividends when he sent a delivery past the outside edge and into the top of off stump.

S c o re s : I n d i a 3 3 7 (Sundar 85*) and 37 for 1 need 381 runs to beat England 578 and 178 (Root 40, Ashwin 6-61).

FIFA Club World Cup

Gonzalez: Proud Tigres came here for the trophy

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h e n Ti g r e s U A N L recruited C a r l o s Gonzalez in December 2020, the hope was that the Paraguayan front man would form an effective strike partnership with AndrePierre Gignac, not least at the imminent FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020™.

It is a tournament with no margin for error and which demands a step-up in quality, something the Mexican side have demonstrably shown.

Gonzalez was unquestionably one of the key figures in the historic 10 triumph over Palmeiras in the semi-finals that made Tigres the first Mexican side to win a Club World Cup semi-final in ten attempts.

M o r e o v e r, t h e t w o previous semi-finals between teams representing CONCACAF and CONMEBOL had gone the way of the South Americans, who had not even conceded a goal. All those sequences

finally ended thanks to an inspired performance by Los Felinos, with Gonzalez among their number.

“Here we are, with the stars in the sky shining down on us.

We’re very proud of what we’ve done, and I imagine there are a few tears among our fans.

This triumph is for them,” the player nicknamed Charly said at the post-match press conference.

It is true that the 28-yearold centre forward, who was signed from Pumas to deliver goals, was not on target himself against Palmeiras, but only some superlative stops from Weverton prevented that. In the first half, the Brazilian produced one of the saves of the tournament when he parried a bullet of header from close range by the Paraguayan.

Even so, Gonzalez’s contribution in attack was noteworthy, with his role as target man allowing Gignac to drop deeper and focus

more on the creative side.

Thus, both players managed to pop up unnoticed on more than one occasion and trouble the Verdão defence.

The best example was in the build-up to the penalty that led to the winning goal.

Catching Luan off guard, Gonzalez stole a yard on the defender, who had no option to bring him down to prevent a one-on-one with We v e r t o n . G i g n a c dispatched the resulting spot-kick, and the rest is now history.

“The triumph was down to immense effort. We achieved what we set out to do and are thrilled to be playing in a long-awaited final.

Were it not for their keeper, the winning margin could have been greater,” added the striker, who spent his early years as a professional in Chile, before moving to Mexico, where he had successful stints with Necaxa and Pumas.

And to think that Gonzalez almost missed the

Tigres UANL players celebrates the goal © Getty Images Club World Cup because of a muscle injury picked up in a Mexican league game just the week before his side headed to Qatar.

His coach Ferretti did not risk starting him in their opening game against Ulsan

Hyundai FC, preferring to bring him on only in the second half.

Now, as you would expect from someone with his personality and infectious energy, he wants to go all the way.

“No other Mexican team have gone this far, but now we want more. We came here hoping to lift the trophy and now that we’re close, we’re encouraged and motivated that we can achieve our goal.”

Kaieteur News

Tuesday February 09, 2021

PAGE 27

GMR&SC/SIC Endurance C/Ship

Hassan and Panday take round one!

By Calvin Chapman It took some time to confirm but when the dust settled at the South Dakota Circuit, Timehri on Sunday last for the first round of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Endurance Championship, Team ER racing consisting of drivers Azaad Hassan and Davin Panday usurped Team Wreckers for the top podium spot and are well on their way to becoming the 2021 Endurance Champions.

The rain-hit event which was supported by major sponsor Secure Innovations & Concepts Inc. (SIC) got off to a late start and although it was just twohours of action, GMR&SC Secretary Cheryl Gonsalves confirmed that an incredible 30 competitors registered for the first race meet at the Timehri track in almost a year.

Te a m E R R a c i n g ’s To y o t a F X C o r o l l a

registered 77 laps to take both the 1600cc and overall class, something that Adrian Fernandes and his Levin has been doing consistently for the past six + years but Panday of Team ER has noted that it is time for the changing of the guard and he thanked his team for their superb work.

Panday, who made a tentative start to the race in the rainy conditions on a slippery track, shared with Kaieteur Sport that, “It was (Azad) Hassan who took over after the first hour and pressed in some blistering laps when the sun came out to seal the win for the team.”

The driver made special mention of the extra effort and late nights put in under the supervision of Mechanics Arshaad Hassan and Troy Muir to get the car ready and he is confident that Team ER Racing will go on to win the 2021 Endurance Championship.

Panday also gave special

thanks to the sponsors that include A&R Jiwanram Printery Inc., Gulf Oil - Jodel Goopesingh, Seed Consulting Group, Arshaad Hassan Automotive, Helix Technology and Kassim Hoosein from Canada.

In the 1500cc class, Narendra Mangar, who had a good showing during the 2020 race, continued his promise with a stellar performance, tallying 71 laps to win the class. He was followed by Naresh Alves with 70 laps and Suryakant Persaud with 69 laps.

Second to Team ER Racing in the 1600cc were Sean Bacchus (third overall) with 77 laps and defending champion Adrian Fernandes (66 laps) in third.

The 2000cc class had Reyad Hamid (second overall) being the best on show with 74 laps, Roshan Ali second with 72 and Gavin Gayadin third with 50 laps.

The unlimited class was

Rameez Mohamed’s Integra on the tail of Roshan Ali’s Starlet.

blown away by Richard Hamid with 77 laps (second overall), while Danny Persaud was second with 73 laps (fifth overall) and Mohan Ramkawall third with 68 laps.

Executive of the GMR&SC, Motilall

Deodass, in an invited comment with the media noted that he was pleased that with the day’s activities and although there was a bit of delay to the proceeding due to rain, the day was extremely successful and thanked everyone who

Guyana Jaguars win CGI Super50 opener against Barbados Pride Despite a less than desired batting performance, the Guyana Jaguars rallied behind efforts from Shimron Hetmyer with an explosive 80 and Romario Shepherd with 58 not out to post 235 all out in 41.4 overs and eventually win their CGI Super50 opening match of the tournament against Barbados Pride at the Coolidge Ground in Antigua by 56 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method following a few rain interruptions.

Shepherd made 58 before he ran out of partners.

(CWI photo)

Chanderpaul Hemraj with 35 got off to a flier with Assad Fudadin a bystander as the score motored on.

When Fudadin fell for 5, Hetmyer joined the party and really began to push the Jaguars total which was projected at hitting close to or over the 300 mark.

However, Hemraj fell and a few more wickets fell cheaply to see Shepherd come to the crease.

He and Hetmyer seemed to be on a path of taking Guyana to a big score but

Hetmyer miscued a shot off Jason Holder, whom he was severe on, and was caught.

Shepherd, who was named man-of-the-match, rallied the remainder of the batsmen as the Jaguars fell short of what should have been an imposing total.

Ashley Nurse 3-44 and Jason Holder 3-58 led the Bajans bowling effort.

However, the Jaguars came out and applied immense pressure on the Pride batsmen, applying the shackles with Hemraj, who opened the bowling really doing their team proud. The other bowlers followed suit and the Jaguars were soon able to squeeze the Pride at 91-5 off 29.3 overs when a third rain interruption eventually resulted in the Duckworth/Lewis method being employed to determine the winner of the contest and with the Jaguars well ahead they secured the victory by 56 runs.

They will hope for a much better batting performance in their remaining matches in the hope of capturing this year’s Super50 title. They next face the Leeward Hurricanes on

Friday.

The tournament continues tomorrow with Leeward Hurricanes against the Barbados Pride from 1:30pm.

Scores: Guyana Jaguars 235 off 41.4 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 80, Romario Shepherd 58 not out, Chanderpaul Hemraj 35; Ashley Nurse 3-44, Jason Holder 3-53) beat Barbados Pride 91-5 off 29.4 overs (Zachary McCaskie 25; Kevin Sinclair 2-17) by 53 runs on D/L method.

Shimron Hetmyer cuts his aggressive half century. (CWI photo)

helped to make the event a success and incident free.

Deodass further shared that he is looking forward for more success for motor sport locally with the Drag Championship set for the end of the month, February 28th.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 28

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Australian Open:

Serena Williams & Naomi Osaka win but Angelique Kerber loses BBC Sport - Serena Williams launched her latest bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam with a 56minute demolition of Laura Siegemund at the Australian Open.

The American, 39, said it was “vintage Serena” as she thrashed the German 6-1 6-1 in front of a small, unmasked crowd on Rod Laver Arena.

US Open champion Naomi Osaka also made a convincing start with a 6-1 62 w i n o v e r R u s s i a ’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

But former champion Angelique Kerber was the first seed to be knocked out.

The German 23rd seed, who was one of 72 players to spend 14 days in ‘hard’ quarantine before the tournament - confined to a hotel room and unable to train outside - was beaten 6-0 6-4 by American Bernarda Pera.

Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion, said the quarantine had affected her form for the major.

“You feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play against an opponent who doesn’t stay in the hard lockdown,” she said.

American 24th seed Alison Riske, who also did the hard quarantine, lost 6-2 6-1 to Russian world number 101 Anastasia Potapova.

French Open champion Iga Swiatek raced into the second round with a 6-1 6-3 win over Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, but US Open quarter-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria lost 75 6-2 to Taiwanese Hsieh Suwei.

Hseih will next play Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, who beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2 4-6 6-3 in her first match for 15 months.

Second seed Simona Halep raced into the second round with a 6-2 6-1 win

over Australian wildcard Lizette Cabrera in just 59 minutes.

Czech Petra Kvitova, who was runner-up to Osaka in 2019, also advanced by beating Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-3 6-4.

Seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus was also victorious on the first day, beating Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-0 6-4.

Serena channels Flo-Jo in rapid win Williams made a nervy start against Siegemund, double-faulting on the first point of the match before losing her opening service game.

However the American, who withdrew from last week’s Yarra Valley Classic semi-final with a shoulder problem, did not take long to find her footing.

She hit 16 winners and four aces against 51stranked Siegemund, setting up a second-round meeting w i t h S e r b i a ’s N i n a Stojanovic.

Williams wore a onelegged, black, pink and red catsuit, which she later said was a tribute to late American track and field icon Florence GriffithJoyner. “I was inspired by Flo-Jo, who was a wonderful track athlete, amazing athlete when I was growing up,” Williams said.

“Watching her fashion, just always changing, her outfits were always amazing.”

Williams is joined in the second round by Osaka and her 40-year-old sister Venus, who beat Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-2.

Osaka will play France’s Caroline Garcia next, while the elder Williams sister faces veteran Sara Errani.

Italy’s Errani beat 30th seed Wang Qiang, who stunned Williams in the third round last year, 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Emotional Andreescu

relishes return Andreescu was playing her first match in 467 days after picking up a knee injury shortly after winning her maiden Grand Slam at the US Open. Unable to play in 2020 because of the injury and the coronavirus pandemic, the 20-year-old withdrew from the warm-up tournament last week to guard against any issues.

She was impressive a g a i n s t R o m a n i a ’s Buzarnescu, finding her range with her forehand and digging in at the key moments, staving off three break points at 3-3 in the decider before securing the key break.

“Last night I did cry, and I’m not afraid to say that because everyone cries sometimes,” said Andreescu, who teared up after the winning point.

“But it’s a good release for me because in my head, all I was thinking about were the last 15 months and how tough they were, and they were tough for many reasons.”

‘No complaints’ over electronic line calling There are no line judges at the Australian Open this year in an attempt to keep the tournament bio-secure and the move has been welcomed by players so far.

Instead, ball-tracking cameras are used. Voices call out decisions in real-time, with recordings made by Australia’s health workers, firefighters and other emergency services personnel as a tribute to their work.

“I feel like if they do want to continue this way, I actually have no complaints about it because I think that there’s a lot of arguments that aren’t going to happen because of this technology,” said Osaka. Serena Williams added she thought it was “for the best”.

“It’s interesting, It’s definitely different,” the American said. “I’m loving it here, so I just needed to adapt, and now I’m adapted to it. I think it’s for the best.

“I think it’s not too much that can be wrong - there can be some close calls that you can check, but I think it’s good.”

In other results from the tournament: Novak Djokovic got his title defence off to a rollicking

Japan’s Naomi Osaka in action during her first round match against Russia’s Anastasia Paviyuchenkova.

(REUTERS/Kelly Defina)

start, breezing past Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-1 6-2.

The world number one, who has won eight of his 17 major titles at Melbourne Park, rattled off 41 winners and did not face a single break point en route to victory.

Nick Kyrgios treated the sparse crowd at the John Cain Arena to some vintage moments — a racket thrown across the court, and a few choice words towards his box and the umpire — as he sailed to a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory

over qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva.

Alexander Zverev overcame an inconsistent start and a smashed racket to battle past unheralded American Marcos Giron 67(8) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-2, while U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem fended off Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(2) 62 6-3.

Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta advanced to the second round with a 7-5 76(4) 6-2 win over world number 42 Kei Nishikori.

Carreno Busta, who is

seeded 15th, hit 39 winners and sent down 12 aces while Nishikori recorded 36 winners and only three aces.

And Frenchman Gael Monfils was beaten 3-6 6-4 7-5 3-6 6-3 by little-known Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in one of the day’s biggest upsets so far.

Monfils, the 10th seed, hit 46 winners but also made 64 unforced errors as he was dumped out in the first round for the second time in his career, the first coming in 2006. (Additional info via Reuters)

West Indies players need to improve in all areas, trust in themselves for second Test and beyond - Simmons SportsMax - West Indies coach Phil Simmons believes the team needs to improve in all areas going forward and especially if they are to win the second Test against Bangladesh set for the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka tomorrow.

The West Indies pulled off an improbable win on Sunday’s final day of the first Test at Chattogram. Set a target of 395, the West Indies achieved pulled off the win thanks largely to a remarkable undefeated 210 from Kyle Mayers and obdurate knock of 86 from Nkrumah Bonner.

It was an incredible turnaround for the Caribbean men who trailed by 171 runs on the first innings after Bangladesh scored 430 and the West Indies replied with 259.

Simmons believes that the West Indies can use the performance in the match as an inspiration to do even better starting tomorrow.

“Every time you win it’s

more important that you look at ways to improve, and that’s the way we are going to look at it,” said Simmons i n a p r e - Te s t p r e s s conference today.

“Yes, you’ve done things well but how do you improve on that? We have to make sure we improve in all aspects. We were not 100 per cent in all aspects. We still can do better with the ball.

We still can limit them; instead of 400, you can limit them to 300-something.

“There are more than one thing to improve on and that is what we are going to focus on; how do we improve on the performance at Chattogram.”

The former Test opener said among the lessons the players need to take away from the match is that they need to trust in their own abilities.

“I will highlight the partnership in the first innings between (Jermaine) Blackwood and (Joshua) Da Silva where there was a lot of pressure put on us in that

partnership and they trusted themselves and they came out of it,” Simmons said, in reference to the sixth-wicket partnership between the two batsmen that rescued the West Indies from 153 for 5 and allowed them to get to their first innings total of 259.

The partnership was significant considering that the West Indies lost their last five wickets for just six runs in 23 balls after Da Silva got out.

The coach then referred to the match-winning partnership between Kyle Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner.

“There was a lot of pressure put on Mayers and Bonner for a period when they had to trust their ability.

They had to believe in themselves and I think that is the biggest takeaway from this, that in the times of challenges, they trusted their ability and they fought through it,” Simmons said.

“We had to grind through it we did that.”

Kaieteur News

Tuesday February 09, 2021

PAGE 29

With Super Bowl 55 triumph, Tom Brady wins his seventh title, proves he’s still at the top USA Today - Tom Brady will cede the title of the NFL’s best quarterback to the next generation when he’s good and ready.

And he’s nowhere close to it.

Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title Sunday night in what might be his most impressive performance yet. He’s 43, an a g e w h e r e h i s contemporaries are celebrating their gold Hall of Fame jackets, not new Super Bowl rings. He’s playing for a new team and in a new system with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and coach Bruce Arians.

And yet, he ran heir apparent Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs straight into the ground with a 31-9 victory. Kicked dirt in their face afterward, too.

OK, not actually. But he might as well have for as thorough a thrashing as the Old Man gave the NFL’s Next Big Thing. Brady won his fifth Super Bowl MVP, with three touchdowns – that weeping sound you hear came from New England as two of them went to Rob Gronkowski – and a nearperfect QB rating of 125.8, and Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles forced Mahomes and the Chiefs into their worst game, well, ever.

Kansas City had never lost a game Mahomes started by double digits.

“I’m so proud of all these guys out here. We had a rough month of November but (Bruce Arians) had all the confidence in us, the team had a lot of confidence, we

Tom Brady hoists the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl 55. (Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)

came together at the right time and I think we knew this was going to happen tonight, didn’t we?” Brady said. “We ended up playing our best game of the year.”

Now, instead of the Chiefs being the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since – guess who! – Brady and the New England Patriots in 2004, it’ll be Brady and the Buccaneers trying to one up themselves next year.

“Yeah, we’re coming back,” Brady said, a big smile on his face and the Lombardi Trophy by his side.

What was supposed to be a shootout between the NFL’s past and its future very quickly became lopsided. Sure, the Chiefs had roared back from a 10point deficit in last year’s Super Bowl, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to beat the San Francisco 49ers.

But you can’t spot Brady points. He’ll take them – and still pick your pocket for more. Take the last drive before halftime. There were penalties, there were

breakdowns, there was even some Andy Reid clock mismanagement just for old time’s sake.

Brady and the Buccaneers got the ball back with 55 seconds left, and got a whole lot of nothing on their first play, a run by Leonard Fournette. Reid then called a timeout. Why? Who knows. But Brady took advantage of it, finding Chris Godwin for an 8-yard gain on the next play.

Tampa Bay called a timeout and then, for some inexplicable reason, Reid called another one. Again, this is Tom Brady. You don’t need to give him help, a senior citizen’s discount or free flags. (The referees apparently missed that pregame memo.)

Sure enough, Brady and Gronkowski connected on a 5-yard reception and the first down.

And then the meltdown came.

The Chiefs had been sloppy throughout the first half, with dropped passes and penalties. But this took it to another level. Brady

Buccaneers defender Ndamukong Suh (93) takes down Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) for a fourth-quarter sack. (Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports) overthrew Mike Evans, but Bashaud Breeland tripped him. Didn’t matter that the ball wasn’t catchable, you can’t do that.

The pass interference call moved the Bucs from their 42 all the way to the Chiefs 24. After Brady’s 15yard pass to Fournette, the Bucs called a timeout. And so did the Chiefs!

Brady’s pass to Evans was incomplete again, but this time it was Tyrann Mathieu whistled for pass interference.

While both pass interference calls were questionable – especially if you watched the conference championships two weeks

ago – it doesn’t matter. The refs call what they call and you play with what you get.

That put Tampa Bay at the Kansas City 1, and anyone who’s ever watched a football game before knew what was coming. Brady for the touchdown, this one to Antonio Brown, and Brady could start flexing his fingers to make room for his new ring.

It’s easy to lose track of all of Brady’s superlatives.

The titles. The records. But it’s important to put this championship in perspective.

“I’m not making any comparisons,” Brady said.

“Every year is amazing.”

Brady had spent 20 years in New England. He could run the Patriots’ offense with his eyes closed and still wind up with an AFC championship. When he signed with the Buccaneers in March, it mean he’d have to adjust to a new coach, a new system, new teammates.

Then COVID-19 happened.

Brady needed the offseason more than perhaps any other player, and he didn’t get it. Yet here he is, the Super Bowl champ again.

And showing no signs of being ready to hand the trophy to anyone else anytime soon.

Letter to the Sports Editor

Sport under the Covid-19 Pandemic: What is the Government’s Plan for use of Swim Facilities Dear Sports Editor, t appears that the Government’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports has made efforts to facilitate cricket, football, lawn tennis; this is a laudable approach.

What plans does the Ministry have in relation to the use of the existing swimming facilities which lie dormant even though there are reasonable to useful approaches to having this avenue i.e; swimming for

I

addressing the fitness and health of our youth.

Certainly, efforts should be made and information provided to the public and to the various swimming organisations including GASA for the use of the swim facilities.

Swim Clubs, I am certain, are eager to get their wards in the pools.

Over to you Mr. Minister.

Best regards, Fan of Swimming.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) tries to scramble away from Buccaneers linebacker Shaquil Barrett (58) during the fourth quarter. (Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 30

Hasan leads Pakistan to first series win over South Africa since 2003 AFP - Medium pacer Hasan Ali took a maiden tenwicket haul to help Pakistan win its first series against South Africa since 2003 with a 95-run victory in the second Test on the fifth and final day in Rawalpindi yesterday.

Hasan finished with 5-60 to record his best match figures of 11-114 and help dismiss South Africa — who were set a daunting 370 to chase — for 274 before the tea break.

Hasan’s new-ball partner Shaheen Shah Afridi finished with 4-51, while spinner Yasir Shah took the last wicket to spark jubilation among the Pakistan players.

Opener Aiden Markram scored a fighting 108 and Temba Bavuma 61.

They put on a 106-run stand for the fourth wicket to give Pakistan a scare.

Markram took a single off the last ball before lunch as South Africa reached the break on 219-3, needing 151 for a win.

But Hasan ripped through the tourists’ batting order, which lost seven wickets for just 33 runs with the second new ball.

Hasan struck with the second over of the new ball to end Markram’s resistance by getting the opener caught in the slip and end his 335-

minute fight.

Markram’s fifth Test century — the first outside South Africa — included 13 boundaries and three sixes.

Next ball, Hasan had Quinton de Kock caught in the slip for nought, ending the South African skipper’s miserable series with just 46 runs.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was delighted with the win.

“Thanks to South Africa for coming and playing competitive cricket,” said Azam. “Hasan’s comeback after one year was great and he showed great character.”

Hasan was sidelined for more than a year with multiple injuries but came back strongly with 12 wickets in the series.

Azam admitted South Africa’s resistance provided a tough challenge for his side.

“At one time, we thought the game could’ve gone either way when Markram and Bavuma were playing well. But we knew, one wicket and we can come back into the game again,” he said.

Losing captain Quinton de Kock said his team lacked a killer touch.

“The first-innings deficit did play a big part,” said de Kock. “We lost the big moments in the game and

that cost us. It’s painful at the moment.

“When we get back home, we’ll have to look at our performances and improve on the way forward.”

- Historic win Hasan dismissed George Linde for four to record his third five-wicket haul as he improved upon his previous best match figures of 7-83 against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in 2018.

In the morning, both teams were involved in a keen battle for victory as South Africa resumed on 127-1, knowing the best chase at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in ten previous Tests was the 200 scored by Sri Lanka in 2000.

South Africa saw Dussen bowled off a beautiful inswinger by Hasan — only the third ball of the day — while Du Plessis was legbefore to the same bowler in

Faf du Plessis falls over as an incoming Hasan Ali delivery traps him lbw © PCB

Biden will invite Super Bowl champs Bucs as well as Lakers to White House

W

ASHINGTON (Reuters) The White House yesterday said President Joe Biden will invite the U.S. Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and last season’s NBA champions, the L.A. Lakers to the White House once it is safe.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it dangerous to host large-scale events at the

White House, such as the traditional visits by championship-winning sports teams.

Meanwhile, the Lakers said in early January they looked forward to visiting the White House once Biden took office after reigning basketball teams had skipped the ceremonial visits during the four years Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump, held office.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Pakistan enjoy their first series win over South Africa.

the fifth over of the morning.

It capped a sub-par series for the experienced Du Plessis who managed just 55 in four innings.

This is Pakistan’s only second Test series win over South Africa in 12 attempts, having lost eight and drawn three.

Pakistan last beat South Africa 1-0 in a two-match series at home in 2003.

Pakistan won the first Test by seven wickets in

Karachi.

The series against South Africa — who were touring Pakistan for the first time in 14 years — is the biggest hosted by the home side since a deadly 2009 militant attack on Sri Lanka’s squad in Lahore halted international tours.

The series win also lifts Pakistan to fifth in international Test rankings — the first time they have placed in the top five since

January 2017.

South Africa are pushed to sixth from fifth.

The two teams will now p l a y t h r e e Tw e n t y 2 0 internationals on February 11, 13 and 14, all in Lahore.

Scores: Pakistan 272 (Faheem 78*, Nortje 5-56) and 298 (Rizwan 115*, Linde 5-54) beat South Africa 201 (Bavuma 44*, Hasan 5-54) and 274 (Markram 108, Bavuma 61, Hasan 5-60, Afridi 4-51) by 95 runs.

2020 Under-19 players finally get chance to match talents

U

nder 19 players from across the three counties of Guyana, who were unable (due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic) to compete in the previously planned GCB/Hand In Hand Under 19 Inter County Tournament for 2020, will now be afforded the opportunity of competing against each other from tomorrow, Wednesday 10 February, 2021 at the LBI ground a release from the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has informed.

Round One of the tournament will witness Demerara competing against the Cinderella County, Essequibo tomorrow Wednesday 10 February, 2021.

Round 2, will see Essequibo taking on the ancient County, Berbice on Friday 12 February 2021, while on Sunday 14 February 2021, Demerara and Berbice will battle in the final round of the round robin tournament.

The matches involving Essequibo are tentatively scheduled to commence at 08:45 hours to facilitate travel conveniences, while the Sunday match is scheduled to begin from

09:15 hours.

The team with the most points shall be deemed winner of the tournament.

However, in the event of teams finishing on equal points, the highest placed team will be given to the team with the most wins, or when teams have both equal wins and equal points, the team which was the winner of the match between them shall be deemed the winner, or if still equal, the team with the highest net run rate.

The U19 county teams are as follow: Demerara: Andre Samaroo (Capt), Nicholas Rajpat, Chaitram Balgobin, Micheal Pooran, Mathew Nandu, Ushardeva Balgobin, Sachin Singh, Mavendra Dindyal, Andre Seepersaud, Dwain dick, Shamar Yearwood, Ariel Tilku, Bryon Bowen, Alvin Mohabir and Zachory Johad.

The Standbys are:

Rudranauth Kission, Marlon Boele, Jaden Campbell, Trevon Charles, Rashid Benjamine and Jeffery Blair.

Berbice: Isiah Thorne, Rampertab Ramnauth, Ricardo Ramdehol, Seon Glasgow (Vice Captain), Marvon Prashad, Shamar Angel, Jonathan Rampersaud, Tyrese Sealey, Chanderpaul Govindhan, Nigel Deodat, Gourav Ramesh, Doorsammy Mahadeo, Aaron Beharry, Gevon Shultz(Captain) and Leon Swammy. The Berbice Standbys are: Collis Noble, Jeremy Sandia, Reyad Karim, Sarwan Chaitnarine, Zeynul Ramsammy, Tomani Casear, and Abdul Ramsammy. The Berbice U19 Manager is Neil Rudder and the coach is Winston Smith.

Essequibo:.Lance Roberts, Ameer Singh (captain), Azim Mohammed, Bhadesh Parsotam, Nicko Vincent, Carl Gilgeous, Jarrad Allicock, Mahesh Ramnarine, Abdol Nadir, Sheldon Charles, Wazim Mohamed, Mark Mohabeer, Jason Holder, Oren Gibson and Aryan Persaud. The Essequibo manager is Nazeer Mohamed and the coach is Andy Ramnarine.

Tuesday February 09, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 31

May 2021 is target date for first encampment- Forde - Works at GFF Multi-Million Dollar Training Facility taking shape Works at the GFF National Training Facility taking shape.

The construction of National Teams Training Dorms among other amenities at the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) National Training Centre under the FIFA Forward Programme, located at Providence, East Bank Demerara is progressing satisfactorily despite the challenges faced by the global pandemic, covid-19 which had slowed down progress of works at the historic facility.

Federation President Wayne Forde has informed

that works is progressing even with the challenges faced. This phase of works on the building also include the construction of a resource/training centre for coaching education; referees development and administration programmes, team dressing rooms, kitchen, gym and pool.

The project, nestled on 8.5 acres of land has already been impacting the positive development of the nation’s footballers at every level with the uses of the state of the art all-weather turf

(unveiled on May 13, 2019

by FIFA Director of Member Associations and Development, Mr. Veron Mosgengo-Omba) which the senior national team are currently using to whip themselves into tip top shape ahead of the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2022 set to commence in March this year against Trinidad and Tobago.

But in terms of the building and its completion, Forde has indicated that they are now hoping to have same

completed in time to be utilised in the next 15 weeks or so.

“Work is progressing steadily; we are trying to make up for the time lost to covid-19 and the poor weather we have experienced over the past few months. I am, however, very confident and excited at the same time, that we will be welcoming our Youth

Female and Boys Teams to their first camp in May of 2021.

The first encampment will be a female youth national team - I want to use this historic occasion to punctuate the importance we have assigned to female football development.”

Development of facilities is top priority for the Federation with other

grounds on the radar for enhancement inclusive of facilities at Ann’s Grove, East Coast of Demerara and Vryman’s Erven, New Amsterdam, Berbice which are being targeted specifically to create safe and comfortable spaces for female development. A total of 20M Guyana dollars would be invested at these two grounds.

RHTYSC, MS Say No/Say Yes 2021 Programme

Andrew Art, B and J Civil Works, Guyoil and Superbet on board with support

T

he efforts of the ten cricket teams of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club to have a positive influence in the lives of youths on Friday last received a massive boost when several companies came on board with financial donations.

The companies making contributions were Andrew Art of Ogle, East Coast Demerara, Band J Civil Wo r k s , G u y a n a O i l Company, Superbet and a

major security company which wishes to remain nameless.

They donated a combined four hundred thousand dollars worth of items and finance.

Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster and Vice President Mark Papannah received the donations during a visit to the city.

Andrew Art, Superbet, Band J Civil Works and the security company donated a combined two hundred thousand and eighty

thousand dollars worth of trophies, medals, certificate frames and specials prizes to the programme, which targets over eighty thousand youths in the Ancient County.

Guyoil handed over a cheque for one hundred thousand dollars to the club.

The main objectives of the thirty years programme are to get youths to say no to drugs, tobacco, pre martial sex, crime, suicide, alcohol and yes to education, sports, religion, culture and life.

Foster, stated that the programme is one of the most cherished in the RHTYSC list of activities as the club strongly believes in assisting youths to fulfill their full potentials on a sports field and in the classroom.

The ten cricket clubs over the years have used a wide array of activities to promote the Say No/Say Yes message and in 2021, would be organising several sports tournaments and educational competitions including

A representative of Superbet hands over donation to RHTYSC Secretary Hilbert Foster.

Guyoil PRO hands over the cheque to Hilbert Foster.

Mishal Juman of Andrew Art hands over donation to RHTYSC Secretary/ CEO Hilbert Foster.

debates, essays, spellingbees among others.

The teams would also be hosting several awards ceremonies to honour outstanding youths, teachers, students, sports persons, law enforcement officers, medical workers among others under the programmes.

The donated items would be used to honour the awardees and the winners of the different competitions.

Among the other activities planned for the year under the programmes are: youth information booklets, youth review magazine, youth inspiration forum, summer camp, cricket academy, distribution of bicycles and school bags, publications of posters, billboards and Christmas Village.

Foster expressed gratitude to Mrs C. Juman of Andrew Arts, Mrs Beverly Tapps of B and J Civil Works along with the Management of Guyoil and Superbet for their cooperation.

He reassured that the club and cricket teams would work hard to make sure that the 2021 edition of the programme is successful and achieve all of its objectives.

The ten teams of the RHTYSC are Poonai Pharmacy Under 12 and under 13.

Farfan and Mendes under 15, Bakewekk Under 17 and Second Division, Pepsi Under 19 and Intermediate, Metro Females, Namilco Thunderbolt Flour under 21 and First Division.

GMR&SC/SIC Endurance C/Ship

Hassan and Panday take round one!

rt Spo

The Azaad Hassan/Davin Panday piloted Toyota FX Corolla that registered 77 laps to top the overall and 1600cc class.

Shimron Hetmyer threw his wicket away after making 80 against Barbados. (CWI photo)

Guyana Jaguars win CGI Super50 opener against Barbados Pride With Super Bowl 55 triumph, Serena Williams & Naomi Osaka win but Tom Brady wins his seventh Angelique Kerber loses title, proves he’s still at the top Guyana Jaguars players celebrate the key wicket of Jason Holder caught and bowled by Gudakesh Motie. (CWI photo)

Australian Open:

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