Guyana Times International 1ST-NOV-19

INTERNATIONAL

GECOM boss THE BEACON OF TRUTH

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ISSUE NO. 472

WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 2019

faces heat

...over planned removal of names from voters list Higher sea defences needed See story on page 5

See stories inside

…as highSeetides batter several photos inside villages in Guyana

The force of the mighty Atlantic: High tides causing over-topping at the seawall at Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, Guyana, this week. (DPI photo)

Coalition partners resume talks …as Ramjattan fights to be selected as Granger’s running mate for 2020 polls

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Coalition partners resume talks …as Ramjattan fights to be selected as Granger’s running mate for 2020 polls

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he leaders of the A Partnership for National Unit (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) met on Thursday and have agreed to resume dialogue one week after talks broke down over the selection of AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan as the Coalition’s Prime Ministerial candidate for March 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Leader of the APNU, President David Granger and Leader of the AFC, accompanied by Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Volda Lawrence and AFC General Secretary, David Patterson, met for close to an hour to sort out contentious issues and decide on the way forward in relation to arriving at a new accord which would guide the Coalition partners for the upcoming polls and the period after.

Following the meeting at State House, Ramjattan left without offering any com-

President David Granger signs an Instrument of Appointment to swear in Minister Khemraj Ramjattan to perform the duties of Prime Minister in August 2018. [DPI photo]

ment to the media as to how the talks are progressing and more particularly his selection as Granger’s running mate for the upcoming polls.

A source close to the par-

ty told this publication that Ramjattan is currently lobbying allies within both camps to be given the nod to run alongside Granger.

In a brief comment to the

media, Lawrence said that “the meeting was very good.”

She related: “we had some bumps in the road and so we came to the two leaders, and we have been able to have had

a very good meeting with them and they’ve sent us back to do the task that they’ve given to us.”

On his part, when asked about the level of progress made at the meeting, AFC’s Patterson reported that there was indeed some positive movement, but refused to give specific details in relation to the selection of Ramjattan as Granger’s running mate for the elections.

“Both sides have some work to do and we have agreed that we will do the work as soon as possible so we have given ourselves some time-frames and we are both committed to work to those time-frames so the outtake of the meeting is progress,” Patterson said.

The AFC had hinted last week that it could part ways with its coalition partner; APNU, should its (AFC) choice of the prime ministerial candidate be rejected for the upcoming 2020 polls. turn to page 8

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WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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EDITORIAL

Coalition politics and opportunism

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he present contretemps between the PNC and the AFC over the fate of their Cummingsburg Accord in general, and who gets to choose their Prime Ministerial candidate, in particular, is the seen as the “politricks de jour”, temporarily shoving aside discussions on how precisely the PNC would rig the next elections.

But behind these proximate causes lie deeper structural reasons for the dissonance in decision-making in the coalitions – within APNU and in the APNU/AFC combine. These emanate from the nature of the coalitions these parties formed; their relative sizes; and their refusal to openly accept their ethnic bases. The permutations and combinations of possible coalitions are almost infinite; but, in general, they form a continuum if we group them according to: (a) How and why they were formed (b) Whether they were intended to be permanent or not, and (c) Whether the component parties remain separate or combined in structure.

Coalitions are fundamentally coalitions of various interests represented by the member parties, but these may or may not be made explicit. From this perspective, political scientists propose three main types of coalitions: the “alliance”; the “coalition of commitment”; and the “coalition of convenience”. The “alliance” seeks to address one or more major cleavages in the political realm by the fusion of two or more representative parties. Typically, they aim to be permanent, and in tune with this aspiration, field a common slate, and promote a common programme under a common leadership. APNU is actually an “alliance” nominally involving four parties and the PNC, but for all intents and purposes, the primary coalescence is between the PNC, the WPA and GAP. But in terms of representation of interests in a polity split for half a century along ethnic lines, only African-Guyanese and Indigenous Peoples’ interests were credibly represented. Long regarded as antagonistic to each other, after the 1992 elections, the remnants of the once “multi-ethnic” WPA gradually began to make common cause with the always African-dominated PNC, as they claimed the PPP/C had not addressed the “marginalisation” of the African-Guyanese community. They adjudged the AfricanGuyanese component of the PPP/Civic to be “tokenistic”. GAP openly represented Indigenous peoples as does the fledgling LJP. The “coalition of convenience”, however, is driven by one consideration – to form a government that would keep out other parties from government, paradigmatically as with the UF and the PNC in 1964. Programmatically, they had nothing in common and such coalitions are very unstable, and few survive for several reasons. Firstly, their focus is totally electoral – adding up seats – while ignoring the cleavages and forces that made them form separate parties and run on separate platforms in the first place. These differences inevitably surface, when policies and programmes are formulated and implemented. Thirdly, since the capture of power was their prime motivator, they constantly manoeuvre to monopolise the same. We saw the dénouement of this tendency when the PNC made the UF impotent between 1964-1968.

In all coalitions, “disproportion of size” plays out. The larger party sees itself as the senior member, to which the smaller should defer; while the latter considers itself as an equal, due to its strategic position in “tipping the balance”.

Finally, the “coalition of commitment” can be seen as falling between the other two other models, and attempts to bridge the differences in interests between two parties by crafting a platform that spells out areas of compromise. The Cummingsburg Accord purported to be an attempt by APNU and AFC to form such a coalition, but the AFC never explicitly spelt out they were representing Indian-Guyanese interests to constitute a “national multi-ethnic coalition” with APNU, as they boasted. Two years ago, in leaked emails, several AFC personnel identified and bemoaned PNC’s Granger’s unilateralism as fatally affecting those Indian interests. But Ramjattan and Nagamootoo remained mum.

It was obvious since then the AFC was caught in its own artifice: APNU saw the coalition as one of “convenience” and exploited its disproportion of size. We are now witnessing the denouement of the rampant opportunism.

The Chargé d’ Affaires of the Guyana Embassy in Washington, DC, Mrs. Lesley Dowridge-Collins, (fourth from left) delivered remarks at the Maryland Hindu Milan Mandir’s 2019 Diwali Pageant and Dinner, held on October 26th at the Reservoir High School in Fulton, Maryland.

In her remarks, Mrs. Dowridge-Collins extended greetings on behalf of the Ambassador and Embassy staff and reflected on the significance of the celebration of Diwali. She expressed the hope that the bevy of beauties who participated in the pageant would be beacons of hope as they preserve the significance of the festival and shine in their communities. (Guyana Embassy photo)

Trump and immigration

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any immigrants, including those from Guyana and other Caricom countries, in the United States, especially those residing there illegally, are still very uncertain about their future in their adopted homeland. Certainly, President Donald Trump’s hardline position on immigration issues has created much fear and anxiety among immigrant communities.

The immigration crackdowns across the country, especially in areas where large numbers of immigrants reside, are increasing. Just recently, according to an article by Amsterdamnews. com, in a five-day targeted enforcement action that ended on September 25, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nabbed a total of 497 immigrants in 10 states. The majority from New York, the Hudson Valley and Long Island—a whopping 82; while in Boston, another 80 were arrested, bringing the total in those two states alone to 162.

In New York, those arrested included nationals from Algeria, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Spain and Ukraine.

According to Amsterdamnews.com, while several of those nabbed were criminal immigrants who had committed serious crimes, including rape, sexual abuse and assaults on children as well as weapons and assault charges and undoubtedly deserve to be deported, many were nabbed for crimes such as operating a vehicle without a licence, driving with a suspended license, driving while intoxicated, driving

under the influence, illegal re-entry, resisting officer/arrest, obstructing police, possession of marijuana and obstructing official business.

Previous U.S. Administrations had focused on removing immigrants with criminal convictions, regardless of whether they have legal residency. However, Trump immigration policies prioritise anyone who has been charged with a crime, whether that person is convicted or not. This includes anyone who has committed “acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense,” whether or not the person has been convicted, charged or even arrested.

It is well known that Trump campaigned on a narrow, anti-immigrant and American nationalistic agenda; and it was bought by a majority of American voters.

According to ICE data, as of June this fiscal year, 282,242 immigrants were deported; and based on Trump’s plan to put tighter controls on immigrants, those numbers are expected to climb higher by the end of 2019, Trump’s third year in office.

For many Caribbean nationals, including Guyanese, there are still uncertainties as they fear their immigration status could be affected overnight, or the immigration laws which apply to them for certain categories of sponsorship could be changed with very short notice.

For example, over the past few months, there are rising numbers of reports of ICE agents being present in courtrooms waiting to deport immigrants who might have fallen afoul of the law.

It is also being reported that agents are staking out in hospitals waiting to capture illegal immigrants when they

go to seek medical attention.

These actions by immigration authorities have caused many immigrant rights groups and political representatives to speak out. However, the Trump Administration has paid no heed and is moving ahead with its plans to target certain categories of persons for deportation.

In addition to “criminal aliens”, there are other individuals who generally fall outside of this priority deportation category; these include; immigrants who arrived as children, immigrant parents of Americans and workers and recent arrivals.

Legal experts have suggested that some undocumented parents of U.S. citizens might qualify for residency through their children. However, they will still face certain barriers to legalisation. For example, wait times for these family visas take many years. Then there is the issue of cost for legal counsel to assist in the process.

There are also millions of persons who do not have criminal records, but are currently working in the country illegally. These individuals could still be vulnerable once the administration continues its high-profile workplace raids.

Even if these persons not apprehended and deported, it is highly unlikely that they will receive authorisation to work in the U.S. or legal protection from deportation.

No doubt the immigration crackdowns will continue and many will get caught in the dragnet. It would therefore be in persons’ own interest to take all the necessary precautions to ensure they are not affected unnecessarily, especially those who are yet to get their immigration status “regularized”.

NEWS 5

WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

GECOM boss faces heat

...over planned removal of names from voters list

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he latest manifestation of the desperation within the APNU/AFC coalition camp is the effort by the Government-nominated Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioners to either disenfranchise eligible Guyanese voters or prepare the ground to invalidate the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.

This is according to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, during a news conference on Wednesday (October 30, 2019), where he referred to the recent decisions made by GECOM. At a prior meeting of GECOM, the Governmentnominated Commissioners pushed to have some 28,000 Guyanese voters removed from the Voters’ List once it is compiled. The grounds being used for such a call is that these persons were registered as voters in 2008 but have not uplifted their national identification (ID) cards.

At Tuesday’s (October 29, 2019) statutory meeting, the GECOM Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, voted with the three Governmentnominated Commissioners on this matter. As such, the thousands of persons who did not uplift their identification cards will have 21 days to do so or be removed from the

said.

Jagdeo noted too the Statecontrolled Guyana Chronicle also reported that: “Corbin also informed the media that the names of these individuals will not be removed from the National Registrar of Registrants (NRR) stating, ‘It would only mean that if these persons exist, they may miss this round of elections’”.

According to him, elections in Guyana are governed by laws and the Constitution, not by whims. He referred to the fact that if a voter in the hinterland or in the Pomeroon Region, for example, is unable to uplift an identification card – having been able to vote at previous elections – that person cannot be whimsically removed from the Voters’ List.

ID cards not voter ID cards

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

Official List of Electors (OLE).

However, these persons will remain on the National Register of Registrants Database (NRRDB). “This is patently illegal,” Jagdeo declared.

He noted the defence of the decision that was mounted by Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who, in a report by the State-controlled Guyana

Chronicle, said: “It’s like an objection. So, the issue is not the ID card, the issue is that these persons, since 2008 and beyond 2008 have not, in any way, presented themselves to be present; to be known; to be alive; to be existing; to be resident.

And, in calling them, writing to them, gives us the opportunity to make a determination”. According to Jagdeo, the

Objections period in the ongoing Claims and Objections exercise could be used but this is not being done. “So far, they have filed less than 100 objections….they want to remove names through backdoor processes, rather than go through the statutory process that is Objections….it is a backdoor, illegal way of addressing the issue,” the Opposition Leader

Jagdeo stressed that the national identification cards are not voter identification cards.

“These are national ID cards.

They are not voter ID cards… you don’t need them to vote… in the past, these cards were issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Then it was decided that GECOM should perform that function for the State, since it was now responsible for registration…to link the two – collect an ID card to the right to vote – is an affront to turn to page 11

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What is Chairperson Claudette Singh doing?

Dear Editor, In the past months, Guyanese have become more bewildered by the question: Who is in charge at GECOM? We were of the opinion that, with all the imbroglio, lies, deceit and illegality encompassing the appointment of the GECOM Chairman, it meant that the chairman would be the person in charge of GECOM; but, instead, it would seem that the Chief Elections Officer is the person in charge, and the Chairperson just abides by his decisions.

In February this year, it was reported that GECOM needed only 148 days to prepare for elections. According to Lowenfield, the Commission had to grant the Secretariat approval to go into election mode; and the Commission did not. However, by now we are all too keenly aware that the CCJ was used to delay the elections, so when it

seemed that GECOM was all ready to go to the polls by July 2019, the decision of the CCJ had to be awaited. The Commission could not give the go-ahead without the CCJ’s rulings on the No-Confidence Motion.

The CEO had made it appear that he had a well-oiled GECOM machinery raring to go at that time.

In July this year, just before the CCJ’s decision that the NCM was successfully passed and that Patterson was illegally appointed, Lowenfield went into another delaying mode to support the APNU/AFC’s quest to defer the elections for as long as was possible.

He no longer awaited the CCJ’s ruling, but embarked on the GECOM-backed delay by foisting the Houseto-House Registration on the Guyanese electorate. This precipitated the call for another Court intervention and more delay. Lowenfield

was in charge, and he made full use of his usurpation of the power of the Commission.

It must be recalled that the Private Sector Commission upbraided the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, for commencing and sanctioning ‘an unsanctioned and unverified’ Houseto-House Registration exercise.

However, Lowenfield was never sanctioned, and neither was he intimidated in any way. He was fulfilling the PNC’s directives!

In fact, he made it plain by his action that he was in charge, even after the appointment of the new Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh.

Then, in complete defiance of the HTH Registration, it was reported on July 24th that Lowenfield admitted that the Official List of Voters which expired on April 30th, 2019 can still be used to execute free and fair

General and Regional Elections — going back to what he had said in February.

Then, in regard to the abortion of the HTH exercise, Lowenfield pushed the GECOM field staff to work overtime in an effort to extend the life of the HTH. It was clear that new registrants became the prime target for this extension.

In many areas, eligible voters who are deemed PPP supporters were bypassed by GECOM staff.

Again, at the beginning of October, just before the start of the Claims and Objections period, Lowenfield unilaterally extended the Claims and Objections period to 49 days, and then to 42 days from the agreed 35 days.

He claimed that he did that ‘in the interest of giving the electorate more time to have their claims and objections sorted out’.

Even though the Chair had promised to cor-

rect the period to 35 days, it never materialized, prompting Commissioner Shadick to conclude, ‘We have another Chairman, who is going against decisions of the Commission…’

This brings me to the million-dollar question: What is Chairperson Claudette Singh doing? Is she incompetent? Or is she giving Lowenfield free rein to do the PNC’s biddings? I simply cannot comprehend that, until now, she is unable to come to grips with the basics at GECOM, despite holding umpteen meetings and being apprised of all the issues.

She is not a novice in election matters, if I could recall.

Now there is the decision to publish the list of registrants captured during the recently concluded HTH registration. PPP-nominated Commissioners are adamant that no such decision was taken by the full commission.

Whose handiwork is this, if not Lowenfield’s again? Even the PNC Commissioner has now made a call for Justice Singh to take a stand on certain matters. This bears testimony to the fact that the GECOM Chair is an abysmal failure.

She unilaterally aborted the HTH registration, but opened a can of worms when she retained the data collected and decided to ‘merge’ it with what is already there. This will again result in delay.

The Opposition had, in September, also called on Justice Singh to put an end to the ‘prevarications’, and at some point in time she will have to make tough decisions. Well, that time is now, rather than later.

It will not surprise me if there is a twist to the March 2nd Elections date!

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

APNU/AFC hopeless in the midst of sufferings of flood-affected communities Dear Editor, Just as the residents and farmers of DantzigColumbia in Region 5 had feared, the high tides of this past week have brought another round of flooding and more destruction of crops and loss of livestock.

This is the latest round of flooding, which has become a factor of life for over a year now.

Every high tide now brings new flooding and more agony for farmers and residents living between the Mahaica and Mahaicony rivers in an area stretching from Dantzig to Fairfield.

Even as the threats intensify and reach crisis proportion, the project to construct a new sea defence structure in the area, which was started in 2014/2015, is still stalled; nothing has been done since 2015.

The most that the APNU+AFC Government can speak of is that they had mo-

bilised BK, A&S and M&B Construction, but no meaningful work has been done.

As this new episode of high tide comes, fearful Region 5 farmers — especially those in the Dantzig-Columbia area, including villages like Cottage and Broom Hall — are bracing for more agony. Even as this new episode of flooding brings more suffering, the farmers are still recovering from the devastation of the last episode of high tide, which occurred several weeks ago.

There are 3,000 acres of land (at least 300 acres of rice land) still inundated with salt water, and cannot be used for another two years because of salt water destruction from the last flooding a few weeks ago, and this new flooding adds to the devastation.

Crops, including rice and cash crops, and cattle and other live-

stock have been lost, and more will now be lost. In addition, the new floods add to the threat that some of the salt water-damaged land will not be available for another two years because of prolonged salt water inundation. As the lands of more than 150 farmers and their families suffer more salt water inundation this week, farmers are still waiting for Government to demonstrate any meaningful concern. In the meanwhile, with the newest floods, there is more jeopardy for hundreds of other farmers and more than 15,000 acres inland.

The pleas of the farmers and their families have fallen on deaf ears. The advocacy of the Regional Chairman and the RDC have been ignored. The PPP Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali and PPP General Secretary and other leaders have vis-

ited the affected areas and have urged Government to help, but the Government has been AWOL, MIA. Except for some cursory interest, the problems these farmers face have been mostly neglected by Government officials. Noel Holder steers far away from these genuinely devastating problems farmers face.

The illegal Minister of Infrastructure has been busy lying to people about the many failures and the dozens of empty promises they have made to people.

David Granger, Moses Nagamootoo and the rest of the APNU+AFC show no sign they are even aware of what’s happening.

For the last year, high tide after high tide has caused major flooding in the Dantzig-Columbia area. More than a year ago, the Chairman of Region 5 had advised the sea defence depart-

ment of the Ministry of Infrastructure that sea defence structures in the area are in disrepair, and unless immediate remedial actions are initiated, these structures would crumble.

Just before local government elections were held in November 2018, residents and farmers from the area had publicly expressed concern. Before that, the Region 5 RDC, through its Chairman, had appealed for help, cautioning that farmers would lose their livelihoods if immediate action was not taken.

The appeals of the residents, farmers, RDC and the General Secretary and other leaders of the PPP went unheeded. The negligence now necessitates major investment in the sea defence structure for this area — an investment that appears far in the future, when it would be

too late to prevent major poverty from taking over this area, and by which time valuable arable land would have been lost.

After the last episode of flooding a few weeks ago, flooding that still persists for most of the areas north of the highway, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, shamed into a late and feeble response, started to construct a temporary inland dam to bring some relief to residents from future inundation. The latest episode of flooding in the past few days has proven that this late, hasty, and “unfit and improper” action can neither bring relief for the residents, nor prevent further flooding from affecting hundreds of acres of farmland north of the highway.

In addition, farmlands inland south of the highway are also threatened by saltwacontinued on page 7

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Attaining a PhD from a reputable university is commendable Dear Editor, Our congratulations to Irfaan Ali, now Dr Ali, on his accomplishment in attain-

ing an earned doctorate from a very reputable University of the West Indies (UWI). I was one of those who was not

APNU/AFC hopeless...

from page 6

ter encroachment in the inland canals. Because of the porous, collapsing sea defence, salt water keeps encroaching into the canals, making its way into and affecting farmlands far inland.

While about 3,000 acres of arable land north of the highway are directly affected by floodwaters every time high tides come, another 15,000 acres are threatened because this flood water enters and brings salt water into the Bellamy Canal, which distributes it through the north-south drainage canals into farming areas far away from the sea defence structure.

In addition, the saltwater spills from drainage structures into irrigation structures. The salt water does not only cause immediate losses of crops and livestock, affecting the earnings of families and threatening greater poverty in the area, but already close to 1,000 acres of land are not usable for the next two years, and thousands more are under threat of being permanently lost to agriculture unless somebody does something.

Sadly, APNU+AFC do not seem interested, because they figure there is no vote to be earned.

This stretch of sea defence has been vulnerable for decades.

Before 2015, the MMA, the NDIA and the Sea Defence Department in the Ministry of Infrastructure had collaborated to ensure the integrity of the sea defence. The MMA, in collaboration with the Sea Defence Department, had for many years maintained the northern dam of the Bellamy Canal; and, in 2013/2014, had buttressed the dam between the Mahaicony River on the east and Spring Hall on the west. The Ministry of

Agriculture’s Mangrove Extension Department had expanded and strengthened the mangrove defense between 2011 and 2015, and the Ministry of Works (Infrastructure) had begun to build a supplemental defence by armouring the sea defense dam with boulders. But since 2015, much of the efforts have stalled. The mangrove programme in this area was discontinued.

The existing mangrove trees in fact appear to have been destroyed.

The boulder armouring of the dam by the Infrastructure Ministry stopped soon after May 2015. The collaboration of the MMA with NDIA and the Ministry of Infrastructure is now non-existent, leading to no maintenance of the Bellamy Canal dam.

This negligence/disinterest by APNU+AFC in the problems posed by the sea for farmers in the Dantzig-Columbia area is just the latest example of the disrespect APNU+AFC has shown for farmers and for agriculture since May 2015. More flooding is inevitable, as the collapsing sea defence structure in the Dantzig-Columbia area becomes worse from APNU+AFC’s neglect and disinterest.

Farmers’ losses are now moving from existing crops and livestock to permanent losses of their farmlands, losses of livelihoods, and more people becoming impoverished. In the midst of this injustice, David Granger is now promising that agriculture is the future for Guyana.

These empty, shameful promises fooled many people in 2015. In 2020, these empty promises have a light shining on them, and no one will fall for the lies.

Sincerely, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

pleased with explanations about his qualifications, but Dr Ali’s accomplishment has erased all such doubts.

The UWI has very high standards, probably higher than most American universities.

So the award of a PhD to Dr Ali has removed all questions about his qualifications. This now puts to rest the spurious criticisms of Dr Ali’s detractors questioning his credentials.

A friend who has a high position in the Government service said to me that Dr Ali was quite an effective and efficient Minister who eschewed back-

ward governmental rules. He spoke highly of Minister Ali’s stewardship as a Minister.

Truth be told, the PPP’s housing programme was the most progressive and the single most important accomplishment of the PPP regime. It was a model within Caricom and the Third World.

No one can deny that he PPP’s years in power saw the most house lots awarded to a wide cross-section of the Guyanese community all over the country regardless of race or party affiliation. And much of that progress in housing and water was un-

der Minister Ali. The PNC now having control of all the Government, legal, law enforcement, and coercive apparatus of the State, is using these State entities such as SOCU to demonise the Opposition with spurious charges, all of which have failed so far. While the PNC excuses itself saying “it’s a Cabinet decision,” it has brought trumpedup charges against Ali for actions taken on decisions by the PPP’s Cabinet. Granger pardoned and absolved Minister Jordan against a court order saying he is not lia-

ble for something he did as a Minister, but they have laid charges against Ali for acts approved by Cabinet. The PNC knows that Ali will not be convicted of wrongdoing, but that the damage to him is the demonisation process to sully him as a presidential candidate.

Same thing with Mr Nandlall being accused of a silly charge of stealing law books. Watch how karma will catch up with the PNC after they lose the election in 2020.

Sincerely, Jerry Singh

More needs to be done to address high murder rate Dear Editor, As a concerned citizen, I am trying to get the attention of all Government and religious leaders as well as my fellow citizens of Guyana with regards to the level of murders that has been taking place in Guyana. I am hereby asking for urgent intervention by our leaders. We pride ourselves as being “simple” and “loving” people, yet here we are faced with a situation in which murder seems to have become second nature to us. Too many are in their graves because of

simple misunderstandings, ignorance, jealousy, alcohol and in some cases, stupidity.

Yes, the police are solving some of these cases, yes, we’re seeing justice being served but I think instead of justice being served after the fact, we should try to prevent this from happening at the level it is today.

Let’s face it, we’re all vulnerable. We can start by coming up with a countrywide programme to help sensitise the people on the negative impacts of this act through outreach-

es. This can be broadcasted throughout the country via radio, television and social media.

We can also get into the schools, get testimonials from the families of the victims and the perpetrators to drive home the message so as to help prevent another person from committing such an act.

To the religious leaders, talking to your congregation each week in your space is not enough. I think you need to get out into your respective communities and preach your words of wisdom to the mass-

es and pray with and for them. Additionally, we need to see stricter penalties for those found guilty of committing this act. Too many precious lives are being lost. I love this country but I am dissatisfied with the direction it’s going in presently as it relates to this.

For last week alone, I have counted four murders. We have to take a stand. We have to rise up and do something. It is not too late.

Sincerely, Stefan Tappin

8 news

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

First Oil for Guyana expected in December – Hess T

he much-anticipated commercial oil production offshore Guyana, which was initially slated for 2020, has been brought forward, with Hess Corporation, one of the partners in the oil-rich Stabroek Block, saying production will now start in December – less than two months away.

In its third quarter report, Hess Corporation, which holds a 30 per cent stake in the Stabroek Block with ExxonMobil and other affiliates, announced that production is now targeted to start up in December this year.

This is according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Hess.

“In September, we announced our 14th discovery in the Stabroek Block at Tripletail, offshore Guyana and are now targeting December for first oil from the Liza1 development,” he said in the report.

Only in September, upon the arrival of the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), it was indicated that first oil could be earlier than expected.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Hess

In fact, during a reception held to commemorate the FPSO’s arrival, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had hinted at the possibility that the United States oil giant, ExxonMobil, could begin pumping this year instead of the first quarter of 2020 as ini-

tially scheduled.

“I haven’t heard any change from the first quarter [when production will start]. There was no particular date in the first quarter. But I’m hearing now that first quarter may be an outside date. I’m not sure whether we’ll be able to

get it this year or not.

Signs are encouraging though,” the Minister stated.

Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe, at the same event, had noted that the Liza Destiny’s arrival, which was ahead of schedule, means that the Department of Energy’s own timetable has to be fast-tracked.

First oil from the Stabroek Block, where 14 discoveries have been made thus far, was initially set for the first quarter of 2020. The Liza Destiny FPSO travelled nearly 11,000 nautical miles for 42 days from the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.

The vessel is a significant component of the Liza Phase 1 development, which involves four undersea drill centres with 17 production wells. Besides its production capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day, it also has an overall storage volume of 1.6 million barrels. During normal

operations, there will be at least 80 persons living and working on-board the vessel.

With the 120,000 barrels of oil per day expected from production in the Liza Phase 1 development, it is estimated that Guyana will earn some US$300 million annually.

Warning

However, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday reminded that none of the monies earned from this sector can be used before next year’s March 2 General and Regional Elections.

“None of the resources… could be used before the elections because there is no budget.

There’ll be no budget.

The money has to be escrowed, placed in an account… properly guarded until after elections…

I have no confidence that if they set up anything that it will be favourable to Guyanese, that is, this group here from the Department of Energy or wherever. They’re too

Coalition partners...

Both parties, which form the current administration, were in talks over the revision of the Cummingsburg Accord, so that they can contest the March 2020 elections again as a coalition. The Accord, which binds the two parties, states that the presidential candidate post is to be filled by the APNU while the coalition’s PM candidate would be from the AFC. While the AFC would have moved to select

their leader Khemraj Ramjattan for the post during a recent party congress, the APNU has been reticent, showing no signs of support for this decision.

The minority coalition partner had also informed the APNU that until this stalemate is resolved, no other decision can be made on the Accord.

The APNU has thrown its support behind caretaker President David

compromised to set up anything to benefit our people. So it’s best that they produced the oil and they escrowed the resources, and then after the elections all of this is settled,” he posited.

According to the Opposition Leader, his party has already made it clear that it will not participate in any architecture that is illegally passed. For example, he noted the Natural Resources Fund was illegally established since it was done after the December passage of the No-Confidence Motion which toppled the coalition government.

“You’ve heard me argue that the Government, the politicians have too much control over the Natural Resources Fund, that we intend to repeal that Bill… We’ll pass a new architecture. The new architecture will have a more arms-length relationship from the politician, it will be more bipartisan,” Jagdeo asserted.

ExxonMobil has said there is potential for at least five FPSO vessels on the Stabroek Block, producing more than 750,000 barrels of oil per day by 2025. Liza Phase 2 Development is expected to start up by mid2022. It had been reported that the project would use the Liza Unity FPSO to produce up to 220,000 barrels per day.

With Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holding 30 per cent interest in the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil’s affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has 45 per cent interest and is also the operator of the 6.6 million acres block while CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s State-owned CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.

from page 3

Granger to return as its Presidential Candidate for a second term.

Asked whether they would be willing to make a switch, ViceChair of the AFC, Cathy Hughes had affirmed, “We’ve had a set process that chose a candidate.

On what basis would we begin to reexamine our process that we hold important to the operations of the AFC? We don’t have a basis to change it. Why would we?”

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

‘Demon’ among 4 charged for gold dealer’s murder

...Doctor, others charged for accessory to murder en to Berbice. The lawyer informed the court that CCTV footage at the taxi service can confirm that his client is innocent, since he was merely transporting Morgan as a passenger.

However, Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers objected to bail being granted to the eight accused on the grounds of the serious nature of the allegation and the penalty the charges attract.

In his submissions to the court, the prosecutor said that Dr De Santos, whose birthday was on Tuesday, confessed to assisting Morgan during a video interview. The Prosecutor further stated that the doctor removed Morgan from the hospital, where he went after he was shot, and took him to a relative’s home to be was treated.

Reports are that the businessman had arrived at the establishment at about 10:20h on that fateful October 14 day and as he was about to exit the car, two gunmen pounced on him and opened fire on him and his driver, Clayton Powley.

A review of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed that

Murder accused: Shane Morgan called “Demon” (grey and black t-shirt), Wayne St Hill (white and grey t-shirt), Roberto Sankar (striped shirt) and Steve Rollox (white t-shirt) Accessory to murder: Dr Alonzo De Santos (pink), Duncan Vanderville (white long sleeve shirt), Odessa St Hill and Keith Mckenzie (black t-shirt)

T

wo weeks after businessman Deon Stoll was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in front of El Dorado Trading Inc on Da Silva Street in Newtown, Kitty, Georgetown, eight persons were hauled before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Four were charged with murder, while the others were charged with accessory to murder.

Those charged for murder are 38-year-old Shane Morgan called “Demon”, a graphic artist of Lot 45 East La Penitence, Georgetown; Wayne St Hill, 38, of Lot 27 Dowling Street Kitty, Georgetown and Roberto Sankar, 28, the owner of Island Barber, of Lot 6 Pigeon Island, East Coast Demarara, and Steve Rollox, 32, a taxi driver of 55 Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara.

Charged for accessory to murder were: Odessa St Hill, 37, a graphic artist of Campbellville, Georgetown; Alonzo De Santos, 33, a medical doctor and a lieu-

tenant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) of Lot 136 Prospect, East Bank Demerara; Duncan Vanderville, 36, a mechanic of B Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown; and Keith Mckenzie, 56, a taxi driver of Lot 103 East LaPenitence, Georgetown.

The eight persons all appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. Shane Morgan, Wayne St Hill, Roberto Sankar and Steve Rollox were not required to plead to the indictable charge, which alleged that on October 14, 2019, at Da Silva Street, Kitty, Georgetown, they murdered businessman Deon Stoll called “Mow”, in the furtherance of a robbery.

The courtroom was filled with Stoll’s relatives, who turned up to have a glimpse of the persons involved in the businessman’s death.

Morgan and Wayne St Hill were represented by Attorney-at-Law George Thomas, who told the court that his client, Morgan, has a

puncture wound that the police are claiming is a gunshot wound. He said the wound is in the late stages of healing.

Defence Counsel Latchmie Rahamat, who is representing Odessa St Hill, stated that Police had promised to forgo charges against her client if she agreed to be a State witness.

Attorney Eusil Anderson, who represented De Santos, the doctor, told the court that his client is a medical doctor and second lieutenant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

The attorney, in a bail application, informed the court that his client’s wife is seven months pregnant, adding that his client is willing to adhere to any bail conditions. He added that his client is ready to save lives on the battlefield and in the hospital.

Attorney-at-Law Melville Duke stated that Mckenzie is a driver at Pretty Posse Taxi Service. He said that his client was approached

by Morgan to be tak-

Dead businessman: Deon Stoll

Stoll was sitting in the front passenger seat of motorcar PPP 6727, being driven by Powley.

A white Toyota motorcar with tinted windows, which had appeared to be trailing Stoll’s vehicle, also stopped across the road from the business place seconds later.

Stoll had earlier visited a business place on Sheriff Street, from where he had collected an undisclosed sum of cash.

Two gunmen, don-

ning handkerchiefs to conceal their faces, jumped out of the car that had stopped behind PPP 6727 and rushed towards Stoll’s car. One gunman opened the door at the driver’s side and a scuffle began between him and Powley, who soon exited the vehicle to better defend himself.

Powley received a gunshot wound to his arm in the process, while his assailant rushed back to turn to PAGE 13

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Higher sea defences needed

…as high tides batter several villages in Guyana

W

ith intense overtopping along the costal stretch as a result of high tides this past year, persons residing on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) are calling for stronger reinforcement to the sea defences.

The effects of climate change are beginning to worry scores of residents, who have, for three times already this year, battled with extreme flooding from overtopping caused by unusually high tides.

Guyana Times International visited communities on Wednesday, including Stewartville, where the sluice suffered a breach on Tuesday night. Early Wednesday morning, the intensity of the tides resulted in another breakage which was immediately mended.

Taking these factors into account, residents are calling on authorities to have the sea defence extended higher to reduce the impact of overtopping.

Sherryann Wickham, who lives a stone’s throw away from the seawall, explained that the current structure cannot shelter them from these tumbling waves, measuring over 10 feet tall in some cases. While the boulders have resulted in a sturdy edifice, they should be constructed higher.

Villagers are also calling for the drainage system to be improved.

“If persons in charge could come and build it up some more and also with the boulders and fix the koker properly. As

dicated that the effects were mitigated this time around as a result of precautionary measures employed. The drainage outlets were recently cleared to allow for such instances. “[GuySuCo] is responsible for all the sluices from CI (Cornelia Ida) coming all the way to De Kinderen. Those are okay, we have checked them again this morning to verify that they’re in good condition and they’re okay”.

Pollution

Huge waves overpowering the sea defence at Cornelia Ida, ECD

soon as the officials left this morning, it break again. We have drains at the back but they have to clean them so that the water can drain off faster,” Wickham related.

Her neighbour also added, “We were scared because we know the losses that we does get and no help. We asking for the koker to get a safer door because it does be breaking steady with this high tide. I think the boulders need to raise more high because we does flood terrible out here”.

In the past two days, the door of the sluice was

breached two times and some persons have had sleepless nights after being on the alert for a future catastrophe.

Data Chandra relayed, “Last night, we didn’t sleep. We were on the alert and when the water start knocking, I jump up and then we hear a big noise when the koker break away”.

After the second incident, Agriculture Manager at the Guyana Sugar Cooperation’s (GuySuCo) Uitvlugt Estate, Naresh Narine was on site, as he explained that the struc-

ture was fixed properly during the first encounter. But this repair could not withstand the growing force of the tide.

“After last night when we put in the false door, we have a problem here.

We had a broken board or two because of the same heavy pressure from the tide. We’re trying to get this done as soon as possible before the tide changes. It’s the force of this water. It is not that

ter a possible catastrophic flood was averted.

The main koker at the border of Stewartville and Uitvlugt villages encountered a breach, which was discovered some time around 18:30h.

According to information, the lower three boards of the koker’s main door was ripped out, resulting in water from the Atlantic rushing on to the mainland.

Last year, four kokers

Meanwhile, the Mayor and City Council has warned that the they are responsible for the Georgetown Seawall.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the current polluted surroundings, the Council warned vendors that this practice should cease.

“The Council expresses grave concern and dissatisfaction with how the environment is polluted. Although the Council does not receive any revenue from the vendors who operate on the Georgetown Seawall, or dispose of the waste emanated from activities conducted therein, we implore vendors, regardless of where they operate, to express care and caution for the environment.

We hope that collectively this issue can be resolved with alacrity,” a City Hall release stated.

This problem has not only affected the Georgetown Seawall, but

Workers on site at the Stewartville sluice on Wednesday after the second breach

they did not do a good job when they put it in,” Narine indicated.

During the first breakage on Tuesday evening, residents of Stewartville and surrounding areas were singing praises to the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) Uitvlugt Estate team af-

had collapsed under pressure after waves hammered the wooden doors and were successful.

Narine told this publication that other sluices have been secured this time around.

In other communities, which would have suffered before, villagers in-

it has also affected the WCD seawalls. In this case, garbage and other waste materials dumped into the Atlantic Ocean is spitted back onto the land during high waves, like is currently experienced.

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GECOM boss faces... all Guyanese,” he said.

Referring to the Constitution of Guyana, he stressed that Article 59 is clear on the rights of Guyanese voters.

Article 59 states: “Subject to the provisions of article 159, every person may vote at an election if he is of the age of eighteen years or upwards and is either a citizen of Guyana or a Commonwealth citizen domiciled and resident in Guyana”.

Jagdeo said, “The only requirement to vote is Guyanese 18 and above…nowhere does it mention ID card…they cannot remove people from the Official List of Electors capriciously…it would be an illegal act for them to remove names from the list just because they did not pick up ID cards”.

Addressed before

The Leader pointed out that the issue of uncollected national identification cards was addressed by the former GECOM Chairperson, Dr Steve Surujbally.

In June 2011, Surujbally stated there were some 43,187 identification cards still to be collected. However, he stressed that these are not voting cards and pointed out that the constitutional requirement to vote is to be registered, not necessarily to be in possession of an identification card.

Jagdeo said, “This matter was dealt with in the past by

from page 5

Government nominated Commissioners Desmond Trotman, Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin

GECOM….at that time, it was over 43,000 and those people did not lose their right to vote”.

Further, he cited paragraph 129 of the recent ruling by the acting Chief Justice, Roxane George-Wiltshire, in the case challenging the constitutionality of the now scrapped Houseto-House Registration. GeorgeWiltshire ruled that: “The right to be registered to vote and the right to vote are sacrosanct and fundamental. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Guyana has acceded and which is incorporated into our Constitution, (see art 154A (1) and the Fourth Schedule of the

Constitution) establishes the right to vote as a matter of international human rights law and provides that every citizen has a right to vote”.

Explanation must be given

Also, he underscored the fact that the George-Wiltshire referred to a ruling handed down by the current GECOM Chairperson when she was a High Court Judge in the case of Esther Perreira v The Chief Elections Officer and others.

George-Wiltshire noted that Singh ruled that: “It is axiomatic that no right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the

election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined….it becomes clear then, that any prohibition, restriction or limitation on the right to vote must be viewed with a close and critical eye since any such encroachment would be a bar to that voter’s right to have a voice in the elections of his representatives in government”.

The Opposition Leader stressed that the law is clear.

As such, he made clear that the current GECOM Chairperson must explain her decision.

“Because of the law, as well as her own ruling, her decision now cannot be explained. She needs to answer why she sided in a process that will disenfranchise thousands of Guyanese and would be illegal….I don’t understand how this decision will ever stand…this is not going to stand…we must not allow it to succeed,” he said.

The Opposition Leader assured that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) will remain vigilant to ensure that there is no rigging of the upcoming elections and that no action is taken that could be grounds to invalidate elections.

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Cabinet, President’s resignation

Nandlall files motion for early hearing of appeal case

F

ormer Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall has filed a motion for early hearing of the appeal he filed, challenging the decision by acting Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George to throw out his order seeking Cabinet’s resignation.

After the Chief Justice refused to grant the order for Cabinet to resign earlier this month, Nandlall appealed the decision last week on the grounds that Justice George made a mistake in her ruling.

In his application for early hearing that was filed on Wednesday, Nandlall pointed out that the appeal raises matters of fundamental constitutional issues central to democracy, good governance, the Rule of Law and public order, and as such, it is of high public importance that this appeal be heard and determined with convenient speed.

He further argued that the breach of the Constitution, that is, the willful refusal of Cabinet to resign consequent of the Government being defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of no-confidence as mandated by Article 106 (6) of the Constitution, flagrantly continues unabated.

“Cabinet therefore continues to unlawfully sit and make decisions in absolute violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It cannot be in the public national interest and in the interest of the Rule of Law for

Members of the Cabinet

such wanton violated of the Constitution to continue. The hearing of this matter can be completed in less than three hours,” the former AG contended in his request for the motion to be granted.

No date is fixed as yet for the hearing of this new motion.

In her ruling on October 18, Justice George had noted that a first instance court such as the High Court cannot contradict the higher court’s ruling. She pointed out that the Caribbean Court Justice (CCJ) had said that notwithstanding the Cabinet’s resignation, it still continued in office as a caretaker government.

She said that both Nandlall and Attorney General Basil Williams

referenced this passage in their submissions to the Court, though she acknowledged that such references were made in different contexts.

“In my view… the CCJ did make a pronouncement on the resignation of the President and Cabinet. Given the language of the CCJ… the effect of the (NoConfidence Motion) was the immediate resignation of the Cabinet, but the Court clearly stated that notwithstanding this, the tenure in office of Cabinet (and) President… is on a different footing”.

“Given this pronouncement, there could not have been… any requirement for a mandatory order compelling the Cabinet, including

the President, to give effect to the resignation of the Cabinet, including the President, which occurred by operation of law consequent on the

Nandlall is seeking an order from the Court of Appeal compelling Cabinet and the President to resign, as a consequence of them

Former AG Anil Nandlall

NCM,” Justice George said in her ruling.

However, in the Notice of Appeal,

being defeated by a NoConfidence vote.

Apart from asking for a mandatory order to

force the Government to give effect to such a ruling, Nandlall is also asking for a conservatory order restraining Cabinet (which stands resigned following the CCJ ruling on June 21, 2019), including the President, from meeting.

The former AG further stated in his Notice of Appeal that the CJ “erred in law in failing to properly give a true interpretation to and give effect to the clear and unambiguous provisions of Article 106 (6) of the Constitution, commanding, mandating and requiring the resignation of the Cabinet, including the President, when the Government is defeated by a vote of majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly”.

Among Nandlall’s other contentions is that Justice George failed to properly interpret the ruling of the CCJ in the consolidated appeals related to the No-Confidence vote.

According to Nandlall, she also failed to properly apply the Doctrine of Stare decisis or the principle that treats with precedents set by higher courts.

US-based Guyanese slapped with conspiracy charge

A

n overseas- based Guyanese, who also hails from Blueberry Hill, Wismar, Linden, was on Tuesday remanded to prison

by Magistrate Wanda Fortune when he appeared at the Linden Magistrate’s Court to answer to a charge of conspiracy to commit a fel-

ony.

It is alleged that 23-year-old Dane Bowen, also called “Dane Boi”, of the United States and also of Lot 107 Blue Berry Hill, sometime in July 2019, conspired with persons known and unknown to commit a break and enter and larceny offence on the home

of Linda Holder.

Prosecutor Vernetté Pindar objected to bail on the grounds that the accused is a United States resident and poses a flight risk. He was remanded to prison. The case will continue on November 12.

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Lindener to spend 22 years behind bars for rape of 6-yr-old convicted rapist forced his private part into the child’s mouth in the presence of the other sibling,

S

Convicted rapist: Selwyn Lancaster

elwyn Lancaster, formerly of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), was unanimously found guilty by a 12-member jury on two counts of rape earlier this month when his trial concluded before High Court Judge, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.

On Tuesday the 45-year-old man was sentenced to a total of 22 years’ imprisonment on the two charges.

On the first charge, which detailed that Lancaster engaged in sexual penetration with a six-year-old girl on October 8, 2018, Justice Morris-Ramlall sentenced him to serve 15 years’ imprisonment

while she handed down a seven-year sentence on the second charge, which read on November 6, 2018, he engaged in sexual activity with the same victim.

The trial judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently.

According to reports, the now-convicted man was the male friend of the child’s mother.

However, on the day in question, Lancaster visited the home and was having a conversation with the child’s mother.

However, soon after, the convict made his way into the woman’s home where the victim and her sibling were playing.

It was then that the

‘Demon’ among 4... from page 9

the waiting white Toyota motorcar.

The other gunman rushed to the front seat passenger door and opened it before attempting to snatch something from Stoll. The businessman, who also appeared to have been putting up a fight from inside of the vehicle, was shot to his stomach. His shooter was unable to grab anything from the car.

As he attempted to run away, the injured Stoll returned fire with his handgun. The CCTV footage showed that the gunman was shot twice

by Stoll. He stumbled both times before escaping in the awaiting mo-

torcar, which sped away.

The CCTV footage showed Stoll clutching his stomach as he fell to the ground. Security personnel attached to El Dorado Trading, along with residents of the neighbourhood, rushed to Stoll and Powley’s aid.

They managed to transport the injured men to the Georgetown Public Hospital for emergency treatment. However, Stoll succumbed at the hospital.

M a g i s t r a t e McLennan, after listening to the facts, remanded the eight accused to prison. The case will continue on November 15, 2019.

who later related to the mother what had transpired.

Upon arrival in the

home, there was no sight of Lancaster, who had already fled the scene. A report was made to the po-

lice station and the man was later apprehended and placed before the courts to face the charges.

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news 15

The Ministry of Education hosted its award ceremony on Thursday in celebration of those students who performed well at the various exams over the past year. CSEC Top Performer, Guyana's Riana Toney was among those honoured. In this DPI photo Riana is surrounded by her family members.

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Rice farmer charged for murdering and burying teen in shallow grave R ice farmer Jairam Sieupersaud of Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, was on Wednesday charged with the murder of 14-year-old

Christopher Basdeo.

He appeared at the Wales Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul and was not required to plead to the indictable

charge which read that between October 16 and 25 he murdered Basdeo at Parfait Harmonie.

He was remanded to prison until December 12, when he will make

his next court appearance.

The 42-year-old confessed to murdering Basdeo and burying his body in a shallow grave.

The teen was reported missing since October 17 after he left home to visit a friend. His partially decomposed body was found on October 25.

After intense grilling by investigators, the rice farmer admitted that he and Basdeo were consuming alcohol in their village when an argument over money ensued.

He told the police that he and the teen ended up in a physical altercation. He admitted that he picked up a piece of wood and used it to deal a blow to Basdeo’s head.

In his confession statement, the rice farmer stated that the impact from the hit resulted in the teenager falling to the ground. He said he left him on the ground and returned to his home.

However, the man said that later on that night, he returned to the location, picked up

CHARGED: Jairam Seiupersaud

Basdeo’s body, and dug a 7ft 2” shallow grave

where body.

he

buried

the

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Teen charged for GDF rank’s murder

A

DEAD: Olijah Chesney,18, a member of the Guyana Defence Force

17-year-old, who allegedly murdered Guyana Defence Force (GDF) rank Olijah Chesney on October 14, 2019, was on Tuesday slapped with a murder charge and appeared in the Children’s Court at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The teen, who resides in Tucville Squatting Area, Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Dylon Bess.

The charge alleged that on October 14, 2019 at Tucville, Squatting Area, Georgetown, while

being in company with others, he murdered Olijah Chesney during the course of a robbery.

Reports are the teen and the GDF rank are known to each other. The prosecution is contending that on October 14, Chesney made arrangements with the teen to purchase a motorcycle for G$100,000.

However, when the GDF rank arrived to conduct the transaction, he was relieved of the cash and shot.

According to reports, during the investigation,

the teen had conspired with his assailants to rob the deceased. The teen was remanded to the Juvenile Holding Centre and he is scheduled to make his next court appearance November 18.

Initially, it was reported that the deceased was one of the perpetrators who carried out a brazen daylight murder on businessman, Deon Stoll; however, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has since indicated that the incidents were not related.

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

NEWS 19

Grove man charged for causing pedestrian’s death on Avenue of the Republic.

The court heard that Dhanraj was approaching the intersection when he struck the pedestrian, who was attempting to cross the road. According to the Prosecutor, the pedestrian was picked up and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Denesh Dhanraj being escorted by a Police Officer

A

driver who allegedly caused the death of a pedestrian was on Wednesday arraigned and released on G$500,000 bail at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Thirty-one-year-old Denesh Dhanraj of Grove, East Bank Demerara, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan and denied the charge which stated that on May 25, 2019, at Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown, he drove motor car PTT 4183 in a manner dangerous to the public thereby causing the death of Barian Hall, a pedestrian.

Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers informed the court that on May 25, Dhanraj was driving the motor car north on the western carriageway at a fast pace

Dhanraj was subsequently released on bail. As a condition of bail, he is required to report to the Brickdam Police Station every Monday until the hearing and determination of the case.

His driver’s licence was also suspended. The case will continue on November 14, 2019.

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Scenes from Opposition Leader’s visit to flooded communities in Region 5

news 21

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WEEK ENDING november 3 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana prefers ‘actual judgement’, not ‘advisory opinion’ on border case – Greenidge

W

ith Guyana seeking a final resolution to the Venezuelan border controversy at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ensuring compliance and adherence to whatever ruling is made will be up to the World Security Council.

This is according to Foreign Secretary Carl Greenidge.

Greenidge, who was at the time speaking during the Guyana Press Association’s (GPA) Awards Ceremony noted the importance of the ICJ giving an actual judgment, rather than an advisory opinion, in Guyana’s favour.

“It is important if that court pronounces in favour of Guyana but even more important would be if the court gives a judgement, as opposed to an advisory opinion, in favour of Guyana because failure of a party to honour a judgement may bring action by the security council.”

The security council, he added, shall, whenever it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle their disputes by certain means. “We are arguing that Article 4 of the Geneva Convention constitutes an agreement between Guyana and Venezuela to submit the matter to any forum chosen by the Secretary General.”

Greenidge noted that Secretary General Antonio Guterres did refer the matter

Foreign Secretary Carl Greenidge

to the ICJ and had communicated this with all parties. It is now left to the court, he noted, to determine exactly what consent the convention gave.

The former Foreign Affairs Minister further clarified certain aspects of the case.

“We are not asking the court to hand over territory to Guyana, we’re not asking whether the exclusive economic zone belongs to Guyana. We are asking whether the 1899 treaty still stands and if it still stands, does the maritime

space as well as the land space still stand.”

“Another question is whether if a party does not appear before the court, can the proceedings still continue. Failure of one party to appear does not prevent consideration. If one party does not appear, it is for the court to satisfy itself that it has jurisdiction, in circumstances when one party does not appear. That is where we are now.”

Guyana’s case before the

ICJ comes up in March of next year. Venezuela has said since last year, however, that they would not participate. The country, which is in the midst of economic, political and social turmoil, has said that it prefers dialogue.

Guyana filed an application last year requesting the World Court to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award regarding its boundary with Venezuela, after the UN SG referred the matter to the ICJ.

The controversy arose as a result of the Venezuelan contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela was null and void.

According to Guyana’s application to the World Court, for more than 60 years, Venezuela had consistently recognised and respected the validity of the binding force of the 1899 Award and the 1905 Map agreed by both sides in furtherance of the Award.

“Venezuela had only changed its position formally in 1962 as the United Kingdom was making final preparations for the independence of British Guiana and had threatened not to recognise the new State, or its boundaries, unless the United Kingdom agreed to set aside the 1899 Award and cede to Venezuela all of the territory west of the Essequibo River, amounting to some twothirds of Guyana’s territory,” Guyana submitted in its application to the World Court.

The court document further noted that while Venezuela has never produced any evidence to justify its belated repudiation of the 1899 Award, the neighbouring country has used this as an excuse to claim territory awarded to Guyana in 1899, to inhibit Guyana’s economic development, and to violate Guyana’s sovereignty and sovereign rights.

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

PPP says H2H registrants’ list riddled with errors W

ith the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) having published the list of persons registered during the House-to-House exercise this year, it turns out that the list is littered with mistakes and duplicate names that also appear on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE).

This is according to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which on Tuesday was also critical of the information coming out of GECOM. The party took issue with GECOM urging Guyanese to check their names on the H2H list.

“GECOM is essentially telling 300,000plus Guyanese to visit the GECOM offices.

Many of these persons have already checked their names on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) and are now being told to return to verify their particulars,” the party said.

According to the party, the registrants’ list having many errors confirms the suspicions the PPP and its Commissioners have been expressing from the start. The party noted that it made checks and did its own investigations and made some startling discoveries.

“There are thousands of names duplicated on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) and thousands of persons who are under the voting age of 18. Our investigations would have found too, that dozens of persons listed as new

registrants cannot be found at the addresses listed and this is a serious cause for concern – fuelling the worry that there are many non-existent persons on the list published by GECOM.” Further, the party noted that the House-toHouse registrants’ list is not a supplementary list to the PLE and cannot be used during a Claims and Objections exercise.

“There is no provision in the laws of Guyana to authorise the publication of a duplicate list that does not originate from the National Register of Registrants Database.”

According to the PPP, the H2H Registration process was flawed from the beginning and any attempt to merge the data from that process with the National Register of Registrants (NRR) can compromise the entire database.

The PPP called on GECOM to immediately withdraw the Houseto-House registrants’ list and continue with the ongoing Claims and Objections exercise.

When H2H started this year, it was without the input of the Opposition. In fact, the only party that scrutinised the enumerators during the exercise was the ruling party, as the PPP was reportedly not even invited to participate.

This, together with the surreptitious nature in which the exercise started under the backdated order of the former Chairman, James

GECOM PRO Yolanda Warde

Patterson, and the fact that many people boycotted the exercise, has fuelled suspicion from the Opposition about GECOM’s insistence on using the data.

Verification

Earlier on Tuesday it was announced that GECOM, which is in the process of wrapping up its Claims and Objections (C&O) exercise, has done a total of 17,243 transactions including almost 4000 new registrants.

This information was released by GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, on Tuesday. She had also explained that 9516 transfers of voters, from one area to the other, were done during the ex-

ercise.

There were also 1627 replacements, 472 photo retakes and 32 objections during the Claims and Objections.

GECOM, according to Ward, has also registered 3924 new voters

during the Claims and Objections period.

A Claims and Objections period is for persons seeking to make a claim to be included on the voters’ list. They can also use the exercise to make objections to their information on the Preliminary List of Electors, such as to change their address.

The exercise started on October 1 and has seen multiple registration areas set up to cater to voters in all 10 administrative regions.

It is also understood that the claims part of the process will end on November 4, while objections can be submitted up to November 11.

However, GECOM’s decision to publish the House-to-House list of registrants has been criticised by the political Opposition from the moment it was announced.

They have noted that not only does the law not cater to the list being published, but it also contains duplicate registrants.

A formal letter was even dispatched by the party’s chief scrutineer, Zulficar Mustapha, to Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, urging GECOM to halt the exercise.

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AmCham offers support to GECOM for 2020 elections A merican Chamber of Commerce ( A m C h a m ) Guyana, the organisation formed last year to forge commercial ties between local and United States-based businesses, has offered its support to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

This was communicated in a statement on Tuesday, in which the Chamber revealed that it sent a delegation led by AmCham President Zulfikar Ally, which met with GECOM Chair Retired Justice Claudette Singh, as well as her six commissioners: Sase Gunraj, Bibi Shadick, Robeson Benn, Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman.

The Commission was updated on the role and functions of AmCham Guyana and the upcoming initiatives that the organisation intend to pursue during and leading up to the national elections expected to be held in March 2020. One of these is the training for journalists on elec-

AmCham representatives during the meeting with the GECOM and secretariat on Tuesday

tions coverage.

“The Commission welcomed the offer of support from AmCham Guyana and committed to deliberate on granting observer status to the organisation. The Commission also took the opportunity to enquire about AmCham Guyana’s global network

and offered assistance to sensitise the Chambers’ members on the GECOM Secretariat’s role and function,” AmCham said in a statement.

According to AmCham, they agreed with the Commission to collaborate closely on matters pertaining to any support GECOM

may need in the lead up to the General and Regional Elections next year.

GECOM is likely to receive assistance from multiple sources, as it seeks to conduct a long overdue election on March 2 of 2020. It was only recently announced that GECOM would be

benefiting from the technical expertise of the retired Chief Electoral Officer of Canada’s elections body, Jean-Pierre Kingsley.

His appointment is being funded by the Canadian Government.

According to GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward,

the Canadian High Commission had offered the elections body technical assistance in the form of providing an expert and the seven-member Elections Commission had accepted the offer, which resulted in the former Canadian Electoral Officer being appointed.

Kingsley, who has 17 years of experience under his belt, is currently in Guyana conducting familiarisation meetings with stakeholders.

He has already met the Justice Claudette Singhled GECOM Commission last week, as well as the senior management at the elections body.

The former Canadian Chief Electoral Officer served from 1990 to 2007, during which he participated in many significant international development missions aimed at promoting democratic electoral processes through cooperation, capacity building, and mutually beneficial relationships. He also provided electoral assistance to several Caribbean countries, including Trinidad and Tobago.

Nations Director undergoes surgery in US hospital to restore paralysed hand S

chool of the Nations Director, Dr Brian O’Toole underwent surgery in the United States to fix his paralysed hand, which was sustained from a shooting some nine months ago at his home.

In a release, O’Toole stated that doctors have shared some pessimism about whether his hand will be completely functional again.

“Nine months following the shooting and I am in a hospital bed in New York recovering from another operation to try to restore the paralysed hand. The surgeon, however, is pessimistic about whether the function can indeed be restored,” he details.

The Director was shot on January 27, 2019 at about 21:44h at his Prashad Nagar home. Police reports stated that the 64-year-old man came home and secured his gate after entering. As he was about to open the door, a male suspect approached him, pointed a gun and discharged three rounds in his direction; two of which caught him in both forearms. During that time, the school had received serious threats believed to be the work of a student of Nations.

His wife, Pamela O’Toole, would have heard the shots and upon checking, made the discovery and he was immediately rushed to the Woodlands Hospital, where his condition was said to be stable.

Commenting on the matter, O’Toole said, “Nine months later and the boy in Florida that started all the mayhem with his vivid and horrific threats to violent action, given free play on social media, known to hundreds, if not thousands in Guyana, remains unpunished because he apparently told his FBI in-

Dr O’Toole undergoing medical treatment

vestigators that it was ‘all just a joke’”.

He also indicated that the US Embassy and the Guyana Police Force were engaged on the matter but the matter has gone ‘unheeded’.

“My letters to the American Embassy re this matter go unheeded only to be ‘assured’ by a five-line response months ago they are ‘looking into the situation.’….We contacted the Guyana Police again a few weeks ago with further information re the potential shooter. A one-line response was received thanking me for the information but, as before, throughout the nine months, no report of any follow-up”.

He added that the relevant authorities in Guyana have been provided with reports and allegations of drug dealing in a number of schools “but once again, we are given no information on any follow-up. Can the Police be surprised by the widespread reluctance on the part of thousands in society to share information with them?

How long will we continue to blissfully ignore our young people losing their minds, their youth, their hopes for the future and maybe soon, if not already, their very lives in pursuit of dangerous chemicals that they believe will ease their boredom, isolation and sheer loneliness in pursuit of a fleeting high”.

The cyber-attack during that time came with warning signs from a social media account, believed to be created by students of the said institution. The posts started on WhatsApp and moved to Facebook, where threats were made to the lives of students. In one instance, two persons were mentioned in the online posts.

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estivals contribute to the cultural tapestry of all countries. Each festival brings with it a unique blend of customs and traditions and acts as a harbinger of goodwill, peace and fraternity.

Centuries ago, Diwali was celebrated in the confines of the logies (primitive homes) in villages. Our forebears, the indentured immigrants strove to maintain their culture and religion with whatever limited facilities were available in those times. Diyas were lovingly crafted out of mud and the radiance given off from these little lights served as a beacon of hope to them as they toiled under the most horrendous conditions.

Diwali, which literally means a row of lights, is celebrated on the 15th day of the Hindu month of Kartik. It is the darkest night of that month and is conducive to the twinkling lights that illuminate every nook and cranny. Worship of the goddess Maha Lakshmi is the main focus of Diwali. The aspi-

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rant performs Lakshmi puja and seeks her blessing for material and spiritual fulfilment.

The festival encourages the participation of the entire family and it has long been the custom in Guyana for everyone in the home to gather in front of their Lakshmi murti at dusk chanting prayers and mantras before emerging to light their first diya. Prior to the day itself the home and mandirs would be thoroughly cleaned and decorated in preparation for the Goddess of light, Maha Lakshmi.

The ladies of the home would in recent times design elaborate rangolis ( coloured tracings on the floor) and be absorbed in making sweet delicacies for family and friends. At this time, the household would be sanctified as vegetarian fasts are the norm. Hindus would also abstain from alcohol. Over the last three decades the festival has gained prominence, and features on Guyana’s list of national holidays.

Diwali has emerged from homes and mandirs and presently many commercial entities and public building are decorated with lights to welcome the goddess Maha Lakshmi. The trend of using electric lights has increased and more persons are supplementing their diyas with these creating an aesthetically appealing look that has passersby gasping in awe.

Temple in Guyana decorated with diyas (Photo by Kennard Pillay)

Diyas are hardly made by individual householders, but those professionally made from clay can be purchased from stores and vendors. Novel innovations to the once simple mud diya filled with ghee and lit with a cotton wick include wax filled diyas and electrical diyas. The humble diya has certainly withstood generations and in spite of all the new- fangled techniques it still reminds the Hindu to rekindle that inner light within and to extend to all those he or she comes in contact with The Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’s countrywide motorcades have become synonymous with the celebration of Diwali in Guyana. Thousands of Guyanese of every stratum of society and cultural belief throng the roads to witness the processions of beautifully decorated and illuminated vehicles depicting the theme of Diwali. In the olden days it wasn’t unusual to see horse-drawn carts gaily bedecked for the motorcade. With the advent of advanced technology, vehicles ranging from low-bed trucks to sleek cars are carefully designed with sophisticated lights and mobile parts. The Dharmic Sabha’s motorcades are major tourist attractions.

Diwali in its many dimensions addresses questions which are not only philosophical, but also economic and social in orientation.

Diwali threatens darkness in all its dimensions and influences the emergence of an illuminated society in which there exists understanding, tolerance, love and cordiality.

Societies are built and sustained on foundations such as these. Festivals like Deepavali serve to rekindle hopes and expectation, and influence society in a positive direction. Diwali renews the spirit of optimism from which a new beginning can be constructed, based on equity and noble intentions. (By Dr Vindhya V Persaud, Explore Guyana – Courtesy of THAG)

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Moving goalposts…

I

…on handmaidens t must be rough being a handmaiden, but Moses Nagamootoo is handling it with aplomb, if not outright glee. The handmaiden who brought the role to public notice was, of course, Bilhah, who served Rachael, consort of Jacob. When Rachel, jealous of her sister Leah, became frustrated when she couldn’t do her job – which in those days was getting children, especially sons – she said to Jacob: “Here’s my handmaid Bilhah. Go have sex with her.

She can bear children on my knees so I can have children through her.”

Fast forward to 2011, when Ramjattan realised he couldn’t do his job – which was to bring in Indian voters from Berbice under the AFC tent to shut up Trotman – who felt Ramjattan wasn’t pulling his weight. Ramjattan brought in Moses (Nagamootoo), his pal from back in the day, whom he’d taught the ropes as a lawyer. Said Ramjattan in 2015 to Trotman of Nassau: “Here’s my handmaid Moses. Have him lie with David (Granger) as Prime Minister candidate so he may bring in Indian votes which would be due to me.”

And Moses verily did bear fruit, and David was very pleased, since he had now become the Ruler of all Guyana!! But Moses soon became jealous of his sponsor Ramjattan, who as head of AFC was really David’s consort. When maids lie with the boss, they do start to look at the mistress differently! He worked to undermine Ramjattan, so David would cast him out. Ramjattan had hoped he would lie with David (Granger) in 2020, but hell hath no fury like a handmaiden scorned!! And we have the present turn of events, in which Moses told David (Granger) he could lie with someone from the Amerindian community as PM, because they’d be more fertile where votes are concerned.

Thing is, Moses had shown he was willing to be a better handmaiden to David than Ramjattan, any day. Unlike Moses, who had his handmaidenship handed to him on a platter, and was willing to be a doormat, Ramjattan figured he’d earned the RIGHT to be the handmaiden this time around. David, however, moved the goalpost on Ramjattan, even though he was supposed to be his main consort as the leader of his major coalition partner – the AFC. Said David (Granger) to Ramjattan: “I am the Chief Executive (king) of the country. I am open to recommendations as in who to lie with from all six of the parties (consorts) in my harem (Coalition). Citing the pre-nup agreement he had David (Granger) sign before the marriage, Ramjattan is now threatening to quit the marital home.

But, poor fella, he has nowhere to go!! He’s become a redundant handmaiden!! …from pandits to bandits Moses Nagamootoo’s day job is to write a column in the Sunday Chronic. This week, he waxed lyrical about being “Among the Pandits”! For a fella who has kvetched for years about being oppressed as a Madrassi by those high falutin Pandits with North Indian roots, he certainly laid it on thick!! But then again, it is that (elections) time of the year when politicians – even those on the way to oblivion – try to nice up as many voters as they can!!

But in Moses Nagamootoo’s case, one would have hoped he’d expand a tad on what it has been to move from hanging around pandits – for 50 years in the PPP – to dealing with bandits for 5 years in the PNC!! For instance, what would he say to Raphael Trotman after that massive giveaway on the oil contracts?? Or to Volda Lawrence’s G$605 million pharma contract to ANSA McAL? Or to David Patterson on the eventuallydumped sole sourced DHB design?

Not even on the bottom-house pharma warehouse over which Larry Singh cussed him out? …by CariCom CariCom has reverted to where it was during the PNC’s “constitutional” dictatorship between 19681992. That is, maintaining a studied silence on the constitutional crisis precipitated by the PNC, even after Bruce Holding called them out.

Because it’s the PNC?

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By Pandit Dhanesh Prashad

D

eepavali or Diwali is the biggest and the brightest of all Hindu festivals. It is the festival of lights: deep means "light" and avali "a row" to become "a row of lights."

There are many stories surrounding the origin if Diwali. The most famous would be the one that commemorates the return of Lord Rama (along with Ma Sita and Lakshman) from his 14-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon- Pandit Dhanesh Prashad king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas (oil lamps).

The Goddess of happiness and good fortune, Mata Lakshmi, also figures into the celebration. It is believed that she roams the Earth on this day and enters the house that is pure, clean, and bright.

While the story behind Diwali varies from region to region, the essence is the same: to rejoice in the inner light and understand the underlying reality of all things. The spiritual meaning of Diwali is "the awareness of the inner light."

At the heart, Hindu philosophy emphasizes the presence of that which is pure, infinite and eternal, which is something beyond the physical and the mind. Diwali is the celebration of the awakening and awareness of the Inner Light.

Although it is not seen externally, this Inner Light outshines all darkness, removes all obstacles and dispels all ignorance; it awakens the individual to one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite and transcendent reality. With this inner realization comes universal compassion, love and the awareness of the oneness of all things -- the Sat (Truth), Chit (Consciousness) and Ananda (Inner Joy). For Hindus, this is the goal of life.

The festival symbolizes the victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness.

Diwali is a time to turn inward and light the lamps of knowledge and truth in our hearts and minds so that we can dispel the forces of darkness and ignorance within us and allow our innate brilliance and goodness to shine forth. Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is the principle deity associated with this festival. During Diwali we ask her for assistance in cultivating and accumulating spiritual wealth, such as compassion, forgiveness, and loving-kindness.

Diwali is a time to reflect on and evaluate our thoughts, words, and actions over the past year. It is a time to acknowledge and better understand our prejudices, negative behaviors, and bad habits so that we may begin the process of transforming ourselves. Just as the flame of a lamp always points upward, Diwali is most importantly a time to celebrate and appreciate life and to look forward to the coming year with a renewed sense of purpose and passion.

A blessed Deepaavali to one and all!

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iwali is celebrated throughout the world to ward off the darkness and welcome the light into our lives.

Celebrating the triumph of good over evil and spanning five days each autumn, Diwali is considered by some to be the start of the New Year. In 2017, Diwali will be celebrated on October 27.

In Guyana, this “festival of lights” is believed to have been brought to Guyana in the 1800s by the first indentured people from India. The celebrations hold special significance: wearing new clothes is a symbol of healthy souls in healthy

greetings, sweets and gifts of love. Diwali also affords the opportunity for people of different faith and communities to come together and live in a spirit of communal harmony.

But Diwali is not just a Hindu festival. It also holds special significance in other religions such as Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

For Buddhists, the spiritual insight of Diwali is the triumph of good over evil as their Emperor Ashoka gave up his violent ways and chose the path of peace and non violence on this day only.

bodies; the distribution of sweets signifies the importance of serving and sharing, and exchanging greeting cards denotes the goodwill of each other. Keeping homes illuminated inside and out is a practice meant to illuminate the path for Goddess Lakshmi when she visits.

Suriname, like its neighbour Guyana, celebrates Diwali with much gaiety and in a similar way of lighting diyas (lamps) and sharing sweets.

Celebrated under the name Lam Kriyongh during the months of OctoberNovember, Diwali in Thailand is celebrated by lighting diyas made of banana leaves in which candles are placed, along with a coin and incense. These are then set afloat on a river. Diwali celebrations in Thailand are not extravagant: people simply greet each other and wish them happy returns of the day. Similar to Guyana and Suriname, distribution of sweets is a common practice on this day in Thailand.

Also known as Deepavali, a

Sanskrit word generally translated as "necklace of lights", Diwali is celebrated in Malaysia by people of all races, not just the Hindus living there. Though it may not be celebrated on a grand scale, Diwali in Malaysia is a time to invite people over to indulge in all the delicious sweets prepared. It is also a holiday in Malaysia and a time to visit and pay homage to the elders. Crackers are banned in Malaysia, so Diwali celebration is enjoyed quietly.

Indians form just about one 1 per cent of the total population in Kenya and Tanzania. However, the influences of this tiny number have considerable economic influence, and they are a well-respected minority. They also celebrate the major Indian or Hindu festivals of the Hindu solar calendar. As they have restricted interaction with the locals and do not seek converts, they usually celebrate their festivals the same way India does. The significance, customs and belief related to the festival of light, therefore is almost same like that of India.

Illumination, worshipping of god and goddess of wealth and prosperity are some of the common practice. Diwali is declared as a national holiday in Kenya only.

Just as in India, people of Fiji, a country in the South Pacific, celebrate Diwali with elaborate lighting and candle decorations. Taking advantage of the beautiful festival, people reaffirm the bonds of love shared with loved ones by exchanging

Nepal’s Newar Buddhists celebrate Diwali as the returning of light and balance to the world.

For the Sikhs, this is the day when their religious leader Guru Hargobind Ji was able to free himself and other Hindu kings and gurus from the prison of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. After coming out from the Gwalior Fort, the guru and others went to the Golden Temple of Amritsar. So this day is celebrated to commemorate his homecoming.

Even today, the Golden Temple is decorated in the grandest manner possible on the day of Diwali along with performance of breathtaking fireworks that has made Amritsar one of the top Diwali vacation destinations in India.

Just like the Hindus, Buddhists and the Sikhs, Diwali is a special day in the Jain calendar as well. This is the day when Lord Mahavira attained Moksh, Nirvana, or eternal bliss. Mahavira’s attainment of nirvana is seen as a passage from darkness to illumination or the attainment of the ultimate knowledge.

To the Jains, the light of Diwali has another special significance. It signifies the light leaving his body and traveling to heaven, having succeeded in escaping from the trap of rebirth. They will thus illuminate lights to mark this passage, and also to keep the light of his knowledge burning.

Though there may be variations in the celebration of Diwali around the world, one thing remains constant – the coming together to illuminate homes and lives.

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By Lakhram Bhagirat

O

n what is described as the darkest night in the year, Hindus celebrate the auspicious occasion of Diwali, and the epic that goes with this festival states that it was the night Shree Ram, along with his wife, Sita, and brother Lakshman returned home to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. It goes on to say that as the people in the Kingdom of Ayodhya prepared for the arrival of their beloved Shree Ram, they lit the pathways with little earthen lamps so as to illuminate the dark path to the palace.

That is the story I have been hearing for the past 27 years, every Diwali, and the memories associated with the festival are some of my most cherished. As a child and well into my adolescent years, I would go to the side of the trench and collecting mud (clay) and rolling it in some sand (for what reason I don’t know) and then sitting beside my grandmother as she demonstrated how to make the perfect diya to light later that night.

Every Diwali morning, my grandmother, Margaret, would sit with her bucket of mud and make her diyas to light. We would sit with her, but rather than being helpful, we would create a ruckus, which often resulted in us being shooed away. But

feast later in the night.

While she was alive, my grandmother would usually make about 10 mud diyas which she would place at the altar in her house, at the bridge and at the Shiva Mandir in the yard.

She would always say that those were the most important places as we pray for our homes to be blessed with the presence of Shree Ram. Not a year would go by without us having at least three such diyas every Diwali.

We relished making them and getting the finest mud as well as vying for grandma’s approval. No matter how many cracks we had in our diyas or how deformed they were she always gave us a thumbs up for effort and would reluctantly allow us to light them later in the evenings along with others. Those are the memories about Diwali I treasure to this day.

Most people, in my area, would use store-bought clay diyas for Diwali and just dispose of them the day after in the trench as they would dissolve over time. That is also practised by my family since the task of making mud diyas is considered tedious.

However, in my village, there was one particular household that used only mud diyas when it was Diwali.

It was located a few yards away from where I live and as a child, I used to be mesmerised by the sight of Uncle Bango sitting under the cashew tree at the front of his yard for hours rolling mud and shaping them into the most perfect diyas.

As times progressed and development became rap-

no matter how much she shooed us away, we would look at how effortlessly she would shape and smooth those little masterpieces.

She was a hero and the best diya maker we had ever known. As we grew up, we would sit with her and make our own versions of diyas and leave them out to bake in the sun for the day while we went ahead helping mommy prepare the sweetmeats and treats for the

id in my community, we lost that tradition.

Now when it is Diwali, everyone goes to the supermarket and buys the clay diyas and pre-rolled cotton wicks and just lights away. Another thing that is becoming popular is the wax diyas which reduce the mess of using the coconut oil or ghee to light diyas.

As for my family, after my grandmother died in 2011, no one had the courage to make mud diyas and now we just do not do it anymore. I am also not sure when Uncle Bango stopped making his diyas at the front of his yard, but for the past two Diwalis, I have not seen him doing that.

However, I am told that there are certain parts of Guyana where the Hindu community has not lost the tradition of making the little earthen lamps and for that I am happy. Those little lamps signify so much. They have the ability to instantly shed light and brighten where they are placed.

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Preserving our literary heritage by Petamber Persaud

(Extract of an interview with Kim Sheldon, Georgetown, Guyana, September, 2019. Sheldon is a novelist and historian.)

P

P History is fascinating. Research is fascinating. Guyana is fascinating – from El Dorado to sugar to oil, yes, Guyana is fascinating. The most fascinating thing of Guyana though is its people especially those who have settled in the Diaspora, those who are writing back to Guyana. This writing back to Guyana is important.

I am addressing you as a writer and historian, why have you come to Guyana?

KS The reason that I have come to Guyana is that I feel I am coming back to Guyana because my family and my ancestors were born here and their stories here are so rich and beautiful.

As a historian, there is so much that is fascinating here that is the past, the present and I hope will be the future.

There are so many rich stories in Guyana for a writer, it is amazing.

PP Let’s get personal – what exactly brought you to Guyana?

KS I came back here because my mother was born here and I am researching her life and getting a feel what it was like for her living in Guyana at the time before moving to England, and the life she lived there as well.

But as a writer getting a feel, more than the feel, the taste as well of the country your grandparents, your mother etc came from. So at the moment I am writing my mother’s life story. As a writer, it is important for the writer to get a feel of the place….

PP Sounds like an anthropologist going further and deeper than the historian.

KS Yes. PP Let’s couple the historian with the writer, why do you write? I think you have a website to that effect.

KS Yes, I do.

I do several things – as well as writing fiction, I write non-fiction. I write …because it is important to get the words out in one form or the other especially the emotions as well. As a writer, it is part and parcel of my soul to bring those stories out, and at the moment, it is my family’s soul that I’m bringing out.

PP So that’s a book in the making.

Let’s talk about your first book – a novel. I like the title ‘A Hidden Legacy’ for fits into our conversation.

‘A Hidden Legacy’ was shortlisted for the London Literary Festival, congratulations.

KS Thank you.

PP Let’s talk about that hidden legacy – the novel.

KS 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.

PP Intriguing….

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 characters like the famous violinist George Bridgetower.

In fiction that can come across more openly than academically.

PP So you are reclaiming those lost figures in that painting. This brings to mind the long poem, ‘Turner’ by David Dabydeen. Dabydeen read for a PhD in 18th-century literature and art.

KS That is also a hidden story but it is coming out more and more and it needs to be written in our words and from our hearts instead of been written about. They are our ancestors too and bringing out their stories in our words is really important.

PP Fred D’Aguiar’s ‘Feeding the Ghost’ also comes to mind…and most of this writing is coming from out of Guyana.

As I said earlier, people are writing back to the land, to Guyana.

How far have you gotten with your research in Guyana?

KS I literally just picked up my mother’s birth certificate.

We also have a beautiful mix heritage – Chinese, African, Indian and so on.

What we did not know was my grandmother’s name and I really want to research this because sadly we learn she did go into the leprosy hospital and her story ought to be told and now I’ve gotten her name…

PP Share this certificate with us.

KS My mother’s name is Alicia Lowe. Alicia Gertrude Samuels is her married name…

The other side – my father’s side…well, we went to New Amsterdam [to learn more]. All these stories I will put together in order to write a family saga like the great family sagas we read so often about…A great (to be continued) family saga of Guyana – this is my quest…

Responses to this author please telephone 226-0065 of email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

Happy Diwali It's the "Festival of Lights" today, It's again the day of Diwali, It's time to dress up folks, It's time to adorn the thali.

It's the occasion to throng the temples, Pray to the Gods and give them offerings, It's an opportunity to entreat the deities, To bless us all and rid us of sufferings.

It's the day to light the diyas, Ignite the rockets and burst crackers, But it's also the time to be safe, From the fireworks and all the sparklers.

It's the season to pay a visit, To all our friends and relations, To hand them over sweets and presents, Diwali is our splendid chance.

But while you spend a time of joy, Don't think it's merriment all the way, Out there wait many of those, For whom it's no time to be gay.

Denied of laughter and smiles for days, They know not what it is to enjoy, Can you not share something you have, Can you not bring them a little joy?

When you can make someone else smile When you can be someone's ally That's when you can yourself be glad That's when you'll have a HAPPY DIWALI!

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

NEWS 37

Young attorney admitted to Guyana’s bar

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fter graduating with honours from the Hugh Wooding Law School this year, 23-yearold Janet Adeba Ali has been admitted to Guyana’s bar to practice law in Guyana.

Ali’s petition was presented by Attorneyat-Law Jamela Ali before Chief Justice Roxane George.

During the petition, the Chief Justice advised Ali to always seek guidance from her seniors in the profession and to always keep abreast with and uphold the laws of Guyana, in order to have a striving career.

Ali’s early education started at Queens College where she gained 12 subjects at CXC. The lawyer secured a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Guyana and subsequently continued her legal education at Hugh Wooding Law School.

In an interview with Guyana Times International after being admitted to the bar, an enthusiastic Ali expounded that becoming lawyer has been a lifelong dream, which was inspired by her grandfather at the young age of three.

She explained that the journey throughout law school was challenging, but even so, she is thankful for the support from family members.

“Well as the quote says that law is a jealous mistress, so law requires a lot of dedication and sacrifice.

When I was studying

Attorney-at-Law Janet Adeba Ali

at the Hugh Wooding Law School, I was financed by my family, who was the strongest support system that I could have asked for and I am eternally grateful to them,” said Ali. She added that she pursued legal education not only because of inspiration from family members but “because I see it as an avenue through which I can serve a good purpose in society – I can be a voice for the voiceless – I am particularly interested in helping persons to resolve their disputes and still be amicable after it is over”.

“Mediation is a great avenue through which this can be possible and now is the time where people should become more aware of this service. The new civil procedure rules have been in existence for 3 years now where mandatory court-annexed mediation can be ordered – this is one of the areas that I intend to put some effort in.

It is not only a faster and more cost-efficient and feasible for many Guyanese. In terms of criminal law, my interests lie more in prosecution rather than defence, therefore, putting forward cases for the State,” expressed Ali. The enthusiastic lawyer explained that she is also willing to pursue a career as a prosecutor, since her aunt is the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar AliHack.

38 NEWS

WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

WCD toddler found dead in canal

A

Aleena Mohamed

family of Harlem, West Coast Demerara (WCD) is mourning the death of their youngest member after her lifeless body was pulled out of the canal at the back of their home.

The toddler,

the toddler walked to the back of the yard where the family rears sheep and ducks and made her way to the canal through a gate that was left opened.

Ramchand told the Police that she forgot the gates at the back were

The areawhere Aleena Mohamed is suspected to fell into the canal

18-month-old Aleena Mohamed was discovered around 18:30h on Monday after she went missing a few hours before.

The Police said that they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death.

Investigations have so far revealed that Mohamed’s mother, 23-year-old Kaishrie Ramchand was about to give her a bath but left her and went to retrieve a towel from the upper flat of their home.

It is suspected that

opened prior to leaving the child.

When Guyana Times International visited the family’s Harlem, WCD home, both parents were at the Police station assisting with the investigations. However, Aleena’s paternal grandfather, Abdool Mohamed, related that he was in the yard doing some mason work prior to the incident.

“About 4:30 (16:30h) time, she was with me at the back and she mommy tell she come out ah turn to page 41

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40

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NEWS 41

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

‘I couldn’t find a job’ – phone thief tells Cops

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20-year-old man of Prashad Nagar, Georgetown was on Thursday charged for stealing a cellular phone from a 17-year-old girl several days ago.

Kevin Abrams was placed on G$25,000 bail when he made his appearance before Magistrate Peter Hugh at the Number 51 Magistrates’ Court.

Abrams told investigators that he committed the crime because he could not find a job.

The victim, Kelly Singh, was walking home at Number 55 Village, Corentyne Berbice when she was attacked by Abrams.

Abrams reportedly punched to teen to her back twice, causing her to fall on the ground. He then grabbed her cellular phone and then dealt

WCD toddler found... the sand and she gone to bathe right away. She mother left to go collect the towel upstairs and by the time she come down we looking for the girl and we ain’t see she at the bathroom because I went to bathe too. We search the whole yard and we didn’t find she and then I suspect and say at the back there the gate was open and go out the back there,” the grieving man related.

It was then the family decided to call Aleena’s father, Shoaib, who was at work at the time.

The man rushed home and joined neighbours as they formed a search party. The initial search came up empty-handed.

The futile search led the family to the Windsor Forest pump station, which is a few villages away. They requested that the pump attendant to turn the pumps off so that they could continue their search. The attendant obliged and they returned to the canal at the back of their home.

“The pump them was on because the sea defence water was running

from page 38

over so they pump it back out. So when them turn off the water and it chock up then we form a bigger search party and went back. The water like it spin she round and we find she just by the grass corner and we pick she up and rush she to the (West Demerara Regional) Hospital. Them doctors do them thing and so and then they pronounced she dead,” the man said while fighting to hold back tears.

She leaves to mourn her parents and two other siblings.

her several more cuffs to her face and stomach.

The teen began screaming for help.

Villagers rushed to her aid and quickly began to trail the perpetrator, who was escaping on foot.

Police officers, who

were in the area, joined the chase.

Realising he was outnumbered, Abrams jumped into a trench in his final bid to escape but he was apprehended.

Abrams reportedly told investigators that he was experienc-

ing challenges in securing a job in Georgetown and as such, he ventured to Berbice with hopes of gaining employment.

However, after several failed attempts, he alleged that he resorted to that act of petty crime.

42 NEWS

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana Times, Evening News win 6 journalism awards

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uyana Times and Evening News won six journalism awards last Saturday at the annual Guyana Press Association (GPA) Awards ceremony, which was held at the Pegasus Hotel.

The GPA recognised journalists, photographers and videographers for their work in areas such as sports, agriculture, business, politics, environment, human rights, finance, and arts and culture, among others.

Three journalists from Guyana Times and Evening News were among the winners.

Lakhram Bhagirat, a journalist with Guyana Times, won third for best newspaper feature and second for his story on arts and culture.

Utamu Belle, Guyana Times’ correspondent from Linden, Region 10 (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), copped two third places in the business and arts and culture categories.

Devina Samaroo won second place for best television feature for a story aired on Evening News/ Television Guyana Inc (TVG).

She also came in second for best online feature and first for best ar-

Gordana Bjeletic.

Meanwhile, Denis Chabrol, Andrea Joseph and Emmerson Campbell were recipients of special awards for their contributions to the profession over the years.

Chabrol had in 2009 launched the country’s first online media entity; Joseph is a veteran broadcaster and a senior sport journalist; while Campbell was recognised for his contributions to the sport fraternity, not only in media coverage but his achievements in bodybuilding.

In light of the submissions this year, the GPA underscored the need for

aged journalists to stay true to the profession as he made reference to the many challenges they face.

“Since last December, we have seen one of the tensest, busy and demanding periods in our journalistic careers in recent times,” he highlighted, with clear reference to the events following the historic passage of a No-Confidence Motion against the Government on December 21, 2018.

“They have challenged the way we gather news, the way we disseminate news and most of all, have tested us as true practitioners of jour-

Guyana Times Evening News winners Devina Samaroo and Lakhram Bhagirat

ticle highlighting LGBT rights for stories she produced whilst a journalist in another section of the media.

Richard Jagdeo, a videographer, came in third for the best news videography award for his work done at TVG. For this year’s awards, there were 18

categories, however, one was eventually dropped due to the poor quality of entries submitted.

Some 35 journalists entered the competition with almost 260 entries in total.

There was an underwhelming participation in the sports categories.

The most prestigious

award of the evening for the young journalist of the year went to 19-yearold Vishani Ragobeer of the State newspaper.

Judging was done

by Reuters photographer Andrea, Desilva, Australian journalist and author James Massola, now living in Indonesia, Argentine journalist Nicolas Luca, UWI lecturer and communications consultant Steffon Campbell, Honorary Guyanese and Trinidad journalist Wesley Gibbings, Barbadian journalist and radio veteran Julius Gittens, Trinidadian columnist and advocate Afra Raymond, UWI Climate Scientist Dale Rankin, sport journalist Lasana Liburd and Serbian investigative journalist

Guyana Times and Evening News Linden correspondent, Utamu Belle

more media training.

The GPA hopes that in areas where they saw low or no entries, journalists can improve over the next couple of years with the requisite training.

In opening remarks, GPA Executive, Chabrol, who has been in the media since 1986, encour-

nalism.”

“It is going to be an even testier period in the not so near future. With Guyana on the cusp of new economic wealth, possible paradigm shifts and political twist and turns, we encourage you to stay true to the profession,” Chabrol stated.

NEWS 43

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

East Canje woman is 100 not out!

Unravelling… …hyphenated identities As happens like clockwork around every election, someone or other will throw into the boiling pot of our politics that cleaves around ethnic identities. “Oh why can’t we all be just GUYANESE, why do we have to be hyphenated-Guyanese??” And of course, then sanctimoniously announce THEY’ve been able to do it and why can the rest of us follow in their hallowed footsteps??!! The assumption, of course, is that hyphenation is a bad and backward thing!!

Now right away we gotta point out that this hyphenated-Guyanese business isn’t just a “Guyanese thing”. Pick country, ANY country and you’ll find the hyphens abounding, obviously with some more than others. Guyana and most of Africa, plenty; Japan and Korea, less so. The question, then is, do human beings have this need to be hyphenated?? Is it something we choose to do?? Is it an innate drive? Or is it something imposed on us?

Rather than look at Guyana to understand this hyphenation business, why don’t we look at the US, which isn’t only the “land of the free and home of the brave”, but represents all we wish to be: rich and democratic!! And like us, they were formed by all sorts of people from scads of countries coming over to take over the land from what they called “Red Injuns”! Do they have hyphenated identities, even though they were launched over 200 years ago?

You can bet your firstborn, that they do!! In fact they pretty much LAUNCHED the hyphenation movement to insist that SOME SPECIFIED Americans weren’t even fully human!!

Well. Some of you may say that look how the Eyetalian Americans and the Irish-Americans and British Americans don’t REALLY identify as such any longer.

Now while on the surface there may be something to that, if you believe it, then I have a bridge across the Demerara River to sell you!! What you’ll notice if you scratch them deep enough that the REAL Americans are the descendants of those folks who came over from England and landed at Plymouth Rock! Every other group that came later had to strive to be as close to those REAL Americans as they could to be accepted.

And that, of course, brought up the Elephant in the room: how would the folks brought over from Africa and arrived waaaay before those Eye-talians and such-like become “as close” to the Englishers, when the colour of their skin made them “less human”?? What we see then is the hyphenation that made the African-Americans “different” was imposed to justify inequality. As Malcolm X said, “Plymouth Rock LANDED on them!”

And just like Guyana, once there are inequalities in treatment, the hyphens will remain!! …the list quagmire The method to the not-so-new GECOM Chair’s apparent madness is becoming clearer with each passing day. The particular piece of madness your Eyewitness has in mind right now is her decision on the unilaterally and secretly ordered H2H registration by her illegally appointed predecessor. OK, dear reader, he knows this matter’s been brought up ad nauseum. But when conjecture and speculation on the aim as rigging the elections, become reality, it gotta be placed on the record.

With the PPP absent from the H2H expedition, the data was always going to be fruit of a poisoned exercise, wasn’t it? Irretrievably tainted. But instead of dumping the 370,000 names collected, the Chair agreed to have them coded. Then agreed to have them “matched”. Then agreed to have them divided by registration districts. Then agreed to have them posted at the GECOM districts’ HQ’s.

So what’s the next step?? To use the lists as the “comparator” or standard to compare the data on the PLE. Folks on that list don’t even have to produce birth certificates!! …the APNU coalition In the wake of the strains in the AFC/PNC coalition, Indigenous Peoples Minister, GAP’s Sydney Allicock cautioned against a breakup, “because the coalition represents the entire country.”

So why’s Granger talking with Schuman? Allicock also lost his mojo?

R

achel Isabella Michael celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, three days after she became the country’s latest centenarian.

Despite being confined to a chair, starting just about one year ago, Michael is up and about – cooking, attending church, and reading without glasses.

Born on October 23, 1919, Michael has five children aged 75, 73, 68, 62 and 53.

She has lived to see her fourth generation, having 19 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and several great-great grandchildren.

Born at Betsy Ground, East Canje, Michael spent most of her life there.

During her days at school, Michael wanted to become a nurse.

Her dreams were quashed when she became pregnant in 1943. In those days, it was difficult for an unmarried woman with children to work.

She subsequently moved to Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) to work with the bauxite company as a cook and a caretaker. It was during that time, she became a mother of two.

In the early 1950s, she returned to Berbice.

Michael attributes her long life

Rachel Isabella Michael

to eating right, especially using a lot of herbs. Her favourite dishes are pepper pot, Fufu and ochro soup.

Moreover, she comes from a family blessed with longevity. Her mother died at the age of 95, her brother at the age of 89 and her sister at the age of 66. Another sister was killed in a fire at age 72.

In 2017, Michael suffered a slight stroke at the age of 98.

Prior to that, she took care of all of her grandchildren ensuring they went to school.

Now Michael cannot do much for herself, she has a network of family and friends who are willing to support her, no matter what.

(Andrew Carmichael)

44 news

WEEK ENDING NOVember 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana’s robotics team placed in top 25% worldwide …as team cops Albert Einstein gold medal

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fter three days of intense robotic battles, Guyana’s robotics team has earned a place for the country among the elite top 25 per cent robotics teams worldwide, after the FIRST Global Robotics Competition concluded in Dubai on Sunday. The tournament saw the Guyanese team securing six victories and three losses with a ranking of 39th place out of a total of 190 participating countries.

However, the country’s ranking was due to the team’s excellent

Team Guyana (StemGuyana Photo)

performance which was evident when they won the Albert Einstein gold medal for excellence, a prestigious award given to teams whose robots performed the best during the FIRST Global Challenge and exemplified all the tenets of the FIRST Global community.

In a statement on Sunday, StemGuyana reported that its eightmember team – all members of StemGuyana – overcame several challenges leading up to the awards. Chief among these was the extreme delay of the team’s robot’s arrival in Dubai to partake in the competition.

“When the team of eight Guyanese youths representing Hague, Timehri, Enmore and Georgetown arrived at the Cheddi Jagan airport on their way to the global robotics event in Dubai, they were told that because the robot was packed in a wooden crate, they wouldn’t be able to travel with their prized possession to the global tourney. It was truly a blessing that one team member was routed through NY the very next day and was called upon to deliver the ro-

bot to Dubai. The story gets infinitely more complicated but suffice to say that the robot did not arrive until 10 pm the night before kickoff,” StemGuyana stated.

Meanwhile, commenting on the team’s performance during the competition period, the local technology group highlighted that days one and two, were comprised of both wins and losses but the final day went in complete favour of team Guyana.

“Day one saw the Team Guyana alliance winning two out of three games, the loss due to failure of a motor which stopped the team from shooting to earn points.

The team ended the day in 24th overall ranking.

Day two’s play of four games began with two brilliant back to back victories and 2 painful losses, one well-earned but the other due to another failure of a motor on the robot. The losses dropped Team Guyana into 62nd ranking and put tremendous pressure on the young team to win both final games on day three. Day three brought victories and high scores as team Guyana members worked together to execute their game strategies and rally back to end the day among the elite 25 per cent of teams in the world,” they explained.

This year, the FIRST Global organisation hosted 190 national teams out of the 195 countries in the world.

It was the largest and most competitive global competition to date and teams which are mentored by large, well-known engineering firms in their home countries often do very well.

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46 NEWS

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Members of the StemGuyana team pose with First Lady Sandra Granger, Government Ministers and sponsors

IMF warns of economic slowdown in Latin America, Caribbean ‌Guyana projected to record economic growth of 4.4 per cent

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ASHINGTON, United States (CMC) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is slowing down and that the region is expected to record a 0.2 per cent growth this year.

The Washingtonbased financial institution said that the low growth comes amid continued trade tensions, lower global growth, subdued commodity prices, and in some large regional economies, high policy uncertainty.

In its latest Regional Economic Outlook for the Western Hemisphere, the IMF says in order to boost the economic recovery and create more jobs; the region will need to rely on domestic drivers of growth, like consumption and investment.

In reviewing the economic performances of the Caribbean countries, the IMF noted that Guyana is projected to record economic growth of 4.4 per cent this year, up from 4.1 per cent last year, while Suriname will record marginal growth

International Monetary Fund building

of 2.2 per cent, up from two per cent in 2018.

The IMF is predicting that Belize will record negative growth, moving to 2.7 per cent from three per cent last year, while

Antigua and Barbuda will see economic growth decline from seven per cent last year to four per cent this year.

The Bahamas, hit by a Category 5 hurricane

in September will also record a decline in economic growth from 1.6 per cent last year to 0.9 per cent in 2019, while Barbados, which had a negative 0.6 per cent growth in 2018,

will register a minus 0.1 per cent growth this year.

The IMF said Dominica will be among Caribbean countries recording a high economic growth this year of

9.4 per cent, up from 0.5 per cent last year, while Grenada's economic growth will drop from 4.2 per cent last year to 3.1 per cent in 2019.

Haiti, where opposition parties are staging demonstrations to remove President Jovenel Moise, will record growth of 0.1 per cent, down from 1.5 per cent, while Jamaica, which recently concluded an agreement with the IMF, will record a decline in economic growth from 1.6 per cent last year to 1.1 per cent this year.

The economic growth in St Kitts-Nevis is estimated at 3.5 per cent this year, down from 4.6 per cent the previous year, while St Lucia will show an improvement in its economic growth, rising from 0.9 per cent last year to 1.6 per cent.

St Vincent and the Grenadines will also record a slight increase in growth, moving from two per cent to 2.3 per cent this year, while Trinidad and Tobago will record no economic growth this year, down from the 0.3 per cent the previous year.

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Strategy for small parties and change

Playing politics… I

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…with blinders on s we can see, the field appears to be getting rather crowded in the political sweepstakes!

“Appears”!! By the time nomination day rolls around, 80% of the newbies will fall by the wayside on account of their inability to garner even the minimum number of signatures (150) in six of our 10 regions to endorse them!!

But what’s troubling is that, while promising alternatives to the two big boys on the block, the newbies just insist that whatever the latter do, they can do better! Fight corruption better; create jobs better; be more gender-and-youth-sensitive, and so on, and so forth. But, from where your Eyewitness is standing, they’re missing the point. Did they ever think they may need to present a completely new paradigm from that wherein the PPP and PNC have been operating??

When Jagan appeared on the scene in the 1940s, there were all sorts of politicians already entrenched.

But he looked around and realised that the new circumstance of universal franchise would shake up the old premises of politics, and he offered a new vision to incorporate the folks who’d been ignored up to then: the poor and the powerless, who now had something of value – their votes. What is the new vision of these new political wannabees to deal with the new political reality??

And what is that reality, you ask, dear reader??

Well, duh!! Just look at the news from across the world on your TV screens. See all those protests? They may have different local proximate causes, but they all boil down to the fact that the neo-liberal paradigm which had swept the globe from the 1980s has collapsed, and confusion and disorder now rein. As Gramsci noted apropos an earlier world crisis, “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”

The “new” will be born only when a new vision is articulated to deal with the specific challenges roiling so many countries. Look at the protests in Chile, where the neoliberal prescriptions of “liberalisation, privatisation and stabilisation” were first unleashed.

They first produced the dictator Pinochet, who killed thousands before the Holy Grail of “growth” at any cost was achieved. But, as in the other countries where the medicine was tried, there WAS growth – but at a price – severe inequalities!

So while the middle class has increased, 1% of the population in Chile owns 25 percent of the wealth generated in the country!! And imagine, it’s even worse in the US!!

With oil coming, where’s the new vision to prevent that happening here? …or hardball?

The PNC don’t mind taking candy from a baby, nor do they mind kicking folks who’re already on the ground. As your Eyewitness showed yesterday, they practise the hardball politics of Machiavelli! Imagine, with the full panoply of AFC execs — including two sitting ministers of the Government and one former minister — declaring that the negotiations between their party and the PNC had stalled over the PM candidate, the chief negotiator for the PNC — Volda Lawrence — flatly told them she didn’t know what the hell they were talking about.

Using Machiavelli’s advice to find plausible excuses for lying, Volda “only-PNC-friends” Lawrence explained that, constitutionally, Granger’s the President, and HE gets to choose his PM. Never mind the agreements.

She reiterated Granger’s earlier statement: that he was “open to suggestions from all partners”!! So now a new list of six names will be suggested, and we know who Granger will choose, don’t we? The PNC person he always had in mind!!

Lawrence assured the AFC that, “We’ll come out stronger than ever”. “We”, of course, is the PNC!! …with sugar GuySuCo’s falling so far behind its projected target that there’s got to be more in the mortar than the pestle can pound. Unmet targets mean no Annual Production Incentive (API) payouts for sugar workers, and that means they’ll have a very bleak Christmas.

Take that, PPP supporters!!

n January 2005, with elections a year away, I proposed a “Centre Force” strategy for the plethora of smaller parties then around: ROAR, GAP, WPA — the three with single seats in Parliament — together with the JFAP, Unity Party and Vision Guyana, plus individuals who would soon form the AFC. We are at a similar juncture, and I again proffer the advice against the background that it was rejected then, but the “Third Force” that emerged died in stillbirth.

This is being done for several reasons, but primarily because most believe they could work with “either” the PNC or PPP, but insist on not “together”.

“ROAR entered the political realm to place on the national agenda two home truths: that our present politics are dominated by ethnic insecurities, and that we have to create a political system that would accommodate all the chosen representatives of the various groups in Guyana to deal with those insecurities. The first truth is now generally accepted by all and sundry, including most of the political representatives. The second is also generally accepted, so what’s the problem?

The problem is one of credible representation of ethnic groups through the presence of their chosen representatives in the PPP and PNC. They believe they can address ethnic insecurities by cooption of ethnic individuals under “Civic” and “Big Tent” labels respectively.

ROAR believes that the abovementioned proposals fall short.

Smaller parties working with either one of the two dominant parties would inevitably leave the other out. It is unlikely that Guyana would have social peace if either of the two major parties is out of the picture. It is also improbable that any other party would be able to displace either of

them at the next election. So how do we avert our tsunami of conflict?

ROAR believes it is time for a “Centre Force” to be created and nurtured. What is this Centre Force? For one, it’s not a “Third Force” that feels it can wish away the PPP and PNC. It’s a Force that should seek to occupy the political, social, and cultural ground between the PPP and PNC, hence “Centre”. Today, in Guyana, there are a number of political parties outside the ambit of the PPP and the PNC — ROAR, GAP, WPA, JFAP, etc. — that can begin the process of creating this Centre Force. These could be joined by the parties now in formation by other committed Guyanese.

What would be some incentives for these parties to work together?

Firstly, the ineffectuality of the opposition (including the PNC) to influence the formation of policy should be an object lesson to those who believe “Westminster” politics can work in Guyana.

Secondly, the experience of The United Force, both with the PNC (1964-1968) and PPP (2001-present) demonstrates the inadvisability of the smaller parties seek-

ing a coalition arrangement with either the PPP or the PNC. There’s the matter of “the disequilibrium of size” when it comes to coalition between parties of vastly different strengths, it matters not the good intentions of the parties seeking to coalesce. If a mosquito joins forces with an elephant, it should not be surprised when it is taken for granted, or even ignored during crucial decisions.

There’s the iron law of oligarchy: In all organisations, power will accrete in the hands of a few, and we can be sure the few won’t come from the ranks of the mosquitoes.

What would be the ground rules for a Centre Force? Firstly, they should not get together simply to deny the PPP or the PNC the government. That would result in a “coalition of convenience”, which would quickly and acrimoniously fall asunder. They would have to be committed to a common programme to form a “coalition of commitment”. This does not mean that they have to agree on each and every point. That they are different parties means that they do not agree on each and every point. There’s nothing wrong with that; and in fact there’s everything right with it.

The way forward is a confederation of parties, wherein they keep their identities as they work together to craft a common and truly national programme (because of their diversity) for Guyana. In the crafting of such a programme, it is possible (and in our estimation quite likely) that much common ground can be found. And it would also demonstrate to the Guyanese people that there are compromises each of the small parties are willing to make to work together for Guyana, and not just preaching it to the PPP and PNC individually.

Embracing technology necessary to nurture next generation of farmers - NAREI boss

T

he National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) on Tuesday hosted its 4th annual research conference, where it was suggested that technology be implemented into the agricultural sector to make the sector more interesting for youths.

Head of NAREI, Dr Oudho Homenauth told the gathering that technology should be enfolded since it is pivotal to foster the next generation of farmers.

“Embracing technology is necessary to nurture the next generation of farmers. We need to make agriculture more tech-savvy.

Robotics, sensors, and the internet can make the agriculture sector more interesting and exciting for young people,” he said.

Meanwhile, he explained that this new generation can help in the transformation of farming,

Head of NAREI, Dr Oudho Homenauth

leading us into a high-tech profession that will need skill-sets that include engineering, computing and data analytics.

“The current generation, as well as future generations, have different needs and interests and it is imperative that we continue to excite and enthuse them so that more young people can get into the sector.”

The conference was held in recognition of Agriculture Month, and themed “Paving the way for sustainable development through innovative and adaptive research”. This year’s theme aligns with the Agriculture Month 2019 theme which is “Sustainable agriculture for ensuring food safety and a green economy”. By having a theme in line with the green development strategy, NAREI believes that the identification of new technologies through innovative and adaptive research will contribute significantly to agricultural productivity.

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he Bachchan Diwali bash in Mumbai had a small fire accident in the wee hours of Monday, following the party that started during the evening of Sunday, October 27. The party was held at Bachchans’ Juhu residence.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s manager, Archana Sadanand’s lehenga caught fire at the party, while actor Katrina Kaif suffered minor injuries as well, claim eye witnesses.

Fortunately, Shah Rukh Khan, who was also present at the Diwali party, was quick on his feet as he jumped to save Archana and Katrina by dousing the fire with his jacket. While trying to help Archana, SRK also sustained minor burns. Archana has represented Aishwarya Rai

Bachchan for more than ten years now.

Archana was rushed to Nanavati hospital, which is very close to the Bachchan residence and is being treated there.

Our hospital source tells indianexpress.com, “Archana is stable now and is kept in the ICU so she doesn’t succumb to any infections. She has sustained 15% burn

injuries on her legs and arms.”

When this story broke out today, filmmaker Farah Khan who was also present at this particular Diwali party took to Twitter and tweeted, “@iamsrk mohabbatman to the rescue ! Praying for Archana’s speedy recovery.”

Even superstar Salman Khan reacted

to the news by posting a video of Shah Rukh on his Instagram handle from his film Happy New Year, where the latter could be seen shrugging off fire.

A member from Archana’s team also confirmed to us, “Archana is doing a little better now and should be discharged from the hospital soon.”

(Indian Express)

shown through different authentic dance forms and music.

“The unique element of the musical is that the content part and storyline is very convincing

and relatable. The artistes are real-life masters of their art forms and not just actors imitating it.

“The music score is completely original and no cover tracks are used.

Without Sunny Leone this wouldn’t have been possible because no one else could do justice to the character,” Mahavir added.

The musical Broadway would first flag off in Ahmedabad and would be taken forward as a global tour.

(Indian Express)

S

unny Leone is all set to perform in Indian classical dance show in Broadway style, Abhimanyu, choreographed by Sandeep Mahavir.

Touted as “one of its kind play”, Abhimanyu has combined Kathak and hip-hop into a grand dance show.

“I love experimenting with the work I do and this time I am learning Kathak with a blend of hip-hop. When Sandeep came to me with the concept, I was taken aback since the concept is un-

conventional. I am ecstatic to be a part of it,” Leone said in a statement.

Mahavir said Abhimanyu chronicles the journey of a dancer,

A

thiya Shetty says she took time off after her first two films to improve her craft as she wants to be a part of movies that help her “break the mould” in Bollywood.

Her latest film Motichoor Chaknachoor opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui is something that she believes will “challenge her as an actor”.

“I worked on myself as an actor. I would do a lot of workshops. There is nothing wrong in taking time off to better myself. In this industry, you can’t decide what path you want to walk on. You can’t plan things.

I felt I need to prove myself to be here,” Athiya told PTI in an interview.

“I had a great time working on Hero and Mubarkan but somewhere I was not fulfilled as an actor. This film gave me the opportunity to work hard and break the mould, challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone. The idea is to feel satisfied and fulfilled as an actor.”

Athiya, daughter of Suniel Shetty, said she looks at competition as something that makes the job fun but does not look at what others are doing.

“If you concentrate on your work then your journey becomes easy. Everybody is struggling to do their best. Today there are different platforms and there is work for everyone,” she said.

She plays the role of a small-town woman in the romantic comedy, which required her to go through

workshops to get the body language, diction and nuances right.

“I speak Bundelkhandi in the film so I had to get the language and accent correct. I worked for about three to four weeks to get everything right as it has to be authentic and in sync with the film.”

The story revolves around a 36-year-old jobless man Pushpender (Nawazuddin), trying to find a wife and Annie (Athiya), who is looking for a husband.

But she wants to settle abroad after marriage.

“I said no before I said yes because I did not know if I would be able to pull it off as this role is different from what I have done. It is out of my comfort zone.

But that was also the exciting part,” the 26-year-old actor said.

The film is scheduled to be released on November 15. (Indian Express)

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aapsee Pannu has had a mixed bag this 2019.

While she was a part of varied films like Badla, Game Over and Mission Mangal, her latest release Saand Ki Aankh, where her part (Prakashi Tomar) along with her co-star Bhumi Pednekar (Chandro Tomar), is receiving a lot of critical acclaim.

So, does always delivering a near perfect act on the big screen become challenging? In a candid chat, Taapsee spoke about why she is happy with all the expectations that come her way, how doing a Judwaa 2 was important for her and what she does when she finds herself amid a controversy.

Here are excerpts from the conversation: Q. There is a certain level of expectation that now gets attached to your films. Is it too much to handle?

Taapsee: No no… it’s very good. I want it. I want this expectation pressure because if the audience won’t have any expectation from me, there’s no use. At least I have an image in my audience’s mind that she will do something like this. That’s the niche I’m trying to create with my audience so that they feel if I have done a film, it’ll be worth their time and money, and it’ll be something different.

Q. Do you think you have evolved in, say last 5 years?

Taapsee: As an actor, I’ve changed totally because I’m not a trained actor. I’ve learned on set with every film. You’re living with a character for 30-40 days.

Every day for 12 hours you’re psyching your brain in that character. It will change something in you mentally. I say it in a funny way, but actually, I’m becoming a little psycho after every film because you’re just suddenly making yourself believe that you are this person. You’re forcing yourself to believe you’re someone else for 50 days at a stretch. Of course, this is gonna change something in you.

Q. You’ve been in a few controversies recently.

Taapsee: But that’s good, that means you are successful. That means you are capturing attention. If you aren’t relevant, why will anyone spend their time and effort on you? Who has so much time in this age?

Q. You don’t shy away from putting out your opinion, do you?

Taapsee: If I’m not harming anyone, I don’t have any reason to shy away or be scared. If I have an opinion on something which is affecting me or people around me, I will speak up. It’s not like I’ll poke my nose in everyone’s business, or if there’s some topic I strongly feel about personally, I will talk about it.

Q. After getting tagged with ‘content driven’ cinema, will you now accept a role that’s only about adding glam quotient in a film?

Taapsee: Now, the lines have blurred. There’s a film that I’m going to do very soon, which will be glamorous but it will be substantial also. There will be something very substantial in it because the lines are blurring now in the cinema.

Q. But you did Judwaa 2, and that time many people said this isn’t what you are meant to do.

Taapsee: Because of that film, today, people call me a mainstream name. If I wouldn’t have done Judwaa 2, they would have kept me as an offbeat actress. Now, I get to do different cinema in mainstream. Or else they would’ve typecast me in that indie zone where I only do offbeat stuff. That’s why I had to do a Judwaa 2.

Q. How is Thappad shaping up?

Taapsee: It’s a story of 8 women woven around my character. It’s gonna be a treat on Women’s Day. I wanted to have a Women’s Day release. Coincidentally I had Badla, which was not really planned for a Women’s Day, it just so happened. But then it worked.

I was talking to Anubhav (Sinha, director) sir, that I would really want my film to release on Women’s Day. He said let’s do Thappad. So we planned everything in such a way to release it on Women’s Day. (Indian Express)

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

HOLLYWOOD 49

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ollywood star John Krasinski says he and actor wife Emily Blunt prefer not to mix work as it allows them to celebrate each other’s achievements like true fans.

A Quiet Place, which Krasinski wrote, directed and starred with Blunt, was a unique affair, according to the Jack Ryan star.

“Until ‘A Quiet Place’, we had always kept our work separate, which is really fun. At the end of the day, I think I’m her biggest fan. I love not knowing what she is doing so I can go, see it and celebrate her.

“It is now well-known that I saw ‘Mary Poppins’ for the first time and wept for about 45 minutes straight.

She did not weep watching Jack Ryan but that’s the thing, we really love celebrating each other’s work so mixing it is hard to do. ‘A Quiet Place’ was unique because we are married playing married couple,” Krasinski said in a group interview, including PTI, here.

The actor said Blunt loved his performance in Amazon’s Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which features Krasinski as a CIA analyst-turned-field agent.

Though their children are not old enough to watch Krasinski’s turn as Jack Ryan, Blunt called him up after watching the show.

“Actually my wife saw it when I was off working and she called me out of nowhere and just said, ‘It’s so good’. I said, ‘Wait, what are we talking about?’. And she said, ‘I just saw Jack Ryan’. She loved it,” he recalled.

Asked about the third season, Krasinski said they have got the goahead and are spitballing ideas.

The second season of the show drops November 1 on Amazon Prime Video.

Krasinski also completed the shooting of A Quiet Place sequel as a director. The movie, starring Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, is slated to release next year. (Indian Express)

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O

scar winner Rachel Weisz will portray Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor in the upcoming biopic A Special Relationship.

The film will be told from the perspective of Roger Wall, Taylor’s assistant and friend, and chronicle her journey from being a successful movie star to activist.

Simon Beaufoy, the Academy Awardwinning scriptwriter of Slumdog Millionaire, has penned the screenplay. Filmmaker duo Bert & Bertie will direct the film, Variety reported.

“Audiences are clearly fascinated by the private lives of iconic Hollywood stars,” said producers, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, of See-Saw Films said.

“There is no one more iconic than Elizabeth Taylor, and Simon Beaufoy has written a role that shines a light on Elizabeth’s humour and humanity, which

omedian Kevin Hart says his “world was forever changed” after he suffered a serious back injury when the vintage muscle car he was riding in crashed nearly two months ago in California.

In a video posted Tuesday night on Instagram, the 40-year-old thanked his family and friends and reflected on how he now sees life differently.

Hart says not to take today for granted.

The video shows Hart struggling to walk and doing physical therapy with a scar on his back.

Hart says he’s “thankful for life” and is looking forward “to an amazing 2020.”

The California Highway Patrol said the man driving Hart’s 1970 Plymouth Barracuda accelerated recklessly and lost control on Sept. 1. The car careened down an embankment and slammed into a tree. No one was wearing seatbelts. (Indian Express)

will be beautifully brought to life through the extraordinary talents of Rachel Weisz,” they added.

Taylor, a winner of two Oscars, led a glam-

orous lifestyle but she was also known for her crusading role towards spreading awareness about AIDS in mid1980s. (Indian Express)

ohn Witherspoon, the actor-comedian best known for the hit Friday franchise and The Wayan Brothers, has passed away. He was 77.

According to Deadline, the actor died suddenly at his home on Tuesday, his family said.

“It is with deepest sorrow that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 77.

“We are all in shock, please give us a minute for a moment in privacy and we will celebrate his life and his work together. John used to say ‘I’m no big deal’, but he was huge deal to us,” Witherspoon’s family said in a statement.

He is survived by his wife Angela, and his sons JD and Alexander.

Witherspoon, who made a great name for himself in comedy, was born as John Weatherspoon in Detroit in 1942.

He entered showbiz through standup comedy and started acting in the late 1970s with guest-starring TV roles.

He made his feature debut in the film The Jazz Singer (1980).

Witherspoon went on to star in many films, including Hollywood Shuffle, Boomerang, Vampire in Brooklyn, I’m Gonna Get You Sucka, Bird and The Meteor Man. The actor was best known for his role as Ice Cube’s grumpy father in

1995 comedy drama Friday. He later reprised his role in the sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next. He was expected to return in the long-in-theworks final installment of the franchise titled Last Friday.

Ice Cube took to Twitter to mourn Witherspoon’s demise.

“I’m devastated over the passing of John Witherspoon. Life won’t be as funny without him,” the actor wrote.

Witherspoon also had a role on the cult animated series The Boondocks, in which he lent his voice to Gramps. He likely would have returned for the series’ upcoming revival on HBO Max. He starred on The Wayans Brothers as Pops, the on-screen father of Shawn and Marlon Wayans. He also featured on comedy series like The Tracy Morgan Show, The First Family and Black Jesus.

Even in his later years, stand-up was an integral part of Witherspoon’s life. With a busy film and TV career too, he continued to perform regularly and was booked for several dates.

Chance the Rapper, Regina King and Marlon Wayans were among others who remembered Witherspoon.

“God bless John Witherspoon. The definition of an icon. Wow,” tweeted Chance.

“My dad, my grandpa, my comedic inspiration! I love you Spoons! Rest In Paradise, King,” wrote Regina.

Marlon Wayans took to Instagram to pay tributes to his “second Pops”.

(Indian Express)

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Shakib Al Hasan banned from all cricket S

hakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's Test and T20I captain, has been banned by the ICC from all cricket for two years, with one year of that sentence suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code.

His offences related to two tournaments in 2018: an ODI tri-series in January, also involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and one match in the IPL, where he was a player with Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Shakib, 32, is Bangladesh's leading current cricketer and among their all-time greats. He is currently at No. 3, No. 1 and No. 2 in the ICC allrounders' rankings for Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively, and is also a valuable member of the various T20 franchises he is part of across the world.

He will be free to resume international cricket on October 29, 2020, subject to his satisfying the conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction. He is likely to miss most of next year's headline event, the World T20 in Australia, which runs from October 18 to November 15.

The ICC charged Shakib under Article 2.4.4, for failure to report two approaches to engage in corrupt conduct during the tri-series and for failure to disclose full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in corrupt conduct in relation to the Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kings XI Punjab match in IPL 2018 on April 26, 2018.

In order to avoid the one-year suspended sentence coming into effect, Shakib must not commit any offence under the ACU code during the initial one-year suspension, and participate regularly in anti-corruption education and/or rehabilitation programmes.

The ICC said that Shakib had accepted the charges and agreed to the sanction in lieu of an anti-corruption tribunal hearing.

"I am obviously extremely sad to have been banned from the game I love, but I completely accept my sanction for not reporting the approaches," an ICC statement quoted him as saying. "The ICC ACU is reliant on players to play a central part in the fight against corruption and I didn't do my duty in this instance."

Alex Marshall, ICC's general manager - integrity, said, "Shakib Al Hasan is a highly experienced international cricketer.

He has attended many education sessions and knows his obligations under the Code. He should have reported each of these approaches.

"Shakib has accepted his errors and cooperated fully with the investigation.

He has offered to assist the Integrity Unit in future education, to help younger players to learn from his mistakes. I am happy to accept this offer."

The Shakib development comes at a time of huge upheaval in the BCB. Only a week ago, Shakib had led a players' strike in Bangladesh, which came to an end last Wednesday after the BCB ceded to all the demands.

The news comes on the eve of Bangladesh's tour of India, which starts on November 3. Shakib was meant to leave with the Bangladesh T20 squad on Wednesday for the tour, which comprises three T20s and two Test matches. Bangladesh have not yet announced their Test squad for the tour.

What rule did Shakib violate?

The most basic form of offence for failing the report an approach is covered under 2.4.4 of the ACU code. It says: "Failing to disclose to the ACU (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Participant to engage in Corrupt Conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code."

The reason behind reporting any approach promptly and quickly is because any delay can hamper investigations.

"It is acknowledged that the assessment of whether there had been 'unnecessary delay' in each case will depend on its own circumstances, but it is al-

ways unacceptable (and will therefore constitute 'unnecessary delay') for a Participant to wait until after the match in respect of which he/she was invited to engage in Corrupt Conduct before reporting that approach to the ACU," the ICC code says.

What is the sanction?

A minimum of six months and a maximum of five years. (ESPNCricinfo)

Simmons throws support behind West Indies' captains; Holder, Pollard R eturning West Indies coach Phil Simmons has backed his two captains' ability to get the most of their players, and suggested that Jason Holder will benefit from the decision to hand the white-ball reins to Kieron Pollard.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Simmons said that Pollard - who was appointed captain of the limited-overs teams in September despite not having played an ODI since 2016 - is capable of "leading from the front" with the bat.

"It showed in the T20Is with India," Simmons said. "He took the reins and led in those. That's what I expect from him: that responsibility of being captain is going to make him want to always be on top of the runs and leading from the front. He is that kind of a leader - even though he asks you to do something, it is not something he wouldn't do or he wouldn't want to do."

Pollard was the leading run-scorer in that series with scores of 58, 8* and 49, and Simmons said that he expected that form to continue.

"I expect a lot of runs to come from him. Hopefully he doesn't get to bat where he's batting much because the top order should be performing now - they have been around for a while in both those two forms."

And Simmons pointed to Pollard's career as evidence that he stands up whenever he is under pressure.

"A lot of people write him off," Simmons said.

"The pressure always makes him stand up. If you look at his career, every time he's under pressure he stands up and he shows 'look, I've had a blip, but I'm back'.

"His experience in general, and not just the knowledge, but also his ability to involve all the players and his ability to give players challenges but at the same time be on their side - that natural leadership is there. It is something that he will bring a lot to the team."

Pollard takes over as ODI captain after a difficult World Cup, in which Holder's

side won just two matches and finished ninth in the ten-team round-robin group stage. That disappointment led Cricket West Indies to set up a task force to revamp their selection process, which recommended replacing Holder as captain, but Simmons thinks that "relaxing a little bit more" in white-ball cricket will allow him to maintain his impressive Test match form.

"It might be [beneficial] but that is something that he has got to answer that question," he said. "He's the No. 1 Test allrounder in the world, so he has shown that he has learned a lot in that format, and he is going to continue to lead this team."

Holder was first appointed captain of the Test side back in 2015 at the age of 23, and Simmons said that his experience in the role meant he could now afford to demand performances of his players.

"With the experience he has now, he should be putting more pressure on a lot of the players to perform. So his role slightly changes, and he gets to relax in the other two formats because sometimes you could see that mind thinking on the field, and then when it comes to batting, the pressure is on.

"Now with him relaxing a little bit more in the other two formats, maybe you'll see a lot more coming from him in the Test matches."

Pollard's first assignment as permanent skipper is a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan Coach Phil Simmons in India, followed by three T20Is. Holder will then lead the side in a one-off Test against the same opposition in Lucknow, before they play another white-ball series against India, which comprises three T20Is and three ODIs. (ESPNCricinfo)

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Nationals’ slated for November 17-22 …President to act as patron

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his year’s 59th National School’s Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships is said to be bigger and better than ever before, with a special focus on time management. In addition, President David Granger is expected to be the patron of this year’s activity.

From November 17 to November 22, studentathletes from 15 districts, spanning the length and breadth of Guyana, will gather at three venues in Georgetown, East Coast and West Demerara, for the 59th annual event To make the event even better, it was revealed that President Granger would be the patron of this year’s championships.

“His Excellency David Granger will be the patron of this year’s championships by way of information,” Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Hutson disclosed on Wednesday.

Speaking at the launching ceremony on Wednesday afternoon at the Guyana Teachers’ Union Hall, Hutson emphasised the importance of the National Championships, while highlighting the importance of a balance between sport and education.

“The championships also foster the whole notion of teamwork and our children also benefit from us being able to spot the talent that they have

The sponsorship is handed over to GTU President Mark Lyte in the presence of CEO Marcel Hutson, GTU Secretary Coretta Mc Donald, Banks DIH Communications Manager Troy Peters and other company representatives

and those talents can be nurtured. I don’t know where people get this impression that once you have become a sportsperson, you would have gotten there because you have no sense,” Hutson noted.

With just about two weeks to go before the competition gets underway, Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte was proud to announce that the organisers have been up to date with the smaller competitions leading up to nationals, owing to the work put in by the nation’s teachers.

“I would like to say that the GTU plays a very important role to ensure that we arrive at this stage – the National Championships. As you would know, we just don’t wake up one morning and say we’re going to have this event. We started in September observing the various schools which then moved into the interschool and inter-zones.

I’m proud to announce all of our 15 districts we have concluded the interzones and we are ready to commence the National Championships,” Lyte disclosed.

An eager Coretta Mc Donald, General Secretary of the GTU, used her time at the podium to send a loud message to those who will be participating in and witnessing this year’s National Championships.

“I need to emphasise that we are going to be starting on time, so if you’re not there, we’ll start without you; if a district is not there, we’ll start without them because we need to manage our time properly.

I know you would have gotten accustomed to us running very late into Friday evening and then into the night, but let me assure you that this year we will not be going into Friday night for the closing of the championship,” Mc Donald informed.

Over the 59 years of its existence, the National Schools Championships have become synonymous with Banks DIH. Once again, the company is on board with its Malta Supreme, Rainforest Waters and Demico Premium Ice Cream brands. Communications Manager Troy Peters noted that the company was elated to be involved once again.

“We are extremely happy to be involved and we look forward to the days of competition in swimming, cycling and track and field and I was so happy to learn that the games will finish a bit early this year.

I know that if we decide to go along the line of streaming, we have to be tightened in the way we plan these events,” Peters stated.

Swimming will take place on Monday at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal; on Tuesday, the cyclists

will have their time at the National Park and for the remainder of the week, the track and field athletes will compete

at the Leonora Facility, West Demerara.

Hits and Jams Entertainment and the National

Communications Network (NCN) are among the sponsors.

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

West Indies int’l cricket calendar for 2020 released S

T JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced a brand new three-year home fixtures cycle, featuring the West Indies teams in all formats with matches in all the main venues across the Caribbean.

SEE BELOW FOR AVAILABLE MATCH SCHEDULE FOR WEST INDIES MEN (All venues and schedules are subject to final approval by ICC, CWI and opposition teams and final agreement with the respective host Governments and venues).

This new initiative, a key feature of Cricket West Indies’ strategy to enable better planning across the region and ensuring that all international venues host West Indies cricket every year, will see visits by all the major international teams to the Caribbean between January 2020 and August 2022.

For the first time in many years, this longterm calendar has been unveiled to give countries

and fans a view of key fixtures, dates and venues to help plan for and celebrate cricket in the West Indies. Next year – Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa will visit the West Indies; followed by Sri Lanka,

Australia and Pakistan in 2021. The following year Ireland will make a return and the regional side will also face England, Bangladesh and India on home turf.

The West Indies Women’s team will also

have an intense calendar of matches and camps as they prepare for the ICC Women’s World Cup which will be played in New Zealand in 2021. In the build-up to the biggest event in women’s cricket, the West Indies Women will focus their energies on the 50-over format. Later this month they host India and they will also host South Africa at home in May 2020. Overall, they are expected to play a minimum of 15 ODIs – home and away – in the leadup to the marquee event.

CWI CEO, Johnny Grave said: “This is significant step forward for CWI and cricket fans and stakeholders across the region. Not only does this provide a full calendar of international fixtures which allows us to better plan and schedule our cricket, but it allows everyone who supports and loves cricket to know when the next big game or tournament is coming.”

The new fixtures cycle will see the West Indies men play 11 Test matches in the ICC World Test Championship games; 20 ODIs and 36 T20Is at home. The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad is set to become the newest international venue for men’s cricket.

It is earmarked to stage a T20I when Sri Lanka visit in March, 2021, pending approval by ICC; while the Trelawny Multipurpose facility in Jamaica is the proposed venue for a T20I when

Pakistan tour in July 2021. The full schedules for these series will be revealed at a later date.

There will be a return to international cricket for the people of Dominica and St Vincent & the Grenadines.

Windsor Park stadium is set to host New Zealand in the third Colonial Medical Insurance ODI and the first T20I next year, pending final renovations to the stadium following Hurricane Maria; while Arnos Vale in St Vincent could host back-to-back T20Is when Australia visit in June, 2021. The last international contest at the venue was when West Indies defeated Bangladesh by 10 wickets in 2014.

A V A I L A B L E MATCH SCHEDULE (West Indies Men) NOTE: All venues and schedules are subject to final approval by ICC, CWI and opposition teams and final agreement with the respective host Governments and venues.

Ireland in West Indies 2020 January 4: 50-over warm-up match – Three Ws Oval, Barbados January 7: 1st Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Kensington Oval, Barbados January 9: 2nd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Kensington Oval January 12: 3rd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Grenada National Stadium, Grenada

January 15: 1st T20I – Grenada National Stadium January 18: 2nd T20I – Warner Park, St Kitts January 19: 3rd T20I – Warner Park, St Kitts West Indies in England 2020 (Wisden Trophy Series) June 4-8: 1st Test – The Oval June 12-16: 2nd Test – Edgbaston June 25-29: 3rd Test - Lords New Zealand in West Indies 2020 July 8: 1st Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua July 10: 2nd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground July 13: 3rd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Windsor Park, Dominica July 15: 1st T20I – Windsor Park July 18: 2nd T20I – Guyana National Stadium, Guyana July 19: 3rd T20I – Guyana National Stadium South Africa in West Indies 2020 July 15-19: warmup match – Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad July 23-27: 1st Test – Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad July 31 to August 4: 2nd Test – Daren Sammy Stadium, Saint Lucia August 8: 1st T20I – Broward County Stadium, USA August 9: 2nd T20I – Broward County Stadium, USA August 12: 3rd T20I – Sabina Park, Jamaica August 15: 4th T20I – Sabina Park August 16: 5th T20I – Sabina Park West Indies ICC T20 World Cup 2020 October 25: vs New Zealand – Melbourne Cricket Ground October 28: vs Australia – Perth Stadium October 30: vs Qualifier B2 – Perth Stadium November 3: vs Pakistan – Adelaide Oval November 7: vs Qualifier A1 – Melbourne Cricket Ground November 11: Semifinal 1 – Sydney Cricket Ground November 12: Semifinal 2 – Adelaide Oval November 15: FINAL – Melbourne Cricket Ground

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Emerging players hoping to make it big on elite Super50 stage S

T. JOHN’S, Antigua – Working to transform a squad of mostly inexperienced players into a welldrilled, adaptable unit will be the main focus of West Indies Emerging Players squad head coach Floyd Reifer when the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup opens on November 6.

The 47-year-old Reifer has been cast in a role that he has been quite familiar, having served as head coach of the Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners from its inception and until earlier this year when he was given an interim role of West Indies head coach which gives him a unique perspective going into the tournament.

The West Indies Emerging Players squad was introduced

by Cricket West Indies to select players that will be competitive in the Super50 Cup and to facilitate further learning and development opportunities for players that have featured in the CWI High Performance Pathway in recent times.

“A young player may miss out on selection at their franchise if they are up against two or three internationals with similar skill-sets,” said CWI director of cricket, Jimmy Adams.

“The Emerging Players squad aims to provide the platform for these players to perform and reward the hard work they have been putting in following their stints at the HPC.” The Emerging Players squad have been pooled with last year’s losing finalists Guyana Jaguars, as well as hosts and 11-time champions

Floyd Reifer

Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, recent winners Windward Islands Volcanoes and the United States for Group “B” matches which will be played at the Queen’s Park Oval and Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad for this year’s Super50 Cup. Reifer spoke to CWI Media ahead of the competition and said he wants to see steady improvement from the players as the tournament progresses.

On expectations as the countdown to the start of the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup continues: I expect to see some good performances from the players. It’s a very young side that we have put together. There is a lot of talent in the squad, so I am eager and looking forward to working with the players.

I want to see them put their

energies into the tournament and winning a few games, but for me, it’s about developing the talent that is there and making sure that at the end of the tournament there is some form of improvement, individually and as a team.

On how his experience as head coach of the Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners and recently as West Indies head coach will impact how he approaches this assignment: I have learned a lot over the last few months and I am willing to impart all of the knowledge I have to the players and developing their games, and making sure that as a team, we will build and play well during the competition. Also, it is important to help the understand the virtues of being a high-performance athlete and the impor-

tance of work ethic in helping them to get to the next level.

On how he will prepare the squad, considering the short time available before the tournament: I have worked with some of the players previously. Some of them, yes, I am not too familiar with them, but we have a few days before the competition starts and when we go through the matches, I will quickly learn as I think I have a good eye for talent. Getting to know the players will be quite easy for me, in terms of identifying the talent on the field, but off the field, I will try to spend a lot of time with the players and have a lot of conversations to get to know them quickly as possible.

On where the strength in the squad lies: I think it is a balanced squad. We also have a few

players in the squad that will be preparing for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2020 South Africa, so they will be looking to have a good outing in the tournament. We have some young players in the squad in the fast bowling department, so the bowling attack looks promising. In terms of the batting, I have not seen many of the players previously, but I am ready and willing to work with them and see what they have to offer.

On team's opponents in Group “B”: It comes down to how you play on the day. One of the things I will try to instil in the players is to play with no fear. We are not going to be overawed by any players or teams that are so called ‘bignames’. We want to work out our style of play, as quickly as possible and also try to gel as quickly as possible, on and off the field, so that we can put together the type of game that we want to play.

On how he would define success other than winning the tournament: It would be seeing development of the players, seeing steady improvement as we make our way through the tournament.

Improvement in fitness standards.

Improvement in attitudes toward the game. Improvement in the understanding of the game. This is an emerging squad, so it’s about bringing the players towards franchise, “A” Team and senior team. It is important for me to see the players understanding their game more and see improvements in the individual and in the unit. (CWI)

Just what was Shakib thinking?

By Sambit Bal Editor-in-chief, ESPNcricinfo

S

hakib Al Hasan now has a year of darkness to ponder over what his actions, or lack of them, have led to.

Another superstar of the game banned, for a wilful infraction far greater, in our minds, than the brazen ball-tampering that put Steven Smith and David Warner out of the game for a year. What a relief that no trace of match-fixing has come to light, but in the name of whatever god you may want to invoke, just what was Shakib thinking?

The cold glare of immediacy is harsh: the punishment for failing to report not one but at least three obvious approaches from a bookie is not Shakib's alone; the damage is far more profound.

He has let down his team, the fans, and the game that has brought him fame and fortune.

Every cricketer must know in his or her heart that match-fixing is the most heinous of sporting sins. It strips the game of every worthy thing: honour, faith, belief, truth and heroes. There is nothing redeeming about sledging, and ball-tampering is a form of cheating, but

it can tenuously be argued that these misdeamenours are employed in the pursuit of winning at least.

Fixing, on the other hand, reduces the game to a lie because only underperformance can be prearranged, never excellence. Every cricketer must know by now that corruptors lurk in every corner, preying on greed and weakness of character. These are enemies not merely to be wary of but warded off to the extent possible. With the proliferation of televised and loosely regulated cricket leagues around the world, the dangers are manifold. One little slip and a player is drawn into a web that is hard to break free from.

This is not a battle that the ICC and the anti-corruption units can fight alone.

Match-fixing is tough to anticipate and detect, and even harder to prove. It is often with luck and by happenstance that investigators stumble upon leads, and when they do, it is virtually impossible to prosecute the offenders using the legal system. Many who have been charged in the past have had their sentences reversed; some now sit in commentary boxes, and some have found their way into cricket administration.

That is why the game needs the

players on the front lines of this battle. It is to them that the approaches are made.

It is inevitable that a few will succumb, but it falls upon the rest to do not merely what is expected but what has been drilled into them. It's the least they can do. It can no longer be overlooked as negligence as was the case with Brendon McCullum who took three years to report an approach from a former team-mate.

Every player is now aware that reporting suspicious approaches is a sacrosanct duty, and that silence in such matters is guilt.

Shakib was more than just the captain of Bangladesh. He has been, arguably, their greatest ever cricketer and their biggest sporting superstar.

His centuries at this year's World Cup lifted millions of hearts, and that he has frequently been ranked the No. 1 allrounder in the world is the source of endless pride for a cricket-crazy nation.

Just a week ago, he rallied the country's playing community into a revolt against the Bangladesh cricket administration for what was largely considered a just cause.

And when the board bowed before the collective will of the players, the joy was widespread.

The halo of that leadership now feels

misplaced. Instead there is a shadow of cynicism, however unfair, because a lot more is expected of leaders. And all through this, there is one question that wouldn't go away: just what was Shakib thinking?

The approaches were from the same man, were fairly direct and occurred over three different tournaments and six months. There were suggestions of payment on offer. Apart from the fact that Shakib chose not to contest the charges and didn't offer ignorance as an excuse for his lack of action, there is nothing to mitigate his failure to report these advances instantly. By his own admission, he inferred the person to be dodgy, but in a conversation featuring mention of financial inducement, Shakib is reported as saying he "wanted to meet him first".

Few things in sport are more distressing than fallen heroes. Shakib's lapses have cost him a year, but the cost of the collateral damage is impossible to measure. The greater the player, the greater the impact. The taint on Shakib - and it's a taint all right - has taken the sheen off Bangladesh cricket, left behind a shaken team, and millions of broken hearts.

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WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Pee Wee Football Tournament

North Georgetown get the boot for fielding ineligible players T

he Courts Pee Wee 11 and Under final fixtures will see a change when they are contested on Saturday, November 2, as a result of

The statement read: “The Petra Organisation wishes to bring to your attention that a protestation was lodged by the Genesis Harmony School

North Georgetown Primary and Genesis Harmony in action

illegal activity.

The organising body, Petra, made the disclosure on Tuesday by way of a statement.

at conclusion of semi-final match number #59, played against the North Georgetown Primary on Saturday 26th October on the Ministry of Education

Ground, Carifesta Avenue.

Protest was against players Mr Akeem Joyce and Mr Cristino Rhodius, both of whom participated in the semifinal match #59 for the North Georgetown Primary School a n d b e ing above the eligible age. The Petra Organisation thereafter perused our 2017 and 2018 registration records and confirmed Genesis’s protest as being true and accurate.

Regrettable, this has resulted in the elimination of the North Georgetown Primary from the tournament who are guilty of using ineligible players in the competition under different alias. In addition, Coach Mr Aubrey McKenzie has been suspended for two years, from engaging and/or coaching any team or school

that is participating in any tournament coordinated by the Petra

Organisation.”

As such, N o r t h Georgetown P r i m a r y who defeated Genesis Harmony School 2-0 on Saturday last during the tournament’s semifinal will no longer be able to contest the final. Instead, their opponents Genesis will now step up to take on St Agnes Primary in the competition’s final. In addition, Soesdyke Primary, who fell to North Georgetown in the quarter-final, will now ascend to the thirdplace playoff, to take Coach on Tucville Aubrey McKenzie Primary.

WEEK ENDING november 3, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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