Guyana Times International 12-January-2020

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Battle for political power in Guyana heats up ISSUE NO. 481

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020

See stories inside

... parties to submit candidates' lists today Granger toys with Ramjattan

PPP/C Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali waves the Golden Arrowhead during his address at the launch of his party’s campaign at Kitty Market Square in Georgetown on Sunday

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Canadian Police probing suspected hit-and-run of Guyanese teen in Brampton

as PM candidate

APNU/AFC Presidential Candidate David Granger greets the cheering crowd on arrival at Durban Park last Friday as the Coalition kicked off their campaign

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Granger toys with Ramjattan as PM candidate

...embarrassed AFC says President’s statement “gratuitous”, “confusing”

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he tit for tat over the coalition’s Prime Ministerial position seems never-ending with the Alliance for Change claiming that their candidate is the substantive choice, while President David Granger claims the right to choose who would serve as his chief minister.

President Granger, on Wednesday, had told reporters that he is yet to decide on who his running mate is, although AFC announced Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan as the coalition’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

“We have completed our review of the Cummingsburg Accord and I have started to

After months of mixed signals President David Granger has publicly declared that Khemraj Ramjattan will be his PM candidate

campaign as you know from the 3rd January with Mr Khemraj Ramjattan who has been nominated by the Alliance For Change. As you said, it is not a constitutional requirement and I have not named a Prime Ministerial candidate but I know what I am going to do and my partners…I reserve the right to choose and nominate a Prime Minister. I will nominate all ministers including the Prime Minister, who is my chief minister after the elections,” Granger said in response to questions posed by reporters.

However, hours later, at a party rally at Hopetown, Region Five, he referred to Ramjattan TURN TO PAGE 7

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

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EDITORIAL

The Elections campaign

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he holidays are over and the country is currently in elections mode. The elections campaigns are becoming more intense as the various parties vie for political power at the March 2 polls. Both major political parties - the APNU/AFC and the PPP/C have already launched their campaign. For many, these elections are viewed as the ‘mother of all elections’ as the stakes are very high considering the direction Guyana will be taking as the country explores fully the oil and gas sector.

While it is normal for political parties to campaign fiercely as they try to win the hearts and minds of voters, it is expected that they do so based on issues and stay away from the personal attacks and mudslinging etc. During past elections campaigns, we have seen politicians, across the political divide, behaving in a reckless and immature manner, not only by engaging in nasty attacks against their opponents, but also by using the race card to appeal to their supporters in order to gain votes. Such actions have the potential to cause mayhem in an already politically-charged environment.

Observers will be watching closely to see how these political parties behave during and after the elections. It is also expected that agencies such as the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) and the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority will step up their efforts in ensuring there is compliance to all the necessary laws etc.

It could be recalled that at the last elections, political parties had signed on to a code of conduct to guide their behaviour before, during and after the elections. This was seen as a commitment on their part that they were serious about running clean, responsible and issue-based campaigns.

According to the Code, the endorsing political party “recognises that peace and public order, freedom of political campaigning, and compliance with electoral laws and regulations are essential and of paramount importance to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections”. As with the Media Code of Conduct (MCC), the code for political parties acts as a self-regulatory mechanism for the contesting parties and their representatives.

For example, the code places the burden on political parties to express opposition to and rejection of the use of violence and intimidation or plans of this nature by any of the candidates, agents, members or supporters as a means of expressing political support or furthering political objectives. There are rules governing the actions of parties on Election Day, as well as it relates to polling agents and others.

As it relates to campaigning, the Code calls on parties to commit and contribute in every way to the goal of a peaceful election process by forbidding the use of threats, harassment or tendency to violence that might cause disruption, whether at political rallies or elsewhere, or any other form of intimidatory behaviour.

Similarly, the participating political groups are expected to forbid the use of abusive, slanderous or threatening language, or language which could incite people of one group to violence against any candidate, agent, member or supporter of any other group and the publication of any pamphlet, poster, cartoon or any other material containing text which could offend or incite people to cause public disorder.

GECOM should look at reviewing the document and then determine if there is need for it to be amended or strengthened with the involvement of all stakeholders and then invite political parties to recommit themselves by singing on to it again.

Citizens are fed up with the usual “cuss down” politics or what some refer to as “political bradarism” kind of behaviour displayed by politicians during elections campaigning here. The focus must be on maintaining a clean, professional and peaceful elections campaign; one that is based on debating and discussing important issues affecting our people.

That said, with just a few weeks away from polling day, it is hoped that GECOM will address all outstanding issues in a transparent, fair and efficient manner and be fully ready for E-Day. The nation cannot afford to have any slippages at this time. It is also hoped that all stakeholders, including political parties, election observers, civil society and the media will play their part in ensuring that we once again rise the occasion and show the world that we have matured as a nation, and that political and other forms of disturbances during pre, peri and post elections periods is a thing of the past.

Sundown in Yurong Paru Village.

Yurong Paru is a small community in the South Pakaraimas in Upper Takatu/Upper Essequibo (Region Nine). This community is accessible by air and land via a trail from Karasabai. It has a population of approximately 375 strong with about 45 households. (Girendra Persaud photo)

Irfaan Ali: The Charisma of Competence

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s the PPPC officially kicked off their campaign for the March 2nd elections at Kitty Market Square, Guyana had the opportunity to listen directly to their Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali. He outlined his vision for Guyana, which he will realise as leader of the next government. As he has emphasised in the past, the programme his government will execute is embodied in the PPPC’s Manifesto. But we know that in all human undertakings, especially political ones, the style and commitment of the leader will inevitably influence the achievement of the articulated goals. It is called “political will”.

If the PPP/C wins, Ali will become the second youngest President of the Republic of Guyana at the age of 39, following Bharrat Jagdeo. There has been, of recent in Guyana, a clamour for “youth” in leadership, which is clearly a reaction against the gerontocracy that was sedulously created by the septuagenarian David Granger.

“Youth” suggests energy and a mind that has not become ossified and backward- looking.

This is vitally needed at this particular juncture, because of the serendipitous world class oil discovery, which will finally give us the wherewithal to create the El Dorado we were told existed in Guyana.

But in spite of his relative youth, Irfaan Ali has extensive organisational experience, which will be vital to deal with the welter of institutions — businesses, governmental and non-governmental — that will be flocking our shores. He has played a leadership role in the youth arm of the PPP — the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) — for almost two decades now, and in the Party’s leadership for almost 15 years.

Besides presently serv-

ing in the Party’s Central and Executive Committees, Irfaan Ali has served for almost a decade as the Party’s Finance Secretary. His involvement in political leadership has therefore not been trivial, and has been in major roles. He has also been in leadership at the regional level and, since 2011, in both General and Regional Elections (four successive elections), has led his Region Three to provide the biggest percentage of PPP wins.

Crucially, he has served as minister, starting at the age of 28. Irfaan Ali’s Ministries were major ones – Housing and Water, Trade and Industry and Tourism. For most of his ministerial service, Irfaan Ali has controlled these two ministries simultaneously. It was a major responsibility that the PPP — through its Presidents, Jagdeo and Ramotar — had placed on a very young man; and he did not disappoint them. He did not disappoint the PPP, and he certainly did not disappoint the people; he served his country with distinction in these two portfolios.

In his period as Minister of Housing, he led the establishment of more housing schemes in Guyana for any five-year period in the country’s history, and distributed more house lots, particularly to low-income and middle-income families, than any other

Housing Minister in our history. As Minister of Water, he led Guyana to almost universal access to potable water, and Guyana gained United Nations’ recognition for this achievement.

Under his tenure as Trade Minister, there was major business development and creation of several industrial parks. As Minister of Tourism, he led the drive to make tourism a major pillar of the growing and diversified economy. But Irfaan Ali distinguished himself not only as a competent and dynamic Minister of Government, he was also a dynamic legislator.

He became a major spokesman in Parliament for the Government’s economic trajectory and the macro-economic and financial stability policies and actions of the then PPP Government.

After 2015, he assumed the role of shadow finance minister for the PPP, and in that capacity, he exposed the weakness of the APNU/AFC regime and their mismanagement of the economy. Ali has also been the Chair of the PAC, and in that capacity, has led the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in one of its most active periods of financial scrutiny in our parliamentary history.

Irfaan Ali has demonstrated the charisma of competence, and is ready to lead Guyana to greatness.

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Guyana’s Auditor General says recommendations to improve accountability being ignored

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very year, the Audit Office of Guyana audits public financial records, unearths corruption and makes recommendations so the Government can tighten up the system. As of last year, however, the Office is complaining that many of its recommendations are being ignored.

This is according to its 2018 report, which was presented to Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland back in October 2019.

According to Auditor General Deodat Sharma, a mere 24 per cent of the 454 recommendations made in 2017 were implemented by the Government.

“Each year, my office issues recommendations to Ministries, departments, and regions that are designed at improving systems and practices at these entities and improving the Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms. Four hundred and fifty-four recommendations were made in my 2017 Audit Report.

“We reviewed each

recommendation to determine what action, if any, was taken by the respective Accounting Officers. At the time of reporting in September 2019, 110 or 24 per cent were fully implemented, 116 or 26 per cent were partially implemented, while 228 or 50 per cent were not implemented.”

The Auditor General expressed concern over what he called the lack of action towards the implementation of the recommendations.

According to him, it means that 76 per cent of his office’s recommendations were not fully implemented. Sharma noted that this was a yearly occurrence.

“In many instances, recommendations are repeated each year without appropriate action and as a result, weaknesses and issues that impacted negatively on Government’s governance and accountability mechanisms continue to occur.

“Once again, I encourage the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department and the respective Heads

Auditor General Deodat Sharma

of Budget Agencies to take appropriate actions and put measures in place to address these recommendations,” he added.

Some of the annual issues on which the Audit Office has been

providing advice over the years include overpayments. For 2018, however, the AG found that the trend of overpayments continued unabated.

This time, the Government was flagged

for overpaying some G$166 million of taxpayer dollars in contracts.

According to the Audit Report, a number of Ministries, departments and regions were guilty of this practice.

For instance, various

Ministries and departments overpaid contractors as much as G$92.3 million.

The Public Infrastructure Ministry, according to the report, accounted for G$63.7 million.

Meanwhile, G$73.7 million was overpaid by regional administrations. Regions Two, Eight, Nine and 10 were responsible for 70 per cent of this sum.

There is some good news, however. Auditor General Sharma notes in the report that as of September 2019, G$20 million was recovered.

This, therefore, leaves G$146 million outstanding.

The AG also experienced some difficulties in his audit, as some G$800 million in payment vouchers were not presented to his auditors. The report states that this sum is equivalent to 582 vouchers.

The Ministries of the Presidency and Natural Resources were among those culpable.

The AG notes that as a result, the Audit Office could not ascertain whether the money was used for the intended purpose.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Granger unfit and unsuitable to lead Guyana ever again Dear Editor, There is certainly a buzz around the phrase, “decade of development”.

What is a “decade of development” from a Guyanese perspective and who can best launch it?

To answer these questions, one has to look at the concept of what it does to free a nation from the shackle of racial, ethnic and religious oppression using an attitude of mind that sets a specific tone. How about a Guyana that uses its natural resources and wealth to lift all boats (in this case our people) economically, socially and mentally? How about using the resources of the State to show the entire nation how “not to practice” nepotism, favouritism, and political marginalisation so that more of our people can be empowered to live a more dignified life and are allowed to get ahead based on merit rather than which political leader you are connected to?

How about harnessing the dwindling entrepreneurial skills to unleash the nation’s true potential?

While one can find

very little to disagree with on this concept, one has to beware not any “jankelaar” can proceed along this path. You must have a track record of human development to give credibility to your agenda. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the record of Mr David Granger over the last 4 years 6 months to conclude if he does have the integrity to speak of a “decade of development”.

I will only use two examples today because of space, but I have more than 120 other examples to support my conclusion that he is unfit and unsuitable to lead Guyana ever again.

1. Rural Guyana – sugar is intertwined with the livelihood of the people in rural Berbice and Demerara, yet Mr Granger chose to ignore the conclusions of his CoI and shut down 4 factories. Any child could have told him that the outcome from that decision would have created a socio-economic implosion in rural areas. The outcome of that Granger decision was the drastic reduction in sugar production, which at the end of 2019 was only

90,246 tonnes (59 per cent decline from 2014), the lowest production since 1926. In the last full year of the PPP/C Government, sugar production was 216,186 tonnes and in those days that was considered a poor production. Today the head office cost at GuySuCo is now 34 per cent of total operating cost compared to 20 per cent in 2014, and this strategy of Mr Granger was designed to make the industry more efficient? The human development wreckage left in the wake of Mr Granger’s decision was nothing but heartless and inhumane.

2. Investments in agriculture – The graph below as sourced from the Bank of Guyana illustrates the situation with respect to the importation of agricultural machinery. Investing in capital equipment is a pre-requisite for the development of any economy and in Guyana’s case, the agriculture sector is key. The importation of agriculture machinery declined by some US$30 million since Mr Granger took over. Even the worse of the PPP Presidents (Mr Ramotar)

achieved better results.

With the agriculture sector being one of the main employers and the reason for our future, it must play a crucial role in promoting human de-

ordinary people illustrates something very different. What is clear is that Mr Granger does not have a clue what he is doing and is incompatible with the process

projects and on his coterie of advisers. He can claim D’Urban Park, but can the Guyanese people eat D’Urban Park?

Does it give them health, strength, wealth, wis-

velopment and contributing to the reduction of poverty. Any investment in this sector is vital but the evidence reveals it is not happening under Mr Granger because the farmers have no confidence in him. Such a situation has contributed to an increase in economic disparity and human deprivation that now exist in at least 1 in 4 homes across the nation.

So while Mr Granger talks about the “good life”, the reality for the

of implementing policies to strongly influence the quality of life for the people in a positive manner.

The evidence is overwhelming to prove that he is a policy dullard.

After half of a decade as the President of Guyana and with such a tragic record, why would Guyana want to further destroy itself and give him a second chance over a new decade? Are we silly enough to give a policy failure more time to now bury us all six feet under when it comes to our human development?

The facts will show that after spending more than G$1400 billion over the last half of a decade, Mr Granger has very little to show as newly conceived projects. All he has done is spend money on completed PPP/C conceived

dom and happiness? Mr Granger has left a legacy where his version of the “economic trickle-down” has left the widest gap between the rich and the poor in the entire history since independence.

Because of the massive distribution of wealth to this new cabal of PNC multi-millionaires numbering less than 500 persons, we find that more people are now living in poverty. The latest estimates speak to some 40 per cent of our people who are now living in poverty.

The evidence is overwhelming, Mr Granger and his APNU cabal are certainly not the people to launch the decade of development.

Guyana’s election results must be respected Dear Editor, I started a paper on political stability and development that I need to complete. It will be the first study to examine the nexus between political stability and economic growth in the Caribbean. Using data for the period 1960-2018 and Generalized Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models, I found convincing evidence that political stability is negatively related to economic growth. My findings would appear to defy rational thinking since it means that when the economy performs poorly, the country enjoys relatively more peace and political stability. In civilised democratic societies, we would expect the reverse. That is, when the economy performs poorly, there should be more agitation from the ordinary man who would tend to suffer and rebel.

While strange, there is a rational explanation for my findings. The

PNC is perceived to control the coercive arms of the state in and out of power. Thus, even when this political party delivers hardships during their rule, as was the case in the 80s (eg, blackouts, food shortages) and trampled upon the rule of law as they did over the last year, the people fall in line. The false impression created by the PNC is that the security forces will stand behind this political party regardless of its performance or transgressions.

My study shows that whenever the PPP is in power, which is usually characterised by economic and social development, there is less peace and stability in Guyana.

For instance, the country was one of the most advanced economies in the Caribbean during the 1960s under the PPP-led government. However, during this period, we experienced the deadliest riots in our history.

Similarly, during the 23 years of the PPP/C rule that ended in 2015, the country was crippled by riots associated with the

‘more fyah and slow fyah’ campaign, a crime spree supported by politicians who described the criminals as ‘freedom fighters’ and violent protest in Linden and East Bank aimed at destabilising the PPP/C Government.

Paradoxically, during the 1992-2015 period, the country experienced two episodes of sustained economic growth under the PPP/C. The contradiction may be explained by the perceived control exercised by the PNC over the security forces.

We are heading to elections in a few months from now. If the polls are free and fair, I am confident of victory for the PPP/C is guaranteed since the vast majority of Guyanese will support this party. However, whether the PNCdominated Government will relinquish power without a fight is another issue. There is a real and genuine fear that there will be severe violence should the PPP/C win the election, as was the case in 1992 and 1997.

Already, we are witnessing the open display of

hate for the PPP/C by a small group of disruptive people across Guyana.

I believe that this small group is signalling to all Guyanese that they will rebel if the APNU/ AFC loses the elections.

We should not ignore this signal. Instead, we should make the necessary arrangements so that violence is minimised during the election season. More importantly, measures should be put in place to ensure the results are respected by those who may choose to do otherwise when the results are declared. In the meantime, the supporters of the PPP/C should exercise restraint in the face of all the provocation engineered by this small disruptive group. We need to be mindful that the PNCdominated coalition is desperate and wants to spread fear among the electorate as well as invoke racism to appeal to their traditional support base.

Regards, Name provided

With regards, Sasenarine Singh

Mark Phillips is a good addition to the PPP/C team Dear Editor, I extend congratulations to Brigadier (Ret’) Mark A Phillips, MSS, MSc on his selection and endorsement as the PPP/ C’s prime ministerial candidate for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

As a civic member of some standing, I welcome Mr Phillips to the fold and at the same time, I welcome Mr Hugh Todd and the numerous other civic candidates that will appear on the PPP/C’s regional, geographical and national top-up lists.

I believe that Mr Phillips will play his role

and work arduously for a new wave of prosperity in Guyana in the next PPP/C Administration.

The PPP/C team is stronger by these additions.

I have always advocated: “The part one plays can never be more important than the whole of which they are apart”.

We are stronger together. Welcome to the PPP/C’s family. Please accept best wishes and assurances of the highest consideration from the Edghill family.

Respectfully, Juan Edghill

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

US Envoy briefs State Minister on voter education support to GECOM

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inister of State, Mrs. Dawn HastingsWilliams, on Wednesday, received a courtesy call from the United States (US) Ambassador to Guyana, Mrs. SarahAnn Lynch at her office at the Ministry of the Presidency.

According to the Ministry of the Presidency, during the meeting, Ambassador Lynch informed the State Minister that her visit was primarily to brief her on the United States’ work with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) particularly in the area of voter and civic education, which was highlighted by the Commission as an area for assistance as well as the US’s participation as election observers for the March 2, 2020, Regional and General Elections.

Additionally, Ambassador Lynch explained that currently a team from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is currently on the ground

PM candidate, effectively overthrowing current Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

There has been much speculation in the public domain on whether the AFC would have been able to reclaim its previous Cummingsburg Accord concessions after its showing at Local

Government Elections (LGE) last year. In the revised Accord, AFC seats have been downgraded to a mere 30 per cent of parliamentary seats while the APNU will get 70 per cent. In the previous agreement, AFC had 40 per cent while APNU had 60 per cent.

Minister of State, Mrs. Dawn Hastings-Williams shares a light moment with United States Ambassador to Guyana, Mrs. Sarah-Ann Lynch during a courtesy call at the Ministry of the Presidency.

working with GECOM with respect to voter and

civic education and raising voter awareness.

Granger toys with... as his Prime Ministerial candidate. However, at the very rally, Ramjattan was not introduced as the Prime Ministerial candidate but rather simply as AFC leader.

Concerns have been raised as to who is the APNU/AFC coalition’s PM candidate when it launched its campaign on January 3. At the launching, Ramjattan was introduced as Leader of the AFC and not the PM candidate as well as he was noticeably absent from the campaign posters.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Ramjattan told Guyana Times International that he has “no comment to make” and promptly disconnected the call.

Meanwhile, AFC later released a statement where it reiterated its position that the President naming the Prime Ministerial candidate is in direct contradiction with provisions of the recently signed Revised Cummingsburg Accord, which embodies the agreements between the two political organisations.

“The assertion that he will choose and nominate the Prime Minister after

aid to GECOM, noting that the Government is

committed to holding free and fair elections.

She noted that one way of ensuring credible elections is by including both local and international observers.

“I am happy that USAID is on board to support GECOM… Transparency and accountability is number one on the Government's agenda and that is why we continue to invite and accept international and local observers to assist where they can so that we can work together to eliminate the negatives… As a Government, we emphasise no violence should be encouraged we want it [elections] to be done in a peaceful manner,” she was quoted by MotP as saying.

USAID and the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities through Tetra Tech ARD recently held a workshop on voter education for persons with disabilities titled ‘Voting Rights: Ensuring Access for Persons with Disabilities’.

the election is gratuitous and confusing to our supporters and the wider electorate,” said the General Secretary of the AFC David Patterson.

The statement added that AFC is well aware of the constitutional steps regarding appointments once the election results are known. However, the party said the process does not change the fundamental agreement that the AFC names the Prime Ministerial candidate and have named its leader, Ramjattan.

“Consequently, the AFC is not confused by the comments, which we notice has subsequently been clarified by the General Secretary of APNU. The AFC said it hoped clarity has been brought to the issue, which was carefully considered and agreed during the Cummingsburg Accord discussions,” the statement added.

The AFC and APNU have been at loggerhead over the selection of a Prime Ministerial candidate since the 2015 Cummingsburg Accord gave the PM slot to the AFC. However, the revised agreement was signed

on December 24 but details surrounding the agreement have not been made public. The signing was done at State House, with President David Granger and DirectorGeneral of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, representing APNU as the party’s Chairman and General

Minister HastingsWilliams welcomed the

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Secretary respectively.

On the other hand, the smaller party was represented by Ramjattan (as AFC leader) and Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson (as AFC General Secretary).

Ramjattan was elected at the AFC’s last National Executive Conference to be the

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Airport manager cleared of sexual assault charges following victim’s refusal to give evidence

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he sexual allegations brought against Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, Andre Kellman, were dropped on Tuesday after the victim refused to present evidence in the matter.

The matter was called before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty but the ex-worker at CJIA informed the court that she does not wish to proceed with the matter and as such, would not offer evidence against the defendant.

Kellman, 54, who is in charge of operations at the airport, was charged last August and appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly where he was not required to plead to the indictable charge.

At that time, the police had stated that on July 30, 2018, at CJIA, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he sexually assaulted a 34-year-old woman.

The victim had alleged that she was hugged and kissed on her lips by the accused during a visit to his office

Andre Kellman

during working hours.

In her complaint to the police, the woman ex-

plained that she went to Kellman’s office to have an issue resolved. As she

was leaving, he allegedly walked around his desk to hug her – an act she

deemed “inappropriate” but as she pulled away, he allegedly kissed her

on the lips.

The victim further stated that as she headed towards the door, Kellman barred her from leaving and again allegedly kissed her.

According to the woman, she left in shock and immediately reported the matter to the airport’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Human Resources Manager.

After some time had elapsed with no word from management, she decided to make a formal report to the Timehri Police Station.

The incident was quick to make headlines and without any hesitation, the woman’s security pass was revoked.

The airport later confirmed that Kellman was being investigated for sexual misconduct and was sent on administrative leave pending its outcome Kellman was initially released on station bail.

Meanwhile, after the conclusion of the investigations, a file was sent to the DPP, who recommended that charges be instituted against him.

Now, the DECO is cleared of all the allegations made against him.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Bank of Guyana overdraft now over G$75B – despite IMF warning Govt to settle balance

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eneral and R e g i o n a l Elections are creeping closer and closer and the central bank’s overdraft of public funds keeps increasing in size— with the latest figures from the Bank of Guyana showing an overdraft of over G$75 billion.

According to the Bank of Guyana’s statement of Assets and Liabilities, the bank had a negative balance of G$76.8 billion as of November 12, 2019.

This is a situation that can lead to revenues, in particular, the oil revenues, being diverted.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned about this situation since 2018, writing in its 2018 staff report that: “Staff reiterated and stressed the importance of settling these balances at the central bank, which the authorities agreed

to do in the short-term through the issuance of Treasury Bills”.

Public deposits at the central bank were plunged into overdraft status back in 2015 when the new coalition government ended the year with a G$2.3 billion overdraft. When the Government took over in May 2015, they had met public deposits of approximately G$10.4 billion.

By 2016 year-end, the overdraft had grown to approximately G$21.3 billion, after a year of increasing withdrawals.

At the end of the 2017 fiscal year, the overdraft had reached G25.7 billion.

In contrast, Bank of Guyana data shows that the bank’s public deposits were in the positive – G$21.4 billion to be precise – at the end of 2014.

In 2013, the bank’s deposits were G$52.1 billion. And the preceding

Bank of Guyana

Finance Minister Winston Jordan year, the funds were approximately G$57.2 billion.

While the drawdown on funds started under the previous administration, public deposits were built up to over G$69 billion in the year 2010. Far from being built up under the current government, they

have never been able to rise above the red. But with the coming oil revenue and the extra case it brings, Government has not appeared too worried about filling fiscal holes. It was previously reported that Finance Minister Winston Jordan when asked about replenishing the

fallen foreign reserves, had said there was nothing to worry about with oil money coming in.

Jordan had said that with the revenue the Government is expecting from first oil in 2020, the foreign reserves will be replenished. Since he made those comments in September, Exxon and its partners have started pumping oil since last year.

“That is just a temporary situation, given our receipts that come in next year,” Jordan said.

“And then subsequent to that. One of the reasons you have savings is that if you have need to use some, you do that and afterwards you replenish it as you pick up again.”

“So essentially, I don’t know that people have to make an alarm over it. Imports are coming into the country, the exchange rate is relatively there, notwithstanding all the pressure on the regime itself.”

“Despite all of that, we are still there. It would be something of a concern if we didn’t have on the horizon foreign exchange coming to replenish, stabilise and grow (the fund),” Jordan had said.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Coalition Govt’s promises on renewable energy remain unfulfilled

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fter almost five years in Government, the Public Infrastructure Ministry has only been able to install solar panels and energy-efficient lights, while a number of major projects that Government had announced would lead to renewable energy remain unfinished, even as elections and the end of a term in office draws closer.

The Public Infrastructure Ministry held a press conference on Wednesday, where an account was given for the Ministry’s performance for last year. When it comes to energy, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson announced that they installed 81 solar panels on Government buildings for 2019.

He also noted that at a cost of G$165 million, over 20,000 energy-efficient lights were changed in the hinterland. But projects such as the Hope wind farm, the Kato hydropower project, and the Mabaruma solar farm remain in the works.

The Mabaruma solar farm project, according to the Minister, is presently still at the tendering phase for certain components. Patterson was, nevertheless, optimistic that the project would be completed by next month.

“The panels are in-

A section of a APNU/AFC rally held at Hopetown, Berbice

stalled… we have a series of panels on posts on the ground. They take over an area of about an acre. The rumour on the ground of it being taken over by bush was a question of the guys not weeding it… that has been taken care of. That’s (not what’s) wrong with them, the solar panels have a lifespan of 25 years.”

“The issue with the operation of the whole system is the panels, the software, battery and inverters. The issue was the batteries and inverters were incorrectly installed. So those are the new ones that are out

to tender and will be installed… the tender was out two months ago… it’s supposed to be finished before (February 23).”

In the case of the wind farm, Patterson explained that all the technical aspects are supposed to have been completed. He noted that the project is now a matter for the developer and his financing. Other projects are also in the pipeline.

Some are being carried out by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), while others are being overseen by the Hinterland

Electrification Company Incorporated (HECI).

Both come under the jurisdiction of the Public Infrastructure Ministry.

“The GEA has identified seven potential sites located along the Guyana coast to conduct detailed wind resource assessments, to develop utility-scale grid-connected wind farms. And we’re monitoring them as we speak now. We need a year’s data, and with that data, we will invite persons to bid or develop projects to harness the wind energy,” he said.

In the case of sever-

al of these projects, 2019 had been cited as the year for them to come on stream. The Mabaruma solar farm, one such project, in the end, was not completed in that stipulated timeframe, while a contract for B&J to construct a hydropower plant on Cheung River in Kato was signed last year.

Discussions about building the Hope wind farm, which has International Pharmaceutical Agency’s (IPA) Lloyd Singh as an investor, had resurrected since 2015 when the current Government came

into office.

In addition, there has been criticism of how much electricity they can actually provide to the grid, compared with the Amaila Falls Hydro Project (AFHP) – a project started by the previous Government but was scrapped by this administration, who had controlled the National Assembly by a one-seat majority.

The project could have been generating about 50 per cent more electricity than the entire Guyana Power and Light (GPL) supply.

The Government itself has announced that the Mabaruma solar farm when it comes on stream, will be able to provide 400 Kilowatts (KW) of power.

Meanwhile, Kato hydropower is expected to provide 150 KW. On the other hand, the Hope wind farm will provide an estimated 16.8 Megawatts (MW).

The AFHP, on the other hand, was supposed to have an installed capacity of 165 MW. To give an idea of its potential, a report

by Norwegian company Norconsult had found that the DemeraraBerbice Interconnected System (DBIS) had a generation capacity of 164.9 Mega Watts, less than Amaila. This an example of a project that, had it been pursued, may have come on stream by now.

GAWU says 2019 sugar production calls for serious examination

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he Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has been lambasted by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) in regards to its 2019 sugar production and its plans for 2020.

The Union related that the statement issued by GuySuCo has confirmed the initial position that production would not surpass the 100,000 tonnes.

“The proof is now in the pudding and sugar production that the industry’s two largest and most efficient units have fallen drastically since 2015. The GuySuCo may well argue that the un-harvested canes could have resulted in higher production. This explanation we treat with a pinch of salt. That reality is that even if all the canes were harvested, production in 2019 would still have been lower than what was

produced by the three estates in 2015,” GAWU stated.

The industry, according to its 2019 first crop production report, revealed would produce 107,023 tonnes of sugar as against 110,273 tonnes of sugar produced in 2015, but it was noted that a total of 92,246 tonnes of sugar was sold in the local, regional and international markets.

The sugar company said that the Second Crop production was

closed on December 21, 2019, with 1981 hectares that could not be harvested and will be carried over to the First Crop of 2020.

As a result of this, a further shortfall was recorded with in excess of 80,000 tonnes of cane from Albion, 60,000 tonnes of cane from Blairmont and 11,000 tonnes of cane from Uitvlugt were not harvested, but GAWU is of the strong belief that if it was harvested, the company still would

not meet its targeted amount.

“Uitvlugt is the only estate that has moved

ago, we disclosed that the estate was not having all canes harvested sent to the factory for processing. Images and reports from workers informed that tonnes of canes were left in fields which were mechanically loaded,” GAWU further added.

GuySuCo has repeatedly cried about lack of financing for its operations. However, the GAWU has stated that the G$30 billion bond it received in 2018 should have been utilised to safeguard sugar produc-

had accused GuySuCo of not being forthcoming with information on how the G$7.420 billion disbursement from the bond was used, something which he said is proving problematic for bondholders.

Nevertheless, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder on August 21, 2015, boasted that the sugar industry will be able to recover.

“GuySuCo will recover and 2015 will mark a turning point in the performance of GuySuCo,” Holder had stated. But

Comparison with 2019 production with what the three currently operable estates realized in 2015

forward, at the same time, we contend, that production at that estate ought to have been higher. Just a few weeks

tion and the jobs of the remaining thousands of sugar workers.

In fact, SPU’s Head Colvin Heath-London

with that being said, the sugar industry has continued to struggle with over 7000 sugar workers being sent home.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Members of the Disciplined Services to vote on Feb 21

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e m b e r s of the Disciplined Services will be heading to the polls on February 21 ahead of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

As customary during any elections, members of the disciplined services are required to cast their votes ahead of the polling day so that they are available for posting at the various polling stations and other strategic locations as required by law without disenfranchising them.

Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield on Wednesday disclosed that “D-Day”, as it is referred to, will be held 10 days before the March 2 elections day, that is, February 21.

Three ballot officers (BO) – one each for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) – were sworn-in on Wednesday at GECOM’s head office. These are Roxanne Ramdyhan-Lewi for

The nine newly sworn-in returning officers with GECOM Chair Retired Justice Claudette Singh and CEO Keith Lowenfield

with the liaisons from the respective services to ensure that all the ranks identified for voting that day, that they’re satisfied,” he stated.

The CEO went on to note that they have already done some work with the ranks in the respective services, and those who have retired, to sort them out and ensure that the list of eli-

Wednesday before the CEO. These include Trevor Harris from Region One (Barima-Waini), Roxanne Smith of Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), Mohanlall Jagdeo of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Clairmont Mingo from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Savitri Mangar of

The three ballot officers assigned to the various Disciplined Services with GECOM Chair Retired Justice Claudette Singh and CEO Keith Lowenfield

GDF, Nardeo Persaud for GPF, and Onicia Bynoe for GPS. According to Lowenfield, they are ensuring that all systems are in place for the various ranks to cast their votes and that their voters are sorted and dispatched to their respective locations.

“Ten days prior to the elections, Disciplined Services balloting will take place and those ballot stations to be confirmed by these recently sworn-in officers. They will be working along

gible voters is accurate ahead of D-Day. At the 2015 General and Regional Elections, over 7000 Disciplined Servicemen and women were registered to vote.

At least 84 polling stations were step up for those ranks to cast their votes.

Returning officers

Meanwhile, nine returning officers from the various regions, with the exception of Region Five – where no one has been selected as yet – were also sworn-in on

Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Glendon Fredericks of Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni), Dwayne Marco from Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), John Abraham of Region Nine (Upper Takutu- Upper Essequibo), and Rensford Alleyne from Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice).

In brief remarks after these ROs took their oaths before him, Lowenfield underscored the importance of the ROs engaging in a fair, impartial and transpar-

ent manner when carrying out their duties.

“That is an absolute necessity. The nation, and I dare say the wider world, expects of your performance par excellence during the conduct of this tour of duty,” he noted.

Meanwhile, GECOM Chairperson Retired Justice Claudette Singh, who observed the swearing-in ceremony, also called on the managers of the regional election to discharge their duties with integrity since they

will be under scrutiny on elections day and even before that.

“I would like you to just bear in mind at all times that you are serving your country and you must do so with the utmost care and diligence.

You must be diligent in servicing because if something goes wrong, you know who they will blame. They will say the RO did this and the RO did that,” she noted.

Justice Singh also urged the ROs to resolve any issues that may

arise in their districts in the best way they can and not wait for things to escalate, cautioning that things can get “nasty”.

Both the ROs and ballot officers were also encouraged to sort out their respective offices by the end of Wednesday or today, the latest. In fact, following the simple ceremony, the newly sworn-in officers met with the CEO and other senior officials from the Elections Secretariat to discuss operationalising their offices.

On the other hand, Lowenfield informed reporters that general elections preparations are on stream for the March 2 polling day.

“We’re moving ahead with our planning to ensure the elections day is satisfied,” he posited.

Guyanese will be heading to the polls in less than eight weeks. In preparation for elections, GECOM will be holding Nominations Day this Friday at the Umana Yana in Kingston, Georgetown.

At least 19 political parties, including 14 new ones, are expected to submit their lists of candidates and nominators to the CEO on that day.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

“I will be a Prime Minister for all Guyanese” - Brigadier Mark Phillips

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oining ranks with the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Brigadier Mark Phillips delivered his maiden political address on Sunday afternoon during the party’s 2020 elections campaign launch, where he urged Guyanese to use their vote wisely.

“I will be the next Prime Minister of Guyana,” he declared to the hundreds of supporters who gathered at the Kitty Market Square.

“I will be a Prime Minister for all Guyanese, regardless of race, religion or political persuasions!”

A former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Phillips will be running alongside the party’s Presidential Candidate Dr Irfaan Ali. “You may want to know what I may bring to the PPP/C as the prime ministerial candidate,” Phillips reasoned.

“Well, I am bringing years of experience in the public service and sound leadership…my solid combination of ex-

PPP/C Prime Ministerial Candidate, Ret’d Brigadier Mark Phillips and other supporters

perience and leadership will help the new PPP/C Administration to move Guyana forward,” he posited.

“The team approach to nation-building is not a new concept to me comrades. I have led teams of various sizes and I have worked

on teams as a member, what has always been important to me is the satisfaction of knowing that my team has created positive changes in the lives of ordinary people. What has always been important to me is making a positive difference in the lives of

others so they can pursue their dreams of a better life,” Brigadier Phillips explained.

He reflected on when he retired from the GDF in 2016, after serving

said there is an anti-crime and security strategy, which will address the current and future security concerns of the country.

“This anti-crime and

some 36 years as a soldier, that he had committed to finding an appropriate “civilian type job” to continue to serve the people of Guyana.

“With your votes, I will find the appropriate job to continue to serve!” he expressed, noting that he will serve with integrity and fairness, as he did during his time at the GDF. “As your prime ministerial candidate and soon to be Prime Minister, I can assure you that the PPP/C has a vision and strategy to lead the people towards prosperity,” he explained.

Brigadier Phillips

security strategy will be linked to other strategies for employment creation and poverty alleviation throughout Guyana and it will help to open the gateway to prosperity,” he said.

In fact, he urged Guyanese, both supporters and non-supporters of the PPP/C, to take some time to review the party’s plans and strategies, assuring that there is a proposal for everyone, from the young to the elderly.

“There is no time to hurt or destroy each other during this political season. Let us stick to the issues…let us remain steadfast. Let us

stay focus,” Brigadier Phillips said.

He further told the gathering that he will work closely with Ali and the rest of the PPP/C to ensure all Guyanese are in a position to elevate themselves, to live a more comfortable life.

“I will work together with our next President Dr Irfaan Ali to implement our plan for equal opportunity and racial harmony for all Guyana,” he posited.

The prime ministerial hopeful encouraged Guyanese to come out early on elections day, and mark their ‘x’ on the cup.

“We will return the PPP/C to Government!” he declared.

“Use your vote to send a strong message, comrades, vote for democracy, vote for unity, vote for youths, vote for strong leadership, vote for development, vote for Guyana, vote for the PPP/C!” Brigadier Phillips was unanimously en-

dorsed as the prime ministerial candidate for the PPP/C on January 3, 2020.

As a member of the army, Phillips held a number of crucial leadership positions at various levels and ranks and his consistent upward mobility clearly demonstrated that he carried himself with distinction in every position held.

Academically, Phillips possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Management, a Master’s Degree in Public Management and several post-graduate diplomas in Defence Planning and various areas of management.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Caribbean countries warned as major earthquakes hit Puerto Rico

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he Trinidad-based Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Tuesday said that the recent earthquakes in Puerto Rico should serve as a reminder to the Caribbean, “that our region is seismically active and we always need to be prepared”.

On Monday an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 rocked Puerto Rico and it was followed by a stronger quake with a magnitude of 5.4 on Tuesday. The SRC said that Monday's quake was a “foreshock” to the 6.4 quake on Tuesday.

US officials said power outages and dam-

age have been reported near the island's southern coast, including in the city of Ponce where a 77-year-old man was killed and at least eight others were injured.

The US Geological Survey said the quake also affected several other countries including the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos Islands and the US Virgin Islands.

“The recent earthquakes around Puerto Rico serves as a reminder that our region is seis-

19-yr-old charged with murder of homeless man

T

Dave Jacobs

he teen accused of killing a homeless man in Corriverton Market, Berbice was on Wednesday slapped with a murder charge and hauled before Magistrate Alex Moore.

Dave Jacobs, 19, is accused of killing Richard Persaud Kamaldeo, called “Tyie”, on January 3, 2020. Reports are 43-year-old Kamaldeo had been living on the streets for a number of years, often sleeping at the Corriverton Market.

On the day in ques-

tion, Jacob and Kamaldeo had an argument, during which the teen allegedly armed himself with a sharp object and stabbed the homeless man.

Jacobs reportedly told the Police that he had gone to the Market looking for a place to sleep when Kamaldeo objected, saying that it was his place of rest.

Jacobs was remanded. The case will be called again on February 20, 2020 at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court.

mically active and we always need to be prepared,” the SRC said, adding that “although we do not monitor that area, sharing of knowledge is key to better understanding and living with these geological hazards”.

According to information posted on the SRC website, the biggest earthquake in an earthquake sequence is called the main shock.

“Main shocks are followed by lots of smaller earthquakes called aftershocks. Occasionally an

earthquake will be followed by a larger event.

In that case, we call the first earthquake a “foreshock” and the new, larger event a “main shock”.

There's nothing inherently different about the earthquakes themselves, it's just terminology ex-

plaining when they occur in relation to each other.”

In recent days, several Caribbean countries have been rocked by earthquakes ranging in magnitudes from 3.9 to 4.3. (CMC)

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Probe ongoing into passenger collapse at CJIA International Airport (CJIA).

Dead is Kodzo Ekpe. Guyana Times International understands that Ekpe, who was a professor at the St Croix Educational Complex, and former Principal of Montserrat SDA School, was on vacation in Guyana with his wife to celebrate his mother-in-law’s 80th birthday and their family’s reunion.

This newspaper was told that attempts were made to revive him and

A

Dead: Kodzo Ekpe

male passenger, a citizen of the British Virgin

Islands, on Sunday morning collapsed and died while boarding

an outgoing American Airlines flight to Miami at the Cheddi Jagan

PPP/C members attacked while putting up flags in Berbice paign set for today at Alexander Street, Kitty, Georgetown, when they were attacked.

“While in Sophia, several known PNC/ APNU activists led by Ms Laurene Nestor, blocked the streets and started to hurl missiles at the lorry and its occupants and threatening them with violence were they to continue these announcements within the locality of Sophia,” the letter stated.

Meanwhile, Nandlall revealed that a report of that incident was made at the Prashad Nagar Police Outpost on the evening of the incident.

F

PPP Executive Member Harry Gill

ormer parliamentarian Harry Gill, along with other members of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), was on Monday attacked while erecting elections campaign flags at Number 10 Village, West Coast Berbice.

The incident, which was captured on camera, shows persons verbally abusing and physically blocking the team as they attempted to place the flags on the utility poles.

Gill, in an invited comment to Guyana Times International, stated that a formal Police report will be filed and that the international community will be informed of the incident.

This was only one instance where party members were verbally abused. Only recently, several PPP supporters were attacked and abused in Laing Avenue, Georgetown by

residents as they were announcing the launch of its elections campaign.

In light of the recent attacks, the Party had written to Police Commissioner Leslie James, asking for swift actions to be taken against supporters of the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/ AFC) coalition, who attacked opposition members and destroyed the party’s impedimenta.

The letter was sent by Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall on behalf of the Party, which detailed that on January 2, a motor lorry carrying a music system and several party activists was driving through Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

However, Nandlall noted that they were making public announcements regarding the launch of the PPP’s elections cam-

he was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Based on reports from the Public Health Ministry, reports received from the Port Health Officer revealed that best efforts were made by the licensed health care provider on duty to save the passenger’s life.

This newspaper was told that just before he collapsed, Ekpe complained to his wife

about feeling unwell on his way to the boarding gate before deciding to utilise his self-care nebuliser, since he was asthmatic. He, however, collapsed and the Port Health Officer was alerted.

By that time, another passenger had already begun to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on the unresponsive passenger.

An investigation has been launched.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Former PPP/C MP charged for rape; claims ‘political vindictiveness’ by APNU/AFC H ours after former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Member of Parliament (MP), Alister Charlie accused the David Granger-led Administration of using the criminal justice system as a political instrument against their political opponents, he was taken before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Charlie was on Tuesday charged for sexual assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He was released on bail immediately after the charge was read at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. Charlie, who is also a Central Committee Member of the PPP, appeared before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus and denied both charges which alleged that between July 31 and August 1, 2019, at Lethem, Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy.

It was further alleged that on August 5, 2019,

in Lethem, Rupununi, he attempted to pervert the course of justice. In court on Tuesday, Defence Counsel, Latchmi Rahamat, in a bail application, requested that her client be released on reasonable bail.

The former MP was released on G$200,000 bail and the case will continue on January 31 at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court.

Only Monday evening, Charlie had said that “expectedly, as it is becoming clearer with every passing day that the coalition Government will lose the March 2, 2020 National and Regional Elections, they are becoming progressively more desperate and vindictive”.

He added, “we have already witnessed their acts of vandalism against our party’s flags and other campaign paraphernalia. We have also witnessed their acts of thuggery and intimidation against our party’s activists as they move around the country to spread the message of the PPP/C”.

According to Charlie,

Former PPP MP, Alister Charlie leaving court

after applying tremendous political pressure upon members of the Guyana Police Force, “they have finally suc-

ceeded in getting me charged with the criminal offences of sexual assault and attempting to pervert the course of jus-

tice”.

It is to be noted, he said, that the initial Police investigation concluded the matter as be-

ing resolved with the Virtual Complainant retracting the complaint after confessing that he was forced to make that complaint by someone “who is a known PNC activist” in the area. It is also important to note, he said, that the incident in question allegedly occurred since July 31, 2019.

“Subsequently, Vice President Sydney Allicock visited the police station with a delegation and, as a result, a special team of police officers, centrally directed from Eve Leary, Georgetown, was dispatched to reopen the investigation. As a result, these charges emerged.

It is not without relevance that PNC activist, Carl Parker, the ex-Regional Executive Officer of Region Nine, was charged with attempted rape.”

“I maintain that I am innocent of these charges and these charges are instituted against me because I was a Member of Parliament and a Central Committee Member of the PPP,” Charlie stated.

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12 , 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Drama at GECOM: Meeting ends abruptly after Govt Commissioner’s walkout A s preparations continue for the upcoming General and Regional Elections, another meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ended abruptly on Tuesday after one of the Commissioners walked out.

This was the first meeting of the seven-member Commission for 2020. The last meeting was held in December 2019.

Guyana Times International understands that at the beginning of the meeting, Government-nominated Commissioner Charles Corbin asked to leave the meeting early and this was granted. However, less than an hour after he left, his fellow Government-nominated Commissioner, Desmond Trotman, had a disagreement with another Commissioner and left the meeting.

This forced Tuesday’s meeting to come to an abrupt end.

Following the meeting, Oppositionn o m i n a t e d

Government Commissioners Desmond Trotman, Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin

Commissioner Sase Gunraj would only say that the meeting did not go to conclusion because “we lost a quorum”.

Nevertheless, he related that they were able to discuss the interactions and assistance GECOM will be getting from overseas partners as well as preparations

and procedures for the upcoming Nominations Day on Friday.

GECOM has reported that at least 19 political parties, 14 of which are new parties, have submitted their symbols to contest the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

On December 27,

2019, the seven-member Elections Commission met with President David Granger and briefed him on GECOM’s state of preparedness.

Following that high-level meeting, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Bibi Shadick explained that GECOM is on track with activities for the upcoming polls and that the Elections Secretariat has sufficient funding for the entire process.

Government would have approved over G$8 billion for the hosting

of the 2020 elections, a large fraction of which still remains unused.

“Just to ensure whether we’re on track with elections, and we are. We have money but we just wanted to make sure that the Finance Minister will give the money when we ask for it in a timely manner,” Shadick had explained.

H o w e v e r , Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander had acknowledged that the availability of these resources will not be an issue.

“We’re advised by the executives that, that should not be a problem,” he had indicated after the engagement with the Head of State.

Over the past months, the Elections Commission has been meeting and despite several meetings, it is yet to find consensus on finalising the voters’ list, particularly the use of the unverified data that was captured during the scrapped House-toHouse Registration exercise.

Last month, it was announced that over 6500 persons of the 16,863 ‘new’ registrants were not confirmed during the five-day field verification exercise.

Figures released to the media showed that Region Four (DemeraraMahaica) had the highest number of unconfirmed persons, which tallied to 3657.

According to GECOM, there were 16,863 ‘new’ registrants but only 10,329 were confirmed.

In fact, one Opposition-nominated Commissioner had told this publication that field officers who conducted the verification exercise of “new registrants” had found empty lots at the addresses on record for those persons.

Guyana’s 2019 gold declarations surpass 2018 target – foreign revenue simultaneously increased 11.81%

T

he Natural R e s o u r c e s Ministry on Tuesday announced that gold declarations for 2019 stand at 634,905 ounces when compared to 616,223 ounces in 2018.

The Ministry in a release stated that of the declarants, Guyana Goldfields and Troy Resources stand as two large-scale investors which, despite severe challenges and constraints, managed to have reasonably good production.

Correspondingly, Licensed Gold Dealers who purchase from small and medium-scale gold miners contributed approximately 57.69 per cent of actual declarations. These include Eldorado Mining and Mohamed’s Enterprises.

Further, the Ministry noted that the revenue earned by the Guyana Gold Board, on behalf

of the Government of Guyana, has also increased.

“For 2019, this has amounted to US$111,971,234.84, equivalent to 79,702.849 ounces. This exceeds the revenue earned in 2018 (US$100,143,596.40) by US$11,827,638.44 (11.81 per cent).”

As such, the Natural Resources Ministry commended the miners who made declarations despite the many challenges and constraints faced in the industry.

The MNR also acknowledged the efforts and responsible conduct of the declarants and commended the Board of Directors and staff of the Guyana Gold Board who

have been key facilitators of this process.

“As the year 2020 progresses, it is hoped that the practice of increasing these declarations continues through the recommended and accepted processes,” a release from the Ministry stated.

In addition, the release further highlighted that the Ministry recognises mining as a critical component of the Guyanese economy and as such, the Government will continue to promote the growth of the sector in the most sustainable way by providing regulatory, fiscal and infrastructural support to aid miners in their worthwhile endeavours.

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

UG’s Diaspora Conference set for May 2020

T

he University of Guyana has confirmed that its second Diaspora Conference, which was rescheduled in 2019, is now set for May 28 to June 1, 2020.

The theme will be “Investing in Guyana’s emerging business, Indigenous, women and youth leaders”.

This theme has been chosen in recognition of the need for all Guyanese at home and abroad to work together with inclusion, tolerance and cooperation for national and regional growth and development.

The University of Guyana remains committed to Diaspora engagement and facilitating a positive enabling environment and discussion on ways in which Guyanese can best work together to accomplish joint goals towards creating prosperity for all our people.

The conference will feature a mixture of academic and non-academic experiences and will host a number of panels, forums, roundtables and multimedia presentations on key thematic areas.

To meet the challenge of Diaspora engagement, and to ensure the strategic integrity and sustainability of the University’s Diaspora project, the University of Guyana has appointed Dr Mellissa Ifill, Lecturer in History at the University of Guyana, and Dr Wazir Mohamed, a member of the Diaspora and Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University East, as CoChairs of the second University of Guyana Diaspora Engagement

Conference.

In addition, the following key individuals from UG and the Diaspora along with others still to be named will play key roles in the planning process for the conference: Gillian Williams (Toronto), Chet Bolling (Moscow), Lear Matthews (New York), Brandon Cheong (Toronto), Adeti DeJesus (Guyana), Mellissa Bess (UG), Arlene McLean (UG), Denise Braam (UG) and Leisa Somrah (UG).

The University’s Transition Management Committee (TMC) will maintain oversight of the project. The TMC wishes to thank the new conference Coordinating Team for their sterling work over the last few months in ensuring an excellent event for 2020.

The University of Guyana also specifically values and welcomes the support from the Diaspora, State and non-State actors, Government, the Private Sector, civil society, the public at home and abroad, and all stakeholders as it builds out the project of Diaspora engagement.

Since it is a well-documented fact that Diaspora engagement is one of the major building blocks for national development, submissions and registrations will be accepted from January 30, 2020, at the University of Guyana’s Conferences website www.uog.edu/conference and also on the Diaspora Conferences dedicated website https://diaspora-entrepreneurship. uog.edu.gy or email: ugdiasporaconfernces@ uog.edu.gy or call: 592222-3583.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

TUF not contesting March 2 polls T

he United Force (TUF), a political party formed in the 1960s, has decided not to contest in the upcoming elections on March 2, 2020.

TUF is headed by Marissa Nadir.

See full statement below: The United Force regrets to inform the nation that after several discussions with its Executive and consultations with stakeholders, supporters and the people, the party has decided, for the first time since its formation in the 1960’s, NOT to contest in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Thus. the party will not be submitting a list on nominations day.

This decision, whilst being a difficult one, has been discussed at great length. It is the party’s view that this particular election is extremely crucial and of utmost importance is to restore first and foremost the rule of law, but also to restore democracy in our nation which has been under attack daily within the last five years of this administration.

We strongly condemn the blatant disregard and disrespect of the Supreme

sults remain accurate.

There MUST BE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY of every step.

Notwithstanding the party’s decision not to contest, we have noted that yet again, the emphasis has not been placed on youth, while TUF has been emphasizing for the last ten years that Guyana needs youth. We still see a gender imbalance in leadership.

In conclusion, we

urge all Guyanese to be respectful of each other.

We pray that our beloved nation has a free and fair election and of utmost importance, that the results of said elections be respected by ALL parties and its supporters.

To our nation, at this time, let us not be divided as bitter peoples, but unite in our respect of different views and in decency. We must remember that we ARE one people, one nation with one destiny.

Guyana Cops seeking Turkish man in fraud probe

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TUF Leader Marissa Nadir

Law of our Nation (the Constitution).

Within these past five years we have seen the wanton waste of tax payers’ dollars, unkept promises and most repulsively, the lack of decorum and dignity which is required from any Government.

TUF strongly encourages ALL parties to demonstrate tolerance, decency and dignity, to

encourage their supporters to be respectful of every person’s democratic right to support any party of his/her own choice. This right is enshrined in our country’s Constitution.

To the international community and observers, the most important question to be put to this administration is whether they are prepared to

willingly vacate office should they be voted out.

Moreover, TUF is calling upon GECOM to allow ALL observers and stakeholders to view every step of the elections process, not only of the voting and counting of votes, but also the input of data into the respective database while cross checking the output data to determine that the re-

he Guyana Police Force has issued a wanted bulletin for a Turkish national who is wanted in relation to fraud and immigration violation.

Wanted is Ugur Turetgen, 44. His last known address in Guyana is listed as Track ‘b’ Block ‘z’ Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Ugur Turetgen is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 226-6978, 225-8196, 226-2870, 226-7065, 2271149, 226-7065, 2256940, 226-9834, 911 or

Ugur Turetgen

the nearest police station.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Jagdeo blasts APNU/AFC for having "no vision, no plans for the future"

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oisterous crowds greeted People’s Progressive Party (PPP) leaders as they took the podium at Sunday’s campaign launch, but one of the loudest welcomes was reserved for General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo, who immediately made his case for his party’s election on March 2.

In his address, Jagdeo warned that with the current Government seemingly fixated on holding on to power while running down the economy, his party must be returned to power to right the wrongs.

Jagdeo referenced comments made by President David Granger on Friday, that constitutional reform would be pursued by the coalition to ensure that “that nonsense they tried for us in

PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo addressing thousands of supporters at Kitty Market Square on Sunday

the last twelve months doesn’t happen again,” a reference to the NoConfidence Motion that the Opposition triggered and passed back in December 2018.

“Now we have advanced the most aggressive constitutional reform programme in the past. And we have outlined a path for the future. We want to look at the electoral system to increase inclusivity and even explore power-sharing. How do we change our Constitution to serve our people!”

Jagdeo said.

“The only thing he (Granger) wants to change in the Constitution is to get rid of the No-Confidence Motion! Now let me tell you. In India, they have a billion people. And the Government can fall on one vote in their

Parliament. But they are not changing their Constitution to get rid of that. In the UK, a Government can fall on one vote. But Granger wants to change that here. He feels aggrieved.

That is the alternative to a PPP Government.”

When it comes to the economy, Jagdeo took a swipe at the incumbent Government by pointing to the steep declines in the foreign and gold reserves, as well as the state of agencies like the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).

“For the last five years, they’ve lived off the reserves we left.

They ran it down at Central Bank. They sold off G$20 billion of gold we had there, almost finished. All the agencies were making surpluses.

GWI is almost bankrupt.

GPL is almost bankrupt. We had millions at the GGMC. They can’t pay wages. Millions at the forestry sector. Now they have difficulty paying wages. Almost every agency is on the decline. GuySuCo is falling apart. It’s a trend. They are consuming everything without replenishing.”

“They are pinning their hopes on oil and gas, but they sold us out. No ring-fencing…

Guyanese working offshore, 12-hour shift and gets G$72,000 when the foreigner is making (TT)$10,000. They don’t look out for us. No Local Content Policy… so Guyanese. foreigners are going to come in and use up all the opportunities if you don’t get a PPP Government back in place to look out for

us.”

Jagdeo also took the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/ AFC) Government to task over the lack of transformative and visionary leadership. He noted that APNU/AFC has also used its majority in Parliament since 2011 to block progress, such as the Amaila Falls Hydro Power project (AFHP).

The General Secretary also pointed out that when given a chance to govern, APNU/ AFC has simply continued projects or Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) the PPP initiated. He noted that the Government has failed to bring anything new to the table.

“They killed the hydropower that by now would have supplied

reliable electricity for Guyanese. They have no plan to fix the blackout… they have not secured a single new investment. The big gold companies came under the PPP. Bauxite, PPP. Manganese, PPP. Oil and gas sector, PPP.” “The East Coast road, PPP. The Marriott, PPP. The airport [expansion], PPP. What have they done in four years? No vision, no plans for the future. Nothing of substance to take care of the people.”

Jagdeo also noted that pre-2015, the PPP/C was vilified by APNU/ AFC, on fabricated accusations of corruption.

But he pointed out that since coming to office, the current Government has been unable to bring credible charges or imprison anyone from the PPP camp.

Guyana first Caribbean country to join Transformational Travel Council

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he Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) has announced that it has become the first country in the Caribbean to join the transformational travel movement through a pioneering partnership with the Transformational Travel Council (TTC).

The TTC unveiled its first 80 ally partners and these include tour operators, media organisations and travel suppliers from around the world.

This new partnership means Guyana will be joining a community of like-minded organisations around the planet that believe in transformation and are interested in networking, sharing, learning and collaborating with one another on how to

shape the future of travel around these tenets, ultimately positioning Guyana as a destination thought-leader and early-adopter.

“Guyana believes in transformation and that it happens from the inside out, often inspired by a journey, where awareness is heightened and traits of empathy and stewardship are cultivated, all leading to behaviour changes at home,” explained Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Brian Mullis.

“We at the GTA are excited to learn more about the philosophy and how we can take it from theory to practice in a way that aligns with our destination’s strategic goals and initiatives. We have invited the TTC to come to Guyana and con-

Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Brian Mullis

duct a workshop for our destination’s key stakeholders, tour operators, accommodation providers and Indigenous communities,” he added.

TTC’s ally partners have joined the #TransformationalTravelMovement and

have crossed the threshold into a new age of exploration.

With their pledge to the TTC, they’ve signalled to their respective teams and prospective clients, guests, and travellers that their organisation believes that

travel should be a relentless force for good.

Transformational travel experiences empower people to make meaningful, lasting changes in their lives. The transformational travel movement provides an opportunity to transcend from a consumptive form of tourism to a responsible form of travel that has a sustained impact on travellers.

TTC co-founder, Jake Haupert shared, “Guyana is an emerging and dynamic destination rich in biodiversity, cultural heritage, but yet also raw and real at its essence, making it a prime destination to start integrating the TTC philosophy and guiding practices into their entire tourism ecosystem and truly enhance their already

unique, powerful and burgeoning story”.

Guyana’s commitment to transformational travel is part of a larger strategy to continue to develop the destination in a sustainable and socially conscious way.

Earlier this year, Guyana was awarded the title of Number One “Best of Ecotourism” destination at the Sustainable Destinations Top 100 Awards.

Guyana increased nearly 16 per cent in 2018 over 2017 and new air routes continue to make the destination increasingly accessible from around the world.

In May 2019, Guyana became the first eco-tourism country to join the transformational travel movement through a pioneering partnership with the TTC.

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ARACARI RESORT DEATHS

Autopsy finds woman was murdered; boyfriend ingested poison

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n autopsy conducted on the bodies of 23-yearold Kevin Singh and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Subrina Nandram who were found in a bathtub at Aracari Resort has revealed that the woman was murdered and Singh committed suicide.

The post-mortem examination was conducted by Government Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh on Wednesday.

Dr Singh gave Nandram’s cause of death as asphyxiation (suffocation) owing to manual strangulation compounded by blunt trauma to the head.

The autopsy results for the young woman’s boyfriend showed that he died from asphyxiation caused by drowning, compounded by ingestion of pesticide.

Nandram, a mother of two who resided at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and her boyfriend, of

Sabrina Nandram and Kevin Singh

Triumph, ECD, were found dead about 18:00h by staff of the re-

sort on Sunday.

Reports are the lovers checked into the re-

CH&PA’s Director of Operations, Denise King-Tudor, said the agency is working to increase its investigation and staff strength of the enforcement and investigation unit.

Information has shown that individuals who are selling the land,

are issuing irrevocable Power of Attorneys to the buyer. Because there is a payment penalty for the act, in many cases, the new buyer is left to make that payment.

“We do not want persons to sell the lots that we have given to them.

We are expecting that

sort on Saturday just after lunch and were due to check out at 12:00h

on Sunday, but Singh extended their stay.

On Sunday, the ho-

tel staff attempted to make contact with the couple, but calls to their room went unanswered.

After some time had passed, the staff attempted to contact the couple for a second time, but no one answered the call. The staff, suspecting that something was amiss, proceeded to check the couple’s room and made the gruesome discovery.

The dead woman’s mother, Sabita Singh had strongly doubted that her daughter would commit suicide, since Nandram seemed happy with her relationship with Singh.

Meanwhile, Kuntie Tekchand, the mother of Singh, recently told Guyana Times that the young man left their home on Saturday, but there was no indication that something was amiss. According to the distraught mother, she did not know much about her son’s girlfriend.

Housing authority urges holders of house-lots in Guyana not to re-sell

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he Central Housing and P l a n n i n g Authority (CH&PA) is again urging holders of house lots not to re-sell the land, but rather return it to the agency.

According to the Department of Public Information (DPI),

CH&PA’s Director of Operations, Denise King-Tudor

if someone is no longer interested in a vacant lot, that they can return it to us. We will refund them and reallocate it to someone who is on the waiting list.”

At the same time, King-Tudor said the agency is also reviewing the allocation criteria and selection process for persons purchasing housing units.

According to her, it has

been discovered that a lot of information during the application process is oftentimes omitted.

“They [applicants] provide documentations to say this is what I earn, but sometimes I am of the view that persons do not give us all the information pertaining to their financial status.”

In such cases, many persons applying for a

low or middle-income home can quickly expand their living quarters. While the CH&PA has no qualms about the developments, there is a timeline of twelve months which homeowners must adhere to before making any changes to the units. Any time prior, permission must be sought.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Patterson promises completion of East Coast-East Bank Bypass by 2022 M

inister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson has asserted that if the APNU/AFC government is re-elected, the East Coast Demerara-East Bank Demerara bypass road will be completed by 2022.

According to the Department of Public Information, at the Ministry’s annual year in review press conference on Wednesday, the Minister stated that the project is still making headway towards a successful completion by 2022.

“Fortunately, all the main ingredients have been completed. We’ve completed studies for the East Coast bypass [and] we have the final design.

We are now reviewing,” he indicated.

The road once completed, will link the East Coast of Demerara and East Bank of Demerara, and act as an alternative bypass from Georgetown, in hopes of reducing traffic congestion between the two zones for commuters and other travellers.

Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson

Minister Patterson further shared that 2019 provided some chal-

lenges for the Ministry, which resulted in the G$2.1Billion that was set

aside for the project being unspent and therefore returned to the consolidat-

ed fund, DPI reported.

Nevertheless, the Minister is confident that

the project can be completed within the time with the partnership of the Government of India, which is funding the project, through an agreement between the two governments.

The road was initially expected to tie Diamond, East Bank of Demerara to Ogle, East Coast of Demerara.

Technical Services Manager within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Nigel Erskine had previously stated that based on feasibility reports, the road is expected to be a fourlane road with four connectors from the East Bank road to the new alignment.

The connections were slated to be at Great Diamond, Mocha, Haags-Bosch and Aubrey Barker.

In 2016, the Government of Guyana signed an G$11Billion loan from the ExportImport (EXIM) Bank of India for the construction of a 20km bypass road from Ogle on the East Coast of Demerara to Great Diamond on the East Bank Demerara.

24 NEWS

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

President Granger urges fair, accurate reporting during elections

President David Granger addressing attendees at the Annual Media Brunch, on Sunday

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he Guyana Press Association (GPA) has been promised an annual subvention by President David Granger, who made the announcement at the Annual Media Brunch held at the Baridi Benab, State House, Georgetown, on Sunday.

During his brief remarks, the President noted that the Finance

Minister is yet to introduce a budget for 2020 but vowed to keep the promise.

The President urged the GPA to continue to work to keep the association alive and wished the media a successful decade of work.

As the GPA observes its 75th anniversary, the executives would have used the opportunity to

discuss developmental roles and responsibilities of the press corps in Guyana with the Head of State.

He, nevertheless, stated that the media workers lack training while commenting on the use of the English language by reporters.

He also reminded those in attendance of the guidelines of journal-

President David Granger shares a light moment with President of the Guyana Press Association, Ms. Nazima Raghubir. First Lady, Mrs. Sandra Granger is also pictured first, right. (DPI photo)

ism and the need for fair and unbiased reporting, especially as the country prepares for General and Regional Elections in March.

“I urge that your statements in the future be guided by accurate representation words and check with this little book and see what fair means, and I will urge your statements in the future be

guided by accurate representation of the words,” the President stated.

The caretaker President read from an Oxford pocket dictionary, quoting – “Fair – treating people equally, equitable, honest, impartial, unbiased, unprejudiced, neutral, even-handed.”

In closing GPA’s President, Nazima Raghubir outlined that

the evolution of the press to social media platforms brings many challenges.

However, she encouraged that journalists use fact-checking, clarity and research to provide balanced, unbiased and factual reports, especially during this electoral phase.

The media brunch was attended by Government Ministers.

Guyana’s indigenous peoples should be given desired healthcare – Toshaos

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he year 2020 is deemed the start of a “transformative era”, and the leaders of some Indigenous communities are expectant that this decade will include critical improvements in areas such as health, among others.

Past surveys conducted by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have found that lack of modern-life facilities is the main hindrance to quality health care in Indigenous populations but village leaders are of the view that 2020 is the year to end health woes.

Guyana Times International spoke to the Toshaos of Bumbery Hill and Four Miles, located in Region One (Barima-Waini) where they highlighted health care challenges and needs within the respective communities.

The country’s oldest village chief of Bumbery Hill, Elizabeth Romascindo, explained that the tight-knit community is in dire need of a health post. This, according to her, will benefit senior citizens in particular, who would often experience financial difficulties as they would have to travel to the Hosororo community to access health service.

“We need a health

Bumbery Hill village chief: Elizabeth Romascindo

hut because people are getting old. We have one at Hosororo but persons sometimes do not have money to travel. So we need one, that even if a person doesn’t have money they can visit the one within the community,” Romascindo noted.

The need for trained health practitioners

was also highlighted, as Romascindo added that surrounding villages are in to benefit.

“We would also need trained health workers…

We have persons in other surrounding communities that can come here because if you don’t have transportation money you would think twice

to walk. So if we have a health hut it would be better for us.”

Similar views were expressed by the leader of Four Miles, Lloyd Adolphus, who endorsed that it is an appropriate time to end health issues, pointing to drug shortages. He recounted a recent shortage of malaria treatment, a disease that is prevalent within the area.

“We need a building but one with drugs inside…We have had drugs shortages for malaria, one time we did not have tablets at all, we have to wait for the treatment come from Mabaruma and malaria is very dominant here,” Adolphus posited.

The leader further placed calls for a trained medical team, and an improved health facility to treat patients and store drugs.

“In terms of healthwise, we are in need of someone whom is properly trained and a better building for our health post, patients and drugs to be housed in,” he added.

Drug shortage

M e a n w h i l e , Chairman of Region One (Barima-Waini) Brentol Ashley said that the shortages of drugs, particularly those used for

Region One Chairman, Brentol Ashley

the treatment of malaria and hypotension, is continuing to put a strain on health services in the region.

Ashley, during an interview with this publication, added that drug shortage is plaguing several communities.

Ashley further stated that there are some instances where drugs and medical supplies are expired.

The Chairman added that even though monies were budgeted for the communities’ medical supplies, there has

not been any significant improvement in the provision of drugs and medical supplies over the years.

Moreover, the Chairman lamented the Regional Executive Officer’s decision to transport the drugs via ferry rather than by an aircraft.

Last month, Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence was heavily criticised by former Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy for the rapid decline of the health sector since 2015.

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020| GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Canadian Police probing suspected hit-and-run of Guyanese teen in Brampton

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anadian Police are investigating the death of 16-year-old Dianna Manan, a Guyanese who was found on Queen Street, Brampton, Canada, on Sunday.

The teen’s parents are said to be Guyanese who hail from Canal, West Bank Demerara, and Berbice.

According to Canada’s CP 24 news, a passing motorist found

Dead: Dianna Manan

the 16-year-old lying in the eastbound lanes of Queen Street, near Cherrycrest Drive in Brampton on January 5, 2020.

Manan was rushed to hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

Guyana Times International understands that the teenager had left her grandmother’s home in Toronto on January 4 after being picked up by

friends.

However, Canada’s CP 24 news reported that on Monday the teen’s mother said that she had no idea why her daughter was in Brampton.

Meanwhile, authorities said that they have since discovered that Manan had loose ties to Brampton and may had been at a house party on Saturday evening, prior to her death.

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FEATURE 29

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

By Utamu Belle

A

t 46- years old, Lindener Myrtle Gentle has created employment for herself by developing her farmland at West, Watooka, Mackenzie. Myrtle, who is a mother of 4 decided to take the farming initiative seriously about 5 years ago as she started planting crops on her approximately 5 acres of land to which she occupies approximately 4 acres. T he remaining acre, she is in the process of developing. The proud farmer recently took the Sunday Times Magazine on a tour of her farmland which is well developed with crops including lettuce, parsley, bora, boulanger, watermelon, sorrel, cabbage, ginger, tomatoes and countless others.

“I am in farming for nearly about 30 years, but the truth is I never get into it seriously ‘til about 5 years ago...before... I never paid much attention to it like a job. That is how I look at farming now...realizing that if you need an income from it then you have to work, just as how you would go to work to have a pay at the end of the month, you have to pay attention to your farm in order to have a salary...”she told this publication.

It was this decision, Gentle noted, which inspired her to pour more effort and time into the practice as she then decided to live on the farm in an effort to do so. The farmer, who retails her produce is ably assisted by her husband, four children and an assistant. She explained that her motivation to go fully into farming stemmed from not being comfortable with just being a housewife. She noted that after working abroad for some time she decided to come back home to Guyana and create a job for herself whereby she can also be there to take care of her children.

“Even when I came back there was not something that I could put my

hands on to do and have time with my kids plus work and earn money. I always loved farming, mind you so then is when I decided to do it more responsibly”, Gentle related.

The woman who is quite passionate about farming said she initially started off by producing to supply the wholesale market in Linden but did not find it to be economical. This prompted her to get into the local sales market herself, a decision which

she says she does not regret. This also prompted her to grow a variety of oth-

up her weekly market stall at

Central Mackenzie.

“I don’t know if there is another stall in Linden where persons go and sit and wait to be sold but I know my customers from Linden would sit and wait on me... and they do support

farmland.

“For me, I face a serious challenge with water...I normally access water a thousand feet from here and that is just to get it from the front end of the land, and then I still have to bring it in and distribute it...So these are common challenges faced”, Gentle explained.

She said while there is a canal which was dug at the back of the land it is presently “dry” since it is used by

er vegetables, including rare ones like cauliflower, zucchini and broccoli.

Apart from this, Gentle has also been into bee keeping for about 20 years, however, she related that it wasn’t until recently that she gained the requisite knowledge through a training workshop facilitated by by the Agriculture Ministry, the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN) and the Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Democratic Council (RDC) Agriculture Department.

“I went to the workshop where I

acquired a whole lot of knowledge. So we’re venturing into it with knowledge now so we expect to see something more better now”, Gentle explained. She was also awarded a bee hive for her participation in the workshop and is now equipped with knowledge for honey production.

Gentle said she is thankful that she receives full support from Lindeners, whom she noted are always eager to purchase from her when she sets

me a lot. I’m very grateful for them”, she related.

Gentle boasted that her locally produced vegetables are always fresh. She would sell her produce at Central Mackenzie mainly on Fridays.

“My crops, I don’t use a lot of fertilizers on them. If you purchase my cucumbers today, you have it whole week ‘til you ready to buy cucumbers again. So I think this is one of the positive sides that would make people want to buy from me too”, she posited.

While there are positive aspects, Gentle said she also has challenges, like for example dealing with the weather, pests and insects.

“It has a lot of losses... challenges, because you can plant a lot of things and if the weather changes, then you lose all these crops.

But at the end of the day you still can earn a living from it”, she posited.

Gentle has established shade houses which is one of the ways she intends on dealing with the issue of the weather. She explained that she was gifted one from the RDC but said it was not effectively constructed and presents a lot of challenges. Another issue she highlighted is getting water to her

a lot of farmers in the area.

Despite challenges, she said she receives support from the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) in terms of knowledge and technical support. Gentle also has advice for persons who might be willing to follow in her footsteps: “You have to love farming. You don’t just do farming because you see somebody else doing it. You must have a lot of love for farming because it takes a lot of your time, it takes a lot of patience and you have to have determination...A lot of things I give up for farming. A lot of times when I could be here or there I would choose not to...,” she noted.

She has developed a love for the plants she nurtures “I so love these plants that I refuse to leave them behind...I just love to see them grow and the harvesting time I would have to do it. But that is not the fun part of it. The fun part is caring and have them grow nice. You take a few pictures and you see them looking beautiful. That is the part I like”, she mused.

Gentle encourages the relevant authorities to invest more into the West Watooka Farmers’ Group and listen to their concerns.

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Corruption…

O

…rampant with PNC ld people say, “Once dog suck egg, deh cyan stap!” It’s too sweet, never mind it’s someone else’s egg!! And in their first incarnation, the PNC sucked the “eggs” of the public purse so voraciously that one wondered why their supporters took them seriously when they made “egg sucking” their major attack against the PPP. We now know they were merely projecting their own fantasies about getting their grubby (not-so-little) paws on the treasury! Every single case of corruption they brought against PPP officials /associates has been thrown out!! The British advisor to SOCU – who proved he KNEW a thing or two about corruption!

– just advised them to forget about ever proving anything against PPP. Instead, they should focus on current corruption!!

And we don’t have to take his word about the current rampant corruption in this PNC government.

The IDB recently issued a report referencing a study they conducted, which rated Guyana as the most corrupt Government in the Caribbean – when it comes to public servants sticking their hands out for bribes!

Could it be that the excuse Harmon gave for Ministers getting a 50% salary increase immediately upon taking office – to discourage them from stealing! – pissed them off? After all, they were promised “substantial” raises during the last PNC elections campaign, but instead got “wood”!! So now they’re filling their pockets even faster?

But the PNC are just too barefaced! After all, the Jubilee Park they created in 2016 to celebrate our Golden Jubilee had been so mired in corruption that you’d think they’d stay away from that location as far as possible in this elections period, wouldn’t you? There was the private company, HDI, registered AFTER a bunch of Ministry of the Presidency insiders started collecting funds – more than G$500 million – from private businesses to build a stadium. Remember them? They included one ex-GDF officer, Larry London, and the fella who brokered the WPA deal with the PNC to form APNU – Rupert Roopnaraine. Remember him?

May 26 was dawning, but the stadium was nowhere to be seen, so Granger called in the MoPI under Patterson to use the Army corps of engineers to finish the structure for the big bash. Another billion or so had been spent. And imagine, Granger chose the exact corruption-ridden structure to launch his reelection campaign!! After spending god-knows-howmuch-more to re-asphalt it!!

But in case the PNC faithful thought others had forgotten the monument to PNC corruption – some fairy godmother (?) released the last Auditor General Report.

Not only can Rupert’s HDI not account for the half-billion they collected, we’re told that Patterson’s bunch can’t account for another half-billion from their G$1 billion spent!!

But old dogs just gotta suck eggs, no? …and campaigning There’s a hot debate raging in the blogsphere about the propriety – if not the legality – of PNC supporters blocking PPP vehicles campaigning – and even hurling objects at them – in their neighbourhoods. One school feels that this is no big deal; partisans will be partisans!

One well-schooled university lecturer compared it to the shouting and walk-out by PPP partisans at the Pegasus Lunch.

But is it really? Those PPP activists didn’t actually throw objects at Granger, who’d by then struck his “unbothered” pose, had they?? The thing is, you see, the PNC can’t have it both ways. With the tragic fate suffered by Crum-Ewing when he was campaigning for them in a PPP dominated area, don’t they see the enforcers of our law have to draw a very firm line against molesting campaigners from the “other” side??

Last Saturday, it was sticks and stones. Luckily, no one was hurt. Guyana’s too volatile at this time to take chances.

Chaos beckons!! …and Granger The PNC and myrmidons are banking on Granger’s “clean” image in this campaign. Notice all the posters in front of their stage trumpeting his “honesty and integrity”?

Welll, how honest or upright is he when he’s allowed corruption to run so rampant? There are sins of omission and sins of commission!!

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FEATURE 33

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

By Lakhram Bhagirat

O

ne of the best feelings of accomplishment is being able to provide for yourself and the people in your care and one of the best ways to do that is by being able to feed them. Food is the foundation of all things good.

Around food is where we have had many memories and to put it quite frankly, everybody remembers the good plate of food that they have had.

In today’s world where we all live in the fast lane, choosing the right food for yourself and your family is quite a task since we are sacrificing quality

over quantity. We have foods that quite contribute to the deterioration of our health but what we also have is the power to change that.

Agriculture is the foundation of all sectors since many others are dependent, in some form, on agriculture. Whether it is the service industry or manufacturing sector we all rely on the farmers.

Throughout the world, farming is considered as one of the less glamorous jobs since it involves getting down and dirty all of the time. But farming is a science that very few have mastered and it is also one of the most fulfilling professions.

For the past 15 years, Dhaniram Ramchand has been living the dream since he has been able to boast about playing a part in what many of us eat. Though relatively still young, the 41-year-old has been surrounded by vast landmass and farms his entire life.

Growing up on the West Bank of the Berbice River in the farming community of Bath Settlement meant that he was exposed to farming and techniques of the trade from a young age. He developed a knack for it but his approach was more than the traditional one.

The community is the major producer of eschalot and celery in Guyana and while he initially went that route, Dhaniram knew that he needed to do more. And more he did.

“I was working as an Extension Agent with NAREI (National Agriculture Research and E x t e n s i o n Institute) and I used to work and you always hear about the (bell) peppers coming into the country and the importation bill so high.

So I decided to produce the peppers in an effort to help cut the importation bill because to import the peppers is a lot of money and it also means that the peppers are expensive. So I started up the peppers and it worked well as has been doing well since it hit the market. We can actually produce the same peppers we import into this country because we have the land and we have the freshwater and now all we need is the will to do that,” he said.

Dhaniram began producing highquality bell peppers just over five years ago and has been one of the major suppliers of the product to a number of supermarkets throughout the country. Prior to that along with the celery and eschalot, he also farmed tomatoes.

“I did not have much challenges when I decided to start growing the peppers because the market was there and they welcomed it. I took it upon myself to take up the challenge to show that we can bring down the import bill.

We are now working on broccoli, cauliflower and purple cab-

bage to bring down that bill.

We can do it all here. That (the bell peppers) really put me in the high volume crop because we

import that. We did some trials (on broccoli, cauliflower and purple cabbage) with NAREI and it was successful so Guyana has the potential in terms of growing those commodities because we have the land, we have the freshwater here and we can actually grow those high volume crops here and it will ease our importation,” Dhaniram noted.

He is also expanding his business. Dhaniram not only farms but under his Green To Life brand, he distributes his produce and also supplies farmers with seedlings and pesticides. He also takes the time to impart his knowledge to other farmers since he believes that the more farmers, the better because food is something everyone needs.

“As any other business farming is a business and I think farming has great potential and agriculture contributes a significant portion of the GDP in our country. So I think farming got great potential and with oil, we should increase our production because we will have more people coming in. We need to up the scale because there will be more market for farmers once they produce quality stuff.

“I am working towards producing more organic products so my peppers are now growing organic because visitors going more towards that and it brings a better price. I am producing under shade houses and greenhouses in an effort to cope with climate change because we know climate change is a threat to food production not only in Guyana but also the world.”

34 FEATURE

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

C

limate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach to help the people who manage agricultural systems respond effectively to climate change. The CSA approach pursues the triple objectives of sustainably increasing productivity and incomes, adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions where possible.

This does not imply that every practice applied in every location should produce “triple wins”. Rather the CSA approach seeks to reduce trade-offs and promote synergies by taking these objectives into consideration to inform decisions from the local to the global scales and over short and long time horizons, to derive locally-acceptable solutions.

The majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas and agriculture is their most important income source.

Developing the potential to increase the productivity and incomes from smallholder crop, livestock, fish and forest production systems will be the key to achieving global food security over the next twenty years.

Climate change is expected to hit developing countries the hardest. Its effects include higher temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather events. All of these pose risks for agriculture, food and water supplies. Resilience is therefore a predominant con-

ance near-term food security and livelihoods needs with priorities for adaptation and mitigation.

• Ecosystem and landscape management to conserve ecosystem services that are important for food security, agricultural development, adaptation and mitigation.

• Services for farmers and land managers to enable better management of climate risks/impacts and mitigation actions.

• Changes in the wider food system including demand-side measures and value chain interventions that enhance the benefits of CSA.

Actions to implement a CSA approach include: 1. Expanding the evidence base:

The evidence base is made up of the current and projected effects of climate change in a country, identifying key vulnerabilities in the agricultural sector and for food security, agriculture and the identification of effective adaptation options. It includes estimates of the potential reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (or increased carbon sequestration) generated by adaptation strategies, information on costs and barriers to the adoption of different practices, issues related to the sustainability of production systems and the required policy and institutional responses to overcome them.

2. Supporting enabling policy frameworks:

The approach supports the development of relevant policies, plans, investments and coordination across processes and institutions responsible for agriculture, climate change, food security and land use.

3. Strengthening national and local institutions:

Strong local institutions to empower, enable and motivate farmers are essential. In some cases, efforts also need to be made in building the capacity of national policy makers to participate in international policy fora on climate change and agriculture, and reinforce their engagement with local government authorities. cern. Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation can often be a significant co-benefit of actions to strengthen adaptation and enhance food security, and thus mitigation action compatible with national development priorities for agriculture is an important aspect of CSA.

The CSA Approach

CSA is not a set of practices that can be universally applied, but rather an approach that involves different elements embedded in local contexts. CSA relates to actions both on-farm and beyond the farm, and incorporates technologies, policies, institutions and investment.

Different elements of climate-smart agricultural systems include: • Management of farms, crops, livestock, aquaculture and capture fisheries to bal-

4. Enhancing financing options:

Innovative financing mechanisms that link and blend climate and agricultural finance and investments from public and private sectors are a key means of implementing CSA. New climate financing instruments such as the Green Climate Fund are currently under development and could be a way of spurring sustainable agricultural development. Strong and all-encompassing Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are key national policy instruments important in creating links to national and international sources of finance. National sector budgets and ODA will continue to be the main sources of funding, climate integration into sector planning and budgeting is therefore a prerequisite for successfully addressing climate change.

5. Implementing practices at field level

Farmers are the primary custodians of knowledge about their environment, agro-ecosystems, crops, livestock, and local climatic patterns. Adapting to CSA must be related to local farmers’ knowledge, requirements and priorities. Local projects and institutions support farmers to identify suitable climate-smart options that can be easily adopted and implemented. (FAO)

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

By Mohanlall Suelall

S

omeone once said that farming is a family business and that could not have been truer. For the past decades, Kooldeep ‘Uncle John’ Raghoobar has been supported by his family as he tills, irrigates, sows and reaps the products of his hard labour.

The 62-year-old Essequibo Coast native has been in love with farming for his entire life. He knew that farming was what he wanted to do but his farming life has not been without challenges.

Uncle John as he is popularly known to residents said that farming is inside his blood and he loves to see his sacrifice and hard work comes to life.

His life in farming began when he was given about 8 acres of

maiden land in Hoff Van Aurich on the Essequibo Coast and with hard work and dedication, he transformed a once Jungle into food-bearing trees.

At present, he is reaping plantains, bananas, beans, pepper, ochroes and cassava. However, due to the recent heavy rainfall and poor drainage which caused

FEATURE 35

flooding in the area, he suffered great losses to his watermelon cultivation, pumpkins, corns, bora and squash.

When asked how he is going to deal with the poor drainage system, he said that they are about three other farmers in the area who was also affected by the recent flooding and they plan to meet as a team with the NDC to get some assistance in desilting the drainage canals in the area.

Uncle John employs about 5 persons, including women, to assist in reaping and maintaining the farm.

Uncle John is very much concerned about a few residents who are losing their animals to graze in his farm and destroying his young

plants, but he said as a man of God he steers clear of confrontation so he has to live with it.

When asked about markets for his produce he said that due to his good pricing he has very little problem with marketing his produce, he said that he believed in living and let others live too. On the issue of stealing, he said with a smile on his face “they come in the farm to ketch iguana but left with plantains.”

Uncle John is an ideal example to the younger generation who is busy with the modern world and forgetting that all richness comes from the soil. He is encouraging young people to get more involved in farming and producing quality and healthy food so as to maintain a healthy lifestyle and a world free of starvation.

Uncle John is a father of four children, who are all married and living happily with their families. For him, family is important and having a long marriage is essential. He has been married to his wife Sursattie for over 42 years.

He said that the secret of a long and successful marriage is to work hard, but make time for the family and most importantly be a farmer, produce your own food, eat healthy so you can think healthy and live longer.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

PRESERVING OUR LITERARY HERITAGE BY PETAMBER PERSAUD

T

he number of books published during 2019 was not as large as in 2018 but this does not take away from the quality of the works published.

Below are some books crossing my desk during 2019*.

‘We Mark Your Memory: Writings from the Descendants of Indenture’

‘We Mark Your Memory: Writings from the Descendants of Indenture’ edited by David Dabydeen, Maria del Pilar Kaladeen, and Tina K. Ramnarine was launched in Georgetown on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. This book was published to mark the centenary of the abolition of the system in the British Empire (2017–20). It is a collection of new writing of prose and poetry from across the Commonwealth.

‘Spontaneous Deluge’ by Alicia Budhram

Alicia Budhram is an environmentalist, vegan, poet and psychology student. Her first collection of poems, ‘Spontaneous Deluge’ was launched on August 18, 2019, with elaborate décor and celebration matching the scope of the writing and appreciated by a large audience, an impressive number for a book launch on a Sunday. Her first poems came to her spontaneously and that led to a book of almost fifty poems ‘touching of themes of domestic violence, inner dialogue, personal growth, emotions, self-exploration, universal search and man’s destruction of nature’.

‘The Poor Man’s Wisdom’ by Vanrick Beresford

Vanrick Beresford’s ‘The Poor Man’s Wisdom’ was launched on November 29, 2019, in Georgetown. It is a collection of eight of his books including ‘Crown – The Analysis of Life’, ‘The Poor Man’s Wisdom’, ‘The Revelation of Jesus The Christ’, ‘Heavenly Wisdom – Mighty Words’, ‘The Seven Pillars of the Church’ and ‘Guyana in Prophecy’.

‘Rubberoadsters’ by Michael Castello

‘Rubberroadsters’ is a collection of thirteen ‘riveting thrillers’ mainly about people who have lived or who have come into contact with the Rubber Tree Road in Mabaruma, North West District. All of the stories are based on real life incidents and that is what makes this book really interesting for the writer has skillfully woven fact into fiction. This is Castello’s fifth book of stories from the heartland of Guyana.

‘Come Lehwe Reason’ by Eric Huntley

Eric Huntley ‘Come Lehwe Reason: A Journey of 50 years with Walter Rodney’, written and compiled

by Eric Huntley, was published Bogle L’Ouverture Publications. 50 years of the journey with Walter Rodney is detailed in fifteen chapters with a ‘publisher’s note’ at the beginning, numerous photographs within and a list of books by Rodney at the end, all coming together to make this book more than just a collector’s item.

Many bits of information are new, others well established facts, both arranged in a new setting and from a new perspective. Rodney’s life and work unfolded in the following chapters, namely, ‘Jamaica Sojourn’, ‘Africa to the Rescue’, ‘The Spark has been lit’, ‘Diary of Events of 16th October, 1968’, ‘Reaction to the ban’, and ‘Poetic Tributes’ in which one significant development must be mentioned and that is the banning of Rodney by Jamaica led to the formation of the Bogle L’Ouverture Publications and its first publication, ‘Groundings with My Brothers’.

‘The Evolution Of Writing In English By And About East Indians Of Guyana, 1838-2018’ by Ameena Gafoor

Following in the wake of her magisterial work on Roy Heath in ‘Aftermath of Empire: The Novels of Roy A.K. Heath’, published by the University of the West Indies Press, Ameena Gafoor has produced another book of immense import to the literature of Guyana but particularly and more importantly this book is a timely addition to the slim list of scholarly works on the writings of East Indian of Guyana.

‘The Evolution Of Writing In English By And About East Indians Of Guyana, 1838-2018’ has been compiled with meticulous care to details and great concern for the preservation of the literature of East Indians. This work, coming 180 years after the arrival of East Indians to Guyana, flies in the face of sins of omission and sins of commission with regards to the composition of the literature of the region. The quantity and quality of literature that was bought here by the people who came is an indication that the Indians who came were not mere ‘illiterate peasants’ and that their contribution to the literature of the region was slighted and undervalued.

One of the reasons for Gafoor’s most recent publication is ‘a significant effort to set the record straight with

respect to Indian Guyanese literacy, and literary scholarly production’ (Dabydeen).

Gafoor spells out the objectives of this work saying that ‘this bibliography seeks to capture the imaginative and objective writings of East Indians in Guyana including statements by Guyanese artists as well as statements by art historians and critiques by art critics of the significant works of visual arts produced by Guyanese artists of East Indian extract… includes works of Anthology, Literary Criticism, Critiques on the Visual Arts, Creative Writing, Social History, Education, Governance, Politics, Journalisms, Accounting and Financial Management’.

More importantly, this work is organized in chronological order to better trace the development of the body of writings’. This timeline serves many purposes including events that may have has ‘an impact on the consciousness of East Indians in Guyana and, in some instances, prompted the writings’ and facts that possibly ‘shaped the lives of East Indians as well as citizens in modern Guyana’.

‘A Hidden Legacy’ by Kim Sheldon

‘A Hidden Legacy’ was shortlisted for the London Literary Festival and according to its author, ‘it is about a painting done by Allan Ramsay who was the Court painter in England during the late 1700s and he actually painted Queen Charlotte with her natural features because it is said she was a mixed race woman and it [the novel] is about how the main characters in my book have been painted out which were the two children of colour. They were painted out and covered up because slavery at that time was either popular or unpopular and if you were nouveau riche in that business, you didn’t really want to say you were in that business.

The book is about their lives; how one child returns to the Caribbean becoming a revolutionary and the other one, a girl, joins the abolitionist movement. KS One of the things I wanted to put into to it because this is the real hidden legacy as well for there were black people in London and at the time, there were 15,000 black people which people rarely talked about – some did well in life, some had normal lives, some did not do so well in life. But there were many interesting people there of colour and many of my fictional characters will meet true life character like the famous violinist George Bridgetower’.

‘My book of Poetry 1’ by Alicia Daniels

This book consists of fifty-one poems written for various occasions, opportunities gifted her by her local church as she addressed ‘Mohter’s Day’, ‘Father’s Day’, ‘New Year’s Eve’, and ‘Easter’. Her poems appeared in The Guyana Annual.

‘Is you madness, nah me own’ and ‘Blackout Daze’

by Gabrielle Mohamed The blurb of the first title says Ms Mohamed ‘is a Creole poet employing her country’s native vernacular and post – colonialist notion within her work in the hopes of avoiding a resurrection and resuscitation of the colonialist touchstones’ as portrayed in poems like ‘welcome to the graveyard a imperialism’, ‘Elizabeth, de unIndian Coolie gurl’ and ‘Great Grandmudda Lakshmi’.

Mohamed is a prizewinning poet and her work was first featured in The Guyana Annual.

‘Ma Mae’s Legacy’ by Melva Archer-Persico

‘Ma Mae’s Legacy’ is Persico’s first collection of stories where she is like a live griot at a storytelling session inviting the audience to participate. As the blurb says the book provides ‘a snapshot of life in Guyana from the early twentieth century to the present’ by way of focusing on the following themes: ‘life in matrifocal households …Love, betrayal and dysfunction…Growing up …growning old…Migration, heritage and the diaspora’.

‘Jung Bahadur Singh of Guyana: 18861956’ by Baytoram Ramharack

Focusing on unsung heroes of Guyana, Baytoram Ramharack follows up on his ‘Against the grain: Balram Singh Rai and the Politics of Guyana’ with another significant work, ‘Jung Bahadur Singh of Guyana (18861956): Politician, ship doctor, labor leader and protector of Indians’. The blurb says that JB Singh was a pioneer in many ways in Guyana and the Caribbean and that his ‘contributions towards nation-building in Guyana were unmatched by many of his peers…JB Singh relentlessly advocated for universal adult suffrage’.

‘Kiskadee Days: Village People’ by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra

‘Kiskadee Days: Village People’ was born of an adventurous spirit and the stories are adventures into the past of a rural Guyana during the colonial and postcolonial eras and are coloured by characters that we can relate to, ladies of various shades and shapes and

of different inclinations and callings such as the pastry maker, the washerwoman, the village gossiper, the roadside vendor, with generic names like Miss Lady and Marajin, all of this coupled with the ‘budderashun lil bias’ [boys]. Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra’s storytelling skill is at its best when she mixes humour with pathos and Standard English with Creolese. ‘Kiskadee Days: Village People’ is food for thought, adventure and nostalgia.

‘The Dark of the Sea’ by Imam Baksh

Imam Baksh’s ‘The dark of the Sea’ is yet another award- winning title following ‘People of the Spider’ and numerous prizewinning stories appearing in The Guyana Annual. ‘The Dark of the Sea’ is a sort of indictment of our education system and dysfunctional rural community and the author uses this to spin another fantastical adventure this time beneath ‘muddy waves’ of the Essequibo River where a disadvantaged school boy becomes a hero.

‘Shame on me’ by Tessa McWatt ‘Sharing my Memoirs- My big book’ by Frank Narine ‘Under the Tamarind Tree’ by Rosaliene Bacchus ‘Woman Value and Purpose: a key piece in creation’s design’ by Ediclia Bastardo ‘Oil Dorado: Guyana's Black Gold edited by John Mair and Neil Fowler *Manuscripts (and there are a few on my desk) not included.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

The Indian Arrival Monument Palmyra, Berbice

By Ryhaan Shah Figures stilled in mid-stride Forever moving into a future time Heads high and feet ready To take measure of the fresh earth Their faces marked by expectations Of a new life that will not swing about Untethered but will draw strength From all that has gone before Will grow from roots planted deep In the dholak that the boy bears In the goblet cradled in the mother’s arm In the ubiquitous cutlass the young man holds That will slice through the first edge of day And find rest at noon The tall cane cut and fallen Like so many warriors vanquished On a battle field of old This moment in time distilled Gives us the heroes who paved our way Their frozen stance belying the veins That run with the blood that was spilled To preserve honour To secure justice In their struggle for a place to stand To live, to be And so fulfil the promise of the journey And the arrival that here extends an arm To show the way and make the pathway safe For our foreparents who bore the brunt of pain Of whip and struggle To build and build by slow degrees This tomorrow where we now can stand And wonder at their courage And wonder at their fate When breaking new ground with nothing To hold to but faith and their unshaken belief That we That we their children Shall be here today to stand And look at them And know who we are And from whence we came

NEWS 37

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

High Court trial for man accused of stabbing wife to death

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man who allegedly stabbed his wife to death during an argument and later attempted to take his own life was on Tuesday committed to stand trial in the High Court after a prima facie case was made out against him.

Fifty-year-old Devanand Narine was arraigned in May 2019 before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts for the crime. At that time, he was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that on May 16, 2019, at Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), he murdered Farida Khayum.

Devanand Narine

He was remanded to prison and a preliminary inquiry (PI) was conduct-

“Short Boss” jailed for armed robbery, to face rape trial

Sentenced for armed robbery: Travis Evans

M

urder accused, Travis Evans called “Short Boss”, who recently pled guilty to charges of armed robbery and rape, was jailed for three years on the robbery charge.

The jail term was handed down at the Demerara High Court on Monday.

A total of three years’ imprisonment was handed to Evans on the robbery charge which stated that on October 30, 2010, in the county of Demerara, whilst being armed with a dangerous weapon – a knife – he robbed a woman of G$650,500. Meanwhile, for the second charge, which alleged that he engaged in sexual penetration with a woman without her consent on the same day, the accused will be facing a trial.

This comes after the court was informed that Evans felt as though he did not enter a guilty plea willingly but rather under pressure. As such, Justice Morris-Ramlall

struck out the original plea and ordered that he be placed on trial.

The man’s co-accused, John Sampson and Alex Williams, are also expected to face a trial on both charges soon.

Nevertheless, Evans remains on remand for the murders of Gregory “Wayne” Frank and 21-year-old Ronsley Clarke. Both murders reportedly took place in August of 2018.

It was reported that Frank’s body was discovered days after his demise, lying in his Kuru Kururu, LindenSoesdyke Highway home with visible head injuries.

His entire home was ransacked which indicated that he was killed during a robbery.

On the other hand, Clarke was reportedly shot twice to his body by Evans in full view of his friends. The murder occurred in Sophia while the deceased and his girlfriend were at a party.

ed before Magistrate Esther Sam at the Anna Regina Magistrate’s

Court. However, after the PI, the Magistrate ruled that sufficient evidence was provided by the prosecutor that warranted a High Court trial.

The chainsaw operator will be tried before a Judge and jury at the next practicable sitting of the Essequibo Criminal Assizes.

It was reported that the woman and her husband were involved in a heated argument during which he armed himself with a knife and stabbed her several times about the body.

Realising that his wife had died, he immediately injected a poisonous substance into his body.

The woman, who

Farida Khayum

worked at the Hack Rice Mill, was rushed to the Suddie Regional

Hospital but she was pronounced dead on arTURN TO PAGE 39

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

A change…

A

…is gonna come s an old blues fan, your Eyewitness has always been moved by the poignancy of the lyrics melded with the soulful wail of pain in the songs that had accumulated through centuries of oppression and domination. As he listened to the speech of the PPP’s Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali at their launch on Sunday afternoon, that old gem by Sam Cooke came into his mind: “A change is gonna come.”

You young’uns out there mightn’t know of Sam, but he had just the silkiest voice God ever created. And if you never heard the song just google it, Dear Readers, and you’ll understand why your Eyewitness was so moved. “I was born by a river, oh man, in this little old tent, oh/ Just like this river, I’ve been running ever since/ It’s been a long, long time coming/ But I know, but I know, a change is gonna come/ Ooo yes it is.”

That Sam was killed not long after he recorded the song in 1963, when MLK was rallying the long downtrodden Blacks of the American South to stand up and be recognised by the “content of their character and not the colour of their skin”. “A change is gonna come” became an anthem of what could be. It was a certainty that the barriers keeping Americans of different races apart for so long would be coming down: a change was gonna come.

Ali had been lambasted by the press for not being particularly articulate – and in fact, rather taciturn – and since this was the first time your Eyewitness was listening to the youthful candidate he was completely blown away by both the content of his speech and his delivery. Very simply, the young man stole the show and at one point seemed to be channelling MLK as he intoned with pitch-perfect delivery: “Three score and ten years ago, the PPP was founded and for one brief, glorious moment all of the peoples of our land were united as one!”

The entire theme of his speech was on the tenor of bridging the divisions that he insisted were the major reason Guyana has not lived out its true potential. He was also very candid and – rather rare for a politician – confessed that he was “not perfect” but that he was committed to transforming himself along with the rest of his “Guyanese sisters and brothers” since this was the only way Guyana would be transformed to deal with the serendipitous discovery of oil.

All your stunned Eyewitness could think was that if this young man could live out the meaning of what he spoke, a change is gonna come!!

For sure!! …in (army) circumstances With the PPP’s pick of Brigadier (rtd) Mark Phillips as their Prime Ministerial Candidate, they seem to have pinned the PNC on their back foot! Even though Jagdeo taunted Granger that he was never able to make it to the top position of the Disciplined Forces – being Chiefof-Staff – unlike Brigadier Philips, all the Caretaker President could lamely come back with was “PPP has seen the error of their ways”.

He was referring to fears expressed back in 2015 when Granger insisted on placing a military person in every department of government, as advisors, as Ministers, etc, that he was militarising the government.

They never said that military personnel weren’t qualified for serving in government. It was the numbers they were concerned about: as is said, they were concerned that the “quantitative” would affect the “qualitative”.

Especially, with Granger’s lot, the “qualitative” is the deformed Burnham vision of the armed forces: loyalty to their “Kabaka” before country!

And wasn’t this why Hoyte pipped him with Joe Singh?

Ain’t that a shame!! …in bread and circuses Unlike the PNC, the PPP ran what their MC, Edgehill dubbed a “low-budget” launch. Of course, the PNC had the State’s resources to loot and build up their war chest!!

Ever wondered about all those unaccounted-for billions??

NEWS 39

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Speedboat allegedly owned by Govt Minister operating Parika-Bartica route without approval - Speedboat Assoc.

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speedboat owned by a Government Minister is operating the Parika-Bartica route without the necessary approval and authorisation.

This is accord-

Times International on Tuesday that the issue was brought to his attention by a Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) officer on Tuesday.

Belle stated that

Bartica Speedboat Association President, Stephen Belle

ing to President of the Bartica Speedboat Association, Stephen Belle, who told Guyana

while at Parika and loading passengers, an official from MARAD had to intervene after the cap-

tain and bowman were involved in an incident.

It was then that documents were requested for the boat and the captain referred MARAD officials to the Minister (name provided). This newspaper was told that the incident was reported to MARAD’s head office in Georgetown.

“After the monitor spoke to the guy he continued to load the boat without adhering to the instructions by the maritime officer saying that she can tell who she wants and do what she has to do. Nobody can’t touch this. This is the Minister’s boat,” Belle stated.

According to the President of the BSA, there have been many unprincipled practices and instances which have been occurring and ignored by MARAD and other relevant authorities.

The BSA President had claimed that there was an instance earlier in 2018 where one boat was given a turn in the system without the Association’s approval or any application being filed.

The Bartica-bound boat loaded with passengers at Parika, East Bank Essequibo

He had also stated that MARAD’s Director General, Claudette Rogers, had said that the boat was owned by an oil company, but it was later discovered that the owner of the boat was linked to a senior Government official.

Belle had said that the boat was placed in

the system by MARAD without any consultations or approval from the Association.

“We are very much concerned about what is happening and it seems as though nobody cares and [there is] nothing to be done…,” the President had expressed.

Belle had also said

that there are a number of boats operating without the legal requirements being met and that despite several reports being made, MARAD has failed to enforce the regulations on those guilty of breaking the laws and other relevant authorities have continued to ignore this.

Youth jailed for 38 years for raping 6-yr-old A

25-year-old Lindener, who was found guilty of engaging in sexual activity with a young girl on separate occasions, was on Monday jailed.

A probation report presented in court revealed that the convicted man, Keon Lawson, and the victim are relatives. The probation officer informed the court that prior to the incidents, the victim was an “above average” student, always cheerful and interactive.

However, this changed

following the incidents and the victim’s academic performance became poor and socialising was no longer an interest of hers.

Taking this into account, Justice MorrisRamlall considered the prevalence of the crime within Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), together with the fact that Lawson breached the trust of a relative and showed no remorse for his actions.

Lawson of Wismar, Linden, was handed 18 years in jail on the first

rape count, and 20 years on the second, which are expected to run concurrently.

The first charge read that between November 1 and 30, 2014, in the county of Demerara, he engaged in sexual activity with a six-year-old girl.

The second read that on October 6, 2017, in the county of Demerara, he engaged in sexual activity with the said victim, who was nine years old.

According to reports, on the first occa-

High Court trial for...

rival. Her husband was hospitalised at the same medical facility under Police guard.

The woman’s mother had explained that she retired to bed early but was awakened by her daughter screaming “I going to die”.

As such, she left her bedroom and as she ventured into the living area, she saw her daughter lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

She said she imme-

diately raised an alarm and sent her 10-yearold grandson to alert the neighbours, who, in turn, summoned the Police. As the Police arrived at the scene, ranks found the suspect in an unconscious state with an empty bottle, which is suspected to have contained a poisonous substance, nearby.

Both the injured woman and the suspect were rushed to the hospital.

FROM PAGE 37

Neighbours had explained that every time the suspect returns from the interior, he would consume alcohol and there were regular fights between him and his wife over his behaviour.

A neighbour said that the man was seen consuming alcohol prior to committing the heinous crime. Neighbours recalled hearing the argument between the couple earlier that evening.

Keon Lawson being escorted by Police ranks following his sentencing on Monday

sion, the convicted man went over to the child’s home, then proceeded to hold the child, cover her mouth and committed the act.

On the second occasion, the young girl visited Lawson’s home to

uplift an item for her mother; however, upon arrival at his premises, he prevented her from leaving and proceeded to rape her.

The child later confided in her teacher about the incidents and

the teacher informed the parents and Police.

Attorney-at-Law George Thomas represented Lawson while Prosecutors Teriq Mohamed and Nafeeza Baig presented the State’s case.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Scenes from APNU/AFC rally at Hopetown

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Scenes from PPP/C rally at Kitty

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42 NEWS

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Young professionals endorse PPP/C; lament broken promises by APNU/AFC

Entrepreneur Susan Rodrigues

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t the launch of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) 2020 elections campaign on Sunday, several young professionals eagerly endorsed the Party’s “Plan for Prosperity”.

The PPP/C had among its list of speakers a number of young professionals.

One issue that stood out in all their speeches was the fact that they lamented the broken promises of the APNU/ AFC coalition to create opportunities and a better life for young people in Guyana. Thus, they urged the crowd, especially youths, to vote for the PPP/C, which is the only party that they believe has the best interest of youths at heart.

The current Vice Chair of Region One

Dr Erica Forte

(Barima-Waini), Sarah Browne, described to the crowd her personal experience with the PPP/C as a young woman who was able to contribute to Guyana because of the Party providing opportunities for youths across our country.

“Almost five years ago, at the age of 23, voting for the first time, I strongly endorsed and campaigned for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic based on nothing more or nothing less than a progressive track record— a decision to date I have not regretted… I stand here today [Sunday] as evidence that the People’s Progressive Party believes in the abilities and capabilities of young people regardless of our ethnicity, regardless of our religion and regard-

less of whatever differences we may have,” she stated.

Browne went on further to lament the struggles which the residents of Region One have faced since the coalition assumed office in 2015. “…I travelled from Region One, a region where we are fed up, sick and tired of this Government. We are fed up because the increased taxes [have] begun to take its toll, and our lives… the cost of living has become higher. We are currently experiencing severe fuel shortage and a hike in fuel prices, so yes we’re fed up. We are fed up because this Government has failed to address our land titling issues and land extension issues which are necessary and important for our surviv-

Region One Vice Chair Sarah Browne

al as Amerindians. We are fed up because this Government has refused to look at the interest of our farmers… Yes, we are definitely fed up because the funding from Government has dried up for sports, for culture, for other infrastructure, and so yes our region is definitely fed up,” she passionately expressed.

The Vice Chair also made her case for the PPP/C and why it is critical that they are elected into office at this upcoming General and Regional Elections.

“As a young Amerindian woman, I believe that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic is the only party that believes in equality, that believes in inclusive governance and that believes that there is a place for all of us in

Murder convicts appeal life sentences

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urder convicts Alvin Kissoon and Calvin King after being sentenced to life in prison for the 2013 murder of security guard John Friday in December have now moved to the country’s appeal court to challenge the convictions.

In separate court documents, the convicts have put forward several grounds on which they have filed the appeal through their Attorneyat-Law, Lyndon Amsterdam.

In Kissoon’s case, defence counsel is arguing that trial judge Justice Sandil Kissoon during the summing up of the evidence posited several rhetorical questions to the jury which had the effect of leading the jury to conclude that Kissoon was guilty of the crime.

Attorney Amsterdam added that the summing up was not fair and balanced.

The Attorney further submitted that the Judge erred in law when he admitted the confession statement purport-

Alvin Kissoon and Calvin King

edly given by Kissoon to the Police after conducting a voir dire (trial within a trial), as well as not adequately addressing the issues to be considered by the jury concerning the confession statement in his summation of the evidence.

Meanwhile, on King’s behalf, it is being argued that he did not have a fair trial, since Justice

Kissoon erred when he refused an application made on behalf of King to have the indictment severed and have separate trials for the two accused.

Defence Attorney Amsterdam has also based arguments for King on similar grounds as laid out in Kissoon’s appeal.

After being sen-

tenced, the two men will have to serve a minimum of 32 years before becoming eligible for parole.

The State was represented by Abigail Gibbs and Mandel Moore, who both proved that Kissoon and King left Georgetown for Lethem, where they carried out a robbery on the Lethem Post Office on January 18, 2013.

It was reported that the men entered the Post Office and bound the two security officers after beating them. Friday died on the spot as a result of the beating he received.

The armed men then broke into the safe and carted off h a huge sum of cash. Another guard on duty reportedly raised an alarm and the Police were summoned.

Subsequently, Police at the Mabura checkpoint stopped and searched a motor car during which over $4 million was found hidden under the rear seat.

They also found other articles linked to the robbery.

Attorney-at-Law Savitri Parag

our leadership. Compare that to a Government that campaigned strongly and appealed to young people for their support, who today, in Government, most of them are eligible for pension or they’re getting there”.

Another young woman, Susan Rodrigues, who is an entrepreneur, told her tale to the crowd about feeling deceived by the APNU/AFC coalition government and did not hold back on listing all the failures and deceptions she feels the Government has meted out to every Guyanese over the past five years.

“I was born and raised in a family of ordinary, hardworking people like most of you here today.

But if you had asked me five years ago where I saw myself in the future, I would not have said in politics. But after having witnessed the deception by the APNU/ AFC Government, their abuses in office, the flagrant violation of our Constitution, the incompetence, the corruption, the escalating cost of living, the decline in our economy, the exclusion of young people, the desperate need to hang on to the perks of office, I cannot and will not as a young, educated, professional woman, be excluded from the political arena anymore,” she said.

Further, she added: “I watched on as the coalition took the reins of power in 2015 and I can never forget their first act in office: they raised their own salaries. It is on our minds and it is in our hearts we remember how you made us feel when some of their salaries were raised by 100 per cent. They took care of themselves.

They immediately forgot about us, they forgot about you, they forgot about the people that put them there. That one act would determine and shape Granger’s entire presidency and the legacy of his Government.

They took care of them-

selves”.

Medical doctor, Erica Forte, also stated her case, specifically with regard to the failure of the Government in improving healthcare in Guyana but she expressed her confidence in and support of the PPP/C’s plans, especially for the health sector.

“As a young woman who intends to raise a family in this environment, I, like so many others, no matter where I am, I want to have access to quality healthcare. PPP/C intends to correct this…my people, the time has come for us to take a stand like we did in 1992 to correct the wrong that occurred in 2015. 2020 is our time.

Let us secure our victory together,” Forte posited.

Further, Savitri Parag, an Attorney-atLaw, also gave her take on how she believes the coalition government failed young people and why they should not be allowed to return.

“The reality is there is oppression pushed in every corner of the society and especially so with our young people…

The progression of a lawless society has caused young people to wonder whether there is a future for them in this illegal administration; young people who are qualified and hungry to give back to their country. Instead, they are victimised by not having jobs, by being demoted from positions for which they are well qualified.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of the high positions in the public systems are filled with persons over their 60s and upwards and with political associations. There is no room left for the upward mobility of our youths,” Parag explained.

In 2015, the APNU/ AFC coalition’s campaign was focused mainly on targeting young people who they promised would be the pivot of their Government.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Berbice pensioner killed by speeding car on pedestrian crossing

A

pensioner was on Tuesday morning killed after she was struck down while using a pedestrian crossing at Nigg Public Road, Corentyne, Berbice.

Dead is 81-year-old Parbattie Ramsarran of Lot 4 D Nigg, Corentyne, Berbice.

Based on information received, the motorcar bearing registration number PPP 1008, driven by a 29-year-old male at a fast rate of speed, came into contact with the woman as she was in the centre of the pedestrian crossing.

As a result of the impact, the woman sustained severe injuries about her body. She was picked up and taken to the Port Mourant Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The driver was taken into custody as Police continue their investigations. Her body is presently at Ramu’s Funeral Home awaiting a PostMortem.

At the home of the dead woman, her son, Jaichan Persaud

Dead: Parbattie Ramsarran

mother lie down in the middle of the road.”

He said as he approached, he observed that she was motionless but he was assisted by the driver to take his injured mother to the hospital.

“Me and the Chinee boy who went in the car and some other people who went around pick she up and put she in

The car that was involved in the fatal accident

Balkarran, explained that his mother had gone to the post office to uplift her pension while adding that when he is at home, he would normally accompany her.

“I went out after her and about fifteen persons been at the post office… so I decided to wait at the bus shed fuh she… and I saw her walking out and but the time I look away someone under the bush shed, tell me, ‘ look something happen’… when I turn around I see my

the same car and carry she to the Port Mourant Hospital. The doctor sound her and then tell me that she dead,” he said as he broke down in tears. He added that his mother was a good person and did not have to die in that manner.

The Police are continuing their investigations. The woman leaves to mourn her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren among other relatives and friends.

Tractor driven by ‘drunk’ teen crushes man to death

A

Lindener is now dead after being crushed to death by a tractor after he and his friends ended their drinking-spree.

Dead is Rondell Jacobs of Linden, Region 10 (Upper DemeraraBerbice).

Reports are the incident occurred at about 22:00h on Saturday at the 72 Miles Kaburee Main Access trail.

According to reports, at about 14:30h, a 30-year-old man employed to operate the tractor along with his teenage co-worker left their location at 58 Miles Potaro to head to 72 Miles.

Along the journey, the duo allegedly began consuming alcohol and at about 17:00h, when

they arrived at their destination, they met Jacobs who was in the company of another male.

The tractor driver invited Jacobs and his friend to join him and the teenager to “have a few drinks” at a nearby shop.

This publication understands that five hours later, the 17-year-old, who was highly intoxicated, took the keys to the tractor and commenced driving.

Jacobs was standing on the left sideboard of the tractor while the other two men were sitting on the fuel tank at the back of the vehicle.

While heading in a Northeastern direction on the 72 Miles Access trail, the drunk teen tried turning at a junc-

tion, but the unevenness of the road caused the tractor to tilt to the left.

As a result of this, Jacobs reportedly fell off the tractor and landed on the roadway. The teen continued driving and parked the vehicle a short distance away after he realised that he had driven over the man.

According to the police, when ranks arrived at the scene, Jacobs had an open laceration to the left side of his head along with bruises to the left rib area.

A beer bottle was also found lying on the right side of the now dead man.

Meanwhile, the teenager along with the two other men are presently in police custody.

(Kristen Macklingam)

44 NEWS

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Cuban lands in Court for allegedly Cops get more time forging immigration stamp to detain Tuschen robbery suspects A Cuban was charged and released on bail at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after he was allegedly caught at the Guyana Passport Office with a forged passport stamp.

Thirty-six-year-old Kenlhys Hernandez Cartaya appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty on Wednesday and denied the charge which stated that on January 6, 2020, at the Central Immigration Passport Office, Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he uttered to Jenell Lovell, an Immigration Officer, one Cuban passport in favour of himself containing one forged Guyana immigration stamp.

Defence counsel

Latchmi Rahamat, in a bail application, told the court that Cartaya and his wife entered Guyana illegally; however, the couple are presently working with a United Nations organisation which assists persons like them who came to Guyana to get jobs.

She added that the couple work as interpreters, adding that her client was not a flight risk.

However, the Prosecutor objected to bail citing the prevalence of the offence and the fact that the Cuban man has no ties to Guyana.

Cartaya was released on $100,000 bail. As a condition for bail, he is required to report to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters every

T

Kenlhys Hernandez Cartaya

Monday until the completion of the case. The

matter will continue on February 5, 2020.

Dead bandit: Mark Prince

he three suspects, who were arrested following a brazen armed attack on a Tuschen Housing Scheme Chinese restaurateur last Friday, have been further detained by investigators, even as Police are searching for a female who was part of the robbery.

On Wednesday, investigators applied to the High Court for an extension of time to detain the suspects. This was granted and the Police have another 72 hours to hold the men before instituting charges.

It was further revealed that a file was prepared and sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution for advice into the matter.

This advice will assist investigators in how to proceed with the matter and what charges should be implemented.

This newspaper was told that the three suspects who were caught trying to make their good escape have confessed that they knew of the robbery but it was Mark Prince – who was fatally shot during the robbery – was the mastermind. One of the suspects was also wounded during the robbery.

The suspects in custody are a Police Constable attached to the Special Branch at Eve Leary, Georgetown; a 20-yearold Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD) resident and a Buxton, East Coast Demerara (ECD) resident On Friday last, Prince was among the bandits who pounced on Guang Hong Wang, 43, proprietor of the Five Star Chinese Restaurant and her husband who operate the food establishment in the lower flat of their premises. A customer, Navindra Lakahalall, 37, of Zeelugt New Housing, Scheme, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), was also robbed when the bandits invaded the premises.

Reports are Lakahalall was in the restaurant when one of

the male suspects and a female entered and purchased two beverages. Police reports stated that as soon as they consumed the beverages, they ordered a case of beer and in the process of Wang delivering the same, the male suspect whipped out a handgun and relieved her of two cell phones and an undisclosed sum of cash.

He then turned his attention to Lakahalall and relieved him of one silver chain and an undisclosed sum of cash. At the height of the robbery, the three other suspects entered.

However, a neighbour, who is a licensed firearm holder, heard the commotion and immediately went to investigate and was attacked by the armed suspect and another with a cutlass. He then discharged several rounds in their direction after which the suspects fled the premises in a motor car with licence plate PTT 8606 that had been parked nearby, leaving their accomplice Prince, who had been shot, at the scene.

The Police were contacted and the vehicle was intercepted at a roadblock on the public road in front of the Den Amstel Police Station.

At the time, the car had three occupants – one was in the back seat with what appeared to be a gunshot wound.

He was questioned, arrested, and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

An unlicensed pistol with an empty magazine was found in the vehicle along with an undisclosed sum of cash and cellular phones.

It was later revealed that Prince, who had been left behind with a gunshot wound to the neck, died on the spot. A cutlass was in his right hand and a haversack was on his back.

His body was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Some G$130,000 was found in his possession.

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

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46 NEWS

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Job seekers placed in agri, manufacturing, Taxi driver disqualified from driving after construction, mining sectors in 2019 3rd DUI conviction

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he Department of Labour’s Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) has said it placed 500 persons into jobs in 2019.

According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott said the agency registered 2,122 persons last year with the 500 securing jobs in the agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, construction, mining, and transportation sectors.

He noted that job seekers are also counselled about etiquette on the job, mode of dress, speech and language, conduct, deportment, and timekeeping.

Minister Scott said his department would work to ensure every

P

Young people filling applications at the employment drive at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue (DPI photo)

Guyanese had the opportunity to earn a decent wage.

“Persons from every region have access to the services CRMA has to of-

fer, there are sub-offices in Regions 2,3,5,6 and 10. We are presently putting measures in place to establish offices in Regions 7,8 and 9.”

According to the minister, the labour market will be transformed and the department must keep up as the country progresses.

NIS announces increase in Old Age Pension

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he National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has announced an increase in old-age pension which took effect from January 1, 2020.

However, it was noted that the insurable earnings ceiling has increased.

This is according to a statement that was issued by NIS declaring the increase in minimum old age and invalidity pensions, an increase in minimum survivors’ pension, an increase in the insurable earnings ceilingmonthly, and increase in the insurable earnings ceiling- weekly.

The minimum rates for old age and invalidity pensions have been increased from G$32,100

to G$35,000 per month, while the increase for minimum rate for survivors’ pension has been increased from G$16,050 to

G$17,500 per month.

Meanwhile, the monthly insurable earnings ceiling has been increased from G$256,800

to G$280,000 per month and the weekly insurable earnings ceiling has been increased from G$59,262 to G$64,615 per week

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food insecurity rose to 3.7 million in 2019, up from 2.6 million in 2018.

OCHA expects the figure will reach 4.2 million by March this year, with some 1.2 million Haitians likely to experience “emergency levels” of food insecurity.

“The situation is expected to remain un-

stable in the coming months, which will further weaken the country’s economy and, consequently, the ability of the poorest Haitians to meet their basic needs as well as the capacity of the State to provide essential services,” the agency said.

OCHA and its part-

ners supported 455,000 people in Haiti during the first nine months of 2019. However, lack of funding prevented them from reaching even more.

A US$126 million humanitarian plan for Haiti, launched in February, was only 32 per cent funded: among the lowest in the world, according to OCHA. Humanitarians are seeking US$252 million to support more than two million people in Haiti in 2020.

Overall, 4.6 million citizens, or around 40 per cent of the population, mainly women and children, will require urgent assistance.

(Caribbean360.com)

Road, Linden-Soesdyke Highway while his breath alcohol level was 185 micrograms, which is above the prescribed legal limit.

He also admitted to failing to have the vehicular parts maintained in order to prevent danger. Prosecutor Vernetté Pindar told the court that it was Mangar’s third time appearing before the court on separate DUI charges, noting that his licence was suspended twice before and this was his third conviction.

When asked by the Magistrate for a plausible reason why his licence should not be taken away, Mangar failed to offer a plea of mitigation. He was also fined G$7500 or one week imprisonment on the DUI charge and G$5000 for the motor vehicle maintenance charge.

Jamaican family shocked as slain JP implicated in visa and passport scam

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Food insecurity in Haiti expected to rise this year, says UN humanitarian agency

he number of Haitians who do not have sufficient food to eat is expected to surpass four million this year, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, says.

OCHA reports that deteriorating economic conditions last year—including low growth rate, high inflation and an increase in the cost of basic food items—have had a negative impact on the humanitarian situation in the Caribbean nation.

At the same time, insecurity and social tensions meant aid workers had limited access to a large part of the country.

As a result, the number of Haitians facing

residing Linden Magistrate Dylon Bess on Wednesday permanently disqualified the driver’s licence of a Speightland, Linden resident who appeared before him at the Linden Magistrate’s Court, charged with the offences of Driving under the Influence (DUI) and failure to have his vehicular parts maintained.

Joshua Mangar was ordered to pay a fine amounting to a total of G$12,500 after pleading guilty to the offences. The court heard that it was Mangar’s third DUI conviction, which, by law, is the requirement for disqualification.

Prior to this, his licence was suspended twice for DUI. The court further heard that on December 4, 2019, Mangar, who is a taxi driver, drove motor vehicle HD 84 along the Bamia Public

ark Brown, the older brother of slain Justice of the Peace (JP) Kevin Brown, said his family is in shock after police reports that their relative may have been involved in a visa and passport racket.

It was reported on Tuesday that Superintendent Wayne Cameron, head of the St Andrew South police, said that 50 passports were found in Brown’s possession.

Brown, 44, a member of the People’s National Party’s Patriots group, and the east Kingston constituency executive, was killed on December 11 along Chesterfield Drive.

“He was a very private person so I would not know about whatever case they have against him. My brother was a really quiet guy and was always a reserved person, but he was well loved,” said Mark.

He said that he believed that his brother was trying to assist persons rather than swindling cash from them.

“I am not here to condemn or condone and I am not being judge or juror or anything. But if you should talk to the average person about Kevin, they will tell you that he is really a community person and wanted to see those around him better,” he said.

Brown, who hailed from Franklyn Town, was reportedly one of the major organisers of a peace march in 2014 that helped to stem bloodshed in the area.

Like everyone else who knew him, Mark said he was overcome with grief upon learning about his brother’s demise.

JUST HELPING

“I was really shocked.

Everyone was shocked and then all of a sudden you began to hear whispers about him being involved in racketeering and that again came as a surprise, because I do not know of him being involved in anything like that. I am sure if one should talk to anyone from the community of Dunkirk they will say that he was just helping and not trying to scam anyone,” he said.

According to Mark, an autopsy report revealed that his brother died from a bullet that pierced his chest.

“The bullet entered from the back and exited through his chest. Based on reports, he was abducted and he ran out of the vehicle and was crying out for help and then he was shot. I think he tried everything to save his own life but it just never works. His son is not even coping well … this is really sad,” Mark said. (Jamaica Star)

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Exposing…

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…PNC’s hypocrisy and mendacity he PNC launched their campaign at D’Urban Park and it was a pathetic exercise on so many fronts. Let’s take Granger’s “vision” for Guyana, in general, and his constituency in particular. Back on Emancipation Day of 2018 – before the NCM knocked him for a loop! – he said he was speaking from his heart and was going to give some tough love to the folks gathered at BV. Said he: “Do not be wicked and slothful, go out and use your talent to enrich yourselves and your children that is economic emancipation. No matter how much we sing and dance in the final analysis, our lives will be determined by how we make our living. If we make our living by hanging around the corner and liming at the Guinness Bar, we will be forever poor but if we go into our farm, go into our workshop, go into our schools, we will be able to bring prosperity.”

Though criticised by some, many felt that in offering these home truths, the youths, especially who frequent the “Guinness Bars” and whiled away their time with “wine, women and song”, might be encouraged to put their shoulders to the wheel and prepare themselves for the new economy that beckons. But now that he was exposed in the aftermath as willing to hold on to power by any means necessary – including making a mockery of the Constitution! – he turned the launching of his party’s elections into the biggest party in town!! It was the Guinness Bar so large that the revelry could be heard all the way in Mc Doom!!!!

The launch was the classic “bread and circus” of the Roman Emperors to keep the masses distracted from their lives of quiet desperation. To rub in the point, Granger’s grand entrance before the extravaganza was every bit as ostentatious as Nero arriving to amuse the aforementioned masses by throwing in, for good measure, some “state enemies” to the lions!! In this case, the enemy, of course, was the PPP! Another bit of hypocrisy was Ramjattan’s boast about their coalition being the best vehicle for inclusivity when the PNC didn’t even give him the courtesy of confirming that he was their Prime Ministerial candidate!! He was introduced simply as the “AFC Leader”!! Can Ramjattan say if he is or isn’t the PM candidate? Is this too much to ask after all the fuss he created about getting the job as a condition for the coalition??

Ramjattan also promised a bridge across the Essequibo River!! Five years ago they promised one across the Demerara River.

All we got was a G$153M bill for a sole-sourced plan, which was promptly junked!! …PNC’s mendicancy If it’s embarrassing to see grown men cry for votes, it’s even worse to see them begging on their knees. And that’s what dominated the speeches – and even the songs – at the PNC campaign launch!! Now it’s not as these men took vows of poverty like the monks of yore and became professional mendicants going from door to door for scraps to survive. In fact, their very first act upon sliding into office was to give themselves a 50% raise on an already generous salary scale.

But maybe THAT fact explains the abject begging we witnessed at D’Urban Park: they don’t want to lose the big bucks, perks and especially those outriders!!

And most of all, the opportunity to stick their hands under the table for businessmen they MUST meet face to face!! From the opening calypsonian pleading for the audience to “Give David some more time” to Granger grovelling, “We ask you for five more years to complete what we have started”, it was a river of tears!!

But the people know it’s crocodile tears!! …PNC’s antidemocratic nature Calling it “nonsense”, Granger vowed to remove the NCM from the Constitution. Never mind it’s a cornerstone of parliamentary governance.

It gives the peoples’ representatives the power to remove a tyrannical government!!

Histories for healing, not fighting

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ast week, I started to look back at events that occurred at the end of the second decade of the 20th century, when there were initiatives to launch a “Colonisation Scheme” to bring additional labour to Br Guiana in light of the ending of indentureship in 1917 and a “labour shortage” in the sugar industry. Before continuing, I would like to offer a perspective which I have expressed before on my histological perspective in doing so.

Histories, after all, are always written within a particular “space of experience” – the ways that the past is remembered in the present and a “horizon of expectation” – the anticipation of the non-yet-known future beyond the horizon.

A history of our present, in the words of the anthropologist David Scott, demands that “histories of the past ought to be interventions in the present, strategic interrogations of the present’s norms as a way of helping us to glimpse the possibilities for an alternative future.”

I was looking back from a present that is once again fraught with the potential for conflict between the two major groups that have competed for political power since the end of indentureship when it dawned on some leaders that the demographics would be a major determinant in that arena. Indians were a plurality and if immigration from India were resumed they could form a majority. As I pointed out last week, this was the beginning of the manifestation of the Indian and African Security dilemmas.

Eric Philips had brought up the subject in December 2014 and then again in Dec 2019: in both instances, this was months before general elections.

There were two points I wanted to make: firstly, that Mr Philips had elided the fact that the Colonisation Scheme has included recruitment of new labour from not only India but Africa and the West Indies. In fact, while there was no subsequent immigration from Africa, immigrants from the West Indies between 1920 and 1928 totalled 1727 persons of African origin, while in the same period, there were 607 from India.

The second was what

should be our “horizon of expectation? I am suggesting that with the privilege of hindsight, we should connect the past with the present in a broader narrative that is healing rather than destructive? We cannot change the past, but we can certainly change the future. Our horizon of expectation must generate strategies that speak to those normative ends rather than further dividing us. They must ask whether their particular narrative that seeks to connect our past to the present and envision a more positive future that delivers those normative ends.

Our problem space today is different from our post-independence era: the demographics now deny any built-in ethnic majority and so opens

up the possibilities of a working democracy. A constructive narrative cannot then picture our opposing groups locked forever in mortal combat. Crucial to the formulation of a constructive narrative would be what Hayden White labelled the “content of the form” of the narrative – particularly its plot to link past, present and future.

Hegel’s famous interpretation of Antigone as the paradigmatic Greek tragedy might be particularly apt to our situation. In this narrative, both “sides” are morally right. The conflict is not between good and evil but between “goods” on which each is making an exclusive claim. Isn’t this the situation that our mutually exclusive narratives of victimhood

with its facile binary oppositions have delivered us into? In Guyana, Africans, Indians and Amerindians are all “right”. Such employment within a narrative, I am suggesting, should suggest compromise rather the than a battle of one side overcoming. That would be a constructive narrative for our time, place and circumstances.

In noting the importance of narratives in the task of nation-building, Benedict Anderson has identified the importance of newspapers that are read every morning in constructing what he has tellingly labelled “Imagined Communities”: “The significance of this mass ceremony – Hegel observed that newspapers serve modern man as a substitute for morning prayers – is paradoxical. It is performed in silent privacy, in the lair of the skull.

Yet each communicant is well aware that the ceremony he performs is being replicated simultaneously by thousands (or millions) of others of whose existence he is confident, yet of whose identity he has not the slightest notion.”

Let us use our newspapers for nation-building rather than tearing it apart by narratives that are fighting longgone terrors.

48 BOLLYWOOD

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

D

e e p i k a Padukone visited Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Tuesday to lend solidarity to students following Sunday’s violence.

Padukone was in New Delhi to promote her upcoming film Chhapaak.

Before visiting JNU, Padukone talked about the unrest and protests across India. In an interview with Aaj Tak, the actor was asked about the growing unrest in the country and the protests being held at various universities. She said, “What I wanted to say, I said it two years ago when Padmaavat was released. What I am seeing today, it pains me. I hope it doesn’t become the new normal.

That anyone can say anything and they can get away with it. I get scared and I feel sad as well. This is not the foundation of our country.”

In an interview with NDTV, the Chhapaak

actor said, “I feel proud that we are not scared of expressing ourselves.

It (is good) that we are thinking of our country and its future. Whatever may be our point of view, it is nice to see people coming out on to the

out any case of copyright infringement, the affidavit said, adding information available in public domain is not protected under Copyright Act. “In the present case, the plaintiff (Bharti) has sought protection of an idea of a film based on the story of an acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal,” Gulzar said in the affidavit.

True facts and events are not entitled to copyright protection, the affidavit added. The director further said the suit has been filed with ulterior motives to gain undue publicity and to obstruct the release of the movie Chhapaak.

“The plaintiff’s intention is to only wrongfully and dishonestly gain publicity and pressurize Meghna Gulzar. The plaintiff wants to tarnish the reputation of Meghna Gulzar and extract money,” the affidavit said.

The suit came up for hearing before Justice S C Gupte who posted it for hearing on Wednesday.

Bharti sought an interim stay on the release of the movie pending final hearing of the suit.

The Deepika Padukone starrer is slat-

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opyright cannot be claimed on true events and incidents, Chhapaak movie director Meghna Gulzar told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday and sought the dismissal of a suit filed by a writer claiming he originally penned a story on the life of an acid attack survivor on which the film is based.

Gulzar filed an affidavit in response to the suit filed by writer Rakesh Bharti, who sought credit as one of the writers of the film.

The affidavit, filed through Naik Naik and Company’s advocates Ameet Naik and Madhu Gadodia, said the suit was “wholly misconceived, frivolous, legally untenable and unmeritorious”.

The suit fails to make

B

ollywood veteran Anil Kapoor on Monday said whenever he sees younger actors perform well on screen he always misses his youth.

The 63-year-old actor, whose next Malang features him alongside Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani and Kunal Kemmu, said looking at the chemistry of the lead pair he felt the need to fall in love again.

“After this film, Aditya and Disha are going to be major, special and big stars. I genuinely mean it. Whatever I’ve seen, every frame, I enjoyed it,” Kapoor told reporters here at the trailer launch of the Mohit

Suri-directed movie.

“I wished I was young. I wish I would go on a bike like him (Aditya) and was having fun… Looking at them in the film, I want to fall in love. I’m in love but I

want to fall again,” he added.

The romantic-action-drama also features Amruta Khanvilkar.

Kapoor, who stars in a negative role of a cop, said he was initially

streets and elsewhere to voice their opinions.”

Both these statements were given before Deepika Padukone visited JNU. Many actors have applauded Padukone’s stand as Bollywood celebrities are often criticised for not having a definitive stance.

Bhumi Pednekar, Huma Qureshi, Raj Babbar, Nikkhil Advani, Neeraj Ghaywan, Sudhir Mishra, Swara Bhasker and Anurag Kashyap among others took to social media to support the Chhapaak actor.

Deepika Padukone’s upcoming film Chhapaak will hit screens on January 10.

(Indian Express)

ed for release on January 10 and is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.

The suit filed by Bharti claimed he had conceived an idea/script for a movie, tentatively titled ‘Black Day’, and got it registered with the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) in February 2015.

Bharti said since then he has been working on the script and approaching several artists and producers, including Fox Star Studio, for narration.

“However, the project could not commence due to unavoidable circumstances. The plaintiff had narrated the idea to Fox Star Studio, which is the production house for ‘Chhapaak’,” the plea said. (Indian Express)

wanted to play Kunal’s part in the film.

“I first heard the script, I wanted to do Kunal’s role. He has done a brilliant job with the role now but I wanted to do that one. Mohit, Luv (Ranjan, producer) and all of them wanted me to do this character of Agashe.

“My heart was there but they told me to do this. I would thank them that they convinced me and I went with their conviction. I’m very happy I did this role,” he added.

Malang is scheduled to be released on February 7. (Indian Express)

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ctor Varun Dhawan on Tuesday condemned the violence in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and said one cannot stay neutral during such incidents, joining a section of Bollywood personalities who have denounced the campus mayhem.

Violence had broken out inside the university campus on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property. At least 34 people, including JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured.

Speaking to reporters here in Madhya Pradesh while promoting his upcoming film, Dhawan said, “I think we cannot stay neutral in such issues. You have to condemn such attacks.

“It is dangerous and sad if masked people enter an educational institution and all this (assault, vandalism) happens.”

Queried on whether there was a “divide” in the Hindi film industry on the incident going by the vast number of tweets and posts on social media from the fraternity, the 32- year-old actor evaded a direct reply and said, “I am not going to get into what people are saying on

Twitter on this issue.”

He feigned ignorance when asked about tweets against the Centre on the JNU violence by producer-director Anurag Kashyap, and said “I have been promoting my film for the past three days and have not read statements of these people”.

The Badlapur actor said it was not known, right now, who was behind Sunday’s violence inside the premier central varsity.

“But the police will investigate it. As an Indian, I have full faith in the police and judiciary. I hope those involved in this incident get severe punishment as soon as possible,” he said.

Dhawan said everybody, especially parents, wanted students to remain safe in campuses, adding that the need now was for peace and stability and for all people to act unitedly.

“It is easy to sit here and say whether this or that man is wrong,” he added.

“Horrifying”, “heartbreaking” and “barbaric” is how voices emerging from Bollywood such as director Zoya Akhtar, actors Anil Kapoor and Alia Bhatt on Monday described the JNU violence and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

(Indian Express)

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

HOLLYWOOD 49

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he Batman director Matt Reeves has confirmed that actor Colin Farrell will be starring in the film as DC supervillain Penguin.

The director tweeted a gif of Farrell from the film In Bruges with the caption “Wait is that you, #Oz?” Oz is the shortened

form of the DC character’s given name, Oswald Cobblepot. Reeves had tweeted similar gifs for the other actors who have joined the project.

Reports of Farrell’s casting started circulating in November last year.

He joins a cast that includes Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, Paul Dano as

the Riddler, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, and Peter Sarsgaard in a mystery role.

The Batman is already in production and is slated to hit the theatres on June 25, 2021.

(Indian Express)

answer to all your stupid questions about why I will never play a bad guy.

“I think I’m about to do that. That’s who I am playing next,” Hanks, 63, said backstage after accepting the honour.

The actor, who will be flying to Australia to shoot the biopic, also sent out “good thoughts to Australia for what’s going on down there” in the wake of the devastating bushfires. (Indian Express)

Jason Biggs savours his lasting American Pie connection

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lton John and Chris Hemsworth are among the celebrities donating big bucks for relief efforts as wildfires engulf Australia.

Hemsworth, the Australian actor who plays Thor in the Marvel movie franchise, took to social media Monday to share that he will donate 1 million dollars and asked his millions of followers to show support as well. He said that “every penny counts.”

So far, the wildfires have scorched an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Maryland.

The blazes have killed 25 people and destroyed 2,000 homes. The fires, fueled by drought and the country’s hottest and driest year on record, have been raging since September, months earlier than is typical for Australia’s annual wildfire season.

John announced during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert in Sydney, Australia, that he will also donate 1 million dollars. The singer said he wanted to bring attention to the devastation that wildfires have caused, saying it has reached a “biblical scale.”

Hemsworth and John join a growing list of celebrities who have pledged to donate toward relief efforts, including Nicole Kidman, Pink and Keith Urban.

“I am totally devastated watching what is happening in Australia right now with the horrific bushfires,” Pink wrote in a recent social media post. “I am pledging a donation of

merica’s sweetheart veteran actor Tom Hanks says he is set to play a “bad guy” in the Elvis Presley biopic and he hopes to prove the naysayers wrong that he can only play the good guy.

The actor, who was feted with the Cecille B DeMille award at the recently concluded Golden Globes ceremony, is playing Presley’s shifty talent manager Colonel Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann’s untitled biopic on the legendary musician.

Newcomer Austin Butler is playing Presley.

“If all goes according to plan, I’ll be playing Colonel Tom Parker to Austin Butler’s Elvis Presley and hopefully I will then finally have an

J

$500,000 directly to the local fire services that are battling so hard on the frontlines. My heart goes out to our friends and family in Oz.” Metallica announced a donation on Tuesday night of 750,000 dollars to a firefighting agency and emergency services agency in Victoria.

An emotional Rose Byrne, who is Australian, spoke about the crisis and the relief efforts on Tuesday night at the New York premiere of her movie Like a Boss.

“Really what people need is just donations because it’s all volunteer based, the firefighters and all the rural services and the wildlife services trying to rescue the animals,” she told The Associated Press.

She added: “It’s devastating. It’s such a beautiful country.

There’s always drought but this is the hottest year on record and they need rain but a lot of rain, not just a little bit which is what’s happening now. They need like a downpour, downpour

and it’s just getting hotter and it’s getting more and more out of control.

It’s a climate crisis is what it is.”

At the Golden Globes on Sunday, Phoebe Waller-Bridge said she would auction off her Globe outfit and have the proceeds go to firefighter relief.

Russell Crowe wasn’t at the Globes to accept his trophy for best actor in a limited series or TV movie for playing former Fox CEO Roger Ailes in the Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice. Instead, the actor was in Australia trying to protect his home from the wildfires, sending a speech that Jennifer Aniston read.

“Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate change-based,” Crowe’s statement said. “We need to act based on science, move our global workforce to renewable energy and respect our planet for the unique and amazing place it is.

That way, we all have a future.” (Indian Express)

ason Biggs has no regrets about being indelibly linked to American Pie, the rowdy 1999 adolescent sex comedy.

“It changed my life, and it’s the reason I’m still here and still in the game today,” the actor said Tuesday.

Biggs, who played sexually naïve teen Jim in the movie, acknowledged the passage of time can be disconcerting.

Biggs, 41, is the grownup in the room now, playing a family man in Fox’s new sitcom Outmatched, debuting January 23.

“I was the young dude in ‘American Pie’ and

now I’m playing the dad to kids who were born after ‘American Pie’ came out. It is pretty surreal,” he told a TV critics meeting.

Asked if he’d prefer later projects like Outmatched to eclipse his role in the teen movie, Biggs demurred.

“Do I hope that this erases anything?

Certainly not, I just hope it adds to, and I’m really grateful to be here,” he said.

Joining him for the panel discussion were Maggie Lawson, who stars as Biggs’ wife, and the youngsters who play their precocious off-

spring.

Biggs asked teenagers Connor Kalopsis and Ashley Boettcher whether they’d seen the movie (he hadn’t, she had) and then turned his attention to grade-school-age Jack Stanton and Oakley Bull.

“I hope you two have not,” Biggs said, adding jokingly, “Maybe season three, we’re going to have a fun viewing party.”

American Pie, the first in a franchise, was about four youths who make a pact to lose their virginity before the high school prom. (Indian Express)

Brad Pitt thanks co-star Leonardo DiCaprio in Globes speech, jokes about Titanic scene

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rad Pitt won the Golden Globes for his role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and took this opportunity to thank his “partner-in-crime”, costar Leonardo DiCaprio.

The actor also joked about DiCaprio’s most famous role as Jack in Titanic. The actor said had it been him instead of Rose (Kate Winslet), he “would’ve shared the raft” in the final moments of the period disaster romance.

In the Quentin Tarantino-directed film, Pitt plays Cliff Booth, the skilled stuntman and best friend of DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton.

Pitt also acknowledged fellow nominees, thanking them for inspiring him.

The actor then went on to thank DiCaprio.

Before The Revenant, I used to watch, year after year, his co-stars accept awards, get up and thank him profusely,” Pitt said.

“I know why he’s an all-star, he’s a gent and I wouldn’t be here without you.

Pitt brought his

speech to an end with an appeal for kindness.

“If you have the chance to be kind to someone tomorrow, take it. I think we need it.”

It is the second time that Pitt has won a Golden Globes. He won in the same category for his role in 1995’s Twelve Monkeys.

The annual awards show was hosted by Ricky Gervais. (Indian Express)

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Khary Pierre’s ODI prospects

est Indies begin their 2020 with their white ball cricket firmly focused in one direction - appropriately, towards T20 cricket.

The T20 World Cup in Australia is clearly the most important contest they will be involved with this year. You’d expect the shortest international format to be prioritised accordingly, in terms of rotation, resources, and in the minds of the players.

Kieron Pollard has an exciting group of players who could do plenty, with the right guidance and expertise.

However, there is still work to do in the other formats. The Test team have important and challenging series’ against South Africa (at home) and England (away from home), in a time of transition and rebuilding that needs to start yielding results.

Yet it’s in the ODI format - the lowest profile in the 12 months ahead, you’d suggest that the Windies have the biggest opportunity to mould a side in whichever image they see fit. The core of white ball cricketers they have grown through the domestic system, and

Khary Pierre

the Caribbean Premier League, is versatile and ready to take the step up. The three-match ODI series against Ireland, starting this week, represents a fan-

tastic chance for players on the periphery of the set-up to make the leap to the forefront of the selectors' minds.

No player is more ready for that step up

than Khary Pierre.

Spin has not been West Indies’ friend in recent ODI seasons, as they have looked around for different options and different roles. They haven’t been able to nail either role, in truth - they have had the second worst strike rate of any ODI spin unit in the last two years, and the third worst economy rate. It’s the area of the side which most obviously requires improve-

ment if the Caribbean side are to take a step up.

Pierre is more of a containing spinner than an attacking one, and the Windies are aware of this - having played two ODIs already, it’s clear they know his best role. In domestic cricket, Pierre has a very tidy economy of just 4.64rpo, and has never gone at over 5rpo in a Super50 season. He’s an excellent option for

a Windies team packed with ultra-attacking seamers, and being able to maintain a lower scoring rate in the middle overs could well improve the effectiveness of those seamers, at the top and tail.

His economy could be a natural consequence of his brisk bowling speed. An average speed of 89kph, and with 64% of his deliveries being faster than that, is evidence of how he darts the ball through. An average deviation of just 2.1 degrees is enough to beat the bat - and maintain threat - but is not vast, and also points to him refusing to throw the ball up and put revolutions on the ball.

He knows his strength, that fast arm and skid off the surface, and he uses it to great effect.

He has only played two ODIs so far, finding his feet in international cricket slowly but surely. With the experience he will no doubt get in the T20I fixtures to be played over the next few months, he’s well poised to develop into a significant player in both Windies white ball teams. The Ireland series will be a chance for him to establish himself in the team against a batting line-up predominantly made up of right-handers, away from whom Pierre naturally turns the ball. The opportunity couldn't be better placed for Pierre right now - and he'll be desperate to grab it with both hands. (CWI)

Evin Lewis' unbeaten...

FROM PAGE 54

at just over four an over, they didn't open up the danger of a complete slowdown. But two balls after the drinks break, Adair jumped down the track to a length ball from Hayden Walsh that was delivered from well behind the crease and ended up being beaten in flight completely. Joseph got another one to kick up from the surface in his last over to account for Tucker, and might have had a fifth wicket if Barry McCarthy hadn't had the option to overturn an lbw decision using DRS. There was one final bit of resistance from the lower order, with McCarthy and Boyd Rankin adding 30 for the last wicket. But they could only stretch the score to 180, which didn't prove nearly enough as the hosts won with a third of their overs to spare. (ESPNCricinfo)

SCOREBOARD

Ireland Innings (50 overs maximum) PR Stirling c Pollard b Joseph 15 GJ Delany c †Hope b Joseph 19 A Balbirnie (c) c †Hope b Chase 16 WTS Porterfield c †Hope b Cottrell 15 KJ O'Brien lbw b Joseph 4 LJ Tucker † c Walsh b Joseph 31 Simi Singh c †Hope b Cottrell 5 MR Adair st †Hope b Walsh 29 AR McBrine c Paul b Walsh 4 BJ McCarthy c King b Paul 13 WB Rankin not out 10 Extras (b 5, lb 5, nb 2, w 7) 19 TOTAL (46.1 Overs, RR: 3.89) 180 all out Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Paul Stirling, 6.3 ov), 2-51 (Andy Balbirnie, 9.1 ov), 3-62 (Gareth Delany, 14.3 ov), 4-68 (Kevin O'Brien, 16.1 ov), 5-80 (William Porterfield, 20.2 ov), 6-88 (Simi Singh, 22.5 ov), 7-142 (Mark Adair, 35.2 ov), 8-150 (Lorcan Tucker, 38.3 ov), 9-150 (Andy McBrine, 39.2 ov), 10-180 (Barry McCarthy, 46.1 ov) BOWLING SS Cottrell 9-1-39-2 KMA Paul 7.1-0-34-1 AS Joseph 10-1-32-4 RL Chase 10-0-351

HR Walsh 2

10-0-30-

West Indies Innings (50 overs maximum) SD Hope † c Porterfield b McCarthy 13 E Lewis not out 99 BA King c McCarthy b Simi Singh 20 SO Hetmyer c †Tucker b Simi Singh 8 N Pooran c Simi Singh b McBrine 17 RL Chase c †Tucker b Rankin 19 KA Pollard (c) not out 0 Extras (lb 4, w 4) 8 TOTAL (33.2 Overs, RR: 5.52) 184-5 Yet to bat: KMA Paul, AS Joseph, SS Cottrell, HR Walsh Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Shai Hope, 5.5 ov), 2-98 (Brandon King, 18.3 ov), 3-112 (Shimron Hetmyer, 20.2 ov), 4-130 (Nicholas Pooran, 23.1 ov), 5-178 (Roston Chase, 32.5 ov) BOWLING AR McBrine 7-0-40-1 BJ McCarthy 7.2-1-461 MR Adair 2-0-24-0 Simi Singh 10-0-44-2 WB Rankin 7-1-26-1

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

National Table Tennis Championships begin on January 17

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he Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), in collaboration with the National Sports Commission (NSC) and some key sponsors, will stage the National Senior/Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships for 2020.

According to a release from the GTTA, the event, which kickstarts the association’s year of activities, is scheduled for staging from January 17 to 19 and from January 24 to 26 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown.

The Junior and Cadet Championships will engage male and female players in the age category of 15 to 18 years and will have a novices’ component, while the Senior Championships will engage senior males and females, and would have under-21 male and female components and ‘B and C’ Class components.

These National Championships are premier domestic tournaments. They are used for the crowning of national champions, and serve as a key component for establishing a ranking and selection system, among other benefits.

With the continental qualification event for Games of the XXXII

tivities have been advanced.

This will see the Caribbean Junior and Cadet Championships scheduled for March 2020, the Caribbean Senior Championships scheduled for April 2-8 in Havana, Cuba — which is being used as the qualification event for the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston Texas, USA — and the Continental Olympic qualification event being held early in 2020. This will provide greater impetus to the national championships.

The men’s category of the Senior National Championships truly offers a treat for table tennis fans and enthusiasts, given the competitiveness of the current lineup of male players.

In this division, current National Champion and 2018 Caribbean Men’s Singles bronze medalist, Christopher Franklin, will face the likes of a surging, inform and hungry 2018 Caribbean Under- 21 Champion, and 2019 Caribbean Under-21 silver medalist and men’s singles bronze medalist, Shemar Britton; former national champion Nigel Bryan, and Joel Alleyne, Elishaba Johnson, Miguel Wong, veteran Colin France, Orin Hickerson, Jonathan Sankar, Edinho Lewis,

Natalie Cummins

Cummings would face challenges from JodyAnn Blake, Priscilla Greaves, Neveah Clarkston, Thuraia Thomas, Nhecki Mc Crae, Crystal Melville, Abigail Martin and Jasmine Billingy, among others.

While, in the B Class, there are Warren Hacksaw, Devon Richmond, Levi Percival, Remy Taitt, Xen Goliath, Krystian Sahadeo,

Christopher Franklin

Olympiad scheduled for April 15–19, 2020 and the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2020, many of the events scheduled on the regional and international calendar of ac-

and the young brigade which would be making their claim to the throne.

In the absence of Chelsea Edghill and Trenace Lowe, current National Women’s Champion Natalie

Maurice Cummings, Shavin Greene, Raynor Anderson, Junior Isaiah Layne and Jonathan Van Lange.

National Junior and Cadet Championships Current National

Junior Boys Champion Jonathan Van Lange, together with Jamal Nicholas, Isaiah Layne, Colin Wong, Kaysan Ninvalle, Yeudistir Persaud, Terrence

Rausch, Krystian Sahadeo, Dhanesh Persaud, Peter Persaud, Curtis McCrae, Ajay Persaud, Uriel Isadore, Kyle Chung, Ebo Mc Neil, Malaki Moore,

Andell Austin, Narren Persaud, Salim Rahim Percival, Jaswan Seenarine, Rhys Belle, Adrian Melville, Tyler Orderson, Christopher Barrow and Joshua Lucas, among others, will be making their claim to the throne.

In the Girls’ category, current National Under-18 champion Thuraia Thomas will be hard pressed to defend her title against the likes of Neveah Clarkston, Thuraia Thomas, Crystal Ann Melville, Abigail Martin, Jasmine Billingy, Akira Watson, Samara Sukhai; and new talents Lisana Ramascindo, Sufah Burrowes, Samirah Burrowes, Alana Gouveia and Upha Hackett Isasha.

With the great nucleus and quantum of young, immensely talented athlete players who possess lots of potential currently emerging and playing the sport in the respective categories, it truly makes for a competitive championship tournament, filled with key rivalry and excitement.

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

West Indies vs Ireland series available to millions of fans – CWI W

est Indies cricket fans around the region and all across the world will be able to have full access to the upcoming series against Ireland from January 7 - 19, 2019.

According to CWI, Cricket West Indies, through its regional and international broadcast partners have ensured that a global audience of close to 100 million will be able to capture the action on TV, radio, mobile and tablet. The home side will take on Ireland in the three-match Colonial Medical Insurance ODI Series and the threematch Sandals T20I Series. The TV commentary team will feature a contemporary line-up of former West Indies cricketers including Ian Bishop, Daren Sammy, Darren Ganga and Samuel Badree, supported by former Irish batsman-wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien.

Viewers in the Caribbean can tune into Flow Sports, the regional Caribbean cable network In North America,

For highlights, there will be three versions available for fans on the morning after each game on the West Indies website (www. windiescricket.com) and on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel, providing a bite-size 5 minute quick fix, a fuller 10 minute version, plus a full length 45 highlights package of each match.

Full Match Schedule

Willow TV will be airing the matches with full distribution also via Dish TV. In the Indian sub-continent, fans will be able to watch on FanCode Sky Sports will provide coverage in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

In the southern hemisphere, fans in SubSaharan Africa can tune into SuperSport Fox Sports and Sky New Zealand show-

ing the full Series in Australia and New Zealand respectively.

For all other countries, the West Indies YouTube channel will be providing live ball-byball coverage.

CWI knows how Caribbean fans love cricket on the radio and is working with Line and Length to provide live ball-by ball radio commentary for all six matches. The radio team will feature Barry

Wilkinson, Tino Best and Ireland’s John Kenny as part of the commentary panel. This will be live for the first time on the windiescricket.com website as well as on Tag FM in Trinidad, GBN in Grenada, The Wave in St. Lucia and CBC in Barbados with other stations to be confirmed.

CWI Commercial and Marketing Director said, “We hope fans are excited to kick off the new year with the West Indies playing 6 matches in

short succession. We’re delighted to be working with our broadcast partners around the world to provide accessible live coverage on TV and radio to millions of West Indies fans. The Ireland team have some great history playing in the Caribbean and it’s going to be exciting for all West Indies and cricket fans to watch and listen to what will be a fascinating and explosive series in a very busy year of ODI and T2OI cricket"

Tuesday, Jan 7: 1st Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Kensington Oval, Barbados Thursday, Jan 9: 2nd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Kensington Oval Sunday, Jan 12: 3rd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Grenada National Stadium, Grenada Wednesday, Jan 15: 1st Sandals Resorts T20I – Grenada National Stadium Saturday, Jan 18: 2nd Sandals Resorts T20I – Warner Park, St Kitts Sunday, Jan 19: 3rd Sandals Resorts T20I – Warner Park

Shane Warne to auction off baggy green to raise funds for bushfire relief

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Warnes attempt at raising significant funds to help people affected by the Australian bushfires has paid rich dividends (Instagram: @shanewarne23)

ustralia's all-time leading wicket-taker Shane Warne has announced that he would be auctioning off his baggy green cap, which he wore throughout his 145-match Test career, to raise funds for the bushfire appeal as the disaster continues to ravage large parts of the country.

According to the auction site, all funds raised by this effort will be do-

nated to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund. The item would also contain an autographed certificate of authenticity from Warne.

Australia is in the midst of one of its worstever bushfire seasons which has led to loss of life and property, and a number of cricketers, including Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell, have come forward to support the cause. The Australia

team had also auctioned off signed shirts from the Boxing Day Test and helped raised over AUD$40,000.

Earlier, Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts had also said that he was open to the idea of staging a charity match to raise funds for the bushfire appeal, adding that the ODIs between Australia and New Zealand in March will be used to raise money.

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Guyana’s Priyanna Ramdhani cops silver in Honolulu Open tournament

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adminton sensation Guyanese Priyanna Ramdhani has, in 2020, wasted no time in adding a silver medal to her already vast collection of medals obtained from playing her favourite sport.

Over the past weekend, this 18-year-old copped a silver medal playing in the finals of the 2020 Honolulu Open ‘A Division’ Badminton tournament, hosted in Hawaii, USA from January 3-5, 2020.

This is the first tournament in which she has participated for 2020.

Priyanna spent her birthday (January 2) travelling from Canada, where she secured a scholarship some months ago, to Hawaii to attend the Honolulu Open; and from all indications, her training during the Christmas holiday has paid off greatly: she has been able to compete in the senior division, although she is still considered a junior player. And she medalled!

In the round-robin segment of the Open Singles ‘A Division’ tournament, Ramdhani competed against Rachel Cheung, whom she defeated 21-11, 21-13. She then competed against Samantha Hsu, whom she also defeated 21-15, 21-17.

However, she lost her momentum in the final when she compet-

ed against Eyota Kwan, who defeated her 21-13, 21-10, hence her earning silver. The silver medal is a great start to the year, and shows Priyanna’s consistency in the sport, but she will be looking to continue the exceptional performances she had recorded in 2019.

2 0 1 9 Achievements: B r o n z e : (Singles) ACAC #1 Tournament in Olds, Alberta Canada 2019 Bronze: (Mixed Doubles) The Kings University Open Tournament in Edmonton, Canada 2019 Gold: (Singles) Yonex Alberta Series #1 ‘B Flight’ Tournament in Calgary, Canada 2019 Gold: (Women’s Doubles) Yonex Alberta Series # 1 ‘B Flight’ Tournament in Calgary, Canada 2019 Gold: (Mixed Doubles) Yonex Alberta Series #1 ‘C Flight’ Tournament in Calgary, Canada 2019 Semi-Finals: (Singles) Yonex Alberta Series #1 ‘A Flight’ Tournament in Calgary, Canada 2019 Semi-Finals:(Women’s Doubles) Yonex Alberta Series #1 ‘A Flight’

BFA/GT BEER/CANDY BOSS/ANTICS 8-A-SIDE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT…

Paradise FC are new champions

T

he sharpshooters in the Paradise Football Club of West Coast Berbice (Region 5) have this year prevailed over stiff competition is the BFA/ GT Beer/Candy Boss/Antics 8-a -side Inter-Club Invitational Football tournament, to emerge champions thereof and take the coveted title along with undisputed bragging rights, plus G$600,000 prize money, a trophy, and medals for each player.

In the tournament’s grand finale, played under lights on Saturday evening at the All Saints Presbyterian Church Ground in New Amsterdam, the football wizards of Monedderlust could not conjure up three goals to match the tally of their arch-rivals, last year’s losing finalists, Paradise — who were led by a double from the sharpshooting Jamal Fraser — and so, disappointingly, had to concede defeat at 3-2.

It is true that Monedderlust dominated the first half of the game, sending ten shots at the goal as against five from Paradise. And it is also true that the wizard Nerd McDonald scored in the 30th + 3rd minute; and four minutes after the resumption, another wizard, Raynand Frank, put Monedderlust two up when he also scored.

But the sharpshooters of Paradise began responding to those challenges when Nigel Reynolds scored their first goal in the 40th minute. He scored from the penalty spot after the referee had ruled that Monedderlust were guilty of handling the ball inside the 30-yard box.

Then the Paradise equalizer came in the 55th minute, when the sharpshooting Jamal Fraser made no mistake after he had found the Monedderlust goalkeeper out of place.

With the scores equalized at 2-all, the battle for supremacy was truly on; thus, when Referee Colin Bowery blew his whistle against Monedderlust in

the 59th minute for a handled-ball infraction, Paradise supporters, anticipating accuracy, went into a frenzy of celebration.

The sharpshooting Fraser took the shot, and made no mistake in giving Paradise their first lead in the game.

The scores then read: Paradise 3, Monedderlust 2, and remained thus until the end of the game.

Several hundred fans had turned out to witness these two West Berbice teams battle for supremacy; and although an age-old rivalry exists between Paradise FC and Monedderlust FC, they had never previously met in a major final.

As for the third-place play-off between Cougars FC and Hopetown United, an Atwell McDonald goal scored in the 47th minute was all that was needed for the Cougars of East Berbice to claim the third spot.

That game was playing at a very fast pace, and the Cougars completely dominated the first half, sending 10 shots at goal as against 5 from Hopetown FC; but when Referee Micha Erskine blew his whistle to end the first half, neither team had scored.

Before play in the grand finale commenced, members of both teams were introduced to the Brand Manager of GT Beer, Jeff Clements, and to the Regional Executive Officer of Region Six (East Berbice/ Corentyne), Kim Stephens.

The finalists in this tournament were determined after Paradise had defeated Hopetown 4-0 and Monedderlust had got past Cougars 1-0 in semifinal action.

This tournament, sponsored by beverage giants Banks DIH under their GT Beer brand, commenced on December 6th with two-time champions Police FC being knocked out by Hopetown United. (Andrew Carmichael)

Tournament in Calgary Canada 2019 Silver: Yonex AJC Junior Under-19 Tournament in Airdrie Alberta, Canada 2019 3 Gold: (Triple Champion) Caribbean International Under-19 Championships in Barbados 2019 1 Bronze & 2 Quarter-Finals at the Caribbean International Senior Championships in Barbados 2019 Qualified and participated in the Pan-Am Games in Lima Peru 2019 First Round- Jamaica International in Kingston 2019

Priyanna Ramdhani, following her silver medal performance

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WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

Evin Lewis' unbeaten 99 caps dominant win for West Indies W

est Indies 184 for 5 (Lewis 99*, King 20, Simi 2-44) beat Ireland 180 (Tucker 31, Adair 29, Joseph 4-32, Walsh 2-30, Cottrell 2-39) by five wickets Evin Lewis fell agonisingly short of a hundred, but his immaculate unbeaten 99, which followed Alzarri Joseph's feisty four-for, helped a dominant West Indies brush Ireland aside in the first ODI in Bridgetown. Batting on 93 with three required for a win, the opener managed to slice one wide of third man for two runs. That left a straightforward equation - a six to win the match as well as get his hundred. Lewis managed to smoke the length ball that followed, but it landed a few metres short of the extra-cover boundary and left him on 99 as West Indies took a 1-0 lead.

Lewis' innings was nearly chanceless. He began solidly, offering a vertical bat as much as possible on a good batting surface that showed glimpses of being slow every now and again. The only chance he offered, a chip against Mark Adair in the ninth over, was put down by Kevin O'Brien lunging low at mid-off. Either side of that ball, Lewis blud-

geoned short pitched bowling from the medium-pacer.

That early plan to put away horizontal-bat shots was a theme throughout for Lewis, whose other highlights were blistering drives through extra cover, and nonchalant lofts over mid-off against the spinners. Occasionally he brought out the sweep - such as when he brought up his fifty - and, in a short chase, he anchored the innings without compromising on his scoring rate.

In his company, all batsmen made starts without building on them. Brandon King struggled in a 71-run partnership as Ireland cramped him for room, Shimron Hetmyer lasted eight balls before top-edging a slog sweep, and Nicholas Pooran played one of the shots of the match - a glorious straight hit that slammed the edge of the roof - before finding backward point with a cut. Roston Chase, West Indies' new ODI floater, brought calm after a middle-order wobble and took West Indies to within three runs of victory before falling.

Shai Hope had begun in similarly pristine fashion to Lewis, but Adair had his revenge after being hit for two fours, hurrying him with a

short ball that h e sliced high in the midw i c k et region w h e r e W i l l i a m Porterfield took a diving catch running backwards.

That wicket was something of an extension of the first innings, when Joseph and Sheldon Cottrell made effective use of a bouncy pitch that was on the slower side.

Ireland's top three pulled and hooked well against the new ball as West Indies kept their lengths on the shorter side. The extra time because of the surface's slow pace helped in t ha t r e gard, but as

Evin Lewis

the lacquer progressively went out, horizontal-bat shots became tougher. Paul Stirling was at his flowing best, piercing the off side early on, and got great connection on his pull shot against Joseph in his first over, but he couldn't keep it down. At midwicket, Pollard took an easy catch.

Andy Balbirinie, who had won the toss in his first match as ODI captain, played three pristine shots within minutes of coming in - one a drive through the covers, one watchful pull caressed to fine leg, and a gorgeous hook for six. But Pollard's gamble with the offspin of Chase inside the Powerplay worked immediately. Balbrinie reached out, first ball of the tenth over, and got a

thin edge as the ball held its line. Hope held onto the first of his four catches behind the stumps.

The free-flowing nature of the innings stopped there. Debutant allrounder Gareth Delaney, who was picked to open ahead of James McCollum, was next to fall, getting an inside edge trying to pull Joseph's back-ofa-length delivery after a sustained period of dot balls, and moments after a mix-up had nearly ended Porterfield's innings at the non-strikers end.

In his next over, Joseph pinned Kevin O'Brien deep in the crease trying to flick a full ball, and Cottrell returned shortly after to find Porterfield's outside edge with a short delivery outside off that he appeared too eager to cut. Ireland were 80 for 5 at that point, and slipped to 88 for 6 when Simi Singh was strangled down leg side.

Twenty-three-year-old wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker, who played ahead of Gary Wilson, then dug in with Mark Adair for just over 13 overs.

They weren't extravagant in putting up the only half-century stand of the innings, but TURN TO PAGE 50

WEEK ENDING JANUARY 12, 2020 | GUYANATIMESINTERNATIONAL.COM

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