Guyana Times International 23-August-19

INTERNATIONAL THE BEACON OF TRUTH

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You can also read Guyana Times daily edition online at www.guyanatimesgy.com WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019

Jagdeo pushes for October polls ISSUE NO. 464

See story on page 3

…GECOM yet to decide on way forward

Carnival cricket returns to Guyana Page 54

...book your spot now!

...Tickets are also available online at www.cplt20.com

Passenger queuing times to be reduced at CJIA Page 9

…self check-in system to be introduced

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

NEWS 3

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Jagdeo pushes for October polls …GECOM yet to decide on way forward

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pposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo has once again called

period in order to run-off elections within the constitutional timeframe.

PPP Commissioners Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick leaving the GECOM meeting on Wednesday

on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to abort the current House-toHouse registration exercise and move right ahead with the claims and objections

During his weekly press briefing on Thursday, Jagdeo related that many citizens across Guyana are demanding that the Commission end the ongo-

ing house-to-house registration exercise and begin a claims and objections period with the old voters’ list.

“People are out there waiting, the enumerators are in a limbo, Guyanese people are in limbo. The Commission said they are waiting on the Chief Justice’s ruling…”, Jagdeo fumed.

“I believe that October is a timeline because the commissioners sat and they worked at this and showed that without compromising any quality we can achieve this by the end of October,” he said.

President David Granger has indicated that he is awaiting advice from the Commission on its readiness after which he would issue a proclamation on the elections date.

The Opposition Leader also said that he and other

Government Commissioners Desmond Trotman, Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin

party members believe that the plot by the APNU/AFC Government to “sanitise” his party’s supporters from the voters’ list has been foiled as a result of the recent ruling by Chief Justice Roxane George that no one can be removed from the national register, except in case where persons are deceased.

“They wanted to sanitise a lot of us from the list, so when election day comes a lot of us would have been sanitised and we won’t have had the right to vote but the ruling thwarted their plan to sanitise out of voting and they are in that little panic mode,” he said. turn to page 7

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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EDITORIAL

CPL: A success story

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s Guyana prepares to host its first round of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) matches, the level of excitement that is currently building is no surprise, as it has now become a norm that during this time, there is a renewed interest in the game from everyone in Guyana and in the diaspora.

Now in its seventh year, CPL is truly established as one of the leading T20 leagues in the world and compares favourably with the likes of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In addition to the high level of entertainment provided for families, many stakeholders in the Caribbean; including Governments and private sector bodies, are well aware of the huge potential the tournament has in terms of its massive contribution to host countries’ economies and the region as a whole.

It is well known that Guyana’s economy has been on a downward spiral for some time now and businesses and individuals are feeling the squeeze. Businesses have been complaining of poor sales and the general consensus was that much more needs to be done to revive the economy and create opportunities for citizens.

We believe that the hosting of the CPL games in Guyana is the kind of intervention that will give a much-needed boost to the economy. Hotels in Georgetown, both large and small, will see increase in bookings. The fans of the various teams will descend in Guyana in large numbers to root for their teams.

Not only would they attend the matches, but they would also use the opportunity to experience Guyana’s major tourist attractions. Hence, the benefits would have a trickle-down effect on other related sectors— such as transport and retail services, etc.

In essence, the CPL games are a good example of the tremendous benefits that could be derived from a sporting event of such magnitude. Guyana, through the CPL, has benefited significantly from hosting the event, since the inception of the tournament. The games’ economic impact locally has been both direct and indirect.

According to CPL, assessment reports compiled showed that the economy gained over US$25 million last season. The net sum was calculated by looking at the influx of tourists to the country, hotel bookings, vending during the games, and the overall spending of persons during this period. In addition to that economic impact figure the Hero CPL created 468 jobs in Guyana.

Now that the CPL tournament has proven to have many trickle-down effects, the whole concept of sports tourism is beginning to gain popularity in the region. The introduction of sports tourism as a major industry is an excellent idea and it would certainly be in the nation’s interest if the major players involved work seriously towards designing and implementing the necessary programmes and policies that would see Guyana taking advantage of the many opportunities available in the sector.

Analysts have pointed to the fact that sports tourism is a huge and growing industry with important economic implications for the sport, the event, and the impact of travel and tourism-related benefits on host destinations.

Additionally, each year, the National Stadium at Providence, which is the home ground of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, attracts sold-out crowds. However, with tournaments such as these, it is not only the sold-out stadiums that warrant the prestige, but it is a chance to showcase one’s country on the global market, since television viewership would usually span each continent.

CPL has indeed been a success story, not only as it relates to the development of cricket in Guyana and the region, but the potential for growth and the ability to create the kind of opportunities that would seek to improve the lives of citizens.

Guyana must therefore capitalise on the economic successes of CPL and work towards further developing sports tourism in general.

A sugar worker harvesting cane (This image was captured by DPI during a recent GuySuCo Fam-Tour)

How long is President Granger prepared to hold out on calling elections?

Dear Editor Now that the Chief Justice has given her ruling on August 14th, 2019, democratic and progressive-minded Guyanese have been vindicated on several counts once again by a judicial authority:– Elections were due three months after the passage of the no confidence motion on December 21, 2018 in accordance with article 106 which was immediately engaged; the date was not extended by a 2/3 majority of members of the National Assembly; – Whilst the House to House registration by and of itself is not unlawful or unconstitutional, the removal of names from the National Register of Registrants based on persons not being home, overseas etc, and scrapping of the National Register of Registrants, as being done by GECOM, is illegal; – the House to House registration cannot deregister people who are already on the National Register of Registrants, and, therefore, those already on the November 12, 2018 voters’ list do not need to register at House to House registration again; – There is no residency requirement for Guyanese to be on the National Register of Registrants and persons’ names ’cannot be removed unless they die or are no longer Guyanese, except Commonwealth citizens who are here for one year; – The CJ mentioned several times that the voters’ lists can be refreshed by other means as provided in law such as claims and objection; – The Guyana Election Commission must now choose options available to it by law to verify and refresh the Voters’ list taking into consideration the context that elections were due since March 21, 2019.

Madam Chief Justice (ag) Roxanne George-Wiltshire ruling on August 14th in no way deviated from the Constitution, neither the CCJ ruling of June 18th nor its July 12th consequential orders.

The President has not abided with the Caribbean Court of

Justice and continues to violate the Guyana Constitution. The President has not acted since December 21, 2018 to name a date for elections.

Today is 239 days since the passage of the NCM on December 21, 2018, or 7 months and 27 days.

Today is 149 days since March 21 2019 or 4 months and 27 days when elections were due according to article 106 (6) and (7).

Over the last eight months, GECOM refused to prepare for elections. In actual fact, it is the Patterson-led GECOM that has been an integral part of the subversion of constitutional rule in our country. This is the first time that elections have not been held within 90 days from the date of dissolution for general and regional elections in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2011, and 2015, and the Local Government Elections of 2016 and 2018 as required by the constitution and statutes. The difference with a No Confidence vote is that the three months period starts on the day that the vote was passed in the National Assembly, and, not from the time the President dissolves the Parliament and the Regional Democratic Councils under normal elections.

There is a new Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, and it is hoped that the now fully constituted Commission shall right the injustice done to the Guyanese people over the last eight months and abide with alacrity with the constitutional provisions of article 106 as exhorted by the Caribbean Court of Justice on July 12, 2019.

Here is what the CCJ said “The judiciary interprets the Constitution. But, as we intimated in our earlier judgment, these particular provisions {article 106(6) and (7) } require no gloss on the part of the Court in order to render them intelligible and workable. Their meaning is clear and it is the responsibility of constitutional actors in Guyana to honour them.

Upon the passage of a vote of no confidence, the Article requires

the resignation of the Cabinet including the President. The Article goes on to state, among other things, that notwithstanding such resignation, the Government shall remain in office and that an election shall be held “within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine”…

The CCJ then went on to state that “The Guyana Elections Commission (“GECOM”) has the responsibility to conduct that election and GECOM too must abide by the provisions of the Constitution.” { that is elections within 3 months as per article 106 (7) } Following the August 14th 2019 ruling by the Chief Justice, we can logically deduct that this House to House registration–which has insisted that people already registered had to be reregistered– has been a colossal waste of hundreds of millions of dollars, and, most important, time. Time which has been arrogated by the President and his government for an additional 149 days and counting past March 21, 2019 when elections should have been held.

This wasteful and redundant expenditure and exercise must stop immediately.

The Patterson-led GECOM did everything to ensure that no preparations for elections were commenced prior to March 21, 2019, instead preparing for House to House registration in the said month; this is a travesty that has whittled away the confidence of the people in the Guyana Elections Commission.

An issue the new Chairperson and Commission must address urgently in order to win back the confidence of the electorate and it must do so quickly.

The figures, which we have been receiving in dribbles from GECOM with no breakdown by region or by any of the 29 Registration Centres, has not and will not imbue confidence.

NEWS 5

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

“Lopsided” agreement benefitted some parties than others – WPA’s Hinds on Cummingsburg Accord

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he Working People’s Alliance (WPA), a member of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has described the Cummingsburg Accord— the sweetheart deal which binds APNU and Alliance for Change (AFC) — as a “lopsided” agreement, since it benefitted some parties more than others.

The WPA is one of five parties which came together in 2011 and formed A Partnership for National Unity.

WPA Executive Member Dr David Hinds told media operatives recently that the agreement was clearly disproportional and they are hoping also to have the APNU’s charter reassessed.

“Clearly, the last agreement created a sort of lopsided arrangement kind of within the coalition. We would hope that as they go into the second round of the Cummingsburg Accord and perhaps a reassessment of the APNU charter, because there is an APNU charter that binds the five parties together.

We did not look at it in the 2015 elections,” he said.

His remarks come on the heels of the

Ministry. The Tourism Ministry was then assigned under another AFC executive and sonin-law of the President, Dominic Gaskin, who was in charge of the Business Ministry— a lesser known ministry

also.

Jagdeo had also highlighted that the move taken by President Granger to strip Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman of his responsibility for the oil and gas sec-

tor. Responsibility for the environment was first taken away from Trotman when a decision was made to establish the Department of Environment that is now housed in the Ministry of the Presidency.

Valmiki College for Business and Technology launched in Guyana WPA’s David Hinds

Cummingsburg Accord being set to be reviewed in the near future. Hinds indicated that their supporters are of the opinion that the minority party in the coalition, the Alliance for Change (AFC) received more than what was deserving.

“We feel that there should be much more participation by all parties within the coalition.

Some of our supporters are saying that the AFC got more than they deserved in the last election and parties like the WPA got less than they deserved.

We would imagine that when they sit down to iron those things out, they would come to some conclusion that would be fair to all the parties,”

Hinds affirmed.

The Cummingsburg Accord expires on February 14, 2020.

However, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had positioned last year that it was being undermined by the APNU/ PNC. In fact, he mentioned moves made by President Granger to lessen the responsibility of AFC ministers.

AFC Executive, Cathy Hughes, was first appointed as Tourism Minister in 2015 when the coalition Government first took office. Her stint as Tourism Minister was short-lived, and she was reassigned to a relatively unknown ministry which has fewer responsibilities – the Public Telecommunications

G

uyana’s newest tertiary educational institution, the Valmiki College for business and technology, was declared open on Thursday as the non-profit institution is now expanded to offer varying academic services while at the same time instilling the Hindu culture and religion.

With the new

school term swiftly approaching, the Valmiki Vidyalaya High School will be a name of the past, as the educational institution successfully launched its College for Business and Technology, which is now equipped with a state of the art Computer Centre.

Now the Valmiki College for Business and

Technology, the launching was the product of a partnership between the institution and the Jay and Sylvia Sobhraj Foundation.

The school’s computer Centre is expected to serve both students and the wider society in equipping them with skills to thrive in a rapidly changing ICT professional environment.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Govt seems to be dodging from elections Efficient,

Dear Editor, The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), by law, is supposed to be in readiness to hold elections at any time and the House-to-House activities run contrary to the mandate of the constitutional agency and the rulings of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which recently addressed pertinent judicial hearings to which the organisation is bound.

Keith Lowenfield, as the CEO of the GECOM Secretariat, does not have the functional responsibility to hire staff for GECOM. Neither is the Secretariat authorised to do Houseto-House Registration on its own. It is the Commission, comprised of the Chairman and Commissioners, which has the authority to Gazette the date of commencement of Houseto-House Registration.

In this instance, Keith Lowenfield has undertaken to conduct the activities with biased contradictory intent and to the whims and fancies of the PNC/APNU dictate.

Further, there is no publication of commencement of House-to-House Registration on the date July 20, 2019, by the GECOM Secretariat in the Official Gazette.

Such is required if the activity was formally approved and supported its constitutional role. More serious is the fact that GECOM did not write the PPP Chief Scrutineer, Mr Mustapha, requesting his party’s List of Scrutineers to work during the House-toHouse Registration.

Additionally, it is

public knowledge that the Commission was not properly in place at the commencement of the House-to-House Registration since the Chairman had resigned. Lowenfield cannot usurp the position of the Commission while outside of the court; the lawyer, Marcus, cannot speak bindingly on citizens on behalf of GECOM because he is not under employ as a staff of GECOM. It will be interesting to see how and who is paying all these lawyers for GECOM. One will recall that Marcus had informed the CCJ that GECOM would be ready for election on December 25, 2019, when Opposition Commissioners, who are a part of the Commission, had no knowledge of any such position. The cake-shop-like approach of the Government Commissioners and Lowenfield belies the full uncertainty and lack of confidence that is now publicly enveloping the organisation.

Importantly, the APNU/AFC previously went to Parliament and extended the validity of the voters’ list from three months to six months. The APNU/ AFC previously advocated the Continuous Registration followed by a short period of Claims and Objections as the approach to be utilised, to sanitise and have a valid voters’ list for elections.

The voters’ list has remained updated using this manner for over 10 years with no complaints from this cabal. Only recently, its credibility and validity as well as the

mechanism for the update, using the continuous approach, were publicly favourably approved

by GECOM legal adviser and Mr Lowenfield. It is, therefore, unacceptable for this shifting convenience to accommodate for extending the life of the fallen Government.

With the passing of the constitutional timeline since the passing of the No-Confidence Motion, the APNU/AFC Government ought to be in caretaker mode. The failure of the Cabinet including the President to resign from these functions makes them unconstitutional.

They must resign! The Court said that it is up to the Elections Commission to determine a way forward within the confines of the constitutional provisions. Hence, it is imperative that the now imminent Justice Claudette Singh, as Chairman of the GECOM, gives the quality leadership that she possesses, and adheres to the Guyana Constitution and guidelines for the earliest process of Elections.

Further, it is most opportune to remind the GECOM Commissioners that Ms Yolanda Ward, the GECOM Public Relations Officer, along with the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, recently said that GECOM is ready for elections. Further, GECOM Legal Officer, Excellence Dazzell said that GECOM must be in a state of readiness for the holding of “free and fair” elections.

This scrapping of the present House-toHouse Registration is

necessary as logically and rationally, it would achieve no more than the Continuous Registration and Claims and Objections approach.

It is a waste of money and only serves the delaying and dodging from elections by the APNU/ AFC Government. This House-to-House activity is not authentic since there is no PPP scrutineer signature on the registration form.

GECOM must follow the Constitution and do what is in the interest of this nation. We must have a period of Claims and Objection and prepare a List of Electors which would allow the President to announce the earliest date for National and Regional Elections.

Vincent Alexander’s and the PNC’s use of inflated figures to misguide that 230,000 persons have been registered, is most ridiculous since there was no verification. How could GECOM commence the training of election officials? Who recruited elections officials? Who decided on the elections materials?

Who decided on essential and non-essential elections material?

The procurement of elections material is under serious investigations. The Secretariat spent hundreds of millions of dollars on radios, clippers and non-essential materials that were never used for the purpose for which they were procured. The lawlessness continues and time will tell who will answer.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

functioning system for travelers at CJIA is very critical

Dear Editor, It is nice to see the upgrades that have been done to the CJIA airport. The new facilities will provide a comfortable, modernised experience for travellers. To complement these improvements, I would like to make a few suggestions to improve the ease of transit experience for passengers.

1. Simplify the process for filling out departure and arrival records – An online system to check-in and complete the forms necessary for departure and arrival records should be implemented to ease the burden on families travelling with small children. The current process of filling out individual forms for each traveller is fatiguing and time consuming for persons (like myself) who travel with 2-3 small children in tow. Let’s have a secure form accessible by passengers online and authenticated by a security code generated by the system and sent to the passenger. Also, have the option for one form to be used to cover a family of two parents and three small children, filled out by one of the adults.

2. Make scanning luggage easier and more convenient – Instead of having to load your luggage up on a trolley then taking it to a special scanner for use by multiple passengers, why not have multiple scanners located at each customs aisle.

This way, the airport can scan multiple passengers’ luggage simultaneously and significantly decrease time spent going through customs. This will benefit both arriving and departing travellers and can allow the airport to serve more flights daily.

Development should not be limited to facilities and aesthetics only but should incorporate the policies, procedures and training provided to airport personnel to handle flights. There has been an uptick in the number of foreign visitors passing through Guyana, and as oil comes to the barrel, there will be more.

Having an efficient, functioning system for travellers will be critical to ensuring they have a good experience entering or exiting the country.

Sincerely, Shazaam Ally

GECOM should stop this charade and move into elections mode

Dear Editor, The rule of law is the foundation upon which modern civilisation rests. In its absence, anarchy prevails!

Dictators are born when those in authority remain silent as our Constitution and the rule of law are trampled upon in hope that someone else will have the courage to speak up. And very often, the rhetoric lacks teeth: The threat of sanctions and the political will to implement them. While no one wants to see Guyana return to the dark days of election rigging, election violence and the wanton destruction of private property that is the hallmark of the PNC, one cannot disregard the dangerous and irresponsible threat made

by Attorney General Basil Williams at a forum held at the Marriott Hotel, where he alluded

to violence and the destruction of property if Government should lose this election.

I caution, this is not a threat to be taken lightly.

There are also growing evidence and real concerns that the man who many thought possessed the attributes of a great leader is showing signs of impending tyranny that mimics his idol. But times have changed. We’re living in an era of advanced technology and instant communication. David Granger will never be allowed to replicate the things Forbes Burnham got away with.

In the recent case brought before Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George in the High Court by the outspoken advocate against corruption, Attorney Christopher Ram, challenging the legality of

the House-to-House (HtH) Registration, the Chief Justice last Thursday ruled that although the HtH is not illegal or unconstitutional in itself, residency is not a qualifying requirement, and therefore the names of those on the list of the National Register of Registrants (NRR) and Official List of Electors (OLE) cannot be removed unless deceased or they become disqualified.

This ruling vindicates the PPP/C’s call to the nation to boycott the HtH Registration to protect the constitutional right of every Guyanese to vote, regardless of where they may be, provided they’re already on the NRR database and are in Guyana on Election Day. Although the Court refused to set a date or a deadline for elections, the Chief Justice made it clear that

there should be compliance with the provisions of the Constitution. That is, elections in three months.

The Chief Justice also ruled that GECOM cannot operate as if it is in a dormant elections cycle, which echoes the ruling of the CCJ that, “The Guyana Elections Commission (“GECOM”) has the responsibility to conduct that election and GECOM too must abide by the provisions of the Constitution”.

What is puzzling, however, is GECOM’s reluctance to stop the HtH Registration when nothing can be achieved from continuing this process. The Chief Justice already ruled that the names of those on the list of the National Register of Registrants (NRR) and Official List of Electors (OLE) cannot be removed unless deceased, or they become disquali-

fied. So, what’s the point in continuing this charade? Why does the new GECOM Chairperson have to wait to receive a hard copy of the Chief Justice’s ruling before deciding on the way forward?

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that this is another delaying tactic being employed by GECOM. Readers may recall that GECOM’s original plan was to scrap the database known as the National Register of Registrants (NRR) and create a new one.

If this was allowed to continue without being challenged, every eligible Guyanese who has a Guyana National Identification Card and is already on the NRR database, but who was not home at the time the GECOM scrutineers visited would have been deleted from the List and

could not vote in the upcoming elections.

But now, because of the Chief Justice’s ruling last Thursday, if you are on vacation, if you are in the interior working or some other place away from home, if you are a bush pilot and is hardly ever home, or if you’re sick or giving birth in a nearby hospital, GECOM cannot now take you off the List if you’re not home or refuse to reregister when the scrutineers come visiting. And don’t let them con you into believing that if you don’t register, you wouldn’t be able to use your current ID card to do business next year, that’s not true!

And certainly no one can charge you for “not registering” if you already have a Guyana National Identification Card that says you’re already registered. turn to page 9

news 7

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

‘No business as usual at GECOM’ …CJ says Patterson’s order to embark on H2H did not take into account no-confidence vote T he Chief Justice (CJ) has delivered her written ruling on the No-Confidence Motion (NCM), issuing a stern reminder to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that a NCM was passed, and as

business as usual.

This reminder is contained in paragraph 113 of acting CJ Roxane George’s almost 50-page document. According to the written judgement, former GECOM Chairman James Patterson’s order to

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George

such, the body cannot ignore this and proceed as though it’s

begin House-to-House Registration did not take into consider-

ation the December 21, 2018 passage of the NCM. “The fact is that the July 2018 decision, and that made in 2007 at the 171st Meeting of GECOM, to conduct House-toHouse Registration, were not made in the context of an NCM,” the CJ wrote in her ruling.

“The NCM is an extraordinary circumstance that GECOM must bear in mind in its decision-making as it conducts the Houseto-House Registration and for that matter, any verification process that has as the objective, the compilation, or revision of the list of electors for the required upcoming elections”.

Justice George acknowledged that GECOM is an independent body pursuant to Article 161 and 162, which is not subject to the control of any other authority. But she also noted that GECOM is also subject to the

GECOM Chairperson Retired Justice Claudette Singh

Constitution and laws, thus, the Commission “cannot act as though it is in a normal registration or election cycle”.

“As such, since GECOM is seeking to register electors, GECOM may have to consider other options including what other methods of verification of the list may have to be utilised, whether in conjunction with or separately from the house-to-

from page 5

Sources close to the APNU/AFC Government claim that the President may name a date for the General and Regional Elections sometime in December, however, Jagdeo believes that elections could be held in October instead.

Meanwhile, even after meeting for a second time since the new Chairperson was appointed, GECOM is yet to decide on how to proceed regarding elections and the ongoing House-to-House (H2H) Registration.

In fact, there was a marked reluctance to get into specifics with the press on how Wednesday’s meeting with GECOM Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh transpired.

People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-nominated Commissioners were tight-lipped, only commenting that a further meeting will be held on Friday.

However, the Commission does hope to advise President David Granger “very soon” on their preparedness for the polls. This is according to Governmentn o m i n a t e d

Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who noted that while discussions on the way forward have started, outstanding matters still need addressing.

In response to questions about what options are open to the Commission, Alexander explained that Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield organised a presentation on different scenarios for election preparation.

Alexander denied reports that the meeting went ‘horribly’ against the Government side.

“There may be other methods (of sanitising the list). For instance, if we had invoked Regulation 40 the same objective would have been achieved. Regulation 40 speaks to the role of the Chief Immigration Officer and the Chief Registration Officer.

It provides for the Chief Immigration Officer to provide the Chief Registration officer with information on persons who have departed the country and provides the Chief Registration Officer to determine what is done”.

However, Alexander

noted that given the time frame, this is no longer an option. He said that other options will be explored collectively, noting that they will be in a position to advise the President “not long from now”.

It has now been over a week since the High Court ruled that H2H Registration, while constitutional, should also be tempered by

the need for early elections. Her written ruling was delivered on Wednesday.

In her written ruling, acting Chief Justice Roxane George reminded parties that a No-Confidence Motion was passed, and as such, the body cannot ignore this and proceed as though it’s business as usual.

house exercise”.

“Indeed, the CEO/ CR deposed that the preparation of the Official List of Electors permits the registration of every qualified elector during the registration exercise or a Claims and Objections period,” the judgement states.

P a t t e r s o n ’ s National Registration (Residents) Order of 2019, setting July 20 as the date for GECOM to commence House-to-House and for it to conclude in October, was gazetted in July. However, the order was signed by Patterson since June 11. The CCJ invalidated Patterson’s appointment via its ruling on June 18, with the retired Judge stepping down from his post at GECOM soon after.

With the clock ticking and elections months overdue, GECOM has not yet

made a decision with regards to the holding of elections or any other matters, even after the Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh, has now had two meetings with the six commissioners since her appointment last month.

The new GECOM Chair met with both Opposition and Governmentnominated commissioners for the first time last week, but no decisions surfaced regarding the next course of action with respect to House-toHouse Registration.

The meeting reportedly lasted a few hours, after which PPP Commissioner Bibi Shadick told the media that the Commission’s “businesses” were discussed. She stated that the matters will be addressed once the Chief Justice’s ruling is submitted in written form.

8 news

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Beating the odds: Visually impaired students excel at CSEC

E

ighteen-year-old Faith Green, a visually impaired student, has secured six passes at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.

Green, who resides in TucVille, Georgetown, was able to pursue the subjects with assistance from the Guyana Society for the Blind.

In an interview with Guyana Times International on Tuesday at the Society’s headquarters on High Street, Georgetown, the teen, who was the best performing student at the Society, said she intends to further her studies with her aim to become a journalist.

Green, like her colleagues, wrote English A, Social Studies, Principles of Accounts, Human and Social Biology, Principles of Business and Office Administration.

She secured a Grade One, three Grade Twos and two Grade Threes.

While sharing her journey to success, the student said she was

faced with a number of challenges but particularly listed health issues as the major one.

Due to the problems she faced with her sight, Green explained that she experienced severe headaches whenever she attempted to study for long hours.

“Most of the challenges came from, you know, you have to study a lot, you have to work real hard to get the subjects that you wanted.

Sometimes you didn’t want to but you had to force yourself cause at the end you made a difference”, the young lady stated.

Another visually impaired student, Omesh Jhagroo, 37, in tears, explained that he lost his sight at the age of 25 due to health complications.

As a child, Jhagroo said, he always had difficulty seeing and was unable to perform like the other students in his class.

Nonetheless, he believes that if a person living without disabilities can write and ace the exams, then so can persons living with disabilities.

Faith Green, (extreme right) along with other students who were successful at the recent CSEC Exams

“As long as you put your mind to it, you can make it,” he assured.

He secured passes in five subjects.

Twenty-seven-yearold Sachi Harricharan explained that there were times he felt like giving up, but continued studying.

Today, he said, he is very “pleased” to know

he was able to secure passes in five subject areas.

Harricharan plans to write Mathematics at next year’s CSEC examination as he intends to become an entrepreneur and is cognisant of the importance of the subject.

On the other hand, 18-year-old Robecka

Edinboro, who is visually impaired, said although she was not able to pass Mathematics, she is happy that she secured passes in four subjects.

This year, the Guyana Society for the Blind saw the sixth batch of students sitting the examinations.

Five children were able

to write CSEC and a 95 per cent pass rate was recorded, the best in a number of years.

P r o g r a m m e Coordinator for the Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities, Ganesh Singh noted that with the individual successes, it will assist the students in securing jobs.

How long is President Granger prepared to hold... from page 4

It now claimed as of August 15th that 230,000 over 14 years old have been registered. Given the Chief Justice (ag) ruling, any exclusion of persons who were registered previously on the existing National Register of Registrants during the exercise will be illegal.

The country must not be confused with regards to the time for the House to House field exercise and the time allocated for the total House to House registration to be concluded.

Given GECOM’s work plan dated February 25th 2019, it was projected that the House to House exercise would take from June 2nd to December 18, 2019, a total of 199 days or 6 months and 16 days.

Since the exercise started one month and 18 days later it means that the date would most likely be pushed to early February 2020.

Add to that the other consequential processes such as data verification and en-

try into the National Register of Registrants, cross matching of fingerprints, the production of a Preliminary Voters Lists, a Claims and Objection period, followed by the production of the Official List of Electors, and elections could very well be held into mid-2020.

With this in mind, GECOM must avoid the trap of believing that it has now gone so far in the field exercise that it might as well finish the exercise.

To do so would be to extend the life of the government into mid-2020 and contribute further to the subversion of constitutional rule, the demoralization of the Guyanese electorate and more wastage of precious time and resources.

Based on the Chief Justice ruling the APNUAFC government has been illegal since March 21, 2019, surely this must give impetus to GECOM to act righteously with the full backing of the constitution.

The Guyana Elections Commission has the power to halt and should halt this wasteful exercise and immediately commence Claims and Objections period, with the existing Registration centres and staff already in place that has been used for the House to House registration, and be ready to hold elections long before the month of December.

Most interestingly in the last few days, Mrs. Garrido-Lowe and the WPA using Congress Place talking points in public statements are now trying to condition December as the month for elections; Congress Place is behaving as if it is above the constitution; it can usurp the constitution, and, throw out the judicial rulings. This new strategy should be condemned.

Ultimately it is the President’s call and he has not named a date.

I wish to remind the President that article 9 of the Constitution states that “sovereign-

ty belongs to the people {not to GECOM, not the President, not the Cabinet, not the government}, who exercise it through their representatives and the democratic organs established by or under this constitution”.

How do we exercise this sovereignty?

Through our power and our right to elect those representatives at elections–a right that the President has been denying the Guyanese electorate since March 21, 2019.

The President and his government lost the mandate to govern after its resounding defeat at the Local Government Elections on November 12, 2018—a hard pill to swallow l am sure.

Nevertheless, the voters in those 80 Local Authorities Areas represent 90.5% of all voters. The PPP/C won 65% of the 80 Local Authorities. Following that the government lost the confidence of the Legislature on December 21, 2018.

The President and

APNUAFC Coalition government, therefore, stand exposed without moral, political, parliamentary and constitutional authority.

Whilst the President has exclusive powers, these are given within the confines of the constitution and he is subservient to the Constitution, therefore he must announce the following forthwith:i) The President and Cabinet stand resigned: ii) A caretaker government with restrained and limited authority as spelt out by the Caribbean Court of Justice and Commonwealth parliamentary norms; iii) Name a date for elections; iv) Dissolve the Legislature.

How long is Mr. Granger prepared to hold out on calling elections? Is President Granger prepared to go down in history, as one of the first leaders in a parliamentary democracy in any part of the world, to have defied a No Confidence Motion

legitimately passed and refused to hold elections within the constitutionally required time frame? I cannot think of one parliamentary democracy where this has happened. Will this be Mr. Granger’s legacy?

We assert our right under the Guyana Constitution to exercise our sovereignty and our power to elect our representatives to govern our nation and demand that the President and his illegal government name a date for elections.

We urge GECOM to act with alacrity to prepare for elections.

GECOM’s mandate is that it must always be ready to hold elections.

This is no time to sit on the fence. Who are those amongst us prepared to defend the constitution and democracy? As the next few days and weeks unfold we shall learn who will join us to defend our constitution and our democracy.

Sincerely, Gail Teixeira

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Passenger queuing times to be reduced at CJIA … self check-in system to be introduced

T

he Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Tuesday announced that a contract was recently inked for the upgrade of the common use terminal systems at the airport, which will see persons being checked in much faster.

In a statement, the airport explained, “This project will see the introduction of additional check-in counters, as well as four self-check-in kiosks. Online and selfcheck-in processes are currently available for departing passengers”.

This upgrade, according to CJIA, was inspired by a letter published in the media where suggestions were made for improvement. These features, the release stated, are sure to significantly reduce passenger checkin queuing times.

In addition, it was noted that an Inline Baggage Handling System is also being procured to further improve the services.

“This system will comprise a high-resolution Computer Tomography Explosive Trace Detection Machine which will be used to screen passenger checked luggage,”

Passengers wait in long lines to be processed at CJIA

the airport stated.

Further it said plans are being made to secure walk-through metal detectors and hand luggage scanners at the CJIA for the various access control points.

According to the airport, management had pointed out that they are looking at recommendations made to alter the completion of arrivals and departure records from a paper-based method to an online system.

P u b l i c Infrastructure Minister David Patterson when contacted told Guyana Times International that the Ministry of Citizenship had announced in its budget that the kiosks will be added to the airport’s upgraded features.

This feature, the Minister said, is available at the JFK International Airport.

It will allow travellers to scan their passport and receive a printout,

GECOM should stop... from page 6

So why is GECOM continuing to spend billions of dollars on a useless HtH campaign now that the Chief Justice has ruled that eligible voters cannot be deregistered? Why is it taking so long for the new GECOM Chairman to act?

The only clear pathway in keeping with its constitutional obligations is for GECOM to now swiftly move to Claims and Objections and stop or postpone this charade.

The Leader of the Opposition has been very tolerant and reasonable since the passage of the No-Confidence Motion, emphasising the need for Government and the Opposition to work together in the best interest of our country. But after Granger’s unwillingness to negotiate in good faith, to accept the conditions under Article 106(6) and 106(7) of our Constitution and to call elections within the al-

lotted three-month timeframe; and because of his determination to stay in power all cost, we see no need to return to Parliament to give this cabal legitimacy through a two-thirds majority vote to further plunder the resources of our nation by campaigning under the guise of ministerial outreaches. So, for all intents and purposes, David Granger and his entire Administration are all usurpers, illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional.

But despite his public pronouncement that he’s waiting on GECOM to advise him, it seems that David Granger has already set a date for elections. This was revealed last Friday during a disappointing Skeldon outreach by Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie GarridoLowe while speaking to about five supporters and over 150 empty

chairs. She announced that “Elections will be this year, according to the President.”

Then during a press conference, the PNC/ APNU chief apologist, WPA Executive Member David Hinds “forecasts” that elections could be held “sometime in December”.

This decision to have elections one year after the no-confidence motion is believed to have been made at Congress Place, and is being leaked to influence GECOM to give the Administration more time. It is therefore obvious that the Government Commissioners at GECOM are being used to carry out the mandate of the PNC Leader and others at Congress Place.

That must stop now!

Sincerely, Harry Gill PPP/C Member of Parliament

which means no more lines.

“The in-line scanner is an upgrade to the existing scanner, which is GRA equipment, so it will be along the conveyor belt or in line with it, so now you place the bags in the belt after check in, and

the conveyor moves it through the scanner to the end of the line”, Patterson added.

The subject Minister could not state the cost attached to this upgrading, but would only say, “The airport (is) not buying, its GRA and the

Citizenship (Ministry), we should be helping out”.

Just last month, it was reported that a Canadian firm will supply the airport with new equipment to aid in the landing of aircraft at the facility.

The expansion of the CJIA has been ongoing for a number of years, and while the APNU/ AFC Government has repeatedly blamed the former administration for not including necessary plans in the project during the initial stages, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had stated that the absence of those necessary plans is a deliberate strategy to create opportunities for local contractors.

In 2012, under the PPP/C Administration, Guyana secured a US$138 million loan from the China Exim (Export-Import) Bank to fund the expansion and modernization of the project, for which the Guyana Government was slated to inject some US$12 million.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana’s law students facing financial hardships to study in T&T

Attorney General Basil Williams (centre) takes a photo with the aggrieved law students

By Jarryl Bryan

G

uyanese law students have welcomed the move to provide scholarships for them to be able to study at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago, given the fact that students are buckling under the costs charged by the institution as well as the sheer cost of living.

A delegation met with Attorney General Basil Williams on Tuesday, where Vice President

of the Guyanese Jurisdiction Committee, Olivia Bess, laid out the conditions under which aspiring lawyers have to study in Trinidad.

According to Bess, these students still have to find money for food— costs she estimates to be close to $100,000 in Guyana currency. In addition, there are also the costs of living accommodation.

“We requested a meeting with the Attorney General because we as Guyanese students in

Trinidad suffer a lot of financial difficulties in relation to our tuition fees, living expenses, food, etc.

For example, the tuition fee has increased for the first years. It is no longer TT$98,366. It is now TT$101,066. When you exchange that to Guyana dollars, that would be GYD$3 Million”.

“That’s just the firstyear tuition fee. Added to that, you also have living expenses. The average Guyana student in Trinidad would pay around TT$3000.

When you convert that, that would be around GYD$90,000 a month.

And you still have to send it through the bank or Western Union and these places will add on their own rates”.

In terms of food, Bess noted that the average student will spend between TT$1500 to TT$2000 on a monthly basis. She explained that this translates to them spending between $45,000 to $60,000.

“So, when you total all the expenses for one

City Hall facing financial problems again

…Mayor urges residents to settle outstanding rates and taxes

M

ayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine is appealing to residents in the capital city to pay their rates and taxes so that City Hall, which has been delinquent in its payments to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), can pay off its debt.

It was recently reported that City Hall owes NIS some G$218 million. The Mayor said that the treasurer and finance Committee are exploring options to have this issue resolved.

“They are looking at how we can be able to honour those obligations,” he said while adding, “We are appealing to the public to pay their taxes so we can get our NIS and so clear. Everything is about money and to be honest, City Hall is really cash-strapped where we can’t afford it.

On this note, the Mayor admitted that the situation becomes so severe at times that the Council is unable to pay staffers some months. According to the Insurance Act, it is a criminal offence if entities fail to pay their contributions by the due date.

Those who refuse to pay can be prosecuted.

Last August, City Hall workers took to the streets in front of City Hall as they protested the non-payment of NIS contributions among others.

Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine

It was explained that on many occasions workers have visited the NIS and were unable to get any money for spectacles or sick leave since the Council has been delinquent in its payments.

Following the protest, the then Town Clerk, Royston King met with the workers’ union and a payment plan was agreed to, to address these concerns.

NIS deficit With agencies like City Hall failing to pay up their contribu-

tions, NIS recorded a whopping G$748 million deficit during the first half of this year.

This was evident in the Finance Ministry’s Half Year report which explained that the insurance scheme recorded an overall deficit of G$748.4 million for the year, compared to the G$715.6 million it recorded in the same half-year period for 2018. Revenue collection so far for 2019 was G$11.9 billion, 9.7 per cent more than the same period for 2018.

year, it is nothing less than G$5 Million. That is just per year. It is two years so you have G$10 Million. So, it’s not easy for the Guyanese students in Trinidad to function properly or study properly, even though we do perform well. But it’s not an easy task”.

“We have to think about our parents, our guardians, how are they going to find that money? I know countless students who cried because they could not find that money to pay for Hugh Wooding law school. It’s not an easy task”.

Scholarships

Bess was accompanied by students holding their Bachelors in Law from the University of Guyana, as well as students already enrolled at the Hugh Wooding Law School. The Legal Affairs Ministry had announced that full scholarships to study law for the 2019/2020 year at Hugh Wooding were available.

This came after reports that the Ministry’s finance secretary failed to cover expenses for students. Attorney General Basil Williams criticised the staff who was responsible for sending money for the students in Trinidad but didn’t.

Williams noted that once that money was approved by Cabinet, it ought to have been disbursed. He thus distanced himself from the decision to withhold the funds, noting that when budgeted sums are passed in Parliament then they are meant to be spent.

He noted that while the staff should have been sent on administrative leave pending a hearing, she’s still on the job. Moving forward, the AG hinted that Government could go ahead with building its own law school, while acquiring Council of Legal

Education approval afterwards.

Stiff competition

Currently, law students at the University of Guyana complete the Bachelor of Law (LLB) programme after which the top 25 graduates are granted entry annually into the Hugh Wooding Law School to get their LEC. However, in recent years, Guyanese students in Trinidad have been complaining bitterly about the system, particularly the limited intake when the law classes at UG are packed with close to 100 students.

Additionally, they also complained about the high cost of obtaining the LEC, which is pegged at more than G$3 million, and this excludes education materials, accommodation and daily expenses such as food and transportation.

The requirements for eligibility for the limited scholarships being offered by the Department of Public Service include: being the holder of the Bachelor of Laws Degree, with a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3, obtained within the last five years.

Applicants must be 35 years old or under, and must have an offer of acceptance from the Hugh Wooding Law School for the 20192020 academic year.

Present students at the Hugh Wooding Law School must have passes for the first year of studies with at least three courses passes with Grade A. Over the years, the need for a local law school has been excessively highlighted and as such, Government has undertaken to step up such an institution here in a joint venture with Jamaican partners.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

High Court denies Execution-style killing injunction against Guyana accused to face judge, jury Times, Opposition Leader

H

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

igh Court Judge Fidela CorbinLincoln, on Tuesday, denied an injunction filed by engineer Charles Ceres to prevent Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo from speaking about Government’s alleged massive land giveaway, from which he reportedly benefitted. The court also denied Ceres’ application to prevent Guyana Times from publishing stories on the same matter.

Ceres and his wife, who is an employee of the Ministry of the Presidency, filed for the injunction against Guyana Times after reports were published on alleged land corruption

within the Government.

The allegations were made by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo during his weekly press conference in June.

Guyana Times along with other media houses reported the Opposition Leader’s claims and were subsequently sued

by Ceres and his wife for libel. They are seeking over G$200 million each in damages.

In his statement of claim, Ceres and his wife are seeking damages from Jagdeo and Guyana Times for statements he made for alleging they obtained public lands at Canje Creek, Bohemia and Liliendaal by corrupt, illegal and/or criminal means.

Charles Ceres

Jagdeo had initially expressed concerns about the massive giveaway of lands by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission to alleged associates of employees of the Ministry of the Presidency at strategic locations to massively benefit the beneficiaries from the coming oil boom. Guyana Times, along with several other media houses, had reported on the matter.

Jagdeo had accused Ceres of obtaining hundreds of acres of land in Canje Creek, Region Six, and in Bohemia, Region Six. Following the accusations, Ceres and his wife denied the allegations.

A

Brian Mohan and Christopher Wharton (Stabroek News photos)

man, who allegedly carried out an execution-style killing on a North Ruimveldt resident back in 2015 in what appeared to be a drug-related crime, was on Tuesday committed to stand trial at the High Court.

Brian Mohan, also known as “Abdool”, of Hill Street, Albousytown, was committed to stand trial by Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts for the murder of Christopher Wharton

called “Taps”.

The charge alleged that on November 18, 2015, Mohan murdered Wharton at Festival City, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

The Magistrate found that a prima facie case has been made out against Mohan.

According to reports, Christopher had returned home when two men, who are known to him, rode up on bicycles and fired shots at him while he was seated on the stairs of his home.

His son, who was at

the time watching television, ran to his father’s aid and was also shot.

Christopher, who shouted for his neighbours, was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The murder was captured on CCTV cameras, which allegedly shows two men riding up to the premises with bicycles and carrying out the act.

Mohan is still facing a trial for the illegal possession of a .32 pistol and 10 live rounds of ammunition.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Tullow defends 1% recoverable royalty in exploration contract …but several other countries have average 10% royalty rate

I

n the wake of reports that Tullow will be recovering the one per cent royalty it pays to Guyana through cost oil, the British oil firm has defended itself by pointing to international licence standards and the previous losses it took on a failed exploration well.

In an interview with this publication, Tullow’s Head of Media Relations, George Cazenove reminded that back in 2012, Tullow and its partners spent and lost over US$100 million on a failed exploration well in Guyana.

“What I can say is that our licence is entirely in line with licences around the world in frontier exploration areas. Don’t forget that the Jethro well had a one in four chances of success at our risk. And we know what it’s like to lose money in exploration – we and our partners spent $185M USD in Guyana in 2012 on the Jaguar well and, as per our licence, got nothing back,” Cazenove said.

Experts have argued for some time Guyana Government has not done enough to include ring-fencing provisions within the oil contracts it signed with operators.

Ring-fencing terms ensure that liabilities (losses) associated with a company’s asset, in this case a previous well, cannot be transferred and the costs recouped from another well.

The one per cent royalty, itself, has been criticised in recent times for

Tullow’s Head of Media Relations, George Cazenove

its very amount. It falls short of the two per cent ExxonMobil has to pay to Guyana. When compared to oil producers around the world, however, the rate falls even shorter.

While some oil producers did start with low royalty rates similar to Guyana’s, their respective governments had the foresight to include provisions in their contracts for a sliding scale that would ensure the royalty rate went up as oil production increased.

The Global Legal Research Centre in the Library of Congress of the United States (US) did a study on royalty rates a few years back, in which it cited the rates various countries imposed on companies.

A comparison of the rates for just 12 of these countries— including Venezuela, Algeria, Argentina, Columbia and Ecuador— shows an average royalty rate of 10 per cent. Cazenove reminded, however, that it was still early days for the company and Guyana as an oil producer.

“It’s very early days

for Tullow in Guyana.

We’ve drilled one well so far that has been successful… which is great news, but we are a long way from reaching production. We need to drill more exploration wells and appraisal wells as well as completing technical analysis before our licences become production licenses,” Cazenove said.

that Jethro-1 comprises high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs of Lower Tertiary age, which simply means they date back to millions of years ago.

According to the statement, the well encountered 55m of net oil pay, which indicates a recoverable oil resource estimate that exceeds Tullow’s pre-drill forecast of 100 million barrels of oil.

News of the find cre-

costs. A report prepared

by Hannam and Partners (Advisory) LLP was cited in the article.

Already, the contract exempts Tullow from paying a range of taxes and duties. Section 15.1 of Tullow’s contract states that “subject to Article 32 and except as provided in Article 15.2, 15.8 and…

Article 15.1, no tax, value added tax, excise tax, duty, fee, charge or other impost shall be levied at the date hereof or from

ment and rent owing to the government for any land rights granted or assigned.

And it was only this year that the government passed a motion in the National Assembly, moved by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, to confirm tax waivers for the British oil company.

The activity was boycotted by the Opposition because of its caretaker status.

Tullow Guyana BV

Oil find

It was announced on August 12 that Tullow discovered oil in commercial quantities at the Jethro-1 exploration well in the Orinduik Block.

This is the first discovery in the Orinduik Block, which is located in close proximity to the Stabroek Block – where United States oil giant ExxonMobil had already made 13 lucrative oil discoveries.

The Jethro-1 well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship to a total depth of 4400 metres in approximately 1350 metres of water. According to a statement from the company, evaluation of the logging data confirmed

The Stena Forth drillship working on Tullow’s well

ated waves in financial centres around the world, as well as international news outlets. That very day, Tullow’s shares jumped by over 19 per cent on the London Stock Exchange to become the biggest gainer on the index.

Not long after, however, reports emerged in sections of the media in which it was alleged that the one per cent royalty that Tullow agreed to in its deal with the government, can be recouped as

time to time thereafter on the contractor or affiliated companies in respect of income derived from petroleum operations or in respect of any property held, transactions undertaken or activities performed for any purpose authorized or contemplated hereunder”.

The only exceptions are import duties at rates set out in the Customs Act and subject to Article 21 of the contract; income unrelated to what is derived under the agree-

is the operator of the Orinduik Block, with a 60 per cent stake. Total E&P Guyana BV holds 25 per cent with the remaining 15 per cent being held by Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc. It was recently announced that Qatar’s state oil company is looking to enter into Guyana’s oil market with a farm-in deal through total that could see them obtaining stakes in both the Orinduik and Kanuku Blocks.

11 GDF ranks get 5-year President Granger attends viewing scholarships to study in China

of late Presidential Guard

President David Granger views the body of the late Police Constable Winston Cooper.

Also photographed is Mr. John Barker, Superintendent of Police. (MotP photo)

P

resident David Granger, on Thursday morning, attended the viewing of the body of the late Constable Winston Cooper, former member of the Presidential Guard, at the Lyken Funeral Parlour, the Ministry of the Presidency has reported.

President Granger had called for an inquiry into the death of Constable 2045 Cooper, during a visit to his East Ruimveldt, Georgetown home after learning of his death on August 14, 2019.

President Granger empathized with Cooper’s grieving mother, Ms. Loraine Peters and other relatives.

The 32-year-old Presidential Guard died after a few weeks of hospitalization.

He was found unconscious opposite the National Gymnasium by first responders of the Guyana Fire Service on July 1, 2019 and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

P

resident David Granger, on Wednesday, at the Ministry of the Presidency, met eleven scholarship awardees of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) who will soon travel to the People's Republic of China to take up their five-year scholarships.

The scholarship awardees are Kevon Blount, Romain Wilson, Shaka Williams, Floyd Phillips, Jamaal Leitch, Sevon Ferreira, Shane Blair, Neon Fiedtkou, Shivanand Persaud, Seabra Manbode and Jehu West.

The 11 Second Lieutenants will be pursuing studies in the fields of Industrial, Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, Industrial, Electronic Information Engineering, Mechatronic Engineering, Bio-engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering and Technology.

In his address to the awardees, President Granger said that the Defence Force is being restructured and reorganised to ensure that it is well-commanded, well-trained and well-equipped to perform

China’s Ambassador to Guyana Cui Jianchun greeting the scholarship awardees

this role.

The President said the Force’s technical corps – the Air Corps, Engineer Corps, Intelligence Corps, and Signal Corps as well as the Coast Guard – are being improved and retooled, as part of this restructuring and reorganisation process.

Moreover, the Head of State said the Defence Force "must be ready to react effectively to traditional threats – incursions and to other forms of interventions. It must be

prepared also, to strengthen its capacity to respond to new and emerging threats, such as biological and chemical warfare, cyber threats, electronic warfare, and environmental hazards."

Meanwhile, Ambassador Cui Jianchun said with the scholarships Guyana and China's cooperation is strengthened. He urged the recipients to cherish the opportunities provided to them and to be good Guyanese ambassadors.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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Guyana Amazon Warriors home fixtures

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

JetBlue eyeing Guyana route P

u b l i c Infrastructure Minister David Patterson has announced that a JetBlue team will be arriving in Guyana next month.

“They will be mount-

ing a mission next month… the first or second week of next month.

They will start looking at things like facilities, hotels, staffing,” Patterson was quoted as saying by the Department of Public

Information.

The minister was responding to the reports that that the American carrier is expected to add Guyana to its international routes in early 2020.

“From my understanding, they received the aircraft late, so it is pushed back a bit. They were supposed to start in November and they are still pushing [towards the launch of operations

in Guyana],” Minister Patterson explained.

Commenting on Guyana being an attractive hub for other airlines, Minister Patterson expressed confidence that with ‘first oil’ in 2020, many more airlines are expected to come on stream.

Trains: 2 or 5 to Church Ave Email: madibatatouenploi@gmail.com

With the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) turning the sod last Friday for its new headquarters, Minister Patterson said “the need for a robust and an increased GCAA is indisputable,” as Guyana’s aviation sector increases.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

British envoy urges Chevening scholars to return and serve their country

E

British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn

leven Guyanese will soon be departing Guyana’s shores for studies in the United Kingdom (UK) after they were selected for the Chevening scholarship this year.

At the British High Commissioner’s residence last Friday evening, the candidates were joined by two others from neighbouring Suriname. The scholarship is a fully-funded initiative which the UK Government extends to several countries.

Awardees are required to spend one year in some of the most prominent universities, completing a post-graduate master’s programme.

British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn explained that this opportunity is geared at providing a gateway for Guyanese to study and then return to serve the country. While other employment offers will come along, it is the expectation that Guyana will be placed as a priority.

“After these scholars have been awarded their degrees, we expect them to come back and work for the benefit of Guyana…This is the purpose of Chevening – to give people the skills and knowledge needed to help develop their own country. Not to go and work elsewhere but to return and work here.

It is the least we can expect. We are not spending money to have people vanish off elsewhere,” Quinn expressed.

This year, the scholarships were funded by the British Government at a cost of G$93 million. The post-gradu-

ate studies were awarded in a number of fields including marine planning, oil and gas law, health, environment, human rights, economics, information technology, media and cultural studies; and sports science. The envoy said this demonstrates their commitment to developing Guyana.

“I am proud that we have committed this amount of funding to develop and train those people who will help develop Guyana. I am also proud that we have shown an increasing commitment to Suriname over the same period,” he stated.

Meanwhile, one of the alumnus Dr Quincy Jones shared advice to the new batch, charging them to make the best use of this opportunity.

He also positioned that while it was challenging to gain admission, there will be other roadblocks.

“You will meet people who think that you’re too entitled but don’t let that stop you. You have to remember why you were chosen for Chevening.

You have to remember that you checked that box and you have to remember that this is not just for you, but it is a shot for Guyana moving forward,” Jones told the new scholars.

Among this year’s candidates are Anjie Lambert, Ashley Bankay, La Donna Fredericks, Carlyle Collins, Petra Richmond, Sunita Samaroo, Jaime Skeete, Vivette Wellington, Desilon Daniels and Christelle Chesney.

Applications are opened for next year’s scholarships and will close on November 5.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Miner kills wife, attempts suicide A

Nabacalis, East Coast Demerara (ECD) man attacked and stabbed his wife to death on Wednesday following an argument over an extramarital affair. After killing his wife, the miner then attempted to take his own life.

Dead is Vinetta Headley-James.

Reports are the 44-year-old woman was killed at about 12:50h during a heated argument with her husband, 45-year-old Sherlock James.

This newspaper was told that the incident occurred at the couple’s Lot 68 Nabacalis Sideline Dam, ECD home. Guyana Times International understands that James would spend long periods in the interior, and had accused his wife of cheating on him.

Three days ago, the couple was involved in a heated argument over the allegations when James assaulted the mother of his three children and then fled the scene. However, he returned home on Wednesday and according a close relative, his wife attempted to put his clothing outside.

This led to a confrontation and James cautioned his now dead wife against putting his

cumbed while being treated at the CC Nicholson Hospital, ECD. James was later discovered lying a short

distance from his house with a stab wound to his neck, which is suspected to be self-inflicted.

He was taken to the Georgetown Public

Hospital, where he is receiving treatment under guard.

The police are continuing their investigations.

Jamaicans to benefit from $40m in US scholarships

S

Dead: Vinetta Headley

belongings out of the home.

During the confrontation, an angry James ran into the kitchen, where he picked up a knife and attacked his wife, stabbing her to

her neck. After being stabbed to her neck, the woman ran into the yard and collapsed. She was picked up and rushed to the hospital by the couple’s eldest daughter.

However, she suc-

ix Jamaicans are among hundreds worldwide to benefit from the 2019 US Government-funded International Exchange programmes and fellowships — Fulbright and Humphrey.

This year’s cohort has benefited from approximately $40 million in funding, a release from the US Embassy in Kingston said.

According to the release, this year’s diverse group of scholars will pursue their post-graduate degrees in a range of areas and eagerly look forward to career enrichment and the acquisition of best practices, with the hopes of improving their local entities.

“This year’s batch was very competitive and the selection process was very rigorous,” said counsellor for public affairs at the US Embassy in Kingston, Jeremiah Knight. “They are eager to make a difference, and we look forward to them doing their

best and returning to give of what they’ve learned to Jamaica.”

The Fulbright programme has two sets of scholarships. There is the Fulbright Graduate Student Program, which is open to Jamaicans who completed an undergraduate degree locally.

Chavon Rogers, KelleyAnn Lindo and RenNeasha Blake were this year’s recipients in that category.

“Rochelle Channer Miller and Nicola Satchell were chosen for the Fulbright (LASPAU) scholarship. This is for tertiary faculty development, specifically persons teaching at the local university level,” the release said.

Additionally, Cerita Buchanan was selected for the Humphrey Program, a one-year fellowship which provides leadership and career enrichment in the United States, the release said.

The recipients’ programmes span the realms

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo took the opportunity during a recent horse racing event to meet and greet citizens

of political science, public administration and policy, urban and regional planning, sociology, higher education, and the fine arts.

“Every year the selection gets more difficult, as such qualified persons apply. But so many more can benefit,” said Knight.

Knight is therefore encouraging more people to pay keen attention to the embassy’s website and social media handles, as a wide range of opportunities often become available.

“These aren’t just for studies, but we do have grants for funding and other programs often become available,” he said.

“We do have a grant call now open so persons should go check it out.”

The US Government has offered scholarship opportunities through the Fulbright and Humphrey programmes to Jamaicans even before Jamaica’s Independence in 1962, the release said.

(Jamaica Observer)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Ali questions Govt’s spending of G$30B GuySuCo bond W

hen the Coalition Government arranged a G$30billion bond guaranteed by the State and National Industrial and Commercial Investment (NICIL) assets, it was supposed to recapitalise the sugar sector. But the poor performance of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for the year raises questions about how the money was actually spent.

The recently released Ministry of Finance halfyear report tells of a sector still mired in trouble.

And according to People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Presidential Candidate and parliamentarian, Irfaan Ali, the population needs answers for how this money was spent.

“Of concern is the Government guarantee G$30 billion bonds of which the Government utilised approximately G$17.6 billion and is yet to provide an explanation to the people of Guyana regarding the use of these funds”.

“In his report, the Minister also stated that NICIL repaid G$785.3 million during the first half of 2019. Given the poor performance of GuySuCo during the first

half, an urgent explanation is warranted,” Ali said in a statement on Monday.

The 2019 mid-year report had found that at the end of June 2019, GuySuCo recorded a cash surplus of G$843 million when compared to a deficit of G$3.8 billion in the same period in 2018.

However, sources have attributed this to the Corporation having received a total of G$9.3 billion, of which G$3.9 billion came from NICIL’s Special Purpose Unit (SPU) to fund its operations and capital projects.

“The Corporation exported 37,836.7 tonnes of sugar, of which 33,263 tonnes were sold to the EU market at a higher price than budgeted, resulting in an increase of G$1.3 billion in export sales. Current expenditure was G$8.1 billion in the period under review, G$2.7 billion lower than the corresponding period in 2018”.

“The Corporation’s capital expenditure was G$334 million, 90.3 per cent lower than the budgeted amount of G$3.4 billion, primarily due to delays in funding for capital works. The Corporation projects a deficit of G$920 million

PPP Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali

at the end of 2019,” the report also said.

GuySuCo was also found to have fallen short of its production targets for the first crop, with output reaching 33,531 metric tonnes of sugar.

There were delays in the start of production, which attributed to the late delivery of materials for critical repairs to boilers in the factories.

In addition, the Corporation had to contend with extended equipment maintenance at the Uitvlugt factory.

Thus, the commencement of cane harvesting was pushed to late February.

The report also warned that all these things could affect production for the rest of the year and 2020.

And in the Bank of Guyana’s recently released first quarter statistical bulletin, it had showed that sugar experienced a major decline of 34.3 per cent, owing to the restructuring process the Corporation is undergoing.

Estates

Since the closure of the four estates, leaving more than 7000 sugar workers jobless, Government has moved to divestment of the facilities. United

Kingdom company, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), was subsequently contracted to carry out valuations of GuySuCo’s assets up for sale and had invited expressions of interest from potential buyers, though it was recently revealed that the political climate has stalled these transactions.

The bond was arranged last year by Republic Bank Limited, through its Investment Banking Division, with law firm London House Chambers, headed by Devindra Kissoon acting as a transaction attorney.

It was arranged at a rate of 4.75 per cent interest. A source close to the Finance Ministry had told Guyana Times International that while the interest rates secured would appear to be very favourable, the implications of failing to consistently repay the bond and related interest rates would be dire.

Indeed, SPU Head Colvin Heath-London has previously confirmed that specific NICIL assets are on the line, should they default on the bond. In addition, concerns were previously raised that GuySuCo was not accounting for how it was

spending the money, though it subsequently denied this.

Meanwhile, Ali also warned that while the report’s monetary statistics paint a “rosy picture” of the investment climate, there are worrying indicators. According to Ali, the monetary statistics revealed that credit to the private sector increased in all the key sectors.

“However, the growth in credit should be cause for concern since the commercial banks are increasing credit at a time when the economy is struggling, and non-performing loans are increasing. The ratio of non-performing loans has trended upwards from 5.97 per cent at end-June 2014 to 12.58 per cent at end-June 2019”.

“Meanwhile, the reserves for loan losses reduced continuously from 67.24 per cent to 37.05 per cent. Thus, while less reserves are set aside to cater for loans losses, there is a continuous increase in non-performing loans. Since the most critical risks that confront the banking system is credit risk, all should be concerned, rather than happy with the growth in credit,” he said.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

Miami-bound AA flight aborted after tyres damaged by runway lights at CJIA

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nother American Airlines flight was delayed on Wednesday morning after the aircraft suffered a blowout from a raised runway light at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), leaving over 100 passengers stranded.

The incident occurred just after midnight as American Airlines flight AA1512 was taxiing down the runway for takeoff to Miami.

Guyana Times International understands that the aircraft ran over the temporary runway lighting, which damaged the wheels of the plane.

The temporary lighting system was installed to facilitate current extension works at the CJIA runway.

Earlier this month when there was a failure in the runway lighting system, a senior airport official had explained to this newspaper that the runway light cables are usually run underground and the lights into the ground but because of the ongoing extension

works, temporary cables are being used.

“That is just a temporary arrangement but when the runway is extended fully, [the cables and lights] will go back down underground as it would normally be,” the official had stated.

However, in a statement on Wednesday, American Airlines said that the temporary runway lights were not vis-

ible, hence the aircraft, an Airbus A319, ran over the cable and damaged some tyres.

“The cable appears to be part of a temporary runway light solution which was not visible to the crew and no previous notice was issued to pilots… No injuries were reported and passengers were bussed back to the gate,” the missive from the US-

based airline detailed.

But the CJIA in a statement also on Wednesday insisted that the appropriate Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was previously issued on the temporary lighting systems being used.

The appropriate Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was previously issued to advise of these works and for

pilots to exercise caution when in the vicinity of the threshold,” the CJIA said.

Nevertheless, after Wednesday’s incident, all 128 passengers and five crew members aboard the American Airlines aircraft were transported via buses from the aircraft back to the Terminal Building.

The CJIA said the runway was reopened

at 04:40h for flight operations after the aircraft was relocated.

In the meanwhile, the airline is in contact with the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), which has been called in to probe the incident.

Additionally, the CJIA said an internal investigation has also been launched to determine the circumstances leading to the aircraft coming into contact with the lights.

This is the second incident involving an American Airlines flight in the last two weeks.

Last week, passengers on another American Airlines flight faced delays after the plane experienced compression issues while in air, forcing it to return to Guyana. Those passengers were transported the following day.

These issues come as American Airlines is gearing up to expand services in Guyana with the commencement of non-stop flights from Georgetown to New York City in December.

Currently, the airline only operates flights to Miami.

24 news

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Relatives call for probe after baby dies 2 days post-delivery …no evidence of negligence – doctor

T

he life of a mother is never the same after she loses a child. There is a certain level of darkness that envelops her existence as she mourns the death of that precious tiny being that she carried and nurtured inside of her for nine months. She loses a piece of her heart and quite often loses part of her existence.

Feeling that sense of loss is Devi Balram, a young mother who recently lost her child after delivery at a popular private city hospital. This loss has led the family on a path to seek answers since the hospital’s authorities are not providing them.

It was during the Christmas holiday season that Balram found out that she was pregnant. She immediately started to glow and life began to revolve around her as she was now nurturing another being inside of her. The family began paying extra attention to her and they dealt with every morning sickness symptom, every craving and ensured that every visit to the was completed.

They were very excited about the arrival of the newest member of their family. The pregnancy was normal with little to no known complications. The doctors had determined that her delivery would have been smooth because the baby appeared to be normal and the mother was in fine health.

However, life dealt Balram and her husband, Shiva Warner, a deadly blow. One that they never thought they would have been on the receiving end of.

On August 4, the young mother was at her Good Hope, East Coast Demerara home going about her daily routine when she began to feel some level of pain. She immediately alerted relatives, who prepped and transported her to a popular Georgetown private institution so that she could deliver her baby.

The decision to use the private hospital was made because the family felt that Balram would have received a higher level of care as opposed to the public hospital.

Also, they were somewhat worried because of the stories they heard coming from the public hospital. They decided to spare no expense so that the baby could have the best possible entrance into the world.

Devi Balram’s baby girl with an oxygen mask at the private city hospital

After she arrived at the hospital on the morning of August 4, she was examined and admitted since the doctors determined that she was in labour. A short while after she was admitted, a senior doctor at the institution proceeded to rupture the amniotic sac to release the fluid and get the birthing process started.

“They checked me to see if I was open and they said yes it was open and I was supposed to get the baby Sunday…I was there in pains with contractions,” she said.

Balram was in labour for a few hours and in immense pain. She pleaded with the doctors for some relief and it came to her in the form of an injection and that is where the family believes that things went downhill.

The nurses and midwives continued to monitor the mother and the child during the delivery process and both heartbeats and blood pressure were normal.

Following the injection, Balram explained that she was encouraged to push as midwives pressed her tummy to aid the delivery.

However, her baby was stuck in her birthing canal for some 25 minutes.

“About two hours after she said the baby was about to come and them start to instruct me and tell me when to push because I wasn’t really feeling pain but when the baby was coming I was feeling the pressure. I was pushing to my best effort while they were in-

structing me and I don’t know, the baby got stuck and they were giving me confidence like she will be there soon, keep pushing but I didn’t realise the time that she was stuck there. After the last push, she slit me and the baby came out,” she explained.

After she delivered her daughter, Balram knew something was amiss but she was too exhausted and trusted her healthcare providers to ensure that her baby was safe. The baby was not crying and Balram became very eager.

The doctors told her that the baby came out “blue” which indicated a lack of oxygen. She became very worried. The young woman immediately broke down and requested to see the child on August 5.

Relatives who were present at the hospital and knew what transpired after the birth process told this publication that the child was given oxygen with an adult mask.

Balram’s daughter took her last breath sometime around 00:00h on August 6.

Documents seen by Guyana Times International state that the child died from intestinal bleeding and cardiac arrest. The family believes that the baby’s death was as a result of negligence.

Although this may be the case, Balram’s grandmother, Juliet Coonjah, the Regional Vice-Chairperson for Region Two (Pomeroon-

Supenaam) said they have been waiting for over one week for a response by the hospital.

In addition, they said they were made to foot the entire bill and no compensation was offered.

No negligence Although relatives of the mourning mother are contending that a caesarian section (C-section) should have been performed on the young woman to avoid the infant being trapped in her mother’s passage for such a long time, a senior doctor at the institution has claimed that the baby’s death was not as a result of negligence.

In an interview with this publication on Monday, the doctor explained, “We did an investigation and there was no evidence to suggest there was negligence”. When asked about the injection that family members claimed was wrongly administered, he responded,

Devi Balram and her husband, Shiva Warner, sharing a joyful moment in expectance of their child

“They can claim whatever they want to claim but the hospital has done its internal investigation and we found there

was no evidence of negligence on the part of the doctor nor the nurses,” the doctor said. (Davina Ramdass)

High Court trial begins for duo accused of killing 3 over property dispute

A

From left: Theresa Rozario and Feresa Rozario

12-member jury was on Tuesday empanelled to hear the case of 24-yearold Avishkar Bissoon and 74-year-old Ganga Krishna, who were charged for three counts of murder. The jury was empanelled before Justice Brassington at the High Court.

Bissoon, formerly of Sheriff Street, Campbellville, and Krishna, also called “Buddie” and “Scientist”, formerly of North Road, Bourda, Georgetown, both pleaded not guilty to the indictments which detailed that on November 14, 2014, at Lot 65 King and Robb Streets, Georgetown, they murdered 14-yearold Clarissa Rozario and her 11-year-old sister, Tressa Rozario.

The accused are also facing a murder charge

for the death of 63-yearold Hilrod Thomas, the teens’ father, who succumbed while receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital for second and third degrees burns.

Attorneys-atLaw Dexter Todd and Mursalin Bacchus are representing the two accused, while Prosecutors Seeta Bishundial in association with Lisa Cave are presenting the case on behalf of the State.

Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan back in January of 2017 committed the duo to stand trial at the High Court after a prima facie case was made out against them.

A number of witnesses are expected to be called throughout the trial, as hearings commence today before Justice Reynolds.

It was reported that

the two sisters were asleep when the Robb Street, Georgetown, building they occupied with their father was allegedly set on fire. The teens were trapped in the early morning inferno and were burnt to death, whilst their father jumped through a window to escape the flames but subsequently died.

Investigations took Police two years to crack the case, and it was only until a drug addict reportedly confessed to Police that he was offered money to set the building under dispute on fire that the events began to unfold.

Police believe that the building was torched to drive out the occupants, who were also claiming ownership of the property by prescriptive rights.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019| guyanatimeSinternational.com

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

By Lakhram Bhagirat

T

eaching is an art that many have yet to master.

Teachers are our contact with the outside world, they quite often introduce us to the world through their classrooms and encourage us

ber of ACCA and position as Group Chief Internal Auditor at the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), one would never believe that Bacchus dropped out of school to sell at the market.

Hailing from West Ruimveldt in

Bishops’ High, and he has his school, Krishna’s College, and he told me that I needed to have an education because it could have taken me a far way. I realised then that I could have continued to work on the market during the day and

feature 29

sequently a degree in Business Management.

Feeling like he did not belong in the Marketing Department, where he served as the Head, Bacchus asked to be transferred to the Accounts Department where he felt at home. He

work environment.

“The whole concept of attempting to give back to society where the accounting qualification is taught in the evening was birthed because when I dropped out of school I really got my education in the evenings. I was teaching at the Academy of Higher Learning and in 2005 myself and a few friends, we decided that we wanted to make this more of a strategy. We wanted to make sure that young people coming out of secondary school could have to dream and dream big.

They instil the sense of imagination and fuel the drive in us that makes us want to conquer the world.

They share their experience in order to make us learn so that when we head out into the real world we are better equipped to take on the challenges as they come.

However, one of the sad facts about classroom teaching is that it limits the amount of practical knowledge that is imparted.

When we leave school, most of us know the theories that guide our intended profession but what we do not have is the working knowledge and that is where Fazal Bacchus and his team at the Cacique Accounting College comes in.

Bacchus has been in the education business for over 25 years and has continually been trying to improve the standard and practicality of what we are being taught.

As the name suggests, Cacique Accounting College provides tuition in the accounting field of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) certification.

To understand why Bacchus is successful in creating a business model that caters for those with full-time jobs, then you must understand the backstory of how he ended up where he is today.

With his current qualification as a senior mem-

Georgetown, as a child, he would spend his time between his birthplace and Albouystown with his grandmother. His life was simple and not without challenges. The earnings of his market vendor mother and carpenter father were not sufficient to take care of the entire family so when he entered secondary school, Bacchus decided that it was time that he took on more responsibilities.

This time he felt that he needed to be earning

and when his mother did not approve he became rebellious. In the end, she relented and he began his career as a teenaged market vendor. He always knew that he had a knack for financials and when he came into contact with Krishna Ramdhani, he knew that it was time to pay more attention to his academic development.

“I met Krishna Ramdhani, who was a Senior Master at the

plus pursue my GCE (General Certificate of Education) qualifications at that time in the night,” he said.

After completing his GCE, Bacchus took up a position in the Marketing Department of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

Whilst there, he was offered the opportunity to attend the University of Guyana where he read for his diploma in Marketing and sub-

then began to pursue his ACCA qualification.

Even while he was working and studying, Bacchus never stopped teaching. He taught in several fields but focused more on accounting. He taught Foundations in Accounting (FIA), CAT and ACCA. Now at 51, he continues steadfastly in his quest to mould the future generations of accountants as they seek to realise their true potentials.

Cacique Accounting College was birthed out of the idea that one can have a full-time job and then study in the evenings so that they can advance themselves in their field. Now, at 15, Cacique has been churning out quality and competent accountants with the requisite knowledge and expertise needed for them to function in their

the opportunity to do the ACCA qualification in the evenings and that was the thrust on which Cacique Accounting College was born.”

Cacique is currently the sole gold approved tuition provider in Guyana, an accomplishment which speaks to the quality of teaching delivered at the institution. The certification means that Cacique Accounting College is specialised in the delivery of ACCA qualification and nothing else.

Bacchus credits this achievement to the fact that all of their lecturers are chartered accountants who have full-time jobs, so when they come to teach, they bring with them not only the theoretical knowledge but also the working experience of implementing everything outlined in the course modules.

“You need to give

young people an opportunity who may not be privileged to have fulltime studies but they still want to pursue a career and that is where we give it. That model has been working tremendously and over the last decade or so we have produced a number of accountants who are manning departments on their own and they are all across Guyana in most of the industries.”

“That is one of the great things that drives me. To see that I was assisted by someone years ago to get myself where I am today and I am trying to give that back to the young people out there.

I want to make sure that opportunities are available to those who need it.”

Cacique offers evening classes on weekdays and on weekends they offer classes during the day.

Bacchus’ focus is on providing quality and affordable education for students wishing to pursue the ACCA qualification. To become an ACCA member, certain steps need to be taken and the first is having completed the FIA programme which consists of seven papers. At Cacique, this can be achieved in just 12-15 months.

After FIA, one would have to go on to CAT, which is two papers and that would be followed by ACCA, which has three components.

However, once FIA and CAT are completed, the first ACCA component, which is the foundation, is eliminated and students are trained in the skills and professional components.

The ACCA qualification is recognised worldwide in over 180 counties and gives an advantage to students.

Bacchus is urging prospective students to come into Cacique Accounting College’s Kitty, Georgetown location and have a chat with management and get on the path towards becoming a chartered accountant.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

In the air…

W

…elections?

ith all the “outreaches” the Cabinet that’s not a “Cabinet” (we’re assured!) has been making to all parts of our far-flung land, you’d have to be Forrest Gump not to know election’s in the air!! As far back as February, the PNC Government – let’s not beat around the bush about names, all right? – had announced its “Ministerial outreaches” where they’d “bring government to the people”. Yeah, right!! G$300 million was budgeted for these “outreaches”. It was on one of these that Finance Minister Jordan declared “war break!!” and Nagamootoo allowed he’d donned his olive battle fatigues!!

By June, however, Public Security Minister Ramjattan fessed up: “We had started our campaign in a sense. We were outreaching in all the areas, even having Cabinet in different areas, having lots of meetings on the weekends especially and carrying our Government projects and programmes for the people to see it themselves and promoting our accomplishments. And that is what part of the campaigning was all about during that time, because there was always this 50-50 chance that we’re gonna lose it and indeed, we lost it”.

Anyhow, matters took a more confessional turn on the Govt’s campaign trail when Minister Garrido-Lowe announced on her “outreach” to the furthermost eastern point of Guyana – the town of Corriverton – that “President Granger said that elections will be this year!!” Well, well, well!!

Mout’ open and story jump out!! The Opposition’s been calling on Granger to proclaim a date for the elections since the beginning of the year, after the NCM was passed. Ditto for the CCJ after all his excuses were thrown out! But “No can do!!” was Granger’s response – up to this day.

Sanctimoniously and demurely, he insisted it’s the task of GECOM to tell him when they can be ready – and only THEN he can set a date!! GECOM’s an “autonomous” constitutional body, and he’d never dare to interfere with their work!! So much for the 3-month command of the Constitution following a NCM! So how is it that Garrido-Lowe can now blithely announce that the President said elections will be held this year?? Has he been so advised by GECOM? We know for a fact that after the one meeting the new Chair held with all the Commissioners, no date was proffered. So where did Granger pluck this date from??

Isn’t he now interfering with the “autonomy” of GECOM? Isn’t he giving a very clear signal that the new Chair dare not rule (it’ll come down to her casting vote) for Sept 18? But that’s the PNC for you, isn’t it?

Yet Lowe trotted out what’ll be the PNC campaign “Granger is a leader of integrity!” Some integrity!!

…on Venezuela??

Russia’s one of Maduro’s closest allies as his country careens out of control. But he clings to power through the support of the armed forces, which he’s rewarded handsomely by handing over large swathes of the economy to them. Now we all know that our case to dismiss the controversy precipitated when Venezuela decided to do a volte face and renounce the Arbitral Award of 1899 that settled our western border, is coming up at the World Court. We’ve made our submissions, while Venezuela declined to do so.

So when a spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry insisted that the UK was, “completing the construction of a military base on one of the islands at the mouth of the Essequibo River under a plausible pretext – supposedly to stop the smuggling of weapons and drugs,” we should sit up and take notice. The Russians said the base was to train “sabotage groups to be dispatched to Venezuelan territory”.

A misdirection ruse?

…in an elevator

How many persons does it take to run an elevator? In the case of the elevators at Peters Hall, at either end of the crossover, the MoPI says “five”.

Not that Guyanese mightn’t know how to press the button, but because there might be vandalism.

Wouldn’t concealed cameras be more efficient??

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feature 33

Sharon Rose:

“My sister sparked the teaching fire in me”

By L akhram Bhagirat

A

t the age of about 8, Sharon Rose had to be working with her sister who was a year older than her. She had to tutor her elder sibling in various subjected and for most eight-year-olds that would have been a tedious task, one they despised. But for Rose, it was not.

It ignited something in her that to this date she is at loss for words when she tries to explain it. But

she knew that she had to follow the burning desire to become a teacher.

She loved doing it as a child and now as an adult, she has been enjoying it for over 25 years.

Born and raised in New Hope on the East Bank of Demerara, Rose completed her secondary education at the Brickdam Secondary School and almost instantaneously knew that she wanted to become a teacher. The story of how she became a teacher, much to the disappointment of her mother, is an interesting one.

“So although my mother wanted me to work at GAC at that time, I always knew I wanted to teach so when I left to go and take the application there (GAC) but I stopped halfway and then went back to Craig Primary School. When I went and asked about this teaching and the headteacher then advised me to write the application and so on and send it in. I wrote the application and sent it and then I started working the very next day because they were short of staff.”

“My mother did not know that I was teaching, she thought I was going to work at the airport. It wasn’t after like a week and a few days after that I told her. She was really disappointed but that was what I wanted to do because I was teaching long before I even started to teach.

I used to teach the neighbourhood children do spelling with them and so on,” she fondly remembers.

After telling her mother that she was a teacher, Rose went on to the Cyril Potter College of Education and upon completing her Trained Teacher’s program she then ventured to the University of Guyana where she read for a Degree in Education Management. Rose spent

two and a half decades at the Craig Primary School and is ow at the St Mary’s Primary.

“I think the thing that drove me to this teaching is that of the seven siblings I have was a slow learner.

I don’t think anybody recognized it then but they just thought that she was lazy and although she was older than I was I had the task of getting her to read every day. So when my mother leaves, she would give us pages in the Nelson West Indian

Reader and when she comes in the afternoon she has to know it.”

Rose not only imparts knowledge to the thousands of children who passed through her classes but she also actively takes an interest in their development. She mothers them and creates a safe space for them to so that they can be open about their home life. It is by the creation of that safe space that she has been able to have her students open up about being sexually and physically abused by those who should have been caring for them.

It is by that virtue she has been able to help thousands of children realise their true potential and they have gone on to become contributing members of society.

“Some of the challenges I had is working with children who you want to learn but they were having so many domestic issues and so as a young teacher sometimes you don’t recognize it. Some of these children you want to teach Math but they did not have breakfast, you want to teach spelling but there were some-

body sexually abusing them and these little challenges sometimes went unseen in my younger stage of teaching but as I got older in the teaching them, I learnt to realize that if these children got domestic issues there was all they can function in school.”

“I do a lot of counselling with the children, lots of it. So you find until now some children remember me from saving them from one issue or the other. I’ve learnt that teaching is not just Mathematics and Science and Social Studies but teaching is dealing with a child, a whole issue, the social issue, the emotional issue, the mental issue, the physical issue, every aspect of it,” Rose noted.

Goals are an integral part of

Rose’s classroom and she encourages every student to set not only shortterm goals but also career goals. She imparts her experience and the lessons she learned as she matured in hopes of having her students’ lives a little easier.

“You might have a child not being able to read and then you would’ve worked with them and then they would call one word or two words and when you see that improvement and the happiness that the child display seeing that it makes you want to go to work. One thing I ask them is what do you want to do when you leave school? What do you plan to do with your life? What do you want to become? and I try to instil that trust to the very level I am.”

When asked what inspires her, Rose simply says that it is seeing the children in her care smile that makes her tick.

“To someone who is thinking about joining the teaching profession I would say to them to ask themselves one very important question, do I love teaching? Do I love children? Because it’s not one of these flowery days every day. So the only thing that keeps you there, that keeps you going is your love and your passion for teaching. You gotta have a passion for it and when you have a passion for it and the children mess up or the children talk back to you or when the children’s parents tend to be very unthankful sometimes it wouldn’t daunt your spirit because it’s your passion is what keeps you going,” she advises.

34 FEATURE

By Lakhram Bhagirat

S

ome people are just a natural at what they do and they have the ability to leave a long-lasting impression on everyone they come into contact with. It is not as though they are trying to leave that indelible mark, rather they are just being their authentic self and making a difference in the lives of those they encounter.

When Angela Bennett-Persaud is in front of a classroom she is at her best. You can see the passion in her eyes as she imparts knowledge to the students under her care. She goes the extra mile to ensure that every con-

cept is grasped and no student has difficulty in understanding what she is teaching them.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

A teacher for over 19 years, Bennett-Persaud has grown to love her profession.

“Though teaching was not my passion, I eventually grew to like it and now have nineteen years of teaching experience.

They say ‘Man plans but God directs,’ and I feel extremely proud to have moulded and inspired the young minds that I have had the privilege of teaching. Teaching is a job you have to like since it requires a lot of your time, lots of patience and there is always something to do. Never a dull moment. Seeing a child succeed and grasp c o n cepts,

makes me very happy because I feel as if I have achieved my goal as a teacher,” she says.

Hearing her speak

about her job and seeing the time she invests in ensuring that her students receive the best possible education, makes Bennett-Pesaud different from the rest of teachers. She not only talks the talk but ensures that she walks the walk.

She knows the importance of a quality education and tries to make sure that everyone is afforded that opportunity.

Going back to her childhood days, the Vreed en Hoop Secondary School teacher says growing up in the Pomeroon as a young child, was the best. She fondly remembers the enjoying every moment of school and particularly the Friday afternoons that the entire school population would engage in outdoor games such as hide-andseek, sal-out, and bun house among a whole host of others.

During the weekends she enjoyed swimming in the Pomeroon River and paddling to see video shows since during that period only a few business places had this luxury. Like any child, she looked forward to school vacations, especially the August vacation since it was really long and she enjoyed the comfort of her home, friends, family and other loved ones.

“Oh, how I dreaded the thought of leaving them to return to Georgetown to attend Secondary school.

However, Christmas was my highlight. There was the decorating, baking, cleaning, and best of all, a new frock which was usually sewn by my grandmother. The new frock always had me excited to attend the Christmas Eve church service so that I could have showcased it,” she reminisced.

After completing her secondary education at the Richard Ishmael Secondary School in Georgetown, BennettPersaud taught for a few months but realised that she needed to advance her education.

She resigned from her post as a teacher and enrolled at the Government Technical Institute (GTI) where she pursued an Ordinary Diploma in Science. After she graduated GTI, the thirst for

even more knowledge persisted and it led her to the University of Guyana where she read for a Degree in Chemistry.

“My dream was always to become a Food Chemist. However, upon graduating from the University of Guyana I had difficulty in obtaining a job in that particular field, thus, ended up teaching Science at the Secondary level.

In order to be considered a trained teacher, I then returned to the University of Guyana to obtain a Diploma in Education since I never attended CPCE (Cyril Potter of Education).”

She now is the Head of the Science Department at the Vreed en Hoop Secondary School and enjoys her job. The aim for her is to move up the professional ladder but for now, she is very happy and comfortable in the classroom.

“My best piece of advice to young persons is that you should only enter the teaching profession if you have a love for children and a passion for teaching.

Another advice would be one given by my grandmother, Granny Cynth, who said ‘People can take everything from you but not education.’ So, go out there and do great things.”

Trinidad student with cerebral palsy gets six CSEC passes D

i­a g­nosed with cere­ bral pal­ sy at birth years ago, doc­tors ini­ tial­l y said Josi­a h At­i­ba Man­ dela Thomas might nev­ er walk or talk.

To­day, how­ev­er, Thomas, now 18, a for­m er stu­dent of Rio Claro East Sec­ ondary School, is cel­e­b rat­ing at­ tain­ i ng six sub­ jects in the Caribbean Sec­ondary Ed­u­c a­ tion Cer­t ifi­cate (CSEC).

Beat­ing the odds has not been an easy task for him but Josi­ a h has proven that he has the strength, de­ ter­ mi­ n a­ t ion and will pow­ er to over­c ome his chal­lenges.

“To be hon­est, I had some ups and downs but I keep the faith. I was pray­ing un­til ex­ am re­ sults came up. I was pray­ing to God, say­ing Lord I want ones, twos and threes.

Look at where I am to­day. I am very proud to see how many sub­jects I got,” beamed Josi­ah yes­t er­day.

He re­ceived Grade 1 in In­ for­ma­t ion Tech­nol­o­g y, Grade Two in In­t e­grat­ed Sci­ence and Prin­ci­ples of Busi­ness and Grade Three in Eng­lish, Prin­c i­ple of Ac­counts and Cloth­ing and Tex­t ile. He did

Josiah Thomas receives a kiss from his mother Sharon Thomas Saturday, as they celebrated his 6 passes

not pass Math­e­mat­i cs but in­t ends to re­p eat Eng­l ish and Maths, as well as pur­ sue A-Lev­els in In­for­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy.

Thomas thanked his teach­e rs, teach­i ng aid, friends and fam­i­ly for their sup­p ort, but said his moth­ er Sharon Thomas, 57, has been the dri­ ving force be­ hind his suc­ c ess. When he was born, Josi­ ah could not move his hands, which were curled against his chest and his feet were po­si­tioned in a pe­cu­liar an­gle. He has since un­d er­g one four surg­eries, a den­tal surgery, speech ther­ a­p y and phys­i o­ther­a­p y.

Speak­ i ng to Guardian Me­ d ia at their Robert Vil­ lage, Table­ l and home Sat­ ur­ d ay, his proud moth­ er, a house­wife, said she has been “run­ning” with him since his birth, which was ex­h aust­i ng, but she stayed the course.

“I start run­ n ing from birth and I had the de­ter­mi­ na­tion. I say God send him like this, I know one day God will call me home and I want him to be able to take care of him­self.”

Thomas at­tend­ed the

Princess Eliz­a­beth Cen­tre in Wood­ brook and then at age six was en­rolled in the Poole RC Pri­ma­r y School in Rio Claro. About a month be­ fore his CSEC ex­ams, how­ev­ er, he fell, chipped the bone in his an­kle and had to wear a cast.

“I was un­ able to at­ tend school for April and some of the days in May. I took that time to study. It did not keep me back from do­ing my ex­ ams,” he said.

“De­scrib­i ng him­self as pos­it­ ive and a jovial per­son, Josi­ah, who fol­l ows the In­d e­ pen­ d ent Bap­ tist faith, said he draws his strength from God. Un­able to write prop­er­ ly, Josi­ah typed most of his notes on his lap­top in class.

He al­ so moved around in school in his wheel­chair, as he can­n ot walk for long dis­ tances with­out as­sis­tance.

“The school is very good.

They have wheel­c hair ac­c es­ si­bil­i­ty. I did not have much chal­lenges it had one or two chil­ d ren who will pick on me but I did not re­al­ly take it on,” he said. (Trinidad Guardian)

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

By Lakhram Bhagirat

T

eachers are the creators of every other profession and they more than often become our second set of parents. They have our best interests at heart and take pride in our developments. They go above and beyond to ensure that we are given the best possible education we can get so that we can grow and be the best version of ourselves.

It is a known fact that teachers are overworked and underpaid and suffer from severe mental exhaustion from dealing with children from diverse backgrounds. The personalities sometimes clash but a teacher never gives up.

No teacher would tell you that they are in the profession for

the money, rather they would tell you that they do it for the satisfaction and impact that their work has.

Just like teachers, social workers are important because they make a difference in society, their profession makes an impact on people’s lives.

Some individuals often devalue the contribution of these dedicated and hardworking social workers because they lack knowledge of the assistance and impact social work has on persons. Social work is not as easy as it may seem because it is literally a lifechanging occupation.

For Abigale Joungaye, she has had the distinct opportunity to be in both professions but found her calling when she became a School Welfare Officer. To understand the impact that she has made, you must first get t o know

Abigale’s story. It is a story that is quite unique in the sense that both professions are near and dear to her and she uses her training to help those who she crosses path with.

The mother of two is currently a Family Counsellor attached to USAID on a project in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection. She is working every day to make this country a better place for its citizens who needs help. She loves helping people and she has a job which makes her dream come true.

She grew up in Mabaruma, North West, with her very large family.

That has shaped her into the person she eventually grew up to be. As a child, the memories are plentiful and range from stealing fruits with her siblings to having the most fun playing different games.

Abigale wrote the Common Entrance Examination in Mabaruma then her mother moved to Georgetown in search of better opportunities. After she moved to the city, Abigale attended Tutorial High School but as fate would have it, she moved back to Mabaruma where she completed her secondary education at North West Secondary School.

Immediately out of school, Abigale knew that she needed to begin a career and she had a passion for imparting knowledge

Guyana Govt mulls 188MW natural gas power plant

T

he infrastructural landscape of Guyana is set to undergo a significant shift with the extraction of oil and gas from 2020 and the Coalition Government intends to use the nation’s newfound natural gas to bolster GPL’s electricity grid.

This was according to Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, according to a report from the Department of Public Information.

“So, we have gas. What we are doing is building out the architecture. It comes in by pipeline and we will have a 188megawatt power plant,” the Minister stated.

Destined to come on stream by 2021, Minister Patterson related that natural gas, “is the cheapest and cleanest of the non-renewable sources [of energy].”

This initiative will comply with the Government’s Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) Vision 2040, which seeks to ensure oil extraction in association with natural gas production is done most beneficially.

With the new power plant in operation, it is expected to produce a surmountable amount of energy unlike any existing power plant in Guyana, Minister Patterson noted, “we will have more than enough power in the country”.

Also, the new power plant will result in astronomical savings for the coun-

try since power generation costs will decrease.

“The money that you save that would have previously used to buy diesel and fossil fuel to run GPL, you can put that back into the economy,” said the Public Infrastructure Minister.

Bearing oversight for GPL, Minister Patterson explained that the new power plant, while a medium-term solution to achieving redundancy in the power company’s network, is not the only measure being pursued. GPL has been granted permission by the Minister to purchase an additional 33 megawatts that will allow the utility company to have a total capacity of 160megawatts.

“That gives you about 40 megawatts of reserves based on our current load. So, that will carry you until 2021 when you have the gas in line and the new generating sets [with the new power plant],” Minister Patterson conveyed.

At present, GPL falls short of the total reserves needed in the system. Minister Patterson further explained that the power company must not only be able to meet its peak demand but must have excess capacity in reserves. While the international convention demands 1015% of reserves that function in cases of emergencies, GPL stands at eight percent. The Kingston #2 Plant is situated at Kingston, in central Georgetown

so it was only fair that she join the teaching profession. She started teaching at the very school she completed her education at and at that time, her salary was one of the motivating factors to furthering her education.

Eager to upgrade her educational status, she then attended Cyril Potter College of Education where she trained professionally to become a teacher after which she went to Port Kaituma where she began teaching as a trained teacher. During her tenure as a teacher, one of her past teachers told her of the need for a School Welfare Officer in Port Kaituma and that she is the ideal candidate.

She was identified as the ideal candidate for the post because of her ability to make an impact and offer solid solutions to the social ills that plagued the mining community.

“The community is a mining one and most of the youths would say why go to school when I could go in the backdam and make so much of money.

So the school drop out was very high and we needed to address that. Then when the opportunity as a School Welfare Officer came along, I took it and knew that I can make a difference,” she said.

From then she never looked back and continued to soar to dizzying heights. However, the road to where she is now is one that was in no way

FEATURE 35

paved. Though she speaks very little of her challenges, Abigale said that they are part and parcel of the package that shaped her and helped expand her thinking so that she can create an impact through her work.

Her first venture in social work as a Welfare Officer inspired her decision to make it her profession and she attended and then graduated from the University of Guyana in 2012. She took a break after graduating and during that time she attended Law School but dropped out due to personal reasons.

She applied to work with the Ministry of Social Protection as a Child Protection Officer for two years. Abigale applied to work at USAID as a Family Counsellor, which is in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection. Abigale stated that being in the social work field has always been a part of her because she has always assisted persons in her family and students in school.

To avoid stress factors in her life, Abigale keeps it professional whereby she deals with work at her workplace and keeps her personal life on track.

She has the innate ability to separate work from her personal life so that the stress of her job does not crawl into her personal life.

“Helping my client and seeing them able to move

from that depressed state to a better state where they can be better to be able to function. That’s one of the greatest moment of any social worker I would say.

To get them at a stage where they are helpless and then you move them to another stage where they can eventually help themselves or be better at the situation that they were at,” Abigale said as she spoke about the fulfilment her job gives her.

Her major influence in social work is her family.

Abigale is trying to break the stereotype that social work is for people who want an easy way out or a profession that does not involve much work.

She stated that social workers are important just like doctors or ministers because people seek their assistance and social workers help persons who attempt suicide or have family problems or if they need someone to talk to.

“If you are not ready for social work because you have to deal with issues and these are real core hard issues and if you can’t deal with it, don’t even think about joining social work because you will find yourself frustrated, you will find yourself burnt out, you will find yourself pulling your hair out of your head cause it’s not a movie, it is real life and these are real people story. If you can’t handle it you need another profession,” she advised.

36

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Upper Mazaruni District Games 2019 Scenes

The Upper Mazaruni District Games recently completed and was hosted in the picturesque Jawalla Village. The 2019 Games, which started on August 4, attracted over 800 participants as the villages also competed in volleyball, cricket, archery, athletics, and table tennis. Here are some photos from the recently concluded games. (Photos from Upper Mazaruni District Games 2019 Jawalla Village Facebook Page)

NEWS 37

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyanese dancers impress at Carifesta XIV T

he graceful yet compelling movements of the dancers from Guyana’s delegation, last Saturday

of Guyana’s National Dance Company, performed ‘Decades of Dance’ created by Vivienne Daniels at CARIFESTA

“It was beautiful to see Guyana represented because we do not know everything about your art and culture.

it. There was one male dancer in particular… he defined purpose, drive and determination…to see him flow with that flexibility …it was wonderful…the rest I think spoke for itself, it was magnificent,” he said.

Duncan said he will be keeping a close eye on the dancers moving forward

Before the Guyana dance troupe bowed out for the night to enjoy the rest of acts slated, some of the members shared with DPI their thoughts about their performance.

Sattie Udho, said, “it felt amazing to perform with such amazing artists and represent our country… we felt it deep in our hearts that we

made Guyana proud.”

Maresha Arthur was pleased with the group’s performance. “It was a wonderful experience to be able to represent my country putting my best foot forward while being an ambassador for my country. Our performance is a memorable one.”

US-based company hosts consultation on chemical plant construction Scenes from Guyana’s “Decades of Dance” choreographed by Vivienne Daniels at the Queens Hall Theatre in Trinidad for CARIFESTA XIV’s Dance Showcase

evening, had members of the audience calling for an encore. Wrapped in soft flowing garments, and swaying to melodious music, the dancers gave every lift of the arm, every dip of the torso every twirl deep meaning. The choreography enthralled the audience and did Guyana proud.

The dance troupe, which included members

XIV’s Dance Showcase.

The event was held at the Queens Hall Theatre in Trinidad.

Richard Ambrose, a delegate from the St Lucian contingent told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that Guyana’s presentation took his breath away. He said this demonstrates the nation’s cultural and creative industry is going in the right direction.

The dancers were amazing; there was a lot of passion… a lot of energy, a lot of effort towards great technique… so kudos to those young people,” he said.

Another delegate from St Lucia, Christopher Duncan said he could not take his eyes off the performance, “not even for a moment”.

“Spectacular is the word I use to describe

Caribbean Voice to take domestic violence campaign countrywide

T

he Caribbean Voice (TCV) is seeking to mitigate the growing rate of domestic violence with campaigns throughout each administrative region in Guyana while providing community counsellors for long-term assistance.

This was shared on Wednesday by Managing Director Bibi Ahamad as she highlighted the many activities that are lined up to spread awareness on domestic violence and suicide prevention. On September 10 the organisation will host its annual candlelight vigil.

“Over the years, the Caribbean Voice along with a number of NGOs and faith-based organisations have been doing awareness on suicide prevention on World Suicide Prevention Day. We’re hoping this year that we would be able to do it on a larger scale throughout the country.

The intent is for the community itself to be able to deal with its social ills to a lesser extent,” she explained.

The goal of these vigils is to involve all groups of persons within communities and reach out to those that need support. Persons from the community are trained to detect violence in its early stages before it becomes fatal. Ahamad recalled that over 400 persons were assisted in the

Managing Director of TVC, Bibi Ahamad with their new volunteer, Davindra Bridgemohan

past with mental illness, abuse and suicide.

Meanwhile, for the domestic abuse campaign, activities will be extended to other Caribbean territories.

“We have helped an excess of 400 persons.

Most of them are still a work in progress because, for counselling someone, it does not happen one or two times.

It’s an ongoing process.

Every one of us volunteer. Here in Guyana, we have three trained psychologists and a batch of online counsellors so we network to help people.”

This year’s CSEC student, Davindra Bridgemohan, who would have performed exceptionally despite being diagnosed with cerebral palsy, is their newest member. He has been appealing to youths about the importance of their lives in society and introducing ways to combat suicidal thoughts.

“God gave us this precious life as a gift and we should appreciate it. The moment you are ready to quit is usually right before the moment a miracle can happen. The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately one million people die each year from suicide. Suicide does not end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it getting any better,” Bridgemohan said.

The fast-food franchise, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), has partnered with the organisation in their quest to eliminate suicide and all forms of domestic violence. Training Manager of the establishment, Charissa Rampersaud expressed, “Even if one life is saved through our small token in this massive undertaking, then we could have accomplished something”.

G

A section of the gathering at the consultation

eared at answering questions and concerns of residents of Houston, Greater Georgetown who were outraged when United States-based company, Nalco Champion Inc, had commenced the construction of a chemical warehousing facility at John Fernandes Ltd, Inland Terminal at 4055 Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, the company on Tuesday held consultations with the residents.

The consultation is part of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) being carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure the safety of the project, where residents were given an opportunity to make submission of questions that they would like addressed.

Nalco Champion Guyana’s Country Manager, Keith Hicks, and Project Manager, Willy Miller, held a 20-minute visual discourse where they attempted to alleviate concerns of the residents.

The residents were shown videos of several other similar plants constructed in residential areas— one of such being in Houston, Texas. Some 12 similar chemical plants of the company are said to have been constructed in areas where people reside.

“My point for sharing this information with you is because this is one of the major manufacturing facilities that we have that we blend and truly mix chemicals and then we ship ‘em to different areas in the US… there will be no blending, there will be no reactions, there will be no storage tanks as far

as the permanent storage tanks, no barrel tanks, no breakers, no fumes, no reactions, no heat, no vapors, no emissions, so if there is one point I want to make clear, our intent for what we would be doing here is not like what we are doing in Sugarland (Houston, Texas facility),” Hicks shared.

According to Hicks, other sites were inspected beside the John Fernandez property; however, the Ruimveldt location was the only one that met the criteria for safety.

Representative from John Fernandes, Phillip Fernandes, who was present at the consultations, and who concurred with the Nalco rep, stated “we think that it is a safe enough activity, it is far away from everyone, but it is not our decision to make, we are awaiting the response from the relevant authority because we don’t want to endanger anyone, we all want the something”.

Residents, however, still questioned the legality and management of the project and further questioned about risks and compensation plans should there be a chemical leak or spill.

In answering the questions of legality, a Central Planning and Housing Authority (CH&PA) representative revealed that the said land was zoned in 2014 and an application was since approved for the construction of such a facility. Concerns regarding compensation was however left unanswered.

Construction activities were halted at the facility amid the concerns raised by the residents.

Residents have over the past week expressed fears about the project, in-

cluding possible contamination of surrounding water sources.

Guyana Times International published a previous report where residents claimed that they were not consulted before the decision was made to set up the facility.

“We are aware that Nalco has an interest in putting up a chemical facility at the John Fernandes inland terminal. We have a number of issues with respect to having a chemical facility in an area where you have residents”.

“There are a number of chemicals that will be housed at that facility.

You have Xylene, emulsion breaker, asphalt inhibitors among others.

We don’t know the severity of these chemicals. Furthermore, they said they will have a lab there. Williams questioned what could be the purpose of a lab at the location and whether the United States-based company planned to start mixing chemicals. In addition, Williams claimed that Nalco does not have a comprehensive emergency plan. As a consequence, she said, the community at large is in danger”.

The residents emphasised that not only is the plant hazardous to them, but can have a ripple effect on the whole city. Beside the danger to residents, Private Sector Commission (PSC) Executive and resident Ramesh Dookhoo noted the danger a chemical spill could pose to other businesses.

The facility would service ExxonMobil’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel during oil production.

38 NEWS

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Barbados to abolish immigration/customs forms

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assengers arriving at the Grantley Adams International Airport here will no longer be required to fill out immigration/customs forms, also known as ED forms, as of September 1.

According to Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, starting next month, there will be a full transition to the use of the 48 kiosks at the airport.

Hinkson, who was speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the kiosk system has been tested for almost a year and has been fine-tuned to ensure that the passenger information gathering system meets all the

markers for Customs, Immigration and the Statistical Services.

“We have eliminated the ED cards from September 1. Cabinet made that decision at last Thursdays' meeting. We have 48 kiosks now; there were 16 and we got another

32 and they were installed last month and are working effectively.

I am not going to tell Barbadians that there will be perfection and that the systems will never break down, but we have backup facilities, redundancies in other computer equip-

ment, in terms of saving the information.”

He also disclosed that Cabinet has decided to put more questions in the system.

“Right now, on the ED card, persons are asked to put in their address, length of stay in Barbados, type of ac-

commodation, zip code.

We are going to add some questions to the kiosks that will still allow for the acquisition of that information.”

He added that while speed of the process may vary based on the size of a travelling party as well as an individual's technical proficiencies, the digital systems have significantly cut down the length of time it takes for passengers to get through the airport.

“Right now, the questions in there take an average of a minute to a minute and a half. Obviously, it depends on how technically challenged you are. Also, a single person would take a shorter…time than a couple or a family of four.

But everyone who has used it has said that it is tremendous and that it has made life much easier for enter-

ing Barbados,” he said.

However, Hinkson stressed that while Government was focused on improving efficiency and ease getting into the country, measures were being taken to ensure that national security was not compromised.

He said the Government has reserved the right to add more questions if international or local developments demand it.

“If there is a global outbreak of Ebola, for example, any reasonable person would understand that if you have been to 'X' or 'Y' country in the last few months, then it should be indicated. We have to protect our public health and ensure our national security is preserved. So we intend to monitor the system and make updates where necessary.” (CMC)

Lindener to face judge, jury over murder of teen

T

wenty-two-yearold Rickland Bovell of Swan Village, LindenSoesdyke Highway, was committed to stand High Court trial for the murder of David Toney.

Toney, 18, was killed during an argument over the non-payment for the transport of cabbage in April 2019.

Bovell was not required to plea to the indictable charge, which stated that on April 19, 2019 at Timehri Docks, East Bank Demerara, he murdered Toney.

When the matter was called on Monday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, she ruled that having considered the prosecution’s evidence, the court is of the opinion that a prima facie case has been made out against the accused.

Hence, he was committed to stand trial at the next practicable sitting of the Demerara Assizes.

Bovell remains on remand until the hearing and determination of the trial in the High Court.

Reports are at approximately 03:30h, Bovell, a vendor, was engaged in an argument with Toney and his parents over payments for the transport of cabbages.

It was reported that the now-dead teen’s

Rickland Bovell

parents would usually hire young men in the neighbourhood to load their produce into a canter truck to transport the vegetables to Georgetown.

However, on the day in question, Bovell and two others turned up at the victim’s home and there was an argument over payment between Toney’s father and two of his workers.

Shortly after, a fight ensued between Toney’s father and the men when Toney intervened. Bovell allegedly pulled out a knife from the waist of his pants and stabbed the teenager to the abdomen.

The teen fell to the ground and was picked up and rushed to Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Biker dies after crashing into pedestrian

A

24-year-old man of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice (WCB), lost his life following an accident on Sunday evening at the Number 42 Village Public Road, WCB. Dead is Latchman Hansraj called “Kevin”.

Reports are the young man was on his way home from a horse racing event when the accident occurred.

According to the police, Hansraj was riding motorcycle CJ 5154 at a fast rate of speed when he collided with 19-yearold Franyelys Rondon of Lot 78 Plantation Washington. The police stated that Hansraj fell onto the road and received injuries while the motorbike continued sliding and collided with a motorcar, which was parked on the northern parapet.

Both Hansraj and Rondon were picked up and rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where Hansraj was pronounced dead on arrival while Rondon was treated and sent away.

The accident occurred at about 23:00h on Sunday. The graphic designer left home at about 13:00h to attend a horse racing event.

His cousin, Bridgepaul Hansraj, said it was the police who informed the family of the accident.

“The police told us that he fell with the bike and the bike fell and skate away about one hundred and fifty feet

Dead: Latchman Hansraj

and hit a car. They told us that he suffered head injuries and the police took him to the hospital but when they reached, he was already dead,” the cousin stated.

He said when he saw his cousin, his face was covered in blood and a laceration to the top right side was visible along with a wound to his left leg.

A helmet was found on the road next to Hansraj after he fell from the motorbike.

Bridgepaul referred to his cousin as a very quiet person, saying that he did not speak much.

“He would go out with his friends and lime,” he said.

Two years ago, Hansraj’s father died.

Now he leaves two brothers and his mother to mourn.

NEWS 39

40

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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42 NEWS

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Education Ministry blames ‘structural changes’ for low Maths passes this year

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he pass rate for Mathematics at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination was well below 50 per cent and the Education Ministry has squarely blamed these results on a few structural changes in the papers.

Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson said at a recent engagement that this ‘little shift’ directly affected the children and, thus, caused a mere 43 per cent overall pass percentage.

“Mathematics came in at 43 per cent, the same thing we had last year, but there was a little shift in terms of the structure of the paper. The concept was there and so the shift threw some of our children off track but you learn from lessons,” Hutson indicated.

The senior education official, however, informed that they will review these results and employ a newer approach to produce better results. He stated that teachers need additional training in content and methodology.

“I could say that we are now

familiar with the shift and what CXC will be doing but not withstanding all of that, we will continue to train our teachers in content and methodology because I think those two areas are critical…Mathematics is a subject area that will require lots of practice and familiarity the different strands and therefore concentration will be focused on those particular areas”.

In just over eight months, students from across the country will sit the examinations again.

In fact, preparations would have already begun with those who would enter their final year in September. As such, Hutson is convinced that the performance will develop.

“We believe that come next year, you will see an improved performance in Mathematics and…I think we will be better prepared to deal with the concepts…The improvement that we would have seen in many of those areas were as a result of workshops, training sessions and basically have to do with building capacity with our teachers and,

so we have seen that”.

This year, some 11, 467 students were registered to sit the examinations this year with 67,000 subject entries. Apart from Mathematics, there was improvement for English Language, with a 77 per cent overall success as opposed to 67 per cent in 2018. The performance improved across 21 subject areas while seven showed constant figures.

Seven subject areas demonstrated declines namely – Caribbean History, Economics, English B, Integrated Science, Human and Social Biology, Textiles and Clothing, and French.

For the science subjects, there were improvements in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and both double and single awards Agricultural Science. This followed for the business subjects, being evident in Office Administration, Principles of Business and Principles of Accounts, whereas Electronic Documentation Preparation and Management (EDPM) maintained constant performance.

The tale…

W

…of the neglected spouses

ith elections coming before year end – according to what Granger evidently told his Minister Cummings – the Caretaker Coalition’s mini-parties hanging onto the PNC’s skirt have begun to scramble for a return engagement.

A political coalition’s like a marriage with a prenup – but one where the agreement on the terms of the prenup has to be redone before each election!

Things change!!

At such times there can even be a divorce – so matters can get pretty messy – think PNC/UF!!

They can get even more hairy when, as in this case, the coalition’s like one of those Russian dolls that open up to reveal different levels of identity. Here the major partner in the marriage is APNU and the minor partner is the AFC. But APNU opens up to reveal that inside there’s the mammoth PNC along with a number of smaller dolls.

There’s the JFAP: the TV party that most folks see as a comedy show and a protest option when they don’t like NOTA – none of the above. They never got a seat at any elections and are thankful for the (very) junior ministry! There’s also GAP, which once received a seat from “hinterland votes”, but has faded into oblivion; Steve Scott’s NFA, which no Guyanese can say what the initials stand for and finally, the WPA, which has pimped off the name of Walter Rodney for decades, only to betray his memory by coalescing with his murderers.

So, what’s going on coalition-wise on the eve of the elections? Well, a month ago, the AFC voted to have their leader Khemraj Ramjattan be their PM candidate. Now they were taking a lot for granted – to even assume the APNU/PNC wanted to have them on their coattails once again!! But that decision set off a fierce infighting between the erstwhile besties Nagamootoo and Ramjattan for the nod. In the meantime, the Cummingsburg prenup’s being “renegotiated”.

Within the APNU Babushka, the WPA’s always asserted they are gamechangers and deserved more than they received. Pretty much like the stunt they pulled with the PPP in 1992 – when they ended up losing “corn and husk”. Your Eyewitness figures it’ll be déjà vu all over again!! But in the meantime, they’re doing the PNC a favour by insisting the AFC got much too much the last time and should be cut down to size. It goes without saying whatever’s cut off should go to the WPA!!

And the other Babushka “parties” inside APNU? They’re being smart and playing possum.

That way they figure their names will remain to ensure “diversity” without too many demands!!

Just keep your eyes on the AFC vs WPA catfight!!

…just doesn’t add up

Your Eyewitness has been trying desperately to get his head around the numbers tossed around by Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix in the “Case of the Vanished Haitians”. He must admit ever since the Ministry was hived out of Ramjattan’s bailiwick and given to the PNC “Bannuh”, he’s been very leery. Since when did records of births, deaths and migration ever interest the PNC – unless it was to fiddle with elections?

Anyhow, Felix finally claimed that of the 7306 Haitians unaccounted for up to now, only 391 were now missing since 6925 had entered Brazil via the border at Lethem where “except for 129, the majority left.” Now let’s give Felix the benefit of the doubt and accept he received from Brazil the numbers who’d entered. But how in the world could he be told how many left??

Left Boa Vista? Nope – no system to capture that!! Left Brazil? Well, Brazil has over 100,000 Haitians…how can they keep tabs on these specific 6796 who’d entered from Lethem??

Something’s fishy. And it needs to be checked out!!

…of the forgotten bottom

Just as we did with the NGSA, the country went bonkers over the high flyers in the CSEC and CAPE results.

As your Eyewitness has been saying for years, we’ve forgotten the bottom 99%.

NEWS 43

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

100 core homes, 2000 home subsidies for Sophia residents

CH&PA CEO Leon Saul addresses the media in the presence of other officials, including community leaders

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he Central Housing and P l a n n i n g Authority (CH&PA) under its Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility Programme will facilitate a major upgrade in Sophia, Greater Georgetown by constructing core houses and roads among other infrastructure.

On Friday last, officials of the CH&PA gave members of the media a tour of B Field Sophia where works were currently ongoing. Its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Leon Saul listed the works to be completed.

“We would be spending approximately US$7.5 million here in (the) Sophia area and basically what we are doing, we would be upgrading approximately 12 kilometres of roads to asphaltic concrete. We will be doing concrete drains, two playfields will be upgraded; additionally, 2000 residents will benefit from home improvement subsidies and 100 core houses will be built,” Saul stated.

The CEO was keen to note that this year, 50 of the core houses are expected to be completed while 300 home improvement subsidies will be distributed. The remaining houses and home improvement subsidies will be done in 2020.

Home improvement subsidies and core houses will be granted to lowincome households – those persons who earn G$75,000 or less per month and own a plot of land within the project boundary that is also low income, meaning it cost G$300,000 or less.

Subsidies will be approved if the homes that are occupied are considered inhabitable.

However, if the houses are not strong enough to accommodate repairs, the owners may qualify

for a core home.

Once qualified, the applicant would be required to pay G$100,000 as a contribution towards the core home.

The core houses are 400 square-foot flat concrete buildings that cost G$4 million.

For home improvement subsidies, G$500,000 worth of materials will be granted and recipients will have to provide for labour.

The Deputy Director for Community Development, Donell Bascom explained that thus far, 456 verification visits were conducted in Sophia while 87 households were inspected which would have been dubbed eligible to qualify for a core house.

“By the end of August to mid-September, we will be able to complete the beneficiary selection process and have persons notified of the outcome of their applications from Sophia,” Bascom stated.

She added that this project was special as it provided employment for residents of the community.

Meanwhile, Anthony Ragnauth, another officer attached to the CH&PA, detailed the scope of works to be conducted. It was noted that the project has been divided into six lots. These lots have already been awarded to six different contractors via the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).

Ragnauth told the media, “Presently, the works are ongoing. We had some delays with the weather which affected mostly the road works; nevertheless, we have gone ahead with the construction of culverts, reinforced concrete drains, revetments and out of the eight bridges that are slated to be constructed,

The site in C Field, Sophia proposed for a community centre to be constructed

we have completed two.”

The community works are slated to be completed by March 2020. Already, members of the community have lauded the positive change that they have

noticed and expressed their willingness to work with the contractors to see the project’s speedy completion.

The first Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility

Programme, which provides an opportunity for Guyanese citizens to improve their standard of living, was launched back in January 2019 at C Field, Sophia.

The project became

a reality as a result of the collaboration between the CH&PA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which is funding the project.

44 news

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Two multi-million-dollar elevators commissioned at Peter’s Hall overpass T

wo multi-milliondollar elevators are now operational at the Peter’s Hall overpass, East Bank Demerara (EBD), which were constructed to reduce road fatalities around that heavily trafficked area.

According to Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson, who commissioned the elevators on Friday last, the other elevators are scheduled to be up and running soon. Focus is being placed on the one at Houston, Greater Georgetown in time for the new academic year.

However, five persons from the community were selected to operate the two elevators at Peter’s Hall.

The operators will be working a shift system from 6:00h to 14:00h and from 14:00h to 22:00h.

The decision to close the lifts at 22:00 hrs. is because there is little visibility of pedestrians after the aforementioned time.

The young people will be outfitted with safety vests and radio sets.

In the event of an emergency, the operators will be able to connect with their supervisor at the Demerara Habour Bridge Corporation (DHBC).

Minister Patterson also charged the young operators to be respectful at all times and to treat the general public inclusive of children courteously.

He noted that plans are in place to construct more overpasses in busy areas of the country.

“We are working on one in the middle of Agricola. Right in front of the school… The preliminary designs are already out. That is the number one priority in my 2020 budget…we will be installing overpasses on the East Coast. I know four areas are already identified.”

Meanwhile, Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Jaipaul Sharma who was also present at the commissioning of the Peter’s Hall elevators highlighted the increased safety the overpasses provide, as well as the employ-

ment opportunities.

“We are giving back to the community. The workers here [at Peter’s Hall] are from the community and from each area that we have an overpass, the young people from the community will be given an opportunity to work at the facilities.”

Additionally, Public Infrastructure Engineer, Mark Green, relate that an emergency response system is in place should there be a power failure.

The cost for supply and installation of each elevator is said to be G$13M with each having a maximum capacity of 400kg or accommodation capacity for about five persons at a time.

One of the newly commissioned elevator lifts at the Peter’s Hall overpass, EBD (DPI photo)

In April, last, government had announced that it would have been installing elevators at five pedestrian overpasses along the EBD corridor.

It was further announced that two elevators each will be installed at five pedestrian overpasses located at the Houston, Eccles, Peter’s Hall, Providence and Diamond villages on the EBD. Since the overpasses have been completed and accessible to the public,

there have been and continue to be mixed feelings about the structures.

Construction of the pedestrian overpasses had commenced mid2017.

The overpasses were intended not only to reduce the high level of road carnage and enhance public safety, but to also eliminate traffic congestion along the East Bank Road, which is said to be the busiest in the country.

Soesdyke man remanded on G$2M fraud charge

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man who is accused of defrauding G$2 million from two persons and evading Police custody was on Monday remanded to prison when he made his first court appearance.

Cliff Jacobs, 28, of Lot 264 Low Creek, Soesdyke Highway, appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The charge stated that on September 26, 2018, at Charlotte Street, Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he obtained the sum of G$800,000 from Inshan Singh by falsely pretending that he is the owner of properties situated at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, and that he was in a position to sell one of the properties.

It was further alleged that on September 24, 2018, at Church Street, Georgetown, he incurred a debt of G$1.1 million from Austin Munroe by

the use of fraud.

Jacobs was represented by Attorney-at-Law Paul Fung-A-Fat, who asked the court for his client to be released on reasonable bail.

However, Police Prosecutor Shellon Daniels objected to bail on the grounds of him being a flight risk, since during the early stages of the investigation, Jacobs was released on his own recognisance and was ordered to report to the station every week, but he failed to comply.

Daniels further indicated that Jacobs provided the police with a wrong name, stating that he is Joseph Troy Gomes and it was only recently that an officer saw him in a supermarket and arrested him.

The Magistrate, after listening to the prosecutor’s grounds of objection, remanded Jacobs to prison.

The case will continue on September 13, 2019.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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46 NEWS

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

“Guyana is grateful for your service” – Minister Hastings-Williams tells US Army New Horizons team

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inister of State, Dawn HastingsWilliams on Sunday extended gratitude on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana to the United States Air Force New Horizons team, which has built three community centres, one women’s shelter and provided health services to 13, 346 persons during their exercise in Guyana from May to August 2019.

Speaking at a simple thanksgiving ceremony held by the Gonsalves family at their Republic Gardens, East Bank Demerara home, Minister HastingsWilliams said that the team has done well and has the gratitude of a na-

Minister of State Dawn Hastings- Williams

tion.

“The New Horizons medical outreaches to the Guyanese people are very much appreciated. In 2009, the

Bel Air Nursery School and East La Penitence Health Centre were built in Georgetown by the team. This year, the

team conducted training and made new impacts in new communities, recording 13,346 patient encounters during their medical outreaches,” she said.

The New Horizons exercise seeks to train US military civil engineers and medical professionals, who work alongside Guyanese military and health professionals in joint humanitarian assistance exercises.

Head of the contingent remaining in Guyana, Colonel Kenneth Bratland, in his remarks, said that this year, the team worked in Linden, Port Mourant, New Amsterdam and Georgetown, constructing three communi-

ty centres in Linden and Yarrowkabra and one women’s shelter in Linden. The group also provided medical care, including ophthalmologic care and surgery.

During their time in Guyana, the team also provided training and transfer of knowledge to their local counterparts from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the Public Health Ministry and several health institutions including the Linden Hospital Complex, where they were able to perform 39 surgeries using 129 different techniques.

He noted that while the team worked hard, the hospitality and warmth of the Guyanese people must also be acknowl-

edged since it helped to make the mission even more successful.

Hostess for the event, Mildred Gonsalves, who opened up her home to the team, said that she felt that the team should be thanked for the exceptional service they have provided to the country and as such, the event was organised.

New Horizons is an annual US Southern Command training and humanitarian exercise that is led by the Twelfth Air Force (Air Forces Southern) in various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Guyana previously hosted successful New Horizons exercises in 2004 and 2009.

80-yr-old man accused of raping Audit into UG’s finances 12-yr-old girl released, but probe yet to commence continues - Commander Brutus

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Commander Calvin Brutus

he 80-yearold East Coast Demerara (ECD) resident who allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl in his car was released on bail after the 72-hour detention period expired, but the Police were continuing their investigations into the matter.

This is according to C Division (East Coast Demerara) Commander, Senior Superintendent, Calvin Brutus, who explained that although concerns are being raised about the man’s release from custody, the alleged child rapist could not be detained more than the mandatory 72-hour period.

However, he stressed that although the man is out of the lock-ups, it does not mean that the case would be swept under the rug.

“We have got to do one part and the Child

Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) has to do theirs … but our part is very simple, the CCPA’s part is more complex, because it has a process to be followed, so it would take longer with them than us.

However, we need what they are doing as part of the file so it can be completed before it can be sent for legal advice,” he explained.

Commander Brutus further stated that when handling such sensitive matters, in-depth and proper investigations have to be conducted to avoid any oversight on the part of law enforcement authorities.

Any blunder, he added, can lead to dismissal of the matter, and the perpetrator can walk free.

The Police, Brutus noted, have information that the alleged perpetrator might have other

victims in the village. It is believed that he might have paid the relatives of those abused girls to “keep quiet”.

The Commander noted that regardless of how long ago such a crime was committed, the Police can legally investigate them as well.

“I have heard that is his modus operandi, is to target poor people because they want the money.

But if it comes to us and we know the identities, then yes, we can still handle those cases, but persons need to come forward and give us that information,” he added.

Last week, the alleged child rapist reportedly lured the 12-yearold female into his vehicle and drove her to his home; even before she exited the vehicle, he ran his hands along her body and repeatedly inserted his fingers inside her private parts.

But before he could proceed to molest the child further, his neighbours noticed the girl in the car, and called out to him.

It was reported that the man vehemently denied that someone was in the vehicle with him, but one neighbour jumped the fence and as she approached the car, the child was seen. An alarm was raised and the Police were contacted.

The man was immediately arrested and the child was taken into Police custody and subsequently handed over to the CCPA.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma

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he special audit into the finances at the University of Guyana (UG) is at a standstill as authorities are yet to figure out who will stand the expense to conduct the probe.

This is according to Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, who told the Guyana Times International that although the payment plan has not yet been finalised, plans are still onboard to have the audit done.

“We still got it in plans… we are still waiting to hear but we have not gone in as yet and at the same time also, there is the main issue of who going to pay the fees, we got to really get that clarified. The Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary had stopped the audit, so if we go ahead, somebody has to pay the fees. Normally, we have got to ensure that somebody acknowledges the payment,” he stated.

The Auditor General noted that no ground work has been done as yet while noting that other options to conduct the audit may have to be utilised.

Initially, the Audit Office of Guyana had contracted an independent company to conduct the much-needed and highly anticipated audit into UG – in light of allegations of mismanagement of funds.

This particular audit was first ordered by the Education Ministry after a request was made by the two workers’ unions at UG to have such an investi-

gation launched. The Ministry was reportedly going to stand the expense associated with the investigation.

Shortly after the independent company commenced its work into the matter, the Education Ministry withdrew its request for the audit, with no explanation given. Almost two months ago, AG Sharma had noted that the backlog of years UG did not complete its audited financial statements was a cause for worry.

Sharma, whose agency audits Government’s public accounts on an annual basis, explained the importance of having those accounts audited to 2018. He was not convinced about the UG administration’s sincerity in clearing this backlog.

The University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and University of Guyana Workers Union (UGWU) had levelled these accusations, in particular. The Unions had joined forces to question why monies were allocated in previous budgets to entities which do not exist and what became of those funds.

They had also demanded answers from the administration on how much money was spent on nonessential events within the last two and half years – which included, but were not limited to, the Law and Society series, the Turkeyen-Tain talks, and the ViceChancellor’s installation ceremony.

They had argued that while these monies were being spent, the core units of the University, which include faculties and schools, had been informed that no money is available for essential repairs and payment for stationery, among others.

In his 2016 Audit Report, Sharma had found that G$209 million had been unaccounted for from the University of Guyana’s Science and Technology Support Project, funded by the Government of Guyana (GoG) and the International Development Association (IDA) under Credit Agreement No 4969-GY. However, the University had insisted that the monies were used for infrastructure projects on the campus, including a fibre optic cable to provide students with Wi-Fi. It had also noted that some of the monies were used to renovate the faculty buildings.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

WPA as a PNC flank group

By Ravi Dev

The plan A

G

…on sugar

uySuCo announced that by this yearend, they would’ve racked up an almost G$1B deficit – G$920million to be exact. Yup!!

After Granger’s unilateral shuttering of 4 estates and throwing 7000 workers into the streets supposedly to stop the “bleeding”, we’re back to square one!! Now you’d think the PNC would do some introspection about the sugar operations since it’s clear that the supposed “dead wood” wasn’t the problem?

But then, dear reader, you’d be assuming the PNC’s interested in the survival of the sugar industry, wouldn’t you? And as we learnt in that schoolyard taunt, when you “assume” you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”!! As we’ve pointed out ever since this newspaper exposed the PNC’s nefarious plan to shut down Wales Estate just before Christmas 2016, the PNC’s end game is to destroy the backbone of their bête noire, the PPP. And sugar workers have been that backbone ever since Cheddi Jagan wept at the graveside of the five sugar workers who’d been gunned down at Enmore.

He’d vowed to form a political party that would represent their rights and the rights of all working peoples and he kept his promise. They, in turn, remained implacably at his side like a rock. And the PNC wants to ensure that whenever the next elections are held, there’d be no rock for the PPP to turn to. Just look at how the PNC followed up with their mass firings. While training sessions for jobs in the new oil economy were held in all parts of the country – the sugar belt was avoided as if they had the plague!

When closures had been mooted before, there’d been talk of leasing the abandoned sugarcane fields to the fired workers and transition them into cash crops for the Caricom markets. But instead of following up on that, the PNC secured a G$2.6 billion grant/loan from the CDB and used it to rehabilitate, drain, and irrigate lands behind Ithaca, Buxton, BV and Mocha – all PNC villages – then organised the people into co-ops and made marketing connections to Caricom for their produce!!

After the Bauxite industry had been downsized in the late 1980’s and the alumina plant shuttered, the free electricity programme had been continued through a subsidy to GPL, initiated by the PNC Government of Desmond Hoyte. This was supported by an equivalent sum from the PNC-imposed levy on sugar. But now that the PNC shut down sugar, they never even suggested the POSSIBILITY of subsidising the electricity bill of the fired sugar workers!!

At every elections since 1992, the percentage of votes from Berbice has declined via migration: the PNC wants to give that process a push.

Just enough to keep that 5000 vote gap!!

…on voting

Everyone thought after Justice George’s decision on H2H, Chairman Singh would’ve had her Commission make a decision on the way forward on elections in accordance with our constitutional commands. There are so many reasons for calling it quits of the H2H project and going directly into Claims and Objections. Why does she need a WRITTEN copy of Justice George’s decision?

All she had to do is ask her CEO Lowenfield for an update on his H2H timeline he’d issued when he got the directive from her predecessor and she’ll see that there’s no way elections can occur in time to fulfil the Constitution’s directive of elections within 3 months after a NCM’s passage. Then there’s the CCJ’s advice: “The Court must assume that these bodies and personages (including GECOM and its Chair) will exercise their responsibilities with integrity and in keeping with the unambiguous provisions of the Constitution bearing in mind that the No-Confidence Motion was validly passed as long ago as December 21, 2018”.

…on friends

The digital age is changing human relationships.

For instance, it has spawned a new species of friends. We now have “internet and online friends” who we may never see IRL. What’s that you ask??

“In real life”!!

s the elections draw closer, as usual, our two major polarised ethnic groups are acting like magnetic poles dragging the society into one or the other camp. In the classic Liberal polity, supposedly rational individuals engage in a variety of roles and belong to a multitude of organisations and groups whose several interests are cross cutting. The individual, in his political role as a voter, therefore, makes a “rational” choice based on the position a given party takes on the issues before the electorate. Even if all voters do not conform to this ideal, there are enough who do, to constitute a pool of “swing” votes in the middle for which all parties compete.

This situation creates a centripetal moderating effect and the parties line up on a continuum on the issues. We have the politics of “in and out”.

The party system in a divided society like ours operates on totally different basis. Here, the individual is a member of groups, which instead of diffusing the cleavages, act to reinforce them.

They will generally attend different places of worship, occupy different occupational niches, and have different modes of recreation. The “broker institutions” that each group participates in, and which represents him in the larger society, are also ethnically based trade unions, political parties etc. Political affiliation, is thus not based on the party’s position on a variety of issues, but generally on one issue: which groups’ interest does the particular party represent? Party membership is generally inscriptive, where individuals perceive their fate in ethnic, rather than individual or class terms.

For the longest while, the PPP and the PNC have been attempting to be seen as “multi-ethnic/ multiracial.

However, working against such parties is the

existence of “flank” parties or groups. These are found within every ethnic group and take positions which can be considered “extreme” in favour of their given group. The major “multi-ethnic” party are forced to respond to their demands so as not to lose core support. Since the demands of these flank parties are invariably particularistic and in opposition to the “out” group, the major parties move away from the centre as they respond.

In 2015, I thought the PNC made an important concession when they courted the AFC for the latter’s Indian-Guyanese supporters. But rather than moving towards the centre and addressing concerns of “both sides”, the PNC simply shrugged and let that promise fall, while the AFC recoiled from any advocacy for Indian-Guyanese issues. In the meantime, the rump WPA, which had merged with the PNC as “APNU”, abandoned Rodney’s signal multiracial stance as its remaining members played leading roles in organisations that flanked the PNC from an Afrocentric perspective: Cuffy 250;

ACDA; Buxton First of August Movement (BFAM) etc.

I was rather bemused when I read my friend David Hinds asserting on behalf of the WPA, “We would argue that if any group should complain that Government has not put particular attention to them, it is African Guyanese… but it has shown that Government does not have ethnic preference”. What about, for instance, the G$2.8B programme to develop the farming lands behind the African-dominated villages of Buxton, BV, Ithaca and Mocha?

“The monies would be used to buy farming equipment that will remain in the identified communities, finance land clearing, restore and upgrade drainage and irrigation canals, install a pump in each of the farming communities and provide technical support for targeted farmers. Planners expect that 155 kilometres of canals and drains and 40 kilometres of fair weather dam would be constructed and one pump station would be provided to enable farmers to reclaim 2,500 acres of abandoned land. There would be market-driven approach to match demand for high quality produce in Caricom countries while the second and third best would be processed into value added products”.

Or what about the 90% Afrorecruits to the Public Service College; thousands trained for jobs; given scholarships; facilitated in business; 16 out of 17 Permanent Secretaries; Ministers, Heads of Dept; Boards membership; IDPAD initiative; housing schemes; augmented Disciplined Forces? etc But what took the cake was David claiming the PNC Government “was careful not to throw Indian Guyanese under the bus”. That’s cold. Apart from shuttering sugar, why not an agricultural plan like the above for the fired workers, using some abandoned cane land?

Or at least subsidise their electricity bills?

Jamaican woman pleads guilty to arranging 28 sham marriages to obtain immigration benefits in the US

A

Connecticut woman who federal prosecutors say helped arrange 28 sham marriages to obtain immigration benefits for non-citizens has pleaded guilty.

The Connecticut Post reports that 35-yearold Jodian Stephenson, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit immigration marriage fraud in federal court in New Haven on Monday.

Stephenson is from Jamaica.

Prosecutors say one of the sham marriages was between Stephenson and a US citizen.

Officials say she introduced the couples, organised the marriage celebration and

ceremony, and coached them on how to make their relationship and marriage appear real.

She would charge up to US$20,000 to fill out immigration paperwork and complete the

process.

Stephenson faces up to five years in prison. (Jamaica Observer)

48 Bollywood

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

A

nushka Sharma is having a gala time in the Caribbean islands as she is accompanying husband Virat Kohli on his cricket tour. The two have been sharing plenty of clicks from their tour and to sum up their happiness, Virat recently shared a photo of the two from the beachside.

The two have been inseparable in this trip and the same is obvious from their social media posts. Their adorable photographs and captions have created a huge following for Virushka, as they are popularly known.

A

ctor Sameera Reddy, who recently welcomed a newborn in her life, opened up about her struggle with stammering in a chat show.

According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Sameera said that Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan helped her in overcoming the speech impediment issue.

“Hrithik, being the sweet and caring person he is, noticed this, and gave me a book that changed my life. It helped me overcome my fear. Gradually, I started noticing changes in my speech. I cannot thank

Hrithik enough for that book and I still have it with me,” said Sameera

The actor also revealed that she was afraid of speaking her

A

y u s h m a n n Khurrana, who recently won the National Film Award for best actor, says the recognition is an assurance that he is treading the right path by taking up slightly radical scripts that other artistes think twice before accepting.

In 2018, Ayushmann had back-to-back successes with Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho!, which he followed up this year with Article 15. He is now looking forward to the release of Dream Girl.

The actor said it is a responsibility to maintain a certain benchmark, which was established with his film debut Vicky Donor (2012).

Then came films such as Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, which was the first film to feature a non-alpha male character in a mainstream film.

“This success gives me confidence that I am

treading the right path and it also gives me the courage to choose different subjects. I stay true to my gut and intuition while saying yes to a script.

“I take a lot of risks and I have been doing it since my first film.

Choosing scripts that are radical and are not easily acceptable by another artiste, I think

that is my safety bracket, my zone. I have created a USP out of the characters that are risky,” Ayushmann told PTI in an interview.

He said public memory is short as there is too much for them to see.

“Every single week or fortnight there is a movie coming out and doing well, so people

On the work front, Anushka is yet to announce her next acting project.

She was last seen in Aanand L Rai’s Zero where she starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif.

Anushka was also seen in YRF’s Sui Dhaaga where she shared screen space with Varun Dhawan.

Anushka Sharma’s production company Clean Slate Films is actively developing films and web series. It was earlier reported they will be producing a Netflix original film titled Bulbul. She will also serve as executive producer on another Netflix original Mai.

mind and would fear the audition process.

“Due to my stammering problem, I would hesitate to speak in front of others, and (would hesitate) going for auditions thinking that people would judge me,” the actor added.

However, things took a turn when Sameera sought help from a speech therapist and she soon regained her confidence.

Sameera Reddy is primarily known for her work in films such as Maine Dil Tujhko Diya, Taxi No 9211 among others. (Indian Express)

forget things. It is important to keep the ball rolling, remind them that you are there, you exist and you are out there to do something different.”

Ayushmann said there was a phase right after Vicky Donor released when the viewers were ready to write him off but he bounced back.

“Every Friday depicts a different story. And your last hit determines what kind of love you are going to get. I have seen the other side also when my films after ‘Vicky Donor’ were not working. There were a lot of people who were writing me off and suddenly now everybody is with me, I am talking about the audience. But there are certain followers or fans of mine who have been there with me in bad times.”

The actor was speaking on the sidelines of a shoot for Godrej Security Solutions ad.

(Indian Express)

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The actor had earlier said in a statement, “This is my second collaboration with Netflix after ‘Bulbul’ and we are again looking to disrupt the kind of content audiences are consuming. We at Clean Slate Films have been dedicated to making clutter-breaking, powerful stories since our first production and we are looking forward to push the content envelope. The creative freedom to be able to translate these stories to screens that reach a global audience is exciting for us, which is why Netflix is such an important partner.” (Indian Express)

ilmmaker Karan Johar on Monday said social media has its pros and cons.

The director-producer said social media is the best tool to reach out to millions of people but at the same time it has its negative side as at times certain things are misunderstood.

Karan’s comments come after a video of his star-studded house party, which he shared on Instagram, created a storm with many people alleging that it was a ‘drug party’.

“Social media has its plus and minuses. It is a boon and a curse. It is a boon when you have to reach millions of people and connect with the world.

“It is a curse when it is misused or misunderstood and has unnecessary added loops of negativity attached to it.

But it is a reality of our existence, we have to deal with it, and hopefully, some of the negatives will get subsided by all the positivity that the world must have,” the director told reporters here.

Recently, Karan hosted a bash for a number of Bollywood celebrities, including Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika

Arora, Varun Dhawan, Shahid Kapoor, Mira Kapoor, and directors Zoya Akhtar and Ayan Mukerji and he shared a clip from the party on the photo/video sharing website.

The 47-year-old filmmaker was talking at the book launch event of Love In The Time of Affluenza written by author Shunali Khullar Shroff.

Talking about the existence of love in the world of showbiz, in the wake of a spate of divorces in recent times, Karan said one shouldn’t segregate the film industry.

“There is real love everywhere, why segregate show business and just say that there is no love? People go through divorces and separation not just in the film fraternity.

“Just because the fraternity is discussed a lot, it is in your face, it is in papers, it is on social media but you will be surprised to know what is happening around us and not just in the movies,” he said.

“There is far more active zone of relationships just around the fraternity. We have to look at it as a holistic situation and not just as the individual thing,” the producer- director added.

(Indian Express)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Chris Pine to star in a film on Richard Nixon lawyer John Dean

Keanu Reeves and Lana Wachowski to return for The Matrix 4

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eanu Reeves is set to officially return as Neo for the longawaited fourth installment in the famous sci-fi series, The Matrix.

According to Variety, Lana Wachowski, one half of the Wachowskis who directed all the three films in the franchise with sister Lilly, will write and helm the new project.

“Many of the ideas Lilly and I ex-

plored 20 years ago about our reality are even more relevant now. I’m very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends,” Lana Wachowski said.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the series.

Besides Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss is reprising her role as Trinity in the film. (Indian Express)

Dwayne Johnson marries Lauren Hashian in Hawaii

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restler-turnedHollywood star Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, has tied the knot with his girlfriend, the singer and songwriter Lauren Hashian.

Johnson posted a photo on Instagram where both can be seen clad in their wedding attires.

The wedding ceremony was held at a beach side destination Johnson’s native Hawaii.

“We do.

August 18th, 2019.

Hawaii.

Pōmaikaʻi (blessed),” Johnson captioned the photo. Another photo shows the couple kissing each other.

The 47-year-old Johnson was previously married to film producer Dany Garcia for ten years, from 1997 to 2007.

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Johnson and Hashian have been together since 2007.

ith great success comes great re-negotiation. In the wake of the announcement that Spider-Man: Far From Home is now the highest-grossing film ever in Sony Pictures’ history, reports surfaced that Marvel Studios may be stepping away from the cross-studio partnership.

The Hollywood trade Deadline reported Tuesday that there was a disagreement over the profit-sharing structure.

According to a person close to the deal who was unauthorized to speak publicly, negotiations are not yet final. But the suggestion that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige may not produce future liveaction Spider-Man movies and that the character itself might not appear in any more Marvel Cinematic Universe films quickly turned into a trending topic.

In a statement to ComicBook.com, Sony shared, “Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mis-

Dwayne Johnson was last seen in the Fast and Furious spinoff called

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, in which he reprised the role of Luke Hobbs. Jason Statham, Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby also starred in the action thriller. The film has been both a critical and commercial hit.

Johnson will next be seen in the third film in the Jumanji franchise, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Jungle Cruise, based on Disney’s adventure park of the same name.

His future projects include a Black Adam film, based on the DC supervillain. The character will eventually cross paths with Zachary Levi’s Shazam!. Johnson was an executive producer of Shazam, released earlier this year. (Indian Express)

characterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live-action SpiderMan film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own.”

It added, “Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue.”

Sony has held the rights to the Marvel character since 1985, but in 2015, announced a partnership with Disney and Marvel that would allow Spider-Man to be used in MCU films like Avengers: Endgame. It also allowed for Feige to serve as a producer on stand-alone Spider-Man movies like Far

A

ctor Chris Pine is set to portray John Dean, the former counsel to US President Richard Nixon, in a new film.

The untitled project hails from Amazon Studios which recently acquired the pitch and is developing the movie with Dean.

Dean, who served as Nixon’s counsel at the White House from 1970 to 1973, is known for helping orchestrate the attempted cover-up of Watergate, but later became a witness for the

prosecution.

Evan Parter will pen the feature, reported Variety.

Dean will serve as executive producer alongside his manager Rick Berg.

Pine will next be seen in Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to his 2017 blockbuster Wonder Woman.

He is also set to portray another historical figure, Walter Cronkite, the legendary CBS news anchor, in the film Newsflash. (Indian Express)

From Home.

The crossovers have been well-received by audiences and critics. And the teenage web-slinger has been made into a central component in the MCU with a close relationship to Tony Stark that drove the story lines in both “Endgame” and “Far From Home.” But as Marvel enters its “Phase 4,” SpiderMan also has no official MCU appearances planned.

Two standalone Spider-Man movies are, however, reportedly in the works from Sony which would bring back director Jon Watts and star Tom Holland.

Sony has also created its own web of Spider-Man spinoffs, including the Oscar-winning animated feature “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” and Venom.

Representatives from the two studios did not respond to requests for comment. (Indian Express with AP inputs)

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Holder retains allRamdhani cops CAREBACO rounder top spot Under- 19 Triple-Crown ahead of Antigua Test

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ONDON, England (CMC) — West Indies captain Jason Holder has retained his all-rounder top-ranking ahead of Thursday's start of the two-Test series against India in Antigua.

The 27-year-old Barbadian topped the all-rounders' charts in Tests back in January, following his stunning double hundred in the first Test against England at Bridgetown that propelled the home side to a massive 381run victory.

Holder also picked up two wickets in that match, to move up two places to the top rung.

He will lead West Indies in the opening Test at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, where he will look to further solidify his status in the rankings.

Holder is also the highest ranked West Indian in the bowling charts at number eight, having retained that spot while fellow bowler Kemar Roach has also retained his 11th place ranking.

Speedster Shannon Gabriel is the other West Indies bowler in the top 20 at number 12.

Australian pacer Pat Cummins sits on top the bowling rank-

G Jason Holder

ings, with South African seamer Kagiso Rabada second, and veteran England seamer Jimmy Anderson, third.

In the batting rankings, West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite is the highest-ranked Caribbean player at 36th, with Holder popping up at 37th.

Roston Chase (41st), Shane Dowrich (46th) and Shimron Hetmyer (48th) round out the top 50.

India captain Virat Kohli tops the charts, with Australian Steve Smith having climbed one place to second spot, and New Zealand Kane Williamson lying third.

The successful Guyanese contingent

uyana’s National Anthem was played thrice at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium in St. Michael, Barbados on Sunday Evening, while the Golden Arrowhead flew proudly to signify Guyana’s dominance at the Caribbean Regional Badminton C o n f e d e r a t i o n ( C A R E B A C O ) Championships.

Following Guyana’s participation in five divisions, the Guyanese contingent walked away with four medals, three of which are Gold.

Priyanna Ramdhani was the star of the bunch, copping Gold in the women’s singles, women’s doubles and

mixed doubles divisions.

Tyrese Jeffrey shared the gold in the mixed doubles with Ramdhani, while he and Akili Haynes copped Bronze in the men’s doubles category.

In the women’s singles final, Suriname’s Imani Mangroe made Ramdhani work for her Gold medal in a thrilling three-set encounter.

Ramdhani won the first set 21-8, but Mangroe fought back to take the second set 1821. Ramdhani was able to pull off the victory by taking the third set 2117.

In the mixed doubles, the Guyanese pair of Tyrese Jeffrey and Priyanna Ramdhani had

a walk in the park towards Gold with a two straight sets’ win over the Barbadian pair of Dominick Scantlebury and Robyn Sobers. They won 21-11, 21-9.

Priyanna later teamed up with Trinidad and Tobago’s Chequeda De Boulet and dispatched Suriname’s Imani Mangroe and Chaist Soemodipoero in another two- set encounter, winning 21-18, 2111.

The Guyanese contingent will now be looking to maintain their stellar performance at the upcoming CAREBACO Senior championships.

The successful Guyanese contingent

Guyana’s Rajendra Chandrika stars in Canada with impressive century Guyana set to battle for top honours

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ormer West Indies batsman Rajendra Chandrika recently slammed a brilliant century for Vikings Cricket Club in the 2019 Toronto and District Cricket Association’s ‘Super9’ 50-over tournament at the King City venue in Canada.

The Guyanese right-hander, who had played five Tests for the West Indies, stroked five fours and four sixes in his 110, to lead Vikings to a 78-run win over Islanders Cricket Club.

Batting first, Vikings compiled 2208 off 50 overs, then restricted Islanders to 132 all out in 34 overs.

Chandrika has expressed a desire to again play for the West Indies. He had injured his finger playing for the Leeward Islands last season.

Former Guyana Under-19 left-arm spinner Dennis Legay, playing for the Islanders last weekend, bagged six wickets in his match against Yorkshire Cricket Club at the same venue.

Yorkshire scored 203 all out in 35.5 overs, while Islanders were dismissed for 187 in the 46th over.

Canada’s Navneet Dhaliwal had hit 93 for Yorkshire as Legay returned figures of 6-46 in ten overs.

In the Islanders’ reply, former Guyana First Class batsman Shemroy Barrington had managed only 18.

Legay and Barrington have both made it known that they want to perform consistently and play cricket for Canada in ICC assignments.

(ramdhani)

in 2019 Caribbean Mini and Pre Cadet Table Tennis Championships

Rajendra Chandrika

Apart from Chandrika, Barrington and Legay, the following Guyanese cricketers are playing in Canada: Royston Crandon, Trevon Garraway, Euhen La Fleur, Ryan Ramdass, Zaheer Haniff, Azib Hanif, Troy Gobin, Sunil Dhaniram, Devon Ramnauth, Steve Ramdass, Rovindra Mandolall, Herman Latcha, Krishna Deosaran and Troy Gonsalves.

G

uyana will begin their quest for top honours in the 2019 Caribbean Mini and Pre Cadet Table Tennis Championships in the Dominican Republic, as such, with

The Guyanese Team

the competition commencing, the Guyanese contingent have been grouped into their respective categories.

The 11 years and under boys’ team will be represented by Malachi

Moore, Caribbean Hopes Participant and Ebo McNeil (Debutant Linden Region 10), as they have been grouped with Jamaica and the Dominican Republic in group two. turn to page 51

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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Investment of young players a positive sign for Guyana cricket …Guyana Under-19 trio are beneficiaries of CGI Contracts

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espite all the circumstances attending cricket in Guyana in terms of administrative issues, Cricket Guyana Inc. (CGI) has continued to invest in its players, and recently publicised its revamped academy contract structure.

The competitive 3-tier contracts

Ashmead Nedd

Kevlon Anderson

for the 2019/2020 season has seen some young players making their way into the set-up, commencing their training on Monday last.

Fresh from the Guyana Under-19 stint in St Vincent and the Grenadines, 3 players: Kevlon Anderson, Kevin Umroa and Ashmead Nedd, received their maiden contracts – ‘C’ contracts. They are happy with this new development in their careers, and will now be exposed to intense training under tutelage of qualified coaches from Monday to Thursday on a weekly basis.

One may ask how Guyana became five-time Regional 4-Day champions. The CGI Academy contract is certainly among those reasons for Guyana’s success in Regional cricket.

Academy players benefit not only in

terms of fitness, but they gain knowledge from the Guyana Jaguars players, some of whom have played Test cricket.

For these Under-19 players, this ‘C’ class contract, worth Gy$50,000 per month, signals the beginning of greater things to come for them.

The ‘B’ class contract, which is valued at Gy$75,000 per month, has already been given to some prospective Guyana Jaguars players: Kemol Savory, Ronaldo Ali Mohammed, Raymond Perez and Kevin Sinclair.

The ‘A’ class contract, which is valued at Gy$100,000 per month, has already been given to Trevon Griffith, the experienced left-handed opener Akshaya Persaud, Anthony Adams, and new and improved offspinner Richie Looknauth. All these contracts are for the 2019/2020 season.

The La Bonne Intention (LBI) facility, progressively moving towards completion, will be used as the first class training facility for players. This academy process provides outstanding players with the opportunity to benefit more financially from local contracts, especially in cases where they may have narrowly missed out

Guyana set to battle...

Meanwhile, the 11 years and under girls’ team will be represented by National Cadet Champion Jasmine Billingy, the talented Samara Sukhai, and athletically gifted Akira Watson, seeded two in group 3 along with Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic team.

In the boys’ 13 years and under team championships, Guyana will field two teams. Team one being National 13, 15, and 18 years and under boys’ champion Jonathan Van Lange, the talented Krystian Sahadeo, Dhanesh Persaud and Colin Wong in team two. Van Lange and Sahadeo seeded 2 in group 4 with Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominican Republic.

While Dhanesh Persaud and Colin

from page 50

Wong seeded 3 are group 1 alongside Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

Dominican Republic, as host, are allowed to field 4 teams, while visiting delegations can field two teams in each category of the team events given that these championships are developmental— which allow the host to field. Teams can be maximum of three players, minimum of 2 two players with play utilising the corbeling system, which has play in team events using the format of singles, singles, doubles and reverse singles.

Team Guyana will be hopeful as they were only able to bag two silver medals in the 2018 edition of the tournament.

on Regional Franchise contracts, or have been noticeably recognised by CGI for exceptional performance in the locally conducted training and preparatory programmes.

The directors of CGI credit the Academy structure with providing unwavering support to the five-time champions the Guyana Jaguars, ensuring that replacement players are

Kevin Umroa

well prepared and equipped to excel at the regional and international levels.

Holders of any of these 3-tier Academy contracts will have the additional benefit of being attended by the usual management staff, with two (2) Academy coaches, a physiotherapist, and a strength and conditioner person. (Brandon Corlette)

52 SPORT

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Guyana’s Keemo Paul gets T20 player of the year award

– Guyana Jaguars are ‘First Class Team of the Year’ Jason Holder was the biggest winner at the West Indies Players’ Association/ Cricket West Indies’ Annual Awards Night held on August 19 in Antigua. He scooped up the ‘Player of the Year’ as well as the ‘Test Player of the Year’ awards.

Shai Hope was named the ODI ‘Player of the Year’ for a second successive time, while seam-bowling allrounder Keemo Paul was named the ‘T20 Player of the Year’, and 22-year-old tear-away bowler Oshane Thomas was named ‘Emerging Player of the Year’.

A l l - r o u n d e r Deandra Dottin also won big, securing the ‘Women’s T20’ and ‘ODI Player of the Year’ awards.

Performances between April 2018 and March 2019 were taken into consideration in deciding on the winners of these awards.

In February of this year, Holder became

Deandra Dottin

the first West Indies player since Sir Garry Sobers in 1974 to become the top-ranked Test all-rounder; and claimed 778 rating points, the highest by any West Indies bowler since Courtney Walsh in 2001.

In January, Holder made an unbeaten 202 — the third highest score batting at No. 8 or lower in Test cricket — against England in front of his home crowd

in Barbados. All told, Holder hit 565 runs in eight Test matches, and claimed 40 wickets, including four fivewicket hauls, during the period.

In 15 innings of ODI cricket, Hope amassed 757 runs at an average of 63.08, including three hundreds and three fifties, during the period. After being plucked out of the CPL, Thomas made his international debut for West Indies in Guwahati in 2018, and added a cutting edge to the seam attack, the highlight being the maiden fivefor against England in Gros Islet.

Six months after becoming the No. 1 allrounder in women’s T20Is, Dottin dominated the awards for women, taking back the Women’s Player of the Year award. In ODIs during the period, Dottin made 207 runs in six innings, in addition to taking 15 wickets with the ball.

In T20Is, she bagged figures of 5 for 5 – her best in this format.

Off spin-bowling

all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall, who recently broke into the West Indies’ Test squad, was named ‘Championship Player of the Year’, while star all-rounder Andre Russell was adjudged ‘Caribbean T20 Player of the Year’.

Nineteen-yearold left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop, who was snapped up by Barbados Tridents in the CPL Draft in May, won the ‘Under-19 Player of the Year’ award. (Excerpted from CRICINFO) List of award winners * Test Player of the year: Jason Holder * ODI player of the year: Shai Hope * T20 player of the year: Keemo Paul * Emerging player of the year: Oshane Thomas * Women’s T20I player of the year: Deandra Dottin * Women’s ODI player of the year: Deandra Dottin * First-class team of the year: Guyana * Championship player of the year:

T20 Player of the Year, Keemo Paul, receiving his award from Liam Sebastian

Rahkeem Cornwall * Super 50 player of the year: Yanick Ottley * Caribbean T20 player of the year: Andre Russell * Under-19 player of the year: Joshua Bishop * Under-19 team of

the year: Trinidad & Tobago * Umpire of the year: Joel Wilson * Player of the year: Jason Holder * Women’s player of the Year: Deandra Dottin.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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he St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have announced two temporary replacements to their squad for the upcoming season, both due to international commitments for players they selected at the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) draft, according to CPL. Isuru Udana is unavailable for the first two games of the CPL season due to Sri Lanka’s ongoing series against New Zealand. He will be replaced for the first two matches of the Patriots’ campaign by Trinidadian batsman, Jason Mohammad.

Mohammad played for the Guyana Amazon Warriors last season, and with 1,211 runs in T20 cricket he is an experienced campaigner.

Meanwhile, the Patriots ICC Americas pick at the draft, Aaron Jones, will be playing for the USA until 14

September. The draft rules allow for the ICC Americas player to be temporarily replaced

Jason Mohammad

by a Caribbean national. While he is away on international duty, Jones will be replaced

by Kjorn Ottley who was the leading run scorer for the Combined

Colleges and Campuses team in the most recent Regional Super50 competition, a tournament which his team won, CPL reported.

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WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

Carnival cricket returns to Guyana

...book your spot now!

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uyanese cricket fans have ensured they do not miss the action at this year’s “Biggest Party in Sport”, as many of them are seeking to purchase their Hero CPL tickets before it gets closer to match days.

The Ticket Sales Office at 238 Camp and Quamina Streets in Georgetown opened its doors on Monday morning to eager Caribbean Premiere League fans who wanted to ensure that they would witness some of the biggest names in T20 cricket compete at the National Stadium at Providence.

The CPL Ticket Office will be open on weekdays from 8am to 5pm; on Saturdays from 9am to 5pm, and on Sundays from 9am to 2pm.

As per usual, tickets for the Red and Green stands are priced at Gy$5000, while Orange stand tickets are priced at Gy$3000. Tickets for the Grass Mound remain at Gy $2000.

The tickets currently on sale are for the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ match against St. Lucia Zouks on September 5; vs St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots on September 7; and vs the Barbados Tridents on September 8.

It is important to note that tickets sales for the final two home games — against the Jamaica Tallawahs on October 3 and Trinbago Knight Riders on October 4 — will go on sale from Monday, September 9.

Guyanese cricket fans

and loyal supporters of the Guyana Amazon Warriors are urged to uplift their tickets at the soonest possible time, so as to avoid the rush when match days are near.

Supporters can also buy tickets online at www. cplt20.com and are urged to

buy in advance to avoid disappointment.

A range of Guyana Amazon Warriors’ merchandise is also on sale at the Camp and Quamina Streets office. In addition to replica T-shirts, fans can also buy hats, flags, whistles, bags,

cricket gear, and even phone cases, which are all available.

Further information can be obtained from the Ticket Office on telephone numbers 592 - 231-5344, 502-0448 or 502-0454.

WEEK ENDING AUGUST 25, 2019 | guyanatimeSinternational.com

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