Guyana Times - Monday, November 21, 2022

4 gold miners, taxi driver slapped with narco trafficking charge

On Friday, the men appeared at the Suddie Magistrate’s Court, be fore Magister Esther Sam where the charge was read to them and they all denied the offence.

Bail was objected to by the prosecutor but the ob jections were overruled and the men were each released on $60,000 bail.

As a condition for bail, Garraway, Layne, Shaw, and Sealey are to report ev ery Monday at the Bartica Police Station.

Dawson is required to report every Monday at the Anna Regina Police Station.

Four gold miners and a taxi driver were on Friday charged after they were allegedly caught trafficking an illegal drug.

Charged are Esron Garraway called Anthony,

39, of Grant Diamond Lower Pomeroon River, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam); Kelly Layne, 30, of Onderneeming Sand Pit, Essequibo Coast; Ronier Shaw, 30, of Onderneeming Sand

Pit Essequibo Coast; Shawn Sealey, 25, of Onderneeming Sand Pit Essequibo Coast and Kester Dawson, 40, of Dartmouth Essequibo Coast and also of Henrietta Public Road,

Essequibo Coast.

The men were jointly charged with the offence of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking

after they were caught with 120.5 grams of cannabis on November 16 at Aberdeen Public Road, Essequibo Coast.

The case was ad journed and will continue on December 7 at the Anna Regina Magistrate’s Court. (G9)

Kelly Layne

Ronier

Shaw

Shawn Sealey

Kester Dawson

Esron Garraway

BRIDGE

High-end, well-paying jobs will increase as economy diversifies – Ali

…urges Nations University graduates to prepare

Monday,

FERRY SCHEDULE

Graduates of Nations University were on Saturday urged to prepare themselves to take advantage of the high-end well-paying jobs, the opportunities for which will grow as the economy di versifies.

The President was the feature speaker at the uni versity’s 2022 graduation for diploma, Bachelor’s and Master’s degree pro grammes at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre on Saturday evening.

While delivering the fea ture address, Dr Ali told the graduates that they are liv ing in a country that will be “second to none” by 2030 and beyond. He therefore urged the hundreds of grad uates to prepare themselves to be part of the massive transformation taking place in Guyana.

“The Head of State un derscored that Guyana will not only have a diversified economy that will be able to withstand all of the global shocks but will function on cutting edge technology and will have all the high-end and high-paying jobs,” the Office of the President said in a release.

Additionally, the President assured the grad uates that the Government is working assiduously on ensuring the country be comes a global leader in var ious sectors such as agricul ture, healthcare, education, environment, and biologi cal and ecological services, among others.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already projected that Guyana would achieve a growth rate of over 57 per cent in 2022, a slight in crease from what the coun try’s Finance Ministry had projected at the half-year mark.

According to the IMF in its statement on the conclu sion of its Article IV consul tation with Guyana, a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 57.8 per cent is expected this year.

Additionally, the IMF noted that oil GDP would grow by over 100 per cent in 2022, and by 30 per cent on average annually between 2023 and 2026. The strength

of this growth is testament to the fact that Guyana’s commercially recoverable petroleum reserves are ex pected to reach over 11 bil lion barrels. This, accord ing to the IMF, is one of the highest levels per capita in the world.

“This could help Guyana build up substantial fiscal and external buffers to ab sorb shocks, while address ing infrastructure gaps and human development needs,” the IMF executives said in their statement.

“Main downside risks to the outlook include volatili ty in global oil prices; a slow ing global economy; or rap id increases in investment, which could lead to macro economic imbalances; while upside risks include higher global oil prices and addi tional gas and oil discover ies.”

In the Mid-Year Report released by the Finance Ministry this year, Guyana’s real GDP had been shown to grow by 36.4 per cent for the first half of 2022, and had been projected to grow by 56 per cent overall for 2022.

Guyana reaching over

themselves

GY$1.3 trillion on its own, and over GY$3 trillion with its partners. Additionally, the joint-venturers’ explo ration and production plans up to 2025 would likely in crease their investments to more than GY$6 trillion.

Importantly, non-oil GDP growth was recorded at 9.6 per cent at the halfway mark. The report further elaborated that the agricul ture, forestry and fishing sectors are estimated to have expanded by 10.9 per cent in the first six months of 2022.

These figures were driv en by higher production

11 billion barrels of recov erable petroleum reserves is due to the start-up of the Liza Phase 2 development, with the <<<Liza Unity>>> floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) ves sel already producing oil. Payara, the third develop ment in the Stabroek Block, is expected to start up next year. ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six proj ects offshore Guyana would be online by 2027.

So far, Exxon’s total in vestment in Guyana is

from the other crops, forest ry and livestock sectors, in spite of weaker performanc es in the sugar, rice and fish ing industries. The sector is now expected to grow by 11.9 per cent.

With respect to the min ing and quarrying sectors, these are estimated to have grown by 64.6 per cent in the first half of the year, with a revised 2022 forecast of 99.9 per cent driven by growth in the petroleum and other mining industries. (G3)

President Dr Irfaan Ali as he addressed the graduates

A section of the graduates

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Outing the Abuser

In the ongoing struggle to get a handle on the burgeoning problem of domestic and intimate partner abuse, one of the areas that have not received much attention in Guyana has been the dynamics operating between couples. Nowadays, arranged marriages are way passé and couples date or otherwise have a relationship for extended periods before actually getting married. An ever-growing phenomenon, of course, are the couples who ‘live home’ even after children are produced out of the relationship. The phenomenon of “child mother and child father” is increasing in Guyana.

Are there signs of an abuser that can be discerned early on in a budding relationship, which can then be nipped before matters proceed too far? While Guyana has not ‘progressed’ to the stage of having dating services, some interesting warning signals have come out from those studies in the countries that we imitate in our social relations. The concept is the same as where the individual in Guyana reveals his/ her personality after a few dates.

A paper published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin examined the influence of prior experiences on partner preferences. The researchers themselves constructed a believable-looking “online dating service”, and thus were able to track the study participants’ preferences and selection of various partners. Although the study participants didn’t know it, the researchers had carefully chosen the profiles so that they differed in systematic ways.

For their first study, the researchers focused on heterosexual women’s preferences, and the men’s profiles that they looked at differed in how much they signalled potential for psychological abuse in intimate relationships. The profiles themselves were actually real, with the profiles of potentially abusive men written by men who scored high on characteristics associated with abusive personality: impulsivity, anger, jealousy, low self-esteem. A separate sample of participants independently confirmed that the profiles gave off warning signals of potential abuse.

The researchers’ results are sobering: Women who had a history of being psychologically maltreated in a prior relationship were three times more likely to choose potentially-abusive dating partners than women without this history. In other words, women who are at risk for being abused in their relationships are more likely to be attracted to the very features that others see as clear precursors of abuse. Often, these choices are rationalised: intense jealousy is misinterpreted as caring, and anger is romanticised as “dangerous”.

In a second study, the researchers turned the tables around, and focused on heterosexual men’s preferences. Their question was this: Who do potentially-abusive men prefer? The results showed that men who scored high on a measure of inflicting psychological abuse were 1.5 times more likely to choose a partner who is high on attachment anxiety. Attachment anxiety is a disposition associated with victims of abuse, and is characterised by an intense anxiety over rejection.

As such, people high in attachment anxiety are particularly vulnerable to being “treated like a god” during the courtship phase of a relationship: being flooded with flowers, adulated, constantly called. Fears of rejection overwhelm the ability to detect an unhealthy balance between independence and interdependence in their relationships. What does one do in the face of such data, with people high in attachment anxiety and their potentially-abusive partners essentially judging each other as highly compatible?

Simple as it may sound, one powerful answer is to rely on your social networks. Listen to what your friends are saying. In fact, people in new relationships should actually ask friends their opinions about prospective partners, and these friends should be honest in their evaluation. This is critical advice both if you are attracted to a potentially-abusive mate, or if someone you care about begins describing abusive relationship patterns. Sometimes, we need to rely on other people to help us see what we cannot.

Most abuse and violence are committed by “significant others”. We bear much of the responsibility for choosing them. Let us become educated for the signals sent out by abusers.

Utterly ridiculous reasoning from GPSU, GTU

Dear Editor, Back in September 2018, during the infamous teach ers’ strikes, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) firm ly stated that “… the na tion’s educators had re ceived more under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration than what they (were then get ting) under ‘this’ coali tion Administration…” as it was the APNU/AFC (A Partnership For National Unity/Alliance For Change) who were in power. At that juncture, and being very un happy with APNU/AFC, the GTU General Secretary, Coretta McDonald, voiced that “If we look at what transpired under the PPP Government when they were in power (prior to 2015) and what is transpiring now (2015-2017), remember we didn’t want the five per cent. We made noise about it. But with the five per cent, we got a whole lot of non-salary benefits.” She detailed then also that “For the first time in the history of this coun try, our teachers were able to get clothing allowance, du ty-free concessions, and al lowances for additional qual ifications. While the PPP Government was in power — and you know I don’t want to sound political, but we have to make the comparison be cause of all the untruths they peddling out there…” Wow! What a condemnato ry song against APNU/AFC, and conversely, what a pan egyric for the PPP/C.

So, what now? This proPPP/C song should be loud er and longer and with good

reasons. So, getting back to that 2018 crisis, I recall Former President Bharrat Jagdeo stating that “… if Government (APNU/AFC) (were) to cut back on its wasteful spending, it would manage to cover a reason able increase for the coun try’s teachers.” He noted at the time, there was money to fund a lot of what the teach ers were asking for without increasing overall expendi ture in the budget, pinpoint ing that the APNU/AFC Government had a corrupt contract, where an individual was being paid $14 million a month for a house at Sussex Street, Albouystown. In fact, the current VP and erstwhile President did itemise sev en areas of wanton waste to the tune of $5.1 billion “that could have been easily cut, so that there was money to pay for the teachers better wages and the debunching for the teachers, housing al lowance, all of these things… just here.”

Fast forward, and I see that this kind of thinking and philosophy is still with the PPP/C. For example, at the ‘Transforming Education Summit Leaders’ round ta ble (part of the 77th United Nations General Assembly high-level week), President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali did disclose that Guyana was really into its education sec tor, explaining that “As part of our efforts to revamp the education system, the Government will increase ed ucation expenditure to 20 per cent of the National Budget and six per cent of the coun try’s gross domestic product,

thereby ensuring adequate and sustainable financing for education.”

As a caveat, investment in the education sector is not just about ‘teachers and their interest’; it is far more complex and holistic, but even so, I can see that the Government is indeed ‘right into the teachers.’

For example, just a few days ago, the news head line read that there will be “Duty-free concession for 100 teachers, UG schol arships.” The word from Minister Priya Manickchand was that “Some 100 teach ers across the country will be benefitting from duty-free concessions in the near fu ture … (and as we know), this concession, issued by Government, will allow them to acquire their own vehi cles without any duty com mitments to be paid, there by lowering the overall cost significantly”. The net ef fect of this is money in their pockets. The Minister was so forthright in her mes sage to the country’s teach ers, that she assured them “… that conditions and ben efits for teachers will contin ue to improve… (even as she announced) that … several scholarships will be grant ed for them to study at the University of Guyana.”

It gets better as the news reflected that “All CPCE trainees will get salaries from January 2023” This is a ‘first,’ as “Currently, only persons living in the dorms are given a stipend of about $11,000. Now, this will be modified so that every CPCE student will receive a salary,

since and rightfully reasoned by the Minister, “They’ll be in schools even as they are learning and so they are go ing to be paid.”

Editor, as my tone has re flected, I bear grievous angst that the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) are deeming the eight per cent increase (retrospec tively to January 1, 2022) in public servants’ sala ries as ‘disrespectful’, ‘ar bitrary’ and ‘minuscule’. In fact, Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, is right fully incensed. His recent let ter, “McDonald herself pro claimed that life for teachers was better under the PPP/C Government,” highlights this. He too noted that “… since returning to office, the PPP/C Government (has been) implementing holis tic economic policies to lower prices for goods and services which have increased glob ally.” He added that “…we have reversed the punitive taxes that had been imposed by APNU/AFC on electrici ty, water, medical services and educational supplies, basic household necessities, and basic construction ma terials. (And so, like I stated) the salary increase should not be viewed in isolation, but in unison, with the sev eral other measures, we have implemented since assuming office, all with the aim of im proving disposable incomes for public sector employees and Guyanese at large.

Enough said.

Yours truly, H Singh

US actor Morgan Freeman (L) and Qatari YouTuber Ghanim al Muftah attend the opening ceremony ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group A football match between Qatar and Ecuador at the Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, north of Doha. al Muftah is a motivational speaker and social media personality who often talk about his condition, caudal regression syndrome. Caudal regression syndrome (CRS) affects the development of the lower half of the body (AFP photo)

Workers were stabbed in the back, betrayed by APNU/AFC

Dear Editor, The APNU+AFC cabal continues to operate in an alternate universe, com pletely insensitive to the anguish, pain, and suf fering Guyanese endured during their tenure which was marred by inhumane economic policies that ulti mately ended with a failed attempt to rig the outcome of democratic elections in 2020.

This notion was cement ed as I read with great hor ror and utter disgust a state ment issued by the APNU+ AFC’s Coretta McDonald, in which she attempted to crit icize the recent announce ment by President Dr. Irfaan Ali of an eight per cent salary increase across the board for public ser vants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, constitutional office holders and government pensioners as well as his intention to announce an adjustment to the salaries of lower catego ries of public sector workers in the coming week.

McDonald’s willingness to sacrifice truth at the al tar of political expediency to fulfill the APNU+AFC’s misleading narratives is ex tremely disheartening.

She deliberately inflated the inflation rate to 50 per cent which is another spu rious claim used to buttress her argument against the salary increase announced

by the President.

The inescapable truth is that McDonald knows all too well the unjust and harsh treatment teach ers endured at the hands of David Granger and the APNU+AFC regime.

McDonald and her party believe that all of Guyana was asleep between May 2015 and August 1st 2020.

They believe that Guyanese have forgotten that it was McDonald her self who proclaimed in 2018 that life for teachers was better under the PPP/C Government.

In fact, so good and at tractive are the PPP/C pol icies towards workers that McDonald advanced her de sire, through discussions, to become the PPP/C’s 2020 elections, prime ministerial candidate, up until a differ ent approach was taken.

Therefore, the slap in the face McDonald refers to in her statement should really be directed inwards to her colleagues in the APNU+AFC because the most dehumanizing treat ment workers have ever faced in this country was during the tenure of the Granger-led regime.

Teachers were forced to take strike action in 2018 following 3 years of de lay in renewing the fiveyear salaries and benefits agreement first signed un der the PPP/C and which

had expired in 2015. Their suffering, like every oth er Guyanese except for the coalition elites, was further compounded by the imposi tion of, an increase of over 200 taxes and fees.

And for daring to stand up for their rights they were called “selfish” and “uncar ing” by a sitting Minister in the APNU+AFC govern ment.

Instead of focusing on the overall well-being of public sector workers, offi cials of Coretta McDonald’s party rewarded themselves with a 50% salary increase three months after taking office. They spent billions of dollars on food, fancy vehi cles, and upgrading offices for themselves.

Had the APNU+AFC re mained in office during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian/Ukraine con flict, Guyanese would have been eating from garbage bins by now because of how poor and incompetent their leadership was.

On the other hand, since returning to office the PPP/C government is im plementing holistic econom ic policies to lower prices for goods and services which have increased globally.

At the same time, we have reversed the puni tive taxes that had been imposed by APNU+AFC on electricity, water, medi cal services and education

al supplies, basic household necessities, and basic con struction materials.

The salary increase an nounced by the President should not be viewed in iso lation, but in unison, with the several other measures, we have implemented since assuming office, all with the aim of improving disposable incomes for public sector employees and Guyanese at large.

As announced by the President, the increase, which is retroactive from January 2022, is part of Government’s wider efforts and also includes adjust ed salary scales for vari ous categories of workers to be announced next week, President Ali.

The APNU+AFC willful ly omits to mention this in formation in their haste to be critical.

The APNU+AFC plunged the economy into freefall. They governed in a way that brought hopeless ness and despair to people.

The unabated theft of state resources and the trauma of the five-month pe riod APNU+AFC spent try ing to rig the 2020 Regional and General Elections were not just a slap in the face, but a stab in the back of Guyanese.

Sincerely, Joseph Hamilton Minister of Labour

President Ali steering Guyana forward in right direction

Dear Editor, The PPP/C victory over the coalition Government on March 2, 2020 sent a power ful message to all and sun dry that President Dr Ali would be sworn in as the ninth President of Guyana on the following day. But sadly, it did not happen until five months later on August 4, 2020 after several legal battles aimed to nullify the election results. Though he won narrowly by only one parliamentary seat, it was enough for President Dr Ali to tell the nation that he will govern in the inter est of all Guyanese, regard less of race or party affilia tion. In less than six months in office he has succeeded in spanning the country from coast to coast to meet and interact with the people, but more importantly, to solve some of their outstanding problems.

Faced with a deeply di vided country, the President has set the tone in sever al speeches that no one will be left behind and all will be involved in the development of the country. To this end, he has established a civ il, inclusive, and conciliato ry Administration to make sure that all are treated fairly and equally. On sev

eral occasions, he has called for healing and solidarity among the races. His “One Guyana” initiative is solid proof that he is serious and genuine to solve the race is sue, which has plagued the country long before he was born.

Make no mistake, since in office, President Dr Ali had faced tremendous head winds in governing, but his convictions and vision for a developed and prosperous Guyana coupled with his prodigious economic strate gy have successfully steered him though the perils. And while he is addressing the problems head-on, he has an opportunity to be a transfor mational President in ways that would exceed what he will achieve during his hugely popular, respected and appreciated presidency.

He has offered a blue print that would bolster ag ricultural, livestock, min ing and commodity markets with conservation goals and is investing in the technolo gies and skills needed to de velop the country and move it forward. He has promot ed reconciliation with the “One Guyana” initiative and has called for an end to po litical polarisation and ra cial politics which at times

could heighten the risk of vi olence. Not to mention that his Government has fostered closer partnerships with civ il society to rein in disin formation and brainwash ing and safeguard civic and human rights. His develop ment strategy includes the modernisation of the ageing infrastructure, expansion of education, improvement in health care, increased agri culture, mining and fishing production and the social welfare of the citizens.

Equally important, President Ali has called for unity, an end to racial intol erance which is constantly amplified by some on social media and messaging ser vices at home and in the di aspora. He has encouraged intergroup and intragroup contact and communication/ discussions through citizen assemblies as outlined in his 1000-men programme, which is aimed at reducing prejudices between the rac es and creating a more civil society. In other words, he is fostering a political and so cial culture in which citizens focus more on policies than on personalities by allowing for more open discussions and debates and participa tory decision-making.

President Ali has re

invigorated the United Nations global initiatives to address poverty, inequal ity, and food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine which has led to steeply high food and com modity prices worldwide. As a consequence, these events have led to massive suffer ing and set-backs not only in Guyana but also among many other lower-and mid dle-income and developed countries’ sustainable-de velopment efforts. And as the global financial and monetary conditions have tightened, many countries in the global south are faced with punishing debt crises that will hit the most vul nerable communities the hardest. To counter these effects, President Ali has asked his Finance Minister to develop a robust budget that will move the coun try forward and avoid such pitfalls. Many believe that President Ali is the right President at the right time in the nation’s political his tory to steer the country for ward and once again make Guyana the bread basket for the Caribbean.

Yours truly, Dr Asquith Rose

History must not be selective

Dear Editor, The arguments of Venezuela and claims of fraud are based on the se lective use of historical facts. They have chosen to revert back to what took place from 1777. If we are going to ig nore the period of the ter ritorial wars between the powers of that period, which resulted in territorial owner ship changes, then we must also consider the original owners of the land before the Spanish came to South America and forcefully took what didn’t belong to them. Comrades, no present-day power is willing to relin quish the gains they have made over that period. Thus, it is clear that Venezuela’s argument is presumptu ous and rooted in hypocri sy. If their claim is that the United Kingdom committed a fraud in determining the land it owned via conquest, then Spain, Portugal and the Catholic Church commit ted the largest fraud known to man by claiming owner ship of the new world when it was already inhabited. If Venezuela truly believes in their argument, then they should relinquish all of their land back to its original in habitants and owners who are the Amerindians. They were here before Columbus “discovered” what was not his nor Spain’s.

Other countries in Europe began to fight over territory as a result of the Pope’s decision to divide the “new world” between Portugal and Spain. This re sulted in many wars and has led to numerous treaties and agreements, including the

signed agreement of 1899 between Venezuela and the United Kingdom that set tled the border dispute be fore Guyana’s independence. A quote from the award:

“Award of the tribunal of arbitration constituted under article I of the trea ty of arbitration signed at Washington, between Great Britain and the United States of Venezuela, regard ing the boundary between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela, decision of 3 October 1899?”

Venezuela signed it and there is no evidence of it being signed under duress during the process. They waited until the process of Guyana’s independence to raise an objection, which took place more than 50 years later. Another quote from the award:

“Rules.

(a.) Adverse holding or prescription during a peri od of fifty years shall make a good title. The arbitrators may deem exclusive political control of a district, as well as actual settlement thereof, sufficient to constitute ad verse holding or to make ti tle by prescription.”

Comrades, it is clear that Venezuela does not have a strong legal argument by which to reclaim territory that has been out of their possession for over a centu ry without conceding owner ship of everything it current ly possesses. Is the world willing to undo all that took place since the 1400s?

With regards, Jamil Changlee

Enactment of vehicular homicide law is timely!

Dear Editor, A traffic incident that took place just hours ago makes the enactment of the vehicular homicide law a timely intervention. This law could not have come sooner, as it address es the very same issue that we have been debating for years on now. Drunk driving or being behind the wheel of a motor vehicle when some one is intoxicated, is the cause for so many innocent lives being lost on our roads. It is an endemic situation that has plagued society for too long and I dare say if not curbed immediately, would demoralise this country.

The footage brought to us by popular journalist "The Critic" is a case in point. Here we have the scene of a deadly accident, and from all the visible signs of those in volved in this accident, were either drunk or partially im paired. What is of note is the belligerent way one member of that drunken melee, could have walked up to The Critic and physically assault him. It shows the presumptuous nature of the offending par ty, in that although she was

in the wrong, she brazenly believes that no one had the right to record the matter.

This is a personification of lawlessness, and it tells you the depths to which we have sunken, where rude and obnoxious behaviour has become a norm. To add insult to injury, her male friend, instead of cautioning her in her foul deed, was out berating Critic for doing his legitimate duties!

Now, in my book the entire bunch of hooligans should have been arrest ed and taken to a medical institution to be tested for their blood alcohol level and charges imposed immedi ately. If needs be, passports should be seized until the matter is resolved. I am call ing for stringent rules for our roads and the stamping out of this sort of lawless ness forthwith!

As a developing nation, such forms of lawlessness must be addressed swiftly and condignly. Decency, law and order has to be restored to our roadways now!

Respectfully, Neil Adams

You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com

Page Foundation

Materials

A bowl ½ cup of milk

Dish soap

Cotton swab

Food colouring, more than one colour Pepper (optional)

Instructions:

1. Pour the milk into the bowl. Be ca reful not to move the bowl, you want the milk as still as possible.

2. Put one drop of each colour in diffe rent places in the milk.

3. Put just a tiny amount of soap on the end of the cotton swab, then touch it to one of the colours. WOW!

4. Let the experimenting begin!

5. To clean up, just pour the milk down the drain. (Do not drink it)

How it works:

Milk has fat in it and the food colouring floats on top of the fat. The fat is all connected with bonds. Think of it like the little pieces of fat all holding hands with each other. Dish soaps are used on greasy or oily dishes because it breaks the bonds in fats allo

wing them to separate. When you add the dish soap to the milk, the fat separates and moves making your magical milk art!

Extra experiments: Does the temperature of the milk have any effect?

Try whole milk and skim milk. Sprinkle pepper on the milk be fore you add the soap, what hap pens to the pepper? (sciencefun. org)

By The BroThers Grimm

CONTINUED FROM SATURDAY

WORD SEARCH

2020 manifesto

Guyanese can look forward to more consultations, inclusive policies – Parag

promises

In less than three years in office, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has delivered on most of its man ifesto promises it uttered at the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

This assertion was made by Public Service Minister Sonia Parag during a recent interview, during which she also assured that Guyanese can look forward to a PPP/C Government that continues to make policy decisions for the good of all Guyanese.

“Basically, all the pro grammes and policies that we have been… as a mat ter of fact, we are almost at a 100 per cent on delivering our manifesto promises al ready, in two years. So, all programmes and policies are catering for each cate gory and every category of Guyanese, across the 10 ad ministrative regions.”

“So, we can look forward to more consultations, we can look forward to listen ing to the people, we can look forward to rolling out more initiatives that will take care of the well-being and welfare of all citizens,” Parag said.

Meanwhile, this year saw the Government pre

senting a massive $552.9 billion budget, the largest in the country’s history and the first financed with oil mon ey. Currently, preparations are ongoing for next year’s budget.

According to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, who was also pres ent during the interview

with his Cabinet colleague, the Finance Ministry has been engaging the vari ous agencies and statutory bodies in the budget cycle. These discussions are aimed at garnering information to come up with the 2023 bud get.

“Currently, in all of the agencies, regions and statu

tory bodies, the Ministry of Finance has been engaging them in budget meetings, going through the numbers, looking at proposed capital expenditure, reviewing cur rent expenditure, making projections, to make sure we get numbers that are close to accurate, so we can pre pare for 2023 and that fiscal

year’s needs. So, we’re in the midst of the budget cycle,” Edghill said.

Among the measures the PPP/C Government has taken since coming to pow er, was setting aside $5 billion in budget 2022 to ease the rising cost of liv ing on Guyanese and re versing over 200 taxes and fees imposed by former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.

Other policies include re ducing the excise tax on fuel from 50 per cent in 2021 to 10 per cent in 2022. The ex cise tax was ultimately re moved in March. Another measure is that freight cost was restricted to pre-CO V1D level to keep import prices down.

The Government also distributed a $25,000 COVID cash grant to every household, $1.7 billion to 220 Amerindian communi ties and $1.3 billion to sev ered sugar workers, bumped old-age pension up from $20,500 to $28,000 between 2020 and 2022, restored wa ter and electricity subsidies to pensioners and provided over $200 million electricity credit to vulnerable house holds.

At the height of the pan demic, COVID-19 relief hampers were distribut ed countrywide, as well as $25,000 in one-off payments to public servants in 2020, $600 million in two-week bonuses for 9200 health workers and $1.26 billion in one-month bonuses for Disciplined Services.

Other measures in clude increasing the in come tax threshold from $65,000 to $75,000, restor ing, increasing and extend ing the “Because We Care” cash grant, increasing pub lic assistance from $9000 to $14,000, provision of over $7 billion in flood relief cash grant and hosting a farm ers’ markets to help farm ers sell their products while consumers benefit from low er prices

Last year, the PPP/C Government provided a 7 per cent increase across the board for public servants. Last week, a further 8 per cent retroactive increase was announced by President Dr Irfaan Ali. Taken with the other developments since they have taken of fice, many of these are policy decisions that relate to the PPP/C’s manifesto promis es. (G3)

A scene from recent budget consultations in Region Five

…as Govt has already delivered on most of its

Linden boat captain’s body recovered

found at around 10:00h on Sunday morning, in the vicinity of the “I Love Linden” sign.

Alexander had gone missing sometime around 01:00h on Saturday af ter two men, both of whom Police said appeared to be of unsound mind, pushed him overboard.

It was reported that Alexander was on the Mackenzie shore await ing passengers when Brian Hermanstyne, a 25-yearold unemployed man of Amelia’s Ward, Mackenzie, and Elden Hermanstyne, a 24-year-old unemployed man of Red Crescent Road, Mackenzie, boarded the boat for Wismar shore.

proceeded north on the Demerara River.

The matter was reported to the Police and the scene was visited. A drone was immediately mounted, and during an aerial search, the boat was located in the vicinity of Speightland.

The boat was then brought to shore along with the two suspects, and they were told of the allegation, arrested, and escorted to Wismar Police Station and placed in custody. The boat was searched, but noth ing of evidential value was found.

Crashing…

…on men’s parade

Well…whaddya know??? There was actually an “International Men’s Day” commemorated last Saturday. Your Eyewitness is a bit surprised that in this day and age any sentence with the word “men” doesn’t include some choice expletives. We were informed that there were actually THREE themes that could be followed to observe the day this year – “helping men and boys”, “celebrating “mate ship””, and “celebrating men leading by example”.

The lifeless body of Elick Alexander, the 55-year-old boat captain of Silver City, Wismar, who was alleged ly pushed overboard by

two passengers, was recov ered on Sunday morning in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

Officials have so far con firmed that the body was

While the boat was about 40 feet off the Wismar shore, Alexander was allegedly pushed out of the boat and his body was completely submerged by the water. The boat then

Searches were later car ried out in the Demerara River for Alexander, but he was not located. Police said it was due to active search ing after the man went missing, that his body was located hours later.

Investigations are still ongoing. (G9)

Mother, stepfather remanded for rape of a 14-year-old girl

Amother and step father of Ebini, Upper Berbice River, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), who are accused of raping their child, were charged for the offence and remanded to prison.

The couple - the child’s

28-year-old mother and her 51-year-old stepfa ther - appeared before Magistrate Wanda Fortune on Friday at the Kwakwani Magistrate’s Court. They were both charged under the Sexual Offences Act for sexual activity with a child family member.

The duo was not re quired to plead and were remanded to prison.

According to reports, it is alleged that the stepfa ther raped the child with the mother’s knowledge. The child became pregnant and the matter was report ed to the Child Care and Protection Agency.

The child has since been removed from the home and placed into protective custody. The duo will re turn to court on December 16.

“Helping men and boys”, your Eyewitness can see. As the saying goes , “maan a daag” – and dogs need all the help they can get!! Let us count the ways. Right off the top there’s this compulsion for men to excuse whatever transgression they commit to explode, “well, abee a maan”!! And that’s supposed to explain everything!! Knocking your wife around – or worse – when you crawl home from a drinking spree with the “boys” and the food served isn’t EXACTLY what you want?? Invading neighbouring countries because they don’t jump for joy when you break off chunks of their country? And so on and so forth?? Well, “me a maan”!!

The point, Dear Reader, is what men see as “maan’s” roles in society!! And since the dawn of civilisation – after we crawled out of those caves – men were supposed to be the protector and provider in a dog-eat-dog world!! His size gave him an advantage over women when he merely clubbed and dragged them “home”— if they resisted. And imagine after thousands of years of societal “evolution”, we still haven’t progressed much beyond that in our dear mudland.

But to be honest, even while relations between the sexes were improving in ole Mother England during the colonial days, we in the colonies had our development retarded in that department – to say the least. We were enslaved and indentured and the masters could ‘do wha’ de waan wid we women”!! And upon “freedom”, the men simply imitated their “betters”!! So that’s another thing we gotta blame those sanctimonious so-and-so’s for!!

The second one of “celebrating mate ship”?? Isn’t that part of the problem?? That men should get together as “mates” in the bars, or playing fields or wherever and reinforce their toxic masculinity?? Your Eyewitness thinks we should encourage men seeing women ALSO as “mates” – and listen to their perspectives on all the subjects they like to pontificate upon!! With no “mansplaining” permitted! And lastly, “men leading by example”.

This ain’t gonna happen until men accept the advice of the Bard: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Might you become master of your fate through choice – no matter what the stars say.”

Men gotta man-up and take responsibility for their actions!!

…cryptocurrency

For decades, the complaint in the financial world was that a few currencies like the US$ and the British pound dominated the world’s economy. Imagine these countries could just print pieces of paper and the rest of the world would give them ‘real’ goods like bananas and tractors, etc!! Before 1970, currencies had to be backed by gold, but that was nixed by the US!! But gold still has “value” to get goods, no?

So isn’t that arbitrary? Well, just after the financial crash of 2008, a digital currency called “bitcoin” was introduced by some anonymous computer geeks. It was supposed to eventually replace the centralised currencies of the major economies and let money be “mined” (like gold!!) by ANYONE through a computer technique called “blockchain” that was hack free. The trick was to have folks use it as money”!!

Well, the idea was accepted by some banks and even some countries. Until – like with regular money – it was just gamed by a few insiders – college kids basically!! And the market crashed!!

Back to minting money!!

…new parties?

The AFC isn’t the only party seeking a makeover. ANUG – which was supposed to be the post-race alternative –just had an executive election. But two founders have disappeared. What gives?

Dead: Elick Alexander

“Our entire services sector needs to revamp” – Pres Ali

new economy

in a timeframe. If they don’t provide their comment, it is deemed approved. If they provide all their comments, the applicant gets a time frame to respond to their comments. Once you re spond to those comments and clear all the hurdles, they can’t come back with any new comments,” he had stated.

Last month, the Housing and Water Ministry held consultations with agency heads on the introduction of the single window system to make issuing planning and building permits a smooth er process.

increase in planning and construction has seen 1964 applications being pro cessed by the CH&PA be tween the period of October 2020 and September 2022.

President Ali had ac knowledged that many as pects of Guyana’s system are archaic. However, he noted that Government is constantly making strides to correct these issues and enable easy access for Guyanese.

Guyana to the next level is not only becoming a leader in the oil and gas sector but a major leader in climate services, environmental ser vices, ecological services and biological services. He added that Guyana is prob ably amongst the top five countries with a develop ment plan that inculcates this, that is, the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030.

According to the Guyanese leader, his Administration is building the foundation for an econ omy that is functional, com petitive, cutting edge and leading to function in a world 2030 and beyond.

As Guyana embarks on a transformation of its infrastructur al landscape, President Dr Irfaan Ali has underscored the need for a total revamp of the various services being offered in the country.

Speaking at a recep tion held last week for the Louisiana District Export Council (LDEC)-led largest trade delegation to Guyana, the Head of State pointed out that the country’s in coming traffic is expected to see a major increase in the coming years and there needs to be a change in the way things are done.

“Now, that means our entire services sector needs to revamp, to be reoriented. We have to train our human resources to function in this new economy we’re talking about where technology and science will play a key role,” he stated.

According to Ali, there will be infrastructure that will remove a lot of the sub

jective way of doing busi ness. In fact, he pointed out that one of the things Government is looking to have technology do is to re move the human subjectivi ty at making decisions.

“So, everything must be systems-based and institu tional-based. So, the system is what developed the re sults and not based on the discretion of someone or the mood of someone,” he point ed out.

Only two weeks ago, the Head of State announced that by the end of 2022, a single window approval sys tem for construction permits will be activated, thereby removing the hurdles and consolidating several inter agency procedures into one application document.

“What this single win dow application process will do is very simple. You deposit your application to one window. Electronically, it is sent to all the agencies that need to comment with

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) hired experts from the Region for assis tance in setting up this sin gle window system. The

“Is the system perfect? No, absolutely no. Is the system archaic? Many parts of the system are archa ic. Are we fixing it? Yes, of course, we are fixing it,” he had asserted.

Nevertheless, the Head of State further pointed out during last week’s reception that what will help take

“In all of these areas, we have great potential. We have the added gift of the revenues from oil and gas that must be used to unlock the potential of all these oth er advantages… Oil and gas will not create wealth. It is the unlocking of the diversi fied potential of our country that will lead to sustainable wealth creation, sustainable livelihood…,” he contended.

“That economy must be able to withstand issues of climate change, it must be able to have the most com plex financial system that is modern, that is rigid, that is transparent… Our entire country must be running on a technology platform that is cutting edge, that is effi cient, that is reliable. Our technology in security must be cutting edge. Everything that we do is positioning Guyana to be cutting edge in all the different sectors,” President Ali said. (G8)

President Dr Irfaan Ali

World Fisheries Day

$500M spent on aquaculture, $750M in cash grants for fishermen – Agri Minister

…says Govt remains committed to improving the fisheries sector

With today marking World Fisheries Day, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha in his fisheries day message assured that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) remains committed to the fisheries sector, evi denced by the money it has been investing in it.

These investments in clude the $750 million in cash grants that the Government has distribut ed to fishermen to cushion

them from the negative im pact of the rising cost of liv ing, low catch as a result of global warming, and in creases in operational cost.

Additionally, Mustapha pointed out that the Government of Guyana has expended over $500 million in the fisheries sector to fa cilitate the revitalisation of the aquaculture industry. In his message, Mustapha brought to the forefront the important role that fishing plays in the global econo

my.

“Today Guyana joins the international community in celebrating World Fisheries Day. Today we recognise the contributions of fishing to the global economy, and the importance of sustain able fisheries. In Guyana, we reflect on the social and economic value of our na tion’s fisheries, and cele brate the contributions of

all who work to make this industry a success.”

“World Fisheries Day is not only about celebrating the accomplishments of the fishing industry, but it is also about highlighting the opportunities for a sustain able future and recognising the challenges that face the sector with an aim to mit igate and adapt to ensure continuity in this vital sec tor,” he said.

Mustapha pointed out that more than two-thirds of the world's fisheries have been overfished or are ful ly harvested and more than one-third is in a state of decline because of factors such as climate change, over-harvesting and illegal, unreported, and unregulat ed fishing.

He noted that in Guyana, the Government is tackling these challenges head-on through the devel opment of several measures aimed at increasing the do mestic fisheries production. And to support those in the sector, some $750 million has been distributed to over 5000 fisherfolk.

“The commitment of the President to food security through blue transforma tion has led to the Ministry of Agriculture, establish ing cage culture production projects in rural communi ties, expansion of vannamei shrimp and the revitalisa tion of shrimp aquaculture farms in East BerbiceCorentyne, taking pro duction to unprecedented heights,” the message said.

“Further, in an effort to cushion the effect of the rising cost of living, the Government of Guyana has distributed approxi mately $750 million in cash grants to over 5,000 fisher folk across Guyana. At the same time, resuscitating all fish landing sites, while improving their infrastruc ture, is expected to positive ly improve the working con ditions of our fisherfolk.”

These actions, accord ing to Mustapha, are de signed to support resilience in aquatic food systems and ensure fisheries and aqua culture grow sustainably while leaving no one behind, especially those communi

ties that depend on the sec tor. Mustapha also pointed out that 2022 is a signifi cant year for artisanal fish eries and aquaculture, as it is the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA).

“The theme ‘Small in Scale, Big in Value’ em phasises the importance of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture to global food security. On this World Fisheries Day, the Ministry of Agriculture reaffirms its commitment to developing our fisheries resources in a sustainable and equita ble manner through the ad aptation of evidence-based management techniques and climate-smart ap proaches,” the Minister said.

The fishing industry plays a significant role as a foreign exchange earner for Guyana. According to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade, in 2021, Guyana ex ported US$41.21 million in fish, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic invertebrates. (G3)

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

Govt’s billions into healthcare being wasted if nursing staff neglecting patient care

The Georgetown Public Hospital has once again come in for criticism after a family is now accusing nurses at the facility of causing the death of a 45-year-old teacher due to alleged negligence.

Dead is Shonnata Sawh, a teacher attached to the Mon Repos Nursery School, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the woman’s cousin L Valantina Ramotar said the teacher went to the city hospital on Wednesday for gallstone surgery, but ended up dead.

When contacted by this newspaper, the relatives of the now dead teacher con sented for the social media post be used as a newspa per story on their plight and grief.

“The surgery was per formed, and she came out well-conscious and said to me that she was in pain (understandably so). Later that night apparently, she

was vomiting severely. The nurses never contacted the doctor,” the cousin alleged.

According to the cousin, the doctor informed them that it wasn’t until she did her medical ward rounds in the morning that she was informed that the woman was vomiting, and she pre scribed medication.

“The doctor said that when she tested her pres sure it was normal. During the morning visiting hours my aunt witnessed her pres sure being taken and it was low,” the woman penned.

On Thursday, Ramotar noted that Sawh’s condition began to deteriorate fur ther.

“She was feeling weak, and nauseous, had a cold sweat, and continued to have low pressure. When she died, the doctor said that she went back to check the charts/records and it was never recorded that her pressure was low,” the cous in related.

“The same morning, the

same doctor that saw her noted that there was urine in the catheter bag. But before mid-day, she wasn’t passing anything and again this was not recorded. So, when at 4 PM she collapsed and started to go into a sei zure it was too late.”

“Her pressure was low, and that was not dealt with immediately it was too late, more than 4 hours after the doctor realised that she wasn’t passing any urine her kidneys were failing, and again the doctor men tioned that there was no re cord of when she stopped passing urine,” she said.

The woman is alleging that it was until her cousin collapsed that she was giv en better attention from the nurses in the ward.

“When she collapsed is when she finally started to get medical care but it was too late. It was too late not because the doctors did not try but because the nurs es, the nurses neglected my cousin. She was even wor

Former city engineer dies in Perseverance crash

ceeding west along the road at a fast rate of speed when the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided to a me dian.

As a result of the impact, the car ended up on the oth er side of the road where it collided with the lorry.

Erskine and the other oc cupants of the motor lorry received injuries about their bodies, and were rushed to the hospital by public-spirit

ed citizens. Erskine was im mediately transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, while the other two occu pants were treated and sent away.

He later succumbed to his injuries.

In 2009, Erskine was ap pointed Chief City Engineer at City Hall but was later fired along with three oth er City Hall officials back in 2013 over alleged fraud. (G9)

ried about upsetting them she told her dad not to tell them anything not to make them angry!”.

More needs to be done

The woman contended that more needs to be done at the institution, to avoid innocent lives being lost.

“The GOG is pouring billions and billions into health care – new facilities, new equipment, new spe cialisations for doctors yet someone who had no kidney issues go in to do gallstone operations and dies of renal failure.”

“None of the investment will help if we have nurses who are neglecting patient care, and if we have systems that are not being updat ed to respond to these fail ures. If people are not held accountable for this death caused by NEGLIGENCE,” the grieving woman said as she lashed out at the GPHC nurses.

“…she did not have to die – with the investments that are being made, by our gov ernment ... this was an un necessary death of a woman who was a proud educa tor..., but she died because those who are responsible for continuously monitor

ing patients and escalating issues never did their job,” the grieving woman ex pressed.

Sawh is to be cremat ed on Saturday, the same day she would have gradu ated from the Cyril Potter College of Education.

Meanwhile, calls to offi cials of the GPHC over the weekend went unanswered.

Following the wom an’s death, scores of per sons including the Guyana Teachers Union took to so cial media to express their condolences to her family, and the students and staff of the Mon Repos Nursery School.

Just two weeks ago, the GPHC recorded three ma ternal deaths, and in all of the cases, families accused the hospital of contributing to the deaths of the young mothers and their babies. An investigation has since been launched into those deaths. (G9)

An accident that oc curred on Saturday morning on the Perseverance Public Road, West Coast Berbice, has claimed the life of for mer city engineer at City Hall, 42-year-old Gregory Erskine.

The accident occurred at around 07:15h and involved motor car PZZ 9132 and mo tor lorry GSS 818 with trail er TXX 5072 attached.

Motor car PZZ 9132 was at the time being driven by a 22-year-old woman of Good Faith, Mahaicony, while GSS 818 was driven by a 46-year-old man.

At the time, Erskine was one of three occupants in motor lorry GSS 818.

It was reported that mo tor car PZZ 9132 was pro

Dead: Shonnata Sawh

...as teacher dies after gallstone surgery at GPHC …“she did not have to die” – cousin

Dead: Gregory Erskine

Split from APNU will not affect AFC at 2025 elections – Ramjattan claims

ing back to highlighting who we are and what we stand for, and sometimes it is the things that don't necessarily bring you lots of applause but in terms of long-term Guyana, it’s necessary for building a country that can move for ward,” she stated.

In addition to confirm ing its split, the AFC last week also announced that it will not be contest ing the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) slated for March 13, 2023, citing concerns over the voters’ list which they along with the APNU have been insisting is bloated.

With the Alliance For Change – the minority party in the coalition Opposition –moving ahead to part ways with the A Partnership for National Unity this year end, party leaders are con fident that the split would not affect their perfor mance at the 2025 polls.

This was indicated by AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan at a press con ference on Friday, where he indicated that the par ty’s National Conference, its highest decision-mak ing body, has decided to separate from its coalition partner.

“We will still have very cordial working relation ship with the APNU be cause we are a joint par ty at parliamentary level and even for fighting for the genuine causes and au thentic causes, like a clean voters’ list, we certainly gonna work along. I think we're gonna work along on very many other [issues] but if we have indepen dent positions, we certain ly gonna express them,” he stated.

The AFC leader told reporters that while he is yet to formally write his APNU counterpart and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on the AFC’s de cision to split, Norton is aware of this. He said a formal correspondence will be sent at the appropriate time.

Meanwhile, AFC’s Chair, Cathy Hughes, reminded that the Cummingsburg Accord, which gave birth to the APNU/AFC coalition, was never designed as an agreement for out of Government but for their time in office, which lasted from 2015 to 2020.

“The AFC has always been an independent par ty and we feel very strong ly that we are at a point in which we are going back to our roots. We are go

Asked whether these po sitions will have an impact on its support base at the 2025 General and Region Elections, Ramjattan in sisted his party still has relevance.

“We feel that holding onto principled position [of a padded list] is gonna en hance the support base of people in our party and we don't feel that it's gonna be anything negative at all [in the 2025 elections],” he contended.

Nevertheless, the AFC leader said on Friday that the decision to not partici pate in the upcoming Local Government polls is an in dependent one also tak en by the party’s National Executive based on their concerns and not their poor showings at the polls.

At the last LGE in 2018, the AFC, which had con tested on its own, ended up securing just four per cent of the total votes cast.

But Ramjattan argued, “…to the extent then that people feel that ‘oh be cause we aren’t winning any NDC’ (Neighbourhood Democratic Councils) that means that our support base will drop. That is ab solute nonsense. We, as a matter of fact, we did a flaking out of a lot of the areas in and around the country and that was what created the spark and that is what is going to get it going and maintain our relevance as a third force in the country… If we have been reduced as so many people have been express ing…, why are they just mentioning all the time the AFC, AFC, AFC; Cathy Hughes, Ramjattan, David Patterson. It’s because we have a relevance and they're scared.”

While its coalition part ner had also been adamant with its claims that the vot ers’ list is bloated and had hinted at boycotting the Local Government polls,

the APNU leader seemed to have backpedalled on this position when he de clared last week that they will prevent the People's Progressive Party/Civic Government from attempt ing to “dominate and con trol this entire society”.

Norton has been on the record saying that when the time comes, the APNU will take a decision on its participation in the LGE.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has already designat ed December 12, 2022, as nomination day for the upcoming LGE. On nomi nation day, parties make their way to a designated location, where their rep resentatives are usually required to submit their list of candidates to the Chief Election Officer, as well as sign on to the re quired documents, such as a code of conduct, to con test the elections. These representatives are usual ly accompanied by a large retinue of their support ers, dressed in party co lours, although all the parties who submit sym bols do not always make a grand entrance or even go at all.

Parties, voluntary groups and individuals are meanwhile required to submit their symbols in accordance with Section 48 (1) of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Cap 28:03. The law requires that these symbols be submit ted at least 21 days before nomination day.

The PPP/C has already signalled its readiness to contest the upcoming LGE and is in the process of finalising candidates. As far back as August, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is the General Secretary of the PPP/C, had said that the party is in preparation mode for LGE.

AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan

AFC Chair Cathy Hughes

Men on Mission initiative launched in Regions 2, 6

President Dr Irfaan Ali’s Men on Mission (MoM) initiative was officially launched in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) on Saturday.

The initiative seeks to provide a platform for posi tive change.

Also called the “1000 Men on Mission”, the initiative aims at 1000 men across the country to work in commu nities to eradicate hunger and to uplift those emotion ally and socially affected. It also aims at changing every society and bringing a posi tive life to every single com munity. MoM also seeks to work against violence and to make men better at being good and responsible men while at the same time de veloping responsible boys in society.

When the initiative

chairperson of the steering committee.

Addressing the gathering at Albion Sports Complex on Saturday, Brigadier Bess pointed out that he was hap py to be a part of the initia tive.

He said it is hoped that through the initiative they will be able to make men better at what they do.

“Across the country, we expect our men to be good men, responsible men, re sponsible boys and responsi ble youths in our society. It is my view that as Guyana pur sues its development agen da, empowered, enlightened and responsible men are es sential for the development of our country. However, our educational system would show a predominance of fe males [and] a review of early school dropouts and the per petrators in crimes and vio

tion on some of the social ills in society.

He pointed to alcohol and substance abuse, male delin quent behaviour and young male underachievement in society as some of the chal lenges facing society today.

“Under the leadership of President Ali, we aspire for a Guyana where these so cial ills are ideally eradicat ed and even if not fully ban ished from our society, are minimised in their incidence and occurrence.”

He said there is a need for a Guyana, where chal lenges such as domestic vio lence become a thing of the past.

“When men understand the importance of respect ing our women folk and en suring that they create the conditions that are neces sary and play the support ive roles that are needed

necessary for them to realise their full potential.”

According to Dr Singh, this can come from multiple sources including the reli gious community which has an important role to play in this regard.

“It can come from our schools and places of edu cation, it can come from our community leaders and it can come from social and so cietal role models including our men in uniform,” he add ed.

“Our Disciplined Services have an important role to play in ensuring that the right examples are pro vided.”

Singh pointed out that the Government has been putting in place several av enues for persons to have an opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and train ing to face the new Guyana.

“In order for people to take advantage of these op portunities, it is important that our young boys and our young girls coming out of the school system are equipped to participate in this trans formation and that they don’t get distracted by some of these social challenges,” Singh encouraged.

Region Two

Over one hundred men in Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) joined Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Saturday evening as he launched the initiative in Region Two.

900. However, he stated that as a result of the tabu lation and records it can be seen that students are drop ping out from school and most are males.

Dr Anthony added that the Government will try its utmost to put strategies in place to avoid students, es pecially males from drop ping out of school.

“We will work to make sure boys stay in school and that's one of the missions we should have to ensure there are no school dropout and

Vice Chairman Humace Oodit during his brief re marks said that the ini tiative is a movement to implore, and a man’s impor tance is to share responsibil ities, adding that they must dedicate themselves and not be a part of illegal activities and problems.

“Men must create a pos itive approach to the gen eration. Initiative Men on Mission still find some men feeling the jeopardy of soci ety... You cannot be gender base and discriminating or

was launched last month, President Ali had said men – both young and old – are being consumed by drug use, formation of gangs, gang brutality and violence, and violent crimes.

“The 1000 Men aim is to address these social ills and promote positive living in communities. This move ment will uplift the younger generation of men through mentorship and guidance in the building of a One Guyana and to create a bet ter young Guyanese,” the President had said at the launch.

Chief of Staff Brigadier Godfrey Bess has been made

lence show a predominance of males. Thus, it is obvious of the crisis we are in as a country,” Bess pointed out.

In this regard, he noted the timeliness and urgency of the President’s initiative.

Pressing reality

Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh while addressing the gath ering noted that the initia tive aims at addressing the pressing reality that men in Guyana face. He noted that a lot of men are fully on board with the national de velopment agenda and play their part in ensuring the minimisation and eradica

so that our womenfolk can achieve their full potential,” Dr Singh explained.

He noted that Guyana should become a place where one does not routinely hear of spousal abuse and abuse against children.

For this to happen, he said there is a need to en sure that young men and boys are instilled with the right values in society and are inspired to realise their full potential.

“They will need to have at their disposal male role models and male mentors and have at their disposal the relevant advice, coun selling and guidance that is

Speaking at the launch ing held at the Essequibo Technical Institute, Dr Anthony expressed grat itude to President Ali for such an initiative to get men involved in order for them to do what is called men on a mission.

The Minister empha sised that men should also be involved in educational programmes and trainings while stating that if a sur vey is carried out to deter mine the pass rates of stu dents at schools, it will show that females are dominat ing.

He added that in a year over 14,000 babies are born and when calculating the number of students sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) it’s roughly about

work with people and school to see what is happening and see why there are gangs of people liming in the cor ner and we will try to fix that,” he said

The Minister also stat ed that the initiative is to change every society and bring positive living and positive light to every sin gle community. It is to work against violence, make men better at being good men, re sponsible men, responsible boys, and youths in the so ciety.

He, therefore, encour aged the men to enrol to the GOAL scholarship, engage in educational programmes and training and empower themselves.

Additionally, Anthony told the men to take care of their health and ensure they get medical check-ups. He also spoke on the impor tance of education in their future.

Meanwhile, Regional

act against any human... In doing so the need to advance our education is very im portant and we can see that is what the Government is doing… they launching scholarships and training session to empower citizens and we as men should grab the opportunity to be apart.”

He added that men should grasp and find unity and create a meaningful en vironment. He further said that men should work with young boys and coach them to do the right things and motivate them to develop a model to transform men in today’s society.

Attending the launch were the Regional Chairperson Vilma Da Silva, senior officials of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the Guyana Police Force (GPF), and local sportsmen, reli gious leaders, teachers, com munity workers, farmers among other residents of the Essequibo Coast.

…“we aspire for a Guyana” where social ills are minimised – Dr Ashni Singh

Men in Region Two at the launch

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony speaking at the launch on Saturday evening

A section of the gathering at the launch in Berbice

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh chats with some of the men at the launch

P&P contributes to First Lady’s Menstrual Hygiene Initiative

As First Lady Arya Ali continues her Menstrual Hygiene Initiative, P&P Insurance Brokers last week made a do nation towards the venture.

Through this initiative, sanitary napkins would be made accessible to women and girls free of cost.

During a simple ceremo ny, Jaya Panday and Ahilia Panday handed over 50 box es of sanitary pads to the Office of the First Lady.

“Many young women all across Guyana are chal lenged by an inability to ac quire sanitary pads and Her Excellency the First Lady must be commended for starting the initiative and for the good work she has been doing in this regard,” Jaya Panday said.

Panday also said that P&P was very happy to be given the opportunity to make a contribution and they see it as part of their

corporate social responsibil ity to look out for and help fill the needs of the less for tunate.

The distribution of sani tary pads through the First Lady’s initiative has begun in several regions across Guyana and will see more than 30,000 girls benefiting.

The Regional Education Department in Regions One (Barima-Waini); Five (Mahaica-Berbice); Six (East Berbice -Corentyne) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) were recently provided with one year’s supply of sani tary pads for each secondary school-aged girl.

Over the next few months, the remaining regions, Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara); Four (Demerara-Mahaica); Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) will receive their

allocation, and begin provid ing the pads to the schools for distribution.

During a recent fundrais ing event, the First Lady had explained that when her of fice launched this project last year, it was with faith, hope, optimism, and zero dollars.

“I made the announce ment about the Menstrual Hygiene Initiative and we waited patiently and hoped for support from our part ners,” she said, adding that the support so far has been overwhelming.

“I am most pleased, and proud, that we are able to

provide one year’s supply of sanitary pads to every sec ondary school-aged girl in this country at no cost to them. Of course, this will continue every year after this one,” she noted.

Having achieved this, Ali posited that her attention would now shift to providing coverage for women. With limited funding, she under scored the need for donations and fundraisers which allow her office to expand coverage for women.

Just recently, the Office of the First Lady, in partner ship with Dilmah Tea, hosted

one such fundraiser – ChariTea – a tea party and fashion show, at State House.

“Fundraisers like these are, therefore, very import ant to this aspect of the proj ect, because the funding re ceived from the Government only provides partial cover age for our girls. Therefore, we rely heavily on these fundraising events and dona tions to compensate for that shortfall,” she shared.

The Government of Guyana has provided $50 million in its 2022 budget to wards this programme.

First Lady Arya Ali flanked by Jaya Panday (left) and Ahilia Panday

Region 9 villages benefit from inputs to boost production

…as Agri Ministry launches Agriculture Improved Support Programme

The Agriculture Ministry launched its Agriculture Improved Support Programme on Saturday last aimed at of fering critical support to hinterland villages to boost agricultural production.

The programme is fund ed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development under the Ministry’s Hinterland Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture Development (HESAD) Project.

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha launched the programme in St Ignatius, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), which saw farmers from some 16 vil lages benefiting from $22 million worth of agricultur al inputs and genetic im provement material.

Mustapha, while offer ing remarks at the exercise, said that the Government was committed to ensuring farmers in every part of the country benefit from the re sources available.

He said that the in puts being delivered re

sulted from a commitment made by His Excellency, President Dr Irfaan Ali during an outreach to the region last August.

“The President came to Region Nine to ensure we develop this very import ant sector. He met with the farmers and listened to their needs. He made several commitments and today we are here to de liver on those commit ments because when this Government makes a com mitment, we always deliv er on it. The agriculture sector is the only sector that can ensure a coun try has food security. As a Government, we are aim ing to be a net exporter of food and become the centre of production in this part of the hemisphere, especial ly in the Caribbean. We be lieve that Region Nine has the potential to produce more and make a valuable contribution to our nation al production goals,” the Minister said.

He further stated that the Government is work ing to make the necessary resources available to en

able farmers’ ability to boost production in hopes of one day satisfying local and regional demands for agro-processed commodi ties and high-value crops.

“Food security is high on the Government’s agen da so we are working to en sure you have the neces sary inputs to produce. We want you to be able to pro duce more than what you are producing now. As a Government, we are work ing to diversify and expand to be able to satisfy local and regional demands for agro-processed commodi ties and high-value crops. We are also making the necessary facilities avail able to increase the value of your products,” he noted.

Last August, President Ali, while in the region, said officers from the Agriculture Ministry would be working with communi ties to develop their food security strategies in a way that will make their food production both resilient and sustainable.

“We are working with many communities in Region Nine to enhance

Construction worker charged for burglarising pensioner’s home

Lester Drakes, a 23-year-old con struction worker of Christian Street, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was on Wednesday arrest ed by ranks of the Grove Police Station and charged on the same day for bur glary.

The charge was filed under Section 223 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01.

According to Police, the act was committed on the dwelling house of Harry Persaud, a 73-year-old

pensioner of Farm, East Bank Demerara.

The robbery occurred between 02:00h and 04:00h on Wednesday. Some $11,000 was stolen from the house.

Drakes appeared at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Sunil Scarce, where the charge was read to him but he denied the offence.

Bail was granted in the sum of $50,000 and the matter was adjourned to December 27.

your food production sys tem, to build your capacity, and to build your food pro duction system in a more structured and market-ori ented way. To improve the conditions under which we do farming, and many com munities across the region are embracing this new push in terms of agricultur al expansion and food secu rity,” the Head of State not ed.

Farmers from the villages of Shulinab, Meriwau, Sand Creek, Awarenau, Mururanau, Rupanau, Katoonarib, Baitoon, Potarinau, Quiko, Parikwarinau, Aishalton, Shea, Baitoon, Taushida and Koshebai (South Pakaraimas) benefited from breeding bulls and boars to improve their vil lages’ genetic material; cassava sticks; coconut

seedlings; shade house ma terials; a tractor and im plements which included a cassava planter, harrow, a disc plough and a roam plough; as well as an ATV.

The Ministry also signed a contract with the Sand Creek Village Council valued at $4 million for the implementation of a cassa va germplasm bank and the supply of farm tools sup port for the region.

Charged: Lester Drakes

Some of the farmers who benefited from the inputs

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha along with farmers from several villages in Region Nine who benefited from the inputs

After several weeks of declining cases and over two months of no fatalities, active COVID-19 cases in Guyana are on the rise.

The Health Ministry re ported in its updated dash board on Sunday that five more persons have tested positive for the novel coro

navirus within a 24-hour period.

This now takes the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Guyana to 88, which includes four pa tients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remain ing persons in isolation –six in institutional isolation and the other 78 in home

isolation.

One other person is also in institutional quarantine.

Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 1281, while some 70,172 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus to date – two more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Guyana more than two years ago, some 71,541 confirmed cas es were recorded and of this amount, 32,800 are males and 38,741 are females. A total of 704,804 tests have been conducted.

Meanwhile of the five new cases recorded on Sunday, four were detected in Region Four (DemeraraMahaica) and the remain ing one case in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

Only on Friday, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony reported that there has been an increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases detected in recent days and reiterated calls for citizens to get vaccinated, especially ahead of the Christmas hol idays.

“…over the last two to three days, we’ve had an in crease in cases… We’ve also seen increases in the hospi tals from zero, to now hav ing six persons in hospital. Of the six that are in hos pital, we have three that are in the ICU, with one of those persons being in tubated,” he disclosed on Friday.

According to the Health Minister, if people do not take necessary precautions

to protect themselves then these numbers will contin ue to climb.

“COVID is not over. I know a lot of people would want to think so, but we are now having an increase in cases despite having low levels of testing and we are seeing a number of those persons having severe in fections that warrants hos pitalisation,” he explained.

Dr Anthony further im plored that persons get vac

cinated and for those quali fied, get their booster shots.

“I want to make an ap peal to everyone, make sure that your vaccines are up to date, that you have gotten your booster shots because there seem to be a new wave that is coming, and we are seeing the beginning of that wave,” he cautioned.

Currently, over 75,000 booster doses were adminis tered across Guyana.

Meanwhile, the World

Health Organisation has reported that a total of 12,943,741,540 vaccine dos es have been administered worldwide.

Additionally, there have been 633,601,048 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including 6,596,542 deaths.

In the region of the Americas includ ing the Caribbean, some 180,912,898 cases were re ported along with 2,862,727 deaths. (G8)

Warner told to face US court if innocent

Embattled former vice president of FIFA

Jack Warner is being told to prove his innocence ahead of extradition pro ceedings for which he seems to have exhausted all his op tions.

The US has charged Warner with 29 offences of fraud, corruption and mon ey laundering and is seek ing to have him extradit ed to face the courts there. Warner has since chal lenged the legality of the charges before being dealt a severe blow on Thursday when the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, the country’s highest court of appeal, rejected his attor neys’ argument that the ex tradition proceedings were unlawful.

Warner later issued a statement to prove his in nocence and vowed to keep up his fight against the ex tradition. However, friends

here [Trinidad] ordered Warner, also a former Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and CONCACAF president, to prove his inno cence. Former national head coach Edgar Vidale, a win ner of this country’s third highest award, who met Warner as a vibrant and in spiring young administra tive talent, said he was not taking sides.

Vidale, however, believes the Privy Council has made the right decision.

“I was as close to Warner as anybody would have got ten, but I do not agree that he should evade what is happening now. If what he is saying is true, that he did not commit any crime against the USA, then why don’t you go to the USA and fight it and prove it to the world? Why are you trying to evade them? He knows he can’t do it,” Vidale said.

“Let us get him to take

away the dirty mass that Trinidad has through what is suggested as his sin against everybody—FIFA etc.”

Vidale earlier delivered an almost glowing account of Warner as an administra tor, saying he made tremen dous sacrifices for him and for the sport in T&T includ ing calling then-president Sir Ellis Clarke at midnight to help the team get tick ets for a CONCACAF tour nament in the USA many years ago.

He noted also that Warner ascended to posi tions of great power in T&T football because other peo ple in positions of authori ty, inclusive of former pres ident Oliver Camps, did not do what they were supposed to do.

“And this man had the energy to do it for them, he did everything, until they relied on him, so actually,

Brazil's Goldfajn elected to replace ousted IDB president

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said on Sunday its board of gover nors has elected Brazil's Ilan Goldfajn as president of the financial institu tion, after Mauricio ClaverCarone, the first American to lead it, was ousted over ethics violations.

Five countriesArgentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Brazil and Chile - had nominated can didates to head the IDB, the largest development bank in Latin America, af ter the turmoil of the past year severely damaged mo rale at the institution.

Headquartered in Washington, the IDB is a key investor in Latin America and the Caribbean, responsible for $23.4 billion in financial commitments in 2021 and hundreds of infrastructure, health and tourism proj ects.

In a statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen congratulat ed Goldfajn and said the United States stands by the IDB as the region's pre mier development finance institution.

"We are counting on President Goldfajn to lead this organization to be

an engine of change and progress for our neigh bors across Latin America and the Caribbean," Yellen said.

The scandalous oust er of Claver-Carone, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, had made it more likely that the next candidate would hail from Latin America, following prior precedent. Even so, Goldfajn will be under pressure to work closely with the United States, Europe and China given that all are members and may look to assert in fluence from afar.

The IDB could be a bat tleground for a geopolitical tussle over key financing decisions for its members as Latin America grapples with stubbornly high infla tion and an economic slow down.

Argentina had nominat ed Cecilia Todesca Bocco, the country's internation al economic relations sec retary. Mexico nominat ed its central bank Deputy Governor Gerardo Esquivel and Chile put forth its former Finance Minister Nicolas Eyzaguirre.

Brazil's outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro nominated Goldfajn, the former president of the

country's central bank and currently the head of the International Monetary Fund's Western Hemisphere department.

Trinidad and Tobago nominated Gerard Johnson, a former IDB offi cial now serving as a senior consultant to the Jamaican finance ministry.

The vote followed a meeting of the IDB gover nors, who are usually fi nance ministers or other high-ranking economic au thorities from the bank's 48 member countries.

IDB shareholders have underscored the impor tance of rebuilding trust in the institution after ClaverCarone's rocky, nearly twoyear tenure. (Reuters)

they gave him the power that he had.

“And when he realised that he had that kind of power, he became the man, he was the man in charge of everything and he did things that I couldn’t under stand how he did it,” Vidale explained.

Meanwhile, Brent Sancho, the former na tional defender who rose to world fame when his dreadlocks were pulled by lanky English striker Peter Crouch during a clash be tween T&T and England during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, told Guardian Media that not even extra dition would be the ultimate judge for Warner, but rath er when he met his maker.

Quizzed on the assis tance provided by Warner

in increasing the number of teams in the CONCACAF region now going to the World Cup instead of just one, as well as the help ren dered to several players in T&T, Sancho said: “You can look at that, but then you can also look at what the re sidual impact was. Because of some of the stuff that was done, it has now left the situation in tatters. If you start itemising things and try to weigh it up, then the conversation gets very con voluted because, as much as you would say that there were good things that came out, at the same point in time there were some hor rific things that impacted a lot of people, including peo ple like myself.

“But what I would say, though, is that what has

transpired over that period of time has now opened eyes and minds, because within the structures and systems that people put into football, with all the deficiencies and the various things that are wrong and all the things that are good in football.

“One thing for sure, that Jack Warner, not nec essarily as an individu al, but what it has shown is the must for the CFU (Caribbean Football Union) to stick together for the bet terment of football in the Caribbean, and not just for personal gain or anything like that, but for the bet terment of football because when we are not, as we have seen over the past couple of years, you can see a de cline.”

Sancho claimed that his career was cut short by Warner because he asked a question.

The former high-ranking FIFA executive, politician and ex-national security minister under the People’s Partnership government now newspaper publisher and businessman, Warner, 79, lost the challenge to his extradition at the Privy Council last Thursday.

There have been mixed responses to Warner’s pre dicament. (Excerpted from T&T Guardian)

Former vice president of FIFA Jack Warner

Brazil's Central Bank President Ilan Goldfajn

Canada sanctions Haiti’s ex-President Martelly for financing gangs

Canada has sanc

tioned former Haitian President Michel Martelly and two former Prime Ministers for financ ing gangs, Canadian author ities said on Sunday, the lat est in a series of measures targeting alleged backers of Haitian criminal groups.

In September, Haitian gangs created a humani tarian crisis by blocking a fuel terminal for nearly six weeks, halting most eco nomic activity and trigger ing United Nations discus sion of a possible foreign strike force to open the ter minal.

Canada and the United States have sanctioned po litical leaders who allegedly finance the gangs, which ac cording to policy makers are backed by Haitian elites.

"These latest sanctions target a former President of

RegionalHaiti and two former Prime Ministers of Haiti suspect ed of protecting and en abling the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs," the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement, which did not name the individu als.

Radio-Canada Journalist Louis Blouin wrote on Twitter that the sanctions targeted Martelly, as well as former Haitian Prime Ministers Laurent Lamothe and Jean Henry Ceant.

Sebastien Carriere, Canada's Ambassador to Haiti, replied on Twitter with the words "I confirm."

Martelly served as President from 2011 to 2016, taking office in the wake of the devastating 2010 earth quake.

A pop singer who per formed under the stage

name Sweet Micky before be coming President, Martelly was strongly backed by the United States before and during his presidency, and made a living playing shows in South Florida after leav ing office.

He was succeeded by ally Jovenel Moïse, who was as sassinated in 2021.

Ceant served as Prime Minister from 2018 to 2019. Reuters was unable to con tact him or Martelly.

Lamothe, who was Prime Minister from 2012 to 2014, described the announce ment as "the Fakest of Fake news," noting he has public ly sought foreign interven tion to fight gangs.

"Canada cannot pro vide once piece of evidence, because there is none," he wrote in a text message to Reuters. "This is Absurd." (Excerpt from Reuters)

Over 90 guns, more than 2500 rounds of ammo turned in under amnesty – Holness

More than 90 guns and 2500 rounds of ammunition were handed in to the Police during the two-week gun amnesty that ended at mid night Saturday in Jamaica.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the disclosure on Sunday as he addressed the 79th annual conference of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) inside the National Arena.

The Prime Minister said he was surprised by the lev el of response, but acknowl edged that “there are still thousands of illegal guns all across Jamaica”.

“We went out of our way to give the amnesty and to give warnings, they did not heed it. You know the Jamaican saying, if you can’t hear you will feel,” he stated.

On Friday, Holness urged persons possessing illegal firearms to turn them in be fore the amnesty expired. He warned that the full force of the new Firearms Act that took effect in October will be brought to bear on those who possess, use and traffic in firearms. Those found in breach of the new law face between 15 years and life behind bars. He also took a swipe at taxi operators who

withdrew their services last Monday to press their de mand for a traffic ticket amnesty. “We will not bow to any group that seeks to pressure us for causes that are unlawful, disorderly or not in the public’s interest,” Holness declared. He also said the JLP will not accept as normal, the over 1000 murders that take place each year “in a free and democrat ic society” as he urged sup port from the parliamenta ry Opposition for the states of emergency (SOEs) that he declared last Tuesday for seven parishes. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Hebe de Bonafini, the mother who defied Argentina's dictatorship, dies at 93

Hebe de Bonafini, the iconic co-founder of Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and a staunch fighter against the human rights violations committed during the coun try's military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, died on Sunday at the age of 93.

Bonafini became one of Argentina's most famous human rights activists when she and 13 other women be gan searching for their chil dren who were kidnapped by security forces during the dictatorship. She died on Sunday morning, her daugh ter said in a statement.

She lost her two sons during the so-called "Dirty War" in which an estimated 30,000 Opposition activists, academics, and political dis sidents were killed or forc ibly disappeared. Her two sons were never found and are presumed dead.

Lima airport: Truck hit by plane on Peru runway was on planned drill

Afire truck involved in a fatal runway crash at Peru's busiest air port had been doing a preplanned emergency drill, of ficials have said.

Two firefighters died on Friday after the Latam Airlines jet collided with the truck at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima.

No passengers or crew were killed.

Latam's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said the flight had been cleared for takeoff, but the airport has now said a routine drill was be ing carried out by the fire services.

Video posted on social

media shows the plane ca reering down the runway, catching fire and smoking as it ground to a halt.

In a statement on Sunday Lima Airport Partners (LAP) said the firefighting team had made all of the necessary arrange ments to enter the runway as part of an emergency re sponse drill.

It said the control tower confirmed the start time at 15:10h and the impact with the domestic Latam flight happening a minute later.

However, the remarks have been contradicted by the President of the Board of Directors of the Peruvian Corporation of Airports

and Commercial Aviation (Corpac).

Jorge Salinas told local radio the routine had no au thorisation to enter the run way, "There is authorisation to carry out an exercise, but it is outside the areas that currently have transit oper ations," he said.

Twenty passengers re ceived medical attention with two of them thought to be serious, according to Peru's Health Ministry.

Flights were suspended for more than 24 hours at Jorge Chávez International Airport, which is a main hub in South America.

(BBC News)

PAHO Director lauds “unsung heroes” of COVID pandemic

the same time, increased abuse at home”.

Then there were the other heroes like the bus drivers, supermarket staff and others who simply could not stay at home be cause they had to work.

Since their first pro test on April 30, 1977, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a

group identified by the white scarves they wore during weekly marches in capital Buenos Aires, played a cru cial role in defending human rights in the country.

The women's group faced death threats and some were kidnapped and killed themselves.

"They arrested us, they beat us, we came with wigs so they couldn't identify us," Bonafini told Reuters in 2007.

Argentina's Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner lamented Bonafini's pass ing on Twitter and the Government called for three days of national mourning.

"Dearest Hebe, Mother of Plaza de Mayo, you are a world symbol of the fight for Human Rights, and a pride of Argentina," Fernandez de Kirchner wrote. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Dr Carissa Etienne, the newest recipi ent of the Honorary Freedom of Barbados Award, says the “unsung heroes” of the COVID-19 pandemic must not be for gotten, even as countries continue to rebuild.

Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), was bestowed the honour on Sunday morning during the second Humanitarian Awards ceremony at

Kensington Oval.

She pointed to women who had to mother, care for family members and still find food even as they were experiencing increas ing physical and mental abuse at home.

Another vulnerable group was children who were isolated from friends, family and classmates “suffering undetermined and yet quantified mental ill-effects and years of set backs in education, and at

Etienne, who hails from neighbouring island Dominica, and received the Honorary Freedom of Barbados Award “for her leadership team and friendship to Barbados during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic”, had a word for healthcare providers, some of whom were also victims.

“You have served admi rably in one of the worst periods in the history of public health. We cele brate you today. We cel ebrate your resolve your commitment to serve oth ers and your sheer deter mination to get the job done, no matter what,” she said. (Excerpt from Nation News)

At least 1 dead after Cuban migrant vessel capsizes off Florida coast – US Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard on Sunday said it has recovered the body of one person after a vessel carrying Cuban migrants capsized off Florida's Little Torch Key, adding it res cued nine people and was searching for five others.

Survivors told rescuers a total of 19 people were originally on the home made vessel and that four people drowned imme diately after it capsized, Coast Guard spokesperson Nicole Groll said.

Rough seas and winds of 30 miles per hour made an already dangerous voy

age more perilous, she said.

"These vessels are too rustic, they're not going to survive this," Groll said, adding that some of the migrants were wearing life jackets, which helped en sure they could be rescued.

A severe economic down turn in Cuba has driven a massive spike in migration from the Caribbean island. Some migrants attempt to reach Florida on rickety vessels, though most fly to Central America or Mexico and reach the US border by land.

A record 220,000

Cubans were stopped at the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, which ended on September 30, shattering previous records. The vast majority were allowed into the United States to pur sue immigration cases.

Earlier this month, a senior Cuban diplomat said Cuba and the United States were making prog ress in talks aimed at curb ing the migration crisis. The discussions that began in April are the first such conversations on migration in four years after a hiatus under former President Donald Trump. (Reuters)

Hebe de Bonafini, leader of the human rights group Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, speaks during their last 24-hour Resistance March, at Plaza de Mayo, in Buenos Aires, November 30, 2019 (Reuters/Agustin Marcarian)

PAHO Director, Dr Carissa Etienne

Around the World

COP27 delivers climate fund breakthrough at cost of progress on emissions

"Probably. You take a win when you can."

World oil demand topped pre-COVID levels in September

Oil demand worldwide rose in September to exceed the September 2019 pre-COVID levels by nearly 1 million barrels per day (bpd), new data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Thursday.

Global oil demand rose seasonally in September to the second-highest level of this year, according to the JODI data shared by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum (IEF).

In September, global oil demand was at 101 per cent of pre-COVID levels, while crude production was at 99 per cent of those levels, the data showed.

Oil demand in September continued its growth from August when consumption rebounded from July.

After a counter-seasonal drop in July, global oil demand rebounded in August by 2 million bpd to reach 99 per cent of pre-COVID levels, JODI data showed earlier this year.

The rise in September demand was driven by diesel consumption in China and gasoline demand in the United States, said the IEF, the world’s largest international organisation of energy ministers.

While markets tightened in September compared to August, global inventories of crude and refined products climbed counter seasonally by 3.7 million barrels. Yet, global inventories remain 442 million barrels below the five-year average, the IEF said.

Other noteworthy findings for September included a rise in Saudi crude oil exports, which went up by 120,000 bpd to reach a 29-month high of 7.72 million bpd.

In the United States, total product demand jumped by 570,000 bpd in September and was up 1.03 million bpd from year-ago levels. US crude oil production was 1.13 million bpd higher than year-ago levels.

Oil demand in China, the world’s top oil importer, rose by 459,000 bpd in September, but it was still 453,000 bpd below year-ago levels. Chinese crude oil imports increased by 290,000 bpd to 9.82 million bpd. Yet, they were still down by 197,000 bpd in September compared to the same month of last year, according to the JODI data. (Oilprice.com)

Turkey Kurdish strikes: Operation Claw-Sword targets militant bases

Turkey has launched air strikes on Kurdish tar gets in Iraq and Syria, a week after a bombing in Istanbul which it blames on Kurdish militants.

The strikes - dubbed Operation Claw-Sword - hit Kurdish bases which were be ing used to launch attacks on Turkey, the Defence Ministry said.

A Syrian-Kurdish spokes person said two villages pop ulated with internally dis placed people were hit.

The banned Kurdish PKK group denies carrying out the Istanbul attack.

As the air strikes began, the Turkish Defence Ministry tweeted that the "hour of reckoning" had arrived, alongside a picture of a fight er plane taking off and foot age of an explosion.

"Terrorists' shelters, bun

kers, caves, tunnels, and warehouses were successful ly destroyed," said Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar. The Turkish Defence Ministry later said the strikes on Kurdish militant bases in northern Syria and northern Iraq destroyed 89 targets.

Kurdish-led forces in Syria vowed to retaliate and said the city of Kobane was hit as well as two densely populated villages.

Later on Sunday a rock et fired from Syria reported ly injured three people on the border with Turkey, Turkish state media said.

At least 31 people were killed in northern Syria alone, according to the UKbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It is not clear which tar gets were hit in Iraq. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Countries closed this year's UN climate summit on Sunday with a hard-fought deal to create a fund to help poor countries being battered by climate disasters, even as many lamented its lack of ambition in tackling the emissions causing them.

The deal was widely laud ed as a triumph for respond ing to the devastating impact that global warming is al ready having on vulnerable countries. But many coun tries said they felt pressured to give up on tougher com mitments for limiting glob al warming to 1.5 degrees

Delegates - worn out af ter intense, overnight nego tiations - made no objections as Egypt’s COP27 President Sameh Shoukry rattled through the final agenda items and gavelled the deal through.

When asked by Reuters whether the goal of stron ger climate-fighting ambi tion had been compromised for the deal, Mexico's chief climate negotiator Camila Zepeda summed up the mood among exhausted negotia tors.

The deal for a loss and damage fund marked a diplo matic coup for small islands and other vulnerable nations in winning over the 27-na tion European Union and the United States, which had long resisted the idea for fear that such a fund could open

them to legal liability for his toric emissions.

But it likely will be sever al years before the fund ex ists, with the agreement set ting out only a roadmap for resolving lingering questions including who would over see the fun, how the money would be dispersed – and to whom. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Beijing's most popu lous district urged res idents to stay at home today, extending a request from the weekend as the city's COVID-19 case numbers rose, with many businesses shut and schools in the area shifting classes online.

Nationally, new case numbers held steady on Sunday near April peaks as China battles outbreaks in cities across the country, from Zhengzhou in central Henan province to Guangzhou in the south and Chongqing in the southwest.

Still, China is trying to ease the impact of contain ment measures that drag on the economy and frustrate residents fed up with lock downs, quarantine and other disruptions, even as it reiter ates its commitment to its ze ro-COVID approach.

On Sunday, Beijing city officials urged residents of the

sprawling Chaoyang district - home to nearly 3.5 million people as well as embassies and office towers - to remain at home on Monday.

The Chinese capital re ported 621 new infections for Saturday, up from 515 a day earlier. As of 3 pm on Sunday, it added a further 516 new in fections.

Authorities also said an 87-year-old Beijing man be came the nation's first official COVID-19 fatality since May 26, raising China's coronavi rus death toll to 5227.

Many Beijing residents stocked up on food during the weekend, with some delivery services experiencing delays.

Parents at international schools in Chaoyang district were told that classes would be online for the coming week. Hairdressers in neighbouring Dongcheng district were also told to shut. (Excerpt from Reuters)

killed in shooting at gay nightclub in Colorado

least

At least five people were killed and 18 in jured in a shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs in the US state of Colorado, Police said.

“It’s with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we had a shooting at a local club this evening. We got an initial phone call at about 11:57 in the evening [06:57 GMT on Sunday] that there was an active shooting at a local club known as Club Q,” said Colorado Springs Lieutenant Pamela Castro.

The suspect was iden tified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, and Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said on Sunday that he used a “long ri fle” and immediately began shooting after entering the nightclub.

“At least two heroic peo ple inside the club confront ed and fought with the sus pect and were able to stop the suspect from continu ing to kill and harm others,” Vasquez told a press confer

ence.

The suspect was in custo dy and was being treated for injuries, Castro said earlier.

The police were yet to provide information on the motivation behind the at tack.

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Americans “cannot and must not toler ate hate”.

“Places that are sup posed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often. We must drive out the ineq uities that contribute to vio lence against LGBTQI+ peo ple,” he said in a statement from the White House.

In 2016, 50 people were killed, including the assail ant, and at least 53 were injured in an attack inside a gay nightclub in the US state of Florida, authori ties said, in the worst mass shooting in United States history. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nu clear power plant, which is under Russian con trol, was rocked by shelling on Sunday, drawing con demnation from the UN nu clear watchdog which said such attacks risked a major nuclear disaster.

More than a dozen blasts shook Europe's big gest nuclear power plant on Saturday evening and Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Moscow and Kyiv both blamed the other for the shelling of the facil ity.

"The news from our team yesterday and this morn ing is extremely disturb ing," said IAEA head Rafael Grossi. "Explosions occurred at the site of this major nu clear power plant, which is completely unacceptable. Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately. As I have said many times be fore, you're playing with fire!" Citing information pro

vided by plant manage ment, the IAEA team on the ground said there had been damage to some buildings, systems and equipment at the site, but none of them critical for nuclear safety and security so far.

Repeated shelling of the plant in southern Ukraine, which Russia took control of shortly after its February invasion, has raised con cern about the potential for a grave accident just 500 km (300 miles) from the site of the world's worst nuclear ac cident, the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.

The Zaporizhzhia nu clear power plant provid ed about a fifth of Ukraine's electricity before Russia's Feb 24 invasion, and has been forced to operate on back-up generators a num ber of times. The reactors are shut down but there is a risk that nuclear fuel could overheat if the power that drives the cooling sys tems was cut. Shelling has repeatedly cut power lines. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Celsius in order for the land mark deal on the loss and damage fund to go through.

A screen shows COP27 President Sameh Shoukry delivering a statement during the closing plenary at the COP27 climate summit in Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 20, 2022

Residents walk near pandemic prevention workers in protective suits in a locked-down residential compound as outbreaks of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue in Beijing, China, November 18, 2022

Beijing's biggest district urges residents to stay home as COVID cases rise

At

5

Ukraine nuclear plant shelled, UN warns: "You're playing with fire!"

DAILY HOROSCOPES

Look for any opportunity to stretch your dollar. Invest in yourself and your ability to earn more, and manage your savings efficiently. Don't fall prey to im pulse purchases.

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

Consider your position and how you can improve an unfolding situation. A change may seem scary, but sitting still and doing nothing will make you vulner able. Decide what you really want.

Ignore anyone trying to interfere with your plans, and engage in matters that can help you advance. A disciplined attitude will help you gain respect and the assistance you need.

SUDOKU

(May 21-June 20)

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

Read between the lines. Let your in tuition guide you when dealing with youngsters, seniors and loved ones. Be a good listener, and you'll get a clear picture of what you can do to improve things.

Playing emotional games will back fire. Using charm to win favors can work if you don't renege on your promises. Maintaining a stellar reputation will be key to getting what you want.

Make sure you know what's expected of you before you enter negotiations. It's up to you to lay out a feasible plan and sell it. A personal situation will turn out better than anticipated.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Focus on what you are trying to achieve. Learn as you go, and don't stop until you are happy with the results. You will suffer a financial loss if you hesitate or neglect your responsibilities.

What you do will significantly impact what unfolds. Talk is cheap unless you are prepared to follow through with your promises. Look at your budget and ad just whatever is necessary.

(Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

Take advantage of any opportunity that comes your way. Your ability to size up situations and make decisions quick ly will help you stay ahead of any compe tition you encounter.

Do what's right, and don't look back. A change is necessary if you want to maintain balance and equality in your life. Look for opportunities that allow you to grow.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Be cautious with investments, health and contracts. Read the fine print, and don't act in haste. Put more effort into taking care of your responsibilities. Selfimprovement is favored.

Weigh the pros and cons before agree ing to something questionable. Problems will begin with a lack of valid informa tion and continue if you don't question what others do or say.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

ARCHIE PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

DILBERT

India canter to win against New Zealand after Suryakumar's blazing century

Virat Kohli termed it as "another video game innings" on Twitter, and with solid reason: Suryakumar Yadav bashed 111 unbeaten runs out of the team's total of 191, on the way crashing 11 of the 18 boundaries India hit, and seven of their nine sixes, while facing just 51 balls. In a terrific display of creative and fearless T20 hitting typical of him, Suryakumar helped India plunder 72 off the last five overs. This, despite not getting to face a single delivery in the final over, where Tim Southee got a hat-trick.

Hardik Pandya just watched from the other end as Suryakumar toyed with an international bowling line-up which he made look ordinary. And with 192 to get, New Zealand's chase only kept crawling from the start: their powerplay fetched just 32 runs with only three boundaries, laying perhaps the perfect foundation for them to flounder; and at 85 for 3 after 12 overs with Glenn Phillips gone, the required run rate of above 13 an over meant the match was all but decided.

Suryakumar defies logic, the bowling, and everything else

In what is turning out to be a defining year for him – he is already the highest run-getter in T20Is in 2022 – Suryakumar's second T20I century of the year was perhaps different only in that it came in a winning cause.

Suryakumar brought out his trademark scoop for four over the wicketkeeper's head just the fourth ball he faced despite being beaten for two consecutive deliveries before it. Typical T20

France striker Benzema out of World Cup 2022 with thigh injury

France striker Karim Benzema has been ruled out of the World Cup because of a thigh inju ry suffered in training.

Benzema, 34, won the 2022 Ballon d'Or – award ed to the world's best player – after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League and La Liga.

"I am extremely sad for Karim, who made this World Cup a major goal," said Head Coach Didier Deschamps.

"In my life I never give up, but tonight I have to think about the team like I always do," Benzema said.

"So the reason tells me to leave my place to some one who can help our team to make a great World Cup."

The French Football Federation said: "The whole team shares Karim's sad ness and wishes him a speedy recovery." It said an MRI scan confirmed the injury, which requires "a three-week recovery period".

Deschamps told French television network TF1 on Sunday that he would not be naming a replacement for Benzema.

France play Australia on November 22, Denmark on

November 26 and Tunisia on November 30 in Group

D. The 2018 World Cup winners have lost several key players through inju ry. Midfielders Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante were not included in the original 26man squad.

Defender Presnel Kimpembe withdrew on Monday after failing to re cover from a hamstring problem – he was re placed by Axel Disasi –and on Wednesday forward Christopher Nkunku was ruled out after limping out of training. Randal Kolo Muani was called up as a re placement.

Defender Raphael

Varane is aiming to be fit after missing Manchester United's past five matches.

United forward Anthony Martial is an option to re place Benzema, who had been struggling with a thigh problem since October and has played less than half an hour in Real's past six games.

Saturday's was his first full training session since the World Cup squad came together last week.

Deschamps said: "Despite this new setback, I have full confidence in my group. We will do everything to meet the immense chal lenge that awaits us." (BBC Sport)

stuff: swing and a miss, but not bothered about next ball.

Ishan Kishan kept struggling after Rishabh Pant fell for a low score for which he had jostled himself, but Suryakumar knew he had to go only one way, especially with rain in the air. The rest of India's batting scored 69 in as many deliveries – there were 11 extras too in the total – and that told the story of how many miles ahead Suryakumar was of his team-mates.

His first six came off Ish Sodhi, as he fetched a ball from wide outside off only to slog sweep and deposit it over fine leg. Then came the lofts over the off side: Mitchell Santner's first ball of the 11th over was scythed behind point, and Sodhi's first of the 12th was placed to deep extra cover with high elbows.

But Suryakumar had reserved special treatment for Lockie Ferguson: with eight overs to go and India's total still under a hundred, he drove and whipped the fast bowler for four and six, respectively. That was Act 1 of Suryakumar vs Ferguson.

Suryakumar brought up his fifty off 32 balls in the 16th over, and with time running out, got into Southee to start the 17th: a six swung across the line over midwicket, and a whip to the same region for four, albeit helped by a misfield. Two balls later, he adjusted to thrash at a short ball outside off despite making room early.

Runs came from everywhere: inside-out lofts over cover and mid-off, and whips and flicks over fine leg. The platform for Act 2 of Suryakumar vs Ferguson had been laid: 4, 0, 4, 4, 4, 6 in the 19th over. The third boundary brought up his hundred off 49 balls, but three other shots were jaw-dropping: the first four was sliced over short third after opening the bat face very late, the fifth was tickled over the wicketkeeper in spite of the short length and the ball rising close to his shoulder, and the six was flung over short third again as he opened the bat face to a length that seemed too full to

even have a go.

New Zealand limp in big chase

Kane Williamson consumed 52 balls to score 61. It didn't help either that the new ball swung appreciably for India in the powerplay, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissing Finn Allen second ball.

New Zealand's required rate had raced past 11 after the first six overs, after which came the only phase when they seemed like attacking. Williamson and Devon Conway picked 17 off Washington Sundar's first over, before he hit back by dismissing Conway first ball of the ninth for a tame 25 off 22 deliveries.

Phillips crushed his first ball for four and even flung a six off

Yuzvendra Chahal to signal early aggressive intent, but fell for 12 off six balls as Chahal teased him by slowing down pace on the ball in the 10th over.

Not a single boundary was hit between Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, and Mitchell Santner for 33 balls after that six from Phillips, by which time, New Zealand's fate was nearly sealed. They were 111 for 6 after 17 overs, after which Williamson got to his fifty off his 48th delivery.

With the result obvious, Deepak Hooda came on to bowl the penultimate over, and dismissed Sodhi, Southee, and Adam Milne in the space of four deliveries to wrap up a timid day for the hosts. (ESPNcricinfo)

TOTAL 18.5 Ov (RR: 6.69)

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Finn Allen, 0.2 ov), 2-56 (Devon Conway, 8.1 ov), 3-69 (Glenn Phillips, 9.3 ov), 4-88 (Daryl Mitchell, 12.5 ov), 5-89 (James Neesham, 13.3 ov), 6-99 (Mitchell Santner, 15.5 ov), 7-124 (Kane Williamson, 17.5 ov), 8-125 (Ish Sodhi, 18.2 ov), 9-125 (Tim Southee, 18.3 ov), 10-126 (Adam Milne, 18.5 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-0-12-1

Arshdeep Singh 3-0-29-0

Mohammed Siraj 4-1-24-2

Washington Sundar 2-0-24-1

Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-26-2

Deepak Hooda 2.5-0-10-4

Karim Benzema has scored 37 goals in 97 games for France

Qatar beaten by Ecuador in World Cup opener

Hosts Qatar opened the 2022 FIFA World Cup in ca lamitous fashion, easi ly beaten by Ecuador in a humbling defeat at Al Bayt.

Felix Sanchez's men have been together in camp for the last six months to prepare for the tournament and work on tactics, but a nervous and disjointed performance led to a Group A loss.

With Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal and three-time fi nalists the Netherlands to come, this looked like Qatar's easiest game on paper, but they were total ly outplayed.

A dramatic opening to the contest saw Enner Valencia's header from close range ruled out for

offside by the video assis tant referee, but the South Americans did break the deadlock shortly after.

Qatar's erratic goal keeper Saad Al Sheeb brought Valencia down in the box and the ex-West Ham forward stepped up to convert the spot-kick.

It got worse for the hosts as Valencia powered in another header before half-time to leave the Al Bayt Stadium silenced at the break.

Many supporters who had left the stadium at the interval did not return, leaving the ground around half empty for much of the second period.

It contributed to a flat atmosphere both off and on the pitch, with Romario Ibarra's curling shot being pushed out by Al-Sheeb.

Star men Almoez Ali and Captain Hassan Al Haydos were both substi tuted with 20 minutes re maining, and the side was unable to muster a shot on target.

After the controversies and conjecture, a football was finally kicked in the Qatar World Cup, 12 years on from being named as hosts.

On a day that began with real excitement with the opening ceremony, Qatar's dream turned into a nightmare as they be came the first hosts in the competition's history to lose their opening game.

The Asian champi ons, after their tourna ment win back in 2019, of fered no threat in the final third and were unable to test Ecuador goalkeeper

Hernan Galindez once.

South Africa have been the only hosts not to make it out of the group in 2010, but Qatar could follow as the second with two diffi cult games left to play.

Ecuador, meanwhile, have set themselves up in a superb position to prog ress, extending their ex cellent recent form to one defeat in 16 games and keeping a clean sheet in their last seven.

They were clearly the better side and had the ball in the back of the net after 160 seconds, but Valencia's close-range header was ruled for off side by VAR.

There was confusion as to why the goal did not stand, but Felix Torres' initial challenge with the

goalkeeper fell to Michael Estrada in an offside posi tion.

Ecuador were all over Qatar, whose goalkeeper Al Sheeb was particular ly shaky and he brought down Valencia, who coolly rolled in the penalty.

Qatar barely had a sniff and their first shot came in anger when defend er Abdelkarim Hassan strode forward, but his ef fort from range was blazed wildly over.

Star man Ali, who scored nine goals in the Asian Cup triumph, strug gled to get into the game and headed wide, while Pedro Miguel’s header did the same in the second half.

With much of the crowd already leaving to go home,

Verstappen wins, points for Vettel in final race

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc beat the Dutchman’s team-mate Sergio Perez to secure second in the cham pionship.

Leclerc, who was Verstappen’s title rival earlier this year before Ferrari’s season imploded in a flood of errors and re liability failures, held off Perez on divergent strate gies to take second place.

Sebastian Vettel’s final race ended in disappoint ment, the four-time cham pion bemoaning when he felt was a poor strategy from Aston Martin.

Vettel took the final point for 10th place af ter Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes retired from fourth place with three

laps to go.

Hamilton’s result means he has finished a season without a win for the first time in his career – ending a record only he

held.

Verstappen’s win was his 15th of 2022, extending the new record he has set this year for wins in a sin gle season.

He dominated the race and his victory was never in doubt, but the fight be tween Leclerc and Perez made for a tense finish to the race.

Ferrari chose a onestop strategy for Leclerc, the same as Red Bull with Verstappen, while Perez stopped twice.

That left the Mexican to come back from a 23-second deficit in the final 24 laps if he was to beat Leclerc in a fight that would be de cided on whoever finished ahead, as they went into the race tied on points.

Perez closed on the Ferrari at a second or so a lap and more for a while, but Leclerc measured his tyres with skill to cross the line 1.3 seconds ahead.

Many will feel he de serves second in the cham pionship, as he has driv en an outstanding season, winning three races to Perez’s two, and has had an inferior car to Perez for the vast majority of the year. (BBC Sport)

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Akram Afif and substitute Mohammed Muntari both smashed over to bring to an end a disappointing opening evening for Qatar. (BBC Sport)

Qatar fans were very noisy

Enner Valencia (centre right) spent three years at West Ham between 2014 and 2017 – including a loan spell at Everton – before moving to Mexican side Tigres UANL

Formula One driver Max Verstappen has won back-to-back championships

Athletic club engaged by Minister Ramson and former NFL player Willie Gault

– youths, coach get advice on training, other techniques

Athletes of the Running Brave Athletic Club were engaged by Culture, Youth, and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr, former American National Football League (NFL) wide receiver Willie James Gault, and other officials at the synthetic track and field facility, Leonora, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), on Thursday.

Minister Ramson said that the NFL player would be conducting and examining training techniques with the athletes and coaches.

“Just to kind of shape how you are going to be training, what are some of the things you are going to be doing, what you should be doing in the future as well. Because his experience is different from your experience. He has a wealth of knowledge that is going to be important; if you take it, it will help to fasttrack your careers,” the Minister said.

He emphasised that Gault’s vast knowledge and techniques would help to build and develop the athletes into the strongest and fastest versions of

themselves.

“We want to see that Guyana is able to become, really, amongst the best in the world. But you are not going to be able to do it if you are not training with, like, the best. He has very special information, the techniques, the drills, a lot of the science information that you can rely on, and even some of the links that might be important to advancing your careers, ” Ramson Jr pointed out.

Gault told the athletes that dedication, efficiency, proper techniques, and commitment

BCB/Dr Blackman project distributes $1M worth of practice nets to youth teams

were integral in sports. The former NFL player said that the Coach has done well with the athletes and the techniques.

“The Coach has done an amazing job. I was really impressed by their techniques. I just made a couple changes for the original standdown… the running technique was really amazing. I’m quite, quite impressed by what I saw and the athletes are really good and they are training hard.

“I challenge them to actually do their best, work hard, and never look back and say I wish I had tried,” Gault said.

Coach, Sham Johnny noted that the gesture by Minister Ramson for the athletes to be engaged by the former NFL player was extremely heartening.

“You cannot be a leader and you’re not exploring and trying

to improve good governance and who knows Mr Ramson knows that anything he tries to do is always professional…it is really a great gesture for me,” he said.

Several of the athletes expressed their elation to be receiving training from Gault.

Athaleyha Hinckson said, “I am very grateful for the visit. He came and gave us some advice that I can work on to better my starts and my workouts.”

Shaneka Campbell expressed that she chose sports since she was inspired by Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She noted that track and field would help her to develop further. Karese Lloyd highlighted that the coaching session with Gault was fantastic.

She said, “You know, it is always good to have someone

come, so we can have more information. Well, he teaches us on our starts and everything. It is good for somebody from overseas, you know who is a professional, so that he can come and help us to educate us on new and old things that we already know.”

Meanwhile, another athlete, Shaqwuan Nelson, stated, “we are grateful for the knowledge that he gave us and we plan on using it to further our careers and going on the big stage.”

Gault has played in the NFL for 11 seasons for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders. He is considered to be one of the fastest NFL players. Athletics Association of Guyana President Aubrey Hutson and Guyana Boxing Association President Steve Ninvalle were also in attendance. (DPI)

BCB obtains sponsorship for Sir James France Memorial tourney for Berbice River sub-associations

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), as part of its comprehensive countywide youth development programme, handed over practice nets to 20 clubs with junior teams.

The presentation was done under the BCB/Dr Terrence Blackman project during a simple ceremony at the Board's New Amsterdam office on Thursday last.

BCB President Hilbert Foster stated that the main objectives of distributing the nets were to improve the ways that youths train in the afternoon, to allow coaches to do one-on-one sessions with promising youths, and to allow a minimum of two youths to practice at one time. He noted that practice sessions at some clubs were difficult to organise owing to low turnout of members, and the nets being available would correct the situation.

A total of 20 nets valued just under $1 million were distributed to clubs including No 73, Skeldon, Radha Krishna Foundation, Port Mourant, Albion, RHTY&SC, Rose Hall

Canje, Tucber Park, Edinburgh, Mount Sinai, Achievers, Cotton Tree, and Guymine.

Foster noted that Dr Blackman, a US-based Maths Professor, readily agreed to spearhead the project. Dr Blackman handled the financial aspects, and the nets were handed over to the Board for distribution.

The BCB President expressed gratitude to the donor and hailed it as another red day in the history of the Board. The full list of donors are Dr Rajesh Bisnauth, Dr Frank Denbow, Lennox Emmanuel, Danesh Chowrimootoo, Leary Fredericks, Rosalyn Baichoo, Warren Merell, 592 Properties and Construction, Guyana Business Journal and Magazine, and Dr Blackman.

Since 2018, the BCB, under Foster’s leadership, has assisted clubs across the county with a wide range of items, to help fulfil their mandates of producing players of the highest standard.

Among the items were cricket balls on an annual basis; scorebooks; grass cutters; catching cribs and other cricket

gear, including uniforms; COVID protection items; bicycles; water pitchers and educational materials among others.

The BCB President urged the representatives of the clubs to use the nets for the intended purpose and to take proper care of them. Foster stated that the BCB was investing heavily into the development of new talent and urged the clubs to redouble their efforts to attract new members.

After a fruitful discussion with coaches and management of the different clubs, it was decided that the next focus of the BCB would be the construction of an all-weather pitch in each subassociation and the acquisition of several bowling machines.

The all-weather pitches would assist players to continue training during the rainy season and also for coaches to do one-on-one sessions with promising players.

The coaches recommended the bowling machines in an effort to improve the ability of Berbicians to play fast bowling. Foster committed the BCB to fulfilling the requests as soon as possible.

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) as part of its effort to develop cricket in every area in the ancient county has attracted sponsorship to host a 20/20 tournament for teams in the Berbice Riverain communities. The sponsorship was obtained from Professional Engineering and Construction Services along with Charlyn Artigua and Associates Law Office.

BCB President Hilbert Foster stated that he was donated by Nolan France , an engineer who was born in the Riverain area and wanted to contribute to the game development.

Foster expressed delight at the sponsorship, stating that the BCB has now obtained sponsorship for two tournaments in the space of one month for the remote area. The first one is the Dave West Indian Imports 40 overs tournament and the 20/20.

The tournament is sponsored in memory of the late James France, the father of Nolan France.The late James France was an outstanding educator in the Riverain area and was also active in the development of sports. The tournament would be organised by the Berbice River Cricket Association and Floyd Benjamin, a cricket coach

attached to the BCB.

Among the teams expected to play are Kimba, Wiruni, Ebini and Sand Hills.After the round robin matches, the two top teams would travel to the Albion Cricket Ground to play the finals under lights. The winning team and runner up would both receive financial prizes and trophies along with the Man of the Finals.

Mr France who is the owner of Professional Engineering and Construction Services stated that he was very impressed with the work of Berbice cricket and wanted to

play a role in the development of the game in the area where he was born and attended primary school.

He noted that now that he was a very successful professional engineer, he wanted to give other youths in the area an opportunity to fulfill their potential on the cricket field. He stated that his father played a very important role in his educational career and the cricket tournament would be a fitting tribute to him. Mr France also announced that the tournament would be an annual event .

Gault observing athletes at Leonora

Willie James Gault, former American NFL wide receiver

Some of the athletes

Legal Clerk Devya Roopnarine hands over sponsorship to BCB Secretary Angela Haniff in the presence of Hilbert Foster and Nolan France

Representatives of some of the clubs pose with the nets after the presentation

– Board targets bowling machines and concrete pitches in 2023

Athletic club engaged by Minister Ramson and former NFL player Willie Gault