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Monday Edition Courtney Benn NEWS slapped with another lawsuit over delayed work under $398M contract

AIETEUR

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February 15, 2021 - Vol. 14 No.07

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Govt. will wait until Liza One environmental permit expires to impose new standards - but says nothing about clawing back $$$ in Stabroek Block contract

Two dead in early $50M set aside to Four remanded morning Homestretch help victims of for shooting Avenue accident domestic violence Subryanville woman Suriname in no rush to pump out oil, while Guyana govt. says ‘Pump, baby, pump!’

Govt. had asked Stabroek Govt. looking to establish block partners to bid to data centre to monitor oil operations market Guyana's fourth oil lift

Angola lost US$5B in oil funds due to, corruption, poor management - US Analyst - Guyana should steer clear of same Pres. Ali says nothing about renegotiation & insurance to protect Guyana from oil companies @ 11:00AM today on the Glenn Lall Show, Kaieteur Radio 99.1/99.5FM

Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Angola lost US$5B in oil funds due to, corruption, - US Analyst poor management -Guyana should steer clear of same Arthur Deakin, analyst at Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), an intelligence and research firm, has cautioned Guyana t o e n s u r e t h a t “mismanagement and political cronyism” are absent from the regulation of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) — or what is commonly known as the Oil Fund.

In one of his recent publications titled ‘Fundamental Lessons for Guyana’s Sovereign Wealth Fund’, Deakin referenced countries that Guyana should take lessons from in avoiding the poor regulation of funds.

In turning to a country that mismanaged its NRF, Deakin referenced Angola.

He recalled that this South African nation, with nearly eight billion proven crude reserves and a top 20 global oil producer, is seeking to reclaim $5 billion in stolen funds and has resorted to an austere $4.5 billion IMF programme to rebalance its financial standing.

“The fund suffered from mismanagement and institutional corruption,” Deakin wrote, “in which the country’s leaders used political patronage to spend uncontrollably and excessively.”

In contrast, the analyst pointed to Norway, which owns the largest sovereign wealth fund with US$1.3 trillion in revenues, has showcased how to effectively spend and grow

its oil-based revenues. He said that through its annual contributions, the fund now provides Norway with about a quarter of its annual government budget, while also weighing in that it is also worth three times the country’s annual GDP, safeguarding wealth for future generations.

Against this Deakin explained, “The success of the fund is based on its upstanding transparency and governance, in which several d i ff e r e n t e n t i t i e s a n d committees check and balance their respective management roles. The stability of the fund, reflected by having only three CEOs in 25 years, allows for investment continuity and operational

efficiencies. Norway’s strong democracy and institutions also serve as a backbone to the fund’s success.”

He heeded that although Guyana’s Central Bank will also be in charge of operating its respective fund, Guyana’s ingrained culture of corruption makes the Central Bank more “susceptible to political coercion and interference.”

It is against these fundamental points that Deakin pointed out that Guyana’s NRF Act should implement the best transparency practices adopted in Norway, while avoiding the politically-tied shortfalls experienced in Angola.

“The announcement that

the Office of the President will have oversight over the Ministry of Finance and Natural resources is not an encouraging sign. It is essential to have independent accountability of the funds—not more political involvement.

US Analyst at Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), Arthur Deakin

Although the original NRF Act established a decent framework, it needs finetuning and proper implementation to succeed.

Guyana must do all it can to avoid an Angola-like situation,” Deakin cautioned.

Govt. looking to establish data centre to monitor oil operations A data center to provide government with real-time daily updates on ExxonMobil’s operations in the Stabroek Block is in the works for Guyana, says Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

The VP at a recent press engagement relayed that c u r r e n t l y, g o v e r n m e n t receives daily updates from Exxon providing information that details the amount of oil produced, volume of produced water, gas production, amount of gas flared and the amount reinjected.

That information, he added, is passed to Guyana’s regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The problem with this however, is that Guyana has not the capacity to verify what is being relayed by the contractors.

And this is where the data center comes into play.

“That is what we are exploring now to see if

through remote means,” the Vice President relayed “that we can verify that this is accurate. So, we do get the daily reports but we have to build that capacity.”

The data center, according to the VP will be “costly” but it is something that cannot be avoided as it is pertinent for a novel oil producing nation to have adequate capacity to monitor the exploration, development and production oil by ExxonMobil so as to ensure what is submitted by the company on paper, is an accurate reflection of what is taking place on the rig.

He outlined “It is a bit costly from…we had some proposals from people…it is a bit costly but there is no avoiding it. In the future we have to do this, to verify for ourselves that this is accurate.”

One important issue though, the VP outlined, is how government will obtain

the data.

He explained that proposals have already been received for remote transmission which would entail placing sensors and cameras etc. on the rigs which connect to the data cen ter at th e N atu r al Resource Ministry.

Further on, he stated that government may consider recruiting an industry specialist to process the data, or opt to train officials at the Ministry to do same.

“Right now, we rely on Exxon for all the data submitted and we can’t do that,” the VP continued “So, whatever form it takes in the Ministry, whether a data center or one specialist processing this, we have not made a final determination.

That’s down the road, once we get the data, we move forward on how we get the data.”

Kaieteur News would have highlighted the

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo importance of real-time monitoring of oil production while referencing examples of countries around the world that ensure such systems are in place to p r o t e c t t h e p e o p l e ’s

patrimony.

One country which this newspaper has showcased in this regard is the Kingdom of S a u d i A r a b i a .

The custodian of the Kingdom’s petroleum is the National Oil Company (NOC) of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco.

In a 2008 CBS: 60 M i n u t e s d o c u m e n t a r y, Journalist Lesley Stahl was given a tour of Saudi Aramco’s command centre by its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Abdullah Juma’ah. He described it as the nerve centre of the company’s operations; a room with a 220-ft digital screen, where engineers scrutinize and analyze every aspect of the company’s operations.

“Every facility in the Kingdom, every drop of oil that comes from the ground is monitored in real-time in this room, and we have control of each and every

facility, each and every pipeline, each and every valve in the pipeline. And therefore, we know exactly what is happening in the system from A to Z,” Juma’ah explains.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also said on several occasions that Guyana should invest in the latest technology that would record accurate measurements of the quantity being extracted and exported by ExxonMobil and its partners to ensure proper reconciliation of readings submitted by the oil companies versus what the State has recorded.

Wo r k h a s a l r e a d y commenced in this regard with the fiber optic cable which will allow Guyana to monitor Exxon’s operations offshore expected to be laid by the third quarter of 2021.

This is according to the (Continued on page 16)

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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

People standing for what is right There are times when people, everyday individuals, no different from any rank-and-file Guyanese, get backed into a corner on their own, through what is palpably wrong. It is at such times, that responsible and clear-thinking citizens, those with a conscience still left, make decisions against what is wrong. They do so when they take a stand for what is right, when they send a strong signal that they will not be taken for granted. This is what has happened and is continuing to occur in the United States of America.

Many were alarmed at some of the excesses of the former president, who was all but hurried out of the highest elected office in the United States. But they gave him the benefit of some space, some more time, to make matters right, by doing what is right. The departed president did not do anything that came near to making amends. Instead, he went on more rampages, as fuelled by more paranoias and delusions.

When he did not outright falsify, he fabricated with scant regard for truth or accuracy or consequences. People paid with their lives in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday January 6th because of his demagogueries and recklessness. His political cronies provided covering fire in the U.S. Congress by condoning what went wrong, while still insisting and instilled in others that it is right. But some U.S. citizensinvolved and outraged individuals, voters all, will have none of that anymore. They are fed up and have lost the stomach for what dragged down their country before the eyes of the whole world, what dragged them down, too. So, they leave to convey their disgust. They have been leaving the Republican Party by the tens of thousands since that ugly Wednesday in early January.

The New York Times article of February 10, that was captioned “’There’s nothing left’: why thousands of Republicans are leaving the party” conveys the damage done by a leader, who was allowed free rein to make an utter fool of himself, and to bring a society almost to ruins. It is the familiar story, at least one which Guyanese should be familiar with, of power unchecked, of useless flunkies and sycophants telling what is desired to be heard, and providing moral and spiritual support, through the most immovable partisanship and the blindest loyalty. It was that too often seen situation, where no one had the courage and principle to say: we have had enough, this cannot continue, this has got to stop. And now a harsh price is being extracted with thousands deserting the Republican Party.

Specifically, the New York Times article referenced above pointed out that a review of voting records from January indicated that “nearly 140,000 Republicans had quit the party in 25 states.” It should be noted that those are the ones that had voter registration date available, and that 19 states do not require, or have available, such registration details. It stands to reason that a decent number of concerned American voters in those 19 states also felt compelled to distance from the Republican Party and switch party registration, given what played out on January 6. To maintain balance, we must point out that almost 80,000 Democrats also deserted that party since early January, which is another confirmation of sharp voter discontent across the board, except that it is to a lesser degree.

The thrust of all of this is that voters disgusted with process, party, and leaders manifest their anger by acting through shaking the dust from their feet and moving on to some other place that is more comforting. In the United States, disappointed voters are changing their registration to what is most likely that of ‘independent.’ This is what a mature and stable society provides for, one with depth and some principled underpinnings still remaining. How unlike what has been the norm in this country, where the occasional voter is prompted to move from the political affiliation of his choice - a largely racial one - to that of another group.

Such rare action is not taken as a matter of concern over issues, or of principle. Such separation most of the time originate in some promise not kept, some expectation not met, some personal vision not fulfilled. When all three of those are examined, it becomes obvious that money or positions leading to financial plums are the key driving

Monday February 15, 2021

It would be good to balance oil and gas local content target with targets in other sectors Dear Editor, I have been following with fascination the development and debate over Local Content for Guyana’s nascent energy sector.

Having read the draft policy paper on Local Content recently published by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Guyana government should be proud there are well qualified staff to prepare such a comprehensive document as part of what is an active and engaged response to the issues of how to incorporate this industry into an existing economy, with the goal of extracting the full benefits for the population.

Here are a few light observations for consideration: The use of targets and measures to evaluate and regulate local content, be it employment levels or the supply chain, may be counterproductive.

The targets as set out in the draft paper point to 100% local

employment for many levels running up to ten years after a project has been approved.

This may not be realistic as many of the skilled jobs in oil and gas require at least ten years’ experience. This is because of the need for high performance and safety standards for the industry.

Secondly the requirement for 100% of supplies and services in some categories for exploration and production may be hard to achieve given the highly specialised nature of the sector. The other hazard of mandating 100% local suppliers is that it might result in limited competition and have the effect of driving up a project’s costs to the point where the Government Take is depleted or worse the operators begin to question its viability. A study of how this may play out would be useful, which leads me to another point.

The availability of skills: In an economy such as Brazil,

there is a large pool of skilled workers who can be attracted to the energy sector.

Guyana’s small population and the exodus of skilled labour since the 1960s has created a dearth of engineers, managers and other higher level staff to the point where, according to some companies, they are unable to find the manpower to develop their own businesses fully.

The danger is that there will be a widespread migration of workers into the sector at the expense of manufacturing or other industries. Anecdotally this is said to be happening already even as some companies are diverting capital away from their core activities and into oil and gas. The irony would be that in trying to gain as many benefits from oil and gas, other sectors might be stunted due to a lack of human, capital and entrepreneurial resources. This would work against the goal of building a

diversified economy resilient to the notorious fluctuations and time limits of oil. One way to counter that would be to require the same employment targets for other sectors such as mining, construction and manufacturing, as was recommended by the Advisory Panel on Local Content.

As such I would suggest as a first step there be a comprehensive survey to quantify the supply of skills that might be applicable to the new sector, combined with evaluating what might be the projected long term demand by operators and contractors.

This would also be highly instructive and helpful for training purposes as part of capacity building.

Mandating and legislating for local content would likely end up creating increased costs both for government in terms of regulatory agencies, and for operators and contractors (Continued on page 5)

My views on the 2021 budget Dear Editor, In this second take on the 2021 budget, I repeat: I like what is there. I appreciate that not everyone will be pleased, and that every wish cannot be fulfilled, I am surprised that some places and things didn’t make the grade. I highlight a few. There was no second COVID-19 stimulus proposal.

Though I have not seen the first one, a second stimulus is needed, and sorely by many Guyanese, at the family, cottage industry, and company levels. I think that, though a costly undertaking, it should have been among the higher priorities tabled.

The next one is closer to home. A big chunk of billions has been earmarked for education, with some good plans and projects in mind.

But it would have been gratifying to read of funds set aside for the old Central High School to be relocated and built on its own plot. This would be well-received by teachers and students, as a much-needed place of academic and sporting activities. I think that such would offer the staff and students, a place to be proud of, to nurture the above average to contribute to this society. This has been

pending forever, and while I understand competing needs in other communities, I detect a near dereliction of responsibility. A billion should have been found for a modern facility for the old Central High, now dispatched to the educational boondocks. If I recall accurately, some government official did say that education held the key to our success and prosperity. A quality education for all students, to get the most from our better equipped students, starts with a quality facility. Its products could share in building a truly quality society.

Now for a few hiccups. I agree with relocating the Fire Service HQ from the nightmarish Stabroek Square.

Yet Eccles is a bit on the far side from the highly populated places. I recognize central GT is out, completed new access roads is a difference maker, and that it came down to a tossup: heads win, tails another area loses.

Well, there is always the comfort of no noise nuisance.

Also, I learn that sugar is being further enriched with a couple billion more; I warn that that is going to trigger acute diabetes; a clear case

factors. To make matters worse, there is nothing resembling a viable ‘independent’ third political option; it is just not there. And the last elections merely served to confirm that those who held themselves out as ‘independent’ are still to be fully attuned to the many obligations and personal honour associated with that weighty word. It is why America seeks ways to rebound; it is why Guyana remains locked in its selfdestructive racial spiral.

of good money (borrowed) after bad to create more holes.

I may have missed it, but a few dollars for bauxite and Linden would have signaled the concrete action of which I spoke before on that “One Guyana” vision of the president’s. Regrettably, it is real politick, and how victors favor communities and commodities cherished.

Separately, I am awed by the many billions allocated for works all over. I have to be a spoilsport and note that there is abundant room for cleverness and what I will be lenient and call ‘carelessness.’ I also trust that, when the time comes, the suddenly sharply probing and energized auditors will not revert to form with blindness, dimness, and selfimposed cluelessness. With

all that building and developing occurring, I should form a construction company. I have one thing that trumps what the rest know of construction. It is encapsulated in one word: honesty. Giving Guyanese value for their tax money. I can do it; the others cannot.

Last, I have the blueprints done for three books, so I am considering approaching Hon. Minister Ramson for a handout (grant) to a poor struggling citizen from that GY$2.7B. Surely, he can spare some ‘fine change’ for a Guyanese, admittedly a troublesome one. I suggest that he does not check with the big oil man, or else my cork duck. So much more, but here I leave budgetary things.

Yours truly, GHK Lall

Tax exemptions not for every one Dear Editor, Large multinational companies are receiving billions in tax exemptions and yet in the 2021 Budget there are no measures to alleviate the onerous tax burden on the ordinary working Guyanese man and woman.

The income tax threshold was not increased nor the PAYE rate reduced.

I am wondering if this government will even consider immediately removing PAYE on overtime work in light of the fact that

almost half the income earned for overtime goes back in taxes while people have to sacrifice their sleep, family obligations, etc. during the nights, weekends and holidays.

If implemented, this will assist to increase the disposable income for a significant segment of the population and boost productivity because more people will be willing to work overtime.

Thank you.

A. Hassan

Monday February 15, 2021

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Kaieteur News

The current administration must be congratulated on its recent budget submittal Dear Editor, The current Administration must be congratulated on its recent budget submittal. It does place close to $50 Billion into the pockets of current and retired workers as disposable income or as an increased savings opportunity. In a spirit of cooperation I make the following suggestions: Health comes before prosperity and the investment in the Health Sector of over $50 Billion is encouraging and indicative of what future investments in the Sector may require. Thus having a savings rate that allows for the security of the Health Sector should be kept top of mind as the Pandemic subsides.

Overall the budget does focus on expansion of and reinvestment in the current infrastructure as seen in the focus of the Capital Expenditure (CapEx) allotted for 2021 which amounts to approximately $103 Billion of which only $5.2 Billion has been put aside for sea defence. The Administration should consider changing the

investment weighting of the mix of the CapEx portfolio.

Allotting 10% of the overall budget annually to strengthening and expansion of our sea defences will better support the reinvestment in the coastal plains being pursued. This would raise the allotted CapEx for sea defence & supporting areas to $38 Billion and provide funds necessary to raise the seawalls along the coast.

Given the poor state of the Water & Sanitation system an increased allotment to $10 Billion should be considered.

Payment for garbage management shouldn’t be an issue going forward nor should there be any sewage in the water system.

The development of Wales as a gas to shore location should be compared to alternative options such as the cost sharing option with Suriname to develop a deep harbour shore base port on an island in the Corentyne River. This is a good way to determine whether a bridge connecting our two countries will continue to ensure the

sovereignty of our nation.

The cost of transporting the gas to that location should be competitive with the overall lifecycle cost of a pipeline.

Given the many energy options being pursued and the high cost of the Amelia Falls project, pursuing a power grid expansion and other alternative energy options to the proposed project should be one of the feasibility studies completed within this fiscal cycle.

Expansion of the Corentyne Road is also necessary to support the push in the Agricultural Sector and the increased trade initiatives with our neighbours to the East.

Many farmers are also drying their paddy on the shoulder of the roads and placing the planned implementation of paddy drying facilities in the area will also be beneficial.

The Amerindian and Hinterland development budget should also be increased by $2 Billion to allow for a faster rate of development and the increasing need to relocate citizens on the coast over the long term.

Successive governments have failed to recognize the weaknesses in public organisations Dear Editor, I am amused that some organizations loyally tucked their tails between their legs and trotted out and exclaimed what a wonderful budget the 2021 one is. The brand new old minister of finance once again exclaimed it is the largest budget ever. His predecessor did the same on several occasions. It’s embarrassing that these guys lack the dignity and eloquence of public officials. The budgets will appear larger and larger each year whether or not there is a real increase simply because of inflation.

The 2021 budget is a crude statement of income and expenditure of public organizations salaries and expenses, Health, Education and Infrastructure. Nothing else. The government institutions lacks the ability and capacity to put forward a budget that addresses the concerns of the average Guyanese. It simply doesn’t have the qualified and skilled persons to do so. The Ministry of Finance State

Planning Department has for the last 30 years been monitoring the spending of state agencies. That is all it does. The Ministry of Finance Budget Office is more an extension of the State Planning Department which goes through the same routine every year and count the numbers. There is no analysis because those minds simply do not exist in those organizations. The Statistics Bureau is another department under the Ministry of Finance that goes through the mindless exercise of counting and presenting the economic statistics.

These are all mindless exercises that have not changed for decades. The Statistics Bureau lacks the analytical capacity to interpret the numbers. The surveys data from that entity is not

trusted. The only organization with the analytical, technical and administrative capacity that saves the government is the Bank of Guyana.

These organizations are like this because successive government administrations have failed to address the weaknesses in these organizations. They allowed the organizations to continue with poor leadership that resulted in this dysfunctional state. The two recent ministers of finance are responsible for this state of affairs. Hopefully the new President sees it fit to correct this. However, it cannot be corrected by inserting friends and family into the organizations. Appoint talented persons with proven ability.

Sincerely, Harrish Singh

Given the CapEx suggestions, some of the other initiatives may need to be pursued in the following fiscal year where an additional view and investment initiative should be included to ensure the foundation is laid for the building of a New Capital City further inland.

The completion of the CJIA should be applauded, but we must keep in mind that there is a net gain of over $3 Million USD for the company involved.

We must ensure that a better job is done in the renegotiation and adherence to the contract terms including punitive clauses going forward.

The inability to obtain a $500 USD fine from Exxon by the EPA is very telling.

The pursuit of manganese mining gives pause and the current A d m i n i s t r a t i o n should consider the lifecycle cost of such a low margin pursuit vs. other more lucrative investment options.

We don’t want to have to spend what is gained on healthcare due to the nature of such an unhealthy mining pursuit. Our people come first and foremost. We must keep them healthy.

Law and order is the next key item that requires a deeper review in addition to the allocated budget for this fiscal year.

The deep seeded issues that affect racial equity need to be addressed and increased recruitment to reflect the racial makeup of our country needs to be an initiative that has focused funding. In addition, Brickdam Police headquarters is a shell of its previous splendour and the management of deportees continues to be an area where increased support is needed. Increasing the budget of the departments which impact both the justice system and the GPF by an additional $1 Billion should be considered. This may also be in lieu of some other initiatives for prisoners such as cooking classes etc.

There must also be performance based investment. If the metrics are improving at the police station then the best

performers should be given p r i o r i t y. H a v i n g o p e n cases such as in the Singh and Chatterpaul murders should raise flags on required investment. We must not reward those who refuse to take a non-biased approach to policing.

Over the years the number of fires in the country continue to surprise many and the GFS should also receive consideration for a further increase of $1 Billion.

In the Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing Sector the forecasted growth is encouraging and the need for improved product development of items higher in value such as aged Basmati Rice and the replenishment of our Green Heart inventory is necessary to increase the value and sustainability of this Sector.

This is an area where investment initiatives should have increased focus. Issues affecting international standards that were highlighted during the fulfilment of the Mexican rice contract need to be addressed going forward and should be an area where a high percentage of the allocated funds should be focused.

There is also the Japanese rice opportunity, the Coconut oil industry opportunity and the organic produce opportunity that will require government investment support to ensure lucrative contracts are in place to support the investment drive in the Sector.

Aquaculture is becoming more important due to the increased sea pollution. The current investment plans do

aid in taking advantage of this opportunity. The recent visit by Walmart and the growth being seen by Kroger and Target should provide an area of focused contract pursuit in the near future.

Carving out an area of the budget to support such an initiative should be considered.

In the area of culture, youth and sport which is somewhat tied to education and tourism an additional consideration of $1 Billion should be given. It does also help in the reduction of crime and improvement of community sports grounds across the country does increase opportunities for increased camaraderie amongst our citizens.

2021 presents a fiscal year that will see borrowing to support many CapEx initiatives.

It is important that in the latter half of the current Administration’s 5 year term that a balanced budget is pursued, an increased national savings rate is established and the country establishes a surplus which will help offset any future economic shocks & unforseen expenses (especially the dry well scenario of the oil & gas industry).

Congratulations to His Excellency and his team on their expansionary efforts and I thank them in advance for their consideration of the alternative approach of increasing the speed of strengthening & protecting our coastal plains investments while gradually expanding development and maintaining a low level of national debt.

Yours truly, Mr. Jamil Changlee

...It would be good to balance From page 4 looking to comply. Working out how these are balanced by the benefits of such a mandatory approach, and how it might affect the growth

of the oil sector as well as the long term shape and vision for Guyana’s economy, is an important debate.

Yours truly, Lynn Nicholas

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Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

Increase in street food vendors…

Food and Drugs Department Part of national dialogue should commences sensitization to be about whether ExxonMobil prevent food borne illnesses contract is consistent with the - Vendors who fail to comply will face consequences Due to the increase in the number of unauthorized street food vendors, the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GAFDD), City Public Health Department (CPHD), and Environmental Health Officers (EHOs), has commenced a sensitization and enforcement action nationwide to prevent consumers from contracting food borne illnesses.

Vendors who fail to comply with the requirements will face consequences.

According to a press release from the GA-FDD, the issue was recently deliberated at their National Food Safety and Control Committee (NFSCC) meeting hosted in January and February 2021 with Food Safety Officers.

The release stated that it was decided at the meetings to highlight the issue and to commence sensitization and enforcement action nationwide to ensure operators especially the food street vendors, are in compliance with the basic requirements to protect consumers and keep food safe.

The four basic requirements highlighted in the release are: adequate facilities to keep food warmers above 64 degree Celsius so that it can keep food warm for two hours and chillers to keep food chill between 2-8 Degrees Celsius; access to potable running water; adequate garbage disposal facilities; and possession of

Street Food Vendors.

a valid Food Handlers ID Card.

As such, the NFSCC believes that if vendors comply with the four basic requirements and they are satisfied street vended food would be protected from the associated risks, customers would likely be less affected with food borne illnesses, and vendors would be able to continue to ply their trade.

The release further stated that, “In 2005 the PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO) conducted a burden of illness study where it was determined that diarrhea illness is very common in Guyana with 7.7 % of our population being affected annually. At the time, this figure was significantly higher than other countries in the Caribbean.”

“Reasons for the high

prevalence of diarrhea cited by the Study include, inter alia, a large number of makeshift food outlets, the unavailability of potable water, inadequate waste disposal and unlicenced food vendors,” the release noted.

As a result Officers at the NFSCC meeting agreed that actions would be taken against street food vendors who fail to comply with the basic food hygiene requirements when plying their trade.

Assistance will be requested from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Regional Health Officers (RHO) and the Senior Environmental Health Office (EHO) of each region. This action will be taken so that support can be given to EHO inspectors when carrying out sensitization exercises and/or enforcement action.

Middle Eastern, African PSA models would benefit Guyana Dear Editor, It is a standard practice in some parts of the world like many fiscal regimes in the Middle East and African oilproducing countries to divide the periods of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) into stages: (1) Exploration phase that is most likely divided by two periods; first being exploration period of prospecting and, a second exploration period with each having specific minimum exploration obligations and expenditures which must be conducted within a specified timeframe. Accordingly, each exploration period takes about 2-3 years that can be extended from 6 months to 2

years. And, (2) Development phase towards production – commencing of the first commercial discovery of oil and gas which continues for a period of 20 years and can be extended by up to 5 years.

This means that exploration, field development and production are all tied together by a twopronged contractual agreement. A PSA model of this nature should give the resource-rich countries ample time to ensure that all necessary conditions and measures (having an up-todate Petroleum Act, Environment Law and Policy, Depletion Policy, Local Content Policy) are in place

in the interests of the contractors (Multicompanies) and host oilproducing countries.

In Guyana’s context, such a PSA model would have been an ideal prerequisite for its oil and gas industry.

As such, the Guyanese people should be rightly informed by the PNC-APNU/ AFC Opposition of the PSA model used for Guyana’s oil and gas; exploration, field development and production and, who are the political directorates responsible as the true initiator and arbitrator of the 2016 ExxonMobil/ Guyana PSA. Yours truly, Paul Ramrattan

aspirations of Guyanese

Dear Editor, It has become necessary for me to make this statement listening a few weeks ago to a reading of remarks made in Guyana by the Environmentalist attorney at law Ms. Melinda Janki and then by Dr. Vincent Adams, a former head of the Institute concerned with oil mining in Guyana. Coming from different perspectives and looking at the same developments, they both left the impression that ExxonMobil in Guyana may be repeating what has been alleged about it in many other countries. In short, the guarantees which the outgoing government and the present government understood to be implied in understandings reached with ExxonMobil are frail, dubious, and so flimsy that the company feels free to treat them as non-existent.

Attorney Janki called on the authorities to shut down the operations in question.

Environmentalist Adams agonized over the failure of the company to deliver to expectations, and especially its persistent failure to repair damaged malfunctioning equipment that can lead to ecological disaster. Both experts seemed to agree that the safety of the Guyanese population and its patrimony were endangered.

My own interest in environmental issues began with concerns about transnational corporations, learning with Greenpeace, a celebrated pioneer in this field. My other mentors were several of the women in Red Thread, including Ms. Jocelyn Dow, who founded a factory making furniture for home and office out of liana vines, partly to demonstrate not only her business acumen, but to show how the trees of the rainforest could be protected and left virtually untouched. For her part, Ms Dow was for many years a first responder to urban and rural families in distress, including our small household. When her tenure at the Forest Commission was first questioned she responded by referring to the auditor’s report as evidence of its transparency. I am wondering whether the reference to Fort commission under her watch by the Minister of Finance on Friday is a reference to irregularity or to a difference of policy in environmental management.

My other mentors

included in order of time Dr. Joshua Ramsammy and Dr. Omawale of the University of Guyana, my wife Tchaiko, our offspring, and Kwesi Nkofi and Troy Campbell, young villagers of BuxtonFriendship, Jean La Rose and the Amerindian Peoples Association, and Vanda Radzik and Iwokrama. Above all I was a keen supporter of a young doctor, Gustav Jackson of Victoria, a geologist who fatally fractured his life in his practical support of and engagement with indigenous communities in Guyana, the USA, and the African continent against environmental injury. He had returned to Guyana to study the Omai crisis of gold mining and the communities affected. His funeral service in Washington, DC resounded with tributes from scores of admirers including me and some Guyanese indigenous women who had traveled from England to be present at the event.

When the new government of Guyana was sworn in on Aug 2, 2020, and later unfurled its emergency budget, it spoke confidently of beneficial relations with investors including oil. It gave the impression that it would skillfully use oil revenues to develop a green economy. In my own case, I had tried to argue in my development notes, that in order to justify the hazards of the expanding oil mining sector, we should adopt the Clive Thomas formula of direct cash transfers to households from the oil revenues. I added that the national budget should also aim at supporting weaker members of CARICOM which had been subsidized in their energy expenditure by the Bolivarian Republic after the coming of Hugo Chavez.

The recent remarks of these two experienced experts I have quoted above, and the deep concern oozing from these comments, leave me in no doubt or little doubt that ExxonMobil has no intention of reaching any understanding beneficial to the host community through an agreement with the Guyanese government. Apart from the well-known ravages and degradations imposed by powerful oil companies on countries owning the materials they seek, the despair in the case of Guyana is that the oil companies and others will take, and are

taking, advantage of political divisions which unfortunately affect transparency, efficiency, law enforcement, the management of the pandemic and national consensus about long-term development.

It was instructive to me, for example, to hear Dr. Brown, a woman environmentalist o n O b s e r v e r Radio (Antigua) propose, in a panel discussion, that the country should have a development board headed by the prime minister with the leader of the opposition as deputy, as a means of ensuring continuity of development programs vital to the population. The spirit of this recommendation needs to be adopted in various forms and places in our Caribbean region.

The warning present in the statements of the two environmental authorities, Attorney Janki and Dr. Adams, apparently without previous consultation, means that neither the government nor the opposition, has been able to impress the oil company with its capacity for self-determination. It is clear that trying to pat the head of the oil tigers in order to tame them and change their typical behavior will not work.

Unfortunately, Guyana is not yet ready for an open discussion, free from the fears and insecurities that have haunted us for over half a century that is discussion about the way towards peace, security, and a reasonable livelihood for every Guyanese.

I must remind those who will see this as a new proposal, that in 1987, as WPA’s Member of Parliament, sent there to represent “the unrepresented” it was my privilege to move a motion in the National Assembly for “a national dialogue of all social forces” and to have this motion unanimously approved.

Today, although distributed on a very partisan basis, the media tools and agencies are far more abundant than they were when the National Assembly adopted the WPA’s motion for dialogue.

Part of the dialogue should be about whether the contract with ExxonMobil is consistent with the pre-existent laws, safety, and aspirations of the Guyanese community, and whether in practice ExxonMobil is fulfilling its obligations to prevent ecological disaster.

Yours truly, Eusi Kwayana

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L B T LUNT.. UNT...B BL B Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo is a brilliant man.

That is no secret.

That is why it is so difficult to fathom that he would allow ExxonMobil to feed him lies so it can produce oil at a breakneck pace.

Meanwhile, in Suriname, there is no hurry to deplete the oil reserves.

Suriname knows that there is time, and it is using that time to develop its capacity to monitor BEFORE the oil companies pump out all the crude.

Can we please learn from them, for the love of God?

PAGE 07

Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 09

Jagdeo has put himself in a knot F

orty-five years ago, Burnham began to explore the possibility of reducing fuel imports by using a mix of ethanol and gasoline. At the time, the fuel crisis was raging and Brazil had started to use the ethanol-gasoline mixture in motor vehicles.

The cost of conversion eventually turned out to be a deterrent to the use of this mix in Guyana. And today, despite still being a major producer of ethanol, most of Brazil’s cars still run on fossil fuel sources.

At the time, the talk was that ethanol-based fuels would eventually come to displace fossil fuels. But this never materialised. While cars in Brazil still use ethanol, the production of ethanol has been falling in recent years.

Brazil had the advantage of being a major manufacturer of its own cars and therefore could have installed converters which allowed vehicles, formerly made to run on gasoline, to run on an ethanol-gasoline mix.

But even that did not result in the phasing-out of fossil fuels in Brazil. That country today still uses three times as much gasoline than ethanol in its transportation sector.

Brazil knows that fossil fuels are not going to be phased out anytime soon. It is not getting hyped about all the talk about renewable energy displacing fossil fuels

in the near future. Brazil has begun to auction rights to its offshore oil blocks. Instead of reducing investments in fossil fuel development, it is actually opening the country for greater investments in its oil industry.

It seems, however, that Guyana’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, is of the view that the future of fossil fuels is uncertain and therefore only a small window of opportunity exists for Guyana to exploit its vast hydrocarbon resources. Jagdeo is unconvincing. His assessments sound more like an excuse rather than an explanation.

Does he really believe that fossil fuels are on their way out? A recent CNBC report noted that the world’s Green Future Index showed that both the United States and China, two of the world’s largest guzzlers of fossil fuels, are behind Europe when it comes to the de-carbonisation of their economies. In fact, the projections are that the end of the pandemic will lead to an increase, rather than a decrease, in oil production and fossil fuel use.

Does anyone, apart from Jagdeo, really believe that we are nearing the end of the era of fossil fuels? Does anyone really believe that the workers of the world will simply abandon the hundreds of millions of motor vehicles in order to covert to electric cars?

Does anyone believe that the industrial companies around the world are going to stop using heavy fuels, having invested trillions of dollars in capital equipment?

Does anyone believe that the world can find substitutes for the thousands of products including fertilisers which are made from the byproducts of petroleum?

In the United States, six million families depend on fossil fuel jobs.

Where will the breadwinners of these families find jobs if oil is phased out? Green jobs are not being generated at anywhere near the rate needed to compensate for jobs losses resulting from the phasing-out of fossil fuels.

But Jagdeo needs to look no further than Guyana where oil companies are investing more than US$20B in the industry. Why would these companies be sinking such large investments if the future of fossil fuels is as bleak as Jagdeo wants us to believe?

But no one should be naïve enough to believe that renewable energy will anytime this century displace oil. It may displace coal but not oil. Too much is running on heavy fuels for the oil market to be overridden by sustainable energy sources.

The world’s population is expected to grow by two billion within the next 25 years. Urbanisation is expected to increase at a

Leh de boys seh... blow-blow blow Dem

De Vee Pee seh how dem pressing dem oil company like never before. He right!

De Pee Pee Pee pressing Exxon with a powder puff.

De Vee Pee living in own world. Dem boys seh he had a chance not fuh press Exxon but to pressure dem to increase de royalties to 10 percent.

Dem had to come to he fuh de approval for de Payara Field Development Plan. But instead of using de application fuh renegotiate better terms, de government approve de plan without any significant gain to de country. It was a squandered

opportunity.

Dem nah even press dem fuh ensure dat de insurance liability gan fall pun dem parent company in de event of wan oil spill. Yet de Vee Pee want people believe dem pressing Exxon. Is more like Exxon pressing we!

Dem Boys seh de Pee Pee Pee did promise fuh renegotiate dem contract.

Now all yuh hearing about is dat dem gan try fuh get something more from local content.

Dem boys dat local content is not de issue because we suppose to get dat regardless of what we

getting.

With de amount of oil we gat, nobody nah gat fuh wuk unless dem want wuk. We population small and therefore we gat more barrels of oil per person dan nuff country weh people does get envelope from de government every month.

But we all gat to now eke out a living because we leaders let we down.

But right now instead of we leaders pressing dem oil companies, it look like if de government and de oil companies hugging up wan another and dancing to de same tune.

higher rate than this population growth. So where will the energy come from to cater for the needs of an additional two billion persons and for the expansion of urbanisation?

These developments will increase rather than decrease the demand for fossil fuels.

Jagdeo was once part of

the global climate change advocacy.

He is now championing an unwritten depletion policy which is gambling on exploiting Guyana’s fossil fuel as much and as quickly as possible.

While he is doing that, climate change advocates are calling for countries to

keep their oil in the ground.

And the Champion of the Earth is now saying that this makes no sense. What a tangled web he has weaved around himself!

(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

Monday February 15, 2021

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Mr. Kwayana, show some respect for your age. Please!

I

have heard the saying in my home when I was growing up and it still reverberates.

When an aging person does something bad, you would say – “doesn’t he have respect for his age?” Eusi Kwayana is 97.

M r. K w a y a n a h a s become such an overbearing hypocrite that young scholars need to highlight his tattered legacy that ignominiously lies in the face of Guyanese history.

He seems to have no shame whatsoever. In the five years of APNU+AFC’s corrupt rule, he published perhaps one letter. It was on the closed sugar industry.

Since the election rigging began in March 2020, Kwayana has published about 10 letters.

So in five years, one only, but 10 in 11 months. There are two dimensions to these letters. One is his explanation that he cannot

pronounce on election rigging because he doesn’t have the facts.

The second is critical of the new government which includes a call for it to give space to the opposition in the state media.

Now Kwayana is at it again and his sickening double standards are shining brightly and graphically.

He is enquiring as to why the charges against Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington were discontinued.

Here in that letter (SN, Thursday, Feb. 11) are the words of this biased man, “It is my duty to be informed and keep up with developments at home.”

This is the same gentleman who on more than four occasions wrote that he cannot pronounce on the election tampering because he does not have the facts.

He does not have the facts in an age where a smart phone

can be used to show you the facts across oceans of one person hitting another. So how does Kwayana know that the charges were dropped?

Here is Kwayana again in the same letter, “I see myself as one of the contributors to whatever has developed in present day Guyana, whether good or bad, and I am not about to seek a hiding place and behave as though my activity had nothing to do with it.”

But for five months Kwayana hid from the realities in Guyana finding refuge in silly words that include the following expression, “I for one consider it unhelpful to prattle about facts I do not have.” (KN April 26, 2020) The truth is he did want to have the facts.

He refused to acknowledge them. Here’s a question – if he did not have the facts about the election

rigging then where did he get the fact that the opposition is not been given space in the state media? Another question – how did he know it is a fact that the SOCU has dropped the charges against Singh and Brassington?

Let us prove to whoever takes an interest in Guyanese society and who admire Kwayana, what a hypocrite he has become. Here are the words of Kwayana on Claudette Singh – “I cannot pretend to be unaffected by the statement of Singh that she intends to deliver a valid election…I have often wondered whether those who appealed to her public spiritedness have taken the necessary steps to support her stated aspirations.”

(KN, April 26, 2020) So what about the aspirations of the editors of the state media? Does Kwayana accept their word that they intend to be fair and unbiased?

What about SOCU? Why does Kwayana wants to know why the charges were dropped? If Kwayana could

Frederick Kissoon a c c e p tt h e professionalism of Claudette Singh, then, why not that of SOCU? Here are more quotes from Kwayana that show how badly his slip is showing and has been showing since March 4, 2020 when he did not know what Claudette Singh, Clairmont Mingo and Keith Lowenfield were doing. In disparaging my condemnation of Claudette Singh, he writes, “having condemn the chairperson (Singh) out of hand…he (Kissoon) is the one making the accusation…as the lawyer says, ‘he or she who

asserts must prove.’” (KN, May 14, 2020) Did Kwayana prove that the state media locks out the opposition?

Here is Kwayana once again and here he stands exposed.

I will ask readers to re-read this quote because it calls into question everything he wrote from the 1950s right up to 2021.

For five months there were ugly, clumsy, twisted, sickening attempts to deny hundreds of thousands of people their right to vote.

When asked to comment on this journey of nightmares he responded, “The impressions I am getting are not founded on facts that pass my own test.”

Well, Eusi Kwayana, your test is flawed and always has been flawed and you only considered facts the past 60 years that suit your purposes.

Thanks for exposing yourself to our new generation in Guyana.

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

Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Two dead in early morning Homestretch Avenue accident A

n early morning accident on Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, has left two young people dead, three hospitalized and the 19year-old driver in custody.

The deceased has been identified as 18-year-old Tonika Halley, mother of one of Phase 2, East La Penitence, Georgetown, and Dakera Gittens, 19, of Festival City, Georgetown.

The injured occupants were identified as: Delvern Luthers of Wortmanville, Georgetown; Joel Rose of D u r b a n S t r e e t , Wortmanville, Georgetown, and Troy Glen of Laing Avenue, Georgetown.

According to a police report, the accident occurred around 00:30hrs on H o m e s t r e t c h Av e n u e , Georgetown. The occupants were travelling in motor car PVV 1289.

The report stated that the teen driver was proceeding west in the northern direction of the road, reportedly at a fast rate when he lost control of the motor vehicle and crashed into a utility pole on the parapet before tumbling a few times and turning turtle in the nearby trench.

Kaieteur News understands that passengers of other traversing vehicles stopped to render assistance to the occupants of the car,

Dead, Tonika Halley.

Scenes from the accident.

Dead, Dakera Gittens. while others alerted the police and the ambulance.

The police report stated that public-spirited persons removed the occupants from the vehicle and rushed them to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Based on video footage seen by this publication, Gittens was lying in the grass while his friends and other persons stood around him. One man can be heard saying, “The man gone oh S@*#%.”

Followed by another man saying, “Nah, nah he good.”

A woman then started calling his name, while she reached down and touched his face. The shirt Gittens was wearing was torn and bloodied, his hands had multiple cuts and he was

panting for breath with blood rushing down the side of his face. The woman continued saying, “Dakera, Dakera,” and (Continued on page 17)

Four remanded for robbing, shooting Surbryanville woman Four men who allegedly shot and robbed a Surbryanville businesswoman in front of her home were on Friday last remanded to prison.

The defendants, Orvin Grant, a taxi driver of lot 3 Melanie, Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara (ECD), Jermaine Hassan, 35, of 207, Da Silva Street, Newtown Kitty, Russell Bowman, 38, of 8th Street Cummings Lodge and Ronlee Rampersaud, 31, a watchman of 124 Sideline Dam, La Penitence appeared together before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrate’s court.

It is alleged that on February 6, 2020 armed with a gun, shot and robbed the businesswoman Selina Edwards, 50, of $200,000 in cash at Surbryanville, Georgetown.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and were refused bail by the magistrate with one of the reasons (Continued on page 17)

Remanded, Orvin Grant

Remanded, Jermaine Hassan

Remanded, Russell Bowman

Remanded, Ronlee Rampersaud

Kaieteur News

Monday February 15, 2021

Govt. allocates $3.9B for missions, consulates

PAGE 13

The Guyanese Embassy in Kuwait.

- As Guyana seeks to strengthen presence in Middle East

T

he government is seeking to set aside $3.9B for Guyana’s missions and consulates abroad. This according to its annual budget presentation held on Friday at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACC).

Presenting the budget, Senior Minister within the Office of the President responsible for finance, Dr. Ashni Singh indicated that part of this money will be used to establish two new missions in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The reason for these new missions, Singh explained, is

part of his government’s vision to strengthen Guyana’s presence in the Middle East.

Currently Guyana has consulates in five other Middle East countries, including an embassy in Kuwait. Apart from Kuwait Guyana have consulates in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Cyprus.

Singh said too, his government will continue to c o n s o l i d a t e G u y a n a ’s relations with its traditional partners.

Guyana has a total of seven more embassies abroad, namely in the United States of America,

neighbouring Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil, Belgium, Cuba and China.

Apart, these embassies have established high commissions in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago.

Guyana also has consulates in Greece,

Govt. to plug 5.2B to construct, rehabilitation and maintenance of schools The government intends to inject $5.2 billion into the rehabilitation, construction and maintenance of schools across the country in the 2021 Budget.

This was said by Senior Minister within the Office of the President with the responsibility for Finance, Ashni Singh, on Friday as he read the allocations under the education sector in the National Assembly. In total, the education sector received a $60.7 billion allocation this year, a notable increase from last year’s $52 billion allocation.

Singh announced that the

$5.2 billion allocation will be used for a number of p r o j e c t s . Wo r k s w i l l commence on a secondary school at Prospect which is set to address the growing demands on the East Bank of Demerara according to Singh. He further stated that the Abram Zuil Secondary School will be reconstructed which will provide the necessary facilities for learners on the Essequibo Coast.

New schools will also be constructed this year as the government aims to increase the number of schools across the country and a review and

mapping exercise will also be conducted as they execute that vision.

Singh spoke about his administration’s immediate focus on pandemic preparedness, which includes the provision of Personal Protective Equipment for all students and teachers, retrofitting all schools with troughs, sinks and water systems to provide a safe learning environment across all levels. It must be noted, that as a condition for the physical reopening that was granted last November, all schools were required to (Continued on page 16 )

The Minister of Education conducting a site visit at the Good Hope Secondary School being constructed

Russia, Botswana, Japan, Jamaica, Grenada, Belize and the Dominican Republic.

In addition to support for Guyana’s missions and consulates, Singh said that his government is also seeking to establish a Diaspora Council to ensure engagement with its diaspora in a structured manner.

The government also plans, Singh continued to create a “one stop shop” for Guyanese overseas to

engage in trade and investment through collaboration with Guyana’s office of investment. A virtual Diaspora Council is also expected to be held sometime this year once the diaspora engagement strategy and plan of action is finalized.

During his presentation, Singh also echoed that Guyana will continue to fight as one to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity over the Essequibo which Venezuela wants to

claim.

The Essequibo has been at the center of a bitter territorial controversy between Venezuela and Guyana since Guyana’s independence and is currently an ongoing matter before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Guyana, according to reports, had used part of the US$18M it received from oil major ExxonMobil as a signing bonus in 2016 to defend its territorial integrity at the ICJ.

Kaieteur News

Monday February 15, 2021

Courtney Benn slapped with another lawsuit over delays work under $398M contract

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall.

Courtney Benn of Courtney Benn Contracting Services.

Courtney Benn Contracting Services has been sued over yet another multi-million government contract for his failure to complete works on a building project.

Just last month, Benn was sued by the State for breaching a $414.3 million contract with regards to the re-construction of the St. Roses High School.

This time, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall S.C in his capacity as the State legal representative, is suing Benn over his failure to complete works on the Linden Technical Institute, dormitories.

According to court documents seen by this newspaper, the contract of GYD$ $398,272,895 for the construction of the dormitories was signed on July 3, 2017.

Under that agreement, Country Benn was

scheduled to complete a programme of works on or before February, 2019 but failed to do so.

As a consequence of the failure, Nandlall said that Benn breached the conditions of the contract.

In his claim, the AG cited the inordinate delay in the completion of works among the grounds for the eventual termination of the contract.

Nandlall noted that the construction of the Dormitories at the Linden Technical Institute was supervised at all material times by the Civil Works Engineer attached to the Ministry of Education, but was later terminated by the Ministry on February 12, 2021.As such, the Attorney General cited a list of damages to which he believes the State is entitled as a result of the breach.

Among other reliefs sought, Nandlall has asked the High Court to award

$100 million for the breach o f c o n t r a c t ; $$39,827,289.00 as liquidated damages from Courtney Benn, G Y D $ 11 9 , 4 8 1 , 8 6 9 f o r C o u r t n e y B e n n Construction’s breach of agreement or alternatively an Order of Restitution against Caricom Insurance for all monies owing on the Performance Bond to the Guyana government.

In the document the AG noted that the exigencies of the common good should prevent Courtney Benn Construction Company and Caricom Insurance from being unjustly enriched based on the advances received under the Contract and the terms of the performance bond” of GYD$119,481,869.

Nandlall also asked the court to add interest and such other orders it finds just and reasonable.

GCCI lauds government for 2021 National Budget The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) has commended the government for this year’s budget and also sought to give praise to Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh for his presentation of the budget in the National Assembly on Friday.

In their press release yesterday, they lauded the “diligent work” of the staff of the Ministry of Finance, who would have managed to prepare two budgets; this year’s budget and last year’s emergency budget, in the

course of six months.

The statement went on to say that the government invited the GCCI to provide input in a consultative process as they prepared the national budget, to which it participated in line with its mandate of representation of the private sector and their input aligned with private sector development and, improvement of the business environment.

It was noted that in 2020 Guyana’s economy grew by 43.5 per cent as a result of the kickstart in oil production.

H o w e v e r, t h e n o n - o i l economy contracted by 7.3 per cent which is the largest

contraction in economic growth for Guyana. Also highlighted was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the political standoff following the March 2, General and Regional Elections (GRE) 2020, and the lack of democracy which resulted in slowed investment, halts in expansion and thwarted confidence in the Guyanese economy.

“It is with this in mind that the GCCI recognizes and commends the Government for its effort, through its fiscal programme, in ensuring that the much-needed restart to (Continued on page 17)

PAGE 15

PAGE 16

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The Government intends to plug $3.3 billion into refashioning the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus and Tain Campus, located in Regions Four and Six respectively.

The revelation was made by the Minister within the Office of the President with the responsibility for Finance, Ashni Singh while delivering this year’s budget in the National Assembly on Friday.

Singh stated that the University will be refashioned to “better respond to the needs of a modernizing Guyana” which includes advancements through its technology, ensuring materials and courses are made available online.

In light of the aforementioned, $3.3 billion is to be allocated to finance the operations of the two campuses.

Notably, three projects are ongoing at the Turkeyen Campus and were due for completion since last year.

The projects are valued at almost $500 million and

include the construction of the university’s new Human Resources and Bursary Building, a project for a pump house intended to drain the campus and relieve it from continuous flooding during heavy rains and a project for the modernization of the campus’ sewerage system.

The decrepit 55-year-old sewerage system was supposed to be replaced with a new system which also will cater for future expansion of the campus.

In last year’s emergency budget, the government pledged $3 billion to support the university. Of that sum, $221.3 million was earmarked to complete and advance several roll-over projects across both campuses including the new sewer system, the human resources and bursary building, the pump house, the teaching and learning centre and electrical upgrade projects.

Recently, the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand would have read the riot act to contractors

conducting works on the campus, over their tardiness.

Manickchand had warned the contractors to finish within the contractual timeline or face possible contract termination.

Also announced in Singh’s presentation of the budget was an $884 million allocation to equip and retool technical and vocational training centres across the country.”Mr. Speaker, as the economy evolves, the education sector must be positioned to respond to the demands of the labour market.

In recognition of this, the education sector will be aggressively intensifying its efforts to increase enrolment in technical vocational education and training institutions as we endeavour to promote non-traditional forms of learning and life-long learning,” Singh said during his presentation.

In total, the education sector has received a $60.7 billion budgetary allocation which is an increase compared to last year’s $52 billion allocation.

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Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

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From page 13 have hand washing sinks and sanitation systems to ensure students, teachers and all other school staff practice cleanliness.

Last year, a significant sum was allocated toward the eventual reopening of schools. It provided running water, proper ventilation, working toilets, the delivery of masks to teachers, students and ancillary staff and

adequate signage to promote safe behaviour as the students, teachers and staff returned to school.

“Even as we adjust education delivery to a pandemicsensitive modality, our goals for the sector in the mediumterm are set high,” Singh also said.

In order to deliver worldclass education over the next five years, he stated that his administration plans to im-

prove access with the construction and equipping of the nursery, primary and secondary schools across the country.

They will also inject the necessary resources which include quality teachers, updated curricula and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) laboratories that are comparable to international standards.

...Govt. looking to establish data centre From page 3 project summary by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) on the EPA’s website. No cost is mentioned in the document.

The company’s intended high-speed fiber optic/wireless transport service will connect its onshore and off-

shore facilities. The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is expected to make use of this facility to monitor Exxon’s offshore operations.

The tax agency had said in 2019 that it would have a CCTV system set up, following the installation of a fiber optic cable.

This will allow the author-

ity to see what is happening at the operation 24/7.

Following the installation of the connection to the Liza Phase One operation, Exxon intends to connect to the Liza Phase Two operation in 2022 when the project is slated to come on stream. It also intends to connect to the Payara area in 2023.

Monday February 15, 2021

Govt. had asked Stabroek block partners to bid to market Guyana’s fourth oil lift Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo informed reporters last Monday that the government abandoned the regular evaluation process to select a marketer for Guyana’s fourth crude lift from ExxonMobil’s Liza Phase One operations because it was non-transparent and unacceptable, and that the government decided to ask the Stabroek block co-venturers, ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC, to submit bids instead.

The first three lifts Guyana received had been marketed by Royal Dutch Shell.

Kaieteur News had noted in multiple reports that though the sale of the fourth lift was completed since December, the government hadn’t made public the process by which it selected Hess to market the lift.

“So we went out to tender last year,” Jagdeo said, “and 29 companies submitted bids. The evaluation criteria set by the department resulted in the evaluators having to disqualify 28 of the 29 bids.”

He said that the only valid bidder shortlisted was Lukoil, and that the evaluation criteria had disqualified much larger, experienced and well qualified companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Hess and BP. Jagdeo thought this to be nonsensical. “So the last two shipments,” he said, “what we’ve had to

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Kaieteur News

24 new infections added to COVID-19 case toll The Ministry of Health yesterday reported 24 new COVID-19 infections via its daily dashboard update.

The total number of confirmed cases has increased to 8,231.

The dashboard also shows that eight patients are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit, 45 in institutional quarantine, 24 in institutional isolation and 609 in approved home

isolation.

The COVID-19 death toll remains at 186 and 7,383 persons have recovered from the virus with four new recoveries recorded yesterday.

do, we’ve had to get three bids from the CNOOC, Exxon and Hess. And the [chosen] one was Hess [as] they gave the best terms.”

The lift was sold at US$49 a barrel, for about a million barrels of oil.

The Vice President noted that a shipment was done in February as well, but the government hadn’t received information about the price, as of last Monday.

Additionally, he said that the government has received offers from entities who indicated that they would buy the lift directly from the government, and that government would evaluate those offers. This option would eliminate the costs associated with hiring a company to market the crude.

...Two dead in early morning Home Stretch From page 12 rubbed his cheeks.

In another video, some persons were near the trench corner searching to see if anyone else was in the vehicle while the police were inspecting the scene and the Emergency Medical Technicians were preparing Gittens and Halley and others to rush them to the hospital.

Gittens reportedly died on the scene, and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital, while Halley re-

portedly passed away while receiving medical attention.

Their bodies were taken to the Lyken Funeral Parlor, and are currently awaiting post mortem examination.

Luthers, Rose, and Glen are still hospitalized receiving medical attention. Their condition is unknown.

A breathalyzer test was conducted on the driver and no trace of alcohol was found in his system. The vehicle has since been lodged at the East La Penitence Police Station,

to be examined by a Licence and Certifying Officer, while the driver is in custody assisting with the investigations.

Relatives, friends and other persons have taken to Facebook and other social media platforms to express their condolences and sympathy to the families of Gittens and Halley. They also extended prayers wishing a speedy recovery to the others who are still hospitalized.

The investigation into the accident is ongoing.

...GCCI lauds government for 2021 From page 15 the economy is provided by way of the largest national budget in the history of Guyana,” the GCCI said. The release noted that the budget is particularly welcomed by the members of the Chamber and of course the wider private sector, especially because enterprises, investors and the Guyanese public continue to navigate the novel coronavirus and the tremendous hurdles and challenges never experienced before that it has

brought.

The GCCI highlighted the government allocating 45 per cent of the $383.1 billion overall budget sum to education, public infrastructure and healthcare, stating that from its perspective it is extremely important for ensuring the broad-based economic development of Guyana.

It said that the $60.7B billion allocation for education ensures that the Guyanese people are further developed, trained, retrained and upskilled for an evolving

labour market.

“This sectoral priority, the largest of the three, can be seen as the backbone of a government’s programme for economic development,” it lamented.

In light of the aforementioned, the leadership and members of the GCCI remain supportive as partners in national development and plans to continue working with the government to chart for a higher growth trajectory for Guyana, according to the statement.

...Suriname in no rush to pump out From page 2 also noted that the recently issued regulations by the International Maritime Organization require the removal of 80 percent of the sulphur content from global shipping.

Since heavy or heavy sour oil has a lot of sulphur, “everyone is looking for sweet crude now.”

Further to this, Jagdeo pointed to the fact that the world’s leading economies,

China and the USA, have made it pellucid that they will be heading to renewable. In fact, China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, aims to achieve carbon-neutrality before 2060.

As for the USA, President-elect Joe Biden has declared intentions to increase the nation’s switch to renewable energy.

Considering the implications of climate change and

the global transition to cleaner energy sources, Jagdeo posited that demand for fossil fuel is either going to be static or declining in 15 to 20 years’ time.

He said that this is what has influenced the PPP/C’s position to extract the oil as quickly as possible, use portions of it to build world class infrastructure and education while putting aside some for inter-generational equity.

...Four remanded for robbing, From page 12 being that they are being investigated for other crimes.

They are expected to return to court on March 5, 2020.

According to reports, the defendants pulled up in front of Edward’s home in a black wagon motorcar and proceeded to rob her in her yard.

One neighbour who had reportedly witnessed the robbery told police that he heard Edwards shouting “which bag, which bag” followed by two loud explosions suspected to be gunshots.

The neighbour continued that he peeped over and saw

one of the suspects running from Edwards’ vehicle which was parked on the parapet in front of her house. The bandit then entered the backseat of the waiting wagon which sped off.

Kaieteur News later learnt that the bandit had shot Edwards twice to her left leg.

She had to be rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for immediate medical attention.

A family member told Kaiteteur News that since the shooting Edwards has been unable to walk. Police later managed to nab four suspects they believed shot her with the getaway car.

Since their arrests many have reached out to Kaieteur News calling them a gang that has been a menace to residents in the kitty area. At least two of the suspects are no stranger to the law.

Rampersaud had been previously convicted of conspiring with another to commit armed robbery and had been cleared of that charge in 2015.

The other suspect Bowman a taxi driver had been busted in 2019 with an illegal fire arm and driving a car with a fake licence plate. Police were able to apprehend him then after they noticed him trailing another car.

Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 18

Govt. will wait until Liza One environmental permit expires to impose new standards -but says nothing about clawing back value in Stabroek Block contract

T

he Liza Phase O n e environmental permit lacks requirements for comprehensive insurance for natural disasters and bears no provisions to fine ExxonMobil for flaring, as does the Payara permit.

Though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to bring the document in line with new standards at any given time, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said during a press conference last Monday that government will not seek to impose newer standards until the document expires next year.

Additionally, despite calls for permits to be used as bargaining chips to secure better fiscal terms in G u y a n a ’s p e t r o l e u m agreement with ExxonMobil and partners for their Stabroek block operations, the Vice President made no mention of intention to do so, consistent with his previous statement that it is “wishful thinking” to use a permit to get a better deal.

“So the Liza-1 permit comes to an end in June, next year. And we’ve made it clear that once it comes to an end, the new permit will be issued consistent with the Payara conditions.” Dr. Jagdeo told reporters.

A 2020 High Court ruling by Justice Joanne Barlow had corrected an issue in the permit caused by the former David Granger administration, which had granted the permit a lifespan in excess of 20 years, with an expiration year of 2040. This was inconsistent with the law, which allowed for a maximum lifespan of five years. The Liza Phase One environmental permit is now set to expire in June, next year.

Dr. Jagdeo last Monday said that he received feedback from some commentators who thought that the Payara permit is not

that different from the Liza Phase One permit, and that the Payara provisions did not sufficiently address the issue of flaring.

“That is patently false,” the Vice President said, “Absolutely false.”

He pointed to provisions in the Payara environmental permit which govern the treatment of flaring, waste management and safety audits, adding that these matters are not sufficiently addressed in the Liza Phase One permit.

Most prominent was his mention of the system of fines put in place for flaring.

There are no provisions for fines for gas flaring in the Liza Phase One environmental.

Notably, when asked about a provision in the Stabroek PSA which allows ExxonMobil to recover expenses incurred paying taxes, levies and other charges, Dr. Jagdeo said that government would have a dispute with the contractor if it seeks to recover fines.

ExxonMobil is currently flaring gas at its Liza Phase One operations. Dr. Jagdeo said he has instructed the EPA to explore options for flaring before the expiry of the permit.

When it comes to the lack of comprehensive insurance in the Liza Phase One permit, ExxonMobil’s current operations always carry a risk of disaster, such as a large oil spill. With the current insurance provision, Guyana would only be insured to a limited extent for a disaster at Liza Phase One, since ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) is held liable, instead of the better endowed parent company.

When asked about this during the same press c o n f e r e n c e , t h e Vi c e President made no commitment to go back and fix the insurance provision in

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

the permit immediately. He said that he believes the parent companies of each Stabroek block co-venturer would pick up the insurance bill in the case of a disaster.

Kaieteur News has shown that the law gives the EPA the power to update permits at any time, in order to keep up with new environmental standards.

Section 13 of the Liza Phase One permit, which speaks to Institutional Authority, states: “The EPA reserves the right to review and amend the conditions attached to this Permit in accordance with Regulation 14 of the Environmental Protection (Authorizations) Regulations, 2000.”

Similarly, the Regulations state in Section 14 (1): “The Agency may at any time by notice in writing to the holder of the permit, cancel or suspend an environmental authorization or impose such conditions as the Agency considers appropriate in addition to or in place of the existing conditions, with effect from such date as the Agency may specify provided that the cancellation, suspension or modification shall not give rise to an additional adverse effect.”

Then in 14 (2): “The Agency may cancel, suspend or modify an environmental

authorization during its currency for any of the following reasons… the Agency establishes new or revised standards…”

Also noticeable during D r. J a g d e o ’s p r e s s e r conference was the absence of a commitment to use the environmental permit as leverage for better terms in the controversial Stabroek block PSA. However, this absence is consistent with previous statements he had made in response to calls to use the Payara production licence as leverage.

He made the comments during a press conference last October, in response to commentators like former Petroleum advisor to President David Granger, Dr. Jan Mangal, who had said “We need a fair contract before approving the Payara project.”

“There is a group,” Jagdeo had said, “that believes we should have held

up Payara and not issue the licence, and use it as leverage to change the production [sharing] agreement.

A n d i t ’s w i s h f u l thinking, frankly speaking.

It’s wishful thinking that you could have done that now.”

The Vice President had said that the global energy transition to renewable energy and the economic hardship in the industry signaled by the divestment of tens of billions of dollars in assets, are reason for Guyana to count itself lucky as an investment destination for international oil companies. He had also noted that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has already made it clear it will not renegotiate the deal.

Monday February 15, 2021

...BCB chief Nazmul Hassan slams Mominul

Hassan slammed Russell Domingo and Mominul Haque for making all the decisions by themselves. (AFP via Getty Images)

From page 20 going to make abrupt changes but we can’t let this happen,” Hassan said.

“Definitely it is time to look into these things. Look, we can lose a Test but we cannot just declare that a 250-lead is enough to beat a visiting side.

“We couldn’t defend 395, and a batsman went on to score a double-hundred on the fifth day. These are unacceptable. We bowled poorly, no doubt.”

Hassan sounded ticked off by the spin strategy as well, and said the team management should have picked a second seamer for the Dhaka Test.

Monday February 15, 2021 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) The bizarre nature of the day may leave you feeling a bit bewildered, Aries. Don't sweat it. Focus on your romantic nature and incredibly nurturing heart.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) You will be in an especially affectionate and loving mood today. Your romantic nature is heightened and your nurturing qualities are strong. You're extra sensitive and receptive.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Annoyances of daily life may rub you the wrong way today, Gemini. Other people's strong opinions and odd quirks may be difficult to swallow and your fuse may be a bit shorter than usual.

CANCER(June21–July22) Be open and honest about your feelings toward others today, Cancer. Your receptive nature should be ready. Take a break and let others come to you. Unexpected events may pop out of nowhere.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Your heart beats extra strong today, Leo, but it may not seem like anyone knows it but you. You may feel like you aren't really fitting in with the energy of the day. Don't get down on yourself for it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) This is a fantastic day for you, Virgo. Join close friends and share a night on the town and fine meal. This is a chance to begin a new cycle of romance.

Reflect on past relationship problems, examine their causes, and toss them away

PAGE 19

Kaieteur News

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Your warm, sensitive nature is perfectly suited to today's aspects, Libra. Your emotional energy is strongly tied to your heart, and you will find that there's a longing to be close to others.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You will enjoy a great deal of affection from others today. You radiate an air of love and beauty. Love will come in strong, erratic bursts and you should be on the alert to expect the unexpected.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Your heart may be especially sensitive today. You may feel a bit vulnerable. Your romantic nature is particularly strong, so treat yourself to a pampered evening.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) All aspects of love and romance will go especially well today, Capricorn. You might take this opportunity to make a bold move toward the object of your affection.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Your connection with others is especially strong today.

You will enjoy an important nurturing role. Reconnect with your mother and let her know how you're feeling.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) You might feel especially playful today, Pisces. You can expect to feel a great deal of love and affection from others. Be aware that you will have a strong tendency to indulge in food and drink, so try to keep things in moderation.

“Since the Afghanistan Test [in 2019], all I have heard is spinning wicket.

Recently our pacers did well in the domestic t o u r n a m e n t . We h a v e a number of pacers. But we didn’t play the pacers. We took five pacers, closed down any room for an allrounder but we played only one pacer. Why did we then take these pacers?”

Hassan said that there is a detachment between the Bangladesh team and him due to their bio-secure bubble. He took exception to the fact that Haque and Domingo, the captain and coach, had taken all the team decisions during this series. Pre Covid-19 and bio bubbles, Hassan and some of the board directors typically stayed with the team management during home and away series.

“The decision-makers are the captain and the coach. We are not part of it. We will seek answers from all of them, not just the captain and the coach. I must know whether they [ B a n g l a d e s h ’s team management] had a team m e e t i n g b e f o r e t o d a y ’s play. My hands are tied due to the bio-secure bubble. I am totally handicapped.

“After a game, I am usually entering their dressing room at this time, or sit in their team hotel. I haven’t been able to interact with them. We only had one Zoom meeting with the full team but that’s not enough to know what’s going on. I asked Akram what the plan is. He says h e d o e s n ’t k n o w. T h e selectors don’t know. We are not inside the bubble. We have to know what happened before I can tell you anything.”

He called the lack of access he had “intolerable” and warned about a “message” being given to the team.

“I cannot give you any more details but I want to tell you that we tried. Now we have to know what’s happening, as it is becoming intolerable. There’s however very little time since we are heading to New Zealand, and then a week after New Zealand we are going to Sri Lanka. We cannot make a lot of tumult in this short time but the message will be given.”

Republic 10/10 Softball Cup Set For Canje After almost one year, due to COVID-19, softball players in Canje will have the opportunity to get back into the cricket field in playing competitive cricket and showcase their talents in the game.

WeCare Community Services has teamed up with the Grill Master Softball team in holding its 1st Republic 10/ 10 Softball Cricket Competition, which is set for Tuesday 23rd February from 09:00hrs at the Canje Welfare Ground.

According to the organisers, the one-day softball competition will be played on a one game knock out basis and will feature a limited number of teams, while STRICT COVID-19 measures will be in place.

The competition will see cash and trophies being awarded to the winner, runnerup, man of series, best bowler and batsman in an innings,

man of the final and most sixes hit in the final.

Already on board for the competition are Modern Optical Service, GAICO Construction, Kay’s Pharmacy and Medical Services, Chateram Ramdihal Chartered Accountants, Professional Services Firm, and Grill Master Catering Service.

The organisers are asking interested teams to contact Mr. Roy Jafarally on 654-8187 for registration. Registration for teams closes on Friday 19th February 2020 at 4pm.

The selection of teams will be done on a first come basis.

PAGE 20

Kaieteur News

Monday February 15, 2021

Demerara retain GCB/Hand-in-Hand 50-over U-19 title - Pooran destroys B’ce with 6-10 In sweltering heat at the LBI ground on the East Coast of Demerara, Demerara beat Berbice by two wickets in a low scoring final round of the GCB/Hand-in-Hand 50-over U-19 cricket tournament to retain the title which they won in 2019.

Marvon Prashad made 26 from 30 balls with three fours, while Seon Glasgow supported 25 from 33 balls with a four and two sixes, but they were the only ones to reach double figures in a sub-standard batting performance which resulted in Berbice being bowled out for 72 in 25 overs.

Man-of-the-Match Michael Pooran, in a miserly spell, bagged 6-10 f r o m n i n e o v e r, w h i l e Dwayne Dick had 3-19 from seven overs for Demerara who struggled to 77-8 from 25.4 overs.

We s t I n d i e s U - 1 6

The winning team Demerara pose with trophy. batsman Mavendra Dindyal struggled to get the off the square on a slow track and heavy outfield before he was

removed by off-spinner Aaron Beharry after facing 61 balls in his 19 which included three boundaries.

But only Chaitram

Balgobin, who made 19 from 50 balls with a single boundary, got into double figures while extras contributed 14 crucial runs as

Demerara limped to victory despite four of their batsmen being dismissed for ducks.

Jonathan Rampersaud finished with 3-21, while

Nigel Deodat and Rampertab Ramnauth finished with two wickets each in an eventual losing cause. (Sean Devers)

BCB chief Nazmul Hassan Kenya’s Chepkoech breaks 5km world record in Monaco slams Mominul Haque, Russell Domingo after Windies defeat

Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech celebrates winning gold at the World Athletics Championships - Doha 2019. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez) (Reuters) - Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech broke the 5 kilometres world record yesterday, finishing in a time of 14 minutes 43 seconds round the streets of Monaco to clip one second off the old mark.

The 29-year-old Chepkoech, who also holds

the world record in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, battled windy conditions with assistance from her pacemaker Luuk Maas.

“I’m so happy. Even though there was a lot of wind, I managed to run right on pace,” Chepkoech said.

“In the end, my pacemaker told me ‘we can do it, let’s push it’. I’m really happy with this world record.”

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, the 10,000 metres world champion, won the men’s race in a time of 13 minutes and 14 seconds.

ESPNcricinfo - Mominul Haque knows that winning and losing a game for Bangladesh produces two very different types of reactions. It was all very calm when Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe last year, but after West Indies blanked them 20 in their backyard, he knew “a lot of things won’t be in your favour and a lot of things will come out”.

One of those is a public tongue-lashing from Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, shortly after the 17-run defeat against West Indies in Dhaka.

Previous captains have endured such dressing downs, in both public and private, and this was no different. Hassan slammed the captain and coach for the decisions they took, one of which was the selection of Soumya Sarkar from outside the squad, to replace the injured Shakib Al Hasan.

Hassan, who often gets involved in the minutiae of running the Bangladesh team, said that Sarkar was his fourth choice.

“When Shakib was injured, I had [board directors] Akram [Khan], [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon, [Ismail Haider] Mallick, [chief selector Minhajul Abedin] Nannu and [selector Habibul Bashar] Sumon in front of me,” Hassan said. “I gave them four or five options. My

Nazmul Hassan said Soumya Sarkar was his fourth choice to replace Shakib Al Hasan. (Raton Gomes) first choice was Mahmudullah Riyad, and then Mosaddek [Hossain], Mahedi [Hasan] and the fourth option was Soumya [Sarkar]. They [captain Haque and coach Russell Domingo] selected Soumya.

“I still went ahead and personally called Mahmudullah, who told me he had back pain. Mosaddek was in Abu Dhabi. We tried, but they [Haque and Domingo] had only one choice. They didn’t mention any other names.”

Haque said they needed an allrounder in place of Shakib. “Shakib bhai’s absence threw off our combination. I needed a batsman who could bowl

medium-pace.

“I went with Soumya because he is an experienced player, and has been playing ODIs recently too. These things come up when you lose a game, and it would have been a different story if we had won.”

Sarkar’s selection was just one of many topics that Hassan criticised the Bangladesh team for. He also took offence about Taijul Islam saying after the third day of the first Test that a lead of 250 was good enough on that pitch. Bangladesh, though, set West Indies a target of 395, which they chased down with three wickets in hand. “We are not (Continued on page 19)

Monday February 15, 2021

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Kaieteur News

Cornwall on Cloud 9 in amazing series win for West Indies CWI - Rahkeem Cornwall led the way with another four wickets as West Indies beat Bangladesh in a thrilling finish to seal the two-match series.

The tall off-spinner, who had claimed five wickets in Bangladesh’s first innings, took 4-105 – with the other six shared between fellow spinners Kraigg Brathwaite and Jomel Warrican as the home were bowled out short of the target.

Mehidy Hasan, who had led a valiant effort by the Bangladesh tail as they added 50 for the last two wickets, was the last man to fall for 31

– with Cornwall diving to scoop up the catch when Warrican found the edge.

Cornwall was named Man-ofthe-Match.

Resuming with an overall lead of 154 and seven secondinnings wickets standing, West Indies’ batsmen were able to increase that by only 75 as Taijul Islam (4-36) and Nayeem Hasan (3-34) rolled them over for 117.

Nkrumah Bonner (38) and Joshua da Silva (20) were the only players to post double figures, leaving Bangladesh to chase 231 for victory and square the series. Opener

Tamim Iqbal raised the home side’s hopes with a brisk knock of 50 from 46 balls, adding 59 for the first wicket with Soumya Sarkar (13) before the pair both fell to Brathwaite (3-25).

“I would say it’s a team effort. We had a plan, enjoyed it, and happy to win the series. I wasn’t surprised with my wickets of the openers.

Wanted to come on, keep it tight.

Nice it’s a series win in Asia since 2012 for the first time. Coming here without some players, with the protocols and so on,”

Brathwaite said.

“This means everything back home. Cricket means everything to us. People will be proud. People wrote us off.

But we kept it simple, enjoyed it, and we proved them wrong.”

Cornwall said: “It was a good performance. The whole team had a good energy from day one and the coaching staff backed us. Once the conditions gave a bit of spin, I enjoyed it. I always back myself, try to put the ball in the right areas. You just have to be patient, be consistent and build pressure. I’ve been

The West Indies players pose with the series trophy © AFP/Getty Images

Jaguars maintain perfect CG Insurance Super50 record with win over Scorpions - Christopher Barnwell hammers 107 to lead the team performance The Guyana Jaguars remained undefeated to date in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) CG Insurance Super50 Cup tournament being played at the Coolidge Ground in Antigua yesterday when they beat the Jamaica Scorpions by 109 runs.

The Guyana Jaguars batted first and after being in serious trouble at 21-3 they rallied behind a a maiden Regional 50-over century from man-of-thematch Christopher Barnwell, 107, and a half-century from Anthony Bramble, 69, and a few contributions from Ranaal Lewis 35 and Akshaya Persaud 25 saw the Jaguars to a very respectable 299-9 off their 50 overs.

In serious trouble at 213 with Chanderpaul Hemraj, Assad Fudadin and stand in skipper Shimron Hetmyer back in the pavilion, Christopher Barnwell and Akshaya Persaud came together for a stand worth 91 and they rebuilt the

Gudakesh Motie took four wickets for Guyana Jaguars. (CWI Media Photo Philip Spooner)

innings to haul their team out of trouble. Then Barnwell and Anthony Bramble combined for an 88 runs partnership that really pulled their team out of the doldrums. Camoes especially from Lewis at the end saw them to a challenging score. Sheldon Cottrell 3-78 was the best of the bowlers for the Scorpions.

Set 300 to win, the Jamaica Scorpions were kept in the shackles as the Jaguars bowlers executed their game

plan well to restrict them to 190 all out off 43.5 overs.

Andre McCarthy 48, Rovman Powell 32, Aldane Thomas 29 and Jamie Merchant 24 got starts but could not get past the wily Jaguars bowling.

Gudakesh Motie was on top of the heap claiming 4-55 with valuable support from Romario Shepherd 2-26 and Nial Smith 2-15. Hemraj and Kevin Sinclair were also economical bowling for Guyana.

The tournament continues today at the Sir Vivian Richards ground from 9:00am with Trinidad and Tobago Red Force clashing with the Barbados Pride.

Tomorrow and Wednesday back at the Coolidge ground, first Windward Islands Volcanoes tackle Jamaica Scorpions from 1:30pm, and then Leeward Islands Hurricanes oppose Red Force at the same time.

Guyana’s next game is on Saturday against Red Force.

Scores: Guyana Jaguars 299-9 off their 50 overs (Christopher Barnwell 107, Anthony Bramble 69, Ramaal Lewis 35 and Akshaya Persaud 25; Sheldon Cottrell 3-78) beat Jamaica Scorpions 190 all out off 43.5 overs (Andre McCarthy 48, Rovman Powell 32, Aldane Thomas 29 and Jamie Merchant 24; Gudakesh Motie 4-55, Romario Shepherd 2-26 and Nial Smith 2-15) by 109 runs.

doing a lot of work in the morning in slip fielding. When the ball comes to me, I wanted to catch it.”

Cornwall and Warrican (347) then chipped away at Bangladesh’s middle order, with Mominul Haque (26) and Liton Das (22) both getting starts without progressing to play the match-winning innings their side needed. At 163-8, the Tigers looked doomed – only for Mehidy

and Nayeem (14) to hold up proceedings with a stand of 25 until skipper Brathwaite brought himself back on to trap the latter leg before.

Last man Abu Jayed kept Mehidy company, surviving 14 deliveries without scoring as his partner nudged the total above 200 but, with the target moving into range, Warrican applied the final blow to seal West Indies amazing win.

Monday February 15, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 22

Kaieteur News

Monday February 15, 2021

PAGE 23

Chairperson Harlan Bethune and members’ promises to advance community game - GFF delivers official appointment letters and TOR

UDFA President Terrence Mitchell (3rd left) with some Members of the Region 10, Sub Region 2 Football Committee and GFF’s Keeran Williams (right) after receiving their appointment letters.

P

resident of the Upper Demerara F o o t b a l l Association (UDFA) Terrence Mitchell on Saturday last delivered letters of appointment along with the Terms of Reference (TOR) to the Chairman, Secretary and Committee members of the Region 10, Sub Region 2 Football Committee at Kwakwani.

This move was a direct follow up to the historic outreach the GFF President made at the end of November 2020 to Kwakwani when the Federation Head promised to work with the elected members to advance and rekindle the development of the game.

Mitchell in expressing delight that the GFF was happy to be present in the community once again but this time to deliver official letters of appointment, noted that the covid-19 pandemic continues to be a challenge for the nation but was happy that the committee has been interacting and putting things in place for the future.

He noted that the Federation is committed to finding the best strategies towards the continuous growth and development of Guyana’s football whilst expressing optimism that the contribution of the Region 10, Sub Region 2 Football Committee would be valuable towards the overall

growth of the sport.

“On behalf of the GFF and President Forde I would like to once again thank you all for taking on the challenge of re-energising the game in this area. Like the GFF, we at the UDFA level would be working along with you to ensure that you succeed as an extension of our Association. You’ll receive every bit of assistance you need to return the game to the glory days.”

Chairman of the Region 10, Sub Region 2 Football Committee, Mr. Harlan Bethune in response expressed thanks on behalf of the committee, Mitchell and the GFF for the level of efficiency shown ever since

GCC beat UG in friendly 40-over game - Persaud 6-21 and 21 not out shines In glorious sunshine at the historic Bourda, a fine all-round performance from Aryan Persaud, who took 6-21 and followed it up with an unbeaten 20, helped the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) defeat the University of Guyana (UG) by five wickets yesterday in a friendly 40-over encounter.

UG won the toss and elected to bat on a straw colored track, a slightly slow outfield and led by 29 from Omesh Danram, 19 from Akeem Methard and 18 from Keon Roberts, UG fell for 144.

Aryan Persaud befuddled the students, who apparently can’t read left-arm spin, as he captured 6-21 from eight overs, while Deonarine Seegobin, Krsna Singh and Devon Lord supported with two wickets each for GCC who reached 145-5.

Marlon Ramsurace led the way with 36

Aryan Persaud had a six wicket for GCC at Bourda yesterday. before he was dismissed, while Rivaldo Phillips (25) and Persaud (20 not out) and Lord (19) contributed with the bat to see GCC to an emphatic win as Daquan Murray had 228. (Sean Devers)

the inaugural visit last year.

“We here in Kwakwani are very excited to receive the official letters of appointments along with the terms of reference which will guide the way we operate. We are committed to functioning in an effective way to grow the game here and by extension, Guyana.

We will be working along with the covid-19 committee here to get the game back up and running once again when it is appropriate and safe.”

Bethune also stated that they are currently working on putting together their work programme which would guide how things are done in a uniformed way.

Region 10, Sub Region 2 Football Committee Member, Stephon Profit (right) receives his letter from UDFA President, Terrence Mitchell in the presence of Committee Chairman, Harlan Bethune.

The Region 10, Sub Region 2 Football Committee appointment letters took effect from January 1st, 2021 and the Chairman would be required to report to the GFF Executive Committee on their work on a regular basis.

The full committee reads: Harlan Bethune (Chairman), Ann Gordon (Secretary), while the Members are Dean Gordon, Dion Ross, Winslow Mc Curdy, Stephon Profit, Royston Hytmiah, Dave Causway, Dellon Patoir, Hubert Williams, Dereck Daniels, Carl Pitt and Jimmy

Mc Clean.

Among the roles of the committee is to *develop and implement strategic plans for football development and competition in Sub Region #2, Region 10 *develop strategic plans for the inclusion and participation of Clubs in the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) and Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Tournaments, and Players in the National Team Programmes *develop and implement competitions, fundraising events, and other football activities.

Lindore, Tilku, Hardaiow guide Everest Masters to comprehensive win over Rubis Masters Randy Lindore picked up three wickets for six runs off five overs, while Ariel Tilku and Sahadeo Hardaiow made 42 and 40 respectively as Everest Masters defeated Rubis Masters by 81 runs when the teams collided in a 25-over fixture on Saturday last the Everest Cricket Club.

Everest CC Masters skipper Rajesh Singh called correctly at the toss and opted to bat.

After losing their first wicket with the score on 21, Hardaiow and Basil Persaud added 57 for the second wicket before Persaud was dismissed for 34 with three fours. Hardaiow timed the ball well and struck two fours and a similar number of sixes in his innings, while Uvendra Balgobin and Ishwar Singh scored 18 and 11 respectively.

Tilku and Ronald Jai Singh propped up the total with a sixth wicket stand of 52. Tilku slammed one four and three sixes, while Jai Singh made 12 not out as Everest CC Masters managed 172-5.

Everest Masters were tidy in the field as

Randy Lindore they complimented their bowlers well to restrict Rubis Masters for 91-5. Lindore was backed up by Jai Singh with 2-29 from three overs. Nadir Baksh made 19.

rt Spo Rahkeem Cornwall is jumped by teammates as they celebrate. (CWI)

Cornwall on Cloud 9 in amazing series win for West Indies

West Indies players celebrate a wicket during their victory. (CWI)

Demerara retain GCB/Hand-in-Hand 50-over U-19 title - Pooran destroys B’ce with 6-10

Man-of-the-match Michael Pooran receives his reward.

Chris Barnwell who made 107 for Guyana Jaguars celebrates reaching his century with a big six off of Oshane Thomas. (CWI)

Jaguars maintain perfect CG Insurance Super50 record with win over Scorpions - Christopher Barnwell hammers 107 to lead the team performance

Kenya’s Chepkoech Chairperson Harlan Bethune and members’ breaks 5km world promises to advance community game record in Monaco - GFF delivers official appointment letters and TOR Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd., 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Tel: 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/226-8210.