Kaieteur News

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AIETEUR NEWS

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

Millions more to fix Chinese vessels

Friday Edition March 11, 2022 - Vol. 24 No. 10 Online: www.kaieteurnews.com Online Price $80 readership yesterday, 85,318

...$300M was spent between 2016-2019 for similar repairs on said ferries

Glenn Lall vs State…

Govt. defends

tax giveaways to oil companies

...says deal with Exxon is a matter of private law

Guyanese protesting what they described as the lopsided oil contract the Guyana Government signed with ExxonMobil.

Citizens demand Exxon pays fair …as protest against lopsided share of taxes contract moves to High Court

Berbice rice farmers clash with police …as protest action against low paddy prices intensifies

One year later…

Security guards to help police fight crime …citizens wary about their lack of training, professionalism

PPP yet to honour

promise to release list of

beneficial owners of oil blocks

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Friday March 11, 2022

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

PAGE 03

Glenn Lall vs State…

Govt. defends tax giveaways to oil companies ...says deal with Exxon is a matter of private law

p. 3

A screen shot of the virtual court hearing yesterday.

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Kaieteur News

Friday March 11, 2022

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

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

EDITORIAL

Exxon is weeping for itself American oil giant, Exxon, is singing the blues, and in advance of any heartbreak. The power people in the company are crying out in public, in hopes of attracting some sympathy, some much needed goodwill.

Neither is forthcoming, not in America, where record oil profits have now returned with a big bang, and certainly not in Guyana, where the company has no friends, other than compromised and collaborating leaders and crooked insiders in the PPP/C Government.

Exxon’s people are beating their breasts in the local press, and before all who bother to listen to them, about how much the company would be hurt, if what is in motion now is allowed to succeed.

It is about how much its plans and operations would be subject to derailment should any element be tampered in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed by the previous Coalition Government on behalf of the people of Guyana.

We at this publication make our position clear, if it was not heard nor known before.

The company could take the crying somewhere else. It could take it (to use an American expression that should be familiar to the company’s people) to where the sun don’t shine.

The best we think of those tears is that they are of a crocodilian stream, so highly hypocritical they are and so deeply offensive.

It is setting up Guyana, like the ferocious, ravenous predator named, for yet another kill.

Exxon made a killing with that lopsided, one-sided, blindsided, two percent royalty deal. Its CEO knows that, so does its board, and so do all of the company’s employees and their families who feed off of Guyana’s oil wealth, while the mass of Guyanese people is poorer for their natural resource riches.

Exxon’s heavy hitting investors, deep pocketed shareholders are all familiar with what Guyana has come to represent to the struggling company’s bottom line, meaning its profitability, and thus their personal and corporate prosperity. Guyana is their rescue package, and Guyana’s oil wealth is the milking cow that must not be relinquished.

Not a single dollar of taxes that Guyanese pay for this rich American oil monstrosity. Guyana and its poor, struggling, and hopeful citizens must be squeezed for all that can be gotten out of them, in order that Exxon and its own can flourish extravagantly.

Not one penny of any tax dollar must be given up, without the most grueling of fights, and it doesn’t have to be a fair one, or one in the open and on the level. Not one percentage point of royalty must be surrendered by any means, fair of foul, judicial or otherwise, so that Guyana is on the receiving end, and Exxon is the one doing the giving.

This is the state to which the people of Exxon are working themselves into, akin to the manner of well-paid professional mourners at a funeral.

They are doing so while they collect with both fists, and pockets already full to overflowing. It is not Guyana’s oil, but its blood that this American corporate oil cannibal guzzles, and always with an insatiable lust for more. The company did so well on Guyana’s oil that it can swagger and celebrate. It went from its worst financial performance in 40 years, to one of its grandest of all. From a loss of US$22.4 billion in 2020, Exxon recorded a staggering profit in 2021of US$23 billion, for a total turnaround of just over US$45 billion.

A goodly fraction of that is from the cash cow and breadbasket for Exxon that is Guyana. But it has nothing to give to Guyana in good faith, as a good capitalist partner.

The executives and board of the company could announce a buyback of US$10 billion in shares, but they cannot afford to give a dime back to Guyanese. This is the weeping and wailing coming out of Exxon’s chamber of horrors.

Americans are raging at being robbed at the pump, not at Vladimir Putin, but at oil companies like Exxon registering record profits from gouging the public. Guyanese are being robbed of their heritage, present, and future, and Exxon cries and resists.

Why not build a new oil plant instead of using sugar packaging plant?

DEAR EDITOR, Reference is made to articles on the Enmore sugar packaging plant (March 8, 7, February 24, 18). The government “secretly leased” the plant for a pittance of what it cost taxpayers to build.

I recall that in 2009, the PPP government announced the construction of the plant for US$1.4 Million that was to create a lot of jobs. At the time, the projected cost was thought to be overpriced.

Then the cost went up to $2 million. A local company was to construct it. Then suddenly government contracted Surendra Engineering of India to construct the plant.

The cost reached US$12.5 million. How did the price move from $1.4 M to $12.5 M — nine times the cost? Why was there no audit and transparency of the cost?

I have not forgotten the gala opening ceremony of the plant (May 9, 2011). Guests splurged on cocktails and snacks and full meals. Some political operatives were treated like reincarnations of the lords by the Indian contractor, Surendra, with loud

music and regalia.

So a plant that was to cost less than two million American dollars ended up with government paying over twelve million and now leased for a small amount a month for a project that has nothing to do with sugar. The facility will be re-fitted for the oil industry. Is government moving away from sugar and agriculture? Workers at the sugar packaging plant have lost their jobs; most of them are women. Congratulations to government for firing women during Women History Month and International Day of Women. Government has not announced any compensation or severance pay for these women. In fact, the union, GAWU seems not to be aware of the closure of the plant and termination of workers according to your Feb. 18 report captioned GAWU writes GuySuCo on Enmore sugar packaging plant, and Feb. 24 captioned “GuySuCo, GAWU for meeting on Enmore packaging plant deal”. This brings back memories of a former President threatening to deregister

GAWU when it sought benefits for workers. And now it seems GAWU was not even aware what was happening at Enmore under President Ali. Will GAWU allow this to go unchallenged? Will it stop the lease and save sugar worker jobs? Will Dr. Jagan have disrespected GAWU? Will GAWU allow this injustice?

After being criticised for the secrecy of the deal, an embarrassed government announced that the Enmore plant has not been closed but will be relocated to Albion.

Why move it? Is government trying to fool the workers and the public and its sugar industry supporters? The terminated women are going to be rehired at Albion, some 50 miles away?

Twelve million dollars or 2.5 billion Guyana dollars have gone down the drain.

Workers are on the breadline; those employed at Enmore will not be able to relocate to Albion.

Assuming a new packaging plant will be built, it will exceed the US$12.5 million for the one at Enmore. Workers will have to be recruited,

hired, and trained costing millions more.

That money could have been used to increase salaries or social benefits or to hire additional workers at Enmore.

Why is government wasting the peoples’ money? Instead of giving the Enmore plant to political friends for an oil project, why not let the investors build their own plant for the oil project and save taxpayers the money while retaining the jobs of the workers, those poor working class women?

Is government fooling sugar workers and its supporters and the country at large on its plan for sugar?

So far, after 18 months in office, none of the four estates has been re-opened as it committed to during the election campaign. The policies announced for Enmore clearly shows that Enmore will not be re-opened and the four thousand workers and their families who were tied to the estate, all of who voted PPP, will remain permanently unemployed.

Yours truly, Mukesh Narine

The Govt. should have invited the Opposition for Flag Raising Ceremony DEAR EDITOR, I Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan as an Ambassador for Peace and one who believes in crossing the threshold in respect and goodwill; to create an ambiance of national goodwill, harmony and love for the nation. As one who believes in the principle of elegance, decency and communication that is as one, my heart aches.

Im extremely disappointed that the Government of Guyana did not invite the opposition to attend such an important and grand event, at the National Flag Raising Ceremony Celebrating our 52nd Anniversary. I find it extremely painful in my heart.

The reality is Guyana belongs to all of us.

Parliament is the parliament of the people, Guyana is the country of the people, the Government is the Government of the people and the Opposition is the Opposition of the people all elected by the peoples of this country and therefore, the peoples who elected the opposition members of parliament also need to be granted adequate and elegant respects.

No one can tell me that an

entire Ministry or the committee selected to attend these grand celebrations of our National patrimony would forget to invite the entire Opposition. In my opinion if there is a committee involved in this then that committee needs to be disbanded and seriously disciplined and the head of the committee terminated. I am a respecter of Hon. Minister Charles Ramson who is a vibrant, dynamic, most intellectual youth. That he would not know that the Opposition was not invited, and it may be that he and others know that the Opposition was not invited that is why they are still quiet about it. The entire Government must understand that such little matters create the divisions of our people, because the people who have voted for the Government are emotionally charged for the PPP/C Government. The people who have voted for the Opposition are emotionally charged for the Opposition and therefore, to create this nexus of harmony we need to show respect for each other.

I believe that somewhere along the line it is a kind of act of vengeance! I have been

taught in the system of Sanatan Dharam or the eternal laws of the Dharmic Religions that revenge (intaqam) is the worst of causes. One has to display major respectability by providing maximum passion for goodwill and harmony, so that we could walk with each other and create this camaraderie, this harmony instead of staying in our various camps picking and biting at each other and no one creates the atmosphere for communication. In human nature and destiny we can see throughout history that the best way to resolve crises is by communication. Once we can talk to each other we can develop the platform for maturity and growth. So where does the problem really lie, editor and readers of this piece by me?

We may recall in 2016 when we had the Jubilee at the now infamous abominable DUrban Park Stadium - that they were trying to create - in which there was masked mass corruption, thievery and poor vision, but that is not the point. My point is that on the Jubilee, a total historical celebration, something historical in which we invited

Guyanese of the Diaspora and many people from foreign countries were there to celebrate with us the 50thAnniversary, the Jubilee celebration for Guyana.

When the opposition then the PPP/C arrived they were totally disregarded, no one was there to take them to their seats, and they had to find their way in a humiliating manner and seats were not made available for the contingent. That was a thing of total national disgrace, humiliating to the core for a party that is known to have more than 50 percent of support in this country and lost barely by the skin of their teeth under suspicious circumstances, not to be properly welcomed and led by an usher of calibre to their seats. To humiliate them and have them standing by was bad enough and if I may say unforgivable.

This might have been one of their reasons. I have another reason and you all do too, that some people have long memories and they would want tit for tat. Hence, I will not be surprised now.

We know for a fact that the Government of Guyana was fully and properly (Continued on page 6)

Friday March 11, 2022

Article 29 of the Constitution DEAR EDITOR, A civic society group named Article 13 has a lot of urgent oversight to do in order to hold the rulers accountable for the billions that are being talked about so loosely.

No doubt Article 13 is relying on rights granted to the Guyanese people in Chapter 2 of the 1980 constitution as amended.

Other Guyanese concerned about accountability may also be relying on rights such as the right to inclusive government framed in the same Chapter of the same Constitution.

What will surprise Guyanese is the fact that the rights referred to as granted in Chapter 2 are rights not available.

To explain this paradox I must recall a bit of Constitutional history.

In 1978 the government of the day was responding to financial problems.

It issued a circular denying all government employees their traditional entitlement to merit increments due to them and ordered all government

agencies to implement this order immediately.

There was widespread opposition to the order and to the high-handed way in which the government had arrived at its decision.

Across the board there were meetings, objections, protests, consultations at the level of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and a growing mood of defiance to the government.

Out of all this widespread disagreement with the governments measure, Mr. Teemal, a sugar worker and member of NAACIE, filed a High Court motion seeking a declaration against the validity of the measure.

It took some time for the issue to be finally determined. When it reached the Court of Appeal, that court ruled in favour of Mr. Teemal, and struck down the circular. They found that the circular was ultra vires to the Constitution null and void and of no effect.

In giving their decisions, Court of Appeal Judge Mr. Ronald Luckhoo made important findings quoted in a book by Mr. Nanda Gopaul.

My own clear recollection is that Chancellor Keith Massiah made a provision for Chapter 2, pleaded by the plaintiff, saying that trade unions were entitled to participate in government decisions concerning their members. In agreeing to nullify the circular, Chancellor Massiah said, we have to give some teeth to this constitution. The government in turn reacted sharply, bringing to the floor of the National Assembly a bill entitled The Labour Amendment Act. This strange piece of legislation contained, among other things, the provision that the Court of Appeal decision had not been made. When members of the opposition from the PPP and the WPA charged that the government was interfering with the decision of the Court, the Attorney General, H o n M o h a m e d Shahabuddeen declared defiantly, “The government is not interfering with the Court, but is putting a decision out of action”. The government used its majority to pass the bill. One feature of the bill was

an amendment of the Constitution appearing today as Article 29 of Chapter 2 of the Constitution.

The prevailing provision reads and intends that the courts of Guyana may not enforce a provision of Chapter 2 of the Constitution unless Parliament had previously, by law, provided that the particular article of Chapter 2 should become available for enforcement by the courts.

Unless I am much mistaken as a layman, it appears to me on reading the plain words of the amendment, that people of goodwill who wish to see the implementation of several of the paper rights granted by Chapter 2 of the Constitution, have the option of coming together across party lines and other lines of division against Article 29 or any article with any other number due to editions of the Constitution that bar the Courts from enforcing the rights, which would be available without the restriction or bar imposed by Article 29 to which I have referred.

Yours faithfully, Eusi Kwayana

Proactive Measures DEAR EDITOR, The proactive measure of enhancing the community, as well as ensuring drains are cleared, has led to prevention of floods.

While during last week we were expecting rainfall varying from an inch to two and

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even more in some areas there were no reports of flooding incidents, at least to my knowledge. This can be the result of two factors using preventative measures such as the major clean-up campaign spearheaded by the President of Guyana and of

course updates from the Civil Defence Commission which is responsible for managing and dealing with disasters.

As citizens, we have a role to play when it comes to avoiding and preventing disasters.

One of the easiest ways

of doing this is by keeping our surroundings clean.

However, much appreciation needs to be shown to the Government of Guyana for all they have been doing since our last major disaster, the flooding of 2021.

Tanya Niamatali

It does not take a crystal ball to see where we are headed DEAR EDITOR, This letter does not represent the views of the entire Artist Community, rather a few who have taken no sides in determining whether it is Russia or America and its NATO Allies who are responsible for the Ukraine war. Ours is Promoting Global Peace, Love, and Harmony. Not Genocidal Wars among Nations.

Exactly who benefits from Wars? Not Humanity! Our political geography in South America next door to Venezuela is extremely sensitive and dangerous. We are already living under Siege with a government that pays lip service to Democracy but continues to destroy our democracy, our lives, and our country.

Emboldened that it has no organised opposition, they control and dispense our wealth to their supporters and financial backers, while the big Capitalist Consortiums are having a field day taking possession of our land and wealth generated from natural resources, the Oil and gas sectors. Leaving behind a nation grounded in poverty living as refugees in our own country!

Our situation is getting worse day by day and the blame is now not the 5-month political standoff nor the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is now the Ukraine war. GPL hike will make matters worse while the cost of living continues to spiral. With three enormous budgets exceeding 1.3 Trillion GY dollars there has been no money allocated for the purchase of Art or to aid producing artists. Rather the government has given out GYD 1 million under the title of Culture and Business Award to 20 persons, while Senior Guyanese artists who have served our country for over 40 years with distinction are discriminated against, victims of Race, Class, and Political Prejudice.

The War will become the Yardstick for more injustices, more hardships and as the Ukrainians are fleeing so will Guyanese from the calamity unleashed.

It does not take a crystal ball to see where we are headed.

Yours faithfully, Desmond Alli (General Secretary Guyana United Artists - GUA)

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Friday March 11, 2022

The Govt. should have invited the Opposition for Flag Raising Ceremony...

From page 5 elected by the majority of persons in this country. If there was an alliance and the alliance could have far reaching connections that decide, then so it might have been. A committee or one man thing could not have such capabilities. It had to have been an alliance with far reaching connections that had the ability to make such a

decision to not invite the entire Opposition. The Hon. Lenox Shuman, the holder of one seat with a conglomeration of parties was invited electronically and via hardcopy, yet the entire opposition was not invited.

This does not make any logical sense, in my opinion.

The person who made that decision erred. It was a tactical error, whether it was due to

vengeance for the Golden Jubilee, tit for tat, humiliation for humiliation or something else.

Now what is the something else? Let us articulate. We know for a fact that the government of Guyana was fully and properly elected by a majority of people with over 200 observers in this country of which I was one, and for the

first time in my life I had to raise my voice as an independent person sitting on behalf of an independent constitutional institution of this country.

I had to sit there and witness the worst form of skullduggery and thievery to steal a government. The lies and the cheating! Even telling a lie that (now Excellency) Irfaan Ali went in with a team of people with guns in their hands and yet can you imagine ladies and gentlemen, just imagine and the police would not arrest him. There were tons of police and undercover agents of the PNC there and somebody just lied to Mr. Harmon who pushed it. So this is the level of thievery when all the observers were chased out of the building under threat of arrest in the attempt to steal the nation. When the Minister of Foreign Affairs invited all the Foreign Observers to a meeting and actually threatened to withdraw their accreditation unless they posted favourable remarks about the APNU+AFC. When we were no longer allowed to go in more than one, then two at a time to witness the situation of the attempted theft of a Nation a false declaration was made by the Region Four Returning Officer and put through because of the same APNU+AFC, Moses Nagamootoo, Ramjatan group to international shame

causing Guyana to be looked down upon again as we did for 28 years under the PNC government.

Once again we are being looked down upon and our respectability erased in Guyana and around the world.

We had to go to a recount.

CARICOM had to intervene to conduct that recount and all kinds of things were put in place to try to create strange voting from nonexistent beings and aliens.

The heartache and trauma, the waste of resources I would not be surprised if it cost hundreds of millions for that recount. Then when the Government was voted in the Opposition boycotted it, the Opposition refused to recognise His Excellency the President Dr. Irfaan Ali, even though the United Nations with over 160 countries and all other independent nations inclusive of the European Union, inclusive of the African Caribbean Pacific Nations, African Pacific Nations, The Mandelas Elders Group of South Africa accepted, all the South American Spanish speaking nations accepted. Except this one puny institution called the PNC/R now a conglomerate of strange parties together called the APNU refused to accept and so they keep on doing things in a manner to cause the Government to want to fall.

Therefore, friends and family, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. /Ms. Editor we have to bear in mind that this is a painful thing in our country and this could have been the other cause. Now please allow me to elucidate a little more. Now the elections of the PNC/R came into bearing, I supported Aubrey Norton because I thought he would have come with some fresh new ideas. The previous clandestine operatives within the PNC/APNU have been ejected and rejected and put to shame.

The new leader of the PNC/R said the Government is in power and it is the government of the day but then turned around and said he still does not accept that it is a legitimate Government. So all the while Ive been encouraging him to come around and try to impress on his people to do the right thing and follow the world but for some reason or the other they continue as an odd man out to disrespect the international and GECOM decisions.

Fortunately former President Excellency David Granger concurred with the GECOM. They are still misbehaving, jumping in Parliament, throwing

tantrums, stealing the Mace, lawlessness, lewd vulgarities for which some of them have been criminally charged and even suspended from Parliament. So this is what is happening and this is the second reason I believe why the government does not see them as National Developmental Partners or developmental partners in national growth and patrimony.

So in a way the APNU has to understand as they are disrespecting the government how would they expect the Government to respect them? With all of that said and done I still believe, the government especially the government of President Dr. Irfaan Ali while they may have hardcore operatives within the government and their party who would like to go contrary, I believe His Excellency President Dr. Irfaan Ali should have ensured that the Opposition was welcomed to create the pathway for goodwill, love, peace and harmony to give it a chance to grow and to develop and from that we could truly come around and about and build a nation of greatness and mutual respect for Opposition and Government. I am somewhat disappointed and I wish the moment could have been recalled and corrected. Ladies and gentlemen I speak as a professional here, as a Muslim leader to whom people around the world listen to, as an Ambassador for Peace for all peoples and in which situations like these we need to cast aside our political hate and disharmony. I always believe in a one world society and I wish that we could have a National Front Government, but how can we have a national front government when we have an opposition that completely detests you and does not accept you as a government?

If you are to work with them they will do everything possible to decimate the nation and society and possibly to destroy and create mayhem in the land.

Cooperation and development of our peoples and beloved country is required to take them to great heights, success and peaceful coexistence.

I call upon the Government and the Opposition to try to find this nexus, a technique needed to make this successful.

The opposition has to recognise the government of Dr. Irfaan Ali and let us develop a land of love and harmony.

Yours Truly, Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan Snr.

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BL TLUNT.. UNT...B BL Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

Glenn Lall, the Publisher of this newspaper, over the years, has kept a tireless and relentless fight going for a better Guyana.

So fierce and conspicuous his efforts are, so irresistible his energies of late that an oil company, a global oil power, has joined government to fight him in a tax giveaway case.

Glenn Lall and Kaieteur News have been fighting continuously for more and better for Guyana.

Guyanese need to know what their leaders are doing to them and demand better.

But until slumbering Guyanese stir awake, and rouse themselves to action, Glenn Lall as well as other patriotic brothers and sisters, heroes in their own right, will continue to go as far as the courts, to reverse any decision designed to undermine this nation's development. They will fight with all their might.

Government. Exxon. Whoever.

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Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Now is the time for a wage - FITUG increase T

he Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) is calling on the government to implement the unanimously agreed upon $60,000 national minimum wage, stating that now is the time to approve the increase given current constraints occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic and now, rising oil prices that will impact several areas of consumer life.

Although the national minimum wage stands at $44,200, under the coalition government public servants minimum wage had moved up to over $70,000.

However, the private sector has not responded to calls for them to increase the minimum wage.

In a press statement, FITUG said that it has been more than two months since the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) which comprises representatives of

the labour movement, the business sector and the government unanimously agreed to hike the national minimum wage to $60,000 monthly, but to date, there has been no word as to whether Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton who chairs the NTC has taken the committee's decision to Cabinet and whether it has been approved.

FITUG said it has long advocated an improvement in the national minimum wage and thinks that now that increase is most necessary.

“We believe it is now necessary that workers at the basement level benefit from an improvement in their pay levels.

We hasten to remind that the last improvement was as far back as 2016 and without a doubt, the conditions of life are not the same.”

The FITUG contended that given the hikes in the cost-of-living most recently

FITUG wants pay increase for workers now. evident by the substantial hike in the cost of fuel, there is no justification to continue to perpetuate a denial of the improvement.

The body said that given the all-round support, which the decision received, it felt that the approval of the hike was a mere formality and high expectations were had that workers at this time

would have benefitted from the improvement.

“We urge, at this time, that the procrastination be brought to an end and our nation's workers receive the deserving hike in the national minimum wage,” FITUG urged.

Minister Hamilton has however related to the Kaieteur News that the

proposed hike in the minimum wage has already been taken to Cabinet and is actively being considered.

The Minister pointed out too that the FITUG being a member of the NTC is aware that the committee's decision was taken to Cabinet.

“The point must be made that FITUG is a member of the committee and they are fully aware of what is taking place.

They know that the decision was taken to the Cabinet and the matter is under active consideration at the level of Cabinet.”

Minister Hamilton said that just days ago, he made it public that the wage increase is under consideration by the government, and said that when that process is completed, he would of course be able to relate the necessary information to the public.

FITUG has been under the impression however that there may be attempts afoot

by the business sector to “stall” an improvement in the National Minimum Wage.

This particular wage increase matter has been in the public since the previous APNU-government, and FITUG has since felt that the business community may not be in unison with the matter based on utterances made.

FITUG said it was “heartened” when the National Tripartite Committee made the unanimous approval in April of 2020, but noticed that the former government never implemented the improvement, while engagements with them on the matter, “got no further than platitudes.”

Now in 2022, FITUG is contending that it is most important at this time that private workers are able to manage with the social changes currently permeating.

Friday March 11, 2022

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No need for splitting hairs T

here is no semantic distinction between resigning and an intention to resign.

As such, when someone indicates an intention to resign by a specific date, it amounts to a resignation.

This issue has been highlighted recently following letters to the Speaker of the National Assembly by two APNU+AFC members of parliament.

In both cases, the persons wrote indicating their intention to resign by a specific date.

One of the youthful leaders of the PNCR was circumspect about the last resignation letter submitted by the former Leader of the Opposition.

Mr. Joseph Harmon. According to him, the letter indicated an intention to resign and not a resignation.

Judging from recent reports on social media, the Speaker appears to have adopted a similar line.

He is reported to have said, “There might be semantics, but saying I intend to resign at a certain date doesn’t say that I have resigned, or I am resigning effective March 10.”

Semantics is about meaning of words. In this instance there is a squabbling about whether ‘intention to resign’ and ‘resignation’ are two different things.

There is no need for the semantics. A letter of intent to resign is the same as a letter of resignation.

A letter of resignation is really an intention to resign because the resignation does not take effect until a specified date.

As such, unless the resignation takes immediate effect, any letter of resignation becomes an intention to resign by a specified date.

A person does not resign

from a position until the effective date of the resignation.

As such, a person is still considered to be an employee or a member of a grouping until the effective resignation date.

It is not until that effective date reaches that the person can be said to have resigned.

It is for this reason that in giving notice of their resignation, some persons would indicate their intention to resign, that is their intention to resign by or on a particular date.

Once that date reaches, and there is no recanting or retracting of the resignation, it stands.

Therefore there is no need for semantics as to whether the two parliamentarians have resigned.

They each have given a specific effective date when their resignations will take effect.

The Speaker therefore, should treat the correspondence which he has in his possession as formal resignations.

He should move ahead with the process of having these persons replaced.

That process involves first, declaring the seats vacant. It is only after this happens that the Speaker can then write to Representative of the APNU+AFC list.

A seat is deemed vacant in specific circumstances.

If a person resigns, then the seat held by that person becomes vacant unless the President indicates that the person has resigned for the purpose of giving further service to the public, in which case the person once eligible can be re-elected.

A seat is also vacant if a Member indicates in writing to the Speaker that he or she will not support the List from

which his or her name was extracted, or indicates in writing that he or she is now supporting another List.

In addition a seat may be vacant if the Representative of the List issues a recall of any member.

The PNCR is behaving as if it has a right to make a nomination or a suggestion as to who should replace the resigned Ministers.

It has no such right.

The determination as to who should replace the resigned parliamentarians is the prerogative of the Representative of the List.

It is not automatic that a newly elected leader of the PNCR is entitled to a seat.

However, it would be unusual to deny such a request once the person is on the List from which names are to be extracted to become members of the National Assembly.

The Speaker has received two letters of resignation from two APNU+AFC members of the National Assembly.

Those resignations are valid, unless recanted prior to taking effect.

The Speaker has to accept the legality of those resignations and not be drawn into semantics about the difference between an intention to resign and a resignation.

There is no difference between the two.

Upon the effective date of those resignations, the Speaker should declare those seats vacant.

The seats only become vacant upon the effective date of the resignations.

When the effective dates arrive, the Speaker should write to the Representative of the APNU+AFC List indicating that 2 parliamentary seats are vacant and requesting that replacements be extracted from the List.

The Representative of the List can employ whatever sys-

Dem boys seh...

Lost in translation

Prezzie talking like wan intellectual. De man talking above dem boys head.

De man using some words and phrases dat gat dem boys wondering wuh dem mean. And dem boys went a little higher dan secondary school.

Sometimes dem boys does feel dat Prezzie does talk wuhever he feel liking talking.

Like he message fuh International Women’s Day dis year.

De man seh how we owe it to women to celebrate not dem contribution but dem integral role in de development of society.

Dat sound nice.

But it gat dem boys wondering whether women’s integral role in de development of society is not a contribution.

But wat gat dem boys more confused was wat Prezzie was reported to have talked yesterday.

De man calling fuh de police and de judiciary to jointly find solutions.

Since dis hemp thing come up is nuff ‘joint’ we hearing bout.

He want de various arms of guvament fuh come together and discuss problems, find solutions and to cost de solutions.

Well, de judiciary is part of de guvament but it is not part of de Executive.

And deh gat wan principle called de separation of powers wah in practical terms mean dat de judiciary can’t perform executive or legislative functions.

De judiciary role is not integral to de Executive.

It is independent of de Executive. So de judiciary can’t come to any meeting with de popo to discuss problems and find solutions and de cost.

Is de executive gat fuh do dem things.

Talk half. Leff half.

tem he wants for the replacements.

And while he can bypass the Leader of the PNCR this is not likely to happen.

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

Kaieteur News

PAGE 10

Friday March 11, 2022

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

The commercial bank and Berbice cricket: Frightening connection What is the connection between the unionisation of the employees of Republic Bank and an interesting misdirection in cricket administration in Berbice?

The link is dangerous, unsettling and not in the interest of Guyana's future.

Sadly, no one picked it up in Guyana. This of course is not surprising. We no longer have an intellectual culture.

We do not have academics at UG that understand there is a distinct role in life for academics as vastly different from the brain surgeon, the civil servant, the lawyer, the accountant, engineer, army officer, etc.

An academic has a moral duty to society to explain crises, disasters, problems, complexities, etc. They may not have all the right answers

but their interventions generate a culture of debate which can lead to the debate on culture, which can lead to opening up all kinds of vistas.

Society is intellectually stronger.

This country went through a caricature from March 3 to the last day in July in 2021 and only one UG lecturer offered his two cents in public – Sherwood Lowe.

And guess what?

You may get a heart attack when you find out that the gentleman was not a social scientist but an engineer. So where were the social scientists?

The world, yes the global humanity laughed at Guyana when the ruling party asked seven judges of the prestigious Caribbean Court of Justice to declare that a majority of the 65-member parliament was 34 and not 33. One thing must have gone through the heads of all humans anywhere in the world when they read what was going on.

They had to ask themselves if in cricket, football and basketball, you can win the game by one point/run/goal. Only one UG social scientist publicly scorned the 34 thesis – Dr. Thomas Singh even though the then head of Transparency International – Guyana Inc., was working in the Department of Mathematics at the time.

The incidents at Republic Bank and in the administration of Berbice cricket were highlighted in the press but they just died a natural death.

The bank, after the employees made their choice, has accepted unionisation. The focus should be on the employees and how sensible they are.

Before the union was given acceptance by the employees (the bank is currently disputing the recognition), the employees should have asked union executives if the union has term limits. If it does not,

then they should reject it.

There is a current caricature in trade unionism in Guyana, where permanence of tenure has become a fixture.

In two trade union outfits, the head has gone past 35 years and 30 years respectively.

In several other trade unions, the heads have chalked up more than 20 years in office. In fact, the Public Service Union (PSU) once had term-limits but it was removed by those who wanted the permanence of power. In this country, Guyana, which has one of the youngest populations in the world, the experience of administration must be shared. I mean absolutely nothing personal when I write that the head of the Guyana Olympics Association has been there for almost 35 years. Half of the country was born when he and the current head of the PSU took up their respective headships.

Over in Berbice,

philosophical thinking went out of the window in cricket.

The administrators Frederick Kissoon of cricket in Berbice have been involved in important in litigation for over decades so Guyana is simply because of some form of rational our demographics. thinking may have been lost.

I will repeat a general The Berbice cricket point about term limits that I administrators recently stated on this page before. rejected a motion to have its Here is another example head serve only three of that point. consecutive terms of two If Sunil and Masood are years. Instead, they went for both at 40 and they both five consecutive terms. contest the leader-position of Obviously, this means their organisation and Sunil that a CEO can be in power wins and spends the next 35 for 10 straight years. years at the helm, Masood Why in a young country gets his chance when he like this does anyone want becomes 75. their administrator of cricket, When Sunil retires and football, hockey, tennis, race- Massod gets his 35 years, he horse, etc., to hold office for will be 110 years when he 10 years? retires.

Why not four or five?

This country has severe Why 10? Why not share the philosophical limitations. experience so after four (The views expressed in years, another young person this article are those of the gets a taste of what it is like to administer an important a u t h o r a n d d o n o t necessarily reflect the national association?

Why term limits are opinions of this newspaper.)

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Friday March 11, 2022

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Opposition motion seeks top cop's commitment to address police excesses ...urges beefing up of investigation, retraining of ranks Saying it has been unable to get the Commissioner of Police to act, the opposition has submitted a motion to Parliament, which calls on the police chief to take all necessary steps, inclusive of investigations and retraining, to ensure all members of the Guyana Police Force respect the human and legal rights of citizens, with special reference to arrest, detention, and fair and equal treatment before the law.”

Tabled by MP, Geeta Chandan-Edmond and seconded by MP Shurwayne

Holder the motion was submitted to the Clerk of the National Assembly on March 7. Among other things Chandan-Edmond's motion stated that the Opposition has received numerous complaints from citizens across Guyana about some members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) abusing their power and acting in a discriminatory manner. It further said that the alleged misconduct involves ranks maliciously detaining citizens without reasonable cause or suspicion for up to

72 hours along with arresting and releasing persons in a manner that victimizes the poor and the powerless.

Back in February Chandan-Edmond at a PNCR news conference had raised the issue of alleged police excesses. She said then that during a series of party outreaches it had received numerous complaints by citizens against members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) abusing their power to wrongfully detain persons.

Chandan-Edmond, who is also general secretary of the

PNCR explained that during outreaches in Regions Four, Seven and 10, citizens complained bitterly of being wrongfully detained by the Police for 72 hours, without reasonable suspicion of them committing a crime. “In Bartica, cases have been identified where the police are operating as a law unto themselves. They are violating the rights of the citizens of Bartica by locking them up for 72 hours in cases where the law does not a p p l y, ” t h e f o r m e r Magistrate argued. In another instance, she said it is alleged that two persons were taken to the Sparendaam police station for wounding each other and while one of the suspects was released, the other was held as the Police indicated it was their prerogative to do so.

According to her, “The family of one of the accused complained that the police set free one of the accused and kept the other in the lockups and proceeded to indicate that it was the police prerogative to do so.

This is a clear case of police discrimination and abuse of power”. The Shadow Home Affairs Minister went on to state that complaints have also been received that “poor people” were being harassed and incarcerated by the Police at

the behest of the “rich and p o w e r f u l ” .

A similar situation she noted was observed in Linden where residents there also c o m p l a i n e d o f discrimination and abuse by Police officers. “Many Lindeners, the PNCR and the wider Guyanese population are concerned that the rule of law is not being upheld and as a nation we are returning to the lawless state of affairs that existed between 1992 and 2015,” ChandanEdmond noted. Even more alarming, the party's General Secretary said that it has been observed that the regions in which the Police abuse is taking place are areas that were won by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) parties. In this regard, she argued, “If one adds to that, that the installed PPP/C regime has been trumping-up charges and incarcerating their political opponents in total violation of the law, it can be easily concluded that it is the lawlessness that is practiced by the Ali/Jagdeo regime that has created the conditions for the said discrimination and abuse of power”.

Signaling that the PNCR will not sit by idly, she said then a letter was dispatched to the Commissioner of Police for an urgent meeting to address

Opposition Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Geeta Chandan-Edmond these concerns. ChandanEdmond added that it is the administration to be blamed.

“We also lay the blame for these indiscretions squarely at the feet of the government which itself has violated the law and created the conditions for the rogue elements in the police force to do the same,” the Chandan-Edmond who is also Shadow Minister of Home Affairs contended. In this regard, she called on the PPP/C to restore the investigative capacity of the criminal investigation department, by returning those who were trained to investigate and solve crimes to the said department. She was adamant that doing otherwise would suggest that the government has little or no interest in solving and reducing crime.

Kaieteur News

Friday March 11, 2022

Millions more to fix Chinese vessels ..$300M was spent between 2016-2019 for similar repairs on said ferries

H

aving already spent over $ 3 0 0 M previously to effect repairs to the Kanawan and Sabanto ferries, the Ministry of Public Works is again looking to spend $254 million for general docking and rehabilitation of these vessels.

This is according to the recent opening of bids at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) where it was revealed that repairs to the MV Sabanto is estimated to cost $148,661,488 and the MV Kanawan to cost $106,433,760.

According to previous reports, in 2016 the former government (APNU/AFC Coalition) had awarded contracts to EC Vieira Investments Limited for the rehabilitation of Sabanto to the tune of $77.5 million and Kanawan to the sum of $76.9 million. Following this, in the 2019 budget, $180 million was allocated for vessels to undergo general repairs.

On Tuesday, it was

revealed at the NPTAB office that it was Dock Yard who bid to carry out the repairs on these ferries.

According to its financial proposal, the company bid $156,671,785 to rehabilitate Sabanto and $124,134,846 to fix Kanawan.

Speaking briefly with Kaieteur News, General Manger of the Transport and Harbour Department, Marcelene Merchant said that the project will be to do general repairs and maintenance works on the boats. “We are going to address the underwater fittings, the shaft, the p r o p e l l e r, c h e c k t h e thickness of the plate, repairs to the super structure, painting of interior, exterior, repairs works inside, to the washroom and pipes etcetera,” she explained.

She added that once the contracts have been awarded, the duration of the rehabilitation works will be six weeks each. This publication was told that the MV Malali is also slated for docking and rehabilitation.

The Sabanto and Kanawan

ferries, which have been operating between Parika and Supenaam for some 10 years now, were gifted to Guyana by the Chinese Government.

It was reported that in December 2010, the PPP/C government signed contracts with the Chinese Government paving the way for the ferries. The US$14 million boats, which were funded by a US$17 million grant from the Chinese government, were described as a New Year's gift by the local Chinese Embassy.

Following the signing of the contracts, the vessels arrived in the country in December 2011 at Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling and became operational the next year.

The names of the ferries, Sabanto and Kanawan, are Amerindian names.

Kanawan means 'big canoe' and Sabanto means 'beautiful one'. Each vessel has three decks and can hold up to 800 persons, 44 cars, and 20 lorries and can travel at a test speed of 12.5 knots.

Senior Minister with the (Continued on page 22)

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Friday March 11, 2022

Security guards to help police fight crime ...as govt. seeks ways to integrate them into national security plan …citizens wary about their lack of training, professionalism

By Shervin Belgrave Amid growing concerns about the operations of some security firms here and also the misuse of emergency sirens and weapons by operatives, President Irfaan Ali on Thursday said his administration is currently seeking to find a way to integrate them into the Guyana Police Force (GPF)

crime fighting strategy.

In recent years a number of private security firms have sprung up- some of them with close ties to the former and current administrations.

Concerns, however, have been raised over the years about many of these firms, particularly as they would recruit persons and hand them firearms with little training to use same. At the

Annual Police Officers' Conference, held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre Liliendaal, Georgetown on Thursday, President Ali during his feature presentation said he thinks that by integrating private security firms in Guyana's crime fighting strategy, GPF's response time to reports of crime will be improved. Ali said, “In order

to support the work of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) I also ask the minister (Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn) to examine how our response system can be linked to private security agencies because private security agencies are increasing in our country and they have a lot of assets”.

The head of state pointed out that fast response to crime reports is a standard that Guyanese are entitled to and noted that this is one area that GPF must improve. “For too long we have been receiving reports of slothful response to crime by our force” Ali told the attendees of the conference. The President is of the view that for this to happen the force has to integrate its response system and one of the ways this can be done is with the use ofprivate security firms. “So if we integrate our response system then we can also have a response mechanism with private security that is also supported by the government so this is something that we have to look at in integrating our national assets”, Ali said.

Apart from the use of private security firms, the President also highlighted that his government is trying to boost the force's response time by improving its communications unit and operational readiness. In this light, he related that every police division will be equipped with a modern communication system and an adequate fleet of vehicles.

Concerns about private security President Ali's remarks have come at a time when his own administration has had concerns about the operations of private security bodies. Late last year the Guyana Police Force was forced to issue a public statement warning against abuse of emergency sirens by private security firms. The statement read thus: “Cognizant of the practice of some operators of Private Security Services, and other persons, of using emergency sirens and flashing lights on their motor vehicles, the Guyana Police Force is informing the general public and emphasising that this is a flagrant violation of the law.

The existing laws allow for emergency vehicles only, which comprise Police vehicles , F ire S ervice vehicles and Ambulances, to carry sirens and flashing

President Mohamed Irfaan Ali speaking at Thursday's Police Officers' Conference.

lights. Any other type of vehicle fitted with such appliances is in breach of the law. The Guyana Police Force is urging operators of Private Security Services, and other persons, who have sirens and/or flashing lights attached to their motor vehicles to comply with the law and have them removed or face the lawful c o n s e q u e n c e o f prosecution.”

Earlier last year, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn had cause also to warn against the improper use of firearms by employees attached to private security firms.

The minister made reference to private security workers who unnecessarily brandish their weapons in public as well as instances where these workers would misplace or lose their firearms. At the time he was meeting with private security firms and the Guyana Police Force (GPF). According to a press release from the GPF back then, the minister noted that there has been a “dramatic increase” in the demand for private security services. He noted too that private security will help to bolster the country's “security architecture”. “We do not want what is seemingly a militarized country, and I want us to be reminded of the risk and the danger the improper use of a firearm represents; we do not want a posture that is a g g r e s s i v e a n d intimidating,” Minister Benn said.

The GPF said the minister was alluding to the instances where security firms would have their ranks on duty exposing large arms.

Minister Benn said these situations create a hostile atmosphere which can have negative implications for

Guyana's tourism. Minister Benn further highlighted the i m p o r t a n c e o f professionalism. “We don't want weapons lost.” The Minister said firms whose employees have lost weapons may be suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.

“The bottom line is that they must be well trained, the bottom line is that they must be properly looked after to be alert to do the job which earns money for you.” “I believe that many of you who are running security services are professionals in the area. I believe that many of you have the knowledge and expertise with respect to training, behavior and culture with respect to the use of firearms; I want you all to impart that knowledge to the persons you have under your e m p l o y, t h e d u t y a n d responsibility resides with you to ensure that you run your services professionally and to make sure that the persons you employ do so in a professional manner so as to mitigate risks,” he added.

In 2016, then President David Granger when asked about the issue of private security during one of his Public Interest programmes said that his government at the time was aiming to have less guns on the streets by limiting the issuance of firearm licenses to private citizens. As a matter of fact, it was Granger's personal view that weapons should only be used by law enforcement authorities.

Granger revealed that there are legitimate firearm license holders in Guyana who rent their weapons to criminals. He said then the aim should be to detect people coming into the country with illegal firearms and strengthen border control.

Kaieteur News

Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 15

Berbice rice farmers clash with police Rice farmers protesting the low prices for their paddy.

Police monitor protesting rice farmers.

…as protest action against low paddy prices intensifies

By Malisa Playter-Harry

old

A policeman rolls away a tyre that farmers used to block the roadway.

Police and rice farmers clash during their protest.

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Kaieteur News

Friday March 11, 2022

Citizens demand Exxon pays fair share of taxes …as protest against lopsided contract moves to High Court

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Friday March 11, 2022

Disabled persons in Guyana reeling from impacts of COVID-19 ...study reveals significant damage to quality of life, limited to no access to healthcare A study on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on persons living with disabilities revealed that their quality of life declined significantly with some 47.5% of them having no healthcare and another 75% of them having limited access.

The study was conducted

by the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD).

In a statement issued by GCOPD, 1500 Persons With Disabilities (PWD) were interviewed during the s u r v e y, w h i c h w a s conducted from November 1 to December 4, 2021.

According to GCOPD,

the findings of the study revealed a significant decline in the quality of life of PWD in Guyana. It was found that 75% of respondents had limited access to healthcare due to the pandemic, while 47.5% were unable to access health services completely during the lock down. In addition,

Persons with disabilities with placards outside of the National Assembly supporting the passage of the People with Disabilities Bill. the majority of respondents were of the view that their disabilities resulted in a greater chance of them contracting Coronavirus.

Another key finding of the study was that the pandemic greatly reduced the independence of respondents. “The majority indicated that both their mobility and financial independence had diminished, which in turn resulted in a notable sense of disempowerment. This is

especially important given that most respondents considered themselves to be relatively independent prior to the pandemic with support from relatives, friends, and benevolent members of society,” the organisation said in the statement.

In the area of education, the PWD that were enrolled in an educational institution prior to the pandemic had some difficulty transitioning to virtual learning. “The few PWD that were employed

prior to the pandemic and participated in the survey, did not experience any difficulty with their employers and none lost their job as a result of the pandemic. “ Additionally, another area that was impacted drastically was the social lives of PWD. 93% of respondents enjoyed relatively healthy social lives prior to the pandemic, which were halted due to the (Continued on page 22)

Kaieteur News

Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 19

Four hinterland communities to benefit from water distribution systems

F

our communities within Region Nine, Aranaputa, Wowetta, Rupertee and Shulinab, will benefit from new water distribution systems which will provide potable water to residents after three years of undergoing construction.

Region Nine Chairman, Brian Allicock, told Kaieteur News that some of the wells which were being constructed within the threeyear period were put on hold for a while due to insufficient funding for the distribution lines. The chairman noted that the systems will benefit approximately 1800 residents within the four villages.

“It will benefit them greatly because they now have access to potable, safe water, to drink because they used to depend on hand dug wells which, during the rainy seasons would overflow” Allicock expressed.

The Department of Public Information reported that the systems were jointly funded by the Government of Guyana through the Guyana Water Incorporation and Caribbean Development Bank's Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), under the Ministry of Finance.

According to the DPI article, the distribution systems cost over $100 million, $37.2 million for the system at Aranaputa, $25.8 million for the system at Rupertee, $27.2 million for another in Wowetta and $22.2 million for the one in Shulinab.

Meanwhile GWI in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Wa t e r a l o n g w i t h t h e Ministry of Amerindian Affairs recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to

train over 200 Community Service Officers (CSO's) to manage and maintain water supply systems within the various hinterland regions across the country.

The project is already pacing ahead with 64 CSOs already being trained within region nine to better equip them with the knowledge and skills to operate and maintain the water supply systems in their respective villages.

These participants hail from 32 villages in Central, SouthCentral and North Rupununi, including Rupertee, Wowetta, Aranaputa, Nappi, Parishara and Shiriri.

The Minister of Housing, Collin Croal, previously stated that the Government recently received a new rig to fast track the drilling of a number of wells.

The rig, he said was procured since early last year and has only arrived in the country lately.

As reported on, in this year's budget a total of $4.9

A water supply system that was installed in Aranaputa.

billion was provided to the water sector of which $394.5 million has been allocated under the Hinterland Water

Supply System (HWSP). The villages listed to benefit from these allocations were Phillipai, Isseneru, Warwatta

and Tasserene in Region 7, Itabac in Region 8, as well as Yakarinta and Katoka in Region 9.

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Friday March 11, 2022

'It is not about elections alone'

Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) is calling out the Government of Guyana (GOG) on its “propagandist” approach to

dealing with criticisms from civil society, even as it urged a In a blistering reply to accusations of being

“selective” on issues and allegedly “colluding” with others against the current administration, the transparency body is

...Transparency group tells govt. not to be selective in what laws it complies with a damant that it is the government that has been selective in their adherence to the law, while launching unjustified “feral” attacks on persons and agencies seeking to upbraid them for same.

The TIGI said that while it is cognizant of a “cordial relationship” with the GOG, there seems to be a right side, left side arm of the government, with the latter finding critical societal groups “a source of irritation”. The body pointed out two recent matters where it says it has received criticism for conducting the people's work.

TIGI has been accused of having an “anti- PPP agenda

by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo who insinuated that reports from TIGI resulted in “biased” reporting of Guyana's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the International arm of the agency. TIGI was also lumped with the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) for being selective in their expression of concern regarding the replacement of Dr. Rudy Jadoopat, former head of the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI) with well-known PPP activist Prem Misir.

On another matter, TIGI noted that while the government is constantly accusing civil society of not speaking up during 2020 elections fiasco, they do not show the same enthusiasm in other areas of the rule of law.

“It could not be that they (GOG) felt that as long as the country had elections

declared that nothing else mattered after. It seems that that is what this part of the GOG – at least the left brain – expects. Civil society is only the messenger who tells the country that there are signs of danger.”

TIGI said civil society is not being selective in the least. “It is more like the GOG is being selective in the laws of the country with which it wants to comply.

That is worse than having no legislation in place concerning certain matters, as it provides the veneer that we are a country of laws, but only the veneer.” One critical area regarding rule of law that TIGI says it has seen abuse by both past and present governments is the procurement system where these Administrations have refused to completely implement audit recommendations by the Organization of American States. TIGI said, “These would have addressed flaws in the (procurement) system.

Why is the GOG annoyed with civil society then? Is it that they are saying they must be left alone to maintain the fiction that they are adhering to in the procurement legislation? And note well, these procurement weaknesses have survived all governments including the Coalition.”

TIGI said that in the execution of their work, specifically where concern was expressed on the replacement on Dr. Jadoopat, civil society is being accused of “some unholy plan to attack the government”. The agency is contending

however, that what seems increasingly visible is the apparent GOG's plan to frustrate the laws and Constitution of the country and to shout down anyone who complains. TIGI said it is not acting blindly as they also receive complaints from the Private Sector on procurement breaches. These complainants are just afraid to go public for fear of vicitimisation, TIGI related.

In a Facebook post President Irfaan Ali noted that his government believes strongly that civil society has an important role to play in any democratic society. “But in civil society a role cannot be convenient. And we cannot confuse civil society with individual o rg a n i z a t i o n s , t h a t i s , organizations that are run by individuals or are not open to the wider membership of our country. These organizations cannot be the conscience of truth or the conscience of society when they are convenient in the way they address issues”.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC, had also claimed that, “There is in existence, a mysterious group of critics of the PPP/C Government, constantly spewing their venomous attacks under the disguise of various fronts masquerading as civil society organizations- some known, some unknown and some simply fabricated.” TIGI has rebutted these statements saying that the propagandist arm of the government has infiltrated the President's speeches and that of other top officials of the

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Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 21

Pres. Ali using Guatemala figures to say sugar viable in Guyana

T

he Guyana Sugar Industry has been underperforming for years due to a number of factors - two of them being the high cost to produce the sweetener here and the lack of preferential markers, but President Irfaan Ali still believes it is wise to invest billions in revitalizing the sector.

In order to convince Guyanese that sugar is still viable in Guyana, Ali is now using statistics and figures f r o m a n o t h e r c o u n t r y, Guatemala, to buttress his arguments. At a news conference, which he held on Sunday, the Guyanese leader told reporters of all the successes and profits Guatemala is gaining from its sugar industry. Explaining why he is highlighting the positive statistics of Guatemala, the President said, “Now you may ask why am I giving this statistic from Guatemala, but is for us to have an understanding, because sometimes people ask how viable sugar is and so.”

According to the

President Mohamed Irfaan Ali President, Guatemala with its 11 functioning sugar mills is the fourth largest sugar exporter in world and the second largest in Latin America, raking in over a US$1 billion annually. He added too, Guatemala's sugar industry produces some 80,000 jobs directly and another 410,000 indirectly.

“They have 11 sugar mills, the cultivation area is 251,000 hectares and the yield is 10.7 metric tons per

hectare”, said Ali. Convinced that because of Guatemala's success, Guyana can succeed too, the President added: “In Guyana, we have in total land available about 49,000 hectares for sugar and our yield is between 4 to 5 tons per hectare.

I am just giving you this analysis so you can understand that we can cooperate and collaborate in terms of food security and the sugar industry”.

It should be noted that Guatemala's success is largely owed to it finding a way to produce sugar in the m o s t e c o n o m i c w a y.

Guatemala's sugar mills are also equipped with modern technology that allows the country to produce profitable by products from sugarcane.

According to the Guatemalan Sugar Association (ASAZGUA), its sugar plants are selfsustainable and aid in keeping cost of production cheap. Not only are the plants self-sustainable but it also contributes some 1,844 Gigawatts of renewable

A cane field in Guyana.

energy to the country's grid.

The association in its own words stated on its website, sugarforfood.com “In Guatemala, sugarcane is

more than just a plant to p r o d u c e s u g a r. T h e Guatemalan Sugar Industry generated 1,844 GWh renewable energy during

2020-2021; this has allowed the mills to be self-sufficient and provide the country with 35% of the national energy (Continued on page 22)

PAGE 22

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

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the new cases per region shows that Region Four leads with nine new cases, Region Two with three cases, Regions Three and Six with two cases each and Region Nine with one. Via its dashboard, the data shows that 12 persons are in institutional isolation, 182 in home isolation and 14 are in institutional quarantine. To date, a total of 61,684 persons have recovered from the virus.

Disabled persons in Guyana reeling...

From page 18 imposed restrictions and lockdowns. Although many believed that they had coped well with the restrictions, 63% reported psychological and emotional distress. “It is well documented that all Guyanese have been impacted as a result of the pandemic, however PWD have been more severely affected due to their vulnerable status and social location prior to the pandemic. The data gathered reflects the need for more inclusive disaster and crisis response policies. The GCOPD remains

committed to working with relevant stakeholders to ensure that persons with disabilities are represented in all spheres of society. The study was made possible with funding from the US Embassy in Guyana,' the statement concluded. The Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD) is the umbrella body that represents the majority of Disable People Organisations (DPOs) from across Guyana working in the areas of advocacy and capacity building. The DPOs represent all types of disabilities.

Berbice rice farmers clash...

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With no reported deaths, the Ministry stated that in the last 24-hour period, they have recorded 17 new infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 63,107. A breakdown of

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From page 15 thus preventing the free flow of traffic for hours. The situation, which eventually attracted police presence, had dozens of rice farmers demanding that the price for paddy return to what it was.

The price of paddy paid by millers per tonnage was dropped from $70,000 to $65,000 but rice farmers are saying that the cost of production for paddy is extremely high and, as such, a compromise cannot be met at this time

to accept $65,000.

The farmers said that if the government can intervene and the price for items such as fuel, fertilizer etc can be reduced then they would accept the price set by millers for the next crop. They however are not willing to compromise with the price for this crop which has already commenced harvesting.

Lekka Rambrich, President of the Rice Producers Association had told Kaieteur News that the price started at

$55,000-$56,000 a tonne and it went up to $70,000 a tonne.

The millers, he said, were paying $70,000 at the beginning of the crop which commenced a week ago but from the previous crop to now, the price for rice tumbled internationally by over $26 per tonne.

This, he added, is a set back because “when the millers finish buying paddy, the rice price falls and it maintains the lowness up to now and it hasn't risen back, that is why the millers couldn't have done

white rice. There was a shortage of bran in the system because nobody could not have bought paddy at that high price and do white rice so taking into consideration the drop in price internationally, and now that you have a big crop on the ground (64,000 acres), the miller now will be forced to do white rice.” He said too that for the millers to make a profit, the price has to drop. The farmers said they will continue to protest until the President or Agriculture Minister meets with them.

Pres. Ali using Guatemala figures to say sugar...

From page 21 demand during harvest season”.

While Guatemala is well positioned to make huge profits and possibly become the largest sugar producer in the world, Guyana is yet to properly position itself to compete with Guatemala.

President Ali is working towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Guatemala and believes that Guatemala will assist Guyana in making its sugar industry profitable too.

H o w e v e r, G u y a n a i s now working on initiatives to reduce the cost of the energy in the country by embarking on what critics say is a costly gas to shore plant. The country is also hoping that this year that the ground works for its Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project will begin.

In the meantime, its Sugar industry and production contin-

ues to decline every year.

Guyana Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, in the 2022 budget speech told the National Assembly that sugar production decreased in 2021.

He blamed the reduction on the severe floods that the country had experienced that year.

He said, “This reflects the destruction of some 4,300 hectares of cane in inundated fields in the first half of 2021.

It is estimated that approximately 35 percent of the standing cane for the second crop was lost as a result of the May/June floods”.

Although the floods did play a major role in the decline of sugar production, the industry's consistent failure did not just start in 2021. The previous coalition administration had tried to keep the sector alive too and had failed.

In 2015 to 2017, it gave $32B dollars to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) with sugar being produced at a loss-making three times for what it is being sold for.

The Coalition was forced to shut down four major sugar estates Skeldon, Rose Hall, Enmore and Wales - because they were costly to maintain.

Still trying to revive the industry, it decided to divest the

four estates just to get money to invest in the industry but it continued to fail.

The current People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPPC) administration when it was in campaign mood promised to find a solution and revitalize the industry.

Since it took office in August 2020, it has been pumping billions into the sector but to date, Guyana is yet to see good returns.

Millions more to fix Chinese...

From page 13 responsibility of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, who presented this year's budget, announced that over $500 million was allocated to the Ministry to rehabilitate these two vessels and the Makouria ferry.

“Mr. Speaker, the rehabilitation of our ferry vessels, which facilitate the travelling public, is also critical for the

movement of people and cargo.

To this end, Government has allocated, in 2022, the sums of $2.1 billion for the construction of a new ocean-going passenger and cargo vessel, which will ply the North West District route and $562 million for the docking of Makouria, Sabanto, and Kanawan,” the Minister had stated.

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

Body of pensioner recovered from river The body of a 69-year old man was on Thursday recovered from the Demerara River, the Guyana Police Force has said.

He was identified as Ronald Gregory Muss, of Lot 463 Oronoque Street, Retrieve, Mackenzie Linden. His remains were reportedly spotted floating on the eastern side of the river in the vicinity of the Courts Linden Branch by a boat captain who was at the time offloading passengers at a landing there.

According to police, Gregory Muss was last seen alive by his niece leaving his home around 09:40hrs head for the National

Insurance Scheme Branch in Linden. The pensioner however had failed to return home and family members began to search for him because his health was not perfect.

Their search came to an abrupt end when they learnt that a body was found in the Demerara River. They checked with police and positively identified the remains to be that of their loved one Ronald Gregory Muss.

Crime scene experts reported that no marks of violence were seen about his body.

Kaieteur News understands that he was spotted doing some shopping hours before his body was found.

PAGE 23

Friday March 11, 2022 Kaieteur News

PAGE 24

Friday March 11, 2022

One year later…

PPP yet to honour promise to release list of beneficial owners of oil blocks

It has been over one year since the PPP/C Government has failed to honour its promise to release the beneficial owners of the oil blocks offshore which include but are not limited to the Kaieteur, Canje, Orinduik, Kanuku, Demerara, Corentyne, and Berbice concessions.

The issue was first raised in November 2020 by the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who holds an oversight responsibility for the oil and gas industry. Back then, he said that the government would seek to determine the beneficial owners of Guyanas resources, with first priority being given to the owners of the nations oil blocks.

Dr. Jagdeo had said that the government intends to have a greater understanding of the ownership structure of the companies with the said licenses while adding that this is important for transparency and taxation purposes.

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo Jagdeo said too that while a number of the companies which are operating Guyanas oil blocks are registered in tax havens, including Barbados

and the Cayman Islands, the government will ensure it goes after their information to ensure they pay their fair share of taxes.

The Vice President had also given a commitment to ensure that this was completed before the end of 2020. That was the same deadline given to

Guyana and other members of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to have such information made public.

The international body, EITI, had said it decided to crack down on this global problem since hidden identities in the extractive sectors only help to feed corruption and tax evasion. It also added that people who live in resource-rich countries are at particular risk of losing out when facing this problem as extractive assets are too often misallocated for corrupt reasons.

The EITI further noted that its standard requires public officials, also known as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), to be transparent about their ownership in oil, gas and mining companies.

The international watchdog said that this information, once provided by its members, will be publicly available

and will be published in EITI Reports and/or public registries.

Once published, EITI said, law enforcers, civil society and others have a responsibility to scrutinize the information, and take action to hold to account those who misuse anonymous companies. It should be noted that countries which fail to honour the requirements of the international body could face expulsion.

Last year June, the Ministry of Natural Resources had indicated that it had not forgotten the issue as it noted its intention to start a beneficial ownership register. It also issued a call for consultants to assist in this regard.

Unfortunately, several calls to the Vice President and Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, since Monday to yesterday for an update on this matter proved futile.

Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 25

Kaieteur News

Elton Dharry Promotions, Ameri Group... Senior Squash...

From page 31 night of boxing,” added Dharry, who migrated to the US in 1999 as a 13 year-old with his family and settled in Brooklyn, New York.

Fans and officials will have to produce proof of them being vaccinated to enter the Stadium.

“I grew up playing sports.

In Guyana, I competed in running, jumping and cricket. In the US, I played handball and soccer in High School. I also played basketball and aikido,” said Dharry who fought as amateur and competed regularly under the guidance of the late Patrick Ford.

Dharry fought in the US Nationals, the Metro Finals and the Olympic Box-Offs in 2003 and 2004 before turning Pro. “I got involved in boxing because my dad and older sib-

lings are huge boxing fans. I was always watching boxing with them and I also grew up in a bad neighbourhood where I got into fights so boxing became a part of my life,” informed Dharry who trains at the famous Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, New York.

“The main benefit of campaigning overseas is the exposure to different styles of fighting as there are fighters from all over the world here,” said Dharry who said he will be in Guyana for few days this month before returning about week before the fight in April.

Marques only two losses at Pro level were at the hands of Dharry and Leon Moore.

He last fought in January 2018 when he gained a unanimous verdict against Venezuelan Dionis Martinez.

Marques made his Pro debut on April 7, 2007 and

gained a TKO win against Carlton Skeete before winning the vacant Guyana Bantamweight title in his next fight in July 2007 against Orland 'Pocket Rocket' Rogers.

Marques made the first defence of his World Boxing Council (WBC) CABOFE flyweight title, a successful one in April 2014 with a unanimous decision win over Jamaican, Rudolph 'Cutting Edge' Hedge at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

He gained a unanimous decision over Rogers in their return fight in October 2007.

On April 25, 2009 in his fifth Pro fight, Dexter lost by TKO against Moore before winning his next four bouts.

Marques' winning streak was then broken on May 28, 2011 when he was knocked out by Dharry but he rebounded from that defeat by

Friday March 11, 2022 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) In some ways, today could seem like a day of reckoning for you, Aries. You might look in the mirror and see things that you really aren't very happy with.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Show some gratitude to the people around you today, Libra. The seat of your personality is very strong at this time, and you're confident to your core.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Let today serve as a reminder of the importance of love, Taurus. Don't just think of it as a commodity you fight for and conquer with conniving tricks and strategic dating tactics.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Think of today as a restorative time for yourself in which you can come to a point of greater ease and comfort, Scorpio. .

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) You may find yourself gravitating toward solid, grounded things, Sagittarius, in hopes that these will provide you with the stability that you lack.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) You may be feeling a strong sense of guilt now because of something you did in an effort to feed your ego, Gemini.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Pure wisdom is an important quality for you to aspire to on this day, Cancer. Know that the wisdom you seek should come from a point of calm knowing and strength as opposed to a frantic.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Why keep fighting a fight that you know you can't win, Leo? Why keep trying to fool yourself and others into thinking that you have all the answers when you're only aware.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Anger is apt to stir inside you today, Virgo, so beware of any actions that might manifest as a result of this powerful feeling.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Try to come to a place of serenity today in which you free yourself from desire and jealousy, Capricorn. It's important that you take time to recognize the incredible growth that can spring from this position of calm and pure satisfaction.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) The key word for you today is boundaries, Aquarius, so think for a minute about what this means to you. It's time to have a serious talk with yourself.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Make sure that you're living consciously at this time, Pisces. It could be that you're going through a period of denial and simply refusing to see the truth of the situation.

winning his next eight fights including his last one against Martinez, four years ago.

“I have not fought in over four years, the last two due to the pandemic and I can't wait to get back into the ring and fight before a live crowd,” said Marques who lives in Callender Street, Albouystown and shares the same birth date with fellow Albouystown resident, Olympian Keevin Allicock.

“I am confident of winning a World title on home soil since even though twice my fights have been cancelled due to Covid, I have been training very hard and I am ready,” concluded Marques.

Local pugilists Laured Stewart, Imran Khan and Stephan DeSilva are also expected to showcase their skill on the card.

From page 26 extending his winning tally to 15 in Group Duck while Antczak follows with 10 wins ahead of Ashley D e G r o o t a n d Ta y l o r Fernandes, who both have 8 wins.

Daniel Ince runs things in Group Tapir with 14 wins while Nicholas Verwey and Pollard are both tied on 12 wins each.

Peter-Michael DeGroot sits in fourth with 10 wins.

The battle that ensues is in Group Camoudi’s top leaders, Mohryan Baksh and Ashley Khalil, who are both on nine wins while Javid Rahaman has eight.

Demetrius De Abreu (12 wins), Robert Natiello (11) and Brian Edwards (9) are the top runners in Group Gaulin while Arapaima features Alex Arjoon (12), Jason

Khalil (9), Nicolette Fernandes (7) and Kristian Jeffery (5), in that order.

Other Group leaders include Adrian Bacchus (12), Van Dijk (9), Jonathan De Groot (9), Jean-Paul Bones (9), Carlos Rodrigues (8), Brenno Da Silva (7) and Shilo Asregado (6).

‘Everyone has...

From page 30 continue for the rest of the tournament.

So, I’m really happy with how the ladies are playing, everybody has played a part in the team process, good batting, good bowling, good catching.

It’s not the perfect game as yet we still have areas to improve upon.”

PAGE 26

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

Red Bull unhappy with Senior Squash qualifiers start today at GT Club Mercedes upgrade in Bahrain Ashley Khalil was crowned the Female National Champion in 2019

Today the qualifier rounds of the 2022 Guyana Squash Association (GSA) Senior Squash Championships serves off from 17:00 hrs at the Georgetown Club’s Squash Courts.

In the opening match of the day, Regan Pollard challenges Adams Alves then Peter-Michael De Groot will face Stefan Jeffery when the clock strikes 17:30 hrs, while Demetrius De Abreu battles Jason Van Dijk at 18:00 hrs.

At 18:30 hrs, Michael Alphonso goes head-to-head with Zachary Persaud then Javed Ali squares off with

Antczak in the match that follows. The other match that is scheduled for today between Reagan Rodrigues and Louis Da Silva already has a result; the latter progressed via walkover.

Tomorrow the action resumes from 10:00 hrs with as Mohryan Baksh goes toe-totoe with Ethan Jones then continues with a clash featuring Ian Mekdeci, followed by Steven Xavier versus Jonathan De Groot which start at 11:00 hrs.

Shiloh Asregado meets Javid Rahaman at 11:30 hrs then Dejé Dias begins a show-

down with Ingram Edwards when the close strikes noon.

The day was fixed to wrap up with Avinash Odit and Joshua Abdool clashing from 12:30 hrs but Abdool has already secured the win by way of walk over.

The winners of those matches move on to the final phase on Sunday to see who advances to the Championship stage which officially serves off on March 17. <<The Squash League>> The Squash league which operates weekly sees updated stats that have Mekdeci (Continued on page 25)

The Mercedes car featured different sidepod designs. (Getty Images) BBC Sport - Mercedes are at the centre of a row over the legality of their car after introducing a radical new design at the second pre-season test.

Formula 1 managing director Ross Brawn said the car’s aerodynamics around its sidepods was a “very extreme interpretation of the regulations”.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Germany’s Auto Motor Und Sport: “Mercedes have gone a step too far.

“That does not correspond to the spirit of the regulations,” he said.

“For us, these wings are illegal.”

Red Bull initially described the quotes attributed to Horner as “incorrect”, before clarifying they were not “official”.

Horner later told Sky Sports: “I was slightly surprised to be reading comments that I was supposed to have been making. § Testing schedule “I haven’t paid a great deal of attention to [the Mercedes car].

It is obviously a fairly different concept, but that is for the aero guys and the designers to get into.”

The revised Mercedes has been dubbed the “no sidepod car” because of the extreme way the world champions have managed to shrink the bodywork beside the driver around the car’s cooling requirements.

Horner also seems to have taken issue with the integration of a shaped side-impact structure on which the rearview mirrors are mounted.

He said: “Those are not mirror mounts, but two wings.

In addition, they have built vertical baffles on top. They have nothing to do with the

mirror mount.”

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto also raised questions about the Mercedes design.

“No doubt it is a great car - that should not be a surprise to us,” he said. “A concept quite different to ours, quite interesting with the cooling layout, and the sidepods.

“On the mirrors, it was surprising - we were not expecting that. We always said the mirror should have no aero[dynamic] purpose and the way they treated their cars there is a significant aero purpose in the mirrors.

“The risk in the future is that all teams will start designing mirrors that look like spaceships. In the spirit of what we intend to do for the future, it is something we need to discuss.”

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff said he was not concerned about any problems developing with the rules.

Wolff said governing body the FIA had been involved throughout the design process.

“It’s clear that sometimes when you come with an innovation it creates the kind of debate we’re having here,” Wolff added. “It was expected.“We were keen in not running alone with that, but being in touch with the FIA. That’s why I think it will be OK.” Brawn emphasised that, under F1’s new governance procedure this year, rules can be changed mid-season if eight of the 10 teams agree.

“Once the interpretation Mercedes has made has been understood, then we can get a balanced view on what impact it’s going to have,” he said.

“The ‘spirit’ [of the rules] is such a grey area.

At the end of the day, you have to go on the wording of the regulations, but that wording can be changed with an 80% team majority.

“If something has slipped by [in the rule-writing process], then the teams are aware that can happen. So that could happen live during the season. We’ll have to see how this one plays out.”

Brawn said his primary concern was whether teams’ designs undermine the intent of the rules to make racing better by allowing cars to follow each other more closely than in the past.

Out on the track, Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly set the fastest time of the day, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.

Headline lap times in testing are unreliable indicators of actual competitiveness because of the myriad ways teams can alter their cars’ specification to affect lap time.

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were ninth and 11th fastest after Russell drove in the afternoon session and the seven-time champion went out in the morning.

Russell said of the car’s new features: “It looks interesting but it’s not about how it looks it’s about how fast it goes. It caught quite a few people’s eyes this morning.

“I am proud to be part of a team that is pushing innovation and seeing something pretty spectacular being pulled off is pretty incredible.”

The session was stopped eight minutes early when Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had a spin and then inadvertently reversed into the gravel and became stuck when trying to get going again.

Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 27

Kaieteur News

NBA roundup: Suns clinch league’s first playoff spot Reuters - Devin Booker returned from a four-game COVID-protocol absence and had a near triple-double, helping the Phoenix Suns clinch the NBA’s first playoff spot with a 111-90 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

Booker finished with 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, while Phoenix also got 21 points from Mikal Bridges and 19 points and 10 rebounds from Deandre Ayton. JaVale McGee added 11 points and a season-high 15 rebounds off the bench.

The game was a matchup between the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference (Miami) and the squad that leads the Western Conference (Phoenix).

Miami, which has won 12 of its past 15 contests, was led by Duncan Robinson (22 points), Tyler Herro (17 points) and Bam Adebayo (17 points). Kyle Lowry added five points and a game-high 10 assists. Raptors 119, Spurs 104 Fred VanVleet poured in 26 points in his return after a five-game absence because of injury and Scottie Barnes added 20 points, 18 of them in the second half, as visiting Toronto rolled to a win over San Antonio.

The loss kept Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tied with Don Nelson at 1,335 atop the list of career regular-season NBA coaching wins. Pas-

cal Siakam also scored 20 points for the Raptors, with Gary Trent Jr. hitting for 17 and Precious Achiuwa adding 13 points as Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson led all scorers with 27 points while Dejounte Murray racked up 25 points and 12 assists. Rockets 139, Lakers 130 (OT) Rookie Jalen Green scored 13 consecutive Houston points bridging the fourth quarter and overtime, and the Rockets pulled away for a win over visiting Los Angeles.

Green scored a seasonhigh 32 points but he had ample help as seven Rockets scored in double figures. Fellow rookies Josh Christopher and Alperen Sengun scored 21 points apiece, with Sengun adding 14 rebounds to his season-best point total.

Kenyon Martin Jr. (17 points, 11 rebounds) also recorded a double-double for Houston, which was missing two starters and entered on a 2-17 skid.

LeBron James posted his fifth triple-double of the season with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for Los Angeles. Russell Westbrook added 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but the Lakers allowed the Rockets to shoot 51 percent from the floor, including 17 of 40 (42.5 percent) from 3-point range. Nuggets 106, Kings 100 Austin Rivers gave Den-

New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) shoots the ball against Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) during the third quarter at Smoothie King Center.

(Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports)

ver the lead for good on a 3pointer with 3:52 remaining and Nikola Jokic capped a 38point, 18-rebound performance with a key three-point play as the visiting Nuggets recorded a victory over Sacramento.

In winning, Denver took advantage of the suspension of Sacramento standout Domantas Sabonis, who was banned for one game after being cited for charging aggressively at an official during an ejection in Monday’s home loss to the New York

Knicks. Monte Morris saved seven of his 20 points for the final 5:25, helping the Nuggets sweep the season series from Sacramento for the second time in the last four years.

De’Aaron Fox had a teamhigh 32 points for the Kings.

Harrison Barnes backed Fox with 17 and Trey Lyles chipped in with 14 to complement a team-high nine rebounds. Clippers 115, Wizards 109 Reggie Jackson scored 31 points and Marcus Morris Sr. added 27 as Los Angeles put together yet an-

other rally to defeat visiting Washington.

Luke Kennard scored 19 points for the Clippers, who won after trailing by as many as 10 points. It was mere shades of Los Angeles’ 35point comeback victory Jan. 25 at Washington, which tied for the second-largest rally in NBA history. Kennard scored seven points in the final nine seconds of that one.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 19 points and Rui Hachimura added 18 as Washington lost for the fourth time in its last

six games. The Wizards fell short in their bid to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly two months and lost on the road against the Clippers for the 14th consecutive time.

In other results: Bucks 124, Hawks 115 Celtics 115, Hornets 101 Knicks 107, Mavericks 77 Bulls 114, Pistons 108 Timberwolves 132, Thunder 102 Magic 108, Pelicans 102 Jazz 123, Trail Blazers 85 (Field Level Media)

PAGE 28

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

India cricket greats welcome ‘Mankad’ run out law change AFP - India greats such as Sachin Tendulkar yesterday welcomed cricket’s governing body changing the law on controversial “Mankad” run outs, which will no longer be classed as “unfair play”.

The rare mode of dismissal — where a bowler runs out the non-striker in their delivery stride if the batter is out of his crease — was named after Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad, who 75 years ago ran out Bill Brown twice in that fashion on a tour of Australia in 1947.

The nickname for that type of dismissal has stuck ever since, much to the annoyance of Mankad, who died in 1978, and other Indian cricketers.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodians of the sport’s laws, have always held such dismissals are legitimate and batters should not seek to gain an advantage by backing up out of their ground.

But confusingly, the dismissal was listed under Law 41: “Unfair Play”.

But in one of several changes announced by the

“I was always uncomfortable with that particular dismissal being called ‘Mankaded’,” former India great Sachin Tendulkar said. (AFP/ Mohammed Farooq)

MCC this week that will come into effect from October 1, it will now be covered under Law 38: “Run Out”.

“I was always uncomfortable with that particular dismissal being called Mankaded,” Tendulkar said in a video message.

“I am really happy that it’s been changed to run out. It always should have been run out according to me. So this is one good news for all of us.”

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ran

out England’s Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end in an Indian Premier League game in 2019 and was widely criticised for acting against the spirit of cricket.

England pace great Stuart Broad on Wednesday said, despite the law change, he would not run someone out with a Mankad.

“I think it is unfair & wouldn’t consider it, as in my opinion, dismissing a batter is about skill & the Mankad requires zero skill,” Broad wrote on Twitter.

England bowling great Stuart Broad said he would never run a batter out at the non-striker’s end, even though it would be deemed fair under the new laws. (AFP/ William WEST)

- Saliva ban - Former India batsman WV Raman responded: “It is not about skill, but getting punished for a crime. Of course, on a cricket field, it is about disregarding the laws of the game.

“A traffic cop doesn’t display skill when he books someone for jumping a traffic signal!

“The most important thing about the modification in the rule is that it won’t be called Mankading.

“At long last common sense prevails and an all-

Motor Racing returns this weekend The Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) has received approval from Guyana’s National COVID-19 Task force (NCTF) for the hosting of two events in March at the South Dakota Circuit.

The first event will be its Circuit Racing event set for this weekend and the second is a drag racing event on the weekend of March 26 &27.

The approval came following a meeting with the National Covid Task Force (NCTF) and GMR&SC executives on Friday last at which the latter requested approval to run off the said events.

For the March 12-13 event, the club has secured permission to host an event with a ‘no spectator’ policy.

GMR&SC President Rameez Mohamed said, “We must first and foremost thank the task force for granting us this approval. We met with them last week and they are working with the sport to allow for the best possible outcome.”

“With this approval for the [March 13] event, we can move ahead to getting all our other plans like the track closure from the CJIA, all other safety and necessary arrangements in place to ensure the

running of our first circuit racing event of the year.

As it relates to the drag racing weekend on March 2627, the club has secured clearance for a limited number of spectators.

According to committee Member Nyron Maraj, “All spectators need to be fully vaccinated. The Task Force has mandated us to put out two checkpoints for this purpose. A first checkpoint at the entrance to the track (Glass factory road) where teams will be checking for vaccination cards and corresponding IDs and the second is where we will verify these books and ID

once again to ensure that no unvaccinated person slips in.

We want to make it clear that tickets alone will not get you into this event. People need to bring along their vaccination books.”

“As it relates to ticket sales, the club will begin selling on March 23 and tickets will not be sold at the gates, only at the Club’s office. That is one of the areas the task force was very strict with.

They said to us that tickets must not be sold on the day and must not be sold at the venue. And the tickets themselves will be limited in number. We will decide on the

amount to be sold in the coming weeks.” The task force via letter has outlined strict sanitisation policies for all participants, officials and volunteers present on the day with social distancing and mask wearing being actively monitored.

Enforcement of this will be done by the club with supervision from the task force and all persons present at the facility will be randomly selected for the presentation of books and corresponding ID’s.

Adult tickets will cost $2000 dollars while children under 12 will cost $500.

rounder of great skills will not be tarnished anymore.”

Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar strongly objected to the term Mankading and called for it to be dropped, saying it sullied the name. If anything, he said, it should be “Browned not Mankaded”.

Tnere are several other changes to the laws.

The use of saliva on the ball will be banned, which also removes any grey area of fielders sucking sweets or mints to help keep the shine.

The law around judging a wide has also been amended, with bowlers given more leeway because batters now move more in their crease before a ball is bowled.

The incoming batter will now be on strike for the next ball after a catch, regardless of whether the batters cross while the ball is in the air — a change designed to reward the bowler for taking a wicket.

The only time a new batter will not face the next delivery is if the wicket falls with the last ball of an over.

Concacaf under-20 women’s championship...

Coach pleased with performance Paul De Abreau

Motor Racing returns this weekend with Circuit action, followed by Drags on the 27th.

Guyana’ under-20 women’s team made it to the round-of-16 of the 2022 Concacaf under-20 women’s championship where they were knocked out by Haiti following a 2-1 defeat after they had opened the scoring in the fixture. Paul De Abreau, head coach of the team, during brief remarks, noted that the biggest takeaway of the tournament was beating Honduras and advancing to the knockout round before being edged by Haiti with just a few

minutes remaining.

The team came together well in a very short amount of time despite challenges and were able to finish on a high note, the coach posited.

He continued by explaining that, “Winning in sports starts in preparation, years, months and up to the last few hours before competition. Anxiety and nervousness usually take over, we need to be better prepared physically, mentally and emotionally going forward.”

Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 29

Kaieteur News

Nkrumah Bonner’s patient century gives West Indies first-innings lead ESPNcricinfo - Nkrumah Bonner played an innings of patience, resilience and reward to mirror his international career with a hardearned century guiding West Indies to a first-innings lead over England.

Bonner fell for 123 shortly before stumps on the third day in Antigua, to the elation of England’s bowlers who had done it tough on a benign pitch against a stubborn West Indies line-up. Veerasammy Permaul offered keen resistance to remain unbeaten on 26 at stumps with Jayden Seales yet to score and the hosts 62 runs ahead.

At the age of 33, Bonner raised the second century of his still-fledgling Test career, which is only 10 matches old and began in February last year - almost a decade after he made his international debut in a T20 against England at the Oval in 2011. Bonner played just one more T20I, in March 2012, before eventually earning a recall to the West Indies’ set-up, initially in January last year for three ODIs in Bangladesh before playing two Tests on that

same tour.

His fist Test ton had come at the same ground as this one, a similarly attritional 113 not out in a player-of-thematch performance in the drawn first Test with Sri Lanka. On this occasion, he batted for nine hours to lead West Indies’ recovery from 127 for 4, build a small but crucial lead and put merciless miles in the legs of an England attack without - no, not those two - an injured Mark Wood, who disappeared to the changeroom shortly before lunch having bowled just five overs for the day and 17 for the match before succumbing to an elbow problem.

Bonner resumed on 34 not out and with West Indies 109 runs in arrears, having hauled the hosts back into the contest in partnership with Jason Holder after the tumble of wickets had all but ruined the solid foundation laid by an 83run opening stand between Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell.

Holder fell to Ben Stokes - and his own indecision early on the third day, adding just two runs to his overnight

SCOREBOARD England 1st Innings 311 West Indies 1st Innings (202-4 o/night) Kraigg Brathwaite (c) c Overton b Wood John Campbell c †Foakes b Overton Shamarh Brooks c Root b Stokes Nkrumah Bonner c †Foakes b Lawrence Jermaine Blackwood c Overton b Woakes Jason Holder c †Foakes b Stokes Joshua Da Silva † lbw b Leach Alzarri Joseph c sub (OJ Pope) b Overton Kemar Roach run out (sub [OJ Pope]/Foakes) Veerasammy Permaul not out Jayden Sealesnot out Extras (b 1, lb 3, nb 3, w 4) TOTAL (157 Ov, RR: 2.37) for 9wkts

55 35 18 123 11 45 32 2 15 26 0 11 373

Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-101, 3-111, 4-127, 5-206, 6-279, 7-282, 8-326, 9-372 BOWLING Chris Woakes Craig Overton Mark Wood Jack Leach Ben Stokes Joe Root Dan Lawrence

O 30 32 17 43 28 5

M 6 7 4 20 7 0 2

R 88 85 45 79 42 30 2

W 1 2 1 1 2 0 0

MATCH DETAILS Venue: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua Toss: England, elected to bat first Test Debut: Alex Lees Umpires Gregory Brathwaite Joel Wilson TV Umpire Leslie Reifer Reserve Umpire Nigel Duguid Match Referee Richie Richardson

1

43 before making a late move to leave one around off stump and edged a catch to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, ending his union with Bonner at 79.Stokes almost had Bonner, on 40 at the time, attempting to pull a bouncer which looped towards midwicket, where substitute fielder Ollie Pope dived forward but couldn’t manage to grasp it.

Bonner brought up his fifty prodding a single through the covers and he faced another 15 balls for his next scoring shot, launching Wood over the fence at fine leg for six off a top edge.

He reached his century off 257 deliveries on the second ball of the evening session, sweeping a Jack Leach halfvolley on leg stump behind square for four. Bonner celebrated with a relieved sigh as he embraced Kemar Roach, with whom he ultimately shared a partnership to follow the theme of the day - patience - worth 44 off 173 balls for the eighth wicket.

But when Bonner nudged Leach to backward point and the pair dashed off for a single, they were chancing the arm of Pope, who fired the ball to the striker ’s end and Foakes removed the bails with Roach well shy of his crease.

Roach had provided steadfast support to Bonner, facing 89 balls for his 15 runs.

Twice England thought they had Bonner lbw to Leach but they failed to overturn Joel Wilson’s decisions, upheld on umpire’s call with balltracking suggesting it was clipping leg stump on both occasions.

They finally broke through when captain Joe Root, running out of ideas, brought Dan Lawrence into the attack with almost immediate effect when Bonner feathered his fifth delivery to Foakes, although it took an England review to overturn umpire Gregory Brathwaite’s not-out decision with replays showing the faintest of edges.

Stokes ended up bowling 28 overs - with 2 for 42 to show for it - his heaviest innings workload since 2015, having only just returned to bowling after breaking down with a side strain in the fourth Ashes Test.

Much had been made of England’s 12-match stretch without breaking the 300mark before Jonny Bairstow’s century led them to 311 in their first innings here, but West Indies had endured a virtually identical run dating

Jason Holder plays defensive • Mar 08, 2022 © AFP via Getty Images

back to the second Test against Sri Lanka in Antigua last March.

Their ability to forge partnerships was key as they passed the milestone on Thursday, all but the first one held together by Bonner, on a day when 171 runs scored from 90.1 overs.

Joshua Da Silva wisely reviewed his lbw dismissal to Craig Overton when on 16, but there was no such reprieve shortly after lunch when Leach, who at that point had bowled well for no reward, rapped him on the back pad with one that skidded onto the knee roll.

Da Silva’s review failed this time, with replays showing the ball was hitting leg stump, but he had added another valuable stand with Bonner, worth 73.

Joshua da Silva takes evasive action • Mar 09, 2022 © Getty Images

New Zealand beat India by 62...

From page 30 with Kerr for the third wicket, 54 with Maddy Green for the fourth wicket and 49 with Katey Martin for the fifth wicket.

“There were certainly patches when I really struggled but I tried to build an innings with whoever I was batting with and take it as deep as we could,” said Satterthwaite who eventually was out in the 43rd over. “I thought the bowlers were outstanding in that first 20odd overs which were exceptional.

“We’ve talked about our starts and couldn’t have asked for much better.”

New Zealand scored steadily at a rate of more than five runs per over through the first half of its innings and was only constrained later by ex-

cellent India bowling.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Pooja Vastrakar played an important role, slowing New Zealand’s scoring between the 40th and 47th overs when New Zealand added 30 runs for the loss of four wickets.

Va s t r a k a r, e s p e c i a l l y, troubled the New Zealanders with her full and accurate bowling, taking 319 in her second, six-over spell.

New Zealand lost Lea Tahuhu and Jess Kerr to consecutive balls in the 47th over and tallied only 49 runs in its last 10 overs but still built a total which required India to achieve a record Women’s World Cup run chase in order to win.

The New Zealanders then put the squeeze on India at the start of its innings. Smitri Mandhana fell early and New

Zealand shut down the scoring opportunities for the India batters so that 7.4 overs had been bowled before the first boundary was hit.

After 10 overs, India was 26-2, after 20 overs it was 50-3 and its task had become almost insurmountable. When Mithali Raj and Richa Ghost fell to consecutive deliveries from K e r r i n t h e 3 0 t h o v e r, India’s hopes had all but faded.

Harmanpreet Kaur hit six boundaries and two sixes and continued her outstanding individual innings until the 44th over when she was out with India 178-8.

Scores: New Zealand 260 for 9 (Satterthwaite 75, A Kerr 50, Vastrakar 4-34) beat India 198 (Kaur 71, Tahuhu 3-17, A Kerr 3-56) by 62 runs.

PAGE 30

Friday March 11, 2022

Kaieteur News

New Zealand beats India by Minister Ramson Jnr. dissatisfied be completed 62 runs at Women’s World Cup with Sports Policy Should by next year

Amelia Kerr gets a bear hug from Katey Martin. (ICC via Getty Images) WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Host New Zealand finally produced a performance to catch the attention of its main rivals at the Women’s Cricket World Cup when it beat India by 62 runs yesterday in its third group match.

New Zealand lost its opening match against the West Indies, then beat Pakistan in a performance which was dominant but not eyecatching. India had played only one match before yester-

day, beginning its campaign with an equally emphatic win over Pakistan.

That meant India went into the match at Hamilton in third place and New Zealand in fifth place in the eight-team round-robin from which four teams advance to the semifinals. In that context, the match became a must-win for New Zealand and its performance was both timely and impressive.

Amy Satterthwaite scored 75 and Amelia Kerr added 50

as New Zealand made 260-9, batting first after India won the toss. Harmanpreet Kaur made an outstanding 71 from 63 balls to lead her team’s response but India was all out for 198 in the 47th over.

Kerr’s 50, her sixth in oneday internationals, came from 63 deliveries and she was out next ball. Satterthwaite made 50 from 60 balls and strung together a series of partnerships which built New Zealand’s total. She added 67 (Continued on page 29 )

‘Everyone has chipped in’ - Windies Women coach Walsh proud of team’s fighting spirit

SportsMax - West Indies Women head coach Courtney Walsh insists he has been satisfied with the team’s overall performance at the ICC World Cup so far but admits they are yet to put together the perfect game.

The Windies Women have started their campaign in New Zealand in spectacular fashion with a narrow win over the hosts, followed up by a similar triumph against defending champions England.

The performances have, however, been far from spotless. The Windies are argu-

ably yet to see the best of stars Stafanie Taylor or Deandra Dottin with the bat and their performances in the field have vacillated between exceptional and middling.

Ahead of the team’s encounter against India at 8:00 pm, tomorrow Walsh admits a bigger margin of victory would be welcome, but it’s the team’s fighting spirit that has in his mind been the positive feature so far.

“It’s good to be winning these close games but I think the fighting spirit the ladies have been showing is what has been the most encourag-

ing,” Walsh told members of the media on Wednesday.

“In two close games, you have to be proud of how the ladies have performed. The beauty about it is that everyone has chipped in so far in the two games,” he added.

After two matches the Windies Women are in third position behind Australia and New Zealand, with only the top four teams advancing to the semi-finals.

“I’m very happy that we’ve had the results that we want in the first two games.

I’m hoping that it can (Continued on page 25)

By Sean Devers In June, 2017, as part of Government’s plan to complete a National Sports Policy to ensure that sports developed positively, the first in a series of consultations with Federation and Associations was conducted at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Melissa DowRichardson, Assistant Director of Sport, was the lead coordinator on the project and had said that the aim of the consultations was to focus on the fundamental principles of sports in addition to examining critical policy issues in sports.

Other areas of focus of the public con s u l t a t i o n were: governance, accountability, on ensuring a safe and secure environment, discrimination, harassment and athlete development.

Also addressed then were subjects such as sports administration, coaching and training, sports financing, tourism and intellectual property rights.

With regards to the media, specific focus was on their roles and responsibilities in addition to its rights.

It has been close to six years and the Sports Policy is still a draft document.

Speaking on the ‘Sean Devers Sports Watch’ on Kaieteur Radio last Tuesday Evening, the Honourable Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport, Charles Ramson, provided an update on the National Sports Policy.

Sports Minister Charles Ramson Jnr. “The sports policy is still in its draft stage we did not advance too much work on the Sports Policy other than we had a review of where it was and try to getting to the bottom, what direction it was taking and what shape it was taking.

I was dissatisfied with the direction it was going. So I said we have a number of things we are working on which is still a priority for us and for that to remain a priority it has to be included in the Sports Policy.

We have started doing the Sports Academy and that has to feature in the Sports Policy,” informed Minister Ramson, who along with Director of Sport and Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC), have been traveling to several Communities to see for themselves what is needed for sports development there.

According to the young and proactive Minister, the Sports Policy guides what the NSC does.

Charles Ramson Jnr. bowls in practice at GNIC.

“We have started doing the Sports Academy and that has to feature firmly in the sports Policy. It would not have made sense that if we are rolling out the Sports Academy now and don’t include that in your first Sports Policy.We are going to recommence working on the Sports Policy once we see the Sports Academy is on a consistent sustainable basis of continuation,” added Ramson who gained a distinction in Oil and Gas from the University of Aberdeen in 2017.

When asked when the Sports Policy will be completed, Minister Ramson said by next year.

“I would say probably by next year. It would not be a target for us for this year. When we would have had enough assessment of how the Sports Academy is going and what are the successes of the Sports Academy so that we can include firmly things that has to be kept in and it won’t change Willy Nilly,” concluded Ramson who is one of only two Guyanese Sports Ministers to have played First Division cricket; the other being the late Roy Fredericks, who played 58 Tests for West Indies. Fredricks, who died of cancer on September 5, 2000, aged 57, became the only sitting Member of Parliament in the World to score a First-Class double Century when he scored 217 against Jamaica at Bourda in 1983, while serving as Guyana’s Minister of Sports.

Kaieteur News

Friday March 11, 2022

PAGE 31

Elton Dharry Promotions, Ameri Group & GBB 'Road to redemption Fight Night Boxing' on April 23 taking shape

By Sean Devers

G

uyana's US based pugilist Elton Dharry will fight for WBC Super flyweight title against a Mexican opponent as International Boxing returns to Guyana for the first time in over two years with the Elton Dharry Promotions, Ameri Group & GBB's road to redemption Fight Night Boxing card.

After being floored by the

Covid-19 pandemic, all roads will lead to the Guyana National Stadium at Providence on April 23 for what is anticipated to be a pulsating five-bout Card which also feathers Dexter 'the Kid' Marques; fighting for WBC Flyweight title against another Mexican in main supporting.

The 36-year-old Dharry with a Pro record of 25 wins (14 KOs), 6 losses and 1 draw from 32 bouts and 36 year-old Marques with a record of 19 bouts (5 KOs) and

two losses will both be hoping join the late Andrew 'six Heads' Lewis, Wayne 'big truck' Braithwaite, Vivian Harris and Gary Sinclair and females Gwendolyn O'Neil and Shondell Alfred as Guyanese Boxers to win World titles.

Dharry, who last fought in Guyana on January 20, 2018 when he beat Venezuelan Jesus Vargas at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, said he is ready.

“My training is going well

and I am excited to return home to fight in front of my people. I always work hard and fight hard to win and it will be great to win a World title on home soil,” said Dharry who born in the Essequibo Island Leguan in Guyana. “ Guyanese love Boxing and I expect to see a large turn-out now that some of Covid regulation have been lifted and I promise the fans an entertaining (Continued on page 25)

Elton Dharry (Twitter.com), Dexter Marques

Nkrumah Bonner's patient century gives West Indies first-innings lead Nkrumah Bonner drives through the off side Mar 09, 2022 © Getty Images.

Nkrumah Bonner acknowledges the crowd after reaching his second Test hundred Mar 09, 2022 © Getty Images

Motor Racing returns this weekend s t r o Sp

th

th Motor Racing returns this weekend with Circuit action, followed by Drags on the 27 .

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