Guyana Times Epaper - Tuesday, October 4, 2022

in process of

GTI student brutally beaten to death

CoA to move ahead with hearing 17 months after appeal filed

Boy, 17, escapes after being allegedly kidnapped, stabbed 4-year-old critical after consuming poisonous substance Digicel Business to

wealth of

Guyana Basins Summit

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Tuesday, Oct 4 – 23:00 –00:30h and Wednesday, Oct 5 – 23:30 – 01:00h.

Govt mulls phasing out use of mercury in mining sector – Min Bharrat ...access to alternatives cited as major factor in phase-out

Tuesday, Oct 4 – 11:40h –13:10h and Wednesday, Oct 5 – 13:05h – 14:35h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on: Parika and Supenaam departure times – 05:00h, 10:00h-12:00h, 16:00h, 18:30h daily

WEATHER TODAY

There will be sunshine during the day. Expect partly cloudy skies and thundery showers at night. Temperatures should range between 22 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius.

Winds: South-Westerly to East South-Westerly between 1.34 metres and 3.57 metres.

High Tide: 11:51h reaching a maximum height of 2.09 metres.

Low Tide: 17:44h reaching a minimum height of 1.17 metre.

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat related that the issue of sustain able mining is one that his Government is taking se riously while hinting that at some point in the future the use of mercury will be phased out.

These were the sen timents of the Minister during a regional work shop coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Guianas, on reduc ing the use of mercury.

“We too, like Suriname, would have signed up for the Minamata Convention. And we too are committed to ensuring that we mini mise the use of mercury. And I’m choosing my words very carefully. I don’t want to make a commitment that will just be lip service and we cannot keep.”

“There are those who would come and say, by

that affordable alterna tives must be available to fill the void left by mer cury. The Minister noted that this alternative must be easy for the small-scale miners to adapt to – no easy feat, according to the Minister.

“To stop the use of mer cury, then we need an al

tion working towards find ing a cheap, reliable alter native to mercury that is environmentally friendly. That can increase our re covery rate. I haven’t seen any alternative we can use to mercury, that is afford able and our miners will accept.”

Meanwhile, WWF

cury.

“Even though most peo ple may know the harmful effects of mercury, people are willing to take risks with mercury use, as a means of earning a liveli hood. But, as with any ac tivity, people will make ra tional choices based on four factors. The first factor is the information available.”

“The second factor is al ternatives. Thirdly, what are the costs of those alter natives. And fourthly, the confidence is built through peers. For instance, if people see a friend doing something differently, they will trust that friend,” Dr Singh said.

Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is a high ly toxic chemical used in mining to bind gold togeth er. Exposure to mercury fumes affects the nervous and reproductive systems and damages brain func tion.

Guyana signed onto the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2013 and ratified the convention in 2014. Over the years the Ministry of Natural Resources has partnered with the WWF and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to draft a National Action Plan (NAP) which will see a phased reduction of the use of mercury in the mining sector to com plete elimination by 2027 through the implementa tion of a phased mercury reduction strategy.

next year we will stop the use of mercury. I cannot make such a commitment. But what I can assure you is that we’re working to wards minimising, and at some point in time in the near future, stop the use of mercury,” Bharrat said.

At the same time, Minister Bharrat noted

ternative. An alternative that is affordable. Yes, there are alternatives, but are they affordable? Can the small artisanal min ers afford the alternatives that are available today?”

“And I’m surprised that there hasn’t been any new invention or any organisa

Guianas Director Dr David Singh also identified the need for alternatives as an important factor in phasing out mercury. The Director also lauded the Governments of Guyana and Suriname for the steps they have already taken toward phasing out mer

The NAP captures a number of objectives and strategies as outlined in the Minamata Convention. These include mercury use reduction, increasing the viability of small- and me dium-scale mining, man agement of mercury waste, environmental assess ment, contaminated sites, public health aspects and public information aware ness and education.

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat during the workshop

A section of the gathering

Editor: Tusika Martin

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Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Deadly consequences when systems fail our children

The local media houses are again reporting of the death by suicide of another 15-year-old student of a city school after alleged bullying.

This is the second student from a leading secondary school in Georgetown who has died by suicide following allegations of verbal abuse and bullying.

In June 2021, a 15-year-old of Stanislaus College died by suicide after she was humiliated in school. On Monday, the Education Ministry reported that a 15-year-old of St Joseph High School died by suicide and a probe has been launched.

If one can recall, this publication reported the horror story of a fifth-form student of a Georgetown secondary school on September 12, 2022, in which he detailed abuse and discrimination not only by students but also teachers.

To quote the young man: “My school life is like the worst nightmare ever. I’m being abused physically, mentally, and verbally by both teachers and students because of my sexuality. I’m tired!”

Before these three incidents, the media reported the shocking death of a 15-year-old fourth-form student of a private city school.

To its credit, the Education Ministry has launched an investigation into all of these incidents, but this is after the fact and when the damage, heartbreak, and devastation have already been done.

There is no doubt, more details would emerge in the following investigations, but as of now, there are several unanswered questions; for example, what would have caused the teens to end their lives and what sort of help (if any) was provided to the teens in trying to prevent them from taking this route.

Quite a number of persons have already taken to social media to express varying views, but one common thread is that more could have been done and ought to have been done in response to these situations. In most cases, no one dreams overnight that they want to commit suicide and just do it. Most times, the warning signs are there, but many ignore them or they just treat them casually.

What is clear from these tragedies is that the entire system has failed.

The intervention of other agencies that are more equipped and trained to deal with such problems, such as the Education Ministry’s Welfare Department and the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) should have been immediately sought so they could provide the necessary help. We are not certain as to the level of involvement (if any at all) of these agencies in this most recent case.

How could a serious matter such as this go unnoticed by the principal and other teachers of the school? Assuming that they were unaware of the teen’s situation, did they not notice any strange behaviour from the teen that would warrant immediate intervention?

There is hardly any family in Guyana that has never been touched directly or indirectly by suicide. Experts have pointed to the fact that about 90 per cent of people die by suicide because depression is triggered by several negative life experiences and the suffering person does not receive effective treatment or support.

Young people are crying out for attention; they need guidance and help or simply someone to speak with; many want to find a way out of their misery. However, sometimes accessing that source of help is very difficult.

It is hoped that the relevant stakeholders – especially the agencies responsible for child care and protection matters, the Education Ministry, the Human Services Ministry, Non-Governmental Organisations, the churches, and communities in general will re-examine the issue of suicide and in particular, the circumstances surrounding this tragedy and take steps to ensure that something like this is prevented at all costs in the future.

Importantly, the lesson to be learnt is that when systems fail our people, the consequences can be deadly.

How did COVID-19 affect well-being in Central America and the Caribbean?

Dear Editor, The countries of Central America and the Caribbean all registered declines in their Human Development Index scores in the 2021-2022 issue of the Human Development Report, except for Guyana and Nicaragua. The de cline was greater than the world average for all but four of these countries, three of which derive most of their foreign earn ings from tourism. The Bahamas was the least af fected country in this re gion, with a 0.5 per cent decline between 2019 and 2021, compared with the world average loss of 0.9 per cent.

The Bahamas earns two-thirds of annual for eign currency inflows from tourism. Other countries that suffered a less severe impact than the world av erage were the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and St Kitts & Nevis. The DR is the only one that has a significant source of for eign earnings other than tourism; exports of cloth ing and medical supplies earn the country 36 per cent of annual foreign in come, with 25 per cent coming from tourism. Grenada and St Kitts & Nevis rely on tourism and

related services for the bulk of foreign earnings.

On average, countries in the wider Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) re gion were more severe ly affected by COVID-19 than the world average, with a fall of 1.8 per cent between 2019 and 2021, twice the world average. There were ten countries from the Central America and Caribbean sub-region which were more serious ly impacted by COVID-19 than the world at large, but which sustained loss es that were less severe than for the wider group that includes all of Latin America. These ten coun tries include every type of economy to be found in the region.

There were four coun tries that have no im portant source of foreign earnings other than tour ism: Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, and AntiguaBarbuda. Also in this group are two countries whose main exports are clothing and appliances, Costa Rica and Panama. Honduras exports agri cultural products and Trinidad-Tobago is a pe troleum exporter. Two countries, El Salvador and Haiti, now depend main ly on remittances from

abroad for their foreign currency needs.

The worst perform ing countries in Central America and the Caribbean suffered losses in excess of 1.8 per cent, the aver age for the wider Latin America and Caribbean region. This group in cludes Guatemala, which exports mainly agricul tural products, as well as three countries that de pend almost entirely on tourism, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, and Cuba. Belize, which is also in this group, derives most of its foreign curren cy from tourism, but it also exports agricultural products. The most severe decline was in Suriname, where the Human Development Index score fell by 3.3 per cent be tween 2019 and 2021.

The new Human Development Report, pub lished on September 8, 2022, provides an incom plete view of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The HDI combines three elements, the purchasing power of average nation al income, life expectancy, and years of schooling. The 2021 data in the Human Development Report does include the COVID-19 im pact on income and life ex

pectancy; however, it will not be clear for some time what effect the makeshift arrangements and time lost in school systems will have on school dropout rates and other indicators of educational achieve ment. The long-term ef fects on health are also unknown at this time.

There are two coun tries in Central America and the Caribbean where the HDI score ac tually improved during the COVID-19 period. Guyana's score rose 0.8 per cent, entirely because of the beginning of oil pro duction, which stimulated a 65 per cent increase in the country's national in come per capita.

National income per capita rose seven per cent in Nicaragua, and the country avoided any decline in life expectan cy, resulting in a 0.5 per cent improvement in the country's HDI score. However, in both cases, the country's position in the world HDI ranking re mains below the average for Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the world average.

Sincerely, DeLisle Worrell

Prime Minister Mark Phillips pays tribute to the late Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi at the Promenade Gardens on Monday to commemorate his 153rd birth anniversary. In addition, the 118th birth anniversary of the second Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri was also remembered. In attendance were Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal; High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr KJ Srinivasa; Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine and other members of the diplomatic corps, public and private sectors

President Ali comes across as ‘down to earth’

Dear Editor,

It has been described as a down-to-earth presidency, un precedented in recent times. No President in recent memo ry developed the kind of downto-earth leadership style of President Irfaan Ali, taking governance to the people.

Irfaan Ali was seen min gling with and engaging the public, ordinary folks, the poor, wealthy, the mid dle class, young and old,

Indians, Africans, Mixed, Amerindians, and others, for eigners and locals, the pow erful, the weak or meek, the wretched, and the elite. And he was (has been) seen mix ing, conversing, engaging, in teracting, and responding to people of all ethnicities and ages across the nation in all ethnic communities.

The President was ob served or the public talk ed about how he was kissing

and hugging babies, embrac ing people, empathising with those who tragically lost loved ones, sitting with the people at the stadium rooting for the Guyana team, singing popu lar tunes, dancing at events, doing the nagara or tarapiti or Tassa, swimming in a public pool with ordinary folks, tra versing markets, inspecting roads, wading in flood waters, helping pick up garbage for a clean environment, and more.

He celebrates occasions and consoles those with grief and sadness. No recent President developed this kind of simplistic but effective lead ership style or did those kinds of things to be with the people, projecting Irfaan as someone who is not elitist or aloof un like what the public said was the image projected by his pre decessor. This down-to-earth approach of Irfaan draws him to people of all ethnicities. He

Why are some drivers still on our roads?

Dear Editor, The question is asked time and time again why are some folks still behind the wheel of a motorable ve hicle? We’ve gone through this topic so many times over that I have lost count.

My humble opinion on this subject is not to focus on the problem any longer - we can go on discussing this in ed dying circles from now to eternity - my take on this subject is to find a last ing, workable, solution and stick to it.

Our discussion comes against a backdrop of some gruesome vehicular homi cides in recent days on our nation’s roads. The first that comes up for review is the accident that took the lives of both driver and pas senger in a minibus. Video footage from that horrif ic accident shows a driv er going at a terrific speed before the crash, that driv er couldn’t have controlled that vehicle after the initial impact. So, why the exces sive speeding, why the mad rush? There is no need for this reckless road usage be cause it will eventually lead to death and destruction!

In a later interview with this guy’s father, it was revealed that it is his son’s obsession with speed

ing whenever he gets be hind the wheel. In fact, he was involved in an acci dent some time ago that left a pedestrian permanent ly paralysed. So, the ques tion comes forcefully to us, seeing we have such an ir responsible driver and one who has no care for his life or other road users, why is he still behind the wheel of a vehicle?

Why are such irrespon sible persons still on our roads? Are we going to wait until more lives are lost be fore we do something about him or other such drivers?

I think not, my take on such reckless persons is to deal with them swiftly and condignly. In my book, he should never be behind the wheel of a vehicle, end of discussion! When you have persons of such mentali ty on our roads it is just a recipe for disaster, which in this case came sooner than later.

When drivers of vehicles are faced with the reality that their licenses would be permanently revoked, then and only then, will we see a drastic reduction in the spate of vehicular homi cides on our roads. If dras tic action is not taken, the madness will continue.

As a frequent travel

ler by public transport in the Berbice to Georgetown route, it was my nightmare of an experience to have travelled in a vehicle with a driver who believes that no vehicle should be ahead of him. His way of driving is that you drive at speeds over 120 km, taking ev ery turn with the same mo mentum (driving instruc tors would tell you that you cannot manoeuvre a curved bend on the road at the same speed as you would on a horizontal stretch of road way) but this idiot of a driv er did. At about the turn at Tempe Village, this driver negotiated that turn in the very same manner, bare ly missing a parked truck at the side of the road. I called out to him to desist, but my plea fell on deaf ears, he treated me as if I wasn’t there. In my book, he should not be behind a wheel of a vehicle.

You see this driver’s mo dus operandi is he is aim ing to make three trips to Georgetown every day and nothing is going to stop him. Filling his pocket becomes the prime objective so mak ing the roadway a racetrack is all that matters for him. The value of life and limb is not of much interest to him. These are some of the prob

lems that confront us on our roads.

Then, there is the peren nial problem of drunk driv ing as was evident in the lit tle girl who lost her life on the Essequibo Coast. That driver throws the rule of the road not to drink and drive down the toilet and so his careless, carefree use of the roadway caused the death of that little girl. Again, I say there is a pretty sim ple solution to his problem, some good time in incar ceration and total revoca tion of his driving privileg es. There can be no excuse for drunk driving, absolute ly none!

So, with the widening of existing roadways as well as the building of new high ways, it is my fear and trep idation that there will be more deaths on our roads once the present laxity per sists when dealing with er rant drivers. At this stage of our development, heavy em phasis has to be put on the safe use of our thorough fares. A sure way to achieve this objective is swift and decisive action to be taken to bring the wayward few into line when using our na tion’s roadways.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

Renegotiation of oil deal

Dear Editor, D Sookdeo’s letter

“Sanctity of Contract” pub lished in Guyana Times on September 26, 2022, sparked my interest in re sponding, although be latedly.

Sookdeo wrote “am aware that a contract was signed between the previ ous Government and Exxon that some considered lop sided in favour of Exxon and are strenuously advocating for the current Government to re-negotiate the contract. So, let us assume that the Government did approach Exxon for a change but Exxon refused on the basis that the terms in the con tract are legally binding, can the Government then give Exxon an ultimatum to either re-negotiate or pack up and leave?”

Editor, I am not a law yer, but I have read, that many in the news, includ

ing a lady who is described as an expert in interna tional law, are insisting that the contract the coa lition Government signed can be renegotiated. Many in the news including Glen Lall, publisher of the wa terfall newspaper, advocat ed this position. But editor, Sookdeo hit the proverbial nail on the head when he wrote that a contract, un less otherwise stated, can not be renegotiated, if one of the signatory parties re fuses to renegotiate. It is in the self-interest of Exxon not to agree to renegoti ate the contract with the Government of Guyana.

Editor, here are two well-known cases to sup port Sookdeo’s contention. These cases show that the present Government can not force Exxon to renego tiate the signed contract if Exxon does not desire to do so.

Case 1: Guantanamo Bay. In February 1903, the US Government signed an agreement with Cuba to lease Guantanamo Bay for life, as a naval base. The initial payment was 2000 dollars in gold per year. In 1974, the amount was in creased to US$4084. Given the 45 square miles of land and water of the Bay, now nicknamed GITMO, this was almost equivalent to a free deal.

When Castro came to power in 1959, he tried to renegotiate the contract, but the US refused to this day. In 2002, GITMO was used as a detention centre for prisoners captured in Afghanistan.

Case 2: Churchill Falls contract. In 1971, the Government of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador signed a con tract that states the fol lowing: “the contentious

contract that requires al most all of the 5,428 mega watts of electricity gener ated at Churchill Falls be sold to Hydro-Québec at an extremely low price”. As a result, Quebec earned 30 billion to Newfoundland 2 billion Canadian dol lars. Needless to say, Newfoundlanders and Labrador have been very bitter and angry at this one-sided deal. They took the agreement all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada but lost. The court ruled that, essentially, an agreement cannot be abro gated unless both parties to the agreement agree. The court ruled that the agree ment can only be renego tiated when it expires in 2040.

Editor, does this ring the bell?

With regards, Ganesh Harilal

connects with and address es issues that impact them, resulting in a positive image among the public no doubt re sulting in high approval or fa vourability ratings. A poll is being conducted to determine approval ratings.

The President travelled around to diverse communi ties, meeting and addressing the public, and listening to or engaging them. He appeared to listen to the people on their grievances and where prac tical took effective actions to find solutions. He has taken

the Government to the com munities on a consistent basis.

His mixing with the peo ple and engaging in the revel ry are appealing resulting in many describing his leader ship style as being approach able and engaging.

Could Ali’s leadership style and his continuing to en gage the common people see him making political gains across the aisle?

Yours truly, Vishnu Bisram

HSS urges promoters to desist from using Diwali as fete

Dear Editor, The integration of the people of the Caribbean (pri marily the Guyanese society) allows persons from various religious and cultural back grounds to be a part of tra ditional celebrations such as the Hindu festival of Diwali.

While it is good to have flavour and inclusiveness that may play a significant role and contribute to na tion-building – many people began various practices that often tamper with the rich, deep-rooted origin of culture and tradition, sometimes re sulting in the reduction or misconception of the actual significance of the festival.

For the first time in a cou ple of years, we are able to come together and celebrate Diwali unlike the past couple of years when COVID and other challenges prevented such gatherings.

In recent times, new prac tices have emerged in the cel ebration of Diwali in Guyana

where the fashionable Diwali celebration began taking pre cedence over tradition and including completely inap propriate actions such as al cohol and meat consumption.

While we are not against fete and J'ouvert, because it is a significant part of our culture HSS joins with the Hindu Community in strongly denouncing the us age of the words Diwali and Deepavali for all promotions that have alcoholic bever ages, meat consumption, and sexual vulgarity. Let us all come together as one Guyana and celebrate Diwali for what it is, ‘Celebration of lights and the victory of good over evil’. Let us understand the traditional significance of Diwali, why and how it start ed, and continue to uphold our traditions for future gen erations.

Sincerely, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)

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

Types of angles

EXAMPLE:

If angle A

STEP

Think:

STEP 2: Subtract:

When

So angle

What you need:

1/4" (6mm) drinking straw thin rubber bands Scissors, tape

Instructions:

Print the template and cut it out. If you’d like, you can use the dotted lines and fold the paper in half lengthwise so you can cut both sides of the bird out at once.

– Take the plastic straw and cut off one inch, then tape it in be tween the bird halves, using tape loops.

– Apply glue or tape to the rest of the bird and fold in half, stic king both sides together.

– Cut a thin rubber band (the thinner the better) and thread it through the straw. Now start pec king!

To make it go, get the wood pecker toward the end of the rub ber band that the head points to.

Stretch the rubber band vertical ly. Make sure your hand is not near your eye, so the rubber band will not snap your eye if it breaks.

Shake your hands up and down a few times, then suddenly hold them still. The bird should keep on bobbing... and bobbing...and bobbing all the way down until its potential energy is exhausted.

Note: If the woodpecker won't work, you can experiment with making the diameter of the straw smaller by slicing the piece of st raw lengthwise. The cut edges will overlap a little, decreasing the dia meter. Tape so it stays overlapped as much as you want it. (Excerpts from MadebyJoel.com and scien cetoymaker.org)

How Chanticleer and Partlet went to visit Mr Korbes

By The BroThers Grimm

CONTINUED FROM MONDAY

WORD SEARCH Page Foundation 6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022 ◄ VERTICAL ANGLES

BE CONTINUED

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLES are two angles that form a right angle. Their sum will be 90o.

Govt in process of mapping out available oil blocks before auction – Min Bharrat

available blocks

Ahead of the soonto-be-launched auc tion of Guyana’s re maining oil blocks, the Government is in the pro cess of mapping out the blocks that will be up for bidding so that there can be a greater understanding of what is available.

This is according to Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, when questioned on Monday by Guyana Times . Bharrat point ed out that ExxonMobil is the operator in the Canje Block and, therefore, re linquished some acreage there based on their agree ment. Other parts of off shore Guyana are also be ing mapped.

“We are in the process of mapping out the avail able blocks. We know that Block C for sure is avail able. There is relinquished acreage in the Canje Block. And there are a few oth er blocks, for example, the Demerara and Berbice Blocks that are available,” he said.

“So, more data will be released very shortly, based on the statement we will start that process very soon. So, we expect as soon as Cabinet finalises those

new fiscal terms, we will release all the informa tion.”

According to Minister Bharrat, significant prog ress has been made to wards launching the auc tion, and soon, Cabinet will finalise the new fis cal terms that will be im plemented for those new blocks or acreages that will

be up for bidding.

“It will be an open pro cess that will last several months. We will decide de finitively on a timeframe, whether we give three months or four months, or even six months. Those are some of the practic es around the world,” the Minister said.

“Countries give four

months or six months to companies to prepare their bid documents and to en sure that they present a proper proposal to the Government of Guyana, having reviewed all the terms and conditions of the bidding process and also having had an opportunity to look at the data and in

their own way, assess the blocks available.”

Since the discovery of oil in 2015, the Guyana off shore basin has seen un precedented development, with Guyana setting a new paradigm for expeditious development of oil and gas resources. According to S&P Global, “the fourand-a-half-year time frame from discovery to the first production places Guyana first among global deep-water jurisdictions in terms of the average time to bring major discoveries on stream”.

With the upcoming bid ding round, the Natural Resources Ministry out lined last week that the Government expects to chart a new path as the country’s offshore areas emerge as a potential su per basin with over 11 billion boe (barrels of oil equivalent) discovered to date, and with substantial exploration activities ongo ing, this figure is expected to increase significantly.

The auction is expect ed to attract global in terest, although experts have warned that it is im portant to balance the PSA’s (Production Sharing Agreement) fiscal terms.

During a recent visit to Guyana, Norwegian con sultancy Rystad Energy Vice President Shreiner Parker noted that while Guyana will get inter ests from around the globe when it goes out to auction its oil blocks, getting the fi nancial terms of the blocks right would be very import ant. He had given the ex ample of Brazil.

“In recent years, they’ve had unsuccessful bid rounds. Even though Brazil is an extremely im portant source of offshore production globally, they were unable to attract the interest that it wanted, be cause the fiscal regimes were too onerous. And they were asking for too much.”

“So, the balance that Guyana will have to strike on these new blocks is un derstanding that we’re no longer going to have the Stabroek fiscal regime. We are a petroleum prov ince. Yet at the same time, we cannot expect that it’s a guaranteed success and that every hole poked into the ground will produce oil. So, getting that fiscal regime correct is going to be paramount to attracting interest globally,” Parker had said.

Map showing the various oil blocks already in the hands of operators and the untapped Block C

Man found guilty of raping girl, 12

Found guilty on two child rape charges by a majority ver dict of 10-2, Gavin Assanah was on Monday remanded to prison to await sentenc ing for the crime.

He had been on trial for the offence for about a week before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall and a mixed 12-member jury at the Sexual Offences Court in Georgetown.

The indictments against him stated that he engaged in sexual pen etration with the girl be tween August 1 and 31, 2014, and then again on

ecution’s facts, Assanah raped the girl on two oc casions while she was just 12. He was a close friend of her mother.

Sentencing for the con vict has been deferred un til October 24 to allow time for the preparation of social and psychological reports on Assanah and an impact statement from the victim.

Throughout his trial, Assanah was represent ed by Attorney-at-Law Euclin Gomes while State Counsel Cicelia Corbin appeared on behalf of the prosecution.

Guyana…

…kulcha?

Back in 2018, the PNC coalition Government plunged enthusiastically into the launch of a “Guyana Carnival”! It was held in March and organised by some (Surprise!! Surprise!!) PNC types – like the then ubiquitous Bobby Vieira. Said to be inspired by the Grand Jubilee Independence Celebrations two years earlier, your Eyewitness had railed against it for being a cheap and tawdry cogging of what they thought Trinidad’s Carnival was!! In 1970 they’d adopted a similar crass cogging from Linden – but had the grace to call it by some fake made-up “Amerindian” name – Mashramani!!

The Trinis couldn’t very well complain about the total lack of historical awareness of the traditions of carnival – and all that we saw were lewd and rude competitions as to who could dress and gyrate the most vulgarly!! The introduction of Jamaican Dancehall offered the fig leaf for the vulgarity – if one was needed!! The costumes were cheap pasties – unlike the Trini standards where one can see the months of preparation by experts in the field of costuming and were themed. This was repeated around Independence 2019, but thankfully COVID tanked it for 2020 and 2021!! One of the few positives that came out of that scourge!!

Well, Administrations changed in 2020 and to your Eyewitness’s surprise, this year it was announced that the Government itself – not private organisers – would be launching a “Cricket Carnival” in tandem with the CPL playoffs. The Government had earlier signed a three-year contract with the T20 Tournament to host those playoffs in September hence the carnival was unhitched from “Independence” and tagged on to Cricket. Now one can be thankful for that disassociation and your Eyewitness hoped with the Government involved and all, there would be some thought expended to ensure that the CONTENT of the Cricket Carnival – be inspired by our history and cultural evolution – as was Trinidad’s Carnival to theirs!!

Sadly, it was not to be and once again one groped to find some indigeneity in the cultural expression displayed. They say that culture comes out of the experiences of the people at the bottom and its expressions may be polished and displayed by the artistes in the society. This then is a failure to develop a community of artistes in our country. There was a discussion recently about CARIFESTA’s launch in Guyana in August 1972.

Didn’t it occur to anyone in Authority – capital “A”!! – that if they were launching this Cricket Carnival around the same time, there could’ve been a gathering of our artistic community – from ALL our cultural strains – to discuss the content of this new spectacle?? From what your Eyewitness saw, this was just lazy regurgitation of an undigested Trini product!!

Meanwhile, did Montano share his pickings with Pres Ali??

…southern neighbour

You just can’t go by these polls, can you?? On the eve of Sunday’s election in neighbouring Brazil – the polls predicted that Lula had a double-digit lead against Bolsonaro. But when the numbers came out – the SAME evening, thank you!! – the difference was just 5% and Lula hadn’t secured a majority!! So at the end of this month, there’s gonna be a runoff election between the two of them!!

So what’s the lesson for us in Guyana?? Your Eyewitness isn’t sure whether populist Lula will do any better than Bolsonaro – and might very well take Brazil down the Venezuelan rabbit hole!! But what he gleaned is that those in the PPP Government, who may be enthusiastic with the recent LAPOP polls showing that “traditional PNC supporters” are looking more favourably at them – shouldn’t get too excited about shifts in their voting pattern!!

People frequently tell pollsters what they wanna hear to hide sentiments that might appear “irrational”.

Which voting in Guyana frequently is!!

…and oil companies

Your Eyewitness finds it more than passing strange that the sound and fury against the horrible contract signed by PNC’s Raphael Trotman (remember Nassau?!) is directed towards Exxon and Hess.

Doesn’t China’s CNOOC own 25% of the contract??

The

Readers

January 26, 2014. The of fence was committed in the county of Demerara. According to the pros

President Ali hails Philomena SahoyeShury as fearless freedom fighter

The passing of vet eran politician

Philomena SahoyeShury brought unsurmount able condolences and tales of a fearless woman, known to many as “Fireball” as she greatly influenced the politi cal arena during her years.

Expressing his sorrow over her death, which was announced on Sunday, was President Dr Irfaan Ali, who remembered SahoyeShury’s efforts in Guyana’s battle for Independence.

The President penned, “Her death has robbed me, the People’s Progress Party, and Guyana of an exception al human being who touched every life with which she came into contact. I have enjoyed a long relationship with Cde Phil, as she was af fectionately called. I consid ered her as family, friend, colleague and comrade. She, along with my late grand mother, was in the van guard of Guyana’s struggle for Independence. She was also involved in the struggle for the restoration of democ racy and helped build a free and democratic Guyana.”

The Head of State con tinued that the country owes an eternal debt of grat itude to her as an outstand ing daughter of our soil, who

was a “fearless and formida ble fighter” in the struggle for freedom.

“We were close associ ates within the People’s Progressive Party. I respect her and learnt from her. Cde Phil was always will ing to share her vast ex perience and wisdom with younger members of the party. She never shirked from leading by example when it came to political legwork. I also worked with her on the Depressed Needs Committee, of which she was a Co-Chair. Later, she would work within the Ministry of Housing when I was the subject Minister. I always rely on her. I respected her candidness. Her work has helped to transform commu nities across Guyana.”

He added, “Guyana has

lost an amazing human be ing. Our country is poorer for her passing. Her death diminishes us all. The poor and powerless have lost a true champion. But she will live on in our hearts as someone whose service was selfless beyond reproach. I extend my heartfelt con dolences to the family and friends of Mrs Philomena Sahoye-Shury - one of Guyana’s foremost warriors of freedom.”

Sahoye-Shury died at the age of 90. Along with former President Cheddi Jagan, she also served as a Member of Parliament for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic be tween the period 1968 and 1971.

In addition, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo,

Philomena Sahoye-Shury

who is also the Secretary General of the PPP/C, also penned, “A longstanding and dedicated member of the party, Cde Phil also con tributed immensely during the struggle against PNC dictatorship. She touched many lives in a positive way and has left a rich legacy of service to the people of Guyana.”

In a statement, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) regarded the veter an leader as “a long-stand

ing ally of the Guyanese working-class, a dedicat ed comrade of GAWU, and a voice of the people in our country”.

During her earlier years, she would have served as the General Secretary of the Union, which the entity said played an instrumental role in the consolidation and suc cess of the GAWU.

“During her time in GAWU, the Union was en gaged in the nearly 30-year struggle for recognition on behalf of the field and facto

ry workers of the sugar in dustry. It was a period when no attempt was spared to extinguish the militancy of the workers and the GAWU. Despite the great challeng es, the ‘Fireball’ was not daunted. Her commitment was unyielding as she and other leaders of GAWU, demonstrated tremendous grit and determination that eventually saw GAWU gain ing Union recognition in the sugar industry.”

Even after she left the Union, she never lost touch. She inspired the new leader ship of GAWU to go on to se cure new successes and fur ther gains. She remained grounded with the ordi nary people despite the new heights she attained nation ally. It is a testimony to her character and the ideals she abided by during her life time.

GAWU added, “Indeed, the ‘Fireball’ leaves an un enviable legacy of service to the Guyanese people, espe cially the working class. She made an indelible mark of humility and dedication to mankind. The GAWU owes a tremendous debt to her, and her contributions will continue to live on in the many organisations within which she functioned.”

President Dr Irfaan Ali

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

APNU/AFC has no sensible response to PPP/C’s comprehensive agenda – Minister Singh

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh said the Opposition APNU/ AFC coalition has no sensi ble response to the PPP/C Government’s comprehen sive agenda.

During a televised programme with the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Saturday, Dr Singh refuted Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s “baseless” discrim ination talks.

“The recourse to the eth nic bogeyman, the base less statement being made about discrimination are re flective of the fact that the APNU/AFC has no sensi ble response to the compre hensive agenda that is being implemented by President Ali’s PPP/C Government,” Dr Singh posited.

The senior Minister said Government’s developmen tal agenda is evident in the

consistent pattern of the an nual budgetary allocations, and policy position that cre ated an environment for job opportunities and income generation.

He said if one should look at almost everything the Administration has achieved and is pursuing, they will observe a system

atic approach designed for the growth of Guyanese.

The Minister pointed to a number of social support programmes, especially the COVID-19 cash grant relief initiative which benefitted every household in the ten administrative regions.

Minister Singh noted that the swift move to un

dertake such a massive out reach stemmed from the PPP/C observing several households in financial dis tress during the devastating period.

“Where is the discrimi nation here?” the Minister asked, as he reeled out a host of other measures, which he said, were implemented by the previous Government to cause destruction to Guyanese families.

“If you look at, for ex ample, introducing VAT on electricity, water, edu cation, medical and school supplies, construction mate rials and heavy-duty equip ment, taking away the cash grants from parents… the interventions by the APNU/ AFC harmed every single Guyanese family,” he stated.

The restoration of the “Because We Care” initiative alone has injected almost $6 billion into the pockets of parents/guardians of ap proximately 194,000 school

children.

“Irrespective of where you live, irrespective of where your ancestors came from, irrespective of which area you subscribe to… it’s distributed to parents of all Guyanese children.”

Further, Minister Singh said every household that pays an electricity or water bill now enjoys a VAT-free process, when compared to prior August 2, 2020.

Additionally, the Housing Ministry’s pro gramme was stagnant, with little to no applications be ing processed for citizens to own their own homes, the Minister asserted.

“We came into office, we immediately revamp and strengthen the Housing Ministry and we started an aggressive programme to distribute house lots… since we are in office, we have probably distributed more than 10,000 house lots.”

Dr Singh said the APNU/

AFC political group contin ues to demonstrate its “in tellectual bankruptcy,” in competence and inability to formulate policies for Guyana.

He reiterated that during the coalition’s reign, Guyanese witnessed no di versification nor growth in the economy.

“Instead, it appeared that the strategy was sim ply, to sit [and] wait for oil to come,” the Finance Minister contended.

To this end, he main tained that the Opposition can in no way provide cred ible criticism of the PPP/C’s inclusive policies as well as an alternative policy posi tion on any issue.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently commended the Guyana Government’s ef forts to maintain financial stability and promote finan cial inclusion throughout the nation.

Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh

APNU/AFC’s

2nd dismissed election petition

CoA to move ahead with hearing 17 months after appeal filed

…Forde blames lengthy delay on CJ’s failure to issue written judgement

The Court of Appeal (CoA) on Monday unani mously ruled that it will proceed with hearing an ap peal against a 17-month-old judgement by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, SC in which she dismissed the APNU/AFC’s second election petition challenging the re sults of the 2020 General and Regional Elections and has fixed November 1 for hearing.

Filed by Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick, the pe tition sought to have the elec tion results invalidated on the ground of serious non-com pliance with the Constitution and electoral laws as it re lates to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)’s con duct over those elections.

In May 2021, an appeal was filed against the Chief Justice’s ruling which was ren dered on April 26, 2021; but 17 months later, the appeal has not been heard.

Public interest

On Monday, the court’s bench comprising Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud ruled in favour of a mo tion filed by Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde for the hearing of the matter to be expedited, noting that its reason for doing so is because of the public in terest nature of the case.

“A party or an applicant should not be turned away from the seat of justice giv en the nature of this matter and, therefore, in the interest of justice we will grant the ap plication,” the Chancellor said.

Petitioners to be blamed

Trinidadian Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, who represented Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, one of the re spondents in the appeal had, however, asked the court to dismiss the motion, arguing that it was the petitioners who had failed to initiate the pro cess to prosecute the matter.

While Mendes acknowl edged that the appeal should be treated with urgency as it concerns the composition of the membership of the National Assembly, he argued that there would have been no resistance if the petition ers had filed the application for an urgent hearing by May 31, 2021, instead of August 30 to cater for a further appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

“Appeals of this nature ought to progress with due dis patch in order that any dis putes concerning the member ship of the National Assembly ought to be resolved not only in the interest of the parties but to the nation, to the en tire electorate…” According to Mendes, the petitioners are blaming everyone except themselves for the delay in the hearing of the matter.

He said, “My learned friend [Forde] is blaming ev eryone except the appellants themselves,” adding that the Chief Justice’s draft ruling, which reflects her full judge

ment, was available from May 4, 2021. Considering this, Mendes contended that noth ing was preventing the pe titioners from drafting their NoA and establishing their grounds of appeal.

Substantial prejudice

But Forde, who is also the shadow Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, argued that this is not the case, stat ing: “The High Court docu ments which would be neces sary to constitute an appeal… remain in the custody of the High Court.”

According to him, a memo randum was sent by the Court of Appeal to the High Court re questing Judge George’s writ ten ruling and the necessary documents to prepare the re cord of appeal, but he is yet to receive them.

His clients, Forde pointed out, 19 months after the Chief Justice rendered her ruling, were forced to file the motion requesting an expedited hear ing not only because she failed to deliver a written decision but because she did not pre pare the necessary documents and send them to the Appeal Court.

When Justice George ren dered her judgement on April 26, 2021, Forde recalled that she specifically said that her “full decision is to follow”, and that a draft transcript of her decision will be available and is to be used for information purposes until her actual deci sion is made available.

In light of this, the Senior Counsel complained, “We have suffered substantial preju dice by the failure to have the full decision made available and laid over to the [Court] of Appeal in which we could first establish and adjust the Notice of Appeal (NoA) and to proceed to constitute the NoA and the other documents to constitute the record of appeal.”

The Court of Appeal, how ever, will move ahead with the hearing despite the Chief Justice’s written decision still being outstanding and which renders the record of appeal incomplete. Forde said that the system is to be blamed for the delay and not his clients.

In the end, the Chancellor of the Judiciary promised an investigation into whether the delay in the hearing of the ap peal is the fault of the conduct of the petitioners or the justice system.

No evidence

Thorne and Bostwick

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

But, in dismissing the peti tion, the Chief Justice held that the petitioners failed to pres ent evidence to support that the conduct of the elections contravened the Constitution and electoral laws. She ruled that neither Section 22 nor the Recount Order was ultra vires the Constitution, adding that Article 162 of the Constitution empowered GECOM to take whatever actions were neces sary to conclude the elections, including embarking on a re count of all ballots.

Alluding to the events that occurred after the close of polls, Justice George noted, “Given the difficulties, it does appear that it would not have been prudent for GECOM to declare the results in the peculiar cir cumstances that accompa nied the completion of the pro cess of the March 2 Elections.

A combination of Article 162 (1) (b) of the Constitution and Section 22 confer the pow er upon GECOM to issue this [Recount] Order if GECOM

considered it necessary or ex pedient to ensure impartiality, fairness, and compliance… as regards the election process.”

Erred

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

According to them, by vir tue of their application for the election results to be declared invalid, both Section 22 and Order #60 which flowed direct ly from Article 162 were in con flict with and or contravened Article 177 of the Constitution.

In court documents seen by this publication, they further contended that Justice George again erred in law when she found that Order #60 was a mechanism to allow for the re count to be conducted by ex panding the recount provi sions in the Representation of the People Act (RoPA).

The petitioners submit ted that Justice George erred in law when she failed to find that the mechanisms set out in Order No #60 amounted to a substantial variation from the

RoPA and consequently could not be said to have “merely modified” the said Act.

Besides that, they com plained that she erred in law when she ruled that they did not produce evidence that claimed that the elections were not lawfully conducted. Like before the High Court, they have gone to the appel late court arguing that there was no need for the produc tion of any evidence except the declarations by the Returning Officers and the recount fig ures.

Thorne and Bostwick, among other things, argue that the Chief Justice erred in law when she rejected the ev idence before the court which established that there was a difference in the recorded fig ures for the political parties in the Official Gazette dated August 20, 2020, in which re sults were declared pursuant to Order #60 from a letter by former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield to GECOM’s Chairperson re tired Justice Claudette Singh.

Thrown out

Both of APNU/AFC’s elec tions petitions have now been dismissed by the Chief Justice. In January 2021,

she dismissed APNU/AFC’s election petition which was filed by Brennan Nurse and Monica Thomas owing to their non-compliance with effecting service on President David Granger.

The party appealed her ruling to the Court of Appeal, which by a majority decision on December 21, 2021, held that it had jurisdiction to hear an appeal against a ruling of the High Court to dismiss an election petition on the basis of procedural impropriety.

In so doing, the Court of Appeal rejected arguments by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, that the court had no jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal; neither from statute, the Constitution nor does it have inherent ju risdiction.

Meanwhile, in a consoli dated appeal at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which was heard on July 19, Nandlall, and Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, in his ca pacity as General Secretary of the PPP/C, argue that the Court of Appeal erred and therefore its decision should be overturned.

The CCJ has reserved its ruling. (Fiona Morrison)

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

Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde

Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes

Digicel Business to showcase wealth of solutions at Guyana Basins Summit

…on board as principal sponsor

Digicel Business is on board as the prin cipal sponsor of the annual Guyana Basins Summit, where the compa ny will be showcasing its wealth of business solutions to major operators, licence holders, tier one contractors and the entire value chain in Guyana’s emerging hy drocarbons sector.

The summit will take place from Tuesday, October 4, 2022 to Thursday, October 6, 2022, at the New Pegasus Hotel, Kingston Georgetown.

However, the Guyana Basins Summit comes at an opportune time as Digicel Business prepares for the installation of its Deep Blue One subsea cable in frastructure in early 2024 which will supercharge connectivity in this area of the Caribbean and South America.

Deep Blue One will pro vide best-in-class connec tivity to French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, and connect offshore oil and gas platforms on the back of in dustry developments in the Region.

Commenting on Digicel Business’s significant in vestment, Head of Oil and Gas, Digicel Group Business Solutions, Kevin Beckett elaborated, “With subsea fibre providing the back

bone of the global economy and serving as a catalyst to economic development, our substantial investment in submarine capacity under pins our confidence in the development of the Region. A great example of this is the connectivity options we will be able to provide, both onshore and offshore, to the oil and gas industries in countries like Guyana and Suriname as they capitalise on the boom in the Region.”

Beyond connectivi ty, this cable system will bring a full economical eco system for the benefit of all. In a 2019 report pub lished by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), entitled “The eco nomic contribution of broadband, digitisa tion and ICT regulation: Econometric modelling for the Americas”, it was sug gested that an increase of 10 per cent in fixed broad band penetration would re sult in an increase in 1.9 per cent in GDP per capita.

Through its infrastruc ture, Digicel Business is able to provide solutions from the seabed to the cloud and everything in between, allowing for the rollout and support of any offshore re quirements, including ves sel connectivity and glob al connectivity to locations anywhere in the world us ing fibre and wireless solu tions.

Director of Business Solutions, Mark Shoebridge, added; “As a Digital Operator serving over 10 million custom ers in 25 countries across the Caribbean and Central America, we’re focused on driving economic opportuni ties for our customers. This is an exciting next phase for us – it’s about deliver ing quality, reliability, per formance – and most impor tantly, opportunity. We’re excited to get going on this.”

As a Digital Operator, Digicel is in the business of delivering powerful digital experiences for 1440 min

utes of each day to custom ers. Through its world-class LTE and fibre networks, to gether with its suite of apps spanning sports, news, lo cal radio and podcasts, TV streaming, enhanced mes saging and marketplaces

and self-care, Digicel is the only operator in its markets that can deliver that.

Serving consumer and business customers in 25 markets in the Caribbean and Central America, its investments of over US$5

billion and a commitment to its communities through its Digicel Foundations in Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago have contributed to positive out comes for over 2 million people to date.

MoE launches full probe after SJH student dies by suicide

The Education Ministry has launched an inves tigation after a student of the St Joseph High School tragically died by suicide.

Information coming from the Ministry comes days after the incident was highlighted on social media. The Ministry on Monday informed that it is aware of the situation and is taking action.

“The Ministry wish es to inform the public that preliminary infor mation has been received and that a full investiga tion has been launched into the matter…Due to the nature of the matter and out of respect for the family and the memory of the child, the Ministry is not going to release the findings of the prelimi nary investigation. We ask that all stakehold

ers be respectful and en sure we operate in a man ner that places paramount importance on the welfare and well-being of all our children,” the Ministry shared.

According to the state ment, psychological sup port is being offered to staffers and the student body.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the child’s family and friends during this difficult time. The Ministry has commit

ted its support to the fam ily and is pursuing that commitment.”

Guyana Times under stands that this incident stemmed from several matters which were han dled at the school. The child, who is 14 years of age, was allegedly facing accusations from a teach er. Leading up to this un fortunate event, he was also beaten up by another student.

Concerned parents took to social media, high lighting that their chil dren were traumatised by the series of events. On the other hand, past stu dents were calling for in tervention, having experi enced similar situations in the past that were not con ducive to a healthy school environment, primarily as it relates to treatment from the staff body.

Canada funds Indigenous knowledge preservation in North Rupununi

The High Commission of Canada on Monday announced that it will collaborate with the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) to preserve tra ditional Indigenous knowl edge through the empower ment of Indigenous women leaders within their com munities.

This project is partic ularly significant since it will be contributing to the global effort to pre serve Indigenous languag es during the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, as many of them are endangered be

cause they are not taught in schools or spoken more publicly.

Current data indicate

Boy, 17, escapes after being allegedly kidnapped, stabbed

that at least 40 per cent of the 7000 languages used worldwide are at some lev el of endangerment.

Through the project, the NRDDB will be work ing with Annai and sur rounding communities to identify critical traditional skills and opportunities for knowledge preservation. The women from the area will be asked to participate in the creation of a video li brary of “stories” to build a record of their knowledge, in their native languages for future generations.

One of the key ar eas of knowledge that the NRDDB will be seek ing to record is tradition al farming practices and the knowledge of plants. The focus will be on iden

tifying traditionally used plants, their nutrition al value, medicinal power and value-added products that can be extracted from these plants. The manner in which these plants can be cultivated and grown will be recorded.

The women and men from the communities will also be asked to share knowledge pertaining to traditional modes of surviv al used for generations by Indigenous people during times of extreme weather such as flooding, droughts, or fires which their ances tors were able to navigate.

Another aspect of the project is to conduct re search in Annai and the surrounding communities to understand and assess the factors limiting women from accessing leadership positions.

The findings of the re search will be used to cre ate a work plan to change the perception of the role of women in their communi ties. The NRDDB wants to create a space for women to be equally represented in decision-making and will be encouraging community leaders to diversify boards to have a greater represen tation of women within the next three years.

The women and youth in the community will also benefit from training on leadership and commu nication to provide them with the knowledge they need to take up roles in their communities and be come agents of knowledge transfer.

Upon signing, High Commissioner Mark Berman reminded that Canada is strongly com mitted to working with Indigenous peoples and is also a leading advocate for gender equality and the in creasing role of women in society.

“Canada has been ac tively working on recon ciling with Indigenous na tions and we recognise the value of their traditional knowledge and their care for the environment. We also understand the val ue of ensuring that women are included as equal part ners in the development process and we are pleased to work with the NRDDB to empower Indigenous women to be the drivers of Indigenous knowledge transfer,” he stated.

This library of valu able information will be available for use as a re source for climate change adaptation and mitigation

and will be distributed to the surrounding villages, as well as stored digital ly in the NRDDB archive to address knowledge loss among youth.

Executive Director of the NRDDB, Ivor Marslow noted that this project will enhance the work that the organisation has been in volved in. This includes ad vocating for the sustain able management of the Rupununi Wetlands and building the skills and ca pacity of community mem bers.

“We would like to thank the Canadian High Commission for their sup port through this proj ect. We hope that through this project the capacities of the people of the North Rupununi communities, with specific emphasis on women, will be boosted. It is our desire to see our Indigenous women promot ed as leaders and this proj ect will help to encourage them to continue taking their place on that plat form,” he said.

The project activities will occur over one year and is the third Indigenousbased project being sup ported by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) this year.

A17-year-old

boy nar rowly escaped an at tempt on his life af ter he was kidnapped by four men in a car on Sunday while making his way home from his sister’s residence.

Neaimchan Ram called “Ochro Soup” is currently hospitalised in a stable con dition after his kidnappers stabbed him multiple times before attempting to slash his throat. The incident oc curred at around 20:30h.

One of Ram’s relatives who spoke with Guyana Times under the condition of anonymity stated that on the day in question, the teen ager, who resides at Cinema Street, Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD), went to his sister’s residence, which is a stone's throw away, to have dinner.

While walking back home, Ram, the relative said, was forced into the trunk of a silvery-grey mo tor car bearing registration number PLL 1436. The fam

ily later learnt that the car then drove to Mocha, EBD.

According to the relative, they took him out of that car, placed him into a Toyota wagon, and then drove to an isolated area along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

There, the men attempt ed to kill the teen by stab bing him several times, the relatives related, add ing that the victim dashed for freedom by running into some nearby bushes where he remained until sunrise.

He received help from by standers to contact a Police patrol which transported him to the hospital. Ram’s relative said that he is un aware of him having prob lems with anyone and that this is the first time some thing like this has happened to the teenager.

The Police have not re leased any information about the alleged kidnap ping but the relative stated that the matter is being in vestigated by the lawmen.

Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Mark Berman

Neaimchan Ram

Housing allocation increased by 300% – Min Rodrigues tells IDB Forum

Guyana is one of the fastest grow ing economies in the world with a projected growth rate of 47 per cent in 2022, and this transfer of investments is trickling down to infrastructure and better services.

This was reiterat ed by Minister within the Housing Ministry Susan Rodrigues, who recently participated in panel dis cussions at the Housing Forum 2022, hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group in Washington DC, USA.

The Minister under scored a number of housing programmes implement ed by the Government and their impact on addressing housing deficits of vulner able populations.

However, she identified that the allocation pro gramme has increased by a whopping 300 per cent since Government took of fice. At that time, there was a backlog of over 70,000 applications pend ing, dating back years. Out of total applications in the system, 75 per cent are from low-income house

holds.

“We see the transfer of that wealth to our infra structure system and to our housing investment, where we have seen the housing allocation increase by 300 per cent from the previous years. There is a lot of in vestment taking place,” Rodrigues pointed out.

“Our low-income popu lation is our women, peo ple with disabilities, young people, our Indigenous community. When we in vest in our housing pro gramme, these vulnerable groups are the main ben eficiaries in our housing programme,” she added.

Turning to the housing

sector, she asserted that Guyana has a heavily sub sidised programme that is primarily designed to ca ter for vulnerable groups. A breakdown shows 82 per cent of house lots be ing subsidised by the Government for low afford ability.

She also spoke on infor mal settlements, noting, “In 2003, we inventoried all of the informal settle ments in our country and we found a total of 216 in formal settlements. Some

of these may be regular ised and therefore we can issue land titles. Others have to be relocated. In that case, we incorporate them into our national housing programme.”

Minister Rodrigues mentioned the Hinterland Electrification Programme, where Government distributes solar panels to Indigenous households. She added that public-private part nerships for building hous ing units have been suc

cessful.

“We depend on our pri vate sector in this regard, to get people into homes and not just house lots. So, we utilise economies of scales in this regard to keep prices affordable, so it is cheaper to buy a house through the Government programme than having to contact a contractor on your own,” she empha sised.

The Government, through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), dis tributed almost 2000 house lots during the first six months of the year and is projected to distribute a further 8000 house lots by this year-end. This is according to the Ministry of Finance 2022 Mid-Year Report, which states that in the first half of the year, 1843 house lots were distributed. This means that since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) entered office in 2020, they have allocated 11,680 house lots.

It was explained that of the $11 billion allocated to continue infrastructure works in CH&PA housing areas, the sum of $7.4 bil lion was spent during the review period. To this end, infrastructural works are ongoing in housing areas in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and 10.

Minister Susan Rodrigues and other officials at the IDB Housing Forum

Edghill warns against water taxis plying Essequibo River at night

Public Works Minister

Juan Edghill has made it clear that wa ter taxis operating in the Essequibo River are only al lowed to operate during day light hours since these ves sels are not built to navigate at night.

This comment surfaced as he was responding to re quests for night vision gog gles to be provided to water taxi operators. The Minister explained that currently, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has standard operating times and Government will not condone any activities be yond this period.

“The standard is that wa ter taxis could only operate at daylight. There is a de

parture time in the morn ing and an end time to get to the destination. We’re not

changing that. Night gog gles are not needed because you’re operating during the day. At night, those vessels have to be a different kind of vessel with different kinds of equipment, lighting and different safety standards,” Edghill relayed.

Two weeks ago, the bod ies of two persons who were missing after a boat cap sized in the Essequibo River, were fished out of the river. The two died after the boat in which they were trav elling hit the Rattlesnake Rock in the vicinity of Calf Island, Essequibo River. Rattlesnake Rock is approx imately 2.7 kilometres from

the Bartica Stelling and 300 metres east of Calf Island.

The mishap occurred sometime between 18:45h and 19:00h – beyond the pre scribed timing for the water taxi operation. It was later revealed that while the cap tain was in possession of a valid licence to operate such a boat, the boat was uncerti fied and not permitted to op erate on the Parika–Bartica passenger service.

Commenting on the sit uation, Minister within the Public Works Ministry Deodat Indar also expressed that operators should not flout the guidelines intended for their safety and those of

the passengers they’re tak ing.

“Who goes to tell their family that the operator de cided to travel in the night and hit a rock? Sometimes it looks like the Government is not regulating but people can’t do their own thing out side of the guidelines that MARAD has. We’re not go ing to introduce things to accommodate behaviour outside of the prescribed timing. There is a safe time to operate passenger ves sels using those speedboats. We’re not going to allow that. That is the position of our Government,” Indar po sitioned.

GOGEC, FITUG welcome Govt’s fuel price reductions

– call on other fuel providers to follow suit

The Guyana Government con tinues to receive praise for its unprompted move to slash fuel prices on gasoline and diesel at the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) – a move that is expected to force the pri vately-owned entities to follow suit.

In addition to major stakeholder organisations, citizens themselves have thanked the Government for its decision.

Through GuyOil, the Government on Saturday last announced that the price of gasoline was slashed by 20 per cent and diesel by 15 per cent. This means that gas has been reduced from $269 per litre to $215 per litre. Additionally, diesel pric es were reduced from $265 per litre to $225 per litre.

As global fuel prices skyrocket, the Government had intervened several times to lower the prices at the local pumps. The last measure taken was the lowering of the Excise Tax rate on fuel to 0 in March of this year.

However, in light of the announcement, the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEG) has commended the Government on this move, describing it as a hands-on

and proactive approach.

GOGEC said it esti mates this move will cost the Government between $5 and $10 billion in fore gone annual revenues. Notwithstanding, the or ganisation said these are bold and commendable measures implemented by the Government in an ef fort to bring further relief to consumers in the short term.

In addition, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) also lauded the move, saying it demon strates the active atten tion the Government is giving to addressing the cost-of-living of Guyanese.

“The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) was heartened to learn of the decision regarding the re duction in fuel prices by the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GuyOil). The FITUG recognises that the escalation of fuel prices over the last few months was primarily influenced by external events of which we were unwitting victims. We recognised the efforts of the Administration to reduce taxes on fuel to zero in an effort to mitigate the impact of the sudden price rises. This policy, had it not been pursued, would

have made the bad situa tion even worse,” a release from the Union stated.

Further, it stated that “we have observed a grad ual reduction in oil pric es and had anticipat ed that such reductions would have reached our shores. Undoubtedly, the announcement by Minister Dr Ashni Singh demon strates the active atten tion the Government is giving to address the costof-living of Guyanese.”

In addition, the Federation stated that it anticipates that other fuel providers will follow suit and provide similar reduc tions to their customers.

Nevertheless, with the reduction in fuel prices, hire car drivers and mini bus operators have wel comed the announcement by the Government and is hopeful that it can be re duced at all service sta tions.

“So far only this morn ing the fuel drop at GuyOil… it is good when it drops,” a Route 40 minibus driver related.

“Cost of living is still high, we gotta spend mon ey just like everybody else, yuh use to service yuh bus fuh like $20,000 ev ery time you gotta service, now is $35,000 a month and all these things, every

thing still high, the deduc tion is okay but it could be reduced further.”

“Is good fuh always save… everything could

and can go back to nor mal slowly, but yuh gah tek everything in stages. I would commend anybody wuh drop de fuel price if

you put into consideration the simple gas is import ant for nuff daily activi ties,” Jamal Simon, anoth er minibus driver added.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill

CDB approves US$12M for skills development, employability project in Guyana

─ bids open for supply of tools for 6 practical centres

The Government of Guyana has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to the tune of US$12,252,000 to roll out the Guyana Skills Development and Employability project.

The initiative will see practical instruction cen tres across the country being boosted to deliv er Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes.

The Education Ministry has tendered the supply of tools and equipment for six practical instruction centres in 10 lots.

These include home keeping, masonry and steel fixing, motor vehicle repairs, plumbing, weld

ing and fabrication, com mercial food preparation, graphic design, garment making and furniture making.

According to the bid document, consideration will be limited to firms or joint ventures of firms which are legally incor porated or otherwise or ganised in, and have their principal place of business

in an eligible country.

The firm must be more than 50 per cent bene ficially-owned by a cit izen or citizens and/or bona fide resident or res idents of an eligible coun try, or by a body corporate, owned or controlled by the Government of an eligible country, provided that it is legally and financially autonomous and operat ed under the commercial law of an eligible country and otherwise meets the eligibility requirements of the CDB Guidelines for Procurement (2006).

Eligible countries are member countries of CDB.

The bidding document is obtainable at no cost to the prospective bid ders. Hard copies of bids

must be submitted in sealed envelopes no lat er than Tuesday, October

11, 2022, to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board,

Main and Urquhart Streets, Kingston, Georgetown.

Fire safety exhibition focuses on hazards in homes

Old electrical cables and simple activities such as cooking are some of the most common fire hazards in the home, according to Cadet Officer within the Guyana Fire Service, Javid Mohamed.

He was at the time speak ing at the GFS’s safety exhi bition which is currently un derway and is being hosted under the theme, “Working together as One Guyana to prevent fires”.

Mohamed added that fire hazards in the home are mostly related to electrical issues and cooking.

“Most buildings in Guyana, after they install the electrical wires and so, normally you have to check

on them, replace them, but in Guyana, persons tend to keep adding appliances and keep using the same electri cal wiring and it would dete

riorate after a time and that will result in fire,” Mohamed said.

Cooking can also pose as a hazard when safety is

not taken seriously. “They would leave things on the stove, they would have com bustible materials right around open flames as well,” he added.

learn how to use it.

“Most fires start small and once they could use the extinguisher they could combat that fire before our arrival,” he said. The exhi

of several planned for Fire Prevention Month 2022.

Other activities planned for the month include a fire safety exhibition and grand fire safety fair at the

The exhibition is aimed at spreading awareness of fire prevention among the population.

Cadet Mohamed noted that the Fire Service is try ing to encourage more per sons to acquire a fire extin guisher for their homes and

bition featured fire safety equipment, and various fire prevention and firefighting tools.

The Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) were also showcasing the various safety and first aid equip ment. The activity is one

National Park on October 14, a fitness walk on October 15 and a fun day at the Ministry of Education’s ground. A brunch will also be held on October 23 to raise money for fire victims and the less fortunate.

A youth during a skill training programme

Cadet Officer Javid Mohamed

Some equipment on display at the event

Persons visiting the exhibition

Police Sergeant Dion Bascom slapped with another $50M defamation lawsuit

Another defamation lawsuit has been filed against Police Sergeant Dion Bascom over his accusations that Police ranks have accept ed bribes and are “covering up” the murder of Ricardo Fagundes also called “Paper Shorts”.

In this accusation, Bascom had identified sev eral persons including Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, Superintendent Chabinauth Singh, Mark Richmond, and business man Azruddin Mohamed.

However, the claim ant this time is 44-yearold Mark Richmond, who is attached to Mohamed’s Enterprise as a security de tail. He has since claimed $50 million in damages for defamation.

In the lawsuit filed on his behalf by lawyers Naresh, Rajendra, and Sohan Poonai, Richmond said that on August 11, 12, 13, and 14, 2021, Sergeant Bascom broadcast on Facebook, sev eral statements about him that were false, untrue, dis ingenuous, dangerous, mali cious, irrational, unfair, un substantiated, and baseless.

This, he argued, has re sulted in his reputation be ing tarnished and lowered

and has caused him great embarrassment, psycholog ical trauma, emotional dis tress, and public humilia tion. Besides damages, the security officer wants an in junction to restrain the po liceman from further utter ing defamatory statements and an injunction compel ling him to permanently re move the Facebook posts.

He is also asking the High Court to order interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from the date of the filing of the lawsuit and thereafter at a rate of four per cent per annum from the date of judgement until the entire sum awarded is

paid, costs and such further or other order the court may deem just.

Richmond said he has no antecedents, an unblem ished criminal record, has never been charged with any criminal offence, and is of reputable status, adding that he is a practicing de vout Muslim and strives to uphold the tenets of Islam.

In court documents seen by this publication, Richmond pointed out that the social media platform is widely and freely accessi ble by members of the pub lic and is used by a large section of society for social, news, and other purposes.

GTI student brutally beaten to death

Daysafter he was at tacked and brutal ly beaten by a group of men in the vicinity of Stabroek Square, 19-yearold Rawle Samuel Grannum succumbed to his injuries while receiving medical at tention at a private medical facility.

Grannum of Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara (WBD) was an Electrical Installation Level 2 student at Government Technical Institute (GTI).

Based on reports gath ered, the incident occurred on Friday while Grannum was in the company of a

friend at the route 45 mini bus park. It is believed that the young man was a victim of mistaken identity.

Marcia Grannum, an aunt of the dead teen told a section of the media that her family is yet to ascertain

what may have led to the fa tal beaten.

The relative stated that based on information they would have received, there was a fight involving sever al students at GTI a while back, and as such, the sus pects might have mistak en her nephew as the per son who was involved in the fight.

She stated that her neph ew was never part of the fight and he was not someone who would get into trouble. As such, the family is seeking justice. The police have not released any information in connection with the incident.

4-year-old critical after consuming poisonous substance

A four-year-old girl is said to be in critical condition after she reportedly consumed a poi sonous substance.

The incident occurred at the child’s Number 50 Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) home on Sunday.

Reports are that the tod dler’s mother kept a one-li tre bottle containing a pes ticide which she used to spray the yard but a quan tity of the poisonous sub

Despite sending Sergeant Bascom a written letter of demand on August 12 calling on him to retract the statements, apologise and pay compensation, he said that the following day, the cop, again, broadcast a live video on his Facebook page in which he made sev eral offending utterances and statements about him.

Richmond said that Sergeant Bascom through his Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes, sent a written re sponse on August 15 reject ing his demands and con tended that the statements he made about him were justified and true.

He related that he was again defamed on August 19 at a press conference hosted by Sergeant Bascom and his lawyer, while pointing out that the utterances were un derstood to mean and sug gest that he is associated with criminal activities.

These include: that he was at the scene of the shooting of Fagundes, that he shot him, was in contact with persons on the night of the shooting, that he threat ened Sergeant Bascom, that he and others will kill or cause grievous bodily harm, conspired to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to an unnamed journalist and that he is guilty of murder and other serious criminal

offences.

He further contends that Bascom’s statements were without merit, vile, deliber ate, malicious, unfair, irra tional, and intentional false hoods that were intended to tarnish, besmirch, sully, and stain his reputation without justification.

He said that he has been repeatedly asked about the statements made by Sergeant Bascom and has been subjected to questions regarding the truthfulness of the statements, words, utterances, statements, and publication made.

To date, he argued that the offending Facebook post made on August 12, is still available for public view ing, and along with the oth er publications, has irrepa rably and severely damaged his business reputation.

In light of this, Richmond argued that he continues to suffer financial injury, con stant emotional and psy chological distress, humil iation, embarrassment, indignity, pain, and suffer ing and is pleading with the court to grant the reliefs he is seeking.

Businessman Azruddin Mohamed, who from the outset had distanced him self from the allegations, has since filed a $200 mil lion defamation lawsuit against Sergeant Bascom.

The businessman, in his Statement of Claim, has argued that the words and statements uttered by Bascom are all untrue, false, dangerous, disingen uous, malicious, irrational, unfair, unsubstantiated, unfounded, and baseless, thereby tarnishing and low ering his reputation.

Superintendent Caesar, through his lawyer, had threatened to take legal action against Sergeant Bascom if he did not remove the posts and offered him an apology and $50 million compensation.

In an invited com ment, business tycoon, Nazar Mohamed, owner of Mohamed’s Enterprise, said that while he is saddened by Fagundes’s murder, he would not allow innocent persons to be implicated in something they have abso lutely no involvement in.

“I will not allow Mark Richmond to be no fall guy for anyone. I have sol id proof that he has no in volvement and l will make it available at the appropri ate time.” He further stat ed that Bascom’s allega tions were riddled with lies and totally unsubstantiat ed after he found himself in a very awkward situation. “He was vulnerable and was used,” the businessman stated.

3 in custody; boat, vehicle seized in alleged cattle rustling racket

Three persons are in custody assisting with the investigation into the alleged theft of four heads of cattle in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Sunday morning.

Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Shivpersaud Bacchus said the Police are investigating an alleged cattle rustling operation which resulted in the seizure of one wood en boat, a canter, and four cows.

He also revealed that three males were arrested and are assisting with the investigation.

they are looking at all play ers in the circle, including butchers.

“We are dealing with the increase in cattle rustling in Region Six and we have a team and the CID [Criminal Investigation Department] along with intel and we are attacking that problem head-on. We will be looking

at both the persons who are supplying and the persons who are selling,” the senior officer said.

“We believe in investi gating, having the evidence, seeking legal advice and based on that advice send ing for prosecution,” Nedd said when asked about pros ecution.

stance had remained. Out of precaution, she report edly secured the bottle in a goat pen at the back of their home.

However, Guyana Times understands that the fouryear-old was playing in the yard on Sunday when she reportedly found the bottle and ingested the poison.

When the 23-year-old mother realised what had happened, she rushed the child to the Port Mourant Hospital. The child was lat er transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Police said her condition is listed as “critical” and that investigations are on going.

Guyana Times under stands that the animals were stolen and placed into a boat and taken to Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice). However, the Police were able to intercept the sus pects as they were about to commence phase two of their operation – that is to slaughter the animals and sell the meat.

Recently, Regional Detective Officer Rawl Nedd told the media that the Police in the region are working to tackle cattle rus tling.

The Superintendent said

Dead: Rawle Samuel Grannum

Police Sergeant Dion Bascom

Regional

Brazil girds for tight runoff vote after Bolsonaro's strong showing Cuban protests after Hurricane Ian fade, but anger over shortages simmers

Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday buckled up for four more weeks of in tense election campaigning after the President's unex pectedly strong showing in the first round set up a tight October 30 runoff vote.

Brazil's

Lula, a two-term former President who was jailed on corruption convictions that were later overturned, won the most votes in Sunday's presidential election, and for many analysts is still the fa vourite to win the race later this month.

But Bolsonaro's bet ter-than-expected perfor mance revitalised his cam paign, giving credence to his claim that the pollsters were wrong to write him off in Brazil's most fraught elec tion since the end of military rule in 1985.

The far-right leader's strong showing also pro longed questions about whether Brazil's democratic institutions will withstand

his unfounded allegations that the country's voting system cannot be trusted.

Most polling firms had given Lula a 10–15-point lead ahead of Sunday's vote, raising the possibility of a first-round victory for the leftist. But with 99.99 per cent of electronic votes counted, Lula had taken 48.4 per cent of votes versus 43.2 per cent for Bolsonaro,

meaning that neither se cured the over 50 per cent needed to avoid a runoff.

The remaining votes went to nine other candi dates who are now eliminat ed from the race.

With less than a month to go until the next vote, both candidates will be look ing for creative ways to eke out a win. (Excerpt from Reuters)

US top diplomat begins Latin America tour with visit to Colombia

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has begun a week-long tour of Latin America, with the top United States dip lomat making a first stop in Colombia to meet the coun try’s newly sworn-in, leftwing President.

During his trip to Colombia, Chile, and Peru this week, Blinken also will attend a ministerial sum mit and hold talks on re gional challenges including migration, drug trafficking, post-pandemic recovery, climate change and the cri sis in Venezuela.

“Heading to Colombia to build on our vital, strong partnership,” the US Secretary of State wrote on Twitter on Monday.

“The vibrant ties be tween our people touch on virtually every aspect of our lives—our economies, security, respect for human and labour rights, and ef forts to build a more dem ocratic and equitable hemi sphere.”

Reporting from the Colombian capital Bogota, Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti said “it is tell ing” that Blinken’s first

stop will be in Colombia, which elected its first leftwing President, Gustavo Petro earlier this year.

“The US wants to maintain a good relation ship with this country. Remember that Colombia and the US have had a strategic partnership on a number of issues – obvi ously, the most important one being security and the ‘war on drugs‘ – for decades now,” Rampietti said, add ing that the relationship remains positive.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Nunez-Tesheira to battle Rowley for PNM leadership

DrKeith Rowley is set to face some opposi tion as he campaigns to hold on to the post of People’s National Movement (PNM) political leader, fol lowing the shock announce ment by former Finance Minister Karen NunezTesheira that she will run for the post in the internal election later this year.

In confirming her inten tion on Saturday, NunezTesheira said although she has deliberately maintained a low profile that has kept her out of the political lime light for several years, her loyalty is forever vested in the PNM.

This is why, she said, she can no longer ignore what is taking place in terms of how the country is being man aged, adding her decision to

contest the leadership of the party came after she was ap proached by other PNMites to get back into the arena.

The PNM’s internal election is scheduled for December 4.

Explaining what had led to the decision, she sim ply said, “The people want

change.”

Nunez-Tesheira re vealed, “I was approached fairly seriously and not just in terms of why don’t you go up, but it came with a very rare commitment and a plan moving forward.”

She said the approach by other PNMites acted as an incentive to cement her de cision on a leadership drive.

However, NunezTesheira, who was a Finance Minister from 2007-2010 un der a then-Patrick Manningrun Government, said ap pearing on talk shows and publishing articles relating to the socio-economic cli mate in T&T over the past several years also helped with the process, as she was forced to delve deeper into the issues. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

Cuba had restored pow er to most of Havana on Monday follow ing Hurricane Ian, defusing tension in the capital after scattered protests last week, though anger still simmered on the streets as residents struggled to replace food and supplies squandered by blackouts.

Hurricane Ian knocked out power to the entire is land of 11 million people last Tuesday. Cuban offi cials scrambled to turn on the lights for Havana, but the pace was not fast enough for some, who took to the

streets in the largest pro tests since widespread an ti-government rallies in July 2021.

Much of western Cuba, the area hit hardest by the hurricane, was still without power on Monday.

The protests in Havana appeared to have subsided by Sunday evening, but long lines for food, fuel, and med icine – typical in Cuba even before the hurricane – had formed again in the city on Monday morning.

"This has been terrible. No light, no food, we lost ev erything in our freezer," said

Maria Carla Catala, 25, who stood on a Havana street cor ner holding her son as she waited in line for food. "Now we wait to see what appears in the stores to try to recu perate what was lost."

Hurricane Ian struck Cuba during one of its worst economic crises since former leader Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Widespread shortages, lack of medicine, and daily blackouts country wide had already left cup boards bare and many on edge, contributing to last week's protests. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Research centre in Chile's Cape Horn serves as climate change “sentinel”

Located at the tip of South America, where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet, Cape Horn in Chile is the closest land mass to Antarctica and home to a unique ecosystem that scientists say is a natural laboratory to study climate change.

Ricardo Rozzi, director of the almost-completed Cape Horn International Centre (CHIC), said the area has at least 10 fea tures – including the world's southernmost for est – which make the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve ideal to monitor plant and animal life on a warming planet.

"in the north are com ing south, but what hap pens to the ones here in the south? Do they vanish? Do they not vanish?" Rozzi said. "That's the primary function of the centre, to be a sentinel for climate change."

Aside from researching the under-studied subant arctic region, Rozzi said

the centre will observe plant and animal life, gla cier retreat and give rec ommendations to the state for preservation and sus tainable tourism.

Preserving the region is essential, scientists say, because its pristine eco systems give it a unique vantage point to measure global alterations that re sult from human action or presence.

"We can study the ef fects of global changes

here, because there ar en't any big changes yet," said Andres Mansilla, a professor at Magallanes University and researcher at CHIC.

"So it's a great oppor tunity for us to use pris tine ecosystems that hav en't been interfered with, to see how climate change is affecting them."

The CHIC is 90 per cent complete and will be inaugurated in November. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Murders up 8% in Jamaica; 1171 killed up to October 1

According to the lat est Police crime sta tistics, 1171 people were murdered in Jamaica up to October 1, 2022.

This is 85 more homi cides or an eight per cent increase when compared to the corresponding period last year.

The St James Police Division leads the mur der count with 160 cases, a 38 per cent increase com pared to the 116 homicides reported in the division up to October 1 last year.

Westmoreland with 118 homicides; St Catherine North, 114; St Andrew South, 109; and St Catherine South, 97, round out the top five mur derous Police divisions of the 19 across the island.

Although the St Andrew South Division is fourth on the list for the number of murders recorded across all Police divisions, homi cides are down by 16 per cent or 20 cases up to last Saturday.

Trelawny has the high

est percentage increase in murders nationally, with a 133 per cent rise. This is just ahead of Manchester, where homicides have shot up by 132 per cent.

There were 28 killings committed in Trelawny up to October 1, compared with 12 for the correspond ing period in 2021. In Manchester, 19 murders were recorded last year as opposed to 44 this year.

(Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

Brazil's President and presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro speaks after the results of the first round of Brazil's presidential election, at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia , Brazil, October 2, 2022 (Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Former Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira

Scientists and media members gather in the field at Navarino island in front of Beagle channel, Cabo de Hornos area, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, in Puerto Williams town, Chile, September 24, 2022 (Reuters/Ivan Alvarado)

Around the World

OIL NEWS

Oil jumps about US$4 as OPEC+ weighs biggest output cut since 2020

Oil prices jumped nearly US$4 a barrel on Monday as OPEC+ considered reducing output by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to buttress prices with what would be its biggest cut since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude futures for December delivery rose US$3.72 to US$88.86 a barrel, a 4.4 per cent gain. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose US$4.14, or 5.2 per cent, to US$83.63 a barrel.

Oil prices have declined for four straight months since June, as COVID-19 lockdowns in top energy consumer China hurt demand while rising interest rates and a surging US dollar weighed on global financial markets.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, is considering an output cut of more than 1 million bpd ahead of Wednesday's meeting, OPEC+ sources have told Reuters.

That figure does not include additional voluntary cuts by individual members, one OPEC source added.

Most traders were expecting cuts of about 50,000 bpd, said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial.

If agreed, it will be the group's second consecutive monthly cut after reducing output by 100,000 bpd last month.

"After a year of tolerating extremely high prices, missed targets and severely tight markets, the (OPEC+) alliance seemingly has no hesitation when it comes to acting rapidly to support prices amid a deterioration in the economic outlook," Oanda market analyst Craig Erlam said.

OPEC+ missed its production targets by nearly 3 million bpd in July, two sources from the producer group said, as sanctions on some members and low investment by others stymied its ability to raise output.

US crude oil stockpiles were expected to have increased by around 2 million last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. Inventories at storage hub Cushing, Oklahoma, built by 730,297 barrels to 29.6 million barrels, according to a market source, citing Genscape data.

While prompt Brent prices could strengthen short term, concerns about a global recession are likely to limit the upside, consultancy FGE said.

"If OPEC+ does decide to cut output in the near term, the resultant increase in OPEC+ spare capacity will likely put more downward pressure on long-dated prices," it said in a note on Friday.

The dollar index fell for a fourth consecutive day on Monday after touching its highest level in two decades. A cheaper dollar could bolster oil demand and support prices.

Goldman Sachs said it believes the OPEC+ supply cut could help remedy large exodus of oil investors that has left prices under-performing fundamentals. (Reuters)

Ukraine forces advance on 2 fronts, cross Russian lines in the south

Ukrainian forces achieved their big gest breakthrough in the country's south since the war began, bursting through Russian defenc es and advancing rapidly along the Dnipro River on Monday, threatening sup ply lines for thousands of Russian troops.

In a sign Ukraine is building momentum on two fronts, 300 km to the north east Reuters saw columns of Ukrainian troop vehicles heading to reinforce rail hub Lyman, retaken at the weekend and a staging post to press into the Donbas re gion.

Kyiv gave little infor mation about the gains in the south, but Russian sources acknowledged that Ukrainian troops had ad vanced dozens of kilometres along the river's west bank,

recapturing a number of vil lages along the way.

The breakthrough mir rors the recent Ukrainian successes in the east that have turned the tide in the

war, even as Moscow has tried to raise the stakes by annexing territory, ordering mobilisation and threaten ing nuclear retaliation.

"The information is tense,

let's put it that way, be cause yes, there were indeed breakthroughs," Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in occupied parts of Ukraine's Kherson province, told Russian state televi sion.

"There's a settlement called Dudchany, right along the Dnipro River, and right there, in that region, there was a breakthrough. There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces," he said.

Dudchany is around 30 km (20 miles) south of where the front stood be fore the breakthrough, indi cating the fastest advance of the war so far in the south, where Russian forces had been dug into heavily re inforced positions along a mainly static front line since the early weeks of the inva sion. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Nobel Prize goes to Svante Paabo for Neanderthal work

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has gone to Sweden's Svante Paabo for his work on human evolu tion.

The Prize committee said he achieved the seeming ly impossible task of crack ing the genetic code of one of our extinct relativesNeanderthals.

He also performed the "sensational" feat of dis covering the previously un known relative - Denisovans.

His work helped explore our own evolutionary histo ry and how humans spread around the planet.

The Swedish geneti cist's work gets to the heart of some of the most funda mental questions - where do we come from and what al lowed us, Homo sapiens, to succeed while our relatives went extinct.

In the 1990s, research on working out the human ge netic code was taking place at pace. But that relied on

fresh samples of pristine DNA.

Prof Paabo's interest was in the old, degraded and contaminated genetic ma terial from our ancestors. Many thought it was an impossible challenge. But he was, for the first time, able to sequence DNA from a 40,000-year-old piece of bone.

Those results showed that Neanderthals - who mostly lived in Europe and Western Asia - were distinct

from both modern day hu mans and chimpanzees.

His work focused on hominins - the group of mod ern humans that includes us, Homo sapiens, but also our extinct relatives.

"By revealing genetic dif ferences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for explor ing what makes us uniquely human", the Nobel commit tee said. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Afghan women protest school attack as Taliban cracks down

The United Nations has increased its aid appeal for Pakistan, where more than five mil lion people are facing a se vere food crisis in the wake of recent catastrophic floods.

Nearly 1700 people, in cluding more than 600 chil dren, lost their lives and a total 33 million people were affected after record-break ing rains began lashing Pakistan in June.

Julien Harneis, the UN’s humanitarian coordina tor for the country, said on Monday that the world body was now seeking US$816 million for flood-relief ef forts, up from its initial ap peal for US$160 million in August, when heavy rains and floods swept through much of Pakistan.

“We are now entering a second wave of death and destruction. There will be an increase in child morbidity, and it will be terrible unless we act rapidly to support the Government in increasing the provision of health, nu

trition and water and sani tation services across the af fected areas,” Harneis told reporters at a media briefing in Geneva.

The Pakistani Government and UN have both repeatedly blamed cli mate change for the floods and sought debt relief as a means to support the coun try.

In its latest report on Saturday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 8.62 million

people in 28 assessed dis tricts were estimated to be in crisis and enduring the emergency phases of food se curity between September and November 2022, “in cluding some 5.74 million people in flood-affected dis tricts covered by the assess ment”.

The OCHA report also noted that “water-borne and vector-borne diseases” are of “growing concern”, particu larly in the hard-hit provinc es of Sindh and Balochistan. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Dressed in a long black abaya with her face mask secured, uni versity professor Zahra Mosawi walked the streets of the ancient Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif to denounce incessant attacks on the Shia Muslim minority.

Mosawi, 28, carried with her a large yellow placard with the word “Azadi” – or freedom – scrawled across it as she joined more than 50 other colleagues and stu dents in a demonstration on Monday against the re cent attack on a learning centre in Kabul that killed 53 students, mostly young women.

It was just the lat est horrific act of vio lence on a facility attend ed by Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are persecut ed by Sunni Muslim hard liners for their Shia faith. No group claimed responsi bility.

In WhatsApp groups and on social media, Mosawi and other academics and activists mobilised to con demn the unrelenting vio lence on the Hazara as well

as restrictions on women and minorities.

“We have to raise our voices and organise our selves. This genocide against Hazara has to end,” she said.

The protesters also demanded the reopen ing of girls’ high schools in Afghanistan, which have been closed since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year. “We raise our voices for justice and equality. We want the right to work, education, and the free life of women,”

Mosawi said.

Similar demonstra tions took place in Kabul, Herat and Bamiyan over the weekend, largely led by women from Afghanistan’s academia.

The peaceful demon strations were met with a Taliban backlash. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that security forces fired warning shots, and video on social media from Herat and Kabul showed them violently dispersing pro testers. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Ukrainians ride an armoured vehicle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donesk region, Ukraine, October 3, 2022

UN ups flood aid appeal as Pakistan enters ‘second wave of death’

University students across Afghanistan took to the streets protesting the latest attack on Hazara students

Some 33 million people have been affected by this year's floods in Pakistan [Fareed Khan/AP Photo]

DAILY

HOROSCOPES

Surround yourself with intelligent and helpful people. Team up and see how much you can accomplish. Don’t let anger set in if someone disagrees. Be a good listener.

If you don’t reveal your opinions, you’ll gather information that can help you make important work decisions. Put your energy into something that matters to you, and you’ll make a difference.

Mingle with like-minded people. Put your heads together, and you’ll save time. Take an aggressive position in any group you join. Be a leader, not a follow er. Romance is encouraged.

Keep your life practical. Indulgence will hold you back. Focus on reaching your dreams. Don’t borrow from others or agree to something you don’t want to pursue. Use the tools you have.

Think twice before you make a move. Do your due diligence and keep things realistic. Know your audience, your goal and how to get what you want. Be both open to and skeptical of suggestions.

Engage in something that can open doors. Make new connections, get in volved in something that interests you and learn something new. A steady pace and open discussions will pay off.

A simple change can make a differ ence to how you live and work. Look at the variables and consider what you can do to tweak your plans to ensure every thing runs smoothly. Look for alterna tives.

Mix and mingle, discuss concerns, make up a schedule and don’t sec ond-guess your next move. Embrace life. Don’t be afraid of change. Make your home your castle.

Concentrate on financial gains. Do something nice for someone you want to impress. Share your long-term plans and put a timeline in place to help get things moving. Be receptive.

Keep your emotions out of matters concerning work or finances. Be reason able regarding purchases and what you are willing to take on to get ahead. A change is necessary. Do only what’s es sential.

Invest time and money in your self. Update your look and how you do things. Incorporate better technology into your methods to gain a needed edge. Contracts are looking good.

Keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself, and you’ll avoid an argument with someone who doesn’t share your sentiments. Put your energy into your home and family. A partnership will work well.

Jasprit Bumrah out of T20

World Cup with back injury

India's

T20 World Cup campaign has suffered a huge setback with spear head Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the tournament with a back injury.

The first reports of the fast bowler's injury emerged just before India's T20 International se ries against South Africa began on September 28. Bumrah was rushed from Thiruvananthapuram, the venue of the first match,

(NCA) is located, so that he could be assessed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Medical Team.

Now, "following a detailed assessment and in consulta tion with the specialists", the Board confirmed on Monday that Bumrah was out of the World Cup. Although the BCCI did not specify the na ture of Bumrah's back injury, ESPNcricinfo understands that it is stress-related and

Bumrah had previous ly missed the Asia Cup in August and September with a back injury, but was then picked for the subsequent home T20I series against Australia and South Africa after four weeks of rehabil itation. He played the sec ond and third T20Is against Australia on September 23 and September 25, returning figures of 1-23 and 0-50, be fore missing the first match against South Africa on September 28.

"Jasprit Bumrah com plained of back pain during India's practice session on Tuesday," the BCCI had said on Twitter after the toss of the first T20I against South Africa. "The BCCI Medical Team assessed him. He is ruled out of the first #INDvSA T20I."

India have two fast bowl ers – Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar – in their reserves for the T20 World Cup and one of them is like ly to take Bumrah's place in the main squad. Teams that have already qualified for the Super 12 round of the tournament – as India have – can make changes to their squad without permis sion from the International Cricket Council (ICC) until October 15.

Bumrah is the second major player that India will miss at the tourna ment after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out by a knee injury.

to Bengaluru, where the National Cricket Academy

he could be out of action for about six weeks.

This stress-related injury is Bumrah's second such in jury in the last three years. The fast bowler was diag nosed with a "minor stress fracture in his lower back" in September 2019 and was sidelined for about three months.

Christian Horner confident Red Bull did not exceed F1 budget cap rules

Christian Horner has reiterated he is confi dent Red Bull stayed within Formula One’s bud get cap rules last season as the FIA prepares to an nounce its conclusions after an investigation into wheth er the team exceeded the cap.

Reports emerged at the Singapore Grand Prix that Red Bull – and Aston Martin – had spent more than the US$145 million budget cap during Max Verstappen’s title-winning season, but Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, repeatedly dis missed the claims.

As the teams travel to the next round, the FIA is assessing all the teams’ fi nancial submissions and can impose penalties for a breach of the rules, which could change the result of last year’s championship when Verstappen narrowly beat Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes team prin cipal, Toto Wolff, had de scribed it as an “open se cret” in the paddock that two teams had overspent last year and that it gave them a material advantage that was unfair. After the race on Sunday, Horner repeated his belief that the team were well within the regulations.

When asked if he was nervous about the FIA rul ing, Horner was bullish. “No. We’re absolutely confi

dent in our submission,” he said. “Our audit was signed off by our auditors. We be lieve we are comfortably within the cap.”

The rules identify two types of budget cap breach, those of under five per cent are considered minor and any spend above that is con sidered a serious material breach. The penalties the governing body can impose for the latter include a de duction of points or exclu sion from the championship.

On Saturday, Horner had described some of Wolff’s re marks as defamatory and threatened potential legal action, which he insisted still remained on the table.

“What I said absolute ly still stands,” he said. “We will consider all of our op

tions. It was totally unac ceptable to make a complete ly unfounded allegation and on the basis of what knowl edge? Where is this source of information?

“It was a confidential submission between the team and the FIA. I have no idea of the compliance of any of our rivals. So where does that information supposedly come from?”

Verstappen enjoys a 104-point championship lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and 106 points on his teammate, Pérez. With five rounds remaining he will secure his second title if he is ahead of both drivers by 112 points after the race at Suzuka. A win will suffice if Leclerc finishes lower than second. (The Guardian)

India are also waiting on the fitness of all-rounder Deepak Hooda, who is part of the 15-member World Cup squad. Hooda is cur rently at the NCA for treat ment for a back injury that he picked up during the T20I series against Australia last month. The BCCI has not re vealed details about Hooda's injury or recovery.

India are in Group 2 at the T20 World Cup, along with Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, and two teams that progress from the qual ifying round. The side led by Rohit Sharma is looking

to make a strong comeback at this year's event in Australia, after suffering a group-stage exit at the 2021 T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The squad is expected to fly to Perth on October 6 for a week-long condition ing camp, including a prac tice game against Western Australia. They will then take on New Zealand and Australia in two warm-up fixtures prior to their World Cup opener against Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23.

Reserve players: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, and Deepak Chahar (ESPNcricinfo)

Iga Swiatek: World number 1 criticises schedule and will not play Billie Jean King Cup Finals

World

number one Iga Swiatek has criticised the up coming scheduling of tennis events, saying she will not be able to compete at next month's Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

The world number one had planned to represent Poland in the finals, which begin in Glasgow on November 8.

However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Texas are due to end the day before.

The three-time Grand Slam champion said the schedule was "not safe", add ing she felt "sad" to miss an event.

"I was thinking it through a lot and discussing it with my team, but I will not be able to play at the Billie Jean King Cup in Glasgow," Swiatek announced in a post on Instagram.

"It makes me sad. I'm very sorry, because I play for Poland whenever it's possible and I always give it my best.

"Playing in Poland this year [in the qualifiers] was an

honour and I hoped to do this again at the end of the season."

The 21-year-old won her first US Open title last month – her second ma jor win in 2022 after triumph ing at the French Open for a second time.

Swiatek will contest the season-ending WTA Finals from October 31 in Fort Worth, Texas, which sees the top eight players on the Race to the WTA Finals compete in a round-robin format.

Players would have one day to travel from Fort Worth, which is six hours behind Glasgow, to make the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and represent their country.

"I'm disappointed that tennis governing bodies didn't come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments, giv ing us only one day to travel through the globe and chang ing the time zone," Swiatek said.

"The situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury.

"I'm going to talk to the WTA and ITF [International Tennis Federation] in order to change something. This situa tion is difficult not only for the players like me, but mainly for the tennis fans that support our sport." (BBC Sport)

Christian Horner (left) and Max Verstappen. Red Bull’s principal has dismissed the idea the FIA could strip the Dutch driver of the 2021 world title

India’s T20 World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain); KL Rahul (Vice Captain); Virat Kohli; Suryakumar Yadav; Deepak Hooda; Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper); Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper); Hardik Pandya; R Ashwin; Yuzvendra Chahal; Axar Patel; Bhuvneshwar Kumar; Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh.

Yunes storms to LGC Sankar Auto Spares title

… GTT Guyana Open set for October 29-30

Saturday afternoon saw some of Guyana's top golfers compete to take home the Sankar Auto Spares trophy at the Lusignan Golf Club (LGC). This was the last warm-up tournament before a formi dable contingent of top golf ers from Guyana journey to Suriname to challenge for the Suriname Open title.

tion. When the dust settled, Miguel Yunes was ahead with the bullseye on his back as his fellow compet itors tried unsuccessfully to track him down. Yunes compiled a whopping 40 stableford points in a dom inant performance. His closest pursuer was Mike Mangal with 33 points, followed closely by Rohan

Videsh Persaud, who add ed another longest drive trophy to his chest while Patrick Prashad won the sharpshooter closest to the flag trophy. While Persaud, Prashad and other golf ers provided great high light-reel shots, they were unable to string them to gether. Yunes kept his head down and passed this

the last weekend with the GTT Guyana Open two-day classic.

According to LGC Secretary Chet Bowling, the Club is hoping to get in a few more tournaments before the GTT Guyana Open commences, as it is the Club’s hope that play

The Sankar Auto Spares tournament did not disap point as a full field of golf ers jockeyed for top posi

Albert with 32 points. Other winners on Saturday included the big-hitting LGC Captain

first test to lead off what promises to be an incred ible month of exciting golf competition, concluding on

Matthews unable to prevent defeat as hosts fall behind

ers will be in top form lead ing up to the tournament. “We always like to thank our sponsors, especial ly our sponsors Sankar’s Auto Sales, they have been a continuous support er of golf. This is not the first time they have spon sored; they have come out

and demonstrated their good social corporate re sponsibility and ensur ing that the game of golf is more accessible. It is spon sors like that, that help us to do other activities apart from running tournaments, such as a kids’ golf summer camp,” Bowling shared.

The LGC Secretary also stressed on the importance of the large contingent that the Club will be send ing to the Suriname Open. Bowling noted that the Sankar’s Auto Sales tour nament played a key role

as it exposed the players to the tournament structure that they would experience at the Suriname Open ,and he was optimistic that ev eryone was looking forward to the tournament.

Club Captain Persaud thanked Sankar’s Auto for its continued support of golf at the LGC over the years and for stepping up to kick off what promises to be a magnificent month of golf in the lead-up to the Guyana Open on October 29-30 at the Lusignan Golf Club.

Cariah ready for new challenge

Hayley Matthews’s all-round enterprise went to waste as West Indies Women slid to a five-wicket defeat to New Zealand Women to fall be hind in the five-match se ries.

Sent in at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in the third Twenty20 International in Antigua on Sunday, the hosts could only muster 93 for nine from their 20 overs, with Captain Matthews top-scor ing with 30 from 29 balls and 18-year-old left-arm spinner Fran Jonas snatch ing three for 16.

In reply, New Zealand Women rebounded from dire straits at 20 for four in the sixth over to reach their target with eight balls to spare, Player of the Match

Maddy Green leading the comeback with an unbeaten 49 from 45 deliveries.

Matthews claimed four for 12 with her off-breaks to wipe out the top order, but lacked support, and New Zealand Women recovered to establish a 2-1 series lead.

The two teams will clash again in the critical fourth match at the same venue on Wednesday.

Matthews struck fours in her 28-ball stay at the crease, but was one of three wickets to fall as West Indies Women slumped to 38 for three in the ninth over.

Kyshona Knight (16) and Chinelle Henry (13) staged the best stand of the innings when they put on 29 for the fourth wicket, but

once they were separated, wickets fell steadily again as six tumbled for 24 runs.

Seamer Suzie Bates (25) and 21-year-old off-spin ner Eden Carson (2-14) provided support for Jonas with two wickets apiece.

Matthews then turned the game in her side’s fa vour when she knocked over both openers Bates (2) and Captain Sophie Devine (3) before adding the scalps of Amelia Kerr (0) and Georgia Plimmer (12).

However, Green coun tered for the visitors, hit ting half-dozen fours as she put on 38 for the fifth wicket with Lauren Down (16) and a further 36 with Hayley Jensen (eight not out) in an unbroken sixth-wicket part nership, to see off the hosts' challenge. (CMC)

T&T's

Yannic Cariah experienced his first training session in Australia at the Metricon Stadium, and expressed great delight to be part of the West Indies 15-mem ber squad.

“I’m feeling real ly great to be in the group for the upcom ing series as well as the T20 World Cup to follow. We touched down and the work started. It is a great honour to rep resent the peo ple of the Region at any level. I’m here and ready to go… any challenges I’m ready for it,” he said.

The 30-year-old, who arrived in Australia as part of the first group of West Indies players to touch down "Down Under", joined teammates during an intense training session on the scenic Gold Coast.

The all-rounder is on his first overseas tour with the men’s senior team and will be part of the region al team's line-up to face Australia in a two-match T20 International series in Queensland on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, ahead of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup which bowls off on October 16.

The right-handed leg-spinner and left-hand

ed batter an nounced him self on the internation al stage with a well-craft ed half-centu ry in the CG United One-Day International (ODI) series against New Zealand in August. He topscored with 52 in his first knock at Kensington Oval in Barbados.

“The way I performed against New Zealand gave me confidence. Now we’re here in Australia … this is my first time playing here… First, I want to get used to the conditions, as we are a long way from home, and then maintain my processes and look to perform on the big stage.

"I was doing a lot of fit

ness work at home and sharpening up my skills. I have played a lot of cricket with many members of the team, so I’ve fitted in quite well," said Cariah, who previ ously played for West Indies Under-19 at the ICC World Cup 2010 in New Zealand

He was also Captain of the West Indies Emerging Players when they won the CG United Super50 in 2019.

22 GUYANATIMESGY.COMTUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022 The opening match in the two-match series versus the Australians is on Wednesday at the Metricon Stadium in the Gold Coast and the sec ond at The Gabba in Brisbane on Friday. (TT Guardian)

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Miguel Yunes accepts the first-place prize

LGC Secretary Chet Bowling

From left: Patrick Prashad, Videsh Persaud, Rohan Albert, Mike Mangal, Miguel Yunes, and Maxim Mangra

West Indies Women’s skipper, all-rounder Hayley Matthews makes an appeal during the third Twenty20 International at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in North Sound, Antigua on Sunday.

Matthews claimed four wickets, but the regional side slid to a five-wicket defeat

Brooks replaces Hetmyer in Windies WC squad after flight issues

Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Monday informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) that Shamarh Brooks has replaced Shimron Hetmyer in the West Indies squad for the upcoming ICC

request, owing to family rea sons. With flight availabili ty a real challenge, a seat was found for him to leave Guyana on Monday, October 3, mean ing he would unfortunately miss the 1st T20 International

time for his flight to New York.

“This afternoon we in formed the CWI Board of Directors that the Selection Panel had unanimously decid ed to replace Shimron Hetmyer with Shamarh Brooks in our T20 World Cup squad. Whilst we changed Shimron’s flight from Saturday to Monday due to family reasons, it was made clear to him that if there were any further delays and issues with his travel to Australia then we would have no choice but to replace him in the squad, as we are not prepared to compromise the team’s abili ty to prepare for this extremely important global event.”

Adams added:

T20 International Series, Australia v West Indies

October 5: 1st T20I, Australia v West Indies, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast October 7: 2nd T20I, Australia v West Indies, The Gabba, Brisbane

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, Australia

Round 1 – Groups

Group A: Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, and Namibia

Group B: Scotland, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Ireland

(Top two teams from each group advance to Super 12s)

T20 World Cup in Australia. The decision by the CWI Selection Panel was made as Hetmyer missed his re-sched uled flight to Australia, which had been changed from Saturday, October 1 at his

(T20I) against Australia on Wednesday, October 5 at the Metricon Stadium. On Monday morning, Hetmyer informed the Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams that he would not be able to get to the airport in

“Shamarh has been a part of our recent T20 International squads and delivered strong performances in the latter stages of the recently-con cluded CPL. He will fly out as soon as possible this week to Australia and I wish him and all the squad all the very best for the tournament.” (Windies Cricket)

West Indies ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Match Schedule

Round 1 – Match Schedule (all played at Bellerive Oval, Hobart).

October 17: West Indies v Scotland, 15:00h Australia time, 00:00h Eastern Caribbean time, 23:00h Jamaica time (October 16)

October 19: West Indies v Zimbabwe, 19:00h Australia time, 04:00h Eastern Caribbean time, 03:00h Jamaica time

October 21: West Indies v Ireland, 15:00h Australia time, 00:00h Eastern

Caribbean time, 23:00h Jamaica time (October 20)

SUPER 12S

Group 1: England, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A1 and B2.

Group 2: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, A2 and B1.

(Top two teams from each

group advance to the semi-fi nals)

SEMI-FINALS

November 9: SCG, Sydney November 10: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

Final November 13: MCG, Melbourne

King, Narine, du Plessis and Amir in ESPNcricinfo's CPL

The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2022 ended on Friday in Guyana, with Rovman Powell's Jamaica Tallawahs emerging as unlikely title winners. Two Pakistanis and two South Africans –one of whom is now play ing for Namibia – make up the overseas contingent in ESPNcricinfo's Powell-led XI. Find out if your favour ite players made the cut.

1. Brandon King (Jamaica Tallawahs)

Runs: 422, Average: 38.36, Strike rate: 135.25

In CPL 2019, King topped the run-charts for Guyana Amazon Warriors and broke into West Indies' white-ball squads soon after. Three years later, King marked his homecoming to Jamaica Tallawahs by topping the run-charts once again and establishing himself as one of the top white-ball openers in the Caribbean. His centu ry against Amazon Warriors at Providence and unbeat en 83 in the final against favourites Barbados Royals were among the highlights of Tallawahs' campaign.

2. Kyle Mayers (Barbados Royals)

Runs: 366, Batting strike rate: 134.55; Wickets: 8, Economy Rate: 5.37

Mayers extended his rich form from West Indies' in ternational home season, leading the way with the bat for Royals, too. He regularly hit over the top in the pow erplay and also maximised this phase with the ball in swinging conditions. His 4 for 4 in two overs against St Lucia Kings in St Kitts proved to be the best bowl ing figures in an innings this season. Mayers also works particularly well with King, which is why we have pushed the Kings pair of Johnson Charles and Faf du Plessis down the order.

3. Johnson Charles (St Lucia Kings, wicketkeeper)

Runs: 345, Average: 43.12, Strike rate: 133.20

Charles had such a good season with the bat for Kings that he elbowed his way into West Indies' T20 World Cup squad as the back-up open er to King and Mayers and back-up keeping option to Nicholas Pooran, ahead of St Kitts & Nevis Patriots' Andre Fletcher. His three half-centuries in four in nings towards the back end of the tournament played a crucial role in Kings making the playoffs. Along the way, he surpassed Chris Gayle to become the second-highest run-getter in the CPL, be hind Lendl Simmons.

4. Faf du Plessis (St Lucia Kings)

Runs: 332, Average: 41.50, Strike rate: 168.52

Du Plessis usually aces the powerplay by taking on the quicks, but he can also do the job in the mid dle order, as he had shown during his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with Chennai Super Kings. King and Shamarh Brooks aside, he was the only player this CPL to hit a century. Du Plessis' strike rate of 168.52 is the best among batters with a minimum of 200 runs in the competition.

5. Rovman Powell (Jamaica Tallawahs, capt)

Runs: 281, Average: 35.12, Strike rate: 123.78; Wickets: 2, Economy rate: 13

Having improved his game against spin and im pressed in IPL 2022 for Delhi Capitals, Powell en hanced his reputation by captaining Tallawahs to their third CPL title overall and first since 2016. In ad dition to contributing with the bat under pressure, Powell often fronted up to

bowl yorkers at the death. His leadership was vital to Tallawahs winning three knockout matches in four days after a mid-tourna ment slump.

6. Jason Holder (Barbados Royals)

Runs: 155, Average: 51.66, Strike rate: 120.15; Wickets: 17; Economy rate: 6.86

Holder can bat anywhere in the line-up and bowl across phases – skills that make him an elite all-round er in T20 cricket. With the ball, he forged a strong partnership with left-arm seamer Obed McCoy and bested the opposition with his variations. His forties against Amazon Warriors in Tarouba and Guyana showed that he could pinchhit as well as pinch-block, depending on the situation.

7. David Wiese (St Lucia Kings)

Runs: 126; Average: 25.20, Strike rate: 150; Wickets: 12, Economy rate:

6.75

Wiese was Kings' sec ond-highest wicket-taker, with 12 strikes in 10 games, often denying batters pace by bowling cutters in the pitch. With the bat, Wiese manufactured his own pace, producing powerful cam eos down the order. In the absence of Tim David, who left the CPL for Australia duty after playing just five games, Wiese stepped up to give Kings' side a potent point of difference.

8. Imad Wasim (Jamaica Tallawahs)

Runs: 138; Average: 19.71, Strike rate: 121.05; Wickets: 17, Economy rate: 5.97

Imad is out of Pakistan's white-ball sides on fitness grounds, but he contin ues to be an ever-present in Tallawahs' line-up. Six years after Tallawahs got their second CPL title, Imad helped them repeat the feat. He was thrifty as usual with his left-arm inswingers and

arm balls, and also slid up the order to deny the oppo sition favourable match-ups. Imad's explosive 15-ball 41 not out in an unbroken 103run stand off 30 balls with Brooks in the second qualifi er was among the highlights of the season.

9. Sunil Narine (Trinbago Knight Riders)

Runs: 111, Average: 13.87, Strike rate: 120.65; Wickets: 11, Economy rate: 4.80

Narine struggled with the bat as an opener and was eventually demoted down the order. In a way, his fail ures with the bat mirrored the overall batting failure of Trinbago Knight Riders. However, Narine, the bowl er, continued to be un-hitta ble: his economy rate of 4.80 was the best among bowlers who had bowled more than 20 overs in the competition.

10. Alzarri Joseph (St Lucia Kings)

Wickets: 18, Economy rate: 6.75

After having won the IPL earlier this year with Gujarat Titans, Joseph

torched the CPL with his high pace, hit-the-deck bus tle and inch-perfect york ers. These skills enabled him to take wickets at all three venues – St Kitts, Trinidad and Guyana – and top the charts. These skills also attracted the attention of Jo'burg Super Kings in the SA20 auction midway through the CPL.

11. Mohammad Amir (Jamaica Tallawahs)

Wickets 16, Economy rate: 6.43 Sure, Tallawahs' bat ting was hit-or-miss in the league phase, but Amir and Imad were consistent with the ball, performing the dual role of taking wickets as well as plugging the flow of runs. The Pakistan leftarm seamer bowled just 11 balls in the second qualifi er and missed the final alto gether with a groin injury, but his powerplay bite was central to Tallawahs quali fying for the knockouts. He swung the ball both ways, collecting nine wickets in the first six overs at an out standing economy rate of 4.99. (ESPNcricinfo)

North Ruimveldt upset CWSS...

The final game of the day witnessed a drawn result between Dolphin Secondary and Cummings Lodge. Jequan Cole was the first to find the back of the net for Dolphin in the 8th minute. It was only until the second half that Elijah Mendonca erased their lead in the 68th minute for a 1-1 scoreline at the end of regulation time.

Based on Saturday’s re sults, Golden Grove and President’s College now lead the league, with two wins and a draw from three games. CWSS have two

wins and a loss from three games, while Cummings Lodge have two draws and a victory. North Ruimveldt has a win, a draw and a loss, and Dolphin Secondary have managed two draws and a loss.

Friendship Secondary are yet to pick up any points in the league after three losses.

The Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers League will con tinue this weekend at the Ministry of Education Ground (MoE), Carifesta Avenue.

Shamarh Brooks

FROM BACK PAGE

Guyoil/ Tradewind Tankers League… North Ruimveldt

upset CWSS as league continues

Thusfar, Jevon Pluck has pre sented him self as a wor thy striker in the schools’ football arena.

However, on Saturday last, the youngster added the title ‘game winner’ to his exploits, after his lone goal challenged the unbeat able Christianburg Wismar Secondary team.

The occasion was the leading team. That all changed in the second fix ture on Saturday afternoon

The anticipated Milo 2022 final rematch was noth

Yunes storms to LGC Sankar

Spares

ing short of exciting and witnessed several near misses. In the second half, Pluck, who has been consis tently scoring in the league, sent home a stunner to put North in the lead mere min utes before the end game. The defence then went to work to hold off CWSS, who came up empty, succumbing 1-0.

Also in the winners’ circle on Saturday were President’s College. PC’s opponents, Friendship Secondary, were actually the first to score, as Kevon Williams and Rayon Emmanuel struck back-toback goals in the 30th and 35th minutes.

Two minutes later, Ronoko Vaugh found PC’s first goal. Vaugh returned in the 67th minute to level the scores and then, it was heartbreak for Friendship, who continue to languish at the bottom of the table in the Guyoil League. PC’s Wilton

Sebastian joined the party in the 70th minute to push PC to a 3-2 victory.

Golden Grove Secondary also hammered home three goals when they faced off against West Ruimveldt Secondary later that af ternoon. Kelon Croal, Nathan Saw, and Kelvin Richardson were the marks men for Golden Grove in the 4th, 53rd and 70th min utes. Meanwhile, Donovan Welcome issued the lone re ply for West Ruimveldt in the 40th minute.

Brooks replaces Hetmyer in Windies WC squad after flight issues

Scenes from the Guyoil/ Tradewind Tankers league