K
Chief Justice Friday Edition NEWS to hear full trial for elections petition AIETEUR
October 23, 2020 -Vol. 22 No.41
Online: www.kaieteurnews.com
Guyana’s largest selling daily & New York’s most popular weekly
Price $80
- to hear preliminary issues on November 24
Online readership yesterday, 115,231
“The fleecing of Guyana” Series
Canje owner sold 87.5% of block; Guyana got no capital gains tax - contract signed by Ramotar
Taking our oranges and giving us peanuts
Health Ministry orders 20,000 antigen tests for hinterlands
Imagine your stepfather sold out a large farm which your real father left for you. He sold it to his friend Robert who lives in Canada. Once a year, Robert sends over a few oranges. Your family is so happy to receive these few oranges every year that you want to hug and kiss Robert and tell him what a good man he is to send the family some oranges. You do not realize that it is your own oranges which he is sending to you. It is your farm from which he is picking thousands of other oranges and selling to make himself rich. If you had control over your father’s farm you would be able to sell the oranges and use that money to buy whatever fruits and food you need. This is similar to what is happening with our oil blocks. The persons and companies which have been given these blocks are now handing out a few peanuts each year. One example is the peanuts paid for sponsorship of cricket. The people get excited with these peanuts because they are able to see cricket, all the while forgetting that those same oil companies are carting off billions of your oil wealth while spending a few thousand US dollars on the cricket. Former Minister Robert Persaud, and former President Donald Ramotar oversaw the give-away of the Canje oil block. The owners are now telling us that they will sponsor cricket for us to see. They must believe that we are stupid! Give us back our oil blocks and we will pay for our own cricket!
- to produce COVID-19 results within minutes
Argument over cash leaves teen dead Ministry mulls rotation system for Stabroek Park bus drivers P. 13
says Establish strongChatham criteria for oil House
blocks to keep ‘bad’ companies at bay
Guyanese: No more ‘Nancy stories’ from our leaders; DEMAND that they tell ALL about our wealth!
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Establish strong criteria for oil blocks to keep ‘bad’ - Chatham House companies at bay “ It’s not just well-established companies which should be attracted, but those with records of opacity, negligence, theft or other damaging activities which should be actively kept out. Unfortunately, small countries with weaker regulatory systems and less experience could be easy prey for more rapacious, less responsible corporate actors.
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or new and emerging oil producing states, it is advisable that policy leaders put in place strong criteria which would be used for assessing companies interested in oil and gas blocks, says Chatham House, a nongovernmental organization based in London since 1920. According to the international advocate for transparency and good governance, it is critical for governments to establish strong prequalification criteria since such a mechanism would help to weed out companies that do not have the capacity to carry out the work programmes for exploring such assets. In fact, Chatham House stressed that having a prequalification criteria is actually more likely to result in the most qualified company being selected to explore and develop the oil or gas block. In its documented advice to new and emerging oil producers, Chatham House stressed, “Governments have to concern themselves with keeping out the ‘bad’ companies.” To cement its argument, it referenced the words of Charlie Scheiner, from the NGO La’o Hamutuk in Timor-Leste. He had said, “It’s not just wellestablished companies which should be attracted, but those with records of opacity, negligence, theft or other damaging activities which should be actively kept out. U n f o r t u n a t e l y, s m a l l countries with weaker regulatory systems and less experience could be easy prey for more rapacious, less responsible corporate actors.” Speaking to another benefit of having the prequalification criteria in place, Chatham House said it
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would help new and emerging producers identify companies that are not publicly listed for trading. Companies which are publicly traded would have their conduct and financial statements and assets scrutinized on a regular basis by key international bodies. In opting for companies which are not publicly traded, Chatham House warned that it would present significant risks and require greater due diligence efforts to ascertain that those businesses are honest and capable. It was further noted that a country’s pre-qualification process should be in the open so that citizens can understand how governments will go about selecting suitable and financially capable candidates. It went on to state that general terms for prequalification should be laid out in the petroleum law, with more detailed rules to be included in regulations while adding that prequalification terms should include criteria related to financial, technical and organizational capabilities. In the case of Guyana, there are no strong prequalification criteria in the petroleum laws for companies which are interested in acquiring oil blocks. Guyana’s laws state, “(1) No licence shall be granted— (a) to an individual, unless he is a citizen of Guyana; or (b) to a body of persons, unless it is— (i) a company; or (ii) a corporation.” In light of such ambiguous provisions, the leaders of the day thought it wise to grant in 2015, two of the nation’s prime oil blocks, Kaieteur and Canje, to Cateleya Energy Corporation (formerly Ratio
Energy Limited) and Mid Atlantic respectively. Both are industry unknowns. From then to now, both do not have the financial capacity, experience, or
technological assets to explore much less develop any discoveries in the two blocks. In acknowledgement of this fact, both companies
quickly sold out more than 50 percent of their interests in the blocks to experienced c o m p a n i e s l i k e ExxonMobil, Total S.A and Hess Corporation so that
they could explore and develop any resources found. The true owners of those companies got millions of US dollars richer while Guyanese got nothing.
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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
Taking advantage of the situation Everyone who listened to reggae music in the early 1990s would remember the haunting, soulful voice of Garnett Silk, the Jamaican phenomenon who was set to be the new reigning King of Reggae until his untimely death in 1994 trying to rescue his mother from a fire caused by an accidental gunshot hitting a gas tank. There is a metaphor in there somewhere for the current situation of oil and gas in Guyana, an explosive situation that – because of careless behaviour – endangers generations of ordinary Guyanese people. Silk’s music was powerful precisely because it spoke to, and spoke for, the cycle of poverty that working class citizens found themselves in because of poor leadership. This newspaper has spent years exposing corrupt deal after corrupt deal conducted by government after government, with our reporting hitting most recently upon the indecent oil and gas deals entered into by successive political administrations. If there were a theme song that could be ascribed to what we call the “Fleecing of Guyana” series of articles, it would be Silk’s song, ‘Advantage’. As the chorus says: “They’re taking advantage of the underprivileged, Jah Jah Too long living in bondage Advantage of the situation I work, you get the promotion…” We admittedly live in a society that has been marked by gross inequality from its very foundation, beginning – the elite in Guyana have been taking advantage of a bondaged, under-privileged class since slavery days. What is however worse about the current day situation is that the people being take advantage of and the people taking advantage are essentially the same people. Over the past week alone, we have focused on just one oil block, the Canje Block, reporting revelations that show the level of sheer advantage that has been taken on the people of Guyana in the giveaway of this tremendously valuable property to a single company. Both the People’s Progressive Party/Civic and the APartnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change governments have – after the initial revelations about their giveaway of oil blocks – claimed professional naïveté in their dealings with the oil companies, both large and small, both experienced and inexperienced, sort of implying that their novice status was exploited by more competent partners. As we have seen with the increasingly damning revelations about the oil contracts however, the only people who have been taken advantage of in the oil deals are the ordinary people. Let’s take for example, the situation regarding the issue of capital gains tax – as reported in our lead story in today’s issue, Mid-Atlantic Oil and Gas that received the Canje Block in a virtual giveaway has embedded in its contract that it will not pay capital gains tax. Let’s say that we were to allow that there was a certain level of inexperience that allowed subsequent governments to sign off on and let stand a contract in which a novice company would be given a massive oil block at the dawn of an oil boom, and that the Ramotar administration was bamboozled into an unsupported pre-contract cost commitment of $100 million – nothing excuses or explains, otherwise than outright complicity, why is it that such a fundamental, general public revenue measure that is extended to every single Guyanese citizen, is removed for an oil company already handed unprecedented advantages. Beyond the theatre of the particulars, behind the veil of the denials and the obfuscation, there is the situation that Garnett Silk described in his song: “Everyone is looking out for themselves, God knows They care about no one else, and I know They work their tricks by giving a little Only to deceive you…” Over the next few weeks, months, years, Guyanese will have to take the initiative to increase their vigilance on what is taking place in the oil and gas sector, both with regard to what has passed and what is to come. It’s either that or the profiteers and the companies that are in bed with them will continue to take advantage of the situation, living in splendor, while the average citizen of this country is going to continue living in bondage.
We had Exxon where and when it was vulnerable DEAR EDITOR, There was a recent article in Bloomberg, which noted that “ExxonMobil Corp plans to lay off an unspecified number of employees.” This is yet another indication of what the condition of Exxon is, and where Guyanese leaders had the company. The announced layoffs are the latest in a string of news that speaks of the unhealthy and unfavourable state in which Exxon currently operates. From share value to financials to investor anxieties, the news is mostly troubling. It is not the momentary lurch of a company functioning with strong underpinnings and palpable power. I say this because some of the dismal news has been coming out in bits and pieces for the past several years. What I described deliberately as bits and pieces qualify to be a serious understatement. Regardless, when added, those same bits and pieces of negative information are substantial in revealing the true weaknesses of Exxon. That vagueness of “unspecified number of employees” to be axed was intentional, and meant to conceal the haemorrhaging at Exxon, its anaemic state. Because of all of this, it is bewildering that PPP
leaders had an opportunity to wring Exxon’s arms, but the best that they could have done was to shake the hands of people handling Exxon’s business in Guyana, fawn over them, and surrender to their corporate whims and pressures. Our leaders were in a position to apply strong pressure on Exxon. We (our leaders) knew that the company is in a bad way. We knew that it was not standing on firm ground. And we knew that it had gambled heavily on the Guyana prospect and prize. The 2% deal executed by the coalition provided the needed umbrella of protection against possible Venezuelan designs. That was in place, and as cheap and unfavourable as it is to Guyana, the Venezuelan factor was effectively contained; managed and contained, not altogether neutralized. But circumstances had changed for Exxon, publicly so and undeniably so. Everyone who can read is able to follow the litany of its woes. Exxon was no longer in the driver’s seat, calling all the shots, telling us to get with the programme; or jump out of the way or risk getting run over. Like I keep saying, we had Exxon and its arrogant people below the equator and should have held company and
captains in the tightest squeeze. I do not think that anyone needs a translation of the geographical into its anatomical equivalent. Further, it is widely known, too, that Exxon had risked a lot of its assets and future on Guyana’s production and Guyana’s terms. That was when it was strong and swaggered. It cannot do so anymore. But the risk and exposure are there, which meant that we Guyanese leaders representing the Guyanese people - held their mortgage. And, again, that mention of mortgage reduces to a simple everyday situation. Those who owe know this in the workplace. Vulnerable employees, with mortgages and the future over their heads, are handicapped from being too independent, too outspoken, too resistant. They swallow pride and toe the line to get by to manage with the next instalment coming. We are the bank, and Exxon is banking with us and on us. That is crystal clear and should be the end of the story where who is better equipped to drive a hard bargain and squeeze the last drop of concession from the other. Exxon did that to us before. That is what the company had coming to it and should have been delivered, not necessarily with roundhouse blows, but in telling jabs in
convenient spots. Sure, it could have suspended operations or withdrawn. But to do what and go where? And leave all of Guyana’s fabulous prospects on the table? Similarly, Exxon could have gone to court, but we could play at that game and drag things out. For Exxon, time is money. And it does not have much of either. Last, Exxon could have appealed to the State Department and have sanctions threatened under some specious disguise. But Guyanese held out for decades under bad governors and did better in some respects. Something had to give, and Guyanese leaders were in a position to force Exxon to get some sense and get real. Give some kernels of corn or risk losing corn and husk. To my regret, PPP leaders did not do justice for Guyanese. And the most incomprehensible thing of all is that PPP leaders had Exxon down, but they did not put it out. I think I know why, but that is another story for another day. Just look at all those honourable people around our oil. It has made utterly dishonourable and despicable people of bigger and better leaders elsewhere. Sincerely, GHK Lall
The precursor to the resource curse DEAR EDITOR, As Government and opposition continues to ignore the call to investigate the giveaway of the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks, the public is privy through Kaieteur News to review the stark similarity between our give away and what happened in Senegal years ago. In Senegal, two gas- laden blocks were handed to Petro Tim, a relatively unknown and unqualified company with no experience or proven finances to develop these blocks, the company quickly sold shares, made hundreds of millions, with billions in royalties to come over the next 40 years robbing the Senegalese people of billions from their natural endowment. T r a n s p a r e n c y advocates had long cited how the red flags in the Senagalese gas blocks deal were overlooked and contributed to the fleecing of the Senegalese people. These transparency
advocates have constructed a road map to guide other Nations where oil and gas is found to avoid similar pitfalls. Armed with this road map, one would have expected our Government would be prudent and look for the identified “red flags” and set safeguards to protect the patrimony of the people. That did not happen! The similarities between the Kaieteur and Canje handout in comparison to the Senegalese deal can only suggest that our leaders s t u d ied the Senegalese deal and did a carbon copy - not with the intent to protect us from the robbery that plagued the Senegalese people but rather to achieve the said aggrandizement the Senegalese politicians received from the corrupt deal they orchestrated on the Senegalese people. The public would recall that this depravity was not only committed by the PPP with the resource offshore.
It was done onshore before the Kaieteur and Canje sellout, where large tracts of Lands (Land is a resource too) were sold to private developers at a cheap price under the pretext that these developers were going to build houses and sell to the public at a reasonable price. Some of them resold within days, doubling the price of their investment. Some never build houses but are selling house lots at 10 times the price they bought at. As it turned out, there was no legal underpinning for these developers to do as the Government had propagandize - building houses and selling. Hence, the Coalition Government could not repossess these lands - a classic case of political aggrandizement. Back to the oil blocks. When Jan Mangal had exposed the blatancy of the Kaieteur and Canje giveaway, it was imperative
for the bickering and finger pointing between the primary suspects to take place because there was nothing to suggest that the two acted in the best interest of Guyana, neither was there any evidence of due diligence observed the blocks were handed on a platter. When it was announced that Exxon had already farmed in, aided, abated and facilitated by the APNU+AFC regime, at 35 percent and operator in both blocks, the plot became very simple to unravel by merely joining the dots. Exxon had locked the hierarchy of both the PPP and APNU+AFC into silence with its manipulating hand and established its legacy of corporate greed on Guyana a familiar scenario in Exxon’s global dealings - this is the precursor to the resource curse. Yours respectfully Rudolph Singh
Friday October 23, 2020
The critical inclusion of games at schools DEAR EDITOR, It is difficult not to be impressed by the published reports of the Minister of Sports’ busy schedule of interactions with respective sports organisations. However, this reader must have missed any comparable account of the Minister’s interaction with colleague Minister of Education regarding the critical inclusion of games at schools, albeit in the challenging pandemic environment. One recognises the anxious reservations of parents regarding their most active progeny being exposed, albeit at an age most resistant to the COVID infection. On the other hand, there must be some considerable numbers of youths in various locations who must be chomping at the bits, pondering how and when their private career ambitions in sports will ever be realised – even though discouraged by parents in more normal circumstances. But exactly what are ‘normal circumstances’ would older generations like mine ask? For we were accustomed to our education programmes being inclusive of planned periods of organised ‘galavanting’ as my grandmother would describe those annual terms of athletics, cricket, football, hockey, table tennis, just coincidentally in alphabetical order – certainly at Queen’s and St. Stanislaus Colleges, and to a more limited extent The Bishops’ High School in Georgetown. School sports were in fact a family celebration. But this normalcy in no way distracted from academic achievement. Indeed there were in my time two Games Masters at Queen’s; while two others were respectively members of QC’s first and second division cricket teams. It was during those early 1950s that QC produced academic talent that very soon earned selection at the national level, in a range of sports, except for the young Bruce Pairaudeau who was selected for the West Indies Test Cricket Team. He not long after migrated to New Zealand. The other national cricketers included Arnold Gibbons who later became a University Professor in English; Leroy Jackman who batted elegantly at No.3 became an Attorney-at-Law;
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while Aubrey Bishop, a left arm spinner would be well known as having become Chancellor of the Judiciary. Aubrey also went on to represent Guyana in football, and must have been the first appointed FIFA referee in this country. But emerging from the same school team were the following professional achievers: Veterinarian Dr. Frank Mongul was a champion all-round athlete and cricketer, as well as excelled at national hockey along with Paediatrician Dr. Walter Chin, and Surgeon Wallace ‘Bud’ Lee, and of course Mike Glasford (Chemist) who became the first local Director of Bookers in the United Kingdom. But then there were future diplomats in Cecil Pilgrim with whom I opened the QC bowling attack in First Division cricket competition; and Rudolph Collins whose high-jumping skills clearly indicated that he would be a future high achiever. My classmates Drs. Mohan Ragbeerand Maurice Luckhoo, and Mauldie Baird along with Maurice Moore, had to be contented with membership of our Second Division Cricket team. Maurice, however, soon
compensated by becoming national captain of football and hockey. He qualified as an Accountant. Meanwhile Dr. Klautky competed while at Queen’s in international athletics. By now, everyone should know to what heights athlete Hamilton Greene rose. Fred Wills, arguably the most brilliant student of his generation was a British Guiana Government Scholar and returned as an outstanding Attorney-atLaw. Somewhat of an allrounder, he contributed much to the development of our young cricketers. He was later appointed a diplomat and later (one suspects reluctantly) accepted the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. By no means can one forget the sports achievers who emerged from St. Stanislaus College almost in the same breath – Joe Hazlewood, wicketkeeper. Neville Thomas and Brian Patoir performed at the National level, along with brothers Peter and Leslie Wight. The latter went on to play a single Test Match for the West Indies; while Ivor Mendonca (wicketkeeper) and Charlie Stayers (opening bowler) made several Test appearances. Ken Corsbie and Michael
Gilkes retired from international athletics, the former went to excite in theatre and on radio, while the latter in time became a Professor at UWI. Cecil Glasgow who became a national goalie, was one of the earliest Police Cadets to be selected. Recollection is that Magistrates Crane and Trim were earlier footballers. Of course, there were other achievers from contemporary secondary schools – in the legal and medical professions, as well as in sports. Indeed, there used to be a well-organised secondary schools cricket and table tennis competitions. Out of the latter emerged champions like Dennis Patterson who led the national team. The first Guianese to qualify in Estate Management at LSE, Dennis became the first head of the Property Evaluation Department of Government. What those generations took for granted and imbibed, is an attribute which has since dissipated – called ‘team spirit’. Some learnt to lead while others of matching intellect followed and/or collaborated. Importantly also, we learnt to lose graciously while (Continued on page 6)
Vintage professionalism, compassion and kindness DEAR EDITOR, My family and I had an interesting experience last week Sunday. This was in response to a medical emergency in Queen Street, Kitty. Arrived promptly, was the ambulance with a crew of three Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), two males, one female, Ms. O Crandon, Mr. T. Forde and Mr. Shawn Mc Kenzie. After securing the wellbeing of the 88 years old woman, they took her to the GPHC, where she was seen by the doctor on duty and admitted. The work of these EMTs, were of the highest quality, they displayed vintage professionalism, compassion and kindness. Similar qualities were
displayed by the attending Physician, Dr. James. The ambulance service and Guyana ought to be proud of this high quality of service and care witnessed last week Sunday. The high quality of their performance forced me to send this letter to the media at a time when frontline health workers remuneration is under active consideration. If the efficiency of these three EMTs represents the norm, then no one should hesitate to giving such workers an appropriate incentive. A society is enhanced when we show appreciation to those who perform beyond the call of duty. They tell us that since the Phoenicians invented the coin, there is no better way to
reward people who perform selflessly. Before taking her to the hospital, they ensured that she was in a proper condition before embarking on the journey. We were all impressed. In our society today, we must not commit the mistake of taking those who work so well for granted and I hope that the Minister responsible for Health and the Management of the Ambulance Service take cognizance of what I describe as performance of excellence. Hamilton Green
Not a time to call for power sharing DEAR EDITOR, On the morning news on Voice of Guyana (October 21), I listened to President Irfaan Ali’s call for reconciliation and, as I understood it, for a resolution to engage and solve the country’s long standing conflicts. This call was made in the name of the late President Janet Jagan, a foreign born citizen of Guyana who worked at the levels of people, party and state for change from her own perspectives. Although it can be argued that Mrs. Jagan was not a unifying personality, her investment in public affairs of a certain tendency is for me sufficient to allow me to argue that a considered response to the President’s dramatic call from responsible agencies will be helpful. Although Mrs. Jagan contributed much in her time to the struggle for women’s rights and social justice, she was by no means a pioneer in the field, the path having been trodden by Guyanese women long before her time. It is my impression that the President’s choice of this
occasion to make such an important call is purposeful. I hope that his Presidential staff has made sure that all political parties and civic organisations and trade unions have copies of his appeal, as the embassies certainly have by now. As an individual citizen speaking only for myself, I am of the opinion that everything should be done to reduce tensions in the society, without the need for any group to surrender its just claims for justice or to accept the will of the central government as not being open to challenge. I seize this chance to assure readers in general and those who feel victorious in particular that I am not seeing this opening as a time to call for power sharing. I shall not be making that call again as it has a way of suggesting to those on the side of victory that somebody wants to cheat them of the fruits of victory to please those who in their opinion deserve the status they are left with. Yours sincerely, Eusi Kwayana
It’s 2020; days of race entitlement are over Dear Editor, I dare say, the days of any member of the two main racial groups in Guyana believing that because of their race, they, as a group, are entitled to be at the helm of the Government, are absolutely over. That is oldschool thinking, OVER. Priorities are shifting to the here and now and the future. For past administrations, that were tagged correctly or incorrectly; as solely representing one race, how did the entire population benefit? Historical racial grievances as it specifically relates to why a particular group should be at the helm of government, is over. Ancient history. That singular vision is frankly self-
defeating, in the world that we live in now. Constantly revisiting memory lane and looking in the past is part of who we are, but then, when we are so locked in to that same racial past, and can’t see beyond that era, we remain mentally stuck, in those days of decades ago. History is history. Most of us are interested in the present problems and focusing on more pressing issues to resolve collectively - Today. And there are many in Guyana. Our expectations levels are higher. Talk the talk is expected, but walk the walk is even more important. Yours truly, Chi Kansi
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Guyana is under the test of time Do Guyanese American votes matter? and the patience of tolerance DEAR EDITOR, Guyana’s nightmare continues with criminal characters and elements pervading their professions in a most diabolical manner, unravelling the fragile protection that is offered in today’s society. Daily, the horrendous and villainous events occur as if lawlessness is a way of life that is accepted and rules and regulations can be circumvented at the whims and fancies of robbers, thieves, pick-pockets, choke and rob, bandits, burglars and just about anyone, young, middle age or old, who chooses to adapt to this method of making a living. Not to get into the economic, political, sociological or any other problematic reasons for this mishap, the blame game certainly does not help. The bottom line remains that, there are those who are determined not to work the honest way for a living but chooses the dishonest way to earn an income. This cannot be condoned, encouraged, accepted, overlooked, ignored, permitted or continue and, this cannot be an answer to provide for survival. Whether it is sanctioned, organised or orchestrated by a figure-head, whether it’s in collusion or cooperation with some authority, whether it’s gangsters or individuals, this sad state of affairs must come to a full stop in order for Guyanese to live peacefully. There is great uncertainty whether or not law enforcement is being exercised at its maximum in order to address this disastrous situation. What is certain is that this dangerous operation continues to damage the morality of the police and the Minister of Home Affairs. Is there some under-ground force that is administering this habit of the transgressors to be in control of circumstances and maintaining the upper hand? Are there variable inadequacies in terms of providing protection to the
Guyanese public throughout Guyana? Are the police unable to cope with the prevailing factor? Are the police surveilling the sensitive areas? How involved is the neighbourhood watch in the communities? Isn’t there a need for more police patrol? Guyana is not at war and the availability of manpower from the Guyana Defence Force should be explored. There is a need for a conversation about soldiers taking part in assisting to keep law and order. There frequent presence at different hours in different places may prove as a deterrent to this malfeasance. Perhaps the police are at their wits end and are doing their allotted “best” to grapple with the on-going. But, there are many angry and tensed questions to be asked as the entire Guyana remains hurt and disturbed by these awful happenings. The suffering and loss is tremendous and people are genuinely scared. A degree of fear has seized the public and this is conveniently accepted in some quarters. Is this a designed result from a reprehensible entity? A quick look at some of the recent incidents that occurred are deplorable and frightening: two men on Wednesday invaded the premises at a resident on ECD and escaped with a generator; on Wednesday, a man was caught red-handed in the act of stealing in a house at Bushy Park, EBE; again on Wednesday, two men robbed a security guard of his valuables at Miss Phobe, Port Mourant; on Wednesday, there was a break and entry at Vreed-enHoop, WCD, where a man suffered tremendous loss; a shop was burglarized on Wednesday at Anna Catherina, WCD, and a woman lost some $600,000 in stock; again, on Wednesday, two bandits robbed a teenager of her purse at Sussex Street, Charlestown; last Tuesday, there was a daring robbery by four men
on an East Canje, Berbice family, who lost some $70,000 in cash and other jewellery; a pensioner was beaten and robbed by two men last Saturday at Plaintain Walk, WBD. Indeed, all these incidents spread a tale of horror and they have a damaging effect on the Guyanese society. Do you reconcile this behaviour with the repercussions of COVID19 and/or the failure of the past government to resolve the unemployment and criminal problem? This new government has inherited this sick disease and needs to implement a rigid strategy quickly in order to curb this situation; otherwise, it will become a worse tragedy. To crown the eventualities is the Chief Justice fiasco that is an unimaginable reality. This latest calamity is catastrophic and devastating. One newspaper claims, it was a fourman attack and others claim it was a one-man attack. Regardless, it was criminal in nature and the ultimate intent is unknown. There are many speculations surrounding this issue at a most sensitive time and two and two does not add up to four. It seems as if, there are more than meets the eyes and the ears are vibrating with other ringing tones. There is classic political waxing and the freedom of expression is curried with mischief and mayhem. Opinions are flying left, right and center and the creative force of unpleasant vicissitude is certainly at work overnight. How this game will play out will run into overtime and the umpires will be hard tasked to comply with the rules to make a conclusive decision. Is this the artistry of another Shakespeare’s drama and the work of its writer will again unfold in later scenes? Guyana is certainly an unwelcome audience and will refute and refuse any such material! But Guyana continues to march onwards with democracy being undermined under the test of time and the patience of tolerance. Respectfully, Jai Lall
...The critical inclusion of games From page 5 congratulating the winner. These were moments of selfdiscovery and of discovering others. It is true that there has since developed a fulsome economic drive to almost all sports, interestingly enough intensifying team spirit. So that in these pandemic times, with considerably reduced eyewitnesses, if any, such team sports as football, hockey (ice), baseball, rugby are still being played; while
there is more distancing in tennis. Regrettably, athletics have suffered with the postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The question is however, what opportunities are being sought to incite the discipline of sportsmanship in our schools; while, almost contradictorily, we appear to excite in the respective adult clubs? When again are our children going to be taught to be sportsmen and women;
to learn of leadership, and of productive teamsmanship, so easily misnamed ‘unity’ – that is barely displayed? What ‘virtual’ device shall we utilise to encourage citizens of the future to engage on the same playing field? Who remembers ‘mens sana in corpore sanum’ – long since an irrelevance, moreso in these pandemic times? Looking forward to a ‘Ransomic’ response. E.B. John
DEAR EDITOR, The US Presidential and Congressional elections are on November 3, a week from Tuesday. In addition to national elections, there are state contests for Governors, state and local government legislatures, mayors, sheriffs, and other state and local offices. (Unlike in Guyana, each area or region runs its own affairs in the US and has its own elected body and chief executive officer to manage affairs independent of the national or state government). A few Guyanese candidates are in the contests in some constituencies. There are no public ratings of their chances. How will Guyanese vote and do their votes matter? Guyanese votes are split and depending where they reside, their votes may be critical to the outcome of contests especially if polls find them competitive. Nationally, polls predict a victory for challenger Joe Biden against incumbent Donald Trump for President. The Congressional contest is unpredictable but Democrats have a very good chance of retaining the lower House and capture the Senate from the Republicans. While polls suggest that the Democrats could retain the House with a big margin as in 2018, the Senate will be narrowly won by either party. Polls rate several Senate contests as toss ups between the two major parties. Given the antiTrump national trend, the Democrats are expected to flip the Senate and make gains in the House. Voting traditions in America are similar to Guyana. While Indians commit to PPP and Africans to the PNC, there are US states that are overwhelmingly Democratic and those that are overwhelmingly Republican. States that are
overwhelmingly White tend to gravitate towards the Republican Party while states that are ethnically diverse or mixed tend to lean Democrat. The so-called red neck states are heavily Republican. The Republican Party gets most of its support from Whites accounting for some 90% of the Republican base. Minorities like Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, indigenous tribes, and others support the Democratic Party and are critical for victories in close contests. In states that are heavily Democratic like NY, NJ, Connecticut, California, etc., called the blue states, or heavily Republican like Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, etc., dubbed the red states, the Guyanese American or minority votes done carry much weight. But this year, polls show that Georgia, Arizona, Iowa, Ohio and Texas are in play. Trump handily won all in 2016. Biden could pick up a few if not all. Democrats nearly won the Georgia vacant senate seat in 2018 and polls put the Democrat ahead for the vacant senate seat from Arizona in 2020. In the closely contested states or competitive races, Guyanese votes matter. Guyanese Americans and other immigrants hold the key to their outcome. Guyanese are clustered in Minnesota, Michigan, and Georgia. Minnesota was close in 2016 but is expected to remain Democratic this year. Michigan was narrowly won by Trump in 2016 and this pollster (writer) projects Biden capturing it. Georgia was comfortably won by Trump. While polls rate Georgia as a toss-up, this writer feels it will remain in the Trump column. Texas, handily won by Trump in 2016, is rated as a toss-up according to latest polls. This writer feels Trump will retain it. Guyanese are heavily
concentrated in the northeast like NY, NJ, and Connecticut and all three are safe for Biden. Pennsylvania and Florida are toss-ups that were won by Trump. This writer feels that Biden will pick up both. Wisconsin and Ohio, both of which have some Guyanese, are rated as toss ups. Both went for Trump in 2016 and this writer projects both will be flipped for Biden. Overall, this writer projects a Biden victory in 2020. (This writer predicted a Clinton victory in 2016. While Hillary Clinton won the popular votes defeating Trump by nearly 3M votes, Trump won the electoral votes 302 to 236 that chose the President). This year, Biden is projected to win both the popular and electoral votes as per the analysis of this pollster. How do Guyanese vote in terms of party or the two candidates? Polls were conducted by various institutions on ethnic groups but not on Guyanese. Based on this writer’s estimate, as per interviews in 2016, almost all Afro Guyanese voted for Clinton. This year, Afro Guyanese are loyal to the Biden/Harris ticket. Some 93% African Americans are voting Biden according to national polls. Blacks make up 13% of the electorate. Some 20% Indo Guyanese voted Trump or Republican last time. There is no deviation in the 2020 election even though some who voted Trump are disappointed in his presidency. In fact, some Indo Guyanese are very confident of a Trump victory. Some 28% Indian Americans are voting Trump based on an opinion poll conducted by an Asian American group. Indo Guyanese vote Republican or Trump because they feel that party better protects democracy in Guyana. They point to the Democrats removing the PPP (Continued on page 22)
What it means to truly share the wealth DEAR EDITOR, I have noticed recent news reports that the current government will be distributing 25,000 100-Watt solar panels and accessories to homes in the hinterland as part of what President Ali declared, in addressing Amerindians, is “our strong commitment to your inclusion in nation building.” The sad fact is that a 100watt solar panel system can never help lift an Indigenous household out of extreme poverty. It can’t even power such a basic necessity as a refrigerator. It might work for a television if the sun is shining and there was an
actual signal to get. And exactly how reliable and durable are these solar panels going to be when back in 2015 the government had said it had distributed 11,000 solar panel systems to over 235 communities? Are those all now broken? The more troubling question may be are Amerindians not entitled to proper power like the rest of us? Are they in the 21st century still condemned to a life bereft of something so fundamental as electricity which has been the key driver of human progress for over 150 years? Should they not be allowed, if they choose, to
aspire to the same air conditioning, televisions and freezers that us, coastlanders, take for granted? It seems there is some patronizing of our Indigenous people as if we need them to stay “innocent” of civilization, to preserve their way of life when many of them probably dream of more comforts and convenience. Let us hope that as oil revenues increase, all of Guyana’s communities, no matter how remote, benefit from reliable and adequate power grids. That is what it means to truly share the wealth. Yours sincerely, Francis Newton
T N U L B . . . T B N U T L N T B . U L . . L T B . N . U . N U T L N B . U . T . L N U T N B . N U L U L LUNT.. B . T . . T T N N B B U . U . L . L T B . B . . N . . . T T LU N N T U U L N L B U . B . . L . . . T B T . . N . N T U L N LU B U . . L N . T B U . . L N . T B U . . L N . T B U . . L N U L NT. LUNTGuyanese ...B NTleaders N B . . U . L B . . B . U . . T L know what the secret N B . . U NT. LUN . L N T B U . . L . T B . oil deals mean for . N B . . . T U . L N T B U N . . L . U T B U . THEM, but do the . L N . T B U . . L N . T B U . . L N . T B U . ordinary Guyanese . L . T B U UN .BLUknow . . L N . T B . . N . T U what it means . L N . T B U . . L B UN .BLUNforT.the economy . . L . T B . . N . T U . L N . T B U . . L N . B . . L LU ...BLUand NTTHEIRLUfuture? . T B . . N . T N T B U . . L N . T B BLU T...BLUN BLUNT... UNT...B . . L N . T B U . . B BL T...BLUN BLUNT. . . . T N U . . L N . T B U . . L N . T BB T...BLU U N L U B L . . . B . T . N . T N T U L U L N L B U T...BLU U B . L . N . B T . . . N T U N N N U L U U B L . L B T LUNT.. UNT...B BL B Friday October 23, 2020
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Friday October 23, 2020
Two of three prison escapees recaptured
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wo of the three murder suspects that recently escaped from the Lusignan Prison, East Coast Demerara, were yesterday recaptured and placed back in custody where they are assisting with the investigation into the circumstances surrounding their escape and being processed for court. According to a release from the Prison Services, swift and tactical action by members of the Joint Services acting on information received resulted in Alex Matthias, 20, of Good Hope Dock Yard, Essequibo Coast and Arnold Bruce Kennedy, 19, of 847 Zeeburg Housing S c h e m e , We s t C o a s t
Demerara, being recaptured at Zeelugt Public Road, East Bank Essequibo. However, the third murder suspect Mark Rafino, called ‘Mark’, 25, a labourer of Parika Facade, East Bank Essequibo, is still at large. The Director of the Prison Services, Gladwin Samuels, expressed his gratitude to all the persons who helped to get the information out in the public domain about the escapees, the support from the public for providing information on their whereabouts, and members of the Joint Services for conducting a clinical recapture. The three murder suspects escaped from the Holding Bay at Lusignan
Still at large: Mark Rafino
Recaptured escapees: Arnold Bruce Kennedy (left) and Alex Mathias Prison between Tuesday October 20, 2020 and Wednesday October 21, 2020. According to a police
report, the prisoners escaped by jumping the south-eastern fence. It was reported that prison officers made checks on the prisoners around 17:00hrs on Tuesday. At around 23:00hrs, ranks were informed that some prisoners had escaped, after which checks were then made around the prisons and its nearby environs but no
one was located. At 6:00hrs on Wednesday, a head count was conducted and it revealed that three prisoners were missing; checks were made and the prisoners were identified as Matthias, Kennedy and Rafino. On January 4, 2019, Matthias was admitted to the prison for the murder of 23year-old Kevin Betancourt, who was stabbed and killed
on Monday December 31, 2019, around 21:30hrs at Pomona Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast. On July 24, 2019, Kennedy, was admitted to the Lusignan Prison, among three fishermen who are jointly charged with the murder of a fellow fisherman, 20-year-old Alvin Seenarine called (Continued on page 19)
Kaieteur News
Friday October 23, 2020
PAGE 09
One law for me and one law for you The media has a duty to cover and to report matters of public interest. But the media must do so within the confines of the law. At present, there are regulations governing the number of persons who can assemble for an event. The COVID-19 restrictions issued by the government and published in the Official Gazette of September 30, 2020 prohibits persons from attending social gatherings, and where there is an exception, it shall not involve more than 10 persons. Places of worship are permitted to have services up to 25 percent capacity and may have services 45 minutes apart. There is no stated exemption given to the government from these provisions. It would therefore appear as if the government is breaching its own regulations because it has consistently, during October, held meetings and events, which are attended by far more than 10 persons. In fact, there was one housing event at the National Stadium in which thousands of persons attended. And they will continue to do so for the remainder of the month. Government is considered as an essential service. But this surely cannot relate to public activities hosted by the government. If the government keeps a meeting
with residents of an area and more than 10 persons attend, surely this sort of outreach cannot be exempted from the COVID-19 regulations. There is nothing which suggests that a government event is exempted from the restrictions which either prohibit social gatherings or limit it to 10 persons. But even if a government activity is not considered a social event, the government can be considered as acting irresponsibly if it goes ahead and organizes events which bring more than 10 persons together. In a pandemic, the government has an obligation to act responsibly. And so too does the media. The media have continued to attend these events despite these activities being in violation of the very regulations which are published by government. And so the government is being asked ‘how it is that such events can be held when they clearly are intended for more than 10 persons?’ It does not matter if social distancing is practised. If the law states that social gatherings are restricted until the end of October, it is not proper for such events to be hosted and to do so by the government really makes a mockery of the social restrictions which were published in the gazette. The country is in the middle of a pandemic and the
media have to take a stand. It should not be participating in any activity in which the regulations are being flouted by others. It is understood that the media have an obligation to report on matters of public interest but in doing so, it should at the minimum point out where certain activities and events hosted by the government are in clear violation of the very restrictions which were published in the Official Gazette. No government should be proud of having one law for the rest of the country and another law for government. It is simply a transgression of good governance for this to be happening The media have, on occasion, been pointing out instances in which the COVID-19 restrictions are being violated. When, for example, a section of the media points out that only one in every 10 persons at a certain location is wearing a mask, the media is doing its work and pointing out a violation. And similarly, if it attends a government event and notices that the social restrictions are being breached, the media has a duty to point out both to the public and to the government itself that the law is being breached. And if these breaches continue or the law is not amended accordingly, the
Dem
Bus tunin’ UFO boys seh... Dem gan place sanitation tent near dem bus parks. Dem ah put am deh fuh people fuh wash dem hand before dem join de bus. Dem boys wan tell dem dat some of dem passengers need to wash more than dem hand. Some ah dem does smell stink when dem come in de bus. And dem does be proud enough to tell you, “Good Morning!” Dem boys does never understand how people could go on de road without bathing dem skin or brushing dem teeth. But dat is wah happening these
days. Dem boys seh Uncle Robeson trying he best fuh reduce the pandemic. But he should remember when he was a little boy how most people used to ride bicycle to work. If dat been happen these days, it would be hard fuh de virus to spread in dem bus.But dem boys seh dem mekkin road now with bicycle lane. But de bicycles cannot use dem lane because it tun into parking spot. Just tek a drive on the East Coast Public Road. Dem mek four-lane highway and as fast as dem complete de road, business start fuh pop up alongside it. And dem business nah providing
parking. So where you think dem customers parking? Dem parking in the de riding lane. It means if you peddling yuh bike, yuh gat fuh go in dem car lane. No wonder de traffic people talking how most of dem fatalities fuh this year are pedestrians, pedal cyclists, or motor cyclists. Dem boys seh minibus now wan wear wings. One of dem try fuh fly over a canal and, according to Gordon, it end up ‘stickling’ pon a pipe. Dah can’t be no GUYWA pipe. It too strong! Talk half and wait fuh see if de vendors gan tek over de sanitation tent!
media should do the next best thing. It should not attend such events since it should not wish to be seen as being part of an activity which openly
flouts the law. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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Friday October 23, 2020
THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN
Banking officials and politicians in Guyana are high-risk fools What you are about to read from my pen here is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I swear on my parents’ grave the words here are the truth. Here is the truth. I have not been putting deposits into my banking accounts (which also carry the names of my daughter and wife) for a very long time now. “Long time” means several years now. Why is that so? Because I earn no money the past years to put into the accounts. I get a salary from Kaieteur News and that is what I spend rather than putting it into the accounts because I have to spend it days after I collect it
for obvious reasons. Every cent I spent from those accounts came from our savings. I withdrew money to buy my car in October 2019. I did not receive money for the car, then, put it in the bank then, withdrew it. That car money was in the bank for a long, long time. My wife and I worked to put it there. I am not a low risk banking customer. I am a non-risk customer. Why then do I have to witness the annual masturbation of the commercial banks demanding me to provide a ton of documents in keeping with the anti-money laundering act?
Whoever wrote that Bill is a jackass. Money laundering activities involve prodigious sums. Suspicious movement of money in an account involves enormous deposits or small deposits very frequently to cheat the system. An account holder with $10 million that accumulated over 20 years and sees no deposits over a long period of time cannot be a target for investigation. That person is a non-risk customer. On Wednesday, the Bank of Guyana (BoG) announced changes in the onerous requirements and had in mind low-risk customers.
BoG used the tag, “lowrisk”. But over 50, 000 bank accounts in this country spanning several institutions are non-risk customers. Low-risk means there is still a risk. But some account holders are pure non-risk customers. There is a crucial distinction between “lowrisk” and “non-risk”. Who are these 50, 000 persons? The list includes retirees, teachers, taxi-drivers, minibus drivers, soldiers, police personnel, private security guards, vendors, public servants, public sector employees, nurses, cashiers, municipal employees, mechanics, state employed professionals like academics, engineers, medical doctors, pharmacists, labourers, sugar workers, small farmers, journalists, etc. These people have accounts in the banks but on investigating these savings, officials will see that they exist outside the anti-money laundering tentacles. The amounts are modest. Movements in these savings involve small deposits and small withdrawals. Visit any ATM in Georgetown, East Coast and East Bank Demerara on a Friday afternoon in Georgetown and you will see what a nonrisk customer is. These are people who take out very small amounts during the month and when
they get their monthly pay cheque, they make a deposit. These are not the people the antimoney laundering legislation was Frederick Kissoon intended for. Read on to million which was in the see how the commercial bank for several years and banks are devious. their accounts see no SOCU charged GBTI’s directorate and the top of the suspicious movement, a administrative hierarchy person with that tiny with money-laundering amount, to produce all types which GBTI won when of documents in keeping Magistrate Mc Lennon w i t h t h e a n t i - m o n e y dismissed the charges. What laundering legislation? I repeat; whoever drafted came out of certain aspects that legislation is a jackass. of that case was intriguing. The birth of legislation is After failing to produce documents required by always contextual. In an era SOCU, GBTI was slapped of drug trafficking, antiwith contempt of court m o n e y l a u n d e r i n g charges. During the hearing legislation was inevitable in the High Court, the bank but it has to target specific told the court certain quarters. It is oppressive to documents could not be demand the holders of found. These are the very institutions that demand all accounts with small amounts sorts of documents from t o p r o d u c e a t o n o f documents when those non-risk customers. accounts are virtually Here is what Dr. Sam harmless. The banks write Sittlington, then consultant to SOCU said about the anti- very small income earners as m o n e y l a u n d e r i n g a requirement of the law legislation, “It is an asking to see pay-slip. obligation of the bank to Where is the commonsense? provide information related Why the pay slip of a to suspicious transaction supermarket cashier with $2 reports (STRs) suspicions of million in her account that money laundering, of drug she put there 10 years ago? (The views expressed in trafficking and they make those reports to the FIU…” this article are those of the Where is commonsense a u t h o r a n d d o n o t when banks ask customers necessarily reflect the each year, who have $5 opinions of this newspaper.)
Friday October 23, 2020
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Friday October 23, 2020
Chief Justice to hear full trial for - To hear preliminary elections petition issues on November 24 C
hief Justice (Ag) Roxane GeorgeWiltshire is expected to full trial of the two election petitions filed by the main opposition, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC). However, this is expected after she hears arguments on preliminary issues raised in the matter on November 24, 2020. During the Case Management Conference (CMC) held in relation to the matters at the Georgetown High Court yesterday, the Chief Justice (CJ) told attorneys involved in the case via Zoom that the Court will hear “a full blown trial of the petitions,” filed to challenge the March 2, 2020 elections. The judge however, did not give a date
for the hearing of the substantive matter. She instead noted that the Court will hear preliminary matters relating to the case after Douglas Mendes, SC of Trinidad who is leading the legal team for the People’s Progressive Party Civic(PPP/C) raised an issue of his clients—President Irfaan Ali and Bharrat Jagdeo not being served on time in accordance with the prescribed Court rules. As a result of this purported breach, the Lawyer held that the Court should proclaim the petitions as null and void. As such, the CJ directed that the lawyers have the submissions for that application filed and served by November 20, 2020 while applications for elections documents must be filed on or before December 4, 2020.
Attorney Roysdale Forde SC She noted that the Court will also meet again on November, 24, 26, and 30 to hear brief oral submissions in relation to an application to by Mendes on the issue of late service. On that point, the CJ noted that the former President David Granger was also served late. He was
Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire served on September 25 when he should have received the document five business days after the petition was filed on September 15. In addition to not scheduling a date for hearing the substantive case of the election petitions, the CJ
Attorney Mayo Robertson
determined the two petitions will be heard together. This determination was made in response to a request by attorney in the second petition filed to challenge the outcome of the March 02, 2020 elections, Mayo Robertson. Robertson had asked that the petitions be heard separately since the matters dealt with distinct issues as the regards the conduct of the elections. The lawyer explained that the 2nd elections petition focuses on the allegations of irregularities and misconduct leveled at the Guyana Elections Commission, (GECOM) whereas the 1st election petition filed on behalf of the opposition seeks to the challenge the outcome of the polls based the issues as it relates to validity of Order 60 of 2020 under which the recount was held and the validity of Section 22 of the Election Law lections Law Amendment Act (ELAA) which that order was created. “There are the matters of widespread voter impersonation, widespread issues with documentation and a flawed voters list
among other things…We are saying that as a result, the elections were not held in accordance with the constitutional requirement by GECOM which required by law to host free fair and credible elections. And we are going to ask that Court set aside the results of the elections and vitiates the entire process,” the lawyer explaining… adding that he expects to call several witness to substantiate the claims of the affidavit supplied to the Court. Robertson noted however could not give a precise number of the witnesses he is expected to call. “I cannot give an exact number for fear of being bound by that figure… In addition, there is still some fine tuning to be done as it regards which witnesses will testify about what,” Robertson attempted to explained. The Chief Justice did not hide her disapproval at over R o b e r t s o n ’s l a c k o f preparedness. “Well,” she said “I am surprised by that, Mr. Robertson because having filed the petition on the 15th (Continued on page 14)
Kaieteur News
Friday October 23, 2020
Ministry mulls turn system for Stabroek Park bus drivers
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he Ministry of H o m e A ff a i r s Minister is moving to develop a rotation system for bus drivers at the Stabroek area. The initiative falls under efforts by the Ministry to ease traffic congestion within the area. The matter was discussed during a meeting held on Wednesday at the Saint Stanislaus College, which saw attendances by minibus drivers, vendors, other stakeholders and the Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn. Also present were the President of the Minibus Association, Eon Andrews and its members, Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentor and Senior Engineer of the Mayor and City Council, Kabila Hollingsworth, at Ministry of Public Works Engineer, Kester Hinds, Commander of ‘A’ DivisionAssistant Commissioner Simon McBean and Fire Chief Marlon Gentle. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a string of issues like road safety and congestion at the Stabroek Market Square. Minister Benn said that the Ministry will be looking to improve transportation and congestion issues at the Square. In addition to implementing the turn system at bus parks, other measures like completing road maintenance work around the Stabroek area,
demarcating road lanes and reinstalling barriers at the Kitty/Campbellville bus park were also discussed. The Minister also told stakeholders that the Ministry will be working to address their concerns about police ranks and their relations with minibus operators, minibus touts and hot plate buses. It was also noted that the disrespect for police officers at certain bus parks will be looked into. Minister Benn along with Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill recently conducted a walkabout of the city where several issues were identified. Apart from the traffic and road safety issues, it was noted that vendors operating on roadways were obstructing
the flow of traffic. Following the walkabout, it was decided that the vendors will be relocated as was also discussed at Wednesday’s meeting. At the meeting, Benn said, “It is not our fundamental interest in moving people. The fundamental interest is to b r i n g o r d e r, o p t i m a l efficiency and safety out there.” Benn also disclosed that tents will be placed at various bus parks to facilitate hand sanitizing and the issuing of face masks. According to the Minister, it was noted that minibus operators and their passengers were not properly observing COVID19 protocols.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn addressing attendees (Photo Credit: Ministry of Home Affairs)
Attendees at the meeting (Photo Credit: Ministry of Home Affairs)
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Kaieteur News
MOH records 26 new COVID-19 cases T
he Ministry of Health recorded 27 new C O V I D - 1 9 c a s e s yesterday. Of the cases, twenty-one new cases were recorded in Region Four, four in Region Three while one new case each were recorded in Regions Six and Seven.
Friday October 23, 2020
October 22 COVID-19 Dashboard
Additionally, 16 patients in the COVID19 Intensive Care Unit, 70 in institutional isolation and 821 on home isolation. The cases recorded yesterday brings the nation’s COVID -19 numbers to 3, 877. Of that number, 2853 persons have recovered and 117 persons have died.
Argument over cash leaves teen dead A disagreement over money owed has left Adrian Purlette, 18, dead, after he was on Wednesday stabbed to death by three men. According information received by this media house, Purlette was stabbed at around 21:00hrs at a location in D’Urban Street but succumbed hours later, while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Kaieteur News was told that the suspects walked up to their victim and started a
conversation. An argument erupted soon after, allegedly over some money Purlette owed them. Things then turned ugly after the men stabbed him to the chest and ran away. It was reported in another section of the media that Purlette had walked away from the men but they followed him and inflicted the wound.Purlette shouted for help and he was picked up by friends and rushed to GPHC where he died at around 02:00hrs yesterday.
Chief Justice to hear full trial for... From page 12 of September and its very voluminous content, one would expect that you would at least know how many witnesses you would be calling to the trial.” Further, Justice GeorgeWiltshire also told the attorney that her decision to hear the matters together is based on the fact that the issues laid out in the petitions are almost identical. “Taking a different route but wanting the same result does not make the matters much different,” she stated. At the interim, the CJ granted application for Attorney General Anil
Nandlall to formally join both petitions, given his role under the constitution as the intervener of the State. Nandlall will be joined by Attorney Prithima Kissoon, Chevy Devonish and Raeanna Clarke in the matter. Other lawyers engaged in the case include former Attorney General Basil Williams S.C who appeared on behalf of former President David Granger and the APNU+AFC Coalition; GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj who told the Court that the Commission has not retained Counsel but said it intends to defend itself during the
proceedings; and Lawyers Devindra Kissoon and Sanjeev Datadin, led by Senior Counsel Mendes appeared on behalf of Bharrat Jagdeo as representative for PPP/C. Meanwhile, the Attorneys appearing on behalf of the defendant on the first petition are Trinidad Senior Counsel John Jeremie, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, Raphael Trotman and Olayne Joseph. Senior Counsel Rex McKay, D a r r e n Wa d e , M a y o Roberson, Khemraj Ramjattan, Gary Best and Geeta Chandan-Edmond are appearing for the defendant in the second petition.
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Friday October 23, 2020
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Volda Lawrence a no-show at CID T
he Chairperson for the People’s N a t i o n a l Congress (PNC) and Former Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, yesterday failed to present herself at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, as requested by the police. Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon, supporters from the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition protested outside the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C. Lawrence was scheduled to report at CID at 13:00hrs yesterday in relation to the ongoing investigation into electoral fraud committed during and after the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections. After Lawrence failed to appear, coalition supporters with placards protested outside the Eve Leary office of the DPP. The protesters were calling on the DPP to “Stop being politically affiliated” and “Be professional”, with placards they held bearing
The protesters outside the office of the DPP yesterday.
PNC’s Volda Lawrence the same messages. The police were called in and the ranks formed a human barricade in front of the DPP’s office and moments later the protesters left. O n We d n e s d a y, Lawrence was slapped with an additional electoral fraud c h a rg e , w h i c h a l l e g e s forgery. She appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and was released on $50,000, bail for that offence and is expected to make her next court appearance on October 28, 2020. During an interview with reporters outside of the court
compound on Wednesday, Lawrence stated that, she was invited to report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, yesterday at 13:00hrs, for questioning. She added that the repeated charges by the GPF have amounted to a level of harassment and that it appears that the police have to please someone because, “Every other week, they have to march us to CID; every other week, they have to bring us to court.” Just last week, Lawrence (Continued on page 22 )
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Friday October 23, 2020
Canje owner sold 87.5% of block; Guyana got no capital gains tax -Contract signed by Ramotar T
he owner of the Canje Block, Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas Inc. has benefitted from its sale of 87.5 percent of Stabroek Block ownership, but Guyana did not benefit from the payment of Capital Gains Tax on the transactions. In keeping with a series of provisions, which severely reduce Guyana’s revenue
streams from its oil sector, the Canje license granted by former President Donald Ramotar to Mid-Atlantic Oil and Gas Inc. exempts the Contractor from paying capital gains tax to the people of Guyana. Capital Gains Tax is what is charged on the sale of any property or asset. If you sell land or a vehicle, you are expected to pay this tax. The
Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) tells Guyanese that they must pay 20 percent Capital Gains Tax on any such property transaction, yet Mid-Atlantic and its rich joint venture partners are free and clear of this expense. The contract states at Article 15.13 “… assignments of any kind between the Contractor and
Affiliated Companies, as well as any assignment of any kind made in accordance with this agreement (including one to an unrelated party) shall be exempt from any duty and taxes, including Capital Gains Tax in each respect…” The provision goes on to state that the Contractor
would have to pay only a fee of US$100,000 to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) – the agency which has to approve the transfer/sale. However, this newspaper’s reporting in this series in yesterday’s article noted that all fees, and any other imposts charged to the Contractor would be cost recoverable. This means that the Contractor will pay the Government the fee with one hand, and take it right back with the other. Guyana gets nothing. This provision has forfeited millions, likely even hundreds of millions, of US dollars, in Capital Gains Taxes from the sale of interests in the Canje Block. After Mid-Atlantic received the block from Ramotar on
March 4, 2015, it let little time pass before it started selling out interests in the block, transferring a stake in the block to JHI Associates, just six weeks later. In February 2016, ExxonMobil farmed into the block with a 35 percent stake, and assumed the role of operator later that year. The French multinational, Total SE also farmed into the block in February of 2018 with a 35 percent stake. So much of the block has been sold that Mid-Atlantic, once the sole owner, only retained 12.5 percent. This means that despite doing no work in the block, the company has made big money from the license it received from Guyana, but (Continued on page 17 )
Former President and Minister of Petroleum, Donald Ramotar
Former Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud
Director of Mid-Atlantic, Hewley Nelson
Commissioner of Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Newell Dennisson
Director and sole shareholder of Mid-Atlantic, Edris Kamal Dookie
Former director of Mid-Atlantic, Nicholas Chuck-A-Sang
Kaieteur News
Friday October 23, 2020
West Coast Demerara grocery, house burglarized A grocery store and a man’s home were burglarized mere hours apart on the West Coast Demerara this week. According to a police report, the grocery store located at Lot 14 Anna Catherina which also houses a snackette was burglarized between 21:30hrs on Tuesday and 04:00hrs Wednesday, while the man’s house located at Lot 59 New Road, Vreeden-Hoop was robbed sometime between 07:05hrs and 19:45hrs on Wednesday. Proprietor of the grocery store, Nafiza Samtani, 57, of Lot 16 Hague Public Road told investigators that she secured her shop, leaving everything intact and went home. She later then received a phone call from the landlord who related the break in to her.
Upon arriving at her business place to inspect the store, she reported to the police that the thieves carted off a quantity of alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages, perfumes and other items which valued over $600,000. Investigators also reported that Courtney Benjamin, age 59, said that he went to work and when he later returned home, he noticed that a padlock on his door was removed and the door was left open. Upon entering his house, he saw that the house was ransacked and discovered several items were missing that value up to $105,000. Meanwhile, the police told Kaieteur News that they are trying their best to locate the perpetrators.
Canje owner sold ... From page 16 the people get nothing in return. Kaieteur News does not know how much money was paid during the multiple transactions which led to transfers of rights. What is known is that the Canje Block is situated next to the Stabroek Block, which has already yielded 18 material discoveries amounting over 8 billion oil-equivalent barrels. That means that the right to drill this block is coveted. When a share of the block was transferred to JHI, Exxon had already announced its first discovery in the nearby Stabroek Block. When Exxon farmed-in in 2016, it was studying its Stabroek Block discovery to determine the value of the find. When Total farmed-in, Exxon had already made six discoveries in the Stabroek Block exceeding three billion oil-equivalent
barrels. Kaieteur News submitted a request for information on these transfers with GGMC two weeks ago. There has been no response. Kaieteur News also asked ExxonMobil two weeks ago to furnish information on its farmin to the Canje block, but there has been no response.Every time the Canje Block changed hands, Mid-Atlantic benefitted. Yet, Guyana gained no signing bonus when the block was handed to it. Other startling revelations include Ramotar’s failure to have Mid-Atlantic secure comprehensive insurance before he granted its exploration license, his agreement to a GY$100M debt for Guyana due to undefined “pre-contract” costs, and his commitment for Guyana to repay every cent of the one percent royalty rate stated in the contract.
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Friday October 23, 2020
Health Ministry orders 20,000 antigen -to produce COVID-19 tests for hinterlands results within minutes The Ministry of Health has placed an order for 20,000 antigen tests which
will be sent to selected hinterland regions to improve their testing
capacity. The announcement was made by Minister of Health,
Dr. Frank Anthony during his delivery of the COVID19 update on Wednesday.
The Minister disclosed that the antigen tests will produce faster results for persons being tested for COVID-19 within the specified hinterland regions. Minister Anthony said that despite the testing capacity being increased at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory in Region Four (DemeraraMahaica), testing in remote areas still takes time since they have to be transported from the hinterlands, to the lab in Georgetown. The lab’s testing capacity was increased when the government acquired a $7.2 million automated extractor, which can process up to 96 tests samples within twothree hours. The Minister said that the antigen tests are expected to arrive in November and once they arrive, they will be immediately be deployed to the areas in need. It was stated that the antigen test is faster than other tests being used, making it practical for use in remote hinterland areas. “This is not the RTPCR
tests that we take samples of and bring them to the lab. This antigen test is one where right at the site where you’re seeing the patient if you suspect them to have COVID, you can run the test there and within 45 minutes get back the results,” Dr. Anthony explained. Dr. Anthony previously disclosed to Kaieteur News that hinterland regions like Region Nine (Upper TakatuUpper Essequibo) were having difficulties taking test samples to the Reference Lab and returning them in a timely fashion. It was also explained that the difficulty in transporting the test samples contributed to the previous backlog of cases. To tackle the issue the Health Minister sought to engage with authorities from Roraima in Brazil since it is very close to Region Nine and it was found that they have a lab that can do Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests which would see test results returning to the region swiftly.
Kaieteur News
Friday October 23, 2020
APA collaborates with Ministry of Amerindian Affairs on the development of Indigenous People O n We d n e s d a y, t h e Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) met with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to discuss ways in which the organisation can further support the development of Indigenous Peoples in Guyana. Present at the meeting were the Minister of Amerindians Affairs, Pauline Sukhai; the Ministry’s Parliamentary Secretary(PS), Ms. Sarah Brown; the APA President, Lemmel Benson Thomas; Executive Director Jean La Rose; Policy Officer Sharon Atkinson; Governance and Rights Coordinator, Laura George; and GIS Specialist and Forest Policy Officer, Michael McGarrell. The release stated that the APA team provided the Minister and the PS, with an overview of the priority areas of work for the organisation. These included works with the following project partners to varying extent, over the past five years: The Rainforest Foundation US with NORAD funding; the Tenure Facility; the Nia Tero Foundation; Forest Peoples Programme with NICFI funding; IUCN Ecuador with EU funding. A written submission was also presented to the Minister, containing a description of each project, as well as the efforts of the organisation in supporting Indigenous communities during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Minister Sukhai in her remarks stated that she has been following the activities of the organisation and looks forward to future collaborations with the APA for the continued development of Indigenous Peoples across the country. As a rights advocacy group, the APA noted that it would continue to work to support political administrations in ensuring that the rights of Indigenous Peoples are protected, that the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent is respected in project, programme, legislative and policy reform and development. Notably, the APA would also continue to advocate for Indigenous Peoples to be given spaces for effective participation and inclusion in decision-making at the national. In closing, the team highlighted that it would continue to work on ensuring that projects, legislation and policy are developed, to make lasting contributions to the furtherance of democracy in Guyana and the sustainable development of the interior would reduce the proliferation of conflicts around land and natural resources and enhance the p l a t f o r m f o r G u y a n a ’s leadership on global climate action.
Two of three prison ... From page 8 ‘Chockoloo’, of 820 ‘G’ Zeelugt North, East Bank Essequibo, who was killed on July 18, 2019 at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo. Rafino is one of the five accused in the murders of Better Hope money changer, Aaron Latchman, and his 18year-old daughter, Arianna Latchman, who were killed on July 4, 2019, at Robert
Street, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, during the course or furtherance of a robbery. He was admitted to the prison on July 15, 2019 for that offence. Anyone with information on Rafino’s whereabouts is asked to contact the nearest police station or 225-6411. All information will be treated with the strictest confidentiality, according to police.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai (left) meeting with the Amerindian Peoples Association officials.
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Friday October 23, 2020
Friday October 23, 2020
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Kaieteur News
NPTAB opens bids for 65 projects Following the passage of the emergency $330B budget, the government is now in a rush to expend the remainder of funds on projects before the end of this fiscal year. With this, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Tuesday opened ——-over 725 bids for 65 major
governmental projects at their Ministry of Finance office on Main and Urquhart Streets. Notable projects included the —-supply and delivery of medical equipment under the Ministry of Health (MoH); the rehabilitation of the Supenaam Stelling for the Transports and
Harbours Department (T&HD); as well as the construction of a perimeter fence for the US$150M (and counting) Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA). Notably, the construction of this fence stands separate from the multi-billion dollar project—to which taxpayers have to foot the bill.
Below are the companies and their bids:
Ministry of Health Supply and delivery of office furniture and equipment
Transports & Harbours Department Rehabilitation of Supenaam Stelling
Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Construction of Lot One- Concrete guard hut; Lot twoConstruction of chain link fence; Lot three- Upgrading of compound at Amerindian residence, Princes Street, Georgetown
Ministry of Public Works Rehabilitation of Eteringbang Airstrip, Region Seven
Supply and delivery of vehicles
Supply and delivery of tractors and trailers
Construction of airport perimeter fence, south west embankment
Supply, delivery and installation of medical equipment
Office of the Prime Minister Procurement of generators for Matthew’s Ridge
To be continued in tomorrow’s edition…
Education Minister: Govt. sympathises with students
students have also called on
Ministry of Agriculture- NAREI Supply and delivery of sprinkler hose, shade net and UV plastic
Guyana Energy Agency Provision of fuel marketing and testing technology, related consumables and services
NEWSDAY - One of the major grouses of parents who protested outside the Red House on Wednesday was the perceived lack of compassion from CXC on their concerns over the system used to grade CAPE and CSEC exams written this year.Commenting on the parents’ feelings, Education Minister Dr Nyan GadsbyDolly said, while she could not speak to the compassion or lack thereof of CXC, she could assure protesters that the government “Understands how difficult the situation is.” She said on Monday that government decided to pay the reduced cost of reviews for the 2020 cohort. The cost to request a review to CXC was reduced by 50 per cent from US$30 to
the council to return their papers so they can examine the breakdown of their grades themselves.The ministry was criticised by High Court Judge Justice Devindra Rampersad for its failure to review an agreement with CXC over examination scripts.In a ruling on Tuesday, the ministry’s refusal to provide
Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly $15. She added, “However, as ministers of education met, we agreed that students from territories that could not afford to do this should also have the opportunity, hence the request that the council consider the recommendation to remove fees for reviews for 2020.”After claiming to be unfairly graded in their CSEC
and CAPE exams, students across the region have been protesting against the council. TT saw its first protest on Monday as a group of 12 parents took to the streets with placards in hand. Barbados and Guyana have seen numerous protests since results were released on September 22.Parents and
a mother with access to her child’s SEA scripts was called “illegal, irrational, unfair and amounted to a breach of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.”When asked yesterday if the ruling could be applied to CSEC and CAPE students, GadsbyDolly said, while the two issues were related, they were not quite the same.“CXC is a regional exam, SEA is local. However, the judgment would have implications on both exams, yes,” she said. “The extent of it will be determined by legal officers.”
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Kaieteur News
Friday October 23, 2020
...Volda Lawrence a no-show at CID ...Do Guyanese American votes matter?
VACANCY
SERVICES Installation, Repairs and parts for AC,Fridge, Washing machine, Stove etc.Call Nick#630-1600,627-3206 Repairs,Services,Spares to Wa s h i n g M a c h i n e Refridgetor Store, Treadmill, Deepfryer,Cooler, Dryer, Grains mill.Call:#694-9733 (FHL) executive cleaning; sanitizing services, mobile vehicle wash & spa. Contact information:Website: fhlexecutiveservices.com , E m a i l :fhlsimeonmoore@gmail.com , Phone:667-5709.
FOR SALE New Pulp egg trays for Sale.Tel:#688-4264 Pure breed black and rust Doberman puppies for sale. Contact Devi on: Tel# 2253721 or 639-2828.
One cashier to work at Superbet, apply within at 152 Albert and 6th street, Albertown. Experienced & Creative Social Media Marketers required to Create and Manage various platforms, Call: +592 503 0382.Email:info@tfstraining.gy. Experienced Trainers/Instructors, wanted for SIAG's new State-of-the-Art, K-9 Training Academy, Call: +592 503 0382 orEmail: hr@siagsecurity,gy. Vacancy for male / female worker.Serious inquiries only. Tel#: 615-7784 or 621-6969 Office Assistant 5 Subjects cxc, 2 years min experience, Lot 8 sheriff street mimadecor12@gmail.com, 227-0176/ 86 Experienced painter. Apply at Alabama Trading, 68 Robb street, Bourda. Receptionist ages 30-45. Located at 233 South Road. Call# 225-0195 Maid to cook and clean for East Bank area. Call # 6159132 One live in baby assistant needed. Interested person please contact: Odessa on : 695-5633/622-4576
LAND FOR SALE Parfaite Harmonie-1.8m to 2.5 m , Tuschen with foundation- 8.5m,Uitvlught-4.8m, Herstelling 2nd bridge-6.5m, Farm-5.5m, Schoonar-6m. FOR RENT Call#:666-2326
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LEARN TO DRIVE N.Outar Driving School, Learn to Drive the right way @ Cuffy Square.Affordable Package.Call#644-5166/6912561/681-2808.
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Bond, East Bank Demerara with office space, Business: Saffon street, Hadfield street. Residence: Diamond & Pearl, E.B.D. Contact Ray's Reality 627-9685.
From page 6 from office in 1964 and 2015 while the Republicans restored democracy in 1992 and 2020. The Republican Eisenhower Administration pressured the UK Government to restore constitutional rule in 1957 after the Jagan government was toppled in 1953. While securing democracy in Guyana in 2020, Trump has been tough on immigrants during his tenure. Whether their votes make a different in the outcome or not, Guyanese Americans are urged to vote. Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram (Pollster/Poll Analyst)
WANTED Technical Services 18-23 Industrial Site, Eccles 1.Mechanic, 2.Fitter/ Machinist, 3.Welder Fabricator, 3 years experience, Apply in person. One clerk for Eccles office English & Mathematics, grade 1 or 2 Email application to techserigy@yahoo.com Mechanic specialized in 740 caterpillar trucks. Interior location. Call# 223-5180 Sales Clerk to work in Georgetown. Age 25-45 .Must have 5 CXC Subjects Call #:225-9026/27 Fuel pump technician. Contact 223-5273/74 Experienced Cashier, Roti/ Puri Cook, Sweet Meat Maker, Kitchen Assistant. Apply Hack's Halaal with application. Mature experienced female, Should have a Strong knowledge of creole foods, live-in available for babysitter. Tel# 656-9313 / 615-6550 Experienced one handy man needed, to work with family in Montrose, E.C.D. Must have reference. Call #5030359 Washbay workers. Located at 18 Henolbury Avenue, Nandy Park. Call# 233-5227. PROPERTY FOR SALE Kitty, Campbeville, Republic Gardens, Thomas street, Georgetown & Enterprise E.C.D, Zeelught E.B.D. Contact : Ray's reality 627-9685.
From page 15 appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for two counts of conspiracy to defraud charges. She was released on $100,000, bail and the matter was adjourned to December 9, 2020, for full disclosure of statements. She was arrested in relation to her involvement in the activities that took place at the Ashmin’s Building, Georgetown which was, at the time, set up as the command centre for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the elections. According to reports, Lawrence’s signature was on Form 24 for Region Four which had the fraudulent numbers that were allegedly concocted by Mingo, the Region Four Returning Officer, and that Form 24 contained figures intended to assure the APNU+AFC coalition victory in the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
Lawrence is also facing a joint charge with Mingo before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, for the forging of a document that was used for a fraudulent election declaration on March 5, 2020. The charge was filed by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) attorney, Charles Ramson, on March 13, 2020. While Lawrence is currently out on $100,000, bail for the offence, Mingo was granted self-bail. They are expected to make their next court appearance on November 16, 2020. Police announced in August last that they will be conducting a comprehensive investigation into the criminal conduct of Lowenfield, Mingo, and others in relation to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the events that followed. So far, during the probe, several GECOM officials have been arrested and put before the court for electoral fraud charges.
Friday October 23, 2020
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Trump rejoices as Senate panel approves Barrett while Democrats boycott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republicanled U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to a lifetime Supreme Court seat despite a Democratic boycott, clearing the way for a final Senate confirmation vote planned for Monday. By a 12-0 vote, the panel approved Barrett with all Republican members voting yes and the 10 committee Democrats boycotting the meeting after calling the confirmation process a sham. With Trump’s fellow Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority, Barrett’s confirmation appears certain. Trump, who asked the Senate to confirm Barrett before the Nov. 3 U.S. election in which he is being chal-
lenged by Democrat Joe Biden, applauded the committee vote, writing on Twitter: “Big day for America!”Barrett, 48, has been a federal appeals court judge since 2017 and previously was a legal scholar the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Her confirmation would give the top U.S. judicial body a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices named by Trump. “The Senate majority is conducting the most rushed, the most partisan and the least legitimate process in the long history of Supreme Court nominations,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after the vote. Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said the Democratic boycott was “their choice.” “It will be my choice to
President Donald Trump and Amy Coney Barrett vote the nominee out of committee. We’re not going to allow them to take over the committee,” Graham said. The empty seats for the Democratic committee members had posters placed upon them bearing photographs of people who they argue would be hurt if the Affordable Care Act healthcare law, also known as Obamacare, is struck down as Trump has sought in a case to be argued before the justices on Nov. 10. Barrett, nominated on Sept. 26 to succeed the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has criticized previous rulings upholding
Obamacare but said during her confirmation hearing she has no agenda to invalidate the measure. Democrats were incensed that Senate Republicans moved forward with Barrett’s confirmation process so near an election after refusing in 2016 to allow the chamber to act on a Supreme Court nomination by Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, because it was an election year. Schumer called the Re-
publican hurry to confirm Barrett “a naked power grab” through a “sham vote,” arguing that Republicans broke the committee’s own rules by approving the nomination without Democrats present.No nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the Senate this close to a presidential election. More than 45 million ballots already have been cast. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned a confirmation vote on the Senate floor on Monday.Calling the committee vote “a groundbreaking historic moment,” Graham said of Barrett: “The ‘law of Amy’ will not be applied to a case in controversy. It will be the law as written in the Constitution or by statute or whatever regulatory body she’s going to review. She will take her job on without agenda.” A favourite of Christian conservatives, Barrett frustrated Committee Democrats during her confirmation hearing last week by sidestepping questions on abortion, presidential powers, climate change, voting rights, Obamacare and other issues. Trump has said he believes the Supreme Court will
decide the election’s outcome and has made clear he wants Barrett on the bench for any election-related cases. Republicans are hoping Barrett’s confirmation can give a boost to incumbent senators in the party facing tough re-election fights, including Graham in South Carolina and Judiciary Committee members Joni Ernst in Iowa and Thom Tillis in North Carolina. Some on the left have floated the idea of expanding the number of justices - fixed by federal law at nine - if Biden wins to counter the court’s rightward drift in light of the actions of Senate Republicans in 2016 and now. Republicans have decried the idea as “court-packing.” Biden told the CBS programme “60 Minutes” that if elected he would create a bipartisan commission of constitutional scholars to examine reforms for the “out of whack” federal judiciary, saying there could be various alternatives to consider besides expanding the Supreme Court. Graham said expanding the number of justices after presidential elections would mark “the end of the independence of the court.”
Ex-Trump aide Manafort beats Manhattan prosecutor’s bid to revive New York fraud charges NEW YORK - (Reuters) - A New York appeals court yesterday upheld the dismissal of state fraud charges against Paul Manafort, saying that reviving the case against U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman would violate double jeopardy rules. In a 4-0 vote, the intermediate-level Appellate Division rejected Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s claim that his case against Manafort warranted an exception to a state law against trying him twice for the same conduct. Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance, said his office will consider its appellate options. Vance announced Manafort’s indictment on 16 felony counts in March 2019 less than an hour after a judge sentenced Manafort to 7-1/2 years in prison on federal charges. The federal case stemmed from former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, leading to Manafort’s August 2018 conviction for tax evasion and bank fraud. Manafort worked on Trump’s White House campaign for five months in 2016. In dismissing Vance’s case last December, Manhattan trial judge Maxwell Wiley said the federal bank fraud and state residential mortgage fraud laws under which Manafort was prosecuted were intended to combat lending abuses and avert a financial crisis. Wiley said the laws did not target “very different kinds of harm or evil,” an exception to New York double jeopardy protections, and therefore Vance could not prosecute Manafort.
Paul Manafort The appeals court agreed, saying the differences Vance cited between the laws “fall far short of satisfying the ‘very different kinds’ test.” Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Manafort, welcomed the decision, calling the indictment from Vance “a clear violation of New York law.” Manafort, 71, was released to home confinement in May, after his lawyers said his health problems put him at higher risk should he contract the coronavirus in prison. A conviction for Vance, a Democrat, could have ensured legal accountability for Manafort even if Trump, a Republican, pardoned him. U.S. presidents cannot pardon people for state crimes.
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Friday October 23, 2020
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Minimal to no risk of oil spill from vessel- CDC There is a minimal to no risk of an oil spill from the Nabarima Floating Storing and Offloading (FSO) vessel, which was reported to be listing off of the Venezuelan coast since last week, according to Guyana’s Civil Defence Commission (CDC). The CDC indicated to the press that based on assessments conducted by T r i n i d a d a n d To b a g o government, the efforts to relieve the FSO Nabarima of its 1.3M barrels of oil cargo, as well as the ongoing remedial works being conducted, there is minimal risk of an oil spill in the Gulf of Paria—a stretch of water between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago T&T Energy Minister, Franklin Khan commented on Wednesday that, “The FSO Nabarima is upright and stable with no visible tilt and there is no imminent risk of tilting or sinking.” The Energy Minister on to say that the three-man team from T&T which assessed the situation reported that major maintenance was ongoing on the vessel with pumps and electrical motors being repaired and replaced as needed. The team’s report states the maintenance programme as being “quite satisfactory”, the minister reported. Amid environmental concerns, international news agency Reuters had reported that the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) had begun offloading crude from the Nabarima floating oil facility via ship-to-ship (STS) transfer amid
environmental concerns. This started on Tuesday with the arrival of PDVSA’s ship, Icaro - a much smaller vessel than Nabarima. The T&T team recommended the transfer of oil from the vessel be done by a much larger vessel which will reduce the offload time and logistics of the transfer as “this will reduce the possibility of an environmental incident occurring in the Gulf of Paria,” Khan said. Notably, this potential spill threatens not only the Gulf, but the entire Caribbean Sea as it can impact the ecological systems of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago almost immediately, with the impact affecting other countries within the hemisphere. Even more concerning, an oil spill from Nabarima would be five times larger than that of the Exxon Valdez that occurred in Alaska’s Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history, until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The Exxon Valdez spilled 2 6 0 , 0 0 0 b a r r e l s ( 11 M gallons) of oil into the Sound, with an oil slick that covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds, otters, seals and whales. Nearly 30 years later, pockets of crude oil remain in some locations. The CDC says that it will nonetheless continue to liaise with its local, regional and international counterparts to ensure the situation is adequately monitored and that no threats are posed to Guyana.
The FSO Nabarima that was reported to be sinking
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Gdynia records best results of World Athletics’ Air Quality Project so far WorldAthletics Preliminary analysis of data collected at last weekend’s World Athletics Half Marathon Championships indicates that Gdynia has the best air quality of any major athletics event or road race measured since World Athletics’ Air Quality Project started in 2018. The data suggests that the clean air in the Polish city, combined with the optimal temperature and humidity, was among the factors that contributed to the high number of personal best performances in Gdynia, which included the world record set by the women’s winner Peres Jepchirchir. As part of World Athletics’ continuing pilot
programme to measure air quality at sporting venues around the world, and with the support of the local organising committee, World Athletics’ health and science department measured clinical and environmental data in Gdynia. Two Kunak air quality monitors were used in Gdynia – one at a fixed position near the start line, and one mobile device attached to a bicycle which followed the athletes around all four laps of both races. More than 70,000 data points were collected for various pollutant gases concentrations, particle concentrations and meteorological parameters across an 18-hour period in Gdynia.
Pending data validation, the data showed very low concentrations of pollutant gases and particulate matter. The low levels of anthropogenic emissions detected, combined with the location at the seaside, the timing of the competition, and the meteorological conditions of the day, have resulted in the lowest level of pollutants that the clean air programme has monitored to date in any urban race. “The data we collected suggest that conditions in Gdynia were optimal for runners and spectators,” said World Athletics Health & Science Department Manager Paolo Emilio Adami. “The strong winds and rain of the first day cleared the air and
Friday October 23, 2020 ARIES (Mar. 21–Apr. 19) Legal matters may be on your mind today. Maybe your insecurities are blowing a certain difficulty all out of proportion. You need to view the entire situation a little more objectively.
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Someone you've been expecting to call might not do so today, Libra, and this could worry you a little. Don't be too shy to pick up the phone and call.
TAURUS(Apr.20–May20) You may need someone's h e l p o r a d v i c e t o d a y. Don't be afraid to ask for it. You tend to be proud of your ingenuity and independence.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Worries about money could be on your mind today. A check you've been expecting may not have arrived. Perhaps a project you've taken on is taking longer to complete than you thought.
GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Is your significant other uncertain about spending much time with you today, Gemini? You may be hurt at first, as your honey could feel obligated to spend some private time with family members.
SAGIT(Nov.22–Dec.21) The desire to get together with friends is strong today, Sagittarius, but you might be unable to do it in the way you'd hoped. You could be delayed by leftover work or chores, or other restrictions could get in the way.
CANCER (June 21–July 22) Are you doing something special for the people you live with tonight, Cancer? If so, you might be a little worried about what they might think of your skills as a chef, host, etc.
CAPRI (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) A career goal you've been hoping to reach may seem uncertain now. You could be wondering if your work has gone for naught. Don't think this way.
LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) A small gathering may take place in your neighborhood today if at all possible. If you're currently involved, you will probably attend it with your significant other. VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) Conversations of various kinds could take place today, Virgo. Some older people, perhaps your parents, could call you.
AQUARIUS(Jan.20–Feb.18) Are you spending a lot of time working on something you've been trying to learn well? It could be more confusing than usual today. PISCES (Feb. 19–Mar. 20) Did you wake up this morning with a vague recollection of a half-remembered dream bugging you? If so, it won't do any good to try to pull it up. Perhaps you aren't meant to remember the entire thing.
The lead pack in the men’s race at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 (Getty Images) the levels of particulate matter (PM) that we recorded were the lowest we have so far measured in road races. Levels of gasses, ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were consistent with the environmental conditions and the location of the city. From a personal standpoint, it was fantastic to cycle next to the athletes in both the men’s and women’s races.” By publishing air quality from venues such as this, World Athletics hopes to encourage athletes, recreational runners, cities, local and national governments and member federations to become more conscious of air quality and the impact that it has on health and performance. Most of the pilot project has so far been conducted in stadiums, with Kunak installing air quality monitors
in a number of venues around the world. But as most road races are held in major cities that are generally susceptible to substantial amounts of air pollution, they are uniquely placed to provide a wealth of data to scientists and researchers, given the length of time runners spend on the course, and the varying environmental conditions they’re exposed to over that time.
Upon implementation of air monitoring programmes, World Athletics will set air quality standards for major championships and sanctioned events, utilising the WHO air quality standards. The guidelines indicate that by reducing particulate matter pollution from 70 to 20 micrograms per cubic metre, air pollutionrelated deaths can be cut by about 15 percent.
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Kaieteur News
India tour of Australia gets government green light; Sydney, Canberra to host white-ball leg ESPNcricinfo - Sydney and Canberra will serve as the starting points of India’s tour of Australia next month, after Cricket Australia and the New South Wales state government knitted together a deal for the touring team and Australian players returning from the IPL to quarantine in Sydney while also being granted access to nearby training facilities. Confirmation of quarantine protocols, which arrived after NSW government approval on Thursday but still require a final sign-off from the BCCI, will be a relief to all parties concerned. The first two ODIs on November 27 and 29 are set to be played at the SCG, the third ODI on December 1 and the first T20I on December 4 will take place at Canberra’s Manuka Oval, before the teams return to Sydney for the final two T20Is at the SCG on December 6 and 8. A pink-ball Test is scheduled to be held at Adelaide Oval between December 17-21, with Adelaide also the backup option for the Boxing Day Test should the Covid-19 situation not allow it to be held at the MCG. Otherwise Melbourne will be the venue for Boxing Day (December 2630) followed by Tests in Sydney (January 7-11) and finally Brisbane (January 1519). CA and NSW were able to
reach a quarantine and training agreement in a matter of days after interminable talks between CA and the Queensland state government and health department ran into a fifth week with no resolution in sight - largely due to the fact Queensland Health seemed reluctant to agree to allow quarantining cricketers and staff to travel from the central Brisbane hotel CA had chosen to be able to train at Allan Border Field in the suburb of Albion. Instead, after rapid talks between CA, the NSW government, Destination NSW (chaired by the former Cricket NSW chairman John Warn) and the SCG Trust chaired by Tony Shepherd, the men’s international season will commence in Sydney. Shepherd’s interest in accommodating some extra cricket at the SCG arose more or less as soon as Sydney lost out to Brisbane for hosting the AFL Grand Final last month, although his initial thoughts were believed to be around stepping in to host the Boxing Day Test in place of a locked down Melbourne. Shepherd’s interest, alongside the SCG Trust chief executive Kerrie Mather, was aided by the fact that relationships between the Trust and Cricket NSW have improved immeasurably in recent times after years of frosty relations. The ground’s standing in the eyes of CA,
meanwhile, was raised enormously last summer when its staff worked around the clock to successfully stage both the Big Bash League final and the women’s T20 World Cup semi-final in the face of wretched amounts of rain. The latter game ensured Australia would reach the showpiece decider at the MCG. Provisions for quarantine in Sydney’s Olympic Park, with Cricket NSW’s ample training facilities nearby, had already been pulled together ahead of the WBBL being hosted entirely in Sydney, and the gridlock between CA and Queensland Health opened an opportunity. The NSW tourism minister, Stuart Ayres, a former sports minister in the state, was heavily involved in getting the process moving at a pace after CA formally submitted plans on Monday. The connection of government, cricket and business networks in NSW ultimately proved crucial. Up to that point, CA had appeared to run afoul of circumstances in Queensland where the state government is less than two weeks away from an election, having kept its borders tight all year due to Covid-19. Though CA and the state government had already worked together on the successful staging of Australia’s women’s whiteball matches against New Zealand at Allan Border Field, there was far greater difficulty
The tour involves three ODIs, three T20Is and four Tests Getty Images in approving arrivals from out of the IPL bubble in the UAE. After the Western Australia state government blocked CA’s initial approaches to start India’s tour and also accommodate the Australian players returning home from the IPL
in the UAE, the interim chief executive Nick Hockley had turned next to South Australia, whose state government allowed for the non-IPL component of the national white-ball squad to quarantine at the Adelaide Oval Hotel after the England
tour. This arrangement was thought to be ideal for India’s tourists also, but the SA government then baulked at the possibility of being the first port of entry for a far bigger party of overseas tourists.
England’s white-ball tour of South Africa to go ahead in November
ATP roundup: Humbert stages upset in Antwerp Ugo Humbert
France’s Ugo Humbert saved 10 of 12 break points Wednesday in a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 upset of No. 2 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain at the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium. Humbert, who squandered a 5-2 lead in the opening set, fought off four break points in the deciding set to win in two hours and 33 minutes. No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria rallied to beat Spain’s Pablo Andujar-Alba 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. No. 5 Milos Raonic of Canada struck 17 aces and won 40 of 44 first-service points in a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win against Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene. No. 7 Taylor Fritz withstood 19 aces by fellow American Reilly Opelka in a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win. No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2.
England played three one-day internationals and three Twenty20s in South Africa in February. (Getty Images)
b e t t 1 H U L K S Championship - Top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany moved into the quarterfinals in Cologne, Germany, with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 win against Australia’s John Millman. Zverev offset 10 double faults by saving six of seven break points and will next face No. 8 seed Adrian Mannarino, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.
Fifteen aces helped No. 5 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime pull out a hard-fought 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) victory against Egor Gerasimov of Belarus. No. 7 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany breezed past Italy’s Marco Cecchinato 6-3, 6-1. Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina advanced with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over American Steve Johnson. (Field Level Media)
BBCsport - England’s white-ball tour of South Africa next month will go ahead after it was given the green light by the South African government. England will play three Twenty20s and three one-day internationals from 27 November, all behind closed doors. The team will travel to South Africa on 16 November, with games played at Cape Town’s Newlands and in nearby Paarl. It will be South Africa’s first cricket since the sport’s coronavirus shutdown and England’s first matches overseas. The South African government regards the UK as ‘high risk’ for coronavirus which had put the tour in
doubt. The England players and management have been granted exemptions to travel. They will be based in Cape Town and will train at Western Province Cricket Club, playing three intra-squad matches before the first T20. The three ODI matches will count towards qualification for the 2023 World Cup in India. England managed to complete their entire schedule of home men’s international cricket this summer despite the pandemic by playing matches in bio-secure venues. They are scheduled to play Sri Lanka and India early in 2021 but neither tour has been confirmed. Pakistan have also invited
England to take part in a short, limited-overs tour in early 2021. South Africa tour schedule Friday, 27 November first T20, Newlands, Cape Town (16:00 GMT) Sunday 29 November second T20, Boland Park, Paarl (12:30 GMT) Tuesday 1 December third T20, Newlands, Cape Town (16:00 GMT) Friday 4 December - first ODI, Newlands, Cape Town (11:00 GMT) Sunday 6 December second ODI, Boland Park, Paarl (08:00 GMT) Wednesday 9 December - third ODI, Newlands, Cape Town (11:00 GMT)
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Elite Euro-soccer league is Martin wins Vuelta mountain stage, Roglic stays in red an ill-timed challenge London (Reuters Breakingviews) - When your team is struggling, it pays to play safe. The owners of Europe’s elite soccer clubs appear to be doing the opposite by discussing a new super league amid a major financial crisis for the sport. The audacious move, as reported by Sky News, carries huge financial and political risks. It’s an old idea that has been given new impetus by Covid-19, which emptied stadiums, forced top clubs to give up some of their juicy broadcasting income, and pushed smaller teams to the brink. In theory, a new league with frequent megamatchups like Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona would draw bigger international audiences than the current arrangement, where they often play small local sides. According to Sky, JPMorgan would provide $6 billion of debt funding for the new league, which would
comprise up to 18 top sides. That would function as a bridging loan until the new broadcasting income lands, so that the FIFA-backed competition could offer clubs some guaranteed cash. It might not be enough. Assume that, as with the UEFA Champions League, 9% of incoming cash goes towards overheads. The amount guaranteed for each club, spread over a typical three-season package, would be about $100 million per year. That’s puny compared with the $315 million broadcast income Manchester United raked in over its 2019 financial year. The upshot is that big clubs might need more guaranteed cash to side with a project that could destroy their existing sources of revenue. Admittedly, the broadcast income might eventually surpass JPMorgan’s $6 billion guarantee. But owners like John Henry, who founded
Liverpool parent company Fenway Sports, would be taking a risky punt on that front. Europe’s pay-TV and telecommunication groups, the sport’s traditional cash cows, have been cutting spending on broadcast rights for years, while streaming giants like Amazon.com have only made tentative moves. Henry and other owners, like Manchester United’s Glazer family, also risk making themselves into political punch bags. The move would concentrate even more income into the hands of a few top sides, leaving behind a weaker domestic system that’s already under strain from the pandemic. Politicians might extract a price, such as windfall taxes on the big teams or enforced payments to struggling small sides. In other words, a European elite soccer league looks like a painfully mistimed tackle.
Tao Geoghegan Hart closes on Giro d’Italia lead after second place on stage 18 BBCsport - Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart rode himself right into contention to win the Giro d’Italia after finishing a superb second on a dramatic stage 18. The Ineos Grenadiers rider fought superbly up the Stelvio Pass, the hardest climb in the race which tops out at 2,757m, to claw back more than two minutes in the overall standings. Geoghegan Hart crossed the line just behind Sunweb’s Jai Hindley. The Briton trails new leader, Sunweb’s Wilco Kelderman, by just 15 seconds. Joao Almeida lost the pink jersey when he was dropped on the Stelvio after first Sunweb and then Ineos Grenadiers pushed the pace up the switchbacks of the towering climb in the Alps. Kelderman’s team-mate Hindley sits second, 12 seconds behind, with Geoghegan Hart in third. A new star is born - Not for the first time, the Stelvio cracked a famously unpredictable race wide open. With about 50km to go, as riders climbed up the famous ascent near Bormio on the Italian-Swiss border, the main contenders began to suffer in the cold temperatures. First, Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Almeida - who had held the leader’s pink jersey since stage three - started to fall to the back of the peloton and
Vinuesa, Spain (Reuters) - Dan Martin claimed victory on stage three of the Vuelta a Espana as early race leader Primoz Roglic of JumboVisma also put in a strong showing to remain in red on Thursday (yesterday). The 166km Lodosa to Vinuesa route featured two categorised climbs which ultimately decided the outcome of the stage. Israel Start-Up Nation’s rider Martin attacked in the last 200 metres of the final climb to Laguna Negra’s summit finish, holding off 2019 Vuelta winner Roglic of Slovenia and Ineos’s Ecuadorean Richard Carapaz in the battle to the line. “I’ve come so close to winning this year. I just really wanted to win a stage for this team because they’ve been so good to me,” the emotional Irishman said. “Obviously with the (back) injury at the Tour (de France), I couldn’t win a stage but I was really determined to win today. The team were amazing, and every single one of them played their part in the victory. “This win is partly for them and then partly for my wife, because this is the first time I’ve won a race since my kids were born and it’s really special.” On another unseasonably rainy day,
Dan Martin darts to Stage 3 win. which started with the news that French rider Thibaut Pinot had pulled out due to injury, there were multiple break attempts. However, hopes of a surprise win were extinguished as the peloton reeled them in on the opening slopes of the final climb. Colombian GC contender Esteban Chaves, part of the lead group, suffered a mechanical with just over four km remaining and his rivals made him pay as they pulled clear while he waited to change bikes and he has
slipped to eighth in the overall standings, one minute 29 seconds adrift of race leader Roglic. In a nip-tuck end to the climb, with gradients hitting double figures, several riders attempted to launch attacks but Martin’s well-timed move paid off as he claimed the stage win and cut Roglic’s overall lead to just five seconds. Friday (today is the first day for the sprinters, with a 192km flat stage from Garay to Ejea De Los Caballeros in Zaragoza.
Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking
Podium unchanged, Malta on the move Tao Geoghegan Hart joined Ineos in 2017. (Getty Images) was eventually dropped, as Sunweb sensed he was struggling and further upped the pace. But as Ineos joined in setting the pace, new leader Kelderman began to lose the wheels of Geoghegan Hart, 25, his Ineos team-mate Rohan Dennis and Hindley, Australian former world time trial champion Dennis led the rest of the effort up the remaining kilometres of the famous 25km climb, as ribbons of tarmac snaked around the snow-covered mountain. Hindley, the second Aussie in the trio, even came close to falling off his bike at one point trying put on a jacket, as he briefly rode uphill with no hands, before the freezing descent. Geoghegan Hart took over as the three descended, holding his nerve brilliantly over streams of melting snow.
Dennis, fell away as Hindley and Geoghegan Hart attacked the final climb, with Hindley finishing the stronger as Geoghegan Hart did most of the work in latter stages. Stage 18 result: 1. Jai Hindley (Aus/Sunweb) 6hr 3mins 3secs 2. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) same time 3. Pello Bilbao (Spa/BahrainMcLaren) +46secs 4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana) +1mins 25secs 5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Sunweb) +2mins 18secs. General classification after stage 18: 1. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Sunweb) 77hrs 46mins 56secs 2. Jai Hindley (Aus/Sunweb) +12secs 3. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +15secs 4. Pello Bilbao (Spa/ Bahrain-McLaren) +1mins 19secs 5. Joao Almeida (Por/ Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +2mins 16secs.
© imago images Qualifying games for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, the play-offs for UEFA EURO 2021, and UEFA Nations League fixtures were among the 120 internationals played over the last month, resulting in significant movement in October’s edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Guyana remains at 166. While the podium remains the same, the gap has narrowed between top-ranked Belgium and their immediate pursuers, France and Brazil, following the Red Devils’ loss to England (4th) in the UEFA Nations League – their first defeat since November 2018. However, there are changes to the Top 10: Spain (6th, +1) and Argentina (8th, +1) swapped places with Uruguay (7th, -1) and
Croatia (9th, -1) respectively. Further down the classification, Denmark (13th, +3), Algeria (30th, +5), Paraguay (35th, + 5), Morocco (39th, +4), Scotland (45th, +4), and Hungary (47th, +5) all progressed, with the Magyars breaking into the Top 50 at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (51, -1). The biggest climber this month was Malta (180th, + 6), who jumped six places courtesy of victories over Gibraltar (195th, unchanged) and Latvia (142nd, -5) and a draw with Andorra (145th, -8). Also worthy of note is the progress of Ecuador (60th, +4), Panama (77th, +4) and Israel (88th, +5). The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 26 November 2020.
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Europa League: Arsenal fight back to beat Rapid Vienna BBCsport - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said there is more to come from “fantastic” Thomas Partey after the midfielder’s superb full debut in the 2-1 Europa League win at Rapid Vienna. David Luiz and PierreEmerick Aubameyang scored two goals in five second-half minutes after a Bernd Leno mistake had gifted Taxiarchis Fountas the opener to ensure the Gunners began Group B with a victory. But it was the performance of £45m deadline day signing Partey that stood out. The former Atletico Madrid player was a calm presence in midfield, breaking down attacks and building play with apparently effortless ease. It was only Partey’s second appearance in an Arsenal shirt after a late cameo in the 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in the Premier League at the weekend, and Arteta is excited by what is to come from the Ghana international. “I think he held the midfield by himself in the second half when we were a little bit more open,” said the Arsenal boss. “He started to take more chances attacking certain spaces with some players. “I think he was fantastic and there is much more to come from him.” ‘The best debut ever’ pundits praise Partey - For a long time in this game, the performance of Partey was the only highlight. The midfielder oozed class, breaking up play with welltimed tackles, getting the ball forward with calm and accurate passes and being alert to any danger posed by the hosts. Partey made a particularly
David Luiz got Arsenal back on level terms after they briefly went behind on Thursday night against the Austrian side crucial intervention in the first half when he prodded the ball from under the feet of Fountas as the Rapid Vienna forward was about to shoot. BT Sport pundit and former Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves described it as “one of the best debuts I have ever seen”. “He is a key ingredient of what Arsenal have been missing for years,” former England and Chelsea winger Karen Carney, commentating on the game for BT Sport, added. “He has a knack of breaking up play and keeping the momentum going. He is pure class. He is versatile and tactically astute, gives more balance and is technically
very good. “He is brilliant and Arsenal fans will be overjoyed to see him in this team.” Roofe scores stunner as Rangers win in Liege Rangers earned a first away victory in the Europa League group stage under Steven Gerrard after Kemar Roofe’s outrageous halfwayline goal capped off a fine win in a rain-soaked Liege. The Ibrox club rode their luck at times after James Tavernier’s 19th-minute penalty broke the deadlock. Jackson Muleka twice headed against the bar in the first half and Standard pushed for a leveller after the break. But Gerrard’s men held firm in front of more than 3,000 fans in Belgium. Poland’s Lech
Poznan travel to Glasgow next Thursday for the second game in the section, having started their campaign with a 4-2 home defeat by Benfica. Leicester 3-0 Zorya Luhansk - James Maddison delivered a huge boost to Leicester with a performance that hinted he is close to his best again after months of injury frustration. The England midfielder was on target along with Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho as the Foxes began their Europa League campaign with a routine win over Zorya Luhansk. Maddison’s absence for much of the post-lockdown period, due to a hip problem, may have cost Leicester their
place in the Champions League. Even though he scored a brilliant goal in the 5-2 win over Manchester City, this was the first time this term that Maddison has looked match sharp. Tottenham Hotspur 3 LASK 0 - Striker Carlos Vinicius shone on his debut as Tottenham comfortably defeated Austrian side LASK in their opening Europa League Group J match. The 25-year-old Brazilian, on loan from Benfica, set up Lucas Moura for the opening goal in the 18th minute before his cushioned header for Son Heung-min resulted in Spurs’ third. Vinicius might have
scored the second goal, but Gareth Bale’s low ball from the right intended for him was inadvertently turned in by LASK left-back Andres Andrade. Substitute Dele Alli came close to adding another, but his shot was partially blocked by the arm of goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, who then had to hook the ball off the line. Thursday 22nd October 2020 results: Young Boys 1 Roma 2, Dundalk 1 Molde 2, Rapid Vienna 1 Arsenal 2, B Leverkusen 6 Nice 2, Hapoel Be’er Sheva 3 Slavia Prague 1, Lech Poznan 2 Benfica 4, Standard Liege 0 Rangers 2, PAOK Salonika 1 Omonia Nicosia 1.
QATAR 2022
UEFA preliminary draw for FIFA World Cup 2022™ to take centre stage on 7 December FIFA - With FIFA World Cup 2022™ preliminarycompetition action already under way in Africa, Asia and South America, UEFA’s 55 member associations are eagerly looking ahead to the start of their own race to reach Qatar 2022, with 13 berths available. Their anticipation will be heightened on 7 December, when the preliminary draw will take place at 18:00 CET in Zurich. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, the ceremony will be held as a virtual event without the presence of member associations’ representatives.
Europe’s road to the FIFA World Cup 2022 will feature a group stage comprising five groups of six teams and five groups of five teams. All teams within a group will play each other twice in a homeand-away format between March and November 2021. The ten group winners will qualify directly for Qatar 2022, with the ten runners-up advancing to the play-offs. Besides the ten runnersup from the group stage, the play-offs will also include the two best group winners from the UEFA Nations League 2020-2021 overall ranking that did not qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and did
not enter the play-offs as runners-up. The 12 teams will be split into three play-off paths, which will feature single-leg knockout matches in March 2022 to determine the last three European nations to book a place in Qatar. Pot allocation - For the sake of the preliminary draw, the 55 participating teams will be allocated to six pots – five containing ten teams and one containing five teams – based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of 26 November 2020. The ten highest-ranked teams will be allocated to Pot 1, the next ten highest to Pot 2 and so on until the last five remaining teams have been allocated to Pot 6. The teams drawn will be
© Getty Images allocated to a group in alphabetical order, from Group A to Group J (i.e. the first team drawn will be allocated to Group A, the second team to Group B and so forth). When a draw constraint applies or is anticipated to apply, the
team drawn will be allocated to the first available group in alphabetical order as indicated by the draw constraint programme. As Pot 6 will only contain five teams, these teams will be drawn into the sixth position
in groups F to J. Live coverage on FIFA.com - Fans around the world will be able to follow the draw live on FIFA.com and through FIFA’s broadcast partners. To date, 146 out of 900 FIFA World Cup 2022 preliminarycompetition matches have been played and 191 teams remain in the race for one of the 31 berths that are still up for grabs. Hosts Qatar have qualified automatically and will kick off the tournament on Monday 21 November 2022 at 13:00 local time (11:00 CET) at Al Bayt Stadium. Further details on the FIFA World Cup 2022 preliminary competition are available on FIFA.com.
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Holder takes three, Pandey and Shankar dominate as Sunrisers Hyderabad keep playoff hopes alive ESPNCricinfo - Manish Pandey’s counter-attacking 83 not out off 47 balls, studded with four fours and eight sixes, nullified Jofra Archer’s opening burst in the second innings as the Sunrisers Hyderabad beat the Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in Dubai. The win - their first in five attempts while chasing in IPL 2020 - lifted them to the fifth spot on the points table. While the Royals too have eight points, but at 11 matches they have played one more than the Sunrisers, and have therefore slid further away from playoff qualification. After being put in, the Royals struggled to get going and could manage only 154 for 6, the lowest firstinnings total by any team in Dubai this season. A big reason for that was Jason Holder, who came in for the injured Kane Williamson and picked up a three-wicket haul. The Sunrisers didn’t have a great start to their chase either. Archer sent back David Warner and Jonny Bairstow by the third over but those turned to be the only two wickets the Royals managed in the whole game as Pandey and Vijay Shankar - who struck an unbeaten 51-ball 52 - added an unbeaten 140 for the third wicket and took the side home with 11 balls to spare. Uthappa run-out breaks Royals’ momentum - After managing only nine in the first two overs, the Royals looked to step up with Robin Uthappa hitting Sandeep Sharma for a six and a four in
the third over, but his innings was cut short by a brilliant piece of fielding. Ben Stokes looked to dab Jason Holder on the off-side but the ball hardly went off the square. Uthappa was keen for a quick single and charged towards the other end with Stokes barely moving. Holder was quick to the ball and nailed the direct hit at the bowler’s end to find Uthappa short. Sanju Samson though hit Sandeep Sharma for back-toback cover-driven fours to keep the Royals ticking. It looked like it was going to be his night, especially when he pulled Holder over deep midwicket for a six in 12th over but Holder cleaned him up next ball with an offcutter for a 26-ball 36. Stokes fails to cash in on early luck - Stokes was 13 off 11 balls at the end of the fifth over and was trying to break free. One such attempt against Shankar fell just short of the deep-backward square leg. Two overs later, he tried a reverse sweep against Rashid Khan that bounced in front of deep backward point. On the last ball of the same over, Shankar put him down while running to his right from deep square leg. Stokes, though, failed to utilise those chances and was finally bowled for a 32-ball 30 by Khan. Holder’s strikes keep Royals in check - Royals were looking at Jos Buttler to provide impetus to the innings but once he fell for 9 off 12, Steven Smith looked to take charge but holed out to long-on off Holder while
trying to dig out a full delivery. Riyan Parag, who had hit T Natarajan for 4, 6, 4 in the previous over, then mistimed a slower short ball to a backpedalling Warner at mid-off to give Holder his first threewicket haul in T20s since 2015. It took a four and a six from Archer in the 20th over pushed the Royals past 150. Archer gets Warner and Bairstow - Before this game, Archer had dismissed Warner five times in six innings across formats in 2020 while leaking only 28 runs off 41 balls. On Thursday, Warner lasted only four balls against the pacer. After beating him on the first two balls of the innings, Archer drew an outside edge that flew over Rahul Tewatia at first slip. Next ball Archer found the outside edge once again. This time the ball flew knee high to the left of Stokes at second slip, who dived full length to complete the catch. Bairstow too had no answer to Archer’s pace as a 149kph length ball found its way through the gap between bat and pad to leave the Sunrisers 16 for 2 at the end of three overs. Pandey’s counter-attack nullifies early impact - With no Williamson in the side, there was a case for Archer to bowl a third over in the powerplay but the Royals decided against this. That allowed Pandey to counterattack his way to pull the Sunrisers out of the trouble. He was one off five balls before he hit Kartik Tyagi for consecutive fours. Stokes replaced Archer from the other end but he too wasn’t spared.
Aliann Pompey elected as EXCO member of World Oympians Association Guyana’s four-time Olympian; Aliann Pompey, was yesterday elected as an Executive Committee Member of the World Olympians Association with responsibility for female athletes in the Americas over the next four years, following the Association’s virtual General Assembly. Speaking with Kaieteur Sport following her election, the U.S. based former 400m specialist shared that, “I’m thrilled and honoured and I look forward to working with the various member nations of the Americas in making sure our region continues its pattern and history of success.” Pompey received the nod against the head of the Barbados Olympians
Association; Frieda Nichols, who is no stranger to her and she posited, “I want to thank Frieda Nichols who I ran against. She has been one of the most instrumental people in assisting me over the years, giving me a lot of advice and I owe a lot of my successes to her. The St. John’s University Coach expressed special thanks to President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), K.A. Juman-Yassin and GOA Committee Member G e o f f r e y S a n k i es who nominated her for the post. Pompey, who is also the head of the PANAM Athletes Commission, continued, “I am happy for this moment and I look forward to representing the Golden Arrowhead well
and I will work really hard to ensure that wherever Guyana is present, the idea will be that integrity is in the room, which I hope will create opportunities for other Guyanese to succeed.” Yassin, said Pompey’s position on the World Olympians Association is a huge accomplishment not only for herself but for Guyana as well. He shared, “I am elated at the Aliann Pompey’s election. She has served Guyana well as an athlete. Aliann has a wealth of experience being the head of the Panam Athletes’ Commission and she is actively involved in helping many young Guyanese athletes. I am certain that she will do well.” (Calvin Chapman)
Vijay Shankar goes inside out over extra cover ©BCCI A half-volley on the leg stump was whipped over deep square leg. When Stokes tried a bouncer, Pandey pulled him over deep midwicket off the front foot. Tyagi came in for more punishment in the next over as Pandey struck a four and two sixes to take the Sunrisers to 58 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. By the end of the ninth over, Pandey had brought up his fifty, off just 28 balls. Shankar proves the
perfect foil - Earlier in the day, Shankar had registered figures of 1 for 15 from his three overs. With the bat, his 10 off 18 at the halfway stage in the chase looked unattractive, but with Pandey going at a much higher tempo from the other end, he just needed to stay in there. The successive insideout fours over cover off Shreyas Gopal helped Shankar turn things around. So much that when Smith brought Archer on for his
fourth over - the 16th of the innings - Shankar hit his first three balls over mid-off, over mid-on and over the bowler’s head for a hat-trick of fours. Pandey collected two sixes more in the next two overs before Shankar sealed the game with a pulled four off Tyagi in the 19th over. Sunrisers Hyderabad 156 for 2 (Pandey 83*, Shankar 52*, Archer 2-21) beat Rajasthan Royals 154 for 6 (Samson 36, Stokes 30, Holder 3-33) by eight wickets.
Shepherd plans to make full use of unexpected opportunity; replaces injured Bravo for NZ Tour Guyanese Fast bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd has been selected to replace Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo for to West Indies Tour of New Zealand which begins on November 27 with a T20 contest. The tour, which will be played in a bio secured environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will include three T20s and Two Tests and concludes on December 15. Bravo will also miss the remaining matches in 2020 IPL being played in the United Arab Emirates (UEA) after he suffered a groin injury. Shepherd expressed his disappointment in not being picked in the initial squad and promised to make full use of his unexpected opportunity. “Yea I was disappointed, more with myself that I didn’t get more wickets in the 2020 CPL and
pick myself in that squad. But at the same I was pleased with the way I bowled, my economy rate was great and I always tell myself once I am not getting wickets ‘don’t let the batsmen score easy runs’ and I managed to do that excellently” Shepherd informed. “I am very pleased to be back in the T20 Squad and it’s just about me going there and being confident and believing in myself and continue to do the work that I normally do well” the Berbician who plays for New Amsterdam team Tucber Park, continued. Shepherd who has two wickets for the West Indies in T20 Internationals from two games since making his debut in January of this year against Ireland, said he planned to make the best use of this unexpected opportunity. “My plans for the New Zealand tour are simple…just
to be focused, play each situation in front of me and take one ball at a time whether I am batting, bowling or fielding” concluded the fast bowling all-rounder who turns 26 on the day before the New Zealand Tour starts. Shepherd was not selected by the Roger Harper led selection panel for the recent Test and ODI Tour of England although fellow Guyanese Keemo Paul, one of three players selected, were unavailable due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. He has taken 72 wickets and made three fifties in 23 First-Class matches since making his debut against Jamaica in 2017 while he has taken four wickets and scored 15 runs from five ODI games for West Indies since his debut in November 2019 against Afghanistan.(Sean Devers)
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Friday October 23, 2020
Kaieteur News
World Test Championship
ICC plans to split points for Covid-19-affected games to complete cycle ESPNcricinfo - The ICC is considering splitting points for unplayed games in the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, as it prepares to host the final in June next year. That is one of two options to be considered by its cricket committee next month, on how to manage the points system in a league disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic; the other option considers only those matches actually played by the end of March and bases final positions on the percentage of points sides have won from those that they’ve contested. The aim is to have clarity in place by the time the next WTC commitment begins, with West Indies’ two-Test series in New Zealand in December this year. Any decision from the cricket committee would have to be signed off by the chief executives’ committee.A significant number of Tests have been postponed this year because of the pandemic. In many cases, it isn’t clear when they might be rescheduled to, let alone
Only India and England have a realistic chance of playing all six of their WTC series Getty Images whether they can be squeezed in within this WTC league cycle, which concludes at the end of March 2021. That has thrown an already imperfect league structure - where sides play a different number of total Tests and not every side plays the other - into further
complications. But, as the decision has been taken to conclude the league and play the final, what could be described as the “least bad” option is being sought to account for the impact of the disruption on the points table. Splitting the points would be within the regulations as they stand, whereby all Tests
in the cycle that can’t be played (through no fault of either side) are deemed draws. In that scenario, both sides receive a third of the points available for a Test (120 points are available for every series). Basing it on percentages of points played for would require a tweak to existing regulations. There remains hope that a substantial number of the remaining commitments until the end of March will still go ahead. New Zealand, for example, have a full home summer, and South Africa are aiming to host Sri Lanka and Australia between now and next March. For now, Pakistan expect to host South Africa in January-February. Australia, England and India, meanwhile, will complete their commitments against each other by the end of March. As things stand, however, only India and England have a realistic chance of playing all six of their respective WTC series. For England, that depends on whether their Sri Lanka tour goes ahead. Pakistan can play
six series but one against Bangladesh wouldn’t have been completed. Neither option is likely to feel satisfactory, not least for a side like Bangladesh, who could end this cycle having only played three of their six series. But a resolution is necessary given the push to complete this first WTC cycle. It was only last week that it emerged the final was going ahead at Lord’s in June next year, when Tom Harrison, the ECB CEO, said his board had been in discussions with the ICC about its staging. That was the culmination of a few weeks of communications between the ICC and its members, in which some boards preferred to see the final postponed and others the cycle completed. One of the concerns cited by those wanting postponement was about the integrity of a league in which a final is held without all games in the runup to it being played. Those in favour stressed the importance of completing the inaugural cycle of a tournament that had unanimous backing when
conceived, even with imperfections. Postponement was the favoured option, though when practicalities were explored, a workable alternative could not be found. The lack of space in the calendar, in fact, is one of the driving reasons why there is keenness to ensure a final takes place next June and the first cycle of the league is officially completed. Soon after the final, the second WTC cycle starts with India’s Test series in England. After that, preparations - and attention - turns to the T20 World Cup in India and the year ends with the Ashes in Australia. Apart from the oddity of completing the first season of a league while the second is ongoing, there is a worry that between these high-profile events and series, the impact of a first World Test Championship final will be lost. With this in mind, and based on feedback from those in favour, the decision was taken to push ahead with the final.
Kaieteur News
Friday October 23, 2020
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BCB starts planning for historic Semi- Professional Tournament in 2021 The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) earlier this year had unveiled plans to host a historic SemiProfessional Tournament. Sadly, the BCB was forced to temporarily shelve those plans due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The BCB’s 2020 season was suspended in early March and would likely restart until the second quarter of 2021. The board has used the last eight months to put into place several plans with the objective of hitting the ground running whenever the Government gives the green light for sports to restart. The BCB has been involved in a Covid-19 response effort, countywide coaching programme, securing sponsorship, assisting clubs and youth players with cricket gear, equipment along with hosting several meetings with Government officials. BCB President Hilbert Foster is heading a special
committee to make sure that the proposed SemiProfessional Tournament is successful. The tournament for the first season would be played on a knockout basis with twelve teams. The teams selected are Combined Upper Corentyne, Port Mourant, RHT Namilco Thunderbolt Flour, Albion, Rose Hall Canje, Young Warriors, Tu c b e r P a r k , P o l i c e , Blairmont, West Berbice, East Bank Berbice and Berbice River. It would be the first time that East Bank Berbice and Berbice River would be playing in a BCB first division tournament. Foster disclosed that each player and team official would receive a stipend per match with the amount rising for every match in the tournament. A combined prize package of $1M is been proposed with the winner taking home $500,000.00. The grounds to be used
are Albion, No. 69 Vikings, Rose Hall Canje and Port Mourant while two matches would be played at one v e n u e p e r d a y. T h e organisers are expected to cover the cost of balls, transportation, meals, umpiring and scoring while the finals is expected to be broadcast live via Facebook and radio. Foster disclosed that clubs, if they so desire can have one non-Berbician player. One of the highlights of the tournament would be a Say No/ Say Yes campaign by the twelve teams. The main objectives would be to get youths to Say No to Drugs and Yes to Education. The BCB President expressed confidence that all of the plans would fall into place. Foster and his executive have already met with incoming Honorary Patron Vickram Bharrat, who committed himself to making the tournament a success. Meetings with
potential sponsors would start shortly and Foster disclosed that several major companies have already indicated great interest. Funds raised from the hosting of the tournament would be used to expand the C o u n t y ’s c o a c h i n g programme, assist weaker first division clubs and players as well as host the regular tournaments at the junior, female and senior levels.
Hilbert Foster - BCB President
Aliann Pompey
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Aliann Pompey elected as EXCO member of World Oympians Association Manish Pandey brings up a personal landmark ©BCCI
Jason Holder celebrates a breakthrough ©BCCI
Shepherd (left) replaced Dwayne Bravo in T2O Squad to tour New Zealand.
Shepherd plans to make full use of unexpected opportunity; replaces injured Bravo for NZ Tour
Europa League:
Arsenal fight back to beat Rapid Vienna
Lucas Moura (right) celebrates his goal with Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale (left)
Holder takes three, Pandey and Shankar dominate as Sunrisers Hyderabad keep playoff hopes alive
England’s white-ball tour of South Africa to go ahead in November Tao Geoghegan Hart closes on Giro d’Italia lead after second place on stage 18
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