Guyana Times Saturday February 15, 2020

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THE BEACON OF TRUTH

Issue No. 4197

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

PRICE

APNU/AFC manifesto launch

$80 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

2015’s broken promises regurgitated See story on page 3

...document fails to produce a coherent framework to guide national development – Jagdeo

‘White elephant’ Law Reform Commission incurs $113M in expenses See story on page 7

Former Jamaican PM to head OAS Observation Mission to P11 Guyana

“Nick-Knock” remanded P8 for murder of “Overdose”

Victim in P10 Moblissa fatal accident identified as Yarrowkabra woman

Several small businesses have been honoured at the first awards reception and dinner hosted by the Small Business Committee and the Small Business Bureau.

They included Braf’s Manufacturing, Hero Carts, The Balance, Presidential Cuts Barber Shop and Sports Bar, and Deika’s Spices

3 injured after car collides with school children in Corentyne Page 17

Teacher allegedly places knife to child’s neck, attacks mother Page 7

Coomacka resident crushed by tractor Page 10

GWI staff sexually, P13 physically assaulted in Corentyne Commuters call for urgent intervention to repair P2 Vreed-enHoop Stelling

2 NEWS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Suspect who assaulted 12-year-old during robbery still on run ꟷ Police

…lad remains hospitalised after suffering fractured skull, internal bleeding

A

young man who brutally attacked, assaulted and robbed a 12-year-old schoolboy is currently on the run.

This is according to Police Commander of Region Three (Essequibo IslandsWest Demerara), Assistant Police Commissioner Simon McBean, who told Guyana Times on Friday that to date, several attempts to apprehend the suspect at his home were unsuccessful.

He pointed out that the 12-year-old, Irshad Ali, who attends the West Demerara Secondary School, West Bank Demerara (WBD) disclosed to the investigators that his attacker was a wellknown person in his village.

The grade seven student told the cops that although he is unaware of his attacker’s name, he is known to villagers as “black boy”, and upon further investigation, the Police were given the address of the suspect.

However, the perpetrator could not be found at his residence and Police are intensifying their search for the man.

On Monday, young Ali was attacked while riding his bicycle on his way to his Pouderoyen, WBD home from school.

Reports are that between 15:30h and 16:00h, the lad was pedalling his bicycle through the Coglan Dam Street, the route he used to travel home after

attending classes when an adult pedal cyclist rode behind him.

The youth continued along the street but was unaware that the person trailing him had ill intent. The perpetrator then used a heavy object to hit the boy behind his head, rendering him unconscious, while making good his escape with the youth’s cellular phone.

Persons in the street noticed the youth lying on the road and quickly contacted his aunt who arrived at the scene.

He was then rushed to his home in an unconscious state and his father transported the unconscious child to the West Demerara

Police Commander of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Assistant Police Commissioner Simon Mc Bean

Regional Hospital (WDRH) for emergency treatment.

According to the child’s father, Ameer Ali, his young son was admitted at that health facility and a battery of tests was conducted, including a Computed Tomography (CT) scan.

The CT scan revealed that upon admittance to the hospital, the young Ali had suffered a fracture to his skull and was bleeding in his head.

His father stated that he regained consciousness shortly after treatment began and that his son is now in a stable condition.

However, he is still hospitalised since medical staff recommended that he is “kept for observation”.

Commuters call for urgent intervention to repair Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling

C

ommuters using the water taxi service at the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling have called for immediate intervention into the availability of multiple boats during peak hours, as many are forced to wait for a prolonged period of time.

Guyana Times was informed recently of the struggles faced, especially in the mornings, to enter one of the speedboats.

During a subsequent visit, commuters complained that only one vessel is allowed to load at once, creating a crowd of persons. This “unorganised’ setup has caused persons to stand in a large group for an extensive period of time.

One woman, who requested anonymity, told this publication, “I ain’t able with this crowd. Everybody just pushing because only one boat loading and what we gonna say, we got to

wait. I waiting here and it ain’t get no line or nothing. Everybody just rushing when another boat come up and I frighten I fall”.

While others around vented similar cries, they called for the authorities to implement a holistic approach to cater for the increased number of commuters.

“They can’t use the old system when so much people, school children all gotta get over with the boat. It wasting so much time. They got make more boats load one time,” another said.

Apart from the operations in the area, there have been numerous complaints about the structural integrity of the stelling.

Last October, the dilapidated structure came under criticism the morning after an elderly woman lost her balance and almost fell into the Demerara River.

The situation escalated since there were no railings for support, coupled with unsteady stairs.

It is customary for everyday commuters to lament about the structure, which is highly unsafe for young children and the elderly.

However, the incident saw many persons fuming over the unsafe structure, which could contribute to bigger

but at the same time is to sustainability and we are able to provide information at inevitably time,” Gabriel explained.

The costume designer, Nelsion Nurse, stated that the Ministry is incorporating colours to showcase Guyana raising the bar in eco-friendly mining.

“I honestly promise you is that the bands are going to create a stir, especially with Natural Resources.

We did a lot with the more colours and we are playing a lot with colours. I know a lot of people will expect because it is our Republic Jubilee and they will expect national colours and patriotic and we would love to do those things but because of the concept and we are promoting eco-friendly

we decided to use colours that would bring our concept to life.” Nurse added.

Also in attendance was the MNR Administrator, Beverly Alert, who noted that this is a significant period in Guyana.

“Today (Friday), 50 years on, you might want to say we have grown and indeed we have. But we are still a very young nation, and at this point in time, 50 years after achieving Republican status, our country is set for unprecedented growth.”

This year, the Natural Resources Ministry is collaborating with various entities under its remit such as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); the Guyana Gold Board, and the Guyana

Large crowds waiting at the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling

problems.

The stelling, made primarily of timber, is equipped with two stairwells – one which extends to speedboats that are loading while the other facilitates boats to offload passengers.

The Public Infrastructure Ministry had announced an overhaul of the structure, which

is in dire need of a facelift but no major repairs are forthcoming. This newspaper was told that last year, a few planks were changed during the rainy season.

At that time, commuters were under the impression that the much-needed rehabilitation was underway. However, only the fragmented segments were changed to prevent any ac-

cidents.

Meanwhile, taxi drivers and other vendors have long complained about the other sections, which are in an even worse state. When it rains, the roof leaks at numerous spots, damaging clothing, shoes and other products. Additionally, petty crimes have escalated as a result of minimal security at night.

Natural Resources Ministry launches 2020 Mash band

I

n a colourful display intended to replicate the potential of eco-friendly mining, the Ministry of Natural Resources launched its Mashramani 2020 band.

The launching took place at the Indigenous Peoples’ Benab, Sophia Exhibition Centre, revealing what the public can expect come February 23.

The Public Affairs Officer, Stephon Gabriel stated that the costumes depict sustainable mining.

“Our costume will showcase that preservation, that sustainability aspect of the Natural Resources and you utilising them to the better of all Guyanese not only and we understand that mining and forestry extractions, we take from it

Designer Nelsion Nurse (in yellow shirt) along with revellers displaying the costumes

Forestry Commission.

The Ministry’s band will join the several other Government agencies as

well as private organisations to celebrate the 50th Mashramani parade.

The theme for this year’s

celebration is “Guyana Together – Reflect, Celebrate, Transform”.

NEWS

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

APNU/AFC manifesto launch

BRIDGE OPENINGS

The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Saturday, February 15 – 10:00h -11:30h and Sunday, February 16 – 11:00h – 12:30h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Saturday, February 15 – 09:05h – 10:35h and Sunday, February 16 – 10:20h – 11:50h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

Parika and Supenaam departure times - 05:00h, 11:00h and 16:00h daily

WEATHER TODAY Sunshine will prevail throughout the day. There will be clear skies at night. Temperatures should range between 20 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: North North-Easterly to East NorthEasterly between 1.18 metres and 4.47 metres.

High Tide: 09:09h and 21:43h reaching maximum heights of 2.47 metres and 2.33 metres.

Low Tide: 02:41h and 15:11h reaching minimum heights of 0.77 metre and 0.77 metre.

2015’s broken promises regurgitated ...document fails to produce a coherent framework to guide national development ꟷ Jagdeo

T

he APNU/AFC manifesto for the 2020 elections was launched on Friday 14— Valentine’s Day—to evoke, as declared by caretaker President David Granger at the head table, the Cummingsburg Accord they signed on the same day in 2015 to coalesce for that election.

Unfortunately, what was evoked by the content of the manifesto were the broken promises of the Accord which were mirrored in the regurgitated 2015 manifesto, along with feeble excuses for their failures.

High up in the 2020 manifesto was the regurgitated promise for “constitutional change” which was also given top priority in 2015 but suffered an untimely death after a Steering Committee for Constitutional Change submitted its proposals to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who buried them

is necessary. Not what some of the legal experts and newspapers’ writers might want. We intend to expand that consultation process,” he contended.

Adding his bit, Granger also defended his Administration’s failure to deliver constitutional reform, saying that this process has been ongoing for more than 20 years and that there is a huge amount of unimplemented recommendations.

“It is an extremely complexed process and we intend to complete it. It hasn’t been halted but for various reasons, it has not been able to make as much progress as we want to make. Bear in mind, it has passed through three Attorney Generals under the PPP Administration without success and we’ve been grappling with it but we intend to bring it to conclusion during our next tenure in office,” he asserted.

enable former sugar workers to access land for housing and agriculture”.

But this was not done in the almost four years that Granger unilaterally shuttered the four estates and threw 7000 workers onto the breadlines. Most of those workers still have no alternative employment and their union, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), has dismissed the offer made in recent weeks on the campaign trail as an “electioneering gimmick”.

Further, this is the second time the coalition administration has promised to make these lands available, despite the fact that many acres were granted for private investors and other stakeholders.

Another striking initiative contained in the coalition’s election plans is the “construction and operation of specialised hos-

APNU/AFC Executives at the launch: Joseph Harmon, Dawn Hastings-Williams, Presidential Candidate David Granger, Khemraj Ramjattan and Raphael Trotman

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020

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DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902

COMMODITIES Indicators

US$

Crude Oil Rough Rice London Sugar

$51.41/barrel $239.58/ton $407.20/ton

Live Spot Gold Bid/Ask Low/High Change

$1583.50 $1573.90 +0.00

Change % +0.49 +0.04 0.00

USD Per Ounce $1584.50 $1585.60 +0.00%

in a parliamentary committee.

In fact, AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, who is APNU Leader David Granger’s running mate as they seek re-election in office, acknowledged the argument that the touted promise was not delivered and defended this by casting blame in the sugar industry.

“The trouble is that we’ve had a number of other challenges – one, of course, is, as you know, to ensure that sugar survived and be salvaged, and immediately after that, we had some other challenges…,” he told reporters when questioned about the issue.

However, he noted that if the coalition is re-elected, it will fast-track constitutional reform after wide consultation and after experts’ advice and parliamentary approval.

“We want to continue countrywide community consultations in relation to others because the wider will of the people

Over the past few years, constitutional reform has been before a parliamentary committee.

There is a Constitutional Reform Commission bill that was to be examined by the committee. But there have been accusations made of members of the committee stalling the process.

Meanwhile, even as the incumbent coalition blames sugar for not being able to reform Guyana’s Constitution, it has also failed to come up with tangible solutions for the thousands of workers who were laid off from sugar belt when it downsized the industry to mere three estates – that is, closing the Wales, East Demerara (Enmore), Rose Hall and Skeldon Estates.

In fact, the only provisions outlined in its 2020 manifesto for the displaced workers is to “Establish a State Land Resettlement Commission to

pitals to provide modern medical services and excellent primary healthcare services”.

A speciality hospital was already in the cards when the coalition took office back in 2015 but APNU/AFC cancelled the project for which the previous PPP Government had secured funding.

The US$18 million project, which was funded by the India Export-Import (EXIM) Bank via a line of credit (LoC), was dropped in 2016 after the contracted company, Fedders Lloyd Corporation Limited, which was handpicked by the coalition administration, was blacklisted by the World Bank until 2020 owing to fraud and corruption practices.

The Guyana Government subsequently announced that the project was “dead”.

Some of the recurring promises put forward by the coalition party since 2015 also include the development of Guyana as

a ‘digital nation’, the promotion of gender equality, ‘business-friendly’ tax regime and investment opportunities.

These are just among some of the unfulfilled promises that the Administration regurgitated in its 2020 elections manifesto. According to Granger at Friday’s launch, the coalition’s manifesto is not only ambitious but it is also agreeable and attainable.

“We have been very realistic.

We have been in Government and we’ve brought our experience to bear on crafting this manifesto. We will do what we promised to do. We will perform, I’m not making promises.

So we’re not trying to bamboozle the electorate. We are capable of delivering everything that we’ve promised in this document before you,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said the launch of a ‘booklet’ which was deemed a manifesto by the APNU coalition was another pathetic move in a series of underwhelming acts of this coalition.

He noted that no right-thinking person would ever believe a single thing they promise in 2020 given that they broke every promise in their 2015 manifesto.

“They are untrustworthy.

The launch was the usual comic affair. Dawn Hastings commended the document but said she barely had a glimpse of it. Harmon said the world was adopting the green and yellow colours because their campaign was so vibrant. Trotman emerged from hiding after being exposed for the criminal oil negotiations, to claim that even babies and animals were using their party’s colours. Ramjattan was just irredeemable Ramjattan and Granger, as usual, was just as vague and vacuous as the booklet he launched.

Guyanese need not look to this document for clarity or inspiration. They will find none. The short document fails to produce a coherent framework to guide national development and a specific set of policies, programmes and projects to enhance the wellbeing of Guyanese,” he added.

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guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Finally, the LCP A

fter growing pressure from the Opposition and civil society groups, Guyana finally has a Local Content Policy (LCP) in place to help guide the operations of the oil and gas sector, and more so to ensure that Guyanese benefit from the sector. Many were hoping that a robust LCP would have been finalised before oil production commenced last December but the government rejected two early drafts that were prepared by a Caribbean expert in favor of the present one drafted by a British source and which left the country unprepared for First Oil. To some extent, the document is still not in line with what obtains in other countries which have been known to maximise the benefits from their natural resources. The Department of Energy has promised that the LCP will be updated from time to time to be aligned with the maturing petroleum sector and with evolving national development strategies and goals.

At this time, the current policy framework is limited in scope to the upstream petroleum sector and does not as yet address directly policy areas such as mid and downstream petroleum sector opportunities, other policy issues related to the upstream petroleum sector, such as health, safety, security, environment, community impacts, tax and fiscal matters.

Based on the current policy, If oil and gas operators spend money to develop local expertise and support local businesses, it allows them to be compensated for such expenditure under cost recovery. However, the LCP yet allows the operators to priorities “qualified workers”, which discourage training locals. Guyana’s model Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), used to craft the legal agreements with various oil companies operating offshore Guyana, allows them to use revenue from their production to recover the money they invested. Whatever remains of this is the ‘profit oil’ Guyana will initially have to split with the oil company and its associates.

The objective of any Local Content Policy must be to transform the short and medium-term benefits of natural resource extraction into long-term local economic development outcomes. This could be done through capacity strengthening, institutional building and strong policies to promote domestic economic linkages, job creation and the participation of local Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the value chain via the supply of goods and services to the sector.

It is well known that many resource-rich countries, particularly those in Africa, have not received the full benefits from the exploitation of their natural resources. In fact, some of them are worse off and this is as a result of a number of factors, including their own corruption and mismanagement. However, one key factor is that though these countries receive significant fiscal benefits from the export of their natural resources, the development linkages to other economic sectors remain very low in terms of domestic value added and employment creation.

Guyana must, therefore, place much focus on ensuring that the output of our extractive industries generates further benefits to the economy beyond the direct contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), through its linkage to other domestic production sectors.

That aside, the LCP is only aspirational if it is not backed by for local content legislation, which was never brought to the National Assembly. Guyana has to depend on the beneficence of the operators. It is hoped that once the elections are come and gone, the country would return to normalcy as soon as possible. The government that is elected in a free, fair and transparent process must be allowed to govern. It must also utilise a bipartisan approach as it relates to the management of the oil sector, more so how the funds are being dispersed.

The new government must also make it a matter of priority to ensure that a Petroleum Commission in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the sector. As it stands, in the absence of a Petroleum Commission, the Department of Energy has been carrying out most of the functions that would be expected of such a commission. The difference, however, is that the Department reports directly to the President.

Political leaders, the business community, civil society and citizens themselves should work in harmony to ensure that all this talk about oil and the huge potential it has for our development, could really translate into actually improving the quality of life for everyone here.

Colvis Inniss of Calcutta Primary School performs “Stop the road carnage” during the 11-13-year-old Calypso competition which was held on Friday at the National Cultural Centre (Shaconeil Burnette photo)

Something is rotten – the new Marriot smells from here to Timbuktu

Dear Editor, Elections are just about seventeen days away. The APNU/AFC is busy with transactions they had no time for in the last almost five years and for which no caretaker Government has the right to conduct, even if it’s always better late than never.

Among these questionable transactions is giving away valuable land. I was shocked to see them turning the sod at Ogle for a new Marriot Hotel with a Trinidadian who has registered a company in Guyana called Triniyuana.

The CEO of the company insisted he is not a politician and does not care which party wins the upcoming elections. These elections are just a few days away. Why, therefore, could this not wait until after the elections, no matter which party wins?

Something is rotten with this deal and it smells from here to Timbuktu.

It did not escape me that no Marriot representative was present and the Trinidadian CEO of the company admitted he is yet to sign an agreement with Marriot. I am not opposed to a new Marriot at that location. In fact, I belong to the PPP whose manifesto and whose Presidential Candidate have vocalised the PPP’s vision and plan for several more Marriot-like hotels in Guyana. But there are serious questions which the Granger-led APNU/AFC must answer. All Guyanese, no matter which party he or she might support, must want to see the interests of our country and people protected. The investors in this new project, including Republic Bank, if the reports are correct, must also want these concerns addressed.

First, the following context is important. Since 2015 and particularly after the PSA with Exxon was signed in 2016, the price for land in certain parts of the country has skyrocketed. In certain parts of Georgetown, the price for prime land has tripled and quadrupled. Thus, when looking at the price for prime land today, it is not an easy comparison with prices for prime land before 2016.

One area of interest is land in the Ogle area. Land around the airport became more valuable ever since the PPP initiated a vision to expand and modernise the Ogle Airstrip into a fully-fledged international municipal airport. Those lands are now even more valuable because the dream of Ogle as an international municipal airport has become reality and the airport is every day expanding and improving. But the value of land around the Ogle airport also significantly increased in value after Exxon announced it is building an international-standard headquarters behind the Ogle Airport. There is the concern of what Exxon paid for the land on which it is building its headquarters, but that is another matter.

Having established the context, Guyanese must be concerned with what is reported to be the price of the land Triniyuana Investments Inc paid. The news reports state that the company acquired formerly GuySuCo land, 2.61 acres for $52 million. That would mean that the cost is about $20 million per acre. Surely this is selling prime land for “peanuts”.

The MovieTowne land in Turkeyen which was sold long before oil and long be-

fore the area had the value it now has was sold at about $25 million per acre. There is no way that the GuySuCo land at Ogle is worth just $20 million per acre. This is a giveaway price. Therefore, Guyanese are asking for the valuation of the land, who did it, when it was done.

It has not escaped inquiring minds that two senior officials of the PPP Government were charged for selling the MovieTowne land at about $20 million per acre, much more than they were getting in an open tender. Would, therefore, someone be charged for selling valuable, prime property at Ogle at a price drastically below market value?

Or is it that the land was deliberately sold below market rate on the justification that it is for a valuable investment that will bring jobs and fulfil a need for Guyana? I personally do not have a problem with this reasoning. But this reasoning was rejected by the very people responsible for this transaction and, therefore, this cannot be their motivation. Unless someone provides clarification, this is a rotten deal, smelling all the way from here to Timbuktu.

According to NICIL officials, negotiation for selling the land started in March and the assumption is made it had to be March 2019. Was there a valuation? Was there a public advertisement offering the land for sale? Who tendered to procure the land and what prices were offered?

Why was Triniyuana selected as the purchaser of this land?

The CEO admitted he had no idea the land was for sale.

He was not involved in any tendering for the land.

He admitted that he pitched a proposal for a Marriot and he

was directed to this site. His company was not registered until July, several months after the March date when NICIL said the land sale was being negotiated. These are serious questions and they must be answered with evidence provided.

But my concerns go beyond the price and the process. This is supposed to be a 150-room Marriot Hotel on a 2.61-acre of land, thus, this will be a highrise building in front of the Ogle International Airport.

I recall this same land was once identified and surveyed for a housing scheme.

In fact, house lots on this land were allocated and distributed. Those house lots had to be repossessed because it was determined that those proposed homes would be in the flight path of the planes from the Ogle International Airport.

What has changed since that time that it is now safe to build a high-rise hotel in those same lands?

Just across the road from the proposed site, there was a proposal to construct the new headquarters for the Civil Aviation Authority. The then President Donald Ramotar turned the sod for that building. But the plan was abruptly terminated because it was determined that the CAA building would constitute a danger for the planes arriving and departing the Ogle International Airport.

Maybe all of these issues have been resolved, but why the secret? We need to know.

Sincerely, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

guyanatimesgy.com

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

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Shining some light on Rett Syndrome Condemning Dear Editor, Please permit me space in your newspaper to discuss the issue of Rett Syndrome.

According to the World Bank Group, statistics released from the United Nations during their General Assembly on Disability in 2019 showed that one billion people (15% of the world’s population) experience some form of disability, and onefifth of the estimated global total experience significant disabilities.

An Austrian Neurologist, Andreas Rett, published a report in 1966 notifying the public about a disorder termed Rett Syndrome (Cerebroatrophic hyperammonemia).

According to the International Rett Syndrome Association (IRSA), Dr. Rett had observed two girls making the same repetitive hand-washing motions. He compared their clinical and developmental records and found they were very similar. Dr. Rett had six other girls with similar behaviours, and became very interested in this unknown illness. He devised a film of the girls, and began travelling around Europe in efforts to find other girls with comparable symptoms.

Rett Syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that affects brain development and functionality. It causes a progressive loss of motor skills and speech. This condition affects approximately one in 10,000 girls, and is hardly found in males.

Rett Syndrome is genetically caused by mutation in a gene located on the X chromosome. Most of the symptoms are elusive, and vary with age.

Babies with Rett Syndrome are born after a normal pregnancy and delivery. Most infants with Rett Syndrome seem to grow and behave ordinarily for the first six months. However, signs and symptoms start to appear afterwards, and at each stage, the patient experiences different symptoms.

Stage One, which is also known as early onset, has signs and symptoms that are subtle and easily overlooked. It starts between 6 and 18 months of age, and can last for months to a year (12 months). Babies may show less eye contact, and experience delays in sitting or crawling, or disinterest in toys.

In Stage Two, rapid deterioration occurs between 1 and 4 years of age. Children can be seen losing the ability to perform skills they once had. This physical loss can either occur rapidly, or gradually over a few weeks or months. Symptoms of Rett Syndrome occur, such as slowed head growth, abnormal hand movements, rapid weight loss, hyperventilating, screaming or crying for no apparent reason, sudden outbursts, difficulties with movement and coordination, and a loss of social interaction and communication.

Stage Three, or the pla-

teau stage, begins between the ages of 2 and 10 years, and can last for many years.

While problems with movement continue, behaviour may have limited improvement, with less irritability and some improvement in hand use and communication. Seizures may begin during this stage; more specifically, silent seizures occasioned by a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain, which can severely affect the child, if not treated.

Stage Four, known as the late motor deterioration stage, usually begins after the age of 10, and can last for years, or even decades.

It’s marked by reduced mobility, muscle weakness, joint contractures, and in some instances by scoliosis, which is a lateral curvature of the spine. Understanding, communication and hand skills generally remain stable, or can improve slightly, and seizures may occur less.

Although there’s no cure for Rett Syndrome, potential treatments are being studied. Current treatments focus on improving movement and communication through therapies (speech and physical), treating seizures, and providing care and support for children and adults with Rett Syndrome.

Raising a child is indeed difficult, but raising a disabled child involves concerns about that child’s future and the family’s future in general, and can be very overwhelming. Parents often lack the financial support necessary, and may experience trauma if they do not get the appropriate treatments. No parent wants their child to be sick, disabled, or harmed in any way. It is not an experience anyone expects to go through; rather, it is an experience that is unplanned.

The terrain families must travel is very rough, and yet most families are able to find the strength within themselves to adjust to, and handle, the challenges that may accompany their child’s disability.

Personally, my family has experienced great deals of distress and tribulations after the diagnosis of my 7-year-old niece, who is a warrior against Rett Syndrome.

Doctors can easily diagnose Rett by observing signs and symptoms at every stage of growth and development. However, this is not possible in Guyana, due to the lack of trained personnel and equipment in the health-care institutions. As a result, we have been inspired and motivated to initiate an awareness campaign and non-profit organization – Precious Angels’ Charity – in efforts of spreading awareness and raising funds for the treatment of these precious souls, who are silenced by this disorder.

If anyone has a relative or loved one experiencing pe-

culiar signs and symptoms, kindly be aware that help can be provided. Although diagnosis and full treatment are not quite present in Guyana for suspected cases of Rett Syndrome, dedicated neurologists and therapists from abroad occasionally offer screening at Met Pride Academy, which is a ‘special needs school’ (metprideacademy.org). This is done so as to provide answers, suggestions, and greatly needed help to the questions desperate families ask about their

disabled child. One can only hope for a cure to be found in the near future.

It is through unity and perseverance that Rett Syndrome can be defeated.

We must stand together, exert love, and put aside conflicts to provide emotional help to the families and children affected by this disorder and many more like it.

Respectfully, Hadiyyah Mohamed Student

Review oil reports critically Dear Editor, The recent report released

by Global Witness shows the urgent need for Guyanese to consider claims made by international “experts” with greater scrutiny. The report received great interest across Guyana, and many readers have been willing to take its conclusions as gospel. Yet at the same time, a great many experts and officials have rejected the report.

As was widely reported, Global Witness accused the Government of shoddy negotiations in 2016, causing some $55 billion in lost revenue for the people of Guyana.

They also recommended that Guyana stop offshore exploration, cancel already allocated licenses and not award any new ones, limiting our energy production to the few wells in Stabroek that are already being developed.

Global Witness drew the $55 billion figure from an OpenOil analysis, comparing what Guyana could make with the global average profit without acknowledging the differences between Guyana’s fiscal regime and other more “frontier” oil-producing countries. Yet almost immediately after its publication, a chorus of voices arose against the study. Articles from Forbes, a globally respected business publication, and Valerie Marcel, former leader of energy research at think tank Chatham House, attacked the findings for being inaccurate and fallacious.

OpenOil even had to release a statement to defend their analysis.

Even other analysts have found issues. Rystad Energy, whose raw data OpenOil used in its analysis, announced that it felt that the contract will earn Guyana a 60 per cent take. Shockingly, Rystad also reported that they believe our contract to be favourable compared to our peer group countries, where they calculate Government take to be in the range of 50 to 65 per cent.

The brain behind Rystad’s report is Sonya Boodoo, Vice President of Upstream Research, who has an extensive background in oil and gas in the Caribbean.

According to her LinkedIn

profile, she worked as a geologist for the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago from 2007-2011 and has both a Master of Science in energy studies with a specialisation in oil and gas economics and a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum geoscience. Rystad’s staff also includes an impressive number of geologists, petroleum engineers and market research analysts.

On the other hand, Global Witness and OpenOil do not boast many industry credentials. Jonathan Gant, the author of the Global Witness report, describes himself only as a “senior campaigner” and doesn’t provide any educational background or energy expertise. Johnny West, OpenOil’s founder, is a journalist who worked as a Reuters correspondent in Egypt in the 1990s and for other smaller publications in Central Asia. His background is in Classics and Contemporary Arab Studies, with a limited 13-month stint as a UN advisor.

This may explain why despite having a range of “experts” arrayed before us, Guyana is bombarded with contradictory findings. I fear that this will continue to be the new status quo, as international interest will only increase and Guyana is likely to be viewed as a case study or a pawn for the ambitions of international organisations. It is on Guyanese to ask whether these “experts” have real experience and knowledge. Even more importantly, it is on us to ask what the purveyors of such reports are hoping to accomplish with their work. Do they truly have the best interests of Guyanese in mind?

I believe it is the civic duty of every Guyanese to ask these critical questions and to seek to educate themselves on the industry that will surely shape our futures for generations to come. It is inexcusable to allow ourselves to be led astray – we must be wary of all and be thoughtful and critical when accepting or rejecting the guidance of others.

Sincerely, Donald Singh

attack on Imaam

Dear Editor, It is with dismay and shock that I learned of the criminal attack on Robeena Zaman. I sincerely pray and hope that she fully recovers from the trauma and the wound she sustained in that disgusting attack. I am certain that the mental and physical scar of that dreadful morning will accompany her forever.

As for those of us who do not know Mister and Mistress Zaman, please allow me to shed some light on these two outstanding personalities. Mr Zaman is the Imaam of the Albouystown Mosque. He lives at the Mosque compound with their three children. They are by no means wealthy people, but they are rich in their hearts.

They dedicate their time, resources and efforts to help improve the lives of the people within that community.

Mrs Zaman will teach the women to sew clothing, bake cakes and pastries, and other craft skills. She is relentless in her efforts to improve these underprivileged women within that community.

Two of the three children attended Queen’s College and now pursuing higher studies at the University

of Guyana. Her passion is to work among the neglected, deprived and underprivileged class. I attest that this is a family who worked against all odds to help society.

All so often we hear, see and learn of similar attacks on innocent, defenceless persons. I am wondering where our country is heading and what is the response of our law enforcement authorities.

Many, many cases of robberies and harassment do not get the attention of the police department. In most cases, victims are even scared to report violations and robberies because of the royal-run-around by some police officers and even if they do make a report, very little is being done to apprehend the suspects.

I call on the hardworking Commissioner of Police to take personal interest into this matter to have the suspect arrested and charged.

I conclude by extending my sympathy to Mrs Zaman and her family as I wish her a speedy recovery.

May almighty God keep her safe.

Yours truly, Nazar Mohamed

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

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Foundation

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ow can you improve your immune system? On the whole, your immune system does a remarkable job of defending you against disease-causing microorganisms.

But sometimes it fails: A germ invades successfully and makes you sick. Is it possible to intervene in this process and boost your immune system? What if you improve your diet? Take certain vitamins or herbal preparations? Make other lifestyle changes in the hope of producing a near-perfect immune response?

What can you do to boost your immune system?

The idea of boosting your immunity is enticing, but the ability to do so has proved elusive for several reasons. The immune system is precisely that — a system, not a single entity.

To function well, it requires balance and harmony. There is still much that researchers don’t know about the intricacies and interconnectedness of the immune response. For now, there are no scientifically proven direct links between lifestyle and enhanced immune function.

But that doesn’t mean the effects of lifestyle on the immune system aren’t intriguing and shouldn’t be studied. Researchers are exploring the effects of diet, exercise, age, psychological stress, and other factors on the immune response, both in animals and in humans. In the meantime, general healthy-living strategies are a good way to start giving your immune system the upper hand.

Immunity in action Immunity in action. A healthy immune system can defeat invading pathogens.

Your first line of defence is to choose a healthy lifestyle.

Following general good-health guidelines is the single best step you can take toward naturally keeping your immune system strong and healthy. Every part of your body, including your immune system, functions better when protected from environmental assaults and bolstered by healthy-living strategies such as these: Don’t smoke Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables Exercise regularly Maintain a healthy weight If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation Get adequate sleep Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly Try to minimise stress Increase immunity the healthy way There are many reasons for poor immunity. The most common being stress and poor nutrition.

When we say poor nutrition we mean, in this context, the absence or deficiency of those nutrients that make our own

fighter cells strong enough to fight the germs that enter our body.

Bringing colourful food to your plate is a good way to boost your immunity and reduce your chances of getting an infection.

Let’s look at some of the best immunity-boosting foods to incorporate into your diet.

Vitamin C is a very powerful soldier which works very hard to make our fighter cells strong. This vitamin is a very powerful immunity-boosting nutrient. Foods like oranges, mangoes, pineapple, sweet lime, grapes, pomegranate, strawberries, blueberries, mulberries, Indian gooseberry and guavas are rich sources of vitamin C. It is always advisable to eat these fruits whole and not as a juice, because vitamin C is very unstable and tends to get damaged when it comes in contact with oxygen in the atmosphere.

All vegetables that we eat in a salad like green and red cabbage, cucumber, broccoli, kale, tomato, lettuce and carrot are also rich sources of vitamin C. It is best to wash these vegetables twice to ensure they are free from any contamination and/or pesticides.

Vitamin A, also known as beta carotene, is also a strong immunity booster. High quantities of vitamin A are found in yellow and orange fruits like papayas, passion fruit, mangoes and oranges.

Vitamin E is also needed in the diet to build immunity. It works with vitamin C and complements its performance as an immunity booster. Vitamin E delays ageing of the cells in the body. It also protects against the wear and tear of brain tissue. Foods rich in vitamin E are almonds, walnuts and sesame seeds.

The beautiful colours we see in fruits and vegetables are indictors that they contain immunity-boosting phytochemicals that protect us from many infections. Make your meals colourful.

This ensures you are consuming sufficient immunity-boosting phytochemicals from nature. Several of these phytochemicals that are believed to possess antioxidant properties are quercetin (found in onions), bioflavonoids (found in soya beans) and anthocyanin (found in raspberries and yams).

Other extremely powerful immunity-building components in food are omega 3 fatty acids. Flaxseeds contain high levels of omega 3s. These fats protect our body from many different kinds of attacks and inflammations. As we age, we feel more mentally tired and physically susceptible to illness than when we are younger. Our immune response capability becomes reduced, which in turn contributes to more infections and more cancer. As life expectancy in developed countries has increased, so too has the incidence of age-related conditions.

While some people age healthily, the conclusion of many studies is that, compared with younger people, the elderly are more likely to contract infectious diseases and, even more importantly, more likely to die from them. Respiratory infections, influenza, and particularly pneumonia are leading causes of

death in people over 65 worldwide. No one knows for sure why this happens, but some scientists observe that this increased risk correlates with a decrease in T cells, possibly from the thymus atrophying with age and producing fewer T cells to fight off infection. Whether this decrease in thymus function explains the drop in T cells or whether other changes play a role is not fully understood. Others are interested in whether the bone marrow becomes less efficient at producing the stem cells that give rise to the cells of the immune system.

A reduction in immune response to infections has been demonstrated by older people’s response to vaccines. For example, studies of influenza vaccines have shown that for people over age 65, the vaccine is much less effective compared to healthy children (over age 2). But despite the reduction in efficacy, vaccinations for influenza and S pneumoniae have significantly lowered the rates of sickness and death in older people when compared with no vaccination.

So, what can you do? If you suspect your diet is not providing you with all your micronutrient needs — maybe, for instance, you don’t like vegetables — taking a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement may bring other health benefits, beyond any possibly beneficial effects on the immune system. Taking megadose of a single vitamin does not. More is not necessarily better. (Excerpted from health.harvard.edu and apanax.com)

T

here’s a reason why we hear a lot about hand washing: Hand washing is by far the best way to keep from getting sick. That’s because it prevents the spread of germs.

What’s the best way to wash hands?

Here’s how to scrub those germs away:

Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold).

Make sure the water isn’t too hot.

Use soap. Lather up for about 20 seconds. Any soap works. It doesn’t have to be antibacterial.

Make sure you wash in between your fingers, on the backs of your hands, and under your nails where germs like to hang out. Don’t forget your wrists!

Rinse and dry well with a clean towel.

When should I wash my hands?

Make a habit of regular hand washing. It’s most important: before eating and cooking after using the bathroom after cleaning around the house after touching pets and other animals before and after visiting or taking care of sick people after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing after being outside What if you don’t have soap and water? Waterless hand sanitisers, soaps, or scrubs are a good alternative. They come as liquids, wipes, sprays, or towelettes. You can buy travel sizes to keep in your book bag, car, locker, purse, or sports bag.

How do clean hands help health?

Good hand washing is the first line of defence against the spread of illnesses. It helps protect you against everything from the common cold to more serious infections, such as meningitis, bronchiolitis, the flu, hepatitis A, and many types of diarrhoea.

How do germs spread?

Germs spread in lots of ways. For example: touching dirty hands changing dirty diapers through contaminated water and food through droplets in the air released during a cough or sneeze on contaminated surfaces through contact with a sick person’s body fluids When you come into contact with germs, you can become infected just by touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Don’t forget the power of hand washing! The time you spend at the sink could save you trips to the doctor’s office. (kidshealth.org)

NEWS

7

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Teacher allegedly ‘White elephant’ Law Reform places knife to child’s Commission incurs $113M in expenses neck, attacks mother

S

Former AG Anil Nandlall

ome four years after the Law Reform Commission Act was passed in the National Assembly, the entity is yet to be fully established and according to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, millions of dollars continue to be wasted to pay staff and rental for a building.

Nandlall pointed out that since 2016, approximately $113.3 million have been allocated to fund this Commission and as of January 2020, not a single Commissioner was appointed to this Commission.

“To date… it remains a white elephant. It has done not a single work,” he contended in a statement on his Facebook page on Friday.

The Law Reform Commission Act, which was piloted by Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams, was enacted in January 2016. The Law Reform Commission (LRC) is a statutory body which shall consist of three to seven members including a Chairperson, who is appointed by the President, following consultation with the Minister of Legal Affairs.

According to the law, the Commission is mandated to review, simplify, modify and systematically develop the

law. appointment of the memNandlall reminded that bers is vital to the function during the 2018 National of the LRC, there were talks Budget Debate, based on in April 2019 that three cana question he asked, AG didates were shortlisted to be Williams disclosed that the appointed as Commissioners.

Commission is staffed with AG Williams had ex10 persons. These persons, plained that these according to the former AG, Commissioners will have to are being paid the salaries for be appointed by President doing nothing.

David Granger, who at the He said the Legal Officer time was in Cuba. gets $700,000; two Office “We hope to activate them.

Assistants earn $100,000 They’ve shortlisted three pereach; two Legal Clerks get sons. When the President re$150,000 each; three Typists turns, it is actually for the earn $130,000 each; a Driver names that were identified Legal Affairs Minister Basil $120,0000 and a Cleaner by the panel… so when the Williams $75,000.

President [returns] the only law, the elimination of anomThis amounts to a total thing left is to appoint these alies, and the repeal of obsoof $1,785,000 in salaries per Commissioners.” lete and unnecessary month. enactments.”

He went on to exIt is also mandated plain that if these perby the law to receive and sons were hired by 2016, consider suggestions for then based on those figthe reform of the law. ures, the total salaries These suggestions, acthat would have been cording to the Act, can paid from June 2016 be made on the invitato December 2019 (43 tion of the Commission months) would amount and can come from to $76,755,000.

Judges, public officials, Nandlall noted lawyers and the generthat this is added to al public. the cost for the rentThe Commission al of a building, located also has to “prepare and at Lot 59 Robb Street, submit to the Minister Bourda, Georgetown, to specific programmes for house the Law Reform the examination of difCommission. That propferent branches of the erty is being rented for law with a view to re$850,000 per month. The building on Robb Street rented for the form including recFor the 43 months, rent- LRC ommendations as to al costs would amount to whether such examinasome $36,550,000.

Pressed for the names tion should be carried out by This means that a to- of the candidates, Williams the Commission or some othtal of $113,305,000 has been only said that they are expe- er body.” ex pended to date on the rienced individuals in draftIn order to fulfil its funcnon-performing Commission. ing laws. tions, it is allowed to set up “So, Basil Williams has According to the LRC Act, law reform committees that wasted $113,305,000 on this the Commission will have the would examine particular assingle initiative, which has duty to “keep under review all pects of the law to make their not produce a single piece the law applicable to Guyana recommendations.

These of law reform in five years. with a view to its systematic committees, according to The wastage continues…,” development and reform, in- Section 8 (2) of the Act, do not Nandlall contended. cluding in particular the mod- have to be restricted to legal While the law says the ification of any branch of the professionals.

A

parent has accused a teacher of placing a knife to the neck of her 8-year-old child while making threats in school.

The incident reportedly took place on Tuesday at the Latchmansingh Primary at Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).

The child’s mother, 38-year-old Haywattie Rampersaud is alleging that the teacher committed the act when no one was around. She claimed that the teacher had been carrying the knife around in her waist.

She related that the incident took place during the mid-morning break when her daughter was using the inside stairway.

“She told me that the teacher come up to her and take out the knife from her waist and put it to her neck.”

The child was allegedly instructed not to visit her eldest sister, who is the teacher’s neighbour. After promising to comply with the teacher’s wishes, the child was warned not to report the incident.

The child reportedly returned to her class in tears and refused to tell her peers what the matter was.

She also did not report the incident when she got home but was refusing to go to school the following day.

After insisting that she has to go to school, the mother of nine related that it was then that she was told of the incident involv-

Injured: Haywattie Rampersaud

ing her daughter and the teacher.

Rampersaud revealed that she then took her daughter with the intention of taking her to the Head Teacher of the school but instead she confronted that teacher on her way to the school.

“I ask her why you put a knife on my daughter’s neck?

And she raise her hand to slap the child and I hold her hand back and tell her that she cannot slap the child in my presence. She pull out a knife from her waist and pelt a stab to catch me on my throat and I bar with my hand and the knife catch me hand, pass through my finger,” the woman said as she displayed a wound on her right thumb.

“When I back off and she pull a next one across my face. I had to run away because I did not have nothing and I had no intention shedding the blood of any teacher or to hit any teacher,” she said.

The matter has been reported to the police.

8 NEWS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Youth gets 2 years for illegal possession of firearm, ammo

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Jailed: Darrel Kennedy

fter being on trial before Magistrate Annette Singh

for possession of illegal firearm and ammunition, 20-year-old Darrel Kennedy was handed a

two-year sentence on each charge after sufficient evidence was found against him.

Kennedy had initially pleaded not guilty to the two charges when it was read to him in November 2019. The first charge stated that on November 21, 2019, at Aubrey Barker Road, South Ruimveldt Georgetown, he had in his possession two .32 live ammunition without being a licensed firearm holder.

It was further alleged that the defendant on the said date and location, had in his possession one .32 pistol without being the holder of a firearm licence at the time.

Magistrate Singh ruled that the sentences will

run concurrently, thus resulting in Kennedy spending only two years behind bars.

Facts that were presented by Prosecutor Devon Timmerman stated that on the day in question, ranks on patrol duty observed the defendant acting in a suspicious manner and conducted a search on his person.

Prosecutor Timmerman told the court that during same, ranks found the gun and ammunition in the crotch of the defendant’s pants.

The teen is also facing another charge, which alleges that he stole one motorcycle valued $435,000.

That matter is presently ongoing at the city court.

“Nick-Knock” remanded for murder of “Overdose”

A

fter almost over one year of evading Police, 47-yearold Gary Blackman, also called “Nick-Knock”, was on Friday hauled before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts charged with the murder of Darren Edwards, called “overdose”.

An unrepresented Blackman appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan and was not required to plead to the indictable offence which stated that on December 21, 2018, at Hadfield and Breda Streets, Georgetown, he

murdered Edwards.

The accused, of Lot 3415 Stevedore, Housing Scheme, was remanded to prison until February 20, 2020.

It was reported that Blackman went to visit the home of his lover where he discovered the now-dead man in bed with the woman.

As such, an argument ensued during which the accused armed himself with an ice pick and dealt Edwards several stabs about his body.

The injured man who attempted to escape ran out of the house on to Breda Street Murder accused: Gary Blackman

as the accused gave chase.

The accused managed to catch up with the now-dead man and inflected several other wounds to his body.

The injured man was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where

he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The court was informed that after the incident, Police ranks were unable to locate Blackman until recently when he was arrested and taken to the Ruimveldt Police Station where the charge was instituted.

Code…

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…for politicking

he Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has roused itself from its Rip Van Winkle-like slumber and announced a Code of Conduct for the political parties contesting the elections of March 2!! Imagine that: A Code of Conduct in place only 18 days before the elections!!

This is the first time that the ERC – launched in 2003 has taken this initiative, even though it was constitutionally founded, constituted, and mandated to encourage better ethnic/ racial relations among us, the six peoples of Guyana!!

More specifically, the ERC was supposed to “Identify and analyse factors inhibiting the attainment of harmonious relations between ethnic groups, particularly barriers to the participation of any ethnic group in social, economic, commercial, financial, cultural and political endeavours; and recommend to the National Assembly or other relevant public or private sector bodies how these factors should be overcome”.

Now, since the 1960s, who could’ve missed that it’s during “elections time” that relations between the ethnic groups become strained to the point of snapping every now and then. You’d think the ERC would’ve stepped in to mediate relations from the word “Go!”, wouldn’t you?? Well, maybe better late than never.

Up until then, GECOM had been issuing these Codes of Conduct…but not that any of the parties had given any of those codes any mind. For instance, in 2015, they had political parties swear: “Our Party will ensure that our Candidates, Agents, members and supporters refrain from interfering in any way with the polling and counting proceedings, and avoid all attempts to spread false rumours about election activities.” Yet, when PNC activists had spread rumours that ballots were being collected in a PPP member’s house in Sophia, and that house was burnt to the ground, GECOM didn’t even slap that party on the wrist!!

So, here it is, the ERC had the 11 parties contesting the elections sign along the dotted line to “reject violence, harassment, intimidation, racism, discrimination, threats, and the destruction or defacing of property during the election season”.

One suspects all of this is prospective so that PNC Chairwoman Volda Lawrence’s call for a “nightshift” of her strong male supporters -- to come out on elections night to “guard” the ballot boxes -- would escape scrutiny. Shouldn’t the ERC at least have her explicitly announce there will be no “nightshift” necessary, since her ballot box guardians might be seen as “intimidatory”? After all, the call has been strongly defended by her partisans as being quite kosher!!

Anyhow, one would wish the ERC would get the details of its Code up on its website. For instance, has the ERC followed GECOM’s prohibition of candidates “from indulging in personal attacks and defamatory comments relative to opposing candidates”?

This might just reduce all the candidates to silence!!

…for debate??

Spare a thought for those small parties that mushroomed – not like atomic bombs, but like jumbie umbrellas!! – over the last year to “contest” the elections. Your Eyewitness was forced to place “contest” in scare quotes; ‘cause, really, shouldn’t these presumably well-meaning folks be muttering “No mas! No mas!” like Roberto Duran did when he was facing Sugar Ray Leonard in the prime of his career?? It’s “no contest” for the two big players in our political arena.

Those smaller parties were obviously influenced to figure that Guyana’s developed a “swing vote” by the success of the AFC in 2006. But, sadly for them, that same AFC destroyed that development when they cynically chose to become a doormat for the PNC, just so they could taste “pelf and power”. “Pelf” – dirty money – they got, but larwah rather than “power”, yet kept bending over for more!!

Anyhow, the minnows showed up for a debate – which was anything but!! All they did was to kvetch that the two big guns didn’t show up!!

Well, duh!! So, didn’t an audience!! No mas!!

…for Hotels

The PNC’s so desperate to show they’re “developing” Guyana that they jumped the gun to turn the sod for another “Marriott” when the developer hasn’t even secured the franchise!!

That’s like the PNC: Announcing winning the elections before the polls!!

Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com

NEWS

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Educational institutions receive monetary support from Banks DIH the main source of the graduates who constitute their workforce…the corporate community is not immune

to problems such as anti-social behaviour, poverty, poor housing and substance abuse. Investment in educa-

tion by the business community can help to eliminate the adverse effects of these problems,” he noted.

Foreign Affairs Minister mulls collaboration in energy, technology with Finland’s Ambassador

N

C

President David Granger shares a moment with the Banks DIH team

orporate Guyana has stepped up its game with beverage giant, Banks DIH Limited, hosting an event aimed at underscoring the importance of education in Guyana’s 50th Republic Anniversary.

At the event held on Thursday evening, several educational institutions were recognised by the company for their outstanding contribution to society.

The Banks DIHcoordinated event was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre where the feature address was delivered

by President David Granger.

In his address, the Head of State pointed out that education is a central feature

of the country’s pursuit of national development, commending the beverage giant for its contributions towards the sector.

“Education is a central feature of the republic’s pursuit of national development, it is fitting, therefore, that one of the country’s corporate giants has chosen to celebrate the country’s 50th anniversary of being a republic by making awards to educational institutions.”

Donations of $250,000 each were awarded to 15 public education institutions. Some of these include the Carnegie School of Home Economics, the Essequibo Technical Institute, the Government Technical

Institute, the Linden Technical Institute, the New Amsterdam Technical Institute, the Guyana Industrial Training Centre, the Kuru Kuru Training Centre, the Mahaicony Technical and Vocational Centre, and the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, among others.

In this regard, Banks DIH hinted at the possibility of setting up its own training school.

Against this backdrop, President Granger underscored the importance of the corporate community investing in this cause.

“The corporate community has an interest in the public education system which is

o n - R e s i d e n t Ambassador of the Republic of Finland, His Excellency Pertti Ikonen on Friday called on Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Karen Cummings.

Among mutual areas of interest, they discussed the enhancement of bilateral relations and possible collaboration in education, renewable energy and innovative technology.

Minister Cummings expressed her desire for the two countries to collaborate in education, green energy and technology in order to achieve mutual success in these areas.

The Ambassador, in turn, noted that the two countries share a mutual interest in both climate change and gender affairs and could benefit from collaboration in those areas.

His Excellency Ikonen also took the opportunity to

Non-Resident Ambassador of the Republic of Finland, Pertti Ikonen, calls on Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Karen Cummings

meet with Foreign Secretary, the Honourable Carl B Greenidge.

The Finnish Ambassador on Friday concluded a five-day visit to Guyana during which he hosted an event called Doing Business with Finland, a seminar for Guyanese to network and explore new business partnerships from

Finland. He also met with a number of other Government officials.

Guyana and Finland established diplomatic relations on April 2, 1979. The two countries often cooperate through the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).

10 NEWS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Coomacka resident crushed by tractor A

chainsaw operator met his demise on Thursday after he was reportedly crushed by a tractor along the Malali Backdam Trail, Essequibo River.

The dead man has been identified as 43-year-old Keith Simmons of Coomacka Mines, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

According to information received, at the time of the incident, the tractor was being driven by a 34-year-old logger.

Information received revealed that the unregistered tractor was proceeding west along the Malali Backdam trail with the now-dead man standing on its front bar.

The driver reportedly lost control of the tractor thus causing Simmons to fall in front of the vehicle and came into contact with the front wheel of the vehicle.

He was picked up in an unconscious state and rushed to the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC)

where he was seen and examined by a doctor but subsequently succumbed while receiving medical attention.

The body is presently lying at the Hospital’s mortuary awaiting a Post-Mortem Examination. Police said a breathalyser test was conducted on the driver of the

Victim in Moblissa fatal accident identified as Yarrowkabra woman

Crushed

tractor for the presence of alcohol; however, no trace was found in his system.

Nevertheless, he was detained and is assisting with investigations.

The car that was involved in the fatal accident

T

he woman who was killed by a speeding car at Moblissa, Linden-Soesdyke Highway on Wednesday evening has been identified as 27-yearold Parbatie Wilfred of Yarrowkabra Village.

Police say the victim who was unidentified for some time has been identified by her brother. Reports are that the accident occurred about 23:30h in the vicinity of the Moblissa Public Road.

It was reported that the woman was walking along the roadway when she was struck by a motorcar bearing registration number HD 119 driven by a 50-yearold man of Amelia’s Ward, Mackenzie, Linden resident.

The driver reportedly told Police that he was heading to Georgetown when he saw the woman crossing the road and into his path.

He told Police that upon

realising that he might hit the woman, he applied brakes, but despite his efforts, the right front of his car collided with her.

She was reportedly tossed onto the bonnet thence to the front windscreen before hitting the road surface. The woman sustained severe injuries about her body and was picked up in an unconscious state by ambulance and taken to the Linden Hospital Complex where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The car has since been impounded at Amelia’s Ward Police Outpost and the driver has been in Police custody assisting with the investigation. Police said a breathalyser test conducted on the driver found that he was below the legal limit of alcohol consumption.

He is expected to be charged shortly.

11 Former Jamaican PM to head OAS Observation Mission to Guyana F NEWS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

ormer Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, will be leading an Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) from the Organisation of American States (OAS) to monitor the upcoming March 2 General and Regional Elections in Guyana.

This was revealed by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro at the signing of a Privileges and Immunities pact between the agency’s General Secretariat and the Guyana Government in New York.

On Thursday Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States, Riyad Insanally

signed the agreement with OAS regarding the Privileges and Immunities that will be enjoyed by the Members of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission for the upcoming elections.

Ambassador Insanally, who is also the Chair of the Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Guyana to the OAS, expressed appreciation on behalf of the Guyanese Government to the OAS for accepting the invitation to observe the elections.

In a statement on the OAS website, he also committed the full support of

the Government and the people of Guyana to the EOM in carrying out its mandate.

“The Government of Guyana and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are committed to ensuring that elections are free, fair, transparent and credible,” Ambassador Insanally noted.

Meanwhile, Secretary General Almagro pledged the full support of the OAS General Secretariat for the electoral process in Guyana.

He also highlighted the Organisation’s commitment to the development and strengthening of the demo-

Ambassador Riyad Insanally and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro at the conclusion of the signing on Thursday

cratic institutions and processes of member states.

“This includes the deployment of electoral observation missions in order to promote transparent and credible elections that are indispensable for stability, development and democra-

mission for the Parliament elections in the Maldives in 2014.

The OAS has observed the last five General and Regional Elections in Guyana between 1997 and 2015.

Already several interna-

cy in the region,” Secretary General Almagro said in the OAS statement.

Golding served as the eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from September 11, 2007, to October 23, 2011.

He also led a Commonwealth Observer Mission to the Maldives in April 2019 to assess the conduct of its parliamentary elections there. Golding had led a similar observer

tional organisations have deployed EOM delegations to Guyana to monitor the upcoming polls. Among those here are the Commonwealth Secretariat, Carter Center and European Union (EU).

Many of the western nations with diplomatic presence here in Guyana have applied for domestic observer status. These include the United States (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Elections preparation workshops kick off for persons with disabilities ꟷ aimed at helping persons living with disabilities vote independently

Guyana Council of Organisation for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD) Programme Coordinator, Ganesh Singh

A series of workshops aimed at educating persons living with disabilities to prepare them for the upcoming national elections in March has begun and will be conducted in various regions across the country.

This is according to the Guyana Council of Organisation for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD) Programme Coordinator, Ganesh Singh, who made those remarks on Thursday during the launch of

the Voters Education Campaign for Persons with Disabilities at the National Library, Georgetown.

He explained that this is the first workshop of its kind and that it will be implemented over the next two weeks in Region Two (PomeroonSupenaam), Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

Vital information about the electoral process and requirements for persons living with disabilities will also be dispatched to relevant authorities in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni) and Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

“So that persons with disabilities can be fully aware of their rights as voters and what is going to happen on elections day for persons with disabilities. We are in the process of developing some audio clips and a brochure. These will be forwarded to the GECOM so that their elections day staff can be fully aware of how to interact and communicate with per-

sons living with disabilities”.

He noted that although all of the systems in this regard have not been implemented as yet, persons living with disabilities will be able to have a “decent experience” when they visit polling stations on March 2, 2020, to cast his/her ballot.

“Ideally, we would have liked to conduct training with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Elections Day staff. But we are using these methods as something as an urgent fix to the issue. Persons living with disabilities want equal access as it relates to voting and to vote privately and independently.”

He added that all persons living with disabilities should have access to polling stations and access to vote independently which is why the Guyana Persons with Disabilities Act was signed into law 10 years ago.

“This workshop is going to be very beneficial and will go a far way in promoting the whole accessibility for persons with disabilities in the electoral process.”

NEWS

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Licence plate on getaway car in Grove robbery fake

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ne week after two customers were robbed at gunpoint at a shop in Grove Village, East Bank Demerara (EBD), the perpetrators are still on the run.

Although a licence plate number of the getaway car was provided to the Police, the Police are still to make an arrest.

Police Commander of Region Four (Demerara – Mahaica) EBD Sub-Division, Senior Superintendent Kurleigh Simon told Guyana Times that the registration details provided to the Police are falsified.

However, Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footage was retrieved from security

cameras around the area and is being reviewed to ascertain the identity of the culprits.

On Saturday at about 23:00h at the shop in question, one customer was held at gunpoint and a second at knife-point by two men moments after exiting a motorcar.

According to the shop

owner, one of the men gave her a $5000 bill to pay for the alcoholic beverage and upon collecting his change, he slowly walked past the couple at the door.

However, he quickly whipped out a large knife from his waist and pushed it against the female customer’s neck while his accomplice

drew a gun and pointed it in the direction of the male customer.

She explained that at this point, she was frozen in fear while her two customers were held hostage by the armed duo.

The men then demanded that the male and female patrons of the shop hand over

their cash, jewellery and other valuables.

The men managed to relieve the customers of an undisclosed amount of money, at least one cellular phone, and other items. They then boarded the waiting car which immediately sped off the scene.

GWI staff sexually, physically Children rescued from burning house assaulted in Corentyne

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he Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) in Region 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne) in a statement revealed that two of its employees were assaulted on separate occasions by residents while on a meter-reading assignment.

It was revealed that the first incident occurred on Monday when a female field staff who is attached to GWI’s Chesney office was clenched by the breast before being pushed out of a customer’s yard.

This publication understands that when the fieldworker visited the customer’s home in the village of Toopoo, Albion, Corentyne, she called out and a male came out holding his dog to give way for the field staff to enter.

“While conducting her

duties, a second male appeared, hurling profanities and stating that he doesn’t want any APNU/AFC people in his yard. The male then cradled the GWI staff by the breasts and pushed her out of the yard,” the water company in a release stated.

The employee was later instructed to make a Police report and visited the

Albion Police Station but she was referred to the Whim Police station which deals with sexual offences matters.

Moreover, in a separate incident, on Wednesday, another field staff was physically assaulted by a customer while conducting meter-reading in the village of Maida in the Corentyne.

It was reported that the GWI fieldworker was prevented from opening the meter box by the customers placing their feet on the meter. He was later pushed, and his cellular phone was thrown to the ground.

A report has also been filed at the Whim Police Station as investigations are ongoing.

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The aftermath of the fire

wo children were on Thursday evening rescued from a burning wooden building at D Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

The fire reportedly started at about 21:00h and quickly gutted the structure.

At the time of the fire, two brothers, aged six and three, were left in the house in the care of an uncle, Nicholas Harvey, who is also the own-

er of the house.

The children, however, were reportedly left unattended. Neighbours who saw the flames quickly rushed to the house and managed to remove the two children without them being harmed.

The uncle was nowhere to be seen.

Without hesitation, the neighbours called the fire service, but when the fire

tenders arrived, the wooden structure was already completely gutted.

Regrettably, the family was unable to save anything from the house.

According to a neighbour, the children’s mother works at a city bar as a waitress from 16:00h until 02:00h.

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire.

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NEWS

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3 injured after car collides with school children in Corentyne

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hree students are hospitalised with at least one in a critical condition after they were struck by a motor car on the Corentyne Public Road, Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) on Friday.

The accident occurred sometime around 12:15h at Bush Lot Public Road, Corentyne, Berbice.

Those injured have been identified as 16-year-old Alyia Mohabir and 14-yearold Aneela Mohabir, both of Number 46 Village, Corentyne, as well as nineyear-old Rashanie Mohan of Lot 96 Bush Lot Village.

The three victims, all females, were pedestrians when they were struck by a car, bearing registration number PXX 5165, driven by a 31-year-old resident of Number 72 Village,

Corentyne.

According to Police reports, the car was proceeding east along the northern carriageway of the Public Road, reportedly at a normal rate of speed, when the driver alleged that a child ran across the road.

The driver told investigators that he saw a school child, who was standing on the southern side of the road, suddenly run across to the opposite side and into the path of his vehicle. He claimed that he applied brakes and pulled left to avoid a collision but instead ended up on the northern footpath during which he collided with the three students who were walking on the said footpath.

As a result, Alyia was rendered unconscious and

she was picked up along with Aneela and Rashanie, both of whom were conscious, and they were all taken to the Port Mourant Public Hospital.

Mohan remained a patient for observation at that facility, while Alyia and Aneela Mohabir were later transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where they are admitted in the female surgical ward.

The 16-year-old Alyia is said to be in a critical condition and 14-yearold Aneela, who suffered a fractured right leg, is in a stable condition.

Meanwhile, the police said that the driver has passed a breathalyser test.

Nevertheless, he remains in custody assisting the investigation.

Over 300,000 visitors touched Guyana in 2019

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GTA Director Brian Mullis

ecently, the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) announced

that the tourism visitation to Guyana increased by 9.75 per cent in 2019 when compared to the figures of 2018.

Addressing members of the media at Cara Lodge, Georgetown, officials of GTA said that the number of visitations in 2019 outclassed the 2018 record.

Director of the Guyana Tourism Association (GTA), Brian Mullis said that the six tourism awards that Guyana recently received have placed Guyana on the map. He said that the promotional investments in Europe and North America

initiated $200 million (US$1 million) in exposure.

Mullis further announced that between November and December 2019, Guyana has been receiving large media coverage in the volume of prominent media recognition in high media outlets such as the National Geographic, The Telegraph, Family Vacation Circles, Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast, Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Wanderlust Magazine.

“Guyana has also been featured much more promi-

there are 10 new tourism products under development and will be launched in 2020 and four will be launched in the first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, the authority said that they are currently working with key stakeholders and are, however, focused on moving to a market-driven approach to tourism development based on visit readiness, market access, and strategic visitor flow.

Donald Sinclair, Director-General of the Department of Tourism in

GTA aims to improve sports tourism in Guyana

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Patrons enjoying the CPL game at the National Stadium

uyana Tourism Authority (GTA) has announced plans to improve sports tourism in 2020. The tourism authority said it is working to raise the country’s profile as a prime destination for sporting activities.

Director General of the Department of Tourism, Donald Sinclair listed the authority’s 2020 goals at a round table discussion held at Cara Lodge on Tuesday.

According to the Director, his Department is focused on improving sports tourism for 2020 by helping companies commercialise themselves more.

“What we want to do is strengthen capacities around the sports tourism organisations to manage their sports event, to plan their tourism sports event

better, and of course to market better. So definitely boosting the capacity of marketing and sports tourism events…”, he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism plans to increase its collaborations with other countries.

For example, the Director General mentioned the signing of the GuyanaSuriname tourism accord whereby the two countries committed to hosting tourism expos to raise their profile.

Additionally, the Director General revealed that the GTA is working to strengthen links with the diaspora, including those in the United Kingdom, to further develop the country’s tourism.

Nevertheless, in light of

Local content is more than Govt policies – Banks DIH Chairman

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nently in our domestic media, we’ve noticed more stories, we’ve been putting out more press releases we’ve been sharing more information with the press and we can’t thank you enough for helping to raise awareness of tourism in Guyana,” he said.

Nevertheless, for 2020, GTA has outlined an action plan for Guyana’s tourism industry. They plan on implementing community-led tourism frameworks in four Indigenous communities, while work has commenced in six others.

According to Mullis,

his remarks outlined his department’s achievements in 2019. He said that there was the initiation of the Three Guianas collaboration and the signing of the Guyana-Suriname tourism accord, and the three territories have also committed to hosting tourism expos to raise their profile as a geo destination.

He further stated that with the First Agri Tourism Expo and the establishment of regional tourism committees, the Rum Route and other initiatives, the department is elected to boost local tourism.

the improvement of sports tourism, Guyana, through the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has benefited significantly from sports tourism since the beginning of the tournament.

Just recently CPL announced that the 2019 event, which took place between September 4 and October 12 last year, created a total economic impact of US$29,514,926 in the country, and a 15 per cent increase on the fantastic results that were achieved during the 2018 event.

In addition to the economic impact, the tournament filled 7664 hotel rooms in Guyana, and saw an increase in overall arrivals into the country during the Hero CPL games, creating 608 jobs during that period.

ocal content goes further than just Government implementing policies as guidelines for employment. This is according to Chairman of Banks DIH, Clifford Reis, who stated that most supermarkets in Guyana contain 80 per cent imported products.

He said too many importers are importing goods as against those locally manufactured.

“There is a strong belief in Guyana, that everything foreign is better.”

The business tycoon added that his company produces a wide range of products that have won many international awards for their quality.

The accolades include the Cup of Excellence from Coca-Cola products and the company is ranked second place in the Americas for its quality and packaging of Guinness Stout.

In this regard, Reis said whenever someone buys a local product, he or she is supporting the employment

Banks DIH Chairman Clifford Reis

of a Guyanese, hence, supporting local content.

“Every time you purchase from our company, you are keeping someone employed and not only that, there are ten thousand persons who handle Banks products as distributors. Multiply this by a wife and two kids – it would be forty thousand persons. Every time you support those products you are keeping those people employed and those are the people that will come to your shop and purchase what you are selling. So, when he loses his job you will be out of

business too. That is local content,” Reis said.

Local content, he added, is to ensure that every dollar that is made in Guyana stays in Guyana; it does not go to another country. So, it can build our roads and our schools.

“Local content is not only about oil; it is about keeping our people employed by using our local products.”

This, Reis related, does not mean that manufacturers should take advantage of persons but should produce quality products at all times.

On Tuesday Director of the Energy Department, Dr Mark Bynoe, speaking on Guyana’s Local Content Policy which is still to be made public, said the policy is what he calls a fit-forpurpose policy as it offers a balanced alignment between the Government of Guyana’s policy goals while maintaining consistency with Guyana’s international and regional trade and economic cooperation obligations.

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Around the World

OILNEWS

Oil prices rise $1, on course for weekly gain

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il prices rose on Friday and were on track for their first weekly gain since early January as investors bet the economic impact of the coronavirus would be short-lived and hoped for further Chinese central bank stimulus to tackle any slowdown.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up US$1.05 cents or 1.9 per cent at US$57.39 a barrel by 1437 GMT. It has risen 5.4 per cent since last Friday, its first weekly increase in six weeks.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 was 74 cents or 1.4 per cent higher at US$52.16 a barrel, up 3.7 per cent for the week.

“It would seem in our view that the oil price is on a more positive footing in the past couple of days, with improved sentiment reflected in Asian equity prices holding up,” said BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian.

More than 1350 people have died from the coronavirus in China, which has disrupted the world’s second largest economy and shaken energy markets. Brent has fallen 15 per cent since the beginning of the year.

However, market sentiment improved as factories in China started to reopen and the Government eased its monetary policy.

The World Health Organisation also reassured traders by saying the big jump in China’s reported cases reflected a decision by authorities to reclassify a backlog of suspected cases, and did not necessarily indicate a wider epidemic.

Some officials and analysts were still hopeful that the demand impact would remain limited to China.

“Our baseline thesis remains that oil demand destruction remains largely a China story and has yet to spill over to impact global demand,” said Helima Croft, Head of Commodity Strategy at Citadel Magnus.

US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Reuters the coronavirus epidemic in China had had a marginal impact on energy markets and was unlikely to dramatically affect oil prices even if Chinese demand fell by 500,000 barrels per day.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that first-quarter oil demand was set to fall versus a year earlier for the first time since the financial crisis in 2009 because of the coronavirus outbreak. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Oil glut, stronger rouble strengthen case for Russia to cut oil output ꟷ sources

A

growing oil glut in Russia and the promise of a flood of dollars from the sale of a leading bank are strengthening the case for Russia to cut oil output in tandem with OPEC, oil sources said.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers have for more than a year implemented a deal to cut oil output by 2.1 million barrels per day to support the market.

The agreement expires at the end of March.

OPEC has recommended extending the output curbs and deepening the combined cuts because of the impact of the new coronavirus in China, which the International Energy Agency said on Thursday would contribute to oil demand falling year on year in the first quarter.

The Kremlin has said no decision has been taken yet on whether Russia agrees to extend or deepen the output curbs - the final decision lies with President Vladimir Putin.

But a $38-billion deal under which the Finance Ministry will buy state lender Sberbank is due to start in April and promises to swell state coffers, with Russia using a big chunk of its dollar national wealth fund to the central bank’s stake.

This is expected to lead to a stronger rouble, which is a factor that is generally disliked by oil exporters as it hits their profits.

The source said a stronger rouble was an “important factor” in the decision on whether to deepen cuts in what is known as the OPEC+ deal following a proposal by its partners in the agreement to add another 600,000 bpd to the combined cuts. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Coronavirus: New China figures highlight toll on medical staff C hinese officials have given figures for health workers infected with the new coronavirus, amid concerns about shortages of protective equipment.

Six health workers have died and 1716 have been infected since the outbreak, they said.

The death a week ago of Doctor Li Wenliang, who tried to warn authorities early on about the virus, provoked a burst of public anger and grief.

More than 1300 people are now known to have died from the virus.

The latest figures show 122 new deaths in China,

bringing the toll to 1381.

The total number of infections has jumped to 63,922 cases, according to the National Health Commission.

However, a cruise ship docked in Japan, the Diamond Princess, saw 44 new cases, bringing the total there to 218.

Zeng Yixin, Vice Minister of China’s National Health Commission, said 1102 medical workers had been infected in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, and another 400 in other parts of Hubei province.

He said the number of infections among staff was

Authorities in Wuhan have had to create extra hospital space to cope with large numbers of cases

increasing.

Local authorities have struggled to provide protective equipment such as respiratory masks, goggles and protective suits in hospitals in the area.

One doctor told AFP news agency that he and 16 colleagues were showing possible symptoms of the virus. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Indian Police use facial recognition app to reunite families with lost children

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ndian Police have reunited thousands of missing and trafficked children with their families using a new facial recognition app that campaigners said was a “game changer” in tackling the problem.

Tens of thousands of children go missing every year in India and many are trafficked to work in eateries, handicraft industries, brick kilns, factories or into begging and brothels.

Police in the southern state of Telangana developed the facial recognition tool as part of Operation Smile, a periodic drive to tackle child labour and missing children.

They scanned through more than 3000 records on the app and were able to reunite more than half the children with their families in January.

Reuniting rescued children with their families is

a mammoth task in India, a country of 1.3 billion people, and child rights campaigners say a lack of training and poor coordination between different states have hampered police efforts to do so.

It can match a million records per second and includes a name search tool that can zero in on the missing child’s parents or village using phonetics to get around the common problem of proper names being mis-

spelt in records.

The app is regularly updated with data from shelters that house children rescued from the streets or from slavery.

Facial recognition artificial intelligence has sparked a global debate, with critics saying the technology can infringe people’s fundamental rights and breach data privacy rules.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

US blacklists Sri Lankan army commander, cites killings, abuses

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he United States has imposed sanctions on Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, for alleged human rights violations including extrajudicial killings in 2009 during the country’s civil war, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

“The allegations of gross human rights violations against Shavendra Silva, documented by the United Nations and other organizations, are serious and credible,” Pompeo said in a statement.

The sanctions imposed on Friday by Washington bar Silva and his family members from entering the United States.

Silva’s appointment as army commander of the island nation in August drew sharp criticism from the United States and the United Nations, which in September suspended the Sri Lankan army from its peacekeeping operations after he was named army chief.

Silva is credited with leading an army division against Tamil Tiger rebels in the final phases of the is-

Chief of staff of Sri Lankan army Shavendra Silva attends a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 16, 2019

land nation’s 26-year-long brutal civil war, which ended in 2009.

His victory, however, was highly controversial.

Thousands of civilians were killed in the last phases of the armed conflict, including in areas declared by the Government to be a ‘no fire zone,’ which came under sustained army shelling, including hospitals.

Chief of staff of Sri Lankan army Shavendra Silva attends a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 16, 2019 (Excerpt from Reuters)

Fire at unauthorised orphanage in Haiti kills 15 children

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ifteen children died in a fire that swept overnight through an orphanage in Haiti run by a US Christian non-profit group, authorities said on Friday, triggering renewed controversy over the proliferation of non-registered orphanages in the poorest nation in the Americas.

Two children were burned to death in the flames that ravaged the Orphanage of the Pennsylvania-

based Church of Bible Understanding on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the capital, while 13 died in hospital due to asphyxiation.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.

“This was a very tragic incident,” said the director of the Institute for Social Welfare, Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, adding the priority now was to find a new home for surviving children.

“We are going to place

them in a transit center while we do research on their family and see if we can reunite them with their parents,” she told Reuters.

She did not elaborate.

Four in five of the around 30,000 children in Haiti’s orphanages have living parents who gave them up because they were too impoverished to look after them, according to the government. Nearly 60% of the population of 11.2 million

survives on less than $2.40 a day, according to the World Bank.

Contacted for comment, a woman who answered the Church of Bible Understanding’s telephone number in Port-au-Prince said: “We will make it known when it is appropriate.”

She did not identify herself and hung up without saying anything further.

(Excerpt from Reuters)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

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Tatum scores 39 as Celtics stop Clippers in 2 OTs

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ayson Tatum scored 17 of his gamehigh 39 points from the fourth quarter on, leading the Boston Celtics past the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 141-133 in double overtime Thursday night.

Marcus Smart added 31 points, and Gordon Hayward scored 21 with 13 rebounds as the Celtics enter the All-Star break winners of eight of their last nine. Tatum shot 14 of 23 with nine rebounds.

Lou Williams had 35 points, Kawhi Leonard scored 28 with 11 rebounds and Montrezl Harrell had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers, who completed a 1-3 road trip. Los Angeles lost Paul George in the second quarter with a recurrence of a left hamstring strain.

After Smart and Tatum gave the Celtics a four-point lead with 2:01 to go in the second overtime, Hayward drilled a 3 with 1:36 left for a 137-132 edge. Hayward added a block, a steal and four free throws the rest of the way as Boston cruised to victory.

Tatum put the Celtics up 127124 in the first overtime before Landry Shamet tied the score on a trey with 21 seconds to go.

Tatum missed a potential game-winner at the buzzer.

Williams scored 15 points in the fourth, leading the Clippers from down eight in the quarter to a 107all tie with four minutes remaining. The Clippers knotted the score again at 114 on a Marcus Morris Sr. trey with 46.8 seconds left.

Kemba Walker missed a chance at a game-winner to lead to overtime.

Before Thursday, the Celtics and Clippers had only went to overtime once each this season — when they first met in Los Angeles on Nov. 20, a 107-104 Clippers win.

The Celtics grabbed the game’s only double-digit advantage, 72-62, on a Hayward 3-pointer with 8:51 left in the third.

The largest lead of the first half came on a 7-0 Clippers run to start the game, which the Celtics answered with 10 straight points from Smart. Neither team led by more than four points in the second as Boston carried a 60-58 edge into the break.

Williamson scores 32 but Pelicans fall to Thunder

Danilo Gallinari scored 11 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter as the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder held off the New Orleans Pelicans 123-118 on Thursday night.

Feb 13, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) shoots a jump shot against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Terrance Ferguson (23) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen LewUSA TODAY Sports The Thunder completed a four-game sweep of the season series in the last game for both teams before the All-Star break.

Dennis Schroder had seven of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 17 points, Chris Paul had 14 points and 12 assists, Steven Adams had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Mike Muscala scored 10.

Rookie Zion Williamson led the Pelicans with a season-high 32 points, surpassing the 31 he had two nights earlier against the Portland Trail Blazers. JJ Redick scored 24, Lonzo Ball had 16 points and Jrue Holiday totaled 14 points and 11 assists. New Orleans played its third straight game without All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, who has a sprained ankle.

The Thunder led by eight points at

eight took a 76P a u l made a 3-pointer to put Oklahoma City back on top, and Muscala had eight points during a 14-0 run t h a t g a v e

halftime, but Williamson scored points as the Pelicans 75 lead.

the Thunder a 94-81 lead.

Holiday’s layup stopped the run, Redick scored eight straight points and Holiday made another layup to cut Oklahoma City’s lead to 98-93 at the end of the quarter.

Redick and Williamson scored four points each as New Orleans pulled even at 101.

Schroder’s 3-pointer put the Thunder back on top, but Williamson answered with back-to-back baskets.

Gallinari’s basket put Oklahoma City ahead before Ball’s 3-pointer gave New Orleans a 111-110 lead.

But Gallinari scored the next five points to give the Thunder the lead for good.

Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field in the first quarter and Nicolo Melli’s 3-pointer gave New Orleans a 30-29 lead at the end of the period.

The score was tied five times in the second quarter before Oklahoma City finished with a strong push. Adams beat the buzzer with a one-handed toss from beyond half court to give the Thunder a 66-58 halftime lead.

(Reuters)

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) shoots a jump shot against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Terrance Ferguson (23) (USA TODAY Sports)

WHO says no case for cancelling, moving Tokyo Games: IOC coordinator

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he World Health Organization has told the International Olympic Committee there is no case for cancelling or relocating the Tokyo 2020 Olympics over the coronavirus outbreak, the head of the IOC’s Coordination Commission said on Friday.

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib declined to comment, telling reporters to wait for the daily briefing in Geneva on Friday by its top emergencies expert Dr. Mike Ryan, scheduled for 1500 GMT. Ryan told reporters on Wednesday: “There is no zero risk with any mass gathering”. WHO cannot be an “arbiter”, he said, adding that most events can be held if proper risk management measures are applied by organisers and local health officials.

The 17-day event is due to start on July 24. Japan said separately

Giant Olympic Rings are installed at the waterfront area at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo, Japan (Reuters)

on Friday it would step up testing and containment after reporting its first coronavirus death and confirming new cases, including a doc-

tor and a taxi driver.

John Coates said advice the IOC had received “externally” from the WHO was that “there is no case

for any contingency plans of cancelling the Games or moving the Games.”

The spreading outbreak, whose epicentre is the Chinese city of Wuhan, has prompted the cancellation of some international sporting events, as well as 2020 Games qualifying competitions for boxing and badminton that were due to take place in China.

Coates said coordination between the Japan organising committee’s virus task force and other national authorities reinforced the IOC’s confidence that the situation was being properly addressed.

That raised expectations that “we’ll be able to ensure that the Games go ahead in a way that’s safe for the athletes and spectators,” Coates told a news conference hosted together with Tokyo 2020 Olympics President Yoshiro Mori.

Mori echoed Coates’ reassurances.

Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, said in early February he was “seriously worried” that the virus might impact momentum towards the Games, but pledged the following day the event would go ahead as planned.

There have been more than 60,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in mainland China and nearly 450 in 24 other countries and territories, including 33 in Japan and another 218 on a cruise ship quarantined at a Japanese port.

Coates said he was impressed with how China had been able to monitor its athletes “since day one”, and that most had been preparing for the Games overseas and would therefore not need to be quarantined on arrival in Japan.

(Reuters)

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Manchester City have made 10 appearances in Uefa’s premier club competition

Manchester City banned from European club competitions for 2 seasons by UEFA

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anchester City have been banned from European club competition for the next two seasons after being found to have committed “serious breaches” of Uefa’s club licensing and financial fair play regulations.

The reigning Premier League champions have also been fined 30m euros (£25m).

The decision is subject to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Manchester City say they are “disappointed but not surprised” by the “prejudicial” decision and will appeal.

The independent Adjudicatory Chamber of the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) said City had broken the rules by “overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to Uefa between 2012 and 2016”, adding that the club “failed to cooperate in the investigation”.

Manchester City said in a statement: “The club has always anticipated the ultimate need to seek out an independent body and process to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence in support of its position.

“In December 2018, the Uefa chief investigator publicly previewed the outcome and sanction he intended to be delivered to Manchester City, before any investigation had even begun.

“The subsequent flawed

and consistently leaked Uefa process he oversaw has meant that there was little doubt in the result that he would deliver. The club has formally complained to the Uefa disciplinary body, a complaint which was validated by a CAS ruling.

“Simply put, this is a case initiated by Uefa, prosecuted by Uefa and judged

by Uefa. With this prejudicial process now over, the club will pursue an impartial judgment as quickly as possible and will therefore,

in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity.”

City have been drawn to face Real Madrid in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League, with the first leg to be played on 26 February at the Bernabeu.

What are City alleged to have done?

Uefa launched an in-

vestigation after German newspaper Der Spiegel published leaked documents in November 2018 alleging City had inflated the value of a sponsorship deal, misleading European football’s governing body.

Reports alleged City who have always denied wrongdoing - deliberately misled Uefa so they could meet FFP rules requiring clubs to break even.

City were fined £49m in 2014 for a previous breach of regulations. (BBC Sport)

Coronavirus: 2 European South Africa delay Pakistan Tour events called off Twenty20 tour over ‘player workload’ because of outbreak S outh Africa have delayed their planned tour of Pakistan, scheduled for late March, citing “player work-

load”.

The Proteas were due to visit for three Twenty20 internationals, which were likely to take place in Rawalpindi, although no dates had been announced.

However, South Africa have assured Pakistan that they will reschedule.

“We respect Cricket South Africa’s reason for not sending their side next month,” said Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan.

“Managing player workload is a top priority for any cricket board, and from that perspective, their decision is understandable. We are pleased CSA remains committed to rescheduling this short series as soon as practically possible.

“As there is a strong willing- n e s s

No date has been set for when the rescheduled events will take place has been set

T

wo European Tour tournaments have been postponed because of the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The Maybank Championship in Malaysia - scheduled for 16-19 April - and the following week’s China Open have been called off.

Both events could be rescheduled for later in the year.

“The well-being of our players, spectators and staff is always our absolute priority,” European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said.

“While it is therefore regrettable that the Maybank Championship and Volvo China Open have been postponed, we feel this is the correct course of action at this time.

“We are currently investigating alternative dates for both events.”

A number of other high-profile sport-

ing events have already been postponed because of the coronavirus.

The Chinese Grand Prix, due to take place on 19 April, was postponed as a result of the outbreak earlier this week.

The all-electric Formula E motor racing series called off their race in Sanya, China, on 21 March.

The World Athletics Indoor Championships, originally scheduled to take place in Nanjing from 13-15 March, has been put back until next year.

Asian Champions League football matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG were postponed until May. And a number of rugby sevens, tennis, boxing and basketball events have also been postponed. (BBC Sport)

South Africa and Pakistan last met at the 2019 World Cup at Lord’s

and commitment, both the boards are now exploring their FTPs [the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme] to find gaps so that we can agree on the dates.”

England’s current tour of South Africa finishes on Sunday, but the Proteas then host Australia between 21 February and 7 March, before touring India from 12-18 March.

The proposed window for touring Pakistan was between the end of that India series and the start of the Indian Premier League at the end of March, in which many of South Africa’s leading players will be involved.

Under the FTP, the Proteas are due to visit Pakistan in January 2021 for a twoTest series - forming part of the World Test Championship - and three T20 games.

(ESPNcricinfo)

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

21

BCB/Friends of New Amsterdam Cricket Tournament…

CLASSIFIED ADS ARACARI Aracari Resort. Accommodation Rates from USD $25. Amenities: Accommodation, Mini Casino, Pool, Bar, Restaurant, Free Parking, Free WiFi. Tel: 264-2946. 160 Plantation Versailles, West Bank Demerara.

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– YWCC B and Flying Stars to clash in other semi-final

T

he Young Warriors ‘A’ side of East Canje Berbice defeated Guymine by nine wickets in a match played at the Warriors ground to advance to the final of the Berbice Cricket Board’s Friends of New Amsterdam 100 balls cricket tournament.

Batting first, Guymine were bowled out for 65 from their allotted 100 balls, with C. Grimmond top scoring with 32, and no other batsman reaching double figures.

Bowling for the Young Warriors ‘A’ side, J. Henry took 4 wickets for 8 runs from 3.4 overs and Ricardo Ramdehol took 2 for 19 from 3 overs; while Sudesh Dhanai, Kassim Khan and Amir Khan each took a wicket, for 14, 8 and 15 runs respectively.

The home team, in reply, raced to 66 for 1 in only 7.2 overs, with former

BCB/Premium Asphalt and T/R Construction T20 Tournament…

Fyrish, Chesney, Ramnarine Memorial, Albion Open register wins

F

yrish, Chesney, Ramnarine Memorial and Albion Open cricket teams are among for rent the teams to contest the third Disco/Night Club W.B.D Turnkey round of the Berbice Cricket Operation for rent. Contact: Gafoor Board’s Premium Asphalt and T/R : 628-8619 Construction Ltd 20/20 Cricket Tournament. Rose Hall Town FOR SALE Tigers have already qualified.

Lot 14 – 10,204 SQ FT. Price = $17M. This tournament is being PH: 264-2948/615-2270 played for second division teams One (1) Greenheart Wooden located in the Lower/Central Building to remove. $220,000- Price Corentyne area, and Berbice powNegotiable Contact 501-3706 erhouses Rose Hall Town Bakewell Transported Land- 11.6 Acres, Lot 15 and Albion have been debarred Public Road, #2 Village, West Coast from the tournament in an effort Berbice. 5 mins away from Berbice to encourage participation from River Bridge. Contact # 648-7109 the other clubs.

Toyota Corolla, left hand drive Good Fyrish defeated Tamarind condition- $360,000 neg Call or Root at Hampshire; Albion open Whatsapp 680-3863 got past Belvedere United; New Model Toyota Picnic. Very good Ramnarine Memorial defeatcondition, Leather Interior. Price ed Port Mourant, while the returning Kennard Memorial team Negotiable. 627-6828 found Chesney too hot to handle.

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Apply to Mima Décor, Lot 8 Sheriff St, GTown or mimadecor12@gmail. com (227-0186) Pump attendant-680-3863, Store helper-624-003, Driver for water canter-680-3863, Porter for water canter-680-3863, House keeper-624-0033 Call or Whatsapp One (1) General Domestic to work in the interior to cook, clean, wash, etc. Accommodation and meals provided. Please contact: 680-2702 Office Assistant - Maths and English required. Knowledge of Excel and Quickbooks would be an asset.

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VEHICLES FOR SALE Honda HRV 2000 Model. Excellent Working Condition, Factory Tinted Windows, Dolby Surround Sound, A.C, Vehicle Press Start, etc. This vehicle is Stick Shift and is sometimes rarely driven. Price: $2,200,000 (neg.) Tel: 683-3863.

Young Warriors

national under-19 player Alex Algoo being unbeaten on 34.

Mortimer Fraser was the only batsman to be dismissed -- for 05 runs,

by C. Hope -- while national youth player Ricardo Ramdehol was on 17 not out when victory was achieved. Hope ended with 1 for 18 from 2 overs.

These cricketing giants of East Canje will now await the outcome of the match involving their ‘B’ counterparts playing against Flying Stars CC of East Bank Berbice to know against whom they will play in the final match of this tournament.

This tournament is being sponsored for teams in the New Amsterdam/ Canje area by “the Friends of New Amsterdam”, some lovers of cricket who are based in New York, USA.

Summarised scores

Fyrish defeated Tamarind Root by 61 runs at Hampshire.

Fyrish made 128 all out in 19.3 overs, with R. Ramcharran scor-

– 3rd round continues today

ing 41, Javed Mohammed 31, and Yogindra Chinapen 14. Sewnauth Joseph bagged 2 for 17 and Kelly Ongraj 2 for 10. reout

Memorial by 7 wickets.

Kennard Memorial made 148 for 9 in 20 overs, with T. George contributing 36 and K. Ramaldo 31.

R. Singh took 4 for 28, S. Latchana bagged 2 for 12, and an- other R. Singh took 2 for 19.

made from 14.3 overs.

Ricky Deonarine scored 15 and Michael Ramdhial scored 10. R. Ramcharran led the bowling effort with 4 for 18, and Sayaad Bacchus took 3 for 18.

Chesney defeated Kennard

Chesney replied with 150 for 3 in 17.2 overs, with Yogindra Gurdyal contributing 46, Joey Latchana 46, and N. Deonarine 26.

E. Singh claimed 2 for 24.

Ramnarine Memorial got past Port Mourant by 5 wickets.

Tamarind plied with

Root 67 all

Port Mourant made 49 all out in 15.4 overs, with R. Singh contributing 11 and Andy Mohan 10.

K. Hooper took 2 for 10, and J. Holder took 2 for 6.

Ramnarine Memorial replied with 50 for 5 in 8 overs. Eldeen Mendonca and Mahendra Charran each scored 12, while Mahendra Boodram claimed 3 for 12.

Albion Open defeated Belvedere United by 4 wickets.

Belvedere United made 122 for 9 in 20 overs, with L. Bisram contributing 22, and both Justin Gobin and J. Nibbler contributing 20. Lyndon Lewis claimed 2 for 34, Adrian Singh claimed 2 for 15, and Z. Zaheer 2 for 20.

Albion Open scored 125 for 6 in 16.2 overs, with S. Saheed contributing 40, Andy Naidu 30, M. Lalbehari 27, and Adrian Singh 16 not out. A. Aproo claimed 3 for 25.

The draw for the next round will see Chesney vs Fyrish, while RH Town Tigers would play Albion Open. Ramnarine Memorial has drawn a bye to the lone semifinals.

FIFA refs retire after years of service F

ormer FIFA referees Venton Mars and Sherwin Moore have retired from the beautiful game of football after having served a combined total that exceeds 21 years.

Mars, who served as a FIFA and National Assistant Referee, and Moore who served as a referee, both went into retirement over the January/ February 2020 period.

Both match officials have officiated in matches across the Caribbean Football Union, CONCACAF and FIFA regions.

Mars began his FIFA career in 2004 while

Moore began his in 2013.

In an invited comment, Chairman of the Referees Committee, Executive Committee Member Dion Inniss, said the institutional memory of these technical personnel should be preserved.

“Sherwin and Venton are the true embodiment of service to the game. Now that they are no longer active officials, we look forward to them using their experience and knowledge gained over the years to mentor future match officials,” he said.

Sherwin Moore (left) and Venton Mars

22

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

BCB/Lewison General Store Under-15 Tournament…

Gladiators

Albion, Port Mourant to clash in final – another U-15 tournament to start in late March T

Rupununi Football Assn 2020 season…

Guyana Rush Saints in 3-2 season-opener win – Ann Captain’s triple seals Gladiators’ win in female shindig

T

he Rupununi Football Association’s (RFA’s) 2020 season kicked off last Sunday evening at the Culvert City Sports Ground with the opening ceremony being attended by GFF President Wayne Forde, Lethem Mayor His Worship John Macedo, and FRA President Ryan Farias and his executive.

Two matches followed the season’s official opening, the feature match of which resulted in defending male champions Guyana Rush Saints defeating Tabatinga 3-1, while the opening encounter, a female affair, ended in pulsating style, with Gladiators edging Tabagtinga 3-2.

It was not easy going for the defending champs Guyana Rush Saints, as Tabatinga were able to keep them at bay until the 35th minute, when the deadlock was broken by Brandon Parks, handing the defending champs the lead.

However, on the stroke of halftime, Tabatinga were able to level the scores through a Wayne Da Silva shot that found the back of the net, much to the delight of his teammates and supporters.

It turned out to be Tabatinga’s only goal of the night, while the Guyana Rush Saints tucked in two more goals to walk away with full points and commence their championship defence on a high.

Quason Gilette sent Rush Saints ahead

again with his goal in the 65th minute, while the sealer was fired from the boot of Franklin Parks in the 69th minute.

The female clash was an exciting shindig between Gladiators and Tabatinga, but the Gladiators were able to hold their nerve to win 3-2. Ann Captain was the heroine for the Gladiators, netting all three goals.

The nippy Captain scored in the 5th and 21st minutes to record the first goals of the 2020 season, but in the 22nd minute, just one minute after her second goal, Tabatinga’s Loma Lia de Souza Barreto narrowed the deficit.

When the half-time whistle sounded, Gladiators held a slight one-goal advantage, and the fans -- including GFF President Wayne Forde and Lethem Mayor His Worship John Macedo – found themselves bracing for an equally exciting second half.

And they were not disappointed, as both teams continued to take the fight to each other. The spoils were shared equally, with a goal at each end; however, Gladiators’ one goal cushion from the opening 45 minutes helped them take full points.

Captain tucked in her third goal of the match in the 52nd minute, while Gabriela Almeida scored the second for Tabatinga, but it was not enough to deny the winners.

Matches will continue this weekend.

DCB U-17 Inter-Association Cricket Tournament…

Mohabir’s all-round effort gives G/town title

A

fine all-round effort by Alvin Mohabir secured for Georgetown a comfortable eight-wicket win against West Demerara in the final round of the Demerara Cricket Board’s (DCB’s) U-17 Inter-Association tournament.

In the match, played at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground at Bourda yesterday, Mohabir’s unbeaten 42 made light work of the 93 runs set by a jaded West Demerara team.

Batting first, West Demerara could barely muster 92 runs at the expense of 7 wickets after 50 overs.

Openers Avesh Persaud and Sachin Balgobin laid the platform for this achievement with a 55-run stand after batting in partnership for 27.2 overs. It was slow going for the duo, with Balgobin eventually

emerging top-scorer with an unbeaten 28 runs scored from 131 balls, while Persaud made 26 from 99 balls.

After the opening duo had departed, no other West Demerara batsman could reach double figures. Thus when the 50 overs had expired, West Demerara had managed only 92.

Disciplined in their approach, Georgetown off-spinner Mohabir ended with 3-16 in 10 impressive overs, while his fellow off-spinner Ezekiel Wilson claimed 2-16 in his 10 overs. Extras tallied 25 in the West Demerara innings.

In reply, Georgetown lost Jadon Campbell for 29 and Varun Mangal without troubling the score; but batting at number three, Mohabir capped off his brilliant effort with an unbeaten 42 from 74 balls.

Deo Singh and Nityanand Matura each took one wicket for West Demerara in a losing effort.

(Brandon Corlette)

he Albion and Port Mourant crick- Tournament. Ramnauth will serve as capet teams are due for a head-on clash in tain, and Matthew Pottaya as vice-captain. the finals of the Berbice Cricket Board’s Leslie Solomon is the coach, while BCB Asst Lewison General Store Under-15 Tournament, Secretary Ameer Rahaman would perform the after Albion defeated Tucber Park by 52 runs at duties of manager. the Albion Ground in the lone semifinals, while The BCB are planning to prepare early for Port Mourant defeated RH Canje by 9 wickets the 2021 under-15 tournament by starting anin the playoff, before drawing a bye to the fi- other tournament in late March or early April.

Scores from some earlier matches are listed nals. hereunder.

In a match played on home ground, 1: Rose Hall Canje defeated Tucber Park Albion were bowled out for a paltry by 43 runs at Canje.

102 culled from 28.3 overs, of which Rose Hall Canje Afraz Budhoo top scored with 24 and scored 148 all out Tameshwar Mangal contributed 14. in 49.2 overs, with Bowling for Tucber Park, C. Sanjay Algoo Welcome, D. Hendore, L. Simon and A. making 45, and Azad each took two wickets, for 20, 10 and 19 Avishkar Persaud 28. runs respectively.

Extras contributed 52.

Tucber Park, in reply, fared ever worse, and Lyndon Simon were bowled out for 50, with only M. Arjune took 2 for 45, and reaching double figure with 15.

G. Kisten took 2 for At the Canje Ground, the home team were 15. bowled out by Port Mourant for 91, with only Tucber Park reSanjay Algoo offering resistance with 30.

West Indies Under-15 player Rampertab sponded with 105 all Ramnauth took 3 for 20 and Romel out in 34.4 overs.

Budhana took 3 for 19 as the best bowlers G. Kisten scored 24, for the visitors, who in reply raced to 92 and extras contributed for 1 in 17 overs, as Ramnauth complet58. ed a fine all round performance with Romario Ramdehol took 5 an unbeaten 60, while his younger for 14 and A. Allen 2 for 19. brother Rampersaud contributed 2: Tucber Park defeated 19 before he was run out when the Blairmont by 9 wickets at team needed only six runs for vicBlairmont. tory.

Blairmont made The Berbice Cricket 108 all out in 32 overs, Board (BCB) has meanwith R. Koobi scoring while released the 37, while D. Hendore names of its 14took 3 for 8 and Lyndon man squad to Simon took 2 for 10. participate Tucber Park responded in the GCB with 110 for 1 in 19.1 overs, I n t e r of which Kevin Kisten contribWest Indies U-16 batsman Rampertab uted 70 and B. Fredricks 26 not County Ramnauth will lead the Berbice U-15 side Under-15 out.

MYO/Trophy Stall Inter-Jamaat Softball Cricket Tournament…

Competition resumes tomorrow

P

lay in the MYO/Trophy Stall 10-Over Inter-Jamaat Softball Cricket competition resumes tomorrow, Sunday February 16, at the MYO Ground on Woolford Avenue in Thomas Lands, after the 2019 season had come to an abrupt end because of the onset of inclement weather over the holiday period.

With the dry season in evidence, the masjids in this tournament are out to resume their battle for supremacy. Teams in this competition are: LBI ‘A’, LBI ‘B’, New Mosque, New Amsterdam, MYO, Cornelia Ida, Leonora, Tuschen Train Station, Hague, and Diamond New Scheme.

Last weekend, a total of four matches were played, and they each came down to the proverbial wire, with teams gaining vital points.

This competition is slated for resumption with four matches being played. The first match, between Leonora Masjid and Hague Masjid, will commence at 9hrs. The

second match, between MYO and Hague, begins at 11hrs. Heading into the afternoon session, the third match, between MYO and Cornelia Ida, begins at 13:00 hrs; while the final game of the day, involving MYO tackling ‘LBI A, will be played at 15hrs.

Most of the matches scheduled for the day will see the MYO facing off against different opponents. These matches are potential thrillers because, despite having only eight points, the MYO haven’t lost a single game. If favour goes their way on Sunday, they will have to their credit 14 points and be leaders of the points’ table.

The points’ standings for 2020 see New Amsterdam on top with 12 points, while MYO and Cornelia Ida are tied in second place on eight points. Tuschen and Hague also both have eight points; LBI ‘B’ have 8 points; LBI ‘A’ and Diamond are on four points and two points respectively, while New Mosque are yet to get off the mark.

MYO have hitherto not lost a match

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

RHTY&SC cricket teams' Say No/ Say Yes Campaign…

23

Bounty Farm Ltd Handicap Squash Tournament…

Guyoil, Ming’s Products & Competition Services and Caribbean ends tomorrow T Container Inc come on board

T

he Say No/Say Yes campaign of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, MS, (RHTY&SC) last weekend received three major financial boosts as they prepare for a hectic 2020.

Under that particular programme of the RHTY&SC, the 10 cricket teams affiliated to this club target all youths in Berbice to Say No to Drugs, Suicide, Alcohol, Tobacco and Crime, and Yes to Education, Culture, Religion, life and Sports.

Management of the Guyana Oil Company (Guyoil) has handed over to the club a cheque for $100,000 in support of this initiative, while the Caribbean Container Inc has also made a financial contribution thereto. Long time sponsor Ming’s Products & Services also handed over a large quantity of cricket balls to the teams.

Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster, who collected the donation, has said the Say No/ Say Yes campaign has been one of the most successful initiatives of the club over the last 25 years, and is administered by the Poonai Pharmacy Under-12 and Under-13 teams; the Farfan and Mendes Under-15 team; the Pepsi Under-19 and Intermediate teams; Bakewell Under 17 and Second Division teams; Metro Female team, and the Namilco Thunderbolt Flour Under-21 and First Division teams.

Foster expressed gratitude to the three companies for their dona-

Roshini Dodnauth-Charran of Ming’s Products & Services handing over balls to Marissa Foster of the RHTY&SC

tion, and said that special emphasis would in 2020 be placed on education, suicide, drug abuse and sports.

The club would use a wide range of activities, among which are television programmes, television commercials, magazine, awards ceremonies, youth inspiration forums, job fairs, exhibitions, cricket academies and educational competitions to get

the message across to youths.

The educational competitions to be hosted would include spelling bees, essays, debating and posters.

The cricket teams would also host or sponsor a number of sporting tournaments for youths. These would include cricket, athletics, chess, dominoes, football, basketball and volleyball.

Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship…

Semi-final match-ups to commence this evening

T

he National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue will provide the ideal battlefield this evening when Leopold Street battle Rio AllStars and Bent Street tackle Kingston in the Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship.

Esan Griffith, the tournament coordinator during pre-match comments, said, “Tonight will decide who will contest the grand finale for the coveted championship and fans can expect a thrilling night of action which has been the hallmark of the tournament since its inception, more so this year which has provided several unlikely results”.

According to Griffith, “The tournament has lived up to and exceeded all expectations with the quality and excitement that has been on display from the opening night. The success of the tournament wouldn’t be possible without the sponsors and more importantly the players and fans who have afforded us the unwavering support from day one”.

The feature clash of the night has the potential to be a classic as traditional giant Leopold Street look to assert their dominance over emerging threat Rio AllStars.

Due to their experience, Leopold Street will enter the match as the marginal favourite. Offensively, Leopold Street have tallied nine goals to date, five of which occurred in the two previous elimination rounds.

Responsible for this improved output, which produced wins over Gold is Money and Avocado Ballers, are Okeene Fraser, Omallo Williams, Eon Alleyne, Benjamin Opara and Delwyn Fraser. Defensively, the rear-guard has allowed four goals. However, they have only been breached once in the elimination section.

For Rio All-Stars, a place in the finale will solidify their status as a genuine national heavyweight. Their berth to the semi-finals was gained following wins over Back Circle and Future Stars, two formidable sides.

Offensively, Rio All-Stars have tallied seven goals.

Jermin Junior, Kelsey Benjamin and Job Caesar have been pivotal on the scoring charts. Defensively, Rio AllStars have only conceded three times, with no goal allowed in the knockout round which is the overall best record in the event. The likes of Solomon Austin and Cecil Jackman have been vital in this regard.

Meanwhile, “giant killers” Kingston will have an unenviable task ahead when they face off with former champion and tournament favourite Bent Street.

Kingston have recorded impressive 10 goals in their campaign. This has produced wins over Sparta Boss and Spartacus, thus earning them the moniker of giant killers.

Rising star Stephon Reynolds leads the attack for Kingston which also featured the veteran forward Nigel Denny. Defensively, Kingston have conceded six times.

On the other hand, their impending opponent, Bent Street, are the leading outfit with superior numbers on both ends of the field.

Offensively, Bent Street have recorded a tournament-leading 18 goals. This level of firepower, which recorded wins over Sophia and Mocha, is led by the likes of Daniel Wilson, Colin Nelson, Sheldon Holder, Jermaine Beckles and Adrian Aaron.

Defensively, Bent Street also possess the joint best overall record in the event which concretises their position as the tournament favourite. Prior to the commencement of the two semi-final matches, two exhibition matches will be staged.

Winner of the event will pocket $600,000 and the championship trophy, while the second-place side will collect $400,000 and the respective accolade. On the other hand, the third and fourth place unit will receive $200,000 and $100,000 respectively and the corresponding trophy.

Among the other sponsors of the event include the National Sports Commission and MVP Sports.

he 2020 Bounty Farm Ltd Handicap Squash Tournament continued last evening at The Georgetown Club with ‘round-of-16’ matches in the Open Category, quarter final matches in Category ‘A’, and plate matches in both categories.

In the Open category, Nicholas Narain (-15) had to pull out all the stops to overcome the challenge of Medhi Ramdhani (6). He won in three close games 15-10, 11-15, 15-12, while Peter Michael De Groot (-15) had a surprising straightforward win in his match with Abosaide Cadogan (0), scores being 15-9, 15- 8.

Brian Edwards (9) took care of Kirsten Gomes (0) 15-13, 15-9, and Louis da Silva (10) stunned Ashley Khalil (-7) 15-3, 15-13.

In category ‘A’, Rayad Boyce (5) had to call on all his reserves to overcome Tiana Gomes (13), whom he defeated 15-13, 5-15, 15-14; and in a battle between the Fernandes siblings, Grant (10) beat Beau (7) 15-7, 15-14.

Lajuan Munroe (2) again had another match go down to the proverbial wire before he defeated Nathan Rahaman (5) 159, 12-15, 15-14; and in the last of the quarter final matches, Dhiren Persaud (3) beat Kassie Walcott (13) 15-12, 15-12.

Day One

The event, which began on Wednesday evening, saw 13 matches being contested in Category ‘A’ and the Open Category.

It was a night full of upsets in Category ‘A’, as both of the

Nicholas Narain

top seeded players were beaten. Shiloh Asregado (-5) lost in straight sets to Kassie Walcott (13) 15-8, 15-9, while Joshua Verwey (-5) was beaten by Grant Fernandes (10) 15-1, 15-4.

In two other matches which went all the way down to the proverbial wire, Tiana Gomes (13) beat Rylee Rodrigues (9) 15-8, 11-15, 15-14, and Lajuan Munroe (2) defeated Brenno Da Silva (10) 11-15, 15-12, 15-14.

In the Open category, there were comfortable wins for Abosaide Cadogan (0), who beat Tian Edwards (12) 15-12, 15-14; Louis Da Silva (10), who cruised past Ian Mekdeci (-2) 15-2, 1510; and Zachary Persaud (10), who proved to be too good for Lydia Fraser (7) winning 15-2, 15-9.

The finals of this tournament are slated for Sunday from 11:00 hrs.

Second night results

Open Category Nicholas Narain (-15) defeated Medhi Ramdhani (6) 15-10, 11-15, 15-12 Peter Michael De Groot (-15) defeated Abosaide Cadogan (0) 15-9, 15-8 Brian Edwards (9) defeated Kirsten Gomes (0) 15-13, 15-9.

Louis da Silva (10) defeated Ashley Khalil (-7) 15-3, 15-13.

Lucas Jonas (2) defeated Steven Persaud (9) 14-15, 15-13, 15-8.

Lloyd Fung-A-Fat (7) defeated Robin Lowe (9) 15- 7, 15-11.

Zachary Persaud (10) defeated Johan da Silva (9) 11-15, 15-8, 15-8.

Category A Rayad Boyce (5) defeated Tiana Gomes (13) 15-13, 5-15, 15-14.

Grant Fernandes (10) defeated Beau Fernandes (7) 15-7, 15-14.

Lajuan Munroe (2) defeated Nathan Rahaman (5) 15-9, 12-15, 15-14.

Dhiren Persaud (3) defeated Kassie Walcott (13) 15-12, 15-12.

Open Plate Dane Pereira (9) defeated David Fernandes (9) 15-12, 15-9.

Category A Plate Brenno da Silva (10) defeated Nandishraj Singh (13) 15-7, 15-11.

Shiloh Asregado (-5) defeated Lucas Persaud (7) 11-15, 15-8, 15-13.

Demetri Lowe (9) defeated Rylee Rodrigues (9) 13-15, 15-13, 15–8.

First night results

Category A Kassie Walcott (13) defeated Shiloh Asregado (-5) 15-8, 15-9.

Grant Fernandes (10) defeated Joshua Verwey (-5) 15-1, 15-4.

Tiana Gomes (13) defeated Rylee Rodrigues (9) 15-8, 11-15, 15-14.

Lajuan Munroe (2) defeated Brenno Da Silva (10) 11-15, 15-12, 15-14.

Rayad Boyce (5) defeated Demetri Lowe (9) 15-14, 15- 7 Beau Fernandes (7) defeated Nandishraj Singh (13) 15-7, 15-11.

Dhiren Persaud (3) defeated Lucas Persaud (7) 15-12, 15-12.

Open Category Abosaide Cadogan (0) defeated Tian Edwards (12) 15-12, 15-14.

Louis da Silva (10) defeated Ian Mekdeci (-2) 15-2, 15-10 Zachary Persaud (10) defeated Lydia Fraser (7) 15-2, 15-9.

Mohryan Baksh (0) defeated Dane Pereira (9) 15-12, 15- 11.

Steven Persaud (9) defeated Reagan Rodrigues (8) 14-15, 15-5, 15-10.

Brian Edwards (9) defeated David Fernandes (9) 15-5, 15–12.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020

Sports is no longer our game, it’s our business

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RHTY&SC cricket teams’ Say No/ Say Yes Campaign… Rupununi Football Assn 2020 season…

Guyoil, Ming’s Products & Guyana Rush Saints in Services and Caribbean Container Inc come on 3-2 seasonboard opener win Page 23

– Ann Captain’s triple seals Gladiators’ win in female shindig

Page 22

Guyoil Accounts Clerk Shaunetta Barkoye handing over the donation to Hilbert Foster in the presence of PRO Lonessa John-Forbes

Guyana Rush Saints

Magnum Tonic Wine Mashramani Cup Futsal Championship…

Page 22

Semi-final matchups to commence this evening The 2020 DCB U-17 InterAssociation champions, Georgetown (Brandon Corlette photo)

DCB U-17 Inter-Association Cricket Tournament…

Mohabir’s all-round effort gives G/town title

Page 23 Part of the ongoing action

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