Kaieteur News

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ExxonMobil kicks NEWS off public debate on Yellowtail EIA from Oct. 25 AIETEUR

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

Tuesday Edition October 19, 2021 - Vol. 14 No. 40

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

89,409 3

Commercial banks granted over $22 Billion in COVID-19 relief for 2021 - Report p. 3

Family of 3 robbed at gunpoint during home invasion Liza 2 ship More schools to to arrive in offer CAPE two weeks - Minister Guyanese Tony Welch NAREI expended (in photo) was joined by 15 others outside the US$600M on crop Guyana Embassy in - Mid-year London in protest mode. cultivation Report p.

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PAC highlights trend of evaluators bypassing lowest bids for contracts p. 11

VP Jagdeo says it is foolish for Guyana to scale back its oil and gas exploration and production. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot, it is such a stupid thing to do…to keep Saudi Arabia, Norway and the US on Kaieteur just pumping all the oil that is needed in the world and Guyanese need money: yes, that 2%.@11:00hrs Radio 99.1/99.5FM

Youman Nabi Greetings to our Muslim brothers and sisters

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

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Exxon kicks off public debate on Yellowtail EIA from Oct. 25 E

xxonMobil's subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) is poised to hold public consultations on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Yellowtail Project in the Stabroek Block from October 25 to November 5.

In a notice published in the Kaieteur News, EEPGL said face-to-face sessions with information on the project as well as explanations on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) process for approval and findings of the assessment will be held across the region on eight occasions.

On October 25, the first engagement will be had at 5pm at Latchmansingh Primary School, West Coast Berbice. Then on October 27 and 29, sessions will be held at Anna Regina –Town hall, Essequibo Coast from 9am and Flavio's Hall in Santa Rosae at 10am, respectively.

The November sessions will be held in various communities in Berbice and Mabaruma. EEPGL has not indicated if consultations would be recorded or live streamed for stakeholders in Georgetown.

Kaieteur News had reported that EEPGL, on behalf of itself and its coventurers, Hess Corporation and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, is seeking an environmental authorisation from the EPA for its fourth project development in the eastern half of the Stabroek Block.

The area that will be developed as part of the project is located approximately 203 kilometres (approximately 126 miles) northeast of the coastline of Georgetown, Guyana.

As part of its regulatory role, the EPA, considering recommendations from the Environmental Advisory Board and other government entities, is responsible for

deciding whether and under what conditions to grant EEPGL's application for environmental authorisation which was filed with the EPA on April 1, 2021.

Based on an initial assessment of the a p p l i c a t i o n , t h e E PA determined that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required in support of the Application.

The purpose of the EIA is to provide the factual and technical basis required by the EPA to make an informed decision on EEPGL's application for environmental authorisation.

According to project documents, Yellowtail will consist of the drilling of approximately 41 to 67 development wells (including production, water injection, and gas reinjection wells); installation and operation of Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers, and Flowlines equipment; (continued on page 20)

Commercial banks granted over $22B in COVID-19 relief for 2021 - Report G

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n light of the economic pains unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, commercial banks on the advice of the country's regulator, the Bank of

Guyana, have provided more than $22B in COVID-19 relief to cushion the blow to the economy.

According to the Bank of Guyana's 2021 Half Year Report, Citizens Bank

Bank of Guyana

uyana Inc. granted $12 billion in relief to sections of the economy while Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) granted $6 billion and Bank of Nova Scotia granted $4.2 billion.

Collectively, they account for $22.2 billion of total relief measures granted at the end of June 2021 by the banking sector.

Expounding further, Central Bank said the services sub-sector continues to receive the largest portion of relief, with 60.2 percent (G$16.5 billion) of total relief granted at the end of June 2021. The report by Central Bank also notes that the real estate mortgages sector received 19.9 percent (G$5.5 billion) of total relief followed by the manufacturing subsector with 11.6 percent (G$3.2 billion).

As for relief granted to the households sector, this represented 3.1 percent (G$846 million) of total relief granted and 2.5 percent of total loans to the households sector.

As at the end of June 2021, relief granted by Citizens Bank was

concentrated in the services sub-sector (74.5 percent or G$9.0 billion).

GBTI also granted a significant portion of its relief to the services subsector (41 percent or G$2.5 billion) while Scotia Bank granted 51.3 percent (G$2.2 billion) of its relief to the Real Estate Mortgages sector.

The Bank of Guyana was keen to note that it will continue to monitor the developments in light of COVID-19 relief and take all necessary steps to protect the safety, soundness and stability of the banking system.

Towards this end, the Bank reminded that it has committed to and implemented a series of measures designed to minimise the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the entire financial system.

The measures

implemented were agreed to by the Guyana Association of Bankers (GAB) and include: an initial threemonth moratorium granted to classify affected accounts as nonperforming, which was followed by an additional three-month period, bringing the total moratorium time to sixmonths; continuing with an accommodative monetary stance to promote growth; deferment of loan payments to assist customers in good standing; deferment of loan payments by companies to assist with their liquidity requirements; waiver or reduced fees/penalties for transactions with ATMs, debit cards, loan processing, late payments on loans, etc. and; encouraging customers to reduce in-person transactions by using ebanking, ATMs, telephone, etc.

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Kaieteur News

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

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

EDITORIAL

Colin Powell - an exemplary figure for minorities has fallen General Colin Powell is gone at 84. He is felled not by battles waged by man against man, but scythed down by a foe even more insidious, a power invisible and elusive and still so destructively potent. It takes a lot, something like this stealth operator called coronavirus, to lay low and usher the likes of a Colin Powell to his last muster and parade review.

Colin Powell of Jamaica was close enough to be considered one of our own. His successes are our successes, and they are of a man, who rose against the odds, and despite the handicaps of his colour, the barriers of his time, the steeliness of human adversaries. Colin Powell, as one from a minority group, made us all proud, and that is regardless of our ethnicity. When he rose, he carried us with him, on his broad shoulders, this wild man from the islands (in the initial regard of his father-in-law to be). He was that good, that strong, that determined, be it in marriage, in the army, in life itself.

Colin ‘Gen Maximum Force’ Powell scaled heights not too long ago out of the reach of people like him, and us.

Whether in the ranks of the United States Army, the fields of valour, or at the top of the command structure. And this man from the hardscrabble Harlem, by way of heritage Jamaica (not Queens, but the West Indies), who may have made it to the White House, if ever he had made that his last campaign. Time and again, and in just about every endeavour, General Powell left an illustrious record that will gleam ever more brightly in his passing. Although he never threw his hat in the ring for that last push to the White House, he was what the Romans of old would have called primus inter pares. Indeed, he was an eagle, first among equals.

Battlefield bullets and bombs could not kill him, but the unerring laser speck of an airborne viral missile took him out for this final count. There are lessons for us Guyanese, fellow travellers on this pale from identification with and brotherhood of this storied region. His career, his striving, his ascendancy, the glowing record of his life itself, all speak for him, and need no helping hand from anyone.

What a role model! A man who was never content to be second best, to be less than the maximum of his potential. There is much learning for us Guyanese from the trail he blazed in America and beyond; this was a man to be respected. When our fellow citizens and leaders in this country contemplate the rich endowments heaped upon this land, we should think of General Colin Powell, who did not permit anyone to patronise him, to paternalise him, to condescend to him to his face. As we deal with our newfound oil wealth, let us remember the life lessons of Colin Powell that he passed down to us. They are there for the taking, and if we decide that they are not worth our while, then it is our loss, which we will regret at some time.

We must know what we want, who we are, what we represent, and let no man, no power, put us down for those, or stand in our way. And because of his unquestioned integrity, he always stood head and shoulders above his time and peers. There is a priceless lesson from that, too, and especially for our leaders right here, so shaky in the departments of integrity and what is honourable.

He was not the kind of man to settle for that, his stomach and heart were not made that way. When backbone was in high demand, but scarce, there was Colin Powell. He stood up to the arrayed powers in the rabid Vulcan cabal, and got scorched for his troubles. It took a global viral power to knock him down for the count. Guyanese have another lesson waiting there for us: understand the reach of this conquering virus. Colin Powell was a man for many seasons, and in this the season of his passing and rest, may he rest easy and sweetly.

Tuesday October 19, 2021

All teachers need to be certified by the designated authority to ensure quality education Dear Editor, After reading Peeping Tom’s column in Sunday’s KN, he mentioned a few problems that need to be addressed that, if corrected, would result in better education for children across the country.

The shortage of experienced teachers can easily be addressed by

r e m o v i n g compulsory retirement forced upon teachers and other public serva n t s , w h i l e enticing the wellexperienced retired ones to come back with lucrative financial incentives.

There should be one curriculum countrywide that all students are taught and tested against, so as to ensure

they are all given the same quality of education. All schools need to be provided with adequate tools, textbooks and learning aids to ensure no school is deprived.

Finally, every teacher needs to be certified and governed by a Ministry of Education, “College or Institution” that governs their practice and mandates

training, Code of Conduct, examinations and standards.

Failure to adhere to standards set out by the “College or Institution” results in discipline, suspension and even termination.

Only then can you have high quality, country wide education for Guyana’s school children.

Dennis Balgobin

The AG and Code of Ethics for Judicial Officers Dear Editor, “Public should be aware of code of ethics to hold judiciary accountable – Attorney General” (KN October 17). I absolutely agree with the Hon. Anil Nandlall, MP, SC., waxing stirringly noble on code and ethics, as such relates to the obligations of the judiciary.

Justice delayed is justice denied, and the public should let its voice be heard. Now I make my own ring in the ear of the learned AG; as to whether he would listen and actually do something, that is another story.

There are codes and ethics tomes that could fill large libraries in this town, where they gather mildew from lack of use and application.

So many that it is surprising we still have our green forest

shield. The AG knows all of this, but it is not to which I point him and steer this believed local luminary of the law. Rather, I remind him that there are those other codes, and sublime ethics, which he should know, but may now elude him, because of his zeal and industry for the work of the people. I tread gently, and so as not to offend the prickly sensibilities of Mr. Nandlall, I make no mention of partisan energies that foam to the surface, compliments of his legal handiwork. Perhaps, it would be better to say fancy footwork.

I refer to those code and ethics that should have applied to charges inexplicably dropped; those matters before the courts deemed not worth pursuing.

I applaud the AG, this man of

code and ethics (as convenient), and wonder what happened in those instances and why. Yes, Mr. Nandlall has proven to be a fast worker, a remarkably efficient one. Of course, it depends on who is involved, and what are the implications of venturing the other way.

Or not venturing at all, to those high places where some eagles do dare.

Just in case the AG is struck by a sudden bout of amnesia, I present him with the precedent of a man named Archibald Cox. He should be familiar with the name, and in the contexts of Nixon and Watergate and the Saturday Night Massacre. Now there was a man of codes that count and ethics of a rare kind. I hasten to assure Mr. Nandlall that I understand

fully that Guyana is not America, and matters are a little more parochial here, a tad more abrasive on the bruising side. I understand that for every single Archibald Cox and the ideals of pristine ethics, there are countless Robert Bork(s).

The few Coxes of the worldindeed, in the legal realmretreat with grace and dignity; while the many Borks rush forward to roll up sleeves, get on their knees, and do dirty deeds. I suggest that our local Justinian and Hammurabi rolled into one decide on which one he is not, and which one he desires to be. Only then, can there be this lovely talk by the AG of codes and ethics and holding accountable.

Sincerely, GHK Lall

Minister Teixeira should know that it was the Granger-led administration that initiated ties with the Middle East Dear Editor, The recent visit of several “top brass” members of the leadership within the PPP administration to the U.S., has brought into focus the leadership deficit of this regime. What has this visit to the U.S. done to really be of benefit to Guyana? Are we as a country better off from this sojourn to the United States of America?

Are our Guyanese brothers and sisters in the diaspora more informed by the information provided to them, about what life is really like back home, the economy and where the country is heading?

Editor, I have read an article on the Demerara Waves news outlet several days ago, captioned “President Ali’s religious belief has brought international goodwill Teixeira. Those were the words uttered by the senior Minister of Governance while addressing congregants at a “Hindu Temple” in Queens New York. How religiously insensitive can one be and to crown it off, she underscored

the value of the President’s religious persuasion in accessing much-needed assistance. The Minister posited to the mostly Hindu audience in their temple that “We recognise that President Ali is a Muslim and also that has brought goodwill to us from the Middle East, from Qatar, from Kuwait, from the United Arab Emirates etc.”

Editor, where is this goodwill the Minister spoke of, where is it? Is it from Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Juma Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates, to whom the Government paid more than double the cost price other countries paid for the Russiamade Sputnik vaccine? Is that the goodwill? It appears more, that the Sheikh got the “government’s goodwill” from that sweetheart price of a deal, than the country itself.

Editor, what does the religious persuasion of a President has to do with his country’s international and bilateral relationships with another country? Are Guyanese to accept the Minister’s shallow view in this regard, that one’s

religious belief is the precursor for a country gaining goodwill from another as a result of similar belief systems? This is absolute gaga, nothing more than nonsensical, hogwash political rhetoric, which serves only to insult the intelligence of all Guyanese.

This petty and myopic type politics of taking the credit and pretending as if it was your doing that has contributed to gains or goodwill, being garnered must stop. It must stop by acknowledging and giving credit where it is due, it shows a sign of maturity and growth in our political landscape.

Editor, it should be known, that it was the David Grangerled coalition administration that operationalised the embassy in Kuwait with that government providing much -needed financial assistance for the running of that embassy and us sending a diplomat to represent our country’s interest.

Additionally, it was the David Granger administration that initiated discussions with

Qatar and UAE about opening embassies in those two countries. It is not President Ali’s religious persuasion that brought those things into being, it was already in the works by the coalition government.

Further, it must be made abundantly clear, that Qatar had already agreed to assist Guyana with its diplomatic mission there and work on several initiatives of interest to benefit both countries.

Editor, it was the APNU+AFC coalition with a representation of the country’s diverse religious belief systems, that brought Guyana into goodwill with the Islamic Development Bank becoming a member in 2016. It was due to our relationship, Guyana was provided with access to US$900M for several developmental projects, mere months after becoming a member.

No other administration in Guyana’s history was ever given such access to that large sum of money by a multilateral (Continued on page 5)

Tuesday October 19, 2021

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Christian only prayers at MOE programme Dear Editor, On October 14, Guyana hosted CXC in the declaration of the 2021 CAPE and CSEC results broad outlines of which were presented. The programme began with prayers, Christian only

prayers. We can only imagine what would be the reaction of this nation if it was Muslim prayers only, or God forbid, Hindu prayers only.

This, we know, is not an infrequent occurrence in

Guyana where prayers are required at functions of state agencies.

Others are excluded. In a programme broadcast to the entire region and beyond, the organisers did not see it fit to include prayers from

PNC must come clean on past failures and responsibilities Dear Editor, The PNC/APNU/PNCR whatever you may want to call them, would be having their congress celebrations this month, during which time they will take the opportunity to choose a new leader for the party. I wish them well in their endeavours. While that party’s Congress holds significant interest for those running for office, I, on the other hand, am not so keen on their internal affairs.

However, I would like to make some comments which, I think those in the party might find helpful.

My comments stem from the fact that this party held political office for the longest period in our nation’s history, and as such they owe it to us to clear up those negative images of the party etched in our minds. At least they owe us the decency to come clean in their act this time around.

So, once again, I say that party held national office for the longest period of our history, the first instance

being 28 continuous years.

During that period, this country experienced its most harrowing ordeals. We were relegated to the position of a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) the true interpretation of that acronym meaning, we were ranked below Haiti. We were poor, as well as we were a highly indebted country, as Guyana and Guyanese were looked upon with scorn and derision; this is what our country was subjected to.

The last experience of them which lasted for five years five months, was no different. Here the party caused a growing economy to slump back into the dumps, while the higher echelons held tenaciously on to power.

For the next five months, the PNC tried every conceivable ruse at their disposal to hang on, power being the central focus of their attention. This only ended after a final recount of the votes and some pitched court battles right down to the wire.

Was a monster created?

Dear Editor, Was a monster created with the promised quarter million to severed sugar workers? Other sugar workers are demanding their

share.

Did utterances by the union embolden the striking workers in their stance? Over to the VP. Shamshun Mohamed

...Minister Teixeira should know that it was the Granger-led administration that From page 4 financial institution and this was made possible to Guyana by the then erudite Finance Minister of the coalition government. It was the Granger administration which saw the importance, benefits and the need of having a permanent and active presence in the Middle East.

The Minister’s comments of the president has not helped his stature nor his g o v e r n m e n t ’ s mismanagement of the economy, extremely high cost of living, mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, increase in crime, mismanagement of the

education sector, their failure to create jobs for our people and the blatant discrimination in the distribution of COVID19 cash grants, educational and farmers cash grants, and many more failures too numerous to mention.

I, therefore, ask again, what goodwill this regime has provided to our people?

What has religion got to do with it?

As the German sociologist and economic theorist, Karl Marx posits “Religion is the opium of the people.”

Yours respectfully, Jermaine Figueira Member of Parliament

Now, it is hoped that with new leadership - there is definitely going to be a change - that some semblance of decency and class might grace that party. But that is just wishful thinking, because much of what we see as replacement is the same old classless gang, thinking under the same old, retrograde dogmas. Except and until that image is erased the party will continue to languish in the doldrums.

Another disgraceful and embarrassing feature of that party is the age-old problem of rigging. This is not only an endemic situation when on the national level, but even among party members themselves rigging or the falsification of election results is a serious malignancy.

Until such time that the party put away that ghost of rigging, they will continue to be a symbol of repulsion in the eyes of the people. So, if you should ask me if there will be another episode of gunplay at this year’s party congress, I am tempted to give you an answer in the affirmative.

Respectfully submitted, Neil Adams

representatives of other religions, giving the impression that we are still in a de facto Christian state in which others have a dubious existence at best in the margins.

This de facto Christian nature of the state is seen in other practices, such as the Christmas time lighting up of government buildings including parliament building, the Demerara Harbour Bridge and other prominent locations. But, for Divali, which is the festival of lights, the disdain is hardly concealed.

Dr. Baytoram Rambharak has written a brilliant biography on Dr. Jung Bahadur Singh detailing his struggles to break the chains of cultural and religious domination and for the recognition of Hindu and Muslim beliefs and practices.

Ms. Lea Ventre has recounted

this struggle in a lengthy letter to the Stabroek News (15/10/21), reminding us that he, “was at the forefront of the civil fight for Hindu and Muslim rights.”

One wonders what Dr. Singh would have to say if he learned that more than seventy-five years after his death at a major function on education only Christian prayers were said, with all others being dis-invited.

In this matter, the final responsibility obviously lies with the Ministry of Education but we also have to be cognisant of the reality that despite its best intentions to promote inclusion and respect for diversity, there are those within the system who are relentless in their efforts to subvert, or, as the call has been recently made, to “undermine” policies.

There is clearly in Guyana

an internal system of cultural and religious hegemony that persists across many state institutions. The colonial state by its own selfdefinition was a Christian state dedicated to saving the souls of the heathens, and for many in the country’s public institutions this continues to be so.

Seventy-five years after Dr. J. B. Singh, and more than one hundred and eighty years since the arrival of the first Indians, the struggle for recognition and an equal place at the table continues.

Hindus have just completed the fortnight to honour their pitris or ancestors.

The greatest homage we can pay to them, such as Dr. J.B.Singh, is never to relent in this struggle. No one is going to give us our rights on a platter.

Sincerely, Swani Aksharananda

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Unions must be politically neutral, the GPSU and GTU are not Dear Editor, When one applies for a job, whether it’s in public or private sector, they are given an opportunity to join a trade union. In Guyana, we have many trade unions, but let us look at two major ones: the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), which represents the public sector; and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), which represents teachers. These two unions ought to represent the best interest of their members at all forums, whether at negotiations or matters of national interest, but the question is whether they’ve been doing so.

It must be pointed out that workers’ unions are bound and mandated to be politically, racially, and religiously neutral, in order to represent the best interest of their members, but are these unions politically neutral or acting politically neutral? It must also be pointed out that

these unions only speak and put out public statements when such benefit a certain political party. This was evident from past public statements on behalf of these unions by the union presidents or executives, for example, Corretta McDonald, an APNU+AFC MP. In the past, we have seen the GPSU, a union that is supposed to be a politically neutral organisation, but which has publicly aligned itself with APNU+AFC. For example, the recent court proceedings that involved a budget dispute, which sought to eliminate the Finance Minister from altering and making changes to the independent budgets submissions/proposals for the independent commissions. This was initially submitted by independent commission, and a court proceeding was publicly taken by

APNU+AFC members, which immediately make this matter a political case. However, the GPSU still joined in this case.

This act immediately strips the union of its political neutrality. Additionally, the GPSU has failed in the past year to negotiate for anything “proper” whether it be better working conditions, better uniform allowance, salary increase etc. which would benefit its workers, given the Covid-19 pandemic.

Editor, let us broaden the scale to the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU). It must not be forgotten that a trade union is obligated to represent its members to the best of its ability. Since the pandemic began back in March 2020, this union has done nothing that would have directly benefitted teachers. Did the union negotiate for any form of salary increase or bonus for teachers that had to come out during the pandemic and

prepare students to sit the national and international exams? Did the union ignite any collaborative efforts to distribute relief hampers to teachers like many other independent organisations did? NO! But let’s move away to what the union is obligated to do and have, because if we continue to ask what the union has done for teachers over the past years, the list would go on and on and on.

The union is also obligated and mandated, like other unions, to be politically, racially and religiously neutral. But this union is one of the unions that has an APNU+AFC Member of Parliament sitting as its executive member, you may recall earlier in this letter it was mentioned that unions are to be politically neutral. Yet there is a politically affiliated member sitting as GTU’s executive member. This is a

position that enables one to speak on behalf of the union.

This is done so blatantly and publicly, a blatant “knockout punch to teachers that are supposed to be represented fairly.

Editor, many members of both of these unions have been heckling, inquiring and considering leaving these unions due to their lack of political neutrality, as evidenced by information provided in this letter and, also, other evidence available publicly. These members are afraid of being victimised by pro unionist colleagues and also not wanting to be singled out for leaving the union. To prevent victimisation, a suggestion that is endorsed by many top neutral activists is for the Ministry of Public Service and Ministry of Education to suspend these two unions “checkoff” which will lead to these two unions going to court for the

reinstatement of the “checkoff.” Let us look back at a precedent that was created when the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, Mr. N.K Gopaul, suspended the union “checkoff” of the GPSU. The GPSU then had to go to court.

Upon judgment of the case, it was ruled that the GPSU had to get new deduction orders for deductions to be made in favour of the GPSU from workers.

Now, if this is to happen, these politically affiliated unions will then have to do a general recruitment of members back to the union, as such previous members of these unions will be free to join, but those who wish not to join can decline to join.

This will certainly bring a calm solution to this ongoing conflict of members wanting to leave the union.

Yours truly, Randy Mangru

OCTOBER 2Oth: REMEMBERING JANET JAGAN Dear Editor, There are few politicians, who on their arrival on the political scene, bring with them an air of freshness to the humdrum of local politics.

Janet Jagan was one of such.

Born on 2Oth October 1920, she brought with her a huge amount of freshness that pushed against the stale and male-dominated politics obtaining at the time in colonial British Guiana.

Suffice it to say that the freshness of her appearance on the political scene was felt not only in the first years of her arrival in the colony, on the contrary, that freshness was manifested in thought, word and deed continued throughout her entire life as a

political leader, journalist and stateswoman.

Arriving in British Guiana as a White, attractive American woman, Janet Jagan was, politically aware that coloured people in a colonial society would talk amongst themselves about their precarious lives, but would dare not implicate the high and mighty outside their company nor resort to political action to change that precariousness so typical of the colonial order.

Long before the digital age, and, under seemingly insurmountable conditions, compounded by limited resources, Janet Jagan turbocharged into the prevailing backward socioeconomic conditions that

shackled women as hapless victims of colonial rule.

What made her stand out as the primus inter pares amongst women, was her immersion in and advocacy of left-wing politics characterised by her anticolonial, freedom-loving and internationalist outlook powered by her commitment and dedication to a national struggle to set Guyana free as an independent nation.

Left-wing or radical politics in those days was cast in the mode of antiestablishment and to be engaged in subversive activities aimed at overthrowing the established order.

The political and social vineyards in which Janet Jagan laboured was cultivated by the Whitehallpedigreed sugar barons and colonial overlords who shared the same class identity and unity of purpose in maintaining the existing order of oppression, suppression and exploitation of the poor and dispossessed.

Small wonder why in 1952, the satraps of the colonial powers squatting in the Legislative Council, moved and supported passage of the Subversive Literature Motion to ban the entry of progressive and anti-colonial literature into the colony.

Janet Jagan ‘stormed the Bastille’ as it were, waging battle to educate women and men who laboured at the sugar plantations, the waterfront, the fields and factories as well as domestics, as they were known in those days, about their fundamental rights.

Janet Jagan’s groundings with the people in general, and

mobilisation of women in particular, were considered hostile and unfriendly acts by the colonial authorities who viewed her political activism as disruptive aimed at fomenting unrest in what the colonial authorities considered to be the ‘serene and benevolent’ order of the day.

Stereotyped as a ‘White American Jew’ who had no place in Guyanese politics, racist epithets levelled against her neither distracted nor dissuaded Janet Jagan from discharging her heavy responsibilities with vigour and selflessness never seen before by any woman in the colony at that time. To her, life was as Samuel Johnson described it, ‘an arduous and tragic struggle with more to endure than to enjoy’.

The 1960’s was probably the most difficult period in her political life. What today would qualify as crimes against huma n i t y w e r e perpetrated while she served as Minister of Home Affairs during the 1963-1964 period.

To this day, modern-day quasi ideologues who dislike Janet Jagan continue to label her, even in death, as a ‘hardliner’ and ‘Old Guard’ without having the slightest notion of her contribution to Guyana as a trade unionist, woman activist, politician, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Minister of Government, Member of Parliament, diplomat, first ever Prime Minister and woman President of Guyana.

Janet Jagan’s whiteness was neither a humbug nor some ethnic honorific right of passage to meet, greet and

ground with Guyanese working people.

At bottom-house and street-corner meetings, Mrs Jagan spoke freely and understandably. She chose her words carefully during debates in parliament and privately as at internal party meetings or at cabinet.

In exceptional circumstances, she did not mince words in letting her interlocutor know what her views were on matters under discussion.

For a left-wing politician to run for political office and win at elections was unprecedented in those days.

But Janet Jagan did just that in 1953.

44 years later, she was elected the world’s 22 Woman Head of State. Long before then, she helped dismantle legally, the sexist and structural barriers against women though many are still with us culturally to this day.

Images still linger in the heads of some who stubbornly refuse to accept her apology and explanation for throwing a Court Order over her shoulder.

“Yes, I regret what took place and I wish to apologise for my action... I also wish to mention very categorically, that it had nothing to do with disrespect for the laws or our Constitution.”

The brightest political act in another dark period of our country’s recent history was manifested when Janet Jagan was sworn in on December 18, 1977, as the fifth Executive President of Guyana following the election where she won a stunning 55.5 per cent of the valid votes cast.

The significance of Janet Jagan, a White woman as

president of Guyana was a phenomenon that was unfathomable and unacceptable for the PNC’s leadership.

Not finding one iota of corruption or scandalous to pin on her, they turned to race and ethnicity, threats and violence to undermine and deprive her of the powerful mandate handed to her by the electorate.

Asked how she felt about being elected President of Guyana she replied, “I felt like I was going into a prison.”

It was perhaps, in that frame of mind after serving just three years in office that she agreed to cut short her term in office in the wake of multiple violent protests by the PNC. According to Mrs Jaga, “If it had not been for the responsible behaviour of the PPP/Civic, I’m afraid this country may have gone back into the abyss that we went into in the ‘60’s.”

On Saturday, 28th March 2009, Janet Jagan passed away.

Her stellar reputation outshone the many challenges she faced given the weight of prejudices stacked against her as a woman.

Her feisty journalism and political stature was unquestionable, so was her popularity inside the PPP and amongst the electorate.

She entered the political scene at a time when politics was considered an exclusively male domain. But in the end, many were forced to accept her as a revolutionary fighter and leader.

Yours faithfully, Clement J. Rohee

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BL TLUNT.. UNT...B BL Tuesday October 19, 2021

Kaieteur News

The Public Works Ministers just signed $1.5 billion in road contracts.

If the nation could only get ONE BILLION of that $1.5B in solid, honest work done, it will be better.

Yes, things are so corrupt here, that half a billion must be left on the table for the boys and their leaders to have fun at the expense of Guyanese taxpayers.

No wonder Exxon has joined with its own song and dance billing, which the leaders will ensure Guyanese pay. What kind of society is this with such misfits for leaders?

PAGE 07

Kaieteur News

PAGE 08

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Liza 2 ship to arrive in two weeks T

he Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) issued several notices over the past few days which disclosed that preparations are being made in the ExxonMobil-led Stabroek Block for the installation of the Liza Unity, Guyana's second Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

These activities are expected to conclude on December 31, 2021 and all mariners are required to maintain a wide berth to the OCV NORMAND INSTALLER, which will be supporting installation of the FPSO. During an interview last week, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, disclosed that the Liza Unity which was financed to the tune of US$1.14B should be in Guyana's waters in two weeks to pump oil from the Liza Phase Two Project.

According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EPA) for the project, ExxonMobil's subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) will

The Liza Unity FPSO

develop the offshore resource via 33 development wells (including production, water injection, and gas re-injection wells) and will use a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel to process, store, and offload the recovered oil.

The Liza Unity FPSO will be connected to the wells via associated equipment, collectively referred to as Subsea Umbilicals, Risers, and Flowlines (SURF), to transmit produced fluids (i.e., oil, gas, produced water) from production wells to the FPSO, as well as treated gas and water from the FPSO to the injection

wells.

During drilling and installation of the FPSO/SURF facilities, EEPGL has said that work may be performed in a subsea area within the project Development Area (PDA) which is located approximately 183 kilometres (approximately 114 miles) offshore (Figure EIS-2). The project will also involve use of onshore shorebase(s) and other support facilities and marine/aviation services to support development drilling, SURF and FPSO installation, production operations, and, ultimately,

decommissioning.

Once installed, the Liza Unity is poised to produce up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day which is double the current production of the Liza Destiny oil ship.

Kaieteur News had previously reported that Dutch conglomerate, SBM Offshore, was awarded the front end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the FPSO in July 2018. The FPSO design

is based on SBM Offshore's F a s t 4 Wa r d , w h i c h incorporates a new build, multipurpose hull combined with several standardised topsides modules.

The FPSO in early September had sailed away from Singapore to Guyana.

The vessel was there for the topside integration phase and is expected to begin production in early 2022.

Once production kicks off,

Liza Phase Two is expected to develop approximately 600 million barrels of oil. The project is set to cost Guyana approximately US$6 billion, and includes a lease capitalisation cost of approximately US$1.6 billion, for the Liza Unity FPSO vessel, which will be moored in water depth of about 1,600 meters and will be able to store around two million barrels of crude oil.

Health Ministry and RAD-AID partner to expand local radiology capabilities T

he Ministry of Health has announced a new partnership with the radiology non-profit organisation, RAD-AID International, to increase and improve radiology capabilities and services throughout the nation of Guyana.

The collaboration, according to a release issued by the Ministry entails the expansion of medical imaging equipment, Picture A r c h i v i n g a n d Communications Systems (PACS), electronic health i n t e r c o n n e c t i v i t y, community outreach, as well as clinical education for nurses, technologists and physicians.

RAD-AID International is a nonprofit (501c3) charitable organization with the mission of increasing and improving radiology and medical imaging for medically underserved regions.

RAD-AID delivers radiology education and training through on-site and hands-on teaching of healthcare workers in low

and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as low-resource facilities in medically underserved communities of highincome countries.

RAD-AID designs, builds, and implements healthcare infrastructure, imaging equipment, and r a d i o l o g y t e c h n o l o g y, integrated with clinical training, to accomplish vital radiology capacity-building.

The organization consists of over 14,000 volunteers and +80 university-based medical center chapters and operates global health outreach programs in 38 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

As radiology is vital to most health services, such as cancer treatment, maternalfetal monitoring, heart disease care, and trauma response, RAD-AID improves the accessibility, safety, and quality of radiology worldwide as an anchor for improving global health.

The partnership with the local Health Ministry builds upon RAD-AID's work to

establish Guyana's first radiology residency at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) since 2017, which recently graduated Guyana's first class of in-country trained radiologists. Over the last four years, RAD-AID also implemented and supported new computed tomography (CT) services and PACS at GPHC, New Amsterdam and Bartica Hospitals, along with training of physicians, nurses and technologists for IV contrast procedures, radiologic/ultrasound image-quality, patientsafety, and women's health outreach (with support from Ambra Health, Philips, Bayer and Google Cloud).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, RAD-AID increased remote teaching and clinical support to Guyana's hospitals, and delivered innovative medical imaging artificial intelligence implementation and training (with support from Densitas, Koios Medical, and Qure.ai).

Through their partnership, the Ministry and RAD-AID aim to leverage

these achievements to scale up health care resources in Guyana's low-resource hospitals and facilities.

The Ministry is working with RAD-AID to expand healthcare accessibility among medically underserved communities in Guyana, accelerate technology adoption for modernising the country's health information platforms, and connect tertiary care institutions with regional and district health facilities.

“Radiology (Imaging diagnostics) is a critical part of quality medicine. With

this collaboration, we seek to elevate both technology and human resource capacity throughout the country, bringing better health care to people” said Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Guyana's Ministry of Health for advancing radiology health services and capabilities in Guyana,” said Dr. Daniel J. Mollura, Founder and CEO of RADAID. “This new partnership will enable RAD-AID to extend the progress at GPHC, New Amsterdam, and Bartica Hospitals, and to

other health institutions throughout Guyana. We look forward to strengthening technology, innovation, and education for Guyana's health workers and patients.”

The Ministry, the release added, intends to have stateof-the-art X-rays and other imaging diagnostics, such as CT, MRI and Ultra Sound more accessible in all Regional Hospitals. The Ministry of Health is also phasing out old technology, phasing out the need for imaging films and use of chemicals which constitute an environmental hazard.

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 09

Jagdeo is placing the cart before the horse T

ransparency is not one of the hallmarks of the PPP/C. It is therefore not surprising that the government is entering into arrangements for the sale of carbon credits, yet only sketchy details are being provided of its plans.

The government has committed itself to the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent when dealing with issues which affect the country's indigenous community. In announcing that his government plans to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from ecosystem services, President Ali had committed to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and opt-in mechanisms with the country's indigenous peoples. He must now honour that pledge.

There has been no report that the indigenous community has been consulted on the two agreements which are reportedly being pursued by the government, one with Emergent for the sale of carbon credits at a base price of US$10 per tonne of carbon, and now with an entity known as the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) coalition.

T h e P P P / C administration is pursuing agreements which have implications for the mining and forestry and indigenous development, and it is doing

so without consultations with the Amerindian leaders, miners and foresters. This is not only totally unacceptable but it is in contravention of the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

FPIC is recognised as a principle of international law. By virtue of the international human rights' treaties, to which Guyana is a signatory, these rights are incorporated into local law.

The government must come clean over these agreements. More importantly, it must begin, in earnest, a process of consultations with the N a t i o n a l To s h a o s ' Conference and the stakeholders in the mining and forestry sectors.

Jagdeo must not be allowed to enter into any agreement on carbon credits – which will bind future generations – unless there a r e w i d e s p r e a d consultations. This country is not anyone's property to do with as he or she pleases.

The reports of Guyana seeking to trade carbon credits, merely confirm what was long suspected: that the PPP/C's Low Carbon Development Strategy is and has always been a financing mechanism and not an environmental strategy.

When it comes to the environment, the PPP/C's primary interest is in making money from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and

Degradation and not primarily to protect the environment. It does not have a genuine environmental strategy.

Despite claiming that Guyana has a high international profile as a champion of the environment, Guyana is only now seeking to expand the LCDS to being more than simply a forest-carbon agreement. Who wrote that crap which is called the LCDS in the first place?

How can there be a low carbon development strategy with little or no attention paid to b i o d i v e r s i t y, w a t e r management and conservation?

The answer to the latter is that the LCDS is a financing agreement not an environmental strategy. And all it was intended to do was to provide a pittance of US$50M per year to the country for five years from Norway, and Guyana was subject to all manner of frustrations and prevarications in order to obtain the sums which were earned.

Norway used Guyana as a pawn. And Jagdeo fell for the trap – hook, line and sinker.

The money which Guyana earned annually from Norway is chickenfeed. Guyana earned almost a US$1B from gold in 2020.

The Norway Agreement was providing US$50M per year.

The government is now

Oil nah guh spoil boys seh...

Dem

D

e world nah find a solution yet fuh climate change. But things sure getting warmer.

In de meantime, de whole debate bout climate change turning into one big joke. Even de ice sheets in de Antarctic cracking up.

It seem logical to dem boys dat if we want to stap climate change, we gat fuh keep de climate de same or stop de climate. But since we nah God, de next option is fuh reduce emissions. And de only way fuh reduce

emissions is fuh slow down de economy.

When COVID de fuss start, emissions bin fall. It bin fall suh much dat de oil company bin paying yuh fuh buy dem oil. Instead of you paying fuh de oil, dem oil company bin paying you fuh it.

Nuff people, like dem boys, feel dat oil nah spoil but dat oil also nat gonna guh out ah style. Oil deh hay fuh stay so if oil deh fuh stay, how den yuh gan reduce emissions?

But dem boys nah like discuss climate change. De debate does get heated.

Dem Guyanese leaders seh de country is nat a net

emitter of greenhouse gases.

Dem seh how we does absorb more greenhouse gas dan we emit.

But still we gat climate change. A few months ago, we had big flood wah destroy dem farmers crops.

Now dem farmer bawling fuh wata. Dem cow and horse can't find pasture with grass fuh graze. De place get dry, dry and yet we Vee Pee and Prezzie talking bout reducing emissions.

But before we begin to fight about emissions, leh we fuss get a better deal fuh we oil.

Talk half and stop de rape of we oil.

pushing Guyana towards carbon credit trading. But what are the implications. It is well established that outside of energy, the clearing of forests constitutes the major source of global greenhouse gas emissions.

As such, keeping forests intact is seen as an important element of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This is why there was so great a concern about the fires in the Amazon a few years ago.

Guyana already has low levels of deforestation.

Therefore it means that any attempt at earning carbon credits from avoided deforestation will have to involve some sacrifices for mining and forestry. It could entail that these activities will be allowed to continue but not expand, depending on the agreement signed.

It is for this reason that Jagdeo should not be allowed to further pursue any carbon credit trading scheme unless he first

consults with the country's miners, foresters and indigenous leaders.

Guyana must not be bound by any future agreement which can stifle key sectors of the economy and shut-out the country's indigenous population. Our country's future must not be traded away in the form of carbon credits.

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

Kaieteur News

PAGE 10

Tuesday October 19, 2021

THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN

Colin Smith: Freud, cow-dung and oceanic memories W

h e n m y daughter heard the news that Colin Smith had died, she rang and said, “I knew him from a baby.”

Indeed she did. By the time she was born, one of her father's closet friends who visited our home almost daily was Colin.

I became friends with Colin in 1989 and he became like a family member. He is one of the closet friends that have died over the past decades. I have had extraordinary memories of Colin that are only matched by very few person in my life.

Our relationship was personal but started out with our experience in working closely in journalism. There was no official deputy editor at the Catholic Standard but Colin was seen as such. As the columnist with the paper, we developed a neat working

relation that evolved into a bond of friendship.

Before I describe a snippet of memory, first, a little philosophical outlay on Colin.

He died the day before I was explaining to my wife at the lunch table what Sigmund Freud meant when he observed that there is no such thing as human nature.

If human nature exists, then there is a basket of variables that we humans possess some in varying degrees.

Freud stated that if there is human nature then all humans have a set of common psychological traits. But Freud noted there are traits in each one of us that are not reproduced in others, thus contradicting the cluster of variables. Colin Smith may have proven Freud right.

I don't think civilisation often produces templates of the Colin Smiths of this

world. This gentleman was a different version of Homo sapiens. Colin was warm, civilised, and trusting. He demanded nothing from the world but he felt that the world must be served.

I worked with him from 1989 to 1994 at the Catholic Standard, and though the paper changed course when Father Morrison and I left, I still went in and helped him with journalistic scoops after he took over from Father.

He was training in Spain to be a Jesuit priest and thus took a vow of poverty and believe me; although he didn't complete the priesthood, he embodied that vow in deep ways I haven't seen in many Catholic priests here and in other countries.

Colin made no demands on his family, friends and workplace and he went about his life without any longing for any material things.

I cannot say I agree with the way he shaped his life. I admired his philosophical approach but as a husband, father and human rights activist, my life had to be different from his though I shared his lack of desire for accumulating material things.

A newspaper column cannot do justice to the life of Colin Smith so I will get right into some memories.

When Father was away from Guyana, Colin ran the Catholic Standard and I looked for the journalistic scoops. It was difficult to fill the papers with hard news when Father was away because Guyanese loved Father and gave him information non-stop.

One week, it was a lean time trying to find news. I was driving on Middleton Street in Campbellville and at that street and Drury Lane I stumbled on something.

The City Council right at that junction had a pound where they held stray cows. The place was dirty and the cow

litter was all over the two streets.

The stench was unbearable.

I took a photograph, wrote the story and gave it the headline. It was one of the paper's leads and the caption went Frederick Kissoon like this, “Cowdown in the city.” I spelt death a few days ago, Colin “dung” wrongly. The next day, Colin called me to and I would refer to each i n f o r m m e a b o u t t h e other as “cowdown.” I would m i s s p e l l i n g . A f e w call him and when he connected people in the answered, I would say, Catholic Church called “cowdown, you going to the C o l i n a n d l e t t h e i r office?” When he call, and I pick up the phone, he would disappointment be known.

I was sad about that say, “cowdown, you find the because a few persons didn't book?” There were some want Colin to be the deputy more wonderful memories, editor (for reasons that will some of which would make have to wait for another you crack up. Father is gone, time) and I got him into Colin is gone but their lives have changed Guyana for the trouble.

But that incident went in better.

(The views expressed in a direction that lasted until his death. Both Colin and I this article are those of the were highly amused at the a u t h o r a n d d o n o t event and from that day in necessarily reflect the the early 1990s until his opinions of this newspaper.)

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Kaieteur News

PAGE 11

Kaieteur News

PAGE 12

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Minister warns contractors One jailed, another remanded against using heavy for robbing Essequibo man machinery on roadways - Third suspect hospitalised Remanded to prison, Shaquille McDonald.

(L-R) Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar.

P

u b l i c Wo r k s Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill, has warned contractors that the use of heavy-duty machinery on the roadways can cause major damage. This continues to be a major concern for the Ministry of Public Works, he told the media on Friday.

However, the Minister stressed that millions of dollars are being spent on road infrastructure and that repair works must be done because of damage caused by these heavy-duty machinery such as excavators and bobcat loaders.

Edghill explained that Generally, when these equipment need to move from point A to point B, they

are transported via a low bed trailer or trawlers, but this has not been happening.

“You cannot build on one hand and break with the other,” the Minister said.

“I have gone to roads that were recently done and you are seeing the marks left on the roads, on the asphalt.

The persons who are doing it are unconscionable and the community people need to do something to stop it because even when you try to ask is who, they cannot get anywhere,” the Minister added.

Many of these heavyduty machineries weigh over 80,000 pounds. With this in mind, Edghill urged contractors to utilise the right methods of transportation.

“If we have to move these heavy equipment, use the trawlers and the low beds, or if you have to walk with them, use the pads,” he urged.

And while the heavyduty machinery destroys the main access roads, smaller weighty trucks transporting sand, stone, and cement destroy the community roads.

A d d i t i o n a l l y, t h e Minister pointed out that the community roads are not built to the same specification as main access roads and are not fit for heavy vehicles such as large trucks. He further stated that this fact seems to be lost on contractors.

“If you bring in a (continued on page 13)

Clerk on bail for swindling over $500, 000 from security firm

A

23-year-old clerk was yesterday placed on $450,000 bail for allegedly swindling over $500, 000 from a security firm. The defendant, Darrell LaFargue of 95 Block 'F' North Sophia, Greater Georgetown appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Issacs-Marcus in the Georgetown Magistrates' Courts.

The court heard that a total of 56 fraud charges were made out against LaFargue, but only 15 charges were read to him yesterday. Those 15 charges allege that between August 21, 2021, and September 4, 2021, at Regent Street, Georgetown while being employed as a clerk or

Charged, Darrell LaFargue servant at Queensway Security Service Inc., he stole the sum of $585, 028.

The defendant denied the charges that were read to him

and he was initially placed on $40,000 bail on each of the 15 fraud charges.

However, the bail was later reduced to $30,000, on each of the 15 charges.

The condition of the bail is that he reports to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, every Friday until the hearing and determination of his matter.

Moreover, Police Prosecutor Annalisa Brummell told the court that when the allegations were put to the defendant, he gave a caution statement in which he admitted to the crime.

LaFargue is expected to make his next court appearance on November 1, 2021.

Jailed for robbing an Essequibo man, Marlon Vossey

T

wo of three bandits, who were apprehended moments after robbing an Essequibo man on Friday last, appeared in court yesterday – one was sent to jail while the other was remanded.

The defendants identified as Marlon Vossey, 20, of Number Five Village, West Coast Berbice (WCB) and Shaqulle McDonald, 21, of Independence Boulevard, La Penitence Georgetown, were jointly charged with robbery under arms by Magistrate Crystal Lambert at the Charity Magistrate's Court.

The duo and a third suspect are accused of invading the home of a 46year-old man at Good Hope on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two and robbing him of three gold chains and $1.5M in cash. The third suspect, according to police, was unable to face the charge because he is currently hospitalised.

Vo s s e y r e p o r t e d l y pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to four years in imprisonment. He was also given another four year sentence and ordered to

pay a fine of $100,000 after pleading guilty to a second charge which stated that he was in possession of an illegal firearm. However, Vossey will serve both sentences concurrently.

McDonald on the other hand, who faced only the joint charge of robbery underarms, pleaded not guilty and was remanded to prison until November 8, 2021.

According to reports, McDonald and Vossey were among three men who were captured after Good Hope residents had join forces with the police. The trio had reportedly invaded the victim's home sometime around 01:00hrs.

A c c o r d i n g t o investigators, the victim had awakened around 01:30hrs and headed to his washroom located on the bottom flat of his home but before he could enter, three men held him at gun point. One of them had dealt him a blow to the face causing him to run upstairs screaming loudly. His screams reportedly alerted neighbours and the suspects decided to escape.

After realising that the

intruders were gone, the victim decided to check his home and soon found out that his three gold chains along with $1.5M were missing.

The matter was reported to the police and patrol ranks were dispatched. However, the suspects did not get far before police and residents from the community caught up with them close to the Essequibo River.

As the ranks attempted to detain them, they put up a fight and even pushed one of the ranks in a trench. The irate residents decided to step in and assist the police and this led to two of the bandits, Vossey and McDonald, being captured, while the third ran away.

The residents without the help of police decided to hunt the third suspect and hours later, they captured him at Supenaam Creek and handed him over to the authorities.

Kaieteur News understands that the suspect had received a thrashing before he was handed over to the ranks. Detectives had recovered part of the stolen cash and a .38 revolver from the bandits.

Five men are country's latest COVID-19 fatalities

T

he Ministry of Health yesterday announced that five more persons, who contracted the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, have died. As a result of this, Guyana's COVID-19 death toll has moved to 875.

The Health Ministry reported that those who died are three unvaccinated men – one who was partially vaccinated and another whose vaccination status is

unknown.

The men who have died are a 69-year-old, 34-yearold and a 64-year-old from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a 68-year-old and a 79-year-old from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). All five of them died between October 7 and 18, last while receiving treatment at a medical facility, the Ministry revealed.

Meanwhile, in its daily

COVID-19 dashboard, the Health Ministry recorded 59 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 34,514.

The dashboard shows that there are 24 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit, 127 in institutional isolation, 3,722 in home isolation and six in institutional quarantine. To date, a total 29,766 recoveries have been recorded in the country.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

PAGE 13

More schools to offer CAPE - Minister A

bout seven more schools across the country will be added to the list of institutions that offer the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exanimations (CAPE) subjects. This announcement was made on Friday by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.

The Minister made this disclosure during the presentation of the 2021 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) results.

She said that three of the schools that would be offering CAPE are the JC Chandisingh Secondary in Region Six, West Demerara Secondary in Region Three and Anna Regina Secondary in Region Two. The Education Minister told her audience at the ceremony that her Ministry and government are

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand

committed and dedicated to providing students with an enriching and fulfilling education at any secondary school they attend. The move to add these schools to the list of institutions

offering CAPE is just one of the changes the Ministry is making to realise more top schools and to change the perspective some people have as it relates to some schools, the Minister has revealed.

“We have not spoken enough of how the none top schools do, because they do very well, so the List A and List B schools, when you look at the percentage pass of students who matriculate from those schools, it's actually very, very high, because we always promoted the top school.

So you ended up having a stigma for schools that are not the top school, and that would not reflect the reality of how those schools performed,” she explained.

Adding to the list of changes the education sector would see, is the capacity in some top schools that is now

Jury finds man not guilty of raping relative

A

jury at the Suddie High Court yesterday unanimously found a man, 27, not guilty of raping his 18-year-old female relative.

The defendant identified as Troy Tulsaram was represented by attorney-atlaw, Jerome Khan. He was charged with rape in April 2018 and had been committed to stand trial at the Suddie High Court located on the Essequibo Coast Region 2.

The matter was heard last Thursday and Friday by Justice Priya Sewnarine Beharry, while yesterday, it was set aside for formation and deliberation by the jury.

Following their deliberation, the jury unanimously found that Tulsaram was innocent of the charge laid against him. The man's relative had made allegations that he had raped his relative on April 23, 2018, during a visit to her home located at lot 128 Richmond New Housing Scheme, Essequibo.

She claimed that earlier that day Tulsaram had called out for her while she was walking along Henrietta Street, Essequibo.

He was at the time delivering goods in a truck for his employer. The young woman said that she had responded to his call and had gone over to meet him. They reportedly had a conversation and she even gave him a chocolate.

Later that day, the woman claimed, Tulsaram had visited her home with the knowledge that her mother was not around.

He allegedly asked her for some food and she told had him that there was none. She continued her claims by stating that after checking the pots for himself he decided to leave but before doing so he asked her for a hug.

While giving him the hug, the young woman alleged that Tulsaram kissed her and she had told him to stop because she had just kissed her boyfriend. She claimed that Tulsaram then grabbed her hands and forced her into a room where he raped her for some two minutes before hurriedly leaving her home.

Tulsaram's had denied the allegation and his lawyer, Khan, had argued that the prosecution had not presented the court with any proof or evidence to convict the defendant.

The medical report for the victim was reportedly inconclusive and showed that she sustained no injuries consistent with that of rape.

Khan pointed out too that the victim had no black or blue marks or other marks of violence as well to indicate that his client had forced himself on her.

Tulsaram, through his lawyer, had told the court that it was his relative who had invited him to her home that day for some brotherly

advice. The victim had told him that she had gotten into some trouble and wanted to speak with him about the matter. He claimed that he had told her that he was busy and they agreed to meet up at her home that afternoon.

Tulsaram said that when he arrived there, he did not enter her home but spoke with her outside. He related too that the victim had disclosed to him that she had unprotected sex with her boyfriend and was afraid that she might have been impregnated and had sought counsel from him as to what to do.

Tulsaram claimed that he told her that the best thing for her to do was to relate the matter to her mother and then he left.

While being questioned by his attorney, the woman admitted that indeed she was seeking his advice on a matter after Tulsaram had spotted a hickey on her body and asked her about it.

When asked if she had tried to scream or fight back with Tulsaram, while he was allegedly raping her, the woman responded that she could not because she “froze and was in a state of shock”.

Khan attempted to convince the jury that a “state of shock only lasts a short while before” a victim reacts to his or her attacker. After listening to both sides, the jury deliberated and decided that Tulsaram never raped his relative.

being created to accommodate students.

Minister Manickchand said that where the Ministry would usually award 120 seats to Queen's College, this year 167 students will go into that school.

Additionally, where the Bishops' High School would accommodate 100 students, this year 145 students will be

allowed to attend.

“Where before a 100 children would go to Saint Stanislaus, this year 120 students would go to Saints.

Because St. Roses is under construction, we cannot have any more children there right now.

Where before 100 children would go to St. Joseph, this year 150

children would go to St. Joseph .

Where before 75 children would go to New Amsterdam Multi, this year 175 children would go to New Amsterdam Multi.

Where before over a 100 children would go to Berbice High, it's increased to about 45 children,” the Minister added.

Man reportedly killed by bees at Montrose seawall

Police ranks at the scene last evening (Photo Credit: Sheriff, a resident of Montrose)

A

man was reportedly killed in a bee attack yesterday at the Montrose Seawall located on the East Coast of Demerara.

Residents of the area have identified the man only as “Sonny” and revealed that the man's remains were found lying not too far from a makeshift camp at the seawall where he stayed.

They related that when they discovered the man's body it was still covered by a swarm of bees.

The residents notified police who arrived at the scene along with an apiarist (bee keeping professional) to contain the bees.

Kaieteur News understands that there is massive bee hive located in one of the camps located at

the seawall and this was not the first attack.

On Sunday, two men were attacked and according to residents one is still hospitalised while the other has been discharged.

The residents revealed that boat owners and fishermen would normally store their outboard engines and other equipment in the camps.

Minister warns contractors against...

From page 12 30-tonne [truck] on a community road with sand and then you put cement on top of the sand because you want to pay for one transportation trip, you are not only damaging the road

but also the shoulders of the road,” the Minister added.

T h e M i n i s t e r highlighted that when the sand and stone are dumped, they oftentimes contribute to the blocking of drains. “[So] watch your

weight [because] you trying to improve your house but then you would be left without no road and you will also be affecting other people in the c o m m u n i t y, ” M i n i s t e r Edghill said.

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Family of three robbed at gunpoint during home invasion

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family of three was robbed and held at gunpoint last Friday around 03:30hrs during a home invasion

which occurred while they had retired to bed in their Sophia, Georgetown residence.

Kaieteur News after

speaking with one of the victims, Fabrianna Smith, learnt that at the time of the incident she was asleep in her bedroom along with her

seven-year-old daughter and partner, Orlando (only name provided).

“I heard my partner saying take whatever you gotta get and yall go, and

when I opened my eyes there was a gun pointed to my face” Smith exclaimed.

This publication learnt that while one of the suspects

was in the room holding Smith's family at gunpoint, his partner in crime was ransacking the house as he demanded money and jewelry. He managed to obtain the following items: $60,000 cash, Smith's office and house keys, a purse containing ($5,000 in cash, one COVID-19 vaccination booklet, one ID card, a bank card and a medical card), an HP laptop, her daughter's haversack and some jewellery.

The suspects then made good their escape on foot.

Orlando then made some checks around the home and it was then he discovered that the items mentioned were missing. There were no signs of forced entry.

After checking around the yard and speaking with neighbours, the victims were informed that the previous occupants of the residence were robbed on multiple occasions and it seems to be a spot often targeted by bandits.

After making contact with police, a detective visited the home to take photographs and statements from the victims. Also, Orlando was told to return at 10:00hrs the same day at the Prashad Nagar Police Outpost. Police are said to be investigating the matter.

Fatal accident victims had drown

A

ccording to a post mortem examination (PME) the two victims, Deocharran Dass and Bhickram Singh, who lost their lives in the Mahaicony fatal accident last Saturday, had drown.

It was said that Dass was speeding along the Mahaicony Branch Road after he and the occupants of the vehicle were imbibing alcohol at a friend's residents.

While reportedly speeding on his way home, he failed to negotiate a sharp left turn and instead continued straight into a nearby canal on the southern side of the road.

The PME conducted yesterday around 09:30hrs at the Memorial Gardens funeral home by Dr. Nehaul Singh revealed that the cause of death of both men was drowning, due to them being trapped in the vehicle which was submerged in the canal.

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Tuesday October 19, 2021

NAREI expends over $600M on crop cultivation - Mid-year Report

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s at the end of June 2021, the N a t i o n a l Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) had expended $602.8 million for the cultivation of crops.

This is according to the Mid-year Report which revealed that the Government of Guyana had progressed on the development of other crops for cultivation prior to the floods. NAREI, it revealed, provided technical assistance as well as designs with the sharing of knowledge to farmers for the construction of 97 shade houses in all regions across the country, five of which were constructed for demonstration purposes.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NAREI, Mr. Jagnarine Singh, told Kaieteur News that the number of shade houses currently stands at 301 across the country and that he is quite certain that number will multiply before the end of 2021.

According to the report, the expansion of fruits cultivation continued to be supported through the availability of low-cost seedlings at all NAREI nurseries, with 54,915 plants, equivalent to $13.7 million sold and technical support provided to 16,284 farmers during the review period. It was revealed too that the acreage of fruits under cultivation has increased by 50acres.

It was noted too that over 100 training sessions were conducted for 1,357 farmers in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 in pest and disease management of black sigatoka, fruit scarring beetle, scarlet tip, red palm mite, climate smart agriculture, good agriculture

practices, crop husbandry systems, among other topics.

Trials for intercropping in the coconut industry commenced on the coastal soil with bora and hot peppers and on the sandy soil with peanuts and red beans, with a view to expanding intercropping cultivation in the coconut fields, the report highlighted.

During the review period, the report noted that 0.7 tonnes of fresh ginger roots were processed and dried at Hosororo which was sent to manufacturers for assessment of the quality. In March, 655 cuttings of black pepper were distributed to the farmers of Regions 1 and 10 for cultivation.

To date, there are 575 black pepper cuttings at Mon Repos and 3,654 at Hosororo, according to the report. It revealed too that there are 45 nutmeg trees in Hosororo amongst five farmers, with an expected yield of 1,000 nutmegs per tree per crop. In the second half of 2021, 222 nutmeg seedlings will be planted at the Hosororo demonstration field.

In an article by the Department of Public information, Agriculture Minister, Zulkifar Mustapha said that he is optimistic that his Ministry will continue to accelerate efforts to meet dietary demands of all Guyanese.

Minister Mustapha reiterated that the government has given prominence to the coconut industry by allocating $70 million to promote the expansion, inter-cropping, utilisation of coconut byproducts and increase production and productivity of the Hope Coconut industry Limited.

Kaieteur News

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Kaieteur News

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

HIV positive persons urged to get vaccinated against COVID-19 M

inister of Health, Dr. F r a n k Anthony, is urging persons living with HIV to protect themselves against COVID19 by getting vaccinated.

This is according to a Department of Public Information news release which noted that during his COVID-19 update on Monday, Minister Anthony noted that this is important because the immune system of a person living with HIV is more susceptible to the virus, especially if that person is not on medication.

“It is recommended that persons with HIV take the COVID -19 vaccine because it's going to protect them.

The benefits of being vaccinated, far outweigh the risk of being vaccinated, and in some cases, persons whose immune systems are compromised, some of those patients it's also recommended that they get a third dose of the vaccine or a booster shot,” Dr. Anthony said.

He said persons can use any of the vaccines available in Guyana which are being used for the adult population. These include the Johnson and Johnson, Sputnik V, Sinopharm, or Astra Zeneca.

The minister noted that persons currently taking ARVs (antiretrovirals) or PrEP (pre-exposure

prophylaxis) should not worry about adverse effects of the vaccine, as these work differently in the body.

“The mechanism of action are totally different, vaccines help to stimulate the immune system so that your body can produce anti bodies that can fight off COVID-19 virus.

Antiretrovirals - they work differently, they interrupt the life cycle of the HIV and therefore their actions are totally different, and there is no interaction between the t w o , ” D r. A n t h o n y explained.

Persons with HIV are advised to follow the recommended protocols as the general population, to

guard against contracting the disease. These include wearing of masks, proper hand sanitisation and social distancing.

“There are lots of hesitancy among the HIV population, they probably have various myths about why they shouldn't be vaccinated, but all the evidence is pointing that they need to be vaccinated,” the minister said.

Up to 2019, the estimated number of people living with HIV in Guyana numbered over eight thousand.

Meanwhile, for COVID19 infections, the health ministry is reporting some 3,907 active cases, with 59

new cases recorded in the last 24 hours.

The data also shows a slight decrease of cases in Region Four, with increases in Regions Two, Three and 10.

There are 107 persons in hospitals across the country with 72 of those persons currently at the Ocean View Hospital, 24 of which are in the ICU. Six are maternal cases.

Also, so far, 373,398 persons have been vaccinated with a first dose of a COVID vaccine, representing 72.8 per cent of the adult population, while 231,729 persons have been fully vaccinated, amounting to 45.2 per cent of the adult

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony

population.

For the adolescent population 26,391 children have taken the first dose of Pfizer vaccine amounting to 36.2 per cent of that population while 17,379 are fully vaccinated, representing 2.5 per cent of the adolescent population.

Home for abused children in Linden under construction

T

he mining town of Linden will soon benefit from its first ever group home, which will accommodate sexually abused girls below the age of 18. The project is the brainchild of Ms. Herminee Glen-Haywood, a woman who was born and raised in

Linden, but migrated to Canada since 1990.

With the upsurge in sexual abuse cases in Region 10, Glen-Haywood said she thought it necessary to create a safe haven for girls, seeking refuge in the event of them being abused. She said she was also motivated to take on

the project after realising that Linden does not have any facility, specifically targeting abused girls. The project, which started in 2018, is funded by GlenHaywood, with support from corporate Linden and other businesses. The building, which is currently under

Miner dies after complaining of pains

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54-year-old man, who has only been identified as Dell, was found dead in a mining camp at the White Creek Backdam in the North West District (NWD) of Region One after complaining of body pains.

According to a police report, Dell was staying at a camp owned by a 34-yearold gold miner and complained of the pains about his body at around 06:00hrs on Friday.

Shortly after, at around 18:00hrs, the owner found Dell lying motionless and unresponsive in his hammock.

However, on Saturday, around 14:00hrs, Dell was taken to the Port Kaituma Community Hospital (PKCH) in Region One where he was pronounced dead by a doctor.

His body was examined by a police rank but no marks of violence were seen on the exposed parts. The body was

Dell seen here lying motionless in his hammock.

construction, is located in Wismar, Linden.

“Businesses in Linden have been my back bone, they have been supporting me from the jump,” she told Kaieteur News, while listing some of the businesses that came on board such as Bernard's Variety Store, Jermine and Son's, McRae's General Store, Snooks Variety, among others.

Glen-Haywood has already taken steps to register the organisation as a non-governmental organisation, under the name Herminee's Organisation and Protective Environment and has engaged several local agencies, both governmental and nongovernmental, to partner with the group home to e n s u r e t h e e ff e c t i v e management and operation of the facility. These include the Ministry of Social Protection, Child Link and Children's Aid. “The idea is that if they are

Ms. Herminee Glen-Haywood at the site for the home not able to return to their home, they will be there until 1 8 . We w i l l h a v e programmes and the aim is to bring back their self-esteem, to help them to get back to reality,” she said.

The home is expected to accommodate maximum 24 children, with two girls being accommodated in one room.

All meals, toiletries and personal items, will be provided to the victims. The building is also expected to get an office for social

workers and a psychiatrist and an area where the occupants will be able to learn life skills, so that they will leave empowered at the age of 18. Relative to the victims' protection, Glen-Haywood said that a recognised security firm will be hired.

Anyone desirous of donating to this charitable cause can make monetary d o n a t i o n s t o h.o.p.e.organization@gmail.c om or via Facebook: Herminee Glen-Haywood.

Exxon kicks off public debate...

taken to the hospital's mortuary and is awaiting a post mortem examination, as

efforts are made to ascertain the correct particulars of the deceased man.

From page 3 installation and operation of a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel in the eastern half of the Stabroek Block; and— ultimately—project decommissioning.

EEPGL has said the FPSO will be designed to produce up to 250,000 barrels of oil per day.

Onshore logistical

support facilities and marine/aviation services will be used to support each stage of the Project. EEPGL is expected to use proven and good international oilfield practices.

The company said it has incorporated many embedded controls into the overall Project design to reduce environmental and socioeconomic impacts.

The initial production is expected to begin by the end of 2025–early 2026, with operations continuing for at least 20 years.

The project is expected to employ up to 540 persons during development well drilling, approximately 600 persons at the peak of the installation stage, and 100 to 140 persons during production operations.

Tuesday October 19, 2021

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Kaieteur News

NGOs donate oxygen plant to Health Ministry The Infectious Diseases Hospital also called the ‘COVID’ hospital, which is located at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, will soon be equipped with a US$150,000 (GY$31M) oxygen plant donated by nongovernmental organisations, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) and Sewa Guyana.

This pressure swing adsorption plant is expected to provide the oxygen needed to treat patients who experience a more severe form of COVID-19 which causes them to have trouble breathing on their own.

During a joint virtual press conference with the Ministry of Health, Coordinator of HSS, Ravi Dev said that the plant has already been sourced from India but the only challenge is getting it to reach in the country.

“I want to assure the public and Minister Anthony, the plant has already been sourced it’s just a matter of getting a flight. It’s in the hands of DHL and it will be flown into Guyana,” he shared.

According to the Coordinator, the importance of such a plant here is that,

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, alongside Coordinator Mr. Ravi Dev and a representative of HSS and a representative of Sewa Guyana during yesterday’s press conference.

“We need to ensure that our Infectious Diseases Hospital is supplied with its independence source of oxygen.”

Expressing gratitude on behalf of the government and his Ministry, Minster of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony,

said that this plant would go a significant way of assisting them at the COVID-19 hospital.

“We were anticipating a delta surge and we were talking about the needs that we will have in case such a surge occurs. And earlier in

the year, when we were contemplating this, one of the areas we thought might be challenged was in the area of providing adequate supplies of oxygen. As you know the COVID-19 hospital at Liliendaal, we do have close to 200 beds and we have been

Haitian prime minister forced to flee official ceremony after armed gangs appear - The incident highlights the deteriorating security conditions in Haiti’s capital (The Guardian) - The deteriorating security situation in Haiti was starkly underlined on Sunday when the country’s prime minister and his security detail were forced to flee an official commemoration in the capital by heavily armed gang members who then paraded in the delegation’s place.

A day after a dozen US missionaries and their children were kidnapped in a brazen attack to the east of the capital Port-au-Prince, video circulating on social media and reports in the Haitian media showed the country’s most notorious crime boss, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, officiating at the ceremony to commemorate the assassination of JeanJacques Dessalines, one of Haiti’s revolutionary founding fathers. The annual ceremony in the Pont Rouge area of Port-au-Prince marks where Dessalines was assassinated in 1806 after defeating a Napoleonic army and abolishing slavery in the new Black republic.

On Sunday, the prime minister, Ariel Henry, and his security detail reportedly tried to reach Pont Rouge to lay a floral wreath but were driven back by armed gang members firing their weapons.

Video from the event showed several official SUVs

buying oxygen for that facility. Our ICU set up there, we have moved from about eight beds to about 52 beds, therefore, providing constantly the amount of oxygen is a very expensive exercise,” Minister Anthony explained.

It was revealed during the press conference that on average, there are about 120 persons admitted at the facility. Out of that amount, about 30 to 35 patients are admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who would use about 15 litres of oxygen.

With the installation of this plant, the Minister said it would help to reduce the cost that is currently being expended to purchase

oxygen. Mr. Dev further expounded that the plant would not only help in cutting cost but there is no need for the huge tanks at the facility, since the oxygen generating from it is produced on-site.

Kaieteur News understands that the plant would be occupying an area about 512 square feet and it will be containerised. It was also noted that it has the ability to supply 800 litres of oxygen per minute and it is set to work 24-hour per day, seven days a week.

When the plant arrives in the country, it will be commissioned by an engineer from India who will also be facilitating training for local persons.

Body found floating at Vergenoegen apparently leaving Pont Rouge amid the crackle of gunfire as other figures fled the scene on foot.

Later pictures showed Cherizier, a former policeman and notorious head of the G9 and Family gang alliance, dressed in a white suit and shirt with a wing collar – the dress code for officials on national holidays – with his armed followers making the floral offering.

Among Cherizier’s armed supporters were a number wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the face of the late Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated earlier this year, and the slogan “Justice for Jovenel”.

While Pont Rouge has in recent years been a gang stronghold and no-go area,

the demonstration on Sunday – the 215th anniversary of Dessalines’ death – was seen as a provocation and a show of strength barely 24 hours after the high-profile kidnapping of the US missionaries in a bus en route to the airport. Cherizier, who has been accused of providing gang muscle for the late Haitian president who was shot down in his home by a hit squad which included Colombian mercenaries, has been under US Treasury sanctions over his alleged involvement in the 2018 La Saline massacre while he was still a serving police officer, along with two of Moïse’s officials. According to the US Treasury website: “Throughout 2018 and 2019, Cherizier led armed groups in coordinated, brutal attacks in

P o r t - a u - P r i n c e neighbourhoods.

“Most recently, in May 2020, Cherizier led armed gangs in a five-day attack in multiple Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods in which civilians were killed and houses were set on fire.”

The latest gang-related incident in the increasingly turbulent Caribbean state occurred as police continued to search for the 17 western hostages who are being held by another gang, the 400 Mawozo, which operates to the east of Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s gangs, which have become increasingly powerful and aggressive amid mounting social and political unrest, have long been associated with political parties and leaders for whom they provide deadly muscle.

Police were called in yesterday to retrieve a body that was found floating in the Essequibo River, close to the Vergenoegen foreshore located on the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE) The remains were identified as a man of East Indian descent.

When ranks arrived, they observed that the body was faced downward in the water

clad only in a red short pants.

After retrieving the body from the river, they noticed part of the skin from his face was removed but no other marks of violence seen on the other exposed parts of the body.

The body was removed from the scene and taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital for further examination, before it was taken to the Ezekiel Funeral Home.

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Kaieteur News

==Youman Nabi Messages==

YOUMUN - NABI MESSAGE

by CIOG PRESIDENT, Al-Hajj Shahabudeen Ahmad In the name of Allah (swt), The Merciful, The Compassionate O Allah bless our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw), the light of lights, the secret of secrets, the antidote for depression and the key to the door of ease.

Assalaamu-Alaikum WaRahmatullahi WaBarakatuh.

May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah (swt) be with you all.

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam and humanity, on this joyful occasion of observing the birth and life of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw), I extend to you on behalf of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana greetings on this auspicious occasion of Youmun-Nabi. I pray Allah (swt) will increase us in love for the final Messenger to Humanity, Prophet Muhammad (saws). May Allah (swt) bless us and accept all our devotion and service. Ameen.

More than fourteen hundred years ago, Allah (swt) bestowed his greatest mercy upon humanity by sending the Prophet Muhammad (saw) to teach the message of the Qur’an and guide humanity with his exemplary conduct.

The Prophet (saw) was destined to be the best human ever to live on Earth— the most virtuous, the most patient, the most loving, the most courteous, the most merciful among men, the best to his wives, his friends, his family, the most honest, the most trustworthy, and so much more that even his enemies testified to it.

The Prophet’s (saw) character was of such high moral excellence that Allah (swt) confirmed his greatness.

And you are of the highest standard of character (Quran 68:4) Prophet Muhammad (saw) lived among his people with such high moral character they called him alAmîn — the Trustworthy. He was decisive and whole-hearted in everything he did.

He spoke when he saw benefit and spent long periods in silent contemplation. His speech was comprehensive, being neither wordy nor abrupt. He had a mild temperament and was never harsh nor cruel, never coarse nor rude. He expressed gratitude for everything given to him.

People entered his gatherings as seekers and left enlightened. He never stood nor sat without mentioning the name of Allah (swt).

He never reserved a special place for himself in a gathering. He gave each of those who sat with him full attention.

Voices were never raised in his presence. The aged were respected for their age and the young were shown compassion for their youth.

His wives and companions spoke of his humour and cheerfulness. Once an old woman asked him if she would enter paradise and he replied, “Old people

don’t go to heaven!” The woman was crestfallen with the answer he had provided, to which he added with a smile, “You shall enter paradise in the prime of your youth.”

And once a gruff desert Bedouin came into the mosque and prayed out loud saying, “O God forgive me and Muhammad (saw) and don’t forgive anyone else.” Hearing this, the Prophet (saw) laughingly observed, “You are limiting the vast mercy of God.” The Prophet’s (saw) love and compassion for his fellow beings and his concern for their welfare in all spheres of human endeavours were paramount. He was a ruler concerned with the welfare of his subjects, and he continually sou g h t i m p r o v e d relationship between members of the Muslim community and those of other faiths, preaching and practicing brotherhood, tolerance, and patience. His dying words were, “Treat your women well, and do not oppress your servants, the prayer, the prayer, don’t be neglectful of the prayer.

O God, my highest companion, my highest companion.”

The occasion of celebrating the birth and life of our Master and Guide Prophet Muhammad (saw) should be used to strengthen our will to follow his example. Are we emulating him by trying to be merciful to our fellow man? If we aren’t, we should understand that our adherence to his tradition is wanting. Let us reflect on some of his messages: “..verily, Allah is kind and He loves kindness and confers upon kindness which he does not confer upon severity and does not confer upon anything else besides [kindness].”

“Wealth, social position and racial superiority do not give special status to anyone; all of you are equal in the eyes of God. It is only the path of righteousness, which makes you a distinguished human being.”

We should remember that our love for the Prophet (saw) will be a means of our being with Him (saw) God Willing. Let us spend these days in increased prayer upon the Prophet (saw), as Allah (swt) commanded us in the Holy Quran Surah Al-Ahzab 33:56.

Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.

This is a unique command from Allah (swt). One in which Allah (swt) commands us with an act in which He (swt) and His (swt) Angels are performing. Remember that when we send blessing on our Beloved Rasoolullah(saws), Allah (swt), His Angels, and His Messenger send mercy on the one who invokes blessings. Such a person’s wrongdoings are expiated, his good deeds are increased and purified, his status elevated, his wealth increases, it removes hardships of poverty and the suppliant attains proximity and closeness to Rasoolullah (saws) on the day it most matters.

The blessings (themselves) seek forgiveness for him and his sins are forgiven. Whomsoever makes it his complete regimen by day and night, both his worldly and otherworldly matters are taken care of; it is a source of protection from turmoil on the day of reckoning.

Rasoolullah (saws) will testify on that day of judgment for such a person and His (saws) intercession will be granted for him.

Our undying love for Prophet Muhammad (saws) is the framework by which every Muslim lives his life; and what a beautiful life we will have if we pattern ourselves by the most beautiful example depicted to us by our Beloved and final Messenger Muhammad (saw).

I ask Allah (swt) to bless all of you and join us in praising our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw): O Allah, bless our Master Muhammad, who opened what was closed and sealed what was before.

He makes the truth victorious by the truth and he is the guide to Your Straight Path.

And bless his Household as it befits his immense stature and splendor.

Oh Allah! Bestow Your Mercy and Blessings upon Muhammad whenever he is remembered, and bestow Your Mercy and Blessings upon Muhammad whenever he is not remembered.

May the Peace and Blessing of the Most Merciful be upon each and everyone.

Wa - A l a i k u m u s - S a l a a m WaRahmatullahiWaBarakaatuh.

PEOPLE’S PROGRESSIVE PARTY On the occasion of Youman Nabi, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) wishes to extend greetings and best wishes to all Guyanese, more particularly, our brothers and sisters of the Muslim communities both here in Guyana and overseas.

Youman Nabi is a very sacred occasion to Muslims across the world since it marks both the birth and death anniversaries of Islam’s Holy Prophet Mohammad. Its observance allows for worship and reflection on his exemplary life and inspiring teachings. The messages that are associated with Youman Nabi, offer guidance to all of mankind and are invaluable to the realisation of universal peace and togetherness thereby enabling opportunities for forgiveness.

Youman Nabi, like other national observances, is invaluable to the promotion of unity through participation and increases the potential for the building of tolerance which is vital to the

realisation of national harmony.

This will take a collective effort and will redound positively for our country.

Cognisant of the teachings of the Holy Prophet (OHBP), the PPP also believes that the occasion of Youman Nabi allows for the renewal of mindsets to follow the path of virtue and peace as epitomised in the religion of Islam.

All are therefore urged to use the occasion for meaningful reflection, for spiritual advancement and to heed the many lessons of humility, contentment, respect and love among mankind.

Our Party is also aware of the impact the ongoing COVID-l9 pandemic has on events associated with national observances. The Party is confident that, despite the challenges, the spirit and significance that Youman Nabi embodies will remain vibrant and relevant to our personal and collective development. Once again, best wishes.

A PARTNERSHIP FOR NATIONAL UNITY+ALLIANCE FOR CHANGE On the occasion of Youman Nabi also known as Mawlid al-Nabi, Muslims here in Guyana and around the world gather in groups in masjids and other places to reflect on the life and the tremendous work of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is known as the final messenger of Islam. During the activities that portray this reflection, we commemorate the birth anniversary of this noble personality, who has been described as a mercy to mankind.

On this auspicious occasion, as we remember Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is recognised and accepted as being fair, truthful, kind, patient, trustworthy, and generous among other great qualities, we encourage you to emulate the attributes of his character that will lead us to a unified and harmonious Guyana. The APNU+AFC Coalition recognises the contributions of this noble prophet of Islam especially as he encouraged mankind to practice enjoining good and forbidding that which is wrong.

These were the qualities that empowered Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to fight for and represent the oppressed people, he bestowed a place of honour for women and girls in the society as he ensured that all cruelty and exploitation on them were abolished.

He was a champion against social injustices; such as racism and discrimination as he taught everyone around him that the religion of Islam recognises and appreciates the diversities of all mankind.

Today in Guyana, it is evident that we have moved away from the guiding principles of this noble prophet, as we are witnessing daily the oppression of brothers and sisters whereby injustices are inflicted upon them because of their ethnicity, political affiliation, geographic location, and social status.

The APNU+AFC Coalition takes this opportunity to call on all Guyanese, as we reflect on the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) let us use the practices of his life and demand justice for our people so that we can exemplify our motto One People, One Nation, One Destiny.

Today, as we commemorate the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) the APNU+AFC Coalition extends best wishes to all Guyanese here and in the diaspora especially our Muslim brothers and sister and to encourage each one of us to be our brothers and sisters keepers as we strive for a united and harmonious Guyana.

May the Guidance of Almighty God be with us all.

INDIAN ACTION COMMITTEE The Indian Action Committee (IAC) wishes to extend greetings to all Guyanese especially those who are adherents of Islam, on the occasion of Youman Nabi, a national holiday, which commemorates the birth of (and the death) of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Whom Peace Be Upon).

The IAC recognises that followers of Islam were present in this country since the days of slavery, as many of the enslaved Africans were Muslims.

The IAC also recognises that new influxes of Muslims to this occurred during the period of indentureship, as approximately one out of every five East Indian immigrants was a follower of the teachings of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Whom Peace Be Upon).

The IAC calls upon all Guyanese to remember the moral pathways outlined by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Whom Peace Be Upon) in

which he called upon all mankind to the way of peace and to the belief in supreme being, and thus reminded them of the importance of principles such as faith, repentance, honesty, simplicity, equality and concerned for the dispossessed and the poor. The IAC, in this significant commemoration of one who arguably is the greatest human who ever lived and who preached the value of love, sacrifice and compassion, to be positively influenced, so that our everyday interactions with each other, irrespective of ethnic religious and class origins. The IAC is therefore pleased to join with Muslims here and worldwide to observe this auspicious day, and urge that special prayers be offered for peace, so that our country can move forward with prosperity.

Happy Youman Nabi from the IAC.

Tuesday October 19, 2021

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Kaieteur News

==Youman Nabi Messages==

ETHNIC RELATIONS COMMISSION The Ethnic Relations Commission, (ERC), extends greetings to all Guyanese, particularly the Muslim community, in observance of Youman Nabi; the birth and death anniversary of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The Commission notes that the observance marks another auspicious occasion accorded equal public holiday status given to other festivals of the major religions in the country. The ERC overwhelmingly supports continued preservation of the country’s religious diversity and urges reflection by all Guyanese on the significance of Youman Nabi.

The Holy Quran refers to Prophet

Muhammad (PBUH) as a mercy to mankind and the ERC supports the teachings of the Holy Prophet; they embrace love and respect for each other to reform mankind’s behaviour and the acceptance of God and his commandments. Youman Nabi serves to reinforce those teachings today among Muslims and all Guyanese which, centuries later remain relevant and continue to be a meaningful guide to all. The ERC is certain that in heeding those lessons, all Guyanese will be better positioned to foster unity and harmony.

The Commission reminds once more of taking the necessary steps to remain safe from COVID-19 during this national observance.

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(hajj). And to these the GTUC implore our brothers and sisters to apply in the nation’s quest for peace, goodwill and equality amongst all Guyanese.

As the third largest religion in Guyana - a nation plagued with injustices, the value of social equality which is preeminent in Zakat cannot be underestimated or ignored in these trying times. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19), floods, high unemployment, discriminatory cash grant distribution, escalating crimes, other natural and manmade disasters have occasioned socio-economic challenges that could hinder realising the aspiration of One People, One Nation, One Destiny.

Attention to the nation’s plight requires the utilisation of a political system that values social equality as centre to development. It is such a value that must guide the distribution of national resources, and the management of the economy to ensure all are treated with dignity and respect. This expectation is more pronounced given the nation is led by a man of the faith. As Guyanese celebrate this holiday, Youman Nabi, let us do so mindful of the value of Zakat and hope its principle would guide President Irfaan Ali’s management of the nation’s resources and the welfare of all the people of Guyana.

Happy Youman Nabi!

GUYANA AGRICULTURAL AND GENERAL observe his momentous birth.

WORKERS UNION meaningfully GAWU embraces the teachings of the It is now beyond repute – and dispute – that the Islamic Prophet Mohamed, On Who Be Peace (OWBP), is one of mankind’s most seminal and life changing figures contributed to this world as we know it. The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) salutes Guyana’s Muslim community, including hundreds of its own members, on the occasion of the Birth of their Prophet – Youman Nabi.

The celebration of a birth is always tinged with joy of hope, new beginnings, fresh starts and the advent of things to come. However, it is what actually transpires after a birth – that period until death – that we must concern ourselves with. The history of the Prophet’s birthday is traced to around AD 570. First, observed during the thirteenth century, the earliest Muslims used up one whole month to do this. Later, it was the sound teachings and admonitions of Islam’s Founder which scholars and the faithful study to

Prophet (OWBP) with respect to the search for personal and universal peace. Recent conflicts illustrate that even the powerful cannot win hearts and minds, cannot change people’s preferences with the force of guns and bombs. As the Prophet (OWBP) teaches, humility and peaceful engagement is the way to understanding and mutual respect. If there is one precept the followers of Islam can perpetuate it is the pathway to peace.

GAWU invites Guyanese Muslims to both disseminate and implement messages and techniques of peace. If peace is promoted and achieved – from the political and constitutional to the local and national – everything else our society needs can fall into place – increased production, security, investment, national well-being.

May the celebration and worship on this glorious birth anniversary be used to engender and maintain Guyanese peace.

HEAD OF Region Three Private Sector Inc., HALIM KHAN This is the time when our Muslim brothers and sisters celebrate the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. During this period Muslims around the world spend time praying and giving alms to the poor and needy. This gesture of love is worthy of emulation and has the propensity to move us away from abhorrence which hinders progress and development in our country and communities. Therefore, as we emphasise the spirit of caring and sharing love, let us contemplate ways to improve the general

development of Guyana and the world of which we are all a part.

As Muslims throughout Guyana observe Youman Nabi – The day of the Prophet –we wish to encourage them to reflect deeply and profoundly on his teachings and be inspired by his humanitarian example, the quintessence of which is engraved with courage, humility, kindness, and charity.

May we all take example from the life of the Holy Prophet! May we all aspire to live our own lives with the same wholesome practices and devotion as did the Prophet Mohamed (On Whom Be Peace). Once again, Happy Youman Nabi.

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GUYANA TRADES UNION CONGRESS The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) extends Youman Nabi greetings to our Guyanese brothers and sisters, moreso the ones from the Muslim community. As the nation marks the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the Founder of the faith and last Prophet from God (Allah), even as there is merriment given what his birth represents, the significance of same should not be overlooked. Our Muslim brothers and sisters have added value to the nation’s moral compass with the faith’s five core beliefs, viz: - Profession of Faith (shahada); Prayer (salat); Alms (zakat); Fasting (sawm); and Pilgrimage

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Suriname National Army commander visits GDF

T

he Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Suriname National Army have made their first step towards the advancement of tackling common threats and embracing each other to ensure that the border they share and are vested to protect, remain safe and secured.

The GDF in a release issued yesterday noted that Commander of the Suriname National Army, Colonel Henri Van Axel Dongen, and a delegation are currently in Guyana and are hosted by the GDF. The delegation visited Defence Headquarters, Base Camp Ayanganna yesterday and was greeted by Chief of Staff, Brigadier Godfrey Bess, and members of his leadership team.

The delegation was privy to a country and security concern brief highlighting the

challenges faced and a series of proposals to enhance cooperation to address threats.

During remarks, Colonel Axel Dongen noted that the visit will be memorable. It signals an important step towards combating threats facing both countries. He referenced the saying 'a close neighbour is better than a distant relative', pointing out that the two countries' proximity provides a platform for embracing each other's values and sharing information.

"I am very proud to say that this is the best opportunity for both of our nations, and I look forward to working together to enhance security in both our nations.

We have the same issues threatening our nations and so our strong partnership will be effective in combating security threats," he noted. Colonel Dongen

Guard of Honour to welcome Col. Henri Van Axel Dongen of the Suriname National Army. stressed that he is eagerly anticipating enhanced cooperation with his Guyanese counterparts.

Brigadier Bess endorsed the views shared by Colonel Dongen. He noted that the delegation's response to the invitation, as both countries continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, is a

testament to the resilience and endurance of the Suriname military.

During bilaterals, he proposed several measures, including a Joint Intelligence Exchange between the two militaries, which he said was necessary as both countries emerge as players in the oil sector.

He also proposed increase collaboration surveillance on the border, which the two countries share. Brigadier Bess also put forward proposals for training exchange opportunities and invited the Suriname National Army to subscribe to Officer training with the GDF. He also extended the GDF's support

towards establishing a Reserve component of the Suriname National Army.

The visit from the Surinamese military delegation comes closely on the heels of an official state visit

by Suriname President, His Excellency Chandrikapersad Santokhi, on August 17, 2021.

PAC highlights trend of evaluators bypassing lowest bidders on projects

T

he Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has highlighted the trend of evaluators bypassing the lowest bidders on projects.

The issue came up during a discussion of the committee yesterday about contracts awarded by the

regional administration of Region 10 (Upper Demerara–Berbice) in 2016.

According to the finding outlined in the Auditor General's 2016 report, the regional Tender Board had awarded 14 projects totalling $38.5 million, but none were to the lowest or most responsive bidder.

In some instances in the report, the contracts were awarded to the highest of three bidders but there was no explanation as to why the lowest bidders were sidestepped. Although he was not the accounting officer in 2016, Regional Executive Officer (REO), Dwight John, was made to

answer to a series of instances where the lowest bidders for contracts were sidestepped.

Minister of Public Works, and PAC member, Bishop Juan Edghill, raised his concerns over the issue.

Edghill referenced sections of the Procurement Act which outline how contracts

Health Ministry hands over $7.3M to Region 1

Y

e s t e r d a y, t h e Ministry of Health handed over a newly purchased Nissan Frontier Vehicle, valued at GY$7.3 million to the Health Office of Region

One (Barima-Waini).

The vehicle, according to the Ministry, was funded by the Government of Guyana and will aid in the enhancement of service delivery across the Region.

Present at the handing over ceremony were, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, Director General of the Regional Health Services Department, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo, Regional

Chairman, Mr. Brentnol Ashley, Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Communities, Mr. Michael Gouveia, and Transport Officer, Mr. Kwanbina Roberts.

are awarded to the lowest or the most competitive bid.

“The Auditor General is saying it did not happen and in order for us to be able to verify justification of why it did not happen, the justification is not found in the minutes and the minutes did not state it and the fact that the minutes did not state it, it is left open…to still be judged,” he contended.

Region 10 Regional Executive Officer (REO), Orrin Gordon, was in the company of the regional staff and his predecessor, but they were unable to explain why the lowest bidders for contracts were bypassed and were clearly unprepared to answer questions leading to their expulsion from a previous PAC meeting.

Other committee members, Gail Teixeira and Ganesh Mahipaul, also raised similar contentions over the contract awards.

While Teixeira called for an end to the tendency of evaluators to bypass the lowest bidders in the awarding of contracts, Mahipaul noted that the issue should be thoroughly investigated.

In the 2016 Auditor General report, instances of the lowest bidders being rejected by the Region 10 administration were put under the microscope by the Committee.

It is understood that the Regional Tender Board

allegedly refused to award millions of dollars in contracts to neither the lowest nor competitive bidders.

During a previous hearing before the PAC, former Region 10 REO, Gavin Clarke, had claimed that the other companies were bypassed because they performed poorly on their evaluations.

However this did not bring much clarity to the issue, as the then committee member, Volda Lawrence, was trying to ascertain exactly on what grounds the other companies were marked down. But despite repeated requests for specifics, Clarke continued to give general responses.

“The fifth lowest bidder obtained 74 percent,” Clarke had related, but was promptly stopped by Lawrence who informed him that “percentages do not help us!”

“The reasoning, what were the factors in the evaluation score? What were the criteria?” she had queried.

The committee member even went as far as to outline examples of criteria to Clarke, such as National Insurance Scheme (NIS) compliance and experience, but to little avail. This prompted the questions as to whether attempts were being made to mislead the Committee.

Tuesday October 19, 2021

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Tuesday October 19, 2021

West Indies slump to seven-wicket defeat against Pakistan in World Cup warm-up match SportsMax - Babar Azam’s half-century for Pakistan helped condemn West Indies to a seven-wicket loss in their first warm-up match in Dubai yesterday.

Azam and Fakhar Zaman who scored a quick-fire 46 not out broke the back of Pakistan’s chase of the 130-7 set by the West Indies.

Requiring to score at a rate of 6.5 an over, Babar and Mohammed Rizwan put on 36 in the Powerplay for the loss of Rizwan’s wicket for 13. He was bowled by Ravi Rampaul, whose three overs went for only 19.

However, Babar and Zaman put on 58 for the second wicket to take

Pakistan to with 36 runs of the target. There was a brief glimmer of hope for the West Indies when Hayden Walsh broke the partnership when he got the Pakistan captain out stumped for an even 50 from 41 balls and with his next delivery had Mohammed Hafeez caught for 0 first ball.

However, any hopes of a rally from the West Indies were dashed when Zaman and Shoaib Malik (14) took Pakistan to 131-3 midway through the 16th over when Zaman smashed Walsh for 6.

Walsh finished with 2-41 while Rampaul took 1-19 from three overs.

The West Indies won the toss and elected to bat and

Babar Azam during his innings. struggled to 30-2 in the Powerplay as openers Lendl Simmons and Andre Fletcher struggled against the Pakistani bowling attack.

Tuesday October 19, 2021 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) This is a good day for meditation. You've probably been trying to distract yourself from unresolved issues through shopping or eating.

TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) Your creativity is at a peak, though you may not be aware of it due to your focus on your work and social life. But don't be surprised if you have a vision, seemingly from out of the blue.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Try to be careful of missing the forest for the trees today. You may be concentrating on a detail in your personal or professional life that isn't as crucial to the big picture as you think.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) You might feel as though your head is in the clouds today. After the frantic pace you've kept up at work, your mind has decided to take some time off.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) Expect to hear from people you haven't heard from in some time. Make a cup of tea and savor every correspondence. You could feel nostalgic for the "good old days" when life seemed simpler and more of your friends were nearby.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Try to be extra patient and affectionate toward your loved ones today. A child, lover, or pet needs some of the special attention and reassurance that only you can provide.

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Kaieteur News

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Your intuition is quite high right now, enabling you to accurately tune in to others' hopes and dreams. This can be a bit tricky in a social situation, however.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) It's likely that you've been feeling the urge to exercise your imagination. As much as you enjoy your profession, there isn't much chance to stretch your mind and show your creative visual side.

SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) This is a good day to let go.

If someone has hurt or disappointed you, it's time to forgive and move on. Holding a grudge isn't going to get you anywhere.

CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Resist the urge to go on a shopping spr e e t o d a y.

You're likely to make impulsive purchases. You may be trying to fill a void or compensate for another area of your life that isn't going as well as you'd like.

AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) You're feeling especially sensitive today. Your intuition is operating at a very high level. With people wearing their hearts on their sleeves now, it's easy to tap into others' emotions.

PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) You're in a fun and festive mood with today's planetary aspects. Tonight you should plan a house full of people, because you're going to need an audience.

Fletcher was first to go with the score at 12. He was bowled by Hasan Ali for two by the sixth ball he faced.

Simmons and Roston Chase took the score to 30 when the former lost his wicket on the last ball of the Powerplay for 18.

Chase didn’t last much longer as he was out for nine in the 11th over and Gayle, having looked out of sorts scoring 20 from 30 balls was bowled by Haris Rauf in the 14th over to leave the West Indies in danger of not making 100 runs at 63-4.

However, Shimron Hetmyer, 28 from 24 balls, Nicholas Pooran, who scored a run-a-ball 13 and Kieron Pollard, who hit five fours in the final over for his 10-ball 23, took the West Indies to 130-7, a score that proved woefully inadequate.

Shaheen Afridi (2-41) and Hasan Ali (2-21) troubled the Caribbean men. They got support from Rauf who took 2-32.

Men’s national team coaches consultation over the future of football taking place this week Every Men’s National Team Coach has been invited to attend online videoconferences this week to discuss a potential new calendar from 2024. The online meetings are set for today and Thursday 21 October 2021.

The discussions will be led by FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger and will include a range of talking points, including player health, international windows, the frequency of FIFA World Cup™ finals and other important issues in the game.

“As a coach of the men’s national teams, their input is essential,” said Mr Wenger, who leads the Men’s Technical Advisory Group.

“Opportunities for us to come together are few and far between, but we must embrace these occasions as such dialogue helps us all to protect the unique place that football has in the world and to make it truly

Arsene Wenger global.”

Consultations with all stakeholders are continuing and FIFA reminds fans from around the world they can send their ideas and feedback on the new football calendar.

Two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup™ winning coach Jill Ellis is leading the Technical Advisory Group for women’s football.

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West Indies’ Golden T20I Generation Chase Chance To Cement Legacy ICC - No team has enjoyed themselves as much at Men’s T20 World Cups as We s t I n d i e s . Tw i c e champions, something about T20 cricket and the event itself brings out the very best in them.

Arguably, no team in the game has a higher ceiling than the West Indies, whose modus operandi is inimitable. Playing to the beat of their own drum, the boys from the Caribbean have two T20 World Cup trophies locked up in their cabinet – the only evidence needed to vindicate their approach.

Beginning their campaign on Saturday, 23 October, we take a look at the team tasked with defending their 2016 crown. While it is undisputed just how successful the West Indies team has been in the sport’s newest international format, the tournament in UAE and Oman presents an opportunity for their T20I golden generation to mark

this era as truly their own.

A squad of supreme individual talent seemingly always at the heart of domestic success around the world, the pieces have so often been put together to produce a quality greater than just the sum of personal parts.

This year’s squad is again packed with quality across the board, with reputations of being some of the greatest players the format has ever seen, complemented by a new wave of Caribbean quality.

We know about Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Chris Gayle. In this tournament, the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran and Fabian Allen are ready to step up.

There may be a tinge of melancholy for fans looking at the West Indies team, lamenting that this campaign may just be the last for several superstars. For the players though, it looks like any other competition.

Outside of Dwayne Bravo announcing his post-World Cup retirement, barely a murmur has come out from the camp in regards to the futures of the squad’s senior members, who may yet squeeze in another global event next year in Australia.

Swansongs m a y l i f t Andre Russell motivations © Getty Images higher, though it’s not as if the team needed any more fire in the belly. Perhaps taken for granted is the drive among the elder statesmen, not satisfied with the success of the past, underneath a guise of a l a i d b a c k exterior.

Gayle at 42 continues to push his mind and body to be at his best, Pollard at 34 can outwit anybody, and the bowing-out

Bravo has shape-shifted to adapt to the rigours of the modern game. For so long now they have all been ahead of the game.

For the West Indies, timing their runs and peaking at global competitions has been down to their mental strengths as much as it has been to their physical ones. Just like the clutch performances of individuals to bring home the 2012 crown, Carlos Brathwaite’s ‘Remember the Name’ moment exemplified the need for keeping a cool head when action is heating towards boiling point.

Brathwaite does not r e t u r n t o t h i s y e a r ’s tournament, though the spine of the West Indies team i s l a rg e l y u n c h a n g e d , experienced in prevailing against all comers. Along with Gayle, Pollard and Bravo, Andre Russell is as imposing as ever, while Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons return in a strong top order.

In a surprising return, 37year-old 2012 T20 World Cup hero Ravi Rampaul has been recalled six years after his last T20I appearance, while Roston Chase, a key member for the West Indies in other formats, has received his first T20I callup in a nod to domestic form.

Complementing the make-up of the team, the West Indies possess a threat through the game’s next Caribbean crop. Twenty-sixyear-old Pooran boasts almost 4000 T20 runs already across the world, with 24-year-old Hetmyer finding his game at the top level. In a testament to the collective quality of the group, the likes of Jason Holder, Sheldon Cottrell and Akeal Hosein only travel as reserve players for the West

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Defending T20 World Cup Champions, West Indies. Getty Images

Hayden Walsh Jr.

Indies, with leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr, Oshane Thomas and Obed McCoy squeezing into the 15.

There will be little respite for opening opponents England, who are joined by South Africa, Australia, and two qualifiers from the First Round in the West Indies’ Super 12 group.

The Squad - Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh jr.

Reserves: Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein.

Their fixtures - 23 Oct – v England, 26 Oct – v South Africa, 29 Oct – v B2, 4 Nov – v A1, 6 Nov – v Australia.

Tournament history Best finish: Winners (2012, 2016).

T h e We s t I n d i e s ’ campaign of 2012 started shakily, with a defeat to Australia and a no result thanks to rain against Ireland in the three-team group

stage. Only advancing on net run rate, Sammy’s men overcame a defeat to hosts Sri Lanka to edge England, before prevailing against New Zealand in a Super Over to progress to the semifinals.

To claim the trophy, the West Indies exacted revenge on both Australia and Sri Lanka, beating them in the semi-final and final respectively to claim their first trophy in the competition.

Look out for - Hayden Walsh Jr. – A brilliant find for the West Indies, the legspinner has enjoyed a fine start to his West Indies international career, taking 17 wickets at 21.47, of which 12 were taken in five matches against Australia in a recent series win.

Eagle-eyed stats boffins may notice Walsh has taken 23 T20I career wickets, with the first six taken in his eight matches for the USA. Before switching allegiance to the West Indies, Walsh was a member of the American team to gain ODI status at World Cricket League 2 in Namibia, and has international experience in

high-pressure situations.

Expect no fear to be shown by Walsh while vying for the West Indies’ third title, and expect him to be a livewire in the field.

Key Player - Andre Russell: There is no player in all of cricket that could be compared to Andre Russell.

Boasting a T20I batting strike rate of 156.33, no chase will be out of reach for the all-rounder, and no opposition will feel comfortable until he’s back in the dugout.

A member of the Team of the Tournament at the last T20 World Cup, Russell was also a member of the successful 2012 tournament campaign, and can bank on nearly 400 T20 appearances around the world.

While missing a number of matches in domestic action in the lead-up to the tournament with a hamstring injury, the man known as “Dre Russ” will be primed for their tournament opener.

Big match -England – 23 October, Dubai: A T20 World Cup 2016 Final rematch and the tournament opener for both sides, any early rust will likely be punished as two competition heavyweights go toe-to-toe.

Meeting on just four occasions since that fabled night at Eden Gardens, the West Indies have won just once against England, a sole T20I at Chester-le-Street on their 2017 tour. Curiously, the West Indies lost their 2019 series at home 3-0.

As Pollard’s chargers look to become the first team to defend their crown, England on the other side are vying to become the first team to hold the Men’s Cricket World Cup and the T 2 0 Wo r l d C u p concurrently.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

PAGE 29

Curtis Campher snags four in four as Ireland thump Netherlands ESPNcricinfo - Curtis Campher’s four wickets in four balls headlined I r e l a n d ’s d r u b b i n g o f Netherlands in Abu Dhabi.

Campher, who was playing only his fifth T20I, emulated T20 legends Lasith Malinga and Rashid Khan when he picked off Colin Ackermann, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards and Roelof van der Merwe off successive balls, in the tenth over.

At that point, Netherlands were 51 for 6 and there would be no way back for them from that abyss. Pieter Seelar’s men will now have to almost certainly topple Sri Lanka if they are to qualify for the Super 12s.

It was Mark Adair and Josh Little who had set the scene for Campher’s feat with their constricting lines

and lengths in the powerplay.

Adair made his presence felt in the death, too, finishing with 3 for 9 in his four overs.

Opener Max O’Dowd added a semblance of respectability to Netherlands’ innings, with 51 off 47 balls, but only one result seemed possible and that was Ireland winning big.

N e t h e r l a n d s ’ power(less)play - After choosing to bat, Netherlands lost Ben Cooper to an awful mix-up in the very first over.

Bas de Leede and O’Dowd tried to get a move on by manufacturing swinging room and shots. de Leede successfully jumped down the track and belted Little for four in the fifth over, but next ball the leftarm seamer knocked out the leg stump with a skiddy fulltoss.

Curtis Campher became the third man to take four wickets in four balls in men’s T20Is AFP/Getty Images Adair gave up only two runs in his first two overs as

Beijing 2022: Protest staged at Winter Olympics torch lighting Monday’s (yesterday) traditional ceremony was held with limited numbers at the ancient Greek stadium

Netherlands tiptoed to 25 for 2 in the powerplay.

Curtis backbreaker Campher began his shift with a 12-run first-over - two wide half-trackers that were duly put away to the boundary. He, however, came back to break Netherlands’ middle order with a stunning sequence.

When he sent a short ball down the leg side, Colin Ackermann was late onto a pull, nicking behind to keeper Neil Rock. He

immediately shifted his line and length, going fuller and straighter to pin Ryan ten Doeschate and Scott Edwards lbw in similar fashion.

Three in three became four in four when Roelof van der Merwe threw his hands at a wide ball only to drag it back onto his stumps. The celebrations that followed were understated much like his military mediums.

Dowd tucked into the spin of Simi Singh and Ben

White, taking 32 off 23 balls from them. He notched up his seventh T20I fifty before Adair tricked him with an into-the-pitch cutter. Quite fittingly, Adair and Campher combined for the last wicket, that of No. 11 Brandon Glover, dismissing Netherlands for 106.

I re l a n d 1 0 7 f o r 3 (Delany 44, Stirling 30*, Klaassen 1-18) beat Netherlands 106 (O’Dowd 51, Campher 4-26, Adair 39) by seven wickets.

Sri Lanka’s first Test captain Bandula Warnapura dies at 68

Warnapura’s Int. career was cut short when he was handed a life ban by SLC Getty Images BBCsport - The flame for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was lit yesterday in a ceremony as human rights activists protested nearby. Several protesters with banners managed to get into the event being held at Greece’s ancient Olympia before being stopped by security.

A number of others were reportedly detained by police outside. It is the latest demonstration around the games, which has seen boycott calls by some human rights groups. Some US lawmakers have also urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone and relocate the event from Beijing because of China’s reported human rights abuses.

Yesterday’s ceremony, trailing the start of the games in February, was attended by senior IOC figures including t h e b o d y ’s p r e s i d e n t , Thomas Bach. Mr Bach expressed confidence the games would go ahead as planned. Speaking at the ceremony on Monday, he said the event could be an “important moment to bring the world together in a spirit of peace, friendship and solidarity”.

The protesters who got access to the ancient site on Monday were seen brandishing a Tibetan flag and a banner that said: “No genocide games.”

China has long been accused of suppressing cultural and religious freedom in Tibet, a remote

and mainly Buddhist region.

The government denies the accusations and says Tibet has developed considerably under its rule.

The Associated Press news agency says the protesters climbed over a fence to enter the grounds of the event, which was being held under heavy security.

The ceremony itself was not interrupted by the demonstration.

The event was being held with a limited audience, including Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The flame will be handed over to a delegation from Beijing 2022 on Tuesday and is expected to arrive in the Chinese capital on tomorrow.

ESPNcricinfo - Bandula Warnapura, Sri Lanka’s first Test captain and a former coach and administrator, has died aged 68 at a private hospital in Colombo. He was understood to have been struggling with diabetes and was rushed to the ICU last week following a spike in his blood sugar levels.

He had briefly recovered before his situation worsened on Monday (yesterday). He leaves behind his wife, daughter, two sons and grandchildren.

The Sri Lanka national side wore black arm bands during their T20 World Cup match against Namibia yesterday as a tribute to Warnapura, SLC said.

The Under-19 team that played against Bangladesh

in the second Youth ODI in Dambulla yesterday also wore black arm bands in tribute. Warnapura, an old boy of Nalanda College, played 12 ODIs and four Tests in an international career spanning seven years from 1975-1982. He captained the side in each of his Tests and eight ODIs, including Sri Lanka’s maiden Test in 1982 against England. His 38, while opening the batting in the second innings of that game, would remain his highest Test score.

He made his ODI debut against the West Indies at the 1975 World Cup, and in the same tournament, he scored a memorable 39-ball 31 against an Australian attack led by Jeff Thomson and

Dennis Lillee.

His sole international half-century came in 1982 in an ODI against Pakistan in Karachi, a 98-ball 77 in a losing cause. He was also a useful right-arm medium pacer picking up eight wickets in ODIs and has the distinction of being one of the few players to have both opened the bowling and the batting in the same Test.

W a r n a p u r a ’ s i n t e r n a t i o n a l c a r e e r, however, was cut short when he was handed a life ban by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for touring South Africa with a rebel team in 1982-83. Once the ban was lifted many years later, Warnapura returned to SLC as an administrator following his retirement.

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Rahul and Kishan score rapid fifties as India ace steep chase against England

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KL Rahul extended his scintillating form from the IPL ICC/Getty Images

SPNcricinfo - Fifties from KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan at the top of the order led India to a seven-wicket win in their first warm-up game against England.

Apart from setting the base for a successful chase of 189, the 82-run opening partnership between Rahul and Kishan, off just 50 balls, also left India with an interesting choice ahead of their opening match of the tournament proper.

Before the match, Virat Kohli indicated that Rahul would open with Rohit Sharma - who was rested for this game - when the tournament begins, and that he himself would bat at No. 3. Rahul showed why his captain wants him at the top of the order, providing the early impetus with 51 off just 24 balls, carrying on the scintillating form he showed in his last match of the IPL season for Punjab Kings.

With a 46-ball 70, Kishan ensured he made a strong case for selection too, in the middle order if not at the top. India won with an over to spare, but the match was tighter than that margin suggested, with Chris Jordan sending down a wide,

high full-toss that was no-balled and ran away past the keeper to the boundary, to change the equation from 16 required off nine balls to 11 off eight.

Hardik Pandya swung at the freehit that followed and sent an edge to the third-man boundary, before Rishabh Pant finished off at the end of that over with a pulled six. Pant remained unbeaten on a 14-ball 29 that also included successive straight sixes off Moeen Ali. There were positives for England too, particularly with the bat, with Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone and Moeen making strong contributions in the middle order.

Livingstone also picked up the wicket of a subdued Kohli with his legspin - he also showed his versatility by bowling offspin to the left-handers - but a good evening for him ended early when he walked off the field with a finger injury sustained while going for a catch in the deep in the 16th over. England will hope the injury isn’t serious.

Mohammed Shami took three wickets for India, but their most impressive performers with the ball were Jasprit Bumrah, who took

Bairstow out with a perfectly directed yorker and only conceded 26 in his four overs. R Ashwin was even more frugal, going at less than a run a ball, and made a case for selection in India’s spin attack.

The legspinner Rahul Chahar, however, was expensive, as were Shami and particularly B h u v n e s h w a r K u m a r, w h o conceded 54 in his four overs including Moeen hitting him for 4, 6, 6 off the last three balls of England’s innings.

Both teams will play their final warm-up games on Wednesday England against New Zealand and India against Australia - and get a chance to test some of the players they rested today.

These include Rohit and the m y s t e r y s p i n n e r Va r u n Chakravarthy from the Indian camp, and Eoin Morgan - Jos Buttler stood in as captain - and the fast bowlers Tom Curran and Tymal Mills from England.

India 192 for 3 (Kishan 70, Rahul 51, Pant 29*) beat England 188 for 5 (Bairstow 49, Moeen 43*, Livingstone 30, Shami 3-40) by seven wickets.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

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Barbados, Antigua to be venues for WI/England 5 T20s, 3 Tests, respectively, in early 2022 portsMax C r i c k e t We s t Indies (CWI) has announced the match schedule and venues for the much-anticipated England T20 International (T20I) and Test Tours of the West Indies in January and March 2022.

The England Men’s Series in the Caribbean forms a focal point for one of the West Indies Men’s busiest ever years of International Home Series cricket. England will arrive in the Caribbean to play the first-ever five-match T20I Series between the two teams.

All five matches in Barbados will be played across a nine-day period from January 22 to 30, 2022, including two consecutive weekends of back-to-back T20I cricket.

Following West Indies’ white-ball tour of India in February 2022, the West Indies will welcome England back to the Caribbean for a three-match Test Series to compete for the newly created RichardsBotham Trophy.

This new trophy honours two legends of cricket, Sir

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Vivian Richards and Lord Ian Botham, whose friendship and on-field heroics became synonymous with some of their respective teams greatest Test match moments.

The Test Series will start appropriately at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (SVRS) in Antigua on March 8, 2022, before moving to the Kensington Oval in Barbados for the 2nd Test starting on March 16.

The third Test match will bowl off on March 24 on the “Spice Isle” of Grenada at the National Cricket

Stadium.

The Test Series is a key fixture in both teams’ International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship schedule which will determine the best Test match cricket team in the world by 2023.

Initially, Official West Indies Tour Operator and Licensed Ticket Partner packages will go on sale, with details to come in the next seven days.

Online ticket sales will commence in midNovember through CWI’s new ticket platform. Fans

can sign up to receive the first news of tickets going s a l e a t https://www.windiescricket. com/updates.

“We are delighted to be able to confirm the venues for this extended West Indies vs England T20I and Test Series. The history and rivalry between the two teams create great anticipation for fans here in the Caribbean and around the world. These fixtures are part of a bumper year of international home cricket running from January to August in the Caribbean,”

said CWI CEO Johnny Grave.

“A West Indies vs England home Test Series is the biggest sporting and sports tourism event in the Caribbean. Dating back to 1930, when the first England team visited, these fixtures are steeped in history and a new chapter in this great rivalry will be written, this time with the prize of the new Richards Botham Trophy.

“Celebrating these two heroes of cricket and lifelong friends with the new trophy, staging world-class cricket and hosting thousands of England fans will be a welcome boost for cricket and for the whole region.

We are all really looking forward to welcoming fully vaccinated England fans who can not only enjoy some winter sun and Caribbean hospitality but also some world-class cricket with both these England Tours, as well as the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup that will also take place in the West Indies in January next year.”

The West Indies vs England T20I and Test Series will be broadcast exclusively live on BT Sport

in the UK, as well as with CWI’s exclusive broadcast partners in key territories around the world.

The tour schedule is below: West Indies v England T20I Series, all played at the Kensington Oval, Barbados Saturday, January 22 – 1st T20I West Indies v England Sunday, January 23 – 2nd T20I West Indies v England Wednesday, January 26 – 3rd T20I West Indies v England Saturday, January 29 – 4th T20I West Indies v England Sunday, January 30 – 5th T20I West Indies v England West Indies v England Test Series March 1-4 – Four-day warm-up match at Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua March 8-12 – 1st Test M a t c h We s t I n d i e s v England at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua March 16-20 – 2nd Test M a t c h We s t I n d i e s v England at Kensington Oval, Barbados March 24-28 – 3rd Test M a t c h We s t I n d i e s v England at National Cricket Stadium, Grenada

Coach Dover encourages players to work hard continuously National under-20 squad to be trimmed today

By Calvin Chapman ational Men’s Under2 0 C o a c h Wa y n e Dover is really enjoying the job with the next generation of ‘Golden Jaguars’ and during a media engagement at yesterday’s training session at the National Training Center (NTC), he mentioned that he is a bit emotional on the eve of breaking down of the squad.

At the Providence facility where the young men were busy trying to impress to make the final 21 which will contest the CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup and Olympic Qualifiers, Coach Dover shared with the media that he was a bit nervous for those youngsters who may not make the final 21 but he motivated them to not give up.

He posited that, “I want them (the players who will not make the final 21) that it’s not the end of the journey. I want them to continue working as hard as they can and wait for the next time (an opportunity may arise) the phone may ring.”

In terms of the squad’s

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preparation for the important double assignment, Dover revealed that the players have risen to the intense challenges put forward by the Technical team and the coaching staff and he praised them, citing that, “In just four weeks, they (the players) have come a long way”, and with the remaining two weeks before they depart for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where the qualifiers will be played from November 5-14, 2021.

Dover highlighted the fact that he has never seen so many players from the hinterland involved in a national team and noted that he is, “Glad that the talented players from the outer regions are being identified and given opportunities.”

Assistant Coach Anthony ‘Natural’ Belfield echoed the sentiments of Dover, expressing his confidence in the youths being able to reach the level of fitness needed in time of the competition.

Meanwhile, Omari Glasgow, one of the more senior players on the team with experience representing the Golden Jaguars at the Gold Cup, made it clear that he

won’t be shying away from any responsibility and he will motivate his players and give them the confidence to go out there and perform to the best of their ability.

Sixteen-year-old Alexander Davidson of Lethem had a quick

Omari Glasgow enjoying an exercise yesterday afternoon. Calvin Chapman photo

chat with the media and he stated that he was overjoyed to be training with all the quality young players in Guyana. He mentioned that he wasn’t nervous at all and actually knows quite a few of the players since he has been on previous

Under-14 and 15 training squads with them before.

The confident youngster announced his belief that he brings a lot of quality to the training squad and he if selected for the final team, he will make them stronger.

Kaieteur News

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Tuesday October 19, 2021

Videsh Persaud wins Trophy Stall Golf Tourney

LGC Executive Pandit Rabindranauth Persaud ( R) presents the first place prize to Videsh Persaud Left handed hard hitter Videsh Persaud edged out Hilbert Shields and Ayube Subhan to win the annual Trophy Stall Golf Tournament on Saturday last at the Lusignan Golf Club (LGC), his second title in four weeks.

Playing alongside Ronald Bulkhan, Mike Mangal and club VP Paton George, Videsh started slowly but stormed back on the back-9 to steal the first place trophy along with Best Net Back-9. The three winners shared all six trophies and vouchers with veteran Hilbert Shields capturing the lions share, winning three prizes.

Other notable performers included former Guyana Open champ Avinda Kishore

Respective prizes with their trophies alongside members of the LGC with the overall low Gross Score of 72.

The full results: 1st: Videsh Persaud Net 65 / gross 88; 2nd: Hilbert Shields Net 65 / gross 81; 3rd: Ayube Suban Net 66 / gross 78.

Best Net Front-9 Hilbert Shields; Best Net Back-9 Videsh Persaud; Nearest to the pin Hilbert Shields.

The points chase is heating up in anticipation of next weekend’s GTT Guyana Open, where the top golfers from Guyana, the Caribbean and other parts of the world will complete for the coveted prizes.

The executive of the LGC has expressed gratitude to Trophy Stall for their support while the sponsor has pledged to continue supporting the sport.

Theekshana spins Sri Lanka to comprehensive win

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SPNcricinfo An all-round display from Sri Lanka was too much for Namibia to handle, with Dasun Shanaka’s men beating the Associate side by seven wickets. Spinner Maheesh Theekshana was primarily responsible for bamboozling the Namibian batting line-up, who didn’t find any rhythm all innings, collapsing to 96 all out inside 20 overs.

A brief stutter at the start of the innings from Sri Lanka in the chase looked like it had given Namibia a faint glimmer of hope. Ruben Trumplemann, Bernard Scholtz and JJ Smit each picked up a wicket to send Sri Lanka’s top three on their way, but just when Mickey Arthur and his side began to get tingly, along came a fourth-wicket partnership to resume normal service.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Avishka Fernando added 74 for the fourth wicket, easing to their target with 39 balls to spare.

Maheesh Theekshana’s mystery makes inroads Just as Ajantha Mendis used to utterly befuddle Associate sides’ batting orders that had not seen much of his bowling before, Sri Lanka’s newest mystery spinner - Maheesh Theekshana - was Namibia’s primary destroyer. He claimed a wicket with his very first delivery (in the Powerplay no less) when Stephan Baard ran at him first ball, and managed only to miscue him high to mid off.

Zane Green also holed out trying to hit Theekshana in the Powerplay, that catch going to mid on. Then, in the sixteenth over, Theekshana bowled Jan Frylinck with what seemed to be a carrom ball. In his very first World Cup match, his figures were 3 for 25.

Sri Lanka’s quicks overwhelm Namibia’s batters - Namibia had only played one T20I against fullmember opposition before this match. They would rarely have faced an attack

Maheesh Theekshana struck with his first ball of the tournament AFP/Getty Images

with two bowlers capable of breaching 145kph.

Dushmantha Chameera claimed only one wicket, but was especially quick in this game, hitting 149kph at one point, and hitting opener Zane Green on the helmet with a 147kph delivery. His two Powerplay overs cost only 11.

Lahiru Kumara was not quite as fast, but frequently bowled quicker than 140kph, and was perhaps the bowler of the match. He delivered one over in the Powerplay, two in the middle overs, and one at the death (he could only bowl three balls before the innings ended), claiming figures of 2 for 9 from his 3.3 overs.

Chameera took 1 for 19 from his four, and Chamika Karunaratne - who was often in the high 130s kph range claimed 1 for 17.

Sri Lanka 100 for 3 (Rajapaksa 42*, Fernando 30*) beat Namibia 96 (Craig Williams 29, Theekshana 325, Kumara 2-9) by seven wickets.

Kaieteur News

Tuesday October 19, 2021

Michael Alphonso (left) and Shomari Wiltshire.

(NewsRoom photo)

Boys compete for places on Junior Pan Am Games Team Squash resumes at Georgetown Club

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he Guyana Junior Boys Squash Team qualified for Junior Pan Am Games to be held in Colombia from November 25th December 5th 2021 and playoffs to select the 3-Member Team were held at the Georgetown Club, Camp Street.

Following strict Covid19 guidelines and after an absence from the Court for close to two years, a small number of contenders battled for a spot to represent Guyana at the upcoming Calli Vale Games.

Shomari Wiltshire, away at school, secured his spot with previous outstanding performances and his consistent reign at the head of the Junior team. With the remaining 2 places to be filled, Samuel InceCarvalhal, Nicholas Verwey, Michael Alphonso and Mohryan Baksh played a round-robin competition that concluded on Saturday morning last.

There was a clean sweep for Ince-Carvalhal who won

all three of his matches to earn his place on the squad while Michael Alphonso defeated Nicholas Verwey and Mohryan Baksh to fill the remaining spot.

Verwey battled valiantly against Ince-Carvalhal and Alphonso, pushing both matches to 5 setters, and young Baksh rallied well with the older boys in his, games.

Final scores for the competition Samuel Ince-Carvalhal Defeated Mohryan Baksh 10/12, 11/2, 11/2, 11,4 Michael Alphonso Defeated Nicholas Verwey 11/13, 13/11, 12/14, 11/3, 11/4 Michael Alphonso Defeated Mohryan Baksh 11/7, 11/4, 11/6 Samuel Ince-Carvalhal Defeated Nicholas Verwey 11/5, 9//11, 8/11, 11/3, 11/9 N i c h o l a s Ve r w e y defeated Mohryan Baksh 11/8, 11/2, 11/5 Samuel Ince-Carvalhal Defeated Michael Alphonso 11/5, 11/2, 11/3

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