Guyana Times - Saturday, October 23, 2021

"Education and training will outlast P oil & gas industry" – UG Vice Chancellor 2

…as UG hosts orientation for new academic year

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

Issue No. 4809

THE BEACON OF TRUTH SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

PRICE

2020 elections litigation

UWI lecturers question independence of Guyana’s Court of Appeal

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WHAT'S INSIDE:

Linden Hospital gets $7.5M ambulance P11

See story on page 7

Brazilian miner stabbed to death during argument over gold P10 Police intercept 4kg ganja at roadblock P11

Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Cynthia Barrow-Giles

Lecturer in Law, Dr Ronnie Yearwood

…say many “questionable” judgements were “corrected” by CCJ …lauds Justice Roxane George for “sound judgements”

Parliament staff refuse to endure “high stress levels” at unprofessional PAC meetings

RDC driver arrested P11 for raping Rupununi girl CANU busts minibus P13 conductor with ganja

Page 3

…as its clerk develops health issues

No revaccination 6 Region 4 residents for travel – die from COVID-19 Health Minister …94 deaths in 22 days, 19 in ICU See story on page 13

Page 9

…reassures of Sputnik V approval by WHO

Harmon says he has “what it takes” to repair PNCR, win next elections See story on page 15

"Pastry Man" appeals life sentence over killing of teen peacemaker P12

2 NEWS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

“Education and training will outlast oil & gas industry” – UG Vice Chancellor …as UG hosts orientation for new academic year

“A

disregard and lack of respect for education and training could be the downfall of our great nation on the doorstep of now, a possible stellar success. It would be an unbelievable pity and huge opportunity lost if Guyanese cannot fill most of the openings in our country in what is called local content.”

These were the sentiments expressed by Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr Paloma Mohammed to the new and continuing student of the University of Guyana (UG), in giving the feature address and welcoming the students on Friday, as the University held a virtual ceremonial opening orientation session for its students as they prepare to

commence the new academic year 2021/2022 on Monday.

The reopening of the university will see some 1600 new students attending classes within the various faculties.

Approximately 7000 students are currently registered and enrolled at the university.

It was revealed that for the first semester, classes

will continue to be held virtually until further notice indicates otherwise.

Dr Mohamed lauded the students’ resilience in making it this far in the journey of the university life.

“The fact that you have made it to a new year, if you are continuing, and to the first year, if you are new, is a testament to how resilient you are,” she commended.

The Vice Chancellor stressed on the importance of having a university education by stating that “a university education distinguishes you in several ways and gives you a better outcome for earning mobility, even respectability.”

She further explained that having a university education is lifechanging and has proven to be one of the best indicators of future economic and social mobility.

This, she stated is “not only for the graduand, but also for their families, the communities in which they find themselves, and other places wider in the world.

It is therefore a highly competitive process and further intended to test and illicit your true talents, and ability,” the Vice Chancellor expressed.

“For Guyana, in this particular moment, when there are so many needs for jobs in areas that we have never been accustomed to providing and areas in which we have been providing but, we need more people,” she pointed out.

Professor Mohamed emphasised on the fact that Guyanese need to take advantage of the many avenues that are waiting to be realised, while noting that the value of education and training is that it can change not only people’s technical proficiencies but also fundamentally who they are.

“This is an investment that never ends. That pays itself forward for generations. Investing in education and training lasts way beyond the first generation of those educated. And in our case, while everyone is super focused on local content for oil and gas, in truth, educating and training now will outlast that industry, which itself has a shelf life like many others,” she indicated.

She revealed that educa-

UG Vice Chancellor Dr Paloma Mohamed

tion, unlike the oil and gas sector, never depreciates since it is transferrable and can only be appreciated exponentially as long as the person who chose to be educated is alive.

“It has multiplier effects at various levels, and what I mean by this is that many people in areas get benefits from a single investment, and most of all, what is inside you. What is already inside you, in your brain, in your heart cannot be taken away, stolen, or appropriated by anyone else.”

She urged the students to take full advantage of the opportunity they were given to further educate themselves to higher levels.

Additionally, she made note of the university’s four aspirational goals in its blueprint 2040, with goal one being, having at least one university graduate in every household.

To this end, she implored persons who would not have been successful in their application not to give up on their dreams and aspirations of furthering their studies, since works are currently being done to extend the university’s capacity, especially in some key and competitive areas. (Nathifa Punch)

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS OPENINGS BRIDGE

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

Saturday, Oct 23 – 04:00h – 05:30h and Sunday, Oct 24 – 04:00h – 05:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Saturday, Oct 23 – 05:40h – 07:10h and Sunday, Oct 24 – 06:15h – 07:45h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY There will be light rain showers during the day.

Expect light cloud at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: South-Easterly to North-Westerly between 1.78 metres and 4.91 metres.

High Tide: 17:49h reaching a maximum height of 2.69 metres.

Low Tide: 11:27h and 23:48h reaching minimum heights of 0.64 metre and 0.52 metre.

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Parliament staff refuse to endure “high stress levels” at unprofessional PAC meetings …as its clerk develops health issues

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he meetings of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have been postponed after the “high stress levels” at previous meetings have caused the present Clerk to develop health issues and other substitute clerks are unwilling to work due to the unprofessional conduct of some members.

This was communicated to the PAC Chairman, Jermaine Figueira, in a letter on Thursday by Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs, who said he would be unable to provide a clerk to the PAC for its upcoming sitting. The PAC was scheduled to meet on Friday and again on Monday.

In the correspondence, Isaacs explained that: “Due to the frequent challenges being encountered at meetings of the Public Accounts Committee, the present Clerk of the Committee has developed health issues because of high stress levels and cannot continue to clerk the Committee.”

He went on to point out that given the behaviour of certain members at the PAC meetings, no other staff is willing to sit in as a substitute.

“All other Clerks of Committees are unwilling to clerk the Public Accounts Committee because of the unprofessional conduct of some members of this Committee, which is not conducive to a healthy working environment,” Isaacs indicated.

The letter, which was copied to the Speaker, Manzoor Nadir, as well as other PAC members, did not indicate if a clerk will become available for the sitting after Monday’s.

Only recently, Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira warned that a No-Confidence Motion could be looming to have Figueira removed from the post. This was after the

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PAC Chairman Jermaine Figueira

two sides of the House had a disagreement over a motion to increase the sittings of the PAC. Figueira, who had only taken over as Head of the PAC in July after the previous Chairman, David Patterson, was removed by a NCM, wants to increase the sittings of the PAC since it is only still reviewing public spending from 2016.

But Minister Teixeira has contended that it is difficult to meet more than once a week, since Government parliamentarians and head of constitutional agencies have other work to attend to.

“A decision was made on October 11 in the Committee, without any discussion or any attempt to reach consensus on having meetings twice weekly… they attempted this before and they knew the Government was not in support, neither the constitutional body heads. I brought a motion to rescind the motion of October 11, in keeping with the standing orders. And although hotly debated in the beginning, Figueira did agree he needed more time to review it,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.

According to Teixeira, Figueira agreed that the motion would come back at the next statutory meeting of October 25. This was agreed to, after which the PAC continued dealing with the 2016 Auditor General Report.

“Regrettably, when we came near to the end, Mr Figueira shut off the live stream, told the media to leave and proceeded to adjourn until Friday, October 22. Despite him being reminded he had made a commitment to October 25, the statutory meeting on Monday. He proceeded to walk out the meeting…

This is reminiscent of what we went through in the PAC with Patterson as the Chair. Once again, APNU/ AFC cannot be trusted with

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs

anything, even a simple motion to rescind a decision… so we will now start down a road that is familiar and if this behaviour continues, we have no qualms of going to the House once again to remove the Chairman of the PAC,” Teixeira contended.

However, PAC Member and APNU/AFC Parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul released a statement in which he was adamant that Figueira was not bound to hold the next meeting on October 25, like he had agreed. He also argued that the twice weekly meetings are necessary considering the PAC’s backlog. (G8)

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

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

Sexual violence and children

O

ver the past weeks there were several reports of teenagers ensuring violent sexual violations at the hands of persons they know.

Three of the most recent of these are a 14-year-old girl who accepted a drop home from a Regional Democratic Council driver in Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo); another 14-year-old who was raped by a 23-year-old and three brothers who were raped by their neighbour.

These startling disclosures have churned the stomach of society calls are being made for the respective agencies to address the high instances of sexual violence against children in Guyana.

Earlier this year, the Social Security Ministry had revealed that high on the types of abuse children endure are sexual and neglect in nature.

In the high category of sexual abuse, the Child Care and Protection Agency had found that 688 girls were sexually abused, with 382 between the ages of 14 and 18 being abused at home. Astonishing also is the fact that many of these girls were violated and abused by persons brought into the homes.

Globally, staggering numbers of children are experiencing violence, in varied forms, often by those entrusted to take care of them. While girls are predominately the victims of sexual abuse, boys too experience abuse as well. The CCPA report had also revealed that 127 boys were sexually abused.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with UNICEF, UNESCO, the Special Representative of the United Nations SecretaryGeneral on Violence against Children and the End Violence Partnership had said that half of the world’s children, or approximately 1 billion children each year are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence, suffering injuries, disabilities and death, because countries have failed to follow established strategies to protect them.

The report – Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children – is the first of its kind, charting progress in 155 countries against the “INSPIRE” framework, a set of seven strategies for preventing and responding to violence against children.

The report signals a clear need in all countries, including Guyana, to scale up efforts to implement these strategies. While 88% of the countries surveyed have key laws in place to protect children against violence, less than half of countries (47%) said these were being strongly enforced. It is therefore clear that having the policy framework in place is not enough, there is a serious challenge as it relates to implementation.

The INSPIRE strategies launched in 2016 call for the implementation and enforcement of laws; changing norms and values to make violence unacceptable; creating safe physical environments for children; providing support to parent and caregivers; strengthening income and economic security and stability; improving response and support services for victims; and providing children with education and life skills.

The report has stated that although a majority of countries (83%) have national data on violence against children, only 21% used these to set baselines and national targets to prevent and respond to violence against children.

According to the report’s findings, about 80% of countries have national plans of action and policies but only one-fifth have plans that are fully funded or have measurable targets. A lack of funding combined with inadequate professional capacity are likely contributing factors and a reason why implementation has been slow.

The report also noted that stay-at-home measures including school closures have limited the usual sources of support for families and individuals such as friends, extended family or professionals. This further erodes victims’ ability to successfully cope with crises and the new routines of daily life. Spikes in calls to helplines for child abuse and intimate partner violence have been observed.

And while online communities have become central to maintain many children’s learning, support and play, an increase in harmful online behaviours including cyberbullying, risky online behaviour and sexual exploitation have been identified.

WHO has underlined the need for global action to ensure that the necessary financial and technical support is available to all countries. It notes also that monitoring and evaluation are crucial to determine the extent to which these prevention efforts are effectively delivered to all who need them.

Dr Howard Taylor, a representatives of End Violence Partnership puts it this way: “Ending violence against children is the right thing to do, a smart investment to make, and it’s possible…We can and must create a world where every child can thrive free from violence and become a new generation of adults to experience healthy and prosperous lives.”

Like WHO and other partners, we believe that it is time to fully fund comprehensive national action plans that will keep children safe.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand sharing a photo with the top 22 NGSA performers in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara). On Friday, the region’s Education Department, along with the Private Sector of the region, honoured students at a ceremony held at the Aracari Resort (Education Ministry photo)

The Gandhi way: common grounds Dear Editor, The dissent and fallout around the request to rename a street after Gandhi reveals huge divisions in a society that should seek to heal. What seemed to have escaped many is the common ground that was brought to light from the media and other public opinions.

Historical and current connections

To suggest that Gandhi has no connection with Guyana is to ignore the history and views of prominent world leaders. President Obama visited India in 2010, and made it clear in addressing Congress “…I may not be standing here today as President of the USA had it not been for Gandhi and the message he shared with America and the rest of the world”.

Then there are the memorable words of Martin Luther King: “Christ gave us the goals, Gandhi gave us the tactics…he influenced my life in terms of action more than anybody…”

Gandhi was invited to the USA and many other countries by leaders of numerous religious and political groups, but he chose not to leave the struggle that demanded his presence in India.

However, his emissary, Rev. Andrews, was hosted by the British Guiana East Indian Association in 1929 to study the conditions of Indentured servants as he had done in Fiji and Natal.

Details can be found in his 1930 report, Impressions of British Guiana, which was shared with Gandhi and Congress. It influenced the decision to end the system that was filled with horrendous examples of exploitation, and even death. (See Gandhi’s Influence in British Guiana, Guyana Times September 28, 2020).

Common grounds

One of the better suggestions still to be realised was made in 2012, when the Mayor of Georgetown attended the annual birthday event and paid homage to Gandhi. However, he further recommended to the Indian High Commission that they should collaborate with the University of Peace Studies and the Universal Peace Foundation so the minds of the young people can be inculcated with the value of non-violence, and future genera-

tions can live in a world that is kinder and more loving. (See KN October 3, 2012) The only issue with such a call is to ask why the IHC should be the only agency to take this initiative of a global icon. One answer is that others do not see it as their duty, even though the entire society and the world benefit when there is peace.

Influence of the Gita

It is a quite refreshing to read the words of Dr. Roshan Khan and others, referring to the Gita as a book that is meant for all, irrespective of religious beliefs and practices.

Despite the many tragedies in Gandhi’s life, these left no visible or indelible scars on him, a fact that is credited entirely to the Gita. This universal philosophy was the source of both inspiration and consolation when disappointments stared him in the face. It was the initiative of his secretary, Mahadev Desai. The British provided both of them the leisure time for this product of love, as they were in prison when the original was conceived in 1933-34.

Hajji Khan, one of the rare knowledge-seekers, was seen reading and studying the Gita on a flight from Guyana to Toronto a few years ago.

Sanatan Dharma Educational Foundation saw the need to promote this knowledge, and initiated a project, A GITA FOR EACH HOME, several years ago in Canada. Thousands of copies of this summary of the Vedas and Upanishads were distributed in North America, the Caribbean, and Guyana. The many positive comments made about its message since Gandhi’s birthday this year caused them to renew their efforts. The Apostle of Peace himself may have implored us to do this, instead of being involved in conflict about his name on a street.

Consequently, more prints of hard copies have been ordered from India, and should be available for distribution in the new year. A free PDF copy can be made available to organisations interested in printing and distributing it to their members from Ramjihindu@rogers.com.

Guyana, like India, lives in the villages, and it is a limitation on human

imagination to ignore what the countryside from Charity to Crabwood Creek can do to make his teachings come alive.

President Ali also recognised that Gandhi’s philosophy was meant to create change from the bottom up.

Every religious and social organisation across the country can organise an event on October 2 each year, and invite speakers to share the life and message of the Apostle of Truth and Non-violence. The diaspora is overflowing with knowledgeable lecturers willing to participate.

For those who want any structure to carry his name, there are countless ways to make this happen quietly, without being involved in the noise of divisive politics. Who can stop private companies from using his name on their buildings, roads, Ashrams, schools (or even a classroom) hospitals (or even a wing) sports stadiums, bridges, pets, etc, if this will help future generations to avoid anger and violence?

It may not be too late to consider a street or even a pathway around the Memorial to Jahajis at Palmyra in Region Six. Then there is the new SILICA city, which can test the courage of any Government by naming it GANDHI NAGAR, and better yet make it a NON-ALCOHOLIC ZONE. This can also be the location of the first Department of Peace. The idea is not novel. According to the April 2021 newsletter from the UNITING FOR PEACE organisation in UK, several countries have one, and the UN supports the building of such Ministries.

It also states that 22 countries have no army, leaving more for health, education and social services. One of them, Costa Rica, requires Peace Education to be taught in all schools.

If we on earth cannot use the lessons of his life to unite a tiny country of less than a million people, we may have to wait until we are invaded by extraterrestrial beings. Alternatively, we have to experience the few minutes’ excursion to outer space, from where we can see the entire earth as one living entity envisioned by the Mahatma.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti Ramnarine Sahadeo

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

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Stop peddling misinformation in Berbice as to flood relief

Dear Editor, Please allow me a space in your letter columns to share my views as to the misinformation being peddled by former AFC executives in Berbice.

Both gentlemen are well known for being part of the previous Government.

During some recent televised and live Facebook programmes, both gentlemen seemed to be upwards-downwards peddling misinformation about the Government’s cash grant to farmers.

They both seemed to be bent on telling the public the truth about what took place after numerous complaints were made by farm-

ers that their names are excluded on the list that was prepared by local officials towards the cash grant.

However, at one time both gentlemen would praise the Government by thanking President Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo for such a great programme, and, on the other hand, they would attack the Government by slamming the Minister of Agriculture and its agencies. Seems they are playing the one foot here and one foot their game.

I am not defending the officials who submitted the first list of beneficiaries for the grant. It was done in a short period of time and to

the best of their knowledge, so we must accept that they did what they had to in putting together the info needed in a short period.

However, I believe that they did that list without going house to house to have a firsthand look, to know exactly if the names on the list should be there or not. I believe that is where the problems started.

However, both gentlemen are making some serious allegations about persons who have already collected the grant, that they have done so illegally because they are not farmers. They also say that those names that were left out are the real farmers. They also

said that multiple persons in one household received the cash grant by claiming to be farming the same.

I would like to enlighten the two gentlemen that the Hon Vice President, a few weeks ago, publicly said that those who should be on the list and are not there have one month to do so.

Also, the VP publicly said anyone who collected the cash grant when they did not qualify have to repay the amount that was given.

In Berbice three offices were set up for said purpose, and direct numbers were provided so that anyone with info on persons collecting the grant when they should not have collected

could provide the info of those persons. All the information given, we were told, would be treated confidentially.

However, until this day, I did not hear any of the two gentlemen call in to give any info as to anyone that collected that should not get that cash grant.

I am challenging both of those men to come forward and provide the names of the persons that received the grant by providing false information to the officials, and I am publicly calling on the Police to investigate the same.

I am calling on both gentlemen to stop peddling lies, and give info as to who and

who collected that should not have.

I must commend the Hon VP Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Agriculture, the Hon Zulifikar Mustapha, for the extension of time given so that those persons whose names weren’t on the list can have their names now on it.

Let’s work to better the agriculture sector, rather than to peddle lies and deception for fame and personal aims.

Regards Abel Seetaram Former AFC Executive and RDC Reg 5 Councillor

Not surprised by the APNU/AFC’s bullyism in the PAC

Dear Editor, I have been following the recent developments in regard to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and I have noted several things which I want to address.

It is very clear that the Opposition APNU/ AFC are focused on stymieing the progress of the Government in every possible way. These individuals have nothing else to do but to parade around the place whole day and hurl attacks at the Government

on social media.

Unlike them, Government officials, including the Ministers who are part of the PAC, do not have the luxury of free time to parade around the place.

Rather, these officials are focused on the smooth running of the country. In this regard, I can understand why the Government’s PAC members are not in favour of meeting twice per week.

I also want to point out that the PAC relies on stat-

utory and constitutional representatives to be present during the meetings.

These individuals also play critical roles in ensuring the country is managed properly on a daily basis.

Taking time out from executing their mandates twice per week to attend the PAC meeting is ridiculous, and quite frankly unnecessary.

On another note, I have come to realise that the way in which current PAC Chairman Jermaine

Figueira is behaving is similar to that of the last PAC Chairman, Mr David Patterson. I recall clearly that when Patterson was the chairman, he kept pushing aside the motion for his removal until he was compelled to act on it by the Standing Orders.

As far as I can see, Mr. Figueira is behaving in the same manner, by pushing aside the motion brought

by Minister Teixeira despite its being in accordance with the Standing

Why are APNU/AFC PAC members creating so many issues recently?

Dear Editor, At a recent PAC meeting, it was revealed that millions of dollars’ worth of contracts were not awarded to the lowest, most responsive bidder, and there are no minutes to explain why.

After reading news reports on the matter, it became clear to me that something amiss occurred in Region 10 during 2016,

while the APNU/AFC Coalition was in office. This is in regard to the awarding of contracts. However, even though this was just one revelation, it begs the question about what more will be unearthed as the PAC continues examining the 2016 Auditor General’s Report.

I ask that you permit me space in your publication to

We must protect the little people

Dear Editor, I read in the newspapers recently of the awards ceremony hosted by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS). Among the awardees for health and safety, I recognised, were my neighbourhood garbage collectors, Puran Brothers.

Editor, I must admit I was perplexed by the award, as I recognise the garbage collectors who collect my refuse weekly without any protective gear. I often ask them why they do not have such gear, and they would tell me their company does not provide them with the gear.

I have told them several times that the law requires

their company to give them appropriate gear. They have told me if they want gear to protect themselves in doing the company’s job, they must pay for it themselves.

Editor, I am doubtful that the GNBS was aware of this when it decided to award the company. I am also not sure whether this matter has ever been investigated by the Ministry of Labour.

Editor, it is my view that such companies do not deserve awards, but, as I said, it is my view.

We must protect the little people.

Yours faithfully, Patricia Persaud

echo some of my concerns on this issue. As mentioned, the PAC is currently looking at the 2016 report. In this report, it shows that, in Region 10, 14 contracts totalling $38.5 million were awarded to neither the lowest nor most responsive bidders.

Additionally, 17 contracts for the execution of drainage and irrigation works, as well as road works, were awarded.

These contracts were also not awarded to the lowest or most competitive bidders. With this in mind, I bring attention to the fact that, just recently, we saw issues arising within the PAC, where the Opposition Chairman of the committee, Mr. Jermaine Figueira, pushed aside a motion by Minister Gail Teixeira to another date even though the motion was in accordance with the Standing Orders.

We also saw issues being raised out of the blue by the Opposition members of the committee, with no basis to support many of their claims.

I raise this question to everyone reading this: Why is it that the Opposition members of the PAC are creating so many issues recently? Is it because they are trying to distract the

Government from properly examining the 2016 Auditor General’s Report? In my view, the APNU/AFC’s recent behaviour in the PAC could be an attempt to stymie the work of the PAC to prevent revelations like the one with the awarding of contracts in Region 10.

Additionally, I think it is important to shed light on the fact that, during the APNU/AFC’s time in office in fact, as soon as they left office last year - we saw revelations made regarding the use of taxpayers’ money to buy gifts, etc. This recent revelation that they disregarded the Tender Board process and requirements when awarding contracts back in 2016 is just another one of their practices coming to light.

It is public knowledge that there ought to be records to support decisions made when awarding contracts. Why didn’t the APNU/AFC ensure that proper records were kept, like the minutes which would have given reasons as to why specific contracts were awarded to specific people despite their not having the lowest prices or being the most responsive bidder?

Regards, Thomas Cole

Orders. Just recently, I was doing some research on the PAC, and I found out that the Chairman is responsible for putting motions and questions before the members, so that they can be discussed and voted upon should there be a need to do so. In regard to the motion by Minister Teixeira, the Chairman, Mr. Figueira, failed to carry out his function of putting the motion before the members so that it can be voted on. In my opinion, one can argue that he is acting outside of his constitutional mandate, which is not that surprising for members of the APNU/ AFC Coalition.

Further, I saw statements by both sides of the PAC recently on social media, and one of the things that stood out to me was the fact that, earlier this month, when Mr. Mahipaul moved a motion to meet twice weekly, Minister

Edghill was in attendance virtually. However, from what I gathered, the Chairman did not allow Minister Edghill to make any contribution or vote on the motion, claiming that he was not online, when in fact he was.

Such actions must be condemned, because the Chairman is supposed to allow every member to have a say in the decision-making process. Notably, even the statutory and constitutional representatives that were present were not consulted on the motion beforehand. This clearly shows the bullyism being exercised on the part of the Opposition.

I can’t say I am surprised, because the APNU/ AFC members are known for displaying dictatorial tendencies during their tenure in office.

Yours truly, Attiya Baksh

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

2020 elections litigation

UWI lecturers question independence of Guyana’s Court of Appeal …say many “questionable” judgements were “corrected” by CCJ …lauds Justice Roxane George for “sound judgements”

Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Cynthia Barrow-Giles

T

he overturning of several Guyana Court of Appeal rulings related to the March 2020 elections, and the 2018 NoConfidence Motion by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has been noted by two University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturers and has caused them to question not only the soundness of the court’s judgments but also the independence of that court.

Lecturer in Law, Dr Ronnie Yearwood and Senior Lecturer in Political Science Cynthia BarrowGiles – who led the high-level Caricom team to supervise the recount of all ballots cast at the March 2020 elections – on Thursday discussed their research paper titled: “The Judiciary and the 2020 Guyana Elections”.

The paper which is part

of the UWI’s Faculty of Law, Cave Hill Campus Working Paper Series will be published soon in the Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies.

The paper, among other things, examined the extent to which it can be argued that the March 2020 elections in Guyana signals the increasing significance of the Judiciary in elections.

Barrow-Giles described those elections, which were marred by litigations from the two major political parties, as one of the most globally delayed elections in terms of declaring a winner.

Questionable, corrected

Examining the rulings handed down by the courts, Dr Yearwood, a qual-

Lecturer in Law, Dr Ronnie Yearwood

ified lawyer in Barbados, England and Wales, and the British Virgin Islands, said that many judgements rendered by the Court of Appeal were “corrected” by the CCJ. He reasoned that it seems

often that the High Court and the CCJ were on similar wavelengths and similar thoughts and reasoning.

“It was often the Court of Appeal where the judgement seems to go awry and then the CCJ correcting the Court of Appeal to say actually what the High Court originally ruled as the exclusive court to deal with electoral matters was right, so we often saw that happen,” he noted.

Barrow-Giles said in light of what the Court of Appeal had to say on the same matters that were ad-

dressed by Chief Justice Roxane George - whom she described as highly respected - in her view, “some of the judgments that came out

of the Court of Appeal are highly questionable”.

The lecturers lauded Justice George for delivering sound judgements in the election-related litigations, and in so doing, pointed out that many of her rulings were upheld by the apex court.

While noting that she is not a lawyer and did not want to impute anyone, the senior lecturer opined that there might be a connection between the appointment process of the Judges and some of the judgments. The Court of Appeal is presided over by the Chancellor of the Judiciary, while the High Court is led by the Chief Justice.

The Constitution instructs that the Chancellor of the Judiciary and the Chief Justice are appointed after the President and Opposition Leader reach an agreement. The other Judges are appointed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

To this end, she underscored the need to examine the appointment process and to ensure there is a complete separation of powers in the region. The latter, she said, is one of the issues that clearly “comes out in some of the things that we saw coming out of the Guyanese courts in particular”.

When it comes to some of the decisions rendered by Guyana’s courts, in partic-

Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George

ular, the Court of Appeal, Barrow-Giles said that the most important point is the question as to whether or not the courts are truly as independent as they really ought to be, what can be done about that, and whether or not the judgements are also a reflection of the lack of independence of the courts.

GECOM a political party

Barrow-Giles explained that Guyana’s Constitution, unlike other Constitutions she is familiar with has given the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) tremendous powers – those we do not see associated with other elections bodies.

Despite this, she pointed out that GECOM was unable to use this power to assert itself in the controversial 2020 national elections. “GECOM should have an overriding role to play in the developments that took place, but unfortunately, for a number of reasons, it was side-lined.”

TURN TO PAGE 12

8 NEWS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

5 arrested, charged for breaching curfew

ss

Caribbean matters...

F

Charged: Keon Frazer, Oral Kelvin, Doodnauth Seeblak, Vickish Ramjit and Navendra Persaud

ive persons were on Tuesday arrested and charged for breaching the national curfew and for being in spaces that violated the gazetted measures which limit the occupancy in bars and restaurants to 40 per cent capacity.

The quintet was arrested between 23:00 and 23:30h, Police said. They were subsequently charged.

According to the law enforcement officers, the ac-

cused were processed and attended the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court where the charges were laid against them.

Those charged were Keon Frazer, 31, a businessman of Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara (ECD); Oral Kelvin, 32, a businessman of Nabaclis, ECD; Doodnauth Seeblak, 40, a construction worker of Dutch Fort, ECD; Vickish Ramjit, 36, an operator of

Hope, ECD; and Navendra Persaud, 32, of Nooten Zuil, ECD. Only two weeks ago 25 persons were arrested and charged for breaching the national curfew.

The arrests were made in Buxton, at Chico Ramas Gas Station and at Melanie Market Square on the East Coast of Demerara between 23:10h and 01:40h.

They were all placed on bail and processed to attend

the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court.

The national curfew is from 22:30h to 04:00h; bars and restaurants are to close at 21:30h.

The Guyana Police Force is urging all citizens to adhere to the COVID-19 regulations and to report all breaches to the COVID-19 Task Force hotlines on 6266674, 624-3067, 624-2819, and toll-free (GTT) 0180.

(G9)

B

…in Barbados arbados will be pulling the curtains down on British colonialism come Nov 21. On that day, as per votes already taken in their National Assembly and Senate, Dame Sandra Mason will become Barbados’s first President. Yep! The island once known as “Little England” will be removing Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as Head of State to become a Republic!! Imagine that…Barbados a Republic!

Nov 20th was their Independence Day, and will now cover both events.

While part of present-day St Kitts was settled by the British in 1623, Barbados was wholly claimed as British in 1625. This marked the real beginning of the British Empire in this neck of the woods. They’d already settled in Virginia in 1607, to form the first of the thirteen colonies that would rebel to form the US in 1776. Now, Barbados is only 166 square miles, but, for quite a while back in those days, it was more valuable as a colony to the Brits that the American colonies! Sugar was then king…and Barbados was the home of the King until surpassed by Jamaica, and much later by British Guiana.

Barbados’s colonisation goes back so far that its earliest labourers were poor Whites from Ireland and elsewhere.

They were the first indentured labourers to the Caribbean - and included many who might’ve been kidnapped.

These White Indentureds later worked alongside enslaved Africans in the sugar and tobacco plantations. They were distinguished by their religion - the Whites were Christians and had “souls”, while the Africans, the Christian Church insisted, were “pagan” and had no souls; as such, they were suitable to be chattel property!! The White Indentureds would become the “Redlegs”, or poor Whites who remain in Barbados to this day - but not so poor anymore!! Like the White convicts who were sent to populate Australia…and who are now so racist!

Man’s inhumanity to man was codified right there in Barbados when they adopted their Slave Code in 1661.

They patterned it on the earlier Spanish and Portuguese models, and in turn it was to be the model for the rest of the British colonies here and elsewhere. In fact, what’s important, as the slave form of labour became the norm, was that Barbados set the standard in so many ways. One was to actually boast about their greater assimilation into British norms - even though the Whites snickered at their pretentions, as can be gleaned from novels of the era.

Barbados had already removed Lord Nelson’s statue from its capital last November - recognising that he was a staunch defender of slavery. But the question now is one for all former colonies: How free will they be in the age of new-colonialism after the COVID pandemic??

…on coups One of the legacies from our British pretentions was to smarmily smirk at those “Latin American types who were oh-so prone to coups and putsches!! After all, Charles 1 was beheaded in 1649, just before the Barbados settlement.

Then a couple of lieutenants in the Trinidad army tried to overthrow their Oxford-trained Prime Minister Eric Williams in 1970! That petered out quickly enough, as did the Black Power ideology that fuelled it.

But, 20 years later, Trinidad again let down the “keeping up of “our” British standards” side when Abu Bakr invaded TT Parliament with 100 followers and took PM ANR Robinson and other MPs hostage. Widespread violence and vandalism ensued, and when Abu Bakr finally surrendered 6 days later, he was charged with treason. But, amazingly, the Court of Appeals ordered him released, and he was never rearrested - even though the Privy Council invalidated the amnesty given to him and his followers before they surrendered. Bakr remained free for 31 years, but is now dead.

May the 24 killed find peace.

…in Haitian tragedy Meanwhile Haiti, the first Caribbean island to seize independence, continues its downward spiral. The gang leader who kidnapped 17 American missionaries has threatened to execute them unless the gang receives US$1M for each of those kidnapped.

That’s almost the bonus for 10M barrels of oil!!

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

NEWS

9

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

6 Region 4 residents die from COVID-19

…94 deaths in 22 days, 19 in ICU

G

uyana’s death toll from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has gone up to 893 after six more persons who tested positive for the deadly disease died.

These latest fatalities are all from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and only one of them was partially vaccinated, that is, they received the first dose.

They are 69- and 70-yearold females, as well as a 69-year-old male, who were all unvaccinated and died on October 21; a 71-year-old male who was also not im-

munised and died on October 20; and the remaining two – a 53-year-old female who was unvaccinated and a 50-yearold male who was partially vaccinated – died on October 22.

According to the Health Ministry on Friday, these six patients were admitted with COVID-19 like symptoms but died while receiving care at medical institutions. Samples were taken at the time of admission which subsequently returned positive tests.

This now brings the death toll so far in October to 94.

Meanwhile, the Ministry’s updated COVID-19 dashboard on Friday showed that another 77 persons have contracted the virus.

This now takes the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 34,877 of which 16,495 are males and 18,382 are females.

Of this amount, however, only 3417 are currently active cases including 19

patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining 3398 persons in isolation, that is, 108 in institutional isolation and the other 3290 in home isolation.

There are also another six persons in institutional quarantine.

To date, some 30,567 persons have recovered from the life-threatening disease – 195 more recoveries than the figure reported the previous day.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana, a total of 344,591 COVID-19

tests have been conducted in the country.

Of the 77 new cases recorded on Friday, three are from Region One (BarimaWaini), eight cases from Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), 17 from Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara), a whopping 34 cases from the DemeraraMahaica region, five more from Region Five (MahaicaBerbice), four cases from Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) and three cases each in Regions Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

There were no new cases detected in the last 24 hours in Regions Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo).

The Guyana Government launched its COVID-19 vaccination exercise back in February and continues to roll it out across the various regions in order to achieve herd immunity and reduce the number of COVID-19 in-

fections.

So far, some 376,436 persons or 73.4 per cent of the adult population have received their first dose of the vaccine and approximately 46.1 per cent or some 236,238 persons who are 18 years and older are fully immunised.

As it relates to children, approximately 26,751 or 36.7 per cent first doses have been administered to the 12 to 17-year age group. Of that amount, some 17,182 or 23.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

During his COVID-19 update on Friday, Health

Minister Dr Frank Anthony pointed out that in both age groups there are a significant number of persons who have received their first dose and are due for their second jab but have not taken it as yet.

In fact, he disclosed that there are about 55,000 persons who are due for the second shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We have those second doses available,” the Health Minister noted, adding that there are sufficient vaccines available to immunise the adult population in the country. Dr Anthony also indicated that additional vaccines – Sputnik V component two, AstraZeneca and Pfizer are slated to arrive within the next week.

Moreover, he also gave a breakdown of the first dose vaccination figures in each region and it revealed that Regions Two, Eight and 10 are lagging behind with 59.6 per cent, 45.4 per cent and 33.1 per cent, respectively.

GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD OCTOBER 22, 2021 UPDATE

NUMBER OF NEW CASES

77

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU

108 3290 19

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE

6

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES)

18,382

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES)

16,495

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020

34,877

NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES

30,567

TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED

376,436

FULLY IMMUNISED

236,238

TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS

893

DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020 REGION 1

1584

REGION 2

1390

REGION 3

4764

REGION 4

16,647

REGION 5

1244

REGION 6

2491

REGION 7

1725

REGION 8

549

REGION 9

2439

REGION 10

2044

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

Keep a physical distance of at least 6 feet.

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

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

According to the Health Minister, these regions would need to achieve at least 90 per cent of full immunisation in order to get to herd immunity.

“So, we have a far way to go in terms of vaccinating especially in these three regions,” he posited.

The first dose vaccination figures in the other regions are in the 70s with the exception of Region Four – the country’s most populated re-

gion – which is at 82.3 per cent. However, Dr Anthony has stressed the need for this figure be increased.

“We still need to get that up… The higher the immunisation rates go up, you will see a falloff in terms of the hospitalisation and the deaths. As we increase these numbers of persons being vaccinated in Region Four, you are going to see the cases come down,” he stated.

Nevertheless, as people

continue to get vaccinated, authorities are urging the public to continue observing all COVID-19 preventative measures, particularly masking in public, social distancing and frequent hand washing and sanitising.

The measures also include vaccination requirements to access any public building such as restaurants, places of worship, schools as well as Government buildings. (G8)

10 NEWS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Brazilian miner stabbed to death during argument over gold

A

Brazilian miner was stabbed to death on Thursday evening during an argument over gold at Central Baramita, North West District (NWD), Region One (Barima-Waini).

The identity of the victim has been given only as “Negung”.

The Police have said that the victim and the suspect were involved in a gold-mining operation at the Venezuela/ Guyana border, and whilst working there, had had a misunderstanding over a quantity of raw gold.

This had resulted in frequent threats being made to each other, but the matter was not reported to the Police.

On Thursday, at about 20:30h, the victim and the suspect were consuming alcohol in the vicinity of the Johnny Phillips’ Hotel at

Central Baramita, NWD when an argument broke out between them. During that argument, the 35-yearold suspect, who is also a Brazilian, whipped out a knife from his pants waist and dealt the victim several stabs to his chest and ribs’ area, before dropping the murder weapon and making good his escape.

The victim was taken to the Baramita Health Centre, where he was pronounced dead on arrival by a medex. His body has been taken to the Port Kaituma Mortuary to await a post mortem.

A report was made to the Baramita Police Station, and the alleged murder weapon was recovered at the scene while a manhunt has been launched to apprehend the suspect.

Cops stumble on abandoned motorcycles during patrol

The three motorcycles that were abandoned at Lighttown village

P

olice ranks stumbled upon three abandoned motorcycles at Lighttown village, East Bank Berbice (EBB), on Friday whilst doing patrol duties.

Reports are that at about 01:07h, a Police mobile patrol was in Light Town village, when ranks came upon the three abandoned motorcycles on the public road.

The motorcycles were a black and green XTZ 250 Lander Yamaha bearing registration number CG 5827 and registration number CJ 4083, a grey and black Wave 5 Honda 110 motorcycle bearing registration number CH 6005 and a black and red Lifan

125 bearing no registration number.

The motorcycles have since been lodged at the Central Police Station and an investigation launched.

Only recently a motorcycle suspected to have been stolen was discovered at an abandoned house in No 2 Village, East Canje, Berbice, during a Police operation.

According to Police reports, ranks of the Central Police Station conducted a raid on the premises, and a black motorcycle bearing registration number CB 1 was found.

It was taken to the Central Police Station, where it was lodged. (G9)

NEWS

11

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

RDC driver arrested for Linden Hospital gets $7.5M ambulance raping Rupununi girl T

P

olice have launched an investigation and arrested a driver attached to the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) in the Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper TakutuUpper Essequibo), after he allegedly raped a teen girl.

This was confirmed by Regional Commander of Region Nine Rapheal Rose on Friday.

Guyana Times understands that sometime last week the man reportedly offered to drop girl, who is 14 years old, a drop on his motorcycle. At the time, the teen girl was walking home when he rode up and offered to take her home.

During their journey along the public road, the man reportedly took another route into a bushy area where he brought his motorcycle to a halt and asked the teen to have sexual intercourse with him.

The teen girl refused but he reportedly raped her.

It was reported that pass-

ers-by heard the girl screaming and went to her rescue.

However, by the time they got to the area the man had ridden away from the scene.

A report was subsequently made to the Police and the suspect was arrested.

Only on Thursday officials of the Guyana Police Force said they are preparing a file to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to seek legal advice after a 23-year-old man was accused of sexually and physically assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

The victim and suspect are known to each other and the alleged assault reportedly occurred on different occasions this month.

The 23-year-old, who resides in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), was arrested recently and remains in Police custody.

Investigations are ongoing.

(G9)

he Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) on Thursday received a brand-new ambulance from the Health Ministry to better equip that medical facility to respond to emergencies.

The ambulance was handed over by Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony to LHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rudolph Small and

Officials of the Linden Hospital Complex at the handing over ceremony

The $7.5M ambulance that was handed over to the hospital

Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Gregory Harris in a simple handing over ceremony.

The hospital’s CEO has expressed gratitude to the Health Ministry and its Permanent Secretary, Malcolm Watkins, for ensuring that his request for an ambulance was fulfilled. He also noted that the new addition would help to improve the quali-

ty of health services being offered to the people of the region.

Pastor Selwyn Sills ceremoniously blessed the ambulance, and prayed for safety and protection of the patients and staff who would be utilising it.

According to information from the LHC, the new ambulance is estimated to have cost $7.5 million.

Police intercept 4kg ganja at roadblock

The cannabis that was found in the trunk of the car

A

34-year-old man was arrested in the wee hours of Friday following the discovery of nine pounds of ganja in his car during a roadblock exercise in the vicinity of the Berbice

River Bridge.

Police preliminary investigations revealed that on Friday, at about 4:15h, a Police roadblock exercise was in effect on the public road leading to the Berbice

River Bridge when a dark blue Toyota Carina 212 motor car, HB 6999, was seen approaching the bridge, but suddenly made a turn in a suspected bid to escape the lawmen.

Upon seeing this, Police gave chase and intercepted the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle unearthed a gray Diesel haversack in the spare wheel compartment of the trunk, and when opened, the haversack was found to contain a bulky parcel wrapped in transpar-

ent plastic within a black plastic bag. The parcel was opened in the presence of the suspect, and the large quantity of cannabis was found.

The suspect was told of the offence committed and was arrested. He reportedly told Police, “Is me weed, and I went going and sell off over the river, but I turn back when I see the block”.

The ganja was later weighed and amounted to 4 kilograms. The suspect remains in custody pending charges.

The car that was transporting the ganja

12 NEWS “Pastry Man” appeals life sentence over killing of teen peacemaker A SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

nthony Jones, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to a manslaughter charge, has filed an appeal against the jail term, contending that it is not only “excessive” but not in “keeping with the principles applicable to an appropriate sentence”.

In August, Jones was sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Sandil Kissoon for killing a 19-yearold man for intervening in a row and stopping him from assaulting his reputed wife.

Known as “Pastry Man”, 41-year-old Anthony Jones was initially indicted for the October 13, 2018 murder of Nyron Vyphuis which occurred at Yarrowkabra on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. However, upon his arraignment, he opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

Reports are that Jones,

Confessed killer Anthony Jones

and his common-law wife were at their liquor shop imbibing when a heated argument broke out between them during which he started to hit her.

Upon seeing this, Vyphuis intervened and stopped the man from hitting his spouse.

As a result, an enraged Jones armed himself with an axe and went after the teen.

Upon seeing this, another man who was also drinking at the shop disarmed Jones who left and went home.

But he subsequently returned with a knife and attacked Vyphuis, whom he stabbed to the chest.

In a bid to escape his attacker, Vyphuis ran a short distance before collapsing into a clump of bushes. His relatives rushed him to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead. During a sentencing hearing, Jones begged the family of the deceased for forgiveness.

“I am asking for the family to forgive me for what I have done. I have accepted my fault. [Judge Kissoon] I

Dead: Nyron Vyphuis

am asking you to please be lenient in whatever decision you come to; please forgive me. I have already asked the Lord for forgiveness,” he pleaded.

Cassie Vyphuis, the dead

UWI lecturers question independence...

The political science lecturer, therefore, urged Guyana to rethink the way in which GECOM is presently constructed because the election body has not served the country well at all.

“GECOM is really a political party. In the context of the problems that Guyana has been experiencing over the years, I don’t think that it serves the purpose of Guyana. Ideally, I would like to see an admin-

istration, a GECOM, an organisation which is very independent…which is as powerful as it is. To my mind, [GECOM] is one of the world’s most empowered organisations.”

According to her, the problem with GECOM is the method of selection that the political parties want.

In light of this, she added, “GECOM is there to serve the purpose of the two dominant political parties and

it will always lead to a situation where unfortunately who ever becomes the Chair of GECOM will always find themselves in a very difficult situation.”

As such, Barrow-Giles who has participated in a number of election monitoring and expert groups argued that one of the first things that need to be done in terms of constitutional reform in Guyana is examining the way GECOM is com-

posed.

Both lecturers expressed concerns over the manner in which political parties deliberately resorted to the courts to fight for political power.

Barrow-Giles pointed out that there was clearly some malfeasance taking place on elections night as the problem emerged with the counting of the votes which led to the electoral process becoming very compromised.

man’s sister, expressed that her brother’s untimely demise has plunged her family into a deep state of mourning. Through a victim impact statement, the woman disclosed that her brother was killed a few months after their father passed away. “I still cannot come to grips with not having my loving brother anymore.”

For his part, Justice Kissoon told Jones that by his actions, he demonstrated scant regard for the sanctity of life. “In a deliberate and unprovoked act of brutality and violence”, the Judge told the confessed killer that he launched a ruthless attack on Vyphuis, who was a mere youth.

“In carrying out this despicable deed, Anthony Jones armed himself with an axe and then a knife before setting upon this unarmed youth whose acts and intervention perhaps saved

the spouse of Anthony Jones from further acts of abuse and violence… you launched an attack on a peacemaker and you inflicted that fatal injury to his heart, killing him…”

The Judge told the convict, “As a consequence of your criminal act, parents have lost a child, siblings have lost a brother. The community has been deprived of a fine, worthy, upstanding member whose attributes were just and righteous…”

The High Court Judge, in arriving at an appropriate sentence for him, considered the aggravating and mitigating factors and was keen to point out that the latter cannot take away from the gravity of the offence. Jones becomes eligible for parole after serving 20 years in prison.

This case was heard at the High Court in Demerara.

(G1)

FROM PAGE 7

Real heroes

Although the courts are often seen in a negative way as trying to encroach the space of democracy, Dr Yearwood said in many ways the courts in the March 2020 elections were the real heroes because they managed what could have been blown up into a very horrible and tricky situation.

According to him, the High Court and the CCJ should be given points for

the way they manoeuvred the electoral process with intelligence and reasoning.

He added that older, more established courts have struggled in this regard. “And here you have a young Caribbean Court of Justice and a young Guyanese court system really manoeuvring and managing complex questions about due process, the validity of votes, recounting…” (Feona Morrison)

NEWS

13

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

No revaccination for travel – Health Minister CANU busts minibus …reassures of Sputnik V approval by WHO conductor with ganja

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony

A

mid uncertainty over travel to the United States and other countries that do not recognise the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony disclosed that assurance has been given that the Russian-made jab will be approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the coming months.

Speaking during Friday’s COVID-19 update, Dr Anthony indicated to Guyanese who are vaccinated with the Russian vaccine and want to travel that the jab is slated to get WHO approval before the end of this year.

“In a meeting – an in-

ternational meeting – we were told that the Sputnik V vaccine is scheduled for WHO approval sometime in November, the latest by the first week in December. So if they hold to that schedule then the WHO should approve the vaccine. Once it’s a WHO approved vaccine then you wouldn’t have any problems with travel,” the Health Minister noted.

The United States has imposed certain travel requirements that will see only foreign nationals who are fully vaccinated with a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or WHO approved vaccine being allowed entry into the country.

Despite being given emergency approval for use in over 70 countries around the worlds, the Russianmade jab is yet to be approved by the WHO and is not recognised by the US. This has been particularly worrisome for Guyanese wanting to travel to the North American nation especially during the upcoming holiday season. The travel requirements will take effect on November 8, 2021, in the US. In the meantime, the Health Minister has ruled out revaccination of persons wanting to travel to coun-

tries such as the US with vaccination restrictions.

“The Government does not have a revaccination policy. We’re not encouraging it… Right now, I think a lot of people are concerned about travel to the United States… We don’t have, right now, a policy of revaccination because at this point in time, if we’re going to revaccinate it means that some people would get more vaccines than is necessary while we still have an unvaccinated population who would be at risk of getting COVID,” Dr Anthony explained.

According to the Health Minister, Guyana has to first reduce the pool of unvaccinated persons before any consideration is given to give immunised persons additional doses.

Currently, Guyana is using Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vac-

cines for its immunisation campaign against COVID-19. Barring the Russian-manufactured jab, WHO has already granted emergency use approval for the other jabs.

Nevertheless, to date, some 376,436 persons have received their first dose vaccine, that is, 73.4 per cent of the adult population in Guyana; while 236,238 persons are fully vaccinated, amounting to 46.1 per cent of persons 18 years and older.

Meanwhile, some 26,751 or 36.7 per cent adolescent persons have received a first dose of the Pfizer jab, of which 17,182 or 23.6 per cent of the targeted cohort between the ages of 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated.

In the coming weeks, Guyana is expected to receive additional doses of the Sputnik V second component, AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines. (G8)

The cannabis that was found in the conductor’s possession

T

he Customs AntiNarcotics Unit (CANU) on Friday nabbed a minibus conductor with 44.5 grams of cannabis.

The bust was made while CANU was conducting operations at Macaw Road and Arapaima Street, Tucville, Georgetown, near the Turning Point Sports Club.

It was reported that the 33-year-old man of Edun Street, Tucville Housing Scheme, was arrested by the CANU ranks after a search revealed a total of 44.5 grams of cannabis concealed in zip-lock bags in his possession.

The suspect was escorted to CANU headquarters and is presently in custody pending charges.

Only a week ago, a 33-year-old nail techni-

cian was intercepted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, with 6.232 kilograms (13.71 pounds) of cocaine.

The woman was an outgoing passenger on Copa Airlines destined for Panama with an onward connection to the John F Kennedy International Airport, New York.

The CANU in a previous report stated that a search was conducted on one of the passenger’s check-in luggage during which the cocaine was found in two bowls - one with curry and the other with pepper pot.

Following the discovery, the woman was arrested and escorted to the CANU headquarters where the cocaine was weighed and amounted to 6.232 kilograms. (G9)

14 NEWS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021|| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Almost 50% COVID-19 deaths from Region 4 – Health Minister

H

ealth Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Thursday disclosed that 48 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in the country are from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) which caters for 42 per cent of the country’s population.

From the 893 persons that died from the virus in Guyana, Region Four accounted for an alarming 437 fatalities since the pandemic started.

A regional breakdown of fatalities showed 45 for Region One (BarimaWaini), 37 for Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 130 for Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 46 for Region Five (Mahaica-

Berbice), 69 for Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 41 for Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni), five for Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), 23 for Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 60 for Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

He disclosed that deaths have been primarily reported among the unvaccinated population. For those who were completely vaccinated, their deaths arose from other underlying illnesses.

“Most of these persons would be unvaccinated. A few of them would have been partially vaccinated and there are very few who would have been fully vaccinated. Those who have been

fully vaccinated and died are those who would have had a poor prognosis because of several comorbidities. Generally, the majority of persons who have died so far have been unvaccinated.”

He clarified yet again that while vaccination does not prevent infections completely, it will shield persons from contracting a severe form or dying.

The Health Minister outlined, “Many persons who have been vaccinated can get infected but they’ll get a milder form of the infection.

Therefore, if we know that a vaccinated person can still be infected and potentially carry the virus, it would

mean that we still have to do testing. That is the policy. That is what we have been doing and that is what a lot of countries around the world have been doing.”

Last month was the deadliest in the COVID-19 pandemic, where a whopping 180 persons lost their lives. The country is in its third wave of the pandemic and the Health Minister had attributed these rising numbers to the deadly Delta variant – proven to be highly transmissible. In light of the situation, preparation had already started to boost the health system’s capacity to treat infections and severely ill patients.

Hotspots

There are 157 active cases in Region Two, with Wakapao being the major hotspot. Over in Region Three, there are 1414 active infections with hotspots being Tuschen, La Parfaite Harmonie, Zeelugt, Parika, Vreed-en-Hoop, Crane, Pouderoyen, Cornelia Ida, Hague, West Minister, Uitvlugt, La Grange, Anna Catherina, Leonora, Good Fortuin, Sister’s Village and Patentia.

For Region Four, hotspots on the East Bank Demerara are Diamond,

Grove, Herstelling, Soesdyke; and on the East Coast, they are Mon Repos, Heslington, Better Hope, Non Pariel, Victoria, Paradise, Lusignan.

Georgetown currently has 685 active cases spanning Sophia, Kitty, Campbellville, South Ruimveldt, Lodge, Cummings Lodge, West Ruimveldt and other areas.

Meanwhile, New Amsterdam in Region Six; Bartica in Region Seven; and Amelia’s Ward, Wismar, and McKenzie in Region 10 are areas of concern. (G12)

Bourda jewellery store robbery

2 remanded as Police seek further advice from DPP

The shot suspect in the Police vehicle

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wo of four suspects who carried out a daring robbery at Bharrat’s Jewellery Store on Robb Street and Orange Walk, Bourda, Georgetown, were remanded to prison.

The duo appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to a charge of robbery under arms which occurred on October 13.

They were both remanded and the case will call again on November 24.

The other two, being juveniles, are currently in parental custody, and their files were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.

Last week, the accused reportedly robbed the Bharrat Jewellery Store and were later arrested by Police. One of them was shot to his leg during the process.

Shortly after the men robbed the store, they were intercepted by Police Officers on South Road, Georgetown. They were reportedly cornered by the cops but they still attempted to escape by running into nearby yards.

However, officers began to comb the area and during the process, one of the perpetrators was shot after he was found hiding in a yard.

After almost one hour of

searching the area, the officers managed to apprehend the other two suspects.

Police had reported that during the officers’ search, the man was found with a gunshot wound by a mob of persons, who found him hiding in a yard in the vicinity.

The officers posited that no rank fired any shots and it is unclear how the man received the gunshot wound.

Meanwhile, the owner of the jewellery store had told Guyana Times that he was at his store when three young men entered.

One of the perpetrators, who was armed with a gun, pointed the weapon at him while his two accomplices attempted to smash one of the showcases, but it did not break and they went to another showcase which they broke and removed a quantity of jewellery from before escaping with a cell phone valued $38,000, a small quantity of gold chains, rings and earrings.

They then ran south on Orange Walk and were cornered between Orange Walk and Alexander Street by Police.

The injured suspect was escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he received medical attention under Police guard. (G9)

15 Harmon says he has “what it takes” to repair PNCR, win next elections NEWS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021| GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon is contesting for PNCR leadership

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pposition Leader Joseph Harmon has announced his candidacy for the leadership of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), committing to enhance unity and inclusiveness within the party so that they will have a better change at regaining power.

PNCR members will be electing new leaders at the party’s upcoming Congress on December 11 and those contesting for the various posts will have to submit their candidacy by November 11. Harmon will be running alongside PNCR Executives Aubrey Norton and Richard Van West-Charles for the leadership of the party.

Incumbent leader and former President, David Granger, has not indicated whether he will run again for the post.

Harmon launched his

campaign for the PNCR leadership on Thursday evening during which he declared his confidence of emerging victorious at the helm of the party but in the same breath, pledged to work with every member, including if another candidate wins leadership, to take the party to higher greatness.

“I want to commit as a candidate for these elections and I expect that all the other comrades, who vie for that position, that they commit at the end of this process to working together in unity for our party. Win, lose or draw, the bigger picture is our party,” he posited.

According to the Opposition Leader, he intends to position the PNCR as a party with the moral authority and conscience to “bring back decency in public life.”

Meanwhile, as part of his campaign pitch, Harmon listed a 10-point plan to further strengthen the PNCR and top of that list is unity within the party.

“I believe that our party is haemorrhaging. I believe that we’re at a place where we have to take stock and regroup. I believe that the first item on any agenda must be the healing of our party, must be bringing all the various little groups and fractions all together…,” he stated.

The Opposition Leader went on to say the first step of unifying the party will be bring back lost party members. “…That unity will re-

Force (GDF) member, spoke of broadening PNCR’s base by developing the non-traditional support-base of the party.

“As leader, I would work very hard to ensure that inclusiveness in our party,” he stressed, while adding that PNCR must to reach out to every sector of society including every ethnicity. “People must feel at home in the PNCR.” Meanwhile, other highlights of Harmon’s campaign pitch include the development of a youth and women movement as well as the empowerment of party members. He contended that youth will comprise the majority of the elec-

women’s arm to “hold them up”. Another highlight of his plan to make the PNCR financially sound and sustainable. He maintained that the party has sufficient funds to do this.

quire us going out and reaching out to our comrades.

Many persons, who feel that they have been treated in a bad way in some way or the other, we need to reach out to them. We need to give them a hug. So, the first phase of the unity of the party is basically reaching out and bringing home of our comrades,” he noted.

In the same vein, Harmon, who is a former Minister and a retired Guyana Defence

torate at the next election hence he committed to enhancing and strengthening the Guyana Youth and Student Movement (GYSM) by recruiting members from across the country.

Similarly, he promised to also strengthen the party’s

Moreover, Harmon wrapped up his list by declaring his confidence of taking the PNCR – which is the leading party in the APNU fraction of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change coalition Opposition – back into office.

“Remove the PPP from office and replace them with a compassionate government for the people of Guyana… and that government will be strongly-led under a strong PNC, working in the coalition. I believe that as a leader, I possess that skill and that ability to basically keep our coalition together,” Harmon asserted.

Harmon’s candidacy was supported by several Members of Parliament and party members who attended his campaign launch that was streamed live on the PNCR Facebook page.

These include: Coretta McDonald, Roysdale Forde, Ganesh Mahipaul and Annette Ferguson – all parliamentarians.

Also attending the launch was PNCR’s General Secretary, Amna Ally. (G8)

16 NEWS

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Bandits escape with 2 safes, 3 Guyana now equipped canisters with cash from DHL to detect air pollution

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olice have launched an investigation into an alleged robbery at DHL building, Alberttown, Georgetown, where five men escaped with two safes and three canisters containing an undisclosed amount of cash.

According to Police, the incident occurred at about 03:23h. Investigations have

revealed that two unarmed security guards were on duty when one of the guards alleged that he was confronted by a masked suspect who commanded, “Don’t say anything” while he was in front of the compound.

Police said that the security claimed that he was placed to lie on his stomach and the suspect proceeded

to duct tape him.

This then allowed for his four other accomplices to gain access to the compound from the back fence located north of the building.

Police said that the other security guard claimed he did not hear or see anything since it was raining.

Investigations are ongoing.

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oting that its aim is to become a worldclass regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently acquired five devices which will be used to detect air pollution in specific areas in the country.

EPA Executive Director Kemraj Parsram said these devices will prove useful as the country is dealing with unprecedented waves of development in light of the oil boom.

The air quality sensors were donated to the EPA

by IQ Air, which is a Swiss air quality technology company that specialises in the protection against airborne pollutants and developing air quality monitors and air cleaning products.

During a recent broad-

cast programme, Parsram revealed that these sensors will be “put up across the country, and for the first time in Guyana, we’ll be able to determine the air quality index for certain locations”.

The air quality index is used by Government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become.

“We’ll put that up so it’s remotely monitored and we can see on a daily basis, on a second-by-second basis, what is the air quality,” the EPA Head explained.

When contacted for further information on this development, Parsram said the EPA has not decided on where to place the sensors as everything is still in the planning stage.

However, he noted the sensors will most likely be

placed in areas with high air pollution emissions.

Meanwhile, in emphasising the need for the EPA to capitalise on modern technology in the execution of its mandate, Parsram announced that the organisation is also in the process of acquiring water sensors which should be in the country next year.

“We’re examining right now what options are available in term of remote real-time water quality sensors for all sectors, whether it’s mining sector or oil and gas sector,” he said.

Parsram also noted that the EPA is reviewing its Geographical Information System (GIS) capabilities and it is working on building its in-house capacity so that it can connect with and monitor offshore operations. (Amar Persaud)

NEWS

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

GLDA relaunches AI in small ruminants programme …aims to increase offspring by 50%

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he Guyana Livestock D e v e l o p m e n t Authority (GLDA) on Thursday relaunched its Artificial Insemination (AI) in small ruminants programme.

The programme which formed part of the agency’s 2021 capital budget, in-

cluded the procurement of the laparoscopic equipment and training of staff after the agency would’ve signed a contract with Mini Tube Germany to the tune of $15 million.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of GLDA, Dr Dwight Waldron said that the programme is seen as a relaunch since farmers will now be given access to highclass genetic materials “We would have done some amount of laparoscop-

ic AI about a decade ago but that was with a limited amount of animals with a specific purpose. It was not intended to be disseminated throughout the country. We imported some high-class genetic breeding animals for the programme. Those animals went through an

extensive exercise because we would normally extract semen from them,” Dr Waldron stated.

The acting CEO further explained that the agency has adopted a strategic approach so that in addition to having access to high-class genetic material, farmers are also given guidance on how to improve their production techniques and productivity levels.

He noted that “farmers now have a chance to be in

a position to do business and market their product in such a way that they can make more money”.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha in his remarks at the exercise said that the aim of the programme is to modernise and strengthen small ruminant development in Guyana while addressing food and nutrition security challenges in the region.

“This programme comes at a time when Guyana’s agriculture sector is taking precedence on the world stage. While artificial insemination in Guyana started in the 90s for dairy and beef, it was in 2011 that we commenced the importation of proven sires for beef. As we continued to diversify, the swine artificial insemination programme followed in 2016. Today we are here to re-launch artificial insemination (AI) in sheep and goats with the aim to modernise and strengthen small ruminant development in Guyana so that the sector can better meet the challenges of addressing food and nutrition security,” the Minister expressed.

Minister Mustapha also said that over the next 12 months, the GLDA will be tasked with refocusing its AI programme with a view of increasing its AI offspring production target by 45 per cent to 50 per cent.

A veterinarian attached to the Guyana Livestock Development Authority performing the procedure

Guyana has been producing meat from beef, mutton, and other meats for local consumption.

Since taking office just over a year ago, the

Government has invested billions of dollars to improve Guyana’s livestock industry.

Of the $806 million allocated to the Guyana Livestock Development

Authority (GLDA), $407.2 million was expended by the first half of this year to spur production in the meat industry.

18

guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

Regional

Haiti gang leader threatens to kill Barbados elects 1st ever President kidnapped American missionaries ahead of becoming republic B A Haitian man identifying himself as the leader of the gang that kidnapped a group of American and Canadian missionaries said in a video posted on YouTube on Thursday that he was willing to kill “these Americans” if he does not get what he needs.

The speaker in the video, dressed in a purple suit, is recognisable as the man known in Haiti by the alias Lamo Sanjou, the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang that authorities say is behind the abduction of the missionaries at the weekend.

The sixteen Americans and one Canadian - including five children - were on a trip organised by the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. The missionaries were not present in the video.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the veracity of the video or when it was made.

“If I don’t find what I need, these Americans, I’d rather kill them all, and I’ll unload a big gun in the head of each of them,” said the man in the video.

Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel told Reuters this

week that the kidnappers were demanding US$1 million per person for the release of the missionaries.

The missionaries’ seizure has focused global attention on Haiti’s dire kidnapping problem, which has worsened amid economic and political crises in the Caribbean nation that have led to spiralling violence.

The video includes footage of what appear to be five dead men laying in coffins, who the man described as “fallen soldiers,” blaming their deaths on police chief Leon Charles.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Motion to remove T&T President fails

arbados has elected its first ever President as it prepares to become a republic, removing Queen Elizabeth as Head of State.

Dame Sandra Mason, 72, is set to be sworn in on November 30, which will mark the country’s 55th anniversary of independence from Britain.

The first woman to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals, Dame Sandra has been GovernorGeneral since 2018.

The government announced the plan to move to a republic status last year.

It said “the time [had] come” for Barbados to “fully leave our colonial past behind”. The change had already been recommended by a constitutional review in 1998.

The historic election came after a joint session of

Dame Sandra Mason, seen here in London, has been Barbados’s Governor-General since 2018

the House of Assembly and the Senate on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley described the vote as a “seminal moment” for the nation.

With a population of about 285,000, Barbados is one of the more populous and prosperous Caribbean islands. Once heavily dependent on sugar exports, its economy has diversified into tourism and finance.

Barbados will not be the first former British colony in the Caribbean to become a republic. Guyana took that step in 1970, less than four years after gaining independence from Britain.

Trinidad and Tobago followed suit in 1976 and Dominica in 1978.

Jamaica has in the past suggested that it might also consider the change.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Stay on high alert, PAHO urges Caribbean, LATAM

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Government MPs in Parliament during yesterday’s motion which was defeated

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resounding defeat ended the raucous proceedings to impeach President Paula-Mae Weekes.

The unprecedented motion to remove a sitting President failed with just 24 votes for and 47 against.

All the Independent Senators voted against the motion.

The failure of the motion means that the President will not have to face a tribunal.

Just after 10.30 am on Thursday, the House of Representatives convened to lay out the groundwork to establish the Electoral College

to vote on the motion to remove the President.

The proceedings were disrupted so often, however, that House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George suspended the sitting to give everyone a 15-minute break.

At 11 am, the House reconvened but it was more of the same.

Persad-Bissessar was allowed to read out the motion to remove the President into the Parliamentary record.

At the start of the proceedings, Annisette-George had made it clear that she would allow the Opposition Leader to read the motion but

not to expand on it, saying that the motion had to be voted on without debate.

The Opposition bench erupted in reaction, insisting that their leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was being denied from reading out her motion and for the matter to be opened to debate.

After nearly two hours of interruptions, accusations of mic tampering and protracted desk thumping, the motion piloted by the Opposition received 24 votes for and 47 votes against. All the independent senators voted against the motion. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

Argentina’s informal peso down 2.05%, country risk widens to all time high

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rgentina’s informal peso rate weakened 2.05 per cent to 195 per dollar on Friday and country risk shot out 19 basis points to an all-time high 1672 as inflation soars and policy uncertainty mounts ahead of November congressional elections.

“It reflects the process of dollarisation at a time of political and economic uncertainty,” local economist Gustavo Ber told Reuters.

The peso stumbled 4.36 per cent during the week, its weakest in about a year,

marking a 96.2 per cent gap with the formal rate, which is controlled by central bank interventions.

The country’s risk spread, prepared by JP Morgan, exceeded its previous ceiling of 1669 basis points, reached at the end of March of this year.

Consumer prices spiked to a higher-than-expected 3.5 per cent in September.

The 12-month rate was 52.5 per cent, while inflation in the first nine months of 2021 reached 37 per cent.

Argentina has been battling runaway inflation for

years, which saps savings, incomes and economic growth.

The government this week froze prices of over a thousand household goods until early 2022. Inflation is also heating up globally.

Argentines will vote in November to elect half of the lower house of Congress and a third of the Senate.

Government-allied candidates got thumped in September primary elections, prompting a rash of finger-pointing in the ruling Peronist coalition. (Excerpt from Reuters)

he Caribbean and Latin American region is being urged to keep its COVID-19 surveillance systems on high alert, notwithstanding the drop in cases in some countries, and an increase in vaccination coverage.

Addressing the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) weekly media briefing on Wednesday, Director Dr Carissa F Etienne said vaccines have been attaining the objective of preventing severe COVID-19 illness, but she stressed the need for countries to continue to track and manage infections closely to detect and minimise community transmission.

Dr Etienne noted that 41 per cent of the popula-

tion across Latin America and the Caribbean had been fully vaccinated, but said this does not represent even coverage, as some countries still have significantly lower coverage than others.

She said even as PAHO facilitates another 4.6 million COVAX-acquired doses of COVID-19 vaccines reaching the region by the end of this week, countries continue to see new infections.

PAHO reported that over the last week there were close to 817,000 new COVID-19 infections and more than 18,000 COVIDrelated deaths reported in the Americas.

It said the situation is more severe in the Caribbean, with the

Dominican Republic and Barbados reporting over 40 per cent increases in new cases.

Dr Etienne said that with local hot spots driving national COVID-19 trends, health authorities should have a clear picture of developments at the local level and quickly communicate the risks and the public health measures needed to reduce transmission.

The director said enhancing homegrown detection capacities also means ensuring that there are enough local testing sites and that clinicians know which COVID tests are worth referring for epidemiological surveillance.

(Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Truckers in Brazil disband blockade after provoking fuel shortages

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ruckers blockading a major refinery in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais disbanded on Friday, allowing fuel supplies to normalise in the nation’s second most populous state.

The protesters, principally truckers who deliver fuel, had been demanding a decrease in taxes on diesel. Since Thursday, they had blocked roads near the REGAP refinery near state capital Belo Horizonte, an action that spooked industry leaders and motorists and caused some gas stations in Minas Gerais to run low on fuel.

Truckers have grown increasingly vocal in re-

cent months as a rise in global crude prices has pushed up the cost of diesel domestically and eaten into margins. Trucker groups have threatened a general strike next week, a move that could prove crippling for Brazil’s economy, if widely observed.

A truckers strike over high fuel prices in 2018 ground the economy to a halt, and destroyed the remaining political capital of the already unpopular government at the time. As a result, Brasilia remains attentive to their demands.

On Thursday evening, President Jair Bolsonaro, who is expected to run for

re-election next year, said that the government would give Brazil’s 750,000 truckers 400 reais (US$70) each, to help cushion the impacts of rising fuel prices.

Shortly after, four key Treasury officials quit amid signs the government is looking to lift a constitutional spending cap, a move that battered local equities markets and the real currency.

Speaking in Brasilia on Friday, Bolsonaro played down overspending concerns, saying that the payment to truckers would cost the government less than 4 billion reais in total. (Excerpt from Reuters)

guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

OILNEWS OIL NEWS Oil hovers below recent highs; ends week up

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il traded just below multi-year highs on Friday with bullish sentiment about low supplies tamped by concerns from world leaders that demand disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic may not be over.

Brent crude futures rose 92 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to settle at US$85.53 a barrel. The benchmark, which touched a three-year high of US$86.10 on Thursday, was up 1 per cent in the week, its seventh weekly gain.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained US$1.26, or 1.5 per cent, to settle at US$83.76 a barrel, not far off a seven-year high hit this week. The contract gained 1.7 per cent on the week and was up for a ninth straight week.

Prices have been boosted by worries about coal and gas shortages in China, India and Europe, spurring some power generators to switch from gas to fuel oil and diesel.

Winter weather in much of the United States is expected to be warmer than average, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast.

US crude found support this week as investors eyed low crude stocks at the US storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.

US Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday showed crude stocks at Cushing fell to 31.2 million barrels, their lowest level since October 2018.

"America's gasoline demand appears to be experiencing an Indian summer," PVM analysts said in a note, pointing to the highest implied demand for this time of year since 2007 despite high pump prices.

"Supply is still very, very tight, the market is just cautious about the possibility of an uptick in COVID cases in Russia, China and now Germany," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Prices pulled back from earlier intraday highs after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the pandemic is not yet over.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he could not rule out another COVID-19 spike this winter. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Around the World

Alec Baldwin “heartbroken” over fatal film set shooting A

ctor Alec Baldwin has expressed his shock and sadness after fatally shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun on a New Mexico film set.

He tweeted that he was in touch with her husband and had offered support.

Hutchins, 42, was shot on the set of the western Rust while working as director of photography.

"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours," he tweeted.

Hutchins was flown to hospital by helicopter after the shooting on Thursday afternoon but died of her

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were “carefully reviewing the circumstances” of what happened.

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu told the AP authorities were aware the UN flight was in the area but said the UN and military flights had a “different time and direction”. It was not immediately clear how close the planes came to each other.

Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in a tweet said “our air defence units knew the UN plane was scheduled to land and it was due in large measure to their

Alec Baldwin has said he was fully co-operating with the Police

injuries.

Director Joel Souza, 48, was injured and taken from the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch by ambulance.

A spokesman for Baldwin, best known for his role as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock

and for his portrayal of Donald Trump on sketch show Saturday Night Live, said the incident involved the misfiring of a prop gun with blanks.

Hutchins was from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the

Arctic Circle, according to her personal website. She studied journalism in Kyiv, and film in Los Angeles, and was named a "rising star" by the American Cinematographer magazine in 2019.

Police said sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular filming location, at around 13:50 local time (19:50 GMT) on Thursday after receiving an emergency call.

Such incidents on film sets are extremely rare, but not unheard of.

Real firearms are often used in filming, and are loaded with blanks cartridges that create a flash and a bang without discharging a projectile.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Mozambique: Tuskless elephant evolution linked to ivory hunting

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new study suggests that severe ivory poaching in parts of Mozambique has led to the evolution of tuskless ele-

UN suspends all flights to Tigray amid Ethiopian air raids

he United Nations has suspended all flights to the regional capital of the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia after government air raids forced a humanitarian flight carrying 11 passengers to abort landing in Mekelle.

The UN Humanitarian Air Services (UNHAS) flight from Addis Ababa had been cleared by federal authorities, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, but “received instructions to abort landing by the Mekelle airport control tower”.

The flight safely returned to the Ethiopian capital, he said, adding that UN agencies

19

restraint it was not caught in a crossfire”. He suggested that Ethiopian authorities were “setting up the UN plane to be hit by our guns”.

It appeared to be a sharp escalation in intimidation tactics authorities have used against aid workers amid the intensifying, year-long Tigray war.

The friction between the government and humanitarian groups is occurring amid the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade, with close to a half-million people in Tigray said to be facing famine-like conditions. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

phants.

The study published in Science magazine found that in Gorongosa National Park a previously rare genetic condition had become more common as ivory poaching used to finance a civil war pushed the species to the brink of extinction.

Before the war, about 18.5 per cent of females were naturally tuskless.

But that figure has risen to 33 per cent among elephants born since the early 1990s.

Some 90 per cent of Mozambique's elephant population was slaughtered by fighters on both sides of the civil war that lasted from 1977 to 1992.

Elephants without tusks were left alone by hunters, leading to an increased likelihood they would breed and pass on the tuskless trait to their offspring.

Researchers have long suspected that the trait,

African elephant herd with tuskless matriarch

only seen in females, was linked to the sex of the elephant. After the genomes of tusked and tuskless elephants were sequenced, analysis revealed that the trend was linked to a mutation on the X chromosome that was fatal to males, which did not develop properly in the womb, and dominant in females.

The study's co-author, Professor Robert Pringle of

Princeton University, pointed out that the discovery could have a number of longterm effects for the species.

He noted that because the tuskless trait was fatal to male offspring, it was possible that fewer elephants would be born overall. This could slow the recovery of the species, which now stands at just over 700 in the park. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Three Pakistani Police killed in Hong Kong Government criticises clashes with banned Islamists US safe haven scheme for “fugitives”

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he Hong Kong Government on Friday criticised Washington for its "safe haven" scheme for Hong Kongers to stay and work in the United States amid Beijing's crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in the Chinese territory.

In August, US President Joe Biden announced a temporary safe haven scheme for Hong Kong residents, allowing what could be thousands of people to extend their stay in response to the crackdown.

Biden cited "compelling foreign policy reasons" for the plan given China's continued

"assault on Hong Kong's autonomy".

Details of the scheme were released on Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security, helping formalise the eligibility of Hong Kongers travelling on various travel documents to work and live in the United States for up to 18 months.

A Hong Kong Government spokesman called the move an act of "blatant interference" in Hong Kong affairs.

"Governments that not only harbour but invite or encourage fugitive offenders to live in their country wantonly disre-

gard the rule of law and expose their hypocrisy for all to see," the statement added.

The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide-ranging freedoms.

Since the implementation of a national security law directly by China last year, however, the city has taken an authoritarian turn with widespread arrests as well curbs on free speech and the media.

Hong Kong and Chinese authorities maintain the city enjoys a high degree of autonomy, but certain rights are not absolute. (Excerpt from Reuters)

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hree Pakistani Police were killed in clashes on Friday with demonstrators from a banned Islamist group who rallied to demand the release of their leader and the expulsion of the French ambassador over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The officers were hit by a vehicle which drove at Police as thousands of activists from the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) movement gathered in the eastern city of Lahore for a march on the capital Islamabad.

Police fired teargas after TLP supporters attacked a

security checkpoint, during clashes across the city, Police spokesman Arif Rana said.

"They had assured us that they would remain peaceful but they turned violent," he said.

TLP media coordinator Saddam Bukhari said Police attacked a peaceful rally but Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who confirmed the deaths of the officers, condemned the demonstrators. "No one can be allowed to take the law into their own hands," he said.

The protests, over a series of caricatures published

in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last year, follow serious clashes in April in which at least five Police and three activists were killed and hundreds wounded.

Following the April clashes in which TLP activists blocked highways, railways and access routes to cities and battled Police, the authorities arrested their leader, Saad Hussain Rizvi and banned the group.

Rizvi has been in detention since his arrest and the government has designated TLP as a terrorist movement. (Excerpt from Reuters)

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If pressure is required, you are fighting a losing battle. Use reason, and if that doesn't work, move on to something you can resolve.

Wasting time will hold you back. Focus on what's doable.

Make up your mind. If you come across as undecided or confused, no one will take you seriously. Take the time to figure out what you want and the best way to get it before sharing your plans.

Discussions will lead to valuable information and new ideas. A personal relationship will face challenges if you can't agree on beliefs, values and ethical issues. Make sure both parties are on the same page.

Take care of your responsibilities before moving on to leisure plans. You'll enjoy your day with ease if you have nothing hanging over your head. Aim to ease stress.

A commitment will lead to domestic adjustments and shared ideas, plans and finances. Tabulate costs and work out the logistics before you move forward. Make romance and lifestyle changes priorities.

Keep it simple, stick to the truth and protect your reputation. Someone will let you down if your expectations are high and you depend on others to deal with details that require your undivided attention.

Look at the negatives and positives before investing too much money into a new venture. Examine opportunities that are sound and suited to the skills you have available to you to ensure success.

Financial adjustments will be necessary if you want to maintain your level of comfort. Consider how to use your time and intelligence to handle your expenses with ease.

Be careful how you reSAGITTARIUS spond to others. Someone will (Nov. 23misinterpret your actions, Dec. 21) leaving you in a quandary.

Keep your life simple, your conversations factual and your lifestyle moderate.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19)

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19)

You'll have trouble getting others to do as you please. Do your own thing, and you'll accomplish the most. Disagreements are a waste of time and energy.

Work to make a difference.

A steady pace forward will get you where you want to go. Invest time and money in a venture that excites you. Don't trust others; do your research and verify facts.

Take enough time to figure out what's best for you.

(Feb. 20Be secretive regarding your March 20) plans until you have everything in place. Your presentation will make a difference.

Leave nothing to chance.

PISCES

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

21

Wiese, Erasmus the heroes as Namibia qualify for Super 12s

G

erhard Erasmus's anchoring half-century and David Wiese's whirlwind 28* off 14 balls steered Namibia into the Super 12s of the 2021 T20 World Cup. This eight-wicket win over Ireland also means Namibia have booked their spot in next year's edition as well, which will be played in Australia.

Batting first in a virtual knockout, Ireland’s Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien laid the foundation by adding 62 in 7.2 overs, but the incoming batters failed to capitalise on that. Ireland were 55 for 0 at the end of the powerplay, but could score only 70 in the next 14 overs. Apart from their top three, no one else reached double figures.

Given the sluggish nature of the Sharjah pitch, a target of 126 wasn't an easy one, especially with Namibia playing a batter short. They could manage only 27 for 1 in the powerplay, and needed 49 off 36 balls at one point. Wiese then smashed back-to-back sixes off Craig Young in the 15th over to bring the asking rate down.

With 19 required off 17 balls, Erasmus, who had hit only two fours in his first 44 balls, skipped down the track to Simi Singh and launched him for a straight six. That all but sealed the game for Namibia.

When Wiese hit the winning boundary, there were still nine

balls left in the game.

Stirling, O'Brien give Ireland brisk start It took Stirling and O'Brien a couple of overs to get used to the pace and bounce of the pitch, but once they did that, boundaries came frequently.

Stirling was the more aggressive of the two, but he gained better rewards when he focused on timing and placement than power.

In the third over of the innings, he punched JJ Smit over long-on for a six, before hitting three fours off left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz in the next over.

O'Brien, who was 9 off 12 balls at one stage, took a leaf out of Stirling's book and struck two fours off Jan Frylinck in the sixth over to bring up the fifty stand.

Stirling and O'Brien now have 13 stands of 50 or more in T20Is, the most by any pair.

Scholtz eventually ended the opening stand when Stirling holed out to long-on for a 24ball 38.

In the next over, O'Brien (25 off 24) picked out deep square leg off Frylinck to leave the side at 67 for 2.

The Sharjah slowdown As was the case during IPL 2021, scoring runs became difficult once the ball softened and the field spread out. The

first six overs of Ireland's innings featured seven fours and a six; the next six had just one four.

Andy Balbirnie struggled for timing on a slowing track.

He was on 5 when Aleem Dar denied an lbw appeal off Pikky Ya France. Namibia chose not to review it, but replays showed Balbirnie was lucky to survive.

The reprieve, however, didn't hurt Namibia much. Their seamers kept peppering the good length in the line of the stumps, and kept the Ireland batters quiet.

Wiese put Gareth Delany out of his misery by castling him with a slower ball in the 15th over.

Two overs later, Frylinck dismissed Balbirnie and Curtis Campher to jolt Ireland further as the innings petered out.

Ireland win the powerplay battle In IPL 2021, nine out of ten games in Sharjah were won by the team that scored more runs in the powerplay. That should have been extra incentive for Namibia to go hard in the first six overs. But even with the Ireland seamers missing their lines and lengths every now and then, Craig Williams and Zane Green failed to take advantage of the field restrictions.

When Campher started the sixth over, Namibia were 25 for 0. The first ball of the over was right in the slot for Williams,

who tried to go over mid-on but couldn't get the desired elevation.

O'Brien, right at the edge of the circle, timed his jump to perfection to hold on to an overhead catch. Namibia ended the powerplay with just 27 on the board, 28 fewer than what Ireland had managed.

No luck for the Irish It was all going according to plan for Ireland. But a couple of incidents in the seventh over, bowled by Mark Adair, proved to be decisive in the end. With his third ball, Adair pinged Erasmus on the pads, but umpire Chris Brown ignored the lbw appeal.

Ireland chose not to review it, but replays showed Erasmus was out. The Namibia captain was on 2 at that time.

After the ball, Adair looked in discomfort with what looked like a side strain. He could bowl only one more delivery in the over before walking off the field. His absence came to haunt Ireland in the death overs.

In the 15th over, with Erasmus on 32, Young breached his defence and the ball brushed the off stump on its way to the wicketkeeper. But the bails didn't come off.

Erasmus, Wiese take Namibia into Super 12s Green and Erasmus kept chipping at the target with

SCOREBOARD IRELAND INNINGS (20 OVERS MAXIMUM) Paul Stirling c LoftieEaton b Scholtz 38 Kevin O'Brien c van Lingen b Frylinck 25 Andy Balbirnie (c) lbw b Frylinck 21 Gareth Delany b Wiese 9 Curtis Campher b Frylinck 4 Harry Tector c †Green b Wiese 8 Neil Rock † b Smit 5 Mark Adair run out (Wiese) 5 Simi Singh not out 5 Craig Young not out 1 Extras (lb 1, w 3) 4 TOTAL (20 Ov, RR: 6.25) 125/8 Did not bat: Josh Little Fall of wickets: 1-62 (Paul Stirling, 7.2 ov), 2-67 (Kevin O'Brien, 8.4 ov), 3-94 (Gareth Delany, 14.2 ov), 4-101 (Andy Balbirnie, 16.1 ov), 5-104 (Curtis Campher, 16.6 ov), 6-110 (Harry Tector, 17.4 ov), 7-116 (Neil Rock, 18.4 ov), 8-121 (Mark Adair, 19.4 ov) BOWLING Ruben Trumpelmann David Wiese

O-M-R-W 3-0-18-0 4-0-22-2

ones and twos. In fact, Namibia didn't score a single boundary between overs 8 and 12. With the required rate crossing eight, Erasmus ended the drought with two fours off Josh Little in the 13th over.

In the next over, Campher and O'Brien combined once again to send Green back, and that brought Wiese to the crease, with Namibia needing 53 off 40 balls.

JJ Smit Bernard Scholtz Jan Frylinck Pikky Ya France

4-0-27-1 3-0-25-1 4-0-21-3 2-0-11-0

NAMIBIA INNINGS (TARGET: 126 RUNS FROM 20 OVERS) Craig Williams c O'Brien b Campher Zane Green †c O'Brien b Campher Gerhard Erasmus (c) not out David Wiese not out

15 24 53 28

Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 4) 6 TOTAL (18.3 Ov, RR: 6.81) 126/2 Did not bat: Michael van Lingen, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Pikky Ya France, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Craig Williams, 5.1 ov), 2-73 (Zane Green, 13.2 ov) BOWLING Josh Little Craig Young Mark Adair Curtis Campher Kevin O'Brien Simi Singh

O-M-R-W 4-0-22-0 3.3-0-33-0 1.4-0-12-0 3-0-14-2 2.2-0-15-0 4-0-28-0

While Erasmus held one end, Wiese took the attack to the bowlers, and turned the game in Namibia's favour. With Adair still off the field, Balbirnie had to use Simi in the 18th over, which produced 12 runs.

With nine needed from 12 balls, Erasmus lofted Young over extra cover to bring up his half-century off 48 balls. Two balls later, Wiese wrapped up the game. (ESPNcricinfo)

Ruthless Sri Lanka thump clueless Netherlands − as pacer Lahiru Kumara and spinners deliver

T

his was the first dead rubber of the World Cup, and aptly enough, Sri Lanka were ruthless with their execution.

Seven years after they had skittled Netherlands out for 39, the lowest T20 World Cup total, Sri Lanka condemned the same opposition to the second-lowest total too, running through them for 44 in ten overs.

The chase was more batting practice than anything else, and the top order, which had misfired until now in the tournament, for the first time faced no pressure whatsoever.

Even so, Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka fell cheaply, but Sri Lanka still finished the game off in just over seven overs, giving their own confidence a nice fillip ahead of the Super 12s round. They could barely have wished for a smoother evening's work.

Netherlands collapse There was little of substance to play for, as far as Netherlands were concerned, and the moment Dasun Shanaka put them in to bat, Sri Lanka looked like they meant business. Off the fourth ball, when Max O'Dowd set off for a risky single, the captain effected a direct hit at the nonstriker's end to send the top-scoring Netherlands batter at the competition back cheaply.

From thereon, it was a procession led by carrom-bowling revelation Maheesh Theekshana and legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga.

Theekshana sent Ben Cooper and Stephan Myburgh back to the pavilion after rattling their middle stumps with carrom balls neither could read, while Hasaranga honed in

on the pads with wrong'uns that appeared impossible for the opposition to pick. Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede and Pieter Seelaar all failed to get their pads out of the way of the googly, and by the time a remarkable powerplay concluded, Netherlands were reduced to 37 for 6.

As if that wasn't destructive enough, Sri Lanka brought back Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara for the lower order to face deliveries regularly north of 145kph. One that struck Scott Edwards on the head brought the physio out for a concussion test, before Kumara put him out of his misery by pitching one up into his pads.

It began an over that saw him remove the final three Netherlands batters inside six balls to put paid to the innings inside ten overs, and set his batters up with a canter of a chase.

Sri Lanka stroll Ideally, Sri Lanka would have wished to see the top order run this down without the loss of a wicket, to assuage concerns about an underperforming top order. However, Nissanka holed out at mid-off for a duck, while Asalanka couldn't take advantage of his opportunity at No. 3.

But Sri Lanka were in little hurry to force the issue, running the target down at a canter.

Kusal Perera had time enough for a cameo that should help his confidence deeper into the tournament, an unbeaten 33 off 24 balls, offering a glimpse of his belligerence in the top order. Avishka Fernando knocked off the winning runs, but for Sri Lanka today, it was all about the bowling. (ESPNcricinfo)

SCOREBOARD

NETHERLANDS INNINGS (20 OVERS MAXIMUM) Stephan Myburgh bTheekshana 5 Max O'Dowd run out (Shanaka) 2 Ben Cooper b Theekshana 9 Colin Ackermann lbw b de Silva 11 Bas de Leede lbw b de Silva 0 Scott Edwards † lbw b Kumara 8 Roelof van der Merwe c †Perera b Chameera 0 Pieter Seelaar (c) lbw b de Silva 2 Fred Klaassen not out 1 Brandon Glover c †Perera b Kumara 0 Paul van Meekeren lbw b Kumara 0 Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 1) 6 TOTAL (10 Ov, RR: 4.39) 44 Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Max O'Dowd, 0.4 ov), 2-19 (Ben Cooper, 2.3 ov), 3-20 (Stephan Myburgh, 2.5 ov), 4-31 (Colin Ackermann, 4.3 ov), 5-32 (Bas de Leede, 4.6 ov), 6-37 (Roelof van der Merwe, 5.5 ov), 7-40 (Pieter Seelaar, 6.6 ov), 8-44 (Scott Edwards, 9.1 ov), 9-44 (Brandon Glover, 9.3 ov), 10-44 (Paul van Meekeren, 9.6 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Chamika Karunaratne 1-0-7-0

Dushmantha Chameera 2-0-13-1 Maheesh Theekshana 1-0-3-2 Lahiru Kumara 3-1-7-3 W Hasaranga de Silva 3-0-9-3 SRI LANKA INNINGS (TARGET: 45 RUNS FROM 20 OVERS) Pathum Nissanka c van Meekeren b Glover 0 Kusal Perera †not out 33 Charith Asalanka c Klaassen b van Meekeren 6 Avishka Fernando not out 2 Extras (lb 1, w 3) 4 TOTAL (7.1 Ov, RR: 6.27) 45/2 Did not bat: Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Pathum Nissanka, 1.3 ov), 2-31 (Charith Asalanka, 5.4 ov) BOWLING Fred Klaassen Brandon Glover Paul van Meekeren

O-M-R-W 2.1-0-12-0 3-0-12-1 2-0-20-1

22

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

CWI announces sustainability McGill dominate Canal #2 partnership with Apex Group before bad light stops play

C

ricket West Indies (CWI) has announced a new partnership with Apex Group Ltd, a global financial services provider. The partnership will see Apex as the exclusive shirt sponsor for the West Indies Men’s team during the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, as part of a broader official sustainability partnership with CWI. It is believed to be the first sustainability partnership of its kind in international cricket.

The Apex logo would appear on the leading arm of the defending T20 World Champions’ shirts for the duration of the West Indies ICC 2021 World Cup campaign. Apex would also provide sustainability and environmental advisory services to CWI for a three-year period as its exclusive sustainability partner. By providing CWI with annual carbon footprint assessments, Apex would help the organisation lead the way in driving sustainability in cricket across the region by putting in place an action plan to reduce and offset climate-al-

tering outputs.

Ricky Skerritt, President of CWI, has said: “Sustainability is a powerful concept that is being woven into our organisational fabric on all fronts. We are therefore proud to announce this innovative commercial partnership with Apex Group, welcoming a new international partner to support West Indies cricket.

“For the many West Indian countries that we represent, climate change is a real and present danger.

As the first international cricket organisation to systematically commit to evaluating and reducing our carbon output, Apex will help CWI devise an action plan to become fully sustainable on and off the pitch.

“For CWI, this will directly impact cricket, because of how facilities and operations will need to change and adapt. We will also need plans to understand and offset the international and regional air travel that our teams have to undertake.

“In partnership with Apex, we intend to use our

combined global platforms to act and drive change for future generations to come, of cricketers and fans.”

Peter Hughes, Founder and CEO of Apex Group, has said: “Amid the climate crisis, sport, like all industries, must recognise and act to reduce its impact on the environment. We are excited to announce our partnership with the West Indies T20 World Cup team and CWI, to provide our market-leading carbon footprint consultancy services to help cricket do its part to combat the growing global climate crisis.

“The West Indies represent some of the world’s most beautiful natural environment that we are looking to protect, so, for us, it makes perfect sense to partner with Cricket West Indies to kickstart our campaign to drive sustainability in sport. We wish the team every success as they defend their title as the current holders of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.” West Indies are twotime and defending ICC T20 World Cup Champions, and will be going in search of an unprecedented third title and back-to-back T20 World Cup tournament wins. West Indies’ first match is on Saturday October 23 against England at the Dubai International Stadium in the first of West Indies’ Group games in the Super12 stage of the tournament.

First ball is 6pm (10am Eastern Caribbean/9am Jamaica) and will be shown live on ESPN Caribbean.

A

McGill Superstars

ction in the West Demerara cricket league continued with a thrilling 35over match in which McGill Superstars again showed their dominance of that league when they tackled Canal #2.

However, bad light forced a halt to the game, which the Superstars would easily have won.

Mc Gill were in deep trouble early, the scoresheet reading 0-2 as both openers Ronaldo Renee and skipper Sudesh Persaud had fallen for zero at the end of two overs. Narendra Persaud had Renee caught

Team Sunshine among others to be awarded at cricket dance in Toronto …Terry Gajraj to perform

P

resident of the Ontario RoundArm Softball Cricket Association (ORSCA), Mitchel Bacchus, is oozing with confidence that the association’s presentation and awards ceremony on Saturday will be a showpiece.

The stage is set for the event to be held at the Sagan Banquet Hall in Mississauga, Toronto, and after the presentation, there will be a chutney show with popular singers Terry Gajraj and Omesh Singh being among the performers. Gajraj is a Guyanese based in the USA, and Omesh Singh is a Guyanese based in Canada.

The door will open at 17:00h, and there will be the dinner (18:00hrs) and presentation of prizes for the outstanding players, teams and special wards before the commencement of the stage show.

Meanwhile, Team Sunshine emerged victorious in both the T-10 and T-20 competitions this season. In the 10-overs contest, they defeated Masters by six wickets, and in the T-20 category they beat Cambridge Jaguars by five wickets, much to the delight of their supporters.

Before the knockout stage, Sunshine topped their Central group by winning all five matches. Opening batsman Ramiz Mohamed chalked up 395 runs in all the games, including a magnificent 201 not out.

Rajendra Dhoray has had the dis-

tinction of being Team Sunshine’s most successful bowler by collecting 15 wickets from five encounters as well.

Skipper of the team, Anil Mahadeo, has credited the team’s success to hard and assiduous work. He emphasised the importance of commitment whenever pursuing any goal.

Notably, it was the first time Sunshine participated in the roundarm competition, having previously done exceptionally well at other tournaments in the Greater Toronto Area.

There are several dominant players at this year’s tournaments. Sunil Ramkisoon, a long-standing player, topped the East Zone with 334 runs, having registered a highest score of 105 from four matches as he represented Brampton Gladiators. In the same zone, Naresh Bhagwandin (Gladiators) led the bowling charts with 16 wickets from five matches.

In the West Zone, Zaheer Allard racked up 275 runs from four matches and slammed a top-score of an unbeaten 127. The right-handed Allard featured for Renegades, while Rohan Madramootoo of Smashers snatched ten wickets from five games to be the leading bowler in the same zone.

According to Bacchus, tickets to attend the event are still available, but in limited quantities. There are two sets of tickets: one for the dinner and the entire night, while the other is only

Terry Gajraj

for the stage show, which is expected to begin around 09:30hrs.

Bacchus is also optimistic that everyone attending would give full adherence to the COVID-19 rules and regulations, and proof of vaccination is mandatory at the door.

On Wednesday, one of the chutney singers, Omesh Singh, promised to give fans a treat, and Terry Gajraj and the entire Wave Band are expected to do likewise. Singh pointed out that an event of this magnitude is definitely showcasing the Guyanese culture with the mixture of sports and a chutney stage-show entertainment.

behind, and Sidique Sulaman had Persaud lbw.

However, brothers Troy and Travis Persaud put on a 72-run partnership as they rotated the strike nicely and picked up the odd boundaries before Travis was bowled for 34 (4×4) by leg spinner Nityanand Mathura, leaving the score at 72-3 after 18 overs.

Mc Gill lost a few quick wickets: Abdul Razack for 3, caught behind off Vishwanauth Jadunauth; Balram Aron for 13, bowled

by Parmanand Ragnauth; and Daniel Basdeo for 9, caught off Ragnauth in quick succession. Troy Persaud (33:3×4,2×6) tried to steady the ship before he fell, caught at long-on off the bowling of leg spinner Mathura.

Ganesh Puran then came in and played a blistering cameo of 53 not out, hitting some entertaining shots to all parts of the ground as he rallied Mc Gill to a respectable total of 164-8 in their 35 overs.

Canal #2 got off to a decent start after losing opener Narendra Persaud for 5. He was bowled by national left arm seamer Daniel Basdeo in the 3rd over, when the score was 17-1.

Anthony Ifill and Nityanand Mathura took the score to 76, before Ifill (38:5×4,1×6) was caught behind off the bowling of leg spinner Ganesh Puran in the 12th over.

Mathura and Loaknauth took the score to 95 before national youth captain and off spinner Travis Persaud uprooted the stumps of Mathura (15:3×4) in the 18th over, when the score was at 953.

Loaknauth and Chabiraj Ramcarran then joined forces, but were tied down by a wonderful spell of spin and pace combination from Persaud and Basdeo, before Ramcharran (10) was caught at deep midwicket off Persaud at 115-4 in the 26th over.

Basdeo then removed Vishwanauth Jadunauth (1), caught and bowled at 117-5. Leg spinner Ganesh Puran returned to dismiss Tejnauth Jadunauth (3) caught at cover at 120-6.

Loaknauth then retired with the score at 120-7 before bad light stopped play, leaving Canal #2 needing 45 runs from 34 balls with 3 wickets in hand.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

23

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Upbeat West Indies ready to rumble despite poor form

By Brandon Corlette

T

he two-time defending World T20 champions, West Indies, are ready to get the ball rolling when they meet England today (Saturday, October 23) from 10:00h Eastern Caribbean time.

Speaking on the eve of their opening match, Windies captain Keiron Pollard was wearing the armory of full confidence. West Indies won three of their last five completed T20 matches, but lost the two warm-up matches.

Despite the team's most recent form, Pollard has said, the camp is upbeat. "The mood is upbeat.

We accept that the two warm-up games did not go as we wanted in terms of scoring runs and the intent. We had a good couple days of intense sessions, and players understanding roles and responsibilities. We have a sense that the guys are up for starting the

tournament," Pollard indicated.

West Indies are known for power hitting, but soaking up dot balls has been a major issue. Pollard disclosed that a lot of work has been done to rectify this issue. "A lot of work has been done. The guys have worked tirelessly to try and cover all bases. As I continue to say, we try to keep our strengths our strengths and work on our weaknesses, and we accept certain things; so, hopefully, we can see the difference," Pollard explained.

The injury-prone world-class all-rounder Andre Russell has been a major concern for the West Indies, and he was not fully fit in the warm-up against Afghanistan. Despite the Russell concern, Pollard and his unit are still capable of producing optimum performance. "We have our last practice session, and we will have a last look and see if he is confident. He played the last

warm up game, and he had a trial run, but there was a little bit of a rust," Pollard added.

In that warm-up match, West Indies struggled against quality spin, but Pollard and his men are confident they will counter it.

"For us, it is a mindset, and we have worked really hard. We are very confident, and we believe in each and every individual,” he said.

He also said the electric all-rounder Fabian Allen is a big miss for the team. "That is the nature of sport, and we try to bounce off quickly and not let this keep us down, and we have an able replacement in Akeal Hosein."

The West Indies are looking to play a good brand of cricket and defend the T20 World Cup title.

Pollard said the West Indies have accepted that the non-services of Sunil Narine is a big blow, and they will have to deal with the

players that are in the squad.

Pollard said there is no concern, the men in maroon just want to start the tournament well, and the team has reposed confidence in each and every player to do the job.

WEST INDIES’ FULL SQUAD

Kieron Pollard (Captain), Nicholas Pooran (Vice Captain), Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr. Travelling Reserves: Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder and Gudakesh Motie ICC T20 World Cup Schedule West Indies Match Schedule October 23: v England in Dubai (6pm UAE Time, 10am Eastern Caribbean/9am Jamaica)

October 26: v South Africa in Dubai (2pm UAE Time, 6am Eastern Caribbean/5am Jamaica) October 29: v B2 in Sharjah (2pm UAE Time, 8am Eastern Caribbean/7am Jamaica) November 4: v A1, in Abu Dhabi (6pm UAE Time, 10am Eastern Caribbean/9am Jamaica) November 6: v Australia in Abu Dhabi (2pm UAE Time, 6am Eastern Caribbean/5am Jamaica)

SEMI-FINALS

November 10: Group 1 winner v Group 1 second in Abu Dhabi (6pm UAE Time, 10am Eastern Caribbean /9am Jamaica) November 11: Group B winner v Group A second in Dubai (6pm UAE Time, 10am Eastern Caribbean/9am Jamaica)

FINAL

November 14: Final in Dubai (6pm UAE Time, 10am Eastern Caribbean/9am Jamaica)

Campbelle returns, among 5 Guyanese in Windies Women's camp G

uyanese and West Indies Women’s cricketer Shemaine Campbelle has returned to the West Indies setup after recovering from a

hand injury, and is currently in Antigua for a preparation camp.

The West Indies Women’s team will travel directly to Zimbabwe for the November 21 to December 5 qualifiers, following the Pakistan series.

In addition to Campbelle, the other Guyanese are fast-bowler Cherry-Ann Fraser, off-spinning all-rounder Sheneta Grimmond, leftarm spinner Kaysia Schultz, a n d all-rounde r Shabika Gajnabi.

From left: Shemaine Campbelle, Sheneta Grimmond, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi and Kaysia Schultz

The West Indies Women will tour Pakistan for a three-match One-Day International series from November 8, a series that forms part of the team’s preparations for the qualifiers.

CWI Lead Selector for women and girls cricket, Ann Browne-John, has said: “The upcoming series against Pakistan is a very important one for the West Indies team. Not only would it give much-needed match practice and time in the middle to our players, it will also give the coaching staff an opportunity to test the team at this point in time, coming out of our recent series against Pakistan and South Africa.

“In addition, if the team should have success in this series, it would help them going into the World Cup qualifiers on a really positive note. It has sometimes been shown in the past that a team that participates in a series just before a World Cup or qual-

ifier, sometimes because of the additional match practice, they perform a lot better,” Browne-John added.

She also noted that the two teams will play against each other in the qualifiers, and that the tour would give the Windies another chance to assess their opponents.

“And finally, if you notice all over the world at the moment, teams who are going to be participating in the qualifiers are having practice matches, are playing matches, or are just coming out of their own qualifier tournament; so, it is very important for the West Indies team to get that time in the middle,” she concluded.

Captain Stafanie Taylor has opted out of the Karachi leg over security reservations.

Pakistan, meanwhile, toured the Caribbean last July, losing 3-2 in a fivematch series staged in Antigua. The upcoming series marks the third one this year for the women’s side, with South Africa also touring the region last month for ODIs and T20Is.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021

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

Page 23

Upbeat West Indies ready to rumble despite poor form

Team Sunshine among others to be awarded at cricket dance in Toronto

…Terry Gajraj to perform Page 22

Campbelle

returns, among 5 Guyanese in Windies Women's camp Page 23

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