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AIETEUR NEWS

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Granger’s statements on Lowenfield, CARICOM’s

Wednesday Edition

- Jagdeo

July 01, 2020 - Vol. 15 No. 26

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

report are “downright misleading”

Private Criminal

Charges for Keith Lowenfield Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield

Price $80

Online readership yesterday, 155,765

Recount figures must form basis of declaration - Canada Foreign Minister

Govt. resumes COVID-19 public assistance programme After two-month hiatus…

Venezuela’s stance on border issue illogical and erroneous - lawyers representing Guyana tell ICJ

Miner remanded for chopping ‘peacemaker’ to death CCJ hears recount case today

Caribbean Scholars call on Granger to concede - say “complaints of irregularities, fraudulent votes came after Coalition realized they lost”

Top Cop, Deputy should have gone; still on the job - Ramjattan says they are “validly there”

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 01, 2020

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

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

EDITORIAL

Right back in the lap of GECOM

W

e are hopeful in our anticipation that the elections answers and guidance looked for from the CCJ would be forthcoming by the end of this week. And if and when that happens, then everything lands right back in the lap of GECOM. There is nothing difficult or dense about this, that after all the circling to here and there for time and advantage, it is right back to GECOM. Twist it and turn it, shout and scream all over the place, and that is where a nervous and strung out Guyana will be in a few short days hence.

For, all things considered, and in the simplest of terms, the reviewers of facts and circumstances, the CCJ’s separators of the law from the myriad of Guyanese interpretations have three options and decisions in front of them: they have jurisdiction or they do not. If they decide that they don’t, then it is back to GECOM. In the event that the ruling is that they do have jurisdiction, then the remaining two decisions are, after all the submissions and listening, the weighing and the balancing of the scales, they can arrive at a holding that is either for or against what is before their honourable selves. And the bottom line is that whichever way the learned tribunes of the CCJ go, it is back to GECOM. Whether late this week, or early next week, there we would be again staring (most likely glaring) at each other with the hardest and most unyielding of heated gazes.

Since all roads in July lead right back to GECOM, this means one thing only, and one person only. Since, it is automatic to envision the usual 3:3 deadlock on everything, this means that Guyana’s unending elections of 2020 ends up in the hands of the chairwoman, Ms. Claudette Singh, from where this country should finally be able to close out its first major chapter in this most sorry affair: a decision, that long awaited, much anticipated declaration. At this point in time, the best that could be said is that the fate of Guyana is going to come down and rest right there: in the mind and hands of the chairwoman.

We will know soon what stuff she is made of, and of what we are made, too.

Or, in the extreme, it could be the otherwise, should the chair decide that the report submitted by the CEO of GECOM is patently lacking in credibility, and that it has standing in absurdity only, and so much so that she cannot in good conscience, and in her best judgment, go along with what is before her.

Because so much of the unprecedented have characterized this elections season, and with emphasis on what has come before GECOM, this is neither off the wall, nor out of bounds. Nothing about the elections has been normal or possessing and manifesting the smoothness of the familiar and comforting charted.

This is where matters stand right now. The chair and commission have to wait upon a document, a final report from the CEO. It could be the same one that the CEO has already delivered. As much as we try, and we are doing so, it is inconceivable that he is going to revise or amend his earlier report disenfranchising some 115,000 voters in one fell swoop in any material way.

That much is near absolutely certain, in this time of tremendous upheaval and uncertainty.

This is worth saying one more time, and we at this paper say it because it is how we have evaluated the situation: it is doubtful to the most extreme limits possible, that the CEO has any intention to change his report in any consequential degree relative to those 115,000 votes reduced to ashes and hurled to the four winds.

The CEO of GECOM stands on strong grounds, since powerful friends have come forward to prop him up in identically immovable fashion. First, it was the visible and very audible point man for the coalition, Mr. Joseph Harmon, who made no bones as to how the coalition views and receives and supports the numbers embedded in the last report of the CEO of GECOM. The coalition stands behind it all with all of the strength and spirit of the group. And

There is no benefit for David Granger in his refusal to concede DEAR EDITOR, Guyana is a democratic state that is struggling to stave off an attempt to establish an authoritarian state. The incumbent President is Brigadier David Granger (retd) who leads a coalition known as APNU+AFC. Granger is the leader of the largest partner, the PNC, which has an unfortunate history of being founded by LFS Burnham, who ruled Guyana with an iron fist from its independence 1966 to the time of his death in 1985. To understand how Guyana has returned to the precipice of dictatorship and authoritarian rule we have to examine David Granger, the man who would be King.

After a campaign based on the slogan of ‘Honesty, Decency and Integrity’, Granger was all set to be sworn as the new President based on Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo’s two fraudulent declarations of 5th and 13th March.

No rational explanation has been offered as to why Granger has never requested to examine the

Statements of Poll in his party’s possession nor those in the possession of GECOM’s Mingo or Lowenfield. Granger instead chooses to avoid questions and send various minions to float theories and stories varying from the ridiculous to the even more ridiculous.

There has been no apparent attempt to discern the truth by Granger; instead, there has been a blind acceptance of the stories peddled to him by close aides and family.

Despite pleas from every possible quarter, Granger has steadfastly refused to concede defeat at the polls and continues to cling irrationally to power, oblivious to the harm he is causing the people of the country and the nation’s international reputation.

In her first interview as First Lady, Sandra Granger stated that she was the disciplinarian of their daughters; he (David Granger) was a walkover, and “He is a calm person. I know he gets angry but he gets quiet when he does. I never heard him abuse anybody in vile language ever” Sandra

Granger related that a GDF Officer said, “From the time David says, ‘My friend…’, you know it is very serious”.

There are three agreed symptoms of passiveaggression personality disorder: an avoidance of responsibility; deliberate inefficiency; a refusal to state needs, or concerns directly.

Throughout his five-year tenure as President, Granger has consistently avoided open press conferences, preferring to offer comments on the sidelines of events and avoiding questioning.

Granger infamously invokes the four C’s to avoid taking responsibility for his actions: it was all the Courts, Constitution and then the Commission; after the loss of the elections of March 2, 2020, it has been all of those and CARICOM who have been holding up the declaration of results.

Tellingly, in instances when the courts have ruled Granger’s actions illegal and/ or unconstitutional, he would simply provide his own interpretations of these rulings. CARICOM was deemed the “most legitimate

interlocutor” by Granger before the Caricom report which declared “the Team did not witness anything which would render the recount, and by extension, the casting of the ballot on March 02, so grievously deficient procedurally or technically, (despite some irregularities), or sufficiently deficient to have thwarted the will of the people and consequently preventing the election results and its declaration by GECOM from reflecting the will of the voters”.

Granger has spent all of his political capital making promises to abide by the four C’s, something he has told visiting U.S members of Congress, diplomatic representatives, and world leaders. He has, in breaking those promises, lost the goodwill, and exasperated the patience, of everyone: the USA, The UK, Canada, The European Union, CARICOM, Baroness Scotland and the Commonwealth and, most of all, the majority of the Guyanese people. Even former supporters are turning away in disgust at the (Continued on page 6)

Golding, Gonsalves and Mottley have meddled in our internal affairs and leadership, before makDEAR EDITOR, An almost unbelievable ing a pronouncement should feature of human experience be ceased of all the relevant is the failure by intelligent facts before making public leaders to understand their statements as we have noted own history. This lack of from the likes of Dr. Ralph knowledge and inability to Gonsalves of St. Vincent, make appropriate connec- Bruce Golding of Jamaica, tions with the present has purportedly speaking for been a serious weakness.

OAS and now of all people, This has allowed many to Mia Mottley, Prime Minister traverse a path of sheer folly, of Barbados.

In a few days’ time, we often contrary to their own self-interest and the welfare celebrate the fifty-fifth anniof the people that they have versary of a glorious moment, been elected to serve. In all in CARICOM history. Three of this, we find individuals Caribbean giants and supertend to speak on behalf of patriots met at Dickinson Bay groups who have neither in Antigua in the first week of been consulted nor given July 1965 and signed the those who now speak the CARIFTA agreement, the right to speak on their behalf. forerunner of CARICOM. I For me, it is both sad and refer to Errol Barrow, Vere worrisome to hear a handful Cornwall Bird, and Linden of past and current Forbes Sampson Burnham, CARICOM leaders express Premiers of Barbados, their views on the Guyana Antigua and British Guiana 2020 General and Regional respectively. These three giElections. First, when we oc- ants intended to set the stage cupy positions of authority to avoid any form of fragmenbecause the coalition is the controlling power in Guyana currently, that could very well be the deciding factor for this go around.

If there were any doubts about the coalition’s position, those should now have all been thoroughly purged. The president himself, Mr. David Granger, went public and stood unswervingly behind the report and all that it concluded. It is that the coalition won.

And regardless of what is handed down by the CCJ, this is the declaration from the chair of GECOM that is expected, to which all the signs and portents point.

tation and discord. What we noted recently in statements and references to our 2020 Elections must have caused these visionaries to turn in their graves.

They and subsequent Caribbean leaders understood that the decent thing to do was to listen and learn from your counterparts and not, as was observed, to lecture to a colleague. With regard to Golding, Mottley and Gonsalves, they must follow rules of engagement.

If they deem it necessary to pontificate and therefore meddle in the internal affairs of a fellow CARICOM State, they should do so only after, being aware of all – and I stress, all – of the relevant factors. Further, the hallmark of civility within the comity of nations and the enhancement of the core concept of decency and fair play is to seek information from all sides and examine all the issues carefully before one rushes to judgment. Failing to do this is either a sign of prejudice or immaturity.

It is unbelievable that the architects of CARICOM, followed by the likes of Dr. Eric Williams and Norman Manley et al, before saying unkind things about the other, would not have utilized dialogue before making public pro-

nouncements and would have resisted this banal public attack on the David Granger administration.

They say a leopard never changes its spots. Are these leaders aware that left to the PPP hierarchy, there would have been no CARICOM and if there was, it would be minus Guyana. It was the PPP leadership in Guyana that did everything to scuttle a Caribbean union.

On a related matter, we see inappropriate statements by certain diplomats and local organisations. I believe that the expressed views are personal and not necessarily those of their respective governments. In this regard, I was glad to read the statement made by President David Granger with regard to relations with the United States of America.

I believe, similar sentiments can be expressed with regard to Canada, the EU, India, China, Russia, Central America including Cuba, countries of Latin America, South America and Africa.

From the time of Independence, Guyana has always sought to maintain cordial and fruitful relations with all countries.

In this regard, the time has come to remind leaders of (Continued on page 5)

Wednesday July 01, 2020

Granger deliberately ignored the key findings of the CARICOM Report DEAR EDITOR, David Granger, still our country’s serving President, finally came out from behind the shadows on a staged Benschop Radio interview to commit himself and his governing party to accepting and embracing their plan to rig the Elections and remain in government illegally.

It was blood-curdling to listen to Granger’s contrived deceit as he responded to the questions fed to him by Benschop. When asked for his reaction to the CARICOM Report, he unbelievably and duplicitously, having remained silent on it for days, ignored completely, the Report’s clear and unambiguous confirmation that the Recount had provided a valid basis for the declaration of the results, selectively referring to only those parts of the Report which recommended future revision of the electoral process by GECOM. Here is what the CARICOM Report said that David Granger chose to ignore: “Nothing that we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion

that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 02, 2020, elections.

Any aggrieved political party has been afforded the right to seek redress before the courts in the form of an election petition.”The Report also said: “The conduct displayed by some of the observed party agents (APNU/AFC) was totally unacceptable…The numerous requests for information on serial numbers were so bizarre, that on one observed occasion, an APNU/AFC agent was prepared to query serial numbers on the OLE in a Work Station where no one had voted”.

“The Team did not view the objections raised by the APNU/AFC as materially relevant to the recount of the ballot…Moreover, we simply have no evidence as to who were the ultimate beneficiaries of the alleged ‘ghost voting’ and ‘voter impersonation’.”

“The Team does not view the irregularities identified, amounted to sufficient grounds to invalidate the tabulation of the votes at the

Golding, Gonsalves ...

From page 4 Organisations, such as FITUG, Chamber of Commerce, the Private Sector Commission, sections of the Media, certain diplomats and others that it is bias and intolerance that led to the tragedy of slavery, the two World Wars and the many proxy conflicts and coups, and the killing of George Floyd in the US, which have tarnished the existence of what we deem to be a civilized society.

I call upon these representatives of international, regional and local organisations to avail themselves of all the factors related to the 2020 Elections. For example, whether it is in North America, Europe or anywhere else, elections are not the business of saints or sisters-of-mercy. In Guyana with oil and other opportunities, the stakes for the 2020 Elections were the highest in our history and the recount showed that some friends as we say in Guyana, ‘try a thing,’ When we do that and we are caught with our pants down, we accept it and move on. If you begin a journey where conditions allow for manipulation, the road then is rocky and rough.

These persons above should ask why the PPP was anxious to contest the Elections using a bloated list of electors.

If those who now speak could answer that question, we can have a healthy conversation.

At this point of time, I am

not interested in who were the purveyors of skullduggery and electoral fraud. Observations made during the recount established beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was electoral fraud perpetuated by persons not yet named.

Yours truly, Hamilton Green.

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Kaieteur News

recount and therefore these irregularities DO NOT constitute sufficient grounds to challenge the integrity of the recount process…We found no intentional miscounting of the ballots which would constitute an election fraud necessitating further action”.

David Granger’s deliberate distortion in his presentation of the CARICOM Report last night was an insult to the work and integrity of the GECOM officials who dedicated their time and safety to come to Guyana and affront to the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley who made all of this possible.

David Granger also continued his sanctimonious claim that he has not and would not interfere in the work of GECOM, but he did just that when he insisted that the discredited and unauthorized Lowenfield report must be accepted by the Chairman of the Elections Commission, in effect, seeking to direct the GECOM Chairman as to what she must or must not do.

It is pellucid that David Granger intends to remain in office regardless of the expressed will of the people and regardless of the declaration of GECOM, apparently secure in the belief that he has the security forces to sustain him.

In these circumstances, it becomes imperative that the Commissioner of Police and the newly appointed Chief of Staff and those under their command honour their pledge to which they are sworn under the Constitution.

Yours truly, Kit Nascimento

Granger continues to conveniently complicate simple processes for his own purposes DEAR EDITOR, President David Granger in his interview with Mark Benschop on Sunday night has succeeded in plunging a tortured nation into further bewilderment and anguish.

After his usual sanctimonious pledge of constitutional obedience, compliance with Orders of court, and binding himself to a declaration of the election results to be made by GECOM, he has wandered off into his own frolic.

He paints a picture of how complicated and complex Guyana’s electoral process is and offered that as the reason why foreigners may not understand it. The truth is that Mr. Granger does not want to accept the results produced by the process.

The Guyana electoral process has been the same since 1992. It has produced results accepted by every previous politician. The accuracy of those results may have been disputed but the process has never been. It is the same electoral process that produced victory for David Granger in 2015 so his attempt now at making the process complex and complicated is a clumsy farce.

It is the same thing that he did in relation to the process to appoint a Chairman to the Guyana Elections Commission. No other President had any difficulty in understanding the Constitution and the process, except Granger, who rejected 18

names and unilaterally appointed James Patterson in violation of the Constitution, a decision that the CCJ vacated.

In his interview with Benschop, Granger miraculously placed heavy reliance on the CARICOM observer team report, quoting liberally from it. He however failed to quote the part that said that the allegations made by APNU+AFC were false, fraudulent and ridiculous and that the recount process was credibly and transparently done, and that the results generated from the process are valid and credible.

Granger further turned the law upside down in respect of the relationship between GECOM and the Chief Election Officer. He wrongly asserted that the Chief Election Officer’s report is binding on GECOM, whatever that report contains. The truth is that the

CEO is subordinate and subject to the directions of GECOM, not the reverse.

Therefore, the CEO can only act upon the directions of GECOM. His own Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, claims that in 2011, he identified a flaw in the then CEO Gocool Boodhoo’s report and thus caused the Commission to reject that report and directed Boodhoo to bring back a proper report. Well, the law has not changed since.

GECOM reserves the power to reject any fraudulent report presented by any Chief Election Officer.

In light of Granger’s outrageous remarks, those who are speaking about personal sanctions should now consider whether it is not appropriate to translate their language into actions.

Yours truly, Mohabir Anil Nandlall

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 01, 2020

I invite President Granger to turn to What has the GECOM Chair remained silent on the actions of the CEO? God for wisdom on the way forward DEAR EDITOR, As youths in Perth Village, Mahaicony, we were taught at school that before crossing the road, we were supposed to look right, look left, look right again and if the road is clear, then cross.

As I grew older, I travelled daily by train to Georgetown to attend high school and at every junction where the train tracks crossed the road there was a sign that read: Railway Crossing – Stop, Look and Listen. The two short statements or warning for crossing the road and crossing the train tracks benefited those who followed those simple instructions.

When Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he was provoked and he looked right, looked left and saw that the way was clear for him to murder the Egyptian which he did.

Moses did not look up to God and that mistake changed his life from a prince in Egypt to a wanderer in the desert.

There is a real story of an academic genius of his time who committed his life to evil by actively positioning himself to a movement that captured and punished anyone who chose to follow the ways of Jesus.

His name was Saul who later became Paul the Apostle.

As he was travelling to Damascus with his prize of prisoners, God in His mercy struck him down blind and a voice spoke to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The conversation

went on with Saul being warned that it is hard to fight against God and Saul in his wisdom asked God a question, which changed his life from a persecutor to be persecuted the same way. He became the greatest missionary of truth that the world has ever known.

The question for God was, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’

This is the question, which I ask myself daily. To make sure that as I am blessed, I become a blessing to others and I will like to invite my president, members of his party and all members of the opposition to look into the mirror, look up to God and sincerely ask God the question, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ However, do not ask the question if you have already made up your mind on your role for the future of Guyana because Almighty God will not change your mind. Do not ask God after discussing the subject with those who have their own agenda and are poisoned with greed for power.

Unlike others who are pleading with the President, I refuse to waste anymore time following that path and without trying to be offensive to his high office, I want to submit the truth that “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still and there is no one who is so blind like the one who does not want to see.” Instead, I would like to point him and all of us to follow the path of God and would like to point him to the

wisest king who ever lived, Solomon.

When he was appointed King, recognizing that the office demanded more that he can offer, he immediately asked God for wisdom to make godly decisions and make life comfortable for those who he was elected to serve. This is what he said in Ecclesiastes 7:29: “this is what I have found. God made mankind upright but men have gone in search of many schemes.” In Proverbs 13:20, he warns us from taking advice from anyone who is not considered wise - “He who walks with the wise, grows wise but a companion of fools suffers harm.”

Many governments, organizations, talented and wise people have concluded that we are taking the wrong path and have warned us of consequences. Every time I read those statements, I am reminded of the mother of a soldier who was marching out of step at a military parade and living in denial. She said “everyone is marching out of step except my son” and no one was able to convince her that she was wrong because stubbornness had destroyed her ability to reason.

We all have different ways to make our decisions but when we sincerely want to follow the right path, there is no substitute for asking God. He will show you by his word and in His mercy will try to protect us from a destructive future and from passing a baton of regrets to those who follow. We have a good example with Hugo Rafael Chavez and the present President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, whose survival is dependent on expelling anyone who opposes him while suppressing and destroying the lives of the Venezuelans people to remain in power. I am sure that he is living with great regrets and will be remembered as a man who spent his life to destroy others.

When wisdom speaks, I listen. I will like to introduce the president and all the politicians to a man who is known for his great wisdom, courage and full of love for all races of our nation. He never showed partiality but always spoke out as a spiritual leader to all people of all denominations.

This man was my friend from whom I have learnt to be a better person and Guyanese.

He is the late Bishop Randolph Oswald George whose parting words to us were, “live your life in such a way that the end of it, you will have the greatest amount of satisfaction and least amount of regrets.”

Yours truly Harold Beharry

DEAR EDITOR, As the Guyanese people lay mortally wounded, gasping for breath, the APNU+AFC continues to adamantly refuse to remove its knee from their throats but keeps on accelerating the pressure. Guyanese are crying out for reprieve but there seems to be only one conclusion: the Coalition will rig itself into power using its stranglehold on GECOM, sanctions or no sanctions.

The recent utterances of Joseph Harmon and Granger leaves no doubt about the outcome of the 2020 Elections despite the echoing cries of the multitudes who requested Granger to concede defeat and allow for a smooth transition of a PPP/C Government.

Whilst Granger in his trademark duplicitous manner said that he is prepared to ‘live by’ the elections results when it is declared by the GECOM’s Chair and will not interfere in GECOM’s work, he claimed that the Commission is ‘bound’ by the fraudulent report submitted by the CEO Keith Lowenfield which sought to disenfranchise more than 115,000 voters. He thus gave his direction to the CEO. I have always maintained that Granger is a deceitful man. In one of my letters, I had written that, ‘Let Guyanese be not deceived!

Granger is the leader of the Burnhamite faction, which is resurrecting old tricks and creating new ones to rig the 2020 Elections’. This statement holds true despite some apologists stating that Granger is the ‘innocent altar boy’.

The term ‘sanctimonious gangster’ is an apt label.

Granger’s statement came on the heels of a statement made by Joseph Harmon who it seemed had set the tone. Harmon had said that, ‘For those persons who are calling for Mr. Granger to concede, that is not going to happen’. He questioned, ‘Concede to what?

Concede to who? What is he to concede to?’ and concluded that, ‘It appears to me, I’ll venture to say any right thinking person, to be a most ridiculous and nonsensical proposition’.

Is it a ‘nonsensical proposition’ when it is pellucid for all to see that Mingo attempted to rig the elections? That two false and fraudulent declarations were made based on Mingo’s tabulation? That Lowenfield presented a fraudulent report disenfranchising 115,844 voters without giving any reason? That the APNU/AFC allegations of dead voting and migration are without merit and substance?

That the PPPC/C won the 2020 Elections?

Moreover, Harmon seemed to believe that a CCJ ruling in the Coalition’s favour will allow for the swearing in of Granger. What Harmon does not understand is that ‘valid votes’ have already been determined by the laws which dictated the electoral process to be followed and which were followed. Section 87 of the Representation of the People’s Act

clearly outlined the criteria to be followed in ascertaining a rejected or invalid ballot. The GECOM counting officials followed this process and credibility was preserved. It is these figures, which must be used.

The GECOM Chair should recall her statement after the March 2 Elections. She had unequivocally stated that, ‘GECOM has delivered free, fair and credible elections’. She emphasized that, ‘the elections were well run’ and the CEO and his hardworking secretariat did a fantastic job’. A headline caption in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle read, “Elections was free and fair”. Indeed not any of the political parties disputed that the polling on March 2 was not imbued with those characteristics. Now despite a recount supervised by the ‘most legitimate interlocutor’, there is a deafening silence and a hesitation to use the recounted votes.

The CEO is a contracted worker and is subordinate and subject to the directions of GECOM and his fraudulent report is not binding on GECOM. The Chair of GECOM gave directions to the CEO to prepare his report based on the recount results and he clearly flouted these directions. Why has the Chair remained silent on this illegal act of the CEO? Why has she so far remained silent of Mingo’s fraudulent activities with regards to the Region 4 vote tabulations?

There is no doubt that she has the power and the intelligence to bring a speedy resolution to these repeated attempts to rig the 2020 Elections, but does she have the will to do so? Will Lowenfield’s fraudulent report be used as the basis for the declaration? What is the basis for the invalidating of 115,488 votes?

Why is Granger so confident that this report will be used? There is no doubt that some officials in GECOM are on the Coalition’s payroll.

This is so despite the conclusion of the CARICOM Report, which stated that, ‘We are…of the unshakeable belief that the people of Guyana expressed their will at the ballot box and as a result…the recount results are completely acceptable’. The recount showed that the PPP/C won by 15,416 votes. Granger had said that, ‘I’m very confident in CARICOM’s ability and integrity…and is the most legitimate interlocutor’. Therefore, the question is: What is preventing the Chair of GECOM from declaring the results of the recount even if Lowenfield has failed to do so?

The Chair must use her office to stop these many nefarious attempts to rig our elections.

We need to breathe freely once again. Our patience is waning. One last question: Will the Courts facilitate the rigging of our election?

Yours truly, Haseef Yusuf

There is no benefit for David Granger ...

From page 4 transparent attempts to insult their intelligence.Any rational mind can forecast where this all ends; the promise by U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that “all those who seek to benefit from electoral fraud” will face sanctions cannot be wished away. David Granger and his family will bear the brunt of these measures; the family name will be destroyed and will haunt the bearers for generations both in Guyana and abroad. It is a fate many would find too terrible to contemplate. Ostracism from society is inevitable, the company of honest, decent people of integrity denied forever. The family will be unable to travel to foreign lands with the possible exception of Cuba, their bank accounts frozen.When (not if) the intermediary banking facility is cut, the people of Guyana will be denied money transfer agency services. Without access to services

such as MoneyGram and Western Union, hardship for many will be unbearable; the love of many for Granger will devolve into open disdain. For his political administration, the perks will soon disappear; the oil money is already out of reach and will not be in the hands of an illegal government. There is no benefit for David Granger in the near future if he does not concede soon – the advice, entreaties, and warnings will turn into action, and then there is no return for him.Despite all of these obvious factors, David Granger continues to hold onto power. There has been no statement or indication of any other desire, which he would like to achieve or any other direction he would like take. In the meanwhile, Granger will neither fish nor cut-bait and the Guyanese population continue to suffer the ebb and flow of the passive-aggressive mind.

Yours truly, Robin Singh

Wednesday July 01, 2020

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Top Cop, Deputy should have gone; still on the job - Ramjattan says they are “validly there” D

e Facto President David Granger, on Monday gave approval for Army Chief of Staff, Brigadier Patrick West, to proceed on accumulated preretirement leave effective from today. His leave is expected to end in March 2021 at which time his retirement will kick in.

Colonel Godfrey Bess has been selected as his successor and will be presented with his instrument of appointment today.

Back in 2015, when the Granger administration took office, all public servants were ordered to take their annual leave when due or forfeit same since it was recognized that taking payment in lieu of leave was putting a financial strain on government’s coffers.

Then State Minister, Joseph Harmon, in a message to those holding public offices stated “We are saying, as a general statement, as from 2015 going forward, that when you are entitled to your leave, you have to take it in the year.

If you don’t use it, you are going to lose it.”

But it would appear that the Coalition government has selectively reneged on its order.

This is in light of the fact that two top ranking police officers, despite having months of accumulated leave and slated to retire in the near future, are yet to proceed on pre-retirement leave.

The police officers in question are the Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, DSS, DSM, and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Maxine Graham.

It was reported on the online news site Big Smith News Watch that when questioned on the matter, Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, was unable to provide an explanation.

Ramjattan stated “Look, I don’t know why they are still on the job, I will have to check that out to see what exactly is happening over there, I am not aware of that…I know nothing about that.”

But when Kaieteur News made contact with the Minis-

ter yesterday, he stated that both the Commissioner and his Deputy are “validly there”.

Information reaching this publication revealed that both James and Graham should have proceeded on their accumulated leave since early June.

Both, according to reports, have more than 16 months in accumulated leave.

This publication was also privy to copies of documents, confirming that both the Top Cop and his Deputy should have been sent on leave.

According to the documents, Commissioner James has accumulated 306 days of leave, and should have pro-

Rock crushes miner at Puruni A Brazilian miner was crushed by a large rock Monday around 21:00hrs at a backdam in Puruni Mazaruni River, Region Seven.

The deceased has been identified as José Cicero, 55, an employee of Hard Rock Mining Company. According to a source, Cicero, was working the night shift when the tragic incident happened.

Cicero was in a pit with several other employees of the mining company; however, while the men were jetting the walls of the pit, the large rock fell from 40 feet high and crushed Cicero.

Dead: Jose Cicero An alarm was raised and Cicero body was removed from underneath the rock.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases now at 245 Ten new Covid-19 cases were confirmed yesterday bringing the country’s total to 245.

Over the last week, Guyana has seen a huge increase in the number of confirmed cases of the disease, primarily coming from Regions One and Seven.

To date, the number of deaths remains at 12, while there are 119 persons in isolation, 16 in quarantine and one in the Covid-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU). As of yesterday, 114 persons have recovered.

Meanwhile, according to a release from Regional Health Officer (RHO) of Region Seven, Dr. Edward Sagala, the Mining town of Bartica has recorded its 6th case.

Last Wednesday, Bartica recorded its first

case, after which four family members of the individual, including a three-year-old child, also tested positive.

This prompted another 16 individuals, including healthcare workers, to also be tested.

Of this number, one person tested positive.

The total number of positive cases in Region Seven now stands at 37, most of which were out of Aranka.

The RHO in the statement said that residents of Bartica appear to be carefree toward the pandemic. “Simply put, most residents seem not to care. This virus is not going away anytime soon, as many may want to believe.

It has no respect for age, sex or sexuality, economic standing, etc. It kills!” he warned.

Probation Dept. increases telephone support during COVID-19 The Probation and Social Services Department within the Ministry of Social Protection has increased accessibility to its offices countrywide. This, according to a statement issued by the Ministry has been achieved by including mobile numbers to its directory for members of the public who need counselling and other related social services support.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been projected that there will be an increase in several social issues, such as reported cases of domestic violence. “In this

regard, the Department is committed to promoting the welfare of all Guyanese, particularly the vulnerable by providing social, financial and other material assistance,” the statement said.For additional information, persons can visit the Department’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pssmospgy/ or the Ministry’s website https://mosp.gov.gy/.

The statement added, “Be assured that all calls will be treated with the highest degree of confidentiality and managed by the Ministry’s Probation and Social Services Officers.”

Commissioner, Leslie James ceeded on leave on June 28 last. His retirement date, according to the documents seen, is May 5, 2021. With regards to Deputy Commissioner Graham, she has accu-

Deputy Commissioner, Maxine Graham

mulated 172 days of leave and should have left her post since June 11 since her retirement date is December 1, 2020.

Traditionally, any public servant who attains the age

of 55 is required to retire from his or her post.

The system, moreover, caters for public servants with accumulated leave to proceed on same into their retirement.

PAGE 8

Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 01, 2020

Three other charges for driver Man killed by ex son-in-law in scuffle over grandson in Enmore hit-and run Alleged hit-and-run driver Stephen Pierre was yesterday granted bail on four charges related to the death of 16-year-old Sheldon Major and injury to 14-yearold Christopher Pollard at Enmore, East Coast Demerara.

Pierre, 28, of ‘C’ Field, West Coast Berbice, appeared in the Cove-and-John Magistrate’s Court, where he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving; failing to render assistance; failing to report an accident and failing to stop after an accident.He was released on $575,000 bail and is to return to court on July 14.

Sheldon Major and Christopher Pollard, of Lot 76 Enmore, East Coast Demerara, were found lying

- released on $575,000 bail

Sheldon Major, 16, and 14-year-old Christopher Pollard motionless on the East Coast Demerara public road near Enmore, East Coast Demerara, on Sunday, June 21, 2020.

They were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where Major was pronounced dead on arrival and his cousin

admitted in a critical condition.Police found part of a number plate and other debris at the scene. Investigators subsequently detained Pierre and impounded the vehicle, which he was allegedly driving.

The death of a 54-year-old man of Lot 6 Riverview, Ruimveldt, Georgetown is now being treated as a homicide after he succumbed to head injuries sustained in an alleged scuffle with his former son-in-law over his grandson.

Alexi Gomes died on Thursday last while receiving treatment at the Woodlands Hospital.

A post mortem revealed that Gomes passed away as a result of blunt trauma to the brain caused by fatal blows to the head.

Family members told Kaieteur News that Gomes had travelled from New York on March 3 last to bring his four-year-old grandson to meet his former son-in-law (the child’s father).

The grandson was reportedly spending time with his father in a separate house in the Riverview area.

However, on June 21, Father’s Day, things turned ugly when Gomes left his house to buy beers and saw his ex son-in-law and grandson standing in front of a shop in Riverview.

Gomes reportedly approached the two and stretched out his arms to hug the little boy.

This, according to reports, somehow aggravated the child’s father who retaliated by pulling the child away.

Surprised by his ex son-in-law’s move, Gomes reportedly pulled back his grandson to hug him. Once again, the man pulled away the child but this time it was followed by a punch to Gomes’ face causing him to fall to the ground.

When Gomes recovered from the blow, a scuffle ensued between the two. It was revealed that the ex son-in-law then located a piece of wood nearby and struck Gomes twice to his head. Gomes was rendered unconscious.

Dead: Alexi Gomes

A relative, who was nearby, saw what transpired and rushed to the man’s assistance and with the help of others took him home.

Sometime later Gomes regained consciousness and made his way to the Ruimveldt Police Station and lodged a complaint.

He was then taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was treated and sent away.

Police started an investigation and the assailant was apprehended on Tuesday June 23 last.

However, on the same day the assailant was arrested, Gomes, around 14:00hrs, collapsed at his home. He was rushed to the Woodlands Hospital where he died on Thursday last.

The assailant was held for a day and subsequently released on bail. However, Kaieteur News was informed that the assailant was rearrested yesterday.

Wednesday July 01, 2020

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

Double trouble It will be a fatal mistake if the authorities go ahead and reopen Guyana’s airspace to international traffic at this time. Any such decision should be immediately reversed.

First, the situation in Guyana with the coronavirus is grim. As at yesterday, June 30, Guyana had recorded a total of 245 cases of the virus. This means that in less than six weeks, the total number of cases has doubled.

And this is after a full 11 weeks of social restrictions, including a 6am to 6pm curfew.

The number of active cases has also skyrocketed in recent days. As at yesterday, the total number of active cases was 119. It has almost tripled in a mere two weeks, suggesting that if the number of active cases continues to increase, the country’s health

system is going to be overwhelmed.

The second reason why the government should hold its hand in reopening the country’s airports relates to the global increase in cases.

In recent weeks, there has been a tremendous spike in global cases. Over the past three weeks, almost three million new infections have been confirmed and, considering that a large number of persons are asymptomatic, the actual numbers may be much higher.

As at yesterday, there were 10.5 million cases recorded since the pandemic started, more than half of a million of whom have died. During the past week, 54,000 persons died. This is about half of the population of Georgetown.

Can you imagine half of the population of the capital city being wiped out in just one week?Guyana cannot afford

to be opening its borders to air traffic when the virus is making a resurgence. Already community spread in Region One and in Region Seven has gotten out of control. The situation will become graver if new cases are imported.

Guyana is surrounded by countries with far higher levels of infections and deaths.

Brazil has more than 1.3 million cases, the second highest in the world. So far, there have been almost 60,000 deaths in that country, also the second highest in the world. The low rate of testing in Brazil suggests that the situation there may be far worse than these numbers tell.

Two weeks ago, Boa Vista, which is about one and a half hour drive from Lethem, had the highest new infection rate in the country.

Venezuela, which has conducted three times as many

Miner remanded for chopping ‘peacemaker’ to death A 52-year-old miner was yesterday remanded to prison for the heinous killing of a peacemaker who had intervened in a brawl he had with his reputed wife.

Dionysius Macdeo called “Niggi” appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court and was slapped with a murder charge by Her Worship Crystal Lambert via Skype.

It is alleged that on June 23 last Macdeo murdered Tamesh (only name given) of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara. The incident occurred at Turtle Creek Landing, Mazaruni Region Seven.

Macdeo had reportedly admitted to chopping and stabbing the victim to death during an altercation.

The suspect claimed that he had used a small cutlass (called a ‘bushmaster’ by miners) to commit the crime.

He also told police that he had disposed of the murder weapon after running away from the scene.

On the day in question, the alleged killer was involved in a verbal dispute with his reputed wife which later turned physical.

The victim, who was nearby, rushed over to intervene.

However, this move infuriated the suspect and he dealt the victim several stabs and chops with a cutlass before making good his escape.

Police were called in and the man’s body was removed.

Ranks then began a massive manhunt for the suspect.

A few days later, ranks received information that he was hiding out in a nearby backdam within the same area.

A plan was immediately hatched to lure the suspect

tests per capita than Brazil, has 5,530 cases and 48 deaths. It is doing much better than people believe and that is because it has the support of Cuban medical personnel, unlike Brazil which expelled Cuban doctors.

Opening Guyana’s airport may be a threat not only to Guyanese. It can also be a threat to those persons coming here, especially considering the country’s porous borders and close proximity to one of the world epicenters of the virus.

A third reason for not opening our airports has to do with the visitor arrival trends. Arrivals from the Caribbean amount to an estimated 40% of total visitor arrivals. The pandemic is not at a worrying level in the Caribbean but it is extremely grave in the United States, which accounts for about 31% of total arrivals to Guyana.

Guyana therefore has to be watchful before reopening its airspace to flights from the United States. In recent days,

there has been tremendous surge in new cases in that country. Yesterday, the USA recorded more than 36,000 new cases, which is above the average over the previous month when new cases were around 20,000 average per day.

The epicenter of the epidemic in the United States is no longer New York and New Jersey. The new hot-spot states are California, Florida and Texas. The latter two should be of concern to local aviation authorities who have to approve flights.

Many of the workers on the oil-rig are believed to be travelling from Texas where there has been a sharp rise in infections. Recently, also, the local authorities allowed stranded Guyanese to return home en route through Miami, which is in the state of Florida.

It means that Guyanese are returning hope via a state, which is now emerging as a flashpoint of the epidemic in the United States.

Europe has indicated the

possibility of a temporary prohibition of passengers from the USA given the steep rise recently in cases there. If Europe is taking precautions, there is no reason why Guyana should not be doing the same.

The authorities should seriously reconsider the decision to reopen Guyana’s airspace to international travel. The country is not yet on top of the local outbreak – if anything, community spread in Regions One and Seven is getting out of control. And on top of that, the coronavirus is far from under control in some of countries of origin of arrivals to Guyana.

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

Dem boys seh ...

Rig-adier gon swear in himself as President Remanded: Dionysius Macdeo

into a trap at night.

On Friday last, police were successful with their plans and the suspect was captured just after 22:00hrs.

Kaieteur News understands that attempts by po-

lice to contact the dead man’s relatives had proven futile.

Nevertheless, this publication has learnt, the victim’s employer has identified him and has taken custody of the body. (Shervin Belgrave)

De Rig-adier seh how he expect dem fuh get a swearing-in this week.

But he did not seh is who gon get swear-in. So it could well be dat he believe dat is Ir-faan.

He also seh how he agree with de Lolo report. But he didn’t seh which one.

De Rig-adier also seh how de Lolo man report tek into consideration of de “possibility of the contaminations” of de votes due to “anomalies and irregularities”.

But wait a second. Since when does de possibility of something happening mean it happen or gon happen?

Dem boys know dat dem gat a remote possibility dat

de Rig-adier gon get swornin as President or dat some people gon get jail. But dat don’t mean dat he will get sworn in. Is just a possibility.

Possibility is nah fact.

De man, however, behaving as if he living in he own dream world and will never wake up.

De army chief, Pat-trick West, not East,… gat eight more months fuh retire but he also gat leave fuh cover eight months. He get sent on preretirement leave.

De Rig-adier gon appoint another man today fuh be acting Chief of Staff.

De Les-lie de Top Cop and Max-scene, he deputy, all got to retire and dem got leave.

Dem boys seh dat Rig-

adier inconsistent.

Dem boys feel de Rigadier should a lef the choosing of a new army boss fuh de new guvment. But is suh when you living in yuh own dream world.

Dem boys rememba when months after de elections, de Rid-adier, who dem boys like and use to think de world of, seh how he nah see dem Statements of Polls but he see spreadsheet. Dem boys wan to remind he dat GEE-CUM had move from spreadsheet to bed sheet and den to cheat sheet.Talk half and wait for Rig-adier to wake up and do de right ting and don’t try to swear heself in as president.

PAGE 10

Wednesday July 01, 2020

Kaieteur News

=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===

The origin and failure of Granger’s Burnhamite dream One of the persons with extensive involvement in trying to shape the election outcome for the eternal rule of the PNC is Vincent Alexander.

Alexander is the permanent chairman of the Forbes Burnham Foundation. The person who will perpetuate the PNC’s eternal power is David Granger. Granger has four foundations housed in his private residence to honour the legacy of Burnham. Granger and Alexander are Guyana’s most devout admirers of Burnham.

Why?Two broad strands of Burnham’s politics have been extensively written about – his economic radicalism and his approach to power. There is definitely nothing new this article can add to those two dimensions. There is a third strand that has hardly been

polemicized upon by anyone writing on Burnham.

Given all the demonic outputs by Burnham, one is still amazed how a person with academically trained minds like Alexander and Granger can remain in awe of Burnham.

There are two explanations. I was on a Channel 9 discussion programme with Alexander and more or less, he described the genesis of this fascination which I believe is shared by Granger.

Alexander and Granger believe that Burnham was a futuristic phenomenon that left the banal post-colonial leaders of the Third World way behind. He had innovative ideas about total economic independence (resources, food security, infrastructure, education) which he implemented. To achieve

success in his economic visions, Burnham believed that liberal, democratic approach to power, as embedded in the Westminster system, was not applicable to the Third World.

As a matter of ideology and policy, Burnham placed no premium on an independent judiciary, free elections, professional state sectors, professional security forces, tolerance for opposition challenges and basic norms governing democratic societies.

Alexander and Granger would see these political deprivation and depravities as innocuous collateral damage in trying to fashion a self-sufficient, equal society.

The third strand in his sociological outlook, Burnham never talked about publicly - the race problematic. You have to look very

hard and you will not find any offering from Burnham on the ethnic question, the reason being he was smart and astute not to make public pronouncements of this sensitive question. But he did wax lyrical to close African Guyanese on how he felt about the race divide. Some of these people are getting on in age. Some are dead.

Alexander and Granger are deeply aware of how Burnham saw the future of African-Guyanese. For Burnham, the Portuguese and Indians virtually owned Guyana. The only way to redress the imbalance is through radical social transformation through the permanent capture of state power.

Burnham secured state power and engineered some fantastic changes that sought to empower African Guyanese of which one was simply phenomenal - the multi-lateral school. This would have vitiated the dominance of nonAfrican in the top schools. A caveat is in order. My research into Burnham leads me to the conclusion that he was not a racist in ideologically terms. But here I admit that it is a debatable situation.

Armed with his mental fixation of Burnham, Granger

sought after 2015 to ensure the permanency of state power even though he knew the economic situation that existed in the Burnham era was gone forever and that nationalization was dead and gone. To secure eternal state power, Granger set about as early as May 2015 with the announcement of Cabinet assignments to create the pathway for PNC’s hold on state power way into the future.

First, the creation of the ministry of the presidency was designed to vitiate the power of non-PNC ministries.

Secondly, the dilution of total control of non-PNC ministers was achieved through the placement of PNC junior ministers in such ministries with the creation of new ministries and new and other state institutions under PNC control.

Thirdly, the removal of top police officers inherited from the previous government.

Fourthly, secure a strategic presence in GECOM. Thus, we saw the rejection of 18 names from the opposition leader for GECOM’s chair and the choice of a sympathetic chairman and the dismissal of the Deputy Chief Elections Officer replaced with a proPNC person. But Granger’s attempt at reincarnation of

Frederick Kissoon Burnham failed because Granger was running Guyana in an era that had no resemblance at all to the epoch where Burnham’s hegemony was oceanic.

Guyana now had another court of appeal which removed Granger’s attempt to control GECOM. There was no paranoid western world embroiled in a Cold War that tolerated Burnham’s excesses. The society was now openly capitalist with people who had resources to fight Granger the way they could not confront Burnham. Finally, the PPP was not the indecisive party it was under Cheddi Jagan.

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

Wednesday July 01, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Wednesday July 01, 2020

PAGE 15

Kaieteur News

Venezuela’s stance on border issue illogical and erroneous

The ICJ bench comprised of 15 judges [UN] From page 3 provisions of the agreement.

He noted Venezuela enjoyed and continues to yield benefits as result of that award.

“Yet, the process that brings us here today is rooted in Venezuela’s repudiation of that very award – a repudiation of more than six decades after it was handed down has the two countries at odds,” he said.Sir Shridath said nonetheless that in time past both Guyana and Venezuela had shown a willingness to participate in forums towards finding an amicable end to the dispute. “It is however very unfortunate that Venezuela has chosen not to participate in these proceedings,” he said.

Sir Shridath asked the Court to however give careful consideration to the case since it holds grave implications as it relates to Guyana’s sovereignty. He told the court that inter alia, Venezuela’s dispute with Guyana has resulted in threats over the nation’s full sovereignty particularly over the territories in Essequibo.

The lawyer outlined that Guyana has suffered as a consequence of these threats and the use of force by Venezuela against persons engaged in economic or commercial activity in these territories. Sir Shridath told the ICJ that that the nation is hopeful that the Court will use its power to bring an end to the centuryold dispute between the neighbours.

ORIGINALARGEEMENT Addressing the Court on the origin of the dispute and the circumstances which led to the 1966 agreement, Professor Akhavan provided an overview of the October 3, 1899 Arbitral Award between Guyana and Venezuela.

Professor Akhavan explained that it was following Venezuela’s independence in the mid 1890s and discovery of gold in the region of the

Upper Cuyuni River that the Bolivian Republic then under the control of the United States of America proposed that a treaty claiming the Essequibo River as a boundary between British Guiana.

Under the threat of war, the British had agreed to arbitration —that arbitration took the form of the October 3, 1899 award. He said that that award led to the production of maps in 1905, which depict the clear demarcation of boundaries between Guyana and its western neighbour. He stressed the issue had been settled and wholly accepted by both nations particularly Venezuela that noted its satisfaction in securing the territories it sought for in arbitration.

He submitted that the 1905 map demarcating Guyana’s boundary was exceptionally accurate. The lawyer explained, however, that all of this changed in the 1960s when Venezuela claimed that the 1899 award was null and void.

“This formed the basis of Venezuelan repudiation of the boundary established by the award and a claim to more than 3/4 of Guyana’s territory,” Akhavan noted.

The lawyer said that in the face of another controversy, a now newly independent Guyana sought help from its international partners towards a solution. According to Akhavan, solution to resolve the dispute took the form of the 1966 Geneva agreement.

LEGALLY BINDING Reichler submitted that the 1966 agreement and the decision of the UN Secretary General which establishes the Court’s jurisdiction to resolve the dispute over the frontier.

The lawyer gave an overview of the event, which led to the parties to signing an agreement for a peaceful resolution in Geneva. In an explanation of the treaties, Reichler

explained that Guyana and Venezuela have two different understanding of the terms of the agreement. He noted that while Guyana has remained steadfast and abiding towards finding a peaceable solution towards the dispute, Venezuela has now taken a completely erroneous, illogical stance to ending the quarrel.

Reichler pointed out that Venezuela had noted that understood the text of 1966 and consented to treaties.

The international arbitration expert noted that under Article IV (2) of the Geneva Agreement of 1966 to resolve the controversy over the Frontier between Venezuela and British Guiana, the UN Secretary General is empowered to inter alia decide on the settlement to be employed should there be any issues arising from that Agreement.

The lawyer argued that, “None of these facts are disputed by Venezuela in its written submissions to the ICJ.” As such, he noted that UN Secretary General’s decision to seek the Court’s intervention towards having the controversy resolved was in keeping with the still valid and legally binding treaty. Reichler noted too that though Venezuela has not participated in the oral submissions, it has submitted in writing its views on the matter in essence that it agreed that the court had jurisdiction.

STILL VALID In a continuation of the arguments presented by Reichler, Professor Sands expounded on subscription of legal validity and binding effect of the Award. He noted even after centuries, the award is still a full, perfect, and final settlement of all questions relating to determining the boundary line between the colony of British Guiana and Venezuela.

Further, the lawyer pointed out that that award

made the way for the 1966 Geneva Convention which introduced the involvement of the United Nations.

“Article IV (2) stipulates that if, within three months of receiving the final report, the Government of Guyana and the Government of Venezuela should not have reached agreement regarding the choice of one of the means of settlement provided in Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations, they shall refer the decision as to the means of settlement to an appropriate international organ upon which they both agree or, failing agreement on this point, to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

If the means so chosen do not lead to a solution of the controversy, the said organ or, as the case may be, the Secretary General of the

United Nations shall choose another of the means stipulated in Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations, and so on until the controversy has been resolved or until all the means of peaceful settlement there contemplated have been exhausted,” the lawyer said.

He noted however, in recent years, Venezuela had raised contentions about the agreement and decision to take the matter to Court.

Further, the lawyer submitted that on January 30, 2018, the Secretary General was acting on this still very valid agreement when he determined that the good offices process had failed to achieve a peaceful settlement of the controversy.

JURISDICTION In conclusion of the arguments on jurisdiction, French

lawyer and Professor Pellet said that the court must differentiate the issues of consent and jurisdiction. He noted that though Venezuela has chosen not to participate in the proceeding that does not rule out the fact that it consented to finding a solution under the 1966 Geneva agreement.

He stressed too that the Court should not at this point, trouble itself without the issue of Venezuela’s consent since it is separate issue from that of the Court’s jurisdiction. Pellet clarified that the Jurisdiction of the ICJ was foisted in the decision made by the UN Secretary General.

He urged the bench of 15 judges of the ICJ to move forward with hearing and determining the merits of the case in accordance with international law.

PAGE 16

Kaieteur News

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Wednesday July 01, 2020

PAGE 18

Wednesday July 01, 2020

Kaieteur News

Granger’s statements on Lowenfield, CARICOM’s report are “downright misleading”- Jagdeo

By Mikaila Prince Leader of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/ C), Bharrat Jagdeo has denounced the recent statements issued by de facto President David Granger regarding the country’s electoral impasse and its slow progress. During a virtual press conference conducted yesterday, Jagdeo labelled Granger’s utterances as “actually wrong and in many cases, downright misleading”.

Monday evening,

Granger was the guest on a radio programme hosted by Mark Benschop where he stated that he was in full support of the report submitted by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, in which 115,844 votes were discarded due to “anomalies and irregularities” in the March 2 electoral process. The President further stated that the Commission, headed by Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, was bound to make a final declaration on Lowenfield’s

“fraudulent report”—as Jagdeo labelled it.

It was during his press conference that the Opposition Leader was keen to highlight that the President neglected to acknowledge the key bodies that have made efforts to derail, discredit and prolong the March 2020 election proceedings. To give credit to his statements, Jagdeo referenced Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo; the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, and others as the stakeholders in the A Partner-

10% hike in rates and taxes -Mayor says order was Gazetted late

The late Gazetted order

Many persons were shocked after a Gazetted order was published on June 27 informing that residential and commercial property rates in Georgetown have been increased by 10%.It was even more alarming that this hike was in effect since January of 2017.

The order also stated that the current rates for residential properties now stand at 44% while the total percentage of rates on commercial properties is 275%.

Nevertheless, City Mayor, Ubraj Narine, made it clear yesterday that he and the current Council are in no way responsible for this increase.

In fact, the Mayor claimed that this decision was made and effected by the previous City Council led by the former Mayor Chase Greene and her Town Clerk, Royston King.

However, the increase on the rates was never officially Gazetted as is required by law.

Nevertheless, Narine said, public notices were published in the various daily newspapers back in 2016 informing the public of this move.Kaieteur News was able to find articles published outlining the previous Council’s plans to raise the rates.

One article dated back to July of 2016 highlighted that the City Council would have increased rates on the aforementioned properties the following year.

The news article also reasoned that the Town Council had chosen to hike the rates because it needed money to offset various works across Georgetown.

Another article, which was published in February of 2017 iterated that the Council will raise the property rates by 10%. Kaieteur News noticed that this clearly contradicts the late gazetted order on June 27 which stated

ship for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), as those responsible for the delay.

In sharing his concerns, Jagdeo explained, “Mr. Granger never for a moment acknowledged what the country knows—that Mingo was the primary source of the fraud that led to the delay in the declaration of results, and that has been proven. We have declarations by Mr. Mingo at odds with the Region Four document that was certified after the recount, and in those two documents, it has been demonstrated factually, mathematically, that Mingo inflated the figures in APNU’s favour by over 19,000 votes, and reduced another 3,000 for the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic.”

Lowenfield’s report During Benschop’s interview, President Granger emphasized that the Elections Commission is “bound” to accept the report of the CEO, although Lowenfield, a statutory officer, discarded 115,844 votes in his most recent report.

“He is the authority,” the President said, “There is no other authority to prepare such a report. He is mandated to prepare a report including the tabulation and also the validation in the form of observations, and if the observation shows that there is corruption then he is obligated to make such a report.”

However, Jagdeo argues that Granger was inaccurate in that pronouncement since Lowenfield does not possess the powers to do such.

Against this he said, “He (President Granger) never for a single moment stopped to consider the 115,000 voters, 25% of the electorate, who will lose their right, or their votes, simply because Lowenfield will not follow the instructions of the Commission, and believes that he (Lowenfield) has some God- given authority,

because it definitely does not come from the Constitution of Guyana to unilaterally invalidate 115,000 plus votes on the basis of allegations by APNU.” Considering that Lowenfield is a statutory officer, he said that he can be ordered by the GECOM Chair to redo his report which would reflect the true results of the recount.

CARICOM’s report The Opposition Leader was keen to point out that the Head of State selectively highlighted parts of the report of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) scrutinizing team, which was publicized on June 16 last. The President had claimed that the report prepared by the CEO, was not only based on “tabulation” but consideration was also given to the “anomalies” alluded to in the report done

by CARICOM. “If you view the recommendations of the CARICOM Team,” Granger said, “you would see how serious this issue is. For example, the team recommended an investigation into missing documents; it also recommended a total re-registration of all voters in Guyana.”

What the Opposition Leader pointed out in the report, however, said that while there were “instances of irregularities”, the majority of which were raised by Coalition party agents during the recount process, the team “does not view the irregularities identified, amounted to sufficient grounds to invalidate the tabulation of the votes at the recount and therefore these irregularities DO NOT constitute sufficient grounds to challenge the integrity of the recount process.”

Further, Jagdeo pointed out that the CARICOM report stated that “We found no intentional miscounting of

PPP/C Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo the ballots which would constitute an election fraud necessitating further action…Nothing that we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 02, 2020 elections.

Any aggrieved political party has been afforded the right to seek redress before the courts in the form of an election petition.”

Granger stated also that the CARICOM team report, “recommends that the structure of the Election Commission be changed; the present structure will not work and it finally recommended that, given all the irregularities which occurred during the period of the electoral cycle, we highly recommend that a political audit be conducted in the operations.”

However, what the CARICOM team report had said in this regard was that, “While GECOM is described as an independent body, it is undoubtedly a political Commission, and herein lies most of the problems, the paralysis, and the factionalism experienced by that body. The level of internal discord which is acutely manifested in the public posturing of individual Commissioners is the norm in Guyana and unfortunately was on full and ugly display in the 2020 elections and its aftermath.”

CCJ hears recount case today Mayor Ubraj Narine that this increase was in effect on the first day of January 2017.Narine said, however, that property owners have been paying this increase since then.

When asked why the Gazetted order was only published now, the Mayor responded that since he took office in 2018, it was his mantra to set the record straight.

“I do not know why the previous Council did not Gazette the order but we were going through the records lately and found out that it was not Gazetted,” said the Mayor.

In keeping with his theme of “setting the record straight”, Narine said his Council had decided to publish the order recently in the Gazette.Narine also added that there are more orders that have been in effect and not Gazetted.He did not detail what those orders are but promised that they will be Gazetted officially in the near future.

From page 14 sought by the applicant.

At the end of the delivery, the Court ordered a three-day stay on its judgment. It was within that period that Lowenfield submitted a ‘final’ report to GECOM, with a new revision of the elections results that sought to discard 115,844 valid General Election votes. In his cover letter to the Chair, Lowenfield claimed that his report was guided by the ruling of the Appeal Court, despite the fact that he had submitted it during the period of the stay. His submission was seen as insubordination, as Justice Singh’s instruction was for him to submit a report on the results of the recount.

As the three-day stay on

the Court’s judgment came to a close, the PPP/C announced that it had approached the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) with a request for it to strike down the Appeal Court’s judgment as it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Notably, APNU+AFC campaign manager, Joseph Harmon has joined the case and has submitted that the Caribbean Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter, as David had filed it under Article 177 (4) of the Constitution. That Article grants exclusive jurisdiction to the Court of Appeal to determine the validity of the elections in so far as that question depends on the

qualification of a person for election or the interpretation of the Constitution. Harmon contends that the judgment of the Appeal Court under that Article is final, as the Article states that any decision of the Court under the paragraph shall be final.

The Court today will hear arguments on its jurisdiction to hear the recount case, and arguments about the merits of the recount case. After the hearing, the Court is expected to announce a date for judgment(s). If it has jurisdiction, it will rule on the case as well, determining whether to strike down the Appeal Court’s ruling. If it does not have jurisdiction, the appeal will be dismissed.

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Kaieteur News

Zimbabwe’s three-match ODI tour to Australia postponed

They’ll be no visit from Zimbabwe in August. (Getty Images)

Wednesday July 01, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You might experience a great deal of emotional confusion today, Aries. There's a debate brewing inside you.

You're having a hard time deciding whether to pursue the practical or the fanciful.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Your artistic side may want to take to the airwaves in some way today, Libra. Perhaps you should consider building your own website or getting a spot on a local radio show.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Keeping things in balance will be a challenge today, Taurus. You're likely to find that there's conflict brewing that doesn't seem to want resolution. It's OK. Don't press the issue.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You could find that what was so light and active yesterday runs into roadblocks today. It might seem as if you're suddenly heading straight for a brick wall regarding some of your current projects.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Tension is likely to arise in many different areas of your life. It's possible that you're either too dreamy or too practical for the issue at hand.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) The pace of things is likely to slow down a bit compared to what was happening yesterday. This is probably for the best. Take this time to do some planning and stabilizing.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Yesterday's trajectory might run into a couple of snags today. You could find that your dreamy nature conflicts with the planned and steady.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Try to keep yourself in line with your emotions today, Leo. It's possible that a powerful yet subtle force is slowly trying to pull you off track. If so, think about taking a break and doing some physical activity to get your blood pumping.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You could find that an emotional issue rubs you the wrong way today, Virgo.

Your tendency is to want to escape. Try to do so in a healthy manner. Watch your favorite movie or read a book.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) You might find that there's a quality of dreaminess to your emotions today that keeps you from focusing on the task at hand, Capricorn.

People are likely to be stubborn and confused, and you could be one of them.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Little voices are whispering in your ear today, Aquarius.

They could be asking you to join them in the clouds.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Someone could be prodding you to take action today, Pisces. It might be best if you beat them to it and motivate yourself. Stay a step or two ahead of the herd. Lead your own stampede and go wherever you want to go.

ESPNcricinfo Zimbabwe’s three-match ODI tour of Australia in early August has been postponed due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19.

Although the series, which was set to be played in northern Australia, had been included in the schedule put out last month it was always unlikely it would take place.

A range of issues have prevented the games from being played including the short length of the series, the significant bio-security measures that would need to be implemented prior to August, and concern for the health and safety of players, match officials, and volunteers.

Speaking earlier this month Justin Langer indicated the matches were not on his radar when he spoke about getting the players ready for a potential return to action in September with the possibility of a rescheduled limited-overs tour to England.

The matches were due to be played on August 9, 12, and 15 although only the third game had a venue confirmed with Townsville. It is the first full home series Australia have lost due to Covid-19 although the final two ODIs against New Zealand in March were cancelled after the opening game of the series was played behind closed doors at the SCG. Their

Ben Stokes to captain...

From page 27 incident that overshadowed the 2017-18 Ashes series. He won the role back ahead of last year’s Ashes after making a personal plea to Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, following the World Cup final.

Jos Buttler will be Stokes’ vice-captain, in a move that hints he will take the wicketkeeping gloves in the first Test. The pair will each lead one side in the three-day warm-up game at the Ageas Bowl.

Confirmation that Root will miss the first Test leaves England with an interesting selection dilemma. Dom Sibley and Rory Burns are expected to open the batting, with Zak Crawley and Joe Denly seemingly competing for one spot at No. 3. Root’s absence could mean both play, or that there is an opportunity for Dan Lawrence to bat at No. 4. Alternatively, either Ollie Pope or Stokes himself could move up to No. 4, opening up a spot in the m i d dle order for Jonny Bairstow.

Test tour to Bangladesh in June was also postponed.

Outside of the 2015 World Cup it would have been Zimbabwe’s first visit to Australia since taking part in a tri-series in 2004 and Cricket Australia said they were committed to finding a future slot for the matches. Since Covid-19 struck, Zimbabwe have also lost series against Ireland, Afghanistan and India.

“While we are disappointed to postpone the series, CA and ZC agree that in the best interest of players, match officials, volunteers as well as our fans, that this is the most practical and sensible decision,” CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley said. “We are committed to working with Zimbabwe Cricket on

alternative dates to reschedule.”

Acting Zimbabwe Cricket Managing Director, Givemore Makoni, said: “We were excited about facing Australia but, given the circumstances, deferring the tour was the only option. We are, however, looking forward to the rescheduling of the series as soon as practically possible.”

There are ongoing discussions between CA and the ECB about Australia travelling in September for the ODI and T20I matches that were originally scheduled for July. The next scheduled home cricket for the men’s team is two T20I series against West Indies and India in early October although they are also likely to be moved if, as expected, the T20 World Cup is postponed.

PAGE 24

Rain hurts preparation for opening Test MANCHESTER, England, CMC – Rain forced the abandonment of the opening day of the West Indies’ final ‘inter-squad’ warm-up contest here Monday.

The four-day affair at Old Trafford is key to the tourists’ preparation for the first Te s t at Southampton starting July 8 but players were kept from any action due to persistent showers.

Further showers have been forecast for yesterday’s second day.

However, some play was possible and Jason Holder’s XI reached 120-5 off 34 overs bowled by Kraigg Brathwaite’s XI. Joshua DaSilva was 60 not out and with him was Rayman Riefer on 2, while Sunil Ambris made 25.

Chemar Holder with 2-15 is the leading wicket taker for Brathwaite’s XI. The game continues today.

West Indies played their first warm-up last week, a three-day fixture here which finished in a tame draw but afforded players valuable time in the middle.

Due to the lockdown in the Caribbean because of

Wednesday July 01, 2020

Kaieteur News

the COVID-19 pandemic, players arrived here earlier this month short of match readiness, leaving the two planned tour matches here critical to preparation for the series.

Opener Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Shamarh Brooks and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich, all of whom are expected to be in the XI for the first Test, struck halfcenturies in the first warmup game.

And speedsters Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel, widely tipped to be part of a four-pronged pace attack, were among the wickets.

The second Test will be played at Old Trafford from July 16-20 with the final Test carded for the same venue from July 24-28.

The tour marks cricket’s first ever “bio-secure” series due to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

S u m m a r i s e d scores: Jason Holder’s XI 120-5 off 34 overs (Joshua DaSilva 60 not out, Sunil Ambris 25; Chemar Holder 215) vs Kraigg Brathwaite’s XI.

Wiggins move to Lamar College Nineteen-year-old forward, Kevon Wiggins, who was part of Guyana’s history making men’s basketball team that won the 592’s first Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) senior championship in 2018, continues on his path to development after gaining a full scholarship to NJCAA Division 1 school; Lamar College, in Colorado.

The former Rose Hall Town Jammers player described this move as the first step to getting into the lucrative National Basketball Association (NBA) league, which is the dream of any aspiring player and gave much credit to his former school, Monroe College for the launching platform.

Wiggins explained that, “This is probably the biggest move I will ever make in Basketball because Lamar College gets major recognition from Division 1 schools with their star player last year signing for a school in Wisconsin which is major in the NCAA.” At Munroe, Wiggins amassed a GPA of 3.3 in Sports Management while averaging 18 points and 4.6 rebounds and two steals per game for the Monroe Express

Wiggins has described his move to Lamar College as a big step in his path to going pro.

Basketball team and he is looking to continue improving and excelling so he can get into a NCAA team after which, a year in that league will give him eligibility to be part of the NBA. The teen shared with Kaieteur Sport that balancing academics and basketball is tough and many nights after practice he is usually too tired to study but he iterated that,

“You have to do it, you have to find the strength to do it because at the end of the day it will benefit you.”

In conclusion, Wiggins called for more support for the local athletes and cited his own experience with the National men’s basketball team during their championship winning campaign in Suriname 2018 when they received less than favourable support from

the state.

The U.S. based studentathlete cited that, “In order for us to improve basketball back home (Guyana) the local players definitely need more support, they need more competition and they need to be motivated to training more regularly. If there is no competition/incentive, then there is no stimulus to train.”

(Calvin Chapman)

Mohammad Hafeez, five others to join Pakistan FIFA bans former top official Kattner squad in England after second negative Covid-19 test for 10 years (Reuters) - Soccer’s world governing body FIFA has banned Markus Kattner, a former leading official in the Zurich organisation, for 10 years and has fined him one million Swiss francs ($1.06 million) after a probe into bonus payments.

“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has found Markus Kattner, former FIFA Deputy Secretary General and Acting Secretary General, guilty of conflicts of interest and having abused his position, in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics,” FIFA said in a statement yesterday.

“The investigation into Mr Kattner covered various charges concerning bonus payments in relation to FIFA competitions that were paid to top FIFA management officials (including Mr Kattner), various amendments to and extensions of employment contracts, reimbursement of private legal costs, and Mr Kattner’s duties as an official.”

FIFA said in June, 2016, that an internal investigation revealed that Kattner, FIFA’s

former Secretary General Jerome Valcke and the organisation’s ex-President Sepp Blatter had received 79 million Swiss francs ($81 million) in compensation over five years, calling them “massive payouts”.

Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 until 2015, was banned from football for six years in February 2016, while Valcke is banned until 2028.

The 45-year-old Kattner, who holds German and Swiss citizenship, joined FIFA as Director of Finance in 2003 and four years later became Deputy Secretary General.

He became Acting Secretary General in September 2015, after the departure of Valcke, but was then fired in May 2016.

According to the Ethics Committee’s final judgement, Kattner argued that the ethics process against him had not been fair and that he did not grant any bonus payments either to himself or to anyone else in the top management.

The official can appeal the FIFA ban to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

ESPNcricinfo - Pakistan’s touring party in the UK is set to get bigger after six more players who returned two successive negative Covid-19 tests became eligible to join the initial squad of 20 in Worcester.

Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz all underwent a second test inside three days on Monday, following a first negative test last week. All the players are currently in isolation at a fivestar hotel in Lahore and are likely to fly out later this week to England.

Currently, the 18 players who returned two negatives as well as two reserve players Musa Khan and wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir are part of the group of 20 who flew to Manchester on a chartered plane organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The tour group also consists of 11 support-staff members. While head coach Misbah-ul-Haq flew with the squad from Lahore, bowling coach Waqar Younis and physiotherapist Cliff Deacon arrived in England from Australia and

Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez, among others, tested negative for Covid-19. (AFP via Getty Images) South Africa respectively.

Among the players that will now join the squad, Hafeez and Riaz had earlier tested themselves at a private laboratory in the wake of their returning positive results after the first round of testing by the PCB. Although the retest came back negative, the board didn’t consider the result valid as the tests were conducted outside the testing protocols.

Meanwhile, Kashif Bhatti, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali and Imran Khan have tested positive, but are believed to be asymptomatic and are in isolation.

They will be tested again in a few days, with players needing to return two negative tests to become eligible for selection.

Team masseur Malang Ali has also tested positive twice while his back-up Mohammad

Imran has tested positive once. Both will remain in Pakistan to finish another round of testing. The group that reached England late last week also underwent a fresh round of testing on Monday, and are awaiting their test results.

The tour comprises three Test matches and three T20Is in August and September. All six games will be played behind closed doors.

Wednesday July 01, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Vishaul Singh aims for Windies recall - Feels CWI could take lots of positives from England tour

By Sean Devers Thirty-one-year-old Guyana and West Indies lefthander Vishaul Anthony Singh is a solid and responsible middle order batsman whose biggest asset is his temperament.

Vishaul is 5ft 5inches tall, but don’t let his size fool you since his well-timed strokes, especially his favourite cut shots, reaches the boundary a fast as most other batsman.

In club cricket he hits some big sixes although he rarely takes those risks at First-Class level.

He has played three Tests against Pakistan in which he only managed 63 runs from six innings with 32 of those runs coming in one innings but since his debut series in 2017 he has never been recalled.

He has 3,985 runs from 76 First-class matches with a highest score of 161 against Sri Lanka ‘A’ at an average of 33.20 with eight centuries (six of them for Guyana) and 18 fifties.

Vishaul has played eight Regional 50 overs games after making his debut against the Windwards in Trinidad on January 15, 2015, but has not played 50 overs cricket since January 20, 2016 when Guyana opposed T&T in Trinidad.

Vishaul averages just over 30 with a highest score of 49 in 50-overs cricket and has never played a T20 match.

He made the Guyana U-15 team in 2004 and three years later played his only season of Regional U-19 cricket when Guyana won their 12th threeday title and reached the final of the 50-over tournament in St Kitts. Vishaul scored the only century (121 v Leewards) for Guyana.

Vishaul informed that this was his most memorable

Vishaul with his wife & son. moment of his National youth career since in addition to his performance with the bat, bringing back the trophy was very satisfying.

Vishaul made his firstclass debut against Barbados as a 20-year old during Guyana’s last match in the 2008-09 season. He scored 4 and 34, and could add just two more first-class appearances the following season. He returned to the Guyana squad as a middle-order batsman in the 2010-11, and scored just one half-century in a drawn game against Barbados.

Another dry year resulted in an axe from the first-class squad until February 2014.

Upon return, he made 479 runs in 2014-15 and followedit up by becoming the thirdhighest scorer with 712 runs at 50.85 in the subsequent season.

In Vishaul’s debut as Captain in 2014 he displayed good leadership qualities as Guyana dominated Barbados at Providence for three days before, with 69 required to win on the final day, Guyana fell for their third lowest total to

lose by two runs as Singh made an inauspicious start as Skipper.

However, he got his first First-Class century in his second game as Guyana Captain against T&T in Portof-Spain and Vishaul says that is his most memorable moment for Guyana.

In October 2016, he scored 161 against the touring Sri Lanka ‘A’ team before being selected as ViceCaptain of the West Indies President’s XI side that played Pakistan in April 2017 and an unbeaten 135 in the three-day game earned him a maiden Test call-up for the first Test against Pakistan in Jamaica.

Vishaul who is among few West Indies players who use their feet to spinners, has played in all six seasons of PCL Regional First-class Franchise in which Guyana won the first five before Barbados were declared Champions after eight rounds when this year’s tournament was called off with two rounds remaining due to the outbreak of the Covid-19

Pre Caricom day dominoes tourney set for Sunday Domino is set to resume on Sunday as organiser Mark Wiltshire will be staging the Pre Caricom Day competition at R and R Sports Club, 76 Meadow Brook Gardens.

The competition is set to commence at 13:30hrs and entrance fee is $15,000; teams are asked to be on time to facilitate a prompt start.

The winning team will take home a trophy and $175,000, runner up a trophy and $75,000 and third place a trophy and $35,000. The Most Valuable Player in the final will pocket $5,000.

All GNDA rules in be in effect and prizes are subject to change. Trophy Stall, Hits and Jams and Ryan Boodhoo are the sponsors on board so far.

According to Wiltshire, play will conclude before 18:00hrs in keeping with the curfew.

Mark Wiltshire He informed that a number of rules will be implemented so as to ensure the safety of players.

Teams can contact Wiltshire on 659 8672.

pandemic. Vishaul had scored 93 in the sixth round against host Jamaica and 90 in the seventh round against the Leewards at Providence.

He also played for Diamond United and Alason Comets in Trinidad and Sandwich town CC in England.

“Comets was my first overseas contact as a 19year-old just out of youth cricket under the guidance of Suruj Ragoonath (who played two Tests in 1999) not only cricket-wise but in life …he moulded me like a Father since I was away from home and had only been exposed to my parents who assisted me in every way.

When I went to Trinidad I was alone and he took care of me and taught me lots of things,” stated Vishaul According to Vishaul, his time spent playing in England for Sandwich Town CC (20082011) helped him to be more responsible with his shot selection and learn to play the ball later due to the soft pitches. “As the Pro you were expected to make most of the runs,” said Singh.

Vishaul, an only child, was born on January 12, 1989 to Hardat ‘Pepe’ Singh and Nalini Singh and lived all of his life in Alexander Village in Greater Georgetown until he moved to his own home in Atlantic Gardens on the East Coast of Demerara when got married to Trisha Singh.

Vishaul first saw his wife in a pageant about 10 years ago and the couple got married in 2015 and have a four-year-old son.

His grandfather, also named Hardat Singh, was the first person to swim across the Demerara River at age 18 in 1951. He was the first Captain of the East Bank Cricket team and received an Award from Governor of British Guiana Sir Charles Woolley.

“Life growing up as a little boy in Alexander Village was like any other Village life in the 1990s. Lots of friends, family, cousins around we had a ball field in the area where the Geddes Grant building is now and we spent most of our time at the ball field before the building was erected on the ground,” said the East Bank Franchise player.

The former Stella Maris Primary and St Rose’s Secondary student, who also attended Saints Stanislaus College to write his CAPE exams, was born into cricket since his dad was a legspinner who played first division cricket at GYO. “When I was about eight, I was picked for GYO against a Lawyers team in an over-40 game after the GYO team was short of players,” said Vishaul, who gained four 1s, two 2s and a three when he wrote the CXC exams.

He joined GYO but did not play any competitive cricket for them. At that time Common Entrance was approaching, so he stopped playing and after exams joined GCC. “I joined GCC at 10 after I played a game for East Bank U-15 against GCC and Harold ‘doc’ Dhanraj asked dad for me to join GCC to get more

opportunities,” said Vishaul.

At the age of 11, Vishaul caught the attention of cricket fans when became the youngest batsman to score a century against senior players (Third division game) breaking the record held by his club mate Ronnie Sarwan.

Vishaul said that is his best memory as a little boy.

“In High school I played under Leon Johnson for St Rose’s and after he left, I took over as Captain and led the school in the Sir Garfield Sobers School’s tournament in Barbados,” disclosed Vishaul.

The GCC Captain admitted to being a bit surprised when he was picked for his Test debut.

“Yeah a bit but not entirely, I knew I must have been close, having scored runs two seasons running in First-Class cricket and scoring over 700 runs. I got Man-of-the series and scored the most runs from both sides in the ‘A’ team series against Sir Lanka.

I came back to First-Class cricket and had an average season but in the President’s X1 match I scored a hundred against Pakistan. I knew I had to be very close to getting picked,” informed Vishaul.

But that was his first and last Test series.

“I was disappointed.

Anybody will be disappointed having not been recalled. Over the years I think I have had consistent performances in Regional four-day cricket.”

(Cont’d in tomorrow’s edition)

WMMZ CC saddened at the passing of former Captain James Chandler Past and present members of the West Meten-MeerZorg Cricket Club (WMMZCC) of the West Coast Demerara is saddened at the passing of their former club Captain J a m e s C h a n d l e r, w h o passed away on Sunday last following a brief illness a t t h e We s t D e m e r a r a Regional Hospital.

James Chandler who only returned to Guyana in January this year was a member of the Guyana Police Force and would have served in ‘B’ and ‘D’ Division areas, proudly wearing the Guyana Police F o r c e U n i f o r m . M r.

C h a n d l e r, w h o w a s a dynamic left-handed batsman, started his Cricketing Career at the We s t M e t e n - M e e r- Z o rg Cricket Club located a few buildings from his home.

He then went on to represent the senior West D e m e r a r a Te a m , We s t Demerara Police and Georgetown Police during his assignment with the force.

During his assignments in the GPF, Chandler would have played with the Berbice Police and several other Clubs in the first division league before migrating to the United States of America in the year 2000. In the USA, Chandler would have connected with his former Meten-Meer-Zorg/Police team mate Ejaz Asgarally, a former national wicketkeeper batsman.

According to former Meten-Meer-Zorg Club Captain Troy Khan, Chandler continued to play t h e g a me in the USA, representing the New York

James Chandler Meten-Meer-Zorg Cricket Club. A Wake will be kept tonight, while the funeral service will be held at his residence Lot 84 Third Street, West Meten-Meer-Zorg at 12:00hrs, thence to the West Meten-Meer-Zorg cemetery for Burial. He died at the age of 53

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Kaieteur News

Kyrgios hits back at Becker’s ‘rat’ accusations over Zverev blast Omnisport - Nick Kyrgios has hit back at Boris Becker after the German legend branded him a “rat” over his public criticism of Alexander Zverev.

World number seven Zverev was labelled as “selfish” by Kyrgios after he was apparently spotted partying despite vowing to self-isolate.

Zverev took part in the Adria Tour where several players, including world number one Novak Djokovic, tested positive for coronavirus and, although he returned a negative result himself, promised to isolate, with guidelines recommending 14 days.

Becker, a winner of six grand slams, called out Kyrgios’ public criticism, leading to the duo exchanging a few virtual volleys on Twitter.

“We all live in the pandemic called #Covid_19 !

It’s terrible and it killed to many lives...we should protect our families/loved ones and follow the guidelines but still don’t like #rats @NickKyrgios,” Becker wrote on Twitter.

Kyrgios defended himself, writing: “Rats? For holding someone accountable? Strange way to think of it champion, I’m just looking out for people.

WHEN my family and families all over the world have respectfully done the right thing. And you have a goose waving his arms around, imma say something.”

The argument was not done there, though, with Becker once again repeating his earlier insult.

“Don’t like no #rats !

Anybody telling off fellow sportsman/woman is no friend of mine! Look yourself

Players can stay in locker rooms during anthem: U.S. women’s soccer league

A logo for the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is seen inside the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts ahead of a media event with players from the North Carolina Courage and Chicago Red Stars teams, in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. October 27, 2019. (REUTERS/Amy Tennery/File Photo) (Reuters) - The U.S. National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has said players can choose to remain in the locker room or express their individual views on the pitch while the national anthem is being played at the Challenge Cup. The NWSL said the decision to provide additional flexibility by revising pre-game ceremonies followed discussions with players, club officials and other stakeholders.

Every player from the North Carolina Courage and Portland Thorns took a knee during the anthem and wore t-shirts with the slogan ‘Black Lives Matter’ before their game on Saturday.

Athletes from around the world have been joining the

protest campaign sparked by the death last month of George Floyd, a Black man, while in Minneapolis police custody. “... The NWSL stands behind every player, official and staff member,” NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird said in a statement.

“Kneel on the field. Stand with your hand over your heart.

Honour your feelings in the privacy of the locker room or at midfield. The NWSL is a league that was built on diversity and courage and those principles will continue to drive us forward.”

The month-long Challenge Cup in Utah, which kicked off on Saturday, will be played in empty stadiums amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

in the mirror and think your better than us...@NickKyrgios.”

To which Kyrgios responded: “For goodness sake Boris, I’m not competing or trying to throw anyone under the bus. It’s a global pandemic and if someone is as idiotic as Alex to do what he has done, I’ll call him out for it. Simple.”

The back-and-forth exchange did not end there, with Kyrgios saying Becker is a “bigger doughnut than I thought” and he “can hit a volley, obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed though”.

Becker continued the argument, with the retort: “ Yo u r [ s i c ] f u n n y g u y ....how is it down under?

Respect all the guidelines?” before somewhat bizarrely attempting to change tact.

“I really would like to see

Nick Kyrgios (left) has hit back at Boris Becker. @NickKyrgios fulfil his potential and win a grand slam! He would be an incredible role model for the youth of the world addressing the issues of equality/race/heritage! Man

up buddy and deliver!”

Becker commented.

Kyrgios, though, was in little mood to change the topic of discussion.

“Why are you now talking about tennis? It has nothing

to do with tennis? How about the dude who you are defending mans up and gives us some sort of explanation?

Not another average management apology,” he wrote.

McLaren happy with F1’s COVID response since Melbourne

General view of the McLaren garage after they announced they would withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix after a team member tested positive for coronavirus. (REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo) LONDON (Reuters) McLaren withdrew from Formula One’s doomed Australian season-opener in March when an employee tested positive for COVID-19, but team boss Andreas Seidl is confident this weekend’s second attempt in Austria will be very different.

The March 15 race in Melbourne was cancelled before a wheel had turned, and Formula One has had to wait more than 100 days for another opportunity to go racing after countries went into lockdown.

Sunday’s opener at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring will

be the latest ever start to a Formula One season, and the first to get going in Austria.

It will take place in a changed landscape, one without spectators or sponsors present while teams operate in ‘bubbles’ with strict health and safety conditions and media kept at a distance.

“I have to say I’m very happy with the plan that has been developed,” said Seidl.

“What is different now to Australia is we have a clear concept of isolation of the teams between each other,” added the German.

“The approach is clear: If

someone is positive he needs to be isolated from the team and obviously can’t continue. but for everyone else who is not affected or is negative, they can simply keep going.”

All the teams have backup staff on standby, tested and ready to step in if needed.

In Melbourne, amid general concern about racing in the face of a growing pandemic, McLaren withdrew on the Thursday after one positive result.

The race was then called off before the start of Friday practice.

Team members will now be tested every five days and will also have to maintain self distancing and wear face masks in the paddock. Seidl said all of h i s t e a m ’s t e s t s h a d reported negative so far.

The teams, who will fly in on charter planes and remain isolated in their hotels, will not mix with locals or rival outfits, with key groups kept isolated within teams to limit any spread.

“I think it is a good mix of protecting our people and at the same time allowing to put up a good show,” Seidl said.

Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 01, 2020

PAGE 27

Ben Stokes to captain England as Joe Root misses first West Indies Test ESPNcricinfo - Ben Stokes will captain England for the first time in the first Test against West Indies starting next week. Joe Root, England’s permanent redball captain, will miss the first Test and warm-up match to attend the birth of his second child. Root’s wife, Carrie, is due to give birth later this week.

The ECB confirmed that Root will have to self-isolate for seven days at home once he leaves hospital with his

family. He is expected to be available for the second Test of the series, which starts at Emirates Old Trafford on July 16, and will join up with the squad at the ground on July 13.

Stokes said in a virtual press conference on Monday that he will look to take the “positive route” as captain, and Root has previously backed him for the role, saying that he would be “fantastic” at leading the Test team.

Stokes is likely to become England’s leastexperienced captain in their h i s t o r y, n e v e r h a v i n g captained a first-class, List A or T20 game in his career.

According to the Times, the only other man to captain England in Test cricket in the last 50 years without having captained in a first-class game was Kevin Pietersen, who had previously led in an ODI. Stokes admitted on Monday that he was “not one

of those people you would necessarily think of as the next England captain”. He

was initially awarded the vice-captaincy in 2016 before losing the role a year

later following his involvement in the Bristol (Continued on page 19)

Rain hurts preparation for opening Test

rt o p S

FIFA bans former top official Kattner for 10 years

Joshua DaSilva

Rain forced the abandonment of the opening day of the West Indies’ final ‘inter-squad’ warm-up contest.

Vishal Singh gets his from Jimmy Adams on Test debut.

FIFA’s acting secretary general Markus Kattner attends a news conference after a meeting of the Executive Committee at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland December 3, 2015. (REUTERS/ Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo)

Wiggins move to Lamar College

Vishaul Singh aims for Windies recall - Feels CWI could take lots of positives from England tour Guyanese studentathlete Kevin Wiggins has moved from Monroe College to Lamar to continue his academic and sports ambitions.

Vishal Singh celebrates his 161 against Sri Lanka for Windies A in 2016.

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