Guyana Times - Thursday, December 8, 2022

Passage of time has not quelled demand for justice – Ali on 1976 terrorist attack

In remembering the 1976 terrorist attack on Cubana Flight 455 which killed 73 persons, including 11 Guyanese, President Dr Irfaan Ali stat ed that this tragedy must further strengthen the re solve of the Caribbean to re main a zone of peace that is “free from all forms of ter

rorism, proxy wars, and ex ternal threats”.

The Head of State was at the time delivering remarks at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cubana Monument on Tuesday in Barbados on the sidelines of the eighth Caribbean-Cuba Summit.

“Guyana recalls with ex treme sadness, the bomb

ing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 off the coast of Barbados… We remember forever the 73 victims, in cluding 11 Guyanese, who perished as a result of that dastardly act.

“We reflect in prayers with the families, friends, and nationals of those who lost their lives… We are

stronger together against any threat; it is, therefore, necessary for us to always remain together,” he stated.

Flight 455 was a Cubana Airlines flight from Barbados to Jamaica which was brought down on October 6, 1976 by a terror ist bomb attack. All 73 per sons on board, including 11 Guyanese who were trav elling with their families to Cuba for medical stud

ies, were killed after two timebombs went off and the plane crashed into the sea.

“For us, this was a pure action and demonstration of terrorism… And for those who would not acknowledge this, the guilt of the death and murder of all those who lost their lives on that day remains with them,” he stat ed.

According to the Guyanese Leader, Cuba and

Guyana, along with the en tire Caribbean Community (Caricom) did not surrender to terrorism, but grew stron ger together in defiance of an assault on their indepen dence to freely determine their friends and relations.

He said that those 73 vic tims would forever hold a place in the region for hav ing innocently paid the su preme sacrifice.

In fact, the President noted too that the passage of time has not quelled Guyana’s demand for jus tice.

“Cuba, Guyana [and] Caricom did not succumb to terrorism, did not fall to terrorism, but grew stron ger and build better rela tionships and advanced hu man dignity… The passage of time has not quelled our demands for justice for the innocent victims of Cubana Air Disaster nor will it ab solve the intellectual au thors of this crime,” the Head of State asserted.

President Ali joined other regional leaders at the Cubana Air Disaster wreath-laying ceremony on Tuesday in Barbados

President Dr Irfaan Ali laying a wreath at the Cubana Monument in Barbados

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Thursday, December 8 –04:15h-05:45h and Friday, December 9 – 04:15h-05:45h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Thursday, December 8 –16:05h-17:35h and Friday, December 9 – 16:35h-18:05h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Sunny conditions are expected in the morning hours followed by light rain showers in the late afternoon and into the night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 28 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Northerly to North-Westerly between 1.78 metres and 4.02 metres.

High Tide: 16:25h reaching a maximum height of 2.65 metres.

Low Tide: 10:00h and 22:26h reaching minimum heights of 0.73 metre and 0.57 metre.

ARO says was instructed by Mingo’s staff to use spreadsheet to tabulate votes

…questioned decision, but received

Assistant Registration Officer at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Alexandra Bowman, on Wednesday told the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that during the tabulation of the Region Four votes after the March 2, 2020 elections, she was instructed by a staff of embattled Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo to use a spreadsheet for the verification of the votes –something which she says was never done during pre vious elections at which she had worked.

Bowman testified that on March 4, 2020, she was in structed by Mingo’s Clerk, Michelle Miller, that she will not be calling out votes from the Statements of Poll (SoPs), but from spread sheets instead.

“When it was my turn to [call out figures to verify the votes], I was instructed that we won’t be calling from the SoPs anymore, we’ll be call ing from a spreadsheet… I think I did ask why [there was a change from SoPs to spreadsheets], but I don’t recall receiving an explana tion,” she indicated.

According to the GECOM staff, Miller had acted in place of Mingo during his absence.

Earlier on that day, Mingo had fallen ill and had had to be escorted out of the Ashmin’s Building, which was being used as the Region Four Command Centre, by paramedics.

No spreadsheets in previous elections

Bowman further told the CoI that she worked at pre vious elections before, and

never saw spreadsheets be ing used during the tabula tion of the votes. She add ed that she could not say for sure that the numbers on the spreadsheet reflected those that were recorded on the SoPs. “I was not able to compare them,” she indicat ed to the Commission.

According to Bowman, the spreadsheet was down loaded onto her flash drive by another GECOM staff, Enrique Livan, and it was handed to her to use on a laptop that was provided.

“I didn’t ask him [Livan] where he got the informa tion from…He said it was the spreadsheet. He was at the back [of the tabulation room with the other GECOM staff where the SoPs were] so I figured he know where it was coming from. I was giv en the stuff to call from, and I called [the figures from that spreadsheet],” Bowman told the CoI.

From previous testi monies during the CoI, it was disclosed that Livan

no explanation

call how many times there were objections raised on the differences with the fig ures, Bowman said there were several objections made. However, amidst those uproars, she was fur ther instructed by Miller to “keep calling” the figures, an instruction with which she complied.

“There was a lot of noise, and I was seven months pregnant at the time and I just wanted to get it over with… After the uproar in the tabulation room, I told them that I’m not feel ing well because somebody pushed the table and hit my belly,” the GECOM staff re counted.

had removed a laptop and flash drive from the tabula tion room and had retreat ed into another room. The Police had to be called in, and Livan had claimed that he was exhausted, hence he moved.

Nevertheless, Bowman went onto further testify on Wednesday that soon af ter she started calling out the numbers on the spread sheet, there were objec tions by Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) agents, who were saying that the fig ures do not match the SoPs.

“There was just backand- forth and a lot of noise between [PPP/C and A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change party agents],” she stated.

The GECOM staff add ed that at no point did either Miller or Livan, who were in the tabulation room, of fer to re-check the figures on the spreadsheet to ascertain whether they were correctly recorded.

While she could not re

Following this, both Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers, and the GECOM Chair, Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh, came down to check on Bowman, who related that she indicated to them that she could no longer work, since it was her first preg nancy and she was con cerned about her safety in the room.

Bowman said she was eventually given permission to leave, due to her condi tion, and was placed on bed rest by her doctor the follow ing day. She said she did not return to work until after her delivery.

The GECOM staff told the Commission that she never had another conver sation with the DCEO over what caused the uproar in the tabulation, since she as sumed that the official was up-to-date with what was going on. In fact, she added that even the GECOM Chair did not make such an enqui ry.

Alexandra Bowman

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

Home-ownership drive

Every week, articles of house lots’ allocations are being published in the local media, as the Government aims to meet its targeted 50,000 distribution.

If one can recall, the Opposition had scoffed when, during the campaign, the PPP had declared it would be delivering 50,000 house lots during the next five years if it were to get into office. In its previous iterations, the housing sector was one of its glowing successes, and it was not coincidental that much of that success occurred under the watch of Irfaan Ali, who was then the Minister of Housing. With him becoming President on Aug 2, 2020, the promise was almost guaranteed, since he knows exactly what needs to be done.

And now we can see, from the trajectory of house lots’ allocation, that the goal is well within sight, with approximately 19,000 already distributed over the past two years countrywide.

This compares with the 7089 lots allocated over the five years the APNU/AFC coalition was in office. However, the Government is not stopping at house lots, but has set its sights on their owners becoming home owners. It has done this by encouraging easier access to loans with lower interest rates, increasing the number of institutions granting mortgages with the authorisation of the Bank of Baroda to enter the mortgage market, and reducing taxes on construction and building materials.

The NBS has been persuaded to grant loans of up to $6 million with an interest rate of four per cent; for loans above $4 million and up to $9 million, the interest has been reduced from 5.95 per cent to 3.75 per cent. An interest rate of 5.70 per cent, instead of the previous 5.95 per cent, is now applied to the loan bracket of above $9 million and up to $20 million.

Any individual taking out a mortgage of up to $30 million for the purchase of a home would be able to deduct the interest paid on the mortgage from their taxable income. Immediately, homeowners will benefit significantly. Since, in the early mortgage, most of the payments are applied to interest on the mortgage, these payments would now act to raise the “non-taxable” income of the homeowner from the present $720,000 by the total interest paid for the year.

But the benefits from the Government’s overall facilitation of housing for the entire population go far beyond the tax exemption etc. One of these is that a mortgage is a form of long-term forced savings. Many persons have great difficulty in saving directly from their pay cheques or wages, which is not just a problem for the individual, but for the nation. Developing countries need savings to make investments, and when individuals take out mortgages, the banks can count on a steady income stream, which can be invested. For the home owners, rather than paying rentals, they accumulate increasing equity in their houses; which, historically, has always tended to go upwards.

Home ownership also has immediate spinoff benefits for the rest of the economy, as owners seek to furnish and constantly upgrade their properties. Businesses that cater to this trade typically employ a large number of unskilled persons, as well as give a boost to local manufacturers of furniture and other household goods. The NDCs can now collect rates and taxes to provide various services to the area.

But just as important are the social benefits that give families a sense of stability and security. The moment someone owns a home, the family acquires pride in home ownership, and typically sees itself as having a stake in the community. This leads to the development of social capital in the form of trust between residents. If countries do not have this kind of social capital, it is almost impossible for them to mobilise their citizens for the sacrifices a sustainable developmental thrust demands.

The success of a developing country depends on the development of a growing middle class. There can be no middle class unless they are facilitated to own their own homes.

Patterson’s enduring wail for attention is unbecoming

Dear Editor, Please allow me a moment to respond to a letter published in your daily newspaper cap tioned “At end of November, Public Works Ministry has spent only 51% of its budget ed $88B”

Firstly, the author of the above-mentioned letter has gone to lengths to cast a shad ow over the management of the Ministry of Public Works, and as depraved as this is to the hard-working men and women employed under the Ministry, I will oblige my Opposition colleague with an answer yet again.

As stated in the Parliament, there are some big-ticket items for which transactions are to be completed before December 31st, 2022, and what this means is that that will signifi cantly change the percentage of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), namely:

-$2.6B approved for the construction of office complex es for Government Ministries. This sum represents the mo bilisation advance payment, which will be paid out before December 31, 2022. This proj ect is awaiting NPTAB approv al, after being advertised pub licly.

-$21.1B approved for the New Demerara River Bridge. This bid was publicly adver tised, and the contract was signed in May 2022. This sum will be disbursed before December 31, 2022.

Meanwhile, with regards to the Miscellaneous Roads / Drainage Programme, the following should be noted: the sum of $17.049B was ap proved by Parliament, and as of December 6th, the sum of

$16.297B was disbursed, rep resenting 95.5% expenditure. The additional sum of $18.1B was approved for rehabilita tion/ construction of communi ty roads and drainage works. this sum represents a frac tion of what is required to en sure all Guyanese have proper roads and functional drainage.

Our citizens must know that their Government, through the Ministry of Public Works, will continue to award contracts in accordance with the Procurement Act of 2003.

Every effort is also being made to ensure the contracts for the East Bank Demerara Road between Grove and Timehri, and the SoesdykeLinden Highway are awarded as soon as possible. The loans for these two projects have been approved in the second half of 2022, and as a result, the sum of $4.89B would not be disbursed in 2022.

Now, please bear with me as I address another statement made by Mr. Patterson, this time of compliantly expend ing budgeted money by the Ministry.

This statement is without basis and substance.

The PPP/C Administration has repeatedly demonstrated, and will continue to demon strate, its transparency in all its engagements and trans actions, which is not some thing that could be said about the previous APNU+AFC Government, to which Mr. Patterson belonged.

Mr. Patterson, I urged you then, and I urge you now: please do not come saint-like, uttering folly when you had presided over the signing of questionable contracts and at

dubious timings as well.

Let’s take a look at the Leguan Ferry Stelling. Following an audit conducted by the Audit Office of Guyana, it was determined that the contractor was not only in capable and unable to do the job, but also did not possess the wherewithal to successful ly execute this $413,259,260 project. A project, a contract signed on September 20, 2018 under the leadership of Mr. Patterson, then Minister of Public Infrastructure.

Further, the contractor had received payments totalling $199,435,000, almost 50% of the contract sum, which is an unheard-of occurrence outside of normal procurement prac tices, and a breach of the Fiscal Management Accountability Act. Here the question of cor ruption should come to mind, and as if this were not enough, shall we mention the contract to rehabilitate sections of the road leading to St. Cuthbert’s Mission, where work on the $100 million road from the Soesdyke/Linden highway into the community had to be terminated because the con tractor could not complete the works?

Another project that raises many questions, and is engag ing the attention of the Police, is the procurement of 3 weighin-motion scales. The audit re port of 2021 stated that the sum of $72.264M was paid for the supply and delivery of three motion scales; howev er, to date, the supplier is yet to deliver the scales as per contract, even after receiving 100% of the contract sum.

Editor, coming into office in August 2020, the PPP/C

Administration inherited the most troublesome, waste ful, corrupt, and poorly man aged contracts of the then Government, which fell un der the purview of David Patterson. This is not an ac cusation, but a fact which The Auditor General’s Report of 2021 supports.

Lastly, with regard to Mr. Patterson’s wail of corrupt and discriminatory practices, this is nothing but a cry for atten tion; something, unfortunate ly, I cannot and simply do not have time for.

The Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali Administration’s “One Guyana” initiative is a social contract of inclusion: legisla tively, politically, and social ly. Its vision is about creating a more equal society; guar anteeing that everyone is af forded the opportunity to lead productive and happy lives; and reducing inequality in ac cess to education, health, em ployment, income, and justice. Since coming into office, this has been our practice across every sector; ensuring our pro grammes include everyone and are for the benefit of all citi zens.

Our vision for infrastruc tural modernisation will see massive road networks con necting all parts of the coun try; and this, as you know, has already started.

Editor, let this not be a titfor-tat, as I must get on with the business of the people of Guyana.

Respectfully, Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister of Public Works

Demerara Bank Ltd on Wednesday hosted an evening of carolling at its Camp Street, Georgetown branch before lighting up the avenue in front of the bank. This year’s event has marked the 2nd beautification and illumination of the avenue between New Market and Lamaha Streets, Georgetown, to spread Christmas cheer to all Guyanese

PPP projected to win LGE 2023 with big gains

Dear Editor, President Irfaan Ali is projected to lead the PPPC to a landslide victo ry in next March’s Local Government Elections (LGE). He will make signif icant gains even in PNCR strongholds in urban and rural constituencies.

If the elections were held now, the PPPC would win an overwhelming num ber of the 70 NDCs and a majority of the 10 munic ipalities. The poll projec tion is turning out to be the largest electoral vic tory of the party in Local Government Elections in the history of the country, with voters giving high fa vourability ratings to Ali’s leadership in contradis tinction with Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, who scores very low on pop ularity ratings.

These were some of the findings of tracking opin ion polls conducted in December, November, and October. The latest sur veys (from October thru December) show consis

tency in relatively high fa vourability (likeability or popularity) and job perfor mance ratings of President Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, and Prime Minister Mark Phillips. All have maintained consistently high positive and job per formance ratings in the 60s percentile, in contrast with Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, whose likeability or popularity and job per formance ratings were con sistently in the low 30s or upper 20s.

The polls find nil crossover appeal for Norton among Indians and float ing voters, accounting for his poor ratings. Voters overwhelmingly prefer Ali and the PPPC over the PNCR. Voters in general do not have a very favour able opinion of Norton, and by extension the PNCR or APNU under his lead ership. The public does not view the PNCR or the APNU-AFC coalition un der Norton’s leadership as a viable alternative to the PPPC. The populace

says his recent actions demonstrate that he lacks the leadership qualities to bring people togeth er. They note that he is brash, operates in isola tion, and is not engaging. They say they are looking for a leader who is person able and conciliatory; one who would pursue consen sus politics; and who would put an end to political vi olence, confrontational pol itics, and ethnic divisive ness. Not surprisingly, many traditional support ers and middle-of-the-road floating voters are moving away from the party, which may lead to its decimation or disappearance in the coming LGE.

Local Government Elections (LGE) are sched uled for March, and elector al fortunes could change by then, especially now that a new Georgetown-based po litical party, Independent Citizens for Progress (ICP), was launched last week. Led by well-known broadcaster Bobby Vieira, ICP is gaining traction

in Georgetown, a PNCR stronghold, among the middle class and business and professional class es. The ICP is also talked about among Indian busi nesspersons who are seek ing different leadership for Georgetown.

In contrast to the ICP, the polls’ findings reveal Norton has not been able to win over cross-ethnic sup port, which is key to win ning an election. In fact, almost every Indian who voted PNCR or APNU and the coalition last general election say they will stay at home in the coming local election. APNU is not very appealing to them and to so many other voters who supported the coalition. The PNCR, therefore, is likely to lose at the coming LGE several seats that it won in 2018. The PPPC is a beneficiary, making gains in traditional PNC base.

Sincerely, Dr Vishnu Bisram for NACTA

Patient in need of surgery was not left unattended

Dear Editor, With reference to the so cial media posts being cir culated with the claim that a patient in need of surgery was admitted on November 21, 2022 and left unat tended at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), resulting in his de mise, the GPHC wishes to discredit the claims.

The Corporation also en courages the public to de sist from publishing claims based on partial informa tion, and urges the media to reach out to us to verify the facts before publishing mis leading information.

From a medical perspec tive, a multiple-injured per son requires optimal stabil isation before any surgical intervention is attempted. Based on our records, all preoperative optimisation protocols were carried out. Despite the medical team’s best efforts, the patient suf fered a thromboembolic event intra-operatively, and succumbed days later.

Every loss of a patient is unfortunate, and our hearts go out to their fam

ilies. While we sympathise with the loss that is felt by every family, the GPHC will not condone hearsay claims that are often peddled by third-party accounts of events to discredit our staff and our institution. Our team continues to work dil igently to provide the high est quality of medical care to the people of Guyana.

While the entirety of this patient’s details will not be divulged to the press, in the interest of doctor-pa tient confidentiality and the GPHC’s general policy of not disclosing our patients’ med ical history unless required by law, the family members of the patient in question were duly informed pre- and postoperatively of his man agement and care.

The GPHC again extends its condolences to the fami ly in their time of bereave ment, and remains available to the patient’s family to an swer any questions or con cerns.

Sincerely, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation

a Sundial

By The BroThers Grimm

GRO, immigration services payment now possible via MMG

their homes, offices, or oth er convenient locations for services offered by the Guyana Register Office and Immigration Support.

This digital service will allow Guyanese to apply for their birth, marriage, and death certificates, along with other integral docu ments from the GRO on the Home Affairs Ministry website, then they will be guided by its staff through WhatsApp or a chat option.

The Home Affairs Ministry, in part nership with GTT’s Mobile Money Guyana (MMG), on Wednesday launched mobile payment services for the General Register Office (GRO) and Immigration Support Services with the aim of

making services more acces sible to the public.

The launch ceremony of the cashless and time-effi cient alternative was held at the Home Affairs Ministry on Brickdam, Georgetown.

Guyanese can now en joy hassle-free transac tions from the comfort of

The information will then be processed and they will be instructed to make their payments through MMG. After receiving a con firmation code, the docu ments will be mailed to their respective addresses.

For Immigration Support Services, payments will be accepted through MMG for entry visas, work permits, and extension stay permits

ARO says was instructed...

“I assumed they al ready know what the com motion was about because everybody was being loud. So, it wasn’t a secret what they were rowing about,” Bowman stated.

She further related that efforts were made to recov ery her personal flash drive that was used during the tabulation process, but she was told that she couldn’t get it, as it was now “evi dence”.

Mingo’s clerk remains silent Meanwhile, Mingo’s Clerk, Michelle Miller, who is currently facing criminal charges in the courts along with Livan, Mingo and oth ers, was summoned to ap

pear before the CoI today, but opted to exercise her right to remain silent. As a result, she was released by the Commission.

On Tuesday, three other GECOM staffers at the time of the 2020 elections also opted to remain silent after being summoned by the CoI, due to similar charges which were brought against them.

In fact, those three em ployees – Denise BabbCummings, Shefern February and Carolyn Duncan – along with Miller, had filed an injunction on Monday, citing that the summonses amount to a breach of their constitution al rights against self-incrim ination under Article 144 of the Constitution of Guyana.

FROM PAGE 3

They asked for an order quashing the summons and a permanent injunction pre venting the CoI from com pelling the attendance of anyone charged with a crim inal offence.

Their application also called for a declaration that the State has breached its duty to ensure that every person charged with a crim inal offence is given a fair trial; a declaration that the Commission has no power to compel the attendance of any witness charged with a criminal offence; and dam ages in excess of $50 million each for the breach of their constitutional right.

However, this applica tion was not granted by the High Court. (G8)

among other documents.

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn said for some time his Ministry, along with the Government, has been trying to get some of its services online.

“I am pleased that we are finally at this point. When we took office, originally, the first few things we talk ed about was providing more efficient and efficacious ser vices to the public by putting more and more things online because we recognise that people were taking a lot of time and a great deal of ef fort, particularly those who come from far-off places in Guyana”.

“They have to put in time… money, in relation to accessing what at the be ginning are fairly basic ser vices, and so we thought that we needed to have on line services or a portal to do online services, and we did think of GTT…,” he ex plained.

The Minister said not

only would this digital ser vice aid in more services be coming more accessible to the public, but it would help in crime reduction. He said soon people would not have to walk around with large sums of money, because they would have a medium to transfer funds electroni cally.

“The question of security of money, money transfers… of course, we old people like to have our monies in our pockets and to pay directly with it, and perhaps to have the personal touch in terms of paying that money”.

“But, in these modern days, it needs to be done much quicker and without much frustration and de lay,” he said.

Meanwhile, MMG General Manager Bobita Ram said this collaboration provided people with an eas ier option for their transac tions.

She said soon MMG would be catering to the

Diaspora, whereby persons can pay for their documents in Guyana, from any part of the world.

“The Diaspora is coming next… this process is going to make life so much easier for you,” she said.

In the past year, MMG has enabled payments for fuel at SOL-branded gas stations; ferry pass es from Parika, West Coast Demerara to Supenaam, Essequibo; the breeze pass at the Demerara Harbour Bridge; the New Building Society, and the Guyana Police Force under the Home Affairs Ministry. (G9)

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn

MMG General Manager Bobita Ram

Wedding house murder

Convicted killer’s jailtime reduced from 70 to 22 years

and the defence’s case,” she had argued.

According to her, the tri al Judge was “very clear” in his general directions that it was the prosecution that had the burden to prove the elements of the offence.

“The jury would have been clear, because we had two cases that were com pletely opposite: the prose cution was saying that this is the appellant (Guyadeen) that caused the injuries… caused the death…and there we had the defence in dicating that, no, we did not cause the injuries, the ap pellant was not there on the night.”

To this end, James-Lake

Beating...

…pickneys

There’s an interesting debate going on in the press –for the umpteenth time – about beating children in schools. Several parents had complained that their little darlings had been whipped on their hands -- which, in the age of smart phones, had been recorded in black and blue -- to literally and figuratively “straighten” them. Like most of what we do in the modern world, beating children has a biblical origin: “He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loveth him chastens him betimes”, Proverbs 13:24. This was poetically condensed into “spare the rod and spoil the child”.

Forty-one-year-old Rajesh Guyadeen, called “Bricksman”, who in 2018 had been sen tenced to 70 years in pris on for murdering 26-yearold Nandram Manohar, also called “Nando”, at a wedding house at Unity, Lancaster, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD)in 2003, has had his sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal (CoA) of Guyana.

Guyadeen had been found guilty in 2018 for the May 4, 2003 murder of Manohar, and the lengthy jail sentence had been im posed on him by Justice Navindra Singh in the Demerara High Court.

Through Attorney-atLaw Brandon De Santos, the convicted killer had mounted an appeal against his conviction, which he ar gued was unsafe; and his sentence, which he contend ed was severe.

In handing down its de cision on Wednesday, the CoA, comprising Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette CummingsEdwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn GregoryBarnes and Rishi Persaud, upheld Guyadeen’s convic tion for the capital offence of murder, but found that the 70-year sentence imposed by trial Judge Navindra Singh was indeed severe. As such, the CoA has varied that sentence to 22 years, less time spent in pre-trial detention.

Guyadeen, who had fled Guyana after commit ting the crime, had initially been charged at some time in 2014, and had been re manded to prison.

Prejudicial evidence, misdirection

In his grounds of appeal, Guyadeen had, among other things, argued that Justice Singh had admitted prejudi cial evidence, and this, cou pled with the misdirection he had given to the jury, had rendered his convic tion unsafe. As such, he had asked the appellate court to quash his conviction.

At the appeal hearing in April, Guyadeen’s law yer had advanced that the trial Judge had allowed Prosecutrix Abigail Gibbs to tell the jury that his client had “run, run, run”.

According to counsel Brandon De Santos, in her closing address to the jury, the prosecutrix had said that Guyadeen had fled to neighbouring Suriname af ter committing the crime, and had been only arrest ed some 11 years after. De Santos had contended that whether this is true or not, it is of little importance in terms of proving the ele ments of murder.

According to him, the prosecutrix’s assertion is prejudicial because it “would invite the jury to draw the conclusion that the reason he [Guyadeen] was running was to get away from any liability he ought to have faced”.

“When you say he ‘run, run, run’, as a prosecutor, you may have fallen into an error of giving the jury a misconception that he ran away to escape”, said De Santos as he maintained that his client did not run away.

He said other inferences could have been drawn from his client’s absence from the jurisdiction. Where other in ferences can be drawn from the evidence, De Santos had reasoned, as a matter of law, the inference most fa vourable to the accused per son must be drawn.

He submitted that while this evidence was prejudi cial, “it may have some pro bative value”. When one was to examine what the probative value was about him running away, it does little, if anything, to estab lish the ingredients neces sary for a murder charge.

“It may have established the reason why it took so long for the charge to have been brought and for the trial to have commenced, but that is not relevant…

In a murder trial, you need to have the ingredients for the murder charge led…and

this running away aspect, in my respectful submis sion, did little, if anything, in terms of proving the ele ments of the charge of mur der.”

Equal treatment

For her part, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Teshana James-Lake, had dismissed De Santos’s con tention that the trial Judge did not fairly/adequately put his client’s defence of al ibi to the jury. She had re counted that when called upon to lead a defence, Guyadeen had opted to give sworn testimony, and had called witnesses to support his alibi that he was not in the country at the time of commission of the offence.

In putting Guyadeen’s defence to the jurors, the prosecutor recalled that the had Judge indicated to them that this was a defence of alibi. Apart from summaris ing Guyadeen’s defence of him being in Suriname at the time of the incident, the prosecutor had said that Justice Singh had also anal ysed the evidence of the two witnesses he called in sup port of his case.

Considering this, the Assistant DPP had insist ed that Guyadeen’s de fence was extensively put to the jury by the trial Judge. “Equal treatment was giv en to the prosecution’s case

had argued that taking the summing up as a whole, the trial Judge had dealt ade quately with the treatment of the evidence, including the defence of Guyadeen; “so that the conviction in this matter ought to re main”.

Reports state that on the night of May 4, 2003, at Unity, Lancaster, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD), Guyadeen and Manohar were at a wed ding house when someone alleged that Manohar had punctured Guyadeen’s bi cycle wheel. Shortly after, Manohar was reported ly heard crying out that he had been stabbed.

The injured man was pronounced dead on arriv al at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC). His cause of death was given as per foration of the aorta and kidney as a result of a stab wound measuring some 16 centimetres in length.

According to reports, Guyadeen, who had been the prime suspect in the man’s murder, had fled the country and had re portedly been hiding out in Suriname.

He reportedly returned to Guyana in December 2014, and was apprehend ed two months later when Police ranks raided a hotspot where they found him smoking marijuana. (G1)

So, as the Christian Church followed the Christian armies, the colonised folks were convinced that “sense” had to be BEATEN into children. For instance, historians and anthropologists have found no evidence that physical discipline of children existed in precolonial West African societies - prior to the Atlantic Slave Trade. In addition to “good sense”, the Devil had to also be beaten out, since being bereft of souls, Black children were more susceptible to his baleful influence! The Spanish and Portuguese had long practice with the Inquisition they’d devised for this purpose!!

Anyhow, even the term “beating pickneys” comes out of our slave history - when there was a special name for African (then called “Negro”) children – picaninny. Imagine that!! In line with the European legal categorisation of Africans as sub-humans, their offspring couldn’t be called “children” like theirs!! So as their parents were regularly whipped in the fields to “motivate” then to greater productivity – this gave them something to look forward to as they grew up!

Racks from the Inquisition were also used – as was “drawing and quartering”. After abolition, the task of civilising them through the “wild cane” that substituted for the European Birch was passed on to the various state-sponsored Christian denominational schools. The Portuguese, Indian and Chinese children inherited this condign administering of the “rod of correction”!!

And so it remained after independence. Even though the schools had been taken over by the Government, the methodology of imparting “education” was retained. Of course, from the previous generations of men taking their education seriously, the salutary beatings were inflicted in the home on their wives and children. The man, after all, was “head of the home”, according to the Bible.

The point of this long intro is to make it clear that the outlawing of beating in schools ain’t gonna happen just like that!! There are several generations of successful people who’re now leaders in all sections of our nation, who’re convinced it was the beatings they received that made them successful!!

And if you think that’s strange, how many among us don’t think that white skin is “better” than black skin.

…COVID-19

Ever since COVID-19 exploded straight out of Wuhan, China back at the end of 2019, they instituted a policy called "Dynamic Covid Zero" (DCZ) - taking action wherever COVID flares up, in order to eradicate it. A complete lockdown was immediately imposed on entire cities with tens of millions of citizens, and this in the face of obvious negative economic consequences. In the most recent outbreak, the DCZ policy was again unleashed – but this time, there were some protests.

Now, in the West, they didn’t go this route. While it was rationalised as “not interfering too deeply into individual freedoms”, there’s more than a sneaking suspicion that economics played a greater role than science. Gotta make profits!! So what are the results from the two approaches?

It was found that 82% of Chinese support DCZ because, over 3 COVID years, China's GDP grew 13.8%, with 7,000 deaths and 38,000 long COVID cases.

Meanwhile, in those same COVID years, US GDP grew 3.4%, with 1,000,000 COVID deaths and 3,000,000 long COVID cases!!

…Marx

Pushing back at critics of his recent agreement with PVDSA and Chevron, to resume shipping oil to the US, Maduro insisted that trading relationships “cannot be ideologised. Energy relationships cannot be ideologised.”

So, ideology has no material base?

Convicted killer Rajesh Guyadeen, called “Bricksman”

From L-R: Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards; Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory

Agri sector attracting new entrants – Mustapha

…containers

Having aspirations of being the bread bas ket of the Caribbean and of piloting the reduction of food imports into the re gion by 25 per cent in the next three years, Guyana is seeing increasing numbers of people entering the agri culture sector.

Making this report in the National Assembly was Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, when he rose to defend supplemen tal funds for his Ministry. According to the Minister, there has been an influx, not only in goods being shipped out, but also persons enter ing the agriculture sector.

“We have seen an influx of people into the agricul ture sector by people who would have called it a day in 2015- 2020. We are see

of agri produce exported to Eastern Caribbean monthly

ing more and more people coming on now, they want to get into agriculture,” he ex plained.

“We’re seeing our agri culture sector thriving. As a matter of fact, every single month we’re seeing contain ers of produce going to the Eastern Caribbean, where farmers in Guyana now are exporting their produce,” Mustapha said.

The funds that Mustapha was seeking approval for in Financial Paper #3 were for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA). According to a breakdown of the sums, $1 billion was requested for GUYSUCO and $2 billion for NDIA.

The Agriculture Minister

has given some insight into how these monies would be spent: the Albion Sugar Estate will receive $363 million, Blairmont Estate $76 million, and Rose Hall Estate $561 million.

“The operating estates, we are rehabilitating that equipment. And the shut tered estates, we are trying to get those estates back on track. As I said, there’s a lot of money being spent at Rose Hall. We’ve budgeted for the entire year. To date, we’ve spent $12 billion, but we have another set of equipment that we have to set up to ensure we continue with the tillage. And there, a lot of critical equipment that was set aside and left in the field, we have to rehab,” he said.

The former A Partnership

Tint permits now valid for 3 years – Benn

years”.

According to informa tion on the Home Affairs Ministry’s website, as it stands, tint waiver permits are valid for six months and should be renewed at least one week before the expiry date. The estimated process ing time for an application is three to five working days.

To apply for a tint per mit, applicants are required to write a letter to the

Minister of Home Affairs, requesting permission to use their vehicle with tint, and they must attach sup porting documents to verify their reasons.

Applicants are also re quired to fill out the tint waiver application form and attach copies of documents listed on the form such as the vehicle registration and fitness, and two pass port-size photos.

for National Unity-Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had closed the Wales Estate in 2016, and subsequently shut down the Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon estates.

The downsizing of the sugar industry has result ed in only the Uitvlugt, Blairmont and Albion es tates currently operating.

After taking office, the PPP/C Government announced, in the 2020 Emergency Budget presented in September 2020, that some $5 billion would be injected immediate ly into the sugar industry for the phased reopening of the closed estates. After enter ing office, Government also injected some $600 million into the Corporation to assist with the payment of wages and salaries for employees.

Meanwhile, the $2 billion for NDIA will be used for a number of things, including $426 million for mechanical works to NDIA equipment and $261 million to cover fuel. The Minister also gave a regional breakdown of where the money was going. For instance, the Minister disclosed that $46 million will go to Region Two, $272 million to Region Three, and $588 million to Region Four.

Region Five has been allo cated $97 million, Region Six $228 million, Region Nine $9 million and Region 10 $70 million. (G3)

He made the announce ment on Wednesday during the launching ceremo ny of the Mobile Money Guyana (mmg+)

With this new service, persons can make payments for their tint permits digi tally. Benn explained that it is through this service, that persons would be able “to extend the validity period for tint [permits] for three

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has announced that the lifespan of tint permits will be extended to three years in order for permit holders to avoid the hassle of con stant renewal.

service for the General Register Office (GRO) and the Immigration Support Services (ISS).

Nephew remanded for murder of elderly aunt

ly ill, appeared before the Chief Magistrate at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday, December 7, and was not required to enter a plea to the indictable charge which alleges that he murdered Audrey Statia Elizabeth Harris. He has been re manded to prison until January 17, 2023.

Fifty-year-old Keith Walton Harris has been remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for alleged ly murdering his elderly aunt, 76-year-old Audrey Statia Elizabeth Harris, on December 2 at Princes Street, Georgetown.

The jobless Keith Harris, whom Police had initially said was mental

Audrey Harris was found dead in her home at about 09:00h last Friday, December 2, with multi ple stab wounds about her body. According to Police Headquarters, the elder ly woman and her nephew, who had been occupying the bottom flat of her two-storey property, had had an argu ment earlier in the day, be cause she had wanted him to move out, but he had re fused.

During the heated ex change, Keith Harris, who was reportedly armed with a knife, allegedly dealt his aunt, who was reportedly holding a hammer, two stabs on both sides of her neck.

Upon being stabbed, the

woman had fallen to the ground, but was picked up by neighbours and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where she was pronounced dead on ar rival.

After committing the act, Keith Harris had fled the scene, but was later appre hended by Police. He has reportedly confessed to the crime. (G1)

2 wanted for attempted murder of pump attendant

Two carpenters, aged 25 and 19, are wanted by Police for the at tempted murder of 27-yearold Kemraj Ramcharran, a pump attendant of Winsor Castle, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam).

Police are look ing for 25-year-old Ron

pants of that car had an ar gument with the pump at tendant over opening the gas tank of the car.

The car had driven away, but at approximate ly 21:45h it returned to the gas station, and two males, respectively armed with a piece of wood and a cutlass, exited the vehicle and dealt

when the car drove into the gas station and stopped at the pump. He said he got up and approached the ve hicle, which was tinted, and he had difficulty seeing who was inside the vehicle.

He said he stood at the pump for about five min utes, waiting for the driv er to open the vehicle’s gas

Combermack: of Henrietta, Essequibo Coast, and Herstelling Sea Dam, East Bank Demerara; and 19-year-old Junior Seferino: of Leopold Street, Georgetown and of Henrietta, Essequibo Coast.

According to Police re ports, the victim Kemraj Ramcharran is employed as a pump attendant at the Riffee Gas Station at Henrietta, and would normally sell gas throughout the night and keep the sales money in his possession. However, on October 30, at about 21:00h, he was working at the said gas station when a white car that had unknown oc cupants approached the premises. One of the occu

the victim several lashes and chops to his head and about his body.

Consequently injured, Ramcharran fell to the ground, and the two men made good their escape.

Ramcharran was picked up and taken to the Suddie Public Hospital. However, because of the severity of his injuries, he was trans ferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for further medical attention.

In a recent interview with this publication, Ramcharran has called for justice, as he feels that not much has been done with the investigation.

In recalling the attack, he explained that he had concluded his first shift, and had returned home

tank. He then saw the front passenger window go down, and he heard a male voice shouting, “Yuh have me like a clown waiting hay!”

He recalled that the driver – a slim Amerindian man – exited the vehicle and shouted, “Yuh want ah jook yuh up!?” Then a known woman exited the vehicle.

He said he told the man if he was going to behave like that, he would have to leave the gas station. He said the man then become annoyed and began to ver bally abuse him.

He said the car left, and returned at around 22:00h as he was closing the pump, and the men began beating and chopping him about his body. (G9)

Dead: Audrey Statia Elizabeth Harris

Murder accused Keith Walton Harris

Injured: Kemraj Ramcharran

25-year-old Ron Combermack of Henrietta, Essequibo Coast and of Herstelling Sea Dam, EBD; and 19-year-old Junior Seferino of Leopold Street, Georgetown and of Henrietta, Essequibo Coast

APNU/AFC dismissed election petition CoA sets February 8, 2023 for oral arguments

The Court of Appeal (CoA) of Guyana has fixed February 8, 2023 to commence hearing argu ments in an appeal against the acting Chief Justice’s de cision to dismiss the APNU/ AFC’s second election peti tion, in which the party had, among other things, sought to have the results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections invali dated.

In October, the CoA, led by Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette CummingsEdwards, ruled that it would proceed with hearing the appeal filed against Chief Justice Roxane George’s de cision, which was rendered on April 26, 2021 and ap pealed against the follow ing month. This was after the court had decided in fa vour of a motion filed by Opposition-aligned lawyer Roysdale Forde, SC, to have the matter expedited in light of it being delayed for over a year-and-a-half, which he had noted was caused by the unavailability of Justice George’s written ruling, which ought to have formed part of the record of appeal that is to be prepared by the High Court.

In presenting his case, Forde had argued that as a result of the delay, peti tioners Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick had suffered substantial preju dice, and he had gone on to blame the judiciary for what he termed institutional/sys temic failure.

At a case manage ment conference (CMC) on Wednesday, the Appellate Court set strict timelines for when the parties must file written submissions and submissions in reply, after being informed that the full record of appeal was in or der and served on everyone. The court will meet again on February 8, 2023 at 09:30h to hear arguments.

Before the Chief Justice, Thorne and Bostwick had contended that the elec tion results must be inval idated on the ground of se rious non-compliance with the Constitution and elec toral laws as they relate to the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) conduct of those elections.

They had also contend ed that Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act and Order #60, also known as the Recount Order, were in violation of the Constitution.

But, in dismissing the petition, the Chief Justice had held that the petition ers had failed to present evi dence to support the conten tion that the conduct of the

elections had contravened the Constitution and elec toral laws. She had ruled that neither Section 22 nor the Recount Order was ul tra vires the Constitution, adding that Article 162 of the Constitution empow ered GECOM to take what ever actions were necessary to conclude the elections, in cluding embarking on a re count of all ballots.

Alluding to the events that occurred after the close of polls, Justice George had noted, “Given the difficul ties, it does appear that it would not have been pru dent for GECOM to de clare the results in the pe culiar circumstances that accompanied the comple tion of the process of the March 2 Elections. A com bination of Article 162 (1) (b) of the Constitution and Section 22 confer the power upon GECOM to issue this [Recount] Order if GECOM considered it necessary or expedient to ensure impar tiality, fairness, and compli ance…as regards the elec tion process.”

Grounds of appeal

However, Coalition law yers in their appeal contend ed that Justice George erred in law when she ruled that Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act 2000 and Order #60 made there under were not in violation of the Constitution.

According to them, by virtue of their application for the election results to be de clared invalid, both Section 22 and Order #60, which flowed directly from Article 162 of the Constitution, were in conflict with and/or contravened Article 177 of the Constitution.

In court documents seen by this publication, they further argued that Justice George again erred in law when she found that Order #60 was a mechanism to al low for the recount to be con ducted by expanding the

recount provisions in the Representation of the People Act (RoPA).

The petitioners had sub mitted that Justice George erred in law when she failed to find that the mechanisms set out in Order No #60 amounted to a substantial variation from the RoPA, and consequently could not be said to have “merely mod ified” the said Act.

Besides that, they com plained that she erred in law when she ruled that they did not produce evidence sub stantiating their claim that the elections were not law fully conducted. Like they had done before the High Court, they have gone to the Appellate Court argu ing that there was no need for the production of any evidence, except the decla rations by the Returning Officers and the recount fig ures.

Thorne and Bostwick, among other things, argued that the Chief Justice erred in law when she rejected the evidence before the court which established that there was a difference in the re corded figures for the polit ical parties in the Official Gazette dated August 20, 2020, in which the results of the elections were de clared pursuant to Order #60 from a letter by former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield to GECOM’s Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh.

Ultimately, they are also asking the court to declare that President Dr Irfaan Ali is illegally holding office.

The results of a nation al recount of all ballots cast showed that the PPP/C won the general elections with 233,336 votes over the Coalition’s 217,920 votes.

Thrown out Both of APNU/AFC’s election petitions have been dismissed by the Chief Justice. In January 2021, she dismissed the election

petition filed by Brennan Nurse and Monica Thomas owing to their non-compli ance with effecting service on the Coalition’s Presidential Candidate, David Granger.

The party had appealed her ruling to the Court of Appeal, which, by a majori ty decision on December 21, 2021, held that it had juris

diction to hear an appeal against a ruling of the High Court to dismiss an election petition on the basis of pro cedural impropriety.

In so doing, the Court of Appeal rejected arguments by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, that because the petition was not heard on its merits, the court had no jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal; nei ther from statute nor from the Constitution, nor does it have inherent jurisdiction.

In a consolidated appeal before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Nandlall, and Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, in his ca pacity as General Secretary of the PPP/C, argued that the Court of Appeal’s rul ing was erroneous and con sequently should be over turned.

The Trinidad-based court of final resort, in October, held that the local appeal court erred when it took ju risdiction to hear an election dismissed for the reasons listed by the Chief Justice,

and thus quashed the deci sion rendered by that court.

Given the ruling of the country’s apex court, the Chief Justice’s decision was restored, and this peti tion can no longer be heard, since the petitioners have exhausted all their right of appeal.

The manner of service is prescribed in Rule 9 (1) of the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Rules, which imposes on the peti tioners the statutory obliga tion to effect service within five days after the presenta tion of the petition. Having been filed on September 15, 2020, the petition should have been served on Granger five days thereaf ter, which would have been September 21, 2020, since the fifth day – September 20, 2020 – was a Sunday. But in Nurse’s Affidavit of Service, it was stated that the peti tion, along with the relevant documents, was only served on Granger on September 25, 2020 – five days outside of the statutorily prescribed period. (G1)

From L-R: Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Justice of Appeal

Rishi Persaud and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory

8 years' jail for man who killed shopkeeper when he was 16

A24-year-old man who had murdered a woman when he was a 16-year-old juvenile was on Thursday jailed for eight years by Justice JoAnn Barlow presiding in the Essequibo High Court.

For legal reasons, the name, address, photograph and other particulars of the man cannot be published be cause he had been charged as a juvenile.

Upon his arraignment last month before Justice

Barlow, he opted to plead guilty to the capital offence, admitting that he had mur dered Bibi Sheniza KhanBhola in the course or fur therance of a robbery. The incident had taken place at Rock Creek in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) in 2014.

Following his guilty plea, the offender, who was represented by Attorneyat-Law L N Dindayal, had been further remanded to prison to await sentencing, which had been put off to

Wednesday, December 7. Senior State Counsel Tiffini Lyken had presented the prosecution’s case.

In keeping with the Juvenile Justice Act, Justice Barlow sentenced the young man to serve a minimum of eight years in jail, during which the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) must cause him to be exposed to be haviour-modification pro grammes and counselling sessions commencing from next month.

She further ordered the GPS to ensure that he en rolls in academic studies tailored to his needs and abilities, and in courses in carpentry and masonry, all of which must begin in January.

According to the Judge’s order, the GPS must keep re cords of the offender’s atten dance, participation, and per formance in the programmes. Also, the GPS has to organ ise and facilitate half-yearly assessments of the offender by a probation officer. These assessments will be reviewed every two years, commencing in October 2024, when the of fender would be brought be fore Justice Barlow or an other Judge assigned to the case.

Upon the court being sat isfied that he is ready for re integration into society, the court shall order his release from custody on conditions

that the court at the time of release deems fit.

Khan-Bhola, a 34-yearold mother of two, of La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD), had been found stabbed to death in her shop at Rock Creek,

Cuyuni River. On the day prior to her demise, she had had a heated argument with two men over a pump she had given them for mining.

Police Headquarters had said that the offender was one of the two men who had been staying with the wom an around the time she had been brutally murdered. He and the other man had been employed by Khan-Bhola.

It is alleged that the men hatched a plan to kill her af ter she had fired them and wanted to take back her pump. According to reports, Khan-Bhola had given them the pump with the expec tation that they would pay her for it. However, things turned sour when the men took the pump to anoth er location without giving her money. The offender was arrested in December 2019 after returning from Suriname. (G1)

Miner nabbed with over 3700g ganja

A30-year-old min er and resident of Half Mile Wismar, Linden was arrested at Mackenzie on Monday by ranks of a Police anti-crime patrol after he was found with 3761.7 grams of mari juana in his possession.

The ranks were said to be on patrol in the vicinity of the Watooka Main Road in Linden at about 11:30h on Monday when they saw the miner with a burgun dy and black haversack. He was at the time riding a black and white Honda XR motorcycle with reg istration # CJ 3062, and was leaving the Coomacka

mines and heading in a northerly direction.

The ranks said they suspected he was carrying something illegal, due to his demeanor when he saw the Police, so they attempted to in tercept him, but he jumped off the motorcycle and ran through some nearby bush es. The ranks gave chase, and managed to apprehend him along with the haver sack.

A search was conducted on his person, but nothing illegal was found. The hav ersack was then searched, and the ranks found two compressed, bulky parcels

containing leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis sativa.

The suspect was told of the offence committed and cautioned. He responded by saying: “Boss, is me weed. I just buy it fuh $100,000 to carry and hussle in de backdam”.

The suspect was ar rested and escorted to the Mackenzie Police Station along with the suspected cannabis sativa. There it was weighed in his pres ence, and amounted to 3761.7 grams.

He is in custody pending investigations and charges. (G9)

The marijuana that was found in the miner’s possession

Dead: Bibi Sheniza Khan-Bhola

Sale of carbon credits

are exciting times for Guyana” – Iwokrama …as

Guyana has come in for more praise over its histor ic certification and then sale of its carbon credits to Hess Corporation, with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) hailing the mile stone.

On Wednesday, GCCI congratulated the Government and noted that the sale of the carbon credits for the next 10 years would allow Guyana to be compen sated for keeping its pristine rainforests intact.

“GCCI understands that the purchase by Hess will be for 2.5 million credits per year for the years 2016-2030. The purchases will occur in the period 2022-2032. GCCI applauds the Government for making Guyana the first country to complete the ART process (Architecture for REDD+ Transactions) for generating high-integri ty, Paris Agreement-aligned carbon credits that will al low Guyana to access mar ket-based finance to con tinue to implement forest stewardship strategies.”

It was pointed out by GCCI that after the 2009 Norway REDD+ agreement and COP27, the Chamber sees this second agreement as an indication that high ly developed nations are in creasingly recognizing the importance of forest climate services.

They also lauded the provisions outlined in the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 for 30 per cent of the minimum $750 mil lion that Guyana will earn from the Hess deal to go to wards Indigenous Peoples’ communities.

“With rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, and more adverse weather condi tions, climate change is evi dent. In June 2021, Guyana experienced severe flooding in several regions, adverse ly affecting the agriculture and infrastructure sectors, and compromising food se curity. This agreement as sists Guyana in building its resilience to climate change and transitioning to a sus tainably stable economy,” GCCI said.

Iwokrama

Not only is the multiyear US$750 million agree ment with Hess Corporation for the purchase of 37.5 mil lion credits a historic one, Guyana is in fact the first country to conclude the ART process out of 15 jurisdic tions that have so far en tered the ART pipeline.

Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development on Wednesday also praised the develop ment.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Iwokrama, Dane Gobin, noted that these are exciting times for Guyana as it continues to mobilise its forest services in the fight against climate change.

“These are exciting times for Guyana as it continues to mobilise its forest services in the fight against climate change.” The 1,000,000acre Iwokrama Forest is an integral part of Guyana’s demonstration of how tropi cal forests can be conserved and utilised sustainably for local, national and global benefit.”

Gobin contends that the Guyana-Hess Agreement signals, finally, recognition by the Private Sector of the substantial value of ecosys tem services, and the urgent need to sustain them.

According to the state ment, the Iwokrama International Centre re mains committed to sup porting the successful im plementation of the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030. They not ed that the Government of Guyana’s continued sup port to the Centre’s work is highly valued, and yet again underscores Guyana’s lead ership role in sustaining nature and supporting so cio-economic development.

ART

On Monday, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) in a statement said that it had issued the world’s first TREES credits to Guyana. According to ART, follow ing completion of an in dependent validation and

verification process and ap proval by the ART Board of Directors, ART has issued 33.47 million TREES credits to Guyana for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020.

These serialised credits, listed on ART’s public regis try, are available to buyers on the global carbon mar ket, including for use by air lines for compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s global emis sions reduction programme, CORSIA, as well as for use towards voluntary corporate climate commitments.

It was also noted that Guyana’s completion of the ART process paves the way for other Governments that are looking to receive carbon market finance for success in protecting and restoring

forests. Currently, 14 other countries and large sub-na tional jurisdictions are working towards their own issuances of TREES credits.

Chair of the ART Board, Frances Seymour, congrat ulated the Government of Guyana and the many do mestic stakeholder groups who contributed to this achievement, which recog nises the success the coun try has had in protecting its forests.

Additionally, Executive Director of the ART Secretariat, Mary Grady, had said that new approach es such as incentivising ju risdictions to protect their forests are needed against the threat of the permanent loss of earth’s last intact for ests. (G3)

“These

historic agreement hailed by Private Sector

Iwokrama CEO Dane Gobin

GCCI President Timothy Tucker

Guyana signs MoU with int’l body to build world-class protected area system

The Protected Areas Commission (PAC), on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with international conserva tion organisation Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) to aid in strengthening the management of the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area (KMPA).

This agreement, which covers a five-year peri od, will see the expansion of FZS’s cooperation in Guyana within the context of the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.

It will allow FZS to es tablish and operate a coun try office in Guyana, sup port the expansion of the National Protected Area System (NPAS) and con

tinue its collaboration with the PAC for strengthened management of KMPA and NPAS.

Additionally, this MoU permits FZS to foster Indigenous community en gagement and development, and also support Guyana to advance participation in key global biodiversity and cli mate-related initiatives.

Foreign Secretary and PAC Board Chairman Robert Persaud stated that the MoU was to al low the Protected Areas Commission to develop the capacity, whereby it can leverage more financial sup port in managing the coun try’s existing protected area system, particularly the KMPA.

“Because we have plans… our target of 30 per

cent of our marine as well as land space to be consid ered protected areas, we also would need some capac ity building in this regard, and partnering with FZS al lows us to develop that part nership to get that type of support… to build up our ability to properly manage our Protected Area System,” Persaud added.

He also noted that more than 30 per cent of the coun try’s total carbon credit as sets would generate a total of US$750 million which will bring tremendous benefits to the people of Guyana.

“Today, we’re not only known as the newest oil pro ducer but also as one of the newest countries… perhaps one of the first being able to deploy its jurisdictional car bon credits and earn money

for the development of our country,” he noted.

Dr Antje Müllner, Head of the South America and Southeast Asia Department at FZS, shared that one of its main guiding principles is a long-term approach and commitment to conserva tion, through strong part nerships with national and community-based institu tions. She stated that an im portant factor was the coor dinated approach of several institutions and the relevant local stakeholders to tackle the threats to biodiversity.

In 2014, FZS began its cooperation with the

Government of Guyana, through the PAC. Since then, FZS has been instru mental in supporting the op erationalisation of the new ly-established Commission in the areas of system-wide strategic planning, capacity development, and improved management of the KMPA.

The FZS had signed its first MoU with Guyana in 2015, to provide Guyana with financial and technical support for the development of the country’s protected area system. The team was tasked with lending sup port to establish administra tive and monitoring systems

for the Kanuku Mountains among other responsibilities.

The FZS was founded in 1858 and has been support ing conservation projects in Africa, Central and South America, Southeast Asia and Europe for many de cades, in collaboration with governmental and non-gov ernmental partner organi sations.

In South America the FZS concentrates mainly on the Amazon basin and adja cent areas following its mis sion to conserve wildlife and ecosystems focusing on pro tected areas and outstand ing wilderness places.

Over 40 events earmarked for Linden Town Week

Aseries of events will set the tone for celebra tion of Linden Town Week in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), which will be celebrated under the theme “Re-envisioning Linden”.

From April 23 to May 01, 2023, the mining town of Linden will come alive for its annual Town Week ob servance, for which over 40 events have been planned.

Last weekend, the Mayor and Town Council of Linden officially launched the Town Week activities, with Mayor Waneka Arrindell outlining that the township has wit nessed significant transfor mation from mining to busi ness and tourism.

“We have been blessed with a vibrant Council and residents who have pride in themselves, their culture, and their Town. And this coming year will be a celebra tion of many aspects of our togetherness and strength. As a result of our victory in sports, we have decided to theme Town Week 2023 in black and gold,” she outlined.

Arrindell noted that the township is looking ahead to where it wants to be by 2030, and with its strategic loca tion, she called for residents to visualise their future.

“It is an opportunity for all of us to start thinking, vi sualising and coining our be haviour in such a way that it opens doors. Region 10

and Linden are strategical ly placed in terms of location. We’re rich in wealth and oth er natural resources, but our richness speaks to our peo ple, who continue to excel in sports, education, arts and craft,” she said.

The activities planned include football, basketball, volleyball, cycling, cricket, a church service, bird whis tling competition, essay, de bating, a teen pageant, a health fair, business expo, day tours, market day, kids’ art, seniors’ lunch, Wismar Day, reggae on the river, comedy show, coloured par ty, regatta, a 60s party, and the Mayor’s Ball, among oth ers.

Linden Town Day was

birthed in 1996, and right off the bat it became a flag ship event. By 1998, it was extended to a three-day event, and a few years later, it became a week-long obser vance. Founder of the event, Norvell Fredericks, remi nisced, “The event continues to grow, and has now become one of the main items on the national calendar of events, looked forward to by per sons throughout the nation. Even in the diaspora, many persons look forward to come home at this time.”

Due to COVID-19, the event was halted in 2020. It restarted in 2021, and is ex pected to create a bigger bang this year with the series of activities planned. (G12)

Dr Antje Müllner and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Abena Moore signing the MoU

The Kanuku Mountain Area

Linden Mayor Waneka Arrindell

Crane woman, security guard busted with ganja in homes

A56-year-old female security guard of Seventh Avenue, Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and a 52-year-old unemployed fe male of Crane New Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara (WCD) are now in Police custody after a quan tity of marijuana was found in their homes.

The first discovery was made on Thursday when Police ranks from Regional Division Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), acting on information re ceived, went to the home of the 52-year-old female of around 12:30h, and searched the premises in her presence.

In the process, the ranks

found one bulky white and orange rice bag in the back bedroom on the floor. The ranks opened the bag, and a transparent plastic bot tle with a yellow cork was found, which contained sev eral transparent plastic

Ziplock bags filled with sus pected cannabis.

The suspect was told of the offence, arrested and taken to the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station, along with the cannabis, which, when weighed, amounted to 56.9 grams.

She remains in custody pending charges.

Meanwhile on Sunday, about 23:15h, the 56-yearold female security guard was busted with 293 grams of suspected cannabis af ter Police ranks conducted a raid at her home.

At the time, the ranks were acting on information received when they visited the home where the woman resides with her 26-year-old son.

During a search conduct ed in the home, the ranks discovered in a room a black plastic bag containing a number of leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be can nabis.

The woman denied own ership of the drug.

She was later taken to the Bartica Police Station along with the said suspect ed cannabis, which, when weighed, amounted to 293 grams.

The woman remains in custody, assisting with the investigation. (G9)

Passage of time has not...

Nevertheless, President Ali went onto outline that coming out that tragedy is a strength of solidarity and commitment which in re flected in the fact that hun dreds of other Guyanese have completed medical and other studies in Cuba over the years.

“The horrific events of October 6, 1976 will nev er deter us from manifest ing our friendship with the people with the Republic of Cuba, whose nationals were also victims of the terrorist bombing… Guyana pledges its continuous solidary with Cuba,” the Guyanese Leader stated.

Also present at Tuesday’s wreath laying ceremony were President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel; Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley; President of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokie; Prime Minster of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves; Secretary General of CARICOM, Dr Carla Barnett and other re gional officials.

On October 6, 1976, the

Cubana Airline flight 455 left Guyana en route to Cuba with stops along the way in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica respectively.

However, shortly after leaving the Barbados air port, there was an explo sion in the aircraft’s rear, and upon realising that they could not make it back to the airport for an emer gency landing, the pilot, Captain Wilfredo Perez, steered the plane towards the Atlantic Ocean, avoiding the tourist-packed Paradise Beach. Another bomb went off in the aircraft before it crashed, killing all 73 pas sengers and crew members on board.

The Guyanese killed in cluded: Seshnarine Kumar, 18; Ann Nelson, 18; Eric Norton, 18; Rawle Thomas, 18; and Jacqueline Williams, 19, all students on their way to study medicine and en gineering in Cuba. Others who perished were relatives Violet and Rita Thomas, nineyear-old Sabrina Harrypaul, Margaret Bradshaw, Raymond Persaud, and econ

omist Gordon Sobha.

Smoke & fire alarms triggered at Home Affairs Ministry

The fire and smoke alarms at the Home Affairs Ministry on Brickdam were trig gered around 09:00h on Wednesday by smoke ema nating from a light fixture in one of the offices on the mid dle floor.

The staff were imme diately evacuated, and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was summoned. The fire fighters took precautionary measures to deal with a fire outbreak.

The Guyana Electrical Inspectorate was called in, inspections were carried out, and the problem was identi fied as a faulty light fixture.

Members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Guyana Power and Light

(GPL)

Home

FROM PAGE 2

Among the other victims were five Koreans and 57 Cubans, including 24 mem bers of the 1975 Cuban na tional fencing team, who were returning home af ter winning gold medals at the Central American and Caribbean Championship games.

Investigations had re vealed that CIA-linked an ti-Castro Cuban exiles con spired with members of the Venezuela Secret Police to bomb the Cuban aircraft in protest of Castro’s dictatori al policies in Cuba.

Four men who had joined the plane in Trinidad and disembarked the aircraft in Barbados were subse quently arrested and tried in Venezuela in connection with the bombing and mur der of 73 persons.

Two of them were sen tenced to 20 years in pris on, another was acquitted and subsequently moved to the United States, while the other escaped from Venezuela and fled to the United States. (G8)

The ganja that was found in Bartica

The ganja that was found in Crane, WCD

Inc also arrived at the scene to lend support.

Affairs Minister Robeson Benn has since identified the need for ad ditional fire safety mea

sures to be installed at the Ministry and its agencies.

The electrical inspectors declared the building safe at 10:15h, and staff resumed work as usual.

Firemen at the Home Affairs Ministry on Wednesday

No increase in water taxi fares – MARAD to passengers

…warns boat operators of unscrupulous behaviour

between Georgetown and Vreeden-Hoop via water taxis are ad vised that there is no increase in the fare for this route.

“MARAD wishes to advise the general public that the fare for water taxis operating in the following areas remains the same, that is: Georgetown to Vreed-en-Hoop - -$100, Parika to Supenaam – $1300, Parika to Wakenaam – $1000, Parika to Leguan – $500 and Parika to Bartica – $2500.”

The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) on Wednesday said that it has re ceived reports of boat operators demanding an extra $100 on

passengers’ fares.

However, the maritime body has made it pellucid that there was no increase in water taxi services’ fares. According to MARAD, passengers travelling

Boat operators were also warned that disciplinary ac tion will be taken against them if they choose to demand in creased fares. “Passengers are also encouraged to report any boat operator who continues to act in contravention of this no tice,” MARAD stated.

Suddie residents, vendors affected by flooding

As a result of contin uous rainfall over the past few days, several residents and ven dors of Suddie, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) were severely affected by flood, with water levels reaching as high as six inches in some cases.

When <<<Guyana Times>>> visited some of the affected areas on Wednesday, residents were seen bailing water out of their homes. Some persons suffered damage to house hold items like refrigerators and wardrobes while others

claimed that important doc uments were destroyed in the floodwaters.

Haseeb Mohamed said he came home for lunch about 13:15h and noticed that his verandah and the interior of his home were inundated.

“When I can home for lunch and water was in the house, the ration area, the bedroom, everything… wa ter was about six inches. Then I called my family who came and assist with bail ing the floodwater from the house,” the resident told this publication.

He said the water dam

aged his refrigerator, ward robe, rations, and docu ments.

“When I reach home here everything was in floodwa ter, it was so muddy which is evident that it comes

pressed.

Barbara Agard said the water was as high as six inches in her home. Her re frigerator and chair set were among the damaged items. Floodwater, she said,

from the back drain that is clogged up with grass. We need some assistance from the Government to get back our stuff that were damaged and for NDIA [the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority] to dig the drains in the village,” another res ident, Sherine Mohamed ex

reached her kitchen and bedroom.

“My stuffs in my home is damaged and I need some assistance…floodwater is all over in my home and the damage , it requires a lot of money to get it fixed,” Agard lamented. (G14)

700 house lots for Region 3 residents

Some 700 residents of Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara) were al located house lots by the Housing and Water Ministry’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) on Wednesday.

At the exercise, which was held at the Leonora Track and Field Facility, the lots were allocated to individuals within the low, moderate-, middle- and

high-income brackets at the Stewartville and MetenMeer-Zorg housing schemes.

According to a release from the Ministry, Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal; Minister with in the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues; CH&PA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sherwyn Greaves and regional offi cials along with others were present at the activity.

Upon taking office in

2020, the Government met an application backlog of more than 14,000 in the re gion, the release stated, add ing that Minister Croal stat ed that the Irfaan Ali-led Administration has allocat ed 4259 house lots to resi dents at previous exercis es in the past two years, as compared to just over 700 house lots under the coa lition government in five years (2015-2020).

“That means that you have a Government that un derstands the necessity of ensuring we are able to re spond to the plight of our peo ple. You have a Government that is caring, that is not only looking at your infra

structural needs, but also your social needs and hous ing is one,” the Housing and Water Minister is quoted as saying.

Croal also highlighted that the first phase of infra structural work was com pleted in a number of new housing areas, while the sec ond phase will commence un der his Ministry’s 2023 work programme. More than 100 homes are expected to be completed soon, while con struction for another 100 is expected to commence by the end of the year. Works are also ongoing in existing housing schemes. Some 28 applicants pre-approved un der the Steel and Cement

Housing Subsidy Programme are expected to receive the voucher for their materials in a few weeks. The Minister also outlined several oth er projects that will trans form the region, such as the Schoonord-to-Crane fourlane highway and Wales Development Project.

Meanwhile, Minister Rodrigues, in her remarks, stated that the Government’s housing drive was seeking not only to provide house lots, but also to ensure that these options were afford able for Guyanese, especial ly vulnerable groups.

“This is our goal of ensur ing affordable homeowner ship for Guyanese, regardless

of which region you live in, you will see several initiatives rolled out across the country, including our hinterland re gions,” Rodrigues is quoted as saying in the release.

CEO Greaves highlight ed the important role of housing in enhancing qual ity of life and generational wealth creation.

So far, the Government has allocated approximate ly 19,000 house lots over the past two years countrywide. With just one major housing drive left on the schedule for the rest of the year, the Housing and Water Ministry and the CH&PA are aiming to allocate a total of 20,500 house lots by year end.

Brazil risks losing control of Amazon to drug traffickers, judge warns

Brazil runs the risk of losing control over its vast Amazon rain forest region to organised crime and traffickers who use the lawless region to smuggle drugs, a Supreme Court Judge warned on Wednesday.

Justice Luis Roberto Barroso urged the interna tional community to con tribute funding and ideas to foster sustainable devel opment that would preserve the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest, and help the 25 million people who live there.

The Amazon absorbs vast amounts of greenhouse gas responsible for global warm ing and its preservation is seen as essential to the fight against climate change.

“There is a real risk of losing the sovereignty of the Amazon not to any oth er country, but to organised crime,” he said in an inter view.

Barroso, who attend ed COP27 United Nations climate talks in Egypt in November, said interna tional funding did not im

pinge on Brazilian sover eignty over the Amazon as Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has stated.

On the contrary, foreign support is needed to stop the degradation of the rainforest and help the Brazilian State restore law and order in the

Amazon.

“Brazilian authorities will have to be very com mitted to confronting envi ronmental crimes such as illegal logging and mining, deforestation, land grabs and the murder of defenders of the forest,” Barroso said.

Under Bolsonaro, illegal activities have surged in the Amazon, encouraged by the easing of environmental pro tections and reduced fund ing for enforcement agen cies.

Bolsonaro’s Government has also paralysed the

Amazon Fund, to which Norway and Germany con tributed more than US$1 billion for the support of sustainable projects in the region.

The fund will restart when President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the

October elections, takes of fice in January. Lula has pledged to end the criminal impunity in the Amazon.

“The preservation of the Amazon is essential for the world. I defend that the world contributes to the preservation of the Amazon,” Barroso said. (Reuters)

An aerial view shows deforestation near a forest on the border between Amazonia and Cerrado in Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, July 28, 2021 (Amanda Perobelli/Reuters file photo)

An allottee (right) chooses her house lot from an envelope held by Minister within the Housing and Water Ministry, Susan Rodrigues

A section of the residents at the activity

Regional

Peru has new President after dramatic impeachment

Peru has a female President for the first time, after President Pedro Castillo was im peached – hours after he tried to dissolve Parliament.

Dina Boluarte – previ ously the Vice President - was sworn in after a dra matic day in Lima.

Earlier in the day, Castillo had said he was re placing Congress with an "exceptional emergency gov ernment".

But lawmakers ignored the announcement, and in an emergency meeting im peached the President.

Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, said she would gov ern until July 2026, which is when Castillo's presidency would have ended.

Speaking after taking the oath of office, she called for a political truce to over come the crisis which has gripped the country.

"What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country," she said.

Wednesday's dramatic chain of events began with President Castillo giving an address on national televi sion in which he declared a state of emergency.

He announced that he would dissolve the Opposition-controlled

Congress, a move which was met with shock both in Peru – several Ministers resigned in protest – and abroad.

The Head of the consti tutional court accused him of launching a coup d’état, while the US "strongly urged" Castillo to reverse his decision.

Peru's Police and armed forces released a joint state ment in which they said they respected the constitu tional order.

Castillo tried to dis solve Congress just hours before it was due to start fresh impeachment proceed ings against him – the third since he came to office in July 2021.

Congress, which is con trolled by parties opposed to

Castillo, convened an emer gency session and held the impeachment vote Castillo had been trying to prevent.

The result was over whelming: 101 voted in fa vour of impeaching him, with only six against and 10 abstentions.

After the impeachment, Castillo was seen on Police premises – it is unknown if he was arrested, or whether he decided to attend.

In the photos – which were shared by Police on Twitter but subsequently deleted – he could be seen sitting, seemingly relaxed, and chatting to others.

Footage was then re leased of Castillo signing papers with Prosecutors. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Jamaica reintroduces SoEs in several parishes as murders increase

The Jamaica Government on Tuesday announced the re-imposition of States of Emergency (SoEs) in sev eral parishes after the au thorities said murders had increased following the ex piration of the emergency measure last week.

“Since the end of the last state of emergency, we have seen, unfortunately, an in crease in criminal activi ties in these areas and in deed a threat to property and in some instances, pub lic disorder,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness told a news

conference.

Commissioner of Police, Major General Anthony Anderson told reporters since the discontinuation of SoEs seven days ago, 22 murders have been commit ted across the island, with 17 of those killings occurring in areas where SoEs had ex pired in St Ann, Clarendon, St Catherine, St James, Westmoreland, Hanover and specified areas of Kingston and St Andrew.

Prime Minister Holness had declared SoEs in the sev en parishes on November 15, but the Opposition People’s

National Party (PNP) leg islators refused to support a move to extend the SoE to January 14, 2023, with Opposition Leader Mark Golding saying that the re peated use of SoEs by the Government since 2017 “has …been a subversion of our constitutional order which I don’t support as it is incon sistent with my parliamen tary oath”.

Anderson said the SoEs allow residents of volatile communities to feel more se cure and the impact tends to be immediate. (Excerpt from CMC)

Guatemala court convicts

AGuatemalan court on Wednesday found former President Otto Perez and his Vice President, Roxana Baldetti, guilty in a graft case that forced the two out of office early and into prison.

The pair were found guilty of illicit association and customs fraud, but were acquitted on a charge of illicit enrichment.

Perez, who was President of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015, has spent the last sev en years in prison awaiting a verdict in the case.

The 72-year-old retired general, who took office promising to crack down on crime, was forced to re sign with just four months left in his term amid pro tests over alleged corrup tion scandals.

Perez and Baldetti were accused of leading a cus toms fraud network that stole some US$3.5 million in state funds during their administration, with both Perez and Baldetti alleged ly receiving hefty cuts.

Investigators had charged that the two led a

case

scheme in which importers paid bribes to avoid paying customs duties. More than two dozen others have been charged in the case.

The case, known as "La Linea," was original ly investigated under the now-defunct International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, backed by the United Nations.

The Judge presiding over the case did not imme diately say how many years of prison they were facing. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Ecuador's Lasso seeks reforms to strengthen fight against drug trafficking

Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso on Wednesday asked Congress for changes to the country's Constitution to allow the military to support Police work in the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking.

Lasso, a former con servative banker who has held office since May 2021, wants to crack down on growing crime, including in prisons, arguing that vi olence plagues the South American country.

Lasso initially sought to put the reform to a referen dum on February 5 of next year.

However, the country's

Constitutional Court re jected the plan and said that changes to the mil itary's role had to be ap proved by the National Assembly.

"The Assembly can offer a permanent and lasting solution in the fight against drugs. We need this tool to provide security and peace of mind," Lasso said out side Ecuador's Congress.

Currently, the Ecuadorean military can not support the Police in domestic security tasks, unless there is a declara tion of a state of emergen cy.

The reform requires 92 votes for approval, a dif

ficult task for Lasso, who does not have a majority in Congress and has faced tensions with lawmakers since he took office.

In June, Opposition lawmakers called for Lasso's removal during an ti-Government protests by Indigenous groups.

Lasso declared a state of emergency in November in three provinces after at tacks against Police units were reported.

Some 69 Police Officers have been killed in the fight against organised crime so far this year, according to official data.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Regional health experts meet in Antigua to discuss falling vaccination rates

Vaccination experts from across the Region are meeting at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort to take a comprehen sive look at gains made over the past two years, challeng es faced, share experiences and plan activities for 2023.

The 36th meeting of the Caribbean Immunisation Managers comes at a cru cial time as health officials strive to restore confidence in the Region’s vaccination programmes.

Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Comprehensive Family Immunisation Unit’s Chief, Daniel Salas told the open ing ceremony that routine vaccination coverage in the Caribbean was falling by its steepest rate in decades, and that immunisation pro grammes were also strug gling.

He said it was crucial for Caribbean vaccination managers to look at how the Region could reassure its people that immunisation was a public good and im portant to public health.

“The Region has been a

leader in the world in terms of immunisation, but right now we are second to the last part. We have the health of our people in our hands, we have the future of many of the children that live in the Caribbean in our hands.

“This is a very import ant meeting to share our ex periences to know where we stand and to look to the fu ture. If we work together that future will be bright,” Salas explained.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Teri-Ann Joseph, said over the years regional experts have used the pop ular slogan “vaccines save lives” which became very evident during the height of the COVID-19 pandem ic. However, despite the suc cesses, people have become more and more apprehen sive, she said.

(Excerpt

from Antigua Observer)

Skerrit welcomes election victory

The ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) was returned to pow er in Tuesday’s general election, even as two inde pendent candidates won constituencies in the 21seat Parliament following a boycott by the main oppo sition political parties.

Preliminary results re leased by the Electoral Office here showed that the DLP, which had entered the election already having won six seats uncontested, had won 19 of the 21 seats.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, 50, who has been in office since 2004 and was among those six DLP candi dates elected to Parliament before a ballot was cast, said he welcomed the outcome of the polls.

“I accept this victory from the people of Dominica with the greatest humility. This is an extraordinary confidence that the people have shown in us,” Skerrit said, adding the voter turn out was “exceptional”.

Independent candi date Jesma Paul polled 617 votes to 463 cast for the DLP’s Lynsia Framk in the Salisbury constituency, while in Marigot, Anthony Charles had defeated the DLP’s Gregory Riviere by a margin of 491 to 329 votes.

The independent candidate Carlos Charles received six votes.

The Electoral Office had said that voters would be electing representatives for 15 constituencies after the main opposition parties –

the United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) –failed to nominate any can didate.

The Electoral Office said 45 candidates con tested the 15 remaining seats with the DLP con testing all seats, Team Unity Dominica five seats and there were 10 indepen dents.

The opposition par ties had been calling for electoral reform, includ ing a clean voters list and identification cards ahead of the poll that is being monitored by observer teams from the Caribbean Community (Caricom); the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth. (CMC)

Dina Boluarte, 60, was sworn in as leader shortly after President Pedro Castillo was impeached

ex-President, ex-VP in graft

PAHO Comprehensive Family Immunisation Unit Chief Daniel Salas (Photo by Marlon Jeffers)

The price of oil fell to its lowest level this year on Wednesday, forfeiting all of the gains since Russia's invasion of Ukraine exacerbated the worst global energy supply crisis in decades.

The world's most actively traded commodity surged to nearly US$140 a barrel in March, close to an all-time record, following the launch of what Moscow called a "special operation" in Ukraine that has raged ever since.

The market has been steadily declining in the latter months of the year as economists brace for weakened worldwide growth in part due to high energy costs. Wednesday's losses were driven by bigger-than-expected increases in US fuel stocks.

Brent futures fell US$2.18, or 2.8 per cent, to US$77.17 a barrel, settling comfortably below the year's previous closing low of US$78.98 a barrel touched on the first day of 2022. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell US$2.24, weakening further from Tuesday's close, which was already a yearly low, to US$72.01 a barrel.

The recent declines have come against what should be a supportive backdrop for prices. China, the world's biggest crude importer, announced the most sweeping changes to its anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began. The country's crude oil imports in November rose 12 per cent from a year earlier to their highest in 10 months, data showed.

G7 nations kicked off implementation of a price cap to restrict Russian exports that could cause that nation to reduce output in the coming year.

US distillate stocks posted a build of 6.2 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), far exceeding estimates for a 2.2-million-barrel rise. Gasoline inventories climbed 5.3 million barrels against expectations for an increase of 2.7 million barrels.

The build in fuel stocks outweighed a 5.2-million-barrel draw in crude stocks. The American Petroleum Institute (API) had reported a crude stocks draw of around 6.4 million barrels, according to market sources.

Meanwhile, at least 20 oil tankers queuing off Turkey face more delays to cross from Russia's Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean as operators race to adhere to new Turkish insurance rules added ahead of a G7 price cap on Russian oil, sources said on Tuesday.

Russia, the Vedomosti daily reported on Wednesday, is considering options including banning oil sales to some countries to counter the price cap imposed by Western powers.

"There's still tons of uncertainty in the markets today," said Claudio Galimberti, Senior Vice President at Rystad Energy, adding crude production in Russia may not drop as much as expected earlier.

Still, warnings from big US banks about a likely recession next year weighed. The net speculative fund long position is now at a six-year low with some prominent funds liquidating in the past few days, said Dennis Kissler, Senior Vice President of trading at BOK Financial. (Reuters)

Around the World

Putin says Russia may be fighting in Ukraine for a long time

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that his army could be fighting in Ukraine for a long time, but he saw "no sense" in mobilising additional sol diers at this point.

"As for the duration of the special military oper ation, well, of course, this can be a long process," Putin said, using his pre ferred term for Russia's in vasion, begun in February.

In a televised meeting of his Human Rights Council that was dominated by the war, Putin said Russians would "defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal", asserting that Russia was seen in the West as "a second-class country that has no right to exist at all".

He said the risk of nu clear war was growing –the latest in a series of such

warnings – but that Russia saw its arsenal as a means to retaliate, not to strike first.

"We haven't gone mad, we realise what nuclear weapons are," Putin said. "We have these means in

more advanced and mod ern form than any other nu clear country ... But we ar en't about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor."

He said there was no reason for a second mobili

sation at this point, after a call-up of at least 300,000 reservists in September and October.

Putin said 150,000 of these were deployed in Ukraine: 77,000 in combat units and the others in de fensive functions. The re maining 150,000 were still at training centres.

"Under these conditions, talk about any addition al mobilisation measures simply makes no sense," he said.

Putin has rarely dis cussed the likely duration of the war, although he boast ed in July that Russia was just getting started.

Since then, Russia has been forced into signifi cant retreats, but Putin has said he has no regrets about launching a war that is Europe's most devastat ing since World War Two.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

US Supreme Court hears case to determine authority over elections

The United States Supreme Court en gaged in tense ar guments on Wednesday in a Republican appeal that could transform the coun try’s elections by giving pol iticians more power over voting rules and curbing the ability of state courts to scrutinise their actions.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, heard about three hours of arguments in the case, which involves North Carolina con gressional districts. Some of

its conservatives, including Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, indicated sympa thy towards the Republican arguments.

The position of other con servatives on the bench, in cluding Chief Justice John Roberts, was harder to read, raising the possibility of a ruling less broad than what the Republican state legis lators seek. The three lib eral Justices signalled op position to the Republican arguments.

The politicians are ap

pealing a decision by North Carolina’s top court to throw out a map delineat ing the state’s 14 US House of Representatives districts – approved last year by the Republican-controlled state legislature — as unlawfully biased against Democratic voters.

The Republican leg islators are asking the Supreme Court to embrace a once-marginal legal theo ry, which has gained favour among some conservatives, called the “independent

state legislature” doctrine. Under that doctrine, they claim the US Constitution gives state legislatures and not other entities such as state courts – authority over election rules and electoral district maps.

Critics have said the the ory, if accepted, could upend US democratic norms by re stricting a crucial check on partisan political power, and breed voter confusion with rules that vary between state and federal contests.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Germany foils far-right plot to install Prince Heinrich XIII in coup

Germany on Wednesday detained 25 members and sup porters of a far-right group that the prosecutor's office said was preparing a violent overthrow of the State to in

China medical expert says COVID has mutated, should be renamed – State media

China should change its official name for COVID-19 to reflect the virus' mutation, and patients with light symp toms should be allowed to quarantine at home, a lead ing authority on traditional Chinese medicine was quot ed as saying on Wednesday.

Gu Xiaohong told the state-run Beijing Daily newspaper that the corona virus' Chinese name, which identifies it as a pneumo nia-causing disease, should be changed to call it simply an infectious virus.

China's approach to COVID – which has empha

sised widespread testing and the quarantining of pos itive cases in specialised fa cilities – should change from "passive detection" to "active prevention", with recupera tion at home for light cases.

Gu said the China Association of Chinese Medicine's infectious dis ease arm, which she heads, had reached a consensus to change how they describe the virus.

Her remarks are in line with a recent softening of the tone from China's health experts and State media to wards COVID, while au thorities have loosened what

remain some of the world's toughest COVID curbs.

There are widespread expectations that the moves could herald a more pro nounced shift towards nor malcy three years into the pandemic.

Officials have start ed to play down the dan gers posed by the virus. On Monday, the official Xinhua news agency said in a com mentary that the "most dif ficult period had passed", citing the weakening patho genicity of the virus and ef forts to vaccinate 90 per cent of the population.

(Reuters)

stall as national leader a prince who had sought back ing from Russia.

Prosecutors said the group was inspired by the deep state conspira cy theories of Germany's Reichsbuerger and QAnon, whose advocates were among those arrested af ter the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021.

Members of the Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) do not recog nise modern-day Germany as a legitimate state. Some of them are devoted to the German empire under mon archy, while some are ad herents of Nazi ideas and others believe Germany is under military occupation.

The plot envisaged a for mer member of a German royal family, identified as Heinrich XIII P. R. under Germany's privacy law, as leader in a future state while another suspect, Ruediger v. P., would be the head of the military arm, with the aim of building a new German army, prosecutors said.

The group had emu lated the structure of the Government, creating a "council" that had regularly met since November 2021 as an administration-in-wait ing with different depart ments, such as foreign af fairs and health, prosecutors said.

They said Heinrich, who uses the title prince and comes from the royal House of Reuss, which had

ruled over parts of eastern Germany, had reached out to representatives of Russia, whom the group saw as its central contact for estab lishing its new order. It said there was no evidence the representatives had reacted positively to the request.

Neither the House of Reuss nor Prince Reuss' of fice responded to requests for comment.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds the annual meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, via video link in Moscow, Russia, December 7, 2022 (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/ Pool via Reuters)

Prince Heinrich XIII PR is seen inside a police car in this screen grab from Reuters TV, after 25 suspected members and supporters of a far-right group were detained during raids across Germany, in Frankfurt, Germany, December 7, 2022 (Tilman Blasshofer/Reuters TV via Reuters)

Oil gives up the year's gains, closing at 2022 low

DAILY HOROSCOPES

Live and learn. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have the skills to get things done and overcome obstacles. Travel and romance are favored. New experiences may not be easy, but they will teach you something.

(March 21-April 19)

(April 20-May 20)

Uncertainty regarding what to do next is prevalent. Think about what you enjoy doing most and find a way to incorporate it into your daily routine. Consider offering a service that helps others and allows you to build assets and lower debt.

The best way to look and do your best is through hard work, dedication and re alistic expectations. Looking for the good in every situation, person and experi ence will help you achieve your objective.

(May 21-June 20)

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

Stick to what’s working for you, and walk away from chaos and discord. Trust in yourself and what you can do instead of relying on someone else. Participate in charitable ventures.

Listen carefully, ask questions and confirm the information you gather. There is no room for error or risk-taking. An honest assessment will lead to better choices. Rethink your spending habits.

Situations involving those you live or work alongside will require understand ing. Be open to suggestions and changes that will ease tension. Do something new and see what develops.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

SUDOKU

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

Play by the rules, use your skills to get ahead and align yourself with peo ple just as eager as you to make a differ ence. Changing your surroundings will increase awareness.

Put your finances in order and ensure that everyone you are involved with pays their way. Joint ventures and shared ex penses are not favored. Simplify your lifestyle and select a wise investment.

Be honest with yourself and others. Don’t shy away from the truth because you don’t relish conflict. It’s better to be upfront about how you feel than to wal low in misery.

Refuse to let insecurities stop you from living your dream. Let your origi nality shine through. A change at home will turn out better than anticipated.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

You’ll have the wherewithal to get a home improvement project up and run ning. Show off what you are doing to friends and relatives. Don’t be tempted to go overbudget.

Examine the details until you are aware of all the ups and downs that could unfold. Preparation will be neces sary if you want to avoid falling behind. Beware of anger.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

ARCHIE PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

DILBERT

England Women take unassailable 2-0 lead against WI Women

SCOREBOARD

England Women

(50 ovs maximum)

BATTING R B

Tammy Beaumont c

Gajnabi b Alleyne 21 33

Emma Lamb run out (Campbelle) 25 29

Sophia Dunkley

b Fletcher 57 56

Nat Sciver lbw b Fraser 5 8

Heather Knight (c) c †Kycia A Knight b Matthews 25 30

Danni Wyatt c Grimmond b Fletcher 13 25 Amy Jones † not out 70 63

Sophie Ecclestone b Henry 11 19

BATTING R B

Hayley

Aaliyah Alleyne c †Jones b Cross 2 5

Kycia Knight †c †

Jones b Bell 0 2

Rashada Williams not out 54 80

Shemaine Campbelle lbw b Bell 3 5 Chedean Nation c †J ones b Cross 17 13

Shabika Gajnabi c †Jones b Bell 0 4 Chinelle Henry lbw b Ecclestone 13 41

Walker “will not roll out red carpet” for Mbappe

ST. JOHN’S, AntiguaEngland Women have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the CG United One Day International se ries against the West Indies Women when they won the second match by 142 runs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

West Indies Women’s Head Coach Courtney Walsh has been disappointed by the performance, and has told CWI Media, “In both games, we haven’t batted well. We were a lot better with the ball in this game on a good bat ting track; and for the score, where we had them at 260, I thought we would have bat ted better. We lost those ear ly wickets and just never re covered. The batters can take a lot from Rashada’s perfor mance, I am pleased with how she went about it, and showed that it can be done. We have a lot at stake with one game remaining, and we need to get champion

ship points. Our momentum is good but performance and execution, we have to try and get better.”

The teams meet again on Friday, December 9, at the same venue for the 3rd CG United ODI in a day/night encounter. First ball is at 2:00pm Eastern Caribbean time/1:00pm Jamaica time.

The third CG United ODI in Antigua will be free for local and visiting fans, as it falls on V.C. Bird Day, a national holiday in Antigua, and is being sup ported by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Fans who purchase tick ets will receive their tick ets securely into their online Windies Tickets accounts to save to their mobile device or print out for presenta tion at the stadium, avoid ing the need to queue at, or travel to, the stadium ticket offices. Ticket offices at each venue will be open on the day of each match.

“You are playing for much...

The Head of State went on to express about his intentions for the tournament: “We want a lot of heat generated. You want a lot of rivalry generat ed. Positive vibes we must have that. And we want fans to follow their teams, that’s very important.”

His Excellency also had Corporate Guyana on his radar, request ing their support of the national tournament.

“We’re hoping to have massive turnouts. We know for a sure the semifinals and fi nals and on Christmas Day. And we’re asking Corporate Guyana to get behind this tour nament,” President Ali highlighted.

Those compa nies already on board with the One Guyana President’s Cup in clude New GPC, Ansa McAl, Digicel, GTT, Beharry Holdings Inc, Tiger Rentals Guyana, Caribbean Airlines and E-Networks.

The national as pect of the One Guyana President’s Cup will kick off this coming Sunday, December 11th, at the Leonora Track and Field Center, West Coast Demerara (WCD) with a scintil lating doubleheader.

Additional details on President Ali’s pre sentation at the tour nament’s launch will be published in tomor row’s edition of the Guyana Times Sport

Charlie Dean c Gajnabi b Alleyne 7 12

Kate Cross c & b Matthews 5 11

Lauren Bell b Matthews 1 3 Extras(b 1, lb 1, w 18) 20

TOTAL 48.1 Ov (RR: 5.39) 260

Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Emma Lamb, 8.4 ov), 2-65 (Tammy Beaumont, 11.5 ov), 3-82 (Nat Sciver, 14.2 ov), 4-133 (Heather Knight, 24.1 ov), 5-146 (Sophia Dunkley, 27.2 ov), 6-175 (Danni Wyatt, 33.1 ov), 7-197 (Sophie Ecclestone, 38.3 ov), 8-229 (Charlie Dean, 43.3 ov), 9-245 (Kate Cross, 46.4 ov), 10-260 (Lauren Bell, 48.1 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W

Cherry-Ann Fraser 9-0-53-1

Chinelle Henry 8-0-41-1

Hayley Matthews 9.1-0-50-3

Aaliyah Alleyne 8-0-47-2

Sheneta Grimmond 4-0-26-0

Afy Fletcher 10-1-41-2

All matches will be avail able to be viewed in the West Indies live on the Windies Cricket YouTube chan nel as well as on the ESPN

Afy Fletcher lbw b Dean 6 20

Cherry-Ann Fraser b Ecclestone 2 7 Sheneta Grimmond c & b Dean 5 9 Extras (b 3, w 12) 15

TOTAL 31.3 Ov (RR: 3.74) 118

Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Hayley Matthews, 1.1 ov), 2-3 (Kycia Knight, 1.3 ov), 3-4 (Aaliyah Alleyne, 2.1 ov), 4-8 (Shemaine Campbelle, 3.1 ov), 5-28 (Chedean Nation, 6.4 ov), 6-49 (Shabika Gajnabi, 9.2 ov), 7-84 (Chinelle Henry, 20.1 ov), 8-99 (Afy Fletcher, 25.5 ov), 9-108 (Cherry-Ann Fraser, 28.4 ov), 10-118 (Sheneta Grimmond, 31.3 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W Kate Cross 5-0-35-2 Lauren Bell 8-0-33-4 Sophie Ecclestone 10-3-25 -2 Nat Sciver 5-0-13-0 Charlie Dean 3.3-0-9- 2

Formula One announces six Sprint venues for 2023

Formula One has an nounced the venues for the six Sprint weekends during the 2023 season, dou bling the amount from the 2022 season.

The Sprint moves the stan dard qualifying session to Friday, with a 100-kilometre dash on a Saturday deciding the grid for the main race on a Sunday.

For the 2022 season, four new venues will host Sprint events: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Qatar and the United States (Circuit of the Americas).

Interlagos in Brazil will stand as the only venue to have hosted Sprint events in each sea son from 2021, while Austria's Red Bull Ring featured the re vised format last season.

Speaking on the increase of Sprint events, Formula One

CEO Stefano Domenicali said: "We have seen a hugely positive reaction to the F1 Sprint events during the first two years of its running, and we can't wait to bring even more action to fans with six events next year, in cluding our first US F1 Sprint in Austin.

"The introduction of the F1 Sprint has created a race week end that includes three days of competitive racing action, and brings more entertainment to fans of the sport as well as addi tional value for key stakehold ers, including teams, broadcast ers, partners, and host venues."

Previously, Silverstone, Monza and Imola have host ed Sprint events, but for 2023, those races will have the reg ular qualifying format along with the rest of the calendar.

(Sportsmax)

Kyle Walker says he will "not roll out a red carpet" for Kylian Mbappe, but England will have more con cerns than just one player in their World Cup quarter-fi nal against holders France.

England face France in the last eight in Qatar on Saturday (19:00 GMT) in the first knockout match be tween the two nations at a major tournament. Mbappe, 23, is the tournament's lead ing scorer, with five goals in four games.

"I understand what I need to do, and that is to stop him," Walker, 32, said. "It's easier said than done, but I don't underestimate myself," the England rightback added.

"He is a fantastic player in great form. It is not go ing to be an easy task; but, as a professional footballer, you want to play against the best, and I think he is one of the best, if not the best, in the world at the moment."

Walker is familiar with Mbappe, having come up against the Paris StGermain forward with Manchester City in the previous two Champions League campaigns. City won two and lost one of the three meetings in which both play ers featured, and Mbappe has admitted he found fac ing Walker challenging.

On the Frenchman's comments, Walker said: "That's nice to hear, because he had a tough game against me. I know he's a top play er, but we're not playing ten nis. It's not a solo sport, it's a team game.

You have to give him re

spect, but not too much. Yes, it will be a tough game, but a team cannot just be about one person," he added. "I'm not going to roll out a red carpet for him and tell him to score. It's a World Cup; it's do or die."

The Three Lions defeat ed Senegal 3-0 in their last16 match, while France also progressed smoothly with a 3-1 win over Poland. Mbappe scored twice in that French victory, and the for ward has now been involved in his team's last seven World Cup goals.

"When we've played Paris St-Germain in the Champions League, we're not just thinking of Mbappe; and it's the same on Saturday," Walker said. "Yes, he's a tool in their ar moury - and a very good one - but you can't underesti mate their other players."

England have kept three successive clean sheets - one shy of their national record at a World Cup achieved in both 1966 and 1982. At the other end of the pitch, the Three Lions have scored 12 goals in four games - equal ling their highest tally at a single World Cup.

Having reached the last four in Russia in 2018 and the European Championship final in 2021, Walker be lieves there is no favourite, as Gareth Southgate's side prepare to face the defend ing champions.

"We're playing the world champions, but we are two good teams that will go toe-totoe," Walker said. "We have great talent. In my eyes, nei ther team is the underdogs or the favourites." (BBC)

Player-of-the-match, Amy Jones

Play app. Fans in the UK will be able to view on BT Sport, with fans based in the USA able to watch live on ESPN+. (Cricket West Indies)

FIFA World Cup: Qatar 2022…

Kyle Walker (left) has faced Kylian Mbappe (right) on three occasions in games between Manchester City and PSG

Quarterfinal: England vs France

Australia are runaway favourites

Big picture

The Frank Worrell Trophy remains in Australia's hands, as it has since 1995, and there was hardly any doubt it would be that way, although they were made to work for their victory in Perth.

It is that fact, the fight West Indies showed, which offers hope that the now tra ditional day-night Test in Adelaide may not be a walk over for Australia. However, it will be a contest only if West Indies find a way to break through Australia's batting. Six wickets was the sum total of their efforts at Optus Stadium, and a few of those came at times of lit tle consequence. The one glimmer was the spell from Alzarri Joseph to Marnus Labuschagne, but such bursts have to translate into wickets.

Still, the performance of captain Kraigg Brathwaite should be inspiring; his sec ond innings’ century was worth a debate about be ing his best in Test cricket. And the debut of Tagenarine Chanderpaul was highly en couraging. If others can fol low their lead, then there is the basis of being competi tive, although the day-night element of this game throws up new challenges.

One by-product of the fight shown by West Indies in the opening Test is that already eyes are being drawn towards the work load of Australia's quicks. Pat Cummins has been ruled out with the quad strain he picked up, which means that for the second year running, he misses the Adelaide Test, with Steven Smith taking on

the captaincy.

Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood also racked up the overs. For that duo, it's not so much this outing that is the concern, but the fact that Australia's entire Test summer is crammed into a little more than five weeks.

It would, however, be one of the bigger upsets if West Indies - who themselves have a number of injury concernswere able to level the series. In a way, though, it's about the strides they can make in a series such as this.

"Stay in the fight as long as possible," Assistant Coach Roddy Estwick said. Australia should win, and probably will, but West Indies can make it as tough as possible for them.

In the spotlight

David Warner will feel he missed out in Perth. After dragging on early on the opening day, and then watching Labuschagne and Smith pile up 200s, he got himself a base in the second innings before edging Roston Chase to short leg. Barring injury, his 100th Test will arrive against South Africa at the MCG, and his future in the format remains very much in his hands, but an average of 22.78 in 2022 is lean. On a ground where he averages 76.86, albeit not all of that against the pink ball, he will hope for a substantial return.

Even if Alzarri Joseph had not overstepped against Labuschagne, it would not have been enough to change the game, but his spell on the fourth day did raise the ques tion of what could have been, or what could be. He was

said to be under the weath er during an underwhelming first-innings display, and it would be unfair to judge him

from Jamaica. Kyle Mayers won't be able to bowl.

West Indies: (possible) 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt),

Pitch and conditions

It is expected to be a typi cal Adelaide day-night pitch. Curator Damien Hough said

forecast is set fair, and the temperature will warm up on Saturday.

"This surface offers a bit to everyone," Smith said. "There's a bit of seam; if you bat well, you can score runs, and it offers some spin. Looks no different this year to the last couple of years."

Stats and trivia

Jermaine Blackwood will play his 50th Test.

Australia have a ten-inten record in day-night Tests.

on that. So, instead, remem ber the pace and fire of his later spell. His career-best remains 3 for 33, but the belief in the team is that a breakthrough haul is close.

Team news Scott Boland returns in place of the injured Cummins as the one change in the Australia XI.

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Lyon, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Scott Boland

West Indies will wait un til the morning of the game to give their injured players as much time as possible.

Kemar Roach (hamstring) and Jayden Seales (knee) are both concerns, which means Marquino Mindley could de but 48 hours after arriving

2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Kyle Mayers, 5 Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8

he had left the standard 8mm of grass on the surface. The cool, damp spring has made preparations tricky, so it remains to be seen how

Nathan Lyon needs one wicket to be the leading bowler in Adelaide, over taking Shane Warne; while he and Smith need to com bine one more time to go ahead of Warne and Mark Taylor as the most success ful fielder-bowler combina tion for Australia. Lyon also needs four wickets for 450 in Tests.

If Smith scores anoth er hundred, he will equal Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Matthew Hayden on 30.

Quotes

"Bit more time to prepare for this game than last year. That was a bit chaotic. We are in a good place, played some good cricket last week, hopefully we can continue it here, and continue our pinkball form."

Steven Smith on taking temporary charge again.

much pace is in the pitchthe drop-in was only put into place last week, following a Guns N' Roses concert. The

GCB donates under-13 cricket equipment to county boards

"It's very inspiring. For a long while, we are close friends…he really came and showed that he had that hunger and determination to score that century. As a bat ting unit, we have a lot to learn from that." Jermaine Blackwood on Kraigg Brathwaite (Cricinfo)

CLASSIFIED ADS

Need a Real Estate Agent for your property? Buying, Selling or Renting? Contact Antonie on 6309558.

SERVICES

Pandit Balaji: He is an expert in clearing problems like: Marriage, love, relationship, business, jobs, court case, health, bring back loved ones, remove black magic. 100% guaranteed results and He has permanent suggestions and solutions for lifetime within 3-5 days. Contact +592 698-8091.

Pandit Hari Krishna: Are you suf fering from love problems, rela tionship, Family, Children, wife and husband, business, jobs, lucky number, remove negative energy, bad luck, visa, health?

Pandit Hari Krishna gives you permanent suggestion and solu tion within 5 days. Contact +592 678 4062.

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) on Tuesday donated a set of under-13 cricket equipment to Demerara and Essequibo at the na tional Gymnasium. The small presentation was done after the third trial match was played between the two teams.

A series of trial match es has been arranged af ter the inaugural GCB Under-13 40-overs InterCounty Tournament was cancelled on Saturday, December 3, due to per sistent heavy rainfall across the country. The four matches organized will be used to select a

to participate in a bilat eral series against a tour ing Trinidad and Tobago Under-13 team, sched uled to arrive in Guyana on Friday, December 9. The two teams will play four (4) matches between December 10 and 18.

The GCB plans to add

Present at the hand ing over ceremony were GCB Secretary Ronald Williams, Assistant

The GCB will hand over gear to the Berbice team during their match against Demerara.

Astrology and Spiritual Healer Pt. Mohan: +592-692-1009 If there is any problem in your life, he will get the solution. Please con tact spiritual healer, regarding health, love, business, husband and wife problems, etc. Address: Georgetown, Guyana.

Contact PANDITH JAYA for all kinds of problems. You will get solutions 100% guarantee. Call or WhatsApp +592 688-1569.

Address Georgetown.

Roston Chase, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach/ Anderson Phillip, 11 Jayden Seales/Marquino Mindley.

Guyana Under-13 squad

the Under-13 Inter-County to its calendar of activi ties, making it an annual event. This is in keeping with the five-year develop ment plan outlined by this new administration.

Secretary Davteerth Anandjit, Territorial Development Officer/ Admin Assistant Kavita Yadram, and Junior Selection Panel Chairman Andre Percival.

The Essequibo Team

The Demerara Team

Top-order chat? David Warner, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne at training

Alzarri Joseph raised the pitch in the first Test with a hostile spell on the fourth day

-but West Indies are capable of putting up a big fight

WI vs Aus: Sir Frank Worrell Trophy, Test 2 of 2…

One Guyana President’s Cup football tournament…

Buxton/BV are Region 4 champs

Aclassy display from the Buxton/ Beterverwagting (BV) outfit at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground on Carifesta Avenue in Georgetown on Tuesday night proved that they are currently the best InterWard team in Region 4.

The occasion was the Region 4 final of the One Guyana President’s Cup tournament, and tasked with opposing a star-studded Tucville/South Ruimveldt side, the East Coast outfit held off their opponents for a 2-1 victory.

For the first few min utes of the encounter, the two teams appeared evenly matched, but it soon became apparent that finishing well would become the Achilles heel of the Tucville/South

Ruimveldt team. Then Neil Hutson of Buxton/BV tipped the scales in his team’s fa vour when he came out of no where to strike the first goal.

As a pass came across the face of the goal, Tucville’s defence had locked down the striker in the middle; how ever, coming in from the cor ner to execute an easy tap in was Hutson, in the 34th minute.

The deficit seemed to mo tive Tucville, as the scores were soon level. The infa mous breeze at the MoE Ground played a massive role in Kelsey Benajmin’s 38th minute goal. Benjamin, who had been traversing the left wing, had angled the ball just right, although it was high; but with the winds coming in to play, the ball dipped perfectly into the

top corner for the equalizer.

With the scores level, the final became even more in tense, but to Buxton’s de light, Tucville’s woes in front of the goal persisted.

Whereas several big-name strikers missed the mark consistently for Tuvcille, it was smooth sailing on the Buxton side.

Another correctly-timed free kick and assistance from the wind brought the next goal of the game. But this time it was Dillon Wright who took the shot, and bam boozled Tucville/South goal ie Akel Clarke on Buxton/ BV’s behalf in the 63rd.

At that juncture, their defense went to work, shut ting down opportunity af ter opportunity for Tucville until the final whistle was heard.

GBBFF Seniors Championships…

The final clash between Buxton/ BV and South/Tucville

The One Guyana President’s Cup will contin ue this Sunday, December 11th, as the tournament

heads into the National Championships phase.

Teams comprising 25 players from each one of Guyana’s

administrative regions will be competing to get their hands on a $2M grand prize on January 1, 2023.

Nicholas ‘Creed’ Albert “ready for war”

…grateful to sponsors

By TimoThy Jaikarran

The GBBFF Seniors Championships would literally be a survival of the fittest, a showdown of the heavyweights; and the tal ented Nicholas Albert, fond ly known by close friends as “Creed”, would be gunning to prove a point.

He had battled it out on stage in the Under-176 Division in the Guyana Bodybuilding Fitness Federation’s Seniors Championships in 2021 and had come in second. And now, with the 2022 edition looming, his resolve is to up lift the topmost prize, thus he is “ready for war” as he bat tles to become Mr Guyana on the stage of the National Cultural Centre on December 18, 2022.

In an exclusive interview with this publication, Albert was asked about his confi dence heading into the com petition, and he said, “I am one hundred percent confi dent heading into the show.

Training is excellent. I am giving every thing to training in season and off season, so training is good.

“My mindset is to take everybody down, because that is my mindset all the time, and I just fo cus on stage and just show everybody I am coming in a different way and just surprise them. I’m coming in a different way, dif ferent package, ev ery single thing. This December, it will re ally be dangerous, it will not be the same.

My focus is going to be different, as I worked on all of my mistakes in my last two competitions of not focusing on stage, but this time my fo cusing is excellent, nothing will break my focus.”

He also men tioned that he is al ways confident in anything he does, as he makes it his mantra to remind himself that he is a champion; hence he is, and will al ways be, confi dent. Albert noted that while every one has to fight for their own, they are all one family. But when he hits the stage, it will turn into a battlefield whereon everyone will have to fight.

He touted that this has given him a new thirst, as he cannot wait to take them down, and he will be coming for everything. For his fans, he divulged that they can ex pect a different package, dif

ferent posing and everything different from him.

He relayed that they have to expect a different creed from him, as he will not be the same person they had seen in 2021, as he will be seeking to make his fans proud of him.

“To my sponsors, Fitness Express, I am thankful to them for my protein supple ments and what’s not. I can not forget that, and especial ly to the other people who helped sponsor me. I would like to have more sponsorship onboard to help me with my competition that is going to come up every year, such as when I have to leave the coun try or compete for Guyana, I would like to have more spon sorship,” Albert shared.

Further, he clarified that the reason he is seek ing more sponsorship is that bodybuilding is everything to him, and it is something he seeks to take far, as he aims to fulfill his vision of making Guyana one of the top body

building hubs. He explained that this can be made possi ble, as the country boasts in dividuals who have good bod

ies and need to show other countries what Guyana pos sesses.

“We cannot be beat back,

or sitting or waiting, so I want to be the best to bring this out; I will be the best,” he posited.

Rutherford hoping success in T20 leagues pushes him back into West Indies team

Some players set stan dards and records, and Guyanese batsman Sherfane Rutherford wants to be one of them, as he sets his sights on the inaugural sea son of the ILT20 in the UAE, starting in January 2023. There he would be lining up for the Desert Vipers.

The 24-year-old left-hand ed Rutherford is a well-oiled franchise cricket-playing ma chine, having successfully plied his trade across conti nents, be it the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the Lanka Premier League, or the Bangladesh Premier League.

Discipline and hard work are at the core of his approach, and as a member of two T20 tournament-winning teams, in the PSL and the CPL, this is a man who knows what it takes to be victorious.

Rutherford was also a member of the championship winning Mumbai Indians team. Add to that his exten sive UAE playing experi ence, most recently for the Northern Warriors in the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament along side fellow Desert Vipers player Adam Lyth, and it is clear Sherfane Rutherford will undoubtedly be a valu able member of the Desert Vipers squad.

Rutherford disclosed on how his joining the Desert Vipers came about: “My agent called me saying he had some thing interesting. He told me about the T20 tournament in the UAE and I said ‘Yes, you can put me up.’ I am excited to

see what this new opportunity will offer, and hopefully I can give it my best.

“To win a tournament, firstly, as a team you need ev eryone to gel well. I think one of the key factors to winning a tournament is when everyone works together. Even if we are losing, we all have to stay to gether and show character. In the end, it comes (down) to hard work and the team that puts in most work and stays disciplined. I think winning a tournament comes when you do the basics right and you stay in the game longer than the other teams,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford had this to say on the appeal of the UAE’s ILT20 league over other T20 tournaments in Australia, Bangladesh and South Africa: “UAE is a place I love. Since I came here the first time, I have always imagined coming back and playing cricket here. So, when I heard about the op portunity, I said ‘Yes, I real

ly want to come here, it does not matter how long it is, I just want to be in the UAE, the pitches here are nice and it is beautiful to play cricket here’."

The Guyanese is also aiming to return to the West Indies side, for which he has not played since January 2020.

“Definitely! It started with the CPL, and I know these tournaments will help me. If I put in some good performanc es, I can play internation al cricket and represent the West Indies. Hopefully, with some good performances (in the ILT20 and such leagues), I can be back in the (WI) team, and stay there,” he said.

The league will begin on January 13 and run un til the final on 12 February.

The competition will in volve six teams, being Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai Capitals, Gulf Giants, Desert Vipers, MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriors. (Brandon Corlette)

Rutherford is determined to succeed in the new T20 League

“You are playing for much more than this tournament” - President Ali

…As ‘One Guyana’ President’s Cup tournament is officially launched

Beyond your regular year-end football tournament, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has touted the One Guyana President’s Cup as a highly transformative competition that will forge news avenues for

Guyana’s football and its players.

During the tournament’s official launch, hosted at State House on Main Street on Wednesday night, President Ali charged the players to view the opportunity as ‘more than

just a tournament’.

“And I will say to the footballers that you have an opportunity now, and you are play ing for much more than this tournament, be cause that national pool of players is very,

very critical,” President Ali shared, as he al luded to a National Football Programme that the Government intends to establish in order to support Guyana’s dream of reaching the 2026 FIFA World Cup. TURN TO PAGE 21 ►

President Dr. Irfaan Ali and GFF President Wayne Forde taking a photo opportunity with players and the uniforms they will don for the ‘One Guyana’ President's Cup Tournament

President Dr Irfaan Ali shares a photo opportunity with corporate sponsors’ representatives, displaying the team jerseys for the One Guyana President’s Cup tournament. Among the corporate sponsors are NEW GPC; GTT; Digicel; ANSA McAL; Caribbean Airlines; Tiger Rentals; Beharry Holdings and E-Networks. Also in photo is Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr