Guyana Times - Saturday, November 12, 2022

12 homes damaged as storms hit Regions 6, 7 & 8

Twelve families have been affected as a result of storms that have caused flooding and damage to their homes.

According to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), one resident in Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) reported that on Tuesday evening their property was damaged when high winds impacted the roof, causing it to col lapse almost entirely.

There was a thunder storm that affected the en tire Region and also Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) on Tuesday evening.

The CDC has since sent a team who conducted a damage assessment of the property.

Meanwhile, Kato and North Pakaraimas, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), a storm comprising of heavy rainfall and strong winds

impacted 11 homes.

The CDC said residents there have reported dam ages to household struc ture. Regional officials have reportedly conduct ed an assessment and re layed that information to the CDC. As a result, the Commission has prepared relief items such as ham mocks, blankets, clothing, tarpaulin, water contain

ers, buckets and disinfec tant, which would be dis patched to the region as soon as possible, the CDC said in a release.

In Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) at the border community of Eteringbang, reports com ing out of the community indicate that water levels have risen significantly in the last 72 hours and have affected structures on the river bank. Residents there have since report edly put adaptive mea sures in place. However, Regional officials say if the water levels increase, they will need assistance.

The CDC says as per its mandate, it will continue to assess, monitor, and ren der aid where necessary.

The National Weather Watch Center has predict ed that more rains will oc cur during the weekend, especially along the coast land, and Regions Seven and 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice) residents are be ing urged to remain cau tious and safe and to report any impacts to local authorities or the National Emergency Monitoring System (NEMS) on 2261114 or 600-7500 at any time.

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Saturday, November 12 –08:30h-09:30h and Sunday, November 13 – no retraction.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Saturday, November 12 –06:35h-08:05h and Sunday, November 13 – 07:10h-08:40h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Light rain showers are expected throughout the day and into the evening hours. Temperatures should range between 21 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

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

High Tide: 06:20h and 18:28h reaching maximum heights of 2.43 metres and 2.53 metres.

Low Tide: 12:03h reaching a minimum height of 0.82 metre.

President expresses disappointment over lack of action by Private Sector in taking

advantage of business opportunities

The Private Sector in Guyana came under fire from President Dr Irfaan Ali, who admonished stake holders for not taking full ad vantage of the business oppor tunities that Government has unlocked especially with inter national partners.

He was at the time ad dressing the opening of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Development Forum 2022 at the Pegasus Corporate Center in Georgetown on Friday. The event is be ing held under the theme: “Your Roadmap to Business Development” and it is geared at providing a platform for dia logue on various topics regard ing the growth of businesses ir respective of their size.

The Head of State ex pressed his disappointment with the lack of action by the Private Sector to tap into the various opportunities being presented. He noted that while Government had the responsi bility of unlocking and opening up opportunities, it was up to the Private Sector to capitalise on them.

“So, we just had UKIF (United Kingdom Investment Fund) here. UKIF is going to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars of investments here. UKIF financing does not come with a 100 per cent UK input, it comes with 20 per cent UK input. And they met with the Private Sector… You’re talking about supplies, and building a new supply chain of goods. How much of us will approach UKIF?

“At pains, we brought a Saudi Business Investor Group ready to form partnership. We were not ready with one sin gle feasibility study or business plan to present… The Korean Group came, we were not ready with one business plan or fea sibility study to present,” the President stated.

He went on to point to the US$100 million made available by Republic Bank Limited, through Caricom’s Sustainability Agriculture Credit Facility, for investments in the agricultural sector in the Region. The Head of State noted only a mere five propos als, which were piloted by him, have been submitted to access this financing.

“They have five propos als… all driven by President of Guyana from the Private Sector here. Not one single Private Sector entity came up with a feasibility study or pro posal ready to present after the announcement of that special window,” he contended.

These remarks by President Ali on Thursday were made af ter GCCI President Timothy Tucker spoke about issues fac ing business development in Guyana such as access to fi nancing.

Collective responsibility

In a further comment, the Head of State noted that he was nonetheless pleased that the Private Sector and the Government could iden tify challenges “and work on a stream of measures to ensure the highest levels of efficiency in

Government, and the strength ening of the Private Sector to be robust enough to not only con front the challenges ahead but to do so successfully.”

He reiterated that the Government was prepared to provide the technical support, training and development to strengthen capacity, especially among small and medium sized businesses.

“We must share collective responsibility and burdens in achieving success.”

Access to finance

According to Tucker, the GCCI has been at the forefront of advocating for improved ac cess to finance in the country since it is the only way that Guyanese businesses can ad equately utilise the Local Content Act to their benefit.

“We must have access to fi nance to be able to play a sig nificant role in the oil and gas

sector and to realise our true potential of being the engine of growth …The President, Minister of Finance, the Private Sector have all called for better access to finance. We’ve looked at it. We’ve done surveys. The GCCI partnered with CLBD (Centre for Local Business Development) and did a sur vey, there is a need in the next 12 months for over US$112 mil lion by 450 companies that re sponded to that survey… So, I just want to say the banks need to get up off of their tush and get to work because we real ly need access to finance,” the GCCI President stressed.

But while acknowledging that accessing financing at lo cal banks was indeed a hum bug, President Ali, nonetheless, insisted that the Private Sector needed to be more proactive. To this end, he offered to put mech anisms in place to help locals prepare their business plans so

that they were in a better posi tion to capitalise on opportuni ties for financing.

“It’s easy to do a survey… how many of that 400-plus businesses that are ready for financing has a business plan and feasibility plan ready to be financed, I guarantee you is less than 15 per cent or 20 per cent... I am ready as your President to help put together a team to write those business planning feasibility studies for you. And once it pass the test, send peo ple with you to the banks to ne gotiate… You see you are push ing at open doors,” the Head of State noted.

In fact, President Ali charged Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh to put together six professionals at the two-day Business Development Forum and work along with persons on their feasibility study or busi ness proposal plans.

“I’m going to put [Republic Bank] on the spot. I’m going to put GBTI on the spot. I’m going to put Demerara Bank and all the others on the spot. And say to them, we’re going to get those feasibility studies and we’re go ing to form a team that the Minister of Finance will lead with you, and take you to the banks to present the proposals. Let’s walk this walk now,” the Guyanese Leader posited.

On the other hand, the GCCI has announced that at the end of the Forum, $300,000 will be given to a successful small business, for which the plan has to be submitted to the Chamber.

The Business Development Forum, which concludes to day, also has an exhibition. ExxonMobil Guyana is the main sponsor. (G8)

President Dr Irfaan Ali joins GCCI President Timothy Tucker, ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge and other officials on Friday to declare the Business Development Forum 2022 open at the Pegasus Corporate Center

Editor: Tusika Martin

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Mental health, suicide prevention

The issues of mental health and suicide prevention, two topics which were categorised as ‘taboo’ in many cultures, are now being openly discussed in Guyana.

Much credit must be given to the authors and organisers of the upcoming four-day mental health well-being conference, which is much needed in our context.

Certainly, we urge that all persons interested in mental health, suicide prevention and related issues attend the conference.

In September, just one month after its passage in the National Assembly, President Dr Irfaan Ali signed the Mental Health Protection and Promotion Act 2022 into law.

The Mental Health Protection and Promotion Act, which was passed on August 10, 2022, paves the way for mental health services to be more accessible to Guyanese.

As part of the Bill, the Government is now required to give mental health patients access to care.

In his presentation on the Bill, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony had said that local statistics show that 15-20 per cent of Guyanese have a form of mental health illness – mild, severe or acute.

This newspaper has had several editorials wherein it was pointed out that much discussion has been had locally about the mental health of citizens. While in many instances the topic was categorised as ‘taboo’ in many cultures, it came to the fore as the COVID-19 pandemic took centre stage all around the world. It is well known that the pandemic has taken a severe toll on the mental wellbeing of persons all over the world.

For example, the initial challenges of dealing with the lockdown measures and the fear of being infected with the virus, or having to deal with the death of a loved one, have caused tremendous stress and anxiety on many. All of this is added to the economic pressures that are brought on due to persons not being able to go out and work to support themselves and families.

Due to the lack of resources, many countries are unable to mount the kind of response that is needed to address the mental health challenges of their populations, or are forced to scale back the level of response needed due to other areas competing for scarce resources.

As Hamlet had stated in his writings, “I have of late – but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory…”

Depression is part of the human condition, and Hamlet’s description of its symptoms matches those in a modern medical textbook. The categorisation has become more precise, the treatments more advanced, but the illness is still badly understood and its consequences are often hidden. Depression remains, if not a source of shame, then at least bewilderment to those who suffer from it, and those around them. Yet it is on the increase, neurotic disorders affecting one in six adults at some point in their lives. Society, and medical science, needs a better response.

Back in 2010, UK Journalist and the Guardian’s Head of Special Projects, who led a team of Journalists investigating international trends and issues, Mark Rice-Oxley, wrote powerfully of his “decline from unremarkable working dad of three to stranded depressive sitting on the floor doing simple jigsaws”.

His shock was not just at the crushing effect of a condition that seemed to come from nowhere, but the confusion about how to overcome it.

The truth is that medical advances have controlled many diseases, but depression in its different forms is either becoming more common or being detected more often – and perhaps both. Pharmaceutical treatments, while restricted in their effectiveness, are being used much more widely.

However, part of the challenge is defining what it feels like to be depressed. The term has such a wide common meaning that it can be used to cover anything, from passing grief to long-term illness. The Royal College of Psychiatrists lists typical symptoms: feeling utterly tired; feeling useless, inadequate and hopeless; and feeling unhappy most of the time being among them. But there can be no medical exactitude to an illness experienced in different degrees and different ways by different people – only that you know it when it comes.

The human mind is the most extraordinary and least understood part of the body, the source of joy and creativity. It can also, as Hamlet knew, create the horror of depression: “This brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.”

Equity is foundational to Govt’s policies, programmes

Dear Editor,

The incessant cries by PNCR oper atives and some opposition elements over alleged racial discrimination in allocations of state’s resources could

to skin colour. Guyana is a democra cy based on constitutional rule, and it subscribes to the various UN con ventions on freedoms and individ ual rights. The country’s stratifica

fuzzy minds of critics.

The evidence is abundant: Guyana is on the track of equity (fairness). There is still some distance to trav el on this path, but it is in the right direction. The Government’s posi tion is that development must touch all Guyanese. This is encapsulated in its philosophy of “One Guyana.” Accordingly, the Dr Irfaan Ali Government has established sever al projects, such as on infrastructure (roads, bridges), housing, land titles, jobs and education, that reflect equi ty (fairness).

Two of the most powerful tools of empowerment are housing and ed ucation. Owning an asset like land and a house is crucial for a person’s/ family’s self-worth and self-fulfill ment. While the PPPC Government inherited, in 2020, a huge backlog of 70,000 house lot applications, its

hardly find support in available ev idence. Recycling the old cliché: “Govt must avoid repeating the fun damental mistakes that led to jus tifying the oppression of Africans”, does not enhance the Guyanese peo ple’s understanding or edification of the PPPC Government’s pursuit of equity. What would satisfy people’s heightened social consciousness are rationality and evidence.

The claim that the PPPC Government is creating an “apart heid” state is astonishing. Invoking this system and trying to apply it to Guyana is dangerous, self-serv ing, and devoid of reason and schol arship. Apartheid is an institu tional system based on convoluted values and an ideology of racial su periority/inferiority, which regu lates social stratification according

tion system is determined mainly by open market forces, and not by ex ecutive fiat and authoritarian rule, which are central to apartheid. This obnoxious system exists only in the

leaders insist that they will meet their 50,000-manifesto target by 2025.

Prime Minister Brigadier (retired) Mark Phillips joined hundreds of Guyanese on Main Street, Georgetown on Friday evening to participate in the annual Courts’ Christmas Light-up hosted by the Unicomer Group (Office of the Prime Minister photo)

Ownership documents for Kwakwani house lots to be ready by 2023 – Croal

…waterfront residents engaged on relocation

Residents of Kwakwani were on Friday en gaged on the issue of relocation and the issuance of ownership documents by Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal and a team of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA).

This meeting was geared at engaging residents on the regularisation of two areas that were allocated. Several years ago, some 162 house lots were allocated by the Ministry, and this was fol lowed by the distribution of another 176 lots. However, no ownership documents in the form of title or transport were ever issued.

As such, Minister Croal has committed that, by the end of February 2023, this is sue would be resolved. The Minister told residents that the area would be resurveyed and the map gazette, as this would further guide the pro cess of signing up for titles.

Residents are also be ing engaged in the Ministry's joint plan with the Natural Resources Ministry for re

location of persons living at the Kwakwani Waterfront. Croal has noted that the Government is committed to working with all Guyanese to improve the quality of their lives.

Earlier this year, Minister Croal was in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), where he highlighted sever al development projects that his Ministry was working to wards to the benefit of the people. This included the de velopment of 600 acres of land which was expected to produce 2000 house lots for Lindeners.

Simultaneous work was also being executed for the delivery of land titles and transports, coupled with the relocation and regularisa tion programmes under the Ministry.

Other benefits for the re gion included new thorough fares such as the incom ing Linden-to-Mabura Hill Road; academic opportunities through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), and the creation of hundreds of jobs. (G12)

Equity is foundational to Govt’s policies...

Minister Susan Rodrigues says that the Government is committed to equity in house lot distribution, and the data provided by the Prime Minister on the first 11,000 house lot allocations are sup ported by the Minister’s po sition. Afro-Guyanese have a house lot allocation rate of 19.98 per 1,000 population and Indo-Guyanese have a rate of 15.46 per 1,000, while for Mixed and Others, there is a rate of 5.63 per 1,000 population. Also, the Government has initiated 37 housing schemes nation ally that reflect the ethnic and regional diversity of the country.

On the question of eq uity, one would recall that in Region 5 (West Coast Berbice), the PNCR coalition seized legally titled lands from Afro-Guyanese farm ers, and it was left to Mr. Anil Nandlall to fight to re store those lands to the 50 farmers through the Court system. Was this a classic case where the PNCR coali tion discriminated against their own supporters?

Beyond this case, Mr. Nandlall, in his capaci ty as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, is leading an initiative to sort out land titling and African ancestral land issues in Regions 5 and 4. “We are do ing regularization now for

FROM PAGE 4

Afro-Guyanese villages in Berbice, where residents are going to get titles for land that they are living on for centuries since slavery.” The PNCR regimes (of 1964-1992 and 2015-2020) never regu larised those lands.

Another powerful empow erment tool is education. The Guyana Government knows that one of the quickest ways to develop the country is through the strengthen ing of its education system. Accordingly, one approach has been the grant of 6,000 GOAL scholarships that cov er all disciplines and at all levels, in the first batch allo cation. Mr. Aaron Pires con ducted a content analysis and found equity in the allo cation. Afro-Guyanese have a rate of 10.69 per 1,000 vs 8.07 per 1,000 for IndoGuyanese and 5.46 per 1,000 for Mixed and Others. Space would not allow for the pre sentation of more data on eq uity.

While discrimination of any kind is repulsive, alle gations by Opposition po litical operatives must be founded on evidence (empir icism) and not based on po lemics and platitudes. The Government's foundational principle is equity (fairness) in the allocation of resources.

Sincerely, Dr Tara Singh

Kwakwani residents engaged at the meeting

Foundation

Landing on Mars

Imagine this: your rover is approaching Mars, going at high speed and you need to land it gently on the surface of the Red Planet, with the spacecraft and all of its equipment safe and sound. The atmosphere on Mars is very thin, so it doesn’t help slow the rover down much. Supplies

• Heavyweight paper or card stock cut into 8-inch triangle

• Hole puncher

• 2 large paper clips

• 4 lengths of string, each 18-24 inches long (longer strings for a higher drop point)

• 12” x 12” piece of newspaper

• 12” x 12” piece of cloth

• 12” x 12” piece of plastic wrap or plastic trash bags

• Adhesive tape or packing tape

• Consistently-sized small plastic toy vehicles, crayons, or larger rubber erasers

• Stopwatch, clock with a second hand, or timer on cell phone

• Notepad, pen or pencil

Let’s get started! In this challenge, you will explore which material makes the best parachute for a slow, soft landing of a Mars lander. First, build the lander with the triangle cut from

heavyweight paper. Take one of the triangle corners and fold it over so that its point is in the middle of the triangle’s other side. Crease the fold well, then unfold it. Repeat with the two re maining corners. Use the hole punch to create one hole near the tip of each point. This is your lander!

Next, place the small toy vehicle, crayon or large eraser (the “payload” or scientific equipment) in the lander. Insert the paper clip through the three punched holes to form a little carrier.

Then, gather the four strings and tie together in a knot at one end. Attach a large paper clip to the knotted end.

The newspaper, cloth, and plastic wrap are your test parachutes. Predict which material will create the slowest landing and write it down in your notepad.

Choose one material for the first test run and tape the ends of each string to a corner of the test parachute — being careful not to tangle up the strings.

Finally, attach the lander to the parachute by in terlocking the two paper clips. Now you’re ready to test things out!

Find a high place — stairwell, balcony, edge of a deck — to toss your lander and time it to see how long it takes to reach the ground. Record the observations in your notepad.

Repeat with the two other parachute materials. You can also do this experiment using raw eggs in the lander, instead of plastic toy vehicles, crayons, or erasers. This will also test how soft the landings really are! Warning: it can get messy, so use a drop cloth to catch any broken eggs. (startwithabook.org)

CONTINUED FROM THURSDAY

By The BroThers Grimm

Can you think of anything that might slow down a Mars lander to make it safe for landing? A parachute does the trick! It opens up after the lander enters the Mars atmosphere, catches air as it floats, creating drag (working against the downward pull of gravity) — that slows down the landing.

Chief Justice orders Ramps Logistics be issued with Local Content Certificate by Monday

…says Local Content Act lacks regulations, rules

April for a Local Content Certificate was not only “un lawful, unreasonable, and arbitrary”, but breached the Local Content Act 2021. The application was refused by Minister Bharrat.

By Feona Morrison

Finding that Ramps Logistics (Guyana), whose holding com pany is Trinidadian, has met all the requirements for Local Content certification, acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, on Friday or dered the Director of the Local Content Secretariat, Martin Pertab, to certi fy the company by noon on Monday, November 14. Pertab, who was at the Zoom hearing, was warned by Justice George that he would be held in contempt of court and fined if he failed to comply with her orders.

In September, the com pany filed judicial re view proceedings against Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, the Local Content Secretariat, Pertab, and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC (the respon dents) over the decision to deny it a Local Content Certificate.

In its application, Ramps Logistics said that it was a “Guyanese compa ny” and contended that the Government's June 8 deci sion to refuse its applica tion that was submitted in

Justice George deliv ered her brief oral ruling on Friday, about two hours af ter she wrapped up hearing arguments in the matter. She held that the respon dents had fallen woefully short of countering the com pany’s application for judi cial review. Besides find ing that Minister Bharrat had no authority under the Local Content Act to decide whether to grant or refuse certification, she found that Pertab considered irrelevant matters in deciding to refuse the company’s application. The irrelevant factors she alluded to include the crim inal charges against Ramps Logistics for making false declarations to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) which were instituted in October, several months af ter the company submitted its application.

Particulars of the charges stated that between 2021 and 2022, at GRA’s Camp Street, Georgetown headquarters, the company made several false declara tions for consideration of a customs officer, on an appli cation presented for tax ex emption on items.

Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, who appeared on be half of the respondents, con ceded that Ramps Logistics had indeed met the require ments for registration in the Local Content register. According to him, after the company resubmitted its ap plication, that application was, however, halted pend ing the hearing and deter mination of those criminal charges.

While the law does not stipulate that a criminal

charge is a ground upon which a company can be re fused certification, Hawke argued that considering this goes towards the company’s conduct especially since, the allegations levelled against Ramps Logistics involved tax evasion.

He said that not being Local Content certified did not prevent the company from operating in the oil and gas sector, but rather just limited what it could and could not do.

The Chief Justice (ag), however, questioned the Local Content Secretariat’s rationale for refusing to grant the company the cer tificate. “It’s just a charge; it hasn’t been proven,” she told Hawke while remind ing him of the presumption of innocence principle in the Constitution of Guyana.

Justice George reasoned that the company could not be denied a Local Content Certificate on a basis that was not set out in the Local Content Act and given the above constitutional param eters.

According to her, the Local Content law provides a simple regime for registra

tion once a company satisfies the criteria. After reviewing the relevant documents sub mitted by Ramps Logistics, the acting Chief Justice said that the company has sat isfied all the requirements and pre-conditions required by the law, in this case – be ing a Guyanese company –for the issuance of the cer tificate.

“There is no evidence submitted by the respon dents to counter the infor mation provided by [Ramps Logistics] which I have con cluded satisfies the require ments of the Local Content Act. Mr Pertab from his Affidavit in Defence refers to a Form C—a list of require ments that have no statu tory basis. He also refers to charges by the Guyana Revenue Authority which are irrelevant to the deter mination of an application under the Local Content Act,” held Justice George.

Lacks regulations, rules

Justice George observed the Local Content Act “may be deficient” as “it has no reg ulations or rules whatsoev er”, which, she emphasised, were needed to prevent arbi trary decision-making.

The Solicitor General as sured that these deficiencies in the law will be looked at.

Considering her findings, Justice George declared that the Local Content Secretariat breached the

Local Content Act when it refused to grant the compa ny certification.

As a “Guyanese com pany”, the Chief Justice further declared, Ramps Logistics was entitled to be issued with a certificate and to be entered into the Local Content register and conse quently granted an order of certiorari quashing Minister Bharrat’s June 8 decision.

Ramps Logistics (Guyana) CEO Shaun Rampersad

Director of Local Content Secretariat, Martin Pertab

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat

Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, SC

2 remanded on gun possession, narco-trafficking charges

Two East Coast Demerara (ECD) men were remanded to prison af ter they were arraigned for pos session of an illegal firearm and pos session of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking charges on Friday.

Vishal Raghoo, also known as Kevin, 21, a construction worker of Enterprise, ECD, was arrested on Thursday, and charged on Friday with the offence of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

This is contrary to Section 5 (1)(a)(i) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Chapter 10:10.

Raghoo appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court, where he de nied the charge. He was released on $10,000 and the case was adjourned to December 23, 2022.

He was also slapped with a charge of possession of a firearm without li cence, contrary to Section 16 (2) (a) of the Firearm Act Chapter 16:05. He de nied that charge too.

The defendant was denied bail for

that offence, and that case too would be called again on December 23.

Meanwhile, Jomal Flavious, a ven dor of Dazzel Housing Scheme, ECD, and also of Britton Street, Plaisance, ECD, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with the offence of possession

of narcotics for the purpose of traffick ing.

He appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Alyesha George, and denied the of fence. He was remanded to prison. The case will continue on December 12. (G9)

Power...

…to the grid

Step by step, we’re finally moving towards securing electrical power cheaply enough to facilitate our manufacturing sector to take off. If nothing else, the war in Ukraine should’ve opened our eyes to the critical importance of cheap energy. It runs those factories competitively, producing the goods that provide employment, while bringing in forex. Imagine, when the Nordstrom gas pipeline from Russia was sabotaged, the powerful German industrial juggernaut was brought to its knees!! Forget everything you heard – it’s cheap energy that makes the world go round!

But here, in our dear mudland - where Britain refused to build even a single sugar refinery for the product that we slaved to produce - some are protesting the construction of a power plant that would HALVE the cost of our electricity!! And the gas to run the generators for the 200MW will be FREE, since it’ll be produced as a byproduct from our offshore oil fields. Now, if we want to bring that gas ashore to the generating plant, don’t we have to run a pipeline?? Yet there are protests about the pipeline!!

And if you’re going to bring the gas ashore, and you have excess over what it’ll take to run the Power Plant, doesn’t it make sense to liquify that excess so that it can be sold –whether to the Guyanese public to cook their food, or to industries that can convert it to plastics, or fertilizers, or the hundreds of products that are produced from natural gas?? Wouldn’t these also create jobs?? But no!! We have the woke brigade who’d save the planet while dooming us to poverty by not using the “gas in the hand” for our development. Even as the countries that are ALREADY developed are returning to coal – the most polluting fuel on planet earth!! And our pollution wouldn’t just be a comparative piddling amount, but we’d still be net carbon negative – meaning we’d absorb more carbon than we’d emit!!

Anyhow, the Luddites’ – those who’d stop technological progress to have us live like “noble savages”! – final argument is the cost would be too high. Too high as compared to what?? Are they factoring the positive externalities mentioned above that would come from the project?? Isn’t this gonna give us the kickstart to diversify our economy to balance our agricultural thrust?? And in any case, we wouldn’t be taking any debt for the pipeline, since it would be financed by Exxon from the revenues and expensed. It’s like getting an interest-free loan that doesn’t even show up on your balance sheet!!

And the amount?? As Pres Ali explained, since it would be determined by a transparent bidding process, it would be the cheapest available in the world!! Go gas!!

…to the people

The world has taken centuries to get democracy accepted as the dominant form of government. After all, as that arch imperialist Churchill had to concede, “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried”!! And how democracy works is by political parties putting their plans for the country in a manifesto, and convincing the majority of voters that THEIR plans would benefit them better than the others’ plans.

So, when the winning party get into office, they should execute their plans!! And if successful, more will select them in the next elections. No secret here, is it?? But amazingly, as the PPP Government try to do just that, the PNC in Opposition incredulously insist they mustn’t develop villages that had voted for them in the past!!

Well, this confounded nonsense must stop!! And it can only be stopped by the residents of those villages announcing clearly that development is their right!!

As is which party they vote for!!

…to say no!

It’s clear that, in Guyana, men don’t accept that when a woman says, “No”, it means no!! And that she has the power to say no under ANY circumstance – even in marriage!!

The religious bodies gotta get with the programme!!

Remanded: Jomal Flavious Remanded: Vishal Raghoo

Suspended APNU/AFC MPs Nandlall, Forde clash over High Court’s jurisdiction to hear case

to rule on December 8

Justice Damone Younge is slated to rule on December 8 on whether the High Court has jurisdic tion to hear the case filed by eight APNU/AFC Members of Parliament (MPs) who are challenging their sus pension from the National Assembly. Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones, Ganesh Mahipaul, Sherod Duncan, Natasha SinghLewis, Annette Ferguson, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and Maureen Philadelphia (the appli cants) were, in July, offi cially suspended for breach ing the National Assembly’s Standing Orders by partici pating in the infamous grab bing of the Speaker’s Mace — the most significant sym bol in the National Assembly – and for disrupting the sitting of the National Assembly on December 29, 2021, during their protest against the second and third readings of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Bill.

At a hearing on Friday, Justice Younge heard argu ments from lawyers for the applicants and the three re spondents, namely Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC; House Speaker Manzoor Nadir; and Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, on the pre liminary issue of jurisdic tion.

Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, Selwyn Pieters, and Khemraj Ramjattan are rep resenting the applicants, while Nandlall is among the battery of attorneys for the respondents.

Clash

In his address to the court, Nandlall submit ted that it is clear and com mon ground that the ap plicants’ case challenges a resolution passed by the National Assembly, a re port of the Parliamentary Sessional Select Committee of Privileges, a Privilege Motion passed by the National Assembly, and cer tain ancillary and incidental matters arising therefrom and in relation thereto.

Considering this, he said, it cannot be disputed that the applicants’ application contests “what can be de scribed as the internal pro ceedings of Parliament/ the National Assembly.”

For centuries, he con tended, this compendium of privileges has amalgamat ed to imbue Parliament with a power to regulate its own proceedings, including a power to discipline its mem bers without interference or review by any authority oth er than Parliament itself.

According to the Senior Counsel, these principles and doctrines were inher ited by colonies of Great Britain, including Guyana, and upon independence, with the advent of a writ ten Constitution that was self-declared to be supreme, they became subject to that Constitution.

“Significantly, the Constitution expressly codi fied, and thereby preserved, these principles and doc trines. Article 165 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana pro vides as follows: (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the National Assembly may regulate its own procedure, and may make rules for that pur pose,” the Attorney General outlined in his oral argu ments.

Nandlall said, too, that it is common ground that the National Assembly makes rules for that purpose, as constitutionally prescribed, and those rules are called Standing Orders. Standing Orders, he pointed out, are not legislation, either pri mary or subsidiary, but con stitute the network of rules by which Parliament is gov erned procedurally. He add ed that Standing Orders, unlike laws, are not de bated in the legislature, and are not passed by the Parliament in the exercise of its legislative function, pursuant to Article 65 (1) of the Constitution, which states: “Subject to the pro visions of this Constitution, Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good governance of Guyana.”

“Standing Orders are further not assented by His Excellency the President, and are not gazetted as laws are required to be under the Constitution. Further, Standing Orders are not con

templated within the mean ing of ‘written law’, pursu ant to the Interpretation and General Clauses Act [which] provides in Section 5 (1): ‘written laws mean the constitutional instruments, Acts of Parliament, subsid iary legislation and applied laws…”

For all these reasons, a breach of the Standing Orders and their enforce ment does not attract the ju risdiction of the courts, as the function of the courts is to interpret and apply laws, Nandlall argued. He therefore contended that Standing Orders are to be interpreted and enforced by the Speaker of the National Assembly, and by the National Assembly and no other authority.

Forde, on the other hand, contended that the respon dents have failed to estab lish that the court does not have jurisdiction to try the matter. By filing an appli cation under Article 153 (1) of the Constitution, seeking constitutional relief on the ground that their constitu tional rights have been con travened, Forde submitted, the High Court, by Article 153 (2) of the Constitution, is conferred with original jurisdiction to hear the pro ceedings.

“It is submitted that Articles 153 (1) and par ticularly 153 (2) of the Constitution clearly con fer jurisdiction on the High Court to hear and deter mine any application made by a person in pursuance of the preceding paragraph,” Forde told Justice Younge.

He said the jurisdic tion of the High Court un der Article 153 is activat ed whenever a proceeding is filed raising the contra vention of a fundamental right. “Equally, the High Court’s jurisdiction is acti vated whenever a proceed ing is filed to the High Court raising the contravention of a human right enshrined in the International Treaties set out in the Fourth Schedule, and requires the Court to determine wheth er the Legislature operated

and upheld such rights.”

Citing a plethora of case laws, Forde submitted that, beyond the Caribbean, courts have also recognised that they can question the decision of the legislature (Parliament).

Findings

The decision to sus pend the eight APNU/ AFC MPs was made by the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges. Following inves tigations, the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges de

livered its report in mid-Ju ly, recommending the sus pension of the eight MPs for violating Standing Orders and established cus toms and practices regard ing acceptable behaviour of Parliamentarians. The Committee of Privileges was tasked with considering a Privilege Motion which stat ed that the eight Opposition Members, in attempting to prevent the second and third readings of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Bill, had conducted themselves

in a gross, disorderly, con tumacious and disrespect ful manner, and had repeat edly ignored the authority of the National Assembly and that of the Speaker, there by committing contempt and breaches of privileges.

According to the Committee’s report, its recommendations were based on video recordings, statements by staff of the Parliament Office and the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), eyewitness accounts by other Members of the National Assembly, media reporters, and the public, both locally and in ternationally.

The eight suspended APNU/AFC Members of Parliament

…Judge

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC

Roysdale Forde, SC

Mabaruma Hospital upgraded to smart facility – Health Minister

Works effected on the Mabaruma Hospital in Region One (Barima-Waini), to up grade it to a smart facility, have been completed. Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony informed on Friday that the Mabaruma Hospital is now operational, but its official commissioning is pending.

The smart hospital concept comes under a Gy$835 million fund pro

vided by the former United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), and has been imple mented by the Pan American Health Organization’s Department of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief in a collaboration with the Health Ministry.

“We have complet ed the smart hospital at Mabaruma, and we have to set a date when we will of

ficially open it. This was a project that we’ve done with funding from the UK Government and supervised by the Pan American Health Organization…,” Minister Dr Anthony explained.

“We are doing five proj ects; Lethem, Diamond, Leonora have all been com pleted. We have started working back at these fa cilities. At Mabaruma, they are operational again, but

we have to do the official re opening,” Dr Anthony in formed.

Having been subjected to works estimated to have cost approximately $16.7 million (US$800,000), the Mabaruma Hospital now features a new Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department, a renovated Recovery Room, a state-ofthe-art Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a refurbished kitch en, a Sterilisation Room, and two surgical theatres.

The Guyana Defence Force is executing the con tract on the Paramakatoi Hospital, the last hospital that is slated for this up grade. Works are expected to be completed in one month’s time. Once completed, all five hospitals would have been upgraded to smart hos

pitals.

“Paramakatoi was the last one. We were having difficulties to get a contrac tor because of the remote ness of the area and the challenges to get building materials onto the site. The GDF had agreed to do this contract, and we have con tracted them to do the con struction,” Dr Anthony ex plained.

The “smart hospital” ini tiative links structural and operational safety with di saster resilience, while maintaining a green status in operations.

Works at the Diamond Diagnostic facility were completed in April to the tune of US$984,439, and the hospital can now provide emergency services, obstet rics, gynaecology, surgeries,

paediatrics, orthopaedics, and pharmacy and laborato ry services, among other ser vices. The building has been redesigned to use less elec tricity and water, and oth er retrofitting reduces its di saster vulnerabilities. The other hospitals will see simi lar upgrades.

Government plans to in ject a whopping $73 billion into the healthcare sector for the year 2022. There are several larger projects on the President Dr Irfaan Aliled Administration’s agen da that are geared at de centralising healthcare and enabling easier access for Guyanese. A major initia tive is the construction of a new $2 billion multi-special ty hospital at Suddie, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).

The Mabaruma Hospital

Teen shot by City Constable while under arrest

-

He said that teen ap proached his son with a pair of scissors, and both his son and the friend began to chase this aggressor.

“After he was being chased, he ran over to the Constab, and the Constab Police saw two boys - my son and his friend - chasing him (the aggressor), and they be gan chasing my son and his friend. While chasing them, they gave a warning shot in the air, and my son stopped, and they arrested him,” the man said.

came to them with an of fer of compensation, which they have refused to accept. They have expressed a con viction that this case is be ing covered up by the City Constabulary Department.

Contacted by media per

sonnel over the weekend, acting Town Clerk Candace Nelson has refused to provide any details on the shooting. She repeatedly stated that it was the weekend and she would not provide any infor mation, since she is not con

ducting the investigation. All calls to officials at the City Constabulary have since proven futile. As such, family members of this injured teen are calling on the Police to conduct a thorough investiga tion of this matter. (G9)

Family members of a 16-year-old lad are calling on the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to inves tigate an incident that oc curred last Wednesday in vicinity of the St George’s Cathedral in Georgetown and involved the shooting of this teen.

The teen’s father, Kenneth Mackintosh, has said the incident occurred at around 12:00h last Wednesday, while his teen son, a resident of Smyth Street in Georgetown, and

his friend were walking to wards the St John’s College on Waterloo Street.

According to this father, his son had once been a stu dent of St John’s College, but was expelled in 2021 af ter being involved in a fight with another student.

This father has said that, on the day in question, while his son was walking with his friend, he came face-to-face with the teen with whom he had had the altercation that had led to his expulsion from St John’s College last year.

This father is contend ing that even though his son was already in handcuffs and in the Constabulary ve hicle, he was shot in the ab domen by a City Constable.

“They gun-butt him… and the officer point a gun and shoot him. They raised up his friend jersey, think ing it was him who was shot, but then they see the blood coming from him,” he said.

This teen’s family mem bers are contending that after he was shot, he was taken to the hospital, and a senior rank in the City Constabulary - a relative of the officer who had shot him

Skeletal remains found under abandoned house at Mahaica

Skeletal remains were on Friday discovered under an abandoned house at Coconut Walk in Lancaster, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD); and based on preliminary re ports emanating from the Police, 37-year-old Alvin Rambishun of Mon Repos, ECD suspects the remains to be those of his brother Rodrick Applesammy.

Rambishun told Police he was out at sea when he received information from some of his workmates that his 33-year-old broth er, who resided in the aban doned house in Lancaster, was found dead, and that his remains were under the

house.

Rambishun also relat ed that his sister Tavener Persaud visited the area and discovered the skele tal remains under the aban doned building.

The matter was reported to the Police, who processed the scene and took the skele tal remains to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home in Georgetown. An investiga tion is underway.

Back in August, the skeletal remains of Wazir Shaw, called “Buddy”, a fisherman of Nickerie, were found along the Corentyne foreshore in the vicini ty of Eversham Village in Region Six (East Berbice-

Body of alcoholic found sitting on bicycle in Ogle trench

The lifeless body of 53-year-old Gangaram Ishram of Lot 214 Industry Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was on Thursday found submerged in a sitting position on a bi cycle in a trench at Ogle, ECD.

The Police have said that an unknown caller re ported that a body was in a trench in front of the Ogle Community Centre Ground. They responded and found the man’s body submerged in the water in a sitting po

sition on a green and black bicycle.

The body, clad in a yellow striped shirt and a pair of blue jeans, was identified as that of Gangaram Ishram by his sister Carol Ishram, who told Police that her brother had been an alcoholic and had had no medical illness or problem with anyone.

The body was retrieved from the trench and exam ined, but no marks of vio lence were found thereon. The body has been taken to Sandy’s Funeral Home to await a post-mortem.

Corentyne) by a farmer who was traversing the area.

It was reported that Shaw had left Nickerie on a fishing expedition on August 9, 2022 and had never re turned. One of his relatives positively identified his body by a steel plate implanted in his leg following an accident in which he had been in volved several years ago.

The injuries the teen sustained

Two pregnant women are among the active coronavirus cases be ing monitored by the Health Ministry, and they have both been hospitalised. This was announced by Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Friday.

Dr Anthony has added that, throughout the coun try, 31 active cases are un der surveillance. “We have two pregnant women in the hospital with COVID,” he said during the COVID-19 update.

In Guyana, approximate ly 14,000 pregnancies are reported yearly. It has been reported that most pregnant women are at risk of con tracting COVID-19, but im munisation would reduce their chances of either con tracting the novel coronavi rus disease or of having to be hospitalized therewith, or of even dying therefrom.

If a pregnant woman is vaccinated, some antibodies would be passed on to her foetus, thereby transferring to that foetus some protec

tion against the virus.

Since the Pfizer vaccines are available for women in this bracket, the Ministry had started a campaign to get more such persons vac cinated.

Even though most coun tries in the region recom mend that pregnant wom en be vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease, their up take has still been very low. A lack of access to timely care and disruptions to prena tal services are to be blamed for an increase in maternal

mortality in the Americas during the pandemic, with one in three pregnant wom en being unable to access timely critical care, accord ing to Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Dr Carissa F Etienne earlier this year.

Keep up-to-date with new research –NCERD Director encourages SEN officers

The Special Education Needs (SEN) Unit of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) on Thursday hosted its annual conference under the theme “Come out of your comfort zone and enter your learn ing zone.”

Director of NCERD, Quenita Walrond-Lewis, in her address, encouraged the Special Education Needs (SEN) officers to never stop learning. According to the Director, it is important for the SEN officers to keep upto-date with all that is hap pening within their field, as this enhances their ability to fulfil their duties.

“What we understood about the world ten years ago or fifty years ago is defi nitely different from what we understand about the world today…,” she ex plained. “Always remain at the forefront of your prac tice; always remain current in whatever is new in re search and in educational technology that serves the SEN space,” she advised.

Further, she encouraged the team to “never stay stat ic, never feel you have come as far as you can in your professional journey…never stop learning.”

The Director has ex pressed gratitude to the SEN officers for their hard

work and dedication, noting that their department plays a significant role in helping

Removal of derelict vehicles, encumbrances along roadways to begins today

vehicles or equipment; im movable vehicles; hardware stores, barber shops, rum shops; builder’s waste; road side shop, car parks, saw mills; cargo containers, scrap iron dealers, sand or stone heaps; mobile vending carts; tyre servicing workshops; mud dumping workshops; non-derelict objects; concrete mixing; non-approved sign boards; paddy drying; raised driveways, and mechanic shops.

tegral part of what we do here at NCERD, because we are always striving to im prove the quality of educa tion in the entire system… Here, at NCERD, one of our principal remits is to keep empowering educators with what is new - the best in novative practice - and how to adopt that in a culturally relevant and sensitive way, so that we can create a bet ter impact on student out come, on teacher experience, and even the education of the public at large,” she ex

plained.

Meanwhile, National SEN Officer Savvie Hopkinson has called on the officers to come out of their comfort zones and enter the learning zone.

“We have, over the years, become comfortable and fa miliar with the vocabulary of our profession, and we have studied and retained lots of information. We have seen recurring situations and met recurring problems, and have become comfort able in responding to them; they no longer challenge us,” she declared.

She added, “The place you have come to is like en tering a roundabout, where you yield to traffic before en tering. But there is no stop sign, and there is no place to park; you must enter and proceed further in the same direction, or go in other di rections. You must move for ward, and that means enter ing the learning zone.”

The conference has served as a platform for SEN officers to highlight and dis cuss their achievements and challenges for the year. (G12)

The National Enhancement Committee of the Public Works Ministry will from today conduct another National Clean-Up Exercise aimed mainly at removing all derelict vehicles, materi als and other encumbranc es from alongside roadways. This exercise is being under taken in collaboration with several non-governmental organisations (NGO).

“This exercise will con tinue in varying forms in sections of Georgetown and throughout the country. The Ministry therefore gives no tice to the public, specifical ly the owners of these dere lict vehicles, to have them removed immediately with in the next 24 hours, or

have them removed by the Ministry’s clean-up team,” the Public Works Ministry has said on its social media page.

The Works Ministry is advising the general public that if these derelict vehi cles and encumbrances are removed by the National Enhancement Committee, it will not be responsible for any damage or loss sus tained by their owners.

The National Cleanup and Derelict Vehicle Removal Exercise is being carried out in accordance with the Laws of Guyana, Section 29 of the Road Act, Cap. 51:01 - ‘sei zure and disposal of property obstructing road Act. Section 29 of this Act directs, “Any property obstructing or dam

aging a road or canal may be seized and removed by the Road Officer of the district, or by anyone by him there to authorised in writing, and if it remains unclaimed for fourteen days after notice given to the owner thereof to come forward and claim the property, and pay all damag es incurred, it shall be sold, and the proceeds paid to the Accountant General.”

However, this exercise is being carried out to pro tect citizens, promote road safety, and improve the flow of traffic, especially in the event of emergencies.

Back in June, sub ject Minister Bishop Juan Edghill had said this cam paign would include, but not be limited to, derelict

2 pregnant women...

In the past weeks, there has been a significant reduc tion in coronavirus cases re ported daily, with no fatal ities being reported. There are no patients in the inten sive care unit of the hospi tal, but two persons are in institutional isolation there, 29 are in home isolation, and two are in institutional quarantine.

To date, deaths remain at 1,281, some 70,153 per sons have recovered com pletely, while 703,375 tests have been processed.

Globally, 627 million con firmed cases have been re ported worldwide, with 6.5 million deaths. On the other hand, 179 million cases have surfaced in the Americas, and deaths have surpassed

FROM PAGE 14

2.8 million.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms asso ciated with COVID-19, or need any additional infor mation in regard to this dis ease, they are asked to con tact the COVID-19 Hotline numbers: 231-1166, 2267480, or 624-6674 immedi ately; or visit www.health. gov.gy. (G12)

The Ministry has said that derelict vehicles would be taken to its derelict dump site located at Laluni on the East Bank of Demerara, and that dumpsite can be accessed from the Kuru Kururu entrance on the Soesdyke/ Linden Highway.

NCERD to fulfil its man date.

“The SEN Unit is an in

SEN officers engaged at the conference

26-year-old Berbice teacher collapses, dies in school

Ayoung teacher at tached to Line Path Secondary on the Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) col lapsed and died at school on Friday morning.

Dead is 26-year-old Dharmini Prasad of Lot 102 ‘A’ Number 72 Village, Corentyne.

Reports are that Prasad went to school about 08:00h on Friday, but died less than an hour later.

Guyana Times was told that the Mathematics teach er complained of feeling a pain in her chest shortly af ter arriving at school. About 08:30h, she collapsed and was rushed to the Skeldon Hospital.

Doctors there attempted to resuscitate her, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

This publication was told that Prasad, who got mar ried in 2021, had reported ly gone for a medical checkup a few weeks prior to her passing, but there were no signs of any complications.

Her husband, who also teaches at the same school, arrived at work at the same time with her.

Prasad leaves to mourn her husband, parents, and two sisters.

When this publication arrived at the school follow ing Prasad’s death, several teachers who were present said that they were in the process of hosting a gradu ation exercise and the head mistress was unavailable to speak with the media. They then directed this media house to leave the school’s

compound.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Shivpersaud Bacchus said that the Police have since launched an investigation into the incident.

He noted that the teach er was rushed to the Skeldon Hospital in an unconscious state, and succumbed short ly afterwards. (G4)

19 appointed as Public Notaries

Nineteen persons from across the country were on Friday ap pointed to serve as pub lic notaries in the presence of Chief Magistrate (ag) Sherdell Isaacs.

The appointments were made in accordance with the Public Notaries Act Chap 4:02. A public notary is an of ficial appointed by the Office of the President to serve the public in matters such as those regarding estates, deeds, and powers of attor ney.

The newly-appointed no taries are Attorneys Sase Gunraj; Pauline Chase; Devindra Kissoon; Sueanna Lovell; Teni Housty; Azeena

Chief Justice orders Ramps Logistics...

Accordingly, she or dered Pertab to issue Ramps Logistics with a Local Content Certificate by noon on Monday, November 14.

On the issue of costs and damages that the company sought against the respon dents, Justice George said that these would be assessed at separate hearings.

The case comes up again on February 20, 2023, for further directions. Ramps Logistics (Guyana) was represented by Senior Counsel Edward Luckhoo and Attorney-at-Law CV Satram.

Significant win

Ramps Logistics in a statement on Friday said it welcomed the Chief Justice’s decision.

“This win is significant for the people of Guyana. This swift verdict shows the independence of the court and that private and for eign businesses invest in Guyana with the support of a fair and transparent judi cial system. Those following our case should feel confi dent that the judicial system in Guyana is sound and in dependent, and will support those willing to invest in and grow Guyana’s economy.”

According to Ramps, it is willing and commit ted to working with the Government and the people of Guyana to make Guyana

shine on the world stage.

Criteria

Guyana’s Local Content Act defines a local compa ny as one incorporated un der the Companies Act and is beneficially owned by Guyanese nationals.

Beneficial ownership is defined as owning 51 per cent of the company.

Additionally, a local com pany is expected to have Guyanese in at least 75 per cent of executive and se nior management positions, and at least 90 per cent in non-managerial and other positions.

In a letter to Ramps Logistics, Pertab had in formed the company that among the reasons for the denial of the Local Content Certificate was its failure to provide accurate informa tion in compliance with the Local Content law. Also in cluded in the reasons was the company’s submission of questionable documents which did not clearly state the amendments to incor poration and the failure to have its Executive Board of Directors be 75 per cent Guyanese.

At a press conference, Ramps Logistics Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shaun Rampersad had related that the compa ny divested 51 per cent ownership of its Guyana op

erations to Trinidad-based investor Deepak Lall, who has Guyanese parentage, to bring its operations in compliance with the Local Content Law.

Lall’s grandfather and father are both Guyanaborn but migrated in 1961, and the family now operates one of the largest oil and gas companies in the Caribbean out of Trinidad. In fact, Lall’s grandfather was in the petroleum business in Guyana, operating a gas sta tion – Lall’s Esso Station. in Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara (WBD), during the 1950s.

According to the CEO, Lall bought 51 per cent shares for $210 million, and the monies were earmarked for two major projects for the company – a new car go airline for additional air lift into and out of Guyana, and a new shipping line to move cargo among Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname.

Despite the asser tions of the Local Content Secretariat as to its excus es for not addressing the issuance of the certificate, the company claimed that the Secretariat has granted a number of certificates to companies that are in a sim ilar position to it, including Crane Worldwide Logistics (Guyana), which submitted its application on or about July 20 and was granted a

Baksh; Joycelin KyteThomas; Rosalie Robertson, SC; Horatio Edmondson; Manoj Narayan; Nigel Hawke; Arudranauth Gossai; Kamal Ramkarran; Sanjeev Datadin; Gaumattie Singh; Timothy Jonas; Emily Dodson; Shaun Allicock and Kashir Khan.

The functions of a public notary include authorisation of certain legal documents, acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, and the protesting of notes and bills of exchange.

Attorney Gunraj, one of the newly-appointed of ficials, said in an inter view with the Department of Public Information (DPI)

FROM PAGE 7

Local Content Certificate on August 3. “Fifty-one per cent of the issued shares in that company are held by Guyanese nationals and 15 of its Board of Directors are comprised of Guyanese na tionals,” it noted.

Lose multimilliondollar contracts

The company complained that it has been severe ly affected by the decision and risked losing multimil lion-dollar contracts from operators in the oil industry.

In an affidavit in sup port of its pleadings, Ramps Logistics Director Samantha Cole deposed that if the com pany was not added to the Local Content register, it would be forced to reduce its operations and dismiss a majority of its employees.

According to Cole, Ramps Logistics was selected for the award of a new con tract by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil (Guyana) on May 31, and has an existing contract with the company which expires at the end of this month.

The new contract, which is for a period of five years and valued at a minimum of US$25 million, she pointed out, is ready for signing, but has not yet been signed, be cause the company has been unable to secure a Local

Content Certificate of regis tration.

Considering this, the Logistics Director deposed that if the Local Content cer tification was not granted in a timely manner and before October 31, Esso Exploration and Production will be forced to award the tender to an other. This could result in Ramps Logistics being un able to secure another con tract with the oil sector oper ator, she pointed out.

According to her, the Director of Local Content Secretariat has been dis couraging people/companies from doing business with Ramps Logistics because it does not have Local Content certification.

During the peri od July to August 2022, she said that several of Ramps Logistics custom ers informed the compa ny that at a monthly sup plier meeting with the Local Content Secretariat, they were specially advised against using the services of the company because it was not the holder of a Local Content Certificate.

Schlumberger (Guyana), SOS International, Baker Hughes, G-Boats, Frank’s International, and CGX, Cole said, have all been ad vised by the Local Content Secretariat against using Ramps Logistics, which is a major logistics supplier to

that the current pool of pub lic notaries has waned over the years, and emphasised the need for these officials to interact with and serve the public directly. “Notaries public serve a very import ant role in the legal and gen eral architecture of our coun try. They touch the lives of so many people. For exam ple, if you need to change your name, or you have to do a deed poll, the execution of that has to be done in the presence of a notary public.”

He said given the geo graphic spread of the ap pointments, persons living in the various administrative regions will have improved access to these officials.

the latter.

Charges, fined

In October, the GRA had instituted 10 charges against Ramps Logistics (Guyana) over alleged ly false declarations being made.

According to the GRA, these charges, which are in accordance with the provi sions of the Customs Act, Chapter 82:01, and filed at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, stemmed from a re cently-completed investi gation carried out by its Law Enforcement and Investigations Division.

Ramps Logistics CEO appeared in court on behalf of the company and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released on $500,000 bail and was due back in court on November 25.

The 10 charges are not the first run-in Ramps Logistics has had with the Revenue Authority here. It was revealed in June of this year that the company was fined $20 million by GRA for violating local customs laws. Ramps Logistics acts as the agent of Motor Vessel Seacor Mixteca and, accord ing to the GRA, had failed to report the vessel depart ing Guyana, which violates the Customs Act. Hence, the fine was paid in lieu of court proceedings being instituted against the company.

Dead: Dharmini Prasad

The newly-appointed Public Notaries in the presence of Chief Magistrate (ag) Sherdell Isaacs

Tabatinga man found in well was reported missing

Police in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) have report ed that the Tabatinga man who was found dead in a well in the region on

Thursday was reported missing.

Fifty-three-yearold Michael Adolph of Tabatinga, Lethem, in Central Rupununi, was last seen on Monday about

05:30h when he left home.

This information was reported to Police by his 23-year-old daughter, who stated that the family had searched for him, but their efforts were futile.

However, Police stated that on Thursday, about 17:30h, a 40-year-old house wife of Tabatinga went to fetch water from the well and discovered the man’s body there face down.

Nandlall, Forde clash over...

Additionally, each of these Opposition Members had been written to and asked to “show cause” why sanctions should not be meted out to them. Their responses were re ceived and considered by the Committee. Armed with those responses, the Committee “found that the named MPs were in viola tion of the Standing Orders and established Customs and Practices regarding acceptable behaviour of Members in the Assembly.”

It was therefore deter mined that the appropriate sanction available for the National Assembly to im pose is suspension from ser vice in the House.

Reliefs

Against Attorney General Nandlall, House Speaker Manzoor Nadir, and Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, the Opposition MPs are seeking, among other things, a declaration that the re port of the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges is unconstitutional, null, void, and of no legal effect; and that their suspension is a breach of the principles of natural justice, because their rights, as guaranteed under Article 144 (8) of the Constitution, have been in fringed.

Their request for an in terim order suspending any decision, resolution, or oth er determination made by the National Assembly to suspend them and for an other interim order allowing them to perform their du ties until they have been af forded the right to be heard before the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges, pending the hearing and de termination of their case, have been refused by both Justice Younge and by the Demerara Full Court.

‘Unaware’ Notwithstanding the findings of the Committee of Privileges, the APNU/AFC Parliamentarians, in legal documents seen by this pub lication, contend that they are “unaware of any act of ours on the day in ques tion falling in the category of gross disorderly conduct, contempt, and breaches of privileges, and that to the

best of our recollection, on the day in question, our posture was no different from all other Members of Parliament who were pres ent…”

According to them, they had specifically request ed that the Committee of Privileges identify to them the Standing Orders or priv ileges they had supposedly violated, as this was essen tial if they were to effective ly exercise the opportunity to show cause.

They complained that at no time were they in vited to appear before the Committee of Privileges to be allowed a hearing, nor were they told what action of theirs had violated estab lished customs and practic es regarding acceptable be haviour of MPs.

The Parliamentarians have argued that the re port of the Committee of Privileges would be a pub lished record that would for ever inevitably affect their character and reputation. They argued that any sus pension would further hin der them from represent ing the people who elected them to sit in the National Assembly, and would also prevent Mahipaul from func tioning as a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

They contend, inter alia, that “any suspension will deprive (them) of their full salaries and of the opportu nity to be representatives of the National Assembly and people of Guyana at nation al, regional, and interna tional forums.”

Further, they submitted that their likely suspension is part and parcel of an un constitutional scheme and/ or device by the Government to utilise its majority in the National Assembly to silence and to reduce the numbers of sitting Parliamentary Opposition Members of Parliament.

No salaries, allowances

The Clerk of the National Assembly has already writ ten the suspended MPs, in forming them that, during the period of their suspen sion, they would not be paid salaries and allowances, and would not be entitled to some of the other benefits

enjoyed by other Members of the House.

The Privileges Committee recommend ed that Jones, Mahipaul, Duncan and Singh-Lewis be each suspended for four consecutive sittings: for at tempting to prevent the sec ond and third readings of the NRF Bill; for conducting themselves in a gross, disor derly, contumacious and dis respectful manner; and for repeatedly ignoring the au thority of the Assembly and that of the Speaker, there by committing contempt and breaches of privileges.

A recommendation was also made for MPs Ferguson and Jordan to each be sus pended for six consecutive sittings for similar offenc es. However, their suspen sion was higher, since the Committee concurred that they had committed “seri ous violations which were severe and egregious, by un authorisedly removing the Parliamentary Mace from its rightful position in a disor derly fashion, causing dam age to the Mace; and injur ing and assaulting a staff of the Parliament Office while attempting to remove the Mace from the Chamber”.

And a similar recom mendation of suspension for six consecutive sittings has been made against SaraboHalley, whose violations were found to be “severe and egregious with regard to unauthorisedly entering the Communication Control Room of the ACCC and de stroying several pieces of au dio-visual equipment, being public property”.

MP Philadelphia is also facing a suspension recom mendation of six consecu tive sittings over her severe and egregious violations, by which she “verbally assault ed a staff of the Parliament Office within the precincts of the National Assembly”.

The Privileges Committee is chaired by the House Speaker, and its members comprise both Government and Opposition MPs. Representing Government are: Prime Minister Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips; Attorney General Anil Nandlall; Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister

FROM PAGE 9

Gail Teixeira; Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson; and Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin. Representing the APNU/AFC are Khemraj Ramjattan; Roysdale Forde; Geeta Chandan-Edmond, and David A Patterson. It is understood that the Opposition Members did not participate in the last three of five Privileges Committee meetings.

Hence, the other members, including the Chairman, had gone ahead and concluded the report with recommendations for the suspension of the eight Opposition MPs. (G9)

Dead: Michael Adolph

An alarm was raised, and the matter was im mediately reported to the Lethem Police Station.

The body was retrieved from the well and exam ined for marks of violence, and according to Police, two

small cuts were seen on the forehead and head.

The body is presently at the Lethem Hospital’s mor tuary awaiting a post-mor tem examination.

An investigation is on going. (G9)

Regional

Brazil: Amazon deforestation reaches new high before Govt change

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon has hit a new, alarm ing milestone, Government data showed, as environ mentalists warned a “fran tic race towards devasta tion” is under way before a Government transition that is set to usher in more pro tection for the rainforest.

Preliminary Government satellite data collected by space research agency Inpe and released on Friday showed that approximate ly 904 square kilometres (349sq miles) were cleared in the region in October, the highest for the month since tracking began in 2015.

From January to October, 9494sq km (3666sq miles) were cleared, equal to an area more than 12 times the size of New York City and also a record for the pe riod, exceeding the previous high set in 2019 by 12.7 per cent.

Incoming Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is set to take

office on January 1, has promised to bolster envi ronmental safeguards and funding for State agencies tasked with protecting the Amazon.

The rainforest, which is critical to the glob al fight against climate change, has seen years of increased deforestation un der the Administration of Lula’s predecessor, outgoing

President Jair Bolsonaro.

The far-right former Army Captain had pushed for more mining and other development projects in the Amazon, saying they would stimulate the economy.

But rights groups ac cused Bolsonaro of gutting Brazil’s environmental and Indigenous protection agen cies, leading to an uptick in deforestation and violence

Bolivia census protests hit turbulent 3-week milestone, strike continues

Bolivia's largest city Santa Cruz marked three weeks of pro tests on Friday as demon strations over a delayed cen sus boiled over.

Santa Cruz, a relative ly wealthy farming hub and Opposition bastion, has in recent days grinded to a halt due to a general strike de manding that authorities hold a census next year be fore elections in 2025.

On Friday, protesters clashed with Governmentaligned groups, with local television showing alter cations involving Molotov cocktails, motorcycles, fire crackers, stones, and sticks.

The three weeks of pro tests have left four people dead and more than 170 in jured, the Government re ported. It blamed the es calation of violence on Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, who initiated the strike on October 22 along with other Opposition groups.

Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro on Friday said the strike, which has worsened food shortages and sent already high pric es soaring, has cost some US$700 million.

Regional and Opposition groups say the socialist Government in La Paz de layed the census because it would result in them be

ing allotted more seats in Congress and more State re sources.

In an opinion column, former Economy Minister Oscar Ortiz noted that re cent years of migration from rural areas to Santa Cruz could disadvantage the governing Movement to Socialism party in congress. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Antigua: Chamber of Commerce partners with Customs to help fight high cost of living

The Antigua and Barbuda Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with the Customs and Excise Division within the Finance Ministry to address the rising cost of living.

Over the past few years, due to the coronavirus pan demic coupled with the on going war in Ukraine, which has hampered global food and fuel supplies, econo mies worldwide including Antigua and Barbuda have been struggling with in creasing prices.

According to the last published figures from

the Statistics Division of Antigua and Barbuda, infla tion has seen an 8.6 per cent rise for the 12 months end ing September 2022, with food rising by 14.6 per cent over the last 12 months.

During a town hall meet ing last week, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Martin Cave ex plained that the two entities have agreed to coordinate ef forts to reduce the burden on consumers.

“Internally at the Chamber, we have already started putting persons to gether to look at the price of

the charges at the port,” he said.

“We wanted to look at the pricing structure — the way the charges are com piled at the port, whether it be the revenue recovery charges, or the ABST,” Cave explained.

He added that while new legislation would be required to make any ma jor change regarding these structures, developing sug gestions to make it easi er for all Antiguans and Barbudans was his priority. (Excerpt from Antigua Observer)

across the sprawling region.

Annual statistics re leased last year showed de forestation had already surged to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro. His of fice and the Ministry of the Environment did not im mediately respond to a re quest for comment from the Reuters news agency on Friday. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Cuba agrees to accept US deportation flights as border crossings rise

Cuba has agreed for the first time since the pandemic to ac cept US deportation flights carrying Cubans caught at the US-Mexico border, three US officials told Reuters, giving US authorities a new but limited tool to deter re cord numbers of Cuban bor der crossers.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has about a dozen Cubans in custody who failed an ini tial screening for asylum at the border, the officials said, requesting anonymi ty to discuss the diplomatic situation. The US agency is waiting until it has enough Cuban deportees to fill a plane before sending one to Havana, they said.

A third source familiar with the matter said there was not a new formal agree ment for regular deportation flights, but that Cuba had agreed to accept occasional

groups of deportees.

Regular deportations of Cubans were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, though the United States continued to deport a small number of Cubans via com mercial airlines, a separate US official told Reuters.

The US State Department, the White House, and ICE did not im mediately respond to re quests for comment.

About 1500 Cubans were removed in fiscal year 2020, which began on October 1, 2019, the year regular deportation flights were paused, according to data from the US Department of Homeland Security.

The resumption of ICE deportation flights to Cuba could send a symbolic mes sage to would-be migrants who typically fly to Central America and travel north to the border. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob says while he hoped T&T would not rank as high in certain categories of crime, it was important to avoid mis interpreting global crime rankings.

On Wednesday, a US State Department's trav el advisory called on Americans to reconsid er travel to Trinidad and Tobago because of crime.

Responding to the advi sory during a media brief ing at the Police Training Academy, St James, on Friday, Jacob said he was not proud of the advisory.

Referring to global crime rankings given to differ ent countries on websites, he said one such website placed Trinidad as being number 14 for murders and

number six for other serious crimes.

He urged the public to consider that these crime rankings were generated as a result of arrests and charges brought by the Police.

"It is not just looking at

the crimes that are commit ted, but we are looking at the crimes that the Police may solve.

"Let us say we hold 600 people for firearm posses sion, that will be counted because we charged.

"If we hold a lot of people for fraud offences or solve a lot of fraud offences, it will be there (on the website), so we are number six and we understand that.

"We would not like to be number six, we would like to be lower, but they look at the general numbers."

Jacob also urged the public to be careful when interpreting and repeating the figures presented, as without context they could do more harm than good.

(Excerpt from Trinidad Newsday)

Dominica: Opposition coalition groups call for boycott of snap general election

Acoalition

to the finish.

of Opposition political parties and civil society organ isations Friday said they planned to stage peaceful protests from next Thursday to stop the December 6 snap general election, insisting that no elections should be held in Dominica without electoral reform.

Former Agriculture Minister Athie Martin, who has been staging weekly protests, told a news confer ence of the Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) that while there were many options available to protesters, “I am suggesting if you are go ing to start this campaign, which we have agreed to start it must be a campaign

“We must not stop until the desired outcome is ob tained. The desired option comes in stages. If we can stop the nomination process that is stage one, if we can stop the actual election that is stage two.

“What is stage three, I leave it to your imagina tion that all I have to stay to that,” he told reporters.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who last Sunday, shocked the nation by an nouncing the snap poll two years ahead of the consti tutional deadline, has al ready warned that his rul ing Dominica Labour Party (DLP) Government will not tolerate any violence in the

campaign.

“…that nonsense they did last election, blocking streets and burning streets, let me say to them that we will not sit down and take that nonsense again in Dominica.

“That nonsense will not happen in our country. This lawless behaviour, the gov ernment will not accept it from these people. You fight elections with policies, pro grammes and ideas, not blocking streets and burn ing streets. It is not going to happen again and if it happens we will deal with it according to the laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica,” Skerrit said. (Excerpt from CMC)

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest region surged to a 15-year high under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, annual statistics showed last year [File: Bruno Kelly/Reuters]

A burning barricade set by demonstrators during a protest as part of a general strike demanding that authorities hold a census next year before elections in 2025, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, November 11, 2022 (Reuters/Andrea Martinez)

T&T CoP Jacob not proud of US advisory, but maintains crimes being solved

Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob

Around the World

Ukrainians celebrate soldiers retaking Kherson, Russia's latest defeat

of the east and south.

Oil settles higher, posts weekly loss as China eases COVID curbs

Oil prices settled higher on Friday, but fell week-onweek after health authorities in China eased some of the country's heavy COVID-19 curbs, raising hopes for improved economic activity and demand in the world's top crude importer.

Brent crude futures settled up US$2.32 at US$95.99 a barrel, extending a 1.1 per cent rise from the previous session, but falling 2.6 per cent on the week.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up US$2.49, or 2.9 per cent, at US$88.96 a barrel, after climbing 0.8 per cent in the previous session, but down nearly four on the week.

The easing curbs include shortening quarantine times for close contacts of cases and inbound travellers by two days, as well as eliminating a penalty on airlines for bringing in infected passengers.

The benchmark oil contracts fell during the week due to rising US oil inventories, and lingering fears over capped fuel demand in China, but late-week gains limited the losses.

"China’s changing response to stubbornly high COVID-19 cases has added to the oil market’s price volatility and, should this new Chinese policy continue, the energy complex could be poised to erase most of this week’s decline," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois.

A weaker US dollar also supported oil prices as it makes the commodity cheaper for buyers holding other currencies.

Prices also picked up on Friday after milder-than-expected US inflation reinforced hopes that the Federal Reserve would slow down rate increases, boosting chances of a soft landing for the world's biggest economy.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, last month agreed to steep production cuts, and will meet again on December 4 to set its policy.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ would remain cautious on oil production, noting that members saw "uncertainties" in the global economy ahead of the bloc's next meeting in December, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

China's COVID-19 caseload soared to its highest since the lockdown in Shanghai earlier this year. Both Beijing and Zhengzhou reported record daily cases.

Besides work-from-home orders reducing mobility and fuel demand, travel across China remained subdued as people wanted to avoid the risk of being caught up in quarantine, ANZ Research analysts said in a note. (Reuters)

Jubilant residents welcomed Ukrainian troops arriving in the centre of Kherson on Friday after Russia aban doned the only region al capital it had captured since its invasion began in February.

"Today is a historic day. We are getting the south of the country back, we are getting Kherson back," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an evening video ad dress.

"As of now, our defend ers are on the outskirts of the city, and we are very close to entering. But spe cial units are already in the city," he said.

Russia said it had with drawn 30,000 troops across

People in a crowd cheer and chant as they surround a car with Ukrainian soldiers in Kherson Freedom Square, Ukraine in this screen grab obtained from a video released on November 11, 2022 (Video obtained by Reuters/Handout)

the Dnipro River without losing a single soldier. But Ukrainians painted a pic ture of a chaotic retreat, with Russian troops ditch ing their uniforms, drop ping weapons and drown ing while trying to flee.

A nation waits: US election workers toil to count thousands of votes

Arizona and Nevada election workers were toiling on Friday to tally hundreds of thou sands of ballots that could determine control of the US Senate and the shape of President Joe Biden's next two years in office, in a vote count that officials in the two battleground states warn could drag on for days.

Winning both con tests would give either Democrats or Republicans a Senate majority, while a split would transform a December 6 runoff Senate election in Georgia into a proxy battle for the cham ber.

Political analysts are anticipating a rush of cam paign funds into Georgia as Republicans and Democrats gear up for the final battle of the 2022 midterm elec tions.

In Arizona, law enforce ment officials remained on high alert for potential protests, with barricades and security fencing erect ed around the Maricopa County elections depart ment, where dozens of offi cials are working 18-hour days to verify outstanding

ballots and tabulate votes.

Kari Lake, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, has criticised election officials in Maricopa County, the state's most populous, as "incompetent" and "despi cable", accusing them of de liberately delaying the vote counting.

Bill Gates, chairper son of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and a Republican, bris tled at Lake's comments. "Everybody needs to calm down a little bit and turn down the rhetoric. That's the problem with what's going on with our country right now," he told report ers.

In the fight for con trol of the House of Representatives, Republicans were inch ing closer to becoming the majority and ending four years of rule by Biden's Democrats. That would give Republicans veto pow er over Biden's legislative agenda and allow them to launch potentially damag ing investigations into his administration. (Excerpt from Reuters)

The withdrawal marked the third major Russian retreat of the war and the first to involve yield ing such a large occupied city in the face of a major Ukrainian counter-offen sive that has retaken parts

Video footage verified by Reuters showed doz ens of people cheering and chanting victory slogans in Kherson city's central square, where the appar ent first Ukrainian troops to arrive snapped selfies in the throng.

Two men hoisted a fe male soldier on their shoulders and tossed her into the air. Some resi dents wrapped themselves in Ukrainian flags. One man was weeping with joy.

Ukraine's defence in telligence agency said Kherson was being re stored to Ukrainian control and ordered any remaining Russian troops to surrender to Kyiv's forces entering the city. (Excerpt from Reuters)

NGO urges leaders in COP27 to discuss ‘plant-based treaty’

ANon-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and climate activ ists have called on world leaders attending this year’s COP27 climate sum mit in Egypt to start nego tiations for a “plant-based treaty”.

An open letter signed by celebrities, politicians, and businesses was deliv ered to COP27 President Sameh Shoukry, calling for “a broad, holistic ap proach to a sustainable and just plant-based food transition through a glob al Plant Based Treaty this decade to avert climate ca tastrophe”.

The treaty outlined three core principles; to stop the expansion of ani mal agriculture, promote a shift to sustainable plantbased diets, and “reforest and rewild” planet Earth.

Food production ac counts for approximate ly a third of global green house gas emissions and is the main threat to 86 per cent of the world’s species

at risk of extinction, while cattle ranching is respon sible for three-quarters of Amazon rainforest loss.

Livestock accounts for nearly a third of the glob al methane emissions linked to human activity, released in the form of cat tle burps, manure, and the cultivation of feed crops.

According to the let ter, fossil fuels and animal agriculture are the main driving forces behind glob al warming and climate change issues. The group said the three main green house gases are at “dev astatingly high levels and rapidly accelerating”.

The signatories hoped to bring the issue of a tran sition to plant-based food production to the forefront of food insecurity and the climate agenda.

They also hoped that world leaders would start negotiations for the trea ty on COP27’s Agriculture and Adaptation Day today, November 12. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Student loan forgiveness: Government stops taking applications after ruling Twitter drama continues with blue-tick confusion

The US Government has stopped taking appli cations for President Joe Biden's student loan for giveness plan after a judge ruled it was illegal.

District Judge Mark Pittman wrote on Thursday that the plan was unlawful because it overstepped the power of Congress.

The Judge's ruling blocked debt relief for 26 mil lion Americans who have ap plied to the programme – 16 million of whom have already been approved.

The White House has filed an appeal.

First introduced in August, Biden's plan pledged to cancel up to US$10,000 in federal student loans for Americans who earned less

than US$125,000 each year.

A notice posted on the Government's website said court orders had blocked the scheme and applications were no longer being accept ed.`

"At this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those [court] orders. If you've al ready applied, we'll hold your application," the notice said.

The Judge in Texas, who was appointed by for mer President Donald Trump, argued the Biden Administration side-stepped Congress by green-lighting a US$400 billion programme through a presidential exec utive order without approv al from lawmakers. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Twitter halted its new US$8 blue tick subscription offer ing on Friday in the latest head-spinning reversal at the social media platform since billionaire Elon Musk bought the company.

The move came as a num ber of accounts impersonat ing big brands received the blue tick, previously a signal that the firm had verified the user as real.

In one instance, a user claiming to be drugs firm Eli Lilly said "insulin was free".

Twitter did not comment.

The incident added to the concerns about how Musk's leadership was affecting the

spread of misinformation on the platform.

"We apologise to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account," Eli Lilly tweeted a few hours after the prank post went up on Thursday, reiterating the name of its real Twitter han dle.

The firm's shares fell four per cent on Friday amid the confusion.

US-based PR strategist Max Burns said he had seen fake accounts with the veri fied blue tick badge bought through Twitter Blue pos ing as support accounts for real airlines and asking cus

tomers who were trying to contact them on Twitter to direct message the fake ac counts instead.

"How long until a prank ster takes a real passenger's ticket information and can cels their flight? Or takes their credit card info and goes on a spending spree?" he said.

"It will only take one ma jor incident for every airline to bail on Twitter as a source of customer engagement."

Musk completed his US$44 billion purchase of Twitter late last month, and swiftly set about overhauling the company. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Elon Musk

DAILY HOROSCOPES

Bide your time. Don’t sign up for something you can’t handle. Look in ward and focus on self-improvement, health and taking care of business. Protect your assets.

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

Take a step back, breathe and re think your strategy. A timeout will al low you to see pitfalls you may have overlooked. Establish your position and proceed with caution. Share with a loved one.

Concentrate on what’s essential. Showing discipline, putting in a little ex tra work and being prepared to step up when needed will pay off. Be on the look out for exciting proposals.

(May 21-June 20)

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

Share your thoughts and feelings, and socialize with people who make you think and inspire your imagination. A change of scenery will broaden your scope and encourage new beginnings.

Take care of your responsibilities. Arguing or taking on a losing battle will not help your reputation or position. If you want to make a difference, live up to your promises.

Talks will lead to change that will transform the way you do things. Don’t waste time opposing the inevitable; get with the program and be part of the solu tion. Independence begins with you.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Keep things in perspective. It will be easy to overreact due to exaggeration or failure to verify facts. Don’t discuss mat ters unless you have the proof you need.

Play to win and protect what you have worked hard to acquire. Adjust your appearance and how you present yourself to others. Address your living conditions and you’ll find good solutions.

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

Focus on whatever makes you happy. Make plans with a loved one to give you something to look forward to. Be careful when it comes to shared space or expens es. Equality matters.

Do things your way, and others will marvel over your talent. Spending qual ity time with someone you love will lead to a better understanding of how you can make big improvements.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Patience is a virtue and will help you maintain your dignity when dealing with difficult people. Size up the situa tion and take a step back. Do your own thing and allow others the same free dom.

Fixing up your place will lift your spirits and prompt you to entertain. Don’t let trivial matters frustrate you. Distance yourself from unsavory situa tions, and you’ll save time and money.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

2022 ICC T20I World Cup…

Melbourne rain keeps men's T20 World Cup final on tenterhooks

There will be some ner vous looks skywards over the coming days in Melbourne, with rain threatening the men's T20 World Cup final between England and Pakistan at the MCG on Sunday, rais ing the prospect of the re serve day being needed, and even a shared trophy.

There is currently a 95% chance of rain forecast for Sunday, with between 15 and 25mm falling. "Very high (near 100%) chance of showers. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe, with heavy falls possible," the Bureau of Meteorology was saying as at Friday morning.

The reserve day is allo cated on Monday, but that also has an uncertain fore cast with, again, a 95% chance of rain and falls be tween 5 and 10mm.

For the knockout match es in the tournament, a minimum of 10 overs per side is needed to consti tute a match, compared to five overs during the group stages.

The first priority will be to complete a shortened match on Sunday if re quired, meaning the overs

will be reduced before the reserve day is activated.

If the game has started on

restart

Sunday but can't be com pleted, then it will resume on the reserve day from the position it was halted. Once the toss has taken place, the game is consid ered live.

If the game begins on Sunday and there is a re duction of overs but play does not have a chance to

serve day.

While only 30 minutes of extra time are allocated to the original day of the final, if the reserve day is used, there are four extra hours available,* with play starting on the Monday at 3pm local time.

"The Event Technical Committee (ETC) has in

from the original provision of two hours (clause 13.7.3 of the Playing Conditions), in case more time is re quired to complete the match and get a result," an ICC release has stated.

"It may be noted that 10 overs per side are required to constitute a match in the knockout stage, and

every effort will be taken to complete the match on the scheduled match day. Every effort will be made for the match to be com pleted on Sunday, with any necessary reduction of overs taking place, and only if the minimum num ber of overs necessary to constitute a match cannot be bowled on Sunday will the match go into the re serve day. Play on the re serve day will begin at 1500h and would be a con tinuation of play from the scheduled match day."

If there is not enough time over the two days to achieve the minimum overs, the trophy would be shared. The 2002-03 Championship match be tween India and Sri Lanka ended in such a way, al though, under the play ing conditions at the time, a new game was started on the reserve day. Both matches were abandoned at virtually the same point.

In the 2019 ODI World Cup, the semi-final between India and New Zealand at Old Trafford was played across two days.

Melbourne has been badly hit by rain during

Doncic concedes fatigue

-after 'awful' displays end remarkable run

this tournament, with three Super 12 matches aban doned without a ball being bowled: New Zealand vs Afghanistan, Afghanistan vs Ireland, and Australia vs England. The EnglandIreland game in Melbourne was also curtailed by rain, but Ireland were able to take a famous win on DLS.

Aside from the South Africa-Zimbabwe game in Hobart, which was also a no-result, the rest of the tournament has large ly escaped the rain during what has been a wet start to summer across the east and south east of Australia.

The forecast was also poor leading into the IndiaPakistan game at the MCG, but cleared to allow a full game, with the con test developing into one of the best T20 matches of all time.

Organisers, players and supporters would hope the final is graced with the same good luck.

GMT 10.40h: The story was updated after the ICC confirmed that there will be four extra hours, rather than two, available on the reserve day to complete the final. (Cricinfo)

India Head Coach Rahul Dravid has insisted the country does not want to end up in the same position as West Indies cricket, following India’s unceremonious exit from the T20 World Cup at the hands of England on Wednesday.

The 2019 champions managed to muster very little resistance in the semifinal, while England cruised to a 10-wicket win after the East Asian team made 168 for 6.

The West Indies were themselves meekly dumped out of the tournament, but after losing to two associate teams - Scotland and Ireland - in the first round. Performances at the tournament were not, however, what the former batting star was referring to, but instead the issue of India players potentially facing a disadvantage from not being allowed to play in other T20 leagues around the world.

For his part, the coach conceded that it might be a disadvantage, but said he believes it is a necessity to protect the quality of India’s cricket.

“There is no doubt that England players have come and played in this tournament(Big Bash T20). It’s tough, it’s very difficult for Indian Cricket, because a lot of these tournaments happen right at the peak of our season. I think it’s a huge challenge for us. A lot of our boys do miss out on the opportunity of playing in these leagues, but it’s up to the BCCI to make that decision,” Dravid has said.

“And with the kind of demand there would be for Indian players…if you allowed them to play in these leagues, we won't have domestic cricket. Our domestic cricket, our Ranji

Trophy, would be finished, and that would mean Test cricket would be finished. We have to be very careful; we have to understand what Indian Cricket faces, or BCCI faces in a situation like this," he added.

“A lot of boys are asked to play leagues in the middle of our season. We have seen what it has done to West Indian Cricket, and I definitely don't want Indian Cricket to go that way. It would affect Ranji Trophy and Test cricket, and Indian boys playing Test cricket is pretty important for the Test game as well, I would think,” Dravid has said. (Sportsmax)

Luka Doncic has la belled his past two performances as "aw ful" and conceded fatigue was a factor after back-toback losses and back-toback sub-30-point games for the Dallas Mavericks.

The Slovenian guard had started the season with nine straight 30-point games – a mark only previously topped by Wilt Chamberlain's out rageous 23-game streak in 1962-63 but that has run ground to a halt in his past two games as the Mavericks have fallen to 6-5.

Michael Jordan was the last player to achieve six straight 30-point games to start a season, back in 1986-87, putting 23-yearold Doncic in esteemed com pany.

But Doncic's production has dropped off, managing only 22 points on eight-of-21 shooting in the Mavs' 113105 loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday, hav ing dipped below the 30mark for the first time this season in Wednesday's 9487 defeat to the Orlando Magic, where he scored 24.

"I've been awful for two games now," Doncic told re porters. "These two games are on me. We got to figure [it] out. These two games we

were supposed to win, but we didn't, so I've got to figure it out."

Doncic's remarkable start had led to ques tions on whether he could maintain it phys ically, and he conceded fa tigue was one of many fac tors that had contributed to his drop-off in the past two games.

"It's good defense, fa tigue, high level every thing," Doncic said. "I had a real busy summer [Slovenia reached the EuroBasket 2022 quarter-finals], I think that came after me.

"I'm just feeling more tired in the court in these last two games. But that's not an excuse. I think it's a little bit of everything."

The sensational na ture of Doncic's early-sea son production did not con cern him, however. "I don't watch these statistics," Doncic said. "Nowadays you have a statistic for ev erything. Whoever drinks one espresso and scores five points gets the record. I don't follow it."

Kidd spoke pre-game about the side's need to spread the load more, which will likely take on greater urgency af ter Dallas' successive loss es.

"Nothing yet," Doncic replied when asked if Kidd had brought that up with the team. "We had back-toback [games], we haven’t had much time. We're going to discuss it for sure."

Kidd added after the game: "If we keep this up, then he will not be human if he gets past Christmas. So, one or the other is going to show: he's human or not and we believe he's hu man."

Doncic is averaging 33.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game this season. His scoring production is well up on his NBA career aver age of 26.7. (Sportsmax)

due to weather, then the game will resume as a 20-over contest on the re

creased the provision of ad ditional playing time on the reserve day to four hours,

Mavericks head coach

Jason

was one of many factors India Coach Dravid supports BCCI decision to keep players out of world T20 leagues

GBBFF’s Seniors Bodybuilding Championships commence on December 18

The Guyana

Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (GBBFF) are all set to host their first Seniors Bodybuilding Championships for 2022 on December 18, 2022 at the National Cultural Centre. All athletes are set to flex off at 18:00 hrs.

The Federation has col laborated with its partners

to bring to the hardworking athletes, the bodybuilding and fitness fraternity, and the entire Guyana its an nual Seniors Bodybuilding Championships. Permission has already been granted for the use of the National Cultural Centre for the cap tioned competition; and on the night of the competition, there will be about 30 ath letes competing in the 4 dif

ferent segments of competi tion, which are:

* Bodybuilding; * Bikini;

* Women’s Wellness; and

* Men’s Physique

An official list of athletes will be presented within the first week of December, 2022. To date, some of the ath letes who would be on stage are: Darious Ramsammy, Christina Ramsammy,

Qayyim Academy introduced to archery

Rosanna Fung, Nicolas Albert, Emmerson Campbell, Odel CrumEwing, Ashanti Conway, Jonathan Jeffery and Julio Sinclair.

This competition has so far attracted the financial support of Fitness Express, but several other business entities and individuals are expected to come on board fi nancially.

Hyde Park win East Bank Essequibo ‘One Guyana’ Cup

On Saturday, November 5,

Archery Guyana introduced the sport of ar chery to Qayyim Academy, located in Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara.

With the goal of be coming the next school to register an Archery Club, Principal of the school, Mrs

Bibi Romena ConstantineMohamed, had reached out to the federation, and ‘the deed was finally done’ on Saturday last. Discussions were held between the Principal and Head Coach Nicholas Hing on the sport and its various forms, with the ultimate goal of Olympic recurve archery

being introduced to the school.

With the help of Archery Guyana’s archer/instructor Saeed Karim, Head Coach Nicholas Hing gave the scores of excited children (and their Headmistress) the chance to try out for the first time how to use the bow and arrow.

The action contin ued in the East Bank Essequibo One Guyana Cup with the grand finale, as many witnessed Hyde Park storming to the ti tle and copping the top prize of $500,000.

Batting first in bright sunshine, Hyde Park posted 151, with Wasim Mohamed top scoring with 44. Tuschen Southside were bowled out for 122, with Renaldo Scouten top scoring with 42. Once he was out, Southside never had a chance, as wick ets fell regularly, and they had to settle for the run

ner-up prize of $120,000.

Wasim Mohamed was named Man of the Match, Renaldo Scouten was named Under-19 Emerging Player of the Tournament. He received a gear bag with a cricket bat, batting pads, gloves, and hel met valued at $120,000.

President of the East Bank Essequibo Cricket Association, Mr. Vishal Ambedkar, boasted of the tournament’s success and promised it would become an annual feature for East Bank Essequibo.

The day’s activities start ed with the first ever 50/50

Outlaw Warriors trump Speedboat to win league

has already sought the blessings of His Excellency President Dr. Irfaan Ali and the Honourable Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson jnr, and plans to approach the busi ness environment in Region 3 to come on board.

Region 3 Softball

Cricket League was formally launched last Sunday at the Tuschen Sports Ground, East Bank Essequibo. This was done in a collaborative effort with the West Demerara Lions Club. An exhibition game was featured, in which 50 de liveries were played by two teams, Outlaw Warriors and Speedboat.

Outlaw Warriors won the game, having made 144 runs without the loss of any wicket, and received a tro phy and $60,000 cash prize,

while Speedboat collected a trophy and $30,000 for their competitive effort, having scored 140 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Man of the Match, R. Adams, produced a knock of 75 not-out, and received a trophy for his efforts.

The trophies were donat ed by Trophy House. Both prizes were donated by the newly elected President of the League, Imran Hussain of Wolf’s Furniture Store at Leonora, WCD. The Treasurer of the League is Reuben Yuyudhana, popular JP, Commissioner of Oats to

Affidavits, and immigration consultant, while the secre tary is social worker Jai Lall.

This Cricket League has been established to promote and uplift the game of soft ball cricket in Region 3, and to incorporate the President’s “One Guyana” theme with the Men on Mission initia tive.

The League will shortly unfold a competition which would involve both prima ry and secondary schools, a male over-45 group and an under-45 group, and a fe male Open group. It is an

ticipated that the competi tion would be competitive, and children and adults are encouraged to get involved in sports entertainment and to embrace a wide spectrum of family-oriented activities that would bridge villages in camaraderie and friendly sportsmanship, while identi fying skills and ability from a youthful age.

A number of new rules have been introduced to tar get discipline, fairness and judgement, and there are a number of lucrative priz es to be won. This League

Many have already com mitted their cooperation, help and assistance. The League is looking forward to evoking a spirited interest from the public, and various cricket teams, sports man agers and captains and um pires have already indicated their enthusiasm and partic ipation.

The Region 3 Softball Cricket League applauds the presence of West Demerara Lions Club President Duane Pedro, Deputy Commander for Region 3 Police, Officer Mandall; and East Bank Essequibo Cricket Association Manager Vishal Ambedkar, along with other captains from various cricket associations.

softball exhibition match, sponsored by MoM in col laboration with Region #3 Softball Cricket Association, the Lions Club, and East Bank Essequibo Cricket Committee.

Hyde Park Softball Team whipped West Bank Speedboat Team to walk away with $60,000 cash prize. Led by Ricardo Adams, who scored 75 and was named man of the match, Hyde Park comfortably chased 145.

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Prime Minister officially bowls off PMT20 Cup 6

…PM Phillips looking forward to large fanbase as COVID restrictions lifted

Photos and story by timothy Jaikarran

The action in the Prime Minister’s T20 Cup of ficially commenced in and around the beautiful city of Georgetown. The open ing ceremony was a specta cle to behold, as the Prime Minister, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips, himself bowled off the first ball of the tour nament at the MYO Ground, while urging the players to enjoy themselves as three days of riveting action com mences.

In his feature address to all the teams present, the Prime Minister said, “We have female teams this year, so we have grown from just a tournament with male teams to having female teams; so, I consider this a complete tour nament now.

“Internationally, in the world, cricket is not an allmale sport, we have female teams participating in all lev els of sport. So, it’s just natu ral that the Prime Minister’s T20 Cup, as it grows, it will have female teams. So, con gratulations to the organiz ers.

“We also have more spon sors in the 6th edition, as compared to the previous editions; so, congratulations to the sponsors! And thank you for believe in this tour nament and participating in the growth of the tournament through your tremendous support over the years.”

Phillips further relat ed that while this year the weather has been challeng ing, it should be noted that it is also the year without

COVID-19. He said that for the last two editions, the pan demic affected the tourna ment, as restrictions had to be followed; however, with those restrictions lifted, he is opti mistic there will be a larger fanbase coming out to support the teams in the grand finale at the Stadium.

“This year is the biggest tournament, and the best team, like in any cricket tour nament, will emerge and win. Let’s have a good tournament; we don’t want any controver sy, and as I would always say, the umpire’s decision is final.

“Congratulations to all of you here who are participat ing. I know there are teams

here from overseas. Welcome home, and let’s have a good tournament, and may the best team win,” Phillips shared.

There will be three male categories, and those are: the Legends (Over-50), Masters (Over-40) and Open (all ages). Over two million dollars are up for grabs. The winning team in each category is set to collect $600,000, while the

champion lady side would cart off $200,000.

Highlighting the action on day one was Uniss Yusuf in the Legends category. Regal Legends duked it out with Trophy Stall, the one-sided af fair seeing Regal post 330-1 in their 20 overs, as Yusuf blast ed an unbeaten 159. He was ably supported by Ramesh Narine, who notched 116 not out. In reply Trophy Stall

could muster only 56-8 in 14 overs, as rain stopped play, thus handing Regal an easy win.

Meanwhile, in the Open category, SC Allstars were bundled out for 34 by Regal Allstars. Kelvin Orfore, Delroy Pereira and Greg Singh bagged two wickets each. In reply, Regal ended on 39-1 in 7.1 overs, as Sachin Singh top-scored with 14.

In their next open game, Regal posted 107-8 against City Allstars. Sewchan Budhoo top-scored with 35, while Amir Khan bagged 2 wickets. In reply, City Allstars ended on 83-3 in 12 overs, with Jonathan Rampersaud scoring 18 as the rains came. As a result, Regal won due to a better net run rate.

The other open game

witnessed Speedboat duk ing it out with SC Allstars. Speedboat posted 196-6, with Vickash Dhaniram scoring 77, Beepaul Bandoo bagging 2-47, and Chris Sukhram posting 2-13. In reply, SC Allstars ended on 96-4 in 9.3 overs due to the rain. Bandoo was the top scorer with 30, but Speedboat won due to a better net run rate.

Eagles seeking crucial win in game against Combined CC

The Guyana Harpy Eagles will be aiming to record a win when they meet the Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) to day, Saturday November 12, from 9:00h at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. The Eagles are in third position with 12 points from five games, hav ing recorded three wins and suffered two defeats.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force are leaders in Zone A with 14 points, with a solid net run rate of 1.129. Windward Islands Volcanoes, who will play T&T Red Force today, are in second with 12 points at a net run rate of 0.347. The Harpy Eagles have a -0.010 net run rate, and a healthy win against CCC is essential.

For the Guyanese, Tevin Imlach is the leading run-scorer this season with 173 runs at an average of 43.25, but his strike rate sits at 59.24. Romario Shepherd,

who scored two half-centu ries against T&T Red Force this season, has 132 runs at an average of 44 and strike rate of 126.92. Wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble has 134 runs at an average of 26.80 and a strike rate of 131.

Collectively, the Harpy

Eagles’ batting continues to struggle, with the likes of Shimron Hetmyer (69), Leon Johnson (82) and Sherfane Rutherford (118) not cashing in big this season.

The ever consistent Gudakesh Motie continues to show his worth, picking up

nine wickets thus far. He has an average of 22.22 bowling at an economy rate of 4.65. Shepherd has eight wickets, while Clinton Pestano has taken five thus far.

A win in this CCC match is important for the Harpy Eagles as that would ensure

them a semi-final berth. CCC are at the bottom of the ta ble with two points, and they are fresh from a heavy de feat against Volcanoes, but the Denesh Ramdin-led side would want to spring a sur prise against Leon Johnson's team.

Red Force, on the oth er hand, would want to win against Volcanoes as well, to reassure their semi-final spot. The semi-final fixtures will be played in Antigua.

Guyana Harpy Eagles: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice Captain), Akshaya Persaud, Tevin Imlach, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Quentin Sampson, Clinton Pestano, Gudakesh Motie, Anthony Bramble, Nial Smith, Kevin Sinclair, Kemol Savory.

Combined Campuses & Colleges: Denesh Ramdin (Captain), Matthew Forde (Vice Captain), Amari Goodridge, Abhijai Mansingh, Demario Richards, Isaiah Ali, Jonathan Drakes, Kirstan Kallicharan, Michail Powell, Nathan Edward, Navin Bidaisee, Odain McCatty, Romario Greaves, Zavier Burton. (Brandon Corlette)

PM Phillips bowled the first ball of the tournament

PM Phillips was on the ball

The Prime Minister greeting the players

Prime Minister Mark Phillips standing with GSCL President Ian John and Regal Captain Mahendra Hardyal

Guyana Harpy Eagles searching for crucial win to seal semi-final birth

CG United Super50 Cup…

One Guyana President’s Cup is about unity, national football development -President Ali

With

the One Guyana President’s Cup football tournament set to kick off on Sunday in commu nities in each administrative region, President Irfaan Ali has said the idea is to use the ‘Beautiful Game’ as part of his Government’s plan to integrate sports into national life.

“One Guyana is not only about unifying people, it is how do we bring togeth er all dimensions of our so ciety into building a One Guyana, one country, and sport is an important part of that,” President Ali said on Friday, on the sidelines of his meeting with football stakehold ers at State House re garding the inaugural tournament.

The One Guyana Football Tournament Trophy was also hand ed over to President Ali by Peter Pompey, Managing Director of the Brass, Aluminum and Cast-Iron Foundry Ltd. (BACIF).

The tournament, which will be administered by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), will kick off with an in ter-ward competition in all 10 Regions. Out of this phase, 10 regional teams will contest the inter-regional round-robin cham pionship, with the finals set for January 1, 2023.

Similar to the sentiments ex pressed by GFF President Wayne Forde regarding the tournament helping football’s local govern ing body to unearth new talent, President Ali said the first-of-its-kind programme gives the Government “an excellent platform which we can reach communities. We can reach disadvantaged people. We can reach

young people. And football is an important sport for Guyana.

“I’ve been around football, I’ve looked at football, and I think we have the capabilities and capacity to get to the World Cup. We will be using this brand to project football in a very positive direction, to launch a regional competition,” President Ali said.

President Ali brought together all stake holders of the sport, more importantly the GFF and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, during the conception phase of the tournament, sharing his vision for using foot ball as part of his unifying plans, but also en suring that the players benefit above all.

An ardent supporter of cricket, President Ali also believes that football has the same opportunity as the proverbial Gentleman’s Game to bring people together. He said, "This is why, in conceptualising this tournament, I asked the guys to look at how we can bring ev ery region on board, so it goes beyond clubs.”

The One Guyana President’s Cup will see all players and coaching staff financially re warded for their involvement, but the Headof-State is calling on the most important as set to his master plan – the players – to be fully committed, pointing out, “They can’t be playing in any other tournament; they have

to sign on here.”

With several entities known for support ing football, particularly during the festive season, President Ali is hoping to bring all of corporate Guyana under one umbrella for the President’s Cup.

He further stated, “This doesn’t take away the community football and the small-goal football. That is an important part of commu nity life and building up capacity, but here is where you have a serious national tourna ment that is geared at identifying a pool of national players that will go into an acade my that will have a three-year engagement to ensure that they’re doing the right thing, that they are disciplined, that they’re practis ing and having the right nutrition, and they are having an opportunity to have a future after football.”

President Ali lauded the GFF, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and other stakeholders for bringing to life his One Guyana concept in sports, calling the tourna ment "fantastic."

President Ali, while encouraging Guyana to support, made it clear that his heart is with Region 3. “I’ll be supporting nationally all of Guyana, but, of course, I come from Region 3, I have to be a fan for them too.”

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ALL IN! President Irfaan Ali, along with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, Executives of the GFF and other football stakeholders, posing with the One Guyana President’s Cup Trophy