Guyana Times - Friday June 18, 2021

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P19

THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Issue No. 4682

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

PRICE

COVID-19 vaccines

President denounces Harmon for “reckless” statement on Sputnik V …urges citizens not to fall prey to "political selfishness" Pages 3&9

…Harmon clueless about vaccines – Health Minister

Govt to assume supervisory responsibility for city pumps, sluices …after Mayor says not his job, refuses to Page 7

accept blame for poor management

$80 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Infrastructure, electricity major hindrances to hinterland expansion P15 – GTT’s CEO Child rapist P12 sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment

GCCI calls out Harmon, T&T PM on “reckless” remarks about Sputnik V P19

Floodwaters at Regent and King Streets, Georgetown

Over 23,000 persons affected as Region 9 floodwaters rise again – Chairman

Lawyers move to strike down death penalty P16

Page 15

Peacemaker P10 stabbed to death

…CDC receives over $100M for flood relief

3 more COVID-19 deaths, 10 Haitian teens found in Berbice hotel 75 new cases recorded Page 11

Page 18

…suspected to be victims of human smuggling …house-to-house vaccination begins in Bartica

Teen robbed at gunpoint P10 in supermarket Over 1100 P18 cosmetic products seized

by GA-FDD

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

NEWS

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS OPENINGS BRIDGE

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

Friday, June 18 – 00:30h-02:00h and 11:00h-12:30h and Saturday, June 19 – 01:00h-02:30h and 12:00h-13:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Friday, June 18 – 09:45h-11:15h and Saturday, June 19 – 10:55h12:25.

FERRY SCHEDULE

COVID-19 vaccines

President denounces Harmon for “reckless” statement on Sputnik V …urges citizens not to fall prey to "political selfishness" …says batch number can be matched to manufacturer

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

WEATHER TODAY There will be light rain showers and thundery showers during the day. Clear to cloudy skies are expected at night. Temperatures should range between 21 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Easterly to East North Easterly between 1.78 metres and 3.57 metres.

High Tide: 10:35h and 23:13h reaching maximum heights of 2.35 metres and 2.36 metres.

Low Tide: 16:38h reaching a minimum height of 0.85 metre.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2021

LOTTERY NUMBERS D

09 20 23 24 25 27

FREE TICKET

01 Bonus Ball

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021

DAILY MILLIONS

01 05 12 14 15 LUCKY 3

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7

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Afternoon Draw

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Evening Draw

01 05 06 08 11 12 16 SUPER

PAY DAY FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2021

03 04 08 13 14 13

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DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902

COMMODITIES Indicators

US$

Change %

Crude Oil

$73.08/barrel

-1.79

Rough Rice

$220.014 /ton

-0.02

London Sugar

$425.00/ton

-2.75

Live Spot Gold

he legitimacy of the Sputnik V vaccines currently used in Guyana can be authenticated using the batch number to correspond with that of the manufacturer’s data, thereby quashing any conclusion as to whether it is fake.

President Dr Irfaan Ali took this position on Thursday amid a false narrative that was drawn by Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon that questioned the Sputnik doses.

In fact, the Head of State cautioned the population to beware of actions that drive ‘political selfishness’.

In a recorded message, he expressed, “We have tried every single measure, and for Mr Harmon to try to discredit these efforts, for Mr Harmon to now try to dissuade Guyanese at this important public health juncture of our country, is reckless and shameful.

“Let me also say that every single shipment of Sputnik comes with the batch number…Before it is administered, it has to comply fully with the regulatory approval system.

On the vaccination card itself, there is batch number that can be matched back to the manufacturer’s data.”

Do not fall prey

DRAW DE LINE

PAY DAY

T

President Irfaan Ali

USD Per Ounce

Bid/Ask

$1786.60

$1787.90

Low/High Change

$1784.00 +12.60

$1788.60 +0.71%

The Head of State added, “I implore Guyanese not to fall prey to the political selfishness of Harmon, not to fall prey to the shameful recklessness and self-serving interest of Harmon…He is doing this at a time when he himself took Sputnik.

This level of irresponsibility, this level of selfishness, is beyond anything that a leader or someone who has pride in himself with the values of leadership can demonstrate.”

President Ali contended that the Opposition Leader’s remarks were not in the interest of the Guyanese people, and come at a time when Government is exploring all measures necessary to vaccinate the entire adult

population.

“I’m sure if one were to examine the statement by Mr Harmon in relation to the Sputnik vaccines, dissuading Guyanese from taking the Sputnik vaccines, you would find it to be self-serving, shamefully reckless, and against the interest of Guyana and Guyanese. This

is a man who shamefully tried to steal an election a few months ago. This is a man who himself took the Sputnik vaccine. There is a limit to one’s selfishness.

In this case, the limit must be to issue a statement that put the lives of Guyanese families and communities at risk.”

Negotiations, he signalled, have been ongoing with several countries and manufacturers to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible. The President assured this is of utmost importance, in order to bring normalcy back to the country and livelihoods.

TURN TO PAGE 11

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

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

Partnerships: Shared responsibilities

O

ne of the best ways by which individuals can be empowered is by an appropriate education and creation of empowerment programmes to enable equitable opportunities for upward mobility for every citizen, yet disadvantaged women and youths proliferate, not only in Guyana, but the Caribbean and further afield as well.

Societies in general are veering away from male domination in work places, and Government and the Private Sector are determined to provide equal opportunities for employees –regardless of gender.

The issue of women and their role in development has always been a topic of interest, and debates have centred around the challenges women face in getting access to the same opportunities as men, and, in a general sense, programmes and policies that could be implemented to ensure their economic and social advancement.

Women, over the years, have made tremendous progress, not only in terms of their own advancement, but by playing key roles in the development of their own communities, and, by extension, allowing other women opportunities to develop themselves. However, many challenges remain, and these must be tackled to ensure that women have access to the opportunities and resources needed to allow them to lead more productive and fulfilling lives.

However, women – the child-bearers and primary child-carers – are disadvantaged by domestic responsibilities; and many men abdicate their responsibilities in parenting and being equal partners in the home.

There is a dire need for men to create behavioural change in their domestic and child-rearing engagements: the accrued benefits to the entire family would be manifold; and the satisfaction and happiness of family togetherness would redound to the wellbeing of everyone, not least the children. If they grow up in an environment of caring and sharing, most likely they would become rounded adults, and incidents of juvenile delinquency would be reduced. Most of the ills in society are caused by delinquent fathers and spouses.

Despite many attempts by successive Governments to empower/educate women and youths in diverse ways, there are still great numbers of women with leadership skills and business acumen who are constrained by diverse circumstances from optimising their potential for wealth and job creation.

Some years ago, under the administration of former President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, the Social Protection Ministry, in collaboration with the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), launched the “Women of Worth” (WOW) loan programme, which helped single parent women start and/or expand their businesses. This initiative was driven by then subject Minister Priya Manickchand.

Through initiatives like Women of Worth, Government, in partnership with institutions like GBTI, has proven that providing enabling mechanisms can make a tangible impact on the lives of vulnerable women and, consequently, their children. By removing financial obstacles, the partnership with GBTI helped women realise their true potential through building businesses. Through the WoW initiative, women used their acumen to grow local communities, build wealth, and ultimately contribute to making Guyana better as a whole.

Before their advent into politics in then British Guyana, local women were treated as less by the colonial overlords.

Women could not work in the Public Service after marriage, and they certainly could not vote, among a multiplicity of human/women/s rights constraints.

Over the years, intrepid women fought for equality, and after much struggle and countless engagements at various fora, women were permitted greater freedoms in the socio-political dynamics of the nation. Today, women proliferate in leadership roles in every sphere of activity in the nation.

One of the most pressing needs for working mothers is the provision of safe childcare facilities in communities and workplaces. There are innumerable retired nurses and teachers who would certainly happily accept employment in such facilities.

The fledgling President Irfaan Ali’s administration is off to a great start in addressing pressing social issues, and, hopefully, projects slated to empower women in the society are yet to unfold.

Former President and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is now the Ambassador-designate to the United States of America, paid a courtesy call on Education Minister Priya Manickchand. During the meeting, the two discussed his new role as Guyana’s Ambassador to the US (Education Ministry photo)

PM Rowley out of line and reckless, Sputnik V vaccines saving lives in 74 countries

Dear Editor, Globally, the use of COVID-19 vaccines became an emergency, an imperative.

Individual countries considered clinical trials’ data and used their national registries to approve emergency use of vaccines. The UK and other European countries began using Astra Zeneca before World Health Organization (WHO) approval.

The US began using Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson before the WHO approval. Russia began using Sputnik V before WHO approval. India and China began using locally produced vaccines before WHO approval.

Given the data available to us, and which was submitted to the WHO, Guyana made a decision that saving lives is more important than risking people’s lives, and approved Sputnik V, AZ, SinoPharm, Pfizer, and other vaccines.

Guyana did not do so lightly.

Where we needed to, Guyana utilised other independent scrutiny. For example, with Sputnik V, we considered not only the data submitted from clinical trials

by Russia, but also carefully considered the scrutiny of the clinical trials data done by the Lancet, the British Medical Journal, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world.

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago is out of line. Reckless, too. He insulted Guyana and the seventy-four countries that presently are using vaccines like Sputnik V. Guyana has utilised three vaccines in our programme Astra Zeneca, SinoPharm and Sputnik V. So far, more than 225,000

persons (48% of the adult population in Guyana) have received their first-dose vaccine. Of those persons, 95,000 (20% of the adult population) are now fully vaccinated, having also received their second-dose vaccines.

President Irfaan Ali and his Government acted in the best interest of our people, and globally and in CARICOM, Guyana’s bold and decisive actions on COVID-19 vaccination are acknowledged and admired.

Already, Guyana is seeing the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination. Only a handful of persons who received their first dose (less than 0.1%) have tested positive for COVID-19 after they had their first-dose vaccines. In terms of each of the vaccines: AZ, SinoPharm or Sputnik V, testing positive for COVID-19 after taking the vaccine is less than 0.01%. But the majority of those persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 are likely to have been infected prior to taking their vaccines. Of the persons who are fully vaccinated, not one has tested positive after their second dose. Not one person has been in the ICU after they were fully vaccinated. These are the facts.

In defending the vaccine fiasco in his country, Prime Minister Rowley unwittingly or deliberately implied that Guyana’s successful vaccination programme so far is an illusion, because Guyana utilised vaccines not approved for use. He boasted that Trinidad and Tobago have the most vaccine doses already in country than any other country in Caricom except Guyana, but that Guyana’s vaccines do not count, since they are not approved.

I will not comment on how Prime Minister Rowley has managed his country’s vaccine programme; how he has managed his country’s vaccine programme is a matter his people have already pronounced on. The criticism from his own people must be stinging enough for Prime Minister Rowley to attempt changing the narrative. It is his right, if he chooses to change his country’s narrative, but he should not seek to change his country’s narrative at Guyana’s expense. Let me set the record straight.

First of all, at the time the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister stated that Trinidad and Tobago had 234,000 doses of vaccines, Guyana had in our possession 465,000 doses of vaccines, twice the amount of doses that Prime Minister Rowley’s country had. But that is not the important point, it is his raising legitimacy issues with the vaccines Guyana has approved for use.

Let me make it clear: all the vaccines in use in Guyana were registered and approved for use by Guyana’s Food and Drug Analyst Department.

Those registrations and approvals are not automatic.

They are based on a number of considerations and a process Guyana has used for decades. It is the same process that saved thousands of lives when we registered Indianproduced and locally-produced HIV medicines.

The following are vaccines and the amount administered and present in Guyana: Astra Zeneca (140,400 doses), Sinopharm (20,000 doses), Sputnik V (305,000 doses). In addition, Guyana expects to receive an additional 471,000 doses of vaccines between now and September, as follows:

38,000 doses of Astra Zeneca vaccines in July from COVAX; 183,000 doses of Sputnik V in June/July; 100,000 doses of SinoPharm from China within the next two weeks; 150,000 doses of vaccines, including the Johnson and Johnson vaccines, by August from an arrangement with the African Union. With what Guyana has and what is coming, Guyana has secured enough vaccines to vaccinate all adults before the end of this year. We hope this would be true for all Caricom countries.

The vaccines used in Guyana are all safe and effective. This includes Sputnik V. The largest amount of vaccine doses used in Guyana as of now is the Sputnik V vaccines. Millions of doses of this vaccine have been administered safely to persons around the world.

Production of this vaccine is now global. Not only is that vaccine produced in Russia, but production has started in India, China, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt.

Production is also likely in a number of European countries.

Sputnik V vaccine effectiveness and safely have been scrutinised by the British medical journal the Lancet, one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals.

Lancet studied the clinical trial results for this vaccine.

They did not take anybody’s word; they did their own scrutiny of the clinical trial data.

As reported in the Lancet, Sputnik V has a 93% effective rate of preventing SARS-CoV 2 infection. This effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 infections is comparable to the Pfizer vaccines in the USA. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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What value does Harmon place Those who are to be on the lives of Guyanese? removed will be removed

Dear Editor, Can I ask Joe Harmon what value he places on the lives of Guyanese citizens? for instance, how much does Harmon think is too much to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine?

Before answering Harmon’s queries as to the cost of the vaccines to taxpayers, I would wish to commend the Irfaan Ali Administration on the tremendous job performed for the benefit and on behalf of the populace, by providing free vaccines to (so far) over 46% of the population (first dose). Had President Ali prevaricated, the cost to the taxpayers could have been a significantly higher number of lives lost, chaos, and despair as witnessed in other countries.

Harmon quoted a World Health Organization (WHO) price of US$10 per shot of the vaccine; however, the UNICEF COVAX facility has accounted for less than a tenth of the vaccinations done in Guyana to date. The quot-

ed WHO price is, and remains, theoretical.

Guyana found a supplier that provided adequate and available supply; a supplier who arranged extraordinarily difficult charter flights for our vaccines; the logistical and political challenges of getting Russian-manufactured vaccines to Guyana would make for eye-opening reading in itself.

At all times, the Guyanese populace were informed by their Government of the cost of the vaccines (US$17-$24) via various official pronouncements. We, the citizens, have never said the cost was too high. I would have supported the purchase at ten times the price.

Had President Ali been indecisive, less than 30,000 of our citizens would have been able to get vaccinated at this time. No doubt, Joe Harmon and his APNU/AFC elitist cohorts would have been among those demanding special consideration for one of those

shots.

As it is, the Ali Administration is on a campaign to encourage citizens to get the vaccines (which are widely available) after a politically motivated and malicious whisper campaign to discredit the vaccines dissuaded persons from taking the life-saving shots. Had political activists not engaged in such destructive practices, Guyana’s vaccination rate would have been over 70% and/or equal to the highest in the world today.

Editor, President Ali and his Administration scoured the world for a supplier to meet our needs, and while Guyana is among the countries with the highest rate of vaccinations in the world, and this country has secured enough vaccines to immunise her population at a time when suppliers were reluctant to engage small countries and the term ‘vaccine apartheid surfaced, Guyana still has some ways to go to achieve the

vaunted herd immunity.

I do hope Joe Harmon’s haste to discredit our current reliable supplier does not lead to a situation in which Guyana is considered an unworthy/troublesome customer by that company and other suppliers in the future.

The developed countries have also achieved high vaccination rates, and are NOW making promises to assist the less-developed countries with vaccine shots in 2022.

Only this week the US was ridiculed by Chinese media for its donation of 80 vials of vaccines to our neighbour Trinidad, despite the dire shortage caused by the Rowley Administration’s reluctance to engage non-WHO endorsed vaccine suppliers.

Thankfully, President Ali did not wait, for it is a wait that would have cost countless lives; lives most of us value more than money… Joe. Faithfully, Robin Singh

Lincoln Lewis misinformed about ILO study Dear Editor, The GAWU has noticed that Mr Lincoln Lewis wrote in his column of June 13, 2021 an article titled “ILO Study on closure of sugar estates proves workers let down by government”. The article appeared in the news outfit Village Voice, and in it he made several incorrect statements regarding the sugar industry, which we believe require clarity to avoid any confusion or misconception.

Right off the bat, in the very second sentence of the column, Mr Lewis says “…study set out to investigate the impact of estates closure on the workers and their communities dating back to the closure of the Diamond Estate…”

This, of course, is a clear mis-statement. The study on page eleven says “the Government of Guyana closed the Wales, East Demerara, Rose Hall and Skeldon estates between 2016 and 2017… [t] his study serves as a response to these closures…”.

It appears the columnist may have misinterpreted the report, or is engaged in wanton misinformation. Let us hope it is the former, rather than the latter, though it requires Lincoln to be careful about what he writes.

The columnist next claims that the closure of the East Demerara Estates was in line with some World Bank recommendation. Again, Mr Lewis appears either confused or uninformed. The World Bank’s recommendation was made prior to the new millennium.

However, the Government of Guyana and GuySuCo then developed a strategy which convinced the World Bank that the recommendation was not necessary. Had this not been done, the World Bank would have withheld its support for the Skeldon project. Apart from that, we are unaware of any other recommendation.

Mr Lewis shared that sugar communities should be diversified into other economic

activities. This, on the surface, may appear logical, but the question that must be asked is: how realisable are such feats?

We need not remind Lincoln and the nation of the promises of the Coalition Government to undertake the very policy he is advocating. He may recall that Wales was to have been the launching pad for diversification. Today, now five (5) years after, this remains at best a pipe dream while, as the ILO study points out, people are facing real misery and hardship.

It is not our intention to throw cold water on the columnist’s idea, but to demonstrate it is easier said than done. We share Lincoln’s view that the divide between price and cost of production should be reduced, and eliminated over time, but he cannot rationally expect such objectives to be realised at the drop of a hat.

It certainly would take some time, especially given the financial starvation the industry endured between 2015 and 2020.

But we hold that there are several worthwhile ventures which can realise the objective advanced by Lincoln. Already, we have learnt that enhanced emphasis on packaged sugar has begun to bear fruit. It is just one of many paths the industry has on the road to sustainability.

It is next said that “…[t] here is no reason why sugar workers should still be doing back-breaking work that mechanisation could provide for…”. We agree here with Lincoln, and maybe his unfamiliarity with developments in the industry may have precluded him from knowing that already there are mechanised and semi-mechanised cane harvesting.

This was an ongoing programme which was perplexingly stopped following the change of Government. Even the Sugar CoI mentioned that this process should be advanced, and recommended

that a loan secured from the CDB for such purposes should be drawn down.

Despite the sensibleness of the Sugar CoI, it was ignored by the former powers-that-be.

On this score, we have learnt of efforts by GuySuCo to resume its mechanisation programme, and to expand it to other areas of operation.

We cannot disagree with Lincoln when he says “…the sugar workers deserve better, and better must be done for them…”. Certainly, despite deserving better, they were treated with discrimination at the hands of the former Government. Yet, today, many of those who criticise efforts to right that wrong were silent, or conspicuously absent, when such harshness was meted out to the workers.

Of course, we do recognise and appreciate that Lincoln

did, at times, frankly express his views, though even he, after some time, had seemingly changed his tune.

Finally, Lincoln says no alternative opportunities were found for the workers of Diamond. Again, we excuse his unfamiliarity. Were he familiar, certainly he would have known that Diamond workers were offered employment at Wales, and several took up the offer, working there until that estate was closed in 2016.

We hope that we have brought clarity to the several possibly misinformed statements of the columnist, who maybe is divorced from the situation in the sugar industry.

Yours faithfully, Seepaul Narine President GAWU

PM Rowley out of...

FROM PAGE 4

But the most important data is that when persons are fully vaccinated with Sputnik V, those persons are 100% protected against serious COVID-19 illness.

The Gamaleya Research Institute, the developer of Sputnik V vaccine, is one of the most respected biomedical research labs in the world.

The vaccine is in use in 74 countries around the world, in all continents, except in North America. Fully 33% of all counties in Latin America are using the Spunik V vaccine. More countries use Sputnik V today than use Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, because these are not yet available to most countries.

Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines are presently undergoing World Health Organization (WHO) approval process, and is expected to receive WHO approval within months. So far, WHO has completed evaluation of the

clinical trials’ data for, and has approved, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, SinoPharm, and SinoVac vaccines.

Both Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines obtained approval only recently. Sputnik V vaccine is also being evaluated by the EU Regulatory Authority, and is expected to be approved within months.

Saving lives, rather than risking people’s lives, is the reason why more countries are turning to Russia for Sputnik V vaccines.

Recently, UNICEF, the UN agency responsible for children and adolescents, signed a contract with Russia to procure 220 million doses of Sputnik V. When availability of all vaccines no longer is an issue, countries can pick and choose. Right now, the vaccine in front of us, as Dr. Tony Fauci puts it, is the best vaccine.

Dr Leslie Ramsammy

Dear Editor, The removal of David Patterson from the head of the Public Accounts Committee was a timely move, and was most welcome by all right-thinking people of this country.

His removal comes as a refreshing breeze to the noble estate of the PAC, where accounts, or spending of Government, can be scrutinised.

We want to hold all Governments - and I repeat, we hold all Governments accountable to the people; that is, we demand proper scrutiny of a government’s stewardship in office.

This automatically means that there will be an audit of the APNU/AFC Administration’s spending first, before we venture into those of the current administration.

On that note, Patterson refused to recuse himself to give the Auditor General unfettered access into the accounts of the former Government. In essence, what they are saying is this: for that audit to be of any significance, Patterson should remove himself from the chairman’s position. It would be a conflict of interest, or for the Auditor General to do his job successfully once Patterson chairs that committee.

Already, there are warning signs of this man’s reluctance to have any audit into past governmental transactions to which he was a part. Patterson has been playing the role of an obstructionist ever since, so there is good reason to support the position which seeks his removal; because the former Minister of Government is the subject of too many allegedly

corrupt transactions during his time in office.

His handling of tax payers’ monies was mired in controversy right from the very beginning of his reign, and it is public knowledge that his Ministry could not get a single project completed.

I respectfully concur with Parliamentary Secretary Miss Gail Teixeira when she asserted that if governments can be removed, then why should Patterson not be afforded the same treatment?

But it all goes to show the fabric of which the Coalition is made of, a bunch of disgraceful individuals who raped the treasury and believe that they can get away with it. Well, I must inform the disgraceful group to think again, this is not going to happen in this new dispensation of things.

This corrupt bullyism was further displayed when, for five long months, this nation was burdened by a PNC-led Coalition which was adamant that it must remain in office despite the voters’ decision that it should go. Our country had to endure five long, arduous months and numerous court battles to remove this party out of office. The summary of it all is that democracy, as we know, ultimately prevailed.

There is also a direct message sent to Lowenfield and company, that you are next in line as we seek to sanitise our country from all corrupt people. We must purge our committees of corrupt, inept individuals for the ultimate triumph of democracy.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

Page

Foundation ◄

Question 1

By F rancis Ponge

Thursday’s answers i) 135 cm2 ii) 405cm2

iii) 3.70g

Translated by Joshua Corey and Jean-Luc Garneau The rain, in the backyard where I watch it fall, comes down at different ?rates. In the center a fine discontinuous curtain?— ?or network?—?falls implacably and yet gently in drops that are probably quite light; a strengthless sempiternal precipitation, an intense fraction of the atmosphere at its purest. A little distance from the walls to the right and left plunk heavier drops, one by one. Here they seem about the size of grains of wheat, the size of a pea, while elsewhere they are big as marbles. Along gutters and window frames the rain runs horizontally, while depending from the same obstacles it hangs like individually wrapped candies. Along the entire surface of a little zinc roof under my eyes it trickles in a very thin sheet, a moiré pattern formed by the varying currents created by the imperceptible bumps and undulations of the surface. From the gutter it flows with the restraint of a shallow creek until it tumbles out into a perfectly vertical net, rather imperfectly braided, all the way to the ground where it breaks and sparkles into brilliant needles.

Each of its forms has its particular allure and corresponds to a particular patter.

Together they share the intensity of a complex mechanism ?as precise as it is dangerous, like a steam-powered clock whose spring is wound by the force of the precipitation.

The ringing on the ground of the vertical trickles, the glug-glug of the gutters, the miniscule strikes of the gong multiply and resonate all at once in a concert without monotony, and not without a certain delicacy.

Once the spring unwinds itself certain wheels go on turning for a while, more and more slowly, until the whole mechanism comes to a stop. It all vanishes with the sun: when it finally reappears, the brilliant apparatus evaporates. It has rained.

Translated from the French

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Govt to assume supervisory responsibility for city pumps, sluices …after Mayor says not his job, refuses to accept blame for poor management

G

eorgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine on Thursday refused to take the blame for the lackadaisical approach towards the management of the city’s pump stations, sluices, and kokers. He told Government Ministers that he is not responsible for supervising the technical workers of the City Council.

The Georgetown Mayor and other City officials were invited to a meeting with the Ministers of Agriculture, Local Government and Public Works to discuss how to address the flashfloods occurring in the City during the heavy downpours. This is especially in light of the fact that President Dr Irfaan Ali himself, aside from several Ministers, had made checks at the various pump stations and kokers and had found the operators were neglecting their posts and duties, resulting in the unnecessary flooding of the City.

The media was invit-

ed, and the Government Ministers spoke to reporters about what had transpired.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said the responses provided by the Mayor were “unacceptable”.

According to Mustapha, Mayor Narine indicated that the technical officers attached to the M&CC are responsible for monitoring the pumps and sluices.

Responsibility

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

ed to cover the meeting between the City officials and the Ministers, which occurred at the Agriculture Ministry’s Boardroom, but reporters and cameramen were not allowed to be present during the actual meeting.

Following the morethan-hour-long discussion, the City officials depart-

“The Mayor basically said if the technical people cannot supervise, then he cannot do much about that.

I find that very strange, because the responsibility stops at the Mayor’s desk, and he has to ensure that the (City) and these critical structures are manned properly, and that all systems are in place,” Minister Mustapha posited.

“This is our capital city, and as a Government, we’ve been making the resources available to the City

Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall

Council in terms of getting the drainage and irrigation system…during the latter part of 2020, we would’ve increased the drainage capacity of Georgetown by installing three additional pumps. Georgetown now has twelve pumps installed.

We also have approximately 10 sluices,” he added.

The Agriculture

Minister said a number of issues were raised with City officials, particularly the Mayor, but he was unable to respond with any useful information or solution.

“I don’t think we had a proper answer coming out from the City Council. That means that the Ministries of Agriculture, Local Government and Public Works will have to devise how they will monitor the system, and get it to work although those operators both from the sluices and the pumps are employees of City Hall.

“The Mayor said he doesn’t have to supervise those employees…that he has his administration, so I asked him the rhetorical question: ‘Who supervises the Administration?’ because if the Administration is not delivering, he has to make sure the Administration delivers,” Mustapha posited.

Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine

Garbage pile-up

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall explained that Government has already invested close to $1B in drainage and irrigation in Georgetown over the past ten months. He also observed that there is now a lacklustre approach to cleaning up the City.

TURN TO PAGE 15

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Man to face jury for murder of footballer

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man who was charged in connection with the gunning down of a teenage footballer in Albouystown was on Thursday committed to stand trial at the High Court in Demerara for the capital offence.

23-year-old Shamar Harvey, formerly of King Edward Street, Albouystown, Georgetown, was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that on March 31, 2019, at Albouystown, he murdered 18-year-old Christopher Mansfield, called “Gully Bop.” After a preliminary inquiry held in Senior Magistrate Leron Daly’s

Murder accused Shamar Harvey

court, the Georgetown Magistrate ruled that suffi-

cient evidence was led by the prosecution against Harvey to put him on trial for the offence. As such, she committed him to stand trial at the next practicable sitting of the Demerara Assizes.

Police reports stated that Mansfield, a footballer, was attacked by three males who were armed with a cutlass, knife, and gun respectively.

During the altercation, the person armed with the gun shot the teen to the right side of his abdomen.

The injured youth barely managed to seek refuge in a nearby yard before he collapsed. Mansfield, of Lot 66 Barr Street, Albouystown, was rushed to the Georgetown Public

Again projecting...

Dead: Christopher Mansfield, called “Gully Bop”

Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. (G1)

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…PNC’s violent reflex uring the marathon Parliamentary Sitting on Monday night into Tuesday morning, the Government requestioned $249,967,523 to establish and operationalise what it described as the Regional Joint Support Teams. As explained by Governance Minister Teixeira, back in April, the Defence Board had discussed and approved the initiative - which involves both the GDF and the GPF, with the specific aim to deepen their operational capacity in crime-fighting.

During the debate in the National Assembly, the PNC Opposition - in the form of no other than ex-GDF Intelligence officer Col Harmon himself - who’s now PNC Opposition Leader - questioned the scope of the new teams. Like where they’d be located etc. They were given as comprehensive answers as were possible, such as that the command chain of the Police Commissioner, the Defence Board and the Commander in Chief would ensure all constitutional oversight would be maintained.

As everyone is aware, the Police are responsible for fighting crime in Guyana, but the Army can assist - in a supporting role. It was stated in the National Assembly that one unit would be based in Eteringbang, where the Government saw NEW threats to our security arising that had to be addressed. One example of such threats was the “Syndicato” gangs that have been entering from Venezuela and creating havoc in the remote western villages. The requisitioned amount was approved.

But the very next day, all hell broke loose. There was a new, dangerous spin on the matter: on Ex-GDF officer/Ex-Minister Annette Ferguson’s Facebook page came the accusation that the PPP were using the $250M to “resuscitate the Black Clothes Death Squad”!! The accusation had been circulating by all the known PNC social media activists, who’d been inciting, for months, PNC supporters to rise up against what they insisted was an “illegal” PPP Government! The activists - coordinated by the armchair-bound WPA gerontocracy - had been waging a campaign to oust the Granger-Harmon team from the PNC leadership by accusing them of being “soft” on the PPP. They quoted at every step of their campaign Desmond Hoyte’s mantra: “the PPP only responds to force”!

This aim of this new hysterical accusation about “Black Clothes” is transparent: in addition to being another flanking tactic against Granger…it’s also a projection of their near-term plans. Ironically, the Black Clothes were formed by Desmond Hoyte to fight the crime wave especially the “kick down the door” bandits. But they took on the “Freedom Fighters” that launched terrorist attacks against the PPP Government after 2002.

The Joint Services and MoHA have now denounced the incendiary PNC claims, saying it’ll exacerbate the crime situation in Guyana.

But the PNC radicals have now tipped their hand: forewarned is forearmed!

…PNC’s callousness The PNC have sunk to a new moral low. Yes, dear reader, even a snake crawling on the ground can’t sink lower!

Imagine they’ve accused the Government of engaging in skullduggery to purchase the Russian-produced 400,000 Sputnik vaccines through a middleman - the UAE’s Sheik Maktoum! The fellow who’d visited Guyana last November for wide-ranging talks on a number of projects.

So what would the PNC have the Government do?

Replicate TT’s Rowley’s stiff-necked-ness that resulted in them having no vaccines to back up his “lockdown” strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic? Well, actually, that’s what the PNC explicitly did! But after witnessing the horrible denouement of that “plan” - daily deaths in the high-teens for a month - shouldn’t they have complimented the PPP for getting vaccines by any means necessary in order to build herd immunity for our people?

But the PNC has always seen people as expendable.

Didn’t Burnham boast he’d continue his “co-op” experiment to the last Guyanese?

And almost succeeded?!

…more rainfall and more floods?

It’s been your Eywitness’s contention that heavy rainfall doesn’t have to mean more flooding. All we gotta do is follow the hydrological rules established by the Dutch.

So, will we have those rules punitively enforced?

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

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Harmon clueless about vaccines – Health Minister …says “fake” claims can derail immunisation programme

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ealth Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Thursday slammed Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon for his irresponsible statements that the Sputnik V jabs are ‘fake’.

Minister Anthony has labelled this claim as a political move that can derail the country’s immunisation programme.

Harmon – who has been immunised with both Sputnik V doses – sought to question the authenticity of the same Russian-manufactured jab at a press conference hosted on Thursday. Just this week, he also raised another issue with the price at which Government was securing vaccines for the population.

“I know that there are concerns internationally about the Sputnik vaccine, and I’m not challenging the efficacy of this vaccine, but my concern is that we get the right thing here in Guyana. There is a report… and it speaks of fake batches of Sputnik V vaccines seized in Mexico… We have to basically ask that whatever we’re doing about Sputnik has to be made extremely public,” the Opposition Leader was quoted as saying.

However, his claims were addressed by Health Minister Dr Anthony, who condemned them as irresponsible, and added that the Opposition Leader is neither a medical professional nor did he present any evidence to substantiate his utterances.

“We have a press conference that moved from pricing to something that is absolutely bizarre. I would want

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony

to venture to say that it was reckless and irresponsible of the Leader of the Opposition now to call on people in a sense not to take the vaccines, as he thinks the vaccine is fake.

“Mr Harmon is not a medical person. Mr Harmon probably doesn’t have much clue pertaining to anything related to vaccines; yet, Mr Harmon decides that the vaccine is not safe. He has not produced any evidence that the vaccine is not safe, that the vaccine is not working, but proceeded to make a conclusion that the vaccine is fake,” Dr Anthony asserted.

Instigate

It has been contended that such information needs to be addressed, since followers and other sections of the population can be instigated against taking the vaccines, thereby putting lives at risk.

The Minister also highlight-

ed that those vaccines cannot enter Guyana with approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

“We have to bother with him because Mr Harmon represents a political party and he probably has some amount of following. Unfortunately, what he is instigating them to do is not to take the vaccines and to put their lives at risk. This is quite unfortunate for someone who is in a leadership position to take such a stance and to deliberately endanger people in this country,” Dr Anthony has said.

The Health Minister underscored that $5000 to purchase vaccines for one person is significantly less than the cost attached to contracting the virus and seeking treatment in the Intensive Care Unit. As such, he said, Government’s logic is to make vaccines accessible and mitigate new infections.

“Compare if somebody gets sick and they come into the hospital, what it cost for us to keep that person in the hospital and take care of them. The medicines that we’re using, some of them cost almost US$100 per vial.

In other instances, if you’re in the ICU, you would require 15 litres of oxygen per minute, and that’s a lot of cost. Per patient in an ICU, it cost us millions of dollars, and what we’re trying to do here by providing vaccines is to make sure that people can have access to vaccines in a timely manner…

“If $5000 is the cost of preventing that, then we, as a Government, we’re happy to

spend that money to protect people,” he shared.

Some 224,853 persons have received their first dose of the COVID vaccines, which translates to 46.2 per cent of the adult population. Second doses stand at 94,243 persons, or 19.4 per cent. No immunised person in Guyana has since developed any complication, nor was any such person hospitalised. In fact, the population was reminded that the Sputnik V vaccine is one of the most superior vaccines in the world, and has been used already by 74 countries.

Effective

“We know that Sputnik V is one of the most effective vaccines that you have on the global market…The data for those trials was published in one of the most prestigious journals in the world, the Lancet Journal, and the results are there for the world to see…

“Sputnik V has now been rated at 97 per cent efficacy, so there’s no doubt about the efficacy of the vaccine. There is no doubt about the safety of the vaccine. This vaccine works, and more recently, this vaccine has been working against all the variants that we have seen.”

It has been explained that authorities had previously engaged other cheaper manufacturers to secure vaccines,

Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon

but to no avail. Through the Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum in Dubai, the Sputnik doses were sourced directly from the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

“We have not had this price as a secret price. This was known. We have said this many times before. The President spoke about it, the Vice President spoke about it, and I have spoken about it on many occasions. It was clear to the general public how much money we were paying for vaccines. The rationale here is that we wanted to have access to vaccines, because vaccines are going to save people’s lives,” the senior health official under-

scored.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Health Ministry clarified that at no time did Guyana procure vaccines from any illegal entity, nor did Guyana access vaccines secretly from anyone.

“In every instance, the Ministry of Health has followed the established process, and has established legally-binding contracts to ensure the timely delivery of these vaccines… The Ministry of Health rejects the Leader of the Opposition’s mischievous and malicious attempt to derail the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Guyana. Instead, we will again encourage him (to) stop his divisiveness, stop undermining the vaccination drive, and ask that he encourage everyone to take their vaccines.

“This indicates what would have happened had the Leader of the Opposition still been in Government – our people would not have had access to vaccines. The Opposition Leader has openly declared that in vaccinating 223,659 persons with a first dose and the 92,157 fully vaccinated persons so far, the price paid was not worth it. No one that is fully vaccinated in Guyana has ended up in the ICU; none has died.

This investment in our people is entirely worth it,” the missive contended.

10 NEWS

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Peacemaker stabbed to death

Murdered: Clifton Burchman

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miner was on Tuesday evening stabbed to death after he allegedly intervened in an argument between the suspect and another man at Kuribrong Landing, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

Murder suspect Alex Daniels, also called “Ball”

The dead miner has been identified as 24-yearold Clifton Burchman of Kopinang Village, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). He was reportedly stabbed once to the neck by Alex Daniels,

commonly known as “Ball”, who subsequently made good his escape.

Based on reports received, on the day in question about 10:00h, the suspect and another miner were involved in a heated argument and upon hearing the commotion, Burchman reportedly told the suspect to “rest heself”. This, however, angered Daniels.

He reportedly left the scene, but not before threatening to take revenge on the now dead young man.

On Tuesday evening about 21:00h, Burchman was attacked and fatally stabbed by the suspect.

Eartha David, an aunt of the now dead young man told Guyana Times that on Tuesday evening, Burchman was chatting with a few people, including his uncle who owns the mining concession and his girlfriend.

However, the uncle left them chatting and went to take a shower. “My brother tell me, that shortly after, he heard screaming and rushed back to the camp, where he saw Clifton on the ground in a pool of blood,” David related.

She explained that from all indications, the suspect was hiding and waited until her brother left the camp before he made his move.

“My nephew was stabbed

once to the back of his neck … he immediately collapsed and died…after Ball realised that my nephew was dead, he run away from the scene … the others who were at the camp when the incident took place went after him, but he managed to escape,” David told this publication.

She noted that the Police were contacted and her nephew’s body was taken to the Mahdia Hospital Mortuary, where it awaits a post-mor-

tem. The grieving aunt stated that the suspect was well known to the family.

The now dead man lived in Black Water, but would come out to visit his family from time to time. The last time he went home was earlier in the year. He leaves to mourn his mother and five siblings.

A manhunt has been launched for the suspect as Police continue their investigation.

NA couple busted with ganja in home

Teen robbed at gunpoint in supermarket

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17-year-old female was on Wednesday evening robbed by two males at the Diamond Mart Supermarket, Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

Based on information received, the teenager was relieved of one gold AJ8 Samsung phone about

19:35h by the duo – one of whom was armed with a handgun.

Police stated that the victim was approached by the two perpetrators who demanded cash. At the time, one of the men was pointing the handgun at her face.

The armed man then

pushed her to the floor, snatched her mobile phone, and ran out of the supermarket. His accomplice followed suit and they both escaped. The matter was reported to the Police and an investigation was launched.

No arrests were made.

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The cannabis that was found in the couple’s home

he Police have arrested a 30-year-old male and a 27-year-old female, both of Ferry Street, New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) on Tuesday after a quantity of ganja was found in their home.

Police said the couple were arrested during an exercise, whereby ranks in the sub-division went to their residence and conducted a search.

During the search, the Police discovered a bag which contained 39 grams

of cannabis. Another 1089 grams of ganja was found hidden under a chair in a room in the back of the building.

Both occupants were arrested and taken into custody.

The cannabis was weighed and lodged.

Charges are pending.

About a week ago, Police in Linden arrested a 31-year-old male with 118 grams of cannabis.

It was reported that members of an Anti-Crime Patrol observed the suspect acting in a suspicious

manner in Co-op Crescent, Mackenzie, so they approached him and he attempted to flee.

The ranks gave chase and the man was cornered in the Mackenzie Market. A search was conducted on his person and the ganja was unearthed in a black fanny pack that he was wearing around his shoulders.

He denied ownership of the illicit substance, but was cautioned, arrested, and escorted to Mackenzie Police Station.

NEWS

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10 Haitian teens found in Berbice hotel …suspected to be victims of human smuggling

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he Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Thursday swooped down on a hotel in Skeldon, Corentyne, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) where they found 10 juveniles claiming to be Haitian nationals. The five males and five females were not in possession of passports

or any form of identification.

One of the 10 teenagers who spoke English told detectives that they were brought from Suriname by speedboat and left at the hotel since Monday last.

It is alleged that the person who took them to the hotel confiscated their passports, doc-

uments, money and personal belongings. The children were taken into protective custody as investigations continue.

It is suspected that the children were victims of a Trafficking in Persons (human smuggling) ring using Guyana as a transit point. In the past, Cubans, Haitians and

Rice miller, 1 other arrested over stolen motor blower

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he Police have arrested two men in connection with the discovery of a stolen motor blower at Number 54 Village, Corentyne, Berbice on Wednesday.

Police stated that the victim secured the motor blower in his premises and retired to bed about 18:00h on Tuesday. However, when he

woke up the following morning, he discovered the machine missing.

A report was made and based on Police investigations, a 32-year-old man of Number 53 Village, Corentyne was arrested.

During their interrogation of the suspect, Police received information and went to a rice mill where a search was

Do not to fall prey...

FROM PAGE 3

“Every single manufacturer, developer, country – whether it was for Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik – we tried…We tried diplomatic channels.

We tried every single thing, and we continue to try every single day. We have requests with every single developer and manufacturer…I made it very clear to the Guyanese people because there is no cost to protecting the lives of Guyanese. That is the only interest of the Government.

That is my only interest.

Let me assure Guyanese that more than 74 countries around the world are using Sputnik. The clinical data for Sputnik is already with the EU and WHO approving authorities,” Ali stressed.

Sufficient supplies

To ensure sufficient supplies, Government has held bilateral discussions with countries, namely India, China, Russia, the US, the EU, Kuwait and the UAE. In addition, Guyana had bilateral talks with manufacturers of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, SinoPharm, Covaxin, Russian Direct

Investment Fund. There were discussions with several multilateral organisations, including the Organization of the Islamic States, the African Union/ Caricom Initiative and COVAX. So far, Guyana has been able to secure 62,400 doses of Astra Zeneca vaccine from COVAX, with more to arrive until 20 per cent of the population is covered.

There were donations of 3,000 doses of AstraZeneca shots from Barbados, 20,000 Sinopharm doses from China, and another 80,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India.

Government has procured 400,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Dubai. Some 305,000 doses of this have so far been delivered, and the additional 95,000 are expected to arrive soon. Another 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines from China will arrive within the next two weeks.

Through an African Union/Caricom Agreement, Guyana is procuring 148,000 doses of vaccines – a portion of which would include Johnson and Johnson single-dose vaccines. (G12)

conducted.

During the search, five motor blowers were found, with one being identified by the victim as his. As a result, the rice miller was detained for receiving stolen items. He was arrested and taken into custody, assisting with information.

Nigerians have been smuggled into Guyana and then on to other countries.

It is believed that this is the latest manifestation of this nefarious racket at work which seems to be operating on a daily basis.

The Attorney General’s office, in a release, stated that the Brazilian Government has already expressed concern about the situation. As such, the Surinamese Government has also shared intelligence, which suggests that the racket extends to that neighbouring republic.

“The Government of Guyana has already engaged the Cuban Ambassador to Guyana on this issue. It is believed that these persons, including children, are being trafficked to various parts of the world,” the release added.

Two Wednesdays ago, the Police had arrested a number of Haitians, Nigerians and

Cubans near Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).

Police had stated that some of these persons did not have entry stamps in their passports in relation to Guyana.

The racket is reportedly taking place when all neighbouring borders with Guyana are currently closed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken more than 430 lives and affected thousands locally.

In addition, there is a continuous influx of these persons at both Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Eugene F Correia International Airport at Ogle.

In the circumstances, the Government of Guyana feels compelled to inform the relevant international agencies dealing with human trafficking and smuggling of persons, including children.

“In this regard, we will engage the United Nations

Humans Rights Council, the International Organisation for Migration and INTERPOL, and requests their urgent intervention and assistance,” the AG Chambers stated.

In the meantime, the Government will immediately review its immigration protocols and impose such lawful restrictions and conditions that it considers necessary in the circumstances.

In November 2020, Police in E Division (Linden-Kwakwani) had arrested 26 Haitians who reportedly entered Guyana illegally. They were reportedly intercepted in two minibuses at Mabura Trail, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

It was reported that the Haitians were detained after it was discovered that they had entered the country illegally via Suriname. Police related that the foreign nationals were en route to neighbouring Brazil at the time of interception.

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Child rapist sentenced in absentia Police issue wanted bulletin for murder suspect to life imprisonment

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22-year-old man who absconded from his trial on the day the jury was set to deliberate on a verdict has been sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

The sentence was handed down on Thursday by Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Demerara High Court.

Last month, Garraway, called “Uncle Alex”, of Lot 1162 Cummings Park, ‘E’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was found guilty in his absence of raping and sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl. The jury found that, between November 1 and 30, 2018, in the county of Demerara, he engaged in sexual penetration of a five-year-old girl.

Also, during November 2018, the jury found that he sexually assaulted the child by touching and placing his penis at her buttocks.

The facts revealed that Garraway is known to the child, who complained that

while she lived with a relative, he “used his birdie to juk in her vagina” during the night. The child also said that he placed his penis at her buttocks, and he did this to her while she was lying on her back on a bed.

A report was made to the Police, and Garraway was arrested and charged with the offences. When the allegations were put to him, he denied them by stating, “I never try anything with [her].”

At a sentencing hearing on Thursday, Justice Reynolds said Garraway had violated a little girl in a violent and barbaric manner. As the guardian of the Constitution, he noted, the courts must protect citizens.

“Little defenceless girls must feel safe, and must be made to feel safe…,” he added. “I speak with a lump in my throat and a heavy heart for us as a society.”

According to Justice Reynolds, it is never comfortable for a Judge in these

circumstances to sentence a young man, in this case Garraway, who is just a little older than his granddaughter, “…and who did not have the courage to face up to the fallout of his conduct, and who would have absconded on the final day of these proceedings.”

Even as he wrestled with the circumstances of this case, the Judge said, when he weighed the positives with the negative, he did not find even a strand of redeeming or mitigating feature.

He nevertheless commended the victim, who is now seven, for telling her story.

The convict’s lawyer, Ravindra Mohabir, said his client is someone of good character, and that if given the necessary professional help, there is hope that he can be rehabilitated. The lawyer asked the court to impose a sentence that would serve justice for both the convict and victim.

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Child rapist Alex Garraway, called “Uncle Alex”

For her part, State Prosecutors Nafeeza Baig and Sarah Martin urged the trial Judge to consider the child’s tender and vulnerable age, and the fact that she has to live with the trauma of the incident for the rest of her life.

“He [Garraway] took her innocence,” the prosecutor said, adding that the victim was robbed of her innocence and a normal childhood.

The now-convicted child rapist had been out on bail pending the hearing and determination of his trial; but ever since he absconded from his trial, an arrest warrant has been issued for him.

he Police have issued a wanted bulletin for Begong Fakaud for questioning in relation to the murder of Shemar Drakes, of Bartica, who was chopped to death at Suewanda Backdam, Puruni River, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

The murder reportedly took place on June 6, 2021 following a misunderstanding between the now dead man and the suspect over a woman.

It was reported that the suspect and the now dead man were in a relationship with the same woman and on the day in question, they both ‘reached up’ at the woman’s house.

Upon seeing each other, an argument broke out between the men during which the suspect dealt Drakes several punches about his body. In retaliation, Drakes reportedly armed himself with a bat with which he lashed the suspect several times. Persons who saw the altercation reportedly intervened and parted the combatants.

However, the two men ended up meeting at a shop and an argument broke out once again. It was then Fakaud attacked Drakes from behind with a cutlass and chopped

Murder suspect Begong Fakaud

him several times to his abdomen.

Drakes reportedly attempted to escape the attack, but eventually collapsed a short distance from the shop.

His body was discovered the following day. The Police were contacted and following an investigation, the identity of the suspect was determined.

The Police are asking anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Fakaud to contact law enforcement on 620-6836, 268-2298, 2264701, 661-5870, 911 or the nearest Police Station. All information will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Design underway for West Dem, Suddie, Bartica hospital upgrades

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The Bartica Hospital

ealth Minister Dr Frank Anthony has announced that, within the coming months, a design will be finalised for upgrades to the West Demerara, Suddie and Bartica Hospitals – funded under a grant from the Indian Government.

On Thursday, it was indicated that an Indian company had won the bid, and after these architectural plans are drafted, the actual enhancement works would be sent to tender. Under this

West Demerara Regional Hospital

multi-million-dollar project, the West Demerara Hospital in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Suddie Hospital in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Bartica Hospital in Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) will be upgraded.

“In addition to these hospitals, we recently signed an agreement with a company in India to start the design for the three hospitals under the Indian grant… That contract has now been signed with the company that would have won the bid… and we have now signed the contract for them to do the design works for these three hospitals. Once that’s started, we anticipate that, within nine months, they would be able to complete those designs, we’ll be able to go out to tender to get a contractor to start doing the actual works.”

With support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), upgrades have been announced to transform the Diamond, Leonora, Mabaruma,

Paramakatoi and Lethem Hospitals. To date, the Diamond Diagnostic Centre has been completed, but there has been a lag in two of the projects.

“We have Leonora that is substantially completed.

There are still some works to be done. We’re optimistic that we’ll be able to get that hospital within that timeframe of the contract, so that we can reopen it to the public with all the new upgrades. In Region One and Region Nine, we are having a challenge because the contractor is not on schedule.

“He have been working with PAHO, who has been supervising the contractor to bring them back on schedule…We continue to work through PAHO to get a contractor to start (works) in Paramakatoi. That project has not started as yet, but we’re hoping that we can get that going very soon,” the Minister underscored.

The ‘Smart hospital’ concept comes under an $835 million grant funded by the former United Kingdom Department for International Development and implemented by the Pan American Health Organization’s Department of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief with the Health Ministry.

Works at the Diamond Diagnostic facility were completed to the tune of US$984,439 and the facility can now cater for emergency services, obstetrics, gynaecology, surgeries, paediatrics, orthopedics, pharmacy and laboratory services, among others. The introduction of energy efficient systems would leave the dependence on traditional power sources. A mechanism was installed to collect rainfall and repurpose the water for daily operations. (G12)

NEWS

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FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Infrastructure, electricity major hindrances to hinterland expansion – GTT’s CEO

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s part of its drive to innovate for the benefit of everyone, local telecommunications giant GTT is looking to enhance and expand its services to meet the needs and demands of customers, but its reach to hinterland communities is hindered by the lack of necessary infrastructure such as roads and reliable electricity.

This is according to newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Damian Blackburn. During an interview with Guyana Times on Thursday, Blackburn explained that reaching the hinterland is a challenge faced by all telecoms operators in Guyana, and even the Government.

“Even before I came to Guyana, I was made aware of and did research myself about the hinterland areas and the specific challenges there… In some of these communities, I understand, there aren’t even

New GTT CEO Damian Blackburn

roads to some of them. So, the first challenge when you have to bring a fibre line is that you need a road to bring a fibre line. Next thing is you usually need reliable electricity.

That’s a challenge for those communities, as you know, because the equipment that

operates there needs electricity,” he pointed out.

According to the new GTT Head, the best way to create 21st century or even 20th century telecoms for those hinterland areas is to connect the mobile sites that exist with fibre.

“So that when the customer call or tries to access the Internet, the call has to come back to a call system perhaps here in this building before it goes onwards to where it’s going either in Guyana or internationally.

So, there needs to be a connection from that community to here,” Blackburn said from the boardroom of GTT’s head office on Brickdam, Georgetown.

Nevertheless, he outlined that there were other options that the local telecommunications giant was investing in to improve its services to citizens in the hinterland. One such area is microwave tech-

nology, which is a line-of-sight wireless communication technology that uses high-frequency beams of radio waves to provide high speed wireless connections that can send and receive voice, video, and data information.

The GTT CEO posited that the company would continue to explore this technology to enhance its services in these outlying regions.

“We’ve actually spent a lot of investment dollars this year on upgrading our microwave capacity to give more connections to these communities in the hinterland and in the other areas we already serve,” Blackburn noted.

However, the newly-appointed GTT boss is of the view that there needed to be greater collaboration with stakeholders in the local telecommunications sector in order to solve the challenges faced in this area – a call which he made during a

Public Utilities Commission webinar last week.

“The most existing prospect to make this work is satellite, obviously… I know the telecommunications agencies are researching hard in this area; we are too, and if we all collaborate, we will have more chance of success.

I also hope that we can collaborate where it makes sense and not just satellite, but on other connectivity where it would make sense for all of us to do that, you know to make it more economic to get the right infrastructure to communities,” Blackburn posited.

The new GTT Head is only 40 plus days on the job and has already outlined a pathway to improve the overall experience and service being offered to consumers as part of his 100-day plan.

Under the company’s “Together We Rise” brand, GTT will be looking to strengthen relations with

communities, customers and the country.

Blackburn has promised that the unusually long wait times on customer service calls and long in-store queues would be a thing of the past.

This will see improvements in the automatic call system along with the recruitment of additional customer service agents, while more MMG agents and GTT outlets will be opened to facilitate payments and other services across the country.

New Chief Operations Officer (COO) for Home and Fixed Services, Eshwar Thakurdin; Head of Mobile Business Unit, Richard Stanton; COO for GTT’s Business Solutions, Orson Ferguson, and MMG General Manager, Babita Ram, are the four persons who will be directly working with the new CEO in realising the telecommunications giant’s goals.

(Vahnu Manikchand)

Over 23,000 persons affected as Region 9 floodwaters rise again – Chairman … CDC receives over $100M for flood relief

CDC Director General, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig receives the cheque from GTT’s Marketing Communication Manager, Nicola Balram

O

fficials in Region Nine (Upper TakutuUpper Essequibo) are currently preparing for the worst, as all indications point to a rise in floodwaters yet again – adding to the woes of over 23,000 affected persons.

Regional Chairman Bryan Allicock spoke with Guyana Times on Thursday, and initially said the water had receded a little. However, updates from authorities in the various communities revealed a steady rise, starting with the Deep South and moving into other villages.

In some areas, the roads and bridges are now impassable.

“The flood is coming in again from the Deep South.

We got cut off already from Aishalton. In Karasabai, water is coming in back so probably for the next two days or so, we might not be able to access Karasabai by road any-

more until the water recedes.

That water backflow into the north so we’re monitoring it and right now, we’re loading trucks so that they can deliver [relief]…You cannot cross the Rupununi River, because the bridge is under water,” Allicock detailed.

He noted that while only one person remained in the shelters, the rising waters might force persons to relocate yet again from their homes. Mass inundation in Lethem, he cautioned, would be devastating due to the large population.

“We’re talking about 23,000 persons. Most of them gone [from the shelters]. Only one is remaining now. The flood in Lethem has receded, but we’re looking at it coming in again from the Brazilian side. If that gets to us, then there’s more trouble. We will probably have to re-evacuate

those persons that returned home. We’re preparing for that. It’s a lot of work and a lot of costs. A lot of people lost all their crops,” Allicock said.

Food and other supplies have been sent into communities to aid families. The Regional Chairman underscored that sanitary and hygiene supplies are also important.

He positioned, “The essentials are the hygienic supplies for females, children and senior citizens. Those are the areas we got to get stuff for persons and not only food aid.”

Guyana Times understands that the water level remained high in Kwakwani, Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice), where efforts are still ongoing to render assistance.

CDC efforts

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is continuing its relief efforts with the distribution of supplies to several regions. As of Thursday, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) received 1000 food hampers and 1000 cleaning hampers. Water had to be sent into the Upper Pomeroon River, Karawab, St Monica and Kabakaburi communities, which are still affected by floodwaters.

Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) received 2500

Govt to assume supervisory...

“The Government has been doing the heavy lifting in Georgetown. We expected that the City Council would’ve engaged in the sustainable management of these facilities that we have put in place. A few years ago, the last Government did some cleaning, and it is obvious that City Hall [is now] refusing to do any maintenance. The alleyways that we have in Georgetown…we have tens of miles of alleyways, and many of them are still clogged up.

“Only last December, through the Ministries of Local Government and Public Works, we did a lot of cleaning in both North and South Georgetown. We are currently in with some collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, doing work in South Georgetown as well as Sophia, cleaning drains, canals and

FROM PAGE 7

even alleyways. So it is flabbergasting that the Mayor comes here and throws his hands up and doesn’t want to take responsibility,” Dharamlall contended.

Refusing to face the media

Mayor Narine and other City officials have refused to face the media on issues relating to flooding in the City.

In fact, the Agriculture Minister noted that the intention was for both the ministerial delegation and the City officials to address the media jointly following the meeting, but Mayor Narine and team opted to leave.

This publication approached the Mayor for a comment on the issue, but he has refused to answer any question.

food hampers and 2500 cleaning hampers, intended for the villages of Adventure, Limlair, Friendship, Nurney, Kildonan and Bush Lot. Another 360 food hampers and 400 cleaning hampers were sent to St Cuthbert's Mission in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

GTT’s $3M donation

Meanwhile, GTT has donated $3 million towards national flood relief efforts.

Other Private Sector agencies to recently donate to flood relief include Demerara Bank Limited, XY Construction and Supergraphics.

CDC Director General, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig said on Thursday that the agency has received over $100 million in cash and items from the Private Sector to boost national flood relief

An aerial shot of recent flooding in Region Nine

efforts.

Six shelters have been established in Region 10 at the Hururu Day Care Centre and Forestry Compound, Kwakwani Primary and Secondary Schools, Mapletown Aroaima Nursery and Primary Schools, and the Rockstone Primary School.

These shelters are providing accommodation for 135 persons.

Shelters have also been established at the Barama Building, Karawab (Region Two), Mortice Primary School (Region Five) and Tabatinga Sports Complex (Region Nine).

16 NEWS

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Lawyers move to strike down death penalty

Douglas Mendes, SC

By Feona Morrison

F

or the first time in the Commonwealth Caribbean, lawyers have moved to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty.

In the landmark case before the Guyana Court of Appeal, Trinidadian Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes argue that the capital punishment is unconstitutional, as it is arbitrary, irrational, disproportionate, and is contrary to the principles of the rule of law.

But before the Court of Appeal could proceed to hear the case on its merits, it first has to decide whether it has jurisdiction to do so. The Appellate Court opened arguments on the issue on Wednesday, and continued into Thursday. A further hearing is scheduled for July 22.

The case was mounted by three former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard ranks - Sherwyn Harte, Devon Gordon, and Deon Greenidge - who were each sentenced to death in 2013 for murder. A jury had found them guilty of the 2009 murder of Bartica gold miner Dwieve Kant

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC

Ramdass, who was robbed at Caiman Hole, Essequibo River, and then tossed overboard.

Following their conviction, the trio filed an appeal against their conviction and death sentence - a penalty which they argue is unconstitutional.

Before the amendments to the Criminal Law (Offences) Act in 2010, anyone convicted of murder was liable to suffer death. As the law stands presently, a Judge has the discretion to impose the death sentence, which is specified for certain categories of murder, imprisonment for life, or such other term the court considers appropriate.

Mendes, in association with Hughes, is appearing on behalf of two of the appellants, while the other appellant has retained Attorneyat-law Latchmie Rahamat.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, have however argued to the contrary of the appellants' counsel. They are yet to address the court.

Mendes, in addressing Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-

Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud, submitted that the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty lies under Section 12 (d) of the Court of Appeal Act, which gives the right to appeal a conviction unless the sentence is one fixed by law.

According to Mendes, on the day his clients were convicted, the power to impose the death sentence was discretionary, and not fixed by Section 100 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act. He said the law at the time gave the trial Judge the discretion to impose the death or life sentence.

“The provision that we [rely on] is the one that says that when one is found guilty of murder, the court may impose the sentence of death or life imprisonment. That was the law that applied when the appellants were found guilty of murder,” Senior Counsel Mendes said, adding that the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to determine whether or not the death sentence is unlawful.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC

the scope of the general savings clause in Article 152.

“The death sentence violates the rule of law, which is the core constitutional principle… It violates the right to equality and protection of the law. It violates the core principles in respect to dignity,” Mendes said as he argued that the

on Civil and Political Rights.”

Although Guyana has not carried out any execution since 1997, the courts continue to impose the death sentence. Given that 24 years have elapsed since the execution of the death sentence, Mendes questioned, “Then how will it be reinstituted, if not arbitrarily?”

Urging the Court of Appeal to outlaw the death penalty, the Senior Counsel told the panel of Judges, “If you do so, all persons on Death Row will be beneficiaries. Their sentences, those that have survived appeals, will have to be vacated…” In that regard, he added, the court would then have to impose an alternative sentence.

He noted that this is the first time in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Dead: Dwieve Kant Ramdass

mission of expert reports from leading academics for the case before the Guyana Appeal Court.

They include Carolyn Hoyle, Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford; Williams Schabas, Professor

Unconstitutional

Senior Counsel Mendes reasoned that the death sentence is not lawful, because it violates the Constitution of Guyana. He said capital punishment contravenes the fundamental rights provisions of the Constitution, among them being Articles 40, 141, 149.

Under Article 40 (1), Mendes noted, citizens are provided with a freestanding right to life and human dignity, which prohibits the imposition of the death penalty, and which is separately enforceable and outwits

On death row: Sherwyn Harte, Devon Gordon, and Deon Greenidge

death sentence is arbitrary and discriminatory.

“The system of the law in Guyana is one that is prone to produce arbitrariness in the criminal arena…,” he added. According to him, all of these principles are core principles of a sovereign democratic State. He pointed out that to the extent where the capital punishment violates these principles, it also violates Article 1, which states that Guyana is a sovereign democratic State.

“If a law is in violation of the rule of law, then it can be struck down,” he contended.

To amplify this argument, Mendes relied on the pronouncements of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ in the case of Quincy McEwan et al vs the Attorney General of Guyana. The Senior Counsel reminded that the CCJ, in that case, struck down Guyana’s archaic cross-dressing law under Section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, having found that it violated the rule of law and its provision were vaguely worded.

Mendes and Hughes argue that the “execution of the death penalty following a lengthy de-facto moratorium would be contrary to Guyana’s binding international law obligations under the International Covenant

that the constitutionality of the death sentence is being raised because of pronouncements made by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)- Guyana’s final court of appeal - on the rule of law.

Meanwhile, Justice Cummings-Edwards interposed, reminding the Senior Counsel that the Court of Appeal is a court of review, and asked him to point of what about the death penalty in the case at bar that was before the High Court that the court was sitting to review.

Justice CummingsEdwards said the Appellate Court made no pronouncements on the constitutionality of the death penalty, and she questioned whether it would be usurping the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court should it take jurisdiction over the matter.

But Mendes reasoned that there is nothing “unlawful” or “unusual” about the Appeal Court taking jurisdiction to hear the case, as he relied on the provisions of the Court of Appeal Act.

Fresh evidence

On Thursday, The Death Penalty Project - a Londonbased NGO which has, for over three decades, been providing free legal representation to those facing the death penalty - reported that it facilitated the sub-

of Law at Middlesex University, and Jeffery Fagan, Professor of Law at Columbia University.

Novel issues

Nandlall, in an application to intervene in the criminal matter, said it raises novel and important constitutional issues which go to the core of Guyana’s constitutional ethos, and addresses the vexed question of the legality of the death penalty.

As the government’s principal legal adviser, Nandlall added, he has a public duty to protect the public’s interest, and is the keeper of the public’s conscience.

Nandlall said he would certainly assist the court and further the development of the law and jurisprudence on the death penalty.

According to the Attorney General, the nature of the appeal makes it a public interest matter, because it is a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty for its complete removal from the laws of Guyana, which is a matter of high constitutional law.

“The court has both a power and a duty to modify relevant legislation to ensure it is rendered consistent with fundamental rights and principles of the Constitution,” he advanced.

NEWS

17

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

GWI provides treated water to FFTP donates sewing machines flooded Pomeroon communities to women’s groups in Region 2

Filled water tanks that were provided to the communities

T

he Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), in collaboration with the Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) Democratic Council, on Wednesday provided treated water to three Pomeroon communities that are severely affected by the prevailing floods.

The RDC’s Region Two Manager, Brionne Gangaram, and several staff members, along with the Regional Democratic Council’s Superintendent of Works, Sarwan Kumar, assisted the communities of Kabakaburi, St Monica, and satellite village Karawab.

In the community of Kabakaburi, which has approximately 150 households, an existing 450-gallon water tank was filled with treated water sourced from the Lima Water Treatment

Plant. An additional filled tank was also provided to the community.

The team then visited the community of St Monica, which has approximately 138 households, and was met with eager residents equipped with buckets. Two full water tanks were provided, and residents hurriedly filled their buckets.

In the satellite village of Karawab, which has approximately 160 households, the team stopped at two locations. The first was ‘Long House’, where residents displaced due to the floods are being housed. An existing water tank was filled at that location.

At the second location in that village, the Karawab Mission, one tank was also filled. Additionally, three tanks were provided for res-

idents to utilise for rainwater harvesting.

This additional storage would be of significant benefit, since residents from neighbouring communities such as Bat Creek and further up the Pomeroon River can access water there on a short-term basis.

Prior to the flooding, residents of both Kabakaburi and St Monica utilised water from the Pomeroon River. Existing GWI infrastructure facilitated pumping of the water from the river to a storage tank, then it was gravity-fed to residents.

GWI will, in the coming days, continue to work with the RDC to determine steps to provide further relief to those communities, as well as others facing difficulties in accessing potable water during this period.

“This is an opportunity to get your life back on track” – Persaud tells parolees

Human Services and Social Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud and Director of Social Services, Wentworth Tanner addressing the parolees on Wednesday

H

uman Services and Social Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud on Wednesday told a group of parolees that they should reach out to young people and others who may be involved in questionable activities to influence them to desist from lives of crime.

She made these remarks at an event organised by the Probation Department of the Human Services and Social Security Ministry and Guyana Prison Service with the aim of encouraging those

who have been granted parole.

The activity was held under the theme, “Revealing Our Fathers – Eliminating Stigma and Discrimination.”

The parolees were offered words of encouragement, along with Father’s Day care packages.

The Minister urged them to be a force for good in the lives of youths and to encourage them to turn their lives around. She reminded them that many children live with “absentee” fathers and their own children had to suffer their absence, be-

cause they did not think of their families when they engaged in unlawful acts.

Dr Persaud admonished the parolees not to go back down the same road of wrongdoing again. She also directed them to training that is available to them, and urged that they find themselves in stable working environments.

The participants were taken from Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

Officers at the prisons have observed that owing to the absence of fathers in the home, single parenting is a reality in Guyana, and further, many homes become dysfunctional as a result of parental involvement with the criminal justice system.

It is in this regard that the Prison After Care and Reintegration Services Section decided to host the activity. The section has pledged to continue to make positive impacts on the lives of the parolees, who will, in turn, make a positive impact on their families, children, and society. The event was held in observance of Father’s Day, which will be observed on Sunday.

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton, FFTP Senior Project Manager Andrea Benjamin, Regional Vice Chairman Humace Oodit, a member of Pomona Women’s Group, and other major stakeholders at the handing-over ceremony

F

ood For The Poor (FFTP) Guyana Inc, in collaboration with the Labour Ministry, on Tuesday donated a quantity of electrical sewing machines and industrial sewing machines to the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) to boost and strengthen its garment construction programme.

At the handing-over ceremony which was held at Pomona, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), several machines were handed over to several groups to aid in the training of women in garment construction.

FFTP Senior Project Manager Andrea Benjamin stated that the main objective was to empower women to be independent.

“The technical and vocational training plays an

important part in the educational system, since it provides opportunities for persons who were not able to take advantage of formal education system and those who are looking to learn new skills… The organisation is opened to other partnership agencies such as BIT, the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and other organisations and entities involved in developmental works geared towards building the capacity and empowering the people of Guyana,” Benjamin added.

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton expressed gratitude to the NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO) for the timely donation, adding it fulfilled a promise made to the Pomona Group a few months ago.

Additionally, Hamilton noted that he was commit-

ted to creating opportunities that will reach every area in Guyana.

“This is not the first skills training initiative that the organisation is involved in … it is the first such collaboration with a formal training agency such as the Board of Industrial Training … so I’m, therefore, encouraging all the beneficiaries to become multi-talented and multi-skilled… the acquisition of new skills is ‘training for savings’, since you are the one that will produce garments to satisfy customers,” the Minister said.

A six-month garment construction programme for women in the region is expected to commence soon.

A similar exercise is expected to be rolled out in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice).

Street lights being erected along Essequibo Coast

T

he Public Infrastructure Ministry continues to erect street lights along the Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) in an effort to make the roadways much safer for both drivers and pedestrians.

The Ministry commenced the installation of lamp poles from Charity to Supenaam about a week ago.

While the feasibility study for massive rehabilitation along the Essequibo Coast has commenced, the installation of street lights is as important.

One driver who plies the Charity-Supenaam route, Rohit Singh related that the street light project would put drivers and other road users at ease, but more importantly, it would enable drivers to ply their trade into the night.

“Many drivers are reluctant to work at night because of the incomplete installation of street lights along the coast … now that their work will be complete it will motivate many hire car drivers to carry passen-

Workers installing street lights at Spring Garden, Essequibo Coast

gers home safer with less accidents due to poor visibility,” Singh explained.

The poles will hold energy-efficient street lights that will enhance visibility at night.

The call for adequate lighting in Region Two has

been continuous, particularly from villagers, drivers and passengers who traverse the route on a daily basis.

The lack of street lights along the roadways has been a major factor in many fatal accidents and crimes at night.

18 NEWS

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

3 more COVID-19 deaths, 75 new cases recorded …house-to-house vaccination begins in Bartica

T

he COVID-19 death toll in Guyana continues to spike, as three more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus have died.

According to the Health Ministry on Thursday, this now takes the total number of deaths from the pandemic to 441.

These latest fatalities are a 44-year-old female from Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), a 70-year-old male from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) and an 83-year-old male from Region Four (DemeraraMahaica) – all of whom died on Tuesday last.

The Ministry has explained that these patients were admitted with COVID19-like symptoms, but succumbed while receiving care at various medical institutions across the country.

Samples taken at the time of their admission subsequently returned positive tests.

With these three fatalities, the death toll for the month of June has increased to 43. With 99 fatalities, May became the deadliest month since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus here last year, after surpassing April’s 66 COVID-19 death toll.

New cases

Meanwhile, the updated COVID-19 Dashboard on Thursday shows that another 75 persons have tested positive for the deadly virus in the last 24 hours.

The total number of confirmed cases in Guyana has now gone up to 18,733, but only 1652 are currently active. These include 22 patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and 1630 persons in isolation – 109 in institutional isolation and 1521 in home isolation.

Additionally, there are another two persons in institutional quarantine.

Some 63 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease. With this, the total number of recoveries in Guyana to date is 16,640.

Further, 173,383 persons have been tested for the novel coronavirus in Guyana, of which 9177 males and 9556 females were positive.

A breakdown of the 75 new cases recorded on Thursday revealed that three of these were detected in Region One (BarimaWaini), eight in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), a whopping 43 in Region Four (DemeraraMahaica), another 20 cases in Region Six (East Berbice-

GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD JUNE 17 UPDATE

NUMBER OF NEW CASES NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION

C

Chef Priyanka

hef Mau Merchan never enjoyed cooking as a child. In fact, she initially wanted to become a doctor. So when she decided to pursue a career in the culinary arts, her family remarked, “But, you can’t even cook rice”, to which she replied, “I’ll learn.”

After successfully completing her studies in Peru at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu (the oldest culinary school in the world), she embarked on a remarkable journey, which led her to creating not one but three restaurants in her native Ecuador. Unagi Teppanyaki and Sushi Bar is just one of her crowning achievements.

Gifted and skilled at

her craft, Executive Chef Mau now heads the kitchen at Grand Coastal Hotel.

With poise, grace and kindness, she guides her team, including quick-witted chef Priyanka Singh, to master the language of food.

“For me, food is language. Even if you don’t speak the language of a country, you can express yourself through food. You can tell a story with food.

You can create an experience.”

And this is what she aims to do. Chef Mau specialises in the fusion of food, whereby she effortlessly blends the best elements of our local Guyanese dish-

109

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION

1521

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU

22

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE

2

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES)

9556

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES)

9177

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020

18,733

NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES

16,640

TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED FULLY IMMUNISED

224,853 94,243

TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS

441

DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020 REGION 1

1167

REGION 2

518

REGION 3

2170

REGION 4

8766

REGION 5

639

REGION 6

1391

REGION 7

1235

REGION 8

379

REGION 9

1142

REGION 10

1326

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

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.

Women chefs enticing taste buds at Grand Coastal

Chef Mau

75

es and those from around the world, to create visually-stunning and deliciously food.

“Chef Mau is incredible.

I’ve learned so much from her. She uses advanced techniques to create her dishes. And she’s an amazing teacher,” Chef Priyanka can’t help but sing her praises.

The Guyanese native successfully completed her culinary studies in Trinidad, though as a child, she was much more interested in physics. She was so interested that she even created her very own projector and a generator. Top that.

Nowadays homemade caviar is her forte.

Having overcome a number of challenges in her very young life, Chef Priyanka is grateful to be back home, and is adamant about propelling Guyana forward as we continue to make strides in tourism and hospitality.

Chef Mau and Chef Priyanka will take on Restaurant Week starting June 25 until July 4. They are both excited for the chance to make a lasting impression that will have us asking for seconds.

It is with passion and a deep reverence for the language of food and its cultural origins, that Chef Mau masterfully and lovingly creates her unique dishes.

“I’ve been so blessed to have the life that I have.

And that’s why I’m so grateful.”

Corentyne) and the other new case is from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

No new cases have been detected in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo) in the last 24 hours.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the Guyana Government is aggressively rolling out its vaccination

campaign, which started back in February, in the various regions across Guyana in order to achieve herd immunity.

To date, some 224,853 persons have received their first dose of the COVID vaccines, which translates to 46.2 per cent of the adult population. Second doses stand at 94,243 persons or 19.4 per cent of the adult population.

Regional statistics show a 55.9 per cent immunisa-

tion in Region One; 42.4 per cent in Region Two; 45.7 per cent in Region Three; 47.8 per cent in Region Four; 49.3 per cent in Region Five; 54 per cent in Region Six; 45 per cent in Region Seven; 29.6 per cent in Region Eight; 43.5 per cent in Region Nine, and 14 per cent in Region 10.

During Thursday’s COVID-19 update, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony informed that house-to-house administration of the vaccines has begun in Bartica, Region Seven. This initiative was previously rolled out in Region 10, which is currently facing the scourge of vaccine hesitancy.

“In Region Seven, they have embarked on a houseto-house campaign in the Bartica area with the hope of getting more people vaccinated. In the Upper and Middle Mazaruni, it is quite flooded, and so the teams are having challenges; so they’re doing more observation for water-borne diseases. But there also have teams there, if people are willing to get their vaccines, they’ll be able to administer it,” the Minister shared.

Nevertheless, as more people continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, social distancing, and frequent hand washing and sanitising.

The measures also include a 22:30h (10:30pm) to 04:00h (4 am) national curfew.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or needs any additional information, contact the COVID-19 Hotline: 231-1166, 226-7480 or 6246674 immediately, or visit www.health.gov.gy. (G8)

Over 1100 cosmetic products seized by GA-FDD

T

he Government Analyst-Food and Drugs Department (GA-FDD) has seized over 1100 cosmetic products from an East Coast Demerara (ECD) businessman over improper labelling.

According to the GA-FDD, the items were imported into Guyana via the border town of Lethem and were not processed by the Department; in addition, the labels were presented in a foreign language (Portuguese).

The laws of Guyana state that Food and Drug Act Chapter 34:03 and its accompanying Regulations, Regulation 7, 18 (15) and Part V Regulations 99 state: “No person shall sell a cosmetic unless a label is applied to the cosmetic in compliance with these Regulations”.

Importers of cosmetics, the GA-FDD stated, must ensure that all cosmetic items duly facilitated for release are labelled in the English Language.

Some of the cosmetics that were seized by GA-FDD

“Importers are, therefore, being urged to ensure their products are in compliance with the laws of Guyana Food and Drug Act and its

Regulation for labelling of food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices […that they] are in English,” the approving agency said on Thursday.

guyanatimesgy.com

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

News

Guyana to benefit from US expertise on renewable energy – Ambassador

A

s Guyana pursues its renewable energy agenda, the country is likely to benefit from United States expertise to develop this sector here.

This is according to U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch.

During a recent press conference, Ambassador Lynch pointed out that there is a lot of potential in the country for the development of renewable energy, such as wind, hydro and solar; and she declared it is important for Guyana to look seriously at these areas.

“We have a lot of experience in the renewables area, and I think USAID (United States Agency for International Development) can offer some expertise in that area… So, I can say yes.

We have been involved with Guyana in the past in the environment area, and we will continue to do that and look for opportunities to explore the potential in the renewables area,” the U.S. diplomat said in response to a question from Guyana Times on whether Guyana can benefit from her Government in this sector.

Ambassador Lynch outlined that while it is important to explore the potential for the renewable energy sector, this needs to be balanced with Guyana’s current development trajectory.

“There have been over nine billion barrels of oil discoveries made by ExxonMobil and its partners, and this puts Guyana on the cusp of transformational change and opening up lots of sectors – not just oil and gas, but many sectors throughout the country, and potentially creating lots of jobs for Guyanese and improving the overall economic

US Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch

situation here. But Guyana’s true wealth and beauty is in its forest, its great bio-diversity; in its marine life. So, it’s also an opportune time to look at those [renewable] areas and focus on the importance of the environment,” she posited.

Among the United States’ pledges to the global climate fight, the Biden-Harris Administration has committed to double overall climate financing and triple the amount of finance going towards adaptation in countries that need help in managing climate impacts.

In addition to this, the U.S. Government has recognised that it has an international obligation to not just meet its commitment in the Paris Agreement, but also providing resources for vulnerable and in-need nations.

Ambassador Lynch had previously told Guyana Times that Guyana would make a good partner for the U.S. to collaborate with on this global phenomenon.

Added to this, White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, during a recent briefing with journalists from around the world, had told Guyana Times that the U.S. is plan-

ning to share its domestic technologies and innovations with developing countries, to aid in their efforts to combat climate change.

“I want other countries to understand and to have access to the innovations in clean energy technologies as soon as we can, so they can reap not just the cost-savings benefit, but the public health and safety and security benefits that a clean energy economy can bring,” McCarthy stated during the session as part of a Virtual Reporting Tour hosted by the State Department’s Foreign Press Center.

Meanwhile, in Guyana, the Irfaan Ali-led Government is pursuing an ambitious plan to introduce an energy mix of solar, wind, hydro and natural gas, which would see some 400 megawatts of new power added to the national grid.

As it is now, the national grid is providing 120 megawatts of electricity, while the consumer demand is approximately 117-120 megawatts of power.

The flagship initiative of Government’s plan is the gas-to-shore project.

Estimated at a cost of some US$900 million to build, the gas-to-shore project is

a game-changing initiative that would see excess gas from the Liza Field offshore Guyana being piped onshore to generate power. The main objective of the initiative is to transport sufficient gas from the Stabroek Block’s petroleum operations to supply some 200-250 megawatts of energy to the national grid, leading to a significant reduction in electricity costs.

President Ali had previously said the gas-toshore pipeline, which will land at Crane on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD), would lead to “big industrial development taking place there that is linked to not only power generation and a power plant.” He also said the investment on the Demerara River shoreside would create massive opportunities and a trickle-down effect, especially for Region Three.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who has responsibility for the energy sector, had previously said Government is looking to produce 200 megawatts of power from the gas-to-shore project by 2024.

Another major project on Government’s energy agenda is the revival of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project (AFHP), which is the brainchild of the previous People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration, but was shelved soon after the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had taken office in 2015. The PPP had contended that the 165-megawatt AFHP project could have been generating about 50 per cent more electricity than the entire GPL supply. (Vahnu Manikchand)

19

OILNEWS OIL NEWS Oil falls, pulling back from multi-year highs

C

rude oil prices pulled back from multi-year highs on Thursday amid supply concerns.

Brent crude oil futures dipped 2.4 per cent to US$72.56 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were 2.2 per cent lower at US$70.54 per barrel.

The US dollar strengthened against a basket of other currencies after the Federal Reserve signalled it might raise interest rates at a much faster pace than assumed.

A firmer greenback makes oil priced in dollars more expensive in other currencies, potentially weighing on demand.

Data from the Energy Information Administration showed that US crude oil stockpiles in the world’s biggest consumer dropped sharply last week as refineries boosted operations to their highest since January 2020, signalling continued improvement in demand.

Also boosting prices, refinery throughput in China, the world’s second largest oil consumer, rose 4.4 per cent in May from the same month a year ago to a record high.

The world’s biggest oil traders said this week they saw oil prices staying above US$70 a barrel with demand expected to return to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2022.

Iran is heading to presidential polls today, with hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi among the front runners.

“The outcome of tomorrow’s presidential elections in Iran is also likely to lend support to the oil price... Any rapid return of Iranian oil exports is questionable,” Commerzbank said in a note. (Excerpt from Reuters)

US Supreme Court rejects Trump-backed challenge to Obamacare

GCCI calls out Harmon, T&T PM on “reckless” remarks about Sputnik V T

The court upheld the law by a 7-2 majority

…urges citizens to get vaccinated

T

he Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has called out Guyana’s Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon over his “reckless” statements about the Sputnik V vaccines.

According to the GCCI, it finds the statements regarding ‘fake vaccines’ made by Harmon to be “unwarranted, reckless and not based in fact”, especially in light of

the current public health situation in Guyana.

“We also note, with concern, the recent posturing by the Chairman of Caricom, Dr Keith Rowley, implying that the vaccinations, which are being given to Guyanese, are unsafe,” the GCCI said, adding that it comes as no surprise as Dr Rowley fulfils his historical trait of demonstrating scant regard for the lives of Guyanese.

“We find these efforts by the Leader of the Opposition of Guyana and the Chairman of Caricom to be utterly reprehensible, callous and irresponsible, and condemn these efforts to score cheap political points,” the GCCI noted.

It called on the Government to remain

Opposition Harmon

Leader

Joseph

transparent and accountable in all dealings concerning the ongoing vaccination drive, while reiterating its support for the Government’s efforts, and continues, as a private sector body, to be available for other forms of support to ensure that Guyanese are protected by way of vaccination from COVID-19.

T&T Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley

“We reiterate our call to all Guyanese to be vaccinated and encourage all to continue to follow the COVID-19 guidelines….the GCCI would like to take this opportunity to encourage all Guyanese to go out and be vaccinated at any of the Government’s centres,” the Private Sector entity said.

he US Supreme Court has rejected a Trumpbacked challenge by Republican-led states to former President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul.

Despite the court's conservative tilt, its nine Justices ruled by 7-2 that the challengers did not have legal standing to sue.

It is the third time since 2010 that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, has survived a challenge.

The law gave millions of low-income Americans access to medical insurance.

It bans insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

Thursday's ruling did not address the question of whether a key provision in the law was unconstitutional.

The legal challenge from Texas and 17 other Republican-governed states had been backed by former

President Donald Trump, who promised to have the act repealed when he was elected in 2016.

Republicans tried and failed to overturn the law in Congress when they controlled both Houses and in the courts on numerous occasions.

Earlier this month, the White House said a record 31 million Americans were now covered by healthcare under the ACA. Conservative groups, led by the Republican-controlled state of Texas, were essentially trying to get the entirety of the Affordable Care Act killed on a technicality.

By a comfortable 7-2 vote, the justices of the Supreme Court kicked their case to the curb.

The court didn't even bother to rule on the merits of Texas' arguments, instead holding that the litigants lacked the standing even to bring the case. (Excerpt from BBC News)

20

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

guyanatimesgy.com

ARCHIE

ARIES (March 21April 19)

TAURUS

DILBERT

(April 20May 20)

GEMINI (May 21June 20)

PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU

Clear up any uncertainty you face quickly and intelligently. Ask questions, summarize what’s required to reach your objective and finish what you start. Enjoy some time in nature.

Tie up loose ends and enjoy the finer things in life.

Plan to spend time doing something you enjoy with a loved one. A change will be revitalizing and inspirational.

Persuasive tactics may work initially, but they will eventually affect your reputation if you don’t deliver. Protect your integrity by making a point to stick to the truth. Do the best job possible.

CANCER (June 21July 22)

Put your energy where it will do some good. Concentrate on home improvement projects that will encourage you to be more aggressive when earning a living and handling your financial future.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Share your plans with someone special. The interest you receive will increase your enthusiasm and help you complete what you set out to do.

Make a commitment that complements your long-term goals.

VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22)

Tidy up loose ends and make changes that will give you the freedom to do things that bring you joy. An open mind will lead to prospects far beyond your initial plans. Put your energy where it counts.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

Think, research and turn your plans into a reality. A passionate approach will lead to new beginnings and a stable future. Refuse to let anyone mess with your mind. Trust the facts.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

Make the most of what you’ve got. Expand your plans to include fixing up your space to accommodate your goals.

Creating a place of learning and enlightenment will help you as well as others.

Take one step at a time.

SAGITTARIUS Don’t rush into something (Nov. 23based on vague advice.

Dec. 21) Do your due diligence and sort through the pros and cons before you make a big change.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

You’ll gravitate toward change and adventure.

Someone or something unique will spark your imagination and encourage you to engage in a lifestyle that will be volatile before it stabilizes.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19)

You are heading in the right direction. Follow your heart, and you’ll discover your true calling. Weather the storm; the calm that follows will lead to the happiness you desire

PISCES

Expand your interests, take on a new hobby and engage in pastimes that build strength and courage. Put more energy into building and maintaining meaningful relationships.

(Feb. 20March 20)

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

21

Kohli vs Williamson, two all-star line-ups and the ultimate Test

I

magine that the guardians of Test cricket, in a bid to assess the future health of the grand old game, dispatch a delegate from its golden age through time and space to watch the inaugural World Test Championship final of 2021.

You can take your pick as to when that golden era might exactly have been, but whatever their year of origin, any time-traveller alighting on Southampton this week might assume Test cricket was in a pretty moribund state.

Here, after all, is the sport’s brand-new showpiece occasion, more than a decade in the making after endless false starts - ones that screamed, more than anything else, of a fundamental lack of faith in the product.

And instead of taking its rightful place at Lord’s, Eden Gardens or the MCG, the contest has been shunted out to a soupedup service station on the lesstravelled east-bound carriageway of the M27, where for the next five days (or six) India and New Zealand are braced for weather as torrential as the abuse that the WTC format has attracted in the past two years - not least from new ICC Chairman Greg Barclay, who declared on the day of his investiture last autumn that it was “not fit for purpose”.

A maximum of 4000 people a day would be permitted to witness the spectacle - 25% capacity, in keeping with the UK’s current lockdown restrictions. That figure might have been more come day four, and the Government’s socalled Freedom Day of June 21, but that date is a can that has been kicked on down the road for another day.

So there’s a fair amount conspiring to dampen the mood, you might say.

There is, however, an alternate narrative, one that, with an iota of heft from those who profess to love and nurture the sport, could be resonating high above this current air of mild apathy.

The WTC final will be taking place in spite of a once-in-a-generation global pandemic at the nowfamous Ageas Bowl, cricket’s original bio-secure venue, the existence of which unequivocally saved the ECB’s bacon in the summer of 2020, and showed the wider cricketing world how to ensure that the show can go on in these times.

The contest will also feature, indisputably and thankfully, the two best Test teams in the world.

There’s been nothing pretty about the permutations on the WTC table. The pandemic caused such havoc to the Future Tours Programme that a points average had to be introduced to mitigate the rash of cancelled series. But after flirtations from two flawed outfits, England and Australia, it is India and New Zealand who have surged to the top of the

tree, and irrespective of how the coming days pan out, it would be difficult to wish for two better representatives of Test cricket in 2021, both as a statement of its current health and as an expression of its future hopes.

First and foremost, India’s presence is sacrosanct. They are here because they are an outstanding, well-rounded outfit, unbeatable at home and now indomitable overseas, as their stunning, bare-bones triumph in Australia last winter testifies.

But the presence of their vast market also gives the format hope of long-term traction of TV viewership, sponsorship interest, administrative buy-in.

All the things that we wish did not matter so much in elite-level sport, but which we know to be key to the cause.

The prospective absence of India from such a showpiece had, after all, been the main sticking point in the broadcast negotiations for the format’s abortive first attempts. And now, as it happens, the near converse status applies. Following last month’s postponement of the IPL, the void in India’s daily sporting diet is so gaping that this one-off contest has an even greater opportunity to seize the limelight and the narrative - if the weather can give it half a chance, of course.

But then there’s New Zealand - the David to India’s Goliath, the stones in their shoe, as Thomas Tuchel said of Chelsea’s Champions League victory over Manchester City. They are a team that has become used to being patronised as plucky underdogs, but they have shown some seriously sharp teeth in their six-year journey to the uppermost echelons of the sport - via Brendon McCullum’s heavymetal cricket at the 2015 World Cup, to Kane Williamson’s more sanguine but no less intense leadership in more recent years.

Back at the 2019 World Cup, it was quietly suggested that New Zealand had pooped the Big Three party by knocking India out in their semi-final clash at Old Trafford. However, the extraordinary events of that subsequent final against England proved beyond all question their right to be considered among cricket’s on-field elite.

As model of what cricket can

be when it looks beyond the self-interest of its big boys, New Zealand’s achievements in recent years have been little short of heroic. Who, apart from 1.2 billion-odd Indians, would begrudge them a taste of silverware after such agonising near-misses in recent ICC campaigns?

Most fundamentally, the WTC final is the start of something new for an ancient format. It’s taken nigh on 150 years for the sport to reach this point: a willingness to cap Test cricket’s eternal quest for context with a true coronation event.

There have been de facto title fights in the recent past, but usually only of a dynastic nature - perhaps most famously Australia’s epic series victory in the Caribbean in 1994-95, the moment at which West Indies’ two-decade hegemony was finally ended. The world rankings have added an extra frisson in recent years, especially since the introduction of the ICC’s Test Mace in 2003, but all too often the handover moments have been lacklustre and debatable, more Duckworth-Lewis recalculation than heavyweight knockout.

Finally, however, the sport has got its moment, and two sides to savour. New Zealand have warmed up, if that is the right word, with a significant achievement in their own right a first series win in England since 1999, courtesy of a complete squad performance across two Tests at Lord’s and Edgbaston.

From the form of Devon Conway on debut at Lord’s to Tim Southee’s ageless display of swing bowling in the same game, they have shown a cohesion that transcends mere experience; and Williamson’s elbow niggles aside, could not hope to be better placed for their shot at glory.

India, by contrast, have had only an intra-squad practice to wet their whistle since arriving in England. Yet they have the depth of quality within their ranks to rehearse for most contingencies, and they have been acclimatising in Southampton throughout their build-up period, so could not be better attuned to the ground’s vagaries - not least the Australian-style acreage of its vast outfield.

In spite of everything that has

conspired against this concept, the moment has finally arrived for Test cricket to reach its pinnacle. Better late than never.

New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Ajaz Patel/Kyle Jamieson, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent Boult.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant

(wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10

Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah. (ESPNcricinfo)

Nadal out of Wimbledon and Olympics

W

orld number three Rafael Nadal has pulled out of this month’s Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who won the Wimbledon titles in 2008 and 2010, says he needs to “recuperate after a long claycourt season”.

“It’s never an easy decision, but after listening to my body and discussing it with my team, I understand that it is the right decision,” said the Spaniard. “The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy.”

The 35-year-old added: “That is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition.”

Nadal hinted at the decision after his defeat

by Serbia’s world number one Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi-finals last week.

If defending champion Djokovic wins the title at the All England Club, it will move him level with the record shared by Nadal and Switzerland’s Roger Federer of 20 men’s major singles titles.

Nadal said the shorter turnaround between the French Open and Wimbledon - which starts at the All England Club on 28 June - was a key factor in his decision.

This year, there are only two weeks between the French Open finishing on the clay and Wimbledon starting on the grass. Usually, there are three weeks between the two majors.

The French Open was pushed back a week by Roland Garros organisers in order to start the tournament with fewer of the country’s coronavirus restrictions in place, including allowing fans in to watch.

“The fact that there has only been two weeks between Roland Garros and Wimbledon didn’t make it easier on my

body to recuperate after the always demanding claycourt season,” Nadal said in a Twitter post announcing the news.

“They have been two months of great effort, and the decision I take is focused looking at the mid and long term.”

Nadal struggled with a back injury earlier this year, playing only the Australian Open - where he lost in the quarter-finals - before the clay-court season started in mid-April.

On his favourite surface, the Mallorcan left-hander won the titles in Barcelona and Rome before, losing to Djokovic at Roland Garros.

“Sport prevention of any kind of excess in my body is a very important factor at this stage of my career, in order to try to keep fighting for the highest level of competition and titles,” Nadal added.

The decision also means he would miss the delayed Olympics, which start in Tokyo on 23 July. Nadal has won two Olympic gold medals - in the singles at Beijing 2008 and the doubles at Rio 2016.

“The Olympic Games always meant a lot, and they were always a priority. As a sportsperson, I found the spirit that every sportsperson in the world wants to live,” Nadal said.

“I personally had the

chance to live three of them, and had the honour to be the flagbearer for my country.”

Rest and recuperation as focus turns to US Open – ANALYSIS BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller Nadal hinted at this very outcome after losing a brutal four-hour French Open semifinal to Novak Djokovic in Paris last Friday.

A two-week gap between Roland Garros and Wimbledon could lead to quite an unpredictable fortnight on the grass, as players have less time than usual to recover physically and to make the transition from clay.

And, sadly, it has also contributed to Nadal’s decision.

He already has two Olympic gold medals, and must feel his best chance this year of winning a Grand Slam will come at the US Open from the end of August.

At 35, and with a history of physical problems on the grass, the Spaniard needs some time to clear his mind after a hectic clay-court season.

Some golf and some fishing usually do the trick, before Nadal turns his attention to training for North American hard-court swing in August. (BBC Sport)

22

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

Pompey is new Head Coach of St John’s L

ong considered a rising star in the profession, Aliann Pompey has been chosen to lead the St. John’s Track & Field and Cross Country programmes as its next head coach, it was announced on Wednesday by Director of Athletics, Mike Cragg.

Pompey, who has been at St. John’s since the fall of 2014, most recently served as the programme’s associate head coach for the 2020-21 academic year.

She will take over from her former boss and mentor Jim Hurt, who retired last month after four decades with the Red Storm.

“I want to thank Mike Cragg for his vote of confidence and his support in appointing me as the head coach,” said Pompey. “It is with great honour that I accept this position. I have seen the growth and successes of this team over

the years – from a distance when I was in college, and intimately over the last seven years. I want to continue the tradition of excellence for which we’ve become known.

“I thank Coach Hurt for his guidance and patience while I found my coaching voice, and (I thank) K a t h y Meehan, whose leadership has served as a model for me. I am excited to continue working with our returning student-athletes, who have committed to making our team better. Joined by the incoming class,

we’ll strive to be impactful, not just with the BIG EAST, but nationally.”

Tasked with guiding the Red Storm’s sprinters and hurdlers during her time on Hurt’s staff, Pompey has seen St. John’s student-athletes rewrite the record books during her tenure at Queen’s.

“I am very pleased and proud to see Coach Pompey become our next head coach,” said Hurt. “She is exceptionally qualified to lead the programme to new heights.

It’s been my fort u n e

to work with Aliann these past seven years, and her record of accomplishments (has) been outstanding.

She is a person of character, and always has her athletes’ best interest at heart.

I look forward to following all the great things she will accomplish in pushing the programme forward in the years ahead.”

Pompey’s pupils’ own school indoor records in the 60-metre hurdles, the 200 and 400 metres, the 500 metres and the 2x200-metre relay. They also set the programme’s second fastest time in the 4x400-metre relay. In outdoor competition, Pompey’s athletes hold school marks in the 100-metre hurdles, 800 metres and 4x100-metre relay.

“During my tenure at St. John’s, Coach Pompey has demonstrated time and time again that she has what it takes to lead a

Fully vaccinated fans get chance to watch 2nd Test A

small number of fully vaccinated cricket fans in Saint Lucia will have the chance to see West Indies take on South Africa.

Following request from the Government of St. Lucia to explore the opportunity to have fans at the game, the Ministry of Health and COVID-19 Command Centre, in co-ordination with the St. Lucia National Cricket Association (SLNCA) and Cricket West Indies (CWI), would allow entry of a maximum of 400 fans per day to the second Betway Test match at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, starting on Friday, June 18.

The key requirement for fans to attend is that each fan requesting a ticket MUST be fully vaccinated – with the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine having been administered on or before June 4. Admission will be free, on presentation and validation of personal vaccination documentation and photo ID. Tickets for all match days became available yesterday pick-ups started at 12 noon and will run until 7pm - and again today (Friday, June 18) - from 4pm to 6pm at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.

The ticket office is located at the East Gate.

It is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that fans would be admitted to see the West Indies team in action on home soil.

Fans would need to wear face masks to gain entry to the match, and then keep wearing masks throughout the match. Fans would also need to remain socially distanced at all times when seated in the Johnson

Charles Stand, which would be the only stand open for fans.

Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI, has said: “The Government of St. Lucia has initiated this pilot project, which will allow for the safe return of fans to watch international cricket for the first time in the West Indies since the start of the pandemic.

We are happy to support the initiative by welcoming supporters into the stands for free to see their favourite West Indies team in action. A lot of detailed planning has gone into making this a reality, and we thank the Government of St Lucia, the health officials, as well as the SLNCA, who together with CWI have worked tirelessly to ensure we can accommodate those fans fortunate enough to benefit from this opportunity.”

For fans to get a ticket and gain access to the stadium, the following steps must be taken to meet COVID-19 match protocols: * Fans must

bring their vaccination certificate to be validated by Ministry of Health officials, along with personal photo ID to receive a free match ticket. * Ticket office location is at the East Gate. * Tickets became available, subject to the validation of individual’s fully vaccinated status, until 7pm yesterday, and then from 4pm to 6pm today, Friday, June 18. * Fans would be able to get tickets only for themselves. Friends or family members would need to come to the ticket office separately for validation and to access tickets. * Tickets to be issued on a first come first served basis until they have been exhausted; no additional tickets will be made available. * Fans would need to present their ID, ticket and vaccination documentation to be allowed entry.

Tickets are not transferable to other match days or to other individuals

* Fans would need to wear face masks at all times, and practise socially distance in the stadium. * Fans would be accommodated in the Johnson Charles Stand only. * No re-entry allowed if fans leave the venue. * Under-18s would not be allowed entry.

Additionally, with vendors not available in the stadium, fans would be able to bring their own food and non-alcoholic drinks. The following list of restrictions must be adhered to for entry into the ground on match day: * Fans can bring in coolers of a size that can fit under a seat for food and drink (12x12x12). * Any ice in coolers must remain bagged to allow security inspection of coolers. * Glass bottles of any kind are not allowed. * Alcohol of any kind is not allowed. * No knives, sharp metal objects.

high-calibre programme of her own,” said Cragg. “In addition to being an outstanding athlete in her own right, with national championship pedigree, she has shown that she possesses the rare ability to elevate the talents of the athletes she mentors and help them reach their full potential. I have the utmost confidence that Coach Pompey will continue to help the track & field program reach new heights as its head coach.”

With Pompey on staff, the Red Storm has sent 18 athletes to NCAA competition.

Pompey has also been active on the administrative side of the sport, serving as the president of the Panam Sports Athlete Commission beginning in 2019. In that role, she was elected to represent more than 6,600 athletes across 41 countries that compete in the Pan American Games. Prior to taking over as president, Pompey served as a member of the Athletes’ Commission for four years. She is also a

member of the organization’s executive board and a liaison to the International Olympic Committee.

Pompey’s career as an accomplished coach came after more than a decade as one of the world’s premier track athletes. A four-time Olympian (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) representing her home country of Guyana, Pompey also competed in four Outdoor World Championships and four IAAF World Indoor Championships. In 2016, Pompey served as the manager of the Guyanese Olympic squad in Rio de Janeiro.

A 400-meter specialist who turned in a personal-best mark of 50.71 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Pompey won the NCAA 400-meter national championship in 2000 while competing for Manhattan College. A double alumnus of Manhattan, Pompey earned a finance degree in 1999 before completing her MBA in 2003. (St. John’s University)

NSC boosts National Seniors with financial donation

Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr making the presentation to AAG President Aubrey Hutson in the presence of Steve Ninvalle, Kashif Mohammad and Dellon Davidson

T

he Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) has been rid of any financial worry as the National Sports Commission (NSC) made a timely donation to its coffers to enable it to host the Nation Senior Track and Field Championships being staged this weekend.

Presentation of the sponsorship cheque was made on Thursday at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ Main Street Boardroom, and was witnessed by Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr; Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle; Chairman of the NSC Board, Kashif Mohammad; and NSC Board Member Dellon Davidson.

AAG President Aubrey Hutson was praised during

the ceremony for his commitment and the advancements he has overseen in the sport.

The National Senior Championships, which begin this afternoon at the Leonora Synthetic Track, will continue on Saturday and conclude on Sunday.

The closed-door event will see participation from both local and international athletes, some of whom are hoping to achieve the Olympic qualification mark.

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23

South Africa chasing away series win, West Indies seeking to make amends – Bravo, Gabriel recalled to 13

F

ully vaccinated fans in St Lucia will be hoping to smile about the West Indies performances when the second and final Test match bowls off today (Friday June 18) from 10:00h at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground.

South Africa will be looking to win an away Test series for the first time in more than four

On the eve of the match, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite said the first innings in the opening Test really hurt the West Indies and them on the back-foot, but come in this second Test, the batsmen must be better. “We know as batters what we have to do and we look forward for the challenge,” Brathwaite said in

after the West Indies won the toss and batted first, Kraigg will have to make a decision that will bring the right results for the West Indies.

He also noted that the batsmen must leave the balls well, make right judgements and score runs while sticking to the plans.

While indicating that the West Indies have learned

South Africa are looking for a first away Test series win in over four years

Kemar Roach will hope to create more chances and get more wickets

years while West Indies will be hoping to level the series with a comeback win. After suffering a huge defeat, the West Indies batting will have to click against the potent South African pacers.

on pre-match virtual press conference on Thursday.

“The first game is behind us and the guys are looking forward for the last game.” While many, including the Head curator Ken Crafon were in shock,

from their mistakes, Brathwaite emphasized that West Indies must keep backing their plans.

Speaking on the inclusion of Darren Bravo and Shannon Gabriel, West Indies Lead selector Roger

CPL agrees to change of dates on BCCI's request

T

he Board of Control for Cricket Indian (BCCI) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have come to an agreement that both the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) can take place without one overlapping into the other. The organisers of the CPL have acceded to a request of the BCCI and advanced the dates of the CPL so that the IPL schedule can be squeezed in the limited window available after September 14, when the Indian team will be free from the England tour.

The new arrangement was agreed upon by the BCCI and CPL authorities after Jay Shah called the CPL COO Pete Russell. The BCCI secretary has also spoken to his counterparts in the CWI, following which the Caribbean cricket authorities have agreed to tweak the CPL schedule. "CWI is doing our best to help facilitate a smooth transition from CPL to IPL, without a conflicting overlap," Ricky Skerritt, the president of CWI, told Cricbuzz confirming the proposed changes in the schedule.

Cricbuzz has learned CPL-bound players will be that the CPL now will take relieved of quarantine on place from August 25 to arrival in the Caribbean.

September 15, enabling the They too will have the bubIPL to restart the unfinished ble-to-bubble transfer facilileague around September ty.

18-19. Originally, the CPL St Kitts is virtually a was to take place from Covid free island and it is August 28 to September 19. willing to extend liberal On April 27, the CPL had quarantine rules for those stated that the tournament coming with two vaccine of 33 games will get under- shots. Those without vacway on August 28 in St Kitts cine and not coming from a & Nevis. bio-bubble, may have to unIn fact, the tournament dergo isolation for five days. may even start on August The BCCI, meanwhile, 26, so that there is more is trying to plug a few more than a 24-hour gap between loose ends before it West Indies' second Test announces the against Pakistan and the dates of the start of the CPL -- the Test remaining 31 ends on August 24. The IPL games, CPL is expected to come which will up with the revised schedbe played ule soon. in UAE. The CPL authorities are (Cricbuzz) also preparing the logistics.

The West Indies players will move from the national bubble to their respective franchise bubbles, just like those taking part in The Hundred in UK. The new 100ball tournament in England is scheduled to end on August 21 and the CWI President Ricky Skerritt

Harper, said: “Gabriel has been declared fully fit and as someone who was the spearhead of the attack before, he has returned to the 13-man squad. With Bravo, we have someone who is an experienced batsman and gives us a quality batting option.”

On the upcoming match, Harper added: “the team now has to play to the standard we know we’re capable of. We did not bat anywhere near to

our potential in the first Betway Test and we have to improve with the bat in this upcoming match.”

West Indies squad reads: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain), Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales Meanwhile, South

Africa captain Dean Elgar said his team will be looking to replicate a similar performance of that in the opening Test.

“Clinical, ruthless, our bowlers led the pack and our senior players put their hands up. One Test win has done so much for us already. We need Test wins and we need series wins. I want a Test win and to seal the series 2-0,” Elgar said. (Brandon Corlette)

National seniors to participate in 100m contest

S

everal athletics’ showdowns are set for this weekend’s National Senior Championships, but the one most eagerly awaited is the 100M sprint.

The National Senior Track and Field Championships are expected to see the convergence of Guyana’s best athletes in a number of must-see events.

Scheduled to begin today at the Leonora Track and Field Facility on the West Demerara Corridor, the most anticipated 100M sprint would feature both local and internationally-based athletes vying for supremacy, and in some cases Olympic qualification.

Akeem Stewart, who clocked 10s just a few weeks ago, is one of the chief contenders. He is hoping to execute a perfect race, and maybe break the National Record in the process.

“This weekend is just to come out and execute my race as best I can. Well, the whole aim is to qualify for the Olympics, but my aim is to win and set a National Record,’ an optimistic Stewart has said.

Stewart told this publication about his expectations. “Basically, for me it’s just to go through my phases and be as relaxed as possible. I mean, we have a young group of very fast men to run the hundred, so I’m pretty sure that it would be a very fast race.”

Akeem Stewart

Noelex Holder

Upcoming athlete Noelex Holder is another sprinter who has his eyes on the gold. Holder, who is looking to clock a personal best, has learned a lot from his recent stint in Ecuador.

“I’m feeling confident in my ability right now, (and) hoping for a personal best.

I know I’m going to get a personal best, and I’m going to try to be in the 1, 2,3,” Holder shared with Guyana Times Sport.

Speaking about his time in Ecuador for the South American Seniors, he said: “Going over there, I’m grateful for the experience, first of all. But at this point, what I learnt is that I have to take the sport more seriously, take it as a second nature actually. So I did some work over there, work on some starts, some techniques out the blocks, and I know (that) by this weekend it’s going to be something interesting. So, I implore you to come out and watch.”

The athletes are basi-

cally chums, but are fierce rival on the track when it comes to rivalry in the sprint discipline. This is a factor that would make the marquee event even more interesting.

“Well, the rivalry is always there. We’re all friends, we’re all compatriots at the end of the day, but on race day the rivalry must continue. There’s young Noelex Holder, there’s Emmanuel Archibald, Senior Bascom; so, I think it’s going to be a good race.

“The better man on the day will win, which hopefully will be me,” Stewart predicted with a smile.

Holder shared, “It’s all for the good of the sport. The more we compete against each other, the more we try and rival it, I know that it’s going to bring out the best in us, and maybe we can get an Olympic qualifier this weekend. That’s what we’re hoping for.”

More than 300 athletes are registered for the three-day event, which would take place from Friday to Sunday.

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021

Sport is no longer our game, it’s our business

Page 23

Noelex Holder warming up

South Africa chasing away series win, West Indies seeking to make amends National seniors – Bravo, Gabriel recalled to 13

to participate in 100m contest Page 23

Akeem Stewart going through his training routine

CPL agrees to change of dates on BCCI’s request

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