Kaieteur News

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Nigeria in US$1.5 NEWS billion oil prepay deal with oil traders

Wednesday Edition

AIETEUR

July 29, 2020 -Vol. 15 No. 30

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com

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

Price $80

Online readership yesterday 161,215

Eight months later...

Govt. fails to act on recommended charges against Troy Resources How APNU+AFC failed to fool the int’l community

‘Smoke and Mirrors’...

Malaysia’s Ex-leader sentenced to 12 years for corruption

Evidence debunks APNU+AFC’s claim that elections cases - fined US$49 million not related Nation bids Man 74, dies T&T says one of Coalition imported farewell to trying to enjoy three flouting COVID-19 veteran trade pension he had cases came COVID-19 unionist, just collected from Guyana restrictions Komal Chand Ex-Prime Minister, Najib Razak

P. 12

Guyanese must call on oil companies to dedicate portion of CSR budget towards climate change efforts - CGX Head

Surviving COVID-19 could mean a lifetime of complications - stresses need to embrace preventative measures - Emergency Medicine Specialist warns

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 29, 2020

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

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

EDITORIAL

The Last Plantation It is not without irony that the logo of Troy Resources, one of the major companies exploiting our gold is, well, the Trojan Horse. Stripped of its heroic dimensions, the story of the conquering of Troy is about an invading army using a ruse to enter a city-state, with the assistance of the leadership of that city state, leading to its eventual devastation by external, colonizing forces.

The basic situation of exploitation by Troy and another foreign-owned gold mining giant was covered in an article published in Kaieteur News two years ago, in May of 2018, titled “Guyana loses billions $$$ worth in concessions to Troy Resources, Aurora Gold Mine annually”. The following excerpt from that article is instructive: “Significantly, while billions of dollars worth in concessions are given to these foreign entities, little is known about how many indigenous companies are used to provide them with goods and services in contrast to the foreign conglomerates contracted to provide same…. Commissioner General of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Newell Dennison, said that there is an imbalance between the concessions granted to foreign companies and those granted to locals. Dennison was asked if there has been any monitoring of local content in the mining sector by the Commission, he responded in the negative.”

The situation with any of these companies, taken in isolation, would be bad enough. However, as this newspaper has taken the lead in reporting, this basic formula is one that is replicated and expanded across companies and industries, most recently in our newly launched oil and gas sector. Switch out ‘Troy Resources’ and replace it with ‘Exxon’ and the situation is virtually identical, except of course on a much grander scale: a large, foreign-owned multinational company is granted massive concessions to exploit a valuable national resource with minimal economic benefit going to Guyanese and little monitoring of the already negligible commitments to local content.

In this country, in which little effort has been placed on accurate, consensus-based, objective historiography, much of this might seem like a relatively new phenomenon. It isn’t. Exxon, Troy, Aurora, Hess, Bosai, Bai Shan Lin, Barama, Omai, Rusal – all have their predecessors in Guyanese history, most long forgotten, but some like Bookers (sugar) and Reynolds (bauxite) remain faint, if fading, in memory.

Preceding all this was the company that laid the foundation of our economy and society, the infamous DutchWest India Company. It was that primordial international corporation that would define both the fundamental physical and sociological contours of the society we live in, from the geometrical layout of our villages to the socioeconomic hierarchies that prevail to this day.

It was the Trinidadian intellectual giant, Lloyd Best, in part by studying this society in the pre-independence era, who identified, named and explored the pathology for what it was – the plantation system. As he once observed: ”The legacy of institutions, structures and behaviour patterns of the plantation system are so deeply entrenched that adjustment tends to take place as an adaptation within the bounds of the established framework.”

Because of the gaps in our history, few people know that Best was an economic advisor to the Cheddi Jagan administration in the 1950s, and that his New World Group had its genesis right here in what was still then British Guiana. The obdurate nature of the plantation economy is what we continue to be burdened with to this day. As Best’s illustrious contemporary, St. Lucian poet, Derek Walcott, in his own seminal plantation poem, ‘Ruins of a Great House’, would observe, “The rot remains with us, the men are gone.”

The economic contours of the oil economy are virtually the same as the plantation economy, if not – in both absolute and relative terms – worse. Norman Girvan, the late, great Jamaican economist, in his study of the bauxite industry fifty years ago, outlined those contours: foreign ownership; basic or primary stage of production; limited domestic inputs, or local content; the repatriation of profits, meaning most of the money leaving; and “the persistence of the

We owe a Debt of Gratitude to Owen Arthur Dear Editor, In Owen Arthur’s death, Guyana has lost a champion of free and fair elections and an avid fan and promoter of Guyanese cuisine. In Arthur, I never saw such a person stand up so courageously against electoral bullyism and an attempt to ‘tief’ an election.

And he read the Guyanese papers. I saw him with a copy of Kaieteur News and other papers in his hands probably wanting to know how the media reported the fraud or his statements. We owe him a debt of gratitude.

When Guyana first experienced electoral fraud, Arthur was just a young man.

He must have read about electoral frauds in Guyana between 1966 and 1992 and probably did not believe it could happen in such boldfaced manner. He finally witnessed fraud in March

2020, and he condemned it aggressively and vociferously, not mincing words even in the presence of government officials and security forces. He was deeply concerned about democratic governance in Guyana and was not going to be a party to fraud. He was diplomatic and undiplomatic in his tone signaling to the government and GECOM that he was no pushover, and that he meant business. He was a small man but a giant in standing up for principles pertaining to democracy. He was not prepared to compromise his integrity in support of fraud. His credibility as an observer, Head of the Commonwealth Mission, was on the line. He was not prepared to trade it for perks or to yield to threatening and intimidation tactics.

He stood tall when he condemned the flagrant tabulation irregularities. In conversations with others, he felt the hurt of Guyanese when elements at GECOM, at the behest of the incumbent coalition, attempted to rob them of a democratically elected government. Arthur really as few others did in standing up for Guyanese against the fraud.

Owen Arthur and I met in passing at CARICOM summits but never interacted even when I visited Barbados in several trips when he was PM. I was present in Guyana during attempts to manipulate the vote count in the presence of international observers and we had brief exchanges.

He was very friendly and never came across as someone who would pick up a fight or back down if right.

The former PM and I

exchanged pleasantries several times at Cara Lodge, Pegasus, and GECOM’s central counting station at Ashmin’s. He knew of my name through my countless polls and voluminous writings, and he would place the face with the name. I listened to him carefully when I was in the thick of the media coverage attending several press conferences.

Arthur was present several times at Cara Lodge at breakfasts, having tea, and engaging in conversations with other observers. He interacted closely with the former Prime Minister of Senegal, Aminata Toure, the Co-Chair of the Carter Center Observer Team, and several other eminent observers from around the Commonwealth, Europe, Americas and Caribbean. They spoke (Continued on page 6)

Guyanese political leadership is vile and reprehensible Dear Editor, I seek the courtesy of sharing a few thoughts with those still interested in Guyana.

Though said differently, in the fullness of its sum, it is the unimaginable unmentionable pathos of Guyana.

At the hour of our greatest challenge as a nation, in the once rich tapestry of its peoples, the best that the leaders of this society can deliver are frenzies of rancorous division, of the vilest and most bitter partisanship. This is the best that the best in the PNC and PPP can deliver at the time of our greatest challenge.

This is also, the moment of our greatest promise. If anyone of them, and the newer ones, dare to tell me that he or she is about love of this country, I call that person an unmitigated deceiver of the first order. It is a rancid bunch of decayed older men, of already rotted younger men and women.

Today, in public, I call them out as the worst of the worst. There is no criminal in this country, whether behind bars or roaming free, that could be as heinous as our

political class, given what has been done to this society historically, given what is being done to it today. Any institutions and persons that do not find favour with their frivolities and asininities are automatically branded in the most caustic and reprehensible terms that range from the deceptively scurrilous (at the most charitable end of considerations) to the wickedly racist (at the demonizing other end).

This is how pathetic we are: racists are calling public officers and public contributors racists when there is thoughtful and honest disagreement with positions taken. And the piteous nature of Guyanese politics extends and confirms the blight when those on the other side, who once were guilty of the same terribly ugly behaviour, rush forward to applaud. Local politics and local politicians have no bottom in the endless depths to the madness, the deviousness, and the assorted numerous other sicknesses. Guyana! Behold leaders. These are the saviours. Caesar had his Brutus, Jesus had his Judas,

incalculability of value flows with transfer pricing”, meaning we remain unable to ascertain the exact economic benefit coming out of the exploitation of our resources due to the deliberate complexity of the financial operations of these companies. To this day, no one has been able to provide an accurate representation of the projected sum benefits of our Production-Sharing Agreement with ExxonMobil even in the short term.

The stark reality of life in Guyana today shows that our society, in terms of its fundamental economic framework, is a plantation society redux, although even ‘redux’ implies that the soul of the plantation has never really left us in the first place to have to return. Fifty-four years after independence, the “commanding heights of our economy” (a phrase dear to Forbes Burnham) still remains under the command and control

and Guyana has its politicians.

My fellow Guyanese on either side of the divide are welcome to embrace their respective heroes, I distance from all of these sick sons of this soil.

They are taking us down and will never stop doing so; they just do not have what it takes to be different by doing what is right and good for this country.

It is why, and I say this with every confidence, that the peoples of this country are unfamiliar with something as basic as progress in the last six decades. I speak not of some meager GDP figure; I speak of human progress. I suggest a scrutiny of how the racist partisanship has curled the nation into a fetal position. Thus, Guyana remains unborn, unlearning, and unpromising.

Guyanese need the critical and the creative to lift them out of the deep end of the sewer. What they get is uninterrupted indoctrinations where that same critical and creative are taken to newer and newer heights to gain the upper hand and perpetuate the criminal folly, the narrow ideology of race supremacy

and race fear. Guyana is not even an idea; it is not an experiment or an adventure.

Guyana is an unfinished joke.

Yet here Guyanese political leaders are thinking that they are the smartest people around.

I label such men and women failures and frauds, cheap confidence tricksters, and that is only the beginning of what they represent to the core of their being and the vastness of their narrow, miniscule visions for this country.

It is long known that oil (and clearly, we know nothing about oil here) attracts the worst human scum: fortune hunters, hustlers, and the worst of opportunists. We already had those here: Guyanese politicians. I tarnish myself by talking of them.

After all the raging and hating and dividing, I wait to marvel at the nation building.

Instead of building, they exhaust.

I want no part of these people. I have no regard for them. I expect the worst from them, be it this one or next, whether old or new.

Yours truly, GHK Lall

of external forces with the full complicity of our political ‘leadership’: the colonial overseers in their plantation great houses have simply been replaced by homegrown government ministers in their mansions, selling out our patrimony for a few pittance.

While the world continues to progress around us, we remain transfixed in the plantation mindset and therefore mode of action. Caught somewhere between the red of complete stoppage and the progressive green of go, caught between the partisan political tension of red and green, we are stuck, with our economic engine humming, at amber, our prehistoric pathologies preserved in amber. Unless we break this mould, unless we emerge and evolve and take hold of our destiny for all our people, we will remain what we are in this world – the Last Plantation.

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Like Mystic says, we need to ‘Live like we live at cricket’ Dear Editor, Kindly allow me a place in your newspaper to shed some light on the racism issues affecting our country, especially in this tense election period.

“Live life like we at the cricket” is a famous reggae track title from our very own local artiste Romeo “Mystic” Nermal from Black Bush Polder, Berbice. This reggae masterpiece outlines our racial and politically charged atmosphere here in Guyana especially during the election period and portrays a positive message of harmony, positivity and living together as one. Not only in the cricket stadium but everywhere in this 83,000 square miles of ours.

Racism is unfortunately prevalent extensively in today’s society. It is a problem

which we; ourselves would have generated. It is filthy & gruesome and its existence is certainly not justifiable under any circumstances.

This is a collective fight and we as Guyanese need to play our part in calling out or openly condemn messages of hate, racism, prejudice, intolerant attitudes, stereotyping and discrimination, whether these messages are coming from a political platform to gain political mileage or social media context by persons seeking to execute their own personal agenda . We should also be aware of the Racial Hostility Act Chapter (23:01), and that we can be held accountable for any insensible expression or conduct tending to excite hostility or ill-will against persons by reason of their

race.

Racism by itself tarnishes a society by creating a wedge between our very own people, affecting our cultures and our youngsters a great deal. It vanquishes the exchange of culture and disperses hatred among us, limiting us from those unimaginable heights, which we could climb if we work together as one people and one nation to attain a destiny we could never grasp alone.

We are Guyanese. We are one, living in one nation and harmony should prevail among us. Together we can soar to places, which we have never been. I therefore urge you to be a human rights champion in this battle to end this vicious cycle of racism by being responsible Guyanese.

Yours truly, Mark Reddi

The ‘Wake up, Guyana’ message needs a more prominent place Dear Editor, Your article today, “Wake up, Guyana”, was perfection.

It was to the absolute point.

You make me very proud.

However, over the years, the look and feel of your front page has been the same format.

Yes, I know Guyana is in a

bit of a turmoil now, but I think that this article, alone should be on the front page, soon!!! Doing something significantly new gets people’s attention.

As someone who has lived in New York for over 30 years, I can assure you, you will get more of an

impact and attention from the people there, if such a critical article is on the front page of a paper that they have to buy and read, rather than online. The feedback and end result will be more noticeable.

Yours truly, Chi Kansi

Nagamatoo’s ‘olive branch’ is laced with desperation Dear Editor, I do not usually bother to read anything that Moses Nagamootoo writes. I do not think anybody does, but l decided for a lark to see what he was up to in his July 26 “My Turn” column.

Nagamoottoo did not fail to live up to my expectations.

Predictable as always, he has the uncanny ability to take things out of context to support his agenda, and, within a short time, he can do a complete somersault with the same information and go in the opposite direction.

Ever opportunistic, he pulled random statements from no less than Dr. Cheddi Jagan, President Carter and the Carter Center to support his government’s nonexistent “olive branch” offer to the “Opposition” in the context of an ethnic

conflagration.

This was nothing but a transparent effort by him to make himself relevant, to remind people that he is still important. In this, he failed abysmally. Everyone knows that the PPP/C is no longer the Opposition but the ‘government in waiting’. David Granger’s locum standi is merely to hand over the government to the legitimately elected President and government.

Nagamootoo’s “olive branch” is laced with desperation; he too has no locum standi, even if the APNU+AFC Coalition had won, he would have been cast aside. In fact, he is desperately ‘singing for his supper’ as soon he may have no US visa. He, like others in Granger’s band of brigands, is responsible for undermining democracy and

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putting the Guyanese people through this tortuous path created solely by Granger and APNU+AFC leaders to subvert the will of the Guyanese people and steal the election of March 2, 2020.

Nagamootoo lost any relevance in Guyana when he became the right hand man to Granger and the PNC, an ever willing participant and apologist for their corruption, incompetence and antipeople policies. Now Nagamootoo is trying to dress up their hijacking of the elections and attempted electoral coup with offers of an “olive branch.”

Again, like most things Nagamootoo says, it is all vacuous; like standing in quick sand (“sucking sand”), it all vanishes.

Yours truly, Gail Teixeira

Senior citizen feels powerless dealing with Guyana Power and Light Dear Editor, Awakened at 07:30 hours by the familiar hum of a Sophia generator which signals one of GPL’s indifferent power outages in Prashad Nagar, (and wherever else?). Earlier the same week, the blackout had lasted from Tuesday night through to late Wednesday afternoon – just over 20 hours, not to mention others earlier in this month of July.

It is so ludicrous. It is as if the engineers had overheard my ophthalmologist’s advice that I should read with a desk light as close as possible, in order to help my blurred vision. It is as if these engineers had also overheard the optometrist recommending a replacement of my long worn out glasses, since they no longer observe even the spectacular – all this in a season when the day is gloomed with very murky clouds.

I therefore needed help to transcribe this sense of helplessness, which overshadowed the past week, when one is immersed in hygiene issues, in the absence of running water.

(There is no help or helper).

Mere physical sustenance has become a challenge, and emotions could hardly be relieved through escape to flickering TV offerings. In fact, the one flicker in the

encompassing gloom comes from the faithful fifty-year-old oil lamp. It is always ready to snicker at frustrating ‘progress’, for exactly at this point the one panting light bulb gave its last gasp – exactly at 11:00 hrs.

Even GTT’s ‘Blaze’ equipment is making itself heard, as if also in protest. But I dare not interfere with technology in which I have no competence, and just possibly no confidence. I would not wish to get my fingers burnt. No one else is here. Hopefully, there would be no flare up.

In desperation, I dial the anachronism of Power and Light, only to be greeted by a human voice that robotically welcomes an ‘important customer’, asked to wait on ‘busy representatives’ who will eventually get to ‘you’ in three, five, fifteen, and then more minutes, and would refer the ‘important’ matter to another ‘robot’ who, eventually in anticipation of ‘your’ complaint, adds that it would be addressed ‘as early as possible’ – all of which means: ‘just bare your chafe’.

But like the last bill which is replete with just numbers (no mention of aforementioned life’s inconveniences); the next would not reflect any absences of power and light.

For inherent in their power is

not to provide light. The cost is deliberately, unfairly the same as ever, regardless of how ‘important’ the technology says you are to this powerlessness.

The sad fact is that the innocent recruit who is utilised to repeat those flatulent messages, is much too young to have any substantive appreciation of how human is the condition of the particular complainant, and indeed how critical the glib reference to meaningless waiting time for a response can be to a truly desperate ‘important’ complainant.

Their employers, bemused with their own sophistication, scarcely relate to their communicators the required sense of responsibility to interpret and analyse the urgency and gravity of any specific human situation.

There is simply no sense of accountability that is identifiable. How human then are the directorate, management, and senior operatives who in any case must be inundated with a persistent range of regular ‘nuisances’, so many not vocalised publicly. It is therefore on their behalf that this submission is made – by a very senior single discomfited resident.

Yours truly, E.B. John

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Wednesday July 29, 2020

South Rupununi Development Council account of events was incomplete Dear Editor, Please allow me to respond to an article in your paper entitled “SRDC condemns Region 9 REO for misinforming media and threats made to Toshaos” (KN Jul 25, 2020).

To begin with, I want to remind readers that I was the most prolific non-Amerindian writer to your letters column prior to 2015, pontificating the virtues of Amerindians and highlighting the many injustices meted out to them by the then Administration. I will be equally vocal in pointing out discrepancies in the administration of Amerindian villages and areas. I reserve that right, especially as REO of the largest Region, which is mainly populated by Amerindians. I still maintain that they are a special people.

However, that special status does not give them the right to flout, with impunity, the provisions of the COVID19 measures; and that has largely been the case. This constant flouting of the measures will invariably put the rest of the Region at grave risk. Sadly, that is the present case.

At the meeting of the Regional Health Emergency Operations Committee (RHEOC) held on Wednesday 2020-07-22, I informed the committee of instances of flouting which ranged from regular parties in villages to persons permitted to cross the borders illegally, and being hidden by relatives, unknowing to the Toshaos and Village Councils.

I warned if these behaviours were to persist, then there will come a time when the Regional Authorities will not be able to assist. Help will be summoned but none will be forthcoming. That is the r e a l i t y. I f t h a t w a s misunderstood then I apologise for the misunderstanding.

The reality is that we have to change our behaviours, for everyone’s benefit. There are health practitioners who are making great sacrifices to ensure we all are safe.

Presently, the COVID-19 Response Team is living in self-isolation, away from the comfort of their homes and families. It is one team,

not two or ten – one.

I have seen the driver meeting his pregnant wife from a distance, not even a hold hand is permitted, much less a hug. He has been living like this for the past three months. What is more is the fact that they are on a moment’s notice to move – suit and all.

In light of these unselfish sacrifices, what will it take for us all to abide by the guidelines as set out by the health authorities. I think it is downright selfish of us, very uncaring if I may add.

I have received reports as well of one senior Toshao who verbally abused a visiting heath team to his village while in an inebriated state. These actions cannot bode well for our fight against the deadly virus.

The SRDC approached the RHEOC for permission to erect several gates to regulate persons passing through their communities.

This eventually descended into the practice of persons being allowed to pass selectively.

At the beginning of the gates, I did inform the villages that COVID will visit them not from Lethem

but from Brazil. I was able to make that prediction because of what we all knew but were not willing to call it. My prediction has come to pass.

What is more frustrating is the fact that all the Toshaos know of the arrangements we have made with the Guyana Consulate in Boa Vista to facilitate Guyanese wanting to come home. I stand by my comments that some of those returning are being hidden by relatives. This was confirmed by the Toshao of Aishalton at the meeting alluded to earlier.

As to assistance from the Regional Authorities, if the SRDC wants to be honest, they will tell you that very early in the life of the RHEOC (this came into being on the 23rd March 2020), I made an offer to the villages to identify two persons each to work in their communities to monitor the borders and to screen persons crossing. To date, I am still to receive those recommendations. Together, we also identified eleven (11) villages where checkpoints are to be established. I have the funds but repeated requests to meet with the Chairman of the National Toshaos’ Council have been unfruitful.

Worsening coronavirus outbreaks in Florida, Texas add to gloomy U.S. picture (Reuters) - Four U.S. states in the South and West reported one-day records for coronavirus deaths yesterday and cases in Texas passed the 400,000 mark as California health officials said Latinos made up more than half of its cases.

Arkansas, Florida, Montana and Oregon each reported record spikes in fatalities. California had recorded 133 deaths by midafternoon, shy of its one-day peak of 159 with hours to go.

California health officials said Latinos, who make up just over a third of the most populous U.S. state, account for 56% of COVID-19 infections and 46% of deaths.

Cases are soaring in the Central Valley agricultural region, with its heavily Latino population, overwhelming hospitals.

Florida saw 191 coronavirus deaths in the prior 24 hours, its highest single-day rise yet, the state health department said.

Texas added more than 6,000 new cases on Monday, pushing its total to 401,477, according to a Reuters tally.

Only three other states California, Florida and New York - have more than 400,000 total cases. Those states are also the four most populous states in the United States.

California and Texas both reported decreases in overall hospitalizations as Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top U.S. infectious diseases expert, saw signs the surge could be peaking in the South and West while other areas were on the cusp of new outbreaks.

Fauci said early indications showed the percentage of positive coronavirus tests rising in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky.

The rise in U.S. deaths and infections has dampened early hopes the country was past the worst of an economic crisis that has decimated businesses and put millions of Americans out of work.

The trend also has fueled a bitter debate over the reopening of U.S. schools in the coming weeks. U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration have pushed for students to return to class, while some

teachers and local officials have called for online learning “We will fight on all fronts for the safety of students and their educators,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said during the union’s virtual convention yesterday. “It’s the eleventh hour; we need the resources now.” The battle is playing out in Texas. The Texas Education Agency, the state overseer of public education, said it would deny funding to schools that delay in-person classes because of orders by local health authorities related to the pandemic.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued guidance that health authorities cannot impose “blanket” school closures for coronavirus prevention. Any such decision is up to school officials, he said.

Local health leaders in the biggest metropolitan areas in Texas - including Houston and Dallas - have recently ordered the postponement of in-person classes.

In Washington, Republicans in the U.S.

Senate pushed back against their own party’s $1 trillion coronavirus relief proposal the day after it was unveiled

by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, sending some U.S. stocks downward.

“I’m not for borrowing another trillion dollars,” Republican Senator Rand Paul told reporters.

Democrats also have rejected the plan as too limited compared with thei r $ 3 trillion proposal that passed the House of Representatives in May. Some Republicans called that one too expensive.

Trump said on Tuesday he did not support everything in the Senate Republican coronavirus relief legislation but would not elaborate on what he did not like.

“There are also things that I very much support,” he told a White House briefing. “But we’ll be negotiating.”

Trump also groused about Fauci’s high approval ratings and joked “nobody likes me” as he struggles to improve his standing with voters over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

I loaned a boat and engine to the St. Ignatius Village to assist them in patrols. One drum of fuel was also given. They approached me for another drum. I requested a report before that drum was delivered. It took three (3) weeks for that report to be furnished. There must be accountability.

Before the gates were erected, some with the help of the Regional Administration, the SRDC gave the RHEOC the commitment that these gates will be monitored 24/ 7. We now know that is not so. A resident of Achawib, South Rupununi died recently from snakebite.

She was at the gate of her own community for a reported three hours, then at the next village,

Karudarnaua for another two hours. She died.

I, as REO cannot, and will not pat the SRDC on their backs and pretend that they are doing a good job when clearly they are not, especially when lives are at stake.

I therefore urge the SRDC to work closely with the RHEOC to contain the COVID-19 virus to the affected villages. Failing to do this will result in community spread and there will be little, which the overworked Health Team will be able to do. The ball is effectively in their court.

What they do with it will determine whether they swim or sink.

Yours truly, Carl Parker Regional Executive Officer - Region Nine

We owe a Debt of Gratitude to Owen...

From page 4 endlessly trading observations and comments about the fraud perpetrated

by GECOM officers. They reminisced about experiences in Guyana and their encounter with Minister Karen Cummings. There were unforgettable scenes with the Minister and with the observers interacting at Cara Lodge, Pegasus, and elsewhere. Arthur showered praises on the Commonwealth technical observers for guiding GECOM in holding a free and fair election. In appealing to GECOM to conduct a correct count, he noted that it would reflect badly on the two technical advisors (one from India and one from Ghana) if the count were to be rigged. He wished that the Chair would do the honourable thing.

I would wait around long after press conferences to listen to conversations among observers on what they think about my country and Guyanese. At times, Arthur didn’t care about what he said when interacting with colleagues outside of official press conferences. He didn’t seem to mind my presence perhaps viewing me as ‘friendly territory’ since I was among credible observers.

He did not have pleasant things to say about our President, the government, and the Foreign Minister. He indicted all of them for fraud and even some in GECOM (whose names I won’t reveal).

He could not believe that riggers would be so boldfaced about the fraud.

He was most courageous in speaking out against the electoral fraud of March 4 and

6 even when he was threatened with cancellation of his accreditation and deportation. I would never forget the scene where he took out his accreditation ID and hand it to our Foreign Minister. He stood tall in that exchange. That scene would remain etched in the nation’s history. Arthur regretted he could not prevent the fraudulent tabulation in Guyana. He apologized to those of us he spoke with for his inability to stop it.

I found Arthur to be warm and kind-hearted. Though a former PM, he was “down-toearth” and humble not like some Guyanese politicians.

He shared his meals and seemed at times to acquire lunches for others because I saw him distributing bags with foods. He loved Guyanese food and spoke highly of our chowmein, dhal puri, pepperpot, curried chicken, and other cuisine. He binged on pepperpot. He was always jovial. Even when upset, as with the electoral fraud, he smiled. I will never forget this man. Vivid images of his interactions in Guyana kept popping up in my brain.

He really batted for Guyanese against electoral fraud.

The nation is grateful that he had the courage to speak the truth about what happened at GECOM. Will GECOM honour him by quickly declaring the results or do we wait have to continue to wait for a declaration long after he is buried? For Arthur, GECOM is responsible for the election stalemate.

Yours truly Vishnu Bisram

Wednesday July 29, 2020

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Eight months later…

Govt. fails to act on recommended charges against Troy Resources The Ministry of Social Protection is yet to act on the charges, which it recommended against Troy Resources Guyana Inc. (TRGI) some eight months ago. The recommended charges were made after an investigation was launched at the company’s mining operations following the death of an employee in October 2019.

In a telephone interview with Kaieteur News, Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott, noted that no further actions have been taken

against the mining company since he strongly believes that there are other means of redressing the situation. However, the Minister failed to highlight what these other means are.

Expounding further, Mr. Scott indicated that the Occupational Safety and Health (OS&H) Department has advised the company on the way forward in carrying out its operation to ensure the safety of its employees are met.

I n t h e M i n i s t r y ’s report, it was recommended that charges be made against the company for

failing to report 12 cases of occupational diseases at its Karouni mining operations. Additional charges were recommended against TRGI for obstructing an officer of its OS&H Department in the execution of his official duties. It was noted as well that the company had neglected to submit to the investigating officer documents formally requested during his visit to the mining site.

The investigation, which was conducted following the death of Ryan Taylor - a geologist

Guyana records seven new COVID-19 cases The Ministry of Public Health yesterday announced seven new cases of COVID19. This has brought the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana to 396.

In the Ministry’s daily update, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, pointed out that of the seven cases; six were recorded in

Arau, Region Seven, and one in the capital city, Georgetown.

As a result of yesterday’s increase, the number of active cases has climbed to 195 with 34 in institutional quarantine facilities across the country and four in the Intensive Care Unit. The CMO reported too that to date, a total of 4,478

tests have been conducted with 4,082 returning negative for the Coronavirus.

In addition, Dr. Persaud reminded citizens that cross border movement should be prohibited and any instance of such should be immediately reported to the necessary authorities.

who died after a mining pit collapsed on him at the company’s Region Seven mining operations, also found Troy Resources entirely responsible for the death. It was revealed that the company had failed to provide a safe, sound, healthy and secure working environment for Taylor, which contributed significantly to his demise.

The company has since refuted these claims noting that to date they have not been in receipt of the report.

Responding to the

company’s claims, Scott argued that the TRGI and “all other interested agencies” were sent copies of the report, which was completed in November 2019.

The Minister further noted that he has since received a letter from the mining company dated July 28, 2020 requesting a copy of the Ministry’s report.

Adding to this, the Minister noted that he will be complying with the c o m p a n y ’s r e q u e s t t o provide an additional copy of the report.

Minister Keith Scott

PAGE 8

Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Guyanese must call on oil companies to dedicate portion of CSR budget towards climate change efforts - CGX Head Since the discovery of oil equivalent resources in the Stabroek Block five years ago, oil and gas companies have been gripped by a renewed sense of desire to execute aggressive exploration programmes.

They are all eager for a taste of ExxonMobil’s success which has unearthed over eight billion barrels of oil equivalent resources. Even as the yearning to mimic this success grows greater, so too do the calls for Guyana to treat its climate change efforts with a greater sense of urgency. Executive Director of CGX (Guyana), Professor Suresh Narine, is in agreement that Guyana, without question, needs to do all that is necessary to tackle climate change. In the same breath, he noted that oil and gas

exploration companies can be called upon to play a role in this process.

During his first appearance on Kaieteur Radio’s Programme, Guyana’s Oil and You, Professor Narine was keen to point out that each oil and gas company has a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget.

On this very point, he posited that Guyanese can make advances for a portion of that budget to be used to aid climate change efforts.

Professor Narine said, “…We should be saying to them in a clarion call that ‘This is your percentage of CSR that we would like to see in the de-carbonized economy’ because philosophically, there is no barrier; there is no mental, business, commercial or investment barrier between

a company investing in fossilized energy, and a company investing in renewable energy…”

The CGX Head added, “We need to lead them so that these companies are not fragmented; that their efforts be put into policy driven imperatives that we as Guyanese underscore as necessary, because that will remove the doubt...”

Professor Narine was keen to note that oil and gas companies are, at their very core, companies that are predicated on returns for investments for their shareholders. Be that as it may, Professor Narine posited that oil and gas companies understand that if they do not look forward to what the forecast and the future may bring, then the act of doing

business only focused on dollars and cents may preclude being in business in the future.

Continuing on this point, Professor Narine said, “I want to say that…There is nothing philosophically or morally repugnant about companies raison d’être (the most important reason or purpose for someone or something’s existence) (being) to address their bottom lines. There is nothing repugnant about them doing just so.”

Professor Narine was keen to note that at the end of the day, “This is our country and we need to drive.

If we leave a vacuum for companies to drive who are constituted with only one goal in mind then it is impossible for those companies to lead us into sustainability. If we understand the gravitas of that statement to our population then we can begin a conversation on how those companies can help up to decarbonize.”

CGX Head, Professor Suresh Narine

Senior Berbice cop accused of accepting bribe under close arrest As the investigation continues into the allegations that a senior Berbice police officer accepted a $100,000 bribe from a West Coast Berbice man to settle a matter, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) was yesterday placed under close arrest. Sources close to the investigation said that the police officer is under close arrest at the Ta c t i c a l S e r v i c e U n i t (TSU), Eve L e a r y, Georgetown.

Usually when ranks (juniors in particular) are under investigation, they are taken to TSU and kept for three days under close arrest. After three days would have expired, they are allowed to resume duty with the TSU or in another capacity at Eve Leary. It is unclear if the same will occur for the officer in question.

The ASP is accused of accepting a bribe from the man who wanted a matter dealt with concerning his underage pregnant daughter. The man had told this publication that his daughter who is 14 years old was found to be four months pregnant after a visit to a clinic on the West Coast of Berbice.

The man stated that his daughter had eloped with an 18-year-old man and when she returned, she informed him and his wife that she was pregnant.

However, at the clinic,

questions were raised by the nurses concerning the c h i l d ’s p r e g n a n c y.

According to reports, the health workers decided to contact the Child Care Protection Agency, which subsequently contacted the father of the teen. It was revealed that the father was given a letter to visit the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam to engage with a police officer.

This publication was informed that while at the New Amsterdam Station, the man was told to visit the Whim Police Station and statements were taken from him, his wife, his pregnant teen and the 18year-old. The 18-year-old man was arrested later that evening.

According to reports reaching this publication, the pregnant teen’s father said that he was worried about his daughter and her mental state and therefore wanted the 18-year-old released. As a result, he reportedly asked to speak with the officer-in-charge.

The officer-in-charge, this publication was informed, was the ASP now at the centre of the case.

According to reports, the man said he asked the senior officer for advice on what to do.

In response, the man said that the ASP told him to give him $100,000 and he would handle the matter.

The man said that he

managed to raise the money and gave it to the ASP. The two reportedly exchanged cell phone numbers.

Reports suggest that the 18-year-old was released the next day on $15,000 bail.

However, the man, who thought his worries were over, received a call from the grandparents of the 18-year-old three days later who told him that the police wanted them at the station. The man said he then called the ASP who shouted at him and hung up his phone. He said he became frustrated and decided to file a report against the senior cop for taking his money.

The report was made to Regional Commander, Calvin Brutus, on Friday who gave instructions to the officer-in-charge of crime to take a statement from the man. The ASP who was stationed at Whim had already been moved to New Amsterdam prior to the report being made.

After filing the report, the man said that he was warned by the senior officer that he should recant his story. The man said that the officer even showed up at the home of his mother and brother and tried to intimidate them into taking back the money. They refused and a further report was filed with police.

Wednesday July 29, 2020

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

The cruel and cold-hearted electoral bandits Those who are complicit or engaged in defending the rigging of the elections of 2nd March, 2020 do not deserve any respect. Their actions are contemptuous of all Guyanese, regardless of who they voted for and therefore can be branded as electoral brigands.

Even the riggers could have not contemplated that five months after the elections, a declaration cannot be made when all the votes were validated and counted at the place of poll on the 2nd March, 2020. The situation which has developed is simply bizarre and not even a script writer of horror movies could have imagined such a storyline.

This storyline however is no fiction. It is reality.

Guyanese democracy has become the victim of a demonic attempt to steal an election.

Guyana is now, once again, a pariah state, a political outcast. This has implications for the ordinary citizen, just as it did in the past when Guyanese became the object to taunts and ridicule because of its failure to uphold democratic norms.

It is simply incomprehensible that one of the largest political parties in Guyana along with its auxiliaries, could be so politically backward and naïve as to believe that it could get away with the rigging of an election or that the perversion of electoral democracy would be countenanced in this day and age.

The country has been brought to a standstill because of the brazen attempt to steal the elections. There is no budget, no parliament to exercise oversight over government spending and actions. International aid

has been virtually placed on ice until a legitimate government is in place.

All of this is happening at a time when a global pandemic, the worst in 100 years is ravaging the planet. The lack of a legitimate government is handicapping efforts to source critical international finance to fight the pandemic.

As was reported in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper, more than 100 countries have come out and called for the elections impasse to be brought to an end. The United States have already imposed sanctions on individuals believed to have been involved in undermining democracy.

Guyana has gotten bruised eye. The country has been shamed. Its President has been disgraced by the outpouring of international condemnation about what took place. Guyana now faces the ignominy of being suspended or expelled from organizations – the Caribbean Community, the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth.

Venezuela, Guyana’s belligerent neighbour to the West, is bound to take advantage of this situation. Guyana depends on the support of these organizations in affirming their support for respect for G u y a n a ’s territorial integrity. Suspension from the organs of the Caribbean C o m m u n i t y, the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth will leave Guyana without any significant support should Ve n e z u e l a become aggressive.

But the most tragic situation of all if what is happening in the economy.

From all accounts, the economy has been experiencing some stresses

which were masked by the growth which it has enjoyed over the past five years.

International reserves have declined to dangerous levels; there is a high overdraft in the deposit account at the Bank of Guyana. This overdraft is n e a r i n g m o r e t h a n t he signing bonus which Guyana received from ExxonMobil. In addition to this, the performance of the critical sectors of the economy has been mixed.

The failure to allow a transition to a new government will adversely aff e c t g o v e r n m e n t ’s attempt to reverse these negative developments.

The earned oil revenues cannot be remitted because there is no parliament to allow for the funds to be repatriated to the Natural Resource Fund, Guyana’s equivalent o f a S o v e r e i g n We a l t h Fund.

People are suffering.

Thousands of persons have not been able to earn a decent living over the past four months. There has been only modest assistance offered to the most vulnerable. As you move around the country, it is heartbreaking to see people begging to simply put food on the table.

A health disaster is in the making. More than 350 persons have already been infected with the coronavirus and there have been 20 deaths. The curve of active cases is not even plateauing. The number of new cases continues to increase.

While this tragedy is taking place, a group of rich financiers is using their grip of persons within the government to deny a democratic transition of government. They are only interested in safeguarding their selfish objectives.

Dem boys seh ...

Hammie mouth do mo dan slip Dem boys bin jump but nah bin surprise when Hammie open he mouth the other day. He bin tell the de facto Presithent dat he should nah bother with the Constitution and the law and how he should rememba dat he is the Commander in Chief. Hammie ketch himself quick. Dem boys nah know whether it gat fuh do with visa politics. But he backtrack and seh how he tongue bin slip.

Dem boys bin wan know whether dat was a Freudian slip – an intentional error wah nonetheless does reveal wah yuh thinking subconsciously.

The

psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, bin put forward the theory dat a man’s true desires could only be known by paying attention to the ‘slips of the tongue’ and other clues from his unconscious mind.

If Hammie had a slip of the tongue when he talk about setting aside the law and the Constitution, then why he had to remind he mentee dat he was the Commander in Chief?

Dem boys believe dat Hammy had more dan a slip of the tongue. It was mo like a slide and ah fall down.

It mek dem boys recall the time when a matador talk about the fuss time he face

one of the fiercest bulls. The man claim how when the bull charge, he slide to the right.

The bull attack again, his horns bearing down like spears. The matador seh he then slide to the left. He seh he bin frighten because he nah bin know nutting about bullfighting. He seh he keep sliding till the bull get tired.

A man wah bin listening to the story tun to the matador and seh, “But you lucky. If was me, I would a mess myself.”

The matador tun to the man and seh, “Wah you think ah bin sliding pun?

Talk half and wonder bout Hammie slip!

They are not concerned about the poor people of this country who are suffering.

Against this background, the actions of those who are complicit in undermining democracy are

unconscionable and uncaring. They are cruel and cold-hearted.

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

PAGE 10

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Kaieteur News

=== The Freddie Kissoon column ===

Owen Arthur, a hero in African civilization, a Guyanese hero I will always remember one incident about Walter Rodney in the countless courageous situations of liberation he was involved in - the trial of Arnold Rampersaud. Rampersaud was charged for murder during one of the protests against the imposition of a toll on the newly built Corentyne highway in 1973 in which a policeman was killed.

Prime Minister, Forbes Burnham knew the opposition PPP planned the attack and decided that he will charge a PPP youth with murder (for details on the Rampersaud saga see the fantastic book on the Burnham dictatorship, “Justice: The Struggle for Democracy in Guyana, 1952-1992” by Jesuit priest and then editor of the Catholic Standard, Father Andrew Morrison).

At the trial and two reretrials, the prosecutor, the now rich and famous, Rex Mc Kay, brought witness after witness, all of whom were African Guyanese, to

b e a r f a l s e t e s t i m o n y.

During the trials, Rodney at several public meetings frontally addressed African Guyanese urging them not to assault the dignity of post-slavery Guyanese African culture by lowering their dignity at the behest of Burnham to hang an innocent man all because he was East Indian. The Rodney message was piercing. In the third court drama, the all African jury acquitted Rampersaud.

What is taking place in Guyana is the assault on African civilization by African Guyanese leaders who are using their people t o a c q u i r e r a w, n a k e d power. We can understand the types like David Granger, Raphael Trotman, Joe Harmon, Vo l d a Lawrence and so many others who have no background in the liberation of mankind and never had an acquaintance with Rodney.

Look at the degeneration of David

Hinds who was literally proteged by Rodney. One of the closest comrades (perhaps the closet) of Rodney was Eusi Kwayana.

He wrote a book on R o d n e y ’s heroism.

Kwayana and Hinds today defend rigged elections in which African leaders like themselves are willing to sacrifice the lives of the ordinary man and woman of African heritage for the sake of their narrow, racist agenda.

No other parallel is more appropriate to condemn these people than the Rampersaud/Rodney songbook of justice and liberation.

Owen Arthur refused to let African dignity be thrown out of the window.

He came here to observe the 2020 election as head of the Commonwealth and what he saw Mingo did on March 4 appalled him and he denounced it.

From March 4 until his death this week, he spoke out against rigged elections. For that he was

vilified and derogated by his fellow Africans in Guyana because as a Black man, he rejected using Black people for depraved purposes.

But most of all, he saw his role in life as a human, a democratic, a principled character not as a Black man.

This is where he became a hero. This is where Bruce Golding became a hero. This is where Mia Mottley became a hero. This is where Keith Rowley became a huge friend of Guyana. These representatives of African civilization never accepted that they must embrace fraudulent election perpetrated by a group of African politicians because it was from their kit and kin.

They saw life as resting on the fulcrums of decency, ethics, philosophical values and obligation to people, lessons that the PNC, the AFC, their low-life surrogates should internalize.

Owen Arthur stood tall

in a moment in Guyana that constituted one of the most crucial periods in our c o u n t r y ’s modern evolution. He will remain one of the tallest heroes in Guyana’s history. In two previous columns, I appealed to the next PPP government to erect a bust of the following persons: Bruce Golding; Owen Arthur; American Ambassador, Sarah Ann Ly n c h ; C a n a d i a n H i g h Commission, Lilian Chatterjie; British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn; and EU Ambassador Fernando Ponz Cantó.

Now that Owen Arthur h a s p a s s e d a w a y, I a m making this appeal once more. Had it not been for the names cited above, on March 13, David Granger would have been sworn in, and those born in 2020, when they reach 25 in 2045, the only government they would have known is one led by a party named the People’s National Congress.

My generation went through this. When I left

Frederick Kissoon primary school, the Burnham and the PNC dominated Guyana.

I went to UG and graduated and Burnham sent to call me. He and the PNC were still dominating Guyana.

I got married and Burnham and the PNC were still dominating Guyana. I went abroad to pursue higher education and Burnham and the PNC were still in charge of Guyana. I returned to Guyana in 1984, Burnham sent to call me again. He and the PNC were still in the saddle. We must forever thank heroes like Owen Arthur for saving the present generation of Guyanese.

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

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

PAGE 12

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Kaieteur News

Evidence debunks APNU+AFC’s claim that elections cases are not related The APNU+AFC continues to push the narrative that the legal battles brought by Ulita Moore and Eslyn David are not connected.

However,

evidence proves that the cases are similar.

Coalition members had repeatedly argued that the party played no part in the delayed declaration of the March 2, 2020 Elections results, with the incumbent President, David Granger,

stating publicly that he would abide by the rulings of the courts. However, on three separate occasions, three members of the party have ventured to the court, each presenting arguments resembling the previous.

It was during the oral

submissions in the Misenga Jones versus the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) et al litigation on Saturday last that attorney for The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) and Change Guyana, Kashir Khan, pointed out to the Appellate Court, a section in Jones’ affidavit that showed a direct link to the Ulita Moore case.

“Misenga Jones in her affidavit at paragraph 14, speaks to an exhibit marked UM3…UM3 refers to Ulita Moore. It is as patent and as blatant as that,” Khan revealed. That reference, he added, was “a barefaced attempt to relitigate what the court has already decided.”

Moore had brought the very first case for the Coalition on March 17, seeking to block the CARICOM scrutinized recount. In her application, Moore through her attorneysat-law, Mayo Robertson and Roysdale Forde, had requested that the Court order GECOM to utilize the fraudulent declarations made

by Clairmont Mingo on March 13. The High Court had ruled on the case in favour of Moore. However that ruling was overturned by the Full Court.

David brought the next case to the Court of Appeal on June 19, attempting to block the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, from presenting his final report using the figures from the recount.

David was represented by Attorneys-at-law Robertson, who represented Moore in the first case, and Roger Yearwood.

The Appellate Court ruled 2-1 in favour of David but that ruling was later overturned when the Opposition ventured to the apex court, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). David was represented by attorney Robertson. The CCJ ruled that the Appellate Court had no jurisdiction to rule on David’s case thereby clearing the path for the GECOM Chair, to once again, order the CEO to prepare his report using the recount figures.

Jones brought the next case, and like Moore and David, she was represented

by Attorney-at-law, Mayo Robertson. She had moved to

the High Court with an attempt to force GECOM to rely on nothing but the 10 March 13 district declarations which were struck down by GECOM Chair, Retired Justice, Claudette Singh, as the basis on which a final elections declaration is made.

Those declarations included the fraud-laced declaration made by Mingo that Moore had wanted GECOM to use to grant the Coalition a false win.

The Acting Chief Justice (CJ), Roxane GeorgeWiltshire, handed down her ruling in the Jones’ case, deeming it “Res Judicata”, which meant that the matter was already settled by previous court decisions.

“There must be finality to judicial decisions,” the CJ said, “Myriad persons cannot be permitted to engage the court with multiple applications regarding the same issue which has been decided, and shield behind the claim that they were not a party to the previous proceedings.”

It should be noted that

APNU+AFC’s Eslyn David

APNU+AFC’s Misenga Jones

Attorney-at-Law, Mayo Roberston

APNU+AFC’s Ulita Moore one important common denominator found in all three cases was Attorney Robertson who has close ties with the Coalition. The party’s Campaign Manager, Joseph Harmon, had even admitted that it was the Coalition behind the cases in a release shortly after the High Court ruled.

“It is disappointing that in its ruling today, in the case of Misenga Jones vs GECOM et al, the Court has sidestepped the issue of fraudulent ballots in the tabulated votes at the Recount…Our lawyers will engage at the next level of the Court System to ensure that Our Constitution is respected and adhered to by all,” Harmon stated.

The Coalition’s act of abusing the court was not lost on the stakeholders keeping a keen eye on Guyana’s 2020 election. The Organization of American States (OAS’)s General Secretary, Luis Almagro, had alluded to this at the recently convened OAS Permanent Council meeting, citing that it was these very court battles causing a delay in the declaration of the results.

He said, “This must come to an end. It is not serving or benefitting Guyana. It is not serving the institutions. It is not serving democracy. It is not serving [President David] Granger.

We plead respectfully to not have further use of the judicial system to delay a resolution.

The judicial system should not be used in this consistent form or context.”

Wednesday July 29, 2020

PAGE 13

Kaieteur News

Nation bids farewell to veteran trade unionist, Komal Chand

By Shervin Belgrave Scores of persons turned up yesterday at the home of a veteran trade unionist and Member of Parliament, the late Komal Chand, to pay their last respects and bid him farewell.

Chand, 75, accompanied by his wife Rukhmin had travelled to Havana, Cuba in February to seek medical attention. In April while receiving treatment for pneumonia in one of the medical facilities there, he passed away. With approval from the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), Chand’s body returned to Guyana on Friday last. A memorial service was planned and held

yesterday at his La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD) home to celebrate and remember his life as a trade unionist, politician and father.

In attendance were many trade unionists, party comrades, parliamentarians and the Cuban Ambassador to Guyana who all gave tributes, remembering his dedication to Guyana.

Chand was remembered for his simplicity and kindness by the Region Three Chairman, Julius Faerber. The Cuban Ambassador, His Excellency, Narcisco Reinaldo Armador Socorro, labelled him a loyal friend of Cuba.

Socorro described him as a genuine Guyanese fighter

who fought for justice and defended the rights of workers.

Former President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Donald Ramotar, shared fond memories of his 50-year-old friendship with Chand and said that he was humble and very dedicated.

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, recalled how Chand had changed his view of politicians, in the sense that they can be “nice people”. He spoke of the motivational talks he had received from the late parliamentarian during difficult times. “I would remember times when I would be saddened from being

The Memorial Service for veteran trade unionist

bashed by the newspapers or when I find myself in trouble, Chand would say don’t take it on, let it pass,” said Isaacs.

Isaacs also reminded the attendees of Chand’s 32 fiery debates and 25 years of tremendous contribution to the National Assembly of Guyana, which made him an outstanding Guyanese.

Also paying tribute to the great son of the soil was the President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), Carvil Duncan, who reminded trade unionists to carry on Chand’s fight for unison between unions.

General Secretary, of the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA), Dharam Kumar Seeraj, spoke of how Chand impacted the lives of thousands, especially those in the agriculture sector. This was followed up by a final tribute made by the General Secretary of the Guyana Sugar Workers Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine.

Narine gave him titles of the great organizer, a wonderful advisor and a motivator. He commended Chand for his years of dedicated service to GAWU and other sectors. Finally, Narine labelled the late Chand as a “world voice” for workers. Before wrapping up the farewell service, (Continued on page 20)

Malaysia’s Ex-PM sentenced to 12 years in jail...

From page 3 king Abdullah Abdulaziz alSaud.

Justice Nazlan excoriated this argument in his ruling.

“It is common in diplomacy to declare support to other countries. The accused merely took the word of Jho Low,” he said. “The accused could easily picked up his phone and call and verify with the government.

Instead, the prime minister is content with what Jho Low said.”

He added, according to the news portal Malaysiakini: “Regardless of [which] segment of the Arab royalty [was involved] and the accused’s confidence in Jho Low, the accused failed to confirm on the [veracity of the] donation from king Abdullah [made the defence argument] improbable.”

Low, whose whereabouts remain unknown, has been named as a key player in the plot by both Malaysian and US authorities, although he has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Low claims the allegations were politically motivated by Mahathir Mohamad’s Pakatan Harapan administration, which took power after the 2018 elections before being toppled in February. He is subject to outstanding arrest

warrants in Malaysia and neighbouring Singapore.

Tuesday’s verdict followed last week’s US$3.9 billion settlement between the Perikatan Nasional government and Goldman Sachs over the investment bank’s role in raising funds for 1MDB. As part of the deal, Malaysia agreed to drop criminal charges against Goldman Sachs, which denies any wrongdoing.

Najib was also ordered last week by a court to settle 1.69 billion ringgit (US$397.41 million) in unpaid taxes over seven years dating to his time in office.

Ahead of the verdict, rambunctious supporters gathered outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court in a show of support for Najib. Many wore blue shirts emblazoned with the words “Malu Apa Bossku?” (What’s there to be ashamed about, boss?).

Local media estimated some 3,000 people had gathered outside the court, raising concerns among netizens that the gathering could prove to be a potential coronavirus cluster.

Hundreds of supporters remained outside the court when the sentence was announced – nearly eight hours after proceedings began on Tuesday morning – with many chanting Najib’s name

and his nickname “bossku”.

Local actor Hafiz Nafiah was among those in the crowd who said they had been mentally prepared for a guilty verdict.

“All the supporters here agree, I’m sure, that it’s just politically trumped up. This will go to [the] appeals court, and the judgment will be more realistic,” Hafiz told This Week in Asia.

Najib, wearing a tan suit, entered the courtroom alongside Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, a former deputy prime minister who faces separate corruption charges of his own. Other stalwarts from Umno were also in attendance.

Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a political scientist with the University of Malaya, said he believed Tuesday’s developments would benefit Prime Minister Muhyiddin, who defected from Pakatan Harapan earlier this year.

Expectations had been that he was eyeing a snap poll in the coming months to shore up his Perikatan Nasional’s two-seat parliamentary majority. But with Umno in control of the coalition, it was unclear if the ruling coalition would pick him – a member of the Bersatu party – as its prime ministerial candidate. Instead, speculation had been mounting

suggesting Najib could make a shock comeback.

That is now impossible.

Najib is allowed to retain his parliamentary seat while he appeals his conviction but cannot contest fresh polls without being fully acquitted. The appeal process in the Court of Appeal – and subsequently in the country’s highest court, the Federal Court – is likely to take years.

The prime minister in a late evening statement said his administration respected the court’s decision, and urged “all parties to continue to place their trust in the country’s independent judicial system”. He said the government also respected Najib’s right to appeal the verdict.

“This ruling will boost Muhyiddin’s popularity as it shows that the rule of law is upheld under his leadership,” Awang Azman said.

Lim Wei Jiet, a constitutional lawyer, suggested anti-corruption campaigners in the country should defer their celebrations for now.

“Najib can still appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court … it is a positive start for a revival of the rule of law in Malaysia, but it’s not the end of the story yet,” he said.

The late Komal Chand

PAGE 14

Kaieteur News

T&T says one of three imported COVID-19 cases came from Guyana Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Health announced yesterday three new imported cases of the novel Coronavirus Dr. Erica Wheeler, country representative for the World Health Organization, had initially reported that the three individuals were originally said to be relatives of previously confirmed cases who had been placed in quarantine. However, in the Ministry’s morning update yesterday, it was announced that the three new cases recorded were nationals returning from Guyana, Antigua and Vietnam respectively.

Attempts by Kaieteur News to contact officials in an effort to gather further information about the imported case from Guyana was futile.

Speaking with Kaieteur News, Public Relations Officer of the local Ministry of Public Health, Mr. Terrence Esseboom, disclosed that at the time, he was not aware of the imported case reported by Trinidad’s health officials.

Esseboom was not convinced that the case originated in Guyana. He nevertheless revealed that nonnationals wishing to leave the country are not required to be tested and those wishing to have

a test administered must do so at a private institution.

Expounding further, Esseboom noted that as a requirement, persons wishing to return home to Guyana via repatriation flights must first produce negative results for the novel Coronavirus. He added that persons will then be subject to home isolation upon return.

In February 2020, Trinidad had announced that a female passenger arriving at Piarco International Airport from Guyana was refused entry into the country although she showed no signs and symptoms of the virus. The woman had reportedly arrived on a flight originating out of Hong Kong, China and would have travelled to New York then Guyana before arriving in Trinidad. The officials explained that a woman was returned to Guyana since she would have spent a substantial amount of time in the country and was considered a high risk.

However, Guyana’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle had indicated that records from Guyana’s Port Health and Immigration did not substantiate the claim by the Trinidad health officials.

Wednesday July 29, 2020

LIAT yet to update GCAA on status of Guyana operations Officials at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) have indicated that they have no knowledge of LIAT’s operational status here in Guyana. In this regard, Director General, Egbert Field, told this publication that the GCAA will be writing to LIAT to query on their operations in Guyana so that a swift decision can be made.

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, announced in late June that the airline will be ceasing operations. There were, however, reports that rebranding was being considered. The decision was made after a discussion between A n t i g u a ’s main shareholder governments - Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Despite this, Browne announced that the liquidation process was being halted which could even see the airline back in business within 60-90 days.

However, this publication has learnt that LIAT has failed to filter information to the GCAA

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne regarding whether or not they will be ceasing operations in Guyana.

The GCCA revealed that it only became aware of the halt in LIATs liquidation via the media and noted that the company, to date, has made no effort to give the necessary updates.

J u s t r e c e n t l y, t h e Av i a t i o n Authority accepted an application by Caribbean Airlines to fly between Bridgetown, Barbados-Ogle and Portof-Spain, Trinidad- Ogle.

Caribbean Airlines has begun extending its services to a number of

Director General of the GCCA, Egbert Field places regionally after i t s c o m p e t i t o r , L I AT, indicated uncertainty in its future endeavours.

It was reported that L I ATs l i q u i d a t i o n w a s spurred by a very unprofitable 2019 and the current COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its collapse.

The airline recorded a loss of EC$12M (US$4.4M) last year and claimed it

needed US$5.4 M to recover. With the halt in its liquidation, the airline is hoping to restore its brand on a revamped Carrier. It has been touted that the brand has regional significance and a legacy that should not want to die.

The GCAA is hopeful that by writing to the airline, a response with clarity will be soon forthcoming.

Wednesday July 29, 2020

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Aurora Mines paid terminated workers less than estimated - despite gold production up in second quarter As world prices venture beyond US$1,950 yesterday, Canadian-owned Guyana Goldfields Inc., which operates the Aurora Mines in Region Seven, is announcing 28,500 ounces in the second quarter of 2020.

This means that for the first six months, it has produced 57,500 ounces, exceeding projections of 45,000 to 50,000 ounces.

Its revenues were US$53.7 million in the second quarter of 2020 and $92.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020.

The cost of sales was $983 per ounce in the second quarter of 2020 and $1,154 per ounce for the first half of the year.

The company operates the biggest gold mine in Guyana.

With regards to plans to move the Cuyuni operations into an underground one, the company pointed to its announcement on May 7, 2020, on developments including both the open pit and underground. It said it would not proceed as set out in the Technical Report dated March 31, 2020, resulting in a period of care and maintenance upon completion of Rory’s Knoll Phase 4, mining of select satellite pits and depletion of low-grade stockpiles.

“This decision was made taking into consideration the funding gap and the ongoing circumstances related to COVID-19. As our open pit mining contractor’s (Stracon) contract came to an end on May 5, 2020, we used our own mining equipment on site to

mine the remaining ore until June 9, 2020 when mining operations ceased. We subsequently processed the last batch of ore from stockpile on July 8, 2020 and continued to recover residual gold from in-circuit inventory. The mine site is now in full care and maintenance.”

In the second quarter, as the company ramped down mining activities, it said it started a phased approach of demobilizing employees, spending about G$440M in employee termination benefits.

“This is lower than the previously disclosed estimate of US$3.2 million. Ongoing costs for care and maintenance are estimated to be approximately $1.0 million per month, including all costs at site and associated general and administrative costs to keep the property in good standing, as required by our Mineral Agreement and Mining License, each with the Government of Guyana. In addition, during the period of care and maintenance, we estimate corporate and administrative costs of $0.5 million to $0.8 million per month for overhead for our corporate office.”

It was disclosed that during the period of care and maintenance, the site is to be maintained and environmental risks are to be managed to ensure safety and security of the mine site until operations can be resumed.

“Infrastructure such as camp, water supply, power supply and other systems remain operational at a reduced level. As previously

disclosed, a period of care and maintenance of more than a quarter may result in no further gold production in 2020.

Any additional gold production in 2020 would be dependent on timing of the closing of the transaction, the length of the period of care and maintenance, and the ramp-up period to restart of operations.”

Guyana Goldfields Inc. is a Canadian based gold producer primarily focused on the exploration, development and operation of gold deposits in Guyana, South America.

After starting on a high note on commercial

Part of the operation centre in the Cuyuni area, Region Seven.

production back in January 2016, it has run into troubles with shareholders and is

currently working to be taken over by Chinese management.

It has laid off scores of

workers. In the meantime, the payoffs referred to, pertains to workers.

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No political motive behind Anna Catherina’s beating - Police Although investigations into the beating of a woman at Anna Catherina are not yet completed, police sources believe that there is no political or racial motive behind the attack.

The woman, Nazraphena Phillips Lette, was attacked and beaten by two individuals – a male and female, armed with an iron bar and cutlass on Monday last.

According to reports, the beating took place around 15:10hrs while Lette was returning from a land she had recently purchased. She sustained multiple injuries about her body.

A report of the beating was lodged at the Leonora Police Station before she was taken to the hospital for medical attention.

Lette had told police that while on her way to the land, she heard persons making racial remarks about “black people” and supporters of A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).

The woman said that she did not hear anyone mention her name but revealed that on her way back, two individuals attacked her.

Based on information this publication received, an investigation was launched

but police have been unable, thus far, to corroborate the woman’s claims that the attack was politically or racially motivated. Rather, there are reports that suggest that it may have stemmed from a feud between families.

It is alleged that, a male, one of the suspects in Lette’s beating, had a confrontation with Lette’s brother on Friday last over a construction job.

The confrontation, according to reports, ended with the woman’s brother being assaulted and a report being made at the Leonora Police Station. According to reports, sometime later, Lette allegedly visited the male suspect’s home to confront him and instead of finding the suspect, she met his 61-year-old mother at the house.

Reports revealed that Lette then asked the woman to send out her “bad man son” but the woman replied by informing her that police had already settled the matter; therefore, there was no need for more violence.

Lette reportedly left but returned later with two of her relatives and attacked the suspect’s mother while she was on her way to work. The woman, this publication was told, was dealt lashes about her body with a piece of

The Facebook post that indicated that the attack was politically and racially motivated.

The injured Nazraphena Lette wood.

This matter was reported to police and the suspect’s mother was taken to the hospital for medical attention.

It is being alleged that Lette’s beating was in retaliation to this attack.

Nation bids farewell to veteran...

Man, 74, dies trying to enjoy pension he had just collected Morris Edwards called Budd, 74, of Lower Pomeroon is believed to have drowned while returning home to enjoy the pension he had just collected.

Edwards’ body was discovered yesterday by a Pomeroon villager lying motionless in a trench on

his back at around 17:15hrs.

According to police, Edwards travelled earlier that day to collect his pension at the Charity Post Office. At around 13:00hrs, he returned home with a bottle of rum and a coke and placed the items down.

He then informed his niece that he was going to purchase ice at a nearby location.

However, Edwards never returned with the ice to drink his bottle of rum.

Investigators believe that the man might have died between 14:00 and 17:00hrs.

Komal Chand’s body being cremated From page 13 Mavendra Chand, son of the late trade unionist, shared a brief history of his illustrious life.

“Daddy”, he said, “was born on the 29th of October 1941. He began his education at the St. Thomas Anglican Primary School in La Grange and completed his secondary education at the Muslim Education Trust College in Georgetown.”

He was later introduced and started his political career in 1961, his son revealed. To

enhance his career, he traveled to Russia where he studied political science for a while before returning to Guyana in 1973 to assume a key position in the PPP. Two years later, Chand joined GAWU as the union’s organizing secretary and eventually became its president. While working with the GAWU, Chand met his wife and decided to start a family in the early 1980s. With a wealth of experience as a PPP executive and a successful trade unionist, he

was appointed Member of Parliament (MP) in 1992 and awarded the Cacique Crown of Honour in 1994. Chand spent the rest of his life as a dedicated politician and served as Member of the National Assembly until it was dissolved in 2019.

Mavendra ended by expressing gratitude to the attendees.

Chand’s body was then taken to the Kaashi Daam Crematorium at Ruimzeight, West Coast Demerara where it was cremated.

Coalition flouting COVID-19...

From page 15 Minister Simona Broomes; APNU+AFC counting agent and recently appointed General Manager of the Guyana Chronicle, Ganesh Mahipaul; People’s National Congress Executive, Gary Best; Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix; Social Cohesion Minister, George

Norton; Minister of State, Dawn Hastings; and Business Minister Haimraj Rajkumar.

According to the advisory, the meetings were set to commence at 9:30 am, with the latest one scheduled for 12:30 pm. The communities they covered included: Danielstown, Suddie, Good Hope, Queenstown, Capoey,

Mashabo, Mainstay, and Charity.

Despite the Coalition’s packed itinerary of public meetings in the Region Two district, the commander for that division, in an invited comment, had revealed that he was unaware of meetings being held.

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Kaieteur News

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How APNU+AFC failed to fool the int’l...

From centre Election tabulation showed that only 4,211 ballots were rejected. The unstamped total is not even that high, as ballots may be rejected for other reasons than lack of stamp.

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The coalition’s Amna Ally claimed, during the recount, that there were “countless” dead voters, and that proof would be forthcoming. The only death certificate put to the public during the recount was that of a woman who was identified as Chitnandani Ramdass. She died in June of 2015.

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published the death certificate in an article, and later told Kaieteur News that the document was given to them by Ganesh Mahipaul.

The coalition provided this as “proof” of a ‘dead voter’.

Kaieteur News examined the May 20 article, and found that there was no statement that a vote had actually been cast in the woman’s name.

GECOM officials have noted that the information it gets from the General Registrar’s Officer may not be completely reliable. Hence, there will be deceased persons whose names are still on the Official List of Electors (OLE).

Kaieteur News was able to obtain a copy of the observation report linked to the polling station Ramdass would have voted in, had she been alive - Box #2107 from Mariah’s Hall Nursery School. The serial number for Ramdass was noted on the observation report as part of the coalition’s claims of electoral fraud. However, an official copy of the polling station’s OLE otherwise known as the Pink List, showed that the woman’s name was not ticked as voted, which meant that no vote was cast in her name.

EAST COAST BALLOT BOXES WITH ‘MISSING’ DOCUMENTS There was quite a commotion, coming down to the end of the recount over 29 East Coast ballot boxes which did not have certain statutory documents, amounting to nearly 7,000 votes in areas considered to be PPP/C strongholds. The coalition demanded that GECOM discard the ballot boxes.

With the aim of providing clarity, however, Deputy Returning Officer (DRO), Paul Jaisingh, who was operating at the Chateau Margot Primary School, said that he was instructed not to include those statutory documents by the Clerk to the Returning Officer, Carolyn Duncan.

“This was communicated to the respective Presiding Officers (PO) who complied,” Jaisingh wrote in an email to the GECOM Chair.

He noted that those instructions were given on Election Day, only a few hours before the close of the poll.

More importantly, he was keen to highlight that the instructions were imposed upon other DROs, who according to him, could confirm the same.

Further, a PO who spoke to Kaieteur News on the condition of anonymity, ex-

plained that she was also instructed not to include the documents into the ballot box on the night of the elections.

She explained that her DRO had also received instructions from Mingo’s clerk.

The GECOM Secretariat was quick to respond to Jaisingh’s correspondence to the Chair. It claimed that “a group of DROs who was responsible for clusters of polling stations on the East Coast had submitted a signed statement to the Secretariat of GECOM refuting allegations that the clerk to the Region 4 Returning Officer, Ms. Carolyn Duncan instructed them to advise the Presiding Officers to not include the official documents in the ballot boxes at the close of poll.”

That “signed statement” which was alleged to have been submitted to GECOM by the DROs has not been seen by the media, despite numerous inquiries made with Yard, the spokeswoman of GECOM, in the GECOM media WhatsApp group.

One young man, Steve Anthony Datta, worked as a PO at Enmore Hope Primary School. Datta’s polling station was not among the 29 implicated in the aforementioned matter, but he had noticed a Facebook post by a Coalition spokesperson, Christopher Jones, implicating the station at which he worked.

Datta said that the POs were instructed via a WhatsApp group created for the Election that the unused ballots should go into the bags, not the ballot box. To support his claims, Datta provided screenshots of the WhatsApp group, created on February 17, just weeks before the Election. Datta said that on Election Night, as the screenshot shows, that at 18:04hrs, a Clerk to the DRO for that area forwarded three messages which stated “Unused ballot going into the bags”, “Not the ballot box” and “Please inform ur PO”.

INT’L COMMUNITY’S RESPONSE As the recount came to a close, the coalition ramped up its claims of electoral fraud. It made thousands of claims and filled social media with graphics of numbers challenging the integrity of votes in hundreds of ballot boxes.

EU Ambassador to Guyana, Fernando PonzCantó, joined the conversation and said that the processes he observed on Election Day were so impressive that it was impossible to cheat.

Days before the recount came to a close, with the PPP/ C in a comfortable 13,000 vote lead, the coalition said that the recount results are not credible. In response, the OAS said that it had no doubt that the recount results would be credible, and reminded that the President and Opposition Leader committed to accepting the results.

The diplomats representing America, Britain, Canada and the European Union also made statements shortly after, reminding Granger of his commitment. At the time, Kaieteur News had posed several questions to the President, who refused to respond with a commitment to accept the results of the recount.

On June 7, the coalition released a statement telling GECOM that it cannot declare the results of the recount, claiming that there were too many “fraudulent votes”.

On June 10, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who had made several statements over the course of the recount called for a swift conclusion of the recount. St. Vincent Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, who was getting ready to assume CARICOM Chairmanship said on June 11 that CARICOM would not allow anyone to steal an election. At the time, the recount had already shown that the Coalition lost the Election with a General Election total of 217,920 votes, behind the PPP/C’s total of 233,336 votes. The next day, Granger appeared on a radio programme and falsely stated that the recount was initiated - not because of Mingo’s fraud, which he refuses to acknowledge - but because of “irregularities” even though the claims of irregularities were only made after the recount started.

In a radio interview with Kaieteur News, the late former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, who served as head of the Commonwealth Observer Team, warned that the results of the recount should be accepted, as “Guyana can’t withstand the fire of the entire global community”.

Days later, the CARICOM Scrutineer report was released.

The team rejected the public efforts to discredit the polls, declared that the elections were “reasonably credible”. It also said that the recount results are “completely acceptable” and urged that a declaration be made on that basis.

All international observers, including the OAS, endorsed the findings of the CARICOM team, and now, 100 countries stand firmly behind the credible results of the national vote recount.

(Additional Reporting by Mikaila Prince and Shikema Dey)

Wednesday July 29, 2020

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Al-Rawi: Citizens want results and less talk NEWSDAY - The Attorney General is pleased with the findings of a recent media poll which shows the ruling PNM slightly ahead of the UNC in the August 10 general election race. He says citizens want results and less talk.

“This is a significant boost to us because we have had to manage in an extremely difficult economy,” Faris Al-Rawi told reporters on Monday.

“It shows that Dr (Keith) Rowley’s leadership as a political leader has taken us in the right direction. A national poll says a certain thing, but the accuracy of polling at the constituency level is a different thing.”

Al-Rawi, the PNM candidate for San Fernando West, was speaking to reporters after he turned the sod for construction of the $120 million San Fernando waterfront car park on the compound of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Confident of returning as MP, Al-Rawi said he is comfortably ahead of his opponents. His focus is exclusively on the constituency, he said.

“I lift my eyes outside of San Fernando only when I

perform the AG or Minister of Legal Affairs job, which is a minute-by-minute basis from the back seat of my car or my office.”

Al-Rawi threw jabs at the opposition saying under the UNC administration oil was above US$100 per barrel then averaged at US$ 89. The first year the PNM came in power, oil dropped to US $27. This year West Texas Intermediate had dropped to minus US $2.

Despite the drop in prices and other issues facing TT like the financial woes at Petrotrin, he said the Government pulled through.

He recalled being given three ministries -– Justice, AG and Legal Affairs. The cost of that, as one minister running it, was $1.5 billion, Al Rawi said, and when the UNC ran the three, it was $5.08 billion.

“Mrs Kamla PersadBissessar wants to create multiple ministries. She wants to destroy the laws I have passed, take away explain your wealth legislation – good luck to her.

“People in San Fernando tell me they are happy to have land ownership; they tell me thank you for decriminalising marijuana. We are focusing on ground-game delivery.”

Last Tuesday, officials

AG and PNM San Fernando West candidate Faris Al-Rawi, SWRHA board member Jennifer Marryshow and San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello turn the sod for the start of construction of the car park on Monday. PHOTO BY LINCOLN HOLDER from the South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) and the Urban Development Corporation

(Udecott) signed the deeds for the lands for the car park.

The car park will have eight floors for 1,002 parking

Nigeria in $1.5 billion oil prepay deal with oil traders LAGOS/LONDON (Reuters) - Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC has signed a $1.5 billion (1.1 billion pounds) prepayment deal led by Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and backed by oil traders Vitol Group and Matrix Energy, two sources close to the matter said, the first such agreement since the coronavirus pandemic.

The deal provides OPECmember Nigeria with muchneeded cash after its finances were hit by the oil price crash in April as COVID-19 lockdowns erased nearly one third of global oil demand.

The financing package called Project Eagle was also backed by African Export Import Bank (Afrexim) and United Bank for Africa. Vitol and Matrix will each get 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude as repayment over five years, starting in August. Nigeria’s crude production is nearly 2 million bpd.

Nigerian trader Matrix confirmed its participation in the deal. Vitol, the world’s

biggest independent oil trader, declined to comment.

A spokesman for Standard Chartered declined to comment. Afrexim did not have an immediate comment.

UBA and NNPC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prepayments with traders are widely used in commodity finance as banks consider

them to be one of the more secure forms of lending in countries viewed as risky.

For trading firms such as Vitol, these loans are ideal for securing long-term supplies and boosting razor-thin margins. NNPC has been trying to raise cash through prepayments with traders for years.

However, the firm’s opaque finances and costly gasoline subsidies have made it tough for it to secure

private financing on attractive terms. Nigeria announced the end of subsidies earlier this year.

NNPC will use a large portion of the money to pay taxes owed by its subsidiary NPDC, the sources said. The remainder will go towards operational expenses and capital expenditure. One of the sources said money from the pre-payment could fund an upgrade of the Port Harcourt refinery.

Democrat Biden says he will name running mate in first week of August (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told reporters yesterday he would name his running mate in the first week of August, days before he formally accepts his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

Biden’s search for a vice presidential candidate has drawn intense scrutiny, in part because he would be the oldest president in U.S. history at 78 years old as of Inauguration Day. Biden has vowed to select a woman to join his ticket ahead of November’s election against Republican President Donald Trump.

Joe Biden

spaces, elevators, a wireless cash payment system, security, and video surveillance.

The project has already started, and Al-Rawi on Monday said it is expected to be completed in eight months.

4 -EBC: No formal request to delay polls NEWSDAY - As of yesterday evening the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has received no request to postpone the August 10 general election, EBC communications officer Bobbi Rogers told Newsday.

P r o g r e s s i v e Empowerment Party (PEP) head Phillip Edward Alexander had called for the election to be postponed because of the covid19 pandemic, including the impact of quarantine requirements and closed national borders in impeding foreign election observers from monitoring the polls.

Rogers said, “The EBC

has received no correspondence from Mr Alexander on this matter.”

She said any delay of elections was governed by the Representation of the People Act section 34 (1).

Rogers said the EBC does not have the power to postpone elections.

Further any postponement cannot be done ad hoc, but only in line with the RPA Act. Rogers said the legislation allows a postponement for occurrences such as war, state of emergency, earthquake, pestilence, infectious disease or the need for a revised voters list.

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Manchester City showed ‘blatant disregard’ in Uefa FFP case, but didn’t breach FFP says Cas BBC Sport - Manchester City showed a “blatant disregard” to Uefa’s investigation into potential Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches, says the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), even though it found “no conclusive evidence that they disguised funding from their owner as sponsorship”.

Last month, Cas overturned City’s two-year ban from European competition and the club’s fine was also cut from 30m euros (£26.9m) to 10m euros.

While City were criticised for a “severe breach” by failing to co-operate with Uefa the club did provide Cas with all of the emails that had formed the basis of Uefa’s

charges.

Cas’ written findings said the panel found “no adverse inferences” could be drawn from City’s failure to produce evidence.

The club said it cooperated “in the face of a shifting and still unparticularised case involving allegations of fraud and conspiracy” and the reason Uefa knew about the disputed transactions is because the club co-operated and “explained those transactions in great detail”.

The club added it was not required to comply with every demand made of them by Uefa, just those “proper” and “reasonable” requests that were “relevant” to decision-

making.

Earlier this month, Cas overturned the two-year ban, saying that most of the alleged breaches of FFP rules were either not established or time-barred.

The club were however punished for failing to cooperate with Uefa’s process after failing to provide substantial amounts of evidence until they took the case before Cas. Uefa began its investigation into City after German newspaper Der Spiegel published leaked documents in November 2018 alleging City had inflated the value of a sponsorship deal, misleading European football’s governing body.

Wednesday July 29, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Regardless of how you feel today, Aries, it's important to own up to your mistakes.

Keep in mind that you're responsible for your actions.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You could learn a tough lesson today, Libra. More than likely, the harder the message hits you, the more important it was for you to hear.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) There's an important lesson to learn today, Taurus, so don't shy away from the classroom. It's important to control your attitude now or it's likely to control you. It could be that your ego is a bit too inflated.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) There's a great deal of fuel to keep your fire raging today, Scorpio. Powerful situations are apt to come your way in which you're asked to take decisive action.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Consider the romantic relationships in your life right now, Gemini. It's important to remember that regardless of how hot and steamy a partnership is at first.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Today is your day to become a hero, Cancer. You don't have to be dressed in fancy tights and a cape to make an important difference in someone's life.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Remember that one wrong move today could cause you to have a headache for a good long while. Don't take uncalculated risks.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) It's a long road to becoming exactly the person you want to be, Capricorn. You can't change who you are. Input from every person you know and lessons from every bump in the road contribute to who you are as a person.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) There's a great deal of fun t o b e h a d t o d a y, L e o .

Money isn't always necessary to make this happen, however. In fact, money isn't a great way to keep score.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) You should always leave a loved one with loving words, Aquarius. Each time you exit a room, consider that you're never going to enter that room again. Perhaps you'll never see those people again.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Remember that the important thing isn't necessarily what you're doing but the people you're with, Virgo. There's a great deal of passion in the air today that you can latch onto and put to good use.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Just when you think you have absolutely no energy left, you're able to kick into a higher gear. Push beyond your limits today, Pisces.

You'll find that you can achieve a great deal more than you thought.

Reports alleged City - who have always denied wrongdoing - deliberately misled Uefa so they could meet FFP rules requiring clubs to break even.

“The panel is of the view that Uefa by no means filed frivolous charges against City but based on the evidence the panel cannot reach the conclusion that disguised funding was paid to City,” the report, released on Tuesday, said. It added: “City’s failure to co-operate with the investigation is a severe breach and City are to be seriously reproached.”

The documents also reveal that in March 2020 nine Premier League clubs filed an application for intervention to Cas “opposing any possible application by City” to be allowed to play in Europe next season pending an appeal decision. This was before the Cas hearing.

However, as City never made such an application, it was never processed. The nine Premier League clubs who made the application were Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool, Man United, Newcastle, Tottenham and Wolves.

In its report, Cas said Uefa maintained the club “on countless occasions refused to answer questions, refused to provide documents, refused to arrange for the attendance of requested persons and - ultimately - it even instructed its own expert witness not to answer specific questions”.

However, Cas said it only found two specific requests in which City failed to comply with its duty of co-operation.

Uefa said the case represented “the most serious, sophisticated, deliberate and fundamental attempt to circumvent and violate basic financial fair play principles”. It said the “attitude of the club” should also be considered, given it gave “demonstrably incorrect information and continues to change its explanations”.

It added the “evidence on record is overwhelming” and consists of the Football Leaks Documents and accounting evidence.

However, Cas said the burden of proof lay with the governing body and the majority of its panel found Uefa did not satisfy such burden.

Analysis Dan Roan, BBC sports editor This document appears to weaken the suggestion made by some observers since the verdict was announced two weeks ago -

Manchester City face Real Madrid next month in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie. (EPA) that Manchester City won their appeal on “a technicality”.

City fans can draw little comfort from the fact that charges relating to communications company Etisalat were disregarded because they were more than five years old. And Cas makes clear that UEFA’s charges were made “on a legitimate basis”. It also suggests that City could have won the initial case with Uefa, avoiding a huge amount of time and expense, had they just cooperated earlier.

But Cas concludes that “no adverse inferences can be drawn from City’s failure to produce evidence” and crucially, finds “no evidence that agreements were backdated, or that City tried to cover up any alleged violations” with regards to their Etihad sponsorship.

Uefa’s case was found to

have relied on “insufficient evidence”, and City are understood to feel fully exonerated, and justified in not co-operating with Uefa’s investigation on the basis they believed the initial hearing was biased.

But the panel do not see it that way, and pull no punches with their criticism of City’s obstruction, referring to “a severe breach... blatant disregard” which warrants “serious reproach”.

Those words, and one of the biggest fines in football history, is undoubtedly damaging to the club’s reputation after years of success on the pitch.

But ultimately, the fact City remain in the Champions League after this saga, and have been acquitted of the main charge of selfsponsorship, means they have still secured a qualified but crucial victory.

PAGE 28

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Kaieteur News

How Carl Lewis’ No guarantee Hetmyer, Bravo would have made team - Holder happy with squad that played England silence over Norman’s 100m PB, lays bare his blatant hypocrisy

Carl Lewis SportsMax - It’s been a week. Seven days or more than 10,080 minutes since Michael Norman of the USA dropped a personal best of 9.86s at the AP Ranch HighPerformance Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas.

It was an amazing performance by Norman, especially considering that he is a quarter-miler. It is even more amazing when you realize that Norman last ran a 100m in April 16, 2016, four years and three months ago.

Now, these observations are not to cast any doubts about the legitimacy of Norman’s time. In fact, I celebrate it. I like seeing new talent emerge; new exciting talent like Norman who many believe could be the man to break the 43-second barrier in the 400m.

I made the observation because over the past week I was waiting for one Carl Lewis to say whether he believes the time is suspicious because Norman’s previous best was 0.41 seconds slower than the time he ran in Texas last week Monday.

About 12 years ago, another talented sprinter that goes by the name of Usain Bolt secured the first of eight Olympic gold medals when he won the blue-ribbon sprint in Beijing in an astounding 9.69s.

Lewis was quick to try to discredit Bolt’s achievement. “…For someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don’t question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you’re a fool. Period,” Lewis told Sports Illustrated magazine in 2008.

Back when Bolt dropped his 9.69 world record during the Beijing, Olympics, he had managed to shave 0.34 seconds off his previous personal best. If my memory serves me, he clocked 10.03 at GC Foster and then a couple of weeks later, he lowered his personal best to 9.76s at the Jamaica

Invitational at the National Stadium in May that year.

He would run a 9.94 in Trinidad before heading to New York where he lowered his PB to 9.72, a new world record. He then shaved a further 0.03s off while winning in Beijing.

Like Norman, Bolt was a 200/400m man before he attempted the 100m. Before Bolt had transitioned from the junior ranks, he had run a World U20 200m record of 19.93 that still stands today.

That was 2004. Since that time, Bolt had season-best times of 19.99 in 2005, 19.88 in 2006, and 19.75 in 2007; time that indicated that by the time 2008 rolled around, Bolt was already capable of breaking 10 seconds.

Norman ran 19.70 in July 2019, while defeating Noah Lyles in an epic battle at the Diamond League meeting in Rome, 43.45 to open in 2019 as well as 43.61 while winning the NCAA Division 1 title for USC in 2018. Like with Bolt, the times suggest that Norman was already capable of breaking 10 seconds over the 100m.

So, to me, when Norman shaved a whopping 0.41 seconds off his previous best when he ran that 100m in Texas last week, it really wasn’t a surprise. However, we are still waiting to hear something from Lewis whether or not we are all fools not to suspect the young American. That to me is where Lewis’ ignorance and hypocrisy are exposed.

To people like Lewis, the factors that lead to Bolt’s fast times were never taken into consideration. In his mind, someone like Bolt from a Third World country like Jamaica could not possibly run as fast without some kind of pharmaceutical assistance.

His silence now since Norman’s amazing run lays bare his true motivations when he spoke with Sports Illustrated 12 years ago.

SportsMax - West Indies captain Jason Holder is not certain the inclusion of batsmen Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer and allrounder Keemo Paul would have made a difference to the team’s fortunes, following a series loss to England.

The trio was invited to the tour but declined to participate due to concerns surrounding the spread of the coronavirus. Despite not being in the rich veins of form Hetmyer and Bravo are considered to be two of the team’s most talented and dangerous batsmen and Paul a promising all-rounder.

Despite an average performance from the bowling line-up, the team on occasion found themselves well short of batting, particularly in the final Test where they could only manage 326 in both innings.

England by comparison made 369 in the first innings. Based

on the conditions Holder, however, does believe the batsmen’s inclusion would necessarily have helped the situation.

“I’m very happy with the team we brought up here. The team we brought up here is a part of our Test team. There is no guarantee that Bravo, Hetmyer or Paul would play,” Holder told members of the media via a Zoom press conference interview.

“The way we’ve gone as a batting unit, we haven’t had the consistency we have been looking for. If you look at two of the three players they are batsmen so there is no guarantee and Paul was a back-up to what we had here so far,” Holder said.

“The squad we’ve here was the squad to do it. I’m happy with the guys who came and the work we put in.

It’s unfortunate the way it turned out but there are still lots of positives,” he added.

West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer.

Holder invites England to return favour with Caribbean tour this year S p o r t s M a x - We s t Indies captain Jason Holder would love England to tour the Caribbean later this year as a show of support during hard times.

Speaking after his side suffered a 269-run defeat at Old Trafford in the d e c i d i n g t h i r d Te s t , slipping to a 2-1 series defeat, Holder said a visit

by England coulld keep We s t I n d i a n c r i c k e t “afloat”.

He explained it was only ever visits by England and India that proved financially successful to the West Indies Cricket Board.

England have commitments in India later t h i s y e a r, a l t h o u g h t h e global pandemic means there will be question marks over any series on the schedule.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen after this series in terms of the international calendar,” Holder said. “But if there is an opportunity perhaps for England to come over to the Caribbean before the end of the year, I’m sure that would help significantly with Cricket We s t I n d i e s ’ f i n a n c i a l records.

“It has been a tough last couple of years for We s t I n d i e s c r i c k e t financially. Pretty much, more or less, we’ve had to take a pay cut as well due

Jason Holder and Joe Root shake hands. to the difficult circumstances we’ve been facing financially.

“So a tour hopefully – if it’s possible – before the end of 2020 would probably put us in really good stead or probably keep us afloat as an organisation.”

Holder then appeared to cast some doubt on how feasible such a tour might prove.

The financial muscle of t h e E n g l a n d a n d Wa l e s Cricket Board (ECB) allowed West Indies to tour and play three behindclosed-doors Te s t matches against Joe Root’s men over the past month.

That helped to protect lucrative television

contracts, with England indebted to their tourists for travelling at a time when the COVID-19 crisis has many on edge.

“In these trying times, maybe only England, Australia and India could probably host cricket,” Holder said.

“The smaller territories are struggling financially to get cricket on. If you look at the financial strain it has put the ECB under, w i t h h o s t i n g t h i s t o u r, having to help costs, bringing us over here on chartered flights, hotel a c c o m m o d a t i o n – i t ’s probably a very hefty bill.

“I don’t think many other countries around the world could do that,

particularly us in the Caribbean. We’d probably struggle to put it on. But that’s another challenge that we’re faced with.”

Holder would like to see greater support for West Indies cricket from the power-brokers in the sport.

“We particularly are having massive difficulty in trying to fund our cricket.

It has been a difficult situation,” Holder said. “We pretty much only gain from hosting England and India all other series we may operate at breaking even or more often than not we have a massive loss. “ I t ’s definitely something that needs to be looked at by the powers that be.”

Wednesday July 29, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Windies surrender Wisden with heavy defeat

Chris Woakes had Shamarh Brooks caught behind, England v West Indies, Third Test, Day 5, Emirates Old Trafford, July 28, 2020 © Getty Images MANCHESTER, England, CMC – Another stunning batting collapse sent West Indies to their heaviest-ever Test defeat at Old Trafford in terms of runs as they conceded the three-match series, 2-1, to end their all too brief hold on the coveted Wisden Trophy here yesterday.

Needing to bat the entire day to force a draw with the victory target of 399 already of academic interest only, West Indies capitulated for 129 in their second innings an hour before the scheduled tea interval, to slump to 296-run loss.

For the Caribbean side, the defeat was their second at the ground in as many weeks following their 113-run loss in the second Test, and it ruined their hopes of claiming a first series win on

English soil in 32 years.

Yet again, the Windies’ much-maligned batting lineup lay at fault, failing to last two sessions, even after Monday’s penultimate day was completely abandoned due to rain.

Shai Hope, under intense scrutiny due to a protracted run of poor form, top-scored with 31 while Jermaine Blackwood got 23 and Shamarh Brooks, 22 but no other batsman passed 20 in a hugely mediocre effort.

The innings was taken apart by the outstanding Stuart Broad who grabbed another two wickets to finish with four for 36 and match figures of 10 for 67.

Broad became only the seventh bowler and fourth seamer to achieve 500 wickets in Tests when he trapped opener Kraigg Brathwaite lbw

Stuart Broad acknowledges his 500th Test wicket © Getty Images for 19 in the morning session.

Seamer Chris Woakes supported with five for 50 as West Indies slumped to 84 for five at lunch and then lost their last five wickets for 45 runs in quick time afterwards in spite of one short rain interruption. “We still didn’t get the runs we were probably looking for. I felt the wickets were good enough here for us to at least put in a bigger first innings effort in both Test matches [at Old Trafford],” captain Jason Holder said afterwards.

“If you look through our batting performances, you had plenty starts. Quite a few guys got half-centuries, got into the 40s, 30s but didn’t quite kick on.

“I think the difference with England is when (Ben) Stokes got in he went big, when (Dom) Sibley got in he

Roston Chase fails to make his ground over a quick single and falls via the run out route.

went big and unfortunately we didn’t do that.

“I felt our bowlers tried in some very tough conditions.

But credit to all of them, I must all always commend them for the effort they made and I think it was not as bad as it looked.”

Needing a massive effort to save the Test, force a drawn series and keep hold of the Wisden Trophy, West Indies lost three wickets in the first session, to stumble early on after resuming precariously placed on 10 for two.

Not for the first time, Brathwaite found himself trapped on his crease after he had added 17 to his overnight two but Hope and Brooks then lifted their side’s hopes in a 34-run, fourth wicket stand.

Desperate to end the series with a score, Hope struck six fours – mostly an array of elegant off-side drives – in a fluent 38-ball knock while Brooks faced 48 deliveries and counted two fours.

However, both fell inside the last 31 balls before lunch, taken 23 minutes early due to rain. Hope was the first to go, pulling at a short one from Woakes and skying a catch to Broad running in from midon, capping a miserable series that yielded a paltry 105 runs from six innings.

And Brooks followed soon afterwards, caught behind off the inside edge playing back to Woakes, with lunch in sight.

The visitors’ decline continued 20 minutes after the interval when Roston Chase, unbeaten on five at lunch, was run out by Dom Bess’s direct throw at the

striker’s end after adding just two, as he hesitated over a single with Blackwood.

And Holder perished for 12, lbw to Woakes playing forward lazily, to leave the Windies sinking quickly at 99 for seven.

Six overs later, Woakes cleaned up both Shane Dowrich (8) and Rahkeem

Cornwall (2) both lbw in the space of five balls before Broad fittingly ended the innings by removing Blackwood to a leg-side catch by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

West Indies won the opening Test by four-wickets at Southampton earlier this month.

PAGE 30

Kaieteur News

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Jamaican hurdler rebounds Five South Africans to miss CPL after from long-term injury with failing to confirm travel arrangements 300m hurdles win in Georgia Leah Nugent

SportsMax - Rebounding from a year when she was plagued by injury Jamaican 400-metre hurdler Leah Nugent made a triumphant return to the track on the weekend, winning the rarely run 300-metre hurdles at the American Track League meeting at Life University in Marietta, Georgia.

Nugent clocked 39.81 to establish what is believed to be a Jamaican national record for the event. Her coach Lennox Graham was just grateful that she was well enough to run.

“She has been progressing well. Her foot issues, which prevented her attending practices for much of last year, have greatly improved,” he said. “ Wi t h t h e f o r c e d shutdown in late March she got some more time to focus even more on rehab - she was away from any

training for about 7-8 w e e k s . S o , I f eel good about her current performance considering less than ideal preparations.”

Nugent at finalist at the 2017 World Championships in London was happy for the victory.

“Thankful for the big and little victories,” she posted on Instagram.

“Our plan was to just shake off the rust after being out with injuries last year. I didn’t know I broke the Jamaican national 300m hurdles record too! I’m so grateful for a little glimmer of hope in the world right now.”

Nugent was not the only Jamaican winner on Saturday as national 800m champion Natoya Goule was also victorious in the two-lap event.

With just one other competitor in the race, Goule cruised to victory in 2:00.43

and said afterwards that under the circumstances, she was satisfied with the performance.

“At first I wasn’t satisfied because I know I can run faster, but when I look on the face of it that I’m not in race shape and it is my first outdoor race I am satisfied,” she said.

“I’ve always opened up with two minutes outdoors and during the season I would get faster so I am satisfied considering that I took time off then started back up again during the lockdown. I know if I was able to compete like the norm, I would have run a good time even though I was running by myself.”

Laurie Barton was a distant second in 2:05.72.

Danielle Williams, the 2019 World Championship bronze medallist won the 100 hurdles in 13.23.

Cycling: Grossschartner wins opening stage of Vuelta a Burgos after late attack (Reuters) - Bora-Hansgrohe’s Felix Grossschartner surged past the rest of the field on the final climb to win the opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos yesterday as the cycling season resumed after a four-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first major race since Paris-Nice in March, the Austrian rider attacked with 700 metres remaining to finish eight seconds clear of Joao Almeida (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) in second and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who finished third.

“I’m super happy,” said Grossschartner.

“I checked the parcours yesterday and I saw it wasn’t a bad finish for me.

“I went full gas and said, what can happen? If they catch me, they catch me. It’s always better to be in front than to have to chase.” Jumbo-Visma rider Gijs Leemreize was forced to drop out of the stage after he suffered a finger injury in a horror crash with around 50 kilometres remaining.

“Gijs is in the hospital, where the plastic

surgeon will restore his damaged fingertip in the best possible way tonight,” the team posted on Twitter. “Gijs is doing okay given the circumstances.”

Team Israel Start-Up Nation suffered a setback before the start of the race as they withdrew two riders due to coronavirus concerns.

Alex Dowsett and Itamar Einhorn were pulled out after the latter came in contact with team mate Omer Goldstein, who is not competing in Burgos but returned a positive test this week. A few hours into the race, Israel Start-Up Nation confirmed both riders are “perfectly healthy” and that Einhorn’s test had come back negative.

“Although I am pained to see the riders miss the race, we had to avoid any risk and take this extreme precautionary measure as the tests results were not available in time,” Oscar Guerrero, the team’s sports director, said in a statement. “It’s very unfortunate. I really feel for the riders.”

ESPNcricinfo - No South African player apart from Imran Tahir will take part in this year’s Caribbean Premier League, which is due to start on August 18. Rassie van der Dussen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje, Rilee Rossouw and Colin Ingram were unable to confirm travel arrangements in time to be in Trinidad by August 1, when CPL organisers wanted all participating players to arrive in order to fulfil a 14-day quarantine period before the tournament begins.

While the CPL had organised a charter flight from London to Trinidad, the South African players were unable to get to the UK in time bearing in mind flight scarcity, visa requirements and the obligation to receive government permission. Tahir has not been in South Africa through the lockdown but in Pakistan, where he was playing in the PSL, and has been able to travel to the West Indies from there.

South Africa remains in lockdown with all provincial and international borders closed and is expected to only begin easing travel restrictions after the coronavirus pandemic peak passes at the end of September.

That means the participation of South African players in the IPL is also awaiting logistical checks, chiefly government permission.

Similar permission is being sought for the national women’s team,

Imran Tahir goes off in celebration. (MSL) who are due to play a series in England in September.

While Cricket South Africa will issue its players with no-objection certificates, and does not intend to organise any bilateral cricket during the IPL window, players will need to obtain permits to travel and will need to consider quarantine regulations. The tournament is expected to take place from September 19 to November 8, which could mean that South African players will be required to be away from home from early September until early November, given pre-tournament training and quarantines.

There is also the possibility that they will need to isolate for a further 14 days on their return home. As David Warner said, with families unlikely to be able to

accompany players and tours made longer by quarantine periods, several players may need to consider their personal circumstances before committing to travel.

South Africa has ten players contracted with IPL teams, and two of them - AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis - have babies on the way.

Earlier, three players missed the 3TC exhibition match.

Chris Morris was unavailable for personal reasons, Kagiso Rabada missed the fixture following the death of a family member, and Quinton de Kock pulled out because a close family member tested positive for Covid-19. The men’s team has not had any official training camps since the lockdown began in March but continue to train individually or at their franchise grounds.

JHI associates continues as official sponsor of the Guyana Amazon Warriors TORONTO - JHI Associates Inc. (“JHI”) is pleased to enter its second season as an Official Sponsor of the Guyana Amazon Warriors. The Warriors will represent Guyana in the Hero Caribbean Premier League 2020 cricket tournament from August 18 to September 20 in Trinidad. JHI first joined the Guyana Amazon Warriors as an Official Sponsor for the team’s record-setting 2019 campaign, a release from the sponsors indicated.

“JHI is honoured to renew our sponsorship of the Guyana Amazon Warriors. The unifying effect of cricket in Guyana is undeniable,” said John Cullen, JHI’s Chief Executive Officer. “Now more than

ever, we are all looking forward to the excitement that sports provide. JHI is grateful to play a role in helping the country rally around the Guyana Amazon Warriors in their quest for the Hero Caribbean Premier League 2020 Championship.”

“We are pleased to have JHI Associates partnering with us as one of our Official Sponsors for the Hero CPL 2020 Tournament,” said Omar Khan, Manager of the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

“This is the second consecutive year that JHI has thrown their support behind the Guyana Amazon Wa r r i o r s , and i t ’s especially important now in these challenging times.

Cricket and the Guyana Amazon Warriors unite the people of Guyana, and we’re

grateful for JHI’s sponsorship, which helps us develop our young and aspiring Guyanese cricketers.”

In addition to its direct support of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, JHI will also distribute a variety of supplies to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, which is impacting so many. JHI’s sponsorship of the Warriors is part of its ongoing commitment to social responsibility in Guyana.

Toronto-based JHI Associates Inc. is an oil and gas exploration company focused on opportunities offshore Guyana.

For additional information, please contact Scott Young, Vice President – Investor Relations at scott@jhiassociates.com.

Wednesday July 29, 2020

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Kaieteur News

2020 Virtual Referees Assistance Programme (RAP) deemed a success “The thought of RAP 2020 on an online platform for the first time because of the COVID 19 got me excited and I wasn’t disappointed... I’m now in a better position theoretically to make the best decisions when I’m back out on the field of play,” said Maureese Skeete, one of the 35 participants in the threeday virtual training programme for referees.

The annual training programme was held on July 24, 26 and 27 for a two-and-ahalf-hour period daily and sought to enable the uniform interpretation and application of the Laws of the Game in Member of Associations.

Skeete, who was among the local Referees and Instructors, was particularly happy that FIFA and the GFF have partnered to facilitate continuous capacity building: “The course content, materials and technology were excellent and I was impressed by the delivery of the different instructors on the platform and the fact that FIFA & the GFF are finding ways to keep us updated with the new Law changes and materials during these difficult time is commendable.”

Areas covered in the session included injury treatment, nutrition/fluid intake, review of the Laws of the Game 2020/2021 changes and clarifications, handball and challenges. There were

The 2020 Virtual Referees Assistance Programme (RAP) was deemed a success. also a number of video tests and breakout room discussions.

Head of GFF’s Refereeing Department, Dion Inniss said while there was some initial apprehension about the new method of learning, there was maximum participation from participants.

He noted that more online sessions will be utilized to prepare referees for the match

readiness when outdoor activities restart: “Training and development of referees is an ongoing process: this medium of training in an online environment is novel and has been fully embraced by the match officials.

I was very impressed with how quickly the participants adapted to the use of the online tools.

At the beginning there

was some apprehension as to how this will work, especially considering that the internet connectivity is not the best in most parts of Guyana…

“The difficulties encountered were minor and there was maximum participation from Referees in the safety and comfort of their homes. The Department intends to intensify our online

programmes to prepare Referees for the restart of outdoor activities whenever that time comes.

I wish to thank the FIFA Development Office for facilitating 2020 RAP Course.”

The course held under the auspices of the FIFA Regional Development Office was led

by FIFA Regional Development

Officer Javier Santos and he was assisted by Instructors Jeffery Solis and Alan Brown of Costa Rica with IT support from Mark Cahen of the CONCACAF Refereeing Department.

Local Technical Instructors were Ingram Johnson, Abdulla Hamid, Sherwin Moore and Fitness Instructor Lindley Langhorne.

Afghanistan Cricket Board sacks its CEO for ‘unsatisfactory performance’ and ‘misbehaviour’ ESPNcricinfo - The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has abruptly sacked its chief executive officer Lutfullah Stanikzai on Monday, two years before his contract expires. In a letter written to Stanikzai, which ESPNcricinfo has seen, ACB chairman Farhan Yusefzai said Stanikzai’s contract was being terminated for “mismanagement”, “unsatisfactory performance,” and “misbehavior with managers.” The board also made the announcement through a release on Monday.

“This is to inform you that this letter serves as confirmation that your employment contract in the capacity of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Afghanistan Cricket Board is terminated effectively. Your last employment date with ACB is July 29, 2020,” the letter said.

“The reason(s) of your contract termination is as below:

•Mismanagement •Unsatisfactory Performance •Misbehavior with Managers.”

The ACB release also stated Stanikzai had been sacked due to “ignorance in his responsibilities,” and he had been “warned verbally and in writing in the past.”

The board said it would advertise for the vacancy soon.

Stanikzai said he was surprised by the development and first found out about it from social media and not by any communication from the board. He said he had spoken to Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail, the state minister for parliamentary affairs, who sits on the ACB Board and even he was not aware.

“I spoke to a [ACB] board member and was told that they are not aware” Stanikzai told ESPNcricinfo. “According to ACB constitution, the CEO is appointed by the Board and any decision concerning the

CEO should be done by the Board.”

Stanikzai, who had served previously as a media manager, was hired as the CEO on a three-year contract in July last year immediately after Afghanistan’s dismal performance at the 2019 World Cup where they finished last in the 10-team tournament without a single win. Stanikzai had replaced Asadullah Khan, who had been charged with breaching the ACB constitution and policies on various decisions.

Khan’s tenure as acting chief executive was short-lived after he was replaced in July. He had replaced Shafiqullah Stanikzai whose four-year term had ended in February 2019.

The hand of the Afghanistan government in the ACB politics is not lost upon the ICC. ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC last year alerted the ACB that it was concerned by the inconsistency in the leadership in the Afghanistan board. That message was delivered by Imran Khawaja, then ICC’s deputy chairman,

The ICC last year alerted the ACB that it was concerned by the inconsistency in its leadership. (Peter Della Penna) who was recently appointed as interim chair of the global cricket body.

It is understood that Khawaja raised three issues with the ACB last September: concerns about its leadership, the money that the ACB receives from the ICC be strictly utilised for development of cricket in the country and, thirdly, the ACB should strengthen its internal audit.

Afghanistan were granted Full Membership in 2017, which entitled them to a distribution cost from the ICC for participating in global tournaments. As per the new finance model, they would get around US$40 million for the 2016-23 commercial rights cycle for projected ICC revenues of $2.7 billion.

However, with the ICC’s projected revenues coming down, those costs have been

adjusted to close to $4.8 million per year.

In January this year the ACB received about $2.4 million as part of the ICC’s distribution money. However, the ACB has been reeling financially after one of its major team sponsors pulled out in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic. Consequently the ACB cut salaries of its entire coaching staff since May.

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Kaieteur News

Holder reveals pandemicera series took a mental toll on West Indies team SportsMax - Jason Holder revealed there were players in his West Indies team who were mentally “worn out” by the effort involved in playing a Test series in the COVID-19 era.

Captain Holder saw his team slump to a 269-run defeat in the decider against England at Old Trafford, losing the series 2-1 but thankful to have been allowed to tour at all.

His verdict was that it had “been a blessing to come over here and get some cricket”, albeit acknowledging the future was “so uncertain” as to when cricket can return to normal.

The West Indies and England teams have been confined to bio-secure environments, staying in onsite accommodation, meaning their freedom of movement has been curtailed over the past month.

Each match has been played behind closed doors, too, with players unable to feed off the energy of a crowd.

Holder, speaking at the end of the third Test, said: “It’s been challenging, it’s been really challenging.

Mentally some of the guys are a bit worn out.

“It could be this way for a little while so we’ve got to find ways to make it work.

“Hopefully things could

Jason Holder ease up throughout the world and probably guys can get out of the hotel a little bit more, but it has been challenging for sure.”

He added in a news conference: “We’ve been kept indoors for the last two months. The guys haven’t seen a bit of real life for a bit.

“It’s tough to constantly get up, you’re here, you open your curtains and you just see the cricket ground. You’re not hopping on the bus as you normally do.”

West Indies made a great start to their tour with a win at the Rose Bowl, but England found form in Manchester with back-to-back Old Trafford successes, inspired by the likes of Ben Stokes and

Stuart Broad.

Holder’s team conceded first-innings leads of 182 in the second Test and 172 in the series decider, and such batting disappointed the skipper.

“I felt the wickets were good enough for us to put a bigger first-innings effort in both Test matches,” he said on Sky Sports. “If you look at our batting performance, we had plenty of starts, quite a few guys got half-centuries, got into the forties and thirties but didn’t kick on.

“The difference with England is when Stokes got in he went big, when [Dom] Sibley got in he went big; unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

Wahab Riaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed in 20-man Pakistan squad for England Tests ESPNcricinfo - Pakistan have announced a 20-man shortlisted squad for the three-Test series against England starting August 5. The experienced pair of Wahab Riaz and wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed have returned to the Test set up, while middle-order batsman Iftikhar Ahmed has been left out.

Initially, the PCB had announced a combined squad of 29 players for both Tests as well as the three T20Is that follow.

There were expectations of Ifthikar replacing Haris Sohail, who had chosen to pull out of the tour due to concerns about the pandemic. Meanwhile, Riaz had expressed his willingness to return to the longest format last month after opting out of Test cricket indefinitely last year, and has eventually found a place in the squad.

Former captain Sarfaraz, who was sacked from Test and T20I captaincy the previous October, is the second choice wicketkeeper in the squad, behind the younger Mohammad Rizwan, who also toured Australia last year and played Bangladesh at home this February.Also included is the uncapped Kashif Bhatti, although he is likely to be behind Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan in the spin-bowler pecking order, as well as Fawad Alam, whose last Test appearance came in 2009.

The first Test will be played at Old Trafford, with the next two games will be played in Southampton before the T20Is start

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Cayman Islands Athletics Association hopes to have NACAC ban lifted soon SportsMax - President of the Cayman Islands Athletics Association (CIAA) Lance Barnes is hoping to settle matters concerning money owed to a number of Caribbean athletics federations that sent athletes to the 2019 Carfita Games by next month.

Barnes revealed his intentions to Sportsmax.TV yesterday just over 48 hours after news emerged that North American, Central American Athletics Association (NACAC) had banned the CIAA over the money owed to Caribbean athletic associations who were overcharged for room and board by the Local Organising Committee during last year’s annual track and field championships.

Barnes was quick to point out that this was not the doing of the CIAA as it was the Local Organising Committee (LOC) that has refused to repay the money.

The decision prompted NACAC to impose the ban, which means that track and field athletes from the Cayman Islands will not be able to participate in sanctioned competitions including the Olympic Games.

Barnes told Sportsmax.TV that C a y m a n ’s M i n i s t e r o f Sports, Agriculture and Lands, Julianna O’Connor received an email from NACAC informing of the ban on Friday, July 24.

Barnes, who was copied on the email, subsequently

CIAA President Lance Barnes is hopeful that they will have the matter settled by the middle of August, 2020. forwarded it to the minister’s senior leadership team saying that he hoped to hear from them by today.

If he did not, he would go public with the matter.

For the Carifta Games held from April 20-22, 2019, the LOC had requested that the visiting associations pay a levy of USD$150 per athlete and official who planned to travel to the Cayman Islands for the games. The money was to offset the cost of food and accommodation.

Some countries brought along extra officials. The LOC asked them to pay the US$150 levy fee then told them to pay the full hotel rate for their accommodation for the duration of the Games.

This resulted in the affected countries collectively overpaying to the tune of nearly US$50,000, reports said.

The matter was raised at the NACAC Congress held

on Sunday, April 21, and Minister O’Connor promised then that the money would have been refunded.

Just over a week after the conclusion of the Games on April 22, Minister O’Connor, in an email, instructed the LOC t o r e p a y t h e m o n e y.

H o w e v e r, a c c o r d i n g t o Barnes, some members of the LOC, split over a challenge to the leadership of the CIAA, voted against repaying the money, which resulted in NACAC imposing the ban 15 months later.

Barnes explained that money was not a problem.

The Government of the Cayman Islands was the t i t l e s p o n s o r, s o t h e i r s p o n s o r s h i p m o n e y, i n addition to the money raised fro m t h e G a m e s , means that there is more than enough money to repay the countries that the LOC overcharged, Barnes said.

Russia asks World Athletics to postpone decision on possible expulsion

Wahab Riaz is pumped up after taking a wicket. (Getty Images) on August 28.

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Sr, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah.

MOSCOW (Reuters) R u s s i a ’s suspended athletics federation (RusAF) has asked World Athletics to postpone a decision on potential fresh sanctions or even expulsion.

RusAF’s troubles have snowballed in recent months, with some of its officials and senior coaches embroiled in doping scandals.

The federation has been suspended for nearly five years over mass doping, and missed a July 1 deadline to pay millions o f d o l l a r s t o Wo r l d Athletics as a fine for breaching anti-doping rules.

The missed deadline prompted World Athletics

to halt the process by which Russian athletes competing in a doping-free environment can be cleared to compete internationally as neutrals.

World Athletics also said the taskforce overseeing the federation’s reinstatement efforts was standing down until a meeting of its Council on July 29-30.

In a letter seen by Reuters, RusAF appealed to World Athletics not to rule on its fate at the Council meeting this week.

“Taking into account the work we have already done and our good faith intentions to continue this work, we very much hope that the Council will be able to consider the possibility

of postponing the decision on the RusAF case to a later date and continue our cooperation on resolving this matter,” said the letter, which was dated July 28 and signed by Alexey Plotnikov, the federation’s first vice president.

The federation said financial woes prevented it from making the payment.

It said it did not have sufficient funds to cover the fine and expenses totalling $6.31 million and that there had been no incoming payments to its accounts since December last year.

It added that it was still searching for external financing, something it said “is not an easy process in the current circumstances.”

Wednesday July 29, 2020

Kaieteur News

PAGE 33

Marathon and race walk Olympic qualification can begin in September O

(Reuters) lympic qualification for the marathon and road race walk events can re-start from Sept. 1, three months earlier than previously announced, the sport’s governing body World Athletics ruled yesterday.

However, qualifying for all other track and field events at next year’s Tokyo Games would remain suspended until Nov. 30 as originally planned, it said in a statement.

Qualification was put on hold in early April due to the novel coronavirus pandemic which has caused the Games to be postponed for one year until July/August next year.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the change was needed for road athletes due to a lack of qualifying opportunities.

“Most of the major marathons have already been cancelled or postponed for the

remainder of this year and the evolution of the pandemic makes it difficult to predict if those scheduled for the first half of next year will be able to go ahead,” Coe said.

“That situation, combined with the fact that endurance athletes in the marathon and race walks can only produce a very limited number of high-quality performances a year, would really narrow their qualifying window without this adjustment.”

Organisers of the London Marathon, due to take place on Oct. 4, were prepared to help athletes from around the world travel to the event achieve an Olympic qualifying time, World Athletics said.

It was also working with organisers of the Abu Dhabi marathon, scheduled for Dec. 11, to see if they could offer similar opportunities, and hoped there would be at least two race-walking events between September and November.

General view of the New National Stadium, the main stadium of Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, after the construction completion ceremony in Tokyo, Japan December 15, 2019. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)

West Indies captain Jason Holder trudges off after being dismissed for 12 on Tuesday’s final day.

Windies surrender Wisden with heavy defeat t r o Sp Imran Tahir celebrates in style after taking one of his 4 wickets. (Getty Images)

Five South Africans to miss CPL after failing to confirm travel arrangements

Stuart Broad claims his 500th Test wicket Š Getty Images

JHI associates continues as official sponsor of the Guyana Amazon Warriors

JHI first joined the Guyana Amazon Warriors as an Official Sponsor in 2019.

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