Guyana Times - Thursday, May 12, 2022

Update laws to reflect rights of LGBTQ community – advocate P14

…Pride Festival 2022 launched Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com

Issue No. 5006

THE BEACON OF TRUTH THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

PRICE

Real estate regulations in Guyana long overdue – AG Nandlall …as local agents concerned about lack of laws

WHAT'S INSIDE: Escaping from custody

P8 Woman convicted of attempted extortion recaptured, remanded

Page 7

280 acres of rice destroyed by recent flooding along Corentyne Coast Page 3

Technology Conference Mazaruni allowed for closer escapee ties between Guyana, recaptured American businesses with knife – AmCham stuck in neck After over 1 year on the run

Page 12

$100 VAT INCLUDED

Page 11

Non-functioning Uitvlugt mill

Factory will be up and running for 2nd crop – GuySuCo P16 Police probing “mischievous” allegations made about National Unity Monument P17

Homeless P17 Guyanese woman wins emergency accommodation legal battle in UK

Neesa Gopaul murder

“It was one criminal transaction”: DPP to CCJ on decision to have joint trial …as lawyers ask court to overturn mom, lover’s conviction, jail time

Page 9

52.9 lbs ganja found in unfinished ECD P17 house

2 NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Electoral Reforms…

2nd set of proposed amendments to be out soon – AG W

ith consultations currently ongoing on the proposed changes to the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA), the Guyana Government is currently finalising a second set of amendments that would be released to the public soon.

This is according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC. During this week’s edition of his programme – Issues In The News – he explained that these new reforms are proposed changes to the Registration Act. “The second set of reforms,

The engagement session between AG Anil Nandlall and stakeholders on Monday

or proposed reforms relating to the Registration Act, shall be made public within a matter of days, as the work have been essentially completed in draft form. That will also be sent out, using a similar mechanism, inviting public consultations and recommendations and views,” Nandlall disclosed.

This announcement was made just one day after the Attorney General had met with stakeholders who made submissions on the proposed amendments to the ROPA, which were released to the public last November, and

persons were invited to give feedback.

Submissions were received from several persons, groups and organisations, including at least one political party and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Those who made submissions were invited to an engagement with the Legal Affairs Minister on Monday, but only representatives from two of those entities – the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Electoral Reform Group – showed up.

“We went through their respective recommendations and thoroughly interrogated them and examined them.

I also took the opportunity of explaining the nature and purport of the proposed amendments, the rationale for the amendments, and how the amendments will impact positively upon strengthening the electoral machinery,” the Legal Affairs Minister stated.

According to Nandlall, he pointed out to the stakeholders that these proposed amendments are specific to statutory reforms, while other issues, such as changing the country’s political system and restructuring GECOM, which were among the recommendations made by the stakeholders, will have to be done through the constitutional reform process that is slated to commence shortly.

“I also detailed the limitations of the engagement by highlighting the fact that this aspect of the reforms will not address constitutional matters, because those matters will require a twothirds majority and this is a Government-driven process.

We don’t have a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. So, what we are concerned about here is reforms to the statutory provisions touching and concerning the elections – the Registration Act and the Representation of the People Act, in particular,” he asserted.

Nevertheless, AG Nandlall said that Monday’s engagement with the stakeholders was “lively and interactive.”

He went on to note, however, that Government will have a separate engagement with GECOM on the GECOM recommendations submitted.

“We will be meeting the Guyana Elections Commission, and go through these amendments with them. The Guyana Elections Commission, of course, is an important stakeholder organization, and we going to treat with them differently. They have also made many recommendations and many proposals for amendments. Their submissions will be comprehensively dealt with at an engagement which we will have shortly,” the AG stated.

In the meantime, Government would continue with the consultative process on the host of proposed changes to ROPA, and will hold another engagement session with other stakeholders who made submissions.

TURN TO PAGE 10

3 280 acres of rice destroyed by recent flooding along Corentyne Coast NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BRIDGE OPENINGS OPENINGS BRIDGE

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

Thursday, May 12 – 01:00h-02:30h and Friday, May 13 – 01:30h-03:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

…“rice just falling down and rotting out in the water” – farmer

Thursday, May 12 – 13:20h-14:50h and Friday, May 13 – 14:20h-15:50h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Light to heavy rain is expected with instances of thunder in the early morning to mid-afternoon hours, with late afternoon sunshine. Partly cloudy skies and light rain should prevail at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: North-Easterly to East North-Easterly between 1.78 metres and 4.92 metres.

High Tide: 14:00h reaching a maximum height of 2.44 metres.

Low Tide: 07:33h and 19:55h reaching minimum heights of 0.82 metre and 0.73 metre.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022

LOTTERY NUMBERS C

01 04 06

07 23 24

FREE TICKET

22 Bonus Ball

DAILY MILLIONS

13 14 18 19 22 LUCKY 3

2

3

1

4

Afternoon Draw

5

8

Evening Draw

DRAW DE LINE

02 07 11 12 13 15 19 SUPER

PAY DAY

PAY DAY

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022

02 04 08 15 17 13

02 03 06 12 17

2

6 Afternoon Draw

FP Afternoon Draw

1

4 Evening Draw

FP Evening Draw

DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902

COMMODITIES Indicators

US$

Change %

Crude Oil

$106.80/barrel

-0.70

Rough Rice

$306.09 /ton

-0.05

London Sugar

$515.70/ton

0.00

Live Spot Gold

USD Per Ounce

Bid/Ask

$1858.90

$1859.90

Low/High Change

$1834.20 +6.20

$1860.30 +0.33 %

T

Some of the farmers affected by the recent flooding

he beginning of the rainy season has spared no wrath,

down and rotting out in the water,” Hardin said.

Hardin is the hardest

causing sections of the Corentyne Coast to become heavily inundated.

Among those areas are farmlands, and already, over 200 acres of rice have been destroyed, and more lands are under threat as the rainy season persists.

Some 280 acres of rice have been damaged at the 52-74 Youth Farmers Co-op Society.

The co-op is located 14 miles inland from the Central Corentyne Coast, where 30 farmers have pooled their resources and invested some $148 million to develop 3000 acres of rice land. However, because of a shortage of land in the front areas of the Corentyne Coast, those farmers made the investment in the backlands.

Seenarine Hardin, called ‘Sun’, has 550 acres under cultivation. He is currently harvesting, but 140 acres are under water. The water has been pouring into the cultivation area from the Canje River.

He explained to this publication that because of the huge amount of water in his rice fields, combines cannot go in there to harvest. The rice plants have become too weak to withstand the water, and coupled with the fact that they have paddy, they have fallen.

“The rice just falling

hit of the farmers who have lost rice. He told this publication that some fields he

is currently harvesting, but production is low; because of the water, the combines cannot get all of the rice.

According to Hardin, he is likely to be able to reap just over 400 acres.

Currently, he is receiving about 20 bags per acre, and has difficulty getting his paddy out of the field.

According to some farmers, because of the current state of the access dams, they require at least two tractors to pull a grain cart out.

According to Hardin, currently, they only put the equivalent of about 60 bags of paddy into the grain cart before bringing it out.

“You can’t put plenty paddy now because of the dam. Access to the dam is very bad too. Right now, near to four tractors have

to pull one cart, and they are not reaching out. When you go in in the morning, till midnight we reaching out.”

Most farmers try to harvest their crop during the month of April, and some even in the month of March, when there is more sun.

However, this rice farmer explained that he did not go into the crop late, since his paddy was sowed between December 15 and 20.

“That is not too late, but the weather pattern, the weather, gets us waiting all the time. You not getting working time. When you go in the backdam to work and whole day rain fall, you don’t get to do anything. That is how the time take up. If the weather was good, we would have finished harvesting,” Hardin said. (G4)

4

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

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

Conscious of climate change

O

ver the past few years, there has been much talk about climate change and the devastating impact it is having, and is likely to have, on communities and the world as a whole. However, while governments and policy makers are busy debating the issues at the national and international levels, many believe that enough is not being done in terms of designing and implementing critical projects at the community levels to encourage and sensitise individuals about the need to play their part in mitigating the effects of climate change.

In fact, it could be argued that, on the global level, not many persons are educated about the issue, especially as it relates to the kind of impact climate change has on the environment and on individuals themselves. Citizens still do take the issue for granted, and do not pay much heed to the various messages about the need to change lifestyle patterns and so on.

Scientists have argued that the planet is indeed threatened by lifestyle patterns of individuals, and if persons continue to use resources the way we currently do, the planet’s reserves will be exhausted at an increasingly rapid pace. For many countries, there is still the challenge of getting everyone to not only understand and appreciate the idea of the need to work towards sustainable consumption, but also to take practical steps to move in this direction.

Certainly, governments can set the framework with their policies; set targets, define standards, give incentives to make companies go green. Businesses and industries, together with researchers, can provide the solutions; but, in the end, the consumers have the power of the purse, whether they buy green products or not.

The highly touted ‘green model,’ reduces our ecological footprint, emits less greenhouse gases, uses less energy and raw materials, and can create new sources of growth and employment.

In essence, achieving economic growth and sustainable development requires that we urgently reduce our ecological footprint by changing the way we produce and consume goods and resources. As stated by UNDP, the efficient management of our shared natural resources, and the way we dispose of toxic wastes and pollutants are important targets to achieve this goal.

Based on statistics, the world’s population is growing rapidly, as more than a billion new people will enter the middle class by 2050. Experts have predicted that if citizens do not change their consumption patterns, the global use of resources will be multiplied by 15, which is considered dangerous for our planet, as it would not be able to satisfy the needs of everyone.

At the individual level, every individual does play a crucial role in defining his/her own consumption pattern, and can, in a way, also contribute to the fight against climate change. For example, we can reduce the level of energy utilized, and the money that is saved on energy could be used instead to develop climate-friendly technologies and appliances.

Official records show that, on a global level, more than 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are related to household consumption. While it is accepted that it is not an easy task to get persons to change lifestyles and to work towards a climate- friendly environment, the task would be much easier if they are educated about the role they can play and the benefits of their own action.

Here, in Guyana, we still continue to dump garbage carelessly. For example, persons continue to dispose of plastic items in reckless manner resulting in the clogging of drains and trenches, thereby leading to flooding etc. The flooding, over the years, have exposed our vulnerability and should serve as a big wake-up call for us to treat the environment differently.

Chief Education Officer, Dr Marcel Hutson interacting with students of the FE Pollard Primary School on Wednesday as Grade Six pupils across the country began the second National Grade Six Assessment Mock Examinations (Education Ministry photo)

Climate change is devastating the Global South

By Saleemul Huq and Mohamed Adow

R

ight now in India and Pakistan, a record-breaking heatwave is impacting the daily lives of nearly a billion people.

Scorching temperatures are damaging wheat harvests, preventing many labourers from working outdoors, and making people vulnerable to serious health issues and even death.

Our native countries of Kenya and Bangladesh are suffering too: Northern Kenya is facing a prolonged drought that is putting rural communities at greater risk of starvation and last year, torrential rains left one-quarter of Bangladesh under water and destroyed the homes of millions. These are some of the latest examples of how the 3.6 billion people in developing countries are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, and a preview of what the “new normal” will look like if the global community doesn’t immediately step up its climate action.

Given their power, wealth, and responsibility for the climate crisis, the onus is particularly on rich countries in North America and Europe to help vulnerable countries weather climate impacts – and it has never been more urgent. Despite the negligible contribution that most vulnerable countries have made to cause climate change, these countries are the most ambitious in tackling it – but they cannot fight this crisis on their own. Not only is this the moral thing to do, but it will also help minimise the challenges and costs down the road, such as disaster recovery efforts and the migration of climate refugees forced to leave their homelands as they become increasingly uninhabitable.

Villagers wade through waist-deep water to reach their homes in Pratap Nagar in the Shyamnagar region, Bangladesh on October 5, 2021. The effects of global warming, particularly increased cyclones, coastal and tidal flooding that bring saltwater further inland, are devastating Bangladesh and destroying the livelihoods of millions

The decisions adopted at the United Nations’ COP26 climate negotiations last year fell far short of the expectations of vulnerable developing countries. We can’t wait any longer to act.

This week, the ACT2025 consortium (Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025), a coalition amplifying the voices of vulnerable countries in the climate negotiations, announced a call to action for progress at the COP27 conference in Egypt this November.

First, countries – especially G7 and G20 countries – must commit to further reducing emissions to keep the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius – the threshold scientists believe will prevent the most dangerous climate impacts – within reach. More ambitious climate pledges have lately helped the world close the warming gap from a predicted 4 degrees C to now 2.1 degrees C. However, since every fraction of a degree of warming will make an enormous difference in the scale of climate impacts and their effect on the lives of the most vulnerable, the progress made so far is not enough.

Second, developed countries must deliver adequate funding to help developing nations address climate change – and make sure this funding will benefit the most vulnerable by empowering communities to pursue the adaptation solutions they need. This includes delivering US$600 billion by 2025, a goal that developed countries are not yet on track to achieve.

Third, countries must implement stronger adaptation measures, including coming to an agreement on a global goal on adaptation and how to track progress as well as delivering adequate, quality finance to support adaptation on the ground.

Adaptation initiatives range from restoring coastal ecosystems that buffer storms to growing drought-resistant crops. Success will require Governments to ensure local communities have decision-making power over adaptation efforts.

Fourth, developed countries must commit to providing finance specifically for losses and damages that are too extreme for countries and communities to adapt to.

While such impacts are glob-

al in nature, they hit the most vulnerable the hardest, such as low-lying islands disappearing due to rising sea levels, farmers no longer being able to support crops due to extreme heat, or communities forced to abandon ancestral homelands that can no longer support them. This injustice must be addressed, yet so far the only Governments to offer funds to help the victims suffering climate-related losses and damages have been Scotland and the Wallonia province in Belgium – both welcome contributions, but wealthier developed countries now need to take the lead.

And lastly, countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement must implement rules that will hold countries and non-State actors accountable for their commitments.

This includes ensuring that Governments actually have the wherewithal to achieve the goals they’ve set and that climate progress is measured accurately and transparently. Shortly after COP27, we will be a quarter of the way through the decade that scientists agree will be critical to determine the future of life on this planet. What will the world have to show for it?

Climate change is at our doorsteps, and vulnerable countries don’t have a moment to lose. The world needs to be all in, all together, to swiftly and fairly address this global crisis. (Al Jazeera) (Saleemul Huq is the Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and Professor at the Independent University Bangladesh (IUB). Mohamed Adow is Founder and Director of Power Shift Africa, a NonGovernmental Organisation and think tank based in Kenya to mobilise climate action in Africa.)

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

5

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

Victims’ families still looking for justice

– a layman's opinion

Girmitiyas across the world

B y G uyanese

of

I ndian A ncestry A ssociation

The above diagram shows that between 1834, when Indentureship started with Mauritius, and 1917, when it was stopped, 1.4 million of them were shipped to at least seventeen countries. The descendants of the approximately two-thirds of them who remained now amount to over 4 million. There is also at least 1.5 million in metropolitan countries from secondary migrations to the USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands and France

Other West Indian countries Grenada ……………3200 St Lucia …………….4350 St Kitts ………………337 St Vincent…………..2472 The Indentured Labour Route Project Mauritius established the “Indentured Labour Route Project” (ILRP) in 2014, after it received the support of UNESCO’s Executive Board.

• The ILRP is steered by the International Scientific Committee (ISC), composed of 20 members from 14 countries. The ISC is supported by the Secretariat located at the Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund in Mauritius.

• The ISC has developed an Action Plan. The implementation of this Action Plan in every country can be steered by a National Committee for the Indentured Labour Route Project.

• Countries may also consider contributing to the main project of the ILRP: the International Database on Indentured Labour Migration:

Dear Editor, For many years, some extremely horrible and highly questionable judgements have been handed down by Guyana’s judicial system.

Many victims and their families still cry out for a lack of justice.

Take, for example, the sentence handed down by Justice Simone MorrisRamlall four months ago and published in the local newspaper, when Kurt Erskine, the killer, left his place of residence on July 05, 2015, armed himself with a gun, and travelled miles and shot Ganesh Ramlall (Boyo) to death at La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, and received 15 years in a most bizarre decision. The City Mall owner was shot eight times!

Faizal Bacchus, the lookout/ informer, was freed (sentenced to time served) after pleading to the lesser count of manslaughter,

when this was a clear-cut case of conspiracy to premeditated murder! Lenox Roberts, the third person charged in the murder, received a similar slap on the wrist in what is a clear case of a conspiracy to commit murder.

In legal terms, these men possessed a guilty mind mens rea, which refers to criminal intent – therefore, sentencing should be in accordance with this factor.

Thus, a crime committed purposefully and knowingly should carry a more severe punishment than if the offender acted recklessly or negligently.

There are abundant cases of haphazard sentencing; however, the following examples would suffice: In February 2020, Sunildate Balack admitted that between September 6, 2016 and March 31, 2017, at Mibicuri North, Black Bush Polder, he killed his wife Lilwantie Balack, 39, of the

same address.

After he had reported that she had left the country, the woman’s remains were found buried behind the couple’s home. In what has become horribly commonplace, he pleaded to the lesser count of manslaughter, and was sentenced to 21 years.

In sentencing the man, the judge said that in taking consideration of all the circumstances, she found that a sentence of 35 years was appropriate. However, she said on account of his guilty plea, 11 years would be deducted, and another three years were discounted on account of the time the convict had spent on remand.

And in 2018, a judge sentenced a Rose Hall, Corentyne man, Desmond Gordon, to ten years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter in the chopping death of his common law wife Bhagmattie Etwaroo,

50, in May, 2016.

The case of the murder of Abdool Ameer Subrati, 44, a driver with the Demerara Harbour Bridge and father of two, who was fatally shot by bandits in 2016 when they stormed a house at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, puts the Judiciary on trial.

Devon Chacon, 22, murdered Subrati during the furtherance of a robbery.

Police had said that two men, including a tenant at the Herstelling property, were picked out as being involved in the attack. The family of the dead man was reported in the local media as saying that he was shot while the men were firing wildly during the robbery.

The accused was sentenced to 5 years in 2021 -to time served.

Sincerely, Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine

Trying desperately to gain some relevance Dear Editor, The Opposition Leader is on a recognition campaign, in which he is desperately looking at ways in which he can get some relevance. It all started when he realised that the nitpicking efforts at discrediting the Government on governance have failed, so he is making that bold step forward to challenge the Vice President to a debate.

I know what he might be thinking: that is, let this discussion descend into a shouting match, and at the end he might score some cheap political points and prove to his supporters that he is a winner.

Well, he is ever so wrong, because Vice President Jagdeo is a far shrewder discussant than that, and would allow Norton neither the time nor the space to exhibit that nonsense.

The Vice President would not allow any discussion to descend into a street brawl.

To this end, Vice President Jagdeo has issued an ultimatum as it regards the rules of engagement; that is, let us begin on the matter of producing the statements of poll for Region 4. Those contentious pieces of document are the root cause for him initiating a public

forum discussion, and the request again is: please produce the statements of poll for Region 4.

Why can't we publicly see this public document?

Why are they hiding the people's document?

If Norton is serious about a debate (which I think he is not), he would reveal to the people of this country the results of their voting in the 2020 Elections. Otherwise, stop pontificating about the PPP/C being an installed Government when you cannot prove that simple fact of revealing the results of the election for Region 4. It is ludicrous to even think

of it. The Vice President is just reiterating the call for him to walk with the SOPs for Region 4 before he can get into any discussion.

Norton would not risk making himself look more foolish than he really is; if he cannot substantiate his claims with firm proof, then stop the blowing of hot air! And there is no better way to start than to tender the documents for public viewing, the results for Region 4.

I await the debate, if we are ever to have one.

Respectfully submitted, Neil Adams

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Apravasi Ghat, Mauritius, where Girmitiyas first landed in 1834, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

DID YOU KNOW? •

Several hundred ex-Indian indentureds were recruited from Jamaica to work on sugar plantations in Belize (then British Honduras) during the late 19th century. Today there are approximately 7000 descendants living there.

•

Girmitiyas in the Caribbean speak English, Dutch, Spanish and French with all their various “Creole” or local “patois”.

06:00 (Sign on) Inspirational Time 06:30 Cartoons 07:00 Evening News (RB) 08:00 Stop Suffering 08:30 Stay Woke 09:00 Pioneer Woman 09:30 Prime Series - Blippi's Educational Adventures for Kids 10:00 House Hunter Renovation 11:00 Paternity Court 11:30 Divorce Court 12:00 Movie - Fluke (1995) 13:36 Wheel of Fortune 14:00 The Thundermans S2 E17 14:30 The Evermoor Chronicles S1 E15 15:00 Indian Soaps 16:00 Lost in Space S3 E5 17:00 The Young & The Restless 18:00 The Cricket Show 19:00 The Evening News 20:00 Stop Suffering 20:30 For Better or Worse S5 E9 21:00 Station 19 (ABC) 22:00 Grey's Anatomy (ABC) 23:00 The Ranch S3 E7

23:30 Whose Line Is It Anyway? S12 E7 00:00 Sign off

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

Page

Foundation

◄

I

n this fun and easy science experiment, we’re going to explore and investigate the human body and how eyes work.

Wax paper Safety pin Paper cup Rubber band

Materials:

Instructions:

Using the safety pin, poke a small hole in the centre of the bottom of the paper cup.

Place a piece of the wax paper over the mouth of the cup.

Use the rubber band to hold the wax paper in place.

Point the bottom of the paper cup at a bright light from about two to three feet away.

Slowly walk toward the light and you should

CONTINUED FROM WEDNESDAY

ACT III SCENE I. Before PROSPERO'S Cell.

Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log FERDINAND There be some sports are painful, and their labour Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness Are nobly undergone and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean task Would be as heavy to me as odious, but The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed, And he's composed of harshness. I must remove Some thousands of these logs and pile them up, Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness Had never like executor.

I forget: But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours, Most busy lest, when I do it.

Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance, unseen MIRANDA Alas, now, pray you, Work not so hard: I would the lightning had Burnt up those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile!

soon see an image of the light bulb appear upside down on the wax paper.

How it works:

Light enters our eyes through our pupils after it reflects off of an object. The light then makes its way through the different parts of our eyes and produces an image on our retina that is upside down. The image then travels to our brain through the optic nerve. Our brain compensates by reversing the image so that it is right-side up so we do not see an upside-down image. In a pinhole viewer, the light enters through the small pinhole we made in the bottom of the cup. This is similar to the way that light enters the eye through the pupil. The light creates an image on the wax paper, similar to the way that light creates an image on the retina of the eye. Our pinhole viewer lacks a “brain” to “correct” the image, so it will appear upside down on the wax paper.

Pray, set it down and rest you: when this burns, 'Twill weep for having wearied you. My father Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself; He's safe for these three hours.

FERDINAND O most dear mistress, The sun will set before I shall discharge What I must strive to do.

MIRANDA If you'll sit down, I'll bear your logs the while: pray, give me that; I'll carry it to the pile.

FERDINAND No, precious creature; I had rather crack my sinews, break my back, Than you should such dishonour undergo, While I sit lazy by.

MIRANDA It would become me As well as it does you: and I should do it With much more ease; for my good will is to it, And yours it is against.

PROSPERO Poor worm, thou art infected!

This visitation shows it.

MIRANDA You look wearily.

FERDINAND No, noble mistress;'tis fresh morning with me When you are by at night. I do beseech you-Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers-What is your name?

MIRANDA Miranda.--O my father,

I have broke your hest to say so!

FERDINAND Admired Miranda!

Indeed the top of admiration! worth What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady I have eyed with best regard and many a time The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage Brought my too diligent ear: for several virtues Have I liked several women; never any With so fun soul, but some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed And put it to the foil: but you, O you, So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creature's best!

MIRANDA I do not know One of my sex; no woman's face remember, Save, from my glass, mine own; nor have I seen More that I may call men than you, good friend, And my dear father: how features are abroad, I am skilless of; but, by my modesty, The jewel in my dower, I would not wish Any companion in the world but you, Nor can imagination form a shape, Besides yourself, to like of. But I prattle Something too wildly and my father's precepts I therein do forget.

Make this a science project:

Try a white plastic grocery bag. Try tracing paper. Try tissue paper. (Sciencefun.org)

FERDINAND I am in my condition A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king; I would, not so!--and would no more endure This wooden slavery than to suffer The flesh-fly blow my mouth. Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you, did My heart fly to your service; there resides, To make me slave to it; and for your sake Am I this patient log-man.

MIRANDA Do you love me?

FERDINAND O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound And crown what I profess with kind event If I speak true! if hollowly, invert What best is boded me to mischief! I Beyond all limit of what else i' the world Do love, prize, honour you.

MIRANDA I am a fool To weep at what I am glad of.

PROSPERO Fair encounter Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace On that which breeds between 'em!

FERDINAND Wherefore weep you?

MIRANDA At mine unworthiness that dare not offer

What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want.

But this is trifling; And all the more it seeks to hide itself, The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning!

And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!

I am your wife, if you will marry me; If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow You may deny me; but I'll be your servant, Whether you will or no.

FERDINAND My mistress, dearest; And I thus humble ever.

MIRANDA My husband, then?

FERDINAND Ay, with a heart as willing As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand.

MIRANDA And mine, with my heart in't; and now farewell Till half an hour hence.

FERDINAND A thousand thousand!

Exeunt FERDINAND and MIRANDA severally PROSPERO So glad of this as they I cannot be, Who are surprised withal; but my rejoicing At nothing can be more.

I'll to my book, For yet ere supper-time must I perform Much business appertaining.

Exit

WORD SEARCH

NEWS

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Real estate regulations in Guyana long overdue – AG Nandlall …as local agents concerned about lack of laws

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Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, with local real estate agents

he Guyana Government will be moving to regulate the local real estate industry – something which Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, says is long overdue, and is necessary now more than ever, given the country’s development trajectory.

The need for regulations to govern the real estate industry in Guyana was raised by a group of real estate agents. They met with AG Nandlall on Tuesday to raise their concerns about the lack of relevant laws, and requested a regulatory framework to be established to govern the real estate sector in the country.

It was noted that the real estate agents explained that due to the massive increase in sale of real estate

in Guyana, and with the new Condominium Bill expected to come into force shortly, there is a need to regulate the sector, especially since international real estate companies are now operating in the sector.

According to the Legal Affairs Minister, this request is a timely one.

“It is something that is long overdue, and the need for regulation to be brought to this industry has assumed even greater importance since we have become an oil and gas producer. Large companies have come here; huge transactions are taking place involving the sale and transfer of lands; you have joint venture arrangements being entered into to the tune of billions of dollars, and we have an unregulated real estate industry,” Nandlall pos-

ited.

Moreover, the Attorney General explained that the real estate sector is one of the sectors that Guyana has an obligation to regulate by way of legislation under the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) structure.

“As we have become an oil-producing country, our regulatory framework, and accountability framework, and transparency network in respect of Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism must also be constantly updated, and we are doing that,” he said.

“The real estate industry is an important part of the AML/CFT apparatus because it is true, real estate can be a very fertile avenue

for the laundering of money and the proceeds of crime…

Because of the intense commercial activities taking place, it is important for us to incorporate formally into our legal structure, and establish a regulatory framework, the real estate industry and to regulate its operations so that the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) and all the monitoring agencies can embrace the real estate sector as part of the AML/CFT structure,” Nandlall pointed out.

Against this backdrop, the Attorney General invited the real estate agents who attended Tuesday’s meeting to make submissions of model legislation, which will be reviewed and approved by the Government after consulting with the sector before it is taken to Parliament for

enactment.

Already, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has tabled a Condominium Bill in the National Assembly to regularise condos in Guyana.

That Bill will come up for debate and passage at the next sitting, which is set for Tuesday, May 17.

This, AG Nandlall contended, is another piece of legislation that is preparing the legal landscape of Guyana for the takeoff that is being witnessed.

“I keep saying all the time, we have to update our laws, we have to revamp our legal system to ensure that it embraces the modern changes that are taking place, or else the legal system and the law will be left behind and commerce will run ahead.

We can’t allow that to happen, we must do it in sync, and the society must move forward as a whole. No society can advance without the law as an institution being there to regulate the conduct of human affairs,” he stated.

The Condominium Bill 2022, which was tabled on April 15, allows for persons who have purchased duplexes or condominiums from the state to soon be able to access the titled documents for their properties.

With six parts and 65 clauses, the Bill makes provision for the horizontal and vertical subdivision of land and buildings into units for individual ownership, and for the use and management of condominiums.

Among other things, the Bill paves the way for com-

mercial banks to accept titles for the properties, and insurance companies to issue policies to owners of condominiums.

Clause 19 of the Bill states that units in a condominium constitute the immovable property, while Clause 20 provides for the title of ownership of a condominium unit.

Clause 44 empowers unit owners to insure their respective units. The Bill also requires that proposed declarations and descriptions of units be approved by the Minister before a condominium is constructed, or before an existing building is converted into a condominium.

It also empowers the Housing Minister to approve, reject, or direct the amendment of a proposed declaration and description.

The crafting and tabling of such a Bill fulfills the promise of the PPP/C Government, made after it was discovered that the former Coalition Administration had constructed duplexes (a home with two individually-owned units in one building) without amending the relevant legislation that guides the regulation of such properties.

The Bill was crafted by the Ministry of Housing and the Attorney General’s Chambers. It forms part of the Government’s legislative agenda which is directed towards a revamp of many of the archaic and outmoded laws of the country, as well as to lay the foundation for the economic development anticipated to take place in the very near future.

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Escaping from custody

Woman convicted of attempted extortion recaptured, remanded

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20-year-old woman who was recently convicted of attempted extortion over demanding $10 million from her ex-boyfriend to prevent her from making a false rape allegation against him is now facing a charge for escaping from Police custody.

Princess Williams of Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD) appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Wednesday.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on May 7 while being in the custody of a Police Officer, she escaped. She was remanded to prison until June 1, 2022.

Last Friday, Williams was found guilty of attempting to extort $10,000,000 from

Remanded: Princess Williams

Kenrick Thomas by threatening to accuse him of raping her. She had been on trial for this offence before Magistrate Rondel Weever at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. After she was found

guilty, Williams who was out on $100,000 bail, was remanded to prison pending sentencing. Her sentencing hearing is fixed for June 6 when a probation report will be presented on her.

After she was convicted, Williams was escorted to the East La Penitence Police Station. While there, she complained of feeling unwell and was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital the next day.

After receiving medical attention, she requested to use the washroom. It was while using the washroom that she made the desperate dash for freedom. But her escape was short-lived as she was arrested while walking along Thomas and Lamaha Streets, Georgetown. When Police

ranks arrested her, she had a piece of cloth wrapped around her handcuff.

It was reported that Williams and Thomas had shared a relationship for about four months. She last visited Thomas’s residence on January 4, 2021. They engaged in consensual sex after which they ended up in an argument, which resulted in one of them ending the relationship. Following the break-up, Williams sent a voice note to Thomas, claiming that he had raped her. She further gave him an ultimatum to either pay her $10 million or she would make a report to that effect to the Police.

But after receiving the threat, Thomas lodged a report with the Police. (G1)

At last...

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…spending the oil money e know oil was struck in 2015; Trotman’s giveaway contract was signed in 2017; an account was opened at the NY Fed in Jan 2020, and by April of that year, the payment for the first lift of our (paltry) share of US$55 million was deposited.

The NY Fed was chosen as a safe haven by the Bank of Guyana. Even though its interest rates are close to zilch, when it comes to big money, your Eyewitness figures prudence comes before risk!! Not that he’s got any personal experience with “big money”!!

One interesting fact of note is: since each of our “lifts” is 1 million barrels a pop, the money deposited pretty much signals the price of Brent Light Crude oil at that time. Right now, that price is now over US$100/ barrel, so our balance should be rising quite steeply, thank you!! The Ukraine war has placed Russian Oil in jeopardy, and has really worked out for us!! So, if you’re really patriotic in a realpolitik kinda way, it’s in our interest for the war to continue a bit longer!! But seriously folks, even if the war’s called off tomorrow, oil prices are going to be bullish for a while, because the inherent contradictions of the world oil market have been exposed. It ain’t gonna be the same for quite a while - if ever. And we gotta take advantage of it! Unlike what those mad hatters are preaching: to leave the oil under the ocean!!

But back to the matter at hand - spending the oil money!! This, of course, is what’s gotten the Opposition’s bucktas and drawers all in a (tight) knot!! They figure that since the PPP has its (grubby?) hands on the purse strings through “effective control” of the fund, they’ll do what they want with it!! Meaning not only siphoning off “billions and billions” into their pockets - as their CY Thomas claims even during the hard guava non-oil days! - but developing the economy to such an extent that their supporters will be jumping ship en masse!!

It can’t be easy to see a steam roller coming your way and your feet are stuck in muck and you can’t get outta the way!! With President Irfaan Ali like the Scarlet Pimpernel - here, there, and everywhere it’s no “days of wine and roses” for them! So, let’s see what’ll happen now that the first US$200 million has been transferred into the Consolidated to fund some of the developmental works in the “Historic and Transformational $552M Budget” passed back in February!!

Now it’s up to the Opposition to quit whining and use the Sectoral Committees to ensure the money’s spent for the developmental projects!! …a new Technical Institute Your Eyewitness was pleased as punch to read there’s gonna be a state-of-the art new Government Technical Institute (GTI) facility built. With all sorts of new, fancy, smart classrooms and equipment. This has been too long in coming. The moment we knew oil was struck, the PNC Government shoulda launched this project. It didn’t take any brains to figure out that we would need a new breed of “technical” folks to deal with the Gas and Oil industry that was going to be launched.

The PPP went ahead and opened up some other Technical Institutes in the other counties, but, sadly, these were even more backward that the one on Woolford Ave. they were all built for the 19th century!

And now we hear of this old boy of the GTI coming back to haul it into the present. But your Eyewitness doesn’t think the initiative is going far enough. What’s the new curriculum for the 21st century??

We just can prepare for O&G. There’re whole new worlds to repair!! …Guyanese fun One PNC twat is making fun of the First Lady dancing like any other young Guyanese at a charitable fun function. So she should imitate the colonial masters and dance a Quadrille?

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

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

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Neesa Gopaul murder

“It was one criminal transaction”: DPP to CCJ on decision to have joint trial

…as lawyers ask court to overturn mom, lover’s conviction, jail time “…criminal justice system has rules, and when we start bending the rules, we find ourselves on a very, very slippery slope” Justice Saunders

Murdered: Neesa Gopaul

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ontending that prejudicial evidence led to their clients’ wrongful conviction, lawyers for Bibi Shareema Gopaul and her younger lover Jarvis Small, who are each serving a 45-year jail sentence for the 2010 murder of Gopaul’s daughter, 16-yearold Queen’s College student Neesa Gopaul, are seeking to overturn those convictions at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Bibi Shareema Gopaul, 50, and Jarvis Small were initially sentenced to 106 years’ and 96 years’ imprisonment respectively, after they were unanimously found guilty of the teen’s killing following a trial before Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court in March 2015. The two convicts shortly after lodged separate appeals against their conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal of Guyana, which in August 2021 affirmed their convictions but reduced their prison terms to 45 years each.

Dissatisfied with that court’s decision, the duo has now moved to the CCJ, which will determine whether their murder convictions were unsafe, and whether the appellate court’s variation of their sentences to 45-years was manifestly excessive, and not in keeping with established sentencing guidelines.

The case was heard

by CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders and CCJ Judges Maureen RajnauthLee, Jacob Wit, Denys Barrow, and Peter Jamadar.

Decomposed remains

The decomposed and headless body of the younger Gopaul was found stuffed in a suitcase in a creek along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. Also discovered were her passport and bank card. The suitcase was wrapped with rope and attached to dumbbells in an apparent effort to keep her body submerged. The girl was found weeks after she was reported missing from her West Coast Demerara (WCD) home. Neesa Gopaul died from multiple blunt force trauma to the head.

Prejudicial evidence

During almost four hours of post-trial arguments before the CCJ on Tuesday,

Small’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes, placed focus on an application he made at the commencement of their trial for the joint indictment for murder to be severed, which would have allowed for his client and his co-accused to have separate trials.

But the application was

denied by Justice Singh, whom Hughes said did not provide any reasoning for his ruling. Hughes submitted that the test applicable in the consideration of such an application used by Justice Singh, as well as the manner in which it was reviewed by the Court of Appeal, “was

Jailed: Jarvis Small

Jailed: Bibi Shareema Gopaul

deeply flawed”.

To amplify his point, he cited a specific case law in which he noted that the real risk of a positive injustice being caused as a result of the joint trial was considered.

The defence counsel explained that the test was whether the likelihood of positive injustice was real, and not inconsequential, and whether when you weigh the prejudicial material against the irrelevant material, it was likely to turn a potential acquittal into a conviction.

TURN TO PAGE 15

10 NEWS 2nd set of proposed amendments...

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

To prevent a recurrence of the historic March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, which resulted in a five-month political impasse caused by blatant rigging attempts, the ROPA amendments were released for public

consultation before the document is finalised and taken to the National Assembly.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration had said it wanted to have the widest possible engagement with stakeholders, including

the various political parties, on the proposed amendments to ROPA. But the only political party to make recommendations on the proposed ROPA changes is the A New and United Guyana (ANUG) – one of the new par-

ties formed to contest the 2020 elections. Additionally, Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner Charles Corbin has also made a submission.

Last month, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo pointed

out at a press conference that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition has been making various public statements about electoral reforms, but did not use the opportunity during those three months to submit their feedback on the proposed ROPA amendments.

“But they chose not to. We hope in Parliament they will participate [when the ROPA amendments are tabled],” he posited.

At the time, the Vice President announced that Government is looking to put in place laws that would allow GECOM to transparently remove the names of dead persons from the voters list amid concerns of it being bloated.

Jagdeo told reporters that Government wants the law to be very explicit as it relates to the removal of dead persons – something which GECOM has the constitutional right to do.

In fact, he proposed a methodology that would see these changes to the list being done on a large scale, starting with the Chief Election Officer (CEO) obtaining a list of all the dead people for every year as well as historically.

These names, he noted, must be shared publicly before they are removed from the Voters’ List.

“We want to make the process transparent, so GECOM should do that on a large scale, but, by law, they must share the list with all the political parties, and publicise the list of dead people in the newspapers. We want to put that into the law, so every time they remove dead people, they must share this with all the parties in Guyana, and publish it in the newspapers, not just do it in GECOM on their own,” Jagdeo stated.

Back in August 2019, Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George had ruled that GECOM can-

FROM PAGE 2

Attorney General & Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC

not deregister persons from the National Register of Registrants (NRR) – from which the Voters’ List is compiled – unless they are dead or otherwise disqualified under Article 159 (2), (3) and (4) of the Constitution.

An overhaul of the country’s electoral laws can see the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) at the Election Commission facing as much as life imprisonment for committing fraud, while others can similarly face hefty fines and jail time for any related offence.

The immediate former CEO of GECOM, Keith Lowenfield; his Deputy Roxanne Myers, and the Returning Officer for Region Four at the last polls, Clairmont Mingo, were terminated last August for their role in efforts to derail democracy at the 2020 elections. The trio is also currently before the court on a raft of electoral fraud-related charges.

While the firing of these three senior officials and a general overhaul at the Elections Secretariat were met with much satisfaction by stakeholders, it is widely agreed that much more needs to be done to restore public confidence in the Elections Commission, especially as it gears up to hold Local Government Elections (LGE) later this year.

NEWS

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

After over 1 year on the run

Mazaruni escapee recaptured with knife stuck in neck

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man who escaped from the Mazaruni Prison more than a year ago was arrested on Tuesday after he turned up at the Mahdia District Hospital, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) with a knife stuck in his neck.

Samuel Gouveia, 27, a high-profile convicted prisoner, was identified at the hospital around 04:30h.

Commander for Regional Division Eight, Senior Superintendent Michael Kingston indicated that Gouveia was wounded about 23:30h on Monday last at Mowasie landing, Konawaruk after he had a heated argument with another man over money.

As a result, Gouveia was stabbed to the left side of his neck, with the knife being stuck there.

After the incident, he went to the district hospital to seek medical attention.

While there, Police said, he was positively identified by a prison officer, as well as by records and tattoos on his left hand. He was later escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was admitted.

He is presently under Police guard at the said hospital as investigations continue.

Gouveia was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison for the offence. He had stabbed to death 35-yearold Santee Solomon on November 23, 2015, at Puruni Landing.

Solomon, of Line Path, Skeldon, Corriverton, East Berbice, was working in the interior with Bacchus International Gold Mines when he was killed.

Escape

While serving his time, Gouveia and three oth-

Kenrick Lyte and Samuel Gouveia

er prisoners escaped from the prison. The others were Imran Ramsaywack, Kenrick Lyte, and Ryan Jones. Ramsaywack and Lyte were on death row, while Jones was convicted of manslaughter.

It was reported that officials realised that the four prisoners escaped from the maximum-security prison during the unlocking of the Brick Prison (Solitary Division).

It was observed that the padlock to the entrance gate had been tampered with, and further checks revealed that two bars within the cell were cut.

After the discovery, the Emergency Action Plan related to the escape of inmates was immediately activated, and a joint patrol was established at the outer perimeter of the prison, but no one was seen.

After the incident, several prison officers who were on duty at the time were questioned and taken off of the job until investigations were completed.

In addition, 60-year-old Ralph Jones, the father of escapee Ryan Jones, was arrested, charged, and remanded to prison after he assisted the fugitives.

He had confessed to offering the escapees a change of clothing and he took possession of the clothes they were wearing at the time and disposed of them at the back of his house.

After leaving the man’s house, the four men reportedly stole a boat from Karrau, Essequibo River, which they used to travel to Bartica.

Sometime later, during a shootout, Ramsaywack and Jones were killed,

and a third person – Savita Rajkumar, 49, also called “Debbie”, of Better Hope South Squatting Dam, was also killed. She was reportedly a close acquaintance of Jones.

It was reported that on the day in question, Police received information that the Mazaruni Prison escapees were hiding out at a location in the Better Hope South backlands.

As such, a team was deployed to the area, and a male emerged from a shack and discharged a round at the Police, before running into the nearby bushes. The Police then returned fire.

As they got closer to the shack, they observed

Recaptured: Samuel Gouveia

two men and a woman lying on the floor with gunshot injuries. The area was reportedly combed in search of the fourth person seen, but there were no signs of him. Police also

confirmed that a sawnoff double-barrel shotgun was found at the scene.

Lyte is now the only one of the four who remains on the run. (G9)

12 NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12,, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Technology Conference allowed for closer ties between Guyana, American businesses – AmCham T he Offshore T e c h n o l o g y Conference (OTC) has been hailed as a success by the American Chamber (AmCham) of Commerce of Guyana, which fielded a team to the three-day event in Houston, Texas.

In a statement, AmCham explained that a number of partnerships were forged between Guyanese and American businesses during the OTC. According to the

Chamber, participation in the conference was important.

“The relationships and partnerships that have been forged over the past few days through the Chamber will not only introduce incredibly-beneficial opportunities to the many investors but also play an integral role in strengthening the relationship between Guyana and the United States,” it noted.

With Guyana now being termed an "oil and gas hotspot", AmCham Guyana’s representation of its members at this year’s OTC was vital to fostering investment in Guyana.

The OTC was held at the NRG Park in Houston, Texas, from May 2 to May 5, 2022, with AmCham taking part in the event for the second consecutive year. Its delegation was led by Chamber President Devindra Kissoon, Vice

Representatives of AmCham Guyana (from left to right): President Devindra Kissoon, Business Development Officer Sarah Shaffie and Executive Assistant Tandi Rampersaud

President Shyam Nokta, and Immediate Past President Zulfikar Ally.

AmCham Guyana’s presence at this year’s conference saw participation from numerous members, including Chris Mohan and Peter Patience representing CCA Guyana Inc, Terry Singh representing JAPARTS Source One, and Dallas Thomas and Keiron Brathwaite representing Praetorian Executive Protection Services Inc. Other persons who attended were Uchenna Gibson representing HFS Corporate Services,

Ayanna Watson and Earl Carribon representing SOL Guyana Inc, and Abbas Hamid representing Vitality Inc. Representatives of the AmCham Guyana Secretariat – Business Development Officer Sarah Shaffie and Executive Assistant Tandi Rampersaud were also able to promote the services of other member companies at the OTC, including PasCargo Guyana Inc, Tagman Media Inc, Rafeek and Moore Licensed Customs House Brokers and Logistics, and ActionINVEST Guyana Inc. The OTC was founded in 1969, and forms a series of conferences and exhibitions focused on exchanging technical knowledge

relevant to the development of offshore energy resources, primarily oil and natural gas.

At the 2019 OTC, the Guyanese delegation was the recipient of interest from a large number of major players in the oil and gas industry worldwide. At that time, Guyana’s participation at OTC was funded

by Private Sector sponsorship, along with approximately 20 per cent funding from the Government. This year, Guyana’s presence at the conference was said to have generated much interest.

Guyana, with US oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block.

Guyana’s oil revenues are being banked in the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest.

ExxonMobil has established an ambitious oil exploration plan for offshore Guyana.

Norwegian oil and gas consultant Rystad Energy, last year in an analysis, had said that Guyana, with oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, had accounted for 70 per cent of proven new oil reserves belonging to major oil companies over the past five years.

This was even as the world’s largest oil exploration companies run out of proven oil reserves.

According to the consultant, new oil reserves among Big Oil, which comprises companies such as ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, Total and Eni, have fallen.

However, Exxon has come out ahead of its peers, thanks to Guyana. (G3)

NEWS

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Kawa-1 discovery adds to growing success story unfolding offshore Guyana – CGX C

anadian oil company CGX Energy Incorporated has reported an increase in its chances of finding more oil in the Corentyne Block, as the discovery of light crude at the Kawa-1 well has derisked other prospects in the Block.

According to CGX, who engaged independent third-party laboratories and experts in order to arrive at the findings, the Kawa1 well was successfully explored and found to have both light oil and gas.

“These findings are consistent with discovery wells reported by other operators surrounding the northern portion of the Corentyne Block and derisks the forthcoming Wei-1 exploration well, expected to be spud in 3Q ’22,” CGX said.

According to CGX, which has partnered with Frontera Energy Corporation, they continue to integrate detailed seismic and lithological analysis and pore pressure studies from the Kawa-1 well into preparations in advance of drilling their second well.

Chairman of Frontera's Board of Directors and CoChairman of CGX's Board of Directors, Gabriel de Alba spoke of the significance of the find for the partners.

“The Joint Venture is pleased to announce that it has successfully discovered light oil in the Santonian and Coniacian and gas condensate in the Maastrichtian and Campanian at the Kawa-1 exploration well, offshore Guyana,” de Alba said.

“The Kawa-1 discovery adds to the growing success story unfolding offshore

Frontera Chairman and CGX Co-Chairman Gabriel de Alba

Guyana and the integrated Kawa-1 well results further support our belief in the potentially transformational opportunity the Joint Venture has in one of the most exciting basins in the world,” he added.

Meanwhile, CGX made it clear that it would continue to assess several strategic opportunities to obtain additional financing to meet the costs of the drilling programme. It was explained that the Wei-1 well will be just 14 kilometres northwest of the Kawa-1 well.

“The Wei-1 exploration well will be located approximately 14 kilometres northwest of the Kawa-1 exploration well in the Corentyne Block, approximately 200 kilometres offshore from Georgetown, Guyana,” CGX said.

“The Wei-1 exploration well will be drilled in water depth of approximately 1912 feet (583 metres) to a targeted total depth of 20,500 ft

(6248 metres) and will target Campanian and Santonian aged stacked channels in a western channel complex in the northern section of the Corentyne Block.”

According to the joint venturers, the findings at the Kawa-1 well mean that the chance of finding oil at Wei-1 has improved from 29 per cent to 56 per cent. They also noted that data from the Kawa-1 and Wei-1 exploration wells will inform future activities and development decisions.

“Based on the Kawa-1 discovery and a better understanding of the tie between seismic and rock type in the northern portion of the Corentyne Block, the Joint Venture has identified additional Maastrichtian, Campanian, and Santonian potential in the central channel complexes between Wei-1 and Kawa-1. The central channel complexes are the focus of ongoing technical work,” CGX said.

Back in May 2019, a Strategic Joint Venture was approved between CGX Energy Inc and Frontera Energy Corporation to farm into two shallow-water offshore Petroleum Prospecting Licences for the Corentyne and Demerara Blocks – both of which are adjacent to ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block, where multiple discoveries have been made.

The farm-in joint venture allowed Frontera to acquire a 33.333 per cent working interest in the two blocks.

CGX had spudded the Kawa-1 well in August of 2021, which had been described at the time by de Alba as one of the most exciting exploration wells in the world. The Kawa-1

well, which is approximately 200 kilometres offshore Georgetown, was expected

to de-risk multiple prospects in the Corentyne Block.

Both the Corentyne and

Demerara Blocks have been in CGX’s hand for some time without being drilled.

14 NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12,, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Update laws to reflect rights of LGBTQ community – advocate …Pride Festival 2022 launched

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he need for Guyana to update its laws regarding same sex intimacy was once again highlighted as LGBTQ organisations – with support from the British High Commission in Guyana – on Wednesday launched this year’s Pride Festival.

During the launch, SASOD’s Managing Director Joel Simpson spoke about the need for the country’s laws to be updated to better reflect the rights of the LGBTQ community.

“We know that those laws are colonial in nature and is something that we inherited from colonization. When it comes to criminalization of same-sex intimacy, the current administration has not signalled any particular interest or any indication to repeal that law,” he said.

“We have heard some rhetoric to support amending the Prevention of Discrimination Act 1997, which deals with the right to work, to include sexual orientation, sex characteristics, gender identity and gender expression; so, at least in the context of labour rights, in the context of the workplace, there will be some protection for LGBTQI people,” he said when asked about the steps taken by au-

File photos: Pride Festival in 2019

thorities.

British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller, who was presenting during the event, explained that Guyana inherited these laws that were put in place many years ago by the British.

She pointed out that those laws have since been repealed in the United Kingdom, and she encouraged local lawmakers to follow suit.

“Guyana has inherited laws that were brought in many, many years ago; British laws. The UK has now repealed that, we now have very progressive laws in the UK that protect rights of the LGBT community, and

there are many countries, including Guyana, that have never changed. The UK has changed, and I’m very proud of the fact that the UK has changed, which is why I’m very happy to (be) championing the rights of the LGBT community. My view is that they were wrong then and they are wrong now, and I will do all I can to be championing changes to protect the rights of the LGBT community,” she stated.

Meanwhile, the Pride Festival 2022 will feature a wide range of events, which will commence on Sunday June 19 with a virtual interfaith forum, and will continue with other activities through-

out the following weeks until July 16, when the festival will conclude with a Pride Parade and Pride Party.

According to Simpson, this year’s festival, being held under the theme “our bodies, our lives, our rights”, will be focused on sexual rights.

“We really want to celebrate the freedom to love and the freedom to people to express themselves, and everyone deserves to enjoy those freedoms. We still have situations where these punitive laws are used for extortion by Police and other state actors, especially now in the context that restrictions have been lifted,” he said.

“We are seeing some of the same forms of human rights violations against our communities that existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the return to the ‘New Normal’, we are seeing that

arising again, so that is why we decided to focus on sexual rights this year, and in particular in terms of advocacy agenda to call for the repeal of sections 351 to 353 of the Criminal Law Offences Act, which criminalises same-sex intimacy,” he explained.

All events will be open to the members of the public, who were encouraged by Simpson to attend the events, which he assured would be completely safe and secure.

“Guyanese at home and abroad are welcome to join us for all these activities,” he said. “I would encourage everyone to come out, that the coalition has always been very responsible in hosting this festival. We have not taken security for granted, and every person, every citizen, can feel safe coming out to our events.

All the indoor activities enjoy security at the private venues

that are hosting those activities as well,” he stated.

The British High Commissioner also encouraged persons to be a part of the activities, as she fully supports and will be a part of them.

“The UK is very proud of being a champion for LGBT rights across the whole world.

LGBT rights are fundamental human rights, and we are committed to the principle that everyone everywhere should be able to love the person they love, and should express themselves without fear of violence.

“Guyana’s Pride Festival sounds like an amazing festival of activities, where LGBT community an allies can get together and celebrate the diversity of this country, celebrate the (inclusiveness), and celebrate being together,” Miller added.

NEWS

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

“It was one criminal transaction”: DPP to CCJ...

Hughes pointed to the evidence of the prosecution’s main witness, Simone De Nobrega, who was also a cellmate of Shareema Gopaul.

De Nobrega had testified that the murder convict told her that it was Small who had killed her daughter by bashing her head with a piece of wood.

According to Hughes, there is no doubt that De Nobrega’s evidence, which was “strong and powerful”, implicated the mother in the crime, although it could not be used against his client.

He, however, argued that the likely prejudice inflicted on his client by De Nobrega’s evidence was “significant”, and could not have been rectified, even if Justice Singh had given appropriate directions to the jury. He said that even though Justice Singh acknowledged that he can give directions in that regard, he failed, regrettably, to give the proper warnings to protect against the prejudicial evidence which was admitted against Small, who denied committing the crime by giving a statement to that effect to the Police.

He went further to criticise Justice Singh for using a “single sentence” in the following language, “What you [jurors] accept Bibi Gopaul to have said is not evidence against [Jarvis Small]”, to address that witness’s evidence during his summation.

Hughes is of the view that it required more than a single sentence from the Judge to cure the prejudice.

Considering the weak evidence against Small, which only amounted to “suspicion”, Hughes contended, Small should have been acquitted on a no-case submission, since the evidence against him, taken at its highest, could not have yielded a verdict of guilty.

Dishonest character

Shareema Goopaul’s lawyer, Arudranauth Gossai, also took issue with the prejudicial evidence admitted against his client. He, too, highlighted the testimony of De Nobrega, which he noted was manifestly unreliable, as she had been previously convicted of crimes of a “dishonest character”.

De Nobrega was convicted of the offence of obtaining by false pretence, and also had similar charges pending against her. He said that Justice Singh failed to inform the jury of this witness’s criminal record.

As such, he contends, this resulted in a fundamental flaw in the summing up.

In light of this, he submitted that the Court of Appeal ought to have set aside Shareema-Gopaul’s conviction for her daughter’s murder.

At this point, Justice Barrow interjected to remind Gossai that there was other evidence linking his client to the crime. “The dumbbell at her house, the red rope, and the documentation [passport, bank card] only a mother would have

in relation to a 16-yearold child,” Justice Barrow said, as he went on to tell Gossai that his fixation on De Nobrega’s evidence was a “non-point”.

Jail terms excessive

The lawyers are also challenging the convicted killers’ jail sentences, which they again argue are manifestly excessive. Gossai, in relying on case law authorities from the Caribbean, submitted that a sentence between eight and 15 years with the necessary deductions would be appropriate, given the circumstances of this case.

In relation to sentencing in Guyana, he argued, “Numbers are randomly plucked”, without any reason given as to how the Judge arrived at the starting point. To make his point, he said that Justice Singh gave no reason how he arrived at a starting point of 60 years.

As such, he said, there is an urgent need for sentencing uniformity in Guyana, and he urged the CCJ to consider this when deliberating on this appeal.

Addressing the issue of sentencing on behalf of Small was Hughes’s associate, Attorney-at-Law Ronald Daniels, who asked the court to revisit the sentences handed down by the Court of Appeal in light of the “prescription” enunciated by the CCJ in Calvin Ramcharran vs the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of Guyana.

He submitted that in those cases, the apex court highlighted four considerations an appellate court should make in reviewing sentences, which are: to provide clarity and guidance to lower courts, to ensure sentences are not unfit and unjust, to ensure that the principles of sentencing are properly applied, and to help develop the law.

He also relied on the case of Linton Pompey vs the DPP of Guyana. Both cases cited

by Daniels are for sexual offences. According to Daniels, the Court of Appeal departed from the guidance given in those cases, in that it failed to engage in a “forensic exercise” before arriving at a starting point of 35 years in the instant case.

Extremely unfortunate

For her part, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, argued that the dumbbells found at the crime scene belonged to Small, and that they implicated him in the murder.

Justice Wit, however, told the DPP that there is no “clear evidence”, no evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” to suggest that Small used those dumbbells to commit the murder.

Considering this, Justice Saunders remarked that the decision by Justice Singh not to have separate trials was “extremely unfortunate”. The CCJ President went on to ask the DPP to furnish him with directions

that could disabuse the jury of the notion that Small should not be prejudiced by De Nobrega’s evidence.

Ali-Hack replied: “Yes, Your Honour. There are directions that could have been given, and the direction was given.” The DPP agreed with Justice Saunders that De Nobrega’s testimony was not relevant in proving Small’s guilt. In light of this, the CCJ President asked her, “So, how was it humanly possible…you opposed the split trials? You opposed that?”

Where is the other evidence?

To justify her decision to have Small and Shareema Gopaul tried jointly, AliHack explained that “It was one criminal transaction, it was one murder, and the prosecution’s case is that it was committed by both

parties, and the evidence against Small is that he had the dumbbells, the dumbbells were heavy, he was the person who lifted them, he was the person who took them to [Bibi] Gopaul’s house, he was strong… after he took them to Gopaul’s house…these dumbbells were found attached to the suitcase wherein [Neesa Gopaul’s] body was found…”

She said the dumbbells were heavy, and had to be lifted by someone strong.

“So, Jarvis Small is the only strong man there is in Guyana?” Justice Saunders queried. Justice Wit opined that there is not sufficient evidence against Small.

He added, “We cannot assume that these things [dumbbells] were so heavy that you must have had help from somebody. You could think most probably Small, but most probably is not

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enough…must be beyond a reasonable doubt. Where is the other evidence? This is what puzzles me; I don’t see it. It’s a terrible case, and it would be best to do justice.

But to do justice must be based on solid evidence.”

The DPP nevertheless went on to argue that there is enough circumstantial evidence to convict the teenager’s mother of her murder. For his part, Justice Jamadar pointed out that Justice Singh gave a “very general, generic and almost legalistic” direction to the jury when he addressed De Nobrega’s evidence.

Justice Barrow also expressed the view that the trial Judge did not adequately direct the jurors.

But the DPP begged to differ, and maintained her position that adequate directions were given.

Forensic evidence

Also, in his remarks, Justice Saunders reminded that the “criminal justice system has rules, and when we start bending the rules, we find ourselves on a very, very slippery slope”.

He expressed that it is very unfortunate that there was not any serious forensic evidence in this case to help provide proof of who committed this very, very serious crime.

In closing, Ali-Hack contended that the 45-year sentence imposed on each of the convicts was fitting, and therefore urged the CCJ to affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal of Guyana.

She noted that this was gruesome murder in which a mother conspired with her lover to kill her daughter.

The CCJ has reserved its decision in this matter.

(Feona Morrison)

16 NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Non-functioning Uitvlugt mill

Factory will be up and running for 2nd crop – GuySuCo T

he Guyana Sugar C o r p o r a t i o n (GuySuCo) has assured that the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate factory will be up and running in time for the second crop of 2022, with the parts necessary for the factory expected to arrive in Guyana later this month.

This was announced in a statement GuySuCo released on Wednesday, in which it was explained that the latest update the company has received from the manufacturer in Texas, United States pertaining to the components needed for the factory indicated that they would be transported to Guyana by air in late May. “The local engineering teams are on standby to effect the installation immediately upon receipt and the factory should be in a state of readiness for the commencement of the Second Crop of 2022,” GuySuCo explained.

This statement came after workers at Uitvlugt sugar factory expressed concerns about their future, given the fact that they were not getting work.

GuySuCo, in its statement, explained that after President Dr Irfaan

Ali had offered workers six days of work per week at the Uitvlugt Community Center, it had immediately complied with this beginning with the affected sugar workers who presented themselves to work from the week ending April 23.

“In the Agriculture Department, workers were offered planting, manual weeding, chemical spraying, sideline and cross canal cleaning, fertilising, carpentry works, machine and punt repairs among other tasks.”

GuySuCo explained that the workers were offered work associated with the factory’s out-of-crop maintenance programme, including repairs to carriers, pumps, juice heaters, gear boxes, vacuum pans and the factory roof.

Back in February, it was announced that an award-winning Londonbased vodka producer, One True Maverick (OTM), was looking to expand operations to Guyana and expressed interest in the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate for the potential establishment of an ethanol plant.

OTM co-founder James Luwagga was among a group of United Kingdom business representatives

The Uitvlugt sugar factory

who visited Guyana earlier in the year as part of the “British Business Mission” to network with both local Private Sector and Government officials as they scoped out opportunities for potential investment here.

The delegation was hosted by London-based The Caribbean Council, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the British High Commission’s Department for International Trade.

Uitvlugt Estate once housed the Guyana Distillers Limited (GDL), which produced vodka.

GDL was merged with

DDL and the stills were sent to DDL, but the expertise is still available.

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has been looking to make strategic investments at Albion, Blairmont, and Uitvlugt Estates. In fact,

this year, particular focus will be placed on upgrading and mechanising aspects of operations at those estates while expanding packaging capabilities to produce more value-added products for domestic and international markets.

Finance Minister, Dr

Ashni Singh, during the Budget 2022 presentation, disclosed that “…$6 billion [has been allocated] to support GuySuCo’s ongoing investment in field and factory operations to turn around the industry, while we continue to consider the possibility of engaging private investor interest also in some of the estates”.

Further, President Ali had subsequently hinted at Government’s efforts to encourage private investments in the sugar industry.

“It will create more jobs. Not only more jobs, but more jobs at a technical level if we are to increase our production. It will expand our production,” President Ali said during an analysis of the $552.9 billion Budget 2022 which was passed in the National Assembly in February. (G3)

Several robbery suspects nabbed during Police raid

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olice ranks from Regional Division 4A (CID Special Patrol), along with ranks from Special Branch and Brick dam Impact Base, on Monday between 12:00h and 13:00h, carried out a search at a house in D Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, where several persons were arrested.

During the search at the house, 20 cellphones suspected to be stolen were found.

As such, several known characters who are wanted for a series of armed robberies in Regional Division 4A and Regional Division 4B were arrested.

They were all escorted to the Brickdam Police

Station where they were placed into custody.

Over the years, residents and business owners from the community have voiced several concerns about the frequent robberies in the area and have called for increased Police presence in various areas of the community.

NEWS

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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Homeless Guyanese woman wins emergency accommodation legal battle in UK

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London council made a flawed decision when it refused to house a homeless woman in her 60s during the Covid-19 pandemic, a judge has ruled.

Desiree Cort, 68, challenged Lambeth Council’s decision not to provide her with emergency accommodation to avoid her sleeping on the streets in June 2021.

Council bosses disputed Cort’s claim, but Judge Graham Wood has ruled in her favour.

The judge, who considered argument at a High Court hearing in London in

February, said in a ruling published on Wednesday that the council had not properly considered a government “Everyone In” policy.

He said: “Essentially… the court is being asked to consider the significance in the local authority decision-making process on the street homeless of a declared Government initiative or policy described as ‘Everyone in’, which was announced at the start of the Covid pandemic.

"And which was aimed at removing rough sleepers from the streets regardless of their entitlement to

public fund assistance, not only to avoid the spread of infection but also to protect those most vulnerable.

“In my judgment it is the absence of an appropriate and relevant consideration of the effect of the national policy and exhortation in Everyone in, which was supported by funding to provide accommodation for the street homeless, regardless of immigration status, which renders this decision-making process flawed.”

He said he was concerned that the council’s decision had been “informed by irrelevant mat-

ters”.

Judge Wood said Cort was from Guyana, had no

Charged: Kellorn Crighton

a knife from the waist of his pants and dealt Seon one stab to the right side of his chest.

Seon reportedly fell to the ground and was picked up by his friend and taken to the Bartica Public Hospital where he succumbed. (G9)

Police probing “mischievous” allegations made about National Unity Monument

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he Guyana Police Force has launched an investigation into what it describes as “mischievous allegations” made by Desmond Alli about the National Unity Monument.

On Wednesday, Police, in a statement, said that Alli, the architect of the National Unity Monument, alleged that a member of the Presidential Guard claimed that he was instructed to remove the monument. The monument is located in the National Art Gallery, Castellani House compound.

According to the Police, Alli, in a letter to the editor under the headline ‘President Ali instructs demolition of National Unity Monument’, claimed that Ronford Liverpool,

The cannabis found by Police at the Vigilance property

n intelligence-led operation conducted by ranks of the Regional Division 4 ‘C’ (East Coast Demerara) on Wednesday has resulted in the discovery of over 52 pounds of marijuana at a house in Vigilance South, ECD. The Guyana Police Force said that the ranks, led by two gazetted officers, acting on information received, went to Vigilance, where a search was carried out on a flat concrete building that is partially completed. A

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The Monument of National Unity, Castellani House compound

acting on the instruction of the President, told him that the National Unity Monument is “to be demolished, as it poses a threat to Guyana’s National Security.”

Liverpool, of the Presidential Guard, has since denied having any interaction or conversation whatsoever with the purported letter-writer.

The Presidential Guard also informed Police that he does not know a Desmond Alli, and as such the allegations are “mischievous, misleading and out to create public mischief”.

Liverpool, through his supervisor, has since lodged a formal complaint with the Police. An investigation has commenced.

He said the council had agreed to house her pending his ruling. (gbnews.uk)

52.9lbs ganja found in unfinished ECD house

22-year-old slapped with murder charge A ellorn Crighton of Byderabo Road, Bartica, Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) was on Wednesday charged with the murder of 24-year-old Alston Seon, a miner of Potaro Road, Bartica.

The 22-year-old appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Crystal Lambert, who read the charge to him.

He was not required to plead and was remanded to prison. The case will continue on June 9, 2022.

Crighton is accused of killing Seon, who attempted to make peace between him and his friend on Sunday last at Third Street and Third Avenue, Bartica.

Based on reports received, on the day in question, Seon and four others were at the corner of Third Street and Third Avenue, Bartica, liming when Crighton approached one of his friends and began to threaten him saying that he was going to “buss his throat”.

As such, Seon intervened and warned Crighton to desist from making the threats. The suspect then whipped out

“immigration status” in the UK, and “no recourse to public funds”.

search was conducted on the building, which was unoccupied at the time, and the ranks discovered five bulky, transparent plastic bags containing suspected cannabis in a barrel, as well as a suitcase containing 13 wrapped brown plastic and a bucket containing another 13 wrapped brown plastic – all also comprising suspected cannabis in a bedroom.

The ranks further searched the property and discovered sev-

eral Government-issued documents bearing the name of a male resident of Vigilance South, East Coast Demerara.

The suspected narcotics was taken to the Cove and John Police Station, where it was weighed and amounted to 24 kilograms, or 52.91 pounds. The parcels were also dusted for fingerprints.

No arrest has yet been made in relation to the discovery; however, investigations are ongoing.

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guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

Regional

Cuban dissident Fariñas Jamaican PM appeals detained on return to NWC staff to return to work, restore water supply from rights tour

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Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness

amaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness is appealing to workers of the National Water Commission (NWC) to end their strike and return water supply across the island.

More than 2000 NWC employees remained off the job for a second consecutive day on Wednesday as they continued their industrial action over an outstanding reclassification exercise as well as the ongoing public sector compensation review.

The situation has left

more than 500,000 NWC customers without water.

Speaking Wednesday at an Economic Growth and Job Creation Ministry retreat in Trelawny, Holness made an urgent appeal to NWC workers to return to work and restore the water supply to the nation.

“Negotiations are ongoing so there is really now no need now for the public to be deprived of the essential commodity,” Holness said, adding that “steady progress” was being made in dis-

cussions between unions and the Government.

“I want to assure Jamaicans that we’re doing everything possible to return water supply to those areas that now don’t have water supply, and in fact, the reports I am receiving would be that some areas have already started to receive water,” the Prime Minister said.

Noting that he was “concerned” that there was no notice given ahead of the industrial action, Holness said that the Government has moved to clarify whether the NWC is an essential service.

“We consider water to be an essential commodity… an essential service. In the order of things we must establish that this is the case, so I have asked the Attorney General to advise the government as to whether or not the NWC is an essential service and to how those workers would be classified,” he said. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

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he family of Guillermo Fariñas says the Cuban dissident was arrested on his return to Cuba following an international tour during which he denounced the treatment of political prisoners in his homeland.

Fariñas’s mother said that the car they were travelling in was intercepted by State security agents.

In 2010, the activist won the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.

The 60-year-old is a long-term campaigner for human rights.

He has gone on hun-

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that we were always in the 90s and highly commended

by PAHO and other World Health Organisations, we have forgotten what these diseases look like.

“We have forgotten seeing our children suffering from these things but, the reality is, if we do not pick up and pick up soon, these things, instead of COVID-19, could become the order of the day . . . all of these things that we had completely eradicated,” she said.

The former Health Minister said that she has not heard of any outbreak in a “very, very encourag-

ingly long time” and it is important that as the island deals with the coronavirus (COVID-19), “we work together and take responsibility . . . for the childhood vaccines that have been tried, have been tested, that have been proven effective and that have saved the lives of our children and save them from suffering”.

Health Minister Nicholas Steele confirmed that the rate of child vaccination has fallen by more than 30 per cent, telling legislators that in the 1990s, the childhood vaccination rate was as high as 98 per cent. (Excerpt from Nation News)

Fix pre-COVID-19 issues, says CDB

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CDB President, Dr Gene Leon

aribbean Development Bank (CDB) President, Dr Gene Leon is urging Barbados and the institution’s oth-

er Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) not to become fixated on current economic growth and forget to fix structural problems that pre-dated the COVID-19 pandemic.

He told member countries that although the CDB and other multilateral financiers would continue to support countries, there was a need “to be thinking collectively [to] get economies back on track to continuing to support themselves going forward”.

The economist was speaking Tuesday in

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) during the official launch of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the CDB’s Board of Governors.

Next month’s meeting, which will have online and in-person segments, is being jointly hosted by the Dank and the TCI Government.

Dr Leon said the Region’s economic recovery from the pandemic was going well compared with other places, and this was mainly in the tourism-based economies like Barbados and the natural resource-based States like Guyana. (Nation News)

icies of the Communist Party”.

“Cuba is not a paradise for social rights. That’s a lie peddled by the regime which many in Europe buy into,” he added.

Speaking to Journalists in Tampa, Florida, in March, he referred to the street protests that rocked Cuba in July and which he said included many women and young people.

“They are not politically active, but they want a change. It’s clearly a movement and it gives us hope,” the Tampa Bay Times reported him as saying.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

St Kitts Parliament dissolved, PM fires Ministers

Concern over falling immunisation rate in Grenada he Grenada Government Tuesday expressed concern that the percentage of children receiving childhood vaccines has fallen significantly and is urging parents to help rectify the situation.

“I have learned from the Ministry of Health that the childhood vaccination rate has decreased at an appalling rate,” former Health Minister Clarice Modeste told the Parliament, adding that the usual vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella are no longer a priority for parents.

“All of those things that we used to do before and

ger strike dozens of times and spent years in prison in Cuba.

Fariñas was returning from a trip to Madrid, Brussels and the US, during which he spoke to fellow Cuban dissidents living in exile and addressed members of the European Parliament.

He told the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights that “there are currently more than 1000 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba – some of them under-age – who are unjustly robbed of their freedom solely for openly disagreeing with the pol-

Prime Minister, Dr Timothy Harris

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mbattled Prime Minister, Dr Timothy Harris on

Tuesday said he had asked the Governor General, Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton, to dissolve Parliament with immediate effect after announcing the dismissal of several Ministers, including his deputy, Shawn Richards and Nevis Premier, Mark Brantley.

In a radio and television broadcast, Harris, who was due to have faced a motion of no confidence that had been submitted by six members of the coalition Team Unity Government, said that he would soon announce the

date for the general election.

“I have confidence in the people of St KittsNevis and I strongly believe in their right to choose their representatives in free and fair general elections. The time for decision making is at hand. Accordingly, I have asked the Governor General to dissolve the Parliament of St KittsNevis effective today, May 10, 2022.

“I will advise you when general elections will be held,” he added. (CMC)

T&T cop convicted of raping teenager complains about trial Attorney at appeal

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police officer jailed for 18 years for the rape of a teenager with whom he was in a relationship has appealed his 2019 conviction.

Visham Ragoo has faulted the trial Judge’s handling of his case by allowing inadmissible evidence.

He has also complained about the competence of his trial counsel.

In October 2019, Justice Carla Brown-Antoine sentenced Ragoo for five offences against the teenager, who was two months pregnant when some of the offences occurred.

Ragoo, who was a Police Officer for nine years, was sentenced to a total of 43

years for the crimes. The Judge ordered that the sentences should run concurrently.

At the trial in the San Fernando High Court, it was the State’s case that Ragoo had an affair with the teenager in 2005. He was charged on June 15, 2008, when she made a report to the Police.

Part of the prosecution’s evidence was an audio recording of the February 4, 2008 grievous sexual assault.

The teenager miscarried days after the assault.

Ragoo did not testify at his trial, but called his ex-wife, his wife, and two

Police Officers as his witnesses.

At the appeal on Wednesday, Ragoo testified before Justices of Appeal Mark Mohammed, Maria Wilson and Ronnie Boodoosingh, to support his complaint against his trial Attorney, Selwyn Ramlal.

Ragoo contends that Ramlal acted contrary to his instructions and was negligent and failed in his duties as his Attorney.

He is represented by Senior Counsel Pamela Elder and Attorney Russell Warner at the appeal.

(Excerpt from Trinidad Newsday)

guyanatimesgy.com

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

19

Around the World

OILNEWS OIL NEWS Big Oil braces for shareholder revolt over climate plans in proxy voting season

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ome of the world’s largest corporate emitters face the prospect of a shareholder rebellion this month, with climaterelated votes poised to spike throughout the proxy season.

Oil and gas majors on both sides of the Atlantic are scheduled to hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in the coming weeks. Existing climate strategies are up for votes alongside a range of investor-led resolutions targeting emissions reductions.

In Europe, the AGMs for Norway’s Equinor and Britain’s BP were scheduled for Wednesday and today. UK-based Shell will hold its annual shareholder meeting on May 24 and France’s TotalEnergies AGM will take place on May 25.

Stateside, Chevron and ExxonMobil will hold their respective AGMs on May 25.

The forthcoming proxy season comes amid intensifying pressure on Big Oil to set short- and medium-term targets in line with the landmark Paris Agreement. The 2015 accord is widely recognised as critically important to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.

At present, not a single oil and gas major is aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of curbing global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Dutch group Follow This, a small activist investor and campaign group with stakes in several Big Oil companies, is slated to put forward a number of climate resolutions this month. It is urging investors to leverage their agency and compel energy majors to align themselves with the Paris Agreement.

“The message is, and I’ve tried to get it across for years already, they won’t change on their own accord. They won’t change on engagement. They are only going to change if you are crystal clear to them — and the only way to do that is by voting,” Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, told CNBC via video call.

“If you want the Paris climate agreement to be achieved you need to vote in favour of these resolutions,” van Baal said. “These resolutions don’t ask for something extreme. It is a fair ask.”

Shareholders of US oil producer ConocoPhillips on Tuesday voted against a proposal to include its customers’ emissions to its greenhouse gas reduction targets. The motion, put forward by Follow This, received 39 per cent support.

It marked the highest vote for a Paris-consistent emissions proposal filed by the environmental group, reflecting investors’ growing impatience at Big Oil’s refusal to curb emissions by 2030.

Shareholders of US oil producer Occidental Petroleum last week also voted against Follow This’ proposal to extend the firm’s existing carbon emissions reduction targets.

Investors at oil majors such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron voted for climate-related resolutions last year and campaign groups are hoping for more success this month. These hopes are partly premised on liability risks for directors and institutional investors of oil and gas majors.

Nonetheless, Equinor, BP and Shell have all recommended investors vote against Follow This’ proposals this month. (Excerpt from CNBC)

Hong Kong Police bail Catholic Cardinal arrested on national security charge

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ardinal Joseph Zen, one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia, and three others who helped run a now-disbanded Hong Kong fund for protesters were arrested by on charges of “collusion with foreign forces,” and later released on bail.

Zen, a 90-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong, was questioned for several hours on Wednesday at the Chai Wan Police Station close to his church residence, before being released on Police bail. The silver-haired Zen, wearing a white clerical col-

lar, left without making any comment to the media.

Local police said in a statement that the national security department of the Police Force had arrested two men and two women, ranging from 45 to 90 years old for “collusion with foreign forces” on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Police said they were suspected of asking for foreign sanctions. All were released on bail with their passports confiscated under the national security law, Police said. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Ukraine reports battlefield gains as Europe’s energy worries grow

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kraine on Wednesday reported pushing back Moscow’s forces in a counterattack that could signal a shift in the momentum of the war and shut gas flows on a route through Russian-held territory, raising the spectre of an energy crisis in Europe.

Ukraine’s armed forces’ general staff said it had recaptured Pytomnyk, a village on the main highway north of the second largest city of Kharkiv, about halfway to the Russian border.

“The occupying forces moved to the defence in order to slow down the pace of the offensive of our troops,” it said. “The settlement of Pytomnyk ... was liberated.”

Following days of advances north and east of Kharkiv,

An explosion at a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, May 11, 2022

one Ukrainian military source said on condition of anonymity that Ukraine’s forces were within just several kilometres of the Russian frontier by Wednesday morning.

Beforehand, Russian forc-

es had been on the outskirts of Kharkiv, a city 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the frontier.

The advance appears to be the fastest that Ukraine has mounted since it drove Russian troops away from

the capital Kyiv and out of northern Ukraine at the beginning of April.

If sustained, it could let Ukrainian forces threaten supply lines for Russia’s main attack force, and even put rear logistics targets in Russia itself within range of artillery.

In Vilkhivka, a shattered village east of Kharkiv, the thump of near constant artillery and swoosh of multiple rocket launchers could be heard from fighting at the front.

The Kremlin calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to demilitarise a neighbour threatening its security. It denies targeting civilians. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Biden seeks to keep China in focus by welcoming ASEAN leaders

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resident Joe Biden will host Southeast Asian leaders in Washington this week, seeking to show his Administration remained focused on the Indo-Pacific and the long-term challenge of China despite the Ukraine crisis.

A two-day summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) begins with a White House dinner today before talks at the State Department on Friday.

It will be the first time leaders of ASEAN, created in some of the darkest days

of the Cold War, gather as a group at the White House.

President Barack Obama was the last US leader to host them, at Sunnylands in California in 2016.

Up to eight ASEAN leaders are expected. Myanmar’s leader has been excluded over a coup last year and the Philippines is in transition after an election.

The White House said discussions were under way with ASEAN about having an empty chair represent Myanmar at the summit to reflect dissatisfaction over the coup.

The ASEAN leaders, accompanied by US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, will meet US business leaders today, the White House told reporters in a call.

The summit takes place ahead of Biden’s May 20-

24 visit to South Korea and Japan, which includes a plan to meet fellow leaders of the Quad countries – Australia, India and Japan – who share US concerns about China’s ambitions to expand its influence in the region and globally. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Democrats’ bid for federal abortion law fails in the US Senate

Sri Lankan President to appoint new PM, Cabinet this week

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ri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Wednesday he would appoint a new Prime Minister and Cabinet this week, after his elder brother and former Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned following deadly violence in the country.

The new Prime Minister and Cabinet will command a majority in the 225-seat Parliament, Rajapaksa said, adding he will bring constitutional reforms to grant more power to the Parliament.

“I am taking steps to form a new government to control the current situation, to prevent the country from falling into anarchy as well as to maintain the affairs of the Government that have been halted.

The President’s statement followed comments from Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor earlier in the day, who said he would quit within weeks unless political stability was restored.

P Nandalal Weerasinghe, appointed central bank chief last month to help the island nation of 22 million people find a way out of its worst economic crisis in history, said a stable government was essential to stop the turmoil.

“I have clearly told the President and other political party leaders that unless political stability is established in the next two weeks I will step down,” Weerasinghe told reporters.

“Without political stability, it doesn’t matter who runs the central bank,” he said, “There will be no way to stop the economic deterioration.”

Ordinary Sri Lankans blame the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family for a meltdown in the Indian Ocean nation that reduced reserves to just about US$50 million, stalling most imports and bringing massive shortages of essentials including cooking gas, fuel, and medicine. (Excerpt from Reuters)

The Democrat-led House passed the bill, but it failed 49-51 in the Senate

U

S Senate Democrats have failed to pass a bill to make the right to abortion a federal law, as the nation’s top court is poised to curtail it.

The move, meant to counter the Supreme Court’s expected ruling that abortions can be banned, was seen as doomed from the start.

The Democrat-led House passed the bill, but it failed 49-51 in the Senate.

Votes were closely watched as abortion emerges as a flashpoint ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

“Sadly, the Senate failed to stand in defence of a woman’s right to make decisions over her own body,” Vice President Kamala Harris, a

Democrat, said outside the Senate chamber following the vote.

Despite the heightened scrutiny, it appeared to be business-as-usual in the Senate.

Vice President Harris presided over the vote in the mostly-empty chamber as Senators gradually filed in to cast their votes.

Wednesday’s vote comes as the Supreme Court’s nine Justices are due to meet for the first time since a draft ruling on abortion rights was leaked last week.

The document suggested the court will overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that granted women a constitutional right to abortion.

(Excerpt from BBC News)

20

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

guyanatimesgy.com

DAILY HOROSCOPES

ARCHIE

Look at contracts and documents that influence your ability to earn money and handle it wisely. A potential move or change in direction looks promising.

Send out your resume.

(March 21-April 19) Change begins with you. Look for the best way to get things done and refuse to let someone's input cause uncertainty.

Trust your instincts and put one foot in front of the other.

DILBERT (April 20-May 20)

Participate in something that sparks your imagination and helps you find alternative ways to reach your goals. The information others share with you will require adjustments to suit your needs.

(May 21-June 20) Do your best to get along. If you let your emotions take control, you'll regret it. A creative outlet will encourage you to focus on what you can do instead of on what you cannot.

PEANUTS (June 21-July 22)

Use your skills efficiently and stay updated to ensure you can function at top level. Shoot for the stars and be a leader. Use the experience you gain to help build a secure future.

(July 23-Aug. 22) Gather information, observe and network. The interactions you have with people who can offer insight into trends or how to make your skills more in demand will set you on a profitable path.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Discussions will give you a better understanding of what's possible. Be honest about your feelings and intentions, and find out where you stand.

Personal growth and home improvement are favored.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Get the OK before making changes that affect others. The input you get will help you decide what's feasible. Don't take on a burden you cannot handle. Be realistic and monitor your progress.

SUDOKU (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)

Plant both feet on the ground and give your all until you get what you want. Make a change at home that will render your life and responsibilities more manageable.

(Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Take care of your physical and emotional well-being. Don't take an unnecessary risk that puts you in a vulnerable position. Make alterations at home and practice moderation.

LAST PUBLISHED WORD -- AURICLE

SOLUTION FOR LAST PUBLISHED PUZZLE

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Don't feel obligated to do something because someone else does. Follow your heart and surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you. Give others the freedom to do as they please.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Focus on the changes you want to make. Avoid discussions with negative people or those who like to meddle. Take an intelligent approach when helping a cause or addressing a concern.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

21

IPL 2022:Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals…

Capitals remain in mid-table joust -through sterling efforts of Marsh, Warner

acceleration for Marsh.

The highest the asking rate was allowed to reach was 9.4 with five overs to go, but then Marsh ended Ashwin's night with a six and a four to give him figures of 4-0-32-2, exactly what they were left needing in the last four overs. Marsh fell 11 short of a hundred, but Pant brought about a swift end with two sixes in four balls. Warner ended with 49 off 40. (Cricinfo)

SCOREBOARD

Mitch Marsh scored 89

D

elhi Capitals have stayed in the mid-table muddle with an important win over Rajasthan Royals that took them to 12 points, two behind the third- and fourth-placed Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively.

On a sticky pitch, the Capitals managed to keep Royals down to a par score of 160. Mitchell Marsh, who also took two wickets, led the chase with 89 off 62, letting David Warner play the anchor role on a night he spent most of his innings around a run a ball.

In the innings break, Marsh said it was a difficult pitch to hit boundaries on if the bowlers bowled into the pitch and used the longer boundary. He said it would need a lot of running ones and twos, but he still managed to score 62 of his runs in boundaries, seven of them sixes.

If Capitals could set up a traditional base for the chase, Royals had to be funkier: they used R Ashwin as pinch anchor, who did score his maiden fifty, but their big hitters Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag couldn't follow it up with a finishing kick.

For the third game in a row, Capitals were without opener Prithvi Shaw, of whom captain Rishabh Pant said at the post-match presentation: "We miss him, but, at the same time, that is something we can't control, because he got typhoid or something like that, because doctor told me that. Hopefully, he will be back; we don't know it yet."

He wouldn't ideally have wanted to bat on for this long, as he had begun to go after everything in the eighth over, but Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Marsh in the ninth over, which delayed Ashwin's hitout-or-get-out charge, because you don't want two new batters at the wicket.

When Ashwin fell for 50 off 38, he left Samson and Parag 35 balls in which to do damage.

Buttler's rare failure

The pinch anchor

Seeing there was something in the pitch, Royals promoted Ashwin to #3, presumably in a bid to use the powerplay overs without necessarily risking a more indispensable and limited - batting resource, especially with Shimron Hetmyer missing.

Ashwin might have got stuck twice, but, on both occasions, he came out of the situation. First, he responded to a runa-ball start by hitting Axar Patel for a six and a four in the sixth over. Then he went after Kuldeep Yadav and Sakaria later in the innings, David Warner anchored to get to a fifty. the innings with 52*

Shardul Thakur 4-0-27-0 Axar Patel 2-0-25-0 Mitchell Marsh 3-0-25-2 Kuldeep Yadav 3-0-20-0 DELHI CAPITALS INNINGS (Target: 161 runs from 20 overs) Srikar Bharat c †Samson b Boult 0 David Warner not out 52 Mitchell Marsh c Sen b Chahal 89 Rishabh Pant (c)†not out 13 Extras (lb 2, w 5) 7 TOTAL 18.1 Ov (RR: 8.86) 161/2 Did not bat: Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Srikar Bharat, 0.2 ov), 2-144 (Mitchell Marsh, 17.1 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Trent Boult 4-0-32-1 Prasidh Krishna 3-1-20-0 Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-32-0 Kuldeep Sen 3.1-0-32-0 Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-43-1

NBA playoffs…

Capitals keep striking

Anrich Nortje and Sakariya, though, bowled two excellent overs at the death to take out Samson and Parag. Samson got too far under the hard length from Nortje, and Parag fell to the back-ofthe-hand slower ball from Sakariya. It was in fact Devdutt Padikkal, batting in the unusual #4 position, who kept Royals in the game with his 48 off 30, but when Nortje got him out at the start of the 19th, all of the Royals' measures to prolong their batting were defeated.

Rassie van der dussen and Trent Boult faced the last two overs, and managed just 14.

Jos Buttler has carried the batting for Royals, a side with a short batting line-up and only one toss won in 12 matches, but he was stifled and then taken out for his lowest score this season and his earliest dismissal.

Chetan Sakariya, coming in for the injured Khaleel Ahmed, didn't give him anything to hit away, and when he saw a full ball finally - the fifth of the third over - all he managed was a hit straight to mid-on. Gone for 7 off 11.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS INNINGS (20 overs maximum) Yashasvi Jaiswal c Lalit Yadav b Marsh 19 Jos Buttler c Thakur b Sakariya 7 Ravichandran Ashwin c Warner b Marsh 50 Devdutt Padikkal c sub (KL Nagarkoti) b Nortje 48 Sanju Samson (c)†c Thakur b Nortje 6 Riyan Parag c Powell b Sakariya 9 Rassie van der Dussen not out 12 Trent Boult not out 3 Extras (b 1, w 5) 6 TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 8.00) 160/6 Did not bat: Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Jos Buttler, 2.5 ov), 2-54 (Yashasvi Jaiswal, 8.1 ov), 3-107 (Ravichandran Ashwin, 14.1 ov), 4-125 (Sanju Samson, 16.1 ov), 5-142 (Riyan Parag, 17.3 ov), 6-146 (Devdutt Padikkal, 18.1 ov) BOWLING O-M-R-W Chetan Sakariya 4-0-23-2 Anrich Nortje 4-0-39-2

Royals' fiery start

Royals needed a good start if they were to entertain the thought of defending, and they nearly had the perfect one. Boult removed KS Bharat second ball, Prasidh Krishna followed it up with his third maiden of this IPL, and then Boult had a close lbw shout against Marsh turned down.

Samson and Boult felt Marsh might have hit it, but replays showed he hadn't.

The Marsh Show

Having been reprieved there, Marsh went on to his reprise knock in the T20 World Cup final last year. He backed himself, and didn't make much of a four-off-12 start - some of the most difficult bowling Marsh said he has faced in T20 cricket before he launched into his first six, over extra cover off an Ashwin carrom ball. He also picked on Kuldeep Sen with two straight sixes in the seventh over.

Warner was still only 12 off 12, but Marsh had raced away to 39 off 28.

Some good fortune came Warner's way too, as he sliced one to long-off off Yuzvendra C h a h a l , but Buttler couldn't quite get there, and then the bail refused to fall when Chahal hit his leg stump. If it was stutters for Warner, it was smooth

M

iami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra has lavished praise on Jimmy Butler following his side's 120-85 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. He has labelled Butler the "ultimate competitor."

Without the injured Kyle Lowry, Butler led the Heat with 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while keeping turnovers to a relatively low two, despite higher usage.

After scoring 33 and 40 points respectively in losses on the road, Butler had more of a supporting crew in Game 5, as six other Heat players scored in double digits.

Spoelstra singled Butler out not only for his versatility, and how that drives the Heat, but for his character. "Jimmy is just such a stable, high IQ…he's got a great feel for what the team needs, and he does it on both ends, and that's what's really kind of lost on young players coming into this league," Spoelstra said post-game.

"He has orchestrated so many things for us offensively, particularly with Kyle [Lowry] out, and he's been able to toggle between those roles seamlessly, and make it look a lot easier than it is."

Shots fell for the Heat as they took a 3-2 series lead, converting on 39.4 per cent of attempts from the perimeter, and finishing with 26 assists as a team. Butler finished Game 5 with an impressive defensive rating of 87.7, and Spoelstra believes his competitive spirit is transformative in both individual and collective senses.

"In terms of being just a scoring option tonight, he was that scoring option, but also facilitating for us; he was kind of initiating offense for us quite a bit," he said. "You just feel our whole team has a great sense of confidence when the ball's in Jimmy's hands, and we leave the decision up to him.

He's a great competitor in his heart and his soul. He's an ultimate competitor, and when you get into competition, he understands the whole deal. You have to be able to do it on both ends.

"That's what he's been doing for us for three years, really competing for us on both ends, but he's able to compete with a ferocity and do it with an incredibly stable mind."

(Sportsmax)

22 RHT Namilco Thunderbolt Flour teams host annual DTV-8 Mother’s Day Programme THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

…honour four outstanding parents, and distribute dozens of hampers

The four mothers who have been honoured pose with DTV-8 and RHTY&SC officials

T

he management and members of the Namilco Thunderbolt Flour cricket teams of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club last Saturday hosted their annual Mother’s Day programme in conjunction with Dave’s Television Station, Ch 8.

Under the direction of Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster, the teams hosted the 13th annual RHTY&SC/DTV 8 Mother of the Year programme and the third edition of the RHTY&SC/ Jessica Sandian Mother’s Day Project. The teams honoured four outstanding

mothers under the programme with DTV-8. Those honoured were Alicia Wiggins, Tulsidai Bisram, Shayvon Singh and Angela Fraser.

Singh and Fraser were selected based on an essay competition that was organised with the television station, while Bisram

and Wiggins were selected by the cricket teams.

Bisram is the mother of RHTY&SC member Tameshwar Bisram, and she plays a major role in his cricket development. On a regular basis, Mrs Bisram takes her eleven-year-old son to practice in the afternoon via bicycle, and returns for him over the course of five miles every day.

Ms Wiggins is the parent of another club member, Tyrell Hutson, and she plays a major role in Tyrell assisting Club Secretary Hilbert Foster in fulfilling his duties, and he plays for the club’s under-17 team.

Foster has urged the parents to continue looking after the welfare of their children, with special emphasis being placed on education, religion, personal character, and discipline. He committed the RHTY&SC and its different cricket teams to working

beyond the call of duty to make a positive difference across the ancient county.

He stated that the RHTY&SC is the only cricket club in Guyana, and perhaps the Caribbean, where members are mandated to make a positive difference in the lives of others under a wide range of community projects.

He expressed gratitude to the management of the popular television station for being a longtime supporter of Guyana’s leading youth and sports organisation, the RHTY&SC. The teams also distributed hundreds of food hampers to single and elderly mothers under the Jessica Sandian Mother’s Day Programme.

Members of the team used two vehicles to drop off the hampers to mothers they had selected. Food hampers were also handed over to the Anglican Church headed by

Pastor Sydney Jackman at No 64 Village, and to every mother at the St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church in Port Mourant.

The team also handed over special gifts to several youths who had their first communion at the church. RHTY&SC Assistant Secretary/CEO Jonathan Rampersaud, a member of both the RHT Namilco Thunderbolt under-21 and first division teams, has said the cricketers were delighted to honour the mothers, and wished them well in the future.

Special thanks have been extended to Andy Moonsammy, Namilco, DeSinco Trading Ltd, Bakewell, Feroze Islam, Rommel Ayasammy and others.

The RHTY&SC cricket teams are officially sponsored by the National Milling Company of Guyana, whose headquarters are at Agricola, East Bank Demerara.

Dassie & Friends 10 overs softball cricket in Canada…

Several captains confident of lifting trophy

S

everal captains have expressed confidence of lifting the 2022 Dassie and Friends Promotion one-day knockout 10-overs roundarm softball competition trophy.

The action is slated for Saturday, May 21st at Keele Top, North York, Toronto, and ten teams are set to vie for the trophy and Cdn $2,500.

Anil Ablacksingh, captain of the Young Warriors team, has said his boys are ready to rumble, and at the same time want to dominate the proceedings.

Devo Ramsawak, captain of the Pegasus team, and Romel Harripersaud, his Phoenix counterpart, are also confident participants in this tournament, and are relying heavily on their players in every department to make an impact, while Rafel Boodhu, who is leading Vikings X1, can hardly wait to cart off the top prizes.

“We just going there and play

Damodar Daesrath (left) and Riaz Kadir, captain of the defending champions, Assassins, striking a pose with the trophy last year

competitive cricket. I think we have a good team to come out on top,” Ablacksingh has said.

Quizzed on the team’s composition, Ablacksingh responded: “I think the side is well-balanced and (is) just about positive cricket. We are practising hard, and I am confident of doing well at the tournament.”

Ramsawack has indicated that every player is supremely confident

of winning the day’s event, and he is anticipating quality cricket from his troops.

“We have to play our best brand of cricket. Competition will be stiff, as I saw in previous tournaments, but Pegasus have a team that is committed to play good and impressive cricket,” Ramsawack has asserted.

Like Ablcaksingh and

Ramsawak, Romel Harripersaud is predicting competitive cricket when he leads his team, Pheonix, at the softball extravaganza.

“It should be competitive, because lots of top softball players will be out there representing different teams, and (they) want to be on the winning side. But we have got a talented side, and our confidence is high, which I think is very important,” Harripersaud has declared.

He revealed that he has some round-arm specialist players at his disposal, and that has inevitably boosted the team’s confidence enormously. He commented that he can, as well, bank on their experience to come to the fore at the one-day showpiece.

Boodhu believes Vikings X1 would be the champion team at the completion of the day’s activities.

“Definitely! We [are] confident of

beating any team out there, we just have to play hard and determined cricket.

I know defending champions Assassins and Brampton Gladiators will come to dominate things, but we are equipped for any challenge,” Boodhu disclosed.

He took the opportunity to thank their sponsors: Annie Rupchand of Law Firm Incorporation and Kishan Fiedtkou of PRO Rail Firm Incorporation as well.

Meanwhile, tournament organiser Damodar Daesrath has informed that everything is in place for the event, and this is a manifestation of his positivity to stage another successful softball tournament.

The tournament will be played in memory of Johnny Bujan for the second year in succession. Bujan had been a Canada cricket manager on multiple occasions while he

GAYLE PLANS TO RETURN TO IPL ESCL over-40, 20-over semi-after missing 2022 season over "lack of respect" final matches set for May 15

T

20 star Chris Gayle has vowed to return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023, after opting out of the tournament this year because of what he said was a lack of respect.

And the 42-year-old Jamaican hitter, who has played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and Punjab Kings since starting his IPL innings in 2009, is hoping to win the title with one of those franchises.

“Next year I’m coming back,” he said in an interview with the

UK Mirror. “I’ve represented three teams in the IPL: Kolkata, RCB and Punjab. Between RCB and Punjab, I would love to get a title with one of those two teams. I had a great stint with RCB, where I was more successful within the IPL; and Punjab, they’ve been good. I love to explore and I love challenges, so let’s see what happens,” Gayle has said.

This is the first time Gayle has skipped the event since beginning his IPL career 13 years ago.

“For the last couple of years, the way the IPL went about, I felt like I wasn’t treated properly,” he told the Mirror in explaining his absence from the 2022 IPL. “So, I thought, ‘Okay, you didn’t get the respect you deserved after you did so much for the sport and IPL’. So, I said, ‘Okay, that’s it, I’m not going to bother to enter the draft’, so I left it as it is.”

This left-handed batsman has played a total of 142 matches in the IPL, amassing 4,965 runs that included six centuries and 31 half-centuries, and taking 18 wickets with his right-arm bowling.

Gayle has struck the most sixes in IPL history (357), and has recorded the franchise t o u r n a m e n t ’s highest score of 175 in 2013.

(CMC)

had also been a co-owner of the reputable Brampton Masters hardball club.

Daesrath has also expressed his gratitude to the two main sponsors, and they are: ALARM TECHZ and KP Employment Solutions Inc. Notably, the first ball bowls off at 09:30 am.

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ENTERTAINMENT CCC top-scorers Patrick Rooplall (right) and Prashad Mahadeo struck a pose after the victory

T

he over-40, 20-overs competition of the 2022 Essequibo Softball Cricket League (ESCL) has reached its semi-final stage, and that is slated for play on Sunday May 15 at the Affiance Number 1 ground on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two, Pomeroon-Supenaam.

Ravens Sports Club will tackle Sunrisers Masters, while Caribbean Cricket Club (CCC) and Queenstown Tigers will do battle.

In the final preliminary round last Sunday at Hibernia venue, CCC beat Hibernia by nine wickets, while Queenstown Tigers got the better of Devonshire Castle Sports Club by two wickets. Hibernia managed only an inadequate 183 all out off 17.1 overs, while CCC responded emphatically with 1861 in the 15th over.

Seasoned batsman Patrick Rooplall led the way with a

belligerent, unbeaten 62, while former Essequibo intercounty player Prashad Mahadeo supported with 58 for the victorious combination. In Hibernia’s innings, Ramjohn Mohammed scored 71 and Karran Ramlall scored 45, as Yaseer Mohammed bagged 4-31 from his maximum four overs, and Ekie Baksh assisted with 2-34 off four overs as well.

Devonshire Castle reached a competitive 213 all out off 19 overs, but Queenstown Tigers roared to 215-8 in the penultimate over. Motielall Deepnarine topscored for the Tigers with 45.

When Devonshire Castle batted, Vishan Lall made 93.

Meanwhile, according to ESCL Chairman Wakeel Layne, the final is set for May 22 at the Affiance Number 1 Ground. The winning side will pocket $100,000 while there are other prizes up for grabs.

Swimming Pool Family Fun & Picnic – Crystal Clear Pool. Kids and Adult Sections. Very Safe. Aracari Resort : West Bank Demerara (Versailles, between Harbor Bridge and Vreeden-Hoop)- Every Weekend. DJ Music.

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FOR RENT Supermarket Space for Rent. Public Road Mc Doom. Price negotiable.

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VEHICLE FOR SALE Rav. 4 for sale. Not working. $800,000. Call : 648-9248.

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Guyana Harpy Eagles’ final practice match…

23

Brilliant Beaton bags five after Chanderpaul's magnificent 163

Clinton Pestano on the go (Brandon Corlette photos)

By Brandon Corlette at Providence

T

he returning Ronsford Beaton bowled with hostility on day three of the Guyana Harpy Eagles’ final practice match at the Guyana National Stadium at

Providence, and stole the show with 5-60 in 13.2 overs at stumps.

On a day which started with sunshine and ended with rain, Tagenarine Chanderpaul ended his innings on 163, but Beaton’s performance upstaged even this

outstanding performance from the young Tiger.

Leon Johnson's XI, chasing 264 to win, ended the day with 171-8 after 44.2 overs, with Tevin Imlach making a half-century in the Johnson XI’s second innings.

Resuming the day on 245-5, Tagenarine Chanderpaul's XI posted 346 all out, leaving Leon Johnson's XI a target of 264 runs to get in five sessions. Chanderpaul began the day on 139, and was eventually dismissed for 163. He batted for 278 balls in 392 minutes, and his innings was decorated with 21 fours and one six.

Kevin Sinclair scored 33, after adding 48 runs with Chanderpaul for the sixth wicket. With the score on 290-6, Gudakesh Motie then partnered Chanderpaul, and the duo added 25 runs. Motie came and slammed boundaries while Chanderpaul fell at 315-7, caught by keeper Tevin Imlach for a wellplayed 163.

Motie took on Joshua Jones,

but the pacer got the final laugh when he removed him for 31, after he had struck four fours and one six in his breezy innings. That final wicket fell on the stroke of lunch, with Chanderpaul's XI posting 346 after 98.4 overs.

Jones was the pick of the bowlers with 3-35 in 8.4 overs, while Junior Sinclair had 2-49 in 18 overs.

In the Johnson XI’s second innings, Chandrapaul Hemraj left a moving ball off Ronsford Beaton and lost his stumps. The aggressive Hemraj got off the mark with a four, but that was "all she wrote."

At 5-1, Johnson rushed out to the middle and played some good shots, but in playing a sweep shot, he was adjudged leg-before to Kevin Sinclair for 18, in what looked like a questionable decision.

At tea on day three, the Johnson XI were 81-2, with opener Tevin Imlach on 49 and Vishaul Singh on nine. The final session took a while to get going after a delay

due to the late arrival of tea. Upon the resumption, Imlach got his halfcentury, but soon gifted his wicket in hitting a Steven Sankar long-hop to the fielder for 55 from 108 balls, inclusive of six fours.

Akshaya Persaud continued his struggles against Beaton, and was dismissed for five, while Junior Sinclair was removed for one.

Keemo Paul came and struck three fours and one commanding six over Beaton's head, but his short stay was ended on 21. Beaton continued his aggressive bowling, and Vishaul Singh was bounced out for nine.

Anthony Bramble came and looked fearless, but made only 20, while the attacking Clinton Pestano scored an unbeaten 34 when rain ended the day’s play. In addition to Beaton's 5-60, Gudakesh Motie, Kevin Sinclair and Sankar had one wicket each.

The final day’s play will commence from 10:00h at Providence.

The Guyana Harpy Eagles

will depart to play the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day tournament from May 18 against Barbados Pride.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul is all smiles after scoring 163

Magnum Independence Futsal Cup…

Teams to clash for Commissioner of Police Championship Trophy

T

he Magnum Independence Futsal Cup continues this Saturday night at the National Park with the semi-final matches seeing Back Circle coming up against Gold is Money while Sparta Boss will come up against Bent Street. To top it off, the semifinalists will be battling for the coveted Commissioner of Police Championship Trophy.

This futsal tournament, which began on April 24, 2022, has already witnessed many shocking performances from the best in the futsal business around Guyana.

With the semifinal action set to determine who will lock horns at

the big stage of the tournament, the donation from the Commissioner of Police (ag) is most timely as the tournament intensifies.

A statement from Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken has said, “Football is a bridge that will be used between the public and Police to ensure the energies of youth (are) channelled in a positive way, hence the donation of this trophy and this partnership."

Tournament Organiser Edison Jefford is extremely grateful for the gesture, and has applauded the move as taking a step forward.

"Mr. Hicken is no stranger to the sport of football and community

Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken handing over the Commissioner of Police Championship Trophy to Edison Jefford for the Magnum Independence Futsal Cup

BCB/Brian Ramphal Mother of the Year 2022 Awards…

New Amsterdam’s Johonel Munroe receives the honour

J

ohonel Munroe, a resident of New Amsterdam, was last Saturday named the Brian Ramphal Mother of the Year 2022 by the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB).

She is the mother of under-15 player Thierry Henry, who captained the Selected Under-15 Team at the recent Guyana Cricket Board’s Under-15 tournament.

BCB President Hilbert Foster has said the board commenced honouring parents under a special programme in 2009, under the leadership of his elder brother Keith, who served as BCB President from 2009 to 2015. Current President Hilbert Foster served then as Chairman of a special events committee, and implemented a wide range of social programmes, including annual Mother and Father of the Year awards.

Hilbert Foster has explained that it is vital to recognise the role that parents play in the development of players, especially in the first ten years of their careers. Most players, he stated, would join a club at about ten to twelve years old, when they would have already developed a trait wherein discipline, attitude and manners had already been set.

The influence of parents is also important, he said, and he hailed Ms Johonel Munroe as a positive role model in this regard, as she attends all of her son's

BCB President Hilbert Foster handing over the Brian Ramphal Mother of the Year 2022 Award to Ms Johonel Munroe

cricket matches, and is always encouraging him on, even when he is disappointed with his own performance.

The BCB President recalled that, at the Berbice trials, young Thierry Henry was run out for a low score, but his mom was there to give him a standing ovation and a warm hug, with words of encouragement.

Foster, urged the 2022 Mother of the Year to uphold her high standard as a parent, and to share her experience with the younger generation of cricketing parents.

He stressed the importance of parents teaching their children the importance of discipline, hard work and faith in the God they

serve, as, once a tree becomes bent, it cannot be straightened.

Ms Munroe has expressed gratitude to the BCB for honouring her, and has said she is honoured to be selected by a cricket board that she greatly admires and respects. The Mother of the Year disclosed that she is very proud of her son, who has the potential to go far in the game. She urged other parents to attend matches, and to look into the educational careers of their children, as education is the key to success on and off the cricket field.

The BCB Mother of the Year has received a framed certificate of excellence, a medal of excellence, and three special gifts.

development. I applaud this gesture, and commend the Commissioner for taking this step toward grassroots sports that is community-based. I believe it is this type of cooperation that will ensure that the sport and their respective communities win”, Jefferson explained.

The losing quarter-finalists will compete in the Magnum Plate Championship. The eventual winners will receive $40,000.

Melanie will oppose Future Stars at 19:00h, while North East La Penitence will lock horns with Showstoppers from 19:30h.

Winners of the quarter-final

ties will progress to the semi-final round slated for May 14 at the same venue. The winners of the tournament will collect the package of $700,000, and the championship trophy, while the runners-up will receive $400,000 and the corresponding accolade. The thirdand fourth-place finishers will walk away with $200,000 and $100,000 respectively.

The other sponsors of the event are MVP Sport, Nigel Hinds Financial Services, Andrews Supermarket, Bold Expressions Barbershop, Fireside Grill ‘N’ Chill, Star Party Rentals, and Lucozade.

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022

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

Guyana Harpy Eagles’ final practice match…

Brilliant Beaton bags five after Chanderpaul's magnificent 163

Page 23

Beaton walking off after a job well done (five for 60)

$20M modern recreational facility for Grove/Diamond

Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, the Hon. Charles Ramson

Minister of Housing and Water, the Hon. Collin Croal

T

he sum of $20 million will be invested in construction of a modern recreational facility at Section ‘A’, Block ‘Y’, Golden Grove Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara.

This facility would include a track for athletes, football/ cricket ground, as well as swings, sea-saw and slides.

The facility would be fenced, and solar lights would be installed for security purposes. The project would be executed by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in collaboration

with the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) of the Ministry of Housing and Water.

Ministers Charles Ramson and Collin Croal on Tuesday held a consultation with residents of the Grove/ Diamond area on the project, which forms part of the Government’s plan to provide safe spaces for citizens to engage in sports and other social activities.

Minister Ramson explained that the initiative marks the first collaboration with the two agencies.

He noted that the facility

will be used as a model for other safe spaces in areas and housing schemes across the country.

The Minister explained that the focus very early was to target the development of those community grounds in highly populated areas, where there was an obvious need for recreational spaces for residents, particularly young people.

“Given the number of residents in the housing schemes and how rapidly they are developing, this became an obvious choice for us to start targeting now,

where we can get the kind of development that we need,” Minister Ramson said.

He noted that such initiatives also capture the ‘One Guyana’ concept envisioned by His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali. Minister Croal spoke of the rapid pace at which the East Bank corridor is developing. This is seen with the construction of the four-lane highway which paves the way for the development of new and expanded housing schemes that will see thousands of citizens having access to house lots.

However, part of Government’s plan to create wholesome communities is to ensure persons have access to recreational spaces, and as such, the CH&PA is undertaking a number of such projects in housing schemes under its purview.

The CHPA recently handed over a new community ground to the residents of Block BB Eccles. Similar interventions are being made at Perseverance, Prospect and Herstelling Second and Fourth Bridge.

Additionally, Minister

Croal stated that the $52 million Sophia multipurpose recreational facility is almost completed.

“This helps to keep the communities closely knitted. It allows you to have that space to come home and engage in your recreational and social activities… it also allows for more family time, and enhances our wellbeing,” the Housing Minister has reiterated.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. [Extracted and Modified from DPI]

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