Guyana Times - Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Boat transporting local athletes sinks in Essequibo River – all safe

disembark.

According to a passenger on the boat, “…the boat bot tom burst open and started taking in water”. The pas senger related that there were no injuries but ev ery person onboard is still “shaken up” by the incident. “The boat sank quickly,” the passenger recalled.

in which they were travel ling sank in the Essequibo River.

Aspeedboat transport

ing some 20 passen gers including lo cal athletes sank in the Essequibo River on Monday just after midday.

Reports are that the boat was part of a fleet of vessels

that were transporting ath letes who participated in the Heritage Games in the city over the weekend.

They were heading to Supenaam, from where they would have returned home to Region One (Barima-

Waini).

When the boat in ques tion began to sink, the cap tains of other boats that were part of the fleet noticed what was transpiring and went to the distressed pas sengers’ rescue.

The cause of the inci dent is yet to be determined as an investigation was launched by the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the Public Works Ministry.

Back in January, several persons including an infant were rescued after the boat

It was reported that at the time of the incident, the boat was en route to Supenaam, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam). One passenger told Guyana Times that the boat left the Parika Stelling, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), and while in the vicinity of Leguan, water began enter ing the boat, which caused it to start sinking.

Upon seeing this, the captain of the boat took quick action and steered the vessel onto a river bank and ordered the passengers to

A video showed some of the passengers in a tree waiting to be rescued and at the same time trying to save their lives. One man was also seen holding the infant above the water until rescue came.

Popular comedians Lindon Jones [Jumbie], Chris Gopaul, and Micheal Ignatius, along with lo cal singer Kwasi Ace were also passengers on the boat. Following the tragedy, an other boat arrived at the lo cation and transported the passengers to Supenaam.

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The

Tuesday, Oct

FERRY SCHEDULE

times

WEATHER TODAY

Investments critical in saving, transforming food system amid threats – Pres Ali tells FAO

and Small Island Developing States have been placed in limbo in balancing resources for agricultural production while managing climate adaptation.

Low-lying

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Monday delivered his address at the World Food Forum, where he stressed that pledges made at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) remain inadequate to fi nance adaptation, signalling the need for greater invest ments.

Ali stood among eight world leaders and over 12 industry experts ad dressing the Hand-inHand Investment Forum which was organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The Head of State ex plained that Small Island Developing States and low-lying coastal states face peculiar and inherent chal lenges to their food securi ty, owing to their remoteness from larger markets, suscep tibility to external shocks, narrow market base, fragile ecosystems and overall vul nerabilities to climate risks.

Climate-related risks can be devastating, ranging from flooding, overtopping of the sea defences, drought, erosion and natural disas ters. Rising sea levels con tribute to the overtopping of sea defences and the intru sion of saltwater into farm lands. Additionally, extreme weather events disrupt food systems and agricultural crops.

Consequently, Ali point ed out that climate financ ing is essential in setting the foundation for climate-resil ient agricultural sectors in small island developing and low-lying coastal states.

“Critical resources often needed to support produc tion often have to be divert ed towards climate adap tation. In the face of these challenges, financing for food security therefore can not be delinked from climate financing. Investment in cli mate financing rebounds to the benefit of the agricultur al sector.”

“Without climate adapta tion, the agricultural sectors

of low-lying coastal states will be continuously prone to climate risks. At COP26, certain pledges were made to boost adaptation financ ing but as I have alluded, the level of financing prom ised by the developed coun tries will be inadequate to close the adaptation gap,” the President vocalised.

At COP26, Ali told world leaders that immediate ac tion is needed to ensure the pledge of US$100 billion per annum, made one decade ago, to support climate ac tion is met. He warned that dishonouring these pledges was a recipe for disaster.

According to the Guyanese President, a lack of climate financing will challenge these countries in attracting investment for agricultural production. Presently, an increase in cli mate financing by at least 590 per cent is needed.

“Adaptation finance re mains far below the scale necessary to respond to ex isting and future climate

change… The public sector continues to provide almost all of adaptation financing with adaptation increasing ly being prioritised in devel opment financing. Yet, ad aptation finance represents just 14 per cent of total pub lic finance,” he highlighted.

In 2019 and 2020, debt dominated the climate fi nance landscape. The major ity of climate finance, at 61 per cent, was raised through debt. Equity investments was 33 per cent of total cli mate finance.

“For states and par ticularly for Caricom, the trend is of particular con cern given the debt situa tion that many face and that have been compounded by COVID-19, global inflation, rising fuel prices and the current Russia-Ukraine war that is crowding out climate finance related issues.”

Investment is critical to the transformation of food systems and it is needed at all stages of the food system, from adaptation, research

and development, produc tion, cultivation, food pro cessing, marketing, distri bution and trade.

“Investment can help states to reduce their vul nerabilities and to diversify production. It is needed to expand and modernise ag riculture and foster climate smart innovations and cli mate resilient agriculture. Investment is needed to transition production higher up the value chain through food processing. Investment is needed in developing hu man resources, particularly in making agriculture more attractive to young people.”

Credit was given to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nation’s Hand-in-Hand (HIH) Initiative which sup ports the implementation of nationally-led programmes to accelerate agrifood sys tems transformations by eliminating poverty, end ing hunger and malnutri tion, and reducing inequal ities.

President Irfaan Ali

Flooded farmlands on Guyana’s coast during previous high tides

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

Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

“1000 Men” initiative

The “1000 Men” initiative launched by the Government to tackle issues affecting men countrywide comes at a timely period in Guyana.

As it stands in the moment, domestic violence, abuse, and drug use, among other social issues, are consuming our men –young and old.

To quote President Dr Irfaan Ali: “The mission of this ‘1000 Men’ is to work in every single community to eradicate hunger, to work in every single community to lift up those who are emotionally [and] socially affected. It is to change every society and bring positive living and positive life in every single community. It is to work against violence, it is to work at making men better at being good men, responsible men, responsible boys, responsible youth in our society.”

This issue is not limited to Guyana, but over the last four decades, developing Caribbean countries have been struggling with young men and men maintaining and keeping roles and responsibilities in the family, and society as a whole.

However, the issue of the role of men and their influence and impact in raising children has always been a concern in Guyana.

In Guyana, while there are no readily-available statistics, it is believed that there is a huge percentage of children growing up in single-parent headed homes; in most cases without the muchneeded guidance and support of a father figure. No one can deny the importance of men, fathers, and father figures in helping to nurture and care for children, especially in their early stages of development.

According to a UNICEF analysis, more than half – or 55 per cent – of children aged between three and four years old in 74 countries – approximately 40 million – have fathers who do not play or engage in early learning activities with them. The UNICEF analysis, which uses Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) data on parenting behaviours, looked at whether children aged three and four engaged in any play and early learning activities with their fathers. The activities include having their father read to the children, tell them stories or sing with them; taking them outside, playing with them; and naming, counting, or drawing with them. The MICS is the largest collection of comparable data on parental behaviours in the world.

According to UNICEF, advances in neuroscience have proven that when children spend their earliest years in a nurturing, stimulating environment, new neural connections can form at a once-in-a-lifetime speed of 1000 per second. These connections help determine their health, ability to learn and deal with stress, and even influence their earning capacity as adults.

Research also suggests that exposure to violence and a lack of stimulation and care can prevent neural connections from occurring; and when children positively interact with their fathers, they have better psychological health, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in the long term.

The truth is, many Caribbean men and boys are being poorly socialised, and are many times not given enough attention during their early years of development at home, in school, and within the wider society.

At an early age, boys within the Caribbean are told that they must be tough, they are socialised to hide their weaknesses and sensitivities, and to shun anything that even slightly appears feminine.

We must re-educate our young boys, therefore, and change how they perceive the importance of education, despite the economic hardships and feminisation of this tool by the societies in which they dwell.

A renowned Jamaican educator, Wayne Campbell, asserts that “there is also the need to urgently recast our current gender policy. One way of doing so is to incorporate more men into the discourse to shape our national gender policy. It’s ludicrous to think that women only, or a gender board dominated by women, can advocate the needs of our boys and men. We also need to examine the possibility of creating so-called ‘boy-friendly’ curricula, assessments, and pedagogical practices. We now know that boys learn differently than girls, and, therefore, we should use this knowledge to refashion teaching methodologies that speak to both sexes in the classroom.”

It is an initiative like this that was launched by President Ali that will start involving more boys, young men, and men in the national discourse on gender policy. We support and commend this initiative.

The Government has left no one behind since taking office

Dear Editor, World Food Day was celebrated on October 16, 2022, in more than 150 countries world wide to commemo rate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and this year there is a resound ing plea to all to “Leave No One Behind” through “Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life”. This Government and the Ministry of Agriculture have proac tively implemented this thrust for improved food and nutrition security both locally and regional ly since it took Office in August 2020.

This Government has worked diligently and en dured a sleepless night to resolve the plethora of debilitating issues which have threatened to anni hilate the agriculture sec tor. What would have hap pened to this sector if the coalition had managed to successfully rig the 2020 Elections and remained in power? The answer is ob vious. The coalition had been mercilessly slash ing the agriculture budget since they took office and displayed complete dis dain to this sector which they perceived at the PPP support base. Apart from the insane and malicious

budget cuts they taxed the sector with increased land rent and VAT on machin ery and related supplies. With the windfall from oil, the short-sighted coalition saw no need for agricul ture.

Agriculture crops are always invariably affect ed by adverse weather conditions and the recent floods, four in all in 2021 and 2022, have devastat ed and almost wiped-out crops such as sugar but timely intervention by the Minister of Agriculture and his Government and deployment of much-need ed resources have rescued the sector. The Minister of Agriculture and all the other Ministers, includ ing the President and the Vice President visited all the affected areas and provided on-the-spot re liefs. Never has this mas sive scale of Government intervention ever tak en place in Guyana. The Government spent billions of dollars on drainage and infrastructure, roads, cash grants and relief, subsi dies and free distribution of seeds, plants, chemicals and fertilisers.

Today, the sector has fully recovered with pro duction in traditional and non-traditional crops in creasing rapidly and sugar production increasing at an enormous rate. It must be mentioned that the en

tire world was engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic for the past 3 years but this Government has overcome this as well. Moreover, the Minister is convinced that the sugar industry will achieve 100,000 tons in the next 3 years. Thanks to this Government’s te nacity and persistence.

Today, also our region al leaders have full con fidence in the ability of our agriculture sector to drive the food securi ty of the Region. Minister Mustapha stated in his ad dress on World Food Day that Guyana is well posi tioned to become the bread basket of the Caribbean.

In order to make this a reality, this Government has implemented both short and long-term pol icies and made increased budgetary allocations to ensure not only the sur vival but the continued progress of the sector. The Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha em phasised the fact at Albion when he stated that the Government has worked above and beyond to stra tegically place Guyana on the road that leads to the realisation of ‘Vision 25’ which is aimed at reducing the Region’s food import bill by 2025. The Minister never looked at things in isolation, he stressed that in fulfilling this Vision there will be sustainable

employment opportunities for youths, women and other vulnerable groups and he even went further when he said that it is not only about increasing food production but making food accessible and afford able and to improve the nutrition of all Guyanese, leaving no one behind. This encapsulates the very theme of World Food Day and quite remarkably the very objectives which the Government has been vig orously pursuing for the past 2 years and even be fore the advent of the co alition.

The FAO Director General in his World Food Day message spoke about the “need to empower the most vulnerable, includ ing small scale produc ers and improve access to training, incentives, sci ence, data, technology and innovation so that small scale holders can be at the centre of this transforma tion”. This is exactly what Minister Mustapha has been emphasising since 2020. He realised that small-scale farmers have a major role to play in the transformation of the agri culture sector and he must be applauded for his keen perception and wisdom of what is required.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

One of the colourful floats that lit up the streets from Rosignol to the Bath Community Centre Ground on Sunday evening during the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s Diwali motorcade in West Berbice (Newsroom photo)

Standing in the way of progress

Dear Editor,

The Opposition and its lackeys are trying every conceivable way possible, to impede the progressive works going on right now in this country. One such area comes in the way of squat ters who lie in the direct path of road developments in the Eccles to Mandela four lane highway. The Government for some time now has been in consulta tions with the squatters as to the possibility of alterna tive locations, but they are stubbornly refusing to ac

cept the Government's of fer.

They claim that they have occupied these lands for over 30 years now, some with commercial activities of various kinds, and to re locate to some other place would greatly disrupt their livelihood. Well for start ers, that land on which they live is not theirs, irrespec tive of how long they might have been there. They are squatters nonetheless and as such are in no position to dictate, even to the point of extorting monies from

the Government in relocat ing them. The fact is, the squatters have to meet with the Government on fair terms, which is quoted in conflict resolution terms as (BATNA) Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.

Thus, as a humane and responsible Government, they have given them am ple opportunity to relocate to another place, but they are not satisfied with the Government's offer, there fore, in a bid to maximise profits for their illegal oc cupancy, they are forcing

the Government's hand. But this cannot happen, be cause they are on the neg ative side of the deal, that is, not having any legal standing in the whole af fair. Squatters do not own land there, and even if they owned land there (which in this case they don't) they would still have to come to an agreement with the Government, because they are on the pathway of prog ress.

But what they are not telling us is that their po litical advisors have giv

en them the false idea that they can somehow force the Government to a negotiat ed settlement as the people over at Wales on the West Coast of Demerara, where the mega gas to shore fa cility would be established. But this is giving the squat ters false hope because they cannot equate them selves with those persons in Wales. Those persons in Wales are legal owners and occupiers of land, unlike the people at Pepper Field, therefore there is no com parison, end of discussion!

But like I said in the foregoing paragraphs, the people standing in the path of the massive road works must come to terms with the Government, the soon er the better. We can ill afford a group of squat ters playing politics with our country's development. We must forge ahead with modern infrastructural works as this nation moves forward into the progres sive future.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

From ‘colonial divide and rule’ to ‘local divide and overthrow’

Dear Editor,

all know the old co lonial model of domination was based not only on eco nomic exploitation but also on divide and rule. Guyana was subjected to this sin ister strategy, a strategy of creating and reproduc ing structural antagonisms among our people.

Formal colonialism may well be gone, but now, it has been replaced by an equally sinister plot, name ly ‘divide and overthrow’ (my construction). The main objective of divide and overthrow is to cramp the current Administration in its efforts at econom ic and national develop ment and ultimately re move the PPP/C from office in the next national elec tions. The plan has already begun and daily iterations of it are spread across the pages of a couple of dailies.

The crux of divide and

overthrow is to split the PPP leadership at the top, in this instance, to create a wedge between President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo.

The plan will fail be cause both men are as tute politicians and are fully cognisant of what is afoot. They are superbly equipped to deal with the machinations of the hand ful of self-described activ ists who play on narratives foreign domination by the very companies that have put Guyana on a path to leapfrogging entire stages of modernisation.

There are two similar ities between the divide and rule methods of the 1950s and 1960s in British Guiana, and the divide and overthrow campaign cur rently underway.

Firstly, as Fr Andrew Morrison has admitted, the Church used its prin

cipal organ, the Catholic Standard to attack the PPP because it was afraid of los ing what Dr Rishi Thakur some time ago labelled “Anglo-Christian hegemo ny” (Thakur, 1994). Today, the press is again at it. Not a day goes by without let ters, editorials, or columns advocating the split in the PPP leadership. Catholic Standard, of course, lat er became a leading light for the democratisation of Guyana once what it want ed (defeat of PPP), turned out to be a definitive fail ure.

Secondly, the language of race and racism is now, like the period of foreign intervention, constant ly used to divide the coun try, always disguised in the name of greater equal ity and other worthy objec tives that are actually ma nipulated and maligned.

President Ali just days ago

spotted this invasive narra tional species and repelled it with an impassioned call for national unity.

In the current mo ment of divide and over throw, political mischief is hatched, petted, and fat tened in so-called civil soci ety outfits. Their products are then given full priori ty in various media spaces, both print and electronic.

Jagdeo and the PPP/C will prevail over the cur rent efforts to sow division within the party and its supporters. They did it be fore. Just think of the se curity threats posed to the State in the early 2000s when Jagdeo was President and the mid-2000s when Irfaan was a member of the Cabinet. Many will also recall that any thing that Jagdeo and his Government did in terms of development was char acterised as ‘bound to fail’.

If you are not old enough to know, or do not recall, the purveyors of division had predicted failure for the National Stadium, the Berbice Bridge, the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the Hope Canal, the Marriott Hotel, not to men tion the then President’s signature long-term devel opment plan for sustain able development, namely, the LCDS.

All the above proj ects were successful, and the sustainable economic strategy is still buoyant in the form of the LCDS 2030.

Space does not permit me here to go into Jagdeo’s transformation of Guyana from a seriously indebted nation, to one with a sus tainable debt to GDP ratio, with renewed credibility of Guyana in International Financial Institutions.

More on this to come.

There is no doubt that

those who do not want to respect election results or are worried about their chances in the next elec tions, will resort to innuen do, half-truths, or outright lies, to besmirch the name of Bharrat Jagdeo with the aim of separating him from President Ali and the rest of PPP/C leadership. Why, might you ask? Well, the answer is straightforward.

The Opposition and their so-called civil society back ers know that President Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo are an indomitable pair in political leadership.

Divide and overthrow will fail miserably. Vice President Jagdeo is here to stay. If you doubt that, go to the next outreach that he leads.

Sincerely, Dr Randy Persaud

Page Foundation

Create

a list of natural items appropriate for the season and location, and see how many you can find.

What you need Bucket or bag to hold the found objects

Pencil or crayon Scavenger hunt list

can send your scavenger hunters out with a mea suring tape or ruler, or you can have them mea sure it against their body. For example, “find a blade of grass longer than your longest finger.”

Ask for signs of wildlife rather than actual wildlife.

Acircle

graph compares parts of a whole to a whole. They are also called pie charts because each looks like a pie that has been sliced up. When you read a pie chart, it does not always matter how big the whole is, be cause you are comparing parts to each other and the whole. However, some times you can calculate a whole exactly.

Which kind of bank note did Patricia save the most?

Step 1: Find the biggest ***segment*** of the pie chart.

Step 2: Read the label for that segment. Patricia saved more $20 bills than any other kind of bank note.

Camera (optional)

What you do

Print out your scavenger hunt list.

You are most familiar with the natural items in your backyard, so you might want to make your own scavenger hunt list. But if you check out our backyard scavenger hunt list in case it works for you.

Put your checklist on a clipboard.

If you attach the pencil or crayon by a string, that makes it easier for the person seeking the objects.

Give each person a bag or bucket to hold their found objects.

Put qualifications on your scavenger hunt ob jects such as length.

This makes it more challenging and fun. You

Most scavenger hunts take place during the day, when most wildlife are hiding. You can still have your participants look for signs of wildlife, such as nibbles on a nut, scat or wildlife homes.

Customise your scavenger hunt list to your surroundings.

Especially for younger children who will tire quicker, do a quick run through with your scav enger hunt list to see if these items can be found easily in your location. Be sure to add some easy finds, such as “moss on a building,” to keep ev eryone’s energy going. (startwithabook.org)

By The BroThers Grimm

Patricia saved a total of 98 bank notes. How many of them were $20 bills?

Step 1: Look at the whole circle. You may not be able to tell exactly how big each part is. However, you can estimate. The $20 bills segment accounts for roughly one half of the circle.

Step 2: Multiply ½ x 98 = 49. There are 49 $20 bills. Calculate the value of the $20 bills segment: $20 x 49 = $980.

Over $105M in cash grants distributed to Essequibo fisherfolk

to come to Regions Three and Four cause it’s close to Georgetown. So, we’re giv ing special concessions to people who want to come out and invest. There will be changes here and you have to prepare for that.”

He added, “We’re pre pared to work with you. This grant is just a little help but that is more important. We don’t want people to be left behind if they put in the ef fort. You have to put in the effort on your own. I’ve seen people make the effort and their lives changed”.

Distribution of the $150,000 one-off fish erfolk cash grants in Essequibo on Monday saw a whopping $105 million be ing injected into the region to support local households.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo spearheaded the distribution exercise at the Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) Bond, Anna Regina, Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam).

Jagdeo has been at the forefront of the distribu tion across the country over the past weeks, as he ex plained that this is part of the Government’s efforts to cushion the effect of the ris ing cost of living due to a number of external factors, including the Russian war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vice President told Essequibians that while the grants cannot fill all of their needs, they will cush ion some of the cost-of-living

prices and other expenses. He also predicted that costs will be stabilised, pointing to this trend in reduced gas prices. However, Jagdeo add ed that Government wants to assist the Guyanese and inject money into the econo my until this becomes a re ality.

“It can’t totally solve all of the issues but it helps there is more money in the economy and people are at a capacity to address some of the cost-of-living issues. I have no doubt that pric es are going to normalise in the future and things will come down back. Fuel prices have already started coming down and things will stabi lise.”

“We’re not the type of Government that sits on our hands. We have a vision for this country. It’s being laid out a very long time ago, the vision of where we want to take Guyana and what kind of country we want it to be,”

the VP underscored.

Even as the Government provides assistance to vul nerable groups, Jagdeo posi tioned that the oil revenues are being properly managed and will not be squandered.

“People think now that we have a lot of money be cause we just started pro ducing oil and gas…Here in Guyana, we will do extreme ly well if we manage our re sources carefully and we have the proper context. We don’t listen to fantasy.”

Jagdeo explained that Government is offering in centives for persons to in vest in the region, but at the same time, residents must prepare by upskilling them selves to capitalise on the opportunities.

“We’re co-investing with some people to establish call centres and a whole range on the Essequibo Coast be cause we need to incentiv ise the business people to come here. Everybody wants

Reference was made to the part-time jobs ini tiative which enables per sons to earn up to $40,000 per month for at least 10 days of work in Government Ministries and other agen cies, the COVID-19 and farmers’ flood relief grants, which were also part of ef forts to supplement house hold income.

He also urged the fish erfolk to take advantage of the many opportunities for self-improvement, while re iterating the Government’s continued commitment to

supporting their entrepre neurial efforts, for which small grants and other as sistance through the Small Business Bureau are avail able.

Further, due to the changing nature of the fishing industry, the Vice President advised the fish erfolk to “think outside the box” and consider other training programmes, since enormous job opportunities exist in the growing oil and gas sector.

“I just want to urge all of you, if you see a train ing programme, even if you haven’t finished school, we have now on the scholarship programme through GOAL [Guyana Online Academy of Learning], you can do a remedial programme and then go on to the technical programme and those who have the qualification can do tertiary level, university type training, even in your homes,” the VP related.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

Fisherfolk at the Essequibo distribution exercise

Getaway driver in 2021 Kitty gold heist confesses to crime

pending sentencing

lion and GY$20 million worth of raw gold—prop erty of Francis Santos Lumes, while armed with a gun and in the company of others.

He further admitted to three counts of robbery under arms committed on Francis Santos of gold jew ellery and cash amounting to GY$224,000; Fernanda Carmichael of an iPhone valued at GY$350,000 and Williams Batista DaSilva of a phone valued at GY$160,000.

alarm.

Investigations led to the arrest of Keyon King, 32, who was at the time a Sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) along with 36-year-old Delroy “Bug” Jackson and Peon Lee also known as “Nino Brown”, both security offi cers attached to the busi ness.

Organising…

…young men

They say that idle minds are the Devil’s workshop and in Guyana – for one with the rate of employment still hovering in the mid-teens – there’s definitely a lot of idle minds mulling around! And keeping the Devil quite busy, thank you – as we can see from the various and sundry crime statistics. Who else but persons with VERY idle minds – who worked at an institution as guards and therefore knew about security cameras all over the place – would stage a robbery at the said institution and not destroy the cameras!?! Then, of course, there are the daily stabbings, muggings, burglaries, and the occasional beating of schoolboys to death.

Dequan King pleaded guilty to several counts of robbery under arms when he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Monday

D

equan King, the getaway driv er in last year’s Kitty, Georgetown gold heist, who was nabbed in Suriname last week, pleaded guilty to sever al armed robbery charges when he appeared at the

Unrepresented by le gal counsel, King, in his address to the court, said that he was not involved in the robbery but only transported the robbers to the location in his taxi. He said he fled to Suriname after local Police issued a wanted bulletin for him. While in Suriname, he said that he was involved in a crime for which he did not disclose the nature and

Keyon King and the others were subsequent ly charged with several counts of armed robbery. While Keyon King pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ imprison ment, the others plead ed not guilty and were re manded to prison pending the outcome of their trial.

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

The wanted bulletin

there had left for the inte rior.

Following leads, the de tectives turned up at the home of Keyon King at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), where a search was conduct ed in the house but noth ing substantial was found. Nevertheless, during a search in the yard, the

Back in the day – when the same circumstances were even more severe – Burnham and the PNC came up with the idea of a “National Service” to deal with the problem. Young people were to be recruited and dispatched to open up the interior and at the same time, be taught all sorts of skills that could be used when they graduated from the programme. His mistake was to try to kill two birds with one stone by militarising the operations and also making it compulsory for university graduates!!

The militarisation your Eyewitness could understand. Burnham was denying the majority of the country their vote – and expected a kickback. The militarised National Service could assist in tasks like stuffing ballot boxes when ordered so to free up the army to shoot ballot box martyrs while the police could shoot opposition activists!! But why penalise University grads?? Just because Uni was free?? That might’ve worked in Israel where all Jews believe they’re under threat from the Arabs they kicked out. But Guyana?? There was the problem of Female Indian Uni students who were culturally averse to the mixing (and inevitable mating) in the jungle. They dropped out en masse and a whole generation of female Indian Guyanese remained underdeveloped.

Anyhow, President Ali just announced that he’s gonna unfold a programme to address the problem, but even from the sketchy details revealed, it’s quite clear that –quite wisely – he’s steering VERY clear of the Burnhamite model!! Firstly, he said it’s gonna target 1000 young MEN. Now while, some may kvetch about the absence of young women, there aren’t that many of them running around being sociopaths!!

So what can be done?? It should be clear by now that your Eyewitness feels that training young men for guaranteed jobs should be the greatest thrust.

No one expected that the oil money would solve our problems with the snap of a finger – but if it’s ever to make a dent the young people will have to be prepared for the opportunities coming down the pike!!

…China

Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on Monday.

King, called “Titus”, or “Quanie”, of D Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was wanted in Guyana for a robbery committed on Wallison Enterprise, Gordon Street, Kitty, in August 2021. The Police had said that he was the driver of the getaway car used in the robbery.

Waterkant News in Suriname reported that King, who was also want ed for murder in French Guiana, was arrested on the evening of October 9 by the Regional Assistance Team in Paramaribo in collaboration with the National Security Directorate.

Before Principal Magistrate Sherdel IsaacsMarcus, King pleaded guilty to robbing Wallison Enterprise of GY$38 mil

was arrested. After his ar rest in Suriname, he was extradited to Guyana.

Sentencing for King, who was remanded to pris on, was deferred until November 21.

On August 5, 2021, several armed men who pretended to be cus tomers executed a dar ing daylight robbery on Wallison Enterprise at Lot 23 Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown. The men carted off GY$38 million in cash, 60 ounces of raw gold valued at $20 million, and two mobile phones.

After committing the robbery, the armed men bound and gagged the ca shier and two other staff after which they locked them in a room.

Moments after escap ing in a white motor car, the cashier managed to free herself and raised an

was also issued for 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 recording during the commissioning of the robbery. Police are also on the hunt for ex-soldier Jamal Hazel, who was also caught on camera.

The 25-year-old is from Guyhoc Park, Georgetown.

Police had found the car belonging to Keyon King parked outside a house at Lot 435 Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara. Upon searching the prem ises, Police found and seized several household items. It was reported that neighbours told the Police that the man who lived

detectives noticed a dis turbed piece of land and decided to dig.

It was then a bucket was found buried, which, when checked, contained GY$15 million in GY$5000 notes and an additional GY$3 million in GY$1000 notes. The bucket was reportedly wrapped in two black gar bage bags while the mon ey was neatly packed in transparent bags.

As such, Keyon King and his wife were arrested. During interrogation, he told investigators that he was part of the initial plan to rob the gold establish ment but he was not one of the persons who commit ted the act. The ex-GDF Sergeant also related that his wife was not aware of the robbery and as such, requested for her to be re leased.

Well, Dear Readers, while the Western media are all agog over British PM Liz Truss’ economic meltdown, we should realise she’s running a country that just slid below her former colony India on the economic heft sweepstakes. Meanwhile, China - inexorably climbing to overtake the US as #1 – is holding the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party – which runs the entire shebang!! As to which country will affect our future in the coming decades should be a no-brainer— !!

President Xi Jinping just delivered his account of what transpired over the last five years – with hints of what’s ahead. He had to be coy, since he can’t let on he’s already fixed things, so he’ll be installed for an unprecedented third term!! Gotta play the game about the PEOPLES’ representatives exercising their mandate to FREELY elect their choice!! But we get a hint from his position on Hong Kong where he reiterated that only candidates loyal to Beijing can be candidates for parliament!!

That’s “democracy”, ain’t it??

...cricket??

So, Berbice might get a cricket stadium?? Fantastic idea since it ain’t fair to cricket fans in the Ancient County being forced to schlep all the way to Providence to watch top-level cricket!!

Maybe they’ll include a cricket academy??

Wanted: Jamal Hazel

Peon Lee also known as “Nino Brown”

Keyon King

Delroy “Bug” Jackson

Planning and building permits

New legislation for single-window permits system by this year end – Min Rodrigues ...says overseas-based Guyanese will be able to access from anywhere

The Housing and Water Ministry on Monday held its sec ond round of consultations with agency heads on the single window system be ing introduced to make is suing planning and build ing permits a smoother process, where they were also told that legislation to support this new system will be introduced by year end.

During the consul tation session on the Single Window Solution for Planning Permission, held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, Minister with in the Housing Ministry

Susan Rodrigues spoke about their preparations.

Besides extensive con sultations, she explained that CH&PA hired experts

Moco Moco farmer admits to killing Brazilian national in 2018

A37-year-old farm er of Moco Moco Village, Central Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), on Monday ap peared before Demerara High Court Judge Brassington Reynolds and pleaded guilty to a charge for the lesser count of man slaughter.

Darrel Williams, who was initially indicted for the capital offence of mur der, admitted to unlawful ly killing Elvis Aulicio, a 44-year-old Brazilian na tional on December 26, 2018.

Sentencing for Williams, who is currently on remand, will take place on October 28.

Reports state that Aulicio and Williams, who were known to each oth er, were imbibing at a birthday celebration when

Darrel Williams

Williams accused him of stealing a haversack, which he denied.

Williams, who became annoyed, armed him self with a knife, and fol lowed Aulicio as he made his way into Moco Moco Savannahs.

He stabbed Aulicio in the neck and left him there to die. He was first charged with the man’s murder on December 31, 2018.

“At this point, where Guyana is poised for eco nomic take-off, the reform is necessary in respect of legislative amendments and streamlining proce dures so that processing times for planning and building permits can be re duced and customer ser vice improved. Currently, the system is primarily pa per-based.

“The goal is to have an integrated electronic per mitting system where the agencies will no longer op erate as silos… we iden tified possible options in relation to legal and ad ministrative frameworks and in fact the draft bill to implement the single win

dow, as I mentioned, is ex pected to be ready by the end of the year,” Rodrigues explained.

Minister Rodrigues also spoke about the increase in applications for permits, a significant portion of which were for the oil and gas sec tor. This increased work load necessitates an auto mated system.

“With the expected in crease in development ap plication volumes, the Government has rec ognised the need to intro duce a far more automat ed process, a streamlined workflow as you’ve heard, both within CH&PA and with stakeholder agencies that are part of the overall approval process.”

“As a matter of fact, the increase in planning and construction is already upon us, with an unprece dented 1964 applications processed by the CH&PA between the period October 2020 and September 2022…

1798 of those applications were approved in full or in part and 88 are directly re lated to the oil and gas in dustry,” Rodrigues said.

Some of the agency heads and senior officials at the consultation Minister within the Housing Ministry Susan Rodrigues from the Region for assis tance in setting up the sin gle window system. Their preparation for activating this single window system also includes introducing new legislation by the end of this year.

This system, Minister Rodrigues assured, is one that will be accessible from all over the world, thus making it easier for the di aspora to invest. And with Guyana yet to break into double figures on the ease of doing business report, Government has its eyes on improving the country’s score on this index.

The Ease of Doing Business Index is one of the most comprehensive studies done by the World Bank, in which it looks at key indicators such as reg istering, compliance, taxa tion, obtaining loans, and similar factors such as ad ministrative procedures. It also looks at legal mea sures such as protection and settlements.

In its last report, the World Bank ranked Guyana

134 out of 190 countries in its Doing Business Report for 2020 as it relates to the ease of doing business. However, the Government has been embarking on set ting up a single window system.

Earlier this year, Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud had reassured in vestors that Government is working on the single win dow system as a mecha nism to enhance the ease of doing and setting up busi nesses in the country.

“What we’ve done, and which the President [Dr Irfaan Ali] has put a lot of emphasis on, is in the issue of a single window system – whereby, for instance, if you want to set up a busi ness and need a number of permits or whatever pa perwork is required, you go to a single window ar rangement. So, a lot of ef fort is being put into that,” Persaud had stated.

CANU discovers 78lbs of ganja hidden in backdam

in the discovery of another quantity of suspected can nabis.

According to CANU, a 38-year-old man, who was at home at the time

of the search, was arrest ed and escorted to CANU’s Headquarters along with the narcotics and both mo tor vehicles.

The 10 parcels of narcot

ics tested positive for canna bis and weighed 15.8 kilo grams with a street value of approximately GY$4.7 mil lion.

Berbice farmer busted with gun, ganja in haversack

person unearthed a trans parent plastic bag contain ing a quantity of ganja in a haversack he was carrying at the time.

Agents of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) discovered 35.38 kilograms (78lbs) of ganja in the backlands of No 76 Village Corentyne, Berbice, on Saturday.

Based on reports re ceived, on the day in ques tion, CANU officers con ducted an operation in No 76 Village Housing Scheme, and whilst proceeding to the backlands, officers discov

ered three parcels of canna bis hidden on a dam.

The cannabis was tak en to CANU headquarters, where it was weighed and amounted to 35.3802 kg (78lbs). At the time of the discovery, no was seen in the area.

Investigations are ongo ing.

Only a week ago CANU discovered over 34 pounds of marijuana during an

operation conducted at Experiment, Bath, West Coast Berbice.

Reports are that CANU officers went to Lot 365 Experiment, Bath, where a search was conducted on a minibus, during which a quantity of suspected can nabis was discovered.

A further search was conducted on another motor car which was also at the location and this resulted

A further search un earthed a black .22 handgun in his pants waist.

The suspect was told of the offence committed and he responded by saying, “Officer hear wam, this is meh boss man thing”.

He was subsequent ly arrested and escorted to Kwakwani Police Station

A28-year-old

farmer of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, Berbice, was on Saturday arrested after he was found to be in possession of a .22 handgun and 35 grams of cannabis.

He was apprehended by Police ranks who were on their way to a location in the Upper Berbice River.

The ranks, who were in a speedboat, observed the 28-year-old man in an un painted wooden boat in the Berbice River. However, upon seeing the Police, he

jumped out of the boat and ran into the nearby bushes.

The ranks gave chase and managed to apprehend him a short distance away. A search conducted on his

where the narcotics was weighed and amounted to 35 grams. The suspect remains in custody pending charges.

The ganja found during the operation

Govt will continue to address plight of farmers – VP Jagdeo

urges farmers to work with Govt to solve problems

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday met with rice farmers of Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) during which he reiterated that his Government will continue to work with them to ad dress the issues that are currently facing the indus try.

During the meeting held at the Anna Regina Multilateral School’s audi torium, the VP noted that he has been very proactive in addressing problems fac ing people in the region, es pecially the rice farmers.

He said during his last visit sometime in May, over 1500 rice farmers benefited from a $275 million fertilis er voucher which was aimed at alleviating the cost bur den of production in the re gion.

“You raised issues about drainage and irrigation, de plorable access dams, roads and we fix that... We even handed over a boom spray er machine which will assist farmers in spraying bugs, tractors were handed over and other inputs into the agriculture.”

He further stated that Region Two is well known for producing rice and is the backbone of farming in the region that supports the rice industry. Jagdeo also reminded the farmers that they have the Government’s support.

“We are here to work with the farmers to genu inely improve your stocks and production. Every sin gle day we are out there fighting for farmers; fight ing for every Guyanese. So, we are in this togeth

er... Any issue affecting you it’s guaranteed that we will solve it. And on the rice in dustry, we know there are a never-ending problem but we will do our best to solve them,” Jagdeo said while

encouraging the farmers.

He further stated that in less than two years the Government was able to re move vat from fertilisers which was a sore issue for farmers due to high prices; and lower fuel prices which increased due to global prob lems. He further explained that the PPP/C Government will try its best to open up new markets and is con stantly trying to do what will help because it’s very important for Guyanese.

However, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha during his remarks touched on rice harvesting in the re gion. He mentioned that 46

per cent of the rice crop is already harvested and as such preparation is still on going for reaping.

He added that in May, all farmers that were en titled to a fertiliser vouch er received their cheques. He noted that other than the vouchers, the Ministry of Agriculture was able to successfully distribute seed paddy, medicines, jack low sprayers, and tractors and also rehabilitate access dams leading to rice fields, irrigation, and drainage.

“The Government is cur rently figuring out ways and means in which we can have more lucrative markets for

rice...We are working to en sure that happens. Farmto-market roads open new lands and over two years that was a promise made in the manifesto... It is fulfilled and we manage to com plete all and aim to do new things,” Mustapha related

However, he encouraged the rice farmers that the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to work with them to solve the issues affecting them.

Farmers took the op portunity to thank the Government for its prompt assistance whenever a problem is affecting them.

(Raywattie Deonarine)

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha VP Jagdeo speaking at the rice farmer meeting

Rice farmers at the meeting

A farmer raising a concern at the meeting

An analysis of Guyana’s coronavirus numbers has shown that 31,329 persons con tracted the virus for the year thus far.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared sta tistics on Monday during the COVID-19 briefing, where he highlighted that January saw the highest spike, at 19,900 cases. By February, the number dropped to 2570 cases.

The following months showed 379 in March; 267 in April; 1686 in May; 2715

in June; 2456 in July; 1032 in August; 287 in September and 37 for October thus far.

Presently, only 47 active cases are being monitored by the Health Ministry, but he maintained that this might be an underestimation of the actual situation.

“There are still peo ple who are infected with COVID and while we have been tracking 47 cases, this is probably an underesti mate because there are lots of people who might have flu-like symptoms and they might mistake those symp

toms for flu. They can eas ily infect other people. The idea is that if you want to re main safe, you should wear a mask, especially if you’re in a crowded area and in indoor environments,” Dr Anthony relayed.

A breakdown of active cases reflects one in Region Two, two in Region Three, 25 in Region Four, one in Region Five, 10 in Region Six, five in Region Seven, one in Region Eight, one in Region Nine and one in Region 10.

To date, Guyana has re corded 71,404 confirmed cases. Only one infection was reported in the Health Ministry’s dashboard on Monday. No cases are being monitored in the Intensive Care Unit.

There are two persons in institutional isolation, 44 in home isolation, and two in institutional quarantine. To date, deaths remain at 1281 while recoveries are pegged at 70,077. Since the pan demic was detected locally, 32,726 males and 38,678 fe males contracted the virus.

In the meantime, vac cines are still offered coun trywide at the various sites. Sinopharm, Pfizer, Moderna

Govt mulls setting up consortium for local chefs to tap into oil and gas industry

and a limited number of Johnson and Johnson vac cines remain available.

Symptoms of the corona virus include fever, cough, tiredness, diarrhoea, pains, sore throat and loss of taste

or smell. The more seri ous symptoms are difficul ty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain and loss of speech or movement.

If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms asso

ciated with COVID-19 or needs any additional in formation, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.

Guyana

could soon see local chefs directly benefitting from the oil and gas sector, with the establishment of a consor tium of cooks supplying food and food items to Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs).

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Sunday disclosed that he has called for the formation of the body, to prepare chefs from across the country to tap into the massive oppor tunity.

“I have instructed the Minister of Natural Resources to work on bring ing together a consortium of all our major caterers in the country into one company and let them buy the man agement skills, whether it is international or regional so that together in a consor tium, they could participate in the bidding process to provide all FPSOs offshore with food and food supplies.”

The President empha sised that local enterprises must come together to cre ate consortiums to better po sition themselves to access economic opportunities.

With the right type of in tegration, through consor tiums, Dr Ali said there will be room for massive growth. He pointed out the need to form consortiums to create necessary local linkages.

Dr Ali noted that the economy’s immediate re quirements are to devel op sustainable choices for Guyanese, improve their quality of life, and open up job opportunities. The move will also guarantee Guyanese have equitable ac cess to opportunities.

“These are services that are externalised because we have to learn to work together. We cannot oper ate in a mega economy if we don’t bring together consor tiums. We bring ten small

people together, we have a medium company, we bring ten medium people together, we get a large size company. So, we are going to use this mechanism, this network to bring this country together, as part of the ‘One Guyana’ umbrella.”

By using this approach, Guyana will also strength en its economy, encourage industrial growth, boost lo cal company capacity, de velop a trained labour force, establish a competitive sup plier base, and distribute the wealth created by the oil and gas boom to Guyanese citizens.

The President said this kind of unity is what the na tion needs to advance and requires the involvement of all Guyanese.

He said he intends to build a future of equal op portunities for the growth of every citizen regardless of location.

Govt pursuing more airlift agreements for cheaper flights, more travel

The Government of Guyana, presently participating in the World Routes Forum being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, is actively pursuing more airlift agreements that will bring with it increased travel options for Guyanese and cheaper flights.

This is according to Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond, who is leading a delegation to the forum that in cludes Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramesh Ghir and Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Kamrul Baksh.

Over the next few days, Minister Walrond and team are expected to meet with several key persons in the aviation in dustry with the intention of en couraging investments in desti nation Guyana. During this visit, Minister Walrond is also expected to meet with several Ministers of Tourism from the Region.

“The forum presents an im portant opportunity for bringing additional airlift to Guyana. Our focus, as always, is to sell Guyana as a lucrative investment desti nation. We want to encourage in vestment that will allow cheaper airfares and increase travel and destination options,” Walrond said.

Meanwhile, Ghir underscored that Guyana has benefited tre mendously from its participation in these engagements. According to him, the majority of new air lines entering the Guyana market

are as a result of negotiations that have taken place at the Routes fo rum.

The World Routes is an an nual event, which brings togeth er airlines, airports, tourism au thorities, tour operators and other key aviation decision-makers. It is also dedicated to route devel opment and strategic planning in

the aviation industry.

It was only last week that the Governments of Guyana and the People’s Republic of China inked an Air Service Agreement (ASA) –a move that not only seeks to en hance passenger travel and trade between the two countries but also broaden Guyana’s global con nectivity.

The Agreement was signed be tween Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Guo Haiyan, at the Ministry’s Kingston, Georgetown, office. According to Minister Edghill, this ASA will facilitate air transport connectivity be tween the two nations and devel op mutual relations in the field of civil aviation. He pointed out that while Guyana and China have ex cellent trade relations in different fields, the lack of direct airlink has been a disadvantage.

“The signature of this agree ment puts the legal framework in place to address this challenge. So, China and Guyana would not only be “friendly” and… “distant” but would become nearer. It is antic ipated that airlines of both coun tries will capitalise on the opportu nities that exist for the movement of people and cargo between the two countries,” he stated.

In fact, the Public Works Minister outlined that there is already significant traffic of pas senger and cargo between the two nations annually, and the enact ment of this agreement will only foster cultural interactivity as well as advance air transport ser vices, trade, and economic growth.

Further, he noted that such interconnectivity will seek to en sure that the tourism potential of Guyana is fully explored.

Moreover, the Public Works Minister outlined that the sign ing of this agreement is yet an other step being taken by the

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration to expand Guyana’s global reach by estab lishing new air connectivity.

In May of this year, another Air Services Agreement was signed, this time with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to promote and fa cilitate the expansion of interna tional air services opportunities between the two countries.

At the time, there were no di rect flights operating between the two countries. With the new doc ument, airlines can now ply the route, thereby widening connec tions, trade and economic growth.

And before that, the Government had signed an open skies agreement with Colombia, while also promising to fast-track the signing of a similar agreement with Nigeria that had been in lim bo since 2014.

The Cheddi Jagan International Airport has meanwhile been ex panded with modernisation works carried out by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), in preparation for this massive influx of new carriers and increased trav el activity.

When the PPP/C Government entered office, there was a list of 71 critical works and a master list of 1500 works that were in complete. Back in December, the Public Works Ministry had en tered into an agreement with CHEC for the contractor to under take some US$9 million in addi tional works to further extend the airport at no cost to the State.

GENEQUIP leads clean-up campaign along Kingston seawall

For the past 10 years,

Suzuki Marine has been committed to cleaning up the marine en vironment through volun tary “Clean Up the World”

activities around the globe, rallying more than 10,000 people to the cause.

This project has now evolved into Suzuki’s Clean Ocean Project.

At the heart of this on going campaign is a truly innovative Micro Plastics Filter device designed for use on outboard motors. The first of its kind worldwide, this device allows boaters to become an important part

of the solution to the glob al challenge of microplastic pollution.

They are committed to contributing to a clean ma rine environment, and con sistently work towards this through various initiatives

including clean-up cam paigns, reducing plastic packaging, promoting the use of four-stroke outboard engines to reduce emissions, and avoiding servicing of outboards on the water to prevent water pollution.

General Equipment Guyana Ltd (GENEQUIP) and Suzuki Marine togeth er with the Guyana Coast Guard and Sealand Surveys joined to clean the seawall from behind the Guyana Marriott Hotel towards the Guyana Coast Guard base on Saturday.

Approximately 50 bags of plastic trash, with about 60 volunteers, were deemed a successful clean-up proj ect.

The volunteers and re spective companies were thanked for their sup port which will with time strengthen business part nerships and will positively impact the maritime indus try in Guyana.

Guyana Coast Guard volunteers for the Clean Ocean Project

The volunteers at the seawalls on Saturday

Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond (center) along with Minister of Tourism and Transport, Cayman Islands Kenneth Bryan (left) and Deputy Premier, Minister of Communications and Works, British Virgin Islands Kyle Rymer (right) at the World Routes Forum 2022

Uncertainty looms over hosting of GPSCCU Special General Meeting despite court order

…members mull contempt of court proceedings against CoM

part of a group of “Concerned Members” of the GPSCCU, penned a letter to the cred it union’s Chairwoman re questing details about the plans for the SGM.

That letter, among oth er things, requested the fol lowing: details of the plans and arrangements being put in place pursuant to the Judge’s ruling, confirma tion that approval has been granted for the place deter mined as the venue for the SGM, that the service pro vider has been contacted and all arrangements have been put in place for the online participation of the members of the SGM, and that adequate provisions have been made to ensure the maximum notice and in formation of all members.

Despite two failed at tempts last week, they were able to serve the letter dated October 14 on VansluytmanCorbin on Monday.

ter on October 15 but the Chairwoman refused to ac cept it. He said he made an other attempt on Monday and was successful.

“Team Trevor Benn” has vowed that they will be “going back to court” if the Special General Meeting is not held at a suitable time.

Failure to adhere to the order of a court, he pointed out, will result in contempt of court proceedings being initiated against the current Committee of Management.

Uncertainty

is loom ing at the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) over the holding of a Special General Meeting (SGM) which High Court Judge Navindra Singh or dered has to be held no lat er than Monday, October 24.

The imminent SGM is ex pected to see the election of a new executive. In a ruling handed down last month in an application filed by three members of the GPSCCU— Mehalai Mc Almont, Keith Marks, and Natasha Durant-Clements—Justice Singh, among other things, declared that Trevor Benn and Patrick Mentore were the credit union’s duly elected Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, and

that the notice informing of the demand for the SGM, which had been previously set for June, had been law fully issued.

A notice for the holding of the SGM was recently is sued in the daily newspapers by the Chairperson of the credit union’s Committee of Management (CoM), Karen Vansluytman-Corbin.

“Pursuant to the Cooperatives Societies Act, Cap 88:01, Regulation 16, Notice is hereby given that a Special General Meeting of Members of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Ltd… will be held on Monday, October 24, 2022, in the audito rium of the new Central High School, Princes Street, Georgetown, Guyana at

8:00hrs,” it reads.

But with a week away, there has been no informa tion concerning plans for the holding of the SGM, includ ing the meeting’s agenda and the location of polling places, according to a group of candidates headed by for mer Chairman Benn, who are contesting the elections.

During a press confer ence on Monday, “Team Trevor Benn’s” mem ber Attorney-at-Law Christopher Thompson said that the GPSCCU member ship of over 20,000 has been kept in the dark about sev eral things that are perti nent to the staging of the SGM.

Pursuant to the court or der, Mc Almont, Marks, and Durant-Clements, who are

“I was the member who approached the credit union on October 14 to deliver the letter… I went to the securi ty officer who was there; she called the CEO to say that [I] was there and she [the CEO] said that she was in a meeting and so she would not be able to come and col lect any letter. I waited un til the meeting was over and I went back and they said to me that it is after work time and we should return with the letter on Monday,” Beverly De John, a member of “Team Trevor Benn” told the media conference.

Mentore said he at tempted to deliver the let

While Thompson, who was recently sacked by the CoM as the credit union’s in-house lawyer said he rather suspects this is the first time the court has sanctioned an SGM, he add ed, “I would want to believe that the current Committee of Management may be un aware of their liability for contempt of court proceed ings if this court order is not followed to the letter…”

According to him, this is not a regular members' sanctioned meeting but rather a direct order of the court that has to be com plied with.

Benn, on the other hand, called out the CoM for dis regarding the court’s order, while noting that the SGM is critical toward safeguard ing the future of the finan cial institution.

He said, “This is bigger than Trevor Benn, this is not about Trevor Benn.

This is about poor peo ple and their prosperity.

The Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union is there to support and en courage and help ordinary people who have no oth er source or ability to get loans at another place. Most of them get turned down by private sector organisations and this is why we are fight ing to ensure that this facil ity remains viable.”

Residents of Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam) will see further improvements in their daily lives as the Government continues to in vest in the region’s develop ment, with 261 community roads slated for completion by 2025.

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall reminded residents on Saturday last that Government is sincere about community development.

“We have a long way to go, a lot more to do, we have many more people to em ploy in Region Two, and we have more businesses to cre ate in Region Two. Very soon some additional invest ments are coming to this region,” he told residents, during a ceremony to com mission a Sanatan monu

ment in Huis t’ Dieren.

Additionally, among de velopments residents could look forward to, is the open ing up of bids for the con

struction of another 123 community roads.

President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has already an nounced that a US$30 mil lion hospital will be con structed in the region to improve healthcare service to residents.

Some $2 billion was set aside in 2022 for the con struction of call centres in Regions Two and Six as well.

Minister Dharamlall re affirmed the Government’s commitment to ensure the promises outlined in its manifesto are achieved over the course of the years.

Minister with in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development Anand Persaud, Region Two Vice Chairman Humace Oudit, and other officials were present at the ceremony.

The Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union (GPSCCU) at Hadfield Street, Georgetown

Trevor Benn has revealed his list of candidates to contest the loan institution’s upcoming elections slated for next Monday

Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall

Guyana earned over $100B from oil in 3rd quarter of 2022

– largest quarterly earnings since oil production began

The third quarter of this year - July to Septemberhas turned out to be the most lucrative quarter yet for Guyana’s oil earn ings, with inflows of over $100 billion going into the Natural Resource Fund (NRF).

According to the Bank of Guyana (BoG) in its third-quarter report for 2022, Guyana earned a total of $102.8 billion (US$493.1 million). This includes profit oil of $92.1 billion (US$442.1 million) and royalties of $10.6 bil lion (US$51 million).

The increase was at tributed by the Bank to the additional Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) ves sel, the Liza Unity , being in operation in the Liza Phase Two of the Stabroek Block.

“These funds were de posited into the Natural Resource Fund Account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As a result of an ad ditional FPSO being in op eration, more lifts were

made and hence, more profit oil received com pared to previous quar ters,” they said.

It was explained that since oil production began in 2019, there have been 16 lifts of profit oil which have brought in $269.3 billion (US$1.2 billion) in profit oil revenue and $31.9 billion (US$153.1 million) in royalty pay ments.

“Over the quarter the Federal Reserve increased

its target range for the federal funds rate twice moving it from 1.5 per cent - 1.75 per cent to 2.25 per cent - 2.5 per cent and then again to 3 per cent3.25 per cent,” the bank further explained.

“As a result of these in creases which caused in terest rates on overnight deposits to rise signifi cantly, and a higher ac count balance, the fund continued to earn a high er level of interest income

on its overnight deposits than previous quarters.”

According to the report, the fund earned $995.7 million (US$4.7 million) in interest income over the quarter, compared to the $266 million (US$1.2 million) it had earned in the previous quarter.

The fund currently has in place a Board, as well as the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee and the Investment Committee, which have

been appointed by President Dr Irfaan Ali in accordance with the law.

The Natural Resource Fund Board is chaired by Major General (Retired) Joe Singh. Other members are Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; for mer MP for the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Dunstan Barrow; longstanding ex ecutive of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ramesh Dookhoo; and former CDB President, Professor Compton Bourne. These appointees will serve for a period of two years.

The Public Accountability and Oversight Committee is meanwhile chaired by former Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Clement Sealey.

The other six members are Wendell Jeffrey, Abu Zaman, Ryan Alexander, Dawn Gardener, Teni Housty, and Aslim Singh. When it comes to the

Investment Committee, it is chaired by Shaleeza Shaw, who was sworn in back in August along with members Michael Monroe and Richard Rambarran.

The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through its local affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd (EEPGL), is the oper ator and holds 45 per cent interest in the block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a whol ly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

The company is cur rently undertaking four production projects – Liza 1, Liza 2, Payara, and Yellowtail in the oil-rich block. It is estimated that when the Yellowtail de velopment project comes on stream, production will climb to 810,000 bpd by 2027. The US oil ma jor anticipates at least six FPSOs in operation by 2030.

Rice has potential to produce 50% more profits for farmers

Rice production in Guyana has the po tential to earn 50 per cent more profits for farmers, according to Chief Scientist attached to Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Rice Research, Dr Mahendra Persaud.

This prediction was made on Monday while ad dressing staff at the Burma Rice Research Station.

Guyana’s rice production stands at just under 600,000 tonnes annually and even though the aim is to produce one million tonnes by 2025, Dr Persaud said the focus is not only on increasing pro duction but also on increas ing profitability.

In 2020, the country pro duced 687,539 of rice and 559,789 last year with the yield averaging 5.6 tonnes per hectare. The GRDB in its annual report referred to that yield last year of 5.5 tonnes per hectare as being excellent.

However, Dr Persaud pointed out that some coun tries are yielding as much as 8 tonnes per hectare.

He noted that those va

rieties take as many as 160 days to be ready for har vesting. Currently, the Rice Research Station is testing a variety which is taking 130 days.

However, there are chal lenges affecting the de velopment of that variety.

“While we are going in that direction, we are having so many other problems, glob al temperature is increas ing; it was around 24 and it is about 22 and Guyana was ideal to maximise productiv ity. With this temperature,

it means that we will lose 15-20 per cent yield because of this stress.”

Nevertheless, the Chief Scientist related he is con fident that within a very short span farmers can look forward to the aromatic va riety.

“The aromatic variety has the potential of produc ing 50 per cent more profit for our farmers. The lowest price for the aromatic vari ety in the Caricom market is around US$600 as compared with US$300-US$400 for the

ordinary variety. So, if we can develop that variety, we can have a better price for a portion of our production. I could recall that many farm ers thought that this was an impossible task for us to be able to produce aromat

ic variety. For me, it started more as a passion and now I am proud to say that we are in a good position now that we will be able to release an aromatic variety it will be able to withstand the weath er conditions. We are in the

final stages of testing,” Dr Persaud assured.

For last year Guyana harvested 861,214 tonnes of paddy producing 559,789 tonnes of rice and export ed 435,421 netting US$201 million.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Chief Scientist attached to Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) Rice Research, Dr Mahendra Persaud

Rice Gene Bank commissioned at Burma Rice Research Station

2 modern labs to be set up

Guyana’s first Rice Gene Bank was on Monday commis sioned at the Burma Rice Research Station, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) while two new labs are be

Currently, there are 400 different varieties of paddy in the bank and can be kept for more than ten years if they have the correct tem perature.

The Government invest

a further $50 million bud geted for additional equip ment. The lab will allow for research into value-added products from rice.

On Monday persons were shown bread that has been produced using 20 per cent rice flower along with other traditional wheat flour products which were made from rice flour.

Apart from that lab, a soil tissue analyst lab which is valued at $85 mil lion was also opened at the research facility. Already, some $63 million has been pumped into the establish ment of that lab.

ysis laboratory noted that the construction of these new facilities is part of the Government's commitment to producing high-quality rice and rice by-products.

This she said, will see the rice industry flourish and our rice farmers pros perous.

ready-to-eat convenience foods, fermented beverages and noodles.”

Speaking of the soil and tissue analyst laboratory, the PS said it would enable the GRDB to conduct ac curate soil testing and im prove crop fertility to in crease crop yield.

prove productivity in the rice industry on a more technical level using germ plasm technology.

ing set up at the facility.

The National Rice Gene Bank has the capac ity to store 1500 varieties of seed paddy for research.

ed $25 million in the estab lishment of the bank. In ad dition, another $25 million is invested in a value-added lab at the same facility with

Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Agriculture Ministry, Delma Nedd in delivering a message from Minister Zulfikar Mustapha to inaugurate the new state-of-the-art value-added rice laborato ry and soil and tissue anal

“Not only does value ad dition increase rice earn ings at the national and household levels, it allows for nutritional fortification, import substitution, and employment generation. To enhance the potential of the rice industry, this Government is working to diversify rice production by using innovative measures to add value to locally pro duced commodities. Some of the rice-based food prod ucts that Guyana can begin to produce using this new value-added rice industry are rice flour, rice starch,

“The Government is also investing in the construc tion of a bio-controlled lab on-site at the Rice Research Station primarily to study paddy bug with bio-con trolled methods and other control methods in a con trolled environment. The paddy bug is a real chal lenge to the rice indus try that caused millions in losses and so with lab, stud ies will be conducted using bio-controlled methods in an effort to solve the prob lem.”

The Ministry, she point ed out, also plans to im

“For that very pur pose, the Government is working on constructing a Germplasm/Rice Gene Bank facility, soon to be commissioned, for the Guyana Rice Development Board which will see to studying, managing and using genetic resources for plant breeding, preser vation and other research purposes.”

She noted that the fa cility is the first of its kind in Guyana and aims at introducing a bio-forti fied rice variety in 2023, a high-yielding variety in 2024, and an aromatic vari ety in 2025.

“We aim to have rice va rieties that are more resil ient, nutritional, and tasti er,” she said.

MoH’s hearing aid programme benefiting every region

The Health Ministry in response to a recent letter that accused the Health Ministry of taking its hearing aid programme to stronghold regions of the governing party stated that this accusation is mischie vous.

In fact, hearing aids are being distributed to all re gions of Guyana. Our hos pitals have made a list of patients who can benefit from hearing aids. The writ er of the letter is a patient at Bartica Hospital and he knows that his name is on the list of beneficiaries. The writ er will receive his hearing aid once the audiological team visits the Bartica Hospital in the coming two weeks. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the letter writer chose to mis represent the facts.

Hearing aids need fitting by trained technicians and calibration by technicians and audiologists. Guyana is not yet able to provide this trained person at every hospital. While the MoH is building capacity to ensure all hospitals have the rele vant personnel, the outreach team is ensuring that all cit izens benefit from audiologi cal services.

The Ministry of Health has been aggressively ad vancing a number of pro grammes to improve people’s health and lifestyle. One of the flagship programmes fo cuses on diagnosing hearing loss among children and the elderly. The country’s capac ity is still limited. The capac ity building programme that started in 2004 to increase and expand the sector’s abil ity to provide access to hear ing assessment and testing stagnated for a number of years. Since late 2020, the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, and the Ministry of Health has been aggressive ly putting in place wider ac cess to hearing assessment and testing.

But testing is only a part of the overall programme. Access to hearing aids is also

a necessary part of the pro gramme. Hearing aids’ avail ability in the public health sector was introduced in 2004 through a programme at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre. At that time, it was introduced as a subsidised programme where patients were expected to contribute a part of the payment. For many persons, their contri butions to hearing-aid ac cess represented a barrier and they were supported on a case-by-case basis with fur ther subsidy from the MoH.

Those patients who were diagnosed with hearing loss by the National Audiology Department of the GPHC which also conducted clinics in regional hospitals were re ferred to the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre for fitting and provision of the

hearing aids. While the pro gramme has helped thou sands across the country over the years, the Government of Guyana (GoG) and the MoH recognised that many per sons could not afford the sub sidised cost. Compounding the problem was that the re ferred patients from some re gions, like Regions One, Two, Seven, Eight, Nine, and from parts of Regions Three, Five, Six and 10 experienced costly travelling to Georgetown for fitting and provision of hear ing aids.

This problem became even more burdensome, when for several years be fore 2020, the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre decid ed to remove the subsidy and used the provision of hearing aids as an income-generat ing programme, eliminating more persons from benefiting from the programme.

In early 2022, the Minister of Health, with a larger budgetary allocation in Budget 2022 and an ex pected increase in Budget 2023, made a number of changes. In 2021, the MoH instructed the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre to de sist from using the hearing aid programme as a reve

nue-generating programme and resume the subsidised programme.

In 2022, the Minister of Health announced a new pol icy that established free ac cess to hearing aids for pub lic health sector patients. Up to this point, 220 hearing aids have been distributed in Regions Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and 10. Regions One, Two, Seven and Eight are scheduled for the next several weeks. In fact, Bartica is scheduled for the next two weeks. By the end of 2022, more than 300 persons would have received free-ofcost hearing aids. The MoH is expecting to increase the 2022 distribution by greater than 100 per cent in 2023. In 2022, almost $15 million was

allocated for hearing aid pro curement. In 2023, this will increase significantly.

The audiological team is conducting outreaches to all regions to ensure that as many persons across the country have access to hear ing aids. The MoH’s goal is that everyone with hearing loss is able to receive the gift of hearing, thereby empow ering them to live productive lives and achieve their poten tial. While the elderly popu lation is targeted for bene fits, the programme is also prioritising young children, particularly school children. In addition to a school eye care programme, the MoH is introducing a school-based hearing health programme in 2023.

The newly-commissioned Rice Gene Bank

Bread made from rice flour in the value-added lab at the Burma Research Station

One of the labs being set up at the facility

Regional

Bolsonaro ally running for São Paulo governor says campaign event 'attacked'

On one video that local media said was taken near the event the sound of sev eral loud bangs could be heard. Reuters has not veri fied the video.

The scare comes amid a tense election season in Brazil, with presidential campaigns stepping up se curity measures amid a ris ing tide of political violence – although there was no sign initially of political mo tives behind Monday's inci dent.

Venezuelan crisis: 7.1M leave country since 2015

draining attention in a way that is quite dangerous."

More than 80 per cent of those who have left Venezuela are living in Latin America and the Caribbean, in countries which often already strug gle to provide health and education to their own na tionals.

Venezuela's population has fallen from 30.08 mil lion in 2015 to an estimat ed 28.25 million now based on latest UN figures.

Aclose ally of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro running for Governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio Freitas, said a cam paign event was "attacked by criminals" on Monday in the Paraisopolis neighbour hood of the state capital.

São Paulo Public Security Secretary Joao Camilo Campos said that preliminary information suggested there had not been an attack targeting Freitas, although investiga tors had not ruled out any

hypothesis. Officials con firmed a man was killed near the site of the cam paign event, but provided no further details.

"First of all, we are all fine. During a visit to the 1st University Hub of Paraisopolis, we were at tacked by criminals. Our se curity team was quickly re inforced with brilliant work by the @PMESP (Sao Paulo Military Police). A crimi nal was shot. We are look ing into details of the situa tion," he said on Twitter.

Freitas served as Infrastructure Minister in Bolsonaro's Government and had a strong lead in the first round of the São Paulo gubernatorial race over former Mayor Fernando Haddad, an ally of left ist presidential challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Both races now go to a run off vote on October 30.

President Bolsonaro said during a press conference in Brasilia that whether or not Freitas was the target of an attack, the incident showed that the candidate needed to have a greater concern for his safety. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Calls for Haiti security mission to confront gangs

The United States and Mexico said on Monday they will seek support from the United Nations for a security mis sion to restore order in Haiti amid a worsening human itarian crisis, but did not identify who would lead the mission.

Haiti is facing dire short ages of basic goods and a pa ralysis of economic activity due to the blockade of a fuel terminal by gangs, which has halted transport and left many without food or clean drinking water amid an out break of cholera.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres earlier this month suggest

ed sending in a "rapid-action force", according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Linda ThomasGreenfield, US representa tive to the United Nations, said during a Security Council meeting on Monday that the resolution would propose a "carefully scoped non-UN mission led by a partner country with the deep and necessary experi ence required for such an ef fort to be effective".

The Security Council is separately considering a sanctions regime to impose an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo on any one who threatens the peace in Haiti, according to a draft

resolution seen by Reuters on Thursday.

US lawmakers intro duced a bill on Monday to in vestigate and punish any po litical elites colluding with the gangs.

But the Administration of President Joe Biden has appeared sceptical of send ing troops to Haiti, which has a long history of US mil itary intervention.

Representatives of Russia and China respond ed to the proposal with scep ticism, noting that some Haitian leaders have openly opposed the idea of foreign intervention and questioned the effectiveness of such a force. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Child killed in drive-by shooting in Chaguanas

Police say they will leave no stone un turned as they inves tigate the murder of nineyear-old Jamal Modeste in Chaguanas, Central Trinidad, on Saturday night.

“Over the years, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service has invested re sources in the Enterprise area and will continue to work and partner with mem bers of the community,” said acting Commissioner of Police Erla Christopher.

“Additionally, the TTPS

will render assistance to the distraught family during this traumatic time through our Victim and Witness Support Unit,” she said, ap pealing to “anyone who has information that could as sist, please come forward.

Help us, so justice can be served, to give some sem blance of closure and relief to a grieving family,” she said.

Police said that sever al shots were fired from a white panel van in the vicin ity of the basketball court at the African Grounds and

that the nine-year-old was struck by the gunfire and taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility where he succumbed to his injuries.

Police said that the white panel van was report edly stolen at gunpoint ear lier on Saturday.

They have not disclosed any motive for the killing.

So far this year, Trinidad and Tobago has recorded 463 murders as compared with 320 for the same peri od last year.

Last year the country re corded 448 murders. (CMC)

More than seven mil lion Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015 amid an ongoing economic and political crisis, according to new United Nations data.

More than half of them face challenges accessing food, housing, and stable employment, the UN says.

But despite the difficul ties facing them abroad, the flow of Venezuelans escaping turmoil in their homeland has not let up.

Aid agencies warn that these migrants risk being forgotten amid other crises.

"There's no ques tion both that it is a ma jor protracted crisis that is shaking the region [of Latin America]," David Miliband, President of the International Rescue Committee, told the BBC.

"But it is also clear that the competing priorities for global attention – Ukraine, famine in East Africa, trau ma in Afghanistan – are

"Many of the Governments in Latin America are trying to do the right thing in man aging the movement of Venezuelans, but it's a big challenge," Miliband said on a visit to Colombia, which is hosting 2.48 mil lion Venezuelans.

"It's dangerous to pre sume that this burden can just be borne indefinitely," he warned.

Other aid agencies have also been sounding the alarm.

Hunt for woman after Gasparillo man stabbed to death

woman had accused Joseph of pelting her house with stones earlier that day. He was stabbed twice in the chest by the woman who then ran off. Joseph died minutes later.

In a telephone interview with Joseph’s wife Shelly Ann Mungal on Sunday, she said he was a good hus band to her and great father to their children aged three and six.

She said the suspect and Joseph got along well, un til a few months ago, when the suspect began a rela tionship with a 23-year-old man.

Police were searching up to Sunday eve ning, for a 53-yearold woman in connection with the stabbing death of a Gasparillo construction worker.

Police reported that about 20:00h on Saturday, officers were on patrol when

they responded to a report of a wounding at Houssa Trace, Bonne Aventure Road in Gasparillo. They later met residents who told them that Randy "Brent" Joseph, 29, was stabbed in the chest by a woman he knew.

Police were also told the

Mungal, 32, said the sus pect never had cause to ar gue Joseph or his family be fore she became involved with the man. The suspect became hostile with Joseph and his family about two months ago. When a cellphone belonging to Joseph's brother went miss ing, the suspect's boyfriend was blamed for its theft, Newsday was told. (Excerpt from Trinidad Newsday)

With no monkeypox vaccine at home, frustrated Mexicans go abroad

Asmonkeypox contin ues to impact gay and bisexual men in doz ens of countries around the world, at-risk Mexicans are going abroad for vaccines they say their Government has not bothered to make available at home.

Mexico ranks ninth glob ally in total cases, accord ing to the World Health Organisation, but officials have not announced plans to acquire vaccines even as other Latin American coun tries receive shipments.

"It's been a long jour ney to find a vaccine," said Alberto Herbel, a commu nications professional and nightlife producer who flew from Mexico City to Los Angeles this month for a two-day stay to get vaccinat ed after failed attempts in France and Germany.

Herbel, 38, said he want ed the vaccine because half of his friends currently have or have had monkeypox.

The viral disease, which is overwhelmingly but not exclusively spread

ing among gay and bisex ual men, is rarely fatal but can cause painful sores that make basic bodily functions difficult for weeks.

The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) rec ommends vaccines for atrisk individuals and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has underscored they are an "important tool" in stem ming transmission, though the shots are in short sup ply globally. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Former Minister Tarcisio Freitas gestures next to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a farmer's fair of banana producers in Pariquera-Acu, São Paulo state, Brazil, May 12, 2022 (Reuters/Amanda Perobelli)

Many of the Venezuelan migrants walk thousands of kilometres to reach their destination

Randy Joseph and his wife Shelly Ann Mungal in better times. Joseph was stabbed to death on Saturday

Around the World

OIL NEWS

Oil steady as recession woes counter positive Chinese signals

Oilprices held steady on Monday in choppy trading as fears that high inflation and energy costs could drag the global economy into recession offset China's continuation of loose monetary policy.

Brent crude futures were down 1 cent, or 0.01 per cent, to US$91.62 a barrel, recovering from a 6.4 per cent fall last week. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 15 cents, or 0.2 per cent, at US$85.46 after a 7.6 per cent decline last week.

"US inflation remains a front topic and with the Fed set to raise rates at least into next year, there are fears that demand destruction will escalate," said Dennis Kissler, senior Vice President of trading at BOK Financial.

China's central bank rolled over maturing medium-term policy loans on Monday while keeping its key interest rate unchanged for a second month, in a signal that loose monetary policy would be maintained.

Beijing will also greatly increase domestic energy supply capacity and step up risk controls in key commodities including coal, oil, gas and electricity, a senior National Energy Administration official said on Monday.

China will further increase reserve capacities for key commodities, another state official told a news conference in Beijing.

Chinese trade and third-quarter GDP data, along with September activity data, are due to be released on Tuesday, with quarterly growth possibly rebounding from the previous quarter but annual growth threatening to be China's worst in almost half a century.

Meanwhile, a strong US dollar and the likelihood of further interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve are helping to contain price gains.

St Louis Fed President James Bullard on Friday said inflation had become "pernicious" and difficult to arrest, warranting continued "frontloading" through larger rate increases of threequarters of a percentage point.

Inflation in the United States remains stubborn and growth in European Union countries is expected to weaken to 0.5 per cent, International Monetary Fund official Gita Gopinath said on Monday.

"It's been another turbulent few weeks in oil markets from global growth concerns to super-sized OPEC+ output cuts and it seems they're yet to fully settle down," said Craig Erlam, senior markets analyst at OANDA.

"Brent has seen lows of US$82 and highs of US$98, so perhaps what we're now seeing is it finding its feet somewhere in the middle."

Oil supply is likely to remain tight after OPEC and allies including Russia pledged on Oct 5 to cut output by 2 million barrels per day while a war of words between OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia and the United States could foreshadow more volatility.

OPEC+ output cuts attracted funds back to the oil markets, with continued heavy buying of crude oil futures and options for a second straight week.

Easing the supply crunch, oil output in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest US shale oil basin, is due to rise by about 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 5.453 million bpd in November, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its productivity report on Monday. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Nigeria flood death toll tops 600 as thousands evacuated

The death toll from floods in Nigeria this year has increased to 603 as lo cal authorities race to pro vide relief to hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated from their sub merged homes.

More than 1.3 mil lion people have been dis placed by the disaster, which has affected peo ple across 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states, the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry said late on Sunday.

At least 3400sq km (1300sq miles) of land has been inundated, worsening fears of food supply disrup tions. Conflict already has threatened production in the northwest and central regions of Nigeria, which produce much of what the

country eats.

President Muhammadu Buhari directed “all con cerned to work for the resto ration of normalcy”, accord ing to a statement issued by

his office.

Nigeria experiences an nual flooding, especially in its coastal areas, but this year’s floods are the worst in more than a decade.

Authorities blame the disas ter on the release of excess water from Lagdo Dam in neighbouring Cameroon and on unusual rainfalls.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state in southern Nigeria, said peo ple are fleeing to the city in the hopes of getting help from authorities.

“The bad news is, it’s been pouring down for the past few days and the rains are expected to keep coming down for the coming days,” Idris said.

“The water levels are ris ing to an alarming level,” he said. “The ferocity of the flow of water has also inten sified. The flood waters from upstream are continuing to come this way.” (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

US condemns “war crimes” after Russia drone attack hits Kyiv apartment block

The United States will hold Russia ac countable for "war crimes", the White House said on Monday, hours after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with drones during morning rush hour, kill ing at least four people in an apartment building in downtown Kyiv.

Russian forces also tar geted infrastructure across the country in the second wave of air strikes in a week.

Ukrainian soldiers fired into the air trying to shoot down the drones after blasts rocked central Kyiv.

US President Joe Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the White House “strongly condemns Russia’s missile strikes today” and said the at tack “continues to demon

Paris shocked by murder of Lola, 12, found in box

Parisians have been stunned by the shock ing murder of a 12-year-old schoolgirl whose body was found on Friday in a container in the courtyard of her apartment building.

The girl, named Lola, had spent the day normally at school, but her father raised the alert when she failed to return home in the afternoon.

Later in the evening the presence of a transpar ent plastic packing box was reported at the foot of the apartment building a resi dential block in the 19th ar rondissement where Lola's father is employed as a con cierge.

Lola's body was found

squashed inside the con tainer, hidden by a covering of material. Her hands and feet were tied and she was reported to have a gash on her neck, though the autop sy this weekend found she had died of asphyxiation. Two Post-it notes were also on her feet, one saying "0" and the other "1".

Early on Saturday Police arrested the main suspect in the killing a 24-yearold Algerian-born wom an named in the press as Dahbia B.

However, Police said they did not believe this was a serious lead. Their most plausible theory is that Dahbia B, who has no fixed

abode, is psychologically un stable and that her act was "gratuitous".

Also in custody is a 43-year-old man who is believed to have ferried Dahbia B and the container in his car. Police think that, having been driven by him around the Paris suburbs, Dahbia B returned to the apartment building where her sister also is a resident.

There the two sisters are reported to have had a noisy row, before Dahbia B left again this time without the container. She spent the night in a flat in the suburb of Bois-Colombes where she was picked up the next day. (Excerpt from BBC News)

strate (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutali ty”.

Noting a new, US$725 million military aid pack age announced for Ukraine last Friday, she said: “We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“... We will continue to impose costs on Russia, hold them accountable for its war crimes."

A pregnant wom an was among four peo

ple killed in the attack on the residential build ing, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ukraine's Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi said there had been deaths in other cities but did not provide a full toll.

Black smoke poured out of the windows of the Kyiv apartment building and emergency service workers toiled to douse flames.

Ukraine said the at tacks were carried out

by Iran-made "suicide drones", which fly to their target and detonate. The US State Department said Iran was violating UN Security Council res olution 2231 by supplying drones to Russia.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had car ried out a "massive" attack on military targets and en ergy infrastructure across Ukraine using high-pre cision weapons. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Lawmakers will try to oust UK PM Truss this week, Daily Mail reports

British lawmak ers will try to oust Prime Minister Liz Truss this week despite Downing Street's warn ing that it could trigger a general election, the Daily Mail reported.

More than 100 Members of Parliament (MPs) be longing to the governing Conservative Party are ready to submit letters of no confidence in Truss to Graham Brady, the head of the Conservative Party's committee which organises the leadership contest, the tabloid reported, quoting unnamed sources.

Britain, engulfed in a political crisis, has lost three Prime Ministers since it voted to leave the European Union in 2016.

The MPs will urge Brady to tell Truss that "her time is up" or to change the po litical party rules to allow an immediate vote of con fidence in her leadership, the report said.

Brady is said to be re sisting the move, argu ing that the Truss, along

with newly appointed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, deserve a chance to set out economic strategy in a bud get on Oct 31, the report added.

Separately, The Times reported that some law makers have held secret discussions on replacing Truss with a new leader.

Truss, who won the

Conservative Party lead ership last month after promising to slash taxes, is fighting for her political survival after ditching key parts of the programme.

The chaos has fuelled discontent in the party, which is falling behind the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss attends a news conference in London, Britain, October 14, 2022

Nigeria experiences annual flooding, especially on its coast, but this year’s floods are the worst in more than a decade [George Esiri/Reuters]

HOROSCOPES

Deal with emotional issues prompt ly. Speak up, discuss your concerns and offer solutions that motivate others to help you. Make personal gain, love and health your priorities.

(March 21-April 19)

You must play by the rules if you want to win. Speak from the heart and be willing to keep your promises. Take ownership of the changes you make. You will know what you have to do.

(April 20-May 20)

SUDOKU

(May 21-June 20)

Stretching your imagination and do ing something you find entertaining will encourage you to broaden your perspec tive and head in a direction that pro motes more advancement. Live in the moment.

Assess your situation, and you’ll de vise a decent plan that will help you raise your profile or income. Step outside your comfort zone if it will help you sur pass the competition.

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

Push yourself to discover all you need to know about something that interests you, then announce what you will do next. Put your mind to work for maxi mum effectiveness. Leave nothing to chance.

Study, discover and put your plan in place. Question anything you think might pose a problem so you can avoid making mistakes. Offer empathy and in sight to someone who can help you. Set high standards.

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Set goals and stick to them, regard less of what others want. Putting your self first will ensure progress and give you more options to help others. Personal growth is encouraged.

(Sept. 23-Oct. 23)

Inviting change before you have ev erything in place will result in uncer tainty. Take your time and map out a plan that puts your mind at ease and points you in the right direction.

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

Look for the straightest path to get where you want to go, then proceed. Don’t rely on others to lead the way or fix a problem. Look for a financial oppor tunity to help you save money.

Emotional discussions will be neces sary if you want to avoid discord. Gather everyone’s thoughts before you decide what to do next. Refuse to let temptation lead you astray.

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

You’ve got the right idea, so don’t sec ond-guess your next move. Take the high road and finish what you start. Your happiness depends on you doing what’s suitable for you now. Invest in yourself.

(Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Haste makes waste. Slow down, re view essential details and adjust your plans to meet demand and ensure prog ress. Look at the big picture, but change only what’s necessary for now.

(Feb. 20-March

Sunshine Snacks aids successful Junior Hockey tournament

The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), in its quest to see the sport become a household name, hosted its Junior Hockey Tournament at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue. The tournament ran for two consecutive week ends, starting on October 8 and concluding on October 16, 2022.

The children were grouped into four divi sions: Under 11, Under 13, Under 16 and Under 20.

The Under-11 and Under 13 categories were mixed teams. While the Under 11 and Under 13 children are still learning the game, they are familiar with the ba sics of hockey and are mem bers of clubs. The youngsters showed much delight and en thusiasm while their parents and hockey fans supported them.

The GCC Pugs were crowned champions in the Under 11 mixed division, defeating GCC Bulldogs. In third position were YMCA Old Fort, and the Most Valuable Players (MVPs) were Letifa Fields and

Khristian Viapree.

In the Under 13 mixed category, GCC Thunder took the trophy, with runners-up being Saints Scorchers and Saints Scalpels. The MVPs for this category were Makeala Poole and Kyle Couchman.

In the Under 16 girls' cat egory, Saints Sensations outplayed YMCA Old Fort Wildcats, with GCC Tornadoes bringing up in the rear, in the third position. GCC War

ing Saints Scorpions, with Saints Supreme taking third. Kazaquah Uzzi, who played for Saints, was declared the MVP for the girls, and Vladimir Woodroof of GCC was crowned Under 16 boys MVP.

The Under 20 boys and girls showed much skill and determination, with some be ing on the national team and already representing Guyana.

In the girls' finals, GCC Herricanes defeated their sister team GCC Spartans. Abosaide Cadogan netted both goals for the Herricanes, while Madison Fernandes netted the lone goal for the Spartans. The MVP was Clayza Bobb of Saints Conquerors, who played a brilliant game in the semi-fi nals, but her team eventually lost to GCC Spartans in a pen alty shootout.

What can be considered the highlight of the eve ning saw the YMCA Old Fort Top Form out-scoring Saints Snipers 2-nil. Warren Williams scored both goals in the 1st and 9th min ute respectively. The game was fast-paced, with the skilful young men show ing much willpower on both sides. The Snipers tried to bore the net of their oppo nents, but brilliant goalkeep ing by Kennard Jerrick de nied their every attempt. In the end, Saints Snipers set tled for the runners-up posi tion, and Shakeem Fausette of Old Fort Top Form was adjudged MVP among his peers.

Ballon d'Or: Karim Benzema wins award for 1st time

Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d'Or – award ed to the best footballer of the year – for the first time.

Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games as he helped Real win the Champions League and La Liga in 2021-22.

Lionel Messi (seven) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) had won the award on 12 of the previous 13 occasions.

Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane, who was at Liverpool in 2021-22, was second ahead of Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne.

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas retained the Women's Ballon d'Or, award ed to the best female footbal ler of 2022.

England Euro 2022 win ner and Arsenal forward Beth Mead was second.

Premier League cham pions Manchester City, who had six nominees at the cer emony, were awarded Club of the Year ahead of Liverpool.

The Ballon d'Or is award ed to the best footballer of the year, based on performance over the previous season.

First Frenchman to win prize since 1998

Monday's ceremony in Paris saw French F1 driver Esteban Ocon arrive at the Theatre du Chatelet with the Ballon d'Or trophy in a rac ing car.

Benzema is the first Frenchman to win the pres tigious award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Zidane was at the event to present his coun tryman with the prize.

Benzema was the over

role for France at the World Cup in Qatar which starts on November 20.

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 100 Journalists from around the world.

third and fourth respectively. Tottenham's Hugo Lloris was 10th.

The Kopa Trophy, award ed to the best performing player under the age of 21, went to Barcelona and Spain midfielder Gavi, who turned 18 in August.

Borussia Dortmund mid fielder Jude Bellingham, 19, was ranked fourth and England team-mate and Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka, 21, was eighth.

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Muller Trophy awarded to the best striker after scoring 57 goals for Bayern Munich and Poland in 2021-22.

The inaugural Socrates Award, a humanitarian prize, went to Mane for his charity work.

Five-time winner Ronaldo ranked 20th

Ronaldo, who last won it in 2017, was placed 20th of the 30 players nomi nated, the Portuguese's low est Ballon d'Or ranking since 2005.

Ballon d'Or results

1. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France).

2. Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich, Senegal).

3. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium).

4. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland).

5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt).

6. Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain, France).

7. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium).

8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, Brazil).

Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia).

Vlahovic (Juventus, Serbia) and Casemiro (Manchester United, Brazil).

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal).

Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur, England).

whelming favourite to win this year's award.

His 44 goals included a hat-trick in 17 second-half minutes against Paris SaintGermain in the Champions League, and another away to Chelsea in the quarter-final first leg.

He also scored three more goals over two legs of the semi-final against Manchester City.

The 34-year-old, who has been at Real Madrid since 2009, is expected to play a key

Warm reception for Haller Borussia Dortmund's former West Ham striker Sebastien Haller, who has recently undergone chemo therapy for a testicular tu mour, received warm ap plause from the audience when he walked on stage to present the Yashin Trophy to Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois for best goalkeeper.

Liverpool's Alisson was second, with Ederson of Manchester City and Chelsea's Edouard Mendy

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the award in re cent years, apart from in 2018 when Croatia midfield er Luka Modric won it.

Messi had already won the trophy more times than any other player and his sev enth success in 2021 came af ter wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2019.

However, he was not nom inated this time after an un derwhelming first season at Paris St-Germain.

Manchester United's

Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway).

11. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea)

12. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria).

13. Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund, Ivory Coast).

14. Fabinho (Liverpool, Brazil) tied with Rafael Leao (AC Milan, Portugal).

16. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands).

17. Luis Diaz (Liverpool,

Trent AlexanderArnold (Liverpool, England) tied with Phil Foden (Manchester City, England) and Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal).

Joao Cancelo (Manchester City, Portugal) tied with Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, Germany); Mike Maignan (AC Milan, France); Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid, Germany); Darwin Nunez (Liverpool, Uruguay) and Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, France)

Dogs are the new Under 16 boys champions, defeat

Karim

President Ali engages GCB executives

According to a so cial media post on Monday after noon, President Dr Irfaan Ali engaged members of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), and they discussed the furtherance of the sport locally.

A post by the Office of the President’s Facebook page revealed, “His Excellency President Irfaan Ali told members of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) that the Government will con tinue to make the necessary interventions to support the growth of cricket in the country.

The Head of State met with the President of the GCB,

During the engagement, President Ali challenged the GCB to think outside the box and formulate initia tives to further propel the sport to greater heights.

Singh explained that the visit was long overdue and that members found it fit ting to share with President Ali their plans for the sport in Guyana, among which is the establishment of 18 cricket academies across the country.

Seven are earmarked for Essequibo, five for Demerara, and six for Berbice.”

MVP Sports Futsal tournament kicks off this Thursday

Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers League… CWSS in control, Dolphin strike 1st win

There was a rain of goals, nail-biting en counters and the most entertaining of stale mates on Sunday last, as the Guyoil Tradewind Tankers League returned for its fifth round at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground, Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown.

Christianburg Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) have taken the reins of the schools’ Under-18 football league once again, following a comprehensive victory on Sunday against Cummings Lodge Secondary.

Twenty-four

ward teams will descend on the National Gymnasium this Thursday, October 20, as they vie for a half-a-mil lion grand prize in the MVP Sports Futsal tournament. Organised by Petra and sup ported by ANSA McAL and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, this year’s tourna ment will be seeing more than just men on the tarmac.

The fifth edition of the Petra tournament will intro duce female teams to the fastpaced futsal discipline.

With four female teams set to compete, MVP Sports proprietor Ian Ramdeo was especially elated with their in clusion.

“MVP Sports is very hap py to partner with Petra on this and the other sponsors on board and stakeholders, because we feel that football, among other sports, needs to be developed at a youth and grassroots level,” Ramdeo shared.

“I’m very pleased to see that there’s a female compo nent of this tournament as well. So, that’s something that I don’t think, as far as I’m aware, has really been part of major tournaments in Guyana prior to this. So, hats off to you.”

ANSA McAL, being a sta ple corporate supporter of futsal, expressed its elation at being involved through

Nelson shared, “Just to let you know, we would have signed on to this tournament, because it fits in with the com pany’s objectives in fostering social cohesion and develop ment. More importantly, it gives youths and persons in the communities and wards a chance to display their tal ents.”

“Over the years, we have been pleased with the work being done by the Petra Organisation in its quest to help develop the sport of foot ball. As such, we give our full support towards the achieve ment of this mandate,” Nelson said.

With glowing words for the organisers, Director of Sport (DoS), Steve Ninvalle assured of the Government of Guyana’s blessing for the tournament.

Ninvalle shared with the gathering on Monday after noon, “What the inter-ward football does, it paths a way for persons who are not in the club structure to become part of organised football and we would want to support that. We like the initiative that Petra have set, we like the standard that Petra has set and we want to congratulate and hope that they can keep up those very high standards.”

The likes of Sparta Boss, Gold is Money, Back Circle

and Bent Street, among oth ers, will be competing for a $500,00 grand prize. Second place will pocket $300,000, while third place collects $200,00 and fourth place $100,000.

On the distaff side, the Guyana Police Force, Guyana Defence Force, Fruta Conquerors and Santos’ wom en’s teams will compete in the female tournament for a $200,000 first prize. Second, third and fourth place will be rewarded with $100,000, $50,000, and $25,000 respec tively.

Complete list of male teams:

East Front Road Upsetters

Campbellville

Festival City

Pike Street

Sophia

Alexander Village

Tiger Bay

Albouystown

Vengy FC North Ruimveldt

Future Stars

Stabroek Ballers

Channel 9 Mocha

Leopold Street

Avocado Ballers

Sparta Boss Back Circle Gold Is Money Bent Street

Vryheid’s Lust

Swag Entertainment

Demoll Warner was the leading man for the Linden outfit. Cummings Lodge looked to be a well-oiled out fit, but, after Warner broke the ice in the 28th minute, there was no turning back. The youngster returned in

misses and off-target shots reigned supreme and when the going got tough, there were even shots from mid field directed at the goal.

But, it was the goalkeep ers’ game to lose and the two youngsters remained unbeaten, resulting in a stalemate.

Camacho, Omar Sam, Jevon Pluck, and Jayden James contributed one apiece for their 4-0 win.

The Guyoil League will continue next Sunday at the same venue, as it enters the final two rounds of com petition.

CLASSIFIED

the 69th minute to com plete his brace. Meanwhile, Warner was ably assist ed by Kelvin Hintzen and Amani King, who found the back of the net in the 26th and 34th minute respec tively to contribute to their 4-0 victory.

Christianburg’s claim for the top spot was solid ified after a draw between Golden Grove Secondary and President’s College in the final match of the day.

The all-East Coast clash was actually a top-of-table contest, as the two schools were positioned first and second in the League be fore Sunday’s games. Near

Earlier in the day, Jequan Cole of Dolphin Secondary lit up the MoE Ground with a helmet trick to spur his team’s first win of the League. Cole netted in the 1st, 34th, 51st, and 68th minutes. Also adding their names to the score sheet were Jamaal Williams and Daniel DeHaarte, who scored in the 58th and 68th minutes respectively, for Dolphin’s 6-0 win over a struggling Friendship Secondary.

A victory was also on the cards for North Ruimveldt Secondary on Sunday, over West Ruimveldt. Hansjie

WANTED

Mr Bissoondyal Singh and the Board’s Executive members at State House today.

A look at the meeting involving President Dr Irfaan Ali and GCB executives

Beverage Manager Errol Nelson.

MVP Sports’ Ian Ramdeo hands over the sponsorship cheque to Petra’s Nareeza Latif in the presence of DoS Steve Ninvalle, ANSA McAL’s Errol Nelson and Petra’s Troy Mendonca

It was a stiff contest between Golden Grove and President’s College

CWSS’s Demoll Warner (on ball) netted a brace (Jemima Holmes photos

Scotland embarrass West Indies in WC opener

Two-time T20 World Cup champions West Indies were stunned by Scotland in their open ing match of Group B in Hobart. With the bat, open er George Munsey scored 66 off 53 to hold Scotland's in nings together to help them post 160. With the ball, Scotland relied on their slower bowlers to rock West Indies to 118 all out and consign them to a 42-run defeat.

It is the second time in two days that a FullMember side has gone down to an Associate nation, with Namibia beating Sri Lanka on opening day.

West Indies started their chase strongly and were 53 for 1 in 5.4 overs, but then lost their next seven wickets for 26 runs, with left-arm

throughs at the top and then in his return spell.

The loss puts West Indies under pressure with matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe next on their docket. Scotland, mean while, will be looking to build on this comprehen sive win and will eye a sec ond consecutive Super 12 spot at the T20 World Cup.

Watt, Leask open West Indies' wounds

The pitch wasn't par ticularly difficult to bat on, and many of West Indies' key batters fell looking to play their shots in a chase of 161. Kyle Mayers was the first to go, caught at deep midwicket going for a big hit even though he had just slammed a four and a six. Evin Lewis and

tive through the rest of the ished after his pull er on the leg side

By now the skies were turning grey. Watt, who opened

DLS sheet. At that point, Scotland were margin ally behind, but the ta bles turned when King was bowled trying to cut Watt off the back foot. With Scotland now slight ly ahead of the DLS, it was West Indies who were try ing to force the play, and in the process hurt their own game since rain never ar rived in the second innings.

Leask, from around the stumps, had Pooran bowled for 5 after he missed a pull shot. Powell soon fol lowed, holing to long-on. And Shamarh Brooks was caught trying to heave a back-of-a-length delivery to the only boundary rider on the leg side to leave West Indies reeling at 77 for 6 af ter 12 overs.

Akeal Hosein was then run out after a mix-up. Watt induced a nick from Alzarri Joseph for a first-ball duck to bring West Indies down to 79 for 8, and from there on, the result appeared to be a formality.

Jason Holder at num ber seven did save some face for West Indies with his 33-ball 38 to take the team's total past 100. He was the last man to depart in the 19th over, caught at long-off by Chris Greaves, prompting a sedate and

Munsey holds Scotland's fort Scotland were asked to bat by Pooran at the toss. The West Indies Captain said he wanted first use of the moisture on a fresh sur face only to then toss the new ball to medium-pacer Mayers and left-arm spin

zazz with four fours in his 14-ball cameo of 23. At the other end, Munsey slowburned his way to fifty in 43 balls in the 17th over.

At that time, Scotland looked set for a sub-150 score, a sharp decline from the position they were in af ter the powerplay.

But they got a timely boost, with two big overs right at the end. The 18th

over from Obed McCoy went for 12 runs and the 20th from Odean Smith cost 15 allowing them to post what turned out to be a more than match-winning total. Munsey contributed three of the five fours Scotland hit in those 12 balls, making what was comfortably the highest score of the match and even picking up an award for it. (ESPNcricinfo)

glehold with the wick ets of Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell, while right-arm seamer Brad Wheal got crucial break

the bowling, came back af ter the powerplay. But a sizeable part of his focus – and the captain Richie Berrington's – was on the

composed celebration from the victorious Scotland side.

ing Berrington for 16.

The set batter Munsey was struggling to find the boundaries with the field

spread out, and Scotland appeared to be losing their momentum, but Calum MacLeod injected some piz

Mark Watt did the damage early on West Indies’ batting

George Munsey saw Scotland through their 20 overs

Jason Holder was the shining star for the Men in Maroon with bat and ball

Brandon King is bowled by Watt

Rain

President Ali engages

executives