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22 Days after Elections...

Lawyers

Wednesday Edition March 25, 2020 - Vol. 15 No. 12

argue over Court’s

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Online readership yesterday 142,272

jurisdiction in recount case Guyana’s poorest will suffer the most if we lose recognition as a functional democracy SIGNS OF THE TIMES! - Yesu Persaud says in public plea to President Granger

CLOSED: Visitors to the Guyana National Library found the gates locked and the doors shut

For the first time in its 48 years of existence, the popular Quality Fast Foods and Bakery establishment has been forced to close its dining area, as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic

“Strong international condemnation” if Gov’t is sworn in on flawed results

- UK Foreign Secretary

Burglars who returned to India, population 1.3B, house after poisoning orders ‘complete’ dogs caught and beaten coronavirus lockdown

BLOOMBERG PAINTS GLOOMY ECONOMIC PICTURE OF GUYANA - says country's future as world's fastest-growing economy dims

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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Kaieteur News

22 Days after Elections...

Courts to hear Lawyers argue over Court’s urgent cases in wake of COVID-19 jurisdiction in recount case Twenty–two days after the Regional and General elections were held in Guyana, lawyers are continuing to argue before the High Court on issues related to an application filed against a recount.

The case to stop the recount was filed by APNU – AFC candidate Ulita Moore.

The matter is being heard by Justice Franklyn Holder at the High Court in Georgetown.

Yesterday, lawyers involved in the matter continued to present arguments over a request

by Leader of the Opposition People Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Bharrat Jagdeo for the Statements of Polls produced to Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield for the March 2, 2020 to be laid over to the Court.

The Court is hearing Jagdeo‘s application which was filed alongside that of Reaz Holladar, a private citizen in favour of the recount. The duo is being represented by a team of attorneys, including the Trinidad-based Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and PPP/C Executive member and Attorney -at- law Anil Nandlall.

Following a private hearing into the matter yesterday, Nandlall explained that Lowenfield’s Attorney, Neil Boston S.C had vigorously opposed his request for the production of the SOPs. Nandlall posited that the production of the SOPs would address the controversy over the results presented by Returning Officer for Region Four

Attorney-at-law, Anil Nandlall

Attorney-at-law, Mayo Robertson

Clairmont Mingo.

He stressed that it forms the basis of which all of the legal matters stem.

“If that is addressed then, there could be a quick solution to the entire issue. Instead, we see a strong resistance to our request from the parties representing the Chief Election Officer, who is supposed to be an impartial respondent in these proceedings.”

According to Nandlall, the applicant’s (Moore’s) lawyers raised the issue of whether the Court has jurisdiction to order the recounting of the statements of poll at this time.

As a result, he said that his team countered by raising issue of the court’s jurisdiction to hear the application by Moore.

According to Nandlall, the Court will now have to consider the issue of jurisdiction and rule on that point before it proceeds with the substantial aspect of the case.

In addition, Boston (Lowenfield’s Attorney), told reporters that the court granted the lawyers time to file submissions on the issue of jurisdiction. The written submissions are to be laid over by Thursday and the case will resume on Friday.

Last week, Justice Holder granted an interim injunction to put the recount process on hold.

The interim injunction granted to Moore restrains GECOM from setting aside or varying the declarations already made by the 10 electoral districts with any other documents or declarations, until the hearing and determination of the judicial review of the application.

Further, the interim injunction granted by Justice Holder, restrains GECOM from permitting or authorising “any person or persons to any agreement between the President of Guyana and the leader of the Opposition and

or any agreement between GECOM and the Caribbean Community or at all, to count or recount any ballots cast by electors at the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections until the hearing and determination of the judicial review application.”

“The interim decision also restrains the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, from submitting any report of the total votes cast for each List of Candidates pursuant to Section 96 (1) and (2) of the Representation of the People Act, save and except the votes counted and the information furnished by the Returning Officer under Section 84 (1) of the Representation of the People Act until the hearing and determination of the judicial review application filed herein.”

Attorneys Mayo Robertson and Roysdale Forde are representing the applicant.

Respondents to the court matter are GECOM, the Chairman of the Commission and the Chief Elections Officer.

GECOM was, prior to the injunction, scheduled to recount ballots in the elections following an agreement by President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

The decision for a recount was made following an intervention by the Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. Prior to the injunction by the Court, Mottley had provided a highlevel team to supervise the recount.

The Judiciary of Guyana has implemented several stringent measures to safeguard against the Coronavirus.

In a notice issued yesterday, Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Yonette Cummings-Edwards announced that all pending matters in Demerara, Georgetown and Berbice High Courts are adjourned until 20th April, 2020.

The notice highlighted that only urgent cases will be dealt with after the Presiding Judge determines the urgency of the matter.

With the exception of maintenance, domestic violence and related matters; all other cases in the magistrates’ court will be deferred to 20th April.

However, persons in custody along with prisoners’ matters will be heard as scheduled.

The notice stated that persons paying or collecting ‘child support’ are advised that the various collecting offices will be working as per normal.

The opening of the Demerara Criminal Assizes for April is postponed for one month.

“Jurors will be advised via the media when they would be required to attend court,” the statement read.

The Chancellor stated that attendance in court will be limited to attorneys-at-law, litigants and witnesses.

“It will be for the presiding judge or magistrate

to determine whether and when any such persons should attend court, if necessary. The judge or magistrate will decide who will be accommodated in court, given the need for social distancing.”

The notice also stated that emails, telephone conference calls, Zoom/Skype and other related technology will be utilised to minimise “in person” attendance at Court and hearings of cases.

‘In person’ hearings are permitted, but the protocols in relation to social distancing must be followed.

“Only attorneys-at-law, persons/litigants and witnesses connected with the matter will be allowed to enter the Court yard and/or court room. Distance of at least three feet must be maintained between persons.”

Bail applications and Remand of Prisoners will be done via Skype, telephone conferencing or other electronic means.

Magistrates will be operating on a roster basis, sitting one day per week in each District. Attorneys-atlaw are encouraged to file matters only that they deem urgent at this time.

As it relates to provisions for journalists, the Chancellor in her notice explained that “media must choose senior press officers or press representatives to attend court and share information when covering cases rather than having all media houses present in Court.”

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Kaieteur News

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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

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

EDITORIAL

The problem with messengers It is a timeless problem, a serious concern for those blessed (or burdened) with the responsibility to deliver. It is to deliver a heavy package that is not well received, looked upon angrily, and reacted to sharply, unsparingly. This is the plight and reality under which the messengers in Guyana function today.

A while back, messengers were an endangered species: if the message was unfavourable and far from what comforts, then the bringers and carriers of the news were taken care of in the worst way possible: they paid with their heads.

Currently, in Guyana, there are many more messengers, with an intrepid few from the population coming forward to contribute to the national conversation. Some are politically sponsored, but quite a few are self-appointed guardians of what they perceive to be a different and higher standard.

To do the latter in this society draws the wrath of local political gods, and they will come after the objectionable with considerable skills and tools. The objectionable are those who refuse to partner with their positions, for it is either their way, since no other way is tolerated or allowed.

Thus, the persistent parsing for truth and accuracy is dashed on the shoals of detestation and denigration, lost is the patient plodding towards a destination that reveals all, conceals none.

It is a demanding, thankless obligation that is embraced as a calling by engaged professionals or detached patriotic citizens. The trouble starts with any spirited standing for and insisting on the balance that just may lead to the irrepressible finality of truth. When such is embraced and followed, the furies are unleashed. They usually are in Guyana, when the influential do not get their way, do not get to tell, read, or hear the desired story that brooks no dissension. A while back Kaieteur News was made to feel the brunt of political raging. Of recent, a sister entity has encountered an almost identical fate. Like we said, it can be a stressful occupation, but it is not exchangeable, though tense, tough circumstances envelop.

Things have plummeted precipitously here, with the acrimonious and perilous representing the full-time norm.

The problem is that the existence of whatever controversial issue is under review still remains, and it probes for more space in which to be ventilated and to flourish.

Thus, the Guyanese formula that now dominates exhibits certain unmoving characteristics: the self-serving details are harnessed and cemented, the vocabulary customised to pound and conquer with one constant message: this is what it is, what it has to be, with no care for misrepresentation or probable error.

This is what is strengthened here daily during this tortured, nightmarish Elections Season. Those public messengers who beg to differ are pummeled first, then crushed later. It is a mandatory feature of those positioning for power, through brigades of dedicated agents. They are intent on suppressing any strand that is different from the one perfected. And when that falters, then there is resorting to distorting.

These are the unpatriotic priorities of those locked in bitter competition, who feel that they are losing ground, hence the need to act, if only to control the damage and make the problem go away. Instead the issue-always challenging, never less than sharply controversial-does not go away meekly or placidly, since there are those public messengers made of sterner stuff, who refuse to shrink before all that is delivered.

Savvy political pressures are crafted and inflicted, through the clever and the not so clean, in determined efforts to strangle into surrendering. There must be only one position, and the favoured strategy is to neutralise those who dare to present matters otherwise. The blatant history has been when people’s money is marshaled and misused time and again to quiet, to steer into kowtowing to the party line. The more nuanced tactic, done sophisticatedly, is to disrupt and crowd out other voices through unrelenting and remorseless approaches that favour only self.

When a giant like the Major General speaks, Guyanese should have the decency to listen DEAR EDITOR, I refer to recent letters and articles carried in the news, which seek to discredit the statement made by Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh on the GECOM fiasco, and his appeal to President Granger to help resolve this situation that is now an international embarrassment for Guyanese.

Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh is among the few people in this country who are stalwarts of development through environmental protection and conservation.

Unlike him, few can boast of having served Guyana with similar professionalism,

integrity and perhaps most importantly, impartiality.

Through his years of principled dedication to Guyana, he has earned the respect of his peers and likeminded professionals of calibre, who have come to value the credibility and balance of his expert opinion.

So when a giant like the Major General, who throughout his life remained apolitical, is forced to pronounce on the political situation of a country he has with his own hands helped to shape, Guyanese should have the decency and sense to listen.

Instead, we have a Stateowned media house

attempting to tarnish the reputation of Joe Singh, by relying on heavily-biased viewpoints, social commentators of no credible political grounding, and a highly disrespectful and juvenile letter.

The letter writer who claims to be enamoured with President Granger, should, instead of slandering Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh, demand accountability from GECOM and the Caretaker Government for the status of our Regional and General Elections.

The person should use his/her professional abilities to exert pressure on President Granger and those who seem

to cling wantonly to power, to uphold the Constitution and laws of Guyana.

The writer should also request on behalf of us all, why Caretaker President David Granger has chosen to remain complacent as GECOM continues to disgrace and insult the Guyanese electorate 23 days after we have cast our ballots.

But before all of this, the letter writer should perhaps strive to achieve the level of excellence and standard set

by Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh through years of hard work and devotion to Guyanese.

Sincerely, Anna Correia De Sá

Those COVID-19-related layoffs DEAR EDITOR, The COVID-19 pandemic has landed in Guyana with fatal consequences. There are 5 reported confirmed cases including one death. So far, the virus appears to be incubating. I’m hoping that it does not exhale with devastating and deadly effects like it did in China, Italy, Iran, Spain, the United States of America and other countries.

Since the untimely and uninvited arrival of the coronavirus in Guyana, there has been a multiplicity of reactions by the government, the private sector, numerous other groups and individuals. As a result, several economic, social, health, financial and other major issues have emerged. I will be unable to elaborate on all the issues due to the constraint of space.

However, I note that according to reports in the media, numerous employers have already started to lay off their workers and others are planning to do the same as they try to develop strategies and tactics to remain viable.

Reports indicated that one employer sent home some of his workers for 6 months, while others have laid off their employees for diverse periods.

No stimulus package or income replacement plan has emerged.

As activities unfold, the possibility of employers trampling on workers’ rights may be occasioned. The Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act Chapter 99:08 will come into play. It gives clear guidelines in relation to the layoff of workers. Section 14 (2) of the Act states, “No layoff under Section (1) shall exceed six

weeks”.

The protocol is that at the end of the six weeks, the employer will have to reemploy the workers or terminate their services with full severance pay. The principle is that you cannot ask an unwilling employer to employ a willing employee, but the employee is entitled to his full benefits.

As it relates to termination of employment, Section 12 (2) of the Act is very instructive. It states, “The employee is redundant under subsection (1) where in relation to his employer’s business where he is employed, his termination of employment is or is part of a reduction in the work force that is a direct result of (a) the modernisation, automation or mechanisation by the employer of all or part of the business. (b) the discontinuation by the employer to carry out all or part of the business. (c) the sale and the disposition by the employer of all or part of the business. (d) the reorganisation of the business by the employer to improve efficiency. (e) the impossibility or impracticability for the employer to carry in the business at its usual rate or level or all due to(1) a shortage of materials; (2) a mechanical breakdown; (3) a force majeure; or (4) an act of God; (f) a reduced operation in the employer’s business made necessary by economic conditions, including a lack of or changing markets, contraction in the volume of work or sales, reduced demands or surplus inventory.

This has been our malevolent politics; it now occupies pride of place as an inseparable aspect of our deceptive and sabotaging national culture. Elections provide time and occasion to showcase our grand talents to repress or repel what is considered unhelpful to political group vision and cause.

My information is that some employers in order to lay off their employees are seeking shelter under Section 13 (2) (e) 4- an act of God. Perhaps, history will repeat itself. I can vividly recall several years ago during heavy rain, a large number of utility poles fell.

The Government Minister at the time with the responsibility for the utility company, Guyana Power and Light, boldly remarked that the falling of the poles was, “an act of God.” There is no known cure for this deadly disease. It defies any one-shot solution to flatten its destructive curve. We are living in an unprecedented time.

Unprecedented time requires unprecedented actions.

Desperate time needs desperate

actions. We are all in it together.

Let us all be safe.

Wherever practicable, we must make use of our Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), employ other approved protective measures, and follow the medical and other advice given. When one’s house is burning, we should not worry about the cost of water being used to put out the fire. Let us all pray for divine intervention to restore the present frightening state of affairs in Guyana to normalcy. May God bless our beloved Guyana.

Yours faithfully Clinton Conway Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retired)

This would have been seen as a comedy if it weren’t so important DEAR EDITOR, Were it not of such importance for the health of our body-politic and the future of democracy in Guyana, the entire postelections day fiasco would have been regarded as nothing short of a comedy fit for the silver screen.

As it turned out, three weeks after the elections were held, there is still no official declaration of results, which puts this election in a category unmatched in the history of elections in Guyana.

Even during the dark period of rigged elections, results never took this long.

The blame has to be placed fully in the hands of the Guyana Elections Commission, which failed miserably to declare results for District Four in keeping with established protocols

and in conformity with the law.

Enough has been written and said about the travesty that took place with respect to the District Four count by the Returning Officer.

This could have been easily corrected had GECOM used its statutory powers to have the embattled Officer removed or have him announce the results in a fair and transparent process.

Instead, it employed all manner of machinations to frustrate the count.

The country awaits the ruling of the Court regarding the legality and constitutionality of the recount. In the meantime, the world is watching on if not laughing at us that something as elementary as a count of a relatively small number of votes remains in a state of limbo.

Hydar Ally

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Hammy Green is the last person that I would have expected this personal attack from DEAR EDITOR, My friend and long time political colleague, Hamilton Green, in a letter published in the State-owned Guyana Chronicle (21st March, 2020), says that “recent statements…of mine has been cause for worry and disbelief”. I know that the Chronicle will not publish my response and I ask, therefore, that the independent media do so.

It does not surprise me that Hammy, as is his right, will defend the interest, as he perceives them, of APNU+AFC, but I am appalled that he has descended to attacking me racially. Because I am of Portuguese descent, Hammy has suggested that I am somehow less entitled to speak my mind on national affairs than he is as a Guyanese of African descent.

Then, perhaps, we should all pack up and leave Guyana to its Indigenous people.

Of all the people that I have known well and respected throughout my, admittedly, long life, in and out of politics in Guyana, Hammy Green is the last that I would have expected to question who I am, as always first, a Guyanese.

It must be that when I served in the Cabinet alongside of Hammy for eight years under Forbes Burnham, I was a “good Guyanese Portuguese”.

It must be that when our country’s reputation was seriously threatened and under siege from the American media from the Jonestown massacre, when I was assigned by President Burnham to speak for Guyana in the US, on NBC’s Today Show hosted by Tom Brokaw, on the Walter Cronkite

Newscast and some other 20odd television interviews in the space of one week, I was a “good Guyanese Portuguese”.

It would not be lost on Hammy, who likes to recall the past, that while I was defending Guyana’s honour before the American media, our Minister of Information, Shirley Field-Ridley, his wife, at home, made herself totally unavailable to the international media.

It must be that when I joined Forbes Burnham’s delegation, at his invitation, on his first official visit to the US after Independence and helped write his first speech as Guyana’s Prime Minister to the Washington Women’s Press Club on 22nd July 1966, that I was “a good Guyanese Portuguese”. There is much more on that visit that I could relate.

It must be that when I compiled Burnham’s most critical speeches to tell his story with the assistance of Reynold Burrows, published as ‘A Destiny to Mould’ in 1970 by Longman Caribbean, and which remains the only major publication documenting his speeches and public statements from 1955-1969, I was “a good Guyanese Portuguese”.

It must be that when I came home from New York

and was appointed by President Desmond Hoyte to serve as the head of the Guyana Public Communications Agency and as his Special Advisor for three years, I was “a good Guyanese Portuguese”.

It must be, however, that now I speak out against an unvarnished, ugly and barefaced attempt to rig the election results, I have become “a bad Guyanese Portuguese”, according to Hammy, one with “disdain for certain ordinary folks” and with “deep-seated prejudices”.

No Hammy, I am the same man just speaking the truth, and the same man that I know you recently recommended to receive the Golden Arrow of Achievement.

Hammy refers me to the confrontation between Jonathan Yearwood (ANUG’s Observer) whom he describes as a “Portuguese - local white” (who happens to be Guyanese) and Carol Joseph whom he describes as “a small built Afro Guyanese female” and asks why not a word of condemnation from me.

I was there as an accredited Observer when Carol Joseph arrived at GECOM. She immediately, in a loud and exceedingly offensive tone, proceeded to direct the Returning Officer as to how he should be conducting the process. She

then proceeded to hurl insults and threats at the Local Observers and Party Agents in the room who sought to challenge the Returning Officer’s presentation of the count. I heard her threaten to stamp Yearwood in his mouth.

I had left the room when the incident between Yearwood and Joseph occurred. From the video I have seen, it appears that both of them are at fault and should have known better.

Hammy accuses me of “suggesting that APNU+AFC is trying to rig the elections”. I have not said that but, as Forbes Burnham often used to say, “who the cap fit let him pull the string”.

Hammy further cautions that I “should know that you don’t make statements of that kind without credible

evidence”. I was there at GECOM. What more credible evidence do I need than my own eyes and ears? I witnessed the GECOM Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, present a series of alleged numbers of votes recorded to each of the political parties from a spreadsheet, not the Statements of Poll, which bore no resemblance to the SoPs in the possession of the Observers and Party Agents present in the room.

When the Party Agents sought to point out the discrepancies, Mr. Mingo simply ignored them, his officers continuing with the count at a pace that was almost impossible to follow.

The Diplomatic Community and International Observers also in the room,

recognising that the pretence at following the Chief Justice’s (ag) directions to Mr. Mingo to resume the count from the SoPs had become a farce, left the room.

I left shortly after.

If Hammy and his APNU+AFC comrades need further credible evidence, I suggest they read the statement from the Commonwealth Observer Group to Guyana deployed here by Secretary General, Patricia Scotland, herself.

Hammy is pretty good at his history, but I must point out to him that the Melvilles and the Harts involved in the Rupununi uprising in 1969 were not of Portuguese descent. My brother, Martin Nascimento, who was a Captain in the GDF at the time, (Continued on page 6)

Letter to all Guyanese…

Dear Fellow Guyanese, There should be no impediment, legal or otherwise, to prevent the recount of the ballots using the Statements of Poll which were widely distributed on Election Day, 2nd March 2020.

The recount must be the primary demand of all Guyanese to demonstrate that we are all in favour to ensure the actual result is the one to be used to determine

who is elected to make up the next Government. None in their personal lives will be contented with the outcome of any breaches in the Law that affects them directly.

Why should it be different when the country faces that outcome?

After the legitimate winner forms the government, attention should immediately be on appropriate Election management and Constitutional upgrade.

These should not be left to Political Parties, but must be spearheaded by the PEOPLE. The political parties failed, or are reluctant, to bring about the much needed changes.

Guyanese cannot continue to embrace what Mr. Kwayana termed,’ duh fu duh nah obeah’.

Disregard for the laws of the country is not the way to go.

Yours respectfully, Faiyaz Alli

PAGE 6

Kaieteur News

Wednesday March 25, 2020

The WPA statement is an act of An Open Letter to the courage; the party must be applauded GECOM Chair and CEO – break the ice after the court rules

DEAR EDITOR, I wish to express my gratitude to the WPA for its statement on the stalled declaration of elections results (KN March 22). The party, known for its position against fraudulent elections since its formation led by Dr. Rodney during the late 1970s, is saluted for this latest statement on counting of the SOPs. The party is walking on the correct path of democracy. It has broken ranks with APNU Coalition partners for what the public say is right – let the ballots be counted correctly, irrespective of which party wins. It is the correct position, as was also taken by Justice For All. All forces must be committed to the varied concepts of democracy including the treasured idea that every vote counts in an election; there must be no rigging. So many individuals and organisations have called on the government and GECOM to respect the outcome of the elections. A verifiable declaration of the authentic results of the elections, as called for by the WPA, is most desirable to end

the stalemate in Guyana.

The WPA statement is an act of courage. The party must be applauded for taking this decision, albeit very late, to help find a solution to the electoral dilemma GECOM and the Coalition Government find themselves.

I recall that following the May 2015 elections, when PPP was challenging the count and reluctant to concede defeat, several prominent stalwarts like Swami Aksharananda, Ravi Dev, Baytoram Ramharack, Ryhaan Shah, and me called (in letters to the media) on the PPP to accept the result, allow for a transition, and attend the swearing in of whoever won the election. Similar statements are now being made, though late, from the other side as it pertains to this election.

The WPA was long praised for its role against rigged elections. Dr. David Hinds, an executive member, was arrested and spent time in jail for fighting for free and fair elections. He was a hero in the struggle for democracy.

I was looking forward for his statement (column in KN March 22) and that of the WPA, both of which were

long overdue.

Similar to what happened in 2015, now several prominent individuals, not the least being Ret’d Major General Joe Singh, Prof Clem Seecharan, lecturer Freddie Kissoon, Sir Shridath Ramphal, among others, have called for respect of the outcome of the vote.

It is noted that the WPA now breaks ranks from other partners in the ruling Coalition in demanding a verifiable count of the outcome of the elections. It is further noted that the Justice For All Party, Former Minister Dominic Gaskin, and others allied with the government are pointing out that the process used to declare a winner of Region 4 was deeply flawed.

Diplomats, observers, and media reporters made similar statements.

The authentic SOPs must use for tabulation to declare a winner. I urge President Granger to heed the call of the WPA and others to instruct GECOM forthwith to use the real SOPs in the presence of party agents and observers to tabulate the count for Region 4 and declare the real results.

Yours truly, Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Guyana must return to its initial values and principles DEAR EDITOR, I would like to thank one of our elders, Sir Shridath Ramphal, for reminding us of the values and principles upon which this nation was built for God knows that we have strayed, at times; we have even lost our way.

I sincerely trust that these values and principles upon which Guyana was built and are expressed in the preamble of our Constitution, will serve as our lighthouse and compass, to bring us back on course.

I would like to remind our leaders and citizens of yet another value; that we perhaps,

do not say often enough anymore, the National Pledge. ‘I pledge myself to honour always, the flag of Guyana and to be loyal to my country, to be obedient to the Laws of Guyana, to Love my fellow citizens and to dedicate my energies towards the happiness and prosperity of Guyana’.

We have become, for the most part, like wandering souls.

One young person asked me, ‘what are we fighting for, is it the elections and a winner to be declared?’ The question caused me to do some deep reflection.

Our young people want answers and to understand their role in the current and future Guyana.

My response to the question, what are we fighting

for? We are fighting for a deepening, broadening, widening, strengthening or our democracy and leadership. We are fighting to uphold the rule of law, as a principle upon which the nation is built. We are fighting for better quality leadership. We are fighting for better quality citizenry. We are fighting for change for the better.

We are fighting for more unity and inclusion. I sincerely believe that Guyana can be a strong leader in the region and internationally; but a word of advice from Sun Tzu, in his book ‘The Art of War’; the strength of the weak against the strong, is his integrity.

Finally, we are fighting for a nation that has integrity!

I end with the question from one of our young citizens, ‘what are we fighting for?’

Yours faithfully, Citizen Audreyanna Thomas

Dear Madam Singh and Mr. Lowenfield, I am humbly and respectfully writing this letter to you by means of the media because I am convinced that your voice can make a significant difference to bring clarity to the current narrative of the 2020 Elections.

I have huge respect and admiration for you Madam Singh, and I believe Mr. Lowenfield gave the nation a demonstration of his credibility at the 2015 Elections. However, it’s my considered opinion that both of you need to address the public on the contentious matter of Region Four Statements of Poll at the opportune time.

It is very interesting to observe what is happening via the television, radio, newspapers and social media as regards the true narrative of Guyana’s 2020 Elections. In the absence of the voice of the leadership of GECOM, the many and deliberate attempts to define, deny, disguise, distort or even declare the true story of the Elections, have driven us into a somewhat devilish, disagreeable and divisive state of affairs. Some people are still not sure what the true narrative of the 2020 Elections is but it is expected that you would know.

I believe what is urgently needed now is a confident and courageous declaration of the true narrative of the elections. This truth must come from the entity entrusted with the responsibility to oversee the conduct of free, fair, transparent and credible elections, the Guyana Elections Commission. And, this truth or true narrative should be delivered to us by the Chair and CEO of GECOM, without fear or favour.

Back in 2019, following the swearing in ceremony for you, Madam Singh, as Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, you said two very important things. Firstly, “My priorities are endeavouring to have free,

fair and transparent elections.” Secondly, “I believe in inclusivity and I will speak with everybody. And I don’t believe in people walking out when there is a disagreement. I believe in sitting down and resolving whatever the problem is.”

Subsequently, in January 2020 when some persons were claiming that over 6,000 house-to-house registrants were non-existent, you said that, and I quote “We have no evidence that” these new registrants “do not live at the addresses which they gave,” but “if anyone has any evidence that these are empty house lots, then bring the evidence.”

Consequently, Madam Chair, I respectfully enquire, is there any evidence of electoral fraud as regards Region Four Statements of Poll or votes tabulation?

Maybe there are things that you know that we don’t know. I don’t believe that you, Madam Chair, who said on Nomination’s Day that “I will not sell my integrity for all the oil in Guyana”, are a supporter or condoner of electoral fraud. Is this a case of: bring the evidence or do you have evidence that does not support the narrative of electoral fraud? It would appear so, because you have stood firm.

Further, on Friday February 28, 2020, Mr. Lowenfield, you told media operatives that a decision was made by GECOM to allow another team of election agents from the political

parties to accompany the Deputy Returning Officers (DROs) from their offices to uplift the statements of poll and boxes from presiding officers. This was to ensure there was utmost transparency in the electoral process.

Also, you said that the DROs would deliver the statements to the Returning Officers, who would in turn deliver those to the Chief Elections Officer. For that reason, I believe Mr. Lowenfield, you should be able to tell us the true story about the Region Four SOPs. Mr. Lowenfield some are saying that somebody is trying to steal the election. Is that true or false? I believe you are a man of strict integrity, and hence I am asking you to clear-the-air of apparent confusion and uncertainty on the matter as soon as appropriate.

Madam Chair and Brother CEO some have said, “silence implies consent.” But silence doesn’t always mean consent. For me, an argument from silence is inconclusive.

I would rather hear your narrative about the 2020 Elections and I suspect that many other persons want to hear your story. Your story is the most significant story to me, because I regard you both as credible officials.

In this election saga, you are the closest persons to the truth that we have when it comes to the credibility of the election. I am not accusing you Madam Chair and (Continued on page 21)

Hammy Green is...

From page 5 incidentally, was actively involved in putting down that contemptible rebellion. My brother also played a commanding role in defending Guyana against the Surinamese invasion at the New River Triangle.

I end by asking a simple question. If indeed the APNU+AFC believe that the declaration of the results in other Regions such as 3, 6 and 5, are questionable, then why

the resistance to holding a recount of all 10 Districts under the supervision of a Caribbean presence?

I feel certain that when a recount is held and the facts established, that my small part in seeking to defend what is right against what is wrong, will be vindicated and, hopefully, Hammy Green and I will resume our friendship.

Yours sincerely, Kit Nascimento

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Wednesday March 25, 2020

As Guyana initiates ‘isolation health care’ mode…

Doctor reminds persons with COVID-19 symptoms: ‘don’t visit health facilities; call hotlines”

By Sharmain Grainger ccording to data published by the World Health Organisation [WHO] (https:/ /www.who.int/docs/defaultsource/coronaviruse/situation-reports), as of yesterday, Guyana continued to have a total of five confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Since ministries of health across the world subscribe to the edicts of the WHO, it is recognised as an authority on all things health. Moreover, it is the daily updated WHO’s numbers that are accepted as the existing coronavirus state of affairs.

Perhaps ignorant to the forgoing, some people have expressed concern that the number of cases for Guyana on non-WHO online sites suggests the local number exceeds that reported by WHO by as much as 13.

When contacted for a response to this voiced concern, Public Relations and Health Promotions Officer within the Public Health Ministry, Mr. Terrence Esseboom,

A

insisted that WHO remains the sole authority on such matters.

This is since Ministries are expected to filter their actual confirmed cases directly to WHO which will not jeopardise its integrity to condone irregularities.

But the concerns are likely to continue to rage, especially since there is no guarantee, currently at least, that there are not a few more hosts of this virus walking the streets of Dear Land of Guyana.

It is not by chance this disease has been commanding the attention of the world and local health officials have more than an inkling of the gravity of the situation.

Speaking on Monday’s edition of Your Health Matters on Kaieteur Radio [99.1 & 99.5 FM], Dr. Tarik Davidson, Head of Paediatrics at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC], did not hide that there exists the possibility of more persons “walking around” already infected with the virus.

He was responding to a caller whose expressed suspicion that there may be more cases than the numbers being by published WHO. “It is possible that we have more than five cases

because we are not doing wide-spread testing, [but] what we haven’t seen is a number of patients coming to the health care facilities with symptoms of COVID-19 and requiring hospitalisation,” said Dr. Davidson aiming, it would seem, to spark some hope.

Continuing in the optimistic vein, Dr. Davidson disclosed that outside of the five laboratory- confirmed cases, “there are a number of per-

sons who are in self isolation either because they have been in contact with one of the five persons or they have exhibited signs and symptoms of COVID-19, and they have had positive travel his-

tories.”

Measures are also in place to deal with those persons who may have concerns about their coronavirus status.

Providing details, Dr. Davidson said, “even if you think you have coronavirus or you have symptoms that are in keeping with coronavirus, the recommendation is to call the [Public Health] Ministry’s hotline where a questionnaire will either be administered to you over the phone, or your contact information be taken and a health care worker is going to come and make an assessment.” [hotline numbers: 227-4986, 231-7490, 231-1166, 2267480, 624-9355, 624-6674, 624-3067] But according to the medical practitioner, “it is possible sometimes for persons to

think they are exposed when they don’t meet the criteria of being exposed.”

Being exposed boils down to being in contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, or if one recently visited a country that has confirmed cases of the disease.

Currently, the delivery of health care is tantamount to a turf war, the contenders being the country’s response and COVID-19. Although not yet in the heat of battle, like some countries are, Guyana has advertised a battle-ready stance to tame the threat of an epidemic.

This has enlisted what may seem to some as harsh measures, but the authorities are claiming to be driven by Solomon’s lyrical “there is a time for everything” notion.

COVID-19, of astounding contagion proportion, has upturned medical logics and instead of persons being encouraged to seek help at the nearest health facility, they are advised to stay home.

“We are advising persons NOT to visit the health care facilities because that entails you travelling in public, increasing the chance of spreading it to others and then you increase the chance of then spreading it to the health care workers,” was Dr. Davidson’s earnest appeal.

Symptoms consistent with the disease are not dissimilar from a cold or flu and therefore may include fever

Dr. Tarik Davidson, GPHC’s Head of Paediatrics and cough, later complimented by shortness of breath.

A victim’s account, aired by an international news outfit, of the manifestation of the virus suggests that it could begin with a “tingling sensation in the throat” and develop within a matter of days to pneumonia.

In addition to embracing good and regular hand-washing practices, the advice being echoed across the globe is social distancing, a feat that app[eared to be impossible to some.

Choosing to separate those infected from others is undoubtedly the single most tactical move that countries can embrace to combat this novel coronavirus.

Guyana, like many countries, is hoping to overcome this formidable foe, but according to Dr. Davidson, this cannot become a reality without adherence to restrictive measures that have been activated by way of a presidential order.

This has included clearance being given to limit the number of persons gathered socially, among other measures. Encouraging strict hygienic behaviour is another high ranking feature of the national response.

This was warranted Dr. Davidson said, because “coronavirus is droplet transmission”.

This, he said, means that if an infected person sneezes, coughs or any mucus from their respiratory tract leaves their body and enters the atmosphere, it is infectious thereby putting those within proximity at risk. Moreover the call for adherence is being emphasized.

The global count of COVID-19 cases, according to WHO, has surpassed 300,000 of which more than 14,000 have since been entered into respective countries’ register of deaths.

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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SOMETHING IS NOT BEING SAID Scientists either don’t know enough or they are not telling the public everything about the COVID 19 coronavirus. The rate at which this virus is spreading, judging from the number of positive cases, is unbelievable.

Any lingering doubts about infection numbers being inflated by poor or false tests results should be dismissed as conjecture. The death toll – yesterday, there were more than 2000 deaths – is way too high for the infection numbers to be over-

stated.

If anything, the infection numbers are understated since there may be many persons who are infected but not yet tested and there may be innumerable asymptomatic hosts that are passing on the virus to others.

The rate of contagion of this virus suggests strongly that it is also being transmitted by means other than what is being suggested – personto-person transmission and infection from droplets on surfaces. The rapid spread of the disease could possibly

mean that the virus is air borne and is not easily destroyed by climatic conditions. The scientific community, if they know must level with the world.

The American President has initially speculated that warmer weather would see a decline in the number of cases.

This could still happen but the corona virus is not like other viruses and even in countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia with temperatures like ours, have been affected by the virus.

Spring is supposed to

DEM BOYS SEH

DON’T WORRY ABOUT CLAUDETTE DE SINGER Dem boys ain’t worried too much about Claudette de Singer.

Dem boys believe dat everything dat dem seh suh far about ‘Claudette de Singer’ is an understatement.

She mek dem boys hand fall. Dem boys bin like she. Dem boys used to call she de ‘Iron Lady’. Now dem boys thinking ‘bout calling she de ‘Invisible Lady’.

Dem boys seh dat all dis problem we deh in coulda been avoided if she bin come out lil mo often from de office during election week.

But is like she bin practising quarantine, self-isolation and social distancing even before de coronavirus hit Guyana.

De coronavirus gat people worried. Dem boys gat a cleaning lady. She just message fuh say dat she gon wuk from home and gon send dem boys instructions on what fuh do.

Easter only deh two weeks away and dem boys bin planning fuh have a good time. But dem boys remember old people say dat is better to be safe dan sorry. De coronavirus looking like it gon tun Easter Monday into another Good Friday. People gon have to fly

dem kite at home. Dem boys trying fuh decide weh we gon spend dis year Easter. In de bedroom or in de living room.

One man already cancel he wedding. He smiling though. When de bride-to-be ask he why he so happy, he seh dat God give he a second chance fuh think over things.

Dem school picknee smiling tuh. Dem get lang holiday. Dem get ah extra week fuh stay home. De devil does find wuk fuh idle hands.

One of dem come up with ah new alphabet.

It goes like this: A-Ashmins Building; B- ballot box; CClaudette; D-democracy; E-elections; Ffraud; G-GECOM; H-hijack; I-injunction; Jjudge; K-Keith; L-Lowenfield; M- Mingo; N-no recount; O-Observer; P-polling station; Q-questioning the results; R-Region 4; Sstatement of poll; T-times we went to court; U-unfortunate circumstance; V-vote; WWiltshire; X-unfortunately, they still trying to find the value of it using simultaneous equations; Y-year end (when de results gon come out); Z- zoo dat is closed.

Talk half; stay safe from de coronavirus and pray fuh Claudette de Singer!

have started in both Europe and America. But the slightly warmer temperatures are not making the situation any better.

The media is trying to avoid mass panic by linking the rise in cases in Europe and the US, where the virus is spiraling out of control, to the failure to take early action.

This is far from the truth.

When the virus first broke at the end of December in China, the world took is seriously.

Measures were put in place to test persons travelling from high-risk areas. Something obviously went wrong and the world is not being told what went wrong which would allow for what started as an epidemic to now become a full-blown pandemic.

This is not a conspiracy theory. An examination of the available data raises more questions than answers.

The response of the international community to the virus has been mainly three fold.

There are feverish attempts to develop a vaccine. But even with a waiver of some of the regulations and with faster approvals, the earliest a safe vaccine may emerge with is by the end of the year, and even that is an optimistic date.

The second response is to find drugs that can treat the symptoms of this virus. There

is no cure and therefore the most can be done is to fund drugs to suppress the virus until a person’s immune system can counteract its effects. A number of old drugs are being resurrected to assist in this regard but the scientific community is insisting on proper tests to ensure safety. At some stage, a compromise would have to be developed to allow for experimental treatment on a mass scale. Otherwise, the world is going to be overwhelmed.

The third response has been the social distancing strategy, which is being imposed around world, including in India which does not have a relatively large number of cases in comparison to its population size.

India however is a country, which uses statistical modeling in fighting epidemics and this modeling has prompted it to order a total lockdown.

Guyana is far from ready for this virus. It has not done any statistical modeling to help inform its strategy. It is simply repeating what it is seeing other nations doing.

Instead of establishing a proper National Task Force, which should involve epidemiologists, statisticians and community leaders, the government has established an

Inter-ministerial Task Force.

That is not going to work.

Guyana may be losing valuable time in not trying to better understand how fast the epidemic is likely to spread in Guyana and what is the doubling time for the infection.

This is the work, which has to be done now. Otherwise, the country would not only be facing a long, long lockdown but also a long, long breakdown.

It takes money to fight this pandemic. Donald Trump is confident that the financial might of America will allow it to win the battle because, as he says, the US will not spare resources to defeat this virus.

But what about poor countries like Guyana where the health authorities assured us only weeks ago that we were ready for the virus, only to be later told we do not even have enough respirators to fight a normal influenza outbreak, much less the more deadlier corona virus. God help this country!

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

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Wednesday March 25, 2020

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Claudette Singh paid for my groceries and I was convinced This analysis traces the origin of the plan by the PNC to rely on GECOM to see it through the travails of the 2020 national elections. The reasons will be outlined below.

A newspaper column will do serious intellectual butchery to the analysis. Either an elongated version of this paper will be done in some other forum or other aspects will be contained in future pieces of

mine. For now, readers will have to accept these brief offerings.

It all began with the results of the 2015 election. The PNC knew it had lost the AFC votes, and maybe forever. It

could no longer bank on 25,000 non-PNC votes coming its way in 2020. The statements of poll for 2015 revealed that the AFC had haemorrhaged so many votes that just a smattering of AFC ballots took APNU+AFC in front of the PPP with a zero point three percent margin.

In 2015, the plan to rely on GECOM for the 2020 election was born. The first act of the play was to magnify the power of PNC ministries to ensure state resources would be expanded to concretize the totality of PNC presence in the land. The Ministry of the Presidency was created to bypass the jurisdiction of the prime minister. A majority of non-PNC ministries had a junior PNC minister.

From 2015, the PNC had to live with ghosts of 2020 stalking it. If it lost the AFC constituencies, then it had to rely on substantial increases from other demographical areas. Three focuses were born – get the youth vote, increase the mixed race support, and put all effort into wooing the Amerindian people.

What happens if this does not take them over the line?

GECOM was the fall-back position.

The evidence was emblazoned on the curtains of Guyana’s windows that the PNC was planning a reliance on GECOM. Two pieces of evidence could not be argued against.

Granger rejected all names for GECOM chair from the list of 30 submitted by Jagdeo, even though at least three were eligible. And his choice was unpalatable. For the rigorous task of running GECOM, he selected a person of 84 years.

His choice of Justice James Patterson worked.

Patterson ushered in house to house registration that dissolved the effects of the noconfidence vote, because GECOM said it would not be in a position to conclude the exercise before February 2020, putting the election somewhere in May 2020.

Patterson was instrumental in facilitating Roxanne Myers to displace Vishnu Persaud as Deputy Chief Election Officer. The ERC on investigating Persaud’s complaint arrived at two conclusions – Persaud was more qualified and experienced than Myers, and that Patterson misled the ERC when he said he voted against Persaud because he was of shaky and flaky character. It turned out that Patterson never saw or met with Persaud.

The plan to rely on GECOM was weakened by the decision of the CCJ to have Patterson removed.

Here is where confusion stepped in, and the PNC was temporarily blindsided. The stratagem was to do Patterson number 2. The excuse was to cite the CCJ ruling, which according to Granger, gave him the right to choose his own GECOM chairman.

Jagdeo knew Granger was going for Patterson number 2, and preempted him by giving him Claudette Singh. I don’t buy the theory that Singh was a plant from the beginning. I met Singh, a month before the election at the DSL supermarket on Sheriff Street.

She insisted on paying my whopping grocery bill. We talked and I was convinced that she wanted a free, fair, credible, respectable election.

Singh started off creating headaches for APNU+AFC.

Frederick Kissoon She reversed house to house registration, speeding up an election date that APNU+AFC was not comfortable with; chose not to remove electors who never collected ID cards; sided with Shuman in his presidential candidacy which both the PPP and PNC did not want; and weakened Lowenfield’s strategy of removing the number of polling stations in PPP’s strongholds.

Since March 4, Singh has destroyed her legal legacy and her national credibility, but was she an original insider when Granger accepted her candidacy? Singh knew from early Tuesday morning (March 3) the results of the election. But she became an object of the PNC’s implorations, pressures, and maybe threats.

The PNC truly, sincerely, really believed that it had won a narrow victory because of the turnout in Region 4. But the lead after 9 districts were counted was too great to catch up, even with a victory in Region 4. APNU+AFC panicked. It embraced “deus ex machina”. It was monstrous and uncivilized. The rest is history.

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

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Kaieteur News

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Wednesday March 25, 2020

India, population 1.3 billion, orders ‘complete’ coronavirus lockdown New Delhi (CNN) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a “complete” lockdown for India’s 1.3 billion people yesterday, warning that “many families will be destroyed forever” if the country didn’t get to grips with its coronavirus outbreak in the next three weeks.

Modi said the lockdown would start at midnight local time, would last for a minimum of 21 days, and would apply to all of India’s 36 states and territories.

“You have seen the worldwide situations arising from the coronavirus pandemic in the news. You have also seen how the most powerful nations have become helpless in the face of this pandemic,” Modi said in a live televised address to the nation on Tuesday evening ahead of the deadline.

India is the world’s second most populous country and the fifth biggest economy, but so far, it has appeared to avoid the full hit of the pandemic. The country has confirmed 519

coronavirus cases, including 10 deaths and 39 patients who have been cured, according to the Ministry of Health.

A number of Indian states have ordered lockdowns in the past few days, in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading. International borders have been shut to most travelers coming from the Europe.

A protest against the country’s Citizenship Amendment Act at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh was cleared by the police on Tuesday after the government prohibited all public gatherings in the city. Hundreds of women have been protesting at the site for months, expressing their solidarity with protesters who have been allegedly assaulted by police.

Modi said that the measures are necessary to protect the population, and referred to experience from other countries.

“What the experts are saying is that social distancing is the only option to combat coronavirus. That is to

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi remain apart from each other and stay confined to your homes. There is no other way to remain safe from coronavirus. If we have to stop the spread, we have to break the cycle of infection,” he said.

“From 12 midnight today, the entire country will go under a complete lockdown to save India and for every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes. Therefore, I request you to remain wherever you are in this country,” Modi

added.

Only essential services will be operational. These include water, electricity, health services, fire services, groceries and municipal services.

All shops, commercial establishments, factories, workshops, offices, markets and places of worship will be closed and interstate buses and metros will be suspended.

Construction activity will also be on a halt during this period.

Modi said if the outbreak was not dealt with properly it could set the country back decades.

“According to health ex-

perts, a minimum of 21 days is most crucial to break the cycle of infection. If we are not able to manage this pandemic in the next 21 days, the country and your family will be setback by 21 years. If we are not able to manage the next 21 days, then many families will be destroyed forever,” Modi said.

To soften the economic blow from the shutdown, the Indian government announced a number of measures on Tuesday.

Deadlines to file tax returns have been extended by three months, charges on minimum bank balances have been waived and no fees will be charged for using other

banks’ ATMs. The threshold for invoking insolvency has been raised to $131,000 from $1,300, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a news conference earlier on Tuesday.

Separately, India’s Labor Ministry has advised all territories to to help construction workers who are out of work because of the outbreak. The vast majority of the country’s construction workers are considered as informal labor and earn their livelihood through daily wages. Around 35 million construction workers across the country are registered with construction welfare boards.

GRA TIN application, other services accessible online -as Authority follows Health Ministry’s protocols The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has indicated that it is currently observing all the Ministry of Public Health’s protocols in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To this end, the Authority is reminding all taxpayers to utilise its EW-filing services and also its payment relationships with financial institutions.

According to GRA’s Public Relations Unit Manager, Melissa Baird, the Authority is offering “online application services for Taxpayers Identification Numbers (TIN) along with a series of other services.” She added that there are also payment arrangements available at several banks and financial agents, including Mobile Money Guyana (MMG) and Bill Express to facilitate payments to GRA. Baird further explained that after payments are made, a reference number will be provided to allow customers to uplift their TIN certificates. GRA is also offering the delivery of these certificates through electronic means to avoid large crowds gathering at their offices as part of their precautionary measures.”Similar services will soon be introduced for all Licensing entities. GRA Electronic Services can be accessed on the Authority’s website www.GRA.gov.gy.

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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Guyana’s poorest will suffer the most if we lose recognition as a functional democracy - Yesu Persaud says in public plea to President Granger Businessman Yesu Persaud has sent an impassioned public letter to President David Granger, urging him to work towards an amicable solution to the country’s post-elections crisis.

In his letter, the venerable businessman expressed concern that the nation’s political stalemate “threatens Guyana’s reputation as a functional democracy, and the livelihoods of the poor.”

More than three weeks has passed since Guyana’s 2020 General and Regional Elections were conducted, but the official results have

not yet been announced.

Persaud said that a duly elected democratic government should have already been in place.

The conclusion of the electoral process in a credible process has been stalled by resistance to two contentious declarations made by Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, for the largest and most contentious region. The second occurred, even after the Chief Justice handed Mingo clear instructions on the proper execution of the tabulation process.

The tabulation processes

leading to both declarations were adjudged by independent international observers and political parties as lacking credibility and transparency.

Persaud said that it appears as though the electoral process was suddenly abandoned after the other nine electoral districts were counted, with a result that handed the national victory to APNU+AFC. Efforts to have a CARICOM-supervised recount of all votes done, based on an agreement brokered by the leaders of the two major

FDA warns against fake COVID-19 test kits The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been actively monitoring firms marketing products related to COVID-19 with a special eye for bogus coronavirus diagnostic, prevention and treatment claims. The agency in a public announcement noted that it has found fake test kits being marketed to test for COVID-19 in the homes.It is therefore warning individuals to take the necessary precautions and ensure that they check the authenticity of all products before purchasing.

In a statement it noted, “We want to alert the…public that, at this time, the FDA has not authorized any test that is available to purchase for

testing yourself at home for COVID-19. The FDA sees the public health value in expanding the availability of COVID19 testing through safe and accurate tests that may include home collection, and we are actively working with test developers in this space.”

It added that “Fraudulent health claims, tests, and products can pose serious health risks. They may keep some patients from seeking care or delay necessary medical treatment. The FDA reminds consumers to follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines “and speak to your medical provider if you have symptoms of COVID-19. Your medi-

cal provider will advise you about whether you should get tested and the process for being tested with an appropriate test.”The FDA has, moreover, committed to take appropriate action to protect consumers from those who are trying to take advantage of a crisis and deceive the public by marketing tests that pose risks to patients’ health.

The FDA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which protects public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices.

parties, were obstructed by a series of interim injunctions sought by APNU+AFC candidate, Ulita Grace Moore.

The result of all of this is a long and winding electoral process that has drawn the attention of the international community, which has called on Guyana to take all necessary steps to preserve its democracy.“Guyana needs to take corrective actions and find a solution to this issue immediately so that we can have a democratically elected Government in place. By failing to do this, we shall face condemnation globally and we will not be recognised as a functional democracy anymore,” Persaud urged.

He explained that his experience as an entrepreneur, businessman and analyst, has taught him enough to know that the sanctions Guyana could face if it abandons fair and democratic principles will hurt not just politicians, but the economy and the people.

“It will bring tremendous hardships to businesses; create huge unemployment, high level inflation and currency depreciation. Such a situation will mostly impact on the livelihood of the vulnerable lower income citizens as they are dependent on the commercial

Businessman, Yesu Persaud

President David Granger

and business activities.”

“Guyana is in a situation now like so many other places that people will be starving,” he posited. Persaud urges not to let this happen, and for all to work on an amicable solution as early as can be arrived at. A bigger issue Persaud noted, that has been illuminated by the current political crisis, is the need to reform Guyana’s Constitution. “Our Constitution is not an ideal one,” Persaud said, “it gives unlimited power to an individual which is not good for any democracy.”

He said that the nation’s Supreme Law must not only be “defended by political parties and our citizens”, but by

democratic norms and unwritten rules of tolerance and restraint.

“Without robust norms, constitutional checks and balances do not serve as the bulwarks of democracy we imagine them to be. Instead, institutions become political weapons, wielded forcefully by those who control them against those who do not.

This is how elected autocrats subvert democracy, and other neutral agencies. This requires to be amended immediately which will benefit all Stakeholders and not only the political parties.”

Persaud said that Granger still has an opportunity to redeem himself, and he must act.

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Wednesday March 25, 2020

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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Wednesday March 25, 2020

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Bus conductor remanded on rape charge Telvin Wilburg, a 22-year-old bus conductor of Region 1, was remanded yesterday for allegedly engaging in sexual penetration with a child under the age of sixteen.

He is to return to court on May 18, 2020.

Wilburg made his appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty, who remanded him to prison after it was highlighted in court about the short distance between where the defendant and the alleged rape victim live.

The rape matter was held-in-camera.

According to information received, the alleged victim and Wilburg are known to each other.

On the day in question, he took the child into a house where he committed the act.

The child confided in her parents and the

Remanded: Telvin Wilburg matter was reported. An investigation was launched and the defendant was later arrested and charged.

and water are not available.

Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands. Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth.

From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.The public is also urged to take the following personal hygiene measures to protect themselves and their loved ones from COVID-19: • Wash your hands properly with soap and water • Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if water and soap are not available • Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze • Dispose of tissue immediately after using • Cough and sneeze into the crook of your elbow if you do not have a tissue • Avoid touching your face

• Sanitize hard surfaces (e.g. table tops, handrails, doorknobs and trolleys) as often as possible.

• Avoid close contact with people who have flu-like symptoms • Practice social distancing • Maintain at least 2 metres (6 feet) distance between yourself and others, especially anyone who is coughing or showing signs of illness • Stay home if you are ill It is also advised that all public transportation vehicles should operate with windows open and, where possible, limit their occupancy.

The Ministry will continue to provide accurate information to the public in a timely fashion. The public is therefore urged to disregard and avoid sharing all unconfirmed, misleading and/or false information about COVID19 (formerly Novel Coronavirus).

An Open Letter to the GECOM Chair and...

From page 6 Brother CEO of fraud. I am not charging you with falsehood or some wrongdoing. I am asking you to speak to us concerning the relevant issues as regard Region Four votes after the court rules.

Madam Chair and Brother CEO, the narrative of some international observer groups/missions like, the OAS, the Commonwealth, The Carter Center, and the ABC/EU Envoys, all blacken the character of GECOM as it regards some aspects of Region Four tabulation process. Their story also denigrates GECOM’s leadership. Actually, the Commonwealth Observer Group said: “At no point did the leadership of the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) halt or rectify blatant instances of disregard for the rule of law and electoral ethics, despite its vested authority to

“Strong international condemnation” if Government is sworn in on flawed results - UK Foreign Secretary

T

T&T records 57th COVID-19 case Trinidad Express - As of yesterday afternoon, the Health Ministry reports the following: • Number of samples submitted to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) for testing for COVID-19 = 353 • Number of samples which have tested positive = 57The Ministry also provides the following update: • Four additional persons have tested positive Case one has a history of recent travel.

• Case two is known to have had contact with a person with a history of recent travel.

• Cases three and four are two additional nationals who returned from a cruise but entered the country separately from the group of 68 nationals who returned from the same cruise.

The Ministry of Health urges the public to wash your hands regularly with soap and water or thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub if soap

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independently ensure credible elections.”

In addition, the Commonwealth Observer Group said “It is the clear and considered view of the Group that the tabulation processes conducted by the Returning Officer (RO) for Region 4, Clairmont Mingo, were not credible, transparent and inclusive” (KN: 19/03/2020).

These two statements are very damning and damaging.

Although the infallibility of international observers cannot be denied and there are cases where democracy has been sacrificed on the altar of more important western goals; this appears to be a case of the credibility of the leadership of GECOM versus that of some of the international observers.

GECOM can no longer remain silent, especially since the Region Four vote’s tabulation process is ‘the fly in the ointment’ that is

affecting GECOM’s delivery of a credible election.

Madam Chair Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh and Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, the credibility of GECOM is linked to its commitment and adherence to truth. The one thing that can make all Guyana free, regardless of party affiliation, is the truth. One thing that can break the electoral deadlock is the truth.

Madam Chair and Brother CEO, you have that truth.

Your voice can do what the court may not be able to do.

You have both stood firm in this tabulation troubles. You must now speak the truth that you have, so that the truth can make us free. Break the ice after the court rules.

Thank you very kindly Madam Chair and Brother CEO. Yours respectfully, Pastor Richard Avert James

he Foreign Secre tary of the United Kingdom has emerged with another statement; this time, threatening Guyana with “serious consequences” if a government is sworn in on the basis of noncredible results from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

His initial statement came on March 10 with the United Kingdom expressing deep concern over the situation following the elections.

In that statement, the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab pointed out that allegations of electoral fraud and premature declarations of victory prior to the completion of a credible process pose a grave threat to the democratic principles of Guyana.

However, in his statement yesterday, he made it clear that “the transition of government in Guyana should only take place in line with transparent and democratic prin-

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab

ciples that lead to credible results.”

According to him, “any government sworn in on the basis of non-credible results will face strong international condemnation.”

“If the situation continues to deteriorate, this international response will include a

range of serious consequences for those concerned” Raab said.

Further, Raab maintained that the UK remains ready, along with its partners, to assist in ensuring a credible process that provides the democratic outcome that the Guyanese people deserve.

PAGE 22

Kaieteur News

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Bloomberg paints gloomy economic...

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From page 18 government’s legitimacy at issue, Guyana risks limiting its oil riches and becoming another Venezuela, a neighboring country that’s an economic and humanitarian disaster zone.

“This is the first step of the oil curse,” said Schreiner Parker, the vice president for Latin America at consultant Rystad Energy, citing the political clash. “The first thing that you can do wrong has been done wrong.”

President David Granger is accused of miscounting votes to stay in office and fighting a recount even after the U.S. and regional groups said the March 2 vote was flawed.

Diplomats from the U.S., European Union, U.K. and Canada recently quit an attempted recount, saying the process wasn’t credible.

They warned in a joint statement that Guyana, a nation with fewer people than Columbus, Ohio, risks “isolation” from the international community as a result. “The individuals who seek to benefit from electoral fraud and form illegitimate regimes will be subject to a series of consequences from the United States,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on March 17.

SANCTIONS PUSH A spokesman for Granger said there is “no evidence” of fraud in the election, and that recount was blocked by the courts not the president. But Granger’s challenger, Bharrat Jagdeo, said his supporters won’t recognize Granger as president, “and we will not participate in the parliament.” Instead, they will work with the international community and push for sanctions.“Just when we thought we were moving forward as a country, this happens and taints us for years.” Jagdeo said in a telephone interview.Exxon, meanwhile, continues to see Guyana as its golden ticket in tough times, with billions of barrels of oil at play.

The company is accelerating drilling at a cost that remains profitable even after the big-

gest price crash since the 1980s, and its partner, New York-based Hess Corp., said in January it expected to sell its first cargo of oil from Guyana this month. Output from the project will escalate in coming months to 120,000 barrels a day, while Exxon has forecast it will produce at least 750,000 barrels a day by 2025.

“We are invested in a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with the people of Guyana,” Exxon said in an emailed statement.

The sheer size of the oil reserves — pegged at around 8 billion barrels — suggests that Guyana’s annual gross domestic product, now sitting at about $4 billion, will expand to about $15 billion by 2024, according to IMF estimates. This at a time when the average income in Guyana is just $385 a month.

It’s a level of newfound wealth that’s served to widen the split between Granger’s People’s National Congress and Jagdeo’s People’s Progressive Party.

“People are suspicious and fed up on both sides,” said Nicholas Deygoo, president of the Chamber of Commerce, speaking by telephone from Georgetown, the country’s capital.Gavin Singh, a Guyana-based investment banker, said the people he talks with are both “scared and concerned.” The Guyanese are “a resilient people,” he added. “We’ve been through hard times before. As much as people are concerned, they’re also hopeful.

They just want this to be over with, whatever the outcome.”Guyana — with about 780,000 people — is Exxon’s second-biggest growth project after the Permian Basin in the U.S., and the first group of offshore wells are profitable even after the biggest price rout since the 1980s, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd. While Exxon was one of the first oil majors to announce spending cuts in response to the price crash, including in the Permian, its Guyana operation is expected to keep moving forward.

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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Kaieteur News

Woman whose husband died after ingesting chloroquine warns the public not to ‘believe anything that the president says’

‘Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure’:

· The wife of an Arizona man who died after ingesting chloroquine phosphate to protect himself from the novel coronavirus urged the public on Monday not to “believe anything that the president says” and rely on doctors instead. · Banner Health said the man and his wife consumed a version of the chemical that’s used to clean aquariums. · “We saw Trump on TV — every channel — and all of his buddies and that this was safe,” the woman, who is in critical care after taking the

drug with her husband, told NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard.

“Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure.” · The president has repeatedly touted chloroquine as a “very powerful” treatment against the coronavirus and falsely claimed it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. · Asked what her message was to the public after what she and her husband went through, the woman told NBC News: “Oh my God, don’t take anything. Don’t believe anything that the president

says and his people ... call your doctor.” · Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The wife of an Arizona man who died after ingesting chloroquine phosphate to protect himself from the novel coronavirus spoke out Monday to urge the public not to “take anything” or “believe anything” without talking to a healthcare professional.

“We saw Trump on TV — every channel — and all of his buddies and that this was safe,” the woman told NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard of

Lockdown not enough to fight virus…

WHO projects up to 100% increase of needed testing kits for Covid19 -Official

E

xecutive Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Mike Ryan says the global health watchdog has distributed 1.5 million coronavirus lab tests around the world.

But the WHO will need 80 to 100 times that number, based on the projected impact the virus will have in a few months.

In a recent interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show Dr. Ryan noted that countries can’t simply lock down their societies to defeat coronavirus, since public health measures are needed to avoid a resurgence.

“What we really need to focus on is finding those who

are sick, those who have the virus, and isolate them, find their contacts and isolate them.

The danger right now with the lockdowns ... if we don’t put in place the strong public health measures now, when those movement restrictions and lockdowns are lifted, the danger is the disease will jump back up.”

He also noted that several vaccines were in development, but trials had only begun on one in the United States.

“We have to make sure that it’s absolutely safe... we are talking at least a year. The vaccines will come, but we need to get out and do what we need to do now.”

Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director, World Health Organization (WHO

President Donald Trump.

“Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure.”

NBC News reported that the man, 68, and his wife, 61, took chloroquine to guard against the novel coronavirus, which causes a potentially fatal disease known as COVID-19. It’s not clear how much chloroquine the man ingested, and Banner Health said he and his wife ingested a version of the chemical that’s used to clean aquariums.

Both of them needed to seek medical care within half an hour; the woman is in critical condition, and the man died.

Chloroquine is used to treat malaria, but there is no conclusive evidence it is effective against the coronavirus, which the World Health Organization declared a pandemic earlier this month.

Trump, however, repeat-

edly touted the drug as a “very powerful” treatment for the disease and falsely claimed it had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“It’s shown very encouraging — very, very encouraging early results,” Trump said last week. “And we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately. And that’s where the FDA has been so great. They — they’ve gone through the approval process; it’s been approved. And they did it, they took it down from many, many months to immediate.

So we’re going to be able to make that drug available by prescription or states.”

The FDA came out with a statement after Trump’s comments saying it had not approved chloroquine for the coronavirus and that much more research had to be done.

“Did you at any point hear

that the FDA had not approved of it for coronavirus purposes?” Hillyard asked the woman.

“Yeah,” she said. “But, you know, they kept saying that it was approved for other things.”

Asked what her message to the American public was after what she and her husband went through, the woman told NBC News: “Oh my God, don’t take anything.

Don’t believe anything that the president says and his people ... call your doctor.”

“Please educate the people,” she added, according to audio of the conversation that Hillyard posted to Twitter.

“It feels like, like my heart is broken and it’ll never mend.

It’s just broke, dead. Like my husband. My husband is 68.

We’re healthy. No underlying — no diabetes or lung issues.

Nothing.”

PAGE 24

Kaieteur News

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Wednesday March 25, 2020

PAGE 25

Kaieteur News

Two cars stolen within 24hrs Burglars who returned to Two taxi drivers were beaten and were relieved of their cars within a 24-hours span on the West Bank of Demerara.Police identified the victims as Shemeer Rafeek, 38, of Lot 687 Onderneeming, West Bank Demerara and Hansraj Mahase, 29, of La Parfaite Harmonie West Bank Demerara. Both taxi drivers were carjacked while transporting passengers. Rafeek told Kaieteur News that he was at his taxi base at around 20:30 hrs on Monday when two women and a man asked him to transport them. However, when he arrived at the location, the male passenger ordered him to exit the car and

One of the stolen cars

lie on the ground. The carjackers then escaped with the vehicle. According to sources, the stolen car, bearing registration number HC 7893 was later spotted in the Timehri, East Bank Demerara.

The other driver, Hansraj Mahase, said his car, bearing registration number PYY 5706, was stolen by passengers he was transporting to Vreed-en-Hoop. Police are still to locate the vehicles.

Services procured for information system for justice sector The National Procurement and Tender sector of Guyana.

In today’s environment where technolAdministration Board (NPTAB) yesterday opened ——-five bids for two major gov- ogy plays a vital role, the MIS Unit holds ernmental projects at their Ministry of Fi- the key for rapid progress and development, nance office on Main and Urquhart Streets. efficient utilisation of resources, effective One notable project included the —-de- decision-making and comprehensive monisign and implementation of a Management toring of the system for timely interventions.

Below are the companies and their bids.

Information System (MIS) for the justice Ministry of Legal Affairs Design and implementation of a Management Information System (MIS) for the justice sector of Guyana

Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Power utility upgrade programme: procurement of motor vehicles

house after poisoning dogs caught and beaten First they poisoned the family’s dogs.

Then, feeling certain that the animals were dead, two young burglars went back the next day to break into their victim’s property.

That was when things went badly wrong.

They were caught, soundly beaten, and handed over to the police.

It appears that two young thieves had checked out a Mc Doom, East Bank Demerara home that they planned to rob.

Realising that the family owned two dogs, the wouldbe thieves allegedly hatched a cruel plan to silence the animals.

On Sunday night, they threw poisonous food into the family’s yard. One dog died, the other barely survived.

The family reportedly suspected that they were being targeted by burglars and notified the police.

The police, family members and some residents decided to watch out for the thieves.

At around 23:20 hrs on

Picture of the two burglars

Monday, the two young men returned. Unaware that they were being watched, they the scaled the fence and entered the yard.

They were in the act of opening a window when the ranks pounced on them.

The presence of the ranks did not stop the residents from soundly trashing the burglars before police rescued them and took them into custody.

They are likely to be charged soon.

PAGE 26

Kaieteur News

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Wednesday March 25, 2020

PAGE 27

Kaieteur News

Games postponement a “bummer”, GOA welcomes IOC’s decision to hold 2020 Olympics in 2021 says pole vaulter Duplantis STOCKHOLM (Reuters) Swedish po l e v a u l t e r Armand Duplantis described the postponement of the Tokyo Games as a “bummer”, having set his sights on gold after breaking the world record twice this year.

The 20-year-old Duplantis, who is currently staying at the home of his American father and Swedish mother in Lafayette, Louisiana, is trying to make the best of the situation after the Games were postponed to 2021.

“It’s a bummer, it’s a bummer that I won’t be able to compete in the Olympics

this year, but you have to understand the situation, understand that some things are a little bigger than sport, and I guess we’ll have it next year,” he told Reuters in a Skype call.

The Covid-19 pandemic has limited Duplantis’s ability to train, forcing him to get creative.

“I’m pretty much just training in the backyard, we have a little track out here ... we’re fixing it up a little bit where maybe I’ll be able to jump a little bit. Not too high, maybe just over four-sixty or so, but so I have the pole in my hands, get a little bit of the feeling.

“ I t ’s n o t w h a t I expected to be doing at this time of the year, but i t ’s w h a t t h e s i t u a t i o n called for.”

Jumps of 4.60 meters are a long way short of the 6.17m and 6.18m that he cleared to break the world record twice in eight days in early February.

All thoughts of medals and new records, however, are now on hold and he had a message for his fellow athletes and fans.

“Think about other people, not just yourself, not just what you want to do at that certain time, and everything should work itself out,” he said.

The Guyana Olympic Association said in a press release yesterday that it welcomed the decision of the IOC to reschedule the Tokyo Olympic Games no later than the summer of 2021. This decision which is as a result of Covid19 (Coronavirus) is in the best interest of the public and the athletes.

I participated in a video conference call today (yesterday) with the other members of the executive of PanAm Sports and we all agreed with the decision of the IOC. The decision of the president of the IOC and the Japanese Prime Minister of Japan was as a result of the information emanating from the WHO that although there was a decrease of the cases

What cricket means to...

Wednesday March 25, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Take some emotional time off today if you feel you deserve it. You're getting so wrapped up in other people's dramas that you're feeling drained when it comes to your own concerns.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) You might need to adopt a stern attitude today in order to be as effective as you'd like to be. When dealing with others, don't make assumptions for which you don't have solid backing.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) You may get more emotional than usual when it comes to work. Do your best to keep your emotional life separate from daily responsibilities.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You may not feel like your engine is working today. For some reason, it seems like you're using the wrong fuel.

Don't be surprised if it's a bit harder to get in touch with your emotional state.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) People are hesitant to deal with deep emotional issues today. They're erecting protective barriers so the things they hear, see, and feel don't hurt them.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) You're having a difficult time getting started today. Don't get discouraged if things don't seem to be working.

Your expectations may be too high, and your perfectionism is making it difficult for anyone to live up to your standards.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Be polite and try your best not to impose on other people today. It's important to behave civilly in all circumstances.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Don't blame everything on others today. It's important to be adult enough to take responsibility for your actions. Understand that things aren't always going to happen the way you want.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) You might find your emotions stifled today. You have a great deal to say, but for some reason there's a bit of hesitation when it comes to saying it.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) You might not feel especially motivated today. Nonetheless, whether you want to or not, it's important that you attack the mountain of tasks.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) You may be very busy today.

This is a good time to get things done. There's a feeling of discipline that's helping you stay focused. Emotions are stifled, which may work to your advantage.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) You're having a difficult time connecting with your emotions today. Things will run more smoothly if you don't try to force yourself to act cheerful if you aren't.

From page 29 grace in 1995 and the new breed of West Indies players, many of whom seem to comprehend very little about the significance of wearing the prestigious Maroon cap, are all a part of the rich and exciting history of West Indies cricket.

West Indies cricket faced tough times both on and off the field as we entered the 2020s, but let us be inspired and motivated by what began several decades ago on a cold English day in London and the blood, sweat and tears that have flowed to keep the most celebrated sport in the West Indies alive since the 18th century.

Since their first Test, West Indies have played 513 Tests, won 165, lost 176, drew 171 and Tied 1 (Records updated to December 2019).

British Olympics...

From page 31 poignant moment for the whole world once these difficult times are over.”

The IOC had come under mounting pressure to postpone the Olympics, with teams, athletes and sports bodies all calling for a delay.

The postponement comes after various federations announced they would pull out of the Tokyo Games, the highest-profile event to be affected by a virus that has wrecked the sporting calendar.

Almost two billion people across the world are in lockdown to prevent the further spread of a virus which according to an AFP tally has killed over 16,900 people and infected more than 386,000.

of Coronavirus in China and Asia there was however an acceleration of cases in other parts of the world and as such there should be a rescheduling of the Games.

It was decided that the Olympic Flame which had arrived in Japan would remain there and be kept lit until the Games begin.

The question that will have to be determined is what will be the position of those athletes who have already qualified for the Games. Will they have to go over the qualifying tournaments again or will their qualification be allowed to stand. About 57% of athletes who have to qualify have already done so and this is a question that the IOC and International Federations will have to determine. I do believe that it may be unfair to ask for requalification but those athletes may have to show that they are still active and not resting on their haunches.

The question of litigation may arise from some unhappy qualified athletes if they are requested to again qualify.

Another issue to be

determined by the IOC and Olympic Solidarity is whether the scholarships which end just before the Olympics will continue until the new date in 2021. I do expect that there will be a continuation as the policy and principle for the scholarships is to assist athletes financially so that they can train and be competitive for the Olympic Games.

There are several issues that the IOC and PanAm Sports will have to determine and these will be dealt as the time goes by. Among the issues are the availability of the hotels in Japan, the continuation of sponsorships worldwide from companies and entities, the rescheduling of Games and availability of athletes, etc.

The Guyana Olympic Association will be looking at all relevant issues and will endeavour to do what is best for our athletes. We will consult our Associations and athletes so that we can take decisions that are in the best interests of our athletes and Guyana, the release concluded.

PAGE 28

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Kaieteur News

‘There is a lesson in all this: we take the game too seriously’ ESPNcricinfo - Downtime Diaries is a series in which we talk to cricketers about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected their lives. R Ashwin talks about his relaxed routine at home with the kids in Chennai.

It is not long ago that we were planning for Cheteshwar Pujara to come down to Chennai and play league cricket for us. My team, Mylapore RC, was in a relegation battle in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Division One, and Pujara’s team, Saurashtra, had just won the Ranji Trophy on March 13. He wanted to come, but he was not 100% well, having fallen sick after returning from New Zealand.

We managed to avoid relegation without him, but he had plans for other Saurashtra players to come down and play league cricket in Chennai because he wants Saurashtra to get even stronger when they defend the title next season.

The next season seems so far away now.

Life is very different now.

I recently read Ian Chappell’s piece on how climate change might affect cricket. We saw it in December 2015, when we were playing in Delhi, and our friends and families were stranded in man-made floods in Chennai. We are the only species that goes against the alignment of nature. And we are supposed to be the smartest. Well, even before we could face the full brunt of climate change, something else has stopped cricket and life.

Right now is the time to find solutions instead of blaming this country or that country. The solution for the time being seems to be socialdistancing and patience.

Hopefully science finds a

This new feeling: when you rock up and bowl just because you wanna. (AFP) breakthrough soon. There is a lesson in all this: we take the game too seriously. There are far bigger things than the game that can hamper it.

For a change, despite so much free time on hand, I haven’t thought much about the game. For once the craving to watch something on TV that is cricket is not there. I don’t know how this has happened, but it has. I have not gone on YouTube looking for old clips either.

Nor am I missing the game as such except the rigours and tensions of playing the sport, the pressure of it, just trying to compete. Every day you are looking forward to something. If you go to practise, you are looking forward to, say, the IPL, the TNPL, or club cricket. To some cricket.

Tomorrow if I have to turn up at the nets, I don’t know what to look forward to. There is a freshness to that, to be honest. You don’t have to look forward to anything. Just turn up and enjoy the game.

Need to bowl the ball or hit the ball and not worry about what is in front of you.

Obviously I am not going to

go out to bat or bowl in the near future, but if I do in isolation, I think it will be great.

We stopped all operations at our academy, Gen-Next Cricket Institute, two weeks ago, but now we are getting questions all the time from parents who don’t know what to do with their kids all day.

So we are trying to work around it by creating video tutorials. We are discussing that on our WhatsApp groups and on teleconference. My wife, Prithi, is involved in the planning of it.

Otherwise, staying confined has been almost idyllic, almost as if it’s a message from nature. When the lockdown began, I was still adjusting to the heat of Chennai after a month spent in New Zealand. And I was doing so while playing the TNCA league.

Now we have built a routine around the kids’ routines. When I wake up, at 5.30-6am, my younger daughter is almost awake. We brush our teeth together, go through other morning rituals, have some green tea, and then

One of the busiest roads in Chennai, Anna Salai, sports an empty look during the government-imposed curfew to contain the spread of coronavirus. (AFP/Getty Images) we both take a speaker and go to our terrace, which has a gym and an organic garden. I do my cycling and weights while she listens to music.

I don’t remember the last time I saw and heard so many birds in my life in a city. There is so much chirping. I don’t know if I am imagining it, but definitely the traffic has been much lighter. There is a sense of freshness in the air, and who knows, maybe some of the birds have come back.

By the time we come back down, Prithi and my older daughter have woken up. We have coffee together, have our breakfast and then get into our routines.

Outside the academy work, we read or watch series or movies. Prithi has been binge-watching Sex and the City, while I am trying to convince her to watch Game Of Thrones again. She will, of course, tell you I am lying.

Which I am. We have actually been watching Queen, a series based on the life of J Jayalalithaa. I have been reading one of the best books ever written, Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki. It is a book in five parts, so I have enough reading material should the lockdown be long.

My parents live with us but they are busy people so they are not short of things to do. My mother has been finishing up some paperwork, but we try to take an hour every day to play carrom together, which we usually do when we are both home.

So far there has not been any cabin fever.

We are not yet at each other’s throats. We are even trying to manufacture our own alcohol-based hand rub, thanks to Prithi’s Instagram friend Sandhya Ramesh, who is a science assistant editor at the Print.

Her research on coronavirus has been helpful to us in wading through the false information floating around.

If we get bored of each other, we have a small nap after lunch. When we get up, depending on what the kids are doing, how much energy they have, we try to entertain them with puzzles and Lego.

They usually get their outdoors time in the evening, which has to happen in the terrace garden now. They pick vegetables, admire some flowers. Then back to the evening routines - baths, PJs, dinner.

One good thing is that we have been sleeping on time.

Because we have so much time through the day to spend with everyone in the house, we don’t feel the need to catch up on stuff at night.

If we survive this pandemic, surely there is a lesson somewhere in there.

Pulev sees no problem in fighting Joshua without spectators SOFIA (Reuters) Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev, the IBF’s mandatory challenger, said he saw no problem in fighting Briton Anthony Joshua for the world heavyweight title in a match without spectators.

The 38-year-old former European amateur superheavyweight champion Pulev, known as “The Cobra”, said he was ready to face Joshua whenever the organizers decide.

Last week, he told Bulgarian media the fight, scheduled to take place on June 20 at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium in London, would be postponed by several months due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Promoter Eddie Hearn, however, reacted quickly, saying the fight had still not been officially called off.

“I’m ready for June 20, July 25, whenever they say,” Pulev, one of Bulgaria’s most popular sportsmen, told bTV channel. “You see what the situation is, the whole world must adjust to it.

“There’s no problem (if the fight is) to be without spectators. Everyone would be at home, they can pay per view, so I don’t see any

problem financially.

“The show could be lost a bit without fans but it can still happen. After all, it’s a world championship, which must take place.”

The 30-year-old Joshua reclaimed the WBA, WBO and IBF belts with a unanimous points win over Andy Ruiz Jr in December.

Joshua was initially due to fight Pulev at Cardiff ’s Principality Stadium in October 2017 but the Bulgarian withdrew after suffering a shoulder injury in sparring.

Pulev had challenged for the IBF world heavyweight title in 2014 but lost to Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg when he was knocked out in the fifth round.

Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev pose during a press conference.

(Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo)

Wednesday March 25, 2020

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Kaieteur News

What could an Olympics postponement cost Japan?

AFP - The historic decision to postpone this year’s Olympic Games over the coronavirus pandemic is likely to pile on the pain for Japan’s economy, already expected to be roiled by the global virus outbreak, economists say.

What has the Games cost Japan?

At the end of 2019, organisers estimated the total cost of the Games at around 1.35 trillion yen ($12.6 billion).

That is divided between the city of Tokyo, which is paying 597 billion yen, the Japanese organising committee, which contributes 603 billion yen and the central government, which is paying 150 billion yen.

But the actual costs for the country have been hotly debated, with a widely publicised audit report estimating national government spending from the bid in 2013 until 2018 at 1.06 trillion yen, nearly 10 times the budget.

Japanese businesses have also poured money into the event in sponsorships, paying out a record 348 billion yen ($3.3 billion).

And that figure doesn’t include the partnerships signed between major companies and the

With Japanese domestic spending already weak, the hit from an Olympics cancellation could ripple through the economy. (AFP / Philip Fong) International Olympic Committee for rights to sponsor several Games.

Among those are giants including Japan’s Toyota, Bridgestone and Panasonic.

Toshiro Muto, CEO of Tokyo 2020, asked about how much delaying the games will cost Japan, said: “The basic policy of postponement was decided today. How exactly are we going to achieve the postponement? That will be

discussed among the IOC, us and Tokyo. I am sure it will be very difficult.”

Which sectors would be affected?

According to analysts at Capital Economics, one key factor to consider in terms of how a postponement might hit Japan’s economy is that most of the spending has already happened.

That means the effects of outlays, most notably on

construction of new sporting venues, has already been factored into GDP in recent years.

But a postponement could drag down tourism as well as general consumption in the country, already under pressure after a controversial sales tax hike last year.

Tourism in Japan was already struggling before the coronavirus pandemic, amid a diplomatic spat with South Korea that prompted boycott calls. Visitors from South Korea previously made up the second largest contingent of

tourists to Japan, behind only China.

And with the virus outbreak, Japan has seen a further fall in South Korean numbers, as well as a plunge in travellers from China, which together accounted for nearly half the 31.9 million foreign visitors to the country in 2019.

In February, the number of foreign visitors to Japan fell 58.3 percent compared to a year early, with a plunge of 87.9 percent in tourists coming from China, official figures show.

Japan has an industrialised and diversified economy not heavily reliant on tourism, with foreign visitor expenditures making up just 0.9 percent of GDP in 2018, according to economic research organisation CEIC. But with domestic spending already weak, the hit from a postponement could ripple through the economy and further depress local purchasing.

What would the impact on GDP be?

The coronavirus pandemic has already helped push Japan towards a recession, with GDP contracting 1.8 percent in the October-December quarter.

Economists at research firm Fitch on Monday revised its 2020 growth forecast for Japan to -1.1 percent from 0.2 percent, reflecting the risks to consumption, tourism

and exports posed by the pandemic.

But it said that a postponement of the Games could worsen the situation significantly, and “could impact GDP between 0.5 and 0.8 percentage point to our forecast.”

A postponement “would badly affect Japanese consumer confidence” Takashi Miwa, an economist at Nomura, told AFP. It is also unclear what effect it might have on the 240 billion yen ($2.28 billion) in spending from foreign spectators expected to attend the Games.

The Tokyo 2020 organisers decline to say how many foreign visitors they expect to visit Japan specifically to watch the sporting action.

So far 4.5 million tickets have been sold in Japan, with around 7.8 million expected to be sold overall, 20 to 30 percent of them internationally. How the postponement will affect those tickets is not yet clear.

Economists at SMBC Nikko Securities said Tuesday that postponing the Games would reduce the country’s GDP this year by some $6 billion. But, they added, the same amount would be gained when the Games are eventually held, effectively cancelling out the losses.

IPL hanging in the balance after PM Modi orders shutdown MUMBAI, India, CMC – West Indies players yesterday were anxiously keeping watch on the fate of the lucrative Indian Premier League which hung in the balance after India Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown due to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

A scheduled conference call between the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) and representatives of the IPL franchises was called off as the country’s government intensified efforts to fight the virus which has already caused 469 infections here and killed 10 people.

The tournament, which features several West Indies stars like white-ball captain Kieron Pollard and superstar Chris Gayle, was originally scheduled to start on March 29 but was last week delayed until April 15 following a March 14 meeting.

But the global crisis has reached new highs in recent days with 411 448 cases

reported worldwide along with 18 000 deaths, leaving speculation rife over the postponement or cancellation of the tournament.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said no decision on the tournament had been taken, however.

“Nothing has been decided yet. There is no clarity,” the former India captain was quoted as saying. “We have not decided on that yet. We don’t know yet. Let’s see how things go in the next few days.” No new date for the conference call has been set but the new measures announced by Modi means an April 15 start will be unlikely.

The country’s leader said “to save India, to save its every citizen, you, your family. .. every street, every neighbourhood is being put

under lockdown.”

“No doubt this lockdown will entail an economic cost for the country but saving the life of each and every Indian is the first priority for me,” Modi said in the address.

“Therefore, I request you to remain wherever you are in this country.”

The IPL is worth an estimated US$6 billion and the BCCI is set to lose around US$500 million alone in the broadcast revenue if the tournament is scrapped.

In addition to Pollard and Gayle, several West Indies players are expected to feature in this year’s IPL with Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Fabian Allen and Oshane Thomas all holding contracts.

PAGE 30

Kaieteur News

TOKYO OLYMPICS POSTPONED: Daily Mail - The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been postponed by one year due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a crucial conference call with Olympics chief Thomas Bach yesterday to formally decide a plan and they have chosen to postpone for 12 months.

The Games must now be rescheduled after 2020 but they will take place no later than the summer of 2021, it has been revealed.

Abe said afterwards: ‘I proposed to postpone for about a year and [IOC] president Thomas Bach responded with 100% agreement’.

He added: ‘This will make it possible for athletes to play in the best condition, and will make the event a safe and secure one for spectators.’

The decision also means the Tokyo Paralympic Games will be subject to a one-year delay.

International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said the postponement was ‘the only logical option’.

He added: ‘The health and wellbeing of human life must always be our numberone priority and staging a sporting event of any kind during this pandemic is simply not possible.

‘Sport is not the most important thing right now, preserving human life is. It is essential, therefore, that all steps are taken to try to limit the spread of this disease.

‘By taking this decision now, everyone involved in the Paralympic movement, including all Para-athletes, can fully focus on their own health and wellbeing and staying safe during

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Organisers FINALLY agree to delay the Games until 2021 after crisis talks with the Japanese Prime Minister

The new National Stadium in Tokyo will now be waiting another 12 months for Olympic action. (EPA) this unprecedented and difficult time.’

Despite the delay, the name of the delayed Games will still be Tokyo 2020, the c i t y ’s g o v e r n o r Yu r i k o Koike revealed.

A joint statement from the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organising committee read: ‘In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the a t h l e t es, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.

‘The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become

the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.

‘Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.’

The chief executive of the British Olympic Association, Andy Anson, was in favour of the decision.

He said: ‘It would have been unthinkable for us to continue to prepare for an Olympic Games at a time the nation and the world no less is enduring great hardship. A postponement is the right decision.’

Bach said the new dates for the Games, the first to be postponed outside of war time, would be decided by an IOC panel.

The Tokyo Olympic torch relay, a key milestone during any countdown to a Games, was meant to start on Thursday in northeastern Fukushima prefecture but that has also be cancelled.

On Sunday, the IOC gave themselves a four-week deadline to decide on the best course of action and ruled out cancelling the Olympics altogether.

This was expected to give all those involved time to work out plans on how the Games would eventually proceed.

But the delay sparked a backlash from athletes risking their health by training for the scheduled July start — and led to Britain, Canada and Australia warning they would not send teams this summer.

Katarina JohnsonThompson, one of Britain’s leading medal hopes, took to social media to back the decision.

She wrote: ‘As an athlete, it’s heartbreaking news about

the olympics being postponed until 2021, but it’s for all the right reasons and the safety of everyone! Going to take some time to process it all, hope everyone keeps safe and stay indoors x’.

Abe and US president Donald Trump are also expected to hold talks over the phone as early as today, according to Kyodo news agency, with the Olympics high on the agenda.

There have now been just under 400,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide with more than 17,000 deaths.

Britain’s five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave told Sportsmail that postponing the Games by a year is the best solution because of the

risk of coronavirus spreading.

Redgrave is directly affected by the International Olympic Committee’s decision as he is working as the high-performance director of China’s national rowing team.

He said: ‘I certainly believe that a year’s delay makes a lot of sense. It gives people the time to potentially get back into training and preparation and get their lives back on track. Hopefully the situation in 12 months’ time will be a lot better than it is now.

‘I would also guess that it would be easier to have a total year delay, than it is a potential October date, with all the processes of road closures and logistics from

the city’s point of view.

‘Until there is a vaccine for coronavirus, the chances are it could bounce back at any stage, so you would hope that any sports body would be very cautious about staging any event at this particular time.

‘But what we are going through is much, much bigger than sport. As a former athlete and somebody who is a performance director, it is very much at my heart.

‘But the reality is it is about getting the world safe and getting through this trauma that we are going through, which is unprecedented. We want people to be safe and healthy whatever walk of life they are in.’

Former GuyanaNRA Exco Member Claude ‘Alfy’ Duguid laid to rest Former Guyana National Rifle Association (GuyanaNRA) Smallbore Section Vice Captain and former Executive Committee member, Claude ‘Alfy’ Duguid was laid to rest yesterday following a Church Service at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Mandela Avenue, Georgetown.

Born on September 11th, 1951, the late Duguid fired his final shot on March 17th, 2020 to complete a 68 year journey on earth. Viewing and tributes took place at the Merriman Funeral Homes Inc., Lime and Bent Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown.

Among the organisations giving tributes were Mr. Roland Barclay (Chief Electrical Inspector) of the Guyana Electric Inspectorate which falls under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and

GuyanaNRA Secretary, Ryan Sampson.

Sampson, who also represented the West Indies Fullbore Shooting Council of which he holds a similar position, reminisced that the late Duguid commenced his shooting career back in 1990 and during his time as a member of the Association, distinguished himself as he held prominent positions including Vice Captain of the Smallbore Section and even represented the West Indies in the Millennium Match at Bisley, England in 2000.

As a member of the GuyanaNRA team which has dominated the rest of the Region at the Short and Long range levels for many a years, Duguid always looked forward to coming against his Caribbean counterparts to ensure that the Guyanese legacy of ruling the roost on the range was kept intact.

The former Association Executive Member was well respected among his colleagues from fellow shooting nations under the WIFBSC umbrella, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and they all conveyed sincere condolences to the Duguid family as well as the fullbore and smallbore shooting fraternity in here.

Such was his capacity for accountability and meticulousness that he was put in charge of the Association’s ammunition and he ensured that he balanced same every week, both live rounds and used shells.

Duguid also took charge of accounting for all rifles with the relevant authorities whenever the team was on tour in keeping with his knack for accountability.

Wednesday March 25, 2020

PAGE 31

Kaieteur News

What cricket means to West Indians

By Sean Devers Presently just the thought of West Indies cricket can take one into deep depression. Administrators, who only serve their own agendas, players, most of whom seem only motivated by money and fans who have lost all interest in watching Test cricket that involves a weak West Indies team are ‘normal’ today.

But when Jamaican Robert Karl Nunes led the West Indies onto Lords on June 23rd 1928 to face England, it marked the birth of one of the most colourful and exciting teams to play test cricket and provided a major opportunity for West Indians to gain international acclaim.

In the early days the West Indies team, it comprised players from the British Federation along with British Guiana, located in South America. Today the team is made up of players from the English speaking Caribbean Islands and Guyana.

West Indies was the fourth team to play test cricket after Australia, England and South Africa.

In a region dominated by ‘whites’ in the days of slavery and indenture-ship cricket has played an important role in the social, economic, cultural and political development of Caribbean people.

The slave rebellion in the 1790s in Saint-Domingue resulted in Haiti becoming independent in 1804 to become the first black republic in the Americas.

Four years later Britain abolished the slave trade, while slavery itself was abolished in the British West Indies in 1833.

By 1838, the agriculture production in British Guiana (now Guyana) had fallen by 60 percent and plantations were being shut down since most of the freed slaves refused to work for plantation

Guyanese Maurice Fernandes was the first West Indian Captain to win a Test match. owners who had mistreated them.

With most of the freed slaves heading for towns or forming villages of their own, the plantation owners, in search of cheap labour, turned to immigrants from England, Germany, Ireland and the British West Indies; starting the indentured system.

However, due to the tough working conditions, these workers did not last long.

During the days of slavery when the British were growing sugar cane in Guyana, they were also powerful in other parts of the world and had entered an Indian Province called Uttar Pradesh in 1765.

Under British rule in India, thousands of Indians were unemployed and living in poverty. Many who wanted to escape the poor living conditions opted to go to the ‘new world’ to work as indentured servants on the Sugar cane plantations in Guyana and later (1845)

Shivnarine-Chanderpaul was the glue that held the batting together.

Trinidad and Jamaica.

By the 1860s Indians also settled in smaller numbers in St. Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent and St Kitts.

The first batch of 244 Indians arrived in British Guiana on a British ship named Whitby on May 5th 1838 and up to today many of their decedents still work on the sugar Estates, still remain in Guyana, St Kitts, Barbados and Trinidad.

Those early days exposed the freed slaves and the indentured servants to cricket, played mainly by British Military teams.

Since then cricket has played the biggest role in uniting West Indians from different Islands, giving them a sense of pride and self worth.

Cricket for West Indians goes way beyond the boundary in a region populated by over ninety percent non-whites. It was the only opportunity for most people in the British West Indies and British Guiana in the early days to gain recognition.

Cricket in the West Indies was a tool to gain respect and equality for a people desperately trying to emancipate themselves from the mental slavery that still engulfed their daily lives.

The whites, although being the population’s minority, still controlled cricket in the West Indies long after slavery ended at a time when the class and status structure was still strong in the region.

In 1930 at Bourda in British Guiana, Guyanese Maurice Fernandes became the first Captain to lead a team to victory when they beat England 289 runs in the third Test.

It was not until the 1950’s that non-whites were given leadership rules in regional cricket teams.

Black players like George Headley (the first Black man to Captain West Indies), Sir Frank Worrell (First long-term black Captain), Clive Lloyd (Most successful Captain), Viv Richards, Richie Richardson, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper and Jason Holder along with those of East Indian decent like Rohan Kanhai (first Indian to lead West Indies), Alvin Kallicharran, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Daren Ganga and Denish Ramdin were to eventually assume leadership roles of modern West Indies teams.

It was in fact on the Sugar cane plantation of Port Mourant in British Guiana that Sir Clyde Walcott (who worked with the Bookers Sugar Estate in 1950s & 60s) discovered Test batsmen Kanhai, Basil Butcher and Joe Solomon.

Today most of the West Indians of ‘White’ ancestry have gravitated to sports like Hockey, Motor Racing and Squash and the West Indies team is made up of mostly players of black and Indian decent.

A lot has changed since those dark days of the 19th century but cricket is still the ethos around which West Indian society revolves.

The 1950 victory against England at Lords for instance, still remains the single most

George Headley pulls during one of his 10 Test tons from 22 Tests. satisfying moment in the history of West Indies cricket.

It was the first victory over their former colonial masters on English soil and signaled the coming of age of the ‘calypso cricketers’. The famous win inspired Lord Kitchener to lead a crowd of Calypso singing West Indians around the ground at Lords.

So great was the triumph

by John Goddard’s team for all West Indians that Lord Beginner wrote a calypso to celebrate.

“Cricket, lovely cricket At Lords where I saw it Yardley did his best But Goddard won the test With those little pals of

mine Ramadhin and Valentine” The song said it all as two 20-year-olds, Trinidadian Sonny Ramadhin (26 wickets) and Jamaican Alf Valentine (33 wickets) destroyed England.

The highs and lows, those who excelled during the glory years when the regional team was not beaten in a single series for 15 years, the Calypso cricketers becoming professionals under the leadership of Sir Frank Worrell and later Clive Lloyd, the first ever tied test, the Kerry Packer affair in 1978, the rebel tour to apartheid ruled South Africa in 1983, the fall from (Continued on page 25)

Lara became the first to reach 400 in a Test innings.

PAGE 32

Wednesday March 25, 2020

Kaieteur News

Beuran Hendricks earns CSA national contract, Dale Steyn left out ESPNcricinfo - Beuran Hendricks, the left-arm seamer who made his Test and ODI debuts for South Africa in the past season, is the only new name on the national men’s contracted player list for the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, pacer Nadine de Klerk, who was part of South Africa’s squad at the T20 World Cup earlier this month and wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta have been added to the women’s national contracted squad.

Both lists include the same number of players as least season - 16 men and 14 women - with the option of a 17th men’s player being contracted through the season.

Anrich Nortje, Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius are all examples of players who did exactly that.

The trio were not originally named on the 2019-20 contract list but were upgraded over the course of the previous summer by virtue of the number of matches they played for the national side.

All three have been contracted for the 2020-21 season. Top-order batsman Theunis de Bruyn has been dropped from the men’s contract list, while Dale Steyn, who remains available in white-ball formats, has been excluded and Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander have retired. Offspinner Raisibe Ntozakhe and allrounder Zintle Mali are the two women’s players who no longer have contracts.

Beuran Hendricks and Quinton de Kock celebrate the end of Jason Roy’s knock. (Getty Images) Faf du Plessis, who stood down as Test and T20 captain last month, has been recontracted and remains available to play for South Africa in all formats suggesting his retirement is at least a year away. Du Plessis was part of the ODI squad that traveled to India earlier this month and has committed himself to his role as a senior player and in assisting his successor. While Quinton de Kock has taken over as whiteball captain, South Africa have yet to name a Test captain.

Contenders are believed to include de Kock, Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram who remains on the contracted player list despite

missing most of last season on the sidelines. Markram broke his wrist during the October Test series in India, a self-inflicted injury caused by “lashing out a solid object,” after bagging a pair in India. He recovered in time to play the 2019 Boxing Day Test against England but fractured a finger in the match, ruling him out of the rest of the summer’s internationals. Markram returned for his franchise, the Titans, in late February and scored two hundred in six one-day cup matches before the competition was suspended.

Markram’s replacement at the top of the order in the Test XI, Pieter Malan, has not been

FINA to reconsider world championship dates after Tokyo Games moved to 2021 (Reuters) - The 2021 World Aquatics Championships that were due to be held in JulyAugust 2021 in Fukuoka, Japan could be rescheduled after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021, swimming’s world governing body FINA said yesterday.

The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for July 24-Aug. 9 this year, were postponed to 2021 earlier in the day, the first such delay in the Games’ 124-year modern history, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Aquatics Championships are scheduled for July 16-Aug.

1 next year but FINA said they would reconsider the dates after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 organizers released a joint statement on postponing the Games.

“FINA will now work closely with the host organizing committee... with the Japan Swimming Federation and with the Japanese public authorities, in order to determine flexibility around the dates of the competition, if necessary and in agreement with the IOC,” FINA said in a statement here “FINA’s main goal is to ensure the success of its showcase event, while

considering the importance of athlete wellbeing and maximizing opportunities for aquatics stars to compete at the highest level.”

FINA said it was also “well aware” of the problems faced by aquatics athletes around the world, with training facilities closed and government protocols on social distancing making it nearly impossible to train for competition.

More than 377,300 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 16,520 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Japan has more than 1,800 cases with 52 deaths.

contracted. Neither has his brother Janneman Malan, who scored a century while opening the batting in his second ODI. Also missing from the list are Heinrich Klaasen and JJ Smuts, who have both been part of South Africa’s white-ball squads this summer and have both had decent returns, and Zubayr Hamza, who played in the Test team. However, all of them have the opportunity to earn a contract in the coming season.

South Africa’s men’s team

has a busy schedule and are due to play away tours in Sri Lanka (white-ball) and West Indies (two Tests, five T20s) between May and August, although the future of those trips will hinge on the impact of COVID-19, which has already seen two men’s ODIs in India postponed. That will be followed by the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and the home season, which sees visits from Sri Lanka (Tests), Australia (Tests), Pakistan (T20) and India (T20). The women’s team is due to travel to West Indies and England over the winter - tours that may prove unlikely - and will then turn their attention to the 2021 ODI World Cup. They automatically qualified for the event before their home series against Australia, due to take place this month, was forced to be rescheduled because of the ongoing pandemic.

Last Monday, all activity in South African cricket was put on hold for 60 days, after South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster as a result of the coronavirus. Although the impact on the season has been minimal - with the semifinals and finals of the oneday cup and two rounds of first-class cricket unable to be completed - it does mean that off-season camps, aimed to

upskill South Africa’s cricketers, will have to wait.

Behind-the-scenes, CSA are continuing to plan for next summer and now that the central contracts have been announced, the six domestic franchises are expected to finalise their player pools in the coming week.

Nationally contracted men’s players: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen Nationally contracted women’s players: Trisha Chetty, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloe Tryon, Dane van Niekerk, Laura Wolvaardt National contracts IN: Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta OUT: Hashim Amla, Theunis de Bruyn, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Zintle Mali

European Champions Cup final postponed AFP - The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup semi-finals and finals have been postponed due to the coronavirus, European rugby chiefs announced yesterday.

The finals of the two competitions were due to have been played on the weekend of May 22/23 in the

French city of Marseille.

The quarter-finals had already been postponed.

Tournament organisers European Professional Club Rugby said it was working with leagues and unions to restructure the conclusion to the season.

“EPCR remains committed to completing the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup season,” it said in a statement.

“And it is planned to reschedule the quarter-final and semi-final matches, as well as the Marseille finals, in line with fixtures in the professional league competitions, subject to advice from government and local authorities.”

Domestic competitions across Europe, which has become the epicentre of the virus, have already been put on hold.

Saracens beat Leinster to lift the Champions Cup last seasons. (AFP/File/Andy Buchanan)

Kaieteur News

Wednesday March 25, 2020

PAGE 33

Sealy unbeaten half century guides Barbina X1 to seven-wicket win

Orison Sealy

L

ed by a fine unbeaten half century from O r i s o n S e a l y, Barbina X1 of Mabaruma defeated Sebai X1 by seven wickets when the teams collided in a 15-over fixture on Sunday last at Sebai Recreational ground, Sebai village, Port Kaituma, Region One. In front of a massive home crowd and under brilliant sunshine, Barbina X1 won the toss and inserted Sebai X1 on a lively pitch and fast outfield. They managed 95-6 off their allotted overs with opening batsman Danny Benjamin scoring a fluent 33, while Devon Benjamin made 16, Randolph Benjamin 13 not out and Sherlon Rodrigues, nine, retired hurt.

Owen James was the

most successful bowler for Barbina X1, picking up 2 for 15 off two overs while Orison Sealy took 1-10, Adrian Hernandez 1-10, Elwin De Souza 1-15 and Ozell Campbell 1-23.

In reply, Barbina X1 got off to a flier as they responded with 96-3 off 10.5 overs.

Orison Sealy was destructive against a hapless bowling attack, striking one four and six sixes in his unbeaten 55; he was duly adjudged man-of-the-match.

Opening batsman Ainsworth Pritchard made 16 and Anthony Brown flourished at the end with a quick fire 11 to help his team seal victory.

Randolph Benjamin took 232 off 2.5 overs and Kenneth Benjamin had 1-16 off three overs for Sebai XI. The teams will meet

The victorious Barbina XI with their winning prize.

again this weekend for a rematch at Mabaruma. The organizers (Sebai) have expressed gratitude to Mr. Colin Croal for donating the trophy.

t r o p S

TOKYO OLYMPICS POSTPONED: Organisers FINALLY agree to delay the Games until 2021 after crisis talks with the Japanese Prime Minister

IOC president Thomas Bach took a call from Japan PM Shinzo Abe on Tuesday when they decided to postpone. (AFP via Getty Images)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke to the Press after his telephone call with Thomas Bach of the IOC. (PM Office, Japan)

Former GuyanaNRA Exco Member Claude ‘Alfy’ Duguid laid to rest

GuyanaNRA Fullbore Captain and the late Claude ‘Alfy’ Duguid’s buddy Mahendra Persaud (right), Secretary Ryan Sampson (left) and other teammates stand alongside the remains of their longtime shooting buddy at the Merriman Funeral Homes Inc. yesterday.

Claude Duguid Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd., 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Tel: 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/226-8210.