Guyana Times - Thursday, October 20, 2022

decision

dismissed

service

Taxi driver busted with cocaine, ganja, ‘pills’

High Court allows ExxonMobil to join case seeking to quash EPA’s Liza 1 permit

Cop dies 4 days after accident at Enmore

Police clamping down on vehicles breaching traffic regulations

Swift action by GFS prevents complete

Authorities remove over 120 wild bee colonies

In the wake of per sons being attacked by Africanised bees to the extent that some have died, the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), in collaboration with Apiculturists of Guyana, has embarked on a National Capture and Redistribution of these wild swarms.

This exercise commenced during the first quarter of 2022, and more than 126 wild colonies have been re moved so far.

The agencies, while ac knowledging the danger posed by wild bees, said citi zens have a role to play in en suring that their communi ties are safe from Africanised bees.

Earlier this month, a Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Chairman died days after being stung by bees in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) where most of the attacks have been reported, particularly the Upper Corentyne.

Several other persons have been stung and subse quently hospitalised after be ing attacked by bees.

Keerat Kassim, a 38-year-old cash crop farm er, was attacked by a swarm of the bees on his farm at Crabwood Creek while Harry Narine Ramdas, 47, was attacked while in his yard at Corriverton – both of them were subsequently hos pitalised after the separate attacks this month.

The recent increase in bee attacks has been attribut

ed to the fact that the hon ey flow season is currently on. The majority of the at tacks on humans and live stock have been reported in Regions Four (DemeraraMahaica) and Six.

Ramatali Kassim, a 60-year-old farmer who was also attacked by bees on the Upper Corentyne during October, said the swarm flew out of some bushes from an abandoned plot of land next to his farm and attacked him.

Ramdas, who was stung and subsequently hospital ised, said the bees which at tacked him in his yard came from a sawmill next door with several derelict vehi cles.

Many residential commu nities have what are consid ered ‘bee-friendly’ environ ments which contribute to the bees’ presence near hu mans and livestock.

Closed and uninhabited buildings, abandoned vehi cles, unused agriculture im plements, discarded refrig erators, old paint pots, and areas overrun with bush are all havens for bees.

GLDA, which falls un der the Agriculture Ministry, on Wednesday said that a multi-stakeholder approach

was needed to make the en vironment safe for residents and livestock.

In its statement, the agency undertook that it would continue to address the issue of wild bee colo nies within residential areas. However, it encourages resi dents and the various NDCs to remove all derelict vehi cles, equipment, and other forms of garbage that may provide bee housing.

According to the GLDA, an increase in bees around lights at night is an indica tion that there is a hive near by.

Persons are advised not to disturb hives as that may result in the bees launching an attack. Persons are also advised to refrain from mak ing loud noises or attempt ing to dislodge or destroy the bees if they notice a swarm nearby.

The capture and remov al of bees are currently be ing done free of cost by the Government of Guyana through GLDA and the var ious Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs).

Persons can contact the agency on telephone number 220-6556 for assistance in re moving wild bee colonies.

BRIDGE OPENINGS

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

Thursday, October 20 –01:00h-02:30h and Friday, October 21 – 02:00h-03:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Thursday, October 20 –13:35h-15:05h and Friday, October 21 – 14:10h-15:40h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Early-morning sunshine is expected to give way to light rain showers until the mid-afternoon, followed by cloudy skies. Expect cloudy to partly cloudy skies at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Northerly to North-Westerly between 1.34 metres and 4.91 metres.

High Tide: 13:16h reaching a maximum height of 2.13 metres.

Low Tide: 06:39h and 19:09h reaching minimum heights of 1.06 metres and 1.09 metres.

overturns CoA’s decision to hear case dismissed for improper service

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has found that the Court of Appeal (CoA) of Guyana erred when it took jurisdic tion to hear APNU/ AFC’s second election petition, which was dismissed by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, SC, on the ground of improper service on former President David Granger, and has therefore quashed the decision of the local appellate court.

The ruling by the Trinidad-based court effec tively means that Justice George’s January 18, 2021 decision stands; that the CoA can no longer hear the case; and that the petition ers Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse have ex hausted all their rights to appeal.

Petition #99P/2020, which was filed pursu ant to Article 163 of the Constitution of Guyana, challenged the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections on the grounds that those elections were unconstitu tional, null, void, and of no effect.

Ultimately, Thomas and Nurse had asked the High Court to declare that Granger was the duly elected President, and that President Dr Irfaan Ali was illegally in office.

The petitioners had con tended that the elections were unlawfully conducted and/or that the results (if lawfully conducted) were affected or might have been affected by unlawful acts or omissions. The results of a national recount of all ballots cast showed that the PPP/C won the gener al elections with 233,336 votes over the Coalition’s 217,920 votes.

Dissatisfied with the Chief Justice’s ruling, the petitioners had filed an ap peal to the CoA, which, by a 2-to-1 majority ruling on December 21, 2021, took ju risdiction to hear the mat ter; noting that, among other things, to oust the Appeal Court from hear ing the appeal against the Chief Justice’s judgement would defeat the purpose of Article 163.

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, in his ca pacity as General Secretary of the PPP/C, and Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, had then appealed the CoA’s decision to the CCJ, arguing that the CoA has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal; nei ther from statute, from the Constitution, nor does it have an inherent jurisdic tion.

Accordingly, they had asked the apex court to overturn the CoA’s ruling.

Lacked jurisdiction

Delivering the CCJ’s majority ruling, Justice Winston Anderson said, among other things, that the regional court upheld Jagdeo and Nandlall’s ar gument that the CoA fell into error when it gave it self the authority to enter tain the petitioners’ appeal.

The CCJ Judge ex plained that Article 163, the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Act and the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Rules establish a compre hensive regime for chal lenges to an election. As such, the election petition had to be determined in ac cordance with this frame work, including whether there was compliance with the provisions for service of the petition.

Emphasising that Article 163(3) limits the right to appeal decisions of the High Court in election petitions to only two cir cumstances, the CCJ held that the Chief Justice’s de cision to strike out the peti tion on the basis that there was improper/late service on Granger did not fall into either of those circum stances, and thus an ap peal was not possible.

Senior Counsels Roysdale Forde and John Jeremie, who appeared for the petitioners, had argued that the Court of Appeal does have jurisdic tion to entertain the mat ter under Article 123 of the Constitution and the Court of Appeal Act. Considering this, the two Senior Counsels had submitted that their clients had prop erly invoked the jurisdic tion of the CoA to where an “automatic right” of appeal lay, as the High Court had determined and made its pronouncement on the elec tion petition.

The CCJ, however, re jected their argument, stating, “Furthermore, ju risdiction could not be founded in Article 123 of the Constitution and Section 6 of the Court of Appeal Act, since the spe cial elections jurisdiction created by Article 163 of the Constitution, the Act and Rules must prevail over the general “civil law proceedings” jurisdiction contemplated by Article 123 and Section 6(2) of the Court of Appeal Act.”

Further, the principle that general provisions of the Court of Appeal Act must yield to specific pro visions in Article 163 is fundamental, the major ity said, adding that any tension between Article 163 and Section 6(2) of the Court of Appeal Act con cerning the election juris diction must naturally be resolved in favour of the Constitution.

According to the region al court, there may be a rare exception to the rule as to the Court of Appeal’s ju risdiction in order to main tain the integrity of the Constitution, a possibili ty it considered in Cuffy vs Skerritt. However, it noted that there was no real sug gestion from the petition ers that the Chief Justice’s decision could support an argument that could pos sibly justify invocation of this exception.

CCJ Judge Winston Anderson

CCJ Judge Peter Jamadar

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Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown

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Firecrackers

Every year, communities and villages are inundated with persons throwing fire crackers during Diwali and Christmas. For years prior to very strict enforcement, it had almost become customary for the Alexander Village Mandir to come under attack from strangers who seemed to have made it their task to make the lives of the villagers miserable each year on Diwali Day. In the past, persons had assembled in the village and lit squibs and other types of dangerous firecrackers, which were then tossed towards the mandir, disrupting activities and doing damage. Hopefully, this is a thing of the past, and mandir members can now celebrate Diwali peacefully and without fear.

These little devices are no different from bombs. In the past, persons have paid the price for not heeding warnings to desist from playing with these explosives. Persons were left maimed, blind, and without limbs, among other irreparable harm, when the firecrackers exploded in their faces. Sadly, even toddlers and children have suffered severe burns from either playing with firecrackers, or coming into contact with those that were lit by other persons. Yet, despite these many disasters, and in the face of repeated warnings, Guyanese still play with these explosives.

A ban was imposed on all firecrackers, and persons caught selling these devices could face fines and jail time, as could persons caught playing with the items. Over the years, the Police have been incredibly weak in clamping down on this practice, and in preventing the banned products from entering into the country.

This year’s Diwali celebrations are just around the corner, and it is hoped that the Hindu community is not again greeted by an overwhelming number of dangerous firecrackers popping around the country. Over the years, too many citizens have had banned firecrackers in their possession on Diwali Day; and although the Alexander Village Mandir was spared the harassment for some time now, various communities were not so fortunate.

In the past, in some areas, young people assembled on the road, lit these explosives, and tossed them, being unconcerned about the dangers in which they were placing innocent people, and the damage they could have done. Motorists are often times aggravated about this.

The wide use of firecrackers during Diwali and Christmas suggests that the products are easily available on the market.

The Police could say that tracking down illegal products and finding every seller of banned firecrackers in every nook and cranny in the country is difficult, perhaps impossible to do; but that is not what we had in mind. Our contention is that, when it comes to smuggling, law enforcers are still not on top of the situation. If they were, last year’s Diwali and Christmas celebrations would have been peaceful, or only a small number of firecrackers would have been set alight.

In previous years, when the Police targeted sellers of firecrackers in the lead-up to Diwali and Christmas celebrations, there was a major difference.

Playing with firecrackers is no longer fun. One of the major concerns about the practice is that citizens cannot distinguish between the sound of a firecracker popping and a gun being fired. With the proliferation of firecrackers during these holidays, gun-toting bandits would have an easy time escaping after committing their acts. So, if the Police want to prevent more serious crimes from happening, they might want to start paying attention to issues of seemingly lesser consequence, but which in truth hold many dangers.

Govt committed to transforming maritime sector to operate in modern economy

Dear Editor, Reference is made to Honourable Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir's missive on Guyana’s need for marine spatial planning.

The “information” expounded on by Ms Desir is too much guesswork to be taken seriously. Ms Desir is obvious ly not adept with the current state of the maritime sector, or international affairs, for which she has responsibili ty for Opposition constituents.

Her ignorance was also recently highlighted when, in her zest to criti cise His Excellency President Ali, she wasn’t aware that the country former ly known as Turkey is now Turkiye.

Nevertheless, I digress, and will use this opportunity to educate Ms. Desir and the people of Guyana on the Government’s interventions made on the maritime landscape since assum ing office in 2020, and its plans for the sector.

Marine spatial planning (MSP), as referenced by Ms. Desir, is a practical way to create and establish a more ra tional organisation of the use of ma rine space and the interactions be tween its uses, to balance demands for development with the need to protect marine ecosystems, and to achieve social and economic objectives in an open and planned way.

(UNESCO MARINE Spatial Planning - A step-by-step Approach towards Ecosystem-based). It should be noted that this is an interactive process that takes time.

Ms. Desir’s missive propounds that the Government of Guyana has made no plans for the Maritime Sector. The average Guyanese knows this is far from the truth. The Honourable VicePresident Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, in his Ministerial Statement on behalf of the Government of Guyana in the introduction of Guyana’s Maritime Economy Plans, reiterated the Government’s commitment to manag ing this space in a sustainable and re sponsible manner for the benefit of all

the people of Guyana, and humanity generally.

(Maritime Economy Plan, Guyana: Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme; March 2022). The Vice President also alluded to the fact that shipping is the most economical mode of transportation, and intimat ed the Government’s continued effort to create and implement a National Maritime Strategy that is aligned with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and Guyana’s over all development objectives.

To further dispel Ms. Desir’s un certainty about the Commonwealth Marine Economy Plan, the Government of Guyana has been con stantly organising and executing var ious elements of this Plan. MARAD is in constant contact with the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO), which has been lending sup port to our Hydrographic Surveyors.

In fact, although sensitisation of this project commenced in 2017, and train ing for the use of multi-beam echo sounder technology equipment was conducted in 2019, little work was done in the updating of hydrographic information.

Since 2020, the Government of Guyana has invested heavily in the updating of navigational charts to fa cilitate the rapid progress being made in port development. It therefore can not be said that issues surrounding the maritime space are not being ad dressed. It should be emphatically stated that since assuming office in August 2020, the President Irfaan Aliled Administration has invested sub stantially in the Maritime Sector.

One such example of substan tial investment is that on port infra structure in Guyana. While port infra structure is mainly privately-driven, the Government of Guyana has ren dered tremendous support, having recognised the importance of ensuring that our ports are resilient.

Further, the Government’s recog

nition of the demand for port facilities in Guyana, and the strain placed on Port Georgetown have led to repeated declarations of its intention to devel op a deep-water port in Berbice River.

Concomitantly, MARAD and oth er regulatory agencies are currently processing several applications for the construction of port facilities. This is not an overnight process, but one that calls for thorough research and plan ning, which is obviously foreign to Ms. Desir and her Opposition colleagues.

In preparation for the increase in marine traffic, seven hundred and eighty-seven million dollars ($787,000,000.00) has been spent thus far to remove the three (3) wrecks at the mouth of the Demerara River.

Dredging of the main access chan nel is currently ongoing as well.

The Demerara Main Ships’ Channel is not the only area being dredged. Dredging activities are cur rently ongoing in the Waini access channel. It is crucial to note that this area hasn’t been dredged since the early 1980s. MARAD is also in the process of organising dredging ac tivities in the shallow areas up to Port Kaituma. This area will soon be cleared of debris and other obstruc tions that hinder safe navigation.

Ancillary to its plans to enhance the maritime sector, the Central Government allocated one hundred and seventeen million dollars ($117M) for the construction of fifteen (15) con crete beacons marking rocks in the upper reaches of the Essequibo River. The project is still underway, but, thus far, eleven beacons have been built at Sail Rock; Chou – Chou; Kujarou Rock; Rattle Snake Rock; Bartica Grove Beacon; Hesper Rock; Negri Cop Island Rock; Lady Hope Rock; Arimari Island Rock; St Edwards Mission Rock; Palmer Pt. Mariners will tell you of how useful these bea cons are when navigating through the Essequibo River.

Students of the Johanna Cecelia Secondary School are seen designing their rangoli as they participated in the annual Inter-Schools’ Rangoli Competition hosted by the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha (GHDS), in collaboration with the Essequibo Coast Praant, Dharmic Nawjawan. The competition was hosted on Tuesday at the Anna Regina Multilateral School (ARMS)

Timely reminder that Guyana will not abandon Amaila Falls Project

Dear Editor, About three months ago, President Dr Irfaan Ali rightfully “…made it clear that the Government will continue to pursue the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), even if it means it has to keep reten dering “again and again”.

His direct words were quite forceful, saying that “…we are not going to abandon this project… If we have to go out again and again, we are going to, because we know the studies and every thing, including the inde pendent review by Norway, has point to this project as being good for Guyana, be ing good for the environ ment, and bringing greater prosperity… So, this proj ect will get underway.”

So, I do not know when the AFHP will get crack ing, but, like President Ali, I am very much behind it. I recall quite vividly, back in December 2016, when the Norway report stat ed that the AFHP was the “…only way for Govt to ful fil its LCDS commitment

to UN.” This independent assessment of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), at that early time, did reveal that the only re alistic path for Guyana’s moving towards an emis sion-free electricity sector is by developing its hydro power potential, and the fastest way forward is to maintain the AFHP.

Let me really empha sise that this kind of talk came from Norconsult, an engineering and design consultancy firm out of Norway, contracted by the Government of Norway, and therefore there was no kind of political gamesman ship whatsoever.

Editor, I remind all of us that hydropower is a clean, domestic, and renewable source of energy. It provides inexpensive electricity, and produces no pollution.

Unlike fossil fuels, hydro power does not destroy wa ter during the production of electricity. Hydropower is the only renewable source of energy that can replace fossil fuels’ electricity pro

duction while satisfying growing energy needs. I further inform readers that because hydropower plants can generate power to the grid immediately, they pro vide essential backup pow er during major electrici ty outages or disruptions. Hydropower provides bene fits beyond electricity gen eration by providing flood control, irrigation support, and clean drinking water. It is plus and more plusses when it comes locally to the AFHP.

A second reminder is that the high cost for elec tricity generation indeed has a negative impact on Guyana, and the rest of the region too, in terms of eco nomic and social develop ment. The cost factor neg atively affects import bills, worsens terms of trade, erodes competitiveness, and stymies investment by the business community. Then, at the personal level, high electricity cost affects economically disadvan taged people, who spend a greater share of their dis

posable income on energy. Need I say more?

As of now, China Railway First Group (CRFG) indicated a while back that it is unable to ex ecute the project in keep ing with the Build-OwnOperate-Transfer (BOOT) model. This means that AFHP is being delayed and may even be retendered, as CRFG, the firm that won the contract, is having dif ficulties in meeting the contract obligations and wants the financing mod el changed. CRFG wants to enter into an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) con tract with the Government. However, thus far, Government is not in agree ment with any attempt to change the basis of the ten der that is already out. The bottom line is that if China Railway cannot get the con tract done under the BOOT model, then the contract would have to be scrapped and retendered. This I do know, that irrespective of the logistics and elapsing

Govt committed to transforming maritime...

In addition to enhancing safe navigation, this proj ect will support increased tourism, with yachts and other pleasure craft in the area.

In anticipation of in creased marine traffic and the need for additional Marine officers, MARAD has, since August 2020, cer tified and appointed nine (9) new pilots to conduct ships in the Georgetown Pilotage District.

Additionally, five (5) new Inspectors of Shipping were appointed to inspect and certify vessels operat ing in Guyana.

The Department is cog nisant that more man power is needed in the sector to meet the expo nential growth. As such, the Department is current ly finalising plans to train scores of young men and women as cadets for ser vice as ships’ officers, pi lots, inspectors, surveyors, marine communications of ficers, etc.

To safeguard national infrastructure, MARAD’s pilots are also now re quired to be on all sea going vessels transiting the Retractor Span of the Demerara Harbour Bridge.

To accompany this in flux in the demand for pi lotage services, a total of five hundred thirty million dollars ($530,000,000.00) was expended towards the acquisition of a new pilot boat - ML ABDULLAH.

This is the first new vessel of such nature to be acquired since the early 1980s, and is expected to be delivered within the first quarter of 2023. This is a

remarkable achievement by the Administration, and it is a demonstration of its commitment to the devel opment of the maritime sector in the face of the steady growth of marine traffic.

The Administration looks forward to acquisi tion of this vessel, since it can be seen as a sav iour when compared to the previously acquired pi lot vessel David P, which was bought in April, 2018 under the APNU/AFC Administration.

The David P, to date, has never worked to its full capacity, and is a festering wound in the administra tion, since it has been cost ing the Department huge sums of money to main tain.

This does not seem as if proper marine spatial planning was exercised in that era, when, approxi mately one year after its purchase, the APNU/AFC Government spent another $400 million in spares for the said vessel.

I will end as Ms. Desir started. It is no secret that the damage caused by the motor tanker Tradewind Passion on Saturday, 8th October, 2022 inconve nienced the entire coun try. The current admin istration inherited a Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) that was on the verge of collapse. Since as suming office in 2020, the Government has poured billions of dollars into the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation to literally keep the bridge afloat and operational.

His Excellency President Irfaan Ali has pledged his efforts for the speedy construction of the New Demerara River Bridge, which this Administration has com missioned. This is public knowledge.

The Government of Guyana is not ignorant of the importance and intrica

FROM

cies of the Maritime Sector. Since its return to office, the Government has made it its duty to transform the maritime sector to ensure that it is prepared to oper ate in a modern economy.

Sincerely, Hon Juan Edghill Minister of Public Works

of time, the AFHP, one of the promises made by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic in its manifesto, will be realised, even though it was scrapped by the Coalition Administration when they enjoyed control of the National Assembly by a one-seat Opposition majority between 2011 and 2020.

My final word is that we need to be patient but hope

ful, as, when completed, the AFHP is expected to deliver a steady source of clean, re newable energy that is af fordable and reliable, and is envisioned to meet ap proximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s domestic energy needs, while removing de pendency on fossil fuels.

Yours truly, H Singh

Albion/Port Mourant Estate again surpasses weekly production target

Dear Editor, The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is pleased to announce that the Albion/Port Mourant Estate has again surpassed its sugar production target for the week ending October 15, 2022. The Estate has made a record by successful ly achieving its weekly target by 2.1%, making it the fifth time for the second crop.

Factory Manager (ag) Mohammed Sheriff said the achievement was possible due to the factory time effi ciency of 97 percent, against a budget of 93 percent, and minimal downtime of 2.5 hours for the week. Also con tributing to this achievement is the cane quality, with Pol extraction of 10 percent ver sus 9.87 percent budgeted, resulting in an improved Tonnes Cane to Tonnes Sugar (Tc/Ts) ratio of

eleven percent versus the budgeted 13 percent.

Qualified workers who worked 80 percent or more days available for that week will continue to benefit from the weekly production incen tive scheme, which allows tax-free incentives when an estate has achieved its week ly production target.

The Executive Management congratulates the management and work ers of Albion/Port Mourant Estate, and urges all of the grinding estates to strive to wards the achievement of the weekly production incentive.

Management also im plores workers to remain focused and committed to achieving their weekly tar gets.

Sincerely, Guyana Sugar Corporation

with pictures to: Guyana Times, Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial

Georgetown, Guyana

Page Foundation

The bee has many specialised body parts — from compound (multiple) eyes with ultraviolet vision to pollen baskets on the outside back legs. Bees are built to contribute to the survival of their colony (family).

Astem-and-leaf plot organises data and helps you compare it. Think of the plot as a plant with stems. Each stem may have a different num ber of leaves.

Remember

To read this, attach each leaf to its stem. In Mrs Levy Maths class, the test scores were 67, 68, 69, 75, 76, 76, 83, 85, 87, 89, 89, 91, 91, 93, and 99. You will notice that the data is organised from least to greatest.

In this stem-and-leaf plot, the stems are the scores (in tens) and the leaves are the ones of the scores. To find the range in a stem-and-leaf plot, look at the first leaf on the first stem and the last leaf on the last stem. Subtract the smaller number from the larger one.

Range = 99 – 67 = 32

Exercises: Interpret

1) What

2) Make a stem-and-leaf plot from the following data: 32, 33, 34, 45, 51, 77, 78, 99

Bees also contribute to our survival. Without their pollination of many fruits and vegetables, our food supply would be greatly reduced. As a bee visits flowers in search of their food (nectar), tiny grains of pollen from the anther (the male part) of a flower stick to the bee’s body. As the bee moves on to other flowers, it takes the pollen along, transferring it onto the stigma (the female part) of the next flower and starts the pollination process — how a flower or plant develops new seeds.

Task: Design and draw a robot that could complete the transfer of pollen from one blossom to another and help a plant grow its fruit.

Supplies

>> Drawing supplies: paper, pencil,

markers, ruler

>> Household junk — containers, boxes, rubber bands, pipe cleaners, paper clips, Styrofoam, toothpicks, etc — or a building set such as LEGO or K’NEX (optional)

Getting started

Think about what you read about how a bee performs her pollencollecting task. Then, draw a bee and point out the bee anatomy that makes the bee good at pollinating.

Now, focus on a new type of pollinator — a robotic one of your own design. To started, discuss:

>> What materials could be used to build the robot

>> What tasks do the bee robot need to complete?

>> How could it be constructed?

>> What could be the harm or benefit to nature of having robots perform pollination?

>> How will the robot understand its environment?

Create and explain your design. If you are interested, use some of the materials listed above to create your robot or a 3-D model.

What kind of reaction might your robot get from a real bee?

Buzz about robots

Compare or get inspiration from the robot bees at Harvard University: http://micro.seas.harvard.edu

Learn why cuteness counts in robot design: http://labcast.media. mit.edu/?p=206 (Adapted from startwithabook.org)

By The BroThers Grimm

$1.5B Enhancement Project

Developing Albouystown is part of overall transformational plan

Ali

President Dr Irfaan Ali has made it clear that the work be ing carried out to devel op the infrastructure in Albouystown is part of the Government’s overall plan to transform communities across Guyana.

On Tuesday, President Dr Irfaan Ali made an im promptu visit to inspect $1.5 billion in enhance ment works ongoing be tween Saffon Street and Cemetery Road. He ex plained to the media that these works are part of the Government’s grand vi

roads, where the space will allow. We’re going to

we’ll take all the services, give people small areas to have common services, so that they would not lose their economic income,” President Ali said.

According to the President, this is some thing Government is do ing in every community to improve living standards and create value and pros perity. President Ali also assured that this is not a one-off visit, but rather he would be visiting as many communities as possible.

every single community to ensure that we work with all the people of the coun

on the northern side of Independence Boulevard. Additionally, a single-lane

sides of the roads, concrete drains would also be con structed. Work has already started on the project.

The $1.4 bil lion Albouystown Beautification Project was officially launched in August of this year, and will also include the up grading of Cemetery Road to four lanes.

sion for community devel opment.

“(We’re providing) new areas for recreation, the boulevard, the new lanes of road, the new walkways, enhance the general ap pearance of the communi ty. But importantly, this project is going to enhance the value here. And it’s not only about this proj ect. We’re going to look at all the cross streets, all the drains in Albouystown,” he declared.

“Upgrading them into concrete walkways and pathways and concrete

clean back all the drain age. We’re going to set aside a piece of land where

“I’m very pleased to walk through the en tire community today [Tuesday]. As I said, as far as time gives us the oppor tunity, we will be visiting

try to uplift their lives and to bring development,” he said.

The project entails the construction of a dou ble-lane carriageway

carriageway will be con structed on the southern side. There will be a prom enade between the two carriageways which will be 3 metres in width. On both

The project is being ex ecuted in phases. Phase one of the project (Saffon Street to La Penitence Road) is being carried out by Rim Construction Inc, while Phase two (La Penitence Road to Garnett Street) has been award ed to IB Contracting and Machinery Rental. Phase three (Garnett Street to Cemetery Road) has mean while been awarded to CLL Contracting Inc. (G3)

An artist’s impression of what Independence Boulevard would eventually look like

President Dr Irfaan Ali as he toured Albouystown on Tuesday. He was accompanied by prominent local amateur boxer Keevin Allicock

CCJ overturns CoA’s decision...

petition should have been served on Granger five days thereafter, which would have been September 21, 2020, since the fifth day –September 20, 2020 – was a Sunday. But in Nurse’s Affidavit of Service, it was stated that the petition, along with the relevant documents, was served on Granger only on September 25, 2020 – five days outside of the statutorily prescribed period.

Spitting in the wind…

…on PNC proclivities

In his own opinion, how ever, CCJ Judge Denys Barrow agreed that the Court of Appeal lacked ju risdiction, but for different reasons. He argued that it must be considered that while exclusive jurisdiction is given to determine elec tion petitions, the Court’s general jurisdiction is not excluded from operating when the issue being deter mined is not a question un der Article 163(1).

In this case, he said, the Chief Justice’s deci sion to dismiss the petition as a nullity was an ordi nary question of law regard ing service as required un der the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Act and the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Rules.

Article 163(4), he noted, gave power to Parliament to create legislation with respect to the High Court’s practice and procedure in relation to the jurisdiction and powers conferred upon it by or under Article 163 (4) (c).

“In crafting these leg islative provisions, the Parliament of Guyana in cluded Section 42 of the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Act and Rule 21 of the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Rules, which gave the court the same powers, jurisdic tion and authority in elec tion petitions ‘as if the pro ceedings were an ordinary action’,” he said.

He pointed out that these provisions are relevant to answering the question of whether the decision to dis miss the petition is subject to the High Court’s gener

al jurisdiction in the same way as an ordinary action. In any event, several indica tions made it clear that the Chief Justice’s order dis missing the petition was an order of a High Court judge made in chambers, and for this type of order, no right of appeal is given to the Court of Appeal, according to sec tion 6(2(a) (i) of the Court of Appeal Act, Justice Barrow added.

The result, he add ed, therefore was that the purported appeal against the dismissal by the Chief Justice of the petition as a nullity was itself a nullity, because there was no right of appeal to the Court of Appeal, to begin with.

In a separate opinion, CCJ Judge Peter Jamadar agreed with Justice Barrow’s decision, but further ob served that, in Guyana, the deep basic structure and core constitutional values and principles to be found in Guyanese constitutionalism should guide a court when faced with choices as to mul tiple interpretations of stat utory provisions.

Justice Jamadar rea soned that this is especial ly true in relation to pro visions that implicate core constitutional values such as free and fair parliamen tary elections.

He, nevertheless, sug gested that the narrow ju risdictional issue in this appeal needs to be placed, contextualised, and under stood through the lenses of democratic governance in Guyana, the role of the Courts, and the learning to be found from various con

stitutional authorities and authorities on the election petition jurisdiction.

Consequently, the CCJ allowed the appeal, set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal, and ordered that each party should bear its own costs.

Besides Justices Anderson, Barrow and Jamadar, Justices Maureen Rajnauth-Lee and Jacob Wit comprised the CCJ’s Bench.

Background

In a 2-to-1 majority rul ing on December 21, 2021, the Court of Appeal took ju risdiction to hear an appeal against the acting Chief Justice’s decision to dismiss the election petition based on improp er service/ non-service on Granger, a respondent in the matter.

Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory had ruled that to oust the Appeal Court from hearing the appeal against the Chief Justice’s ruling would defeat the purpose of Article 163 of the Constitution. The Chancellor had noted that although she had consid ered all the precedents re lied on by Nandlall, they failed to invalidate the Court of Appeal’s jurisdic tion to hear the appeal.

In a dissenting judge ment, Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud had ruled that considering the unam biguous language of that constitutional provision, as well as the fact that Justice George did not dismiss the petition on its merits, but rather because of procedur al errors, a right of appeal did not lie to the Court of Appeal.

Service

The manner of service is prescribed in Rule 9 (1) of the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Rules, which imposes on the peti tioners the statutory obliga tion to effect service within five days after the presenta tion of the petition.

Having been filed on September 15, 2020, the

The acting Chief Justice, in striking out the petition on the basis that there was non-service, had pointed out that service within the time prescribed is a condi tion precedent to the hear ing and determination of an election petition.

The petitioners contend ed that the elections were unlawfully conducted and/ or that the results (if lawful ly conducted) were affected or might have been affect ed by unlawful acts or omis sions.

They had asked the High Court to declare that President Dr Irfaan Ali is illegally holding office. The results of a national recount of all ballots cast showed that the PPP/C won the gen eral elections with 233,336 votes over the Coalition’s 217,920 votes.

Other petition

Earlier this month, the CoA announced that it would proceed with hear ing the APNU/AFC’s oth er election petition, which was struck out by Justice George on April 26, 2021. In that matter, the petitioners argue that the Chief Justice committed several errors in law.

Filed by Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick, the petitioners are asking the election court to invalidate the results of the March 2020 election on the primary ground of se rious non-compliance with the Constitution and elec toral laws as they relate to the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) conduct over those elec tions. They contended that Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act and Order #60, also known as the Recount Order, violated the Constitution.

But, in dismissing the election petition, the Chief Justice held that the peti tioners failed to present ev idence to support that the conduct of the elections con travened the Constitution and electoral laws. She ruled that neither Section 22 nor the Recount Order was ul tra vires the Constitution, adding that Article 162 of the Constitution empow ered GECOM to take what ever actions were necessary to conclude the elections, in cluding embarking on a re count of all ballots.

Our local version of “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” advises “when dog learn fuh suck egg, dey cyaan stop”!! If you went to college, they warn you about the “hysteresis of institutional memory” – the lag to change behaviour, even when you know circumstances have changed! And that’s really the challenge of the PNC – they just can’t help shooting themselves in the foot, because certain habits are so ingrained! Your Eyewitness is forced to return to this theme again and again, like a broken record. Incidentally, do you young’uns know that “broken record” has nothing to do with achievements – and refers to a spinning piece of vinyl that spewed out music??

But back to the PNC - where MP Anette Ferguson just criticised the party’s Georgetown District internal leadership elections. Pointing to a welter of anomalies, ranging from the disenfranchisement of Roysdale Forde, SC, to different figures on the official number of delegates, to not checking the authenticity of purported delegates’ “identities”, she demanded that it’s “time for fairness, honesty, democracy”!! Imagine that!! A member of the PNC demanding “fairness, honesty, democracy”!! That’s like a papa leopard demanding his mate deliver a baby with no spots!! Just can’t happen, can it??

All it does is emphasise that Ferguson didn’t cut her teeth in the PNC, but in the army, where she must’ve caught Lil Joe’s eye when Granger demanded that squaddies take over the running of the country – including the PNC. She’s young, and doesn’t have the institutional memory that rigging elections – inside or out of the party – is as PNC as the Palm Tree!! As your Eyewitness had pointed out a while ago, even before the formation of the PNC, its precursor was stricken with “electile dysfunction”!!

It’s a truism that, until a thing is named, we might be affected by “it”, we may be suffering from “it”, but bereft of a name that points to (and identifies) its nature, we really can’t analyse it to deal with those consequences. It’s just a nebulous, niggling worry that’s there in the back of the mind. The label “electile dysfunction” tags the PNC’s behaviour as a pathological condition when it comes to elections. It’s a conditioned Pavlovian reflex induced after so many riggings and manipulations – starting from Burnham’s attempt to oust Cheddi as PPP leader at the Metropole Cinema in 1954!!

So, Patterson’s demanding a recount?? Or will he be filing a petition at the High Court? If Roysdale wuzn’t allowed to vote, your Eyewitness is sure he’ll plead his case!! Or will he swallow hard like Norton did when Granger was elected as Party Leader in 2011 - amidst all kinds of skullduggery??

Electile Dysfunction is a terrible disorder!!

…in Venezuela??

Here we go again!! The US Government has OK’d Chevron possibly kicking off production in the projects it was involved with in conjunction with Venezuela’s PDVSA –if Maduro will resume discussions in Mexico on holding “free and fair” elections next year!! The release by the Americans of six criminal prisoners – including some of Maduro’s relatives – was an opening gambit. Now, don’t assume this is all because of the energy crunch precipitated by the sanctions on Russian oil. Remember these negotiations were well advanced two years ago? But broke off when Maduro demanded his money launderer be released??

So where does this leave us?? There are now 7 million Venezuelans who’ve fled their homeland since 2015 –many of them are here. This is a ticking time bomb that must be addressed. More than ever, the US now sees the strategic importance of controlling Venezuelan oil – the largest reserves in the world. The coming (freezing) winter of discontent in Europe emphasises this.

Guyana could get lost in the shuffle without Exxon!!

…on fishermen

Some concerns were expressed to the VP about “fake fishermen” collecting relief cheques. He suggested that “real fishermen” could out the fake ones – but we know THAT ain’t gonna happen.

So, what to do?? There’s always the smell test!!

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

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

CCJ Judge Denys Barrow

CCJ Judge Jacob Wit

CCJ Judge Maureen Rajnauth-Lee

National Gas Strategy will open new opportunities – Ali

…as oil blocks set aside for bilateral partnerships

Work is ongoing on a National Gas Strategy that, ac cording to President Dr Irfaan Ali, will help to open up new opportunities for trade and energy security between Guyana and its bi lateral partners.

On Tuesday, the President, in a joint press conference with British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller, OBE, spoke about opportunities for trade. Noting the im portance of energy security, the President said that the National Gas Strategy be ing worked on would open up new opportunities for trade.

“We have some natu ral gas fields. We have not completed the natural gas strategy. But in that strat egy, more opportunities will be opened up. And I had specific discussions with [then] Prime Minister Boris [Johnson], on how we can integrate and to encourage the UK – Government and Private Sector – to be part of the energy transforma tion for Guyana,” he said.

Added to this are Guyana’s oil blocks, some of which will go on auction soon as the Government fi

nalises fiscal terms for them.

According to President Ali, blocks have been set aside for Government-toGovernment partnership.

“And as you know, we have some blocks that we’re going to auction off.

I think very soon we’re go ing to move to the auc tioning of some blocks.

And we have some blocks that are set aside for what is termed Government-

to-Government partner ship. We’re looking at all our strategic partners with these blocks,” the President added.

The gas-to-shore proj ect, which is pegged at more than US$1 billion, will feature approximate ly 220 kilometres of a sub sea pipeline offshore from the Liza Destiny and Liza UnityFloating Production, Storage and Offloading

(FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to Wales, West Coast Demerara.

Upon landing on shore, the pipeline will continue for approximately 25 kilo metres to the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant to be constructed at Wales. The pipeline would be 12 inches in diameter and is expected to transport some 50 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of dry gas to the

NGL Plant, but has the ca pacity to push as much 120 mmscfd.

The main feature of the gas-to-shore initiative is a power plant that will gen erate 250 to 300 megawatts of power using natural gas from offshore, which will significantly reduce the cost of electricity in Guyana. The aim is to deliver rich gas by the end of 2024 for the pow er plant while the NGL fa cility is slated to be online by 2025.

The gas-to-shore project, which has a 25-year lifes pan, is expected to employ up to 800 workers during the peak construction stage, as well as some 40 full-time workers during the opera tions stage, and another 50 workers during the decom missioning stage.

Currently, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil are in talks on the establish ment of an energy corridor and unlocking the potential for a series of manufactur ing and industrial develop ments. Other Caribbean na tions, such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, are also looking to tap into this initiative.

Back in June at the Suriname Energy, Oil &

Gas Summit & Exhibition, President Ali had disclosed that a regional energy strat egy that would connect the oil and natural gas produc ers in the region was being crafted.

At the time, the Guyanese Leader had said that while Guyana, Suriname and Brazil had al ready started talks on com bining their ability to create an energy corridor and un lock the potential for a se ries of manufacturing and industrial developments, Trinidad is also interested in working along with them in unlocking some of this po tential.

There has been talk of an energy corridor for some time, with the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) conducting both baseline and pre-feasibility studies. Guyana is, in fact, a party to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)on the Northern Arc (Arco Norte) Interconnection Project which seeks to evaluate the feasibility of possible col laboration on the energy transmission system for the electric interconnection of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the northern cities of Brazil. (G3)

Preliminary artist’s impression of the Natural Gas Plant

Police find ganja in abandoned stall at Charity

Cop dies 4 days after accident at Enmore

Constable Roger Clinton Bowen of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has died four days after he had been involved in an accident at Enmore, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Guyana Times has been informed that Constable Bowen died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) on Wednesday at about 06:30h.

Ranks of the Charity Police Station in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) have found a quantity of ganja in an abandoned stall in the com munity.

It has been reported that at about 10:30h on Tuesday, ranks were on mobile patrol in the Charity Back Street area when a resident informed them of an abandoned stall that was being used as a safe house for storing ganja. The ranks proceeded to the stall and conducted a search,

and unearthed a black plas tic bag containing leaves, seeds, and stems of what was suspect ed to be ganja. The find, when weighed at the Charity Police Station, amounted to 231 grams. No one has as yet been arrested.

Only two days ago, 59-yearold Bryan Wharton of Hibiscus Street, West Ruimveldt Georgetown was busted with $21M worth of ganja during an operation conducted by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU).

Based on reports received, CANU officers conducted an operation at Hibiscus Street, West Ruimveldt Georgetown last Monday and unearthed 11 parcels of ganja. Wharton was, as such, arrested and escorted to CANU Headquarters along with the narcotics, which when weighed amounted to 22.8 kilo grams, which has a street val ue of approximately $21 million (US$102,000). Wharton remains in custody, pending charges. (G9)

While the GPF has not issued a statement on the incident, this pub lication has been informed that last Friday, Bowen, who had been sta tioned at the Cove and John Police Station, ECD, was heading home on his motorcycle when he became in volved in an accident with a motor car on the Enmore Public Road, and was consequently admitted as a pa tient in the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital.

His body has since been trans ferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary to await a post mortem examination.

Earlier this year, Police Sergeant Kwame Kellman died in an accident that occurred on the Lusignan Public Road, ECD. Police reports at the time had stated that the 34-year-old

sergeant was driving motorcar PYY 3730 east on the northern drive lane of the northern carriageway of the East Coast Demerara Highway when he lost control of the vehicle and it ran into a shop on the northern para pet of the Lusignan Public Road.

Kellman had sustained injuries to his body, and was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he eventually succumbed to his inju ries. (G9)

Dead: Constable Roger Clinton Bowen

The marijuana that was found at Charity, Essequibo Coast

Local Govt Elections

Govt to respond soon to GECOM on proposed date – Dharamlall

The Government will soon be respond ing to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which has writ ten it identifying March 2023 as the soonest date the secretariat can car ry out Local Government Elections (LGE).

GECOM Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh had written to Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall ad vising him that based on GECOM’s work plan, March 13, 2023 was the earliest date that LGE could be held.

In a brief interview with Guyana Times on Wednesday, Dharamlall confirmed that he received the letter from GECOM. According to him, a re sponse to the letter will be forthcoming “soon”.

According to the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03, elec tions are held accord ing to the date set by the Minister. The workplan in question was arrived at by Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud, who was tasked by GECOM with coming up with a work plan for the holding of LGE.

At first, that work plan was supposed to be limited to this year end. However, that has since had to be extended amid successive weeks of what has been described by the Government-nominated GECOM Commissioners as delaying tactics at Commission meetings.

More than $750 mil lion has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be under taken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year. This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion alloca tion to GECOM in Budget 2022, and was exam ined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the

2022 Budget Estimates.

Included in the $783 million for LGE is a morethan-$300 million in crease in “other goods and services purchased”, which jumped from $250.8 million in 2021 to $575.9 million in the 2022 Budget.

GECOM only recently concluded its Claims and Objections exercise, which captured more than 3000 new applicants who will be eligible to vote as of October 31, 2022, as well as a total of 18 objections to names on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE). Additionally, there were more than 1800 requests for transfers.

LGE, which are usu

ally due every two years, were last held in 2018. At the last LGE in November 2018, the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the hold ing of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.

The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the main Opposition po litical party, meanwhile remains tight-lipped on its participation in the next LGE and its mi nority coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC) is yet to communi cate their joint contesting of the polls.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton was questioned about the APNU’s participation at

the LGE, as GECOM con tinued its preparation for the hosting of the polls.

However, he main tained that the party would not divulge its par ticipation or lack there of, as he explained, “The question of elections has to do with strategy and tactic, and we think stra

tegically we don’t need to say it at this time. We know what we need to say at our membership. We know we have to do – our preparation. We will do that. But we will decide at the right time what we say in terms of participa tion or non-participation.” (G3)

Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall

GECOM Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh

Police clamping down on vehicles breaching traffic regulations

The Guyana Police Force has begun a campaign to crack down on drivers of vehicles with heavily tinted win dows, stickers, obscure ID marks, and breaches of the condition of prescribed fit ness among other breaches that are in violation of the traffic laws.

This GPF campaign, ti tled ‘Operation Safe Road’, would see ranks within var ious divisions launching a comprehensive campaign to go after errant owners and drivers of vehicles in which

these breaches are commit ted.

A vehicle’s front wind shield, the driver’s side, and the front passenger’s side window can all be tinted, but the tint must accommodate the penetration of light, ac cording to the Police Force.

Police in Regional Division 4’B’ have begun pulling over vehicles sus pected of having windows on which extra tinting has been applied.

They have also searched for the breach of condition of Road Service License Section

65(3)(Music/Stickers), fail ure to have a conductor, car rying more persons than the permitted amount, failure to produce a driver’s licence, failure to wear a seatbelt, unlicensed conductor, unin sured motor vehicle, and un licensed motor vehicle.

This exercise was un dertaken between Friday and Monday by the Traffic Officer in Charge of the Providence Police Station district, Inspector Jordon, and ranks under his com mand. According to the Force, this attempt was

to mitigate the breaching of safety conditions on the roadways.

Also, on Monday, sim

ilar exercises were con ducted by ranks of Traffic Headquarters at Eve Leary and at stations along the East Bank of Demerara

Division 4(B), and several vehicles were pulled in.

Traffic Chief Superintendent Dennis Stephens has only recent

The Traffic Chief has said there are persons who are violating the law by put ting tint on their vehicles even though they are aware that they first have to seek permission to do so.

For those persons who refuse to abide by the warn ings of the Police Force on tints and other traffic con ditions, Stephens said, the Police will be launching campaigns that would deal with those drivers.

Earlier this year, Police from Traffic Headquarters at Eve Leary conducted a two-hour targeted traffic campaign on Route 42 mini buses, during which several minibus operators were ar rested after they were found to be in breach of Section 19 (1) of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Regulations, Chapter 51:02, which speaks to alterations of motor vehi cles occasioning higher li

against motor vehicles with coloured lights and graphic designs.

Another traffic exercise was then held on Tuesday on the Diamond Public

ly said that while tinting of vehicles is not illegal, the Police Force has an issue with the percentage of tint that is placed on some vehi cles.

cence duty.

Some of the infractions were: the addition of ampli fiers, speaker boxes, stick ers, visors on the back wind screens, and tint. (G9)

Road, East Bank Demerara, by Corporal Edwards and Corporal Haniff, Traffic ranks of Regional Police

Some of the vehicles that were in breach of the traffic laws

CCJ reprimands Attorney General’s Chambers for breaching confidentiality protocols …after premature announcement of embargoed judgement …says such acts bring court into disrepute

Immediately after Wednesday’s delivery of its judgement in an election petition case from Guyana, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ex pressed great displeasure at a breach of one of its confi dentiality protocols alleged ly by the administrator of Attorney General Senior Council Anil Nandlall’s Facebook (FB) page.

It had to do with the pre mature announcement of the court’s ruling in this very case, in which an advance copy of the draft judgement — which must be kept con fidential, and is even water marked “confidential” —was sent by the regional court to all counsels on the previous day via email, as is custom ary. While the actual draft copy of the decision was not

made public, on Tuesday afternoon, the following was posted on Nandlall’s Facebook pages: “CCJ up holds our submissions in Petition No. 99: Court of Appeal decision reversed… the people won again!”

The post attracted scores of comments and reactions, and left people, including re porters, wondering wheth er the CCJ had changed the

date for issuing the ruling.

The CCJ had previously announced that it would ren der its ruling on Wednesday at 10:00h. Reporters were able to confirm that that rul ing was still scheduled for that day.

When a subsequent check was made on Nandlall’s Facebook page, it was dis covered that the above-men tioned post was removed

and another status update was made.

“At 3:31pm today [Tuesday], the CCJ via email, dispatched to EACH LAWYER representing the parties in the Election Petition No 99 of 2020, an advanced and confidential draft judgment of the Court to be delivered tomorrow [Wednesday],” the other sta tus read. This post too, was, however, later removed.

Addressing the issue on Wednesday, CCJ Judge Jacob Wit described it as a “very serious and un acceptable thing”. Since Nandlall was absent from Wednesday’s court hearing, as he was away in Barbados on “Government business”, Solicitor General Nigel Hawke was placed in the hot seat, as the CCJ invited him to give his views on what happened.

These status updates that were posted on the Attorney General’s Facebook page and later removed have breached the CCJ’s confidentiality rules

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC

Solicitor General Nigel Hawke

TURN

High Court allows ExxonMobil to join case seeking to quash EPA’s Liza 1 permit

The High Court has ruled in favor of ExxonMobil, through subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), being granted leave to join a case brought by two Guyanese citizens against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the oil company’s exploration activities.

The two citizens, Danuta Radzik and Sinikka Henry, had moved to the High Court seeking orders to quash EPA’s decision to re new Exxon’s environmental permit for its Liza Phase 1 operations.

“The applicants allege that the permit is unlaw ful as Esso had not done a new Environmental Impact

Assessment before being granted the renewal of the permit. They are, therefore, claiming orders to quash the issue of the permit and to prohibit the renewal of the permit without Esso doing a new EIA,” a case brief ex plained.

“The applicants also seek an order closing Esso’s Liza Phase 1 petroleum op erations immediately. The EPA’s defence is that the law does not require a new EIA to be done, as one has already been done when the permit was originally issued and it would, therefore, be superfluous to require a new EIA to be done every time a permit is renewed, although a previous one had been done.”

Despite the claimants

seeking orders that would have a detrimental impact on Exxon, the oil compa ny was not named as a par ty in the case. According to Exxon, this is only the latest such case, where proceed ings have been filed that would impact it, but it has not been made a party to de fend itself.

“Esso has had to file pro ceedings to be made a par ty on each occasion and on every occasion, the High Court has agreed that it has a sufficient interest to jus tify this,” it was explained in the case brief. As such, Exxon had filed a Notice of Application to be added to the case. Arguments were heard on October 12.

On October 17, High Court Judge Damone

Younge ruled that Exxon, as the holder of the permit and thus liable to suffer fi nancial loss, should be add ed to the case as a party to the matter with sufficient interest.

“Her Honour ordered that Esso be made a par ty and that the papers be amended to reflect this and served on Esso. Esso has been given 14 days to file and serve its Affidavit in Defence, and the matter is now adjourned to 12th January, 2023. Her Honour also ordered that Esso is not to recover costs against Radzik and Henry if their application is refused,” the case brief stated.

EEPGL is being rep resented by Attorneys-

at-Law Andrew Pollard, SC; Edward Luckhoo, SC; Eleanor Luckhoo and Ashley Henry. Meanwhile, Radzik and Henry are being repre sented by international law yer and activist Melinda Janki and Abiola WongInniss. The EPA is repre sented by Frances Carryl. Back in May, the EPA had renewed the Environmental Permit for the Liza Phase 1 Project within the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana, for another period of five years. The permit strictly prohibits routine flaring and venting, and specifies that flaring is only permissible during commissioning, start-up, and special circumstances.

The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square

kilometres). Exxon, through EEPGL, is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

The company is current ly undertaking four produc tion projects – Liza 1, Liza 2, Payara, and Yellowtail in the oil-rich block. It is estimat ed that when the Yellowtail development project comes on stream, production will climb to 810,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2027. The US oil major anticipates at least six FPSOs in operation by 2030. (G3)

Attorneys for ExxonMobil: Andrew Pollard, SC; Edward Luckhoo, SC and Eleanor Luckhoo

International lawyer Melinda Janki with her client Sinikka Henry

Activist Danuta Radzik

Swift action by GFS prevents complete destruction of Guyana Stores

Afire of unknown or igin on Wednesday morning threatened the complete destruction of the Guyana Stores build ing, stretching from Water Street to Main Street in Georgetown.

Firefighters dispatched to extinguish that fire during the wee hours of Wednesday spent hours battling the blaze, which had engulfed the upper flat of the aged structure.

A statement from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) stated that around 1:29h on Wednesday, a call was received and the GFS was alerted to the fire at Guyana Stores Limited. “Water ten ders from the Central, Alberttown, West Ruimveldt and Campbellville Fire Stations were immediately dispatched to the location,” the statement read.

Upon arrival, firefight ers said, they observed fire and smoke emanating from the top floor of the three-sto rey wooden-and-concrete building, which is operated as a department store and owned primarily by Tony Yassin and Glenn Lall, pub lisher of the Kaieteur News.

“Swift action and expert firefighting resulted in the timely extinction of the fire, which saved more than fif ty per cent (50 per cent) of the building. However, the eastern section of both the

ground and top floors, as well as the entire first floor, were severely damaged as a result of the fire,” the GFS said.

The Fire Service ex plained six jets working a water relay system from an open water source and a fire hydrant were used to extin guish the fire.

Investigations are be ing carried out by the Fire Prevention Department to ascertain what caused the blaze.

There has been a vast improvement made by the Fire Service within the last two years, whereas several business places were previ ously destroyed by fire. In February 2020, the Sachi Store on Regent Street, Georgetown was destroyed by fire, with arson later be ing ruled out. In April 2021, a massive blaze destroyed Sharon’s Mall, a four-sto rey building located at King and Charlotte Streets, Georgetown. That fire left

the owners of the mall and numerous entrepreneurs and lawyers in distress. Despite strenuous efforts, the Fire Service was unable to save the business places.

Guyana Stores Limited (GSL) was incorporated in 1976 as a State-owned enterprise to acquire the business and assets of the Booker Group of Companies. GSL, which was priva tised in 1999, is owned pri marily by Tony Yassin and Glenn Lall, publisher of the

Kaieteur News. National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited cur rently has several court ac tions against GSL for mil lions in outstanding monies owed to the Government.

Lall and Yassin, Directors of Guyana Stores, owe US$2 million of the US$6 million the property was sold for in December 1999.

It also owed the Government over $3.8 bil lion in taxes, and had lost its legal battle against the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in 2019, regarding the payment of Corporation Tax.

In 2018, GSL lost its appeal in the case, which it had taken before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to determine wheth er a two per cent minimum corporation tax was uncon stitutional and amounted to the taking away of private property.

The CCJ dismissed the GSL appeal and awarded costs to the GRA as respon dents. The matter arose in 2012 when the GSL refused to pay more than $3 bil lion in corporation tax af ter a notice of demand was sent to the company. The GSL had moved to the lo cal courts, but both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had ruled against GSL, and ordered that it pay the $3,807,346,397 in

CCJ reprimands Attorney General’s Chambers...

useful, he highlighted that there “are more profound is sues at stake”, which he be lieved could have been ven tilated at that forum.

Emphasising that the post on Nandlall’s FB page gave the impression that the CCJ was only communicat ing with him, when this was in fact not the case, Justice Wit made it clear that if the court cannot have trust in counsel and the Attorney General’s Office, then it would have to organise it self in a way that this can not happen again.

Plea for forgiveness

“First, I would like to place our sincerest apolo gy to the members of the court, and to our learned colleagues. But what trans pired, as I have been in structed, is that an unau thorised note about the judgement…the judgement wasn’t published,” he ex plained.

“An authorised note was published on his [Nandlall’s] Facebook page. When it was brought to [Nandlall’s] at tention, it was immediate ly pulled. We would like to place our most sincer est apology to the President [of the CCJ] and the oth er members of the panel. It was in no way intentional, it was in no way intended to

bring the administration of justice of the court into dis repute, and we plea and we hope that this court will find grace and forgiveness of that error on part of the admin istrator of the page,” Hawke added.

Asked by CCJ Judge Peter Jamadar if the Attorney General had ex pressed his willingness to is sue a public apology, Hawke informed that “that would not be a problem”.

Attorney-at-Law Selwyn Pieters, who appeared as co-counsel for the petition ers, and who also practices in Canada, disclosed that in the North American coun try, lawyers have to sign an undertaking prior to the re lease of judgements that are

embargoed.

Pieters said, “What that premature release did…it was shared all over the in ternet, and it put the ad ministration of justice into disrepute, because if your honours [the Judges] staff read the comments, it almost seemed like the Attorney General had some privy, but we [other lawyers] were not allowed to say that…all law yers got a copy of the judge ment. We don’t take this lightly.”

According to Pieters, an apology is not sufficient to re pair the damage that has al ready been done. While CCJ Judge Winston Anderson pointed out that the discus sion the court was having on the issue is without doubt

At this juncture, Douglas Mendes, SC interjected, bringing the court’s atten tion to the second FB post, which stated that the ad vance copy of the judgement was sent to “all lawyers”.

“We have expressed our selves enough to make it very clear that this is total ly unacceptable. This is real ly serious business. We don’t take this lightly at all,” said Justice Wit, who added that further action by the court would be contemplated.

In addition, Justice Anderson said a public apol ogy is “just the first step”, but whether this is enough or not is still to be decided after a discourse led by the court’s President, Justice Adrian Saunders.

For her part, CCJ Judge Maureen Rajnauth-Lee ex pressed that she is very con cerned about the impact the social media post has had on the court’s integrity, and

corporation taxes. The GSL then moved to the CCJ. However, in March 2018, the CCJ ruled that the two per cent corporation tax was not a forced loan, but the tax was constitutional.

The CCJ had stated that the Income Tax Act pro vides a specialised proce dure for challenging assess ments, and the GSL should have used that procedure.

The CCJ had also held that the two per cent min imum corporation tax was not a loan, because the State does not repay the taxpay er, nor does the taxpay er have any right to repay ment or redemption, which were crucial elements of any loan.

Under Section 10A of the Income Tax Act, the taxpay er simply gets a credit if, and when, the stated condi tions are met, and the tax payer may then apply that credit in reduction of a tax liability, but the taxpayer is never entitled to repay ment. The Court also held in its summary that the provi sions of the Corporation Tax Act were clear and unam biguous, so that Parliament must be taken to have con sidered the implication of taxing turnover as distinct from taxing profit, and felt satisfied there was no need to exclude loss years or safe guard the taxpaying compa ny’s capital. (G9)

FROM PAGE 13

asked the respective lawyers to “come up with something” to remedy that.

The five Judges who sat in the election petition case informed that they would deliberate with their four other colleagues on how to go forward in relation to the release of the advance copies of judgements and the mis conduct committed by the Attorney General.

Public apology

Pursuant to the un dertaking given by the Solicitor General, the follow ing apology was posted on Nandlall’s Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon:

“Yesterday, while I am overseas on official govern

ment business, an adminis trator of my Facebook page, unauthorisedly, made a post which disclosed some con tents of an advanced confi dential copy of the judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the case of Attorney General v Monica Thomas et al [2022] CCJ 15 (AJ) GY.

“That judgment was sent by the CCJ, to all at torneys-at-law in that case. As soon as this post was brought to my attention, it was removed. I hereby of fer to the CCJ my sincerest apologies for this grave er ror. Absolutely no disrespect or ill-motive inspired, was intended, or was connected with this post.”

Firefighters working arduously to extinguish the Guyana Stores blaze

Taxi driver busted with cocaine, ganja, ‘pills’

said that a further search of the box unearthed a quan tity of “pinkish-reddish pills” and transparent zip lock bags containing whitish crystals.

Further checks were made inside the building and the ranks found a white plate containing a quan tity of creamish, rock-like substance suspected to be cocaine, as well as a yel low plate containing leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis.

Ataxi driver was bust ed with a quantity of cocaine and marijua na along with pills suspect ed to be Methamphetamine among other substances at Port Kaituma, Region One (Barima-Waini).

Reports are that on Tuesday between 18:50h and 20:30h, a party of Police ranks conducted an intelli gence-led operation on the Port Kaituma residence of a 47-year-old taxi driver, who is also from Grove Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

Police said that on arriv al, the taxi driver was seen at the front of the house and agreed when for a search to be conducted on his house in his presence. During the search, the ranks un earthed a brown cardboard box containing a black plas tic bag. Inside the bag were

two transparent plastic bags containing a whitish, bricklike substance suspected

to be cocaine, a quantity of cash, and several ziplock bags containing a quantity

of blue pills, pink pills, and green pills. Police on Wednesday

The man was arrest ed, and at the Port Kaituma Police Station, the suspect

ed cocaine was weighed and amounted to 239.6 grams; sus pected cannabis, 4.4 grams; the 139 Methamphetamine pills found amounted to 115.9 grams and the 29 zip lock bags uncovered which contained the creamish crys tal substance weighed some 63.5 grams.

In addition, Police said four cellular phones, a TIN Certificate, driver’s licence, a national identification card, and a hire car licence and $42,790 were found in a black hand bag in the house.

The taxi driver is in cus tody pending charges.

MARAD to tighten operations at Kingston Wharf

The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) will overlook op erators at the State-owned Kingston Wharf where barge operators have been loading and offloading car go, following the recent damage to the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) which has caused some re strictions on weight.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill met with op erators on Tuesday, after receiving reports that per sons were refusing to allow other operators to anchor their vessels, delaying the process.

“MARAD will livestream that now, how long you’ll have for load ing and all of the rest of things. We’ll streamline that. Because if you are not ready to load, don’t bring two drums and then five, six barrels after, get your stuff together, load, and move,” the Minister re layed.

While he commend ed persons for invest ments made in the area, he stressed that they, by no means, own the facility.

“Nobody should inter pret to me, because I made some investments or I put down a pile or I put down

some holders or I put down a pile or I fix the place, I now own the place. This is still the place that we’re leaving open. It is going to get busier. So, we don’t want any fighting. What we want is that while you live, your brothers must live

and while we operate, oth er people must operate. So, if we could sit down togeth er and get an understand ing, we will get here regu larised,” Edghill said.

A list of guidelines will be provided, which opera tors must adhere to when

utilising the state-owned wharf.

The Minister told the operators that the govern ment was serious about development in the coun try and there should not be conflict and contention be tween one another.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill engaging barge operators

Guyana’s electoral laws

National stakeholder consultation on draft amendments to be held on Oct 25

The Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Ministry will be convening a national stakeholders’ consultation on the draft amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws on October 25.

According to the Ministry, the consultation will be held from 13:00h to 16:00h at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.

This consultation is an integral element of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to implement a consultative, inclusive and participatory process re garding electoral reform.

The Ministry on Wednesday said that the stakeholder consultation formed part of a continuous consultative process, which began on November 6, 2021 when the Ministry published

the draft Representation of the People’s (Amendment) (ROPA) Bill and the draft regulations made under the Representation of the People’s Act on its social media pages. As such, the public was invited to pe ruse the draft documents and submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks; however, after requests for extensions, the Ministry ac commodated submissions of feedback well into 2022.

Recommendations, the Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said, were re ceived from a variety of stakeholders including civil society actors, the Guyana Elections Commission,

some political parties, and interested individuals and organisations. These rec ommendations were con solidated and provided to the Attorney General, who in May 2022, facilitated in-person meetings with the respondents.

Updated versions of the ROPA Bill and Regulations have been made available once again. and the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made ac cessible for public perusal via a link published on the Ministry’s Facebook pages. To this end, 157 organisa tions have been invited to the upcoming consultation

on October 25. These organ isations represent a broad cross-section of society in cluding political parties; constitutional bodies; civil society organisations in the labour movement; Private Sector, faith-based, youth, women, LGBTQ, ethnic/cul tural, health and rehabilita tion organisations; and oth er civil society actors.

At the upcoming consul tation, the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, will make presentations and lead discussions on the draft amendments to the elector al laws including the afore mentioned Representation of the People’s (Amendment)

Bill 2022, Regulations Made Under the Representation of the People’s Act 2021, and National Registration (Amendment) Bill 2022.

The Ministry said that the public was invited to tune into these consulta tions via the livestream to gain more information about the proposed amend ments and become further immersed in the legisla tive reform process. “The Government of Guyana re mains committed to creating more robust and coherent elections legislation as part of the constantly-developing democratic architecture of our One Guyana,” the state ment on Wednesday said.

Scotiabank introduces new digital payment solution

Scotiabank has intro duced Scotia eCom+, its new digital payment acceptance solution for busi nesses.

Businesses can set up a digital payment solution sys tem to accept online pay ments from customers with Scotia eCom+.

“We’re really excited to launch Scotia eCom+, en abling clients to start accept ing credit and debit card on line payments from anywhere in the world,” said Cristina Abreu, the bank's director, Global Transaction Banking, Caribbean South & East.

"We continue to invest in solutions that drive business value for our clients and sup port their transition to more secure and convenient digital

Trump deposed in writer's defamation suit over rape claim

Donald Trump was deposed on Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit brought in New York by writer E. Jean Carroll af ter the former US presi dent denied having raped her, a spokesperson for Carroll said in a state ment.

"We're pleased that on behalf of our client, E. Jean Carroll, we were able to take Donald Trump's depo sition today," the spokes person said, declining to provide further details.

Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in Manhattan fed eral court in November 2019, five months after he denied raping her in the mid-1990s. In denying the allegations, Trump said at the time that Carroll was "not my type."

Trump has accused Carroll of making up the original accusation and said the courts should

have thrown out the law suit. Alina Habba, a law yer for Trump, did not im mediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Habba has previously called the case "entirely without merit."

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan last week denied Trump's bid to delay the case, stating that subject ing Trump to a deposition in the case would not im pose an "undue burden" on him. Trump had argued that the case should be put

on hold while an appeals court decides whether he was acting in his official capacity as president when he called Carroll a liar. His lawyers have argued that Trump was shielded from Carroll's lawsuit by a fed eral law providing immu nity to government em ployees from defamation claims.

Carroll has said she also plans to sue Trump on Nov. 24 for battery and in flicting emotional distress.

On that date, a recent ly enacted New York state law gives victims a oneyear window to sue over alleged sexual misconduct even if the statute of lim itations has expired.

Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman depart ment store in Manhattan. Trump has accused her of concocting the rape claim to sell her book. (Reuters)

options” she continued.

With Scotia eCom+, busi nesses can:

Accept customer pay ments using Scotiabank’s se cure payment page. They can redirect your customers from your .COM to Scotiabank’s secure payment platform by embedding the payment form into your website, to process payments.

Add a customised pay ment page to your website.

Scotiabank will work with your web developers for an easy integration of Scotia eCom+ to your site. Your cus tomers can complete purchas es and get instant payment notifications via email.

“Scotia eCom+ is afford able, easy to use and allows for real-time payment au thorisation. The payment page is fully customisable and compatible with all mobile devices so that you can pro

cess your orders easily and more efficiently,” Abreu said.

For businesses that may not have a completed web site, Scotia eCom+ Virtual Terminals offer the option to accept payments in real time.

"If you’re a business with mainly a social media pres ence, we can help you as well," she said. "Reach out to us to day via e-mail: gtb.merchant services@scotiabank.com to get started.” (T&T Newsday)

Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira

Scotiabank's director, Global Transaction Banking, Caribbean South & East, Cristina Abreu

Former US President Donald Trump

Regional

Brazil's Lula and Bolsonaro statistically tied in presidential race – poll

Brazil's presidential race has narrowed to a four-percent age-point gap between left ist front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, and they are now statistically tied, accord ing to a poll published on Wednesday.

Datafolha said Lula now has 49 per cent of voter sup port against 45 per cent for Bolsonaro less than two weeks from the second-round runoff on October 30, com pared to 49 per cent and 44 per cent respectively in the previous poll five days ago.

The poll has a margin of error of two percentage points up or down, meaning both could mathematically be tied at 47 per cent.

The survey also showed that 94 per cent of Brazilian voters have already decid

ed on who they will vote for, leaving the candidates scrambling for the remain ing sis per cent.

It was the first Datafolha survey since the presiden

tial debate on Sunday, where Bolsonaro attacked corrup tion scandals under Lula's Workers Party, which gov erned from 2003 to 2016. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Trinidad: Pensioner beaten, robbed, burnt with cigarette lighter by intruders

An 80-year-old Barrackpore pension er was beaten and tortured during a home in vasion on Monday.

Investigators believe that the victim’s five dogs were also poisoned by the assailants.

He told Police that around 19:00h, he realised that the dogs were ill. He called his daughter, who came to his home and gave the dogs milk.

But around 20:00h, two of the dogs died. The elderly man later secured his home and then went to bed.

However, he was jolt ed out of his sleep around 22:00h by three masked men wearing dark clothing, one of whom had a firearm. The intruders tied his arms and feet behind his back with tape and hit him repeatedly on his head and face. They then tortured the pensioner by burning him with a ciga

rette lighter.

The assailants ran sacked his home and stole a TT$1000 angle grinder and TT$9000. They escaped in his black TT$25,000 Nissan B13.

The elderly man was eventually freed and the Police were contacted.

He was treated at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Police are investigating. (Trinidad Guardian)

OAS to meet on Peru after President Castillo complained of coup attempt

The Peruvian President denies any wrongdoing and told press last week that the complaint was an attempted "coup d'état" orchestrated by the Attorney General's office and the Oppositioncontrolled Congress.

Castillo faces several investigations by the pros ecutor's office, including for influence peddling, ob struction of justice, and di recting a criminal organi sation.

Cuba calls US trade embargo a 'hurricane' that never ends

Cuba on Wednesday said the decades-old US trade embargo has been causing record fi nancial losses and untold human suffering in recent months, at a time when Cuba was also battling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ian.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez made the com ments at the launch of an annual campaign for a United Nations resolution condemning the trade em bargo, which was put in place after Cuba's 1959 rev olution.

The Foreign Minister's comments follow a Biden

Administration announce ment on Tuesday saying it would provide US$2 mil lion to Cuba for emergen cy relief efforts following Hurricane Ian, a rare ol ive branch between the two long-time foes.

"Despite the positive an nouncements... the block ade has not changed in its scope or depth," Rodriguez told reporters in a news conference in Havana.

He said Cuba was grate ful for the US aid, but was still crippled by the embar go, which he called a "hur ricane" that never ceases to batter the island.

"The embargo is a per manent pandemic, a con

stant hurricane," he said. "Today the poli cy of President Biden's Government towards Cuba is... the same Republican policy, no changes have been introduced in that pol icy."

Former US President Trump, a Republican, in troduced stiff new sanctions against Cuba, beginning in 2017. The Administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has since eased some policies around re mittances, flights, tourism and more recently, migra tion, saying it would re open full consular services in Havana in 2023. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Mexico confident US will expand humanitarian access for Venezuelans

The US Government is likely to in crease the number of Venezuelans to which it grants humanitarian ac cess under a recent migrant accord, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday.

Under a bilateral plan announced last Wednesday, Washington said it would grant up to 24,000 Venezuelans humanitarian access to the United States by air, while enabling US officials to expel to Mexico those caught trying to cross illegally by land.

Ebrard reiterated that the United States could ex pand the plan to encompass other nationalities, and told reporters at a regular news conference that the num ber of 24,000 "humanitarian visas" for Venezuelans "is probably going to grow".

Speaking alongside Ebrard, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he discussed migration with his US counterpart Joe Biden on Tuesday, and

noted that proposals were afoot to enable US human itarian access for Central Americans too.

The cross-border plan was launched to curb a sharp increase in border crossings by Venezuelans, and the speed of their expul sions over the past week has fed concern that Mexico's ability to absorb them will be severely tested.

Giovanni Lepri, the

Mexico representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the human itarian plan was a welcome addition to tackling the mi grant flows, provided other avenues for people to seek asylum continued to exist.

Humanitarian access should be "complementary" to the asylum process, not an alternative to it, Lepri told Reuters. (Reuters)

Conrad Enill becomes envoy to Suriname

T he Organisation of American States (OAS) will meet to day to "consider" Peru's po litical situation at the re quest of President Pedro Castillo, who last week de nounced what he called a coup attempt against his Government.

The OAS decision to look into the matter at its Permanent Council was published on Wednesday on the Washington-based organisation's website.

Castillo's Government wrote in a letter last week to the OAS that it wanted to "preserve democratic in stitutionality and the legit imate exercise of power."

The letter followed a de cision by Peru's Attorney General to file a constitu tional complaint against Castillo. The Attorney General said that investiga tors had found "very serious indications of a criminal or ganization that has taken root in the Government."

Some legislators have said they want to launch an impeachment attempt – which would be the third faced by Castillo since his term began last year – but have acknowledged that they do not have the neces sary votes.

Others, however, be lieve that the constitution al complaint could lead to Castillo's suspension, with fewer votes needed than for a formal impeachment.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Former Energy Minister Conrad Enill became Trinidad and Tobago's non-resident Ambassador to Suriname on Wednesday when he presented his cre dentials to Surinamese President Chandrikapersad "Chan" Santokhi.

Enill had also be come T&T resident High Commissioner to Guyana on July 19, when he presented his credentials to Guyanese President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

Enill is a former National Gas Company (NGC) Chairman and of Phoenix Park Gas Processors Ltd.

A statement on the Facebook page of the Suriname public information office, CDS, said Santokhi re ceived credentials from Enill, plus the ambassadors of Japan (Yutaka Matsubara), Mexico (Víctor Meléndez) and the European Union (Rene Van Nes) in a ceremo ny at the presidential palace.

The statement said Santokhi said Enill's ap pointment offered an oppor tunity to further develop re lations between T&T and Suriname, after a letter of intent was signed earlier this year between the State oil companies of both countries.

It quoted Santokhi as saying, “We need to further explore opportunities for co operation in the oil and gas industry, food security, tour ism and experience sharing. We also need to encourage more people-to-people con tacts.”

Enill said, “TT, Suriname, Barbados and Guyana must work together collectively to realise their potential.

"We have to work for the next generations. Suriname offers sufficient opportuni ties for structural, but above all sustainable cooperation."

(Excerpt from Trinidad Newsday)

Supporters of Brazil's President, Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil's former President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva campaign together on a street during an election campaign in Brasilia, Brazil, October 13, 2022 (Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino file photo)

Peru's President Pedro Castillo attends a news conference with international media as Peru's Attorney General filed a so-called constitutional complaint against Castillo, opening a new legal battle that Opposition forces hope could lead to his ouster, in Lima, Peru, October 11, 2022 (Reuters/Angela Ponce file photo)

Venezuelan asylum-seeking migrants are pictured in their makeshift encampment by the Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, October 18, 2022 (Reuters/Paul Ratje)

Around the World

OIL NEWS

Oil up in tight market as US sets release of more reserves

Oil prices rose on Wednesday as caution over tightening supply countered the negative impact of uncertain demand, and news that the United States will release more crude from its reserves.

Brent crude futures for December settlement ended up US$2.38, or 2.6 per cent, to US$92.41 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for November, which is expiring today, ended at US$85.55 a barrel, up US$2.73, or 3.3 per cent.

"Realistically, an SPR [Special Petroleum Reserve] release is near-term bearish, long-term bullish because eventually you’re going to have to buy it back," said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. "Overall, the market continues to swing wildly and chop around on erratic news."

In the previous session, the benchmarks hit a two-week low after US President Joe Biden said he planned to release 15 million barrels of oil from the SPR.

Biden, in remarks Wednesday, noted US plans to repurchase oil for the reserve if prices fall enough. The reserve release would be the last sale from the planned sale of 180 million barrels of oil announced shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Oil prices have rallied since the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to reduce its production target by roughly two million barrels a day –although that is expected to only include about one million barrels of actual output declines.

"They want Brent around US$90, so they’re going to get it and going to continue to cut output to hold that number," Cunningham said.

US crude inventories fell unexpectedly last week – down 1.7 million barrels, weekly Government data showed, against expectations for a build of 1.4 million barrels. SPR levels fell 3.6 million barrels to just over 405 million, the lowest since May 1984.

A pending European Union ban on Russian crude and oil products and the output cut from the OPEC and other producers including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, of two million barrels per day also supported prices.

The EU's sanctions on Russian crude takes effect in December, and sanctions on oil products will take effect in February. (Reuters)

Putin boosts Russia's war footing as battle looms for Ukraine's Kherson

President Vladimir Putin ordered all of Russia to support the war effort in Ukraine on Wednesday, as the Russianappointed administration of Kherson prepared to evacu ate the only regional capital Moscow has captured during its invasion.

Images of people using boats to flee the strategic southern city were broad cast by Russian State TV, which portrayed the exo dus on the Dnipro River as an attempt to evacuate civil ians before it became a com bat zone.

The Russian-installed chief of Kherson – one of four Ukrainian regions uni laterally claimed by Moscow where Putin declared mar tial law on Wednesday –said about 50,000-60,000 people would be moved out in the next six days.

"The Ukrainian side is building up forces for a largescale offensive," Vladimir Saldo, the official, told State TV. "Where the military op erates, there is no place for civilians."

Kherson is arguably the

UK interior minister quits with criticism of Truss as lawmakers row

most strategically import ant of the annexed regions. It controls both the only land route to the Crimea peninsula Russia seized in 2014, and the mouth of the Dnipro, the 2200-kilome tre-long (1367-mile) river

that bisects Ukraine.

Staff at Kherson's Russian-backed administra tion were also being relocat ed to the eastern side of the Dnipro, Saldo said, although he said Russia had the re sources to hold the city and even counter-attack if nec essary. Russian forces near Kherson have been driv en back by 20-30 km (13-20 miles) in the last few weeks.

Eight months after being invaded, Ukraine is press ing major counter-offensives in the east and south to try to take as much territory as it can before winter.

Russia has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's power and water infrastructure this week in what Ukraine and the West call a campaign to intimi date civilians ahead of the cold winter.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Actress becomes 1st Asian American on US currency

Aprotester says he was not trying to en ter Manchester's Chinese consulate during a pro-democracy demonstra tion that saw violent scenes on Sunday.

Bob Chen told a news conference he was dragged onto the consulate grounds and beaten by men, leaving him with injuries requiring hospital treatment.

It comes a day af ter a British Member of Parliament accused one of China's most senior United Kingdom diplomats of being involved.

Amid the growing row, China has claimed there were attempts at illegal entry.

Speaking at a news con ference organised by sev eral British MPs, Chen, a Hongkonger, said he was left physically and mental ly hurt by Sunday's incident.

He described being beat

en by masked men outside the consulate, some of whom he said were trying to take down a display of banners.

"I then found myself be ing dragged into the grounds of the consulate. I held on to the gates where I was kicked and punched, I could not hold on for long," he said.

"I was eventually pulled onto the ground of the con sulate. I felt punches and kicks from several men.

Other protestors were try ing to get me out of this situ ation, but to no avail.

"The attack only stopped when a man who turned out to be a uniformed of ficer from the Greater Manchester Police pulled me outside the gates.

"Let me say it again so I am clear: I was dragged into the consulate I did not attempt to enter the con sulate." (Excerpt from BBC News)

Britain's interi or minister quit on Wednesday with a broadside at Prime Minister Liz Truss before her law makers openly quarrelled in Parliament, underscor ing the erosion of the PM's authority after just weeks in the job.

The departure of Suella Braverman, over a "techni cal" breach of Government rules, means Truss has now lost two of her most senior ministers in less than a week, both replaced by poli ticians who had not backed her for the leadership.

Hours after the resig nation, lawmakers open ly rowed and jostled amid confusion over whether a vote on fracking was a con fidence vote in her adminis tration.

Opposition parlia mentarians complained that Truss's politicians were being manhandled to make them vote with the Government, although two lawmakers from her Conservative party said they had not seen any such behaviour.

"Discipline is falling apart, we can't go on like this," one Conservative law maker told Reuters.

Another, Charles Walker, told BBC television he was "livid" at the "tal entless people" who had put Truss into power, just be cause they wanted a job. "I think it is a shambles and a disgrace," he said, in a video that a couple of oth er Conservative lawmakers tweeted in agreement.

Truss, in power for just over six weeks, has been fighting for her po litical survival ever since September 23, when she launched a "mini-budget" –an economic programme of vast unfunded tax cuts that sent shockwaves through fi nancial markets.

A handful of lawmakers have openly called for her to quit, and others have dis cussed who should replace her. Following the scenes in Parliament, there were reports that the person re sponsible for Conservative party discipline, and their deputy, had quit. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Actress Anna May Wong is set to be come the first Asian American to be featured on US currency.

She will appear as part of an effort to feature notable women on American quar ters.

Wong, who is considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, is the fifth and final woman to be individually featured on the coin this year.

The quarter will en ter general circulation on Monday.

It will feature President George Washington on one side and Wong on the other.

Ventris Gibson, director of the US Mint, called Wong "a courageous advocate who championed for increased representation and more multi-dimensional roles for Asian American actors".

"This quarter is designed to reflect the breadth and depth of accomplishments by Anna May Wong, who over came challenges and obsta cles she faced during her life time," she said.

Wong was born in Los Angeles in 1905 to Chinese immigrants. Her name at birth was Wong Liu Tsong, but later in life she adopt ed the stage name of Anna May Wong, formed by joining both her English and family names.

She was cast in her first role at 14 as an extra in the film “The Red Lantern” and continued to take on small er parts until her lead role in “The Toll of the Sea” in 1922.

She appeared in more than 60 movies across her career, including silent films and one of the first made in technicolour.

Wong was also the first Asian American lead ac tor in a US television show, “The Gallery of Madame LiuTsong”, in which she played a Chinese detective.

After facing discrimina tion in the US, she travelled to Europe to work in English, French and German films.

She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, and died the following year aged 56.

A view shows the city administration building hit by recent shelling in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict, in Donetsk, Russiancontrolled Ukraine, October 16, 2022 (Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)

(Excerpt from BBC News)

Anna May Wong appeared in more than 60 films before her death in 1961

I was dragged into China consulate, protester says

Home Secretary Suella Braverman

DAILY

HOROSCOPES

Share with a loved one. Signing up for something you've always wanted to do will encourage you to branch out and explore new avenues. Address outdated concepts.

DILBERT

(March 21-April 19)

Enjoy what life has to offer. Go where the action is and support the people and organizations that share your beliefs. A partnership will prove lucrative and help you succeed.

(April 20-May 20)

(May 21-June 20)

A targeted approach to whatever you do will help curb interference. Your col leagues and superiors will respect and appreciate a level head and good work ethic. Stick to the facts.

Patience is a virtue and will be your best friend when dealing with domestic issues. Do something that will encour age you to look and be at your finest. How you handle others will be key.

(June 21-July 22)

(July 23-Aug. 22)

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Use charm to win favors and encour age better relationships. Give an inch and gain an inch by offering incentives. A positive change at home will lift every one's spirits. Discipline will pay off.

A change will occur if you let anger take charge. Discover the truth, stick to the rules, ask questions and make chang es based on facts. Add to your qualifica tions and knowledge.

Stand tall and speak on behalf of those you care about and want to help. Be an advocate for justice and fair play, and offer valid and challenging options. Live, learn, teach and fight.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Slow down and look at the fine print. Making a move before you have all the facts will end in disaster. Bide your time and be observant, and you'll find the right path forward.

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

Opportunity is apparent, so take the initiative to make things happen. Traveling, pursuing educational pur suits and working alongside people who get things done will pay off.

Don't put a price on friendship or love. Have patience, listen to complaints and offer suggestions, but don't pay for someone's mistakes. Stick to the truth and be discreet.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Put your energy into something that makes you feel helpful. Helping those you love or someone in need will give you satisfaction that's greater than financial compensation.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Take a step back and look at things differently. Taking an objective point of view will help you bounce ideas off those who can stimulate your imagination and points you in the right direction.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

‘National Juniors’ tourney to determine badminton players for IGG

The Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) has become the second sport fraternity to commence mobilising its ‘troops’ in preparation for participation in the Inter-Guiana Games, slated to be held in Guyana next month.

Earlier this week, the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) announced it would be hosting tri als next weekend for those athletes desirous of rep resenting Guyana at the 2022 Inter- Guiana Games.

Badminton is now the second Association to follow the ‘fair and transparent’ process as it utilises its National Junior Tournament as a means of selecting players to repre sent Guyana.

The National Junior

Tournament will be host ed on Thursday, October 20th, Friday October 21st and Saturday, October 22nd at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown. The tournament will consist of 5 categories; namely: Under-11, U13, U15, U17 and U19. The competition will see singles and doubles’ divisions being contested.

According to the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA), players from Berbice Multilateral High School, Queen’s College, Marian Academy, St. Rose’s High School, Esa Academy, Georgetown International Academy, and the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport Nursery Badminton Academy are already gear

Guyanese former Pan American karate champions visit grading examinations at the YMCA

Last Sunday, 16th October 2022, at the YMCA on Thomas Lands, Shuseki Shihan Frank Woon–A–Tai, 10th Dan karate champion, assist ed by Shihan Amir Khouri, 7th Dan karate champion, examined 44 students for kyu grades and 4 students for Dan levels in exams that commenced at 10.00hrs and concluded at 12.30hrs.

These examinations were done in accordance with

Promoted to 2nd Dan Jermey Hargobin (Land of Canaan)

Promoted to 1st Dan Maheshwar Dyasindoo

Persaud, Erik Shivendra Brijbhukan.

7th kyu to Green belt 6th kyu:- Ashton Chang, Zane

until 19:00 hrs.

The youngsters who man age to shine at the National Junior Tournament will be given the opportunity to represent Guyana at the Inter-Guiana Games from November 25th to 27th, 2022.

Aside from Badminton and Athletics; Basketball, Chess, Cycling, Football, Swimming, Table Tennis and Volleyball are the oth er sports that are to be con tested at the tournament be tween Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

Commander Sawh donates gear to Yarakita and other Region 1 communities …Gear donated by GFF

Commander of Regional Police Division #1, Senior Superintendent Himnauth Sawh, along with Deputy Commander A. Fredericks; Subordinate Officer in charge of Yarakita Police Station, Corporal 23587 Williams; Corporal 21293 Dolphin, and other ranks on Tuesday af ternoon last (October 18th) engaged residents and mem bers of the Yarakita Police Youth Group in sports activ ities at the Yarakita Sports Club Ground, North West District.

The Commander high lighted that the Guyana Police Force will continue to partner with all stakeholders

the COVID guidelines, and the students’ performances earned continuous applause from their parents and spec tators.

After the grading ex aminations were finished, Shuseki Shihan Frank Woon–A– Tai presented Dan certificates to successful stu dents of the previous exam ination, held in April 2022. The results were announced to the examined students, and photographs were taken.

A successful day of ex aminations resulted in the following promotions:-

Promoted to 3rd Dan Andy Madray Sam-Reddy (Albion Berbice)

(Land of Canaan)

Lemuel Scott (YMCA)

Promoted from 10th kyu to Yellow belt

8th kyu:- Jahmar Bullen, Natalia Persaud, Tyler Spooner, Aryan Shiwdas, Virendra Krishna, Lucas Spooner, Alisha Moideen, Nia Richards, Monasseh Bacchus, Rachael Seymour, Jason Richards.

10th kyu to Orange belt

7th kyu:- Josiah Clinken, Nyalsha Beaton, Danny Parbhu.

8th kyu to Orange belt

7th kyu:- Raheem Josiah, Jeevika Tiwari, Tremiyah Lake, Marquis Ferreira, Mikhail Tobin, Shreya

Elcock, Christopher Cooblall, Aden Persaud, Daniel McGiver, Sachin Mulchand.

7th kyu to Blue belt 5th kyu:- Lukas Singh, Gerrett Lalljee, Tristan Moreno, Isaac Ramsarran.

6th kyu to Blue belt 5th kyu:- Shivanna Brijbhukan, Simkhael Levans, Rayden Austin, Algernon Sealy, Evon Rose.

5th kyu to Purple belt 4th kyu:- Shivraj Brijbhukan, Clarissa Scott, Charisse Scott.

4th kyu to Brown belt 3rd kyu:- Samara Siland.

3rd kyu to Brown belt 2nd kyu:- Theron Lake, Zareezyah Levans, Teshana Lake.

to ensure that youths partic ipate in constructive activi ties that would benefit their respective communities.

Deputy Commander

Fredericks, who shared brief remarks, endorsed the sen timents of the Commander, and encouraged the youths

Sawh and the team hand ed over football gear donat ed by the Guyana Football Federation to support the youths in Yarakita and oth er communities.

Whilst expressing grat itude to Commander Sawh and his team for distribut ing the donated gear on be half of the GFF, President Forde reiterated his and the Federation’s commitment to seeing the hinterland re gions of Guyana have equi table access to equipment and structured football pro grammes, as well as devel opmental resources.

to support the Police as they work together for the great er good of the community.

Following the exchanges, which included some sports activities, Commander

Just last month, the GFF formalised the appointment of an IMC to run the game for the next 12 months in the Barima Waini Football Association, with the aim of formally becoming the 10th Regional Association of the Guyana Football Federation.

A glimpse of what to expect at Badminton’s National Junior Tournament, commencing today

Scenes from last Sunday’s grading examinations

Commander Sawh engaging members of Yarakita and other communities during his visit

Commander of Regional Police Division # 1, Senior Superintendent Himnauth Sawh, along with other members of his team, handing over the donated gear to a Yarakita Rep alongside youths of the community

GTT commits to supporting the development of golf locally

…Donates G$3 million to Lusignan Golf Club

The Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Business Solutions of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited, Orson Ferguson, has said the company is committed to sup porting the development of golf locally.

Ferguson made this re mark on behalf of GTT as he donated three million dollars in sponsorship to the Lusignan Gulf Club for the second con secutive year during a simple ceremony held at the compa ny’s Brickdam Headquarters on Monday, October 3. The money will go directly to off setting the cost of holding the Guyana Open golf tourna ment.

“We see this tournament as an opportunity to give sup

port to the sport in a way that will contribute to its contin ued growth, and we will keep giving that support for the foreseeable future. We have a group of dedicated and talent ed players who work hard at their craft, and we also want to support them, because that, too, will take the sport forward,” Ferguson has said.

Ferguson has also said he hopes the tournament would create healthy competition, and result in more awareness for the sport.

Lusignan Golf Club

President Pantanjilee Persaud has confirmed that the tournament would in clude participants from sev eral countries, including Canada, USA, UK, Trinidad, Antigua, Suriname and

Punctuality in focus as MVP Sports’ futsal kicks off today

Futsal action will this evening return to the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue in Georgetown when the MVP Sports’ Futsal tournament kicks offs at 8pm.

This being the fifth in stallment of the Petra Ogranization’s Futsal com petitions, the MVP Sportstitled tournament promis es a wealth of excitement, with several of the coun try’s best futsal teams be ing on show.

On the eve of kickoff, the Petra Organization hosted a team briefing exercise with the partic ipating teams, and punc tuality was high on the agenda.

“Today is an opportu nity to meet the teams and discuss the rules of the competition, the tim ings, the disciplines, and all aspects (relative) to the game,” Petra’s CoDirector Troy Mendonca told media operatives at the Gymnasium on Wednesday afternoon. He added, “Also, we want to explain to the teams the format of the competition and everything.”

Turning attention to

one of the focal points for the next few weeks of competi tion, Mendonca explained, “As you know, most of the tournaments have this issue of running late in terms of their timings, and we don’t stick for that. We try to be on time, and that’s one of the most important things.”

Questioned about what to expect during the tourna ment, and in turn promis ing a thrilling tournament, Mendonca said, “We expect a very keen competition. All

the boxes are being ticked, and we’re just ready to give a good show tomorrow (to day).”

Aside from title spon sors MVP Sports, the Futsal tournament is being sup ported by ANSA McAL through its Magnum and Lucozade brands, and by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. The first whistle will be blown at 19:45pm to night, and will continue at the same time on Saturday evening.

French Guiana.

“It’s going to be good expo sure for all the players, and we commend GTT for coming on board as the primary spon sor. During the July/ August vacation period, we intro duced over 189 children to the game and trained them, and GTT was also very instru mental in that,” Persaud has said.

This tournament, official ly titled the “GTT Guyana Open”, is limited to 80 play ers, and will be played on October 29/30. It will take the format of a medal play over 36 holes on the Lusignan Golf Course.

Participants would also be treated to a special cocktail reception on October 28, cour tesy of GTT.

Franchise cricket still on the cards to complement inter-county, says GCB President

The return of the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB’s) se nior inter-county tourna ment was a pleasing sight for many cricket fans, but for some it was the oppo site. The senior inter-county tournament was replaced by the franchise league, which had more teams and more games.

According to GCB President Bissoondyal Singh, the franchise crick et will return and the in ter-county will continue as per norm.

"Our board will play as much cricket as possible. And that is the purpose of the board. The franchise is there, but there needs to be a change in the format and formula to make it more professional in the way in which we select the players," he said.

"The answer is, ‘No, we have not abandoned the franchise, it is a feeder for the inter-county’, so we know what happens with the rain and the hustle to get a Guyana team, put in time for training, have prac tice matches; and that is what happen there," Singh has said.

The GCB boss also not ed that playing inter-coun ty cricket is part of the Five-Year Strategic Plan that was submitted. "This is something that we prom ised on our campaign trail, and we found it necessary. It was shocking (that in ter-county stopped), because this is the level of crick et people depend on to get the players up to standard. We have done a Five-Year Strategic Plan, submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and sub mitted to the National Sports Commission. This is part of the Five-Year Strategic Plan. Because we

GCB President Bissoondyal Singh

did not have the time to do the franchise leading into this, we had to go directly into the inter-county," Singh explained.

Of course, the GCB still has areas to be improved upon, especially the mar keting aspect. Despite the quantity of posts and press releases, the quality of the production is poor, and for the inter-county, Singh ad mitted there is more work to be done.

"It is a work in progress, much more is needed to be done," Singh highlighted.

The GCB also found it fitting to livestream match es globally following a part nership that is now in its “testing stage.”

The inter-county final was livestreamed in the subcontinent, comprising of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan, through a partnership agreement with a promotion firm registered in India. This partnership arrangement is now in the testing stage of Guyana’s Cricket Product.

President Singh add ed, “To date, we have lives treamed all matches in this tournament, and have en gaged a potential com mercial partner to assist in the promotion of the

game beyond the boundar ies of Guyana and the West Indian region.”

The 2023 inter-county should be a cracking tourna ment, as GCB continues to seek new ideas. Berbice con tinues to reign supreme at this level, with a host of star players showing their class. This season, it was Romario Shepherd who claimed the most wickets and was awarded the “most valuable player and the “player of the final”.

Meanwhile, captain of the Guyana Harpy Eagles, Leon Johnson, has scored the most runs in the tournament.

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Brandon Corlette

GTT’s COO of Business Solutions, Orson Ferguson, handing over a cheque to LGC President Pantanjilee Persaud

Team representatives took time out for a photo opportunity after being presented with balls and sponsors’ beverages

Cup in Australia…

West Indies keep hope alive with win over Zimbabwe

West Indies have kept their T20 World Cup hopes alive by securing a 31-run victory over Zimbabwe with 10 balls to spare.

But although the mar gin speaks of a comfortable win, it was one punctuated by familiar anxieties. It was certainly not a typical per formance from the two-time champions, and it cannot be described as a return to form. But they toughed out what looked to be a terminal collapse in the first innings, which saw them go from 90 for 2 to 101 for 6, to post 153 for 7; and they showcased their intelligence and experi ence in the field to defend it.

Head coach Phil Simmons's criticisms of an "unprofessional" batting ef fort in the 42-run defeat in their opening Group B match will still ring true af ter this, but he will no doubt feel heartened by a defiant showing when it was needed.

Johnson Charles, re placement for an unwell Brandon King, was respon sible for the solid platform that was spurned at first, with 45 and the first two sixes of the West Indies' in nings. Contributions from Rovman Powell (28) and Akeal Hosein (23 not out) then repaired the damage of Sikandar Raza's fine spell of 3 for 19.

However, Alzarri Joseph's T20I career-best of 4 for 16 was the real differ ence.

Both sides made soli tary enforced changes, with Zimbabwe's the more off-set ting after captain Craig Ervine suffered a mild asth ma attack before the match. He was replaced by Tony Munyong, with stand-in cap tain Regis Chakabva taking over the reins, and looking rueful at the end.

At the very least, the runs down the order, after finding themselves at 92 for 7, re duced the impact of this de feat on Zimbabwe's net run rate, which is back to zero.

Chakabva was the hap pier skipper when the heart of West Indies' batting was ripped out in a remarkable passage of play that seemed to have all but ended their World Cup hopes in the space of 12 deliveries, with the loss of four for just 11 runs.

They were 90 for 2 at the start of the 13th over, before captain Nicholas Pooran reg istered a second single-fig ure score in as many in nings, gifting Raza with a simple caught-and-bowled for the first of his three wick ets. Before the over was out, Charles was sent packing after a lack of communica tion with Powell left him well short of his ground at the non-striker's end. By the end of the 14th, Raza had trapped Shamarh Brooks leg before, and had pouched an other return catch off Jason

Holder.

tling with guilt at the non-striker's end, set about making amends in a vital

the next delivery, which was

of the chase, when

Chakabva and Tony Munyonga through high pace: the former edging onto his own stumps, the latter done straight and full, having been set up with deliveries leaping on him

Cup, Zimbabwe did similarly on Wednesday night in Hobart. The 10 overs following the Powerplay derailed West Indies' innings, with five wickets taken for just 64 runs through a combination of wicket-to-wicket lines, a pick-and-mix of lengths, and a bit of swing.

The pressure maintained by Raza, left-armer Sean Williams and offie Burl cre ated the perfect environ ment for this Caribbean col lapse, with Charles's run out reflecting an inability to ro tate the strike and the sheer panic in the middle order. Of the 109 deliveries faced from spinners this tournament, West Indies are 87 for the loss of nine, averaging 9.66.

seventh-wicket stand of 47 with Akeal Hosein, which got the Jamaican set into the final over. Eye in, he thumped the impressive

extra cover when Powell had just 12. Combined with a life given to Charles on 15 ear lier, when Muyonga shelled one running towards the

chipped away. A pace-heavy attack, led by Joseph's open ing burst of 2 for 13, wrestled back the initiative after the opening two overs leaked 29. And without Raza, fresh from 82 off 48 against Ireland, and looking in good order with a huge six off Odean Smith be fore spooning to wide midoff, boundary hitters to come were few and far between. Milton Chumba's botched slog sweep off Hosein, caught 10 yards inside the midwick et boundary by Brooks for a dour two off nine, said as much.

When Holder yorked Ryan Burl for his 50th T20I wicket, that looked like the end of any real resistance from Zimbabwe. Jongwe set about a one-man rescue mission, and had Caribbean palms sweating when three of his boundaries helped find 17 from Odean Smith in the 17th. However, with the first ball of the 18th, he was bowled emphatically by Joseph, who had returned earlier to do the same to Richard Ngarava.

Holder then took the final wicket, setting off on a cele bratory run that spoke more of relief than jubilation.

Joseph takes centre stage

from back of a length.

Though West Indies went on to take wickets after the Powerplay, it was a sur prise not to see Joseph bowl a third in a row in the sev enth. Nevertheless, Pooran's decision was vindicated with two for three in the next spell (overs 16 and 18). In a tournament where speed sters are in the limelight, four sets of broken stumps amid 16 dot balls have put Joseph on centre stage.

Rag it around West Indies Australia might not be associated with spin, but try telling that to this West Indies outfit. Or, rather, try telling that to their oppo nents. After Scotland turned them inside out in their opening match of this World

All to play for The ICC couldn't have planned it any better, even if the layout of this T20 World Cup isn't one most of us would plan. All four teams in Group B are on two points, presenting the mouth-wa tering prospect of two win ner-takes-all matches on Friday. West Indies take on Ireland, and Scotland face Zimbabwe, all having shown enough in the past week to make strong arguments for any of them to go through to the main event.

There is, however, the prospect of rain in Hobart, which could temper how much drama there is to be had. It also underlines how important it was for Zimbabwe to get as close as they did at the death, and avoid a blowout to remain second - the last qualifying spot - ahead of West Indies by 0.275 on net run rate.

Blessing Murzabani for two sixes within the first three deliveries, the second of which went 104m - the sec ond-longest of the tourna ment so far - and took West Indies to 150.

Murzabani eventual ly won the battle by snar ing the right-hander with

cover boundary - again off Murzabani's bowling - the innings closed with a sense that, even with their ex cellence during the middle overs, Zimbabwe had missed opportunities to kill this game in the first innings.

That was painfully rein forced in the first eight overs

That Joseph is still only 25 after six years at inter national level shows just how much faith West Indies have had in his talent. That he only made his T20 debut for his country a few months ago suggests they weren't too sure about his short-form work. Now, after a tourna ment-reviving display for his country in his ninth appear ance, one imagines he'll be in the XI for a while.

Searing pace, steepling bounce and a devilish york er ruined Zimbabwe at the start and end of their chase. The first spell accounted for

(Regis Chakabva,

(Tony Munyonga,

(Sean Williams,

(Wessly Madhevere,

(Sikandar Raza, 7.2

(Milton Shumba, 10.4

7-92 (Ryan Burl, 13.3 ov), 8-102 (Richard Ngarava, 15.3 ov), 9-120 (Luke Jongwe, 17.1 ov), 10-122 (Tendai Chatara, 18.2 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W

Kyle Mayers 1-0-17-0 Akeal Hosein 4-0-25-1

Alzarri Joseph 4-0-16-4

Obed McCoy 3-0-19-1 Jason Holder 3.2-0-12-3 Odean Smith 3-0-31-1

Charles and Holder celebrating a wicket

Charles top-scored for West Indies

Juniors’ tourney to determine badminton players for

keep hope alive with win over