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Demand of environmental permit... Sunday Edition
AIETEUR Exxon must 10p.
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October 04, 2020
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Who is inheriting our wealth? O
ur parents died and left ten properties for us, their seven children. Dickey, the eldest child, was left in charge of the family estate. Six months after the death of our parents, Dickey informed us that he had sold one of our prime properties for 10 million dollars. We were surprised and asked him if that was the best deal he could have gotten. He replied saying, “Yes, that was the best offer.” A few days after, the brothers and sisters found out that the property he sold was valued more than 100 million dollars. What would you do or say to Dickey if you were one of his brothers or sisters? A few weeks later, we saw people occupying two other properties, next door to the one that Dickey sold. Dickey was asked “What are those people doing in our properties?” He replied that he had transferred the two properties to a local and an international company. But no money was paid. We asked him “Who are the people behind the companies?” He told us he does not know, and that he
never met them. Days passed, weeks and even months passed, and Dickey was still not saying anything about our properties. What would you as a brother or sister do? Guyana, this is the exact scenario with our oil blocks. The government struck a deal with ExxonMobil for the Stabroek Block. Experts said we got robbed. They claimed that we left US$55B on the negotiation table and that it was THE WORST oil deal they had ever seen. When questioned, the political elites agreed that it was a bad deal. They accepted that they made mistakes. But lo and behold, we were yet again told that two other oil blocks: Kaieteur and Canje, with similar values, were transferred to companies and no monies were paid for those blocks. Now, the nation is asking the leaders to say who are the owners of the two oil blocks. But they are telling us they do not know or never met these owners. Are they that stupid or ignorant? Or, like Dickey, are they as crooked as barbed wire?
US$100B Kaieteur Block
US$100B Canje Block
Legalizing stolen state assets C
unning politicians use crooked middlemen to hold, receive or transfer stolen state assets. For example, politicians would have some of their shady friends establish shell companies, information about which the public cannot access. These companies would then be handed oil blocks or given other state assets. In the past, bribes were paid into politicians’ secret bank accounts or that of their relatives.
Wi t h s t r i c t e r a n t i - m o n e y laundering and transparency laws, these bribes are now easily detectable. Corrupt politicians therefore have devised more elaborate schemes to legalize the proceeds of corrupt dealings. One of the ways in which they do this is through secret, prearranged deals in which foreign oil companies would buy in to the state assets held by the shell companies of the friends of politicians. The proceeds of these ‘buy-in’
transactions then become legal income for the politicians and their shady friends. This is how dirty money is made clean. In the process, stolen state assets are disposed of and the earnings become legitimate money, while the public remains clueless. State assets, such as land, can also be given out to middlemen who are either agents or fronts for crooked politicians, for them to execute Stage 2 of the scheme. This occurs when the lands are put on the
open market and sold at a staggering profit. The proceeds of these land sales make billionaires out of the politicians and their cronies, while ensuring that the monies earned are cleaned. Just like a drug kingpin with his dirty money and a helpful bank, Guyanese politicians legitimize stolen property through the shell companies established by their cronies. This is the massive Ponzi scheme which is being operated
using state assets. The PPP/C has handed out the oil-rich Canje and Kaieteur oil blocks. The people of Guyana are clueless as to the identities of the persons behind the companies which have been given these blocks. The owners of these blocks reportedly sold a 35% share of each block to Exxon. Not one blind cent of this multimillion dollar transaction is going to be seen, touched or shared with the ordinary man. It will remain within a closed circle.
Rape accounts for two thirds of cases in Demerara Supreme court
p. 15
Exxon must install EPA tells oil giant to All oil costs Alleged Ponzi schemers complete study on to be audited; halt operations; to meter to record all re-injecting 100% only a matter start paying investors toxins from flaring reservoir water of time - VP from October 12 p. 72
p. 15
p. 67
p. 3
th
Who really owns the Kaieteur and Canje oil blocks, do the leaders of this land care to tell the nation?
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
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Hess plugs $1.8B to develop Payara H
ess Corporation announced that it has plugged US$1.8B into the Payara project. The company, which has a 30 percent stake in Guyana's lucrative Stabroek block, made its final investment decision (FDP) for the Payara development offshore Guyana, shortly after Guyana gave the greenlight on Wednesday. The Payara project is the third phase of development in the Stabroek block. The company said that the US$1.8B figure represents a forecast of its net share of development costs among the three joint venture partners, excluding pre-sanction costs and the purchase cost for the Prosperity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
This, Hess said, is spread out over a few years, approximately US$250 million in 2021, US$450 million in 2022, US$500 million in 2023, US$300 million in 2024 and US$225 million in 2025. “The timing of the FPSO purchase is being evaluated.” Hess stated. “We are excited to sanction our third oil development on the Stabroek Block,” Hess CEO John Hess said. “We thank the Government of Guyana for their support and look forward to realizing the full potential of this world class resource.” ExxonMobil, with a 45 percent operating interest in the block, awarded contracts to Dutch firm, SBM Offshore and French company, TechnipFMC. SBM is expected to
construct and lease the Prosperity vessel, while TechnipFMC was awarded a large subsea contract. The contracts total more than
All oil costs have to be audited; only a matter of time - VP
V
ice President, D r. B h a r r a t Jagdeo, said that all the costs being claimed by ExxonMobil and its Stabroek block partners will have to be audited, and that it's only a matter of time before Government moves beyond the pre-contract audit. “There's an audit ongoing,” he reminded on Friday, during a press conference, “but that covers only the period up to 2017.” The audit of Exxon's precontract costs is being undertaken by UK firm, IHS Markit. In this case, the precontract costs range from 1999 to 2015, as well as additional costs from January to October 2016. The 1999 to 2015 costs are US$460M, and the rest is estimated by International Lawyer Melinda Janki to be about $500M. Pre-contract cost includes contract costs, exploration costs, operating costs, service costs, and general and administrative costs and annual overhead charge as those terms are defined in the 1999
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo Petroleum agreement. ExxonMobil intends to recover all of it from the sale of Guyana's oil. Jagdeo said that the audit is essential, as it is one of the things that can affect Guyana's share of the revenue. “Assuming we find some costs that are not acceptable to us, we'd have to bring them to ExxonMobil, that could change the cost oil and therefore, the share of profit oil.” Jagdeo said.
He said it will be important to go through, not just these but all costs claimed by ExxonMobil. In this regard, ExxonMobil intends to charge Guyana billions of dollars for its developments in the block, from development costs to o p e r a t i n g a n d decommissioning costs. For Liza Phases One & Two, and Payara, the development cost estimates alone exceed US$18B. The Vice President said that these audits will be done by international experts who have experience and knowhow, especially when it comes to oil industry costs. He said he is very concerned at the pace at which the costs are being audited, since the former government allowed almost five years to pass before it commissioned an audit for the pre-contract costs. “We wanna move on that quickly because that could hopefully bring in some more resources…” he told Kaieteur News. “It's just a matter of time.”
US$1B. The investments were made after a contentious review process, linked to E x x o n M o b i l ' s environmental infractions in the Stabroek block. It remains to be seen the magnitude of CNOOC's final investment decision, with a share of 25 percent of the interest in the block. ExxonMobil said that the total development cost for the block is US$9B. Despite having project characteristics very similar to Liza Two, Payara's cost estimate is US$3B higher. Vice President, Dr.
Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday boasted that the permit for the Payara project requires ExxonMobil to disaggregate the costs for the project, for government's perusal. However, Government has announced no plans yet for how and when it will conduct the cost audit. The Payara project, slated for a 2024 startup, will follow Liza Two in 2022 and take Guyana's production up to 560,000 barrels of oil per day. Hess said that the joint venture partners are evaluating more development opportunities, i n c l u d i n g Ye l l o w t a i l ,
Redtail, Mako and Uaru. These developments could quickly allow the consortium to meet its goal of 750,000 barrels of oil per day in the Stabroek block by 2026. The 18 discoveries made by Exxon add up to over 8 billion oil-equivalent barrels in the block. The joint venture partners have managed to get away with a gathering of terms to explore and produce in the block, so generous that Guyana is at the top of their portfolios and looks set to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic with no chance of divestment.
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Sunday October 04, 2020
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
Animal cruelty and how it can be stopped Dear Editor, In general, most people do not frequently witness cruelty to animals or take action when they do see it. However, thanks to social media, we are becoming more
aware of the brutality meted out to animals every day and in most communities across Guyana. On Sept 12th, an animal activist from Diamond, Rae Bobb, received a call from a
person who lives nearby. The lady broke into tears while telling her of a neighbour who beats his two dogs nearly every day, and this has been going on for months. The situation is so bad her animal
loving children are in constant distress and frequently in tears. However, the neighbour was afraid to intervene. Rae, visited the home of (Continued on page 5)
Guyanese Doing Things Right, Government Could Learn The news in recent days have had more than its share of things-costly and vital things-that are mishandled, and which have gone wrong with the worst possible results for the people of this society. Today, we want to pause to marshal the interest and energy to dig behind the headlines that bring shriveling and point to how this country continues to be ruthlessly ripped off by its own, who are having a wonderful time at our expense. But as we do so, we bring in a news story that is far different and stands in contrast to the ugly, disgusting norm. It is one which thrills and gives hope because there are those few to whom conduct clean matters, through doing business at a level largely unknown in this country. Where to begin in this cloudy local maze is the first challenge. We should not, but we must say a word or two about that Payara licensing before there is moving on to things done right; things that inspire and set a standard to be followed. This is most applicable to all those citizens, who rail against corruption and call for clean business practices to be order of the day. Payara is context. Because it meant so much to ExxonMobil and its visions for itself, Payara had to be approved by the drop-dead date of September 30th. The best thing that could be said is that the Ali administration jumped through hoops and walked barefooted on burning coals to deliver its part of the bargain. So, September 30th it had to be, and it was. Lock, stock and barrel, Payara was trussed up like a pig and delivered to ExxonMobil. It is a fat, succulent pig and one from which Guyana should have-and could have-gotten so much more. We have spoken and written about this before: ExxonMobil was wounded; now, compliments of President Irfaan Ali and his government, ExxonMobil has been thrown a lifeline and it is going to take that rope and hang us with it. There was unprecedented opportunity to squeeze something meaningful out of ExxonMobil, but the government folded and felled our hopes with it. We got a few things, but there was so much more in dollars and good sense that could have been extracted. If this is how the PPP/C government intends to be transparent and accountable, then Guyanese can kiss goodbye to the real money and prospects. But some Guyanese showed what it takes to operate at a transparent and accountable level. It is what we offer as a contrast, when we present something different, something and someone operating at a better and higher plane. It is refreshing and should give Guyanese some hope, some strength to continue, and thankful that there are Guyanese citizens, presences, and contributors, who think along these lines, and function in this manner. The context and details were under the banner: “Hospital developer joins in returning controversial Ogle lands to NICIL” (KN September 26). This is a story that encourages, confirms that all is not lost, and goes like this. Cardiology Services, Inc., a group spearheaded by Managing Director, Dr. Mahendra Carpen, had expressed its interest in purchasing various plots of land in Ogle on which to build a state-of-the-art medical facility. This interest was shared as far back as 2017 with NICIL, with little movement or conclusive agreement forthcoming. No terms or details were finalized. Yet “In June 2020, without the knowledge or participation of Cardiology Services Inc, the property was vested in Cardiology Services Inc. though the financial terms of the transaction had not been completed.” Normal, face-to-face and arm’s length business transactions are not conducted in this way. At least, honest and above the board business affairs, those involving sizable multimillion-dollar visions and investments, are simply not done, via a process clouded with the suspicious, unilateral, and what smells of the bizarre. Most people would keep quiet, go along, complete their project, start doing business, and rake in the cash. Except that such was not the case in this instance. In an
inspired and inspiring move, and as carried by KN, “According to the company, given the circumstances surrounding the vesting of the property, it has “agreed to rescind the Vesting Order without prejudice and revert title of the property to NICIL so as to enable the Government of Guyana to fulfill its mandate to ensure all lands are reclaimed unimpeded.” This was not just unheard of in dirty, corrupt Guyana; it takes the breath away for the thinking behind not wanting to be any part of an arrangement that looks bad and is bad in its emergence, and the sudden inexplicable nature of its delivery. Managing Director, Dr. Mahendra Carpen, and his visionary company has established a standard by taking that line to distance from the June 2020th development involving the prime lands, occurred compliments of NICIL. We say unequivocally that Dr. Carpen and his group should be hailed and congratulated for the bold, ethical step taken. It is one that other Guyanese citizens and businesses could do well to emulate through devoting energies and matching practices that bring stirring. Dr. Carpen would be in the company of Corum Group and Navigant Builders, who have all joined in returning the lands. We desperately need more of this kind of conduct, this ringing standard, around here to raise the bar on all of us and
to guide us forward. Guyanese have had the longest wait without coming anywhere near to the kinds of behavior that would pave the way for a new and higher star followed, and which would challenge us to still greater heights. This has not come in any shape or form from most of our politicians, be they seasoned or new, older veterans or younger learners. This has been largely lacking in our public service personnel, whether senior or junior, to the detriment and despair of citizens. This operational modus vivendi, this culture of personal and commercial cleanliness, is more conspicuous by its glaring absence, than by its steady presence. We must embrace and live a better standard starting today and going forward. Guyana needs this in its politics and from its politicians. The citizens of this stricken and struggling society could use it on how we manage every component of our oil blessings. We have heard so much about transparency and accountability that both now assume wide strains of vulgarity. We, as Guyanese leaders and citizens, have to stop talking so much about what is cheap to spout, but expensive and demanding to honor. We can start today with the next deal: let it be on the able. Let it be clean.
Sunday October 04, 2020
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Kaieteur News
The payment of a COVID Risk Allowance (CRA) was my idea Dear Editor, My attention was drawn to the article “Jordan flatly rejected better allowances for healthcare workers – Minister Parag,” which was published in Guyana Chronicle, October 3, 2020. On reading the article, I was overcome by feelings of amusement, astonishment and indignation. Eventually, having been goaded into doing so, I have decided to respond and set the record straight. At the outset, let me say that Minister Parag has been badly advised and/or misinformed, hence her misguided statement. The payment of a Covid Risk Allowance (CRA) was my idea. Yes, you heard correctly: It was my idea. It arose out of an earnest conversation I had with a nurse of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). I was struck by the passion with which she represented the plight of nurses in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the issues she raised with me were the absence of PPEs and cleaning agents, the absence of security in the triage area, exposure to Covid-positive patients, the lack of transportation from their homes to the hospital and vice versa during the curfew hours, the absence of counselling for nurses and their families, and payment of an allowance for the increased risks they faced. This conversation took place circa April 4, 2020. On April 5, 2020 I contacted the Minister of Public Health, via WhatsApp, outlining the issues raised and urged that these matters be addressed quickly. I offered the Ministry of Finance’s help to prevent a crisis from developing, “including the payment of a risk allowance to frontline workers”. Yes, I am able to include that quotation because I still have all of the
WhatsApp communication. A little digression is needed here. In December 2019, the Coalition Government had made a major payout – over $900 million – in increased allowances to the health sector. Among the allowances that were increased, substantially, was Risk Allowance. When I indicated this to the nurse, she claimed that most nurses did not benefit from the increase. In fact, a number of other categories of health personnel suffered a similar fate. As a result, my recommendation to the Minister of Public Health was for priority to be given to those health workers on the frontline, who did not benefit from the 2019 increases, including doctors, nurses and nurse assistants, physiotherapists, as well as others in the emergency department, intensive care unit, infectious diseases units, and respiratory and other wards where patients with suspected pandemic influenza were housed. Consideration must also be given to porters, cleaners and maids. I also indicated that workers at the Palms should benefit, similarly. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health (PS, MPH) and the Director, Office of the Budget (DOB) were charged with the responsibility of putting a package together. I maintained an abiding interest in ensuring that the exercise would be concluded speedily. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Critical information was not provided in a timely manner, as MPH staff seemed preoccupied with getting the Covid hospital completed, among other matters. Where information was provided, it was partial and, in some cases, useless to the exercise at hand. A few examples would suffice: 1. An initial list of those to benefit that was submitted by PS, MPH excluded those in the 10
Regions and GPHC. The exercise to correct this lacuna had to be painstakingly conducted with major inputs from the Ministry of Finance (MoF). 2. Subsequent lists that were submitted by the PS, MPH were found to be defective for a number of reasons: i. Included in the list of those to benefit from CRA were the PS, MPH and DPS, MPH, a clear indication of a lack of clarity of who is a frontline worker. ii. R e c o m m e n d e d monthly payments, retroactive to March 2020, ranged from $120,000 to $60,000. However, no information was provided by MPH as to how these figures were arrived at. This was vitally important since I learnt that GPHC had already begun paying some frontline workers around $10,000 per month while some workers at
the Palms were getting $15,000. iii. No information was provided as to the number of persons to be paid in each category; and the number of persons in receipt of risk allowance who will need a ‘top up’ to the CRA, depending on the category in which they fell. iv. The period for which the payments were to be made was not identified. v. In the absence of (iv), the estimated cost of the package could not be determined. This information would be critical, under any circumstance, in finalising any package of financial assistance. It became even more imperative, given the circumstances under which the Government was operating. In the absence of these and other critical pieces of information, the package could not be concluded;
hence, the Minister of Public Health was unable to present it to Cabinet for approval. I was, therefore, aghast when the PS, Department of the Public Service, by Memorandum to the PS, MPH that was copied to the Ministers of Finance and Public Service, purported to have approved a COVID risk allowance, as recommended by PS, MPH. After my intervention that the approval was done without the requisite information being submitted and without the knowledge of the Ministry of Finance, this Memorandum was put on ‘pause’; it may have been withdrawn, subsequently. On August 2, 2020 the Minister of Public Health reached out to me to bring an end to the inordinate time it was taking to conclude the issue of risk allowance for health workers. In response to her WhatsApp message, I
wrote the following: “Good morning Volda. This matter is with your PS who seems to have thrown in the towel. Until answers to specific questions are given, I can’t help. I’m the one who suggested this allowance to you. So, I remain a friend. But we have to do things systematically to avoid future problems, animus from other sector employees and sustainability over the defined period.” Her response to me was, “Okay I will get on to Sonya [DOB] and see what is needed. Thank you.” As you know, Editor, it is on that day that all Ministers of the Coalition Government demitted office. I enjoin Minister Parag and her colleagues to eschew the need to score cheap political, propagandistic points. Yours truly, Winston Jordan Former Minister of Finance
...Animal cruelty and how it can be stopped From page 4 the man and told him what she had learnt, informing him there are laws against cruelty to animals. The man responded negatively, saying she can bring whomever she wants, the dogs belong to him and he can do whatever he wants with them. He even said that his lawyer told him it was ok to beat his dogs. Rae followed up by making a report to the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA). The animal inspectors then went to the location but the man would not come out of his home but was apparently watching them through surveillance cameras in his yard. Rae called and informed me of what was happening. I then called the Diamond Police Station and spoke with
Sgt. Johnson. He sent a constable with Rae to investigate. The constable advised the man not to beat his dogs but got a rude response. The constable then told him to cease and desist but the man continued to beat his dogs on a regular basis. I then made contact with Kurleigh Simon, Divisional Commander 4B, and explained what was taking place. The GSPCA followed up by sending a letter to Commander Simon with, Section 177 (1) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act Cap, 8:02. This Act provides that any person, including an owner, who cruelly beats, kicks, or ill-treats an animal is guilty of the offence of cruelty and liable to imprisonment for six months and a fine between
$7,500 and $15,000. When the abuser discovered who had initiated the complaint, he threatened her. The lady accuser then made a statement to the police regarding the man’s threat and the unrelenting abuse of the animals. On October 1st, the abuser was picked up and taken to the station where Sgt. Johnson explained the seriousness of the offence. The abuser was remorseful and asked for a second chance, promising to never hurt his animals again. He said he beat them because they were digging up his plants. The accuser then decided to drop the matter. Sgt. Johnson informed the abuser, if it happens again the courts will deal with the matter. This is a good example of
what can be done when concerned people take a stand. A very big thanks goes to: Diamond Police Station, Commander K. Simon, Sgt. Johnson, and their constables for their professionalism in dealing with the matter; the GSPCA, for all their support; activist Rae Bobb, for her effective coordination; the lady who did not turn a blind eye to animal cruelty; and lawyers and a kind judge, who provided their advice pro bono. Yours truly, Syeada Manbodh
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
It is vital to this nation’s survival that workers be respected for who they are Dear Editor, The call for equal treatment by the workers of this country cannot be ignored. It is a call for a better approach in governing this nation and would be for the benefit of all. The welfare of the sugar, nurses, bauxite and all workers are of equal import. Any adverse socioeconomic impact in the communities where these workers reside is no less deserving of attention to be treated in an equal manner. Today the nurses are protesting for improved working conditions, such as better salary, personal protective equipment and allowances. Their demands ought not to be ignored or politicised, however tempting it may be or the political fodder that could be achieved. It remains an unfortunate aspect of this nation’s culture where the protest of one group is justified as the other is ridiculed, where the welfare of one is considered more important than the welfare of the other. The society cannot continue with this thinking, neither government be accused of practicing unequal treatment. It is vital to this nation’s survival that workers be treated and respected for who they are, i.e. equal citizens with equal inalienable rights. The case of the nurses is deserving of immediate
attention. They should not be made to feel that their service to this nation takes second place to any other. They should not be made to feel that any category of worker is of more or lesser importance for each category is vital to the welfare, production and development of the nation and must be treated in like manner. Nurses should not be made to feel that sugar workers are more important than them and vice versa. Those placards are speaking to us and they cannot be ignored. The attention the government is paying to sugar workers and the socioeconomic impact in their communities must be given to nurses because they are equally deserving. This goes for every worker. Government in every society sets the tone for how workers will be treated by the government as an employer and protector of the laws. It does no good to this nation for any government to stand accused of engaging in discriminatory treatment against any category of workers. Where in our society labour, ethnicity and politics have intertwined, it is way past time to get rid of this toxic brew by moving to uphold the rights of all and treat all with deserving respect and dignity. We must return to a practice in this country of treating the
working class equally and as is guaranteed in the Constitution of Guyana. As the call is being to honour this sacred tenet for the nurses, attention is also being brought to the case of the workers employed at the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI). As the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) acknowledges negotiation with this company was last at the
arbitration stage, and expects it to be executed by this administration soonest, note is taken of the recent public pronouncement by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat that RUSAL has approached the Government for financial assistance to reopen the operations of Kwakwani and Aroaima. It is left to be seen if this government gives consideration to this matter as it has done in reopening
the sugar estates, though it is preferred the State takes over the company given the notorious reputation of RUSAL as an employer and corporate citizen when it comes to treating with Guyanese, local labour, the Constitution and Laws of Guyana. Guyana’s bauxite has marketable value, and this is confirmed from the performance of BOSAI and First Bauxite, who are operating in Linden and
Demerara/Essequibo Rivers. The problem of BCGI goes back to 2009, more than a decade. It has been this long since the socioeconomic impact of BCGI workers and their communities have been adversely affected. The case of equal treatment must be placed on the front burner as a matter of priority and national import. Yours truly, Lincoln Lewis.
Disgraceful treatment of temporary residents of Success, East Coast Demerara Dear Editor, The abhorrent and callous treatment of Guyanese living on government owned land in Success and surrounding areas on the East Cost of Demerara is unnecessary and unwarranted. It is an affront and abuse of human r i g h t s , w h e n needed access bridge/s and shelter constructed by the impoverished is dismantled and destroyed by authorities, while some of the impoverished temporary residents are fired upon with pellets and tear gas, as has happened recently. Dislocating and destroying the property of temporary residents, without making alternative arrangements to house the
Guyanese folk in an area, where they can maintain some semblance of livelihood, until permanent resident is acquired, is disgraceful. As per Stabroek News report on October 3, 2020: “Claims made by acting Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh - that GuySuCo has seen a destruction of almost $2 billion in future cash flow because of the destruction o f s u g a r c a n e v a rieties through the actions of squatters.” This in my opinion is Orwellian rubbish talk, unlikely even to be believed by the uninformed or the foolish or both. I welcome the rebuilding of the ecosystem that will
return jobs for the sugar workers, among other community benefits. However, let us not use it as a cover to trample on the rights of Guyanese. What jimba jamba math came up with a loss of $2 billion in future cash flow from destruction of sugar cane varieties? Guyanese squatting on state land is an oxymoron. State land belongs to the people of Guyana, and relocating Guyanese should be done in a studied and planned manner. Why the rush to clear the land of Guyanese temporarily residing in areas such as Success, Vryheid’s Lust and Chateau Margot, on the East Coast of Demerara? Let us step back from this
unprincipled attack on our citizens, being done in the name of commercialization. Instead, let us act with forethought and temperance to resolve this impasse. As Jamaican opposition senator Sophia Frazer-Binns said on February 7, 2020: “The term squatters, in and of itself, is derogatory and demeaning.” Herein I add that negative and criminal labeling, makes it easier if not inevitable that the persons so labeled are mistreated and disrespected and finally, I sync with Voltaire by stating: “Absurdities in belief or language used, leads to Atrocities.” Yours truly, Nigel Hinds
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
FRONT PAGE COMMENTS RECAP As we continue on our mission to enlighten the nation about what Guyana deserves from its massive oil wealth, we at Kaieteur News have published a series of front page comments in hopes of having our leaders take the necessary actions in order to realize the desired outcomes. Today we recap the front page comments of the past week to bring you up to speed.
SUNDAY The Stabroek Block is a done deal. The country has either been outfoxed by the foreign investors or it has been sold-out by our leaders, or both. Foreigners have said that Guyana left US$55B on the negotiation table in Texas. But while we know what has happened in the Stabroek Block, the nation is still awaiting answers about other oil blocks, notably the lucrative Canje and Kaieteur Blocks. These two blocks are believed to collectively contain 7.2 billion barrels of oil, making them just as equivalent in reserves as the Stabroek Block.
MONDAY Since we spent S10.5M rental for a single tent we should do something special with it. For something that is more expensive than the finest silk, we should wrap the people responsible for such an outrage and abomination in it, attach the cords that pin this tent to the ground, and parade them all over town. There was a time when, for less than this multimillion dollar piece of tarpaulin, the
TUESDAY Exxon is saddling the Guyanese people with hundreds of millions of US dollars in PRE-CONTRACT COSTS. Even before, Guyana earned a single dollar from the company’s operations, it was billed US$460 for pre-contract costs up to 2015 and another US$500M for the period between 2015 and 2017, making a grand total of
Who Is The US$7B+ Man? Secrecy, however, surrounds the identities of the principals who were handed the lucrative oil blocks Canje and Kaieteur. The public has not been provided with the identity of the persons behind these deals. Oil companies, including ExxonMobil, have begun to buy-in to these blocks. The person who controls the blocks, therefore is already making big bucks without investing a cent in oil exploration or production. Just US$1 per barrel would yield US$7.2 billion to the unknown owner of these blocks. …Not US$2 …Not US$3
…Not US$4 Just US$1 per barrel would make the owner of those blocks one of the richest men in the western hemisphere. That person would be richer than Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of former President of Angola who is believed to be the richest woman in Africa. If the owner of the blocks obtained US$5 per barrel, it would make him one of the richest persons in the world within five years. The billion-dollar question therefore is who is the invisible man behind the Canje and Kaieteur Blocks? Will the US$7B+ man, please stand up!
That $10.5M Rented Tent men who committed such a crime would be marched out at dawn, paraded before a crowd of cheering and jeering spectators, given a cigarette, offered a blindfold, and given a deserved sendoff But we live in a gentler and kinder civilization now. The problem is that we, the Guyanese taxpayers, are the one who have to bear the costs and endure the sacrifices because of the scoundrels that promise us
much during the elections campaign, but who turn around and plunder everything in sight. Their actions, like this $10.5M boondoggle, test our patience. We believe that this tent should be converted into a pavilion to imprison the Guyanese pharaohs, who squander our resources. There is a serious need for this land to be rid of these persons who betray the trust of the people.
Exxon Is A Freeloader! US$960M. To add insult to injury, no Guyanese can verify what Exxon is doing a hundred plus miles off our coast. Yet, Exxon has billed us, and we have agreed to pay, almost a billion US dollars for things which we cannot verify. Why would our government agree to pay such costs? Having given away the Canje and Kaieteur Oil Blocks in a secret deal to mysterious
friends, it as if we are now paying Exxon, through these exorbitant pre-contract costs, to take the blocks off of our hands. Exxon is ruthlessly taking advantage of Guyana’s lack of experience in the oil industry. And they are doing this with the connivance of our political leaders. If we continue this way, the oil may not mean prosperity but tragedy.
THURSDAY The APNU and AFC are adding little value to Guyana’s politics. To the disgust of many, they are focused too much on power and too little on the country’s progress. While the country’s riches are being carted off, the main parliamentary opposition is not raising a word of objection. In this instance, the main opposition parties are no different from the ruling PPP/C. Why are APNU and AFC at one with the PPP/C in saying nothing about the plundering of our oil and the disappearance of oil blocks into unknown private hands? What are the real roles of APNU and AFC in this
FRIDAY Payara was a masquerade from the beginning. It was an elaborate dog and pony show. Now that the licence is approved, all the government’s yapping and howling can cease. The government has deceived the public by its submission to the will of ExxonMobil. What it promised the people, it did not deliver. The PPP/C started out on the wrong foot with Payara. It picked the wrong persons to review the contract. The review of the Payara Field Development Plan has not been made public, yet the government has been hasty in inking the deal. It did not see it fit to even consult with the Guyanese people. The PPP/C is already in overdrive trying to sell us false dreams about the trillions of dollars which we will earn as a result of this deal. They are, however, silent about the US$9B price tag which has to be paid by the people for this plan, and about their abysmal failure to negotiate any substantial improvement in benefits. Payara was a lost
Why Is The APNU+AFC Silent On The Carting Off Of Our Oil Blocks? national disaster? Why do they have nothing to say or refuse to be critical of their main adversary’s handling of these issues? We have to ask whether they are in bed with or on the same page as the PPP/C when it comes to the disappearance of the Canje and Kaieteur Blocks and the review of the Payara Field Development Plan? We agree that the pandemic, the budget and the appointment of office holders of the Regional Democratic Councils are important. However, what can be more
important than ensuring that our country gets a better deal for its oil wealth? The APNU and the AFC can all serve Guyanese better if they are hawkeyed over our oil. Yet, they are curiously silent. We challenge the opposition to join with us in seeking answers about the Canje and Kaieteur Blocks. We have been doing so every day for years now. Where are the APNU and the AFC? When are they going to advocate for greater transparency and accountability when it comes to our resources?
The PPP/C’s Grand Payara Betrayal opportunity. The PPP/C squandered the chance of righting past wrongs and rebalancing the oil agreements in the country’s favour. Instead of the Treasury benefitting from a bonanza, all the people got were empty
words. Payara is a bitter pill for Guyanese. Their hopes have once again been dashed at the hands of their political leaders. It is time for the Guyanese people to let their leaders know how they feel about this grand betrayal.
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
CDC hands over National Oil Spill Contingency Plan to Prime Minister
Prime Minister, Brigadier Mark Phillips (centre), Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig (right) and Project Manager, Civil Defence Commission, Ms. Anita Wilson, are pictured with copies of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan. After four years of being constantly amended as well as facing periods of languishing in a draft stage, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) finally handed over yesterday, the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan for Guyana to the Government at the Office of the Prime Minister. Director General of the CDC, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, noted that the work on the finished plan was months in the making and involved the input of many key stakeholders including the Maritime Administrative Department (MARAD), Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC). Colonel Craig noted that with Guyana’s emerging oil and gas sector, the need was highlighted for an oil spill response mechanism that will protect Guyana’s land and sea resources should the need arise.
Receiving the plan on behalf of the Government of Guyana was Prime Minister, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips, who noted that he was very pleased with such a strategy that will ably assist the Government’s programme of disaster preparedness in the sector. He expressed gratitude to the CDC for the work done and singled out Anita WilsonLayne for her coordination of the stakeholders and compilation of the comprehensive Plan. He further assured Guyanese that with such a plan that commits the efforts of multisectoral agencies, the preparedness and response will be to the benefit of all. Kaieteur News understands that the National Emergency Oil Spill Plan was crafted with inputs from the Guyana Marine Conservation Society, Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Shipping Association of Guyana, ExxonMobil, Tullow, Guyoil, Repsol, Shell, GAICO Construction and other stakeholders.
Dem boys seh...
Dem boys hands consuming more alcohol dan de mouths 2020 is a bad year. It went viral faster dan we thought it would. De Coronavirus changed all our lives this year. Fuh one, people hardly getting de flu in Guyana because dem sanitize so much dat de flu don’t stand a chance. Dem boys sanitizing too. Anything anyone touch, dem boys gat to sanitize. Never in dem whole life, dem boys imagine dat dem hands would consume more alcohol than them mouth. Dem boys know how de virus does give yuh cough, fever and problems breathing. But dem boys nah know how it also causing a shortage of toilet paper. Dem boys did never believe dat de national motto would have been: “I would not come within six feet of you!” But these days when dem boys see dem friends, dem staying six feet apart. Dem boys know dat de government want more than a six-feet pole between them and de Opposition. And dem
boys nah give dem wrong. What de Opposition do to this country, dem boys feel dat dem lose de moral authority fuh be in de National Assembly. Dat is why dem boys glad when dem pun de government side does turn and look at de Speaker. Dem boys wan encourage dem nat fuh even look in de direction of those
who wanted to undermine democracy. De Americans seh how is plenty visa get pull over de elections. But dem nah talk is who or how much visas get pull. But dem boys so vex with what happen, dat dem write a letter to Pompeo asking he nah gun restore any of dem visas wha get pull.
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
Demands of environmental permit...
Exxon must compensate any nation affected by Payara oil spill By Kiana Wilburg Whether it is Guyana or one of its regional neighbours, ExxonMobil will have to ensure proper compensation for the damage or loss caused by any unmitigated oil spill from the Payara project which gets underway by 2024. This is one of the key provisions that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration was able to secure during recently concluded negotiations for Payara’s environmental permit. This clause was specifically outlined under section 13.0 of the permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The section which deals with Liability for Pollution Damage says at 13.7: “The Permit Holder shall compensate any party who suffers any loss or damage as a result of the attributed project, in accordance with Section 19
(3) (e) of the Environmental Protection Act Cap. 20: 50, Laws of Guyana.” The permit also goes on to state that ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), its servants and/or agents, shall be held liable jointly and/or severally for environmental damage due to pollution from its activities within Guyana, its territorial waters, contiguous zones, continental margins, continental shelf, and Exclusive Economic Zone, inclusive of damage to the marine environment, biodiversity, protected species and natural habitat. With respect to the relevant insurance coverage for any possible damage or loss, the permit notes that it has to be in such amount as is customary with international petroleum industry norms. The EPA also made it clear that it reserves the right to request
documentary evidence that the insurer is authorized to provide such insurance in the jurisdiction as well as to see
evidence of the insurer’s financial strength. The EPA will also demand to see legally binding
documents that EEPGL’s parent company, being ExxonMobil, and its partners in the Stabroek block, being
Hess Corporation and CNOOC/NEXEN, will undertake to provide Continued on page 12
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
Jagdeo criticizes coalition for rejecting health worker’s requests for allowances
Vice President (VP), Bharrat Jagdeo, has criticized the former APNU+AFC regime for repeatedly rejecting public health workers’ requests for risk allowances. Jagdeo’s utterances would appear as hypocritical, however, as the PPP/C refuses to commit to those same request. Jagdeo’s comment follows hundreds of nurses and other frontline workers from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the West Demerara Regional
- BUT FAILS TO COMMIT TO SAME Hospital (WDRH) and the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) staged protests for better salaries, working conditions and risk allowances, over the past two weeks. Carrying placards and chanting ‘No increase and allowance; no work period’, and ‘We demand risk allowances’, the frontline workers believe that their
requests are “more than reasonable”. This is compounded when one considers that these workers are risking their lives to protect themselves and citizens from the COVID-19 virus—which has infected more than 3,000 Guyanese and has taken the lives of 86. Last week, the former Minister of Public Service, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, had
claimed that the coalition was “actively considering” with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) a substantial $100,000 allowance request from the former Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) for healthcare workers. Sarabo-Halley claimed, however, that after the PPP/C assumed office in August the proposal was disregarded. The VP rebutted these claims on Friday during an engagement with the press, as he revealed that former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, had repeatedly refused the health workers’ requests for improved allowances. In fact, Jagdeo articulated to the press that: “When we checked the records, several times the request went into the ministry and they denied it… Over the last several years, the request went in for the allowances for the health workers and they denied it.” Jagdeo’s statements were buttressed by those of the current Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, who told the National Communications Network (NCN) last week that: “For several months now, the Georgetown Public Hospital
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
Former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan
Corporation (GPHC) and the Ministry of Health were making several requests through the Department of Public Service to the Ministry of Finance for increases in allowances. The then Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan flatly refused and rejected those requests.” Jordan sought to respond to Minister Parag, as he penned in a letter yesterday that her utterances were “misguided” and “misinformed”. In fact in his letter, Jordan asserted that it was he who developed the idea for the payment of a COVID-19 risk allowance (CRA). “Yes, you heard
correctly,” he claimed. “It was my idea. It arose out of an earnest conversation I had with a nurse of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).” Jordan wrote that on April 5, 2020 he contacted MoPH, via WhatsApp, outlining a series of issues raised by health workers, and urged that the matters be addressed quickly. “I offered the Ministry of Finance’s help to prevent a crisis from developing, including the payment of a risk allowance to frontline workers,” he said, while noting that he is able to include that quotation since Continued on page 17
Exxon must compensate any... From page 10 adequate financial resources to ensure all environmental obligations by their subsidiaries will be met. Since last year, Kaieteur News would have advocated for national discussions as well as for the government to put safeguards for compensation in place especially when one considers the possible reach of an unmitigated oil spill from the Payara project. These calls were premised on revelations contained in EEPGL’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Payara. This document states that while EEPGL would be taking all precautions, there is a possibility for an oil spill to occur in a number of scenarios. One instance that was considered indicated that an unmitigated oil spill from the Payara field could affect many of Guyana’s neighbours including Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao; the southern Lesser Antilles; and the Greater Antilles. The EIA in particular notes that an unmitigated oil spill from a loss-of-well-control during the December-May season would take a west-northwesterly route through the Gulf of Paria and across the southern edge of the Caribbean Sea. Comparatively strong easterly winds in the December—May season would expose the northern coast of South America and the southern Lesser Antilles to the bulk of shoreline oiling risk. It was further noted that an equivalent spill during the June–November season would be exposed to lower wind speeds, allowing the surface oil to be transported to the north of Trinidad and Tobago and swept into the Caribbean Sea. The EIA states that the plume would track slightly more to the north, across the central
Caribbean Sea and the central and southern portions of the Lesser Antilles, to the Greater Antilles. Significantly, the EIA notes that due to its location at the southern end of the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago is the only island that would have the potential to be affected by the trans-boundary effects of any unmitigated loss-of-well-control event, regardless of season. It states that the probability of oiling at least a portion of the coast of Trinidad and Tobago and/or its coastal waters is approximately 90 to 100 percent for any of the unmitigated loss-of-well-control event scenarios. With the exception of the Gulf of Venezuela, oil spill modelling indicates a five to 60 percent probability of surface oil reaching the Venezuelan coastal zone, depending on location and season. Further, it was outlined in the report that Venezuela has numerous marine turtle nesting beaches, mangroves, important bird areas, coral reefs, and shallow coastal lagoons that would be at risk of oiling. As for Trinidad, it was noted that there are numerous fishing areas which could be impacted by a large spill from a loss-of-well-control event. Additionally, the EIA notes that the economies of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao are dependent on tourism to varying degrees but especially so in Bonaire, which is known internationally as a destination for recreational diving. Considering this, the EIA states that an oil spill would have economic effects but the extent of this would depend to a large degree on the scale of the spill and how rapidly they would recover.
Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
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Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Staff Nurse/Midwife
Onika Khan By Romario Blair
“
When the things we love doing the most cause us hurt and pain, we may feel like quitting, but if we truly love what we do, then we understand why it's important to continue the fight.” Those were the words of Nurse Onika Khan, one of the few Indigenous health workers who are working tirelessly on our nation's frontline. But just recently, she was faced with a terrible dilemma, one that could have ultimately determined the continuance of her career as a frontline worker. You see she has been working on the frontline since Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 case back in March. However, about a month ago, during the call of duty, she contracted the novel
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Nurse Khan originated from humble beginnings. Herself and four siblings, were raised by their single mother, Thelma Williams. She grew up in Mainstay/Whayaka community, a predominantly indigenous community on the Essequibo Coast that is quite famous for its natural black water lake. Her life there, as she described it, was one that was filled with joy and adventure. “It was really exciting growing up in Mainstay because in there, at that time, there wasn't much transportation, so most of the time you had to walk. Sometimes while walking you use to see a deer or sometimes we use to go to the farm and you use to see monkeys in the trees just looking at you, and then there was the lake that we use to go
of 'sal-out' in the moon light. Then we would sit down and grandmother use to tell us stories… We hadn't the things other kids had, chocolate and fancy dolls but we always wanted better so we worked for it.” EDUCATION AND CAREER
Because of her love for nature, Nurse Khan said that she wanted to become a forest ranger. With a giggle she said, “I wanted to be a forest ranger but my mother was scared of me having that job because of going deep into the interior, but I really like nature.” She told Kaieteur News that her eldest sister, Tamala Williams, was the reason for her joining the nursing profession. “My sister, the eldest, was the one who use to push all of us to accomplish things.
With her loving daughter
FLASHBACK: Nurse Khan photographed with some of her colleagues
coronavirus which causes the disease. Interesting to note, however, is that her dilemma was linked to the fact that she had been infected, but rather to the discriminatory reaction from members of the public; the very people she had been making sacrifices to help protect. Nurse Khan presently works in the Maternity Unit of the Suddie Public Hospital where she executes the functions of a midwife. “When maternity patients go in for labour and delivery I basically take care of them during that process making sure that they are emotionally and physically prepared to go through labour,” she explained.
“
At one point I wanted to quit. But I said to myself it could've been worse and it could've happened to anyone. Everything happens for a reason and at least I still had life. So I kept on doing what I do best.
”
and hang out at,” she recalled. As she continued to describe her childhood memories in an Indigenous village, she said, “because we hadn't electricity we use to use flambeau, and because the community was mostly sand, the entire place will just light up when the moon light raises above the trees. The kids will play a game
When I wrote CXC she took my information and she filled up the form for me.” Nurse Khan recalled being accepted to participate in the nursing programme, and commenced training in 2005. She graduated in 2007 and the following year was appointed to the Suddie Public Hospital. After
almost a year at that institution, she pursued a course in midwifery. After training, she continued to work at the same hospital but then transferred to the Oscar Joseph Hospital a few years ago. CONTRACTING COVID-19 It was at the Oscar Joseph Hospital that she contracted COVID-19 last month. To explain this, she revealed that there is presently an arrangement between Regions One and Two which allows high risk pregnant mothers from Region One to be transferred to Region Two. According to Nurse Khan, it is during these transfers that strict precautions must be taken.
“They're persons coming and you don't know who's coming. Some may have had the test done and are coming with their results, while some of the patients come without a result. And the scariest part is that these patients can look normal; they exhibit no symptoms.” Nurse Khan said that during the transfer of high risk patients, no mistakes can be made. This, she added, is a lesson she had to learn the hard way. “Last month they were two maternity mothers without symptoms. They were passed through us at Charity…being a midwife there, I came into direct contact with these mothers. Later they were admitted at Suddie (Hospital) and tested. When the results came back the patients were positive.” Nurse Khan said that upon learning the patients tested positive, she was immediately overwhelmed with fear. “I was fearful, because I was at work when I learnt that the patients that I dealt with, came back positive. I wasn't having any symptoms so I was telling myself it can't be that severe because I wasn't feeling any symptoms. Eventually, they tested us and we had to wait five or six days before I got the results. The day before I got the results I got a slight sore throat, then they called me the night saying that all the tests they took came back negative but mine came back positive.” Nurse Khan and her 12-oldyear daughter, Anteuz Williams, were then quarantined at the Suddie Public Hospital. Her greatest fear, at that time, was the safety of her daughter. “When I learnt that I was infected I was fearful for my daughter, and (continued on page 62)
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
Carpenter dies after slamming into cop’s motorcycle “I’ll be back soon”… were the last words heard by the mother of a young carpenter, hours before he died on Thursday, following a collision with his motorcycle number plate, CF 2481, and that of a cop. According to police reports, the late Joshua Persaud, 22, of 73 St r a t h s p e y, E a s t C o a s t Demerara (ECD), met with the fatal accident sometime around 18:10hrs along the Friendship Railway Embankment. Persaud’s mother said that he had left home that afternoon to meet up with friends in a nearby village.
His last words to her and his fiancé were: “I am going for a ride I’ll be back soon.” Persaud never made it back home that evening. It was while returning from his trip that the young carpenter reportedly crashed into the rear end of another motorcycle, CJ 3521, belonging to a female police constable of Buxton. Investigators said that the woman was heading east along the northern side of the railway embankment. She felt a sudden impact from behind, they reported, just as she had stopped to turn south onto the
Friendship Access Road. The constable reportedly fell onto the roadway but soon got up and saw Persaud’s red motorcycle along with another, black in colour bearing number plate, CG 9899, lying on the roadway as well. Not far away lay Persaud bleeding and motionless while another man believed to be the owner of the black motorcycle was seen running away. Persons who were passing, picked up the carpenter and placed him in a vehicle which transported him to the Georgetown Public
Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for treatment. Persaud’s mother said that around 19:00hrs, she received a phone call informing her that her son has minutes ago met with a serious accident and is currently a patient at GPHC. Shocked, the woman along with other family members rushed down to Georgetown. She recalled, as she broke down into tears, watching her son lying unconscious on the hospital bed, attached to life support machine. At around 19:30hrs, Persaud eventually
succumbed to the severe head injuries he had sustained from the accident. News of his tragic death shook family members who expressed their grief and disbelief via social media platforms. His male cousin posted of the fond memories he shared growing up with Persaud. Persaud’s mom also remembered that he had only bought his motorcycle three months ago. Apart from his parents, siblings, cousins, the young carpenter is survived by his one-yearold daughter and his fiancé.
Dead: Joshua Persaud
Sunday October 04, 2020
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Kaieteur News
Demands of Environmental Permit...
EPA tells oil giant to complete study on re-injecting 100% reservoir water Even though it has allowed ExxonMobil to dump into the ocean, produced water from the Payara project, provided that it is treated to international standards, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has still called on the oil giant to conduct a study on the feasibility of reinjecting all of the water.
This was outlined in the company’s Environmental Permit that was issued last week. The call for the study of re-injecting all of the water that accompanies the oil when it is extracted from the reservoir, comes on the heels of concerns that Guyana is not following international
Rape accounts for two thirds of cases in Demerara Supreme Court
According a notice printed on Saturday in one of the daily newspapers, there are close to 250 rape cases up for trial at the Demerara Supreme Court. The numbers of rape cases account for two-thirds of all the cases set to be heard in the courts starting October 6, 2020. On the notice, there are 370 cases to be heard, ranging from murder trials, attempts to commit murder, manslaughter, wounding cases, trafficking, abduction and cases of rape, buggery, and sexual activity with a minor/family member. In December of 2019, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had reported that Guyana had recorded 4,562 cases of sexual assault and rape. Alarmingly, the GPF further reported that less than quarter of the victims received justice. The GPF’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), through the Bureau of Statistics had revealed in their report that the lowest number of sexual assault cases reported in the last 28 years dates back to 1990 with a total of 82. There has been a significant increase as the year 2015 saw 321 cases throughout the country. This is the highest number investigators had to deal with in almost three decades. What is alarming is that Guyana’s Sexual Offences A c t i s among the most impressive in the Caribbean, yet there has not been a great deal of work towards the implementation of key mechanisms provided for,
to support the law. This shortcoming was highlighted by attorney-atlaw and former Human Services Minister, and now the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, last year. During an interview with Kaieteur News, Manickchand emphasized the reluctance by the current administration to put systems in place. She had said that government’s lack of action has largely hampered the legal enforcement in the fight against sexual violence. The former Minister was specifically questioned about the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act which was brought on stream in 2010. She had indicated that the government undoubtedly has a key role to play, in this regard. Manickchand pointed to the lack of execution of mechanisms like the sexual assault referral centres which are provided for in the Act. She noted that not having this key component has far-reaching effects on the effectiveness of the law. Manickchand believes that it is among the more glaring missteps by the government. “So we don’t have a legislative problem, we have an enforcement problem. The government has to pass the laws, but they also have to follow-up and put the systems in place to complement those laws,” the former Minister asserted.
best practices which dictate that nations should have a c o m p r e h e n s i v e understanding of the environmental risks of the produced water’s toxicity on marine life before granting companies permission to dump it into the ocean. Research also notes that produced water should only be dumped into the ocean when it is just not feasible for it to be re-injected into the earth’s surface. In Guyana’s case, not a single study was done for the Liza Phase One or Two projects. Yet, Guyana went full steam ahead with approving the permits for
those projects. Recognizing the grave mistake made in this regard, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was headed by Dr. Vincent Adams before he was sent on leave, had strongly advocated for ExxonMobil to put systems in place for the re-injection of the produced water for the Payara project. Dr. Adams had said that he is not a proponent for the dumping of produced water into the ocean. He said that the Liza Destiny vessel is already dumping 4,000 barrels of produced water into the ocean and in about six years, it will get to about 300,000 barrels.
Dr. Adams had said: “I have worked in the oil fields as a Production and Reservoir engineer and we injected every single drop of water. If you are onshore, the water would obviously have to be re-injected. Also, the World Bank has made it clear that you should only dispose of produced water into the ocean when it is not technically feasible.” In ExxonMobil’s case, Dr. Adams contended that it is more than feasible. Kaieteur News understands that ExxonMobil has about 30 days upon the receipt of its permit dated September 24, 2020, to submit
the terms of reference for the study detailing the feasibility of re-injecting produced water in lieu of routine discharge to the ocean, including implementation for future installation of facilities for produced water injection and an evaluation of any potential risks to the reservoir from injection, a full cost benefit analysis, and a permit holder’s recommendations. Within 180 days of the date of the EPA’s approval of the terms of reference, Exxon has to complete the study’s final reports which would be conducted by an independent consultant approved by the EPA.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
Demands of environmental permit... What flaring looks like on a FPSO
Even as it begins major development works for the Payara project in the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil will be required to have a metering system in place that will record the volume of all toxins released from instances of flaring.
Exxon must install meter to record all toxins from flaring
This requirement is clearly outlined in its Environmental Permit that was perused by Kaieteur News. The rigid provisions state that ExxonMobil would be required to calibrate and maintain a flare metering system in accordance with
the manufacturer’s recommendations and maintain a consolidated record of all flaring events, regardless of size and duration, including beginning times, end times, volume. The permit for the Payara
project also notes that there should be detailed reports on the quantity of specific pollutants emitted from flaring including but not limited to carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide (CO), methane and ethane, benzene, hydrogen sulphides (H2S), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sulphur oxides. Many of these toxins are well known as cancer-causing agents. ExxonMobil is expected to upkeep this recording system for six years and have the records available on the Payara Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for inspection for a period of two years. Kaieteur News also understands that the permit holder, that is to say ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and
Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), will only be allowed to flare or burn gas during the start up or commissioning stage of its operations. That period, according to the permit, shall not exceed two months. Except where unplanned and required for safety the permit states that EEPGL would have to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency within 48 hours for approval for flaring. It was further noted that approval for flaring shall not be issued for a period exceeding two months. Should more time be needed, the EPA can only grant permission on a month by month basis after taking into account, a study of the circumstances and a detailed report for requiring same. The foregoing demands would draw from the lessons
learnt from the Liza Phase One operations which have seen the flaring of over 11 billion cubic feet of gas as a result of the malfunctioning gas compressor system for the Liza Destiny vessel. This state of affairs started since December 2019 and continues to date. Since assuming office, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, had categorically stated that the People’s Progressive Party / Civic (PPP/C) Government would not allow flaring and has since made this known to ExxonMobil during its engagements. Kaieteur News would have reported since January to now, on the deadly effects of flaring as well as its contribution to climate change, while citing several international studies to support same.
Sunday October 04, 2020
Dr. Narine Singh is new Chief Medical Officer - Dr. Shamdeo Persaud proceeds on preretirement leave
New CMO, Dr. Narine Singh The Ministry of Health has a new Chief Medical Officer. According to officials, Dr. Narine Singh, a long-serving medical professional, has taken up the role effective October 1st. He would be replacing Dr. Shamdeo Persaud who has
proceeded on his preretirement leave. Dr. Singh, who is part of the establishment, has served in number of key positions at the ministry, over the years, including the Director of Regional Health Services. Sources explained that it was not possible for the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Boyle, to be appointed as she is a contract worker, and in any case, has reached the age of 55. An official said that the Ministry of Health has acknowledged the services rendered by Dr. Persaud who served the people of Guyana for over 30 years. He attained the statutory
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Kaieteur News
Proceeded on pre-retirement leave: Dr.Shamdeo Persaud age of retirement at 55 years. It is required at that age for Dr. Persaud to proceed on leave. “Dr. Singh, who is the most senior medical doctor within the public service, has now acceded to perform the duties of CMO,” a senior officer disclosed.
Jagdeo criticizes coalition... From page 12 he is still in receipt of the WhatsApp communication. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health (PS, MPH) and the Director, Office of the Budget (DOB) were charg e d with the responsibility of putting a package together, Jordan said. He maintained an interest in ensuring that the exercise would be concluded speedily, which obviously, did not occur. He said that critical information was not provided in a timely manner, as MoPH staffers seemed “preoccupied” with getting the contentious COVID-19 hospital completed, among other matters. He added, however, where information was provided, it was partial and, in some cases, useless to the exercise at hand. For example, an initial list of those to benefit that was submitted by PS, MPH excluded those in the 10 regions and GPHC;
subsequent lists that were submitted by the PS, MoPH were found to be defective for a number of reasons; no clear indication of who is a frontline worker was given; recommended monthly payments, retroactive to March 2020, ranged from $120,000 to $60,000. However, no information was provided by MoPH as to how these figures were arrived at. F u r t h e r, t h e f o r m e r minister claimed that no information was provided as to the number of persons to be paid in each category; and the number of persons in receipt of risk allowance who will need a ‘top up’ to the CRA, depending on the category in which they fell. In the absence of these and other critical pieces of information, the package could not be concluded. Hence, the former Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, was unable to present it to Cabinet for approval.
“I was, therefore, aghast when the PS, Department of the Public Service, by Memorandum to the PS, MoPH that was copied to the Ministers of Finance and Public Service, purported to have approved a COVID risk allowance, as recommended by PS, M P H . A f t e r m y intervention that the approval was done without the requisite information being submitted and without the knowledge of the Ministry of Finance, this Memorandum was put on ‘pause’; it may have been withdrawn, subsequently,” Jordan concluded in his letter. Even as the PPP/C denounces the coalition for rejecting health workers’ requests for the increase in risk allowances, it refuses to commit to the same. Instead, the PPP/C continues to tout the $150M that was budgeted for health workers, which is set to be expended in improving their working conditions.
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
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Kaieteur News
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Sunday October 04, 2020
>>> Champion Health Care Provider <<<
Committed to health care equity
Finola Ambika Permansingh
- a doctor on a mission to provide equitable health care kind to one another. Wearing a mask “ Be in public and following COVID-19 safety By Sharmain Grainger
W
ith the farreaching impact of COVID-19, it has long become clear that combatting this disease requires more than just the combined effort of a few. Since the disease was able to penetrate our shores back in March, various levels of health workers, from across the country, volunteered to be a part of teams designated to dealing with COVID-19
protocols is an act of kindness towards others. By following the measures, you are not just protecting yourself but also the more vulnerable in society. cases. Before taking their place on the frontlines of our nation, they were made aware that this was a colossal risk. Instead of cowering, they opted to wrestle fear into submission in order to
”
get the job done. But as cases increased, so did related deaths. Although the majority of the infected have recovered, this has been heavily dependent on strong immune systems.
With her always supportive family members
Dr. Finola Ambika Permansingh
Moreover, those with a compromised immune system, at the time of infection, are very dependent on the expertise of those within our health care system. Although frontline workers, from the inception, have valiantly held down the fort, the importance of other workers, throughout the system, cannot be underestimated. Health workers, across
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the board, must play a crucial part in helping to fight the disease. It was against this background that this feature, an idea birthed by the Health Ministry, was initiated. It could, perhaps, be safe to say that our featured 'Champion Health Care Provider', Dr. Finola Ambika Permansingh, has seen the battle from all sides and has not only lived to tell the tale but is doing what she must to help rein-in COVID19. NOT A HOAX While the rate of infection in recent months has been worrying, it is instructive to note that the number of recoveries has been exceptional. According to some reports, this latter development, has resulted in some people choosing to conclude that the disease is a hoax. Dr. Permansingh, who is currently stationed at the Kumaka District Hospital in Moruca, Region One, has knowledge of this state of affairs, noting “there are a lot of people who don't believe that COVID is real.” But her retort to this is, “COVID is very real…I am speaking from my own personal experience…I was infected in May and spent two months in isolation.” Although she has only been practicing for four years, the recent months of experience gained amid the pandemic has propelled her to another plain, perhaps one more superior to those within the fraternity who have never battled such a plague. Being infected too was a process of learning for Dr. Permansingh who has since deduced that “the truly essential things in life are
health, happiness, family and friends.” Drawing attention to the immense changes in the delivery of health care, she informed, “Now we have to be extra cautious and at the same time continue to deliver the same quality healthcare.” And care must be taken too on occasions when “we have to travel long distances by bus or boat to remote areas to get to some COVID-19 patients or suspected cases.” INSPIRED BY NANI W h e n C a l v i n Permansingh, a rice farmer, and his wife, Rookmin, welcomed their daughter into the world on June 5, 1991, they had no idea that in 2020 her profession of choice would be immensely tested by a contagion. In preparation for a productive existence, the Better Hope, Essequibo Coast raised Dr. Permansingh, she attended the Better Hope Primary School and then the Anna Regina Multilateral School before heading to the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba to pursue studies in Medicine. But according to Dr. Permansingh, although she could have easily delved into the field of Veterinary Medicine or Forestry for that matter, the focus simply had to be on humans. This, she explained, was owing to the experience her maternal grandmother endured. “My maternal grandmother, who we all call Nani, was infected with polio as a child and her father had to carry her for miles and miles on his shoulder to get to the nearest doctor.” With the aim of helping to make health care more equitable, Dr. Permansingh decided on a career in Medicine. As a result, from an early age, she started to caress (continued on page 61)
Tiffany Bobb-Semple
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
Meet the alluring Miss Tiffany Bobb-Semple. She enjoys spending time with her family and reading. Her favourite quote is, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.�
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Single mother launches foundation to support parents with special needs children By Rehanna Ramsay
H
aving a child with special needs is a blessing and a challenge. This is the perspective of Guyanese beauty entrepreneur, Michelle Playter; the proud mother of a special needs son. Playter recently opened up to Kaieteur News about how her life changed after having her son, Jaden. Through her foundation which was launched last weekend, the young mother of two is hoping to help parents, particularly mothers, with special needs children. She explained that Jaden's Foundation will be a voice for women dealing with special needs children and help them to be better informed as it relates to taking care of their children. Playter noted that support is essential for any parent raising a child or children, more so, one that has special needs. “As a working mother, I know the struggles of having to ensure that your children are left with the right care, especially Jaden, I had to make sure that when I am working he was left with a caregiver who understood him and his needs,” the single mother added. She noted that her son has several impairments. “At 14 years old, Jaden doesn't talk and can't do anything for himself. He can walk and that's about it. So, when I have to leave him to go anywhere for work it's a challenge to get the right baby sitter. I know struggles so, through my foundation, I am hoping to be able to offer parents the type of guidance and support they need to raise a child like mine,” added Playter. She told this newspaper that her experience raising her son drove the decision to start the foundation. “I have been wanting to do something like this for a while now because I remember after I found out that my son was going to have developmental challenges growing up, I was extremely concerned and I did not know where to find answers to the many questions on how to care for him properly,” Playter said. She reflected on the moment
she realised her son had missed certain growth marks. According to her, Jaden appeared to be a normal baby until he was about eight months. “When he was about eight months, I realized that Jaden was not walking or even attempting to talk. I became concerned because children usually walk at eight months but then I thought it was maybe because of his weight. He was very chubby,” Playter
Jaden, Michelle's special needs son, at the launch of the Foundation
said “My fears were only realised after a visit to the doctor's office,” added the beauty entrepreneur. She noted that while the doctor did not specifically diagnose Jaden's condition, she was told that he would possibly never walk or talk. “First I was told that he had microcephaly because his head was kind of smaller than normal but then I learnt that he may have suffered brain damage due to complications at birth.
Guyanese beauty entrepreneur, Michelle Playter with her sons
Whatever the condition was, I knew that my son would need extra care and attention and I had many questions and wanted answers on how to raise him right,” she stated.
The young mother noted that it was a challenge finding the answers to her many questions. For this reason, Playter said that Jaden's foundation was started.
“That's why I started my foundation to help give mothers like myself get professional guidance and pointers they need on how to care for children with special (continued on page 59)
Members and supporters of Jaden's foundation at the launch last weekend
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
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The sick should not be held to ransom
T
he nurses' protests – which involve being off the job during working hours and sick-outs – are unlawful. They do not fall within the ambit of legitimate industrial actions since they are prohibited under the law. Whatever the merits of nurses' demands, this column considers actions which are tantamount to holding sick people at ransom, as immoral, d e p r a v e d a n d unconscionable, especially occurring in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has said that contingency plans are being put in place in the event of a strike. Such strikes, though not permitted by law, have taken place before. It has affected health care. People have died as a consequence. But it has never crippled the health system… and it will not do so now. There should be no sympathy for those nurses whose actions are illegal. This country has gone through too much since March of this year to be tolerating any further slackness. The government has to be fair but also firm. It must not condone the health of citizens being held to ransom. A new generation of Guyanese have emerged.
They did not stand for the attempt to hijack democracy. They will not stand now for any political strike, which is illegal, and which will lead to suffering and deaths. The people will respond favourably, as they have done in the past, to calls for volunteers to help save the lives of the critically ill. But a contingency response to the heartless and political actions of the nurses is not the only response which is required at this time. The national health system needs to be reformed. The global pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of our local health system. The system is presently not geared to adequately address health crises such as this pandemic. Health experts have predicted that the coronavirus pandemic maybe the first this century. Others will follow. Guyana therefore needs to look beyond the present crisis and to reform its health system to cater for future pandemics and other health crises. The health system is not structured to deal with epidemics and pandemics. It is too centralized. The present system is ineffective and leads to wastefulness, as was evident a few weeks ago when more than G$1B in drugs had to dumped. It is not well-suited for preventative medicine or
community-based treatment. If someone gets sick, that person's relatives should be able to summon a neighbourhood health worker living in the community to assist. There should be trained medical persons in every community to respond to effect Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and other emergency procedures relating to emergencies and injuries. At present, whenever there is a health emergency, the sick and injured have to be rushed to either a health clinic or a hospital. This is not the ideal model for a country like Guyana and especially when one considers that in some cases the health clinic may be a hundred miles away.
Cuba has an excellent community and preventionbased model. In every neighbourhood there are resident doctors and nurses who respond to the health needs of residents within their area. They also engage in preventative medicine, going door-to door, to visit people to check on their health and to address any condition. They are therefore familiar with the people whom they are treating and their medical condition. Therefore, when a medical emergency occurs, they can treat the patient immediately based on first-hand knowledge. Health care is accessible and is quick and effective. They can undertake health surveillance in their communities. Guyana however has an
elitist health system. If you are rich you can afford the expensive private medical health care. But if you are poor, you have to go to a public hospital or health clinic and wait your turn – which can be for hours – and hope that there are medicines available. The local medical fraternity favours such a system. It makes private medical care lucrative, including for those doctors who work in public hospitals but moonlight at private hospitals. Such a system is not suited to responding to pandemics or for effective preventative medicine. If there was in place a community-based health system in Guyana, such as what exists in Cuba today, the high-risk persons for the
coronavirus infections, would have already been identified and precautionary measures would have been taken. Persons from the community can be trained as doctors and nurses. They would live there and work there fulltime. The other benefit however is that with such a system there is a reserve army of health doctors, nurses and other volunteers who can be summoned in the eventuality of inconsiderate and inhumane protests by nurses, in the midst of a health crisis. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
Kaieteur News
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Summoned to higher calling after touching the lives of many…
The story of Chief Prison Officer,
With his loving family in happier times
Prince Cox
By Shervin Belgrave
O
n the morning of August 31, a young Superintendent of Prisons, Olivia Cox, left her West Bank Demerara (WBD) home for work in high spirits. She hopped into her car, started the engine and paused for a while. Her mind flashed back to a romantic conversation she had the night before with her “tall, dark and handsome” husband, Prince Cox, a Chief Prison Officer, who she'd fondly nicknamed “Sensei”. She blushed, located his flash drive, plugged it into the car's deck and browsed through some of his musical selections. Finally, she found something worth listening to – some romantic soul music. Olivia turned the volume up and drove off, humming along to the love songs. The tunes made her think more and more of her “Sensei” and she began singing the beautiful lyrics out loud. Not long after, she made a turn off Mandela Avenue onto Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown. It was just after 08:00hrs and up ahead Olivia noticed a minor traffic build up. As she drove up a little more, she saw a small crowd and the wreckage of two cars. “Another accident!” she must have taught. She stopped, took a look at the accident scene and in her mind said, “I hope there are no fatalities and everyone is okay.”
Without enquiring any further, she stepped on the gas because she did not want to be late for work. But as Olivia was nearing the Camp Street Prison where she was stationed, she noticed that something was amiss. Her colleagues were standing on the road waiting to meet her but with glum faces. She stepped out of the car and asked, “what's wrong?” They responded, 'Did they call you? Did you hear?' Clueless, a perturbed Olivia asked: “hear what?” The colleagues accompanied her into the prison's compound and told her, 'they said that Officer (Prince) Cox met with an accident and died.' NOT MY SENSEI!
A shiver ran through her body. “No, that is not possible!” she exclaimed. “He is not driving. I have the car, that is wrong news,” Olivia immediately tried to clarify. To qualify her belief, she asked a colleague to call Officer Cox's cell phone. Her heart raced as the colleague dialled the number. The phone rang out and the call was forwarded to voicemail. But Olivia's colleague dialled again. This time someone answered the phone and the colleague handed the phone to Olivia. “Hello,” she said, “Where is Prince?” The response made Olivia
freeze. 'He got into a car crash this morning on Homestretch Avenue and passed away. His body is here at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).' “No, it can't be, not my Sensei!” said Olivia as tears rolled down her cheeks. She soon realised that the horrific accident scene she had passed on her way to work was in fact the very one that claimed her husband's life. In that moment she lost all control of her emotions. Soon after his death was confirmed, headlines began surfacing on the internet: 'Prison Officer killed, others injured in smashup'. The following day, this publication carried a version of the tragedy titled: “Chief Prison Officer dies in Homestretch Avenue smashup”. According to that report Officer Cox, 38, was heading home from his duties at the Lusignan Prison in a car driven by his co-worker. It was further reported that while journeying along on Homestretch Avenue towards Georgetown, his co-worker decided to overtake some vehicles in the vicinity of the Customs AntiNarcotics Unit's office. However, he ended up in the path of a Nissan X-Trail SUV. It was detailed that the co-worker swerved the car more towards the northern side of the road to avoid a collision but was not fast enough. This resulted in the SUV crashing into the front door of the car on the
The couple on their wedding day
passenger's side where Cox was seated. Public-spirited citizens helped to pull an unconscious Cox, along with his injured colleagues, from the wreckage. They were all subsequently rushed to the GPHC where Cox was pronounced dead on arrival. News of his tragic death spread quickly and his friends, including co-workers, expressed disbelief on the various social media platforms. Some even stated that they had worked alongside Cox the night before he died. Others said that they had said goodbye to him mere hours before he met his demise in the accident. DEDICATED TO SERVICE His superiors in the Guyana Prison Service reflected on his outstanding career and dedication to service. They all agreed that they could leave Cox in charge of a Prison and sleep peacefully knowing that he was capable of keeping things under control. Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, spoke of his major accomplishments during his almost 16-year-long career. He said that Cox had joined the Prison Service in October 2004 and quickly moved up the ranks. This, he said, was because of his discipline and excellent service. He recalled Cox's promotion to Principle Officer One in 2009 and another promotion to Principle Officer Two in 2016. Samuels further recounted that he had recently assumed his new post of Chief Prison Officer after a third promotion in January 2020. TALL DARK AND HANDSOME
Enjoying a dance with his step-daughter during her 'sweet sixteen' party
Apart from his illustrious career, however, Cox's now widowed wife, Olivia, told another tale of her late husband. Hers is that of a “tall dark and handsome Sensei”. Olivia strolled down memory lane and as she did, she was drawn to the day she first laid eyes on Officer Cox. It was April 2008 and Olivia had recently joined the Prison
Service as a freshman who needed guidance and someone to teach her the job. She was assigned to the finance department and placed to work under Officer Cox. Olivia recalled walking up a flight of stairs and entering an office where a tall, neatly dressed, handsome young man stood braced against a wall, looking through a window. Olivia said “good morning” but her greeting was ignored. She became annoyed and with her fierce personality, she stiffened her shoulders, stood upright and repeated, this time loudly, “Hello, I said good morning sir”. Cox, she said, turned around slowly, smiled and responded “sorry, I did not hear you ma'am”. From that moment on something magical happened between the two. He paid a special interest in her and made sure that she learnt everything she needed to know perfectly. Olivia said that it was during the many training sessions and lessons that they both fell madly in love. “It all happened so fast and before we knew it, we started hanging out and having dates,” said Olivia. THE PROPOSAL According to her, at first she thought that Cox was not serious because she was a single mother with a seven-year-old daughter. However, she was about to receive a surprise that drove her to tears. In June of that same year, two days after her birthday, Cox had invited her to hang with him at his parent's home. For Olivia it was just going to be another night to enjoy with her teacher. In the midst of the chatter, laughter and soft music, the unthinkable happened. There was sudden silence at the gathering and Cox was on his knees with a ring in his hand. Olivia was left in awe, as she drifted to cloud nine hearing the words 'Olivia will you marry me?' Tears rolled down her cheeks as she happily said yes and Cox, the love of her life, placed the ring on her finger. It was all set; she was going to become a married woman (continued on page 65)
Sunday October 04, 2020
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Kaieteur News
Dear Reader, in light of the economic impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, our publisher, with you in mind, has taken the decision to add a few more pages to our newspaper to recap, in their entirety, some of the major stories carried during the past week. SUNDAY PPP/C, APNU+AFC HAVE STAINED GUYANA’S INFANT OIL INDUSTRY WITH ALL THE HALLMARKS OF CORRUPTION A Kaieteur News analysis of 12 major corruption red flags to look out for in the oil industry deals shows that together, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), have managed to tick all the boxes. The corruption red flags are outlined by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in a 2017 report titled ‘Twelve Red Flags: Corruption Risks in the Award of Extractive Sector Licenses and Contracts’. NRGI said that while corruption schemes tend to be complex and opaque at times, the creativity of the players is not endless, and that these 12 scenarios are based on the analyses of recognizable problematic behaviour patterns across resource-rich countries. It noted that these red flags are not to be used as predictors or proof of corruption, but as tools of inquiry. In this regard, the good governance advocate hopes that award processes will be designed by government officials in a manner that conducts due diligence checks which keep these red flags in mind. They also are meant to inform oversight by parliamentarians, journalists, law enforcement officials and other stakeholders. In this article, Kaieteur News will explore how each of these corruption red flags is applicable to at least one scenario which has played out in Guyana in the period 2015 to present. In its report, NRGI considered attributes of award processes to determine the 12 major red flags. To create a pool of scenarios to apply to these red flags, Kaieteur News also considered scenarios in which an award could have been rescinded as an award process. Hence, it was pertinent to consider intersections of the operations of the State Assets
Recovery Agency (SARA) with the oil industry. Several of these conflicts overlap in a few of Guyana’s scenarios. So, while Kaieteur News may use one scenario to explain certain red flags, it does not mean that those are the only red flags which apply. It just means that their application is more evident. A notable observation made by Kaieteur News is that ExxonMobil is a common denominator in most of the scenarios outlined in this article. The first three red flags, in the very least, apply to the questionable award processes for the Kaieteur and Canje blocks. This is not the first time those awards were flagged for a likelihood of corruption. Global Witness urged Guyana to investigate them. An investigation was started by SARA, but it has gone nowhere. The Canje and Kaieteur Blocks were signed away on March 4 and April 28 respectively, according to Global Witness (GW). The Kaieteur Block stakes were split 50/50 between a company called Ratio Energy, then represented by an Israeli-based lawyer named Richard Roberts, and Ratio Guyana, owned by the Israeli company, Ratio Petroleum which has some natural gas drilling experience. Ratio Energy, according to Global Witness, was sold in February 2017 to Cataleya, a company run by two miners, Canadian, Mike Cawood, and the Guyanese, Ryan Pereira. Pereira was previously involved in the Kaieteur licence as the Guyanese representative for Ratio Energy in April of that year, when the company received the block. The Canje Block was signed away to a company called Mid-Atlantic, said to be
run, at the time, by Guyanese businessman, Edris Dookie who went on to become the sole shareholder of the company in 2016. Later on, JHI Associates acquired a stake in the Canje Block. JHI’s website lists a Canadian, John Cullen, as the CEO and Director. GW said that Cullen founded the company. It also noted that public documents from JHI do not list its shareholders. ExxonMobil farmed in these blocks after they were awarded, and now holds a 35 percent stake in each. The other current owners of the Canje Block are Total (35%), JHI (17.5%) and MidAtlantic (12.5%). The other current owners of the Kaieteur Block are Ratio Guyana (25%), Cataleya (25%) and Hess (15%). Hess farmed in, through a deal with Exxon. Red Flag #1 – The government allows a seemingly unqualified company to compete for, or win an award Several specific warning signs to Red Flag #1, listed in the NRGI report, are applicable in the Kaieteur, Canje scenario. Information on these companies is scarce. Most of the early companies which were awarded the blocks or farmed in, did not demonstrate their industry reputation or name recognition when explanations were sought after by Global Witness. Red Flag #2 – A competing or winning company shows signs of having a PEP as a hidden beneficial owner. Red Flag #2 was identified by NRGI as the second highest occurring corruption red flag in the scenarios it studied. Several companies involved in the Kaieteur, Canje scenario were registered in secrecy jurisdictions, making it
difficult to ascertain who truly benefited from the awards, and who may still be benefiting. Kaieteur News has militantly pursued this issue, but government officials both with the former APNU+AFC government and the PPP/C government have been less than cooperative. Kaieteur News will carry the question “Who really owns the Kaieteur and Canje Oil Blocks?” every day on its front page, until the nation finds out who is truly benefitting from these suspicious giveaways. Former Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud facilitated the awards, and he has not provided information on the beneficial owners, despite it being a necessity. He said that his decisions were made based on briefing reports prepared by lawyers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). However, he did not reveal those reports, as he was no longer in office when the controversy arose, neither did he reveal the identities of the lawyers. Red Flag #3 – The winning company or its owners sell out for a large profit without having done substantial work. Numbers have floated around in the public sphere about how much was paid by ExxonMobil to JHI, MidAtlantic and the Ratio Group for stakes it now holds in the Canje and Kaieteur Blocks. All that is in the public is what the Ratio Group has said about how much it has paid, revealed by Global Witness. Kaieteur News is unaware how much was truly paid for the stakes, and who the true beneficiaries of those payments are. The companies also did little to no work in the blocks before signing away the
stakes. JHI said that it purchased seismic data packages on the GuyanaSuriname basin after it acquired its share of the Canje Block, though 35 percent of the licence was sold to Exxon less than a year after Canje was awarded, Global Witness said. NRGI said that a question that would be asked in such a situation is why the government didn’t just give the licence to the company that took over, in the first place. Red Flag #4 – A company or individual with a history of controversy or criminal behaviour competes for, or wins, an award. This red flag was the third highest occurring scenario under the examinations done by NRGI. When the APNU+AFC government had to decide who would market its first three cargoes of oil from the Stabroek Block, the Energy Department last year announced that Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited (SWSTL) would do the job. The Energy Department had said that the factors which led to its decision included a competitive pricing that limits the Government’s exposure to market uncertainty; the size, scale and global reach of its trading operations; the company’s high level of integration between Upstream, Trading and Downstream; and Shell’s strong foothold in the Latin American markets, among other things. While these would all be deemed fair considerations, the Energy Department mentioned nothing about ruling out companies notorious for corruption. In 2011, Global Witness showed how Shell participated in a vast bribery scheme for one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocks, known as OPL 245, paying over US$1.1 billion to convicted money launderer and former oil Minister of Nigeria, Dan Etete, who had awarded himself ownership of
the block in 1998 via a company he secretly owned, Malabu Oil and Gas. This is likely the world’s “biggest corruption scandal” as it has so been called, and Shell is currently on trial for the matter. Red Flag #5 – A competing or winning company has a shareholder or other business relationship with a politically exposed person (PEP), or a company in which a PEP has an interest. Red Flag #6 – An official with influence over the selection process has a conflict of interest. Corruption red flags #5 & #6 involve SARA and its former Special Assistant, Eric Phillips. Phillips had been a pivotal player in the investigations started under the immediate past government of the Kaieteur and Canje Block awards. As someone entrusted with a prominent function by the government, he was a PEP. He is a co-founder of the African Business Roundtable Oil and Gas Exploration, which applied in 2016 for a licence to explore Block C. It is a clear conflict of interest for Phillips to vie for ownership of an oil block, while he investigates awards of oil blocks. Phillips denied that there was a conflict, when it was reported by Kaieteur News, explaining that he left ABR Oil and Gas in September, 2018. However, the oil blocks probe started in May of 2018, which means he was conducting the investigation while still part of ABR. Phillips also denied that there was a conflict by contending that he did not own a block, but NRGI has noted that the red flag also exists during the application/ competing stage. The next three corruption red flags apply to the controversial Stabroek Block agreement granted in 2016 by former Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman. Red Flag #7 – An official intervenes in the award process, resulting in benefit to a particular company Under the terms of the 1999 agreement, which ExxonMobil utilized to explore the Stabroek Block, there were relinquishment provisions. However, they were not strictly applied over the years, which led to Exxon holding on to a large acreage for almost two decades under that agreement. In 2016, before Exxon’s 2018 relinquishment date could come, Trotman decided to grant ExxonMobil a new agreement, using a ‘bridging deed’ which the government kept hidden from the public for four years. (Continued on page 26)
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From page 25 When Kaieteur News did manage to get its hands on the deed, it was through a leak, and not that APNU+AFC decided to release it, of its own volition. While the Deed seeks to ground itself in section 10 of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act governing the oil and gas sector, a perusal of that section shows there is no mention of a Deed. Attorneyat-Law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram had explained this, writing that “[it] gives the Minister no power to enter into any Deed and certainly not one to breathe life into an expiring agreement”. At the time of the signing of the Deed and the 2016 petroleum agreement, Trotman could have told ExxonMobil and its partners, CNOOC and Hess, that his authority was constrained by the law, Ram posited. Instead, according to Ram, he made an award, which he had no authority to make. As a result, ExxonMobil is still in 2018, holding on to one of the largest blocks in the world. It has been in control of the block for over 20 years. Red Flag #8 – A company provides payments, gifts or favours to a PEP with influence over the selection process. NRGI stated that this is the highest occurring red flag in the scenarios it studied. It was Global Witness that earlier this year revealed the circumstances under which Trotman was treated to a lavish trip to ExxonMobil’s Texas headquarters. “He had flown first class, was staying at a pricey hotel nearby, and would dine at Exxon’s exclusive Wolfgang Puck restaurant– all on the company’s dime.” Global Witness wrote. It said, given the former minister’s legal responsibility for negotiating the licence, Exxon’s “apparent generosity” raises questions about the company’s compliance with its Gifts and Entertainment Policy. When questioned on this, the company said it is “committed to the highest standards of business conduct.” Trotman said that he did not consider the situation untoward, as he was accompanied by other officials. Red Flag #9 – The agreed terms of the award deviate significantly from industry or market norms The lopsidedness of this agreement cannot be understated. Years of coverage of various provisions of the Stabroek Block Production Sharing
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Agreement (PSA) have led this newspaper to conclude that the deal is unfair to Guyana. Even Global Witness said that Trotman left US$55B on the table due to the poor nature of the deal. The most prominent provision is the two percent royalty, which is well below the international norm, especially for oil as valuable and as cheap to produce as Guyana’s. Though the royalty has taken centre stage, the contract has been criticised as poor “through and through”. The country has been urged, time and time again, to renegotiate the deal in a manner that reflects the dignity of its patrimony. Both major parties have refused. Red Flag #10 – Competition is deliberately constrained in the award process Overseas secrecy jurisdictions are used by several oil companies, which have interests in Guyana’s oil blocks to prevent the disclosure of various details when transactions are made. Places like Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands have been used by companies like ExxonMobil to hide information. Financial secrecy facilitates corruption, and the incorporation of oil and gas companies in secrecy jurisdictions serves the purpose of obstructing and distorting fair competition. For example, by hiding the cost of a licence, the company awarded the licence inhibits other companies from being able to compete with it. To combat this, Guyana can amend the law to require the release of financial information in the conduct of its own transactions. Red Flag #11 – A company uses a third-party intermediary to gain an advantage in the award. This red flag applies to the granting of the contract to draft Guyana’s local content policy under the previous administration. While internationally respected Trinidadian local content expert, Anthony Paul, worked on previous drafts of the policy, the David Granger administration ultimately replaced Paul with a UK consultant, Dr. Michael Warner. Warner had been contracted by ExxonMobil to work on its Centre for Local Business Development. Despite Kaieteur News identifying this as a clear conflict of interest, the Granger administration allowed him to finalise the policy, which has been criticised for ignoring private sector recommendations, removing several vital
some cases, the produced water is discharged into oceans and other offshore water channels. Because no two geographic regions are alike, studies are done to assess the environmental risks of the produced water’s toxicity on marine life before granting approval for the disposal of it into the ocean. In Guyana’s case, not a single study was done for the Liza Phase One or Two Projects, yet Guyana went full steam ahead with approving the permits for those projects, which allow for the disposal of produced water into the ocean. provisions included by Paul, and including confidentiality provisions, which inhibit the fullest scrutiny of oil companies’ local content commitments. Red Flag #12 – A payment made by the winning company is diverted away from the appropriate government account. The former APNU+AFC government hid from the Guyanese public for over a year that it had received a signing bonus from ExxonMobil of US$18M at the time of inking the 2016 Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement. When asked about it, government officials maneuvered their way out of acknowledging receipt of the bonus. Part of the reason why it was kept secret for so long is the use of a secrecy jurisdiction by ExxonMobil. The money was deposited into the Consolidated Fund in May of 2019, three years after it was received from the oil major. MONDAY …APPROVAL FOR PAYARA PPP/C GOVT. DOING ITS UTMOST TO KEEP GUYANAA “BANANA REPUBLIC” ‘A country which has no self-respect and accepts crumbs for its Crown Jewels’ – Dr. Jan Mangal Upon noting the fact that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C) is just mere days away from signing off on ExxonMobil’s third well project in the Stabroek Block, called Payara, international Petroleum Consultant, Dr. Jan Mangal posits that one can clearly conclude that the current regime is executing actions that will leave Guyana as a “banana republic.” During an exclusive interview, Dr. Mangal articulated, “I have already said so much on this topic, am just thoroughly disappointed to see
Guyanese politicians continue to sell out the nation, and perpetuate our 50 plus years as a failed state, when instead we always should have been the beacon for the Caribbean.” Further to this, the former Presidential Advisor noted that most Guyanese politicians seem either selfinterested, completely mediocre, or a dangerous combination of both while adding that Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and his party seems to be “doing their utmost to keep Guyana a banana republic, a country which has no self-respect and accepts crumbs for its crown jewels. But Guyanese voters are ultimately to blame for perpetuating this sad state for decades, and they will be the ones to continue to suffer.” Also sharing similar sentiments was international lawyer, Melinda Janki. In a brief note, she told this newspaper that it is critical for all to bear in mind that the people of this country were united in insisting that the 2020 elections results which were in PPP/C’s favour, be respected. “Yet, in just a few weeks, the government shows that it is excessively subservient to foreign interests,” the lawyer said. She categorically stated that this does not augur well for Guyana, adding that the PPP/C should not lose sight of the fact that it is the citizenry that voted for them to serve its interest and that of the nation. PAYARA PROJECT On Friday last, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, had told Kaieteur News that the government and ExxonMobil are very close to signing off on the Payara Field Development Plan. In fact, he told this newspaper Sunday that the parties involved were working to get it done before the end of the week, pending Cabinet approval. Up to press time, there was no
confirmation on whether the deal was wrapped up or not. Minister Bharrat said that the current agreement has several safeguards in place, two of which include stiff fines for the burning of gas and failure to treat reservoir water before disposing of it into the ocean. Asked for a ballpark figure of the fines, Minister Bharrat said that this is still being finalized. He was keen to note, however, that the findings of the Payara Field Development review would be released next week. That exercise was initially started by UK firm, Bayphase Oil and Gas Consultants and continued by former Premier of Alberta, Canada, Alison Redford. The PPP government had said that Redford was hired thanks to a grant from the Canadian High Commission. Her team consisted of the former Deputy Minister of Energy in Newfoundland, Canada; senior international reservoir engineers; and Mr. Jay Park, Q.C, Managing Partner of Park Energy Law based in Canada and the United Kingdom. When the review got underway in August, Kaieteur News would have reported that one of the critical issues that stymied swift approval pertained to ExxonMobil’s desire to retain the loopholes it got in the Liza One and Two permits which allow for flaring. The other matter of concern pertains to the dumping of produced water into the ocean. When oil companies drill the seafloor to extract oil, it is not only oil that comes up with it; water is part of the mixture too. As a result of it not being needed, it is separated and disposed of. The critical issue is how that disposal is being done. International best practices dictate that this produced water should be re-injected into the earth’s surface. Research conducted by Kaieteur News notes that in
MORE OVERSIGHT NEEDED FOR OIL COMPANIES’SUPPLIERS DUE TO HIGH INCIDENCE OF CORRUPTION – NRGI Corruption is endemic in the petroleum sector, not just among license/rights holders but among their partnering sub-contractors and suppliers. That’s why the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) is encouraging more oversight for these companies in its 2020 report titled ‘Beneath the Surface: The Case for Oversight of Extractive Industry Suppliers’. “Large oil, gas and mining projects are usually associated with a few big names such as Shell, Exxon, Rio Tinto, Gazprom and Codelco.” NRGI stated. “These are rights holders— companies that receive licenses from host governments to extract resources. Typically, however, lower-profile companies do much of the work to take natural resources out of the ground. These are suppliers—companies that provide the goods and services that make extraction happen. They range in size from multi-billion-dollar international conglomerates like Halliburton, Schlumberger and Caterpillar, to specialized or local firms that may only have a handful of employees.” It stated that between 2008 and 2017, oil, gas and mining companies spent an average of just under a trillion dollars a year. Set to remain one of the major financial flows from extractive industry projects, NRGI pointed to corruption risks in the operations of suppliers, including bribery, favouritism and state capture. An analysis done by NRGI found that suppliers played significant roles extractive industry corruption scandals and foreign bribery (Continued on page 27)
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From page 26 cases in at least 29 countries across five continents. NRGI said that suppliers would sometimes bribe or offer illicit financial rewards to gain an advantage; use an intermediary or supplier to pay the bribe, among other illicit methods. The non-governmental organisation listed some key examples of corruption cases, involving suppliers. Some of these suppliers are even in receipt of contracts for works to be done in Guyana. They are ExxonMobil subcontractors like Saipem, Halliburton and SBM Offshore. ExxonMobil has been using Saipem as its prime contractor for the installation of subsea facilities for its developments in the Stabroek Block. The Italian company was hauled before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) where it settled with a fine of USD$24.5M an allegation that its employees paid approximately €198M to an intermediary that would assist it in obtaining contracts from the national oil company of Algeria, totalling well over USD$10B. The fine was handled by ENI, which had a large controlling interest in Saipem at the time. The intermediary is alleged to have, in turn, channelled money to Algerian officials. Saipem, nor the parent company, confirmed or denied the allegation. Earlier this year, an Italian appeal court overturned a previous corruption conviction laid before Saipem for the same matter. As for SBM, ExxonMobil’s prime shipbuilder, there is a history of bribery of officials to gain advantages. US court statements state that the SBM made “commission” payments to sales agents between 1996 and 2012, in order to deliberately and systematically bribe officials in Brazil, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Iraq and elsewhere. SBM executives bribed officials with over US$180M. These bribes resulted in approximately US$2.8B in profits. Subsequent lawsuit actions led by the Public Prosecutor of its home country, the Netherlands; the US Department of Justice; and the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor resulted in millions of dollars in fines being paid. Halliburton in 2017 was forced to pay US$29M to the SEC to settle a bribery probe. By paying the fine, the company got off without admitting or denying wrongdoing. In this case, the SEC
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alleged that Halliburton pay millions to an Angola staterun company to secure a lucrative oil deal. It made the second time in eight years that Halliburton got into trouble with the SEC and was fined for corrupt practices. TUESDAY GUYANA SHOULD LOOK TO MEXICO FOR CRUCIAL LESSONS ON REGULATINGOIL SECTOR – IDB REPORT – NORTH AMERICAN NATION DID “SEVERE REFORMS” TO AVOID CONFLICT OF INTEREST, ENSURE HIGHEST LEVELS OF TRANSPARENCYAND ACCOUNTABILITY While Guyana is considered to be in a most privileged position given the quality of its reserves, securing the most value from that resource would not be possible without effective regulation. In recognition of this reality, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a special report called, “Traversing a Slippery Slope: Guyana’s Oil Opportunity,” it was recommended that this South American nation take note of the many ways Mexico was able to transform its oil industry into one that is effectively regulated for the benefit of its people. The IDB document noted that Mexico’s oil industry was closed to foreign investment for almost eight years and only saw the sole participation of its National Oil Company, Pemex. Things changed in 2013, where it was agreed that the sector would open up and allow for foreign interests but
not until Mexico implemented a sector-wide reform. After severe legal changes, the IDB noted that Mexico established three entities for the sole purpose of regulating operations in the industry. The National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH as per its acronym in Spanish), was established as an independent regulatory agency responsible for the regulation of oil and gas exploration and production activities, as well as for the acreage bidding process; the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE as per its Spanish acronym) was set up to regulate mid- and downstream operations and issue permits for the storage, transportation and distribution of oil, gas, oil products and petrochemicals; and the Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment (ASEA as per its Spanish acronym) was developed and tasked with the responsibility of ensuring health, safety and environmental standards and regulations in the oil and gas sector, including upstream, midstream, and downstream operations. With this in mind, the IDB report said that Guyana should consider Mexico’s best practices regarding its regulatory framework. The financial institution was keen to note that as part of the energy reform, Mexico strengthened the CNH and the CRE and created the ASEA with well deûned, independent mandates and proper separation of spheres of inûuence to avoid conûicts of interest. The IDB also sought to highlight that Mexico made numerous
efforts to ensure that it had a licensing framework that promotes high levels of transparency and accountability. The Bank said that these best practices among others which have been established in successful petroleumproducing countries undoubtedly represent the international ‘gold standard’ in the sector. As an emerging country, it stressed that Guyana can beneût from the experiences of such countries in developing best practices for managing petroleum resources and creating good governance model frameworks. While such practices may work well for established, well-resourced producers, the IDB cautioned that care must be taken to ensure the suitability of these practices for Guyana as an emerging producer with limited experience in regulating and administrating these types of activities. COALITION’S GIVEAWAY OF PRIME ECD LANDS… THIRD DEVELOPER RETURNS FIVE ACRES TO GOVERNMENT Corum Group Inc, the developer with plans to construct a Holiday Inn Hotel at Ogle East Coast Demerara has relinquished the five acres of prime lands allocated to it in what is being dubbed ‘a mad rush’ deal by the
previous APNU+AFC administration. The company is now the third developer that has opted to return lands to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) to allow for a cleaner and transparent process after it was discovered that the previous regime, through former Finance Minister Winston Jordan, vested the lands without due process. These are prime lands that are located near a major planned highway that would link the East Coast and East Bank transportation network. The almost 1,000 acres of prime lands opened by NICIL for commercial development are said to be worth billions of dollars. Managing Director of Corum Group Inc, Clairmont Cummings, in a statement Monday explained that back in 2017, the company had submitted an expression of interest (EOI) to NICIL for the lease of lands to develop a global chain branded hotel in Guyana. Then later, in 2018, after high level meetings which included market visits by senior directors at Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG), Corum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with IHG for the development of Holiday Inn Guyana. According to Cummings, the deal was tabled in 2020 with approval coming from
NICIL to lease the five acres of lands located at Ogle Plantations. “Corum Group Inc. wishes to voluntarily revert lands to NICIL, without prejudice to support the Government of Guyana in its mandate,” the statement said. “Notwithstanding, we at Corum look forward to working with NICIL and the Government of Guyana through its recently announced Request for Proposals (RFP) to build an international hotel in Guyana at the appropriate time.” GRUESOME MURDER OF BERBICE TEENS…FOREIGN INVESTIGATORS ARRIVE IN GUYANATO ASSIST WITH CASE A team consisting of five investigators from the Regional Security System (RSS) arrived Monday to assist the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in finding the killers of brutally murdered Berbice teens, Haresh Singh, 17; Joel Henry, 19, and Isaiah Henry, 16. Joel and Isaiah’s mutilated bodies were found on September 6, in clumps of bushes near to a coconut estate located at Cotton Tree Backdam, West Coast Berbice, Region Five. Protests marred by violence had erupted over the news of their gruesome murder and days later Singh’s (Continued on page 28)
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From page 27 body was found, lying in a patch of grass and bleeding from the nose at the Number Three Village Backdam. Singh was later pronounced dead at a hospital and was identified as the grandson of one of the suspects, a rice farmer, who was in police custody at the time. In a press statement issued by GPF’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Assistant Commissioner, Royston Andries-Junor, it was revealed that the foreign team is here following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS). The statement detailed as well that the decision to request help from CARICOM IMPACS was made by his Excellency President Irfaan Ali. Kaieteur News had reported that the official request was made after a team of 75 ranks, which included members of Major Crimes Investigations Unit (MICU), the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), turned up empty handed following an eighthour long search for evidence in the Cotton Three backlands. Police had also arrested five suspects and then released them on station bail after the legal 72 hours for holding them had expired. A sixth person was subsequently arrested but since then the Force has been silent on the progress of the probe. Nevertheless, GPF stated in the press release that the Acting Commissioner of Police, Nigel Hoppie, has welcomed the fivemember foreign team to Guyana and has promised to make all the necessary resources available to facilitate their work. The team is led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police and comprises officials from countries within the Regional Investigative Management Systems (RIMS). Upon their arrival to the Eve Leary Police Headquarters, the foreign investigators met with Crime Chief, Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum, and ranks from both the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the MCIU. NINETEEN LIBEL SUITS FILEDAGAINST KNEWS…WINSTON BRASSINGTON FAILS TO ESTABLISH CASE OF LIBELAGAINST KAIETEUR NEWS – DEFENCE LAWYER Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes, has said that the libel
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suit brought against Kaieteur News by former Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, has not been established. The lawyer made this conclusion in court Monday following an intense cross-examination of Brassington who brought some 19 lawsuits against the Kaieteur News, a widely read Guyanese publication, over allegations of defamation. Several of the claims were brought against the newspaper and its former Editor-in-Chief, Adam Harris, over contents of the satirical “Dem Boys She” column, of which Brassington said caused his integrity and character to be called into question. Among the claims, Brassington had accused Kaieteur News of calling him dishonest, guilty of criminal activity such as fraud and corrupt practices in the conduct of his work in a number of projects including the controversial Amaila Falls Hydro Project. The plaintiff claimed that as a result, he and family suffered greatly – his children would come from school and complain that they are being teased about the remarks published in the newspaper. During a virtual hearing of one of the matter before High Court Justice, Fidela CorbinLincoln, Monday, Hughes took Brassington to task over those claims. The former NICIL Head was confronted with the particulars of his evidence-in-chief, which was previously provided to the Court. This time, the question of libel surrounded a satirical piece, which Brassington said was written following his birthday celebration. Among other things, the plaintiff took offense to the words “Brazzy get he budday and invite a bunch a thieves”. In response to queries from Hughes, who is representing Kaieteur News in the matter, the former NICIL head, confirmed that he had a birthday celebration and invited a number of officials from the former People Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/ C) Government. He listed Former President Donald Ramotar and former Minister of Finance, Ashni Singh, amongst those who he could recall were present at his birthday dinner. The witness however could not say that the words were directly libelous to him. “It doesn’t say that you are a thief, does it?” Hughes posited. “No sir, it doesn’t,” Brassingtion responded under oath. The witness was
also asked what he understood by the term “budday,” to which he responded, “I think it meant my birthday.” Also confronted with another portion of the article which read “but Brazzy can’t tun back de clack,” the witness told the Court that he interpreted it in a literal sense.”What do you understand that to mean sir?” asked Hughes.”I take it literally to mean that I can’t turn back the clock,” Brassington replied. “And do you find anything specifically offensive in that statement? Do you agree that it is a statement of fact?” Hughes retorted. “Yes I agree,” replied Brassington. Brassington’s lawyer, Timothy Jonas, made several objections to the line of questioning as it related to the specifics of his client’s birthday celebration. Jonas noted that Hughes’ questions as it relates who were his client’s guests bore no relevance to the case. The lawyer’s objections were noted by Justice CorbinLincoln. The Judge nonetheless overruled some of objections and allowed the questions. Justice CorbinLincoln upheld Jonas’ objection to a point raised by the defence over the question of charges brought against Ashni Singh; one of the invitees at the birthday celebration. Justice Corbin-Lincoln pointed out to Hughes that the issue of Singh being charged cannot be used to justify the statements given that it could not be proven as a fact. She reminded the attorney that even if he were to plead justification based on qualified privilege (immunity protection from the penalty of a lawsuit, usually a lawsuit for defamation) this must be done based on truthful statements. The Judge therefore instructed the lawyer to move on from the line of
questioning. As such, Hughes turned the witness’s attention to the reference of the “pumpkin jumpsuit” in the satirical piece. The question was specific to a line of the article, which read “Dem boys praying and hoping that Brazzy end up in a pumpkin jumpsuit.” The former NICIL Head had taken offence to the words pumpkin jumpsuit as having a negative connotation (meaning that there were hopes that he would end up in jail) but he fumbled to explain why he interpreted the phrase to mean he should be jailed. “In your evidence, you referenced the use of innuendos specifically the words ‘pumpkin jumpsuit’…what do you understand by those words and where in Guyana can you find a pumpkin jumpsuit?” asked the lawyer. “I have gone looking for them [the pumpkin jumpsuit] sir…but I am sure I can find them in the newspapers…media,” Brassington responded. Further pressed on the meaning of the term, Brassington told the court “when you watch the movie Bad Boys, there are many examples of them, there.” Under further crossexamination, Hughes suggested to Brassingtion “The Kaieteur News as far you understand has a national circulation and took the government to task on several issues …some of those issues were in relation to national transactions by the government?” To which Brassington responded in the affirmative, agreeing with the suggestion that the newspaper was carrying out its national function to investigate those transactions. The witness also agreed with the suggestion that he played a major part in the transactions given his position of prominence on a number of State controlled boards including NICIL,
Atlantic Hotels Incorporated (AHI) and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company. Meanwhile, towards the end of the proceeding, the defence lawyer indicated that he will no longer be calling upon representatives of the newspaper, Glenn Lall, the Publisher, and Harris, the former Chief Editor, who were also present in Court, to lead a defence. “So, you have no witnesses to call; are you saying then that there is no case to answer?” queried the judge. “Yes your honour, I am saying that the libel brought against the defendants (Kaieteur News) has not been established,” he said. The Judge therefore instructed the attorneys to file their final submissions in the next two weeks. Justice Corbin-Lincoln is expected to preside over three more trials in relation to the 19 libel claims, this week. WEDNESDAY RYSTAD EXPECTS EXXON TO COMMIT US$3.6B TO PAYARATHIS YEAR – IDB ESTIMATES DEVELOPMENT COST TO EXCEED US$6B ExxonMobil’s Payara development, for which approval seems imminent, will see a commitment of US$3.6B this year from the oil major, says Norwegian business intelligence firm, Rystad Energy. Meanwhile, a model from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in its recent report titled ‘Traversing a Slippery Slope: Guyana’s Oil Opportunity’, pegs the cost of the Payara field development at US$6.5B. This cost would be similar to Payara’s predecessor, Liza Phase Two, given the project similarities. Exxon is expected to make the Final Investment Decision after the Government of Guyana gives the green-light.
Guyana has been reviewing the project’s Field Development Plan (FDP) since late last year. The review has fallen under the purview of the second administration, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C). The new government took a decision to review the work of the former on the plan, delaying the approval. Several environmental issues plague the FDP. The government is also facing increasing calls to renegotiate the lopsided Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) under which the Payara development would be governed. Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, expects to approve the project soon. He told Kaieteur News recently that the findings of the review will be made public, and that the current agreement has several safeguards in place, including stiff fines for flaring gas and failure to treat reservoir water, according to international standards, before discharging it. Despite this, experts commenting in favour of Guyana say that a comprehensive review process would take many more months, even years, and with a diverse array of technical professions. Nevertheless, ExxonMobil and its Stabroek block partners had told the public during their 2020 Q2 earnings calls that both major parties had already granted assurances of approval a long time ago. This is likely why the company invested in contracts for preparatory works for the project last year, before it had even submitted the FDP to government for approval. Rystad called Exxon’s arrangement with its shipbuilder, SBM Offshore, “an advanced commitment” for the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, to be named ‘Prosperity’. Chinese shipyard, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) already supplied the hull to SBM in Singapore, a month ago. Rystad said that the topside modules are to be built by Dyna-Mac and Keppel, but Exxon claims everything has been put on hold, pending the government’s say-so. The project would add US$6B to an already crowded cluster, charging Guyana now with bills of exploration and development costs exceeding US$15B. A major point of concern is whether Guyana will have the capacity to audit all of it, (Continued on page 29)
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From page 28 given that it hasn’t even started an audit on Liza Phase One. According to Rystad, the coming decade will see Exxon attempting to foist about US$50B more of development costs on Guyana. EVALUATORS UNDER SCRUTINY FOR S K U L L D U G G E R Y; ELECTRONIC TENDER SUBMISSIONS MULLED …BALGOBIN IS TEMPORARY HEAD OF NEW NPTAB BOARD The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), has come under new management. This follows after Minister of Public Works (MoPW), with responsibility for Finance, Juan Edghill, appointed a new board. Director of Project Cycle Management under the MoF, Tarachand Balgobin, has been appointed temporary Chairman of the Board. Balgobin will be assuming NPTAB’s chairmanship from Berkley Wickham. Meanwhile, the other newer board members include Bernard Lord, Desmond Mohamed, Omar Narine, Steve Ninvalle, Mark Conway and Gloria Beharry. Minister Edghill congratulated the team, who he was keen to note, has years of experience. Notwithstanding their expertise in the field, Edghill laid out his expectations for the new board. “Your job, primarily in the first instance, would be to uphold the high principles of ensuring transparency, accountability, competitive bidding, good governance, value for money and ensuring that you create an architecture that is free from corruption.” Further, Edghill indicated to the team that he anticipates the timely awarding of contracts to boost the implementation of projects’ percentage. On that note, the Minister of Public Works tasked the new board to review the evaluators attached to NPTAB, with the view of ensuring that the work is done promptly. He highlighted that time delays may be occurring at the evaluating level and must not be allowed to continue. Furthermore, Edghill pointed out that these evaluators must be reminded that they work for the Government of Guyana and not for contractors; hence a full review of staff will be conducted to stamp out “skullduggery”.Meanwhile, the newly installed NPTAB is positioning itself to facilitate electronic submissions of bids as Guyana prepares to
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undertake major transformative projects. Chairman Balgobin said this option should encourage wider participation in the process. “Public procurement is not to eliminate people. It is to encourage people to participate in the procurement process, to create competition and therefore create opportunities for value for money,” he said Tuesday. Balgobin said once the proposal is green-lighted it would allow bids to be submitted utilising PDF format or by flash drive. “I have already spoken with our IT department to create a platform within our architecture where these documents cannot be compromised,” he said. On receipt of the electronic submissions, NPTAB will cross-reference those with the official hardcopy submissions. Additionally, the evaluators will be provided with the electronic submissions, which they will only be able to access pending the completion of their work. “There is no need to send another document to them, which is what we are doing now… The evaluation that they do will be resubmitted to us in an electronic form,” the Chairman explained. THURSDAY US$9 BILLION PAYARA PROJECT APPROVED FOR 2024 STARTUP Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat Wednesday approved ExxonMobil’s third field development in the Stabroek Block, the Payara project. The oil major said, after making its final investment decision (FID) Wednesday, that the Prosperity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel will start production in 2024 at up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day. The hull for the vessel is with Dutch firm, SBM Offshore in Singapore awaiting the installation of its topside modules. ExxonMobil said that 10 drill centers are planned along with up to 41 wells, including 20 production and 21 injection wells. Notably, the company stated in a release Wednesday that the Payara development will cost US$9B to produce 600 million oilequivalent barrels. This is US$3B higher than its US$6B estimate for the Liza Phase Two project, which will be producing at a similar peak rate from a reserve with a similar volume estimate. Liza
Phase Two is projected to start producing in 2022. The Liza Unity FPSO is currently under construction in Singapore as well. Guyana’s review of Payara spanned two administrations. The former David Granger administration had contracted the UK firm, Bayphase, to review it despite ExxonMobil forming part of Bayphase’s clientele. The environmental issues, among others, which arose during this review, were not raised by Bayphase. After all, the firm is not expected to give reports which do not flatter its clients. The former Government had expected the review to be completed early this year, but the contentious 2020 General and Regional Elections took centre stage and prolonged government’s approval of the project. When the Irfaan Ali administration took over in August, it asked Canada to assist it with the review. That consultation resulted in former Alberta Premier, Alison Redford, being accepted to lead the review of BayPhase’s work. She worked with a team of technical experts, funded by Canada. Despite questions about Redford’s capability to review field development plans (FDP), as well as ethical concerns fuelled by her political history, the administration allowed her to complete the review. Experts, including Petroleum Consultant, Dr. Jan Mangal, and International Lawyer, Melinda Janki, had spoken against approving Payara so rapidly. They had said that Guyana should take all the time it needs to review Payara, with Dr. Mangal explaining that proper reviews require large teams of technical experts and may take many months, even years. Following the review, the Ministry of Natural Resources laid out new stipulations for the handling of environmental issues plaguing Exxon’s operations, namely natural gas flaring and discharge of produced water. The government stated that it is committed to managing and harvesting Guyana’s resources in keeping with internationally recognised acceptable environmental standards and transparency. FLARING Government said it has strictly prohibited routine flaring without approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and explicitly stated that any flaring to maintain oil production is not allowed. ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) will be expected to compensate the
government for the cost of wasted gas during flaring and will be subject to fines under the EPA which are related to emissions from flaring. It is also expected to establish a framework for a carbon price in line with international standards. Kaieteur News had learnt that ExxonMobil intended to preserve loopholes in its future projects which it exploits in the Liza Phase One permit to flare natural gas. The Payara production license has put a 60-day cap on startup flaring, and includes emergencies, maintenance and restart as “special circumstances”. ExxonMobil will also be expected to report all instances of gas flaring within 24 hours, whether allowed or not, and explain why such flaring has occurred. ExxonMobil has been flaring gas for over nine months at its Liza Phase One operations, with no word on when it will stop the pollution altogether. There has been public outcry about the issue, given that it has made Guyana one of the highest flaring countries in the world per capita. Government’s statement made no reference to flaring at Liza Phase One. PRODUCED WATER Government said that it has now required EEPGL to include tie-in points and space for produced water injection equipment, in its base design, consistent with its commitment to advocate for discharge of produced water at internationally accepted standards. Government will oversee a study to be conducted by Exxon by the first quarter of 2020 to examine the safe and efficient reinjection of the produced water, and determine the effects of the reinjection on the reservoir. The license states that the study will also seek to determine how the effects of dumping produced water in the ocean can be minimized. Government said that this is in keeping with its commitment to preserve
marine life and water quality. ExxonMobil has been dumping thousands of barrels of produced water into the ocean at its Liza Phase One operations. Its Guyana President, Alistair Routledge claimed that the pollution is not harmful, despite there being no study to back up his assertion. Government’s statement made no reference to the discharge of produced water at Liza Phase One. 750,000 BARRELS A DAY BY 2026 ExxonMobil has managed to secure approval from Guyana for three separate developments in a space of four years, with a combined peak production rate of 560,000 barrels per day. All three projects will run simultaneously by 2024. The company Wednesday reminded that it intends to have five FPSO vessels producing in excess of 750,000 barrels per day by 2026. It has already identified a likely prospect for its fourth development at the Yellowtail well, believed by Westwood Global Energy to hold more than 300 million oil-equivalent barrels. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Hess Corporation, John Hess, earlier this month related the consortium’s optimism that Yellowtail will support its fourth drillship and produce at a capacity of 220,000 barrels of oil per day, the same as Payara. That would take peak production to 780,000 barrels per day. Exxon’s subsidiary, Esso, operates the Stabroek Block with 45 percent interest, while Hess and CNOOC hold 30 percent and 25 percent respectively. Exxon said it is evaluating development opportunities not just at Yellowtail, but at Redtail, Mako and Uaru. It is forging ahead to develop the proven eight billion plus oilequivalent barrels in record speed, while Guyana fares with no depletion policy and a contract that falls well below industry standards in more ways than one.
NO TOUCHING OIL MONEYUNTIL SWEEPING REFORMS – PRESIDENTALI President Dr. Irfaan Ali does not intend to touch a cent from Guyana’s sovereign wealth fund until a series of reforms are enacted to strengthen the Government’s regulatory infrastructure for the oil and gas sector. These reforms include revamping the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act, establishing a Petroleum Commission, and updating other legislation pertinent to the management of the oil and gas sector. “All of these things have to be done institutionally before we even think about [accessing oil funds],” the President said. He made this commitment in a recent interview with local journalists. After the President took office on August 2, one of the major questions was how the new Government would manage Guyana’s oil and spend the oil money. The government had decided not to access the few hundred million dollars in oil money sitting in a New York Federal Reserve Bank to help with its emergency budget. The Petroleum Commission, Ali has noted, is necessary to keep the management of the sector away from political influence. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the sector will instead be managed by the best technical minds. As for the sovereign wealth fund, the administration has frowned on the Natural Resource Fund implemented by the former David Granger administration. It said that its provisions give the subject Minister too much control over the Fund. Attorney General Anil Nandlall has noted too that the legality of the Fund is questionable, given that it was passed after the Government fell by a December 21, 2018 vote of no (Continued on page 30)
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From page 29 Confidence. The Government has to implement local content legislation too; the past government only formed a policy. This administration has already formed a local content advisory panel to assist with its efforts. Among its members are Trinidadian local content expert, Anthony Paul, and Head of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Shyam Nokta. Nokta is the Chair of the panel. Multiple business service organizations have urged the government to cleave more to the recommendations made by the private sector, as it seeks to improve on the current policy. Suggestions are coming out of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) that the panel be expanded to include more diverse private sector representation. The Government is expected as well to update the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Procurement Act, and other laws which are pertinent to the management of the sector. The President said that once the legislation and Fund are in place, the government will move to establish the Commission. Several of the campaign promises of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) hinge on the use of oil money, but it has not said when it will begin to access the Fund. Meanwhile, the government continues to skirt calls for a renegotiation of the Stabroek Block agreement. Asked about this, the President only offered that he is reading the comments being made by various persons, and that he is “absorbing” what is being said about the government’s management of the sector. FRIDAY EXXONMOBIL AWARDS OVER US$1B IN PAYARA DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTS Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil has awarded in excess of US$1B in Payara development contracts already, with the project being approved just two days ago by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat and Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Sharifah Razack. The contracts were awarded to Dutch firm, SBM Offshore and French company, TechnipFMC. SBM announced early
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Thursday that ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), awarded it several contracts for the next phase of the project- to construct, install, then lease and operate the Prosperity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for a period up to two years. After that period, the ownership of the vessel will be transferred to ExxonMobil. The arrangement is similar to the deals for the Liza Destiny and Unity FPSOs. ExxonMobil had contracted SBM late last year for front-end engineering and design (FEED), and completion of the multipurpose hull. The hull was delivered to SBM last month after its completion by Chinese shipbuilder Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS). The Prosperity FPSO design will be largely similar to the Liza Unity, which is also under construction in Singapore. They are both designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day. Prosperity will have capacity to treat associated gas at 400 million cubic feet per day, as well as water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. In its permit, Government required ExxonMobil to include tie-in points and space for produced water injection equipment, in its base design, consistent with its commitment to advocate for discharge of produced water at internationally accepted standards. SBM said that it is looking at executing scope for the fabrication and coating of a portion of the light structural steel for the vessel in Guyana, among other local content considerations. TechnipFMC also announced that it received a large subsea contract for the Payara development, noting that it considered “large” contracts to be between US$500M-US$1B. The company is expected to manufacture and deliver the subsea production system, including 41 enhanced vertical deep water trees and associated tooling, six flexible risers and ten manifolds along with associated controls and tie-in equipment. Exxon had contracted Saipem to construct the subsea facility for the FPSO, last year. ExxonMobil had pressured Guyana for months to approve the contract so that it could make its Final Investment Decision (FID) which it did immediately after government green-lit the project. The company said in a
recent release that the total development cost for Payara will be US$9B, which is expected to be recovered by ExxonMobil from the sale of the Payara well crude. LETALL CONTRACTS FOR OIL SECTOR BE SUBJECTED TO COMPETITIVE PROCESS – EXPERT Kaieteur News – If Guyana wants to ensure that the portion of oil revenue set aside for procurement purposes is not at risk for corruption, then it would be wise to ensure the award of contracts is subjected to a competitive process that is underpinned by transparency. This was recently noted by expert on oil sector corruption, Alexandra Gillies. The specialist made these and other statements during her first appearance on Kaieteur Radio’s show, ‘Guyana’s Oil and You’. There, the advisor to the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), was asked about key strategies the fledgling oil producer can employ to keep corruption at bay. In response, Gillies said: “Competition helps a lot…Whenever there is a valuable business opportunity it should be awarded through a competitive process, and I think that one important aspect of the oil sector is that the opportunities to make money are not just from the company that holds the exploration or production license.” She added: “There are other opportunities to make money across the value chain. So whether it is trading oil, providing goods and services; anytime that there is an opportunity to make money, that should be allocated through a competitive process.”
Further to this, Gillies said that local authorities would be wise to keep an eye out for anonymous shell companies as they have appeared in almost every corruption case that she has examined in the last decade. She warned: “Whenever you see an anonymous shell company as a party to a deal then there’s another area where you should focus scrutiny and ask lots of questions.” While oil sector procurement is an area that is vulnerable to corruption, Gillies was keen to note that the fight against fraud and crooked deals in this industry will require effective institutions across multiple branches of government. LEARN FROM THE PAST Along with ensuring contracts are subjected to a competitive process, Gillies cautioned that it would be in the nation’s interest to learn from the challenges oil-rich countries have faced in the past. In this regard, the industry expert said: “This concept of resource curse came about for a reason and it’s because a lot of countries have struggled to manage the scale of oil wealth that Guyana has. I think that whether it is on corruption or managing volatile revenue or other aspects of the governance negotiating with oil companies – there’re a lot of cautionary tales and I think that they are worth learning. No country is immune from those risks at all and they are so real.” In looking ahead, her advice to Guyana is that emphasis should be placed on not being shortsighted with the oil resources. Gillies stressed that the nation’s politicians ought to keep the future in mind as the oil industry is becoming a riskier place because of the global transition to cleaner sources of energy.
The specialist on natural resource governance and transparency said too that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector, which led to plummeting oil prices, has also exposed that the industry faces numerous risks and “that at any moment, the bottom can fall out on this thing.” SATURDAY CGX HOLDS ON TO PRIME OIL BLOCKS FOR 13 YEARS WITHOUT HONOURING AGREEMENT – VP JAGDEO Kaieteur News – Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed Friday that a number of new companies are knocking on the door of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government to engage in discussions on the exciting prospects of Guyana’s oil industry. In contrast, those exploration companies such as CGX Resources Inc., who have been awarded oil blocks but are not performing, will be in for a rude awakening particularly via rigid performance reviews. Speaking to members of the media fraternity at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Jagdeo said that CGX is one of those companies which would have been in receipt of offshore licences but has done little to no work to date. The concerned Vice President said that work on CGX’s Corentyne and Demerara Blocks are long overdue while adding that, “it has been 13 years since any work has been done.” The former Head of State recalled that prior to 2007, CGX was awarded a Petroleum Licence in the offshore Guyana Basin but when efforts were initiated to drill the Eagle-1 well, it was prevented from doing do by Surinamese naval gunboats.
Legal proceedings commenced at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to resolve the maritime border dispute with Suriname and in 2007, the Tribunal awarded Guyana at least 93% of the disputed area. Following this settlement, CGX was awarded a Petroleum Licence on November 27, 2012 for the Corentyne Block and then in February 13, 2013, the company was awarded a Licence for the Demerara Block. Since these awards, Jagdeo alluded to his expectation that significant work should have been done. The Production Sharing Agreement for the Corentyne Block stipulates that for the first four years, at least two wells should be drilled. CGX did honour this part of the work commitment when it drilled the Jaguar-1 and Eagle1 wells in 2012, both of which were subsequently abandoned.When the license was renewed in 2016, CGX was required to drill at least two wells but that was not done. Despite this, the APNU+AFC regime allowed for the licence to be renewed in 2019 for another three years. The licence is due for renewal in 2022. As for the Demerara Block, CGX was required to drill one well and complete one well drill within the first four years of having the licence. That well was not drilled. When the licence was renewed in 2017, it was expected that two wells would be drilled but that commitment is yet to be fulfilled. US$33M RECEIVED Almost two years ago, CGX had announced that it had inked an agreement with another Canadian firm, Frontera Energy Corporation (FEC), to pursue exploratory works in the Corentyne and Demerara offshore blocks. (Continued on page 31)
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From page 30 According to Professor Suresh Narine, Executive Chairman for local subsidiary CGX Energy, the agreement was designed to provide CGX with significant working capital and liquidity since it had faced significant cash flow problems over the years. Following the signing of the agreement, Frontera acquired a 33.33% working interest in the two blocks in exchange for a US$33.3 million signing bonus to CGX. Frontera agreed to pay onethird of the applicable costs plus an additional 8.333% of CGX’s direct drilling costs for the initial exploratory commitment wells in the two blocks. Frontera and CGX had also agreed to arrangements to provide additional financial support for CGX. “WISHFUL THINKING” THAT PAYARA COULD HAVE BEEN LEVERAGED TO RENEGOTIATE STABROEK DEAL – VP Kaieteur News – Vice
President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo Friday said that it is wishful thinking to assume that the Payara development permit could have been leveraged to demand a better Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) from ExxonMobil. The politician delivered his latest rebuke of calls to get a better deal during a press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. The 2016 deal signed for Exxon’s operations in the Stabroek Block by former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman has been widely condemned for a string of poor provisions, including a paltry two percent royalty share. The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), which took office in August, has criticised, but refuses to renegotiate, the deal. “There is a group,” Jagdeo said, “that believes we should have held up Payara and not issue the licence, and use it as leverage to change
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the production [sharing] agreement. And it’s wishful thinking, frankly speaking. It’s wishful thinking that you could have done that now.” The Vice President reported speaking to experts whose assessments of the market are very different from the comments being made by persons like former Petroleum Advisor to the Government, Dr. Jan Mangal. There is a large group of people, he said, who believe that calls for renegotiation cannot be substantiated because of the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the oil industry. He said many companies are losing value, and that means their ability to raise money is also diminished. In this regard, Dr. Jagdeo pointed to the US$9B development cost Exxon claims Payara will need, and said that Guyana cannot raise that much money on its own. “That’s twice the size of our total economy [which is just over US$4B] on this one investment.” Dr. Jagdeo said. He alluded to divestments of assets by oil companies in
other part of the world, noting that Guyana is privileged. The VP also worried that the growth of the global renewable energy industry could one day hurt oil prices, which he asserted made it necessary to approve the Payara project quickly. “There is a short window of opportunity,” he said, “the renewables are yapping at people’s feet.” He noted that Exxon is here because of the low breakeven price to produce Guyana’s oil and the fiscal conditions, and that it is important to ensure that the investment moves forward. “We made it clear,” Jagdeo said, “that the production [sharing] agreement was signed already and that Exxon, when it comes to future agreements that will happen when they start developing the Canje Block and the Kaieteur Block, that those agreements are going to be very dissimilar to the one that they signed for
the Stabroek Block… The conditions of those agreements will be established when we work out what a model production [sharing] agreement for the future will be. So that is when, for future developments outside of the Stabroek Block, the terms will change substantively. That is clear.” He said, however, that the government is undertaking a “review” of the agreement, and that a team is expected to report to him on ways that the government could claw back value from various provisions in the agreement. For instance, he has indicated that the administration wants Exxon to dedicate more funding for training locals than is stipulated by the agreement. In this regard, he said that the government believes it can get more value without “renegotiating” the contract. The Vice President took the opportunity to respond to Mangal, who is a major critic of the government’s handling
of the sector. Mangal and lawyer, Melinda Janki had both advised that Guyana should take all the time it needs to review Payara. Dr. Mangal very specifically advocated for Payara to be used as leverage for a better deal. Jagdeo wondered about the petroleum expert’s advocacy for renegotiation when he advised the David Granger administration, even suggesting that the consultant should have resigned from his advisory post when he realized what the Granger administration had done with the Stabroek Block deal. He criticised Mangal’s approach to giving advice in the press, and opined that the good governance advocate tends to disparage and brand as corrupt people he doesn’t know anything about. The VP said that he doesn’t have a problem with Mangal and that if he has technical expertise, then his expertise should be put to use but that “it’s the lecturing” that does not sit well with him.
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==THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN==
Dialectics in Guyana’s politics: An alternative theory I rejected several analytical pieces of Guyana’s politics during the five-month election impasse because I think they were flawed; the wrong methodology was used. From 2015, the dynamics of Guyanese politics changed deeply. The traditional methodology has served its purpose and academics must go beyond it. One cannot go on polemicizing on the rivalry of the historic two leviathans and its internecine consequences for ethnic communities. The dialectics have generated formidable class changes in Guyanese politics since 2015 that have to be factored in one’s theorizing. Four submissions have relied on the old paradigm. Three were written during the five-month election rigging and one on last Friday. One was a joint effort by Dr. Alissa Trotz and Dr. Arif Bulkan. See my column of Tuesday, July 14, 2020, “In the diaspora, in Plato’s cave.” Another offering was by Professor Omar Shahabudin
McDoom, of Guyanese extraction who teaches at the London School of Economics. See my column of Wednesday, July 22, 2020, “Dr. Mc Doom’s pair of red underwear has lost its brightness and shape.” Then Dr. Trotz repeated her concepts on Guyanese politics this time with Karen de Souza from the organization, Red Thread. See my column of Tuesday, July 28, 2020, “Trotz, De Souza and rigging: The imprisoned Freudian mind.” In Friday’s edition of the Stabroek News, there is an editorial that though does not walk in the identical direction of Dr. Trotz, Bulkan, de Souza and Mc Doom it incorporates analytical outlooks that rely on the same traditional, methodological sources. Trotz, Bulkan, de Souza and Mc Doom have repeated what Guyanese academia has been saturated with over the past seven decades – that the sociological story of Guyana is PPP hogging power for
ethnic hegemony and the PNC doing the same with dire consequences for social stability because they rule on behalf of their own constituencies and not for the entire society. Though this theory has been efficacious over the past seven decades, the dialectics of powersharing between the PNC, AFC and WPA since 2015, have transformed the fulcrums of the political sociology of Guyana. To argue that the 2020 election confrontation is the same old story of party/ethnic rivalry between PNC and PPP is to overlook substantial changes in the political landscape of Guyana since 2015. Perhaps confusion is the relevant term when one researches the degeneracy of power and politics since 2015 that involved a traditional working class, ethnically based party, the PNC; a formidable, multi-racial capitalist outfit, the AFC and the radical left wing, multiracial revolutionary
organization, the WPA. The Stabroek News editorial is about the nature of the PNC. It does not analyze party politics in general and does not touch the question of the anatomical connection between the PNC and racial governance. The editorial simply rehashes the historical condemnations levelled against the PNC because of its undemocratic instincts. But there is a huge but. But it does so in juxtaposition with the junior partner, the AFC, assigning no assessment whatsoever to the role the AFC has played in Guyanese society that we are accustomed seeing from the PPP and PNC – the role of destruction. Here is a perfect example of too much emphasis on the usual perspective. Some scholars have dismissed the role of the AFC and the WPA since 2015, arguing that the 2015 administration was a continuation of the trend of the past seventy years – PNC versus PPP with the accompanying ethnic competition. They contend
that the AFC and WPA were mere window-dressing. That is vulgar theorizing. The AFC had six senior ministers and one junior in the 2015 dispensation. It controlled the second most powerful public institution – the prime ministerial portfolio. Its ministries took in some of the most important Cabinet portfolios – security, public works, agriculture, natural resources. The WPA took over the ministry with the largest budget - Education. Some of the powerful thinkers in the WPA like Dr. Maurice Odle and Professor Clive Thomas were given huge state jobs where the latitude to effect far-reaching societal changes was real. Against this actuality of power, it is nonsensical to see the dynamics of power within the traditional rivalry of PNC versus PPP after 2015. One nascent theory I am advancing is that the Over-Developed State that Pakistani political scientist, HamzaAlavi birthed in the 1970s has not been diluted in post-
Frederick Kissoon colonial Guyana but in fact has been preserved. The deepened OverDeveloped State therefore prevents democratization and creates power degeneracy even in parties that have avoided the ethnic pitfalls of the PPP and PNC. The OverDeveloped State creates power intoxication which cuts across ethnicity and class structure. This explains the atrophied politics of the WPA and AFC after 2015. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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Coronavirus: After all this time, mask wearing is still the simplest and best lifesaving option By Dr. Zulfikar Bux Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt Medical Center I can recall early in the pandemic when I introduced the “everyone wears a mask” campaign, many were divided. Over time, science has proven that the more persons wear mask, the less likely the disease will spread among them. Today, we are at the crossroads as we need to work together to combat the surge in cases before it overwhelms us. As I brainstorm effective and efficient ideas to help curb the spread, mask wearing still stands out as the simplest but yet, most
effective option to achieve this goal. REVISITING THE SCIENCE BEHIND MASK WEARING The coronavirus (SarsCov2) is transmitted primarily through air droplets that are released into the air when an infected person speaks, cough, sneeze or make loud sounds with their mouths. Should that infected person cover their mouth and nose with a mask, the virus will be trapped and cannot easily escape into the air to infect others. Those who are not infected can add another layer of protection by also wearing a mask which will provide an additional barrier in the event
that small amounts of the virus escape the infected person and comes their way. Numerous studies have confirmed this fact; populations with higher mask wearing compliance has lesser infection rates. Experts are proving that populations with over 50% mask wearing coverage, have effective control of the coronavirus spread. WE DON’T HAVE TO HIDE While we currently do not have control of the disease spread, it doesn’t mean that we have to go into lockdown and hide until the virus is gone. We can survive as a people if we all wear our masks when we are out and about. All it takes is for a
national effort to ensure everyone wears a mask in the public domain. If we do this and we do it well, then we can return to some semblance of normalcy and sustain our livelihoods. WE ARE SIMPLY “BUYING TIME” We have not found a cure as yet for this disease and it will definitely be with us as we go into 2021. Experts are working on various vaccines and we should have a fair idea of their effectiveness before the year is out. Mass distribution of effective vaccines to help eradicate this disease will take us into late 2021 if all goes according to plan. We therefore need to avoid the virus and “buy
time” until we can fully eradicate it. It is now clear that the cheapest way to “buy time” is to invest in mask wearing. Can you imagine that if all of us in Guyana were to invest in this mask wearing scheme, then we wouldn’t have to worry about this virus? This investment is currently better for Guyana than any other investment including the much touted “oil deals”. LET’S ALL INVEST IN THE 3 WS. We can win the fight against COVID-19 by practicing the 3 Ws: · Wear a mask · Wash your hands · Watch your distance— stay at least 6 feet away from
Dr. Zulfikar Bux others So, the fight against this pandemic cannot get simpler than this. These are investments that have been proven to work and are as inexpensive as it can get. Whether you are an economist, a medical professional or an average Joe going about your life, it will be irrational for you to not have a part in such investments. Invest in the betterment of Guyana; invest in the 3 Ws!
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>>> ENCOURAGING EVENTS, DISTURBING DEVELOPMENTS <<<
Christmas cheer, banana republic, Payara and more
By GHK Lall hickens are coming for Christmas. This announcement encourages celebrating Christmas starting now. The year has been such that chicken tidings bring joy. This means availability; a manageable price; and an overdue bite for Guyanese. We have had little to sing about this year, and if it takes Christmas chickens to encourage dancing a jig, let it be. I am encouraged that Managing Director of Cardiology Services, Inc., Dr. Mahendra Carpen, returned prime lands in Ogle to NICIL. This land award does not pass smell test or eye test. Since no finances were committed, the land was, in essence, dumped in the lap of Cardiology Services Inc. Sure, the group wanted that land, just not in this questionable manner. It is good to see Guyanese doing the right thing, even when it costs. Next, a former advisor disturbed: Guyana could soon be a 'banana republic.' I believe that living in a banana republic makes monkeys of everyone, where the nation is peeled and swallowed in bite-sized chunks. This is exactly what happened with our gold and timber before, and now the mother lode, oil. A banana has three colourations: green (when nurtured for the kill); yellow (when chewed to pieces); and soggy brown (when
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mashed and no good). Banana republics are like the fruit. Today, Guyana is green and ripe for exploiting, soon it will be yellow and ready for consuming (fetched away), and before long, it will be the brown barrenness of a tombstone abandoned, because it no longer has richness for love to be lavished upon it. It disturbs, because this has been the way of Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, to which I add Nigeria and Venezuela. Guyana can be top banana once its oil is honestly managed. Or it can be another banana republic: used, abused, and misused, at which time, having been drained of vitality and prosperity, it is abandoned without second thoughts by the foreign companies that rushed to exploit its richness. Also disturbing are the dogged practices of the PPP government; like Nat King Cole, it is always looking back at coalition failures. Though there are terrible (disturbing) things to place daily before the public, the government positions itself to serve this hurting society better by focusing on the future. Instead of dredging up the past for PR and retaliatory purposes, I exhort leader and team to share the nuts and bolts of what it is about, how it plans to go about the many matters demanding complete concentration, when it calculates delivering, and how such will be measured. These are the ties that bind (from Nat Cole to Brook Benton), that help Guyanese to rise. Looking back endlessly saps energy, divides further. I urge leaving politics behind and starting to govern. Then, I learn about the arrival of foreign investigators to probe the Cotton Tree tragedies, which encourages and disturbs. What will they find? Is there anything left to find? And, if they do, do we sincerely want to
know? I say this since such could lead us into the disturbing alleyways of Guyana's political and criminal soul. Too often, those two are inseparable, which disturbs terribly. Last, there was the utterly disturbing over Payara licensing. It had to be September 30th because Exxon wanted it so. It disturbs that Guyanese leaders kowtowed, did not stand firm with timelines, priorities, and oil benefits that could have been wrenched from Exxon but were not.
Flaring penalties were not quantified; US$400,000 for Payara audit cost sounds plenty, but it is only a negligible GY$80M; the all-season Local Content flag was unfurled with much unsaid; and the Unit Development Agreement is a good sales pitch but a no-brainer. President Ali made speeches about Payara, with these delivered, he failed. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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K O
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Book: Chutney Power Author: Willi Chen Critic: Glenville Ashby, PhD
W
illi Chen has l o n g mesmerized Trinidad and Tobago with his artistry. Decades ago, Chen had ventured outside his community to become a renowned, national figure. With a keen insight into the dynamics of plural societies, Chen delivers 'Chutney Power,' a riveting narrative that underscores the totemic
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Classical Tales of East Indian Life
role of culture in the economic anchoring of a once marginalized people. 'Chutney Power' is a compendium of witty, colourful and thoughtprovoking stories, each richly weaved unto a provocative, literary tapestry; and each tale, a reminder of life's travails and possibilities. It is the good and not-so-good of East Indian life in bygone years. The tragedy of Indentureship only steeled the resolve of the East Indian to succeed. Chen showcases his enviable command of East Indian mores having lived in that community for
some time. "I stayed at Indian homes, fed and was cuddled by their kind loving matriarchs, lived in their mud walled huts. I wrote 'Freedom Road,' an Indian play essentially about a cane cutting family," he once said. In the opening salvo of 'Chutney,' 'Mas is More than a Creole Thing,' Chen examines cultural stereotypes and stubborn prejudices. Here, the protagonist and cane cutter, Bhim Pandarath, is determined to buck the trend and play 'King of the Band' in a steel orchestra—a role traditionally reserved for more physically robust AfroTrinidadians. 'Mad is More than a Creole,' arguably defines the theme of Chen's work. The resilience of Pandarath is reflective of a
people, bruised and battered by their historical experience only to emerge, soaring, not unlike the fabled Phoenix. The image of the Indian weakling, uncomfortable and disinterested in AfroTrinidad rhythms, is turned on its head, shattered. Pandarath braves the taunts of Afro-Trinidadians, eventually earning their praise. "Indian, you brave yes. You really brave.” He is undaunted, confident that his Ramleela experience would prove helpful, only to be told, "Ramleela is Ramleela, Mas is Mas. The music and all different." But he is ever defiant, “But Ramleela comes from Indian Scriptures. This is we own kind of theatre. If you read Indian history, you will hear what my Agee and Kaka
talking about." The band leader caves in to Pandarath's will. “Give the Indian a chance, leh we see what he could do.” The outcome is stupendous. Pandarath proves his salt, as he dances with a breathless cadence, his every sinew glistening in the tropical heat. "The audience was [thrilled]. His legs were nimble but sturdy and supported the costume with ease." As a cane cutter, "the sun and heat had hardened him; the wild, rough terrain had strengthened his limbs. He moved to the left and chipped to the right, and weaved the costume expertly in a curve to the music. Bhim Pandarath, a cane cutter was the King of Carnival." It's a symbolic victory of gargantuan proportions. In 'Look, Ma Coming,' Chen explores the substantive appeal of Indian culture. “The market place stretched along the road. Vendors were on bothsides....Bisnath led Taramatie to the food stalls. He bought paper bags of kurma, channa and saheena. Their fingers and mouth were yellow from the food. At the standpipe, she raised her face to the sky and gargled like a true Indian on mornings.” And of Indian dancing, he writes, “The Tassa drums erupted in a crescendo.” He pens, “Bisnath looked toward the gayelle and led Ta r a t o t h e b a m b o o enclosure. He took off his blue crepesoles, rolled up his pants, jumped into the ring and danced. He turned like a snake, twisted and contorted
his body like a pea tree in the wind, lifting his feet into the air, balancing his body as he pirouetted on one foot. He shook his waist, wiggled as he whirled with astonishing speed.” Such is the signature “good feel” that defines much of Chen's work,' a spirit also etched in 'Free Pork for Christmas,' 'Kipsy Loce Pork,' and 'The Almost Ramgoat Wedding.' In 'The Bottle Washer Who Nearly Danced,' Prakash Roopnarine is enamoured with Beulah Payne, a bi-racial temptress, a dougla, living among Indians and taking on much of their character and lifestyle. "Her eyes were wild fire and her breath, flavoured by massala, had a curry-mouth aroma that engulfed him for days.” Here, Chen raises the sensitive subject of race and sexuality in a plural society where Indo and AfroTrinidadians jockey for position. Is there more to Roopnarine's exploits? Does it carry a more weighty message with racial overtones? In 'Chanka's Backpay,' Chen recalls life in the cane fields in central Trinidad. It's an arduous existence where one's burden is unloaded in the rum shop. It's a tale of Indian frugality and craftiness. And in 'Secret Love,' untamed passions flare amid a deadly love triangle. Other stories by Chen are equally hypnotic. 'Hostage,' is a veiled rendition of the failed 1991 coup d'état that explores class divisions, government ineptitude, and (continued on page 60)
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A nervous Guyana By Leonard Gildarie
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n Friday, the world woke up to news that US president, Donald Trump and First Lady, Melania, were both positive for COVID-19. The ripple effects were felt on the White House, with the impact also on the political campaign trail and the stock markets. There were some who believed that he was faking it…a political gimmick for the elections. Guyana has to watch the US closely as there is so much of this country that is tied to that one. We have one of the biggest oil finds in the world and the company leading the way in the development of the Stabroek oil block is USowned ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil, for all intents and purposes, will have the lead in the development of the nearby Canje and Kaieteur blocks, which it has stakes in. The US has inked a security agreement which allows its ships to patrol our economic zone area, offshore. The Venezuela political situation is engaging the US with that country insistent that the regime is illegal. In fact, the US recognizes an opposition l e a d e r a s Ve n e z u e l a ' s legitimate leader. We have Ve n e z u e l a i n t h e International Court over our border. The COVID-19 pandemic has the world in a death-grip. The US has gone past 209,000 deaths for this year. With regards to infection of the President, the story as published by CNN seemed pulled from a political thriller. CNN reported yesterday that former White House counsellor, Kellyanne Conway,and the President's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, had both tested positive, which followed the positive diagnoses of two US senators who had attended Trump's Supreme Court nomination announcement last weekend. A third Republican US senator, who did not attend
the nomination event, announced a positive diagnosis later Saturday morning. CNN reported that it was a remarkably fast escalation of the virus' threat -- which the President has long downplayed -- from an infection that caused him mild symptoms, to a fever to then being airlifted to the hospital, all while spreading quickly throughout the government and his campaign. It is instructional to note the developments of the well-heeled US…it would be a deep worry for countries like Guyana. Trump has steadfastly downplayed the danger of the virus. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world's economy, shutting down airports and seeing the introduction of curfews to reduce the spread. It has not stalled the spread. Rather, there is a marked resurgence. Guyana, though bigger than Suriname, has less deaths, 85 at the time of writing. Suriname's was at 105. The US has 7.36M cases; followed by India at 6.47M; Brazil at 4.8M and Russia at 1.2M. However, the US has 209,000 deaths; India at 101,000; Brazil at 145,000 while Russia stood at 21,251. The figures are showing sharp spikes in the number of new cases across the globe. In about a week, Guyana will re-open its airports. Persons coming in will have to produce negative test results which were issued within 72 hours. There will be measures for rapid testing at the airports if the need arises. There will be temperature checks and other measures, too. The government would be nervous too. The numbers are spiking. But the world is taking a chance at reopening. The White House lessons on Trump and COVID-19 should send a harsh message to Guyana. The airports will have to be re-opened sometime. The problem that we have is our people. They are simple not
Leonard Gildarie disciplined. I was driving on Friday and near Peter's Hall, I glanced across and saw a young lady sitting in a minibus filled with other passengers. She was not wearing a mask. I gestured to her and showed her mine. She looked away disdainfully. It was painful. I felt helpless. The greatest challenge to us will be our discipline in dealing with a degree of “normalcy” being returned. The re-opening of the airports can be considered as such. The measures for October as announced by Government are ambitious. The authorities will be testing the system by allowing the opening hours of business to be later. In fact, the curfew has been pushed to 9pm. One can be on the road at 4:01am and not be forced to give an explanation. We, the people, not the government, will have to show our responsibility. Rip a t-shirt, a piece of skirt or something to wear as a mask if you can't afford one. Wearing a mask has to become a way of life and not an inconvenience. We are barely holding on. The numbers are rising. Do we continue to keep the lockdown while the numbers are rising? Or do we try to keep the wheels of the economy turning while urging our people to be responsible? As a people, it is decision time. The government has taken the decisions. We were demanding a level of normalcy. It is simple. All we have to do is wear our masks. Wash our hands. Keep our distance. We d o h a v e t h e opportunity to show the world our caliber. Or else all the efforts and last seven months of lockdown will all be in vain. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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Single mother launches foundation to support parents with special needs... From page 22 needs. While for each parent the circumstances may differ depending on the condition of the child, our foundation will be sharing advice and information on a variety of scenarios,” she said during an interview. S he said that the foundation will also be looking to provide support for special needs children in a more tangible way. “For instance, we will be offering mothers a spa day where they will be treated to the much needed time to cater to themselves. I have my own makeup studio. So, I will do some of the work and I will network with other salons to do some of the work as well because as a beautician, I know how important it is for women to look and feel their best.” Since its launch, Jaden's Foundation has already garnered support from a few overseas based foundations with similar mandates. Curtis Nelson of Sesame flyers a youth and community development organization in Brooklyn, New York and Mike Johnson of the BK Styles Foundation are already on board to support the Foundation in its efforts. The Foundation will also
be supported by medical specialists like Dr. Karen Butters who spoke at the launch about her work with children like Jaden. D r. B u t t e r s w a s instrumental in helping Playter understand Jaden's condition. The doctor recalled that when she met Playter, she had many questions. “ Unfortunately as doctors we don't have all the answers but what we can offer you is support both moral and education. I am part of this foundation because I have seen and heard the cries of parents of special needs children for love, support, care and understanding. Each child's needs are different and we all must endeavour to help maximize their fullest potential which is what this foundation wants to do. We want to be a resource centre where we can create public awareness about conditions of special needs and we would like to offer support both medically and treatment. And we want people to understand that God created all of us including the special needs children with a plan and a purpose,” she remarked at the launch, last
weekend. Much like Dr. Butters, Playter noted that she takes pride in caring for Jaden. “I want other mothers to know that it's nothing to be ashamed off. Of course raising children like Jaden is more difficult because of the dependence but surely they are a blessing. I have learnt so much from raising Jaden. He taught me by not even uttering a word, how to be grateful for the little things in my life. I have learned how to be more patient about stuff too and just how to be grateful for life in general,” the doting mother said. Playter noted that she is particularly passionate about the work that Jaden's Foundation will do for all mothers raising children with disabilities. While, the Foundation is in its initial stage, Playter is currently working on building its online presence through social media. Most of the work is being conducted online due to the COVID -19 pandemic. The F o u n d a t i o n , h o w e v e r, intends to start giving out some food hampers at Kamuni Creek and Santa Mission, situated along the West Bank of Demerara.
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Deportation Nation By Attorney Gail S. Seeram
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n fiscal year 2019, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested approximately 143,000 aliens and removed more than 267,000 – which is an increase in removals from the prior year. In fiscal year 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Custom
Enforcement (ICE) together carried out 337,287 removals of unauthorized immigrants, a 17 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. But removals remained below the levels recorded during much of the Obama administration, including a three-year period between fiscal 2012 and 2014 when there were more than 400,000 per year.
So, the United States has seen more removals or deportation under the Obama administration than under the Trump administration. ICE, which handles majority of deportations, said in its most recent yearend report that its removal operations have encountered several challenges, including a growing backlog of cases in the immigration courts and “judicial and legislative constraints” that
make it difficult to deport minors and family members. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) manages a detained and nondetained docket which includes aliens in all stages of the immigration process across the country. During fiscal year 2019, ICE's detained and nondetained dockets both reached record highs in fiscal year 2019, overwhelmingly due to the historic levels of CBP
apprehensions at the Southwest Border. In fiscal year 2019: * 73 percent of all initial book-ins to ICE custody resulted from CBP apprehensions, while overall initial book-ins to ICE custody increased 29 percent compared to FY 2018 and 58 percent compared to FY 2017. * E R O ' s Av e r a g e Daily Population in custody reached 50,165 in FY 2019, an increase of 19 percent compared to FY 2018. At times, ERO's d e t e n t i o n population exceeded 56,000. * I C E ' s Av e r a g e Length of Stay for its detained population was 34.3 days, which decreased from 39.4 days in FY 2018 and 43.7 days in FY 2017. * The number of aliens on ICE's non-detained docket surpassed 3 million cases for the first time (3.2 million), up from 2.6 million cases at the end of FY 2018
Attorney-at-law, Gail Seeram and 2.4 million at the end of FY 2017. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) Attorney Gail Seeram, LL.M., J.D., BBA Call | Text 407-292-7730 WhatsApp 407-3531363 E m a i l : Gail@GailLaw.com L i v e C h a t : www.GailLaw.com Download FREE App: Gail Law NOTE: Immigration Law Offices of Gail S. Seeram offer a free consultation to discuss related fees for a process and explain options. Our office will NOT tell you how to complete the legal process on your own. If you seek legal representation, then legal fees will be due to our office. Copyright ©Law Offices of Gail S. Seeram, 2020. All Rights Reserved.
Classical Tales of East Indian Life From page 42 the fatalistic desperation of victimhood. In 'Turning Point,' he examines the challenges of marital life and t h e c a l a m i t o u s repercussions of unbridled sensibilities. In 'The Madeira Crystals,' Chen effortlessly changes scenery, relating the wretchedness of a maid's life under the thumb of an urban doyenne. It is a doleful exposé on class, privilege and servitude. And in ' We l c o m e H o m e , ' t h e undaunted spirit of an abandoned and impecunious protagonist proves supremely inspiring. Throughout, Chen's theme of Indian unity and pride resonates. He depicts a community unabashed and unswerving in its loyalty to India. 'Ruralized' Indians, with little access to the political levers of power,
close ranks, showcasing their 'Indianness.' Despite this robust ethnic identity, cultural assimilation seeps in as kinetic gyrations to the drums of Tassa infect every national festival. On such occasions, Trinidad and To b a g o b u r s t s i n t o a mélange of culturally kaleidoscopic expressions that ultimately unify a nation. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) F e e d b a c k : glenvilleashby@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby Chutney Power by Willi Chen ISBN 13:978-1-40502973-5 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Finola Ambika Permansingh - a doctor on a mission to provide... From page 20 thoughts of becoming a medical practitioner. Though fuelled by medical ambition, she was unable to immediately pursue the desired studies when she graduated from high school. But this didn't stop this always enterprising young woman from being as productive as possible. “I wasn't able to get into medical school right away, so I taught high school Math and Biology for seven months,” she casually informed. Eventually she was off to Cuba and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. MAIN COMMITMENT Before being sent to Kumaka to practice, Dr. Permansingh had stints at both the Suddie Public Hospital and The Oscar Joseph District Hospital in Charity. Although things have changed immensely when it comes to the delivery of health care, she maintained “my main commitment is trying to get the COVID-19 situation in Moruca under control by tracing contacts, mass testing, isolating confirmed cases and dispersing information on the importance of following the COVID-19 safety measures.” To get the work done, Dr. Permansingh said, “My colleagues and I attached to the Kumaka District Hospital, are trying our best with the available resources. I hope for the continued support of my colleagues and the Ministry of Health.” Because of her commitment to the profession, this young woman, though betrothed, no longer has the luxury of trying to balance work and family time. “I work directly with COVID-19 patients, as such I don't visit my family for fear of exposing my vulnerable family members.” Even as she continues to join forces with her colleagues to put a dent in the COVID-19 m o m e n t u m , D r. Permansingh's advice to members of the public is simple but to the point. “Be kind to one another. Wearing a mask in public and following COVID-19 safety protocols is an act of kindness towards others. By following the measures, you are not just protecting yourself but also the more vulnerable in society.” WORTHWHILE Even as she recognised the role that each person must play in the fight against the disease, Dr. Permansingh turned her attention to her nursing colleagues, several of whom,
from a few public health facilities, staged protest action during the past week to make a point for adequate compensation. But without nurses the gains made to date could easily slip away.
Underscoring the crucial role nurses play in the delivery of critical care, Dr. Permansingh said, “even though you (nurses) are always battling on the frontlines, watching one of
your patients recover makes it all worthwhile.” And so even as she mentally maps out a future in which she specialises in the field of paediatrics, Dr. Permansingh said her
continuance in the health system is hinged on “the knowledge that I contribute to making peoples' lives better by being involved in improving the health of the population.”
For staying to fight another day in the battle against COVID-19, today, with the blessings of the Ministry of Health, we recognise Dr. Permansingh as a 'Champion Health Care Provider'.
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Staff Nurse/ Midwife From page 13 she was sleeping right next to me when I got the results. I looked at her and I started crying because if something was to happen to her I don't
Onika Khan
know how I would've handled it. I was just wondering about her future the entire time,” Nurse Khan shared. She eventually got a
break from her anxiety, when her daughter's test results returned negative. DISCRIMINATED AGAINST
While Nurse Khan was in quarantine, the reaction of the some members of the public was grossly discriminatory. She told Kaieteur News that most of the acts of discrimination were hurled at her close family members. “The reaction was really
Sunday October 04, 2020 discriminating, my sisters and so were stigmatized and they live in Mainstay. Vehicles and transportation were refusing to take some of them out of the community and people generally didn't want to talk to them.” Nurse Khan said that it
was at this point that she contemplated quitting her career. “At one point I wanted to quit. But I said to myself it could've been worst and it could've happened to anyone. Everything happens for a reason and at least I still had life. So I kept on doing what I do best.” When asked what could've caused the population to pin a stigma on her family, Nurse Khan replied, “Fear could be the reason why they reacted like that. For some of them you may have an underlying medical condition, so they may feel that if they were to get infected, it may be worse so I guess they preferred to be on the safe side.” A LESSON Nurse Khan admitted that there are multiple lessons that can be taken away from her recent experience. She reiterated that precautions must be taken at all times, especially since patients who are asymptomatic, can very well be a carrier of COVID-19. “I hope that from my lesson, persons take more precaution when stepping out. First ensure that you wear your mask at all times when going out. As Guyanese we can boil our various medicines and use them. Make sure that our vitamins are up to date and live with the view that COVID-19 is very much real.”
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$25,000 household cash grant distribution continues in Region Nine Over 195 Nappi (Region Nine) residents were able to benefit yesterday from the $25,000 per household COVID-19 relief cash grant announced by President Irfaan Ali earlier last month. Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, joined the regional team including Brian Allicock - Regional Chairman; Guy Fredericks -Toshao; Sylvester Fredericks -Deputy Toshao, and Rodger King - Councillor as the officials conducted their distribution.
Minister Hamilton asserted he expects that “the grant will ease some of the hardships that hinterland residents are facing following the break on farming, mining and other activities during the pandemic.� The Minister also gave assurances that the distribution would be done fairly. The exercise has also started in Region One, another border area and is expected to converge next on the coastlands. Every household has been promised to get the cash help.
A Region Nine resident receives his cash grant from an official.
Residents await receipt of their cash grants.
Sunday October 04, 2020
The story of Chief Prison Officer... From page 24 in December 2008. Throughout the hectic plans for the wedding day, Olivia remembers being teased by her friends repeatedly. “They would tease and say 'you does always get everything you want eh… you always like them tall dark and handsome now you marrying a tall dark and handsome...you glad eh?'” Olivia recalled. As she fast forwarded to the wedding day, she reminisced on walking down the aisle of the church as Cox's eager eyes gazed upon her. She smiled as she recalled how he held her closely and danced with her in the halls of the YMCA that evening. “For me it was like a fairy tale,” recounted Olivia. As she continued her journey down memory lane sharing memories of a short 12year long marriage to her true love, she said, “I admired the way he took care of my daughter as if she was his own flesh and blood; she too fell in love with him and even called him daddy.” But he nevertheless had a desire to father his own children. Olivia remembered how excited he was when she told him that she was pregnant with his first child – a boy who they named Amani. “I remember that at times I would get sick and vomit a lot, and there Cox would be right behind me making jokes and dancing just to cheer me up and make me feel better,” Olivia recalled. In order to ensure that she had sufficient rest during her pregnancy, he would do the dishes, clean the house and even washed. But cooking wasn't his thing, she joked. When asked why Cox did not cook, she laughed and then informed that he simply did not know how to cook anything else except “only plantain and eggs”. “Even when it was Mother's Day I can predict that I will be served plantain and eggs with local juice,” said Olivia as a smile formed on her face. Despite having to do the cooking, she was happy that he was with her every step of the way until Amani was born in 2014. AFAMILYMAN She continued her tale by disclosing that besides their romantic relationship, Cox was a family man and an awesome father who spent time with his step-daughter, son and their little baby girl who was born in 2018. Part of his routine as head of the home, Olivia said, was teaching, training and imparting all of his knowledge to them, whether it was sports or what he had learnt as a Prison Officer. Olivia noted that part of those strict training sessions was learning of his favourite
sport -- basketball. “Cox loved basketball, he loved the lakers and of course Kobe Bryant was a legend to him,” she said. Bright and early, she recalled heading, along with her older daughter, to the national park, to do laps and basketball training with him. “If we made a mistake or failed to learn, we would be 'punished' with push-ups or extra laps,” she said amidst a grin which soon turned in desperate as she came to terms with the fact that all she has left of him are the many memories they made over the years. He was a strict instructor. Olivia said that they were not permitted to call him by his given names during training sessions, adding that sir or coach were the only names he would respond to. “He was so passionate about the sport that every time he left for a training session in the US, he would say that he will try to find Kobe Bryant and convince him to train his son to become a professional basket player,” said Olivia. It was after returning from one of these training sessions in the US, Olivia said that Cox revealed, during a routine training session, that he must be called “Sensei”. The next day, she recalled, he began a new course with the entire family, teaching them about what he had learnt during an “On Hands Combat” course. As expected, Olivia said they made a lot of mistakes and were punished with difficult exercises. Moreover, every time they complained by saying “daddy” or 'hon', Cox would remind them to: 'call me Sensei'. At first Olivia made fun of him but soon grew comfortable that indeed he was a “Sensei”. It was his job to teach and train other officers like himself; it was part of him. In fact, that was how she fell in love with him; he was her teacher too, her “tall, dark and handsome sensei”. In addition to being a sensei to his family, Olivia said Cox's main focus was to make the kids happy and secure a great future for them. She remembered the grand sweet sixteen party he organised for her daughter. “He danced with her, changed her flat shoes, placed the high heels on her feet and made sure that she had a perfect evening,” Olivia recounted. Olivia remembered too that on one occasion he grabbed her in his arms and jokingly said, 'If something happens to me, I am not worried about you nor this house; I will be worried about my children'. Olivia said she asked him “'why” and he responded 'Because I know you are a gogetter and very capable of tak-
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ing care of yourself but if I should die I won't be around to see what kind of man you will take'. He would then, laugh and warn, 'if you take a stupid man that will punish my children, I will wait for you in jumby land just to torment you'. “I laughed it off and said that would never happen,” said Olivia. With passing days and years Olivia said that her love for Cox and the bond they shared as a family grew stronger and it seemed as if their fairy tale-like life together would never end. But this was about to change. DRASTIC CHANGES This year started on a high for Olivia and Cox but soon made a dash for the worst with the arrival of COVID-19. Despite the drastic changes around them they relished the opportunity to do what they loved, that is to spend more time together as a family. The kids were home, the schools were closed, and Cox's shift schedule was adjusted too. Olivia explained that because of the Coronavirus pandemic Cox worked one week and he was off the next week. As circumstances would have it, the year 2020 continued down a disastrous path and soon both Olivia and Cox became engulfed in their duties as prison officers. As a result, they were unable to spend much time together as a family. On Friday August 28, however, Cox called Olivia and told them that whether they were tired or not they must spend the weekend together as a family. He reminded Olivia of their courting days and requested that she accompany him that evening to a party with friends. Things didn't work out as he had planned and the date with his beloved wife did not happen. The following the day he insisted that he wanted to take the family for a day out. Olivia told him of the COVID19 restrictions but this did not deter him; he convinced her to say okay. They prepared themselves, dressed the children, and headed for the Georgetown seawalls that afternoon. Along the way they stopped to get food and while everyone opted for a chicken burger with other meals, Cox wanted his favourite -- a Chinese fried rice with sweet and sour chicken. He searched and searched but could not find sweet and sour chicken. Cox did not want to waste more time, so he settled for a striped chicken fried rice and continued to the seawall. They ate and Cox sat with Olivia sharing a few drinks as they watched their children
play on the trampolines. It was a perfect afternoon and as it came to an end Cox found someone to snap a family portrait before they left the seawalls. The family wrapped up the afternoon with a walk behind the Marriott International Hotel where Cox told them stories of his childhood days. One of his stories saw him recounting how he, along with friends, would kill and eat the kiki birds that are seen in their numbers, especially at around afternoon hours, along the seawall area.
It was August 30 and Officer Cox was preparing for his night shift at the Lusignan Prison. Before leaving home he joined Olivia on their veranda and the two shared a moment. Olivia recalled that Amani their son was pranking them, his father got up, caught him and took him into one of the bedrooms for a chat. He then returned and continued his conversation with Olivia. Just before he left, Olivia remembered telling him that she loves him dearly and will always love him no matter what the situation or the cir-
cumstances may be. She then waved goodbye to him. Curiosity got the better of her and she asked Amani about the chat he had with his father. Amani responded that his dad told him that no matter what happens in life, he must always remember that they love him dearly. On Monday August 31, minutes before Cox's life was snuffed out in the fatal crash along Homestretch Avenue, his colleague recalled him saying 'if anything should happen to me, I just want my family to be ok'.
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CONSUMER CONCERNS
Guyana Needs Specialist Police Unit To Address Growing Fraud Crimes By Pat Dial
Some time ago, this column had an offering on foreign frauds enmeshing and robbing Guyanese of millions of dollars. Many of these frauds originated in Nigeria. Now that Guyana has become an oil country, fraudsters from all parts of the world are making their way here as they have done in the small countries with oil economies.
Recently, a major, alleged Ponzi Scheme was uncovered to the great surprise of the whole nation. The alleged scheme had been operating here from 2018 but it is only in 2019 that the Guyana Securities Commission (GSC) became aware of its activities. The Commission immediately issued newspaper advertisements warning the public against the scheme and pointed out that it
infringed several Fiscal Regulatory Laws including the Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act and failure to provide information required by the GSC under the Securities Industry Act of 1998. Further, it had been operating without a licence from the GSC and when it did apply for a licence on August 5th, 2020, that application was not granted. When the Cuban manager
of the scheme had applied for Guyanese naturalization, the GSC informed the Minister of Citizenship and the Minister of Home Affairs of the applicant’s involvement in the alleged Ponzi scheme. The Cuban manager was, however, granted Guyanese nationality and no police inquiry was undertaken. It was only recently that a high-level team consisting of the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police, the Governor of the Central Bank, Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit and Head of the Guyana Securities Council got involved and the two managers of the scheme were taken into custody and charged. Some 17,000 persons were enmeshed in the scheme and it is so far estimated that US $30M had been collected. The courts will eventually resolve the matter but many persons would be losing large sums of money. Dubai, a small oilproducing country, has attracted fraudsters from all over the world. Recently, the BBC reported that a gang of a dozen Nigerians fraudsters were arrested by the Dubai police, the two most prominent being Olalekan Jacob Ponle known by his Instagram name of “mrwoodberry” and Ramon Olorunwa Abbas known to his 2.4 million Instagram followers as”hushpuppi”.
The Dubai police have recovered US $40M in cash; 13 luxury cars worth US$6.8M; 21 computers; 47 smart phones and the addresses of nearly two million alleged victims. The Dubai experience has been replicating itself in several other countries. The types of fraud are more ingenious using modern IT technology. The law enforcing bodies at all levels will have to be made aware of the problem and the most effective training should be sourced to deal with this novel type of criminality. The Police Force should urgently begin work on establishing a specialist unit to deal with such genre of criminality. A decade ago, the foreign frauds were simpler and the two most known here were sweepstakes fraud and offers to place large sums of money in the victim’s foreign bank accounts. The sweepstakes fraud was simply an offer of buying a share in the world’s richest lotteries such the El Gordo of Spain. The fraudster researched into the name, address and other personal information of prospective victim. He/she would be written a very convincing letter and once he/she sends the fraudster money to purchase the first share, the victim will continue to do so until he realises his remittances have been embezzled.
The other fraud, mostly emanating from Nigeria, was the prospective victim receiving a well-written letter saying that the writer has access to millions of dollars of Government funds which had been abandoned which he will send to the victim’s foreign bank account. The victim will receive 40% of the money. The fraudster’s aim was to secure the victim’s bank account number and details. Several Guyanese were robbed by these and other frauds. How could Guyana protect itself against these frauds? In the first place, the Citizenship and Immigration Laws need to be urgently modernized or the country will find itself with a plethora of criminals and unwanted residents. In the second place, the Guyana Police Force must establish a specialist unit, the personnel of which should be well trained. Citizens should also protect themselves by resisting the temptation of believing that one could get something for nothing or the temptation of easy money. The fraudster assumes that the victim is naturally greedy and is naive or stupid; the citizen must prove the fraudster wrong. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
GPHC sets up permanent triage areas for suspected COVID-19 cases The Georgetown Public Hospital is being proactive in putting all necessary systems in place to effectively respond to the medical needs of citizens while preventing the spread of COVID-19. Director of Medical and Professional Services, Dr. Fawcett Jeffrey on Friday, said the hospital had mobilised even before COVID-19 to protect staff and patients from being infected. Interventions have now evolved while developing measures are taking shape. Initially, temporary screening points were set up at all entrances of the hospital. Those are at Lamaha Street, East Street, New Market (North), New Market (South) and Middle Street, but two of them are now triage centres housed in permanent structures. “We have a triage centre in East Street; a patient who comes to the hospital who has symptoms of COVID-19 is not allowed in the institution. That patient is triaged and if necessary, even swabbed. We also have a triage centre in Middle Street where if you are going to the Medical Outpatient Department, you are screened and if needed, you are triaged there,” Dr. Jeffrey said. Those facilities serve as primary monitoring areas for everyone entering different parts of the facility, whether patient, visitor or staff.
Dr. Fawcett Jeffrey, Director, Medical and Professional Services, GPHC The GPHC has the only Infectious Diseases Intensive Care Unit in the country. This is where critically-ill COVID-19 patients are treated. The Ministry will also be looking to set up Intensive Care Units at all regional Hospitals with ventilators and other key equipment. Staff at all levels have been trained on how they can continue to carry out their duties even in the presence of the deadly COVID-19. (DPI)
Sunday October 04, 2020
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Kaieteur News
Man turns up at hospital with gunshot wound, arrested for Mackenzie home invasion A suspect who was on September 24th arrested at the Linden Hospital Complex with a gunshot wound was remanded to prison on Friday for allegedly invading a home at Mackenzie, Linden, Region 10, and robbing its occupants. Virtually appearing before Magistrate Annette Singh was Kelcie Murray, 30, of Watooka Hill, Linden. Murray was slapped a total of three charges which included two counts of robbery under arms and one count of being in possession of an unlicensed firearm with live ammunition It is alleged that on September 24, 2020, Murray, along with another suspect,
armed with a gun and a crowbar, entered the home of Dexter Lewis, a labourer and Derron James, 21, located at Fair Rust Extension, Mackenzie and robbed them of $114,000 in cash. Murray pleaded not guilty to the charges and is expected to return to court on October 28, 2020. Kaieteur News had reported that Lewis and James were robbed of cash and their cell phones by two late night visitors knocking on their door. The men had told police that one of them had awoken out of his sleep to the sound of someone knocking on their door. He reportedly got up to investigate and ended up face
to face with two bandits-one armed with a gun and the other with a crowbar. The bandit with the gun held him at gunpoint while the other armed with a crowbar located the other occupant of the house. They demanded cash and the occupants handed over $114,000 in cash. The bandits then proceeded to ransack their house and stole their cell phones as well. Lewis and James were further harassed and taken outside by the bandits where they reportedly discharged a round in the air before they fled. Hours later, Murray turned up at the hospital nursing a gunshot wound to
STANDARDS IN FOCUS
CODEX STANDARDS - Beneficial to the local food and agriculture sectors The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), which functions as the Codex Contact Point, has been facilitating the development of standards relating to food and agriculture to enhance the products, services, and systems of these sectors. A key international partner in this effort is the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). The CAC was established in 1962 to implement the Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)/World Health Organisation (WHO) Food Standards Programme. Implementation of Codex standards is voluntary, and the translation of these standards into national legislation or regulation is required for their enforcement. Implementation and enforcement of these standards ensure the fair trade of safe foods. Codex standards offer s c i e n c e - b a s e d recommendations in all areas related to food safety and quality; they are referenced in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade negotiations. Guyana became a member to CAC in 1970 and subsequently, the GNBS was identified as the National Codex Contact Point (NCCP). The NCCP acts as the Secretariat for the CAC; meaning that it coordinates ‘ALL’ Codex activities within Guyana, and it is the major communication link between the CAC and Guyana. To expedite the work of Codex, a National Codex Committee (NCC) was established. This Committee’s mandate is to facilitate national discussions on food safety issues
affecting local producers and consumers to contribute to the discussions during the development of Codex standards. The NCC has a formalized structure and its members include a representative from the Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Agriculture, InterAmerican Institute for Corporation on Agriculture, Guyana Consumer Association, Faculty of Natural Sciences, and the Guyana Manufacturers Services Association. The NCC meets regularly to discuss food safety-related issues and make recommendations to eliminate them using the Codex standards. In July of this year, during its meeting, the NCC addressed a range of food safety-related issues made nominations for the participation in various Codex meetings. These meetings include the 43rd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission first virtual meeting began on September 24-26 and continues October 12 & 19 in which the Commission is to decide on food standards development work items executed by the different Codex Committees. In addition, the Virtual Codex Alimentarius Colloquium on Task Force for the Antimicrobial Resistance meeting took place on September 16, 2020. Discussions were centered on the Draft Revision of the Code of Practice to contain and minimize Antimicrobial resistance (Code of Practice) and the Draft of Guidelines for integrated monitoring and surveillance of food borne AMR (GLIS). Meanwhile, there is a
meeting slated for October 15with the Codex Committee of Latin America and the Caribbean (CCLAC) Coordinator and the Codex Trust Fund to discuss the experiences of Code Trust Fund awardees in the CCLAC Region. Under the Codex Trust Fund, three activities are to be executed. Firstly, the training of regulators, food business operators and other food safety stakeholders on Codex standards and the distribution of print and nonprint materials. Secondly, a technical workshop will be held to identify areas of Codex standard development for special products produced in Guyana and manufactured for export; and lastly the development of a communication strategy to increase awareness among stakeholders. In closing, food producers are encouraged to download free copies of Codex standards from the Codex website http:// w w w. f a o . o r g / f a o - w h o codexalimentarius/home/en/. The GNBS will continue to utilize the Codex standards in the development of national food standards to ensure that internationally recognised requirements and best practices are used by our local industry. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) For further information, contact the GNBS on telephone numbers: 2190062, 219-0065 or 2190069. Please visit our website: www.gnbsgy.org and like our Facebook page: gnbsgy
the upper thigh. It was soon realized that he matched the description of one of the bandits and was subsequently placed under police guard at the hospital. Investigators were able to locate the firearm used in the robbery, which Murray reportedly admitted ownership. The suspect, however, refused to reveal the identity of his accomplice or admit his involvement in the robbery. Based on evidence obtained, the Department of Public Prosecutor advised that Murray be charged for the crime.
CHARGED: Kelcie Murray
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
Trump’s COVID-19 symptoms ‘very concerning’, next 48 hours critical – Source
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yesterday. The source’s assessment of the Republican president’s medical status came after a team of doctors told reporters at a press conference early yesterday that he was “doing very well.” One of those doctors said Trump had told them “I feel like I could walk out of here today.” The source, who asked not to be identified, said the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of Trump’s care. Trump, 74, left the White House and was moved to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington on Friday just hours after he was diagnosed with COVID-19. The New York Times said the decision to transport Trump to the hospital came after he had experienced difficulty breathing and his oxygen level dropped, prompting his doctors to give him supplemental oxygen, according to two sources that the newspaper said were close to the White House. White House doctor Sean P. Conley told reporters outside the hospital yesterday that Trump had not experienced difficulty breathing, and was not given oxygen at Walter Reed. “The team and I are extremely happy with the progress the president has made,” Conley said. possible release from the hospital. Trump tweeted praise for the medical staff at Walter Reed, and other institutions that have joined them, saying they are “amazing” and that with their help, “I am feeling well!” The White House has said Trump will work in a special suite at the hospital for the next few days as a precautionary measure. He had no public events scheduled yesterday. The diagnosis was the latest setback for the Republican president, who is trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead
of the Nov. 3 presidential election. Trump has downplayed the threat of the coronavirus pandemic from the outset, even as the disease has killed more than 200,000 Americans and hammered the U.S. economy. Conley said Trump had received a first dose of a fiveday course of Remdesivir, an intravenous antiviral drug sold by Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O that has been shown to shorten hospital stays. He is also taking an experimental treatment, Regeneron’s REGN.O REGN-COV2, one of several experimental COVID19 drugs known as monoclonal antibodies, as well as zinc, Vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and aspirin, Conley has said. Trump announced on Twitter early on Friday that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had contracted the virus. He is at high risk because of his age and weight. He has remained in apparent good health during his time in office but is not known to exercise regularly or to follow a healthy diet. A number of other prominent Republicans have also said they tested positive for COVID-19 since Trump’s announcement, including Republican Senators Mike Lee, Thom Tillis and Ron Johnson, former White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Vice President Mike Pence, who would take over presidential duties if Trump became severely ill, tested negative, a spokesman said. The former Indiana governor, 61, is working from his own residence about three miles from the White House. Yesterday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said all Senate floor activity would be rescheduled until after Oct. 19, but committee work, including Barrett’s confirmation hearing, would continue.
Sunday October 04, 2020
Kaieteur News
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Granger demitted office with $35M Lexus - PNCR says that vehicle can be withdrawn at anytime When former President David Granger demitted office in August, he took with him a $35M Lexus—a vehicle bought using the taxes of citizens and owned by the state. Details of these and other pressing issues were shared by Vice President (VP), Bharrat Jagdeo, on Friday during a press engagement at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC). During the press engagement, the VP, himself a former president, articulated that: “When you look at the spending on vehicles under the APNU+AFC, it was enormous. Last year, they bought a vehicle for the former President David Granger for $35.2M. The best Land Cruiser is between $17M and $20M, depending on who you buy it from, with the best features inside, and they spend on a Lexis $35.2M. Guess where that is now? It is with Granger.” However, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) sought to respond to Jagdeo’s statements, as they wrote in a statement yesterday that the former president is “entitled only to benefits and facilities which are in accordance with the ‘Former Presidents (Benefits and other Facilities) Act’. These include the provision of “…not more than two motor vehicles maintained by the state.” The PNCR indicated that these conditions are identical to those provided to former presidents Samuel Hinds, Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar. “Mr. Granger was assigned a motor vehicle which remains part of a reserve fleet of stateowned motor cars. The fleet’s vehicles were used for the ceremonial inauguration convoy of President Irfaan Ali and state and official visits of President Akufo-Addo of Ghana; Prime Ministers Ralph Gonzalves, Keith Mitchell, Mia Mottley, Keith Rowley, and Roosevelt Skerritt of the Caribbean Community
and some members of the delegation accompanying Secretary of State Michael Pompey of the USA, among others,” the statement read. It went on to state that the vehicle to which VP Jagdeo referred to could have been assigned for Granger’s use, but only by the Office of the President (OP). “It is the property of the Government of Guyana. It is not private property. It could be withdrawn at any time at the discretion and on the direction of the President and replaced with another in accordance with the ‘Former Presidents (Benefits and other Facilities) Act’”, the PNC wrote. What is notable is that the APNU+AFC had slammed the PPP/C for budgeting $95M to repair and replace vehicles of the new ministers. It was the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira who had claimed that the vehicles were returned in flawed and run-down state by the previous APNU+AFC government. Teixeira indicated to the National Assembly’s Committee of Supply on the first day of the consideration of budget estimates that when the former ministers had returned their vehicles to the new government, it was observed that there were cracked windshields, ripped and stained seats, damaged radios and even different tires on the automobiles. “We don’t know who did what,” Teixeira told the House, “so this money is to do some repairs and purchase new vehicles,” while further indicating that some damaged vehicles had to be “boarded up” because it would be too costly to repair or replace. During her presentation the Minister could not disclose details of the types/models of the vehicles to be procured nor how much each would cost taxpayers. She maintained, however, that public tendering would be the method utilized to source the vehicles.
Government threatens to suspend collective labour agreement with GPSU The Government has threatened the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) to suspend their Collective Labor Agreement following the union’s endorsement of the protest action by local health workers. Earlier this year, the previous administration signed a two-year collective agreement with the union. Following the signing of the agreement workers were in for new benefits like pensions, the introduction of paternity leave strictly for men with one partner and bearing the responsibility for their offspring, “Unless these protest actions cease immediately and the procedures outlined by the law are invoked, the Government will have no alternative but to consider certain options, including but not limited to, the institution of criminal charges, dismissal, termination of contracts of employment, suspension of the collective labor agreement with the GPSU and the suspension of the deduction of union dues for and on behalf of the union,” Attorney General Anil Nandlall said. This was part of a warning letter issued to the President of the GPSU, Patrick Yarde by
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall
President of the Guyana Public Service Union, Patrick Yarde
Nandlall over the weekend. The Attorney General made it clear that Yarde’s endorsement of the recent protest action by the health care workers is an indication that the GPSU has failed, neglected, and/or refused to direct the health care workers to a legal and acceptable industrial course of action. Instead, the GPSU has misled the workers into violating the law, according to Nandlall. Further, Nandlall stated that the union has encouraged health care workers to infringe recognized practices in industrial relations both locally and internationally, practices that
fall under International Labor Organization (ILO) prescriptions. “To violate this internationally recognized norm in industrial practice at a time when our nation and indeed world, is facing the worst pandemic in living history amounts to a most cruel, inhuman and unusual abdication of responsibility and may be viewed as conduct amounting to criminal negligence. That citizens may die as a result of the GPSU’s actions, cannot have escaped you,” the Attorney General maintained. The recent protest action Continued on page 72
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Kaieteur News
Sunday October 04, 2020
Alleged Ponzi schemers halt operations; to start paying investors from October 12th
Alleged Ponzi scheme operator, Yuri GarciaDominguez, says that all persons who invested with Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. will be repaid from October 12th, 2020. The company also plan on ceasing all operations in Guyana until a license is granted for them to operate. This was revealed during a press conference yesterday, when the accused and his attorney, Dexter Todd, gave an update on how the company intends to move
forward and to give clarity on the ongoing matter. Garcia-Dominguez, a Cuban national who was granted citizenship in June, and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael, are accused of running a Ponzi scheme operation, in which billions of dollars were swindled out of the pockets of hundreds of Guyanese. The couple is currently before three different courts for over 80 fraud charges which alleged that they obtain monies under false pretense.
The duo was recently released on bail after spending over a month in prison on remand. During the press briefing yesterday, which was held at Sharon’s Building, Georgetown, GarciaDominguez stated that: “Accelerated Capital Firm is ready to resume payments after 36 days halt based on a situation everybody knows about... on the 12th of this month we will resume the first 100 people to be paid.” Todd added that on
Government threatens to suspend... From page 71 by health care workers began in Linden, when nurses from the Linden Hospital Complex staged a protest, demanding better risk allowance, timely salary payments, and the provision of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for them to properly do their jobs. They were followed by nurses from the West Demerara Regional Hospital and eventually nurses from the GPHC. Following their endorsement of the protests, the GPSU on October 1, gave the government and the Georgetown Public
Hospital Corporation (GPHC) an ultimatum, stating that they have 72 hours to give a positive response to the demands, or they will mobilize a full strike action. Workers have since been refusing to turn up for duty at their respective medical facilities, the most recent incident being health care workers at critical units of the GPHC calling in sick while some simply did not show. Nandlall stated that the government is indebted to all health care workers for their service. However, in light of recent events- the government is seeing their hand being forced.
October 12th, 2020, ACF will be facilitating the returns of the invested capital of persons. “Because of the volume of persons the company has made a decision to take the first 100 persons and seven days after that they will take the next 100 persons...until the entire amount have received their invested capital.” When asked if the 70-plus complainants will be given priority in repayment, Todd stated that he wish the arrangement of payment will be mentioned to the court in order to avoid an allegation of tampering with the witnesses. “We will have to give respect to the court in the sense that we will have to allow the court to have an appreciation of what is being done...Usually how it’s done in court is that the complainant comes to court and is asked by a magistrate [do you wish to proceed with this matter or do you wish to collect your monies] and if the
complainant states that all they want is their money, we are free to settle with that person unhindered,” Todd explained. He added, that will be the approach as it relates to the complainants. However, if the complainants are repaid, the decision of whether or not the charges will continue against the accused is left to be made by the Director of Public Prosecution, Shalimar AliHack, S.C. The company has to repay over 17,000, persons who invested in the company, and due to the number of persons and the pandemic, all payments will be done following strict COVID-19 guidelines. The Government had set up a bank account at Demerara Bank to facilitate payments. Meanwhile, Todd said that the company will be ceasing all operations and cancelling all contracts with investors until it can acquire a license to operate in Guyana.
Operations halted: Yuri Garcia-Dominguez “This here is a company, the company is legitimately registered, the company has contracts with investors and the investors give their monies so that their monies can be traded internationally.” Todd noted that the license that was required under the laws of Guyana was not acquired and is for that reason the company must cease operations. “It would be the most reasonable and prudent thing to do to exit those contracts and that is what the legal team has been putting together.”
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Another Reg. 4 death as Guyana surpasses 3,000 COVID-19 cases Guyana has surpassed 3,000 COVID-19 cases with another 37 persons testing positive, according to the latest figures. Guyana now has a total of 3,005 confirmed cases and an additional death that was announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH). However, the death was not reflected in the daily dashboard update.
The deceased is a 74-year-old woman from Demerara-Mahaica (Region Four), who succumbed while receiving treatment at a medical facility. She died around 2pm yesterday. The total number of COVID-19 deaths is now 86. According to the Ministry’s daily dashboard update, there are currently 18
persons in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 144 persons are in institutional isolation, 851 persons are in approved home isolation, and 64 persons in institutional quarantine. Further, it was stated that 1,907 persons have recovered. The dashboard’s regional distribution of cases shows Region One with 458 confirmed
cases; Region Two- 37 cases; Region Three229 cases; Region Four-1,396 cases; Region Five-18 cases; Region Six-46 cases; Region Seven-288 cases; Region Eight-79 cases; Region Nine-355 cases and Region Ten-99 cases. To date, 14,613 persons have been tested for COVID-19, of this number 11,608 tested negative.
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Sunday October 04, 2020
Sunday October 04, 2020
...Novak Djokovic eases
...World champions shine From page 75 events, Olympic silver medallist Paul Tanui won the men’s 10,000m by 16 seconds in 28:06.90 after kicking away from the rest of the field with 800 metres to go. Lemlem Hailu won the women’s 1500m in 4:06.42, holding off a strong challenge from Kenyan duo Winny Chebet (4:06.78) and Mercy Cherono (4:06.79). Young sprint stars emerge - One of the most surprising performances of the day came in the women’s 400m. Namibian 17-year-old Beatrice Masilingi produced a strong final run down the home straight to win in an African U18 best of 50.99 –
the fastest time in the world by an U18 athlete for 18 years. Kenya’s Mary Moraa was second in 51.99. South Africa’s Dambile Sinesipho, the African U18 champion, won the men’s 200m in 20.44 (1.2m/s) ahead of Ivorian Arthur Cisse, who clocked 20.53. Denmark’s Tazana Kamanga-Dyrbak, another promising talent, finished third in 20.61 to break his own national U20 record. Britain’s 2018 world U20 bronze medallist Kristal Awuah set a PB of 23.05 (0.7m/s) to win the women’s 200m, holding off Egypt’s Bassant Hemida (23.13) and Zambia’s Rhodah Njobvu (23.18).
From page 74 increasingly frustrated Djokovic at 4-2 in the third set - but the 2016 champion was able to shut him down. Djokovic finished with 37 winners and saved all five break points he faced, with his drop shot working to particularly good effect. Djokovic will face a tougher test against Khachanov, who beat him in the Paris Masters final two years ago. Khachanov beat 20th seed Christian Garin of Chile 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-2. Earlier, qualifier Daniel Altmaier delivered a surprise straight-set victory over seventh seed Matteo Berrettini. The German world
Sunday October 04, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Get on the fast track and use your powerful words and creative mind to make quick decisions that are mindful yet spontaneous. TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Start the day with some vigorous yoga and then some meditation to help clear your mind. Stretch your body and get the blood flowing through all of your limbs. GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Do something for the community today, , and really consider how your talents and skills can best be put to work. Consider volunteering at a school or library. CANCER (June 21–July 22) If you're having trouble tackling a giant problem, Cancer, don't get discouraged or overwhelmed. They key for you is to break things down into smaller chunks, analyze them, and figure out their role within the greater whole. LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) If you're having trouble tackling a giant problem, don't get discouraged or overwhelmed. They key for you is to break things down into smaller chunks, analyze them, and figure out their role within the greater whole. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Imagination and fantasy play a big part in your thinking today, Virgo, and you shouldn't hesitate to embrace this frame of mind.
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LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Engage more of your rational mind today, Libra. If your mind continues on its track into a fantasy world, you might consider enlisting the help of people who can help you bring some discipline to your situation. SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Suppose you were someone else for a day, Scorpio. How would it feel to be treated the way you normally treat other people? This is a good time to put yourself in someone else's shoes and experience life through their eyes. SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) Today your thoughts may turn to fashion and the different ways in which you can improve your wardrobe. Don't be afraid to create a look that reflects your true inner spirit. CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) The amazing thing about your nature is that, like a good politician, you have just the right tone of voice and catch phrase for every situation. AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) You're apt to get the feeling that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence today, Aquarius. Try not to get too hung up on this. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Your mind may wander to a fantasyland full of castles, wizards, and magic dragons today. You could find that you're putting yourself in the robes of a beautiful or handsome figure.
number 186, making his first Grand Slam main draw appearance after injury problems, beat the Italian 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. He joins Sebastian Korda in the last 16 as the first qualifiers to reach that stage at Roland Garros in nine years. Altmaier has yet to drop a set in the tournament and will face 17th seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the last 16. The US Open semi-finalist was the winner of an all-Spanish meeting with 10th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, seeing off his compatriot 6-4 6-3 5-7 6-4. Carreno Busta, who was a break down in the fourth set, hit 65 winners to make it through in three hours and 22 minutes. Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, 22, was racing into the next round when Slovenian opponent Aljaz Bedene was forced to retire at 6-1 6-2 3-1 with an ankle problem. Tsitsipas will play Grigor Dimitrov after Roberto Carballes Baena retired when the Bulgarian 18th seed was leading 6-1 6-3. Russian 13th seed Andrey Rublev breezed past Kevin Anderson to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time. Rublev hit 27 winners and did not face a single break point as he dominated the South African to win 6-3 6-2 6-3.
...Normalisation committee From page 79 fulfilling the timing and requisites established within the FVF Statutes. Within the above-mentioned context, and in consultation with CONMEBOL, the mandate of the normalisation committee will include the following: managing the FVF’s daily affairs; organising and holding elections of all members of the FVF; and organising and holding the election of the new FVF Executive Committee. Taking into consideration the sensitive and urgent situation of the FVF, the members of the normalisation committee will be nominated, and subsequently announced, in the upcoming days. In line with the FIFA Governance Regulations, all members of the normalisation committee will be subject to an eligibility check. The normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee, and none of its members will be eligible for any of the open positions in the FVF elections under any circumstances. The normalisation committee will perform its mandate until 30 June 2021 at the latest.
...Petra Kvitova, Sofia Kenin From page 79 pounced, winning six games on the bounce to close out the opener. Kvitova still had to fight in the second set, saving four break points before a forehand winner secured victory. “She pushed me a lot. I really had to fight until the end. I managed to win it somehow,” Kvitova said. Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian 2017 Roland Garros champion who knocked out second seed Karolina Pliskova in the previous round, lost 6-4 6-3 to Paula Badosa. The unseeded Spaniard will face German Laura Siegemund next after the 32year-old beat Croat 13th seed Petra Martic 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-0. Sabalenka out but Kenin breezes through Kenin earlier won 12 games in a row to beat Bara, hitting 32 winners and saving 10 break points. She will face Fiona Ferro next after the Frenchwoman’s 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-0 win over Patricia Maria Tig of Romania. Belarusian Sabalenka has been a top-16 seed at the
past seven Slams but has failed to make it to the second week at each tournament. She lost a fluctuating match against Jabeur, who has reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time. Jabeur had triple set point at 6-5 in a scrappy first set but was broken, before storming back from a 5-1 deficit in the tie-break to take the opener in 57 minutes. However, a refocused Sabalenka took the second in just 19 minutes to force a decider. Sabalenka saved three match points but sent a forehand long to hand Jabeur victory. The 26-year-old will next play either 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza or American Danielle Collins. Jabeur arrived for her post-match news conference with a face mask that had a cartoon of men’s fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on, with Jabeur joking she was “Team Tsitispas”. Kvitova’s fourth-round opponent Zhang earlier reached the fourth round with a 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 win over French wildcard Clara Burel.
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LA Lakers move a step closer to NBA glory with 124-114 win over Miami Heat in Game 2 - James and Davis on song with combined 65 points MailOnline - LeBron James scored 33 points and Anthony Davis contributed 32 as the Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals with a 124-114 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday near Orlando. James also had nine rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who led for the majority of the contest. Davis, who converted 15 of 20 shots, grabbed 14 rebounds.
Rajon Rondo added 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma chipped in 11 points apiece. Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 25 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds. Tyler Herro, 20, who replaced Magic Johnson as the youngest player to start in the Finals, finished with 17 points for the Heat, who played without center Bam Adebayo
(shoulder strain) and guard Goran Dragic (plantar fascia tear in left foot). Kendrick Nunn had 13 points and Jae Crowder added 12. The Lakers went up by as much as 18 in the third quarter but the Heat kept hanging around. A three-point play by Olynyk and two foul shots by Herro with 48.8 seconds left in the quarter cut the gap to 100-91 before a 3-pointer by
Rondo pushed the lead to double digits again. The Lakers led 103-93 heading into the fourth quarter. Davis scored 15 points in the third. Miami failed to cut the lead below 10 points in the fourth quarter. A lay-up by Crowder pulled the Heat within 47-43 with 4:38 remaining in the second quarter. However, three free throws by Kyle Kuzma
capped a 9-2 Lakers’ run for a 56-45 advantage with 3:06 left in the half. Miami sliced the margin to 10 before Los Angeles went up 68-54 at the break. Davis scored 15 points on
7 of 8 shooting to help the Lakers outshoot the Heat 56.5 per cent to 45.9 per cent in the first half. Overall, the Heat shot 50.7 per cent to 50.5 per cent for the Lakers. Game 3 is today.
Anthony Davis swings from the hoop after a dunk on his way to 32 points on Friday night @USA TODAY Sports
Novak Djokovic eases through; Daniel Altmaier stuns Matteo Berrettini
Novak Djokovic helped clear the court of water after it rained heavily in Paris. (Getty Images) BBCsport - World number one Novak Djokovic put in another assured performance to beat Daniel Elahi Galan and reach the French Open fourth round. The Serb, bidding for his 18th Grand Slam title, beat the Colombian qualifier 6-0 6-3 62. Djokovic, who took the first set in 25 minutes, has lost just 15 games in his opening three matches. He will face 15th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia for a place in the
quarter-finals in Paris. It is the 11th consecutive year that Djokovic has reached the last 16 at Roland Garros. Aiming for a second French Open title, Djokovic barely looked troubled against the world number 153. Galan got the biggest cheer of the day when he finally got on the board after losing the first eight games. There were moments for Galan - he had two opportunities to break an (Continued on page 73)
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World champions shine as Kip Keino Classic delivers the magic in Nairobi Three of Kenya’s world champions – Timothy Cheruiyot, Hellen Obiri and Beatrice Chepkoech – were triumphant at the Kip Keino Classic World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting on Saturday (yesterday) as Nairobi hosted its first ever global one-day meet at the newly-refurbished Nyayo National Stadium. Despite struggling with a hamstring strain, Cheruiyot maintained his 1500m winning streak and held off a strong challenge from young compatriot Kumari Taki. With his front-leaning running style and long strides, Cheruiyot held second place throughout most of the race with Taki and his training partner Timothy Sein dictating the tempo. But at the bell, Cheruiyot darted to the lead. Taki tried to close in on the world champion down the home straight, but Cheruiyot’s experience proved vital as he guarded his lead to win in 3:34.53. Taki, the 2016 world U20 champion, was second in 3:35.00 – just 0.86 shy of his PB. Abel Kipsang was third in 3:35.43. Obiri, meanwhile, used her imperious finishing kick to win the 5000m ahead of world 10,000m bronze medallist Agnes Tirop. Obiri kicked hard in the final 300m and went on to win in 15:06.36, crossing the finish line with a smile as she wrapped up a successful 2020 track campaign that included world-leading performances over 3000m and 5000m. Tirop finished second in 15:06.71.
World record-holder Chepkoech brought the curtains down on the hugely successful event, leading from the outset to win the steeplechase in 9:29.05. Only Hyvin Kiyeng, the 2015 world champion, tried to keep up with Chepkoech’s pace – which, given Nairobi’s altitude, was pretty swift. Kiyeng finished second in 9:34.07 while Roseline Chepngetich was third in 9:46.14. In contrast to the women’s race, the men’s steeplechase was extremely close with Commonwealth silver medallist Abraham Kibiwot just getting the better of Leonard Bett with a lunge at the finish line. Kibiwot ran behind Bett throughout the race, but he used his momentum off the final barrier to great effect to kick to victory in 8:17.60, finishing 0.03 ahead of Bett, the 2017 world U18 champion and 2019 African U20 champion. Kimeli clocks Kenyan all-comers’ record Following PB performances over 5000m (12:51.78) and 10,000m (26:58.97) in recent months, Nicolas Kimeli impressed again in Nairobi, winning the 5000m with the fastest time ever recorded in Kenya – or indeed at any venue at altitude. Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi proved to be a formidable opponent and the world U20 bronze medallist edged ahead of Kimeli with 200 metres to go. Kimeli battled back to the front, though, and responded to Aregawi’s challenge,
Hellen Obiri (004) on her way to winning the 5000m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi (Organisers) © Copyright
striding ahead to win in 13:08.32. Aregawi was second in a PB of 13:08.91. World bronze medallist
Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich won his sixth successive 800m race. Once the pacemaker had done their job,
Rotich dictated the race and won comfortably in 1:44.78 with Australia’s Joseph Deng taking second place in 1:45.21.
Elsewhere in a programme that was unsurprisingly packed with endurance (Continued on page 73)
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Shreyas Iyer sets up Delhi Capitals’ victory in another Sharjah six-fest ESPNcricinfo - For the third time in as many matches in Sharjah this season, both teams hit the 200 mark. The Delhi Capitals posted the highest total of the tournament so far, courtesy their hugely impressive trio of young Indian batsmen: Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. The total didn’t seem entirely safe at the innings break, considering the hitting might of the Kolkata Knight Riders. And even when it did look safe, with the Knight Riders needing 135 from 61 balls with their most dangerous hitter, Andre Russell, back in the dressing room, it wasn’t. Oh no, by no means was it safe. It came down to 78 from 24 balls - with only four wickets in hand - but as has been the case so often this season, especially on this ground, there’s always a downpour of sixes to come. From somewhere. Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi walloped 47 runs from overs 17 and 18, and suddenly the chase was blown wide open. But luck and the skill of Anrich Nortje swung the game back the Capitals’way. Only five runs came off the 19th over, which also brought the wicket of Morgan, leaving the Knight Riders far too much to do in the 20th, even though they knew it would be bowled by one of the Capitals’ weaker bowlers. Needing 26 off six balls from Marcus Stoinis, they simply didn’t have enough batting left in the tank. Both teams made selections that reflected the unique challenge of playing in Sharjah. The Knight Riders left out the flighty wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and played Tripathi to give themselves depth and more leeway to go hard with the bat. The Capitals brought back R Ashwin, who had recovered after dislocating his shoulder in their season-opener, and left out the left-arm spinner Axar Patel with three left-handers in the Knight Riders top six - and also subbed out Ishant Sharma, a powerplay specialist with the ball, for Harshal Patel, a slowerball merchant who can hit the long ball. Sent in, the Capitals raced to 57 in their Powerplay, losing only Shikhar Dhawan for 26 off 16. It was already evident that the bowlers in this game were simply around for damage limitation, with almost no margin for error: Shaw hung back to pull and cut marginally short balls
through and over the infield, and Dhawan plonked forward and slog-swept Sunil Narine for back-to-back sixes. The wicket came in the sixth over, Dhawan miscuing a sweep off the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. The contours of this game were evident when Andre Russell bowled the seventh and ninth overs of the Capitals innings as if he were bowling the 18th and 20th: pitching right up in the blockhole or hitting the deck with shorter lengths, offering nothing in between. Only seven runs came off those two overs, a minor miracle. In between and thereafter, the Capitals batsmen found the boundaries with unerring frequency. Rather than slow down post-powerplay, Shaw and Iyer accelerated, putting on 73 at 10.68 per over - Shaw and Dhawan had added 56 at 9.60 and some of their hitting notably a chipped six from Shaw over extra-cover off Shivam Mavi, and a flicked six over midwicket from Iyer off Kamlesh Nagarkoti - was effortless to the point of being dispiriting to any bowler who might have been watching. The exit of Shaw in the 13th over brought Pant to the crease, and he took eight balls to get his eye in before hitting Shivam Mavi for three fours in the 16th over, the pick of them a slap over extra-cover off a short ball slanting away from his hitting arc. That opened the floodgates: from that over on, the Capitals made 77 in 30 balls. This period showcased the best of Pant’s incredible handeye coordination, and also Iyer’s ability to move around the crease and play with the bowler’s lines and angles - such as when Pat Cummins sent down two marginally off-target yorkers in the 17th over and saw them tickled past short fine leg and flayed between mid-off and extracover - and to hit sixes at will off spinners. Chakravarthy went for 20 in the 19th over, and conceded 30 off 9 balls to Iyer overall. Russell, carted all over by Pant in the 18th, finished the innings with a tight 20th, giving up just seven runs despite new man Shimron Hetmyer hitting his third ball for a six. It left the Knight Riders 229 to get, but the Capitals wouldn’t have been able to say if they had enough. Delhi Capitals 228 for 4 (Iyer 88*, Shaw 66, Pant 38, Russell 2-29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 210 for 8 (Rana 58, Morgan 44, Tripathi 36, Nortje 3-33) by 18 runs.
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Kevin Sinclair joins list of int’l celebs as Rasna Drink Mix Ambassador
Kevin Sinclair
Rasna, a new and exciting international drink mix which took the local market by storm, has announced its very first Guyanese Brand Ambassador. Kevin Sinclair, a young, all rounded Guyanese cricketer of the Guyana Amazon Warriors and West Indies
Emerging Team who hails from Berbice, recently concluded his T20 debut at the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020. He will be joining three elite Brand Ambassadors namelyinternational cricketer – Rohit Sharma and popular Bollywood
superstars – Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. Sinclair will begin appearing on behalf of Rasna Drink Mix across all media platforms. “When it comes to quenching my thirst, Rasna is my favourite drink on and off the field,” says Sinclair.
Rasna Drink Mix contains over five essential vitamins and minerals that require no added sugar. All is need is water. Rasna Drink Mixes are available at local shops and supermarkets. For further information, contact Sueria
Manufacturing Inc. on 2332473 or email: sueriamanu facturinginc@gmail.com
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Outstanding CSEC students honoured by BCB/Adana Homes Tribute to Outstanding Students Award The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) under the leadership of President Hilbert Foster continues to break new grounds even as most sports organisations remain inactive due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The BCB on Thursday last hosted a simple presentation ceremony for its first ever Adana Homes Tribute to Outstanding Students Award programme when six cricketers who performed well at the recent CSEC exams were presented with a monetary contribution of $10,,000 each. The players who were all present at the ceremony are Jonathan Rampersaud, Mahendra Gopilall, Lucas Arthur, Anthony Sukhra, Abdul Ramsammy and Ashmini Munisar. Foster in remarks stated that the Board strongly believes in the importance of an educational background and as such, has always invested heavily in assisting players as much as possible. He urged the players to remain humble but to develop a culture of always striving for excellence whilst looking into other paths such as the University of Guyana and Technical Institutions to further their education. He pledged that under his leadership, the BCB would continue to support cricketers who place emphasis on the importance to their education. The BCB boss challenged clubs and officials in Guyana to sit down with all youth players and discuss the importance of education. Using his club, the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports
Club, MS as an example, Foster stated that management makes sure that each member is aware of the value of an educational background and also assists them to achieve same. Education, he stated assists youths to think on their feet and this is one of the main reasons why the club is so successful on the field of play. The idea for the awards programme was born after the BCB was informed of the success of the players and Foster immediately contacted his close friend and former BCB President Anil Beharry to discuss rewarding the six players. Beharry immediately contacted Mr. Satishwar Persaud, CEO of Adana Homes who agreed to come on board as the sponsor. Adana Homes is a Canadian based Real Estate company and Persaud is also a sponsor of cricket in Canada, where he owns a team. Foster expressed gratitude to both Beharry and Persaud for their continued support of Berbice cricket. Persaud, a Berbician by birth stated that he was impressed by the work of the BCB and committed himself to working with the board in the future. He also stated that he would sponsor the educational award on an annual basis. Jonathan Rampersaud, who topped the list of awardees with eleven subjects including nine (9) grade ones expressed thanks to the BCB, Beharry and Persaud for honouring them and committed the group to making the country proud in the future.
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Guyana Committee of Services Normalisation committee appointed facilitates Athletics Training for Venezuelan Football Association Camps in Berbice and Linden The Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the Ve n e z u e l a n F o o t b a l l Association (FVF) in accordance with art. 14 par. 1 a) and art. 8 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes. Following the sad passing of FVF President Jesús Berardinelli, the Bureau of the FIFA Council considered that the FVF is currently facing a situation
Champion Girl and Boy Jennifer Byass (right) and Nicholas Denhart.
N
on-profit organisation, the Guyana Committee of Services (GCOS) in continuing their aim of supporting athletes and teams among others, recently conclude respective training camps for athletes in the Bauxite Mining Town of Linden and the Ancient County of Berbice. On Friday last a mini competition among athletes at the Esplanade Ground in Berbice was held to bring the curtains down there; both camps were conducted following the strict guidelines outlined by the relevant authorities in keeping safe from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Executive members of GCOS, Linden ‘Jumbie’ Jones and Leslie Blacks, both camps were aimed at assisting to keep youths in both areas focused on spending their time wisely whilst also supporting them to remain healthy. Coach Collie Mickle organised the mini meet in Berbice which saw Jennifer Byass emerging as the Champion Girl of the day whilst the Champion Boy was Nicholas Denhart. The GCOS has been assisting even members of the public with hampers to help ease the many challenges being encountered during these challenging times by covid-19.
French Open 2020
Petra Kvitova, Sofia Kenin through to fourth round; Aryna Sabalenka out
Petra Kvitova’s best result at the French Open was reaching the semi-finals in 2012. (Getty Images) BBCsport - Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova overcame a slow start to beat Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez and reach the French Open fourth round. Tw o - t i m e Wi m b l e d o n champion Kvitova trailed 51 in the opening set but stormed back to win 7-5 6-3 against the impressive 18year-old. She will face China’s
Sofia Kenin beat Garbine Muguruza in this year’s Australian Open final. (Getty Images)
Zhang Shuai for a place in the quarter-finals. Earlier, Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin advanced with a 6-2 6-0 win over Romanian qualifier Irina Bara. But eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka was beaten by Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, 7-6 (9-7) 2-6 6-3. It is the first time Kvitova, 30, has reached the fourth round at Roland Garros since 2015. The
opening few games were error-strewn from Kvitova, who struggled against a fellow big-hitting lefthander. Fernandez won the girls’ singles title at Roland Garros last year and looked assured as she won five games in a row in the first set. However, Fernandez could not find a first serve and Kvitova (Continued on page 77)
in which its President and first Vice-President are permanently absent. This leadership vacuum prevents the FVF from taking key administrative and sporting decisions during these critical times, which could impact negatively on the
development of Venezuelan football at all levels. A d d i t i o n a l l y, t h e restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic may further prevent the association from convening an Electoral Congress whilst (Continued on page 77)
t r o p S The six Awardees pose with Executives of the BCB following the presentation
Outstanding CSEC students honouredby BCB/Adana Homes Tribute to Outstanding Students Award
LA Lakers move a step closer to NBA glory with 124-114 win over Miami Heat in Game 2 - James and Davis on song with combined 65 points
James reaches for the hoop as the Lakers beat the Heat 124-114 to take a 2-0 series lead. @ NBAE via Getty Images
Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer added 73 runs for the second wicket Š BCCI.
Shreyas Iyer sets up Delhi Capitals’ victory in another Sharjah six-fest Printed and published by National Media & Publishing Company Ltd., 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Tel: 225-8458, 225-8465, 225-8491 or Fax: 225-8473/226-8210.