WHAT'S INSIDE: Issue No. 5104 Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana THE BEACON OF TRUTH guyanatimesgy.com PRICE $100 VAT INCLUDEDTHURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 P13P10P8P17Page2 President advises EU Ambassador to facilitate Schengen visas local office in 3 months …says “it's nonsense!” Guyanese must endure 3-day travel to Suriname for processing “When the time comes, I will leave”– Claudette Singh to APNU/AFC GRDB’s Burma Research Station workers protest deduction of dues for inactive union Fire homelesscricketformerleavescoach GPF corruption allegations protectiononDecisionwitness will be made ofcompleteafterreviewcontent–Ali Quindon Bacchus murder Cop accused of onjusticeobstructingreleased$250,000bail …says no union representation for pregnant woman given hoeing duties See story on page 11 GPF awaiting legal advice to determine fate of Sgt Bascom …says allegations of cover-up in “Paper Shorts” murder false, malicious …energy, other issues to be discussed during Port of Spain visit T&T wants in on regional energy corridor – Head of State See story on page 7 Banks DIH opens duty-free store at MovieTowne P14 Page 9 storySeeonpage3 Region 7 woman is latest COVID-19 death …142 new cases recorded 5 amongwomen198 courseinfantrymanstandardcompletesuccessfullywho P16









GECOM Chairperson Justice (retired) Claudette Singh Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton
NEWS2 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM
Guyana betheJudge,theIsomethingmeantwasn’tingdecisionsalwaysgroundamantnominatedtoingher(APNU/AFC)Unity/AlliancePartnershipaboutthecomes.thattellingandturbedClaudetteChairperson,(GECOM)CommissionElectionsRetiredJusticeSinghisunperbythecriticismsofhercallsforherresignation,thosemakingthecallsshewillgowhenthetimeInarecentinterviewwithmedia,SinghwasaskedcriticismfromtheAforNationalForChangeOppositionthatdecisionswhenchairGECOMmeetingstendfavourtheGovernment-side.TheChairpersonwasadthatwithherbackasaformerJudge,sheendeavourstomakefairlyandinkeepwiththelaw.Assuch,sheawareofwhattheybysuchclaims.“IamnotawarethatIdolikethat.Anythingdo,Idoinaccordancewithlaw.AndItry,asaformerIalwaystrytoupholdruleoflaw.Buttherewillcriticisms,”shesaid.“Ifyousitonthebench and you make an adverse de cision, the party that loses would say you’re biased, you take a bribe, whatever. So, there’s always a way they can criticise the decision. That’s up toDuringthem.” a recent rally, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton went so far as to call for Singh to go. It is not the first time he has made such a call, but according to Singh, “when the time comes, I will leave”.Other than calling for Singh’s removal as Chairperson, Norton had also said that the Opposition would not contest the next elections unless there is a ‘clean’ list. However, with Claims and Objections slat ed to start next week, the GECOM Chairperson has said that Local Government Elections will be held by year end.GECOM has already is sued an order and also re leased a statement on Claims and Objections. This will be done at all GECOM perma nent registration offices and will allow persons 18 and over by October 31, 2022, to make a claim to be in cluded in the voters’ list. “During the Claims and Objections period, any person who will be 18 years and older by the 31st October, 2022, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or natural isation, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, can make a Claim on or before 11th September, 2022 to be in cluded on the OLE, provid ing that he/she was never pre viously registered,” GECOM had“Personssaid. desirous of mak ing a Claim to be included in the OLE are required to vis it the GECOM Registration Office responsible for their area of residence with the applicable source docu ment(s) such as original Birth Certificate, valid Passport, Adoption Certificate, or Naturalisation Certificate/ Certificate of Registration to be registered for inclusion,” GECOM said in its statement. On the other hand, per sons can also make objec tions against the inclusion of names in the preliminary list, for reasons such as if the per son is dead. The Claims sec tion of the exercise will last until September 11, while Objections will close on September 15. The Commission had also urged all eligible persons to ensure that they use this op portunity to be registered for inclusion in the Revised List of Electors (RLE) and ulti mately the Official List of Electors (OLE) in order to be eligible to “Personsvote.are also encour aged to object to the inclusion of the name of any person whom they believe should not be in the list, based on the le gal provisions,” GECOM went on to state in their release. At the last LGE in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition had se cured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs. (G3)
“When the time comes, I will leave” – Claudette Singh to APNU/AFC






WEATHER TODAY There will be sunshine during the day. Expect partly cloudy skies at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius. Winds: Westerly to South South-Westerly between 1.78 metres and 3.57 metres. High Tide: 08:49h and 21:05h reaching maximum heights of 2.37 metres and 2.35 metres. Low Tide: 14:39h reaching a minimum height of 0.91 metre.
“Of course, I would be very happy if in the longer term, we arrive at a point where we have visa liberal isation so that visas are not necessary for Guyanese to come to Europe, but also for the Europeans are not neces sary to come to Guyana,” he said.According to Ponz Canto, there is a reverse situation in some European countries where they have to go to an other country to get visas to come to Guyana as well. He noted that they will contin ue to do whatever is neces sary to facilitate easier trav el. (G3)
…says “it's nonsense!” Guyanese must endure 3-day travel to Suriname for processing
EuroChambers CEO Ben Butters
The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Parika and Supenaam departure times – 05:00h, 10:00h-12:00h, 16:00h, 18:30h daily Thursday, Aug 18 – 08:40h – 10:10h and Friday, Aug 19 – 09:40h – 11:10h.
FERRY SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM AUGUST 06, 2022 By Jarryl Bryan T he European UnionGuyana Chamber of Commerce was launched on Wednesday, carrying with it expectations of increased trade between Guyana and Europe and more ease of travel, after concern was expressed that visas for Guyanese to trav el to the EU still have to be processed in Suriname. The launching occurred at the home of outgoing EU High Commissioner to Guyana, Fernando Ponz Canto. During the launch, much was said about trade between Guyana and Europe, with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EuroChambers Ben Butters describing Guyana as a country that punches above its weight. “It’s important to us that European businesses have a platform whereby they can contribute to the commercial relations between the EU and other countries around the world. Other important economies. And I would in clude Guyana among those economies.”“It’scertainly not the largest country [Guyana] in the world, but it really punches above its weight as a trading partner [with] the EU, which really shows that for a country of less than one million citizens, it’s commer cially and economically very dynamic,” Butters said. There are issues, howev er, with ease of travel, which was highlighted when the chambers’ steering commit tee facilitator Manniram Prashad took the podium. He pointed out that Guyanese businessmen wanting to travel to the EU, still have to process their travel docu ments in PresidentSuriname.DrIrfaan Ali paid attention to the calls of the Guyanese business com munity, using part of his fea ture address to urge the EU to accelerate the setting up of an office in Guyana to pro cess visas to the EU. “The request that Manniram made is an im portant request. And it’s not a luxury for the EU any more, to take their time and grant us that facility. I think that the EU must under stand that it is in their stra tegic interest to have that fa cility here in Guyana, within the next three months,” Ali said. “And we have to find where we can get it done in the next three months, which embassy is in a po sition to get it done in the next three months, what you want us to do to help you get it done in the next three months and get it done! We can’t have our people going to Suriname to spend three days to get a travel document to come back. It’s nonsense! Absolutely ridiculous.”
Visas Afterwards, High Commissioner Ponz Canto in an interview with this pub lication acknowledged that the request for an office in Guyana to process visa re quests to Europe, is a rea sonable one and is, in fact, being addressed by the EU. “On the question of visas, I personally agree that we should move to facilitate vi sas for the Guyanese. In fact, we have already been work ing on that even before His Excellency mentioned it to day, rightfully so.” “We were trying to con template possibilities that could range from perhaps, and this very hypothetical, bringing some officials here from time to time, so that people wouldn’t have to trav el to Paramaribo to get vi sas. Or signing some kind of agreement,” Ponz Canto said. He cautioned, however, that the granting of Schengen visas is subject to individual member countries, not to the EU as a whole. As such, he noted that the EU doesn’t have the power to grant the visas. He also expressed the hope that they can reach a point of visa-free travel at some point in the future. “The problem, and I need to be very clear on that, the Schengen visa is not under our responsibilities. It is a responsibility of the mem ber states of the European Union, not the institutions of the EU that we represent. We cannot give the visas ourselves, but we can help and we’re trying to help, fa cilitate the process.”
President advises EU Ambassador to facilitate Schengen visas local office in 3 months
NEWS COMMODITIES Indicators US$ Change % Crude Oil $93.65/barrel +1.40 Rough Rice $300.24/ton -1.30 London Sugar $552.10/ton -0.32 Live Spot Gold USD Per Ounce Bid/Ask $1764.70 $1765.70 Low/High $1759.70 $1783.60 Change +3.10 +0.18 LOTTERY NUMBERS DAILY MILLIONSWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2022 DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902 LUCKY 3 TICKETFREE 03 04 10 14 19 21M 1813 23153 19 4 2050911070701 BonusBall 25 DRAW DE LINE 11 12100908 14 20090502 PAY DAY PAYSUPERDAY 17 9 4 6 Afternoon Draw Evening Draw FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2022 24 96 Afternoon Draw Evening Draw FPFP Afternoon Draw Evening Draw SATURDAY,
President Dr Irfaan Ali and EU High Commissioner Fernando Ponz Canto
The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Thursday, Aug 18 – 22:00h – 23:30h and Friday, Aug 19 – 22:30h – 00:00h. 3
BRIDGE OPENINGS





















4 Views guyanatimesgy.comTHURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email:marketing@guyanatimesgy.comnews@guyanatimesgy.com,
Enforcinglegislationtobacco
President Ali, who was also on the tour, was accompanied by Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond and Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat (OP photo)
DrSincerely,TaraSingh
President Dr Irfaan Ali’s son, Zayd, enjoying a tour of Hyde Park Zoo (HPZ), Sanctuary and Tropical Gardens at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara. The facility, housed on 250 acres, will be home to a variety of animals, including many from around the world.
Dear Editor, Some civil society groups and individuals have been asserting, with uncontrolla ble zest, that Guyana would become another econom ic miracle, as Abu Dhabi or Singapore, with the advent of its new petroleum sector. And cliches are liter ally spreading like wild fire, so that some Guyanese now speak loftily about “their journey to prosper ity”, “no one would be left behind”, “there could be no better time than now to live in Guyana”; while others say “the per capita GDP of US$7,000 would double in 3 years’ time”, “Guyana will record the highest growth rate in the world in 2022”, and “Guyana would be come the richest country in the Caribbean and Latin America”.Nothing is wrong in ex pressing such strong feel ings, but restraint must tame one’s exuberance. To say that Guyana would have a growth rate of 58.7% in 2022 is a quantitative state ment that obscures the ex isting qualitative conditions. For example, how does a growth rate of 58.7% trans late into alleviating poverty, the 30% level of which would not be reduced significantly in the short However,term?with sever al Government and Private Sector projects, like job cre ation, housing starts, edu cation, quality healthcare, agri-diversification and ex pansion, being put in place covering all 10 administra tive regions, Guyana could, within 3-4 years, reduce the poverty level by 50%, or even more.But the notion that Guyana is flooded with oil money is misleading, and this has the unintended con sequence of creating exag gerated expectations, which could feed into frustration and anger. The data indicate that oil wealth so far has only tangentially touched Guyanese. It is trickling down, and would begin to flow in 2025. Currently, of the total amount of US$1.244 billion in profit oil (from December 2019 to date) re ceived by Guyana, a sum of US$607.45 million has been approved by Parliament for 2022 budget Assumingsupport.thatthis full amount has been withdrawn during 2022, the uncommit ted balance in the NRF as of today would be US$637.277 million. By year end, when Guyana would have received the five remaining lifts, the total amount of profit oil in the NRF balance is projected at US$1.012 billion, assum ing US$75 per barrel for the next five lifts in 2022. When Payara and Yellowtail projects are brought into production in 2024/2025, Guyana’s share of profit oil/royalties could reach an average of US$5 billion per year in the cur rent decade, assuming pro duction of 810,000 bpd and a price of US$60 per barrel, ac cording to Financial Analyst JC Bhagwandin. When the other economically viable oil blocks, like Orinduik, Kanuku and Corentyne, are put into production, then profit oil would expand ap preciably.Amajor challenge for the Government, however, is to keep in check the grow ing expectations. The focus here is not over the concerns of a lopsided contract (that has been well document ed), but on how observers/ critics/groups view and ar ticulate the revenue stream that flows into the national Treasury.Thethought of oil mon ey floating around has been creating exaggerated expec tations by Guyanese, who have begun to show impa tience and want their yearslong nagging problems fixed almost immediately. The parliamentary mo tion by the Opposition po litical parties, seeking a handout of Gy$200,000 per quarter per adult, for ex ample, has not been prop erly conceived. Even if one assumes that the existing balance of US$637.277 (as of August 15, 2022) in the NR is dedicated to handouts, this works out to US$1,180 per adult. What the mo tion seeks is a handout of US$3,902 per adult per year, that is 3 times more than the total existing balance in the NRF.The Ghanaian oil expert who visited Guyana to re view and advise on the local content law stated categor ically that oil money should not be given out as hand outs. Many observers share this view, that oil funds would benefit Guyanese not in the form of handouts, but rather directly and indi rectly through quality edu cation, subsidised housing, jobs, state-of-the-art health care systems, ment,humanrevitalisation,neighbourhoodrescuingNIS,resourcedevelopagricultureexpansion and diversification, develop ment of agro-processing fa cilities, improvement in the services sector, public safe ty, better roads/bridges/ air ports, hinterland develop ment, and social welfare systems.Also, unconditional hand outs could empower people, but only for brief periods. When the funds are exhaust ed, recipients might still be in the same place. What is defensible is limited condi tional cash grants for the creation of jobs, business startups, home renovation, housing starts, and educa tion development. These are what empower people for the rest of their lives, and not just for fleeting moments. And of vital importance is the role of work in people's lives. It is work that gives peo ple a sense of self-worth or self-esteem. Unconditional handouts produce the oppo site result, and could lead to a culture of dependency. Guyana must avoid this.
Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707
Guyana must avoid a 'handout' culture
E very year, more than eight million people die from tobacco use, about 15 per cent of all deaths per year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). More than seven million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to secondhand smoke. Nearly half of all children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke and 65,000 children die each year owing to illnesses related to second-hand smoke. Another sobering fact – tobacco kills up to half of its users. Seventy per cent of fatalities occur in less developed and emerging nations. In excess of 40 per cent of all tobacco-related deaths are from lung diseases like cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and tuberculosis. The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, the WHO has stated. “All forms of tobacco are harmful, and there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. Cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use worldwide. Other tobacco products include waterpipe tobacco; various smokeless tobacco products including e-cigarettes; cigars, cigarillos, roll-your-own tobacco, and pipe tobacco”. Many are misled into believing that e-cigarettes are not as harmful as the traditional cigarettes, but experts have warned that they are equally damaging as they raise blood pressure increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. “More than 80 per cent of tobacco users worldwide live in lowand middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest,” the WHO noted. “The economic costs of tobacco use are substantial and include significant health carecosts for treating the diseases caused by tobacco use – as well as the lost human capital that results from tobacco-attributable morbidity and mortality. Tobacco use also contributes to poverty by diverting household spending from basic needs such as food and shelter to tobacco.”Here, in Guyana, over 70 per cent of all deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), some of which we all know are strongly related to tobacco use. Over 15 per cent of the adult population currently smoke; and, more worryingly, the results of a Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in 2015 revealed that 14.8 per cent of adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years also use Countries,tobacco. including Guyana, must take stock of what is happening, and continue to work diligently with international health partners to increase action to protect people from exposure to tobacco use. Too many people are dying senselessly, and urgent action must be taken, as these are deaths which can be avoided. The WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is an international public health treaty and a guiding framework for the global fight against the tobacco epidemic. Guyana has been a party to the FCTC since 2005. The FCTC requires countries to apply a series of policies and measures aimed at reducing the global tobacco epidemic. In July 2017, Guyana took the bold step of passing the National Tobacco Act. This legislation follows several of the Articles of the WHO Convention, and mandates the adoption and implementation of a series of tobacco control policies that make it one of the most complete tobacco control laws. These include: 100 per cent smokefree environments in all indoor public spaces, indoor work spaces, public transportation and specified outdoor spaces, to protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke; a ban on all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products; health warnings featured on 60 per cent of tobacco product packaging, including images. It also includes a ban on the sale of tobacco products to and by minors; prohibition on vending machines’ sales; and a ban on the manufacture and sale of toys and candies and any other goods in the form of tobacco products. Having the necessary legislation in place is a good starting point, but there are many other challenges which health authorities must address if Guyana is to really reduce the number of persons dying or becoming ill owing to tobacco use or exposure. These challenges relate to monitoring and compliance, and enforcement of the legislation to ensure that the population is protected from the dangers of tobacco use. Much of the success will be based on the quality of enforcement mechanisms in place. So, the question is how have we been doing on that front? Ensuring the protection of a country’s population is no easy task, but the well-being of citizens is of prime importance.



the entrenched attitudes of some employ ers, institutionalising the policy would serve to en sure its application across the board at both employ er and union levels. And it can indeed fill significant missing gaps in attempts to take GBV prevention across each nation, by enabling ef fective help wherever there are employers and employ ees.Perhaps, too, victims who fall through the cracks, especially because of Police inaction and citizens’ reluc tance to be involved, may more effectively be protect ed. Meanwhile, The Caribbean Voice appeals to friends and families of vic tims who leave their abus ers to please do not attempt to get victims and abusers to ‘make up’. As so many cases have shown, such attempts can cause victims to be murdered, the latest being Cindy Ramotar in Guyana, who was killed by her abus er after a well-meaning rel ative informed the abuser of Cindy's whereabouts in or der to help them make up. Besides abuse being an awful horrible crime and the safety of victims must never be compromised, any sort of intervention is a job for trained professionals who possess the necessary skills. So, instead of creat ing scope that can lead to femicide, show your love by doing all you can to protect the victims and hold abus ers accountable.
TheSincerely,Caribbean Voice
You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana or letters@guyanatimesgy.com 06:00 (Sign on) Krishna Janmashtami Special 07:00 Evening News (RB) 08:00 Stop Suffering 08:30 Stay Woke 09:00 MasterChef Junior 10:00 House Hunter Renovation 11:00 Paternity Court 11:30 Divorce Court 12:00 Movie - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) 14:02 The Thundermans S4 E25 14:30 Liv and Maddie S2 E115 15:00 Indian Soaps 16:00 Henry Danger S1 E13 16:30 Inspector Gadget 17:00 The Young & The Restless 18:00 CNN 19:00 The Evening News 20:00 Stop Suffering 20:30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine S5 E15 21:00 Station 19 S5 E14 22:00 Grey's Anatomy S3 E3 23:00 The Ranch S4 E13 23:30 Whose Line Is It Anyway? S16 E7 00:00 Sign off Thursday, August 18, 2022
Dear Editor, The Caribbean Voice is thrilled that a Caribbean regional Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Workplace Policy has been finalised by employers and labour bod ies.Signed by heads of both the Caribbean Employers Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), this policy is part of the UN/EU Spotlight Initiative, and “provides an essential framework to en sure that anyone experienc ing GBV, including sexual abuse or harassment in the workplace, has greater ac cess to coordinated support, including special leave, anonymous reporting, con fidentiality, and employee assistance programmes.” In short, it aims at chang ing workplace culture relat ing to GBV with the hopeful goal of eliminating GBV. As CEC President Wayne Chen indicated, “The policy will serve as a guide for employers to ad dress GBV at two levels: primary prevention, by in forming employers and em ployees what GBV looks like, so it can be prevent ed before it occurs; and sec ondary prevention, by pro tecting and/or reducing the risk of exposure to violence against women and girls (VAWAG).”TheCEC pledged to promote the adoption and distribution of the poli cy across its 14 member states, but we hope that it can be implemented in all Caribbean nations, and pro vided institutional support by Governments as a com ponent of overall nation al GBV prevention frame work.Also, UNFPA Caribbean sub-Regional Liaison, Aurora NogueraRamkissoon, pointed out that “Any worker who is be ing abused, the unions have to support them. What we have to recognise is that the challenge won’t be solved overnight, but we have giv en the commitment to en gage the wider communi ty, from the point of view of labour, through our shop steward system, our en gagement with our workers, constant reminders, con stant workshops, constant reminders and re-examina tions and explanations of theGivengoals.”
Caribbean GBV Workplace Policy finalised Dear Editor, On Monday, August 15th, 2022, by way of a news article, former APNU+AFC Government Minister David Patterson admitted that the $188 million rental for UN offices in Guyana was high. This admission, though wel come, is a bit disheartening because of inferences that suggest the Government got a good deal, when this was not the Therecase.is a quote that says “Lies are like cock roaches, for every one you discover, there are many more that are hidden,” and Mr Patterson’s admittance reminds me of this quote. In Parliament, I an swered a question from the Opposition Bench on this matter, and there I relayed that under the APNU+AFC Coalition, a 10-year lease indeed was signed with Blue Wave Apartments Inc for the rental of a prop erty located at 107-108 Duke Street Kingston, Georgetown to house the United Nations (UN) offices in one compound. At the time, I also ex pressed my dissatisfaction with the agreement the for mer Government had en teredReadinginto. Mr. Patterson’s attempt in the article, to justify the then-govern ment’s action was both sad andAllowvexing.me to draw your attention to the Lease Agreement between BLUE WAVE APARTMENTS INC. and THE GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA, represent ed by the then Ministry of Public Infrastructure. In Article 4 – The Tenant hereby covenants the fol lowing condition: 1. To pay the Landlord the Lease Fee as set forth herein, in accordance with the following conditions: 2. Years 2019–2025 (year 1 to year 7) From January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2025 Lease Fee is USD 68,882.00 per month plus the Applicable VAT (currently 14%) with the Quarterly VAT inclu sive Lease Fee being a TOTAL of USD $235,576.44 payable in advance in USD. 3. Years 2026–2028 (year 8 to year 10) From January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2028, the Lease Fee will increase by 1% for each of the remain ing three years under this Lease Agreement plus the applicable VAT payable in advance in USD. [The payment once made in US dollars shall be con verted at the official com mercial rate of exchange (ie THE SELLING RATE) prevailing at the depositing Bank.]Inow take you to Article 8. While the said (Article 8) in fact states that the Landlord shall, during the term of the Lease, be re sponsible for all major re pairs to the structure of the building, Article 9 states that the Tenant is also re sponsible.Mr.Patterson’s state ment that “Included in this fee were water rates, rates and taxes, security from (6:00AM to 6:00PM) on working days, maintenance of landscaping, car parking, grounds, and other associ ated external structures,” suggests that was the end all.However, I draw your attention to Article 12 of the Government of Guyana agreement, which states, “Water, Electricity, Security, and Utility. The Tenant shall pay directly all sums due during the term of this lease in respect to his consumption of electricity and all utilities consumed or benefitted from the utili ty company or its agent. The Tenant shall also make provision for internal and external manned se curity for the building and their operations once it has been handed over to them. Also, in Article 9 (2) The Tenant covenants from time to time and at all times during the term hereby granted to clean and tidy at his or her own expense all areas of the interior of the Leased Premises. The building was also leased devoid of furniture andCitizens,furnishings.itcan also be confirmed and verified that the UN in Guyana have been paying all utilities and security, and all charges as it relates to their obliga tions in the contract. I hold firm to the belief that the previous adminis tration acted in total dis regard for citizens, whose tax-paying dollars could have been used more wise ly. The evidence has been presented, now, you be the judge.Finally, I assure you that the Government, un der the leadership of His Excellency President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, will continue to work with our international partners here in Guyana, the UN agencies in this instance, to ensure they are properly housed in a comfortable workspace, “an energy-efficient and cost-effective facility.”
PublicMinisterJuanSincerely,EdghillofWorks
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 5guyanatimesgy.com
Judge for yourselves, did David Patterson tell the truth?



Have you ever gotten lost in a new place? Chances are you used a map to find your way. Maps are filled with information to show where things are, how far apart they are, and how to get from one place to the next. There are many kinds of maps, each created to show different kinds of information. If you were in a city and didn't have a car, you might use a subway map. If you were lost in a museum, you could use a floor plan to find the exhibits and the Archaeologistsexits.create different kinds of maps. Some show an entire excavation site. Others show sections of a site. To map the layout of the buildings they excavate at a site, archaeologists make maps called plans. A plan shows the walls of a structure along with everything found there. These plans help archaeologists understand what happened at that site, like where people cooked or slept. For example, imagine that an archaeologist finds a row of houses that don't have kitchens inside. Then a hearth is discovered outside between the houses. The archaeologist might hypothesise that several families cooked together. Now it’s time to map your own world by creating a floor plan of your room. What you'll need ColouredPencilPaperRuler
By The BroThers Grimm
pencils or crayons Graph paper (optional) What to do Step 1: Choose a room for your floor plan. Step 2: Try to imagine what your room would look like if you were looking down on it from above. Then draw your room from this point of view. Step 3: Use your ruler to draw the walls of your room.Step 4: Look around and notice all the places where the walls stop, like the windows, doors, and closets. Draw and label these features on your floor plan.Step 5: Now look at the large pieces of furniture, like your bed, dresser, and desk. As you draw them on your plan, try to estimate their sizes and shapes. Step 6: Add some of the smaller features in your room, like a chair or laundry basket. Step 7: Label everything on your floor plan. If something appears more than once or it’s too small to label, create a key. For example, use blue to identify all of the chairs in your room, and yellow for the windows.Showyour map to a friend or family member to see if he or she can use it. Tips: Map a room to scale Map your room to scale so everything is drawn in the right proportion. (In other words, if your bed takes up half the wall, it’s drawn this way on your plan.)Use a tape measure to measure the length and width of your room in feet and inches. Draw the walls on graph paper, using the scale 2 squares = 1 foot. (A 10-foot wall would be 20 squares long.)Write the scale under your floor plan. Measure things in your room, like the doors, your bed, and the dresser. Use the same scale as above to draw things in the right size and place. Label everything on your plan. (www.amnh.org)
Ashepherd’s dog had a master who took no care of him, but often let him suffer the greatest hunger. At last he could bear it no longer; so he took to his heels, and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood. On the road he met a sparrow that said to him, “Why are you so sad, my friend?” “Because,” said the dog, “I am very, very hungry, and have nothing to eat.” “If that be all,” answered the sparrow, “come with me into the next town, and I will soon find you plenty of food.”So on they went together into the town: and as they passed by a butcher’s shop, the sparrow said to the dog, “Stand there a little while till I peck you down a piece of meat.” So the sparrow perched upon the shelf: and having first looked carefully about her to see if anyone was watching her, she pecked and scratched at a steak that lay upon the edge of the shelf, till at last down it fell. Then the dog snapped it up, and scrambled away with it into a corner, where he soon ate it all up. “Well,” said the sparrow, “you shall have some more if you will; so come with me to the next shop, and I will peck you down another steak.” When the dog had eaten this too, the sparrow said to him, “Well, my good friend, have you had enough now?” “I have had plenty of meat,” answered he, “but I should like to have a piece of bread to eat after it.” “Come with me then,” said the sparrow, “and you shall soon have that too.” So she took him to a baker’s shop, and pecked at two rolls that lay in the window, till they fell down: and as the dog still wished for more, she took him to another shop and pecked down some more for him. When that was eaten, the sparrow asked him whether he had had enough now. “Yes,” said he; “and now let us take a walk a little way out of the town.” So they both went out upon the high road; but as the weather was warm, they had not gone far before the dog said, “I am very much tired – I should like to take a nap.” “Very well,” answered the sparrow, “do so, and in the meantime I will perch upon that bush.” So the dog stretched himself out on the road, and fell fast asleep. Whilst he slept, there came by a carter with a cart drawn by three horses, and loaded with two casks of wine. The sparrow, seeing that the carter did not turn out of the way, but would go on in the track in which the dog lay, so as to drive over him, called out, “Stop! stop! Mr Carter, or it shall be the worse for you.” But the carter, grumbling to himself, “You make it the worse for me, indeed! What can you do?’ cracked his whip, and drove his cart over the poor dog, so that the wheels crushed him to death.
WORD SEARCH Page Foundation 6 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 ◄ Estimating decimals Exercises: Estimate You can use rounding to estimate sums and differences of decimal numbers. However, you have to decide what rounding place to use. Sometimes, a problem will tell you. If it does not, round to the nearest whole number. When estimating money, ask yourself is the cents part of each number closer to 0 dollars, to a ½ dollar or a dollar?1) 12.20 - 7.58 2) 33.60 - 10 3) 894.08 - 2.36 4) 31.05 - 1 5) 54.31 - 23.48 6) 92.88 - 7.12















P remindedning,ingrank.Shorts”,Fagundes,iningweekBascom,ofanygalPolicedisclosedCliftonCommissioner(ag)oliceHickenhasthattheGuyanaForceisawaitingleadvicebeforemakingdecisiononthefatePoliceSergeantDionwhocameoutlastwithsomedamnallegationsofcover-upthemurderofRicardocalled“PaperbyaseniorPoliceDuringapressbriefonWednesdayeveCommissionerHickenreportersthat
murder false, malicious
7 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken and Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum at Wednesday’s press conference at Police Force Headquarters at Eve Leary
Absurd, ridiculous Another allegation that the Police Sergeant made, which was rubbished, is that the Police, using a de vice, had been able to link Richmond to the crime scene on the night of the murder.“MrBascom’s claims are absurd, ridiculous, and at the same time hilarious… The Guyana Police Force does not have any device to identify criminals at a crime scene, as was false ly peddled by Bascom,” the Crime Chief has said. Further, Blanhum stat ed that the Force’s techni cal officer has vehemently denied these claims by the Sergeant, adding that they were never at the crime scene“Therefore,together. Dion Bascom is not being honest in this regard, and is manu facturing false or concocted information out of malice,” Blanhum added. He outlined that the Police Force has been re ceiving assistance from an internationally recognised law enforcement agen cy in the Fagundes mur der probe, and by making these cover-up allegations, Bascom is not only impli cating local ranks, but also several foreign experts and investigators who have vis ited the CID HQ in relation to thisSergeantmatter.Bascom came out with these damn ing allegations days after he and others were bust ed with cocaine during a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) operation last week Monday. He claimed that he was setup for speaking out about the alleged cover-up, and that Blanhum had directed CANU to release his photo to the media – something which the Crime Chief de nied during Wednesday’s pressMeanwhile,conference.as the Police await advice from the OPR on the findings and rec ommendations, Sergeant Bascom, through his law yer, has being calling for an independent probe to be conducted. Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn on Tuesday indicated that there are standard proce dures in place for such mat ters to be dealt with, and he further declared his full confidence in the OPR con ducting a proper investiga tion into this matter. In the meantime, Police Sergeant Bascom has writ ten President Dr Irfaan Ali, seeking witness protec tion after reportedly being threatened.Sincemaking his al legations, Bascom is fac ing three lawsuits that run into several millions of dol lars. They are from Police Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, the senior cop whom he alleges is cover ing-up Fagundes’s murder; from Mark Richmond; and from Richmond’s employ er, businessman Azruddin Mohamed. (G8) Shorts”
Police officers take an oath when joining the Force, and are also required to adhere to a certain “ethical be haviour” while in law en forcement.TheTop Cop referred to a previous statement made on Tuesday in which he de scribed Bascom’s actions as a “breach of the code of conduct.” At Wednesday’s press conference, Hicken further stated that, in addi tion to the allegations, the Police Sergeant’s outburst and use of profanities were “unbecoming” of an officer. Responding to a ques tion about Bascom’s fitness to continue serving in the Police Force, Hicken ex plained that this would be determined after advice is obtained from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). “There is a process, dis ciplinary process, to deal with such a behaviour. And so, for that process to com mence, we await the legal advice of the DPP. But I can tell you there is a pro cess that must be followed before any Police rank can be dismissed from the Force, so it has nothing to do with my perception, or it has nothing to do with what I feel. If the process is fol lowed, and he is not found guilty, so shall it be. If the process is followed and he’s guilty, so shall it be,” the Police Commissioner posit ed. As it is, Sergeant Bascom is currently on sick leave, based upon his re quest.The bombshell alle gations made by the cop during a Facebook live last Thursday had prompt ed the Top Cop to order the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to conduct a probe into the matter. That investigation has since been completed, and according to Hicken in his statement on Tuesday, the findings and recom mendations have been sent to the DPP for legal advice. “Let better judgement prevail. Wait on the ad vice of the DPP, and then we are going to initiate [ac tions] based on the advice,” the Police Commissioner further told reporters on Wednesday. Damaged public trust Commissioner Hicken outlined that it is import ant to address the alle gations made by Bascom, since he is a senior rank of the Force and his claims can damage public trust in the organisation – some thing which Hicken said he has been working to build at the community level. Against this back drop, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police Force, Wendell Blanhum, made a presentation during Wednesday’s press briefing in which he debunked some of the allegations made by Bascom. He firstly dealt with the coverup allegations in con nection with the gunning down of “Paper Shorts” out side a popular Main Street, Georgetown night spot more than a year ago. Sergeant Bascom is al leging that the main sus pect in that probe, Rondell Bacchus, was just a front to take the fall for the murder of Fagundes.Butinhis presentation, Blanhum disclosed that it was the lawyer of Roger Khan, a close associate of “Paper Shorts”, who had di rected the Police to Bacchus as aThesuspect.Crime Chief shared screenshots of the conver sation with the attorney, who sent information to the Police about Bacchus. “…We’re showing evi dence to support our posi tion that the Police didn’t target Rondell Bacchus, as is being falsely peddled by Mr Dion Bascom…,” BlanhumMoreover,stated.the Crime Chief dismissed Bascom’s claims that no action was taken by the Force on in formation he provided that linked another suspect
GPF awaiting legal advice to determine fate of Sgt Bascom …say allegations of cover-up in “Paper
- Mark Richmond, a pri vate security guard - to the Fagundes withDPPofdealtmatterHickennessman”,withaboutduringCIDwantedcatedemployer.lemwhonessmangatorswasleadingRichmondtakenthatBascombusinessmansaidRichmond.himfromaperiorsBascomAccordingmurder.toBlanhum,hadtoldhissuatthetimethatpopularbusinessmanEssequibowasusing(Bascom)togoafterTheCrimeChiefitisknownthattheandSergeantareclosefriends.“DionBascom’sclaimsnofurtheractionwasinrelationtoMarkareclearlymisandfalse,sinceithewhotoldinvestithatitwasabusifromEssequibohadapersonalprobwithMarkRichmond’sHefurtherindithatthebusinessmantousehim,”theHeadhighlighted.Infact,whenquestionedthepressconferenceBascom’srelationshipthe“EssequibobusiCommissionercontendedthatthiswouldbefurtherwithuponthereceiptlegaladvicefromtheonthewayforwardtheSergeant.
Police Sergeant Dion Bascom





Imagine that!! Daughter of Dick Cheney, George Bush’s VP, who defended Trump throughout his presidency but just couldn’t stomach his claim that the elections were rigged, has now lost her Congressional seat for calling for evidence on his claim!! Now, this is a claim that led to an invasion of Capitol Hill, in which people lost their lives!! The election was rigged because Trump and his partisans say it was rigged!! If in the beginning God created the world with his “word”, then it seems that our world can now be created by some folks simply uttering their “word”!! From where your Eyewitness sits, as a WI PM said, “This will not end well”!!
Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com
Y our Eyewitness hears that we’re in the “post truth” age. Does this mean we’ve reached a point where we’ve gone beyond “truth” and “lies”, and they’re all the same? So, we can say whatever we feel like saying and it’s alright? Pinnochio’s nose will retain its size??
Charged: Sergeant Dameion McLennon
…in the US
…in Kenya Your Eyewitness has been following the elections in ethnically-divided Kenya, so’s to learn if all the innovations made since 2007 in the political and electoral systems would’ve headed off violence after general elections. Doesn’t look that way – and, as such, doesn’t bode too well for similar efforts here by some perennially hopeful folks to introduce similar measures here for the same reason.In Kenya, it didn’t matter that the Elections Commission didn’t use spreadsheets and bedsheets to kerfuffle the vote tabulation. They posted on the web the results of every one of the 46,332 polling stations in the country for citizens to make their own tabulation. But yet, in the end, there’s violent disagreement about the announced result that “the outside” candidate William Ruto won the presidency!! It’s been clear for some time that Kenya – like Guyana – had entered the post truth age!But, in the past, we were dismissed as aberrations in the “Third Word”. Now, after Trump?? …and punctuation Some readers have been asking about your Eyewitness’s use of a combined exclamation point and a question mark - !?! – in this space!! Now, this isn’t an invention of his. Would you believe it represents asking a question with a raised eyebrow - an “interrobang”!?
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM 8 NEWS
Quindon Bacchus’s murder Cop accused of obstructing justice released on $250,000 bail
Now, it is not inconsequential that Trump’s most fervent (and fanatical) followers are the hardcore Christian fundamentalists from the Bible belt. And this even though the Bible warns, “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” It means, therefore, that Trump and his supporters don’t consider themselves lying – even though evidence to the contrary might abound!! Didn’t the Bible hint at this tendency when it said that “those that have ears should hear and those with eyes should see”?? The truth is, folks hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see. The scientific revolution ushered in an era wherein folks should look at the “evidence” before making claims. But that’s now gone for channa! So, to clinch the argument, your Eyewitness just heard that Rep. Liz Cheney - the most fearsome and resolute Republican opponent of former President Trump’s lies about the 2020 election - was rejected by Wyoming voters in her own party on Tuesday night!!
In light of this, Da Silva made a similar re quest before Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, SC, who granted Sergeant McLennon bail in the aforesaid sum with no con ditions attached. In the bail application before Justice George, Da Silva submitted that the offence for which his cli ent is charged is eminent ly bailable and that it is a serious allegation yet to be proven.The defence counsel, moreover, advanced that his client’s continued in carceration “has the po tential to cause [him] to unnecessarily endure the exposure of inhumane and unhygienic conditions, cou pled with the exposure of the many health hazards while in McLennon,prison”.up and until the time of being charged, had served the Guyana Police Force for more than 13 years, was recently pro moted to the rank of Cadet Officer, had no prior an tecedents, and is the hold er of a Bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Guyana (UG). He is currently pursu ing graduate studies. Sergeant McLennon and his colleague, Police Lance Corporal Thurston Simon, 24, of Bareroot, East Coast Demerara (ECD), are ac cused of wilfully attempt ing to obstruct the course of justice by giving false infor mation to the Police, in the course of the investigation into the death of 23-yearold Bacchus. They alleged ly committed the offence on June 30 at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown. At this first court hearing, Simon was remanded to prison by the Chief Magistrate. It is, however, unclear if he has been granted bail as sev eral phone calls to his law yer, Everton Singh-Lammy on Wednesday, went unan swered.The case against him and Sergeant McLennon continues on September 20 for report and fixture of tri al date. Bacchus was shot dead on June 10 by Police Lance Corporal Kristoff De Nobrega.Lance Corporal De Nobrega of Downer Canal, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, was slapped with a murder charge. The case against him will con tinue before Magistrate Fabayo Azore on October 5 for disclosure of state ments and fixture of a date for commencement of the Preliminary Inquiry. He, too, is being repre sented by Da Silva. Bacchus was fatally shot about the body several times during a Police sting operation. It was reported that on June 10, the three Police ranks were conduct ing an intelligence-led op eration in the Haslington New Scheme, ECD, after receiving some information earlier in the day. The ranks went to Bacchus’s home, where he was seen with a firearm in his possession. He had re portedly intended to sell the weapon to one of the Policemen. As such, De Nobrega, the plainclothes rank, who was armed, made arrangements to purchase the firearm from Bacchus.Butin the process of handing over the fire arm to the rank, an alarm was raised, resulting in Bacchus running in a southern direction and dis charging a round in the rank’s roundingininBacchus’sPoliceProsecutionstomadeAuthoritybywhileHospital,tosciouswasstilltolerthetoabouttingerandroundslyBacchus,Whileandandthenfire.servicesaidPolicedirection.HeadquartersthattherankdrewhispistolandreturnedPolicesaidBacchusranfurthersouthjumpedintoayard,therankgavechase.therankwasnearthemanallegeddischargedseveralothertowardstherank,theranktookcovandreturnedfire,hitthenowdeceasedmanhisbody.Bacchusreportedlyfelltheground,alongwithfirearm,whichwaslatidentifiedasa.380piswithamagazinethathadoneround.HepickedupinaconstateandescortedtheGeorgetownPublicwherehediedreceivingtreatment.TheincidentwasprobedthePoliceComplaints(PCA)whichhadrecommendationstheDirectorofPublic(DPP)fortherankstobecharged.killingresultedseveralviolentprotestshiscommunityandsurvillages.
(G1)
The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Guyana Times’ editorial policy and stance lies…
True
Not that we couldn’t always say what we wanted, but if there were no correspondence between your assertions and the world, you’d soon be consigned to the nearest madhouse!! Well, that’s what we call the institution in our dear mudland, isn’t it?? More specifically, the “Berbice Madhouse”?? One of exemplars of this “post truth” age was no other that the 45th President of the US of A – Donald Trump. The Washington Post - which evidently had the manpower to keep track – enumerated 30,573 “untruths” he uttered during his 4-year term between 2017 and 2021. That’s an astounding 21 fibs told EVERY DAY FOR 4 YEARS!! The man should get a prize for that, if nothing else!! That’s fidelity to a cause – the cause of the dawning of the age of “post truth”!!
A lmost two months after he was re manded to prison for allegedly attempting to obstruct the course of jus tice in the fatal shooting of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD) resi dent, Quindon Bacchus, Police Sergeant Dameion McLennon has been re leased on $250,000 bail. Sergeant McLennon, 35, of B Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was initial ly arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on July 6 and was remand ed to Duringprison.those proceed ings, Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers objected to Sergeant McLennon be ing released on bail on the ground that he may inter fere with the witnesses in theAsmatter.such, his lawyer, Bernard Da Silva, subse quently made a bail re quest on his behalf be fore Demerara High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon. But the Judge refused the ap plication on the sole ba sis that Bacchus’s death is a public interest matter which has attracted wide spread protest.
Dead: Quindon Bacchus Lance KristoffCorporalDeNobrega Lance ThurstonCorporalSimon








A s Guyana works with its South neighboursAmericantoestab lish a regional energy corri dor, the countries are look ing to tap into the expertise in Trinidad and Tobago to achieve this ambitious ini tiative.This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday, ahead of a State Visit to the twin-is land Republic of Trinidad & Tobago later in the day. The Head of State told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday morning that he would be having extensive discus sions with Trinidad Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to advance bilateral rela tions in a number of areas, including in the energy sec tor.“The Prime Minister and I, in our discussions [prior], discussed this, and the Prime Minister has ex pressed Trinidad willing ness to work with Guyana and Suriname in the devel opment of our gas resource, and look at other opportu nities in the energy sector. So that has been commu nicated,” President Ali has said. “As you know, Trinidad has some ideas in relation to the gas with Guyana and Suriname, and they wanted to be part of the discussion in terms of building up of this [energy] corridor, and how what they’re doing also can be integrated into what Guyana and Suriname can do, so we can have a broad development concept in terms of the gas strategy for the region,” President Ali stated. The first time President Ali spoke of Trinidad’s in terest in the energy cor ridor initiative was back in June at the Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition, when he had disclosed that a regional energy strategy that would connect the oil and natural gas producers in the region is being crafted. The countries partici pating in that strategy in clude Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil and even Barbados, which has natural gas potential. At the time, the Guyanese Leader had said that while Guyana, Suriname and Brazil had already start ed talks on combining their ability to create an energy corridor and unlock the po tential for a series of man ufacturing and industrial development, Trinidad is also interested in working along with them in unlock ing some of this potential. President Ali and First Lady Arya Ali, along with their son, arrived in Portof-Spain on Wednesday afternoon. President Ali was welcomed by act ing President of Trinidad and Tobago, Christine Kangaloo, and with a 21gun salute, after which he was invited to inspect the Guard of Honour. The Head of State is ex pected to meet with Prime Minister Rowley today.
T&T wants in on regional energy corridor – Head of State …energy, other issues to be discussed during Port of Spain visit
President Dr Irfaan Ali, First Lady Arya Ali and their son Zayn being welcomed at the Piarco International Airport in Port of Spain on Wednesday afternoon
9 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
President Dr Irfaan Ali being greeted by Trinidad & Tobago’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne
President Ali had told reporters prior to his de parture that the state vis it was twofold. The first aspect being furthering collaboration with TT un der the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed back in May in Georgetown seeking to re solve trade restrictions and push cooperation in other sectors.“We’ll be going through what they’re doing, the evo lution of their industrial development, manufactur ing. We’ll go through the MoU to look at areas that we can move forward very quickly, and that is direct ly between Guyana and Trinidad in agriculture, re moval of the trade barriers, which you know we have been working on for the last few months; the manufac turing sector; industrial de velopment, looking at how we can integrate our food production system with their built-up capacity al ready. So, those are some of the things that we’re look ing at,” he disclosed. The second part of the visit, according to Guyanese Leader, is ad vancing the Caricom (Caribbean Community) Food Security Initiative, since many Caricom lead ers would also be in the twin-island Republic over the coming days. “We will be assessing our progress to date, looking at how the strategy has been implemented all across. I have that responsibility of doing the update. We have a meeting with Republic Bank. You know, they have set aside some resources for the food production system in agriculture. So, there are a number of proposals that Guyana has been able to work with other countries on developing. We are also supporting many countries in terms of the shade house programme, the revitalisa tion of the coconut industry, the transportation logistics, the major bugbear. So those are the type of things that will be discussed. There’s also an expo focusing on innovation, technology, the trade barriers. So that is what the next few days will be, and Caricom Heads meeting,” the President in dicated.Aspart of his visit, President Ali would be par ticipating in Trinidad’s Agri-Investment Forum that will commence on Friday.Joining the Head of State on this visit are Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd; Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha; Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond, and oth er Government officials. (G8)





Decision on witness protection will be made after complete review of content – Ali Shorts”
GPF corruption allegations
CANU bust Last week, Bascom was among five people who were arrested after the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) swooped down on a Norton Street, Georgetown house and found cocaine. Following his arrest, the Police Sergeant took to Facebook where he made several allegations against several top-ranking officers within the Guyana Police Force along with a promi nent businessman, and one of his security details. On Wednesday, act ing Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken sent out a statement in which he said that Bascom has refused to submit himself to any in vestigation by the Police of his public allegations, or provide any evidence to support the allegations he made public. In fact, the Hicken went on to describe Bascom’s allegations as “unfounded.”
“It is not without signifi cance that Sergeant Bascom found himself personal ly compromised during an exercise carried out by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit and that his public statement immediately fol lowed this matter. Sergeant Bascom, at his request, is currently at home on sick leave.”“It is unfortunate that Sergeant Bascom’s unfound ed allegations have public ly involved senior members of the Force and other per sons. This is of grave con cern to the Guyana Police Force,” Hicken also said. According to Hicken, Bascom’s public utterances, which he made while serv ing as an active member of the Force, is in breach of the Code of Conduct of the Police Force. “I have, as a result, or dered an immediate inves tigation of this matter by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The OPR has submitted the findings of their investiga tion along with their recom mendations which is now before the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal ad vice,” Hicken further ex plained in his statement.
President Dr Irfaan Ali Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken Embattled Police Sergeant Dion Bascom
10 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM
…Police sought, received int’l help in “Paper
killing
NEWS A s the probe contin ues into the allega tions made by em battled Police Sergeant Dion Bascom, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday said that he has not yet seen the letter written to him seeking witness protec tion, noting that while he is not against witness protec tion, he has to examine the content of the correspon dence.After being arrested by Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) during a drug bust, Bascom alleged that there was a Police cov er-up in the Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes mur der investigation. In the wake of his allegations, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has investigated and submitted a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In a letter addressed to the President earlier this week, Bascom had not only called for witness protec tion for himself, but an in ternational investigation into the GPF. When asked about this on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, President Ali said he was yet to see the letter. “I’ve made it clear that everything must be done professionally… to be hon est, I have not seen the let ter as yet. I’m not saying the letter was not sent. I have loads of correspon dence, I have not seen it as yet. I have not addressed my mind to the letter as yet. Definitely, I don’t shy away from addressing issues.” “The Police have been working with international partners on this case. I can’t get into the details, that’s for the Police. But I know they have been working and seeking help from inter national partners, for spe cific aspects of this case,” President Ali explained. According to the President, the Police will at some point address the me dia since they have infor mation to put out and that press conference was held by Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken subsequent ly. On the specific mat ter of witness protection, President Ali did not rule this out for the officer. “I wouldn’t say I’m against witness protection, because I believe… I have to see what is the content of the letter. What is the na ture, what is being asked for. But as I said, this sys tem and this country I gov ern, must provide an even platform for everyone, a so cially just platform for ev eryone. And in that con text, I’ll make my decision,” President Ali said. Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes was killed exe cution-style in March 2021 outside a popular Main Street, Georgetown night spot. Reports are the man was partying with a group of friends at the bar when his phone rang and he exit ed the club to take the call, but soon after, was shot and killed.






Workers attached to the Guyana Rice Development Board Research Station at Burma on Wednesday held a picket ing exercise to signal to man agement that they are not pleased with Union dues be ing deducted and paid to a Union which is not represent ing Thethem. workers are try ing to get management to stop deducting Union dues from their wages and sala ries. About two months ago, about 80 workers signed a pe tition asking management to stop deducting Union dues and paying it to the Union of Allied and Agriculture Workers (UAAW). However, Union dues continue to be deducted. Wednesday morn ing’s picketing exercise was to send a signal to management that the workers do not want those dues deducted. The petition, which was signed by scores of workers, was sent to the Administrative Manager of the organisation and also to the General Manager.
Sherwin Mingo, who is the workers’ Union represen tative, said a letter was also dispatched to itybeenmoment,”representinghasrepresentingdodeductedoncan’tthingsmentthethatvourhandfulandfavourindicatedtheMingowantfromtinuesnied“Managementmanagement.hasdeourrequestandcontodeductthemoneyourwages.WedonotUAAWtorepresentus,”said,addingthatwhilemajorityofworkershavethattheyarenotinoftheUnionofAlliedAgricultureWorkers,aofstaffarestillinfaofrepresentationfromUnion.“Wedon’tknowwhatisagreementwithmanageandUAAWbecausehappeningandwesaywhatreallygoingbutourduesarestillbeingandthatiswhatwenotwant.TheUnionisnotus.TheUnion16personswhotheyareatthepresentMingoadded.Non-representationPatriceDowner,whohasworkingwiththefacilforthepast10years,is
dues to a Union against their will.Initially, the UAAW was representing these work ers at the Burma Research Station, however, the work ers were not satisfied with the service they were getting and they sought to have an other Union represent them. The Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) allegedly won an election and started repre senting those workers and had been doing so for just over a year. However, an in junction was filed in the High Court and granted by Justice Franklyn Holder, making those elections null and void.
11 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Management subsequent ly started deducting Union dues in favour of UAAW. The workers say they do not want that Union represent ing them and money deduct ed from their wages and sal aries and paid to that Union. (G4) The protesting GRDB Burma Research Station workers
…says
GRDB’s Burma Research Station workers protest deduction of dues for inactive Union no Union representation for pregnant woman given hoeing duties
evennoissueengageworker.bettergrass,surelysaidtheFordyce,Meanwhile,compound.Wendywhohasbeenwithorganisationfor17years,shehasbeenrecenthavinghighbloodpresandwithajobofrakingthesunismakingitnoforherconditionasaShesaidshetriedtohersupervisorsonthebuttonoavail.TheworkerssaythereisUniontorepresentthemthoughtheyarepaying
five months pregnant. She claimed that she is being vic timised because she asked for lighter forms of work. According to the labourer, who is a mother of five, as a result of her request, she was instructed to hoe beds. “I used to work in the fields when the pregnan cy had just started, now it is much older. I asked for inside work but they give me a runaround. They say there is no work to do inside the building and it is fieldwork that I ap ply to do… They ask me if I could hoe and I told them that I would try because I used to hoe the plots. When I go, if you see this dam that they give me to hoe. I had to call in the HR and so. After that, I am being victimised,” the womanDownerclaimed.explained that for years she would supply food to workers who do not walk with lunch. She explained that it was one way to make extra money to take care of her family. However, after the recent incident, she was told that she can no longer sell food in the





Murder convict Bibi ShareemaGopaul Murder convict Jarvis SmallMurdered: Neesa Gopaul
3 more slapped
A25-year-old man who has been identified as Jeremy Roach, a former rank of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), was remanded to prison on Wednesday for the kill ing of 19-year-old Owen Young of Perseverance Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD). Roach appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Diamond/Grove Magistrate’s Court and was not required to plead to the indictable charge. It was reported that on Saturday last, Roach mur dered Young at Sorrell Drive, Perseverance, EBD. The Police Force had said Young, his friend, Roach, and Roach’s brother were involved in a heated argu ment. It was reported that at the time, Young and his friend were walking to the shop when they were ap proached by the two men. Police said that during the argument, Roach whipped out a knife and dealt Young a stab to his right-side neck, causing him to receive injuries and col lapse.Young was immediate ly escorted to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was pronounced dead on ar rival and later taken to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home for post-mortem ex amination.Thefollowing day, Roach and his brother turned themselves in to Police in the presence of a lawyer and were assisting Police with their investigations. (G9) Dead: Owen Young Remanded: Jeremy Roach T wo East Coast Demerara (ECD) residents and a West Bank Demerara resident are among the latest to be slapped with drunk driv ingChargedcharges. are Chamalie Persaud, 24, of Craig Mill, Cove and John, ECD; Randy Persaud, 21, of Blossom Scheme, ECD; and Joshua Yankanah, 25, of Bell West Canal No 2, West Bank Demerara. Police said Yankanah was arrested on the Ogle Public Road, ECD, and charged while the two Persauds were arrested on the Nabaclis Public Road, ECD, and also charged. Yankanah will be ar raigned at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court on August 22, 2022, while the male and female Persauds will be processed to at tend the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court, ECD, on August 23, 2022. Only a week ago, three errant drivers were arrest ed and charged for the of fence of drinking and driv ing.Those charged were Ian Clarke, 63, of Section B Non Pareil, ECD; 28-yearold Loakendra Ramdeo of Section B Non Pareil, and Walter Oswald Wren, 45, of New Settlers Street Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara.Driving while above the prescribed alcohol limit at tracts a charge for the of fence of driving under the influence (DUI) which car ries a Personsfine. can be charged for this traffic violation if, when tested, their blood alcohol content is found to exceed the prescribed lim it of .35 micrograms of al cohol in 100 millilitres of breath, and their blood alcohol concentration ex ceeds 80 milligrams of al cohol in 100 millilitres of blood. (G9) with DUI charges
12 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Three months after it heard arguments in Bibi Shareema-Gopaul and her lover Jarvis Small’s challenge to their 45-year jail sentence for the mur der of Gopaul’s daughter, 16-year-old Neesa Gopaul, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will deliver its much-an ticipated ruling on Friday at 13:30h. The two convicts have now exhausted all their right to appeal.The decomposed and headless body of the younger Gopaul was found stuffed in a suitcase in a creek along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway on October 2, 2010. Also discovered were her passport and bank card. The suitcase was wrapped with rope and attached to dumb bells in an apparent effort to keep her body submerged. The girl was found weeks after she was reported miss ing from her Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD) home. The young girl died as a result of blunt force trauma to theThehead.regional court, on May 10, heard separate appeals from Shareema-Gopaul and Small against their convic tions for the murder of the for mer Queen’s College student. Together, they argued that their convictions were unsafe and that Guyana’s Court of Appeal’s variation of their ini tial sentences of 96 and 102 years, respectively to 45 years was manifestly Shareema-Gopaul,excessive.50, and Small were initially sentenced to 106 years’ and 96 years’ im prisonment, respectively, after they were unanimously found guilty of the teen’s killing fol lowing a joint trial before Demerara High Court Judge Navindra Singh back in 2015. They then lodged separate ap peals against their conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal of Guyana, which in August 2021 affirmed their convictions but reduced their prison terms to 45 years each. At the CCJ, Jarvis’s law yer, Nigel Hughes, and Shareema-Gopaul’s lawyer, Arudranauth Gossai, con tended that prejudicial evi dence led to their clients being wrongfullyAlludingconvicted.tocaselaws, they argued that the sentences im posed by the local appellate court are manifestly excessive and are not in keeping with established sentencing guide lines.The lawyers ultimately want the apex court to quash their clients’ convictions and sentences.Atthe CCJ, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, tried to persuade the Judges that the evidence used to convict the duo was safe, submitting, that because the dumbbells found at the crime scene be longed to Small, they implicat ed him in the murder. “…. The evidence against Small is that he had the dumbbells, the dumbbells were heavy, he was the per son who lifted them, he was the person who took them to [Bibi] Gopaul’s house, he was strong… after he took them to Gopaul’s house…these dumb bells were found attached to the suitcase wherein [Neesa Gopaul’s] body was found…” reasoned the DPP Ali-Hack. Concerning ShareemaGopaul, she said that there is enough circumstan tial evidence against her. Maintaining that the 45-year sentence was fitting, Guyana’s DPP, therefore, urged the CCJ to affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal of Guyana, highlighting that this was a gruesome case in which a mother conspired with her lover to kill her daughter. The case was heard by CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders and CCJ Judges Maureen Rajnauth-Lee, Jacob Wit, Denys Barrow, and Peter Jamadar. (G1)
Former GDF rank charged for killing Perseverance man
CCJ to rule on Neesa Gopaul murder case on Friday
Charged: Randy Persaud Charged: Joshua YankanahCharged: Chamalie Persaud










The debris from the house which was engulfed on Wednesday Firefighters working to extinguish the blaze
"The Fire Service is not only responsible for fighting, but also has issues in respect of the ambulance services, the EMTs. I think they get 18 or 20 calls a day, and then they get the problem with fire naturally every day,” he high lighted.Meanwhile, Fire Chief Gregory Wickham expressed gratitude for the timely dona tion, which he stated would help tremendously in the GFS effort to respond to, and tackle, fires. He further related that the three bowsers would be deployed to various locations across the country. “We are particularly glad for these new tenders or wa ter bowsers that are added to the fleet, and certainly they’ll assist in having water read ily available when we have to do firefighting. As for the distribution of these tenders, one will be going into Bartica, one will be going into Eccles, particularly to deal with any fire that we have with in the Oil base areas there, and then one will remain in Georgetown to lend support to the firefighting fleet,” the Fire Chief has said. bowsers donated to Fire Service to enhance fire-fighting capacity
$46M water
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn handing over the keys of the water bowsers to Fire Chief Gregory Wickham
13 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
The Home Affairs Ministry has donat ed to the Guyana Fire Service three water bowsers which are valued at $46.2 million to boost the firefight ing capacity of that entity. During the handing over ceremony, held at the Home Affairs Ministry, Minister Robeson Benn explained that the donation now doubles the water bowser capacity within the Fire Service. The Minister explained that the water bowsers, each of which has the capacity to transport 1800 gallons of wa ter, would be used mainly alongside other units combat ing largescale fires. However, he noted that the bowsers are also equipped with their own pumps, and can be used to tackle smaller fires by themselves. "We've taken delivery and handing over to the Guyana Fire Service these 3 water browsers, to support the main assets when there's a fire in bringing water and pressuris ing certain areas and sys tems," Minister Benn said. “The amount of money spent is 46.2 million dollars. I un derstand they carry 1800 gal lons each, they have indepen dent pump systems, so they can be used by themselves in handling smaller issues other than being in train to support a larger firefighting effort. The water bowsers would boost the…firefighting capac ity in terms of the water bows ers we have instantaneously, and so, from that aspect, it's a significant improvement,” the Minister has said. Moreover, he stated that concerns have been raised, and the Ministry, through the Fire Service, is focused on cases of arson, which has been a common issue recent ly. "We're concerned recent ly about the increased setting of fires. It appears that when there's a dispute, there’s ma licious setting of fires to hous es, cars, minibuses…centres. This appears to be a more re cent negative resort in terms of issues relating to fires, be yond the question of electri cal fire which we've been hav ing quite a bit of… Those are some of the issues we want to bring to your attention,” the Minister stated. Benn noted that Government would continue to boost the capacity of the Fire"WeService.continue to make the effort in terms of replac ing fire hydrants in the city and new housing areas, so we could have overall a better situation with respect to fire fighting," he explained.
Residents in the area gathered to get a glimpse of what had occurred
his music, and his piano and microwave. A lot of tro phies that my son won be cause he does play cricket; it would carry him into the mil lions…,” Conrad explained. “People say the fire come from the front, that is where the wire for the electrical appliance were, because he does get the wire for the pi ano and the wire for the set and the wire for the TV and he know how they run; a wire to the fridge downstairs. He does set his wire himself, and he don’t want you to trouble no wire lead. The Fire Police say that the fire start from the front, because they had a wire run straight from the post to the side of the house,” Conrad Sinclair explained. The Guyana Fire Service has since launched an inves tigation into the cause of this fire. (G4)
Amidday fire on Wednesday in New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has left one person homeless. That homeless man is Carlton Sinclair, the grand father and former coach of West Indies cricketing all-rounder Kevin Sinclair. Smoke was first seen coming from the front part of the two-bedroom building, situated at Lot 4040 Patrick Dam, Mount Sinai, where Carlton Sinclair, 74, lived alone and was not at home at the time. His son Conrad told the media that a lot of elec trical wires were exposed in the“Ibuilding.went at the work place and I get a call that my father's place on fire… he wasn’t home. Today (Wednesday) his grandson playing cricket, so he proba bly gone and watch the game somewhere. Thank God that he is alive - he wasn’t home.” Conrad Sinclair ex plained that Kevin, who had in the past attributed his success to the efforts of his grandfather, had prom ised to pull down the house in which he grew up and re build it. He had only recent ly promised to do that for his grandfather. Meanwhile, residents have said that the Fire Service responded promptly, but by the time they arrived on scene, the entire building was already engulfed. Water was sourced from a nearby canal to extinguish the blaze. According to Conrad Sinclair, some of the items destroyed in the fire had been trophies belonging to Kevin Sinclair, who represented Guyana and the West Indies at both youth and senior lev els. Kevin is also a member of the Amazon Warriors. “He had his washing ma chine, gas stove, he has two big sets that he used to play
Fire leaves former cricket coach homeless






Silica City 14 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
High Commissioner Dr KJ Srinivasa and scholarship awardee Dayvishanie Naipaul
Banks DIH opens dutyfree store at MovieTowne
B anks DIH Limited has announced the opening of its Diplomatic Duty-Free Shop, located on the ground floor of the MovieTowne Mall at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara. It is ex pected to facilitate all per sons entitled to duty-free purchases within the dip lomatic alofny,Accordingcommunity.tothecompathereisawidevarietylocalandinternationbeveragebrandsfrom which to choose in a com fortable shopping environ ment with ample and se cure parking. Operating time of the Diplomatic Duty-Free Shop is from 10:00h to 22:00h from Monday to Sunday.
First phase of development being aggressively pursued – Rodrigues
T he development of Guyana’s first smart urban centre, ‘Silica City’, is being ag gressively pursued by the Ministry of Housing and Water – Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA).OnWednesday, Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues, visited the site earmarked for the city’s first phase development within the vicinity of Kuru Kururu on the LindenSoesdykeRodrigues,Highway.ina release from the Housing Ministry, is quoted as saying that the inland city, which will com plement Georgetown, is de signed to address growing climate change risks. “We are aggressively pursuing plans for the con struction of Silica City [and] we are here today to ad vance the planning and de signs for the area, so that we can bring this city to an early realisation,” the Minister stated. She added, “Silica City will have in its first phase about 3,000 acres of land, but we are starting to do the land-clearing for the first 185 acres, which will fea ture the ‘Innovation Village’ and the first 400 young pro fessional homes.” The Minister stated that the Ministry has already be gun shortlisting persons for the homes. First phase de velopment of the city is also expected to feature a num ber of commercial and in dustrial developments, as well as hospitals. While these plans are in motion, land acquisition for phase two is also in progress through collaborative ef forts with GLSC. The establishment of Silica City was proposed in 2013 by Dr Irfaan Ali during his tenure as Minister of Housing and Water. It is in keeping with the Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues, examining the plans for Guyana’s first smart urban centre, ‘Silica City’
Dayvishanie Naipaul will spend the next three years in Delhi, India pursuing a three-year scholarship for Indian Classical Dance which she has been grant ed at Bharatnatayam un der the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarships.TheIndian High Commission announced on Wednesday that Naipaul, who hails from the coun ty of Essequibo and is a self-taught dancer since the age of five years, has learnt kathak and Indian Bollywood dances; and now, at 22, she has started an academy in Essequibo named "Dayvishanie Dance Academy”, in which she cur rently has 10 students. During her meeting with High Commissioner Dr KJ Srinivasa, Naipaul relat ed that she is very grate ful to the High Commission of India for the opportunity to learn more about Indian Culture, and she's very ec static to return to Guyana to educate her students in the academy. She noted that more Guyanese should make use of this opportunity to study in India, learning more about the culture and histo ry ofMeanwhile,India. High Commissioner Dr KJ Srinivasa stated that such scholarships enhance cultur al exchange and contribute to further India-Guyana co operation. He also informed that the High Commission of India in Georgetown is cur rently offering nine scholar ships under the ICCR pro gramme.
The area airmarked for the development
Guyanese gets 3-year Indian Classical Dance scholarship
Guyanese
Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, the Housing Act 36:20, and other guidelines. On Wednesday’s visit, the Minister was accompanied by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Andre Ally; CHPA’s Chief Development Planner, Germene Stewart; Director of Projects Omar Narine, Deputy Director Intakab Indarjeet; Deputy Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Michael Hutson, and other technical staff.
From left: Finance Manager, Demico Division, Maxwell Denny; Marketing Assistant of MovieTowne Mall, Devika Singh; Marketing Manager of MovieTowne Mall, Cindy Ramnarine; and Sales and Marketing Executive of Banks DIH Limited, Carlton Joao






Keron Bruce's trial over “Mudwata” character pushed to next month
Keron Bruce The “Mudwata” character R esidents of commu nities on the West Coast of Demerara and East Bank Essequibo - Region Three - have been assured that the Housing Ministry is working to re solve all squatting issues in the region, and to end all outstanding land own ership
According to Croal, the re location and regularisation process is a key component of the Government’s overall housing drive. He noted that while there is a zero-tolerance approach to squatting, the Ministry remains commit ted to fixing the issues by offering persons the oppor tunity to acquire homes through the right process. He, however, point ed out that even as the Ministry does its part and regularise where possible, in some instances, persons will have to be relocated, as they are hindering key in frastructural development. These developments are necessary for the advance ment of the country as a whole, as structures are stalling sea defence works in Region Three. In Anna Catherina, some 43 households have been identified and noti fied that they will be locat ed, while 19 families will be regularised. For that area, the Block and Occupational Survey has been complet ed, while the plan is ex pected to be finalised with in another two weeks. Another 82 families
15 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Housing Ministry working to fasttrack squatters’ relocation in Region 3 who have occupied lots and homes at the Uitvlugt/ Stewartville Sideline Dam have been informed that by mid-November of this year, the Ministry will pro ceed with the processing of titles/transports for their properties. For decades, residents have been with out ownership documents, as the ownership of the land was in question. Also, relocation has been discussed, and an area has been identified for 10 families who have tak en up residence at Zeelugt Sideline Dam, also known as ‘Silk Cotton Tree Area’. Similar interventions have been made for families at the Tuschen Sea Defence area.Meanwhile, persons have been encouraged to play their part in address ing the issue by apply to the Ministry and going through the right channel to obtain a house lot or their pre ferred housing option. It must be noted that the Ministry remains com mitted to advancing the process of issuing owner ship documents for lands under its purview, regu larising squatters where possible, and relocating in instances where it is neces sary.Several meetings were held on Wednesday, and the Minister was joined by Regional Chairman Inshan Ayube, Community Development Director Gladwin Charles, Projects Coordinator in the Public Works Ministry Dennis Ramsingh, other regional officials, and a team from the Central Housing and Planning Authority.
Theissues.assurance was giv en as Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal met with residents of Plantation Anna Catherina, Uitvlugt/ Stewartville Sideline Dam, Zeelugt Sideline Dam and Tuschen.Arelease has stated that the Ministry, through its Community Development and Planning Department, is progressing with the reg ularisation and relocation process in a number of ar eas across the country.
I nitially set to commence on June 9, the trial of photographer, Keron Bruce, who is accused of be ing the person behind the social media cartoon char acter “Mudwata”, has now been pushed to September 6. Bruce, 35, of 295 Soesdyke Back Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD), will be tried for a cyber crime before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts. Bruce is being repre sented by Attorney-at-Law Bernard Da Silva. He was arrested and subsequently charged af ter Journalist Leroy Smith alleged that he was being relentlessly attacked by the cartoon character on Facebook and other social media platforms. It is alleged that on January 25, 2021, at Soesdyke, EBD, Bruce used a computer system to disseminate informa tion about Smith, know ing same to be false. Police are alleging that the infor mation subjected Smith to public ridicule, contempt, hatred, and embarrass ment.Back in January, Police arrested Bruce and sever al other persons on allega tions of the cartoon char acter slandering persons. Police Headquarters said that ranks seized several pieces of equipment from Bruce’s DD Eccles, EBD home.In addition, several voice messages were also collected, which, when an alysed, matched with the “Mudwata” commentary. His arrest came days after Smith, owner and manag ing editor of the online me dia outlet Big Smith News Watch, offered a $1 million reward for reliable infor mation that would lead to the proper identification of the cartoon character. Smith had made this offer after a video aggres sively attacking him was posted by “Mudwata” on Facebook and YouTube. After Bruce’s arrest, Smith had stated that sev eral persons had come for ward with information about the cartoon char acter. As such, a court or der was issued to search Bruce’s house for any evi dence that would pin him to theThecharacter.Policeare obliged under the provisions of the Cyber Crime Act 2018 – a legislation that was passed under the previous APNU/ AFC Government – to in vestigate any report made with respect to cyberbully ing.Meanwhile, in February of this year, Bruce filed a $101 million libel suit against Mikhail Rodrigues, better known as the “Guyanese Critic”, whom he has accused of slander ing him. In that lawsuit, filed at the Demerara High Court, Bruce claims that, on January 29, Rodrigues, via a Facebook Live which at tracted 761 comments, 933 reactions, 33,000 views, and 91 shares, made sev eral false and defamato ry statements about him being the person behind “Mudwata”.Insisting that he and the “Mudwata” character are not “one and the same”, Bruce said Rodrigues had not presented any credible evidence to the contrary, and therefore this could not be a “matter of fact”, since this had not been proven in a court of law. Bruce alleged that Rodrigues’s utterances were for the sole purpose of increasing views, finan cial gains, followers, reac tions, and for his own per sonalAccordingclout. to him, Rodrigues’s comments have caused irrevocable dam age to his reputation, and have subjected him to pub lic ridicule, contempt, ha tred, and embarrassment, and have also brought his career into disrepute. The photographer told the High Court that he is so fearful for his life that he has hired a 24-hour secu rity service to protect him self and his family, because Rodrigues has threatened to “show up” at his home and go live on Facebook. Apart from monetary award for damages, Bruce is asking the court to or der Rodrigues to publish, or cause to be published, an apology to him. He is also seeking a permanent injunction restraining Rodrigues from publishing, or causing to be published, the posts or similar words which are defamatory to him. (G1)
Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal






16 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD AUGUST 17, 2022 UPDATE GET MEDICAL ADVICE ON COVID-19 FROM MOH 24/7 HOTLINE NUMBERS: 2311166; 226 7480; 624 6674; 624 2819; 624 3067 OR 180/181. NUMBER OF NEW CASES 142 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION 12 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION 464 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU 2 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE 4 TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES) 38,312 TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES) 32,391 TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020 70,703 NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES 68,947 TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED 443,802 FULLY IMMUNISED 343,575 TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS 1276 DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020 REGION 1 2684 REGION 2 3122 REGION 3 8700 REGION 4 35,164 REGION 5 2565 REGION 6 6871 REGION 7 2645 REGION 8 917 REGION 9 4325 REGION 10 3710 HERE IS HOW YOU CAN BE SAFE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Wear a face mask. Keep a physical distance of at least 6 Washfeet. your hands or use handIfsanitizeryouhave any symptoms, call the COVID-19 Hotline. G uyana Defence Force Lieutenant Terrence De Peana will soon depart Guyana for Romania, where he will pursue a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at the Politehnica University of Bucharest. The young officer was granted the scholarship from the Government of Romania because of his outstanding performance during his academic years at the University of Guyana, the army said in a release on Wednesday. Lieutenant De Peana, who hails from Tucville, Georgetown, attended the Brickdam Secondary and St Roses High schools before completing a Diploma in Geological Engineering at the University of Guyana. He then enlisted in the Guyana Defence Force and underwent training on the Standard Officers Course 49 in 2016. In 2019, he successfully completed an Associate of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, and was awarded the Best Electrical Engineering Student award from the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers, as well as the Best Student Award from the Faculty of Technology. He is currently a mem ber of the Force’s Engineer Battalion.In2022, Lieutenant De Peana graduated with dis tinction from the University of Guyana with a Bachelor of Science (Electrical Engineering)Lieutenantdegree.De Peana is eagerly looking forward to his period of training in “My drive comes from a desire to promote career development” – soldier on scholarship to Romania
Region 7 woman is latest COVID-19 death …142 new cases recorded Romania.“Mydrive comes from a desire to promote career development in this field. I have a lot of plans for the Force in terms of bringing Guyana’s standards and codes as well as a full up lift of the Force’s power sys tems. I don’t expect that this course will be a walk over, but I know that with great dedication I will get through. The values and standards instilled in me through my training in the GDF will ensure my suc cess,” he said. The programme will run for 3 years, the first of which will be studies in the Romanian language. Lieutenant Terrence De Peana
T he Health Ministry has reported that another person who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus has died. This latest fatality is an 82-year-old female from Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni), who died on AugustWith11.this, Guyana’s COVID-19 death toll has gone up to Meanwhile,1,276.a whopping 142 new COVID-19 infec tions have been detected in the last 24 Consequently,hours. active cases in the country are now at 480, including two patients in the COVID-19 ICU, and the remaining persons in either home (464) or institutional (14) isolation.There are also four oth er persons currently in in stitutional quarantine. To date, some 68,947 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus in the country.
Twenty-one former Petrotrin workers are now owners of res idential lots of land, after their names were randomly selected during a live draw ing for them yesterday. Minister of Housing and Urban Development Camille Robinson-Regis said yes terday was historic as the Government had fulfilled its promise.“Hopefully, in so doing by today’s draw, we are in dicating that we are about keeping the promises that we made,” she said during the event. Petrotrin officially closed in November 2018 and the Residential Lots Programme for former workers was launched in 2020. “In a fair and transpar ent process, Government received 2,816 applications from these employees for residential lots. Of these, 1,493 persons indicated that they did not already own land,” Robinson-Regis said. Yesterday’s (Tuesday) drawing was the second of its kind. In May, 38 for mer employees of the refin ery were also selected. The batch who received their lands yesterday makes it 59 out of the 70 who were se lected in September 2021. The Minister said it takes time and money to develop land and everyone will not get lots at the same time. She said that the Land Settlement Agency (LSA) was working assiduous ly and is developing lots in Central and South Trinidad for distribution. These ar eas include Chaguanas, La Romaine 2, Woodford Lodge 2, Gran Couva, Princes Town and Guapo in Point Fortin.“Recognising the enor mity of the challenge ahead, the Cabinet has also ap proved the souring of resi dential lots from the HDC,” sheTosaid.the applicants who were not selected, RobinsonRegis asked for their contin ued“Yourpatience.names will go back into the pool for the next draw and every other draw,” sheSomesaid. of those who re ceived their promised lots were Andre Guevarro, Louie Davis, Kenneth Peters, Jason Jadoo, Clifton Valentine, Arlana Bobb and 15 others.Toqualify for this draw, applicants had to receive a termination letter from Petrotrin in 2018 and be a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. (T&T Guardian)
Former T&T Petrotrin workers get land from Govt





"Because We Care" initiative
commencedpeacetime.flemenessaryknowledgeInfantryisInfantrymanThedevelopment.StandardCourse(SIC)designedtoequipthesoldierswiththeandskillsnectobeproficientriinlimitedwarorSIC2022-01,onJuly4.
5 women among 198 who successfully complete standard infantryman course
Privates Tracey-Ann Nedd, Kennesha Boyce, Annastacia Ward, Elizabeth Cummings and Kishonna Martin
17 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS
Second phase of cash grant distribution begins today
T he Education Ministry will be conducting the sec ond phase of distribution of the Because We Care cashThisgrant.phase will focus on two categories of ben eficiaries: those parents who were unable to vis it the respective distribu tion sites during the ini tial phase and therefore could not uplift the grant, and those parents whose children’s names did not appear on the list even though they are properly registered at their respec tiveTheschools.second phase of distribution will take place across Guyana at identified distribution centres today. The Education Ministry, in a statement, said, “We encourage those parents who fall within one of the two categories above to make every ef fort to uplift the grant, or to authorise a trusted in dividual to do so on their behalf.”Parents or guard ians must present a val id form of identification, such as their National Identification Card, pass port or driver’s licence. Parents or guardians who do not possess a form of identification must be identified by a communi ty leader, a teacher, or the headteacher of the school to be the parent or guard ian of the child. If some one is being authorised to uplift the grant, they need to present a valid form of identification and the let ter of grant,initialnotentssaryThisauthorisation.exerciseisnecestoallowthoseparwhogenuinelycouldhavemadeitonthedatetouplifttheandtoensurethat the children whose names were missing on their schools’ lists are not dis enfranchised.In2021, Government disbursed a total of $3.3 billion in “Because We Care” cash grants to pub lic school students coun trywide. The cash grants were also extended to stu dents attending private schools, where each child received $19,000, amount ing to a total of $284.8 million. This amount was increased to $30,000 this year.
F ive females have created history af ter training along side their male counter parts and successfully completing the Standard Infantryman Course (SIC) 2022-01. The course, which is of a six-week duration, has traditionally been completed by males mostly from the Infantry Units of theTheForce. women are Privates Tracey-Ann Nedd, Kennesha Boyce, Annastacia Ward, Elizabeth Cummings and Kishonna Martin of the 1 Infantry Battalion. They were among a batch of 198 soldiers to have graduat ed at a ceremony held on Friday, August 12, 2022 at the Junior Ranks Mess at Base Camp Stephenson, Timehri.According to a release from the army, the three Infantry Battalion domi nated the outstanding per formances, copping the prizes for Best Graduating Student, Runner-up Student, and Best Shot, which were won by Privates Fitzroy Hackette, Malachi Clarke and Kelroy KnightsPrivaterespectively.KeltonFrancis of 1 Infantry Battalion re ceived the prize for Best Fitness.Commanding Officer (Acting) two Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Ron Caulder, con gratulated the students on successfully complet ing their course, and urge them to live by the Force’s values and theFurther,standards.heencouragedsoldierstoneverfor get the good lessons that they have learnt during the training, and for them to continue to make them selves available for contin ued





Cuba bids for foreign investment to tackle shortages of goods
The South American na tion's economic crisis has seen the ranks of the poor swell to 40 per cent of the popu lation as President Alberto Fernandez struggles to find solutions to an annual infla tion rate hovering around 70 per cent. Beating drums and waving the flags of unions and a range of left-wing groups, most aligned with Fernandez's ruling Peronists, protesters reached the Casa Rosada presidential palace and the Congress, after snak ing through the capital's main avenues and bringing traffic to aBundled-upstandstill. protesters braving a chilly, windy day, called for wage hikes in line with inflation, plus more so cial spending to alleviate widespread economic pain. "We can't continue with this level of inflation where every day we keep losing parts of our salary," said Pablo Moyano, head of the CGT workers' union that mostly represents government em ployees.Prices at grocery stores and shops are regularly up dated to reflect galloping infla tion, which last month alone rose 7.4 per cent, the highest monthly rise in two decades. Speaking to a crowd of marchers, Moyano, himself a Peronist, asked Fernandez to take control of prices. Other union leaders echoed Moyano's sentiments. "There's no work, salaries just don't stretch far enough, and there are constant price mark-ups," said Ramon Luque, head of a union rep resenting cardboard and pa per workers. (Excerpt from Reuters)
Indigenous people show a placard that says "Brazil Indigenous land" during the International Indigenous People Day in defence of territories and Indigenous lives, against the Government of President Jair Bolsonaro and for the demarcation of lands, in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 9, 2022
Attacks on Brazil's Indigenous people rose sharply in 2021, report says US authorities have seen a spike in weap ons smuggling to Haiti and the Caribbean in recent months, officials said on Wednesday, promising to boost efforts to combat the trade that is fueling ram pant gang violence in Haiti and rising crime in the re gion.The announcement fol lows several bloody out breaks of gang violence in Haiti that included gun bat tles in downtown Port-auPrince, and comes as coun tries such as The Bahamas and Jamaica are report ing rising incidence of gunlinked"Nothomicides.onlyhave we seen a marked uptick in the num ber of weapons, but a se rious increase in the cal iber and type of firearms being illegally trafficked," said Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Miami. "We have been ramping up our efforts to stem the flow of illicit weapons into Haiti and the Caribbean," he said, flanked by offi cials from other agencies including the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection.Adisplay of seized arms that were destined for Haiti included hand guns and an array of semi-automatic weapons, one of which offi cials identified as a sniper rifle. Legal export of weap ons from the United States typically requires licences from US authorities. Haiti is still subject to a 1990s arms embargo, which has been amended to allow some ex ceptions for exports of weap ons to Haitian security forc es. Guns are frequently ac Consumers will be pay ing less for gaso line and diesel come Friday as Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the price of fuel at the pump will be capped for the next five months.Gasoline will cost BDS$4.48 (US$2.24) per litre while diesel will be BDS$4.03 (US$2.01) until January 31, 2023.During a wide-ranging press conference on Monday, Mottley said the cap on the Value Added Tax (VAT) on gasoline and diesel, which was put in place five months ago, would be kept in place. "We are going to extend that cap at least until the 31st of January, and we are doing that recognising that Barbadians do need to be shielded some more…. And while things are difficult, even for the Government, we feel that we have an obligation to shield Barbadians more," she said. "We will now place a cap on the price of gasoline and the price of diesel at the pump, and we will hold to that higher price until the 31st of January. To be very precise, if the prices fall below that cap, all of those reductions will be passed through to the con sumer. If the prices go above that cap, the Government will hold the line and keep the cap in place."Prime Minister Mottley added that, periodically, Government would have to "make whole" the Barbados National Oil Company, the importers of the products. She stressed that this ad justment was necessary to give some level of predictabil ity to consumers and those people whose livelihoods de pend on gasoline and die sel. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)
Thousands of frustrat ed Argentines clogged downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday in raucous street protests, demanding Government action to boost salaries and unemployment benefits battered by surging consumer prices and a weak ening peso currency.
El Salvador’s Congress has approved a onemonth extension to a state of exception used to round up alleged gang mem bers, as the Chief of Police announced more than 50,000 people had been detained un der the extraordinary mea sures.The country’s 84-seat uni cameral assembly agreed late on Tuesday to grant the Government’s newest re quest to maintain the de cree, with 66 members vot ing in favour of an extension through endwereMarchstateAdministrationPresidentmid-September.NayibBukele‘simposedtheofexceptioninlateafterdozensofpeoplekilledinasingleweekofgang-relatedviolence, and Bukele has defended the measure as key to tackling “terrorists”.“Wehave strongly impact ed the terrorist structures,” Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro said in presenting the extension request to law makers. “We have witnessed how Salvadorans were able to enjoy the safest vacations in history”, he added, refer ring to recent national holi days.“We can inform the Salvadoran people that we have already reached 50,000 recorded detentions during the period of the emergency regime,” Mauricio Arriaza, director of the National Civil Police, also said. But rights groups and in ternational observers have accused the Government of committing “massive human rights violations” during its gangThecrackdown.stateofexception sus pends certain civil liberties, including the right to associa tion, the right to be informed of the reason for an arrest and access to a lawyer. Many Salvadoran families also say loved ones with no gang ties have been detained in the sweeping arrests campaign, while Amnesty International reported that dozens of peo ple have died in custody. The Alliance for Peace movement opened an of fice for legal counselling and said recently it had received 500 complaints for arbitrary arrests. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)
Barbados Govt caps fuel prices
In Argentina, mass protests demand higher wages, lower inflation
Attacks on Brazil's Indigenous peo ple and invasions of their lands by illegal min ers and loggers, mainly in the Amazon, increased dra matically in 2021, escalating an already "terrifying" situ ation, the Catholic Church's Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) said on Wednesday.Initsannual report on violence against Indigenous people, Cimi detailed a dra matic intensification of abuses in the third year of President Jair Bolsonaro's Government, which has dismantled inspection and Indigenous protection bod ies.Bolsonaro, a far-right na tionalist, has encouraged the economic exploitation of Indigenous reservations with new legislation and proposals to allow mining on Indigenous lands, Cimi said. "The invaders intensified their presence and brutali ty of their actions," and in creasingly used heavy weap ons to attack villages that resisted their advance, the reportWithsaid.more than 20,000 illegal gold miners on the Yanomami reservation on the border with Venezuela, invaders have begun armed attacks against Indigenous communities, causing a cli mate of terror and deaths, including of children, Cimi said.In Pará state, where surging wildcat gold mining has destroyed forests and polluted rivers, invaders have attacked Munduruku community organisations and tried to prevent their leaders from travelling to demonstrations in the coun try's capital Brasilia, it said. There were 305 inva sions into Indigenous lands in 2021, compared to 263 cases the previous year, al most three times more than the cases reported by Cimi in 2018, when Bolsonaro was elected President. There were 176 murders of indigenous people, six fewer than in 2020, which had the highest number of homicides on record. Suicides of indigenous people rose to 148 last year, the highest ever recorded. Cimi also reported cases of murders carried out with extreme cruelty and brutal ity, such as those of Raissa Cabreira Guarani Kaiowá, aged 11, and Daiane Griá Sales, 14, from the Kaingang people. Both Indigenous girls were raped and killed. (Excerpt from Reuters)
El Salvador extends state of exception as arrests hit 50,000 Cuba says it will allow foreign investors into its wholesale and re tail trade for the first time in 60 years.The move is a major shift for the island nation's Communist Government, and overturns a 1960s Fidel Castro policy of nationalising retail. But Cuba is now facing its most severe economic crisis in decades, with rising prices and public discontent. The policy aims to tackle shortages of basic goods, like food and medicine - but stops short of fully opening trade. Government officials said that foreign investors would be able to wholly or partially own Cuba-based wholesalers. But retail will not be open to international inves tors without scrutiny, as "a State market has to prevail" Foreign Trade Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez said. Economy Minister Alejandro Gil said the move will allow for the "expansion and diversification of supply to the population and contrib ute to the recovery of domestic industry".In1969, Fidel Castro na tionalised Cuba's private wholesale and retail industry. The New Foreign Investment Bill, however, recognises that the country's centralised Government cannot resolve its essential goods short age without investment from overseas.Under the new policy, busi nesses that have been based in Cuba for several years will be prioritised. Government of ficials said they will prioritise deals with businesses selling green energy technologies and equipment that could boost domestic production. It added that there will be no market competition at first. The BBC's Central America and Cuba correspon dent Will Grant says the move is something hardliner revo lutionaries have opposed for years and its success is by no means guaranteed. (Excerpt from BBC News)
Weapons seized by US authorities that had been destined for illegal export to Haiti are displayed during a news conference in Miami, Florida, US August 17, 2022
18 guyanatimesgy.comTHURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
US reports spike in weapons smuggling to Haiti and the Caribbean quired in the United States via straw buyers, some of whom identify themselves as the ultimate end users of the guns but later illegally export them. A string of recent arms-trafficking scandals in Haiti, including last month's discovery of weapons in a shipping container labelled as church donations, ignited anger over a steady flow of guns. (Excerpt from Reuters)
Regional



Oil prices rose about 1.5 per cent after hitting a sixmonth low on Wednesday, as a steeper-than-expected drawdown in US crude stocks outweighed concerns over rising Russian output and exports as well as recession fears. US crude stocks fell by 7.1 million barrels in the week to Aug 12 to 425 million barrels, Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed, compared with analysts' forecasts for a 275,000-barrel drop in a Reuters poll. Brent crude settled US$1.31, or 1.42 per cent higher at US$93.65 per barrel. Earlier in the day, recession worries had pushed the benchmark price to its lowest since February at US$91.51.USWest Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose US$1.58, or 1.8 per cent, to US$88.11 per barrel. US crude exports hit 5 million barrels per day, the highest on record, EIA data showed, as WTI has traded at a steep discount to Brent, making purchases of US crude more attractive to foreign buyers. In a sign of strong demand, gasoline stocks drew 4.6 million barrels, much higher than the expected 1.1-million-barrel draw. "It was expected to be a friendly report and it was pretty much across the board. Some of those demand destruction concerns that the market was going through seem to be alleviated a little bit," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group. The American Petroleum Institute had on Tuesday flagged a 448,000-barrel draw in crude stocks and 4.5 million barrels in gasoline inventories, according to sources. Oil has soared in 2022, coming close to an all-time high of US$147 in March after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, Russia has started to gradually increase oil production after sanctions-related curbs and as Asian buyers have increased purchases, leading Moscow to raise its forecasts for output and exports until the end of 2025, an Economy Ministry document seen by Reuters showed. Russia's earnings from energy exports are expected to rise 38 per cent this year partly due to higher oil export volumes, according to the document, in a sign that supply from the country has not been affected as much as markets originally had expected.Theprospect of recession has also more recently weighed on oil prices. British consumer price inflation jumped to 10.1 per cent in July, its highest since February 1982, intensifying a squeeze on households, and pushing oil prices lower earlier in the "Thereday. are growing downside risks as a result of the growth outlook and ongoing uncertainty around Chinese COVID restrictions," said Craig Erlam of brokerage OANDA. An exodus of participants, especially hedge funds and speculators, has made daily price swings far greater than in previous years. On the oil supply front, the market is awaiting developments from talks to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which could eventually lead to a boost in Iranian oil exports.
Around the World OIL NEWS
The two-month-long heatwave is the longest on record in China, the National Climate Centre said.Provinces around the drought-stricken Yangtze River have turned to cloud seeding operations to com bat the lack of rain, with Hubei and a number of other provinces launching rockets carrying chemicals into the sky, according to lo cal Butmedia.alack of cloud cover has stalled efforts in some areas seeking to do the same.Meanwhile, tempera tures across Sichuan and Explosions and fires ripped through at least 17 locations in southern Thailand on Wednesday, authorities said, in what appeared to be multiple coordinated attacks that injured seven people. The bombings and arson attacks happened after mid night and targeted conve nience stores and a gas sta tion across three provinces, lightly injuring at least sev en, according to Police and military statements.
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the “man-made catastro phe” in Ethiopia’s Tigray re gion as the “worst disaster on Earth” and questioned whether global leaders have not responded due to “the co lour of the skin of the people in Tigray”.WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “unimag inable cruelty” was being in flicted on six million people in the northern region, effec tively cut off from basic ser vices for nearly two years. Calling it the “worst hu manitarian crisis in the world”, Tedros questioned in an emotional appeal why the situation is not get ting the same attention as the Ukraine conflict. Tedros, who is himself from Tigray, suggested racism may be why the situation ranked behind Ukraine in terms of international attention. “Maybe the reason is the colour of the skin of the peo ple,” Tedros told a virtual media briefing. In April this year at a briefing, he ques tioned whether “black and white lives” in emergencies worldwide are given equal attention. In November 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered troops into the region to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, accusing rebels of attacking federal armySincecamps.the war broke out, Ethiopia’s northernmost re gion has suffered food short ages and access to basic ser vices such as electricity, communications and bank ing has been severely limit ed. “As a result, the people of Tigray are facing multi ple outbreaks of malaria, anthrax, cholera, diarrhoea and more,” Tedros told a WHO press conference in Geneva. “This unimaginable cruelty must end. The only solution is peace.” (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)
Members of the State Emergency Service prepare for nuclear disaster response drills amid shelling of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine August 17, 2022
Oil edges off low as strong export demand drains US crude stocks
Ukrainian authori ties performed di saster response drills on Wednesday fol lowing repeated shelling at the ErdoganTurkishVolodymyrmeettentialthetowantsAntoniororism".whatcentcinityotherinplant,ZaporizhzhiaRussian-occupiednuclearpowerthelargestofitskindEurope.Bothsidesaccusetheofattacksintheviofthefacilityinredaysandengagingintheycall"nuclearterUNSecretaryGeneralGuterres,whoademilitarisedzonebeestablishedaroundplanttoavoidapocatastrophe,willUkrainianPresidentZelenskiyandPresidentTayyiptodayfortalks.Aspartoftheemergen
19guyanatimesgy.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
The European Union and United States said on Tuesday they were studying Iran's response to what the EU has called its "final" proposal to save the deal. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said a return of Iranian crude supply would reduce their 2023 forecast by US$5-10 per barrel from US$125 per barrel. (Excerpt from Reuters)
C hinese authorities are attempting to induce rainfall in parts of central and south west China amid a severe drought and record-break ingTheheatwave.Yangtze RiverAsia's longest waterway - is now at record low levels. In some stretches, there has been less than half the usu al rainfall.Hydropower reservoirs are currently down by as much as half, officials say. At the same time, a surge in demand for air conditioning has put power companies under extreme pressure.
China inducing rainfall to combat severe drought Multiple bomb, arson attacks rock Thailand's south neighbouring provinces have exceeded 40C (104 F). As a result, Government offices in Sichuan were asked to keep air condi tioning levels at no lower than 26C (79 F), according to the Sichuan Daily quot ed by Reuters news agen cy. Workers have also been asked to use staircases rather than lifts where pos sible.Millions of residents have also been hit with black outs in the province. They say factories in the province have been forced to cut production or halt work as part of emergency measures to redirect power supplies to Hydropowerhouseholds.reservoirsof which there are many in the region - are currently down by as much as half, of ficials added. (Excerpt from BBC News)
Lack of help for Tigray crisis due to skin colour, says WHO Chief
cy drills, Ukrainian first re sponders donned full pro tective gear and then dealt with a man pretending to be a victim. After the team carried out a radiation scan they laid the patient on a stretcher, covered him in shiny silver film and then put him into an ambulance. The first responders were themselves then checked for radiation before being hosed down and disposing of their gear. The drills will be re peated in the coming days, authoritiesUkrainiansaid. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said his Government was very con cerned about the safety of the plant in Enerhodar in the southeast of the coun try."That's why we're here, that's why we've created this group," Halushchenko toldUkrainereporters.and Russia have said they want International Atomic Energy Agency in spectors to visit the plant. The agency's chief, Rafael Grossi, has said he is ready to lead a mission. "They need to give some technical estimation on what is happening be cause we just don't have concrete information on what is happening inside," Halushchenko said. The plant is still run by Ukrainian technicians even though Russian forces cap tured it in March during the early stages of its invasion of Ukraine. (Excerpt from Reuters)
Ukraine carries out emergency drills near nuclear plant on frontline
Authorities in Hubei carry out cloud seeding operations in Hubei province on August 16
No one has claimed re sponsibility for the attacks so far.Provinces in southern Thailand along the border with Malaysia have seen a decades-long, low-level in surgency, in which the Thai Government has battled shadowy groups seeking in dependence for the predom inantly Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of Songkhla. More than 7300 people have been killed in the con flict since 2004, according to the Deep South Watch group, which monitors the violence.Peace talks that began in 2013 have faced repeated disruptions.Wednesday's at tacks came after the Thai Government earlier this year restarted discussions with the main insurgent group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), which was side lined from the latest round of talks, carried out bomb ings during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, claim ing the dialogue is not inclu sive. The Government has said it is ready to talk to all groups.The organisation's lead er, Kasturi Makhota, told Reuters Wednesday's at tacks have "nothing to do with PULO". (Excerpt from Reuters)






Evaluate your lifestyle and adjust your situation to make life easier. Home improvements and investing time and money in you and your surroundings will help you reach a new goal.
SUDOKU
SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE (Feb. 20-March 20) (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) (June 21-July 22) (July 23-Aug. 22) (March 21-April 19) (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) (May 21-June 20) (April 20-May 20) (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Plan something special for yourself or a loved one. Take an interest in how you look and present yourself to others. Updating your image or paying closer attention to your health will pay off. Gravitate toward people who make you think, and you will find it easier to get things done. A change will be ener gizing and will encourage you to expand what you have to offer. Avoid an emo tionalKeepfeud.your thoughts to yourself. Sharing too much too soon with some one you don't know well will have draw backs. Instead, collect information that will help you understand what others want.Take a different approach to how you run your household or handle responsi bilities at work. Implement efficient tac tics to speed things up. Say no to tempt ing offers if extravagance is involved. Words matter, and you'll gain sup port by conveying what you want oth ers to know with compassion and under standing. A change someone makes will be upsetting, but in the end, you'll be the one to benefit. Network and converse with people who can offer a different opinion and help you put your strategy in place. An ambitious attitude coupled with a desire for change and personal growth will give you a leg Investup.time and money in obtaining information and utilizing your skills to adapt to trends and marketing tactics. Explore what's available and how you can take advantage of situations and of fers.Be willing to listen, and take the time to sort through differences. How you handle emotional matters will deter mine how well you get along with a loved one. Take nothing for granted. If you want the lowdown, get first hand information. Someone will be ea ger to mislead you if given a chance. Charm, determination and dedication will clear the path to a new beginning.
Confusion will occur if you or some one else isn't straightforward regarding feelings and personal goals. Don't leave anything to chance if you want to main tain a healthy financial life. You'll gravitate toward unusual peo ple and professions. Connect with people already heading in a direction that inter ests you, then get the lowdown. Refuse to let a personal matter get in the way.
DAILY HOROSCOPES
CALVINPEANUTSARCHIEAND HOBBES DILBERT guyanatimesgy.com20 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022









































Fans can purchase tick ets online on the Windies Tickets service presented by Mastercard at tickets.wind iestickets.com, from 3:00pm on Wednesday August 17. For all matches, adults can purchase general admission tickets online at US$5 or EC$15, with free admission for children under the age of 16 when accompanied by a paying adult. Seniors bene fit from half price tickets. The stadium ticket office would be open on the day of the 1st CG United ODI. All eight matches will be streamed live on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel. Live ball-by-ball scoring will also be available on www. windiescricket.com Match Centre.
Lutesh Singh of Tagore Memorial Secondary is latest beneficiary
TUESDAY 4 OCTOBER: 4th T20I, 10:00am Caribbean/9:00amEasternJamaicaTime
21THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
Prudential Technologies continues...
West Indies Women return to action on home soil when they host New Zealand Women in an eight-match white-ball tour from September 16 to October 6 in Antigua. Cricket West Indies (CWI) have confirmed that the three CG United OneDay International match es (ODI) and the five T20 International matches (T20I) would be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. The CG United ODI Series is scheduled for September 16, 19 and 22, and matches would start at 9.30am local time/ 8.30am Jamaica time. The T20Is are scheduled for September 26 to October 6. All of the T20Is would start at 1.00pm local time, mid day Jamaica time, other than the 4th T20I to be played on Tuesday, October 4, which would start at 10.00am local time/9.00am Jamaica time. For the CG United ODI Series, West Indies would be looking to build on the progress made after reach ing the semifinals of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. The team would then look to the five T20I match es as part of their preparation for the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa in CourtneyJanuary.Walsh, West Indies Women’s Head Coach, has welcomed the tour and said a keen eye would be kept on the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. “I am very happy that we will be host ing New Zealand in the West Indies. They are a very com petitive team, and this will make for a great series for our team. As it comes just af ter we’ve had the Women’s regional tournaments and the Women’s CPL, it will be a great fillip for our players,” Walsh has said. Walsh added, “We are cur rently holding another spe cialist camp including some new players, and after the Women’s CPL, we will have a second camp in Antigua. In addition, the Lead Selector was with the West Indies U19 Women’s Team for their se ries in Florida, and have iden tified some exciting prospects to consider. So, we should have enough cricket be fore the New Zealand Series starts.“Every series that we play we want to win, and we will be playing a positive brand of cricket. We will also have an eye on the T20 World Cup around the corner. So, this will give the squad a chance to showcase all their skills, and also give us, the coaching staff, a chance to look at what depth we have.”
MONDAY 19 SEPTEMBER: 2nd CG United ODI, 9:30am EasternJamaicaCaribbean/8:30amTime
SATURDAY 1 OCTOBER: 3rd T20I, 1:30pm Caribbean/12:00pmEastern Jamaica time.
WEDNESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER: 2nd T20I, 1:30pm Eastern Caribbean/12:00pm Jamaica time.
Anil Beharry and Kishan Das, owners of the Project “Cricket gear for young and promising crick eters in Guyana”, have recent ly made Lutesh Singh the lat est beneficiary of this laudable initiative.Singh has received one pair of cricket shoes, one hel met, and an arm guard, com pliments of Davo Naraine of the ThisUK. right-arm medi um-pacer, a fifth form stu dent of the Tagore Memorial Secondary School at Number 63 Village, Corentyne, repre sented the Rising Stars team in the GCB 2022 Under-19 Inter County Cricket Tournament which was abort ed due to excessive rainfall. “Thank you for this timely gesture,” the young cricketer hasRepresentingsaid. the ini tiative was former Berbice Youth Allrounder Deoprakash Ramdat, who said the project is happy to “assist in the de velopment of our young crick eters, and at the same time encourage them to educate themselves and be better citi zens of Guyana”.
THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER: 5th T20I, 1:30pm Caribbean/12:00pmEastern Jamaica time.
Project “Cricket gear for young and promising cricketers in Guyana”
Lutesh Singh (left) and Deoprakash Ramdat and well managed clubs would also benefit. The owners of this project have said, “We take this op portunity to thank Javed and Imran of West Indian Sports Complex, Option Group of USA, Hilbert Foster, Bish Panday of P and P Insurance Brokers, Sean Devers, Trevis Simon, Årïêl J. Tïlkú, Aaron Beharry, Leanna Bachan and Imran Saccoor, Devon Ramnauth, Teddy Singh, Romash Munna, Ravi Etwaroo, Kelvin Brijlall, Ravin Harkishun, Surendra Harkishun, Allan Mangru, Dennis Mangru, Vishal Mahabir, Sherman Austin, Huburn Evans, Rajendra Sadeo, Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall, Sheik Mohamed of Star Sports Awards and Trophies and Ajay Gainda of Cricket Equipment Guyana, Gajanand Singh, Peter Ramkissoon, Rabindranath Saywack, Roshan Gaffoor, Ameer Rahaman, Chin Singh, Denesh Chandrapaul, Dr Cecil Beharry and Latch Mohabir and Distributionfamily”.will contin ue. Anyone wishing to contrib ute can contact Anil Beharry on 623 6875 or Kishan Das on 1 718 664 0896.
FULL MATCH SCHEDULE All matches to be played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium CG UNITED ODI SERIES
FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER: 1st CG United ODI, 9:30am EasternJamaicaCaribbean/8:30amTime
From page 22►
West Indies Women to host NZ Women in Antigua next month
“We are delighted to support this impactful pro gramme and to see many kids from the Tucville com munity and other adjoining areas mature before our very eyes and go on to rep resent Guyana. I would like to commend Coach Bonia for his fatherly attention and dedication to these youths and to assure the Fruta Conquerors FC fam ily of our support.”
Coach Gilbert con veyed the gratitude of the President, executive, and members of Fruta Conquerors to the Forde family for their continued commitment and invest ment in the young people. Persons wishing to join the summer camp can contact Coach Sampson Gilbert on telephone num ber, 682 6416 for further information.
THURSDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER: 3rd United ODI, 9:30am Eastern Caribbean/8:30am Jamaica Time. T20I Series MONDAY 26 SEPTEMBER: 1st T20I, 1:30pm Caribbean/12:00pmEastern Jamaica time.
Chinelle Henry dismissed Sophie Devine during CWC22
Total cricket-related items collected so far: $250,000 cash, two trophies, twelve cricket boots, nineteen pairs of bat ting pads, twenty-one bats, fifteen pairs of batting gloves, nineteen thigh pads, one pair of wicketkeeping pads, two arm guards, six cricket bags and three helmets. In addition to the above, $600,000 worth in gear was donated by Sheik Mohamed, former national wicketkeeper/ batsman.Todate, thirty-nine young players from all three counties of Guyana have already bene fited from the receipt of three junior gear bags, two trophies, two arm guards, fourteen bats, one box, three helmets, twelve pairs of cricket shoes, ten pairs of batting pads, one bat rubber and twelve pairs of batting gloves. In addition, two clubs in the Pomeroon area have benefited from the receipt of two used bats. Cricket Committees at Pomeroon, Leguan and Wakenaam and the Cotton Tree Die Hard committee have also each re ceived one box of red crick et balls, while RHCCCC re ceived two boxes plus fifteen white cricket shirts, one pair of junior batting pads, one pair of wicketkeeping gloves, and a set of stumps and bails. The Essequibo Cricket Board has also received donations from this Cricket-relatedinitiative.items, used or new, are given free of cost to young and promising crick eters in Guyana. Skills, disci pline and education are im portant characteristics of the recipients. Talent spotting is being done across the country, and club leaders also assist to identify same. Progressive
Hayley Matthews will play her first series as the official Women’s captain against New Zealand









Mrs Cindy Forde is pictured with Coach Sampson Gilbert and some of the attendees of the Fruta Conquerors summer camp following her presentation to the club
Alongtime partner of the Fruta Conquerors football club’s annu al summer camp, Prudential Technologies of 255 Thomas Street Georgetown is main taining its support for the continued growth and devel opment of youths within the Tucville area and its environs. Prudential Technologies’ Manager Mrs. Cindy Forde last Monday made a presen tation to Fruta Conquerors’ Head Coach Linsworth Gilbert, aka Sampson or Coach Bonia, towards the successful hosting of this year’s camp, which is tak ing place at the Tucville Ground.The camp commenced last Wednesday, August 17, and approximately for ty youths are attending this activity, being held from Monday to Friday between 13:00hrs and 17:00hrs. The global COVID-19 pandemic had put paid to the camp for the past two years, but, ac cording to Coach Gilbert, the club is very pleased to have the camp back up and run ning, and there is much grat itude that longtime part ner Prudential Technologies had no hesitation in con tinuing its commitment to the development of youths in the Tucville area. The Forde family has been contributing to the Fruta Conquerors FC’s an nual summer camp from its inception, Mrs. Forde has reminded.“Weare delighted to support this impactful pro gramme, and to see many kids from the Tucville com munity and other adjoin ing areas mature before our very eyes and go on to rep resent Guyana. I would like to commend Coach Bonia for his fatherly attention and dedication to these youths, and to assure the Fruta Conquerors FC family of our support," she said. Coach Gilbert has con veyed the gratitude of the President, executive, and members of Fruta Conquerors to the Forde family, for their continued commitment and invest ment in the young people. Persons wishing to join the summer camp are invit ed to contact Coach Sampson Gilbert on telephone num ber 682-6416 for further in formation.
Shimron Hetmyer
Guyana’s 3x3 Men’s Basketball team places 9th two western countries com peting in 3x3 basketball at theseThegames.GABF 3x3 Coordinator Junior Hercules has said, “Although we did not achieve our intended goal, set before we arrived in Turkey, I’m still very proud of our effort, fight, and pride we played with for our coun try.”The Guyana Basketball Federation would like to thank the Guyana Olympic Association for being giv en the opportunity to com pete in their first Islamic Solidarity Games, which allowed their players to demonstrate their skills on the world stage. SCHEDULE/RESULTS
• Game 1: Guyana vs. Mauritania – 18-17
• Game 2: Uganda vs. Guyana – 18-15 • Game 3: Iran vs. Guyana – 21-12
James signs two-year contract extension with LA Lakers worth $97.1m
The Guyana 3x3 Basketball Men’s National Team has exited the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey with a 9th place per formance.Team Guyana split games 3 and 4 with a loss to Iran and a victory over Maldives to complete group play. In game 3, Guyana lost 21-12 to a more seasoned Iranian 3x3 basketball team. Harold Adams led the scoring with 7 points, while Nikkoloi Smith and Stanton Rose Jr contributed three and two points respectively. In game 4, Guyana had an easy victory over the win less Maldives 22-12. Team captain Stanton Rose Jr. led the scoring with 7 points, while Harold Adams, Travis Belgrave and Nikkoloi Smith each contributed 5 points.Guyana exited the com petition in 9th place, after finishing 3rd in group play with two wins and two loss es, and scoring a total of 67 points, averaging 16.8 points per game. In this shortened version of basketball, Team Guyana showed resilience against seasoned teams from the African and Asian conti nents. Guyana was one of
LeBron James has agreed a two-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers worth a whopping $97.1 mil lion.James, 37, had been en tering the final year of a con tract worth $44.5m. His new deal, as reported by ESPN, includes a player option for the 2024-25 season. The NBA great missed the Lakers' final two games of the 2021-22 season af ter suffering a sprained an kle, although he did enjoy the second-most productive campaign of his storied ca reer in terms of points per game.He played 56 games over all, averaging 30.3 points per game, only the second time he has averaged over 30 in a season (31.4 PPG for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005-06).James averaged 8.2 re bounds per game, 6.2 assists, and brought three-pointers into his arsenal more than ever, hitting a career-high season average of 2.9 suc cesses and 8.0 attempts per game. He also became the first player in NBA history to re cord more than 10,000 ca LeBron James reer points, rebounds and assists.Inhis career, James has won four NBA titles with three different teams – the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Lakers. In each of his champion ship-winning seasons, James was voted as Finals MVP, while he is also a fourtime regular-season MVP, and an 18-time All Star. (Sportsmax)
Left to right: 3x3 Coordinator - Junior Hercules, Stanton Rose Jr., Nikkoloi Smith, Travis Belgrave, Harold Adams G ulf Giants, the team owned by Adani Sportsline in UAE's International League T20 (ILT20), confirmed on Wednesday that they have signed up Australian bat ter Chris Lynn in their list of 14 overseas players for the inaugural season in January 2023. It was reported earli er that Lynn was the only Australian named for the ILT20, but CA have said it had not received a no-ob jection certificate (NOC) re quest from him to play in the UAE league.
22 GUYANATIMESGY.COMTHURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
CLASSIFIED ADS SERVICE Astrology and Spiritual Healer Pt. Mohan: +592-692-1009 If there is any problem in your life, he will get the solution. Please contact spiritual healer, regarding health, love, busi ness, husband and wife problems, etc. Address: Georgetown, Guyana.
Hetmyer, Lynn, Jordan join Gulf Giants in ILT20
Prudential Technologies continues support for Fruta Conquerors’ summer camp
Lynn, who has scored 6656 runs in 241 T20s at a strike rate of 143.38, does not have a BBL deal after he was let go by Brisbane Heat.Former Zimbabwe captain and World Cupwinning coach Andy Flower has been appointed head coach of the Giants. The team has also signed up Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Jordan, David Wiese, Ollie Pope and Qais Ahmed. Giants are the third team in the ILT20 to name their roster of overseas play ers, after MI Emirates and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. Gulf Giants squad so far: Shimron Hetmyer (West Indies), Chris Jordan (West Indies), Chris Lynn (Australia), Tom Banton (England), Dominic Drakes (West Indies), David Weise (Namibia), Jamie Overton (England), Richard Gleeson (England), Rehan Ahmed (England), Wayne Madsen (Italy), Liam Dawson (England), Ollie Pope (England), James Vince (England), Qais Ahmed (Afghanistan)Headcoach: Andy Flower (Cricinfo)
5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey…
Travis Belgrave (left) in the game Guyana vs. Iran The top performers for Team Guyana
• Game 4: Guyana vs. Maldives – 22-12







Joseph
first ODI wicket
GUYANATIMESGY.COMTHURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 23
3-28Kevin
The Guyana Boxing Association has an nounced a 17-member team that would represent the Golden Arrowhead next weekend at the Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean School Boys and Juniors tournament.Thisis a competition that GBA President Steve Ninvalle says the Caribbean desperately needs. After taking more than 30 youth pugilists through training and encampment over a month ago, a final 17 boxers have been decided upon to represent Guyana at this tournament. Initially scheduled to be contested this weekend, the tourna ment has been rescheduled, and will see the first punch being thrown on Friday, August 26th. Thereafter, activities would run until Sunday, August 28th. The Guyanese team reads: Shawn Sabola (Rose Hall Jammers) Matthew Thomas (RHJ), Travis Sancho (RHJ), Joshua Thambaran (RHJ), Arlington Johnson (RHJ), Jahuan Haniff (RHJ), Markel Blue (Vergenoegen Boxing Gym), Garvel Hyman (VBG), Malachi Greenidge (Forgotten Youth Foundation), Tequan Sampson (FYF), Seon Graham (FYF), Shaquan James (FYF), Dwane Baptiste (FYF), Eon Bancroft Jnr (Young Achievers), Kendel De Monic (YA), Jerimiah Duncan (PPBG) and Yusdiel Gala (‘Six Head’ Lewis BoxingGuyanaGym). Boxing Association (GBA) President Steve Ninvalle, in giving an update on the tournament, disclosed to Guyana Times Sport that 4 Caribbean na tions have confirmed their participation.“Asitisright now, we’ve had confirmation from four countries participating in this tournament. We expect them to start arriving late next week. And our hope is that we have a tournament that we can all be proud of, as Guyana and as a region,” NinvalleAboutsaid.the Guyanese team, he added, “We have started encampment for our local boxers, and we would have been in preparation for this since the start of this year. That’s the reason why we would have been having two under-16 competitions per month.” The Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean School Boys and Juniors tournament was first hosted in 2016 in Guyana, and was put on the sidelines due to the coro navirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Owing to this, Ninvalle has underscored the need for this tournament when he explained, “Many of the Caribbean countries are now recovering from COVID-19. As a matter of fact, some have said that there are no school boys or junior boxers right now, the fact being that many have gravitated towards other ac tivities during the two years we had the COVID-19 lock down.“We still see it very, very important and apposite that we have this tournament, and we keep it alive because of the fact that if we do not have a robust and energet ic nursery, then it’s going to become even more difficult to have proper seniors,” the GBA Boss clarified. The Caribbean School Boys and Juniors tourna ment will be hosted at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH).
17 selected for Caribbean School Boys and Juniors boxing tourney
Scenes from the last Winfield Braithwaite tournament in 2019
Brooks 79 hands West Indies easy win over NZ … Bowlers contribute as well he removed Pooran for 28 despite the tourists staring down the barrel of defeat. Shortly after brooks fell for 79 as Boult disturbed his timber, but in the end West Indies crossed the line com fortably ending on 193-5 in 39 overs.Earlier in the innings, batting first New Zealand openers Martin Guptill and Finn Allen, put togeth er a solid 41 run partner ship, however Akeal Hosein made the breakthrough to remove Allen for 25. But things would not go New Zealand’s way as they lost a couple of wickets, compli ments of Hosein. He man aged to bag Guptil (24) and Devon Conway (4) to have the blackcaps reeling at 633. Captain Kane Williamson would then have to hold the fort for New Zealand as wickets continued to tumble around him. Kevin Sinclair making his debut bagged his first wicket in the form of the experienced Tom Latham (12). Williamson would hold out until over 29.6 for a re sistant 34 off 50 deliveries. From there Alzarri Joseph and Jason Holder struck at key moments in the game to further frustrate the Kiwis. Another debutant Yannic Cariah also picked up the big wicket of Michael Bracewell for 31, outside of that the only other players to make any contribution were Mitchell Santner (25) and Daryl Mitchell (20). In the end New Zealand ended on 190 all out in 45.2 overs. Bowling for West Indies were Akeal Hosein 3-28, Alzarri Joseph 3-36, Jason Holder 2-39. Kevin Sinclair 1-37 and Yannic Cariah 1-49. The three matches are West Indies’ last remaining three fixtures in the ICC ODI Super League as West Indies aim to automatically qual ify for the 2023 ICC World Cup in India. West Indies will be seeking to win the CG United ODI Series to secure one of the automatic quali fication places reserved for the top 7 teams in the ODI Super League table, exclud ing hosts India. Brooks acknowledges his half century Akeal Hosein bowled figures of
Sinclair celebrates hisAlzarri bagged ov), 8-189 (Mitchell Santner, 44.2 ov), 9-189 (Tim Southee, 44.3 ov), 10-190 (Trent Boult, 45.2 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Jason Holder 8-1-39-2 Akeal Hosein 10-0-28-3 Alzarri Joseph 8.2-0-36-3 Kevin Sinclair 10-0-37-1 Yannic Cariah 9-0-49-1 WEST INDIES INNINGS (Target: 191 runs from 50 overs) Shai Hope †c Williamson b Southee 26 Kyle Mayers c †Latham b Boult 6 Shamarh Brooks b Boult 79 Keacy Carty lbw b Santner 11 Nicholas Pooran (c) c †Latham b Southee 28 Jermaine Blackwood not out 12 Jason Holder not out 13 Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 14) 18 TOTAL 39 Ov (RR: 4.94) 193/5 Did not bat: Kevin Sinclair, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Yannic Cariah Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Kyle Mayers, 2.5 ov), 2-37 (Shai Hope, 5.6 ov), 3-74 (Keacy Carty, 13.6 ov), 4-149 (Nicholas Pooran, 28.3 ov), 5-172 (Shamarh Brooks, 33.2 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Trent Boult 10-0-49-2 Tim Southee 10-0-39-2 Lockie Ferguson 8-0-55-0 Mitchell Santner 7-0-25-1 Michael Bracewell 4-0-21-0
3-36 SCOREBOARD NEW ZEALAND INNINGS (50 overs maximum) Martin Guptill c Mayers b Hosein 24 Finn Allen c Pooran b Hosein 25 Kane Williamson (c) c †Hope b Joseph 34 Devon Conway c Brooks b Hosein 4 Tom Latham † lbw b Sinclair 12 Daryl Mitchell lbw b Joseph 20 Michael Bracewell lbw b Cariah 31 Mitchell Santner c Blackwood b Holder 25 Tim Southee b Holder 12 Lockie Ferguson not out 0 Trent Boult b Joseph 1 Extras (lb 1, w 1) 2 TOTAL 45.2 Ov (RR: 4.19) 190 Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Finn Allen, 8.4 ov), 2-53 (Martin Guptill, 10.4 ov), 3-63 (Devon Conway, 14.5 ov), 4-88 (Tom Latham, 21.1 ov), 5-116 (Daryl Mitchell, 29.2 ov), 6-122 (Kane Williamson, 29.6 ov), 7-162 (Michael Bracewell, 38.4
Shamarh Brooks was the man of the hour as he laid the foundation to the West Indies innings, guiding them through with a well-played 79 in the first of three day/night One Day Internationals at Bridgetown Barbados. Brooks innings was enough to hand the West Indies victory by five wickets with sixty-six balls remain ing.Needing 191 runs to win off three hundred balls, the men in maroon were off with a bang, but they would soon see Kyle Mayers back in the pavilion as Trent Boult man aged to have him caught behind for (6). Shai Hope played an aggressive knock of 26 off 24 balls which was inclusive of four boundar ies and one six, but he two was in the pavilion courtesy of Tim Southee. The inform Shamarh Brooks knew he had to anchor the innings to the end, Keacy Carty fell for (11) to have the West Indies at 74-3. But Nicholas Pooran and Brooks who brought up his half century took them close to the line before the rain halted play. After the rain West Indies resumed play with Brooks on 64 and Pooran on 28 and the equa tion at 42 runs needed from 21.5 overs. However, Tim Southee had other plans as





GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, NEWS HOTLINE: 231-8063 EDITORIAL: 223-7230, 223-7231, 231-0544, 225-7761 SPORT: sport@guyanatimesgy.com SALES AND MARKETING: 231-8064 - marketing@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC. Sport is no longer our game, it’s our businessTHURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022 17 selected for Caribbean School Boys and Juniors boxing tourney GBA President, Steve Ninvalle 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey… Guyana’s 3x3 Men’s Basketball team places 9th Stanton Rose Jr. (right) in the game Guyana vs Maldives Page 23 Brooks' 79 hands West Indies easy win over NZ … Bowlers contribute as well Page 23 Jason Holder and Jermaine Blackwood took the West Indies over the line






