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AIETEUR Nandlall’s Ministry Thursday Edition building parking NEWS shed that will cost more than two turn-key homes

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

Gas-to-Shore project…

May 12, 2022 - Vol. 15 No. 19

Online: www.kaieteurnews.com Online Price $80 readership yesterday, 68,898

ExxonMobil refuses to

disclose cost to transport gas to Wales at public consultation ‘Bring back Benn’ - Public service credit union members demand emergency meeting within 14 days

Govt. paying PPP activist $1M per month to store drugs in Linden Alexander floats biometric system to address ghost voting … says method transparent and no one will be disenfranchised

State-run Oil Company will not prevent oil curse - Latin American Analyst urges govt. to consider Venezuela PDVSA’s fall from grace as warning Guyanese MUST demand that VP Jagdeo, the man heading the The Glenn Lall Show @11:00hrs oil sector, come clean with our oil or leave! ListenontoKaieteur Radio 99.1/99.5FM

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Thursday May 12, 2022

Govt. makes first withdrawal from oil fund

The Government of Guyana on Tuesday announced its first withdrawal from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), or the oil account, to the

Consolidated Fund, which it said will help to finance its national development priorities.

In a statement to the press, the Ministry of

Finance said US$200 million, equivalent to $41.7 billion in local currency, has been transferred in accordance with Section 16 of the NRF Act of 2021.

According to the Ministry, “This transfer was made in accordance with the strengthened legal architecture of the NRF Act 2021 and follows the

publication in the Official Gazette of all petroleum revenues paid into the Natural Resource Fund during the period, 1 January to 31 March 2022.”

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh It went on to say that the NRF Act, which came into operation on January 1, 2022 represents a significant improvement in transparency and accountability and the overall management of the natural resources’ wealth of Guyana for present and future generations. The statement pointed out too that during the Budget 2022 process, Parliamentary approval was granted for the sum of US$607.6 million to be transferred during the fiscal year 2022.

The NRF Act was hurriedly passed in the National Assembly on December 29, 2022 amid an in-house protest staged by the Opposition Members of Parliament, who were clamouring for the then proposed Bill be sent to the Special Select Committee for consultations to inform the key legislation. Other members of civil society had also echoed this call but the administration ignored these views and rushed to pass the Bill.

Despite the public debate, Head of State, President Irfaan Ali, had, mere hours after the raucous session, formally assented to the Bill, thereby bringing it into law— with the final step being its publication in the Official Gazette.

Already, the Board of Directors to manage the fund have been appointed by President Ali, while the other management committees are to be set up. With regard to the use of the oil revenue, the NRF Act states that the natural resource wealth can be used to finance national development priorities, including any initiative aimed at realizing an inclusive green economy.

To this end, financial analysts believe that the fund will be used to finance its Wa l e s G a s - t o - E n e r g y project on the West Bank of Demerara. It must be noted that the administration has not clearly outlined how it (Continued on page 14)

Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

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State-run Oil Company will not prevent oil curse - consider Venezuela PDVSA’s from grace as a warning - Latin American Analyst

By Kiana Wilburg As the government contemplates the pros and cons of setting up National Oil Company (NOC) managed by a strategic partner, some industry analysts believe the country should quit while it is ahead on this route.

Mariana Zepeda, Latin American Analyst at strategic market intelligence firm FrontierView, is one who holds this view. In her recent contributions to the Energy Advisor (an online platform featuring analysis from industry leaders), she warned that a State-run oil company could expose Guyana to the risks of corruption while adding that it does not necessarily prevent the dreaded oil curse. The oil curse, for those who are not familiar with the term, describes the political and economic dysfunction that occurs when leaders fail to properly manage and invest oil revenues.

In explaining her perspective on the matter, the analyst recalled that American multinational, ExxonMobil through its subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) had struck black gold in 2015 after a series of attempts. She

recalled too that the government subsequently signed a Product Sharing Agreement (PSA) that is in favour of Exxon and its partners Hess Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC Group).

To strengthen its position vis-à-vis the current players, the analyst agreed that the government will need to diversify its management of the industry. The analyst warned at this point that the consideration of “working with a strategic partner”, as recommended by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, “could expand the country’s stake in its burgeoning oil sector. She said this can only occur if the partnership helps Guyana develop the technical resources and know-how to forge a self-reliant oil company. But even if it does achieve this objective, Zepeda said, “A state-run company will not necessarily prevent the oil curse.”

The analyst argued that Guyana would be wise to consider the fall from grace of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A which is otherwise known as PDVSA, the staterun oil company of Venezuela. To date, it is

Mariana Zepeda, Latin American Analyst at FrontierView believed to be the most corrupt energy company in the world. Given the country’s lack of key mechanisms to manage its oil resources properly, the analyst alluded that Guyana would be biting off more than it could chew with the establishment of a NOC. Zepeda said, “Guyana’s oil resources are vast—the country could have the highest oil production per capita in the world by 2025.

But almost three years after t h e d i s c o v e r y, t h e government’s ability to leverage potential oil wealth into stronger development outcomes remains shaky,

56 new Covid-19 cases; 4 persons in ICU

T

he COVID-19 cases continue to climb here with the Ministry of Health recording 56 new cases on Wednesday.

Four persons are listed as being in the Intensive Care Unit. The 56 new cases have pushed the total confirmed cases to 63,884.

The total number of deaths is at 1228.

particularly since Guyana lacks a concrete plan for managing its oil wealth.”

The analyst concluded that proposals to invest oil windfalls in social services or trade infrastructure will require fiscal discipline, and therefore good governance is a crucial priority.

PDVSA’s DISTURBING PAST In 1976, amid the oil boom, former President Carlos Andres Perez had nationalized the oil industry, creating state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) to oversee all exploring, producing, refining, and exporting of oil. Perez allowed PDVSA to partner with foreign oil companies as long as it held 60 percent equity in joint ventures and, critically, structured the company to run as a business with minimal government regulation. As global oil prices plummeted in the 1980s, Venezuela’s economy contracted and inflation soared; at the same time, it accrued massive foreign debt by purchasing foreign refineries, such as Citgo in the United States. In 1989, Perez—reelected months earlier—launched a fiscal austerity package as part of a financial bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The measures

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo provoked deadly riots.

In 1992, Hugo Chavez, a military officer, launched a failed coup and rose to national fame.

C h a v e z w a s subsequently elected president in 1998 and pledged to use Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to reduce poverty and inequality.

While his costly “Bolivarian missions” expanded social services and cut poverty by 20 percent, he also took several steps that precipitated a long and steady decline in the country’s oil production, which peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His decision to fire thousands of experienced PDVSA workers who had taken part in an industry strike in 2002–2003 gutted the company of important technical expertise.

Beginning in 2005, Chavez provided subsidized oil to several countries in the region, including Cuba, through an alliance known as Petrocaribe. Over the course of Chavez’s presidency, which lasted until 2013, strategic petroleum reserves dwindled and government debt more than doubled.

This state of affairs was no different when Nicolás Maduro took over as he established a dictatorship years after Chavez’s death.

During his reign, PDVSA became known as the most notoriously corrupt national oil company in the world.

Just last year, a dual U.S.Venezuelan citizen and former official at Citgo Petroleum Corporation, a Houston-based subsidiary of PDVSA, pleaded guilty in connection with his role in laundering millions of dollars in bribes and corruptly providing business advantages to multiple individuals who obtained contracts with Citgo and PDVSA. Many other similar and more damning cases have been documented over t h e y e a r s . (https://www.justice.gov/op a/pr/former-venezuelanofficial-pleads-guiltyconnection-internationalbribery-and-money) The rise and fall of the petro-state has fueled a devastating humanitarian crisis, with severe shortages of basic goods such as food, drinking water, gasoline, and medical supplies. According to a September 2021 survey, 77 percent of Venezuela’s 28 million residents live in extreme poverty, the highest rate in Latin America. Since 2014, nearly six million Venezuelans have fled to neighbouring countries such as Guyana and beyond, some of which have granted them temporary residency.

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Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

So many gas-to-shore anxieties, so little reception Guyana’s sons and daughters should be readying to live like Princes and Princesses of Wales, but there is a growing forlorn conclusion, that it will not be so. This is regardless of whether they reside around the Wales termination point of Exxon’s and the PPP/C Government’s muchtouted gas-to-shore project, or elsewhere. Instead of the Wales area residents (and all Guyanese) anticipating and singing like the man from Wales about the “Green, green grass of home”, it seems that their fate would be more like that other daughter from the same UK-centred Wales, Shirley Bassey, forced to wail “I (who have nothing)”.

For here it is that locals are asking for only what is reasonable. They ask for some time to go through the voluminous documents related to this more than a billion gas-to-shore political dream that could turn out to be a nightmare for Guyanese, another pipe dream of crooked leaders, who conceal significant issues related to this project from them. Cunning political leaders in the PPP/C Government emphasise the upside of the project, while cleverly keeping the downsides of what the project could actually represent for Guyanese.

By any standard, any wise practice, it makes for sound sense to have a financial feasibility study on the project done by independent and credible people. It is better still to share the report of such a study, when expertly and trustworthily completed, with all Guyanese desirous of familiarising themselves with its positives and negatives.

This is not on the cards, given the stubborn reactions of local political leaders overseeing our oil business, and piloting this much-talked about, much-disputed gas-to-shore project. As we have said before, if it is so loaded with benefits for Guyana, then let all Guyanese be privy to all that is involved with this billion-dollar plus project.

But Guyanese can’t get that, and some of the people of the Wales community, who will be directly impacted by the project, also can’t get what they have asked for, the little consideration that is resolutely denied them. In the communications of attorney Elizabeth Hughes, seeking a pause to public consultations, America’s oil juggernaut has played hardball and refused to listen to the pleas made (KN May 9). All they are asking for is some more time to go through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by Exxon, after which the public engagements could start.

Instead of engaging Guyanese on a satisfactory platform, Exxon chose to dig in its heels and put up a wall: it will proceed with the planned public consultations.

We, at this paper, are trying hard to understand why there is this rush, this determined resistance. The EIA is over 1400 pages in length, and is sure to contain a highly technical and dense narrative, well-supported by graphs, charts, and tables. This would be rough going at the equivalent of over 20 pages of heavy material a day in the time allocated. It is not like going through a novel or a newspaper, which makes the call for time reasonable and understandable, if not sensible. Farmers and others in the Wales, Canal, and Crane communities are concerned about initial developments that are going to impact and impair their way of living. They know that there is going to be this billiondollar project coming to their neighbourhood, but beyond that, little else has been shared with them by the people they elected to office, or government officials; secrecy that keeps them in the dark is what prevails (KN May 10). In the circumstances, it is accurate to say that nobody has had the time of day for them, and the attitude has been more of ‘take it or leave it’ for it is a done deal, regardless of what any Guyanese say. We would argue that what is happening in Wales with gas-to-shore is representative of the norm in Guyana, since oil has announced its gigantic presence locally. Secrecy flourishes, leadership honesty is dead, transparency buried. How are Guyanese going to know about, benefit from, this oil wealth? Why have leaders in the PPP/C Government made it their duty, a national industry, to be about deep, thick secrecy with this oil? Which ones are benefiting unimaginably, criminally?

Legalised monstrous banditry DEAR EDITOR, So, the first haul from the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) pool is underway, all US$200M of it. By any reckoning, it is a good day at the office. The Hon. Finance czar (junior one) spoke of the withdrawal in awed, glowing terms: “to finance national development priorities.” Of course, it is. Except that this is an integral aspect of what they dont say, the great scam, the monstrous legalised banditries that mandatory components of this exercise in redistribution of the national wealth. Only this time, it is done under the best lawful covers, with every tee crossed, and every I dotted with delicate efficiency. One has to marvel at the organised and orchestrated plunder of this nations wealth.

There is an NRF, and it is all legal: parliamentary debate, passage, and sealed with presidential assent. It is as democratic and in the open as that, with records to prove.

Withdrawals are allowed, and the PPP Government did signal that the NRF was going to be accessed to support budgetary outlays, which is as transparent as matters can be.

Now it is actually happening and under the umbrella of “to finance national development priorities.” National speaks for itself; development is urgently needed; and priorities are what the PPP say such are.

The problem is that what PPP leaders in government define as national and about development and the best priorities

are not interpreted identically by many Guyanese, nor are they seen in that light, like the PPP insists.

But that is only half the issue, and a sliver of the concern, for the real story goes much deeper. The first clue is budgetary; the second is the development priorities bandied about. This is where the national killing fields (economic ones) get watered, then harvested. In a nutshell, it is the anatomy of the ugly that graces every single aspect of PPP governance. I trot out the building blocks, one at a time, and layer after layer. It is who benefits and how, and the legal and procedural machinery in place to make such happen.

The 2022 budget houses all those big dollar projects.

A building there a cool billion. A project across some river - another billion and change. Some bridge or road or port, and the billions keep rolling out of the budgetary allocations, as ably assisted by the US$200M haul from the NRF. I persist with haul because of the criminality contemplated beforehand, and planned for later on.

From the budget comes awards of billions; the right people are lined up on both sides of the deals. Those tendering, those engaging in what are supposedly reviews and approvals. From the engineers to the public servants to the contractors, it is one inseparable, indistinguishable pepperpot. Gooey with goodies for everyone. Every-

one, that is, except the poor people waiting for some paltry payout (or payoff).

The tender numbers already have built-in cushions for contingencies. They are what I call political force majeures, meaning that there are these acts of local political gods that must be catered for, and taken care of (15-20% for political masters and their handpicked public workers is a start). Then, the works are what they are, cost overruns flatten the taxpayers, and the cycle of budgets and allocations and awards and money begin all over. By my count, that is three times (in the bid numbers, the actual shoddy works, and the overruns) that the oil money is gouged out and ripped off. The PPP calls this infrastructure, which 95 percent of the Guyanese have no idea what it means, other than senior PPP leaders said it, therefore, it must mean something.

The big, reimported minister parrots the government line of “national development priorities” which sounds people-oriented, patriotic, and so pure.

Take it from me, it is not; it is too damn good to be true.

Not with these kinds of people around the oil trough.

Nigeria has them. Russia has them, (even America always had them) and they are the cream of the crop, and at the top. It is not the poor and unconnected. So, when the national development priorities man waxes lusciously about that, I know where it was heading all along. As a

quick aside, a man Burnham had a whole ministry with hundreds of people (all PNC) that was called National Development, and look what Guyana got, what it ended up with, after all the money was spent, some would say squandered. I do.

For what is happening here today, with that haul from the NRF account is the visible and audible movement of billions from one foreign place to this local place; from the hands of the New York bankers to the many hands of top PPP insiders. I asked the liberty of a little fancy phrase: redistribution of wealth, the nations oil wealth.

On this occasion, it is the other way around. Not from the top to the bottom or from the haves to the have nots; or from the superrich to the super poor. The other way around it is, with Guyanas oil money is the NRF going to the super-elites who get their dirty, grabbing paws on it, with nothing left for the masses of poor, other than a penny or two.

The beauty about this monstrosity is that is all graced with legality (bill, law, budget, tender, award, NRF, board, Consolidated Fund, audit, transparency, blah, blah, blah). Despite all this legal-makeup, lip gloss, conditioner(s), cleansers, toners it still is nothing but high seas and highway robbery, and right here in this dear, green land of Guyana.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

I am available, ready and willing to represent my stewardship DEAR EDITOR, Please permit me space to set the records in order in relation to an online article by inewsguyana.com which is being circulated widely on social media.

The article, which bears a photograph of me, and captioned: “Contractors who owed millions were allowed to bid for more contracts in Reg. 8”, implies that I was involved in the years under review.

May I state here, and make it pellucid that I was not the Regional Executive Officer of the Potaro/Siparuni Region in the years alluded to in the ar-

ticle. In fact, I was the Regional Executive Officer of that Region from the April 7, 2018 to January 3, 2019 Additionally, the Regional Executive Officer was not being truthful when he suggested that I am located in an area where telephone signal is sporadic.

In fact, I live eight (8) miles out of Lethem where the phone signal is as strong as it is in the town itself. I have both Digicel and GTT phones; in addition to a strong Wi-Fi service. The fact that I am sending this letter via e-mail from my home is testimony to that fact.

Last year, the Regional Executive Officer of the Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo Region made the same assertion. He was probably embarrassed when the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communities patched me through live to PAC to answer a few queries.

It is interesting to note that he was instructed to get me involved in answering the queries. I never got a call from him; that is not until today (Tuesday, 2022-05-10) when his secretary called me to inform me that I was being invited to attend PAC. I informed her to let the

REO contact me personally for us to discuss the terms of my engagement. He never did.

I am not sure why these REOs are avoiding me like that. I am not sure why they go to the PAC and lie their way through.

I am available, ready and willing to represent my stewardship, but it has to be on mutually agreed grounds.

I trust that this has provided some clarity to the whole issue of my involvement at the level of PAC. Yours faithfully, Carl Parker, Former REO

No democracy in Guyana

DEAR EDITOR, Having listened to The Glenn Lall Show on Friday, 6 May, a caller suggested that Guyana hires a government of professionals from outside of the country and run it as a democracy for the people and jail

the current politicians.

As the government was democratically elected by the people this cannot be done as Guyana is supposed to be a democracy. However, it is not a democracy under Jagdeo whose decisions are not

authorised or consulted with the people to give consent or otherwise, Jagdeo is running a dictatorship not a democracy.

But the only way to change the current political system will also not be demo-

cratic. It might turn to martial law, which is far worse as you cannot remove that either.

Try and it can lead to bloodshed as others have tried.

Glenn Lall has been (Contintued on page 5)

Thursday May 12, 2022

It is obvious that the community awareness of OIL AND GAS is lacking DEAR EDITOR, The gas-to-shore project, as presently, configured (245 kilometres gas-to-shore pipeline, an NGL Plant, a 300 MW power plant and many other ancillary facilities), has the potential of destroying the economy of Guyana if the project is not considered in its totality and the proper feasibilities done.

Editor, I fully support many of the ideas being undertaken to improve the electrical supply, so vital for the development of Guyana.

However, I am not aware of feasibility studies being done for the entire project. From my research and the estimates of others, this entire project will cost more than US$2 billion.

This amount of money can make/break the economy of Guyana if due diligence is not exercised and undertaken.

An EIA of the pipeline project has been concluded and, according to reports, this EIA is now in the public consultation stage. I attended the EIA meeting at Bush Lot Primary School, Region 5 and I must report my severe misgivings on a few aspects of the

presentations. Firstly, from the EIA report the life of the pipeline project is 25 years. A 300 MW power plant and an NGL plant when constructed are each expected to have a useful economic life of over 50 years. This leads me to ask the profound question, how will gas be provided to the NGL plant and the power plant at the expiration of the life of the pipeline? Secondly, we are aware that an ANADARKO leased seismic vessel was escorted out of the Guyana EEZ and taken to a Venezuelan Port. That vessel was considered a SOFT target. Will a pipeline of 245 kilometres not be an even SOFTER target that can bring about untold catastrophic destruction to the surrounding communities and Guyana as a whole? Thirdly, decommissioning the pipeline in place may expose Guyana to untold hazards brought about by climate change and other natural phenomena. The many reports of the scarcity of fish and the effects on other marine life need to be taken seriously. Such effects cannot be comfortably pre-

dicted by modelling.

Many letters from persons knowledgeable of the OIL AND GAS industry have advocated the use of LNG tankers in comparison to the pipeline to bring the gas ashore.

The commonsense metrics of safety and security appear to be so obvious. The flexibility of LNG tankers offers a distinct advantage in that the very tankers can be used to transport gas to foreign customers to fulfill these markets.

Editor, the EIA consultation meeting in Region #5 was poorly attended. It is obvious that the community awareness of OIL AND GAS is lacking. The Government needs to take steps to fill this void. I offered the suggestion that our EPA should have had the foresight to invite teachers from the various schools to the meeting, not only to improve their knowledge of the OIL AND GAS industry but, also, to be able to comfortably impart this knowledge to the students. They are the ones on whose backs the burden of our mistakes will fall.

Yours faithfully, Abraham David

GuySuCo responds to Uitvlugt factory workers report DEAR EDITOR, The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) wishes to respond to the publication in the Wednesday, May 11, 2022 edition of the “Kaieteur News” newspaper; which is labelled “Uitvlugt sugar factory workers worried about future”.

According to the American Press Institute, the essence of the work of any professional journalist is to find and present “the facts” and also “the truth about the

facts.” At minimum in seeking out the facts, it is expected that any professional journalist would have at least reached out to the Communications Department of the Corporation to seek clarity so that all sides of the issue could have been corroborated.

At no time this was done, but what appeared in that newspaper was nothing else but an incomplete report that does not present the full facts and the full truth behind these facts. This state of affair is

No democracy in...

From page 4 the only man with a voice over the years yet still nobody listens, so what chance will Guyana ever have of a true democracy? So please, how do we find a solution to our current position?

The only advice I can give Guyana is white mans law, if you aint white, you are black.

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Kaieteur News

No matter light brown or dark youre black so stand together and fight for what is yours as one people at the next election, dont vote for race, vote policies and promises that will be kept. Remember your last vote? Are you happy with your party?

David Carpenter, Citizen

most unfortunate.

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, while engaging sugar workers at the Uitvlugt Community Centre on April 15, 2022, instructed that at least six (6) days of work per week be offered to (Continued on page 6)

Nurses should be pampered and treated with the respect, dignity and admiration they deserve DEAR EDITOR, The theme for International Nurses Day (IND) 2022: ”Nurses: A Voice to Lead Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health”, could not have been coined better, when the invaluable and incredible resources of the Nursing profession are considered among the many lifesaving, care giving, comforting and other feats accomplished hourly, daily, monthly and annually. Yes! Nurses perform invaluable services to the Nation and therefore should be pampered and treated with the respect, dignity and admiration they deserve. Every citizen countrywide, at some point of their lives would have experienced the wonderful care of persons within the nursing profession and without a doubt have reminisced on the effects of this service on their lives.

There is no one, who could justifiably deny the positive effects that Nurses would have had on their lives.

That is why it was difficult to comprehend the action of members of the PPP/C Administration that openly denied fully merited risk allowances and instead imposed the grossly inadequate salary increases of seven percent (7%), threatened and harassed picketing nurses, who required to be appeased for high and additional costs that

was having debilitating effects on their abilities during the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also tough to apply logic to the award of a two-week oneoff bonus to, not all, but some of these hardworking professionals, after a hiatus on salary increases for two years, then in stride grant the military a one-month bonus.

The reasoning behind the demotivating treatment by Government must be explained to the nation, which has noted the spiraling exodus of the core of the nursing profession in Guyana to greener pastures, where their skills and services are more valued and compensated. This fact, of course, has not escaped the knowledge of Government, which seems unmoved by the hemorrhaging of the professions skill and technical competence that no doubt has already affected the state of the Nations health.

The GPSU has repeatedly expressed its concern with the authoritarian and disrespectful treatment of Nurses in Guyana and the subjection of these healthcare professionals to unsafe and substandard work environments, grossly inadequate remuneration and

other undesirable conditions of service.

These representations even though requiring urgent attention have languished in the hands of policy makers and their representatives, without redress.

Another demotivating factor is the seemingly untrained human resources management of hospitals that treat with Nurses matters outside of established rules and guidelines, hindering, among other things, job satisfaction, upward mobility within the profession and access to benefits, just to satiate their own emotional lust for power. These circumstances have and will continue to be disruptive and destructive for the state of healthcare in Guyana. The GPSU is very disturbed by the lack of appropriate responses to such violations and have moved to the court, where suitable redress is not obtained following representations made to management in (Continued page 6)

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Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

GTT experience - a standard that should be emulated DEAR EDITOR, I am always pleased when there is a positive development to share in the media. It encourages those responsible, sets a baseline for similar or better, and leaves fellow citizens hopeful. It relates to an encounter with the GTT. There was a technical problem, which was duly reported. Another hitch occurred when a promised resolution did not take place at the expected time. The matter was followed up on, and an arms length recommendation was made. It involved a replacement, which had to be ordered online. The issue took a turn downwards, when it was discovered that the replacement enhancement was not available at any of the companys stores. This created a bind, given needs and engagements. Escalation occurred.

More than one senior officer of the GTT set aside time, and gave attention to the matter at hand. Within an hour, a stopgap arrangement was put

in place. It is working well. It is the kind of service, professionalism, and customer care that makes everyone better: human agencies, corporate providers, and citizen-customer. It is the type of thing that all of us expect, like to experience, especially when hurdles are overcome, and the result works smoothly. This is what I have discovered in the past, and on subsequent occasions, gives me great delight to write about in the media. When this becomes the standard across the board, in every segment of this society, nothing would please me more than to pen an encomium (or several) when such is deserving. It doesnt matter whether it involves companies, political figures, public servants, peers, even those who hold me as an adversary. When the right things are done, then it is only fair that such be presented to register the all-too-few pluses that we experience in this society, and

this is from most sources.

Mr. Jamal Delph, Ms. Saskia Green, and Mr. Eshwar Thakurdin all assisted in some way or the other, and immensely. Mr. Ford visited twice, and I extend my gratitude. It is as times like these that there comes the feeling that our business counts, our dollar matters, and that some people take pride in what they do. It is that there has to be a solution, and we will not rest until it is found and done. It is my belief that if that same can do attitude and effort is brought to the forefront in other areas of this society, particularly within our utilities, and at our broader public service, then there is no limit with where we can go, what we can do. We can, because I have been privy to observe many Guyanese in more than one foreign society, and functioning in several contexts, go above and beyond, and deliver consistently, as well as pleasingly.

I mention this because if

we have it in us to perform like this elsewhere, then it is my position that we can do so here as well. It starts with pride, is powered by effort, and delivered with class. To the people at the GTT, thank you. May this be the standard for all. Since then, the part was located, and there is the expected resolution. May it prevail.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

The Road to Boa Vista DEAR EDITOR, Just possibly, there may be two noteworthy connections to Brazils President Bolsonaros visit to Guyana.

The first must be his countrys record of ongoing deforestation and the accompanying debilitation of its Indigenous communities, of which our proactive Government could not possibly be unaware, and should certainly have reservations, if not fundamental objections respectively from

Nurses should be...

From page 5 accordance with existing legally binding Collective Labour Agreements, some of which were copied to the Executive (Government).

To reclaim the respect for the tireless struggles and professional capacity, nurses of Guyana must unite against the tyranny and executive lawlessness being daily displayed by the “elite” that are obvious contradictions to their requirements and professional outlook.

The services provided add much to everyones quality of life and are lifesaving to all; this is the message all nurses must carry to the victory.

Thank you, nurses, for your commitment, dedication

and bravery during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you again for your professionalism, quality service and resolute patience.

All of you are deserving of our sincerest respect and utmost gratitude, because your services to the Nation are priceless.

On behalf of the GPSU Executive Council, staff and membership, I extend best wishes for safe and enjoyable International Nurses Day 2022, not only to you, but also to your families that sacrificed much during your work in service of the Nation. You are deeply valued and appreciated.

Guyana Public Service Union

Climate and Human Rights perspectives.

Not to mention their exposure to the COVID-19 infection.

The other, more immediate reference, perhaps, is the forthcoming general elections in Brazil in October this year, and which involves the resurgence of the once popular Lula as Bolsonaros competitor.

What then are the implications for the road to BOA VISTA, amongst other projects?

Do we have a diplomatic presence in Rio de Janeiro who is evaluating the reaction of the countrys expansive black population to their Presidents attitude to more fundamental human rights, and their possible reaction to his published inaccessibility to local journalists a discourtesy albeit facilitated by the latters own government?

Chances are also that locally based representatives of countries who are disenchanted with our autocratic neighbours track record must have reservations about the standards of their host in relation to human rights and other internationally accepted moral principles.

In any case, was Minister Todd reminded of Maduro?

Conscientious Observer

GuySuCo responds to Uitvlugt...

From page 5 them. The Management of Uitvlugt Estate immediately complied with the instruction given by the President by offering six (6) to seven (7) days work to the affected sugar workers who presented themselves to work from week ending April 23, 2022.

In the Agriculture Department, workers were offered planting, manual weeding, chemical spraying, sideline and cross canal cleaning, fertilizing, carpentry works, machine and punt repairs among other tasks.

In the factory, workers were offered work associated with the Factorys Out of Crop Maintenance Programme.

This included repairs to carriers, pumps, juice heaters, gear boxes, vacuum pans and the factory roof.

The same situation still persists this week, which is the “Third Week Holiday with Pay” (10 Years Pay) where the workers, despite they were paid for the week (should be on holiday), have the option to work and gain additional e a r n i n g s .

The Management of Uitvlugt Estate stands firmly with the promises made by His Excellency and continues to make work available to those who are willing to work, so as to afford the affected sugar workers with every opportunity to increase their weekly

e a r n i n g s .

At this point, the Corporation wishes to thank the sugar workers for their patience and understanding during this unfortunate period.

The latest update from the manufacturer in Texas pertaining to the components needed for the factory is that it will be transported to Guyana by air in late May 2022.

The local engineering teams are on standby to effect the installation immediately upon receipt and the factory should be in a state of readiness for the commencement of the Second Crop of 2022.

Guyana Sugar Corporation

T N U L B . . .

T B N U T L N T B .

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N T U L N LU Norton B U . losing his way .

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L …Someone needs to speak to Aubrey Norton and s/he needs to do so quickly.

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L B T LUNT.. UNT...B BL B Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

He came to power at Congress Place with enormous goodwill and expectations from a frustrated constituency that was deceived by their leaders following the March 2020 elections. He has said some good things thus far, but his behaviour makes him ripe for a one-term leader of the PNCR. Mr. Norton has to understand that his supporters and Guyanese at large are impatient. Citizens are not enamoured by his looks, or his ‘mouthing off’; they want real action. Him challenging Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo for a debate on the elections comes across very juvenile.

Two years into a runaway administration with little checks and balances and an impotent and sometimes incompetent opposition, Norton would better be advised to pick his battle carefully.

If he needs things to do, we can suggest a few:

*

press for the renegotiation of the lopsided Exxon contract

*

have your MPs go on the ground and meet citizens rather posting all day on Facebook

*

get involved in the affairs of this nation, especially those expensive projects the government is undertaking

After all the talks, some fat ones too, Norton has been in the position for quite some time now and has not made any discernible impact. A tired, impatient and frustrated nation awaits action.

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Thursday May 12, 2022

‘Bring back Benn’ - Public service credit union members demand emergency meeting within 14 days

By Zena Henry

O

ver 100 persons have signed a p e t i t i o n demanding that the Public Service Credit Union call an emergency general meeting within 14 days to discuss the removal of Chairman Trevor Benn through a no confidence motion.

Benn was voted out of the post just over a week ago and has refused to step down, stating that the motion was done illegally and without merit.

Benn who was accepting signatures in the Hadfield Street Avenue, opposite the credit union’s office, told the Kaieteur News that the petition exercise was being conducted on the instruction of credit union members.

The petition, he explained, is “… asking the credit union to call an emergency general meeting for the members to discuss the issue and for

Some of the credit union members who signed the petition

urgent decisions to be made.” He said that the credit union has been given 14 days and should the request not met, further instructions would be taken on the way forward from the members. “I have been consulting on a regular basis with members and depending on what they decide, we will take the appropriate follow-up action,” Benn said. He noted that the petition exercise is consistent with the rules set out for the credit union and that the holding of the emergency meeting is provided for under Chapter 88:01 of the Cooperative Societies Act. A number of credit union members expressed solidarity with Benn, while calling for fresh elections.

They claimed that since Benn’s intervention, service and benefits at the credit union have improved significantly. These include,

Credit Union Chairman Trevor Benn (centre) is surrounded by several credit union members demanding his reinstatement to the post in particular, the ease in which persons could now access loans to finance developmental projects such as home improvements, land and car purchases among others.

Judy Dodson who has been with the credit union for more than five years, told the newspaper that she believes that it was the “wrong move” by the Board to remove Benn. She said since being at the institution, the Chairman has moved the credit union to a higher level where money is accessible to persons to build homes among other things. “It is easy to get a loan; it is not like before when you have to wait a long time.

As long as everything is intact, you can get your money in three days; the money goes into the bank.”

This is extremely beneficial Dodson highlighted, since she described accessing loans at commercial banks as “very difficult.” She said the banks have specific criteria,

while their interest rates are much higher than the credit union. Dodson believes that Benn’s removal may be more “deceptive” than it appears on the surface.

“Remember persons are not going to the bank like before to borrow. You can’t get money because they look at your age and everything, so you find people getting access to the money here, so I think that is the problem and remember this is at a low interest rate.” Dotson said she received a loan to purchase a land and will be applying for another loan next month.

Another public servant who identified herself as Abiola said that she has been with the credit union for more than 20 years. Since Benn assumed office, she said she has been able to access a loan to complete her house and buy a car, “opposed to the bank which would give the “royal run around.”

She said that members can now provide collateral and access a loan for as much as $5m. She said whereas the commercial banks would have significant delays or refuse a loan “…here is the credit union opening up the door and making things possible for single women, working women who are not in the position to turn around the little salary that they would be getting at the end of the month.”

She said that the credit union Chairman was doing a good job and he should be given a “fighting chance.”

Listening to a press conference by the

Management Committee who voted out the Chairman, Abiola said she was left with more questions than answers. She said there seemed to be no clear answer to the questions as to why the Chairman was voted out and his transgressions. She said that the Board could not justify what he had done and in the end, “you were more confused as to why the actions were taken.” Abiola pointed to the change in the credit union’s physical environment, receiving $50,000 “COVID” (COVID-19 pandemic) cash assistance, and conducting business with ease during the pandemic as all positive improvements under the Chairman.

The Credit Union’s Management Committee during their press conference Monday accused Benn of taking sensitive information about the financial institution to the public; they insinuated that he was taking credit for the work done by the Board and had sought excessive powers when he tried to merge the chairmanship with the of the Chief Executive officer position.

They said after refusing Benn of this, the relationship between the chair and the board began to “slide”. Benn offered his own reasons for what he called a “coup d’ etat styled” no confidence motion.

H e m a i n t a i n s nonetheless that he remains the Chairman of the Board and would be running when fresh elections are held for the credit union.

Thursday May 12, 2022

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

Bring it out of the office She sat next to me in the minibus. We struck up a conversation easily. The conversation was friendly and respectful. Nothing else was involved!

She wore a matching blouse and skirt, pastel in colour and very well-tailored.

It fitted her quite naturally as if it were made for her slim figure.

From the outfit, I presumed that she was working in an office. My first question though was about her apparel. Was it her uniform?

She answered in the affirmative. She worked at a government agency and in an office. I asked whether she did the tailoring herself.

She laughed heartily and said in that typical Guyanese fashion, “No, I cannot sew. It was made by a seamstress.”

“If you dont mind me asking, how much does it cost to sew one of these outfits?” I queried.

“Oh, the entire suit cost me $3,000 to sew,” she answered.

“That much?”

“That must take a great chunk out of your salary to

have to pay for the uniforms.”

“Not really,” she said, “the office refunds the cost of the material and for sewing the uniform.”

“They do that?” I queried.

“That is nice. So you can say that the clothes you have on today was paid for by your employers.”

She smiled in acknowledgement.

As the journey got underway, she began to wriggle in her seat as if some red ants were biting her behind. It was then that I noticed that she was trying to get a folder out of a handbag, which she had beneath on the floor of the vehicle.

It had been a long time since I had seen such a folder.

In fact, I was very much interested in purchasing one of those folders to keep my documents. As she opened it to get something out, I observed that it contained more than just documents. There were a pen, a pencil, a ruler, and a staple machine resting on a yellow writing pad.”

“That folder sure holds a lot,” I said, “Where did you buy it?”

“I didnt,” she said. “All these things here are part of my office supplies,” she confessed.”

“You mean to say that at the office you are supplied with all of those things? Including the pen?” I asked.

“Yes, including the pen,” she replied, “I am going to a meeting.”

“So how come, you are travelling by bus? “How come your employers are not transporting you to your meeting? I asked.

“Oh,” she said, “The boss sent the driver to pick up his wife so there was no vehicle available.”

“Very interesting!” I said.

We continued to chat but somehow with every kilometre covered, she became more restless. At one point, she crossed her legs and I noticed that she had on an elegant pair of shoes. Highheeled and fashionable.

“Lovely shoes,” I remarked, “Where did you buy those?”

“I did not, “she answered.”

“Please do not tell me you got those from the office

Dem boys seh...

Actions gat consequences Actions gat consequences. When yuh is a sweetman, yuh does end up sleeping pon de couch (if yuh lucky).

When yuh get irritable bowel syndrome, yuh does end up sleeping pon de toilet bowl. When yuh gat to go, yuh done deh, deh already.

Yuh nah gat fuh worry if yuh can mess up yuhself.

But de wuss is when yuh gat irritable wife syndrome. It does cause some men fuh stutter when dem talking.

It mek dem boys remember de time a student visit de

principal office. De principal ask he, “What’s your name son?”

De boy reply, “D-d-d-davdav-david, sir.” De principal look up and asks he, “Oh, do you have a stutter?”

De student reply, “No sir, meh dad gat a stutter, but the guy who registered meh name was a fool.” Dat is why dem boys believe dat when yuh gat irritable wife syndrome, yuh does end up sleeping pon de couch. By yuhself!

Actions gat consequences!

When yuh try fuh rig elections, yuh does end up wan

outcast. When yuh get invite to diplomatic parties, yuh does end up standing alone.

People does keep away from yuh as if yuh gat small pox.

But no matter how bad yuh is, when yuh gat power, yuh like a flower to a bee and like a hat to bald head. People does flock by yuh side. And yuh does feel nice and important in de glitz and glamour.

But behind yuh back, dem does be laughing at yuh.

Just like how dem did laugh at de man wah standing all alone.

Talk half. Leff half.

too,” I said.

“No,” she laughed.

“These are not considered office supplies or part of the uniform but I will tell you a secret…”

A confession. And so quickly. I must have been a good conversationalist. I perked my ears.

She began, “While I did not get this from the office, I got it from someone in the office.”

“That is nice,” I said.

“One of your girlfriends at the office gave you her shoes?” I asked.

She looked a little annoyed at my suggestion. “I do not deal with lef-lef,” she retorted.

I quickly apologised and a smile returned to her face.

“But I will tell you the truth,” she said, “I got it from the boss. He is my friend.”

As we approached a junction, she hailed the driver to stop. He did and she disem-

barked. As the bus pulled off, I noticed she was entering a secretarial school.

(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

Thursday May 12, 2022

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

The self-destruction of Aubrey Norton I

n July, 2025, Aubrey Norton will be 68 years of age. If at that age he loses the 2025 election, there will be challenges by younger, ambitious Turks in the PNC. One characteristic the PPP and PNC have at the moment is that they are blessed with a plethora of young politicians.

Guyana has a president in his forties with a pool of young Cabinet ministers. It is doubtful the PPP will change its presidential candidate in 2025. My guess is that the PPP will win in 2025. If it wins, it is likely to bring in more of the younger folks. Given the demographic make-up of Guyana, this will be the trend way into the future.

My guess also is that Anil Nandlall, S.C., will be the PPP’s frontman in 2030. By that time, Nandlall, in his fifties, will be facing Norton who will be in his mid seventies. After 2030,

Norton, if still around, will definitely have to endure some passions from the younger Turks in the PNC. My third guess is that there is going to be a leadership battle in 2026 and Norton’s challengers will have the advantage, especially if a woman is in the contest. My fourth guess is that the main contender will be Ms. Walton-Desir.

Even if after the PNC’s defeat in 2025, Macbeth’s witches begin to repeat their chant of “Double, double toil and trouble: Fyaah burn and cauldron bubble”. The era of mo fyaah/slo fyaaah is dead. It is 25 years since fyaah burn and cauldron bubble.

That era is gone. Norton cannot put destabilising numbers on the streets in 2025 even if he, black pudding maan and the rest of the lunatic fringe want to. In any case, three of the members of the lunatic fringe live in the US and they

do not have that influence on the African lumpenproletariat any longer because the youths of today, don’t know them. Macbeth’s witches existed in special circumstances in Guyana which cannot be repeated.

Between now and an election defeat for the PNC in 2025, Norton is not making it difficult for his potential challenges. On the contrary, they are looking at the consistent stumbling of their leader. Since being catapulted at the apex of the PNC’s hierarchy, by less than 50 percent of the congressional delegates, Norton oozes rhetoric that causes you to conjure up images of the street fighter that many think is what alienates many sections and many strata from embracing Norton.

His latest contretemps came across as comical. In an energetic confrontation with Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, he calls for a public

debate between the two men on the legitimacy of the March 2020 elections. When Mr. Jagdeo agrees and request that he brings along the PNC’s statements of poll (SOPs), Norton said he will do so after the debate.

This was a terrible lapse in leadership competence.

N o r t o n ’s r e a c t i o n t o Jagdeo’s request has many dimensions that need to be discussed. (1) – How did he get the SOPs? Only three PNC leaders had access to them at the time of the leadership contest in December last year – David Granger, Joseph Harmon and Amna Ali. The only explanation is that one of the three gave the stuff to him.

(2) – If Norton has the SOPs, continues to claim the PPP lost the election and refuses to make them available to strategic and powerful international actors, then this is jejune leadership for which Norton should be criticised. The

SOPs are the trump card of the PNC. If genuine, the release would create enormous doubts throughout Frederick Kissoon Guyana and in the world about the 2020 it. results.

M r. N o r t o n i n h i s Powerful governments and powerful international exchange with Mr. Jagdeo organisations will now see i g n o r e d o n e o f t h e that the election was indeed fundamental laws of life – controversial. But in not choose your battles and fight making them available, Mr. from a position of strength.

Norton has done what his There are more than a dozen predecessors have done – topics Mr. Norton could have make themselves laughable thrown upon Mr. Jagdeo. It does mean those issues have in the eyes of the world.

(3) – It was a terrible a factual basis but they have manifestation of political more persuasive properties m e d i o c r i t y i n t h a t that would have made Mr. confrontation with Mr. Norton look credible. But he Jagdeo. Mr. Norton chose a chose a dead subject – the topic that he should never PNC victory at the March even raise for a moment. The 2020 election. Mr. Norton is cry that the PPP tampered stumbling and badly too.

(The views expressed in with the election and the PNC won it does not go this article are those of the down well in the society. a u t h o r a n d d o n o t Even PNC voters and PNC necessarily reflect the sympathisers no longer buy opinions of this newspaper.)

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Thursday May 12, 2022

‘Need for more youths in Parliament’ - public engagement critical, says IPU Secretary General

S

ecretary General of the InterParliamentary Union (IPU), Martin Chungong, on Tuesday said there is need for greater public engagement regarding the work of the National Assembly and also called for increase participation of young people.

Chungong made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the C o m m o n w e a l t h Parliamentary Association (CPA) training seminar for members of the twelfth parliament of Guyana being held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) located at Liliendaal, Georgetown.

The IPU is the global organisation of national parliaments. IPU empowers parliaments and

Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development.

“Another point that I would

like to bring to your attention is the need for public engagement in the work of parliament,” Chungong said

during his address. He then added that parliament can no longer afford to function as an “ivory tower,” but should be in collaboration with the public.

“This is what we have been advocating in the context of the recently published global parliamentary report, where we actually called on parliament to engage more with the people that they represent encouraging them to become more active participants in shaping their future,” he added.

As such, IPU Secretary General stated that his call is relevant, especially given the current context of “political polarisation.” He noted too that the IPU believes that in these times of uncertainty and anxiety, people are looking to their representatives in parliament to respond with actions that will lead to a better future and engaging them in this discussion is very important and critical to effective decision making and

outcomes in parliaments.

Another important point Chungong mentioned is the importance of having youth participation in parliament.

In fact, the Secretary General said, “We need more young people in parliament if we want to rejuvenate the processes of democracy, if we want to make sure that parliament stay relevant and tuned to the interest of the younger generations.”

To this end, he shared that he is disheartened by the fact that 60 percent of the world’s population is made up of people under the age of 30, but when the parliamentary landscape is observed, only 2.6 percent of parliamentary membership globally comes from young people.

As such, he stated that this shows that there is a gross misrepresentation or under representation of young people in institutions of governance. This led to him making his case for an increase participation of young people in parliament.

Chungong also shared that strong democratic parliaments are inclusive parliament.

He pointed out the importance for political participation of men and women together in the institutions of governance especially in parliament.

This he stated is one of the major goals of the IPU, to achieve the full and effective participation of women in politics.

“Ensure women are represented in parliamentary structures and processes, not only in Guyana but also other countries in the Region,” Chungong added.

As such, he encouraged the curbing away from sexism and similar incidences as much as possible. Additionally, the Secretary General also stated that the COVID pandemic had its impact on many but it was also an opportunity that unveiled the potential of digital technology for improving the way parliament does business.

Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

PAGE 13

Govt. to establish legal framework for local real estate sector Given an obligation to regulate the real estate sector under the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) structure, A tto r n ey G en er al an d Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC has announced that steps will be taken to have the necessary legal framework in place soon.

Nandlall met with a number of real estate agents at the Boardroom of the Attorney General Chambers on Tuesday. At the meeting, the real estate agents requested a regulatory framework to be established by legislation to govern the sector. The agents explained that due to the massive increase sale of real estate in Guyana and with the new

Condominium Bill coming into force shortly, there is a need to regulate the sector, especially since international real estate companies are now operating in the sector.

The Attorney General explained that the real estate sector is one of the sectors that Guyana has an obligation to regulate by way of legislation under the (AML/CFT) structure and therefore the request is a timely one. He invited submissions of model legislation, which will be reviewed and approved by the Government after consulting with the sector before it is taken to Parliament for enactment.

During his ‘Issues in the News’ commentary on his Facebook page Tuesday

night, the Attorney General agreed that regulation for the expanding industry has become necessary since Guyana is now an oil producer.

“It is an outstanding obligation that we have and it assumed greater importance because of intense commercial activities.

Regulations are long overdue and the need for regulations to be brought to this industry assumed greater importance since we became an oil and gas producer,” Nandlall said. He explained large international companies are coming to Guyana where large transactions involving the sale and transfer of lands are taking place coupled with several joint business (Continued on page 16)

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC and several real estate agents and stakeholders following a meeting on Tuesday.

Kaieteur News

PAGE 14

Thursday May 12, 2022

Health Minister signs new order to update vaccination legislation Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony has signed a new order which will pave the way for the Health Act to be updated to cover some 16 already functional immunisation programmes under the Ministry of Health.

Speaking at the Maternal /Child Health Department’s Quarterly Review held at the Grand Coastal Hotel on We d n e s d a y, M i n i s t e r Anthony spoke of the decision to have the Health Act amended to cover all the

vaccination programmes that are currently available to the public. “If you look at our health legislation, you will see that in 1974 when it came into force, we were only authorised to vaccinate for six different diseases…

To d a y, w e a r e d o i n g vaccinating for approximately sixteen diseases,” said Dr. Anthony.

He continued: “If you look at the legislation, you will see that it is outdated because we no longer

Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony signs a document, which will pave way to update vaccination laws, (seated at left) is Dr. Luis Codina, PAHO, WHO representative to Guyana as other healthcare operatives look on. vaccinate for small pox… the world has done a good job at getting rid of small pox.” He explained therefore that the time has come for the Act to be updated. “We need to amend the law because many of the vaccines we have been giving although people have been accepting them are not covered by the law.”

As such, Minister Anthony said that during the observance of vaccination week in the Americas, he took the issue before Cabinet for approval to have the legislation expanded to cover the entire vaccination programme.

Minister Anthony first announced that the ministry will be updating all outdated laws pertaining to vaccination in the country during vaccination week which is observed in the last week in April. Speaking at an event in Region Six, he noted that, “One of the things that we’ll be doing is making sure that the law is in keeping with what we have been doing over the years, making sure that what you have already been doing in the

community across the country that our law would support that, so we’ll make that change during this week.”

Similarly, Advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy who was also present, spoke of the importance of vaccination particularly as it relates to children. “We are using this time to recommit ourselves and to assure our people that we will not rest until every child is vaccinated. That is our measure of success,” he noted.

He continued, “This year, as we celebrate the 20th version of vaccination week, we would like to see Region Six reaffirming and recommitting and rededicating itself, because if there is one child in our region or in Guyana that is not having his or her vaccine then we would have failed.”

This year, the health ministry will be focusing on getting all children under the age of five fully vaccinated. In addition, extensive campaigns will be rolled out for HPV and COVID-19 vaccination across Guyana.

Govt. makes first withdrawal...

From page 2 intends to expend the oil revenue, despite receiving advice that the spending of the national wealth must be done in a transparent manner. Instead, it has said that the funds will be included into the national treasury, where it will be put to use after receiving Parliamentary approval.

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

Chronicle EIC survives …as Minister McCoy nixes petition for now signed by 23 staff for his removal Editor-in-Chief Tajeram Mohabir Editor-in-chief of the state-controlled Guyana Chronicle Tajeram Mohabir on Wednesday survived at least for now a petition signed by 23 staff of the Editorial Department calling for his sacking after the dramatic intervention by Minister of Public Affairs, Kwame McCoy. Moments after a general meeting chaired by McCoy, Mohabir buoyed by the defeat of the petition likened it as an act of mischief and he singled out two members of staff as the “chief cook and bottler washers”. However, the staff in their petition which was dispatched to President Irfaan Ali said Mohabir is self-centred, lacks leadership skills and was leading people who have no confidence in him.

“I was a bit taken aback when I saw the claims that were made,” Mohabir told the Kaieteur News when questioned about the petition against him. He said that no issue regarding the workers was brought to his attention and was thus “surprised by the claims”. Mohabir told the newspaper however that the matter has since been resolved. “The claims [by the staff] were found to be mischievous.” Given the number of persons who signed the petition, Mohabir also clarified that, “most of them were misinformed and misled by two persons.”

The 23 members of staff represent around 95% of the staff complement of the Editorial Department, which Mohabir presides over. In the petition dated May 9, 2022, the staff accused Mohabir of causing several resignations from the company within the last two years. It was stated that a “lack of support, deception and nominal concern for the welfare of staff,” has become a known trait of the EIC, while “a lack (Continued on page 23)

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Kaieteur News

Thursday April 12, 2022

Nandlall’s Ministry building a parking shed that will cost more than two turn-key homes

The current parking shed at the Ministry’s office.

A

A $7.5M core home built by the government (Photo Credit: CH&PA)

new parking shed at the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Chambers of the Attorney General’s office located on Carmichael Street, Georgetown, is estimated to cost almost two times the price for a turn-key home at Perseverance on the East Bank of the Demerara (EBD).

The Legal Affairs Ministry on Wednesday published an advertisement in the Kaieteur News daily newspaper inviting bids

from contractors to undertake two projects. One of the two projects is an invitation to construct a “Parking Shed” at the ministry’s office. According to the advertisement, the engineer estimated the project to cost $8.05M, almost two times the cost for a turn-key home. Sources told Kaieteur News that the ministry is tearing down the old shed and is replacing it with a bigger one to accommodate more vehicles, still the source said the estimated amount is: “ridiculous.” “Why would you build a parking shed for such a high cost, when people can’t get houses?

Some persons have lands and can’t even afford to build a house and you are spending $8M on a shed,” the source added.

It was also explained that the current shed has a low roof that is damaging large vehicles. “But this could be easily remedied. Just raise the roof, why spend so much money on a project like this?

It is not like it was earning the ministry anything…” the source noted.

The current structure is supported by at least 20 2x4 posts cemented to the ground and standing at an estimated height of at least 10 feet. As

the ministry embarks on this project, it should be noted that the money, which was stated as the estimated cost, can build a 20 by 30 foot, turn-key home with inside toilet and bath facilities and still have a minimum of $3M remaining. In fact, it was reported in September 2020 that the current government had earmarked an area at Perseverance located behind Providence, EBD to construct turn-key homes for low-income families. The Ministry of Housing and Water had back then stated that each of the turn-key homes will cost $4.9M or $4.4M and includes two bedrooms, an inside toilet and bath with a kitchen sink.

Although one could argue that the cost for materials has increased since then, it can be noted that one of the houses being built under the government’s current core homes project still cost less than $8M. An April 4, 2022 post on the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) Facebook page revealed that government is in the final stages of completing 100 core homes for families at Williamsburg/Hampshire, Berbice, Region Six. (Continued on page 23)

Govt. to establish legal...

From page 13 ventures to the tune of billions. He explained that such regulations are necessary in legal framework of the AML/CFT structure.

“We have to understand t h a t o u r r e g u l a t o r y, accountability and transparency in respect to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism needs to be constantly updated.

It is true that real estate can be a fertile avenue for the laundering of money and proceeds of crime,” added

the Attorney General .

Nandlall had previously noted the fact that the local real estate market functions in a relatively ad hoc manner.

“One of the key things is that Guyana doesn’t have a real estate board… you want to market your property, you tell everybody that you know,” he said, drawing reference to the Guyanese real estate culture.

And in the absence of a regulatory body, board, or authority with sanctioning power, there is no recourse for buyers, expect by way of litigation.

Kaieteur News

Thursday April 12, 2022

PAGE 17

Gas-to-Shore project…

Gas-to-Energy Project Manager, Mr. Friedrich Krispin

ExxonMobil refuses to disclose cost to transport gas to Wales at public consultation

By Davina Bagot

G

uyanese are still clueless about the cost it will be billed by ExxonMobil to transport the gas, via a pipeline from the Liza Phase One and Two fields, in the Stabroek Block, to the Wales Power Plant on the West Bank of Demerara.

This is the case as the Gas-to-Energy Project Manager, Mr. Friedrich Krispin refused to field questions on this critical aspect of the deal during a public consultation hosted by the oil company yesterday. The consultation was hosted at the Umana Ya n a , i n K i n g s t o n Georgetown specifically to hear from the public on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) recently submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, both the oil company and the government have been silent on the cost to transport the gas, even though some experts believe that the feasibility of the project hinges on this charge.

At the meeting on Wednesday, Krispin while responding to a question

from Kaieteur News made it clear that the transportation cost is not in any way associated with the EIA and he will therefore not answer.

He said, “I am very sorry, I will not be able to answer your question and that is for one simple reason; cost of production is not part of the scope of the EIA and I am not privy to disclose this at this time.”

Back in 2018, the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) had partnered with the State to conduct a feasibility study of the planned offshore natural gas pipeline which was initially pegged at US$900M, but now stands at US$1.3 billion.

The primary objective of the study, which was executed by Energy N a r r a t i v e f o r U S $ 7 0 , 0 0 0 — a n international entity that provides strategic market analyses and advice was to determine the overall feasibility of transporting natural gas from offshore Guyana, building a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) separation plant and a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production plant to market the liquids from the

natural gas stream, as well as building a new electricity generation station to use the remaining dry natural gas.

(See link for report: h t t p s : / / n r e . g o v. g y / w p content/uploads/2021/04/Fe

asibility-Study-forGuyanas-Offshore-NaturalGas-Pipeline.pdf) According to the study, the project’s financial feasibility hinges on the price of natural (Continued on page 21)

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Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

PAGE 19

Woman found guilty of attempting to extort $10M with rape allegation, charged for escaping from police Twenty-year-old Princess Williams, who was found guilty of attempting to extort $10M from her ex-boyfriend by claiming that she would make a police report saying that he attempted to rape her was on Wednesday charged for attempting to escape from police custody.

Williams of 3127 Block Three, Providence, East Bank Demerara, appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts for attempting to escape from lawful custody. She denied the charge which stated that on May 7, 2022, while in police custody, she attempted to escape.

The court heard that Williams was a prisoner at the East La Penitence Police Station, when she complained of feeling unwell. As such, she was taken to the

Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to seek medical attention.

It was stated that after being looked after, Williams asked to use the washroom, and while doing same, she escaped from the washroom. An alarm was raised and she was later found at Thomas and Lamaha Streets, with a cloth wrapped around her hands hiding the handcuff.

In her address to the court, Williams claimed that she had marks of violence about her body.

She stated that while she was back at the station, she was chased along the hallway where she ran towards a step and the officer hit her.

However, an officer at the court said she checked and no marks of violence were seen on Williams.

Principal Magistrate Isaacs-

Princess Williams.

Marcus remanded to prison and the matter was adjourned to June 1, 2022.

On May 6, 2022, Williams was found guilty of attempting to extort money from her ex-boyfriend.

Extortion is the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.

The teen was found guilty by Magistrate Rhondell Weever in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

On June 6, 2022, Williams is expected to be sentenced. A probation report is currently being prepared in her favour.

On February 12, 2021, Williams of 3127 Block Three, Providence, East Bank Demerara, made her first court appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Senior Magistrate, Leron Daly.

On that hearing, the young woman had pleaded guilty to the charge, which stated that between January 4, and January 7, 2021, at Georgetown, with intent to extort from Kenrick Thomas $10M, she threatened to accuse him of attempting to rape her.

The matter was adjourned for sentencing and Williams was remanded to prison. However, when she made her second court appearance, Williams obtained legal representation and she requested to change her plea, this then led to the matter going to trial.

The matter was tried before Magistrate Weever, who recently ruled that the court is satisfied with the evidence that was put before the court and as such, she found Williams guilty of the extortion (Continued on page 22)

Kaieteur News

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Thursday May 12, 2022

CPA parliamentary seminar…

Rights of Indigenous people of Guyana are under serious threats - Opposition MP The curtains came down on Wednesday on the C o m m o n w e a l t h Parliamentary Association (CPA), two-day seminar that targeted the various areas of

discussion, aimed at improving relations among Members of Parliament w i t h i n t h e Tw e l f t h Parliament of Guyana.

Members of Guyana’s

National Assembly attended the seminar, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) located at Liliendaal, Georgetown.

During the opening ceremony on Tuesday, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Vincent Henry in his remarks outlined what he described

as the ‘biasness’ of Guyana’s National Assembly. MP Henry opened his addressed by saying, “One hallmark of democracy is inclusivity.

This government sings a call for a one Guyana but practices the opposite.” He stated too that the Opposition represents a large section of Guyana’s population and as such, the manner in which the opposition is being treated by the government is alarming.

“One of the many examples is at the recent 52nd Republic Anniversary and national flag raising ceremony, we the opposition MPs was not even granted the common courtesy of an invitation to attend,” the MP highlighted.

Henry stated that parliamentary sittings are seen to be treated more as impediments than being necessary. He added that when there is a need to access the consolidated fund, “one may rest assure that parliament will be held.”

In making his case, the MP stated that recently the government used its majority to change the quorum of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), so as to stymie its work by their nonattendance whenever issues to be dealt with are not in their favour.

“If you ask Guyanese to honestly say whether parliament exudes fairness, they will answer in the negative. Opposition Motions do not normally get the nod in parliament,” Henry noted.

It was highlighted during his remarks that when a government MP commits an infraction, it is ignored, or nothing comes out of the issue. However, he said, on the other hand, opposition MPs are sanctioned.

Henry noted too, about the way female opposition MPs are being treated in the National Assembly by some members of the government MPs. In giving an example Henry said, “The dildo insult by a government MP standing on his feet, was ignored by the speaker and the only issue that have big

Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Vincent Henry. apology, was when an opposition MP objected.

Unfairly, the opposition MP was suspended and the government MP got off scotch free.”

Further, Henry stated that as an Indigenous representative, the existential rights of the Indigenous people of Guyana are under serious threats by the current government.

M o r e o v e r, s e v e r a l international parliamentary organisations, including ParlAmericas and the InterParliamentary Union (IPU) were a part of the two-day seminar. The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and Canada, was also involved in the seminar through its twinning programme with the Parliament of Guyana, w h i c h s u p p o r t s i n t e rparliamentary co-operation.

Some topics that were covered during the seminar include the committee system, outreach and representation, and technological innovation for Parliaments. The CPA supports Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff across the Commonwealth to uphold the benchmarks of good governance and implement the enduring v a l u e s o f t h e Commonwealth. The Parliament of Guyana has been a Member of the CPA since 1939 and previously hosted a CPA programme in 2016, when Guyanese Parliamentarians took part in a C PA P o s t - E l e c t i o n Seminar in Georgetown.

Also, the participation of the National Assembly of Suriname represents the first time that a nonCommonwealth Caribbean country has joined a CPA seminar, with the aim of sharing knowledge and promoting cross-border parliamentary collaboration.

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

ExxonMobil refuses to disclose cost to transport...

From page 17 gas that will be negotiated between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL). The consultant was keen to note that in this negotiation, EEPGL’s priority will be to secure a price for the natural gas and LPG that will provide the greatest return on investment.

The environmental study for the gas pipeline was submitted to the EPA on April 20, 2022, triggering a 60 days comment period on the project.

The project The Gas-to-Energy project is being pursued by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), on behalf of itself and its coventurers (Hess Guyana Exploration Limited and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited).

It proposes to bring the associated natural gas, produced from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block, to shore for use.

The Government of Guyana is pursuing a separate project to construct a power plant that would use a portion of this associated natural gas as a fuel source.

Accordingly, EEPGL, at the request of the Government, is proposing the Project to provide fuel for the Power Plant.

The project will involve capturing associated gas produced from crude oil production operations on the Liza Phase 1 (Destiny) and Liza Phase 2 (Unity) Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, transporting approximately 50 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd; 1.4 million standard cubic meters per day [MMsm3/d]) of rich gas via a subsea pipeline and then an

onshore pipeline to a NGL processing plant, treating the gas to remove NGLs for sale to third parties, and ultimately delivering dry gas meeting government specifications for use at the Power Plant.

Construction will begin after the company receives all necessary authorizations, with a target date of August 2022 for start of NGL Plant site preparation, and will take approximately three years.

The combined offshore and onshore pipeline system is targeted to be ready to deliver rich gas by end of 2024, and the NGL Plant is targeted to be operational by mid-2025.

The Project has a planned life cycle of at least 25 years.

The aspect of the project for which the oil company is responsible, that is to say, the installation of the offshore and onshore pipelines, is set to cost a whopping US$1.3B.

PAGE 21

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Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

Alexander floats biometric system to address ghost voting …says method transparent and no one will be disenfranchised VEHICLE FOR SALE One Honda CRV,fully loaded immaculate condition, low mileage 3.3M negotiable & 1 new super custom Hiace Bus 2.5M .Contact:649-0956.

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As part of his contribution Double lot for lease or to the proposed amendments sale,Bent St.Call:661-2828. to the Representation of the Peoples Act (RoPA), Guyana Elections Commissioner (GECOM), Vincent Alexander is offering the use of biometric system to improve the voting procedures associated with elections.

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pushing the biometric idea,” the Commissioner told the newspaper.

The biometric system is a type of technology, which uses a person’s organic information such as finger print or retina to identify them.

Alexander explained that this mechanism would allow therefore that, “only the real person would be allowed in [the polling station to vote].”

The issue of dead persons being on the voters’ list has long existed.

The Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), has argued strongly that the voter’s list is bloated with the names of deceased persons as those names remained on the National Register of Registrants.

This situation, they maintain, has caused irregularities, for instance, at the 2020 General Elections where persons have accessed identification cards and voted in the name of the dead and other absent persons.

Just over a week ago, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo suggested his own mechanism for sanitizing the Register of Registrants.

He said that Chief Election Officer (CEO) would create a list of all the dead people from the General Register Office and compare it to the list of registrants every year.

The list, he said would be shared with all the political parties and would be publicized in the newspapers; thus allowing others to be involved in the removal process, rather than GECOM doing it on its own.

Alexander has nonetheless shot down the VP’s proposal since he said that proposition would not address the core issue, which is, the removal of deceased persons who are not registered as such.

He said that those names would remain on the list of National Register of Registrants from which the voter’s list is created. Additionally, there is already a monthly provision of registered deaths by the General Regis-

GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander ter Office (GRO), Alexander pointed out.

The GECOM Commissioner said however that given a High Court ruling that the adjustment of names on the Register of Registrants cannot be done through house-to-house registration, the biometric system would directly address the issue of ghost voting without having to remove any name (dead or alive) from the voter’s list.

In the meantime, GECOM Commissioners still have not met to discuss contributions on the reform of elections laws. The VP had said that the most substantive contributions came from GECOM and a civil society body called the Electoral Reform Group (ERG).

But Alexander has argued that, “GECOM has had no discussion on the substance of any reform and therefore it cannot be claimed that any submission is a product of the Commission.”

Chairwoman, Justice Claudette Singh also confirmed that the Commission had not met as a group to discuss the contributions on the reform legislation.

As such, the item returned to the Commission’s agenda and was up for discussion at last Tuesday’s statutory meeting. Alexander, who has been calling for a “comprehensive” report on the contributions, informed that the

matter was still not addressed. He said that, “we did not get past matters arising from the minutes.”

Alexander is adamant however that even if the Commission is not unified on the contributions, at least the report would show the majority and minority views coming out of the Commission’s discussions.

People’s Progressive Party Commissioner Bibi Shadick is one who mentioned the time that GECOM took “to get its affairs in order” and thus submitted her contributions to the government directly.” She said she is not interested in having internal discussions at GECOM. Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall commenced the first installment of public consultations on the draft electoral laws at the Boardroom of the Attorney General’s Chambers.

This engagement dealt specifically with the draft amendments to the Representation of the People’s Act, which was publicly circulated by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, inviting a review, written recommendations and views on the proposed law.

Last November, the government released the proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA).

Woman found guilty of attempting to extort $10M...

From page 19 charge. According to the facts of the charge, Williams and Thomas shared a four-month relationship.

On January 4, 2021, ThoServicemen for Interior loca- mas invited Williams to his tion. Applicants must be ex- home. perienced. Call:231-2250.

While at Thomas’ home,

he asked Williams to engage in sexual intercourse and she consented.

Afterwards, an argument ensued, and the relationship ended. The court heard that Williams later contacted Thomas and sent him a voice note in which she claimed that he

tried to rape her and if he didn’t pay her the sum of $10M, she would report the matter to the police.

Thomas reported the matter to the police and an investigation was launched. Williams was later arrested and charged with extortion.

Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

PAGE 23

Several bills on agenda of 47th sitting of National Assembly The Mental Health Bill is among several pieces of legislation that will be read for the second time when Parliament resumes sitting on May 17.

According to an order paper released by the Parliament, the Nurses and Midwives Bill 2022 and the Radiation Safety and Security Bill 2022, the Juvenile Justice (Amendment) Bill, The Evidence (Amendment) Bill of 2022 and the Condominium Bill and the Tax (Amendment) Bill 2022, the Narcotics and psychotropic Substance Bill and the Hire Purchase Bill will all be read for a second time.

During the last sitting, the bills were read for the

first by the respective subject ministers. In a brief of what the mental health legislation means for Guyana, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony had told the Assembly that once the bill becomes law, “it will provide mental health care and treatment for persons with mental illness, and protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of those persons during the delivery of mental health care”.

The new law, according to Minister Anthony will also make way for the establishment of a Mental Health Board. He said the law will also repeal the mental hospital ordinance and replace it with the board, which will be responsible for advising and assisting the

Nandlall’s Ministry building a...

From page 16 CH&PA in its post stated, “each home is a two-bedroom flat unit, measuring 20 feet by 30 feet (600 square feet) and is being built by 13 contractors at a total cost of $750 million.”

One hundred Core homes built for a total of $750M simply means that each house is costing the government only $7.5M, $500,000 less than the cost for the new shed at the Ministry’s office.

Chronicle EIC survives...

From page 15 of communication and leadership has led to poor coordination and results in the ineffective functioning of the [editorial] department.”

The staff argued in the petition their belief that removal of the EIC, “…would facilitate the development of the editorial department in a way that would attract and retain staff...”

Minister McCoy also visited the newspaper on Wednesday amid the uproar to hear the concerns of the staff. This newspaper was told that the minister met with staff separately and then held a general meeting where sources claimed, “cold water” was poured on the petition. Calls to the Minister McCoy’s cellphone went unanswered. The Kaieteur News understands however that staff members are bracing for a shake-up in the department and signs of this have already begun with at least one person who signed the petition and was being touted to replace the EIC was demoted from assistant editor to sub-editor. This has caused even more concern

among the editorial staff, Kaieteur News was told.

“More than likely, people will start to resign once they face victimization,” the source said.

The Guyana Chronicle staff has nonetheless blazed the EIC over a self serving posture where he is accused of stealing credit for the work put in by the staff.

“There are cases where Mr. Mohabir has taken full credit for the hard work of other employees…,” the petition said. “Another hallmark of his tenure is the lack of care and respect for each other’s time when editing the newspaper. “This slows down the entire process from editing, proofreading and laying out of the pages, to costing the company overtime payments as a result of having the pressmen, drivers, and other staff members feeling drained.”

The staff said that Mohabir’s actions if left unchecked, “…will further haemorrhage the company…so we are desperately seeking your intervention in this matter of urgency.”

Minister in the areas of mental health and promoting best practices when it comes to mental health care.

Additionally, the board will “receive and investigate complaints on any matter connected with mental health care and treatment (and) undergo a periodic review at least once every six months of all persons receiving mental health care

in a mental health facility”.

The other bill presented

by Minister Anthony was the Radiation Safety and Security Bill 2022, which will provide for the safe, secure and peaceful uses of ionising radiation, protect persons and the environment against the harmful effects of radioactive waste, and the establishment of the Radiation Safety and

Security Board.

D r. A n t h o n y a l s o presented the Nurses and Midwives Bill 2022, which he described as a bill to make provisions for the registration and regulation of nurses, midwives, nursing assistants, and specialist nurses. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, presented the Evidence (Amendment)

Bill of 2022, which seeks to amend the Evidence Act, Chap. 5:03, by inserting a new section, 63A into the principal Act. The amendments will now allow for a confession made by an accused in any proceedings to be used as evidence by the person’s co-accused – provided it is relevant to the matter at hand and has not been excluded by the court.

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Govt. paying PPP activist $1M per month to store drugs - Region 10 Chairman says space available for storage, construction of bond

R

e g i o n 1 0 Chairman, Mr. Deron Adams has flagged a monthly rental fee of $1 million to store drugs for the town when adequate space is available for the construction of a new bond at the Health Centre in Amelia’s Ward.

It was during the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) weekly press conference on Tuesday that the Chairman highlighted the issue. He complained, “Almost one million dollars a month is being paid to a party activist for the storage of health supplies in Linden, when the Health Department has a compound in Amelia’s Ward that has enough vacant space to build a new hospital if needed, much less a storage bond. The PPP clearly is encouraging high levels of corruption by its lackeys in Region 10.”

The Chairman told Kaieteur News that other agencies were not invited to bid for the contract to store the drugs as the Council waived the tender requirement. More i m p o r t a n t l y h o w e v e r, Adams argued that the rental fees could be channeled to extend the current facility

and provide the necessary storage. According to Adams, “At the Bamia Health Centre in Amelia’s Wa r d , t h e p r e v i o u s government built the Bamia Health Centre and it has enough space in the compound to build a storage bond. Why is it then folks are renting a bottom house bond when they can just budget for a bond to be constructed within the compound where the Bamia Health Centre is located?’ This newspaper was told that the contract for the rental of the storage bond initiated in September 2021 was rented up to December 2021, and then renewed again in 2022.

He explained that central government has been ignoring representations by the elected representatives of the Councils and making their own determinations about the needs and resources to be provided to the Region.

In fact, “They have been utilizing the waiver of Tender Board Procedures to award friends of the government contracts that have been poorly executed, without the necessary checks and balances of these procedures being followed and when these issues are brought by the Council to the

attention of local and national level Tender Board authorities, absolutely no response is provided,” Adams shared.

In addition to the tender requirement waiver, the Regional Chairman said that the Chairman of the Public Works Committee of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) has not yet signed off on any ‘End Users Certificate’ for a project in the region. “These certificates are how a project is recorded as being completed satisfactorily and on the basis of which the final payment is made, but in this case, the Council is not allowed to verify that these projects are completed, but payments are made for substandard projects,” he argued. The Chairman concluded that this is yet another source of PPP corruption in Region 10.

As a consequence of this issue, he said that the Region was forced to endure situations like the collapse of the road and drain at Silvertown, as well as another poor drainage construction at Third Alley and an instance where the contractor left the site without completing the sewage works at the C h r i s t i a n b u rg P r i m a r y

Region 10 Chairman, Deron Adams (right) during a recent visit to the rental drug storage facility School.

Under the former Coalition government, it was revealed that the Ministry of Public Health paid $264.5M for the rental of a Sussex Street drug bond between July 2016 and March 2018.

The issue of the bond surfaced when it was learnt that the bond had been rented under very lucrative terms to businessman, Larry Singh, during the tenure of former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, who had

defended the Ministry’s use o f t h e f a c i l i t y.

The controversy surrounding the use of the bond intensified when it was discovered later that the facility was merely storing items such as lubricants and condoms.

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Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

Thursday May 12, 2022

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Kaieteur News

Demare comes through packed Several Canada-based Guyanese... field to win stage five of Giro MESSINA, Italy, (Reuters) - Frenchman Arnaud Demare of Groupama–FDJ came through a packed field to win stage five of the Giro d’Italia, a 172kilometre ride from Catania to Messina, yesterday.

Britain’s sprint specialist Mark Cavendish, looking to win his second stage of this year’s Giro, and Australian rider Caleb Ewan were heavily fancied to be frontrunners in Sicily, but fell away as the flat race approached Messina.

The peloton then eased off with Cavendish and Ewan out of contention, with a huge group forming at the

front with 10 kilometres to go.

The victory was anyone’s for the taking, with Groupama-FDJ getting Demare into position before a tight final corner, with the Frenchman taking his sixth

career Giro stage win ahead of Colombian Fernando Gaviria in second and Italian Giacomo Nizzolo in third.

Youngster Juan Pedro Lopez came of age on the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna on Tuesday, becoming the first Spaniard since Alberto Contador in 2015 to take the pink jersey, and retains his place at the top of the general classification after crossing the line in 58th in Messina.

The Giro leaves Sicily and heads for the Italian mainland next, with today’s stage six a 192-kilometre ride from Palmi to Scalea.

Thursday May 12, 2022 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You might be planning to host a social event in your home tonight or perhaps in a few days. It could have you doing a lot of cleaning, rearranging, and beautifying around the house.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) An exciting new project or opportunity could be presented to you today, Libra.

It could involve a new love or at least a new friend.

Something you've been working on for a long time.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Today you might want to spend time visiting friends in your neighborhood, Taurus.

Small purchases might be necessary, perhaps new clothes.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) A chance to earn a small amount of money, perhaps by doing a little extra work at home, could come your way today, Gemini. You could hear about it through a friend or colleague.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Contact with friends who live or work far away could bring a string of new opportunities your way. You might also be thinking of taking a trip, perhaps to another country or by boat. .

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) New investment possibilities could present themselves to you today, Sagittarius. This could involve an investment of time, money, or other resources.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Expect a lot of intellectual stimulation to come your way today, Cancer. Important news could come on the phone, necessitating action on your part in order to bring about a desired end.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) An opportunity to travel with a partner or colleague could come your way, perhaps for business. Any travel planned or begun today is likely to go well and bring you whatever results you hope for.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Your creative talents should be operating at an all-time high today, Leo. You might be offered an opportunity to earn some money putting them to use.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) News of a possible raise could come your way today, Aquarius, possibly through some enterprise that you've been working on.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Se pt. 22) Getting out and working with groups could seem especially appealing today, particularly groups involving athletics or other physical activities.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) A group might invite you to participate in a creative project of some kind today, Pisces. Whatever you do is likely to be stimulating and exciting.

From page 31 is high which is think is very important,” Harripersaud declared. He further stated that he has some round-arm specialist players at his disposal and that has inevitably boosted their confidence enormously.

He commented that he can bank on their experience as well to come to the fore at the one-day showpiece.

Boodhu believes Vikings X1 would be the champion

team at the completion of the day’s activity. “Definitely we [are] confident of beating any team out there; we just have to play hard cricket; I know defending champions Assassins and Brampton Gladiators will come to dominate things but we are equipped for any challenge,” Boodhu disclosed. Meanwhile, organizer of the tournament Damodar Daesrath informed that everything is in place for the event.

The tournament will be

played in memory of Johnny Bujan for the second year in succession. Bujan was a Canada cricket manager on multiple occasions while he was a co-owner of reputable Brampton Masters hard-ball club. Daesrath, who skippered Guyana at the firstclass level, revealed his gratitude too to the two main sponsors and they are: ALARM TECHZ and KP Employment Solutions Inc. Notably, the first ball bowls off at 09:30hrs.

Strong bowling, Marsh, Warner keep...

From page 30 make much of a four-off-12 start - some of the most difficult bowling Marsh said he has faced in T20 cricket - before he launched into his first six, over extra cover off an Ashwin carrom ball. He picked on Kuldeep Sen with two straight sixes in the seventh over. Warner was still only 12 off 12, but Marsh had raced away to 39 off 28.

Some good fortune came

Linden’s...

From page 32 place playoff. Swag Entertainment defeated Darkside 2-0 in their quarterfinal section to move one step closer to retaining their title. On the other hand, Silver Bullets overcame an emerging Germans outfit 21 in their quarterfinal meeting.

On the other hand, the experienced Amazings unit made light work of High Rollers 3-1 in the previous section, while DC Ballers bested Whap-Whap 1-0 in an unlikely win. Winners of the semi-final matches will progress to the championship match.

The losers will contest the third-place playoff. The eventual tournament victor will pocket $300,000 and the c h a m p i o n s h i p t r o p h y.

They will also earn an automatic berth to the national championship. The runner-up will receive $200,000, and the corresponding accolade. The third and the fourth-place finisher will walk away with $100,000, and $70,000 respectively.

GCB Women...

From page 32 Demerara play Berbice at the Enmore Community Centre ground, whilst Select X1 will compete with Essequibo at Everest Cricket Club ground.

In round three Essequibo will take on Demerara at the Enmore Community Centre ground, while Berbice will oppose the Select X1 at the Albion Community Centre ground.

Warner’s way too as he sliced one to long-off off Yuzvendra Chahal but Buttler couldn’t quite get there and then the bail refused to fall when Chahal hit his leg stump. If it was stutters for Warner, it was smooth acceleration for Marsh.

The highest the asking rate was allowed to reach was 9.4 with five overs to go, but then Marsh ended Ashwin’s night with a six and a four to

give him figures of 4-0-32-2, exactly what they were left needing in the last four overs.

Marsh fell 11 short of a hundred, but Pant brought about a swift end with two sixes in four balls. Warner ended with 49 off 40.

Scores: Delhi Capitals 161 for 2 (Marsh 89, Warner 52*) beat Rajasthan Royals 160 for 6 (Ashwin 50, Padikkal 48, Sakariya 2-23, Marsh 2-25) by 8 wickets.

PAGE 28

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

De Bruyne scores four to send Man City clear BBC Sport - Kevin de Bruyne’s stunning four-goal haul helped Manchester City thump Wolves and restored their three-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s side now need only four points from their final two fixtures to ensure they will finish above Liverpool and win their fourth title in five seasons.

De Bruyne has played a central role in all of those previous triumphs but this was an individual display that must rank among the finest of his stellar collection in a City shirt.

The Belgian started the move that led to his side’s opener, and finished it too, running on to Bernardo Silva’s pass to slot home.

Wolves did not take long to respond, with a rapid counter-attack ending when Pedro Neto found Leander Dendoncker in space on the edge of the box to fire past Ederson.

This was De Bruyne’s stage, however, and he quickly put his side back in front.

Again, he played a part in the build-up too, and was in the right place to smash in the rebound after Jose Sa beat Raheem Sterling to his pass.

His third goal - again with

his so-called weaker left foot - was the pick of the bunch, and saw him drive towards the edge of the area and curl into the bottom corner.

De Bruyne hat-trick was his first for City and at 24 minutes was the thirdquickest in Premier League history.

He celebrated in style by copying the meditation celebration of his soon-tobe team-mate Erling Haaland, who City reached an agreement to sign this week, but he was not finished yet.

City came out for the second half looking for more goals to improve their goal difference, which was already three better than Liverpool’s before kick-off.

Raheem Sterling thought he had extended their lead when he ran clear and beat Sa but an offside flag cut short his celebrations.

It was left to De Bruyne to make it 4-1, typically making no mistake when a Phil Foden cross was deflected into his path and finding the bottom corner with his first right-footed effort of the night.

More chances followed, with Foden hitting the post and Sterling missing an easy chance but eventually someone else did get in on the act,

De Bruyne has scored 19 goals in all competitions for Manchester City this campaign - his best ever goalscoring season for the club since he joined in 2015. (Reuters) with Sterling tapping into an empty net after Sa denied Joao Cancelo.

This was still the De Bruyne show, however. City are not over the line yet, and their next test is an awkward trip to West Ham on Sunday, but on this evidence they will take some stopping.

Laporte injury is a cause for concern This was a night to savour for Guardiola and City’s travelling fans but the one note of concern was the sight of Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho being forced off with an injury in the second half.

City may have bolstered

their attack for next season with their agreement to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Haaland but it is defence where they are short right now.

With Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker already out injured for the season and Nathan Ake not fully fit,Guardiola chose to put veteran midfielder Fernandinho in his back-line alongside Laporte at Molineux.

Wolves were set up to make the most of any lack of pace in City’s rearguard and, initially, looked dangerous whenever they broke forward.

When Dendoncker’s equaliser came via that route

and left the home fans in raptures, it seemed Wolves would ensure City were in for a difficult night. De Bruyne had other ideas, however.

A good game for Lage to miss Wolves boss Bruno Lage was absent from the dugout after testing positive with Covid, and communicated with his coaching staff by phone.

One can only imagine he attempted to get the message across on a number of occasions that they should try to stop City’s number 17, but the task was beyond any of his players.

De Bruyne almost added

a fifth goal for himself before the end, and the only surprise was that he fired against the post on that occasion rather than finding the corner of the net.

He had done little else wrong all night, and was rightly serenaded by City’s jubilant supporters when he celebrated with them at the final whistle.

Results from Wednesday 11th May 2022 Leeds 0 – Chelsea 3 Leicester 3 – Norwich 0 Watford 0 – Everton 0 Wolves 1 - Man City 5 Points table Team P GD Pts 1 Man City 36 72 89 2 Liverpool 36 65 86 3 Chelsea 36 42 70 4 Arsenal 35 14 66 5 Tottenham 35 20 62 6 Man Utd 37 1 58 7 West Ham 36 11 55 8 Wolves 36 - 3 50 9 Brighton 36 - 4 47 10 Leicester 35 - 4 45

Reggae Boyz friendly against Letesenbet Gidey, world-record holder in 5000m, Basque Country postponed 10,000m, sets marathon debut Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey

The Reggae Boyz football friendly against Basque Country has been postponed.

NBC Sports – OlympicTalk - Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey, the worldrecord holder at 5000m, 10,000m and the half marathon, will make her marathon debut in Valencia, Spain, on Dec. 4. Gidey, 24, broke the 5000m world record in Valencia in October 2020, then broke the half marathon world record in Valencia last October.

In between, she took

10,000m bronze in the Olympics, two months after breaking the world record in that distance. Valencia is one of the best marathons for producing fast times. In 2020, Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir won in 2:17:16, which is the sixth-fastest time in history.

Also that year, the top four men’s finishers produced times that all currently rank in the top 21 in history.

Last month, Yalemzerf

Yehualaw ran the fastest debut marathon in history, a 2:17:23 in Hamburg, Germany, to break the Ethiopian record.

Neither of the two preceding world-record holders in the 10,000m — Ethiopian Almaz Ayana and Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan — have run a marathon. Tirunesh Dibaba, who preceded Gidey as 5000m world-record holder, won the 2017 Chicago Marathon and last raced in 2018.

SportsMax - The Jamaica Football Federation and the Basque Football Federation (BFF) have jointly decided to postpone the International friendly game between the teams which was scheduled for May 27, 2022, in Spain.

According to a statement from the JFF, the postponement became n e c e s s a r y as the hosts were experiencing chal-

lenges securing all the permits from their local authorities to host the game and the deadlines given had expired.

“The BFF has apologized to the JFF and has agreed to a game in the future at a date convenient to both teams,” the statement said.

Jamaica will play Catalonia in Spain on May 25, a match that will offer opportunities for the

Reggae Boyz coaching staff to look at new players, mainly from Europe.

These new players, depending o n t h e a s s e s s ment of the technical staff, could play a role in the short, medium or long-term plans for the squad as the JFF aims at incorporating new players in its player roster as early as possible in a new four-year cycle.

Thursday May 12, 2022

PAGE 29

Kaieteur News

FIFA opens disciplinary case Bruised rib rules Jadeja out of remainder of IPL 2022 over Ecuador World Cup player ESPNcricinfo - Ravindra Jadeja’s IPL has come to an abrupt end because of a rib injury. Jadeja picked up the injury while attempting a catch after running in from the deep against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 4.

While he continued playing that game, Jadeja sat out Chennai Super Kings’ last match, against Delhi Capitals.

Kasi Viswanathan, Super Kings’ chief executive officer, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that both franchise and Jadeja agreed it was best for him to recover outside of the IPL. “He has a bruised rib,” Viswanathan said. “The medical advice is he should not strain it, so we have decided that he should leave the IPL.” Super Kings are currently ninth on the points table with eight points from 11 games.

To qualify for the playoffs, they need to win all their remaining games and hope other results go their way.

Incidentally, the Capitals game was only the second time Jadeja had missed a match for Super Kings since the franchise bought him in 2012. The only other instance was in the 2019 season, when he missed a match against Mumbai Indians because of illness, a game that even MS Dhoni missed in another rare occurrence.

Among the fittest players in cricket, Jadeja is going through one of the most challenging phases of his career.

He was handed the captaincy two days before IPL 2022 began.

At that time, Jadeja said he had “big boots” to fill, but he was confident as Dhoni was still around and would continue to be his “go-to man”. However, eight matches into Super Kings’ season, he stepped down, saying he wanted to focus more on his game.

Super Kings had won two of those eight matches under Jadeja, before Dhoni took the reins back.

Jadeja, 33, had never led a senior team full-time prior to being handed the Super Kings gig; his only prior experience as captain in toplevel cricket was a tournament for India Under-19s in 2007.

But Dhoni and Super Kings’ team management, as well as

Ravindra Jadeja was briefly Chennai Super Kings’ captain this season, before handing the reins back to MS Dhoni. (BCCI)

owner N Srinivasan, felt Jadeja’s immense experience along with his rich pedigree as a match-winner made him the best choice to succeed Dhoni. A couple of weeks before the IPL bagan, Jadeja had summited the ICC’s Testallrounder rankings, and over the previous two IPLs, he had taken over the finisher’s mantle from Dhoni, scoring 459 runs at an average of 57.37 with a strike rate of 157.73.

That form fell away with the added demands of captaincy: so far this season, he has 116 runs in ten innings, including two ducks, at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 118.36.

With the ball, he has five wickets from 33 overs at an average of nearly 50. Also Jadeja, one of the best fielders in cricket, has dropped four catches.

After his first match back as captain, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 1, Dhoni had said that he looked to help Jadeja with his captaincy in the first two games this season as part of a “gradual transition” plan.

“At the end of the fifthsixth-seventh [game] or the full season you don’t want him to feel as if the captaincy was done by somebody else,” Dhoni told host broadcaster Star Sports.

“So it was a gradual transition where I said, ‘Okay, this is what I will do. I will take care of the fielding angles and everything for the first game, second game.

NBA play-offs: Devin Booker...

From page 30 “For more than 30 years, Bob served as our global ambassador and as a special assistant to David Stern and then me, traveling the world to teach the game’s values and make a positive impact on young people everywhere. It was a labour of love for Bob, who was one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever been around.”

After that, you will have to decide on your own because that’s the only way you will learn what captaincy is.’

Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help the captain.

On the field, you have to take those crucial decisions and you have to take responsibility for those decisions.”

Asked whether Jadeja agreed with his reasoning, Dhoni said he tried to help him out as Super Kings wanted the allounder at his best across all three skillsets even while taking on the many other duties that come with captaining. “What is important is once you become the captain, you have to take care of many things.

And that also includes taking care of your own game.

And with him, his mind was working a lot.

“It’s not easy to control your mind, it’s the strongest feature… body, physiques, all of those things are fine, but once your mind starts working and it wants to contribute more: okay, what’s the combination I can play with; okay, who can bowl at what point of time. It doesn’t really stop.

So, what really happens is the individual is not able to relax - even when he closes his eyes and wants to sleep, the mind is still working.

“So what I felt was, it was having an effect on his game also. When he was going in to bat, or when it comes to his preparation, is putting this [extra] burden affecting his game? Because I would love to have Jadeja as a bowler and batter and fielder.

Captaincy, fair enough.

Even if you relieve [him of] captaincy, and if he is at his best [as a player], that’s what we really want because we were also losing a great fielder. We were struggling [to find] a deep-midwicket fielder.”

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA opened a disciplinary case yesterday looking into whether Ecuador fielded an ineligible player during World Cup qualifying, a case that could see the country thrown out of this year’s tournament in Qatar.

FIFA opened a disciplinary case after Chile filed a formal complaint last week alleging that Byron Castillo is Colombian and should not have been allowed to play for Ecuador in eight qualifying games. Ecuador now risks having to forfeit those games — including one win and a draw against Chile — as 3-0 losses.

Ecuador finished fourth in South American qualifying to grab the continent’s last automatic berth for the World Cup. It was drawn into a group with Qatar, the Netherlands and Senegal.

Chile finished seventh, but could vault into the qualifying places if it was awarded six points from its games against Ecuador, along with the better goal difference.

Castillo did not play in games against fifth-place Peru or sixth-place Colombia.

Regardless of the outcome of the case, Peru could yet

Ecuador’s Byron Castillo, right, plays the ball as Argentina’s Nicolas Gonzalez closes in during a qualifying soccer match for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at Monumental Banco Pichincha stadium in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on March 29, 2022. qualify for the World Cup as it is scheduled to play an intercontinental playoff game against Australia or the United Arab Emirates on June 13 in Doha.

FIFA said it has asked the Peruvian soccer association to submit its position on the Castillo case as well.

The FIFA investigation will look at “allegations concerning the possible falsifica-

tion of documents granting Ecuadorian nationality to the player,” soccer’s governing body said.

A FIFA ruling is likely needed within a month, ahead of the intercontinental playoffs.

Ecuador’s soccer federation previously rejected Chile’s claims and insisted that Castillo is legally an Ecuadorian citizen.

Nadal negates Isner’s power to advance in Rome ROME, (Reuters) - Defending champion Rafa Nadal began his Italian Open campaign with an emphatic 6-3 61 victory over big-serving American John Isner to move into the last-16 yesterday.

Nadal, who returned from a rib injury this month and fell at the quarter-final hurdle in Madrid last week, dominated Isner who struggled to find answers once the Spaniard, seeking his 11th title at Rome’s Foro Italico, hit his stride.

Isner leads the ATP Tour with over 450 aces in 2022 but Nadal negated the American’s booming serve by receiving from well behind the baseline — even on his second serve — breaking four times and restricting him to just one ace in the match.

The match went with serve in the opening set and Isner squandered two break points at 3-3, before Nadal stepped up his game and broke in the next game after a lapse in concentration from the towering American.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal in action during his second round match against John Isner of the U.S. (REUTERS/Alberto Lingria)

“The beginning of the match was not good for me and even he had some chances on the return to break.

I was in his hands at that moment,” Nadal said in a postmatch interview.

“Lucky that he missed those couple of shots.

Then I was able to break and then the match changed.”

The second set was no contest as Nadal broke in the opening game to set the tone and he did not look back as Isner ran out of gas.

Nadal will play Denis Shapovalov in the next round, against whom he saved two match points in the third round last year en route to his 10th title.

“Last year was a joke, that match I saved here against him.

I know how dangerous he is,” Nadal added.

“I need to play well, of course, I need to play better than today.

But it’s another victory and now tomorrow again a chance to play against one of the best players of the world.”

PAGE 30

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

Strong bowling, Marsh, Warner keep Capitals

in mid-table joust ESPNcricinfo - Delhi Capitals stayed in the mid-table muddle with an important win over Rajasthan Royals that took them to 12 points, two behind the third- and fourthplaced Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

On a sticky pitch they managed to keep Royals down to a par score of 160. Mitchell Marsh, who also took two wickets, led the chase with 89 off 62, letting David Warner play the anchor role on a night he spent most of his innings around a run a ball.

In the innings break, Marsh said it was a difficult pitch to hit boundaries on if the bowlers bowled into the pitch and used the longer boundary. He said it would need a lot of running ones and twos, but still managed to score 62 of his runs in boundaries, seven of them sixes.

If Capitals could set up for a traditional base for the chase, Royals had to be more funky: they used R Ashwin as pinch anchor, who did score his maiden fifty, but their big hitters Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag couldn’t follow it up with a finishing kick.For the third game in a row, Capitals were without opener Prithvi Shaw, of whom

captain Rishabh Pant said at the post-match presentation: “We miss him, but at the same time that is something we can’t control because he got typhoid or something like that because doctor told me that.

Hopefully he will be back. We don’t know it yet.”

Buttler’s rare failure Jos Buttler has carried the batting for Royals, a side with a short batting line-up and only one toss won in 12 matches, but he was stifled and then taken out for his lowest score this season and his earliest dismissal. Chetan Sakariya, coming in for the injured Khaleel Ahmed, didn’t give him anything to hit away, and when he saw a full ball finally - the fifth of the third over - all he managed was a hit straight to mid-on. Gone for 7 off 11.

The pinch anchor Seeing there was something in the pitch, Royals promoted Ashwin to No. 3 presumably in a bid to use the powerplay overs without necessarily risking a more indispensable - and limited batting resource, especially with Shimron Hetmyer missing. Ashwin might have got stuck twice, but on both occasions he came out of the

situation. First he responded to a run-a-ball start by hitting Axar Patel for a six and a four in the sixth over. Then he went after Kuldeep Yadav and Sakaria later in the innings to get to a fifty.

He wouldn’t ideally have wanted to bat on for this long as he had begun to go after everything in the eighth over, but Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Marsh in the ninth over, which delayed Ashwin’s hit-out-orget-out charge because you don’t want two new batters at the wicket. When Ashwin fell for 50 off 38, he left Samson and Parag 35 balls in which to do damage.

Capitals keep striking Anrich Nortje and Sakariya, though, bowled two excellent overs at the death to take out Samson and Parag.

Samson got too far under the hard length from Nortje, and Parag fell to the back-of-thehand slower ball from Sakariya. It was in fact Devdutt Padikkal, batting in the unusual No. 4 position, who kept Royals in the game with his 48 off 30, but when Nortje got him out at the start of the 19th, all of Royals’ measures to prolong their batting were defeated. Rassie van der dussen and Trent Boult faced

Players not taking advantage of CWI, but T20 balance needs to be managed - Jimmy Adams SportsMax - Jimmy Adams, Director of Cricket at Cricket West Indies does not believe regional players are taking advantage of the governing body to secure T20 contracts in the more lucrative T20 leagues around the world.

During a press conference on Monday with Lead Selector Desmond Haynes, Adams, who was also present, was asked whether this was the case in the wake of the recent development wherein Shimron Hetmyer took time off from the IPL to attend the birth of his child in Guyana, promising to return to complete the season, but using the same reason, has declared himself unavailable for the West Indies white-ball tours of The Netherlands and Pakistan that start later this month.

There have also been instances in the past where players have declined invitations to represent the West

Indies choosing instead to play franchise cricket.

“You will have players who will opt not to take contracts because they want the freedom to go and play whenever and wherever.

While I respect that, by the same token I think we kind of understand where those players’ priorities lie.

There could be a few others like that around. We live with them and we move on if we have to,” Adams said.

“I don’t think that is a majority, I don’t think it impacts us in a negative sense, per se.

We h a v e h a d m a n y players in the last few years who have played, w h o a r e n o t c o n tracted players - your Chris Gayles, your Andre Russells.

“Yes, it needs managing for sure at both the international and the levels within the regions around the world. I think given where we are now in world cricket, and I believe

where we are now in West Indies cricket, that we are doing a pretty good job of it.”

That said, Adams does concede that in regions like the West Indies where player contracts pale in comparison to those offered by the wealthy owners of IPL franchises, there is little that can be done.

“T20 cricket and the leagues are here to stay. I don’t necessarily think that they are a bad thing.

At the end of the day what player s h a v e n o w a d a y s that they did not have in my time and Sir Desmond’s time was choice and I don’t think choice is a bad thing.

“We try to ensure we don’t have any overlaps with either IPL or CPL, so all our contracted players know that there is a minimum of two windows where they will not have any competing international cricket.

As it stands now it is not something that sees us losing control.”

David Warner remained unbeaten on 52 as Capitals coasted to an eight-wicket win. (BCCI) Mitchell Marsh rode his luck but brought up his halfcentury to keep the Capitals chase on track. (BCCI)

the last two overs, and managed just 14.

Royals’ fiery start Royals needed a good start if they were to entertain defending, and they nearly had the perfect one. Boult removed KS Bharat second ball, Prasidh Krishna followed it up with his third maiden of this IPL, and then Boult had a close lbw shout against Marsh turned down. Samson and Boult felt Marsh might have hit it, but replays showed he hadn’t.

The Marsh show Having been reprieved there, Marsh went on to his reprise knock in the T20 World Cup final last year. He backed himself and didn’t (Continued on page 27)

NBA play-offs: Devin Booker leads Phoenix Suns to win over Dallas Mavericks BBC Sport - Devin Booker led a third-quarter surge as the Phoenix Suns beat the Dallas Mavericks 110-80 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semi-finals.

The Mavericks had closed to within a point at 4948 shortly after half-time.

But Booker scored 12 of his 28 points as the Suns outscored Dallas 33-14 in the third quarter to take command.

The Suns can clinch a place in the conference finals by winning game six on Thursday but the away team is yet to win in the best-ofseven series.

Deandre Ayton finished with 20 points for Phoenix, while team-mates Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson scored 14 points each.

Luka Doncic claimed 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, with Jalen Brunson adding 21.

In the Eastern Conference

Cameron Johnson scored 14 points as the Suns took a series lead over the Mavericks. (Reuters)

semi-finals, the Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers 120-85 to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Seven players scored in double figures for the Heat, with Jimmy Butler claiming a game-high 23 points while Max Strus produced his first double-double of the postseason with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Tributes paid to Hall of Famer Lanier NBA commissioner Adam Silver led the tributes to Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who died this week at 73 after a brief

illness.

Lanier had a 14-season career from 1970 to 1984, averaging 20.1 points and 10.1 rebounds in 959 career games for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks, and he also served as president of the National Basketball Players Association.

Silver said in a statement: “Bob Lanier was among the most talented centres in the history of the NBA, but his impact on the league went far beyond what he accomplished on the court.

(Continued on page 29)

Thursday May 12, 2022

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Kaieteur News

Magnum Independence Cup…

Defending champs focused on the prize - Support continues to pour in Troy Lambert, head-coach of defending champion Bent Street, affirmed that his charges are solely focused on defeating arch-rival Sparta Boss in their titanic semi-final clash in the Magnum Independence Cup on Saturday at the National Park tarmac, Thomas Lands.

This was disclosed in an official correspondence from the tournament coordinators.

According to Lambert, “Most obviously we are here to win, we are not participating to play, we are here not to play for second or third, we came to win and try to be consistent throughout the event.

We will try to score as much as possible and defend well and get to the finale. We are focused on winning the tournament.”

Lambert revealed that the two time winners are always happy to battle their fierce rival, adding, “We are never scared of them, there is never a time that when we play them that we are worried. It’s actually a job to us and it brings out the best in us. It’s a very serious rivalry, it’s a rivalry that we are always prepared

Head Coach Troy Lambert for and the fans love and want to see. We are coming to play our game and get the win.” He further said, “It’s like we are playing the final, given the quality of the teams, and the way the teams play. It’s the two most successful teams in this format. It’s often in the draw we meet in the finale, and it’s always a very competitive matchup. Now everyone is coming to see us battle in the semi-final like a finale.”

The resulting winner of the clash will face-off with the victor of the other semi-final matchup between Gold is Money, and Back Circle.

The winner of the tournament will collect the package of $700,000, and the champi-

onship trophy, while the runner-up will receive $400,000 and the corresponding accolade. The third and fourth place finishers will walk away with $200,000 and $100,000 respectively.

Meanwhile, the four losing quarter finalists will feature in the Magnum Plate Championship, with the resulting victor walking away with $40,000. Melanie will lock horns with Future Stars at 19:00hrs, while North East La Penitence takes aim at Showstoppers from 19:30hrs.

Support continues…

As the tournament prepares to shut its door on another successful hosting of the event, support from sponsors continues to keep the tournament running smoothly.

On Wednesday, Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken (ag) handed over the Magnum Independence Cup to organiser Edison Jefford.

In doing so, the Commissioner said, “”Football is a bridge that will be used between the public and police to ensure the energies of youth is channeled in a posi-

YBG Tertiary League…

GTI commands the board after 3 rounds

The Government Technical Institute (GTI) is atop the points standing of the inaugural Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) Tertiary League that is currently being played at the Cliff Anderson Sport Hall (CASH).

GTI are on the verge of breaking into the semifinals as they look to clinch the title.

The six-team tournament will culminate on June 5 at the same venue.

GTI’s run has been flawless with their first win coming against New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI), 73-68.

They then defeated University of Guyana (UG), 6345, and most recently emerged victorious in a tough clash with Linden Technical Institute (LTI) which they won, 82-78.

After three rounds GTI are on 9 points and will come up

against new comers, Port Mourant Training Centre (PMTC).

They enter the match with not much pressure since GTI are the closest to landing their spot in the semi-final round.

University of Guyana are second on the points table with six points.

On Sunday, they were led by Shaquan Gill who scored a 40-plus points game that was won, 102-33, against Port Mourant.

They also defeated LTI, 5447.

UG have two wins and a loss, but will have to get pass NATI on Sunday to secure a place in the knock-out stage.

New Amsterdam are also on six points and in contention for the semifinals after overcoming LTI (61-48) and Guyana School of Agriculture (108-68), but will hope to see off a strong UG side to clear

the way and get momentum heading into the semis.

Fourth on the standings are Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), also a newcomer to school basketball.

GSA have managed only one win so far and will come up against LTI next in a sudden death match for a semifinal spot.

LTI have had a tough campaign after failing to secure a win despite some good showings.

They will be aiming to finish their preliminary matches on a positive note coming up against GSA. The League is being sponsored by YBG and its partners National Sports Commission, ExxonMobil, G-Boats, Edward B. Beharry and Company, Banks DIH Ltd, and Fireside Grill and Chill.

Sunday’s game tips off at 3pm at the CASH.

The defending champion and two time winner of the Magnum Cup Bent Street

tive way, hence the donation of this trophy and this partnership.”

Jefford’s words of appreciation for the gesture were, “Mr. Hicken is no stranger to the sport of football and community development. I ap-

plaud this gesture and commend the Commissioner for taking this step toward grassroots sports that is community-based. I believe it is this type of cooperation that will ensure that the sport and their respective communities

win.”

The other sponsors of the event are MVP Sport, Nigel Hind Financial Services, Andrews Supermarket, Bold Expressions Barbershop, Fireside Grill ‘N’ Chill, Star Party Rentals, and Lucozade.

Several Canada-based Guyanese captains confident of lifting Dassie softball trophy Several Canada-based Guyanese captains have expressed confidence of lifting the 2022 Dassie and Friend Promotion one-day knockout 10-overs round-arm softball cricket competition trophy.

The action is slated for Saturday, May 21st at Keele Top, North York, Toronto where ten teams are set to vie for the trophy and Cds $2,500.

Anil Ablacksingh of Young Warriors stated that his boys are ready to rumble and at the same time want to dominate proceedings.

Devo Ramsawak and Romel Harripersaud of Pegasus and Phoenix respectively have also been buoyant to participate and relying heavily on their players in every department to make an impact, while Rafel Boodhu, who is leading Vikings X1, is anxious to cart of the top prizes.

“We just going there and play competitive cricket; I think we have a good team to come out on top,” Ablacksingh mentioned.

Quizzed on the team’s composition, Ablacksingh responded: “I think the side is well-balanced and just about

Damodar Daesrath, left, and captain of defending champions Assassins skipper Riaz Kadir strike a pose with the trophy. positive cricket. We are practicing hard and I am confident of doing well at the tournament,” Ablacksingh related.

Ramsawack indicated that every player is very much optimistic of winning the day’s event and he is anticipating quality cricket from his troop.

“We have to play our best brand of cricket; competition will be stiff as I saw in previous tournaments, but Pegasus have a team that is committed to play good and im-

pressive cricket,” Ramsawack asserted.

Like Ablcaksingh and Ramsawak, Romel Harripersaud is predicting competitive cricket when he leads his team Pheonix at the softball extravaganza.

“It should be competitive because lots of top softball players will be out there representing different teams and want to be on the winning side; but we have got a talented side and our confidence (Continued on page 27)

PAGE 32

Thursday May 12, 2022

Kaieteur News

Harpy Eagles Practice match

Beaton grabs 5-for in hostile spell at Providence Johnson’s X1 need another 93 to win with 2 Wkts in hand

By Sean Devers Chanderpaul’s X1 resumed on 245-5 with the skipper on 139 and Kevin Sinclair yet to score and by Lunch they were all out for 346 setting Johnson’s X1 264 to win and they were 171-8 needing another 93 runs to win with two wickets in hand when rain yesterday stopped play at 5:05PM on the third day of the Harpy Eagles four-day practice match at Providence.

Ronsford Beaton, who has played two ODIs and 33 First-Class matches but none since March 2016, celebrated his recall to the Guyana team with a hostile 13-over spell to finish the truncated day with 5-60.

Chanderpaul progressed to 163 from 392 minutes, 278 balls with 18 fours and a six before he was seventh out at 315 as pacer Demitri Cameron struck, while Tevin Imlach, who hit six fours and a six from 107 balls and 140 minutes also reached a half-century.

Spinners Kevin Sinclair (33) and Gudakesh Motie (31) also contributed with the bat as Joshua Jones took 3-35

and Junior Sinclair had 2-49 to finish with six wickets in the match.

Johnson’s X1 began their second innings after Lunch and were off to horrendous start when the left-handed Chanderpaul Hemraj (4) played no shot to Beaton and his off-stump was sent cartwheeling at 5-1.

Skipper Johnson joined Imlach and took the score to 52 before Johnson, who was beginning to look good when he missed a sweep and seemed unfortunate to be given out for 18 with three fours.

Imlach who played several delightful shots (49) and Singh (9) took the score to Tea at 81-2 when Singh retired hurt.

After the break was delayed by 20 because of the late arrival of meals for Tea, Imlach soon reached his fifty from 125 minutes, 95 balls with five boundaries before he fell to Steven Sankar at 93-4.

It was soon 93-5 when the 29-year-old Beaton, charging in from the northern end, had Akshaya Persuad caught be-

hind for one.

Watched by one fan in the stands in conditions which become overcast, Junior Sinclair (1) was sent packing by the fiery Beaton who removed Singh, who returned to bat, next ball to be on a hattrick as two fell with the score on 116.

Singh, got a quick bouncer which he seemed not to pick up, and while taking evasive action, gloved a lobbed catch to fourth slip.

Keemo Paul counter-attacked and smashed three fours and a six off a Beaton ‘no-ball’ on a track with good pace and carry, before he edged one that left him from Beaton to the Keeper after making a breezy 21 to leave the score 123-7.

Bramble who top-scored with 77 in the first innings, threw his bat around for 20 before he was bowled by Gudakesh Motie at 167-8.

Clinton Pestano on (34) and Adams (0) took the score to 171-8 when rain stopped play at 5:05 pm.

Today is the final day and play will start at 10AM.

Linden’s Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ to be decided Friday

Scenes from the earlier night in the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden championship at the Silver City Hardcourt.

The Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden Championship will now conclude tomorrow (Friday) at the Christianburg Hard-court with the scheduled semi-final round, and the eventual championship finale.

This was confirmed following an official press release from tournament organizer Rawle ‘Boney man’ Gittens yesterday.

Torrential downpour forced the organizer to cancel the previous match date of May 7th at the same venue,

as the surface was unsafe for players. Following discussions with the organizers, and the sponsors, the rescheduled date for the final was initially slated for Saturday May 14th. However, it has now been officially confirmed for tomorrow.

According to Gittens, “Looking at the impending weather forecast for both days, Friday is scheduled to have better weather, so we decided to move the games to Friday instead of Saturday that we had initially an-

nounced. The teams and the officials from Banks DIH are on board with the switch, everyone has been informed of the decision, inclusive of the public. All systems are in place for Friday.”Defending champion Swag Entertainment was scheduled to faceoff with two time winner Silver Bullets, and DC Ballers was penciled to battle Amazings, with the resulting winners advancing to the championship match, and the losers contesting the third (Continued on page 27)

Tevin Imlach cuts for four during his 55 at Providence yesterday. (Sean Devers Photo) Chanderpaul drives during his 163 at Providence yesterday. (Sean Devers photo)

GCB Women Inter-County Commences with T20 Tournament tomorrow The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) will be conducting its Women Inter-County Tournament from tomorrow, Friday May 13, 2022, to May 22, 2022. The two-format Tournament will be played amongst four teams, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice and a Select X1.

The teams are as follows: Essequibo: Analesia D’ Aguiar, Lavina Ragobeer (wkpt), Kumarie Persaud (Captain), Cyanne Retemiah, Navika Narine (Vice Captain), Nafeeza Sabar, Devine Ross, Desmona Hill, Natalie Chaitram, Varuni Petambar, Roxanne Hendricks, Engrid Gouveia, Carina Smith, and Ann Francis. Manager Milenda Cornelius and Coach Nandkishore Andrews.

Demerara: Laushuna Toussaint, Latoya Smith, Mandy Mangru, Kavita Yadram, Heema Singh, Akaze Thompson, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Kaysia Shultz,

Emalissa Whyte, Lyndia Sylvin, Lessha Jordan, Shameka Edwards, Jo-Ann Vansertima and Tilkaha Madramotto.

Berbice: Shabika Gajnabi (Captain), Tremayne Smartt (Vice Captain), Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond, Devona Frank, Marian Samaroo, Plaffina Millington, Ashmini Munisar, Dian Prahald, Oma Matadin, Kimmone Thomas, Shemaine Campbelle, Kentana Mentore, Sherica Campbelle.

Shemaine Campbelle will join the team on May 19, 2022. Manager Angela Haniff and Coach Winston Smith.

Select XI: Adena Smith, Lorraine Williams, Alliya Clarke, Karishma Ramnauth, Trisha Hardat, Leah Kamalall, Kamani Mahadeo, Dharshanie Subramanie, Realanna Grimmond, Jamie Campbelle, Nirveena Ramnauth, Renata Liverpool, Kimberly Sookdeo, and Tamar

George.

The T20 fixture is as follows: In round one, matches will be played at the Albion Community Centre ground where from 09:00hours the Select X1 will play Demerara and from 13:30hours Essequibo will do battle with Berbice. In round two, matches will be played at the Everest Cricket Club ground where from 09:00hours the Select X1 will oppose Essequibo and from 13:30hours Demerara will compete against Berbice. In round three, at the Everest Cricket Club ground from 09:00hours, Essequibo will oppose Demerara and from 13:30hours Berbice will oppose the Select X1. The OneDay 50-Over Fixture: In round one, Select X1 oppose Demerara at Everest Cricket Club ground, while Essequibo take on Berbice at Enmore Community Centre ground. In round two, (Continued on page 27)

Kaieteur News

Thursday May 12, 2022

PAGE 33

Patrick Werleman Re-elected as Caribbean RADO Chairman

P

atrick Werleman has been reelected as Chairman of the Caribbean Regional AntiDoping Organization (RADO). Werleman, the Member Country Representative (MCR) for Aruba, was returned unopposed during the 2022 Annual General Meeting which ended on Sunday May 8th in Curaçao.

Werleman has expressed his gratitude to members for entrusting him with a second term, particularly after the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on antidoping programmes in the Caribbean. He says the main objectives of the Caribbean RADO over the next three years include improving communication with various key stakeholders, and the further development of antidoping programmes in Member Countries.

“Every Member Country should have an active antidoping programme that includes a solid education plan, and of course testing.

These are the basic requirements for compliance with the [World AntiDoping] Code. Education is the fundamental tool to create awareness, so this should be

Caribbean RADO Executive Committee [L-R Dr Karen Pilgrim (Guyana), Ephraim Penn (British Virgin Islands), Chairman - Patrick Werleman (Aruba), Vice Chairman - Dr Adrian Lorde (Barbados), Rheeza Grant (Trinidad & Tobago). an area of focus in each Member Country.”

Werleman also wants to develop additional strategic partnerships to positively impact the sustainability of the Organization. He is joined on the Executive Committee by returning Vice Chairman - Dr Adrian Lorde of Barbados along with Directors Dr Karen Pilgrim of Guyana and Ephraim Penn of the British Virgin Islands who were all re-elected unopposed. There is one new member on the Executive Committee as Rheeza Grant of Trinidad and Tobago was also elected

unopposed for the remaining vacant position of Director.

The Caribbean RADO AGM was held May 7-8 in Willemstad, Curaçao at the Renaissance Wind Creek Curaçao Resort. Seventeen (17) of the eighteen (18) Member Countries participated in the two-day hybrid meeting which facilitated delegates both inperson and online.

A Sport Diplomacy Workshop was conducted on the opening day of the session by Dr. J, Simon Rofe, Sport Diplomacy expert at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy,

SOAS, University of London. During the workshop, there was a special guest presentation from IOC Vice-President Nicole Hoevertsz who shared valuable knowledge on navigating relationships and building strategic partnerships at the highest levels in sport.

On Day 2, participants focused on Risk Assessment a n d Te s t D i s t r i b u t i o n Planning for the AntiDoping Programmes in their respective countries with representatives of the World Anti-Doping Agency – María José Pesce Cutri,

Director, Latin American Office; Ieva LukosiuteStanikuniene, Senior Manager, NADO/RADO Relations and Federico Perroni Sánchez, Manager, Latin American Office.

Werleman is looking forward to even greater collaboration among Member Country Representatives.

“During the Board meeting, we took off our jackets and rolled up our sleeves and got to work, with representatives focusing on developing their testing programmes. Everyone was there to support each other.

This is how we want to continue to work with our Member Country Representatives, moving forward – side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder.”

“There is nothing more satisfying than making progress together.

We h a v e l o t s o f challenges ahead, but I am totally confident that, working together, we will overcome all of these challenges and lead the Caribbean RADO to greater heights of success,” he says.

St Croix, Virgin Islands (US) has been chosen as the host of the 2023 AGM.

rts o p S

Magnum Independence Cup…

The defending champion and two time winner of the Magnum Cup Bent Street

Defending champs focused on the prize

Commissioner of Police, Mr. Clifton Hicken (left) hands over The Commissioner of Police Championship Trophy to Edison Jefford for the Magnum Independence Football Cup, yesterday.

- Support continues to pour in Harpy Eagles Practice match Ronsford Beaton had 5-60 in a hostile spell of fast bowling yesterday. (Sean Devers photo)

Chanderpaul drives during his 163 at Providence yesterday.

(Sean Devers photo)

Beaton grabs 5-for in hostile spell at Providence Kevin De Bruyne Patrick Werleman Re-elected as Caribbean RADO Chairman scores 4 to send GCB Women Inter-County Tournament Man City clear Commences with T20 Tournament tomorrow Johnson’s X1 need another 93 to win with 2 Wkts in hand

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