WHAT'S INSIDE: Issue No. 5108 Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana THE BEACON OF TRUTH guyanatimesgy.com PRICE $100 VAT INCLUDEDMONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 P11P8P7P16P16Guyana’s financial sector Policies allowing Private Sector to capitalise on new business opportunities will be beneficial – IDB Remaining oil blocks …VP wants to see local consortium bidding …says there has been accelerated development in ICT infrastructure Increase in ICT access tied telecomsliberalisationtoofsector - PM Telemarketing company seeking 1000 persons to work from home Approval process to be strengthened to avoid “flipping” Work ongoing on Terms electionReferenceofforCoI- AG …says efforts being made to speed up process painterofcausingchargedMotorcyclistfordeathLusignan Beautification project installedLights along activeinfections,6religiousinfightpolicingTraditionalseawallKingstonstolencannotcrimeSophia–leadersnewCOVID-19379casesSee story on page 12 Come home – President to Guyanese in T&T Guyana, Barbados, Brazil’s Roraima State strengtheningdiscuss ties …agriculture, trade, infrastructure among issues discussed Page3 Page 7 Page9 Page10 P14
2 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM
Guyana, Barbados, Brazil’s Roraima state discuss strengthening ties
President Dr Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley meeting with Roraima state officials and other stakeholders in Boa Vista
…agriculture, trade, infrastructure among issues discussed
President Ali and Prime Minister Mottley flew over to Boa Vista from Trinidad and Tobago, where they attended the Twin Island Republic’s second AgriInvestment Forum and Expo.The State of Roraima is bordering Lethem in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region of Guyana. Back in May, President Ali had disclosed that Guyana, which present ly chairs the Caribbean Community Ministerial Task Force on Food Security, will be lobbying Caricom on bringing the Brazilian State of Roraima on board its 25 by 25 initia tive, that is, reducing the region’s high food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025. This was one of the out comes of the inaugural AgriInvestment Forum and Expo held in Georgetown and brought together indus try players from all across the region in May. Upon the completion of the event, President Ali led a group of Caricom Leaders to meet with the business community from Roraima during a CaribbeanRoraima Investors Luncheon at the Santa Fé farm in North Rupununi, Lethem.
MONDAY,
BRIDGE OPENINGS
The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Monday, Aug 22 – No closure and Tuesday, Aug 23 – 00:30h – 02:00h. 3 AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM AUGUST 06, 2022 P resident Dr Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley travelled to north ern Brazil on Sunday to meet with officials of the State of Roraima in order to advance trilateral relations. According to the Office of the President in Georgetown, the two Heads of State met with the Governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium, at the Governor’s Palace in Boa Vista.During the meeting, dis cussions focused on agricul ture, trade, infrastructure and strengthening bilateral relations between Guyana, Barbados and the State of Roraima.President Ali was ac companied by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha; and Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond. Senior officials of the Barbadian Government were also at the meeting.
The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Parika and Supenaam departure times – 05:00h, 10:00h-12:00h, 16:00h, 18:30h daily Monday, Aug 22 – 13:40h – 15:10h and Tuesday, Aug 23 – 14:30h – 16:00h.
NEWS COMMODITIES Indicators US$ Change % Crude Oil $96.72/barrel +0.13 Rough Rice $307.02/ton -0.11 London Sugar $550.10/ton 0.00 Live Spot Gold USD Per Ounce Bid/Ask $1746.60 $1747.60 Low/High $1745.20 $1749.40 Change -1.00 -0.06 LOTTERY NUMBERS DAILY MILLIONSSATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022 DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902 LUCKY 3 FREE TICKET 02 03 07 24 25 28H 1813 19155 19 5 2121212041002 BonusBall 13 DRAW DE LINE 11 16100706 18 21161502 PAY DAY PAYSUPERDAY 15 5 0 2 Afternoon Draw Evening Draw 76 10 Afternoon Draw Evening Draw 2XFP Afternoon Draw Evening Draw SATURDAY,
The Head of State had noted that there is much that the Brazilian state can contribute towards the Region’s push to reach its food import bill targets. “We’re talking here about a state that is produc ing onion, soya oil, wheat. All the grains that we can utilise in Caricom for our food import needs. All the fruits that can go into our productive sector. But more importantly, everything they do on their side can be done on our side first. They have offered their technolo gy, their investments, their partnership and their com mitment.”“Inexchange, we have committed to the Heads, a proposal that the State of Roraima be part of the Ministerial Task Force on agriculture from Caricom. We have invited them to be part of the forum in Trinidad and Tobago in August and they are going to be a part of that forum,” President Ali had noted. In addition to attending Trinidad’s Agri-Investment Forum & Expo, Caricom leaders last week held fol low-up discussions on a number of issues including advancements of the 25 by 25 initiative.Meanwhile, during the engagement back in May, President Ali had said that the State of Roraima, in cluding the business com munity, wants to be inte grated more into the vision of Caricom, when it comes to the agricultural sector. The Guyanese leader was of the view that there are numerous areas for op portunities when it comes to collaboration with the State of Roraima, including in the area of cattle rearing. In fact, he had noted that in one year, production of an gus beef could be doubled throughout the Region. “They want to be inte grated not only from a sup ply perspective, but from a productive perspective. They want to be integrated into this vision of Caricom. They want to be part of this and I think it is an excellent opportunity for a win-win,” President Ali had stated. The Brazilian investors, who represent half of the production capacity of the State of Roraima, made pre sentations on their capacity and capabilities, and spoke of their intentions to collab orate with Guyana and the wider Caricom Region in agriculture.Further, during that meeting in May, the Government of Guyana, through the Agriculture Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Roraima to en hance agriculture through research and development. The regional heads who participated in that en gagement were T&T Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne, and the then Premier of Montserrat, Joseph Farrell, among oth er regional officials. Roraima is one of 26 states in Brazil and covers an area of approximately 86,300 square miles. (G8)
President Dr Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, along with their teams, arriving in the Brazilian State of Roraima on Sunday
FERRY SCHEDULE
WEATHER TODAY There will be light rain showers during the day. Expect thundery showers at night. Temperatures should range between 23 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius. Winds: South-Westerly to West South-Westerly between 0.89 metres and 3.57 metres. High Tide: 13:03h reaching a maximum height of 2.04 metres. Low Tide: 06:26h and 18:53h reaching minimum heights of 1.09 metre and 1.19 metre.
In our Sunday Editorial, “Modernising our financial architecture”, we referred to the IDB’s “Caribbean Country Department” and IDB Invest Report: “Finance for Firms — Options for Improving Access and Inclusion”. We discussed the need to increase our “financial depth” – the ratio of credit to the Private Sector and the GDP. That the ratio for Singapore is 131 versus our 39 should give us an indication of the need to increase credit to our Private Sector. In the survey conducted by the authors, they asked the Guyanese firms to rate the “obstacles that can affect the current operations of your establishment.” In view of the present claims that there is widespread racial discrimination in the granting of credit by financial institutions, the results of the survey should go a long way in dispelling such perceptions. It was reported that, “The item “access to finance (e.g., collateral)” was increasingly reported to be either a major or very severe obstacle between 2014 and 2020. The share of firms reporting collateral to be a major obstacle increased from 15.4 percent in 2014 to 32.5 percent in 2020, while the share of firms reporting it to be a very severe obstacle increased from 8.2 percent in 2014 to 18.1 percent in 2020”. The period under review, of course, was politically charged between 2014-2015, since the PPP Executive was checkmated by an Opposition majority in the National Assembly, and between 2015-2020 the APNU/AFC coalition adopted policy positions that were considered very much “anti-business” by the Private Sector. The “animal spirits”as the psychology of investors was dubbed by John Maynard Keynes before the Great Depression - was roiled. Be that as it may, as was pointed out in yesterday’s editorial, the underdeveloped financial system is very traditional and restrictive in restricting “collateral” to real estate. This notion needs to be broadened in line with developments in the Developed World, into which we are now integrated, to include Business Equipment Collateral; Inventory Collateral; Invoices Collateral; Blanket Lien Collateral; Investments Collateral (such as securities). Agricultural loans are our largest financing needs, but without a forward market, there is not even the possibility to use such contracts as collateral. These markets will have to be developed. Most interesting, in view of the high liquidity in our banking system for decades, the Report announced: “Cost of finance (e.g., interest rates)” was cited in 2020 as a major or severe obstacle by 48 percent of firms – higher than the 40 percent figure in 2014. The 2020 survey reported average interest rates in Guyana were 11.8 percent compared to the Caribbean average of 13.3 percent. However, lending rates have declined in Guyana since the survey, and averaged 9 percent in 2021 and 8.59 percent this June. But these rates are still astronomical, considering that interest on savings deposits - from which the loans are sourced - are 0.81 percent. Commercial banks remain too conservative, and it is hoped that the entrance of the new Merchant Bank - New Hayven – will offer competition to help lower lending rates. The restrictive effect of high interest rates in lending is borne out in the following: “The 2020 survey also asked firms to report the reason why they did not even apply for a loan or line of credit in the previous year (2019). A significant share of both small and large firms had similar responses. The most frequent responses were either that the firm “had sufficient capital” or “interest rates were not favourable.” Among large firms, 40.9 percent reported that the interest rates were not favourable and 30.9 percent reported having enough capital, while 27.2 percent of small firms identified interest rates as a challenge and 22.6 percent mentioned having enough capital. A smaller share of small firms mentioned other reasons for not seeking loans, such as the complexity of loan applications, loan sizes being insufficient, or challenges with collateralAccordingrequirements.”tothelatest Bank of Guyana Report, there was a 15.8 percent increase in credit to the Private Sector between June 2021 and June 2022. Hopefully, this signals that the needed structural change in our “financial depth” has begun.
225-7761 Marketing:
Truth–Independence and the Caribbean Court of Justice
4 Views guyanatimesgy.comMONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Mailing
Email:
News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544,
Accounts:
Editor: Tusika Martin 223-7230, 223-7231, 231-8064 225-6707 address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown marketing@guyanatimesgy.comnews@guyanatimesgy.com, President Dr Irfaan Ali arriving for a meeting with the Governor of Roraima, His Excellency Antonio Denarium, at the Governor’s Palace in Boa Vista on Sunday. The Prime Minister of Barbados, Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, was also present at the meeting (OP photo) By Helen Drayton It is risky to associate in dependence with the free dom to remain chained to a system that had given legit imacy to the injustices of co lonialism. Today that force remains the ultimate guard ian of our legal system — the British Privy Council (PC). It is accepted that the PC has sustained the public’s trust and confidence over the years, and it has contributed to our society positively and in no small measure. No disrespect is intended in supporting the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to become T&T’s final Court of ManyAppeal.cannot accept that the erudition of Caribbean judges is no less than that of their colleagues everywhere else, and argue against the CCJ. Among the naysayers are legal professionals who allege the susceptibility of lo cal judges to political influ ences, not seeing the irony of that view. Still, the CCJ, since its inception in 2005, has dis tinguished itself in jurispru dence, building a solid repu tation of excellence regionally and internationally. Its eminent judges, past and present, have had years of experience in the practice of international law and laws of Commonwealth member states. The quality of their judgements is not in question. These are cited in Courts of Caribbean jurisdictions that have not adopted it as their appellate court, including the Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago courts. Internationally, the UK Supreme Court, the Judicial Committee (JPCC) of the Privy Council, and the Court of Justice of the European Union have cited its judge ments.The CCJ has used pro found mechanisms to build public trust and confi dence. In 2019, a Judiciary Integrity Scan was conduct ed by a German corporation —Deutsche Gesellschaft injoysresultsZusammenarbeitInternationalefür(GIZ).TheshowedtheCCJenanexcellentreputationthestateswhereitacts as the supreme court of ap peal and in other Caribbean Community states. There is a high degree of confidence in its integrity and indepen dence. Detailed information on its impressive record is on its website.Ithasa track record of im partial decision-making, in cluding cases involving politi cal issues in Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and Guyana. From inception, all hearings have been available to the public in person and through electron ic means. Evidently, transparency is a cornerstone of its strate gies to serve the region’s best interest. Unfortunately, this coun try’s present context of in creasing blood crimes, the lack of convictions, dysfunc tional politics — all compet ing to snuff out the stability of our nation - is admitted ly not a time when many cit izens would be convinced of the rightness in removing the influential pillar of our shackled past. Independence was never about the roman tic symbolism of taking down and raising flags. Instead, it was supposed to be about us ing our talents and harmon ising diversity to shape a unique and beautiful cultural Caribbean identity and desti ny. One can appreciate that at independence, 60 years ago, the new nation needed time to develop its legal architec ture and philosophy. After the first couple of decades of inde pendence, it was time to have moved on. Half independent All pillars of society are circumscribed by law; wheth er economic, social, cultural, or environmental. As long as there is a foreign body with the power to change our laws, and that body has constitu tional authority to invali date decisions of our Supreme Court, we cannot claim to be a fully independent nation. One may argue that the PC as the final appeal court is the people’s choice. Not so. The people were never given a fair opportunity to decide, and consultation should have hap pened before we’d signed the agreement to establish the CCJ as our appellate court. If the people are illiterate about the value of the CCJ to devel opment, and if divisive poli tics continues to relegate the competence of our legal lumi naries to an inferior status, then ability to make a choice will remain impaired. Literacy is essential for development and progress. Inherently, our leaders con tinue to perpetuate an injus tice. Educating the people The CCJ, as the appel late court, is a creature of the Caribbean Community, es tablished by the Caribbean Heads of Government on February 14, 2001. The agree ment was ratified and given the force of law by Trinidad and Tobago Act 4:02 on December 16, 2005 — a law which had the blessing of both Government and Opposition. Seventeen years later, the lo cal tradition of excellence in the legal profession is subor dinated to external erudition. In every aspect of life, here and in other places, there will be those whose actions under mine the integrity of institu tions. Only societies lacking confidence will concede to a continued status of inferiori ty. How do we uplift the peo ple’s minds to the excellence of the CCJ? The people are supposed to be the only real power in a democracy. They must be literate to become truly independent. If the ed ucation system and the politi cians, by words and deeds, de mean their talents and skills — the “native genius” - then independence is not about truth. Political influences Naysayers speak about a lack of confidence by inves tors, and that removal of the PC isn’t conducive to an inves tor-friendly climate. Investors normally agree under con tract to arbitration. There’s little if any substance to that argument.Another view is that dis tance is conducive to im partiality and fairness, and that smaller and deeply di vided societies make it hard er for judges to be indepen dent. The appellate court for the British is their Supreme Court. So, too, all other for eign countries take pride in their own supreme courts lo cated in their cities, except for a handful of Commonwealth countries. Distance and size bear no relationship to integ rity. The world is smaller to day because of the universal ity of information technology, and the big countries’ judges can also be politically and re ligiously influenced. A glance at recent happenings in the USA speaks volumes about big countries’ politics and the law. And, in 2020, it was report ed that British Judge Stephen Males had set aside a judge ment by the UK High Court which ruled in favour of Juan Guaidó because the UK had “unequivocally recognised the opposition leader as pres ident”. The legal battle over who controls approximately $2 billion of Venezuela’s gold held by the Bank of England is ongoing. The nature of pol itics is such that no country’s judiciary is entirely immune or less susceptible to rabid po litical and geo-political influ ences. Time to kick us out The PC should kick us out. Having guaranteed for mer colonies the right of ap peal to the Privy Council in their Constitutions, it would be hard-pressed to abro gate that right. That could change. We should have been embarrassed when, in 2009, the new President of Britain’s Supreme Court, Lord Nicholas Phillips, had lamented the “disproportion ate” time senior judges spent hearing former colonies’ le gal appeals. He added that “in an ideal world”, former Commonwealth countries would establish their own courts of appeal. One com mentator said it was a “minor public scandal” that judges in the country’s top court spent almost half their time on busi ness “of no interest to anyone in the UK”.
Businessconstraintsfinancial
5guyanatimesgy.com MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 News
Truth–Independence and the...
Hundreds of jobs are soon to become avail able in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) with the opening of two tele marketing companies. This is according to Finance Dr Ashni Singh, who said that the two new call centres will be located at Palmyra and the Upper Corentyne.According to Dr Singh, both facilities are being con structed under a Public/ Private Partnership (PPP). “At Palmyra, we are con structing a physical facility which is going to be operat ed as a call centre and we ex pect that we will have a pri vate operator to operate that facility. Similarly, we are doing the same thing on the Upper Corentyne. We will be constructing a similar facility there where there will also be a physical facil ity which a private operator willEachoperate.”ofthe facilities will have the capacity for 150 seats.“So you can have 150 per sons working at any given time, but of course for many of these companies [telemar keting], depending on where their clients are and the na ture of the clients that they have they could do multiple shifts as well. So, in theo ry, a 150-seat facility could easily be 300 jobs and at the limit, it could be as many as 450 jobs if you have three shifts operating in the fa cility,” Minister Singh ex plained.Hepointed out that as the world changes there will be a difference in the labour requirements. That is why, he added, the Government has been investing in train ing persons in ICT educa tion.“There is a very tradition al type of jobs the Guyanese economy has become accus tomed to but as we undergo this transformation that the President has been speak ing about, there are new types of jobs and new types of skills being required for those new types of jobs – this is all part of the transforma Construction of the 150-seat call centre at Palmyra to open tion that is taking place. It is important that young peo ple and potential job seekers procure themselves for these new job types. That is why programmes like the GOAL Scholarship is so import ant,” Dr Singh added while noting that the world is rap idly changing. (G4)
in Region 6 …hundreds of jobs available – Finance Minister
2 telemarketing companies
06:00 (Sign on) Inspirational Time 06:30 Cartoons 07:00 Evening News (RB) 07:30 Cartoons 08:00 Stop Suffering 08:30 Stay Woke 09:00 MasterChef Junior 10:00 Celebrity IOU 11:00 Paternity Court 11:30 Divorce Court 12:00 Indian Movie - Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012) 14:30 Liv and Maddie S2 E17 15:00 Indian Soaps 16:00 Henry Danger S1 E15 16:30 Inspector Gadget 17:00 The Young & The Restless 18:00 Monday Night Giveaways with DJ Stress 19:00 The Evening News 20:00 Love & Laughter 21:00 The Resident S2 E11 22:00 The 100 S3 E10 23:00 The Ranch S4 E14 23:30 Whose Line Is It Anyway? S16 E10 00:00 Sign off Monday, August 22, 2022 Dear Editor, The damming revela tions in the IDB Report on the state of the NA Hospital Complex are appalling. These revelations were made more damaging as successive administrations for almost two decades ne glected a basic medical fa cility.One wonders what would be the response of succes sive RHOs and the region al administration to this in dictable situation. Or, for that matter, what would be the response of successive HealthNow,Ministers?theBank has made a loan for critical up grades at hospitals. This in an oil producing economy, in which the thrust is on mega infrastructural projects.
Our pride wasn’t dent ed. The inferiority com plex nurtured by hundreds of years of bondage is in grained in the national psyche. We took that whip and happily continued to “loiter on the doorstep” of an anachronism. We’re a burden, and Lord Phillips should do all within the PC’s power to push us out. However, with Britain’s exit from the European Union, the powers may want to hold on to the last powerful vestige of em pire as relevant to any new dispensation with the Commonwealth.In2017, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland, had said that Britain’s vote to leave the EU had triggered con siderable dismay among the Commonwealth’s 52 member states, many of which are covered by freetrade agreements with the EU and fear new tariffs in the future. She urged the UK to move faster in en gaging with the group af ter decades of prioritising trade with the EU. Benefits of the CCJ There are significant benefits to T&T, including increased and less costly access than the PC. Ease of access has contributed to greater access by ordinary citizens in the countries using the CCJ. Barbados, Belize, and Dominica col lectively have experienced an increase of about 400 per cent in cases filed to the CCJ since its incep tion in 2005, compared with appeals to the PC in the seventeen years prior to these countries assent ing to the CCJ. Appealing before the PC is lucrative business.TheCCJ facilitates the development of robust ju dicial policy, which should be a priority to any coun try seeking to take charge of its legal affairs. It iden tifies with the goals and aspirations of the region, and is not a remote par ty to the myriad of issues affecting our daily lives. It understands the crit ical need for judicial re form. It reaches out to its communities through the CCJ Academy for Law, the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO), and the JURIST Project. It provides opportunities for legal professionals to liti gate at the highest level. T&T Contravention of the CCJ Agreement Trinidad and Tobago had signed the CCJ Agreement without en tering a reservation. We voluntarily agreed to the privilege of locating the Caribbean Court in Portof-Spain, yet chose to op erate in breach of our obligations under the CCJ Agreement with out shame. At the same time, our leaders fantasise about independence and pretend to have the moral authority to speak about upholding laws. “The attainment of na tional independence is to me a search for truth.” — Mahatma Gandhi. (T&T Guardian) FROM PAGE 4
ShamshunSincerely, Mohamed IDB Report on NA Hospital
5) Place a piece of clay in the centre of the cardboard, and stick the tip of the pencil into the clay.
6) Use a pin to fasten the straw to the top of the eraser. Make sure it’s centred. You may also want to wiggle the pin back-and-forth a bit to make sure the arrow can spin easily.7)Now observe! The arrow will point to the direction the wind is blowing. To get a sense for how weather changes, try recording the wind for a week in a journal. (“Did the wind change direction? Did it blow in one direction more often than others?”) (Adapted from pbs.org)
WORD SEARCH Page Foundation 6 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 ◄
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>46559069210207 Exercises: Divide 1) ⟌ 2) 1 ⟌ 3) 14 ⟌ 4) ⟌ 5) 9 ⟌ 6) 2 ⟌
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Power Up Maths Dividing decimals by decimals If you know how to divide a whole number by a decimal, you also know how to divide a decimal by a decimal Multiply the divisor by the smallest power of 10 that will move the decimal point all the way to the right. Then multiply the dividend by that same power of 10 Example: Divide 28.5 ÷ 2.3 Step 1: Multiply the divisor by the smallest power of 10 that will move the decimal point all the way to the right : 2.3 x 10 = 23 Step 2: Multiply the dividend by the same power of 10: 28.5 x 10 = 285.0 Step 3: Set up your division problem. If there is a decimal point in the dividend, line up a decimal point in the same place as the quotient. Step 4: Divide: 12 391 ⟌
The carter seeing that he had thus lost all that he had, went down into his kitchen; and was still not sorry for what he had done, but sat himself angrily and sulkily in the chimney corner. But the sparrow sat on the outside of the window, and cried “Carter! Thy cruelty shall cost thee thy life!” With that he jumped up in a rage, seized his hatchet, and threw it at the sparrow; but it missed her, and only broke the window. The sparrow now hopped in, perched upon the window-seat, and cried, “Carter! It shall cost thee thy life!” Then he became mad and blind with rage, and struck the window-seat with such force that he cleft it in two: and as the sparrow flew from place to place, the carter and his wife were so furious, that they broke all their furniture, glasses, chairs, benches, the table, and at last the walls, without touching the bird at all. In the end, however, they caught her: and the wife said, “Shall I kill her at once?” “No,” cried he,”that is letting her off too easily: she shall die a much more cruel death; I will eat her.” But the sparrow began to flutter about, and stretch out her neck and cried, “Carter! It shall cost thee thy life yet!” With that he could wait no longer: so he gave his wife the hatchet, and cried, “Wife, strike at the bird and kill her in my hand.” And the wife struck; but she missed her aim, and hit her husband on the head so that he fell down dead, and the sparrow flew quietly home to her nest. By The BroThers Grimm CONTINUED FROM SATURDAY Achange in seasons is a great time to think about the weather. Materials A piece of clay Square piece of cardboard (a piece from a cereal box will do) Pencil with a fresh eraser ConstructionScissorsStrawPin paper Markers or crayons Compass Directions 1) Go outside to make obser vations about the weather. (“Are there clouds in the sky? Are the clouds moving? Can you feel the wind? Where is the wind blow ing?”) 2) Next, find North using a compass (or you can simply point out North if you know where it is). Then, write North, South, East, and West on a square piece of cardboard. This is a great time to remember the order of directions to help find our way in the world. Try mnemonic devices like Never Eat Sour Wheat, or remember that West and East spell WE on a compass.3)Cuta notch into each end of the 4)straw.Cut an arrow and a tail out of construction paper, then slip them into the slits on the straw.
If you know how to divide a whole number by a decimal, you also know how to divide a decimal by a decimal. Multiply the divisor by the smal lest power of 10 that will move the decimal point all the way to the right. Then multiply the dividend by that same power of 10.
Dividing decimals by decimals Exercises: Divide 1) 3.2 85.4 2) 1.0 3.3 3) 14.56 74.9 4) 4.5 90.9 5) 9.8 980.980 6) 2.22 46.4
Commander Simon McBean meeting with the religious leaders in Sophia
ployment, thus increasing household incomes,” the IDBIDBsaid.also noted that one policy development is the Government’s plans to is sue longer term bonds, in addition to treasury bills. In the report the IDB noted that dedicated long term public debt instruments can help diversify finan cial sector investments. The bank also laud ed the Bank of Guyana’s implementation of the National Payments System Strategy.“This could support fi nancial depth and increase competitiveness in the sec tor. Finally, the role of technology and digitalisa tion has been a significant factor impacting financial sector development and improving financial inclu sion.”“In this regard, the Bank of Guyana has made progress implementing the National Payments System Strategy, which identified the challenge of developing the necessary infrastruc ture to integrate payment services across providers,” the IDB said in its report. They also noted that the Bank of Guyana has completed implementa tion of the Guyana Real Time Gross Settlement System (G-RTGS) and Guyana Central Securities Depository (G-CSD) in 2021, which are payment systems that support the phasing out of cash pay ments.“To further expand dig italisation, supporting the interoperability of cards across banks and point-of sale terminals could fur ther improve efficiencies and reduce cash-based payments,” the IDB said. A National Payment System (NPS) is a system that provides the econo my with information and communications technol ogy (ICT) options for pro cessing payments resulting from the many different types of economic transac tions that take place dai ly. In other words, this in cludes e-payments, credit cards, and wire transfers. In the past, Guyana’s National Payments System was predominantly pa per-based, with a cash-ori ented culture driving most transactions. The Bank of Guyana (BoG) was tasked with leading the develop ment and implementing a strategic approach to ad vancing the development of Guyana’s NPS by estab lishing the parameters to guide policy and set prior ities.
T he in its most recent report “Caribbean Economics, Finance for Firms”, Guyana’s financial sector is likely to benefit during the economic boom, from the policies being imple mented to allow the private sector to capitalise on new business opportunities. “Growth of credit to the private sector was in creasing significantly be fore the pandemic struck and is currently growing at close to pre-pandemic lev els. Supporting financial deepening could go a long way towards facilitating more investment and em
Policies allowing Private Sector to capitalise on new business opportunities will be beneficial – IDB …says growth of credit to Private Sector is returning to pre-pandemic levels
Already, most of the major supermarkets allow customers to use ICT op tions when making pay ments, such as a custom er using their debit card to conduct Point of Sale (POS) transactions. This is the case in several stores. The majority of stores, however, do not have this feature, considered a norm in developed countries. The Bank of Guyana begun the development of a modern, electronic pay ment infrastructure in 2017 with the US$6 million loan from the World Bank. The introduction of these new services was facilitat ed through the National Payment System (NPS) Act, which was passed in the National Assembly back in 2018. The Act describes elec tronic money as something representing cash that is “stored electronically, in cluding magnetically or in any other tangible or in tangible device such as a SIM card or a software; is sued on receipt of funds of an amount not less in val ue than the monetary val ue issued for the purpose of making payment trans actions; and accepted as a means of payment by per sons other than the issu er.” (G3)
Traditional policing, the law enforcement approach that focuses on arrests, is a popular polic ing tactic to help fight crime around the world, includ ing in Guyana. However, religious leaders in Sophia, Greater Georgetown, are saying it cannot fight crime in their community. This statement was made while Regional Commander Simon McBean was meet ing with several pastors from various denominations in Sophia at the Love and Faith Ministry in Sophia. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the possibil ities of collaborative efforts to address the problem caus ing the high rate of criminal activities conducted in the community.Duringthe meeting, the religious leaders suggested that social cohesion is need ed to mitigate crime in the community of Sophia and not "traditional policing". Those present at the meeting agreed that most of the illegal activities con ducted are just symptoms behind the real problems persons are challenged with on a daily basis, hence, one entity cannot address the is sues of crime in the commu nity.It was also noted that these illegal activities are conducted predominantly by young people, with the young men being the "high risk"Severalgroup.issues were iden tified, and as a consequence, it was suggested that a ho listic approach to social crime prevention initiatives would be the most suitable strategy to address the root cause of the issue of crime and not traditional policing, to bring some level of stabil ity to the "Therecommunity.isaneedfor a pos itive change in Sophia. That change begins with us as community leaders accept ing that we have a respon sibility to assist in making that positive change a real ity," one pastor said. At the conclusion of the meeting, a venue was made available for 50 youths in the community to be engaged by a group of community lead ers from Government or ganisations and non-govern mentalOnlyorganisations.twomonths ago in an episode of Police and You, Commander McBean listed Sophia as one of the highrisk places in Georgetown for criminal activities. As such, he said works are on going to bring this issue un der“Wecontrol.are working on some areas. I would call them high-risk areas. Areas like Tiger Bay, Albouystown, Sophia, Agricola. In those areas, we are in the ad vanced stages of creating working and community groups…”, he explained. Last year, residents in the area told Guyana Times that they live in constant fear of numerous robber ies that occur in the area with no kind of security. As such, they had called on the Guyana Police Force to pro vide more security in the area.
nancialantStrategy,Nationalresslighted(IDB)DevelopmentInter-AmericanBankhashighGuyana’sproginimplementingitsPaymentsSystemwhichisimporttothegrowthofthefisector.Accordingtothebank
Guyana’s financial sector
Traditional policing cannot fight crime in Sophia – religious leaders
7 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Guyana Times’ editorial policy and stance
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM 8 NEWS
The Prohibition of Interdicts Act (1956) denied Africans the right to lodge interdicts and stop actions that may cause harm.And this was just in the 1950s!! Similar to today’s Guyana?? …in Kenya Your Eyewitness has been keeping you up-to-date with the elections in Kenya, since they had done everything –and then some that’s being suggested - to resolve their political impasse. Like us, free and fair elections were returned in 1992. They’ve tried power sharing with parties – and leaders; decentralisation; cultural policies; electoral reform; counting at the place of poll; POSTING OF EVERY SINGLE ONE of the 44000+ SoPs on the internet, so that everyone could check and add up votes themselves!! All of this took place after disputed elections in 2007 led to 1300 persons being killed in riots, and the Constitution was changed to allow the above innovations with the 2008 “National Accord and Reconciliation Act”. So, there were elections in 2013, then 2017. The latter was objected to, and was reversed by the Supreme Court, and new elections wereNowheld.that the 2022 elections were won by Ruto – the outsider – the insider, Odinga, has gone to the Courts!! No matter what system you have, it depends on the maturity of theWhatleaders!!todo?? …of cops and robbers? All your Eyewitness can say about the revelations coming out of the Bascom affaire is that there’s definitely a fraternity of cops and robbers in Guyana. They know each other, and even hang out!!
Motorcyclist charged for causing death of Lusignan painter L eon Lewis, a 31-yearold clerk at the Ministry of Health and a resident of Nkrumah Street in Annandale, East Coast Demerara, was on Friday arraigned before Sparendaam Magistrate Rushelle Liverpool on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, among other charges. It is alleged that on August 15, at Lusignan Public Road, ECD, he drove motorcycle CL 4502 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby caus ing the death of 53-yearold Prahalad Sawh. Lewis was placed on $500,000 bail after plead ing not guilty to the caus ing-death charge, and will return to court in regard to that matter on October 13. He, however, is scheduled to appear in court today to answer charges related to several other traffic of fences.APolice report has stated that both the mo torcycle and motor car PVV 854 were proceeding in an easterly direction on the Lusignan Public Road on the day of the fatal acci dent. Lewis told investiga tors that he was behind a minibus when he sudden ly saw a shadow moving across the roadway. Lewis, the Police said, noted that as the minibus passed, he saw the pedestrian Sawh in front of him, but he was so close that he collided with Sawh, a painter. However, instead of as sisting the pedestrian af ter the collision, Lewis had picked up his bike and had driven away. He later turned up at a private city hospital to seek medical attention, and was located by the Police and arrested. Meanwhile, the driver of the motor car, 43-yearold Wavell Lamatt of Beterverwagting, ECD, told the Police that while proceeding along the said road at a normal rate of speed behind the motorcy clist, he saw someone ly ing on the roadway and he pulled north to avoid a col lision, but despite his ef fort, he ran over the per son.Both the motorcy clist and the pedestri an had sustained injuries in the collision. The late Prahalad Sawh’s reputed wife, Sanmatie Persaud, told Guyana Times that she had witnessed when the motorcycle collided with Sawh. ( G1)
Dead: Prahalad Sawh Charged: Leon Lewis
Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com
“Apartheid” is the Afrikaans’ word for “apartness”, which became the official policy in South Africa after the National Party (NP) – the party of the Afrikaans - descended from Dutch settlers – became the Government. Basically, it ruled that Whites were superior to non-Whites – especially Africans. While the practice had been in place since SA became independent in 1913, a series of laws were enacted to ensure that people could be punished if they didn’t comply. There are claims that an “apartheid” state’s being established here in Guyana - even though an Africanbacked Government (the PNC) received independence in 1964 and ruled until 1992!! They controlled the National Assembly – where laws are passed – between 2011 and 2015, and returned to office between 2015 and 2020. There was no talk of this Apartheid State being created during those periods, so this must’ve been initiated after the PPP returned to office in August 2020. So, to discern whether we have creeping apartheid, your Eyewitness will enumerate some laws passed by the NP in the 1950s!! “The Population Registration Act” (1950), which relegated all South Africans to a particular racial group; “The Group Areas Act (1950), which defined residential and business areas for the sole use of particular race groups. This coordinated with forced removal. The Separate Amenities Act (1953) - members of different races couldn’t use the same public amenities; The Bantu Education Act (1953), which redefined the content and purpose of African (and Indian)Otherschooling.earlyapartheid legislation introduced sharp new curbs over the urban residential rights of Africans and rights as urban workers: The Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act (1953) excluded African workers from the formal system of industrial relations; The Native Laws Amendment Act (1952) and Natives (Urban Areas) Amendment Act (1955) tightened the terms under which African men and women might legally live in urban areas; The Native Building Workers Act (1951) and Industrial Conciliation Act (1956) extended the operation of job colour bars and passes to women. A further set of laws passed by the NP sought to restrict legally permissible forms of political behaviour and protest: The Criminal Law Amendment Act (1953) - a response to the 1952 Defiance Campaign - made it a criminal offence subject to heavy penalties to break any regulation "by way of protest, or in support of any campaign against any law; The Public Safety Act (1953) gave the Minister of Justice the power to declare a state of emergency during which the ordinary law of the country would be suspended.
Apartness…
…in Guyana?
Increase in ICT access tied to liberalisation of telecoms sector - PM …says there has been accelerated development in ICT infrastructure T he increase in in formation commu nication technology (ICT) access throughout Guyana can be tied to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s bold deci sion to liberalise the tele communication sector soon after they entered office in 2020.This is according to Prime Minister Brigadier (retd) Mark Phillips, who was at the time at the Tain Campus of the University of Guyana in Berbice at a job fair organ ised by been able to work from anywhere, including from home.”Afterwards, the Prime Minister went into detail about the expansion of ICT infrastructure and what it means for the country. This includes the fibre-op tic services in Essequibo and Berbice. In fact, he noted that the expansion of ICT infrastructure is at the stage where the invest ments in infrastructure can be “Teleperformanceleveraged. came and invested in Guyana, and at a time when we would have already liber alised the telecoms sec tor in Guyana. You would recall on October 5, 2020, less than or just about two months after we assumed office, it was a manifesto promise that we made that once we win elections and assume office, one of the first things we would do is liberalise the telecoms sec tor.“We kept our promise. In 2020, we did liberalise the telecoms sector, and what has happened since then (has been) a flurry of expansion of the telecom munication ICT- related infrastructure throughout Guyana,” Prime Minister Phillips explained. In October 2020, Prime Minister Phillips, who is the subject Minister with responsibility CommissionandActthefullyCommencementGovernmentannouncedTelecommunications,forthathadissuedOrders,bringingintoforceTelecommunications2016(the“Act”)thePublicUtilitiesAct2016.
ICTsenseatedisinghadAndmanyCOVID,yourmostingthesometablishedsomeofthiswithTeleperformanceworkwherenowthetor,telecommunicationstheGuyanaalisation.thatinfrastructure,developmentcessitatedCOVID-19AccordingTeleperformance.tohim,thepandemicneanacceleratedintheICTsomethingwasboostedbyliber“Whatishappeningintodayis,throughliberalisationofthesecwehaveexpansionofinfrastructure,andwehavetechnologybasicallyyoucanfromanywhere.Soishereus.Andattheendofprocess,Iknowmanyyouwillbeemployed,toworkfromanesbuildingandofyouwillbegivenequipmentandtraintostartworkingalimmediatelyfromhome,”hesaid.“Wehadtwoyearsofthatrestrictedofustoourhomes.duringthattime,we-asaresultofembracthetechnology-whatdeemedasanaccelerdevelopmentinthethat,embracingthetechnology,we’venow
This was done less than three months after the PPP Government took of fice.The former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had passed the billistrationsinceeralise(Amendment)TelecommunicationBilltolibthetelecomssector2016.Thatadminhadpassedthewiththestatedinten
tion of ending the monopo ly which GTT has enjoyed. It was reported that under the coalition Government, the liberal isation of the sector was heavily dependent upon the settlement of a US$44 million tax claim against GTT by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). According to reports, the local telecommunication giant had wanted the tax debt settled before mov ing ahead with liberalisa tion. As such, the former Government had failed to bring into force the Act that it had Followingpassed.the an nouncement by the PPP/C Government, Digicel, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), and E-Networks re ceived their operating li cences and accompany ing documents from Prime Minister Phillips. (G3) Prime Minister Brig (ret’d) Mark Phillips
9 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
At least 1,000 persons are likely to be em ployed to work from home in the telemarketing field by the end of this year. In an effort to boost its workforce, Teleperformance held a job fair on Saturday at the University of Guyana’s Berbice campus. The compa ny held the event to boost its employment drive, and at tracted Berbicians who might be interested in working from home. The requirements for the position are possession of in ternet service at home and ownership of a high school certificate. This is according to the Recruiting Manager of Teleperformance, Raeburn Bowman. “The whole idea of this job fair is that we are look ing to hire 800 to 1000 per sons by January, or before the end of this year,” Bowman revealed. Over 550 persons have already been hired in the ‘work from home’ programme, Bowman told the job fair. Teleperformance already has a site in the capital, in which persons work from the office, and has the capacity of 800. According to Bowman, this means that the company can hire at least 1600 persons. “And with the ‘work from home’ set-up, that is going to expand as well,” Bowman added. Those who have been successful at Saturday’s pre-screening exercise would be called for an interview via Zoom next week. Saturday’s job fair saw the company taking persons through the pre-screening process. Opportunity to create Meanwhile, Prime Minister Brigadier (retd) Mark Phillips, performing the duties of President in an act ing capacity, attended the job fair and described same as an opportunity to create employ ment in Berbice. He noted that Teleperformance has taken advantage of the liberalisation of the telecommunication sec tor to expand investments in Guyana. In fact, since liberalisation in October 2020, Guyana has seen an expansion in telecom munications and ICT-related infrastructure countrywide. “And we are at a stage now where the technology can be leveraged to support the investment. In this case, it is Teleperformance. That in itself will lead to the cre ation of many jobs, not only in Georgetown, but here in Region Six,” he said.
Investing in training Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, who accompanied the Prime Minister, noted that Government has been invest ing in training persons in ICT education to ensure that more persons have the skills which are needed in order to work in the sector. Dr Singh not ed that Government is also working to create jobs in oth er sectors by improving skills through capacity-building. “We have been investing in skills training, technical and vocational education,” he said. He noted that a new tech nical training college will be established at Port Mourant on the Corentyne, and it would incorporate the GuySuCo Training Centre and the na tional Oil and Gas Institute. The national Tourism and Hospitality Institute would also form a part of the com plex. “There is a very tradition al type of job the Guyanese economy has become accus tomed to, but as we undergo this transformation that the President has been speaking about, there are new types of jobs and new types of skills being required for those new types of jobs. This is all part of the transformation that is taking place. It is important that young people and poten tial job-seekers prepare them selves for these new job types. That is why programmes like the GOAL Scholarship are so important,” Dr Singh added, while noting that the world is rapidly changing. “Guyana is changing at a pace that is even more rap id than the average pace of change around the world, and so it is important that Guyanese people adapt in or der to prepare themselves for those changes,” he said. With persons seeking jobs in the telemarketing industry, there will be need for a sta ble internet. This publication asked both Teleperformance and the acting President whether the bandwidth being offered by internet providers was adequate. Bowman said the company’s personal IT team did a surrey in Berbice and is convinced that there is enough internet speed for per sons to be able to work from home.“The internet is sufficient for them to work from home. All that is required is about 10 Megs, which you can get from GTT DSL. We know that we have E-networks in Berbice as well, but it is only available up to a certain area. We also have persons who can go to the home of a family who has sufficient internet and work from there.” The acting Head of State has said there is always room for improvement. “To be fair to the service providers, they are investing and we are seeing daily expansion in the infra structure, and eventually we will reach to the point where all of us will be satisfied with the service,” Phillips has said. (G4)
Telemarketing company seeking 1000 persons to work from home
10 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
From left: Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, acting President Brig (retd) Mark Phillips, and Region Six Chairman David Armogan at the job fair
11 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC Retired GodfreyJusticePSmith
(G3) Work ongoing on Terms of Reference for election CoI – AG …says efforts being made to speed up process
Retired Justice Stanley John Former Indian election official Dr SY Quraishi Guyana’s former Chancellor, Retired Justice Carl Singh
Work is continu ing to finalise the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 2020 General and Regional elections. In fact, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall said that efforts are being made to speed up the process. In an interview with this publication, Nandlall ex plained that work is ongo ing on the ToR that will gov ern the commissioners, who were named by President Dr Irfaan Ali back in June of this“Theyear.formulation of the Terms of Reference of the CoI, the negotiations in rela tion to the terms and condi tions of the members of the CoI, are all work in progress. Hopefully, we are able to re solve those preparatory, but fundamental matters early, so that the business of the commission can begin to pro ceed,” the AG explained. “We are dealing with per sons who are at different lo cations. And the terms of reference have some techni calities attached to it. And care has to be exercised in ensuring that the terms of reference are what is re quired and at the same time, it does not infringe on other processes currently ongoing. What I can tell you, is every effort is being made to have the process move with alac rity.”The CoI will be chaired by Justice of Appeal (re tired) Stanley John of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The other members are for mer Attorney General, High Court Judge, and act ing Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Justice Godfrey P Smith, SC; former Chair and Chief Elections Commissioner of India, Dr S Y Quraishi; and former act ing Chancellor of Guyana’s Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh.Additionally, it has been noted that former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr Nasim Zaidi; and Ghanian Election Administrator Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, who was ap pointed a Commonwealth Advisor to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) leading up to the 2020 elections, will both serve as resource personnel to theEachCoI.has a track record of distinguished adjudication while leading major reforms and innovation to achieve ef ficiency in the business of re solvingGodfreydisputes.Phillip Smith, SC, has also served as Minister of Tourism & National Emergency Management, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade, Attorney General & Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister of Belize, and a Member of the House of Representatives.Amongthe numer ous posts Dr Quraishi has held were: Chief Election Commissioner of India, July 2010 – June 2012, Election Commissioner of India, June 2006 – July 2010 and Secretary, Govt of India Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, 2005 – 2006. He is also credited for found ing the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, from which more than 75 coun tries have received training within five years. More recently, he was a member of the Board of Advisors of International IDEA (Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance) Stockholm for 9 years (2012-2021). Dr Quraishi was nominated to be a Global Ambassador of Democracy alongside Kofi Annan by International IDEA Stockholm in Oct 2018. Lastly, retired Chancellor Carl Singh has held sever al key positions following his admission to the Bar in 1982. He fulfilled the roles of Magistrate – 1983, Land Court Judge – 1988, High Court Judge – 1995, and Court of Appeal – 2000. In 2001, Retired Chancellor (ag) Carl Singh was appointed Chief Justice, and from 20052017 he served as acting Chancellor of the Judiciary. The retired Chancellor (ag) also served as the Chairman of the Advisory Council to the President of Guyana on National Honours from 2005-2017. From 2017-2019, he served as a Professor of Law and Head of the Department of Law, University of Guyana. Following a largely smooth polling day on March 2, 2020, Guyana was thrown into a tumultuous five-month political and electoral im passe after the then incum bent APNU/AFC regime at tempted to steal the election. It was found during a subsequent national re count process that former Returning Officer for Region Four amongLawrence,merCEOLowenfield,OfficercludeelectoralreadyparatusthatcooflyClairmont(Demerara-Mahaica),Mingohadheaviinflatedthevotesinfavourthecoalitionparty.Sincetheelectionfiasunfolded,severalpersonsservedwithintheapofGECOMhavealbeenchargedwithfraud.TheseinformerChiefElections(CEO)KeithformerDeputyRoxanneMyers,forPNCRMinisterVoldaandMingo,others.
Map showing the various oil blocks already in the hands of operators, and the untapped Block C
Moreover, the Vice President further outlined that the Government has to also determine whether to limit the number of blocks operators have offshore, par ticularly, the major compa nies such as United States oil giant, ExxonMobil.
Remaining oil blocks
Approval process to be strengthened to avoid “flipping”
With Guyana ex pected to auction off the remain ing oil blocks offshore lat er this year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is of the view that a local consortium of Guyanese, with backing of the necessary capital and expertise, should be allowed to participate in the process and bid for the opportunity to operate offshore. He made this remark during a press confer ence on Friday last when he was asked about oppor tunities for Guyanese in the much-anticipated auc tioning of the available oil blocks offshore. According to Jagdeo, this would be more feasible if there were to be a consortium of locals rather than just individu al Guyanese bidding for the blocks.“Ifwe could have a big consortium of Guyanese in dividuals, I personally – I don't know what the Cabinet would say – [but] I would say, let's give them a chance to prove what they're saying [and] how we can go about it in this sector. That they can raise the money, they can give better fiscal terms to the country and still make a lot of money… But not an individual, not individuals – unless they participate in the auction, and with some maybe backing of expertise. But individuals, it would be hard for us to do,” the Vice President stated. Jagdeo related his posi tion after much pressing. Initially, he posited that it would be good to have this issue debated in the public domain so Government can get the views of and feed back from stakeholders on the pros and cons before de termining its position on al lowing Guyanese to partici pate in the auction. The Vice President out lined that there is a lot to consider in making such a decision.“Dowe give people who don't have any expertise or capital to develop these blocks because we want Guyanese to grow or do we make the criteria so exclu sive that the only compa nies that have requisite ex pertise, capital, and maybe deep-sea experience which limits the group even fur ther because very few com panies have deep water ex ploration and capability for extraction in deep water. So, that's a key variable,” he contended. Always criticism Nevertheless, VP Jagdeo went on to note that no mat ter what the decision of the Government is, there will always be criticism on what ever position it takes. “If you include the Guyanese, people would say, ‘Oh, we're giving peo ple an opportunity to en rich themselves here’ be cause they don't have the requisite expertise, they would only flip the blocks. And then if you don't bring them in, you say ‘Oh, the opportunities are excluding Guyanese.’ So, it would be interesting to start a debate of that nature without tak ing a position on the mat ter,” he asserted.
“The idea is not to have more concentration [of] the big players,” he stated. In this regard, Jagdeo said that Government would have to look at putting cer tain safeguards in place to ensure that, if there were to be a limit, then there is no way that other bidders at the upcoming auction would later flip their blocks and hand them over to those ma jor “Weoperators.muststrengthen the approval process that peo ple have to get before they can flip [the block]. So, if they were to flip to someone who is excluded from the auction, the approval pro cess that they have to seek from the Ministry would say ‘no, you can't do that’. So, that could be controlled at that level, or you could put [the safeguards] in the bid itself, the bid document to say you can’t do that,” the VP Henoted.further outlined, however, that Government has to also consider that persons bidding for and se curing the blocks may want to flip it in the future after paying whatever dues the State is entitled to. According to Jagdeo, “a lot of those issues have to be [ironed out] … Those are the contentious issues and of ten, no matter what you de cide, you’d have people op pose it one way or another.” Initially, Government was expected to hold the highly-anticipated auction in September of this year. But VP Jagdeo explained during Friday’s press con ference that the process has been delayed due to ongoing efforts to iron out the terms and conditions of the new prospecting licences that would be signed with suc cessful bidders when the available blocks go on auc tion.“[We have to determine] whether we will retain the 50/50 model, that is, after preparing costs, the prof it oil will be divided equal ly between the investor and the Government; what the royalty rate will be [and] what will be the other fis cal terms in the contract,” he stated.TheVice President noted that these details, though contentious, need to be de termined very early and so Government is swiftly work ing on a number of pieces. He noted that the aim is to put together a framework that is fair to the investor so that they get a decent re turn on their capital; and that would promote accel erated exploration; while at the same time allow Guyana to enjoy a greater share of future benefits. In addition to deciding on whether to allow exist ing offshore operators to participate in the auction and whether there would be a limit to the number of blocks they could have, the Guyana Government is on a strict timeline to also de termine on how to divide the available areas off shore Guyana into potential blocks, and what sizes the blocks should be. Further, a decision will also have to be made on whether to pursue a stra tegic thatViceAugust,betheseablockspartnershipGovernment/privateorputalltheupforauctionordocombinationofboth.AllofmatterswillhavetoironedoutbytheendofJagdeoindicated.Earlierthisyear,thePresidenthaddisclosedGuyanahasgottensig nificant interest, particu larly from Middle Eastern companies, to partner with the State in developing the country’s remaining blocks. India has also expressed in terest in potentially par ticipating in the auction as well. (G8)
…VP wants to see local consortium bidding
12 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
GDF Corporal
Corporal Deron Jermin Harvey (second left), Dr KJ Srinivasa and other officials of the India High Commission travelling to India for bandsmen course
13 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
C orporal Deron Jermin Harvey of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), has been selected for the Young Bandsmen Course at Army Education Corps Training College and Centre, in Pachmarhi, India. This announcement was made by the High Commission of India on Saturday.Harvey, who joined the GDF in 2014 and is now part of the Band Corps of the Army Military Band, will be embarking on the course from August 10, 2022, to June 20, 2023. This is part of the ITEC Defence courses which are designed for Friendly Armed Forces across the world by the Indian Ministry of Defence. During his courtesy call on the High Commissioner of India, Dr KJ Srinivasa congratulated and briefed Corporal Harvey on the course and the ongoing collaboration between the GDF and Indian armed forces on training. India and Guyana’s partnership across vari ous sectors now includes a strong collaboration in de fence training also. In early 2021, the Government of India an nounced 19 defence train ing slots for the Guyana Defence Force under its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. These training slots include 10 Army Courses, 4 Naval Courses and 5 Air Force Courses. These courses of different durations – three to six months – are spread over multiple months that are being conducted in dif ferent time periods during the 2021-2022 cycle. This is the first time that Guyana has had access to these military training pro grammes. Under ITEC pro gramme, the Government of India covers all expenses related to this training and provides the trainees with their return air ticket, ac commodation charges, tu ition fee, living expenses, medical expenses, and ex ternal and internal tours as per the course curricu lum.Corporal Harvey is the 15th recipient of the train ing scholarship. Currently, 11 GDF officers have com pleted their training and three are currently in India under training. For the 2022-2023 cycle, India has offered 38 slots for the GDF.“India extends defence cooperation to a number of countries where the armed forces work together to achieve mutual aims and objectives, to assist them to strengthen their insti tutions in relation to secu rity, to strengthen securi ty systems in the context of continued threats of ter ritorial incursion and ter rorism, to provide training in various military skills, including combat, marks manship, emergency med ical evacuation, searchand-rescue and recovery responses, etc,” the High Commission penned. The broad objectives of Indian defence coopera tion include the promotion of intra and extra-regional peace and stability through dialogue and cooperation in the field of defence and se curity.Italso encourages shar ing of operational and doc trinal expertise, training and capability enhance ment, strengthening of ties with other countries and sharing of military tech nologies. Such cooperation allows for the examination and imbuing of best prac tices, creates the ability to operate alongside and en hances maritime domain awareness.
Guyanese President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali posing for a photo with members of the Guyanese Diaspora
Come home – President to Guyanese in T&T
Some of the areas that the Guyanese Diaspora can work and invest in include agriculture, tourism, oil and gas, and construction. He spoke about the im portance of training and ed ucating Guyana’s workforce for the new industries that they are building. “Yes, I will talk to you about the 20,000 scholar ships, making university ed ucation free, school children grants as well as other op portunities.”Healso spoke about plans to reduce the cost of energy, which will make in vestments in different in dustries more attractive for Guyanese who want to re turn home and for foreign investors as well. “You know what this will do for manufacturing and industrial development?” he asked.Ali arrived in T&T last Wednesday for a three-day state visit, where he dis cussed ways to enhance ag riculture production and cut Caricom’s food import bill. Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, who also spoke, said that there are “thou sands" of Guyanese who live in T&T and the Government welcomes them back home to build the country. Giving an update on Guyana’s booming energy sector, Ali said, “By 2026 we should be producing 810,000 barrels of oil per day. The Guyana we want to build is a non-oil economy which must grow at a rapid pace. There must be an education and healthcare system that support one of the great est economies in the world. We want to make Guyana a health and education hub and we will remove corpo rate tax. We have more than four private hospitals under construction. We’re building a new sports stadium.” According to Ali, "‘The prosperity of Guyana must be and will be the prosperi ty of the Caricom region," he said.He said that it was a misconception that Guyana is simply rich in oil and gas and nothing more. Ali gave an idea of the immense nat ural wealth that the country offers. “Our forests have one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world. It is less than 0.05 per cent. The esti mated value of the forest is US $500 billion. Our baux ite reserves are estimated at US$1 billion. Our quarry re serves are estimated at 28.9 million tonnes. The conser vative value of our annual fresh water is US $20 mil lion.”The Guyanese president added that Guyana is also experiencing an expansion in agriculture production. He forecasts that Guyana will see a jump in poultry production from 50,000 to 90,000 tones by 2025 which is an almost 100 per cent in crease in poultry production. His Government is hop ing to move the production of vegetables from 324,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes by 2025.Ali also boasted that Guyana is build ing Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s first Hydroponics City.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. “There will produce strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, the things that we import and are of high value.”The Guyanese Minister of Agriculture said the goal for Guyana and the rest of the region must be food se curity.“We saw what happened during the pandemic as there were countries with huge sums of money and could not buy food. We are happy to be an oil-produc ing country but agriculture is important.”Guyana's Minister of Tourism Oneidge Walrond, who also spoke, said Guyana was transforming itself into one of the region’s tourism destinations and they hope to have 2,000 hotel rooms by 2025.“We are seeing invest ments in room stock. By March, British Airways will have direct flights to Guyana.”People ready A Guyanese migrant, 36, who gave her name only as Carla, said she came to T&T 14 years ago and is married to aSheTrinidadian.toldthe Sunday Guardian at the diaspora meeting that she is ready to return home with her hus band and their six children. “I came here to a bet ter life but it is not what I thought it would be. I got married to a Trinidadian. It started off fine but things have gotten harder. I have a pending residency so I can’t work and my husband is the sole breadwinner. I have to update my status here ev ery six months and it’s not easy. I can’t access certain things in the hospital or jobs in T&T.”Sheexplained that she had an agricultural back ground in Guyana and when the opportunities present themselves she will return. “I was self-employed in the farming sector. I am happy to return to my home land. I am here because of my President and to see what he has to say in terms of what benefits there are for Seymoneus.”
Shaun Rampersad, left, Parisa Ramsahai, Stephen Singh and Ganesh Ramsahai, Guyanese living in Trinidad, chatting at the Guyana Diaspora Outreach
14 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Benn, an other Guyanese migrant who spoke to the Sunday Guardian, said she has been in T&T since 2007. Benn said she studied at the Cipriani Labour College and has had a mixed expe rience.“The experience was not bad at the beginning and still is not that bad. The only bad thing is the way we Guyanese were treat ed when it comes to our le gal residency. I have a cous in here for 20 years and eventually, when he went to the Ministry of National Security, they told him he had to go home.”
Benn said Guyana was now building its economy and it will take time for wag es to rise to live a comfort able life “Guyanathere.is transforming but at the moment it doesn’t give the labour force much hope as they do not have a labour code. T&T has la bour laws and workers are protected. The salaries in Guyana are still meagre. Guyanese send home bar rels back to Guyana for our families. That is one of our majorDuringconcerns.”the question and answer segment more Guyanese got up and told the President that they want to return home. Some of the Guyanese who spoke were business people, lawyers, students and Information Technology specialists. Ali told all of them that Guyana’s rapidly growing economy is ready to absorb them and their skills. (T&T Guardian)
Guyanese President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali is calling on Guyanese people living in T&T to return home to the economic opportunities that existHethere.called Guyana’s econ omy the “fastest growing” in Latin America and the Caribbean with natural re sources worth hundreds of billions of US dollars at a meeting with the Guyanese Diaspora on Saturday at the Radisson Hotel, Port-ofSpain.Ali told members of the Diaspora that there are now more opportunities than when they left their home land.“The incentive when you left was that you were going to something better. I say to you now, the incentive is that we can offer you better than when you left and to give you an opportunity now to return home. I want you to come back home.”
15 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
The residents' prima ry argument is that radio active materials should not be used and/or be lo cated close to neighbour hoods, schools, a main high way, or the Demerara River. Relying on Section 11 of the Environmental Protection Act, the applicants have pointed out that an impact assessment is required for any project that may sig nificantly affect the envi ronment, and that such an assessment should be publi cised, and that members of the public should be consult ed. The applicants have sub mitted that the EAB has re fused to consider their ap peal against the decision to waive the EIA, and has provided legalistic and in adequate reasons for its de cision. While grilling the EPA’s decision, they said, the EPA informed them that it had used a screening tool it had developed, but it has refused to disclose the form and content of this tool, or how it had been applied. According to these appli cants, the EPA has a “track record” of unreasonable and irrational actions regarding applications for EIA relat ing to the oil and gas indus try. The applicants complain that the EPA lacks resourc es, and has no interest in regulating radioactive facili ties according to internation al best practices. This, they noted, is critical, given the absence of an adequate na tional regulatory framework that specifically deals with industrial radioactive sourc es. They add that the project is part of the unlawful indus trialisation of Houston and its environs.Inthe circumstances, they contend that EPA has a statutory duty to require an EIA for any activity which may cause an adverse effect on the natural environment. The EIA process, the ap plicants highlighted, is out lined in the Environmental Protection Act and the Constitution of Guyana, which guarantees environ mental rights and democra cy, specifically Article 149 (J) of the Constitution, which es tablishes that “everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or wellbeing.” Since the facility has al ready been constructed, the applicants have been grant ed permission to amend their action to target the operation of the facility being used for the storage of radioactive materials.High Court Judge Nareshwar Harnanan will rule on the case on September 23. (G1) Radioactive substances’ storage facility…
(G1)
Govt invites bids for construction of Hope and Justice Centre
Judge to rule next month on challenge to waiver of impact study granted to Schlumberger
The applicants have said that it was not until April 11, 2021 that the EPA had issued a public notice, via the press, which stated that Schlumberger had applied for an environmental au thorisation. The notice which was published in the Guyana Chronicle, they added, fur ther stated: “It has been de termined that the proposed project will not significantly affect the environment or hu man health, and is therefore exempt from the require ment for an Environmental Impact Assessment.”
T he Human Services and Social Security Ministry is mov ing to construct a Hope and Justice Centre at Vergenoegen, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), and has issued an Invitation for Bids (IFB) for eligible and qualified entrepreneurs desirous of providing their services. That Ministry has li aised with the Legal Affairs Ministry, to ensure victims of all forms of vio lence can easily access le gal representation through hope and justice centres. Once established, the Hope and Justice Centre will offer to persons expe riencing violence, a variety of services including legal and medical aid, counsel ling, and law enforcement, under one roof. The con struction period for the cen tre is a minimum of nine months and will be funded by a loan the Government received from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) for the Support for the Criminal Justice SystemAccordingProgramme.tothe IFB, bidding will be done through the National Competitive Bidding (NCB) procedures speci fied in the IDB’s Policies for Procurement of Work and Goods financed by the bank and is open to all bid ders from Eligible Source Countries as defined in the Policies.Interested bidders may obtain further in formation on the proj ect from the toobjectiveothernativecreasingpre-trialcrowding,overcomelionProgrammetheGeorgetown.andBoardTenderProcurementissubmission$2,716,080evantbeProgramme.CriminalOfficer—SupportProcurementfortheJusticeSystemAllbidsmustsubmittedwiththereldocumentsandabidsecurity.TheaddressofbidandopeningChairman,NationalandAdministration(NPTAB),MainUrquhartStreets,TheSupportforCriminalJusticeisaUS$8milprojecttohelpGuyanaprisonoverbyreducingdetentionsandintheuseofaltersentencing,amongmeasures.Theloan’sistocontributethehighconcentrations of the prison population in the country, which stands at 256 per 100,000 of the national population, well above the world average of 146 per 100,000. “The Guyanese criminal justice system tends to use incarceration as the default sanction. However, high rates of imprisonment have been associated with an in dividual’s future proclivi ty for crime and difficulties in securing employment, among other negative fac tors. Building or expand ing prison facilities can be a short-term fix for over crowding, but if root causes are not addressed, the new facilities will eventually be filled,” a release on IDB’s website noted. The project is divided into two components. The first component seeks to reduce the use of pre-tri al detention, especially for individuals accused of minor offences. The idea is to provide better le gal assistance to individ uals accused of non-vio lent offences, improve the prosecutors’ ability to han dle cases according to the seriousness of the offence, strengthen the Judiciary, and design and implement a restorative justice pro gramme.Asecond component seeks to increase the use of alternative sentencing by the criminal justice sys tem in Guyana. This in cludes strengthening the country’s legal drafting functions, modernising probation services, and im plementing a pilot project at the Magistrate Court level to apply alternatives to imprisonment to non-vi olent offenders.
Danuta and Vanda Radzik and Raphael Singh, who are res idents of Houston, East Bank Demerara (EBD), have filed legal action against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the waiv er of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) granted to Schlumberger Guyana, one of ExxonMobil’s (Guyana) major subcontrac tors, which operate out of premises located at Lot 1, Area X, BesidesHouston.the EPA, these residents, herein after referred to as the applicants, have list ed the Environmental Protection Board (EBA) and Schlumberger as respon dents in the action filed on their behalf by Attorneys-atLaw Siand Dhurjon, Ronald Burch-Smith and Maylene Alleyne.The applicants have said that, in late April 2021, they discovered that Schlumberger was proposing to construct a storage facili ty for radioactive substanc es at its current location, and that the EPA had waived the need for the company to do an EIA for the proposed proj ect.
The notice also said the public could appeal against the EPA’s decision within 30 days.“The notice was vague and deficient in detail, and omitted significant relevant details about the nature and scope of the proposed facility. The project summary was ef fectively concealed from the public, and not made readi ly available to persons who may have concerns,” the ap plicants have deposed. In protesting the EPA’s decisions, the applicants are questioning the basis on which it concluded that an impact study was not re quired for the project.
Contending that the proj ect puts their health and community at significant risk, as the permit contains no provisions that regulate how Schlumberger is to en sure that the facility is safe for the storage and use of ra dioactive substances, they are asking the court to de clare that the EPA’s decision to waive the requirement for an EIA is in breach of its statutory duty; is contrary to natural justice; is arbitrary, ultra vires and without any legal foundation; and should therefore be quashed. Given that Houston and the immediate environs in clude residential areas where hundreds of people live, and the area for the fa cility is close to schools and places of worship, the appli cants are contending that the EPA should have con sulted with residents before waiving an EIA for a project of this nature.
Radioactive materials
Lights installed along Kingston seawall stolen
The lights that were stolen from the Kingston seafront T he Health Ministry reported on Sunday that six more persons have been confirmed posi tive for the novel coronavi rus disease from 151 tests conducted within a 24-hour period.Consequently, there are now 70,809 confirmed cas es in the country. However, only 379 of these are cur rently active cases, and those are: two patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining persons in iso lation – 364 in home isola tion and 13 in institutional isolation. Two other per sons are also in institution al quarantine, according to the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 recordedto38,361somewide;beenaGuyanatheingered69,152mainsCOVID-19However,Dashboard.Guyana’sdeathtollreat1,278,whilesomepersonshaverecovfromthelife-threatenvirustodate.Sincetheoutbreakofnovelcoronavirusinovertwoyearsago,totalof685,038testshaveconductedcountryandofthisamount,32,448malesandfemaleswerefoundbepositive.OfthesixnewcasesonSunday,one was from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), four were from Region Four (DemeraraMahaica), and the re maining case was from Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne). No new cases were recorded in the oth er seven regions across the country within the report ing 24-hour period. After a prolonged peri od of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, had removed most restrictions as the country moved to recov er from the pandemic and return to normalcy. But, in recent weeks, there has been a spike in COVID cas es here, which health au thorities have attributed to subvariants of the Omicron strain, such as the BA.5. To this end, health authorities are urging persons to get vaccinated, and for those so qualified, to get their boost er shots.The latest vaccination numbers show that, so far, more than 445,600 persons, or 86.9 per cent of adults, have taken a first dose; while over 345,300 persons, or 67.3 per cent of adults, have received a second dose. For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, just over 35,500 persons, or 48.7 per cent of adolescents, have received a first dose. Second doses for this age cohort stand in excess of 26,000, or 35.7 per cent. Vaccines are also being administered to children aged five to 11 years, and so far, over 7,500 of those per sons, or 7.4 per cent, have taken a first dose, while more than 2,700, or 2.7 per cent, have returned for their second Meanwhile,jab. in excess of 72,000 persons have re turned for their first boost er dose.According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) recent figures, some 591,683,619 confirmed cases were reported glob ally, along with 6,443,306 deaths.Inthe Region of the Americas; that is, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has in creased to 173,998,701, while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,806,324.Asit relates to vacci nation against COVID-19, WHO also reported that a total of 12,409,086,286 dos es have been administered worldwide.
6 new COVID-19 infections, 379 active cases
was the first step in the Beautification Project, and was expected to be com the project is important and of historical value to Guyana.Tobring this project to life, several issues re quired urgent interven tion. These include vagran cy, improved solid waste collection, washroom, and solid waste disposal facil ities, a freshwater source, and regularisation of vend ing, among others. The project is the brain child of First Lady Arya Ali, who has been working aggressively to enhance leisure spots and public spaces under her National Beautification Project. Only in April, the Lamaha Safe Space that is located between Camp and Parade Streets, to the discoverdevelopment,multimillion-dollarturneduptothatitwasvandalisedovernight.Dozensofplantswereuprootedandstolen.TheGovernmenthadearmarkedthatprojectsothatitcanbeforrecreationalusebyfamilies.ThatprojectwasthebrainchildofPresidentDrMohamedIrfaanAliand any symptoms, call the COVID-19 Hotline.
Beautification Project
16 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD AUGUST 21, 2022 UPDATE GET MEDICAL ADVICE ON COVID-19 FROM MOH 24/7 HOTLINE NUMBERS: 2311166; 226 7480; 624 6674; 624 2819; 624 3067 OR 180/181. NUMBER OF NEW CASES 6 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION 13 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION 364 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU 2 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE 2 TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES) 38,361 TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES) 32,448 TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020 70,809 NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES 69,152 TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED 443,802 FULLY IMMUNISED 343,575 TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS 1278 DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020 REGION 1 2684 REGION 2 3124 REGION 3 8716 REGION 4 35,226 REGION 5 2571 REGION 6 6876 REGION 7 2650 REGION 8 917 REGION 9 4331 REGION 10 3714 HERE IS HOW YOU CAN BE SAFE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Wear a face mask. Keep a physical distance of at least 6 Washfeet. your hands or use handIfsanitizeryouhave
A s the Government of Guyana is mak ing effort to beau tify the seafront area at Kingston, Georgetown, and to make it more tour ist-friendly, people are now using the opportunity to vandalise the area. This has also oc curred at a time when the Government is currently working to make the area a safe place for all. New lights were in stalled along the Kingston Seawall area on Thursday last, and within a mat ter of hours, they were stolen. It is still unclear if anyone was arrested for the act. The installa tion of the lights was a part of the benefitplainedMinisterspot,tifyinjectedBeautificationGovernment’sProject.In2020,theGovernment$5milliontobeauthepopularleisureand,PublicWorksJuanEdghillexthatitwasfortheofallthepeopleof Guyana, and to ensure that Guyana is a tourist desti nation where the people at the current hotels and the new hotels will be able to relax.The lighting exercise
VAPING RISK VS Dr. Tariq Jagnarine Family meDicine, enDocrinology/ DiabeTes Both smoking and va ping have side effects and risks. The longterm health effects of elec tronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are not fully understood, but the science indicates they are not a safe alternative to smoking.Vaping involves breathing in an aerosol that contains several chemicals, includ ing nicotine and flavouring, through an e-cigarette or oth er device. Vaping is grow ing in popularity among teenagers. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), many people believe that vaping is safer than smoking, but this is not nec essarily the Mountingcase.evidence sug gests that vaping is danger ous.Neither smoking nor va ping is beneficial to human health. Based on the avail able evidence, smoking ap pears more harmful than va ping. However, this does not mean that vaping is safe. Secondhand smoke con tains more than 7,000 chemi cals. Hundreds of these chem icals are toxic, and around 70 cause cancer. The AHA notes that while vaping liquids con tain fewer contaminants than cigarettes, they are not en tirely safe.
* More than 7 million deaths a year * 90% of all lung cancer deaths * 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmo nary disease (COPD) * An increased risk of de veloping health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF SMOKING Smoking has many longterm adverse effects on the body. The CDC reports that smoking:*Reduces sperm count * Increases the risk of pregnancy loss or congenital disabilities*Increases the risk of cat aracts*Impairs immune system function*Increases general in flammation * Can cause cancer in nearly any part of the body, including the lungs, kidneys, and*stomachTriggers asthma attacks * Causes blockages in the veins and arteries
VAPING VS. SMOKING WEED A person can use a vap ing device to inhale tetrahy drocannabinol (THC). THC is the chemical in cannabis that produces a high. According to a 2018 study examining in frequent cannabis smoking in adults, vaping THC produced stronger mind-altering ef fects than smoking a similar amount of weed. As a result, vaping THC may produce a faster, stronger high, but it may also mean that people experience more adverse ef fects.While vape products can reduce the amount of tar and other chemicals a person in hales, they can increase a person’s nicotine dependency. Quit smoking now!!
QUITTING SMOKING AND VAPING Health services recom mend that vaping can be an effective tool for quit ting smoking. Additionally, in 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) per mitted the marketing of three e-cigarette products, specif ically citing their potential benefit in helping people quit smoking.However, the CDC states that there is insufficient evi dence to suggest vaping can help people quit smoking. A 2021 study found that daily e-cigarette usage among tobacco smokers can increase the likelihood of quitting smoking by eight fold. Researchers assessed data from the 2014–2019 Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, focusing on smokers who were not planning to quit smoking at the start of the pe riod. At the end of the survey, 28% of smokers using e-ciga rettes daily had ceased smok ing tobacco altogether, while 45.5% had ceased smoking to baccoHowever,daily. researchers found that only daily e-ciga rette use had a statistically significant effect on smoking cessation rates. Of the par ticipants who were not using e-cigarettes, only 5.8% had quit smoking altogether by the end of the survey, while 9.9% had stopped smok ing daily. Meanwhile, peo ple who were smoking e-cig arettes non-daily had a 3.1% rate of quitting smoking and a 10.2% rate of cutting down to non-daily tobacco smoking. A 2019 randomised con trol study also found that daily use of e-cigarette leads to an almost doubled rate of smoking abstinence than oth er nicotine-replacement prod ucts after one year.
* Increases the risk of a stroke LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF VAPING Research generally ac cepts that while vaping can harm the lungs and other bodily systems, its impact is much less than tobacco smok ing. However, a 2019 study into the long-term health ef fects of vaping found that peo ple using e-cigarettes had a higher risk of respiratory dis ease than people who never smoked. Vaping may: * Damage to the lungs * Release free radicals, which promote cancer devel opment, into the body * Weaken the immune system*Delay brain develop ment in foetuses, children, and*teenagersSomepeople also report sustaining burns when re charging e-cigarettes due to defective batteries leading to explosions.
RISK OF VAPING People who vape may be at risk of harm for the follow ing *reasons:E-cigarettes can contain a large dose of nicotine, a sub stance known to slow the de velopment of brains in foetus es, children, and teens. * The liquid that creates the vapor is dangerous to adults and children if they swallow, inhale, or get it on their skin. * Vaping also delivers dangerous chemicals, includ ing diacetyl, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).*Vaping may normalise smoking again as it becomes moreAccordingpopular. to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by early 2020, there had been around 2,800 hospitalisations or deaths total with 68 of those confirmed deaths from vap ing.However, the CDC also acknowledges that since the removal of vitamin E acetate from vaping products, along with other harmful ingredi ents, the number of symp toms that people experience from vaping declined. SMOKING Unlike vaping, which is relatively new, there are years of research to fully back up claims that smoking is damaging to human health. According to the CDC, smok ing *causes:Damage to every organ in the body
-
BENEFITS 17 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
ADDICTIVE PROPERTIES OF SMOKING AND VAPING Nicotine is highly addic tive. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states that around half of all smok ers try to quit every year, while only 6% manage to do so. A 2019 study suggests that completely.forusesmokingswitchingisrettes.dencehadusingnotedyoungstandardere-cigarettesnicotine-containingmayhaveahighaddictionpotentialthancigarettesamongadults.Researchersthatstudyparticipantsbothtypesofcigarettesahighernicotinedepeninrelationtoe-cigaHowever,nicotinealonerelativelyharmless,andfromdailytobaccotodailye-cigarettecanbeanimportantsteppeopletostopsmoking
HEALTH TIPS
T he United States (US) Coast Guard has re ported a surge in Cuban migrants repatriat ed to the Administration,theytrybroughtstoppedGuardTravispealed,”DryofffollowingatedandofCoastCaribbeanSpanish-speakingcountry.OnSaturday,theUSGuardsaidthecrewsitscuttersRobertYeredPabloValentsrepatri203CubanstoCuba14interdictionsFlorida’scoast.“In2016,the‘WetFoot,Foot’policywasresaidLieutenantPoulos,USCoastDistrictSeven.“Thoserescuedoratseawillbebacktotheircounoforigin,orthecountrydeparted,”headded.In2016,theUSunderfor mer President Barack Obama, terminated the “wet foot, dry foot policy”, which permitted migrants fleeing Cuba without a visa to automatically stay in the United States once they set foot on US shores. At the time, the Administration said the change was necessary to “normalise” relations with Havana, that began when diplomatic relations were restored in 2014. On Friday, the US Coast Guard said the crew of the cutter Robert Yered’s crew repatriated 106 Cuban mi grants and four dogs to Cuba following 12 interdic tions off Florida’s coast. Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, the US Coast Guard said the crew of the cutter Pablo Valent repa triated 107 Cubans follow ing nine interdictions off Florida’s coast. “The Coast Guard and our partners patrol the Florida Straits, Windward and Mona Passages to stop illegal migration into the United States from the sea,” said Lieutenant Commander Mark Cobb, US Coast Guard District Seven.Since October 1, 2021, the US Coast Guard said its crews interdicted 4440 Cuban migrants compared to 5396 in Fiscal Year 2016, 1468 n Fiscal Year 2017, 259 in Fiscal Year 2018, 313 in Fiscal Year 2019, 49 in Fiscal Year 2020 and 838 in Fiscal Year 2021. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)
Pope urges dialogue over Church-State crisis in Nicaragua after bishop's arrest
Regional Pope Francis on Sunday called for an "open and sincere" dialogue to re solve a stand-off between the Church and government in Nicaragua, following the ar rest of a bishop who is a lead ing critic of President Daniel Ortega.Speaking to pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square for his weekly bless ing, Francis made his first comments on the crisis in the Central American coun try, where in recent months authorities have detained priests while others have gone into Francis,exile.who did not spe cifically mention the arrest of the Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa in the north of the country, said he was following the situation in Nicaragua "with worry and pain" and asked for prayers for the country. "I would like to express my conviction and my wish that, through an open and sincere dialogue, the foun dations for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can be found," Francis said. Alvarez was whisked away during a pre-dawn raid in Matagalpa on Friday and put under house arrest in the capital,Alvarez,Managua.acritic of Ortega's government and one of the Nicaraguan Church's most influential figures, had been confined for two weeks in a Church house in Matagalpa along with five priests, one seminarian and a camera man for a religious television channel.Police said the priests, the seminarian and the camera man were taken to a prison in Managua.TheUnited Nations ex pressed concern over the raid and the Organisation of American States condemned it. The relationship between the Catholic Church and the government has been se verely strained since a harsh crackdown on protests in 2018, when the Church act ed as a mediator between the government and protesters. (Excerpt from Reuters) Pope Francis leading Angelus prayer from window at the Vatican August 21, 2022
Cuba confirms 1st monkeypox case in visitor from Italy
Leader of failed 2005 Peruvian uprising released from prison US Coast Guard reports surge in Cuban migrants repatriated
The group said soon af ter Petro's election that it was willing to consider ne gotiations.Petrohas said a vis it to Cuba this month by Colombian and interna tional officials was meant to tease out whether the ELN, which is seen as rad ical and not centrally-con trolled, truly is willing to pursue a peace process. Previous attempts at negotiations with the ELN, which has some 2400 combatants and is accused of financing itself through drug trafficking, illegal mining and kidnapping, have not advanced part ly because of dissent with in its ranks. (Excerpt from Reuters)
C
18 guyanatimesgy.comMONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
Cuba confirmed its first case of monkey pox late on Saturday, the country's Public Health Ministry said, after detecting the viral disease in a tourist who had arrived from Italy thisTheweek.Italian man stayed in a rental home and travelled to various destinations in the western provinces of the Caribbean island nation be fore falling ill, the Ministry said in a brief statement. He sought medical atten tion on Thursday after pre senting symptoms, includ ing skin lesions, and then fell into cardiac arrest, from which he recovered, the statement said. The patient remains in critical condition. The World Health Organisation has declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency, with 40,000 confirmed cas es, including a handful of deaths, in over 80 countries where the virus is not en demic. (Reuters)
Many still seeking food, shelter a year after Haiti quake
Blue tarps serve as roof coverings in Camp Devirel set up by earthquake refugees in Les Cayes, Haiti, Wednesday, August 17, 2022. A year after a magnitude-7.2 quake hit southern Haiti, the hundreds that were left homeless are still living in the same makeshift tents (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Aformer Peruvian mil itary officer who led a failed 2005 upris ing has been released from prison, following a surprise announcement that his 19year sentence had been re duced.A lawyer for Antauro Humala, the leader of Peru’s Ethnocacerist nationalist movement, which seeks to put the country’s disenfran chised Indigenous peoples in power, quickly hinted at a return to politics upon the release on SpeakingSaturday.tosupport ers who chanted “President Antauro”, he praised the 2005 uprising, in which he and his supporters at tacked a Police station in the Andean city of Andahuaylas in an attempt to force the resignation of then-Presi dent Alejandro Toledo. Six people, including four Police officers, were killed in a days-long standoff at the station.“Now we are obvious ly outside and I can tell you that we all feel very proud of what we did in [our rebel lion in] Andahuaylas,” said Humala.Antauro Humala and his brother, Ollanta Humala, also led a smaller rebellion in 2000 against then-Presi dent Alberto Fujimori, who was later convicted of order ing massacres during Peru’s two-decade civil war. Ollanta Humala went on to become Peru’s President from 2011 to 2016, but gov erned as a centrist at odds with his brother’s ideology and repeatedly refused to pardonHumala’shim.
The cinder block home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2200Inpeople.thedays after the mag nitude 7.2 quake hit, they gathered sheets, tarpaulins and wood and made a shel ter for themselves and their three children. More than a year after the Aug 14, 2021, quake, the family is still liv ing in the same makeshift tent like hundreds of others, and still wondering if anyone will help them. If recent history is any guide, few people will. The Associated Press vis ited several camps surround ing the southern coastal city of Les Cayes, which was one of the hardest hit areas, and over and over again people complained that no govern ment official had visited them despite repeated promises that they would come to help. As the family waited for help, Ernest died of pros tate cancer last year. So to day, Castel is alone, fighting for her family’s survival like many struggling to restart their lives after the quake. On Thursday morning, she tried to get her 9-monthold daughter to suckle. But after a year of surviving on scraps in a makeshift camp, Castel had no milk. The tiny girl, Wood Branan Ernest, fell asleep during her failed attempt.The camp, like sever al others, also floods quick ly when it rains, forcing hun dreds to flee to higher ground as they watch their belong ings get Familiesdrenched.walk to get well water, sometimes letting the sediment settle before drink ing it. Many have no work. They rely on the neighbours for their only meal of the day. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)
To restart peace talks, Colombia suspends ELN rebel arrest warrants, extradition orders
olombia's new President said Saturday he was suspending arrest war rants and extradition re quests for members of the left-wing guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) in an effort to restart peace talks to end nearly 60 years of war. The announcement is part of a principal cam paign promise by new ly elected Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 insurgency, who took office on Aug 7 on pledg es to bring "total peace" to the Andean country. "I have authorised the reinstatement of the proto cols, allowing negotiators to again reconnect with their organisation, sus pending arrest warrants for those negotiators, sus pending extradition orders for those negotiators in or der to start a dialogue with the National Liberation Army," Petro said. "This resolution ini tiates a new possibili ty of a peace process in Colombia," Petro said after attending a security coun cil meeting in the province of Bolivar.Representatives of the ELN, which was found ed in 1964 by radical Catholic priests, have re mained in Cuba since pre vious talks, begun un der the Government of Juan Manuel Santos, were called off in 2019.
Ethnocacerist movement combines obei sance to the ancient Inca empire with an anti-colonial movement, but has been ac cused of having xenophobic and totalitarian aims. Peru’s prison authority said Humala had been re leased one year and seven months early due to his time spent dedicated to work and education. It maintained the decision was made in dependently from the pres idency. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)
Around the World OIL NEWS
19guyanatimesgy.com MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
China’s crude oil and natural gas production rose to a record high between January and July this year, government data cited by Xinhua shows. Oil production was up 3.7 per cent on the year in the first seven months of the year, totaling 120 million tons. Natural gas production was up 5.4 per cent to 126.7 billion cubic meters. Shale oil made up a bigger part of the total output this year than last, the data also showed. The share of shale oil rose by 14.4 per cent over the seven months. Offshore crude also rose, by 7.9 per cent. Meanwhile, oil and natural gas imports were also relatively strong in the first seven months of the year despite a few dips as the country continued to fight COVID flare-ups with its zero-COVID policy. The zero-COVID policy pummelled the Chinese economy during the second quarter of the year, leading to sharp drops in manufacturing activity and consumer spending. It also led to a decline in oil imports, prompting concern about the future of demand. The latest oil import data, for July, shows a rebound after imports dropped to the lowest in four years earlier in the year. Yet they were still weaker than at the start of 2022. Imports of natural gas were down during the first seven months of the year. The decline stood at 9.5 per cent to a total of 62.2 million metric tons as gas prices rose sharply. Imports of liquefied natural gas notably fell during the period by 20.3 per cent, while pipeline gas imports rose by 10.8 per cent, the latest customs data showed. Because of its heavy dependence on imported commodities, China has been putting a lot of effort into boosting the domestic supply of fossil fuels. Beijing doubled down on this effort amid the energy crunch, as prices skyrocketed around the world. (Excerpt from Oilprice.com)
Artillery shells rained down on a city close to Europe's biggest nuclear plant overnight and Russian missiles hit targets near Odesa, a Ukrainian Black Sea port and grain ex port hub, as the war headed for its six-month milestone on Wednesday.Aug24will also mark 31 years of Ukraine's inde pendence from Soviet rule and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a nightly vid eo address called for vigi lance, saying Moscow could try "something particularly ugly."Russian authorities said on Sunday they were in vestigating a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow that killed the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ul tra-nationalist Russian ideo logue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine. While the investigators said they were considering "all versions" when it came to establishing who was responsible, the Russian Foreign Ministry specu lated there could be a link to Ukraine, something a Zelenskiy adviser dismissed. "Ukraine, of course, had nothing to do with this be cause we are not a crimi nal state, like the Russian Federation, and moreover we are not a terrorist state," Mykhailo Podolyak said on Ukrainian television, sug gesting the incident was "Karmic" payback for sup porters of Moscow's inva sion.As Ukraine prepared to mark its Independence Day embroiled in a war that has flattened towns and cities, killed thousands and forced millions to flee, military and regional officials reported more Russian strikes on tar gets in the east and south of theOfcountry.particular concern was the shelling of Nikopol, a city lying across the Dnipro river from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's and Europe's big gest nuclear plant. It has been held by Russian forces since March. The fighting in the prox imity of Zaporizhzhia and Saturday's missile strike on the southern Ukrainian town of Voznesensk, not far from Ukraine's second-larg est atomic plant, has spurred fears of a nuclear accident. (Excerpt from Reuters)
People wait as Iraqi rescue workers search for survivors after the deadly landslide [Mohammed Sawaf/AFP]
Floods and landslides triggered by intense monsoon rains killed at least 50 people in northern and eastern India over the last three days, officials said on Sunday.The rains overwhelmed hundreds of villages, sweep ing away houses and leav ing residents stranded as res cue crews have been racing to evacuateEarliersurvivors.thismonth the fed eral weather office had pre dicted that India was likely to receive an average amount of rain in August and September, pointing to overall good crop yields in Asia's third-biggest economy that relies on farm ing to boost growth and gener ate Farmingjobs. contributes around 15 per cent to India's US$2.7 trillion economy while sustaining more than half the population of 1.3 billion. Heavy showers followed by landslides and flooding in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh over the past three days killed at least 36 people, a state government official told Reuters.Inthe neighbouring moun tainous state of Uttarakhand, an official government release said that four were dead and 13 were missing due to contin uous"Werainfall.have deployed chop pers to rescue people who are stuck in remote areas due to rain related incidents. The rescue operation is happen ing on full swing," said Ranjit Kumar Sinha, an official in Uttarakhand's disaster man agement department. In the eastern state of Odisha, at least six people were dead amid ongoing tor rential rains, a state official said.Floods have affected nearly 800,000 people and displaced thousands from their homes in Odisha, with rains disrupting electricity and water supply, and damaging road infrastruc ture. (Excerpt from Reuters)
Russian missiles hit Ukraine's Odesa region as war nears half-year mark
Floods, landslides kill dozens as monsoon rains lash northern, eastern India
Mobile phones in Portugal have been sent a text warning of the extreme risk of wild fires as the country braces for its third heatwave of the sum mer.The country has entered a state of alert, with tempera tures expected to reach 38C (100.4F) and strong winds predicted in the coming days. The messages warned those in rural areas not to start any form of fires. The government has also restricted access to forests and banned the use of ma chinery to avoid sparks. The state of alert came into force at midnight on Sunday and will last until Tuesday.Some 92,000 hectares of land have already burned this year, according to gov ernment estimates, with heatwaves and drought pro ducing tinder-like conditions. In the Serra da Estrela area alone, fires in recent weeks have destroyed more than 28,000 hectares - more than 25 per cent of its total area. On Saturday, fires in Ourém and Leiria, to the north of the capital Lisbon, were brought under control after they caused thousands of pounds of damage and dis rupted trains for more than six hours on Friday. In neighbouring Spain, a wildfire in the eastern prov ince of Valencia is burning out of control and has become one of the country's biggest fires of the year. On Friday, as it entered its fifth day, 35 planes were sent to try and bring it under control. Spain has been hit hard er than any other European country by forest fires this year, according to the European Commission's Copernicus Earth observa tion program. This year, wild fires in Spain have burned four times more land than they did during the last de cade. (Excerpt from BBC News)
Frantic rescue effort underway at Iraq shrine hit by landslide
A worker standing in a petrol station surrounded by protection sandbags, as Russia's attack in Ukraine continues, in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine August 21, 2022
Portugal wildfires: State of alert begins amid 3rd heatwave
Iraqi rescue workers des perately searched for survivors buried under rubble after a landslide hit a Shia shrine, killing at least four people. The official Iraqi news agency INA, citing the civ il defence service, said on Sunday that four bodies were recovered from the de bris at the Qattarat al-Imam Ali shrine in Karbala prov ince, central Iraq. Between six and eight pilgrims are trapped in the shrine, civil defence spokes man Nawas Sabah Shaker said.Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from the capital Baghdad, said many worshippers had gath ered at the shrine during the Shia Muslim holy month of Muharram.“Heavy machinery was brought to the scene includ ing bulldozers and diggers,” he said. “Family members are standing by, waiting for any news about their loved ones.”Three children were res cued following Saturday’s disaster, emergency services said, adding they were in “good condition” and being monitored at a hospital. Rescue teams work ing through the night were able to provide oxygen sup plies as well as food and wa ter to some of those trapped through gaps in the rubble, INA reported. Iraq’s President Barham Saleh called on the “hero ic” rescue workers to “mo bilise all efforts to save the trappedEmergencypeople”. responders said earlier that they were maintaining verbal contact with the victims “to reassure them”.The landslide on Saturday afternoon hit the shrine located in a natural depression about 25km (15 miles) west of the Shia holy city of TheKarbala.rocks and sand started sliding because of the “saturation of the earth en embankment adjacent to the shrine”, the civil defence service“Thissaid.led to the collapse of about 30 percent of the area of the building, which measures about 100 square metres.” (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)
China's oil and gashitsproductionrecord
SUDOKU
SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE (Feb. 20-March 20) (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) (June 21-July 22) (July 23-Aug. 22) (March 21-April 19) (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) (May 21-June 20) (April 20-May 20) (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Gravitating toward someone or something that intrigues you will spark hope, ideas and a new-and-improved you. Stop laboring over what isn't work ing for you. Take control. A change won't turn out as planned if uncertainty is prevalent. Rethink your plans and adjust as needed. Think mat ters through and get the clearance you need from those influenced by your de cisions.Tame situations instead of letting them grow out of control. Be the calm force that brings reason and practicality into the lives of those you love. Get back to basics. Romance is encouraged. Simplify life, curb bad habits and set new goals. Put your energy into self-im provement, better health and an afford able lifestyle. Address emotional issues and ease stress. Set high standards and develop what you do best. Take control, and don't be afraid to show off what you can do. Put your energy into what matters to you most. Surround yourself with positive people.Put your ideas in motion. Getting things done will make a difference and help you come out on top. Think big and be reasonable, and you'll turn something you love to do into a profit. Keep life simple, stick to the truth and live within your means. Put emo tional differences aside at home and work, and you'll avoid a scene that can leave you in an awkward position. Pay attention to the cost of living. Curb habits and put an end to waste. Look for alternative ways to use your skills more efficiently. Stay focused on what you can do, not on the impossible. Participation will lead to a learning experience that encourages you to do things your way. Concentrate on looking and doing your best. Be wary of anyone trying to take advantage of you. Slow down, think matters through and stick to a budget and the truth. Take an innovative approach when deal ing with people trying to take advantage of you. Have a practical plan in place. Don't let someone's uncertainty get you down. Put your energy where it brings the highest return. Step forward with strength, courage and discipline to finish what you start. Set a standard and stick to it, regard less of what others do or suggest. Too much of anything will leave you in a pre carious position. Think outside the box, and you'll get things done.
DAILY
CALVINPEANUTSARCHIEAND HOBBES DILBERT guyanatimesgy.com20 MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
HOROSCOPES
Cummings Lodge Boys, Tucville Girls entertain in latest games
PM T20 CUP 6 officially launched
The prizes in the various categories up for the taking this year are: Masters (Over 50) * Winner: $600,000 + trophy * Man of the series: One flat screen 50” TV (valued at $140,000) Masters (40 years and over)
Another exhilarating lineup of games was witnessed as the ExxonMobil Boys’ and Girls’ Under-14 tournament, also powered by Demerara Distillers’ Limited’s (DDL’s) Pepsi, continued on Saturday at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground. The third-round action included wins for Tucville and Charlestown Secondary in the Girls’ division; while Lodge, North Ruimveldt, Cummings Lodge and New Central High were in the winners’ row in the Boys’ tournament. The first game of the day resulted in a stalemate between Tucville and New Central High girls. However, the young ladies from Tucville bounced back in their ensuing game by whipping West Ruimveldt Girls 3-0. Shania Waldron registered a brace with goals in the 10th and 40th, which were punctuated by a 15th minute goal from Allegra Williams.Charlestown Secondary also won by a similar margin when they came up against New Central High. Ronella Anderson (9th), Chelysi Lupe (17th) and Hadassah Smith (37th) each netted one to get Charlestown over the line. Over in the Boys’ competition, North Ruimveldt Multilateral continued their good form with a spirited victory over Plaisance BoscoNorthBoys.Ruimveldt were up early in the game, after Emanuel Lewis found the back of the net in the 5th minute, and Mickel Mills registered a brace in the 14th and 36th. However, Plaisance came from behind to give North the scare of their lives. In the 38th, Joshua Harris found the back of the net, and Cleontae Williams followed up in the 40th, but it was too late for Plaisance to spur an upset. The game finished 3-2 in North’s favour. Charlestown and Tucville battled to a 2-2 draw in the following game. Malcom Hendricks (22nd) and Adion Marks (25th) were the scorers for Charlestown, while Eric Griffith (21st) and Kevin Jordon (30th) were the marksmen for Tucville.Thanks to two early goals, New Central found themselves in the driver’s seat in a contest against Freeburg Secondary. While Trevor Gordon (5th) and Kaden White (7th) were the scorers for Central, Jaden Welcome attempted a Freeburg comeback with a goal in the 37th. However, it was not to be, as Freeburg’s other attempts at the goal went awry, resulting in the 2-1 final score. Cummings Lodge whipped New Campbellville Secondary 6-1 in a collective team effort. Nickolas Watts led for Cummings Lodge with a brace in the 20th and 38th. Rovin Henry (3rd), Dequan Thom (10th), Malachi Anderson (16th), and Keshawn Daniels (30th) were the other scorers for Cummings Lodge. After a loss last week, Lodge Secondary bounced back with a victory over Westminster Secondary. Twins Emanuel and Samuel Tinch led Lodge’s charge, finding the back of the net in the 6th and 35th minutes. Melchizedek Holder (38th) and Emmanuel Lesperance (40th) registered one a piece as Lodge went on to enjoy a 4-0 win.Aresounding victory for Ann’s Grove came in the following game, as they came up against Tucville Secondary. Shaquan David’s (4th, 6th, 12th) hattrick led the way, and he was ably assisted with doubles from Isaiah Pellew (15th, 18th) and Selwyn Fraser (35th, 40th). Devon Chance’s lone strike in the 30th completed Ann’s Grove’s 8-0 victory.One goal each from Nicholas Nieuelder (30th) and Malcolm Hedricks (41st) did the job for Charlestown when they faced off with St Winefride’s Secondary. Meanwhile, Tyshawn James’s 36th minute strike was the lifeline for Dolphin Secondary when they met with a stubborn East Ruimveldt Secondary in the final Boys’ game of the day.
ExxonMobil/Pepsi U14 Tournament… By TimoThy Jaikarran The highly anticipated PM T20 Cup 6 was officially launched by the Georgetown Softball Cricket League (GSCL) Incorporated last Saturday at the Muslim Youth Organization (MYO) Ground on Woolford Avenue in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. It will commence on November 11 and conclude on November 13, 2022, and over one million dollars in prizes will be up for grabs. Prime Minister Mark Phillips has lauded the Guyana Softball Cricket League (GSCL Inc) for including a female segment in this tournament, and has increased the prize money from his own personal funds. That gesture inspired businessman Patrick Khan of Khan’s Trading Enterprise to double the firstplace prizes in all categories being contested in this cricket tournament. In giving the feature address at the launching of this tournament, Prime Minister Phillips noted that this yearly event is a signature event for all lovers of softball cricket across Guyana. He explained that since taking office and adopting the tournament, it is only natural for him to make the tournament grow bigger than it was before. “From my interaction with Mr John (GSCL President), I keep asking him for a women’s tournament, so I am happy this year we have four women’s teams participating… this year. But when I look at the prize money, I think we still got some discrimination there, because if we are saying that this is the first women’s tournament, it can’t be $50,000 for first prize. So, personally, I will contribute to raising this first prize from $50,000 to at least $100,000. So, I think what we are doing here is sending a strong message to our females; so, even though we are starting with four teams, we expect the category to grow, and hopefully by next year, we have increased prize money and maybe eight teams,” PM Phillips shared. He explained that female cricket is growing not only internationally, but in Guyana as well, and as part of this development, the PMT 20 Cup wants to play its part in growing the sport.Phillips divulged that those who are managing the tournament, inclusive of him being the patron, would be “putting their money where their mouth is.” With the prize money for the females raised, Phillips relayed that he is expecting top-quality performance from the females. The Prime Minister also commented, “This tournament must grow. My vision is that the tournament must grow; it must remain a signature event every year, as we have a lot of people who follow the teams, and they come to Guyana too. From a tourism standpoint, it adds to the whole development of Guyana.”
21MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
– To be played from November 11-13 …PM inspires increase in first-place prizes
* Winner: $600,000 + trophy * Man of the series: One flat screen 50” TV (valued at $140,000) Allstars (open to all ages) * Winner: $600,000 + trophy * Man of the series: One flat screen 50” TV (valued at $140,000) 4-Teams Female T20 (open to all ages) * Winner: $200,000 + trophy The defending champions for the 2021 edition are Regal in the Legends Category, Fisherman in the masters O45 category, and Ariel Allstars in the Open category. Also, the top performers for the for the 2021 edition were: Open category: Quintin Sampson of Ariel for his 231 runs and eight wickets. In the Masters category, the MVP was Keith Fraser, and in the Legends category, the MVP was awarded to Unnis Yusuf for his 181 runs and two wickets. The sponsors on board of this event are: Banks DIH Limited (Rainforest Water), Danny Persaud (youtuber) At our Life ARD, Trophy Stall, P&P Insurance, Regal Stationery and Computer Centre, PRO Signs, I&S Trading, Mohamed’s Enterprise, Atlantic Marine Supplies Inc, Tourism Guyana, Reliance Services, Crown Mining Supplies, Rudisa Motor (Guy) Inc, Free Lancer Advertiser Inc, Krsna & Balram Printery, Parsram Discount Store and Rajiv Ghandi University.
A glimpse at the female encounter between Tucville Secondary and West Ruimveldt Secondary (Jemima Holmes Photo)
The Prime Minister also noted that the tournament would be a high point, as it commences right after CPL, and he is looking forward to being part of it and seeing it grow this year and into the future. After the Prime Minister’s feature address, businessman Patrick Khan of Khan’s Trading Enterprise vowed to double the first-place prizes of the three categories contesting; namely, the Male Legends (O50), Male Masters (O40), Allstars and $100,000 towards the Female Allstars, as he related how difficult it is to play the tournament.
STory and phoToS By Jemima holmeS
The Prime Minister was given a gift by GSCL Inc Secretary Telisha Ousman Yamin PM Mark Phillips is presented with his T-Shirt The teams alongside PM Mark Phillips and GSCL Inc President, Ian John
Tyshawn James (on ball) making a try at the goal for Dolphin Secondary (Jemima Holmes Photo) Samuel Tinch (20) on the charge for Lodge Secondary (Jemima Holmes Photo)
It was a competitive series to remember, as New Zealand were able to walk away with a 2-1 series win despite a century from Kyle Mayers and a quickfire 91 from Nicholas Pooran. When the curtains came down on the proceedings at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, New Zealand had won the series deciding ODI by 5 wickets, with 17 balls remaining.Heading into the chase, the Kiwi’s lost Finn Allen for 3, but Martin Guptil and Devon Conway were able to lay the foundation by scoring 57 and 56 runs respectively. From there Tom Latham anchored the innings, and Darryl Mitchell attacked, enabling the duo to post 69 and 63 runs before their wickets fell; but the job was still not Westdone.Indies were wayward in their bowling in the latter overs, as a Jimmy Neesham blitz of 34 off 11 balls propelled them across the line. New Zealand ended on 307-5. Bowling for West Indies, Jason Holder returned figures of 2-37, Yannic Cariah 2-77 and Alzarri Joseph 1-61.Earlier in the innings, the West Indies posted a mammoth total of 301-8 in their allotted 50 overs. Sent in to bat by the Black Caps, the West Indies showed fight, as Shai Hope and Kyle Mayers waded into the bowling. Mayers in particular was the aggressor, smashing the ball to all parts of the stadium while Hope played the role of anchor. Mayers was able to bring up his century, and Hope his half century, as the duo put together a 173-run partnership before Hope fell for 51 off 100 balls. Mayers then followed shortly after for 105, which included 12 boundaries and three maximums. From there, Nicholas Pooran came to the crease and continued in the same vein, as he blasted 91 off 55 balls, inclusive of four boundaries and nine maximums despite no support from the other batsmen. Then Alzarri Joseph smacked a 6-ball 20 to propel the Men in Maroon
New Zealand win ODI Series 2-1
Kyle Mayers blasted 105 Darryl Mitchell scored a quickfire 63 Collective NZ batting effort repels efforts of Mayers, Pooran
Taylor touts GAW 6IXTY Squad as well balanced …Athapaththu, Khaka to bring experience
CLASSIFIED ADS SERVICE Astrology and Spiritual Healer Pt. Mohan: +592-692-1009 If there is any problem in your life, he will get the solution. Please contact spiritual healer, regarding health, love, busi ness, husband and wife problems, etc. Address: Georgetown, Guyana.
* The 30 balls will be deliv ered as 5 separate overs, with no bowler being able to bowl more than 2 overs for the in nings.*If teams do not bowl their overs within the allotted time, a member of their team is re moved from the field for the fi nal six balls
WEST INDIES INNINGS (50 overs maximum) Shai Hope †c Ferguson b Boult 51 Kyle Mayers c Santner b Ferguson 105 Nicholas Pooran (c) c Santner b Boult 91 Brandon King c Mitchell b Santner 1 Shamarh Brooks c Mitchell b Santner 2 Keacy Carty c Boult b Neesham 4 Jason Holder b Boult 1 Akeal Hosein lbw b Southee 4 Alzarri Joseph not out 20 Yannic Cariah not out 1 Extras(b 4, lb 6, w 11) 21 TOTAL 50 Ov (RR: 6.02) 301/8 Did not bat: Kevin Sinclair Fall of wickets: 1-173 (Shai Hope, 34.5 ov), 2-173 (Kyle Mayers, 35.1 ov), 3-181 (Brandon King, 36.1 ov), 4-191 (Shamarh Brooks, 38.5 ov), 5-243 (Keacy Carty, 44.6 ov), 6-259 (Jason Holder, 46.3 ov), 7-280 (Nicholas Pooran, 48.4 ov), 8-286 (Akeal Hosein, 49.1 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Trent Boult 10-1-53-3 Tim Southee 10-2-47-1 Michael Bracewell 6-0-43-0 Lockie Ferguson 10-0-80-1 Mitchell Santner 10-0-38-2 James Neesham 4-0-30-1
THE 6IXTY is a joint ven ture between Cricket West Indies and Caribbean Premier League. For more information visit www.6ixtycricket.com Fans can look forward to the following at The 6IXTY: * Each batting team has six wickets – at the fall of the sixth wicket, they are all out
* Fans will vote for the timing of a “Mystery Fan Ball” where a batter can’t be dis missed by the bowler.
* There will be 30 balls bowled from one end before the action switches to the oth er end for the final 30 balls
Tom Latham top-scored with 69 for New Zealand Nicholas Pooran supported with 91 off 55 balls
GUYANATIMESGY.COM
NEW ZEALAND INNINGS (Target: 302 runs from 50 overs) Martin Guptill c Hosein b Joseph 57 Finn Allen lbw b Holder 3 Devon Conway lbw b Cariah 56 Tom Latham (c)† c Pooran b Holder 69 Daryl Mitchell c Holder b Cariah 63 Michael Bracewell not out 14 James Neesham not out 34 Extras (b 1, lb 4, nb 3, w 3) 11 TOTAL 47.1 Ov (RR: 6.50) 307/5 Did not bat: Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Finn Allen, 3.6 ov), 2-102 (Martin Guptill, 19.4 ov), 3-128 (Devon Conway, 24.3 ov), 4-248 (Daryl Mitchell, 41.3 ov), 5-259 (Tom Latham, 43.2 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Kyle Mayers 3-0-16-0 Jason Holder 7-0-37-2 Akeal Hosein 9-0-60-0 Alzarri Joseph 9-0-61-1 Kevin Sinclair 10-1-45-0 Yannic Cariah 9-0-77-2 Nicholas Pooran 0.1-0-6-0
In terms of what overseas players Ayabonga Khaka and Athapaththu will bring to the Guyana Amazon Warriors unit, Taylor said, “Well, defi nitely experience. Watching Khaka over the years and what she has been doing for South Africa, she has been doing a really great work. That will definitely help in our bowling department, and hopefully she will take some “As for Athapaththu, that’s a big one for us at the top or der. Definitely bolster the bat ting, and we look forward to her giving us a good start and As it relates to the makeup of the team, and the fact that once a side loses six wickets it would be the end of the in nings, Taylor reiterated that the team would have to be tac Taylor also explained that the new format of cricket is similar to The Hundred which is played in England, but is a much shorter version. She ex plained that she thinks it is going to be exciting, and she is As it relates to the rules of the game, she related that there are some intricacies to it, but she is optimistic that she would get the hang of it over the next couple of days.
The Amazon Warriors will be boosted in the batting department with the addition of Chamari Athapaththu The theirwillWarriorsAmazonalsoseebowlingdepartmentboostedbytheadditionofAyabongaKhaka
Guyana Amazon Warriors women: Stafanie Taylor (captain), Shemaine Campbell (vice-captain), Chamari Athapaththu, Ayabonga Khaka, Isani Vaghela, Rashada Williams, Rachel Vincent, Kaycia Schultz, Chedean Nation, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Shamilla Connell, Karishma Ramharak, Shabika Gajnabi, ZaidaTHEJames.6IXTY is a 60-ball cricket tournament featuring men’s and women’s teams. The first event will take place from 24 to 28 August. This fast-paced and innovative format, known as Cricket’s Power Game, will see the world’s best cricketers enter tain fans around the world.
SCOREBOARD
* Each batting team has two PowerPlay overs. They can unlock a third PowerPlay by hitting two sixes in the first 12 balls. This extra PowerPlay over can be taken at any time between overs 3-9
GUYANATIMESGY.COMMONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 23 Story and photoS by Jemima holmeS T eam Mohamed’s stamped their au thority on Sunday, letting all and sundry know that South Dakota is their turf, and theirs only. The occasion was the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club’s (GMR&SC’s) International Drag Racing meet, and when Team Mohamed’s 1320 strip re cord was troubled by for eigners on the previous day during qualifying, the en tity went out with a ven geance on SteeredSunday.by Clint Satterfield, Mohamed’s ProMod car raced to 7.036s on Sunday morning, resetting the track record less than 24 hours after the visit ing Trinidadian team had shattered the previous re cord, which was also held by Team Mohamed’s. On Saturday, Trinidad and Tobago’s Sheldon Bissessar, commanding his Spritzer Dragster rail car, clocked 7.208s, bettering the Team Mohamed’s GTR Goliath’s record of 7.501s, under the watchful eye of Terrence Cox. In spite of the early ex citement on the track, in cessant rainfall punctuat ed what would have been a day filled with thrills, burn outs and lots of speed. After the rain had persisted into the afternoon hours, the skies finally cleared and the 16-second class weathered the slippery track to get the action going again. The 15- and 16-second classes got in a few sprints before the rain could rear its ugly head again, daunt ing the spirits of the other class competitors and those who hoped to witness a final showdown between the ‘big cars’.As sunshine continued to evade the South Dakota Track, organizers had no other choice than to attempt the 14-, 13-, 12- and 11-sec ond classes, which were re portedly completed. It was the battle of the principals, as Team Mohammed’s Azruddin Mohamed and Trinidad a Tobago’s Sheldon Bissessar were locked in deliberations with their team members on whether or not they should take one final go at the track; however, Mohammed backed out. The assump tion was that Mohammed’s did not rate the track good enough to race such a fast car after such heavy rain fall, as was made evi dent by Team Mohamed’s Satterfield’s gestures fol lowing what would be the fi nal race of the day. However, the Trinbagonian camp was up to theFirsttask.Kervin Ribeiro tested the track and pre sumably saw it fit to break the 7.036s record that Mohamed’s Pro-Mod had set earlier in the day. Although the GMR&SC preached about the need for spectators to refrain from flocking the starting point, their pleas went largely un heard. The anticipation for witnessing a possible re cord-breaking run brought droves of spectators to the starting point, making it difficult for even officials to get a good glimpse of pro ceedings.Eventually, it was all eyes on Ribeiro, but fate would not have it. Ribeiro, in his actual attempt at the record slid across to the right lane of the track ap proximately 50 metres out, toppled, and turned turtle dangerously close to the fence behind which specta tors oohed and aahed at his misfortune.Asone would expect, the mishap brought the curtains down on the day’s races, leaving spectators thirsting for more.
The fans at South Dakota stayed loyal, even after the downpour
Scenes from the track at South Dakota on Sunday
GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, NEWS HOTLINE: 231-8063 EDITORIAL: 223-7230, 223-7231, 231-0544, 225-7761 SPORT: sport@guyanatimesgy.com SALES AND MARKETING: 231-8064 - marketing@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC. Sport is no longer our game, it’s our businessMONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 Taylor touts GAWbalancedasSquad6IXTYwell …Athapaththu,Khakatobringexperience – To be played from November 11-13 …PM inspires increase in first-place prizes Team Mohamed’s record-breaking Pro-Mod machineKervin Ribeiro's vehicle turned turtle in attempting to reset the strip record late on Sunday afternoon Page 21 Page 22 Page 23
