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Any strategic Tuesday Edition partner should bear NEWS financial burden to set-up - Int’l national oil companyAnalyst AIETEUR

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

May 24, 2022 - Vol. 15 No. 20

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Govt. gives Exxon leeway in licence to change costs, development plan for US$10B Yellowtail Project Heavy downpour leaves sections of Guyana flooded * Rupununi residents forced into shelters * City drains and canals filled to capacity

Environmentalist Gas-To-Energy Project… requests fish Exxon relies on study from FAO decade-old data to determine to justify low credibility of gas emissions conclusions

Peru sues oil company for US$4.5B over 12,000 barrels of spilled crude …as Guyana currently produces 340,000 barrels daily without full coverage insurance

T&T’s Petrotrin can be made available to refine Guyana’s oil …if country is interested then the conversation should take place - PM Rowley Another foreign company boasting online to their shareholders about the massive gold find they discovered The Glenn Lall Show @11:00hrs in Guyana and we the Guyanese people who own this wealth never heard of their existance.ListenontoKaieteur Radio 99.1/99.5FM

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Tuesday May 24, 2022

Govt. gives Exxon leeway in licence to change costs, development plan for US$10B Yellowtail Project

By Kiana Wilburg

I

Map showing the location of the Yellowtail field

t appears that the Government of Guyana has given ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), enough leeway to change as it deems necessary, costs as well as the already a p p r o v e d development plan for the US$10B Ye l l o w t a i l

Project in the Stabroek Block.

According to the provisions of the Petroleum Production Licence (PPL) that was awarded on April 1, 2022, “The Licensee may, with the written approval of the Minister, amend the Development Plan with respect to work and expenditure contained in the Development Plan, but the amendment shall not have effect so as to reduce any minimum requirements.”

It noted further that, “Unless the Minister has approved any such amendment, expenditures made to carry out operations to implement the amendment will not be cost recoverable.”

The PPL states as well that EEPGL shall carry out all activities under this Licence in keeping with good international oilfield practice and in compliance with the nation’s outdated oil laws, the lopsided Stabroek

Block Petroleum Agreement, the Development Plan, and any other law or instrument or agreement with the Government to which the licence may be subject, as may be amended, enacted or modified from time to time.

The foregoing is listed under “Duties of the Licensee” in the PPL. Kaieteur News previously reported that the project will develop approximately 925 million barrels offshore by drilling approximately 45 to 67 development wells (including production, water injection, and gas reinjection wells) and using a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to process, store, and offload the recovered oil.

The FPSO will be connected to the wells via associated equipment, collectively referred to as Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers,

and Flowlines (SURF) to transmit produced and associated fluids (i.e., oil, gas, and produced water) from production wells to the FPSO, as well as treated gas and water from the FPSO to the injection wells.

It should be noted that the exact locations of the Yellowtail development wells have not yet been finalised; however, the wells will be drilled from six drill centres.

Additionally, natural gas will be produced in association with the produced oil. EEPGL will use some of the recovered gas as fuel on the FPSO and proposes to re-inject the remaining gas back into the reservoir, which will assist in optimising management of the reservoir.

Alternative uses of gas for future phases are being studied and any such uses would be addressed in an environmental impact assessment.

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Tuesday May 24, 2022

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Any strategic partner should bear financial burden to set-up national oil company - Int’l Analyst

By Zena Henry Guyana must be mindful not to expend unnecessary funds in the development of a national oil company if it is to develop an operating model using a strategic partner. Already, experienced individuals within the local and international oil industry, as well as some financial institutions, have advised Guyana against such a move declaring that financial returns from oil endowments may be best gained from improving the contract that deals with profit sharing between the country and its o p e r a t i n g p a r t n e r. B y September this year, the P e o p l e ’s P r o g r e s s i v e Party/Civic (PPP/C) government will make a decision on whether to create this national oil company to develop its remaining offshore oil blocks or to auction it off. As such, the government has not yet announced how it intends to function with this strategic partner, its role, the profit sharing framework and other

key information.

Guyana is being advised however, that if it goes the route of a national oil company, plus a strategic partner, it must invest little to nothing in providing a third party access to the country’s oil riches. Co-Director of the E n e rg y P r o g r a m m e a t Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), Arthur Deakin said that Guyana must ensure the highest returns from its oil endowments if it involves an outside source. In explaining what a national oil company with a strategic partner could look like, the analyst said that Guyana must put in zero to very little capital expenditure into the development and then exploration of the oil resources. “So, it would be 95 to 100 percent of the resources would be put by the strategic partner.”

As it relates to operation, Deakin assumed that that some 90 percent of employees would also be from the strategic partner, especially if one is to take the local oil and gas labour

market into consideration. “I think as we see in the local content law this would have to be a gradual sliding scale in which the amount of Guyanese people participating in the national oil company increases as time goes by. But most importantly, very little capital expenditure put in by the Guyana government with 50 percent of profit while putting zero percent of the money,” Deakin said. He said too, that Guyana has the bargaining tool which is access and rights to the blocks. And this must be used to its advantage regardless of a strategic partner or marketing through the tender process.

Deakin is among the numerous parties with experience in the oil and gas industry that is advising Guyana to either abandon the idea of an oil company, or to hold back until the country develops the capacity to manage and control its i n d u s t r y. B a s e d o n experience relating to oil and gas market intelligence, Deakin said that national oil

companies in general bring much more draw backs or negatives than benefits.

Government through the national oil company would have to take on additional risk, while money invested could have been used elsewhere.

In the face of greater transparency and accountability claims, Deakin said that having a national oil company has not proven to improve this. In fact, some national oil companies do just the opposite. Privately owned oil companies have proven to be way more transparent than national oil companies as they are required by their shareholders to be open through stock disclosure.

And while there have been cases where national oil companies were successful, Guyana must be mindful of how it views those models.

For example, countries like China and Saudi Arabia which have a Communist dictatorship and a nonelected monarchy respectively, Deakin said, “they should not be

Co-Director of the Energy Programme at Americas Market Intelligence, Arthur Deakin examples for Guyana in terms of democracy and how they give back to people.”

This is different from what is seen in the western economies. Deakin noted that the ability to have a centralised control which sometimes allows for greater effectiveness of resources is something that is not as realistic for a democratic country as Guyana.

“In Guyana’s case, we have seen in the last couple of years that there is just not enough technical expertise yet to make up this national oil company so what it will

be essentially is a foreign company middle eastern operating this national oil company with the government just getting some profits from it.” “But there is not real road map, no real tangibility of having a significant participation of the Guyanese people in the short term.” The country would have to create laws, develop its human capacity and ensure proper framework for a certain amount of Guyanese participation. This he said would take Guyana at least a year.

T&T’s Petrotrin can be made available to refine Guyana’s oil …if country is interested then the conversation should take place - PM Rowley

By Gary Eleazar

D

r. Keith Rowley, Prime Minister o f G u y a n a ’s closest Caribbean Community (CARICOM) oil producing nation, Tr i n i d a d a n d To b a g o (T&T), has publicly confirmed that once the lease or sale arrangement currently taking place with r e g a r d i t ’s P e t r o l e u m Refinery (Petrotrin) then the facility can be made available to process Guyana’s oil if the country is interested.

The confirmation was made by Dr. Rowley on his return to T&T on Sunday last during a press briefing for that country’s media corps.

He was asked to clarify his country’s position given that earlier in the day during a presser in Guyana he did not give a definitive response when asked about the possibility of the country using Petrotrin to process its entitlements.

A c c o r d i n g t o D r.

Rowley, “I didn’t want to get into too much of a discussion in that environment because we have here in T&T a process underway and that process is that we have gone

T&T Prime Minister hosts a media engagement at the Piarco International Airport following his visit to Guyana for an Agri-Investment Conference out publicly and we had I think three or four interested parties.”

With this in mind, he reminded that in his latest report to that country’s parliament on the issue he had outlined that Petrotrin was currently in its evaluation process and has since identified one company to move forward with.

He was adamant it was for this reason he did not want to go in depth into the issue while in Guyana.

Recalling the reasons for the closure of Petrotrin, Dr.

Rowley pointed to the inadequate supply of oil to be sourced locally, which led to that country resorting to importing as much as 120,000 barrels of oil daily in order to keep the refinery open.

This, he said, came at a loss to the country since under that arrangement T&T was in fact losing as much as US$15 on each barrel imported.

“So in that situation, we closed the refining operations of our involvement in the oil business and we always said, as we had just done, if there is anybody who has a supply of oil or who can access a supply of oil and such person or entity would like to use the refinery, we can make an arrangement.”

It was in this vein the Prime Minister confirmed that, “if Guyana has oil and Guyana is interested with someone who we have selected here or are selecting, then those conversations should take place.”

He did express confidence that the conversations regarding the refining of Guyana’s oil will evolve.

A c c o r d i n g t o D r.

Rowley, it all has to do with a refinery which exists and which can with some not so insignificant effort be brought back into operation if an entity with a supply of oil were to be found.

The T&T Prime Minister was adamant, if any can source the oil in order to reopen the refinery, “we would be happy.”

He told his press corps, “we always would be happy if the refinery is operating...It doesn’t have to be a government refinery to be a contributor to our economy but it all turns on an availability of oil which will not cost the people of T&T

The now shuttered Petrotrin Oil Refinery in T&T

significant losses.”

Guyana has since collected its first entitlement of oil from the Liza II field in the Stabroek Block and has been selling crude on the world market.

Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for

Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh had in January, during his Budget presentation, outlined that with two oil ships on schedule to be working simultaneously this year in the Stabroek Block, Guyana’s oil sector is expected to rake in over (Continued on page 9)

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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

Auditing Exxons US$9B

T

he accountants and auditors have to know what is feasible in terms of time given the resources at hand. But to audit US$9B in cost recovery expenses representing some three years of activity by Exxon in a matter of four months looks like a real stretch. Auditing one year of such expenses in four months might be doable, but to demand that three yearsworth of bills for that amount of money be completed in four months is pushing matters.

The question is whether the man in charge of the nations oil is not setting up a situation where Guyana is being taken to the cleaners.

Professor Floyd Haynes, also an accountant, says he can get the job done in the narrow time slot demanded (“Govt. wants audit of Exxons 2018, 2019, and 2020 bills completed in four months” -KN May 22). His specific words are: “I have a dozen experts.

And I have access to more in country. It is possible to get it done once all the documentation is streamlined but Exxon is an organised firm.” Maybe it is so, but we think that Professor Haynes is placing too much confidence in Exxon and its willingness to deal fairly and credibly with Guyana. It has not done so in a manner that is confidence boosting, with another project, where approximately 20 percent of just under a half billion (US dollars) submitted for cost recovery expenses raised concerns, and were questioned.

Moreover, it is surprising that someone of Professors Haynes calibre and experience did bring himself to agree to such a tight four-month frame.

For such a short window of audit scrutiny places enormous pressure on he and his team, if they succeed in winning the audit contract, to get the job done competently and convincingly. We cannot help saying this, with due regard for the learned professor: this is already taking on the appearance of a rush job. It already gives off shades of what he himself said about the price, which Mr. Chris Ram thought was too high. What Professor Haynes had to say was this: “I explained it was just to open the door. It is also a good negotiating tactic to start high and then go back.”

We think that was well said by Accountant Haynes.

But we wonder why he did not apply the same standard, as he did with pricing the audit bid, to the time to audit those US$9B in cost recovery expenses for three years. In other words, ask for a higher number of months to do the job, and then if and when bottlenecks and issues are resolved quickly and smoothly, surprise the Government and Guyanese people with a shorter completion time. This is what we believe should have been embedded in the negotiations about money and time relative to this pending audit assignment.

We are aware that negotiations and relationships usually involve some form of quid pro quo, some degree of giving and taking. It is so that all parties walk away with a sense of satisfaction at having agreed to what works because it was reasonable from the perspective of those at the table. This usually is what results when all the persons in the room are engaging in good faith, with no other considerations held out as carrots (or sticks), with what is practical, and makes for good sense.

We are trying hard, but we do not think that agreeing to four months to complete the auditing of three years of bills from Exxon would do justice to the interests of the Guyanese people who are the ones that ultimately have to foot that US$9B in bills.

Even with a company that can be trusted, four months for such an audit looks steep. We say nothing about how trustworthy Exxon is, but let its own dealings with Guyana speak on that score. Come to think of it, more than four months may be required just to affix a rubberstamp to the volume of pages that would be part of such an audit. It is likely that that is precisely what is in the mind of those who demand such a timespan for completing this US$9B three-year audit.

Government side - a no-show at Public Accounts Committee DEAR EDITOR, On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, a motion was passed in the National Assembly of Guyana changing the quorum of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Before the passage of this motion, a quorum was any three members of the committee and this existed since 1963. A quorum now requires five members, two representing the Government, two representing the Opposition and the Chairperson.

During the debates, the Opposition argued against the motion pointing out that the motion is an attempt by Government to dismantle the guardrails of our democracy, decide when Public Accounts Committee should meet and at what pace the PAC should be working. The Government vehemently disagreed with the Opposition’s position and in a nutshell, indicated that they will never seek to stymie the work of the Public

Accounts Committee.

The statutory day for PAC is every Monday at 10:00 am and on Monday, May 23, 2022, the Government side was a no-show at PAC. The Clerk of PAC informed the Opposition Members who were all present (Hon. Jermaine Figueira and Hon. David Patterson virtual and Hon. Ganesh Mahipaul and Hon. Juretha Fernandes physical) that the Government side has asked to be excused due to the flood situation in Region Nine. Noticeably present for the meeting were the Finance Secretary, Accountant General and the Auditor General representative. Also present were the agencies to be examined (Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and Region Nine).

Editor, this action of the Government side to not attend PAC confirms and authenticates the Opposition’s

position as articulated in the debates on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 and that is the Government’s attempt to dismantle the guardrails of our democracy, decide when PAC should meet and at what pace the PAC should be working.

Government members, Hon. Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo, Hon. Dharamkumar Seeraj and Hon. Sanjeev Datadin, are not staff members of the Civil Defence Commission nor are they Ministers of Government.

The Civil Defence Commission is responsible for the assessment of the flood situation in Region Nine and it is the CDC that recommends to the Prime Minister and Cabinet for Government’s intervention. So the attempt by the Government PAC members to hoodwink us did not work.

We must see this act by the Government for what it is and that is the Government wants to slow down the work

of the PAC so that the PAC will not be able to examine the accounts of 2020 and 2021.

The public perception about the Government’s spending of taxpayers’ dollars in 2020 after the passage of the budget in September 2020 and 2021 is shocking, marred with corruption and flies in the face of transparency and accountability. Only the Public Accounts Committee can dispel that perception and one would have thought that this Government which sings about transparency and accountability would have wanted to clear the air, but clearly they don’t.

My next missive will focus on some of the findings of the Auditor General for 2020 and prove my point that the PPP Government is a corrupt regime.

Regards, Hon. Ganesh Mahipaul, M.P. Opposition PAC Member

Small Business Bureau’s MSEs Support Increased Exponentially DEAR EDITOR, Permit me the opportunity to respond to a number of illadvised statements concerning government’s support of the small business sector, outlined in the Stabroek News Editorial ‘UncappeD 111,’ of May 3, 2022.

The UncappeD Marketplace, hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association from April 30 to May 1, 2022, presented an excellent occasion for the Small Business Bureau (a subvention agency of the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce),to engage and share information with vendors and patrons, about access to business development opportunities. Specifically, the Bureau highlighted access by startup and existing small businesses to training, sponsorship, grants and loans offered annually by the Small Business Bureau, with funding from Government of Guyana.

The Bureau’s active participation in UncappeD is indicative of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to consistently foster small business development and growth, inclusive of access to finance. In October 2020, the Government of Guyana increased the maximum amount of small business grants from $200,000. to $500,000., and in 2021 for the first time allocated $250 million to the Small Business Development Fund (SBDF). That is 150 percent increase over the $100 million allocated to the SBDF the previous three (3) consecutive

years. Additionally, in 2021 for the first time the Bureau exceeded its annual target by disbursing a total of $329.4 million to 746 small businesses. It is uncertain how these distinct government advancements can be categorised as ‘empty promises,’ ‘lip service,’ or ‘measured handouts.’

Contrary to the Editorial’s narrative of failed attempts to ‘meet the needs of a countrywide small business sector,’ from 2021, the Bureau proactively collaborated with key business development agencies such as the Guyana Revenue Authority and the National Insurance Scheme, to host Small Business One Stop Shops. Aimed at enhancing equitable development and growth of the small business sector, the activity facilitates easy access to business registration and applications for small business financing for persons located in remote communities. To date, 812 persons benefitted from eight (8) Small Business One Stop Shops hosted in remote communities of Regions 1, 2, 5 and 6. These events have resulted in considerable expansion of small business activities in remote communities.

Undoubtedly, there have been notable efforts to enable agro-processing to ‘strive,’ and transform ‘micro and small businesses into more lucrative undertakings.’ Approximately $100 million has been invested in equipment to facilitate processing of indigenous teas, oils, flours and farine at two (2) Business In-

cubator Centres established at Corentyne and Lethem, Regions 6 and 9, respectively.

Both Centres will be commissioned in 2022. In 2021, the number of agro processors registered with the Bureau and those benefitting from small business grants increased by 100 percent and 135 percent, respectively.

Moreover, a total of 3305 businesses are currently registered as approved small businesses with the Bureau; 1265 small business owners from Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 benefitted from training in 2021, in the areas of Business Plan Writing, and Financial Management and Record Keeping; and in 2021, close to 700 jobs were created by small businesses supported by the Bureau.

Reportedly, of the one hundred (100) small busi-

nesses that participated in UncappeD Marketplace 2022, thirty-three (33) are registered businesses of the Bureau and have benefitted from grants, loans, training and sponsorship. Arguably, there is scope for additional support of the growing small business sector, but this must by no means discount the meaningful strides made in meeting the developmental needs of MSEs in Guyana.

With support of the Government of Guyana, the work of the Small Business Bureau increased exponentially, and is poised to support MSEs as active participants in Guyana’s booming economic trajectory.

Sincerely, Shamane Headley (Ms.) Research and Marketing Officer, Small Business Bureau

Doctor needs to step back DEAR EDITOR, The doctor claiming ‘political gimmicks and racial discrimination’ in the path to block her licence to practice (SN May 22) needs to step back and do some serious self-introspection, in order to step out again.

While it cannot be denied her right to work is enshrined in the Constitution, but it seems the good doctor is not entirely blameless and may have in some ways contributed to her present situation.

Certainly getting into a ‘big Facebook drama’ with a colleague over another colleague, escalating to a ‘big

cuss out’ is not behaviour and conduct of a true professional as it not only a blemish on one’s character, but it brings the organisation into ridicule and disrepute.

The account did not say whether the other party involved in the ‘Facebook drama’ was called before the Council to explain her conduct or if any disciplinary action was meted out. It is hoped this matter is resolved satisfactory and the doctor can pick up her life once again. I wish her all the best.

Regards, Shamshun Mohamed

Tuesday May 24, 2022

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Bringing attention to CARICOM leaders the need to address the regions food whether the regional and in- ment banks with branches greater financial assistance Caribbean Regional Fisheries financial institu- closer to farming communities from the IFIs, local commer- Mechanism (CRFM) and the import bill is nothing new ternational tions (IFIs) are prepared to for assistance in key and criti- cial banks and regional bod- Common Fisheries Policy DEAR EDITOR, When Prime Minister Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago declared: “I have seen this before, heard it before and dont want to hear it again, we know what to do, the question is, are we prepared to do it?” I am reminded of the following headlines; Caricom raises external tariffs on pasta, cement (G/C Jan.11, 2020), CCJ throws out Belizes claim against T&T over CET on sugar (S/N Feb.2, 2022).

Rock Hard loses cement case against Trinidad at CCJ (S/N March 9, 2022). I believe it was scenarios like these the PM was referring to.

Of the nine featured speakers that addressed the forum held under the theme Investing In Vision 25 By 2025 all were politicians. All made reference to CARICOMs pervasive food import bill amounting to the staggering sum of US$6 Bln. and the urgent need to reduce it, ensure greater market access, boost food systems and ensure food security. Bringing to the attention of CARICOM leaders the need to address the pervasiveness of the regions food import bill is nothing new. In 1976, the then Secretary General of Caricom, Alister McIntyre drew to the attention of Heads of Government the scandalous nature of the regions food import bill which at that time stood at US$1,000mln. Forty six years later it is obvious that no one listened.

By 2000, the regions food bill skyrocketed from US$2.08B to US$4.25B in 2011 with only 12.7 % originating from within the region. In just over nine years, the regions food import bill is now US$6B. The largest importers in volumes of food, because of population size, are Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti, but Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St. Lucia are the biggest importers of food on a per capita basis. It is to be noted that neither Jamaica, Haiti, St. Lucia nor Suriname were present at the Prime Ministerial or Presidential level at the investment forum and expo.

In an effort to shore up Vision 25 by 2025 calls were made for financial injections in the agriculture sector, removal of trade barriers to facilitate improved market access for agricultural products and the establishment of reliable intra-regional transportation to facilitate movement of agricultural items across the region. We have heard those calls before at the political level however, when it reaches the technical level of the Council for Trade and Development (COTED), its a completely different story.

Unless the call is heeded that the leaders must “Leave the conference with a firm commitment to take action, not at the regional level but in the individual jurisdictions and sign trade barrier removal agreements now” nothing will change.

Incidentally, having heard that US$7.5 billion in investments will be needed to achieve the 25 by 2025 target, it would have been reasonable to expect that addresses by the Presidents of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, (IDB) or the Managing Director of the World Bank would have been programmed.

Moreover, it would have been interesting to learn

expand their respective agricultural lending portfolios to facilitate greater access to financial resources for the growth and development of the regional agricultural sector.

In the circumstances, apart from official agri-development assistance by the IFIs on easy terms to governments, local commercial banks with a focus on agriclients, should review their interest rates policy and agroloan terms and conditions so that they are in alignment with the market and their competitors rates. Moreover, consideration should be given to Improving the liquidity of farmland-secured loans and to providing long term-fixed rates to farmers and ranchers.

And where necessary, governments should consider establishing agri-develop-

cal areas as land and water development, research, rural development initiatives and agricultural extension.

In his address to the World Food Summit held in Rome in November 1996, President Cheddi Jagan pointed out that 40% of farm households in Guyana own only five acres of land and less. He stressed that 58% of farm households live below the poverty line in a country with a small population in a relatively large country with an abundance of water resources and arable land in the state sector.

President Jagan suggested that each farmer should have at least 100 acres, if not more, but the land must be drained and irrigated and protected from rising sea levels.

This is precisely where

Haiti and Guyana: eerie parallels DEAR EDITOR, For those among us who thought they knew a mindful about Haiti, I urge rethinking.

I have to include myself in that call. Thanks to an ongoing series of articles in the New York Times, the torturing, terrorizing, and traumatizing of Haiti and its mainly poor masses have been exposed as never before in all of their harrowing circumstances. There are no heroes, only the usual villains, some of which should be familiar to our own dear Guyana. I think this is particularly relevant now that we have the glorious riches of oil; and given that this week we celebrate 50+6 years of something that goes under the name of Independence.

The Haitians celebrated what the liberty that they thought they had earned over two centuries ago and look at where they are today.

It is of how the French (the French first) pillaged and plundered in their extractions of what amounted to colonial reparations for the grueling liberation won so valiantly for enslaved Haitians by Toussaint, and Dessalines more than any other. I encourage my fellow Guyanese who have access to the Old Gray Lady to read and get breathtaking insights of the promises of rapacious European capitalists, followed by my own dear fellow American ones. The words of American General Smedley Butler tell the delightful story of the pain inflicted upon the weak and helpless: “I was a racketeer for capitalism.” It is a different time today, so we will never hear such boastings from the lady head of Duke Street or the macho men in Texas, but Guyana is the Haiti of today. Nobody calls him-

self or herself a state-sponsored brigand in these politically correct times.

It is why they come in droves here. To help and develop they say. But where?

Under the umbrella of what amounted to nothing less than a criminal organization, the French bank Crédit Industriel contributed immensely to the French building their monument to civilization in the City of Lights, the Eiffel Tower, Americas Wall Street got what was National City Bank, but known as Citigroup today, among other luscious delights plucked from stricken Haiti kept under the heel of the foreign jackboot. It was as Secretary of State Robert Lansing called to end “anarchy, savagery and oppression.” The Americans were supposed to bring civility and (Continued on page 6)

ies like the Institute For Private Enterprise Development (IPED) is needed.

And while calls to the effect that The time is now, that a Change in mindset is required, that Removal of trade barriers are integral to better integration in CARICOM, and that Investment in shipping is required for food security are high-sounding and laudatory, the commitment to reduce the food import bill by 25 % by 2025, a mere three years from now is highly ambitious and financially questionable.

But the more fundamental question is does the much anticipated vision fall into a national development strategy of any member state?

These fundamental questions aside, one is left to wonder what was being done to address the problem at previous meetings of COTED and the Council for Community and Foreign Relations (COFCOR) as well as during annual CARICOM Agricultural Week gatherings, at meetings of Caribbean Agricultural Health and Safety Agency (CAHFSA), the Caribbean Agricultural Development Institute (CARDI), the

(CCFP), CARICOMs Competition Commission, meetings of Heads of CARDI, FAO and IICA and at meetings of the Regional Transportation Commission. Were they all asleep at the wheel?

Between 2003 and 2006, intra-regional trade experienced a slew of disputes among CARICOM member states. This was manifested in the prohibition by Suriname of logs from Guyana, the imposition of non-tariff barriers

by St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname on rice exports from Guyana as well as the prohibition by Trinidad and Tobago of our beef and poultry products using sanitary and phytosanitary measures to do so.

COTED could not resolve the disputes because of the ubiquitous relationship between the host governments and private sector entities in the countries concerned.

But it was not only market access for industrial items that gave rise to disputes among CARICOM member states; market access for agricultural items produced in the region as well as the constant (Continued on page 6)

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Impressive Agri Conference & Expo DEAR EDITOR, I am extremely delighted to attend and observe, as a diaspora reporter as well as a participant, in the agri conference and expo organized by the Government through the Ministry of Agriculture headed by Zulfikar Mustapha from May 19 to 21. I salute the government for holding the event and I thank those who sent me an invitation, albeit to attend at my own expense not to mention to promote and write about it without compensation— all for Guyana and our farmers who toil under difficulties to feed our nation as well as to export and generate foreign currency.

The presence of the international delegates and foreign leaders as well as the public attendance is testimony of its success. I must commend President Ali, Vice President Jagdeo, and Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and the latter ’s Ministry for recognising the need for such a platform to educate, innovate and encourage the farmers of Guyana and the Caribbean region to participate in the conference and to motivate local and international investors and entrepreneurs for attending this conference and expo. Guyana is endowed with large tracts of fertile soil, a lot of sunshine and water and hard working farmers — all qualities needed to produce to feed a nation and export — to be the bread bas-

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

ket of the region and to supply favorite products to the diaspora. This platform to showcase Guyana agriculture to the world is a very good start.

The conference and expo was attended by heads of government of Caricom and or their substitute and hundreds of delegates from several countries. Many individuals from the diaspora attended. It also attracted agrientrepreneurs and investors within Guyana and around the region as well as the diaspora.

This is the first such agri conference not only in Guyana but in the Anglophone Caribbean. The heads of government praised the organizing as well as the exhibits (expo) and the level of discussion; all of them indicated they would like to replicate such a conference in their territory.

It was indeed quite impressively organized worthy of praises. I attended dozens of conferences including Agro conferences and exhibitions in India and China; our government did a splendid job; kudos go to the President, Ministry, Minister, planners and all those involved in conceiving and executing the project. In even around interacting with people over those three days, there were only praises; even critics and political opponents agreed that it was an excellent conference and expo. As someone who organized many seminars and

conferences and as someone who studied Bio-Chemistry ( that has relevance to agri industry), economics (agriculture in development, marketing and trade), and political science, I have a few critiques and suggestions which I will pen separately.

Thousands visited this event and undoubtedly gained knowledge from the exhibition and various presentations and workshops and the display of modern equipment as well as technology for use in agri production. Many shopped for varied items that were on display and or for sale. Many samples were given away. Healthy juice and snacks as well as other food items and drinks were sold and or given away. Booths had brochures about their products and or their company.

It was a matter of great satisfaction to me that the conference and expo and the items on display, showcased and educated the farmers and consumers about improvement in agri production as well as healthy eating. The presentations and workshops on diverse areas of agriculture are most helpful to the farming sector. Among the best, if not the best presentation, was that if the Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. He captured the audience. He was short and to the point enumerating the issues and proposed solutions to help small farmers.

He committed to taking mea-

sures to helping small farmers to produce and market their products. I commend the VP for focusing on the small farmers who are really the backbone of the economy and who perform backbreaking work. They are not always appreciated. Jagdeo’s presentation will strengthen the confidence of the small farmers to produce.

I firmly believe that unless we create a value chain involving and give support to the cultivator or producer all the way harvester and to consumer through reliable markets, the profitability of farming will not improve. Farmers will suffer losses or barely make ends.

In the last several years, there has been an agrarian crisis with local farmers losing a lot of money. The previous government neglected agriculture. It was revived under the new PPP administration from August 2020 but the flood of April/May 2021 took the wind out of the sails of the government. Agriculture improvement is on track again because of the focus of the government to revive food production and shortage of food globally. The conference is timely that we need to produce more.

I was most impressed with the conference and expo. A platform like this will play a major role in transforming the current agricultural situation.

Follow-ups are needed for implementation of ideas. The President, VP, and Minister of Agriculture must ensure that scientific and financial ideas are carried to conclusion to boost production and export.

Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

Bringing attention to...

From page 5 flood of applications for waivers of the Common External Tariff (CET) to allow for importation of agricultural items from extra-regional sources have been a major bugbear within the regions single market and economy.

Restrictions on market access for agricultural and non-agricultural items were manifested in the form of tariff and non-tariff measures, quantitative restrictions, nonbinding tariffs, subsidies or domes t i c s u p p o r t m e a sures, export subsidies, special safeguard measures in agriculture, technical barriers including mandatory technical regulations such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures as well as standards continue to plague intra-regional trade.

At the heart of these disputes are abuse of waivers of the Common External Tariff (CET), interpretation and application of World Trade Organization (WTO) laws, the role of COTED, transparency in application of the provisions and procedures of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) and variations from the fundamental objective of CARICOM; to create a protected market for producers and manufacturers.

Guyana has been no angel amongst regional violators of the CET. In the past, we triggered disputes with respect to importation of cement from extra-regional sources, and the imposition of a discriminatory environmental tax on beverages from Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname which ended up at the CCJ and we lost. Of re-

cent, claims have been made that Guyanas Local Content Law is at variance with the RTC and WTO law. That view was countered by a claim that Guyana can chose to opt out of its treaty obligations should the circumstances dictate that such a step be taken to protect the nations oil and gas industry from any hostile takeover by Trinidadians.

Assurances were subsequently given that “Guyana will uphold its treaty obligations.”

It was against this backdrop that the GCCI recently stirred the controversy further by issuing a press release declaring its opposition to the GOG signing an MOU with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago which it claimed targets agriculture, energy and security.

The CGGIs disagreement with the GOG was premised on the argument that too many Non-Tariff Barriers to Guyanese exports to Trinidad are still in place and that they constitute impediments to the growth and development of Guyanese businesses.

Questions were raised as regards the timeliness and helpfulness of the GCCIs statement and whether it was a true reflection of the views of GCCIs membership.

One newspaper went as far as to say that the Chambers position was out of line and that the organization was engaged in publicity grabbing. I disagree. The GCCI statement proved to be timely and useful.

Who drew that line and in whose interests are questions that need to be answered.

Yours faithfully, Clement J. Rohee

Haiti and Guyana: eerie parallels...

From page 5 Christianity, but conveniently forgot to mention that other c which is capitalism and all of its chilling cruelties.

For their part, the Haitians were left to revel in local leaders who promised them the world, but delivered snakes.

Their names are a pantheon of the perverse that profane just by the mere mentioning: Big Doc and Baby Doc, JeanBertrand, Preval, Jovenel, and Moise. And, right next to the criminal political elite, were the rapacious business and professional elites that amassed fortunes on the backs and off the blood of their vulnerable countrymen and women.

Examine our leaders here of before and today who paint sweeping portraits of how much they are and will do for Guyanese, versus the still largely hidden realities of

what they engage in secretly for their own benefits. Examine their bureaucratic arms marshalled and deployed to keep the unruly and the objectionable in order. I identify law enforcement, the prosecution (of who and who not), the auditors who see and dont see. And I insist on including Guyanese Haitian equivalents in our commercial and investor sectors, whose ties to the political heights guarantee their own ascendancy and incredible prosperity. Of course, they are all committed to what is good for Guyanese. That is, until our own Haitian history is written up the road.

Instead of Crédit Industriel (C.I.C) and National City Bank (Citigroup) and Gen. Butler, we have Exxon and Baker Hughes and the American spearheaded diplomatic corps, with the self-help-

ing B&C &E parts, none of whom are the Boy Scouts (and Girl Guides) they make themselves out to be. They give us democracys riches; we give them our soul, while our leaders surrender selected sections of their anatomy. It is how our wealth depletes today, and will vanish in time. Haiti had its Laforestrie and Celestin, we have our two-headed leadership apparatus, and the elite cohort of self-enrichers. It is all there in the Times, and it is highly recommended reading for Guyanese wishing for this country not to be another Haiti.

As much as I recoil in horror at the mere thought, the eerie parallels are present today in 21st century oil Guyana. Read, emancipate self.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

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L B T LUNT.. UNT...B BL B Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

In Africa, tribal leaders sold their brothers and sisters to foreigners and into slavery for trinkets. In India, the native Princes joined with the British to exploit their own people.

In Mexico and Peru, it was the same way that locals betrayed their own to foreigners for ornaments and toys.

In Guyana, this is what PPP/C Government leaders do to Guyanese when they join hands in partnership with foreigners (oil, gold, timber, and bauxite) and empower them to rape and rob the riches of this country for pittances.

Guyanese, when are you going to stand up? Guyanese when will you resist your own impoverishment?

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Peru sues oil company for US$4.5B over 12,000 barrels of spilled crude …as Guyana currently produces 340,000 barrels daily without full coverage insurance The aftermath of the oil spill in Peru

Executive President of INDECOPI, Julián Fernando Palacín Gutiérrez.

More than four months after the disastrous oil spill in Peru – the Peruvian authorities have sued Spanish oil giant, Repsol, for a total of US$4.5B for the environmental disaster.

On January 15,

approximately 12,000 barrels of crude was spilled from one of the La Pampilla refineries, which is owned

by Repsol, off the coast of Ventanilla in the region of Lima, Peru.

The spill was reportedly

caused by shock waves from an undersea volcanic eruption near Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean. At the time of the undersea eruption, Suezmax tanker, Mare Doricum, was offloading a shipment of Brazilian crude oil at a La Pampilla refinery offshore mooring buoys when a quantity of the cargo was released.

According to a statement

by Peru’s National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), a lawsuit was filed before the 27th Civil Court of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima, on behalf of more than 700,000 affected citizens.

INDECOPI has since filed the first civil claim for

liability for diffuse interests in Peru against Repsol, due to the oil spill in Ventanilla that affected consumers, users and third parties.

The civil claim for compensation for damages was filed for a total of US$4.5B against several defendants: Repsol SA (Spain), Mapfre Global Risks (Spain), Mapfre Peru Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (Peru), La Pampilla Refinery (Peru), Transtotal Maritime Agency (Peru) and Fratelli d’amico Armatori (Italy).

Repsol’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Josu Jon Imaz had announced that the clean-up and remediation of the spilled crude is expected to cost some US$65 million.

However, Kaieteur News understands that the process in the lawsuit that was filed against the oil giant, allows an abstract valuation of US$3B for the damages caused by the spill and US$1.5B for the nonmaterial damage to consumers, users and third parties.

Speaking on the lawsuit, executive president of INDECOPI, Julián Fernando Palacín Gutiérrez, stated that “these actions could generate jurisprudence on issues of oil spills that cause damage and collective moral damage due to pollution of the environment in coastal areas, beaches, artisanal fishing activities, tourism and commercial activities of the more than 20 affected spas.”

Following, the devastating oil spill, several Peruvian officials had called for the oil company to offer compensation for the disaster.

The first action taken against the company was by

Peruvian judge, Romualdo Aguedo, on Friday, January 28, 2022, who granted an order to prevent four Repsol’s executives from l e a v i n g t h e c o u n t r y.

Peruvian media reported that Judge Aguedo imposed an 18-month ban on the grounds of the potential risk that the officials might leave Peru.

Among them were: refinery manager, Jaime Fernández-Cuesta Luca de Tena; terminal manager, Renzo Alejandro Tejada Mackenzie; environmental manager, Gisela Cecilia Posadas Jhong and production manager, José Gregorio Reyes Ruiz.

In taking additional steps, Peru’s former Minister of the Environment, Rubén Ramirez in January had revealed that the government had taken the decision to suspend the company’s hydrocarbon loading and unloading activities. In other words, Repsol’s operation in the country was halted until it can substantially prove that another oil spill will not occur again in its waters.

Subsequently, a fuel shortage in Peru forced the country’s OEFA to lift the suspension on Repsol’s operation temporarily.

However, the company was only allowed to continue its operations for 10 days and under supervision from the OEFA – that operation has come to an end.

To date, Repsol has failed to comply with several administrative measures that were issued and as such the OEFA has so far imposed five coercive fines for a total sum of 2,300,000 soles (US$616, 043).

This publication had reported that three months after the crude was spilled (Continued on page 9)

Tuesday May 24, 2022

PAGE 9

Kaieteur News

Parents are neglecting their children A few days ago, I saw a group of small boys roaming the streets. The look on their faces announced that they were up to mischief.

They began by pelting a dog walking aimlessly on the road.

Then they began to interfere with an old man. A young buxom lass passed by, and she attracted some attention from them. I wondered what next they would be up to. I did not have the time to wait and see, but I asked myself how the parents of these young boys could allow them to be straying.

Parents are quick to blame the authorities whenever their children get into trouble with the law. They are quick to make excuses which exculpate themselves from blame. They

often blame the lack of employment for their children taking to a life of crime, but they never blame their own failings as parents. They are quick to say that it is harassment by the police that force their children to be deviant, never accepting that it is precisely because their children get away with rogue behaviour that encourages further acts of criminality.

I refer to the broken windows theory.

This theory states that, if a window in a building is broken and is left unfixed, this will encourage vandals to break more windows, and eventually to break into the b u i l d i n g .

The theory, therefore, is that problems should be

addressed in their infancy, before they get out of hand, since small, petty crimes can lead to more major crimes. By simply preventing low-level crime and anti-social behaviour, a society can avoid the emergence of major c r i m e s .

Fixing “broken windows,” nipping crime in its early stages, is the strategy that led to the clean-up of New York City. I believe, however, that this approach is more relevant to Guyana, where there is a great deal of petty crimes that go unreported and which can lead the perpetrators to venture into more daring acts of criminality.

I believe we have to begin to fix these anti-social broken windows” at the level of the

Dem boys seh...

Guyana is de Caribbean fish pond Guyana had wan agri-investment conference last week. And Prezzie bin talk nuff bout fisheries. Suh dem boys want to know wat was really de focus aquaculture or agriculture? Land or water?

Dem CARIGONE leaders wah come get fuh see de Rupununi. Dem mussy de want know whether dem bin in some western movie. But if dem bin stay in de Rupununi one day later, dem woulda want know whether dem land in Water World.

Dem CARIGONE leaders

lucky. Dem went to de Rupununi on Saturday and den dem bail out de country on Sunday. Instead ah moving around in vehicles, dem woulda had to move around in boat.

If dem bin go to de Rupununi on Sunday instead, dem woulda realise de aquaculture potential of de country.

Dem woulda see de biggest fish pond in de country, running fuh miles upon miles in de Rupununi and even going to dem residents doorstep.

Instead, however, dem

leaders went to de Rupununi on Saturday and dem need big hat and umbrella fuh shield dem from de sun. Instead of aquaculture, dem see agriculture. One day later and de same umbrella would have to shield dem from de downpours and dem big hat coulda bin use to bail water.

Dem leaders woulda had fish jumping out dem lang boots. Dem woulda been able to place dem order fuh fish, non-tariff barriers or no nontariff barriers.

Talk half. Leff half.

T&T’s Petrotrin can be made available to refine...

From page 3 US$950M for 2022. According to Dr. Singh, it is anticipated that there will be 94 lifts from the Stabroek Block, 13 of which will be government’s lifts. The second Floating Pro-

duction Storage and Offloading Vessel for the Liza II Operations commenced earlier this year with Guyana already uplifting entitlements.

Dr. Singh said production is expected from both Liza

Destiny and Unity oil ships, and the rate of production for 2022 is expected to be approximately 257,000 bpd on average. As such, the subsector is projected to grow by 96.7 percent in 2022.

Peru sues oil company for US$4.5B over...

From page 8 into Peruvian waters – the affected people, mainly fishermen, were able to access the emergency fund the government organised for them to receive as advance compensation from the culpable oil company.

The advance compensation to the fishermen and others affected by the spill came about as a result of negotiations done by the Government of Peru which was working to get the Spanish oil giant, to assume the economic impact of the spill.

It was reported that since a legal process for compensation to the affected families would take a long time, the Government of Peru had gotten the oil giant to sign an advance compensation agreement.

In order to provide adequate aid for the citizens, the Peruvian government had or-

dered the oil giant, to pay an additional sum of US$700 compensation to each citizen affected by the spill.

While the Government of Peru continues to take action to protect its people and its environment, Guyana in contrast, continues to give American oil giant, ExxonMobil, permission to operate without a guarantee that it would cover the cost for any oil spill that surpasses the capacity of its subsidiaries to pay.

In February, last, ExxonMobil announced that it has commenced oil production at Guyana’s second offshore development area called Liza Phase Two in the Stabroek Block.

It would be poignant to note that with the coming onstream of the Liza Phase Two operations, the country now has an installed production capacity of some 340,000 barrels of oil daily.

This is from the two Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessels—Liza Destiny and Liza Unity—currently operating in the Stabroek Block.

Additionally, the operations are being undertaken (producing 340,000 barrels of oil daily) in Guyana without full coverage insurance in case of a spill domestically.

The current administration, despite promising to press ExxonMobil Guyana (Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited) on the issue to have the parent company (ExxonMobil) for the Guyana Operations sign on to binding full coverage insurance, has since shifted that responsibility to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Notably, among the oil companies working in Guyana’s backyard is the very oil company –Repsol – that caused the oil spill in Peru.

family. There are far too many parents who are allowing their children to go off playing with other boys in the community or neighbourhood without adequate supervision.

Some parents pay no attention to children when they are at home. I once saw a mother sitting watching television, and when she was asked where her child was, she could not give an answer.

Neither did she care, as long as the child did not disturb her while she was watching the soap opera, The Young and the Restless.

This is how problems originate, especially for young boys, who, as we say in Guyana, are “allowed to be boys.” They are allowed to roam free with other boys, some of whom can be bad influences. When in the company of other boys, the temptation arises to engage in some destructive behaviour, such as pelting an animal or it may be simply raiding a fruit tree in someones yard or it could be interfering with a weaker child on the road.

As the gang gets away with certain acts, they are emboldened to become more brazen. They may stop a school-child and take away his/her money, or graduate to robbing someone of their watch or cell phone.

This is why I am insisting that parents take responsibility for their children. If your child

has to go out of the home, you should know at all times where he or she is going, with whom he or she will be, and what is being done.

Today, too many parents are allowing their children to go off unsupervised, and when they find out some of the mischief that their children are engaged in, it is too late, because a life of crime has already taken root.

I do not excuse any parent who says that he or she had no control over what his or her children became. This is an admission of failure.

Children are being given too much freedom to roam as they please, and this is leading them into the clutches of bad company. While it is easy to blame those who corrupt these children, ultimate responsibility must lie with the parents who failed to supervise their childrens free t i m e .

Some parents have no fixed time for children to return home. In my house, there are fixed mealtimes, and if you are not there at the scheduled hour, you not only have to make your own meal, but you have to give an explanation as to where you were.

I urge parents, also, not to allow their children to loiter or to wander aimlessly with their peers.

Children must be given constructive playtime. They should be encouraged to play games with their friends,

not so much because the games keep them out of trouble, but because they will learn to compete; and by competing, they will want to do better, and by aiming to do better, they will have little time to engage in deviant b e h a v i o u r .

Parents also need to give children designated chores around the home, to teach them responsibility. Even if it is to make up their beds in the mornings, children should be asked to help out around the h o m e .

The problem with many children today is not that they have too little free time; rather, it is that they do not have properly supervised free time.

Instead of allowing their children to get into bad company, all parents should make an effort to be involved in a positive way in the lives of their young ones, so that they will never have to receive that dreaded call that something terrible has happened to their child through involvement in crime.

(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

Tuesday May 24, 2022

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

This is either sheer PPP bashing, dishonesty or ignorance

A

sk me which one I think it is. My automatic answer is that this was deliberate anti-PPP criticism. Last Saturday, the Stabroek News featured a guest editorial.

The topic was one that has been exhausted in this country – the need to change the harsh penalties for possession of small amount of marijuana. All the newspapers over the past 10 years are filled with arguments for the changes.

But the guest editorialist (herein after referred to as GE) took a different line.

The reason for the APNU+AFC not pursuing the changes is glossed over and the inaction of the PPP is highlighted. Let’s quote what GE wrote: “But foot dragging by what was said to be senior coalition leadership meant the bill

was never debated.”

This description is appallingly misleading and deliberately deceiving. It is political propaganda that needs demolishing. I believe GE is someone that is either carrying a hatred for the PPP or fanaticism for either the PNC or AFC or both. Any schoolboy can define footdragging. It means being tardy, slow to act, to keep delaying. Foot dragging has no connection even remotely to the act of rejection. They have completely different meanings.

Here now is the origin and death of the Marijuana Amendment Bill. The Bill was composed by two lawyers – Nigel Hughes and Mark Waldron shortly after the APNU+AFC came to power. It was a 2015 election promise.

I spoke on the same platform with Basil Williams at Paradise on the ECD and the promise was mentioned by both Williams and me.

The Hughes/Waldron Bill was put on the order paper of the National Assembly to be debated in

the name of Michael Carrington of the AFC. Here are manifestations of the guillotining of the Bill.

First, President Granger on Wednesday, April 30, 2016 on the state sponsored programme, The Public Interest, said these words to his interviewer: “I would not counsel the use of marijuana b y y o u n g p e o p le an d anybody…we should be careful not to adopt policies practised by other countries which have stronger regulatory frameworks.”

Secondly, on May 23, 2018, Parliamentarian, Michael Carrington told HGPTV Nightly News that APNU+AFC’s Chief Whip, Amna Ally had instructed him since 2016 to withdraw the Bill because President Granger was uncomfortable with it.

Michael Carrington is a very personal friend and repeated that revelation to me long before May 2018.

He told me he is committed to explaining to anyone why the Bill was scuttled.

Thirdly, on Friday, July 6, 2018, then Attorney General,

Basil Williams told the media that changing the antinarcotic law, should involve the holding of a referendum on the issue.

What the above items clearly show was that from 2016, the decision was taken to remove the Bill from the order paper. The Bill died before it was born.

Interestingly, the extirpation of the amendment was never publicly discussed by anyone in the AFC leadership from 2016 even though the Bill was composed by then AFC’s chairman, Nigel Hughes and sponsored in the House by AFC, parliamentarian, Carrington.

The pathetic state of journalism in Guyana was on display from 2016. No journalist asked Hughes, Carrington or Moses Nagamootoo, who was leader of the government’s business in the House, any question from 2016 until May 2018 when it was raised

by Carrington on HGPTV in May 2018 as to why the Bill was not being read in the House. But not only was the

mediocrity of journalism depressing, no young leader in the PNC, AFC, and WPA fought for the rebirth of the Bill.

To think these kinds Frederick Kissoon of politicians are still wondering why they admired.” lost the 2020 election. They 6 - Wednesday, May 30, know very well why they 2018, “Ganja law: African did.

Guyanese and their political Here is a list of 10 articles leadership.” in sequential order that 7 – Wednesday, June 16, traces from 2016 the refusal 2018, “Two East Indian to table the amendment and politicians and the PNC’s eventual rejection of same in leadership.” the House by the 8 - Wednesday, July 4, APNU+AFC regime.

2018, “Eureka: The 1 - Sunday, May 8, 2016, CARICOM boss discovers “President Granger misses Guyana is an some points about copying.” illogical land.”

2 - Monday, July 1, 2016, 9 - Sunday, July 7, 2019, “Everyday I see how stupid “If Guyanese accept this, this country is.” then they are the world’s 3 - Friday, February 3, stupidest people.”

2017, “Has Granger copied 10 - Thursday, wrongly with the parking S e p t e m b e r 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 , meters?”

“Barbados proves that the 4 - Thursday, May 25, PNC leaders are fraud.”

2017, “Edward Said and 51 (The views expressed in years of failure in Guyana.” this article are those of the 5 - Sunday, May 27, a u t h o r a n d d o n o t 2 0 1 8 , “ T h e K h e m r a j necessarily reflect the Ramjattan I once knew and opinions of this newspaper.)

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Tuesday May 24, 2022

Environmentalist requests fish study from FAO to determine credibility of conclusions Guyana’s Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, has said that climate change is to be blamed for the noticeable decline in fish catch and not the offshore oil and gas operations. He used the findings of an “independent” study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as the basis for his conclusion, but to assure the public of the r e p o r t ’s c r e d i b i l i t y, Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has made a request for the organisation to release the document.

In a letter addressed to the Assistant DirectorGeneral and Regional

Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mr. Julio Berdegue, MangalJoly explained that the statements made regarding the report must be immediately and publicly addressed by the highly respected institution.

“I hereby request that the FAO immediately and publicly address the matter of whether it has credible conclusions on offshore oil and gas impacts on fisheries and release the study to which Minister Mustapha refers with all supporting datasets. By providing this information, the public will be assured of the FAO’s comprehensiveness and

neutrality, and the FAO will be able to maintain its image of respectability that the Guyanese People and indeed the People of the Caribbean deserve of a public agency,” she reasoned.

Mangal-Joly, who is also a geologist, had sent a separate letter to Minister Mustapha which has gone unacknowledged, at least up to press time.

Nevertheless, she reminded the FAO in her missive that impacts of offshore oil and gas activities has been the subject of much debate. To date, ExxonMobil has been granted four environmental permits to conduct its activities, in the

absence of key studies which should form the foundation for its operations to be authorised, the environmentalist said.

Mangal-Joly specifically pointed out that “the location of valuable environmental receptors, such as reefs and fish nurseries, in relation to ExxonMobil’s installations, effluent outflows, ocean currents, and commercial and subsistence fishing grounds” is absent.

Furthermore, she argued that there is no evidence whatsoever that a comprehensive commodity chain assessment or quantification of the value of Guyana’s subsistence and

commercial fisheries sector has ever been conducted.

According to her, “There is no evidence that a Catch Per Unit Effort study has ever been conducted to support conclusions drawn from offtake data on the state of fish stocks. There is also no evidence whatsoever that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is monitoring and enforcing any requirements for discharge standards and other environmental provisions in the permits that ExxonMobil enjoy. Finally, there is no evidence of offshore longitudinal research studies in place to track changes in Guyana’s fish and marine

Environmentalist, Simone Mangal-Joly resources.”

To t h i s e n d , t h e environmentalist told the FAO representative that the E PA v i o l a t e d t h e Environmental Protection Act, on March 31, 2022 when it granted the Ye l l o w t a i l P r o j e c t Environmental Permit, in which the Agency asked ExxonMobil to study the likelihood of its own impact (Continued on page 22)

Kaieteur News

Tuesday May 24, 2022

PAGE 13

Essequibo tourism to get big marketing boost with Kaietour app

I

n order to adequately pursue the development and marketing of tourism opportunities in Essequibo, t h e R e g i o n Tw o To u r i s m Association and the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECCI) are looking to Kaietour.com, the Guyana-centric global travel booking app that aims to furnish tourism operators with a plethora of benefits.

At a special event at the State House in Region Two on May 22, 2021, the regional players hosted representatives of Kaietour.com – its Founder/CEO, Salaudeen Nausrudeen and Special Projects Manager, Neil Bacchus.

The Kaietour.com team provided an indepth overview of the tourism opportunities in Essequibo and discussed the many benefits that Kaietour.com brings to tourism operators including hotels, resorts, taxis, car rentals and tour operators.

“Leave the sales and marketing of your tourism product to Kaietour.com, that is at the core of our technology and process, we do that very well. We want you to deliver the most awesome, seamless and enjoyable tourism experience to tourists and guests to Essequibo,” said Mr. Nausrudeen.

“And that enjoyable experience starts with the booking – the ease of searching, finding and paying for your vacation to Essequibo,” the

CEO added.

Endorsing and praising the value the app brings to Essequibo Tourism were Executive Member of the Region Two Tourism Association, Ms. Feona Sukdeo and other Executives; Humace Oodit, Regional Vice-Chairman, who represented the Regional Chairwoman, Ms. Vilma DaSilva, and an executive of the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Tourists from the diaspora and around the world would now be able to search, find, book and pay for Guyana’s and Essequibo’s unique tourism products through Kaietour.com - available at www.kaietour.com and on the Apple Store or Google Play Store.

The innovative online travel booking platform was launched in March and has since seen significant traffic and interest in Guyana. It was revealed that Kaietour.com took two years and more than $60,000,000 to develop and launch.

Kaietour.com is designed to help travellers to easily search, find, book and pay for travel to Guyana or anywhere else in the world with a wide selection of flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages, tour packages and even taxi service. It is an easy and free platform for Guyanese tour operators, hotels, resorts, local

Founder/CEO of Kaietour.com, Salaudeen Nausrudeen (centre) and Special Projects Manager, Neil Bacchus (extreme left) pose for a photo with executives of the Region Two Tourism Association, Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Region Two Vice Chairman. airlines, car rental companies and taxis to list their inventory to attract global tourists, of which the Diaspora is a significant segment.

Mr. Nausrudeen said more than 90 percent of global travel is booked online since it puts the power of options and flexibility in the hands of tourists.

“Kaietour.com was developed b e c a u s e G u y a n a ’s t o u r i s m operators, especially those further away from Region Four, like Region Two/Essequibo, are at a

disadvantage. Essequibo’s rich and unique tourism inventory is not readily available for booking and purchasing online and therefore invisible to global tourists, ultimately resulting in little to no business,” he pointed out.

As such, Kaietour.com has filled a long needed gap in the industry. Tourism service providers are, therefore, advised to sign onto the app so as not to remain invisible and miss out on the lucrative potential of tourism. The platform

offers a complete booking experience, including full prepayment, negating the need for any cash transactions by travellers while in Guyana.

Kaietour.com extensive global inventory includes: 900+ airlines worldwide, flights from and to 185+ countries, connection to 500,000 hotels worldwide, hotels in more than 20,100 cities, largest source of deeply discounted rates,18+ car rental brands and car Rentals in 160+ countries.

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Withdrawal of charge against attorney…

DPP reassures public that office will remain “apolitical and professional” following backlash Amidst criticism over the recent actions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, the office of the DPP on Monday issued a statement to reassure the public of its apolitical status.

The statement follows wide spread public criticisms that DPP Ali-Hack, received after she discontinued the private racial assault charge against attorney-at-law Nirvan Singh, son of former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh.

Singh was charged on April 20, last for using racial slurs towards an AfroGuyanese policewoman who was tasked with guarding his residence.

He had made his first court appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on a charge that he willfully excited and or attempted to excite racial hostility or illwill against police constable, Shawnette Bollers.

The charge states that Singh at the corner of Middle and Cummings Streets, Georgetown, by means of words spoken by him in a

Attorney Nirvan Singh

Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC

public place, willfully excited and or attempted to excite hostility and ill-will against Bollers on the ground of her race as an AfroGuyanese by using words directed to her and published by him, to wit: “black monkey”, “monkey” “black people have no purpose in life” contrary to the provisions of Section 2 (1) Racial Hostility Act Cap 23:0).

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was scheduled to return to court.

However, on his second appearance before the court the DPP issued an order to the Magistrate to discontinue

the matter. Her actions were met with backlash from a number of civil society groups and individuals who accused the DPP of acting in a partisan manner.

In response to the backlash, the DPP Chambers in its statement issued on Monday said that the allegations being made and published in the media and otherwise have no basis in law.

“We wish to state that the Office will continue to operate in accordance with the Constitution and the relevant laws which are concerned in each case. The (Continued on page 22)

Kaieteur News

Tuesday May 24, 2022

National Library withdraws permission for Burnham Independence exhibition After granting permission for a commemorative exhibition of the late Guyanese President, Forbes Burnham, as part of this week’s Independence activities, the National Library withdrew its consent shortly before the event’s commencement.

Chairman for the Forbes Burnham Foundation, Vincent Alexander told the Kaieteur News that a call was received from the library some two hours before to say that the exhibition could no longer take place.

This refusal, the chairman said in a public missive, came after permission was sought and obtained on April 25, last to mount an Independence Commemorative Exhibition from May 23 to 28 in the Foyer of the National Library. A site visit was conducted on May 18, on which occasion all of the details for the mounting of the exhibition were finalised. However, on Monday, May 23, “the Foundation received a phone call from the Chief Librarian, in which she indicated that permission was being withdrawn since the Library needed the facility for its own use,” Alexander revealed.

He said that the Foundation can only conclude that a directive was handed down to the Librarian to disallow the mounting of the Exhibition by the Burnham Foundation.

This publication was unable to confirm that this was indeed the case.

According to Alexander, “The PPP/C (People Progressive Party/Civic) once again shows its dictatorial hand in its attempt to rewrite Guyana’s history and to impose itself on the people of Guyana through the total control of the political, social and economic landscape, while the President mouths “One Guyana” for local and global consumption.”

He added, the Burnham Foundation, which is a nongovernmental organisation committed to the commemoration and the memorialisation of the life of the Leader who led Guyana to Independence, “is left with no alternative but to join forces with the true democrats of Guyana in the struggle to reclaim their rightful space and entitlements as citizens of the Cooperative Republic of

Guyana.”

Alexander told the newspaper that the contents of the exhibition were

essentially independence photos with the first portrait being Guyana’s two iconic leaders Burnham and Dr.

Cheddi Jagan entitled: ‘Where it all began’. The pictures, he said, were of the (Continued on page 21)

PAGE 15

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Exxon relies on decade-old data to justify low gas emissions

Gas-to-Energy project…

ERMs Guyana Programme Lead and Partner-in-Charge, Mr. Todd Hall ExxonMobil Guyana has used data from 10 years ago to conclude that its part of the Gas-to-Energy project, that is the onshore and offshore pipelines together with the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant, will not be a large scale emitter of the dangerous greenhouse gases (GHG) that lead to climate change.

This was revealed during a recent consultation at the U m a n a Ya n a , i n Georgetown, hosted by the oil company and its Consultant, Environmental Resources Management (ERM) that prepared the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project.

In fact it was ERM’s Guyana Programme Lead and Partner-in-Charge, Mr. Todd Hall, who told citizens at the meeting that the emissions from the project have been rated as low. He explained, “With respect to climate change…the project is actually a relatively low greenhouse gas emitter. It will emit about 80 kilotonnes per year of what’s called green house gases, the gases that affect climate change.”

According to him, “That compares, for context, to about 4700 kilotonnes per year that Guyana as a whole emits and that’s based on data from about 10 years ago.

That’s the most recent green house gas emission inventory for the country, so a relatively small 1.5 percent or so of the country’s emissions.”

In its Non-Technical Summary (NTS) of the project, the oil company said that the estimated annual GHG emissions from the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant alone will range from 65.7 to 80 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalents (Continued on page 22)

Kaieteur News

Tuesday May 24, 2022

PAGE 17

Ug’s FramePerfect outshines 150 countries to claim 2022 Webby Award

Shomari Williams and Malik Williams being interviewed during the 5G for Change Hackathon. (Photo Credit: Eryc Perez de Tagle – The Webby Award) A four-member University of Guyana (UG) team calling itself ‘FramePerfect’ was able to outshine representatives from 150 countries to win this year ’s prestigious Webby Award thereby putting Guyana centre-stage in the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over 2,000 industry experts and technology innovators.

“We were happy to showcase what UG is capable of nurturing,” said team member Shomari Williams, who was honoured to receive the award on behalf of his team which consists of two current staff and two students of UG’s Computer Sciences Department in the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

The Guyanese team presented a path-breaking proposal that integrates AI, the use of drones and the internet to combat deforestation. This is a potentially game-changing application in the face of a planet striving to bring carbon emissions down.

Preserving forests, jungles and trees are a key part of that equation.

The 5G For Change International Hackathon, which was hosted by Verizon in New York last week, saw 150 international teams participating in the competition.

FramePerfect, the Guyanese quartet whose Webby project was to combat illegal logging in Guyana’s forest, included brothers: Shomari Williams and Malik Williams, Andrew

Garnett and Jung Leung; two recent graduates and two students still at UG. While attending UG, the group came together over their shared love for computer science. Together, they founded Unity GY, a nonprofit organisation that “leverages technology to solve problems and to narrow the education gap in Guyana.”

This was the same team that developed the UG Cares application, which is deployed to place donors with persons in need from inside or outside of Guyana during the COVID period

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Prof. Paloma Mohamed Martin, with the Webby-winning FramePerfect Team made up of UG staff and students last Friday upon their return. (Photo courtesy of PACE. Photographer Tara Smith, MA) and especially during the very devastating floods of the past 12 months. UG Cares was also a scaled-up version of their winning application for a UNICEF Guyana sponsored hackathon in 2019. The UG Cares app is still available by clicking the link here (https://ugcares.unitygy.co m/).

FramePerfect was invited to compete in the inaugural Webby following a similar win in the recently launched GTT hackathon.

However, their journey there was far from perfect since they had to raise funds to attend and lived and worked on a shoestring budget, living together in a single

hotel room in Manhattan for the duration of the two-week competition. Emerging as the finalist in the competition and winning the coveted prize of US$50,000, the Webby Trophy and plenty of bragging rights is a testament not only to their immense talent but to their grit, resilience and determination.

According to the event organisers, the hackathon challenged teams to tackle an important issue and solve it by using 5G and the internet. Out of 150 submissions, only five teams were selected to pitch their ideas before a judging panel of industry leaders—from Verizon, MIT Solve, the

Black Ambition Opportunity Fund and Stagewell G l o b a l — a t Ve r i z o n ’s headquarters in New York City.

The Williams brothers and other team members are passionate about tackling the issue of illegal logging in Guyana’s forests. “We care about it because it is our planet,” Shomari Williams, The Data and AV Officer in the Office of the ViceChancellor (PACE Unit) at UG was quoted as saying in an online article published by the Webby Awards (https://www.webbyawards. com/5g-for-change-finalistt e a m - f r a m e perfect/#content_grab).

H i s b r o t h e r, M a l i k

Williams, an ICT engineer at UG, reasoned that more people are becoming aware of the global ramifications of deforestation and its impact on climate change. “It’s becoming a global responsibility to get involved,” Malik said.

To tackle deforestation, the team is proposing to creating a “comprehensive monitoring system that streams audio to dispatch drones to see what is happening in the forest.”

According to the Webby awards article, “Team FramePerfect wants to attach AI-powered listening devices into trees throughout the forest and inform drone (Continued on page 21)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 18

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Heavy downpour leaves sections * Rupununi residents forced into shelters of Guyana flooded * City drains and canals filled to capacity Due to the passing of a tropical wave, several parts of Guyana have been experiencing continuous rainfalls which resulted in severe flooding – some Rupununi residents have been forced into shelters and city drains and canals have been filled to capacity.

G u y a n a ’ s Hydrometeorological Service has issued several weather alerts on what to expect in the different parts of the country. In its Monday weather update, it was stated that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) continued to affect most of Northern Guyana. It noted too that “cloudy to overcast skies are expected over all regions and scattered showers varying from light to moderate with intermittent rain are likely to be experienced over Northern Guyana – while thundershowers are likely to happen in Regions One to Three.”

It was also stated that Southern Guyana was expected to experience occasional showers of varying intensities and intermittent to continuous rain. Notably, rainfall was expected between 20.0 mm to 40.0mm over Northern Guyana with the highest expected over Regions One and Two between 30.0mm to 60.0mm.

It was pointed out too that weather conditions may result in flooding and land slippage in some area and thundershowers may also produce high winds and lightning strikes.

As a result of the predicted heavy downpour, Rupununi residents were forced into shelters, a state of

Scenes from flowing in Lethem.

[Photos: Mark Kowlessar]

Flood scenes from sections of Region Nine [CDC Photos]

affairs that was confirmed by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) in a statement on Monday.

According to the CDC, several communities and farms are flooded resulting in the relocation of families.

It revealed too that the Regional Democratic Council, the Lethem Town Council and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development have since established a shelter at the Tabatinga Sports Complex in Lethem to house approximately seven families.

The CDC has also activated its Regional Disaster Risk Management Centre to serve as a

secondary shelter to accommodate more displaced persons.

According to the statement, the CDC is also working with regional and municipal authorities to deliver water purification tablets, water containers, cleaning hampers and other essential supplies.

Also helping the affected residents in Lethem, Region Nine is the representative of the GuyOil Gas Station, David Lam. Mr. Lam, the owner of a drill well, said that, as in times past, he is offering all affected residents free potable water.

“All they have to do is walk with their container and they (Continued on page 21)

Sections of Georgetown were also inundated

A mother and her child crossing the St. Ignatius Bridge which was flooded with near-waist deep water [Photo Credit: John Forde]

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

PAGE 19

$95M to complete Phase Two of Lima Sands access road To continue needful upgrades to the Lima Sands access road in Region Two this year, a $95 million contract was awarded to a contractor in the region to complete phase two of the project.

The Lima Sands road project, which is being undertaken by the Ministry of Public Works, has been ongoing since last year November. The road, for the first time is being upgraded to an asphaltic surface which will benefit some 2000 households in the Lima Sands Community.

Speaking briefly with this publication on Monday, the Region’s Vice Chairman, Mr. Humace Oodit said that the contractor, United Contracting Service, has been contracted to complete this project by September.

According to him, the specification of the project would see the contractor upgrading approximately 400 metres by 20ft of road to asphaltic surface. Mr. Oodit shared that the Lima Sand access road is about twoand-a-half miles long, so the phase one and phase two

Phase One of the Lima Sands access road (Photo Credit: Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall)

projects would only cover about three quarters of a mile of the road.

The Vice Chairman highlighted that the Lima Sands Community is home to both rice and cash-crop farmers and upon completion of the new road, it would benefit them tremendously. He noted that before the project came on stream, the road was a sandyloam surface and because of this, it would deteriorate quickly affecting motorist and residents who would traverse it.

According to reports, the Lima Sands road has been in

a deplorable state for some years and because of its condition and pleads from residents the relevant authorities have now moved ahead in having the road rehabilitated.

Last year, the Public Works Ministry had signed a contract with S. Jagmohan and Supplies who started phase one of the Lima Sands road project. That contract, which totalled $136 million, saw the upgrading of 800 metres of asphalted road with the installation of drains on both sides of the road.

Kaieteur News (Continued on page 22)

Kaieteur News

PAGE 20

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Rowley on Jagdeo: We don’t always see eye to eye on issues …but are obligated to conduct ourselves in a way that will benefit both countries

P

rime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Dr. Keith Rowley has said that while he and Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo may not always agree on issues, they

have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a fashion that would be beneficial to the peoples of both countries.

Dr. Rowley gave the frank response to Trinidad journalists after he was

CDB to kick off 52nd Annual Meeting with food security seminar On the heels of a regional discussion in Guyana on food security and CARICOM’s commitment to reduce member states’ food import bill by 25 percent in 2025, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has assembled a team of experts and stakeholders to examine strategies for transforming the agri-food sector, with an emphasis on improving cross border trade.

CDB Vice President of Operations, Mr. Isaac Solomon, who will be speaking at the event, described the webinar as timely. “The flow of goods in the Caribbean remains hamstrung by an inadequate logistics ecosystem while countries continue to encounter challenges related to infrastructure and activities along the value chain. The region’s private sector, which is comprised primarily of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), is faced with constrained access and limited penetration of markets within and beyond CARICOM,” he stated. The Bank, during this dialogue will influence, shape and formulate solutions with the input of regional and global expertise.

On June 1, 2022 at 1 0 : 0 0 a m A S T representatives of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), the private and public sector will convene to identify opportunities for unlocking regional markets for agri-food MSMEs. Discussions will also explore how the region can increase trade in agriculture and its related commodities and support intensified efforts to achieve food security and increase the participation of MSMEs and

t h e p r i v a t e s e c t o r.

Recommendations from the business sector to unravel problems at each point in the logistics ecosystem restricting the movement of goods from the producer to the shipper, to the port and then to the shelves will be presented.

Regional CDB Viceinfrastructure President inclusive of road networks, of Operations, seaports andSolomon airports, Mr. Isaac existing warehousing, storage and distribution centres, regulatory agencies including border security agencies and other elements of the logistics networks will be examined. Building on the region’s successes in the sectors and examining the role of regional institutions in supporting the objectives of regional governments, this event will advance the critical issue of regional food security which demands strong emphasis particularly as it relates to addressing the logistical challenges that connectivity places on regional trade.

The CDB said the seminar is the first of several to be held as part of the Bank’s Annual Meeting of its highest decision-making b o d y, t h e B o a r d o f Governors. The 52nd Annual Meeting will be hosted in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), after a two-year hiatus of in-person events due to prevailing travel restrictions. This year’s meeting and related activities revolve around the theme: ‘Measure better to target better’ and will chart a course for adaptation and resilience as the Bank intensifies support its Borrowing Member Countries to close distance to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG in focus at this webinar is SDG two – ending hunger, achieving food security and improving (Continued on page 21)

asked about the relationship he shares with Guyana’s Vice President in light of his recently public utterances regarding relations with the twin island republic.

A c c o r d i n g t o D r.

Rowley, the relationship between T&T and Guyana “is probably now better than it ever has been.”

He was adamant that while in Guyana this past week, he spent a significant amount of the time with VP Jagdeo and “as far as he will tell you and I will tell you, we get along very well.”

Dr. Rowley used the o c c a s i o n t o u rg e t h e journalists to not let other people’s comments and stories “lead you to come to conclusions that is otherwise.”

To this end, he quipped, “we may not see eye to eye on everything and that’s why they have four eyes between the two of us.”

He was adamant, nonetheless, “...certainly what we do have is responsibility to conduct

T&T Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, during one of the sessions Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo at the opening of the recently concluded held for the recently concluded Agri-Investment Conference Agri-Investment Conference ourselves in a way that will be of great benefit to the people of Guyana and T&T and the wider CARICOM.” Earlier this year in March, VP Jagdeo had described the T&T economy as being in shambles and falling apart which led to a formal response from that country’s government.

VP Jagdeo during a press conference in March this year insisted his view represented irrefutable facts “which all are aware of.”

It was during a visit to the Essequibo Region in Guyana for a public outreach that the VP noted that Trinidad’s economy had been dependent on oil revenues for decades, and in the past

few years, due to the economic shocks that have hit the global markets along with the c o u n t r y ’s d e c l i n i n g production, the TT economy has been “falling apart.”

At a subsequent press engagement, he told members of the domestic media corps, “I have tracked what’s going on in Trinidad and Tobago for quite a while and what I said there (in Essequibo) is not anything new.

He said at the time, “I have had discussions with several leaders there about a post oil and gas economy so this has nothing to do with Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, this is a fact; the economy over a long period

grew to be dependent on oil and the danger of the Dutch disease has been pointed out and, practically, it has consequences for your country, and we have seen it happen in TT…” Doubling down on his position, Jagdeo insisted that the people in T&T are losing jobs because of the fallout, and the country is suffering from currency shortages, “…so, what I am saying is not anything new… I don’t know if they have a problem with truth, but the fact of the matter is that the economy is undiversified and it relies heavily on oil and gas and when the prices fall, things start to fall apart and they are facing some of those consequences now.”

Tuesday May 24, 2022

21 new COVID-19 cases, 3 in ICU The Ministry of Health on Monday recorded 21 new COVID-19 cases from 348 tests, taking the total number of confirmed cases since March 2020 to 64,297.

The new cases were recorded in Region Two – two cases, Region Six – two cases, Region Four - four cases and

PAGE 21

Kaieteur News

Region 10 – 13 cases.

Meanwhile, there are three patients in the COVID19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 21 are in institutional isolation and 527 are in home isolation.

To date, 62,515 people have recovered and 1,231 have died.

UG’s FramePerfect outshines 150...

From page 17 devices when logging activity is taking place. They have a vision of using the drones to inform rangers of when illegal logging takes place.”

In an interview with UG’s Public Relations Department, Shomari said: “We are elated that we won. We’re happy because we got to showcase and defend our idea and, in the process of doing that, brought attention to the University of Guyana and Guyana as a whole.”

He said too: “The competition itself pushed us to bring our A-game because we were up against people with great ideas and the skillset to represent their ideas well. It was a wild ride. Every one of our opponents was immensely talented and had something unique to offer. After the presentation of our idea, it was nerve-wracking anticipating who would win, and we had

doubts because we did not know what the judges were looking for specifically.”

Expressing deep appreciation to all those who supported the team’s participation in the event, Shomari said: “Firstly, I have to acknowledge that my team would not be able to participate in this competition if it wasn’t for the support of the University of Guyana’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Philanthropy, Alumni and Civic Engagement (PACE) office and Tactical Online Service (TOS) departments at UG and GTT.” UG Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin, has expressed absolute delight at the team’s success. She said, “This is what UG is supposed to be about.

Success for our students and staff in any arena. We are getting there, and this is one of those things that is testimony to this focus of student-citi-

zen success that we have.

My office supported them because we thought they deserved the exposure as young people. They still had to do their UG work while travelling.

Sometimes speaking to Shomari, who works in my office late at night, I could hear the others in the background, definitely cramped in a single room but intellectually expansive, awake and firing on all cylinders. A special, special moment for all the young people of this country and region! We are just happy and thank these young men and all those who also helped to support them and nurture them.”

According to Shomari, who just graduated with a Master’s in Global Technology and Development under UG’s Special Faculty building programme with ASU (Arizona State University), the team members are excited that

they won the competition, as they were provided with an opportunity to compete and showcase what Guyanese are capable of and what our University is capable of nurturing. When asked what the next move for the team would be, he said: “Our team is made up of young professionals (21-22 years old), and the guys want to continue pursuing their education. Malik and Andrew are looking to pursue their master’s in data science/ Artificial Intelligence. Jung is about to graduate from the University of Guyana and is a part-time software developer at the University. As for me (Shomari Williams), I have recently finished my Masters, and it’s time to work on personal and career development. We are all exhausted after a few long weeks of effort but are now fuelling back up to continue putting in the work.”

Heavy downpour leaves sections of...

From page 18 will get the water free of cost, no money they have to pay,” he insisted.

Meanwhile, the CDC revealed on Monday too that the Toshao at Rockstone, Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice (Region 10) has confirmed that some homes there are flooded as well.

Reports suggest that at least three homes are inundated but the residents have chosen to remain in their homes and manage the situa-

tion. Water, according to the CDC, is said to be approximately one foot in height, and houses along the banks of the creek have accumulated flood waters in the yards of residents.

Heavy rainfall, it noted, is expected to continue during the next 24 hours and residents countrywide are advised to take all necessary precautions and to report any impacts to local authorities or the National Emergency Monitoring System (NEMS)

CDB to kick off 52nd...

From page 20 nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. The webinar entitled, Regional Food Security: Streamlining

Logistics To Bring Products To Market will be streamed on the Bank’s social media platforms Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram.

National library withdraws...

From page 15 1966 Independence; the parade at the National Park, flag raising, the handing over of the Independence instrument, and the dignitaries that were in attendance, among others. Alexander said the Independence exhibition will, nonetheless, be held at a lo-

cation to be announced by the Foundation today.

This media house attempted on two occasions, to get in touch with the Chief Librarian of the Church and Main Streets organisation, to get a comment but was told on both occasions that she was in a meeting.

on 600-7500 or 226-1114 at any time.

Meanwhile, in Georgetown, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Monday issued an advisory that urged citizens to safeguard their homes since the city drains and canals were filled to capacity.

The M&CC noted that it has collaborated with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority to facilitate desilting as part of its maintenance schedule of the canals.

It was also stated that the administration continues to work diligently as engineers ensure pumps and kokers are in working order.

Due to the rainfall, several parts of the city experienced severe flooding. Impacted severely were some stall owners in the Stabroek Market who were forced to secure their businesses and retire for the day.

The M&CC is urging citizens to do their part by reporting littering, safeguarding their property from flooding and being careful on the wet and slippery roadways.

PAGE 22

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

Exxon relies on decade-old data to justify low...

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From page 16 per year. This is poised to increase Guyana’s estimated GHG emissions by approximately 1.4 to 1.7 percent. Overall, ExxonMobil said that the project will emit between 0.00016 to 0.00026 percent of the predicted future global GHG emissions.

Even though Hall said the most recent data dates back to a decade ago, research conducted by this publication proved this not to be true. For instance, one website Knoema, an Eldridge business, which boasts of being the premier data platform and the most comprehensive source of global decisionmaking data in the world, includes data on Guyana’s emissions, stemming from the burning of fossil fuels and the manufacturing of cement for example.

They include carbon dioxide produced during consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels and gas flaring.

According to that site, “In 2020, CO2 emissions per capita for Guyana was 1.92 tons of CO2 per capita.

Though Guyana CO2 emissions per capita fluctuated

substantially in recent years, it tended to increase through 1971-2020 period ending at 1.92 tons of CO2 per capita in 2020.”

M e a n w h i l e , ourworldindata.org also cited emissions from Guyana, as recent as 2018. It estimated that Guyana emitted about 19.12 million tonnes of GHGs that year. https:// ourworldindata.org/greenhouse-gas-emissions When this amount is converted to tonnes, it amounts to approximately 19,000 kilotonnes. This is more than four times the total GHGs estimated to have been released from Guyana 10 years ago.

Nevertheless, during the EIA consultation of the gasto-energy project, the Consultant shared other details regarding the impacts to air quality, during the construction and operations phases.

Hall explained, “we ran a different computer model for operations; in other words, when the facility is operating on a continuous basis what are the predicted concentrations of pollutants that it will produce

outside of the fence line of the facility and what we found is that this particular facility is a relatively low emitter across industrial facilities and the maximum concentration of any pollutant at the fence line is actually only about eight percent or about 12 times lower than a health based standard.”

In fact, he said that for most of the pollutants, the predicted concentrations is about one percent or less or about 100 times lower than the health based limits, which means there is a low significance of impacts to air quality.

“With respect to construction, the primary concern there is similar to noise, in the proximity of the construction work team, certain houses, again for about two kilometres of the 25 kilometres,

the construction activity for the onshore pipeline will be near residential areas and there will be a concern, under the wrong conditions for dust concerns,” he added.

In Exxon’s Project Summary, it was outlined that air emissions resulting from the project have the potential to affect ambient air quality in the project area on a localised basis and to contribute to GHG emissions.

The emissions will result from construction equipment and backup diesel-fired power generation; from operational point sources; non-routine, temporary flaring; pilot flare activities; plant emissions; fugitive emissions from construction or operations; non-routine, unplanned events.

$95M to complete...

From page 19 understands that phase one was recently completed. As previously reported, the government this year allocated the sum of $15.2 billion for the

construction and rehabilitation of urban and community roads across the country. Already a number of these projects were awarded and works have commenced.

Environmentalist requests fish study from FAO...

From page 12 on fisheries. “This is an assessment that ought to have been conducted as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process and the findings used as a criterion for the Agency’s decision on whether a permit should have been granted.

The mere fact that this Government Agency asked a private company to undertake the assessment task, and has failed for five years to provide any monitoring and evaluation reports on offshore practices, signals that it had no credible research information regarding the impacts of offshore oil and gas activities on Guyana’s fisheries sector, nor was it expecting such information from a third party at the time that it granted the permit,” she contended.

In a brief telephone interview on Friday, the Minister told Kaieteur News that the

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study has concluded that the visible impacts to the local fisheries sector was merely as a result of climate change.

According to him, “It’s not as a result of that (oil operations)…the report says about climate change and the fresh water that was responsible.”

Fishermen in Guyana have been complaining bitterly of low catch over the past months, blaming the situation on oil giant, ExxonMobil’s operations offshore.

But even though high ranking government officials have shot down this claim, arguing that there is no data

to prove this, Exxon’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), which is gearing to startup production at the Yellowtail development, has warned that its operations can impact fish within the project site.

In fact, this warning is included in all of the EIAs submitted by the company for its offshore operations.

For instance, deep within the EIA of the Payara Project are blatant admissions from EEPGL that this third oil development which will produce over 220,000 barrels of oil per day, can have an impact on the migratory pattern of the

local fish stock. It also warned that toxic effects can also be unleashed on these aquatic vertebrates.

Similarly for its fourth project, the Yellowtail development, EEPGL said marine fish could be impacted as a result of deteriorated water quality, from discharges generated during the project.

In addition to poor water quality, acoustic effects or noise from the company’s operations can also cause fish to be impacted.

These species can also be sucked into the equipment which Exxon will be utilising for oil production, the impact assessment cautioned.

DPP reassures public that office will remain...

From page 14 Office will continue to uphold the rule of law as it is mandated to do. The Office wishes to inform all persons that the DPP’s Office will not be intimidated or hindered by cheap and baseless attempts on partisan positions in carrying out its constitutional functions,” the statement said.

Further, the Office of the DPP said that it can boast of its professional approach to all cases receiving attention.

“The DPP’s Office reassures the public that it will continue to remain apolitical, and act in a lawful and professional manner devoid of any prejudices,” the statement added.

In March, Chief Magistrate McLennan granted bail in the sum of $100,000 and ordered the lawyer not to

make contact or cause anyone to make contact with Bollers.

However, when the matter was called before Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel IsaacsMarcus on the following court date, instead of the matter continuing, the magistrate received a letter from the DPP which stated that in exercise of the powers conferred on her by Article 187 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, “I hereby discontinue the charge in the above matter.”

Article 187:1 states, “The Director of Public Prosecutions (referred to in this article as ‘the Director’) shall have power in any case in which he or she considers it desirable to do so – (a) to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person

before any court, other than a court martial, in respect of any offence against the law of Guyana. (b) to take over and continue any such criminal proceedings that may have been instituted by any other person or authority; and (c) to discontinue at any stage before judgment is delivered any such criminal proceedings instituted or undertaken by him or her or any other person or authority.”

As such, the matter against attorney-at-law Nirvan Singh, who was charged for using racial slurs against the policewoman, was dismissed. In response to the DPP’s action, attorney-at-law Eusi Anderson, who is representing the policewoman, issued a statement in which it was stated that the matter will go as far as the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

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Berbice are GCB senior women’s inter...

From page 31 dismissal triggered a collapse as Gajnabi had Kavita Yadram (00) caught at the wicket by Shemaine Campbelle and sent back Cherry Ann Fraser (08) caught and bowled as Demerara slipped to 65-3.

Demerara suffered two further setbacks when Kaysia Schultz (05) and Latisha Jordan (00) were run out in quick succession before Grimmond continued the slide by having of Kimmone Thomas (00) caught, Shameka Edwards (00) and Emalisa Whyte (00) both lbw, while Ashmini Munisar sent back Lyndia Sylvin (06) lbw.

Toussaint remained not out on 37 off 76 balls with six fours as Demerara made 96-9

in 26.2 overs. Grimmond claimed 3-6 and Gajnabi 2-21.

Following a rain interruption, Berbice were set a revised target of 93 and Grimmond and Katana Mentore put their team on course with an opening stand of 31 before Grimmond was run out for 22 off 11 balls with three fours. Mentore and Gajnabi added 45 for the second wicket before Fraser had Mentore lbw for 19 off 16 balls which included three fours. Fraser struck again when she had Campbell (02) caught at the wicket, but Gajnabi and Sherika Campbell saw their team home in the 13th over; Berbice made 93-3.

Fraser took 2-32. Gajnabi was named player of the match.

Shabika Gagnabi collects the MVP prize from Julian Moore.

Tuesday May 24, 2022 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) You may have felt somewhat frustrated in your initiatives over the past few days, Aries. Either outside obstacles, such as events that caused delays, or inner restraints, such as your own apathy.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Sometimes people might reproach you for being less than tactful in relationships, Libra. However, today's planetary energies are going to help you be more sensitive.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) It will be a stimulating day for you, Taurus! You'll feel great and have no trouble channeling all your energy into your activities. But don't be surprised if you encounter some resistance.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) You have an unusual gift for making a situation seem less dramatic, Scorpio. Today, you'll witness crises of all kinds. You will be the one who reassures people. .

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Dare to express your ideas without fear of ridicule. This is what the planetary configuration has to say to you today, Sagittarius.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Be careful not to lose your temper today, Gemini. You're chomping at the bit these days, although your daring nature has been reined in by financial and professional constraints.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Today time will stop and might even seem to go backward, Cancer. Use this pause to reflect on your motivations.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Overall, the climate is tense at work and at home, Leo. You'll sense a feeling of restlessness and a longing for change, but you'll also feel a reluctance to make any real moves in that direction.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Se pt. 22) Your stroll through the universe of possibilities that you so love has come to an end, Virgo. It's time for you to come back to Earth and join the rest of us.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) If you've always felt the desire to write, now is the time to take the plunge, Capricorn. You certainly don't lack the imagination!

Your problem may be that you have difficulty taking your prose seriously.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) You might have some strong hesitations during the day, Aquarius. You may have to cover up the truth or, on the contrary, say it out loud. If this is the case, say what's on your mind.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) There are moments when your powers of clear thinking reveal the tremendous amount of maturity that you have, Pisces. You aren't usually a dreamer, so it's rather difficult to lead you into ambiguous situations.

Nadal destroys Thompson to reach French Open...

From page 28 Nadal broke for 2-1 with a backhand volley winner and his massive forehand helped him quickly move 4-1 up against an overwhelmed opponent.

The fifth seed looked to finish off some points quickly and made several unusual unforced errors, but they were of little consequence as he breezed through the opening set.

Nadal broke serve in the

first game of the second set and again in the fifth and seventh as he started to play more neatly, bagging it with a service winner.

Thompson, who pulled a break back, looked worn out by then but held it together until 2-2, when Nadal broke with a forehand volley and won the rest of the games for his 299th victory at a major, having never lost in the first round here in 18 entries.

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Tuesday May 24, 2022

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Women’s T20 Challenge in Pune…

Vastrakar’s 4-for gives Supernovas a winning start (ESPN Cricinfo) Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas made a winning start to the Women’s T20 Challenge in Pune yesterday. They successfully defended 163, a prospect that looked unlikely when Smriti Mandhana raced off the blocks in Trailblazers’ chase.

From 63 for 1, they collapsed to 73 for 7 in the 13th over, by which time the game was well and truly over. Supernovas eventually won by 49 runs. Pooja Vastrakar, the seam bowling allrounder, picked four wickets while England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone and Australia legspinner Alana King picked two apiece.

Trailblazers’ Nos. 4 to 8 contributed only three runs in total, as they slumped after Mandhana’s turbocharged 34. After Vastrakar got both openers, she got her third when Sophia Dunkley slapped one to mid-off where a diving Priya Punia completed her second superb

catch of thre evening.

That it came three balls after Mandhana was caught

by Punia at mid-on rattled the Trailblazers. With big inroads made, Ecclestone and King joined the fun to close out the game.

How the collapse unfolded After King dismissed an advancing Sharmin Akhter, who played all around a full delivery, Ecclestone got onto the scoreboard off consecutive deliveries. First, Richa Ghosh slapped a long hop to point. Off the next delivery, Arundhati Reddy was stumped in freakish fashion when she tapped at the ball, which ricocheted off her front boot and back to an alert Taniya Bhatia behind the stumps as she whipped the bails off. Vastrakar got her fourth when Salma Khatun spooned a catch to cover.

The final nail was hammered in when Meghna Singh broke Rodrigues’ resistance when Harleen Deol took a brilliant

catch while diving forward at deep point. Her 24, however, merely delayed the inevitable.

Super start With the bat, every over of Supernovas’ powerplay featured at least one boundary, as Deandra Dottin and Punia got them off to a flier.

The final ball of the first over was hit for six, thus signalling an early intent to go for the big hits. Dottin was on a runa-ball seven at one stage, before launching Renuka Singh for three boundaries in the third over. That turned out to be the catalyst, as Punia decided to take the attack to Rajashwari Gayakwad in the next over. The opener hit back-to-back boundaries, the first of which was a crisp cover drive while the second was a clever piece of dab between point and short third man.

Dottin crashed a four and a six off Arundhati Reddy in the final over the powerplay, before being run out by a direct hit from Akhter at square leg, even as Supernovas finished the powerplay 58 for 1.

Trailblazers hit back, but fall short Supernovas kept losing their way after the good start, but Harmanpreet Kaur and Vastrakar had added a rapid 27 for the sixth wicket to give them some impetus, but a late collapse meant they finished with at least 20 fewer than they looked like getting.

Harmanpreet’s 29-ball 37 ended in a run out when she and Ecclestone ended up at the bowler’s end. The Supernovas’ captain clearly made her frustration evident, indicating that Ecclestone should have rather risked her wicket by getting to the wicketkeeper’s end. All said, Trailblazers surrendered from a position of strength and have one more game to make amends. Match details: Supernovas 163 (Harmanpreet 37, Dottin 32, Matthews 3-29, Khatun 2-30) beat Trailblazers 114 for 9 (Mandhana 34, Rodrigues 24, Vastrakar 4-12, Ecclestone 2-19, King 2-30) by 49 runs.

Deandra Dottin goes big for Supernovas. (BCCI)

Raducanu tames fellow teenager Noskova in gruelling French Open debut PARIS, (Reuters) - U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu showed exemplary grit on her French Open debut to rally to a 6-7(4) 7-5 6-1 victory in the battle of teenagers against Czech qualifier Linda Noskova yesterday and reach the second round.

The British 19-year-old arrived in Paris after retiring from a first round match in Rome this month with a back problem but showed no signs of discomfort during the gruelling two hour and 37 minute

contest on Court Simonne Mathieu.

“It was an absolute battle.

I’m proud of the way I fought,” 12th-seeded Raducanu said in an on-court interview.

“Linda really came out there firing and as soon as I dropped my ball speed she was all over me.”

In her first matchup against the 17-year-old Noskova, who won the girls’ singles title at Roland Garros last year and is ranked 184th,

Britain’s Emma Raducanu celebrates after winning her first round match against Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova. (REUTERS/ Dylan Martinez)

Raducanu was at first no match for the aggression of the Czech, who hit 48 winners — double her opponent’s tally.

But the Brit kept a lid on her unforced errors — committing 25 compared to 54 from Noskova — to claw her way back into the contest after giving up a 2-0 and a 4-2 lead to lose the opening set in a tiebreak.

During an evenly contested second set, Raducanu pressed home her advantage by breaking Noskova’s serve in the 12th game and swung the momentum of the match

in her favour.

A return winner handed Raducanu the decisive break in the third set and she saved a break point in her next service game to consolidate the lead and open a 4-1 advantage.

There was no way back for Noskova, who became the youngest player to come through Roland Garros qualifying in 13 years, as Raducanu won five straight games to seal the contest and jumped for joy in celebration.

She will meet Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich for a place in the third round.

Nadal destroys Thompson to reach French Open second round PARIS, (Reuters) Rafael Nadal showed no signs of pain as the 13-time French Open champion marched into the second round at Roland Garros with clinical 6-2 6-2 6-2 demolition of Australian Jordan Thompson yesterday.

The Spaniard, who had never arrived in Paris as unprepared as this year after a rib injury and a chronic foot problem hampered the build-up to his beloved Grand Slam tournament, was never bothered on a chilly court Philippe Chatrier.

“It’s incredible for me to play here again on Chatrier. I’m happy with this win. First round is al-

ways special,” said Nadal, who now has 106 wins at Roland Garros - more than any other male player at a single Grand Slam.

“It is a good start, of course, straight sets. That’s it. I mean, I played good for a while. Then things that I could do better and I need to do better. But it is a positive start, and that gives me a chance to have one more day on practice tomorrow and then another chance the day after tomorrow.”

The 35-year-old, who has a record 21 men’s Grand Slam titles to his name, played down the chances of adding to his tally but his display was reminiscent of those of previous years.

(Continued on page 27)

Tuesday May 24, 2022

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Kaieteur News

Holder Djokovic eases Impressive Titans eye past Nishioka into round ticket to dream home final two at French Open 2022 TATA Indian Premier League…

PARIS, (Reuters) - World number one Novak Djokovic cruised past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3 6-1 60 yesterday to advance to the French Open second round in a successful start to his quest for a record-equalling 21st Grand Slam.

Fresh from his Italian Open victory without dropping a set eight days ago, the defending champion broke his Japanese opponent, who deployed a risky strategy of playing tight angles from the start, to move 4-2 up.

Djokovic, unable to defend his Australian Open title due to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and his subsequent deportation amid a media frenzy, squandered a set point at 5-2 but comfortably held serve to close it out.

He then galloped through the next two sets, dropping

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning his first round match against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. (REUTERS/Yves Herman) one game in the process and wrapping up the match in under two hours as he looks to

match fellow title favourite Rafael Nadal’s 21 Grand Slam wins.

Diamond League…

Thompson-Herah, Jackson and Richardson to clash in stacked Women’s 100m

Elaine Thompson-Herah (SportsMax) - The Women’s 100m will be mustsee TV at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday, May 28.

Reigning double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, Olympic 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson and controversial American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson are all down to compete in the showpiece event.

Thompson-Herah has the fastest season’s best

heading into the race having run 10.89 to win her heat at the USATF Golden Games on April 16. She also ran 10.93 at the Puerto Rico International Athletics Classic on May 12 and 10.94 at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series at the National Stadium in Kingston on May 21.

Jackson has only run three 100m races so far this season with her best coming on May 7 when she ran 11.00 to win at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series at the National Stadium in Kingston. She also ran 11.12 for second at the Birmingham Diamond League on May 21 behind British 2019 World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, who will also be in the field in Eugene.

Richardson, who missed the Olympics last year after testing positive for marijuana at the US Olympic Trials, made her season debut on May 21 at the Duval County Challenge in Jacksonville running 11.27 to win.

The field will be rounded out by Ivorian speedster Marie Jose Talou, Jamaican

Olympic 4x100m relay gold medallist Briana Williams, recently crowned World Indoor 60m champion Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland and Americans Teahna Daniels and Twanisha Terry.

(ESPN Cricinfo) - And it’s over to Eden Gardens in Kolkata for Qualifier-1. Two teams with similar approaches will want to give themselves a few extra days of rest ahead of the grand finale.

For Gujarat Titans, it’s the opportunity to play in front of a capacity home crowd in Ahmedabad. For Rajasthan Royals, this is a chance to pay a perfect tribute to Shane Warne, who led them to their only title in 2008.

Royals have never finished in the top-two since the playoffs came into existence in 2011. Meanwhile, Titans have exceeded expectations and pre-tournament billing to get here. Both sides have punted on their six-batters and five-bowler strategy to the hilt.

Their unshakable faith in this core philosophy that has brought them much success.

That said, not everything is similar. Their approaches have varied.

Titans have hit 69 sixes, the least for a team this season. Royals have hit 116, the most.

Titans were written off by many even before a ball was bowled. Their auction strategy was scrutinised. They wondered if Hardik Pandya, fighting his own battles with form and injury, can inspire the new entrants.

One of their openers pulled out of the tournament and their middle order had two rookie-batters and an overseas batter who had racked up poor numbers season after season. Yet, nearly seven weeks later, they became the first team to enter

Rajasthan Royals were outscored by Gujarat Titans in their only encounter this season. the playoffs.

Royals have traversed a slightly trickier path. The early pacesetters had a midseason wobble but gathered their wits towards the end to seal the top-two following a nervy win late last week against Lucknow Super Giants.

Their spin base is covered by pot e n t i a l l y t w o o f India’s best, their top order has revolved around orange-cap holder Jos Buttler, whose late-season slump hasn’t affected dynamics much because the others have stepped up.

Ashwin has played finisher and anchor all while delivering his overs tactfully, while the pace battery has been o p e r a t i n g a t the kind of level expected of them.

Titans won the only outing between the two sides in the league phase. Hardik struck a bruising 87 to set up the game, before their pace

battery of Yash Dayal and Lockie Ferguson snuffed out the Royals. It’s payback time now. Without too much pressure, because both sides know there is a second chance.

Wriddhiman Saha tweaked his hamstring in the final league game and didn’t return to keep wickets.

But the Titans have been given a major boost with the keeper-batter confirming his availability.

Gujarat Titans’ likely XI: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (capt), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal.

Rajasthan Royals’ likely XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (capt, wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldip Sen.

PAGE 30

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

Regional Associations’ Leagues continue across Guyana…

Since the kick off of the Senior Men’s Football League in the nine Regional Associations under the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), not all the teams have managed to balance out their chemistry and some are still raring to go.

Over the weekend, the regularly allotted playing frame, action unfolded at various Grounds across the Country.

East Bank Demerara Football Association (EDFA) On Sunday, wins were recorded by Soesdyke Falcons and Grove Hi Tech at the GFF National Training Centre, though in contrasting fashion.

Falcons devoured St. Cuthbert’s Mission (SCM) 5 – 0 will Grove Hi Tech claimed their first three points via walkover, compliments of Mocha Champions.

In the match that was contested, Terrence Glasgow’s hat-trick which saw him score goals in the 17th, 39th and 71st minutes while he was supported by Marvin Joseph and Kelsey Bernassoon who fired in a goal each in the 50th and 82nd minutes, respectively.

All four teams were scheduled to play their first match with Falcons moving to second in Group B and Grove Hi Tech taking the same position in Group A. Agricola Red

Triangle is on top of Group A, while Timehri Panthers lead the other Group.

Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) In Linden, Botafago FC outplayed Blue Berry Hill 4 – 0, while Amelia’s Ward and Silver Shottas battled to a stalemate at the Mackenzie Sports Complex Ground.

Also battling on Sunday, Botafago were propelled by a goal each from Ojani Whittington, Tevin Thomas, Antiowin Gill and Shane Haynes, in that order. Blue Berry were caught slipping in the opening moments of the match and paid dearly.

They never got a chance to recover from the first half goals scored in the 8th, 12th, 14th and 19th minutes.

The other match ended in a 2 – 2 draw.

Amelia’s Ward were the first to draw blood when Curlon Hinds scored in the 11th minute and were the last to score when Grevon Hinds found the equaliser in the 92nd minute.

Quincy Oudkirk scored the equalizer for Silver Shottas in the 31st minute while Damian Williams put the side ahead in the 44th minute.

On Thursday there are two more matches set for the MSC ground with the first between Kwakwani Strikers and Net Rockers and the other featuring Capital FC and

Botafago goal scorers from left are Antoine Gill, Ojani Whittington and Tevin Thomas.

Coomacka.

West Demerara Football Association (WDFA) Big wins were recorded by Pouderoyen and Eagles at the Leonora Stadium when the West Demerara edition of the League continued.

Pouderoyen sank Crane Rovers, 6 – 0, with doubles from E.J Mars (28th & 59th minutes) and Uidi Matthews (80th & 90th minutes) and a goal each from Leroy Seagle (73rd) and Tesson Fraser (76th).

In the other match, Eagles defeated Wales, 4 – 1. A second half double from Nashawn Liven (51st & 72nd) along with two more second half goals from Jomal Landry and Darrel Alexis was enough

to overshadow the lone goal score by the opposition’s Shaquile Dos Santos.

East Coast Demerara Football Association (ECDFA) On Saturday, the Buxton Ground came alive with two matches, but only one team claimed victory.

Airy Hall Stars squeezed past Ann’s Grove United while Buxton Stars and Buxton United battled to an entertaining draw.

Ann’s Grove did well to go ahead as early as the 2nd minute thanks to Qunicy Barry but the game was back in the balance not long after when Delon Besa equalized in the 13th minute.

The decider was score in the 21st minute as Airy Hall

Soesdyke Falcons’ goal scorers – Terrence Glasgow (left), Kelsey Bernassoon (centre) and Marvin Joseph. parked the bus to maintain the upper hand.

The other match between the Buxtonians ended in a 1 – 1 stalemate.

Buxton Stars with a second minute goal shook up the opposition but they recovered and equalized in the 33rd minute.

Neither team were able to go ahead despite numerous chances on goal by both sides.

On Sunday, the other fixtures that read Victoria Kings versus Victoria Scorpions and Dynamic FC versus Mahaica

Determinators at the Golden Grove Ground were postponed due to inclement weather which made the venue unfit for play.

According to the orgainser, the fixture was rescheduled for Thursday May 26 at the same if the weather holds.

Meanwhile, up to press time Kaieteur Sports was not provided with the results of the other five member associations. However, our team will have the results of the other matches in Wednesday’s issue.

PM Mark Phillips hands over UG NATI in Tertiary Basketball League Semi-Finals Prime Minister Independence Domino tourney sponsorship The Honourable Prime Minister, Ret’d Brigadier Mark Anthony Phillips handed over the Prime Minister lien Trophy and his office’s cash sponsorship to members of the organising team yesterday for the Prime Minister Independence Domino Competition. The event is set for Thursday 26 May, 2022 at 2330 Central Amelia’s Ward, Linden (Shanghai’s Residence).

It is open to all Domino teams affiliated to the various bodies in the country and it is the First Independence Cup Tournament being staged in the Mining Town.

Sponsorship have been coming in for the event from various entities and the PM’s Office had pledged their backing which Prime Minister Phillips presented to Colin BL Aaron in the presence of Aubrey Shanghai Major and Mark Jumbie Wiltshire representing the Kashif and Shanghai Organization who are the organisers of the event.

Attractive prizes are at stake and they are: 1st Place $500,000 2nd Place $300,000 3rd Place $100,000 The winner will also claim the Hon. Prime Minister Lien Trophy. Ramesh Sunich of the Trophy Stall has donated the

trophies for the winner, 2nd and 3rd place teams.

A number of other individual prizes are also to be won. The competition promises to be keen.

Among the other sponsors on board are: Office of the Hon. Prime Minister, Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports, Bakewell, Beharry Group of Companies, Ansa McAl and the Guyana Tourism Authority.

Entrance fee is $15,000 per team and details on registration for the tournament can be had by contacting B.L. Aaron on telephone 662-3497 and or Mark ‘Jumbie’ Wiltshire on 6598672.

The University of Guyana held off the New Amsterdam Technical Institute 77 points to 71 in an intense semifinals battle to secure a spot in the final of the Inaugural Te r t i a r y Basketball League set for June 5th, 2022.

MVP leader, Shaquawn Gill scored a game-high 27 points and 15 rebounds, with good support from Timothy Richmond 15 points, 16 r e b o u n d s , a n d T hariq Duncan 12 points for the university.

For NATI, Charles Williams finished with 27 points and Kadeem Dover had 20 points.

In the second semifinal, the Government Te c h ni c a l Institute maintained a perfect record with a comfortable win over r i v a l L i n d e n Te c h n i c a l Institute 73 points to 69.

Kobe Tappin was the lead man with 20 points, with Rakin Mc Donald 16 points, 12 rebounds, and Royon Shortt 16 points

Kobe Tappin

Shaquawn Gill,

playing an equally important role.

For LTI, Shamar Savory finished with 23 points, 20 rebounds, and Damarcus Adams 22 points and 7 rebounds.

The finals and third-place game will be contested Sunday, J u n e 5 t h f r o m 16:00hrs at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Third Place: New A m s t e r d a m Te c h n i c a l

Institute v Linden Technical Institute.

Championship: G o v e r n m e n t Te c h n i c a l Institute v University of Guyana.

The tournament is sponsored by: National Sports Commission, ExxonMobil, G-Boat Guyana, Edward B. Beharry & Company Ltd, Fireside Grill and Suites, and Banks DIH Ltd.

Tuesday May 24, 2022

PAGE 31

Kaieteur News

2022 National Chess Championships…

Johnson, Meusa firmly ahead Candidate Master Wendell Meusa and Nellisha Johnson are currently leading in their respective tourneys, the Gaico sponsored National Open Chess Tournament and KFC Guyana sponsored Women’s Chess Championships.

Four rounds have been played so far, with both tournaments commencing last Saturday, May 21, at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

The two tournaments are being run concurrently, with the top ten qualifying players participating in each tournament and will conclude on Sunday, May 29.

These players are vying for the National Titles of National Chess Champion a n d Wo m e n ’s N a t i o n a l Chess Champion for 2022.

National Open Tournament Meusa is currently the only player in the Open tournament standing undefeated.

So far, he has defeated Rai Sharma, Godfrey Taylor, defending champion Candidate Master Taffin Khan and Fide Master Anthony Drayton who placed first in the qualifying tournament.

Loris Nathoo and Frankie Farley both follow closely behind Meusa on three points each.

Ethan Lee and Khan are on 2.5 points each with Anthony Drayton and Roberto Neto on 2 points each. The remaining participants are Rai Sharma, Godfrey Taylor and Errol Tiwari.

Godfrey Taylor and Errol Tiwari entered the competition due to the withdrawal of Rashad Hussain and Justino DaSilva.

Meusa faced the defending chess champion Khan in round 3 on Sunday, in what was more than likely the championship deciding match.

Khan, with the black pieces, chose a solid and closed approach against Meusa, and the two entered the middle game in an equal position.

Tiny inaccuracies by Khan allowed Meusa to scrape a small advantage for his position against the defending champion.

However, Khan’s solid play had slipped and Meusa struck without hesit a t i o n . M e u s a ’s w h i t e p i e c e s s t o r m e d K h a n ’s king, his advantage began to snowball. Pawn after pawn fell as Khan’s king ran for safety.

In an attempt to finish

with stylish efficiency, Meusa sacrificed material as his position was already dominating.

Even though the computer analysis indicated that Meusa had not only sacrificed material but also his winning chances, it would be highly unlikely that a human player could defend that position.

As exceptional of a player that Khan is, the position ended in victory for Meusa; a fitting result of a wonderful attacking game of chess.

National Women’s Tournament Nellisha Johnson is so far undefeated in the women’s tournament. She has defeated Adia Alphonso, Maliha Rajkumar, her sister Waveney Johnson and Angel Rahim. On three points are Pooja Lam and defendi n g w o m e n ’s c h a m p i o n Sasha Shariff.

After a long intense showdown, Lam and Shariff drew their match against each other, earning a half point each. Defending Women’s Chess Champion Shariff played the white pieces against the Women’s Qualifiers winner Jessica Callender.

The game began with an unorthodox but equal opening by the players and began the middle game in an even position.

By opposite side castling, Shariff made her intention very clear that an attack was coming, and that it was coming fast.

In an attempt to defend, Callender rerouted her pieces but had only worsened her position via tiny inaccuracies.

Shariff’s pieces lunged at the Callender’s King.

Pawns marched and pieces infiltrated, but alas, Callender’s defense had held.

She had traded her defensive pieces with Shariff’s attacking pieces, diluting the attack altogether. Unfortunately for her, Shariff had other plans.

In the end, Callender had lowered the odds of her losing in the short term, but had destined her loss in the long term.

Shariff led the position into the endgame with an extremely powerful chain of pawns, one of which was a passed pawn. The passed pawn’s power rose at every piece exchange, giving Shariff an undeniable edge.

Disaster struck for Shariff when she blundered her pawn.

The game was now even, but there were enough pieces available for something to go wrong. Time on both player’s clocks were low, sowing the seeds of fear and doubt.

The advantage swung back and forth, as both players missed devastating wins against the other in a highly complicated endgame.

The final missed opportunity landed i n f r o n t o f Shariff, who agreed to a draw in a completely winning, complicated, but terrifying position, letting Callender get away.

The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) wishes to thank its sponsors Gaico Construction and KFC Guyana for its support for these tourneys. The GCF is extremely grateful to these companies for providing the opportunity to its chess players who once again are able to participate in over the board tournaments and looks forward to a continued partnership in the future.

At the conclusion of the N a t i o n a l To u r n a m e n t s , along with its point based system of calculation from i t s G r a n d P r i x To u r n a ments, the GCF will determine the members of its 10member Olympiad Team destined for Chennai, India in July/August 2022 to participate in the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad.

Sasha Shariff (right) and Jessica Callendar.

Wendell Meusa (left) and Anthony Drayton.

PAGE 32

2022 Royersford Tower Health Bike Race...

Joelyn Joseph cops 3rd place in Master’s 55+ (cat 1-4) Class USA-based We Stand United Cycle Club member, Joelyn Joseph, a two-time Olympian (1980 & 1984) continued his good showing on the USA circuit when he ended third in the 2022 Royersford Tower Health Bike Race held on Sunday last Royersford, PA. Competing against 38 starters with 29 completing the race, Joseph, the 2019 International Cycling Union (UCI) Men’s 60-64 Sprint race silver medalist at the Manchester Velodrome in the United Kingdom, took the final podium spot on Sunday last in the 20-mile contest in the Masters 55+ (cat 1-4) event.

Taking on peers younger than himself the Linden born cyclist held his own and employed a number of strategies from his wide-ranging reservoir to take the bronze medal.

He was timed at 41.57.1 in the race which was won by Jeff Miesemer in 41.32.0; the second place was occupied by John Bertolini (41.34.0).

Joseph, also a 2017 UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships silver and bronze medalist at the Los Angeles, USA, commented: “The racecourse was tougher than it looked, there were four

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Kaieteur News

WSU Joelyn Joseph (right) shares the podium with the first and second-place finishers. left turns and two right turns with a slight uphill every lap to maneuver.

I managed to apply my experience and came out with a medal which was satisfying.The weather

conditionswere very hot, this was the first hot temperature, 89° for the season.”

Joseph has indicated that it is now on to the Somerville Criterium Memorial Day race which is set for this weekend.

Golden State Warriors beat Dallas Mavericks to close in on NBA finals (BBC Sport) - The Golden State Warriors are one win away from the NBA finals after beating the Dallas Mavericks 109-100 to go 3-0 up in the Western Conference play-off final.

Stephen Curry scored 32 points for the Warriors and Luka Doncic 40 for the Mavericks.

No team in NBA history has overturned a 3-0 deficit in the play-offs.

“This is probably our best stretch of the season,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

“We’ve got a lot of guys playing at a high level right now.”

Game four of the series is in Dallas today at 9pm.

Andrew Wi g g i n s scored 27 points for the Warriors, who are bidding to reach the NBA finals for the sixth time in eight seasons.

They held a 48-47 lead at half-time but took control in the third quarter, with Curry scoring 11 points to help move the Warriors 78-68 ahead before holding off the Mavericks in the final quar-

The Golden State Warriors won the last of their six NBA titles in 2018.

ter.

“When you’re up 2-0 and you win on the road, it gives you a stranglehold and control of the series.

That’s huge,” said Curry.

“We obviously know that the job’s not done, but it’s a good feeling to know that we can play with house money on Tuesday and try and get the job done.”

The Mavericks went 2-0 and 3-2 down to the Phoenix Suns in the previous round of the play-offs before winning the best-of-seven series

4-3.

“It’s not over yet, but it’s not going to be easy,” said Doncic.

“The Warriors are not going to give you anything easy.

“Nobody had us being here in these Conference finals.

But I think the Warriors are playing incredible.”

In the Eastern Conference series, the Miami Heat led the Boston Celtics 2-1 going into game four on Monday in Boston.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Berbice are GCB senior women’s inter county 50-over champs

The victorious Berbice team.

Demerara Captain Cherry Ann Fraser collects the runner up prize from Peter Persaud.

Shabika Gajnabi accepts the player of the match trophy from Omar Bacchus.

Berbice maintained their unbeaten streak as the defeated Demerara by seven wickets (DLS method) to win the Guyana Cricket Board senior women’s inter county 50-tournament yesterday.

Demerara were asked to bat at Providence and openers Mandy Mangru and Laushana Toussaint handed them a solid start before they

were restricted by some steady bowling led by Sheneta Grimmond and Shakiba Gajnabi.

Mangru and Toussaint added 56 before Plaffiana Millington provided Berbice with the breakthrough by having Mangru caught by Ashmini Munisar for 30 which came off 42 balls and contained five fours. Her (Continued on page 27)

Katana Mentore receives the trophy for scoring the most runs- 198.

PAGE 33

Prime Minister hands over the Prime Minister lien Trophy and his office cash sponsorship to Colin BL Aaron, while Aubrey Shanghai Major (left) and Mark Jumbie Wiltshire share the moment.

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PM Mark Phillips hands over Prime Minister Independence Domino tourney sponsorship

UG NATI in Tertiary Basketball League Semi-Finals Action in the Inaugural Tertiary Basketball League between University of Guyana and New Amsterdam Technical Institute.

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