Guyana Times - Friday, October 28, 2022

Govt instructs NIS to pay dialysis patients entitled benefits

…denial of claims because of Govt’s $600,000 grant perverse – Finance Minister

difficulties in accessing their contributions made to NIS over the years.

To this end, Dr Singh provided clear instructions to the NIS management that the agency discontinue this practice forthwith.

light of complaints from some dialysis pa tients that the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has been refusing to reimburse them for their dialysis treat ments, Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh has instruct ed the agency to ensure that these claims are paid.

This directive was passed on to the NIS management during an emergency meet ing at the Finance Ministry on Thursday.

Some persons have com plained to the Finance Ministry of encountering dif ficulties with receiving their dialysis reimbursements from NIS. Apparently, some NIS locations have adopt ed a policy whereby they are refusing to grant claims from patients for their di alysis treatment until they utilise the $600,000 cash grant being offered by the Government.

In Budget 2022, the Guyana Government an nounced a $600,000 grant per annum for dialysis pa tients.

According to Dr Singh, this grant was intended to be additional support for these patients and should not be used as a basis for persons being denied their legitimate benefits from the NIS.

“I made it crystal clear [during Thursday’s meet ing with the NIS manage ment] that the Government’s $600,000 grant for dialysis patients is intended to be an additional support to di alysis patients and was nev er intended to result in pa tients being denied their NIS benefits… The intention was always by the Government to provide additional support and not to provide support –this grant – and then to take it away through another in stitution of the State.

“And so, I made this very clear to the senior man agement of NIS that the $600,000 grant provided by the Government for dialysis treatment is added to what ever was being enjoyed by persons who have paid their NIS over the years and who are entitled to some degree of NIS support,” Dr Singh related.

Minister Singh explained that this grant was intro duced in light of Government recognising the severe chal

lenges being faced by per sons undergoing dialysis treatment and the tremen dous costs associated with that treatment, including the dialysis treatment and the associated medication and other expenditures as sociated with accessing that treatment.

“Often times, patients would require dialysis treat ment twice, sometimes thrice a week, etc, and so rec ognising this, we introduced this dialysis support pro gramme under which every single person receiving dial ysis on a regular basis will get a grant of $600,000… It would be perverse to now turn around and penalise those people by taking away their NIS reimbursement for dialysis treatment,” he con tended.

Moreover, the Finance Minister outlined that these patients should not face such

“I gave very clear instruc tions that they are not to use the receipt of the $600,000 grant from the Government by any dialysis patient as the basis for denying any person who is otherwise le gitimately entitled to sup port from the NIS for the purposes of dialysis. I made that very clear to them,” Minister Singh indicated fol lowing Thursday’s meeting.

Meanwhile, Dr Singh has urged any person who may be still encountering such is sues to contact the Finance Ministry, where staff is available to deal with the is sue.

Nevertheless, it was not ed that Government contin ued to work aggressively to improve the quality of ser vice delivered by State insti tutions such as the National Insurance Scheme.

Back in April, the Government rolled out the $600,000 assistance to dialy sis patients across the coun try and over $47 million was paid out to some 79 haemo dialysis patients to help sub sidise their treatment ex penses during the first day of distribution.

A total of $180 million was allocated in Budget 2022 to support 300 persons in need of treatment.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has already reassured dialysis patients across the country that this assistance would be a per manent measure in the country’s annual budgets go ing forward.

According to Dr Anthony, Guyana has seen a remark able improvement in pro viding dialysis care over the past 18 years. He noted that space was even provid ed for the Doobay Medical Centre to offer dialysis at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Similar provisions were also made to offer dialysis treat ment in Linden and talks were in the works for this service to be available in Essequibo as well.

Senior Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh

Mailing

Unrealistic comparison

Social

media is a world within a world, and for those who were born in the 21st century, technology is only but a natural phenomenon. Cell phones, iPods and video games are practically inevitable for teens and young adults.

Platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have taken the world in general by storm, and youths in particular. They have connected the seven billion people of the earth like at no time before since Homo Sapiens took over from the Neanderthals. Intended to increase connectivity between persons on the heels of the internet, they have, however, morphed to create in their users – especially youths – changes that might not have been predicted.

While these sites’ open dialogue allows individuals to express themselves, there must be some amount of user censorship, not necessarily by the domain host, but rather by individuals themselves. Creating a profile and giving details about yourself, hobbies and educational background are all acceptable; however, for many, every aspect of their day, work and lives is posted. Like driving, the users of social media should be cognisant of the five Cs – caution, care, common sense, courtesy and consideration – as many of the things posted can arise in the future to haunt thrones.

From studies conducted, it is clear that young people find social media addictive, and they spend vast amounts of their time on it every day of their lives. “Scientists have found that teen social media overuse creates a stimulation pattern similar to the pattern created by other addictive behaviours. Hence, the brain responds to social media the same way it responds to other “rewards” — with a release of dopamine. These dopamine rushes are catalysed when a teen posts something online and is met with likes, shares, and positive comments from their peers.” Most parents are unaware of the amount of time their very young children spend on social media, but they may observe the effects.

Social media certainly has its benefits for youths, since it is at this stage in life that they are learning to form relationships. “According to a report released in 2021 by Common Sense Media on social media’s effects on teens, about half of the 1,500 young people surveyed said social media is very important for them in order to get support and advice, feel less alone, and express themselves creatively, as well as for staying in touch with friends and family while social distancing. And 43 percent said that using social media makes them feel better when they are depressed, stressed, or anxious. Among LGBTQ youth, 52 percent said social media helps them feel better when they are experiencing these difficult emotions.”

But social media also has its downside for youths, and researchers at Facebook – which owns Instagram – found that the latter negatively affects their mental health. “They found that 13% of British teen Instagram users and 6% of American users in the same age segment thought about committing suicide while attributing such self-destructive feelings to the site.” But even against that background, when Facebook owner Mark Zuckerburg was questioned about the subject in a Congressional hearing, he insisted that such statistics were “misleading”. Unfortunately, there are no such studies in Guyana, but the dynamics are the same as should be the effects.

The negative and suicidal thoughts arise out of the operation of platforms like Instagram, which are dominated by individuals and “influencers” who post pictures of themselves that have been heavily photoshopped and airbrushed to present images that are very unrealistic in comparison to the looks of average youths. All of these create tremendous pressures on youths to achieve that perfection, especially when it comes to looks and lifestyle. When they compare themselves, they despair at the gap, and feelings of inadequacy set in, which in turn leads to depressive and suicidal thoughts.

Overall, social media has its positives and negatives, but it is clear that there has to be more examination to ensure that the latter does not create a public health crisis in youths. For now, maybe parents should pay more attention as to where their children’s minds are at when they have that ubiquitous smartphone in their hands.

NATO, Russia war games are making nuclear risks worse

…leaders on all sides are pursuing policies inexorably driving us towards nuclear war. They must step back. Now.

By Kate Hudson

This month, United States President Joe Biden warned that the world could face Armageddon if his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, were to use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. You would imagine that such a prognosis would lead to urgent action to dial down the con frontation. Yet no effort is being made to move us back from that risk.

On the contrary, Governments on all sides are piling on more threats, more mil itarisation and more actions that are not just making nuclear war possible, but are increasing its probability.

Last week, NATO began a round of nu clear exercises simulating the dropping of ‘tactical’ B61 nuclear bombs over Europe. Although these drills are presented as rou tine, they are occurring alongside paral lel Russian exercises. It’s hard to imagine worse timing.

Surely with concerns about Armageddon expressed at the very high est levels of power, these exercises should have been called off as a message that the West won’t contribute to escalating nucle ar tensions? Instead, our leaders are sys tematically failing to reduce the risk.

Still, there are powerful messages that should be listened to and acted upon. In August — even before Putin’s latest, thin ly veiled nuclear threats — United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is “one miscalcula tion away from nuclear annihilation”. His words must serve as a wake-up call to lead ers who pursue policies inexorably driving us towards nuclear war and to populations that are not yet taking action to stop these terrible dangers.

Guterres warned that we are at a time of nuclear danger “not seen since the height of the Cold War”. He cautioned against countries seeking “false securi ty” by spending vast sums on “doomsday weapons”. He said that the world had been lucky that nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945. But as he rightly stated: “Luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict.”

Indeed, we cannot rely on luck. And we must remember what nuclear use means and understand what nuclear war would look like today.

An estimated 340,000 people died af ter the US dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945. That included many who survived the im mediate blast, but died shortly afterwards from fatal burns. Others died because of the complete breakdown of rescue and medical services that had also been destroyed. And many more died when the impact of radia tion kicked in, poisoning people and caus ing cancers and birth deformities.

If that isn’t bad enough, consider this: The Hiroshima bomb was actually a small nuclear bomb in today’s terms. Current nu clear weapons — even the supposedly lim ited-range, battlefield-oriented ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons now routinely discussed in the context of the Ukraine war — are many, many times more powerful. The ones that the current exercises over Europe are designed for have variable yields of up to 20 times greater strength than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

Equally worrying are the recent pol icies of nuclear weapons states. We had seen gradual reductions in nuclear weap ons for a few decades. Now we are see ing modernisation programmes on all sides, with the US planning an upgrade of missiles that can deliver nuclear weap ons, France launching a project to build a new generation of nuclear-powered ballis tic missile submarines, and Britain, India and Pakistan preparing to increase their nuclear arsenals.

But worst of all is the sanitising of the idea of nuclear use. It seems that the mu tually assured destruction theory that prevailed during the Cold War – that these weapons will never actually be used – has been abandoned.

Today’s policies specifically include nuclear use, including in conventional wars, even against countries that don’t have nuclear weapons. The taboo on nu clear use is over, and the global commu nity has to face up to that reality because the impacts of nuclear war cannot be con fined to a single country or even to a re

gion. Such a war presents an existential threat to all humanity and to all forms of life. Nuclear disarmament is a prerequi site for our survival.

It’s not just the peace movement that makes this case. In fact, the global ma jority actively works for a nuclear weap ons-free world and is very aware that it is the activities of a tiny minority of States – just nine with nuclear weapons – that hold us all at risk of annihilation. That’s why virtually the entire Global South is already self-organised into nucle ar weapons-free zones. The nuclear NonProliferation Treaty and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons are initiatives from the Global South. That is where the good sense lies, and it is to this championing of nuclear disarmament that we must turn, for security based on humanity and peace, not on destruction and death.

In the 1980s, the former Swedish Prime Minister, the great Olof Palme, pi oneered the principle of common securi ty – that no State or community can be secure without others experiencing that same level of security. It’s a concept whose time has come. Europe and the world bad ly need a common security framework, not massively increasing militarisation. The idea that might makes right or that thousands of people can be sent to slaugh ter and be slaughtered must never be ac ceptable.

In January, the leaders of the US, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom issued a statement affirming “that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. As we enter UN Disarmament Week on Monday, we must all urge those leaders to act on that com mitment.

Nuclear disarmament, backed by the global majority of States and a new ap proach to common security, can yet save our world. But time is running out: We must take action to secure our future. (Al Jazeera)

Dr Kate Hudson is General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and a leading anti-nuclear and anti-war campaigner

The US Embassy has been pleased to host five US firms as part of the Caribbean Trade Mission and Business Conference organised by the US Commercial Service of the Department of Commerce-Trade Americas team. In this photo, US Ambassador to Guyana, SarahAnn Lynch poses with a few members of the delegation

Guyana achieved 98% polio vaccine coverage in 2021

did that in 2016. We start ed switching from oral po lio vaccines to now the in activated vaccines. So far, we have been successful in terms of administer ing these vaccines. I must say that we’re one of the first countries perhaps in the Caribbean and the Americas who have made this switch,” he indicated.

Farmer to be sentenced next Thursday for cutlass attack on reputed wife

Guyana’s elimina tion of the polio vi rus for many years has been a result of robust action in the vaccination of children and nailing high coverage targets across the country.

This was according to Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony as World Polio Day was recently ob served.

In 2021, there was a re markable 98 per cent cov erage of Inactivated polio virus vaccine (IPV) One in the country. Previously in 2020, the COVID-19 pan demic saw a drop to 91 per cent. In 2018 and 2019, coverage stood at 94 per cent and 97 per cent re spectively.

In 2019, IPV (Two) vac cines were also introduced, showing 97 per cent cover age, 91 per cent in 2020 and 97 per cent in 2021.

“We have actually elim inated polio. We don’t see polio cases here, and that is because we have a very robust vaccination pro gramme. In 2017, using

the IPV vaccine, we had 94 per cent coverage,” Dr Anthony stated.

“I think for both IPV One and IPV Two, at 98 and 97 per cent, that’s very extensive coverage and we will continue to maintain those numbers.”

A trivalent vaccine tar geting Type One, Type Two, and Type Three of the polio virus was initial ly used to vaccinate per sons. However, with the elimination of Type Two Polio came the introduc tion of a bivalent vaccine, targeting only the two cir culating types.

Instead of oral polio vac cines for children, Guyana also made a switch to us ing the inactivated vaccine which is typically inject ed. This change came amid recommendations that continued usage of oral vaccines may not generate the same efficacy.

“We have made this switch so this is some thing that is recommend ed by the WHO [World Health Organisation]. We

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under five years of age. The virus is trans mitted by person-to-per son spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by con taminated water or food. It multiplies in the intes tine, from where it can in vade the nervous system and cause paralysis.

The Health Minister noted that the vaccination campaign has been quite successful since placid pa ralysis – one of the condi tions observed if persons are not properly vaccinat ed – has not been detected.

In 1988, the World Health Assembly ad opted a resolution for the worldwide eradica tion of polio, marking the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, spearheaded by nation al Governments; WHO; Rotary International; the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and UNICEF, who were later joined by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Fazil

Osman of Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD) will be sen tenced next Thursday for a brutal cutlass attack he had launched on his reputed wife in 2019.

A sentencing hearing for the 44-year-old farmer, which was scheduled for Thursday (yesterday), has been de ferred until next week because Osman has disputed informa tion that he had previously been charged with abusing a former partner and her tod dler, who had sustained inju ries to an eye.

On Thursday, a proba tion officer informed the court that that charge had been dismissed after that former partner had refused to tes tify against Osman. Asked by Osman’s lawyer Teriq Mohammed, who said he was unaware of his client having previously been charged, who had provided her with this in formation, the probation offi cer disclosed that ranks at the Mahaica Police Station had so informed her.

As such, Judge Jo-Ann Barlow refused to go ahead with sentencing Osman, who is on remand, and asked both the prosecution and defence to look into whether the con vict had indeed previously been charged. State Counsel Latifah Elliot is the prosecu tor in this case.

Earlier this month, during his arraignment in the Demerara High Court, Osman had pleaded guilty to attempt ed murder. He admitted that,

President Irfaan Ali is making giant inroads into all communities

Dear Editor, Opposition Leader Mr. Aubrey Norton is hopping mad that President Irfaan Ali is making giant in roads in communities all across Guyana with his ‘One Guyana’

this

initiative,

President and team go out to the people, hear ing their concerns and in many instances making on-the-spot decisions, all

the betterment of soci ety. This is not going down well with the Opposition,

is obvious by the nega tive way they have react ed.

Instead of giving the Government robust sup port on each developmen tal issue, Norton is on the sidelines, coughing up all

the negatives he can find. From the shooting down of every project designed to improve the lives of the Guyanese people to the age-old racist rhetoric that the PPP/C Party is a rac ist organisation that is out to impoverish Black peo ple, in every instance, he is making some derogato ry statement. These state ments are so asinine, to say the least, that even if one were blind, one could clearly see it.

But the Opposition Leader persists! With all the distressing signals clearly etched on his face, he belts out his venom. The racist mantra has out lived its useful purpose, as known supporters of his party are coming out to

thrash him, or are simply walking away from that party.

Norton's antics have become so toxic that, at this stage, he has alienat ed himself from hardcore supporters of his party. You see the visible signs of a leader who cannot com mand an audience, even in known strongholds of the PNC.

This is a pathetic and hopeless position for one to find oneself. And the rea sons are pretty clear: the people are fed up with the daily doses of lies coming from him. People want to hear and see development trends; the people do not want empty rhetoric and riled-up campaign speech es with nothing to go with

them. Yes, the people want progressive and develop mental answers to their problems, something that is coming from Dr. Alli, and not from Norton. This hostile, argumentative pol itics coming from Norton is doing neither himself nor the party any good.

Aubrey Norton is do ing a good job as the Opposition Leader (note my sarcasm). Norton is doing a very good job as Opposition Leader, which means that he will stay in the Opposition. So, keep doing what you are doing, sir, and you will ensure a landslide victory for the PPP/C.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

Guilty: Fazil Osman

on February 24, 2019, he had unlawfully and maliciously wounded a 24-year-old wom an at Hand-en-Veldt, Mahaica with intent to commit mur der. The mother of two was attacked and chopped after she had made a report at the Mahaica Police Station that Osman had beaten her.

Based on reports, the abused woman had been in structed by the investigat ing rank to return home to Osman, who had accused her of stealing his money when

she had gone to their home to uplift her clothes. On the day in question, she had gone back home in the company of a Rural Constable to identi fy Osman, in order that he be served with a restraining or der.

Osman had used that op portunity to attack the wom an, chopping her with a cut lass and causing the Rural Constable to flee for her safe ty. Osman and the woman had been living together for six months.

Unit Test

1) Look at the chart of Lisa’s Hotdogs sales of hot dogs

On what day was the most hot dogs sold?

On what day was the fe west hot dogs sold?

How many more hot dogs were sold on Sunday than Monday?

2) Look at the line graph of school concert ticket sales.

In what month was the most tickets sold?

About how many tickets were sold per month?

In what month was the fe west tickets sold?

3) Look at the double line graph of grades versus hours of TV watched.

Which grades coincide with the most hours of TV wat ched?

Which grades coincide with the fewest hours of TV wat ched?

4) Look at the piechart of students’ favourite breakfast foods.

What is the favourite breakfast food of students?

Do more students prefer porridge or cereals?

If so, by what percenta ge?

5) The Guyana Police Force has recorded several accidents over the last eight days: 1, 4, 5, 4, 12, 4, 8, 9, with each number representing a daily total.

What is the average number (mean) of acci dents per day?

What is the mode of the sample?

What is the median of the sample?

6) John has been

appointed the official sco rekeeper for the school’s basketball team. He re corded the following sco res for his teammates over the past five games:

Paul: 23, 34, 11, 26, 18

Harrinan: 10, 8, 9, 12, 29

Chris: 20, 0, 19, 12, 2

Keenan: 23, 7, 6, 5, 17 Create a stem-and-le af plot using the data.

7) Using the raw data for the basketball

scores in Question 6, cre ate a box-and-whisker plot.

What is the range of the data?

What is the median of the data?

8) Anjalie gathe red stones from a near by stream. She collec ted 12 stones in all, and she noticed that 8 sto nes were dark grey and 4 were white before she put them in a bag.

Worm in on Earthworms

Earthworms

are fascinating little crea tures. Lure a few from underground and take a closer look.

What you need wooden stake or stick (about 3 feet long) shorter bumpy stick (or one with notches cut into it) hammer

What you do Pound the stake. Pound the stake 1 to 2 feet into moist soil where you know earthworms live. Rub the sticks together.

Rub the top part of the stake with the bumpy stick—rub back and forth the way a violinist moves a bow over violin strings.worm3 Watch and admire!

If you’re lucky, worms will squirm out of their holes in a few minutes. Watch—and admire— them carefully as they eventually wiggle their way back underground.worms2 Why does this work?

No one really knows. We do know that the rubbing sends vibrations into the ground. Some people think these vibrations may feel like moles or shrews digging in search of worms to eat, which would be a good reason for worms to move out! (rangerrick.org)

By The BroThers Grimm

CONTINUED FROM THURSDAY

Guyana-Venezuela border controversy

ICJ to hear oral submissions on Nov 17 from both countries

this move by Venezuela as a bid to delay the substantive hearing of the border contro versy case, in which Guyana is seeking a final and binding judgment to reinforce that the 1899 Arbitral Award re mains valid and binding on all parties, as well as legal affirmation that Guyana’s Essequibo region, which con tains much of the country’s natural resources, belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.

a one-year period by the ICJ to submit its own writ ten arguments and respond to Guyana’s memorial by March 2023.

According to Greenidge, once this issue of Venezuela’s objection is dealt with, the hearing of the substantive case would resume.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will next month hear sub missions from both Guyana and Venezuela on the lat ter nation’s objections to the border controversy case, in which Guyana is seeking a final and binding judgment to ascertain its territorial boundaries.

Having refused to join the proceedings before the World Court since 2018, Venezuela have finally par ticipated in the case earli er this year, filing objections that have delayed the sub stantive hearing. Venezuela have submitted Preliminary Objections to the admissibil ity of the border case before the ICJ in June, claiming that the case is improper ly before the court, and that such a case should not have been brought by Guyana, but by the United Kingdom – the then Great Britain, which had signed the 1899 Arbitral Award with Venezuela to de marcate Guyana’s boundar ies. Guyana had been one of Britain’s colonies; it was known as British Guiana at

the time.

In light of Venezuela’s objections, the World Court has invited both Guyana and Venezuela to make submis sions on those issues raised by the Spanish-speaking na tion. This is after Guyana had already filed written submissions on Venezuela’s complaint.

According to Guyana’s Agent on the border contro versy case, Carl Greenidge, those hearings have been set for the period November 17 to 22, 2022.

“The oral presentations will allow the court to hear Venezuela’s objections to the memorial [filed by Guyana] –to the sense that the memo rial is improperly before the court – and that is what it will be about,” Greenidge ex plained during a recent ap pearance on the Globespan 24x7 programme.

Calling Venezuela’s ob jection frivolous, the Agent is hoping that the ICJ deter mines this matter at the ear liest time possible.

Already, the Guyana Government has described

Venezuela is laying claims to more than twothirds of Guyana’s landmass, which is Essequibo, and is also claiming a portion of Guyana’s exclusive econom ic zone (EEZ), in which al most 11 billion barrels of oil have been discovered over the past seven years, and in which oil production activi ties are ongoing.

Guyana moved to the World Court after exhaust ing all means of negotia tion with Venezuela, and the good office process between the two South American neighbours had failed. The Spanish-speaking nation had initially refused to par ticipate in the proceedings, and had even challenged the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter; but on December 18, 2020, the ICJ established that it has jurisdiction to hear the substantive case –something which Venezuela did not accept.

Back in March of this year, Guyana had submitted its written arguments for its memorial to the ICJ, which was a requirement by the court following its December 2020 decision that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case against Venezuela.

Venezuela was given

“Venezuela’s intent in (those good offices) engage ments is to convert the pro cess into a process that runs into infinity – the matter is not to be solved… But now that you move to a process where there has to be a de finitive decision, and dead lines have been set… the court can’t take forever to give an answer. Now it’s im portant that they divert, or waste as much as they can, so that’s the process that they’ve embarked on,” the former Guyanese Foreign Affairs Minister posited.

Back in September 2022, at the United Nations General Assembly, President Dr Irfaan Ali had reiterated Guyana’s commit ment to a peaceful resolu tion of the border controver sy. However, this had caused some unease in Caracas, and the Nicolas Maduro-led regime had issued a state ment on September 30 in which were repeated many of their spurious claims re garding the border contro versy. In response, Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stood behind President Ali’s words, and reiterated

that the judicial settlement route to settle the contro versy was determined by the Secretary-General himself.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, there was a wide spread campaign on so cial media, with many Government officials and other stakeholders sharing a map of Guyana to declare that everything within the country’s border is “we own”.

Further, the Foreign Affairs Ministry had reached out to major platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, re questing that they remove posts made by a number of Spanish-language social media accounts, claiming Guyana’s territory by pub lishing illegal maps.

Moreover, Guyana con tinues to receive the support of various countries and or ganisations for the judicial settlement of the border con

troversy case. These include the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and The Commonwealth, as well as the United States.

In fact, only three weeks ago, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Ambassador Brian A. Nichols, reaffirmed his country’s support for a peace ful resolution of the contro versy between Guyana and Venezuela.

“The 1899 arbitral award determined the land bound ary between Guyana and Venezuela, and should be re spected unless or until oth erwise determined by a com petent legal body. The US supports a peaceful resolu tion to this issue,” the State Department official had posted on his official Twitter account.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Netherlands

Guyana’s Agent in the border controversy case against Venezuela, Carl Greenidge

Labourer to serve 10 years for killing friend

Phillip Solomon, a 45-year-old labourer of Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD), has been jailed for 10 years for the of fence of manslaughter, com mitted on his friend Vernon Cummings, called “Ervil”, whom he lashed to the head several times with a piece of wood when a drunken ar gument had broken out be tween them on October 24, 2018 at Timehri Docks, EBD.

His sentence was handed down by Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Demerara High Court on Tuesday.

Earlier this month,

Cummings had appeared before Justice Brassington Reynolds on an indictment for the capital offence of murder, but he opted to plead guilty to the lesser offence of man slaughter, thereby admitting that he had killed 51-yearold Vernon Cummings, called “Ervil”.

The two men, who had both been labourers and friends, were together at a wharf at Timehri, where they would normally consume al cohol. On the day in question, while they were imbibing, an argument erupted be tween them, and based on re

ports, the now-dead man had armed himself with a piece of iron while Solomon had armed himself with a piece of wood. The two then began lashing each other about the body.

Solomon’s brother was alerted, and he went to the scene and took the piece of iron from Cummings, but his brother dealt Cummings a blow to his head that caused him to fall to the ground. Picked up and rushed to the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital, the in jured Cummings was pro nounced dead on arrival.

WBD man for trial over murder of ex-girlfriend

Abus driver of Westminster, West Bank Demerara (WBD), who has been charged in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend, will go on trial for her mur der next Monday, October 31, at the Demerara High Court.

Lurick Fiffee, 43, was arraigned before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall on Tuesday last for the mur der of 32-year-old Rosemary Rudder, a mother of two.

Fiffee is being represent ed by defence counsel Stacy Sandiford, while lawyers Muntaz Ali, Simran Gajraj and Taneisha Saygon are presenting the State’s case.

Upon his arraignment, the murder accused, who has been on remand since April 2018, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Based on reports re ceived, the now-dead Rudder had gone to Fiffee’s home, and upon arriving, she saw another woman in the house. This led to a heated argu ment between her and the accused, and it quickly es

calated into a scuffle. The minibus driver subsequently left Rudder lying motionless and went to the La Grange Police Station, WBD, where he lodged a complaint. The Police travelled to the home, only to find the woman’s life less body in the house. It is believed that she was stran gled.

The woman’s body was

picked up and taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH), where she was pronounced dead on ar rival. Fiffee was immediately taken into custody.

Back in 2006, the wom an’s brother Fenton Rudder, and grandmother Hannah

Cameron, along with a third person, David Brummel, were shot and killed af ter gunmen invaded their home at Agricola, Greater Georgetown.

After shooting the trio to death, the gunmen had set the house on fire.

Persons urged to take advantage of evening COVID vaccine sites

Amid a slow uptake in booster doses, per sons have been en couraged to take advantage of the facilities, particular ly the evening vaccination sites, available to protect themselves from COVID-19.

Statistics provided by Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Thursday showed that over 76,000 booster doses have been ad ministered across the popu lation.

While these numbers are considerably low, he high lighted the avenues avail able through the Health Ministry for persons to ac cess their COVID-19 shots.

“We’re not seeing a lot of persons coming forward to get booster doses and that’s something we want to encourage. The Ministry has launched several pro

grammes. We have a night programme now, so peo ple coming off of work if they’re interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccine, they can come to the tarmac here in Georgetown and get the booster doses,” he explained.

Vaccination centres are open throughout the day for persons desirous of getting a primary shot or their boost er dose.

Meanwhile, 32 active cases are being monitored, with two persons in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). According to the Minister, these numbers are based on the persons coming forward to get tested.

From 303 tests that were processed in one day, five returned positive re sults. Confirmed cases have reached 71,436 – 32,744

males and 38, 692 females.

There are two persons in institutional isolation and 30 in home isolation while deaths remain at 1281. Meanwhile, recoveries stand at 70,123. The total number of COVID tests to date re main at 701,210.

Symptoms of the corona virus include fever, cough, tiredness, diarrhoea, pains, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. The more seri ous symptoms are difficul ty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain and loss of speech or movement.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associ ated with COVID-19, or need any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline on 2311166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www. health.gov.gy.

Fit and proper…

…to represent us?

The latest affaire Charrandas has the nation agogagain! The first time, of course, was his historic, “yes… yes…yes” vote that tipped the scales in the PPP’s No Confidence Motion (NCM) to bring down the PNC/APNU coalition on Dec 21, 2018!! His rationale for voting against his Government went to the very heart of democratic representative governance – voting his conscience on an issue affecting his constituents!!

His party’s MPs and members, of course, thought differently!! From the vicious elbowing into his ribs from his parliamentary colleague to the plaintive “No, Charrandas, no, no, no…!!” FIFTY TIMES from the female PNC member from Bartica, disbelief and then anger roiled the Opposition benches!! The next day, the accusations were ratcheted up: “Judas!!” being the kindest one!! Judas’s “thirty pieces of silver” became “millions in raw gold” as Charrandas was spirited away to Canada in fear for his safety. To the PPP and their supporters, he was a hero who stood up for the cane workers of Berbice against the “spitefulness” of the PNC!!

By Feb, 2021, after the dust had settled and the PPP returned to office (Aug 2020), he was posted to New Delhi, India as Guyana’s ambassador to this key rising power. They’d long been a friendly power for reasons going far beyond the cultural linkages forged by more than half of the population being of Indian descent!! The posting was widely seen a reward for his 2018 stance in Parliament – even though the NCM became moot by the time the elections rolled around. Not much was heard from Charrandas since then - with most of the bilateral relations originating locally from the hyperactive local Indian Ambassador.

Well, from what we now know - via that infamous video clip that’s now viral – barely after six months - September of 2021 – Charrandas didn’t just “get into” but “threw himself into” hot water. Whatever any investigation might have concluded, as they say in law – res ipsa loquiter – “the thing speaks for itself”. In this case LITERALLY!! No amount of whitewashing can cover – much less excuse – the kind of language hurled at the female animal rights activist, who’s famous in Delhi for feeding stray dogs.

Stray dogs are a big challenge in New Delhi, which has about 260,000 of them roaming its streets. They can be a menace since, every day, there are at least a hundred dog bites reported. And ever so often, as in the first week of this month, a child is mauled to death by them. But the lady whom Charrandas verbally assaulted had gone to court a decade ago - and won the right to feed strays that were objected to.

Charrandas messed up, and should do some penance.

…to send troops to Haiti

Your Eyewitness has been railing in this space about the continuing descent of Haiti into ever lower levels of Dante’s Inferno. And Caricom’s callous refusal to do something tangible to assist. Well, now that the US has gotten the UN’s Security Council to approve sending in troops to bring some sort of order - here’s their opportunity. The US is waiting for countries to volunteer troops to the mission, but as of now, only the Bahamas has stepped up to the crease.

So, what’s wrong with Caricom’s responsibility to a member state? And even beyond that, hasn’t it been an article of faith in our post-slavery Caribbean that we owe a historical moral obligation to Haiti for being a beacon of liberty for us?? Was the talk about that debt when Haitians were being smuggled through Guyana just that?? Talk?? Well, it’s time to put up or forever hold our (sordid) peace.

Now is the time for Guyana to take a led in Caricom and volunteer troops to Haiti.

…to stop PNC rigging??

If Mingo disobeyed the clear order to SHOW to the observers the SOPs he was tallying– even reinforced by the Courts after his first transgression, would making other stipulations clearer stop PNC’s rigging compulsion??

Readers are invited to

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

Convicted killer Phillip Solomon

Dead: Rosemary Rudder

Murder accused Lurick Fiffee

Guyana among top tourist destinations for 2023 and beyond – National Geographic

Indicative of the country’s advancement globally, Guyana has again been named one of the top 35 tour ist destinations for 2023 and beyond.

In a recent article pub lished by National Geographic Traveller (UK), Guyana has been listed as a top destina tion in the nature category. The list is compiled by the global editors, and highlights the top destinations across five categories: culture, na ture, adventure, community, and family.

The article describes Guyana as a small na tion with “thick rainforests, sprawling savannahs, mag ical mountain ranges, and epic rivers”. It added that the country boasted a truly off-grid experience, and spot lighted the country’s wildlife and forestry.

Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Director Kamrul Baksh, in response, said the feature was a culmi nation of the hard work be ing done by the Government to position Guyana as a sought-after destination.

“It’s because of greater access that the Government has been able to secure for Guyana, has made it to one of the top publications and we are very happy about that,” Baksh said.

He noted that in April’s edition of the publication, Guyana was featured on multiple pages.

“We continue to ensure that all of the beauty of the tourism product is featured in multiple markets,” Baksh said.

In an effort to contin ue to promote Destination Guyana, the country will be represented at the upcom ing World Travel Market in London.

“All around I believe it’s the efforts being made that have led to this wonderful news this morning,” the GTA Director added.

Baksh noted too that Destination Guyana has been getting more interest from tourists.

“From reviews from tour operators that we are in con stant contact with, they are getting a lot of traction, a lot of interest in the destina tion, people are enquiring a lot about the destination, for example with the recent BA (British Airways) announce ment with the flights, tour operators who have nev

er looked at Destination Guyana are suddenly inter ested in coming to have an understanding of what is on offer,” he pointed out.

Baksh said there would be several familiarisation trips in the new year for some of the world’s leading tour op erators interested in Guyana and all it has to offer.

Man, 59, nabbed with marijuana at city gas station

Ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) have arrested a 59-year-old man, who was found in possession of a quan tity of marijuana on Tuesday.

The discovery was made at the Rubis Gas Station on Mandela Avenue, East La Penitence, Georgetown.

According to CANU, its officers intercepted the sus pect – Ignatius Mann of Saachibazaar Street, Prashad Nagar, Georgetown – at the gas station.

A search was carried out on the suspect and his motor cycle, which led to the discov ery of the cannabis.

Further investigations led to the CANU ranks conduct ing a search of the suspect’s residence and a quantity of narcotics was unearthed there as well.

The suspect was subse quently escorted to CANU’s Headquarters along with the suspected narcotics, which was tested and weighed, and confirmed to be 174.8 grams of marijuana.

CANU said further inves tigations were ongoing.

Only last week, CANU re

ported it had seized a whop ping $311 million worth of narcotics in the month of September. This comprised $294 million (US$1.4 million) in marijuana, and $17 million (US$82,000) in cocaine.

The majority of the nar cotics were intercepted in Regions Six (East BerbiceCorentyne), Four (DemeraraMahaica), and Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), with the overall total being 327.50 kilograms of cannabis and 11.23 kilo grams of cocaine. Cannabis continues to be the narcot ic most commonly seized by CANU, accounting for 97 per cent of all seizures.

Guyana Tourism Authority

Director Kamrul Baksh

The majestic Kaieteur Falls

Ignatius Mann

ANSA McAL opens US$2M facility in Reg 6

The ANSA McAL Group of Companies has on Thursday commis sioned a brand-new multi purpose facility at Palmyra in East Berbice. It would be used as that company’s main office complex for the ancient county. With this new facili ty, the company has said, it would be making more ser vices available in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

As the company ap proaches its 30th year of operating in Guyana, its presence in Berbice is also approaching that milestone. Over the years, ANSA McAL has been renting facilities to operate its businesses. In fact, the company had ac quired real estate 14 years

McAL believes in its peo ple and (in) treating them right,” Cadogan has said.

This new facility would provide employment for 56 persons. It features a huge warehouse, and will be the main outlet for Guyana

carried out. So we are stra tegically placed, and we have adequate parking both at the front and at the side of this location. So, your shopping experience will be better,” Cadogan pointed out.

ago, but continued to oper ate out of rented facilities in New Amsterdam.

Managing Director Troy Cadogan, speaking at the opening ceremony of the US$2 million Palmyra facil ity, explained that Berbice has played a big role in the company’s existence in Guyana. “The time is actual ly right for us to invest in do ing our own home in Berbice. This new expanded location not only caters for all of the ANSA McAL businesses in Guyana, but what it does is give our staff a more com fortable environment. ANSA

Beverage Inc., Suzuki Showroom, and ANSA Building Solutions - a sub sidiary of Penta Colour Shop. This new outlet is among the host of developmental ac tivities taking place, among which are a call centre and business centre for persons living with disabilities. A mall, hospital and stadium are also planned for that sec tion of Berbice.

“With the Government’s push in developing Palmyra, and when you would have passed the Berbice Bridge, one would see the level of construction that is being

Meanwhile, Vice President of the Private Sector Commission (PCS), Ryan Alexander, who is also President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association, has pointed to the company’s confidence in the Berbice economy and also the new Guyana economy. “You know what is going on in Guyana, as the Government of Guyana and the Private Sector have been working extremely hard to market the opportunities that are available across the sectors in Guyana. We have seen tremendous response, and I am very happy for business es like ANSA McAL, which have used their experience in the market…to expand be fore any of those new inves tors come into the market.”

Alexander pointed out that it is quite timely for ANSA Building Solutions – ABS - to be available in Berbice. He noted that the opportunity afforded persons to be able to choose from over one thousand colours would be fantastic for the construc tion industry.

The sparking new facility at Palmyra

Some of the ANSA staff

Teachers to receive training in identifying, supporting SEN children

Inthe new year, the Education Ministry will be introducing tools for teachers to identify chil dren with Special Education Needs (SEN) using a struc tured approach, allowing them to benefit from special ised services.

The Regional Special Education Needs Disability Diagnostic and Treatment Centre is responsible for identifying, treating, and preventing disabilities across countries within the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

A multi-disciplinary ap proach is taken, with stake holders from the Health Ministries and Education Ministries collaborating to provide this comprehensive evaluation. Departments involved include speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psy chology, social work, be havioural therapy and stim ulation.

In this week’s Education Spotlight, the Coordinator of the Centre, Keon Cheong shared that while some teachers were capable of as sessing students with special needs, the new tool will guide them on how to effectively address and identify persons with SEN.

“To date, teachers who have been engaged in doing ongoing assessments, observ ing children, and monitoring their progress have been able to identify and recommend that the child be screened. More structured than that is the screening packet that the Ministry of Education will launch soon, where teachers will be trained how to use the

screening packet, so now, we have an instrument to real ly guide them,” Cheong ex plained.

Part of their response in tervention mechanism is to identify struggling learn ers and put evidence-based strategies in place. Should these fail, the learners would be referred to the Center.

“Response intervention is a multi-tiered approach. There are three tiers. Tier One deals with universal screening, and Tier Two deals with evidence-based teaching practices. Should the individual not be success ful in Tier One and Tier Two, then this is where the Centre comes in, in Tier Three, and we do a comprehensive eval uation that informs eligibili ty,” the specialist expounded.

Persons can access ser vices at the Centre through walk-ins; referrals from or ganisations, hospitals or the school system. However, there is a backlog in the sys tem owing to a shortage of staff.

“We do have a backlog indeed. That is a result of shortage of staff so we were forced to end interviews for 2022 in August, because I had 80 persons waiting to come in. Anyone looking to access the services of the Center right now would be given a date any time after February of 2023.”

After the assessment of the child is completed, a re port is shared with the par ent after which an individu al education plan is drafted. Parents, the teacher, and SEN officers would discuss the findings, placement, and academic goals.

“The individual education plan has a life of about six months, so we would be able

to check in…Once we identi fy those goals and everybody signs to them, parents need

to know that they are part of the process and need to sup port the teacher,” the coordi nator added.

“At the ending of the year, what we do here is we give a tally of the over all number of persons who would have been assessed and the most prevalent cat egory of disability; this infor mation goes to the SEN unit at NCERD [National Centre for Educational Resource Development], since they have a mandate on training.”

At the Centre, con struction is ongoing for the first-ever sensory room, along with a pool to facilitate aquatic therapy to students with disabilities.

Coordinator Keon Cheong

The Regional Special Education Needs Disability Diagnostic and Treatment Centre

Govt partners with Schulich School of Business to develop hospital leadership capacity

embarked on to develop skills training not just for the medical staff but for all staff attached to the Ministry in a combined effort to enhance and develop health-care delivery in Guyana.

Hamilton refutes Opposition’s claims of discrimination at co-op societies

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton has denounced claims by Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton of racial discrimina tion at co-op societies.

Department of the Labour Ministry was a breach.

In an effort to further devel op the health-care system in Guyana, the Government has partnered with the Schulich ExecEd at Canada’s leading business school, the Schulich School of Business at York University, to develop capacity training for hospital leadership.

The programme is designed to teach management and lead ership skills to work profes sionals, aspiring leaders, man agers and senior leaders in the health sector and will be deliv ered on a virtual platform to participants from all adminis trative regions.

A virtual launch earlier this month was attended by Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony; Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag; officials of the Schulich School of Business and other participants.

Minister Parag, in her re marks, emphasised the impor

tance of training, as she cited the Government’s commitment to providing quality training to all Guyanese, especially to those serving in the health-care sector of our country.

These comments were en dorsed by the Health Minister, who added that the Health Ministry has embarked on an aggressive campaign to develop the health-care sector through the construction of several hos pitals, including the country’s first Maternal and Paediatric Hospital and several other proj ects to build and rehabilitate hospitals in the hinterland ar eas.

This, he said, creates the need to develop the capacity of the administrators who will be assigned to these hospitals.

The programme, he further stated, will provide this train ing. This training is just one of many training programmes which the Health Ministry has

“We are delighted to part ner with the Ministry of Health, Government of Guyana as they overhaul the delivery of health-care services by de veloping their top hospital ad ministrators across all 10 re gions, equipping them with the skills necessary to lead this transformation… Our goal is to help the Guyanese Government transform its healthcare sys tem and develop better hospi tal administrators and provide innovative healthcare solutions to improve patient outcomes,” Executive Director of Schulich ExecEd, Rami Mayer related.

He added, “The Schulich ExecEd-Guyana Masters Certificate in Hospital Leadership Programme is cus tomised for Guyana’s hospi tal administrators providing them with the necessary in ter-personal skills and handson business tools to improve their management, leadership, and service delivery skills at all levels. At Schulich ExecEd, we help organisations like Guyana’s Ministry of Health, build and foster a high-per forming, collaborative work place culture with a strong emphasis on promoting leader ship, communication, and inno vation to help achieve organisa tional and performance goals.”

In a recent press confer ence, the Opposition Leader claimed that co-op societ ies across the country were experiencing racism from Central Government. He drew attention to the MochaArcadia Multi-purpose Agricultural Co-op Society, alleging that the co-op was not receiving a subvention from the Government.

However, putting these claims to rest on Wednesday, the Labour Minister pointed out that Norton was being disingenuous.

“The interaction at the level of the Government with co-op societies is done via the Chief Co-op Development Officer (CCDO), which is a statutory position – not a political position that is gov erned by laws and proce dures. The Government has no relationship transferring subvention to the co-op soci ety,” Hamilton said.

He added that the Labour Ministry was only executing its mandate of regularising all societies as set out in the Co-operative Societies Act.

Hamilton outlined that the case of transfer of funds by the International Decade of People of African Descent AssemblyGuyana (IDPADA-G) with out reference to the Co-op

“This transfer of funds from [IDPADA-G] was done with no reference to the Coop Department. That’s a breach, because before co-op societies can access a grant, loan, subvention, or what ever, the reference point is the Co-op Department. So again, they are breaching all the rules and regulations as regards the transfer of funds,” Hamilton explained.

He added, “So the Opposition Leader needs to go and edify himself about the issue regarding the Mocha-Arcadia Multipurpose Agricultural Co-op Society.”

Recently, Hamilton re called that President Dr Irfaan Ali was in Mocha, where commitments were made to assist residents in agriculture.

“This stupidity and id iocy about discrimination, I’m sure I read the Minister of Agriculture committing acreages of lands to the Mocha farmers to devel opment, with road access and drainage and irriga tion. That is coming out of the President’s visit during which they made some rec ommendations and some re quests. So, where is this dis crimination?” he questioned.

In relation to the current issues at the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Credit Union, Minister Hamilton said that the dis ruption was between stake

holders that are linked to the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition party. As such, claims that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government was aiming for control of the Union were ‘foolish’.

He added, “And this con versation supposedly that the GPSU membership is only Afro-Guyanese is not true. It is a public service credit union. Any public servant can be a member and they have hundreds of persons who are not AfroGuyanese who are fullfledged members across the country. So, this foolishness that suggests to people who don’t know that these enti ties are all Afro-Guyanese is nonsense. It is ignorance and it deliberately sows dis cord. They must know bet ter.”

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton

Executive Director of Schulich ExecEd, Rami Mayer Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony

Precious Angels to host 4th annual Rett Syndrome Awareness Walk on Sunday

and motivated to initiate an awareness campaign. Anyone who wishes to con

tribute to the organisation is asked to do so at Mohamed’s Enterprise.

Back in 2019, Mohamed donated $2 million to sever al special needs schools.

Inan effort to raise awareness of this rare neurological genetic disorder, the non-profit or ganisation (NGO) Precious Angels will be hosting its 4th annual Rett Syndrome Awareness Walk on Sunday, October 30, 2022.

Establishment of the Precious Angels organisa tion has been inspired by Hadiyyah Mohamed, whose niece was diagnosed with the disorder. However, October is Rett Syndrome Awareness Month, and Precious Angels will be host ing the awareness cam paign at the premises of the Muslim Youth Organization (MYO) on Woolford Avenue in Georgetown.

The campaign will take the form of a walk and food sale to raise funds to as sist those so affected, and there are hopes of obtain ing a cure. Registration and warm-up exercises will be done at 8:00h, and the walk commences at 8:30h. Participants are request ed to assemble at the MYO 10 minutes before the walk commences.

The walk will move in an easterly direction on Woodford Avenue, and will pass through several streets before returning to the start ing point for culmination.

Bar-B-Que tickets are on sale at a cost of $1200, and those desirous of pur chasing a T-shirt to partici

pate in the walk are kindly asked to pay $2000. These are available at Mohamed’s Enterprise on Lombard Street, Georgetown, and at Nadia’s Avon in City Mall.

This walk is an annu al initiative to raise funds towards further research on this disorder and for the construction of the very first Rett Syndrome Clinic and Institution in Guyana, which will care for, diag nose, and screen persons af fected by Rett Syndrome.

Precious Angels is urging anyone who has a relative or loved one who is experiencing peculiar signs and symptoms to contact the organisation.

“Although diagnosis and full treatment are not quite pres ent in Guyana for suspected cases of Rett Syndrome, it is definitely on our agenda. One can only hope for a cure to be found in the near future,” the NGO has said.

Meanwhile, statistics have shown that one billion people worldwide experi ence some form of disability. Rett Syndrome is a very rare neurological disorder that affects brain development and functionality. It affects about 1 in 10,000 girls, but is hardly found in males.

Rett Syndrome is genet ically caused by a mutation in a gene located on the X chromosome. Babies with Rett Syndrome are born af ter a normal pregnancy and delivery. Most infants with

Rett Syndrome seem to grow and behave ordinari ly for the first six months. However, signs and symp toms start to appear thereaf ter. Some symptoms include seizures, loss of speech, loss of motor skills, diminished eye contact, breathing prob lems, wringing and washing of the hands, and scoliosis.

Although there’s no cure for Rett Syndrome, poten tial treatments are being studied. Doctors can easily diagnose Rett by observing signs and symptoms at ev ery stage of growth and de velopment. However, this is not possible in Guyana due to the lack of trained per sonnel and equipment in healthcare institutions.

As a result, Precious Angels has been inspired

One of the walks held by Precious Angels in the past

After an absence of several years, due to one reason or another, one of the biggest Chutney shows ever hosted in Guyana will return to the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara on March 18, 2023.

Yes! We are talking about the Chutney super concert dubbed ‘Clash of the Titans’, the last event of which was held at Providence and Berbice in 2016 and featured some of the best in the chutney music industry, among whom were KI, Ravi B, Raymond Ramnarine, Rick Ramoutar, Sexy Vanessa, Veekash Sahadeo, Amit Sooknanan and Mahendra Ramkellawan.

This magnificent concert

had eight bands setting the stage on fire, and was the first local show ever that had over 25,000 people in attendance. Five of those bands were international bands from Canada, the USA, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname; and then there was Guyana’s very own, the Shakti Strings Orchestra. Come March 18, 2023, promoter Mahendra Ramkellawan would be looking to recreate that memorable musical firestorm. Thus far, singers are confirmed to be

coming from several countries, including the Soca capital of the world - Trinidad and Tobago; the USA, Canada, Holland, Suriname and Guyana. Invited to comment on the return of this electrifying event,

Last hosted a few years ago, the event is returning with a bang, and artistes slated to perform are Steven Ramphal, AW Lyrical, Sexy Vanie, Reshma Ramlall, Anil Bheem of Dil-ENadan Band out of Trinidad and Tobago, Nari Ragubir, Rajesh Sylvester, Guyana’s Chutney Queen Vanita Willie, and Nishal B. There will

Amit. Emcee for the show will be WR Reaz. Early Bird tickets for the event cost $1500 now, but will cost more at the gates. Gates open at 18:00h, but the show will commence at 20:00h.

There will be strict security arrangements, and no firearms would be allowed in the venue.

Ramkellawan related that plans in this respect are moving apace.

Now operating his brand, Fire Fest Production, out of New York, Ramkellawan explained that he has already met with Culture Minister Charles Ramson Jr and other stakeholders, and is expected back in Guyana in the new month to finalise the cast and to work out other details, including security, among other things. He has promised that the return of the ‘Clash of the Titans’ will be massive.

f you are living in Berbice, then the place for you to be this Saturday evening is the Port Mourant Community Centre Ground, where ‘A Night of NonStop Jamming’ awaits you.

This musical concert, which features local and international artistes, has an impressive lineup of performers that include Apache Waria and Awarak Indian out of the USA; Sexy Shazzie and Kavita Ramkissoon from Trinidad; and Elsa Liza, Nishal B, Mr Vee, Chandrapaul and Amrita from Guyana. The performers will be backed by the Caribbean’s hot! Hot! Hotshots Band.

The mesmeric band “2 Crazy” from Suriname is slated to perform, and there will be lots of dance pieces from the Kimberly Dance Troupe and from Wavena and Amrita from Berbice. This show is predicted to produce tons of excitement, and it is an occasion you do not want to miss.

Admission to the venue is $2000 for adults, but children under 10 years old would be admitted without charge.

Gates will be opened at 17:00h, but the show gets underway at 19:00h.

Theinaugural Rockstone Fish Extravaganza which was hosted last Sunday ended in controversy, but at the end of it all, Team FishPro and ARD walked away with the prize for the most fish caught on the day, while Team Mohamed’s, who participated in the expedition, copped the prize for the biggest fish caught during the competition - a tiger fish.

This is not the first time that Team FishPro and ARD have emerged victorious from a competition of this sort; in the past, the group was always dominant in this field. However, for the first time in an event such as this, Team Mohamed’s was the biggest competitor.

Although not awarded the prize for the most catch, Team Mohamed’s, comprising

Mike Gonsalves, Philip Odwin, Lochan Persaud and Michael Thomas, were extremely happy to participate in the fun-filled activity. They disclosed that they regarded the occasion as just going out there and having clean fun.

“We love fishing, and it is our first time (participating in this sort of competition), and we just have to learn, and get it right the next year…,” team leader Gonsalves has said.

He and the team are heartily congratulating Team FishPro and ARD for their win.

This event was well attended, and several family-oriented activities were held throughout the day. For videos on the fishing, readers are invited to check Youtube for: Phillip Odwin Fishing Guyana Outdoor Adventures.

The members of Team Mohamed’s

Team Mohamed’s on Sunday

KI performing before a massive crowd

Mahendra Ramkellawan performing at the Guyana National Stadium

Raza, Evans and never-say-die Zimbabwe leave Pakistan on the brink

ceived a chance from Milton Shumba off his own bowling, and had to take the catch low down. Zimbabwe lost 3 for 22 in 29 balls.

…then blowout

Iftikhar's butter fingers did not improve, and when Williams, on 28, slog-swept Shadab in his direction, he let the ball slip under him for four. Shadab eventually did the job himself again.

reward. He squared Babar up with a ball that the Pakistan captain looked to play leg side, but slashed to Ryan Burl at point instead. Seven balls later, Rizwan tried to run Blessing Muzarabani down to third, but inside-edged onto his stumps. Pakistan were 28 for 2 after their Powerplaytheir second-lowest in T20 World Cups, and their lowest against Zimbabwe.

Stunning Sikandar at it again

Zimbabwe promised to cause as much dam age as they could in the Super 12s, and two games in, they have inflicted a ma jor blow. They defended 130 to deny Pakistan their first points and leave them at risk of not making the semi-finals, and they did it in extraordi nary fashion.

After a strong start in their batting, they slipped to 95 for 7 and set Pakistan a modest target on a pitch with good bounce and a big outfield. But Zimbabwe have an understated and var ied attack, and they gave Pakistan's - which Shadab Khan proudly proclaimed is the best in the tournamentcompetition for that label.

Zimbabwe's pacers re moved Pakistan's openers in the first five overs, be fore Luke Jongwe dismissed Iftikhar Ahmed to leave the score at 36 for 3.

Shan Masood and Shadab got the chase back on track with a 52-run fourth-wicket stand, but then came the sur prises.

Sikandar Raza, in the form of his life, took two wick ets in two balls, and anoth er in his next over, to leave Pakistan on 94 for 6.

Still, they should have fan cied their chances. Pakistan needed 38 runs in the last five overs; Zimbabwe scored 32 in theirs. The equation was more than doable. It still was at three needed off three, but try telling Brad Evans that. Playing his first game of this World Cup, the fast bowler went W W 1 to flip the whole entire script.

And now Pakistan are hanging by a thread. Even if they win all of their remain ing games, they will need some help from other teams to make the semi-finals (which now includes rooting for India to beat South Africa).

The final drama

Pakistan needed 29 runs off the last three overs, then 22 off the last two, and then the tension was broken when Mohammad Nawaz slammed a Richard Ngarava full toss over fine leg for six.

Zimbabwe's win probabil ity plummeted from 71% be fore Nawaz's strike to 34% af

ter. The game seemed gone. Evans had 10 runs to defend off the final over. His first ball was a half volley that found the gap between midoff and extra cover. Nawaz and Mohammad Wasim ran three. His second ball was a back-of-the-hand slower ball. Wasim hit it over mid-off for four. His third ball was slow er again, on fifth stump, and it was over Evans, but only as far as mid-off. Pakistan had one more and needed only three off the last three balls.

Evans beat Nawaz's cut with his fourth ball. Three off two needed. Then Nawaz tried to hit him over mid-off, and found the Zimbabwean captain Craig Ervine, who

match) down the order in fa vour of Wessly Madhevere, and the switch paid off. Madhevere met Shaheen's mostly-overpitched opening over with confident drives, and Zimbabwe took 14 runs off those six balls.

At the other end, Ervine tucked into a wide deliv ery from Naseem Shah, and then a straighter one, before Madhevere slashed a short, wide Wasim delivery through point. At 38 for 0 after four overs, Zimbabwe's best T20 World Cup powerplay - 57 against England - was in danger of being overridden.

…then wobble The strong

Williams moved early for the reverse-sweep, Shadab had enough time to pull his length back, and he bowled Williams. Chakabva came out at #6 to face the next ball, which drew him forward and took the edge. The ball was headed over Babar Azam at slip, but the Pakistan captain stuck his right hand in the air and the ball stuck as he com pleted one of the catches of the tournament.

Shadab's four overs were done, and the chance of a hat-trick was gone for him, but Wasim had better luck. He bounced Raza out with a slower bouncer, then ramped it up to 143kph for the next

But trying to get there without it Zimbabwe's spinnersRaza, Williams and Burlstarted the squeeze by im posing a boundary drought on Pakistan, but they were unable to keep them from running ones, twos and even threes. In the 21 deliveries between overs 8.4 and 11.6, Pakistan scored 15 singles, three twos and a three, and Zimbabwe delivered only two dot balls. With Williams's wide, they conceded 25 runs. It may not seem like much in the context of the game, but on a big field, plugging the gaps was crucial, and Zimbabwe were not always able to do so.

After helping to keep Pakistan quiet, Raza brought out his variations to give Zimbabwe a genu ine chance of causing an upset. Immediately after Shadab hit him for six, Raza sent down the knuckle ball. Shadab tried to launch him down the ground again, but miscued to Sean Williams at long-off. With his next ball, Raza had Haider Ali play ing around a full, straight delivery and hit him bang in front of middle stump. Haider was given out lbw and reviewed. Ball-tracking confirmed it was hitting the middle of middle stump. In his final over, the 16th, with Pakistan needing 38 runs off 30 balls, Raza had Shan Masood stumped off a quick er delivery, a leg-side wide, as he tried to flick.

Pakistan were 94 for 5, and Raza had put Zimbabwe in a position to push for a win. It took a lot of hard work to eventually get there, but that just made it all the sweeter (ESPNCricinfo)

ing closer in to prevent two, and swooped on it. The throw came to Regis Chakabva, who fumbled and then broke the stumps. Zimbabwe, in the unlikeliest of circumstances, had won.

Zimbabwe start with zing

After playing with com plete abandon (and not much success) in a reduced match against South Africa in Hobart, Zimbabwe decid ed to show there's more to their batting strategy when Ervine decided to front-up first against the Pakistan pacers in Perth. Zimbabwe dropped Chakabva (who had scores of 0, 13, 4 and 8 in the tournament before this

a pull to give Wasim a sim ple catch at short fine leg. Zimbabwe had to settle for their second-highest opening stand of the tournament - 42.

Two balls later, Madhevere was given out lbw on review, when he was hit high on the thigh flap by Wasim and ball-tracking showed it was going on to hit the top of the stumps. They finished the Powerplay on 47 for 2.

Things got nervy as Pakistan turned the screws. Sean Williams pulled Shaheen to Iftikhar Ahmed at midwicket. He had the ball in his hands and then let it go as he tumbled to give Williams a second chance on 9. Five balls later, Shadab re

ball to bowl Luke Jongwe off the bottom edge. Zimbabwe lost four wickets for no runs in six balls, and were 95 for 7 with 5.2 overs left to bat.

Lacking power in the play Zimbabwe's seamers also chose to go fairly full upfront, but their lines were tight er than Pakistan's had been, and they found seam move ment; so, it worked out a lit tle better for them. Ngarava was unlucky not to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan with a delivery that swung back into him and skirted past off stump, but Brad Evans, play ing in his first match of the tournament, enjoyed some

BOWLING

Ngarava 4-0-24-0

Muzarabani 4-0-18-1

4-0-25-2

Sikandar Raza 4-0-25-3

Luke Jongwe 1-0-10- 1

Sean Williams 2-0-15-0

Ryan Burl 1-0-7-0

Richard Ngarava soaking in Zimbabwe's stunning win with the fans

Contrasting emotions: Brad Evans and Regis Chakabva jumped for joy while Shaheen Afridi sank to the ground after being run-out last ball

Shan Masood is distraught after being stumped

Rohit, Kohli and Suryakumar power India to top of Group 2

Fifties of vastly dif ferent moods and tempos from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav laid the platform for India to brush Netherlands aside and move to the top of the Group 2 table with a healthy net-run-rate boost. Choosing to bat first on an SCG surface that was con siderably slower than the one they played their tour nament-opener on at the MCG, India put on a classic display of controlled domi nance over Associate op position, posting a par-ish total and defending it ruth lessly.

Chasing 180, Netherlands were nev er in the game, and for a while seemed in danger of being bowled out for un der 100. They avoided that fate, and the No. 11 Paul van Meekeren finished the innings with 4, 4, 4 off Arshdeep Singh to narrow their margin of defeat, but it was still a resounding 56 runs.

India's five specialist bowlers shared the wickets, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar,

hit boundaries. He sur vived a dropped chanceTim Pringle putting down a sitter at mid-on when he was on 13 - and finished his innings with a control per centage of just under 59,

scored 32 off 30 balls before that.

Suryakumar, mean while, did what only he and a few others in the world can do. He shuffled this way and that, brought his

India to achieve what they set out to on the day. The chances Rohit took early on came off often enough for Kohli to begin conserva tively, and Suryakumar's blazing start allowed him

but his preparedness to look ugly ensured he kept the scoreboard moving in the first 12 overs of India's innings. He made 53 off 39

wrists into play to whip and slice the ball into gaps, and found the boundary five times in his first 12 balls at the crease. He hit seven fours and a flicked six off the last ball of the innings to finish unbeaten on 51 off 25 balls, a jaw-dropping ef fort on a sluggish pitch but one that you might take for granted given how often he does these things.

Together, these three innings worked well for

to keep going in that vein until the last five overs.

India's total of 179 was their lowest in T20I in nings where they have lost only two wickets or fewer, and Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik didn't even come out to bat, but India probably only aimed for par on a sluggish pitch against Associate opposition. Kohli may probably have taken more risks early on against a stronger team.

Bhuvneshwar sets the tone for dominant bowling display

'Max O'Dowd or bust' has been a fair description of the Netherlands batting at this World Cup so far, and the early overs stayed with that theme. O'Dowd found the boundary with a pair of pleasing square drives off Arshdeep in the second over, but either side of that Bhuvneshwar went 2-2-0-1, bowling with pin point accuracy and dis missing Vikramjit Singh, bowled swiping across the line.

With the rest of the top order struggling, O'Dowd had to manufacture bound aries and was dismissed

trying to do so, exposing all his stumps to Axar and missing a sweep.

The Netherlands chal lenge fell away after that, as Axar and Ashwin throt tled them through the middle overs, before the fast bowlers returned to clean up the lower order. Arshdeep, expensive early on, came back to take two wickets in two balls, a nas ty bouncer followed by an inch-perfect yorker, and he was on a hat-trick when he began the final over. By the end of that over, though, his figures had taken a bruis ing, and van Meekeren had given Netherlands' fans something to cheer about.

(ESPNCricinfo)

GCF announces change in leadership

Frankie Farley for his ten ure of the last three years, and wish him every success in his future endeavours.

Arshdeep, Axar Patel and R Ashwin picking up two apiece, and Mohammed Shami one.

A costly non-review

The new ball swung, and occasionally stopped on the batter too. India scored just 11 runs in the first 2.4 overs of their in nings, and van Meekeren picked up a well-earned early wicket too, having an lbw shout upheld after KL Rahul missed the flick off a late inswinger. Rahul didn't review the decision, even though his opening partner Rohit seemed to suggest to him that the ball might have been swinging down the leg side; ball-track ing eventually proved Rohit correct.

Three approaches, three fifties

Rohit struggled for flu ency on this sluggish sur face but he kept trying to

balls; during his time at the crease, the two batters at the other end - Rahul and Kohli - combined to score 28 off 31.

Kohli finished with a control percentage of 75.

During the first 21 balls of his innings, when Rohit was at the other end, Kohli's control percentage was 81. Unlike Rohit, he didn't take chances ear ly on and chose to trust in his ability to score quickly once set. He did this, and found the boundary with increased frequency in five overs to score 30 off his last 14 balls, having

3)

TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 6.15) 123/9 Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Vikramjit Singh, 2.2 ov), 2-20 (Max O’Dowd, 4.2 ov), 3-47 (Bas de Leede, 9.2 ov), 4-62 (Colin Ackermann, 12.1 ov), 5-63 (Tom Cooper, 12.4 ov), 6-87 (Tim Pringle, 15.4 ov), 7-89 (Scott Edwards, 16.3 ov), 8-101 (Logan van Beek, 17.5 ov), 9-101 (Fred Klaassen, 17.6 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-2-9-2

Arshdeep Singh 4-0-37-2

Mohammed Shami 4-0-27-1

Axar Patel 4-0-18-2

Hardik Pandya 1-0-9-0

Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-21-2

New GCF President, Anand Raghunauth

The Guyana Chess Federation wishes to inform the public and the chess community that Anand Raghunauth, former Vice President of the GCF, is now the new President of the GCF.

This decision was taken by the GCF Board by way of majority vote at its recent meeting to fill the vacancy.

The board will undergo some restructuring in the near future, when a new director is expected to be named.

The GCF wishes to thank former President

Anand Raghunauth will hold the post of President until the next Annual General Meeting in September 2023, when the election for the new govern ing body is scheduled to be held.

PANDITH YOGI

LOVE, HEALTH, HUSBAND AND WIFE PROBLEMS, SEX, GOOD LUCK, BUSINESS, HOUSE PROTECTION. Contact Pandith,

Call or WhatsApp +592 672-8346. Address Georgetown.

Contact PANDITH JAYA for all

will get

of

Call or WhatsApp +592 688-1569. Address Georgetown.

DOMESTIC

from 7.00am

3.00pm (4-5

Telephone: 623-6383

Two half-centuries in two games for Virat Kohli•

Suryakumar

Yadav brought up his fifty off the last ball of the innings

Paul van Meekeren had KL Rahul lbw

2022

Guyana Harpy Eagles team…

BCB congratulates eight Berbician selectees

-but questions omission of Foo

Night2 of the Bounty Supermarket National Indoor Hockey Championships was an exciting one, with wins for Old Fort, GBTI GCC Tigers, Woodpecker Hikers and Bounty GCC.

The opening match was a second division one played between Old Fort Top Form and Saints Scorpions. The Old Fort boys thoroughly represented their name "top form", as they whipped their opponents 6-1. The youthful and talented Simeon Moore showed great energy and scored 3 field goals, 2 in the 22nd minute and the other 3 minutes later.

Moore's teammate Shaquan Favourite opened the scoresheet, followed by team mates Daniel and Nandalall. Ezekiel Springer was the lone scorer for the Scorpions.

Matches in the ladies’ division proved competitive, with both winners defeating their opponents by a slim 3-2 margin. The first ladies match featured Old Fort Igniters vs GBTI GCC Tigers. It was exciting, and captain Gabriella Xavier marked her name on the

scoresheet in the 3rd minute.

However, Igniter Kayla Duncan levelled the scores for her team with a field goal.

Captain "Gabby" wanted to ensure her team’s victory, and placed another shot past goal keeper Keziah to keep her team ahead. Sarah Klautky braced Gabby with a goal off a penalty corner; however, 3 minutes later, in the same penalty corner opportunity, Minosodia Culpepper sent the ball past the goalkeeper.

Both teams continued to fight for ball possession, with the Igniters having a chance in the last minute to score, but the ball went wide, giving the Tigers the victory.

In the other ladies match, with Woodpecker Hikers and GBTI GCC Spice, Ashley Khalil scored the first goal of the match on a rebound shot corner, but minutes before the halftime, Maria Munroe answered for her team with a shot past goalkeeper Empress Charles.

The second half started with Spice having more ball possession, as Hikers played a more defensive structure.

squad that would be contesting in the 2022 CG United Regional Super50 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago.

As such, BCB President Hilbert Foster and the entire board hereby extend congratulations to those eight cricketers, who departed Guyana yesterday. These players are: Shimron Hetmyer, Veerasammy Permaul, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Clinton Pestano and Anthony Bramble.

All of these players have represented Guyana at the senior level, and some have represented West Indies at the highest level of cricket.

In a statement posted on the BCB social media platform, Foster has said Berbice Cricket is on the move, and the selection of these eight players

is evidence.

"The President and executives of the Berbice Cricket Board would like to congratulate the eight Berbicians who have been named in the Guyana 50 Overs teams that would be playing the 2022 CWI tournament. Berbice cricket is on the move, and the selection of the eight players is a reflection of that. We would like

to wish the players a successful tournament, and this would lead to possible selection to the West Indies team. Shimron Hetmyer, Veersammy Permaul, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Clinton Pestano and Anthony Bramble - please be assured of our support. We would also like to wish Team Guyana all the best in the tournament."

The BCB has, however, been disappointed with the exclusion of experienced batsman Jonathan Foo from the squad of Harpy Eagles. The BCB notes that Foo had ticked all the boxes for selection. Nevertheless, the statement further encourages Foo to keep working on his game.

"The BCB is however very disappointed at the nonselection of Jonathan Foo, who continues to tick all the boxes needed at the level. We would like to urge Jonathan to keep working on his game, and he will be rewarded," the statement concluded.

Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ East Coast leg kicks off today!

…Colours Boutique again on board

In the last 6 minutes of the game, most of the action, as in the 6th minute before the game expired, saw Munroe intercepting a ball in the right back and racing towards the circle, earning her team a short corner and an eventual stroke. That stroke was taken and scored by Munroe.

Three minutes later, Kenisha Wills dribbled the baseline of the circle and reversed past into the goal, giving her team a 3-1 lead. The Spice ladies kept their heads up and played to the end of the whistle, securing a goal in the 39th minute. The game ended 3-2 in favour of Woodpecker Hikers.

In the men's division, Bounty GCC edged Saints Splinters 5-4. Mark Sargeant and Kareem McKenzie scored a double, but Kevin Spencer sealed the victory in the final minute of the game.

In the other match, GCC The Sequel and YMCA played a game similar to that of the earlier men's match, as GCC edged Saints 4-3. Goals came of the stick of Devin Hooper (double), Dwayne Scot and Seth Jeffory for the winning team.

The lone veterans match, and what can be deemed the match of the night, was between YMCA Old Fort and Bounty GCC, who played the same type of game and obtained the same results as the men and women. The GCC men barely got past the Old Fort men 3-2. Kevin Spencer scored a double, while Devin Hooper confidently scored on a penalty stroke to secure his team's victory.

The Bounty Supermarketsponsored tournament continues tonight with the National Men’s team hosting a mini fundraiser to support their travel next year for CAC Games, commencing at 5pm this afternoon.

Aspecial kind of ‘Greatness’ will return to the streets of the East Coast of Demerara when the highly anticipated Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ tournament engulfs the Haslington tarmac tonight.

Banks DIH, through their Guinness brand, will tonight kick start the East Coast Demerara leg of this utterly fantastic football tournament, the Georgetown leg of which is being eyed for commencement before yearend. This East Coast Demerara event will span three nights, with the Round of 16 and quarterfinals being hosted on October 28th and 29th respectively.

Sharing a list of the participating teams and tournament structure, Banks DIH Communications Manager Troy Peters has disclosed the date of the grand finale.

“The teams that we have competing, we have Melanie B, Paradise, Victoria Church Yard, Liliendaal Hustlers, Belfield Uprising, BV ‘A’, Buxton Diamond, Victoria Eagles, Portmore, Bare Root, Non Pareil, Team Cruel, Vryheid’s Lust, Haslington and Old Skool. We will have the semifinals and finals on Saturday, November 5th,” Peters has informed.

Meanwhile, Guinness Brand Executive Lee Baptiste has been happy to verbalise the company’s commitment to community events like this tournament, while sharing his expectations for

“Remember: in the game, the second half of every game, the last three minutes, any goal scored goes as a Guinness Goal, and that counts for two goals,” he explained. “Please guys, come out and play

the tournament. Baptiste enlightened, “Usually, we’re very happy to be a part of community events, constructive community events; and we know, over the past three years, this has been absent. We wish the teams playing in this tournament well. Three nights of action-packed football…”

Wayne ‘Harry’ Griffith, whose familiar face is likely to be a staple at the Haslington tarmac, has reminded players of the tournament’s most exciting feature.

the football clean. Keep it fair and have good fun,” he encouraged.

In addition to title sponsors Guinness, Colours Boutique have jumped on board once again, sponsoring the team uniforms that would be used for the tournament. Each team would receive a package of branded T-shirts, pants and socks, compliments of this renowned Guyanese boutique.

With a total of $600,000 up for grabs in prizes, the teams are battling for a grand prize of $250,000.

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), which continues to produce high-calibre

cricketers, has had eight of its top players selected for inclusion in the Guyana Harpy Eagles

Shimron Hetmyer headlines the eight Berbicians selected for Guyana Harpy Eagles’ duty

BCB President Hilbert Foster

John Abrams (Old Fort) took a shot at goal but it was blocked by GCC goalkeeper Philip Fernandes

Jeoff Clement of Banks DIH presenting the Championship Trophy to tournament Organiser Rawle Welch in the presence of Troy Peters, Mortimer Stewart, Lee Baptiste, Kenneth Hazel, Joel Ward, and Wayne ‘Harry’ Griffith

Lee Baptiste and Troy Peters of Banks DIH, along with tournament organiser Rawle Welch, show off the uniforms received, compliments of Colours Boutique

Harpy Eagles jet off to T&T

According to a missive from the Board, ex ecutives of the Guyana Cricket Board have (GCB) met with the players and management staff of the Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE) on Wednesday evening, October 26, 2022, on the eve of their departure to contest the Regional Super 50 Tournament. That en gagement was geared at assisting with closure of the perceived relationship-distance between players and executives.

In addressing the gathering, President of the GCB, Bissoondyal Singh, first commended the players on their selection, and urged the se nior players and junior counterparts to capital ise on the opportunities afforded them.

“We are aware of your expertise, and are highly confident you would excel consis tently throughout the CG United Super 50 Tournament. As a board, given the available resources, we were able to run-off the Senior Inter-County Tournament after an absence of over five (5) years. Additionally, we took all necessary steps to ensure that all matches were livestreamed, including a livestream test of the final between the seemingly improving Essequibo team and the eventual champions Berbice. This livestream test of the final tar geted the Indian subcontinent, comprising of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan through a partnership agreement with a pro motion firm registered in India.

“While this partnership is in its infant stage, the GCB intends to administer and pro mote cricket in a “big way,” a professional way, which will promote players within and outside the Caribbean region, and in general Guyana’s Cricket product.

“Further, we facilitated two practice match es. I must mention that all of these activities: Senior Inter-County, the Livestreaming of the event, and hosting of the practice matches, were financed solely by the GCB. I say this so that you can get a better understanding of the demands the GCB is faced with, given its lim ited resources, and we are taking substantial efforts to ensure that all involved in the game have a fair and equitable chance to represent Guyana.”

President Singh went on to state, “The GCB continues to examine ways to improve the training facilities avail able to you, the players, and are in re ceipt of estimates to upgrade the GCB’s practice facility at LBI. While we will be utilizing other facilities in the execu tion of our duties as a board, we believe that the core group of national play ers at all levels must be given the best possible training environs to nurture and develop their skills. Our ability to train under floodlights will also aid in our competitive preparations.”

Further, he remarked that “As you journey to begin this year’s CG United Super 50 challenge, it is the hope of the executive members of the GCB that our meeting here will inspire you to bond and play as a team, and to lift the CG United Super 50 Championship Trophy for 2022.

“Go forward confidently, be positive, play as a team, and achieve your set individual and team goals.”

The GHE departed Guyana at 0815 hours on Thursday, October 27, 2022, and will open their challenge against Group A contender Windward Island Volcanoes on Monday October 31, 2022. All Group A matches will be played in Trinidad, with the other competing teams being Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (TTRF), Combined Campuses and Campuses (CCC), Windward Island Islands Volcanoes (WV), and Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE).

The Zone B teams consist of Leeward Island Hurricane, Jamaica Scorpions, Barbados Pride, and a CWI Academy Team. The Zone A teams will play their preliminary matches in Trinidad, and preliminary matches for Zone B teams will be played in Antigua. The semi-finals and final will be played in Antigua.

GHE team read as follows: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice-Captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Gudakesh Motie, Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Kemol Savory, Sherfane Rutherford, Tevin Imlach, Quentin

Sampson, Anthony Bramble, Nial Smith, Kevin Sinclair, and Clinton Pestano.

The management staff includes Albert Clements (Manager), Ryan Hercules (Head Coach), Garvin Nedd (Assistant Coach), Angelica Holder (Physiotherapist), Kheshava Ramphal (Cricket Analyst).

The group stage of the MVP Sports’ Petra Organized Futsal tournament got off to a blis tering start on Wednesday night with 6 exhilarating games being played at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue.

In the first game of the night, Campbellville thumped a hapless Vengy FC 5-0. Vengy managed to hold off their opponents for much of the first half, but when it began to rain goals, there was a deluge.

A brace from Jahall Greaves in the 20th and 36th, another double from Manasseh Primo in the 21st and 38th, and a lone goal from Marlon Gentle in the 18th accounted for Campbellville’s 5.

The following game re sulted in a hard-fought 6-3 victory for Future Stars over Mocha Family. Two strikes in the very first min ute of the game from Tyrese Dennis and Jamal Cozier

gave Future Stars just the start they wanted.

However, Mocha was equally as fast with their re ply, as Kevin Agard and Ian Mars both struck for a 2-2 in just the second minute of the

encounter.

While Dennis and Cozier both added another to their personal tally, Rishaun Ritch joined Future Stars’ scorers in the 16th, push ing the score to 5-2. Mocha looked to be staging anoth er comeback after a Shamar Jones goal in the 18th, but it was not to be, as Cozier com pleted his hat trick in the 20th to put a victory far out of Mocha’s reach.

Gold is Money enjoyed a comfortable victory over Tiger Bay in the ensuing game. There were only three goals scored, as Dextroy Adams, Phillip Rowley and Darren Benjamin scored in the 7th, 8th and 17th respec tively.

Back Circle edged Sophia 3-2 on the back of a collective

effort from the team. Cecil Jackman, Kelsey Benjamin and Dillon Kelly found the back of the net in the 10th, 12th and 17th respectively for Back Circle’s three. On the oth er hand, Lennox Young’s dou ble (2nd, 16th) ensured Sophia could keep their dignity.

Team Cruel from Beterverwagting put up a fight against futsal giants Sparta Boss, but Wednesday was not the day they would stage an upset. Ryan Hackett and Pernel Schultz got Sparta off to a flying start with strikes in the 1st and 2nd, but team Cruel’s Shemar Fraser and Neron Barrow replied quickly, in the 3rd and 7th respectively.

A second goal from Wilson and one off the boots of Marcus Wilson in the

18th ensured Sparta got the victory.

The final game of the night was worth the wait, as Stabroek Ballers held the famous Bent Street to a shocking 3-3 draw. For Bent Street, Deon Alfred’s hat trick in the 10th, 15th, 19th was not enough, as Stabroek’s Seon Taylor (4th), Henery Sampson (16th) and Dorwin George (17th) made certain that Bent Street would not walk away with 3 points.

The MVP Sports’ futsal action will continue tomor row evening at the same venue. The tournament is also being supported by ANSA McAL through their Magnum and Lucozade brands, and by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

The

The Guyana Harpy Eagles players and staff

Harpy Eagles meeting GCB Executives