Guyana Times - Monday 20,2020

Lawyers now granted essential worker status Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 4261

P12

THE BEACON OF TRUTH MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

PRICE

GECOM, APNU/AFC destruction of democracy: Day 49

Govt must not exploit COVID-19 to deny voters' will – Irfaan Ali …says Nagamootoo using Task Force as political tool Elections recount not essential, cannot go beyond curfew – Nagamootoo …overseas observers must quarantine at Govt facility for 14 days Page 3

$80 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Junior teachers not paid since P14 2019

Police destroy 5000 ganja P2 plants in Berbice River

Page 13

…measures could see activity stretched out for more than 44 days

Gunmen terrorise, rob elderly Corentyne couple

GECOM Chair should reject Nagamootoo's "ridiculous" directives – PPP/C

Mother of 4 P2 arraigned for killing husband – claims she acted in selfdefence, solicits public assistance to post bail

Page 15

... protecting vested interest

COVID-19 patients decry substandard treatment at quarantine facilities …say situation is “overbearing”

Constitutional deadline to P10 reconvene Parliament “not mandatory” – AG

Page 15

Page 10

Lindeners P12 mourn loss of influential teacher to COVID-19 in the US

2 NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Mother of 4 arraigned for killing husband – claims she acted in self-defence, solicits public assistance to post bail

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pregnant mother of four is currently seeking public assistance to post bail in the sum of $300,000 after she was charged with murdering her abusive husband.

Thirty-two-year-old Sandra Brescenio, a housewife of Cannaballi Village, Region One (Barima-Waini) was charged for the heinous crime and granted bail by Magistrate Dylon Bess. The charge was read via Skype on Friday.

According to Brescenio,

she was at a church service when her husband, Clarence Williams, appeared and dragged her out of the event, demanding that she left in order to prepare his food.

She stated that this resulted in a heated argument between them during which she was choked. The now dead man had also threat-

Sandra Brescenio (Photo Credit: Big Smith photo)

ened to push her into a fire.

In fact, after she arrived home, the man reportedly started to threaten her again and in self-defence, she stabbed him twice to the groin with the kitchen knife she was using to clean fish.

However, after the stabbing incident, Brescenio fell into an unconscious state and when she awoke, she

saw her husband bleeding profusely.

She raised an alarm and he was rushed to seek medical attention, but he reportedly died on the way. The woman, who had been in the abusive relationship for several years, said she did not mean to kill her husband, but acted in self-defence after he tried to push

her head into the fire.

Brescenio is now behind bars as she does not have the money to post bail, so she is soliciting the public’s assistance.

Persons desirous of helping Brescenio can contact the United Bridge Builders Mission on 667- 4640 or via email at unitedbridgebuilders@gmail.com.

Police destroy 5000 ganja plants in Berbice River

Illegal firearm, ammunition found in garbage bin

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anks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) have unearthed an illegal firearm along with two live matching rounds of ammunition hidden in a garbage bin outside a residence at Kaneville, Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) on Saturday.

Based on information received, Police went to the location and conducted a search during which a .38 revolver and two live matching rounds were discovered.

No one has been arrested as Police continue their investigations.

The marijuana farm destroyed by the Police

The ganja plants before destruction

10-hour narcotics eradication operation conducted by ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) at Ebeni, Berbice River on Saturday saw the discovery and destruction of five thousand ganja plants ranging from 12 inches to four feet in height.

tity of suspected cannabis wrapped in several plastic parcels.

It was reported that ranks of the mobile patrol were acting on information received when they intercepted the motor car.

Upon searching the vehicle, the lawmen discov-

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In addition, a camp and a nursery with an estimated 3000 seedlings were also destroyed.

Also, on Saturday, ranks swooped down on a motor car on the Number 59 Village Public Road, Corentyne, Berbice and discovered a large quan-

ered 15 parcels of suspected cannabis, weighing 13.607 kilograms in total.

A 40-year-old driver of New Amsterdam, Berbice, who was the lone occupant of the vehicle at the time of the search, was arrested.

He is currently in Police custody pending charges.

NEWS

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MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Monday, April 20 – 03:30h – 05:00h and 14:30h – 16:00h and Tuesday, April 21 – 04:00h – 05:30h and 14:30h – 16:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Govt must not exploit COVID to deny voters' will – Irfaan Ali

...Nagamootoo using Task Force as political tool

Monday, April 20 – 15:20h – 16:50h and Tuesday, April 21 – 15:50h – 17:20h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times - 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

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Low Tide: 08:59h and 21:15h reaching minimum heights of 0.77 metre and 0.71 metre.

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People's Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Presidential Candidate Dr Irfaan Ali

P

eople's Progressive Party (PPP) P r e s i d e n t i a l Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali has lambasted the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) for its willingness to use coronavirus to hang on to power.

This follows caretaker Prime Minister Noses Nagamootoo instructing the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), a constitutional body, that it cannot extend its recount into curfew hours.

I n e x p l i c a b l y , Nagamootoo also informed GECOM that observers granted special permission to oversee the recount must quarantine for 14 days after arriving, again delaying the exercise. Ali, in his comments on the matter, pointed out that observers could have simply been asked to take a coronavirus test upon entry in Guyana.

"How can people who shamelessly occupy Government office speak about morality and good governance," Ali questioned.

"Everything since the NoConfidence has been to derail democracy and install a dictatorship."

"How can a decision to quarantine observers for 14 days be described as promoting democracy. Absolute nonsense, one must not use COVID-19 as a political tool to hang on to power. Why not ask the observers to have a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arrival?"

While this would seem the logical course of action, Ali posited that Nagamootoo and company did not think about this because it would not suit their agenda of delaying the election results.

"Beyond COVID-19 is the social and economic hardships our people are enduring. Jobs lost, hunger, depression, anger and to top it off an illegal bunch hanging on to power," the Presidential Candidate pointed out.

"The decision for the recount has already been made. The COVID Task Force cannot insert itself and outline conditionalities to delay and sabotage the process. It would be interesting to know who attended this COVID Task Force meeting when this decision was taken."

According to Ali, it all

comes down to principle and whether someone supports democracy or not. He urged that the Government desist from its "fanciful excuses and rain dancing" and "allow the will of the people to be respected."

Nagamootoo's instructions to GECOM came after GECOM Chairperson, Claudette Singh, informed the Commission that she had written to the caretaker Prime Minister and Chairman of the National COVID-19 Task Force with some specific requests.

These specific requests had related to the working hours for those taking part in the count.

According to Justice Singh, Nagamootoo had indicated at the time "that an urgent meeting of the Task Force would be convened to discuss same and a response

GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh

would be provided shortly.”

Singh had also communicated to the Commissioners on Friday that there would be no more than 10 work stations for the recount of the ballots cast countrywide during the March 2, General and Regional Elections.

This is despite one half

Caretaker Prime Moses Nagamootoo

Minister

of the Commission recommending 20 work stations in order to ensure the exercise can be completed in a timely manner. After a site inspection, GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj had been adamant that the Arthur Chung Conference Centre could accommodate 20 stations.

Ex-cop busted with 9kg ganja at roadblock

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n ex-cop was arrested on Sunday with nine kilograms of ganja at a Police checkpoint at the Berbice River Bridge.

Based on reports received, Police ranks intercepted a motor car at about 10:50h with the driver, who is an ex-cop, his wife, who is also an ex-police officer, and two children.

However, the ranks requested to conduct a search on the vehicle during which seven parcels of suspected cannabis were discovered.

As the driver was being cautioned of the offence, his wife reportedly fled the checkpoint in the car along with the two children.

As such, he was taken into custody and is assisting with the investigation.

The ganja found in the car driven by the ex-cop

Meanwhile, the vehicle was later found parked in front of the suspects' residence at No 2 Village, Canje, Berbice, and is be-

ing impounded at the New Amsterdam Police Station.

Efforts are being made to arrest the woman.

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guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Corruption in the time of COVID-19

E

ven when the lives of Guyanese are at stake during this COVID-19 pandemic that has already taken seven lives and climbing inexorably, the PNC continues to turn Lord Acton’s aphorism on its head. Corruption is now power and absolute corruption is absolute power. Their corruption is writ largest with the most blatant rigging exercise since the Ukraine government had voters use pens to mark their ballots in their 2004 elections with ink that became invisible in fifteen minutes.

The corruption of democracy does not end with the public comedy of errors that is unfolding for the world to see with the latest instalment involving the decision by Moses Nagamootoo that the recount is not “essential” enough to waive the curfew to expedite the exercise. The PNC operatives, in and out of government, who have to pretend that the lie is the truth soon cannot distinguish lies from truth.

The PNC would wish their supporters close their eyes to their corruption because, they insist, this is the only way to keep out the PPP, and of course, they cannot “allow” that to happen. Not only is the irony of equating democracy with measures to rig elections lost on the PNC’s supporters, so are their moral moorings as the immoral means inevitably transmute into immoral ends.

We can see this playing out in the “efforts” of the caretaker administration to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. There was the case of an order for medical HIV testing kits granted to a company without any bidding in 2015, delivered recently and found to be expired. Brought under the microscope, it was discovered that the same company had been granted a sole-sourced contract for respirators late last year. To deflect from its clear corrupt dealings, officials implicitly claimed they were ahead of the rest of the world on the respiratory challenges of COVID-19, which had just raised its profile in China.

But what takes the cake in corruption are the unfolding revelations coming out of the efforts to convert the Ocean View Hotel into a hospital to deal specifically with the expected wave of COVID-19 patients that simulations predict imminently. There was no public announcement of the decision and the country only learnt of the decision when massive dismantling activities were observed on the structure abutting the Atlantic Ocean just outside of Georgetown. Then after private individuals started to speculate on the costs the former Minister of Finance revealed that more than $1 billion would be spent on just the physical structure.

On one hand, one may concede there is certainly the need for a hospital to address the coming COVID wave, but the manner in which the decision is being executed raises red flags in the wake of a similar secret and unilateral decision to rent a pharmaceutical warehouse. The first question raises concerns on the ownership of the private facility into which so much money is being poured. What will be the ownership structure of the COVID Hospital?

The last owner of record of the Ocean View Hotel is revealed to be businessman Jacob Rambarran, who threw his hat into the political ring in 2015 as a candidate of APNU/AFC. The venture had been struggling after Rambarran acquired the facility in 2008, which was encumbered with hundreds of millions in debt to utility companies as well as the GNCB. It is still not clear whether these debts were ever cleared. The question has to be asked as to whether this is a billion-dollar bailout of a political supporter and former candidate.

Another question has to do with the location of the facility which has been subjected to persistent flooding and was completely inundated in the severe overtopping experienced in 2013. In addition to structural damage to the foundation a hospital cannot afford to be continuously under threat of floods. Finally, it is also understood that there was also no bidding for the rebuilding efforts and the major contractor is another PNC/APNU member.

PNC/APNU/AFC is corruption personified.

‘Key elements in Granger’s Administration are colluding with China for protection of personal gains’ Dear Editor, The APNU/AFC Government of Guyana dossier disseminated by Joe Harmon in the “capitals” of the world in a foolhardy attempt to defend the intransigence of the Granger Administration following the brazen/bizarre attempt at electoral fraud makes for interesting reading.

The dossier contains a narrative of PPP-China collusion and makes claims of a ten thousand-acre military base for the People’s Liberation Army and of granting citizenship to the point where Chinese are supposedly ten per cent of Guyana’s population, more than Amerindians! As with any document, however, it must be fact-checked and in so doing, I have come across some interesting bits of information that show a pattern of continuous and growing Chinese involvement in Guyana’s affairs under the APNU/AFC/Granger Administration.

In 2016, the Chinese officials presented a masterplan for the development of every sector of Guyana to a

team that included Raphael Trotman. Following this, a close relationship between the Government and Huawei developed and a costly Artificial Intelligence software and hardware has been installed in Georgetown and that includes facial recognition, phone tracking, licence plate tracking, and communications monitoring capabilities. This system has not been utilised to fight crime to date. It has been labelled the ‘Smart City’.

It is a public record that many of the top brass of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) have attended military courses in China and there have been unusually large donations of vehicles, weapons, and ammunition to the GDF. China is paying the entire cost of Guyana’s diplomatic team to the G77.

This team provides support for the Chairmanship of the Group which is held by Guyana.

I believe this act is a betrayal of the trust placed in our country by the G77 members and has blackened the country’s name for the fore-

seeable future. What price is Guyana paying for this benevolence? Who gave the green light to this subversion of our sovereignty? This must be answered forthwith.

China is the only country (of nine) to provide Agrément for a new Ambassador, all of whom were appointed shortly before the March 2 elections and which (Ambassadors) were asked to take up appointments by April 9, 2020. Canada and the UK are among the nations who have refused to accept the diplomats.

In 2019, senior officials in leading Chinese oil companies visited Guyana for a series of high-level meetings including a three-hour oneon-one meeting with Joseph Harmon. Kevin Granger (nephew of David Granger) who has emerged as the de facto Minister of Oil was involved in all talks and negotiations.

After the international condemnation of Mingo’s declaration, APNU/AFC elements took to social media platforms to denounce America and even posited that Exxon should sell its in-

terest to a Chinese company.

I believe key elements in Granger’s Administration are colluding with China for protection of personal gains made through corrupt practice. The use of Bart Fisher who “has represented the Government of the People’s Republic of China (19992000) on international trade matters… and Fisher currently is senior advisor for the CITIC Group, which is the third-largest enterprise in China” is no coincidence.

Editor, after doing the due diligence on this ‘dossier’, I can see why David Granger was so eager to distance himself from the contents and to disavow knowledge of the contents and the lobbying firm of JJ&B LLC. If Granger had not made such a mockery of the Commission of Inquiry tool, this dossier and the ChinaGranger connection would certainly be grist for that mill. Guyana’s sovereignty has been compromised clearly with the financing of the G77 team.

Sincerely, Robin Singh

Madam GECOM Chairman, take a positive stand Dear Editor, It was with utter disgust that I read Vincent Alexander’s scornful attempt to defend the internationally disgraced GECOM CEO Keith Lowenfield, captioned, there is no “Lowenfield proposal” – Guyana Times, Sunday, April 12, 2020.

What a mockery to the intelligence of the peace-loving Guyanese people, to Caricom (dark forces at work) and the international community.

Mr Alexander’s rush to cover for Lowenfield attracts a mountain of questions for which he will be forced to dig deep for suitable answers to carry on his charade of deception or he may very well choose to ignore them all. Some questions that are most mind-boggling - Why was he so pressured to defend Lowenfield?

Why not the GECOM Public Relations Officer or Chairman Claudette Singh?

Why not the condemned Keith Lowenfield himself?

What was so compelling for Alexander to jump to

Lowenfield’s rescue? Where is the correlation between Commissioner Alexander’s function and the GECOM Secretariat? Has he threateningly seized the functions of the GECOM Secretariat and PR duties? In the scheme of things, only a rigger mastermind would do it for his colleague in crime.

156 days for the recount of the votes cast on March 2, 2020, at the General and Regional Elections is another of the PNC’s new mathematical inventions like 34 is half of 65. Nigel Huges was then the tutor, now it’s Vincent Alexander. Shameless riggers! Never ceases to create means by which to remain illegally in Government.

It is a collective master plan at work, Lowenfield, the GECOM Secretariat, squatting Government Commissioners, Alexander, Trotman and Corbin that is the driving force for the stalling of the recount and therein lies the problem, they will never be the solution. The longer Lowenfield

has his Secretariat drag out a working proposal, the more Alexander will rise to his defence.

You see, in Alexander’s machinations of the 156 days for the recount, he did not envisage this level of massive outpourings of public outcry, aggressive criticism and onslaught on Lowenfield, written and spoken. Lowenfield has no defence because he was not the author of the proposal, it was Alexander’s proposal. Being the guilty mastermind, Alexander was spiked and felt bad for Lowenfield, hence the urge to defend him.

Public outrage at this time is at its highest, their lives have been taken for granted, put on hold and their rights brutishly trampled upon. They are fed up with the rigging games being perpetrated by APNU/ AFC coalition, aided and abetted by GECOM, they are now out front in the defence of democracy. There will be more and more public outcry

and challenges to the status quo.

When Alexander babbles about the words mischievous, malicious, ridiculous etc, those words are better appropriated to the description of the APNU/AFC coalition, Lowenfield and his Secretariat at GECOM, Alexander himself and his two co-conspirators on the Commission.

Alexander needs to come clean, say it, he is the author of the proposal. For once, he is honest when he said there is no “Lowenfield proposal”.

By that admission, he has taken ownership of the 156day proposal for the recount.

Claudette Singh is fast asleep in her dream world; she needs to be wide awake.

Madam GECOM Chairman, take a positive stand in the best interest of your countrymen and women, put an end to this APNU/AFC demonic plague that has stalked this land for too long.

Respectfully, Parasram Persaud

A few prerequisites for a transparent recount Dear Editor, The Madame Chairperson of GECOM may still be entitled to her sense of integrity. But these March elections belong to the electors, and the integrity of the ballots cast trumps the integrity of the Madame Chairperson.

As such, the electors, through their party representatives, must be allowed

to aptly participate in a recount. If this right is refused or reduced, it would in effect dig a hole into which the integrity of the ballots shall be interred.

Further, the opposition parties should be cautious not to facilitate a recount with their participation if the Madame Chairperson’s sense of integrity insists on using certain senior mem-

bers of GECOM, who have publicly demonstrated their complicity in subverting the tabulation process.

Finally, a recount ought to be made visible in real-time to the world, particularly if foreign observers are now (indirectly) barred from being on-site, unless they first submit to 2 weeks of quarantine, not at a hotel but a Government fa-

cility, upon entry into Guyana, even if they show no COVID-19 symptoms.

Strange request.

These are, arguably, but a few prerequisites for a transparent recount. The absence of any is an invitation to a pariah state.

Sincerely, Rakesh Rampertab

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

5

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Open letter to Madam Claudette Singh Dear Editor, We do not profess to understand all your powers, functions and challenges since you were appointed to Chair GECOM. Neither do we know your budgetary limitations.

We were shocked before when an old bed sheet was used as a screen and an entire work location moved instead of finding equipment to continue the tabulation at the original location.

This letter addresses the limited concerns that were gleaned from your email of April 17, 2020, which was widely shared. It reads in part that the decision of how many tables will be used for the recounting is “…subject to the availability of requisite equipment and the technology to display the ballots”.

In the style to which you are accustomed, we submit to you the following. Whatever is needed in terms of equipment, technology, or tables are available right in Guyana and can be donated by gener-

ous citizens who have been volunteering their time and resources to ensure that the results of the elections meet the standards set out in the law.

We suggest that you send out a plea locally for these to be loaned or gifted to the Commission so that it can complete its task within 10 days with as many counting stations as necessary. If these are not promised by local contributors within 24 hours of your plea for help please let us know and we will attempt to get it for you.

In anticipation that this may be considered an interference in the affairs of an independent nation please take note of certain facts.

According to the World Bank reports in 2010, about 56.6 per cent of the citizens (those born in Guyana) live abroad. More have left since and there is no dispute that more Guyanese live outside than inside Guyana.

Thousands of them returned to vote in 2020 as they did in previous

elections as implored by all political parties who come overseas often for donations and other forms of support.

Those who spent thousands of dollars and risked their health and safety to exercise their franchise have an interest in the election results. They usually receive these a few hours after voting.

An ad hoc group in the Greater Toronto Area sensed since December 2018 that there would be delays in the process of deciding which party will form the next Government.

After March 5, 2020, they foresaw that the opposition forces and all the international observers would constantly have to put up with inordinate delays and embarrassment even though they were invited guests.

Consequently, these Canadians and others interested in democratic principles have been communicating with Governments in their countries of residence asking for personal sanctions (instead of national

sanctions) against the few who are the riggers of the electoral process.

Secondly, these countries seem to threaten widespread sanctions only if and after there is an illegal process leading to the declaration of the next President.

These overseas Guyanese are so angry that they are bombarding their elected representatives with letters and petitions.

Over the years, Guyanese abroad have been helping the various political parties at home irrespective of which one forms the Government, to fulfil their social contract with the governed. Monetary remittances are not insignificant.

Neither are the barrels regularly shipped and constant voluntary contributions to health, education and social services. Some have even repaired their public schools, furnished them with books, computers and necessary educational materials. Food distribution and medical outreaches are other examples of frequent

The silence of “good” people Dear Editor, Apologetic: One of my core tenets of behaviour is respect – not to disrespect anyone or anything in the natural world. When I say or write something, it is with a deep sense of contemplation…

Signed: Justice Claudette Singh SC, CCH Impressive. To whom?

For whom?

This individual’s behaviour and action appear to be deliberate. Is it out of fear? Is she taking orders? If so, GECOM’s autonomy is jeopardised and nullified. Justice Claudette Singh SC, CCH, walks and speaks like a zombie. She has lost her voice and credibility, SC, CCH, notwithstanding. What an igno-

minious fall and tainted legacy! Sad. History will not be kind to her.

I deliberately omitted the names of Lowenfield and Mingo. They are not worth my time. Allegedly, they are political hacks and scoundrels, doing the bidding of their Leviathan master.

Moving on. Let’s dismiss the AFC for now.

They are like whores and harlots, dancing and frolicking, lecherous, parading, and seeking honour.

They have overspent their sojourn in the parlour of sin and depravity.

Moving on. The WPA, the party that once gave hope to the nation. Walter Rodney died (?), and the WPA died contemporane-

ously. The WPA is now a pretend paper party. My friend and colleague Josh Ramsammy once told me that the WPA has lost its way and has regressed into an African-oriented group.

I did not understand him then, but now realise what he meant.

To contextualise. Has any individual who claims affinity to the WPA commented on the disgraceful fiasco regarding GECOM’s ignominy? Except David Hinds confounding himself! What about Rupert Roopnaraine, Joycelyn Dow, Tacuma Ogunseye?

The great economist Clive Thomas?

Others like Morris Odle. In the diaspora: Eusi Kwayana, Rohit Kanhai, Moses Bhagwan,

Wazir Mohamed and others. Where are their voices? Muted? Muzzled? By what?

Their silence speaks volumes. Lest we forget, listen to the enduring and admonishing words of Martin Luther King, Jr: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

Whither thou goest: when honourable people prostitute their honour.

“This is a dark time, my love….”

lieve that when you said you fought Burnham for democracy and fair and free elections, you were lying.

What you fought for was the power for yourself just as you are doing now.

But you will not get it.

If you do not know, then let me tell you, your political career is not only in shambles, it is disgraceful and it has ended. You are becoming the most hated person in the country and the Diaspora. Anywhere you go, you will be picketed. Your silly actions have made it difficult for you to venture into the public after your political career is over. You were dishonest then and you are dishonest now.

If, according to you, APNU has won the elections, then you should be happy to have the votes recounted swiftly. But you

continue to put obstacles in the way of the recount. You are doing a disservice to the people and the country. You are hated on the Corentyne, including Whim village where you were born and you know it. That was the reason you could not have campaign on the Corentyne.

It is shameful what you are doing to the country.

You are holding an entire nation hostage for your personal political ambitions.

Moses, you are over 70 years, it is time to exit the political scene. For the past five years, you were clueless as to the development of the country. Granger relegated you to be the Prime Minister of the Chronicle newspapers because he did not trust you and he realised that you are visionless and have little competence.

That is why he placed

Harmon over you. To say the things you are saying and to act them out is nothing but ghetto behaviour.

Shame on you Moses.

Your deceit and your lust for power have left me no choice but to end our friendship. I am a principled person who has put the country first but you are not. Looking back, I believe that all that you have said in the past about the PNC and rigging elections and the PPP was to enhance your political ambitions.

You were not concerned about the poor people of the country, only Moses. Now it has ended. I will be writing a series of letters in the papers against your shaggy behaviour.

With regards, Concerned citizen

Open letter to Nagamootoo Dear Moses, You have done it again with your foolish statement to quarantine the international observers. It is a ploy to delay the recounting of the votes and steal the elections. I thought that you were a man of principle, but apparently, you are not.

This remains true today.

The same way you believe in the quarantine laws you should also believe in the Constitution.

The Constitution states that election results should be declared 15 days after an election is held. It is more than forty days since the elections and you have not said a word. Why are you silent?

The only reason is that you are only interested in power for yourself, which is selfish. narcissistic and pitiful. This leads me to be-

Sincerely, Dr Euclid Rose

charitable work.

You were the keynote speaker at one graduation ceremony at Saraswati Vidya Niketan, the private Hindu school at Cornelia Ida WCD, which had significant support of funds, equipment and supplies from North American friends. You will agree that it continues to be one of the top secondary schools in the country. These Guyanese are quite concerned about the inexplicable delays in the election results and are vigorously supporting the ACBE and other countries’ efforts to see this nightmare end.

Our only condition to help is not complicated.

We hope it is clear enough to avoid interpretation by the courts. We are donors who see no merit in expensive, unpredictable and time-consuming litiga-

tion. All equipment loaned shall be returned and all gifts must be used only in this process of recounting.

Some depreciation is expected.

We all hope common sense will prevail, creating a new path for the survival of this struggling democracy. It will be like a breath of Caribbean fresh air when this chapter of our sordid history is closed and we can all go on with as normal a life as permitted by COVID-19.

Finally, we expect the situation to change and we do not look forward to hearing from you.

Dear Editor, I refer to the letter from Mr Kit Nascimento, “Save our country from the awful consequences of dictatorial rule” (GY Times 4-18-20).

Mr Nascimento gave us a very succinct summary of the efforts of the PNC-led APNU/AFC cabal to rig the elections of March 2, after the Guyanese citizenry had voted peacefully and responsibly.

As has been pointed out, including by himself, Mr Nascimento has been involved in the politics of Guyana since the 1960s, starting out as a member of the United Force (UF) which was to enter into a coalition with the PNC in 1964 allowing the latter to form the Government that was to lead our country into independence.

However, even though it has been copiously documented that the elections

of 1968, 1973, 1980 and 1985 plus a referendum of 1978 were all massively rigged to give the PNC “victories”, David Granger and other members of the PNC had doggedly rejected that conclusion.

As an individual who was in the inner circles of the Government during those years, including being a Minister, I believe that Mr Nascimento has a duty to himself and the people of Guyana to set the record straight on the issue of PNC rigging, just as he has done for the present elections.

Confession is good for both the national and individual soul. And maybe in the lustration, Mr Granger might just possibly accept the futility of his present barefaced rigging attempt.

Sincerely, Ramnarine Sahadeo On behalf of many impatient and angry supporters of democracy in Canada and USA

Response to Kit Nascimento

Sincerely, Ravi Ram

6

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

Page

Foundation

Guyana Times is pleased to publish the Education Ministry’s National Grade Six Assessment Past Papers. This is the first part of English Paper 1, 2010.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

NATIONAL GRADE SIX ASSESSMENT TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes 1. WRITE YOUR CANDIDATE NUMBER ON THE ANSWER SHEET AND UNDERLINE THE SUBJECT. 2. This test contains 40 questions. You are required to answer ALL questions. Four responses are given for each question.

The responses are A, B, C and D. Only ONE response is correct.

ENGLISH

3. If you are not sure of the answer to a question, then choose the one which you think is BEST. On your answer sheet, draw a heavy black line through the letter you have chosen.

4. BE SURE THAT THE QUESTION NUMBER IN THE BOOKLET IS THE SAME AS THE ONE YOU HAVE USED ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET.

1. I am not allowed to watch________________ during the week.

(A) telivision (B) television (C) tellevision (D) tellivision 2. Mr Joseph is a very __________________man.

(A) religious (B) religous (C) relegous (D) relegious 3. It can be dangerous the____________________ at nights.

(A) cemetery (B) cemetary (C) cemetry (D) cematry

walking

through

In questions 4 to 6, choose the word that has the same meaning as the word underlined in each sentence.

4. John was surprised when he won the lottery.

(A) amused (B) amazed (C) happy (D) sorry 5 The guest speaker advised the members of the team to strive for unity.

(A) harmony (B) happiness (C) discord (D) friendship 6. We put the weak baby to lie near to its mother.

(A) strong (B) little (C) feeble (0) tiny

Here is an example done for you. letter next to the answer you have now 1. The capital of Guyana is chosen.

(A) Linden (B) Georgetown ANSWER SHEET A B C D 6. REMEMBER, each answer MUST only be shown (C) Rose Hall (D) Lethem by a heavy black line on your Answer Sheet.

A heavy black line has been drawn through the letter B on the answer sheet because 7. Remember only ONE answer must be provided Georgetown, the correct answer, is next to B. for each question.

5. If you make a mistake, erase the line cleanly, then draw a heavy black line through the

In questions 7 to 9, choose the best word to complete each sentence.

7. The Golden Arrowhead must be____________________ at 06:00 h everyday.

(A) flown (C) folded (B) raised (D) dropped 8.

The dormitory was constructed to____________________ two hundred children.

(A) entertain (B) harbour (C) accommodate (D) train 9. The salesgirl was unable to_______________________ the lady to buy the pink curtains.

(A) persuade (B) assist (C) trick (D) command In questions 10 and 11, choose the best word to complete each statement.

10. Someone who uses his power to oppress others is called a (A) traitor. (B) martyr.

(C) pilgrim (D) tyrant.

11. A person who goes to work while his workmates are onstrike is called a (A) hypocrite. (B) stalwart.

8. DO NOT TURN OVER THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.

(C) blackleg. (D) patriot.

In questions 12 and 13, choose the answer in which the word underlined has the same meaning as the word underlined in the sentence 12. Judging by her accent, I believe that she is a Guyanese.

(A) She wants to accent the room by painting it.

(B) On which syllable does the accent belong in the word wonderful?

(C) When you play that piece, you have to accent the first beat (D) Don’t you want to hear her accent?

13. My sweater is made of soft material.

(A) I am not interested in having lots of material goods.

(B) The material fact is that Donald was not at home.

(C) She looked for extra material to finish the bed sheet.

(D) The material needed to complete the building is expensive.

In questions 14 to 16, choose the correct verb for each subject.

14. The children (A) was (B) are (C) has (D) 15. John and his two cousins (A) practise (B) goes (C) is (D) plays 16. The onion (A) have (B) tastes (C) were (D) smell In questions 17 and 18, choose the correct function of the words underlined in the sentence.

Mother cooked the dinner so that we could be well fed.

17. We (A) noun (B) pronoun (C) adjective (D) adverb 18. Well (A) pronoun (B) adverb (C) adjective (D) preposition In questions 19 to 21, choose the sentence that is correctly written 19. (A) Between you and I, he is lying.

(B) The two of them is twins.

(C) Did you ever go there?

(D) She tell her not to go outside.

20. (A) My sisters job does not pay much (B) Do you want me to carry you with me?

(C) Neither him nor her will come.

(D) “Where did he go when he left?” asked Mother.

TO BE CONTINUED

NEWS

7

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Political parties demand elections recount be completed before month-end …want Mingo, other culpable Secretariat staff removed from process …call on GECOM to ensure Constitution not violated again

S

everal political parties that contested the March 2, General and Regional Elections almost two months ago are calling on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to make every effort to ensure that the Constitution of Guyana is not once again violated with regard the April 30, deadline for the reconvening of Parliament after its dissolution.

As such, the parties have proposed that since there has been no announcement of the hours of work as yet, “…we suggest that there should be two sessions of eight (8) hours each with one (1) break each for lunch and dinner.”

The parties that is-

Justice Party (LJP), The New Movement (TNM) and United Republican Party (URP).

According to the political groups “Having regard to the constitutional deadline, we urge GECOM and the Madame Chair [retired Justice Claudette Singh] to fix a deadline by which the recount should be completed so as to assure the nation that Guyana will not once again drift into unconstitutionality.”

The group used the opportunity to also publicly express its disappointment at the decision of the Chair of GECOM, that only 10 counting stations should be established for recounting the votes of the 10 regions.

sued the call over the weekend in a joint statement are A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana (CG), Liberty and

The position was communicated to Commissioners on Friday last by Retired Justice Singh, who had also at the time noted that the

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield

number of stations would be subject to the availability of the requisite equipment and technology to display the ballots.

Additionally, the GECOM Chairperson indicated that each of the work stations to be used at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) should tabulate its own results and that for security reasons, all the work stations should be located inside the Conference Centre building.

As such, the group in its joint missive urged that “more stations should be considered by the Madame Chair and, in any circumstances, there should be no less than ten (10).”

According to the political parties, “it cannot be consistent with good administration and the rule of law for more inordinate delay to

continue to frustrate the desire of the Guyanese people for an early end to the elections process which started on March 2 and, for all intents and purposes, would have ended on March 4, had the fraudulent activity not taken place on March 4.”

It was noted that the results are now six weeks overdue and “our partners in the international community, including the Commonwealth and the OAS [Organisation of American States], have noted the delay and urged a speedy resolution.”

The group said the public will recall that the court ruled that the first unlawful declaration of the Returning Officer (RO) of Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, was made with the involvement of several members of the GECOM Secretariat and the second declaration is under challenge by an action for contempt of court which is pending.

As such, it was noted that “having regard to the widely-publicised events surrounding these declarations, it is incumbent on GECOM to exclude the RO for Region 4 and the staffers of the Secretariat involved in these declarations to be excluded from involvement in the recount”.

Meanwhile, The Citizenship Initiative, another of the new political parties that contested the March 2, General and Regional Elections on Saturday called for an ex-

Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo

plicit commitment to a clear plan with a set timeframe for a recount, starting no later than today and being completed before “or not significantly after the constitutional deadline for a Parliament to be in place.”

TCI Leader Rondha-Ann Lam in a separate missive said: “It is unacceptable that after a relatively smooth process covering nine of the ten administrative regions, the Guyana Elections Commission has not operated in ‘significant compliance’ with its constitutional mandate to deliver fair, transparent, credible elections in the tabulation of Region Four nor in any of the remedial processes engaged in the wake of Clairmont Mingo’s incompetence.”

According to Lam, Guyanese “have been treated to postponement of meet-

ings to read judgments that were extremely clear, adjournment of meetings to consider basic documents, the full use of a four-day weekend, and time taken for the creation and adjustment of a recount plan that should have been in place a month ago when the recount was first initiated and a site visit to the same venue that was originally selected for the recount.”

This, she said, “from a Commission that has a statutory responsibility to deliver a final result before the constitutional deadline of April 30. No concern seems to be given as well to the fact that a pandemic is growing in this country, one that not only threatens any recount effort but one that needs a legitimate Government, credibly elected, in place to deal with it.”

She said the GECOM Chair’s most recent ‘intervention’, “one that we had hoped would have provided a definitive way forward, has turned out to be in keeping with the Commission’s behaviour as a whole.

She posited, “…whereas what was needed was a clear-cut plan of action with a definitive administrative strategy, a timeframe for action and assignment of personnel, the public was given a vague document that could be so widely interpreted as to allow a process even longer than the ludicrous 156day plan originally submitted.”

8 NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Money must be prioritised – Jordan on stimulus for economy

...says prepping facilities for COVID-19, other measures take precedence

A

number of countries have implemented stimulus packages for businesses and individuals to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, but according to former Finance Minister Winston Jordan, the country’s scarce resources have to be prioritised for other purposes ahead of a stimulus.

Jordan was at the time participating in a Zoom interview conducted by the Department of Public Information (DPI), when he was asked about his thoughts on a stimulus package for Guyanese.

However, Jordan cited the several infrastructural

fear the worse. It’s [over 50] cases and as we begin our mass testing, this may very well increase significantly,” he said.

“So more and more our resources, slender as they are in the best of times, will have to be reprioritised to fighting this virus frontally.

So, our attention is turned to that. We are looking for resources to assist in the public health sector.”

However, Jordan also explained that they are working to establish a database of the vulnerable people. He related that this database will include those who have lost employment and the self-employed.

The GBC building, now a white elephant, has been cited as one of the possible facilities for COVID-19 patients

expenses they will be incurring to combat COVID-19 directly. According to Jordan, these measures take precedence, considering Guyana’s scarce resources.

“Some people have suggested that the worst is yet to come. Hopefully, that is not so. But based on the rapidity with which the numbers have climbed within the last week and a half, we

“The [list of] vulnerable have expanded now. You have those who have lost employment. Those who may not have lost employment, but have lost significant parts of their income. You have the self-employed people, those who sell in front of the schools and various other places. Construction sites. You have the black pudding ladies. The itiner-

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

ant vendors, those who walk around selling. Maybe even the touts at the bus market, a lot of buses aren’t running.”

There is also welcome news for nurses and doctors, as Jordan noted that Government will be looking into risk allowances for them. This is in light of the fact that they are essential, frontline workers in the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have other, COVID type expenditure. On the human side, for example, we have our doctors, our nurses, other health professionals who are on the frontline.

They are facing grave risks where this is concerned. We have to look at things like risk allowances during this time, to help them face these risks,” Jordan explained.

“It is recognition that they are effacing serious issues there. So, we gotta find money to do that. Of course, we still have regular running costs. We have committed, publicly, that our public servants will be paid towards the end of the year.

That is a cost that will be significant. But we feel towards the human part of it

we must bear.”

Since coronavirus spread around the world, it has had a debilitating effect on the global economy and the way of life of millions. A case in point is the sharp reduction in demand for oil and the consequent slump in the oil price.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently released an assessment in which it ranked Guyana among the few countries in the region least prepared to deal with the effects of the coronavirus epidemic, particularly the negative effects it will have on the economy and tourism.

In the assessment, the IMF rated countries in the Americas from red (least prepared) to green (most prepared). Countries like the United States and Canada were in the green zone. However, Guyana, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras were not so lucky.

Neighbouring Brazil was considered more prepared than average, while countries like Columbia were rated as less prepared.

According to the IMF, the virus is likely to have immediate economic impacts in the region, including financial restrictions, declining commodity prices and reduced tourism.

Some measures have been taken by authorities in Guyana to slow the spread of the virus. These measures include a curfew, mandating that public transport slash the number of passengers they carry, closing schools and the Bank of Guyana interceding with local banks to make conditions favourable to allow customers to stay home and practice social distancing without a financial blowback.

In addition, the Finance Ministry had disbursed $120 million from the Consolidated Fund to the Ministry of Public Health.

This money was expected to go towards purchasing medical equipment to outfit quarantine sites and to also procure masks and oxygen tanks.

223-7230-1 (Ext 55)

Exploiting…

Y

…COVID 19 to rig our Eyewitness didn’t have to do any kinda analysis when he predicted yesterday that Claudette Singh’s decision to pass the buck on the elections recount to Nagamootoo was just another delaying ploy. He just had to use his nose: the decision stank to high heavens.

Why would she want to ask Nagamootoo what work hours she had to mandate for the count?? Didn’t she read the regulations to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic issued by the government?? Or did Lowenfield interpret them for her??

Once you separate the workers by the minimum distance and have them wear masks and gloves, there’s no reason they couldn’t work the two shifts that had been requested. “Essential services” are exempted from the 6pm curfew. Isn’t the count an “essential service” and therefore exempt? Well, Claudette had to know what Nagamootoo’s answer would be: a resounding “No!!”

After all, since early in the day, Nagamootoo had declared, “No recount!”. He’s been arguing that GECOM ought to declare the elections results from the Mingoed count submitted by Lowenfield. The PPP and other parties who witnessed the fraud right in front of their eyes should go the way of an elections petition to the courts. That this process would take years, of course, is just incidental!!

So not surprisingly, Nagamootoo ruled that if the counting personnel were to work after 6pm, they would be at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than those doing the same tasks under the same safety conditions, during the day!! Maybe he agrees with those who claim sunlight kills the virus? But couldn’t be that – even during the day, the count is indoors!!

But that wasn’t the only curve Nagamootoo threw – which was passed on to Claudette and the rest of the nation via his weekly Chronic column. He insisted that any oversees Observers would have to undergo a quarantine of 14 days – even if they’ve been tested and certified by their home country as COVID free!! Other countries’ testing, of course, aren’t up to the standards we’ve established under the direction of Nagamootoo’s Task Force!!

In one fell swoop, Nagamootoo thinks he’s pushed back the recount by another two months at least. But can one hope that Nagamootoo’s latter intervention was gratuitous since Claudette would’ve followed the recommendations of the Opposition parties for the validation by Observers of the counting process to be done remotely. If court cases, including the presentation of evidence, can now be done remotely, why not a recount of ballot papers??

But we know this is only another battle in the war of attrition to delay the count.

But the PNC should remember that time longer than twine!! …their crime If the PNC had an iota of concern for even their supporters – never mind the country – they’d drop this charade and (at worse) re-tabulate the SOPs from the ten regions to have the people’s choice of their government take over. (At best they’d just complete the Reg 4 tabulation.) Behind all their arguments – in the courts and out – why don’t the PNC show their SOPs? If they won, they’d be no argument.

The fact that they won’t do this simple act proves, in the mind of your humble Eyewitness, that the wankers have lost but don’t want to admit it.

Each of these SOPs were counter-signed by one of their representatives. If they suspect that the PPP stuffed some boxes in their strongholds where they mightn’t have had representatives – as some of their followers are NOW asserting – why didn’t they ask for those boxes to be recounted??

Heck, to save the country all this High Anxiety why not request this now?

For sure the Opposition parties would agree rather than a total recount!! …mutual backscratching Granger’s under attack even from within the PNC’s circled wagons. So here comes Hamilton Green to the rescue. Insists Granger’s a “statesman”.

Sure didn’t he award Green an OR and a monthly pension of $2 million smackeroos?

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

NEWS

9

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Commissioner slams interference with work of GECOM – after Nagamootoo tells GECOM not to extend recount hours past 18:00h

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aretaker Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo’s issuance of instructions to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that seek to limit their attempts to conduct a timely recount, has sparked outrage from Commissioner Sase Gunraj, who on Sunday criticised the move.

In response to a request for guidance from GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, Nagamootoo had instructed the constitutional body that it must restrict its recount to the hours of 6 am to 5 pm and that it must not extend the recount past the 6 pm curfew.

Nor is that all, as Nagamootoo had also warned the body that all persons, including observers, who are permitted special entry into Guyana for the recount must be quarantined for 14 days. Also, GECOM was directed to allow technical experts from the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) to do site visits and assess the arrangements put in place for social distancing.

While Gunraj was not surprised at Nagamootoo hindering rather than helping the process, he noted the necessity of GECOM not playing along with this game. According to him, the

GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj

GECOM Chair has played right into the hands of the “forces” that do not want a recount. In fact, he had drafted a missive to Justice Singh warning her of this.

“After receiving the now infamous email, I drafted a document that has not yet been released. It contains the following paragraph: ‘It should be noted that the tenor of the decision and the consequences likely to flow from it clearly panders to the ‘forces’ averse to the conduct of the very process and the very ‘forces’ responsible for the derailing of the electoral process so far.”

“This is in particular reference to the members of the Task Force whose political posture present a direct conflict of interest. This is in addition to the previous pronouncements by Moses

Nagamootoo on this issue.

It is my contention that the requisite decisions should be made by GECOM and merely communicated to the Task Force… Nagamootoo was always expected to jeopardise the process. He didn’t surprise the nation.”

Gunraj acknowledged the seriousness of the coronavirus, but posited that with political will and personal protection equipment (PPE) the recount can be carried out in a transparent and timely manner.

“I recognise the seriousness of COVID-19 and seek in no way to trifle with this.

But isn’t the resolution of our electoral process by providing credible results to our nation equally important? There are so many other activities being condoned at all hours during this curfew period. With the requisite PPE, proper layout and a genuine will and desire to have this recount process executed and completed in a timely manner, it can be achieved,” Gunraj also explained.

When Caribbean Community (Caricom) Chairwoman Mia Mottley had departed Guyana last month after a high-level team to supervise the recount was prevented by an injunction, she had alluded to forces in Guyana who do not want the votes counted. According to Gunraj,

Chairman Mottley

of

Caricom,

Mia

the forces have now struck again.

“I always believed that efforts would be made to stymie Caricom’s involvement in observation and oversight of the recount. This is evidenced by the delay occasioned to facilitate initiation of the court proceedings, fumigation of the venue and now this!” Gunraj stated.

“Why don’t the ‘forces’ come out and say they do not want Caricom involved?

So here we go again. The very people who conspired to thwart the will of the electorate now get an opportunity to be involved in the process by which it is restored?”

It has already been over a month of controversies and a credible winner for the 2020 General and

Regional Elections is yet to be declared. After two declarations from Region Four’s (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, which lacked transparency, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and caretaker President David Granger had agreed to have Caricom oversee the recount.

That agreement was derailed when A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) candidate, Ulita Moore, moved to the courts and secured an injunction against the exercise.

That injunction was discharged by the Full Court and later, the Full Court’s decision was upheld by the Appeals Court. GECOM has

Chairman of COVID-19 Task Force, Moses Nagamootoo

since re-invited Caricom, although there is no word on whether they will accept the invitation.

10 NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Constitutional deadline to reconvene Parliament “not mandatory” – AG

A

ttorney General Basil Williams believes provisions in the Constitution that deals with the reconvening of Parliament four months after its dissolution is a discretionary order and not a mandatory diktat.

Williams gave the legal opinion over the weekend in response to the Guyana Bar Association, which at the end of the week cautioned over not having a new Parliament reconvened

by April 30.

The legal interpretations come just days before the constitutional deadline—a result of the delayed declaration of the March 2, General Elections result.

The legal fraternity on Thursday berat-

said the delays are disgraceful and inexcusable.

In a strongly-worded missive that was widely disseminated to the media on Thursday, the Guyana Bar Association reminded that “Article 69 of the Constitution of Guyana mandates that, on dissolution, the next session of Parliament must commence no later than four (4) months from the end of the preceding session. The last session of Parliament was dissolved on December 30, 2019. The next session of Parliament must, therefore, begin no later than April 30, 2020.”

The Attorney General over the weekend contended, however, “The Bar Council had a duty to fully disclose that though Article

ed the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) over what appears to be a laissez-faire approach taken by the Secretariat in bringing finality to the elections and

69 of the Constitution provides that on dissolution the next session of Parliament must be convened no later than four months from the end of the preceding ses-

Attorney General Basil Williams

sion, the Court of Appeal of Guyana in 2006 upheld the decision of the Chief Justice Carl Singh, that the four months timeline was directory and not mandatory.”

He said Parliament was at that time convened not on the second day of September 2006, (four months after dissolution) but on September 28, 2006, almost five months later and that the Bar Council did not make any alarm about a constitutional abyss then.

According to Williams, “in the 2006 elections, there was no pandemic that required social distancing, nor court challenge before the declaration of the results of the elections as at present and the evidence showed a deliberate intention on the part of the PPP/C to ignore the four months’ timeline in Article 69.”

The Bar in expressing its

concern had reminded that “Guyana is a parliamentary democracy based on the rule of law” and “the absence of parliamentary oversight of those who purport to exercise executive powers, whether de facto or de jure, is of grave concern, as it places the rule of law under siege.”

According to the Bar, the Commission and its Secretariat must “do all acts and things necessary in the shortest possible time to ensure the accurate, cred-

ible and transparent declaration of the results of the General and Regional Elections held on March 2, 2020, so that the next session of Parliament can commence as constitutionally prescribed; that is, no later than April 30, 2020.”

The legal fraternity noted in its missive that effect can be given to the provisions of the Constitution for Parliament to be summoned by the constitutionally mandated timeline only if GECOM and its Secretariat

act immediately in a manner evincing transparency, impartiality and fairness.

His colleague, Chairman of the coalition Administration’s, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Task Force, Moses Nagamootoo had, however, compounded the situation when over the weekend he refused to allow GECOM to allow the recount of the March 2 General and Regional Elections to continue beyond the 18:00h national curfew.

COVID-19 patients decry substandard treatment at quarantine facilities

…say situation is “overbearing”

Meals that are being provided to COVID-19 victims at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre

P

atients suffering from the novel coronavirus and those who have been quarantined have raised concerns about the level of treatment being meted out to them, as they fight to eliminate the disease from their bodies.

One person, who is currently isolated at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre on the East Bank of Demerara (ECD), explained that while the idea of being in a quarantine facility is not debatable, the conditions imposed by health authorities are unacceptable.

The trauma of being kept with strangers was de-

tailed, noting that “imagine being taken away from the comfort of your home because of a disease that seems almost unavoidable, especially for an essential worker. Imagine having to deal with the trauma of having to be placed among strangers, not just strangers, ‘refugees’ that now seem to have more privileges and rights than you in your own country,” the person explained.

It was stated that on many nights, they are awakened by screams which are never silenced.

Complaints made to doctors are followed by reassuranc-

es that they will try to remedy the situation but it does not improve.

Meanwhile, there hasn’t been any Police presence, even though this was promised.

“Imagine being awakened at an average of 02:00h in the morning with a ‘splitting headache’ to sounds of Venezuelans moaning, screaming, beating the walls down and running around on the wooden floors of the Diamond Quarantine Facility. Shouldn’t you be getting the rest that you deserve to recover from this deadly virus?”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

11 Coronavirus cases jump to 65 NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

– 7th death recorded, identified as Linden resident

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onfirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have climbed by two more, resulting in a total of 65 cases – two more in two days.

The Public Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed that 322 persons were tested for COVID-19 with 65 carrying the deadly virus. From the positive cases, four (4) were placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 49 in institutional isolation and 21 in institutional quarantine. The number of recovered cases remain at 9.

One day before the new figures were released, a seventh person lost his life while battling the virus.

Sydney Trellis, a 49-yearold man from the Wismar Housing Scheme, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-

Former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence

Berbice), had reportedly shown up at the Linden Hospital Complex with the symptoms before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital

Corporation, where his condition was listed as critical.

On Saturday night, however, former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence announced his death in an update on the pandemic.

The visually impaired man was the first person to contract the virus in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). He recently accommodated several guests from overseas.

It is suspected that one of the visitors infected him.

Last week, the Region 10 administration started a contact tracing exercise after it was revealed that both of its COVID-19 patients were infected by someone they both knew and had contact with.

In a statement, Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Pansy Armstrong disclosed that after investigations of the two COVID-19 cases were completed, they realised that “both victims would have gotten infected by a known associate”.

Guyana’s last coronavirus death was recorded on April 7, when former army Colonel, John Percy Leon Lewis, died. The 77-yearold man was first admitted at a private hospital and after showing suspected signs

of the deadly virus, he was referred to the GPHC and admitted in the dedicated ICU where he succumbed.

The country’s first COVID-19 case was recorded on March 11 following the death of a 52-year-old woman, who died days after returning from New York.

She is considered an imported case and is listed as ‘patient zero’. Three of her relatives, who later tested positive, have since recovered.

Only Friday, Country Representative of the Pan America Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/ WHO), Dr William AduKrow warned Guyana against lifting the emergency measures too soon, noting that it could result in an exponential spike in the number of cases here.

In fact, he noted that if the measures are lifted as scheduled, then by midMay there could be as much as 5000 cases in the country.

Last month, PAHO/ WHO had projected that Guyana would record some 20,000 COVID-19 cases.

But the country representative explained that this projection was in the event

that the country did nothing to curb the spread.

He noted that the implementation of the curfews and restrictions has saved some 240 persons from contracting the virus and at least 25 deaths were prevented. It was project-

ed that by April 15, there would have been 295 cases recorded.

Globally, there are 2,160,207 cases with some 146,088 deaths. In the region of the Americas, there are 784,272 cases with 35,742 deaths reported.

COVID-19 patients...

The patient, who is also a health worker, expressed that they were given 14 days to recover from the virus. But with innutritious meals, it is unlikely that persons will fend off the deadly virus. Along with that, these meals are not distributed in time.

“I am supposed to recover within 14 days but how does my immune system feel eating breakfast at 09:00 am and then Lunch at 03:30 pm? How do bread and boil egg sounds for breakfast? Is it even balanced? Did you try to imagine the taste? How is my immune system supposed to communicate with two pounds flour that goes directly to my large intestine?”

Labelling the situation as “overbearing”, a plea was made to the Public Health Ministry to look

FROM PAGE 10

into the matter.

Registered Nurse Rene Atkinson is calling for better meals to be served to patients battling COVID-19, particularly at the Diamond Isolation Facility – where Atkinson is also battling the disease.

“We are not getting the required nutrients and it is my main concern at the moment. The place is clean and well-maintained so that is not the problem. It is just that the stuff that they are providing is not ideal for anyone. There are people who are in here that are sicker than I am and their body needs the nutrition, but that cannot be accomplished with them serving us bread and sardines in the morning. The immune system needs to be strengthened to fight off this virus,” he had indicated.

CORONAVIRUS HOW TO HANDWASH? (COVID-19) WASH HANDS OR USE HAND SANITISERS

INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF?

People who think they may be affected by coronavirus need to call the Public Health Ministry hotline 227-4986/624-3067 for further advice.

They should not go to their GP, A&E, pharmacy or hospital.

If you have come into contact with somebody who may be infected, you may be told to self-isolate. People needing to do so should take "common-sense" steps to avoid close contact with other people.

(Adapted from BBC News)

12 NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Lawyers now granted essential worker status – after intercession from Bar Association

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ocal lawyers have now been granted essential worker status, which will allow them to be exempted from the curfew hours implemented to fight coronavirus, after the intercession by the Bar Association.

The Bar Association had written the National Coronavirus Task Force (NCTF), headed by caretaker Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, requesting that lawyers be exempted from the 6 pm to 6 am curfew. The curfew had prohibited all but essential workers from being outdoors.

However, it has been cited by Bar Association President Teni Housty in sections of the media that lawyers have to travel at all hours of the night to reach clients and that moreover, persons in Police custody have a constitutional right to an attorney.

Nagamootoo revealed in his weekly column that the Task Force has since acceded to the Bar Association’s request and that lawyers will now be considered essential workers, since they “invariably venture out late at night to roadblocks, lockups and even quarantine centres in dedicated furtherance of the rule of law.”

The curfew was implemented as part of the measures to combat coronavirus

He also explained that the Task Force has been monitoring efforts of frontline medical workers in combating the coronavirus, which up to press time stood at 65 infections and seven deaths locally.

“The Task Force has been daily dealing simultaneously with a wide range of issues. It monitors the efforts at the critical medical technical front; follows security enforcement of traffic, curfew and other containment measures; coordinates mobilisation for and distribution of social care assistance; consolidates recommendations for fiscal or social impact measures, processes requests for non-commercial repatriation flights, etc...”

“We have kept our hands on the pulse of what’s happening in the society to ensure that there is a balance

between social restrictions and the need to keep the economy open. This requires a constant review of measures to give space for continuation of production and distribution of supplies, and to facilitate the uninterrupted delivery of a wider range of essential services,” he also stated.

The curfew is part of emergency measures that were put into effect by the caretaker Administration on April 3, pursuant to the direction of the President under the Public Ordinance Act, in an effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Government had gazetted an amended order on April 11, specifying who is to be considered an essential worker.

All persons employed within the public service, a statutory body or a State-

owned enterprise shall also work remotely from home, except as may otherwise be directed by the Public Health Minister, acting on the advice of the responsible Ministers and Heads of Agencies.

With regards to essential services, these will carry on with 24-hour operations.

These include hospitals, healthcare and medical services, including pharmacies, drug stores and private veterinary services; nursing homes, orphanages, shelters and other related care centres; immigration; Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); electricity services; water supply services; the Disciplined Forces; Guyana Prison Services; solid waste management, sewerage and janitorial services.

In addition, essential services include air traffic control (ATC); the Demerara Harbour Bridge and Berbice River Bridge; hotels and accommodation; and factories, manufacturers or distributors of food supplies and essential goods, including medical supplies where the Minister of Public Health has determined that the continuation of these operations do not pose a risk to public health.

Telecommunications and

Healthcare professionals urge self-isolation of persons who came into contact with COVID-19 victims

I

n light of its first COVID-19 death, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) healthcare professionals continue to urge persons who have been in contact with persons that tested positive for COVID-19 to isolate themselves.

On Saturday visually impaired 49-year-old Sydney Trellis also called “Jacket” of Wismar Housing Scheme and Wisroc, Wismar, Linden, became the country’s latest COVID-19 death.

Trellis succumbed while being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital, almost 2 weeks after being hospitalised.

According to information reaching this publication, Trellis, prior to his death, had been sick for some time before he was taken to the hospital for medical attention.

He reportedly turned up at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) with severe respiratory complaints and was later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for a higher level of care.

This publication was

also reliably informed that several persons from the community would often visit and assist in caring for the man as he was unwell.

His family members reside overseas.

Trellis had reportedly hosted persons from overseas at his home prior to his death. Reports are that though the man had not left his home, he had several visitors that may now be at risk.

Acting Medical Superintendent (MS) of the Linden Hospital Complex, Dr Joseph London recently indicated that those persons who would have interacted with the now deceased will be quarantined.

Guyana Times understands that several health professionals who were first in direct contact with him at the Linden Hospital Complex were sent on 14 days home isolation as a precautionary measure after he tested positive.

Dr London had indicated, however, that several of the medical staff that dealt with the now deceased at the hospital would have worn their protective personal protective equipment

Dead: Sydney Trellis

(PPE) gear, in accordance with standard operating procedures.

He noted too that there were reports that he had also visited at least two health centres and that the authorities are investigating to determine if the nurses and health personnel who came into contact with him were wearing protective gear, inclusive of the N95 masks.

However, a 29-year-old woman, who hails from the same community, was later tested positive for the

virus and is currently hospitalised at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.

The woman, who hails from the same Wismar community, had reportedly been in contact with the now deceased. She had displayed mild symptoms including a sore throat, fever and cough.

Dr London noted that the region continues to have an aggressive approach to the disease, stressing that all required protocols and actions are being taken as they seek to protect and safeguard residents within the region. He said health officials are monitoring and evaluating, recognising the need to remain proactive so as to ensure that all remain safe within the region.

Screening has since commenced at the Amelia’s Ward and 58 Mile Police Outposts as well as at the Kwakwani Water Front.

The Upper Demerara Hospital was identified as an isolation facility and strides are currently being made in equipping the medical institution with the necessary supplies and protective gear to tackle COVID-19.

media are also included in the essential services category. Other services deemed essential include those involved in mineral and petroleum exploration and development, including those involved in the supply chain.

Security, certain port and transportation services have also been included as essential.

Some of the measures outlined in the Government directive include directives to stay at home, stating that “every person shall remain in the confines of his or her home and its yard space”, except or as otherwise provided.

Under the emergen-

Bar Association President Teni Housty

cy measures directive, “any person who fails to comply with any of the new measures commits an offence”, and shall be liable on summary conviction to the penalties provided for under the Public Health Ordinance.

Lindeners mourn loss of influential teacher to COVID-19 in the US

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he Linden community, in Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice), has plunged into a state of mourning following the death of one of its most influential past teachers who succumbed to the coronavirus in the United States of America (USA) on Thursday.

Reports indicate that Quincy Cummings, a former Technical Drawing teacher of the Mackenzie High School (MHS) in Linden was hospitalised at a Queens General Hospital after complaining of constant headaches and experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 weeks ago.

He was also said to have a history of hypertension and diabetes. In a social media post, the MHS administration on Thursday described the former Head of Department’s death as “an unexpected blow”, while noting that it was “a loss too great” to accurately communicate.

The school’s administration also expressed condolences to Cummings’s family and friends. Family members, former students and officials also took to social media to express their sympathy over the loss of the teacher, with many describing him as a very motivational and disciplined educator.

His daughter, Christina Cummings, revealed his love for family. “This would never be able to sit right with us...Maybe time will heal our souls...,” she noted.

The young woman remembered her father as one who loved and spoke highly of his children. She also described him as a father who did everything to make his

Dead: Quincy Cummings

family happy.

Teacher and former colleague, Shawn Whittaker remembered Cummings as a gentleman who was very passionate about the learners getting their work done. He said he was one who “approached problems objectively to get the best solutions. Will be forever missed, we all lost a great friend,” he noted.

Another former colleague, Sonia Daniels, said she was saddened at the news. “Sincere condolences to the entire family circle.

May God comfort his family during the time of loss...”, she indicated. Former MHS student, Niomi Alsopp also remembered the former MHS teacher as fun, but disciplined.

“Mr Cummings will surely be missed. I remember him teaching Three Opal like it was yesterday.

He was both a serious and fun teacher... never a dull class with him. May his soul rest in peace”, she noted.

Cummings worked at the Mackenzie High School for many years before migrating to the United States with his wife and children.

NEWS

13

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Elections recount not essential, cannot go beyond curfew – Nagamootoo …overseas observers must quarantine at Govt facility for 14 days …measures could see activity stretched out for more than 44 days

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hairman of the coalition administration’s COVID-19 task force, Moses Nagamootoo, has refused to allow the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to be considered ‘an essential service’ and as such, permission for the recount of the March 2 General and Regional Elections to continue beyond the 18:00h national curfew was not given.

This would mean that under Nagamootoo’s edict, the recount of the ballots cast would last well beyond 43 days.

This is so since 10 counting stations working daily on the recount would be able to get through five and a half boxes with a twohour allocation for each or 55 boxes in total each day.

This would give 44 days for the recount of the 2339 boxes of ballots cast on March 2, providing that the recount begins at 06:00h each day which is unlikely to occur.

Compounding things fur-

National COVID-19 Task Force Chairman Moses Nagamootoo

ther, the COVID1-19 task force chairman has also decided that “all persons who are permitted special entry into Guyana during this period when our air space is closed to in-bound passengers must submit themselves to being quarantined at a government institution for a period of 14 days”.

GECOM Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh had on Thursday last signalled to the Commissioners that the

GECOM Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh

Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General has been contacted to field a team to Guyana for the recount process.

Singh did inform Commissioners, however, that Caricom had queried the use of technology to aid in the process by having the recount live streamed for the observers.

A d d i t i o n a l l y , Nagamootoo had also decided that GECOM would have to allow four technical experts of the Public Health

Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) to conduct a site visit to assess whether distancing arrangements conform to the pandemic guidelines and the published order.

Nagamootoo said he was asked in his capacity as the task force chairman to pronounce on the time at which the daily recount exercise should end; the number of persons who should be safely accommodated at the recount venue at the same time; and required protocols for quarantining persons coming from abroad, and who were invited to be part of the recount process.

Addressing the ‘specific requests’ by the GECOM Chairman, Nagamootoo over the weekend in responding to Justice Singh reminded that “among the gazette menu of measures, we have in place a closure of our air space to incoming international flights, shutdown of our borders, a dusk-to-dawn curfew, protocols for quarantining of

OPEC production cut a plus for Guyana’s oil – Ram – has helped stabilise global oil prices

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hile Guyana is not a member of the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC), the recently agreed production cuts will have an indirect benefit for Guyana, as it helps stop the free fall of oil prices.

This view was expressed

by Attorney-at-Law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, during an interview with this publication. In an invited comment, he explained the likely implications of the production cut and other global events, on Guyana.

“We are not directly involved, but the OPEC cut has helped to move the oil price slightly up. And in that

tion will have an impact on supplies and, therefore, price. Whether or not we are a member of OPEC, how we conduct ourselves will have implications for our standing and how we are perceived as an oil producer.

We don’t want to be seen as a renegade free rider.”

Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) hit globally, it has had a serious impact not just on lives but also the global economy and specifically, oil. As of April 19, Brent crude has been trading at US$28 a barrel.

Brent crude was being traded at US$66 per barrel when Guyana first started oil production in December 2019. Rystad Energy, a

The oil cuts can mean good news for Guyana

sense, we benefit from the cut. In this year, our production is not going to be particularly significant, especially if Exxon was to make adjustments to take account for Guyana’s production,” Ram said.

“However, as we move into the 300,500 and 700,000 barrels, whatever Guyana does in terms of oil produc-

Norway-based research company that has written extensively on Guyana’s oil sector, had projected that the situation will get worse.

According to Rystad in a previous missive, the spread of the coronavirus has dealt a blow to the global demand for oil. It noted that in February of this year, the demand for crude dropped by

Attorney-at-law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram

4.6 million barrels per day.

China, where the coronavirus had originated, made up 2.9 million barrels of this cut to demand.

Last week, OPEC (made up of 14 countries but dominated by Saudi Arabia) formed an agreement after days of video conferences with other non-OPEC members, to cut production in an effort to tackle the effects of the coronavirus on demand.

It has been reported that US President Donald Trump intervened in brokering the agreement.

The agreement was for OPEC+ to cut 9.7 million barrels a day, while the United States, Brazil and Canada also cut their production. At the time it was brokered, Brent crude was hovering around US$31.

Last month, ExxonMobil had announced that it will seek to scale down its operations, in the wake of the global uncertainty in financial markets caused by COVID-19.

In a statement from the company, Chief Executive

Officer (CEO) of ExxonMobil Corporation, Darren Woods had noted that Exxon is evaluating ways to cut back on its investment costs. With a presence in numerous countries including Guyana, this could have serious implications for oil exploration and production, as well as the oil revenues for such countries.

“Based on this unprecedented environment, we are evaluating all appropriate steps to significantly reduce capital and operating expenses in the near term.

We will outline plans when they are finalised,” Woods was quoted as saying in the statement.

“We remain focused on being a safe, low-cost operator and creating long-term value for shareholders,” Woods also said, adding that ExxonMobil has faced numerous market downturns throughout its long history and therefore has experience operating in a sustained lowprice environment.

Exxon has a presence throughout the world, from Canada and the United States to Mexico and Brazil, to Australia and Russia and several European, Middle Eastern and African states.

But it’s the company’s holdings in Guyana that have lately captured the world’s attention.

Last year, the company made fifteen discoveries. These discoveries have pushed the total estimated recoverable barrels of oil equivalent to over six billion. Oil production began in December and Guyana’s arrangement sees it selling its first shares of oil to Shell’s Barbados subsidiary.

The Arthur Chung Conference Centre – the venue for the national recount

persons, guidelines for clustering and social distancing.”

As such, having made a decision that the recount would be done at a public venue, to wit, the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, it should be common sense that as a constitutional agency, GECOM would ascertain whether arrangements for the recount would conform to the Executive Orders.

Justice Singh, in her communication to Commissioners on Friday last, had said she decided there should be no more than 10 workstations for the recount of the ballots cast countrywide during the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

That missive from Justice Singh noted that her decision was “subject to the availability of the requisite equipment and technology to display the ballots”.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic had proposed 20 work stations, with a duration of 10 days to complete the entire process.

The PPP’s Sase Gunraj, along with fellow Commissioners Bibi Shadick and Robeson Benn, had submitted the proposal to counter the one for a

156-day recount which was previously submitted by GECOM Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield.

Government-aligned Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who had proposed the use of eight counting stations, had told media operatives that if conducted the way he envisages with two hours allocated for the recount of a box, the exercise would last 64 days.

He said if that time was reduced by 30 minutes it would result in the duration of the exercise been 48 days and should one hour be allocated for the recount of each box, then the exercise would last 32 days. There are 2339 ballot boxes.

Media operatives were told on Thursday that the Chairperson had adjourned the meeting with a promise to make a decision on the range of proposals on the table including the 20-workstation proposal by PPP/C Commissioner Gunraj.

Justice Singh, in her communication on Friday, however, did not indicate a duration for the exercise, a date for an official commencement or the amount of time that would be allocated for the recount of each of the ballot boxes.

14 NEWS

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

COVID-19 affecting students, education system in Caribbean – Chair of COHSOD

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s the coronavirus continues to sweep from country to country, it has affected approximately 1.5 billion students with run-on impacts for teachers and caregivers at the international level.

Over the weekend, Chairman of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), Hazel Manning in a statement said that within the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the COVID-19 virus has disrupted the education and careers of over five million students and 200,000 teachers across the basic education, skills for lifelong learning and tertiary education sectors, including the provision of special education.

In the Caricom region, a whole Government approach has been taken to manage the impact of COVID-19 at the national level.

As it relates to COVID-19 and education, Manning said that this is required since it helps with the decisions to ensure the continuity of education on the one hand, and enabling a swift recovery on the other.

The Chairman said that the closure of schools has impacted the earning capacity and participation rates of caregivers, in particular,

Chairman of for Human Development Hazel Manning

the Council and Social (COHSOD),

single parents and those who are self-employed; challenged the health security of children who rely on the provision of school meals; increased the risk of exposure to incidents of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and hampered the successful integration of atrisk youth in continuing education.

“Teachers have also been affected. They are now being called to execute pedagogical innovation that many feel not prepared or trained for; challenging the quality of educational delivery and the efficacy of teachers. COVID-19 is rehearsing

often aired propositions on the need for education systems to become 21st century ready; it is challenging expectations for continuing teacher professional development and creating new conditions of labour for the teaching force, made up mostly of women, who also fulfil obligations as caregivers”, she penned.

Since the outbreak of the deadly virus, Caricom said that COVID-19 has exposed even more the pestering inequalities of educational provision in many of their Member States (MS). They added that the epidemic has challenged their ability to deliver universal quality education to citizens.

As it relates to the education sector, COHSOD said that the readiness to respond to the provision of quality basic education at a distance, using online synchronous and asynchronous approaches has been prefigured by the 21st century readiness of the educational infrastructure.

They alluded that educational resilience requires an urgent digital transformation.

COHSOD said that their higher education sector appears most ready to respond to the provision of technology-enabled education in a

Eureka Lab to now conduct COVID-19 tests

E

ureka Medical Laboratory is one of the first private medical institutions to conduct tests for COVID-19 after private health facilities were given the green light to do so amid a growing increase in the number of local cases.

The privately-operated entity informed that persons are required to make an appointment with the laboratory, located at Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown. This can be done via telephone.

Upon patients’ arrival at the appointed time, a nasopharyngeal swap will be taken. For this process to start, persons would be asked to present their identification card, driver’s licence, or passport.

The samples collected will be sent abroad for testing using PCR technology, the gold standard for COVID-19 detection. These results will be available in four to five days. The cost of a test was not mentioned.

One week ago, Head of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Moses Nagamootoo stated that private hospitals were given the necessary permission to import kits and conduct their own testing.

Since the pandemic reached local shores, only the National Public Health Reference Laboratory was permitted to process testing kits.

Government had initially said that the Reference Laboratory would be the only facility permitted to

regional vanguard in the area of e-testing and has demonstrated their solidarity with the region through a proposal for a revised examinations strategy that aims to ensure the integrity of the examinations process, produce valid grades and sustain educational progression across levels of learning.

They added that it is evident that a critical paradigm shift in the educational provision is needed;

according to them, there is a need to ensure educational resilience through digital transformation.

The Chair further called his colleague Ministers to action, and to aid in a swift recovery from COVID-19 by implementing measures that will protect the Caricom legacy which is the health, wellbeing and educational excellence of the children and youth of the region.

Health workers at Palms decry lack of gear to guard against COVID-19

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s COVID-19 sweeps across the globe, nurses and workers at the Palms Geriatric Home in Brickdam, Georgetown, have decried the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the facility.

According to the workers, they are being confronted by difficult situations but are desirous of remaining safe while performing their duties.

Just recently, the Social Protection Ministry implement measures at various local care centres to protect “vulnerable” groups from contracting the dreaded novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Also, Director of Social Services, Wentworth Tanner informed the media of the Ministry’s reviewed and implemented measures.

“We have enforced restriction of visitation at all care centres. Staff and visitors must sanitise before entering facilities; routine screening of staff reporting for duty, that is, taking and documenting their temperature by a nurse, medic or doctor on the staff,” he said.

The Director told the DPI that medical, administrative, and auxiliary staff would be issued with protective equipment such as gloves and masks, and, where necessary, aprons,

long boots, and overalls, while administrators should ensure that their staff is properly dressed and outfitted in their protective gears while on duty.

“There is an updated stock inventory of critical stock items, especially cleaning and janitorial supplies…. critical food items must be submitted by the storekeepers to administrators on Mondays and Wednesdays to ensure that stock does not fall below minimum stock levels,” he noted.

However, according to the nurses, the only gears they have received so far are masks and gloves which is simply not enough. They told this publication that persons are not even screened before entering the compound.

“We are fearful for our lives because what we were promised is not being ful-

filled. The least they can do for us is to ensure that persons are properly screened before coming into this place”, one of the nurses said.

As Guyana steps up its efforts to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), several Ministries and Government agencies have implemented preventative measures to assist in the management of the virus.

On March 31, the Social Protection Ministry suspended visitation to several senior citizens’ homes, which included the Palms Geriatric Home in Brickdam.

Visits to the Night Shelter, the Hugo Chavez Rehabilitation Centre and Reintegration Centre and the New Opportunity Corps were also suspended amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Junior teachers not paid since 2019

Eureka Medical Laboratory

test for COVID-19, but has since buckled as the number of cases continue to climb in Guyana.

Nagamootoo claimed, “I know we are working in cooperation with the Private Sector and we’ve now given the green light for private hospitals to import their own testing kits, so that you can supplement and do rapid testing on both state and non-state institutions.”

They were also approaching private hospitals to designate space for treatment as the pandemic deepens.

Former shadow Public Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony had called on the caretaker coalition to tap into the resources of the private health sector to boost its testing capacity for COVID-19.

“We need the Private Sector to come on board and they need the Ministry to al-

crisis, with faculty and students of some institutions more ready to continue their educational careers in an online environment.

However, attention must be given to TVET institutions, and community colleges, to ensure that they too have the capacity and infrastructure to contribute to the normalcy of post-secondary education provision. The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has been a

low them – giving them the permission to go ahead so that they can add to the testing capacity of the country,” he was quoted as saying.

Dr Anthony, one of the key stakeholders in the National COVID-19 Response Forum that was established by the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), explained that many of the private hospitals and laboratories here in Guyana have the human capacity as well as the equipment readily available.

As such, they just need to get the supplies in order to conduct tests for COVID-19 themselves.

According to Dr Anthony, if these private health institutions need a test conducted, they first have to seek permission from the Public Health Ministry, and some of these requests have been denied.

J

unior teachers attached to schools in Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) have not been paid since they were employed with the Education Ministry since 2019.

The teachers told Guyana Times that they had been appointed by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) back in September of 2019, but had not received their appointment letters, which ultimately means their salaries had not been processed.

Several calls were made to the Commission to inquire about their appointment letters, but the teachers were told to “call back”.

“We don’t know if it’s because of the COVID-19 situation, but every time we call, they keep telling us to call back. Many of us have families, loans to repay, and we cannot do anything because we aren’t paid,” one

Teacher Service Commission

teacher said.

The educators also related that there were currently trained teachers who have not had an increase in their salaries since completing their studies at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

One of the teachers explained that they were given a temporary salary and

were promised that it would be rectified as soon as the appointment letters became available from TSC. However, after a long and tireless wait, it is yet to be done.

Attempts to get a comment from Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte proved futile.

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MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

GECOM Chair should reject Nagamootoo’s “ridiculous” directives – PPP/C ... protecting vested interest

Full statement: The PPP wishes to condemn in the strongest possible terms both the content and the method of Moses Nagamootoo’s response to the Chairperson of GECOM’s request for guidance in relation to the recount of the ballots cast at the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

It will be recalled in our recent letter to the Chairperson of GECOM, we pointed out that

Nagamootoo is part of the rigging cabal and has a vested interest in frustrating the recount process.

He proved us right. His response is utterly ridiculous.

The direction that the exercise should end at 05:00 pm daily, is simply nonsensical. Tens of thousands of persons throughout the country are permitted to work after 06:00 pm. This recount is arguably the most important

exercise in this country and therefore, its speedy conclusion must be accorded every priority. There is simply no sensible reason why the exercise should not proceed beyond 05:00 pm daily.

As regards persons coming into the country for the exercise, Nagamootoo’s recommendation that they must be quarantined for two weeks is even more preposterous. Once tested negative for COVID-19,

there is absolutely no need for quarantine.

That Nagamootoo chose a column through which he makes weekly outpourings of political propaganda to respond to the Chairperson of GECOM only compounds the problem.

We call upon the Chairperson of GECOM to reject these outrageous directives by Nagamootoo and to proceed to make arrangements for the recount to be done speedily.

Gunmen terrorise, rob elderly Corentyne couple

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ne day after a Berbice family was terrorised by armed men, an elderly couple was on Saturday attacked, beaten and robbed also by armed

Injured: Mandakie Chandan

bandits who invaded their Corentyne, Berbice property.

Sixty-four-year-old Mandakie Chandan and her husband, 72-year-old Narinedat Chandan, a cash crop farmer of Lot 7 Public Road Nurney Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), were attacked by four armed men

on the day in question.

Based on reports received, the couple was preparing to leave for the Port Mourant Market when one of the men attacked them and demanded money.

The woman told the man that they did not have any money since they were heading to the market to sell their produce.

“One of [the] men, then drag her by she hair and put a cutlass to she neck, and carry she inside the house,” the farmer explained.

Meanwhile, the three other bandits tied up the elderly man in the yard and they ransacked the house and terrorised the woman to hand over the money and jewellery.

The woman told the intruder that all she had was her husband’s pension for the past two months saved up and she would give them that. The two finger rings that she was wearing were also taken by the armed men.

Not satisfied, the woman was asked to call out to her brother-in-law, who lives in another house on the same

The house occupied by the elderly couple

plot of land, and ask him for $1000 as a passage to get to the market.

According to Paramdatt Chandan, he was asleep when the woman called out to him.

“Like I wake up lil stupidy and I opening the door and then my wife tell me ‘no’. So, when I go and peep from the window, I see them stand up bracing the door and got her with a cutlass to her neck.”

Nevertheless, the farmer, who was left unattended, was able to free himself and run into the house and lock the doors.

He went to a window upstairs and alerted his brother. “I holler out to him, ‘don’t

open the door, is thief’.”

Neighbours were also alerted. In retaliation, the bandits dragged the elderly woman down her brother-in-law’s step and then slammed her head into a concrete wall before escaping.

They were able to take two cellphones, two finger rings and $70,000 in cash.

According to the rice farmer, he is of the belief that his brother was the target but he was attacked because he was in the yard at the time.

The men reportedly cut a hole in his back fence to gain entry into the yard. The police have launched an investigation into the robbery.

G20 Health Ministers acknowledge health systems’ vulnerability to pandemics – statement

H

ealth Ministers from the Group of 20 major economies discussed weaknesses in health systems that made the world vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreak and other pandemics, a statement said after a virtual meeting on Sunday.

The Saudi G20 secretariat said that the Ministers shared their national experiences, addressed necessary actions to improve preparedness, and discussed systemic weaknesses exposed by the pandemic.

“Health Ministers rec-

ognised that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted systemic weaknesses in health systems,” the statement said. “It also has shown vulnerabilities in the global community’s ability to prevent and respond to pandemic threats.”

The statement said the Ministers adopted preventative measures to contain the pandemic, but did not elaborate.

A planned virtual news conference was cancelled as Saudi Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah had to attend “an urgent COVID-19

KSA (Saudi) taskforce meeting”. Saudi Arabia is the current chair of the G20.

In opening remarks provided via video to media, Rabiah said urgent actions included the need for collaboration and engagement of global organisations for coordinated responses to the novel coronavirus pandemic, with an emphasis on supporting countries in need, and investing in research and discovery to produce technology, tools, vaccines, and therapies.

He also referred to the creation of a global task

force to respond to pandemics, an innovation hub for knowledge sharing to improve value in health and a patient safety leaders’ group to provide shared platforms aimed at reducing patient safety risks.

Leaders from Spain, Singapore, Jordan and Switzerland were invited to attend Sunday’s meeting as well as international and regional organisations including the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, an earlier G20 statement said. (Reuters)

Honduras extends curfew by 1 week in fight against coronavirus

T

he Government of Honduras on Sunday extended a curfew through April 26 in an effort

to contain the coronavirus which has infected 472 people and killed 46 in the impoverished Central

American country.

“In order to better control the spread of COVID-19, we decided to extend the

current total curfew from Sunday (April) 19 at 3:00 p.m., until Sunday, April 26, 2020, at 3:00 p.m.,”

said the spokesman for the Honduran security ministry, Jair Meza. (Reuters)

Protests to reopen as US coronavirus deaths top 40,000

Agitation for easing restrictions has grown, despite the risk of a COVID-19 resurgence posed by reopening too soon.

P

rotesters have taken to the streets in states across the United States, demanding that Governors reopen economies shut by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rallies in Arizona, Colorado, Montana and Washington State were expected on Sunday, following earlier protests in half a dozen states.

Agitation for easing restrictions has grown, despite the risk of a COVID-19 resurgence posed by reopening too soon.

US President Donald Trump has signalled support for the protests.

The US is the epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis, with over 735,000 cases and some 40,000 deaths –- but signs have emerged that it is reaching the apex of the outbreak and that infection rates are slowing in some states.

Governors in several states have begun discussions to plan reopening amid signs of the slowdown, but other regions remain under strict lockdown.

California Governor Gavin Newsom was the first in the nation to issue a statewide stay home order, shut-

tering the country's most populous state since March 19. Neighbouring west coast states Washington and Oregon followed suit days later, putting their combined 11.5 million residents under a stay at home order since March 23.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week that the state would extend its stay home measures until May 15.

Speaking at his daily virus briefing on Sunday, Cuomo urged caution to residents, beset with "cabin fever" and desperate for their state to reopen.

"We still have to make sure we keep that beast under control," Cuomo said.

"As we all get very eager to get on with life and move on."

"This is only halftime in this entire situation."

Trump, a Republican, appeared to endorse protests against strict lockdown measures, saying on Friday that orders in place in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia were "too tough".

The measures are needed to curb the spread of the virus. (Excerpt from BBC News)

16

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

One tiny word brought APNU to its knees GECOM Chairperson is part of Granger’s rigging gang

Dear Editor, Has anyone ever wondered why language as a medium of communication is extolled as one of humanity’s loftiest inventions?

One word can make a monumental difference between failure and success, disaster and fortune, war and peace, life and death. A simple semantic misinterpretation of one word can wreck friendship, inspire morbid thoughts of marital separation, sever bilateral relations, instigate social unrest, and even provoke hostilities. Such is the power of language when a tiny word can bring about the collapse of mighty empires.

To illustrate the explosive potential of one word, let us examine the pivotal role it has played since that glorious moment when the No-Confidence Motion was passed on December 21, 2018. It pushed the disgraced coalition to commit a repertoire of heinous illegalities and moral depravities that guaranteed their inevitable disintegration and possible extinction.

These include, but is not limited to: 1. Spending millions of dollars to ascertain that 33 is the majority of 65. This brought unbearable shame and earned the derision of the world.

2. Appointing James Patterson as GECOM Chairman, knowing it was unconstitutional, and then defying judicial pronouncements.

3. Engaging in corrupt deals costing Guyanese taxpayers billions of dollars: the airport fiasco, land grabbing orgies, unauthorised contracts circumventing procurement statues, Harbour Bridge feasibility studies.

4. Violating the supreme laws of the land routinely with reckless impunity. It is delinquency running amok!

Bullyism gone berserk!

5. Squatting in office unabashedly while arrogating for themselves dictatorial powers, super salaries and a largesse of undeserved perquisites.

6. Demonstrating unrestrained arrogance, insensitivity and contempt for legal and moral obligations to act responsibly.

7. Inefficiency, incompetence and sloth in battling burgeoning crimes, with Police presenting statistics of dubious credibility that seem to mock commonsense and human decency.

8. Using the hallowed institutions of GECOM and the courts to perpetuate the sinful acts of sacrilege by delaying and deferring elections.

9. Annexing GECOM and the Guyana Police Force as vital organs to execute the dirty political work of APNU/AFC. 10. Splurging billions of dollars plundered from the Treasury for election campaigning under the charade of community outreaches.

11. Ridiculing our nation with the infamous Mingo theatrics at the vote tabulation centre, using a magical mathematical formula for an APNU victory.

12. Witnessing a dying Mingo miraculously healed.

Was it by invoking the spirit of the Kabaka? Or a Hollywood Academy Award performance?

13. Subverting the integrity of the Judiciary to delay or stop the counting of ballots.

14. Ignoring international condemnations and threats of sanctions.

15. Treating overseas and local observers to a menu of disrespect, hostility, intimidation, and threats, including revocation of accreditation.

16. Making liberal and wanton use of State assets for party electioneering.

17. Running out of idiotic ideas, they probed frantically in the dark and came up grinning with a real sledgehammer blow that stunned an already dazed nation:

the dossier! The PNC’S gospel of satanic falsities!

This list is woefully inadequate to paint the full picture of the perversities that occurred following the No-Confidence vote. But I come back to my original point of the power of language. It took one word, just one word, to burst open Pandora’s Box of criminal transgressions committed by the coalition after December 2018. That word also radically changed the destiny of Guyana and will be immortalised for the erudition of all posterity. It was valiantly uttered by the legendary hero Charrandas Persaud when he emphatically said “Yes!”. The seismic force of this monosyllabic word rattled and pulverised the foundation of APNU/AFC. What is left is the debris of shame. The edifice of the coalition has crumbled into smithereens.

It has turned into a derelict waste.

This time of reckoning has come! The ferocious cries and angry shouts of the oppressed people are admonishing villain Granger and his notorious gang of abominable rogues to step back from the precipice of self-destructive tyranny.

Dear Editor, Guyanese don't have to go to the university to study what is really happening in Guyana with respect to the March 2020 elections results, because it is factual that "mountains of truths cannot be hidden by bushes of lies". The GECOM Chairperson is definitely part of a huge conspiracy to hijack an election to ensure that Granger’s APNU/ AFC Government remains in power.

There are more elections than ever before, and yet the world is becoming less democratic. The exclusive power that is being given to GECOM is the main reason why it can determine or manipulate the election results. It is even riskier when all the critical decisions are made by the Chairperson, who refused to ensure that transparency, integrity and fairness is the hallmark of GECOM. The failure of the Chairperson to make vital decisions at critical stag-

es of the electoral process is the main reason why the results of the elections is still in limbo. There are still decisions that could be taken

by GECOM to ensure that the results can be delivered to the Guyanese people in a timely manner. The Commission can use more buildings eg Ashmins building, GECOM Secretariat, schools, etc that could increase the amount of stations, for the recount.

The failure of the GECOM Chairperson to bring an end to this situation is a testimony that she is part and parcel of the gang that is ready to trade their integrity for a few dollars. Guyana needs immediate assistance from the international partners in order to end the dictatorship.

Granger is the architect to hijack the elections and he idolises LFS Burnham. God Save Guyana. We need external help now!

With regards, Zamal Hussain

Steps necessary towards COVID-19 is enough evidence that truly good and just living Yours sincerely, Chandra Persaud

Guyana needs a specialty hospital Dear Editor, Across the world, most countries are now reverting to converting their specialty hospitals into COVID-19 hospitals now that they are faced with this global pandemic and are using the critical care beds and equipment required to treat the worse coronavirus cases.

This action has been saving lives and repurposing equipment and appropriate people to help treat coronavirus patients. These specialty hospitals are all equipped with enough of the most critical equipment in this fight, which is the ventilator. These hospitals are also equipped with numerous anaesthesia machines and can double the intensive care ventilators.

Protective equipment such as masks and the risk to the health care providers who are our greatest weapon in this fight against coronavi-

rus; these willing staff are already used to this kind of environment.

After hearing all these things it left me to think if only we had a major specialty hospital here in Guyana all our COVID-19 cases would be under control because we would have a delicate specialty hospital for COVID-19. It is disappointing that Guyana had the opportunity to have its own 18 million specialty hospital built. This project, which was being funded by the India Export-Import (EXIM) bank was dropped in 2016 after the contracted company, Fedders Lloyd Corporation Limited, which was handpicked by the APNU/AFC Administration was blacklisted by World Bank over fraud and corruption practices.

The APNU/AFC Administration was proud to say that the project was

dead. The revival of the specialty hospital would have been one of Guyana's biggest achievements, but the dumping of that project has become Guyana's biggest disappointment. It is the people that suffer when Government makes mistakes like this.

The specialty hospital project started under the People's Progressive Party/Civic Administration back in 2012. It was the APNU/AFC caretaker Administration that abandoned that project. The thinking of the APNU/AFC Administration was that a specialty hospital was not needed in Guyana and to spend the monies in other areas that have to do with primary health care.

It clearly shows that the APNU/AFC Administration was visionless from the beginning.

While in the Opposition, the APNU/AFC was never in support of the specialty hospital, by voting against its funding in the National Assembly. The resuscitation of controversial specialty hospital project is one of the People's Progressive Party/Civic’s strategies to boost this nation out of the tremendous suffering our health sector has experience under the David Granger-led APNU/AFC Administration. Medication and drugs have been in

short supply at hospitals across the region during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Guyana needs a specialty hospital, in light of what we have all experienced over the past weeks. The PPP/C regime had a progressive vision hoping that a specialty hospital would be a catalyst in creating health tourism here in Guyana by taking care of local and overseas patients. All the overseas-based Guyanese leaving on the charter flight back to the USA should give us a clear indication of the level of confidence they have in Guyana's health care system.

This coronavirus must open our eyes about our failing health care sector.

It is clear that our health care leaders were unprepared for a pandemic of this magnitude. The shortage of nurses, shortage of trained doctors, sloppy management, lack of drugs – overall our public health system is in need of continuous improvement and the construction of a specialty hospital must be done and completed by 2022 to handle any future pandemic.

Rehabilitating Ocean View for our COVID-19 hospital will not cut it. This is not the kind of vision Guyanese need.

Sincerely, David Adams

Dear Editor, The recent impasse over the crucial election results in our country must make us all realise that the majority of Guyanese are either living without the moral principles that are vital to guiding us into making proper decisions both on personal and communal levels, or ignoring these when we need them most while using other criteria to make decisions in a selfish manner.

This void can only be addressed in an affirmative manner in all sectors of our education, from the students at all levels of schooling to the teachers and security personnel in their training courses and during their working lives, to our professionals in their working environments, and even in our communities by regular efforts by our regional leaders.

This all-important aspect of our personal development is being dealt with in off-hand manner, as we seem to feel that this would have been taken care of by our religious practice, by mostly the instructions and examples set by parents and outstanding members of our communities to make the decisions we need to fulfil our responsibilities.

This is indeed a mistake, as the adoption of moral principles can only really occur when we take definitive action to inculcate these into our intuition, which helps us when

we have to make the decisions on what is truly right or wrong in the various situations we encounter in life.

This can readily be seen when we realise the steps necessary to adopt these principles and make them guide us towards truly good and just living: 1. Make a conscious effort to determine the values which we need to lead us to live moral lives. These will be clear when we use our reasoning abilities, our experiences, and most importantly, our consciences.

2. Commit oneself in advance to using these principles when making decisions, whether or not these lead to our own comfort.

3. Develop the skills and discipline to make decisions based on moral values and principles.

I know that it would seem a Herculean task to adopt this type of education into our present systems, but I ask all involved to think of the impact this would have on our livelihood, and the negative results of carrying on as we are now – without any common principles that can make our lives so much better, more peaceful and as cooperative as our national motto proposes.

I stand ready to assist in the formulation of any programme towards the implementation of my proposal.

Sincerely, Roy Paul

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

17

Regional

Brazil's Bolsonaro attacks coronavirus Tough times for Caribbean tourism, but holiday traffic will lockdowns as supporters take to streets return – UN travel organisation B

razilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday again attended a public rally and attacked lockdown measures meant to fight the coronavirus, as supporters of the right-wing leader joined political motorcades around the country.

Brazil has more cases of the new coronavirus than any other country in Latin America. On Sunday, confirmed cases rose to 38,654 with 2462 deaths.

Bolsonaro, who was not wearing a face mask, addressed a crowd of a few hundred in Brasilia, many of them wearing Brazil’s yellow-and-green soccer jersey.

His brief address, which was punctuated by the President coughing, touched on talking points that have become his usual rallying cry.

He called those in attendance “patriots” and said they were helping defend individual freedoms that he said are under threat by

T

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks after joining his supporters, who were taking part in a motorcade to protest against quarantine and social distancing measures amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Brasilia, Brazil, April 19, 2020

lockdowns imposed by authorities at the state level.

“Everyone in Brazil needs to understand that they are subject to the will of the people,” Bolsonaro said.

Protesters in Brasilia chanted slogans against the country’s Supreme Court, which has upheld state-organised lockdowns, and against Congress, whose Opposition lawmakers have also defended quarantines.

Some of the protesters also called for a return to authoritarian measures used during Brazil’s last military regime, known as AI-5.

In São Paulo, Brazil’s richest and most populous state, Bolsonaro supporters have been demanding that Governor Joao Doria resign because he has been a staunch supporter of shelter-in-place measures.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

“We are not prepared at all” – Haiti, already impoverished, confronts a pandemic

W

ith barely 60 ventilators for 11 million people, Haiti is the most vulnerable nation in the Americas to the coronavirus. While many countries would struggle to cope with a serious spread of COVID-19, Haiti might never recover from one.

The reality inside Haiti's intensive care units is even bleaker than that number – taken from a 2019 study – suggests. According to Stephan Dragon, a respiratory therapist in the capital, Port-au-Prince, the true number of ventilators is actually closer to 40, and may-

be 20 of those aren't working.

"We also have a very, very limited group of doctors who know how to operate them," Mr Dragon said.

The Haitian Government has recently attempted to buy much-needed equipment – from ventilators to PPE, including tens of thousands of facemasks from Cuba –but Haitian healthcare practitioners like Dragon fear it is too little, too late.

"To tell you the truth, we are not prepared at all," he said.

So far, this small impov-

erished nation has only registered three deaths from the virus and 40 confirmed cases, but many more cases may be going unreported, especially in remote areas.

Levels of testing are low and enforcement of social distancing is patchy at best.

The Haitian population also suffers high levels of diabetes and other health conditions, and a major coronavirus outbreak would place an unbearable strain on a collapsing healthcare system.

Haiti's ability to respond is confounded by its economic straits. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Coronavirus cases in Peru top 15,000, 2nd highest in Latin America

P

eru reported over 15,000 cases of coronavirus on Sunday, the second-highest tally in Latin America, as the disease continues to ravage the economy of the world’s number two copper producer.

The crisis has paralysed Peru and left millions without jobs. The central bank has said the economy had been “severely affected” temporarily by simultaneous supply and demand shocks.

Peru recorded its first coronavirus case on March 6 and took 25 days to reach

1000 cases. It took only 14 more days to reach 10,000 cases on April 14, according to a Reuters tally. Peru has reported a total of 15,628 cases and 400 deaths, the health ministry said.

In Latin America, only Brazil has more cases.

On March 15, Peru announced it would close its borders and called on citizens to self-quarantine for 15 days with just 71 recorded coronavirus cases. The nationwide quarantine has since been extended to April 26. Prime Minister Vicente

Zeballos said on Sunday that the lockdown would continue for a few more weeks.

Peru’s Government has announced a massive economic stimulus package worth 90 billion soles ($26.41 billion), around 12 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, to support citizens and the key mining sector.

Peru’s central bank cut the benchmark interest rate to a historic low 0.25 per cent, the latest move by the copper-rich country to shore up its economy. (Excerpt from Reuters)

he United Nations' World Travel Organisation (UNWTO) has noted the tough times that Caribbean and tourist-dependent countries are undergoing amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, but predicts that the industry will rebound soon.

“Tourism may have been brought to a near-standstill by COVID-19, but the industry – which accounts for 10 per cent of global GDP (Gross Domestic Product) – finds itself in a unique position to help put the global economy back on

its feet, once the pandemic has passed,” said UNWTO, which is closely monitoring the new coronavirus crisis from its Madrid headquarters and collaborating with other UN agencies on ways to mitigate its impact.

“COVID-19 has impacted travel and tourism like no other event before in history,” said UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili, ahead of a recent meeting of the agency's Global Tourism Crisis Committee at its Madrid headquarters.

The UN said that the committee, which brings to-

gether participants from around the world via video-teleconference, is tackling such key questions as how borders will reopen, what mobility will look like and what tourists will be seeking when they emerge from so many weeks of self-isolation at home.

“With tourism suspended, the benefits that the sector brings are under threat,” Pololikashvili said. “Millions of jobs could be lost and progress made in the fields of equality and sustainable economic growth could be rolled back.” (Excerpt from CMC)

Crop Over, NIFCA cancelled

T

he Crop Over Festival and the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) have been cancelled as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

According to a statement from Government, Cabinet has approved a recommendation by the Ministry of Creative Economy, Culture and Sports to cancel this year’s Crop Over Festival and NIFCA. “This decision was made in light of ongoing global efforts to contain and man-

age the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Government’s negative short-term projections for the local economy, regional and international travel and trade, and weakened public confidence in attending mass gatherings in the current environment, and immediately thereafter,” the statement noted.

Cabinet has further agreed that the Ministry, through the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), would replace the two major festivals with a national training programme in schools and communities,

and a wide-reaching campaign to both fund and produce radio, television and digital content, which would be accessible across multiple delivery channels, including the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation.

In addition, the statement said the NCF will shortly convene a series of stakeholder consultations to discuss ways in which cultural practitioners could participate in, and benefit from, the programmes identified as replacements for Crop Over and NIFCA. (Nation News)

TT: Griffith warns COVID curfew abusers again

“S

tay home or I will make your life very uncomfort-

able.”

This was the warning issued by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith on Saturday, as he urged citizens to adhere to the regulations set out in the Public Ordinance Act under the Stay-at-Home order currently in effect across T&T. While admitting there is no curfew in place limiting one’s movements, Griffith urged people to listen to the authorities regarding non-essential travel to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Saying he has a few options which he is not afraid to use to compel people to remain at home, Griffith assured that any action they embark upon would be within legal parameters.

However, he signalled to the population, “If you are not an employee of an essential business and you are not going to utilise an essential good or service, stay home to avoid all complications.”

A Police Officer attached to the Highway Patrol Unit questions a taxi driver who stopped to have lunch on the shoulder on the westbound lane of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway in El Socorro, San Juan, while a roadblock was being conducted on the southbound lane on Friday

Asked if the Police could charge people for breaching these regulations, Griffith said there were several laws under which he could act.

He reminded, “There were people who felt the Police did not have the authority to do anything to break up COVID-19 parties by persons doing whatever they wanted on their private property, and I had

to explain that the powers that people did not think I have, I do have it and I would use it.”

He said it was a similar situation when he advised the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) had the authority to shut down supermarkets and banks if people did not adhere to the social distancing protocols.

(Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

18

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

Around the World

Canada shooting: Gunman 'dressed as policeman' kills several A suspected gunman who dressed as a policeman killed several people, including a police officer, in a 12-hour-rampage in Nova Scotia, Canadian media reported.

The attacker was captured by Police on Sunday in the rural town of Portapique.

Residents had been advised to lock themselves indoors before the man was arrested following the attack.

Police said the suspect was driving what appeared to be a police car before changing to another vehicle.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described it as "a terrible situation" and Nova Scotia Premier

Stephen McNeil told reporters "this is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province's history."

Police say they were first alerted to an incident involving firearms late on Saturday.

Tweets by Nova Scotia Police identified the alleged attacker as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman.

He was not employed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but "may be wearing a RCMP uniform", they said.

"There's one difference between his car and our Royal Canadian Mounted Police vehicles: the car # [registration plate]. The sus-

pect's car is 28B11, behind rear passenger window. If you see 28B11 call 911 immediately," they tweeted on Sunday.

The gunman later changed cars to drive a "small silver Chevrolet SUV", Police added.

He was apprehended Sunday morning.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada where gun ownership laws are stricter than in the neighbouring United States.

In 2019 two fugitive teenagers confessed to killing three people, including an Australian-US couple on holiday, in northern British Columbia. (Excerpt from

OILNEWS Supertankers drafted in to store glut of crude oil

G

iant oil tankers are being used to hold record amounts of crude at sea due to a global oversupply that threatens to overwhelm the world’s storage facilities.

A record 160 million barrels of oil has been stored in “supergiant” oil tankers outside the world’s largest shipping ports following the deepest fall in oil demand in 25 years because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The so-called “supertankers”, which can each hold up to 2 million barrels of oil, are in high demand by oil traders as Police said the suspect, Gabriel conventional oil storage facilities have quickly filled up with oil left Wortman, may have been unused during the coronavirus lockdown.

The last time floating storage reached levels close to this was dressed in Police uniform in 2009, when traders stored more than 100 million barrels at sea BBC News) before offloading stocks when the economy began to recover.

Charter rates for giant vessels that can be used to store oil have more than doubled in the last month to reach highs of US$350,000 (£280,000) a day as traders scramble to find space for crude that cannot be sold on to refineries.

Shipping experts told the Reuters news agency that 60 supertankers have been chartered to store oil, mostly off the coast of Singapore and in the US gulf coast, as well as smaller crude oil tankers.

The number has climbed quickly from between 25 and 40 super-large vessels at the start of the month, and 10 in February.

The amount may triple in the coming months to fill up to 200 supertankers, according to the shipping experts.

Commodity traders are hunting for extra space to store their crude as demand for oil collapses by 29 million barrels per day in April compared with last year, falling to lows not seen since 1995.

The traders are understood to be storing the excess crude in the hope it can be sold at a profit when demand for transport fuels returns later this year.

The slump in demand has created an oversupply of 9 million barrels a day in the global market which threatens to swamp the world’s traditional oil storage within weeks, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

The analysts expect a “massive” increase in oil storage of between 500 million to 1 billion barrels of oil compared with stock levels at the end of February, which could fill global storage facilities to the brim by May. A refrigerated truck is seen outside Lenox Health Medical Pavilion This could trigger an oil market collapse to an average price during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in of between US$10 to US$20 a barrel in the second quarter of the New York City, US, April 19, 2020 year – from about US$65 a barrel at the start of the year – and force oil producers to shut their wells. are also emerging hot spots open parts of their econoS&P Global expects an oil market recovery to be “largely with recent surges in cases mies, perhaps by May 1 or delayed” until next year even after the world’s largest oil and deaths. even sooner, but appeared to producers struck the most ambitious supply deal in history to cut Several states, includ- be staying cautious. (Excerpt up to 20 per cent of world’s output from next month to ease the global glut. ing Ohio, Texas and Florida, from Reuters) “This may be too little and too late,” S&P Global said. (Excerpt have said they aim to refrom The Guardian)

US coronavirus death toll rises as cases hit 750,000 – Reuters tally

T

he US death toll from the novel coronavirus rose to more than 40,000 on Sunday, the highest in the world and almost double the number of deaths in the next highest country Italy, according to a Reuters tally.

It took the United States 38 days after recording its first fatality on Feb 29 to reach 10,000 deaths on April 6, but only five more days to reach 20,000 dead, according to a Reuters tally. The United States’ toll increased to 40,000 from 30,000 in four days after including untested but probable COVID-19 deaths reported by New York City.

The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coro-

navirus cases, with more than 750,000 infections — a number that has doubled in 13 days. New cases on Saturday rose by nearly 29,000, the lowest increase in three days.

Governors in US states hardest hit by the coronavirus sparred with President Donald Trump over his claims they have enough tests and should quickly reopen their economies as more protests are planned over the extension of stayat-home orders.

The region of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, is still seeing increasing cases. New Jersey reported on Sunday that its new cases rose by nearly 3900, the most in more than two weeks. Boston and Chicago

UK not thinking of easing virus lockdown measures yet: Minister

B

ritain is not considering lifting its lockdown imposed almost four weeks ago to control the coronavirus outbreak given “deeply worrying” increases in the death toll, a senior Minister said on Sunday.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said a Buzzfeed report that the Government was considering lifting the lockdown in phases over the coming months was not correct.

With hospitals under strain, health workers have criticised the Government’s advice that personal protective equipment (PPE) worn while treating patients infected with coronavirus could be re-used, as supplies run low across the country.

An 84-tonne delivery of PPE from Turkey, which Ministers had said would arrive on Sunday, has been

delayed, a Government official said.

The latest data show 16,060 people have died in British hospitals after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, a rise of 596 from data published on Saturday.

While that marked the smallest increase in almost two weeks, figures published over weekends usually show smaller-than-average increases in the death toll, and these daily figures do not include deaths in the wider community.

England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries told reporters on Sunday it was too early to call a peak in terms of deaths, although she added that the trends were starting to move in the right direction.

The Health Ministry said

Britain's Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove speaks at a digital news conference on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in 10 Downing Street in London, Britain April 4, 2020

21,626 tests for the novel coronavirus were conducted on Saturday - still far short of the Government’s target of 100,000 per day by the

end of the month.

Gove said he was confident that the Government would hit the target.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Coronavirus: New York couples can now tie the knot over Zoom

N

ew York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an order allowing online marriages, as many weddings are cancelled under lockdown restrictions.

From now on, people in the US state will be able to apply for marriage licences remotely and clerks allowed to conduct ceremonies virtually.

Cuomo joked that the decision meant there was now "no excuse" for couples not to tie the knot.

"You can do it by Zoom.

Yes or no?" he said in his briefing on Saturday.

The decision comes after New York state extended lockdown measures until May 15. More than 13,000 people have died of coronavirus in New York city alone.

Social media reaction to the decision was mixed.

Some questioned why couples would choose to hold weddings when their families and friends are unable to join them, or

criticised the Governor for not prioritising other decisions.

But others pointed out that during a pandemic, marriage could offer practical benefits, such as allowing couples to share health insurance coverage.

Some people have already turned to online celebrations to mark what would have been their special day.

But unless the weddings have been arranged in advance - and both their venues and officiants are still available despite lockdown - many of these ceremonies are not legally binding.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced that citizens and residents would be allowed to get married online, after the Justice Ministry created a website for couples to submit required documents. A virtual ceremony, complete with a registrar and witnesses, can then take place.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

19

ARCHIE

ARIES

(March 21April 19)

TAURUS (April 20May 20)

DILBERT

GEMINI (May 21June 20)

CANCER (June 21July 22)

PEANUTS LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Idle time is the enemy.

Plan your day strategically.

Stick to what you know and deliver what you promised.

Honest, direct communication is in your best interest.

Emphasize what you can do and use your skills to benefit yourself and others. Don't downplay your many talents.

Put your attributes to the test and pitch in and help others. You have the potential to make a difference if you take a leadership position. Call in favors.

Don't take on responsibilities that don't belong to you.

Avoid meddling or letting someone interfere with your efforts. Focus on work, money and advancement, not on gossip or indulgent behavior.

Follow through with your plans. Talking about something and doing something are not the same thing. A day trip should include business, interviews or learning. Activities that require physical endurance or competition are favored.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Focus only on your own responsibilities. Listen and make suggestions, but don't pay for someone else's mistake. Protect your finances, possessions and reputation.

LIBRA

Expect to have a problem with someone close to you.

Watch what's unfolding, but don't make a move prematurely. Gather all the facts and consider your options. A creative endeavor will help ease stress.

(Sept. 23Oct. 23)

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

SUDOKU

Finish what you start.

Sudden good fortune is heading in your direction.

Rely on your intuition to lead you in the right direction. Let go of the past and embrace the future.

Listen, observe and avoid SAGITTARIUS getting entangled in some(Nov. 23one else's drama. Stick close Dec. 21) to home and make a positive adjustment to your living arrangements. Renovation or a move looks favorable.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

Don't let emotional matters disrupt your plans or productivity. Add a unique spin to whatever you do to separate you from the competition.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19)

Contribute to a cause that interests you or finish a project that you left undone. Rely on your experience to guide you in the right direction.

Don't make an unnecessary change.

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

PISCES (Feb. 20March 20)

Get your finances in order. If you have too much cash on hand, it will slip through your fingers. Invest in something that will add security to your life.

20

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

T

he NBA isn’t close to making any decisions on a potart, and it isn’t nes, commissioner Adam

tential ressetting any deadliSilver said Friday.

The league has been shut down since Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 on March 11.

Silver addressed the league’s state amid the coronavirus pandemic in a Friday conference call with media mem-

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver

bers, but he offered no firm answers regarding the future.

“Based on the reports that we got from varied outside officials, current public health officials ... we are not in a position to make any decisions, and it’s unclear when we will be,” he said.

Regarding what could prompt a decision on a potential resumption of NBA action, Silver said, “I think we’re looking for the number of new infections to come down.

We’re looking for the availability of testing on a large scale. We’re looking at the path that we’re on for potentially a vaccine. We’re looking at antivirals.

“On top of that, we’re paying close attention to what the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is telling us on a federal level and what these various state rules are that are in place.

“There’s a lot of data that all has to be melded together to help make these decisions, but that’s part of the uncertainty. I think we’re not even at the point where we can say, ‘If only A, B, and C were met, then there’s a clear path.’ I think there’s still too much uncertainty at this point to say precisely how we move forward.”

Silver confirmed recent media reports that the NBA has considered the possibility of teams being quarantined and playing games in empty arenas.

“We are looking at all those things right now,” he said. “I’d say that in terms of bubble-like concepts, many of them have been proposed to us and we’ve only listened. We are not seriously engaged yet in that type of environment because I can’t answer what precisely would we need to see in order to feel that that environment provided the needed health and safety for our players and everyone involved.

“I know it’s frustrating — it is for me and everyone involved that I am not in position to be able to answer the question. ... There is still enormous uncertainty around the virus as well.”

Silver also said the league could consider adjusting

“The direction that the league office has received from our teams is, again, all rules are off at this point given the situation we find ourselves in, that the country is in,” Silver said. “If there is an opportunity to resume play, even if it looks different than what we’ve done historically, we should be modeling it.”

Silver quoted Disney executive chairman Bob Iger, who recently spoke to the NBA’s owners, as saying, “From his standpoint, it’s about the data and not the date.” (Reuters)

A

S

erena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou says his tennis academy will host a five-week tournament starting in May that will give players the chance to get back on court during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The inaugural edition of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) - which aims to fill the gap in the tennis calendar created by the health crisis - will take place without fans at the facility in the south of France, and be broadcast live, organisers said in a statement on Saturday.

The event will comply with local physical distancing requirements to ensure the safety of players, coaches and a limited number of UTS staff onsite, the statement added.

The tennis season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 2.26 million people globally causing over 154,000 deaths.

“The UTS is simply meant to be an alternative to what already exists,” tournament co-founder Mouratoglou, who coaches 23-times Grand Slam singles champion Williams among others, said in the statement.

“It’s a platform created to showcase the incredible talent,

its regular-season or playoff format depending on when play can resume.

Patrick Mouratoglou, Coach of Cori Gauff

athleticism and personalities of the wide range of players.

“It offers a new and innovative approach, targeting a younger tennis audience and proposes a different way to distribute the money among the players.”

The tournament will begin on May 16-17 and 10 matches will be held every weekend for five weeks, accounting for a total 50 matches throughout May and

June.

Australian Alexei Popyrin will take on world number 10 David Goffin in the opening match. The full list of players will be announced shortly, the organisers said.

Fans will be able to listen to conversations between players and coaches and the code of conduct for players will be light to encourage them to express emotions more freely. (Reuters)

nswering a fan’s question during his Instagram live chat with Stan Wawrinka, Player Council chief Djokovic said steps would be taken to ensure that only those players who are most deserving will benefit from any relief plans.

“I spoke to Roger and Rafa a few days ago and we had a conversation about the near future of tennis. How we can contribute to help lower ranked guys who are obviously struggling the most, Djokovic said.

“A majority of players ranked between 250 to 700 or 1,000 don’t have federation support or sponsors and are independent and left alone.”

The tennis season was suspended in early March due to the pandemic, leaving players in the lower tiers who depend solely on tournament winnings without the chance to earn a living.

The plight of players ranked outside the top 100 in singles has prompted the game’s stakeholders — the ATP, WTA, ITF and the organisers of the four Grand Slams — to devise plans to provide some assistance.

“Players hopefully will (also) contribute collective-

ly to the relief fund that the ATP (and others) will distribute using models and criteria,” Djokovic added.

“You want to avoid giving money to player who fits into this category (low ranking) but does not need the money compared to someone else... hopefully between $3-4.5 million will be distributed to lower-ranked players.”

Djokovic, a 17-times Grand Slam champion, said other short-term solutions could include diverting bonus money meant for top players from season-ending events like the ATP Finals into the

relief fund.

“If we don’t have any events (in 2020), maybe next year’s Australian Open prize money can be contributed to the fund,” the Serb added.

“I’m glad the tennis eco-system is coming together.

Everyone realises the base of tennis. These guys ranked 250 onwards are the ones making the future of tennis.

“We have to show them they’re not forgotten. We also have to send a message to young players that they can live out of tennis when there’s a financial crisis.” (Reuters)

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

21

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B

righton owner Tony Bloom says he cannot see how clubs can be relegated from the Premier League if the season is not completed.

Friday’s meeting of the 20 top-flight clubs went through several scenarios to finish the campaign. wever, uncertainty still hangs over a season that has nine rounds to go.

"It would be very difficult to relegate somebody, particularly from the Premier League, if the season hasn’t played out," said Bloom.

In the 'scheduling model' possibilities looked at on Friday, the earliest would start on 8 June.

While it was not discussed as expected at that meeting, there are clubs who think 30 June should be the cut-off date for the season to end for contractual reasons.

It is now almost certain it will not be completed at that point and Bloom, whose side are 15th, two points above the drop zone, feels it would be wrong for clubs to lose their status without playing all 38 games.

European football's governing body Uefa is expected to confirm leagues will be allowed to end seasons prematurely when it meets on Thursday, although similar decisions have already been taken in some quarters.

Non-league football from tier three and below has been voided and in Scotland promotion and relegation has been decided on current places in leagues below the Premiership.

However, another way of deciding who finishes where would be on points-per-game average, although, in England, that would not change the bottom three and would lead to Bournemouth getting relegated on the slimmest of goal differences.

"It’s unfathomable that a team may lose out on 0.2 of a point based on points per game. Also, it does not take into account the strength of the teams you have played."

Brighton owner Tony Bloom (left) took over the club in 2009 (Getty Images)

Some sides, including Brighton, have five home games left while others have four.

Any decision would require 14 of the 20 clubs to vote in favour and Bloom does not see that happening.

"I really cannot see the percent that would be needed voting for it," he said.

Even when the game restarts, major issues will be hanging over it.

One leading Premier League executive has privately ridiculed stories that have suggested transfers in excess of £100m may take place during what will be a transfer window, potentially of as little as three weeks, feeling it shows an ignorance of the financial issues being wrestled with.

Bloom rubber-stamped a club record £20m deal to buy defender Adam Webster from Bristol City last summer and kept hold of skipper Lewis Dunk, who was linked with a £45m move to Leicester.

In the current climate, he does not see such deals happening this year.

"I don't think the market will be nearly as active as in previous seasons," he said. "And the total transfers will be a very small percentage of what it has been in previous summers.

"The actual value of players has gone right down in all squads. There's no doubt if you were going to sell a player in the transfer window coming up and you were expecting to be getting £15m, you’re going to get less than that." (BBC Sport)

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H

e scored four pole positions in a row in his first season for Ferrari last year.

And after only a couple of weeks of practice is now on course for an unprecedented quadruple.

Well, no idea if it's unprecedented, given how many people have games consoles, but Charles Leclerc's having quite the week when it comes to driving his Ferrari from the no doubt considerable comfort of his Monaco home.

Yeah, he's into esports - and sim racing in particular - in a big way.

Having won the previous Virtual F1 GP, held at a simulated Albert Park

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Watford's players would be the third Premier League squad to agree to defer part of their wages

W

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"In my spare time I like to do my job― only on a computer" (Getty Images)

circuit in Melbourne, after just a few days of practice, Ferrari's young driver has become obsessed.

On Friday he helped raise more than $70,000 (£55,000) for charity to help fight coronavirus - alongside lots of other drivers - by winning the Race For The World. Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also got involved.

Then after a bag of crisps and tin of pop (possibly) and a few hours' kip, he was back at it again. This time for the Veloce Not The GP Versus series, where drivers including Jamie Chadwick, Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi went headto-head in one-lap race-offs. Oh, and Courtois again - who went out in the first round.

This time, Leclerc beat Williams' Latifi - yet to actually contest a real grand prix thanks to coronavirus - in the final. (BBC Sport)

atford's players would be the third Premier League squad to agree to defer part of their wages Watford are set to become the third Premier League club to agree wage deferrals with their first team squad.

Earlier this month, Southampton and West Ham confirmed their players would defer part of their salaries because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Arsenal players are set to take a 12.5% pay cut while Chelsea's will reportedly agree to a 10% decrease in salary.

In addition to the players, Watford’s senior management and executives are also expected to agree to deferrals.

Talks with the Watford squad have taken place amid a backdrop of discontent over the payment of last season’s bonuses, with that issue not yet resolved to the players’ satisfaction.

However, the club are close to a wages deal, having told the players they are not intending to furlough staff.

It comes after Premier League-wide talks aimed at a collective pay deal broke down without resolution.

The Premier League proposed a 30% pay cut, but the Professional Footballers’ Association said that would affect tax contributions to the NHS. Earlier this month, Premier League players launched the #PlayersTogether scheme to generate and distribute funds to the NHS. (BBC Sport)

22

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

F

ormer Grenada coach Shalrie Joseph perhaps says it best when he offers that the Concacaf Nations League (CNL) has “revolutionized football in the Caribbean”.

Few, if anyone, would disagree with him.

The success story of Grenada in the inaugural 2019-2020 season of the Confederation-wide competition is mirrored by other islands, which have found a new lease on life with the arrival of CNL. “I think us in Grenada, one of the many islands in the Caribbean, absolutely benefitted from the new format, which is the CNL, which has revolutionized football in the region.

“Now countries and FAs are going into competitions with a stronger belief that their countries can now qualify for tournaments, like the Gold Cup and the World Cup because of the way the CNL is structured,” Joseph told Concacaf.com.

Joseph said that the CNL’s impact on smaller members of the 41-member Concacaf is felt as much as it seen.

“I think the dreams of fans and players are being realized in this tournament, and if the CNL did not have this format, a small country like Grenada would not be able to play these different teams and would not be able to get this far.

“I think it is important that Concacaf continues to do things like that, especially for a small island like Grenada, where we got to play different countries and visit different places, got to meet new people and have new experiences…

We wouldn’t be able to do that if the competition was formatted differently.

“I also think it’s ideal that these games are scheduled during the international window, which allows the overseas-based players to come back and play for their country,” Joseph expressed.

The former New England Revolution standout was able to help navigate his country of birth to the top of Group A of League B unbeaten.

As a result of the Spice Boys’ eye-opening performance --winning four games and drawing two --- they earned promotion to League A and a spot in Concacaf’s marquee national team championship, the Gold Cup. “We won our group and were undefeated in the competition, so I absolutely loved the outcome of my team in the competition. I thought we were very outstanding in every aspect

W

ith world football shuttered tight due to the coronavirus pandemic, Concacaf is left to grapple with a scheduling nightmare of its own.

Though the confederation's headache is not unique as other regions of global football are hard hit as well, Concacaf's top brass, nevertheless, is left to mull the possibilities in an environment of uncertainty.

The impact on competitions and other programmes tied into Fifa's and its own schedule has provided more questions than answers, as pragmatic minds seek to look at what's possible and what's not in a virus-shaped reality.

Already, Concacaf – which governs football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean – has taken body blows to major events, but its President Victor Montagliani is “committed” to salvaging as much of its competition platform as possible when time permits.

As far as the possibilities will allow, he appears keen on rescuing all that is salvageable, but the championship phase of the new Concacaf Nations League (CNL), World Cup and Gold Cup qualifiers seem a special focus.

“One of the things we are

committed to is the final four and finishing off our Nations League, and that must be done. Secondly, the Gold Cup qualifiers because the Gold Cup is next year, and obviously [thirdly], World Cup qualifiers,” he told the Jamaica Observer recently.

One thing is for certain is that these competitions are “highly unlikely” to be contested on their official schedules, which means dramatic format changes and a shrunken calendar could be the inevitable course of action.

“If by some miracle we are back playing football in June, then obviously we don't have to change anything, but I don't think that's likely,” Montagliani said.

In response to the upended international calendar, Fifa has convened a working group to look into changing the windows for World Cup qualifiers and other competitions.

As it stands, the six Concacaf teams ranked highest by Fifa were set for a home-and-away competition for a total of 10 matches apiece between September and June 2021, from which three would qualify automatically for Qatar 2022.

A fourth nation would enter a play-off against the winner of a second-tier regional

of the games. I believe the team was extremely hard-work- Joseph reing and did everything right from the perspective of follow- lied on a match-by-match strategy. ing what the coaching staff expected of them,” Joseph noted.

“Our strategies and tactics were difIn its Group A run, Grenada’s results in home and away play read: Saint Kitts and Nevis (2-1, 0-0), Belize (2-1, 3-2) ferent depending on the teams we played, some teams we pressed and other we allowed to build, but it and French Guiana (0-0, 1-0).

For Joseph, the CNL campaign gave rise in confidence was always all about us and how we wanted to play.

“In some games we would play a more open style in terms and self-belief among the more youthful players in the squad.

“We had some individual players who were standouts who of our front three, and some games we would play narrow, gave their all defensively and offensively. We also got to play but it was always us trying to implement our style on the opsome young players and gave them their first caps national- ponent,” he explained.

Joseph reasoned that the balance of overseas-based ly and gave them their debuts in the CNL, which w i l l professional and young starry-eyed talent be fond and everlasting memories for some of and range of the these kids with some of them just turning 1 9 lent itself to the depth team. and 20 years old.

“The team was a mix of local and “So overall, I thought it was a great overseas players, and a country like experience for me and the staff, but more overseas players to importantly for the players. The experi- ours we need to have bring that professionence of coaching in the CNL was great, alism. They enjoyable, fun, outstanding and every adalso injective you can find to describe the expespire rience,” said the former Seattle Sounders t h e midfielder.

Joseph, 41, said it is not easy to zoom in on one factor that led to the team’s success, opting to pin it down to a collection of things.

“It’s hard to pinpoint one thing being the key to Grenada’s success youngin the CNL. I think there were a er playlot of contrib- uting facers, give tors, but one them beof them is the lief and let brilliant play we them know brought to the field every that they time we stepped out. are im“We also had a bit of luck in a portant game here and there, plus we had some late to the winners in game which showed the charsuccess of acter of the players on the team. I think, Grenada’s footmost importantly, we believed in each ball and where it’s other and we believed we were going going,” Joseph conto win games, irrespective of what it cluded. (Sportsmax) took,” he asserted.

When it came to team tactics and general approach to A snippet of regional action between Grenada and Curaçao matches,

CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani

competition in 2021, and the victor would then advance to an intercontinental play-off in spring 2022 for a possible fourth Concacaf berth.

Meanwhile, the semi-finals, third-place play-off and final of the CNL, the confederation's game-changing national competition, were to have taken place June 4-7 in the USA. Another casualty of the forced change in schedule are the Gold Cup qualifiers.

The scheduling disrup-

tions and tremors are also felt across the club and youth competition platforms.

“Obviously, we have already postponed some of our events starting with Gold Cup qualifying, the final four of our Nations League, which we are committed to 100 per cent. As you know, the Nations League has been a game changer in this confederation, so it behoves us to stay the course there.

“Also, we have had some

youth competitions and club competitions that have been postponed,” said Montagliani.

He said discussions are ongoing with Fifa as to what a revised schedule would look like, assuming a turnaround from the deadly COVID-19 will happen in the short term and a go-ahead is given for a return to action.

“We have been in discussion with FIFA, not just us but all our fellow confederations, to see what the calendar will

look like once we we get some kind of yellow light.

“The reality is what we have to be ready for and cognisant of is that we can't bury our heads in the sand to think that the calendar will continue as is, because the calendar in some shape or form will be tight or shrunken; therefore, we have to adapt to that situation,” Montagliani reasoned.

The Fifa vice-president, who heads up a crisis management effort at the global level, said a compressed Fifa calendar could mean a format change in World Cup qualifying.

“Based on the balance of probabilities, I would think that the World Cup qualifying format would not be fitting in a shrunken calendar so that means we have to relook at format, but what that format would be, I have absolutely no idea because we don't know what the calendar will look like,” Montagliani pointed out.

“I can't just get into a room with my member associations and make decisions in a vacuum as we have to be cognisant of the inter-relationship between how this calendar works; there is a reason why it's called the FIFA calendar because it is for everybody,” he added.

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

23

– Foster calls for all to support venture

B

erbice Cricket Board (BCB) President Hilbert Foster and his team are continuing to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

As a result of the deadly coronavirus, many families are under lockdown and are struggling to survive this testing period.

Under the BCB and the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC), Foster and his team have created this initiative.

West Indies batting star Shimron Hetmyer and his fiancée have responded to the call to aid in the food hampers project.

The couple handed over their donation less than six hours after the BCB made the request.

In a statement on popular social platform Facebook, Foster stated: "Over the last 72 hours, I have received numerous requests from persons who are struggling to survive during this period due to the problems associated with the coronavirus. People are unable to work and many of them are forced to live on one meal per day. One parent told me that it pains her to see her five kids being hungry and she cannot do

BCB President Hilbert Foster

anything due to the fact that she has no money to buy foodstuffs.

Several of our junior cricketers have also requested assistance."

Foster further added:” I have always stated that under my leadership, the BCB would be

a compassionate body, which would make a positive difference in the lives of others and those less fortunate than us. As such, the BCB would be launching a project to share out at least 200 food hampers to the less fortunate and single-parent households. We would be very grateful if you can join us in this noble venture by donating items for the hampers. We need bags of rice, sugar, potatoes, garlic, salt, onions, split peas, blackeye, flour among other items.”

The BCB is not asking for cash but for the items. Foster and his team are assuring that all donations would be used for the intended purpose. Contact can be made on 337-4443, 6410890 (Ameer Rahaman) or 3333905 (Angela Haniff) for more information.

"This is a chance to show that we care and together we can make a difference. There is an old saying that no matter how poor we are, there is always someone poorer than us. Any donation would be welcome. We look forward to your cooperation especially from our current cricketers, club and board officials,

F

ormer Guyana youth wicketkeeper-batsman Adrian Sukwah is hungry for success at the senior level.

During his days of playing youth cricket, he showed his dominance with the bat – whether he played for Albion, Berbice or any Guyana youth teams.

The 22-year-old lad from Albion Community Centre Cricket Club had the luxury of playing for Berbice at the junior levels and featured in Guyana youth teams from the Under-15 to the Under-19 levels.

Sukwah once scored the most runs for Guyana at the Regional Under-15 championship, which was held in Jamaica.

During his chat with Guyana Times Sport, Sukwah disclosed

Adrian Sukwah bats in the BCB fixture at Port Mourant (Brandon Corlette photos)

innings, he stroked nine fours and five sixes.

Sukwah, who is often referred to as “Bitam” in the cricketing world , is pushing himself for a Guyana Jaguars call-up in the near future. "In the next two years, I see myself in the CGI Academy set-up and pushing for a spot in the Guyana senior team,” he revealed.

Sukwah played in the 2017 Regional U-19 tournament with the likes of Joshua Persaud, Ronaldo Ali-Mohamed, Ashmead Nedd, and Kevin Sinclair.

Sukwah has shown all his abilities at the junior level; he has also shown a glimpse of what he can do in senior cricket. For years, the opener has been regarded as one of the more attacking batsmen. When given his opportunity, he will certainly rock the Guyana colours well.

(Brandon Corlette)

forward to your cooperation.

May God

Shimron Hetmyer

worth of food items and we look

T

that he would be grateful for a Cricket Guyana Inc (CGI) Academy Contract. "Having an Academy Contract, I will be grateful and it will be a dream come true," Sukwah posited.

The right-handed top-order batsman has also had the luxury of playing cricket in Canada; he rocked the outfits of Apollo Cricket Club and York Cricket Club.

Sukwah, who represented the victorious Lower Corentyne team in the 2019 CGI 50-over Franchise League, made a polished 98 against Upper Corentyne at Young Warriors Sukwah shares a light moment with a young Albion Cricket Club. In that player

overseas-based Berbicians and well-wishers. The RHTY&SC, MS, would kick start the process with a donation of $50,000

he PGA Tour hopes to take delivery of up to one million Covid-19 test kits to assist with the completion of its season from 11 June. President Donald Trump’s desire to use sport as a key vehicle to accelerate a return to normality in the United States is emphasised by a plan to allow those involved in PGA Tour events into the country under the auspice of essential travel. The Tour remains confident of pushing forward with tournaments given the scale of government backing.

A revised schedule was announced last week, featuring 14 tournaments running until 7 September. At least the first four, starting with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, will be closed to spectators.

Estimates are that between 700 and 800 personnel will still be needed on site at events.The rigorous testing procedures will involve players, caddies and officials being sent testing kits – already on mass order – to their homes, with a further and immediate check required if anyone has travelled to a tournament by air. Daily tests will subsequently be undertaken by each individual in tournament week, with anyone returning a positive result asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Tour events are likely to be very different to those in pre-coronavirus times, with locker rooms and player dining facilities unavailable.The Ryder Cup remains in its original position of late September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Talks regarding the viability of playing the biennial competition – with or without fans – are due to continue this week. The qualification processes for the USA and Europe teams will also be up for discussion.

Testing procedures were a key topic as Trump addressed the nation on Friday. The US president claimed the

bless you all," Foster concluded.

country had already carried out almost 3.8m tests. It is unclear precisely what type of kits the Tour has on order – or what level can be delivered – but both Trump and golf administrators have cited the usefulness of saliva tests, as recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration but currently for emergency use only. Testing machines have been considered but are more likely to be used when the general public are permitted entry to tournaments again.Jay Monahan, the Tour’s commissioner, has previously stressed the importance of mass testing and that golf should know its place in terms of national priorities.

“We need to have widespread, largescale testing across our country, where we are going to be able to test players, caddies and other constituents before we return,” he said. “But we need to do so in a way that’s not going to take away from the critical need [the country is] going to be facing.”The Tour estimates at least 25 of its member players and 35 caddies are currently outside the US. If border restrictions are not eased by mid-June, there is an understanding these individuals will still be granted entry if due at a golf tournament.

What this means in respect of returns to their home bases is unclear.The first major of this golf season, the US PGA Championship, is due to take place in a rescheduled slot from 6 August. There remains scepticism whether Harding Park in San Francisco will be able to stage the event. Valhalla in Kentucky and Hazeltine in Minnesota – host to the 2016 Ryder Cup – are among the back-up options.The European Tour, which is also mindful of necessary testing protocols upon a possible August restart, is expected to issue schedule revisions in the coming days.

(The Guardian)

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

Sports is no longer our game, it’s our business

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― Foster calls for all to support venture Page 23

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Adrian Sukwah bats in the BCB fixture at Port Mourant (Brandon Corlette photo)

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