Guyana Times - Thursday, August 4, 2022

Hard Rock Café open for business as usual, not closing down – management

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

Issue No. 5090

THE BEACON OF TRUTH THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

PRICE

After 33 oil finds

$100 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Guyana’s Stabroek Block one of the most prolific of all time – expert

Suspected P11 bandit shot by accomplice during robbery

Page 3

…says success rate of Block above global average

AG rubbishes APNU/AFC's claim of discrimination against Afro-Guyanese …says Ali-led Govt done more for Afro-Guyanese in 2 years than APNU/AFC in 5 years Page 9

GCCI calls GuySuCo Vice out contract Chairman bundling in Anthony Guyana’s oil sector Vieira resigns …urges Local Content Page 7

Pedestrian P11 struck down by drunken driver Drugs, stolen items unearthed during Police P10 raids …man walks into CID to claim ownership of ganja found under bed

Page 2

Secretariat to take action

…“not surprised” – CEO

“Three years now this NDC promise we” – No 71 Village resident on deplorable dam

Page 12

Alleged lover confesses to P8 killing Berbice businessman Charlestown murder

Wanted suspect turns self in to P12 Police, confesses to killing mason …victim died from stab wound to heart – PME

2 NEWS GuySuCo Vice Chairman Anthony Vieira resigns THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

…“not surprised” – CEO

I

n the wake of the resignation of Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Vice Chairman Anthony Vieira, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sasenarine Singh has said that he was not surprised by the move and has denied claims of collusion or deception when it comes to a field test for tractors before they were procured.

According to Vieira in a letter to the editor, his resignation came because he was not happy with the direction in which GuySuCo was going. He wrote that GuySuCo wanted to buy 22 articulated tractors, which he did not agree with. Vieira said he had wanted the Corporation to continue using John Deere fixed-frame tractors.

“We, therefore, objected to it and the matter went to the President. The President instructed that we should only buy two and do a trial adjudicated by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the two machines were bought and the trial was done at Albion,” Vieira wrote.

He claimed that at the trial, no representatives from John Deere nor members of

Resigned: Former GuySuCo Vice Chairman Anthony Vieira

the Board, including himself, were present. He also claimed that during the test, a twoyear-old John Deere machine was put to compete with a brand-new articulated tractor. He cited these, and other factors, in his decision to quit.

Not surprised

Meanwhile, the GuySuCo CEO, when contacted, was nonplussed by Vieira’s resignation. He also denied the former Vice Chairman’s claims, noting that in the case of the field test the top officials at GuySuCo were supposed to be absent. He noted that the

test was done by independent engineers.

“I’m definitely not surprised. I wish him well. The issue at hand is the future of GuySuCo. Recognising that an independent committee, independent of GuySuCo, conducted a field trial on the two technologies over a year ago. It took a year to do.

Which means they took their time to do their field trial and they came up with a conclusion,” Singh said.

“The GuySuCo executive management totally agrees with the conclusion. We can’t be concerned with minority views. The point is this is an independent committee, appointed by the shareholders.”

In light of this, Singh noted that the Vice Chairman could not be invited to the trials. In fact, Singh said that he himself was not invited. This, the CEO said, was important so that the engineers chosen to do their work could maintain their independence.

When it comes to who will replace Vieira as the Vice Chairman, Singh said that would be up to the Board of GuySuCo. According to him, the Board is expected to

GuySuCo CEO Sase Singh

meet in the third week of this month.

Vieira was appointed Director of Field Operations at GuySuCo back in 2016.

The Board is chaired by Pravinchandra Dave, who is also the CEO of Demerara Bank Limited.

Sweeping changes

Back in June, President Irfaan Ali had called executives and managers at the Corporation to State House, where he had met with them and expressed the need for sweeping changes at GuySuCo to improve efficiency and accelerate their timelines for mechanisation of the estates.

The President, accompanied by the Agriculture Ministry’s Director General, Madanlall Ramraj; the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Delma Nedd and Director of Projects at the Office of the President, Marcia Nadir-Sharma, met with approximately 180 senior officials of GuySuCo. During the meeting, the President emphasised that it could not be “business as usual anymore” and there must be sweeping changes. According to him, the Corporation does not belong to any individual or group but to the country.

Despite recommendations from a Commission of

Inquiry (CoI) commissioned by the then President David Granger, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration closed the Wales, East Demerara, Rose Hall and Skeldon sugar estates, sending some 7000 workers on the breadline.

When the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration assumed office in August 2020, efforts were made to reopen these estates. From October 2020 to date, over 1380 persons were hired/rehired to work in the sugar industry.

Back in February of this year, the GuySuCo CEO had assured that the often cashstrapped entity would not be a burden on the Guyana Government forever. In fact, he had said that GuySuCo would be fixed within five years.

In recent weeks, shelves have been scarce of sugar, leading to concerns from the population about an apparent shortage. However, Singh has said that the commodity is being smuggled outside the country.

President Ali has said security agencies would be tasked with looking into this claim. (G3)

NEWS

BRIDGE OPENINGS OPENINGS BRIDGE

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

Thursday, August 4 – 22:00h-23:30h and Friday, August 5 – 10:00h-11:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Thursday, August 4– 08:10h-09:40h and Friday, August 5 – 09:05h-10:35h.

After 33 oil finds

Guyana’s Stabroek Block one of the most prolific of all time – expert …says success rate of Block above global average

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Light to heavy rain showers are expected during the day with sunshine in the late afternoon hours. Light rain showers and partly cloudy skies are expected at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: North North-Easterly to North NorthWesterly between 1.78 metres and 4.02 metres.

High Tide: 08:53h and 21:15h reaching maximum heights of 2.47 metres and 2.45 metres.

Low Tide: 14:47h reaching a minimum height of 0.80 metre.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022

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COMMODITIES Indicators

US$

Change % +0.35

Crude Oil

$97.12/barrel

Rough Rice

$306.27/ton

+0.04

London Sugar

$527.70/ton

+1.07

Live Spot Gold

USD Per Ounce

Bid/Ask

$1771.10

$1772.10

Low/High Change

$1754.00 +5.50

$1774.00 +0.31

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

T

Senior VP for Rystad Energy, Schreiner Parker

he Stabroek Block offshore Guyana is being referred to by one expert as one of the most successful exploration blocks of all time, with an unparalleled success rate after 33 oil finds were recorded in the block by ExxonMobil between 2015 and 2022.

Making this assertion was Schreiner Parker, the Senior Vice President and Head of the Latin America Division for Rystad Energy, an independent Norwegian consultancy specialising in energy research and market intelligence.

Parker is currently in Guyana, and had a sit down with the media on Wednesday. According to a presentation he shared, Rystad estimates the value of the Stabroek block to be at US$41 billion. This is compared to the valuation across the peer group Guyana is in, which ranges from US$24 billion to US$55 billion.

“The Stabroek block has been one of the most prolific exploration blocks of all time. And if measured on exploration success rate, it probably does not have an equivalent in the world,” Parker said.

“Typically, exploration success rate is about five per cent. Meaning every five exploration wells drilled, only one encounters pay. That has not been the case in Stabroek. There have been very few dry holes drilled, versus actual commercial discoveries.”

According to Parker, Exxon’s level of success in the Stabroek block has not yet been replicated by Exxon and other oil companies in other blocks in Guyana’s waters. He noted that of the four oil discoveries outside Stabroek, only one has commercial potential… although there has been talk by the Orinduik partners of revisiting one of the wells, Jethro, and its commercial viability.

“We know that Jethro and Joe both had uncommercial lines for a number

of different reasons. So, I think there are some questions about the commerciality outside of Stabroek.

But certainly, Exxon and the other block owners are going to continue exploration efforts outside of Stabroek,” Parker explained.

When asked how much of Exxon’s success in the Stabroek block is attributable to the company’s use of technology and deep-sea drilling practices, Parker noted that it was a lot. At the same time, he made it clear that the Stabroek block also speaks for itself.

“If you look at Shell, which was previously a partner in the Stabroek block and decided to leave, they didn’t believe in the prospects and the potential Stabroek had. And I

think it speaks to the fact that Exxon is one of the top deep-water operators in the world, and has a technical understanding that is almost unmatched… it’s a company that has always been run by geologists and engineers. And they were able to see something that others weren’t able to see.

“But, of course, the basin speaks for itself. And the amount of resources that is here, it’s phenomenal, but the fact that Exxon has been able to, in a short space of time, both have the success they have had and also go from discovery to first oil in a small amount of time does speak to them as an operator and their technical prowess,” Parker said.

The oil rich Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block.

Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

So far, Exxon’s total in-

vestments in Guyana is Gy$1.3 trillion on its own, and over Gy$3 trillion with its partners. Additionally, the joint-venturers’ exploration and production plans up to 2025 would likely increase their investments to more than Gy$6 trillion.

ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027, with developmental drilling having been recently started on the second one, the Liza Phase 2 project. Production has already started in the second phase, with the Liza Utility floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in operation.

The third project – the Payara Development – will meanwhile target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels, and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.

Meanwhile, the Yellowtail development, which will be oil giant ExxonMobil’s fourth development in Guyana’s waters, will turn out to be the single largest development so far in terms of barrels per day of oil, with a mammoth 250,000 bpd targeted.

(G3)

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guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

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

City Hall, rates and taxes

V

ery often, City Hall appeals to businesses to pay their rates and taxes. Doing so, it generally says, would enable administrators to improve the quality of services provided to the city. Whenever City Hall makes an appeal as this, it is often very difficult to ignore it – especially since it touches on the city’s management. Such appeals are routine, and reflect the municipality’s inability to get residents to cooperate with it.

This publication respects the statutory obligations conferred upon citizens, and urges businesses to pay their rates and taxes. This is notwithstanding businesses not taking a delight in City Hall. Their reasons are understood. The problem is if businesses – and even households – continue to base their reactions to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on sentiments, Georgetown would be in a wretched state. Whether the M&CC is liked or not, it is households and businesses that suffer when taxes are not paid.

The business community, in particular, should step up and pay their taxes. But – and there is a ‘but’ – inasmuch as paying rates and taxes is a statutory obligation, it is being honoured for a reason. Taxpayers expect authorities to provide them with quality services in return. That has always been the thrust of paying taxes. Further, it is their responsibility to ensure that they receive the type and quality of services they are paying for. To their disadvantage, there is hardly a way available to them to ensure that authorities keep their end of the bargain. This is unfair, since authorities have legal recourse against delinquent taxpayers. Local Government elections are the only measure available to residents to depose incompetent and inefficient administrators. Regardless of the situation, taxes still have to be paid. It is therefore incumbent upon businessmen to meet with city officials, lay their demands on them, and get a commitment on how soon those demands would be met. If City Hall is able to impress residents generally, the latter would be disinclined to default on their payments.

Over the years, taxpayers have not seen the kinds of development they expected. Georgetown continues to battle with garbage; insanitation; strays, junkies and vagrants; petty robberies; and congestion among other things. Instead of there being any notable improvements, the landscape continues to deteriorate and the problems worsen, and Government is often called upon to assist. In several beautification projects which the M&CC should have undertaken, it is the Office of the First Lady and the Government that are funding and executing these initiatives. In many instances, the municipality is unable to pay garbage collectors.

City Hall has a poor track record, which erodes public confidence in its ability to keep a commitment and use taxes efficiently to improve the city. This is responsible for the “chicken and egg” dilemma between the residents and the municipality. Should residents pay their taxes first, or does City Hall get its act together first? The municipality does need the money to run the city, so residents and businesses must be sufficiently magnanimous to pay their taxes. But they must get City Hall to honour its obligations towards them. As long as they have paid their taxes, residents have every right to have a go at city administrators for the inefficiency that has suffused them for so long.

President Dr Irfaan Ali accepting the Letters of Credence from the Non-Resident Ambassador-designate Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria to Guyana, Abdelkader Hadjazi, at the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, on Wednesday (OP photo)

China and the US are facing off – and in Taiwan, we are caught between them …Nancy Pelosi’s visit to our island has put the world on edge.

But for ordinary Taiwanese people, life has to carry on

By Brian Hioe

I

t’s no secret why Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has been such big news.

As speaker of the US House of Representatives, she is in direct succession to the presidency after the vice-president. No comparable visit by a US official has taken place for 25 years. On the eve of the visit, there was talk of a possible fourth crisis in the Taiwan Strait; Xi Jinping warned the US that it was “play[ing] with fire”. Some commentators have been hyperbolic enough to invoke the prospect of world war.

But for people in Taiwan, for now at least, life carries on as usual. Such is the nature of living in a nation that has long been seen as a geopolitical pawn. What the Taiwanese actually want, or how we feel, is eclipsed by the “great power” showdown on our doorstep.

China has announced it will be conducting live-fire exercises around Taiwan in the coming days in response to Pelosi’s visit. But there is also nothing new about Chinese military threats directed at Taiwan. Beijing considers the island to be sovereign Chinese territory, even though it is de facto independent; the US is Taiwan’s security guarantor in the event of a Chinese invasion. Taiwan believes China has had thousands of missiles pointed at us for decades. Meanwhile, in the past few weeks, the domestic news cycle in Taiwan has seemed more focused on celebrity gossip and pla-

giarism claims involving a mayoral candidate than global affairs.

Tensions certainly are on the rise. Last October, China sent a record number of warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone. More recently, Chinese warships have been spotted off of outlying islands of Taiwan, such as Lanyu. But, still, these military threats often do not seem to register with the general public. Beijing has perhaps failed when it comes to establishing a narrative of escalating threats at Taiwan: for people here, the narrative is sometimes felt as one of endless repetition.

China claims Taiwan to have been part of its integral territory since time immemorial. The history is more complex. It was only incorporated into China during the Qing dynasty in the 17th century – but the Qing empire only controlled part of the island and did not seem particularly interested in it, ceding Taiwan to Japan after the Sino-Japanese war in 1895.

After the Chinese civil war, which led to the triumph of the communists, control of Taiwan fell to the losing side, the Kuomintang (KMT), who brought a new wave of migrants but also subjected Taiwan to the period of authoritarianism known as the White Terror.

Flash forward several decades and Taiwan is now a flourishing democracy.

The Democratic Progressive party, which emerged from Taiwan’s democracy movement, holds power. It cur-

rently advocates for maintaining the status quo, (which means the ambiguous position where Taiwan is de facto but not de jure independent). The KMT continues to be a political party, having reinvented itself as a political advocate of unification, though it has suffered a beating in recent elections and is trying to change its pro-China image. Most Taiwanese people seem to support the status quo too, with only tiny minorities wanting full independence or unification with China as soon as possible. The full picture is hard to ascertain since there are arguments that the Taiwanese would be more firmly pro-independence if there were no threats from China.

When news of Pelosi’s expected visit broke, I happened to be in Hualien, on the rural eastern seaboard, where the mountainous terrain that characterises central Taiwan meets the beach. As host to a number of military bases, Hualien is also where Taiwanese fighter jets would probably be deployed from, to conduct interceptions of Chinese planes in the event of a conflict or air intrusions.

I was there to observe the Qataban harvest festival of the indigenous Kebalan people. I had looked forward to learning more about how the Kebalan have kept their culture alive after centuries of colonialism from Han and other groups. Unverified disinformation circulated, meanwhile, on social media, such as the claim that

all Taiwanese soldiers had their holidays called off and were being recalled to active duty. One of the community members I met was actually a soldier who had taken time off to participate in the festivities.

Some of the people I spoke to reflected on the effects tourism has on their ability to preserve their culture – Chinese tour groups having been a common sight in Taiwan before the pandemic. The issue points to part of Taiwan’s conundrum, in that it is deeply economically interlinked with China.

Immediately prior to the expected Pelosi visit, China announced import bans on 100 Taiwanese food products. Previous bans by China were aimed at pressuring farmers, fishers, and other economically precarious groups into political compliance, for fear of being shut out of the Chinese market. China has also sought to use tourism for similar reasons.

Either way, I instead found myself on the fringes of the traditional ceremonies taking calls in the car park from international media. At one point, someone wandered over and asked what I was doing.

They quipped that I should try to get the ceremony or the calmness of the beach in the shot – to show that, in Taiwan, life simply carries on. (The Guardian) Brian Hioe is one of the founding editors of New Bloom Magazine, an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and Asia Pacific

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

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

Bring the evidence, Aubrey Norton Norton’s behaviour Dear Editor, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton made an absurd new highlight, calling for an “…end to `discrimination’ by PPP/C.” In fact, so absurd is this empty utterance that the news reported that he still “…won’t be shaking (President) Ali’s hand until issues (be) addressed” This is like an LOL. In this little missive, I will forget the puerile ‘handshake’ issue. It is just too childish, and therefore a non-issue. Instead, I will address his ‘discrimination’ accusation, as I see that he did not substantiate it. So, my purpose is to prove him otherwise.

First, I invite Mr Norton to reflect on recent happenings in Linden.

Back in April of this year, contrary to claims from Norton, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had to reassure residents of Linden, Region 10, that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government never had intentions to remove their electricity subsidy (which I think should have been incrementally removed).

This clarification was necessary because of ‘ill-will and manufactured’ comments made by the unpopular Aubrey Norton, who actually lied when he

stated that the electricity rates in Linden would be increased.

Jagdeo aptly summarised the situation, explaining that Norton, “Reeling from his rejection by the people of Linden, as evidenced by the poor turnout at his meeting, has embarked on his familiar acts of deception and desperation.” So, I repeat the VP’s call that “Guyanese should therefore not fall prey to Norton’s attempt to mislead and cause panic.”

Still with Linden, at the onset of 2022, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government did set out to achieve transformative development in every community, and Linden was highlighted. I ask that Norton resist how Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr Peter Ramsaroop, detailed then that “tens of millions of dollars” in investment were earmarked for the mining town of Linden, Region 10. He went into the finer points, explaining that Go-Invest had signed investment packages with a few big companies that are seeking to expand and develop the township. In his exact words, he noted, “We recently signed an investment package with a large cement plant in Linden

that is doing quite a bit of construction work in building houses in Linden…We are about to sign another investment package with a medical supply company to do oxygen bottling and other types of packaging.

In the region, we recently had some large mega farms in soya bean and corn, and we are about to do some more in that…We have another investor who came to put up a steel factory right outside of Linden.”

So, it is quite galling that this Opposition Leader is ‘chanting race’ when the Government is going the ‘extra-mile’ to reach out to traditional strongholds of People’s National Congress, and to pour inputs into AfroGuyanese villages.

Let me go to Sophia as another example. Just last month, some 100 residents of Sophia, Greater Georgetown, benefited from the Government’s $250,000 business-grant initiative. As we all know, this was a part of the Government’s manifesto promise to ensure that Guyanese from across the country, irrespective of race or region, have access to business opportunities.

This money is right now enabling residents to either start or enhance their businesses.

Then, still with Sophia,

in October 2021, the Guyana Government, through the Housing and Water Ministry’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), did ink approximately $136 million in contracts for the construction of core homes in Sophia and the installation of street lights.

Before that time, I remind Norton that, in the past year, more than $600 million was already invested in Sophia for infrastructure upgrades, the construction of a multipurpose facility, and the disbursement of home improvement subsidies.

Editor, I can go on and on. I can even invoke Buxton and Agricola, but I think that my point is wellmade. Aubrey Norton is fanning the waning flame of racism. He is seeking to invigorate a dying ‘race’ sentiment. I am happy that numbers are not on his side, and his puerile quest is becoming overtly known. In fact, his crusade is being rejected bit by bit. He cannot corroborate his denouncement of the Government. He also cannot sustain his propaganda that the PPP/C is practising both ‘political and ethnic discrimination.’

Yours truly, H Singh

Some harsh decisions must be made at GuySuCo Dear Editor, Letter writer Liebert Alleyne, in a letter to the press, provided a statistical comparison of cane productivity of eleven CEOs of GuySuCo; and, not surprisingly, the incumbent CEO ranked the poorest performer at 46.6 tonnes cane per hectare.

The last CEO, Harold Davis Jnr, produced canes at 62.6 tonnes per hectare, and this was supposedly under severe constraints. It is therefore no wonder that the low cane yields would translate into low sugar production, which has seen a progressive decline since 2020, with the first crop this year being the lowest sugar production ever. With a target as small at 20,260 tonnes, the industry could scrape in only just over 13,000 tonnes.

GAWU had contended that there are many agronomic issues, and had questioned major decisions affecting production and productivity which were taken without the consent of the Board. It must be mentioned here that the Board currently constitutes a team of selected, hand-picked individuals, after the immediate resignation of the Chairman and then the subsequent resignation of the Vice-Chairman. Both men

resigned after altercations and disagreements with the CEO, based on alleged malpractices perpetuated by no other than the CEO himself.

The current CEO feels that targeting the sales mix by selling more packaged sugar would rake in more revenue, since the price is more lucrative at over US$700 per tonne.

However, there are some variables which he is overlooking. What would you sell, if you do not produce enough? Will you continue to increase the price on the local market, thereby pressuring our local consumers?

Will the production cost be lowered?

There are factors which suggest that the production cost would keep climbing, such as the increased cost of tillage by using the articulated tractors, the increased cost of unnecessarily doubling the low-grade rock phosphate application, etc. Unit cost of production must come down, and production must go up, but the current state of affairs suggests that neither would happen. Empty rhetoric cannot achieve this.

The second crop is now in progress, and from all indications, the fortunes of GuySuCo continue on a downward trend, with no

solution on the horizon. As at 28th July, the out-ofcane hours for the 3 operating estates ranged from 81 to 93 hours per week, with a weekly TC/TS ranging between 15 and 22. Records show that there is already a negative variance of 2,706 tonnes. This is indicative that GuySuCo may not be able to achieve its second crop target as well.

This Government has given GuySuCo all the resources it needs. There is no room for excuses, but there is no dearth of excuses from the leadership of the ailing Corporation. From 2020 to June 2022, $14.5 billion dollars has been given to GuySuCo, and from this, more than $10 billion went to the operating estates, and, to date, there is no visible benefit accruing; instead, cane productivi-

ty fell sharply, and there is now gross discontentment among sugar workers, who are not witnessing the anticipated improvement promised by the CEO. Where did the $10 billion go?

GAWU and its members have now been calling for the removal of the CEO. As promised by the President, it must not be business as usual at GuySuCo, and heads must roll. Some harsh decisions must be made to ensure that sugar survives, since the Government has only recently pumped another $3.4 billion into GuySuCo. These sums of money must be spent in an efficient, economic and effective manner to bring about maximum benefits, and this needs competent leadership.

Yours sincerely, Narendra Lall

appalling, disturbing

Dear Editor, It is appalling to me, especially since I have served two of the former leaders of the People’s National Congress (PNC) politically and professionally, to see the level to which the present Leader of the PNC and of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, has fallen, by comparison with his predecessors.

I find it not only appalling, but disturbing, since it is critical for any democracy to function in the interest of its people, that there is not a strong and respected Opposition to hold the elected Government of the day accountable both in Parliament and in public, as provided for by the Constitution and the rule of law.

The elected President of our country - and let me repeat: the elected President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has now, on two very public occasions, attempted to greet Mr. Norton in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition and of his party, by the universally accepted means of shaking hands, only to be rudely, crudely and foolishly rebuffed.

The first was at a reception of the High Commissioner of the UK to Guyana, and the second was, most recently and even more offensively, at an event celebrating Emancipation Day. Mr Norton’s public display of churlish manners

by refusing to shake the President’s hand is to say the least childish and immature; but, much much worse, he and his colleagues who have behaved in this manner towards the President have displayed a complete ignorance of their duties and responsibilities as leaders of the Parliamentary Opposition, to respect and understand the norms of democratic government.

My uncle, Peter d’Aguiar, once declared in Parliament that the job of the Opposition in a democracy is to “oppose, expose and depose” the Government of the day, always respecting the rule of law. True, but Mr Norton’s behaviour is akin to a declaration of defiance, is akin to a refusal to communicate with not merely his political opponent, but with the Head of State and Head of Government.

How then does Mr Norton expect the President to be able to meet or consult with him on any matter, whether official or otherwise?

Mr Norton, by his own deliberate action, has effectively shut himself off from consultation by the President, has effectively isolated himself and his party from constitutional recognition. How stupid can he get?

Yours sincerely, Kit Nascimento

Thursday, August 4, 2022

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

Page

Foundation

◄

Ratios A ratio compares two numbers by using division.

Exercises: Solve 1) A group of 4 friends has 10 dollars to share. What is each person’s share.

2) John rode his bike 25 kilometres in 3 days. How many kilometres did he ride every day?

3) Henry uses 3 kilograms of butter in a recipe for 15 loaves of bread. How much butter did he use for each loaf?

4) It took six tonnes of crusher run to cover 3 kilometres of road. How much gravel was used for each kilometre?

5) Sunil puts eight litres of gasoline in a 23-litre tank. How much of the tank did he fill?

6) At Mario’s, 5 friends want to share 2 pizzas. If there are 12 slices in each pizza, how many slices does each person get?

CONTINUED FROM WEDNESDAY

The ass, being the tallest of the company, marched up to the window and peeped in. “Well, Donkey,” said Chanticleer, “what do you see?”

“What do I see?” replied the ass.

“Why, I see a table spread with all kinds of good things, and robbers sitting round it making merry.” “That would be a noble lodging for us,” said the cock. “Yes,” said the ass, “if we could only get in”; so they consulted together how they should contrive to get the robbers out; and at last they hit upon a plan. The ass placed himself upright on his hind legs, with his fore feet resting against the window; the dog got upon his back;

By

the

Brothers Grimm

the cat scrambled up to the dog’s shoulders, and the cock flew up and sat upon the cat’s head. When all was ready a signal was given, and they began their music. The ass brayed, the dog barked, the cat mewed, and the cock screamed; and then they all broke through the window at once, and came tumbling into the room, amongst the broken glass, with a most hideous clatter! The robbers, who had been not a little frightened by the opening concert, had now no doubt that some frightful hobgoblin had broken in upon them, and scampered away as fast as they could.

The coast once clear, our travellers

soon sat down and dispatched what the robbers had left, with as much eagerness as if they had not expected to eat again for a month. As soon as they had satisfied themselves, they put out the lights, and each once more sought out a resting-place to his own liking. The donkey laid himself down upon a heap of straw in the yard, the dog stretched himself upon a mat behind the door, the cat rolled herself up on the hearth before the warm ashes, and the cock perched upon a beam on the top of the house; and, as they were all rather tired with their journey, they soon fell asleep.

WORD SEARCH

NEWS

7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

GCCI calls out contract bundling in Guyana’s oil sector …urges Local Content Secretariat to take action

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uyana’s nascent oil and gas sector and its local content have taken off and grown since oil was first found.

However, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) has warned that companies continue to attempt to use loopholes, including contract bundling.

On Wednesday, GCCI said it is taking note of recurrent contract bundling practices within Guyana’s petroleum sector. According to the chamber, its members are expressing their disapproval of this practice.

Contract bundling is the consolidation of the procurement of various goods and services under one contract. According to GCCI, this has seemingly become a practice of companies within the petro-

leum sector.

“Contracts are being solicited for expressions of interest (EOI) and requests for information (RFI) under one umbrella by various players in the industry. The sum-effect of this practice is that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are unable to compete in the space, since the ‘bundling’ practice will set an artificial barrier to their participation,” the GCCI has said.

“Apart from its obvious hindrance to MSMEs wishing to service the sector, the Chamber believes that contract bundling works against the spirit and intent of Guyana’s Local Content Act (2021), thereby defeating the objectives of the Act as they relate to Private Sector development,” the GCCI

has said.

Take action

According to the GCCI, its members are calling on the Local Content Secretariat of the Ministry of Natural Resources to examine this practice and its harmful effects on the full operationalisation of the Local Content Act, and by extension, the expansion of Private Sector development in Guyana.

President Dr Irfaan Ali has already said that his Government has to continuously review the Local Content legislation in order to address the loopholes that foreign companies use to manipulate the systems in place to ensure that Guyanese benefit from the oil and gas sector.

It has previously been disclosed that despite the

Local Content Act, oil and gas companies continue to come up with new ways to bypass the law. According to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, companies have now taken to using their junior Guyanese staff to fill up the legally-mandated quota for senior management staff, all while the junior staff continues to collect their original salaries.

Asked previously about how his Government intends to deal with violators of the Local Content Act, President Ali told Guyana Times that there are a number of ways to crack down on such manipulating acts.

“You know in any system people look for loopholes, but there is a number of ways in which you can crack down on this.

For someone to sign up a

GCCI President Timothy Tucker

document as a partner in an international company or a large company that is doing different size or volumes of work, they have to have some amount of shareholding, and they have to prove where they get their money from to get the shareholding. They have to show beneficial interest; so, there are ways.

“There are ways in which the different institutions in the country can actually go after those who try to abuse a system or just try to use loopholes to just satisfy the criteria,” the Head of State had told reporters.

Moreover, President Ali has also hinted at the possibility of further strengthening the Local

Content legislation to clamp down on such loopholes.

“There is continuous analysis of the laws.

We are young in this, we have just passed the Local Government legislation, so, definitely, they will be continuously reviewed.

There will be continuous analysis to deal with loopholes and to deal with areas in which people think they can manipulate,” the President indicated.

Guyana passed its Local Content laws in December 2021, and those detail a series of measures geared towards ensuring that Guyanese and locally-owned businesses benefit from the oil and gas sector.

8 NEWS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Alleged lover confesses to killing Berbice businessman A Launching...

22-year-old labourer of Betsy Ground, East Canje Berbice has been arrested in connection with, and later confessed to, the murder of 53-year-old businessman Vickram Seubarran of No 2 Village, East Canje, Berbice, whose body was found in the bottom storey of his two-storey home with a stab wound to his back.

Police have said the suspect was arrested after detectives received information that he would frequent the victim’s business place.

The suspect, in his confession, told investigators that he and the victim had started an intimate relationship about a month ago, and he would visit the victim’s house frequently.

However, on Monday last, he said, he was invited over by Seubarran, and upon his arrival, both he and Seubarran began imbibing alcohol.

Dead: Vickram Seubarran

He confessed that as he was about to leave, the victim and him had an argument over their sexual relations As such, an argument ensued, and it later led to a scuffle. The suspect told detectives that, in the heat of the moment, he went into

the kitchen and took a knife and stabbed the victim thrice about his body. He said he then left the man’s home.

Guyana Times has been informed that after the incident, Seubarran’s relatives surmised that the sus-

pect might have committed the act, and they informed the Police. The suspect was taken to the scene, where he gave detectives a summary of what occurred. It was reported that he also showed the officers the area where he dumped the handle of the murder weapon.

The area was scoured, but the handle was not recovered.

The dead man’s brother, Dean Seubaran, told the media that he had last seen him on Sunday night.

He said he usually makes checks on his brother, and upon doing so on Monday at about 06:00h, he discovered his brother’s lifeless body in a pool of blood in the kitchen area of his home. He said that after making the discovery, he immediately contacted the Police, and the body was removed and taken to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. (G9)

T

…Black Friday II?

he PNC held their rally to commemorate the second anniversary of the end of their 5-month quixotic (delusional? demented?) holdout on the March 2, 2020 elections. Granger got his share of busing out for “throwing in the towel”!! Oh…how the mighty has fallen!!

Was a time when you’d believe the man could walk on water - if you went by what these same fair-weather supporters used to say!! But that’s how the conkie crumbles, doesn’t it!!

Anyhow, your Eyewitness was a tad disappointed that some of the speakers cogged shamelessly from Burnham’s speech at the same spot back on the night of Feb 15, 1962 – when he egged on his supporters to burn down the business district of Georgetown on Black Friday, Feb 16. According to the Wynn Parry Report, the “opposition political parties and the Trades Union Council (TUC) mounted street demonstrations against the Budget introduced by the P.P.P. Government led by Dr Cheddi Jagan. These culminated in riots, arson, and looting on Friday, 16 February.”

The Report continued, “There had, however, prevailed for some months previously a feeling of unrest, mounting in some cases to a sense of resentment which led naturally, if not inevitably, to the events of the week under review…

The leaders of the PNC were actuated through the failure of their ambitions…” In their use of Quindon Bacchus’s murder and bitter denunciations of Granger, we see the same “failed ambitions” of the present PNC crop of leaders!! Oh, how they wish they could get their hands on the reins of power!!

Your Eyewitness knows that Burnham and D’Aguiar, of course, like the present lot, had vowed to remove the PPP Government from office by any means necessary.

But jeez!! Are the newbies so deficient of political nous that they haven’t grasped that their supporters might’ve changed in the last sixty years?? What did Burnham say then?? According to the Report, “He began by congratulating his listeners on the splendid performance of the morning, when there had been a wholesale breach of the (emergency) proclamation.”

“In his peroration, he declared that a Government could not be got rid of by merely saying “Resign” or “Down with Jagan”. “Those are useful and helpful slogans, but much more than slogans are required in the present circumstances. Comrades, first of all, let me say this, that the PNC sees the way clearly, step by step and phase by phase. All I can tell you is this, that it is no sense taking part in this explosion which has happened at this moment if you are going to peter out or turn back halfway. You have to see it through…”

The call for fortitude was cogged wholesale!! …or slow fyaah II The PNC speakers – and they were ALL PNC, contrary to claims of a “coalition”!! - all called for Hoytean protests.

But the call to violence was made in the Burnhamite esoteric signalling of the word “violence” repeatedly – but not the DIRECT call. He knew what he meant, and his audience knew what he meant!! Burnham continued: “I believe that the PNC knows what we all want, and knows how we will seek to achieve what we all want; but one thing I know you do not want, one thing I know the P.N.C. will not countenance, and that is violence. Comrades, violence we shall never start, because we are a peaceful people. If there is to be violence, let others start it, not the PNC; but Comrades, they shall not pass.” Ahhh…the sanctimoniousness!!

After his audience protested his call for “rest”, Burnham ended ominously: “I have heard what you have had to say, and I have noted very carefully what you prefer and want, and therefore, Comrades, you will be informed what exercises may be necessary tomorrow.” …their doom But it’s said “you can’t cash the same check twice”. In 1962, the Yanks wanted violence…but today - contrary to what the PNC believes - they want stability!! Poor coggers!!

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

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

NEWS

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

AG rubbishes APNU/AFC’s claim of discrimination against Afro-Guyanese

…says Ali-led Govt done more for Afro-Guyanese in 2 years than APNU/AFC in 5 years

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ttorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, has said that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government has done more for Afro-Guyanese in the past two years, especially as it relates to land issues, than the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition ever did in its five years in office.

He made this remark during this week’s edition of his programme, “Issues in the News”, during which he reflected on the PPP/C Administration’s past two years in office.

Nandlall referenced the constant claims of discrimination against AfroGuyanese coming from the APNU/AFC Opposition’s camp. In fact, only Tuesday evening at a rally hosted at Burnham Court in Georgetown, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton reiterated this rhetoric and again accused the Government of discrimination against AfroGuyanese.

But according to the Attorney General, the Irfaan Ali-led Administration has done more for this section of the population especially

in the PPP Government,” he posited.

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC

when it comes to lands.

“There is no period in APNU/AFC [or] PNC history that Afro-Guyanese benefited from the housing programme as we have done…

The PPP has distributed more house lots in any given year than APNU did or PNC did in any five-year period – one year against five years Afro-Guyanese alone [benefited], check the statistics. Look at lease lands and State lands, and you will see that in no year under APNU or PNC that Afro-Guyanese benefited more from the distribution of State lands than

Lands taken away by APNU/AFC In fact, Nandlall disclosed that the previous PPP/C Administration had leased State lands to AfroGuyanese in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) for rice cultivation but during the coalition regime, those lands were taken away.

It was Nandlall, who while in opposition, challenged that move and successfully recovered the lands for the Region Five farmers.

“I led the charge for the PPP while out of Government and we gave back those lands to the Afro-Guyanese farmers and we did it out of Government…They appealed the decisions and when I got into Government, as Attorney General, I withdrew all the appeals so that those 50 families can get back those lands. So, in and out of Government we have done more for Afro-Guyanese than they did in Government…

“And it is not that they didn’t give lands when they were in Government, you know who got the lands… a selected few… their friends and their cronies got lands.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton

What did they do for the ordinary Afro-Guyanese who they are abusing and manipulating? But they would go on Emancipation Day into the communities to mislead and to spew a narrative of discord and discrimination, but they can’t tell the AfroGuyanese what they have done for them. They can’t point to anything they have done in particular land issues, which they say is so vital for empowerment and development,” the Attorney General argued.

Ancestral lands

Nevertheless,

Nandlall

explained that he was now leading an initiative to sort out land titling and African ancestral lands issues in both Region Five and along the East Coast Demerara (ECD) corridor.

“We are doing regularisation now for Afro-Guyanese villages in Berbice who are going to get titles for land that they living on for centuries since slavery. [The coalition] never did it, our Government is doing it and I am privileged to be the Minister leading that process… And I’m going to start it on the East Coast of Demerara for the backlands of African villages.

“Those of them who are speaking that they are African leaders and they want to empower the people, what are they doing about it and what have they done in the five years for the people in Buxton in the backlands, and the backlands at Golden Grove and the backlands at Anns Grove and Bachelor’s Adventure. All those people are now coming to me and we have promised that we are going to give them regularity and title for those lands. That is empowerment; [not] going around the place spewing rhetoric,” the AG

stressed.

Outreach

Last weekend, a Cabinet delegation held an outreach at Melanie, ECD, during which residents raised concerns about land titling and African ancestral lands. The complaints varied from persons unable to obtain titles for the lands their ancestors acquired to persons paying for lands but being yet to receive their transports.

AG Nandlall has assured those residents that a team from the Legal Affairs Ministry would return to the area soon to address their land titling concerns.

He disclosed that a similar exercise was being undertaken in Berbice and Essequibo as well.

Further, the Minister explained that when Parliament goes into recess in a matter of weeks, he would be visiting communities along the East Coast to begin the process of land regularisation.

Moreover, Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal had also assured residents that before the end of this year, they would get their long-awaited titles. (G8)

10 NEWS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Drugs, stolen items unearthed during Police raids …man walks into CID to claim ownership of ganja found under bed

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The items that were found during the raid

olice in Regional Division 4A [Georgetown] on

Wednesday conducted operations in Sophia, Sparendaam and Liliendaal,

wherein several stolen items and illegal drugs were discovered.

In the operation at Sophia, a search was conducted on a house at ‘B’ Field, and a 27-year-old male vendor, the owner of the property, was arrested after a number of cell-

phones, laptops, and other electronic devices suspected to have been stolen were found in the said house.

The house owner and the articles were escorted to the Turkeyen Police Station and placed in custody, pending investigation.

In the operation at Fourth Street, Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara (ECD), a 22-year-old male was arrested in relation to an allegation of robbery under arms. He remains in custody, pending investigation.

At Block X Liliendaal, ECD, an 18-year-old female was arrested after a quantity of ganja was found hidden in a five-gallon paint bucket. Further inspections revealed that the bucket contained 61 small transparent bags containing the ganja.

The teenager was told of the offence committed, cautioned, arrested, and taken to the Turkeyen Police Station, where the ganja was weighed and amounted to 710 grams.

The Police have said that during the operation, a 24-year-old male walked into the Criminal Investigation Department Office and claimed ownership of the narcotics. He has also been placed in custody.

The Police have said that the operation led to the discovery of 35 cellular phones, eight laptops and 15 tablets, along with two grass cutters and one electrical saw.

NEWS

11

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Suspected bandit shot by accomplice during robbery

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loyd Thomas, also called ‘Cuffy”, proprietor of the Blue Mountain Sports Bar at Grant Sand Road, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD), was in the wee hours of Wednesday shot by an accomplice during a robbery in Soesdyke.

Initially, it was speculated that Thomas might have been shot by the Chinese owner of the supermarket, but the Police have since confirmed that it was Thomas’s accomplice who had shot him.

Thomas and at least two other men had allegedly broken into a supermarket owned by a 49-year-old Chinese national. One of those men was reportedly carrying a handgun.

The Police have reported being told by the robbery victim that he was awakened at about 02:30h by a loud banging noise coming from his door, and

then ran out of the building via a hole in the concrete wall, and made good their escape by reportedly entering a vehicle owned

by Thomas, which sped off the scene.

The Police were subsequently informed, and the injured man was taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where he is receiving medical treatment under Police guard.

One .9mm spent shell was recovered at the scene.

Police sources have confirmed that Thomas is no stranger to the Police, since, in the past, he had

The injured Thomas being escorted to the hospital

soon after, he heard a loud explosion, resembling that of a gunshot.

Upon investigating, the victim said, he came face to face with a male whose face was covered with a

mask. At the time, one of the men, who was later identified as Thomas, was seen lying in front of the door with blood coming from his head.

The two other suspects

Pedestrian struck down by drunken driver

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icardo Narine, a 40-year-old pedestrian of Pay Office Street, Enterprise, East Coast Demerara (ECD), is now hospitalised after he was struck down by a motor car being driven by a drunken driver.

Reports are that the accident occurred at about 19:45h along the Good Hope Public Road, ECD, and involved Narine and a 63-year-old male of Non Pareil, ECD, who was driving motorcar PNN 2435 at the time.

According to Police reports, the motorcar was proceeding east along the northern drive lane of the northern carriageway of the Good Hope Public Road when, as alleged by the driver, the pedestrian - who was clad in dark clothing walked across the road from

north to south and into the path of his vehicle.

The driver claimed that upon seeing the pedestrian, he applied brakes, but despite his efforts, the front of his motor vehicle struck the pedestrian, causing him to fall on the roadway and sustain injuries to his head and about his body.

Narine was picked up in an unconscious state

by the EMTs, and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where a doctor on duty listed his condition as stable.

A breathalyzer test conducted on the driver of the motorcar revealed that the level of alcohol in his system was well over the limit allowed while driving. He has been taken into Police custody.

been investigated for his involvement in several crimes. Police are on the

hunt for the other suspects as investigations continue.

12 NEWS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Shade house, other inputs to boost Agri Science Dept at Corentyne High School

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tudents of the C o r e n t y n e Comprehensive High School’s Agriculture Science Department will soon benefit from improved facilities for the practical aspect of their studies following a commitment made by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

to assist the school with a shade house and other agriculture-related items.

The Minister was at the time spearheading the Government’s “Because We Care” cash grant distribution exercise in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

Mustapha, who is a past

student of the school, said that the Ministry was in the process of implementing several transformative projects to get more young people involved in agriculture.

“The Ministry of Agriculture will be donating a shade house to the school along with a set of agricul-

Charlestown murder

Wanted suspect turns self in to Police, confesses to killing mason …victim died from stab wound to heart – PME

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ne day after Police issued a wanted bulletin for murder suspect Alex Nedd, he turned himself in at the Ruimveldt Police Station in the company of his lawyer.

Nedd was wanted for questioning in relation to the death of Rodwell Phillips, whose body was found with several chop wounds along the La Penitence Public Road, Georgetown.

According to Police, Nedd gave a written statement to ranks in the presence of his Attorney admitting to killing Phillips.

On Monday, a bloodstained cutlass was found next to Phillips’s motionless body. A chop wound was also seen in the centre of his chest, on the right side of his face, on the left side of his back, and on his left foot. Phillips was pronounced dead on the scene and his body was taken to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home to await a post-mortem. According to the dead man’s relatives,

Dead: Rodwell Phillips

he was chopped to death by a man, and there were several eyewitnesses to the crime.

In fact, the Police related that they questioned several persons and were yet to review the ClosedCircuit Television (CCTV) footage.

Guyana Times was later informed that Phillips and the suspect were involved in a heated argument sometime back and this might have led to a scuffle. It is believed that Phillips’s death is connected to the old grievance.

Since the murder, Police had been looking for Nedd.

Wanted suspect Alex Nedd has turned himself in

Phillips leaves to mourn his two young sons, parents, and siblings. The family continues to call for justice for the man’s brutal death.

PME results

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Police said that a post mortem-examination was conducted on the 33-year-old man’s body by pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, who gave the cause of death as stab wound to the heart.

The body has since been handed over to the relatives for cremation.

A shade house at a local farm (file photo)

ture tools. We’ll also work along with them to develop their poultry rearing activities. GLDA [Guyana Livestock Development Authority] will help them with the building the pens and supply the birds so that the school can benefit from an all-around agriculture operation,” the Minister is quoted in a release from the Ministry as saying.

As it relates to the grant, Mustapha said that the Government was keen on developing the country’s human resource capacity so that the other sectors could also de-

velop. Noting the importance of the grant, the Minister said that the Government was going to continue to offer assistance to Guyanese to further their education.

“This grant is intended to aid parents because we know many parents find it hard to get critical supplies like books, stationery, and even school uniforms for their children to attend school. I want to urge you, the parents, to use the monies to purchase the necessary school supplies for your children. The Government is already providing free textbooks for pub-

lic school students. The best foundation for a child’s future is a sound education. We can have all the natural resources and wealth in the world, but if we do not develop our human resources, we’ll continue to remain poor. That is why, as a Government, we are making the largest budgetary allocation to the education sector, because we recognise the importance of education,” Mustapha said.

In addition to the cash grant, Mustapha also said that the Government recently awarded thousands of fully-funded scholarships for persons to study at a number of prestigious educational institutions across the world. This, he said, was also in keeping with the Government’s commitment to ensure the country’s human resources were developed in addition to making more academic opportunities available to Guyanese.

Mustapha also participated in the distribution exercise at the Tain Primary School. At the end of the exercise, approximately $37,620,000 was distributed at the two centres.

“Three years now this NDC promise we” – No 71 Village resident on deplorable dam

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he residents of Number 71 Village, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) have voiced complaints about the deplorable condition of the “back street”, a dam in the area that provides access to some homes.

Avinash Permaul, a security guard and father of two who resides in the area, told Guyana Times that he has made several complaints to the local authority about the dam’s condition, as it urgently needed to be fixed.

He stated that after meeting with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) he was told that the Government was responsible for assessing the issue.

“Three years now this NDC promise we that this street gone make, they brought couple loads of red sand, they throw it any how and then leave it. I even spoke to the REO [Regional Executive Officer]…they said they can’t handle that, because them not the Ministry of Public Works. That we have to speak to the Local Government Minister,” the resident said.

“The last time I spoke with them was two weeks back, they got and wrote down everything on paper, before that we were talking to the Chairman… them

The state of the Number 71 Village “back street”

not doing anything on the street here, the drain want dig, they not digging it… the drain needs to be dig and street got to make, we don’t care if them don’t dig the drain, just repair the street so we can walk good,” he added.”

Permaul indicated that the “back street” is the main access point for residents in the area, but given its condition, their everyday lives were greatly affected.

“Couple of us are planting cash crops here and when [it’s time to] carry out the load you does punish.

“I have two children, one a start school in September and one a going Grade One and when rain fall them gon can’t go school…it holding back their education.”

“All we want from this Government is for this street to be made up,” Permaul said.

NEWS

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Guyana, Algeria discuss renewed emphasis on expanding relations

President Dr Irfaan Ali and Ambassador Abdelkader Hadjazi in discussion after the accreditation ceremony

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resident Dr Irfaan Ali and Non-Resident Ambassador-designate Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the

People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria to Guyana, Abdelkader Hadjazi, have discussed renewed emphasis on expanding relations in all ar-

eas, including oil and gas.

Ali accepted the Letters of Credence from Hadjazi on Wednesday at the Office of the President at Shiv Chanderpaul Drive. At the

ceremony, President Ali provided an overview of the Government’s development agenda, including the drive to diversify the economy and the efforts to combat climate change through the Low Carbon Development Strategy.

"We welcome discussions in areas in which we can collaborate and cooperate,” Ali said.

Guyana and Algeria officially established diplomatic relations in September 1976.

Foreign Affairs and

International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd, and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Elisabeth Harper, were also at the ceremony.

Active cases increase to 638, over 100 new COVDI-19 cases recorded …Regions 9, 8 recording high uptake with 5-11 vaccines

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nother 102 new COVID-19 infections have been detected within a 24-hour period, taking active cases in Guyana up to 638.

This includes 513 persons in home isolation, another 23 persons in institutional isolation, and the remaining one person in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

There are currently 21 persons who tested positive for COVID-19 hospitalised across the country, and of that amount, 10 are at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, or Ocean View Hospital.

Additionally, three other persons are currently in institutional quarantine.

The total number of confirmed cases in the country is now 69,948, while some 68,140 persons have recovered from the life-threatening virus to date. The COVID-19 death toll in Guyana remains at 1,271.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Guyana over two years ago, a total 677,631 tests have been conducted countrywide, and of this, some 32,063 males and 37,885 females were found to be positive.

Of the 102 new cases recorded on Wednesday, seven were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 65 were from Region Four (DemeraraMahaica), 16 were from Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne), another 10 were from Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) and the remaining four were from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).

There were no new cas-

es recorded in the other five regions across the country within the reporting 24hour period.

After a prolonged period of declining cases, the Guyana Government, back in March, removed most restrictions as the country moved to recover from the pandemic and return to normalcy. But in recent weeks, there has been a spike in COVID cases here, which health authorities have attributed to subvariants of the Omicron strain, such as the BA.5. <<Vaccination>> To this end, health authorities are urging persons to get vaccinated, and for those qualified, to get their booster shots.

Latest vaccination figures show that, so far, more than 445,082 persons, or 86.8 per cent of adults, have taken a first dose, while over 344,732 persons or 67.2 per cent of persons 18 years and over, are fully vaccinated.

For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, just over 35,421 doses or 48.6 per cent have received their first dose, while 25,916 or 35.5 per cent of them have returned for their second dose.

Vaccines administered to children within the ages of five and 11 years have surpassed 6,819 doses, which is about 6.7 per cent of that age cohort. Second doses for this group are just over 1,967, or 1.9 per cent.

According to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony during the COVID-19 update on Wednesday, while the uptake for this younger age group in the various

regions varies, some hinterland communities are doing better than others with the 5-11 cohort.

In fact, he disclosed that Region Nine is leading with a 39.9 per cent first dose administration. This, he explained, is “really good”, especially when compared to the countrywide figure.

That region is yet to start administering second doses.

However, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) is also doing “relatively well” with a 36 per cent distribution of first dose and 2.8 per cent for second doses. In Region Seven, first dose administration to this age cohort is 4.7 per cent, while second dose is 3.7 per cent.

For Region One (BarimaWaini), 3 per cent first dose have been distributed and 0.3 per cent for second dose.

Meanwhile, in excess of 71,220 persons have returned for their booster shots thus far.

Dr Anthony on Wednesday pointed out that a lot of people who are due for their booster shots have not been returning.

“Even if you had your primary doses some time ago – a year ago - you really need to get your booster. What the science is now showing is that every six months you should get your boosters, so that you remain current with your vaccination. It helps you to fight off COVID,” he said.

“A lot of people who would’ve received their primary doses believe that they are now fully vaccinated; they are not. They just got the first two doses of vaccines, and they need to get their booster. And you have

to keep getting the boosters to remain current. I think people need to understand that,” the Health Minister stated.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) recent figures, some 577,018,226 confirmed

cases were reported globally, along with 6,401,046 deaths.

In the Region of the Americas; that is: Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 171,035,917,

while the death toll in the region has gone up to 2,790,499.

As it relates to vaccination against COVID-19, WHO also reported that a total of 12,248,795,623 doses have been administered worldwide.

GUYANA COVID-19 DASHBOARD AUGUST 3, 2022 UPDATE

NUMBER OF NEW CASES NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL ISOLATION

112 23

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN HOME ISOLATION

513

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN COVID-19 ICU

1

NUMBER OF PERSONS IN INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE

3

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (FEMALES)

37,885

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES BY GENDER (MALES)

32,063

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES IN GUYANA SINCE 2020

69,948

NUMBER OF RECOVERED CASES

68,140

TOTAL 1st DOSE VACCINATED FULLY IMMUNISED TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS

DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES SINCE MARCH 2020 REGION 1

2676

REGION 2

3082

REGION 3

8618

REGION 4

34,828

REGION 5

2543

REGION 6

6705

REGION 7

2616

REGION 8

886

REGION 9

4315

REGION 10

3679

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

443,177 342,918 1271

Keep a physical distance of at least 6 feet.

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

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

14 NEWS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Distribution of “Because We Care” cash grant countrywide

Education Minister Priya Manickchand visited the Novar School in Region Five to observe the distribution process of the “Because We Care” cash grant

Parents at J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School in Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne)

Distribution at Enmore Hope Primary School

Cash grant distribution in Region 10 on Thursday at Wismar Hill Primary and Nursery schools, Special Needs Unit, Christianburg Primary, St. Aidan's Primary and Rockstone Primary schools

“Because We Care” cash grant distribution at the Bladen Hall Secondary School, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica)

Distribution at Timehri Primary School, Supply Primary School and St Mary's Primary School

Golden Grove Secondary School receiving their cash grant

NEWS

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Guyana to make medical services accessible to diaspora, foreign nationals G

uyana is working to provide optimum quality healthcare services to citizens as well as members of the diaspora and foreign nationals.

With the advancements being made in the health sector, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said, more persons residing outside of Guyana could travel here to receive medical care.

He told DPI on Wednesday that persons are already accessing Guyana’s health services, as they are very affordable.

“In the area of dentistry, for example, there are lots of people who come back here to get dental services because, as you can imagine, dental services in North America are quite expensive.

So, we see a lot of Guyanese who come back home to get those services here, especially those who don’t have insurance coverage abroad,” Dr. Anthony said.

On January 24, 2022, the Human Organ and Tissue Transplant Bill 2021

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony

was passed in the National Assembly. The legislation provides the legal framework for the removal of human organs, tissues, cells, and biofluids for transplantation and blood transfusion.

“We were able to transplant a kidney for someone from Grenada, a doctor from Grenada. And I think since we have done that, there have been lots of queries of whether we can do transplants for other persons. So, this is something we are con-

sidering, because we have the capability, we have the expertise, so it is something that is under active consideration,” Dr. Anthony said.

The Health Minister foresees a lot of persons returning for certain types of treatment as the quality of health care improves in Guyana.

“We will have to start working on, even for those persons in the diaspora, who, if they have insurance over there, to make sure that they can use their insurance here.

Law students blame UWI for missing Hugh Wooding’s deadline

S

everal law students at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine Campus feel they have been slighted by the university as they failed to meet Sunday’s deadline for enrolment into the Hugh Wooding Law School.

The blame is being laid solely on the university as the students claimed that they weren’t given their respective certificates and transcripts on time, adding to which the students said UWI’s administration office was closed for the entire of last week.

One disgruntled parent said her daughter is very frustrated and angry that she missed the deadline and added that her daughter’s frustration is causing both her and her daughter an undue amount of stress.

“This is very stressful having to see my child go through this. She did three years at the Law Faculty at UWI and just to get her certificate and transcript to move on to this last step she can’t and it’s no fault of hers,” said the parent, who wished not to reveal her identity for fear that her daughter may be victimised for bringing the issue into the public domain.

“To date there has been no feedback from UWI on

President of UWI’s Students Guild, Kobe Nathan Sandy

this issue. Nothing. No reason why the office was closed. No reason why the certificates and transcripts were delayed and if any arrangement would be made for the few students who are affected to be able to still get through at Hugh Wooding although the deadline has now passed. It was Sunday July 31. We are being told that Hugh Wooding is aware but no other feedback or hope is being given,” the parent added.

The parent said her daughter is very angry at UWI’s administration for not keeping to responsibilities and is holding them responsible for the “total upset.”

“Hugh Wooding is not even taking the students in without their transcripts and certificates which we got to know that it’s an un-

derstanding and it’s always the case in the past so we really don’t know why,” the parent added.

President of UWI’s Students Guild, Kobe Nathan Sandy when contacted told Guardian Media a transcript is what is needed.

“A transcript is what is needed for Hugh Wooding and UWI will send the transcript directly to Hugh Wooding. That is the official transcript and that is the requirement but it doesn’t stop a student from applying or missing the deadline because it’s understood that when UWI completes this process and sends off to Hugh Wooding then of course that is an understanding they have.”

Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly when contacted on the issue said she was not aware of the situation. “I am not aware of this... I can make some enquiries though. Not sure what it will yield,” the minister said.

Questions were sent both to the Hugh Wooding Law School and UWI, however, up to late Tuesday Guardian Media was yet to receive their respective responses and if there was any resolution or hope for the law students. (T&T Guardian)

A nurse caring for a patient at a health facility

In that way, they can come here, access the service, and their insurance would pay for it. So, that agreement is right now not in place, but we are going to change that, and hopefully, their insurance will be accepted in Guyana,” Dr Anthony said.

Guyana has been making headway in a number of medical services.

PPP/C Government recently reopened the National Ophthalmology Hospital in Port Mourant, Corentyne.

This facility offers services that include cataract surgery

and lens replacement.

Other procedures, including hip and knee replacement surgeries, are also done locally.

“I think, as time goes by, more and more people might want to come here to get those types of sophisticated surgery,” Dr. Anthony said.

In two years, Guyana will open a state-of-the-art pediatric and maternal hospital along the East Coast of Demerara, which will provide specialty services that currently are only available overseas.

Treatment for cancers will also be improved, and Guyana will soon be the first country in the Caribbean to roll out a holistic public health programme for Hepatitis C. “I anticipate that once our programme gets going, that we would see people coming here to access this type of treatment. In the United States, it’s very expensive to access Hep-C treatment, so if you are not insuring, it’s going to be difficult for you to access that type of treatment,” Dr Anthony said.

16 NEWS “Whatever job you do, you are providing a critical service” – Finance Minister to Region 6 health workers THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

…hands over essential supplies to Health Department

F

inance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, while in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Wednesday, handed over to the Regional Health Department a quantity of

cleaning and sanitising supplies to be distributed to various health institutions.

Singh was visiting the Region to spearhead Government’s ‘Because We

Care’ cash grant initiative at the J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School, and stopped at the Health Department to hand over the essential supplies on behalf of the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), a sub-agency of the Ministry of Finance, which receives financial support from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Prior to handing over the supplies, the Minister also took the opportunity to remind health officials that they all play an important role in ensuring that quality health care is provided to citizens.

Minister Singh alluded

GPF gets IT equipment from Interpol

to the recent sod-turning ceremony - on Saturday last - for a new maternal and paediatric care hospital being constructed by Government, and also emphasised to those in attendance that Government wants to ensure that all mothers, expectant mothers, and newborn infants enjoy quality and modern health care.

He added that Government is committed to constructing six new, modern regional hospitals, with one to be constructed in Region Six, as well as more health centres countrywide, including a new

one soon to be completed at Fort Ordinance.

“In addition to this, recognising the unique geography of Guyana, we want to make sure also that we deliver quality health care even to remote communities, including hinterland communities and small Amerindian villages, and we are going to be developing four telemedicine centres so that we can use the expertise that is located at the major centres like Georgetown, New Amsterdam and elsewhere and deploy that expertise to the benefit of remote communities as well,” Dr.

Singh explained.

“Whatever job you do, you are providing a critical service to a large population base, and you are providing that service to people at a time when they are most vulnerable,” the Finance Minister said, as he urged that health officials in the region to ensure that they deliver quality care to patients in a “sensitive, attentive and compassionate manner”, while Government will continue to ensure that they are provided with the infrastructure and all the essential health supplies to carry out this service.

Hard Rock Café open for business as usual, not closing down – management Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken and Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum with the two Interpol officials

T

he Guyana Police Force's National Central Bureau (NCB) Office on Wednesday received several pieces of Information Technology (IT) equipment donated by the world’s largest Police organisation, Interpol.

Head of Branch Services Outreach in the Information Systems and Technology Directorate at Interpol, Francisco Alferez Areses and the Regional Product Deployment Officer, Southern Cone, Jonatan Roldan are currently in Guyana.

The officials are visiting to formalise the donation under the Interpol Secretariat’s General Project "Proteger".

On Wednesday, they met with Commissioner of Police (ag), Clifton Hicken, and Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum in the conference room at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary.

During that meeting, the GPF collected 21 complete Dell computer systems; one server; 12 APC backup batteries; 14 web cameras, and 14 scanner-printers.

Commissioner Hicken thanked the Interpol officials for their kind and time-

ly donation and also assured them that the items would greatly assist with connectivity of the Interpol, NCB and the Immigration Section of the Police Force.

The NCB provides a 24hour permanent service, working with the global Interpol community to help the GPF monitor the wider organised crime landscape and reduce its impact on Guyana.

In September 2021, Interpol signed an agreement with the Government of Barbados for the establishment of a liaison office in the Caribbean Island, thus strengthening Police cooperation and security in the Region. The new Interpol Office in the Caribbean will serve a number of countries in the Region, including Guyana.

According to the Interpol website, Project Proteger is aimed at providing countries with assistance to protect trafficking victims and vulnerable migrants across the Americas.

Last year, between November and December, a special operation in the region spearheaded by Interpol saw more than 200

arrests made and the identification of more than 10,000 irregular migrants from 61 countries.

Interpol had said that a dedicated operational coordination unit in Mexico City, Mexico and a support unit at the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS) Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC) supported participating countries throughout the weeklong operation.

Coming out of that operation, the organisation disclosed that it was able to warn Guyanese authorities about the impending arrival of foreign citizens who were making their way to the United States.

“The CARICOM IMPACS JRCC unit received crucial information linking a known smuggler in Brazil to a Pakistani national, enabling them to warn authorities in Guyana about the pending arrival of six other Pakistani nationals looking to make their way to the US,” Interpol said in a statement on the operation, which had several phases.

T

he management of Hard Rock Café Guyana said that the business entity is open for business and will not be closed.

This statement was made hours after the Café was forcibly evicted from the MovieTowne Mall patio.

About 16:00h on Wednesday the management of MovieTowne Mall moved to evict the popular Café from its patio over “unpaid rent”.

According to a release, this move was made despite an agreement with the owners of Hard Rock Café to allow them to use the area rent-free.

However, in a later press release, the management of the Café said that this would not cause the entity to close down, adding that it is open for business as usual.

Workers from the MovieTowne Mall management removing the outside seating of the Hard Rock Café

NEWS

17

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

After surviving COVID, Former St Vincent investor found companies in Region guilty of fraud in the UK need help – IDB report

A

new study by the Centre for Global Development and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has found that many companies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) survived the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by slashing investment, but that this decline now threatens to constrain the Region’s economic recovery.

To reverse the situation and prevent it from leading to a type of “economic long COVID,” where a weak Private Sector fails to create jobs and stimulate economic growth, Governments in the Region should actively pursue a series of policies to help companies boost investment and hire new employees.

These are among the key findings of the new report, which examined the balance sheets from a large number of companies across the Region and discovered that, despite an economic recovery in 2020 and 2021, capital levels at companies were still 20 per cent lower than they were before the pandemic began.

“While it is good news that relatively few larger firms failed, the drop in their pro-

ductive capital implies significant scarring and threatens the Region’s economic growth,” said Andrew Powell, principal advisor of the Research Department at the IDB. “Rebuilding capital is essential for firms after the pandemic. But with global and local interest rates rising and major uncertainties in international capital markets, it’s clear that firms will find it a challenge to obtain the necessary financing for investment,” said Liliana Rojas-Suarez, director of the Latin America Initiative and senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development.

The study was written as the result of discussions in an expert group of top economists and lawyers drawn from the region and led by Powell and Rojas-Suarez.

The study sampled balance sheet data from larger businesses across the Region and found that investment fell sharply while debt levels remained high, especially in sectors hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the demand for formal workers diminished and informal employment rose steeply during the recovery. (CMC)

Britain-born, naturalised Vincentian businessman Dave Ames in a June 2016 photo.

A

British court has convicted a naturalised St Vincent and the Grenadines national, Dave Ames, in connection with a GBP226 million (one British pound=US$1.21 cents) fraud.

Ames, the Britishborn former Chairman of Harlequin, the company that owned the former Buccament Bay Resort on St Vincent and the Grenadines, will be sentenced in September.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) successfully convicted Ames, who was behind the fraud involving celebrity-endorsed luxury resorts in the Caribbean, including Buccament Bay Resort, according to a press release.

The SFO said that a jury at Southwark Crown Court found Ames, 70, guilty on two counts of fraud by abuse of position. He had offered no evidence in his defence.

A SFO investigation uncovered how Ames deceived over 8000 United Kingdom investors in the Harlequin Group – a hotel and resorts development venture. The statement said victims were led to believe they had a secure investment in property whereas, in reality, Harlequin Group was never operating as promised.

The business model relied upon investors paying a 30 per cent deposit to purchase an unbuilt villa or hotel

room, half of which went toward fees for Harlequin and relevant salespeople, while Harlequin put the remaining 15 per cent toward construction.

Investors were fraudulently told that the building of the properties would be further funded by external financial backing. With no additional source of funding, three properties needed to be purchased to finance just one of the luxury accommodation units.

This led to the exponential expansion of the scheme, the diversion of investor money between resorts and ultimately a funding shortfall of over GBP1.2 billion by 2012, seven years after Ames launched the scheme.

By this point, an expert accountant told Southwark Crown Court that investors were exposed to a near 100 per cent risk of loss, which Ames did not contest.

The SFO investigation revealed that by the time it went into administration in 2013, Harlequin had sold around 9,000 property units to investors, with less than 200 ever actually being constructed.

Throughout the entire eight-year project, only 28 of

over 8000 investors ever completed on a purchase leaving well over 99 per cent with no return on their investment.

The Harlequin Group ultimately lost a total of 398 million pounds of investor funds.

Several thousand victims lost pensions and life savings to the fraud, while Ames enriched himself and his family

by GBP 6.2 million. (CMC)

223-7230-1 (Ext 55)

18

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

guyanatimesgy.com

Regional

4 Bahamians charged in deaths Peruvian PM resigns amid investigations into President Castillo of illegal Haitian migrants

Peruvian Prime Minister Anibal Torres (left) has been among the most loyal allies of President Pedro Castillo (right) [Martin Mejia/ AP file photo]

P

eru’s Prime Minister Anibal Torres has resigned, amid a widening criminal investigation focused on the nation’s President, President Pedro Castillo, who has grown increasingly isolated after one year in office.

Torres, a lawyer and one of Castillo’s most loyal allies, said in a letter shared on social media on Wednesday that he was resigning due to “personal

reasons”.

“I am withdrawing from office after having served our homeland and its most neglected and its forgotten people, together with you.” he wrote in the resignation letter addressed to Castillo.

“Today I have to return to the university classrooms with my students, and take up what I missed the most: legal research.”

Castillo, who took of-

fice a year ago, has overseen unprecedented turnover in senior Government posts during his administration. He will now have to name his fifth Prime Minister since taking office last July, a move that often comes with other changes to the Cabinet.

The President is also the target of five criminal investigations, including two that are probing whether he is part of a “criminal organisation”.

According to Peruvian law, Presidents can be investigated while in office, but cannot be charged.

Castillo’s critics have seized on news of the Prime Minister’s resignation.

“It gives the impression that he is exhausted politically and physically; and he no longer even wants to continue in office,” Jorge Montoya, the leader of the ultra-conservative Popular Renewal party, told local news outlet RPP Noticias.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

F

our men, who could face life imprisonment, return to court on October 28 to answer manslaughter charges in the deaths of 17 Haitian migrants who perished after their 33-foot speedboat Bare Ambition capsized five nautical miles off New Providence on July 24.

The accused, Donald Watson, 39, the alleged captain; Eulan McKinney, 49; McKenzie Jerome, 53, the alleged owner of the capsized boat; and Wilbens Joseph, 37, one of the alleged organisers of the smuggling trip, appeared in

court last Friday.

They faced 18 counts of manslaughter in connection with the deaths when they appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt.

Police said the 18th victim was the unborn son of a pregnant woman, who died in the incident.

But, Alex Dorsett, the lawyer for Joseph, said the manslaughter charge in respect of the foetus was “an impossibility in law” arguing that the Penal Code states that a child must be born alive in order to be the victim of manslaughter or

murder.

However, the Chief Magistrate said those arguments should be presented before the Supreme Court, where the case will be tried.

Watson and McKinney are further accused of operating Bare Ambition in a reckless manner without regard to the passengers on board, as well as operating a vessel without a licence. Jerome, who did not have a lawyer, told the Magistrate that he had no involvement in the matter, and that Police alleged that he owned the boat. (Excerpt from CMC)

LIAT gets timely boost with pledge of support from Grenada PM

2 T&T Police Officers charged with misbehaviour in public office granted TT$3.6M bail

T

wo Police Officers charged with misbehaviour in public office have been granted $1,800,000 bail, each

by Justices of the Peace Marilyn Martin and Abrahim Ali respectively, at the St Joseph Police Station.

They are expected to appear before the Tunapuna and Arima Magistrates’ Court later next month to answer seven charges of Misbehaviour in Public Office, Unlawfully and Dishonestly Agreeing to Accept and Receiving Monies.

According to Police reports, Police Constable (PC) Ronald Ransome, 27, and PC Rishi Mohan, 36, met a man in April at a location in North Trinidad where the Police Officers allegedly solicited TT$700,000 from him to forgo prosecution in the investigation of a criminal matter.

According to the man, he allegedly made five payments totalling TT$201,100 to two Police Officers.

A report was made to the Police and an exercise was conducted by officers of the Professional Standards

Bureau. An investigation was spearheaded by Senior Superintendent of Police (ag) Suzette Martin, supervised by Superintendent Montrichard and included Inspector Narine, Sgt (ag) Mohammed, Corporal (ag) Joefield and Corporal (ag) Sampson and both PCs Mohan and Ransome were arrested on July 26, 2022.

The men were subsequently charged by PC Horsford on August 1, 2022, following the advice received from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Roger Gaspard, SC. (Trinidad Guardian)

9 miners likely trapped after collapse at Mexican mine, says President

M

exican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday nine miners were "likely" trapped in a coal mine in the state of Coahuila after it collapsed.

"I hope we find them safe," Lopez Obrador wrote on Twitter, adding that the collapse of the mine caused a flood inside.

Some 92 elements of the national defence secretary were at the scene, as well as specialists and rescue

Newly-elected Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is keen to see LIAT return to provide efficient air transport to the people of the Region (Photo courtesy of Caricom)

S

ustained efforts from Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne to revitalise regional carrier LIAT, received a timely boost in the past couple of days with a declaration of support from Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.

“It’s difficult for me to see why our previous Administration did not see the need to support LIAT. I mean, now that we don’t have it, I think we really understand the crucial role that LIAT played in regional travel, regional integration, fostering closer ties, and economic and cultural development, certainly within the OECS [Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States],” Mitchell declared

during an interview with Good Morning Saint Lucia late last week.

“So, I’m certainly committed [and] my government is committed to doing all that we can to support LIAT or any other version of LIAT that can provide the services that we so desperately need for regional travel.”

Since LIAT was forced to temporarily shutter operations back in 2020, PM Browne has been on a campaign to return the airline, albeit with a slightly different name, to its former glory days.

He has been lobbying LIAT’s fellow shareholder governments – Barbados, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines – to

support his vision to restructure the airline and keep it flying, rather than to liquidate it.

Just last month, the Government revealed that a proposal is on the table for LIAT’s expansion, with several operational changes intended to make the carrier more efficient. These include applying minimum revenue guarantees, maintaining a reduced fleet of aircraft, and keeping “salaries, wages and other emoluments” low.

Those plans could form part of the wider subregional discussions on air transport which, according to Mitchell, could come to fruition in a matter of months.

(Excerpt from Antigua Observer)

Bajan shot dead by Trinidad cops

T A miner works at a mining complex in Mexico (AFP photo)

dogs, he said.

The mine is located in the Sabinas municipality and local media showed

footage of family members asking about the miners outside the premises.

(Reuters)

he family of a Barbadian killed in a Police-involved shooting in one of Trinidad and Tobago’s crime-filled communities is hoping video footage can provide some insight into what led to his death.

Kyle King, a 34-yearold with a four-month-old daughter, died on the driv-

er’s side of his car just after 01:00h on Tuesday.

He lost his life a few metres from the St Barb’s Police Post in Laventille, just outside the capital Port of Spain.

King’s cousin, Adrian, who also lives in the area of Boxhill Trace in Laventille, but did not provide his last name fear-

ing reprisal, said the family wanted answers as Kyle never had an interaction with law enforcement in his time living in the twin-island republic, but was now being accused of shooting at Police Officers from inside his vehicle.

King lived with the same relative. (Nation News)

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

19

Around the World

OILNEWS OIL NEWS Oil falls to nearly 6-month lows after surprise US crude, gasoline build

O

il prices slid about four per cent on Wednesday to almost six-month lows, after US data showed crude and gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly surged last week and as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) said it would raise its oil output target by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Brent crude futures settled down US$3.76, or 3.7 per cent, at US$96.78 a barrel. That was its lowest settlement since February 21.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell US$3.76, or four per cent, to US$90.66, the lowest settlement since February 10.

The contract reached a session low of US$90.38 a barrel, weakest since February 25.

Both contracts seesawed during in the session.

The premium for front-month Brent futures over barrels loading in six months' time is at a three-month low, indicating waning concern about tight supply. The same premium for WTI futures neared a fourmonth low.

US crude oil inventories rose unexpectedly last week as exports fell and refiners lowered runs, while gasoline stocks also posted a surprise build as demand slowed, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Crude stocks rose 4.5 million barrels last week, compared with an analyst forecast for a draw of 600,000 barrels. Gasoline stocks gained 200,000 barrels, versus expectations for a 1.6-million-barrel drop.?

"The crude oil number is well above expectations. Gasoline is a disappointment. You should never see a build in gasoline during summer. It's a very bearish report," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

Ministers for the OPEC and allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, agreed to the small increase to the group's output target, equal to about 0.1 per cent of global oil demand.

While the United States has asked the group to boost output, spare capacity is limited and Saudi Arabia may be reluctant to beef up output at the expense of Russia, hit by sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.

The Biden Administration is focused on keeping oil prices down, the White House said.

Ahead of the meeting, OPEC+ trimmed its forecast for the oil market surplus this year by 200,000 bpd to 800,000 bpd, three delegates told Reuters.

Also weighing on prices, Iranian and US officials said they were travelling to Vienna to resume indirect talks about Iran's nuclear programme, reviving the all but vanished hopes of a removal of sanctions hampering Iranian oil exports.

On the demand side, Federal Reserve officials voiced their determination again on Wednesday to rein in high inflation, although one said a half-percentage-point hike in the US central bank's key interest rate next month might be enough to march on toward that goal.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major peers, also rose, pressuring demand by making oil more expensive for holders of other currencies. (Reuters)

Italy ratifies NATO membership for Finland, Sweden

I

taly's Parliament on Wednesday gave its final approval to a bill ratifying the accession of Finland and Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The Senate voted by 202 to 13 in favour of the bill, a day after the Lower House approved it by a large majority.

The accession needs to be ratified by the Parliaments of all 30 NATO members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the NATO defence clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all.

The Lower House vote on Tuesday was welcomed by Giorgia Meloni, whose far-

right Brothers of Italy party is seen as the front runner in the national election, which will take place on September 25.

"In the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, strengthening the European front of the Alliance is an important step that can act as a deterrent to new Russian threats," Meloni said in a statement.

Meloni, leader of the most popular party in the conservative coalition, had supported Prime Minister Mario Draghi's decision to ship weapons to Ukraine, even though it was in opposition to his Government. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Russian ceasefire and troop pullout must precede any talks, says Ukraine

U

kraine on Wednesday dismissed comments by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that Russia wanted a "negotiated solution" to the war and said any dialogue would be contingent on a Russian ceasefire and withdrawal of its troops.

Schroeder, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and increasingly derided in Germany for his pro-Russia stance, said last month's agreement on grain shipments from Ukraine, aimed at easing a global food crisis, might offer a way forward.

The first grain ship since the war began more than five months ago passed through the Bosphorus Strait on Wednesday en route to Lebanon.

"The good news is that

Ukrainian servicemen fire with a BM21 Grad multiple launch rocket system in a frontline in Kharkiv region, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine, August 2, 2022 (Reuters/Sofiia Gatilova)

the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution," Schroeder told Stern weekly and broadcasters RTL/ntv, adding he had met Putin in Moscow last week. "A first success is the grain deal, perhaps that can be slowly expanded to a ceasefire."

In response, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described Schroeder as a "voice of the Russian royal court" and made clear that the grain agreement would not lead to broader negotiations.

"If Moscow wants dia-

logue, the ball is in its court.

First — a cease-fire and withdrawal of troops, then — constructive (dialogue)," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

In a video address on Wednesday night, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy also responded bitterly to the notion of talks with Russia.

"It is simply disgusting when former leaders of major States with European values work for Russia, which is at war against these values," Zelenskiy said.

Tentative attempts at peace talks in March went nowhere.

Russia is engaged in considerable military activity in the east, northeast, and south of Ukraine, a statement by the General Staff of the Armed forces said on Wednesday night. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Pelosi lauds Taiwan, says China's fury cannot stop visits by world leaders

U

S House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan on Wednesday after touting its democracy and pledging American solidarity during her brief visit, adding that Chinese anger cannot stop world leaders from travelling to the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.

China demonstrated its outrage over the highest-level US visit to the island in 25 years with a burst of military activity in surrounding

waters, summoning the US Ambassador in Beijing and halting several agricultural imports from Taiwan.

Some of China's planned military exercises were to take place within Taiwan's 12-nautical mile sea and air territory, according to Taiwan's Defence Ministry, an unprecedented move that a senior defence official described to reporters as "amounting to a sea and air blockade of Taiwan".

Taiwan scrambled jets on Wednesday to warn away

27 Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone, the island's Defence Ministry said, adding that 22 of them crossed the median line separating the island from China.

Pelosi arrived with a congressional delegation on her unannounced but closely watched visit late on Tuesday, defying China's repeated warnings, on a trip that she said demonstrated unwavering US commitment to Taiwan's democracy.

"Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon Taiwan," Pelosi told Taiwan's President Tsai Ingwen, who Beijing suspects of pushing for formal independence – a red line for China.

"Now, more than ever, America's solidarity with Taiwan is crucial, and that's the message we are bringing here today," Pelosi said during her roughly 19-hour visit.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Iran nuclear talks to restart UN chief Guterres slams oil and gas firms' in Vienna with EU mediation “grotesque greed”

U

nited Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for oil and gas companies to face special taxes.

His comments come as surging energy prices sparked by the war in Ukraine push industry profits to new highs.

Guterres said it was "immoral" for firms to be profiting from the crisis.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February has worsened a global shortage of oil and gas, disrupting access to oil and gas from Russia – a major supplier – and driving prices higher.

While households are grappling with higher energy bills, companies are reaping the benefits.

BP recently reported its largest profit in 14 years, while Shell's profits in the April-to-June period hit a record.

Together, four of the biggest energy firms – Exxon, Chevron, Shell and TotalEnergies – earned nearly US$51 billion in the most

recent quarter – almost double what they made in the same period last year.

"This grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our only common home," Guterres said.

"I urge all Governments to tax these excessive profits, and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times," he said.

Last month, the United Kingdom approved a 25 per cent 'windfall tax' on energy firms, a one-off levy the Government says will raise some £25 billion to help offset household energy bills, which have spiked.

Some other countries, such as Italy, have imposed similar measures.

But French lawmakers recently rejected such a move, and there is little political momentum in the US, despite a windfall tax proposal from some members of Congress. (Excerpt from BBC News)

The developments come after another week of tensions and uncertainty concerning the nuclear deal [File: Reuters]

T

alks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers are set to resume, as representatives from Iran and the United States return to Vienna for a new round of discussions mediated by the European Union.

The bloc’s coordinator for the talks, Enrique Mora, in addition to top negotiators from Tehran and Washington, were reportedly heading back to the Austrian capital on Wednesday for indirect talks that are expected to begin today.

The original format – also including China, Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, shaping a Joint Commission – that began talks to restore the nuclear accord in April 2021, will be reconvened.

Russia’s chief negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter that talks would “resume shortly” and that Russian negotiators “stand ready for constructive talks in order to finalise the agreement”.

Mora said in a tweet that a text proposed by the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell two weeks ago will be the basis of discussions, with the bloc’s representative once more performing shuttle diplomacy between Iran and the US. Iran’s delegation will be led by Ali Bagheri Kani, who is expected to put forward Tehran’s ideas on the lifting of US sanctions and safeguard probes on Iran’s nuclear programme, which will be relayed to the US chief negotiator Robert Malley. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

20

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

guyanatimesgy.com

DAILY HOROSCOPES

ARCHIE

You'll give someone the wrong impression if you are emotional or act out of character. Sit tight, listen and respond mindfully to avoid interference.

Don't share personal information.

(March 21-April 19) You'll find it challenging to get things going. Let passion, emotion and desire energize you to set high expectations.

Strive for perfection; you'll like what transpires. Romance is on the rise.

DILBERT

(April 20-May 20) Get the facts before getting involved.

Don't trust others with your interests or future. Look for opportunities tailor-made to handle your needs. Don't deviate from what's important to you.

(May 21-June 20)

PEANUTS (June 21-July 22)

An impulsive move will backfire and lead to an unwanted argument with someone you need on your side. Avoid making assumptions or exaggerating.

Bide your time and pay attention to detail.

Refuse to let someone stand between you and your dream. If you stop to argue, you'll lose valuable time and energy. Learn as you go, and you'll discover something you enjoy doing that's prosperous.

(July 23-Aug. 22) Get to the bottom of situations involving a peer, relative or loved one. Set high standards, but don't expect others to share your values. An innovative idea will capture the right audience.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22) An added push will help you realize how much of a difference you can make if you give your all. Refuse to let personal matters stand between you and what you want.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Leave nothing to chance or unfinished. Avoid outside pressure by doing your best to keep up with your responsibilities. A self-improvement project will bring good results. Romance is featured.

SUDOKU (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21)

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

Don't invest in something unfamiliar.

Do your research, and keep your emotions out of money matters. A change at home will help you bring in more cash instead of letting it slip through your fingers.

Being too forward regarding your likes and dislikes will give someone the upper hand. Avoid getting involved in ventures that depend on shared expenses and profits. Walk away from tense situations.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Adjust your plans to ensure you aren't taken advantage of by someone you least expect. Share only what's necessary. A novel approach to work will separate you from the competition.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Invest in yourself and solid plans to build equity over time. Being reasonable regarding personal health and emotional well-being will improve your attitude and your chance to get ahead.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

21

Mahdia crowned 7-a-side 10 overs’ champions in regional tourney S porting action in Region 8 concluded on August 1, 2022 with the Mahdia Movements Family, in collaboration with Mahdia PPP/C, storming to a thrilling 7-a-side 10 overs’ title in a match played in Micobie Village.

The Mahdia-based team dominated their opponents, Kato Cricket Team and Micobie Cricket Team, with ease, although each of those teams gave a good account of their skills. And when the proverbial dust had settled, Mahdia’s Suresh Dhanai emerged as the tournament’s leading run-scorer.

In a statement made after the proceedings, owner of the Madhia Movements

Mahdia Movements Family owner Rajkumar Singh (L) receiving the winning trophy from a Ministry of Amerindian Affairs representative (R) Family, Rajkumar Singh, man for Movements Family, ways played a major role said, “First of all, the event I have donated the $50,000 in…supporting sports at all times. So, while the game was was planned in the Madhia first prize.

PPP/C Group. I am involved “The Ministry of planned under the Mahdia with that, and as a business- Amerindian Affairs have al- PPP/C Group, Micobie and Kato took part, who are different villages. So, it is basically the Government of Guyana supporting sports throughout the hinterland region.”

In game one, Mahdia opposed Micobie in a thrilling affair in which Mahdia won the toss and batted first. They made 149-5 from 10 overs, as Suresh Dhanai top scored

IOC shortlists cricket for review for 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

with 40 (4×6 1×4) and Ryan Adams 20 (1×6 1×4). Needing 150 for victory, Micobie made 103, as Suresh Dhanai bagged 2-9 and Leland Cadogan 2–15.

In game two, Mahdia took on Kato Cricket Team.

Winning the toss and again batting first, they amassed the highest total in the tournament - 248-2 from 10 overs.

Suresh Dhanai was again the leading scorer with 119 not out (16×6 4×4), and Ryan Adams scored 83 not out (13×6 1×4).

In reply, Kato faltered and made 115-5 in their 10 overs.

Rajkumar Singh was the pic of the bowlers with 3-15.

Having already booked a spot in the finale, Mahdia awaited the result of the Micobie versus Kato battle. Micobie defeated Kato Cricket Team and advanced to the grand finale, and, yet again, Mahdia won the toss and batted first. They made 144-1 from 10 overs, with Ricardo Adams making 85 not out (10×6 1×4) and Rajkumar Singh making 47 (2×6 6×4),

Suresh Dhanai was the leading run-scorer with 170 runs while Suresh Dhanai chipped in with 11 not out (1×6 1×4).

Chasing for a second time, Micobie could only produce 128-3 from their 10 overs, as Rajkumar Singh was superb with the ball, bagging 3–20.

At the end of the tournament, Suresh Dhanai was adjudged maker of the most runs, having scored 170 runs and being dismissed only once. Trophies were sponsored by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, and gear was distributed to the cricket teams by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.

…“He is thinking about himself,” says Louis Saha

C

C

ricket's efforts to be part of the Olympics have received a significant boost after the sport was added to a shortlist of nine that would be reviewed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for addition to the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Last month, the LA28 Organising Committee asked the ICC to make their case, and although an exact date for this presentation is yet to be fixed, a final decision on cricket's inclusion is expected in the second quarter of 2023, when the IOC is scheduled to meet in Mumbai.

Cricket will be vying for a spot, along with eight other sports, including baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, break dancing, karate, kickboxing, squash and motorsport.

This February, the IOC green lit 28 sports to be part of the LA Games, with a focus on youth. At the same meeting, it made a commitment to expand the programme, and in May it came up with a means to evaluate "potential new sports" and

see if they were a good fit for the LA28 Games.

While there is no cap on how many new sports the IOC can add, they must pass this list of criteria for inclusion. * Prioritising a reduction in the cost and complexity of hosting the Games. * Engaging the best athletes and sports that put athletes’ health and safety first. * Recognising global appeal to fans across the world, and host country interest. * Prioritising gender equality and youth relevance to engage new fans and athletes. * Upholding integrity and fairness to support clean sports. * Supporting environmental sustainability to foster long-term sustainability.

The ICC feels it is in a good position, though recognising that ultimately it is up to the LA Committee to decide. Part of its optimism springs from cricket being, in CEO Geoff Allardice's words, "a star attraction"

at the 2022 Commonwealth Games currently being held in Birmingham.

"We've seen from the Commonwealth Games how much the world's best players have enjoyed playing in front of big crowds, and what I'm sure will be large TV audiences," Allardice told ESPNCricinfo.

Both the ICC and the ECB had lobbied hard for cricket to be included in CWG 2022, keeping in mind its popularity in the Commonwealth countries. It is the first time that cricket has been a feature of the Games in 24 years.

The 1998 edition in Kuala Lumpur featured just men's cricket (ODI format). In Birmingham, it is only women's cricket in the T20 format with eight countries competing for the gold.

However, at the Olympics, any sporting discipline needs to feature both male and female athletes, and the ICC remains confident that cricket has enough global appeal and support to warrant being at the biggest spectacle in sport. (Cricinfo)

ristiano Ronaldo is "thinking about himself", with his desire to leave Manchester United, says former Red Devils team-mate Louis Saha.

The Portugal international has reportedly asked to leave Old Trafford for a club that is playing in the Champions League. United cannot offer him football at that level, after the team only finished sixth in last season's Premier League.

Ronaldo finished as top scorer in his first season back at United, with 24 goals in all competitions, but he was absent from pre-season trips to Thailand and Australia, and only returned to action in Sunday's 1-1 friendly draw with Rayo Vallecano.

Even that was not without controversy, as Ronaldo, who started the game but made way for Amad Diallo at half-time, was pictured leaving Old Trafford while the second half was ongoing.

Saha played with Ronaldo during the 37-yearold's first spell at the club, and believes his former col-

league needs to look at the wider picture.

"In some way, from Cristiano Ronaldo's point of view, it's a bit unrealistic to ask now a club of this size to adapt to him and his dream," Saha told Sky Bet in quotes reported by several British newspapers.

"I'm not Cristiano, but as someone who seems to be a supporter of Manchester United, I have felt like he hasn't shown completely enough of that, he is thinking about himself.

"I am not going to judge him, because he is an

immense player and I'm not in his position, but I would have loved him to stay, because he's a terrific player.

No one can judge his actions at this moment, because it's his own career."

Despite Ronaldo's reported desire to leave, a number of European giants have distanced themselves from signing him, with clubs such as Chelsea and Bayern Munich seemingly not interested in signing the 37-year-old.

It remains to be seen whether he will still be a United player when they open their Premier League campaign against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, as they attempt to bounce back from a season in which they achieved their lowest-ever Premier League points total of 58. (Sportsmax)

Ronaldo

22

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

‘Experienced’ Permaul backs GAW spinners for CPL 2022 spinner has made his way back to his home franchise, after spending two years with the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and he is eager to link up with Guyana’s formidable spin department.

During a GAW training session last week, after expressing his elation at being back, Permaul highlighted that he now brings experience to the table.

“I’ve been a part of the Test team for a little while.

A

was careful to note that the Warriors would not be relying on that single aspect for success.

He had this to say about his colleagues, “I think our spin department is well equipped. We got two experienced international spinners. We have young Motie, who played for West Indies recently, bowling well. I think the spin department is well covered at the moment.

“Well, hopefully, over the years, Guyana always wins a lot of games at home. At the

ant as a team, whatever the conditions, whatever is required, we put it together and get the best result.”

The Berbician is eager to bask in the vibe of a Guyanese crowd a Providence, noting that their support is important to the local franchise. “Over the years, the Warriors have let down the Guyanese fans, and this year we get the final home, so, come out and support. In cricket, we say twelfth man, and the twelfth man is the

Veerasammy Permaul serving up one in the nets

staple in the Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) team from 2013 to 2019, Veerasammy Permaul has returned to boost a massive spin line-up

for the team. And it is safe to say that the Berbician is quite happy being back at home.

“It’s always a privilege and honour to represent

Guyana at any level, and I’m very happy to be back home, after the last two years,” Permaul told Guyana Times Sport recently.

The 32-year-old left arm

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

Promise made by Ravi Etwaroo delivered to Alvin Mahabir

Anil Beharry presenting a branded-E4 bat to the talented Mahabir

P

roject “Cricket Gear for young and promising cricketers in Guyana” continues to impact the lives of many young and talented persons in Guyana. One such person is the exceptionally talented National U17 and U19 captain, Alvin Mahabir.

Ravi Etwaroo, owner of Cricket Zone, USA, Bronx, NY, has fulfilled his promise of providing an E4-branded bat to the talented Mahabir.

Moreover, he has also gifted him one pair of batting gloves and one pair of batting pads, all of the same brand.

Mahabir, the talented young all-rounder, a left-handed batsman and right arm off-spinner, has achieved the unique feat of being captain of two national junior teams in the same calendar year; and this initiative, jointly owned by Kishan Das of the USA and local boy Anil Beharry, is a stepping

stone in the development of young cricketers in Guyana.

Total cricket-related items collected so far: $230,000 cash, two trophies, eleven cricket boots, nineteen pairs of batting pads, twenty-one bats, fifteen pairs of batting gloves, nineteen thigh pads, one pair of wicketkeeping pads, one arm guard, six cricket bags and two helmets. In addition to the above, $600,000 worth in gear was donated by Sheik Mohamed, former National wicket-keeper/batsman.

To date, thirty-seven young players from all three counties of Guyana have already benefited from three junior gear bags, two trophies, one arm guard, fifteen bats, one box, two helmets, ten pairs of cricket shoes, eleven pairs of batting pads, one bat rubber and thirteen pairs of batting gloves.

In addition, two clubs

in the Pomeroon area have benefited from the receipt of two used bats. Pomeroon, Leguan and Wakenaam Cricket Committees and Cotton Tree Die Hard each also received one box of red cricket balls, while RHCCCC received two, fifteen white cricket shirts, one pair of junior batting pads, one pair of wicket-keeping gloves and a set of stumps and bails. The Essequibo Cricket Board also benefited.

Cricket-related items, used or new, would be distributed free of cost to young and promising cricketers in Guyana. Skills, discipline and education are important characteristics of the recipients. Talent spotting is being done across the country, and club leaders also assist to identify talent. Progressive and well managed clubs will also benefit.

We take this opportunity to thank Javed and Imran of West Indian Sports Complex, Option Group of USA, Hilbert Foster, Bish Panday of P and P Insurance Brokers, Sean Devers, Trevis Simon, Årïêl J. Tïlkú, Aaron Beharry, Leanna Bachan and Imran Saccoor, Devon Ramnauth, Teddy Singh, Romash Munna, Ravi Etwaroo, Kelvin Brijlall, Ravin Harkishun, Surendra Harkishun, Allan Mangru, Vishal Mahabir, Sherman Austin, Huburn Evans, Rajendra Sadeo and 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 and Dr Cecil Beharry.

Distribution will continue.

Anyone interested in contributing can contact Anil Beharry on 623-6875 or Kishan Das on 1-718664-0896.

Veerasammy Permaul working on his batting during training

Having said that, I think I gained a lot of experience playing regional cricket for Guyana, and even playing CPL. I learned a lot, I gained a lot of experience, and I think I’m a very much experienced cricketer now,” the bowler shared.

Discussing his area of interest, spin bowling, Permaul spoke highly of his Warriors colleagues, but

same time, we’re equipped with spin and we expect spin at the Providence stadium,” Permaul went on to add about the expected ‘spin-factor’ at the Providence Stadium.

However, Permaul had this to say about the Warriors’ preparedness, “I think it’s important, even though other teams will come with spin, it’s import-

crowd, and that’s a motivation, once you know you got the support,” a smiling Permaul related.

“So, come out and support,” he added.

Permaul and other members of the Warriors team are in sporadic training locally. Their camp is set to begin on August 9, ahead of the August 31st CPL start date.

FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India…

Drayton, Callender, Johnson score points in Round 5

T

Anthony Drayton

Jessica Callender

Nellisha Johnson

he Guyana Open team faced off against Namibia in the FIDE Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India, and FIDE Master Anthony Drayton drew his match against Uatiavi Jossy Uapingene.

The 5-hour-long game saw Drayton starting with a considerable advantage in the first half of the game, but miscalculations on his part resulted in him losing half point for each miscalculation.

Taffin Khan, Loris Nathoo and Ethan Lee were unable to score against their Namibian counterparts.

On the Women's side, Nellisha Johnson also drew her match when she played WFM Linda Jambo of

Malawi, who is rated 1426.

This draw will improve Johnson’s rating of 1093.

Jessica Callender defeated her higher-rated opponent Tupokiwe Msukwa in a wellplayed game, and will also gain rating points from her victory. The Women’s team captain Slovanian George Mohr described Callender’s game as fantastic, and her best one yet.

In Round 6, which will be played on August 3rd, the Guyana Open team, consisting of Taffin Khan, Loris Nathoo, Roberto Neto and Ethan Lee, have an opportunity to secure wins, as they will play Gabon, seeded at 169; while the women: Sasha Shariff, Jessica Callender, Nellisha Johnson and Anaya

Lall, face the Central African Republic, seeded at 151.

Meanwhile, the FIDE Congress is also being held in Chennai from July 31 to August 9th, with the General Assembly and Elections set for August 7th. A new President for FIDE will be elected. This event is being attended by GCF President Frankie Farley.

Games continue daily with one round per day, and are being played at the Four Points by Sheraton Mahabalipuram Resort and Convention Centre. Play starts daily at 15:00 Indian Time - 05:30 Guyana.

Links to live games can be found on the Guyana Chess Federation Website: www.guyanachess.org.

23 India, WI obtain visas for Florida T20Is after Guyana President's intervention THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

FROM PAGE 24

As earlier reported, those without the visas were flown to Georgetown, in Guyana, after the third T20I in St Kitts on Tuesday (August 2) night, for interviews at the US Embassy.

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Others, including Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Ravi Bishnoi, Suryakumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav, have reached Miami meanwhile.

They will be joined by the rest of the teammates on

Among those who attended the interviews were India skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid.

There were, in fact, 14 of them from the Indian touring party who did not have the travel approvals.

Thursday night.

"They can fly only tomorrow afternoon. All visa applications have been approved, but passports are not to be returned until this afternoon," Skerritt said, revealing the rea-

Commonwealth Games 2022…

Tough day for Guyana - but Fung-A-Fat places second in Plate Championship …Abrams advances to 400M semis Quamel Prince also did not find favour, finishing 6th in Heat 3 with a time of 1:50.82 in the 800M, as compared to England’s Ben Pattinson’s 1:48.00, who won the Heat.

Later in the day, it was time for the blue ribband event, the 100M, and Emanuel Archibald and Jasmine Abrams took to the track. Running in semifinal 1, Archibald clocked 10.43s

Desmond Amsterdam and Callum Peters trading punches before their bout was stopped

W

ednesday was not the best day for the Guyanese team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, as they experienced numerous defeats in several disciplines.

However, amidst all the disappointment for the Guyanese athletes, who fought valiantly, Mary Fung-

Mary Fung-A-Fat in action against Sunayna Sara Kuruvilla of India

for 6th place, thus being unable to qualify for the coveted final. Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala eventually became the Commonwealth Men’s 100m champion, clocking 10.02 for first in the final.

The script was almost the same in the distaff, where Abrams finished 7th in semifinal 2. Abrams crossed the line in 11.60s, as compared to Elaine Thompson- Herah’s 11.05s for the semifinal win.

The Jamaican went on to take the Commonwealth gold with a time of 10.95s in the final.

Boxing

Aliyah Abrams crossing the finish line in her 400M Heat

A-Fat and Aliyah Abrams shone brightly.

Athletics

It was a tough day on the track for the Guyanese athletes, with glimmers of hope coming from Aliyah Abrams, who progressed to the semifinal of the Women’s 400M event.

Aliyah Abrams participated in Heat 2 of the Women’s 400m event, and raced to secure her spot in the event’s semifinal with a time of 52.23s, placing second to Canada’s Kyra Constantine,

who got home in 52.03s.

However, racing in Heat 1 of the same event, Kenisha Phillips was not so fortunate, as she clocked 54.08s, which was good enough for 6th place in the Heat, but her time was not fast enough to get her into the semifinal.

In the male version of the event, Arinze Chance also missed out on a semifinal spot, as he crossed the line in 47.63s to place fifth in Heat 5. The Heat was won by Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga in 44.89s.

In the middle distance,

Guyana had high hopes of bagging another Commonwealth Boxing medal in 32 years, with Keevin Allicock and Desmond Amsterdam fighting their way into the quarterfinals of the Featherweight and Middleweight classes respectively. However, those hopes were dashed when both boxers missed out on advancing to the automatic medal round.

Keevin Allicock’s fight against Canada’s Keoma- Ali Al-Ahmadieh was arguably 50-50, with Al- Ahmadieh winning the first round and Allicock winning the second.

However, the 3rd was judged in the Canadian’s favour and was met with jeers from the crowd. Allicock lost on split decision 4-1.

Meanwhile, Amsterdam’s bout against Australia’s Callum Peters was stopped in

the second round by the referee, since the Guyanese had sustained an injury. As such, Peters was awarded the victory.

Squash

Despite a loss in the Plate final of the Women’s Singles Squash competition, Guyana's Mary Fung-A-Fat clinched a silver medal on Wednesday.

Fung-A-Fat went down 3-0 (7-11, 13-11, 2-1), to India’s Sunayna Sara Kuruvilla in the finals of the Women’s Plate competition at the Commonwealth Games.

Later in the day, FungA-Fat had the privilege of receiving her medal from legendary Squash player Jahangir Khan of Pakistan.

Khan is famous for his dominance of the Squash World Championships, where he ruled supreme from 19811985. He was also crowned world champion in 1988.

Fung-A-Fat will now partner with Shomari Wiltshire to take on the Malaysian pair of Ainaa Amani and Addeen Idrakie in the Mixed-Doubles Round-of-32.

The Khalil siblings, Jason-Ray and Ashely, will also be in action today when they face Wales' Petre Creed and Emily Whitlock.

Table Tennis

Olympian Chelsea Edghill got the Table Tennis team off to a wining start with victories in her Women’s Singles group. First Edghill downed Papua New Guinea’s Tammi Agari 4-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5). Then she went on to dismantle Fiji's Titana Touea with another 4-0 win.

However, Edghill was not the only Guyanese moving on to the Round of 32 in the Women’s Singles, as Nathalie Cummings also topped her group to advance.

Cummings defeated both Millicent Ankude of Ghana and Musfiquh Kalam of South Africa by 4-0 margins.

India’s Captain and Coach, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid, were among those given interviews at the US Embassy in Guyana at President Ali’s intervention

son for the delayed travel.

"All that the CWI could do has been done. Last night's charter to Miami, for those previously with visas, was at greater financial risk to delay it than to operate it as previously planned," Skerritt further said.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Rohit will be available for the last two games on Saturday and Sunday. The India skipper retired hurt during the

team's chase against West Indies in the 3rd T20I in Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts on Tuesday. He had scored 11 off five balls when he had to leave the field.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the skipper suffered a back spasm. He is now learnt to have recovered. India went on to win the game to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. (Cricbuzz)

GDF hosts Sports Summer Camp for members’ children

T

he Guyana Defence Force (GDF) on Tuesday launched its inaugural Sports Summer Camp for children of serving members.

With activities being held at Base Camp Ayanganna, Thomas Lands, Georgetown, the camp would last for nine days and the children

are to create fundamental learning and skills development for various sports activities in a safe and friendly environment, and to teach the value of team sports while building camaraderie and self-esteem.

Staff Officer Two General Three, Major Keith Watts, welcomed the youths and encouraged

would be coached in one of the following sports: volleyball, football, cricket or basketball.

The camp's objectives

them to have fun.

The coaches are all trained serving members drawn from various units across the Force.

Badminton

Over on the Badminton court, Priyanna and Narayan Ramdhani suffered tough losses to Uganda’s Daniel Wanagaliya and Husina Kobugabe in their Mixed Doubles Round of 64 contest.

Priyanna also suffered a similar fate in her Women’s Singles meeting with Pakistan’s Mahoor Shahzad, losing 2-0.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022

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

India, WI obtain visas for Florida T20Is after Guyana President's intervention A

fter days of agonising wait, all members of the India and West Indies teams have been officially cleared to travel to the United States of America, where they will be playing two T20I games in Florida this weekend.

Thanks to the intervention of the Government of Guyana, the US visas for some players and support staff of the two sides were obtained, albeit at

the eleventh hour.

Cricbuzz can confirm that it required the efforts of His Excellency Irfaan Ali, the President of Guyana, to get the travel approvals. "It was a timely and influential diplomatic effort by His Excellency," said Ricky Skerritt, President of Cricket West Indies (CWI), as he thanked the Head of the Guyana Government.

TURN TO PAGE 23

Massy Group become WCPL’s title sponsors T

he Massy Group have confirmed that they will be the title sponsor for the inaugural Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), which gets underway on 31 August in St Kitts.

The Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) will feature three teams, the Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Trinbago Knight Riders. The teams will play each other in four exciting Twenty20 matches at Warner Park, one of the fastest scoring grounds in world cricket.

The teams will be captained by Hayley Matthews (Barbados Royals), Stafanie Taylor (Guyana Amazon Warriors) and Deandra Dottin (Trinbago Knight Riders).

Each of the three Massy WCPL teams will have the best players from the region as well as exciting overseas players to round out their squads as women’s cricket is given huge exposure across the Caribbean and around the world.

“As one of the largest employers in the region, a significant percentage of our workforce is comprised of women. For some companies such as Massy Stores, which operates from 59 locations across the English-speaking Caribbean, the workforce is on average 70% female. That means that creating opportunities for women to grow and develop is integral to our business and inherent to our purpose. With sponsorship support which we hope will continue to grow for years to come, we believe that CPL will continue to develop this tournament to create opportunities for professional Caribbean female athletes,” commented Marc Rostant, Senior Vice President, Massy Motors, who spoke on behalf

Massy Group Representatives alongside players who will feature in the WCPL

of the Massy Group to announce the sponsorship.

Jamie Stewart, CPL’s Commercial Director, said: “When we set out to create the Women’s CPL, it was important to find a partner that would help build the profile and stature of the game and players around the region, with the ultimate goal of making them household faces. In Massy, one of the region’s great companies, we feel the WCPL has

the perfect partner. Massy Group, via their stories spanning the Eastern Caribbean, touch more people each day than any other company in the region. We thank the Group and the Stores and Auto divisions for believing in the vision, and look forward to working with them to give the region’s female stars the support and exposure they deserve.”

(CPLT20)

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