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Bosai distances NEWS self from flooding - residents say in Region 10 company is the cause AIETEUR

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Tuesday Edition June 22, 2021 - Vol. 14 No. 25

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com Online Price $80 p. readership 13 yesterday, 81,329

Guyana caught in financial chokehold; must find over $5B to pay 2020 income tax for two Stabroek Block partners p.

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One dead, four injured in Stewartville accident p.

14

Driver who stopped to cool off engine, loses cash and bus p.

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After chopping, perpetrators leave victim at shop to be rescued p.

8

Birthday party brawl leaves one dead p.

12

Man abducts lover, locks her up naked in bottom flat room p.

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Even on Father’s Day, no one is safe from bandits while Guyana is a lil Dubai. Listen @11am on Kaieteur Radio 99.1/99.5FM

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday June 22, 2021

Concerns about worrying COVID-19 variant should encourage vaccine uptake - Emergency Medicine Expert

E

ven as concerns about a new variant surface, information out of the Ministry of Health suggests that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) fatalities are currently limited to persons who are unvaccinated – a state of affairs that should encourage vaccine uptake.

But with a mere 48 percent (just over 225,000) of the adult population being vaccinated with at least their first dose, the achievement of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme leaves much to be desired.

Taking note of this in his most recent column, Emergency Medicine Specialist, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, expressed concern that with continued vaccine hesitancy, persons will continue to die.

The vaccine while not a cure is said to be able to prevent an individual from developing the severe form of the disease that could lead to hospitalisation and eventual death. In promoting vaccine uptake, Dr. Bux said, “I am at a loss trying to understand why some would choose to die rather than be vaccinated and be part of the

solution to this pandemic.”

The local Ministry of Health has recorded 449 deaths from 18,000 plus cases. Appalled that the last two months have proven to be the deadliest thus far despite the availability of vaccines, Dr. Bux intimated, “if someone had told me six months ago that by mid2021 Guyana's death rate would be at its peak while vaccines were readily available for all, I would not have believed.”

Noting that only 20 percent (95,000) of the population is fully vaccinated, the Emergency Medicine Specialist said, “it is unfortunate, but we will be losing many more lives while we try to convince e v e r y o n e t o b e vaccinated…this pattern will continue for the foreseeable future as only one out of every five eligible persons is fully vaccinated.

The other four are at a higher risk of becoming infected and dying from COVID-19.”

Describing the continued infection rate as “madness,” Dr. Bux is convinced that it will only stop when more than 85 percent of the

e l ig ib l e p o p u l a ti o n is vaccinated.

Being vaccinated, he added, “is not only about you, it is about us all coming together to save ourselves and unite against a common enemy. COVID-19 will not go away if we let our guard down. It will continue to take many lives unless we work together and achieve the 'vaccination for all' goal earlier rather than later.” He is therefore advocating for persons to “Be responsible!

Be part of the solution! Get vaccinated!”

Variant of Concern According to Dr. Bux, every time a variant of concern surfaces, the death and hospitalisation rates spike significantly. Alluding to the recent devastation in India which was primarily from the new Delta variant, he said that this variant is more deadly and infectious than any of its predecessors and has already reached the shores of Europe and the United States.

According to a Medical News Today (MNT) report written by Maria Cohut PhD,

the Delta variant of SARSCoV-2 — scientifically known as the B.1.617.2 lineage — was first identified by scientists in December 2020 in India.

In April 2021, Cohut noted that Delta became the most commonly spread variant that caused new COVID-19 cases in India.

Since then, this variant has been reported in 80 countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Recently, there have been concerns — particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States — that the Delta variant could give rise to another COVID-19 wave, thus setting back national and international efforts to ease pandemic restrictions, Cohut added.

According to the latest report from Public Health England (PHE), the Delta variant may have become the dominant variant in the UK, with “74 percent of sequenced cases [of SARSCoV-2 infection] and 96 percent of sequenced and genotyped cases” being caused by this variant.

In the US, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the proportion of new COVID-19 cases attributed to the Delta variant at 2.7 percent. This is the most recent genomic surveillance data dating to the two weeks ending on May 22, 2021.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US, has reportedly warned that “any country that has the delta variant should be concerned that there will be a surge of infections, particularly if that particular

Emergency Medicine Specialist, Dr. Zulfikar Bux country does not have a substantial proportion of their people vaccinated.”

“We've seen that when Delta variant spreads among non-vaccinated people, it can become dominant very, very quickly,” the MNT quoted Dr. Fauci as saying.

Based on the data from the UK, the Delta variant is about 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was previously called B.1.1.7.

Alpha, in turn, is more transmissible than the strain previously dominant in the country.

We n d y B a r c l a y, professor of virology and head of the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London in the UK, explained that this variant is more transmissible than previous ones because of some key mutations in the spike protein, which allows the virus to penetrate and infect healthy cells.

Given the patterns of spread of previous variants, Dr. Bux noted that it may only be a matter of time

before it reaches Guyana. “If this occurs then there is a good possibility of us experiencing similar devastation to what occurred in India (but) so far, the vaccines are holding up against this variant and is the most effective tool we have against it,” he asserted.

New variants have been popping up at higher rates than before and Dr. Bux noted that the number of dangerous ones is also rising. The more persons a virus infect, he added, the more it will mutate into newer variants.

According to the doctor, COVID-19 infections have increased and spread more in the past eight months and, as a result, mutation rates and variant formation has increased. This trend, he said, will continue unless preventative measures and vaccination rates are drastically stepped up in many countries.

“Every time the SARSCoV-2 virus mutates into variants of concern, it is evolving into more dangerous forms that pose new threats to our lives. This virus can only mutate if we allow it to spread from person to person. Every time it infects someone, there is a risk of it mutating,” Dr. Bux explained.

If the virus is not stopped in its track, there are plausible concerns that it could mutate into vaccine resistant forms which will evolve and sustain the pandemic resulting in the loss of many more lives. As such, Dr. Bux noted that in addition to preventative measures, rapid vaccination is the key to preventing the virus from evolving into forms that will cause even more destruction.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

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Guyana caught in financial chokehold; must find over $5B to pay 2020 income tax for two Stabroek Block partners W

ithin the next few days, N a t u r a l Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, must find over $5B to pay the 2020 Income Tax for two Stabroek Block partners.

Highlighting this recently was Chartered Accountant a n d A t t o r n e y - a t - L a w, Christopher Ram, in two columns published on his website www.chrisram.net.

His conclusion was arrived at following a review of the financial statements of Hess Guyana Exploration Limited and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited (formerly CNOOC/NEXEN).

He noted that for Hess, Bharrat has to pay $2.3B to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). For CNOOC, he must pay GRA, Corporation tax totalling $3.1B. The total to be paid for the two companies out of the government's portion of its

revenue is $5.4B. It therefore means that Hess and CNOOC walked away with $16.2B in profits in 2020 tax free.

Failure to pay the taxes, Ram noted would constitute a breach of the Stabroek Block Petroleum Agreement and would also incur late filing penalty (10 percent) and interest (18 percent).

Upon noting the foregoing, Ram said Guyana has voluntarily allowed itself to be in a financial chokehold by the Stabroek Block partners. There were previous calls for this provision in the contract to be amended or for Guyana to increase its take of royalty from the current meagre two percent. But those appeals fell on deaf ears.

IMF REVIEW

According to all the Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) Guyana

has with the world's oil majors, the Government will pay the companies' income taxes from this nation's share of the profit oil.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said there is absolutely nothing wrong with this arrangement, except for the part where Guyana fails to increase its take of the profit oil upon agreeing to pay the said taxes.

In a technical report dated April 2019, the IMF had informed the previous government that this arrangement, which it has in the PSAs is referred to as Pay On Behalf (POB). The IMF said POB is quite common and used in over 20 petroleum producing countries.

The financial institution said, “As a consequence, when the POB scheme applies to the sharing of profit petroleum, the agreed percentage of the

government's share in profit petroleum has to be higher…” It therefore means that since Guyana agreed to pay the income taxes of ExxonMobil and partners, its take of the profit oil as outlined in the Stabroek Block agreement should have been much higher than 50 percent.

Furthermore, the IMF which is one of Guyana's key partners in developing its capacity for the management of the oil sector, highlighted that the PSA provisions

supersede the nation's Income Tax Act. In its 2019 report, the IMF said, “While the ITA (Income Tax Act) applies to the petroleum operations performed under a PSA, its provisions are superseded by the provisions of the PSA dealing with the determination and payment of income tax, subject however to the special authorisation process set forth in Section 51 of the Act.” The Fund noted that

Section 51 allows for the Finance Minister to take an order to the National Assembly which allows for the Income Tax Act to not apply to the oil companies. That Order for ExxonMobil and its partners, Hess Corporation and CNOOC/NEXEN, was passed on August 2, 2016 in the National Assembly.

It therefore means that while local companies are required to obey all provisions in Guyana's laws covering taxes, the Stabroek Block partners are insulated from it.

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Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

We need a uniter for a leader in Guyana The article in USA Today on June 16 titled, “Southern Baptists elect new president, bucking effort to push denomination to the right” has lessons for all Guyanese.

Those lessons apply to political leaders, Christians and every citizen. They are worth sharing with some accompanying detail. Pastor Ed Litton is the new leader of America’s Southern Baptists Convention. Some believe that Litton is the only one who “can prevent an exodus of minority members from the denomination.” The 14 million strong group, the largest Protestant body in the US, “needs a uniter” and “Ed is uniquely qualified to do that,” said Fred Luter, a former convention president and the first Black leader to serve in the role.

We need a uniter for a leader in Guyana, but he or she is yet to be found. President Ali is loud on speeches about unity, but has proven to be more of a damp squib, when his approximately one-year record is examined honestly. He has been about fluttering rhetoric, and nothing more. Nothing that joins hands that heals wounds that soothes spirits.

When the president’s watch is scrutinised, he comes across as more of a divider than anything else, with numerous empty postures and emptier words.

Southern Baptists think that “Ed has uniquely shown his commitment to racial reconciliation.” Luter said Litton brings a compassionate and shepherding heart and is the kind of leader needed now. This is what we desperately need here, but where is he or she? “We’re no longer shoulder to shoulder but face to face, and since we’re so used to fighting, we’re no longer fighting an enemy on the battlefield, we’re now fighting our brothers in the barracks,” Luter said.

We at this paper move from Southern Baptist circumstances, and state that this is where we are in Guyana in every aspect of national daily life. That is, fighting each other for anything, and over everything. There is so much growing needed here, and the Holy Books should help. The newly elected President Litton’s message to conservative Black pastors and other Southern Baptists of colour questioning their place in the denomination was straight from scripture, “We want you here. We love you here.” And “My goal is to build bridges…talk through things, have honest, open discussions,” he said. “Not shut down those conversations.” Another supporting pastor said that the group “needs a champion” not afraid to move mountains, challenge any established obstacle.

We are yet to come across a leader in the PPP or PNC or AFC, who has exemplified such qualities. Those that are of real national bridge building, the widest ethnic including, and grand championing of all the peoples, regardless of the personal cost. Instead, cult leaders have risen in endless succession, and uncaring followers have given them the greatest freedom to do as they please, and of which they have taken the fullest advantage. We have suffered terribly from our self-inflicted divisions. We cry out about this and that injustice, and of suspected costly corruptions on everything from oil to virus money to possibly flood spending (still incomplete and developing), but remain anchored firmly in the camp of leaders and groups worshipped.

Another lesson came from outgoing Southern Baptist leader, J. D. Greear, who cautioned the flock that it “must not fall to Phariseeism.” This “happens when we take a gospel nonessential like a cultural or stylistic preference … or our political calculus and we give it divine weight,” Greear said.

“Believing in the sufficiency of Scripture means in part not attaching a divine authority to something unless it has a chapter and verse.” This has relevance to not just Christians, but others in Guyana, whether of religious beliefs or not, with particular emphasis on “our political calculus.”

It seems that when the pious who should be among the most principled in Guyana’s mix, they get consumed by our ugly politics, with its raw and bitter divisions, the latest cultural shifts, especially American originated ones. We lose sight of the basics of demanding unifying and accountability features from leaders, leaving them to run amok. We can and must do better. It starts with looking at ourselves in the mirror, and then holding those trusted to account.

The PNC must put the nation first and stop politicising COVID vaccines DEAR EDITOR, Our PNC Opposition continues on the path of selfdestruction as it continues the politicisation of the Government’s acquisition of vaccines to save the lives of its citizens.

As I said previously, the PNC never misses a chance to remind the nation why they should never be elected again to office.

During the period of attempted rigging after the March 2020 election, the PNC used the COVID task force to delay the recount by limiting the number of counting stations, using various pretexts. That’s about the only thing the politicised task force accomplished.

Now that the Government has worked f e v e r i s h l y, b e a t i n g t h e bushes to acquire

vaccines, the PNC resorts to calls for delaying vaccination.

There are some countries that will not get access to vaccines until 2022. We are lucky that we can get vaccines to buy at this time where demand exceeds supply. The PPP Government should be complimented for doing all it can to obtain vaccines for its people.

It’s also using multiple customer-friendly strategies to go into communities and vaccinate the people.

The Government is doing its job, and it’s now for the people to care about their own health and get the vaccine immediately. If you did not get vaccinated, when things go bad for you, don’t blame the Government.

The nation wants the Opposition to make the Government accountable and ask questions about costs,

but to deliberately become obstructionist and create controversy at a time when we need all leaders and people of sound mind to encourage the laggards among us to get the vaccine, the PNC is going on the wrong track. It should be concerned that many of its supporters have not taken the vaccine.

(They can lose votes if supporters die!) Won’t it be nice if the entire Parliament holds a telethon type of event to encourage the unvaccinated to step forward.

Won’t it be nationalistic if we can see President Ali and Mr. Harmon appearing together and calling on the nation to take the vaccine?

There is a time for raw politics, and there is a time when we must lay aside our differences and close ranks when the nation’s wellbeing is at stake.

If the vaccination program fails, the nation fails.

“A hole in the boat, is a hole in the whole boat.” The Opposition should not contribute to the problem and feel gleeful delight if the Government faces great challenges in mobilising all the people to be vaccinated.

When it comes to the life or death of our people, we are all Guyanese and we are our brother’s keeper. We should all support and be invested in the nation’s health.

Much thanks to all the doctors, nurses, Minister of Health and staff, and various vaccination teams for what they are doing to keep the nation safe.

A grateful nation thanks you. Mr. Harmon and PNC, please get with the program, and put the national interest first!

Yours truly, Dr. Jerry Jailall

The world has been moving in the right direction when it comes to armed conflict DEAR EDITOR, The world’s achievements versus its non-achievements continues to be a matter for public evaluation and discussion worldwide. Of utmost importance is the fact that not since 1945 has there been another world war. The Second World War cost humanity 25 million lives.

That no third world war has occurred, is a positive development considering the deadly nature of the arms race and the extent to which sophisticated nuclear weapons populate and proliferate the world today.

Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which resulted in the loss of 150,000 lives humanity has been saved another nuclear catastrophe.

But the world has not been free of wars nor threats of war. There has been a number of local wars and threats of war including: the Korean War, the Arab-Israeli war, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Vietnam War, Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus, the US invasion of the Dominican Republic, the Suez crisis, the war in Lebanon, the US invasion of Grenada, the national liberation wars in the Horn of African, the US invasion of Panama, the Gulf War, the war between Ethiopia and Somalia, the war between Libya and Chad, the war between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the Argentine/ UK war over the Malvinas, the Iraq-Iran war, the US invasion of Iraq, the wars in Kosovo and Bosnia, the war against ISIL; the wars

in Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, Yemen, the Palestinian/ Israeli War, and the war in the Tigre Region of Eritrea.

To these must be added the separatist and secessionist wars that took place in Nigeria and the Congo, the separation of India and Pakistan, the struggle for the independence of Bangladesh, the genocide and mass killings in Cambodia, formerly Kampuchea, Burundi, Rwanda, Mali, Chad and the Ivory Coast. The military coups in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua Paraguay and Uruguay were no exceptions.

In the course of these events millions were brutally murdered or simply disappeared.

In the meanwhile, mass kidnappings continue unabated in Nigeria. These unfortunate developments aside, the continued commitment by world powers to the policy of ‘No First Use’ of nuclear weapons is of strategic necessity for the maintenance of world peace, international security and cooperation.

The extension for another five years of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is to be welcomed.

And China’s declaration in response to the so-called ‘China Threat Theory’ that its military capacity is primarily for defense purposes was reassuring in response to concerns expressed by leaders of the G7 countries at

their recent meeting in England.

Of great significance too is the diplomatic initiative by the Biden Administration aimed at encouraging Iran’s return to the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan aka ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal.’

Clearly, this is a step in the right direction. It is hoped that the new Bennet administration in Israel will abandon the belligerent stand adopted by the Netanyahu administration and recognise the wisdom of engaging in rapprochement with Iran.

The much anticipated Biden-Putin Summit held in Geneva was a caricature of the old Greek proverb; ‘the mountain laboured but produced a mouse.’ The summit produced more areas of divergence than convergence although the baby steps in search of strategic ways in which the two nuclear powers could, for sake of peaceful co-existence, try to establish ‘a stable and predictable relationship’ could turn out to be a ‘hard road to travel’ in light of domestic politics and the mood of the US Congress towards Russia.

The ‘glimpses of confidence’ seen by the Russian President in terms of Russia-US relations should be viewed in the context of a new narrative introduced regarding global politics where some see autocracies co-existing alongside democracies.

China will not disappear

nor will the USA. The two socio-economic systems they represent will continue to compete and under conditions of peaceful coexistence the two systems will prevail. The debate regarding which side will win will continue, but hopefully, the name tags associated with different social systems such as autocracies versus democracies, reminiscent of the Cold War era will become something of the past.

Of great significance is the tremendous advances made in space exploration by the United States and China.

It is reasonable to expect that future generations will be the principal beneficiaries of what can turn out to be unimaginable discoveries that neither Michelangelo, Copernicus or even Karl Marx ever imagined.

But while we continue with life on earth, greater efforts must be made to find global solutions to the 26 million refugees world-wide, the 690 million who suffer from hunger, the 842 million who face starvation, the 247 million drug users, the 800,000 men, women and children trafficked every year, the 185.8 million unemployed world-wide, the hundreds of terrorists organisations spread across many countries, the threats of global warming and the 0.4 percent of people in poor countries who are yet to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.

Yours truly, Clement J. Rohee

Tuesday June 22, 2021

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Kaieteur News

On oil and COVID-19, there must be good sense and not political polarisation DEAR EDITOR, I’ve listened to the debate related to the recent batch of Sputnik V Russian made vaccine. First, be reminded by letters published in the media, I congratulated the Ministry of Health for what I described as the excellent work being done related to this important life-saving question of COVID-19 vaccine and recommended as I now do again that all citizens go to be vaccinated.

I’ve read statements and letters and I’m saddened that Guyana and its leaders seem unimmunised against our pandemic of stubbornness and stupidity. I have publicly said that, on the questions of oil and COVID-19, that good sense and a genuine interest

in the welfare and lives of all Guyanese that these two issues should be delinked from our punishing political polarisation.

My pleas and those of others have fallen on deaf ears. It is the duty of the sitting government to set aside posturing and petty differences to invite the Opposition, Religious organisations and authentic civil society to a round table confab to come up with an agreed agenda and Modus Operandi in dealing with these two issues, oil and COVID-19.

I am saddened by the spat between the Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister and Chairman of CARICOM, Dr. Keith Rowley and Dr. Ramsammy, Ministry of

Health.

The intemperance and unnecessary salvos by both sides must have caused the founding fathers of CARICOM anguish and to turn in their graves. An underlying understanding was that when there are differences, as there must be, in every human relationship, we must sit and talk.

Let us sit and talk before making destructive and unnecessary public statements, as one leader said ‘stop being like yard fowls.’

Have CARICOM Leaders lost that spirit of kinship and affection which characterised the initiative and spirit of Dickinson Bay 1965? Next, if at the sitting of Parliament when simple questions,

forthright answers were given, this troubling situation could have been avoided.

For me, the high cost of the vaccines is not the major issue, once there is no exorbitance; you can’t measure the health and wellbeing of citizens on dollars.

Second, traditionally the main Parties in Guyana (PPP and PNC), to the best of my knowledge have postindependence, enjoyed a comfortable relationship with what was then the USSR. I recall the efforts I was requested to make to assist with the establishment of the Russian Embassy in a building once owned by Peter D’Aguiar, to the north of Georgetown.

In those circumstances, a joint approach to the Russian

Dr. Ashni Singh and anti-corruption prospects DEAR EDITOR, The article titled, “Ashni unfolds effective anticorruption program” (KN June 20) refers to the coverage of the Hon. Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, and his address at the UN. My comments follow.

I admit awe at the mental gymnastics gracing the construction of that title; it relays the mischief afoot, and the cosmetics that add gloss to anti-corruption claims. I agree the man with this weighty title, and responsibilities still mysterious, is wellcredentialed, brings much to the table. But it would comfort to know what he has delivered beyond words, other than the usual party voice and all for one public practices now well enshrined.

I believe that the likes of Dr. Ashni could make worlds of difference here, but only if they (and he) truly stand up for people and country first, and not for leader alone and always.

For sure, this good Guyanese with all the imaginary responsibilities attached to his portfolio, can speak with aplomb before

international audiences about anti-corruption programmes. Public postures are cheap, accompanying words the cheapest. For the learned Senior Minister to pretend that the very subjects of which he was reported to speak “drugs…money laundering” have not flourished under his government and leaders, both prior and present, says so much. The good doctor, according to KN, outlined that “Guyana could look forward…to achieving pride of place as one of the world’s least corrupt societies.” I must hand it to him: the man is either a better pretender, dodger, dreamer, or joker than any we have had around here in historical and living memory. A special medal

should be cast for him, and for doing the dirty job before the international community with a straight face. What an emissary! One almost as saintly in carriage and delivery as a Mother Teresa, while the big fellows run their rackets with smirk and wink.

Editor, his leaders have been about blanket secrecy on the things that matter to the people of this country, its major sources of wealth, and the Senior Minister makes this astounding claim about Guyana on the way to being “one of the world’s least corrupt societies.” I must remember to seek insights from the good doctor on what potion he favours, that creates such mirages. For magic it is, when his masters deceive the Guyanese public

about natural resources business. And conceal from them any of the vital information that they need to know. And rise up craftily in calculated defense of the foreigners, the Cossacks, who run wild here and pillage the valuable properties of this nation. The shadow finance man should know that Guyanese are still waiting for his chief (the real finance man) to tell one straight story on anything where big money is in the mix. Reality collides with rhetoric. Again. I am amazed that this supposedly consumer-oriented article could have partnered with the blind encomia lavished with what is a disservice to a still expectant society.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

Ambassador, supported by both sides in Parliament would have been easier and avoided distrust by engaging middle men from an Arab country and Norway. The alleged character of these middle men has been call in to question.

Last week, I had my second shot and the present administration deserves to be complimented on the efforts managed so far to protect and save lives of many Guyanese and again I publicly congratulate the Minister and his staff for doing a fine job. The Ministry must know that among citizens there exist a degree of skepticism on this question of the various types of vaccines and therefore, political perspicacity should demand that there should be openness and transparency to enhance, not reduce public confidence in the process.

It is not too late, but the Government’s side must display statesmanship and take the initiative to involve the Opposition. The Opposition on the other hand must be equally gracious to respond positively and with alacrity to any positive initiative by the Honourable Minister. The same approach must be taken with oil. Perhaps, our younger political leaders on all sides, who never tasted the bitterness, bite and brutality of

imperial machinations, slavery, indentureship and the Cold War may not recognise that the colonisers did not depart when we hoisted the Golden Arrowhead on the 26th of May, 1966 and the same goes for Trinidad and all the other CARICOM countries.

I hope and pray that both sides of our political divide will dismount their horses of selfrighteousness and arrogance and engage each other as equals.

Editor, this is the only recipe that will allow us to diminish the influence of the colonisers and allow this group of political leaders to bequeath our children, grandchildren and great-great grandchildren, a country that is great, a country where the environment is protected and therefore green. A country where our moral rudder leads to glory and goodness.

For if we don’t act together, on this matter by the time the next Election, half of their supporters would have been buried. COVID- 19 is serious business and not a matter to be dealt with by those who represent half of the population. We need a holistic and wholesome approach for success.

Yours truly, Hamilton Green

PAGE 6

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

The City administration is taking convenient positions on disciplining in which the officer stated that they have to defer to the statutes whilst thumbing their suggested that the body was drainage workers they the Council, did not have Commission to have sluice noses at the Commission. The trying to dictate to the staff DEAR EDITOR, The citizens of Georgetown have now been forced to accept and abide by the dreadful fact that once there is rainfall in the city for a few minutes or more, several wards in our capital become flooded. This is in spite of all of the assistance that the central government has been giving to the Georgetown Municipality both in terms of money and machinery.

The Government has been desilting a number of canals, purchasing and installing new pumps around the city. They have been fixing existing pumps, repairing kokers that have been damaged and putting the services of their Engineers at the disposal of the Council.

So one can only understand how disappointing it was for them when they have been visiting the pump stations and sluice facilities lately during the rainy

season in our capital only to find the pump operators and sluice attendants either sleeping on the job, inebriated or missing in action from their work sites which results in koker doors being left closed when they should be opened, and the pumps turned off when they should be running. As a natural sequel to this the Local Government Commission formally requested of an administrator of the Council to advise what actions have been taken against Pump Operators and Sluice Attendants for their failure to execute their duties.

They should have also enquired about action was taken against the drainage supervisors and engineers of the City Council Alas, I must say that I was gob smacked at the egregious, impudent and obtuse response that was provided by that Administrative Officer to the Secretary to the Commission,

the power to discipline pump operators and sluice attendants, or anyone else and so they were awaiting the commission to do it.

The question I have to ask is since when? The Council has hired hundreds of persons without the involvement of the Commission, heads of departments have suspended and dismissed dozens of employees without even consulting the Council let alone the Commission. The Human Resources Department has promoted many, many persons and put them at the top of their salary scales without consulting the Commission.

The administrators have awarded themselves all sorts of perks and benefits without consulting the Commission.

They have created all sorts of new positions and departments without consulting the Commission.

How convenient it is now that

attendants and pump operators disciplined. Indeed, the Council is well known to ignore several diktats of the Commission and behave in a manner that suggests that they are above the law This is a clear aberration of the law and a self-serving attempt to misquote the

pump operators and sluice attendants fall well below the band of employees that have to be disciplined by the LGC. Ironically this was followed by the Mayor saying that the Local Government Commission had not the authority to instruct the Officer of the council and

of the Mayor of City Council.

Another question I would like the Commission to ask the Council, was whether they have been issuing long boots, rain coats, gloves, reflective vests and other safety gear to their employees Yours truly, Magagula Jackson

NY Guyanese urged to vote in Tuesday’s primary election DEAR EDITOR, New York City-based Guyanese are urged to vote on Tuesday June 22 in the primary election for the city’s Mayoral, Boros President, City Council, judgeships, and other Citywide posts. Polls open at 6 AM and close at 9 PM. The primary election selects the candidate (nominee) who will represent a party in the General Election the first Tuesday in November. Only party members (those who are registered as a member of a party) can vote in the primary within their party to choose the nominee.

Most Guyanese are registered as members of the Democratic Party. The Republican Party also holds Primary to select its nominee for various posts.

A dozen candidates are seeking the Democratic Party nomination for Mayor. A candidate must garner over fifty percent of the votes in order to win the party’s nomination for any post. Since New York is largely a Democratic city, the Democratic nominee of the June 22 Primary is likely to become Mayor in November.

Opinion polls suggest no candidate is likely to garner 50% of the votes in the primary for the Democratic nomination. In the past, there was a run off between the top two candidates. This year’s Primary has ranked choice voting of candidates for all positions.

Voters can rank up to five choices on the ballot for any post. In the rank choice system, no vote goes to waste and every vote helps to determine the winner. If no candidate gets 50% in the first rank choice, then the second and other rank choice kicks in to determine which candidate crosses the 50% threshold.

According to the latest opinion poll, Eric Adams, an African American, is the front runner as

he has been over the last four months with some 23% first rank support, followed by Kathryn Garcia, a Hispanic/White American, with 16% and others trailing. An analysis conducted by a newspaper a month ago suggests the Brooklyn Boro President, Eric Adams, would win the nomination with 52% when various ranked choices are added. He was closely followed by Andrew Yang, a Chinese American, with 48%. Since then, Kathryn Garcia, has moved up in the polls and was almost neck and neck with Adams as the first rank choice two weeks ago. She also has a very good chance of winning the nomination with the varied rankings. Yang has slipped in support as has Scott Stringer, a Jewish American, who led the poll a few months back. A few days ago, Yang and Garcia announced they will team up and made joint appearances. Yang has encouraged his supporters to vote for Garcia as second choice and vice versa. It appears that the race is shaping up as a contest between Adams and Garcia.

Guyanese Americans, Indo-Caribbean and South Asian from Queens and other groups around the city have endorsed Adams. This writer has also written favourably for Adams who has made several visits to Richmond Hill over the last few months seeking support.

Adams has political experience, leadership, and vision to lead the city. Garcia served as Sanitation Commissioner. Adams served as an Assemblyman and Boro President for almost eight years. Other posts are also up for grabs including Boro Presidents and City Council seats. Several Guyanese and Caribbean nationals are in the fray. Guyanese are urged to come out and vote!

Yours truly Vishnu Bisram

The right-sizing of GuySuCo was a Cabinet decision, not based on Board proposals DEAR EDITOR, I pen this brief response to Mr. Jamil Changlee’s letter (KN Thursday June 17, 2021) captioned, “Claim that WPA was not responsible for estates closure was ludicrous.” When I read the letter my first impression was it came from the PPP/C letter writing “factory/unit” and should be ignored.

I also noted that the letter writer refused to identify me by name for reasons best known to him. But when Freddie Kissoon in his column, “Who has a neck on whom: False narratives can mislead innocent people,” sought shelter under Changlee’s porous umbrella I decided to respond.

My understanding of polemics is you engage what is said or written and you do so within a given context established by the speaker or the writer. Mr. Jamil Changlee’s attempt to paint me a liar violated this basic principle of civilised discourse. Kissoon contended that Clive Thomas closed down GuySuCo which is a fallacy since the corporation was never closed down. I ignore this obviously false statement and instead I briefly focus on Kissoon’s following remark: “5,500 sugar workers were dismissed and

28,000 Indian families were put on the bread line.” Objectively, this can only be a reference to the closure of the two Berbice estates Rose Hall and Skeldon, and Enmore in Demerara. It was this point raised by Kissoon I was addressing - not the closure of the Wales Estate, (in 2016) which Changlee deliberately added to the discourse to make his point. If the polemic was about the closure of Wales estate there would have been no response from me; doing so would be pointless.

Having made this necessary clarification, I stand by the position stated in my June 16, 2021 letter. I will add that the proposals for the right-sizing of GuySuCo operations put to the cabinet by the Thomas-led board were not accepted and what followed was the Cabinet initiative, not the GuySuCo Board’s plan that was holistic and addressed the short and long term interest of the industry, and its workers/ families and their communities. In closing, I must say that I deliberately refuse to engage the other aspects of Mr. Jamil Changlee’s letter since they were not relevant to the polemic, and just an opportunistic attack on the WPA. Yours truly, Tacuma Ogunseye

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BL TLUNT.. UNT...B BL Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

People are more security conscious these days; just about every other home is outfitted with CCTV cameras. Added to this, there are many persons with smart phones at the ready to record the least of misdemeanours.

Our psyches are battered daily with a deluge of criminal activities caught on camera that are posted to social media platforms. Because of the consistency of these transgressions it would seem that there is an organised criminal unit, with countrywide reach, taking advantage of hapless citizens.

We cannot allow our nation to descent into utter disorder!

Mr. Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie, isn't it about time that we hear about a REAL plan to combat the prevailing spate of crime we are witnessing every day?

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Bisram files Notice of Appeal to CCJ - says Appeal Court erred in decision to send him back for trial

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n his Notice of Appeal (NoA) to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), accused murderer, Marcus Bisram, is arguing that the Appeal Court erred in its decision to send him back to the Magistrate's court to be committed to stand a full trial.

Bisram's lawyers are asking the CCJ to set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal.

The request was made three weeks after the Guyana Appellate Court ruled that the Guyanese-American who is known for his philanthropic efforts will have to undergo a trial for the 2016 murder of Berbice carpenter, Faiyaz Narinedatt.

The CCJ has since suspended the Appeal Court's ruling until it hears and determines the case.

In the interim, the Regional Court has ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, not to take steps to arrest Bisram.

The CCJ, nonetheless, ordered Bisram to lodge his passport with the Registrar of the High Court and report to the Divisional Police Commander in Berbice every Monday until the case concludes. According to the document seen by this newspaper, the NOA was filed on behalf of Bisram by his legal team consisting of

attorneys Dharshan Ramdhanie, QC, Arudranauth Gossai, Sanjeev Datadin and Dexter Todd.

Among other things, Bisram's lawyers argued that the Court of Appeal erred in law when it found that “the procedure set out in Section 72 of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act Cap. 10.01 was not followed by the DPP but still held that discretion she exercised was valid and lawful.”

The lawyers contended that the Court of Appeal erred when it concluded that there was sufficient evidence against Bisram based on the credibility of “a single witness” stating that it was still a matter for the jury, when

the evidence of that witness was the only evidence against the accused and that witness even recanted his testimony and admitted that his evidence was not true.

The lawyers noted too that the Appeal Court erred in failing to recognise that as a court in judicial review proceedings, it was duty bound to assess and determine whether the Magistrate's decision, and equally the decision of the High Court Judge, were respectively reasonable and rational when the two judicial officers ruled that the evidence against Bisram was insufficient to commit him to stand trial.

In their estimation, the lawyers noted that, “the Court of Appeal committed an equal error when it failed to recognise that as a court in judicial review proceedings, it was duty bound to assess

Accused: Marcus Bisram and determine whether the Director of Public Prosecution's decision, was reasonable and rational.”

Particularly, the NOA filed by the lawyers specifies, “the Court of Appeal erred when it held that in directing a

Magistrate to commit an accused person under Section 72(2) of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act Cap. 10.01 was not an act in breach of the Constitutional separation of powers doctrine and specifically Article 122 A of the Constitution.

Further, the lawyers claimed that the Appeal Court erred when it failed to find that the DPP's action was an act constituting an improper interference with the independence of the judiciary.

In the circumstances, the lawyers are seeking orders to reverse and/or set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal made on May 31, 2021 and an order that Section 72 of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act Cap. 10:01 is unconstitutional in view of Article 122 A (1) of the constitution of the Republic of Guyana.

After chopping, perpetrators leave victim at shop to be rescued

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erwin Grant, a 38 year-old pork knocker, is now hospitalised at the Bartica Hospital after he was brutally chopped about his body with a cutlass by two male suspects who, afterwards, took him to a shop to be rescued. The incident, according to police, occurred Saturday at approximately 21:30hrs in the Balami Backdam, Cuyuni River, Region Seven.

Kaieteur News understands that sometime during the month of June 2021, the victim visited Grampy's shop in the Balami Backdam where he consumed several alcoholic

beverages. He reportedly paid with one pennyweight of raw gold equivalent to $15,000 and did not collect any change.

The victim alleged that on Saturday, June 19, 2021, he went back to the shop to make another purchase and when payment was requested, he indicated that he was still owed by the shop.

This resulted in an exchange of words and he subsequently left. Not long after, while the victim was walking on the road, the two suspects attacked him from behind. They chopped him about his body with a cutlass causing him to receive a deep

laceration to his right shoulder, two deep lacerations to his left hand and right knee and four severed fingers.

This publication understands that after the suspects inflicted the injuries to the pork knocker, they left him lying on the road side but subsequently returned with a mattress, picked him up and took him to Akeem's shop at Sand Hill Landing.

The victim was later transported to the Bartica Hospital where he was admitted in a serious condition. No arrest has thus far been made but according to police, an investigation is ongoing.

Driver who stopped to cool off engine, loses cash and bus

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f t e r a n overheating problem, a man decided to park his bus at the side of the road only to be robbed of cash and the bus by armed bandits.

Police revealed that the 25-year-old driver of an orange and black Toyota pitbull bus, bearing number plate BWW 1914, told police that at 21:00hrs Sunday, the minibus was overheating while in the vicinity of Swan Village, Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

As a result, the man told police that he pulled to the left side of the said highway, which was reportedly void of lights, for the bus to cool off.

The man reported that after five minutes, he observed a dark-coloured car pull up behind his bus and two men exited.

The men, he informed, ran up to the driver's side of the bus and one of them pulled out a black handgun from his pants waist and pointed it towards the bus driver.

The driver told police that he was then pulled out of the bus and searched and the sum of $20,000 was stolen from him.

The suspects also drove away with the minibus which, according to the driver, has a value of $2,980,000.

The victim said that he then went to the Kuru Kururu Police Outpost where he made a report.

According to police, an investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

ADDICTS OF VITRIOL W

hat is your addiction?

Most of us are addicted or in some ways attached to something or the other.

Not all the additions may be bad. Some persons are addicted to helping other people. Some are addicted to keeping their surroundings clean. Some are addicted to smiling and being friendly.

Some are addicted to singing. Some are hooked on sports. Some love nature and bird-watching.

But there are other forms of addiction that can present problems. They may not always be bad but they can also eventually become terminal and acute.

An example of one type of addiction is substance addiction. For some it is drugs, for others it is alcohol, and yet often unrecognised for others, it can be cigarette smoking. Often these additions begin as casual usage.

Then the user eventually begins to use these substances more regularly.

Eventually, they get caught on these substances and often do not recognise their dependence and attachment to them.

There are, of course, other types of addictions.

Some people are addicted to substances while others have a proclivity towards certain forms of behaviour and this addiction can be just as dangerous as addiction to substances.

For example, there are persons who are addicted to

Dem

boys seh...

I

t appears as if de Pee N See falling apart.

But dem boys experienced enough fuh know dat one and two resignations can hardly affect dem big parties. As Burnham used to say: another one gan tek meh place.

But is not only de Pee N See gat problems. De Pee Pee Pee also gat problems.

Nuff of dem party supporters bin hoping fuh get big wuk.

But dem finding it hard fuh get fuh see dem leader fuh

gambling, others to womanising; others to more deviant behaviour. These persons need help also. They suffer just as much, and their suffering is often just as recognised as those who abuse substances.

There is also a more dangerous addition in Guyana. It is the addiction towards vitriol. There are persons in Guyana who need their daily doses of vitriol.

They need to indulge in their daily medication of antigovernment vitriol. If they do not read, hear or blog something against the government, they often find themselves in serious distress.

Some of them suffer so much that if anyone dares s a y s o m e t h i n g complimentary of the government or says something that is perceived as critical of the opposition, it throws these addicts into a fit. They cannot control themselves and often are unable to offer any intelligent rebuttal, find themselves in a fit whenever they perceive even the slightest of praises for the government.

E a c h d a y, t h e s e individuals have to go to the sources of the news and commentaries to get their “high”. If they don't, they end up walking around restless and grumpy.

When they do not receive satisfactory amounts of vitriol, these persons can end up becoming extremely bitter and anxious.

There are varying

degrees of this “addiction” and varying reaction to triggers. Often, if someone takes a position in contradiction to the addict, that person ends up facing the wrath of the addict's tongue.

These addicts need help.

Even if they continue to receive their daily doses of vitriol, they will continue to suffer and deteriorate. They need help but are often unwilling to accept that they are ill and they should seek assistance.

These persons are on both sides of the political divide and also in all ideological categories. They support all kinds of political parties; they can be communist or socialist and they are often intolerant towards criticism.

Whichever political party wins general elections usually have to address many problems including the problems of its citizens.

But it should at least also try to address the problems of those persons who suffer so much each day, who cannot exist unless they receive their daily dose of vitriol.

The government must be sympathetic to these individuals even though some of them may not be supporters of the government. They have to try to find a way of weaning these persons off of their addiction. Please help them!

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

Dem Party gat problems! put in dem application.

Nuff people does tun up at dem Minister office hoping fuh ask fuh job fuh demselves or dem children.

And nuff time dem Secretary does tell dem people how de Minister very busy.

And dem people does read sense from nonsense and know dat de Minister nah want see dem because be nah want help dem. But is not dat de Minister nah want help dem. Is dat if he help one he gan gat to help another. And de government already overstaffed.

But some people does be

lucky. Dem does be lining up fuh wuk even before de elections.

It mek dem boys remember de story of de man who gave he application to a Minister in de hope of landing a big wuk.

De Minister read it and ask de man “Why is there a four-year gap in your a p p l i c a t i o n ? ” De man responded, “Yale.”

De Minister hired him on de spot and de guy blurted out, “Thanks. I needed a job.”

Talk half and hope yuh lucky fuh find wuk!

PAGE 09

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday June 22, 2021

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Norman Brown, Alissa Trotz, David Hinds: Too little, too late O

ne of the more principled, morally focused Black voices in Guyanese politics is UK based activist, Norman Brown. It is these kinds of folks in the African G uy a n e s e c o m m u n i t y, including Walter Rodney's brother, Donald, Timothy Jonas, Asha Kissoon, Ruel Johnson, among others that can help to birth a renaissances movement in the politics of the African Guyanese community.

Here is what I surmise Brown is thinking about when he reflects on leaders in the APNU+AFC. It goes like this, “Why tell me about what the PPP is doing now when you had a chance for five years to correct it?” Brown if I read him correctly is spot on.

Here is what Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine told his interviewer in 2017, “What we inherited from the PPP was a mess. We have to do a

lot of reconstruction in the country.”

Roopnaraine and his APNU+AFC colleagues created more mess after they came to power. Under Dr. Roopnaraine's portfolio of education, the government approved of the worst Vice Chancellor (VC) the University of Guyana (UG) ever had.

Under that VC's tenure more money was spent on travel, entertainment and non-essentials than under any previous VC. The invitations for the inauguration of VC Ivelaw Griffith cost $10 million to print.

Brown had an interview with Dr. Alissa Trotz, former consultant to Dr. Roopnaraine when he was Minister of Education (she wrote the preface for his book) and here is what Dr. Trotz said.

Before I quote her a warning is in order; do not drink hot coffee on reading what Dr. Trotz uttered, the spilt hot

liquid can burn you. She told Brown the March 2020 election was “an attempt to fraudulently engineer for itself another term in power on the part of the APNU+AFC.” From the December noconfidence motion (NCV) in 2018 to June 2021, Trotz who edits a weekly item in the Stabroek News titled, “In The Diaspora,” never carried at least one article on the NCV or the March 2020 rigged election. Does one see that as an oversight? It is not. To say in June 2021 that the election was rigged shows the kind of person Trotz is. Only this lady and her editor at Stabroek News can explain why “In The Diaspora” never looked analytically at the NCV and the five months of electoral fraud.

Well, Norman Brown asked David Hinds to comment on what Trotz intoned. What Trotz said also included her observation that

even under the APNU+AFC coalition, Walter Rodney's rehabilitation was ignored and she noted that WPA was part of the government.

Now here is another warning not to hold a cup of boiling coffee on reading this.

David said to Norman, “I agree with everything she said. You expect me to disagree with her?” If you think this is a distortion of what David uttered please contact me for the tape at fredkissoon@yahoo.com.

When Hinds comes on, the audio becomes noisy but the first part of his answer is very clear. He did say (in fairness to him) that he is still waiting for everything to come in relation to the March election before he can make an assessment. Exactly what is he waiting on? But this is millions of miles away from his definitive rejection of the PPP's victory and his inflexible refusal and that of his mentor, Eusi Kwayana,

to acknowledge the fraud Mingo and Lowenfield were Frederick Kissoon perpetuating on the Guyanese people. entities.

This fraud was shown to the I am saying that if any of world using the same the six persons named above technology David utilises explain to the Guyanese every day to communicate people why for the five years live from Arizona to Guyana. the WPA was part of the Now that he has agreed government, it never put on with Trotz that under the Cabinet's agenda the need to APNU regime, Rodney's o f f i c i a l l y r e c o g n i s e legacy was not recognised, he Rodney's legacy, then I lose. and his acolytes in the WPA If between now and the rest have to explain why the six of 2021, there is no such W PA b i g w i g s i n t h e explanation, then you have government – Drs. Maurice to buy me a new model of my Odle, Clive Thomas, Rupert 2015 Vitz.

Roopnaraine and Tacuma This is one bet that O g u n s e y e , D e s m o n d cannot be scientifically lost.

Tr o t m a n a n d Ta b h i t a Those betrayers of Walter Sarabo-Halley – never put Rodney will never, never Rodney on the government's e x p l a i n t h e W P A ' s agenda. sycophantic surrender to So what is your bet? I am David Granger. betting my Vitz car which I (The views expressed in will hand over to a neutral this article are those of the actor, maybe the Stabroek author and do not necessarily News, FITUG, the Bar reflect the opinions of this Association and similar newspaper.)

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Tuesday June 22, 2021

$628M set aside for Essequibo school, 2 tractors and water ambulance F

ollowing the signing of a multimillion dollar contract last Saturday, the long overdue construction of the Abram Zuil Secondary School will finally commence in a matter of weeks. A total of $628 million was allocated for the school and two other contracts.

Reports reaching Kaieteur News indicate that $585 million will go towards the construction of the school while $12 million has been allocated for the procurement of two [fourwheel] drive tractors. The remainder of the sum will be expended on a water ambulance for the Region's Health Department.

Kaieteur News understands that each contract will fulfil a tremendous role in the Region's development. The Abram Zuil Secondary School contract, for instance, has been long overdue. According to reports it has been pending since 2019 when the final designs were prepared and presented.

It was revealed earlier this year, during a presentation by the E&A Consultants Inc. that construction will commence this year. It was at this presentation that plans and

The proposed design for the Abram Zuil Secondary School designs of the proposed school were also presented.

Kaieteur News was told that the school will be a double-flat 'E' shaped building, with the capacity of housing some 750 students.

The building will be constructed with a science laboratory, a cafeteria, a multi-purpose hall, and several fully air-conditioned offices.

T h e R e g i o n a l Vi c e Chairman of Region Two, Humace Oodit, said that the contract has been awarded to Rakesh Samaroo of Builders Hardware and General Supplies, and should commence in the next two weeks.

Oodit revealed too that in the meantime, relocation to the Johanna Cecelia Secondary will be on-going.

Once completed, the old school building will be demolished, paving the way for the construction of the new building.

Meanwhile, it was noted that patients who require emergency medical attention in Region Four are often air dashed out of Region Two or are transported via the ferry.

To alleviate this challenge, the water ambulance for the Region is being procured.

Kaieteur News was told that the vessel will be equipped with all the necessities to meet a patient's needs.

T h e R e g i o n a l Vi c e Chairman commented further on the usage of the vessel saying, “the water ambulance will ply from Parika to Supenaam. Not every time the boat schedule might be suitable for when

Goedverwagting man kills wife during fight

A

50-year-old woman is now dead after her reputed husband hacked her to death during a fight sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. The dead woman has been identified a s S a s k i a P e r e i r a o f We s t R o a d , Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, and her killer, who is in police custody, has been identified as 59-year-old Samuel Daniels of the same address.

This publication understands that Pereira's motionless body with multiple bruises and stab wounds was discovered on Monday morning after police went and checked the couple's home. This was following a report that Daniels and Pereira were involved in a fight.

According to a police report, between 20:00hrs on Sunday and 08:20hrs on Monday, Daniels and Pereira were involved in a fight.

After Pereira's body was discovered, she was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

After Daniels told the police that Pereira inflicted injuries on him, he was seen and examined by a doctor before he was placed in custody. The police report further stated that crime scene investigators retrieved a knife with suspected bloodstains from the couple's home. Pereira's body is presently at the Lyken

we need to get our patients to Georgetown, and the next thing, s ometimes , the ambulance may be in Georgetown transporting one patient, and then another

patient here in the Region needs the same service… so the boat will be equipped with bed and oxygen and everything else just like an ambulance.”

Kaieteur News understands too that the two John Deere tractors will be added to the Region's existing fleet of agricultural machinery.

Birthday party brawl leaves one dead

A

23-year-old man was killed following a brawl that took place on Saturday at a birthday party held in Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, Georgetown. Police have identified the man as Kwal Dindon.

Dindon died on Sunday around 14:00hrs at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) while receiving treatment for a stab wound to the left side of his upper back.

Detectives have managed to arrest a 21-yearold suspect who they believe stabbed Dindon.

Two of Dindon's friends who had witnessed the

stabbing were also taken into police custody to assist with the investigations into the murder.

According to a police report, Dindon and his two friends had attended the birthday party in Sandy Babb Street during the evening hours of Saturday.

The eyewitnesses told investigators that during the celebration, a brawl erupted between Dindon and the suspect.

They reportedly started arguing with each other and Dindon allegedly pushed the suspect to the ground.

The suspect reportedly ran away but Dindon armed himself with a piece of wood

and, accompanied by his two friends, gave chase.

Investigators were further told that they eventually caught up with the suspect and began beating him with the wood.

Police reports stated that the suspect retaliated by pulling out a knife and stabbing Dindon to his back.

Eyewitnesses recounted seeing Dindon running into a nearby yard where he collapsed and remained motionless.

An ambulance was called to the scene and Dindon was rushed to the GPHC where he underwent an emergency surgery but succumbed hours later.

Two in custody after stealing and butchering cow

T

Dead: Saskia Pereira Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem examination, as the investigation into the murder continues.

While speaking with this publication, a resident in the Goedverwagting area related that the couple was in the habit of fighting each other. The resident stated that the couple would usually come out and hang out at the Plaisance Market, an area where most people were familiar with them.

wo out of three men, who were reportedly involved in the stealing and butchering of a cow between June 15 and 19, 2021, are currently in police custody.

According to a police report, the incident occurred in the South Rupununi. The cow, which was branded AVC2 and reportedly worth $100,000, was released into the savannah by the Achawib Village vacquero cowboy to graze. The cow, according to police, belonged to the Achawib Village Council.

T h e c o w b o y, u p o n visiting the cow, discovered

that the animal was missing.

Further observation then led him to the tracks of three horses leading out from the missing cow's location.

The tracks were apparently trailing the cow and the direction of the tracks pointed towards a ranch belonging to a woman by the name of Arlene Duncan.

A s e a r c h w a s subsequently conducted by the officials of the Achawib Village Council but only the hide, head and hooves of the cow were left behind in the savannah. The three suspects, two of whom are

from Achawib Village and the other from Karaudarnau Village, South Rupununi, are known within the village.

Acting upon information received, police were able to contact and question one of the suspects about the act.

The suspect reportedly claimed that it was the other two who slaughtered the cow before shipping the carcass to Lethem.

He and one of his accomplices were apprehended by the Village Council before being handed over to the police. An investigation has been launched.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

PAGE 13

Bosai distances self from flooding in Region 10 - residents say company is the cause T

he BOSAI Minerals Group is distancing itself from the flooding in East Montgomery Mines in Region 10 despite residents' claims that it is responsible.

Over 100 houses were affected by the flooding in the area of Three Friends Mines, Maria Elizabeth and Coomacka.

Kaieteur News understands that the management of BOSAI was made aware of the severe flooding Thursday night and a senior representative from the Mines' operation was sent to the location to have a firsthand look at the situation.

On Friday, June 18, 2021, the BOSAI management team did a further investigation in the affected areas in an attempt to determine the cause of the flooding.

BOSAI's Public Relations Officer (PRO), Vanessa Mitchell Davis, related in a voice note, that a team from the Ministry of Public works visited the company's operations and was shown the extent of BOSAI's property and the discharge of its drainage pumps into the environment.

The team, the PRO noted, expressed satisfaction and had even stated that BOSAI is not the cause of the flooding.

She further stated that based on observations made by the BOSAI management t e a m o n F r i d a y, t h e Ministry's team was taken to the blue lake which represents a previously mined out area, located outside of BOSAI's western property boundary.

These photographs show the water level and the drain that was dug to channel the water off of the residents' lands. (Photos courtesy of Region 10 - Regional Chairman, Deron Adams)

Davis additionally revealed that the mined out area is bordered to the east by a plot of land generally known as the “rehab area” that belongs to the Linmine Secretariat, where the old bucket wheel excavators and large working draglines were parked and subsequently dismantled as scrap iron.

The mined out area, she said, has an outlet drain that leads to the much

larger Yari Yari Bow mined out area located to the south. The Yari Yari Bow mined out area has an outlet to the Demerara River, situated under the bridge of the road leading to one of the affected communities.

Based on observations at the Linmine Secretariat, t h e o u t l e t d r a i n was blocked and bridged to provide access to the Linmine Secretariat Rehab Site where remnants of

scrap materials were still present.

Investigations within the area showed too that there were water stains around the perimeter of the mined out area which showed the height that the water rose, currently estimated at over 15 feet.

It is suspected that this water resulted in a tsunami effect in the Yari Yari Bow mined out area which overwhelmed the excessive

flow of water into the Three Friends Mines.

Davis indicated that BOSAI is committed to rendering all necessary assistance in the form of equipment and materials to assist in remedial work in the affected communities and is willing to work along with all the relevant stakeholders.

However, this publication was informed by the Regional Chairman of Region 10, Deron Adams,

Two feared dead in Takatu River mishap

T

he search is on for two persons who are now feared dead following a boat mishap in the Takatu River in Region Nine on Friday.

According to a police report, cops are investigating the disappearance of 38-yearold, Walleta Rigby, a businesswoman of Blueberry Hill, Wismar, Linden, and an unknown Brazilian national after they went down in the Takatu River when a small wooden

boat in which they were travelling in, was involved in a mishap.

Around 05:30hrs. on the day in question, the businesswoman along with her female friend, who has been identified as Shaunette Gonsalves of Lethem, Central Rupununi, had crossed the Takatu Bridge and went to Bonfim, Brazil, to purchase Brazilian products.

After making their purchases, the two women then boarded a small

wooden boat, which was being captained by the missing Brazilian national, off the coast of Brazil, and they began crossing the Takatu River.

Whilst crossing the Takatu River heading to Guyana's shore, the boat capsized, reportedly due to the weight and heavy current flow, causing Rigby and the captain to go underwater.

The report further stated that Gonsalves managed to grab onto a nearby tree branch that was hanging

over the water and upon checking, she did not notice the boat, the captain or Rigby.

A d d i t i o n a l l y, o n Saturday at about 06:00hrs, while Gonsalves was still hanging onto the said branch, she noticed two unknown men passing in a boat and she raised an alarm and was rescued by them.

She then went to the Lethem Police Station and made a report of the incident.

Kaieteur News

understands that police had carried out searches at 11:00hrs. and 14:30hrs. on Saturday in the vicinity of where the boat had capsized in the Takatu River but Rigby and the captain were not found, since, according to police, the current flow of the water was moving at a speed of 40 miles per hour (mph) in the eastern direction.

According to police too, further checks are being made as the investigation continues.

that the water receded after the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority dug a four feet drain Saturday morning to channel the remaining water off of the residents' lands.

Despite making commitments to contribute to the work being done in the affected areas, BOSAI is yet to contribute to any work being done.

Last year January, the Environmental Protection Agency was forced to halt production and other operations done by BOSAI following a breach in its tailings pond which resulted in several houses being flooded with red bauxitetype waste water, which is considered to be harmful to humans.

Due to that infraction, BOSAI was fined $1 million by the agency. At the said time, that was the second sanction imposed on the bauxite company in one month, the first dating back to December 24, 2019 when the company was immediately charged for discharging waste into the Kara Kara Creek.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

Tuesday June 22, 2021

One dead, Regal injects $3.5M into flood relief four injured in Stewartville accident

Telesha Ousman (centre) along with Imran Ally (left) and Deputy Director General of the CDC, Major Loring Benons, at the handing over at the Muslim Youth Organisation on Woolford Avenue, Georgetown. (DPI photo)

T

he prolonged rainy season has l e d t o countrywide flooding, now classified as a Level Two disaster. The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has been distributing food, sanitisation and pharmaceutical hampers throughout the country and has called on members of the public to donate supplies to help the cause.

To this end, Guyana's leading distributor of janitorial items, stationery products, office and home furnishing, Regal Stationery and Computer Centre, has answered the call. The business group with head office at 69 Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, recently handed over $3.5M in cleaning supplies and other items to help citizens recover from the devastating

effects of the flood. The donation to the CDC a c c u m u l a t e d t o approximately 530 cases of hand soaps, hand sanitisers, disinfectant sprays and multipurpose surface cleaners.

The handing over was done by Manager of Regal Business Group, Telesha Ousman, who noted that the donation is to help fellow Guyanese recover quickly

and safely from the effects of the flood. Ousman further noted that another donation will be done directly to the residents and farmers of Region Five.

Regal Stationery and Computer Centre, Regal Décor, Regal Sports and the Regal cricket teams have been involved in regular acts of kindness including their annual Christmas hampers distribution, toys and stationery to children, sporting goods for outstanding or budding athletes and most recently a financial donation to the Bal Nivas Shelter for Abused Children and for the completion of the Dharmic Rama Krishna Primary School.

It is the vision of Directors of the Regal Business Group, Ramnarine Krishna Hardyal and Mahendra Anil Hardyal, to see citizens have equal opportunities to live in comfort in their homes. The Hardyals said that they are pleased to assist the CDC and the government in their relief efforts and insisted that Regal is open to extending a helping hand where needed.

A

c a r crash t h a t occurred yesterday, around 14:30hrs, a l o n g t h e Stewartville Public Road, West Coast Demerara (WCD), has left one person dead and four others injured.

According to a police report, the victims have been identified as the driver of the car, Anthony Ralph, 33, of Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and four Ve n e z u e l a n nationals who were reportedly travelling with him.

One of the Ve n e z u e l a n nationals, 20-yearold Alejandra Dead: Brazon, was killed on Alejandra the spot while the Brazon others, Kataleena, Alexandra and 22year-old Urelis of the car and into a nearby Gonsalves, were left severely injured.

Police trench.

The driver and the stated that all of the Ve n e z u e l a n s w i t h t h e occupants of the vehicle were exception of Gonsalves were picked up by public spirited citizens in an unconscious residents of Stewartville.

Region Three traffic state and rushed to the investigators reported that the Leonora Cottage Hospital car was proceeding east along where they were seen and the northern side of the road examined by a doctor on when Ralph reportedly duty. Alejandra Brazon was undertook another motor car. pronounced dead on arrival At the said time, he lost while the others were later control of the vehicle and r e f e r r e d t o t h e We s t collided with a utility post Demerara Regional Hospital located on the parapet of the and admitted as patients in a stable condition. northern side of the road.

The body of the deceased According to surveillance footage, the vehicle's left side was escorted to the Ezekiel was facing the pole before the Funeral Parlour where it is impact. After contact, the car awaiting a post mortem was split in two causing the e x a m i n a t i o n . A n passengers to be thrown out investigation is ongoing.

The rear of the vehicle that was involved in the crash (Credit: Joseph Allen.)

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

COVID-19 claims lives of two Region Four residents

T

wo persons, who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus disease and died on Sunday are the country's latest fatalities. According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, the two persons who died are a 57-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man both from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

As a result of this, the country's COVID19 death toll has now moved to 449.

Further, the Health Ministry, via its daily COVID-19 dashboard, recorded 48 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of

confirmed cases to 19,144.

A breakdown of new cases per Region shows that Region Four leads with 26 new cases, Region Six with nine, Region Three with four, Region Seven with three and Regions Five, Nine and 10 with two each.

The dashboard also revealed that 18 patients are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 106 persons are in institutional isolation, 1,396 in home isolation and one person is in institutional quarantine. To date, a total of 17,175 recoveries have been recorded.

PAGE 15

PAGE 16

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

GAWU welcomes Govt.'s decision to further support sugar industry

SERVICES

LAND FOR SALE

Visa Application: U.S.A, Canada & UK; Graphics design, advertisements, Wedding arch rentals. Tel: 626-7040

One land for sale,Lot 251 Section 'C' Turkeyen.60 ft x 80 width with unfurnished property.Tel#627-7718.

Carmichael St, Mc Doom, La- Penitence, Qeenstown, Beterverwagting, Canal No.1, Soesdyke Highway, East Coast Contact Ray's Realty 627-9685.

FOR SALE

1 Boat Propeller 34" right hand pitch. Contact 6040342.

1 6 cyl Doosan Marine Engine, complete- gearbox, propeller & shaft 5 million neg Tel#627-8898 One black 2011 Toyota P r e m i o , $ 2 . 3 Million.Tel:686-7004.

1 Toyota Allion PWW Series $1.8M & 1 Honda CRV $3.2 negotiable.Contact 6490956 for more info.

Massey Ferguson Tractor( Foreign used). MF165$1.5M, MF 135-$1.1M, Pickup Ford Ranger-$1.1m, F150-$1.2M. 682-5230, 6154414.

FOR RENT

3 bedroom,fully furnished North & Oronoque St.Bourda bottom flat.Contact 226-7012,6240041.

Fully furnish apt, one bedroom,two bedroom & three bedroom.Providence and diamond.Call:6046664,216-2299.

Business: South Road, Saffon, Hadfield, Wellington, North Rd, Residene: Meadow Bank, North Ruimveldt Ray's Realty 627-9685.

PROPERTY FOR SALE

8 7 - E - A l b e r t St,Albertown,third building from Lamaha in Albert Street.

Price 24 Million(Land 82x20) negotiable.

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Contact Ray's Realty 6279685.

WANTED Wanted one experienced Gold Smith, Jacobs Jewellery and Pawn shop 16 Pike street Kitty Tel#622-4970

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) yesterday expressed its pleasure regarding the recent decision of the Government to further support the sugar industry.

The latest support amounts to $1.5 billion aggregates to $10.5 billion channelled to the industry since the new Government took office 10 months ago.

GAWU in a release stated that this is welcome news for an industry which had been starved of capital investment during the term of the Coalition and who, it appears, was intent on suffocating the industry to death.

GAWU highlighted the need to retool and revitalise the sugar cane factories and cane fields if the industry is WANTED One electrician to work. Call: 682-2971,617-7493.

1 Domestic worker, preferably from E.B.D, Monday to Friday 7:30AM to 2:00PM. Tel#696-1680/673-3260.

Wanted (2) experienced Welder/Fabricator. Contact Tel#222-3844.

Experienced Cooks and Servers,Cleaners, Handyman. Call:626-7285 to book interview.

Male able bodied sales representative.Contact Tel#227-3580 for more info.

Female sales representative experience in P.O.S system would be an asset.Contact Tel#227-3580.

Night guard between age 4060 years, from Liliendaal or Cummings Lodge area.Call# 688-2464.

Lorry driver, Factory work male & female.Apply in person to R.P Enterprise E.C.D. 220-2818/3710.

One cashier to work at Ice house,18yrs and older.Call: 223-7165.

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Must be able to fetch rice,flour & sugar. Tel#2239677.

One male able bodied clerk.

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Cook for the interior.

Call#687-7638/674-1767.

VACANCY

Room Attendant, Supervisors, Receptionist, 30-50 years old. 233 South Road Lacytown. Tel#225-2304.

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Male cleaner for a workshop.

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to reduce its cost of production as well as enhance and diversify its revenue base.

Recognising that some funding will be directed to the shuttered Rose Hall, Enmore and Skeldon estates as efforts are being made towards their re-opening, GAWU noted that Rose Hall is expected to commence operations in the second crop of 2022.

Skeldon too, it noted, will resume operations thereafter while Enmore is being geared to become a hub of employment along the East Coast of Demerara.

P r e s u m a b l y, G AW U noted, sugar will feature in

the new hub given the historical ties, availability of skilled labour, and the sunk costs incurred in converting several fields for mechanisation.

GAW U a d d i t i o n a l l y stated, “We recognise too that several of the usual suspects have lined up to denounce the support to the industry. In as much as we understand that they may not want the industry to succeed as it exposes their imprudent decisions, we cannot fathom the terms, slangs, and other language they use in their denunciations.”

The GAWU observed

too that some commentary had taken on “an ethnic slant which confounds it given Guyanese of all backgrounds are employed in the sugar industry.

Their actions and utterances demonstrate clearly to the sugar workers, and indeed all workers, who stand with them and those who stand against.”

In conclusion, GAWU expressed optimism that all monies made available by the State will be properly utilised in a prudent manner since “indeed, it can go a long way to alleviating and resolving several of the maladies the industry faces.”

Tuesday June 22, 2021

PAGE 17

Kaieteur News

Two receive life sentences for killing clothes vendor during ‘stick up’ at Craig Justice Sandil Kissoon imposed life sentences on two men who were on trial for the murder of Purcell Junior Moore, a clothes vendor, which occurred at Craig, East Bank Demerara. Moore was gunned down during a robbery at Craig Old Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD) in 2017.

Selwin Dawson, called “Crack Skull”, formerly of First Field, Kaneville, East Bank Demerara, and Kevin Persaud called “Boyce”, formerly of Fourteen Avenue, Diamond, EBD, had been charged with his murder.

The duo, who initially pleaded not guilty to murder, pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, before Justice Kissoon at the Georgetown High Court yesterday.

Before passing the sentence, Justice Kissoon directed the jury to return a

formal verdict of guilty in relation to the lesser count.

As such, Dawson, and Persaud were each sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum term of 15 years. On December 20, 2017, Moore, 40 was shot during the course of a robbery.

Reports revealed that the father of two was robbed of his gold chain and other jewellery.

The clothes vendor had reportedly just welcomed his third child into the world when he was gunned down, after being cornered by a group of men.

He sustained two gunshot wounds to the head during the attack, which occurred one street away from his mother’s home at Craig.

Reports are that the man had returned from French Guiana several weeks prior and may have been monitored

by his attackers.

The man had lived in Cayenne, French Guiana with his wife and two children, but came to Guyana for the birth of his son.

Moore was said to have been returning to his parents’ Lot 28 First Street, Craig residence from a shop when the suspects, one of whom was armed with a handgun, confronted him.

An argument reportedly erupted between Moore and the suspects and escalated into a scuffle, during which the individual with the gun discharged several rounds at Moore, shooting him in the right side of the chest before fleeing.

Moore was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police had arrested the suspects shortly after the shooting.

USAID and CARICOM Development Fund sign MoU to strengthen cooperation

Regional Representative, USAID/ESC, Clinton White (left), and CDF CEO, Rodinald Soomer, show signed copies of the MOU which provides a broad framework for cooperation between the two entities.

(US Embassy Guyana) The United States Agency for International Development/ Eastern and Southern Caribbean Mission (USAID/ ESC) and the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Monday, June 21. The signing of the MOU occurred at the offices of the CDF in Barbados.

The MOU provides a broad framework for cooperation between the two organisations and strengthening of institutional ties between them.

The MOU also serves as a basis for USAID and CDF to collaborate in the delivery of services to select member states of CARICOM, as the Caribbean seeks to forge closer economic integration within the framework of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Reaffirming the commitment of USAID, Regional

Representative USAID/ESC, Clinton White said, “In a region with enormous financing needs, a large youth population, and some of the highest priced energy in the world, among other development challenges, USAID is pleased to partner with the CDF to address these issues and build a better Caribbean for all.” CDF supports its member states through a framework known as the CARICOM Cohesion Policy and Country Assistance Programs (CAPs).

Under the MOU, activities will align with the CAPs and center on three broad themes: 1. Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Capacity amongst CARICOM Member States, 2.Improving access to Financing for Sector-Specific and Community-Level Infrastructure Projects and Medium Sized Enterprises, 3.Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship in the

CARICOM region.

Commenting on the signing of the MOU, CEO of CDF, Rodinald Soomer said, “This partnership with the USAID will add great value to CDF’s programs of support to disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors of CARICOM, by better enabling them to benefit from growth and development opportunities in the CSME, helping address the competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and boosting the sustainable energy and resilient infrastructure capacity of the region in the face of climate change.”

The United States and the Caribbean are a community with many shared values and interests.

Together, we can make communities more vibrant and expand economic opportunities in the Caribbean – we are neighbours, partners, friends.

Sentenced: Selwin Dawson, called “Crack Skull” and Kevin Persaud called “Boyce”.

PAGE 18

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Kaieteur News

Caribbean Airlines announces first quarter results, strategic restructure Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, June 21, 2021. Caribbean Airlines yesterday announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2021, recording a loss of TT$172.7m (US$25.7m) and a 75% decline in revenue, compared to the same period in 2020.

The losses follow a similar downturn in 2020, which saw an operating loss of TT$738m (US$109.2m) compared to operating profits for 2018 and 2019. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of operations at its base in Trinidad and Tobago, the airline has seen passenger numbers plummet,

and flight numbers reduced to less than 10% of normal operations.

Despite this, the airline continued to offer services on many of its routes and provided invaluable repatriation flights for Caribbean citizens. Given the financial impact of the pandemic, Caribbean Airlines

proactively reduced costs, and Q1 2021 expenses are down 52% compared to the same period in 2020. Further, the airline was kept afloat through a government guaranteed loan and a cash injection by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago totalling US$100 million.

The announcement that the borders of Trinidad and Tobago may soon reopen is welcome news, but all forecasts suggest that the recommencement of travel will not be in the same volumes as they were pre-COVID. Therefore, until air travel regains its pre-COVID momentum the airline will need to adjust its operations to cater for a reduced scale of demand after the opening of

the borders. Put simply, passenger demand in the short to medium term is not going to recover sufficiently to support the existing company structure after the reopening of the borders.

As a consequence, Caribbean Airlines is required to take further steps to ensure it has a sustainable business model for 2021 and beyond.

These steps include major cost reductions in all areas of the airline’s operations, specifically its human resource complement, its fleet and other assets, and its route network.

As part of the streamlining strategy, the number of jets in the fleet will be reduced, for the time being, over the course of 2021. Its route

network will also be adjusted to reflect the changing market.

In terms of employees, the airline has determined that 25% of its workforce or about 450 positions throughout its network is surplus to its current needs.

The Company will embark on consultation with the employees and other stakeholders, with respect to treating with this surplus labour situation.

Caribbean Airlines passenger and cargo services continue to operate, with all the latest flight details available on www.caribbeanairlines.com. The airline thanks its valued customers for their continued support.

ECTEL Announces the Winners of its Girls in ICT Day Contest ECTEL, Castries - Saint Lucia – 21st June 2021 – Three Caribbean girls who took the time to learn more about Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have been rewarded.

Malea Antoine, Mataellia Breen and Jasmine Dusauzay each won an Amazon Gift Card valued at US$100 for participating in a recent Girls in ICT Day follow up contest staged by the Eastern C a r i b b e a n Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Authority (ECTEL).

The contest formed part of ECTEL’s activities to mark the observance of Girls in ICT Day. According to the I n t e r n a t i o n a l Telecommunications Union, “While girls across the world tend to outperform boys in reading and writing skills, they continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)”.

This year it was observed under the theme, ‘Connected Girls, Creating Brighter Futures’, as such to build awareness about the gender digital divide, ECTEL partnered with four young women from the Eastern Caribbean who are thriving in the field of technology to stage a Virtual Tech Talk. This event attracted over four hundred (400) girls as well as boys from across the Caribbean. Here are some of the key takeaways from the inspirational speakers:

Melisha Toussaint from Dominica, an Assistant Engineer at the National Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Regulatory Commission (Dominica) reminded the participants from Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago among other countries, to be more curious and not to shy away from seeking meaningful mentorship. Janique-ka John from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Founder of the Women in Tech Caribbean Community and a Software Engineer in Brussels challenged the students to devise creative solutions to the world’s problems.

Meanwhile, Cheyenne Polius from Saint Lucia, the OECS Commission’s Representative – Outstanding Youth in Science reminded the students that the world was their oyster and that they can thrive in ICT even if they are from a small Caribbean country. Closing off the presentations was MindyLuquiana Chicot from Saint Lucia, who serves as the Communications Specialist with Allez Inc., a new tech startup rideshare company.

Ms. Chicot showed the possibilities of merging one’s passions with ICT to create solutions to issues such as transportation.

According to Ms. Polius: “The ECTEL Authority’s #GrilsInICT event is the kind of event I hope to see a lot more of in the region because

I think it is extremely important for Caribbean youth to see people who look like them in spaces that are not historically diverse.

Hearing the success stories of the presenters could help them realise that their dreams are within their reach. As a speaker, it was not only great to connect with Caribbean girls and boys but also to connect with the other inspiring speakers at the event. All-round, it was a truly rewarding experience!”

Following the event Caribbean girls were asked to share one main takeaway from each speaker as well as a photograph of them interacting with technology.

The Tech Talk can be seen in its entirety on our YouTube page: https://youtu.be/ 5cYSGbcwCwsor on our Facebook page:https:// fb.watch/6gCLQT32r7/.

To continue the conversation to encourage young people especially girls to take a greater interest in Technology, two Caribbean women will be the guests on ECTEL Bytes on Wednesday, June 23rd. ECTEL Bytes isa Facebook Live show which airs on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 2 p.m. EST. The guests are Jody Simpson a Solution Engineer at Google and Founder of Techports and Janique-ka John, one of our impressive Tech Talk speakers.

ECTEL is the regulatory body advising the NTRCs on Electronic Communications/ Telecommunications matters in its five member states of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

PAGE 19

Ministry looking at alternatives for North Ruimveldt School students to sit CSEC exams

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, with some students of the school yesterday

M

inister of Education, P r i y a Manickchand, yesterday met with parents and students of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School to discuss a way forward for students to write their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

On Saturday, sometime around 11:00hrs, the entire upper flat of the school was demolished by fire.

The section that was destroyed included the classrooms that were designated for use by students who are registered to write the CSEC exams.

According to a statement from the Ministry, at the meeting, four solutions were

arrived at, the first, which the majority of parents agreed to, is for the students to write their exams at the East Ruimveldt Secondary School and not have them use different locations.

The second suggestion is for students to be transported to another location and have government take responsibility for all related costs.

Thirdly, those present at the meeting agreed that the school's auditorium, which was not damaged by the fire, should be used for the exams.

Minister Manickchand told the parents and students that if the Ministry is given full clearance from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and the Guyana Power and

Light Inc. (GPL) to go ahead and use the auditorium, then it will be used. She added that if the space cannot be ready by Wednesday, then a decision will be taken as to where the exams will be held.

It was also agreed that if the exams cannot be facilitated at the school's auditorium, it should be written at a location such as the Cyril Potter College of Ed u catio n , th e P o lice O ff i c e r s M e s s o r t h e University of Guyana.

Manickchand, in pledging her Ministry's support to provide any needed psychosocial support to students and teachers during this time, encouraged the students to focus and do their best at their exams.

Man abducts lover, locks her up naked in bottom flat room

A

2 1 - y e a r- o l d m a n w a s arrested on Saturday after he allegedly abducted his 17-year-old girlfriend and locked her away naked in his apartment in West Canefield, East Canje, Berbice.

According to a police report, the suspect had visited the victim's home on Thursday last and an a rg u m e n t h a d e n s u e d between them over the teen being on social media.

The man, it was revealed, asked the young lady to delete her Facebook account but she refused. He then reportedly took away the teen's phone, broke it and threw it over a nearby fence.

The report further disclosed that the teen related to cops that the man had physically abused her after which he pulled out a knife from his bag and placed it to her neck. He then ordered her to exit her yard.

Fearful for her life, the victim said that she complied and they entered a taxi.

Additionally, the victim said that upon entering the taxi, she tried to signal the driver but her attempts proved futile. The man, she said, took her to his home and placed her in a room in the bottom flat.

The woman told police that while she was being held against her will, she was

naked. She said too that all of her pleas and attempts to leave were only met with threats of force from the man.

This publication understands that around 07:10 hrs. on Saturday, after hearing voices in the yard, the victim was able to push open the door of the room after which she ran into the yard screaming for help.

The suspect, upon noticing a commotion caused by curious residents who emerged after the woman's screams, made good his escape from the house.

The matter was reported to the police and the suspect was later arrested.

The North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary School that was burnt on Saturday “If there is something that drives you even further in this period, it must be that

the students, who wrote their CSEC the week after their school burnt down,

performed excellently. That must be what drives you,” she told the students.

PAGE 20

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Tuesday June 22, 2021

PAGE 21

Kaieteur News

Trayvon Bromell wins 100m; Keni Harrison finds redemption and trip to Tokyo

Trayvon Bromell, right, wins the Men’s 100 meters ahead of Noah Lyles the USATF Grand Prix at Hayward Field.

NBC Sports - Trayvon Bromell ran the secondfastest time in the world this year to win the men’s 100m at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Sunday night.

Who has the fastest?

Bromell, of course.

Just 15 days after running 9.77 seconds — the secondfastest time over the past six years — Bromell went 9.8 in the Olympic Trials final to continue building his case as the gold-medal favorite in Tokyo. The St. Petersburg, Florida, native turns 21 next month.

He will be joined in Japan

by Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley, who moved into Olympic medal contention as well with personal bests of 9.85 and 9.86 seconds, respectively.

Baker is now tied for

Tuesday June 22, 2021 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Today you could be hit with some exciting news, Aries.

This could involve new people or equipment coming onto the scene or an entirely new project or course of action that you'd never have dreamed of.

TAURUS (Apr. 20–May 20) Information that you receive from others and from within your own heart could compel you to participate in some ambitious projects, Taurus.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) You could meet some fascinating people, Gemini, and perhaps learn Earthshaking information that impacts your life. You might consider new lifestyle options.

CANCER(June21–July22) Group activities or social events in your neighborhood, if possible, could put you in touch with new and exciting people who eventually become friends, Cancer.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Today you could decide to attend a virtual workshop or social event involving people in a spiritual, metaphysical, or intellectual field.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) New information could come at you from all sides today, Scorpio. Books, magazines, TV, the Internet, and conversations are likely to bring exciting knowledge your way that reinforces some of your convictions.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Surprising news about your finances and the economy in general could cause you to feel confident and secure about your financial future.

CAPRI(Dec.22–Jan.19) Some fascinating new information, possibly spiritual or metaphysical, could come today from periodicals, TV, or the Internet. This could set you on a new course of study, Capricorn.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Have you wanted to move in a new direction, Leo? If so, this could be when you get the lead of a lifetime. You might receive unexpected information indicating possible new sources of income to pursue on your own.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Dreams and meditations could lead to insights about how best to handle your finances. Your intuition is very strong. Also, you could receive some surprising ideas from media sources.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Unusual circumstances could arise that change your creative orientation, Virgo. It's likely that they involve the gathering, sharing, and using of information. You may consider some unusual options that involve changing jobs.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) A small social event or group rally could put you in touch with some new, exciting people in interesting fields. You might run into an old friend you haven't seen in ages. An attractive new person could arrive on the scene.

second on the world-lead list with Marvin Bracy, who pulled up during the second semifinal and will miss out on an Olympic return, followed immediately by Kerley.

The next-fastest sprinter this year — who is not American — is South Africa’s Tlotliso Leotella, who ran 9.94 in mid-May. After accruing several Diamond League victories over his career and placing second at the 2018 U.S. outdoor championships, the 27-year-old Baker finally made his first U.S. outdoor team.

Kerley, 26, is the 2019 World bronze medalist at 400 meters, a distance he is known for and with which he also won the 2017 and 2019 U.S. titles, but surprised the track world by announcing one week ago that he scratched the 400m and would focus on the 100m and 200m in Eugene, Oregon, despite not having raced the 100m between 2015 and 2020.

Noah Lyles, the 2019 World champion at 200 meters who had aspirations of competing both distances in Tokyo, finished seventh in 10.05 seconds.

Justin Gatlin, the 2004 gold medalist and reigning World silver medalist, had hoped to make a fourth Olympic team at 39 years old but came in last after pulling up due to injury in the second half of the race.

Rounding out the 4x100m relay pool will be Kenny Bednarek, Micah Williams and Cravon Gillespie — all of whom make their Olympic debut with Baker and Kerley.

Also making a longawaited Olympic debut in Tokyo is hurdler Keni Harrison, who has been a gold-medal favorite for the past five years.

Harrison was sixth in the women’s 100m hurdles at the 2016 Olympic Trials, missing out on a team that went on to sweep the podium in Rio, but made headlines of her own just a few short weeks later.

On July 22, 2016, exactly two weeks before the Opening Ceremony, Harrison ran 12.2 seconds in the 100m hurdles and broke a world record that had stood since 198 No athlete other than Harrison has come within 0.1 of her world-record time since.

After winning three consecutive nationals titles and the 2019 World silver medal, Harrison finally had her shot at an Olympic team again and this time was victorious.

She ran a season’s best time of 12.47 seconds to lead 2016 Olympic champion Brianna McNeal (12.51)

a n d C h r i s t i n a Clemons (12.53).

Clemons joins Harrison on the Olympic team, while McNeal awaits the result of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Allyson Felix was second in the women’s 400m to make her fifth Olympic team, alongside fellow mother Quanera Hayes, who won the race, and Wadeline Jonathas.

The men’s 400m was won by 23-year-old Michael Norman, who ran the secondfastest time in the world this year at 44.07 seconds.

Norman’s 43.45 from April 2019 is the fastest time in the world since 2016.

Michael Cherry also set a season’s best time of 44.35 seconds.

World leader Randolph Ross, a 20-year-old who won the NCAA title for North Carolina A&T State University earlier this month in 43.85 seconds, was third.

In the field events, 2016 Olympian Rudy Winkler set an American record hammer throw of 82.71 meters to land on his second Olympic team. Daniel Haugh and Alex Young also had personal bests of 79.39 and 78.32

meters, respectively.

Keturah Orji sealed her Olympic return as well by winning the women’s triple jump with a meet record of 14.52 meters. Orji was fourth in Rio and could earn the U.S. its first women’s triple jump m e d a l .

T o r i Franklin and Jasmine Moore will compete at their first Olympics after jumps of 14.36 and 14.15, respectively.

Reigning World bronze m e d a l i s t Va s h t i Cunningham won the women’s high jump title after finishing runner-up in 2016.

She is the only women’s high jumper nominated to the Olympic team at this time as second- and third-place finishers I n i k a McPherson and Nicole Greene do not have the Olympic standard of 1.96 meters, which was also Cunningham’s winning height in Eugene.

In the men’s decathlon, winner Garrett Scantlin set a personal best of 8647 points, while Steven Bastien (8485) and Zach Ziemek (8471) also hit personal bests that met the Olympic standard and ensured they would join Scantlin in Tokyo. Ziemek was seventh in Rio.

Kaieteur News

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Raynauth Jeffrey at the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic

Romello Crawford wins Men Open Pro/Cat 1/2; Briton John ends 8th

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uyanese cyclists w e r e represented in

the numbers (young and old) on Sunday last at the 2021 Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic, New Yo r k ’s P r e m i e r e Professional/Amateur and Community Cycling event.

Reigning National Road Race champion, Romello Crawford (CRCA-JamisonCannondale) won the Men Open Pro/Cat 1/ 21:37:11.

Briton John (We Stand United/Burrowes Construction) rode well to end 8th, while Raynauth Jeffrey (CRCA/Foundation) placed 22nd and Michael A n t h o n y

(CRCA/Foundation) 29th.

Horace Burrowes (We Stand United/Burrowes Construction) and Johann B u r r o w e s ( We S t a n d United/Burrowes Construction) along with J a m a l J o h n (CRCA/Foundation) and Raymond Newton (We Stand United/Burrowes Construction) Newton did not finish this race. A total of 47 cyclists contested.

In the Men Masters 40+ event (5 laps around the circuit), Guyana’s two-time Olympian (1980/1984) 64 year-old James Joseph (We

Stand United/Burrowes Construction) placed 6th with Horace Burowes placing 8th out of 39 riders; seven (7) did not finish the event which was won by Jerry Kapko (47:32:00).

Johann Burrowes and Raymond Newton ended 22nd and 23rd, respectively.

The Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic races along the outer border of Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park (formerly and also named Mount Morris Park) which is located in the village of Harlem, in the New York City borough of Manhattan.

Michael Anthony at the HSCC

Johann Burrowes

Horace Burrowes (left) and Raymond Newton

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

PAGE 23

The GFF has released the names of their 23-man squad, Technical and Management Team.

GFF release Senior Men’s National Squad for Concacaf Gold Cup Prelims Head Coach Marcio Maximo yesterday named a 23-man squad for the Golden Jaguars’ Concacaf Gold Cup preliminary round qualification match against Guatemala.

The Golden Jaguars will face the Central American nation at 21:30hrs local time on Saturday, July 3 at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The winner of this

Sheldon Holder is back.

(Franklin Wilson photo)

first round qualification fixture will play either Guadeloupe or the Bahamas on July 6 for a place in the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup final competition.

The 2021 Gold Cup takes place between July 10 and August 1 at various venues across the United States. All remaining players on Guyana’s 60-man provisional tournament squad list will be placed on standby.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 24

Tuesday June 22, 2021

Keshav Maharaj hat-trick secures South Africa’s 2-0 sweep - Left-arm spinner takes 5 for 36 to dismiss WI for 165 in their chase of 324

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SPNcricinfo Keshav Maharaj took a hat-trick to help South Africa complete their first series win away from home in more than four years, since they beat New Zealand in March 2017. Maharaj is only the second South African to take a Test hat-trick and put South Africa’s result beyond doubt with a triple-strike in the morning session. They sealed the 2-0 result 33 minutes before tea. This is also South Africa’s first series win on the road under Mark Boucher and second in four series on Boucher’s time in charge, since December 2019.

After setting West Indies 324 runs to win the second Test and square the series, S o u t h A f r i c a ’s a t t a c k chipped away at their line-up and rarely allowed a batter to settle. Kagiso Rabada took

the first three wickets before Maharaj’s magic came in the 37th over, his eighth of the day, when he sent back Kieran Powell, Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva off successful deliveries. With Roston Chase unable to bat because a quad injury, South Africa only needed nine wickets to win the match, with Maharaj finishing with his seventh five-wicket haul of his Test career. As for West Indies, they have not won any of their last three home series.

Rabada and Anrich Nortje began proceedings on the fourth morning and immediately threatened.

Nortje almost bowled Kraigg Brathwaite with a delivery that the West Indian captain inside-edged just shy of the stumps and then lured Powell into a drive and beat him. But it was at the other end that the incisions were

made.

Brathwaite’s defence was breached when he came half-forward to defend a length ball from Rabada but only managed an outside edge. Dean Elgar took the catch at first slip to end a poor series for Brathwaite and a poor series for opening partnerships on the whole.

Brathwaite has managed 28 runs in four Tests, with a top score of 15, while the average opening stand across both teams is 8.14.

Only three series in the history of Test cricket have had lower averages for the opening stand.

Rabada kept up the fuller lengths but two overs later, held his length back against Shai Hope, who could not decide between ducking and fending and ended up lobbing the ball to Aiden Markram at second slip.

South Africa appealed and

then reviewed, with replays confirming Hope had gloved the ball. Rabada could have had two-in-two when he hit Kyle Mayers on the front pad with a full-toss and umpire Joel Wilson gave Mayers out l b w, b u t R a b a d a h a d overstepped.

Mayers went on to share a 64-run stand with Powell, the best in the match for West Indies, before top-edging an attempted pull off Rabada, which flew over the slips.

Elgar chased it and completed the catch.

Powell resisted almost alone from there. He brought up his fifty with an edge through third man and reached his highest Test score since October 2018, nine innings ago, but with his w i c k e t , We s t I n d i e s unravelled. Powell first swept Maharaj to Nortje at deep midwicket. Maharaj then had Holder caught by

Khemraj Mahadeo honoured as Walter Nero - Club and DTV 8 host first ever David Father of the year by RHTYSC Rambarran Tribute to Fathers Programme

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he eleven cricket teams of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club last weekend honored one of their own, Khemraj Mahadeo as the Walter Nero Father of the Year 2021 as part of their massive Tribute to Fathers programme.

Mahadeo, a former national junior cricketer, is a long standing member of Guyana’s leading youth and sports club with over twenty four years of membership.

He is the father of two children and is a loving and dedicated parent, in addition to be a very successful businessman.

RHTYSC Asst Secretary/CEO Simon Naidu, who spearheaded the 2021 edition of the Walter Nero Memorial Tribute to Fathers programme, stated that Mahadeo was chosen because he was an inspiration and mentor to every young male in the club and also due to his determination to be the best parent to his two children.

The club, he stated, was very committed to making sure that every member understands that the role of been a parent is a God given opportunity that should be fulfilled and cherished.

RHTYSC Honorary member Gregory

Khemraj Mahadeo receives his award from Anthony Nero as the RHTYSC/ Walter Nero Father of the year.

Rambarran congratulated Mahadeo and urged him to continue to being a mentor to others and to share his experience with the younger generation of parents who might be struggling to fulfill their roles. Mahadeo noted that being a member of the club for most of his life had prepared him for the role of been a parent and he felt humbled to be honored by his peers, whom he considered as family.

The eleven teams also distributed close to two hundred food hampers under the Walter Nero Memorial Programme. Nero, was a close friend, mentor to the club and his five overseas based daughters - Sandra, Karen, Jackie, Theresa and Narcy have been sponsoring the programme in his memory for the last five years. Anthony Nero, speaking on behalf of the

family expressed gratitude to the RHTYSC for keeping his father’s memory alive and also hailed the outstanding work of club, which he stated has transformed the lives of countless persons across the A n c i e n t C o u n t y. H e congratulated Mahadeo on his well earned award and handed over his prize which included a framed certificate of excellence, medal of excellence and a collection of gifts.

Meanwhile, the teams also hosted their first ever c o u n t y w i d e f a t h e r ’s appreciation programme in association with long time partner DTV-8 to honuor three outstanding fathers.

Three parents received the RHTYSC/ David R a m b a r r a n Tr i b u t e t o Outstanding Fathers award.

The parents were selected after a county wide essay

competition organised by DTV 8. Those honoured were Ezra Minty, Adria Singh and Arvendra Sukhlal.

David Rambarran was the founder of the popular Television Station and was also a close friend / mentor of the club before his death.

The Rambarran family has maintained a close working relationship with the club over the years and Gregory Rambarran, the eldest of David sons serves as an advisor to the executives of the RHTYSC, MS. Gregory Rambarran speaking at the simple presentation ceremony at the station’s head office on Saturday last, expressed thanks to the cricket teams for honouring the memory of his father and also hailed the outstanding work of the club over the last thirty one years, which he stated is unmatched by any o t h e r o rg a n i s a t i o n i n Guyana. Each of the awardees received a special gift, a framed certificate and medal of excellence.

The eleven cricket teams of the RHTYSC are Poonai Pharmacy under 12 and 13, Farfan and Mendes Under 15, Bakewell Under 17 and Second Division, Pepsi Under 19 and Intermediate, Metro Females, Vitality Under 23, Namilco under 21 and First Division.

Keegan Petersen at short leg off his next ball to deepen West Indies’ troubles. And then came the icing on the cake, when Wiaan Mulder grabbed a one-handed chance at leg slip off a Da Silva fend.

West Indies went to lunch on 109 for 6, with only the lower order to come.

Kemar Roach and Jermaine Blackwood stayed together for 15.4 overs after the break, with Roach, in particular, playing some aggressive strokes during his 27.

Blackwood was the first to go when he pushed at an Ngidi delivery and got an edge that de Kock held on to after diving full length to his right. Three overs later, Roach holed out to long-on, off Maharaj, before Jayden Seales heaved across the line and was caught at deep square leg to finish off a memorable match for Maharaj. With the final wicket, Maharaj became the first South Africa spinner to take a five-wicket haul against West Indies.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday June 22, 2021

PAGE 25

Clubs in West Berbice, New Amsterdam/Canje, Lower - Danesh Challitar honoured as BCB Corentyne receive Grass Cutters Brian Ramphal Father of the Year 2021

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he Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) last week continued its historic Grounds Enhancement Programme by distributing a total of sixteen grass cutters to clubs in the West Berbice, New Amsterdam /Canje and Lower Corentyne areas. The BCB had earlier in June launched the special project by handing over five grass cutters to the Upper Corentyne Cricket Association as the pro active cricket board strives to expand its off the cricket field activities in the absence of cricket tournaments due to the covid 19 pandemic.

BCB President Hilbert Foster and Secretary Angela Haniff met with the clubs at three specially arranged ceremonies to hand over the cutters and to urge them to take proper care of the equipment. Noting that the board was investing heavily into their development, Foster stated that management at the club level needs to be more responsible and more accountable.

The Grass Enhancement project, the BCB President noted was in response to the regular complaint that clubs

BCB Father of the year Dhanesh Challitar receives his award from executives of the UCCA.

Sponsor Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh have no access to grass cutting equipment and most times were unable to properly prepare their venues. The BCB, he stated hopes to restart its cricket season in August after the

current rainy season is over and express confidence that the cutters would play a major role in assisting clubs to prepare for the start of the season.

He advised them that they have to share the cutters with other clubs and to make sure that they are used for the intended purpose and not for any private work. Among the clubs benefiting were Achievers CC, Bath CC, Cotton Tree CC, Bush Lot United, Edinburgh, East Bank Blazers, Tucber Park, Rose Hall Canje, Kendall Union, Whim, Port Mourant, RHTYSC, Fyrish and Kildonan.

The BCB has to date

Representatives of New Amsterdam /Canje clubs poses with BCB President Hilbert Foster and Secretary Angela Haniff. bought and shared out twenty one of the cutters and Foster committed to obtaining several more before the start of the season.

Special thanks were extended to overseas based donor Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh for his continued assistance to the BCB, Jason Sripal of J Supermarket and Kris Jagdeo for their assistance towards the project, the first of its kind in the history of the BCB. Meanwhile, the board continued its packed list of activities by honoring Dhanesh Challitar of the Upper Corentyne area as its Brian Ramphal Father of the Year 2021. Mr Challitar is

the father of a youth cricketer from the area and is highly respected for his outstanding work to develop the game in the Crab Wood Creek area.

Vice President of the UCCA, Sydney Jackman stated the sub association was very proud of the fact that both mother and father of the year awardees for the BCB were residents of the area and highlighted the emphasis that the board was placing in the development of cricket in Upper Corentyne.

He congratulated Challitar on his achievement and urged him to continue been a role model parent and mentor to every youth he works with. An emotional

Challitar stated that he was humbled to be honoured and committed himself to the continued development of the game in Berbice.

T h e g r e a t e s t achievement in life, he noted a man can achieve is to mould his children into productive members of society, while been their role model and mentor.

Executives of the UCCA led by President Dennis D’Andrade handed over the award which included a framed certificate of excellence, a medal of excellence and two special prizes. The programme was sponsored by long time BCB Sponsor Brian Ramphal.

GGA/Nexgen GA host successful coaching education session on Sunday

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Some of the players in action on Sunday last.

he torrential rains affecting Guyana stopped just long enough for the Guyana Golf Academy and Nexgen Golf Academy to host a coaching education session for beginners on Sunday last at Woolford Avenue.

Dozens of players came out by reservation to participate in the activities which commenced at 08:00hrs and it was a testament to the amazing grounds maintenance that allowed the youths to enjoy learning the game.

The relaxing setting was perfect for the youths who spent hours hitting hundreds of golf balls while dining on delicious meals as the sessions continued under lights until 20:00hrs.

They were given lessons on the basics of the game by established golfers.

Miguel Wong, one of the country’s Table Tennis Superstars and coach along with several members of the Guyana Table Tennis Team showed that their skills

extend beyond their selected sport. It is expected that further collaboration between different sporting disciplines will take place in the months ahead as meetings with various Association Presidents are set to take place.

As Vincent Sloot, head of the soon to be opened Ford dealership in Guyana and new golfer stated, “This facility has demonstrated that it caters to every age group, ethnicity, religion and gender, making it possible for the entire family to come out, participate and enjoy time together in a relaxing atmosphere with unparalleled service.”

Golf is one of the few sports that is fully covid-19 compliant and it has seen a tremendous growth in the number of persons taking part.

Munaf Arjune, one of the top golfers in the country shared his knowledge with the participants and said he is pleased with the turn out. “I

have seen some exciting young talent here and this augurs well for the growth of the sport.”

The interest in the sport has grown, mainly due to the dedicated efforts of the Guyana Golf Association President Aleem Hussain who has partnered with various Presidents of other Sporting Disciplines, the Ministry of Education Allied Arts Unit, and Regional Education District Officers over the past eight months.

These efforts have seen more than 5,000 children and new player get an opportunity to try golf for the first time with little or no expense due to the fact that the GGA provides access to the equipment for the majority of the participants.

To find out how you can improve your game or try the sport, you can stop by the Academy for a lesson or v i s i t t h e i r Facebook/Instagram page nexgengolfacademy for more information.