Guyana Times - Saturday, July 30, 2022

600 persons to get free Hepatitis C treatment

P12 Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 5085

THE BEACON OF TRUTH SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

US Congressional Black Caucus applauds President Ali for "visionary leadership" Page 9

…bestows him with Certificate of Congressional Recognition

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

69 new P10 COVID-19 cases recorded …1 in ICU, 615 in home isolation

Court gives P8 1-year suspended sentence to man nabbed with 16g ganja …sets aside previous 3-year jailtime

President Dr Irfaan Ali, along with Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States, Samuel Hinds, shares a photo with the US Congressional Black Caucus. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Congressman Danny Davis from Illinois, and Congressman Meeks at the dinner hosted for the Guyanese President (OP Photo)

Liza Phase 1 producing 10% above design capacity – ExxonMobil Chairman Page 3

…reports $17.9B earnings in second-quarter 2022

Govt negotiating US 17-year-old $2B insurance policy Guyanese with ExxonMobil stabbed to death – AG Nandlall …says Opposition’s motion was “misconceived, flawed” in Suriname See story on page 16

Mason recently released from jail remanded for home P8 break-in

Be vigilant P15 during measuring process of products – GNBS to consumers

Page 2

Challenge to ExxonMobil exploration

Legal challenge to halt greenhouse gas emissions is with Chief Justice for reassignment See story on page 11

Get tested for COVID-19 if you have flu-like symptoms – P15 Health Minister

2 NEWS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Govt negotiating US$2B insurance policy with ExxonMobil – AG Nandlall …says Opposition’s motion was “misconceived, flawed” proposing “full unlimited coverage for oil spills and other disasters related to the petroleum sector”.

Speaking about the motion, which was tabled by Opposition Member of Parliament David Patterson, the Attorney General pointed out that the concept of unlimited insurance can only be a theoretical construct, and does not exist in the real world.

Unpragmatic

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC

T

he Guyana Government is currently negotiating an insurance coverage of up to US$2 billion with ExxonMobil in the case of any oil spill or disaster event offshore, where the United States oil giant and its co-venturers are producing oil and conducting exploration activities.

This is according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall SC, during his

weekly programme – Issues in the News.

“We are currently negotiating with the parent company for a US$2 billion coverage. So that is the framework that we currently have as per the licences,” he disclosed.

This revelation comes on the heels of the National Assembly last week dismissing a motion tabled by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition,

While the motion was eventually thrown out by a majority vote from the Government’s side against it, Nandlall noted that such a proposal is unpragmatic.

“Practicality and pragmatism do not support this concept of an unlimited insurance. The concept is repulsive to reality… No insurance company would issue a policy that has no limit. What is the ceiling?

How much are they going to pay? An insurance policy is grounded in the law of contract; contract, by its very nature, must be precise. It must have terms and conditions that are precise, so

that people can know what they are agreeing to. Who will agree to a contract that has limitless liability?

Which insurance company will agree to a contract that has no ceiling on the limit?” he argued.

Misconceived and flawed

According to the Attorney General, even if such a concept existed, it still would not have worked, since insurance policies are based on a value attached to what is being insured.

“It doesn’t make sense, but this guy puts in a motion and then argues on it…

So, the entire concept of his motion, the entire basis of his motion, was misconceived and flawed,” he contended.

The Legal Affairs Minister further called out the Opposition for pushing the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government on this issue, when they failed to include insurance conditions on the Liza Phase 1 Permit – something the current administration has since fixed.

“From 2017 to 2019, the Liza 1 Permit did not have any insurance policy. They issued Liza 1 Permit and they did not put any insurance at all. But he comes to our Government now and he wants limitless insurance, he wants unlimited insurance… So, the Liza 1 that they issued had no insurance whatsoever, we amended Liza 1 and we put insurance. We also put insurance on Liza 2, and we put insurance also in Yellowtail,” Nandlall posited.

These insurance clauses each include a policy of US$600 million per event.

That means that if an event is to occur today, and another tomorrow, then each event will have a US$600 million coverage.

Moreover, during the negotiations of the policy for the Yellowtail Permit, there was an agreement that was put forward to limit the liability to certain areas of damage. However, he disclosed that this was rejected by the PPP/C Administration.

Employing the causation

principle in the law of negligence and the principle of polluter pays, the Minister explained, the insurance policy applied would run wherever the damage flows.

According to AG Nandlall, this may not be perfect insurance scheme or policy, but it is far better than what the Coalition did, which is nothing.

In fact, he noted that all the APNU/AFC regime did was create the framework for the type of insurance that can be applied in the oil contract.

“What Mr Patterson doesn’t understand is that the contract…has a clause in it that speaks to insurance, and regulates the issues of insurance between the parties. And the four corners of that clause in that contract is what [is] governing the insurance in relation to that sector, at least the operators who have signed that contract.

You can’t come outside the four corners of that clause, and they signed that contract in 2016,” the Attorney General outlined. (G8)

NEWS

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SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS OPENINGS BRIDGE

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

Saturday, July 30 – 03:30h – 05:00h and Sunday, July 31 – 04:00h – 05:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Saturday, July 30 – 05:00h – 06:30h and Sunday, July 31 – 05:30h – 07:00h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

There will be light rain showers and thundery showers during the day. Expect thundery showers and partly cloudy skies at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: South-Westerly to West South-Westerly between 1.78 metres and 3.12 metres.

High Tide: 17:50h reaching a maximum height of 2.48 metres.

Low Tide: 11:25h and 23:37h reaching minimum heights of 0.64 metre and 0.72 metre.

Liza Phase 1 producing 10% above design capacity – ExxonMobil Chairman …reports $17.9B earnings in second-quarter 2022

U

nited States oil major ExxonMobil has increased its production capacity offshore Guyana to more than 340,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day, and this has been credited to the ramping up of operations at the Liza Phase 2 Project, which was started earlier this year, and the Liza Phase 1 Project, now producing above design capacity in the Stabroek Block.

This was revealed

by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Friday. It was noted that

Liza Destiny FPSO

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

COMMODITIES Indicators

US$

Change %

Crude Oil

$107.14/barrel

+0.49

Rough Rice

$304.07/ton

-0.75

London Sugar

$526.90/ton

-0.88

Live Spot Gold

USD Per Ounce

Bid/Ask

$1766.50

$1767.50

Low/High Change

$1752.30 0.00

$1769.20 0.00

Liza Phase 1 is demonstrating excellent performance, producing more than 10 per cent above design capacity.

“In Guyana, our total capacity is now more than 340,000 oil equivalent barrels per day. Our Liza Phase 1 development is producing above design capacity with excellent performance. Liza Phase 2 started production earlier this year, and has recently reached the design capacity of 220,000 barrels per day,” Woods stated.

With this, the US oil major is now producing more than the 340,000 bpd target it had originally set for its Guyana operations by the end of 2022. Liza Phase Two started production back in February with the Liza Unity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

On the other hand, Liza Phase 1 has a design capacity of 120,000 bpd with the Liza Destiny FPSO vessel.

However, during the second-quarter, it reached a new production capacity of more than 140,000 barrels of oil per day following production optimisation work on the FPSO. Previously, the oil major had encountered repeated technical issues with the flash gas compressor on the Liza Destiny FPSO, which had caused increased flaring and resulted in Exxon having to pay more than US$10 million in fines to the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

However, the oil company has since installed a new flash gas compressor on the vessel, and flaring has been reduced to pilot levels.

“I’m really happy to say that we met our expectation of delivering, installing, and starting it up in July.

And we’ve achieved background flare now on Liza Destiny. It’s a remarkable accomplishment by quite a lot of people over a journey that has been challenging but relentlessly pursuing the background flare target, and really happy to say we’ve achieved that.

“The operation on Liza

ExxonMobil Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Darren Woods

Destiny has been going smoothly, very safe operation. We’ve gone over a thousand days now without a recordable incident, which is really world class performance. And we should be really proud of all the Guyanese working on Liza Destiny,” said Mike Ryan, the Production Manager of Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) – ExxonMobil’s local affiliate in Guyana.

Nevertheless, asked about Liza Phase 1 producing above capacity during Friday’s earnings call, the

ExxonMobil Chairman posited that this is reflective of the oil major focusing on “de-bottlenecking and optimising” new projects to take them above production capacity.

“I think the way we organised our technology and engineering now, where we can leverage the learnings and capabilities and competencies of every part of the organisation on any one particular asset, is a huge, huge competitive leverage,” he stressed.

TURN TO PAGE 7

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guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Women T

he issue of women and their role in development has always been a topic of interest, not only in Guyana, but in countries around the world. The debates have centred around the challenges women face in getting access to the same opportunities as men, and, in a general sense, programmes and policies that could be implemented to ensure their economic and social advancement.

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

We believe that when women are allowed to develop their full potential, it is not only women who gain, but the entire society. Women make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home.

According to the United Nations, investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication, and inclusive economic growth.

Here, in Guyana, women have made tremendous progress at every level of the society, and they enjoy equal rights as their male counterparts. This country deserves commendation for the advances it has made in ensuring that, in addition to women being protected under the law, they are also given the relevant opportunities for their personal and professional advancement.

However, there is still a far way to go before we can safely say that women have access to the resources and opportunities they need to fully develop themselves. For example, our single parent mothers have, over the years, found it very difficult to make ends meet. Many of them have found themselves in a position where they work from month to month and there seems to be no end to the financial hardships they experience.

In some cases, they lack the necessary skills and qualifications required to get suitable, well-paid jobs so that they can earn enough to provide for themselves and their children.

For some who would like to venture out into establishing their own small businesses etc, the strict criteria set by banks and other lending institutions make it difficult to access the necessary loans. There are a few institutions which give grants and other forms of support, but they are on a limited scale, and most of them are Georgetown-based, making it a bit difficult for rural women to have easy access.

There is also the issue of the high level of domestic violence affecting countless families, with women being at the receiving end of the violence most times. There were numerous dialogues with the involvement of the relevant stakeholders to tackle the issue, but the number of cases of women being abused or killed is yet going up. We believe that the policy-makers should revisit the issue and come up with practical solutions to address this scourge in a holistic manner, with greater focus being placed on the root causes of the problem.

The COVID-19 pandemic had also worsened the situation, as it continues to have serious socio-economic repercussions on the lives of women. As a consequence of the partial lockdown, significant sections of the female working population are now unemployed, or are receiving reduced pay, including single parents.

The Human Services and Social Security Ministry has started funding projects for cottage industries led by women, so that they can secure their livelihoods. The Ministry had said that in addition to other measures, funding for cottage industries is among long term measures to be implemented against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Labour Ministry, though its Board of Industrial Training (BIT), also offers support to women.

Certainly, the economic and social advancement of all women, including those in hinterland and rural communities, should remain a priority for this Government.

In observance of Emancipation Day 2022, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony joined staff of the Ministry in a display of beautiful African cultural pieces (Health Ministry photo)

Children can’t avoid viral stories about war and climate crisis – but we can help them

By Louis Weinstock

I

n January 2020, the photographer Brad Fleet posted a photo of a baby kangaroo burned to death against a barbed wire fence, after a thwarted attempt to escape the Australian bushfires. You may remember the picture: the charred remains of the joey’s arms wrapped around the fence, its head poking through a gap, clenched teeth standing out pale white against the grey body and post-apocalyptic backdrop.

The photo went viral, spreading like wildfire through people’s devices and into their nervous systems, causing them anxiety and distress about an event a world away. In my child psychotherapy practice, I’m seeing ever more children struggling to manage their feelings in the wake of viral news events, such as the murder of George Floyd in the US, the murder of Sarah Everard in the UK, school shootings, some of the shocking images around climate breakdown, and now a war.

Horrific, violent and apocalyptic scenarios are nothing new to the human species, but they seem especially concrete and immediate to us today. We can see and feel that the Earth is heating up. The recent images of wildfires raging across southern Europe (and wildfires even in London) need little interpretation. We also have this thing called the internet, which binds our nervous system to the nervous systems of the other eight billion people on our planet. Proximity to a disaster is no longer a solid predictor of psychological impact.

The authors of a neuroscience study on post-traumatic stress said that they found “the flood of images on TV and social media can have a powerful psychological im-

pact on children – whether those children are physically in the line of danger or watching from thousands of miles away”.

How can we speak to our children about such uncomfortable truths while helping them to stay grounded?

The place to start, of course, is with ourselves. Children need congruence from the grownups around them.

Like the red-faced, stressedout teacher who shouts at the children in their class to “calm down!”, it doesn’t work when we try to impose on our children a quality we haven’t accessed within ourselves.

The first and most obvious step is to unplug. There is a part of us that compulsively consumes bad news.

It helps just to acknowledge that there is a part of you that is addicted to the stress and drama of world events, which believes that if you can stay right on top of the news you can keep you and your family safe. Then you can remind yourself (with kindness) that you aren’t helping anyone, and definitely not helping your kids, by constantly consuming disaster news.

Once we are more frequently unplugged we can make a space to process the difficult and uncomfortable feelings that come up around these issues. As the world continues to heat up, our children really need us to develop this capacity to be with uncomfortable truths.

After all, as the African American writer and activist James Baldwin wrote: “One can only face in others what one can face in oneself … This energy is all that one finds in the rubble of vanished civilizations, and the only hope for ours.”

What makes a truth “uncomfortable”? It’s not the bare facts of the story, but the feelings associated with those facts that we find un-

comfortable – often the grief, the shame, the loneliness, the terror. As grownups, when we haven’t learned to bear these feelings we can project them on to our kids.

We may worry that if they see us crying or looking terrified they will crumble. So we come up with comforting lies. We tell them everything is going to be OK. But our kids detect such incongruence. Whether they read the news or not, they are sensitive to the world around them. One of the primary ways a human being assesses whether we are safe is via other people, especially their faces and voices.

I recently spoke to a woman who grew up in Baghdad during the first Gulf war.

She told me that the biggest trauma for her was not related to personal safety or fear of bombs – it was seeing the fear on her parent’s faces while they tried to reassure her that everything was fine.

A simple practice to deal with uncomfortable truths is to think about an issue in the world that feels uncomfortable for you, gently bring your attention into your body and find the place where the uncomfortable feeling beneath this truth is most alive. Put a nurturing hand on that place, let the feeling know it’s OK for it to be there. This can bring a surprising sense of peace.

I have also found this mantra to be very important and effective in this mad, threat-signalling world: “In this moment, I am safe.”

You can use the same practice with your children, but it only works if you have practised it yourself first. In my experience, children are much better at handling uncomfortable truths than we give them credit for. Trust your child’s capacity a little bit more. Normalise and validate what they are feeling.

Let them ask as many ques-

tions as they need to. Don’t sugarcoat the answers. And it’s OK to say: “I don’t know.”

Of course, what we tell our children should depend on their age and the situation. I wouldn’t want my four-yearold daughter to know the gruesome details of a school shooting. But I do talk to her openly in a language she can understand about death, the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine. I keep the conversations focused on the feelings: “It feels really sad to me that people die in a war.”

I want to help the child to express their own feelings about the situation. It’s important they know that you have feelings about this situation too, and that these feelings are normal and bearable. They give us vital information about the world. We underestimate how much children take their cues from us on what is OK and not OK, what is safe to express and not express. If your child is of an age where they are more online, on social media, and more exposed to viral news events, then it becomes vital that you help them – and yourself – to unplug from the digital nervous system.

We need time and space to process all the suffering going on in the world. We also need to bring balance by actively looking for the good – not dramatic, save-theworld type of actions, but small moments like someone holding the door open, or thanking the bus driver, or a smile from a passerby.

We don’t want to live in denial about the tragedies of this world, but we also don’t want our kids to drown in them. (The Guardian) (Louis Weinstock is a child and family psychotherapist, the co-founder of the charity Apart of Me, and the author of the book How The World Is Making Our Children Mad And What To Do About It)

guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

5

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

Maintaining neutral position in geopolitics of our planet Dear Editor, Our position in the Guiana Shield, and the planetary services we currently provide free of charge to help maintain a healthy planet make it necessary for Guyana to maintain a neutral position in the geopolitics of our planet. This becomes more important as we seek funding or payment to maintain this service for the benefit of all nations on our planet.

His Excellency was recently asked about our relationship with China and Venezuela, during his visit to the USA. Those who provide us funding do expect that, as we take financial support from them, our position would become unquestionable when it comes to conflicts within our region.

Our funding comes, and will continue to come, from all corners of the planet, especially when maintaining “the lungs of the planet” is involved.

However, it is important to note that, as a nation that embraces the beauty of freedom for its people, we stand on the side of democracy and the principles upon which the free world is founded.

We are also a country that

works with others who may have different ways of developing their societies. This is not only by choice, but also by necessity, as we are a nation made up of a very diverse population.

As a previous colony of Spain, and as a country that has a significant Chinese population, one of whom was our first President, our ties run deep, and are historical.

We have enjoyed peaceful and friendly diplomatic relationships with many nations for many years, during both times of peace and conflict. This has provided us with unique opportunities to work between countries that have historically differed in their development approach to nation-building.

The current geopolitical atmosphere is becoming more complex, and the potential for conflict is increasing.

However, Guyana continues to, and must, maintain its neutral geopolitical position in order to help preserve peace in the region. As a country whose history is socialist and is currently undergoing a transition, our relationships with Russia and Cuba are also healthy and mutually beneficial. One

of our previous Presidents has been trained in Russia, and our health infrastructure has been supported by our friends in Cuba when our country underwent economic embargoes similar to what Venezuela is currently undergoing.

Our relationship with the USA is also very strong, and the USA took in a large percent of our intellectuals during the economic embargoes. This has led to a substantial population of Guyanese being in the USA, and as His Excellency mentioned during his visit, we now have a place in New York called Little Guyana.

Some have argued that, in return for our intellectuals, we have received criminal deportees.

The USA can continue to strengthen its alliance with us by helping us to put in place a stronger system to manage the criminals that have been sent back to Guyana.

The complexity of our diplomatic relationships can be misleading to some, but with a clear communication strategy and consistency in our neutral but principled approach to supporting our allies where the opportuni-

ty for peace is maintained, we, as a country, can ensure that Guyana continues to be a destination where both formal and informal peaceful discussions can be had among those of differing nation-building approaches.

In addition, our religious make-up is reflective of that of the planet, and with this added diversity, we have had opportunities to nurture mutually beneficial relationships around the world.

Some of our partners may not have the best relationships among themselves, but Guyana continues to be that oasis of neutrality that allows for peaceful discourse and fruitful business relationships to occur. As we continue to develop our nation, there will be many opportunities to fund projects and invite participants from the four corners of our planet. By ensuring that our country's position reflects the principles of establishing and maintaining strong diplomatic ties that are rooted in peaceful neutrality, our nation would be able to continue to develop upon a more sustainable path.

Best regards, Jamil Changlee

More oversight needed for Govt’s relief assistance programmes Dear Editor, This Government has been spending enormous sums of money to fill the pockets of the small man and provide a catalyst for economic progress. This is most commendable.

Notwithstanding, there has been enormous dissatisfaction and vociferous condemnation from the very people who are supposed to be beneficiaries, and from the general public.

With good intentions, the Government rolled out the flood relief, which saw billions of dollars being spent; but many persons have complained that those who deserved the money and are farmers did not get the relief, while many who had planted nothing received the relief. It has been alleged that friends and cronies of lower-tier officials of the PPP benefited more than others.

This was aired ad nauseam by Dr Ramayya on his programme ‘Issues of the People’, and he blamed the people who were tasked with investigating and submitting the names of affected persons. Earlier, this

same scenario was played out with the COVID-19 Relief cash grant. The Distribution of Hampers also suffered the same fate, as did the Cash Grant to Fisherfolks. More cash relief, more dissatisfaction, what an irony.

Currently, the Government is rolling out its Part-Time Job Programme, which should have brought immediate relief to 10,000 unemployed persons. The form clearly states that unemployed persons between the ages of 18 and 55 are the intended beneficiaries, but many persons currently employed in the Programme should not qualify, based on the criteria for employment.

Many employed in entities such as GuySuCo are now part-time workers; and there are some who are employed elsewhere while their wives are employed on the Programme. And some of them employed on the Programme are pensioners, over the age of sixty.

Many unemployed persons are cast aside in favour of friends and cronies, and to make matters worse, many part-time work-

ers barely work one or two hours per day for the tenday period. The working period should be 10 days at 8 hours per day, or a total of 80 hours per month.

Many of these persons are poorly supervised, and some do not turn up for work but are marked present; this means they will be paid. This is the biggest fraud to date, and will cost the Government hundreds of millions per month.

This Government should have employed qualified people independent of politics to implement and oversee these programmes; only then would these initiatives be free from controversies and condemnations. The Ministry of Finance should have been involved, and not be involved only in making payments.

Yours sincerely, Narendra Lall

GOGEC should know that efforts to assist workers are long overdue Dear Editor, I wish to express what I and many workers in the oil and gas sector feel. On the news, I saw the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) saying we should not seek to bring in other unions into Guyana to help workers in the oil and gas industry.

This is a strange position, as many local companies have teamed up with foreign companies to develop businesses in the sector; so how could it be right on one hand and wrong on the other? I am confused.

I also saw the Chamber is saying that industrial relations practices are good in the sector. As an

employee within one of the companies of the sector, I can say those practices are far from good. Some of us have got to have two jobs to make ends meet; some of us do not get overtime, or many other things; so how can things be good? Is it good because the owners are not paying us right and treating us right?

I believe that efforts to assist workers are long overdue; we have been suffering in silence for too long. I and many of my colleagues cannot wait to hear more.

Yours faithfully, J Thompson

Strong message needs to be sent Dear Editor, Shouldn't the 'romantic bandit' be charged for pretending to be a man? Isn't that sexual impersonation - a criminal offence?

While the matter has been dropped, as full repayment has been made, the fact still remains that a crime was knowingly committed. At the very minimum, the 'bandit' should

have been made to do some form of community service as a way of seeking pardon from society.

A strong message needs to be sent to persons bent on committing this type of crime. As for the victim, as the saying goes, a fool and her money are soon parted.

Sincerely, Shamshun Mohamed

Saturday, July 30, 2022

06:00 06:30 07:00 07:48 08:00 09:00 10:30 13:30 15:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30 22:25 00:00

(Sign on) Inspirational Time Cartoons Evening News (RB) Congressional Black Caucus hosts President Dr Irfaan Ali for dinner R/B Stop Suffering Movie - Despicable Me 3 (2017) Indian Movie - Jersey (2022) Movie - Rescued by Ruby (2022) Movie - Savannah (2013) Payless Power Hour Evangelistic Hour Hepzibah The Evening News Islam for Guyana Movie - Catching Faith (2015) Movie - Last Seen Alive (2022) Sign off

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SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

Page

Foundation ◄

Dividing fractions by whole numbers To divide a fraction by a whole number, multiply the denominator of the fraction by the whole number.

A

lthough not inventing in the strictest sense, this activity is a wonderful way to reinforce the scientific process and strategies for problem-solving as students experiment with silly putty recipes.

Materials White school glue Liquid laundry starch (one 32 oz bottle or smaller) Measuring spoons of different sizes to share Cups and stirrers Food colouring (optional) How Silly Putty was invented In the 1940s during WWII, the United States Government needed more rubber for airplane tyres, soldiers’ boots and other uses. Unfortunately, there was not enough natural rubber (the kind

that comes from the rubber tree) available, so someone needed to invent a synthetic (or human-made) rubber.

Silicon was a substance found in sand that was believed to be appropriate for making this synthetic rubber.

Since there is a lot of sand (and therefore silicon) available, the Government asked several large companies to have their engineers try to make a rubber substitute.

CONTINUED FROM FRIDAY

Exercises: Multiply

Jorinda was just singing, 'The ring-dove sang from the willow spray, Well-a-day! Well-a-day!

He mourn'd for the fate of his darling mate, Well-a-day!' when her song stopped suddenly.

Jorindel turned to see the reason, andbeheld his Jorinda changed into a nightingale, so that her song endedwith a mournful /jug, jug/.

An owl with fiery eyes flew three timesround them, and three times screamed: 'Tu whu! Tu whu! Tu whu!'

Jorindel could not move; he stood fixed as a stone, and could neither weep, nor speak, nor stir hand or foot.

And now the sun went quite down; the gloomy night came; the owl flew into a bush; and a moment after the old fairy came forth pale and meagre,

By

the

Experimenting One day James Wright, an engineer at General Electric, was doing tests with silicon oil. He tried adding a chemical called boric acid and came up with a useless gooey substance that bounced, so he had to start over!

Five years later, in 1949, a man named Peter Hodgson thought of an idea for this useless goo. Through his own experimenting, he

thought this goo would make a great toy. So he borrowed US$147, encased the goo in plastic “eggs” and called it “Silly Putty”. It was first sold to adults and then several years later to children.

Through many adults and children playing with (and testing!) Silly Putty over the years, it has come to have a variety of uses. Can you name any? Maybe you could create a new use for Silly Putty.

Do you think you could make a Silly Putty through your own testing. Sure you can!

Just like Peter Hodgson, we have the basic ingredients needed and have played with this substance before, most likely. Now all we need to do is conduct some tests with the ingredients.

Experiment using the glue and starch.

Brothers Grimm

with staring eyes, and a nose and chin that almost met one another.

She mumbled something to herself, seized the nightingale, and went away with it in her hand. Poor Jorindel saw the nightingale was gone—but what could he do? He could not speak, he could not move from the spot where he stood. At last the fairy came back and sang with a hoarse voice: 'Till the prisoner is fast, And her doom is cast, There stay! Oh, stay!

When the charm is around her, And the spell has bound her, Hie away! away!'

On a sudden Jorindel found himself free. Then he fell on his knees before the fairy, and prayed her to give him back his dear Jorinda: but she laughed at him, and said he

should never see her again; then she went her way.

He prayed, he wept, he sorrowed, but all in vain. ‘Alas!’ he said, ‘what will become of me?’ He could not go back to his own home, so he went to a strange village, and employed himself in keeping sheep. Manya time did he walk round and round as near to the hated castle as he dared go, but all in vain; he heard or saw nothing of Jorinda.

At last he dreamt one night that he found a beautiful purple flower, and that in the middle of it lay a costly pearl; and he dreamt that he plucked the flower, and went with it in his hand into the castle, and that everything he touched with it was disenchanted, and that there he found his Jorinda again.

WORD SEARCH

NEWS

7

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

PSC lauds President Ali for focusing on Private Sector development during US visit

T

he Private Sector Commission (PSC) has commended President Dr Irfaan Ali for placing emphasis on Private Sector development during his visit to the United States, where he has been engaging in several high-level meetings with US officials in Washington DC. In a statement on Friday, the PSC lauded the Head of State for focusing attention in his meeting with the US Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Don Graves, on Private Sector development in Guyana.

“The Private Sector is pleased to note that the US Deputy Secretary of Commerce, in his meeting with President Ali, pledged support for, and committed to working with, Guyana in the areas of banking, finance and tourism, as well as facilitating US Private Sector investment in Guyana,” the

Commission said in the missive.

President Ali and Deputy Secretary Graves met on Monday, and had fruitful discussions. While the US official committed support to the Government of Guyana in a number of areas, the Head of State also committed to working closely with the Department of Commerce and other US agencies to facilitate US Private Sector investment in Guyana.

“We have been discussing many matters of mutual interest, and areas which we can strengthen and expand our relationship. The goal of this week is to bring harmonisation between the plans and programmes of Guyana and the aspirations of the US, both at the Government and Private Sector level. We cannot have a partnership unless the two countries have a fulsome

understanding of the developmental priorities, challenges and opportunities,” President Ali had stated.

Meanwhile, the PSC, in its statement, also said it is particularly encouraged by the agreement entered into by the Guyana Government with the US EXIM Bank to facilitate financing, including direct loans and medium and long term guarantees for financing US exports for the Government of Guyana’s development projects.

“The Private Sector Commission stands ready to utilise this financing for its participation in our country’s project development in partnership with the US Private Sector,” the PSC stated.

On Wednesday, a $2 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Guyana and the US EXIM Bank, and according to the Guyanese

Liza Phase 1 producing...

Woods went on to laud the progress and the rapid development of operations offshore Guyana.

“I think it illustrates one of the advantages of a consistency of approach and just moving from one development to the other. We started off with Liza 1 with a smaller concept to get started, and recognised that we would build on that and extend on the design that we had. So, we had a concept of ‘design one, build many’.

“Obviously as our discoveries mature and we get a better understanding of the reservoir and the development opportunities there, we would adjust those designs. So, I think it’s a function of really the development plan that we put in place and the right project to most efficiently develop those resources, and that will change as we move around that block with the different structures and resources,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, the ExxonMobil Chairman also announced on Friday an estimated second-quarter 2022 earnings of some US$17.6 billion and cash

flow from operating activities of US$20 billion.

Woods explained that the majority of the growth came from the oil major’s advantaged investments in Guyana and the Permian, which produced higher volumes during the quarter.

He further mentioned Exxon’s two latest discoveries in Guyana during the second quarter, which add to the estimated recoverable resource base, which is nearly 11 billion barrels.

The discoveries at Seabob and Kiru-Kiru are the sixth and seventh in Guyana this year, with the total number of discoveries offshore Guyana at more than 30 since 2015.

Earlier this week, ExxonMobil and its partners said they continue to accelerate exploration, development and production activities for the benefit of all stakeholders, including the people of Guyana.

According to Exxon, their 2022 investment plans include further exploration drilling and resource development in Guyana, where it is already increasing production at an accelerated industry-leading pace.

FROM PAGE 3

The oil rich Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres).

Exxon, through subsidiary EEPGL, is the operator, and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

So far, Exxon’s investments in Guyana total Gy$1.3 trillion on its own and over Gy$3 trillion with its partners. ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027.

In addition to the two Liza operations, the oil major’s third project – the Payara Development – will utilise the Prosperity FPSO with an expected capacity of 220,000 bpd, with first production expected in late 2023. The fourth development, Yellowtail, was sanctioned in April and will utilise the ‘One Guyana’ FPSO with an expected capacity of approximately 250,000 bpd, with first production slated for 2025. (G8)

President Dr Irfaan Ali with US Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Don Graves

Leader, this funding will go a long way towards aiding Guyana to be a leader in the areas of climate change and food security.

“The areas that were identified shows the broad, multi-faceted nature of the leadership of EXIM Bank.

Anyone looking out on Guyana now narrowly focus on oil and gas at their own detriment, because the country has significant other distinct advantages in becoming the leader on climate change and environmental and biodiversity services for food security and agriculture — critical infrastructural links that can unlock tremendous potential for the vast array of natural resources we have,” the President had stated.

President Ali led a team of Government officials to the US Capital this week, and has been engaging senior US Leaders on collabo-

ration in a number of areas, including climate change, environment, sustainable development, food security, energy, and a host of others.

Accompanying the Head of State on this visit are: Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd, and Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud. They are joined

by Guyana’s Ambassador to the US, Samuel Hinds, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Guyana Embassy in Washington, Zulfikar Ally, during these meetings.

Over the past week, President Ali has been meeting with top US officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to advance bilateral relations between the two countries.

During Wednesday’s teleconference with VP Harris,

the discussions held were beneficial, not only to the two countries, but to the entire Caribbean Community (Caricom) region.

“This conversation with the Vice President and President started at the Summit of the Americas. It has advanced rapidly. So, I will say that our conversation today was refreshing. It was beneficial both to Guyana and the US and Caricom. It confronted the big issues, it was very frank and open, very respectful; and it outlines the vision and supports the vision that I’ve been talking about,” President Ali said about his discourse with the US Vice President.

In a social media post after the engagement, VP Harris said discussions were held on cooperation in the areas of energy and food security, among other issues.

8 NEWS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Court gives 1-year suspended sentence to man nabbed with 16g ganja …sets aside previous 3-year jailtime

T

he Demerara Full Court has set aside the three-year prison sentence imposed on 21-year-old Shem Winter who was nabbed with 16 grammes of marijuana in his community of Tabatinga, Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) on November 27, 2021.

Finding that the sentence was unduly harsh, the Bench of Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, and Justice Sandil Kissoon on Friday allowed Winter’s appeal, and instead imposed on him a one-year suspended sentence.

A suspended sentence is a legal arrangement in which a person who has been found guilty of a crime is not sentenced to jail, but may be sentenced for that crime at a future time if he or she commits another crime during a specified period.

In November of last year, Winter and his accomplice, 29-year-old Lester ‘Monkey’ George, were arraigned at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court on narcotics-related charges.

Winter, who plead-

ed guilty to trafficking 16 grammes of marijuana, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and fined $10,000, while George was given three months of community service and a $5,000 fine for having five grammes of the illegal substance. The sentences were imposed by Magistrate Alan Wilson.

Police Headquarters had reported that Winter and George were arrested on November 27, 2021 after a total of 21 grammes of cannabis sativa were found in their possession. Police ranks acting on information intercepted the duo in a motorcar at Tabatinga Village, and Police found two Ziploc bags in George’s pocket and a bulky, transparent plastic bag in Winter’s crotch.

After Winter was sentenced, his lawyer Jerome Khan appealed Magistrate Wilson’s decision on the ground that the sentence was unduly harsh. Counsel argued that his client, who was unrepresented in the lower court, had pleaded guilty and claimed that he had the drug for his personal use.

Freedom…

W

Shem Winter (left) and his Attorney-at-Law Jerome Khan

Attorney Jerome Khan further argued that the Magistrate, in passing the sentence, had failed to apply Section 73(b) of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act, which has provisions to consider special reasons in determining a sentence.

According to Khan, Winter is gainfully em-

ployed, and was never caught in any commercial transaction selling the narcotic.

In allowing the appeal against the sentence, the Full Court agreed with the grounds advanced by Khan, and therefore imposed the suspended sentence on Winter. (G1)

Mason recently released from jail remanded for home break-in

D

equan Parris, a 19-year-old mason of Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown, has been remanded to prison for the offence of break and enter and larceny, allegedly committed on the home of Adrian Walker on July 19.

The young man was arraigned in Senior Magistrate Leron Daly’s court at the Georgetown Magistrates Courts on Friday, and was not required to plead to the indictable charge, particu-

lars of which stated that on July 19, while in the company of others, he broke into the home of Adrian Walker and stole a laptop, two mobile phones, a PlayStation, and other items to the total value of $440,000.

The court was told that, on the day in question, Parris and other persons broke into Walker’s home at Laing Avenue, Georgetown and stole the items mentioned in the charge. Walker was at work at the time, but

Remanded: Dequan Parris

upon returning home, he discovered his home ransacked and noticed that the aforementioned items were missing. As such, he reported the matter to the Ruimveldt Police Station.

Police Prosecutor Christopher Morris has

said that one of the victim’s phones was found on Parris’s uncle. The man told Police that he purchased the device from his nephew, and was not aware that it had been stolen.

The prosecutor said that Parris, under caution, admitted to committing the crime, and also identified his accomplices.

The prosecutor has objected to the accused being granted bail on the ground that he was recently released from prison, after serving a one-year sentence for a similar offence.

Magistrate Daly has remanded Parris to prison until September 1. (G1)

…in the air

ell, the countdown has begun; the countdown to Emancipation Day, in case you’ve been on Mars over the last month, and missed all the events signalling the blessed event that occurred on August 1, 1838. A lot of folks are still confused about the year we should start counting from as to when it all started. First, there was the “Slavery Abolition Act (1833), which Britain passed to abolish slavery in its colonies. This received Royal Assent on August 28, 1833 - but to take effect on August 1, 1834!

So, you’d think it’s a no-brainer to say slavery was abolished on Aug 1, 1834, no?? NO!! Damon over in Essequibo thought so, and for acting upon that assumption, he was hanged. What happened?? Well, the British Parliament only announced that “the owning, buying, and selling of humans as property” was outlawed throughout British colonies as of that date!! They paid the owners of the more-than- 800,000 slaves big time, but decided they needed time to adjust to the new situation. The fact that the slaves had provided labour for hundreds of years without payment is the basis for the present reparations’ claims.

Fearing the slaves would just walk away from being legal property and being treated like cattle – chattel - the Brits decided that the freed slaves had to serve a period of “Apprenticeship”, to wean them into their new circumstances. In Guyana, this “Apprenticeship” lasted from Aug 1st 1834 to Aug 1 1838. So, for us, Emancipation Day starts from Aug 1st 1838. In some countries – like Antigua where the Brits figured the freed slaves had no option but to remain on the plantations - slavery WAS actually ended in 1834.

So, what happened here? Did the British fears of mass walk out happen?? No really, while some did so when they bought the villages that are now Victoria, Buxton, Friendship, etc, they were more strategic on plantation work. They saw the planters bringing in replacements for them from Barbados and the other WI Islands – and also Portuguese from the impoverished island of Maderia. They formed themselves into gangs, and went from plantation to plantation bargaining for better wages!! None of these imported workers could match their production!! Finally, in 1842, they decided to go on strike. And won!!

The planters were humiliated, and they intensified importing indentured labourers. So, when they lowered wages and the ex-slaves struck again in 1847, they were able to break the strike. But this didn’t mean their spirits were broken – more than half of them now walked off the plantations to make a life on their own.

This insistence on determining how they’d live was as important as “Emancipation”: it gave the latter announcement meaning!! …to work?

Becoming “free”, we saw, meant that the planters were now free to look for the cheapest form of labour to perform the work the slaves used to do. So, from then on, the socalled “free workers” have been agitating and striking to improve their wages and conditions of work. We all know the indentured labourers who replaced the slaves – in a “new form of slavery”, according to some – protested, and were killed throughout the 79 years of indentureship.

Against that background, it was rather shocking to your Eyewitness to discover that between Aug 2020 and May 2022, 4847 – ALMOST 5000!! – work permits were issued to foreigners to take up employment here!! That there were 9270 applications is even more worrisome!! Did anyone realise there were so many furriners working in jobs that demanded work permits – meaning they weren’t your minimum-wage gigs – in our fair land??

There’s gotta be more than twice that number of jobs at the lower end filled by Venezuelans and Haitians etc.

Quo vadis?? …to tank The US just announced their economy shrank this quarter, as it had done in the last. Now, the definition of a recession is that the economy must shrink in two consecutive quarters.

So, aren’t the US in a recession??

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

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

NEWS

9

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

US Congressional Black Caucus applauds President Ali for “visionary leadership” …bestows him with Certificate of Congressional Recognition

Congresswoman Jackson-Lee handing over the Certificate of Congressional Recognition to President Ali

to take. I’m very proud to have the opportunity to meet with you and for this kind of legacy and future that you’re planning for your people.”

The Guyanese Head of State was also bestowed with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition

by Congresswoman JacksonLee for his visionary leadership in Guyana and the Caribbean.

Congresswoman Jackson-Lee added, “It goes on to assure that you are steadfast in your commitment to the wellbeing and the future of the Guyanese people, and through your outstanding character as a leader, you are going to help them overcome struggles that they may not foresee…

It goes on to indicate that your election was a triumph of democracy and a prom-

resident Dr Irfaan Ali has linked networking as an important ingredient in diplomacy, in creating lasting partnerships that is built on trust and democracy.

The United States Congressional Black Caucus hosted President Irfaan Ali to a dinner on Thursday night on Capitol Hill, Washington.

The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of African-American members of the United States Congress. In addressing the gathering, Ali pledged his Government’s support and openness in deepening ties with their US counterparts.

“An important aspect of diplomacy is networking.

When we build friendship, we must be able to share that network and integrate that network in building trust and enhancing relationship,” the President relayed.

Members of the caucus have lauded President Ali’s leadership, especially his efforts in agriculture and climate change. This was highlighted by Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Congressman Gregory Meeks.

Meeks commented, “He (President Ali) is an individual that has a vision of how to make sure that tomorrow is better than today, bringing all of the people of

ise of hope for the Guyanese people.”

Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Congressman Danny Davis from Illinois and Congressman Al Green from Texas joined Congresswoman JacksonLee and Congressman Meeks while the Guyanese delegation included Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd; Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud; Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States, Samuel Hinds and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Guyana

P

President Dr Irfaan Ali sharing a light moment with US Congressman Gregory Meeks

Guyana together and working together collectively with other countries in the forefront with reference to making sure that we deal with agriculture so people are not starving or hungry; and how the United States can work with them.”

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee said the meeting with President Ali is an affirmation of “mutual love for democracy” and treating citizens with “the highest level of dignity”.

“For us to generate peace and security, it has to be through diplomacy…To be able to show the new Guyana is a very important position

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Congressman Danny Davis from Illinois; Guyana’s Ambassador to the US, Samuel Hinds; and Congressman Meeks at the dinner hosted for the Guyanese President

Embassy in Washington, Zulfikar Ally.

Since he arrived in the United States, President Ali has facilitated meetings with several high-level officials, including the Secretary of State. Throughout this week, the effort has been placed on strengthening ties between the US and Guyana.

The United States and Guyana have a deep-rooted history of trade, public health initiatives, economic development, and collaboration to empower civil society, promote stability, and reinforce security.

The International

Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated that Guyana’s economy is the fastest growing in the world. Its economy is forecast to grow this year at roughly 47 per cent with a projected GDP of $9.5 billion.

Additionally, Guyana serves as a gateway to Caribbean trade development as it is home to the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat.

Only last month, President Ali attended the Summit of the Americas that was held in California, US, under the theme: “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future”.

During his presentation at the Second Plenary session, he underscored the importance of equality, democracy, and energy security to the sustainability of countries in the Americas and the Caribbean, noting that the region has the potential to address these pressing issues.

The Guyanese Head of State told his colleagues from the western hemisphere that issues plaguing countries such as inequalities, threats to democracy, and energy insecurity among others cannot be divorced from the sustainability and prosperity of the region. (G12)

10 NEWS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

69 new COVID-19 cases recorded …1 in ICU, 615 in home isolation

C

onfirmed coronavirus positives in Guyana is now pegged at 69,745, after another 69 new persons were infected as of Friday.

This data was included in the Health Ministry’s daily dashboard showing 31,964 males and 37,781 females testing positive to date. Some 67,825 persons have recovered while one person is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The death toll from the virus has remained at 1271.

However, some 21 persons are being monitored in institutional isolation, 615 in home isolation and two in institutional quarantine.

To date, 666,023 test samples have been processed.

Some 20 infected persons are hospitalised across the country, inclusive of nine at the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara. The others are being kept at

other regional facilities across the country.

A breakdown of new infections reflected one for Region One (BarimaWaini), four for Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), eight for Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 41 for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), three for Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), five for Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni), three for Region Nine (Upper TakutuUpper Essequibo) and two for Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

There were no increases in Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) and Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).

The most recent vaccination numbers show that so far, 443,977 or 86.7 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while 344,642 or 66.2 per cent of persons 18 years and over are fully vaccinated.

For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, 35,379 or 48.5 per cent have received a first dose. Second doses stand at 25,881 or 35.5 per cent.

Vaccines are also available for children within five to 11 years, whereby 6455 persons or 6.3 per cent have taken a first dose. Meanwhile, in excess of 71,000 persons have returned for their first booster dose.

Booster doses have been made available for the adolescent age group, as well as second booster doses for the adult population.

Persons are being encouraged to take these shots before their immunity wanes.

In the Region of the Americas, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is pegged at over 169 million with a death toll of 2.7 million. Globally, the confirmed positives stand at over 571 million with more

GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD JULY 29, 2022 UPDATE

NUMBER OF NEW CASES

69

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION

22

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION

626

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU

1

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE

0

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES)

37,781

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES)

31,964

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020

69,745

NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES

67,825

TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED FULLY IMMUNISED

REGION 1

2674

REGION 2

3068

REGION 3

8595

REGION 4

34,708

REGION 5

2543

REGION 6

6689

REGION 7

2605

REGION 8

886

REGION 9

4306

REGION 10

3671

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

444,950 344,596

TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS

DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020

1271

Keep a physical distance of at least 6 feet.

Wash your hands or use handsanitizer If you have any symptoms, call the COVID-19 Hotline.

GET MEDICAL ADVICE ON COVID-19 FROM MOH 24/7 HOTLINE NUMBERS: 2311166; 226 7480; 624 6674; 624 2819; 624 3067 OR 180/181.

than 6.3 million reported deaths.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms asso-

ciated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19

Hotline 231-1166, 2267480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health. gov.gy. (G12)

NEWS

11

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Challenge to ExxonMobil exploration

Legal challenge to halt greenhouse gas emissions is with Chief Justice for reassignment

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC

A

case to halt ExxonMobil’s emission of millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases in its offshore operations here, which was initially before Justice Franklin Holder, has been remitted to Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, for reassignment due to case management purposes.

The matter was filed last year May by University of Guyana (UG) scientist Dr Troy Thomas and conservationist Quadad De Freitas.

Guyana Times had previously reported that Esso Exploration and Production (Guyana) Limited (Esso), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, which has a very substantial interest in the subject of the proceedings and its outcome, was added as a party to the litigation to oppose the making of the orders requested by Dr Thomas and De Freitas.

Thomas and De Freitas, two Guyanese, have moved to the High Court over what they claim is the State’s failure to curb climate change.

They are alleging that their constitutional rights to a safe and healthy environment have been contravened by the Government entering into several petroleum agreements with Esso and its parent company.

In the proceedings brought against the Government, represented by its Attorney General, Dr Thomas, and De Freitas are seeking redress under Article 153 of the Constitution of Guyana.

Emitting greenhouse gases

Together, they have accused the State of violating their constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to their well-being, as guaranteed by Article 149 (J) of the Constitution.

They have taken issue with ExxonMobil’s emission of 22,030,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases in the Liza Phase 1 Development Project and 34,545,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases in the Liza 2 Development Project offshore Guyana.

According to them, ExxonMobil is producing oil in the Liza Phase 1 Development Project approximately 120 miles offshore in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The development proj-

ects, they added, are emitting greenhouse gases that would not otherwise have been emitted, and the country’s petroleum reserves will emit billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases in the future if those petroleum resources are extracted and burned for energy.

Considering this, they submitted, “By authorising, allowing, permitting, and enabling the production of petroleum from projects in the EEZ, the State is facilitating the emission of substantial quantities of greenhouse gases, thereby significantly exacerbating and/or contributing to climate change, ocean acidification, and rising sea levels, and making the environment more harmful to health and wellbeing.”

Pursuant to Article 149 (J) (1) and Article 149 (J) (2) (a) and (b) of the Constitution, Dr Thomas and De Freitas contended that the State is obligated to respect the environment, which requires it to refrain from interfering with or causing damage to the environment.

They contended, too, that the State also must protect or guarantee the health of the environment.

According to them, “Where the State directly or indirectly interferes with the right under Article 149 J (1), this will entail a violation of its obligation to respect the environment. The State will violate Article 149 J (2) when it fails to take action required by law or where it has failed to take reasonable measures to prevent harm to the environment.”

Dr Thomas deposed that he and his family have observed and have been affected by increased flooding in Wakenaam and Georgetown.

De Freitas, on the other hand, said his family members are ranchers, ecotourism operators, and conservationists who depend on the environment for their livelihoods.

Moreover, they stated that climate change, rising sea level, and ocean acidification threaten Guyana’s environment, agriculture, and fisheries, increase the risk of transmission of diseases such as malaria and dengue, and put at risk the capital city and coastal areas.

On this note, they submitted that climate change and ocean acidification are harmful to human health and wellbeing and that existing emissions have long-term impacts that will affect children and future generations disproportionately.

Having regard to the foregoing, they argued that the “State’s acts in facilitating the direct emissions from the projects individually and cumulatively are contrary to the State’s NDC and the Pans Agreement, and make the environment more harmful to human health and/or well-being and violate Article 149 (1).”

In the circumstances, Dr Thomas and De Freitas have

Dr Troy Thomas

moved to the High Court seeking several declarations against ExxonMobil, costs, and any such or further orders the court deems just.

Among them is a declaration that the direct emission of 22,030,000 tonnes and 34,545,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from petroleum operations offshore would

make the environment more harmful to the health and wellbeing of citizens and future generations by significantly exacerbating and/ or contributing to climate change, ocean acidification, and rising sea-levels, and as such would amount to a violation of Article 149 J (1) of the Constitution.

They are also asking

the court to declare that the State’s duty under Article 149 J (2) to take reasonable measures to protect the environment for present and future generations requires the State to take into account the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions to be emitted by a proposed project before approving, licensing or permitting any proposed project that

Conservationist Quadad De Freitas

may have a significant effect on the environment.

Appearing on behalf of the State are Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, and State Counsel Chevy Devonish.

Andrew Pollard, SC, Edward Luckhoo, SC, and Eleanor Luckhoo appeared for Esso.

(G1)

12 NEWS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

600 persons to get free Hepatitis C treatment …1st of its kind in Caribbean – Health Minister

T

hrough the Pan American Health Organisation’s (PAHO) Strategic Fund, the Guyana Government has secured a lower cost for Hepatitis C treatment for patients and has launched a programme to treat persons.

A recent collaboration with PAHO has prompted a programme specifically designed to provide free Hepatitis C treatment to patients, the Hepatitis C Treatment Programme, as the Government will now only pay US$160 for Hep C treatment per patient.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, while delivering the feature address at the launching ceremony of the free programme, said that after trying to find solutions on how to source Hep C treatment for a reasonable cost that would sustain

the execution of a free programme, officials here decided to speak with PAHO. “The cost of these medications were really high. In some cases, to treat a patient many years ago would have been about US$8000 per patient. And more recently when we were trying to look for solutions; how do we treat our Hepatitis C patients? What we found is that if we went the brand name drug, it would probably cost us approximately about US$2000 per patient, and that’s still quite a lot of money to spend per patient, especially if you want to run the programme [for] free. And so, we spoke to PAHO. Through the Strategic Fund, they’re buying in bulk, we can actually get the price down nicely for you,” he said.

The Health Minister said that Hepatitis C has “been a

different challenge for us” as compared to Hepatitis B – the two most common Hepatitis viruses in the world.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2019, reported that 296 million people worldwide are living with Hepatitis B, 58 million are living with Hepatitis C, and 1.5 million people were newly infected with chronic Hepatitis B. With the recent introduction of the Dialysis Support Programme whereby finance up to $600,000 per annum worth of dialysis treatment was provided to dialysis patients, Dr Anthony said that the testing of those patients has created a database of persons who have onstage renal failure.

To this end, he noted that these persons are being screened because a percentage of these persons can

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony (centre), Chief Medical Officer Dr Narine Singh (fourth, inner left), and PAHO/WHO Representative Dr Luis Codina (third, inner right) holding Hepatitis C medication along with Dr Pedro Lewis, Director of the National Blood Transfusion Service (second, inner right) and other officials

also have Hep C. From this, the Ministry would be able

to have a more comprehensive database of patients who may need Hep C treatment.

“Because we have now been able to give dialysis patients assistance, we have a lot for more persons who have onstage renal failure that has now registered with us. And one of the things that we have been doing is screening these persons because a percentage of these persons can also have Hep C. From these different sources, we’re able to have a more comprehensive database of patients who we think may need treatment,” he explained.

Over the past few weeks, Dr Anthony said that the Ministry has been reaching out to patients who have tested positive for Hepatitis C. “Over the last couple of weeks, we have been calling these persons up, getting them to come into the clinic. We have started a process of retesting them. And once they test positive – just to confirm – we now have an algorithm that we’ve put together to make sure that we can offer them treatment,” he added.

The Health Minister also announced that clinic hours will also be introduced for Hepatitis C patients. A room has been set aside at the National Treatment and Care Centre where patients can go and get their treatments.

“We wanted to have a clinic, a permanent clinic where patients would know that they can come here and get their treatment and so we have set aside a room at the National Treatment and Care Centre and we’ve set aside a special day, in the afternoons, when patients who are Hep C patients can come there, the doctors would be there to be able to treat these patients.”

He said that there is an estimated 500 to 600 persons who may need Hep C treatment, and if there is ever a need where clinic hours would have to be extended, it would be to accommodate the treatment of those patients.

Hepatitis C can lead to serious health problems like liver damage, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), liver cancer, and even death.

Dr Anthony believes prevention is key; “We can actually prevent someone, years down the road from having cancer. That’s how significant this is,” he said.

First

The launching of the Hepatitis C Treatment Programme is historic as it not only aligned with World Hepatitis Day 2022 on Wednesday but because it also is the first of its kind, not only in Guyana but in the Caribbean.

“All of us should be proud, as this, as far as I’m aware, is the first in the Caribbean, so we’re leading the way and I think that’s also a very positive thing.”

He said that if Guyana wants the rest of the region to follow in its footsteps, the necessary officials must provide the documentation on this experience so that countries would be able to access this information.

“If we want the rest of the region to follow what we have done then we have to do the research, we have to do the documentation and I would really like to see them published on this particular experience so that persons would be able to access this information and say, “yes, this is affordable. This is doable. And we can follow the example of Guyana and make it happen for our country,” he said.

Dr Frank Anthony added, “And I think once we’re able to do that, we’ll be contributing to reducing Hepatitis, not only in Guyana but reducing Hepatitis in the rest of the Caribbean.”

The Hepatitis C Treatment Programme will officially enrol its first set of patients on Wednesday.

Present at the launch was Chief Medical Officer, Dr Narine Singh, and Director at the National Blood Transfusion Service, Dr Pedro Lewis. (G2)

13

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

A staff member of the Ministry of Labour performing a dance

Staff members of Demerara Bank

Members of staff of the GNBS

Staff of NIS

Children performing at the Ministry of Education in observance on Emancipation

CJIA staff and Minister Edghill on Friday as they welcomed incoming passengers

Education Minister Priya Manickchand and staff walking along Main Street

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton and staff

Staff of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Staff members of Ministry of Health

14

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Staff of Banks DIH Limited

Staff and children of GDF Day Care Centre

Prime Minister Brigadier (ret'd) Mark Phillips and his staff

Staff and children of GDF Day Care Centre

Staff of Georgetown Mayor and City Council

NEWS

15

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Be vigilant during measuring process Get tested for COVID-19 if you have flu-like symptoms – Health Minister of products – GNBS to consumers

T

he Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is asking consumers to do their part in trade transactions involving measurements to guarantee their monies worth, by ensuring that the quantities of purchased items are measured accurately.

The Bureau continues to execute its mandate to ensure that all weighing and measuring instruments used in trade are verified (stamped).

However, it noted, “Daily, consumers visit the community shops, markets, supermarkets, and other retail outlets to purchase a variety of goods, such as rice, flour, sugar, meats, ground provisions, preserved fruits, and cooking oil by weights and measures. The prices of these goods are on the rise and for those buying them your vigilance, your diligence, and your understanding of the measuring process will ensure that you get the

quantities requested and value for money.”

To ensure that the actual value for money is acquired, the GNBS implored consumers to buy goods from vendors who are using verified scales and other verified measuring instruments. If used properly, approved devices give correct weights or measures.

Persons can also look for GNBS verification seals on verified measuring instruments. The affixed GNBS seals are one way of determining whether measuring instruments were verified for accuracy.

“Make sure the instrument used to weigh or measure your goods is clean and tidy. Dirty scales often give inaccurate weights and measures and can cause the contamination of goods. Make sure that you can see the measuring indicator of the scales. Ensure that the scale is positioned in a manner that will allow you to see the

weighing process,” it added.

Consumers are advised not to buy from vendors or shopkeepers using the domestic or kitchen scales.

These scales are not approved for commercial trade because their internal mechanisms are quickly worn, hence they give inaccurate weights.

“Do not accept purchases if you have doubts about your weight or measure.

You are free to make your purchases elsewhere if you are in doubt or not satisfied.

Buy in metric quantities.

Devices used in the marketplace are in metric units and by requesting goods in metric quantities you are assured of the number of goods issued to you.”

Additionally, all solids should be bought by weight instead of measure. Rice, peas, and other solid goods should be weighed and it is recommended to request these goods in grams and kilograms instead of pints and gallons. Buying pre-packaged goods that are labelled with the quantity is also advised.

“Call the GNBS hotline or visit the GNBS or Weights and Measures Office in your region if you want to learn more about the sale of goods by weights and measures. You can also make your complaint if the need arises, and it will be investigated.” (G12)

A

mid concerns that the current COVID infections might be an underestimation of the actual figure, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony is urging people with flu-like symptoms to get tested.

Active COVID-19 cases have reduced to 649. With Region Four being densely populated, the Health Minister said a lot of cases are emerging from this zone.

However, there are challenges with people not coming out to be tested.

In this light, he is encouraging those experiencing symptoms relating to the common flu to get a COVID-19 test.

“So, you have a lot more people living in Region Four and they come and get tested. We have testing facilities available across the country and we’d like to encourage more people to be tested. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of people now might have COVID but they don’t come forward to be tested. That’s unfortunate because they can continue to spread it to other persons and that can be more challenging to manage…If persons have flu-like symptoms, they shouldn’t assume that it’s a flu. They should go and get tested to verify whether or not it is COVID,” he shared in Friday’s COVID-19 briefing.

If indeed those results return positive, then the per-

son would be asked to isolate at least for five days. As it relates to testing in the hinterland region, Region Eight has seen no increase in infections.

“I’m assuming that persons there are not coming forward to be tested. For a few weeks now, we have recorded zero cases. It’s not that the people of Region Eight does not have cases. It’s just that they’re not testing.

Therefore, if they do not test, we can’t get positive cases.”

It is estimated that between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of COVID patients experience a variety of mid- and long-term effects, collectively known as post COVID-19 condition or “long COVID”.

This can be prevented with vaccination and timely booster shots.

Zeroing in on long COVID, the Health Minister pointed out that this can persist for a year or longer. Apart from the COVID symptoms experienced, persons can face issues such as hair loss.

“You continue to experience these symptoms. It doesn’t mean you’re infec-

tious…The symptoms, depending on what it is, can persist for long periods of time. They are still trying to unveil what are these symptoms of long COVID but as people come forward and they get treated, we continue to see what it is that affect people and team at the various hospitals would work with them to make sure than they can receive treatment,” Dr Anthony explained.

Guyana’s healthcare system has teams of medical personnel who are tasked with addressing long Covid patients.

Although post COVID-19 condition is more common in patients who developed the severe form of the disease, there are reports of individuals who had moderate illness but experienced some after effects, mainly respiratory, neurological, and psychological. Post COVID-19 functional impairment can limit a person’s ability to perform daily activities, including work or household chores. It can also impact professional performance and hinder social interaction. (G12)

16 NEWS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Over 40 businesses receive 1st Consumer Affairs Compliance Certificate

O

ver 40 businesses in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), were among the first to receive certification under Guyana’s Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission’s (CCAC) recently launched Consumer Affairs Act Compliance Certificate.

The certification distinguishes these business-

es as being compliant with the laws of the Consumer Affairs Act of 2011. It also signals to consumers that they can confidently shop at these businesses, knowing that they adhere to their rights.

The first two official presentations were made to Imran and Son & Daughters Variety Store, upper Corentyne; and A Ally and

Sons in New Amsterdam.

Speaking at the presentations held at the business locations, the Director (ag) of CCAC, Anil Sukhdeo, congratulated the businesses for their compliance with the Consumer Affairs Act, which is a tangible expression of their respect and care for the consumers they serve.

The suppliers highlight-

Banks DIH receives ISO recertification

Banks DIH Limited, Thirst Park, Ruimveldt, Georgetown

B

anks DIH Limited’s Quality and Food Safety Management System for the Soft Drink Production Plant and the Dairy/Novelty Department has been recertified by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the popular beverage company has announced.

The certification which falls into seven categories was issued by certifying company Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited (LRQA) on behalf of the ISO. The certification includes the ISO9001:2015

which is applicable to the manufacturing of ice cream and fruit ice products and also covers production, storage, warehousing, and dispatching.

The ISO22000:2018 certified the manufacturing of carbonated soft drinks in non-returnable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles from preforms and carbonated soft drinks in NR-PET bottles, carbonated water in addition to post and pre-mix beverages.

Quality Assurance Executive, Seeranie Ramnauth said that the

company continues to work diligently to produce nutritious products for consumers that conform to international standards.

“The certification is an assurance to our customers that Banks DIH Limited remains committed to producing quality products and we will uphold those standards,” she said.

The recertification which was approved on March 9, 2022, will expire on December 10, 2024.

The Dairy/Novelty and Soft Drink plants were first certified in 2014.

Proprietor of Imran Son & Daughters, Imran Hamid, receiving his certificate from CCAC Director (ag) Anil Sukhdeo

ed that they want to offer the best of service to their customers and encourage all businesses to comply with the Consumer Affairs Act. Certification lasts for a period of 1 year, and periodic inspections will be made to ensure that the qualifications under which the certificates were issued are maintained.

Among the certification requirements are adherence to the refund policy, the display of prices and fees, return of defective goods, issuance of receipts, warranties, information to consumers, non-display of no return/refund signs, and layaway policies.

Suppliers are encouraged to apply for voluntary

compliance via the commission’s website.

The second set of certificates will soon be issued to compliant businesses in Region Four (DemeraraMahaica) and the other administrative regions.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) endorsed the compliance programme during the initial launch ceremony.

PSC’s Vice President, Ryan Alexander, highlighted “the pivotal role the certificate plays in the standard of service being offered by suppliers to consumers locally and internationally, especially as Guyana experiences unprecedented growth."

A Ally & Sons supervisor Michael Holder receiving the certificate on behalf of the business

17-year-old Guyanese stabbed to death in Suriname

A

Police at the scene of the stabbing

1 7 - y e a r - o l d Guyanese was stabbed to death in neighbouring Suriname by two juveniles.

Dead is Rolly McPherson.

Surinamese Waterkant online news agency reported that the teen died on

Friday.

Reports are that he was stabbed with a sharp object at his home on the Majosteeg in Latour, Suriname. Two juvenile suspects fled on foot following the incident.

According to eyewit-

nesses, the two boys would have gotten into a fight with McPherson. During the fight the teen was stabbed to his chest and died on the spot.

Police in Suriname have since launched an investigation.

17 Santa Rosa farmers to benefit from improved breeds of swine from Govt NEWS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

D

uring a recent outreach to Santa Rosa, a riverine community in the Moruca sub-district of Region One (Barima–Waini), Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha disclosed that livestock farmers would benefit from additional stock to expand swine-rearing in the community.

While meeting with farmers, Mustapha said the Government, in its effort to improve the agriculture sector, has been making sizable budgetary allocations to expand and develop the livestock sector.

One of the four swine farmers of the village told the Minister that he would like to expand his operation, but because of issues with stock, he was beginning to have issues with inbreeding. This, he added, has affected the health and quality of the offspring, and his ability to expand his operations.

Mustapha told the farmers that the Ministry, through the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), would assist the farmers in the area with additional animals to develop the stock in the village.

“There are only a few of

you, but we will assist with expanding your operations.

The GLDA will make additional stock available, so that you can expand.

Each farmer will be given piglets. When those piglets grow and have droppings, those who benefited from the initial stock will have to share with the other farmers who are interested, so that they, too, can get involved in swine production,” the Minister is quoted by a release from the Agriculture Ministry as saying.

Mustapha also said that technical officers from the GLDA would be visiting the area more regularly,

UG to host virtual symposium on 184th Emancipation anniversary

T

he University of Guyana will be hosting a two-and-a-halfhour symposium on Tuesday, August 2, to commemorate the 184th anniversary of the Emancipation of enslaved Africans in Guyana.

The symposium, which will be held virtually from 18:00 hrs to 20:30 hrs, will focus on Afro-Guyanese who have made significant contributions to various facets of national development in Guyana.

The symposium would be opened with remarks from the University of Guyana’s Vice-Chancellor XI, Prof.

Paloma Mohamed Martin; First Assistant Dean, Faculty of Education and Humanities (FEH), Bonita Hunter; Head of the Department of History and Caribbean Studies, Dwayne Benjamin; among others.

The panellists would be leading academics from the University of Guyana and universities abroad, and would focus on the contributions of Afro-Guyanese and cultural practices to the development of Guyana.

Professor Alyssa Trotz would deliver a presentation on Insurgent knowledge - reflections of the radical praxis of Walter Rodney. Professor Courtney Abel would do a presentation on JOF Haynes - prominent Guyanese Jurist.

Estherine Adams would present on Eusi Kwayana, his role and contributions.

Shammane Joseph-Jackson would present on historical wrongs in the First Village, and Dr Nigel Westmaas would present on Patrick Dargan- First Afro-Guyanese in the Legislative Assembly.

The symposium would also feature cultural presentations in the form of comfa and African drumming by the Hebrew Family of Guyana, poetry recital by

Konyo Addo, steel pan rendition, and a short audiovisual presentation on comfa tradition in Guyana by Dr Jeremy Peretz.

Emancipation is celebrated annually, on the first day of August, in recognition of the struggles of African ancestors in the British Caribbean to gain freedom and dignity in an oppressive, authoritarian system that characterised the plantation economy in Guyana and the Caribbean. This year marks the 184th Anniversary of the Emancipation of enslaved Africans, who, by virtue of being emancipated on 1st August 1838, became freed men and women and transitioned to wage labourers. The proclamation of Emancipation was signed in 1834.

Attendance at the symposium is free of cost, and is open to the public. Persons who wish to join the proceedings are kindly asked to register ahead of the symposium https://zoom.us/ j/98700679089?pwd=VGxpSWo1VDA1bHlFVkdWSDlUQWlJUT09.

This site is already open

for registration from members of the public.

Some of the farmers at the meeting

while the agency works to station a full-time veterinarian to service the communities.

With the growing local demand for special cuts of meat, and with Caricom’s goal of reducing the regional food import bill by 25% by 2025, Mustapha said, Government has embarked on a number of projects geared at expanding the livestock sector.

In addition to swine, poultry farmers in the village would benefit from 25 Black Giant chickens to push their production capacity.

Meanwhile, farmers from Waramuri Village, who are having issues with crops, have also been assured that they would benefit from assistance.

One farmer who was present at the meeting said

many persons from the village would usually purchase vegetables from the market at Charity, because the vegetables grown in the village are not appealing.

He explained that some vegetables remained small, while others would wither, and that villagers are not satisfied with the quality.

Mustapha told the farmers that Technical Officers from the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) would be returning to the village to meet with farmers to give technical advice in this regard.

He further stated that farmers are now being encouraged to consolidate and expand their cultivation.

To this end, the Minister said the Ministry, through the NAREI, would provide farmers with planting ma-

terials free of cost, in addition to the necessary skills training.

“We will provide you with the necessary planting materials. If you want cassava slips, seedlings for various fruits and vegetables, or seeds, we will make those inputs available. We have ready markets available for a number of commodities that can be grown right here in Waramuri.

“The New Guyana Marketing Corporation will facilitate getting you access to these markets. They will also meet with you to plan for these markets, so you will know what quantities are required, and what to plant. It is time we move away from subsistence farming, and rest assured that the Government will help you to do so,” the Minister noted.

18

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

guyanatimesgy.com

Regional

London's High Court rules Colombia July inflation forecast against Venezuela's Maduro ever closer to double digits in $1 billion gold battle C

L

ondon's High Court has rejected President Nicolas Maduro's latest efforts to gain control of more than $1 billion of Venezuela's gold reserves stored in the Bank of England's underground vaults in London.

The court ruled on Friday that previous decisions by the Maduro-backed Venezuelan Supreme Court, aimed at reducing opposition leader Juan Guaido's say over the gold, should be disregarded.

It marked the latest victory for Guaido, who has won a series of legal clashes over the bullion after the British Government recognised him rather than Maduro as the South American country's President.

"I have ... concluded that the Guaido Board succeeds: that the STJ (Venezuelan supreme court) judgements are not capable of being rec-

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro

ognised," the judge in the case said.

The Maduro and Guaido camps have each appointed a different board to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) and the two have issued conflicting instructions concerning the gold reserves.

Lawyers for the Madurobacked BCV Board said the

central bank was considering an appeal after Friday's ruling, while Guiado, who has seen some international support falter over the last 18 months, called it an important victory.

The Maduro-backed BCV Board said in a statement it rejected the court's ruling and reserved "all legal action at its disposal to appeal this unusual and disastrous" decision.

Shortly after, the Vice President and Finance Minister Delcy Rodriguez said on state television that "the damage caused to our people is serious" and that the court "has to rectify."

Maduro's legal team has said he would like to sell some of the 31 tonnes of gold to finance Venezuela's response to the pandemic and bolster a health system gutted by years of economic crisis. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Brazil Federal Police warned against Bolsonaro arms agenda

A

s President Jair Bolsonaro has aggressively sought to boost gun ownership in Brazil, documents obtained

by Reuters reveal one key source of resistance to his agenda: his own Federal Police.

In at least eight formal institutional positions, delivered to Congress from 2018 until earlier this year, Brazil's top cops said the proposals would make it harder to Police the country with the world's most murders.

If approved by senators, Police wrote, the law would "without doubt, result in a return to the chaotic situa-

tion in the country of excessive gun supply in circulation, including illegal ones, which could make crime rates much worse."

Still, the Federal Police eventually gave qualified support - with strongly worded "reservations" - to the measure, which came with the president's backing.

Thanks to Bolsonaro's policies, the number of Brazilians registering to own guns has surged sixfold since 2018 to nearly 700,000, according to the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook.

In fiery stump speeches ahead of his uphill October re-election battle, Bolsonaro

has urged his followers to arm themselves or risk being "enslaved." Tough gun laws must be overturned, he says, as they only help criminals.

But the federal police argued in their briefings that more guns would benefit criminals.

Parts of PL 3723, the most recent bill, seemed to have been drafted "without foreseeing the consequences of these decriminalisations for ... organised crime," they wrote.

The Federal Police's stance is striking in Brazil, where many cops are sympathetic to Bolsonaro. (Excerpt from Reuters)

olombia's inflation is forecast to have maintained its upward trajectory in July, rising almost to 10 per cent amid supply issues and robust demand, pushing up estimates for this year and next, a Reuters poll revealed on Friday.

Consumer prices are projected to have risen 0.60 per cent, according to the median taken from the responses of 13 analysts.

If the analysts are correct, annual inflation to the end of July will hit 9.98 per cent, above the 9.67 per cent registered as of the end of June and maintaining the highest levels in more than 22 years.

"We're revising our inflation forecast even higher, amid a combination of a short-term resurgence in fresh food prices related to persistence of the La Nina weather phenomenon and, more importantly, incorporating the shift of recent pressure on the Colombian peso," Ben Ramsey, director of economic research for Latin America at JPMorgan, said in a research note.

Colombia's Government DANE statistics agency will publish inflation data on the morning of Aug 5.

Persistent inflation which is more than three times the central bank's target of 3 per cent - is the main reason behind the monetary

Honduras launches “Bitcoin Valley” in the tourist town of Santa Lucia

P

eople can pay for a slushie with crypto in the streets of "Bitcoin Valley," a project in the Honduran tourist enclave of Santa Lucia through which the country has entered the digital currency trend.

The small town in the mountains, 20 minutes from the capital Tegucigalpa, has become a bitcoin city.

Owners of businesses big and small in Santa Lucia are adapting to handle cryptocurrencies as payment, hoping to attract more tourism.

"It will open more opportunities and attract more people who want to use this currency," said Cesar Andino, manager of Los Robles shopping square.

The "Bitcoin Valley" project targets 60 businesses to initially get trained and adopt cryptocurrencies to market their products and services, expecting to spread these practices to more enterprises and nearby areas.

The initiative was jointly developed by the Blockchain Honduras organisation, the Guatemalan cryptocurrency exchange consortium Coincaex, the Technological University of Honduras and Santa Lucia's municipality.

Ruben Carbajal Velazquez, professor at the Technological University, said "Santa Lucia's community will be educated to use and manage cryptocurrencies, implementing them in

B

ing taken to the intensive care unit.

The first monkeypox death in the Americas came less than a week after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the rapidly spreading outbreak a global health emergency, its highest level of alert In Spain, authorities did not immediately release details of the person who died from monkeypox.

WHO had so far reported only five confirmed monkeypox deaths, all in Africa.

Brazil, along with the United States and Canada, is among the countries most affected by monkeypox in the Americas, where more

than 5000 cases have been reported to date, according to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

The South American country reported 1066 confirmed cases and 513 suspected cases of the disease, the vast majority (744) in Sao Paulo state, the Health Ministry said.

PAHO said in a press briefing this week that almost all cases had been reported among men who have sex with men between the ages of 25 and 45, but warned that anyone can get the disease regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. (Excerpt from Reuters)

different businesses in the region and generating crypto-tourism."

While some Latin American countries are exploring cryptocurrencies' potential, there are risks.

In September 2021, El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender having its own 'Bitcoin Beach' in the surfing hotspot town of El Zonte.

The Central American country's bet on bitcoin was hampered by the crypto market downturn and skepticism from multilateral lenders and ratings agencies. Its publicly disclosed holdings of US$105 million are now worth about US$57 million.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Migrants in Mexico: Mass escape from abandoned truck after recent deaths

Brazil reports first monkeypox death outside Africa in current outbreak razil on Friday reported the first monkeypox-related death outside the African continent in the current outbreak, shortly before Spain confirmed Europe's first known death in the outbreak later in the day.

The Brazilian victim was a 41-year-old man who, according to the Health Ministry, also suffered from lymphoma and a weakened immune system.

"The comorbidities aggravated his condition," the Ministry said, adding the patient was hospitalised in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte and died from septic shock after be-

policy authority's decision to hike its benchmark interest rate by 575 basis points in an upward cycle starting last September to a current 7.50 per cent.

On Thursday, Colombia's incoming Finance Minister, Jose Antonio Ocampo, said interest rate hikes have a limited capacity to rein in accelerating inflation and raised concerns of how high rates would affect economic growth.

Meanwhile, inflation expectations for the fourth largest economy in Latin America for the end of this year increased to 9.20 per cent, from 8.95 per cent in the June survey. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Migrants were taken to safety afterwards

A

group of migrants has escaped from a truck abandoned in Mexico, a month after more than 50 people died in similar circumstances in the US. The lorry was heading for the US border but was abandoned by the driver ahead of a checkpoint, paramedics said.

People forced a way out of the top of the lorry to escape the stifling heat.

Authorities found at least 94 people, mostly Guatemalans, in and around

the lorry on Wednesday night. It is thought others may have run away.

Many of those found were treated for ankle and knee fractures after jumping from the top of the vehicle.

Paramedics say one man who was unconscious was taken to hospital.

Authorities were called at around 21:20 (02:20 GMT Thursday).

Employees of a petrol station close to where the lorry was abandoned helped the migrants to escape, José

Domínguez, director of civil protection in nearby Oluta, told Reuters news agency.

Mexico's national guard and navy patrolled the area looking for people hiding in the surrounding bushes.

Civil protection paramedic Cristóbal Cisneros Valencia said the migrants had "started to feel suffocated", and had battered the roof of the trailer until they broke through and could jump out.

Another paramedic, Kenia Díaz, said some of the people had run away because they feared for their well-being.

Guatemala's Foreign Ministry said 89 of those found were Guatemalan, including 55 adults, with the rest children and families.

According to Domínguez, there were also five people from Honduras and four from Ecuador, as well as two Indians, one Salvadoran and one Nepali. (Excerpt from BBC News)

guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

19

Around the World

OILNEWS OIL NEWS Oil up over US$2/bbl as hopes fade for OPEC+ supply boost

O

il prices settled up more than US$2 a barrel on Friday as attention turned to next week's OPEC+ meeting and dimming expectations that the producer group will imminently boost supply.

Brent crude futures contract for September, which expire on Friday, jumped more than US$3 a barrel during the session and then pared gains to settle at US$110.01 a barrel, up US$2.87, or 2.7 per cent. The more active October contract was up US$2.14, or 2.1 per cent, at US$103.97.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at US$98.62 a barrel, rising US$2.20, or 2.3 per cent, after jumping more than US$5 a barrel.

Both contracts logged their second monthly losses, with Brent down about 4 per cent for July and WTI nearly 7 per cent lower.

Oil pared some gains after the release of data from oil services firm Baker Hughes, which showed that US drillers added crude rigs for a record 23 months in a row, indicating more supply ahead.

In July, the oil rig count rose 11, increasing for a record 23rd month in a row, while the gas count was unchanged after rising for 10 straight months, the Baker Hughes data showed.

Stronger stock markets supported oil, as did a weaker dollar, which makes oil cheaper for buyers with other currencies.

"These days, there has been a lot of macro influences on the oil market with the stock market making a nice rebound and a similar fall in the dollar feeding into (today's prices)," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC. Global equities, which often move in tandem with oil prices, were up on the hope that disappointing growth figures would encourage the US Federal Reserve to ease up on monetary tightening.

A Reuters survey forecast Brent would average US$105.75 a barrel this year with US crude averaging US$101.28.

Front-month Brent futures are selling at a rising premium to later-loading months, a market structure known as backwardation, indicating tight current supply.

"The oil market in Europe is considerably tighter than in the US, which is also reflected in the sharply falling Brent forward curve," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Investors will next watch the Aug 3 meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, together known as OPEC+.

OPEC+ sources said the group will consider keeping oil output unchanged for September with two saying a modest increase would be discussed.

A decision not to raise output would disappoint the United States after President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia this month hoping for a deal to open the taps.

Analysts said it would be difficult for OPEC+ to boost supply, given that many producers are already struggling to meet production quotas.

OPEC+ compliance with oil output cut pledges reached 320 per cent in June, Russian Interfax news agency reported, citing a source familiar with the data. It said the group's combined oil underproduction was 2.84 million barrels per day last month.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Ukraine war: Russia and Ukraine trade blame over prison blast

R

ussia and Ukraine have blamed each other for a rocket attack that killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the occupied part of Donetsk region.

Ukraine says the prison was targeted by Russia in an effort to destroy evidence of torture and killing.

For its part, Russia said the prison camp in Olenivka was hit by Ukrainian precision rockets.

Unverified Russian video footage of the aftermath shows a tangle of wrecked bunk beds and badly charred bodies.

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said the scene looked like arson, and that a missile strike would have scattered the

The BBC has blurred some of this photograph showing the building after it was attacked

bodies.

Those detained are said to have included members of the Azov battalion, who were the last defenders of Mariupol and whom Russia has sought to depict as neo-Nazis and war criminals.

Ukraine's new Prosecutor

General Andriy Kostin said he had opened a war crimes investigation into the blast.

His office added that it believed about 40 people were killed in the strike and 130 were injured.

Daniil Bezsonov, a spokesperson for the Russian-backed separatist

Kentucky: At least 16 dead in flash floods that followed heavy rain

A car is submerged in flood waters along Right Beaver Creek, following a day of heavy rain in Garrett, Kentucky, USA July 28, 2022

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t least 16 people have died due to historic flash flooding caused by torrential rains in eastern Kentucky, the US state's Governor has said.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that he expects the death toll to continue to rise.

President Biden declared the floods "a major disaster" on Friday and ordered federal aid to help with local recovery efforts.

Among the dead are six children, including a one-

year-old.

More than 23,000 people are also without power in the state.

After an aerial tour with the National Guard, Beshear said the flood "is by far the worst" he has seen. Parts of cities are submerged under water, and some areas are impassable, he said.

The flash flooding came after heavy rains earlier this week. Hundreds of homes in Kentucky have been wiped out because of the floods, the Governor said.

Some areas reported receiving more than eight inches, or 20 centimetres, of rain in a 24-hour period.

Flood warnings remained in effect as of midday Friday in eastern Kentucky, as well as for parts of Tennessee

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northeast of the capital Tehran, where at least 10 people died, Tehran governor Mohsen Mansouri told state TV. He was later quoted by local news agencies as saying around six people were also missing.

Floods were still ravaging northern areas of Tehran province on Friday, he said, adding that despite repeated warnings, trekkers were still heading toward Firouz Kooh.

The town of Firouz Kooh, about 140 km (90 miles) from Tehran, is a favourite retreat

for vacationers because of its cool summer temperatures.

The area's lush trails are also popular with trekkers.

State media said at least eight people died on Thursday in a landslide caused by floods in the village of Imamzadeh Davood northwest of Tehran, that also damaged a religious shrine there. As many as 14 people were reported missing.

Last Saturday, flash floods in the southern Fars province killed 22 people.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

and West Virginia.

Rivers in the region are expected to crest throughout the weekend, and a risk of more dangerous flash flooding remained possible throughout Friday, the US National Weather Service said.

More rainfall is expected early next week, Beshear said, urging people to have a safety plan in place.

Beshear said it's unclear yet exactly how many people are affected or missing.

Some areas have been difficult to reach due to damaged portions on 28 state roadways. (Excerpt from BBC News)

World Bank has no new financing plans for crisis-hit Sri Lanka

Floods kill at least 53 in Iran, rescuers hunt for the missing escuers searched for the missing in Iran on Friday after landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains killed at least 53 people, officials said.

Mehdi Valipour, head of emergency operations at the Red Crescent Society, told state TV that 16 people were still missing after two days of floods that have affected 400 towns and villages in 18 of Iran’s 31 provinces. Many highways were closed.

Friday’s worst hit area was Firouz Kooh, in the foothills of Alborz Mountains

Donetsk People's Republic, said the strike had been a "direct hit on a barracks holding prisoners" and the number killed might increase.

Russia's Defence Ministry said the strike had been carried out with USmade HIMARS artillery and it accused Ukraine of a "deliberately perpetrated" provocation. The Ministry produced fragments of what it said were rockets fired by the HIMARS system.

The Ministry's spokesperson, Lt Gen Igor Konashenkov, said eight prison staff were also injured in the blast, although the Russian-backed proxy authority ombudswoman said none had been affected.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

People stand next to their empty cylinders as they wait in a queue to buy domestic cooking gas amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 23, 2022

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he World Bank does not plan to offer new financing to Sri Lanka, which is battling its worst economic crisis in decades, until the Indian Ocean nation has an adequate macroeconomic policy framework in place, the lender said on Thursday.

In a statement, the World Bank said Sri Lanka needed to adopt structural reforms

that focus on economic stabilisation and tackle the root causes of its crisis, which has starved it of foreign exchange and led to shortages of food, fuel and medicines.

"The World Bank Group is deeply concerned about the dire economic situation and its impact on the people of Sri Lanka," it said.

The bank is repurposing resources under exist-

ing loans to help alleviate shortages of essential items such as medicine, cooking gas, fertiliser, meals for children and cash for vulnerable households, it added.

The bank said it was working closely to establish control and fiduciary oversight to ensure fair distribution.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in June that the World Bank would restructure 17 existing projects and more assistance would follow after negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on a financing loan.

Sri Lanka has been in the state of emergency since July 13 after popular protests forced Rajapaksa to flee the nation, first to the Maldives and then Singapore.

He has been replaced as President by Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the Prime Minister. (Excerpt from Reuters)

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SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

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DAILY HOROSCOPES

ARCHIE

People will be quick to offer stellar advice. Be calm and don’t show distress if someone does something annoying or directly aimed at you. Take the high road and you’ll come out on top.

(March 21-April 19) Anger will take control if you can’t agree on household responsibilities or shared expenses. Don’t allow distress to leave you in a difficult position. Listen and find common ground.

DILBERT

(April 20-May 20)

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Update documents and eliminate clutter. Giving a straight answer will help bring about what you want.

Clarification and a well-thought-out plan will encourage others to pitch in and help.

Live up to your promises in order to avoid complaints. Reach out to family and friends, and be responsible and helpful toward those in need. Be realistic about what you can offer.

PEANUTS (June 21-July 22)

Don’t let someone tempt you with grand ideas and fairy-tale endings. Be sensible, and you’ll recognize what’s possible. Listen to your inner voice and take care of responsibilities quickly.

(July 23-Aug. 22)

CALVIN AND HOBBES

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

A change to how you think will encourage you to exercise your right to learn, grow and head in a sustainable direction. Shoot for the stars. You can turn something you enjoy doing into a paycheck.

Throw your hat in the ring. Your input will be well received, and you’ll be encouraged to connect with someone exciting and informative. Socializing will lead to valuable connections.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Let your competitors inspire you to work harder. Don’t let someone outdo or outsmart you when faced with a choice that can influence your position or status. Take better care of your health.

SUDOKU (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

Someone you think you can trust will disappoint you. Don’t share information that someone can use against you.

Concentrate on money, contracts and health. Don’t let anyone take you for granted.

Jump into a leadership position before someone steps up and takes charge.

A change you make at home will help you adjust how you handle your investments or cash flow. Be direct.

LAST PUBLISHED WORD -- SAPPHIRE

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Say little and do a lot. Don’t accept changes you don’t like. Assess your situation and turn an opportunity into reality. Carefully think about how you will address your opponents.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Socialize, get together with old friends and look for new ways to use your skills. Putting a unique spin on your attributes will open doors and give you hope. Don’t miss an opportunity.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

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Project “Cricket gear for young and promising cricketers in Guyana”…

Project receives more cash support

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he Project “Cricket gear for young and promising cricketers in Guyana” has garnered a lot of support, with each sponsor having evinced a desire to make an impact in the lives of talented young cricketers across Guyana.

Brothers Allan and Dennis Mangru, Guyaneseborn but USA-based, have each contributed $30,000 towards the project. Allan had previously contributed, and his brother Dennis is now so doing. Over the years, Allan has played a major role in raising funds with the New York East Canje Reunion, an organisation that provides support for charities in the East Canje area and in other parts of Guyana.

“We are happy to be part of this noble initiative, and will continue to do so in the future,” the Mangru brothers have said.

Joint owners of this “Gear” project, a partnership between Anil Beharry of Guyana and Kishan Das of the USA, have expressed their gratitude for the cash received, which they said would be used to purchase cricket-related materials for distribution.

Total cricket related items collected so far: $230,000 cash, two tro-

Allan Mangru

Dennis Mangru

phies, eleven cricket boots, eighteen pairs of batting pads, twenty bats, fourteen pairs of batting gloves, nineteen thigh pads, one pair of wicket-keeping pads, one arm guard, six cricket bags and two helmets.

In addition to the above, $600,000 worth in gear was donated by Sheik Mohamed, former national wicketkeeper/batsman.

To date, thirty-seven young players from all three counties of Guyana have already benefited from the receipt of three junior gear bags, two trophies, one arm guard, fourteen bats, one box, two helmets, ten pairs of cricket shoes, ten pairs of bat-

ting pads, one bat rubber, and twelve pairs of batting gloves. In addition, two clubs in the Pomeroon area have benefited from the re-

Military Police team cops GDF Inter-Unit B/ball Championship title

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he Guyana Defence Force InterUnit Basketball Championship came to a close yesterday following two days of intense competition at the Basketball Court at Base Camp Ayanganna at Thomas Lands, Georgetown.

Seven teams participated in the competition, which saw the Military Police team claiming top hon-

ours. Defence Headquarters placed second, and Coast Guard came in third. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award was earned

by Lance Corporal (LCPL) Devon Fraser, who was part of the winning team.

The other participating teams were 1 Infantry Battalion, Guyana National Reserve, 3 1 Special Forces Squadron, and Training Corps. (GDF)

ceipt of two used bats.

Pomeroon, Leguan and Wakenam Cricket Committees and Cotton Tree Die Hard also received one box of red cricket balls each; while RHCCCC received two, fifteen white cricket shirts, one pair of junior batting pads, one pair of wicketkeeping gloves, and a set of stumps and bails.

Cricket-related items, used or new, will be distributed free of cost to young and promising cricketers in Guyana. Skills, discipline and education are important characteristics of the recipients. Talent-spotting is being done across the country, and club leaders

also assist to identify talent. Progressive and well managed clubs would also benefit.

The owners of this initiative have said, “We take this opportunity to thank Javed and Imran of West Indian Sports Complex, Option Group of USA, Hilbert Foster, Bish Panday of P and P Insurance Brokers, Sean Devers, Trevis Simon, Årïêl J. Tïlkú, Aaron Beharry, Leanna Bachan and Imran Saccoor, Devon Ramnauth, Teddy Singh, Romash Munna, Ravi Etwaroo, Kelvin Brijlall, Ravin Harkishun, Surendra Harkishun, Allan Mangru, Vishal Mahabir,

Sherman Austin, Huburn Evans, Rajendra Sadeo, Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall, Sheik Mohamed of Star Sports Awards and Trophies, Ajay Gainda of Cricket Equipment Guyana, Gajanand Singh, Peter Ramkissoon, Rabindranath Saywack, Roshan Gaffoor, Ameer Rahaman, Chin Singh, Denesh Chandrapaul and Dr Cecil Beharry.

“Thanks to the media for the role they are playing in promoting this venture. Distribution will continue. Anyone interested in contributing can contact Anil Beharry on 623-6875 or Kishan Das on 1 718 664-0896.

Windward Islands crowned champions of Rising Stars U17 tourney

…Guyana places fifth

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HE Windward Islands have been crowned 2022 champions of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Rising Stars Under-17 tournament on Wednesday.

After four rounds of matches, this squad, coached

by Clyde Telesford, finished atop the six-team standings with 17.8 points. Former champions Barbados (14.8 pts) placed second, and Jamaica (14.2 pts) placed third. The hosts TT (12 pts), Guyana (11.6 pts) and Leeward Islands (8.8pts) rounded off the table.

Windward Islands copped the regional title after defeating TT by 28 runs at the National Cricket Centre at Couva on Wednesday. They were the only team to secure three wins from four matches.

The tournament initially was supposed to feature five 50-over matches contested via round-robin format.

However, persistent rainfall washed out the opening two rounds, and the competition schedule was altered to facilitate three 50-over matches and two T20s.

The two sets of T20 matches were scheduled to bowl off on Wednesday, but only the first round got underway. The second set of matches was abandoned because of wet outfields at NCC, Inshan Ali Park, Preysal and Gilbert Park, California.

At the awards ceremony, held on Wednesday night at the Couva Chamber of Commerce building,

Windward Islands wicketkeeper Divonie Joseph was adjudged the tournament’s most valuable player. He also shared the “most dismissals by a wicketkeeper” award with Jamaica’s Trevaun Williams. Each of these cricketers had snapped up seven wickets for their team, with Joseph recording five catches and two stumpings.

TT’s Orlando James won the “Most Catches” accolade for his five successful dismissals in the outfield.

Solomon Bascombe of the Windward Islands earned the “most wickets” accolade with his haul of ten, while Guyana’s Rampertab Ramnauth scored the most runs, 163, at this year’s competition.

On hand to witness the Windward Islands’ crowning were CWI Vice President Dr Kishore Shallow, TT Cricket Board President and CWI member Azim Bassarath, WI Selector Robert Haynes, CWI High Performance Manager Graham West,

Member Arjoon Ramlal, Umpire Peter Nero and SporTT’s Justin LatapyGeorge.

Windward Islands coach Telesford has said he is happy to lift this year’s title. “It was a great one. Whenever you beat teams like TT in their home town, it’s a big feeling. We had our challenges as a team because, you know, we are not all from the same country.

Coming together and having to get our preparations done was difficult for us.

“But to see how we came together here and performed well, we welcome the title.

It’s always good to have a victory. It’s good to be the first post-pandemic champion.

The weather was a challenge and the guys began to get discouraged. But as the weather subsided, the guys built back momentum,” Telesford said.

The feature address was given by Nutrien Global senior advisor, learning and development, Antonia

Lucky, whose message to the youngsters was to pursue their dreams while maintaining their good character and integrity.

And despite the rains which threatened to ruin the tournament, the TT Cricket Board received warm praise for the level of organisation to pull off what was described as a very successful CWI Under-17 Rising Stars tournament.

U17 Rising Stars MVPs * Round One – Divonie Joseph (Windwards); Rampertab Ramnauth (Guyana); Luke Ali (TT) * Round Two – Rampertab Ramnauth (Guyana); Nathan Sealy (Barbados); Brian Barnes (Jamaica) * Round Three – Divonie Joseph (Windwards); Jordan Johnson (Jamaica); Orlando James (TT) * Round Four – Stephan Pascal (Windwards); Jatario Prescod (Barbados); Michael Palmer (Leewards) (TT Newsday)

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GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

WI vs India: T20I Series, Game 1 of 5…

Rohit, Karthik, spinners secure victory for India Change in pace leads to change of momentum

India had raced to 44 inside five overs, but Suryakumar's wicket slowed down the proceedings.

Despite finding a couple of boundaries early on, Rohit struggled to get the ball away. With the odd ball gripping the surface, Hosein and McCoy used that to their advantage, with the latter dismissing Shreyas Iyer for a four-ball duck.

While Rohit got his eye in, Rishabh Pant threw his hands around to get a cou-

ple of fours. Their partnership of 43 off just 25 balls helped Rohit free himself up.

But then India lost Pant and Hardik Pandya - who ramped a Joseph short ball straight to deep third for Joseph’s maiden T20I wicket - in quick succession, to find themselves at 102 for 4 with over eight overs left.

The perfect finish

In the interim, Rohit got to his 27th half-century in T20Is off 35 balls. Just when he started accelerating, he slapped Holder straight to

Keemo Paul and teammates celebrating a wicket

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n the first international game to be played at the Brian Lara Stadium, India's move to go in with three spinners - as opposed to West Indies going in with one - reaped rich dividends, as Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi combined to pick up five of the eight wickets to fall; helping India to a 68-run win in the first T20I of the five-match Series.

Before Friday, T20s at this ground had seen spinners having an economy rate of 6.31, the fourth-lowest among all venues in the West Indies. They averaged 20.91 again the fourth-lowest at any Caribbean venue where spinners have bowled in more than ten innings.

India managed to post a tall 190 for 6 on a seemingly slow surface, thanks to captain Rohit Sharma's half century and Dinesh Karthik's

perfect finishing act of an unbeaten 41 off just 19 balls, before the West Indies' batting was entangled in the web of spin.

Having been put in to bat, Rohit walked out with a new partner, Suryakumar Yadav, the seventh opener for India in T20Is this year.

Suryakumar got going quickly with a four off Obed McCoy in the first over, and then another off Jason Holder in the next. His trademark wristyflick for six over fine leg also made an appearance - debutant Alzarri Joseph bearing the ignominy.

However, Akeal Hosein's introduction had Suryakumar stalling. He was dropped off the first ball from the spinner, before a top edge on the very next ball evaded the bowler running back. However, Hosein had the last laugh in the next

sweeper cover. At 131 for 5 in 15 overs on a track slowing down, India looked on course to finish around the 170-run mark.

But Karthik once again aced in his designated finisher's role to help India get close to 200. He used the crease well to put the bowlers off their lines and lengths.

In the company of Ashwin, he took a toll on the erring Holder and McCoy to help India amass 36 off the last two overs.

Spin to win

In their pursuit of 191, Kyle Mayers got West Indies off to a rapid start, helping them score 11 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's first over, and as many in the first three balls of Arshdeep Singh's over.

However, Arshdeep managed to deceive Mayers with an off-pace short ball to crash-land the chase.

Sent in at #3, Holder couldn't see off Ravindra Jadeja's spin, while Ashwin managed to see the back of the left-handers in Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer.

Ravi Bishnoi then dismissed Rovman Powell and Odean Smith in successive overs to pretty much seal the game. (ESPNCricinfo)

Brooks is cleaned up for 20

over, after Suryakumar's attempted whip resulted in a thick leading edge to short third.

GFF’s Namilco Thunderbolt Flour Power U17 league kicks off in EBFA McCoy started well with ball in hand, while Hetmyer did not return in grand style

SCOREBOARD

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he “NAMILCO THUNDERBOLT FLOUR POWER U17 League” for boys, being staged by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) under sponsorship of the National Milling Company of Guyana (Namilco), will commence next Saturday, July 30, at the National Training Center at Providence, EBD. The partnership continues in line with the Namilco objective of supporting the sustainable development of youths in Guyana, and the competition, which is compulsory for all nine GFF regional associations, commences with the intra-association league in the East Bank Football Association (EBFA).

An exciting match fea-

turing Swan FC opposing the Kuru Kururu Warriors FC commences at 1pm.

In addition, at 3pm, the East Demerara Football Association would commence their Intra Association leg, with Buxton United FC taking on the B/V Triumph United FC right at the GFF National Training Center at Providence.

After the Intra Association phase of the tournament, the best teams in each regional association would compete in a championship round to crown the national champions.

“We are delighted to see the Regional Associations kicking off this tournament under the prevailing challenges that the recent weather pattern has posed. And (we)

continue to be very grateful that NAMILCO, as a brand with a long history of service in Guyana, has come on board again to support this tournament, which is a crucial pillar in our long-term strategy to develop young men who will lead positive, productive lives, and to discover and nurture talented footballers through age-specific programmes,” President Forde has said.

More than 1,000 boys coming from across Guyana have benefited from the GFFNAMILCO “Flour Power” U17 Intra-Association League, and several players have progressed to Guyana’s youth and senior national teams. Those include Omari Glasgow, who recently signed a professional contract with Chicago Fire II.

India Innings Rohit Sharma (c)c Hetmyer b Holder 64 Suryakumar Yadav c Holder b Hosein 24 Shreyas Iyer c Hosein b McCoy 0 Rishabh Pant †c Hosein b Paul 14 Hardik Pandya c McCoy b Joseph 1 Ravindra Jadeja c Paul b Joseph 16 Dinesh Karthik not out 41 Ravichandran Ashwin not out 13 Extras (b 4, lb 4, nb 1, w 8) 17 TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 9.50) 190/6 Fall of wickets: 1-44 (Suryakumar Yadav, 4.4 ov), 2-45 (Shreyas Iyer, 5.5 ov), 3-88 (Rishabh Pant, 9.6 ov), 4-102 (Hardik Pandya, 11.5 ov), 5-127 (Rohit Sharma, 14.5 ov), 6-138 (Ravindra Jadeja, 15.6 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Obed McCoy 4-0-30-1 Jason Holder 4-0-50-1 Akeal Hosein 4-0-14-1 Alzarri Joseph 4-0-46-2 Odean Smith 2-0-18-0 Keemo Paul 2-0-24-1 WEST INDIES INNINGS (Target: 191 runs from 20 overs) Kyle Mayers c Kumar b Arshdeep Singh 15

Shamarh Brooks b Kumar 20 Jason Holder b Jadeja 0 Nicholas Pooran (c)†c †Pant b Ashwin 18 Rovman Powell b Ravi Bishnoi 14 Shimron Hetmyer c Yadav b Ashwin 14 Akeal Hosein b Arshdeep Singh 11 Odean Smith st †Pant b Ravi Bishnoi 0 Keemo Paul not out 19 Alzarri Joseph not out 5 Extras (lb 1, nb 2, w 3) 6 TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 6.10) 122/8 Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Kyle Mayers, 1.3 ov), 2-27 (Jason Holder, 2.6 ov), 3-42 (Shamarh Brooks, 5.2 ov), 4-66 (Nicholas Pooran, 8.2 ov), 5-82 (Rovman Powell, 11.1 ov), 6-86 (Shimron Hetmyer, 12.4 ov), 7-86 (Odean Smith, 13.2 ov), 8-101 (Akeal Hosein, 16.3 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-1-11-1 Arshdeep Singh 4-0-24-2 Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-26-1 Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-22-2 Hardik Pandya 2-0-12-0 Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-26-2

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SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

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Ryan Hercules, Saheed Mohamed appointed Guyana Amazon Warriors' assistant coaches T

he Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise has announced the appointment of Ryan Hercules and Saheed Mohamed as assistant coaches for the 2022 HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season.

With more than 12 years’ experience in coaching, Hercules, a level three-certified coach and former Guyana youth player, is currently Assistant Coach of the Guyana national side, while Mohamed is a senior coach at Everest Cricket Club.

The 46-year-old Mohamed, who holds a level two coaching certificate, has captained the Cayman Islands in a number of 50-over matches,

Ryan Hercules

and has played three T20s for the Cayman. He has a best of 62 not out, is a right-handed batsman, and has taken five wickets.

“I am looking forward

to being part of this season and (working) hard towards the title,” Saheed Mohamed has said. “It is an honour to be part of a tournament of this nature, especially with a

team of this calibre. I am happy to be around a group of young, vibrant and passionate Caribbean players, as well as experienced international players and management staff.”

Dr. Bobby Ramroop, Chairman of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise, has said, “We are happy to have the two coaches joining us on our journey this year.

We think these guys bring a wealth of knowledge in their own aspects, and add value to the side. We wish them well,

Archway Snackette/Restaurant Cycle Race set for August 1

Persaud shatters national record, C table tennis women remain unbeaten Commonwealth Games 2022…

Guyana’s Female Table Tennis team

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t has been a mixed bag of results for the Guyanese contingent competing in Birmingham, England on the first day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

There was a National Swimming record shattered, personal best times registered, a hot streak for the Table Tennis ladies and hard-fought disappointment for members of the Squash team on Friday.

Swimming

16-year-old Aleka Persaud continues to etch her name in Guyanese history, rewriting yet another swimming record. This time, it was the 100m Butterfly.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympian raced to a 1:07.24 win in Heat One of the 100m Butterfly preliminaries, and while her time was not good enough to advance to the next round of competition, it completely demolished the previous 100m Butterfly record, which Persaud had also held.

The previous record was set by a then 14-year-old Persaud at 1:08.53s, at the 2019 CARIFTA Games in Barbados.

According to reports out of Birmingham, Coach Sean Baksh has indicated that the Butterfly is not Persaud’s best event, and as such fireworks are expected from the teenager in the 50M and 100M Freestyle events.

Persaud also holds the national record in those events, with the 50m Freestyle record being 27.65s and the 100m Freestyle record being

1:00.69s.

Meanwhile, Persaud’s colleagues Paul Mahaica Jr. and Shekel Tzedeq have both registered personal best times on Friday. Mahaica’s achievement came in the Men's 50m Butterfly, wherein he finished in 26.88s for 6th place in his heat.

Mahaica’s entry time for the race was 27.00s. And Tzedeq clocked 1:03.37 in his Men’s 100m Backstroke heat, bettering his entry time of 1:03.72s. His time was good enough for third place in the race.

Despite their excellent performances, both these male swimmers have been unable to advance.

Table Tennis

Guyana’s Female Table Tennis Team got off to a splendid start on Friday morning with back-to-back wins against Fiji and South Africa.

As a result of the two victories, the team, comprising Chelsea Edghill, Natalie Cummings, Priscilla Greaves and Thuraia Thomas, have secured their place in the Round of 16, but will play top-seeded India in their final group match.

The Women’s team defeated Fiji 3-0 and South Africa 3-2. However, the Men’s team was not as fortunate, suffering two tough blows on Friday.

First, the Men’s team, comprising Shemar Britton, Christopher Franklin, Jonathan Van Lange and Joel Alleyne, suffered a 3-0

Shomari Wiltshire and his opponent, Ravindu Laksiri

defeat at the hands of home team England.

Later in the day, the team fought harder to pull two games back against Bangladesh, but eventually lost 3-2.

The Men will play their final group game against Fiji today.

Squash

For the sport of Squash, the Round of 64 Men’s and Women’s Singles commenced on Friday, and Guyana did not find much fortune in either.

Ashley Khalil was valiant in her encounter against Yeheni Kuruppu of Sri Lanka, but eventually lost 3-2 to her opponent.

The story was similar for Shomari Wiltshire, who also met with a Sri Lankan opponent. Though Wilshire was able to pull one back, Ravindu Laksiri enjoyed a 3-1 victory over the Guyanese.

For what to expect today from the Guyanese athletes at the Commonwealth Games, Patrice Mahaica and Aleka Persaud will hit the pool for the Women’s 50M freestyle heats. Patrice will compete in Heat 3, while Persaud will feature in Heat 6.

In squash, Mary FungA-Fat is scheduled to take on Kaitlyn Watts of New Zealand in the Women’s Singles Round of 32.

Meanwhile, Keevin Allicock will trade punches with Kenya’s Nicholas Okongo Okoth in a Round of 32 featherweight bout.

Saheed Mohamed

and look forward to a successful season.”

The 2022 men’s Hero CPL tournament will take place from 31 August to 30 September. The host countries for 2022 will be St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana.

In 2022, there will be the first running of the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), which will feature Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders. The WCPL will take place in St Kitts & Nevis from 31 August to 4 September.

ycling action will take centre stage in the ancient county of Berbice on Monday, August 1, when the Archway Snackette/ Restaurant Cycle Race is staged.

The race will pedal off from the Arch in Rose Hall Town, Corentyne and head to New Amsterdam, before racing along the Corentyne Highway towards the Number 51 Police Station, from where it would turn back to head to Rose Hall Town to be concluded before the Arch.

The cyclists would be seeking to transform the Corentyne Highway into their playfield.

Starting time is promptly at 8:00h local time.

This race will feature some of the country's finest cyclists, and returning National Champion Romello

Crawford is expected to command a presence therein.

Briton John, who has been in top form since his return to Guyana, and has already clinched a win in Berbice, would expectedly be aiming to extend his dominance there.

Berbician Andre "Padlock" Green, who has consistently been among the top five finishers for most of the races this season, would also be gunning for top honours.

There are more than $600,000 in cash prizes on offer, with the top senior rider bagging $100,000. The second-place finisher would bag $30,000, while the third-place senior would receive $25,000.

A total of six finishers in the “seniors” category would receive monetary awards, while the top three “veterans Open”, “veterans Over-50”, “Juniors”, and “Ladies” would

Briton John showed his class in a recent race in Berbice

also be awarded. A total of ten sprint prizes would be up for grabs.

The second annual Endurance race is set for August 28 in Georgetown. It would be held on the outer circuits of the National Park.

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022

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

Ryan Hercules, Saheed Mohamed appointed Guyana Amazon Warriors' assistant coaches Page 22

Page 23

Persaud shatters national record, table tennis Rohit, Karthik, spinners secure women remain victory for India unbeaten Rohit Sharma scored a fine half-century

WI vs India: T20I Series, Game 1 of 5…

Aleka Persaud has claimed yet another national record

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