Guyana Times - Friday, November 11, 2022

Cane harvester remanded for killing wife

Acane

harvester at tached to the Albion Sugar Estate in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has been remanded to pris on for allegedly chopping his wife with a cutlass, resulting in her death.

Mahendra Paltoo, 35, of Lot 172 Bloomfield New Housing Scheme, Corentyne was on Thursday remand ed to prison after being ar raigned before Whim Magistrate Renita Singh for the murder of his

wife Oma Davi Virasamy, 30, a housewife of the same ad dress.

The court heard that on November 7, at Bloomfield, Corentyne, Berbice, Paltoo murdered Virasamy. Unrepresented by legal coun sel, Paltoo was not required to plead to the indictable charge.

During the court proceed ings, Police Prosecutor Shinel Mathieson told the court she is awaiting additional infor mation to complete the case

file, and asked the court to al low her three weeks to com plete this process.

After granting the Prosecutor’s request, Magistrate Singh remand ed Paltoo to prison, and set his next court appearance for December 12.

Paltoo had reportedly said that he awoke at about 04:40h on Monday and dis covered his wife lying motion lessly. His

father, however, handed him over to the Police upon

learning that Virasamy had died.

It has been reported that Paltoo, who had initially told investigators that his reput ed wife had fallen on a cut lass and sustained a cut to her foot, has changed his sto ry and has told them that he and his reputed wife had had

a misunderstanding after she had accused him of infidelity.

The Police have said Paltoo is claiming that, during the argument, Virasamy pushed him and he armed himself with a cutlass and dealt her several lashes about her body, causing her to receive a cut to her right

ankle and injuries to other parts of her body, including under her left eye.

The Police have said that a postmortem examination carried out on the body of Virasamy has revealed that she died from shock and hem orrhage due to an artery of her foot being severed. (G4)

Husband accused of dousing wife with hot porridge slapped with murder charge

Twenty-four-year-old Ajay Persaud, also called “Nicholas”, has been charged and re manded to prison for the murder of his reputed wife Analee Gonsalves almost one month after she suc cumbed to burn-related injuries which he had al legedly inflicted on her.

A resident of La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD), Persaud was arraigned on Thursday before Wales Magistrate Faith Mc Gusty, before whom he was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder alleged ly committed on Analee

Gonsalves, 20, a mother of one. Persaud has been re

manded until November 24.

Dead: Oma Davi Virasamy

Remanded: Mahendra Paltoo being escorted by Police Officers on Thursday

Remanded: Ajay Persaud Dead: Analee Gonsalves

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

No closure to road traffic today; and Saturday, November 12 – 08:30h-09:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Friday, November 11 –06:00h-07:30h and Saturday, November 12 – 06:35h-08:00h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Cloudy skies are expected during the day, with light rain showers in the late-afternoon hours and into the night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: East North-Easterly to West SouthWesterly between 1.34 metres and 3.12 metres.

High Tide: 17:53h reaching a maximum height of 2.64 metres.

Low Tide: 11:28h and 23:55h reaching minimum heights of 0.72 metre and 0.60 metre.

Gas-to-shore project Cabinet greenlights consortium building 300MW power plant at Wales – Pres Ali …contract to be signed by month-end

TheGuyana Government has ap proved the consor tium of CH4 Guyana Inc/ Lindsayca Inc. to construct the 300-megawatt power plant and natural gas liq uids (NGL) plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara as part of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration’s model Gasto-Shore initiative.

This was announced on Thursday by President Dr Irfaan Ali in a live broadcast following a Cabinet meet ing. “Cabinet (on Thursday) issued its no-objection to the ranking of CH4/Lindsayca as the number one-ranked group to build a 300MW Combined Cycle Power Plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant at Wales, West (Bank) Demerara under an Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) Contract…,” he disclosed.

“Power China was ranked number two, and may be engaged if negotia tions fail to conclude a con tract with Lindsayca by the end of November,” the Head of State revealed.

Earlier this year, nine firms were publicly pre-qualified to bid on the EPC contract, and Request for Proposals (RFP) were issued to these bidders. By September, five bids, ranging between US$450 million and US$900 mil lion, were submitted. CH4/ Lindsayca was the high est bidder, with US$898.76 million, while Power China International Group had put in a US$703.65 million bid.

According to President Ali, those bids were evaluat ed for technical compliance and ranking by Stantec and Worley – two global engi neering firms with expertise in the oil and gas sector.

“Based on the reports of these international firms, an Evaluation Team of three people, including a repre sentative of Exxon, was ap pointed. The Evaluation Team performed the evalua tion in accordance with the technical and economic cri teria set out in the RFP. On the basis of the bids sub mitted and clarifications re ceived, the Evaluation Team unanimously ranked CH4/ Lindsayca as number one,

and Power China as number two,” he explained.

The Head of State added that the evaluation took ac count of the expected date of delivery of the 300MW pow er plant, December 2024which both top-ranked com panies have reaffirmed.

The EPC Contract will be supervised by a global su pervision firm – Engineers India Limited.

Cabinet’s no-objection to the award of the contract to the consortium will now pave the way for negotia tions to commence in prepa ration of the signing of the contract before the end of November.

Apart from the power plant and NGL plant, the scope of US$900 million Gas-to-Shore Project, which has a 25-year lifespan, also consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipe line from the Liza field in

the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where ExxonMobil and its partners are current ly producing oil.

Approximately 220 ki lometres of subsea pipe lines offshore will run from the Liza Destiny and Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) ves sels in the Stabroek Block to the shore. Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline will con tinue for approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL plant at Wales.

Exxon, with funding from cost oil, is expected to deliver the completed pipe line by the fourth quarter of next year, in order to allow for the commissioning and testing ahead of the power plant coming online by the end of 2024.

The pipeline would be 12 inches wide, and is expected to transport some 50 million

standard cubic feet (mscfpd) of dry gas per day to the NGL plant, but has the capacity to push as much as 120 mscfpd.

The route of the pipeline on shore would follow the same path as the fibreoptic ca bles, and would terminate at Hermitage, part of the Wales Development Zone (WDZ) where the Gas-to-Shore Project would be housed.

At present, Government is engaged in negotiations with landowners who will be affected by the project, with a view to offering them ap propriate compensation in exchange for their proper ties.

While the Guyana Government would own the 300MW power plant and NGL plant, it would be re cruiting an international firm to operate the project to international standards and best practices.

President Dr Irfaan Ali

The gas-to-shore project

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Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707

Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown

Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Drunk driving

Thisyear has already seen many major accidents; daily on our roadways, a high number of traffic offences occur.

The issue of alcohol and the massively damaging effects it is having on individuals and communities has once again been brought to the fore, as several drivers have been caught drinking and driving. More unfortunate is that some of these drivers were involved in fatal accidents.

Drunk driving is one of the most troubling traffic offences. Driving while either intoxicated or drunk is dangerous, and drivers with high blood alcohol content or concentration (BAC) are at greatly increased risk of being involved in vehicular accidents and sustaining highway injuries and/or vehicular deaths.

Every single injury and death caused by drunk driving is fully preventable. Although the proportion of alcohol-related crashes locally may not be as significant as those in other countries, those that occur are still worrying. Unfortunately, in spite of these concerns, alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious national problem that tragically affects many victims and their families.

The approach to combat drunk driving has been severely lacking for years. Now, with the passage of the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2022 aimed at toughening existing laws to prevent drunk driving and the carnage on the road, it is hoped that this would be properly enforced. We agree that this is not a Police issue only, but full responsibility must be taken by the driver. However, full enforcement would send a pellucid message to drivers.

We agree with Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, when he said during his presentation on the Bill that the nation needs to change its mindset. To quote the AG: “This can’t be the Government’s job alone, and legislative changes alone can never be able to curb this horrendous, tragic loss of human life in our country. Every member of society, every responsible organisation in this country, must join hands with our Government as we begin to chart a new course of making our roads safe.”

As the country continues to battle with the effect of drunk driving, more needs to be done. As the holidays approach, public messages via the media should be issued to citizens to constantly remind drivers about the impacts of drunk driving, and what the law’s position is on it. Cautioning drivers every time about getting behind the wheel after surpassing the drink limit is necessary, as, every year, there are scores of young and new drivers who are not familiar with these issues, or the reality of the roads.

Drunk driving aside, World Health Organization (WHO) data had shown that alcohol kills a whopping three million people worldwide each year — more than AIDS, violence and road accidents combined. It has been stated that men are particularly at risk.

According to the WHO, alcohol causes more than one in 20 deaths globally each year, including drunk driving, alcoholinduced violence and abuse, and a multitude of diseases and disorders. Men account for more than three quarters of alcohol-related deaths.

Here, in Guyana, there are many social ills affecting citizens, and alcohol abuse is seen as one of the contributing factors.

Owing to poor lifestyle choices, such as alcohol abuse, tobacco use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have resulted in large numbers of our young people dying. Another significant number has also fallen ill and therefore cannot contribute to their families or the development of their communities in any way.

WHO has, over the years, been urging countries to do more to counter harmful drinking, and to reach a goal of cutting global consumption by 10 per cent between 2010 and 2025. It is also urging countries to tax alcohol and ban advertising of such beverages to reduce consumption. However, that is not enough, there is need to push for changes in attitudes and lifestyles in general, especially among the younger segment of our population.

While the Government must play a crucial role in respect to relevant programmes and policies, and put in place the necessary legislative framework and other support mechanisms aimed at addressing the harmful use of alcohol, this burden must also be shared by all citizens.

Do we love our children enough?

When we see the re ports of fights in our high schools, we wonder what kind of homes produced these chil dren. This is not an up town-downtown issue.

I remember interview ing our former World Boxing Association cham pion Mike McCallum in the 1980s. He came from a very humble home in the inner city, but his moth er was so watchful that she took him to church ev ery night. Then there was the wonderful lead sto ry in last week's Jamaica Observer in which young Alexia Hibbert turned up at her mother's workplace in her graduation gown to show her The University of the West Indies (UWI) bachelor of science degree she achieved as a result of her mother's sacrifices.

Her mother Makeisha Walker is a vendor at Crab Circle, which is adjacent to National Heroes' Park. The photo of the two features a huge pot of crabs, the means by which Walker has been raising and edu cating her two daughters.

The report by Brittny Hutchinson quotes Hibbert: "I remember one time she got burnt by the soup, but she got up for work … She wrapped it up and came out here. Sometimes, even when it's raining heavily, she is out there doing her thing."

It is said that every child needs that one per son who loves them uncon ditionally, who reminds

them how precious they are, who makes sacrifices for them to give them the best life possible. In our Jamaica this is not neces sarily a parent, grandpar ents, elder siblings, aunts, and uncles have stepped in and have done wonderful ly.

However, there are still too many of our chil dren who do not have that one caring guardian, and it now falls on the society to step into the breach. We can talk and wring our hands, but what is really needed is a strategic plan involving school, church, and civil society. There are active alumni associ ations which could also be brought on board to do one-on-one mentoring of troubled children.

This country has more churches per capita than most others in the world. And there are retired se niors who could conduct af ter-school homework ses sions in those beautiful, empty church halls and en gage the children in prac tical and inspiring discus sions.

Child abuse is tak

ing place in all types of households. Parents suf fering from diverse types of addiction are neglecting their children. Internet addiction may prevent us from focusing on our chil dren's concerns. Bullyism is rife, and if parents are not aware and do not take action, their children could be scarred for life.

Although after-school pickups can be a challenge for working parents, in stead of having their chil dren waiting until dark with a security guard, oth er arrangements ought to be made for after-school care. Those poor little hearts depend on their parents and guardians to look out for them and should never feel that no one cares.

Another severe problem is the constant criticism that some children face when they are compared to others. I remember a com petent co-worker always shrinking in the back ground and never standing up for herself. She shared that her parents were con stantly comparing her with high-achieving cousins and

she developed an inferiori ty complex. Another young lady kept standing behind others in a group photo, and when we asked her why she was hiding her self, she said she was too ugly to be photographed. We could not believe our ears; this was a beautiful lady. And when we kept complimenting her, she burst into tears and said, apart from men trying to pick her up, it was the first time that she had received sincere affirmations — as a child she had been told repeatedly that she was ugly.

Our offhand remarks can be cutting to a child as can our lack of focus on their needs.

The children, who we keep saying are our future, have urgent and present challenges. We are reaping the whirlwind and we need to act before it becomes a dangerous hurricane. Al Webb Scholarship

For the past four years retired banker Al Webb has been funding oneyear scholarships for UWI students based on their first- or second-year performance. Along with UWI Development and Endowment Fund (UWIDEV) Project Officer Francine Kidd-Warren I have been interviewing these students and have been moved by their re solve and perseverance in the face of unimaginable challenges. The hardest part was to select one from the four worthy candi dates. But we did. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

President Dr Irfaan Ali engaged students, teachers and parents of the Charity Nursery School during his recent visit to Region Two (Pomeroon -Supenaam) (OP photo)

B y J ean L owrie -C hin

PNC are never about development

Dear Editor,

The APNU/AFC have never been serious about socio-economic develop ment of our country, wheth er they are in Government or in Opposition.

When in Government, the PNC squandered, mis managed and siphoned off billions of dollars through a multitude of corrupt prac tices and harebrained pol icies, which consequently eroded the economic gains made previously by the PPP Government. This resulted in appalling deprivation and sufferings for Guyanese. This is well-documented during the 28 years of the PNC in Government, from 1964 to 1992.

This repeated itself again from 2015 to 2022, when the PNC-dominated Coalition were in Government and re versed the progress of the PPP Government.

When the PNC are in Opposition, they do every thing, mostly illegal acts, to stymie the socio-economic progress of the country. For them, the end justifies the means, and they unleash vi olent streets protests, com mit sexual assaults, rapes, daylight robberies, damag es to properties and physi cal violence on all Guyanese perceived as PPP support ers.

In Parliament, they ob structed all the develop

mental projects of the PPP Government from 2011 to 2015. From 1992 to 2015, these nefarious acts are well-documented, and from 2020, after losing the General Elections, the PNC again began to display their destabilising agenda.

The recent walkout from Parliament by the Opposition Leader and his gang is another misguided attempt to gain some pub licity and attract sympa thy of their supporters, and this is aptly described by Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira as failing their constituencies by not par ticipating in law-making to the betterment of the soci ety. She rightfully conclud ed that the APNU/AFC are becoming more irrelevant and “it is at its lowest tide as Opposition” and that “it has nothing to contribute”.

A truer statement is hard to find when this is juxtaposed with the action and utterings of Opposition MP Vinceroy Jordan, who blocked Minister Sonia Parag from access to the CDC Building at Belladrum in Region 5. He frankly told the Minister, ‘We don’t want development’, and he cannot be blamed, since he is simply carrying out the mandate and directives of the Opposition, which have always been to stymie prog

CCWU condemns attacks on NCN workers

Dear Editor,

The NCN workers are among the victims of inse curity, and are being at tacked while carrying out their responsibilities. The Clerical and Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) rejects all forms of injus tices meted out against these media workers.

The CCWU defends the democratic concept that considers media workers as an ingredient of democ racy; a factor of social inte gration, committed to pro viding a service of quality, diversity and objectivity to the general public, whom these workers seek to in form and educate.

Of recent, some politi

cians have been manipulat ing the interests, and have, in many instances, under mined and discredited the NCN media workers.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right in cludes freedom to hold opinions without interfer ence, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any me dia and regardless of fron tiers”.

ress and development in our country.

Moreover, the Opposition can no longer mask their intent to de stroy the country in their bid to gain power once again, and the President and his Government have laid bare this ominous in tent. He made it clear that the developmental thrust of his Government would con tinue in all communities despite political directives from the Opposition.

They cannot continue to shout marginalisation and discrimination, since their own supporters are seeing the truth. No doubt, the APNU/AFC are the sinis ter architect of marginalis ing and impoverishing their own people.

The Guyanese people welcome the Government’s

developmental drive, which is actively transforming each and every communi ty across the country, and this is what the APNU/AFC are deathly afraid of. The Coalition have nothing to contribute to Guyana’s de velopment, and will certain ly die a natural death as they continue to block the socio-economic development of even their support base.

We, as Guyanese, must heed the fervent plea of President Ali, ‘All of us to gether must reject them’. He truly and firmly believes in his Government’s abili ty to achieve ‘One Guyana’, and this is being manifested each day. We must not allow the PNC to play their desta bilisation games again.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

Appeal to NDIA

Dear Editor, This is an appeal to the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA): Please clear the drainage canal which runs north to south on the Railway Embankment be tween Turkeyen and the CARICOM Headquarters. This canal is a continuation of the one which runs along the Railway Embankment.

The canal along the roadway has been cleaned several times over the year

by contractors hired by NDIA, but not the section heading south to connect with the Downer Canal. Now that the rainy season is here, the accumulation of vegetative matter and garbage at the western end is a clear indication that there is a restriction in the flow of water. The sit uation is dire, and we need help.

Dear Editor, The Central Islamic Organization of Guyana (CIOG) hereby registers its stern disappointment with the mistreatment of the Minister of Public Service, Honourable Sonia Parag, while she was on duty in the community of Belladrum, West Coast Berbice on Tuesday.

Reports are that the Minister had gone to the community to meet with residents on matters re lating to scholarships and other training and devel opmental opportunities, particularly for the youths. Minister Parag was re portedly barred, for the second time in less than two weeks, from entering a community centre which residents had requested her to visit as a follow-up to an earlier Presidential commitment.

News reports further indicated that the Minister was also subject to the hos tile and threatening be haviours displayed by a male Opposition Member of Parliament.

The CIOG categorically states that at a time when Guyana’s developmental trajectory is on the preci pice, no irresponsible, in sular, petty, reckless and partisan politics should

have any place across our socio-economic landscape. This current development, which sees tangible bene fits for all Guyanese across every stratum of our soci ety, cannot, and should not, be held hostage.

Moreover, we find it disturbing that deliberate efforts are being made to hinder development in cer tain areas, all for political mileage.

CIOG, as both a reli gious and civic body, wish es to unequivocally con demn these actions, and remind all Guyanese that respect, equality and har mony are the cornerstones of any prosperous nation.

Further, as a country with a history of racial tensions, CIOG recognises and appreciates the efforts of the Dr Irfaan Ali-led Government to reach out to all communities across the country.

Further, CIOG wishes to appeal to all politicians and political parties to con duct themselves in a re sponsible and respectable manner, and to put the de velopment of Guyana and its people above all else.

Sincerely, The Central Executive Council

Sincerely, Sherwood Clarke General Secretary, CCWU

Irresponsible, insular, petty, reckless, partisan politics has no place in Guyana

Sincerely, Zorina Gafoor

Page Foundation

• Scissors

Get thinking

To observe objects in space, you need to get a closer look! Why can't you see things that are very far away? What can you do to observe things that are far, far away? What kinds of tools or tech nology do you know about that can help you take a closer look at objects that are very distant?

larger tube by rolling cardstock to the diameter of the lens and ta ping it into shape.

Instructions:

1. Form a tube for the stron ger lens (your magnifying glass). The lens should be at the bottom of the tube and with the edges of the lens taped neatly to the tube to keep it secure. This is the tele scope’s eyepiece.

(i) Calculate 31/2 - 12/7 (ii) Write your answer to part (i) as a decimal to 3 decimal place. (iii) Calculate √9 + 33 (iv) Calculate the radius and area of the circle below (ii) Write your answer to part (iv) in metres. 2) A bakery sold bread for $300 a loaf. It costs $200 to make a loaf of bread. Did the bakery make a profit or a loss? If it now costs the bakery twice as much to make the bread, at what price would it have to sell the bread to break even?

The refracting telescope uses lenses to bring more light rays to a focus in your eye. You can make a simple refracting telescope with a tube that contains two len ses: one at the front end which gathers light, called the objective lens; and another that is closest to the user's eye, called the eyepie ce. The objective lens collects the light. The eyepiece lens takes the collected light and magnifies what you are looking at.

Supplies

• A pair of weak reading glasses — the kind you can get from the store

• A small, strong magnifying glass

• Heavy cardstock or cardboard tubes, about 10-12 inches long, with a diameter slightly larger than your magnifying glass lens

• Masking tape

Kick off discussion with older kids with this TED-Ed video: The Story Behind Your Glasses

Let's get started!

Engineering the telescope: the tube that holds the lenses is real ly two tubes — one that fits insi de the other — that need to have openings that can hold the lenses. Will the lenses fit into the bottom of the cardboard tube? How can you make them fit?

Experiment r to either narrow a tube by cutting along its length, making the tube smaller as it is fitted around the lens and then taped into shape, or to create a

Warning: Never, under any circum stances, should you point the tele scope at the sun. The ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun will perma nently damage their eyes.

2. Form a tube for the objec tive lens that is either bigger or smaller in diameter than your first tube. Tape the lens neatly to the end of the tube.

3. Insert the empty end of one tube into the empty end of the other tube. Look through the eyepiece and point the other end of the telescope at a distant object. Slide the two tubes in and out un til the object comes into focus. If it is difficult to focus the telescope, experiment with lengthening the tube.

Check out images with your telescope. What do you see? Are you surprised to find things up side down? Do you have ideas for how you could make your tele scope not show upside-down ima ges? Email readonworld@gmail. com (Adapted from startwitha book.org)

CONTINUED FROM THURSDAY By The BroThers Grimm

TO BE CONTINUED

GECOM officials used spreadsheet that inflated APNU/AFC votes, deflated other parties’ figures – Sase Singh testifies …IT

the spreadsheet count… After he said that statement, he continued talking, but you couldn’t hear him, be cause the room was extreme ly loud,” Singh told the CoI.

Leave it! Leave it!

Meanwhile, also tak ing the stand on Thursday was GECOM’s Information Technology (IT) Manager, Aneal Giddings, who was in charge of the Tabulation Centre, where the CEO’s copies of SoPs were being digitalised after being ver ified with certified copies from the various ROs across the country.

Asthe Commission of Inquiry (CoI) contin ues into the March 2020 elections, Sasenarine Singh, who served as a People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) scrutineer, testified on Thursday that there were major discrepan cies found after the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials changed the process used to veri fy the Statements of Poll (SoPs) of District Four – the Demerara-Mahaica region.

Singh told the Commission that he was a supernumerary agent for the PPP/C and on March 4, 2020 after then Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo took ill and had to be escort ed from the Region Four Command Centre at the Ashmin’s Building by med ical officials, the then Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield provided two new Deputy Returning Officers (DROs) to continue the verification process.

However, Singh recalled that there was a “fundamen tal difference” with the pro cess after the two GECOM officials were using pre-pre pared spreadsheets and not the SoPs, as was done pri or, to verify the votes. He said that Lowenfield had ex plained that this new meth od would add efficiency to the process.

“He said it’s more admin istratively efficient to use this spreadsheet to report to the nation,” Singh recount ed.

But he disclosed that he had no idea what was on the spreadsheets, how they were prepared, by whom, using which data and when.

Despite objections from the agents of the various po

litical parties, Singh said, the GECOM officials contin ued using the spreadsheets to reconcile their figures with those of the SoPs in pos session of the party agents and observers present.

Copies of these SoPs are giv en to agents of political par ties and accredited observers at the Polling Stations af ter votes were counted. The stakeholders then would use their copies to verify figures being used by the Returning Officers to ascertain the votes from each district.

During this verification process, however, stakehold ers continuously observed discrepancies between the figures being called out from the spreadsheets and those contained in 17 out of 21 SoPs verified.

“The first 21 SoPs that I had in my possession from East Bank [Demerara – one of the four sub-districts in Region Four] 17 of them were materially different from the numbers being called by the GECOM people from the spreadsheet…”

“Strangely enough, ev eryone was a casualty ex cept the APNU/AFC. Of course, the party that had the biggest casualty was the PPP/C. So, what was hap pening, they were deflating everybody’s number except the APNU/AFC. And the APNU numbers were being inflated,” Singh testified.

According to Singh, this led to loud outbursts and ob jections by the party agents resulting in CEO Lowenfield intervening.

He noted that while Lowenfield did not enquiry from the DROs where the figures on the spreadsheets were derived from, he did conduct an exercise with a

sample of three SoPs from the 21 and reverted to the original procedure during which the discrepancies with the spreadsheet numbers were confirmed.

“[The CEO used] the orig inal SoPs in the possession of GECOM and compared it with the SoPs that the rep resentatives had, and… the GECOM SoP reconciled ex actly with the three SoPs that I had in my posses sion… The spreadsheet was very wrong,” he added.

Singh noted that at that point Lowenfield acknowl edged the discrepancies on the spreadsheet and left to go talk to the Election Commission. He then re turned later that evening and indicated that a decision was taken to revert to using the SoPs for the verification process.

During his testimony, Singh also recalled that the following day, RO Mingo re turned to Ashmin’s Building on March 5, 2020 and at tempted to declare the re sults for District Four, which was divided into four sub-districts, since the Demerara-Mahaica region is the largest voting district in the country.

But, according to Singh, at the time, none of the sub-districts were complet ed. In fact, the verification of South Georgetown and East Bank Demerara was incomplete, while work had not even started to veri fy the results for the North Georgetown and East Coast Demerara sub-districts.

“[Mingo] came into the room, everyone was qui et at that point in time, and he said that I will now be declaring the results for District Number Four with

Cabinet greenlights consortium...

The PPP/C Administration is confident that this Gas-to-Energy proj ect would significantly slash electricity costs in Guyana by at least half of what current ly obtains. In fact, President Ali pointed out on Thursday that the project generation costs, taking account of pay ment for the pipeline, op erations and maintenance (O&M), and capital cost re

covery, would take ener gy costs to less than five US cents per kilowatt hour.

“Fellow Guyanese, this is a significant movement for ward in Guyana, not only achieving energy securi ty, but us achieving an im portant benchmark; that is: a reduction in our energy costs so that our manufac turing and industrial devel opment and expansion can

take place, and so that the ordinary families and the or dinary people can feel a sub stantial reduction in the cost of electricity in their pockets and in their household. Just for reference, a family at the end of this project that now pays GY$20,000 per month in light bill or electricity costs will see that costs com ing down to GY$10,000,” the Head of State stressed. (G8)

Giddings recalled that on March 5, 2020 about 10:45h, he and his staff in the Tabulation Centre, which is separate from the area where the District Four votes were being rec onciled, were informed that there was a bomb threat to the building and that they should evacuate.

The IT Manager said they immediately complied with the exception of his dep uty, who remained behind to back-up the data they had compiled thus far on a flash drive, after which he also left.

While they were out side the building at a mus ter point, Giddings said he received a call from the then Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers, asking if he pro cessed a back-up and to hand

over the flashdrive.

Giddings noted that while the DCEO’s request was abnormal, he complied and handed over the flash drive, which has been miss ing since.

He went on to recall that while they were still outside, he made a decision to re turn to the building to power off the server and remove it from the facility for its pro tection. This, he explained, is in keeping with protocols outlined in GECOM’s IT Division Disaster Recovery Plan, which allows for the re moval of servers from prem ises in certain situations. He told the Commission that a bomb threat was an appro priate situation to apply that protocol.

However, Giddings relat ed that while in the process of removing the device, the DCEO entered the tabula tion centre and after he in

formed her of what he was doing, Myers ordered him to leave the server in its place and evacuate the building.

“I removed it nonethe less… She was there and I think she witnessed me walking out with it… She was adamant. I think she repeated her instructions “Leave it! Leave it!”, but I did not respond after that,” the witness recalled.

That server contained data on the tabulation pro cess that was ongoing.

Giddings said Myers did not indicate why she want ed him to leave the server and that he had no time to enquire given the emergency situation.

The IT Manager said he then secured the server in his vehicle in the parking lot at Ashmin’s before returning to the muster point opposite the building.

Manager says DCEO ordered him to leave server, documents now missing behind during bomb threat

Sasenarine Singh

GECOM’s IT Manager, Aneal Giddings

2 men on trial for murder of Gafoor’s manager

ing as a manager at Gafoor’s.

The two: David Outar, 29, formerly of Foulis, East Coast Demerara (ECD); and - Patrick Ross, 32, for merly of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD), have pleaded not guilty to a joint indictment for the capital offence of murder. They are being represent ed by Attorneys-at-Law Stacy Goodings and Adrian Thompson, while State Counsel Muntaz Ali and Simran Gajraj are present ing the prosecution’s case.

Two men are on trial before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall and a mixed 12-member jury in the Demerara High Court for the 2016 murder of Terry Lackhan, who, at the time of his demise, had been work

The charge they face al leges that on July 21, 2016, at Herstelling, EBD, they murdered Terry Lackhan during the course or further ance of a robbery. Reports are that the lifeless body of the 55-year-old Lackhan was discovered by a neigh bour on the night of July 21, 2016, shortly after a man was reportedly seen exiting his home with several bags

in his possession. According to reports, Lackhan’s body was found next to a ward robe, and a rope had been tied around his neck. Several bottles of tablets and photo graphs of his family mem bers were also found close to

his body.

From the evidence, Lackhan’s killers were at tempting to stage the scene to make it appear as though he had committed suicide. Lackhan and Outar had been co-workers. (G1)

Desperation...

…in PNC Camp

If you, dear reader, had any doubts about the state of affairs inside the PNC in dealing with the PPP’s full court press, those doubts should be totally dispelled after PNC MP Vinceroy Jordan’s uncouth faux pas. Imagine literally blocking Public Services Minister Sonya Parag from interacting with residents of Belladrum!! So, they’re gonna fence off communities that had voted straight PNC since the 1950s?!! Reverse apartheid?? They remind your Eyewitness of deer frozen in headlights!!

Seems like when Pres Ali dropped in on the West Berbice community a few weeks back, he was asked about some assistance for some community project – an ICT hub or library, etc, for youths. He deputised Minister Parag to follow up. She duly informed the NDC Chair, and drove down to a community building - where she was to meet some of the residents who’d requested the assistance. And this was where the desperation exploded: blocking the door with the villagers inside was the PNC MP - along with the PNC Chair of the Community Development Council (CDC).

It's déjà vu all over again of what happened at Mocha a few months back, when the PNC also considered they had “transport” over those residents. So, when Pres Ali held a meeting and their NDC Chair was cussed out when he tried to embarrass the President, the PNC saw their only Trump card remaining – the race card – become a Joker in the pack!! Let’s face it: you can only go so far to rile up your supporters by telling them the Government’s discriminating against them – even constructing an “emerging apartheid state” - when the same Government’s trooping into their communities doling out assistance and infrastructure like there’s no tomorrow!!

The PNC’s response up to now was to cry foul that the Central Government wasn’t “going through” the local organs they control - like the NDC. Destroying Local Government!! But Local Government is supposed to take care of things the Central Government can’t, right? So, when the latter wants to do the things, how’d you stop them?? Clearly, when the PNC observed “their people” didn’t mind the direct assistance –followed by the formation of independent or PPP-affiliated groups to ensure the handouts become more permanent for “development” – they know their “transports” are being challenged in the court of public opinion!!

But why physically prevent public officials from entering a public space – especially when invited by locals?? Isn’t that taking politics a bit too far?? Your Eyewitness suspects the PNC higher-ups feel that desperate times call for desperate measures. Now, frankly, there’s no doubt that the PPP are in full (and maybe PERMANENT) campaign mode. And they have the wherewithal to keep on going like the Eveready bunny!!

Poor PNC!!

…for Facebook

We all know the story of Facebook - which revolutionised how the world communicated. But if it’s one thing we’ve learnt in this tech business, it’s that obsolescence comes fast and furiously!! First it was the hardware doubling computational speed computation every two years – and now’s the turn of the software. Facebook – which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp – was launched only in 2004, and by last year had almost FOUR BILLION accounts!!

But, sadly, a few years ago, the young’uns - who keep these things going - concluded that Facebook was now passe – it was for their grandparents!! And into the gap had stepped new platforms like Twitter, Tic Toc and Twitch. What’s Facebook to do to keep its US$86 billion revenues flowing?? Reinvent itself as Meta, that’s what. It decided that the METAVERSE would be the next big thing. You’d just don those goggles and literally experience new worlds by purchasing virtual clothes, homes, women, men etc!! They invested more than US$10 billion annually.

But they’ve just slashed 11,000 workers. Bust??

…rigging

The evidence of the 2020 rig keeps piling up as the testimony continues flowing from those who were there in the Ashmin’s Building. Imagine ordering the GECOM Chief Security Officer to remove all observers, and when he refused, arrange for a “bomb scare”!!

Dead: Terry Lackhan

Murder accused David Outar Murder accused Patrick Ross

2 rangers feared dead after boat mishap in Cuyuni River

with fuel and other items left Imbaimadai and was heading to Jawalla, also in Region Seven.

Speaking with this news paper on Thursday evening, a senior village official said that a search party was formed, but the two men were not found.

According to the offi cial, while the boat and en gine were not located, sever al drums of fuel, zinc sheets, and other items that were in the boat were found floating in the water.

Multi-agency committee addressing influx of Venezuelan migrants into Guyana

rangers, who are former employees of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) are feared drowned after the boat in which they were travelling capsized in the Cuyuni River, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

Two

The missing men are Terrance Thomas and Germaine LaRose.

Reports are that the inci

dent occurred sometime be tween 03:00h and 04:00h on Thursday.

Guyana Times was told that the rangers, along with the captain of the vessel and another man, were on board at the time of the accident.

The captain and the oth er passenger managed to swim ashore, but the two rangers were not seen. The boat, which was loaded

Man found dead in well at Lethem

GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison told this publication on Thursday evening that a report was received about the incident, but he cannot confirmed if the missing men were cur rent or former employees of the agency.

He said that he was told that one of the men is a for mer GGMC employee and he has since sought further in formation.

Police have since launched an investigation.

ForeignAffairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd convened a meeting of the Multi-agency Coordinating Committee to address the influx of mi grants from Venezuela into Guyana.

The meeting was held on Wednesday.

Present at the meet ing were key stakeholders,

the relevant Government agencies and internation al partners such as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The meet ing received reports from the agencies on the ongoing efforts that are being under taken to address the situ ation of the migrants from Venezuela. The importance

of data gathering and infor mation sharing among the agencies was underscored, to allow for a coordinated approach to address the is sues faced by the migrants in Guyana. He reminded the meeting that such collabo ration would greatly assist in the maximisation of the resources available to the Committee to carry out its functions.

are investi gating the circumstances surrounding the death of Michael Adolph, whose body was found in a well at the Tabatinga Housing Scheme on Thursday at about 16:00h.

Police have since taken the body out of the well.

Police in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo),

Dead: Michael Adolph

Detectives examining the well in which the man’s body was found (Rupununi News Online photo)

Missing: Terrance Thomas Germaine LaRose

The meeting which was held on Wednesday being chaired by Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd

Bill tabled to revoke DPP’s power to direct Magistrates

before the magistrate who discharged the accused per son, that such a course of ac tion is required. If the DPP or discharged person is ag grieved by the Judge’s de cision, an appeal against that decision shall lie to the Court of Appeal of Guyana.

of Justice (CCJ) had earli er this year ruled, in the lo cal case of Marcus Bisram vs the Director of Public Prosecutions, that a law that renders a magistrate’s professional decision-mak ing subject to the dictates of another official cuts straight through Article 122A of the Constitution of Guyana, and the CCJ had therefore de clared it unconstitutional and void.

Article 122A (1) states, “All courts and all persons presiding over the courts shall exercise their func tions independently of the

control and direction of any other person or authority; and shall be free and inde pendent from political, exec utive, and any other form of direction and control.”

Section 72 of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act out lines the procedure to be em ployed in committing an ac cused person to stand trial. It confers the DPP with the authority to direct a mag istrate, after the discharge of an accused person at the end of a preliminary inqui ry (PI), to reopen the said PI and commit the accused per son once the DPP believes a prima facie case has been es tablished.

Section 72 of the Act will be amended in the manner recommended by the CCJ —Guyana’s court of last re sort. With the amendment, the DPP, if aggrieved by the decision of a magistrate to discharge an accused person at the end of a PI, can now make an ex-parte applica tion to a Judge of the High Court for a warrant to arrest and commit the discharged person for trial.

The judge may grant that application only if he/ she is of the view, from the evidence that was placed

Prior to the Bill be ing tabled on Monday, the Government, in keeping with its policy of consulting with important stakehold ers on matters of national importance, sent copies of the Bill along with an invi tation for their comments to the DPP, Shalimar AliHack, SC; Senior Police Legal Advisor, Sonia Joseph; President of the Guyana Bar Association, Pauline Chase; and President of the Berbice Bar Association, Horatio Edmonson.

New laws

Since assuming office al most two years ago, the PPP Government has passed new laws and amended exist ing ones in an effort to keep pace with the growth of the country’s jurisprudence.

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, has assured that such works will contin ue, because Guyana is a sov ereign country and must tai lor its legal system to meet the idiosyncrasies and pecu liarities of society.

Like other Commonwealth countries, Guyana inherited its legal system from the British. Although this system is not perfect, Nandlall had previ ously said “it is regarded as the most perfect man-made system in the world; that is the beauty of the British le gal system.”

This, he noted, does not mean Guyana is not work ing on developing its sys tem. (G1)

Husband accused of...

It has been reported that, on August 23, Gonsalves was doused with hot porridge during an argument with her abusive husband at their La Parfaite Harmonie home. A relative of the dead wom

an had told Guyana Times that they were first told that the woman was burned on the face while cooking, but when they arrived at the hospital, they were told that she was burned with boiling porridge by her abusive hus band during an argument.

It has further been re ported that this was not the first time that Gonsalves had been abused by the man.

Following that incident, the woman had been admit ted as a patient at the West Demerara Regional Hospital with severe burns to her face, back and other parts of her body.

Ajay Persaud had fled the scene after that inci dent, but was captured in Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) and charged with attempted murder, and was remanded to prison.

Gonsalves died as a re sult of sepsis brought about by the burns about her body.

TheGovernment has tabled a Bill to amend Section 72 of the

Criminal Law (Procedure) Act, which empowers the Director of Public

Prosecutions (DPP) to direct a magistrate. The Caribbean Court

DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC

Guyana discusses improved drainage, high-value crops with Japan

Potential areas of collaboration were on Wednesday discussed between Guyana and Japan as new Ambassador, Matsubara Yutaka, met with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha.

These two officials have explored partnerships in the agriculture sector, more so in relation to improved drain age and irrigation, as well as the devel opment of high-value, non-traditional crops and the fisheries sector.

“The two officials also discussed how Guyana can benefit from technical sup port to develop the sector through JICA – the Japan International Cooperation Agency - which is chartered with as sisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promo tion of international cooperation,” the Agriculture Ministry has said.

Cash crops have been expanded in recent months, but non-tradition al crops were also undertaken. Highvalue crops like broccoli, cauliflow er and carrot are to be cultivated this year with the construction of 300 shade houses.

In regard to corn and soya cultiva tion, the Agriculture Ministry had tar geted expanding cultivation to 3000 acres this year and 25,000 within three years. The intention is to create a dom ino effect of benefits in livestock and other branches.

Last year, Guyana and Japan also held talks on the development of the lo cal agriculture sector, more specifical ly the aquaculture industry; Guyana wants to double its production in this sector by 2025.

Shrimp harvested on the Corentyne and East Coast Berbice are in high demand in the diaspora. Referred to as the black shrimp, these shell crea

tures, which only strive in areas where both fresh and saltwater meet, can car ry a price of up to US$100 per bucket when exported to North America.

Cultivating prawns inland was also explored for the Upper East Bank Berbice. Some 1000 acres have been set aside for this project, and the Agriculture Ministry is spearheading the project.

Ambassador Yutaka presented his Letters of Credence to President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday. He is the Non-Resident Ambassador

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Guyana. The Head of State has said that Japan has been a part of Guyana’s development for a very long time in several areas, including through support for the Private Sector and the grant aid support system.

Ambassador Yutaka has also hailed the shared fundamental values of Guyana and Japan, and their be lief in international peace and securi ty. Moreover, he has committed to ad vancing cooperation between these two countries. (G12)

School Boards Secretariat wants transparency in finances, management at institutions

TheSchool Boards Secretariat has been stringently ensuring that all institutions within its remit are managed with full transparency, especial ly in relation to finances. There currently are 37 insti tutions governed by boards, including schools, technical facilities and tertiary insti tutions.

Director of the School Boards Secretariat, Deonarine Hardat, shared in this week’s Education Spotlight that heavy empha sis is placed on transparency and accountability. He out lined, “We know finance is a big thing; we want transpar ency. Within the Ministry of Education, anything being done is not done in privacy; it is very much transparent to the eyes of the public…,”

Continuing, he said, “We can liaise very quickly with the Board Chairs, and we can (have) meetings with them. We have a WhatsApp group (through which) they can be reached very quick ly.”

Hardat has explained that the responsibilities of the Secretariat include: ori entation and installation of new board members; ap pointment of junior and se

nior staff to fill vacancies; upgrading statuses of teach ers; and transfers or second ments of teachers, among other roles.

Hardat underscored that the Secretariat plays an in tegral role in the effective administration and man agement of institutions gov erned by boards. Boards are subjected to laws and reg ulations as set out by the President’s College Act of 1990.

Japanese Ambassador Matsubara Yutaka with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

Director of the School Boards Secretariat, Deonarine Hardat

“Yankee” remanded, accused of stealing car from bodywork shop

car parked on the road, with three men standing in close proximity of the vehicle.

The men were asked who was the driver of the car, and two of the men pointed out Persaud.

Dehali carried out a

search on Persaud, during which he found the car key, along with the other missing keys, in the man’s pants pocket. He then called the Police, who arrested Persaud.

The unemployed man who was nabbed lim ing with friends after he allegedly stole a car from a bodywork shop in Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) was charged and remanded to prison.

Christopher Persaud, called “Mohan” and “Yankee” of Craig, EBD, was arrested on Wednesday by ranks of the Golden Grove

Police Station and charged on Thursday for the offence of simple larceny.

It is alleged that the Toyota Premio motor car, PSS 6964, valued $2,400,000 belongs to 22-year-old Aneesa Yusuf of Diamond Housing Scheme, EBD.

The man appeared at the Diamond-Golden Grove Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Judy Latchman. He denied the offence and was remanded to prison. The case will continue on December 5, 2022.

Reports are that Police arrested the 22-year-old man, who was allegedly in possession of both the keys

and vehicle .

According to Police, Yusuf took her car to Rameshwar Dehali, a 41-year-old auto-body re pairman of Grove Squatting Area to be sprayed, but the car was stolen between November 8 and November 9, 2022, between 18:30h and 08:00h. The incident oc curred at Lot 6 Tank Street, Grove.

Dehali said that he parked the car in the yard, and returned the following day to commence work on the vehicle, but then discov ered the car was missing. The keys of several other vehicles were also missing.

The lone security guard, who was left in the com pound, was not at the site.

According to business man Dehali, he immediate ly tried to contact the guard via cellphone to enquire from him if he had removed the vehicle, but to no avail.

He thereafter contacted Yusuf via cellphone, and en quired from her if she had collected her vehicle, and she replied in the negative.

A search was immedi ately started for the vehi cle, and based on informa tion received, the search party went to Second Street, Craig, EBD, and saw the

Accused pressure washer thief on $20,000 bail

Twenty-year-old Kester Evans of Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara has been accused of stealing a pres sure washer worth $60,000 from Andrew Freeman at some time between October 21 and 22, 2022.

Appearing yesterday be fore Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrate Judy Latchman, Evans denied the simple lar ceny charge, and has been placed on $20,000 bail.

The case will continue on November 28.

Charged: Christopher Persaud, called “Mohan” and “Yankee”

The stolen car that was recovered

Charged: Kester Evans

Ogle Airport tests emergency response in full-scale exercise

TheEugene F. Correia

International Airport (EFCIA) at Ogle, ECD on Thursday conduct ed its full-scale Emergency Response Exercise in order to test mechanisms and pre paredness ahead of any di sasters.

This exercise, conduct ed within the require ments of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), saw crucial opera tional methods such as res cue methods, security pos ture, operational procedures, processing and triage of in jured victims being assessed; and included a staged air craft fire demonstration. More than 20 agencies and organisations from both the Public and Private Sectors were involved, including first responders and airport per sonnel.

Director-General of the GCAA, retired Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Field, noted that this exercise is extreme ly important when it comes to the safety and security of passengers. Enabling assis tance as quickly as possible in the face of disasters is key, he added.

“Exercises like these re ally help the airport Fire Service, the medic, and all the stakeholders involved to learn what they may not be able to practise in real situ ations. They learn from this, so when it actually happens, they are properly coordinat ed and able to provide the kind of service which is re quired,” Field explained.

While the GCAA official

expressed satisfaction at the way the exercise was con ducted, he also hinted that there is always room for im provement. He explained that in executing these rou tine exercises, a serious ap proach should be employed as if it is an actual emergen cy.

“There are always areas that individuals can sharp en up on, but I will say that I was very much satisfied that the coordination of the team, time which the inci dent happened, and response was very good…I urge that should exercises like this be done in the future, and they are a part of it, that they should take the necessary serious approach of being quick-footed and also very swift.”

Representing the Guyana Fire Service in the exercise was Dwayne Meredith, who is in charge of the Ogle Fire Station. He said GFS per sonnel were “responding” to an aircraft overshooting a runway with 40 persons on board apart from the captain. As such, the GFS led the ex ercise to provide emergency response as if they were re quired to rescue the passen gers and transport them to a safe location.

The live full-scale Emergency Response Exercise is held every two years. The purpose is to re hearse with all the organiza tions that would be involved in an actual emergency, and the intent is to evaluate the preparedness and capabil ities of the airport, its ten ants, and local response agencies.

Responders tending to a passenger during the exercise

Director General of the GCAA, Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d) Egbert Field

New courses available for teachers through Commonwealth of Learning’s support

TheCommonwealth of Learning has been support ing the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) –the agency responsible for in-service teacher profes sional development – by hav ing introduced for 2022 new courses that are designed to strengthen the Centre’s ca pacity to develop materials and offer teacher profession al development online.

The support has enabled 24 education officers to com plete a series of online work shops and post-workshop ac tivities designed to prepare them to develop and facili tate short professional de velopment courses online.

NCERD has now con verted 15 teacher profes sional development courses and made them available on the COL-provided Moodle platform, and seven addi tional courses will be added by the end of 2022.

Director of NCERD, Quenita Walrond Lewis, has applauded the initiative by saying, “Officers have re sponded enthusiastically to the training opportuni ties that COL has provided. NCERD is pleased to have been able to deliver on the important mandate of mak ing our training materi als available online, so that teachers can self-select their professional development experiences based on their

own perceived needs. This unique experience is anoth er NCERD first for the sec tor.”

To sustain the train ing, seven NCERD offi cers were selected as lead trainers, and at the end of September, they completed a short coaching course that prepared them to train and provide ongoing support to their colleagues in design ing, developing, and teach ing online courses.

According to COL Education Specialist Dr Mairette Newman, “Assisting NCERD to real ise their vision to offer train ing programmes online has been an honour. We’re excit ed to see them expand their

in-person onsite training courses, so teachers can now access professional learning through the Moodle plat form.”

During the pandem ic, Guyana entered into a partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning and Coursera, and in less than 6 months had real ised more than 43,305 cer tificates issued to 9,473 Guyanese, making Guyana a leading country as it re lates to registrants and graduates.

The Ministry had, at that time, announced free access to 4000 certi fied online courses follow ing a partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning. Courses were offered by Ivy League universities and other reputable insti tutions in areas of study such as Arts, Business, Computer Science, Health, and Engineering on the on line platform Coursera.

Coming out of the chal lenges posed by the pandem

ic, Guyana has witnessed a steadfast return to rela tive normalcy in the educa tion sector, and has seen the expansion of the country’s only teacher training col lege with the aim of 100 per cent of teachers having been trained or are in training by 2024. (G12)

School Boards Secretariat wants transparency..

Director Hardat ex plained the process to ap point a board, “School boards are actually formed after documentation is … submitted by the school. There is a channel that must be followed: the prin cipal would prepare the pro posed list of members, (and the list is) dispatched to the Department of Education. It will then be sent to the Regional Executive Officer. Once that is done, it is dispatched to the School Boards Secretariat for pro cessing.”

Each board is governed by a chairperson, and com prises no less than 12 and no more than 22 members.

The principal and depu ty principal are considered ex-officio members. From these boards, the Human Resource and Disciplinary Committee; Cultural Committee; Curriculum and Development Committee; and Finance Committee are formed.

In the future, more at tention would be placed on having more institutions governed by boards in the country, Hardat shared. “It’s in discussion, and now being readily finalised. We have schools that are un

der construction current ly that we’re looking to be board schools, so that they can be easily managed and governed,” he disclosed.

The School Boards Secretariat holds as much power and authori ty as the Teaching Service Commission. Boards have been given wide powers and concomitant responsi bilities in keeping with the provisions of the PC Act of 1990. Specific objectives of school boards are: to pro mote a more supportive home-school-community environment; to make the school community more ac countable for the delivery of education; to encourage the community to be more responsive to the educa tion of its young citizens; to monitor and evaluate all aspects of school opera tions; and to make optimal use of all available resourc es.

Institutions governed by a board include the Bishops’ High School, St Stanislaus College, President’s College, Georgetown Technical Institute, Essequibo Technical Institute, and the Cyril Potter College of Education. (G12)

“Hold your leaders accountable” − Sukhai tells Karasabai

Villagers

have been en couraged to use their collective voices and hold leaders accountable when infractions are com mitted by those elected lead ers.

Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai made the call on Wednesday after she formally present ed a report on the findings of an investigation into the alleged misuse of financial resources by former Toshao of Karasabai, Marlon Edwards, to acting Toshao Elvis Edwards.

Sukhai told villagers if things were not done the right way, communities would continue to lose reve nues to dishonest leaders.

“You have to take ac tion; it is your village, it is your funds that are accred ited, or your finances that are assigned for critical vil lage projects, and when peo ple misuse those monies, the benefits from those projects that were supposed to go to the people disappear. And it is your people who cannot feel positive growth or devel opment when that happens and it is your responsibility to take a stand against such behaviour,” she is quoted as saying in a Department of Public Information (DPI) re port.

The investigation was launched in June after vil

lagers petitioned to remove Edwards owing to major fi nancial infractions.

A committee was sub sequently appointed by the Amerindian Affairs Minister in keeping with Section 28 (1) of the Amerindian Act, comprising representatives from the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC), Regional Democratic Council (RDC), and the Ministry.

Investigations were concluded and the report was submitted to Minister Sukhai in keeping with the Act.

Among the recommen dations was the immediate formal removal of Edwards as Toshao, a thorough au

dit into the Village Council and the matter be forwarded to the Guyana Police Force, since huge sums of money were unaccounted for.

Edwards was suspended from the post back in June to facilitate the investiga tion.

“It means now that with the notice of removal, the new Council will have to en sure that they present all the documents and trans actions of the accounting aspect of the affairs under the removed Toshao and the Ministry will appoint an auditing team to audit,” Minister Sukhai related.

She commended the res idents of Karasabai for us

ing their voices to hold their leaders accountable. The current Village Council was implored to work in the best interest of the community.

“I want to say to you who have been asked to lead over the period of investigation, I want to thank you for your service, your service is not over. It is now to continue and for you to involve with the people to ensure you don’t make the same mis take that has been made and that you will also consider at your council meeting to have the matter, which is serious, into the hands of the Police. It is your duty now to make that move,” the Minister said.

Region 6 on track to complete 2022 work programme

The Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) administration is well on track to complete its 2022 work programme.

To date, the Region has completed 90 per cent of its planned work for the year.

The administration is boasting that it has devel oped a good working rela tionship with contractors in the region despite having to read the riot act to one.

Currently, there are a lot of capital programmes taking place in Region Six; however, Regional Vice Chairman Zamal Hussain said most of those projects are being undertaken by the Public Works Ministry and other agencies.

This year the region is seeing close to 500 roads be ing upgraded. According to the Vice Chairman, who also heads the Regional Works Committee, the region has completed 90 per cent of its planned work programme and hopes to reach 100 per cent before the year ends.

According to him, four major projects are still on going.

Addressing the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Hussain said one of the projects was the jetty at Baracara on which work has started. He explained that the contractor experienced

some difficulty getting mate rials to the site.

That riverine communi ty is located 63.64 kilome tres (140 miles) up the Canje River.

The Regional Vice Chairman noted that along with the Regional Executive Officer and the Regional Engineer, he met with the contractor.

“We had to read the riot act to him and as such, the work is ongoing,” Hussain said.

Among the other ongoing projects is the health cen tre at Fort Ordinance. That project, he pointed, is almost finished.

“Very shortly that will be completed along with the Number 52 and Number 46 sluices are all in prog ress and will be finished before the end of the year. Basically, these are the four major projects from the $1.6 billion that we were allocat ed.”

Of that sum $1.4 billion has already been spent.

The Vice Chairman, who was presenting a works com mittee report to the RDC, was questioned about some issues with some of the con tractors executing projects in Region Six. He noted that not all of the work was being undertaken by regional au thorities. (G4)

Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai addressing villagers at Karasabai

CDEMA rolling out programme for better search and rescue

standards within the Fire and Rescue Service and the emergency medical ser vices industry within the Caribbean,” Maynard said.

He said it would also help responders work better together and improve their service to the public.

“The training togeth er, and the establishment of standard and training to them, will result in trust among the responders and improve the level of ser vice provided. You general ly work better with the per son that you know and are

familiar with their compe tencies. As a small region made up of small depen dent states, we are inter dependent. When one hurts all hurt, therefore we must have a structured mecha nism to help each other.”

(Nation News)

GECOM officials used spreadsheet...

Clear of threat

Shortly after, he received a call from the DCEO, who instructed him to return the server and power it back on.

TheCaribbean Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) has partnered with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and World Hope International (WHI) to create a more ef fective Search and Rescue (SAR) programme in the re gion.

The announcement was made at the launch of the Search and Rescue train ing exercise that was con ducted at the Barbados Fire Academy in Arch Hall, St Thomas earlier this week.

Executive Director at CDEMA, Elizabeth Riley

said the previous pro gramme needed to be re vamped since the Caribbean was prone to both natural and man-made hazards.

“While the Search and Rescue programme has served the CDEMA region very well over the last 18 years, it was recognised that there was a need for a consolidation and enhance ment in order to create a more wholesome SAR pro gramme in the region.”

She said it would con sist of two main focuses that aimed at improving SAR in terventions. For phase one of the programme, emergen cy personnel from Barbados

and Antigua and Barbuda will gather at the Barbados Fire Academy for training in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) until November 11.

They will be taught how to extricate and provide medical assistance to people trapped in confined spaces due to terrorism, natural di sasters, and accidents.

Chief Fire Officer of the Barbados Fire Service and President of CAFC, Errol Maynard, said the training exercise was necessary to have consistent practices in the Caribbean.

“Our obligation is not only to build capacity but also to establish common

“I enquired whether the building was clear of the threat. She repeated her in struction… No response [from her on whether the building was safe]. The in struction was repeated and then the call ended… I did not comply,” Giddings testi fied.

He went on to say that af ter some time, he observed persons re-entering the building and went to enquire if it was clear of the threat, but was confronted by the DCEO, who again hurled in structions at him to return the server.

At that point, Giddings said he saw the GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh and sought her guidance. He said the Chair indicated that he should return to the building with the server and his staff, which he did.

The server was powered back up and while they were preparing to resume the tab ulation process, the DCEO entered the room and an nounced that the process would be halted since there was a breach of procedures.

“She informed the staff that there was a breach of protocol against the instruc tions of the Secretariat and that the server was removed from the facility, and the pro

cess will, therefore, be halt ed,” Giddings said.

He added that Myers then instructed the staff to go home, and they complied except for himself and his deputy.

“After I observed the state of the centre – we would have had Statements of Poll… in various areas of the cen tre – and I don’t think that I could have simply walked out knowing that those doc uments were signed for my staff under my command and were not signed out to where it was intended to go. So, I felt the need to stick around and organise and categorise and secure those documents inclusive of the equipment and the data, the server so that I could leave the place in a state where I had no more involvement, and I was safe in my mind that these things were secured, because these were Statements of Poll and data from Statements of Poll…[they were of] nation al and critical importance,” he informed the Commission.

With regard to the server, Giddings explained that he placed masking tape around it and placed markings on it in such a way that it would be detected if someone were to tamper with the device.

But while in the process of doing this, another call was received from the DCEO who asked him if he was do ing something unlawful with the SoPs.

“I said no, I was simply

assembling them to be sent to her office… She respond ed very aggressively and said to leave the centre… that the Chief Accountant will come lock up the facility,” he indi cated.

At that point, the IT Manager said he was almost complete with organising and securing the documents in the room, so they finished off and left.

Giddings said when he re turned to Ashmin’s Building the following morning, it was locked up and cordoned off with party representatives and observers standing out side. He then left to go to his office at GECOM’s head of fice in Kingston.

Items missing

According to the IT Manager, he did not return to Ashmin’s until March 23, 2020 and upon entering the tabulation centre, “I had ob served that several items were missing… I retrieved the remainder of the items that were there and when I returned to the headquar ters, I wrote to the CEO in forming him of my observa tions.”

Giddings said there was no response from the CEO on this matter despite it being a serious occurrence. He add ed too that there were about 17 cameras in the centre, but they were not installed by GECOM and therefore, he could not say the location of the footage. (G8)

Participants in the search and rescue workshop at the Barbados Fire Academy in Arch Hall, St Thomas (Picture by Reco Moore)

Sandy Hook defamation case Alex Jones ordered to pay $473M in punitive damages

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay $473 million in puni tive damages for his defam atory claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting, a Connecticut judge ruled on Thursday.

The ruling came a month after a jury in Waterbury, Connecticut, found that Jones and the parent com pany of his Infowars website must pay more than a dozen relatives of Sandy Hook vic tims nearly $1 billion in com pensatory damages for false ly claiming they were actors who staged the shooting as part of a government plot to seize Americans’ guns.

In a separate order late Wednesday, the judge, Barbara Bellis, temporari ly blocked Jones from mov ing any personal assets out of the country. The ruling came at the request of the plaintiffs, who claim Jones is trying to hide assets to avoid paying.

Jones is now on the hook for a total of $1.49 billion in damages in two Sandy Hook defamation cases that went to trial this year. A third case is pending in Texas.

On Dec. 14, 2012, a gun man murdered his mother, then killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School be fore killing himself. The con spiracy theories amplified by Infowars on its website, social media and a show hosted by Jones led to years of threats and other harass ment of the parents of the

murdered children.

In their request for pu nitive damages, the plain tiffs said Jones should pay the maximum penalty avail able for the “historic” scale of his wrongdoing and “utter lack of repentance.” Jones has since acknowledged the shooting took place but re fused to apologize to the families during his trial tes timony.

In a statement, plain tiffs’ attorney Chris Mattei said the ruling “serves to re inforce the message of this case: Those who profit from lies targeting the innocent will face justice.”

Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, said in a statement that “the verdict was trage dy, this latest ruling is farce. It makes our work in appeal that much easier.”

Pattis has argued in court filings that the verdict is excessive and should be reduced. He is also seeking a new trial over what he says were unfair pretrial rulings.

Jones’ company, Free

Remote working will end, says Musk to Twitter staff

success.

The trial in Connecticut came two months after Jones and the parent compa ny of his Infowars site were hit with a nearly $50 mil lion verdict in a similar case brought by two Sandy Hook parents in Austin, Texas, where Infowars is based.

Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in Texas in July. Some experts doubt the move will offer much protection for Jones’ assets, even if he is not able to pay the full judgments against him.

The Sandy Hook families have intervened in the case, urging a judge to freeze Free Speech Systems’ assets and investigate its finances. They claim Jones pulled $62 million from the company while burdening it with $65 million in “fabricated” debt. (Reuters)

34 Jamaican fishermen held in Colombia to return home

Thirty-four Jamaican fishermen who were held in Colombia on allegations of illegal fishing, are scheduled to return to the island on Friday, a day earlier than previously an nounced. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith made the revelation in a statement on Thursday.

“The Jamaican fisher men are expected to arrive in Port Royal at approxi mately 11:00 pm on Friday, November 11, subject to fa vourable conditions at sea,” the Minister said in the statement.

“The Jamaican and

Colombian coast guards have agreed to meet at a co ordinating point at 8:00 am tomorrow to allow for the transfer of the crew mem bers from the Colombian vessel to the Jamaican ves sel. Two representatives of PICA (Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency) will also be present alongside the JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) to receive the crew,” the statement continued.

Meanwhile, as it re lates to the foreign nation als who are also members of the crew, the Minister highlighted that, “checks have revealed that four na tionals from the Dominican

Republic are legally em ployed to operate in Jamaica and will therefore be in cluded in the repatriation to Jamaica on Friday. The Honduran and Nicaraguan authorities have been ad vised of the circumstances of their nationals who have not been able to demon strate a legal right to work in Jamaica.”

Minister Johnson Smith further explained that the owner of the seized Jamaican vessel has made arrangements for receiv ing the crew members and transferring them to their respective destinations. (Jamaica Observer)

ElonMusk has told Twitter staff that re mote working will end and “difficult times” lie ahead, according to reports.

In an email to staff, the owner of the social media firm said workers would be expect ed in the office for at least 40 hours a week, Bloomberg re ported.

Mr Musk added that there was “no way to sugar coat the message” that the slowing global economy was going to hit Twitter’s advertising rev enues.

The BBC has contacted Twitter for comment.

The San Francisco-based company told its staff in May 2020 that they could work from home “forever” if they wished to, because the com pany believed its remote working measures during Covid lockdowns had been a

But Mr Musk has been on the record as having a dim view of remote work, writ ing on the site he now owns earlier this year that “all the Covid stay-at-home stuff has tricked people into thinking that you don’t actually need to work hard. Rude awaken ing inbound!”

In June, Mr Musk, who also is the boss of Tesla, told staff at the electric car maker that working remotely was no longer acceptable.

Like at Tesla, the entre preneur said he would only grant exemptions personal ly for Twitter staff who want to work remotely. The world’s richest man has already an nounced half of Twitter’s staff were being let go, a week af ter he bought the company in a $44bn (£38.7bn) deal.

Mr Musk said he had

“no choice” over the cuts as the company was los ing $4m (£3.51m) a day. He has blamed “activist groups pressuring advertisers” for a “massive drop in revenue”.

The cuts – as well as Mr Musk’s fierce advocacy of free speech – have led to specula tion that Twitter could water down its efforts on content moderation.

However, Mr Musk has insisted that the platform’s approach to harmful mate rial remains “absolutely un changed”.

As part of his shake-up of the social media platform, Mr Musk is rolling out plans to allow users to buy bluetick verified status for $8 per month. In his email to staff, Mr Musk said he wanted subscriptions to account for half of all Twitter’s revenue. (BBC)

Speech Systems LLC, is also liable for the verdict. It filed for bankruptcy in Texas in July.

Alex Jones

Regional

Caribbean exports grow more than world trade despite slowdown

The value of goods exports from Latin America and the Caribbean continued to grow in the first half of 2022, and though at a slower pace than in the same period of the pre vious year, it surpassed world trade.

According to a new report from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), after grow ing 27.9 per cent in 2021, the value of the Region’s exports increased by 20.6 per cent in the first half of 2022. That growth rate ex ceeded that of world trade, which fell from 25.8 per cent to 17.5 per cent in the same period.

Exports slowed in re sponse to a series of glob al shocks: the conflict in Ukraine, China’s ze ro-COVID policy, and the tightening of monetary policies.

According to the lat est issue of the Trade and Integration Monitor,

which analyses the evo lution of trade flows in Latin America and the Caribbean, the projections for the rest of the year confirm a change in trend in the Region’s exports,

which are moving into a marked slowdown.

In contrast, service ex ports—which had rallied by 26.8 per cent in 2021— continued to grow steadi ly in the first quarter of

16 students suspended after brawl at Meadowbrook High

2022. They grew at an ex ceptionally high rate (53.6 per cent), outstripping the world average, driven by the recovery in internation al travel and transporta tion. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Another Opposition party to boycott Dominica snap poll

The Opposition Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) on Wednesday announced it would boycott the December 6 snap General Election even as the newly-formed Team Unity Dominica (TUD) urged Opposition parties to form a coalition to defeat the rul ing Dominica Labour Party (DLP).

The DFP, which held of fice here between 1980 and 1995, has not fared well in re cent general elections, win ning just two of the 21 seats in the Parliament in 2000 and failing to win any seat since the 2005 General Election.

“The Dominica Freedom Party was founded on princi ples, human rights and integ rity of action. While the deci sion of other political parties to not participate in the elec tions may seem to present a right opportunity for the DFP to be political poachers, it is simply not in the DNA of the party to ignore principles and become naked political op

portunists,” said DFP leader, Bernard Hurtault.

“The DFP cannot in clear conscience continue to vali date a deeply flawed and an ti-democratic election pro cess. The DFP will therefore not contest the December 6, 2022 general election,” he said, adding that the party now views the election date as a “day of liberation”.

“A day when the psycho logical mode of the country shifted to one of empower ment, a day when all those who stand for freedom, jus tice and a better Dominica will coalesce into a movement of civil rights, justice and a new Dominica. My friends, the fight goes on,” Hurtault added.

Nomination Day is set for November 18.

Skerrit, on Sunday, shocked the nation by calling the election three years after he led the DLP to a convincing 18-3 victory over the UWP in the 2019 poll. (Excerpt from Nation News)

Protected status extended to mid-2024 for 6 nationalities

Sixteen

female stu dents of Meadowbrook High in Jamaica have been suspended following a brawl at the school last Friday which was caught on video and widely circulated online.

The St Andrew-based school’s administrators made the revelation at a staff meeting on Thursday.

In a leaked recording of the meeting, the school’s Vice Principal, Lucien Reid, said investigations revealed that the fight was triggered by a love triangle.

“One of the key things that would have caused the conflict has to do with a rela tionship gone sour… a lot of what we saw on video origi nated from that, persons de fending the love or lost love of another individual,” Reid said.

According to the school’s principal, Kevin Facey, the incident occurred last Friday between 14:00h and 14:40h, when four fights

broke out among the feuding students. He said the fights were broken up by the lim ited staff on the compound at the time with the help of sixth formers and some par ents.

The video of the incident shows a number of female students grabbing, kicking and punching one another as several boys are seen at tempting to part the fights.

It is the latest in a wor rying string of violent inci

dents at the nation’s schools.

Last month, a grade 11 student at Kingston Technical High, Michion Campbell, was stabbed to death by another female stu dent at the school.

In June, a 16-yearold student at the Tivoli Gardens High School in Kingston was charged with assaulting a 56-yearold teacher at the institu tion. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

8 cruise ship passengers arrested in US$850,000 drug bust

American cruise ship passengers were taken in to cus tody after they allegedly tried to leave Jamaica with US$850,000 worth of co caine.

Reports are that the eight people disembarked the ves sel which arrived in Ocho Rios from Miami, Florida on

Wednesday.

About 13:30h, they were re-boarding the vessel for departure, and anomalies were reportedly detected in their luggage.

During a search con ducted by members of the Narcotics Division, a total of 24 packages containing co caine weighing just over 17

kilograms (38 pounds) were found concealed in their bags.

The passengers were ar rested for breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

Police say their identities are being withheld pending further investigations.

Investigations are ongo ing. (Jamaica Observer)

The United States has notified El Salvador that temporary pro tected status of its citi zens and those of five other countries will be extend ed through June 30, 2024, Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States, Milena Mayorga said on Thursday.

The other countries are Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal, according to a doc ument filed Thursday by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The action means their tempo rary protected status (TPS) will no longer expire on December 31, 2022 as pre viously scheduled.

"Thanks be to God," said Mayorga, who tweeted the document, adding work vi

Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States, Milena Mayorga

sas for recipients would be valid for another 18 months.

According to the American Immigration

Council, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is provided to nationals of cer tain countries experiencing problems that make it dif ficult or unsafe to deport them back to those coun tries.

The Department of Homeland Security an nounced the extension, set to be published next week, "to ensure its continued compliance" with two on going court cases, the docu ment said.

President Joe Biden's administration in October pulled out of settlement talks that could have pro vided further protections to the TPS enrollees from these countries, accord ing to plaintiffs in the case.

(Reuters)

Mexico violence: At least 9 dead in attack on bar

Gunmen have burst into a bar in Central Mexico and killed at least nine people, local media report.

The attack happened on Wednesday night in the Lexuz bar in Apaseo del Alto in Guanajuato state.

Neighbours said at least seven gunmen had stormed into the venue at 21:20 lo cal time.

The motive for the attack is unclear, but shootouts in bars have become more frequent in Guanajuato,

which has the highest mur der rate in Mexico.

In Wednesday's attack, the victims included five men and four women. One of the dead is reportedly the owner of the bar.

Two of the bodies were found in a car. It is not clear whether the two men were fleeing from the at tack or whether they were hit by stray bullets.

Much of the violence is blamed on a turf war be tween the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG)

and its rivals from the Santa Rosa de Lima criminal gang.

The CJNG, which has its power base in the neigh bouring state of Jalisco, has been making inroads into Guanajuato, where the Santa Rosa de Lima group controls much of the fuel theft and smuggling.

Last month, 12 peo ple were killed while at a beer hall in the town of Irapuato and in September, a shootout in a pool hall in Tarimoro left 10 people dead. (BBC News)

The value of the Region’s exports increased by 20.6 per cent in the first half of 2022

Eight

Screengrab of a viral video showing brawling students at Meadowbrook High School

Oil prices settle 1% higher on tepid US inflation data

Oil prices settled one per cent higher on Thursday, ending lower for the first time this week, as tamerthan-expected US inflation data offset worries that renewed COVID-19 curbs in China would hurt fuel demand.

After three days of declines, crude futures rallied after the inflation data supported investor hopes that the Federal Reserve would temper its interest rate hikes, which could support oil demand.

"(Consumer Price Index data) could be the turning point investors have craved," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

"There's still plenty of pain ahead, but things suddenly look ever-so-slightly more positive," Erlam said.

Brent crude settled 1.1 per cent higher at US$93.67, a US1.02 gain. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.8 per cent to settle at US$84.67, or 64 cents higher.

However, China is battling a rebound in COVID-19 infections in several economically-vital cities, including Beijing. Concerns on additional mobility restrictions are keeping a lid on crude price gains, said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS.

In the manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, millions of residents were told to get tested on Wednesday.

Russia's withdrawal of troops from Kherson in Ukraine also held price gains in check, said Matt Smith, analyst at Kpler.

Crude surged earlier this year as Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised concerns about supply, with Brent coming close to its record high of US$147 a barrel. Prices have since fallen on concerns of a possible recession. Brent has dropped more than six per cent this week.

The market also came under pressure on Wednesday from a big rise in US crude inventories, up by 3.9 million barrels to their highest level since July 2021. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Around the World

Ukraine war: Kyiv claims major gains as Russia exits Kherson

TheUkrainian army says it has made ma jor gains over the last day around Kherson, af ter Russia said it was with drawing from the southern city.

Ukrainian troops say they have taken back the key town of Snihurivka, 50 kilometres (30 miles) to the north of Kherson.

Kyiv has also claimed big pushes on two fronts near Kherson, including advanc es of seven km in some plac es.

Russia says it has started to exit the city – its top gain in the invasion – but the process could take weeks.

Wednesday's announce

ment was viewed as a major setback for Moscow's war ef fort, though Ukrainian offi cials were sceptical – warn ing that the manoeuvre could be a trap.

There was no immediate

Control of US Congress still undecided as midterm vote counting continues

Twodays after Americans went to the polls, control of both Houses of the US Congress remained up in the air, with 31 seats in the House of Representatives too close to call and hundreds of thou sands of ballots still being counted in the key battle ground state of Arizona, of ficials said.

Republicans have cap tured at least 211 House seats, Edison Research pro jected, seven short of the 218 needed to wrest the House away from Democrats and effectively halt President

KFC apologises after German Kristallnacht promotion

KFC has apologised after sending a pro motional message to customers in Germany, urging them to commem orate Kristallnacht with cheesy chicken.

The Nazi-led series of attacks in the coun try in 1938 left more than 90 people dead, and de stroyed Jewish-owned businesses and places of worship.

It is widely seen as the beginning of the Holocaust.

The message, heavily criticised for its insensi

tivity, was later blamed on "an error in our system".

The fast-food chain sent an app alert on Wednesday, saying: "It's memorial day for Kristallnacht! Treat yourself with more ten der cheese on your crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!"

Around an hour later another message was sent with an apology, according to the Bild newspaper.

"We are very sorry, we will check our internal processes immediately so that this does not happen

again. Please excuse this error," the message is re ported to have said.

Germany takes the November 9 anniversary of Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) serious ly, with numerous memo rial events and discussions scheduled to reflect the Nazis' murder of more than six million Jewish people.

Daniel Sugarman, Director of Public Affairs at the Board of Deputies of British Jews described the original KFC message as "absolutely hideous". (Excerpt from BBC News)

Joe Biden's legislative agen da.

While Republicans re main favoured to win a ma jority in the House, the 31 House contests yet to be de cided include 19 of the most competitive, based on a Reuters analysis of the lead ing nonpartisan forecasters – likely ensuring the final outcome will not be deter mined for some time.

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis arguably had the best night of anyone on Election Day, trouncing his Democratic opponent on his way to re-election and cementing himself as the Republican Party's top rising star.

What comes next is trick ier. With Donald Trump ex pected to announce a 2024 presidential bid on Tuesday, DeSantis must decide if he's ready for the political fight of his life by challenging the former President for the Republican nomination.

DeSantis' calculus un doubtedly will be affect ed by the fact that Trump is increasingly viewed as toxic by some Republicans who blame him for the par ty's underwhelming perfor mance in this week's mid term elections.

Trump and the candi dates he supports, they ar gue, lack the broad appeal necessary to win elections – and they fear that hav ing failed two years ago, he would do so again in 2024. (Excerpt from Reuters)

evidence of any mass-scale Russian withdrawal from Kherson.

Ukraine's command er-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said on Thursday that he could not confirm or deny

the pull-out – but said his own forces had made im portant advances.

General Zaluzhny said his soldiers had driven for ward on two fronts on the western bank of the Dnipro River – an area of land which encompasses Kherson – taking control of 12 settle ments.

The 7km gains were made "during the past day", he said, as troops advanced along a northern-eastern axis and a separate western axis.

Video footage showed sol diers being greeted by locals in a square, apparently after en tering the town of Snihurivka. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Climate activists condemn spike in fossil fuel delegates at COP27

Morethan 600 dele gates affiliated with the fossil fuel indus try are attending this year’s climate talks in Egypt, cam paign group Global Witness has found, a number great er than the combined dele gations from the 10 most cli mate-impacted countries.

The attendance at COP27 marks a 25 per cent increase from last year’s summit in Glasgow, Scotland, where the fossil fuel industry al ready counted more dele gates than any single nation.

This year’s biggest sin gle delegation was from the oil-producing United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28 next year. They sent 1070 people to the summit, compared to just 170 last year.

“The path to averting climate catastrophe isn’t through negotiations flood ed with industry lobbyists,” Hellen Neima, director of the African Climate Campaign at

the United States non-prof it Corporate Accountability, told Al Jazeera.

“Enough is enough in treating those most culpa ble for the crisis as ‘partners’ or ‘stakeholders’ in the solu tion,” she said.

The climate summit held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18 – dubbed the “African COP” – has seen nations from the continent argue they should be allowed to develop fossil fuel resourc es to help lift their people out of poverty.

Echoing comments from other African nations, Namibia’s petroleum com missioner Maggy Shino said representatives from many oil and gas companies were attending the summit pre cisely, because “Africa wants to send a message that we are going to develop all of our energy resources for the ben efit of our people”. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Repeat COVID is riskier than 1st infection, study finds

The risk of death, hospitalisation and serious health is sues from COVID-19 jumps significantly with reinfection compared with a first bout with the virus, regardless of vaccination

status, a study published on Thursday suggests.

"Reinfection with COVID-19 increases the risk of both acute out comes and long COVID," said Dr Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University

School of Medicine in St. Louis. "This was evident in unvaccinated, vaccinat ed and boosted people."

The findings were drawn from US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) data collected from March 1,

2020 through April 6, 2022 on 443,588 patients with one SARS-CoV-2 infection, 40,947 with two or more infections, and 5.3 million noninfected individuals. Most of the study subjects were male.

Reinfected patients had a more-than-doubled risk of death and a more-thantripled risk of hospitalisa tion compared with those who were infected with COVID just once. They also had elevated risks

for problems with lungs, heart, blood, kidneys, di abetes, mental health, bones and muscles, and neurological disorders, ac cording to a report pub lished in Nature Medicine.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Kyiv has also claimed big pushes on two fronts near Kherson

Demonstrators participate in a Kick Big Polluters Out protest in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the site of the COP27 climate change conference [Peter Dejong/AP Photo]

DAILY HOROSCOPES

Trust in your strength and ability to follow through and get things done on time. A gathering will give insight into possibilities. Talk to someone who has always supported you.

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

Keep your money and ideas to your self. Gather information, prepare your self for change and arrange to spend time with someone who helps you main tain a positive attitude. Do what’s best for you.

Put your energy where it counts. Take care of business and leave nothing to chance. Keep busy and avoid tempta tion. Update your knowledge and skills to match what’s trending.

(May 21-June 20)

(June 21-July 22) (July 23-Aug. 22)

Engage in something that will give you a platform to share your thoughts or physical skills. Your impact on some one will help bring about change in your community or core group. Speak your mind.

Problems will crop up at home if you move things around or change your schedule without getting approval first. You will experience a difference of opin ion with a partner. Patience will be re quired.

Be careful how you delegate work, or you may end up being phased out by someone you least expect. Don’t trust anyone with time-sensitive information.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Your mind will be in overdrive. Study something you want to pursue, and you’ll be well on your way to accomplish ing what you want. A social event will give you access to valuable people.

Take the high road, regardless of the path others choose. Don’t limit what you can do by making unrealistic promises to someone who doesn’t appreciate you. Keep your eye on your goal.

(Oct. 24-Nov. 22) (Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

Spend time with someone who has been there for you. Listen to grievances and offer solutions. Hands-on help will be appreciated, and the rewards will be better than anticipated.

A change will brighten your day. Change your routine and engage in something that offers a different per spective on life, love and happiness. Help a cause that concerns you.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Push forward and don’t stop until you are happy with the results. Refuse to let anyone ruin your day or stand in your way. Concentrate on what pleas es you and encourages you to get things done.

Sidestep someone’s drama by focus ing on yourself and getting involved in a pursuit that makes you feel good. Romance is on the rise. Now’s the time for low-key productivity.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

CALVIN AND HOBBES

DILBERT

England inflict 10-wicket mauling on India

Forall of England's game-breaking tal ent, this win - which takes them into the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup final - was all about doing the ba sics right. They protected the short square boundary in Adelaide, giving away only two sixes until the start of the death overs; they saw a chance to break open a chase of 169 in the powerplay, when the ball was coming on nicely under the lights, and seized it. The result has been 10 boundaries scored in the first six overs, and their second-highest score against India in a T20I being record ed while the field restrictions were on.

A score of 63 without loss in six overs became 170 with out loss in 16 overs; and Jos Buttler became a superno va while Alex Hales became a dream come true, and Jeetega bhai jeetega became Sweet Caroline.

The Hales gambit

One horrid, rain-soaked night at the MCG, England played the way they swore they never would. The cap tain then came out and said, "Let it hurt!"

Pain is powerful, but just as well as it disorients, it brings clarity, in that it forces people to do every thing possible to never feel

disruptive force within the England team was given a second chance, and he's re paid their faith with an in nings that broke the biggest superpower in the world of cricket.

Hales equalled India's tally of sixes all by him self - seven - reducing their bowlers to rubble. He even backed himself to clear Adelaide's massive 88-me

all night as he finished on 80 off 49.

He front-loaded Adil Rashid against India's righthand-heavy top-order, and the legspinner took out Suryakumar Yadav. He re affirmed Chris Jordan's faith in his Yorkers, and one of those toppled Virat Kohli off his feet. Buttler was at the centre of a lot of good things, but most of them probably

Suryakumar is the man India look to for accelera tion through the middle and the death. With him gone for 14 off 10, the game had changed.

Hardik rising

There was only one phase of play that England lost in this game, and that was when Hardik Pandya decid ed enough was enough. He

it again. And that's what's happened. Since that defeat to Ireland, when they kept second-guessing themselves, England have batted and bowled with ultimate clarity.

The selection of Hales was one of ultimate clarity; he came with solid experience in Australian conditions, and England needed that experi ence. Buttler made the call, and now here is the pay off. A player who for a long time came to be known as a

tre straight boundaries. When all was said and done and he was picking up his Player of the Match award, he looked straight into the camera and said, "I never thought I would play a World Cup again." A few India fans must be thinking, "If only…"

date back to the drawing board.

England won this game in the backroom. They con tained a 360-degree player by taking pace off, because, at least that way, you're only defending one side of the pitch - the one in front of the batter. Buttler backed

was 13 off 15 at the start of the 17th over, and India were 110 for 3. India had tried to disrupt England. Rohit Sharma hit one of the shots of the night - a onebounce four over extra cov er off a near Jordan yorkerbut he fell three balls later. Suryakumar succumbed af ter hitting Ben Stokes for a six and a four.

All of this prompted Kohli to go into anchor mode, which meant the other guy had to go big; and Hardik did. He brought out the he licopter shot against Jordan. He escorted a wide yorker for four past short third off Sam Curran. He flat-batted short balls all around the park.

India made 58 runs in their last four overs, fifty of them coming off Hardik's bat.

questions about the way they played their first 10 overs (62 for 2 with only seven bound aries) against a team full of power-hitters.

England chasing history England invented the game. They hosted each of the first three World Cups. They absolutely love cricket. And there were a few nice moments: an emotion-filled night in Karachi; several

England, through all the twists and turns and tragi comedy, are now just one win away from being the first men's team in history to hold both World Cups at the same time.

It's taken a lot of effort to get here. A complete rewiring of DNA, in fact. Seriously, if you take one of Buttler's cells and put it under a micro scope, you'll just see a scoop over fine leg for six.

Buttler's brilliance

This is how you break a match-up. Coming into this game, Buttler had fall en to Bhuvneshwar Kumar five times in 32 balls in T20I cricket.

He must have known this, because, with the first ball he faced, Buttler charged out of his crease, intent on negat ing the India bowler's biggest strength, his swing.

Those were the kinds of moves Buttler was making

Rashid to pull off this heist, and this was even after the legspinner had been pun ished for a boundary first ball all because he had dared to toss it up.

Rashid could easily have protected his figures tonight, sat back and pointed people to his tournament economy rate (6.25); but no, he didn't. He bought into the plan, and picked up perhaps the most important wicket for England.

This was Hardik’s scor ing sequence from the 18th over: 6, 6, dot, 1, 1, 4, 6, 4, 1, 6, 4, out (having trodden on his stumps while whip ping the ball for what would have been another four). Five of those 12 balls were attempted yorkers, and many of them landed pretty close to the perfect spot, but Hardik stands so deep in his crease and brings so much of his wrists into his stroke play that even they became boundary-scoring opportuni ties.

From looking like they'd be lucky to get to 140, India got to 168. India had hope, and then nothing. Or maybe it’s worse than that, because now there will be

glorious weeks in Australia; an unforgettable adventure in India. But there was also, "I intend…to make them grovel". And, "We'll have a bowl."

Now they want, "I love you more". Maybe even, "I love you most". Because

This is England now. This is the revolution that Eoin Morgan began and Buttler sustains. It got its validation at Lord's on that fine sum mer's day in 2019. But you know the thing with these things. Once is never ever enough. (ESPN Cricinfo)

Mohammed Shami 3-0-39-0

Ravichandran Ashwin 2-0-27-0

Hardik Pandya 3-0-34-0

Hales and Buttler sealed the deal

India have been knocked out of the T20I World Cup

Alex Hales is “player of the match” All smiles for England

2022 ICC T20I World Cup… -Compliments of heroics of Hales and Buttler

MVP Sports’ Futsal tournament…

Group winners receive early cash

-quarterfinal games set

The MVP Sports/Petra organised Futsal tour nament will be head ing into the tense stag es this weekend, but before the action could proceed, some spoils had to be collect ed. Those teams that came out on top of their groups fol lowing the recently concluded group stage were handsome ly rewarded on Thursday af ternoon.

Organizers went as far as to reward each of the 12 teams that made it to the group stage - a factor that has become the Petra Organization’s signature for futsal tournaments.

Group winners Stabroek Ballers, Gold is Money and Back Circle each received $50,000; while runners-up, among whom were Bent Street, Future Stars and Campbellville, each pock eted $30,000. Third-place fin ishers after the group stage each received $20,000, while fourth-place finishers had to

settle for $10,000. Sharing a word with me dia operatives following the simple presentation at the National Gymnasium, Petra Co- Director Troy Mendonca explained that the initiative speaks to the uniqueness of the tournament.

“Over the past couple of years, we would have initi ated this whole process of rewarding teams based on their position in the group. So that everybody, even though you don’t go through to the knockout stage, you must walk away with some

New Doctor's Clinic congratulates champion boxer Keevin Allicock

thing from the tournament, instead of just participating and you don’t get anything,” Mendonca explained. He add ed, “I mentioned, some time ago, about the uniqueness of the tournament. That was specifically what I was refer ring to.”

The Football stalwart went on to disclose that it was the organizer’s intention to even reward those teams that were knocked out of the competition earlier.

“We want to reward every team that participated in the tournament. Matter of fact,

we were even considering the 12 teams that were knocked out in the first round, we wanted to give them some thing but budgetary con straints didn’t allow us to,” Mendonca divulged.

The MVP Sports tour nament will continue this Saturday at the aforemen tioned venue as it heads into the quarterfinal round.

Following the Women’s games, the men from Gold is Money will take on Sophia at 21:00hrs. Game 2 would wit ness Bent Street doing bat tle with Campbellville, while the following game would be a clash between Future Stars and Sparta Boss. In the last quarterfinal game, Stabroek Ballers will lock horns with Back Circle, all for a chance to go one step closer to the grand prize.

Aside from title sponsors MVP Sports, the tournament is being supported by ANSA McAL through their Magnum and Lucozade brands.

GSCL Inc’s Prime Minister’s T20 Cup 2022…

Fisherman Masters announce team to contest tournament

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Keevin

Allicock was adjudged the best boxer at the inaugu ral Shoba Promotions’ New Chapter Boxing Card, which was staged last Saturday at the Police Sports Club ground at Eve Leary, Georgetown. Fighting in the 57-60kg division, Allicock won the feature bout against

Satyendra Khemraj of the New Doctor's Clinic has extended congratula tions to Allicock, and has wished him well in the fu ture. Khemraj says he has been following Allicock's ca reer, and is extremely de lighted at his performance

last weekend. Khemraj pre sented Allicock with a mon etary donation prior to the contest, and has pledged his continued support for sports in Guyana.

New Doctor's Clinic is also sponsoring an U19 competition in Wakenaam, Region Three, which is set to commence shortly.

Defending two-time champions of the Masters catego ry of the Guyana Softball Cricket League Inc’s Prime Minister’s T20 Cup, Fisherman Masters, are ready to defend their ti tle when the tourna ment commences today in Georgetown.

The Fisherman Team have shortlisted their squad for the event, which will conclude on Sunday at the National Stadium. Zameer

Hassan, Manager/player, has said their team are con fident of retaining their ti tle, and their players are ‘eager to go’. He said the team have won 27 succes sive games, but are not go ing to take any team for granted.

This team comprises: Bhim George, Pooran Singh, Dennis Mangroo, Zameer Hassan, Stanley Mohabir, Doodnauth Ramdeen, Dubraj Singh, Troy Ramsaywack, Davanan

Christiano Ronaldo in Portugal squad for World Cup 2022

Cristiano Ronaldo may have struggled for first-team foot ball at Manchester United this season, but he is in Portugal's 26-man squad for the 2022 World Cup.

The 37-year-old has played 16 times, includ ing 10 starts, for United

this season, and has scored three goals.

"All the players called up come with the hunger to win and make Portugal world champions, Ronaldo included," said Portugal Coach Fernando Santos. There are 10 players from the Premier League in the

squad.

Ronaldo's club teammates Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot; Manchester City's Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva; Fulham's Joao Palhinha and Wolves trio Jose Sa, Ruben Neves and Matheus Nunes, have

all been selected. However, there were no spots for veteran Wolves midfield er Joao Moutinho and club team-mate Goncalo Guedes, with Paris StGermain midfielder Renato Sanches also missing out.

Portugal will be without injured Liverpool forward

Diogo Jota, but Porto de fender Pepe, 39, makes the cut.

Portugal, who are in Group H, open their World Cup campaign against Ghana on 24 November, before taking on Uruguay on 28 November, and South Korea on 2 December.

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Petra Organization’s Jackie Boodie taking a photo opportunity with team representatives following Thursday’s presentation

Berbician Joel Williamson by unanimous decision.

Satyendra Khemraj of the New Doctor's Clinic has extended congratulations to Allicock, and wishes him well in the future

Confident Fisherman squad are ready to defend their title

Khanan, Wazir Majeed, Rawl Reid, Danny Thomas, Zaki Salim, Desmond Harris, Fazeer Khan and Charran Shahadeo. Hassan is hereby ex pressing gratitude to their sponsors: Legends Resto and Lounge, Rockaway Group of Companies, Payless Variety Store, P. Singh and Son, Satrohan Sookdeo, and Perfect Print.

2022 CG United Super50 Cup…

Guyana Harpy Eagles capable of taking away game from any team, says Tevin Imlach

Having won the Under-19 World Cup in 2016 as an opener for West Indies, it is no surprise that 25-yearold wicketkeeper-bat ter Tevin Imlach is confi dent about Guyana Harpy Eagle’s chances of winning the CG United Super50 ti tle this season.

“We have a lot of match winners in our team, play ers who are capable of tak ing the game away from any team”, he has said when talking to the Caribbean Cricket Podcast about his side’s chances.

Imlach, however, does feel it’s been challenging for batters playing the CG United Super50 Cup this year in Trinidad. “It’s been tough. The wickets are slower, as you expect when you come to Trinidad. It’s not easy, but once you ap ply yourself, you can do well on these pitches,” he has said.

That is what he did in the match versus Combined Campuses and Colleges, scoring 63* in Guyana’s winning effort. Having bat ted at numbers three, four and five so far in the tour nament, Imlach says his preference is to bat in the top order between positions one to three, but he is will ing to do what is needed.

“I’m the type of player who likes to spend time at the crease (being) watch ful. I like to have that time where I can actually build

an innings, but whatever the team asks of me, I do my best…,” he has said.

For Imlach, it has been a long road to get to this point. Having won the ICC Under-19 World Cup, which included a vi

ing his Super50 debut for the West Indies B Side in the 2018 edition, where he was captained by former West Indies international Marlon Samuels. A call up to the Guyana red-ball side followed later that year,

that does well. It’s hard to break into the team,” he said.

A wicket-keeper by trade, he has found oppor tunities to put on the gloves limited, so has worked on scoring the runs as a spe cialist batter instead. Sporadic appearances for Guyana were curtailed when the COVID pandem ic suspended the 2020 sea son; yet, despite not be ing able to play matches, Imlach says, he kept prac tising.

“I did stuff at home, gym stuff. I’m fortunate that my dad loves the game. Him being at home, he helped me practise batting and keeping. We would have gym in the morning and batting in the afternoon, as I had space in the yard,” Imlach has said.

The work seeming ly paid off, as a fruitful 2022 saw Imlach excel for Guyana Harpy Eagles, av eraging 53 in the red-ball domestic season and earn ing a maiden call-up to the West Indies A side for their series in August against Bangladesh A, where he also kept wicket during the two first-class games they played.

et this season, Imlach has had to work on adjusting to the white ball format for the Super 50. “In fourday cricket, you leave a lot of balls, balls in certain ar eas you don’t try to play, but when it comes to oneday cricket, I played in the West Indies A Team white ball series batting at num ber five, where you have to move the innings along… it is a challenge, but I am getting the hang of it; I just try to play (ac cording to) the situation”, he has said.

tal half-century innings against Pakistan in the quarter-finals, he had to wait two years before mak

but appearances were lim ited.

“That’s one of the chal lenges…playing for a side

National Indoor Archery Championships off to exciting start

The 2022 National Indoor Archery Championships commenced on Monday, November 7, at the National Gymnasium with lots of ex citement. The competition is being contested by more clubs this year, since the 2 newest clubs to be official ly associated with the feder ation, The Archery Guild and ProArchers Guyana, along with School of the Nations’ Archery Club have increased the numbers for a more exciting tourna ment.

The ranking rounds for the Barebow Division were completed on Monday with the Men U18, Women U18 and Women, and Tuesday with the Men all vying for the top spots.

The next round will be in the Recurve Division, which would be run off on Thursday at 5pm at the same ven ue. This will see all catego ries of contestants shooting: Women U18, Women, Men U18, Men; while on Friday the elimination matches for the Men & Women Barebow, Men U18 & Women U18 Barebow, and Men Recurve will take place.

Finals for all divisions would be held on Saturday from 1:00pm. Below are the ranking scores from the first 2 days of competition:

“The call-up was a sur prise after just 3 first-class games in the season, but I was happy for the opportu nity, it’s been a long time coming,” he confessed.

Having predominant ly played red-ball crick

Imlach credits the leadership of Leon Johnson for Guyana’s team spirit and confidence in this year’s Super50. “He has a lot of knowledge about the game, a great understanding. He’s had success in four-day and one-day crick et. With one day cricket, we have been unfortunate, we’ve made two finals in the past three editions but were outplayed on those days”, he has said.

Describing himself as a player who rotates the strike in limited overs cricket, Imlach has said he looks up to Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.

Although harbouring dreams of one day getting a call-up to play for the West Indies senior side, Imlach is for now solely focused on the CG United Super 50 tournament and on se curing the title for Guyana Harpy Eagles, which would be their first since 2005.

Guyana will play CCC on Saturday, November 12, from 9:00h. (CWI)

Prime Minister’s Softball Cup T20 tourney bowls off today

-Sports Minister anticipates exciting cricket

TheHonourable Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jnr, has expressed his happi ness at being associated with the Prime Minister’s Softball Cup tournament, which bowls off today in Georgetown, Guyana.

At his Main Street of fice in Georgetown on Wednesday, Ramson told President of the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc (GSCL), Ian John, he is con fident the three-day soft ball extravaganza would be a huge success, and he con gratulated the GSCL for hosting the mega softball event.

“I [am] indeed happy to be associated with the soft ball tournament. I want to wish all the teams success, and our Prime Minister’s name is there, so I expect exciting cricket throughout the three days,” Ramson de clared.

The GSCL Inc. is collab orating with the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to run off the tour nament again. A number of matches will be played si multaneously at various venues in Georgetown, but all finals are to take place at the National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, with things cul minating on Sunday under

lights.

Ramson has also con gratulated female teams participating in the tourna ment, and has welcomed the foreign players being fea turing. Teams are expect ed from New York, Florida, Canada and across Guyana.

“We want to see the con tinued growth of softball cricket. We, the Government of Guyana, would ensure the game of softball cricket keeps getting better and bet ter, while this will encour age people of all ages to love softball cricket,” Ramson commented.

There will be three male categories, and these are the Legends (Over-50), Masters

(Over-40) and Open (All ages). Over two million dol lars are up for grabs. The winning team in each cate gory is set to collect $600,000 while the champion lady’s side would cart off $200,000.

John, in his remarks, thanked Minister Ramson for his support, and said he is looking forward to the President keeping his prom ise to assist with the steady promotion of softball cricket.

An enthusiastic John also informed the Minister that this is the first time the GSCL have girls participat ing in the tournament, and he expects that would bring a new dimension to the high ly anticipated showpiece.

Imlach batting during the Super50 Cup in Trinidad and Tobago

Tevin Imlach

Women’s Archery action at the National Gymnasium

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jnr, with GSCL President Ian John