Guyana Times -- Monday, May 30, 2022

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THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Issue No. 5024

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

Guyana receives $1.7B in flaring fines so far from Exxon Exxon– – EPA Head ...says oil giant making progress on reducing flaring, most gas being reinjected

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Renowned P2 medical practitioner Dr Ramsundar Doobay dies …hailed for contributions to medical developments in Guyana

See story on page 3

$1B for roads in Region 10 – VP Jagdeo See story on page 7

Contract for OgleEccles bypass road to be signed soon – as Guyana’s highway Page 9

development moves apace

Better Hope man MV Kanawan killed after to be out of confronting service from man who Wednesday ...no ... no need for panic: alternative stabbed his friend arrangements in place – Minister Edghill

Cane harvester stabs estranged lover, kills self

P16

1 arrested with illegal gun, other weapons seized at National Park P12 J’ouvert

P12 2 dead after being electrocuted at rice mill in Mahaicony – Labour Ministry launches investigation

Page 16

Page 10

Active COVID-19 cases climb to P17 651

2 NEWS

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Renowned medical practitioner Dr Ramsundar Doobay dies …hailed for contributions to medical developments in Guyana

T

he medical fraternity in Guyana has plunged into a state of mourning following the death of renowned cardiologist Dr Ramsundar Doobay, who died on Sunday morning at the age of 79.

Guyana Times understands that Dr Doobay had been ill for the past several months.

He passed away at his Campbellville, Georgetown home.

Having started his journey in the late 1960s, Dr Doobay has had an illustrious medical career, serving the public health sector uninterrupted with brief stints, simultaneously, at various private institutions.

Dr Doobay served as Head of the Internal Medicine Department at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for more than 50 years before he was asked to step down in 2016 under the APNU/AFC Administration.

Under his tenure there, he not only helped develop the treatment guidelines for several diseases but was also a mentor for and had trained most of Guyana’s current crop of top medical practitioners including Dr Mahendra Carpen.

Former Health Minister and current Health Advisor, Dr Leslie Ramsammy has described Dr Doobay’s passing as a great loss for Guyana and the medical fraternity.

“He was a quiet, humble guy but he served this nation

to extent that he can be regarded as a national hero…

His impact on the lives of many ordinary Guyanese cannot be measured.”

“We, in this country, have today lost a citizen who truly made us better… We’ve lost a true hero who made an indelible mark in medical development in Guyana,” Dr Ramsammy stated.

Meanwhile, the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the GPHC also joined the medical fraternity in extending deepest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of one of its best practitioners.

The hospital said, “In 1968, a young Dr Doobay begun his career at the GPHC as a medical intern. ‘Doobs’ as he was affectionately called, quickly became a household name as he treated patients, taught and mentored young practitioners and contributed to the development of medical protocols and polices in Guyana. Over the years, his alacrity and brilliance would see him ascend to the head of Internal Medicine and acting Director of Medical and Professional Services before moving on in 2016, but it was Dr Doobay’s humility and inimitable sense of humour that etched a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of those who had the honour of meeting and working with him.”

Meanwhile, in a lengthy tribute on Sunday, the Ministry of Health said very

The late Dr Ramsundar Doobay, MBBS, MRCP

few persons have served the health sector with the same dedication, value, worth and distinction as Dr Doobay. It noted that one of the indelible images in many persons’ memories of GPHC is walking into the medicine wards and seeing a simple, unassuming Dr Doobay finding a corner of a patient’s bed to tuck himself in, sitting, talking to the patient, assuring the patient and teaching doctors.

Describing him as one of the country’s finest and most dedicated medical professionals, the Ministry said Dr Doobay is a national hero who toiled in the total absence of public attention. He began his career under the illustrious Dr Enid Denbow in November 1968 at the age of 26 and quickly began to make his mark on the medical profession and service in Guyana.

Among his early colleagues was Dr Roger Luncheon with whom he shared a personal and strong friendship and bond. By the 1970s, he had become the Head of Department of Internal Medicine. At various times, Dr Doobay also served as Medical Superintendent and acted as Director of Medical and Professional Services at the GPHC. According to the Ministry, he is one of the few medical professionals who served the public sector throughout his career. While he served in the private sector, he never sacrificed his duty in the public sector for private practice, added to the Ministry. When he departed from the public sector in 2016, he continued serving people at the Doobay Hospital in Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD), a hospital founded by his cousin.

“He was brilliant. But he remained at all times a simple, humble gentleman. His sense of humour was unique. Most of his students and many patients saw a stern, serious person. But he was gentle, caring and funny. Few could tell a joke without changing their demeanour. His expressions never changed whether he was making a serious statement or making a joke. For a man who was so funny, he was also a man of few words, always cool and collective, rarely ruffled,” the Ministry said.

Outside his service to thousands of citizens whom

he diagnosed and treated, he served by teaching and mentoring hundreds of young doctors as a professor at the University of Guyana (UG) School of Medicine for over three decades. He also mentored hundreds of interns at GPHC. When Guyana introduced post-graduate training, he was one of the pillars of the post-graduate training programme. The Ministry said, “Indeed, both the internship and post-graduate internal medicine programmes benefitted from indispensable contributions from Dr Doobay.

Truly, Dr Doobay moulded the career of many young and experienced doctors who today serve and who served in the past in medicine in Guyana and in many countries around the world.”

Additionally, it revealed that Dr Doobay played a major role in the early introduction of treatment guidelines for diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart diseases, asthma, liver diseases, cancer, kidney diseases, lung diseases, neurological diseases, and various infectious diseases, such as leptospirosis, and exposure to toxic chemicals in Guyana. The Ministry noted that the elaborate guidelines that are now available to both young and experienced doctors in various areas of medicine were initially developed with considerable contributions from him.

Beginning in the 1970s

and particularly at the beginning of the 21st century, Dr Doobay was instrumental in the reorganisation of medical clinics, medical wards, and the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the GPHC. These models, the Health Ministry added, are being further improved today and are the models for hospitals across the country.

Dialysis is today a routine service in Guyana, but long before dialysis was introduced, Dr Doobay introduced peritoneal dialysis in the 1970s.

According to the Ministry, without access to peritoneal dialysis in 2005 at the GPHC, dozens of people would have died from leptospirosis resulting from the big flood of 2005.

In fact, Dr Doobay was the one who detected the first leptospirosis case in the country at the time.

“We will miss Dr Doobay, his invaluable lessons, his unique humour, his brilliance and intellect that mesmerised his students, colleagues, and his patients, his clinical acumen that saved lives every day for more than fifty years.

His contributions to health and medicine in Guyana are unsurpassed and will live on as a legend in this country,” the Ministry added.

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, on behalf of the Health Ministry and the entire health sector, expressed profound sympathies to Dr Doobay’s family and friends and stands ready to support them in their loss.

NEWS

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MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS OPENINGS BRIDGE

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Monday, May 30 – 03:30h – 05:00h and 13:00h – 14:30h and Tuesday, May 31 – 03:30h – 05:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Monday, May 30 – 16:45h – 18:15h and Tuesday, May 31 – 17:25h – 18:55h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times – 05:00h, 10:00h-12:00h, 16:00h, 18:30h daily

WEATHER TODAY

There will be light rain showers and sunshine during the day. Expect partly cloudy conditions at night.

Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Northerly to North North-Easterly between 1.78 metres and 4.47 metres.

High Tide: 16:30h reaching a maximum height of 2.51 metres.

Guyana receives $1.7B in flaring fines so far from Exxon – EPA Head

…says oil giant making progress on reducing flaring, most gas being reinjected

G

uyana has so far received payments to the tune of US$8.3 million ($1.7 billion) from ExxonMobil’s local affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), for 17 billion cubic feet of gas flared since production started.

In an interview with Guyana Times, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Executive Director Kemraj Parsram revealed these figures.

Included was the 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas that was

tivity that could harm the environment.

The Liza 1 Permit was approved back in 2017 and two years later, ExxonMobil and its co-venturers in the Stabroek Block began oil production with the Liza Destiny FPSO vessel. Since then, the operators have started production at their second Field Development – Liza 2 with the Liza Unity FPSO. Last year, the US oil giant had sent the Liza Destiny gas compressor for repairs in Germany after it

EPA Head Kemraj Parsram

Low Tide: 10:06h and 22:14h reaching minimum heights of 0.57 metre and 0.73 metre.

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COMMODITIES Indicators

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flared since the start of this year.

Parsram noted that the oil company has been reinjecting almost 95 per cent of the gas, while using the rest to power the Liza Destiny Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. He also noted that Exxon has been making progress on addressing the flaring issue.

“That was from 2021… when the permit was adjusted to allow for the payment of fees, which started at US$30 [per tonne]. And then we increased it to US$45 per tonne. They’re aiming for July to adjust the flash gas compressor. And hopefully, once everything goes well, they should solve the problem and go to background flaring,” Parsram said.

“Under normal conditions, there will always be some level of flaring. And that is a safety precaution.

You always keep it lit, in case there is any emergency.

But they’re still reinjecting 95 per cent of the gas.”

Exxon has come under criticism over its increased flaring in recent years with environmentalists up in arms over the harmful effects it has on the environment.

And with the EPA currently reviewing the Environmental Permit for the Liza 1 development in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, Parsram has said that they were looking to include some strong measures aimed at preventing any ac-

developed technical issues resulting in increased flaring. But after reinstallation in April, technical issues were still encountered, forcing the company to significantly drop production to as low as 30,000 barrels per day.

By May, production went up and flaring was at ap-

proximately 15 million standard cubic feet of gas. Over the following months, Exxon has since brought the compressor online and has been able to cut down its flaring by 96 per cent.

Last year, the company’s Production Manager, Mike Ryan, had explained that there were six operational

gas compressors including the flash gas compressor, two main ones and injection gas compressor, and that flaring was reduced to approximately 6 million cubic feet per day.

Exxon has already said that a new redesigned flash gas compressor is being manufactured. This compressor, the company had said, would reduce flaring once it arrived in the country.

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat had previously said Government had engaged Exxon to ensure that the Liza Unity FPSO that arrived last year, as well as the Prosperity FPSO scheduled for early 2024, did not experience the same issues as the Liza Destiny.

The Minister had pointed out that the adjustment is needed since both Liza Unity and Prosperity are each designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day – almost twice the amount of Liza Destiny.

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guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

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

Women as peacemakers

A

decade ago, on the occasion of “International Day for Women” which we commemorated earlier this month, Rene Wadlow, President and Representative to the United Nations, Geneva of the Association of World Citizens, made a suggestion we believe our conflict-ridden society may benefit from. She suggested a larger role for women as peacemakers, even as they are facing the brunt of inter-personal violence.

Influenced by Eastern thought – encapsulated by the Chinese terms “yin and yang”, men and women are thought to have complementary psychological characteristics. “Feminine” characteristics or values include intuitive, nurturing, caring, sensitive, relational traits, while “masculine” characteristics are rational, dominant, assertive, analytical and hierarchical.

While as individuals, men and women alike can achieve a state of wholeness, of balance between the yin and yang, in practice “masculine” refers to men and “feminine” to women.

Thus, some feminists identify the male psyche as the prime cause of the subordination of women around the world. Men are seen as having nearly a genetic coding that leads them to “seize” power, to institutionalise that power through patriarchal societal structures, and to buttress the power with masculine values and culture.

One of the best-known symbols of a woman as peacemaker is Lysistrata, immortalised by Aristophanes, who mobilised women on both sides of the Athenian-Spartan War for a sexual strike in order to force men to end hostilities and avert mutual annihilation. Since Lysistrata, women, individually and in groups, have played a critical role in the struggle for justice and peace in all societies. However, when real negotiations begin, women are often relegated to the sidelines.

However, a gender perspective on peace, disarmament, and conflict resolution entails a conscious and open process of examining how women and men participate in and are affected by conflict differently. It requires ensuring that the perspectives, experiences, and needs of both women and men are addressed and met in peace-building activities. Today, conflicts reach everywhere. How do these conflicts affect people in the society — women and men, girls and boys, the elderly and the young, the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural?

Three elements can be the “gender” contribution to conflict transformation efforts. The first is in the domain of analysis, the contribution of the knowledge of gender relations as indicators of power. Uncovering gender differences in a given society will lead to an understanding of power relations in general in that society, and to the illumination of contradictions and injustices inherent in those relations.

The second contribution is to make us more fully aware of the role of women in specific conflict situations. Women should not only be seen as victims of war: they are often significantly involved in taking initiatives to promote peace. Some writers have stressed that there is an essential link between women, motherhood, and non-violence, arguing that those engaged in mothering work have distinct motives for rejecting war that run in tandem with their ability to resolve conflicts non-violently.

Others reject this position of a gender bias toward peace and stress rather that the same continuum of non-violence to violence is found among women as among men. In practice, it is never all women or all men who are involved in peace-making efforts. Sometimes, it is only a few, especially at the start of peacemaking efforts. The basic question is how best to use the talents, energies, and networks of both women and men for efforts at conflict resolution.

The third contribution of a gender approach with its emphasis on the social construction of roles is to draw our attention to a detailed analysis of the socialisation process in a given society.

Transforming gender relations requires an understanding of the socialisation process of boys and girls, and of the constraints and motivations that create gender relations. Thus, there is a need to look at patterns of socialisation, potential incitements to violence in childhood training patterns, and socially approved ways of dealing with violence. And this would also relate to anti-women violence.

Let’s get women on the front lines.

The sun showcases the last of the golden hours, as well as the calmness of the mighty Essequibo River near the Parika-Supenaam Boat Service, during the lockdown in 2020 in this Romel Collins entry for the 56th Independence Anniversary Photography Competition hosted by the Tourism, Industry and Commerce Ministry

Ukraine must negotiate from a position of strength. But the world’s attention is fading …Putin aimed to reset the world order when his forces invaded. Russians must be persuaded he can’t – maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger can help

By Peter Pomerantsev

R

ussia needs to stop being a threat: to its neighbours, to its own people, to the world. Minimising that threat should be the goal of our policies and the only way to face up to the reality of the Kremlin’s boot stamping on so many faces. The hope that the current iteration of Russia is ready to recognise that other States have rights is gone.

Putin’s Russia is not an ordinary country seeking some rational security guarantees.

It’s a predator that works according to its own logic of internal oppression and external aggression. With such a State there is no going back to “normal”. No clever “deal” that can be cut to restore previous relations.

As we work out what minimising Russia’s threat means in practice, we may also get to something bigger: a set of security, humanitarian and economic interconnections that redefine how we reduce aggression in an interconnected age. Russia’s aim in its invasion of Ukraine was to reset the world order, tilt it towards dictatorships, impunity and the right of great powers to crush the small. Instead, it may produce a desire to strengthen rights, sovereignty and democracy. In pushing for the worst, it might produce something better.

The first place where Russia’s threat has to be minimised is in Ukraine itself. This will be achieved on the battlefield. Ukraine is still vastly outnumbered in both men and arms. The situation in the Donbas is tenuous. Every day, about 100 Ukrainian soldiers are killed. And it’s no longer hardened professional fight-

ers – it’s IT specialists, sociologists, students.

When I met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, together with colleagues from the Atlantic magazine a few weeks ago, his greatest fear was that the victory in the battle for Kyiv meant that too many people would think the war over when it was just shifting to a different, more deadly phase in the Donbas. The world’s attention has faded. Allies are being slow to arm Ukraine sufficiently. Positions are being ceded daily because of a lack of basic munitions for artillery. This needs to change fast.

Any eventual negotiations have to be taken from a position of Ukrainian strength, not weakness, or else they risk being another deal that gives up all the leverage to Russia, only augmenting the threat it poses.

Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022 because, after its 2014 invasion, Putin thought he could get away with it If and when those negotiations happen, Ukraine has to be armed to the teeth to deter future Russian incursions.

It is also hoping for security guarantees, including from the UK. But there’s a greater context here too. The Russian invasion is relevant to any nation that lives unprotected in the neighbourhood of nuclear bullies: think Moldova, Georgia and the central Asian states around Russia; Japan, Australia and Taiwan around China. It’s no coincidence that Australia, a country that could have chosen to sit out this conflict, has been such an enthusiastic advocate of the Ukrainian cause, even providing US$70 million-worth of defensive equipment.

How can you protect such

countries from aggression, given they are not NATO members and the nuclear status of the States that threaten them? The ad hoc support to Ukraine gives us a clue: a mix of economic warfare and provision of arms. But to act as a deterrent this threat has to be made clear and be coordinated before any invasion. Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022 because, after its 2014 invasion, Putin thought he could get away with it. The moment sanctions kick in should not be up for debate: a war of aggression should trigger harsh measures.

Moreover, we need to tie crimes against humanity to even more aggressive sanctions. The indiscriminate bombing of Mariupol or slaughter in Bucha should lead to oil embargoes. We need to reconnect humanitarian norms to economics.

So far, the economic power dynamics lie the other way.

At the moment, a country such as Australia, which criticised Beijing’s human rights record, is bullied by China with grain sanctions. Russia holds the world hostage to hunger by limiting its own grain exports and blocking Ukraine’s, demanding sanctions against Russia are lifted. In central Europe, a gruesome calculation is emerging: what hike in gas prices are people willing to bear before they close their eyes to Putin’s crimes against humanity? Everywhere, human rights are subservient to economic needs. For us to rein in the aggression of the Russias and Chinas of this world, it needs to be the other way round.

While such measures can act as a deterrent, Russia will also have to change inter-

nally before it stops being a threat. Can we ever hope for a Russia that is ready to give up imperial pretensions, live in harmony with its neighbours and even establish rule of law at home? It seems a faroff dream. All talk about “regime change” from outside is foolish: Russia is a great power no one can influence or attack that brazenly. But what we can do is remain steadfast in our sanctions and commitment to indicting war criminals, showing Russian elites that their punishment is long and serious. Anecdotal research from inside the country suggests many think the sanctions will be lifted soon. This betrays great weakness. In his memoirs of life in Nazi concentration camps, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl noted that those who thought their imprisonment would end soon were in denial of reality – and the first to then break and collapse.

Who will communicate this? Currently, we are not explaining the intent of sanctions to the Russian people, allowing the Kremlin to manage perceptions. It wouldn’t be hard to get Russians’ attention. A short video from Arnold Schwarzenegger directed at his Russian fans and condemning the war got millions of views. The Russian Internet firewall is feeble: you can still use radio, WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube. The more understanding there is that the Kremlin has led people into a dead end, that this is permanent, the more impetus there is for elites to change the direction of the country. (The Guardian) Peter Pomerantsev is the author of Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia.

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

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Use of force

Indentureds became first “Indians”

By Guyanese of Indian Ancestry Association

W

hen the Girmitiyas were brought to then British Guiana between 1838 and 1917, while they were sourced principally (86%) from North India – the Bengal and United Presidencies – and South India (Madras Presidency 13%), there was also a smattering of persons from Orissa, the Bombay Presidency, etc. Their diversity was enormous.

First, there were their religions of Hinduism (84%) and Islam (16%). The Hindus would have mostly worshipped the avatars of Vishnu – Rama and Krishna – but Shaivites were also prominent. The Girmitiyas from the South were generally worshippers of the village Deity Mariammen but were dubbed “Kali Mai” devotees. While there were a number of Shias among the Muslims, their numbers were small. Yet their Hossay or Tadja festival became the largest pan-Indian celebration during the 19th century and even attracted Africans.

Linguistically, most North Indians – now UP and Bihar – would have spoken Hindi, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, Urdu and tribal languages like Santali. Among Southern “Madrassis, there were Tamil and Telugu.

What then made them identify as “Indians”? Most critical was their treatment by the British who recruited them to depots, brought them in ships and then worked them on plantations. They labelled all Girmitiyas “coolies” and treated them all with the same disdain and arrogance. Their differences started to break down on the ships and new “Jahaji Bhais and Jahaji Behins” bonds were formed. Even between Hindus and Muslims and “High and Low” castes.

These diverse Girmitiyas’ "Indian identity" was solidified in the context of their being situated between the White/European planters and the ex-slaves they were brought to replace on the plantations. Identity is always related to what one is not – the “other”; it is only conceivable in and through difference.

Dear Editor, Recently an incident between a Police Traffic Constable in uniform and a taxi driver at New Amsterdam, Berbice, went viral. Social media is awash with diverse comments about the activity.

I am not sure what triggered the unsavoury event.

Therefore, it would be flippant of me to pass judgement on the policeman or the civilian. The person who is sitting in the chair of the office of the Commissioner of Police ordered an investigation. I hope that the investigation will be impartial so that a pellucid picture will emerge as to what exactly took place.

Editor, please permit me to briefly restate some previous comments I made and introduce a few new concepts on the use of force by members of the Force.

Use of force including ex-

cessive force has always been difficult. Use of force is sometimes a necessary part of the job, but determining what is reasonable is highly subjective.

In the United States of America, the landmark case in the use of force is Graham v Connor in which the court held: " The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that Police officers are often forced to make split-second judgements in circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving - about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation." Use of force expert Nowicki (2000) explains: " The standard according to the decision, is the 'reasonable objective officer'."

There are many uses of force models. However, the one used by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is very in-

structive. It has five levels.

Level One is the Complaint Level where no use of force is usually reasonable.

Level Two is the Resistive (Passive) Level where the subject does not follow the officer's commands. Force options here include guiding or directing the suspect through handson techniques. Level Three is the Resistive (Active) Level, which occurs when a subject actively resists arrest. Level Three force options include joint manipulation or restraint, leverage techniques, pressure points or even OC (pepper) spray, with a warning given first under proper circumstances. Level Four is the Assaultive (bodily harm) Level a direct physical attack on an officer or others.

Appropriate force options at this level include strikes with hand, fists, elbows or knees: kicks: baton strikes: and forcefully directing the

subject to the ground. Level Five is the Assaultive (serious bodily harm or death) Level, where the appropriate response would be deadly force."

According to Nowicki, there are three rules relating to use of force by any officer. Rule number one is you go home the same way as when you went to work: Alive. Rule number two is that you don't go to prison.

Rule number three is you keep your job. If your use of force is reasonable you protect yourself, your agency, the community and even the assailant. But when in doubt, always remember rule number one.

Wow! I think that this is a good time for me to take a strategic time out.

Yours respectfully, Clinton Conway, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retired)

Guyana will not be recolonised Dear Editor, Guyana will not be recolonised or put under the yoke of neo-colonialism, that is talking from the external standpoint, further, we are not going to be distracted by the local claptraps as they go on a rampage of retrogression. Recolonisation is defined as a process in which former or new colonising powers seek to retain control over former colonies in effect they are seeking to replicate or reproduce the conditions of the former colony and as such keep them under a perpetual form of underdevelopment and backwardness.

Many countries refer to themselves as independent and sovereign nations yet

when you assess their situation they are still subjugated by former colonial powers or from newer emerging forms of capitalism. Under this framework, Guyana as a developing oil economy has to manoeuvre. Now, Guyana has oil and the potential to be another Singapore if not Japan, in this part of the Western world and the capacity for phenomenal growth is at our doorstep.

In this regard, there is an inordinate obsession with everything that goes on in Guyana today.

There are foreign interests that are pouring in willing and able to make investments in the developing oil and gas sector. This is good news for the investment

climate here, however, we must take cautious steps with those foreign companies that they do not take on the role of being masters looking down on their docile slaves down here; that foolishness would not be tolerated.

And with the same mindset, we view those local groups here who seek to stymie progress. We view with great distaste the actions of those malcontents who from time to time would come up with every negative theory in the book. One so-called expert has gone so

far as to seek out a court order to stop the production of oil until their agenda is adhered to. What hogwash!

What asininity!

So there is this movement on right now to stop the developmental trajectory and recolonise our country. Well, I can tell you that is not going to happen. Guyana will move forward on that developmental path, unfettered and unhindered by those naysayers.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

Fijian Indians performing Puja

And in Guyana, while the whites would, at various times, alter their definition of the Girmitiyas, the latter were always “othered” as “different” – coolies. It was the same with the Africans/ Coloureds in their interactions with Indentureds. The Girmitiyas reacted to these boundaries by submerging many of their internal differences to deal with their “others” as “Indians”. Especially in the early days because of the shortage of women, they intermarried freely.

As such an “Indian” identity was formed in Girmitiyas before India, where their regional as well as other differences still predominate.

DID YOU KNOW? •

The unity of a group is directly related to the pressure applied on it by others.

•

The similar experiences of Girmitiyas in countries across the world, such as Fiji or South Africa, give them very similar identities.

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MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

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Foundation ◄

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to do so in a way that does not disturb the heavier sugar water in the bottom of the glass. You may want to place a spoon just above the sugar solution layer and gently trickle regular water down over the spoon.

Now place a grape inside glass #3 and observe what happens.

n this fun and easy science experiment, we’re going to explore and investigate density by making grapes float.

Materials: Several grapes Masking tape Marker Sugar 4 drinking glasses Measuring cup Instructions: Place a piece of masking tape on each glass.

Label each glass #1 through #4 using the marker.

Fill the #4 glass part ways with warm water and stir in several tablespoons of sugar.

Test the sugar mixture and see if the grape floats. Keep adding sugar until the grape floats. Do not worry if there is a little sugar that does not dissolve completely.

CONTINUED FROM SATURDAY

“True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right” – Brigham Young

Act 5. Scene I PROSPERO Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest For this one night; which, part of it, I'll waste With such discourse as, I not doubt, shall make it Go quick away; the story of my life And the particular accidents gone by Since I came to this isle: and in the morn I'll bring you to your ship and so to Naples, Where I have hope to see the nuptial

Fill the #1 glass with warm water.

Place a grape in the #1 glass and observe what happens.

Fill the #2 glass with some of the sugar solution.

Place a grape in the #2 glass and observe what happens.

Fill the #3 glass with the remaining sugar water.

Next, carefully fill the rest of glass #3 with water. You want

Of these our dearbeloved solemnized; And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my grave.

ALONSO I long To hear the story of your life, which must Take the ear strangely.

PROSPERO I'll deliver all; And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales And sail so expeditious that shall catch Your royal fleet far off.

Aside to ARIEL My Ariel, chick,

How it works: A grape is denser than water and will sink in regular tap water.

As sugar is dissolved into water, the water eventually becomes denser than the grape. The grape will then appear to “float” on top of the denser solution.

Make this a science project: Test other items that sink in water and then try to make sugar solutions to see if you can get the item to float. Try making solutions with salt or other items. (sciencefun.org)

That is thy charge: then to the elements Be free, and fare thou well! Please you, draw near.

Exeunt EPILOGUE SPOKEN BY PROSPERO Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's mine own, Which is most faint: now, 'tis true, I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell;

But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands: Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please.

Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant, And my ending is despair, Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardon'd be, Let your indulgence set me free.

The End

WORD SEARCH

NEWS

7

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

$1B for roads in Region 10 – VP Jagdeo T

he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government has increased budgetary allocations for roads in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) to a whopping $1 billion, almost double the amount originally set aside.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo made this revelation while he was in Linden on Saturday to launch the 1000 part-time jobs initiative and also initiate the Government’s distribution of $250,000 each in small business grants to 200 persons.

According to Jagdeo, since his last visit to Linden earlier this year, the allocation earmarked for miscellaneous roads in Region 10 has been almost doubled from $550 million to $1 billion. He described it as the largest-ever annual allocation for roads in the region.

“I pointed out that we set aside $550 million to do community roads across the region, in Kwakwani and here in Linden. That is the biggest allocation to the region, ever, in our history, for roads,” Jagdeo said.

“But when I came here, people were very concerned about their roads. So, when we went back, we increased it from $550 million to $1 billion now, to be spent on community roads – all the small roads, in many of these areas,” he added.

In total, Budget 2022 had allocated $15.2 billion

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo while in Linden

towards the Miscellaneous Road Programme in various regions.

The Vice President also lambasted the parliamentary opposition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC), who he said did little for Region 10, its electoral stronghold, during its five years in office.

“They were talking about roads in the region. You had five years; you didn’t do anything much. But now, you’re very critical when we’ve laid out our programme. And we’re very much aware of this, because they’re in the Parliament too when we present our plans there. But come to lie to people out here and snipe,” Jagdeo said.

There is another large project earmarked for

Region 10, for which Jagdeo said a tender would go out by year end. This project is the resurfacing of the LindenSoesdyke Highway and is likely to be funded through the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), which has to grant approval for a US$120 million loan.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has already green lit the Linden-toMabura Hill Road project, which is the first link in the highway between Linden and Lethem.

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, had announced in February that negotiations would commence with the most responsive bidder, Construtora

Queiroz Galvao SA from Brazil.

It is anticipated that this project will provide major support to ease of travel, trade, and general connectivity between Guyana and Brazil and open up vast opportunities by linking Guyana’s hinterland communities to Georgetown.

The process leading to the award of this contract

followed a stringent and transparent procurement process by which the call for proposals for the prequalification of contractors was made in February 2021.

Ten contractors were prequalified, and this list was approved by the CDB in October 2021.

This project would be the largest project ever funded by the CDB, and is one

of the most historic projects undertaken in Guyana. The road works include upgrading the existing roadway to an asphaltic concrete surface with two lanes spanning 7.2 metres for 122 kilometres, with the inclusion of five drainage structures.

Construtora Queiroz Galvao SA is a large Brazilian contractor established in 1966. The company specialises in the construction of refineries, roads, bridges, commercial offices, residential buildings, highways, and sewage systems worldwide.

The Linden-to-Lethem Road, a key link between Guyana and Brazil, with the potential to boost trade, is at present little more than an unsurfaced trail that deteriorates in rainfall. As such, the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) programme, administered through the CDB, would be providing funding for the first phase of the road: from Linden to Mabura Hill, as well as a crossing at Kurupukari.

8 NEWS

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Man dies after pinned under tractor at Mahaica

Invoking…

T

Dead: Avinash Persaud

A

The tractor Avinash Persaud was operating

young man died on Saturday after a tractor toppled and pinned him while he was working in the backlands at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

The man has been identified as Avinash Persaud (only information received).

Full details surrounding the incident are sketchy.

But according to information gathered by this publication, Persaud was working in the

backlands when he reportedly encountered difficulties with the tractor which suddenly toppled and pinned him in a swampy area.

Persons nearby rushed to Persaud’s assistance.

After being removed from under the tractor, an unconscious Persaud was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Only a few months back, a 20-year-old rice farmer, Samuel Singh of Region Six

(East Berbice-Corentyne) died in a similar manner. He

was working on a rice field at Caracas, Vryheid Village, West Canje, Berbice, when the tractor toppled and pinned him.

Singh was a licensed heavy-duty machine operator.

Guyhoc Park man nabbed with 386g ganja

P

olice ranks in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) on Saturday arrested a 27-year-old man of Guyhoc Park, Georgetown, after he claimed ownership of 386

The narcotic that was found in Region Seven

grams of marijuana that was found in a vehicle.

Reports from the region indicate that the ranks were on duty at the 70km Checkpoint at about 09:00h, when a motor lorry driven by a 50-year-old resident of Good Hope, Essequibo, along with nine occupants stopped to check in.

The driver along with the occupants were searched but nothing illegal was found.

However, a subsequent search by the ranks unearthed a black parcel wrapped with transparent plastic containing a number of leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be narcotics, in the vehicle’s tray.

The 27-year-old suspect admitted ownership of the drug after he was questioned by the ranks. He was told of the offence committed, cautioned, and arrested.

The cannabis was weighed and amounted to 386 grams. The suspect remains in custody pending charges.

…AFC necromancy omorrow’s the deadline for nominations to fill positions on the AFC leadership rooster at its National Conference to be held by mid-June. Now you’d think that it shouldn’t have come down to the wire like this in a country where everybody (and their uncle) think they can be president. And you need to have a party to get into the running, don’t you? So, what gives with the ennui about the AFC leadership?

That it’s long been the “Dead Meat” leader Ramjattan predicted it’d become once it tied bundle with the PNC – that’s what!! And to raise dead meat you need a special breed of politicians – ones with the special skills of witch doctors specialised in necromancy!! Remember the last time someone was raised from the dead was more than 2000 years ago. And there’ve been persistent doubts whether the fella was really dead!! While for the AFC, they became as dead as the proverbial door nail after their repeated stabs in the back when they embraced the PNC!!

From one report, Raphael Trotman said he wasn’t running for anything. That makes sense…he should be running AWAY from EVERYTHING after what he did up at Houston on the Oil Contract. Gosh knows why he hasn’t been hauled before the Courts for – at a minimum - -that Fiduciary Breach to the people of Guyana! And then again, the strategic plan he hatched with Granger – codenamed “Nassau” – worked to a “T” to get the PNC in power back in 2015, didn’t it? He didn’t realise that Granger would get all bassidy and shoot the coalition in the foot – then the head – for him to commit Hara Kiri!!

But Ramjattan says he’s running, and why not?? What else is there for him to do?? Can you see anyone hiring him for legal advice? This is the man who told Granger his choice of James Patterson for the GECOM Chair was constitutionally sound!! In politics maybe he figures “notoriety” is as good as “popularity”?! Opposing him might be David Patterson, who also said he’s gonna be in the running. Rather pathetic, isn’t it?? He thinks folks have forgotten Gold-Bracelet-Gate?? In which alternate universe are these fellas living? Do they really think they can pull more votes than the members of their families?

And even then, there are doubts!!

What your Eyewitness believes is there’s a host of AFC members just waiting to get a load off when they show up at the AFC’s NEC! Nasty!! If you think there’s no fury like a woman scorned, just wait to see the fury of AFCites betrayed!!

But whatever happens in Kitty, it’s not gonna be the AFC rising from the grave! …Burnham’s legacy If it’s true that permission for the Burnham Foundation to host its exhibition on Burnham’s legacy at the National Library was pulled at the last moment – then that’s uncalled for. Your Eyewitness would’ve like to find out how the Foundation handled the following initiatives of Burnham! Nationalisation of “the commanding heights of the economy”?? The Sugar Industry was ruined – as was the Bauxite and Rice Industries and every other industry they got their hands on – like retailing at Guyana and Fogarty’s Stores – shipbuilding at Sprostons, etc. It was so bad that Rodney was forced to point out that Burnham had the “Midas Touch” in reverse – everything he touched turned into “SH*T”!!

Then, of course ,there were all the “new industries” he founded. That Glass Factory near the airport? That Claybrick factory in Canal? The Bicycle Factory? The textile industry with Sanata Fabrics? Vaceram and porcelain wares? And in Agriculture, cotton, oil palm, tilapia, blackeyed peas…

Burnham’s legacy is one of abysmal failure…leaving our nation hungry, homeless, and naked. …our Bajan commonalities Hey, let’s big up our Bajan Heritage – and forget about that “Guyanese Bench” at Grantley Adams Airport!!

Remember over 30,000 Bajans came as indentured servants to help save our sugar industry after Emancipation?

The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Guyana Times’ editorial policy and stance

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

NEWS

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MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Contract for Ogle-Eccles bypass road to be signed soon

– as Guyana’s highway development moves apace

T

he Guyana Government will soon be signing the contract for the much-anticipated four-lane Ogle, East Coast Demerara, to Eccles, East Bank Demerara, bypass road project.

Government had written the Indian Exim Bank, through the diplomatic channels, to seek the bank’s no objection for Indian contractor, Ashoka Buildcon Limited, to construct the road project.

Guyana Times understands that the Indian Exim Bank has already given its approval but the Guyana Government is awaiting “official” confirmation.

When contacted on Sunday, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill could not say when that confirmation will be received.

“It could take hours or days. But once that [confirmation] comes, we will sign because everything else is ready. We are ready and eager [to start the project],” the Minister stated.

It was announced in January of this year that Ashoka Buildcon Limited won the contract to construct the road, ahead of two other Indian companies. Ashoka has built a number of bridges and roads. According to the company’s website, it even built a bridge in 38 days, namely the Mandve Bridge near Pandharpur, India.

According to the company, the bridge was supposed to be built in 12 months.

In February 2021, the Government of India had approved the new scope of works for the redesigned bypass road project that would link the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) at Ogle to Haags Bosch in Eccles, on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD).

The Diamond-Ogle bypass project will see the construction of some 26 kilometres of road linking two of the country’s main thoroughfares. This new road link will also be connected to key communities in Georgetown and along the East Bank of Demerara.

These include Diamond, Mocha and Eccles – all on

the East Bank – and Aubrey Barker Road in Georgetown.

These connections will prove crucial in diverting traffic.

RITES Limited, an engineering consultancy company based in India, had undertaken a 10-month design consultancy, which produced a Detailed Project Report (DPR) outlining the draft final design of the bypass road. It is this report which recommended a fourlane highway as most feasible.

Rajendra Sothwal, a senior engineer with RITES Limited, had previously said the bypass road would include a metal beam barrier, concrete crash barrier, traffic signs and impact attenuators that reduce damage to infrastructure, pavement markings, highway lighting, a raised median that will reduce headlight glare.

Back in 2015, the Indian Government had provided a US$50 million Line of Credit (LOC) for the road link that was initially slated for Ogle to Diamond, East Bank Demerara. However, the project cost was driven up to over $208 million by the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government and the project languished under them.

However, when the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government took office in 2020, it redesigned the project into two phases to fit the LOC – first from Ogle to Haags Bosch

road, which is about 48-50 per cent of the project, and then from Haags Bosch to Diamond – in order to fit the US$50 million LOC. Because of these changes in the scope of the project, additional approvals were required from New Delhi.

Highway development

Meanwhile, only recently, President Dr Irfaan Ali spoke about the advancement of the bypass road project during his Independence Day address last week.

According to the Head of State, this project runs alongside his Administration’s comprehensive highway development plan.

“In less than two years, we have been able to plan and design, and complete the feasibility study whilst we have raised the financing and commenced implementation of a comprehensive highway development plan,” he posited.

This plan includes the alternative four-lane highway from Mandela Avenue to Eccles, which was completed in April to the tune of $2.3 billion.

That road is now being extended from Eccles to Great Diamond. In fact, only Saturday night the first pour of cement was made to cast drains at the Eccles end of the extended four-lane highway.

Upon completion, the new road will be linked to the Mandela to Eccles fourlane highway and is expect-

Works ongoing on the Eccles to Great Diamond four-lane road

ed to further reduce traffic congestion along the East Bank Demerara corridor.

Contracts to the tune of $13.3 billion were awarded to 12 contractors last December to construct the extended four-lane road.

Housing Minister Collin Croal recently told this publication that the 12 lots are at various stages but are moving apace. He said all the lots have finished the land clearing and most of them now are at the sand-filling and compaction stage.

This new alternative road project had encountered a

challenge at the lot covering the boundary between the Mocha-Herstelling section, where there were about 35 residential buildings. The Housing Ministry has since engaged those persons to be relocated.

Already, the Ministry has wrapped up the process with over 30 homeowners and the process is ongoing “smoothly” with four others.

They are being relocated nearby to the new housing schemes at Herstelling and Farm, along the East Bank corridor.

Croal indicated that the

contractor at that lot has already commenced preliminary works in other areas.

He said once those persons are relocated, then works will be done at that section.

According to Minister Croal, the works are on schedule and it is anticipated that the project will be completed ahead of its one-year deadline with Lot 1 – which starts at Eccles Dumpsite Road, where a roundabout is being built to connect to the Eccles to Mandela Avenue Road – being the first to be finished.

10 NEWS

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Better Hope man killed after confronting man who stabbed his friend

Dead: Neil Rampersaud

A

40-year-old coconut vendor of Plaisance, East Coast Demerara (ECD), is now is Police custody after he stabbed two friends on Sunday morning, killing one and injuring the other.

The dead man has been identified as Neil Rampersaud, 31, an engineer of Phulwari Street, Better Hope, ECD. Injured is Mohan Panchu, also of Phulwari Street, Better Hope.

They were both stabbed on two separate occasions on Sunday morning in Better Hope.

It was reported that sometime around 06:35h on Sunday, the suspect and Panchu had a misunderstanding during which the suspect armed himself with a metal rod and dealt Panchu several stabs about his body, causing injuries.

Shortly after the inci-

dent, Rampersaud, who was Panchu’s friend and also knew the suspect, learned of the stabbing at about 07:38h. The engineer went to confront the suspect in the vicinity of Zahora Street, Better Hope, and demanded that the suspect turn himself in at the Police station.

This resulted in the two men getting into an altercation during which Rampersaud dealt the suspect two lashes about his body. The suspect, who was armed with a coconut blade at the time, retaliated by also stabbing Rampersaud to his upper left side ribs, causing severe injuries.

After being stabbed, the injured Rampersaud ran away from his attacker and was subsequently rushed to the Woodlands Hospital in Georgetown. It was reported that whilst receiving medical treatment, the 31-yearold man succumbed to his injuries.

Rampersaud’s body was then escorted to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.

The suspect was later arrested by ranks of the Sparendaam Police Station, and was then escorted to the CC Nicholson Hospital at Nabaclis, ECD, where he was treated and handed over to the cops.

Police said the vendor handed over the murder weapon, and it was lodged.

He is presently in Police custody assisting with investigations.

NEWS

11

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Exxon will pay cost oil claims if justified by audit – Minister Bharrat ...says oil giant fully cooperating with auditors

N

atural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat has assured that contrary to reports that have been swirling, Guyana can still reclaim cost oil if needed during the auditing of ExxonMobil’s cost oil claims.

The Minister gave this assurance in the wake of the award of a US$751,000 contract to audit US$9 billion in cost oil from ExxonMobil’s operations in the Stabroek Block. According to Minister Bharrat, there is no truth to the claims that Guyana is out of the timeframe to audit and refute any cost oil claims made.

“There’s speculation that the time has elapsed and we cannot do the audit or we cannot make any claims. But that is not true.

We’ve been in constant engagement with the operator. And they are willing to support and be a part of the audit,” Bharrat said.

Additionally, the Minister said during his address on the occasion of the contract signing, that the Government is moving in the direction of having half annual audits. This, he noted, is important for making sure that cost oil audits are current.

“That is why we took the bold initiative to get local companies involved. So that we can move to a stage where we can do year-byyear auditing. And we don’t have to wait until 2022 to do 2018. Or we can even do half-yearly audits.”

“We’re moving to that stage and I think it’s what all Guyanese want.

Everybody wants to know that whatever expenses are being incurred that they are true expenses. And we’re not paying for or being charged for something we haven’t incurred.”

Only last week, a contract was signed between a

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat

consortium of local auditors and an international company, with the Government of Guyana, to undertake a US$751,000 contract to audit US$9 billion in cost oil from ExxonMobil’s operations in the Stabroek Block.

The cost recovery audit contract, which covers profit oil from the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, was signed in a room full of stakeholders and suppliers, during a workshop on local content. The local auditors include Ramdihal and Haynes Chartered Accounting, as well as Vitality Accounting.

During a press conference in February, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced that a local consortium of auditors had been identified to partner with whichever company wins the reissued tender for the audit of Exxon’s expenses post-2017.

The Vice President also assured that for those concerned about the elapsed

timeframe for the audit of Exxon’s cost oil claims, there is nothing to worry about since the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) would have to be reviewed if Exxon were to decide not to comply with the audit.

According to Annex C of the PSA Guyana signed with Exxon, pre-contract costs “shall include four hundred and sixty million, two hundred and thirty-seven hundred thousand and nine hundred and eighteen United States Dollars (US$460,237,918) in respect of all such costs incurred under the 1999 Petroleum Agreement prior to the year ended 2015”.

There is an additional sum of approximately

US$400 million from 2016 to 2017, which it is believed will also come under the rubric of cost oil. Meanwhile, the post-2017 sum is believed to be over US$9 billion, inclusive of sanctioning expenses for the Liza Phase One and Two projects.

When the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government assumed office in 2020, it took over the shepherding of audits for ExxonMobil’s pre-contract and other pre2017 costs. The pre-contract cost audit was conducted by the UK firm, IHS Markit, which was hired by the previous Administration four years after oil was first discovered offshore.

12 NEWS

MONDAY, MAY 30,, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

2 dead after being electrocuted at rice mill in Mahaicony – Labour Ministry launches investigation

T

wo young men, aged 25 and 27, are now dead after they were electrocuted while conducting welding work at the Trans Rice Mill located at Branch Road, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Dead are 27-year-old Shaqueen Butts, a labourer of Lot 4 Airy Hall, Mahaicony, and 25-year-old Gousham Narine, a welder of Lot 78 Triple X NonPareil, ECD. The incident occurred on Friday at about 16:20h while they were welding metal.

It was reported that Butts and Narine were building a metal shed at the eastern side of the Trans

Rice Mill, and were reportedly standing on a metal scaffold.

An eyewitness, who was working with the duo at the time, told the Police that Butts and Narine were working together on one scaffold.

Shortly after welding some plates, Narine was reportedly seen lengthening the 20 feet metal scaffold when it connected to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) line and shocked him.

At the time, Butts was still on the scaffold.

Butts then held onto Narine, thus resulting in him also being electrocuted. Both of the men then fell off the scaffold and unto the

ground.

They were picked up and rushed to the Mahaicony Public Hospital, where Narine was pronounced dead on arrival and Butts subsequently died while receiving treatment.

Narine received burn injuries to the left hand, lower abdomen, and left and right feet, and blood was seen running from his nostrils.

Meanwhile, Butts received bruises to his face.

Their bodies were escorted to Bailey’s Funeral Parlour where they are being stored while awaiting post-mortem examinations.

Police investigations are in progress.

However, the Ministry of

Dead: Shaqueen Butts

Dead: Gousham Narine

Labour has also commenced its own probe into the incident.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry said its Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Darwin

Bourne, who is assigned to Region Five (MahaicaBerbice) has commenced investigations.

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton has expressed deep concerns about workplace fatalities – an issue he has been raising awareness of.

The Ministry said the investigation will seek to determine the causes of the incident and recommendations will also be made for the prevention of recurrences.

Nevertheless, Hamilton extended heartfelt sympathy to the grieving relatives, colleagues and friends of the deceased, according to the Ministry.

1 arrested with illegal gun, other weapons seized at National Park J’ouvert

O

ne day after the Guyana Police Force called for heightened security at future party events, its ranks were able to seize a number of weapons including an illegal firearm with matching ammunition at the J’ouvert held at the National Park in Georgetown.

Police reports revealed that at about 02:30h on Sunday, a rank on duty at the National Park observed two males who were fighting. This prompted the officer to approach them, after which he immediately observed a handgun that fell from the pants waist of one of the men.

The rank held unto the male whom the weapon fell

from, after which the firearm was retrieved. It was examined and was observed to be a .32 pistol with one .32 live ammunition that was found in the chamber.

The suspect, whose name was withheld, told the Police that he is a 26-year-old porter and lives in Festival City, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

He was told of the offence committed and arrested. He was escorted to Alberttown Police Station and placed into custody.

The firearm and ammunition were marked, sealed, and lodged in the station.

An investigation is in progress.

In a subsequent statement, Police said the discov-

The weapons that were seized at the National Park on Sunday

ery was made outside the National Park on Thomas Lands.

Meanwhile, several other weapons including scissors, knives, and improvised weapons were also seized by the Police at the event, where scanners were used at the entrance.

The items were detected on persons who were entering the National Park event Saturday night.

These discoveries come on the heels of another person being arrested in the

wee hours of Saturday at another event in the National Park where several shots were fired in the air by multiple persons.

This was during the “Baderation” concert when dancehall artiste, Skeng, was performing.

Videos circulating on social media showed that in the midst of his performance, gunshots were fired

by patrons attending the concert. There are no reports of anyone being injured by the gunshots but some persons sustained minor injuries after glass bottles were thrown in the crowd.

Following the incident, Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken met with the organisers during which they discussed heightened security and strict compliance at future events.

Hence, the scanners were installed at the J’ouvert later that day.

Some of the other issues discussed during that meeting related to the stakeholders’ approach – with promoters, members of the Fire Service, GRA, and the Police; increased Police posture in partnership with the Private Sector; prohibition of beverages in bottles (only plastic cups and bottles would be allowed); improved security search; metal detectors and scanners will be employed.

Hence, the scanners were installed at the J’ouvert.

13

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Scenes from the Guyana Pavilion at Barbados' AgroFest 2022 (Photos taken from the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association Facebook page)

14 NEWS

MONDAY, MAY 30,, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

“Nothing much we can do” to stop e-bike users – Traffic Chief

Traffic Chief, Superintendent Ramesh Ashram

E

lectric bikes (or e-bikes) have become quite a trend among Guyanese people of all ages but it is also proving to be a deadly one with increasing fatal accidents involving e-bike users.

This has prompted many to question the Guyana Police Force’s Traffic Unit on their solutions for handling e-bike users on the roadways.

But Traffic Chief, Superintendent Ramesh Ashram in a recent “Police and You” programme, said that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is responsible for setting rules and regulations that govern the is-

suance of licences to motor vehicles. He said that once GRA establishes these rules and regulations, the Traffic Unit will take action to reprimand persons who violate the traffic laws while using electronic bikes.

“Since I took over traffic in August 2020, I had a meeting with GRA and GRA is the entity that has to register and classify motor vehicles and it is clear that any motor vehicle that [is] propelled by fuel, steam, or electricity should be registered.

For now, what we are doing on the road when the Police are on the road, they will stop them and warn them to ride on the left-hand side,”

the Traffic Chief explained.

Ashram also noted that he is hoping that the GRA would develop a system that deals with the electric bikes as soon as possible. Until then, there is nothing that the Traffic Unit can do as it relates to enforcing traffic laws on e-bike users.

He explained, “Children of any age, adults, and everybody are riding it. So, I am hoping, myself, that GRA implements the system early and issues a registration. When the registration is issued to these bikes, the Police could act on it, and based on the classification of the registration, we would be able to say whether you have to have helmet, you must have a licence, you must have fitness, insurance, and so on. But, as long as they are not registered, there is nothing much that we could do as it relates to enforcement and prosecution.”

Just two months ago, Retired Top Cop Nigel Hoppie had confirmed that Guyana Police Force and GRA were in discussion on regularising the use of electric bikes on the country’s roadways.

“The Guyana Police Force has engaged the GRA

An electronic bike rider was killed on Mandela Avenue on Saturday after colliding with a canter truck

towards the implementation of rules governing their use… We’ve seen persons using these bikes, there is no age limit …we’re in discussion to ensure those things are regularised,” Hoppie had stated during the Police Officers’ Conference in March of this year.

Only Saturday evening, 67-year-old Karan Mahadeo of Lot 452 West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was killed af-

ter his electronic bike collided with a water truck along Mandela Avenue.

Mahadeo’s wife told Guyana Times that he had only purchased the bike a few days prior. And according to one neighbour, she recently warned Mahadeo to be careful on the road with the bike after he seemed to be having trouble operating it.

Meanwhile, back in

January, 71-year-old Carlon Windsor Barrett of Lot 32 (A) Victoria Avenue, Eccles, East Bank Demerara was killed after his electric bike was crushed by a container truck.

It was reported that the truck carrying a 40-foot container laden with lumber, was proceeding on Water Street, Georgetown, and as it approached Muneshwer’s Limited, the driver said he was making a right turn when he felt the right-side rear wheel of the trailer run over something which caused him to stop. Upon investigation, he discovered that he had run over Barrett.

Last year, the Divisional Traffic Officer in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), where the use of electric bikes is prevalent on the roadways, had called for caution to be exercised by users of such cycles.

A s s i s t a n t Superintendent Raun Clark, who was in charge of the region’s Traffic Department, had also expressed concern that there is no standard age range to use them since both children and adults are using the bikes.

GMSA introduces new logo, upgraded website

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he Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) on Sunday announced its transition to a new logo and website after the completion of a ReDesign Competition.

Over 40 entries were received from individuals across Guyana and one entry was selected, which the organisation believes best represents the GMSA and

where it is heading as the leading manufacturing and services-based business support organisation.

Michael Jackson was awarded the winning prize which comprised of $50,000, one gift certificate for a three-hour soft skills training session provided by ActionINVEST Caribbean Inc and one hamper donated by Sterling Products Limited.

In the new depiction, the GMSA is now modern and easily read accompanied by a circular ring.

The new logo retained the red colour of the GMSA logo as a signature of the association. The new addition of blue represents confidence and the move which the GMSA is making to push towards meaningful business engagement.

Additionally, the circular ring represents community, unity, and relationships – all of which the GMSA is cognisant are the ideal elements that constitute a sustainable and resilient business community.

Meanwhile, the associa-

Winner of GMSA’s design competition Michael Jackson receiving one of his prizes

tion’s website was also given a face lift.

“As we transition to our new logo, our core principles of creating an ebullient Guyana remain firm. Our re-brand extends to our website which is user-friendly and allows for meaningful content distribution and engagement,” it said.

The new website will feature direct call to action op-

tions, a built in WhatsApp interface, direct uploads for registration and a seamless transition tab to the UncappeD marketplace website. The website is now public and will have ongoing development for further improvements and updates.

This website was built by Social Rank Media and can still be accessed at www.gmsagy.org

NEWS

15

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Guyana’s first-ever telehealth app launch

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony

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he Ministry of Health will soon launch a pilot programme to improve the delivery of healthcare services, and establish inter-agency collaboration with healthcare institutions countrywide.

Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony made this disclosure at the launch of the country’s first-ever telehealth app – Health First, at the Marriott Hotel, on Saturday.

The virtual platform, which was conceptualised in 2019 by On Call Health, will allow patients to connect easily with health practitioners, through a real-time video-enabled feature.

The programme is a collaborative effort among the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and healthcare providers.

Dr Anthony underscored that this approach will allow healthcare personnel to liaise with each other for additional medical assistance, regardless of geography.

“We are hoping to start a pilot this year, where the person who would be at the health centre would also have internet enabled devices, so they would have stethoscopes, ultrasound capabilities, and some other

tools that will be available to them, that would allow them to do proper or a more thorough examination of the patient, and based on that for the patient, for the doctor on the other side, probably to be able to make a diagnosis with these parameters,” he explained.

He believes this innovative approach has hastened Government’s intention to deal with legislation relating to patient and data confidentiality.

“We will have to accelerate the drafting of this legislation and try to get that in Parliament, because I think these things have to go hand in hand for people to have that level of confidence. So, that is something that we will work on, and we will be working with you and others, since you are the first in the industry to make sure that we are capturing what we need to capture,” the Health Minister stated.

This is one of the many initiatives being undertaken by the Ministry to transform the healthcare sector.

Chief Executive Officer of On Call Health, Dr Kofi Dalrymple said it is a fundamental partnership between doctor and patient. He said Guyanese will benefit from quality healthcare services offered via the app.

The platform presents the opportunity to expand partnership with healthcare

facilities, pharmacists and diagnostic labs.

“On Call is focused on building the right partnerships with healthcare providers, employers for public and private sectors and the local and diaspora community. We cannot operate in silence, so we must be increasingly willing to identify our strengths and embrace meaningful collaboration, to the rapidly changing healthcare landscape,” Dr Dalrymple stated.

To this end, he urged all to sign up to the platform as it provides 24-hour access to healthcare practitioners registered in Guyana. It also allows access to international specialists through medical consultation and as such patients can book appointments with available healthcare providers of their choice.

The app is available at https://app.healthfirst.gy.

On Call Health Director, Dr Dason Mckenzie theorised this initiative after his stay in Wuhan, China.

Upon returning home, he

spent some time creating the plan, which finally became a reality after receiving a grant through the GCCI’s vision fund.

GCCI’s Executive Director, Richard Rambarran said that the fruition of the app “speaks to the call of cooperation [and] power of partnership”.

He added that the Chamber will continue to support entrepreneurs.

Also present at the ceremony were GTT Chief Operations Officer Orson Ferguson, Advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy and other officials. (DPI)

Americas have a shortfall of 600,000 health professionals – PAHO Director

Govt takes LCDS consultations to Region 7

Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira at the consultation in Region 7

that, “we intend to use the oil and gas revenues to be able to develop the country in a faster way, than if we didn’t have oil and gas”.

She pointed to the tremendous benefits that will accrue to the citizens of Guyana, as it will create hundreds of jobs.

Minister Teixeira noted too, that over the past seven years, Guyana has earned approximately US$200 million through carbon services. This means the country was generating income by sustainably managing its the rainforest.

newer methods to be established, to protect Guyana’s agriculture sector.

“We have to use science and technology to help us to reduce the impact of flooding in our country, and that means infrastructure, which is expensive. We have to look at ways in which we can also use agriculture, in a way that is not always subjected to flooding,” she said.

Further, Minister Teixeira assured citizens that Government will continue to build the necessary infrastructure, like sea de-

M

inister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira on Saturday explained to Region Seven residents that the Government’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 is a “mixed energy approach” to address the issue of climate change.

She noted that the new and expanded LCDS allows for sustainable development in every sector including agriculture, oil and gas, and infrastructure, while at the same time, reducing the effects of climate change and protecting the environment.

Speaking at the LCDS consultation in Bartica, Minister Teixeira stated, “When we look at what we call a mixed energy approach, we will continue to

Region 7 residents at the consultation of the LDCS 2030

exploit oil and gas, to reduce the cost of electricity, so that our people will have reliable, affordable electricity, and also the manufacturers and others will have [a] reliable source to produce”.

The Minister explained

Minister Teixeira further affirmed that Guyana has one of the best forest management programmes in the world.

Meanwhile, the Minister said the LCDS will allow for

fences.

Residents were also given an overview of the LCDS

by Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), Vanessa Benn.

PAHO Director, Dr Carissa F Etienne

D

irector of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr Carissa F Etienne has divulged that the deficit in the health workforce in the Americas has reached 600,000 professionals. This has been affecting access to care, especially for those in rural and underserved areas of the region.

During the deliberations of the 2022-2030 Action Plan “Working for Health” at the 75th World Health Assembly, Etienne acknowledged “the enormous sacrifice and contribution of health workers in the Americas” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The unwavering resilience of our health workers is a testimony to their commitment to serve, save lives and ensure health for all,” she said.

The PAHO Director noted that during the peaks of the pandemic, “task shifting and task sharing saved lives,” and that “patient care delivery was facilitated by digital transformation.”

In that regard, she commented that PAHO, through its Virtual Campus for Public Health, trained more than 900,000 health workers in the control and manage-

ment of COVID-19, health services continuity, and vaccine deployment during the pandemic.

However, Dr Etienne said, “we can no longer ignore long-standing deficiencies in health systems,” which impact the capacity of the health workforce to provide quality, uninterrupted care.

Among the deficiencies, Etienne cited the migration of health workers to urban centres or wealthier countries exacerbating the gap; lack of planning between the Education and Labour sectors; and insufficient emphasis on interprofessional and ongoing education.

Among the effects of COVID-19, a World Health Organisation study estimated that around 115,000 health workers died between January 2020 and May 2021 worldwide.

“Investing in health systems and a fit-for-purpose health workforce constitutes a priority for the Americas,” she remarked, adding that PAHO looks forward to working with Member States, partners and WHO in developing “a transformative agenda in human resources for health in the Americas”.

16 NEWS

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

MV Kanawan to be out of service from Wednesday ...no need for panic: alternative arrangements in place – Minister Edghill

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V Kanawan, which services the ParikaSupenaam route, will be out of service from Wednesday.

The vessel will be in dry dock and is expected to remain there for five weeks.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said both the MV Kanawan and MV Sabanto, which serve the same route, must be repaired before they become unserviceable.

However, the vessels are expected to go into dry dock in a phased manner.

“Those ferries have not go into dry dock for a long time and that is largely because of the demand but before we lose them, we’ll have to get both in the dry dock,” he said.

According to the Public Works Minister, since the People’s Progressive Party Government took office in August 2020, vessels have been going into dry dock in order to ensure that they are all serviceable and safe.

So far, the MV Barima, MV Kimbia and the MV Malali have all been serviced.

“On Wednesday, we are going to put MV Kanawan into dry dock. So, it will just be MV Sabanto that will be operating the Parika-

ed across the river.

The MV Sabanto and MV Kanawan have been operating between Parika and Supenaam for 10 years, and were gifted to Guyana by the Chinese Government.

The US$14 million boats, which were funded by the Chinese Government, were described as a New Year’s

Police Force to decentralise Construction Section

MV Kanawan will go into dry dock from Wednesday

Supenaam route,” he noted.

However, the Minister reassured that there is no need for panic since arrangements have been put in place. He said the 05:00h schedule will be kept but the vessel will be working on a touch-and-go basis.

“So, the boat will start at 5 o’clock from Supenaam coming to Parika and as it loads, it will go back and then come back like that.

Should there be additional support required, we’ll have to use one of the side docking vessels - either MV Malali or MV Makouria - especially with trucks if persons are moving party or other heavy crops, one of those vessels

will also be assistant.”

Minister Edghill said dry docking of the two vessels is necessary to ensure sustainable use of both of them and also to ensure the quality of service and that they can continue to provide the same quality of service which is expected.

He posited that Guyanese are satisfied with the level of efficiency they have been receiving over the past year and a half especially those who utilise the service facilitated by Transport and Harbour Department (T&HD) for the ParikaSupenaam route.

Edghill noted that there have been several improve-

ments over that period including extending the ferry service until 18:00h.

“I want to assure you that everything is being done to ensure minimum inconvenience or disruptions even while we go into mandatory dry docking and the servicing of these vessels.”

He pointed out that there will be some interruptions in terms of the schedule but people will be able to move across the Essequibo River freely between Supenaam and Parika.

Farmers, suppliers and business owners are being asked to check with T&HD to make arrangements to have their lorries transport-

Cane harvester stabs estranged lover, kills self

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fter separating less than a month ago, a Rosignol, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) cane harvester took his own life shortly after brutally stabbing his ex-girlfriend on Saturday.

Dead is 26-year-old Adhryean Anthony Persaud of lot 4 Bacchus Street, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice (WBB), while the injured woman has been identified as 21-year-old Maria Singh of Lot 3 Bennet Dam, Rosignol.

The woman was reportedly stabbed while in a vehicle at a service station on the Rosignol Public Road.

Reports are that the couple had been living together for just over one year and had separated several times during that period.

However, three weeks ago they again parted ways and Singh moved in with relatives just one house away from Persaud.

According to Arifa Hackim, her niece left home to go to work on Saturday and shortly after, she received a report that Singh was stabbed and taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital.

It was reported that Singh, who works as a cook at Big B’s Restaurant in the village, was scheduled to work at another location and had boarded a motor car which made a stop at the Sheriff Service Station to fuel up.

The young woman was in the front passenger seat with the window wound up.

However, after the driver exited the vehicle, Persaud

Injured: Maria Singh

opened the back door and attacked his former partner with a knife before escaping.

Singh received a stab wound to her foot, two to her breast and one each to her thigh and arm.

The injured woman was rushed to the Fort Wellington Public Hospital, where she was treated and then transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital.

She is presently receiving further treatment and her condition is listed as critical.

Persaud had been living with his grandmother since he was a toddler.

The grandmother, Rhadika Persaud-Johnson, told this publication that on Saturday morning Persaud was in the yard looking suspicious.

“I see he dah riding in front, he probably watching to see if he gon see she.

He say, ‘Mummy I gon catch her, because dem does car-

ry she with taxi’. Anyway, when me see he do come in I see he thrown down the bicycle and the bag breathless and he ask fo the key to open the back gate. ‘Mummy!

Mummy, me gon dead; me just now bore up ‘Nalo’ and me ent know if ‘Nalo’ ah go dead but me ah go dead’.”

The woman said Persaud then took a bottle with a substance and started drinking its contents. Her efforts to take it away from him were futile.

“He run in the bush and he fall down and they go and search fo he and dem find he.

When he come, he come with wet skin and he fall down and start to vomit green, green,” she recalled.

Persaud was taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital and admitted under guard.

However, he died at about 00:30h on Sunday while receiving treatment.

Family history

Persaud has three siblings, and his mother also took her life when Persaud was a kid.

Meanwhile, Singh was still in her mother’s womb when the woman was set on fire. Doctors had to surgically save the unborn child by removing her from the mother’s uterus. Singh’s father then took his life after his wife was burnt.

According to the Singh’s uncle, Nicholas Madray, after the couple separated, Persaud had been stalking her and had threatened to take her life. He said on one occasion he came over to his

gift by the local Chinese Embassy.

The vessels arrived in the country in December 2011 at Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling and became operational the next year. Each vessel has three decks and can hold up to 800 persons, 44 cars, and 20 lorries and can travel at a test speed of 12.5 knots.

Adhryean Anthony Persaud

house and was banging on the walls. The Police had to be summoned.

“The Sergeant came and spoke to him, but after the Police left he came back again…”

Meanwhile, the aunt added that only Thursday, Persaud had gone to Singh’s place of work and physically assaulted her, demanding that she give him a phone and some tablets. She explained that after Singh was put out of the house, she had left with some household items.

“She give him the pots and gas stove and he keep saying that he want the phone but she say that it is her phone, but he still fighting her. He went by her workplace saying that he want the charger and some tablets,” Hackim explained.

The grandmother admitted that Persaud was physically abusive to Singh.

…Officer-in-Charge commends ranks

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lans are in the pipeline for the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to decentralise its construction section, which is responsible for the maintenance of all its facilities across the country, as part of its modernisation thrust.

Officer-in-Charge of the Construction Section, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mahendra Singh, during a recent interview on the programme “Police and You”, said the department was established in the 1970s to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate current and capital infrastructure projects of the Police Force. It currently has a staff of 45 ranks who are skilled in plumbing, masonry, carpentry, painting, and architecture, and the planned decentralisation would require a doubling or even tripling of the current quota of ranks.

Meanwhile, ASP Singh commended the ranks for the outstanding work they have been doing to upkeep Police buildings across the country, revealing that the dedicated ranks would sometimes work from Sunday to Sunday and even on holidays to ensure that projects are completed on time. And with the Force looking to decentralise the department, he is encouraging ranks to get certified in their respective fields.

Noting that the majority of ranks working in carpentry and masonry had acquired certification from the various technical institutes, Singh said others have on-the-job experience while others joined the GPF with experience in the fields. Even though these ranks are not certified, he said, they do exceptional work.

Further, ranks are given opportunities to qualify themselves. “Up to last week, one of the plumbers came … and asked … for time to go back to TI [Government Technical Institute] to finish off some courses. We have a process that you write and admin usually gives the permission. That is not an issue, once they want to

Officer-in-Charge of the Construction Section, Assistant Superintendent Mahendra Singh

do it, once the opportunity is there, they can…,” the Assistant Superintendent added.

He further explained that his department does a lot of refurbishing and rehabilitation work. For example, he said if it was minor work like a lock, window, or a plumbing fitting needing repairs, ranks from the department, headquartered at Eve Leary, would travel to get them done. When it comes to major work, he said that the Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station would submit a report to him and ranks would be assigned to assess the scope of work needed. The ranks would then prepare an estimate since the department has to abide by the Procurement Act in carrying out its functions.

The projects include but are not limited to the maintenance and rehabilitation of buildings, fences, bridges, and other infrastructure through the Force’s ‘self-help’ programme and/ or contractual agreements with private contractors through the national tendering process.

Added to these functions, the Construction Section has responsibility for coordination with engineers within the Public Works and Home Affairs Ministries and other external agencies for the construction/rehabilitation of Police buildings in accordance with the building codes and layouts required by the Police Force.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

NEWS

17

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Active COVID-19 cases climb to 651 GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD MAY 29, 2022 UPDATE

NUMBER OF NEW CASES

52

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION

24

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU

624 3

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE

4

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES)

34,904

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES)

29,713

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020

64,617

NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES

62,733

TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED FULLY IMMUNISED

REGION 1

2522

REGION 2

2558

REGION 3

8178

REGION 4

32,076

REGION 5

2411

REGION 6

5997

REGION 7

2430

REGION 8

886

REGION 9

4046

REGION 10

3513

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN BE SAFE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Wear a face mask.

441,911 341,493

TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS

DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020

1233

Keep a physical distance of at least 6 feet.

Wash your hands or use handsanitizer If you have any symptoms, call the COVID-19 Hotline.

GET MEDICAL ADVICE ON COVID-19 FROM MOH 24/7 HOTLINE NUMBERS: 2311166; 226 7480; 624 6674; 624 2819; 624 3067 OR 180/181.

T

he Ministry of Health on Sunday reported that 52 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) within a 24-hour period.

This now takes the total number of confirmed cases in Guyana to 64,617.

However, only 651 of these are currently active cases including three patients

in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining persons in isolation, that is, 24 in institutional isolation and the other 624 in home isolation.

Another four more persons are also in institutional quarantine.

The COVID-19 death toll in the country remains at 1233. The last fatality was recorded on May 27 when an unvaccinated 66-yearold female from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) died.

Meanwhile, some 62,733 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total 627,824 tests have been conducted countrywide and of this, some 29,713 males and 34,904 females were found to be positive.

Of the 52 new cases recorded on Sunday, one was from Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), nine cases from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 35 cases from Region Four (DemeraraMahaica), five more from Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne), and one case

each from Regions Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo) and 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice).

There were no new cases recorded in the other four regions within the reporting 24-hour period.

Earlier this month, health authorities attributed this rapid increase in COVID-19 cases to the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron strain here.

After a prolonged period of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, removed most restrictions as the country moves to recover from the pandemic and return to normalcy.

But while mandates such as masking in public and social distancing are no longer in place, health authorities are still encouraging persons to get vaccinated, and for those who are qualified to get their booster shots, in order to add a layer of protection against the virus.

Latest adult vaccination numbers show 441,911 first

doses and 341,493 second doses being administered, translating to 86.1 per cent and 66.6 per cent of that demographic being vaccinated.

For children, 34,689 first doses and 25,414 second doses have been administered. Only 64,989 booster shots have been administered.

These vaccination numbers have been largely stagnant within the past weeks, as authorities continue to implore with Guyanese to get boosted.

According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recent figures, some 525,467,084 confirmed cases were reported globally along with 6,285,171 deaths.

In the Region of the Americas, that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 156,560,365 while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,740,558.

Police Force to decentralise...

FROM PAGE 16

The GPF has been in existence for more than a century, and as such, has a lot of wooden buildings, so as ASP Singh noted “it is a lot of work”, highlighting that the department has evolved over the years. And, with the Police Force moving towards modernisation, many of these buildings are being replaced with concrete structures. According to him,

there are many ongoing infrastructural projects including the construction of a Zara Computer Centre at the Cove and John Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD) which is also the headquarters for Police Division 4C. He said rehabilitation works were also ongoing at the Police Training Centres, since recruitment would resume shortly.

The Senior Police rank revealed that one of his priorities for this year is to assess works to be done on Police buildings throughout the country, so that they can be budgeted for next year. Importantly, he said, the department also plans on doing community work in an effort to improve the relationship between citizens and the Police.

18

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

Regional

Death toll in Brazilian floods Peru opens criminal investigation rises to 57, thousands displaced of President Castillo

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ore than 100 people are missing or confirmed dead in Brazil, the Government said on Sunday, as mudslides and major floods brought about by heavy rains tore through several urban neighbourhoods in the north-eastern part of the country.

It was the fourth major flooding event in five months, underlining a lack of urban planning in low-income neighbourhoods throughout much of Brazil, where shantytowns are often built on hillsides prone to collapse. The destruction also comes as scientists begin to question whether abnormal rain cycles in Latin America’s largest nation could be a result of climate change.

As of Sunday afternoon, 56 people had died in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco and one died in the neighbouring state of Alagoas, according to a message posted on Twitter by the Federal Civil Defence service, which is in charge of emergency management. Another 56 per-

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A man stands on the wreckage of a house collapsed during a landslide caused by heavy rains at Jardim Monte Verde, in Ibura neighbourhood, in Recife, Brazil, May 28, 2022 (Diego Nigro/ Prefeitura do Recife/Handout via Reuters)

sons in Pernambuco were missing.

Between those two states, in excess of 6000 people had arrived at Government-designated aid points and more than 7000 were staying with friends or relatives, the Federal Civil Defence service said.

In a Twitter post, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he would arrive in Recife, the hard-hit capital of Pernambuco, this morning.

“Our government made available, since the begin-

ning, all means, including the armed forces, to help those who have been affected,” he wrote.

In late December and early January, dozens were killed and tens of thousands displaced when rains hammered Bahia state, also located in north-eastern Brazil. At least 18 died in flooding in the south-eastern state of São Paulo later in January. In February, torrential downpours in Rio de Janeiro state killed over 230. (Excerpt from Reuters)

eru’s Attorney General’s office announced on Sunday it was including President Pedro Castillo in an investigation into alleged crimes including influence peddling, collusion, and “criminal organisation”.

Peru’s Public Ministry on Twitter said Pablo Sanchez, the country’s top prosecutor, will lead the investigation into Castillo given the “seriousness of the accusations” made in an investigation against former Transport and Communications Minister Juan Silva and six legislators from the Opposition party.

The Prosecutor’s office began working on the case more than three weeks ago to determine if there was an alleged “criminal network” in the Ministry to award public contracts. According to statements by a collaborator and businesswoman linked to the Government, President Castillo would have had knowledge of such a network.

The “preliminary” investigation against Castillo comes at a time when the

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo speaks outside of Congress in Lima, Peru, April 5, 2022 (Reuters/Angela Ponce file photo)

leftist President faces other investigations of alleged corruption, as well as widespread and low approval ratings after only nine months in office.

“The President will be guaranteed the full exercise of his right to defence, and respect for Article 117 of the Political Constitution,” the Public Ministry stated on Twitter.

Presidents in Peru have immunity and cannot be indicted by the courts during their five-year term, but they can be investigated.

Other inquiries against Castillo, including alleged irregular purchases in a State oil company and pressuring military promotions, were suspended until the end of his term in 2026.

The government palace press office was not immediately available for comment. Castillo, who was a rural school teacher, has rejected previous accusations against him that he claims are attempts by opponents to remove him from power.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Regional lobby wants Caricom Heads 4 shot in Trelawny, Jamaica; 2 fatally to boycott Summit of the Americas by gunmen dressed as soldiers

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he Assembly of Caribbean People (ACP) is calling on Caricom Heads of Government to boycott the upcoming Summit of the Americas scheduled for June in the United States.

In a statement, signed by the representatives of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Haiti, Suriname, Puerto Rico, Martinique, the Dominican Republic and the Cuban chapter of the ACP, the group said there was a need for regional governments to defend the sovereignty of its people.

The group said it had serious concerns about the US’s strategy of “divide and rule” for the Region.

A letter making the call to boycott the summit was sent to the various Heads of Government, the statement said.

“The call was made to ensure that our principled leaders resist the US manoeuvres and did all that was necessary to maintain unity, reject all attempts at interference in the affairs of sovereign states and stand firm on the principle that the Caribbean is a zone of peace,” the state-

ment said.

The ACP said there was a decision to exclude three Member States from the summit: Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The group said the decision by regional Heads of Government to attend the summit in Los Angeles, California, from June 6-10, demonstrated the acceptance of the US to “pick and choose” the countries it preferred to attend.

“That position must be firmly rejected.”

(Excerpts from Trinidad Newsday)

Colombians vote in divisive presidential election

C

olombians voted on Sunday to choose a new President from among a former rebel promising generous social programmes, a centre-right candidate warning against a leftist economic mode, and an eccentric business magnate.

Gustavo Petro, a leftist former Mayor of Bogota and member of the M-19 guerrilla group and current Senator, is consistently leading opinion polls with around 40 per cent support, 10 points below what he would need to secure the presidency without a second round in June.

The 62-year-old has attracted backing on promises to redistribute pensions, offer free public university and battle deep inequality.

His main opponent is Federico “Fico” Gutierrez, the centre-right former Mayor of Medellin, who has around 25 per cent support.

Gutierrez has emphasised his own plans for a basic income for five million households and economic growth of five per cent per year in response to accusations he is an ideological successor to unpopular President Ivan Duque.

Gutierrez, 47, has said Petro is a threat to democracy and warned that the leftist’s economic plans, including a ban on new oil and gas projects, will ruin Colombia’s economy.

Polls closed at 16:00h (2100 GMT).

Casting her ballot for Petro in Bogota’s Chapinero neighbourhood was Ana Maria Sierra, who said free university education and the environment were among her priorities.

“One must be more empathetic with the needs of others,” the 27-yearold waitress said. (Excerpt from Reuters)

F

our people were shot, two fatally, by unknown assailants dressed in army camouflage in the normally peaceful community of Duncans, Trelawny on Saturday night.

The deceased have been identified as Jason Traile,28, and Andre Dennis, 25, both

from Red Dirt district in Duncans.

Reports are that about 19:30h, both men were among a group of people gathered in the Red Dirt section of Duncans when the heavily armed men pounced and sprayed the gathering with bullets.

Four people, including

Traile and Dennis, were shot and taken to hospital where both men were pronounced dead on arrival and the other two admitted for treatment.

The motive behind the attack was not ascertained up to publication time.

(Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

IDB to host Investment Forum for Americas

I

nter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Mauricio Claver-Carone will host a Trade and Investment Forum for the Americas on June 7, 2022, bringing together regional Trade and Foreign Affairs Ministers and chief executives from leading global companies to discuss investment and regional supply chains, as well as sustainable trade and climate change, and trade and the digital economy in the hemisphere.

The event, to be held in Los Angeles, California, aligns with Vision 2025, the IDB’s roadmap for accelerating inclusive, sustainable growth, including through better leveraging the Private Sector.

The IDB, as the only international financial institution that is actively financing nearshoring, aims to use the Trade and Investment Forum as an opportunity to further help Latin America and Caribbean seize today’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to increase regional integration and participation in the

IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone

current global realignment of supply chains.

“We are prioritising action and look forward to deepening our engagement so we can fully use the expanded nearshoring toolkit we developed to help countries and companies take advantage of the regionalisation of supply chains.

This forum can serve as a bedrock for results.

“Forums like this, which unite the Public and Private Sectors, reflect our vision for a truly 21st-century IDB. Now is the moment to capitalise on sectors that can jumpstart economies and mobilise critical private capital for co-fi-

nancing and investment,” said President Claver-Carone.

In gathering leading business executives alongside senior Government officials, the IDB seeks to expand the historic public-private collaboration it has fostered over the past year and support matchmaking to enable greater investment in key sectors across the Region. This forum demonstrates the potential of the IDB’s new value proposition to build synergies between the Public and Private Sectors that lead to economic growth and social inclusion.

(Excerpt from Nation News)

guyanatimesgy.com

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

19

Around the World

OILNEWS OIL NEWS EU fails to agree on Russia oil embargo, to try again today before summit

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he EU failed on Sunday to agree on an embargo of Russian oil, but diplomats but will still try to make progress ahead of a Monday-Tuesday summit on an exemption for pipeline deliveries to landlocked Central European countries, officials said.

However, a senior EU diplomat said there was "still too much detail to sort out" to hope for an agreement before European Union leaders gather in Brussels on Monday afternoon.

The proposed sanctions on oil imports is part of the European Union's sixth sanctions package on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The package includes cutting Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, off from the SWIFT messaging system, banning Russian broadcasters from the EU and adding more people to a list of individuals whose assets are frozen and who cannot enter the EU. The whole package has been held up by Hungary, which says an oil embargo would be a body blow to its economy because it cannot easily get oil from elsewhere. Slovakia and the Czech Republic have expressed similar concerns.

Talks on the oil embargo have been going on for a month with no progress and leaders had been keen to reach an agreement for their summit to avoid looking disunited in their response to Moscow.

To break the deadlock, the European Commission proposed that the ban apply only to Russian oil brought into the EU by tankers, leaving Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia to continue to receive their Russian oil via the Russian Druzhba pipeline for some time until alternative supplies can be arranged.

Budapest supports this proposal, officials said, but talks on Sunday snagged on EU financing that Hungary wants to boost oil pipeline capacity from Croatia and to switch its refineries from using Russian Urals crude to Brent crude, officials said.

This will be discussed by EU envoys this morning along with the problem of how to ensure fair competition given the higher prices that member states reliant on shipped Brent crude would face as a result of the sanctions. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Cultra beach: Child finds live WW1 grenade

The Army confirmed the device was a "Mills Bomb" grenade used in World War One

A

n unexploded World War One grenade has been found by a child on a County Down beach, Police have said.

The young boy contacted the Police Service of Northern Ireland after spotting the device on Cultra beach.

An Army technical officer went to the scene and confirmed it was a live WW1 "Mills Bomb" hand grenade.

It was then taken to Crawfordsburn Country Park where a controlled ex-

plosion took place.

Posting on the PSNI Ards and North Down Facebook page, the Police said it was a "live grenade that was capable of exploding".

"A big thank you to the young lad who found the grenade and alerted Police and thanks to all involved and alerted officials."

The Mills bomb grenade was first developed during World War One in 1915, and became the first hand grenade to be issued on a large scale in Britain.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Ukraine war: President Zelensky visits Kharkiv in 1st trip outside Kyiv region

U

kraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited troops in the Kharkiv region, on the country's battered eastern front line.

It was his first official trip outside the Kyiv region since the Russian invasion began on February 24.

He was pictured in a bullet-proof vest surveying ruins in Kharkiv city.

Zelensky told soldiers, "I want to thank each of you for your service." Later, he sacked the local security chief for "not defending" the city.

Russia has resumed shelling Kharkiv - Ukraine's second-largest city - in recent days after a fortnight of comparative quiet.

The city - Ukraine's second-largest - faced intense bombardment in the war's

The President also visited the city of Kharkiv, which was bombarded day and night in the war's early months

first months, with images showing tower blocks flattened to rubble.

Russian troops were gradually pushed back from its surrounding towns during April and May, prompting some

who had fled Kharkiv to return, and the metro to reopen for the first time since the invasion.

But the city remains within range of Russian artillery. Several loud explosions

were heard in the city after Zelensky's visit.

President Zelensky's office posted a video on Telegram with the caption: "2,229 buildings have been destroyed in Kharkiv and the region. We will restore, rebuild and bring back life. In Kharkiv and all other towns and villages where evil came."

Russia is presently concentrating its offensive on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, which it has vowed to seize as a key war aim.

Russian forces are trying to encircle the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. On Saturday Russia's Defence Ministry said it had taken the nearby town of Lyman, in Donetsk - part of the overall Donbas region. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Port Harcourt: Nigeria church crush leaves 31 dead

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igerian Police say they have launched an investigation after 31 people died in a crush in the southern city of Port Harcourt.

It happened in a sports field on Saturday morning where a church was handing out food to the poor, some

of whom had waited there overnight.

The crowd "became tumultuous and uncontrollable" and organisers failed to calm the situation, Police say.

Many of those who died in the crush were women and children.

Flight with 22 people on board missing in Nepal

No information on the Twin Otter aircraft was immediately available and a search was under way [Gopal Chitrakar/Reuters]

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small plane with 22 people on board flying on a popular tourist route was missing in Nepal’s mountains on Sunday.

The Tara Airlines plane, which was on a 15-minute scheduled flight to the mountain town of Jomsom, took off from Pokhara, 200km (124 miles) east of Kathmandu. It lost contact with the airport tower shortly after takeoff.

Police official Ramesh Thapa said there was no information on the Twin Otter aircraft and a search was under way.

“A domestic flight bound for Jomsom from Pokhara has lost contact,” Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesman for Tara Air, told the AFP news agency.

He said there were 19 passengers on board and three crew members.

Phanindra Mani Pokharel, a spokesperson at the Home Affairs Ministry, said two helicopters were deployed for a search operation but added that visibility was low.

“The bad weather is likely to hamper the search operation. The visibility is so poor that nothing can be seen,” Pokharel said.

Six foreigners were on board the plane, including four Indians and two Germans, a police official, who was not authorised to speak to the media, told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

State-owned Nepal Television said villagers saw an aircraft on fire at the source of the Lyanku Khola River at the foot of the Himalayan mountain Manapathi, in a district bordering Tibet.

It has rained in the area for the past few days but flights have operated normally. Planes on that route fly between mountains before landing in a valley.

It is a popular route with foreign hikers who trek on the mountain trails, and also with Indian and Nepalese pilgrims who visit the revered Muktinath temple. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Witnesses told the AFP news agency there was frantic pushing and some were trampled underfoot when people trying to reach the entrance were forced back.

Security and emergency services were called to the scene to try to bring the situation under control. Some of the injured are being treated at Port Harcourt's military hospital.

Rivers state police commissioner, Eboka Friday, has called on religious and charity groups to "ensure they work with the Police for security and crowd control" in organising such programmes in the future.

In addition to the Police investigation, a regional government committee will be formed to look into the circumstances of Saturday's incident, said Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike.

Nigeria has seen several similar tragedies in recent years, including an aid agency food programme in Borno state last year where seven women were trampled to death.

Port Harcourt is the main oil hub in Nigeria, but despite the country's oil wealth about 40 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Flag-waving Israelis take to streets, skirmishes erupt in Al-Aqsa mosque

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ens of thousands of flag-waving Israeli nationalists, some chanting "Death to Arabs", marched through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday, defying threats of retaliation from Palestinian militants.

The annual parade celebrates Israel's capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, but has increasingly become a show of strength for Jewish nationalists eager to extend their influence in a city which has a large Palestinian population.

Many marchers sang and danced as they wound their way through the narrow, stone streets. Others sought confrontation.

"An Arab is a son of a whore," a group of youths yelled in front of Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Old City's Muslim neighbourhood. "May your villages burn," another

group shouted.

Adding to the tensions, Police said a record 2600 Jews had toured Al-Aqsa esplanade ahead of the march. Looking to halt the visits, Palestinians hurled stones and set off fireworks, before being pushed back by Police firing stun grenades.

Some of the Jews wore religious garb and appeared to pray, ignoring a long-standing ban on Jewish worship in the compound. A few held up Israeli flags and sang the national anthem.

The preacher of the mosque, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, denounced their behaviour. "What happened today in Al-Aqsa mosque hadn't taken place since 1967," he told Reuters.

Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam. It is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount - a vestige of their faith's two ancient temples. (Excerpt from Reuters)

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MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

guyanatimesgy.com

DAILY HOROSCOPES

ARCHIE

Share your ideas and drum up interest. Demonstrate how you plan to get things done. Your actions will draw positive attention that will encourage significant opportunities and a brighter future.

(March 21-April 19) Consistency will be essential if you plan to leave a good impression.

Consider your options and the best way to use your skills. Refuse to let anyone limit your preferences or decisions.

DILBERT (April 20-May 20)

(May 21-June 20)

You'll win support by reaching out with kindness and making others feel welcome.

Don't make promises you cannot keep.

Express yourself honestly and process the input you receive before making a major decision. Don't jeopardize your reputation.

Keep your plans simple and your responsibilities updated. Extend help, and you will bring about positive change.

Don't limit what you can do because someone puts demands on you.

PEANUTS (June 21-July 22)

Establish what you want to achieve and how to exceed your expectations.

Refuse to let what others do or say lead you astray. Pay attention and put your energy and enthusiasm where it counts.

(July 23-Aug. 22)

CALVIN AND HOBBES

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Keep an open mind and look for opportunities to learn something new.

Business trips, educational pursuits and challenging yourself mentally and physically will turn out well. Romance is encouraged.

Switch into high gear. Listen to suggestions and use whatever's helpful to reach your objective. A good attitude will be crucial. Be prepared to work alone if necessary.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Relationships require attention.

Offer consistency, insight and compromise if you want someone to work alongside you. Romance and honest communication are favored.

SUDOKU (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

Implement changes at home that encourage comfort. Being able to kick back and enjoy your downtime will ease stress and prepare you to handle your responsibilities professionally.

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Keep life simple and your workload doable. Don't make unrealistic promises. Pace yourself and keep everyone updated regarding your progress and the changes you intend to make.

LAST PUBLISHED WORD -- BONIEST

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Spend more time at home and less time interacting with friends, relatives or peers. Protect your reputation. Your actions will impact how others perceive you. Change only what you need to.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Make adjustments that ensure you take care of your responsibilities before moving on to more pleasurable pastimes.

Keep the peace, share your feelings and intentions, and spruce up your looks.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

T

he Berbice Women defeated Demerara at Everest Cricket Club to clinch the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under-19 inter-county tournament. In the 20-over fixture, Berbice posted 182-1 after 20 overs while Demerara were bowled out for 87 in 18.1 overs.

In Berbice innings, opener Realeanna Grimmond scored an unbeaten 91 from 63 balls, an innings that included 13 fours and two sixes. She was supported by

fellow opener Tia Isaacs, who made 31, and Captain Ashmini Munisar, who made 30 not out. Munisar slammed three fours and one six in her 18-ball knock. Ciana Barkoye had 1-37 from four overs.

Demerara failed get out of the blocks, and Berbice bowlers had a collective showing. Darshanie Subramanie had 3-3 from 2.1 overs and Grimmond returned with the ball to claim 2-10. Trisha Hardat also had 2-9 as Demerara were bundled out for 87.

21

Naomi Barkoye made 16 and Melanie Dover scored 10. Extras contributed 44 runs.

The young Grimmond, who plays for Rose Hall Canje, was the Most Valuable Player.

She scored 120 runs in the two games she played – the most runs made by a batter. Her team-mate, Niveena Ramnauth had the most wickets, claiming three wickets in the two games, and she also had the best economy rate.

The victorious Berbice Under-19 female team

French Open: Rafael Nadal wins to set up Novak Djokovic quarter-final in Paris

S S

ergio Perez won an incidentpacked, wet-dry Monaco Grand Prix after his Red Bull team outfoxed rivals Ferrari. The Mexican rose from third to the lead during a part of the race in wet conditions after the start was delayed for an hour after a downpour of rain.

Red Bull's strategy also vaulted Max Verstappen from fourth to third, behind Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, but ahead of the Dutchman's title rival Charles Leclerc.

Perez, meanwhile, is only six points behind Leclerc, after a strong weekend in which he outpaced Verstappen in qualifying and drove superbly in the race to deliver on Red Bull's improvisational strategy calls.

After the race, Ferrari lodged protests against both Perez and Verstappen on the basis that they crossed the white line on the exit of the pit lane after their second pit stops. But the protests were not upheld.

Leclerc, so outstanding in taking pole position on Saturday, was left ruing strategy blunders by Ferrari as he saw a comfortable lead turn into fourth place within the space of just four laps.

After the race was redflagged for a second time after 30 laps because of a heavy crash

by Mick Schumacher's Haas at the Swimming Pool section of the track, Leclerc asked whether they would run to the end from their current positions.

When told they would, knowing the difficulty of overtaking in Monaco, Leclerc, voice heavy with sarcasm, said: "Oh, perfect." At the end, he

said over the team radio: "No words. The season is long, but we cannot do that." The top four were nose to tail for the final 10 minutes – as the delayed race had to be called after 64 of the scheduled 77 laps because of time restrictions in the rules – but Perez held on from Sainz, Verstappen, and Leclerc.

When the race finally started, one hour five minutes late, it was behind the safety car for two laps, with all cars forced to be on the 'extreme' wet tyres, before race director Eduardo Freitas was convinced it was safe to let the cars free.

Leclerc immediately began to eke out an advantage over Sainz, Perez and Verstappen behind him and was four seconds clear of Sainz after 10 laps, and 5.3 ahead after 16, when Perez pitted for intermediate tyres.

Red Bull had taken the cue from Pierre Gasly's Alpha Tauri, who pitted for inters shortly after the start, but was for several laps stuck behind slower cars. Once in free air, the Frenchman started setting fastest times, proving the track was ready.

When Perez pitted, Ferrari called Sainz immediately for intermediates on the following lap, but the Spaniard refused, saying they should stay out on the wets and switch straight to dry-weather slicks. Two laps after Perez pitted, Leclerc and Verstappen also stopped for inters, but such had been Perez's pace, Leclerc emerged from the pits behind the Red Bull, albeit still ahead of Verstappen.

But even that was soon to change. Three laps after stopping

for intermediates, Leclerc was in again, as Ferrari pitted both cars for hard-compound slicks, bringing Sainz in from the lead and stacking Leclerc behind him.

But by the time Sainz pitted, Perez was only 3.9 secs behind, so he was comfortably in the lead when Sainz re-emerged.

A lap later, Red Bull brought Verstappen in for his hard tyres, and his in lap combined with Leclerc's struggles with tyre temperature on his out lap leapfrogged the world champion ahead into third place.

Within five laps, the race was stopped because of Schumacher's crash. It restarted, but the result was effectively already decided.

Into the last 10 minutes, Sainz began to put heavy pressure on Perez, with Verstappen and Leclerc right behind him, as the leader struggled with tyres he had damaged with a lock-up on the first lap after the restart, and which were also graining – suffering from surface tearing and a lack of grip.

But Monaco lived up to its reputation as a place where it is almost impossible to overtake and they stayed in line astern to the flag. George Russell took fifth place in the Mercedes after a strong weekend, beating McLaren's Lando Norris, Alpine's Fernando Alonso and the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel took the final points places after Alpine's Esteban Ocon was penalised five seconds for a collision with Hamilton earlier in the race. (BBC Sport)

pain's Rafael Nadal, 35, dropped sets for the first time at this year's event, but recovered to win 3-6 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3. Top seed Novak Djokovic moved up a gear to beat 15th seed Diego Schwartzman.

The 35-year-old Serb produced his best level so far in the tournament to win 6-1 6-3 6-3 in his fourthround match.

Fifth seed Nadal fixed up a 59th career meeting with Djokovic - a men's record by beating ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime for his 109th win in 112 matches at the French Open. Nadal looked in serious danger of suffering his earliest exit at Roland Garros since 2009 when Auger-Aliassime showed quality and composure to force a fifth set on Court Philippe Chatrier.

It was only the third time Nadal had been taken to a decider on the Paris clay. In front of a captivated crowd, Nadal demonstrated yet again why he is so special

on the court where he has enjoyed the greatest successes of his career.

Nadal found an extra level when it mattered and used all of his experience to maintain clarity of thought in the decisive moments. At 4-3 in the decider, he stretched to knock a forehand winner down the line for two break points and converted the second by scampering forward to push in a backhand. As he prepared to serve for the win, Nadal's name was chanted around Chatrier and he clinched victory – after almost four and a half hours – on his first match point with some deft touches at the net.

"It was a very important victory for me without a doubt," said Nadal, who has never lost before the fourth round at Roland Garros. "I didn't start the match well, I had a lot of opportunities to break, but I couldn't convert.

After coming back in the next two, I finished the third much better.

"I'm very happy with the attitude at the end, because I was able to play more aggressive and go more to the net. That made a difference without a doubt."

Elsewhere, Alexander Zverev booked his place

in the quarter-finals despite a patchy display against Spanish qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles as the third seed triumphed 7-6 (13-11) 7-5 6-3.

The 25-year-old German will next face the winner of Sunday's night session encounter between Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz and Karen Khachanov.

Djokovic uses crowd energy to beat Schwartzman Two-time champion Djokovic came into the French Open having played fewer tournaments than usual this year ,but is showing signs of peaking at exactly the right time.

Schwartzman, a 2020 semifinalist, was supposed to be Djokovic's toughest test so far. But Djokovic saw off the diminutive Argentine in a professional display that was less comfortable than the scoreline suggested.

Djokovic was deported from Australia and not allowed to play at the year's opening Grand Slam event, then banned from entering the United States to play at Indian Wells and Miami, because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

(BBC Sport)

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MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

All-round Hardik Pandya leads Gujarat Titans to dream title

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he Gujarat Titans (GT) were crowned champions of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after defeating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Hardik Pandya led from the front with an all-round performance, which powered Gujarat Titans to their maiden IPL title after a clinical seven-wicket victory.

Chasing 131 to win the final, GT lost Wriddhiman Saha early after Prasidh Krishna went through the opener’s defence and knocked the stumps.

Trent Boult added pressure by bowling a magnificent maiden over with the new ball. Matthew Wade whacked the first

Padikkal was caught at backward point.

Pandya claimed his second wicket to dismiss the dangerous Buttler, who was caught behind for 39.

RR were six down after they lost the wickets of Shimron Hetmyer and Ashwin in quick succession. While Hetmyer was caught and bowled by Pandya, David Miller took Ashwin’s catch at long-on off Sai Kishore’s bowling.

SCOREBOARD Pandya starred with bat and ball

was up for the third wicket. Yuzvendra Chahal put an end to the partnership with a brilliant delivery that turned sharply to dismiss the GT skipper, who

to 22 off 24. Miller added two more fours as the next over produced 13 runs. Gill, who anchored the innings brilliantly at the other end, finished the game in style with a maximum as GT chased down the total with 11 balls to spare. Earlier, RR, who opted to bat first, remained unchanged while GT made one change – Lockie Ferguson replaced Alzarri Joseph in the XI. RR openers – Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal – started cautiously with the bat after the GT pace attacks added pressure with the new ball. Jaiswal was

Shuman Gill and David Miller sealed the match

six of the innings before the left-handed batter was caught inside the circle as Boult scalped his first wicket. Shubman Gill creamed a four at the end of the powerplay as GT moved to 31-2 after six overs.

Skipper Pandya joined Gill, but RR kept things tight with the ball and created pressure. GT were 54-2 at the halfway stage and required 77 off the final 10 overs. Pandya switched gears and added two fours followed by a maximum against R Ashwin as the fifty partnership

Royals ended on the losing side

B o u l t was the next batter to depart after Rahul Tewatia grabbed the catch and Sai Kishore claimed his second wicket.

Mohammad Shami uprooted the off-stump to dismiss Riyan Parag on the final delivery of the innings and conceded only seven runs as Rajasthan Royals finished with a total of 130-9.

(IPL)

45-1 at the end of the powerplay. Buttler then took on Ferguson’s fiery pace and struck two consecutive fours.

GT skipper Pandya introduced himself into the attack and dismissed the opposition skipper after Samson miscued the shot and was caught by Sai Kishore. RR were 71-2 at the halfway stage as Buttler ensured the flow of boundaries from one end.

Rashid Khan was finally rewarded with a wicket after being economical in his first two overs as Devdutt

ROYALS INNINGS Yashasvi Jaiswal c Sai Kishore b Yash Dayal 22 Jos Buttler c †Saha b Pandya 39 Sanju Samson (c)† c Sai Kishore b Pandya 14 Devdutt Padikkal c Mohammed Shami b Rashid Khan 2 Shimron Hetmyer c & b Pandya 11 Ravichandran Ashwin c Miller b Sai Kishore 6 Riyan Parag b Mohammed Shami 15 Trent Boult c Tewatia b Sai Kishore 11 Obed McCoy run out (Tewatia/Mohammed Shami) 8 Prasidh Krishna not out 0 Extras(lb 2) 2 TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 6.50) 130/9 Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3.6 ov), 2-60 (Sanju Samson, 8.2 ov), 3-79 (Devdutt Padikkal, 11.5 ov), 4-79 (Jos Buttler, 12.1 ov), 5-94 (Shimron Hetmyer, 14.6 ov), 6-98 (Ravichandran Ashwin, 15.5 ov), 7-112 (Trent Boult, 17.3 ov), 8-130 (Obed McCoy, 19.4 ov), 9-130 (Riyan Parag, 19.6 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W Mohammed Shami 4-0-33-1 Yash Dayal 3-0-18-1 Lockie Ferguson 3-0-22-0 Rashid Khan 4-0-18-1 Hardik Pandya 4-0-17-3 Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-0-20-2 GUJARAT TITANS INNINGS (Target: 131 runs from 20 overs) Wriddhiman Saha † b Prasidh Krishna 5 Shubman Gill not out 45 Matthew Wade c Parag b Boult 8 Hardik Pandya (c) c Jaiswal b Chahal 34 David Miller not out 32 Extras(lb 1, w 8) 9 TOTAL 18.1 Ov (RR: 7.32) 133/3 Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Wriddhiman Saha, 1.4 ov), 2-23 (Matthew Wade, 4.3 ov), 3-86 (Hardik Pandya, 13.2 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Trent Boult 4-1-14-1 Prasidh Krishna 4-0-40-1 Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-20-1 Obed McCoy 3.1-0-26-0 Ravichandran Ashwin 3-0-32-0

Top horses from T&T, Jamaica, USA and Suriname to feature at Port Mourant on July 31 – top horse to bag million dollars in feature event

The moment of the game: Jos Buttler dismissed by Hardik Pandya

was caught at first slip.

GT were 97-3 before David Miller, who walked in next, conveniently took the pressure away with his elegant strokes and brought the equation down

on the move with two sixes before the RR opener was caught by R Sai Kishore off Yash Dayal’s bowling in the fourth over. Skipper Sanju Samson joined Buttler at the crease as RR moved to

H

orse-racing enthusiasts will be treated to high-quality racing on Sunday, July 31 when top horses assemble for the Port Mourant Emancipation meet. For the first time in history, 24 new entries, including horses from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, the United States of America and Suriname will battle for top honours at the same venue, the Port Mourant Turf Club.

Eight races are carded for July 31 and the feature event, which is open to all horses, will run at eight furlongs and the winner’s purse is $1,000,000.

The second prize is $500,000 while the third-place prize is $100,000. The lucrative event is expected to start 12:00h sharp. The one-day horse race meeting will start with the L open race, which

will run at a distance of six furlongs and the first-place cash prize is $160,000 and the second prize is $80,000.

The second race carded for the day will be the Guyana- and West Indiesbred two-year-old horses’.

That eight- furlong race will see the top horse bag $500,000 while the second-place horse will win $250,000. The horse that finishes third will bag $125,000. Race three will be the J Class race, and the stakes are also high in that eight-furlong race. The top horse will bag $200,000.

Race four will see the J3 maiden (all first-time starters) running at six furlongs and $200,000 will be the top prize. In the H Class race, running at six furlongs, the top horse will bag $400,000.

Race 6 will be the F Class race, running at 6.5 fur-

longs and the top prize is $500,000. In the Guyana and West Indies-bred twoyear-olds race, running at five furlongs, $400,000 will be the top prize. Entries will be closed on July 25 and the races will run under updated classification. For more information, contact Gingo on 618-7278, Dennis on 6406396, Alan on 627-5741, and Rabani on 643-9696.

(Brandon Corlette)

CLASSIFIED ADS HOUSE FOR SALE Fully concrete Top and Bottom, 24 x 42 - + 8 FT Extention, 4 12x12 Rooms, $30 Million neg. Contact: 692-7305 or +1 646 972 9267.

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

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The main objective is to win against Red Force, says Johnson

By Brandon Corlette in Trinidad

G

uyana Harpy Eagles drew against Jamaica Scorpions in the fourth-round clash of the West Indies Regional Four-Day championships. That result meant that the Harpy Eagles’

chances of winning the title are improbable, close to impossible. Harpy Eagles' final assignment will be against the hosts, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force from Wednesday, June 1 at Queen’s Park Oval.

Reflecting on the draw, Captain Leon Johnson said:

"Hard-fought. We would have liked to come out today and get those 10 wickets (against Jamaica), below our total, or chase a bit of runs, but that did not happen. Jamaica played pretty well on a very good batting track. It slims the chances of us winning, but

Four-Day: Chanderpaul inching towards Brathwaite as leading run-scorer – Cornwall, Permaul battling for top bowler spot – Pride still on top of points table

By Brandon Corlette in Trinidad

A

fter scoring big centuries in back-to-back matches at the West Indies Regional Four-Day championships, Tagenarine Chanderpaul is 61 runs away from the top of the leading run-scorers chart. After four matches, he has 414 runs, behind Kraigg Brathwaite with 475 runs. Devon Thomas is also on 414 runs while Kieran Powell (403) is the other batsman to pass the 400-run mark after four rounds.

Additionally, the Barbados Pride are at the top of the points table with 67.8 points while Leeward Islands Hurricanes are in second with 65.4 points. Guyana Harpy Eagles are in third with 51.2 points and T&T Red Force are in fourth with 47.2 points. Jamaica Scorpions are in fifth with 37.8 points and Windward Islands Volcanoes are in sixth, with 21 points.

In the bowling department, Rahkeem Cornwall is the leading bowler with 21 wickets while Veerasammy Permaul has 19 wickets.

Brathwaite has two centuries (including a double century) and his 475 runs came at an average of 79.16. His strike rate is 51.91. Meanwhile, the Guyana opener, Chanderpaul has his 414 runs at a supreme average of 82.80, facing 1024 balls this season, scoring two hundreds at a strike rate of 40.42.

Thomas's 414 runs came at an average of 59 and a strike rate of 93. He has one century and four half-centuries. His Leeward Islands teammate, Powell has 403 runs at an average of 57 with two fifties and one century.

John Campbell has 396 runs at an average of 56 with one century and one fifty. Yanic Cariah has 311 runs, while Jermaine Blackwood has 290 runs. After four rounds,

15 centuries were scored by batsmen across the Region.

Joshua Da Silva has 11 catches, most dismissals among wicket-keepers.

Cornwall, who claimed 11 wickets in the fourth-round clash, has a stellar bowling average of 18.61. His 21 wickets came at an economy rate of 2.60 and he has two five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul. Permaul has 19 wickets at 27.21 with an economy rate of 2.50. He claimed one five-wicket haul this season.

Fast-bowler Jeremiah Louis has 17 wickets while Kenneth Dember has 15 scalps.

Gudakesh Motie also has 15 wickets this season, at an average of 25.73. His best innings haul this season is 4-62.

Left-arm seamer Preston McSween has 14 wickets while Marquino Mindley, Anderson Phillip, Brian Charles Nicholson Gordon, and Keemo Paul have 13 wickets each.

Guyana Harpy Eagles will play Trinidad and Tobago Red Force from June 1

we have one game to go, and we know cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty. We can only control what we can, and take care of our results. If things go our way in the other games, then so be it."

On a good batting surface, Guyana scored a bit more slowly than expected. Johnson said the team would have liked to score a bit more runs in the opening sessions. "The trend is probably a 100-run session every day.

To score 70-odd and 60-odd, I think we could have done a bit better there," Johnson told the Guyanese media present in Trinidad.

Since the restart of the tournament, the batting has clicked for the Guyanese, with batsmen scoring centuries and the team amassing totals of 400 and 500. "It is only one bad game we had (this season), if you think about. It is good to see runs on the board.

Everyone has been calling for us to make runs, and we have been getting it by the truckload."

Looking ahead t o the Red Force clash, Johnson said his side would be aiming to win, and guys would look to perform as they always do. Speaking on Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who scored back-to-back centuries, Johnson said: "He was under the pump a little bit. He came good, and it is good to see.

We always talk about one of our openers go big and we put up a good total."

With Nial Smith and Anthony Bramble missing this game owing to injuries, they are expected to return for the final round. "Yes, they should return. I thought Bramble would have played this game, but in the morning there was discomfort, so he

Compliments of

did not want to risk it or play the game and affect the team.

Nial had a slight groin injury,

in the match against Jamaica Scorpions. He said it was nice to go out, get a score, and help

Vishaul Singh made a brisk century

so he did not want to risk it," Johnson added.

The Harpy Eagles Captain, who has been struggling with the bat, scored a half-century

the team. Given the return of Smith and Bramble, the likely candidates to miss out will be Demetri Cameron and Akshaya Persaud.

Leon Johnson scored a fifty after his struggles with the bat

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