Guyana Times - Tuesday, October 11, 2022

US$120M IsDB loan approved for resurfacing of Linden-Soesdyke Highway

After several months of waiting, the US$120 million loan that the Government had sought for resurfac ing the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, has been ap proved by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

Earlier this year, the Government had an nounced that they were awaiting approval from the IsDB for a loan to resur face the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. During a visit to the mining town of Linden on Monday, President Dr Irfaan Ali provided an up date on this loan. He in formed residents that this loan was approved only a few days ago.

“What I’m doing today is what I’m doing across the country. We are going to people, meeting people, lis tening to people. Because one of the important pil lars of the Government now, is to ensure that we deliver what the people want and we understand what the people want… the Linden-Soesdyke road, we’re repaving that entire road. The loan has been approved, a few days ago,” the President revealed

during his discussions with the residents.

Earlier this year, a team from the ISDB visit ed Guyana on an apprais al mission for the loan request. The IsDB team was led by Atiq Ahmad, Lead Global Transport Specialist - Economic and Social Infrastructure Department, General Directorate for Global Practices & Partnerships of the IsDB.

On the Government

side, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill was joined by his Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Vladim Persaud, Dr Tarachand Balgobin, Director of the Project Cycle Management Division at the Ministry of Finance and Patrick Thompson, Chief Transport and Planning Officer. During the meeting, the IsDB team was introduced to their local technical coun terparts from the Ministry of Public Works.

At the time, Minister Edghill had reiterat ed the importance of the Soesdyke-Linden Highway Project and assured the visiting team there is al ready an accountability system in place to ensure this project is executed ef ficiently.

Already, the Government, through the Public Works Ministry, is looking to pre-qualify con tractors for the upgrade of the Soesdyke-Linden

Highway. In an adver tisement on Friday, the Ministry stated that the Government of Guyana ap plied for financing from the IsDB toward the cost of the project and intends to apply part of the pro ceeds of this financing to payments under the con tract for the reconstruction of the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

The Ministry’s work services group (WSG) will be prequalifying contrac tors for the upgrading of the existing 72.43km twolane, single-carriageway, and rural arterial high way. The scope of work entails milling of existing asphalt surface course, ap plication of varying pave ment structures above the milled sections of pavement inclusive of as phalt, sand asphalt, and sub-base; full-depth pave ment reconstruction in certain sections, construc tion of two roundabouts along the alignment, side walk extensions to nine multi-span bridges, drain age work, and utility relo cation, and installation of roadway lighting.

The tender document

stated that prequalifi cation will be conducted through prequalification procedures specified in the Islamic Development Bank’s guidelines for Procurement of Goods, Works, and Related Services, and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries, as de fined in the guidelines.

Interested eligible ap plicants may obtain fur ther information from and inspect the prequal ification document at the Ministry’s Kingston, Georgetown office. A com plete set of the prequali fication document may be uplifted by interested ap plicants on the submission of a written application or email.

Applications for pre qualification should be submitted in sealed enve lopes and delivered to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, Ministry of Finance, by November 23, 2022.

The upgrade to the highway is part of sev eral key plans that the Government has outlined for the Upper DemeraraBerbice region. (G3)

The Linden-Soesdyke Highway

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The

Tuesday,

The

Demerara Bridge reopens to light vehicular traffic

Tuesday, Oct 11

17:00h-18:30h and Wednesday, Oct

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika

times

WEATHER TODAY

…captain, crew of vessel that rammed into bridge remain confined to ship

Just

two days after one of the worst incidents

the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) has had to en dure, sufficient progress has been made that the bridge can reopen for light vehicu lar traffic and trucks up to 12 tonnes, as of 21:00h on Monday.

This was the update giv en by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, in a brief ing with the media on the bridge. The bridge had ini tially been expected to open to light traffic at 18:30h. However, Edghill explained that the time had to be ad justed.

“We anticipated that we would have had this closed by 6:30. We’re just about 10 minutes beyond that time. And they have to do a lit tle adjustment. So, what we have now done based upon what we have seen, the bridge is practically closed. Which means the two re tractors are almost at each other where vehicles will be able to pass over.”

“The general manag er has just advised me that with the tidying up and the cleaning up of getting all the equipment and welding torches off, we will open for vehicular traffic at 9:00 pm tonight and we’ll be able to carry up to 12 tonnes. So, sand trucks and other car go bearing trucks with 18 tonnes that were normally allowed, we’re asking you to hold on your weight,” Edghill said.

He explained that some of the empty trucks will be allowed to cross, as long as they do not exceed the 12-tonne threshold. Additionally, Edghill not ed that they will have to get two pontoons on an emer gency basis. In light of the fact that fabricating a pon toon from scratch can take 120 days, Edghill said that they would have to explore their options and whether a

pontoon can be rehabilitat ed.

“They’ve just advised me that we’ll have to go into emergency to get two pon toons. Because right now, they did not recognise it ini tially. But those pontoons are badly damaged with

it’s tidying up, cleaning up. And stabilising. And by 9:00, traffic will be flowing on the Demerara Harbour Bridge,” Edghill said, going on to laud the role that the Guyanese engineers, weld ers and contractors played in getting the bridge back

said that he is still hospi talised with his fractured leg and may have to under go surgery. At the time of the incident, Duke was in jured after he had to jump from his post to get out of the path of the vessel that eventually crashed into the bridge.

The Board of Inquiry is meanwhile continuing its probe into the incident, after which they will be expected to make their recommenda tions and establish culpa bility where necessary. The Minister said that the Board has seven days in which to conclude their probe.

holes. So, what we have right now are pumps that are being installed to keep the water out of the pon toons.”

“We’ll have to go into emergency mode to procure two additional pontoons. We got one delivered yesterday (Sunday)… so at this stage

up and running, as well as the water taxis that stepped up.

With respect to DHB Ship Supervisor, Andy Duke, who was directing the vessel through the retrac tion and attempted to get it to stop after realising it was out of alignment, Edghill

Edghill also revealed that the pilot of the MV Trade Wind Passion, the Panamanian fuel ship that was transporting fuel when it crashed into the bridge, remains confined to the ship along with his crew.

The MV Trade Wind Passion was transport ing fuel to the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil). It was heading south and was the last of five vessels to cross the bridge, when it collided with the bridge on Saturday morning. (G3)

A welder as he works on the bridge

DHB workers posed with Public Works Minister Juan Edghill in the centre, after they successfully reconnected the retractor spans of the Demerara Harbour Bridge

Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707

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World Mental Health Day

Sunday, October 10 was World Mental Health Day and as expected, the issues surrounding mental health took centre stage.

In Guyana, the day was observed under the global theme, ““Making Mental Health and Well-Being for All a Global Priority.”

In his message, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said: “This annual observance is geared at raising awareness and advocacy against the social stigma attached to mental health and other related illnesses. It also highlights the need for improved and accessible mental health services in our private and public health systems around the world. Mental health problems exist in our lives and our communities, and can impact anyone and everyone.”

This newspaper has had several editorials where it was pointed out that much discussion has been had locally about the mental health of citizens. While in many instances the topic was categorised as ‘taboo’ in many cultures, it came to fore as the COVID-19 pandemic took centre stage all around the world. It is well-known that the pandemic has taken a severe toll on the mental well-being of persons all over the world.

For example, the initial challenges of dealing with the lockdown measures, the fear of being infected with the virus or having to deal with the death of a loved one have caused tremendous stress and anxiety on many. All of this is added to the economic pressures that are brought on due to persons not being able to go out and work to support themselves and families.

Due to the lack of resources, many countries are unable to mount the kind of response that is needed to address the mental health challenges of their populations or many are forced to scale back the level of response needed due to other areas competing for scarce resources.

As Hamlet had stated in his writings, “I have of late – but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory…”

Depression is part of the human condition and Hamlet’s description of its symptoms matches those in a modern medical textbook. The categorisation has become more precise, the treatments more advanced, but the illness is still badly understood and its consequences often hidden. Depression remains if not a source of shame, then at least bewilderment to those who suffer from it and those around them. Yet it is on the increase, neurotic disorders affecting one in six adults at some point in their lives. Society, and medical science, needs a better response.

Back in 2010, UK Journalist and the Guardian’s head of special projects, who led a team of Journalists investigating international trends and issues, Mark Rice-Oxley wrote powerfully of his “decline from unremarkable working dad of three to stranded depressive sitting on the floor doing simple jigsaws”.

His shock was not just at the crushing effect of a condition that seemed to come from nowhere, but the confusion about how to overcome it.

The truth is medical advances have controlled many diseases, but depression in its different forms is either becoming more common or being detected more often – and perhaps both. Pharmaceutical treatments, while restricted in their effectiveness, are being used much more widely.

However, part of the challenge is defining what is it to be depressed. The term has such a wide common meaning that it can be used to cover anything from passing grief to long-term illness. The Royal College of Psychiatrists lists typical symptoms: feeling utterly tired; feeling useless, inadequate and hopeless; and feeling unhappy most of the time among them. But there can be no medical exactitude to an illness experienced in different degrees and different ways by different people – only that you know it when it comes.

The human mind is the most extraordinary and least understood part of the body, the source of joy and creativity. It can also, as Hamlet knew, create the horror of depression: “This brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.”

Uganda is battling Ebola again –and the world doesn’t have a vaccine

By Devi SriDhar

Ebola is one of those diseases you’d rather not know about. It has a high mortality rate, often over 50 per cent, and while the symptoms start with a fever and headache, in the latter stages, the body internally bleeds to death. Because it’s spread through body flu ids, such as an infectious person’s blood, vomit, urine, saliva, sweat or semen, it’s not as infectious as respi ratory pathogens such as COVID-19, which spread through air. Those most at risk of Ebola are healthcare workers and family members caring for their sick loved ones.

Uganda is currently battling one of its largest outbreaks of Ebola. The Ugandan outbreak is caused by the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. This is why the new out break is particularly concerning pub lic health experts. As with COVID-19, the race is now on to find an effective vaccine: there are two potential can didates from GSK and Oxford, and clinical trials are being launched in the middle of this outbreak.

The Head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said there have al ready been 63 confirmed Ebola cas es and 29 deaths. Four of those dead were health workers. Cases were first detected in the Mubende district among people living around a gold mine. Gold traders are highly mobile, particularly along the busy high way that runs between Kampala, a densely populated and globally con nected capital of 1.68 million people, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Countries have al ready started implementing surveil lance measures; the United States has started redirecting travellers from Uganda to five US airports to screen them for the Ebola virus, and is now monitoring them for 21 days to see whether symptoms develop. Neighbouring countries like Kenya and Tanzania are on high alert.

In 2014, Ebola made global head

lines. Some news agencies called it the “Isis of disease”, and a panic set in when Ebola cases were detect ed in Europe and North America. In 2014, “What is Ebola?’ was the mostsearched question in America and Ebola was the third highest search term overall. Since 2014, it’s large ly disappeared from the public imag ination, at least in Western coun tries. There have been outbreaks of Ebola in DRC, but these have been controlled through vaccines and oth er public health measures. The out breaks in 2014 and more recently in DRC have been caused by the Zaire strain of the virus: we now have two approved vaccines against this strain and an effective monoclonal antibody treatment.

We’re all sick of viruses and dis eases by now. COVID has led to fa tigue, and many don’t want to hear about public health and hygiene ef forts any more. Yet viruses don’t care what we feel or whether we want to hear about them. The history of hu manity is one of various germs try ing to kill us, and our efforts to stay ahead of them using science and data. There is clear survival bias that shapes our thinking about the COVID pandemic. It’s easy to look back in a post-vaccine era and say it wasn’t so bad, especially because we’re surrounded by those who were infected and lived. Those who died don’t have a voice.

The Ugandan health secretary, Jane Aceng, has said that local peo ple initially thought the new Ebola outbreak was caused by witchcraft, so didn’t seek medical care. It took Government intervention to create a broader understanding that the dis ease was caused by the Ebola virus. Rumours, whether in person or on line, can undermine health efforts in all countries, rich or poor, as demon strated by the viral Facebook and Twitter posts that COVID is a hoax, and that vaccines are killing people.

Aceng has repeatedly called on other countries to provide funding to support Uganda’s public health work force through adequate personal pro

tective equipment. Health staff need single-use medical gowns, double ni trile gloves, masks, face shields, sur gical hoods, and long boot coverings to work safely. The health secretary has continuously raised the alarm that this disease could spread to neighbouring countries and on flights across the world. Uganda needs help.

At the same time that it’s manag ing this Ebola outbreak, the coun try also faces a resurgence of malar ia, tuberculosis, HIV, as well as the toll of COVID-19, all while having far less resources than Western nations (30 per cent of Ugandans live off less than US$1.77 per person a day).

But the calls from Uganda’s health secretary have been met by silence and a sense of fatigue from leaders across the world. Even Uganda’s own President, Yoweri Museveni, said last month that there was no reason for anxiety, panic, closures or any kind of restrictions on movement.

We’ve seen similar splits in Britain, whereby politicians and health ex perts seem to be pulling in differ ent directions. Yet Aceng is right: if the outbreak reaches Kampala and starts spreading out to neighbouring countries, it will become harder and harder to control. We know that the most effective response is to put out the fire as soon as possible, and so the faster other countries help Uganda control this outbreak, the less likely that you’ll be reading about the first cases in Britain or Europe.

We tend to forget that across the centuries, controlling infectious dis eases has been a central reason for in ternational cooperation. This is why Governments came together in 1851 at the first International Sanitary Conference, to stop the spread of cholera plague and yellow fever. Infectious diseases far afield are al ways only just a plane ride away. For both humanitarian and for self-inter ested reasons, there’s a clear impera tive to stop outbreaks wherever they happen.

(The Guardian)

(Professor Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh)

As the Hindu community prepares to celebrate the Festival of Lights, the West Coast Berbice Praant of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha held Deep Jale on Sunday evening at D’Edward Village with a cultural programme (GHDS photo)

Agri drive remains robust

Editor,

a big boost it is to learn that “foreign inves tors (are beginning to) sig nal interest in (Guyana’s) agriculture sector.

dailies report that “Guyana’s agriculture sec tor has been receiving sig nificant recognition across the Region, as the coun try forges ahead with ma jor investments and stra tegic solutions to reduce the country’s, and by ex tension, the Region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.” According to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, “… several investors, both foreign and from the Guyanese Diaspora, have signalled a renewed in terest in the country’s ag riculture sector.” He de tailed that “We have a number of investors; more and more people are com ing to Guyana to invest …

We have a number of per sons from the Guyanese Diaspora who want to come and invest in various sectors in agriculture.”

Am I surprised? The answer is an emphatic ‘No’.

Firstly, we need to re alise that agriculture is very important in Guyana. In fact, it makes sense to be pre-occupied herein, as Guyana's vast tracts

of productive land pres ent enormous opportuni ties for growth. And where agriculture is concerned, historically it has been one of the most import ant productive sectors of Guyana's economy. As a matter of fact, agriculture accounts for approximate ly one-third of Guyana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 30 per cent of the country's employment. Yes, agriculture is for sub sistence livelihood, but it must not stop there. We must go the next mile and promote agriculture as a wealth generator and en trepreneurial enterprise, thereby producing food and non-food commodities to meet local and export demands. And this is ex actly where the Agri boss is heading, and I ‘tip my hat’ to him.

Not waning in his drive, he still renewed his com mitment, as he sourced his ‘extra-push’ from the fillip he got from the May 2020 Agri-Investment Forum and Expo. He ex plained that this served as a catalyst for investors from Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Israel and other countries. The Minister added that the Israelis ex pressed their interest in hydroponics, a non-tra ditional way of grow

ing crops. This in partic ular, being fairly new to Guyana, “… will see the increase in the number of shade houses used in the production of high-val ue crops, such as brocco li, carrots and cauliflower at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD).”

Editor, I have no res ervation about applaud ing this kind of initia tive. It makes me absorb ever deeper what Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said in August 2020, when he was made the head of this important sector. At that time, he alluded to the fact that he was ‘a man who knows agriculture, having been involved in it at the grassroots and practical level’. So confi dent is the Minister, that his plan is to have an other hydroponics farm near the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; this is already underway, and when real ised, “… is anticipated to be the largest hydroponics project in Latin America and the Caribbean… (even accommodating) blueber ries, strawberries and oth er exotic crops…”

So, I think we all can agree that we have been getting so far, ‘value for our money’ where agricul ture is concerned. Let’s re member that our National

Budget 2022 earmarked some $28.7 billion to en sure the rapid growth and development in Guyana’s agriculture sector. So far this is paying great divi dends, as the agriculture sector has so far recorded significant growth in the first half of this year. The details show that at midyear, “… growth in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors expanded by some 10.9 per cent and is expected to grow by 11.9 per cent”. The even big ger picture is that Guyana became the leader in the Caribbean in its food se curity efforts to lower the high food import bill in the Region and to ensure food security.

I do remind all that “At the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom (Caribbean Community) held back in May, the commitment was that measures will be put into place, towards achiev ing the ‘25 by 25’ agricul ture target, which is to re duce the Region’s US$6 billion food import bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025.

My prognosis is that the goal will be achieved.

Yours truly, H Singh

PSC concerned about increasing accidents to DHB

Dear Editor,

In light of another signif icant accident where a ma rine vessel crashed into the aged Demerara Harbour Bridge, the Private Sector Commission expresses grave concern and calls on all captains and opera tors of vessels traversing the Demerara River to take maximum precautions to avoid accidents, especially when in the vicinity of the Demerara Harbour Bridge.

Thousands of Guyanese depend on the bridge to go about their daily lives and hundreds of millions of dol lars is lost daily when the bridge is out of commission. Over the past few weeks, there have been significant damages sustained to the bridge due to barges hitting the infrastructure. We are fearful that the frequency of this situation can even tually lead to the Harbour Bridge becoming compro mised and out of service for extended periods, causing a national disaster, especially in the context of the major developmental projects that are taking place on both sides of the river.

We are fully aware that increased marine traffic, be cause of the oil and gas in dustry, exponentially in creases the risk of such

accidents. Thus, we implore the Government of Guyana to assiduously pursue the highly anticipated New Demerara River Bridge. It is evident that Guyana needs this project to allow for the passage of larger vessels which are required for the proper functioning of the oil & gas sector as well as the traditional ones.

We envisage that a modern four-lane solid state bridge will lead to faster economic growth and maximum utili sation of resources on both sides of the river, as there will be 24-hour access daily, thereby positively impact ing private sector business and the lives of the citizen ry.

The Commission takes this opportunity to urge all regulatory agencies to do better. As we await the findings of the investiga tion underway, we urge that better systems be put in place to ensure safer op eration of this important in frastructure. It is our ex pectation that the Maritime Administration Department will take a more proactive approach in supervision on the bridge.

Sincerely, Private Sector Commission

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FROM MONDAY

theseCcritters! heck out

By The BroThers Grimm

Earwig

Ant

Centipede

Govt focused on development in Linden – Pres Ali assures

facilities.”

Fromsupport for ag riculture, to the syn thetic track, the Bamia Primary School, and the McKenzie Bridge and sports club, President Dr Irfaan Ali has assured the residents of Linden that the Government is well on its way to addressing the issues most affecting them.

The President visited the mining town of Linden on Monday, during which he stopped in at the stu dios of 104.3 Boom FM. He was asked by the host about three specific projects - the synthetic athletic track, the new Amelia’s Ward/Bamia Primary School and the McKenzie Bridge and Sports club.

“All (these) projects are on our radar. And all (these) projects will see signifi cant investment from this Government. And it’s not just these (these) projects. We’re working on expanding and improving water supply. We’re working on improving health care. We’re working on improving child-friendly environments. Recreational

“We’re working on gen erating employment, build ing tourism. Expanding the economy of Linden. Opening up opportunities. Linking Linden and Region 10, with what is happening in the macro environment of our country. So those three ar eas, definitely,” President Ali further said.

The President also spoke of the initiatives they have already done for Linden in just two years, such as the 1000 homes project, the re opening of the call centre and the creation of jobs. Additionally, he said more employment initiatives would be facilitated. Then there is work on the Linden to Mabura road, which the Government is pursuing.

More than 100 Guyanese have found employment through the US$190 million Linden to Mabura Hill road construction project current ly underway by Brazilian company Construtora Queiroz Galvao S.A.

The Linden to Mabura Road project is another av

enue for economic advance ment for residents and the region. Guyana signed the ground-breaking contract for the project in May this year, a venture which has been in the pipeline for de cades.

The project is expect ed to last for three years, and would boost trade and open massive avenues for business ventures between Guyana and Brazil. The first phase of the project would see a two-lane highway be ing constructed from sand and dirt to an asphaltic con crete surface.

The road would be ap proximately 121 kilometres long and 7.2 metres wide. It will also include a cycle and pedestrian lane measuring 2 metres wide, along with 10 bus stops equipped with ramps for persons with dis abilities.

Agriculture

During his visit, President Ali assured that Linden would get support from the Government for

the agriculture sector, in direct response to the calls of residents. The President charged Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and Minister within the Public Works Ministry Deodat Indar, who were present during the visit, with or ganising for Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and team to visit the area.

“As you know, agricul ture is very important. Agriculture is something we are pushing not only in Guyana, but throughout the Region. So what we’re going to do and I’m going to ask Ministers Indar and Edghill

to organise with Minister Zulfi, an agricultural team to come into the community to talk with you all and see how we can identify a single area that we can support the expansion of agriculture,” Ali said

Guyana’s increased focus on agriculture is testimony to the Government’s efforts to diversify the economy.

The 2022 Mid-Year report shows that out of the $32.6 billion budgeted in the agri culture sector, $15.8 billion was spent. This money was spent on a number of things, including constructing ma jor infrastructure, procure

ment of equipment and ca pacity building.

Government’s focus on agriculture is also down to the vision of making Guyana the bread basket of the Caribbean and reduc ing the regional food import bill. Last year, President Ali had declared that his Government would be pur suing an aggressive cam paign to dismantle region al barriers to agricultural trade and that in the next four years, with the assis tance of more diversified crops, Guyana would aim to reduce Caricom’s food im port bill by 25 per cent. (G3)

President Dr Irfaan Ali engages with residents in Linden during several meetings on Sunday

Lethem fatal accident

Alleged drunken driver to be charged this week for causing schoolgirl’s death …as father makes plea for justice

An alleged drunken driver, who was be hind the wheel of a car when it fatally struck a 10-year-old girl, is expect ed to be charged this week with causing her death, Commander of Regional Police Division Nine, Raphael Rose told this pub lication on Monday.

Ruth Glasgow, a pupil of the Arapaima Primary School in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper TakutuUpper Essequibo) died af ter she was struck down on September 30 by a speeding motor car driven by 23-yearold Navindra Narine.

Before the girl passed away, Narine was charged for dangerous driving and driving under the influence of alcohol and released on bail.

When contacted for an update on the case, Commander Rose explained that a post-mortem exam ination was recently con ducted on the girl’s remains, adding that the Police are in the process of sending a file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.

He said that the file is currently at the Criminal Investigations Department

(CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, and should reach the DPP’s of fice today.

Once the DPP’s office pronounces on the matter, Narine will be processed to attend court by the end of this week to answer a charge for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving.

Police Headquarters re ported that the motor car, with the number plate PLL 2547, was speeding along Third Street, Lethem, and attempted to negotiate a left turn at around 16:40h.

At the time, Glasgow was leaving her school sports at the Tabatinga Sports

Complex with her mother. The young girl reportedly braced on her bicycle at the corner of the road, while she was eating something.

Narine reportedly lost control of his vehicle and collided into the schoolgirl. The child and her cycle were flung some distance further north on the road, causing her to sustain injuries to her head and body.

She was later picked up in an unconscious condition by public-spirited citizens and taken to the Lethem Regional Hospital, where she was seen and examined by a doctor.

She was, however, re ferred to Boa Vista, Brazil, via ambulance to seek fur ther medical attention. At 22:40h on September 30, Glasgow succumbed to her injuries while undergoing emergency medical treat ment.

The matter was reported to the Police and ranks ar rived at the scene in under 10 minutes.

Police said measure ments and statements were taken. The motor car was examined by the Licensing and Certifying Officer, and a Notice of Intended Prosecution served on the driver.

Two breathalyser tests were conducted on him and it was found that he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Justice Meanwhile, the dead girl’s parents are plead ing for justice. Her father, Ronald Glasgow, claimed that incidents like this con tinue to happen to persons in his community without them getting justice.

“I am calling on the Lethem Court to give me justice for my child,” he cried. (G1)

Grappling with…

…mental health

Your Eyewitness is quite pleased we’re now discussing “mental health” in Guyana rather than complaining about “mad people” – as we’d been doing for hundreds of years!! It’s not for nothing everyone used to refer to the “Berbice Mad House”, which was supposed to deal with the aforesaid “demented” folks. In fact, the location of the “Mad House” – with its OFFICIAL name being the “LUNATIC ASYLUM” not helping any!! – in Berbice allowed wags in the rest of the country to snicker that all Berbicians were MAD!!

Anyhow, Monday was “World Mental Health Day” –with the theme, “Make mental health & well-being for all a global priority”. But have we in Guyana really accepted that “mental health” is just as critical to our well-being as “bodily health”?? Your Eyewitness doesn’t think so. No one gives a second thought when folks talk about visiting doctors, clinics or hospitals, but just mention – if you’re VERY brave – that you gotta check out a psychiatrist or psychologist!!

From then on, all you’ll be getting are side glances from folks who’ve suddenly become very wary when you’re around!!

And yes…your Eyewitness is speaking with authority from personal experience!! As when he’s “feeling down, wearing a frown” – but dare not tell even his buddies, who’re insisting they engage in the national pastime of habituating rum shops!! Even if they want to be kind, at best they’ll cackle that Eyewitness has “gone mental”!!

Officially, according to the Health Ministry, 20% of Guyanese suffer from one form of mental illness or other. But your Eyewitness thinks the figure is more like NINETY PERCENT – since just living in Guyana has to drive almost everyone bonkers!!

Have you driven a car in Guyana recently?? Walked around the Stabroek Market Square at ANYTIME – or around Georgetown after any elections since 1992?? Listened to some of these provocateurs on social media?? Used a minibus when you have a headache?? Or used a minibus –period??

Not to mention the post-traumatic stress disorder from the horrors of slavery and indentureship inflicted on 90% of our ancestors that’s been passed on to us. And that’s why your Eyewitness – whose wife who never fails to roll her eyes – gotta get his daily regular fix of beer after work!! But seriously, folks, your Eyewitness is pleased the Government now sees “mental health” as a “public health” issue to deal with. They’ve decriminalised suicide attempts and are making the umpteenth attempt to grapple with suicide.

They can also do well by starting with those street dwellers who inhabit the pavements of Georgetown and display obvious neurotic symptoms. They’ll be removing threats to pedestrians while helping them.

And yes…the mental is as critical as the physical.

…oil challenges

Back to the “modular” oil refinery for which the Government has asked for “expressions of interest” (EoIs). Now back in 2019 – even BEFORE oil was shipped – a local rice magnate had announced he could build a 30,000bpd one for only US$100 million!! He even announced he’d locate it at Linden. Your Eyewitness was then puzzled as to why Linden – since that’d mean extra shipping costs on a congested river!! But he figured the fella just wanted to sweeten the deal for the PNC – then in power!! The PNC didn’t bite.

Now that the present Government has accepted the notion, your Eyewitness just googled what it’d cost for such a “modular” refinery. He discovered that the SIMPLIEST such refinery – dubbed a “topping refinery” – which would merely distil off diesel, fuel oil, kerosene, AGO, LPG or asphalt, but without total refining capacity to produce gasoline, would cost at least US$200 million!!

That’s DOUBLE the fella’s projection – and we still wouldn’t be getting gasoline for our cars!! Gotta move on!!

…the Demerara crossing

It was a stroke of fortune that the crash into the DHB happened on a long weekend. Your Eyewitness thinks this is most likely an act of sabotage and expects the authorities to conduct a full investigation!!

Ruth Glasgow and Navindra Narine

Gunmen invade Kaieteur News, escape with safe

...former employee arrested

Three armed bandits escaped with millions in cash following an

early morning invasion of Kaieteur News at Saffon Street, Georgetown.

Man who impersonated medical doctor to appear in court today

Reports are that the in cident occurred at about 01:15h whilst three employ ees were still at the office performing duties.

According to Police, a gold Spacio motor car, whose registration num ber is unknown, stopped in front of the building. The trio exited the car and en tered the building through an eastern door at the bot tom flat.

The three employees were held at gunpoint and the bandits placed them into an office where they were instructed to stay on the ground.

One of the suspects re mained with the victims and the other two suspects proceeded to the upper flat of the building, to the Accounts Department.

The door was secured with a padlock which was wrenched off. The lock on one of the desk draw ers inside the Accounts

Department was also bro ken off.

Under the said desk had a small safe with an un disclosed amount of cash, which the suspects took.

The suspects spent about five minutes in the build ing after which they exited through the front door and

escaped in the said motor car.

In addition to the undis closed amount cash belong ing to the entity, the sus pects robbed the employees of $5000; one Blue Redmi cellular phone valued at $44,000 and one Samsung S7 cellular phone valued at

$40,000.

Police said CCTV camer as attached to the building were viewed by detectives.

Guyana Times understands that a former employee of the company was arrested for questioning.

Investigations are in progress.

Charged: Mikhail Tadius McLennan

Mikhail Tadius McLennan, who was caught imper sonating a medical doctor, will appear at the Diamond/ Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts today, according to the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

The Police Legal Advisor has recommended that the young man, a model, be charged with improper use of a medical title, contrary to Section 13 (1) (c) of the Medical Practitioner Act.

The charge has already been prepared and read to him. He will appear in court this morning to answer to that charge. The Police said that it is conducting further investigations into the mat ter and will return the file for further legal advice.

In July, the Guyana Cancer Foundation (GCF) distanced itself from McLennan, who had been volunteering with the organ isation for a while, after it was discovered that he was an imposter.

In the young man’s curric ulum vitae (CV) to the GCF, he stated that he studied medicine at the University of Guyana (UG) and the Texila American University.

Both universities, how ever, have confirmed that he was never registered as a student at the institutions. Also, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, whom the man had listed in his CV as a ref erence and whom he said was his aunt, has denied be ing related to him.

In fact, in a Facebook post, the Chief Magistrate wrote: “This character never approached me to be a refer ence for him and I am in no way related to him.”

The University of Guyana, in a statement, said it views the incident involv ing McLennan as very se rious and urges the young man, and all others wishing to take up significant pro fessions, to follow the lawful

and bona fide route in doing so.

Further, the university added that it “does provide many avenues for different types of students as well as academic counselling to as sist prospective students in making the right choices in fulfilling their dreams and achieving success.”

It therefore urged per sons to take advantage of these opportunities.

McLennan had initially de nied the GCF’s claims but eventually publicly apolo gised for his wrongdoings.

“First off let me start by apologising to everyone that’s been affected by this.

I acknowledge that I made a huge mistake and I would at least try to explain my side.

I did start the University of Guyana in 2016 to pur sue what was and still is my passion to become a Medical Doctor. My mom was my only means of support and when she got ill and could not support me any longer.

I had no choice but to drop out,” he wrote in a post on Facebook.

“I did try everything else to make my dream a real ity, some of which I’m not so proud of, but when it did not work out, I was too em barrassed to tell some of my closest friends and family of my situation. In my heart and many hearts, I am a doc tor because that’s my pas sion so I did insert myself into circumstances which al lowed me more knowledge in this field even if it was not in the classrooms.”

“I know I went too far by calling myself or introducing myself as a doctor and for that, I sincerely apologise. I do not know where I will go from here but my aim is to the top. I’m only human and I’m still a work in progress,” the statement read.

The Medical Council of Guyana had called in the Police to investigate the matter.

gold heist

Wanted getaway car driver nabbed in Suriname

man Dequan King, who is wanted for murder and robbery, was nabbed in Suriname.

Guyanese

King, called “Titus”, or “Quanie”, of D Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was wanted in Guyana for a rob bery committed on Wallison Enterprise, Gordon Street, Kitty, in August 2021. He is suspected of being the driver for the getaway car used for the robbery.

Waterkant News in Suriname reported that King, who was also want ed for murder in French Guiana, was arrested by the Regional Assistance Team in Paramaribo in collaboration with the National Security Directorate.

According to Waterkant News, King was arrested on Sunday evening.

On August 5, 2021, armed men who pretended to be cus tomers executed a daring rob bery on Wallison Enterprise at Lot 23 Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown, at about 10:10h.

The men carted of $38 mil lion in cash, 60 ounces of raw gold valued at $20 million, and two mobile phones.

After committing the rob bery, the armed men bound and gagged the cashier and two other staff after which they locked them in a room.

Moments after escaping in a white motor car, the cashier managed to free herself and raised an alarm.

Following investigations,

Keyon King, 32, along with 36-year-old Delroy “Bug” Jackson and Peon Lee also known as “Nino Brown”, both security officers attached to the business, were all charged.

The Guyana Police Force had issued a wanted bulletin for the driver of the getaway car, and two other men who were caught on CCTV camera robbing the business.

The wanted bulletin was issued for Dequan King also called “Titus” or “Quanie” of Lot 20 D Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown; Antonio Maraj also called “Pluckin” or “Thuggy” of Leopold Street, Georgetown; Agricola, Greater Georgetown, and Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD). Maraj was one of the persons

caught on the CCTV record ing during the commission ing of the robbery.

Police are also on the hunt for ex-soldier Jamal Hazel, who was also caught on cam era. The 24-year-old is from Guyhoc Park, Georgetown.

Keyon King, the former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant who pleaded guilty to his involvement in the multimillion-dollar robbery, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in November 2021.

Police had found the car belonging to Dequan King also called “Titus” or “Quanie” parked outside a house at Lot 435 Cummings

Lodge, East Coast Demerara. Upon searching the premises, Police found and seized sev eral household items. It was reported that neighbours told the Police that the man who lived there left for the interi or.

Following leads, the detec tives turned up at the home of Keyon King at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), where a search was conduct ed in the house but nothing substantial was found.

Nevertheless, during a search in the yard, the de tectives noticed a disturbed piece of land and decided to dig. It was then a buck et was found buried, which,

when checked, contained $15 million in $5000 notes and an additional $3 million in $1000 notes.

The bucket was reported ly wrapped in two black gar bage bags while the money was neatly packed in trans parent bags.

Keyon King and his wife were arrested. During inter rogation, he told investiga tors that he was part of the initial plan to rob the gold es tablishment but he was not one of the persons who com mitted the act. The ex-GDF Sergeant also related that his wife was not aware of the rob bery and as such, requested for her to be released.

File photo captured from CCTV footage: The gunmen binding the employees

Dequan King called “Titus”, or “Quanie”

ECD woman disarms, stabs abusive partner to death

An alleged abusive re lationship ended in murder on Monday morning when a woman stabbed her common-law husband to death at their Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home.

Dead is 40-year-old Michael Wilson, a labourer of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD), who was stabbed twice to his abdo men by his 30-year-old re puted wife.

According to the Police, the couple often had domes tic disputes over allegations of infidelity levelled against the suspect by her reputed husband. This, according to Police, had previously led to physical and verbal abuse against the woman.

Police said during one of their arguments on Sunday, the woman told the man that she was ending their relationship and would be moving back into her par ents’ home.

Dead: Michael Wilson

However, at around 08:15h on Monday, the cou ple had another argument as the woman was packing her belongings to move out of the house.

Police said the man armed himself with a knife and assaulted the woman,

causing her to receive inju ries to her forearm.

The woman eventual ly succeeded in disarming Wilson and dealt him two stabs to his abdomen, Police Headquarters reported.

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) were summoned and the man was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died whilst receiving treat ment.

The woman was escort ed to the Nabacalis Hospital by the Police where she was seen by a doctor and was subsequently taken to the GPHC where she remains under Police guard.

When this newspaper ar rived at the scene, residents said that after the man was stabbed, he ran out of the yard and into a neighbour’s yard where he collapsed while the suspect remained in the house.

Police have since launched an investigation.

Motorcyclist caught with gun, ammo

motorcy clist was nabbed with an illegal firearm along with matching rounds of ammunition by Police on patrol.

A22-year-old

Reports are that about 15:15h on Sunday, Police ranks in Regional Division Number Three were on mo bile patrol duties when they stopped a motorcyclist of Skull City, West Bank

Demerara (WBD).

According to Police, the man was riding motorcycle CJ 2534 when the search was carried out on his per son, which unearthed a .38 snub-nosed revolver without serial number along with three rounds of matching ammunition concealed in his pants crotch.

Police said following the discovery, the man claimed

The motorcycle that the man was riding

that someone named “Sherwin” gave him the items. He was arrested and placed into custody pending charges.

The gun and ammunition that were found by Police

Young lawyer enlightened on transformational changes in Guyana’s legal system

…admitted to Guyana’s Bar

There has been a new addition to the Guyana Bar in the person of 25-year-old Saskea Sara Lynch, a former stu dent of The Bishops’ High School.

Her petition to practice law in and before the courts of Guyana was presented before Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, last week at the Demerara High Court.

At a very young age, Lynch said she knew she wanted to venture into legal studies and after successful ly completing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), she moved to the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to further her stud ies.

There, she complet ed her secondary educa tion at the ASJA Girls’ College Charlieville, grad uating as valedictorian at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

Due to her exemplary per formance, she gained admis sion to read for a Bachelor of Laws at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine Campus which she completed with honours in 2015.

This young woman from humble upbringings then en

rolled in the two-year Legal Education Certificate (LEC) programme—a prerequisite to practice as an Attorney-atLaw in the Commonwealth Caribbean—at the Sir Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) in Trinidad.

After completing her LEC, Lynch, who was ad mitted to the Trinidad and Tobago Bar, remained in that Caribbean Community (Caricom) state, practicing as an Attorney-at-Law.

According to Nandlall, the young lawyer was “en ticed” by the transforma tional changes taking place in her homeland “and right fully chose to return to Guyana to contribute to the development of the country through being a member of the legal profession”.

“Lynch comes to the pro fession at a very crucial and exciting time. The transfor mation taking place in our country in every sector is obvious and the legal sec tor has not been forgotten,” said the Attorney General, as he outlined the various Bills waiting to be tabled in Parliament.

“We have a Hire Purchase Bill; we have a modern Bail Bill. In the pipeline we have a modern Caribbean mod el Arbitration Bill to take to the National Assembly and we have very important changes and development taking place in the legal sec

tor outside of legislation.”

He also informed her of the steps being taken to update the Guyana Law Reports and to revise the Laws of Guyana -- which, he pointed out, is a costly but very important exercise.

Nandlall reminded Lynch that she has entered into a noble and honourable profession and therefore she will not only be expected to meet to rigours of the profes sion but will have to adapt to the changes which are tak ing place in the legal sector.

In lending a word of ad vice to Lynch, he shared, “There is no shortcut to suc

cess in the legal profession. You have to work hard, you have to read the law, you have to research the law, you have to be able to write clearly, you have to be able to speak clearly, to articu late your position...and at the same time, do so with rectitude and decorum, rec ognising that your argu ments may not always pre vail but there is a system to correct the wrongs...”

For her part, the Chief Justice expressed that she is always “very pleased” to pre side over the admission of a “Bishopian”, since she, too, is a former student of The

Bishops’ High School.

Noting that the expec tations at the T&T Bar are extremely high, Justice George urged Lynch to use her two years of practise in that country to replicate her commitment to excel lence here.

Like the Attorney General, the Chief Justice enlightened her about the transformational changes taking place in the legal sys tem.

Notably, she told her about the establishment of a Council of Legal Education (CLE) law school in Guyana which will attract students

from across the Region. And according to her, “that cross-fertilisation of expe riences is really, really, ex citing and enriching for our Region.”

Justice George also seized the opportunity to ex plain to Lynch that the pro fession into which she has entered is very demanding, adding that it is a 365 days per year job and that hard work and courtesy to the court will pay off.

Notwithstanding the de mands, she urged her to be committed to excellence and to work every day to lay the foundation for her future.

In a courtroom packed with family, friends, and col leagues, Lynch said that it is a privilege to be admitted to practice law in Guyana, while thanking the Chief Justice and the Attorney General for their words of wisdom.

She expressed gratitude to her loved ones for their support throughout her journey which was especial ly challenging because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am happy to be here to be able to positively con tribute and be part of this change and to contribute with my fellow colleagues as we are the next genera tion who will propel every thing that has been set for us into the future...,” the lawyer said. (G1)

Inquest into shooting death of suspected bandits by Police begins today

Oneyear after two sus pected bandits, who were wanted for the murder of a 19-year-old man, were shot dead by the Police, a coroner’s inquest into the wanted men’s death is sched uled to commence today at 13:00h at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

According to a notice published by the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Judicature, Sueanna Lovell, the deceased persons in the matter are Kwase Jupiter and David Smith.

City Magistrate Annette Singh will act as the coro ner. A total of es, most of whom are Police ranks, are listed to testify in the proceedings.

An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law ju risdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person’s death and if anyone is to be held liable.

Jupiter and Smith were shot dead on October 2, 2021, during a shootout with the Police at Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown.

Docker” and Smith, called “Burlyn” were wanted for the September 30, 2021, mur der of 19-year-old Joshua Denny, an electrician of Festival City, Georgetown, who was shot dead during a robbery.

According to reports, at the time of the shootout,

Police were acting on infor mation received that the suspects, who had elud ed Police in Albouystown, Georgetown, on October 1, 2021, were in the Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown

As ranks closed in on the suspects, there was an ex change of gunfire between the two men and Police of ficers during which the sus pected bandits were fatally shot. Police confirmed that two firearms, along with eight rounds of 9mm ammu nition, were recovered from

During a search in the Albouystown area, cops managed to recover sever al items, including a haver sack, a motorcycle, a licence plate, face masks, a helmet and other motorcycle parts that were used during the robbery.

It was reported that when the Police received information about the sus pects’ whereabouts, they swooped down on a location in Albouystown, but went to

the wrong house.

It was during that time an aunt of one of the sus pects, a businesswoman in the community, hid her nephew and his accomplice in her home until the Police left.

On the day Denny, who was expecting his first child, was killed, eyewitnesses who described the incident

as bizarre, said the gunmen bolted with the man’s gold chain after shooting him.

The young man was killed moments after leaving home for work at approximately 07:20h.

The man was found by his sister, Felicia Denny, shortly after the incident, lying on the roadway with blood oozing from his chest.

She said that her brother called her minutes after he had left home, informing her that he had been shot.

Upon rushing to the scene, she found him in a critical state. This publica tion had reported that the now dead man had left for work before, but returned home to use the washroom.

It was when he left home for the second time that he was attacked and shot two houses away from where he lived. He was picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, but died while undergoing emergency surgery.

Meanwhile, in 2019, Jupiter was charged for rob bery under arms and the un lawful possession of ammu nition. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison. At the time of his demise, he had just been re leased from prison.

Smith, on the other hand, was arrested and charged in May 2021 for robbery under arms and discharging a load ed firearm.

Shot dead by the Police: David Smith (left) and Kwase JupiterJoshua Denny was shot and killed by bandits

Attorney-at-Law Saskea Sara Lynch is flanked by Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC

2 die as minibus crashes into parked truck

Twomen are now dead following an accident on Monday morning on the Corentyne Highway.

Dead are Yusuf Ali, 54, a rice farmer of Johanna South, Black Bush Polder, and another man whose name has only been given as “Kunoo”, also of Johanna South.

Reports are that “Kunoo” was driving minibus BFF 7369, with Ali as the passen ger, heading to BPP, when he slammed into a motor truck, GNN 8333, which was parked along the Corentyne Highway at Kiltairn Village.

Ali, who usually drives the minibus, was not in the

driver’s seat at the time of the accident.

Police in a release said initial investigations re vealed that minibus BFF 7369 was proceeding south along the eastern lane of Kiltairn Public Road when the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with the rear of the motor lorry that was stationary on the east ern corner of the said road facing south.

Charmaine Patterson said she was in bed and heard the sound of the im pact and was told that a minibus had driven into a lorry.

“When we come out, the

begin

The Government has gone out to tender for a consultant to review the Field Development Plan (FDP) for ExxonMobil’s fifth oil development, the Uaru Field, with the expectation that the consultant will be gin their work in December of this year.

It was explained in a recent notice that the Government is seeking a consultant to review and evaluate the Uaru Field Development Plan. Firms were invited to submit their expressions of interest for the contract, which is ex pected to last for 52 weeks from December 2022.

The contract will be fi nanced from the US$20 million allocation from the World Bank, for the Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management project. The consultant’s tasks will in clude a detailed assessment of the Uaru FDP, as well as

management and oversight of the plan.

A detailed assessment of the environmental and so cial impact will also have to be done, as well as training and institutional strength ening. It was explained that the consultant will have to provide advisory services to a number of agencies.

“The objective of the assignment is for the

bus de stick up to the truck and dem boys take out the one man and put he across the road and we din get ting thing fo carry he hospi tal and eventually somebody carry he but I ain’t know if he make it or not but the other one did already dead,” the villager recounted.

According to the Police, Ali and the unidentified driver sustained injuries to their bodies and were tak en to Port Mourant Public Hospital, where they were examined by a doctor on duty, who pronounced them dead on arrival.

Patterson said that man who was taken away to the

hospital had severe head in juries.

There were no marks on the road indicating that the driver might have applied brakes to prevent the severi ty of the impact.

“We ain’t see no tire mark on the road. We come out and try to help dem boys to get a car to carry the man to the hospital but nobody din want their car nasty but eventually, this boy say that he drink and so he can’t drive but he end up carry ing the man to the hospital,” Patterson said.

Ali’s father, who arrived on the scene hours after, said he received information at about 01:30h stating that his son had died in an acci dent.

According to Nadir Ali, he was told that his son was

in the passenger seat when persons got to the accident scene.

He said he was told that villagers passed his son sleeping in the bus which was parked on the road’s shoulder at another village earlier.

“Like he go and take out the key from the boy pocket and drive the bus.”

The senior Ali said his son visited him on Saturday

and was assisting him to re pair his tractor.

“Every day actually he does come by me and if he don’t come by me he does go to me other son place. He don’t live too far from me,” he explained.

Police are said to be in vestigating.

The driver’s body is pres ently lying at the said hos pital’s mortuary awaiting identification. (G4)

oil development in

tender states.

According to the tender, this is with the aim of the consultant enhancing the country’s core capacity to independently review, ap prove, authorise, and over see, monitor and report on the implementation of Field Development Plan(s).

“The estimated dura tion for the assignment is for fifty-two (52) weeks commencing in December 2022 during which time the consultant is expected to be physically present in Guyana for an agreed time,” the tender goes on to state.

similar assignments, expe rience in similar conditions, and availability of appropri ate skills among staff.”

Earlier this year, it was announced that $88 million had been approved for a con sultancy firm to review the Uaru FDP – Exxon’s fifth oil development. Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat had made that rev elation during the consider ation of estimates and ex penditures for the Natural Resources Ministry in the Committee of Supply.

development will be simi lar to the Yellowtail proj ect as it relates to produc tion, water injection and gas re-injection wells, and other development fea tures. This was indicated in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Yellowtail project.

Consultant to provide ad visory services, technical support and training and capacity strengthening ser vices to the GoG, through the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), and the Sector Regulator – the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) or the Petroleum Commission (PC) once established – and other attendant Ministries,” the

“The GPRGMP now in vites eligible consulting firms (“consultants”) to in dicate their interest in pro viding the aforementioned services. Interested consul tants should provide infor mation demonstrating that they have the required qual ifications and relevant expe rience to perform the ser vices, such as, description of

Exxon has said it expects first oil from the Uaru devel opment by late 2026 or ear ly 2027. Oil is already being produced at the Liza Phase 1 and 2 developments, while Payara and Yellowtail will be Exxon’s third and fourth oil developments, respec tively.

Meanwhile, even though Uaru is still in the plan ning stage, ExxonMobil has already indicated its fifth

With first oil expected in 2025, Yellowtail will be the largest development to date on the Stabroek Block, with an estimated resource base of approximately 925 million barrels of oil and a gross production capacity of approximately 250,000 bar rels of oil per day.

So far, Exxon’s total in vestments in Guyana total GY$1.3 trillion on its own and over GY$3 trillion with its partners. Additionally, the joint-ventures explora tion and production plans up to 2025 will likely in crease their investments to more than GY$6 trillion. (G3)

Dead:

"You are going to see universal secondary education by 2025" – Manickchand

…as Yarrowkabra Secondary School ahead of schedule

the construc tion of new second ary schools across Guyana, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that universal secondary educa tion will be a reality by 2025.

With

Over the past few days, the Education Minister vis ited the construction sites of the St Rose’s High School which is being rebuilt and the Yarrowkabra Secondary School which will be a new addition to the SoesdykeLinden Highway. At this stage, the construction of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School should have been 60 per cent complete but the project is currently 65 per cent complete.

A release from the Ministry stated that the Education Minister visit ed the construction site and expressed her satisfaction

that the school is ahead of schedule, which means that if work continues at its cur rent pace, the school will be finished by May 2023 as per contract.

She said that the school will accommodate 600 stu dents from Yarrowkabra and neighbouring communities along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway which were hither to unserved by secondary ed ucation.

“I am extremely happy that we will be able to add this secondary school to our list of secondary schools in our quest to bring in uni versal secondary education which we promised we would do,” Manickchand is quoted as saying in the release.

She said that the new school will comple ment the already exist ing Yarrowkabra Nursery

and Primary Schools in the community. The Education Minister added that the com pletion of the school will en sure that the Ministry does not have to place children who are exiting primary school into primary tops and, in fact, would be able to close some primary tops that were opened or re-opened between 2015 and 2020.

Further, she said that the Ministry will be able to better cater for children on the East Bank of Demerara with a new secondary school that is going to be built at Prospect. She said that this school will cater for 1000 learners.

After her visit to the con struction site for the new St Rose’s High School, the Education Minister report ed that it is on schedule, with 55 per cent of the works completed. These two new

schools will be complete with modern classrooms, labo ratories, industrial arts de partments which will cater to TVET subjects, sanitary blocks and other auxiliary buildings.

Both projects went through the tendering pro cess and the contract to construct the St Rose’s High School was award ed to Shandong Degian International while the con tract for the construction of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School was awarded to R Bassoo and Sons.

Each project has a con sultancy firm attached which is supervising the quality and pace of ongo ing works. Kalitech Inc is the consultancy firm on the St Rose’s High School proj ect while Vikab Engineering will be working with the Yarrowkabra Secondary School project.

According to Minister Manickchand, the education system is now retaining more children in school, which is a good thing. However, she noted that this reality has placed some strain on space within schools.

She said that the rebuild ing of St Rose’s High School

and the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, the con struction of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School, the Good Hope Secondary School on

achieve universal secondary education within this first term [in office] is up. So you will see two new schools go ing up in Region Three, one

the East Coast and the ex pansion of other schools such as East Ruimveldt Secondary, Queen’s College and The Bishops’ High School will create more space to accommodate the growing number of learners.

She said that these devel opments will provide com fortable access to secondary education.

Further, she said, “We’re working really hard to

in Upper Mazaruni (Region Seven), one in Region One, the rebuilding of the North West Secondary School in Region One just to ensure we can bring in universal secondary education just as we were able to achieve uni versal primary education. So you are going to see uni versal secondary education before the end of 2025 and we will be very happy to do that.”

Probe launched into ‘strange’ incident at Brickdam Police Station

TheGuyana Police Force has launched an investigation into an incident at the Brickdam Police Station which caused cops and two persons who were making a report to be come ill.

According to Police at about 12:30h on Monday, 40-year-old Anthony Snow of Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, visited the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Brickdam Police Station in the company of a female, whose name is unknown, in order to report a cybercrime matter.

Police said that as he was being interviewed by

one of the ranks, he began to remove some documents, which had some brown spots on them, from an envelope and suddenly he complained that his hand was burning.

According to the Police, the female who was with Snow complained that her throat was burning.

At the time there was a Detective Inspector, a Corporal, a Lance Corporal, and a Constable in the of fice and they too complained of feeling a burning in their nostrils and itching of the throat, followed by coughing.

Police said that Snow was taken out of the office and given water to wash his face but he continued to complain

that his eyes were burning and that he was unable to see.

“Checks were made in the CID office but nothing of ev idential value was found in relation to the burning sen sation that Snow and the fe male, as well as the ranks, were feeling. Nothing was seen and there was no indi cation that something was dripping from the ceiling in the office,” Police said in a statement.

However, an ambulance was summoned and Anthony Snow and the female were taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Investigations are in progress, Police said.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand engaging Senior Projects Manager of the Ministry, Ron Eastman and representatives of the contracting firm and the consultant

Sections of the Yarrowkabra Secondary School under construction

4th anniversary of Quality Bilingual Education Programme

Education Ministry, Intercultural Bilingual Organisation, Wapichan communities celebrate

The Education Ministry joined the Intercultural Bilingual Education Organisation (IBEO) for the 4th anniversary celebra tion of the Quality Bilingual Education Programme (QBEP) in Sawariwau, South Rupununi.

The bilingual programme is the result of collabora tion among the Wapichan communities, teachers, the Education Ministry and the Jesuits of Guyana. According to a release from the Education Ministry, the pro gramme formally came into effect in 2018 with the sign ing of the first Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry. This saw the pro gramme being piloted in three nursery schools: Sawariwau Nursery, Karaudarnau Nursery and Maruranau Nursery. The QBEP intends to improve the quality of ed ucation delivery in the three nursery schools using the mother tongue language in lesson delivery in the class room.

A core team of resource persons from the South

Rupununi communities pre pared learning materials in the Wapichan language which was used to teach the children in the three nursery schools. The programme was active in the schools until the closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. During the prolonged closure, the QBEP team continued to work with parents, preparing materials and sharing same with the parents to use with their children in the homes.

“On October 6, 2022, a new Memorandum of Understanding was signed which will see the pro gramme run for another year, one in which an inde

pendent evaluation will be done. The plan is for an ex tension to fourteen addi tional nursery schools in the South Rupununi District,” the Education Ministry said in its release.

In his remarks, Deputy Chief Education Officer of the Amerindian and Hinterland Education Development, Marti De Souza noted that 2022 marks the beginning of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This designated International Decade was a proclamation which was a key outcome of the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, for which UNESCO will

Twitter, Instagram block Kanye West over anti-Semitic posts

KanyeWest once sug gested slavery was a choice. He called the COVID-19 vaccine “the mark of the beast”. Earlier this month, he was criticised for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collec tion at Paris Fashion Week.

Now the rapper who is le gally known as Ye is again embroiled in controversy — locked out of Twitter and Instagram over anti-Semitic posts the social networks said Sunday violated their policies. In one post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”, according to internet archive records, making an apparent reference to the United States defence-readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

“You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” he said in the same tweet posted late Saturday, which was removed by Twitter.

The comment drew a sharp rebuke from the AntiDefamation League, which called the tweet “deeply trou bling, dangerous, and antise mitic, period”.

“There is no excuse for his propagating of white su premacist slogans and classic antisemitism about Jewish power, especially with the platform he has,” a statement said.

Representatives for Ye did not return requests for com ment.

Ye has alienated even ar dent fans in recent years,

teasing and long tinker ing with albums that have not been met with the criti cal or commercial success of his earlier recordings. Those close to him, like ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her family, have ceased publicly defend ing him after the couple’s bit ter divorce and his unsettling posts about her recent rela tionship with comedian Pete Davidson.

But the social media lock outs cap a whirlwind week for Ye, even by his standards. On October 3 he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt while debuting his latest fash ion line in Paris, prompting harsh criticism. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, White Lives Matter is a neo-Nazi group.

Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs posted a video on Instagram saying he did not support the shirt and urged people not to buy it. On Instagram, Ye posted a screenshot of a text conver sation with Diddy and sug gested he was controlled by Jewish people, according to media reports.

Adidas said Thursday it was placing its lucrative sneaker deal with Ye under review. And on Saturday, Instagram locked out posts by the rapper-entrepreneur over content violations. His Twitter account was locked Sunday, just a day after he re turned to the platform follow ing a nearly two-year hiatus — and was welcomed back by Elon Musk. “Welcome back

to Twitter, my friend,” posted Musk, who last week renewed his $44bn offer to buy Twitter following a months-long legal battle with the company. The billionaire and Tesla CEO has said he would remake Twitter into a free speech haven and relax restrictions, although it is impossible to know precise ly how he would run the influ ential network if he were to take over.

The social media policies for Twitter and Instagram prohibit posting offensive lan guage.

Ye’s Twitter account is still active but he can not post until the lockout ends. Sanctions by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, may include tem porary restrictions on posting, commenting or sending direct messages. Such muzzles can last as little as 12 hours or for days, depending on how seri ous the violation was or how many other times the account broke the rules.

While a step below a full account suspension, enough of these restrictions can even tually lead to a person being kicked off the social media platforms — temporarily or, in rare circumstances, perma nently.

As of Monday afternoon, neither account had posted anything, indicating Ye is still restricted. Neither Twitter nor Meta would say how long they will restrict Ye’s ac counts, or how close he might be to becoming suspended or even permanently booted. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

lead the global efforts. The International Decade aims at ensuring that Indigenous languages are preserved, re

vitalised, and promoted. The Quality Bilingual Education Programme is a model in Guyana’s effort to ensure

that Indigenous languages are preserved, and Guyana’s rich cultural diversity is pro moted.

T&T boy, 15, chopped, shot, stuffed in latrine

The gruesome death of schoolboy Videsh Dookran, who was chopped and shot and his body stuffed in a latrine a short distance from his Golconda home, has left rel atives baffled as to the sick person or people who did it.

Dookran’s grandmother Salisha Seebaran lowered her voice and held back her tears as she asked who would want her grandson dead. “Why would someone want to separate a son from his mother? He only just be gun to live his life,” she told Newsday on Monday at the Church Street, Golconda home of a relative.

She said Dookran was a Form Three student at the Ste Madeleine Secondary school, but had been sus pended for fighting and was supposed to return to school on Monday morning.

“He told me he was go ing to school this morning,” she said explaining the fight by saying he had been pro voked and retaliated.

“He said he wanted to get an education. But instead of going to school today, his mother, Devika Seebaran, had to go to the Forensic Sciences Centre to see her son’s body.”

His cousin Curt Seebaran said Dookran was tortured to death. “From what we are hearing, he had two chops –one across his face and one chop on his head – and shots fired in his chest. He was stuffed in a latrine, with his broken legs sticking out.

“They real torture him. And to make sure he was dead they pumped shots into his chest and then dumped him in a latrine at an abandoned house near a pluck shop.

“What could a 15-yearold boy do to deserve this

kind of torture? Cuss you? Tell you something about your mother?

“We are trying to piece this puzzle together and nothing is adding up,” Seebaran said.

“He was not involved in drugs, or guns or gangs. He liked to talk a lot, but he was not a bad person. He was al ways helpful.”

He said the family found it strange that the police showed up at Dookran’s mother's home on Sunday morning to tell her of her son’s death, but by the time she got to the crime scene, his body had already been removed.

“She never got to see her son’s body. The police knew her name, where she lived and her son’s name. They showed her pictures of his body and she confirmed it was her son.

“If they knew who she was, why didn’t they come and take her to see her son’s body and identify him? And who would have tipped off the police about the body with all the relevant infor mation?” he asked.

Police said they were tipped off by an anonymous female caller who said two of her sons, 14 and seven, were with Dookran. She said one of the brothers had a gun, shot Dookran, and then dumped his body. Curt

said he last saw his cous in on Saturday afternoon, at a relative's home, where they had a cook-out. After the meal, Dookran said he was going to meet up with friends and drop off some food for another relative.

He said this was not un common for Dookran, who usually limed in the village and returned home reli giously before 9 pm.

His mother told inves tigators her son left home around 2 pm on Saturday to visit a relative and friends in the village. He never re turned.

Curt said Dookran was threatened by a man who accused him of sending text messages to his wife.

“But that was not Videsh who was sending those texts. We found out who it is, but the man held a grudge.

“We don’t know if that grudge he was holding caused this.”

His grandmother said she did not want to accuse anyone of killing her grand son.

“I can’t believe my grand son gone. He was not a wick ed boy. He was always very helpful. Anybody could call him to do something and he would do it.”

Education Ministers Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and Lisa Morris-Julian used the ministry's Facebook page to send their sympathy to the bereaved family.

“The former Form Three student of Ste Madeleine Secondary School met an untimely passing on October 8, 2022. The death of any young person is a loss to TT’s future. May Videsh's soul rest in peace.”

The Homicide Bureau Region II is continu ing investigations. (T&T Newsday)

(Standing centre from left:) Deputy Chief Education Officer (Development), Volika Jaikishun; Assistant Chief Education Officer (Nursery), Devendre Persaud; Deputy Chief Education Officer (AHED), Marti De Souza and Regional Education Officer, Sherwyn Blackman stand with students of the Sawariwau Nursery School during the anniversary celebrations

Dead: Videsh Dookran

Regional

Storm Julia kills 16 in Central America as it churns toward Mexico

The death toll from Tropical Storm Julia rose to at least 16 on Monday, officials said, with most victims coming from El Salvador and Honduras, as the weakening storm dumped heavy rainfall on a swathe of Central America and southern Mexico.

Salvadoran authorities reported the deaths of nine people, including five sol diers, and at least 830 peo ple evacuated.

Authorities in both El Salvador and Guatemala also cancelled classes on Monday.

In Honduras, five vic tims have been confirmed, including a woman who died Sunday after she was swept away by floodwaters and a four-year-old boy in a boat that capsized near the Nicaragua border on Saturday night, officials said.

Panama's emergency services confirmed later on Monday two deaths as a re sult of heavy rains, along with around 300 people evacuated from communi ties near the country's bor der with Costa Rica.

Julia made landfall Sunday on Nicaragua's

Caribbean coast before crossing into the Pacific Ocean.

On Monday, the storm was moving northwest at 24 kilometres per hour (15 miles per hour) along the coast of El Salvador toward Guatemala, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The Miami-based NHC estimated Julia's maximum sustained winds at about 56 km/h (35 mph) with its centre located some 35 miles northeast of Puerto San Jose Guatemala on the Pacific coast.

But heavy rains could still cause life-threaten

ing flash floods and mud slides as it dissipates, the NHC said, with 5-10 inch es of rainfall expected in El Salvador and southern Guatemala.

Mexico's isthmus of Tehuantepec and western Honduras could receive 3-6 inches of rain, with less rainfall seen in Nicaragua, Honduras and northern Guatemala, according to NHC estimates.

In Nicaragua, Julia left a million people without power and heavy rains and floods forced the evacua tions of more than 13,000 families.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Mexico files another lawsuit against gun dealers

Mexico has filed another lawsuit in the United States against US compa nies it says are fuelling a surge in homicides and the flow of illegal weap ons into the country, the Mexican Foreign Minister announced.

Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the new lawsuit tar gets five US gun dealers — all based in the state of

Arizona — that have con tributed to the widespread availability of weapons in Mexico and the country’s high homicide rate.

The move comes just more than a week after a US Judge dismissed a sep arate US$10 billion law suit Mexico filed last year against 11 US gun manu facturers.

“If we do not stop this large influx of weapons to Mexico, how could we stop

the violence here?” Ebrard said in a video shared on Twitter on Monday.

“If the United States is asking us to support them — and this a good thing that we would work to gether to combat fentan yl, chemical ingredients, drug cartels — we also want them to help us re duce this influx of weapons that does us great harm.” (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

EU declares Nicaraguan envoy “persona non grata” as tensions rise

The European Union has said it is de claring the Head of Nicaragua’s delegation to the European bloc “perso na non grata”, just weeks after the Central American nation expelled the EU Ambassador.

In a statement on Monday, the EU said its de cision was “a reciprocal re sponse to the decision by the Nicaraguan Government on 28 September to declare the head of the EU Delegation to Nicaragua as persona non grata”.

“The EU considers the Nicaraguan decision unwar ranted,” it said.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has faced growing international criti

cism over his Government’s crackdown on Opposition Leaders and human rights activists, especially in the lead-up to elections last year that Western nations de nounced as a “sham”. Ortega has defended his

Government’s actions, say ing those detained sought to destabilise Nicaragua, and he has rejected outside crit icism as attempts to med dle in his country’s inter nal affairs. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Venezuelan rescuers search for missing as flood death toll grows

Venezuelans in the town of Las Tejerias, in the country's Aragua state, on Monday waited amid a rising death toll as rescuers searched for the more than 50 miss ing persons who were swept away on Saturday by dev astating floods following heavy rain.

Rains on Saturday night swept large tree trunks and debris from sur rounding mountains into Las Tejerias, 67 kilome tres (40 miles) southwest of Caracas, and damaging businesses and farmland.

At least 36 people have been killed by the floods

while 56 remain missing, Remigio Ceballos, vice pres ident of citizen security area, told reporters in Las Tejerias on Monday.

Early estimates report ed at least 25 dead and 52 missing.

Standing in front of what was once her two-sto rey house, before the floods destroyed it, Jennifer Galindez waited for news of her husband, one of the peo ple reported missing after water surged through the town.

"My husband was by the window. I couldn't help him either and the water took him away," said Galindez,

46, adding that her hus band Jose Segovia, 55, suf fers from severe diabetes.

Galindez left to seek help amid the rain when she saw the water enter her home, before the flood took her too.

"The water swept me away," she said, adding that she eventually found refuge on a platform where there was no current.

Houses, shops and oth er premises in Las Tejerias were fully or partially filled with mud and other debris carried by the water. The area is currently without electricity or drinking wa ter. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Lula remains ahead of Bolsonaro in Brazil runoff – poll

B

razilian presiden tial candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slightly broadened his lead over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the October 30 runoff vote, according to a survey by pollster IPEC published on Monday.

Lula's voter sup port reached 51 per cent against 42 per cent for Bolsonaro, compared with 51 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, in the previous poll.

The survey by IPEC in terviewed 2000 people on October 8-10 and has a margin of error of two per centage points up or down.

IPEC was one of sever al polling firms criticised for underestimating sup

port for Bolsonaro in the first-round vote early this month. (Reuters)

Panama, Argentina replace Ministers

Panama on Monday announced the ap pointment of Janaina Tewaney as its new Foreign Minister, a surprise move which makes her the third person to hold the post since President Laurentino Cortizo took office.

Tewaney has served as a Foreign Ministry advis er since 2019, specialising in security and presidential assignments, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Tewaney will take office immediately, the Ministry added, replacing Erika Mouynes, who last week at

tended the Organisation of American States' General Assembly in Peru.

No further explanation was given for the move.

Meanwhile, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez on Monday again reshuffled his Cabinet and appoint ed three women to lead the Labour, Social Development and Women's Ministries, as a deep economic crisis has sparked weeks of protests.

Federal lawmaker Victoria Tolosa Paz will re place Juan Zabaleta in the Social Development Ministry, while Raquel

Olmos, economist and Vice President of the Bank of Investment and Foreign Trade (BICE) will take the lead at the Labour Ministry.

Ayelen Mazzina, cur rent Secretary of Women, Diversity and Equality of San Luis province, will take over as the new Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity. She will replace Elizabeth Gomez Alcorta who resigned after opposing the eviction of a group of in digenous Mapuche women from land in the southern Patagonia region. (Excerpt from Reuters)

PAHO launches campaign on mental health

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has launched a new campaign seeking to curb the stigma and discrimination experienced by people with mental health conditions, and promote positive interactions that improve their search for help.

PAHO said various studies show that stereotypes, preju dices, and discriminatory be haviours towards people with mental health problems are

common.

Through messages on so cial media, PAHO said that, by using “#DoYourShare”, people are “invited to break the silence, share their stories, and have an open and honest conversation about how one really feels, and thereby, pro vide mental health support and reduce stigma and dis crimination.”

“The more we talk about our mental health, the clos er we get to reducing the stig

ma that surrounds it,” said Renato Oliveira e Souza, chief of PAHO’s Mental Health unit, adding “and when the stigma diminishes or disap pears, seeking and receiving support becomes more feasi ble”.

PAHO said mental health conditions, which are common around the world, have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, “which had a gen eral impact across the popula tion”.(Excerpt from CMC)

Residents clear a mudslide in a road while Tropical Storm Julia hits with wind and rain, in San Salvador, El Salvador, October 10, 2022 (Reuters/Jose Cabezas)

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former President of Brazil and current presidential candidate, greets supporters during a march in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, October 9, 2022 (Reuters/ Washington Alves file photo)

NEWS

Oil falls by nearly 2% as recession fears outweigh tight supply prospects

Oil prices sank by nearly 2 per cent on Monday, after five straight sessions of gains, as investors worried that economic storm clouds could foreshadow a global recession and erode fuel demand.

Brent crude futures settled at US$96.19 a barrel, down US$1.73, or 1.8 per cent. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at US$91.13 a barrel, losing US$1.51, 1.6 per cent. Both benchmarks had risen over the previous week largely on expectations of tightening global supply.

Oil prices fell amid comments from US Federal Reserve officials about rising interest rates and their effect on the economy.

Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard said the economy is starting to feel more restrictive monetary policy, but the full brunt of the central bank's interest rate hikes will not be apparent for months.

Brainard's comments followed remarks by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans that there was a strong consensus at the Fed to raise the target policy rate to around 4.5 per cent by March and hold it there.

"There's more of the doom and gloom from those folks and what they're going to do to the economy, because they're not so convinced they have inflation under control, and that's the macro play that's weighing on oil," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

Oil prices also struggled under a strengthening US dollar, which rose for a fourth session. A stronger dollar makes crude more expensive for non-American buyers.

The prospect of tightening OPEC+ oil supplies limited declines in prices. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, together known as OPEC+, decided last week to lower their output target by 2 million barrels per day.

But signs that the group's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, will continue to serve Asian customers at full levels lowered expectations of the cuts' impact. Saudi Aramco has told at least seven customers in Asia they will receive full contract volumes of crude oil in November ahead of the peak winter season, several sources with knowledge of the matter said.

"OPEC+'s decision... will have a muted impact on the oil supply market as actual output cuts will be smaller," Fitch Ratings said, noting that collectively the group was already producing less than its previous quotas.

Brent and WTI posted their biggest weekly percentage gains since March after the reduction was announced.

However, the cut spurred a flurry of activity in the options market - but with more US bettors opting for a bearish stance, data from CME Group showed.

Concerns over still relatively robust demand as the pandemic has eased meeting potentially scarce supply have been deepened as the European Union late last week endorsed a G7 plan to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports.

The complicated new sanctions package could end up shutting in considerable supplies of Russia crude, analysts have warned.

Meanwhile, services activity in China during September contracted for the first time in four months as COVID-19 restrictions hit demand and business confidence, data showed on Saturday. (Reuters)

Around the World

‘We warned you’: Russian hawks gleeful over attacks on Ukraine

OnSunday, the day af ter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday, a blast severe ly damaged the bridge link ing the Crimean Peninsula to Russia. The explosion is wide ly believed to be the work of Ukrainian intelligence.

On Monday, a barrage of missiles rained down across Ukraine – killing at least 11 people, wounding dozens and hitting infrastructure all the way from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the east.

Putin made no secret of the missile strikes being pay back for the attack on the bridge.

“By its actions, the Kyiv regime has actually put it self on the same level with in ternational terrorist groups and with the most odious of those,” he said at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council.

“It is simply no longer pos

sible to leave crimes of this kind unanswered,” he said. “If attempts to carry out terror ist attacks continue, Russia’s response will be severe and

Chinese regulator gives greenlight to fund targeting Korean chipmakers

will correspond to the threat facing it. Nobody should be in any doubt.”

Figures aligned with the Kremlin across the Russian

media ecosystem praised the attacks. Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief and a reg ular pundit on talk shows, who had earlier suggested that Ukrainian infrastructure be targeted, expressed herself in proverbs.

“Measure seven times, but cut only once; haste makes waste – if you rush things, you’ll only make others laugh; and other Russian proverbs explaining this morning,” she tweeted, meaning that Russia may be slow to respond, but when it does, it will be loud and clear.

Dmitry Medvedev, dep uty chairman of Putin’s se curity council, declared that Monday’s strikes were only the beginning.

“The first episode has been played. There will be others. And further,” he told his sub scribers on Telegram. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Nurse Lucy Letby poisoned babies with insulin, trial told

securities reg ulator has given the greenlight to the coun try's first mutual fund target ing top Chinese and South Korean chipmakers, an of ficial at Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management Co said, amid an escalating Sino-US tech war.

China's

expected to be closely inte grated," creating synergies, Huatai-PineBridge said in prepared marketing materi al for the ETF, whose launch date has not yet been deter mined.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission's ap proval comes amid height ened geopolitical tensions between the world's two larg est economies. The Biden Administration published a sweeping set of export con trols on Friday, seeking to hobble China's chip industry. Huatai-PineBridge made the application for regulatory ap proval on Aug 9.

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) will invest in top Korean semiconductor firms includ ing Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc, as well as Chinese chipmaking gi ants such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and Montage Technology Co.

"The Chinese and Korean semiconductor industries are

The fund will also bene fit from China's accelerated pace towards tech self-suffi ciency amid US sanctions, ac cording to the marketing ma terial, which mentioned the US blacklisting of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, and the recently enact ed CHIPS and Science Act.

In 2021, South Korea was China's second-biggest ex porting country in equipment, including chip-making tools, and Chinese exports to South Korea have also been rising, the fund manager said.

South Korea said on Saturday there would be no significant disruption to equipment supply for Samsung and SK Hynix's existing chip production in China from the US move.

The newly approved ETF will track the CSI KRX China-Korea Semiconductor Index. (Excerpt from Reuters)

UN refugee chief warns of ‘severe cuts’ without urgent funding

The

UN refugee agency will have to make deep cuts with dire conse quences for displaced peo ple around the globe unless it quickly receives US$700 million in new funding, the head of the agency said on Monday.

The war in Ukraine has created millions of ref ugees, and there are now more than 100 million peo ple who have been forci bly displaced in the world,

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi said. He said the cri sis has caused his agency’s budget to balloon to more than US$10 billion.

He said the Ukraine con flict had spurred “the larg est and fastest displace ment crisis” in Europe since World War II and added more than US$1 billion to the UNHCR’s budget this year.

More than 7.6 million

Ukrainians have fled their country since Russia’s in vasion began on February 24. Grandi said he was wor ried about the impact of cold weather during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter on 6.2 million people internally dis placed in Ukraine.

“I share the Government’s concerns about the loom ing winter,” he said, adding that the elderly and disabled were especially vulnerable.

Grandi complained that

most of the funding his UN agency receives from coun tries is heavily earmarked for particular projects, mak ing it difficult to respond to where it sees the greatest needs.

This has left its response dramatically underfund ed for dire refugee crises in places such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and the Sahel region. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

A"poisoner

was at work" at a hospital where there was a "significant rise" in the num ber of healthy babies dying, a court has heard.

Lucy Letby has been ac cused of murdering five baby boys and two girls, and at tempting to murder 10 oth er babies at Countess of Chester hospital.

Nick Johnson KC, prose cuting, said she was a "con stant malevolent presence" in the hospital's neonatal unit.

Letby, 32, of Hereford, denies 22 charges at Manchester Crown Court.

Jurors heard Letby is al leged to have tried to kill one child three times, while an other died as a result of be ing injected with air.

Family members of some of the babies concerned in the case were among those present in the court as Johnson opened the prose cution.

He said the Chester in stitution was a "busy gener al hospital like so many oth ers in the UK".

However, he said that

"unlike many other hos pitals, within the neona tal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, a poisoner was at work".

"Prior to January 2015, the statistics for the mortal ity of babies in the neo-na tal unit at the Countess of Chester were comparable to other like units," he said.

"However, over the next 18 months or so, there was a significant rise in the num ber of babies who were dying and in the number of serious catastrophic collapses."

Medics also noted that babies who had collapsed "did not respond to appro priate and timely resuscita tion" and that others "col lapsed dramatically, but then, equally dramatically, recovered".

"Having searched for a cause, which they were un able to find, the consultants noticed that the inexplica ble collapses and deaths did have one common denomi nator," he said.

"The presence of one of the neonatal nurses and that nurse was Lucy Letby."

Smoke rises over Lviv, eastern Ukraine, after Russian missile attacks on the city [Pavlo Palamarchuk/Reuters]

Lucy Letby appeared in the dock at Manchester Crown Court

HOROSCOPES

If you want to make progress, of fer incentives and a well-laid-out plan that promotes what you want to pursue. Discipline, patience and kindness will help you gain support.

(March 21-April 19)

Push forward with a positive atti tude, and you’ll bolster your chance to advance. Listen to what elders and ex perts say, and watch what they do. Good teachers will show you the way.

(April 20-May 20)

SUDOKU

(May 21-June 20)

Something doesn’t add up. You’ll be missing vital information. Meet with ex perts to discuss your options and focus on areas where you can have the most impact and your efforts are most appre ciated.

Discipline and careful planning will help you deal with any problem that comes up at home or work. Look at the big picture and discuss options openly with anyone involved.

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

Deal with the changes around you astutely and without emotion. Ask ques tions and find out where you stand and how to use your skills, knowledge and insight to outmaneuver anyone in your way.

Keep up with what’s trending. Having an open mind, embracing new technolo gy and making yourself aware of what’s going on around you will help you inch your way forward.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

An unexpected change will throw you off guard. Don’t let confusion cost you. Pour your energy into maintaining equi librium and carrying out your responsi bilities; personal gain will be yours.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Keep a close watch over unstable sit uations and unpredictable people. Look for cost-efficient ways to expand your in terests without going into debt. Think big but do only what’s necessary.

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

Rally around people who show inter est in what you are doing. Be open about what you can contribute and the part you want to play in any scenario you en counter. Be the driver, not the passen ger.

Organize your thoughts and plans, but don’t share too much information with others. Distance yourself from any one who exaggerates or shows signs of overindulgence. Be true to yourself.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Sit tight. Don’t feel obligated to make a move because someone else takes a leap of faith. Bide your time and concen trate on personal growth, saving money and sticking to facts.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Reach out to people you look up to for advice. Discussing your options with an expert will help you decide what to do next. Be wary of someone who may have ulterior motives.

(Feb. 20-March 20)

King’s half-century key, as WI beat UAE in WC warm-up

Callender wins U1400 category in Barbados Women’s Tournament

King scored a half-century and Raymon Reifer claimed three wickets as the West Indies won their warmup match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Junction Stadium by 17 runs on Sunday night.

Brandon

King and Captain Nicholas Pooran that spared the Caribbean men blushes after UAE won the toss and decid ed to bowl.

It seemed the right deci sion as the West Indies were struggling at 22-3 inside the powerplay.

It was not an easy win for the Caribbean men who would have suffered jitters when medium pacer Junaid Siddique took career-best fig ures of 5-13 to restrict West Indies to 152-9 from their 20 overs.

The West Indies owed their eventual match-win ning score to a 95-run fourth wicket partnership between

The dismissal of Evin Lewis (2); Johnson Charles (1) and Sharmarh Brooks (4) brought King and Pooran to gether in the fifth over and to gether they dragged the West Indies into a position of rela tive strength.

The West Indies Captain hit five fours in his 31-ball 46 before he was bowled by Zahoor Khan, who had ear

Basil Hameed 1-0-8-0

Aayan Afzal Khan 3-0-32-0 Karthik Meiyappan 2-0-25-0 Ahmed Raza 1-0-9-0 Zawar Farid 3-0-30-1 United Arab Emirates (T: 153 runs from 20 ovs)

BATTING R B

Chirag Suri c Smith b McCoy 9 12 Muhammad Waseem not out 69 52 Vriitya Aravind †c Smith b Reifer 9 19 Chundangapoyil Rizwan (c) c King b Reifer 1 3 Aayan Afzal Khan run out (Lewis) 0 1 Basil Hameed c Smith b Reifer 5 10 Kashif Daud c Powell b Smith 7 9 Zawar Farid not out 29 14 Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 4) 6 TOTAL 20 Ov (RR: 6.75) 135/6

lier dismissed Brooks. It was then 117-4 in the 15th over.

The loss of Pooran saw the West Indies slip to 122-7 as Siddique, who had earli er removed Charles, scythed through the middle order with three wickets in four balls, claiming Reifer for one, King for 64 and Akeal Hosein without scoring.

King's runs came from 45 balls and included seven fours and two sixes.

Siddique picked up his fifth wicket in the 18th over when he bowled Odean Smith for five.

the ninth.

The UAE ran into further trouble three balls later when Lewis ran out Aayan Afzal Khan for a duck.

Waseem and Basil Hameed inched the score along to 66 by the 13th over when Reifer claimed his third after dismissing Hameed for five. It was soon 82 for 6 in the 16th when Smith dis missed Kashif Daud for sev en.

With nothing to lose, the UAE went for broke smash ing 53 from the final 26 balls.

Jessica Callender rep resented Guyana in the Annual Margaret Prince Memorial Women’s Rapid Tournament online, where she tied for the top spot in the Under-1400 rated division alongside Barbadian Alesha Lovell.

(Brandon

(Akeal

(Odean Smith, 17.4 ov), 9-145 (Alzarri Joseph, 19.4 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W Junaid Siddique 4-0-13-5 Kashif Daud 2-0-11-1 Zahoor Khan 4-0-24-2

Did not bat: Karthik Meiyappan, Ahmed Raza, Aryan Lakra, Alishan Sharafu, Junaid Siddique, Sabir Ali, Zahoor Khan Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Chirag Suri, 2.6 ov), 2-50 (Vriitya Aravind, 8.1 ov), 3-52 (Chundangapoyil Rizwan, 8.5 ov), 4-53 (Aayan Afzal Khan, 9.2 ov), 5-66 (Basil Hameed, 12.3 ov), 6-82 (Kashif Daud, 15.4 ov)

BOWLING O-M-R-W Sheldon Cottrell 4-0-34-0 Akeal Hosein 4-0-13-0 Obed McCoy 4-0-49-1 Raymon Reifer 4-0-17-3 Odean Smith 4-0-20-1

Alzarri Joseph helped the West Indies past 150 with 15 well-needed runs from 11 balls before being the last man out, leaving Rovman Powell unbeaten on seven and Obed McCoy on four at the end.

Khan ended with 2-24.

Needing 153 for victo ry, the UAE were 19-1 at the end of three when McCoy dis missed Chirag Suri for nine.

Muhammad Waseem and Vriityia Avarind took the score to 50 in the eighth when Reifer dismissed the latter for nine and CP Rizwan for one in the space of four balls as the UAE slipped to 52-3 in

GFF-NAMILCO U17 League – EPFA…

Waseem brought up his 50 with a six from the last ball of the 17th over bowled by McCoy that yielded 16 runs. The pair also took 15 from the 19th bowled by Joseph, whose last ball was smashed for six by Zawar Farid, who ended unbeaten on 29 from the 14 balls he faced.

Waseem’s heroic unbeat en 69 came from 52 balls and included four fours and three sixes as the UAE closed on 135-6.

Reifer took 3-13 while Smith had figures of 1-20 from his four overs. McCoy gave up 49 runs from his four overs. (Sportsmax)

The tournament, host ed by the Barbados Chess Federation’s Women’s SubCommittee, was held on October 1-2, 2022. The event attracted 26 participants from 10 countries – Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Martinique, Netherland Antilles, Suriname, and Trinidad.

While Callender shared the top spot for Best U1400, she finished 10th overall. This is an improvement on last year’s inaugural event where she placed 15th in the seven-round tournament.

She won her matches against Philana Johnson, Shanelyh Fabias, Alexandra Kumar, and Kayla Martin.

Callender is recently com ing off an exceptional perfor mance at this year’s FIDE

Chess Olympiad where she was one of the top scorers on Guyana’s women’s team and earned her conditional Women’s Candidate Master (WCM) title.

Guyana’s Ciel Clement, a 13-year-old up-and-coming player, put on a stellar per formance in the tournament as well, finishing 18th over all.

The youngster from Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) impressively won the women’s division of the National U14 Rapid Open Tournament just a few months prior.

Dartmouth pummel Good Hope; Henrietta beat Tapakuma

A helmet trick from Dartmouth Determinators’

Martin Garraway laid the foundation for his team’s massive 9-1 thumping of Good Hope on Sunday af ternoon when play in the Essequibo Pomeroon Football Association (EPFA) leg of the GFFNAMILCO Thunderbolt

Flour Power Under-17 Intra Association League con tinued at the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground.

It was the second win in as many matches for the

lads from Dartmouth fol lowing on the heels of their 4-1 win over Queenstown United, two weeks ago. In a match which saw the win ners controlling play from start to finish, Garraway scored in the 12th, 16th, 26th and 60th minutes.

He received able support from Deangelo Davidson who tucked in a double, concerting in the 56th and 62nd minutes. However, opening the flood gates from as early as the sev enth minute was Sachell Marks, whose hunger for

goals continues. Marks had blasted a hat-trick in the Determinators’ opening win against Queenstown.

The other goals were scored by Anias Glasgow in the 41st minute and Orin Gittens eight minutes lat er. Good Hope’s consolation goal was converted by Travin Evans in the 58th min ute, a shot that was fired from just outside the 18-yard box.

Sunday’s other match saw Henrietta United also notching up their second win in as many match es via a 2-0 margin over Tapakuma FC. Both goals

were scored in the first half of play and came compli ments of Adrian Marks in the 17th minute and Zavier Layne in the 21st minute.

Tapakuma played much

better in the second half and denied Henrietta any fur ther goals; both goalkeep ers had a good game in the end. Play will continue this weekend at the same venue.

Brandon King

Jessica Callender

Ciel Clement

South American Games 2022…

Bronze for Amsterdam & Allicock; table tennis players shift focus to singles

There were highs and lows to be witnessed for Guyana’s team at the 2022 South American Games on Monday, as for tunes swung in Asuncion, Paraguay. In fact, that was the way the weekend went for the teams that competed in boxing, table tennis, and squash.

Boxing Boxing commenced on Saturday evening and in stantaneously, Guyana were guaranteed at least two bronze medals at the 12th edi tion of the Games. However, the two boxers who made it to the semi-finals were both unable to better their bronze medal achievements.

Desmond Amsterdam and Keevin Allicock were both decisive in their quarter-fi nal bouts to secure a spot in their respective semi-finals. As boxing goes, the top four fighters are awarded medals and as such, whether or not they prevail in their semi-fi nal fights, the pair will walk away from the Games with bronze medals.

Amsterdam was the first pugilist on show, downing Venezuela’s Diego Andres Pereryra Mejia in a unani mous-decision victory. Next, Allicock prevailed in his featherweight bout against Peru’s Darwin Dario Perez by a similar unanimous deci sion.

However, Colin Lewis’s spilt decision result against Leodan Pezo Savoy of Peru saw the Peruvian gaining nods from three judges, as op posed to Lewis’ two. As such, Lewis fell out of medal con tention in Paraguay.

In Monday evening’s semi-finals, Allicock was first slated to face Jean Carlos Caicedo Pachito of Ecuador.

However, the result was soon listed as a walkover, with the Ecuadorian advancing to the final and the Guyanese hav ing to settle for bronze.

Up to press time, no clar ification as to what actually occurred was available and as such, Guyana Times Sport will provide the reason in a future publication.

On the other hand, Amsterdam’s bout against Benjamin Ruben Escudero Grimaux of Argentina com menced as planned. The Guyanese pugilist went punch for punch with his op ponent, but when it came down to the judges, the Argentinian won unanimous ly 5-0. Immediately, those who viewed the fight live took to social media to express their dissatisfaction, but the judges’ decision is final.

Table tennis

Over on the table tennis courts, Guyana had an ex cellent start on Sunday, with several victories.

Shemar Britton and Chelsea Edghill teamed up for a mixed doubles victory over Bolivia’s Diego Avila and Andrea Terrazas 11-6, 11-5,

11-7.

Britton also tasted victory in the men’s doubles alongside Christopher Franklin. They defeated Eduardo Lizarazu and Fernando Fernandez of Bolivia 11-5, 7-11, 11-2, 11-7.

Meanwhile, it was a walk in the park for Edghill in her women’s singles match against Valeria Thaiz Zelada of Paraguay. Edghill won 116, 11-1, 11-5, 11-5.

Nathalie Cummings also prevailed in the women’s sin

ter of Britton and Franklin. Paraguay’s Marcello Aguire and Alejandro Toranzos won the first two sets 11-1, 11-8, before the Guyanese fought back to win the third set1210. However, the home team prevailed in the fourth set 113, to win the match.

Edghill and Cummings later went down to Argentina’s Camila Arguelles and Candela Molero 11-6, 114, 11-7.

However, the table ten nis team still have more to focus on with the Round of 16 for the men’s and wom en’s singles. In the women’s singles , Edghill will battle Peru’s Isabel Rosario Duffoo Guevara, while Cummings takes on Daniela Yolita Ortega Gomez of Chile.

Britton will take on Ecuador’s Jorge Alberto Miño Puga in the men’s category.

LGC concludes successful Romel and Robin Golf Tournament

gles round of 32 over Peru’s Maria Maldonado 13-11, 112, 11-5, 11-6.

Britton returned on Sunday evening to oust Paraguay’s David Leon from the men’s singles, after an 118, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 victory.

Monday commenced as a not-so-favourable day for the racquet wielders. First, Edghill and Britton found themselves on the losing side of a Round of 16 mixed dou bles contest against Brazil. Guilgherme Teodoro and Caroline Kumahara defeated the Guyanese pair 11-6, 11-6, 11-6.

Hard luck transcended into the men’s doubles, where Paraguay’s men got the bet

Squash Guyana’s squash players took to the court on Monday morning for the women’s singles Round of 16 events. There, Nicolette Fernandes opened her account with a clean three-set victory over Pilar Etchechoury of Argentina. The match went 11-7, 11-3, 1-4.

Ashley Khalil did not find the same favour as her Guyanese compatriot, as she went down to Maria Caridadad Buenano Araque of Ecuador. Araque took the first set 11-5, but Khalil fought back in the second 112, Araque took the third 111, but the Guyanese took the fourth 11-8. However, in the final set, the Ecuadorian got the better of the Guyanese 11-8.

Up to press time, Fernandes was locked in battle with Brazil’s Tatiana Damasio Borges.

The action con tinued at the Lusignan Golf Club (LGC) on Sunday as the Romel and Robin Golf Tournament got un derway.

With most of Guyana’s top golfers away at the Suriname Open 2022, many golfers still turned out to the event to show case their talent.

The results for the tour nament were as follows:

Flight 19-36: In first place was Roberto Mohan with Gross 38, HC 10 and a Net of 78; in second was Sanjay Persaud and third, Latchman Raju.

Flight 10-18: In first place was Kassim Khan with Gross 39, HC 8 and a Net of 31, while in sec

ond and third positions were Randy Dindanauth and Kevin Boodram re spectively.

Flight 9 and Under: In first place was Deso Ramsundar with Gross 35, HC 3 and Net of 32, while coming second and third were Mago Seecharan and Richard Haniff respec tively.

Other prizes that were awarded:

Longest Drive –Kassim Khan

Nearest to Pin – Marlo Seecharran

Best Gross (Overall) –Deso Ramsundar

Best Net (Overall) –Robert Mohan

Most Honest Golfer –Romel Pooran

Guyoil-Tradewind Tankers League… Golden Grove, PC win to maintain top positions

Golden Grove Secondary main tained their position at the top of the points ta ble in the ongoing GuyoilTradewind Tankers schools’ football league, following an easy win on Sunday.

On Sunday, at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground, the league wit nessed the commencement of the fourth round, where the likes of Golden Grove, Christianburg Wismar Secondary, North Ruimveldt Multilateral and President’s College found themselves in the winners’ row.

North Ruimveldt Multilateral were the first to taste victory on Sunday against a strug gling Friendship Secondary.

Now a regular on North’s scoresheet, Jevon Pluck got the scoring started for the Mandela Avenue-based team, with a goal in the 14th minute. Four minutes lat er, Bryan Wharton made it a 2-0 affair. Pluck returned

in the 22nd to complete his brace and push the score to 3-0 in North’s favour.

Joseia Joseph’s 27th min ute goal for North propelled the scores to 4-0, where it stayed for the remainder of the first half.

Hoping to bring down the deficit, Randy Springer found the back of the net in the 50th for Friendship. However, a goal in that very minute from Jeremiah Moore daunted their spirits, as the North went on to win 5-1.

The subsequent matchup between Christianburg Wismar Secondary and Dolphin Secondary result ed in an easy victory for the Linden team. A strike from Khristian Louis in the 32nd minute meant that the score sheet would only read 1-0 by the end of the first half. However, goals from Kelvin Hintzen in the 50th and Daniel Adolph in the 69th pushed Christianburg’s tal ly to three by the end of the

game. Dolphin Secondary went down without so much as a reply.

One goal was all it took for President’s College to overpower West Ruimveldt

Secondary in the next game. The winning strike came off the boots of Juan Moses in the 21st minute and sev eral throwaways later, President’s College celebrat

ed their narrow victory.

A Kelvin Richardson brace in the final game on Sunday, meant that Golden Grove Secondary would re main the league leaders for another week. While tak ing on Cummings Lodge Secondary, Richardson found the back of the net in the 13th and later, in the 50th to ensure Golden Grove would walk away with a 2-0 win.

The victory means that the East Coast-based team will lead the GuyoilTradewind Tankers for an other week with three wins and one draw from four games. President’s College remain in second position with a similar number of games won and drawn, but with a lesser goal difference. Christianburg Wismar com plete the current top three with three wins and a loss from their four.

The Guyoil-Tradewind Tankers League, organised by Petra, will continue next

Sunday at the same venue.

The winners’ row

Desmond Amsterdam clinched a bronze medal at the South American Games

Chelsea Edghill is among three table tennis play ers who will press on in the singles events

GCB Senior Inter-County: Centuries from Bramble and Savory highlight opening round

Berbice and Essequibo recorded comprehensive wins in their respective match es in the opening round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior inter-county 50-over tournament.

Berbice wicketkeep er-batsman Anthony Bramble slammed a bril liant 106 while Essequibo wicketkeeper- batsman Kemol Savory made a classy unbeaten 108.

Berbice defeated Demerara by 189 runs at Bourda, while Essequibo defeated GCB President's XI by eight wickets at Everest.

Bramble sends strong signal with century

In the big chase of 364, Demerara had a rocky start, with Chandrapaul Hemraj being removed for two by Romario Shepherd in the first over. Tevin Imlach, who was chasing a non-existent single, was run out for two. Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Leon Johnson then joined forces and the duo rebuilt the in nings.

The duo added 85 runs for the third wicket. It was Gudakesh Motie, who mo tivated the men from the Ancient County when he pushed an arm ball wide to Chanderpaul, who ran past the delivery and was stumped by Bramble for 39. The young Chanderpaul, who is hoping for a Test debut later this year in Australia, showed his wide range of shots, and his in nings included four bound aries and one six.

Johnson was very classy and positive in his approach, as he took Nial Smith to the clean

ers, stroking him for four boundaries in one over. Veerasammy Permaul then removed Christopher Barnwell for 14, and Johnson was then trapped by Permaul for an elegant 51 from 47 balls, an in nings inclusive of seven fours and one sweet six.

Akshaya Persaud then rode his luck, after he was dropped by Shepherd. However, his partner Ronaldo Ali Mohamed, who was dropped by Bramble, gifted his wicket away to Kevin Sinclair, when he was caught at long-off. Wickets continued to fall

claimed 3-30 in 6.3 overs while Sinclair had 3-42 from eight overs.

Earlier, Berbice won the toss and opted to bat first after a delayed start. The match was reduced to 45 overs owing to early-morn ing showers. Bramble and Rampertab Ramnauth opened the innings for Berbice, and the duo took their chances while scor ing runs at ease, adding 91 runs for the opening wick et.

by Barnwell. Runs contin ued to flow, as West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer took centre stage. The vocal gathering, which included several Berbicians, enjoyed the delightful strokeplay from the dominant duo.

for Demerara at regular intervals as Persaud was the lone man in the middle

Young Ramnauth looked promising, but he was the first one dismissed for 36 from 50 balls, after

Bramble, who took the Demerara bowlers to the cleaners and marked Qumar Torrington as his target, ended his blister ing innings after facing 86 balls. He made 106, af ter batting for 123 min utes, an innings laced with 14 fours and two six es. Bramble had depart ed with Berbice motoring on 195-2 in 26.4 overs. He was trapped leg-before by Steven Sankar.

Hetmyer tonked three sixes and two fours sur passing his half-century from 37 balls. He eventu ally miscued one and was caught by Johnson off the bowling of Torrington at 230-3 after 31.1 overs.

The returning Jonathan Foo, who is fresh off a suc cessful stint in the United States of America, dis played his experience. He also took a liking to Torrington, dancing down the track to the seam and smacking him over the offsides. While Foo was show ing his class, Shepherd was hitting the ball over Regent Street. The burly Shepherd struck four sixes and two fours in his 26-ball 40. Foo, who added the perfect fin ishing touches, made a compact 71 from 45 balls, an innings decorated with five fours and four sixes.

Barnwell, took Berbice to 363-6 when their allot ted 45 overs expired. Ali Mohamed had 3-66 in nine overs, on a day when the Demerara bowlers toiled.

Savory century pro pels Essequibo

Meanwhile, in the other fixture at Everest Cricket Club, Savory showed his

composed 40, and Suresh Dhani, who made 30. Antony Adams claimed 3-14 from 10 overs, while his brother, Ricardo Adams had 2-40 from 10 overs.

Essequibo, in re ply, ended on 240-2, with Savory sealing the match with a boundary. His part ner, Kevon Boodie missed out on a century, scoring

lower order to offer resis tance with his 37. Permaul

hitting four boundaries. He was trapped at the crease

Sinclair, who made an unbeaten 15 from six balls, including a mighty six off

Kemol Savory scored a century in a Playerof-the-Match effort for Essequibo

class with an unbeat en 108 from 106 balls, as Essequibo chased success fully. The GCB President's XI posted 237-8 in 50 overs, with Berbician seam-bowl ing all-rounder Shamar Joseph scoring a brisk un beaten 67.

He was supported by Kwesi Mickle, who made a

92. Keyron Fraser had 1-19 for the GCB President's XI. The tournament will continue on Wednesday with Berbice taking on Essequibo at GCC Bourda, and Demerara playing the GCB President's XI at Everest. Both matches will commence at 9:00h.

Anthony Bramble celebrates his century

Jonathan Foo dancing down the track during his 71

Leon Johnson scored a fifty for Demerara

Shimron Hetmyer celebrated his fifty in trademark fashion