Kaieteur News

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Sunday Edition

AIETEUR

July 17, 2022

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World Bank slams Guyana over lax oversight of Exxon's operation See story on page 3

Suspect rides to station after slashing man's throat APNU+AFC rejects recommendation to suspend 8 of its MPs ...calls move an act of political discrimination and suppression

p. 3

Protestors demand verification of Guyana's discovered oil resources

“Corruption is once again reaching dangerous levels” p.

8

- Article 13 wants independent investigators to probe Vice News' allegations

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Produce electricity as much as you want but consider markets to avoid over consumption As Guyana embarks on an ambitious scheme to generate hundreds of megawatts (MW) of electricity, surpassing the country’s current demand, Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy Chamber has warned the country to ensure it secures markets for the excess that will be produced, so as to avoid energy inefficiency or over consumption.

This charge was given by Dr. Dax Driver, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the T&T Energy Chamber.

Dr. Driver was a panelist on the Guyana Business Journal and Magazine discussion on ‘Sovereignty and developing country’s rights to develop oil & gas sectors’ when he shared this view on Wednesday last.

He said, “Make sure also that you are always continuing to push energy efficiency. You can focus on renewables but the electricity which you don’t use is the most valuable electricity so put that big extra on energy efficiency.”

Dr. Driver shared a lesson from

the twin island, explaining “when we had our boom in the 2000’s, we built a lot of new buildings and we did not focus on energy efficiency and so there were very inefficient buildings and they waste a lot of energy so it’s important that EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) knows what Guyana should focus on.”

To this end, his advice to Guyana is “produce as much as you can, but think about how you can get that electricity to Trinidad and Tobago” for example. The T&T Energy Chamber President pointed out that there is a “massive potential demand” for renewable electricity in T&T since the country is looking to produce ammonia from natural gas.

Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen that is produced to be used in agriculture as fertiliser. Ammonia is also used as a refrigerant gas, for purification of water supplies, and in the manufacture of plastics, explosives, textiles, pesticides,

na

- T&T Energy Chamber warns Guya d yes and other chemicals.

Currently, Guyana is moving towards the development and utilisation of its natural gas within the Liza fields in the rich Stabroek Block. The gas will be used to generate 300 megawatts of electricity for the country, with the current peak demand of just over 150MW expected to increase significantly over the next few years.

The Gas to Energy project will involve capturing associated gas produced from crude oil production operations on the Liza Phase 1 (Destiny) and Liza Phase 2 (Unity) Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, transporting approximately 50 million standard cubic feet per day of gas via a subsea pipeline and then to an onshore pipeline to a natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant, treating the gas to remove NGLs

(i.e., propane, butane, and pentanes+) for sale to third parties, and ultimately delivering dry President and Chief Executive Officer of gas meeting government the T&T Energy Chamber, Dr. Dax Driver specifications for use at the power plant.

25 MW of power to the grid.

At the same time, Guyana is In this regard, Dr. Driver has also making strides to generate suggested that Guyana puts plans in electricity via hydro, wind and place for the use of the electricity to solar, in a bid to transition from the be generated. Listing Trinidad as a use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to key potential market, he explained, power the country. Only recently, “The reason why there is a huge the Inter-American Development demand in Trinidad and Tobago is Bank (IDB) approved Guyana’s that we have all these ammonia request to tap US$83.3 million in plants that are producing ammonia funds the country earned from from natural gas. There is a massive keeping its forests intact, to opportunity to produce ammonia develop 33 MW of power. Plans to from water with green hydrogen develop the Amaila Hydro power going into ammonia. There is project that was geared to add 165 massive demand for that in the MW of electricity on the grid is world…we need the green electrons expected to regenerate soon, while to do that to offset the natural gas the EPA has already approved a now going in which we are now US$45 million wind project to add Continued on page 16

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Sunday July 17, 2022

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World Bank slams Guyana over lax oversight of Exxon’s operation A recent report by the World Bank has criticised the Guyana Government’s offshore oil production arrangement with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana—based on safety, environmental concerns and inadequate payment and has since downgraded its rating of the country’s oversight of the project.

The report dated March 2022, documents the World Bank issuing an interim report that found the country’s rating had slipped from “Moderately Satisfactory” to “ M o d e r a t e l y Unsatisfactory.”

According to the World Bank, while grant activities have been designed to help Guyana boost staff, experts, training and analysis at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Finance, this came to a halt at the end of 2021. This is despite the fact that grants made to the country were expected to support work through 2024. Meanwhile, flaring pollution and other risks continue.

Back in 2019, the World Bank had approved a US$20M loan for Guyana to build its oversight capacity but this was never taken and, according to government officials, the administration is still in the process of refining its priorities before approaching the International Financial

Institution again on the loan.

Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat told Kaieteur News last Monday that ministry teams are still working on “refining” and bringing the US$20M loan facility on par with the current government’s priorities for the oil sector.

He suggested that, that work should be completed soon. The line of credit sought to strengthen various aspects of the oil industry, including support for cost oil audits and other fiscal areas, environmental monitoring and skills training for locals.

The fact that Guyana is yet to utilise the US$20M to build capacity, together with the fact it shied away from an additional US$1M grant to build the capacity of the Environmental Protection Agency, another of the key agencies in the oversight

mechanism had seen the former head, Dr. Vincent Adams, positing “there seems to be a worrying trend.”

Dr. Adams is adamant that Guyana has missed another meaningful opportunity to build capacity in its oil and gas industry, since like the still to be r e f i n e d , Wo r l d B a n k US$20M loan, when the country also failed to utilise another US$1M. One Component of the Wo r l d B a n k ‘ G u y a n a Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project’ totalling some US$5.5M, would have seen agencies such as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Department of Energy (DoE), among others, receiving “on-the-job training” in reservoir

engineering and geology.

This would have allowed for the State to be provided with independent third-party technical expertise needed to analyse estimates of oil and gas resources, assess and conduct economic and fiscal modelling to help forecast

oil and gas revenues, and support the cost audit of existing Production Sharing Agreements, among other things.

Another aspect would have seen millions going towards supporting the immediate technical needs at key institutions. It was reported at the time, that Guyana lacked the necessary human resources to address critical and immediate technical needs within prime institutions responsible for the sector. As such, one subcomponent of that loan also sought to address gaps “through the direct engagement of external expertise to support the Department of Energy, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Ministry of Finance, the Guyana Revenue Authority, the A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l ’s Chambers and the Petroleum

Commission,” which is yet to be established.

The Bank said that given its experience in oil and gas projects, it found that capacity building is most effective when it is based on tangible on-the-job training and learning by doing approach. “Therefore, this activity will allow for the hiring of oil and gas experts as advisors to provide general technical opinions, commercial advice, policy analysis, review of key documents, and other contributions, but more importantly, to deliver onthe-job training and peer mentoring, working closely with the government staff to transfer knowledge and build long-term capacity to manage the oil and gas sector.”

The areas of focus would have included, capacity Continued on page 16

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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

Corruption in Guyana – must be our imagination

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

op leaders and ministers in the current PPP/C Government are firm in their position. They all say, without exception, that they are against corruption, that they themselves are incorruptible, beyond suspicion or accusation. Senior public servants give every assurance, take sacred oaths, that they are untarnished, in that the corruption virus raging in Guyana has not, and cannot, touch them. It is the same sturdy story with the Guyana Police Force, in the Administrative Regions, and regarding the stewardship of our rich natural resources.This is chorus and song, and on and on it goes, so much so that a stranger would be fooled to think that this is a pure and profound place.

Now, this nation is left with a handful of choices. It is either our imagination, or real circumstances in motion have been subjected to heavy exaggeration, or the power of misplaced perception has led us to unfounded conclusions.

It could mean also that most cleareyed, clear-minded, and clean thinking citizens of this country all have it wrong, are barking up the wrong tree. The issue of corruption then puts citizens against leaders and public servants, and boils down to the issue of who has it right. That is, there is unimaginable levels of corruption in every nook and cranny and activity in this country, or claims of corruption are a product of fevered imaginations, nothing but fantasies.

In our almost three decades of news reporting, we have seen incredible amounts of corruption, and many such instances have been brought right to our doorstep. We will not go over what we have covered for the Guyanese people, except to say that they have stood the test of time because they are real, in that they have substance and foundation.

So, when somebody, anybody, in this country asserts that there is no corruption, or that they are incorruptible, we know better. They lie.

It could be PPP/C Governments under different leaders, with some worse than others, and of which the records speak volumes. Yet they and their people quickly rush forward to condemn those who point them out for what doesn’t add up. The old PNC, rebranded as the APNU+AFC Coalition, was out of power for 23 years, but came back and lasted just under five, a short period as governments rule in this country. But in that approximate five-year period, some of its senior people in and around the government wreaked havoc on standards, practices, and the national treasury.

Like its PPP/C predecessor, and the one that succeeded it to rule today, the people in these governments used their election to office to enrich themselves. We have presented the allegations that have stood, the projects that have crumbled, and the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) discussions that are a stream of revelations of the skullduggeries and crookedness of people in ministries, regions, and those having anything to do with public works projects and many millions spent.

The people in government have selected them and put them in charge of various areas and matters. Guyanese are familiar with our exposés of wrongdoing and maladministration in most places.

This starts from tender boards to contract awards to partnerships encircling contractors and clerks and chairs.

The list is endless, and the people with their hands dirty are numerous. Yet we are told that there is mostly no corruption in this country and that what we have are clean leaders and clean governance. What we would like to know is why people are not being made examples of, charged and jailed, and also compelled to make restitution. Why do leaders coddle them? We also would like to ask when would the people who put leaders in power hold them accountable? The Sri Lankans had to face reality: keep condoning the crimes of politicians and fall like flies, after living like flies darting around for crumbs to survive. With rising cost of living pains, this is what ordinary Guyanese stare at, have to confront. Corruption is the cancer that is killing us. We either continue to accept corruption as it is, or we find the courage to get rid of crooked leaders who cheat us, and deceive us. Remember the Sri Lankans.

Send your letters to Kaieteur News 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown or email us kaieteurnews@yahoo.com

A dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow DEAR EDITOR, In a recent article (KN, July 14, 2022) “Bigger share of oil money now not a good thing”), it is reported that Vice President Jagdeo stated, among other things, that a larger share of its oil revenues sooner, would not benefit the country. In fact, if it comes in, he said, “…we can’t spend it all… (positing that) …it comes inflationary.”

Certainly, if the money is not properly managed, inflation can be a probable outcome. However, saving the extra oil income now will not be inflationary, as it can be placed in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) and these savings will earn interest in US dollars. So, the bigger share of oil now can

earn interest income for the country. Not to do so now will only reflect poor management, as explained below.

Every extra dollar Guyana receives today is a good day for Guyana, for when interest rates are not zero, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. The evidence in Guyana today will show that interest rates are not zero; and more importantly, Guyana has relatively large interest payments on both the domestic and foreign debts.

More specifically, in the 2021 Bank of Guyana Annual Report, it is recorded that the stock of the domestic debt at the end of 2021 is G$91,345 million, with total interest payments equal to G$2,787

million in 2021 (Table XV, Page 35). Similarly, the external public debt is US$1,393 million, with US$23.3 million as interest payments (Table XVII, page 36). Certainly, these interest payments are not zero; and therefore, using the oil money to pay down either the current domestic or foreign debt or both is a reasonable outcome for Guyana. In particular, less domestic debt will reduce the interest payments on Treasury Bills and this will expand the pool of local funds that will now be available for private sector borrowing.

Consequently, the private sector should encourage the Government to pay down the National Debt, as they will have access to a larger pool

of financial resources, hopefully, at competitive interest rates from the financial sector. With regard to the foreign debt, a similar payment arrangement can be applied to the foreign debt, to reduce the debt service on loans from the multilateral agencies, including the InterAmerican Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank, among others.

Such repayments will not be inflationary as the collected oil payments can be sent directly to these institutions.

As an alternative, these funds can be saved for emergencies, such as an oil spill, the probability of which is not zero; or it can be used (Continued on page 6)

Sunday July 17, 2022

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Please help me understand PPP needs to accommodate

Giftland’s logic

DEAR EDITOR, I spoke to Mr. Roy Beepat on Friday about my column on the unfair treatment of taxi drivers attached to Giftland.

Giftland has since put out a disclaimer as a rebuttal to what I wrote.

The disclaimer is simple but misleading. I will deal with that below. Mr. Beepat was polite and made three points, two of which were irrelevant to my complaint. He told me that the rental at Giftland is the lowest in comparison with other places. Secondly, the traffic at Giftland is large so it benefits the taxis.

Let me remind readers of what I wrote last Friday, so I can go to the relevant delivery of Mr. Beepat. The drivers pay a rental but outside taxis come in, and steal their customers while Giftland’s security does not intervene. The third point of Mr. Beepat was that the taxis pay the rental to a private company named Prosperity.

This makes no sense in management principles and legal obligations. If Johnny rents a house from Peter and Johnny rents it out to Mary, then Peter still has a legal responsibility to Johnny who is his client. So the Ministry of Public Works says they

have to curtail the bridge of the house for road widening.

It is Peter that has to negotiate with the ministry not Johnny, not Mary.

Mr. Beepat did not mention that Prosperity rents the space from Giftland. It does and thus Giftland has a legal obligation to protect the business of its client which is Prosperity. Prosperity cannot plant guards at Giftland to stop the encroachment. It is Giftland’s obligation to its client to stop the pouching by outside taxis. After Giftland’s disclaimer, that very Friday afternoon, I received a telephone call from Ogle airport engineer, Raymond Persaud. He said he is in Giftland and the poaching is going on openly. He said two minibuses were openly soliciting passengers in full view of security and the taxi drivers.

I have no quarrel with Mr. Beepat whom I consider a patriot for what he did for his country. Giftland is a handsome contribution to Guyana’s sociological landscape. But it does not mean the media should not investigate wrong-doings at Giftland. I once took Giftland to the Labour Ministry over the company’s financial

mistreatment of electrical technician, Arvin Ruhoman and won. Please see my two columns- Friday, September 7, 2018, “I took a victim to Minister Keith Scott,” and Sunday, April 8, 2018, “If this is my new life, then no regrets.” I end with a call to Giftland. It has a legal obligation to Prosperity to ensure that the taxis operating on behalf of its client is protected from drivers who want to take away their livelihood. I can assure Mr. Beepat, I have a positive opinion of him but I will never put down my pen when the poorer folks of this country complain to me. I see that as my calling in life.

Frederick Kissoon

ethnic interests

DEAR EDITOR Starting from the 1960s, the PNC’s attitude towards politics has been, “what is ours is ours, and what is the PPP’s is negotiable.” With the PPP to be brought to the negotiation table through force and violence – or threats of the same, with the expectation that the African Guyanese-dominated Disciplined Forces would support them. Around the turn of the new millennium, however, some young radicals in the PNC, which included Aubrey Norton, proposed “executive power sharing” as a new, more positive approach to

Guyanese politics. At the time, we proposed a one-term power-sharing arrangement, as in South Africa, during which more permanent arrangements could be worked out under a collegial atmosphere.

PNC leader Mr. Desmond Hoyte, rebuffed the calls and publicly derided my assertions that voting in Guyana was ethnically based.

After the PPP was bludgeoned to the negotiation in 1998 by violent PNC protests, they supported extensive constitutional changes in 2000, which ROAR criticized as not deep enough to

address the African and Indian Ethnic Security Dilemmas. Paradoxically, their protests continued and descended into increasingly serious waves of violence against Indian Guyanese after the 2001 elections. Mr. Hoyte’s allusion to “kith and kin” in the Disciplined Forces did not help matters but just before passing away at the end of 2002, he accepted executive power sharing.

However, the extremists inside and outside continued the Boston-based gang violence to overthrow the PPP, until they were wiped out in 2008.

In 2007, Aubrey Norton issued a paper, “Governance in an ethnically divided (Continued on page 6)

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In agreement with Kissoon’s take on Oil and Guyana’s future DEAR EDITOR, I write regarding Freddie Kissoon’s article “Oil and Guyana’s future” (Kaieteur News, July 08, 2022). I agree with his view that the EXXON-Guyana oil contract “could have been better for Guyana in comparison to other oil explorations around the world.” Also, I agree with his assertion that to argue that “(1) because of an ill-shaped contract, Guyana should halt oil operations and (2) because of climate change, Guyana should get out of the fossil fuel business is not only unconscionable but plainly unacceptable.”

He writes, “The (oil) industry is going to be around for another 50 years. In that interregnum, countries incredibly rich and billions of miles ahead of Guyana will sell oil within those 50 years.”

The policy of two leading oil producing nations supports this view. In explaining his commitment to the oil industry in Canada, in a speech in Texas, USA, in March 2017,

Canadian Prime Minister Mr. Justin Trudeau stated ( Maclean’s magazine, March 10, 2017) “No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them there.” Also, Reuters of April 15, 2022, reports “The Biden (US President) administration on Friday said it has resumed plans for oil and gas development on federal lands.” An editorial in the Los Angeles Times of September 15, 2019 is relevant. It notes, “the richest, most developed countries in the world are overwhelmingly to blame for the catastrophe of global climate change…For more than a century, the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, in total as well as per capita, have been the big developed nations, most notably the United States and the countries of Europe, which grew their economies by burning fossil fuels, and spewing carbon from their factories, homes and cars.” To date, they still emit carbon and other greenhouse gasses disproportion-

ately into the environment.

According to the editorial, efforts to ameliorate climate change “must be led by the nations that reaped so many of the benefits of economic development and increased wealth through industrialization for so long.”

Unfortunately the rich countries are not living up to their moral obligation or their financial commitment. In 2010, and then again in 2015, wealthier nations pledged to donate to the Green Climate Fund up to $100 billion per year by 2020. The fund was created under the auspices of the United Nations, to help developing countries reduce the emissions that lead to climate change. However in 2018, Oxfam’s senior climate change policy advisor called the money moving from rich countries to the least developed, ‘sadly inadequate.’ The editorial called it “shameful.” In his article Mr. Kissoon asks, “Why a small poor country should bear the burden of cleaning the world’s ecological system by

removing its fossil fuel industry when there is no replacement for the lost income?” This is a pertinent question that critics of the Government, at home and abroad in the rich countries, have not answered. In addition, it should be pointed out that the green-house gases spewed by the rich countries do not remain within their borders. Their green-house gases travel far and wide, polluting the entire planet. For centuries Guyana’s rainforest, together with those in the other povertyridden tropical countries, has been the purifier of the planet without any compensation.

Yet, when poor countries extend their begging bowls to the rich countries, they receive less than pittance to help their citizens while billions of dollars are available, on the spur of a moment, to fund war efforts. Even at its maximum level of oil production, it is likely that Guyana’s rainforest will be able to absorb more than its fair share

of green-house gases.

Regarding renegotiating the oil contract, this may not be realistic. Former President Mr. Bharat Jagdeo’s promise, while in opposition, to renegotiate the oil contract was perhaps opportunistic. It may have been an election promise similar to that of former President Mr. David Granger, when he was in opposition and had promised constitutional reform but which was never acted upon when he was in government. Current President Dr. Ali’s statement that “negotiating with ExxonMobil is like negotiating with a superpower” is more realistic and acknowledges the difficulties. In assessing its position the Ali Government likely considered (1) the message that will be sent to new investors that are being courted; (2) the likelihood of exorbitant cost of a court challenge and the possibility of losing; (3) likely pressure from EXXON’s home government, i.e. the US, in any attempt to renegotiate an existing con-

tract. Not only that US support may be needed in defence of Guyana’s territorial integrity, but powerful home governments are known to vigorously protect their nationals and commercial interests abroad. The history of many countries in Central and South America can attest to this.

I support all efforts for transparency in Government’s decision making and initiatives to improve Government’s accountability in the oil industry. Also, all Guyanese must be the beneficiaries of the oil wealth which must not be used for the enrichment of a few who are in-charge or well connected. And prudent action is necessary to maintain a reasonable balance between economic development and protection of the environment. However, this valuable resource must be exploited while time allows to eliminate poverty and improve the lives of all Guyanese.

Harry Hergash

Interior residents should file PPP needs to accommodate... lawsuits against large mining and logging companies DEAR EDITOR, The desecration and depletion of Guyana’s interior lands for mining and logging by large-scale foreign companies h a v e c a u s e d concerns to be raised by the residents of Guyana’s interior. Their concerns have been verified by the images coming out of the area.

The livelihood of the once independent interior citizens is now being threatened by the destruction of the forests, rivers, wildlife, plants, land etc. from the pillaging for minerals and timber by large-scale forei g n companies. What is happening to the interior’s citizens, particularly the Indigenous Amerindians and the natural environment is unconstitutional, lawless, evil, and inhumane.

Complaints filed by these affected citizens to local councillors, the Minister of Amerindian Affairs and other elected officials for the last several government administrations, have fell on deaf ears and no one has come to represent them in their plight as they struggle for justice.

The government when asked to provide the

details on the mining and l o gging contracts have resorted to dodging, lying, hiding, and bobbing and weaving, instead of providing the details of the contracts as they should, as they themselves proclaim to be a govt. of accountability and transparency.

We want government officials to update the Guyanese people on the business affairs of the country, but every time they say something, it sounds so stupid to our ears, it would be better if they just shut up, maybe they should have their speeches proofread before making them.

If you deal in scampishness however, speaking rubbish can’t be avoided; if you speak the truth, it will sound good even if you did not prepare a speech, truth is a word missing from the vocabulary of our current parliamentarians.

So interior citizens, it’s up to you to fight for your survival and your environment as the elected officials will not come to your aid, since G u y a n a ’s J u d i c i a r y i s independent, your option to fight back is to file lawsuits against the largescale foreign mining and logging companies, claiming damages for your

livelihood, destruction of the environment and allocation of your land to foreign companies without your consent or approval.

See if you can get the Honorable Ms. Melinda Janki or another lawyer who has knowledge of environmental laws, to file the lawsuits.

These lawsuits will bring forth the contract information the government is hiding, we will get to know who owns what, who signed off the contracts and who give what to whom.

We will also know if these foreign companies are overstepping the boundaries of their concessions which is a violation of Guyana’s laws and as such they should be prosecuted.

Foreign companies which want to do business in Guyana, should work with a rate of depletion and deforestation that will preserve the environment, provide a sustainable livelihood to the locals, pay their fair share of taxes, duties and royalties, respect the Guyanese people and if they can’t, then they should pack up and leave. So Interior Citizens, get some will, spirit and motivation to “STOP TAKING CRAP! TIME TO FIGHT BACK!” R. David

From page 5 society: the case of Guyana,” in which he argued that, “the ethnic security dilemma increases because political power has been treated as a zero-sum game.” He then repeated his argument that African leadership must be part of executive power sharing to facilitate their constituency’s share of economic and other resources.

But after challenges to the leadership starting in 2009, he was peripheralized when Granger was made leader in 2011 and president in 2015.

The elections of 2011 and 2015 demonstrated that our predicted demographic changes after 2006 could produce the “politics of in and out” rather than the almost certain “politics of over and under” when one ethnic group commands an absolute majority in a plural society.

We proposed that the PNC should not succumb to calls to be more confrontational in the streets, since this would alienate needed ‘cross over votes’. They held the line, formed alliances and removed the PPP government in 2015.

The proof of the moderating centripetal politicking to attract “outsiders” was provided, and it was left for the PNC-dominated government to continue in that vein so that all groups could see their interests represented.

But the present PNC under Norton is responding to extremist pressures and continues to shoot itself in the foot, as Granger did

during his presidency, when he alienated groups outside the PNC’s core constituency, which they need to secure a majority. For instance, claiming that the PPP rigged their win from the outside; dubbing their government an “illegal, installed cabal” and denouncing every governmental initiative since 2020 as “discriminatory and racist” without providing any proof for their allegations does not help.

Protests against these allegations, heightened tensions in the society, so when a justified protest against an unexplained police killing of an African man ended in an ethnic riot at Mon Repos, it was like a Greek tragedy playing out. As I had pointed out after the Jan 12, 1998 anti-Indian ethnic riots in the wake of a protest march, it did not matter whether the organizers actually instigated the riot or not. They were at a minimum criminally negligent since, based on our history, they ignored obvious risks and disregarded the lives and safety of those Indian

Guyanese vendors at Mon Repos.

To strengthen its centripetal power sharing mode of governance, the PPP should start by issuing “Ethnic Impact Statements” on their initiatives, monitored by the ERC. They should also reform and professionalize the GPF and other state institutions openly; with their ethnic compositions taking centre stage as Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yu did and not to play ducks and drakes with this imperative. Finally, now that PM Mark Phillips felt he needed to announce his “Afrocentricity”, other African Guyanese in the party should be facilitated to form an “African Guyanese Caucus” to signal that constituency that their interests are explicitly represented by their presence.

Aubrey Norton should likewise incorporate an “Indian Guyanese Caucus” in the PNC. Ravi Dev

A dollar today is worth...

From page 4 to finance the cost of natural disasters due to climate change. Finally, good governance must include collecting in a timely manner all payments, especially payments for our nonrenewable resources that are due to the Government and people of Guyana. To do otherwise and delay collecting the funds, especially when the future is

unknown and the Government has been agreeing to the investor’s demands without any reservations, this can be both detrimental and costly for the Guyanese people. This must not happen and Guyana must do better in managing our financial and natural resources.

Sincerely, C. Kenrick Hunte, Ph.D. Professor and Former Ambassador

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BL TLUNT.. UNT...B BL Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

For those who think that they are somehow in control of things in this land, please be advised: You are not, and you will never be!

There is a Supreme Being who controls things here.

So if perchance you want to hang on to the belief that you have a hand in how things are meant to unfold in this land, think again!

For the moment, you may be allowed free rein, but your days are numbered – for nothing lasts forever.

Everything has its season and the time of reckoning is imminent – you will either be exalted or abased.

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Sunday July 17, 2022

“Corruption is once again reaching dangerous levels” - Article 13 wants independent investigators to probe Vice News' allegations

“Corruption is once again reaching dangerous levels,” is the view of Article 13 co-founder, Dr. Yog Mahadeo. His disclosure was forthcoming even as he commented on corruption allegations highlighted recently by Vice News.

Despite the defenses being promulgated regarding the Vice News allegations where numerous Chinese nationals have claimed widespread corruption in doing business here, Article 13 believes that an investigation into the matter is absolutely necessary to protect the country's international image.

The organisation has recognised statements by both President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo supporting calls for a probe into the Chinese claims and has thus urged the administration to follow through with their own statements to get to the bottom of the damning reports.

In an invited comment, civil society activist, Dr. Mahadeo,

stated that regardless of the views regarding VP Jagdeo – who is at the centre of the accusations – “we need to stop the bleed on our country's name and urgently accept the VP's call for an investigation,” the civil society activist noted.

Mahadeo made the statement days after a second part of the Vice News undercover 'Guyana for Sale' report was aired.

The item highlights a number of Chinese nationals operating in Guyana claiming to pay government officials, in particular VP Bharrat Jagdeo, large sums of money for contracts and other business benefits.

The report has also provided indepth information on what seems to be an international money laundering ring where launders are able to move large sums of money in and out of the country on a daily basis.

Article 13 has pointed out, however, that several areas need to be looked at if the government

Article 13 activist, Dr. Yog Mahadeo should genuinely seek to chase the allegations made against it.

“Who will conduct the investigation?” Mahadeo questioned.

“It cannot be a morally-flexible police force! The Guyana Police Force itself should be investigated for their roles during the last elections, on extra-judicial killings

and a host of other matters,” he said.

He continued that, “servants of the State cannot fairly investigate their bosses, not in Guyana, where the Head of the Police is a creature of the Head of State.”

“So, it has to be a specially constituted independent set of investigators who will have access to all documents, including that of the integrity commission, the Cabinet, the bank accounts and other similar structures.”

In any investigation, the person(s) involved must step aside to allow for the investigation, Mahadeo related. He thus questioned whether the VP would be willing to do so as this is n eces s ar y f o r tr an s p ar en cy regarding any investigation.

Mahadeo pointed out that in the Vice News report, the VP, when questioned, acknowledged corruption being prevalent in Guyana while managing any attempt to paint him into the picture of corruption. “The Vice-Gate

scandal surrounding Vice News, Vice President, Su Zhi Rong, and others speaks, to the perception of a corrupt government which will continue to have an impact on our relationship with investors and, indeed, our entire population,” Mahadeo stated.

He applauded the VP for signalling that the accusations of any involvement by him should be investigated.

He said, “I personally believe that Jagdeo has kept himself above the fray of rank corruption at his personal level and I support Jagdeo's call for an investigation into the accusation of corruption by Su Zhi Rong.”

Mahadeo opined that in looking at the Vice News exposé, “one must be concerned, what signals are we sending to investors? Are we welcoming such investors who are willing to bribe and cheat and telling them that certain persons will get access to Government even (Continued on page 9)

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

The President was appropriately dressed

There was a period in the life of Forbes Burnham when he began to don various military and paramilitary uniforms. After a while, he became the butt of jokes but it was suspected that he was suffering from megalomania the obsession with power.

He turned up to an event at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) wearing a General s uniform. He later turned up at an inspection at the Guyana National Service wearing that agency s uniform. He appeared at the annual Remembrance Day Wreathlaying Event at the Cenotaph in full ceremonial military regalia.

The then Working People s Alliance found it highly amusing. Burnham s appearance became so comical that the party pleaded with the Women s Revolutionary Socialist Movement (WRSM) the women s arm of the PNC not to invite Burnham to any event.

During a recent visit by a delegation from Saudi Arabia, Guyana s President Irfaan Ali was seen donning a red and white chequered guthra similar to that worn by the head of the Saudi delegation. The President s headwear led to some comment in the newspapers

all of which were ill-informed.

There is nothing improper or unpatriotic about a Guyanese President wearing a guthra when meeting a representative from the Kingdom. In fact, it will be considered a sign of respect to do so.

The wearing of the red and white chequered guthra along with the white thobe, a long shirt that reaches the ankles, is part of the traditional wear of that part of the Arab world. It, however, is not unusual to find Guyanese Muslims wearing the long white shirt both for religious and official events.

The President of Guyana is a devout Muslim.

He had worn the thobe the very morning to go to prayers in the mosque in his home village. The Saudi delegation visited on Eid-ulAza and therefore it was fitting for the President to be bedecked in his religious garb.

It was not an act of cultural appropriation for the President to wear the guthra or thobe.

It was an act of respect and solidarity with the visiting delegation, coupled with the fact that this was a holy day for Muslims.

Guthras and thobes are not alien to Guyana. On

Thursday, the Imaan who said the prayers at the Demerara Bank-hosted event in Leonora had on an Arabic headwear and shirt.

After the Black Power uprising in Trinidad, Burnham moved quickly to embrace African traditions. He began to don dashikis at public events. No one found that inappropriate or pandering.

It is not usual for Heads of State to don foreign wear during overseas visits. At many international conferences certain clothing are given out and the guests are encouraged to wear them including for photo opportunities. The official photograph of the Caricom Inter-sessional held in Belize, for example showed almost all of the heads wearing the traditional white long-sleeved shirt jac which is worn in Belize.

In 2015, an India-Africa Forum Summit was held in India.

All of the Prime Ministers from Africa, except Robert Mugabe (who wore a western-styled suit), in attendance donned India wear for the official photograph.

When Barack Obama was a Senator, he had dressed in a traditional Somali wear when meeting an elder. And at

Corruption is once again reaching...

From page 8 if it is not in exchange for money? Are we telling investors that it is okay to break the laws and enjoy the protection of the Government?

The Vice-news broadcast leaves a lot of unanswered questions, not on Jagdeo, but on Guyana and the systems we have here. In fact, the Vice News exposes a nation in peril, and not the accusations of Jagdeo the individual. On one hand, a President says that the middlemen could be exposed, yet he himself entertains and coddles them.” It does not do us any good to

hear the President promising to not grant special favours but yet setting up a Saudi desk within our Finance Ministry,” Mahadeo claimed.

“We note well that the setting up of this Saudi desk in the Finance Ministry under the Ali administration means setting up the desk at the Office of the President (OP) since the Ministry operates out of OP. Business is explicitly being taken care of in-house,” the activist highlighted.

The perception in Guyana, he noted, is that a person cannot conduct any

business without a connection or link to someone who looks forward to a bribe.

Mahadeo said that some people claim to have the top civil servants on speed dial and often exercise that admirable feat to get their way.

Some Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Agencies and State-owned entities have various direct and indirect interests with various entities, a sta t e o f a f fairs that amplifies that corruption is, once again, reaching dangerous levels, the Article 13 founder opined.

Dem boys seh...

Vigilante justice is injustice!

In Guyana when yuh ketch a man tiefing, de public does do all kinda cruel things to de man.

Dem does beat he, tie he up and taunt he. Most times dem does guh too far.

Dem nah see wat dem doing to de man is human rights violations. Dem should ketch de man and carry he to de station, not inflict blows pon de man no matter wat he do.

In Guyana also dem women does want fight fuh equal rights. Dem seh how de same way yuh treat man, yuh muss treat a woman.

Dat is equal rights. But de odder day dem ketch a woman allegedly stealing some rusty chairs. Dem chuck she and den some odder women subject she to torture. Dem put she fuh stand up and start pile up chairs pon she head.

Dat poor woman coulda suffer brain damage.

Some people jump and holler how dis was wrang and is no way to treat a woman.

Dem boys agree. But wat good fuh de goose gat to be good fuh de gander. Yuh can’t want fuh complain when women get ill treat fuh allegedly doing wrang. But when

men allegedly do wrang, people – man, woman and child – does become cheerleaders when dem people start beat de man like a drum and tie he up like a animal Human rights gat to be fuh all. Wah dem people do to dat woman with dem chairs pon she head was wrang. Dem should be charged and she should be charged also if she did steal de chairs.

But dem wah does beat dem men wah tief should also be charged with assault and battery Talk half. Leff half.

successive Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summits, heads have donned traditional garb for the photo shoot.

It is surprising that one letter writer would find the wearing of the headgear by President Ali inappropriate because, in part, he was representing a country of six races.

So when Burnham wore

his suit and tie was this pandering to the western world? Was it inappropriate?

When Burnham imposed shirt jacs on public servants was this pandering to certain tastes?

Was this inappropriate? Burnham pushed the dashiki as a national fad, was this inappropriate and pandering to anyone? What is the Guyanese dress code, by the

way?

(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

Sunday July 17, 2022

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

UG is symptomatic of the permanent tragedy of Guyana I

s the honeymoon between me as a political analyst and Professor Paloma Mohamed, Vice Chancellor (VC) over?

The answer is yes. After three years of silence on UG, I think it is.

This month marks three years that I have not written even one column on UG. One of the most prominent UG

academics that I ran into last year, with a lengthy smile on his face, told me that I don't write on UG anymore. I did not go into an explanation.

When Ivelaw Griffith left in May 2019 as VC, I thought I should give the new administration a chance to settle down. Griffith was yet another manifestation of the immense tragedy of Guyana

and for me it was yet another opportunity of learning of the inexplicable nature of life.

I could not believe the PPP government in its wildest imagination would have made Dr. James Rose the VC. He was just not that kind of material.

The analogy is putting a botanist in the chair of the Attorney-General. I thought

UG had reached its lowest point with Rose. From the time he became VC, Rose and I were locked in a zero sum battle at UG. I hereby apologise to Dr. Rose after what I saw with Griffith. Of course, I never worked under Griffith because my contract was terminated in December 2011, just two weeks after Donald Ramotar became president.

But Griffith was the lowest point not Rose. I have not seen Rose for over 10 years.

If I see him, I will apologise though I will not forgive him for his involvement to remove me from UG in the 1990s.

Dr. Paloma Mohamed was made VC and Dr. Nigel Gravesande was appointed Registrar before then. I saw no reason to compose critical comments on the leadership of these two persons and I have known Nigel for over 50 years. He is a fine gentleman.

Last Thursday, my eyes were opened by what I heard about UG in 2022; surely, not in 2022. UG should have changed for the better long before then.

By Thursday, July 14, UG

had not sent out acceptance letters.

July 17 (which is Frederick Kissoon today) is the deadline for he holds steady and don't let submission for UG destroy him. government scholarship.

He was superb in dealing But in steps insanity, in s t e p s t h e p e r m a n e n t with my complaints.

I will mention two things breakdown of UG, in steps the permanent Guyanese he said.

One is that UG has not tragedy.

To a p p l y f o r a gone through the scholarship, you have to confirmation of requirements produce a university letter of that should accompany the applications and the acceptance.

What this meant was interview process as yet. h e a r t b r e a k f o r y o u n g Secondly, UG would try to intervene with the Ministry students.

I was once a young of Public Service to extend student. I waited anxiously the deadline.

I made one comment for my scholarship acceptance from MacMaster don't talk to the ministry, get U n i v e r s i t y a n d t h e your house in order. Nigel University of Toronto. I called me back to say know how it feels. But there provisional acceptance is on will be no scholarship money its way.

But I don't know if a for these students who successfully completed their provisional acceptance from UG would meet the O and A levels.

I rang Nigel with rising government's requirement anger in my voice. Nigel and for receiving a scholarship. I I were students in the history want to say unambiguously, degree from 1974-1978. We N i g e l ' s a t t i t u d e w a s sat next to each other for four satisfactory to me.

I opened the papers years.

A devoted Catholic, he is yesterday, and there was a a man of integrity. UG has got letter from a student, the a competent registrar. I hope nature of which this nation has seen 35, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, 2 years ago about UG. I read that letter and pure anger visited me.

This is unchanging UG. It doesn't seem that UG can survive and the administrators and people of Guyana must meet in a period of consultation to decide if UG should continue to exist.

Here is my suggestion.

Negotiate with UWI to collapse UG into UWI with UG being the campus solely devoted to agriculture, forestry, petroleum studies and environmental studies.

Guyanese students can take subjects in humanities and social sciences at other UWI campuses.

Alternatively, there are two options. Accredit School of the Nations to offer first degrees in the humanities and social sciences in collaboration with other universities or allow another university to operate. UG is gone.

Let's give it a poetic funeral.

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

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

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PAGE 12

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

Man burns own house down - tells common-law wife “me help you build this house and I will burn it down”

A

34-year-old woman, Radha Ramanah is now forced to sleep at her workplace after her commonlaw-husband on Thursday last allegedly burnt their home down at Farm, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

“We were arguing and he said 'me help you build this house and I will burn it down, you can build it back by yourself if yuh want',” Ramanah told Kaieteur News as she recalled hurrying to take their seven-year-old

daughter out of the building as her intoxicated husband used a lighter to ignite the gasoline-soaked floor.

Kaieteur News has since been able to confirm the act of arson, which occurred around 19:30hrs on Thursday last, with East Bank Police Commander, Denise Griffith.

The suspect has been identified as Barrington Leung, 29, who is still at large. It is possible, according to sources, that he could be hiding at a location on the East Bank of Demerara.

As police continue their investigation, Ramanah and her daughter are homeless and she is clueless about her next move. She has, however, sent her daughter to live with her mother as she takes up residence in a space at her place of work.

“I am sleeping here at my workplace and now thinking how to start over, where to start from, where to begin,” the woman said.

Ramanah is also fearful to move around because she had spotted the suspect near her

The aftermath of the fire

workplace recently and believes that he might try to attack her.

“I hope the police can catch him quickly so I can get to move around freely because I have seen he checking out my workplace here the other day,” she highlighted.

The woman said that her husband has never been violent towards her but had a drinking problem and when drunk, they would argue a lot. She said that she is even surprised at his action on Thursday. She said that she is still trying to figure out what might have led him to burn their house down.

“I came home from work around 7:30 (PM) and he was

The man accused of burning his own home

cursing up. My daughter told me 'mammy daddy drink and he throw gasoline in the house',” recounted Ramanah.

At first, continued the woman, “I thought it was a joke and I began arguing with him but when I see he reach for a lighter, then I realised it was serious.”

The woman rushed quickly to get her daughter out of the house and as soon they were outside safely, the suspect lit it on fire.

She recounted that as it went up in flames, she tried calling the police station but she could not get through.

“I was afraid to leave because he was there,” she recalled but when the man (Continued on page 69)

3 patients now in COVID-19 ICU - as 137 new cases recorded There are currently three patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), even as 37 persons are in institutional isolation and 974 are in home isolation.

This is according to information released on Saturday by the Ministry of Health. It was revealed too that from 639 tests, 137 new infections were recorded within the last assessed 24-hour period.

The 137 cases – 76 men and 61 women – have now brought the total number of confirmed cases to 68,867. The new infections, according to the Ministry, were detected in Region Four – 75 cases; Region Nine – 39 cases; Region Seven – eight cases; Regions Three and 10 – two cases each; Region Two – three cases, and Regions One and Six – one case each.

To date, a total of 66,589 persons have recovered from the virus.

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

PAGE 13

3 Region 1 CDC Chairmen reportedly not paid for years …as others receive stipend

By Davina Bagot Over the years, the National To s h a o s C o u n c i l ( N T C ) Conference has served as a forum to shed light on some of the specific issues affecting Indigenous village leaders who may not always be properly positioned to share their concerns with the government and nation at large. However, three Community Development Council (CDC) Chairmen, stationed in Region One, at the very top of the country's map, are hopeful that after years of begging consecutive

governments to address their wages concern, that the media could play a helping hand in speeding up this process.

This is the case of Winston Peters, Simon Roberts and Richard Anthony, all CDC Chairmen in Region One who noticed this newspaper conducting interviews with Toshaos at the recently concluded NTC Conference and decided to secure their chance to The CDC Chair of Lower Blackwater village said he receives his monthly flag the issue.

The gentlemen complained that stipend and is clueless as to why the other community representatives they have not received any stipend were not being treated equally.

(Continued on page 71)

From left: Unity Square CDC Chair, Richard Anthony, Arau CDC Chair, Winston Peters and Simon Roberts all complained of not being paid by the government.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

Sunday July 17, 2022

BLUNTNESS ON INDECENCY! In case you haven’t heard, please be informed that as part of our continued effort to channel positive changes in our country, our publisher, Mr. Glenn Lall, has dedicated our Page Seven to be “BLUNT” about on-going indecency in our land that should matter, not only to us at this publication, but the entire nation.

SUNDAY Even the longest rope has an end!

Politicians in a democratic society are not all-powerful; they are merely servants of the people and must act in their best interest.

The day a politician loses sight of that mandate, he/she no longer deserves to be in office.

Politicians, who choose to be corrupt, self-centred and dismissive of the citizens of their land, are destined for a disgraced legacy.

Such a state of affairs is currently unfolding in Sri Lanka whose politicians' tenure in office has been disrupted by the violent uprising of citizens who have decided to no longer settle for less.

While such acts can quickly force corrupt politicians to get their act together, the outcome is even more rewarding when a people choose to be still and allow the Creator to fight their battle.

Corrupt politicians, wherever they are, must take note of the maxim: “Even the longest rope has an end.”

MONDAY 'Pressure does buss pipe' The colloquial expression here, “pressure does buss pipe' rings true with the dramatic resignation of the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka over the weekend.

Despite daily protests over their mismanagement of the country, the two leaders had managed to cling on to power, but by the sheer will of the people they were forced to resign.

What we witnessed in Sri Lanka is of citizens standing up in anger over the poor state of their country, brought on by visionless and corrupt leaders.

All the pieces were there in Sri Lanka, and to such an extent that rank-and-file citizens couldn't take it anymore.

They had absorbed enough, endured enough, and constructive channeling and expression of their pent-up wrath and energies meant that stubborn leaders had no option but to give ground, to leave office.

The developments in unsettled Sri Lanka should serve as both mirror and case study of all that has gone

wrong in Guyana, and who and what are responsible for the way that this country is in today.

Look at Sri Lanka first, then cast eyes at what is happening here in Guyana.

If it is not a family relation doing well in Guyana, it is some nephewin-law or cousin-in-law, benefiting handsomely from the richness of doing business for the State.

Guyanese must now stand up like the Sri Lankans and demand greater accountability from out leaders. We must step up and keep up the pressure.

TUESDAY Time waits for no one!

Did you notice? 2022 is already more than halfway through.

How have you been spending your time these days?

Gone are the days when we can sit idly by and watch time fly.

With the many eerie unfolding – wars, outbreaks, uprisings – across the world, there is a sense in the atmosphere that something major is imminent.

Ready or not, whatever is coming will!

The time is ripe to make the time you have left count.

Choose your fate today for time waits for no one!

WEDNESDAY AFC looking for a husband The Alliance For Change (AFC) has signaled that it is preparing to break ranks with the People's National Congress Reform when the Cummings burg A ccord expires at the end of the year and would be looking for a new partner.

The diehards in the PNCR have scoffed at the announcement- likening the AFC to a Judas and blaming the fledgling party for the Coalition's fall from grace.

Whatever might be the reason for the AFC cutting and running, it is the belief of many that the party of Khemraj Ramjattan and Raphael Trotman has no real political future, so whether they go or stay, it will have little impact on the PNCR. The AFC certainly does not think so and its leader, Ramjattan hinted that they will seek alliances with some of the other small parties.

Coalition politics, though desirable here, has proven to be a very difficult venture.

One always got the impression that the end was near for the APNU+AFC Coalition once it was voted out of office.

W i t h n o r e a l constituency, it is left to be seen how this party fares going forward.

All we know is that it was the AFC's faction of the coalition that helped to sell out this country and is responsible for one of the worst oil contracts in the world.

Good luck to the party that would be so bold to court, engage and marry them.

THURSDAY Guyana for sale, who is the buyer?

Glamorous pictures are being painted of Guyana as an ideal business destination; that Guyana is the place to invest and make money. With significant oil finds, and other bountiful natural resources, indeed this country is wealthy and at this point, a fattened calf ready to be slaughtered.

Guyana for sale; the government is selling, the oil companies are selling, the gold companies and others reaping benefits here are selling Guyana, telling outsiders to come on board; opportunities to get rich are here.

The really sad part is that Guyanese, the owners of the resources, are nowhere part of this equation.

Guyana is for sale and Guyanese must stand on the wayside and helplessly watch the transactions, clean or not.

Vice News has only put some faces to the ongoing corruption, confirming what is already known; that Guyanese will be the least to benefit from its resources, unless action is taken to hold leaders responsible.

The problem is not that Guyana is for sale, but rather, who we are attracting as buyers.

FRIDAY Temptation and our leaders Unfortunately for Guyanese citizens, we have not found a way to work together to ensure that every political party who ends up in

government deliver for the collective regardless of political affiliation, race, religion, gender and all the other social titles that keep us divided.

Our failure to act as a nation of people equal in each other's eyes, has rolled out the red carpet for unscrupulous politicians to do as they please with our riches, which includes picking and choosing who will have and who will not.

We have failed to elect quality characters, people who have the genuine interest

of all Guyanese in mind.

Instead, what we have are characters easily tempted; whose eyes 'get full' and they must have more than what is due to them.

What we end up with are citizens tempted to elect leaders by race and leaders tempted to help themselves with the people's wealth.

SATURDAY Money flowing!

Money is flowing in the land of many waters.

Demerara Bank is expanding its operations locally and Merchant Banks

are also on their way.

Billions more to be doled out for hinterland development and even billions more for more cash grants, so money is flowing in the land of many waters but are band aids the best fit?

Guyanese say no more!

Money is flowing in the land of many waters and our people deserve more, not another cash grant.

Guyanese say no more, we can do without handouts because money is flowing, in the land of many waters.

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 15

APNU+AFC rejects recommendation to suspend 8 of its MPs

...calls move an act of political discrimination and suppression

The Opposition-led A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) has rejected the recommendation by the Committee of Privileges for eight of its Members of Parliament (MPs) to be suspended from the House.

In a statement released on

the issue on Saturday, the opposition party said that it is r e j e c t i n g t h e recommendation on three main grounds; that the move is unconstitutional, unparliamentarily and in their view, an act of political discrimination and suppression.

The party explained that their contention is premised on the claims that none of the members cited for suspension were given an opportunity to a fair hearing before the Committee of Privileges.

According to the APNU+AFC, on March 1,

2022, Opposition Members of Parliament Christopher Jones (Opposition Chief Whip), Ganesh Mahipaul, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Sherod Duncan, Vinceroy Jordan, Natasha SinghLewis, Annette Ferguson and Maureen Philadelphia received letters from the

Clerk of the Committee of Privileges captioned: “Re: Referral to the Committee of Privileges for gross disorderly conduct, contempt, and breaches of privileges in the Assembly” requesting that they “show cause”, in writing, to the Leader of the APNU+AFC: (Continued on page 70) Aubrey Norton

PAGE 16

Kaieteur News

World Bank slams Guyana over...

From page 3 building to monitor, regulate, and review, among other things, studies on reservoir engineering and geology which would provide the government “with independent third-party technical expertise needed to analyse estimates of Guyana's oil and gas resources. Assess and conduct economic and fiscal modelling to help forecast oil and gas revenues, support revenue administration and taxation, and evaluate options for future modifications to Guyana's oil and gas fiscal regime and support the cost audit of existing Production Sharing Agreements.”On the legal end, this

aspect of the project would also assist government in addressing upstream legal issues associated with oversight of the oil and gas resource. At a cost of US$1 million, another aspect of the B component aims to provide the critical hands on training. It said, “To complement the injection of immediate technical capacity that will be provided through B.1…, this subcomponent will provide training to strategic staff of the main governmental agencies directly involved in oil and gas.” Other aspects of the component covering the total budget are data and environmental management.

Sunday July 17, 2022

Produce electricity as much as you want but consider...

From page 2 using to make ammonia and it can also offset all the natural gas that is going to electricity in Trinidad as well, so if you can land electricity in Trinidad a t t h e r i g h t p r i c e p o i n t , t h e re is a massive demand for it.”

In addition to T&T, the Energy Chamber President noted that it would be “very transformational” at the same time, if Guyana would seek out other markets for it s r e s o u r c e s w i t h i n t h e C a r i b bean Community (CARICOM) Region.

It must be noted that President Irfaan Ali has already indicated that given the significant volume of natural gas discovered in the

Stabroek Block and the quantity that would be piped to shore via the US$1.3 billion gas-toshore project, Guyana is gearing to enter the gas export market.

During his keynote address at the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Conference 2022, Ali noted that if nations are to pool their collective efforts and achieve the imperative goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, then the transition to cleaner energy sources is critical.

He said, “This natural gas facility will be linked to the establishment of an industrial park and the creation of a liquefied petroleum gas plant to fulfill both local demand and for export.”

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

PAGE 17

A single mother’s ordeal at the hands of a ‘landlord from hell’ “…IS JUST GOD KEEPING ME, JUST ME PRAYERS AND GOD KEEPING ME EVERYDAY”

By Gary Eleazar

T

he Ministry of Housing and Water has over the years been engaged in an expansive drive to provide Guyanese with a house lot of their own, putting in place, with the support of numerous other government and private agencies, remedies to assist in that process.

There is, however, a large section of the population that rent dwellings. The rental of homes and apartments is in fact a flourishing business locally with the administration even recently passing legislation to cater more efficiently for condominium type homes. Many a times, those persons renting homes—landlords—take advantage of the vulnerable. Some of these have at times earned the moniker ‘Landlord from Hell’.

Allison, a 23-year-old single mother of a three-yearold son, is one such person to have been subjected to torturous treatment at the hands of a landlord. At first, her plight may seem somewhat miniscule to some, but for a mother living pay cheque to pay cheque, being told it would cost more to recover what was lost, appears to now be an insurmountable stumbling block—at least in the meantime—in the road of life.

She was forced to move from her then Sophia, Georgetown, home earlier this year, to begin apartment

The contractor while working in the apartment

hunting, since that landlord was too abusive. According to Allison, the woman she had rented that place from had become verbally abusive and would also allow her daughter-in-law to taunt her.

Allison said, at one point, things almost turned violent after ‘talk name’ taunting between herself and her landlady’s relatives. At the time, the males in the homes intervened to maintain the peace.

This, Allison said, led to the woman resorting to disconnecting her electricity supply to the apartment. Her child’s father had reconnected the wiring but this did not last, since after another altercation, the electricity had been disconnected again, this time for about six days, after which Allison decided that she had had enough and decided to move in hopes of things being better with a different landlord.

Allison, after staying with relatives and friends for sometime managed to secure an apartment to rent in one of the newer housing schemes in the country, La Parfaite Harmonie, on the West Bank Demerara (WBD). For the single mother, the move for her was somewhat inconveniencing but it was a better place to stay nonetheless, or so she thought.

Barely managing to scrape together the $80,000 rent and security deposit demanded by her would-be landlord; Allison inked a rental agreement with the owner of a fourapartment building for one of the units.

An optimistic Allison did the transaction in June last and moved in. On moving in, however, Allison began to get early warning signs of things to come.

She related that “before I moved to the apartment in Dairy, the son-in-law was calling me steady to ask if I’m getting through and what time I am coming.”

According to Allison, an initial payment was made and at the time she signed, the remainder of the money was paid over.

“After that, he started texting me in a way he should not, so I told him that I don’t want a man; he should only text me for something pertaining to the apartment,” Allison said, in refusing the young man’s advances.

He had reportedly told her his girl (wife) lives in the States (US) and he would be going back anytime soon “but I have blocked him; I would unblock him when I can’t get on to the landlord who lives in the States,” Allison added But things only got worse from there. According to Allison, having moved into the apartment, she soon began noticing that her mats would quickly become wet and soon realised that water was coming from the foundation/floor.

Additionally, Allison said she was asked to pay a ridiculous amount for electricity—ridiculous since she was only using a few appliances that could not consume the amount of electricity they were demanding payment for.

To this end, she asked that a separate meter be installed for her but this was met with an argument, “and I realised they didn’t want to give me a meter.”

Compounding her situation, Allison related that along one of the walls of her apartment she noticed that there was a crack that would leak when rain falls. Whenever the rain

Allison and her son falls, she said, the water that would seep-in and leave a mess eventually leading to a build-up of moss along the wall.

Since complaining about the water seeping in from the floor was met with reluctance, Allison said she didn’t want to lodge a complaint over the wall situation.

“I realised that they just want to rob me,” she said.

By this time, she had separated from the father of her child and as such was left to fend for herself—including against an unscrupulous landlord (the young man’s fatherin-law). According to Allison, within 15 minutes of her ejecting her child’s father from the home, the landlord messaged her from the US, inquiring whether she would be able to continue paying her rent.

She took offence to this, since according to her, this was none of their business “as long as their rent is paid that is what they should be interested in.”

Soon after, she was told by the landlord that she should vacate the building. “I don’t know if he probably thought I was not going to pay the rent.”

This quickly turned into an ultimatum being handed to the woman by the landlord to vacate the apartment—this would have been two months after moving in on a one-year tenancy agreement.

She said he was even trying to bully her into moving by offering to return the security deposit paid down.

Out of frustration, Allison said she agreed to move from the apartment by the time the landlord had requested.

Thinking this would be the end of her travails, Allison said on the morning of the day she was supposed to leave the apartment, the landlord’s wife approached her and asked if she was not leaving that morning to which she responded by indicating that this would be done by the evening.

According to Allison, the woman at that time showed her the money that was supposed to be repaid to her—her security deposit—telling her that she had to make a bank run in order to pay her. “She was like you going out, and she drop me to the (Harbour) bridge,” said Allison of the woman.

By the evening however, Allison said the woman asked her if she would prefer to collect the money from her sonin-law the next day, or meet her at work. She opted to meet Continued on page 72

Kaieteur News

PAGE 18

==CONSUMER CONCERNS==

By Pat Dial

O

ne of the irritants which Guyanese people encounter

Sunday July 17, 2022

After centuries of hope, Guyana now begins to receive adequate developmental capital for its economic revolution

is the steady stream of journalists who warn the country of the Dutch Disease, the expected splurge of wasteful spending and the

need for a Sovereign Wealth Fund according to their own peculiar model.

They become upset when they discover Guyanese are

perfectly aware of the pitfalls of unexpected Oil Wealth and have taken their oil discoveries with mature equanimity and not with the

wild celebratory abandon they expected of a "backward" Third World country.

Fortunately for the country, there are three or four leaders who have been exposed to the vagaries of International Finance and have an insight into the workings of the specialised Oil Industry and have been conducting the affairs of the Oil Economy with fair success earning international respect.

Guyana is dovetailing the Oil Sector into the rest of the Economy. From the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, Guyana was reputed to be a land of wealth and rich resources but the door to these riches could not be opened except there was a massive injection of developmental capital. Oil revenues have now begun to supply this long desired capital and it is being used in a rational and balanced way to simultaneously invest in all sectors of the Economy.

Guyanese people and their leadership, irrespective of their political affiliation, know that Oil is a temporary resource that will be exhausted in 30 to 40 years and Oil prices would fall as the world moves to green power with the exploitation of solar power, hydropower and wind power deescalating the demand for Oil. Accordingly, Oil revenues must be invested in those areas of social and economic life that will continue to generate wealth and welfare way into the future. Such areas are Infrastructure, Agriculture, Cheap Power, Social Services and Industry.

The investment capital is limited and so has to be deployed in a balanced way to all sectors and this results in slower progress in the individual sectors.

We will now look at the investment in the various sectors: Connectivity of various geographical areas and their populations would quicken economic development, integrate the population and allow people from the remoter areas to enjoy the same social amenities such as Health and Education as Georgetown.

Several of the Georgetown roads are being upgraded, the East Bank Demerara roads leading to the Cheddi Jagan airport are widened and upgraded and new connection roads like the one from Eccles to Ogle are being built. The Linden to Lethem and the Linden to Georgetown roads have begun construction and bridges over the Corentyne

River and Demerara River will in a few years become a reality. It should be observed that this road connectivity would allow the various Amerindian communities to enter the mainstream and access the same social amenities as others.

The absence of economically priced power has long inhibited the development of Industry and the Economy. This is now being addressed by solar and wind power schemes as well as hydropower, the centrepiece being the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. The natural gas pipeline project whereby a pipeline would be constructed from the deep sea oil wells to bring gas to West Bank Demerara is on the way.

On its completion in three years time, this pipeline would reduce the cost of electricity by at least half.

Agriculture has always been the mainstay industry of Guyana and with the oil revenue investments, it will generate a great percentage of the income of the country and be the main employer: The Rice Industry has been achieving higher yields; sugar is being resuscitated against very adverse conditions; coconuts is being developed into a major industry; fish farming has taken off and the problems of deep sea fishing are being addressed; fruit and vegetable farmers are being assisted in a number of ways; poultry farms have been expanding and for the last two years there has not been any shortages of chicken and eggs; and honey production has been growing. Most importantly, markets for agricultural products are being explored and some, like the CARICOM markets, have been secured.

Agriculture would continue to generate income and employment long after Oil has declined in importance.

Education and Health have absorbed a good percentage of the national Budget: Schools are being upgraded and new ones built; school equipment is upgraded; various projects have been made to financially assist children and parents; and 20,000 scholarships in various tertiary disciplines are being made available to aspiring students. Teacher training in various fields is being energetically undertaken.

The Ministry of Health has completed its world class successful confrontation with the COVID-19 Pandemic and had been (Continued on page 63)

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 21

Kaieteur News

s l l a f r e t a W The

IS BACK! …Meet the delegates

Visit “The Book Hub” …for your reading pleasure

A visit to the Guyana Zoological Park

...still a wholly captivating experience

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

Rochelle ‘Christina’ Cheddie

PAGE 22

Meet our beauty of the week the charming Miss Rochelle ‘Christina’ Cheddie, a part time model and public servant who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Management. One of her favourite quotes is by Mahatma Gandhi who said: “Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.”

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 23

Kaieteur News

VILLAGE

Charity Squatting Area

…a growing unregularised community the coast.

No drainage The community's history can only be described as one that is watery, as it has been hit with one flood after another since its beginning. Residents, who spoke with this publication, related that unlike the regularised housing area, it takes very little rainfall for the squatting

By Romario Blair

A

flood come I lose hundreds.”

He revealed that the swamplike environ, when complemented by the uncontrolled vegetation, becomes a breeding spot for mosquitoes, which can easily become fertile grounds for any prevailing mosquito-borne infection.

lthough home to more than 300 families, the Charity Squatting area on the Essequibo Coast can easily go unnoticed to those unfamiliar with this section of the country.

This is especially since it has gone without much needed attention for far too long, a state of affairs that worries its residents.

Whenever being discussed, the first things discussed by those familiar with the state of the Charity Squatting area, is the fact that it is frequently flooded and its lack of development. In spite of its more than three decades of existence, the area is yet to be regularised and the Some residents navigating a muddy residents, as expected, trail in the Charity Squatting area. are not happy about this.

The community is No potable water located just off the Apart from being plagued regularised Charity area to become inundated. with frequent and severe Scheme on the Essequibo Coast. To Mohanlall Lall, who has been flooding, the residents have to date, it has no access to potable living in the community for almost deal with the challenge of no water, electricity or any roads for 29 years, said, “This area is flooded access to potable water, which that matter. as soon as the rain fall 'lil' bit; not they say is a constant struggle.

Yet, the Charity Squatting area even half hour and the place flood According to a 45-year-old female has over the years seen a growing because it got no proper drainage in resident, who did not wish to share number of households in its de area. her name, she relies on confines. From the outside, the Is just a big trench at the outskirt s e v e r a l community does not look like much but inside de community got no but when you follow the narrow, drain,” he shared. muddy trails, you would discover The businessman, when that even in desperate living asked to describe to what extent conditions, there are some willing he is usually affected, went on to to call this place home. say, “…because de place I recently visited the area in an generally low, every effort to get a first-hand glimpse of t i the living conditions re

that it is still a struggle during the rainy seasons. According to Lall, for instance, since, “…people got no access to pipe water in hay, when is dry season is still a prablem. When the rain fall is another prablem because not everybody gat tanks. It really unhealthy because de same water dat in de yard people gotta bath with it sometimes.

Den in hay, people got outside toilet and when it rain and flood is de same water people does gat to bath with.”

Development needed When asked why he moved to the area, Mohanlall said, “We had nowhere to go, dis was de only available place. It wasn't comfortable, but we stay all de ti

d i

One of the several modest homes located in the Charity Squatting area.

A community that is always inundated.

An area where some residents engage in sanitary activities.

sidents there are willing to endure. I learnt that for over 30 years, the community has been cut off developmentally from the rest of

me rain fall it get more slushy, and it sink more because of de constant water on de land…most times de water come high it kill out de kitchen garden. I usually mind like 400 chickens, sometimes when de

water tanks for water. When asked how she manages during the dry seasons, she said, “When is dry spell we go till down to the canal and bucket fetch water.

Sure, is not easy but wah we gonna do, if we need it, we gotta find a way to fetch it.”

But having no access to potable water is not only an issue during the dry season as residents confirmed

r oads.

The woman said that getting construction material into the area is a tedious task, as hired help has to move them from the road to the community.

Schoolchildren also struggle to get to school, especially during the rainy season; it was revealed.

Since there is no Guyana Power and Light Inc. service offered to the area, residents are heavily dependent on generators for electricity. But accor

m e thinking dat things gon get better. I raise three kids hay – two already marry and now I have grandchildren growing and nothing like ain't changing. All de while we been providing everything fuh we self.”

He added, “We living 28 years hay. Lang ago, we had to walk in de mud, now de only upgrade we got, is boards across de mud.”

Another female resident said that it is quite difficult to get supplies in and out of the community, since there are no

n g to Lall, with the rising price of fuel, “It expensive to work de generator in hay...I use to buy $25,000 gas every month to work generator from 6 in de afternoon to 10 in de night but right now we set up like solar just to work de freezer. At de same time, we gat to watch fuh criminals because it gat a set ah lil school boys robbing; dem does break and enter people place. When things happen hay, police don't want come because de place always under water,” he related.

Over the years, residents said that there have been numerous discussions on regularising the area. However, it would appear that those discussions were merely 'talk shops' as nothing has been done to improve the state of area.

Residents are however hopeful that critical infrastructures will be put in place in the near future so that they can finally have some much needed comfort in the area they call home.

Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Steadfast in her efforts to serve senior citizens at home and abroad…

Canada-based Guyanese

Deslyn Jack Willock is a ‘Special Person’

Deslyn Jack Willock Mrs. Willock has been a dedicated Rotarian in Toronto for the past two years

By Rehanna Ramsay

W

hen Canadabased Guyanese Deslyn Jack Willock left these shores in 2008, she wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of finding a career path, she only knew that she wanted to further her studies and secure “good enough” employment that would make her family proud.

Today, the former reporter and assistant editor has not only made her family proud but is making her mark as one of the youngest executives involved in long-term care services for senior citizens in the city of Toronto, Canada. In fact, Mrs. Willock holds several credentials in her field.

She has an administrator certificate from the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for seniors; is a qualified Social Service Worker – after obtaining credentials in Gerontology (the study of aging processes and individuals across the life course) from Seneca College, Toronto, ON, Canada and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology from York University, Toronto.

By age 28, Willock had become the first black person to lead the Rekai Centers homes, Canada’s first multicultural home owned by the prestigious Hungarian doctors Paul and John Rekai – one of Canada’s profound and most recognised families.

She said, “I went on to then become Executive Director with Responsive Health Management and it has been a life-changing career and experience for me.”

This week’s ‘Special Person’ has served now in the long-term care and support services for over 14 years and helped senior citizens of her adopted homeland find safe and nurturing facilities to live out the rest of their days.

Willock told The Waterfalls – Kaieteur News’ Magazine – that

h e r work in longterm care has helped foster her love for serving others. To this end, Mrs. Willock has been involved in several initiatives aimed at providing hampers with basic needs for senior citizens. These hampers included several personal care items and other necessities.

The overseas-based Guyanese said that she feels honoured to be able to give back to her homeland.

She stated, “I’ve been blessed and it’s only fitting to give back to my home country, my heart and passion is health care and specifically senior care. Our elders took care of us and have paved the way for us. Let’s do the same for them. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.”

GUYANESE UPBRINGING Before migrating to Canada, Willock shared briefly that she spent her formative years with her parents Dennis and Sandra Jack in the community of Meadow Brook Gardens.

“I was raised by my father and g r a n d m o t h e r. M y grandm

Deslyn Willock stands alongside a co-worker during a COVID-19 vaccination drive

Mrs. Willock enjoys some much needed down time in the snow

o t h e r, F l o r e n c e , w a s v e r y influential on me, and always instilled in me that education was key to success. From a very young age, I would recite poems at her Lodge Meetings where she was a senior council member,” she revealed about her Guyanese upbringing.

Willock shared too that before leaving these shores, she was involved in pageantry.

“I was a former Ms. Guyana Universe contestant,” she said. As related to her work experience locally, Willock is a former Prime News reporter and Assistant Editor at NCN Radio.

Added to this, she has been the host of Happenings TV a local entertainment programme, and former Public Relations Officer (PRO) for Splashmin’s Fun Park and Resort – which was her last place of employment before migrating to Canada.

CHANCE CAREER She told this publication that entering the field of Gerontology and long-term care services was a career she picked up by

chance.

“When I got to Toronto, my parents and other family members had already been living there for years, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to go back to school and get qualified, possibly in the field of media studies. I had my daughter young so that kind of caused me to put a hold on my studies,” Willock related.

As such, she noted that it was totally by chance that she chose a very different path from her media life.

“I remember doing some research on colleges and stumbling across Gerontology and my curiosity led me down this path. I had never heard that word before or the term Alzheimer’s. I fell in love with the field and the joy and opportunities it brought me to help others and make a difference,” she added. Soon after discovering the field of study, Willock enrolled in an information session on Gerontology.

“I went back to school. I now have a degree in sociology from York University, also a Social Services worker Diploma specialising in Gerontology from Seneca College graduating top of the class with honours,” she said.

Mrs. Willock is also an Executive Director at Responsive Health Management for almost 10 years managing multi-milliondollar organisations in senior health care with Canada’s top healthcare operators including Extendicare and Revera Living Canada, spending most of her career with Responsive Health Management Inc. YOUNG EXECUTIVE She describes being one of the youngest executives involved in Long-Term Care as a highlight of her career.

“I have been excelling at my role. As a recognised leader in the Continued on page 58

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 25

Being a healthy macho man T

By Nigel Williams

he vast majority of Guyanese men take great pride in their masculinity. Most men actively seek to portray a macho image. That image is usually the result of a macho mindset. Unfortunately, a macho mindset has been linked to unhealthy habits which in turn may cause more illnesses among men as well as a shorter life expectancy compared with women.

However, this need not be the case- A man — who has every right to be proud of being a man — can and should take steps to avoid the pitfalls of unhealthy habits and the problems caused by such habits. Men need to be conscious of the issue and work to be stronger, healthier, and have a longer more productive life. After all, men have families who depend on them.

The word “macho” itself has an interesting origin; the word came from astronomy — the study of stars. The word was first used as a short form of Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Object. This is any massive, large, domineering object in space.

Eventually, the word was adopted by the general public to mean an individual tending to display masculine characteristics, such as domineering fierceness, bravado, assertiveness, virility, etc., in ways that are showily and exaggeratedly tough.

Currently, a macho man is one who displays such characteristics based on his own self-identity. Academics and experts recognise, accept and use this definition and concept of being a macho man.

It is widely known that men have a shorter life expectancy than women. In Guyana, the present life expectancy for men is only 62.5 years old while women are expected to live to the age of 69.4 years.

This is the case even though men have higher income and better access to healthcare services.

International studies have proven that a man's shorter life is directly related to a

macho mindset and the bad choices that come with it.

A study in Nigeria in 2019 concluded that a macho mindset has a positive correlation with a man simply not seeking medical attention when he is ill.

A study in the United S tates co n clu d es th at, “Evidence on the connections between hegemonic masculine norms and influential health-risk behaviours, including poor diet, substance use, occupational hazards, unsafe sex, and limited healthseeking behaviour is clearly manifest.”

The same study added that, “In short, while some gender norms can be protective in terms of health outcomes, men's poor health is most often driven by their efforts to live up to or adhere to restrictive societal norms related to manhood.” In other words, all those academic studies indicate that men — because of the macho attitude — do risky things while at the same time, they do not seek medical care when they need it. And, of course, such attitudes and behaviours lead to more illnesses and earlier death.

The question now is, what can men do about the matter? First, let us break down the problem into its two important parts: a macho mindset, and macho behaviour.

Clearly, there is nothing wrong with having a macho attitude.

Men who have a macho attitude sometimes channel that attitude into healthy activities: such men may engage in healthy sports such as football, rugby, or cricket.

Such macho men may go to the gym to build strong bodies.

Men who engage in such healthy activities are less likely to smoke or drink excessively; they are also more likely to maintain a healthy diet.

On the other hand, unfortunately, many men with a macho mindset go in the opposite direction. This is where the problem lies. Such men may believe that it is “manly” to smoke and drink heavily. They may think that going to a doctor when they

are sick is not for them.

And, because more men take the macho mindset and turn it into unhealthy behaviour, we now have a situation where more macho men are getting sick and dying earlier.

The solution to the problem should be clear by now. Men should know that there is nothing wrong with being a macho man; the important matter is what men

do with that macho attitude.

Do we channel our masculine pride into healthy behaviours, or do we move in a self-destructive direction?

We need to think carefully about that question, and we need to make the right choice. If we make the right choice and focus our macho pride in a good direction, we will live longer, healthier lives.

We will be better able to

provide for our families. We are more likely to be alive, to enjoy the company of our children and grandchildren. So, even as we pride ourselves in our manliness, let us remember that our families need us; let us channel that pride in the healthy direction and make

the wise decisions that will lead to better lives.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 27

Electing a woman leader – a long and winding road

By Sir Ronald Sanders

T

he fight for the post of leader of the ruling Conservative Party in Britain and for the Presidency of the United States is bringing the question of women and race into sharp focus.

The fact that women – and non-white women – are strong contenders for leadership, in Britain and the US, demonstrates a remarkable advance in both countries, where women endured many indignities, including imprisonment, in the fight for equality of treatment and the right to compete with men for any and all positions.

The active involvement of non-white women is an even greater indication of the maturing political elite in these countries, although real equity and equality is yet to be achieved.

In Britain, the election of Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to the leadership of the Conservative Party and the Prime Ministership, smashed that glass ceiling.

A white woman becoming leader and Prime Minister is no longer an issue for the Conservative Party.

But the issue of a nonwhite woman, becoming party leader and Prime Minister, still might be.

Among the eight candidates who sought the leadership of the Conservative Party, after Boris Johnson was forced to announce his intention to step down, four were women of whom two are non-white Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman.

Badenoch parents are Nigerian.

She was elected to parliament in 2017 and has served in three government positions, the most recent one being Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities and Minister of State for Equalities.

Despite her immigrant background (or maybe, because of it), she voted for Britain to leave the European Union, describing it as "the greatest ever vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom".

Braverman is the child of immigrants of Indian origin; her father and mother moved to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius respectively.

Despite this, she was also strongly in favour of Britain leaving the EU. As Attorney-General of England and Wales from 2020, until she too resigned to run for the top Conservative

Party post, she pledged to withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights, to "stop the small boats" and crack down on refugees crossing the English Channel.

She also expressed the intention to abandon climate change action in its entirety.

Countries which are victims of Climate Change must have breathed a sigh of relief when Braverman was eliminated from the leadership contest.

Her departure leaves only Badenoch as the nonwhite woman in the race, which has whittled down to 5 candidates, and appears to be heading to a showdown between a white woman, Penny Mordaunt – the current Minister of Trade and a man of Asian origin, Rishi Sunak, the former Treasury Minister.

Badenoch is likely to be eliminated in the next round of voting but, depending on which of t h e r e m a i n i n g contenders she backs, she could place herself in position for a senior Cabinet post.

The winner of the vote for the Conservative Party leadership will be decided on September 5, when one of the final two contestants will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative Party members from across the country.

That group will consist mostly of white males.

Their choice will be between a non-white man and a white woman.

Their decision will be a telling measure of how far the Conservative Party has gone in overcoming racial bigotry on the one hand and prejudice against women on the other.

It is remarkable that the leadership of the Labour Party in Britain, long the favoured party of immigrants, especially from the West Indies, remains firmly male dominant.

Although of its 200 elected members, 104 are women of whom 41 are non-white, the leadership is mostly white and male.

In the United States,

although nine other nonwhite women have run for President on behalf of obscure political parties, only two were seriously considered.

Shirley Chisholm sought the Democratic Party nomination in 1972 and Kamala Harris in 2020.

They were both eliminated.

And while, many white women contested for n o m i n a t i o n s a s Vi c e President, only two of them were selected - Geraldine Anne Ferraro in 1984 for the Democratic Party and Sarah Palin in 2008 for the Republicans.

Kamala Harris was the first woman of any colour to be selected as Vice President.

Campaigning for the 2024 Presidential elections has already started among the political elite and kingmakers in the US. So far, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Cheney of the Republican party look like contenders, but neither of them is a foregone conclusion to win the nomination of their parties.

In the Caribbean, five women have held the post of head of government in Dominica, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. But considering women for party and government leadership is not a norm in the Caribbean.

Eugenia Charles of Dominica, Janet Jagan of Guyana, Mia Mottley of Barbados, Kamla Persad Bissessar and Portia Simpson Miller were exceptions.

They were strong personalities with deep involvement in electoral politics in their countries, but, more so, in the politics within their own political parties.

All five women endured slurs and other calumnies to achieve leadership of their parties and countries. In large part, what aided their triumph over male contempt was their political grit – a much needed quality for women in politics.

Of course, in other parts of the world, for instance India, Israel, Chile, Australia,

Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Germany and Sweden, women have been elected as Party leaders and Heads of Government; but unlike the US and Britain, these women did not have to overcome racial prejudice as well.

Progress is being made in breaking down institutional bias against women in international politics, but male bigotry and racial prejudice remains alive and well in domestic politics.

It may we l l be the determining factor in the Conservative Party's vote for

a new leader and Prime Minister, and for the Presidential contenders in the US. The road to true equality remains long with many a winding turn.

(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda's Ambassador to the United States of America and the Organisation of American States.

He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of

Sir Ronald Sanders Commonwealth Studies, University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto) Responses and previous c o m m e n t a r i e s : www.sirronaldsanders.com

Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Delicious homemade shakes that can help you lose weight

By Davina Bagot

I

f you have been exhausting efforts to lose weight with little or no results after tiring weeks, I have put together a list of delicious protein shakes that you can make right at home to help you lose weight.

Research shows that protein plays a major role in weight loss as it specifically works by suppressing hunger and reducing cravings.

It has been suggested that the best time to gulp down these power boosters is after a workout since that is when your body requires instant nutrition for muscle recovery and growth. Using these drinks within the first 30 to 45 minutes after a workout could be best but you can also use these shakes about an hour before your training to help energise your body and boost your stamina.

PEANUT BUTTER PROTEIN SHAKE I got these easy recipes from NDTV Food and you can check them out if you please for other great tips. To try this shake, you will need one cup of yogurt, half cup of almond milk, one to two tablespoons of peanut butter and 15 to 20 green grapes.

Simply blend all the ingredients together, refrigerate and enjoy chilled for a tasty way to satisfy your cravings.

Healthline, another website, says that peanut butter may help you lose weight by helping you control your appetite and suppressing your blood sugar. In fact, it states that peanut butter helps keep you fuller for longer.

CHOCOLATE AND BANANA PROTEIN SHAKE Never thought chocolate could help you lose weight right? Believe it or not, chocolates and bananas make for a wonderful combination!

NDTV Food says that this super healthy protein shake is packed with nutrients that can work as a great meal substitute.

For this homemade protein shake, add 10 almonds, half cup yogurt, three quarter cups of milk, half teaspoon cinnamon, quarter cup cooked quinoa, one banana cut into chunks and one tablespoon of cocoa powder in a blender and blend away your delicious drink.

Quinoa contains all the essential amino acids and is great source of plant-based complete protein.

BERRY PROTEIN SHAKE If you’re a fruit person and have the funds, you would be pleased to know that all berries act as powerful antioxidants and are a great source of fibre that helps you lose weight.

You can use strawberries, cape gooseberries (rasbhari) or blackberries (jamun) in your smoothie. To make this sweet e n e rg y boost e

r, use seven to 10 berries, half cup whipped cottage cheese, quarter cup water, 1 tablespoon chia seeds and some honey if you like.

Research shows that chia seeds are one of the best super-foods you can use to speed up your weight loss journey. From boosting digestive health, metabolic rate, high iron, Omega-3 content and good fats, chia seeds make for an excellent addition to your diet. In fact, most of all, the tiny white and black seeds are great for you to lose weight and reduce belly fat.

VEGAN PROTEIN SHAKE If for some reason, you want to avoid the regular milk or fatty dairy products, you would enjoy this vegan protein shake option.

Simply blend three quarter cups of silken tofu, one c u p o f almond o r cash e w mi

lk, one banana, quarter cup cooked oats, one teaspoon honey and one teaspoon vanilla essence for flavour.

Tofu and nut milk gives you a protein punch and oats add the necessary fibre to your weight loss drink.

RAW EGG PROTEIN SHAKE Some of you may believe that I saved the best for last, and I probably did. This option is for the folks into muscle building or just looking to shed some pounds. The first step is to make sure you get some good quality eggs. You will need one egg with the yolk, half of an avocado, half cup of milk (you may use coconut milk if you prefer), one banana, one teaspoon honey and half teaspoon cinnamon. Blend all the ingredients together and serve chilled.

If you didn’t know, avocados are rich in many nutrients, including fibre, healthy fats, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, and folate.

Healthline explains that including avocadoes in your diet may help to promote a healthy weight.

In fact, eating avocados regularly may benefit health in several ways, including protecting against heart disease, improving overall diet quality, improving satiety, and promoting gut health.

Another important point which I would like to share is that bananas are a super-fruit that is rich in nutrients that may help to improve blood sugar levels and digestive health, even aiding in weight loss, among others.

In our next article, I look forward to examining the great benefits of fruits readily available to us.

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

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>>> ENCOURAGING EVENTS, DISTURBING DEVELOPMENTS <<<

What's up, Mr. President? Emergency response plan, glowing numbers and groaning people

By GHK Lall

I

am beginning to think that something is seriously wrong with the President. I remind him that he is the head of state, and not the head of a carnival caravan. I flinched at the picture of the President in full regalia alongside the visiting Saudi Arabian delegation.

I am pained to remind he and his handlers, that he is President Irfaan Ali of Guyana, and not Ali Baba of literary delights. Presidents must conduct themselves with decorum and grace. I wonder what his Arab visitors made of his latest p i e c e o f g a u d y showmanship. He might think that it is a token of fraternal identification, but this falls flat, doesn't come across as smartly as the President imagines. There is what is called pretensive and overdone. Leadership and governance are both serious businesses, and it is time that

the heavy-footed Chief Executive get that in his head. It is clear that this leader and his counsellors have a lot to learn.

Learning is a scarce condition in this country, with more of the disturbing and worrying making the rounds. We are learning that the PPP Government, which is hellbent on the Wales Gasto-Shore (GTE) project, is now putting together an emergency response plan for this most expensive of national undertakings.

I could conclude that we are putting the cart before the horse, but it is more accurate to assert that we are clueless about what is cart and what is horse.

We don't have the proper studies, and don't now the final cost, for a US billiondollar project, yet we are racing ahead regardless, and without a barebones disaster contingency plan.

My position is simple: we play the fool; we will end up in a fool's paradise with oil and

gas.

Unless we get serious, we will be in serious trouble.

The palefaces will pick up their grips and go. We all want cheap electricity, but not in this one-eye, one foot, one leader's deranged manner. It is better that we continue to live with blackouts, than we run risks that blow us up.

Our numbers are blowing up with economic growth for 2022 now projected to increase from 47.5% to 57.8% due to daily oil production reaching 350,000 barrels.

Even the lower number (47.5%) was impressive and encouraging by any standards, so it goes without saying how more favourably 57.8% economic growth sounds.

It has a most beautiful ring to it, but the concern of mine is that most Guyanese are not hearing, feeling, anything at all. Not even a quick prick, a little pinch.

The national economic

numbers are flush and lush, but locals still feel the weight and crush. Why do these bright, dazzling numbers not mean anything to ordinary Guyanese, the mass of the population?

The numbers are good, but what good are they when they do not make one bit of a difference in the pocket or pot. It is in situations like these that politicians are in their element, as they paint the rosiest pictures, while ignoring the gloom that is the daily living experience of countless citizens.

The poor in this society need inspiration and look to their leaders for answers, not for costume shows and making laugh stories of themselves. It would help if national leaders came clean and tell the people the truths that they are due, instead of

playing with their minds, and taking advantage of them. We all want the best from this oil, but to get there, our leaders must be on their best at all times, and in every sense of the word. If gas-to-shore is the best option, then let it be, but give us the proof, not just the say so of leaders who all have a history of deceiving and misleading in this country.

As billions are borrowed, then they must strive to get the best from every dollar spent, and with every public project identified.

The money must not be another

GHK Lall opportunity to tout highpriced projects, while planning to steal some of the millions on the side. We have all these glittering numbers, yet we have these groaning, hurting people.

This disturbs.

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

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==My Testimony==

Signed, sealed and delivered Sharmain Grainger

M

y true purpose for living is only now beginning to unfold, but for years prior, I was literally doing the most to run from it.

As I come to my senses, I must confess, I did have an inkling of who I was meant to be – a fighter.

From as long as I can remember, I always had a fighting spirit; although there were times that I would try to accept the bare minimum of what life had to offer, even though I deserved it, I simply couldn’t settle for that.

But even as something inside kept pushing me to want more out of life, there were ever prevailing forces that tried to keep me from doing so. There were times I literally felt like a prisoner in my own body – this translated to me doing destructive things that I didn’t want to do but somehow felt compelled to do. It was absolutely perplexing to actually have a front-row seat to my own destruction, by my own hands. I simply hadn’t the will to save myself thus I was convinced I would be the literal death of me.

But even in the midst of all that my spirit was fighting for a way out.

Today I can say with absolute certainty, once your spirit doesn’t settle for less – that gut feeling that you deserve more (don’t feel bad for thinking you deserve more) – you have a fighting spirit too and it is the only thing that will help you find your way to your true destiny.

My true destiny lies in living a life pleasing to the true and living God. He didn’t allow his son,

©Sermon Central

Jesus, who is one with Him (don’t ask me to explain how, I just believe), to die on that cruel cross for me to live a defeated life for eternity. He died and rose again so I can live my purpose as stated in Ephesians 2:10. That biblical verse tells me that I am God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for me to do.

But for many years, I was being hindered from seeing this purpose of mine. There was, however, certain hope for me because I always believed there was truth to the popular John 3:16 scripture: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

I currently don’t have the unction to explain the details of how I was eventually freed from the unseen trap I was in, but my reading of scriptures has helped me understand how I got there. I have come to understand that sin, which is anything contrary to pleasing God, is what helps to push you further and further away from your true purpose, and except your spirit fights against this, you will remain trapped with no hope of redemption.

When I read Romans 7 in the bible, I am astonished at how much I understand the age-old writings of Paul the Apostle. He states at verses 19 and 20: “19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

It is for this very reason – this

Sharmain Grainger

©Mariners Church perpetual trap that we find ourselves in through sin – that God had to send Jesus to die for us so that we could be set free. So because of this wonderful gift – Jesus dying on the cross as a ransom for our sins – I no longer have to settle for the less that sin condemns me to. Instead of slavishly embracing things that are opposed to God, I now have freedom to choose fervently good over evil, and in so doing, I was freed from debilitating oppression.

Instead of merely fighting for myself these days, I am now able to fight for others and I will continue to do so until they too learn to fight for themselves.

Because of my new lease on life, I will not sit idly by and see the vulnerable around me trampled upon; I will not sit idly by and see people trapped in prisons of their own making and not let them

know that there is a way out.

M y testimony today is to help you understand that once you have Jesus, you have everything that you need to navigate this life.

H o w e v e r, y o u stand to lose everything if you disregard this priceless but readily available gift. This is best summed up in Roman

6:23: “For the wages of sins is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Despite the many wrongs I have done, and still feel inclined to do sometimes, I believe that because of my faith in Jesus, my destiny is already signed, sealed and delivered. “…Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.”

Ephesians 1:13-14

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Noise Pollution: It is not good for your Health

By Dr. Zulfikar Bux Emergency Medicine Specialist

N

oise pollution is most often ignored as a threat to health and life and it is only getting worse here in Guyana. According to the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise, the threats posed by noise, remain often underestimated.

It is becoming an increasing cause for interpersonal violence in Guyana.

The affected are usually ridiculed by the polluters and the situation escalates when the affected cannot cope or the polluter decides to bully the affected.

It is a situation that warrants attention given the many health risks it poses.

Today, I therefore wish to highlight the health effects of noise pollution and, h o p e f u l l y, t h i s b u i l d s sufficient awareness to help us work together to combat this underestimated threat to society.

What is noise pollution?

Noise pollution is generally defined as regular exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead to adverse effects in humans or

other living organisms.

According to the World Health Organization, sound levels less than 70 decibels (dB) are not damaging to living organisms, regardless of how long or consistent the exposure is.

Exposure for more than eight hours to constant noise beyond 85 dB may be hazardous. An example of this is someone who works eight hours daily in close proximity to a busy road or highway; that person is likely to be exposed to traffic noise pollution around 85 dB. What are examples of noise pollution?

While this may be an obvious answer to some, it is often blurred by others given their desire to promote their motives.

The following are examples of common noise pollution in our society today: · loud music from events and vehicles · road traffic sounds from cars, buses, pedestrians, ambulances, etc. · construction sounds like drilling or other heavy machinery in operation · industrial sounds like fans, generators, compressor, mills

· household sounds such as music playing on the stereo, lawnmowers, pressure washers, leaf blowers, etc. · events involving fireworks, firecrackers, loudspeakers, etc.

pollution, whether listening to loud music in your headphones or being exposed to loud drilling noises at work, heavy air or land traffic or separate incidents in which noise levels reach dangerous intervals, such as

· servicing of machinery especially in Agriculture based communities What are the health effects of noise pollution?

The following are a list of health effects that noise pollution can cause: · Hypertension is, in this case, a direct result of noise pollution cause elevated blood pressure levels for a longer period of time. · Hearing loss can be directly caused by noise

around 140 dB for adult or 120 dB for children. · Other mental health effects such as anxiety, depression, irritability and even suicidal thoughts. · Sleep disturbances are usually caused by constant air or land traffic at night, and they are a serious condition in that they can affect everyday performance and lead to serious diseases. · Child development.

Children appear to be more

sensitive to noise pollution, and a number of n o i s e pollutionrelated diseases a n d dysfunctions are known to affect children, from hearing impairment to Dr. Zulfikar Bux psychological Emergency and physical Medicine Specialist effects. · Va r i o u s cardiovascular dysfunctions. more needs to be done to Elevated blood pressure raise awareness and combat caused by noise pollution, this hidden public health especially during the night, threat.

To d a y ' s a r t i c l e i s can lead to various cardiovascular diseases such dedicated to a good friend of mine who after years of as heart attack, stroke, etc. · Dementia (affected trying to combat the daily memory) isn't necessarily noise coming from his caused by noise pollution, neighbour's yard, is currently but its onset can be favoured hospitalised with a heart or compounded by noise attack.

I can only speculate what pollution.

Noise pollution did its the years of stress and turmoil fair share on me and as I'm did to his heart but my best writing this article, I am wishes are with him and his being disturbed by the loud family during this difficult music being played by time.

Hopefully, this article someone's vehicle parked on helps to build sufficient the road. awareness to help him and These are routine occurrences and while many others who are helpless authorities are making efforts and continue to suffer from to combat noise pollution, noise pollution.

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Sunday July 17, 2022

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The Constitution and You Imperial Independence, L.F.S Burnham and the indomitable Bryn Pollard

By Gary Eleazar

The late Brynmor Thornton Inniss Pollard, OR, CCH, SC

f inister o Prime M on February e th , m ha e, aribbean es Burn

by Forb al tour of the C iola are at centr n e iv g n V y o o e r ti if p a ) w e s g c e and his II at a re tty Imag na, durin lizabeth n, British Guya , while Burnham lton Archive/Ge E n e e u Q , left ss/Hu rgetow at centre y Expre , in Geo Guyana . Prince Philip is rry Benson/Dail 7, 1966 t. (Photo by Ha righ

Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Health Facts Do you want to quit smoking?

…Here is what to expect

By Rehanna Ramsay

A

re you trying to quit smoking? If your answer is yes, chances are you are not alone. In fact, seven out of 10 smokers globally want to shake the bad habit but tend to end up in a cycle of only attempting to quit.

Today I will share with you some helpful information on what to expect in your journey to cessation.

First off, I must inform you that the drug store options available locally to help quench your craving for tobacco or nicotine is in

limited supply.

Added to that only a handful of local pharmacies or drug stores offer the supply of gums patches and other smoking cessation aids.

Please note as well, that these medically approved aids cannot be obtained in the public healthcare sector.

I visited a few drug store workers, who listed some of the smoking cessation products available on their shelves. This includes the nicotine gum or patches, the quit 4" gum, and lozenges.

Among the items listed, Nicotine gum is the most popular, it helps smokers by providing nicotine to their

body to decrease the withdrawal symptoms experienced when smoking is stopped and as a substitute for an oral activity to reduce the urge to smoke. In Guyana, it is also recommended that persons who wish to quit should seek

some form of therapy or counselling since smoke is so addictive, a smoker trying to get off the habit will find him/herself going through similar hardship as a drug or any other addict.

According to a medical research paper published by

the US-based VeryWell Mind-an online medical journal, after the first 72 hours, your peak withdrawal symptoms will start to decrease, although the cigarette cravings can still persist.

The medical journal notes that by the end of week six, withdrawal symptoms (including anger, anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, and restlessness) will have less impact.

Over the course of the first few months, you will experience many of the more obvious improvements in lung function.

W h i l e t h e s e improvements may not be as dramatic moving forward, they tend to continue gradually in people with mild to moderate Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and remain relatively stable for them.

Additionally, it was noted that weight gain is another common concern among exsmokers.

One 2012 meta-analysis showed an average increase of roughly 8.8 to 11 pounds after 12 months without smoking, There is some variation among individuals, but if you're concerned about gaining weight, try taking steps to curb eating and increase exercise.

Stay hydrated: keeping hydrated is helpful for your entire body, including your lungs.

Further, it was noted that cessation is the best way to avoid the lung damage associated with smoking.

As such, the paper recommends ensuring you're getting enough exercise: Exercise helps to strengthen your lungs and heart, allowing your body to move oxygen around more efficiently.

The research paper added that the health benefits of smoking cessation appear to continue over time.

After five to 10 years, your stroke risk is reduced and your chance of developing certain cancers is halved.

After 10 years, your risk of lung cancer is about half of a current smoker's. After 15 years, y o u r c h a n c e o f developing coronary heart disease is similar to a non-smoker's.

Your long-term health outlook depen d s o n a variety of factors, like your overall health, how long you've smoked, what age you quit, and your other health-related behaviours. Quitting at a younger age can further reduce your risks of developing health issues, the paper added.

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

e Johnny th

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r Otter

Giant Rive

e Zoo

umas at th

the two p zz, one of

Ja

n mode

o r’s relaxati The Jagua

A VISIT TO THE

Guyana Zoological Park

By Allyiah Allicock

T

here is no denying the fact that Guyanese love to be outdoors. This fact was brought sharply into focus when the COVID-19 pandemic hit our shores in March 2020 prompting a national lockdown shortly after.

Some Guyanese simply couldn’t bear being forced to stay indoors thus some even dared to breach the regulations and left the confines of their homes.

Even one of the city’s most inviting outdoorsy recreational facility – the Zoological Park – was closed off to the public.

But with fewer COVID cases being recorded, in April of this year, a decision was made by the administration to return the country to some level of normalcy.

This of course saw the resumption of the operation of the Zoo, and patrons have certainly been taking in the inviting atmosphere, which

...still a wholly captivating experience b e f o r e 2020, they hadn’t imagined being denied access to.

Situated along Vlissengen Road, next door to the Guyana Water Inc.’s Shelter Belt in the capital city, the Zoo, which shares its estate with a breathtaking Botanical Garden, is home to several exotic animals.

During a recent visit to the Zoo, I was happy to see that several of them were on full display and in animated mode.

Among the intriguing creatures that call the Zoo home that I took note of as I strolled through the recreational facility were the powis, some macaws, the fascinating harpy eagle, the jaguar, some

spi der monkeys, Jazz – one of two pumas, and Johnny, the Giant River Otter.

As I strolled through the Zoo, which is strategically positioned in the heart of Georgetown, I couldn’t help feeling a sense of nostalgia. I recalled my young self experiencing the Zoo and being

comple tely excited about it, and I assure you, it was just the same recently when I caught glimpses of the colourful creatures it accommodates.

The Zoo was first introduced in 1952. However, its grounds even before this, since 1895, were already being used as the botanical

gardens.

The Zoo has always been regarded as a captivating recreational facility and I can safely say that with its assortment of caged wildlife, it still has a captivating effect, just as it did when I was just a young girl.

As such, I am certainly encouraging anyone with a penchant for the fascinating to visit the Botanical Gardens and Zoological Park for a satisfying experience.

The Zoo OPENS DAILY from 09:30hrs to 17:30hrs while entry to the Botanical Garden is permitted from 06:00hrs to 18:00hrs.

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Sunday July 17, 2022

ZIMBABWE FILE - An Indian villager collects cow dung cakes after drying them in the sun on... - Copyright © africanews Rajesh Kumar Singh/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Period Poverty exacerbated by inflation Today, we share with you a story published by the African News that will leave many aghast but well aware that the impact of inflation can be far reaching. This report highlights the fact that period poverty has being exacerbated in Zimbabwe by inflation

nine

which stands at over 191.6 percent, according to that country’s National Statistics Agency.

ZIMBABWE GIRLS RESORT TO COW DUNG FOR SANITARY PADS Girls in rural Zimbabwe are forced to use

cow dung for sanitary wear as inflation hits feminine hygiene products.

Constance Dimingo, 19, wriggles in her wheelchair as she tries to remember the last time, she used a sanitary pad. “I last wore a pad before my mother died last year,” she laments.

A congenital physical disability compounded by poverty has made a natural monthly cycle a period of shame.

“Now, I have to use anything I can find, cow dung, leaves, newspapers and clothes, to stop the blood from leaking. I wish my mother was still alive to buy me pads and medication for my menstrual pain,” she concludes.

Constance is one of the 72 percent of girls located in the rural town of Domboshava, 30 km north of the capital Harare who do not have access to commercial sanitary wear, according to a study by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in Zimbabwe.

For an equivalent of US$2, sanitary pads are beyond reach for most of the country’s three million menstruating girls, who live below the poverty datum line.

Constance, her epileptic sister and three other girls rely completely on the assistance of their visually impaired grandmother to manage their menstrual hygiene during that time of the month.

SIX FEMALES, THREE DISABILITIES AND ONE BLOODY MESS “Sanitary pads are a luxury, I cannot afford for my girls,” grandmother Vhene Gumedhe shares, explaining how the cow dung process works.

“I take the dung, mould it and leave it to dry so that it easily absorbs the blood. The girls do not put the cow pattie directly on the skin. I wrap many clothes over it to avoid itching when placed on the underwear. Then I show them how to close their private parts to block the bleeding.”

She concludes, “The girls have heavy flows with cycles that typically last six days.

We prefer this method because cow patties soak up a lot of blood. Once soaked, we

dispose of it privately by burying it in the ground. Our Shona culture does not allow that men see such things.”

This family’s story mirrors that of millions of impoverished women around the Southern African nation who have resorted to desperate methods to manage their periods.

According to the Ministry of Women and Youth Affairs, 67 percent of girls miss school during menstruation due to a lack of access to sanitary products and clean sanitation facilities. Girls with disabilities usually drop out of school altogether, as was the case with Constance.

Apart from missing school, health experts say these methods are breeding grounds for salmonella, E. Coli and several bacteria that can result in reproductive health infections.

“The girls complain of itching and burning sensations in the vagina. When examined at the hospitals, we notice yeast infections, urogenital tract infections and early signs of cervical cancer due to insertion in the vaginal tract,” shares Theresa Nkhoma, Community Childcare Worker under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

“We are advocating for the ladies to receive sewing machines in the villages so they can learn to make reusable pads,” the health worker proposes.

The government of Zimbabwe has made efforts to ease the situation by scrapping taxes on all sanitary products. But period poverty is being exacerbated by inflation standing at over 191.6 percent, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.

Families have to choose between purchasing feminine hygiene products and buying food, with most settling on the latter.

Living on less than a dollar a day, pads remain a frill for Constance and her sisters who continue to bear the brunt of Zimbabwe’s economic crisis. (African News) (https://www.africanews.com/2022/07/1 1/zimbabwe-girls-resort-to-cow-dung-forsanitary-pads/?jwsource=cl)

Sunday July 17, 2022

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Sunday July 17, 2022

IS BACK! …Meet the delegates

N

i n e beautiful young women will be vying for the coveted Miss Jamazone title 2022 as organiser, Hits and Jams, returns the “ultimate summer festival” to Guyana after a several year hiatus. A press release from the company said that the delegates will be vying for a motorcar and cash prizes with the first event slated to be launched at the Kingston beach front.

The company said that Jamzone will be returning July 31 with its event commencing at the Kingston beach front, with a day filled with beach games, bikinis, frolic, performances from local artistes, and the winner of the Jamzone song competition and over three million dollars in cash and prizes to

Delegate #1 - Anngelila Corbin sponsored by Xtra Ginger Ale

Delegate #4 - Jade Mercurius sponsored by Star Party Rentals

Delegate #7 - Phelicia Adams sponsored by ARANCO

be won.

Ms. Jamzone delegates will showcase their ‘fantasy swimwear’ at the daytime event and later move to the National Cultural Centre where activities there will comprise the national costume, talent costume and swimwear.

The delegates of the pageant were selected from a bevy of young women. They are Delegate #1 - Anngelila Corbin sponsored

by Xtra Ginger Ale, Delegate #2 - Brianca Lester – sponsored by Hard Rock Café, Delegate #3 - Jasmaine Assanah – sponsored

by Outside Lounge, Delegate #4 - Jade Mercurius sponsored by Star Party Rentals, Delegate #5 - Shaniya Decosta sponsored by AJM Investments, Delegate #6 - Amel Griffith sponsored by Fireside Suites, Delegate #7 - Phelicia Adams sponsored by ARANCO, Delegate #8 - Omaiah Hall sponsored by Triple D Trucking and

Delegate #2 - Brianca Lester sponsored by Hard Rock Café

Delegate #5- Shaniya Decosta sponsored by AJM Investments

Delegate #8 - Omaiah Hall sponsored by Triple D Trucking

Delegate #9 - Jada Jones sponsored by Jacobs Jewellery.

This year’s contestants will focus heavily on tourism with each delegate representing a township. The aim of the pageant is to create opportunities for tourism, promote societal connections and encourage self confidence among young women.

According to the release, the delegates are currently being trained in every area including modelling, public speaking and diet and fitness.

While the queen will walk away with a motorcar, the first and second runners-up will receive $500,000 and $250,000 respectively.

Early bird tickets for the Jamzone Beach day cost $2000 and are now available at HJ Box Office, That Look Boutique, StoveTop Restaurant, Fireside Grill N Chill, Exclusive Styles, Shop and Save and White Castle Fish Shop.

Delegate #3 - Jasmaine Assanah sponsored by Outside Lounge

Delegate #6 - Amel Griffith sponsored by Fireside Suites

Delegate #9 - Jada Jones sponsored by Jacobs Jewellery

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Man who left India to work in Guyana to raise funds to save son’s life returns home dead The

Detective

Dead: Arwinder Singh

By Shervin Belgrave

O

n Monday, June 20, last, two security guards found an Indian national dead in his home at Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

However, what they did not know is that the man, identified as Arwinder Singh, 48, of Punjab, India, had travelled to Guyana seven years ago to raise funds to save his only son’s life. He was able to secure employment at BK International Inc. Singh completed his mission successfully and was scheduled to return to his homeland on June 28, last, to reunite with his family. But instead of arriving home alive, he showed up in a casket on Tuesday last.

The Waterfalls received photos and videos from his relatives of his heartbreaking

cremation ceremony.

A HERO Singh’s wife, 39-year-old Rupinder Kaur, during a virtual interview said that her husband had left their home in 2015 in search of work in Guyana.

Their 13-year-old son was ill and doctors had said that he needed to get both heart and brain surgeries done. Singh loved his son and was willing to head to an unknown country to work and raise the money required to perform the life saving medical procedures.

He gained employment at BK International Inc. as a supervisor at the company’s gold operation in Mahdia, Region Eight.

Kaur related that her husband was hardworking and

Rupinder Kaur and her 13-year-old was able to singlehandedly finance the surgeries and support his f a

mily but clearly at the cost of his own health. He had travelled home once to India since coming to Guyana but only for a few days because he still had more hospital bills to pay.

“Although the su

Arwinder Singh’s body being prepared for cremation in India

rgeries were successful, our son still needed check-ups at the hospital and medicine for his recovery,” Kaur shared.

Singh continued to work in Guyana but he was starting to become homesick even as his health deteriorated.

His plan was to return home with the little money he had, rest for a while and continue working there in order to pay off the remaining medical bills. However, fate had other plans.

Kaur recalled that her last conversation with her husband was one filled with emotions. He had been away from his family for years and he missed them dearly.

The woman said that he had booked his flight to return home and she and their 13-year-old son were counting the days down because they were excited to embrace him as he walked through the door.

“He was like I leave my family so long. I am coming home, I love you, I miss you,” Kaur recounted.

“Coming home,” would be a promise that Singh would never keep because eight days before his scheduled travel date, his remains Continued on page 70

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

Future Entertainment launches 96.1 Voice FM station; to host three major parties

The management of Future Entertainment is pleased to announce the launching of 96.1 Voice FM – the BANGING station! The station, which is now fully operational, boasts improved services with a reach of frequency as far as Mahaicony on the East Coast of Demerara, Kuru Kuru on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo. With plans to promote further traditional reach ongoing, they have implemented online radio and Facebook live streaming platforms in keeping with society’s growing digital demand. The improvements to 96.1 Voice FM now provide informative, entertaining and purposeful radio programmes reaching a dynamic network of listeners both locally and abroad! As part of this launch, Future Entertainment under the direction of Mr. Carl Primo

aka Selector Carl and Mr. Malachi Alstrom aka Dj Shizzle, is hosting a weekend of fun-filled events. Exhilarating performances will be enjoyed by the Future Entertainment DJ’s, the 96.1 “Bangers” and other local talents, including Bobby Kush, Selector Jerome, WR Reaz and Selector Andy, Warriors Choice: David Hype & Da Genius, DJ King Keev, DJ Avalanche, Selector Warren, Slingerz Family: Dj Miller 9 & Selector Matic, DJ Blaxx, Selector Kush, Dj Mark, The Crix Master, One Voice Family: DJ Joel & Selector Kevin, Selector Oswyn, Selector Adrian, Selector 1Shella & Dj Stylez.

Kicking off the weekend will be “the Soca Block Party”, which happens on Friday, the 22nd of July, 2022 at the Palm Court Nightclub on Main Street in Georgetown. The Soca Block party will feature exhilarating performances by

talented local DJ’s and performers. The second event, “Bachannal and Water” will take place on Saturday, the 23rd of July at the La Familia Parking lot in South Ruimveldt. This pool party and wet fete promises to deliver a hype atmosphere for revelers, with performances by local singers including the winner of the 2022 Soca Monarch, Mr. Jumo “Rubberwaist” Primo.

The weekend will wind down with a classy and highfashion event called “Wine and Fete”, which happens on Sunday, the 24th of July at the Malteenoes Sports Club on Thomas Lands. Patrons of this event will enjoy live DJ performances, while partying on the elegantly decorated lawns. This event will also feature a variety of wines and other premium beverages.

Season passes at the affordable prices of $5000 for

general admission and $12,000 for V.I.P admission are now available at Grill King on Mandela Avenue, Palm Court on Main Street, the 96.1Voice FM box office on Mandela Avenue opposite the East La Penitence Police Station, Vegi Blitz, 592 Bar and Grill, and Future Express Taxi Service at 23 John and Norton Streets in Georgetown. Tickets can also be purchased by calling or whatsapp Dj Shizzle on +592-684-9586 or Selector Carl on +592-681-2512.

For all updates, news and captivating content, Future Entertainment can be followed on Facebook at “Future Entertainment”, and on Instagram@future_entertainment_gy.

Future Entertainment appreciates your continuous support and promises a weekend of safe and clean fun as they launch 96.1 Voice FM, the station that will continue “Banging the Hits!”

Lessons from a Lashpreneur!!!

How to keep your natural lashes healthy while wearing extensions

By Latoya Zephyr Once you live life with your extensions , it’s hard to go back! The good news is you don’t have to. With the right care, you can maintain the health of your natural lashes while reaping the benefits of beautiful lash extensions.

Keep reading for our tips on how to keep your natural lashes healthy while wearing extensions.

Make sure your lash tech is experienced.

Damage to natural lashes occurs from improper application or when the stylist selects extensions that are too long or heavy for your natural

lashes. Before every application, the lash technician should inspect the health of your natural lashes before recommending a suitable style. At Lift and lashes our Lash Stylist have thousands of hours of lashing experience so you’re always in safe hands. Use a lash boosting serum It’s important to remember that your lashes need just as much TLC as you give your hair.

We recommend every client invests in a lash boosting serum to promote hair growth and keep your lashes strong and healthy. Avoid tugging or pulling your extensions The more you touch, pull

or tug on your eyelash extensions – the weaker the bond becomes and the more likely they are to prematurely fall out. When you pull the exten-

sions out early, your natural lash will come with it which can cause damage to your lash line. We recommend using a lash spoolie to gently comb through the lashes regularly.

Keep your lashes clean In order to maintain the health of your natural lashes, it’s extremely important to keep your lashes clean.

Wash your lashes regularly with a gentle, oil-free cleanser to ensure there’s no debris build up on your extensions.

When it comes to removing makeup, we recommend using a cotton tip around your lash line to ensure you

keep them clean but are super gentle while doing so.

Be mindful of how you sleep If you sleep on your face, side or often move around a lot in your sleep – that’s a no no.

We also recommend sleeping on a silk pillowcase, as opposed to a cotton one.

Most pillowcase fabrics (especially cotton) have stray fibres that can tug at your lashes.

ENSURE YPU FOLLOW THE CORRECT AFTER CARE. At Lift and lashes, we’re passionate about aftercare and believe it’s one of the most important steps to healthy lashes.

There are a few things to keep in mind once your lashes are applied. Make sure you avoid direct contact with water or steam for the first 48 hours.

It takes up to 48 hours for the adhesive to properly bond the extension to your natural lash – and early exposure to heat or water can weaken this bond.

You should never have to forego the health of your lashes to have eyelash extensions.

With the right care and attention, you can keep your natural lashes healthy while wearing beautiful lash extensions.

Sunday July 17, 2022

THE

Court Journal

By Renay Sambach

C

ybercrime is an act that usually involves the use of a computer, networked device or a network to carry out illegal acts and is usually done with the use of the internet and the different instruments that it has available.

Guyana currently has a Cybercrime Law but some people are not even aware of it and the penalties that are attached to such offences.

For this reason, I will endeavour today to fill that void.

Some Cybercrime offences in Guyana include: illegal access to a computer system, child pornography, offences against the State, publication or transmission of images of private parts of a person and using a computer system to coerce, harass, intimidate, humiliate, etc., a person.

As examples, today I will share with you two matters in which women were jailed for sharing explicit content of others on social media platforms.

But before that, let me enlighten you a little more about the legislation. The Cybercrime Bill was presented in 2016 by Basil Williams, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change regime.

After it was presented to the National Assembly, the proposed Section 18, 'Sedition', ha

d caused a public outcry.

However, on July 20, 2018, the Coalition Government used its majority to pass the Cybercrime Bill with an amendment expunging the controversial sedition clause.

Since the passage of the Bill, numerous persons have been

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A look at matters in which women were jailed for Cybercrime offences charged, placed before the court harass or cause substantial emotional distress to another and even convicted.

In January 2020, a video person.” On the other hand, Pestano surfaced on Facebook depicting a was charged for using a computer to woman walking in on a man and cause distress to the victim.

The duo was sentenced to three woman involved in sexual activity.

The said video was shared by many years in jail and fined $5 million on multiple social media platforms. each for sharing the sex tape of their A popular singer from Jamaica had friend.

According to reports, also posted the video on his Instagram page and from there Pestano, Williams and the other persons from the Caribbean victim were friends and they were very close. started sharing the video.

However, Pestano However, due to the fact that the video was reported, it was removed later found out that the victim was having an from the social media platforms.

Weeks after the video went a f f a i r w i t h h e r viral, two women were brought before a City Magistrate. The women, 21-year-old Melissa Ann Pestano and 23-yearold Janelle Williams, had appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts.

On their first court appearance, the women did not waste the court's time and admitted guilt to the offence.

The court heard Jailed: Melissa Ann Pestano that between January 20 and January 21, 2020, Williams used a cell phone to transmit data in order boyfriend and as such, Pestano and Williams confronted the victim and later planned to get back at her.

It was reported that the women arranged for Pestano's boyfriend and the victim to book a room at the K&VC International Hotel located to humiliate the victim.

Williams was charged under a t S o u t h Section 19 (2) a. of the Cybercrime R o a d , Offences Act. That section Georgetown T e n stipulates: “A person commits an . offence if he uses a computer m i n u t e s system, to publish or transmit after the two electronic data that is obscene, checked into vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or t h e r o o m , indecent with intent to humiliate, P e s t a n o

arrived and was given information about which room they were in.

Pestano then entered the room and videoed the sex act.

Pestano had sent a copy of the video to Williams, who then shared t Renay Sambach

Jailed: Janelle Williams

he video with several persons.

Thereafter the video was widely circulated on social media.

The matter was reported and the women were later arrested and subsequently charged for the offence.

Similarly, in February 2020, a woman was also jailed for not only assaulting but posting several pictures of her ex-girlfriend, along with derogatory remarks.

According to reports, between June 22, 2020 and June 25, 2020, at Wa t e r l o o S t r e e t , N o r t h Cummingsburg, Georgetown, Roshana Hunte used a computer system to publish electronic data of her ex-girlfriend that were obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate,

harass or cause substantial emotional distress to her.

Hunte was also sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of $ 5 M . N o t a b l y, f o r cybercrime offences, anyone who is found guilty at the Magistracy level is liable to a fine of $5M and three years' imprisonment.

However, if the matter is tried indictably and the person is found guilty of child pornography in the High Court, he/she will be liable to a fine of $10M and five years' imprisonment.

Another charge under the Cybercrime Act is the publication or transmission of an image of the private area of a person.

The law states that a person commits an offence if the person intentionally captures, stores in, publishes or transmits through a computer s ys tem, the image of the private area (naked genitals, buttocks or female breasts) of another person without his or her consent.

It also outlines that a person who commits an offence is liable, on summary conviction to a fine of $3M and to imprisonment for three years; and on conviction or indictment to a fine of $8 million and to imprisonment for five years.

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

Sunday July 17, 2022

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Getting what you need to grow your project

By Zena Henry

Zena Henry

NAREI provides assistance to farmers, school children and citizens interested in agriculture.

A copy of a GMSA registration form

The Guyana Shop is located at the corners of Robb and Alexander Streets in Georgetown.

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Sunday July 17, 2022

This Day in 0 1 y l u J y r Histo

The discovery of a dozen Allies meet to discuss Germany’s fate after World War 2 defeat Linden remains quiet after irregular moons of he Potsdam Conference was held in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow hike in electricity tariffs Jupiter was announced the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, Compiled by Zena Henry

Twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter were announced on July 17, 2018; 11 “normal” outer moons, and one that is called an “oddball”, bringing Jupiter’s total number of known moons to a whopping 79—the most of any planet in our Solar System.

A team led by Carnegie’s Scott S. Sheppard first spotted the moons in the spring of 2017 while they were looking for very distant Solar System objects as part of the hunt for a possible massive planet far beyond Pluto.

One of the burnt-out buildings following the 2012 electricity protest For 17 days, the mining town of Linden remained quiet after an unbearable increase in electricity tariffs was levied on the community on July 1, 2012 by the then Donald Ramotar Administration. Leaders of the town had planned a massive five-day protest to commence on July 18 in rejection of the hike. Things, however, turned deadly when members of the local police force used tear gas, rubber pellets and live rounds on protestors who blocked roads and bridges, bringing the gold mine gateway community to a standstill. Three male protestors were killed, and dozens of persons were injured.

With a population of 60,000 and an unemployment rate of 70 percent, residents of the bauxite-rich location decided that they could not afford any increases. The protest moved from the original focus to encompass a number of other community development deficiencies as well as justice for those killed during the demonstrations.

An illustration showing the orbits of the newly discovered moons In 2014, this same team found the object with the mostdistant known orbit in our Solar System and was the first to realise that an unknown massive planet at the fringes of our Solar System, far beyond Pluto, could explain the similarity of the orbits of several small extremely distant objects. This putative planet is now sometimes popularly called Planet X or Planet Nine. Jupiter just happened to be in the sky near the search fields where the team was looking for extremely distant Solar System objects when they were serendipitously able to (Continued on page 51)

T

while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

The participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They were represented respectively by General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers W i n s t o n Churchill and Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman.

T h e y gathered to decide how to administer British Prime Minister Winston Germany, Churchill, American President Harry which had Truman and Soviet Premier Joseph agreed to an Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, unconditional codenamed ‘Terminal’, on surrender nine 23 July 1945. © IWM (BU 9197) weeks earlier.

The goals of the conference also included establishing the postwar order, solving issues on the peace treaty, and countering the effects of the war. The foreign ministers and aides played key roles: Vyacheslav Molotov, Anthony Eden and Ernest Bevin, and James F. Byrnes. From July 17 to July 25, nine meetings were held, when the Conference was interrupted for two days, as the results of the British general elections.

The Rome Statute of the The World’s first modern air The ship which rescued hundreds International Criminal conditioning system is designed of Titanic survivors is torpedoed Court is adopted Ventilation

Photo Credit: Willis Carrier photo gallery

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on July 17, 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002 with 123 states party to the statute by November 2019. Among other things, the statute establishes the court’s functions, jurisdiction and structure. The Rome Statute established four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Those crimes “shall not be subject to any statute of limitations”.

Under the Rome Statute, the ICC can only investigate and prosecute the four core international crimes in situations where states are “unable” or “unwilling” to do so themselves; the jurisdiction of the court is complementary to jurisdictions of domestic courts. The court has jurisdiction over crimes only if they are committed in the territory of a state party or if they are committed by a national of a state party; an exception to this rule is that the ICC may also have jurisdiction over crimes if its jurisdiction is authorised by the United Nations Security Council.

In Buffalo, New York, on July 17, 1902, in response to an air quality problem experienced at the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing & Publishing Company of Brooklyn, New York, Willis Carrier submitted drawings for what became recognised as the world’s first modern air conditioning system. It was so humid that summer that the paper grew and shrank, which resulted in poor quality images, because the colour printing process involved running the same piece of paper up to four times, each with a different colour ink. The 1902 installation marked the birth of air conditioning because of the addition of humidity control, which led to the recognition by authorities in the field that A/C must perform four basic functions: control temperature, control humidity, control air circulation and ventilation cleanse the air.

After several more years of refinement and field testing, on January 2, 1906, Carrier was granted U.S. Patent 808,897 for an Apparatus for Treating Air, the world’s first spray-type air conditioning equipment. It was designed to humidify or dehumidify air, heating water for the first function and cooling it for the second.

On July 17, 1918, in the latter stage of World War I, the RMS Carpathia, a ship made famous for rescuing 705 of the passengers of the infamous RMS Titanic when she sank in 1912, was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland by German submarine SM U-55 and sunk, losing only five lives in the process, a far different circumstance than the Titanic.

Carpathia had a passenger capacity of 1700 when finally launched. Only 2 years later, in 1905, she was refitted to carry a quite respectable 2550 passengers. Capable of only about 15 knots top speed, she was 558 feet long and displaced 13,555 tons.

On April 14-15, 1912, Carpathia responded to the SOS distress call from the RMS Titanic, which had struck an iceberg and was sinking in the icy Northern Atlantic Ocean. Captain Arthur Henry Rostron quickly grasped the dire nature of the call and issued orders for Carpathia to respond to Titanic’s location with all haste. All steam was ordered directly to the engines and extra men were assigned as stokers. These measures enabled Carpathia to exceed her designed speed by a couple knots, and Carpathia arrived at the disaster scene 58 miles away only 3½ hours after receiving the SOS call. The prompt response and urgency directed by Carpathia’s captain and the life-saving efficiency of her crew resulted in a remarkable A black and white rescue of over 700 of Titanic’s picture of the ill-fated passengers from the icy waters.

RMS Carpathia During World War I, Carpathia (Continued on page 51)

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 51

Creditinfo driving ‘access to finance’ decisions for investment in new oil economy …as it celebrates 9 anniversary th

G

uyana as an economy is changing. It is diversifying further and with that comes an increase in the demand for capital for investments. This however, has been a major bugbear for especially domestic entrepreneurs looking to invest or expand.

Banks in the domestic banking system has traditionally held on to high levels of cash in hand, not because it did not want to lend but because of the risks involved.

A solid creditworthiness changes that. But in a country that still deals primarily in cash and is now moving towards more paperless transactions, credit report becomes even more import.

Now celebrating its ninth anniversary since launching domestically in 2013, Creditinfo, Guyana’s only credit bureau, based in the capital city of Georgetown, has over the years evolved with the country and has contributed to a paradigm shift in the local economy where its credit reports have become a major factor driving financial and lending decisions for persons in Guyana’s burgeoning oil driven economy.

Creditinfo Guyana provides intelligent information, software and analytic solutions to facilitate access to finance.

While consumers in firstworld markets are familiar with the workings of credit reports and its importance, Guyanese consumers are now waking up to the idea, even as local institutions have long been using the bureau’s credit reports to inform their judgment on a range of financial a n d lendi n g

decisions, according to the entity.

Given that the facility is Central Bankapproved as a ‘Licensed Credit Bureau’, this allows companies to partner with Creditinfo, as specified by the Credit Reporting Amendment Act, ahead of lenders being able to access credit reports as well as share data.

To date, more than 300,000 credit reports have been issued since the bureau’s establishment in Guyana, “as this is its most utilised service from our database of some 40 subscribers who use our service across a range of institutions.

These include bank and non-bank financial institutions, micro-financial institutions, hire purchase, student loan, credit unions, trade creditors, utility companies and other lenders.”

It was noted too that over the years, credit report usage has generally been increasing as lenders recognise the extent to which their credit risk is reduced when the use of a report is factored in.

Creditinfo neither makes nor influences credit decisions, “the decision of whether or not to grant credit is dependent on the lending intuition’s credit policy and the assessment done based on the individual’s credit history.”

In the assessment of a borrower’s credit report is a prerequisite for the granting of any credit facility, as is required under the Credit Reporting Amendment Act, which lenders are required to implement.

As such, in order for an individual’s credit report to be accessed, the law requires that written permission must be given.

“This, in a nutshell, means that in order for a

compan y or individual to be granted a loan or an item on hirepurchase, businesses or lenders typically request your credit report from the Bureau to determine your eligibility of attaining same.

However, this is not before acquiring written approval from you, the consumer, to access the credit report.”

To this end, “lenders utilise the credit report in their lending decision to determine how the borrower has serviced previous loans; whether the borrower has had any missed payments or arrears, how many outstanding credit facilities, among other things, which help to determine an individual’s credit profile. In excess of 450,000 new credit facilities [including utility data] have been recorded in our database at the end of Q1 2022.”

This is according to Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Judy Semple-Joseph, who in retracing Creditinfo’s achievements thus far, noted that the business “now account for a significant amount of credit decisions by institutions in Guyana.”

She has since also

advised persons to ensure that their bills are paid on time, including utilities such as water and telephone bills and to ensure that any arrears on the account are promptly cleared, since bad payment patterns can reflect negatively on their credit report.

“Over the past three years, we have seen an average of 500 percent growth in consumers’ requests for credit reports.

However, there is the need for more persons to access their credit reports as we continue to receive many queries after persons approach a financial institution for credit and then realise that erroneous information on their credit reports needs to be corrected,” Semple-Joseph added.

The CEO also used the occasion to disclose that many persons have in fact lost the opportunity to access financing, simply because they were familiar with the information on their credit report which could have been corrected prior to them approaching the lender.

Chief Executive Officer, Judy Semple-Joseph during a recent Creditinfo subscriber engagement

“This is why, self-request credit reports by consumers are encouraged, particularly prior to approaching financial institution or company.”

In the coming years, Semple-Joseph notes that she sees the company

expan ding towards further s u p p o r t i n g G u y a n a ’s economic advancement, by providing intelligent information, software and analytic solutions that empower clients to mitigate financial risk.

The ship which rescued hundreds of Titanic...

From page 50 was pressed into service by the Royal Navy and was used to transport Canadian and then American troops and cargo to and from Europe. Some trips were made as part of a convoy, and some voyages were solo affairs.

On July 15, 1918, Carpathia carried only 57 passengers and 166 crew when she left Liverpool with a convoy for Boston.

While off Ireland, she was spotted by the German submarine, SM U-55, which fired two torpedoes at the big ship while submerged and a third when it surfaced. All but five crew members and all passengers were safely evacuated before the ship sank. (History and Headlines)

The discovery of a...

From page 50 look for new moons around Jupiter while at the same time looking for planets at the fringes of our Solar System. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center used the team’s observations to calculate orbits for the newly found moons with the process taking about one year. Nine of the new moons are part of a distant outer swarm of moons that orbit it in the retrograde, or opposite direction of Jupiter’s spin rotation.

These distant retrograde moons are grouped into at least three distinct orbital groupings and are thought to be the remnants of three once-larger parent bodies that broke apart during collisions with asteroids, comets, or other moons.

The newly discovered retrograde moons take about two years to orbit Jupiter. (Source: Carnegie Institution for Science)

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Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

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g ts in s... e e er atur t In re C

Amphisbaenia

A

mphisbaenia (called amphisbaenians or worm lizards) is a group of usually legless squamates, comprising over 200 extant species. Amphisbaenians are characterised by their long bodies, the reduction or loss of the limbs, and rudimentary eyes.

As many species have a pink body and scales arranged in rings, they have a superficial resemblance to earthworms.

While the genus Bipes retains forelimbs, all other genera are limbless. Although superficially similar to the snakes and blind lizards, recent phylogenetic studies suggest that they are most closely related to wall lizards of the family Lacertidae.

Amphisbaenians are widely distributed, occurring in North America, Europe, Africa, South America, Western Asia and the Caribbean. Most species are less than 6 inches (150 mm) long.

DESCRIPTION Despite a superficial resemblance to some primitive snakes, amphisbaenians have many unique features that distinguish them from other reptiles. Internally, their right lung is reduced in size to fit their narrow bodies, whereas in snakes, it is always the left lung.

Their skeletal structure and skin are also different from those of other squamates. Both genetic and recent fossil evidence indicate that amphisbaenians lost their legs independently from snakes.

The head is stout, not set off from the neck, and either rounded, sloped, or sloped with a ridge down the middle. Most of the skull is solid bone, with a distinctive single median tooth in the upper jaw. It has no outer ears, and the eyes are deeply recessed and covered with skin and scales. These rudimentary eyes have a cornea, lens, and complex ciliary body, which allows them to detect light, but they are reduced in size and do not have an anterior chamber. The body is elongated, and the tail truncates in a manner that vaguely resembles the head. Their name

is derived from Amphisbaena, a mythical serpent with a head at each end—referencing both the manner in which their tail truncates, and their ability to move just as well in reverse as forwards. The four species of Bipes are unusual in having a pair of forelimbs, but all limbless species have some remnants of the pelvic and pectoral girdles embedded within the body musculature.

Amphisbaenians have a distinctive skin made up of rings of scales (annuli) that form a tube in which the loosely attached trunk of the body moves. Burrowing is achieved with an accordion-like motion, with longitudinal muscles in the skin bunching up the annuli, anchoring it to the surrounding soil, and trunk muscles moving the body forward or backwards within the integumentary tube.

Amphisbaenians are carnivorous, able to tear chunks out of larger prey with their powerful, interlocking teeth. Like lizards, some species are able to shed their tails (autotomy). Most species lay eggs, although at least some are known to be viviparous.

The white worm lizard (Amphisbaena alba) is often found in association with leafcutter ants. This reptile is thought to forage in the ants’ deep galleries where the insects deposit their waste. The presence of these reptiles is easily explained by the fact that they prey on the larvae of large beetles that also inhabit the leafcutter ants’ galleries.

Amphisbaenians have often been categorised by their skull shape. The specialised skull shape is hypothesized to be driven by environmental and ecological conditions, such as soil type and is an instance of convergent evolution.

DISTRIBUTION Amphisbaenians are found in North America, Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, a surprisingly large distribution despite being small subterranean animals that rarely ever leave their burrows. Initially, this large distribution was thought to be due to vicariance, or the result of the breakup of

Pangaea. This hypothesis was supported by morphological data that dated amphisbaenian diversification to over 200 million years ago (Mya), while Pangaea was still intact.

However, a recent study using a combination of molecular and fossil evidence suggests that amphisbaenians originated in North America, where they underwent their first divergence around 107 Mya. They then underwent another major diversification into North American and European forms 40-56 Mya. Finally, the African and South American forms split around 40 Mya. This suggests that worm-lizards crossed the Atlantic Ocean (which had fully formed by 100 Mya) twice, once just after the K-Pg extinction, and then again, later in the Palaeogene. This also implies that limblessness evolved independently three times, a finding that contrasts the morphological theory that limbed amphisbaenians are the most basal. This widespread dispersal is suggested to have occurred by rafting - natural erosion or a storm event loosened a large raft of soil and vegetation that drifted across the ocean until

landing on another shore. This oceanic rafting would be feasible due to the subterranean lifestyle and small nutritional requirements of amphisbaenids. After the Chixulub impact, many predators of amphisbaenians became extinct, which allowed colonist amphisbaenians to thrive in new territories.

EVOLUTION The oldest stem-group amphisbaenian, the limbed Slavoia darevskii is known from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Mongolia.

The oldest known modern amphisbaenians are members of Rhineuridae and the extinct family Oligodontosauridae from the Paleocene of North America.

Modern amphisbaenians likely originated in North America, before dispersing to South America, Africa and Europe via rafting d u r i n g t h e P a l e o g e n e . (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphisbaeni a - cite_note-10)

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Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

TEEN TIME

Adopt the Principles to keep your Life on the Right Path deal

I

n our articles during the past weeks we suggested the means for developing your relationships with those with whom you associate.

We will now deal with the efforts to make a success of your own life by determining the right principles to govern your actions, and trying to embody these in your daily activities.

This week we shall develop on that by suggesting definite principles that you should adopt.

Throughout history it has been found that for human beings to live in harmony, develop in orderly societies, and even survive, they need to abide with certain natural laws that are just as real and unchanging in the social dimension as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension.

These natural laws, or principles, can be likened to lighthouses which direct ships to safety, and we would be as a ship adrift in a sea enshrouded in a dense fog if we did not have these as the very foundation of our society.

The reality of such principles or

natural laws becomes obvious to anyone who thinks deeply and examines the cycles of human history.

They surface time and time again, and

the degree to which people in a society recognise and use them as their guides moves them toward either survival and stability or disintegration and destruction.

These principles are embodied in the teachings of every major religion as well as every philosophy and ethical system. They are self-evident and a part of the human conscience. They exist in all human beings, regardless of their beliefs,

culture, or historical or geographical location.

Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value.

They are fundamental, timeless and self-evident. This latter can be clearly understood when you try to imagine life without any one. The more closely our own habits and conduct are aligned with them, the more accurate and functional they will be. Acting positively in line with correct principles will impact our personal and interpersonal effectiveness far more than any amount of other effort expended on changing our attitudes and behaviours.

Those that will prove to best guide your life are:Fairness, Honesty; Integrity, Human Dignity, Growth, Tolerance, Respect for nature, and Loyalty.

These principles would help you to create a solid foundation for your life with full confidence that you are on the correct path to the fulfilment of your life purpose. You will need to consider each of them and ensure that your character is aligned to them.

Twin samurai sudoku Within each of the two 9x9 squares, each digit from 1-9 occurs once within each row, column and 3x3 block. There is only one solution, and you can find it without guessing.

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A Principled Life As sure as night follows day, and gravity holds us down, So the laws of nature control our emotions; If we must live in harmony with all on earth, We have to abide with the natural regulations.

And just as our material world is ruled, So too our behaviour needs control; We must adopt the principles that make us human, Or we will never achieve worthy goals.

Man was given a free will to choose The manner he would steer his life; You have the option - whichever you take Will determine whether you end in peace or strife.

We oftimes allow others our actions to dictate, As we tend to react to what they do; Nay, we should ever strive to be proactive, And behave as we know is true.

So take the time to decide for all time The principles to say how you will act, Then stick to these come what may, And you will surely keep always on track.

by Roy Paul

Every person, as in every society, needs to develop correct principles to really become successful and progressive.

t Tell i

to

Hello, readers, Uncle Roy is again asking all of you to try in some way to make a contribution to this page, and thus to the welfare of you and your fellow readers. This contribution can take any form that you feel would be valuable – an account of what is going on in your community and country, any advice you would like to pass on to your fellow teen readers and, on a broader level, any comment or recommendation you would like to make to your fellow Guyanese.

Please remit same to my email – roypaul2002@yahoo.com, and be assured that your worthwhile contribution will have a prominent place on our page.

Solutions to last week’s Futoshiki

PAGE 56

1. Exfoliate. Remove dry, dead skin flakes by gently brushing your lips with a wet, soft toothbrush or washcloth. I do this about once a week, usually on a weekend morning when I'm not planning on going outside right away since it makes my lips a little sensitive.

2. Hydrate. Unlike the rest of your skin, lips tend to dry out and become chapped easily since they do not contain oil glands. Drink lots of water to keep lips from drying out, and avoid licking your lips (it took me years to break the habit!) which also saps moisture.

3. Protect and moisturize. Lips receive a lot of sun exposure – particularly the bottom lip. That means they are a common spot for skin cancers.

So it's SUPER IMPORTANT that your daytime lip product includes an SPF 15 or higher sunscreen. And yes, you still need to protect your lips, and the rest of your skin, even if you are wearing a mask! At night I switch to a moisturizing product to help combat nighttime dryness.

4. Reapply often. Remember to reapply sun protective lip product every two hours, especially after eating or drinking. I find it helpful to keep my SPF lip balm in several places. I usually have one at my desk, in my purse, in my nightstand and in my bathroom, so I remember to apply right after I brush my teeth.

The bonus of this system: you now have an excuse to experiment with different brands and products. Remember to reapply sun-protective lip products at least every two hours.

5. Speaking of products: make sure you're using the right ones. Look for lip products that have been awarded The Skin Cancer Foundation's Seal of Recommendation. The Seal is only awarded to sun-protective products that meet the standards of our Photobiology Committee (a group of top experts in how the sun interacts with skin), so you can be sure that if a product has our Seal, your lips will be soft and sunsafe. https://www.skincancer.org/blog/5-tips-for-your-lips/

Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

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>>>Young Entrepreneur On The Move<<<

Visit “The Book Hub” …for your reading pleasure “I believe that we should encourage and promote young entrepreneurs as much as possible. I think that we grow up in a culture that teaches us that we should go to school, get an education, then get a 9 to 5 job. That is good, but it is also good to promote independence and entrepreneurship.”

Young Entrepreneur, La-Toya Barton

Barton at a recent business expo

Sunday July 17, 2022

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Proper data management system needed to protect nation’s oil wealth – World

By Zena Henry In offering Guyana the opportunity to access expert advice toward the proper management of the local oil and gas sector, the World Bank has highlighted the need to have good data management systems in place as a key variable to w ard p ro tectin g th e nation’s oil wealth. This is documented in the US$20M ‘Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project’ line of credit appraisal document.

The line of credit was secured by the previous government and was supposed to directly support the government and its agencies to management various aspects of the nascent oil and gas industry, but the money remains untapped as the current administration continues to refine the project.

Of the US$20M, US$4.1M was scheduled for the building up of the country’s ‘Petroleum Data Management’. The Bank highlighted that as exploration activities ramp up in Guyana, “the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is being overwhelmed by the large volumes of oil and gas information and data – seismic surveys, well logs/reports, field data/tapes,

samples, maps, geological models, etc.”

The Bank said, these are being generated and shared by companies as required by their contract/license but “GGMC simply does not have the facilities, the personnel or the equipment (hardware and software) to copy, analyse/interpret, verify, preserve/store and provide secure access to this data.”

It was explained that, “Petroleum data is extremely valuable because it allows the (Guyana government) GCRG to understand its resources and manage and plan the orderly evaluation and development of those resources.”

As such, under petroleum management, the World Bank credit sought to finance the establishment of a new National Petroleum Data Repository in Guyana, from conducting a needs assessment, to the acq u is ition of n eed ed hardware and software, to the collection and storage of existing data such as core samples, well reports, field tapes, seismic reports, among others. “This activity will also contemplate the training of the team, appointed by GGMC that will be responsible for the data management,” and, once established, the Petroleum Commission and

Bank

t h e G G M C will be among key beneficiaries.

Former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head, Dr. Vincent Adams stressed the need to ensure proper data management of petroleum information. Just a day ago, he told the Kaieteur News that he too

An example of a FPSO control room where operations data is collected had made efforts to improve Guyana’s handling of oil related data as well as the access to the oil related

content. Adams claimed that apart from the untapped US$20M loan, he too had secured a US$1M grant to

directly improve capacity at the EPA. He explained that key focus areas involved Continued on page 70

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Protestors demand

VERIFICATION of Guyana’s discovered oil resources

By Davina Bagot

A

s the protest for a better oil deal moved into its seventh consecutive week, the unrelenting bunch have reiterated the need for the Government of Guyana to independently verify the oil and gas resources discovered offshore Guyana.

The need for independent verification was raised on Friday by a protestor who has been very loyal to the daily picket exercise at Houston public road, East Bank Demerara.

To date, oil companies operating in Guyana have discovered approximately 11 billion barrels of oil, with multibillion barrels of exploration potential estimated to be uncovered still.

It was only when oil giant

ExxonMobil received its fourth Petroleum Production License (PPL) that measures were put in place to verify the resources being exploited from the seafloor. To this end, protestors have ramped up their calls for the leaders of the country to put measures in place to independently verify the discovered oil resources.

One protestor argued on Friday that Suriname has been able to verify and disclose its proven reserves to its people, while Guyana and its leaders are comfortably relying on ExxonMobil to provide the country with such details.

According to the protestor, President Chandrikapersad Santokhi “is an honourable man.

He has declared that Suriname has a proven reserve…why is it that the government of this nation not telling the people what are our

proven reserves?”

Making reference to Canada, he insisted that the country does not hide such information from its citizens, even as he cited Saudi Arabia and Venezuela as other examples.

To this end, the protestor said, “Exxon cannot do this what they are doing here in a white man’s country…they still look upon us as little black boys and little black girls…we have to put a stop to them and the people we are looking up to are putting us down, that’s the government. They are elected officials who are paid to run this nation or to lead this nation the best way forward but they aren’t doing that.”

He added that the leaders must put the interest of its people first, rather than the oil companies in the country.

Meanwhile, protestors held

placards that read: “Wanted: Patriotic and Efficient Leaders”, “Our Politicians are spineless, gutless, ballsless”, “Dishonest politicians is a national problem” and “Trotman, Jagdeo, Ali, Norton are all traitors”.

On Wednesday, a protestor sought to set the record straight, addressing comments made to the group that they were beggars.

According to the protestor, “Is not that we begging, that commodity out there that we have is our own.

The oil belongs to us and it’s a lot of money. The money belongs to us; it don’t belong to Jagdeo, it don’t belong to Norton, it doesn’t belong to none of the politicians, it belongs to all of us.”

As such, he encouraged that the people of Guyana “wake up” and end the racial talk, especially as it regards the management of the oil and gas sector. In fact he

encouraged, “Come out now people before we end up like Sri Lanka. We ain’t want look like Sri Lanka, come and leh we tell them we want we fair share. You get your fair share, we ain’t gon look like Sri Lanka. Check Sri Lanka and see how they deh, all who ain’t know, just Google Sri Lanka and see what goin on with them.”

In May, Kaieteur News had reported that after publishing stories since 2017, highlighting the absence of provisions in the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), which preserve the country’s right to verify how ExxonMobil measures oil offshore, it appears that the PPP/C Administration has been able to plug this loophole without renegotiating the lopsided deal.

The government has done so by inserting a suite of robust provisions on measurements into Continued on page 72

“We are not beggars. We just want what is ours,” this protestor insisted

Calling on the government to step up accountability in the oil and gas sector

This protestor believes that an independent verification be conducted by the Government of Guyana to confirm the total volume of discovered resources to date

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

==GNBS IN FOCUS== MAINTAINING ACCURACY IN THE PETROLEUM SECTOR As the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) commences the verification of measuring instruments for the second half of 2022, one should not think that these instruments are limited to those that are used in the markets and shops countrywide. The mandate given to the GNBS under the Weights and Measures Act of 1981 also empowers its Inspectors to check and verify measuring instruments used in the petroleum industry to determine fuel quantities. This is particularly important at this time, given the high prices of fuel.

Instruments used in the local petroleum industry include bulk fuel meters, fuel pumps, wagon compartments and large capacity storage test measures and tanks with specific volumes. Verification conducted by the Bureau ensures that quantities of fuel dispensed and stored are within the acceptable measurement tolerances for accuracy.

The Bureau continues to verify hundreds of fuel pumps at gas-stations countrywide, bulk storage tanks and meters, and the compartments of tanker wagons owned by the large fuel companies such as Sol, Rubis and GUYOIL. In addition, the compartments of a significant number of privately owned fuel tankers (trucks) are also verified, and are inspected for safety requirements based on the National Standard for Road Tanker Wagon.

During the verification process, standard test measures and meters are used

by GNBS Legal Metrology Inspectors to determine whether measuring instruments used in trade are under delivering (indicating below volume), over delivering (indicating above volume) or are within the acceptable tolerances (accurate). For instruments found to be inaccurate, the

necessary adjustments are made by Inspectors and security seals are affixed to the adjusting mechanisms. This is to maintain the integrity of the verification process.

If a subsequent check is conducted by Inspectors of the GNBS and the affixed seals are found to be tampered with or removed, the operators or owners can face prosecution.

Further, if for one reason or a n o t h e r, a m e a s u r i n g instrument is not functioning properly, and cannot be verified when required, a security seal would be placed on the dispensing nuzzle to prevent further usage until its accuracy is determined. This is necessary to prevent unauthorised use and to safeguard consumers.

At the gas stations, the entire verification process is intended to protect both suppliers and consumers (drivers) from financial loss.

When a pump is over delivering fuel, the gas station is selling at a financial loss. If a pump is under delivering, then drivers are being shortchanged. Similarly, fuel terminals also need to supply the correct quantities of fuel to petrol stations that are their customers so that they too can be satisfied.

The Bureau of Standards, therefore, serves to facilitate measurement transparency between sellers and consumers, thus ensuring fair trade and good business practices, and ultimately protection for all.

Drivers are encouraged to make fuel purchases in metric quantities and to check fuel pumps for the GNBS approval seals. The presence of an approval seal on a fuel pump indicates that the pump was verified for the corresponding period.

For further information on this subject, call the GNBS on telephone number: 219-0065 or 219-0069 or visit the Bureau's website: www.gnbsgy.org

After centuries of hope, Guyana now...

From page 18 upgrading hospitals and health centres; ensuring that pharmaceuticals are never in short supply; introducing modern equipment in the hospitals such as digitizing XRays; training of doctors in specialised areas; making dialysis free by introducing more machines in the health system and also giving $600,000 per annum for dialysis patients who could not access the free treatment; and the programme of building a

Specialty Hospital is still being pursued. Most recently, Government of Guyana, Mount Sinai Health System of N e w Yo r k a n d H e s s Corporation signed an agreement that would catapult Guyana's Healthcare into a world class service that will ensure affordability and accessibility to Guyanese citizens.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not n e c e s s a r i l y re f l e c t t h e opinions of this newspaper.)

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WEEK IN REVIEW SUNDAY NO GUARANTEE REPORTS OF OIL COMPANIES’ AUDIT FREE FROM FRAUD INDEPENDENT AUDITOR Oil companies operating in the Stabroek Block, like any other company operating in Guyana, are required to file annual Financial Statements with the Deeds and Commercial Registry.

These statements are expected to present a true and fair representation in all material aspects of the financial position of the reporting company.

Each year’s financials are supposed to be audited by Independent Auditors. The Independent Audit, however, done by entities contracted by the oil companies along with the financial statements, are no guarantee that there isn’t misrepresentation or fraudulent information being presented.

This much is clearly stated by at least one local private auditor that was contracted to prepare an independent report for the financials submitted by ExxonMobil Guyana’s Stabroek Block partners, Hess Guyana Exploration Limited—Guyana Branch.

That Financial Statement was prepared by the Hess management and an Independent Audit of that statement done by a local Chartered Accounting Firm, TSD Lall and Company.

According to the auditors in their report on the Financial Statements, “our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error...”

As such, the Independent Auditor in its report did note, “reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but not a guarantee that an audit concluded in accordance with International Standards on Auditing will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.”

The Chartered Accounting Firm did qualify the position further by pointing out that “misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if individually or in the aggregate they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.”

It was noted that the statements referred to, had been prepared by the Company—in this case Hess Corporation which TSD Lall and Company audited—would have been prepared by the entity’s management.

The Independent Report notes that it is the management which is responsible for the preparation and

fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with international financial reporting standards. Those financial statements, according to the Auditors, are expected to be prepared free from material misstatement, “whether due to fraud or error.”

While the oil companies would have been filing financial statements, audited by companies they would have hired privately, Guyana as a country is yet to complete auditing any of the bills submitted by any of the oil companies operating domestically, more so the Stabroek Block.

That oil block, which spans in excess of six million acres in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), is operated by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, which holds a 45 percent working interest.

Its partners are Hess, which owns a 30 percent interest in the oil block, along with CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited with the remaining 25 percent.

According to recent filings with the local registry, ExxonMobil and its Stabroek Block partners in its first two years of full production generated a whopping $740,794,403,781 in revenue from the sale of crude netting more than this country’s National Budget during the same time.

Guyana as a country, presented in 2020 a national budget at some $330B while the following year, 2021 the national estimates were presented at $383B. According to the records of the financial companies, between the three, total revenue from the sale of crude oil in 2020, the first full year of oil production in the Stabroek Block amounted to some $176,088,268,971.

GOVT. MUM ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDY FOR NGL, POWER PLANT FACILITIES …ENVIRONMENTALIST SAYS GOVT. DISRESPECTFUL FOR DENYING THE PUBLIC ASSURANCE OF SAFETY An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) not only highlights dangers associated with a specific project, but also outlines measures that will be taken by a developer to avoid or respond to any emergency as a result of the venture. A multibillion US-dollar Gas-to-Energy project is being pursued and while an EIA has been completed for the pipeline aspect, to transport natural gas from the Liza Fields in the Stabroek Block to the Wales development site on the West Bank of Demerara, the Government of Guyana is yet to complete such a study for the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant and the power plant to generate electricity.

On July 2, last, the government moved to invite proposals from consultancy firms to supervise the construction of the facilities, without any evidence of an EIA. The former Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams took note of the report and shared his view that an EIA must be conducted for the facilities to be developed by the government.

On Wednesday, Kaieteur News reached out to Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, to ascertain whether the government has submitted an application to the EPA on the venture. Submitting an application to the EPA is usually the first stage in the development process. This application is then vetted by the regulator body to determine whether an EIA is

Sunday July 17, 2022

required. Minister Bharrat was specifically asked to say whether an application was made to the EPA, given that steps are being made to prepare for construction works. The Minister, however, told this publication to contact the EPA. Checks on the EPA’s website did not indicate that an application was made, however, efforts to verify this was unsuccessful as the EPA Head, Kemraj Parsram ignored calls to his cellular phone.

To t h i s e n d , a n environmentalist, Simone MangalJoly has said that the government’s recent move to invite proposals for consultancy services shows its disrespect for the public and more so its disinterest in the rule of law.

In an invited comment on Saturday, she pointed out that she has been opposed to the approach taken to “chop” the project up and conduct separate EIAs. She explained, “I did not engage the gas-to-shore EIA process beyond the 28-day period comment period in July 2021 on the terms of reference for the study because the process is a farce. This was obvious to me when the EPA ignored submissions in that comment period and proceeded with allowing ExxonMobil to do an EIA without including the power plant.”

The environmentalist pointed out that raw gas would be continuously pumped up from underground offshore, piped to the shore via a pipeline where it would be processed into natural gas to fire a power plant and natural gas liquids, which would be cooled and packaged at high pressure for shipping to markets.

On this note, she said, “We must all understand that those are extremely dangerous activities prone to explosions and that all those activities must take place under a ‘steady state system’. For the project to work, all the parts must all operate simultaneously otherwise. If one part goes down, then the tap on the offshore pipeline must be turned off or the gas must be flared right here onshore or else you will end up with an explosion.

Basically, one part cannot operate without the other. The complete project involves all these parts.”

MONDAY EXXON, GOVT. NOW PUTTING TOGETHER EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN FOR GAS-TO-SHORE PROJECT

The Government of Guyana (GoG) and its business partner on the Gas to Energy project, ExxonMobil, is now in the process of developing an emergency response plan for natural gas related incidents.

This was confirmed Tuesday by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), one of the key agencies that will be participating in the development of the document. Mr.

Loring Benons, the acting Head of the CDC told this newspaper in an exclusive interview that there is currently no emergency response plan. This is the case even though an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has already been submitted by Exxon for the pipeline aspect of the project, and government is already moving to hire in specialists to supervise the construction of the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant and power plant.

The former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams had called out the oil company for failing to address gas leaks in its EIA, referring to such an incident as the highest hazardous risk involved, yet no details in this regard have been provided.

Nevertheless, when Benons was asked whether the CDC is already in receipt of such a plan, he explained, “No, because we are still going to some workshops and so on where that is concerned.”

He told Kaieteur News that the workshops are “planned” and have not yet commenced. However, he related that these sessions are expected to guide the development of the response plan. “Based on what comes out of those workshops we would be able to strategize because that would be different from the oil spill response activities,” Benons pointed out. He could not say when the workshops would commence to this end, but added that the CDC will be participating in the sessions alongside other government agencies such as the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) among others.

The acting Head of the CDC said, “The CDC is not driving this (workshop). Every agency will play a different role so when the workshop starts that is when we would have a breakdown as to who is going to be taking the lead and so on.”

An Attorney-at-Law and civil society activist, Elizabeth DeaneHughes in an invited comment Tuesday registered her concern over the fact that the government is only now rushing to draft a gas response management plan, pointing to recent incidents in the United States where natural gas explosions resulted in the evacuation of neighbouring residents.

However, she explained, “Yet still both the GoG and ExxonMobil, ExxonMobil Guyana- EEPGL (Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited) seem to have by some mystery, at least by desk research as no information pertaining to questions asked have been forthcoming to date, nullified the necessity for both governing legislation and regulatory (Continued on page 65)

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

From page 64 framework.” Furthermore, she reasoned, “The logic of the sequence of how events have this far in the implementation process of the GTE pipeline project indicates to me prima facie to be in the realm of deep silence emanating from both sides in the GTE pipeline project and its undertakings. We, members in civic society will keep our voices and actions seeking adherence to written instruments of process and procedure as per prima facie the governing laws of the 2016 PSA (Production Sharing Agreement).”

IDB RELEASES US$83M FROM NORWAY FUNDS FOR GUYANA’S SOLAR PROJECTS The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved Guyana’s request to tap US$83.3 million from the Norway fund to develop three solar power projects to aid in the diversification of the country’s energy matrix.

The project, dubbed the Guyana Utility Scale Solar Photovoltaic Program (GUYSOL) received the IDB’s blessing on June 15, last.

The US$83.3M forms part of the revenues Guyana earned from Norway over the years for the preservation of its forests.

According to the agreement Guyana has with the Kingdom of Norway, the money is to be overseen by the IDB to ensure they are invested in projects that propel the social and economic wellbeing of the Guyanese. As the custodian of those funds, Guyana was therefore obligated to get the IDB’s blessings for its plans to spend the said money.

Kaieteur News reported that last year Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo had written to the bank, outlining the PPP/C Administration’s intent to invest those sums in major solar projects.

Documents which are available on the IDB’s website note that the project in question consists of 33MWp of Solar PV in three different grids: 15MWp with a 15MW, 1hr Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in the Linden Isolated Power System (LIS), 8MWp with an 8MW, 1hr BESS in the Essequibo Coast Isolated Power System (EIS), and 10MWp in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).

On Sunday, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc. published a procurement notice in the daily newspapers indicating that the Government intends to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, works, related services and consulting services to be procured under the GUYSOL project.

“The main objective of the Program is to support the diversification of Guyana’s energy matrix towards the use of climateresilient renewable energy sources

in the electricity generation matrix,” GPL noted.

It was explained that the funds will be used to finance two components, namely the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction of 33MWp of Solar Photovoltaic Plants with Battery Energy Storage Systems, to be tendered in three lots and component two that will allow for the (i) installation of automated monitoring and control systems; (ii) remote control systems for substations (to be tendered with Works contract in Component I); (iii) individual consultancy for a Disaster Risk Management Plan for flood-prone sites; (iv) training programs for women in solar PV, S o l a r J o b a n d Wo r k f o r c e Development (SJWD) and (v) the design and implementation of an apprenticeship program for diversity and inclusion within

TUESDAY EXXON & PARTNERS DEDUCT $94B IN ADVANCES FROM OIL FOR 3RD PRODUCTION SHIP Guyana currently has two Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) currently producing crude oil from the Stabroek Block—the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity and a third, is currently under construction.

That FPSO named the Prosperity will be used to produce the Payara development and is the largest of the first three production vessels to be put into operation in Guyana with a capacity of 220,000 barrels per day. The FPSO will be spread-moored in water depth of about 1,900 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil. The project is part of the

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production, storage and offloading vessel, which upon completion will be installed at the Payara field.”

The Operator of the Stabroek Block within which the Liza I,II and Payara oil field are located is Esso Exploration and production G u y a n a L i m i t e d (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana—which holds a 45 percent working interest. Hess commands a 30 percent interest while the other partner in the block CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited controls the remaining 25 percent share.

As such, it would mean that EEPGL would be responsible for $42,001,626,662 ($42.1B) while CNOOC would be responsible for $23,334,237,034 ($23.3B).

Collectively the advances for Payara over the two years, based on Hess’ filings, would be $93,336,948,137 ($93.4B).

The VLCC being converted into the Prosperity FPSO for production in the Stabroek Block Payara oil field GPL’s Program Executing Unit and other Government Energy Agencies.

The project is expected to avoid CO2 emissions with the development of solar PV generation plants; lower the cost of electricity generation while supporting the country’s transition towards renewable energy-based generation and improve the operation and reliability of the isolated systems of Essequibo and Linden and develop local skills for services related to solar PV generation systems.

Solar projects With respect to the Linden Project, the IDB explained that this will consist of three 5MWp farms specifically at Block 37 (in the vicinity of Bamia on the Linden Soesdyke Highway), Retrieve on the eastern side of the Demerara River, and Dacoura on the western side of the Demerara River.

In addition, given the high level of penetration, the farms will be supported by a 15MW, 1hr (minimum) BESS for stability support to the grid.

Payara development, which is the third development within the Stabroek Block, located 200 kilometers offshore Guyana.

According to recent financial statements filed by the oil companies, in excess of $94B has already been deducted as part of the 75 percent cost oil recovery, to repay expenses incurred by the oil companies. According to statements filed by Hess Guyana Exploration Limited, in 2020 the first year of oil production in Guyana, it turned over $131,66,534,497 ($13.2B) while the following year a sum of $14,834,549,944 ($14.6B).

Collectively it would represent $28,001,084,441 ($28B) over the two years being set aside by Hess for the Prosperity vessel.

The monies are reflected as advances to operator in the company’s statement of financial position for the two years.

Under the Financial Notes, accompanying the statements, it was explained that the money “represents cash payments to the operator for support of construction of the prosperity floating

SBM Offshore the Dutch Floater Specialist that secured the contract for the Prosperity, in addition to the Unity and Destiny had disclosed that the vessel which will be used in the Stabroek Block’s Payara Project will cost US$1.05B (over GYD $200B). SBM at the time of the announcement had said the financing was secured from a consortium of 11 international banks while adding that it expects to draw the loan in full, phased over the construction period of the Prosperity Vessel.

Kaieteur News understands that the Prosperity FPSO will utilise a design that largely replicates the design of the Liza Unity FPSO, which is on its way to Guyana for hook-up in the Liza Phase Two Project. As such, the design is based on SBM Offshore’s industry-leading Fast4Ward® programme that incorporates the company’s new build, multipurpose hull combined with several standardised topsides modules.

Furthermore, SBM said the FPSO will be designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day, will have associated gas treatment

capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.

The converted Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) to be converted into the Prosperity FPSO is presently in the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore where its fabrication is being facilitated. That vessel is expected to come on stream with first oil in 2024 and according to reports is currently ahead of schedule.

GUYANA LEADS THE WORLD IN OIL EXPLORATION – RYSTAD South America has taken the exploration crown for discovered volumes of crude oil and the continent is set to remain a global exploration hot spot for the next two years, with Guyana taking the lead with a plethora of oil and gas resources already proven and drilling campaigns underway.

This is according to Rystad Energy, a Norwegian independent energy research and business intelligence company that provides data, tools, analytics, and consultancy services to the global energy industry.

Reporting on Latin America’s Regional Insights for June 2022, Rystad documented that South America’s position is driven primarily by activity in Guyana, Brazil, Suriname, and Colombia.

Additionally, the increase in the offshore well count in the region is expected to be led by Guyana, followed by Brazil and Colombia, while onshore exploration, which has taken a back seat in the past two years, is on track for a comeback this year and in 2023.

Following the slump as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which took hold in early 2020 and sent oil demand and prices tumbling, the region has seen a recovery in activity this year.

According to Rystad, an analysis of the period from 2017 to 2022 revealed that South America takes the top spot among all continents in terms of discovered hydrocarbons.

The positioning is mainly attributed to Guyana which takes the top spot in the region due to the plethora of finds by American oil giant, ExxonMobil subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), on the prolific Stabroek Block which spans more than six million acres in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

EEPGL is the operator of the country’s richest oil block which is estimated to hold nearly 11 billion barrels of equivalent of oil (beo).

The block is being developed by EEPGL which holds a 45 percent stake, Hess Guyana Exploration Limited with a 30 percent share, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holding the remaining 25 (Continued on page 66)

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From page 65 percent. According to Rystad, the Region has already seen close to 14.5 billion barrels of discovered resources in the 2017 to 2022 period, of which Guyana accounts for 65 per cent, followed by Suriname with 15 per cent.

M o r e o v e r, t h e G u y a n a Suriname Basin continues to be an exploration hot spot in the region and has taken center stage since the breakthrough 2015 Liza discovery on the Stabroek Block, which derisked the basin. Notably, since 2021, 86 per cent of all the discovered resources in the region lie in Guyana and Suriname.

It was highlighted that in less than six months of 2022, the region has already discovered hydrocarbon volumes close to the total unearthed during the whole of 2021.

Some of the major discoveries in the region include the Whiptail, Cataback and Pinktail find on Stabroek, which together added 1 billion barrels of reserves – other major discoveries in the region in 2021 were Keskesi East, discovered by Total Energies off Suriname, and the Urissane discovery made by Petrobras off Brazil.

Guyana’s made five discoveries for 2022 in the Stabroek Block, which allowed the country to garner another title. As Russia takes the lead for the largest discovered volumes of oil and gas resources since 2015, positioning second is Guyana, which is followed by the United States of America (USA).

Presently, Exxon is engaged in an aggressive 25-well exploration campaign that began back in June of last year. That drilling campaign is expected to last until the end of 2025. This is in addition to a separate 12-well campaign that had begun back in December 2020 in the Stabroek Block and ended earlier in 2021.

Outside of the loaded Stabroek Block, Exxon is also engaging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to commence two separate 12-well drilling campaigns in the Canje and Kaieteur oil blocks.

WEDNESDAY STABROEK BLOCK PROFITS PULL HESS FROM BRINK OF DEBT ...POSITIONED TO BE COMPANY’S ENGINE OF GROWTH IN FUTURE Three months ago, the parent company for Hess Guyana Exploration Limited, Hess Corporation based in the US had a debt to capitalization ratio of 55 percent but according to analysts, “with so much revenue coming in, that is much less of a concern.”

This, according to Investors Alley analyst, Tony Daltorio—currently the editor of Market Mavens—who in a recent

Sunday July 17, 2022

US$45 per barrel.

This, he reiterated “will translate to cash flow growth being strong over the coming years. Cash flow is forecast to grow at 25 percent annually through 2026, more than double the top-line growth. That makes Hess stock a buy on its recent weakness.”

WOMAN ROBBED $500K LOOKING FOR LOVE ON FACEBOOK - ALLEGED THIRD PARTY IN “ROMANCE SCHEME” CHARGED

analysis noted that, “the real excitement for investors in Hess is centered on the growing Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana.”

It’s “the firm’s core growth engine going forward and is a game-changer for the company, due to its large scale and exceptional economics,” it was noted.

This area is one of the highest margin, lowest carbon intensity oil developments globally, according to a report by the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

“Barrels from this field, the largest discovered in the last decade, are mainly light, which helps meet the rising demand for relatively low-carbon-intensity liquids.”

It was noted that at present, Hess is not one of Wall Street’s favourites because of its high debt level and at the end of the first quarter, its debt to capitalization ratio was above 55 percent.

Additional good news for Hess is that oil demand is set to top prepandemic levels next year, with 80 percent of the growth in demand coming from non-OECD nations such as Guyana.

According to Daltorio, “just as the West seeks to use less oil, its demand is being replaced quickly by the emerging markets.”

He added, “All of this is very good news for any oil company that can increase its oil output at low cost to take advantage of high prices. One such company is Hess Corporation (HES), which is highly leveraged to the price of oil.”

It was noted that the Stabroek Block, where Hess has a 30 percent interest and ExxonMobil as the

operator, is large and continues to grow with the company recently increasing the gross discovered recoverable estimate to approximately 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, up from the previous estimate of about 10 billion.

According to Daltorio, current management guidance indicates six development phases will come online by 2027, resulting in gross volumes of about 1.2 million barrels a day of oil output. In April last, the company announced it is going ahead with its fourth development in the field, Yellowtail, which should produce 250,000 barrels per day starting in 2025.

The third development on the Stabroek Block at the Payara Field, with capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day, is ahead of schedule and expected to start producing in late 2023.

These in addition to the two producing fields in the Stabroek Block—Liza I and II. It was noted that after Goldman Sachs analysts sifted through hundreds of oil and gas projects globally, it identified Hess as one the few winners “who own material new projects that are highly profitable and will materially lift their future cash flows and production”.

Additionally, it was noted that t h e c o m p a n y ’s f o u r o i l developments in Guyana have a breakeven oil price of between US$25 per barrel and US$35 per barrel.

By 2026, the overall company breakeven oil price is forecast to decrease to an oil price of roughly

An East Bank Demerara (EBD) resident, Jaffon Hinds found himself before the court on Tuesday facing charges for being part of a “romance Scheme” after allegedly robbing a woman of $502,340.

She was looking for love and met a Facebook friend who won her heart but he turned out to be scammer who eventually robbed her, allegedly with the help of Hinds. The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) investigated the matter and according to a press, the victim’s Facebook boyfriend “promised her a huge package filled with expensive items” but before she could receive them, the woman had to help out financially with the shipping expenses. She was allegedly instructed to send cash to Jaffon Hinds via Western Union and did so on three occasions. Unfortunately, she never received the “package filled with expensive items” and her Facebook love ghosted her.

SOCU’s investigation led to the arrest of Hinds a resident of 106 Downer Street Grove, (EBD). It is alleged that he acted as a “third party” to rob the woman of the cash and as a result, he was charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit a felony. He appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday before Magistrate Zamina Ally and pleaded not guilty to all three charges. Hinds was granted a total bail of $90,000 and is expected to return to court on August 15, 2022.

SOCU in its release stated that head of the unit, Fazil Karimbaksh had warned the public back in April to beware of such schemes. He had pointed out that there was a sharp rise in cases where suspected Nigerian nationals, in Guyana and overseas, are collaborating with locals to scam unsuspecting persons. “Package Delivery” and “Romance” scams became more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic as scammers targeted primarily women via several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as online dating sites”, the SOCU boss had stated.

Karimbaksh had explained too that the modus operandi used by the scammers is to befriend unsuspecting women via the digital platforms using fake profiles of

Caucasian men with luxury vehicles and large sums of cash.

They would build trust with their victims and promise them expensive gifts such as designer clothing, jewellery, etc.

The victim would later be contacted by a local associate confirming the arrival of their fancy gifts and request their contact number and other personal information. SOCU continued that the local accomplice would contact the victim again but this time requesting that the individual deposit cash to a specified local Bank Account or via a Money Tr a n s f e r A g e n c y t o c o v e r brokerage fees, customs duties, penalties and/or shipping charges for the package. Once the payment is made, the suspects would never contact the victim again.

THURSDAY ‘BIGGER SHARE OF OIL MONEY NOW NOT A GOOD THING’ …WE CAN’T SPEND IT ALL, IT BECOMES INFLATIONARY - JAGDEO Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is spearheading the development of Guyana’s oil and gas industry believes that calls to halt the developments at the present in order for the country to realise a larger share of its oil revenues sooner, would not benefit the country.

He in fact argues that this could introduce added inflationary pressures to the country’s domestic economy. Jagdeo was at the time addressing guests at the annual Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) dinner, held Tuesday night at the Ramada Princess Hotel. He was asked whether capping other industries in Guyana would be a good idea “since we have all this money from oil.” To this end, the Vice President drew reference to calls from sections of society to not licence any new projects for development just yet. Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited along with their partners in the Stabroek Block currently operate two producing fields namely the Liza I and II locations being produced by the Liza Destiny and Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading Ve s s e l s . A d d i t i o n a l l y , EEPGL—ExxonMobil Guyana—has already secured the relevant permissions to develop two more projects, the Payara and Yellowtail fields, to be produced using the Prosperity and One Guyana FPSO’s.

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e Vi c e President, “so many people are saying, why you are going to licence, why would the government licence say any new FPSO, why don’t we cap the number there so (Continued on page 67)

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

From page 66 that we can get a faster flow or larger sums of money into the sovereign wealth fund.”

To this end, Jagdeo noted that “if you cap that, you will pay back for the four FPSO faster and then the government share grows.” He argued nonetheless that in such a situation “…what does that do, and is that the best thing to do, because if the money comes in, we can’t spend it all.” As such, he posited “it comes inflationary. “ With this in mind, the Vice President said: “we have to save greater portions of it, but what will that do, we will run out, we are trying to build a private sector now with the capacity to service this industry.”

According to Vice President Jagdeo, “if we don’t keep a steady stream of investments in the oil and gas sector to open up the reserves to prove it and to take it out as quickly as possible before net zero kicks in, and the demand goes down then we’ll run out of momentum.”

Qualifying his position further, the Vice President drew reference to the African Continent saying “look at what happened in Ghana, they had a spurt of activities, they end up producing a bit and now massive decline, so we have to continue to keep momentum there, and that is why we have to keep licencing new activities so that we can give our private sector enough time and room to grow and to be competitive.”

He said, such a move “is prolonging the life of the period and the opportunities for the next 10, 15 years for the private sector or else if you don’t think about that you run out of steam momentum by 2027, 2028. We do not want that to happen in this country.”

According to Jagdeo, “we have to be realistic too. If you look by the sector side by side, so the oil and

gas industry will be a big growth pole for our country into the foreseeable future but if we don’t nurture this too, and we don’t have a nuance understanding of the industry.”

Under the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with EEPGL and their partners, the oil companies are able to recover up to 75 percent of the gross monthly of oil, in order to pay overhead expenses including the payments for the developments.

Several analysts have argued that the 75 percent arrangement lends to the lopsided arrangement.

Coupled with the fact, the oil companies have already discovered in excess of 11 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil, there are now plans to have at least 10 FPSOs in place—one every year after 2027.

GOVT. DRAWS DOWN ANOTHER US$200M FROM OIL FUND Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has announced that Government has made its second draw down from the Natural Resource Fund in accordance with the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act 2021.

The Minister indicated that pursuant to Section 16 of theNRFAct2021, a further US$200 million equivalent to G$41.6 billion has been transferred from the Natural Resource Fund to the Consolidated Fund to finance national development priorities. In a statement the Ministry of Finance reminded that in May of this year, Government made its first withdrawal of$200 million equivalent to G$41.7 billion. This brings the accumulated withdrawals to date from the NRF to US$400 million, equivalent to G$83.3 billion. “This transfer was made in accordance with the

PAGE 67

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo addressing participants at the GMSA Dinner

strengthened legal architecture of the NRF Act 2021,’ the ministry’s statement added.

The NRF Act 2021 came into operation on 1st January 2022, and as part of the Budget 2022 process, Parliamentary approval was granted for a total of US$607.6 million to be transferred during fiscal year 2022. The ministry said the PPP/C Government will continue to work aggressively through sound and transformative investments of oil resources from the NRF, utilising these resources in a clear and transparent manner, to the benefit of present and future generations.

The NRF Act was hurriedly passed in the National Assembly on December 29, 2022 amid an inhouse protest staged by the Opposition Members of Parliament, who were clamouring for the then proposed Bill be sent to the Special Select Committee for consultations to inform the key legislation. Other members of civil society had also echoed this call but the administration ignored these views and rushed to pass the Bill.

Despite the public debate, Head of State, President Irfaan Ali, had, mere hours after the raucous session, formally assented to the Bill, thereby bringing it into law— with the final step being its publication in the Official Gazette.

Already, the Board of Directors to manage the fund has been appointed by President Ali, while the other management committees are to be set up. With regard to the use of the oil revenue, the NRF Act states that the natural resource wealth can be used to finance national development priorities, including any initiative aimed at realising an inclusive green economy.

To this end, financial analysts believe that the fund will be used to finance its Wales Gas-to-Energy project on the West Bank of Demerara. It must be noted that the administration has not clearly outlined how it intends to expend the oil revenue, despite receiving advice that the spending of the

national wealth must be done in a transparent manner. Instead, it has said that the funds will be included into the national treasury, where it will be put to use after receiving Parliamentary approval.

FRIDAY DEVELOPING STABROEK BLOCK TO COST GUYANA OVER $1 TRILLION IN NEXT 3 YEARS The oil and gas industry is often referred to as a capital intensive industry and according to recent forecast, the development of the Stabroek Block is expected to cost the country in excess of a trillion dollars to be expended over the next three years.

This information can be gleaned from the most recent Financial Statements and accompanying notes for Stabroek Block Operator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).

Under its capital commitments listed in the statements prepared for issue in April last, EEPGL has committed to spend some $489,412,563,110 for its 45 percent working interest in the block to be expended between 2021 and 2024.

According to the Financial Notes, last year, the company would have committed a total of $235.7B. This year, EEPGL has committed some $196.3B, while next year some $38.8B has been earmarked and another $568.3M for 2024. It would mean that EEPGL has committed for Capital Expenditure between 2021 and 2024 a total of $498.5M for its 45 percent share. As indicated in the documents, the figures represent the amount for the working interest held in the Stabroek Block. As such, it would mean that the financial capital commitment for the partner with the second largest share—30 percent—Hess Petroleum Exploration Guyana Limited, for the same period would be some $326,275,042,074.

According to the projections, Hess last year was responsible for $169B of the committed spending while this year $130.8B has been earmarked. As it relates to next year and the following year, Hess would be responsible for 25.8B in 2023 and $378.8M in 2024. CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited which holds the remaining 25 percent share would as such, be responsible for the remaining $271.9B in spending over the period bring the total spending on Capital commitments for developing the Stabroek Block during that time to just about $1.1T. With the installation of the second oil field completed earlier this year, it would mean that the bulk of the spending would be directed towards the development of the Payara and Yellowtail oil fields.

Guyana currently has two Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) units and is currently producing crude oil from the Stabroek Block—the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity and a third, is currently under construction.

That FPSO named the Prosperity will be used to produce the Payara development and is the largest of the first three production vessels to be put into operation in Guyana with a capacity of 220,000 barrels per day. The FPSO will be spreadmoored in water depth of about 1,900 meters and will be able to store around 2 million barrels of crude oil. The project is part of the Payara development, which is the third development within the Stabroek Block, located 200 kilometers offshore Guyana.

According to recent financial statements filed by the oil companies, in excess of $94B has already been deducted as part of the 75 percent cost oil recovery, to repay expenses incurred by the oil companies. According to statements filed by Hess Guyana Exploration Limited, in 2020 the first year of oil production in Guyana, it turned over $131,66,534,497 ($13.2B) while the following year, a sum of $14,834,549,944 ($14.6B).

Collectively, it would represent $28,001,084,441 ($28B) over the two years being set aside by Hess for the Prosperity vessel.

The monies are reflected as advances to operator in the company’s statement of financial position for the two years.

PAYMENT DELAYS FOR LOCALS IN OIL & GAS SECTOR ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ …AS GOVT. MOVES TO REVIEW LAWS TO REGULATE INDUSTRY Local businesses servicing the oil and gas sector continue to lament the lengthy time it takes the oil and gas companies to pay them for goods and services provided.

The issue of late payments has (Continued on page 68)

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PAGE 68

From page 67 been a sore one and is being blamed for the stifling local businesses. As such, the government is expected to revise the regulations in the Local Content Act with a view to remedying the situation.

Guyana at the end of last year passed its local content legislation, which caters to locals getting first preference in the country’s oil and gas sector. The Local Content law is intended to regulate the way companies operate in Guyana’s oil and gas sector; employ persons, buy services and the way that they procure goods. Despite the local content legislation being in effect, there have still been some related issues in the industry and several concerns raise.

On Tuesday last, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C, met with members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

The GCCI raised several legal issues for discussion relevant to the commercial sector. The Attorney General discussed several other issues of pertinent importance, including, regulating payment arrangements in the oil and gas sector. While speaking to this publication, the Attorney General explained that local businesses have complained of a systemic delay in payments for good supplied and services rendered.

“They complained that this delay is having severe impact on their limited capital and liquidity thereby hampering their ability to discharge their contractual obligations,” he added.

According to the Minister, the local businesses related to the government that in many instances, they are unable to secure sufficient credit facilities and as a result, they have to flunk the financial capital in some occurrences.

It was noted that in some instances where they are required to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) in relation to monies that they have not yet received, in respect to transactions that they have not received payments for. As such, Nandlall noted that the businesses are requesting some form of regulations that would limit the timeframe for the credit arrangements. “One avenue that is being explored is the promulgation of regulation for the Local Content Act to address the issue,” the AG note.

He recalled that when the Local Content Act was being debated in the National Assembly, the government made a commitment that after it becomes functional – if any inadequacies were to arise or difficulties encountered, regulations would be made to address the issue.

Notably, the Attorney General stated that if the regulations are not effective, the government will then explore other means.

AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan Meanwhile, still on the same issue, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Tuesday night during his featured address at the Guyana Manufacturing and Servicing Association (GMSA) mid-year dinner, stated that the legislation provides for the government to regulate the payment terms to local companies. He said, “…the issue of payment terms, we spoke of it in opposition, we raised it with the oil and gas companies and that has to change and the legislation provides for us to regulate this.”

The Vice President noted that a 90-days payment term to smalls firms in Guyana is not acceptable.

“We are getting around to regulating that to ensure that Guyanese companies could have better payment terms,” Jagdeo noted.

SATURDAY CHINESE STABROEK BLOCK PARTNER TAKES OVER US$2B IN LOANS TO STAY IN GUYANA …ALSO SECURES INFINITE ACCESS TO CASH TO EXPLORE, DEVELOP China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) International Limited (BVI) registered in Barbados, is the parent company of the Chinese partner with a 25 percent working interest in the Stabroek Block and, according to financial records, the company has loaned to its Guyana affiliate in excess of US$2B in order to finance its share of expenses in the operation.

This includes exploration and development and other ancillary costs associated with the oil fields in the amounts relative to its working interests.

CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited—Guyana Branch, is the local subsidiary with which the Esso Exploration and Production G u y a n a L i m i t e d (EEPGL)—ExxonMobil Guyana—has a partnership with.

According to the notes to the financial statements for the period ending last year, it was noted that

Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton the Barbados based parent company initially provided the Guyana Branch with a US$2.7B credit facility and that this was increased to US$3.5B in July last year.

According to the financial statement, the credit facility is perpetual. Meaning, the company essentially has infinite access to the cash, to collect when needed.

Additionally, the credit facility is non-interest bearing, unsecured and with payment on demand.

Wi t h t h i s i n m i n d , t h e documents illustrate that at the end of last year just over US$2.4B had been taken.

At the end of the previous year that facility had reflected that just US$2B had been taken, meaning the Guyana branch last year collected some US$400M. It was noted too that the international company has provided its financial support to the operation of the company.

As it relates to the company’s capital structure, CNOOC indicated that this is comprised of share capital and debt, and a US$3.5B credit facility provided by the parent company CNOOC International Limited.

According to CNOOC Guyana Branch, “the company manages its capital structure to ensure that it will be able to continue as a going concern and have the financial capacity, liquidity and flexibility to find the exploration and development efforts in Guyana through the Branch.”

Additionally, the company has since been notified by its parent company that it will sustain the business at its current level of activities.

This publication had recently reported that EEPGL—the Operator of the Stabroek Block, is in fact not a Guyanese company.

In fact, that company is registered in the Bahamas with ExxonMobil Global Holding Investment B.V. being the 100 percent owner of that company.

That being the case, its branch—EEPGL/ExxonMobil Guyana—locally, is expected to make annual payments to its home

Sunday July 17, 2022

office, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars each year, as is outlined in the company’s most recent filings of its financial records.

According to those documents, an amount of G$847,407,889 was due to be paid at the end of last year, w h i l e t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r ’s operations saw G$1,326,315,642.

According to the accompanying notes to EEPGL accounts, “parties are considered related if (a) one party has the ability to control the other party or exercise significant influence over the other party in making financial or operation decisions or (b) the party is a member of key management personnel.”

As such, the payments identified in the financial report represent amounts due to the Home Office and are considered related party balances.

The payment is but one of the expenses being deducted from oil sold from the Stabroek Block that has been earmarked for repayments or to be recovered.

Under the Production Sharing Agreement, up to 75 percent of the oil produced in the Stabroek Block can be earmarked to be used for deductions.

Other costs being recovered and paid for using ‘cost oil’ includes, decommissioning fees, Exploration and Production costs, leases and loans, among others.

NOT SO FAST; NORTON TELLS AFC OVER YEAREND BREAK UP T h e P e o p l e ’s N a t i o n a l Congress Reform (PNCR) is looking to stomp the brakes, on the Alliance For Change’s (AFC) plan, to deviate from the Coalition, indicating that the minor group will be subject to the binding agreement which comes to an end in 2025.

PNCR and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, on Tuesday hosted his weekly press conference where he was specifically asked whether a new Cummingsburg Accord could be inked soon with the AFC. To this end, he noted, “it is premature; as far as I know there is an amended (Cummingsburg) Accord which carries us to the end of this Parliamentary life which is 2025, so when I hear talks about the (Cummingsburg) Accord, I assume it’s the amended (Cummingsburg) Accord, since the (Cummingsburg) Accord as I understand it, is the basis, but there have been changes since then.”

On Monday last, the coalition parties met to iron out the “way forward,” specifically with regards to the political, economic and social-economic “crisis that the PPP has placed Guyana in,” the Opposition Leader reported.

Last Friday, Chairperson of the AFC, Catherine Hughes announced that the members of the AFC

decided at the last National Conference, hosted in June, that when the Cummingsburg Accord comes to an end on December 31 this year, the party will not be renewing the agreement.

Instead, she said the AFC will focus on rebuilding and walking on its own feet.

Norton in response last Saturday, told Kaieteur News he was not officially informed of the AFC’s intent to part ways with the Coalition.

Meanwhile, popular talk show host and coalition supporter, Mark Benschop, in weighing in on the AFC’s announcement, said via a Facebook post last Saturday, that the AFC was only awarded seats in Parliament due to its relationship with the Coalition.

As such, he threatened, “yall ain’t gonna use we and leff we fuh go and bargain with others…dah is not the contract we signed when we voted for the coalition. So, if yall wanna go alone, then yall return all of the seats to the Coalition…or, I will see yall in court.”

AFC Leader Ramjattan Friday during a media engagement rebuffed the position saying the party will not be giving up its seats in the National Assembly. This, since the Party earned them during the 2020 elections.

He explained that, “quite frankly, the agreement has three to five years tenure ship, or period for the partnership, and we went to our national conference like the PPP Congress or the PNC Congress for a decision on the issue and we opted for the decision for the three year termination.”

As such, the AFC Leader noted, “I do not see anything that will affect our Parliamentary relationship in Opposition, and I am unafraid of the so-called chatterati talking about consequences and so on our nine Parliamentarians, I don’t feel like that would happen at all.”

He reiterated that as indicated, “even though the termination would come at the end of the year, as our conference has now decided, we will still have (a) working relationship with the APNU (A Partnership for National Unity).”

To t h i s e n d , R a m j a t t a n reasoned, “no we are not going to give up our seats; those seats were earned and the APNU people would know that too, so why should we want to give up our Parliamentary seats when being in Opposition now, He insisted that it was still “a good platform to carry out Opposition work to scrutinize them and to ensure that they abide by the rule of law” As such he was adamant, “no we are not going to give up our Parliamentary seats and I do not think that the Leader of the List, Mr. David Granger is going to ever do that.”

Sunday July 17, 2022

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Kaieteur News

Bids open for rehabilitation of 10 roads in Belle West Housing Scheme Continuing with the upgrade of roads in Region Three, the Ministry of Public Works would soon oversee the rehabilitation of 10 miscellaneous roads in Belle West Housing Scheme.

The projects which opened recently at the National Procurement and Ten-

der Administration Board (NPTAB) office, is estimated to cost $361,822,425, according to a total account of the engineer’s estimate.

These projects will form part of the $15.2 billion that was allocated in this year’s budget for the construction and rehabilitation of urban

and community roads across the country.

Below are the companies and their bids: Miscellaneous roads Region Three (Phase 8) – Lot 235: rehabilitation of 1st Street, east to west, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot 236: rehabilitation of 2nd Street, east to

west, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot 237: rehabilitation of 5th Street, east to west, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot 238: rehabilitation of 7th Street, western half, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot 239: rehabilitation of 9th Street, western half, between the Multi-

purpose building and the Masjid, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot 240: rehabilitation of 11th Street, eastern half, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot 241: rehabilitation of 13th Street, east to west, Belle West Housing Scheme; Lot242: rehabilitation of Eastern

S treet (north to s o u t h ) , B e l l e We s t H o u s i n g Scheme; Lot 243: rehab i l i t a t i o n o f We s t e r n Street (north to south), B e l l e We s t H o u s i n g Scheme; and rehabilitation of Half Street on east side before last street, Belle West Housing Scheme.

Man burns own house down...

From page 12 left, Ramanah and her daughter ran to the main road and caught a taxi.

They headed straight for the Providence Police Station a n d l o d g e d a r e port.

The ranks who attended to her called the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) but someone had already informed firefighters that her home was on fire and fire trucks had arrived at the scene.

Now reflecting on the d i s a s t e r, R a m a n a h b e lieves that her husband might have been influenced by his relatives to commit such an act.

“We built that house and move d i n f i v e y e a r s ago,” Ramanah related.

She added that his brothers had visited on one occasion and reportedly commented, “My brother work hard and build a nice house.”

Ramanah claimed that she had mad e it clear to the man that it was a joint effort and she played her part too. She does not know if her remarks might have offended her husband but since then, according to her, “every time he gets drunk, he would curse up and repeatedly say 'I build this house'.”

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

3 Region 1 CDC Chairmen reportedly...

From page 13 for the work they have done over the years for their respective communities, even though others are being paid by the government to carry out the same functions.

Peters, who serves in Arau told Kaieteur News, “Well I am the community Chairperson and I do a lot of work in my community. Whatever the community needs, I go out to the Ministry and seek the effort without any stipend or anything like that.”

For the past two years, the Chairman who appeared to be in his late 50's said he has not received a cent. Further he explained, “We raise it every time we come here to the (NTC) Conference, this gon make the third time and we raising this all the time and them ain't giving nothing, them ain't giving nothing.

Them ain't giving no answer.”

The Arau Chairman told this newspaper that at one time, a Permanent Secretary of one of the Ministries told him that the village Committee did not have funds to pay him.

However, the frustrated Peters said, “Right now, we are suffering from this climate that we have. Floods completely (damaged the land) and even if it (crops) is growing, we ain't getting nothing cause the rainfall.”

Faced with the same difficulty, only for 10 times longer, Unity Square Chairman, Richard Anthony said he has been forced to do other small jobs to take care of his family, as promises to deliver a stipend to his home continue to fail. For 20 years, Anthony said he was never paid by the government. Although he remains hopeful, the man related that the impact of climate change has been crippling even his alternative efforts to rake in any money to take care of his small family in Mabaruma, Region One.

“The farm is down and out right now, so it's hard on me right now as a Chairperson cause I does got to bring out the monthly report for CSO, voluntarily I do it. When we doing up proposals, I does got to come out till in Georgetown here but we would take a little to clear we expense to come and go back,” he explained.

Anthony said he takes care of his six grandchildren, with the help of his youngest son - just 17 years old. He was forced to take on the responsibility after the children's mother passed away.

He too complained that he raised this issue with the government before. In fact, the CDC Chairman shared, that he has been complaining of not being paid since 2006, however, in a bid to compensate him, he was reportedly given a job from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to supervise a job for one year and six months. “Them put me as a supervisor for one year, six months without getting pay again and I leff the wuk. I tell them I can't do it because I can't do something where expense coming out and (I don't have) no income from nowhere.”

To make matters worse, the Chairman said he was not afforded an opportunity to raise this matter personally as during this year's conference, a Toshao from Red Hill village was identified to speak on behalf of all the Chairmen in the Region.

The community representative said he is on the brink of giving up hope. “The elder person than me in the community or even younger than me is encouraging me to keep on but I say this might be the last session this year because I am 61 years of age and I does trouble with diabetes 10 years now,” he related.

Simon Roberts, another CDC Chairman said he too has been working without a stipend for several months.

Kaieteur News also caught up with a CDC Chairman in the same administrative region who shared that he has been receiving a $15,000 stipend to carry out his duties. Norbert Abrams from Lower Blackwater village explained, “Every month, me does go and draw me lil stipend but yesterday (Monday last), the Minister said that they raise the Toshao them money and the Chairperson them money.” He said he was clueless as to why the community representatives were not being treated equally.

In addition, he reported that the Toshao that represented the Chairmen in the Region One district was told by the Ministers that the matter would be addressed.

“The Minister them say that how they got to look bout it deh. They go see what they can do because the Toshao told the Minister them that you know everybody working hard and them need lil money because watch how all ah we deh here and them nah getting no money,” Abrams reported.

On Saturday, efforts to contact the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai proved futile. A credible source within the Ministry, however, told this publication that CDC matters usually fall under the remit of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

The NTC Conference this year was held between July 11 and 15 under the theme: “Good Governance and Fast Tracking Amerindian Development.” The five-day event was hosted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Georgetown after a two year interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

Six people killed in rare attack near Malian capital Bamako Al Jazeera News—Six people have been killed in Mali, including two gendarmes and a police officer, in a rare attack near its capital Bamako, the security ministry has said.

The landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel is facing an continuing political and security crisis, particularly in its volatile northern and central regions,

where an armed uprising has raged since 2012.

But the violence rarely reaches Bamako, in Mali’s southwest.

On Thursday night, about 70km (43 miles) from the capital, an attack took place “at the checkpoint of Zantiguila, on the road to the central city of Segou”, the security ministry said on Friday evening.

The attack was carried out “by as yet unidentified armed individuals”, leaving three civilians and three law enforcement officers dead, and wounding two others, it said.

A police station on the same road was ambushed by “unidentified armed individuals” on June 24, killing one officer, authorities had said.

Mali has struggled to stem violence that took root after a 2012 coup and has since spread from the West African country’s arid north into neighbouring countries.

Thousands have died and millions have been displaced across the Sahel region.

Some of the groups have links to al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

The impoverished

country – one of the most politically unstable in Africa – has seen two military coups since 2020.

Colonels, angry at the government’s handling of the long-running violence, seized power in August 2020, and then carried out another coup in May the following year.

The military government in Bamako has turned towards Russia – away from

France and its partners – in an attempt to prevent fighters from spreading in the centre of the country and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

The friction caused by Bamako’s new ties with Russia, as well as the military’s continued delays in restoring civilian rule, has caused a falling out between Mali and France.

A single mother’s ordeal at the hands...

From page 17 the woman at work but while there, she was met with a wait and after almost an hour wait, and unanswered phone calls, the woman returned a call to tell her she observed holes in the wall of the apartment and as such, the security deposit could not be refunded.

The hole in contention, Allison said, was made by a contractor hired by the landlord to do some work in the apartment.

She explained, that at the time the contractor was working on cupboards in the apartment and she sought permission for the holes to be made in the wall to hang curtains and this was done.

“Before the contractor come, he stated that he already spoke with he (the landlord) so he know he have to bore the hole.”

That visit, in itself, according to Allison, was also a frustrating experience since the

person had reportedly travelled from Berbice to do the work and had arrived at her apartment at 10 in the night.

“Who comes at someone’s house 10 something in the night (to put in cupboards). I was already sleeping and they laughing and gaffing like if everything good.” During that time, she recalled, the landlord had asked her to secretly take and send a photograph of the man doing the work in the apartment.” Unable to explain the motives behind what she was made to endure at the hands of the son-in-law and the landlord and his wife, Allison said, “the hurtful part is that me ain’t do them nothing.” She surmised, “I don’t know if is because I never deh with the son-in-law; I don’t know what is it, this lady show me the money and drop (transported) me the day so I don’t know what is it.”

According to Allison, she

is presently at her wits end already with a limited income and bills piling up. “Right now, I got me son school fees fuh pay, I can’t even pay that, I got courts fuh pay…you think it easy?”

Allison related, “I am a single mother,” explaining that she parted ways with her son’s father because he was unwilling to stand up to his responsibility. A frustrated Allison said, “nobody ain’t understand me pain, the amount of things I go through and still going through, people try to fight me down with nastiness, with evilness and these things, a lot I am going through, financially, spiritually; is just God keeping me, just me prayers and God keeping me every day.” To date, Allison said, she continues to be given a royal run around just to get her own money—money she desperately needs and presently has nowhere to turn.

Protestors demand verification of Guyana’s discovered...

From page 62 the Petroleum Production Licence (PPL) for Exxon’s US$10B Yellowtail Project.

According to the 69-page PPL, ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is required to measure and weigh the volume, quality and composition of all petroleum won and saved from the Yellowtail Production Area, using measurement appliances and procedures in accordance with good international oilfield practices, the development plan, and as from time to time, approved by the subject minister.

The document stipulates that the licensee is required to provide to the subject Minister, reasonable written notice of the conducting of measurements, and an opportunity to attend or to have one or more representatives attend the measurements on his behalf.

Furthermore, EEPGL is required to provide the minister, reasonable and written notice and the opportunity to be present, either in person, or through a representative(s) whenever a piece of equip-

ment or an appliance for measuring or weighing crude oil or gas is being calibrated, recalibrated, tested, compared, measured or weighed against a standard. The PPL states that the said activities shall be conducted in accordance with accepted methods and procedures consistent with good international oilfield practices and as previously approved in writing by the subject Minister.

Additionally, EEPGL is not to make any alteration in the method or methods of the measurements used or in any equipment or appliances used for that purpose without the prior consent in writing of the minister, and the minister may in any case require that no alteration shall be made save in the presence of a person(s) authorised by him.

Kaieteur News understands that EEPGL shall carry out tests and examinations of any measuring or weighing appliance tested or examined in such manner, upon such occasions or at such intervals and by such means, in any case, as may be specified as directed by the Minister.

Finally, it is also expected

to submit the facility’s metering system design within 180 days of the date of the PPL being awarded (April 1, 2022).

This newspaper understands that such submission shall include all relevant schematics, specifications, expected maintenance and calibration programmes, and justification of the selected design.

In addition to the PPL provisions, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is also taking steps to increase its role in the oil sector. Broadly, the National Standards Body is responsible for the monitoring of measurements on the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels.

This new provision is not extended to the already approved projects. These include the Liza One and Two and the Payara development.

To this end, civil society activists have been lobbying the government to ensure it is not only brought up to speed with the true value of the resources being developed, but also accounts fully to the people of Guyana on this front.

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

Suspect rides to station after slashing man's throat

By Malisa Playter-Harry suspect on Saturday rode his bicycle directly to the Central Police Station located at New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six after he reportedly killed a man by slashing his throat with a grass knife during a street fight.

Dead is 39-year-old

A

Jermaine Elias, called 'Deportee', of 43 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice.

Kaieteur News was told by police that the man who allegedly killed him is presently in their custody assisting with investigations.

An eyewitness, 26-year-old Kevin Chesney, said that Elias was killed sometime around noon on Main Street,

New Amsterdam. Chesney related that he was “playing games” at a Superbet location on the corner of Main and Kent Streets and the victim was there too “just hanging around” as he normally does.

According to Chesney, at some point, Elias walked out to the main road and shortly after he saw him involved in an argument with another

Jermaine Elias' lifeless body on the roadway moments after his throat was slashed.

Dead: Jermaine Elias

The suspect who rode to the police station to make a report after allegedly killing a man. man on a bicycle.

"The two guys start fighting, I dunno what they were fighting for but another guy come and part dem and he separated dem but the man who got killed (Elias) like he didn't want it finish," Chesney told reporters.

Elias reportedly grabbed

a mop stick and began lashing the suspect about his body and the suspect retaliated by pulling out a grass knife from a bag he was carrying and “fired back some chops at the victim," the eyewitness revealed.

The suspect, it was noted, slashed Elias' throat in the

process. He collapsed immediately on the public road and, according to reports, he bled to death in a matter of minutes.

The suspect then picked up his bicycle and rode to the Central Police Station and reported the matter.

He was detained there and ranks were dispatched to the scene.

As ranks commenced an investigation, Elias' body was removed from the roadway and transported to the Arokium Funeral Home.

The victim's brother, Keon Elias, told reporters at the scene that Elias had only recently returned from Suriname.

Sunday July 17, 2022

Kaieteur News

Dominican Republic win 4x400 mixed relay, no golden goodbye for Felix EUGENE, Ore., (Reuters) Allyson Felix was denied a golden goodbye at the World Championships after the United States took bronze behind Dominican Republic and Netherlands in a spectacular 4x400m mixed relay in Eugene, Oregon on Friday.

The home crowd had roared with delight as seventimes Olympic gold medallist Felix took the baton for the second leg though the 36year-old, running in her final major championship race, appeared to tire down the stretch after a strong start.

The United States still managed to open a massive gap at the final changeover and looked well set for victory before Dominican anchor Fiordaliza Cofil reeled in Kennedy Simon down the home stretch to win gold and improve on their Tokyo silver.

“We have been training hard for this moment so I knew I could catch her,” Cofil said of her battle with Simon.

“Allyson Felix is a legend and I am happy to be in the final with her.”

Netherlands anchor Femke Bol produced an extraordinary effort down the

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Too much is on your mind right now, Taurus, and so you could have trouble sleeping.

When you do manage to drop off, you could experience bizarre dreams.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Some enlightening conversations could occur today with a partner, possibly romantic, possibly career-related. New methods of operation could come to your attention.

CANCER(June21–July22) Hard work on a particular enterprise for too long a time could finally lead to an increase in income. Creativity or innovation could be involved. Don't be surprised if you find yourself on the receiving end of compliments.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) You tend to be adventurous at the calmest of times, Leo. Today you could be feeling especially daring. You might be tempted to make some radical changes in your life, particularly where your profession is concerned.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You tend to be rather intuitive, but today your psychic abilities could seem more focused than usual. You're better able to tune in to thoughts and events. If you give readings, this is a good day for it, because you're apt to be more accurate than usual.

Blockbuster 36-team dominoes showdown set National Gymnasium today - National Sports Commission and Big Boss Transportation on board

The quartet of Lidio Andres Feliz, Marileidy Paulino, Alexander Ogando and Fiordaliza Cofil sped to a world leading 3:09.82 to secure gold ahead of the Netherlands (3:09.90) and the USA (3:10.16). home straight to come from 30m back and overtake Simon

Sunday July 17, 2022 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) A long-term friendship could suddenly develop into something more now. You could see this person in a new light and realize that this is a very attractive human being.

PAGE 75

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Today your mind is apt to be turning to discussions of money, Libra. Conversations, perhaps job related, perhaps social encounters with friends, could turn to the subject of new income opportunities through modern technology.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) New opportunities, perhaps involving writing or speaking, could appear on the horizon along with the current planetary energy.

You aren't one to take risks on the spur of the moment SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Letters, phone calls, or emails from afar could put you in touch with new, interesting people. These people could well bring some fascinating ideas your way.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) The current aspects encourage cultivating your spirituality. However advanced you are on your spiritual journey, there are revelations, awakenings, and new experiences waiting.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) A new opportunity could come your way today. It might seem like a dream come true, the chance you've been waiting for, but you'll still want to think about it a bit.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) New communications equipment may make whatever work you do that much easier to do. You might have some doubts about your ability to use it, but don't worry. You'll be able to deal with it as well as anyone.

for silver, as the 2019 champions were forced to settle for bronze.

Felix embraced her team mates at the finish, 18 years after she picked up her first Olympic medal at the 2004 Athens Games, as the home crowd gave the most decorated woman in the sport a warm send-off into retirement.

“It was very special to be able to run in front of a home crowd for my last race,” said Felix. “My daughter was in the stands. It was a night I will cherish.”

While it was not the spot on the podium she had hoped for, the grand dame of American track was all smiles, draped in the U.S. flag as she took in the scene at Hayward Field.

“I’ve had such good memories. I know it is time and these guys will carry it on into the future,” she said.

“I am at peace stepping into this next stage and have tremendous gratitude for this sport.”

The race capped the opening day of action in Eugene, where organisers failed to fill the stands for the first World Championships on U.S. soil as they look to build a bigger American fan basefor the sport.

“Crowds tonight disappointing,” American four-times Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson tweeted. “This is not the ideal situation. Last race for Allyson Felix, icon of the sport and the stadium isn’t full?”

Following hot on the heels of the Champion-ofChampions dominoes competition won Thursday by Executive from Gold is Money and Providence, another blockbuster dominoes event will take at the National Gymnasium today.

The event is a 36-team showdown among some of the biggest teams in the country and the event is a collaboration between Big Boss Transportation Services and the National Sports Commission.

According to Lindon ‘Poison’ Boston of the Big Boss Transportation Services, a number of the top teams in the country have already entered the event.

Boston said that the event will be graced with the presence of the National Sports Commission’s Big Three of Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, The Honourable Charles Ramson Jnr., Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Kashif Muhammad and Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle.

Among the teams expected to participate are C6, C7, MI5, R&R, F&H, 300, GGMC, OPKO, Lions, In Time, Killas, Mix Up, Hammer, Masters, Players, 1996 Law, Frankie’s Spartans, Big Girls, Phantom, Next Level, Upper level, Wild Bunch, Fresh Cash, North Star, Gangsters, Quiet Storm, Orange walk, Turning Point, F&H Supremes, Gold Is Money, Providence, Big Boss Girls, Straight Point, Mings Products, Manish Puppies, Alpha Warriors, Executives/Pain, Robb Street Strikers, All Seasons Racing and Ministry of Health.

According to Boston, all prizes are guaranteed and there will be zero tolerance on indiscipline.

Starting time is 1.30pm and there will be no exceptions.

The winning team is set to receive $300,000 with $200,000 and $100,000 going to the second and third place finishers.

The Most Valuable Player will receive $10,000.

Kaieteur News

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Sunday July 17, 2022

RHTYSC Cricket academy bowls off tomorrow - Special emphasis placed on females and under12 players The annual cricket academy of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club would bowl off tomorrow after an absence of two years due to the covid 19 pandemic. The Area H Ground concrete all weather court and the compound of the Rose Hall Town Primary School would be used to accommodate the academy as the club had to seek alternative ways to host the academy due to the ongoing rainy season.

Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster, who heads the organising committee, stated that the academy is catering for about one hundred and twenty youths between the ages of eight to eighteen years. The team of

coaches would be led by level three Coach Winston Smith, who has been working with the club for over fifteen years. He would be assisted by Delbert Hicks and national player Eon Hooper, both products of the academy. The event would end on Friday 29th of July with a grand graduation ceremony where several attractive prizes would be shared out to the top performers. Among the prizes would be tablets, cricket gear, uniforms, household and kitchen utensils, educational grants and school materials. The club at the end of the academy would also be opening its membership to allow non members to join

the very vibrant youth and sports organisation, which undertakes a record seven hundred activities annually under a wide range of subheadings including coaching, educational, community development, youth development and charity.

The club’s 2022 cricket academy has been cosponsored by Bakewell and the Guyana Beverage Company, while several friends of the club has also assisted including members like Kevin Sinclair, Shawn Perriera, Kevlon Anderson, Shemaine Campbelle and Shakabi Gajnabi.

The Guyana Beverage Company under its Busta brand on Thursday last came on board as a co-sponsor by handing over a quantity of water, drinks and juices.

Government Ministers Collin Croal, Nigel Dharalall and Joseph Hamilton have all committed to personally donate a bicycle towards one

of the top awardees.

RHTYSC Asst Secretary Jonathan Rampersaud expressed thanks to the Guyana Beverage Company, especially General Manager Samuel Arjoon, for their cooperation and committed the club to organising a very successful event.

Meanwhile, the club’s Republic Bank Summer Camp would also start on Monday at the Rose Hall Town Primary School. The camp would involve a total of about ninety students, preparing for entrance into secondary school. Foster noted that the club had a target of fifty students but the organisers received forty extra applications from parents and did not want to disappoint any person.

The cricket teams of the club raised the extra funds to hire another teacher to accommodate another class.

Students would be taught four subjects-Maths, Social Studies, English and Science, while they would

Busta Regional Manager Fhlarish Mohamed hands over donation to RHTYSC, MS Hilbert Foster. also be involved in several lectures on a wide range of topics including personal hygiene, public manners, peer pressure, how to choose friends and suicide. Like the cricket academy, outstanding students would receive prizes at the end of the four weeks camp and every participant who completes a hundred percent attendance would receive a school bag and educational

materials.

The two events are been organised by the cricket teams of the club under the guidance of management.

The teams are Poonai Pharmacy Under13, Farfan and Mendes Ltd under15, Bakewell Under17 and second division, Pepsi Under19 and Intermediate, Metro Females, Vitality Under23, Namilco Under21 and First Division teams.

Guyana regain their supremacy at Junior C’bean Squash C/ship

G

u y a n a dominated the courts to regain their supremacy at Junior Caribbean Squash Championship which concluded yesterday at the Georgetown Club.

Guyana played unbeaten throughout the tournament as they defeated defending champions Barbados 3-1 in the final of the boys’ category, while in the girls segment the Guyanese won 3-2 in their final round against Jamaica.

In the boys’ final, Guyanese Captain Shomari

Wiltshire defeated Darien Benn 3 – 1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7), while his team mate Samuel Ince-Carvalhal won 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-7 against Luke Wilson. Nicholas Verwey beat Alex Stewart 30 (11-9, 11-9, 11-8), Shiloh Asregado won against O’Garro Jules 3-0 (11-9, 119, 11-8) and Brenno DaSilva lost to Daniel Sealy 0-3 (811, 1-11, 2-11) in the lone Bajan victory in the final.

Trinidad and Tobago beat Bermuda 3-2 in the third place game, while British Virgin Islands overcame Cayman Islands by a similar

Guyanese Shomari Wiltshire (left) in action against Darien Benn.

Guyana Coach Carl Ince (left) is being congratulated by his grandson and player Samuel Ince-Carvalhal following their success. margin to take the fifth place playoff.

In their final round of the female division, Guyanese Kirsten Gomes handed her team a 3 – 1 (11-7, 11-4, 711, 14-12), win against Jamaican Mia Todd, while her t e a m m a t e Abosaide Cadogan beat Savannah Thomson 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11, 11-6).

Guyana’s Rylee Rodrigues lost to Katherine Risden 03 (0-11, 2-11, 2-11) and Safirah Sumner of Guyana went down to Mehar Trehan 1-3 (7-11, 611, 11-4, 4-11).

Guyanese Avery

Arjoon and Dwileen Coates won by default against their opponents.

Barbados beat Cayman Islands 4-1 to take the runner up spot as Jamaica placed third.

Trinidad and Tobago beat Bermuda 4-1 in their final round game.

Guyana had previously held the title for 12 straight years before they were toppled by Barbados in 2017 who won until 2019, the year the tournament was last held prior to this championship.

The Guyanese was admirably coached by veteran standout Coach, Carl Ince, who retired from the job following the tournament. (Zaheer Mohamed)

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 77

Tigers roar to clean sweep with 4-wkt win in last ODI

West Indies losing streak extended to record 11

By Sean Devers In brilliant sunshine yesterday, the smallest gathering of fans ever for any of the 25 ODIs played at Providence, watched as Bangladesh beat West Indies by four wickets in the third and final ODI to make a clean sweep of the threematch series.

Asked to bat, West Indies led by 73 from 109 balls with four fours and two sixes from Skipper Nicholas Pooran and 33 from Keacy Carty, who struck three boundaries which included a six, rallied West Indies to 179 from 48.4 overs.

Pooran and Carty, the first person from St Maarten to play International cricket, added 67 after joining forces at 16-3.

Only Romario Shepherd (19) and Rovman Powell (18) of the batters reached double figures as the top order again failed.

The 30-year-old left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, in his 13 ODI, was the architect of destruction with a career best of 5-28 from 10 overs.

Nasum Ahmed (2-39) and Mustafizur Rahman (2-24) supported well for Bangladesh who responded with 179-6 in with nine balls to spare. Litton Dass topscored with 50 from 65 balls with five fours and a six and th

added 50 for the second wicket with Tamim Iqbal who made 34 from 52 balls with four boundaries.

Mahmudullah (26) and Nurul Hasan (32) were the other significant contributors.

Guyanese left-arm Gudakesh Motie, in only his third ODI, had 4-25 from 10 frugal overs.

This defeat extended West Indies’ losing streak in ODIs to 11, an unflattering record theyhave held twice.

From February 1, 2005 in Australia against Pakistan they began their first losing streak which they held for six months.

Set 179 to win. Tamim Iqbal and Litton Dass joined forces after Najmul Shanto (1) was caught behind off Alzarri Joseph at 20-1 in the seventh over.

The pair took the score to 70 with confident shots on the lush green and fast outfield before Motie removed both batters to leave Bangladesh on 96-2.

The 27-year-old spinner from Albion in Berbice, struck again without addition to the score by bowling Afif Hossain for a duck and when he induced Mosaddek Hossain (14) to miss-hit a catch to long-off at 116-5, West Indies were back in the contest.

Mahmudullah andNurul Hasan put together 31 before Mahmudullah went down the track to Pooran’s off-spin and was neatly stumped down the leg-side by Shai Hope.

However, Hasan (32) and Mehidy Miraz (16) saw Bangladesh to victory.

Earlier, West Indies quickly slipped to 16-3 after Brandon King (8) was bowled by Taijul Islam, Shai Hope (2) was stumped, as Islam struck again at 15-2.

A run later, Shamarh Brooks (4) was lbw to Mustafizur Rahman to bring Pooran to the crease and along with Carty, playing for the first time in the series they steadied the ship with sensible batting. The pair embarked on ‘operation rebuild’ in sweltering heat on a pitch offering ‘something’ for the spinners.

Both batters looked good and used their feet nicely to the spinners and the fifty was posted in the 16 over with Carty depositing Nasum Ahmed for six.

Carty, when well set for his maiden fifty, skied Ahmed ‘miles’ into the air for Tamim Iqbal at mid-on to take the catch in the 27 over at 83-4.

Powell and Pooran added 34 before Powell, just after hitting a six, was bowled by th

th

Osmond Cummings Memorial Football

Milerock and Silvertown All Stars clash in U-13 and U-17 encounters today

T

he annual Osmond Cummings Memorial double header feature will be held today when the Under13 and Under17 teams representing Milerock FC and Silvertown All Stars Sports Club collide at the Silvertown All Stars ground from 1.00pm.

Former national and Botafago FC player Nigel ‘Mice’ Cummings, whose exploits as a nippy football player is noted as perhaps their greatest player from that community; and the Cummings family are once again

behind this promotion which is aimed at helping to promote the game among the youths.

Osmond Cummings, Mice’s big brother, was a founding member of the Botafago FC back in the early 1970s and it is in his honour that the annual matches are arranged.

Trophies and medals will once again be on offer for the teams on display and there will be the usual giveaways for members of the public.

Nicholas Pooran gets low and plays a shot late. (Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images) Islam who also had Keemo Paul (6) stumped to leave West Indies on 125-6.

Pooran reached his ninth fifty from 93 balls with three fours and clobbered Mehidy Miraz, for consecutive sixes and a four in the same over much to the delight of the ‘handful’ of fans in the stands which included school children in their

uniforms.

But Akeil Hosien (1) was bowled by Mosaddek Hossain as he played across the line at 146-7.

The 150 came up in the 42 over before Pooran, 27 short of his second ODI ton, missed a flighted delivery outside off stump trying to play it into the onside and was bowled as Islam struck nd

again at 150-8.

Motie (2) was bowled by Mustafizur Rahman at 153-9 before Shepherd, who hit a four and a six in his 19 from 22, missed a big heave and was bowled by Nasum Ahmed to end the innings.

West Indies will now focus on 3-match ODI series against India in Trinidad on July 22, 24 &27.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 78

Sunday July 17, 2022

Gidey holds off Kenyans to win another 10,000m for Ethiopia EUGENE, Oregon, (Reuters) - Ethiopian world record holder Letesenbet Gidey held off a twin Kenyan challenge and also finally overcame her nemesis Sifan Hassan in a terrific finish to win the

women’s 10,000 metres gold at the World Championships yesterday.

Gidey had been towards the front for the majority of the race but forged clear on the final lap.

Hellen Obiri and

Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi looked as if they might overhaul her in the final 30 metres but Gidey, glancing desperately to her right as Obiri closed, held on to win in 30:09.94 - the fastest time of the year.

Obiri took silver in 30:10.02 with Kipkemboi third in 30:10.07 - both personal best times - in cool conditions perfect for distance running.

Olympic and defending world champion Hassan of the Netherlands, who has barely been seen on the track this year as she took time off to recover from her stupendous but draining 2021, ran out of gas in the final straight to finish fourth.

“The dream came true, this victory is even more important to me than a world record,” Gidey said. “I was thinking about winning this gold since 2019 but Hassan was always there. I was also watching Obiri. This time, I was really watching them and I knew I had to be very fast in the last 300m.”

Hassan’s fallow year and the absence of several other

leading contenders meant this race was one of the most difficult of the Eugene programme to predict.

In perfect conditions for distance running, the field remained largely in one bunch, with an Ethiopian trio setting the pace and Hassan taking her usual approach of sitting towards the back Britain’s Eilish McColgan, whose mother Liz won the title 1991 and who came in with the second-fastest time of the year, set much of the early pace but drifted once the Africans upped the ante in the latter stages.

Gidey had been easily out-kicked by Hassan as she finished third last year’s Olympic final and also when taking silver in the 2019 worlds and tried to stretch it out from the bell, opening some daylight and dropping

compatriot Ejgayehu Taye.

The Kenyan pair remained in range and double world 5,000 champion Obiri, who said last year she was retiring from the track to focus on road running, looked to be closing the gap.

Gidey evidently thought so too as she covered the last 25 metres almost entirely with her head turned to the right in desperate fear that she would be overhauled.

She had enough though to hold on and go one better than in 2019 when she also lost out to Hassan and make it eight wins from the last 12 world 10,000 finals for Ethiopia.

“I have the next dream now - to win the gold at 5000m,” Gidey said. “With the God’s help, I can get the double, I am very confident now.”

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

RHTYSC and Metro Office Supplies renews historic sponsorship for 15th successive year - Clubs involvement in female cricket to expand

“

In 2008, no one was interested in female cricket but you took the leap with us to invest heavily into giving young girls the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of becoming the next Ava Morgan of Guyana.

Fourteen years later and counting, the Rose Hall Town Metro Team is part of history and dozens of young females have fulfilled that dream and many others are working to do so.

Every historic feat starts with a small step and we would like to thank you for doing so with us,” the words of Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club MS Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster during a simple presentation ceremony in New Amsterdam to receive the 2022/23 sponsorship from Metro Office Supplies for the club’s female team.

Foster, who is also the President of the Berbice Cricket Board, stated that the vision for a female team was born when he and several other club executives saw a thirteen years old Shemaine Campbelle and Jackie Singh play in an under15 match versus the Rose Hall Town Farfan and Mendes under15 team at the Albion Ground.

Campbelle has now gone on to become the greatest female player from Guyana and the RHTYSC has never regretted the decision to invest in females.

In fact, Foster stated that the club views it among the best ever investment that has produced four Senior West Indies players in Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond and Shabika Gajnabi along with dozens for Berbice and Guyana at the junior and senior levels.

The team recently had four players in the national under19 squad and six in the Guyana Senior side in 2022.

He recalled that the club had approached the then Chief Executive of the c o m p a n y, Ta a j n a u t h Jadnauth for sponsorship in early 2008 and he readily agreed. The rest, he proudly stated is history and today, the team remain the only fully functioning team for females in Guyana. They have won every female tournament organised by the BCB and GCB since 2008

and among the other players produced are Plaffina Millington, Dian Prahald, Sherica Campbelle, Trisha Hardat, Marain Samaroo, Oma Matadin, Leah Kamalall and Priya Mahadeo.

The long standing club official also unveiled a massive plan to double the female membership of the club in a few months. The plan is to attract dozens of young girls to attend the annual cricket academy

attract at least fifty new members to establish under17 and under19 teams.

Club Cricket Coach Delbert Hicks would be responsible for the development of the players and the club has already obtained the necessary cricket gear and equipment for the expansion. The club has also committed itself to assisting the new members with their educational careers as part of their personal development.

A representative of the company hands over the sponsorship to RHTYSC Asst Secretary Jonathan Rampersaud. which bowls off on Monday 18th of July and then encourage them to become full time members.

Foster and the club’s A s s i s t a n t S e c r e t a r y, Jonathan Rampersaud, recently visited several primary and secondary schools in the Rose Hall Town area to speak to female students and the response was overwhelming.

The club executives would continue to visit schools across the county when schools reopens in September as the aim is to

Metro New Amsterdam Branch Manager, Danny Ramnarine stated that the company was delighted to be associated with the team and was very proud of its many achievements on and off the cricket field. He expressed confidence that the outstanding performance and that the relationship would become stronger in the future. He congratulated the players who made the national team in 2022 and wished them well in their career. Shemaine Campbelle and Shakabi Gajnabi would

serve as captain and vice captain of the team over the next twelve months.

PAGE 79

Shemaine Campbelle

Kaieteur News

PAGE 80

Sunday July 17, 2022

Malteenoes Cricket Academy starts tomorrow T

he Malteenoes Sports Club, formed in 1902, facilitates young people from the lower end of the economic strata to hone their sporting talent, being a support, development and mentorship system to some of the commonly known names in Guyanese cricket.

The Thomas Road, Thomas Lands club has produced West Indian players such as Charlie Jones, Glendon Gibbs, Rex Collymore, Barrington Brown, Colin Stuart, Kenneth Wong and female Test player Indomattie Goordial, while Test Players John Trim and Clayton Lambert from Berbice have also played for Malteenoes.

This year the academy will be hosting a two-week exercise commencing from the 18th July – 30th. The academy will be catering for both male and female participants within the age range of 7-18 years.

The activities will run Monday through Friday between the hours of 9AM and 3PM at our facilities, Thomas lands, Georgetown, Guyana.

Applicants can obtain enrolment forms at the club.

Applications will also be available at Jacobs Jewellery & Pawn shop, Pike Street, Kitty as well as the

Some of the participants at the last MSC Academy.

Malteenoes Sports Club, T h o m a s L a n d s , Georgetown.

In July/August 1993, under the presidency of GCB’s Executive, Claude Raphael, MSC held the first National Cricket Academy for youths from all three of the Counties in Guyana with the ‘out of Town’ players being provided live-in accommodation at the club.

Arjune scores unbeaten 90 in Canada

F

ormer Guyana first-class opening batsman Krishna Arjune struck a blistering, unbeaten 90 to spur Pegasus to a comfortable 64-run win over Miracles last Sunday in the continuation of the 2022 Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs over-40, Division 2 competition.

Playing at Littles ground in Scarborough, the righthanded Arjune slammed nine sixes and four fours as his team reached a competitive 161-4 from the 20-overs, while Miracles replied with 137-6 when the overs ran out.

Arjune got support from the experienced Jai Singh who made 47, while Arjune and Prem Kumar (16) posted a steady 73-run opening stand.

Bryan Singh was the pick of the bowlers for Miracles with 2-29 from his maximum

Krishna Arjune three overs.

When Miracles batted, Rocky Persaud scored 41 with a fighting 31 from Sunil Hinsi as Cecil Harricharran grabbed 2-24 (2).

Pegasus will clash with Carr Tec Masters Sports Club at the same venue as the competition continues today.

The club has produced 2 7 N a t i o n a l u n d e r- 1 9 players between 1975 and 2013 and 32 who played for MSC that played for the National senior team between 1909 and 2009.

The Thomas Road entity has produced eight West Indies International players between 1930 and 2003, including West Indies Women’s player Indomattie

Goordial who was the last Malteenoes player to make her Test debut.

However, Malteenoes which held a scaled down Academy in 2018 has not produced a National Youth player since 2013 when Legspinner Steven Sankar represented Guyana, while Shemroy Barrington was the last MSC player to play First-Class cricket in 2009.

Under this executive, MSC will be looking to fix this problem by sending scouts to schools when they eventually re-open, to get youngsters to join the club and it is hoped that this year’s Academy can once again re-produce quality youth players like they did in the past.

In 1987, Colwin Cort, Barrington Browne, Glen

Robinson, Nigel Greaves, Shawn Holder, Sean Devers and the late Neezam Hafiz, dubbed the ‘Magnificent seven’ were a part of the National U-19 team to tour Jamaica for the Regional youth series which is still the record for the most players selected from one club on any National Cricket team.

(Sean Devers)

A record 1400 plus entrants for MCYS swimming programme starting tomorrow Director of Sports Steve Ninvalle has confirmed that a record 1432 registrants, with 102 coming from Berbice and 120 from Linden with the remainder from Region 4, has tripled the number that attended the Easter camp, for this year’s Te a c h T h e m Yo u n g Swimming programme.

The event gets underway tomorrow at the National Aquatic Centre at Lilliendaal on the East Coast from 10:00am with the opening ceremony. It was originally set to open at the Colgrain Pool in Georgetown but due to the volume of entrants the opening has been shifted to the East Coast facility.

The programme will be held at four locations. It is set for July 18th to August 12th at the Colgrain Pool in G e o rg e t o w n , N a t i o n a l Aquatic Centre on the East Coast, Albion Estate Pool in

Charles Ramson, Minister of Culture Youth and Sports Berbice and Watooka Pool in Linden.

In Linden it will run from July 19th to August 10th and in Berbice from July 19th to August 5th.

Last week, the Director of Sports had noted that,

“The honourable Minister Charles Ramson has insisted that there will be no fees attached for registrants….

We h a d a n E a s t e r programme and this is the second time we will be waiving all fees associated

with that…” This seemed to be a plus as the numbers in entrants suggests.

The programme caters for the age group between 9 to 18 years and sessions will be from 9:00am to 12:00noon daily following its commencement tomorrow and Tuesday in the respective areas.

The opening programme tomorrow will see Remarks from Mr. Dwayne Scott, President of the Swimming Association, Ms. Cristy Campbell, Commissioner N.S.C., Mr. Steve Ninvalle, Director of Sport and the Feature Address is expected to come from the Honorable Charles Ramson, Minister of Culture Youth and Sports.

The closing ceremony of this programme is set for August 12th again at the National Aquatic Centre at Lilliendaal on the East Coast from 9:00am.

Kaieteur News

Sunday July 17, 2022

PAGE 81

Major dancehall artiste set to perform at Guyana Cup W

ith thousands expected to journey to the Rising Sun Turf Club on Sunday 14 August 2022 for the 14th Running of the Guyana Cup horserace meet, the Jumbo Jet Horseracing Committee has turned on the style, ensuring that fans will be entertained to the max. Apart from the thunder on the track anticipated from the local and imported and racehorses down to visit that will keep pundits either at the edge of their seats, but more than likely on their feet, Jamaica’s number 1 dancehall artiste Skillibeng is set to get into the act.

Emwah Warmington, whose stage name is “Skillibeng” is the latest artiste representing the Parish of St. Thomas in Jamaica in dancehall. He has had several successful singles including “Pain & th

Emotion, Crocodile Teeth and Brik Pan Brik” that gave him international acclaim.

He has gained a large following on social media especially Instagram with over 600,000 followers.

During his rise to international stardom he appeared on the Vybz Kartel song “Bas Gyal” which was released in 2020.

The love he received by the hardcore dancehall audience has risen to a level that has got the attention of main stream acts to the likes of Drake and Nicki Minaj.

His most recent performance at the Wireless Festival was widely appreciated by the thousands in attendance, which saw patrons singing his hits. As he continues his climb to main stream stardom he would have shared the stage with acts to the likes of J. Cole, Burna Boy, Cardi B & Lil baby.

At 24 years of age, his

hits can be heard on all major radio stations worldwide making him a household name in Jamaica and further afield. After the record breaking ticket sales for his first performance in UK he has ranked as the most sought after dancehall artiste.

The Jumbo Jet Thoroughbred Racing Committee was able to secure a confirmed booking following his UK Tour.

Skillibeng’s management h a s b e e n v e r y accommodating in making the transaction as smooth as possible. The Guyana Cup concert and after party is expected to commence at 6:00pm with the biggest cast of local artiste available paving the way for the for the Queen of Soca Nadia Batson, Tic Tok sensation Yung Brudda, Chutney Queen Savita Singh, Chutney prince Raymond

Ramnarine and his full band.

As the thousands grow anxious the King of dancehall with hit the stage with all his glory accompanied by fireworks and other huge surprises.

The venue layout will be redesigned to accommodate more internal parking, more standing space for the concert, larger bars, smooth access and exit of the venue and an international stage set-up from Berbice’s very own Crown Vibes. The event promoters are urging patrons to purchase advance tickets to ensure hassle free access.

The countdown has begun to the biggest Horse Racing Event in the Caribbean carded for Sunday 14th August at the Rising Sun turf Club. Over GUY$30,000,000 in cash and prizes are to be won, so this year the competition is expected to be stiff. Get there

Emwah Warmington AKA Skillibeng will perform at the Guyana Cup. before noon to avoid the rush and remember indoor parking is available for over 500 cars. The organisers have encouraged, ‘Let’s all join together for this spectacular presentation, Guyana Cup 2022!”

This event is made possible through our title

sponsor Banks DIH and supporting sponsors Guinness, S. Jagmohan, A & R S e c u r i t y, Va l s Construction, Air services, Kings Jewelry World, K&P Project Management, JS Guyana, Aronco, BM Soat, Club Neutraal, AJM Enterprise & Jumbo Jet.

Investment in youths will continue - Pele FC Alumni Corp. Chairman, Denis Carrington

E

x e c u t i v e members of the Pele FC Alumni Corporation are presently in Guyana as the USA-based entity seeks to get back on track with its many developmental and support programmes for students and other entities.

Pele FC Alumni Corporation’s annual twoday Educational Development Programme which is aimed at empowering young players (male and female) to overcome poverty by building their confidence, self-esteem, and ambition, through the power of sports and education was halted due to the global, covid-19 pandemic in 2019.

So, with the aim of getting back on track, Chairman of the entity Denis Carrington along with Treasurer Patrick ‘Labba’ Barton and Executive Committee Member, Eric ‘Riggy’ Smith, all accomplished players back in their days, are home to put the framework back in place to get their programmes up

The five Pele FC Alumni Corporation Scholarship Students from right, Josiah King, Shoran James, Reshona Bishop, Sarah Mathias and Isaiah Layne. and running once again. Also attending the activity was Local Representative, David Gomes. Chairman

Carrington stated: “This trip is aimed at engaging our Scholarship awardees and their parents, we are going to

also reconnect and develop relationships with partners as we support our youth, creating new initiatives and

opportunities for our partnership and strategise for our Pele Football Club short and long term vision

back to excellence.”

A successful meeting with five (5) of the six Scholarship Students took place at the Marriott Hotel last Friday, where students and their parents were hosted for lunch and a subsequent interactive session.

“I think we had a great lunch and discussion with the kids and their parents where we were brought up to speed with their progress again and shared our thoughts and ideas with them on the way forward.”

The names of the students are Reshona Bishop, Sarah Mathias, Shoran James, Isaiah Layne and Josiah King. The sixth student, Joshua Denny was murdered last September when he was robbed and shot on his way to work.

A minute of silence was observed by the students, parents, and Pele FC Alumni ExCo members in Denny’s honour. Meeting with other entities that receive support from the Pele FC Alumni Corporation are scheduled over the coming days.

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The victorious Guyanese team with their accolades. (Zaheer Mohamed photos)

Guyana regain their supremacy at Junior C bean Squash C/ship

Investment in youths will continue - Pele FC Alumni Corp. Chairman, Denis Carrington

Pele FC Alumni Corporation Executive Committee Members, Patrick ‘Labba’ Barton (right), Eric ‘Riggy’ Smith (3rd right) and Denis Carrington (3rd left) pose with the Scholarship Students on Friday at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown.

Tigers roar to clean sweep with 4-wkt win in last ODI

- West Indies losing streak extended to record 11

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