Guyana Times Sunday, August 2, 2020

Sandvoort - The village Cuffy made his home Nationwide coverage coverage from from the the best best news news team team in in Guyana Guyana Nationwide Issue No. 4365 guyanatimesgy.com

13 PP16

THE BEACON BEACON OF OF TRUTH TRUTH THE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

GECOM owes it to Guyana to finalise elections – Commissioner

…as today marks 5 months of APNU/AFC subverting will of the people See story on page 3

40% projected growth depends on having legitimate Govt, Parliament – economist Page 7

Guyana’s delayed elections' result deguts fiscal Top Cop stimulus to proceeds on support health pre-retirement …Deputy Commissioner crisis – IDB leave takes over GPF Page 9

Deputy Commissioner Nigel Hoppie

PRICE

$120 VAT INCLUDED

WHAT'S INSIDE:

ExxonMobil averaged 22,000 barrels per day in 2020 2nd quarter P2 – Hess …far cry from APNU/ AFC’s 120,000 bpd projection

Police intercept minibus at Rockstone with 12 Brazilians …placed in quarantine

P12

Water Users’ Association P23 expresses disgust over poor D&I in Region 6

Commissioner Leslie James

Page 12

Page 12

Armed bandits rob Chinese supermarket Page 2

5-year-old stabbed by mom’s P8 friend still hospitalised Extreme erosion in Linden being monitored by CDC, LM&TC P10

2 NEWS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

ExxonMobil averaged 22,000 barrels per day in 2020 2nd quarter — Hess …far cry from APNU/AFC’s 120,000 bpd projection

O

il company Hess Corporation has revealed that its partner and operator in the Stabroek Block only managed to produce an average of 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in the second quarter of 2020, a far cry from the 120,000 bpd anticipated by the APNU/ AFC Energy Department Director, Dr Mark Bynoe.

This was revealed in Hess’ financial filings for the second quarter of 2020, in which it explained that Exxon is unlikely to reach this 120,000 bpd until sometime later this month, when its water injection equipment is fully commissioned.

“The Corporation’s net production from the Liza Field, which commenced in December 2019, averaged 22,000 bopd in the second quarter of 2020. The operator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, is currently commissioning water injection equipment and bringing natural gas injection fully online,” Hess reported in its filings.

According to the oil company, the commissioning of the equipment “should enable the Liza Destiny floating production, offloading, and storage vessel (FPSO) to

APNU/AFC’s Energy Department Director, Dr Mark Bynoe

reach its capacity of 120,000 gross bpd in August.”

On May 4, Dr Bynoe had told the media during a virtual press conference that since production started, Guyana produces an average of between 75,000 and 80,000 barrels of oil per day in the Liza field.

Moreover, he had claimed that production was expected to be ramped up to 120,000 barrels per day by next month, which would have been June, while cautioning that with the current coronavirus crisis, there have been restrictions on drilling.

“To date, the Liza 1 field has produced over 8 million

barrels of oil, with average daily production of between 75 – 80 kbd, with an expected ramp-up to 120 kbd by early June 2020,” he had explained.

Since his press conference, however, a number of incidents overtook these announcements. One of these incidents was the revelation that Exxon was flaring natural gas in excess of the levels approved by the Government.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) had released a statement in which it had called on the company to stop flaring gas offshore Guyana. CIEL had claimed that the flaring exceeded the levels approved by the Government, putting Guyana among the top ten gas flaring countries in the world at the time.

In an effort to cut back on flaring, it had been announced by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Vincent Adams back in June that Exxon reduced their production from 80,000 bpd to between 25,000 and 30,000 bpd.

When it comes to the troublesome gas compressor, at the time Adams had also explained that the equipment was giving prob-

lems and moreover, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) had reported being unable to source technical assistance from the manufacturers, such as technological and engineering manufacturer Siemens.

Meanwhile, Hess had also announced in its filings that Exxon was able to find two high-quality reserves offshore Guyana in 2020 around the time the company was appraising the Yellowtail-2 oil well.

According to Hess, they were able to identify two

According to Hess, Exxon averaged 22,000 bpd in the 2nd quarter of 2020

high-quality oil reservoirs, one adjacent to and the other below the Yellowtail field. This, according to the company, is further proof of

the quality of the basin and is likely to be developed in the future. In fact, the finds are currently being evaluated. (G3)

Armed bandits rob Chinese supermarket

T

hree men, armed with two guns and a cutlass, robbed the Long Sheng Chinese Supermarket at Ankerville, Port Mourant, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), on Friday. During the ordeal, the owners were beaten before the men escaped with just over $1 million in cash, a quantity of phone cards and two cell phones.

Reports are the robbery occurred at about 20:00h.

TURN TO PAGE 9

The bandits inside the supermarket

NEWS

3

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

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

Sunday, August 2 – 04:00h – 05:30h and 14:30h – 16:00h and Monday, August 3 – 04:30h – 06:00h and 14:30h – 16:00h.

The Berbice Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on:

Sunday, August 2 – 15:45h – 17:15h and Monday, August 3 – 16:35h – 18:05h.

FERRY SCHEDULE

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

WEATHER TODAY

Expect thundery showers until early afternoon.

Sunny intervals will prevail thereafter. There will be partly cloudy skies during the night.

Temperatures should range between 21 degrees Celsius and 29 degrees Celsius.

Winds: Southerly to South South-Easterly to South-Easterly to Easterly to East North-Easterly to South-Easterly to Southerly to South SouthWesterly between 1.34 metres and 2.68 metres.

High Tide: 15:52h reaching a maximum height of 2.40 metres.

Low Tide: 09:24h and 21:38h reaching minimum heights of 0.69 metre and 0.81 metre.

COMMODITIES Indicators

US$

Change %

Crude Oil

$43.30/barrel

+0.83

Rough Rice

$208.89 /ton

+0.61

London Sugar

$381.60/ton

+3.64

Live Spot Gold

USD Per Ounce

Bid/Ask

$1976.10

$1977.10

Low/High

$1957.50

$1987.60

0.00

0.00%

Change

GECOM owes it to Guyana to finalise elections – Commissioner …as today marks 5 months of APNU/AFC subverting will of the people

T

oday marks five months since elections were held in Guyana, yet there has been no declaration of the results by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). A relatively smooth election process ended up being undermined first by a few strategically placed persons in the GECOM secretariat, then by court case after court case.

In an interview with this publication, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) nominated GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj was optimistic that the end may finally be in sight, ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of the commission today at 10:00h to discuss the declaration of the results.

“I believe there is enough to ensure that we have a conclusion of this process as expeditiously as possible. As you are aware, (today) will be five months since elections were held. And we owe it to this country to have it resolved,” Gunraj explained.

He also explained that Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield has also been invited to the meeting.

Gunraj recalled the High Court and Court of Appeal rulings that the CEO is an employee of GECOM. Not a constitutional officer, not a “lone ranger” and thus, he would have to comply with any instructions issued by the chair.

It is unclear at this point if the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) CommissionersVincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman- will even attend today’s meeting, as efforts to contact them proved futile. This trio have a track record of not attending important GECOM meetings.

There was the occasion of July 9, when GECOM Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh called a meeting to discuss the way forward following the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling that the recount was valid and that Lowenfield’s invalidation of over 115,000 votes to give APNU/AFC a victory was, in fact, unlawful. That meeting had to be rescheduled, because the APNU/AFC commissioners needed time to study the judgement.

It was rescheduled to July 11, where Lowenfield, despite explicit instructions from the Chair to use the recount results, once again plucked numbers from the skies and sent them in to GECOM as part of his final elections report. At that meeting, all three APNU/AFC nominated commissioners were also absent.

And on July 14, the APNU/ AFC appointed GECOM Commissioners walked out of the commission’s meeting after Justice Singh told Lowenfield to submit his elections report as requested.

Litigation

Many, including prime ministerial candidate of the PPP, Brigadier Mark Phillips, have asserted that the onus is

Commissioner Sase Gunraj

now on the GECOM Chair to act and bring a timely conclusion to the five months wait for a final declaration of results, regardless of whether she gets cooperation from the CEO and government aligned commissioners.

Ahead of today's meeting, concern has been expressed about the sheer volume of litigation brought by surrogates of APNU/AFC, which have sought to tie GECOM's hands and prevent them from declaring the election results.

There have also been fears that APNU/AFC may approach the CCJ to once again delay the declaration of results and appeal Thursday's decision in Jones v GECOM. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal, dismissed the challenge brought by APNU/AFC supporter Misegna Jones in a unanimous decision and upheld Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George’s recent ruling that the National Recount exercise is valid, and that the decision taken by GECOM to use the recount figures as the basis for a final declaration of the March 2 polls must be adhered to.

In the ruling handed down

by Appellate Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud, along with High Court Justice Priya SewnarineBeharry, it was asserted that the proceedings filed by Jones

are an abuse of the court system, since many of the issues raised were previously dealt with in other litigations filed during the protracted electoral process.

CCJ is currently on a twomonth hiatus. PPP candidate and attorney-at-law, Sanjeev Datadin has expressed the view that while APNU/AFC may very well approach the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the apex court is unlikely to grant special leave to hear an appeal in the matter.

He was, at the time, being interviewed about additional litigation in the Jones matter after the Court of Appeal in Guyana unanimously dismissed the APNU/ AFC supporter’s application to overturn the July 20 decision of the acting Chief Justice, Roxane George, that the Recount Order (Order 60) was valid.

Datadin had added that the contentious litigation over the past four months is a blatant abuse of the judicial system. According to him, there is no need, at this time, for further litigation. However, he explained that they are cognisant of the APNU/AFC abuse of the court in an effort to further delay and obstruct the declaration of the election results.

Shifting narratives

The bone of APNU/AFC's many shifting narratives is their belief that all votes from the recount should not be counted. Without any shred of evidence, the coalition has claimed that the recount results are not credible, despite the fact that the recount process was supervised by a Caricom team.

It was President David Granger who, in justifying his decision to block the

GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh

Carter Center from observing the recount, had described CARICOM as the "most legitimate interlocutors" in the elections. CARICOM released a report making it clear that the recount was credible and can form the basis for the declaration of results.

In addition, international and local observers and all the other parties (except APNU/AFC) which contested the polls, have accepted the results of the recount as credible and called for the final declaration to be made on this basis only.

During the National Recount process, after it was confirmed that the coalition was defeated at the polls, it started a relentless effort to discredit the electoral process in making wild and unsubstantiated claims of voter impersonation.

The National Recount shows that PPP/C won the March 2 polls with 233,336 votes cast in its favour.

APNU/AFC secured 217,920 votes while the A New and United Guyana gained 2313; Change Guyana –1953; Liberty and Justice Party – 2657; People’s Republic Party – 889; The Citizenship Initiative – 680; The New Movement – 244; and the United Republican Party – 36.

4

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

Views Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544 223-7230,223-7231,231-0544, 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

Let us get on with the declaration

T

he preceding week has certainly been most momentous, and is a fitting prelude to today’s meeting of GECOM. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal announced their judgement on the appeal of PNC agent Misenga Jones against the decision of the High Court presided over by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George. In her impeccably reasoned decision, Justice George had rejected Jones’s contention: that the Recount Order was “hopelessly flawed”, and should be struck down, along with the Recount results that flowed from it, in order to permit the GECOM CEO to use the counts from the ten regions, including the discredited one from Reg 4.

She ruled that the CEO could not act as a “Lone Ranger”, but had to accept the guidance of the Commission, which mandated that he use the Recount numbers to produce his report.

The Appellate Court, in a unanimous decision, rejected Jones’s appeal as the Justices concurred with the opinion of CJ George, not only in her conclusion, but in her reasoning that almost all of Jones’s contentions had been litigated and decided upon by previous courts all the way to our apex court, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), and as such were res judicata, i.e. settled law.

In fact, under the circumstances, all the Justices declared that the decisions have now become “stare decisis”, or binding precedents they had to follow. As such, they ruled that the CEO had to produce his report using the Recount numbers.

But before most of the country could let out a collective sigh of relief, with rising hope that their five-month elections nightmare, brought about by the PNC to rig their way back to office, was coming to an end, the PNC-aligned lawyers for Jones had requested a stay on the judgement.

Inexplicably, against strong arguments by the defence lawyers, they were given a one-day stay.

The following day, Friday, the public holiday of Eid-ulAdha was observed in Guyana, but most observers felt Jones’s PNC lawyers were going to file an appeal to the CCJ, which is housed in T&T, where it was a normal working day.

However, no appeal was filed, most likely because they probably realised that institution would reject any appeal as “frivolous”, since they were the source of the judgements that made the matters res judicata. Certainly, no one thought it was because of the significance of Eid Ul Fitr, which exhorts mankind to practise the virtue of sacrifice, and forms the basis of all social relationships. To the PNC, sacrifice of their overweening ambition to hold on to power at any cost - even if it means destruction of the society, as occurred between 1964 and 1992 - was never an option. The entire logic of their Machiavellian view of power is the antithesis of sacrifice, yet their leaders issued unctuous and sanctimonious exhortations to the nation on “sacrifice”, even as they performatively scorned it.

Eid-ul-Adha was followed by the public holiday of Emancipation Day, which commemorates the fateful event of August 1st 1834, when slavery was abolished in all British colonies, including the then British Guiana. We do not have to reprise the horrors of slavery, in which human beings were defined as “chattel”, like farmyard animals. As such, it behooves the PNC to reflect on the significance of Emancipation”, and whether its ethos would lead them to deny the right of all Guyanese, including and especially African- Guyanese, to be governed by a government of their choice, and not one arbitrarily imposed on them.

Against this background, it is our hope that, at today’s meeting of GECOM, the PNC will not throw any lastminute spanners into the implementation of the clear and unambiguous directions of the courts: for GECOM to declare the winner of the March 2 elections using the Recount figures.

And that President-elect Irfaan Ali will be sworn in forthwith.

Ranks of the 3 1 Special Forces Squadron who successfully completed four weeks of Equitation training conducted by ranks of the Guyana Police Force Mounted Branch showcase their skills gained.

The soldiers performed mounted drills based on words-of-command, and participated in three events; Musical Chairs, The Flags Race and the Battle of The Mounties (GDF photo)

Let go and let us breathe, so we can prosper

Dear Editor, On Thursday, July 30, 2020, the Guyana Court of Appeal ruled on the frivolous case brought before it to stop the final declaration of the March 2, 2020 election results using the figures that emanated from the National Recount. The court unanimously dismissed the case and the Judges, even going a step further to rebuke those who brought the case.

This ruling paved the way for the declaration of the results, a declaration that will show an electoral win for the PPP/C. With seemingly all legal pathway now blocked to frustrate the conclusion of the electoral process, the APNU/AFC coalition has decided to play its final and odious card, the race card.

In a Facebook rant, Imran Khan, an AFC Executive and senior coalition functionary, engaged spewing division based on unfounded allegations about Afro-Guyanese being discriminated against by successive PPP/C Governments – claiming that their progress was only assured by a coalition Government. For him to make these wild and potentially dangerous allegations on the eve of Emancipation Day, and with the current tense political situation in the country, is unconscionable and utterly despicable.

The reality is that during their 23 years in office the PPP/C boasted a track record of promoting initiatives that benefited all Guyanese.

Looking at communities, which the PNCR-led APNU/ AFC coalition touts as areas of stronghold support, this fact is clear. Region 10, home to Linden, is one such community.

In Region 10, face-to-face engagements between leaders and the people of the community to address their economic challenges remains something only done under a PPP/C Government.

During their tenure, the housing projects saw thousands of Guyanese of all races benefiting from affordable housing. This includes the new housing scheme at Amelia’s Ward. There is nothing more that gives one digni-

ty than owning your own home.

Thousands of Afro-Guyanese benefited from this initiative.

In 2002, the then Jagdeoled Government launched the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP), whose main goal was to aid the Linden community due to the decline in the Bauxite industry and the severe economic dislocation. The aim was to expand Linden’s economic base and diversify the local economy, and to encourage entrepreneurship and the enterprise of the residents of Linden.

The advances in infrastructure, from a spanking new hospital to roads were also investments made under the PPP/C Government. Linden was also able to attract investment, with a call centre being established and providing jobs.

That call centre has since been reduced to nothing under the APNU/AFC coalition.

It is convenient that Mr Khan has forgotten these and, likely, a show of duplicity. Maybe he can answer what has happened to the housing sector under his Government?

What happened to the LEAP initiative? What happened to the progressive trajectory that Linden 10 was on? Mr Khan cannot answer these questions, because to do so would expose the failings of his APNU/AFC coalition Government.

These failings range from making lives harder for all Guyanese, including their supporters, to blatant actions that disadvantaged Afro-Guyanese for the sake of the coalition’s cronies. One such example is the cancellation of leases for black farmers in West Berbice, only to have them given to a member of the coalition. The coalition does not care about any particular race, they are only interested in their own personal gain, at whosoever expense. This is a fact.

Further, the PPP/C Government had implemented the cash grants and uniform voucher programmes that greatly assisted the less fortunate in our society. All Guyanese benefited. Mr Khan should now answer why his coalition callously took away

those benefits, almost $2 billion, from the people. As if the removal of these support programmes were not enough, Mr Khan should explain his coalition’s reasoning for implementing policies that increased cost of living for everyone from the farmer and vendor to the small business owner and student.

When one examines the behaviour of the APNU/AFC coalition it is obvious that they are only interested in the prosperity of a selected few. As the country’s economy sinks, a few members and friends of the coalition continue to benefit from the largess of the State. This has nothing to do with race.

Some of the largest beneficiaries – outside of the coalition officials themselves – are cronies, BK Tiwarie and Stanley Ming, etc. Unfortunately, for the black community in Guyana, many of those benefiting are not Afro-Guyanese but are friends and backers of the coalition. These relationships have brought great wealth to these few individuals whilst the rest of the population suffers.

In 2018, the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) had been called on to do a fact-based study on the periods 1964-1992 (under the PNC Administration), 19922015 (under the PPP/C Administration) and 2015 to present (under the APNU/ AFC coalition Government) – relative to the welfare of AfroGuyanese in Guyana. The findings of this study, once it is done, will hopefully silence those who would use race to divide how.

However, Editor, I am not too hopeful that those in the coalition will act responsibly because Stabroek News had done extensive work – an entire 30-plus newspaper pages – to show that the claims of young Afro-Guyanese men being killed were untrue. The Stabroek News investigative report pointed of approximately 420 persons who were killed between February 2002 and September 2006 – 151 murdered by bandits, 30 security officers were killed and 239 were killed during confrontations with the police and in unexplained circumstances.

That said, it is the people who have to send a message to their political leaders.

Bob Marley sang “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery” and it is a fact that no one but ourselves can free our minds. I implore my African brothers and sisters, do not allow yourself to be used to advance the cause of those who care nothing about you.

Instead, ask yourself, was my life better under the PPP/C, or is it better now? The answer is clear. The APNU/AFC coalition’s mismanagement of our country has left us all in a worst off state. They are now seeking to use us, playing on sentiments of Afro-Guyanese, to stay in power so that they can continue to pillage our resources, whilst we starve. We are smarter than that. We are not obliged to back anyone because of race.

Further, since the COVID-19 pandemic, who has shown that they care about the Guyanese people? Definitely not the APNU/AFC coalition! Whilst the coalition has dithered, and wasted monies on ill-conceived projects – including over $1.6 billion on a non-functioning facility – the PPP/C Task Force has been out every day supporting communities all across this country. And this was another example of the fact that your race or who you voted for does not matter to the PPP/C; rather PPP/C leaders understand that they are given respect as leaders because they fulfil the first role of public service – that is responding to the needs of all our people.

People like Imran Khan and his ilk will see us divided to suit their own agendas. Let us show them that we are better than that. By their words and actions, it is the APNU/ AFC coalition that is threatening this nation and our collective progress. They are the ones keeping us back.

Mr Khan, shelve your divisive comments; you are clearly not interested in serious discussion. Let go and let us breathe so we can prosper.

With regards, Sherwyn Greaves

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

5

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

Granger should do the right thing and concede now, not wait on GECOM’s declaration Dear Editor, On Thursday, the media reported that Mr Granger said he will respect any decision of GECOM without condition. He had said that before but did not seem sincere.

So, if he is now a man of his word, what is he waiting on to concede. If GECOM and all the courts say only the recount data can be used to make the declaration, that means Granger lost to the PPP by 15,000 votes and should concede now, and step aside. Dr Irfaan Ali is deemed to be the Presidentin-waiting since March 2, and nothing will change that. So why is Mr Granger stalling? What is he waiting for? He cannot say he would accept the decision of GECOM then let his people

sue to block the declaration

by GECOM. Everyone knows they have lost whether the declaration has been made or not. Any leader with honesty, integrity, and decency would have conceded since the recount was completed. Mr Granger seems to be mostly hiding and comes up for air now and again, while his operatives frustrate the will of the people and engage in activities that sink their reputation deeper and deeper.

Many think Mr Granger is the intellectual author of the current impasse.

Mr Granger had said he would respect the result of the recount under the Caricom observation team he invited, but Mr Granger did not keep his word. Instead, his own candidate and PNC

attorney filed an action to stop the recount he ordered.

He said he would respect the declaration from GECOM, and when GECOM said the declaration was based on the recount, Mr Granger’s people filed a court action against using the recount results, and are still fighting to have the Mingo/Lowenfield fraudulent results used for a declaration. Mr Granger’s side has filed so many vexatious, frivolous lawsuits, they were pretty much bitch-slapped again by the three Court of Appeal Judges who each gave blistering rebuke of abuse of the court process in relitigating matters that have already been decided. If Mr Granger’s party chooses to appeal the COA’s decision to the CCJ, then they have no shame as

the CCJ already said only the recount results can be used.

The PNC must be gluttons for punishment and international embarrassment.

It is time for Mr Granger’s party to tell their people that they lost fairly and that in truth and in fact there was no hanky panky voting by the dead and migrated. This is plain, unbridled dishonesty. If the PNC loves to go to the court so much, why don’t they want to go to an election petition? That will keep them at least five years in court as they sift out how 115,000 to 200,000 people dead and migrated people voted fraudulently. If they like court so much, why are they waiting?

Concede and file the election petition so you can enjoy your long time in court.

Heinous attempts to cause division among Guyanese

Dear Editor, A life-sized cardboard cutout of David Granger was used during the elections campaign; it allowed APNU/AFC supporters to take a picture with their leader. Five months after losing those elections, David Granger and his cardboard look-alike have become indistinguishable. The lack of care for the welfare of the people of Guyana and the refusal to accept the will of the electorate combined with an absentee presidency has allowed anarchy to flourish within the ranks of the APNU/AFC coalition. For all the leadership Granger is demonstrating he may as well be made of cellulose. How did we get here?

David Granger was assigned the task of leading a committee to find a new leader for the PNC following the 2009 challenge to Robert Corbin by four members deemed unsuitable. Lo and behold! The Committee reported that the best man for the job was the head of the committee (Granger). The man came with history; some good; career army officer, family man, some bad; Head of SPEC (Special Political Enumeration Council) and

persistent rumours of links to the ballot Box killings in 1973. This was the mystique of Granger.

The reality of David Granger is more akin to the character Chance, the gardener who is misheard and becomes “Chauncey Gardiner” in the movie Being There. In a discussion about the economy, Chance takes his cue from the words “stimulate growth” and talks about the changing seasons of the garden.

The President misinterprets this as optimistic political advice and quotes “Chauncey Gardiner” in a speech. I urge anyone who seeks to understand David Granger to watch this movie, the tale of a vapid man who said and did little of value but was interpreted through a prism and thought wise.

Over the last few weeks, APNU/AFC’s Joe Harmon has made increasingly militant statements culminating with a declaration that there would be no acceptance of electoral results based on the recount figures. As has been the case with the ever-shifting goalposts since March 2, a few days later Granger endorsed this position. Having

drawn the line in the sand and thumbed their collective noses at the international community, APNU/AFC has now moved into the dangerous arena of anarchy.

The rhetoric of ethnic insecurity has been ramped up and amplified within their close ranks, the activists speak of “killings of young black men by the PPP” and a return to the days of the “troubles”; meetings and vigils are held by unknown groups to commemorate “victims” of that era. It is nauseating to see pictures of the Lusignan massacre victims on the same flyer as Rondell “Fineman” Williams. It is a narrative designed to stir the most peaceful of hearts, to divide the people of Guyana along ethnic lines, and to cause violent conflict among our six races. I am thankful that it is failing spectacularly, ironically, the pressure that APNU/AFC put Guyanese under for the last five years of disastrous economic and social policies have forged us into a gem with diamond-like hardness; the old tricks are proving useless against a united people.

We, the people are all looking at the actions of Harmon,

Jones, Bond, Broomes, Jaipaul Sharma and even the buffoonery of Sherod Duncan with enlightened eyes, we know that the US has levied travel sanctions, we also know that it does not end there, hence the patient approach. We suffer through the frivolous court cases, the endless delays of the inevitable declaration of electoral results based on the National Recount figures secure in the knowledge that when those international sanctions ramp up, those guilty of attempting to benefit from electoral fraud will pay a heavy price for the privilege.

It is my fervent hope that these anarchists are permanently removed from our midst if only for the heinous attempts to cause division among Guyanese peoples. The cardboard cutout may be the only one of the APNU/AFC campaigners unaffected when all the dust settles and for all that Granger does now, the cardboard version seems the lesser of two evils and it certainly could not do worse than the incompetent, intransigent incumbent.

Sincerely, Robin Singh

Attacks on the Judiciary, officers and female attorneys condemned

Dear Editor, The Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL) strongly condemns attacks on the Judiciary, judicial officers and female attorneys-at-law.

GAWL’s focus is premised on its motto “Women Supporting Justice and Equality” and not on political issues. However, we feel compelled to address these attacks which have not gone unnoticed. Those attacks have since escalated, stemming from recent matters adjudicated by the courts which relate to Guyana’s General and Regional Elections.

GAWL takes this opportunity to remind members of the public that these persons are carrying out their functions in accordance with the

offices held and in the execution of their professional duties. Consequently, the making of disparaging remarks and attacks, personal or otherwise, have the potential for making these persons and offices subject to ridicule, engendering disdain and, also may cause a weakening of public confidence in the judicial system. It has been observed that statements made were disingenuous, malicious and on occasions ethnically motivated.

These statements have been published, uttered and communicated through various platforms, and have specifically targeted female attorneys-at-law and judicial officers in the due exercise of their duty.

The GAWL unreservedly

denounces these attacks and asks that persons cease from peddling, broadcasting, transmitting or in any way disseminating such information that on the face of it bring the Judiciary and legal officers into odium.

While there is free speech, such expressions must be within the parameters of the law and must not be unfounded or baseless. The rule of law is the backbone of our society and by extension, those, who in the exercise of their duty try to maintain it, should at all times be respected.

The Association is also mindful of reported verbal attacks on female police officers while in the execution of their lawful duties. In a similar vein, GAWL condemns these

unfortunate occurrences and urges restraint and respect for police officers as they execute their lawful duties. Respect must at all times guide the interaction of citizens with all persons including and especially those who are required to execute their designated and lawful functions.

The GAWL urges all persons to be prudent and respectful to the Judiciary and judicial officers, and all other professionals who are functioning in the course of duty, when making statements, utterances or issuing words in the expression of their views and opinions.

Sincerely, Guyana Association of Women Lawyers

On Thursday, Michael Kozak, of the US State Department announced more sanctions to prevent additional senior individuals from Guyana, responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Guyana, from entering the United States.

I hope they include on the list those pretend church “bishops” and “apostles” who cheerlead and pray for the rigging to succeed. I am willing to suggest a list, but I fear this may ensnare some of my Assembly of God and Full Gospel Fellowship friends.

According to Mr Kozak, “The Secretary’s been clear: The Granger Administration and its allies continue to defy the will of the Guyanese people by refusing to accept the vote count. The count has been certified as valid by international observers OAS and Caricom, Guyana’s and the Caribbean’s highest courts…

The United States joins the rest of the region refusing to go along with this farce. We will continue to act until the Granger Administration accepts the will of Guyanese voters.”

Similarly, the OAS boss, Mr Almagro said, “the right of appeal is a privilege that should not be abused - especially in deferring the will of the people.” He said the appeal of the Chief Justice’s ruling validating the recount was frivolous and vexatious, adding that “Guyana has spoken. GECOM must declare results based on the recount.”

Mr Granger must take his knee off the necks of the Guyanese people and let the nation breath again under a new Government. Concede now! The PPP won fairly!

Sincerely, Jerry Singh

Parties must not interfere with work of GECOM on declaration

Dear Editor, The political parties should not place any more obstacles on the path of GECOM, preventing it from making its long-expected declaration of the election results. People don’t want any more delays.

Five months have passed and people are still waiting for the official declaration. They are fed up, exasperated, frustrated, and tired of waiting for finality so normalcy can return to the country. They want the country to move on and they also want to move on with their lives. They have been struggling to make ends meet and for the rehabilitation of the economy that has been in steady decline over the last few years and made worse over the last eight months. So many depend on hampers for survival. I thank the donors.

Dr Irfaan Ali and the PPP have been at the forefront aiding the poor.

Peoples’ lives have taken a huge toll since the elections. Their finance suffered a setback – a slowdown from a double whammy – COVID and election instability.

Even before that, unemployment was some 40 per cent.

The people now appeal to the parties to stop shenanigans and court cases and allow GECOM to do its work. Out of love for the country, APNU should stop court petitions.

All the courts pronounced on the declaration – the High Court, Appeal Court, and CCJ – that the recount numbers must be used for a declaration. This cannot be changed

regardless of how many appeals are made or additional petitions filed. The CCJ pronounced finality. That ruling won’t be reversed. And no court would stop GECOM from making a declaration.

The coalition should accept the court ruling and behave honourably. It is pleasing to read that the President announced he would accept the declaration even if he lost.

He should instruct his subordinates to end court cases and judicial abuses. Joe Harmon and other PNC stalwarts are reasonable people; they would listen to the President were he to tell them there is no way that the coalition can be declared the winner. All paths to victory have been closed.

The President, his subordinates, and his party would redeem their reputation.

The recount certified that the President lost to Irfaan Ali. No country would recognise Granger were he to be declared the winner or if the coalition continues to defy world opinion. The President should concede and allow the country to move on. This would lead to healing and national reconciliation.

GECOM should make the declaration – Lowenfield should act as instructed.

Failing that, GECOM should bypass Lowenfield and appoint the deputy or some other person to complete the process.

Yours truly, Dr Vishnu Bisram

SEE ADDITIONAL LETTERS ON PAGE 25

6

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

Page

Foundation

One of the smartest things my mom used to do was to just let me talk once I got started. She’d be driving and I’d start thinking out loud about school or friends and... she’d just be quiet. Or nod, say "uh-huh" at regular intervals, and ask a neutral question now and then. Because she wasn't talking, I kept going to fill the void.

Research suggests that listening and being accepting encourages teens to talk much more openly than asking pointed questions, criticising, or pulling them up short because they’re worried about your next reaction.

BY Nancy Darling PhD

T

eenagers spend their lives in constant communication. They text. They chat. They live on social media.

Why then, do so many parents complain that their teens never talk to them?

One reason may be that you're thinking about what you want from them and not about what they want and need from you. These four steps help build and strengthen an everyday relationship between teenagers and parents. It's built on the same thing that all good relationships are—respect, reciprocity, and just shared fun.

4. If they have a problem they want help with, don’t be afraid to share an opinion!

1. Everyday conversations are money in the bank. Invest in them.

Relationships—especially intimate relationships—take time to build. You probably began your relationship with your best friend at work by complaining about the copier or an idiot customer or the lousy coffee. It was only later, after a lot of shared stories about TV shows and vacations and broken down cars that you opened up about your boyfriend or how you felt when your mom had cancer.

Kids are the same. Yes, you’ve known your teen since you were powdering their bottom (something you both might want to forget). But their ability to form intimate relationships with friends, their insecurities about a new relationship, or their worries about life after high school are new.

Before they make themselves vulnerable by talking about those things, they probably need to talk about daily stuff.

Like videogames. Or the new plate armour they’re developing for their latest character in dungeons and dragon. Or the most fantastic shade of eyeshadow the latest YouTube makeup star was showing off.

Is this the deep heart-to-heart you’re longing for? No. But it’s an investment. You are building trust and sharing something that they want to share. Toddlers point out kitties and trucks and dinosaurs to the people they love because they’re sharing what is most exciting to them. In fact, they only share it with the people they love.

Videogames, memes, and YouTube videos are the teenage equivalent of Legos, Disney princesses, and dinosaurs.

Share their emotions. Show them that you take what they think is cool seriously. It’s a place to start. You’re building trust and showing you’re a safe and reliable ally.

2. Model everyday sharing.

People are built to mirror each other. If you want your child to talk about their day, talk about yours. Talk about the great lunch you had. The ridiculous dilemma of being stuck in the toilet stall in desperate need of paper. Your sadness about your friend who took another job. Be light. Be short. Be natural.

Don't be a conversation hog. Give them time to tell their own stories. That’s how natural conversations go. You tell me your story, and it reminds me of my own. I share. People naturally want to balance out intimacy. I tell you mine, and you tell me yours.

3. Listen, don’t lecture.

Nothing kills a conversation faster than someone telling you that you're wrong and they know better. Don’t be that person.

Most teens want advice from their parents. What they don’t want is to be told what to do or what to think. So ask leading questions or share strategies—just like you would with a friend. “You’re having trouble keeping up? Do reminders on your phone help?” “I use to-do lists because I just can’t keep track of things in my head.”

Just as with the friend you love or the know-it-all you avoid, a lot of time, the difference in having your advice accepted is in the tone. Helpful sharing—with the clear implication that they may know this already—can be welcome.

They do have a problem after all!

Telling them they should know better and you have the one correct solution is never welcome and rarely listened to.

Even if you do know better and do have a good idea.

The bottom line: Relationships with teens are relationships.

Everyday, accepting conversations between people who like each other, share jokes and stories, and show each other respect are money in the bank as far as relationships are concerned.

This is particularly true for relationships between parents and teens.

Like money in the bank, you need those reserves on those rainy days when there are things you have to say and they don’t want to hear. Or when they’ve got something hard to tell you that they know you need to know but they are afraid to reveal. Or when you just have to tell them they're wrong and they should just listen.

Strong relations between parents and teens are also the basis of a strong adult bond that can last a lifetime. (psychologytoday.com)

NEWS

7

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

40% projected growth depends on having legitimate Govt, Parliament – economist

Caretaker President David Granger

T

oday marks five months since elections were held and over eight months since Parliament was dissolved.

According to one economist, only the installation of a le-

Winston Jordan to defend his handling of the economy is actually misleading.

He noted that this 40 per cent does not translate to creating jobs in job retentive economic sectors or reducing poverty, but rather is dependent on the value of oil. In addition, Singh explained that these growth estimates depended on a number of things such as a legitimate Government and budget.

According to Singh, the 40 per cent growth that Jordan is referring to is almost entirely the value of oil that will be produced this year. “…has almost nothing to do with the rest of the economic sectors, job creation, household income, and poverty reduction. Both the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) forecast economic growth of about 50 per cent because of oil and gas production.”

Economist Dhanraj Singh

country,” Singh wrote.

Indeed, the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) itself, which previously estimated that Guyana would see 86 per cent growth, is now projecting that Guyana’s oil ex-

“With each passing day, the window of opportunity to help the economy and save families is closing, while the pain and hardship are becoming unbearable.

History will account for the decisions we make at this moment” – economist gitimate Government and the convening of Parliament can save Guyana from rapidly approaching disaster.

Economist and Executive Director of the Guyana Budget and Policy Institute, Dhanraj Singh warned in a letter to the editor that the more than 40 per cent growth rate quoted by de facto Finance Minister

These estimates, however, are based on many assumptions including the existence of a legitimate Government, a Parliament, and a national budget, he said, adding that the absence of these institutions not only undermine these projections, but it also spells unimaginable economic disaster and hardship for the

ports could lose as much as half of its expected US$2.4 billion value and a sizeable chunk of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth with it.

Previously, the IDB had projected that for 2020, Guyana could see oil exports worth US$2.4 billion and approximately US$230 million in Government rev-

enue. However, in its recently released Caribbean region quarterly bulletin report, the IDB has drastically slashed these projections.

The IDB used the assumption of oil prices remaining between US$20 and US$35 a barrel to do their calculations. According to the new numbers, it is estimated that the value of Guyana’s oil exports will drop by 40 to 60 per cent or approximately $1.2 billion.

Not only that, but Government earnings are expected to decline by 15 per cent to US$195.5 million.

All of this is expected to affect Guyana’s GDP, with the bank projecting much lower growth than the original 86 per cent it expected.

Disingenuous

Singh also contended that it is disingenuous for persons to cite total imported consumption goods as proof that consumption spending is not in jeopardy.

Singh instead referenced total private consumption to show that all is indeed not well.

“It is no secret that since 2015, the Granger Administration has spent extravagantly. But whether those spending lead to higher consumption in households is a separate question to which the answer is a resounding no. Total private consumption at the end of 2019 is the second-lowest in almost a decade; it declined by more than $63 billion or 12 per cent from 2015.”

“In other words, while the Government spent lavishly over the last few years,

those spending did not trickle down to ordinary families.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing election crisis would undoubtedly make the situation memorably worse in the months, quarters, and possible years ahead,” Singh stated.

The economist also made an urgent call for statesmanship to prevail and for the Government to do the right thing, rather than run from accountability.

Economic disaster

He made it clear that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) has brought Guyana to the economic problems the country now faces. In fact, Singh noted that it was APNU and AFC, then separate parties, whose antics of cutting allocations and starving the economy combined to sabotage it.

“I will end once again by sounding the alarm, an immediate end to this democratic siege, followed by the swift installation of a Parliament and a legitimate Government is the only path to avoid the worse of the disaster that is rapidly advancing.”

“With each passing day, the window of opportunity to help the economy and save families is closing while the pain and hardship are becoming unbearable.

History will account for the decisions we make at this moment,” Singh added.

With five months elapsed since General and Regional Elections were held, a win-

De facto Finance Minister Winston Jordan

ner is yet to be declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

While a recount has shown that the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the elections, APNU/ AFC has made a concerted effort to delay the transition of Government.

During this time, the country has been in a standby mode amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Government has provided no stimulus package for the economy and little help for those who have lost their jobs.

The situation is compounded by the fact that since there is no Parliament or fully functional Government, oil monies held offshore Guyana in the United States (US) Federal Reserve cannot be accessed.

The US has also led the push for sanctions on the Government for ignoring the will of the people. (G3)

8 NEWS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

5-year-old stabbed by mom’s friend still hospitalised

F

ive-year-old girl Mureena Brock of La Bonne Intention (LBI), East Coast Demerara (ECD), who was stabbed to the back, shoulder and stomach by her mother’s friend, who later committed suicide, is still hospitalised.

Regional Commander Royston Andries Junor told Guyana Times that the child is still hospitalised and is “slowly progressing”.

Brock’s mother, Bibi Mohammed, told reporters that last Friday she was at the home of her friend, 40-year-old Veronica Elliot, of Atlantic Gardens, ECD, and was sitting in the yard when Elliot began to close the door with a padlock. The child was in the house at

Injured: Mureena Brock

the time.

A few minutes later, Mohammed said she heard her friend’s son and

her daughter screaming. She was unable to see what was happening to the child, since all the doors and windows were locked.

However, a relative managed to break a window and they entered the building to take the child to safety.

After committing the act, Elliot reportedly drank a poisonous substance and later died.

The two women were friends for some 23 years, and Mohammed is still in shock over the incident.

Meanwhile, the Regional Commander in a subsequent interview with this publication confirmed that Elliot was suffering from a mental health issue. (G9)

Burnham destroyed…

Y

…foundations of Black lives esterday the nation commemorated “Emancipation Day” - the 182nd such day since that fateful day on Aug 1, 1838, when African slaves were finally freed after hundreds of years of toiling as “chattel”. They subsequently left the scene of their humiliation en masse, and founded the “Village Movement”. They used the sums of money they’d saved from their Sunday Markets and wages during the Apprenticeship period, between 1834 and 1838, to buy abandoned plantations, erect their own homes, and cultivate their own farms.

They pulled themselves up, figuratively by their own bootstraps, in the years after, by imbibing education and gradually forming a middle class in both the rural and urban areas; not only through the public services, but in the teaching, medical and legal professions.

Through the divide-and-rule strategy of the British, they were herded into the Police Force and the Volunteer Force to provide the deadly force their government needed to keep down their fellow countrymen’s protests for their basic rights. It’s not coincidental that the early Police Stations were established near the new African villages.

African-Guyanese remained on the sugar estates as the skilled workers in the factories, and those skills were transferred into many of the new light industries that sprung up, especially by the end of WWII. Sprostons, (today GNIC), for instance, could build our own ferries by the 1960s. Then most of the employees in the bauxite industry at Mackenzie were African-Guyanese, and, for decades, they were the elite of the working class, since they earned the highest wages among them.

African-Guyanese, therefore, were poised for massive development when Guyana was granted Independence under the PNC and Forbes Burnham in 1966. Yet, by 1992, when the PNC’s illegal regime was finally brought to an end through free and fair elections, African-Guyanese were worse off than any other group; for example, the Indigenous Peoples, who had been peripheralised in the interior.

What happened?? Burnham happened, that’s what!!

Burnham declared he knew what was best for “his people”, and that he would “mould their destiny”.

He insisted that African- Guyanese weren’t “disciplined”, and so he formed the “Disciplined Forces”: The GDF, The People’s Militia, The Guyana National Service, The Cadet Corps!! We now know it was really to give him the firepower he needed to rule as a dictator; but, in the meantime, he drew over 23,000 young African-Guyanese away from what could’ve been productive enterprises. With his “cooperative” harebrained scheme, he destroyed the bauxite and sugar industries, plus everything else after he had nationalised 80% of the economy.

Yet, Granger has promised to complete Burnham’s legacy!

As he preaches about “Emancipation (??)” it has clear that it’s time African- Guyanese emancipate themselves from the PNC!

…agriculture But Burnham’s destruction of Guyana - which is the template for Granger’s “Decade of Development”! – wasn’t just one of the sins of omission due to his airy- fairy delusions about cooperatives. He consciously set out to destroy agriculture which might’ve been the anchor of the Guyanese economy, but which he saw only as the support base of the PPP. In first term budgets, he persistently lowered the allocations for agriculture, and even the pittance allocated he focused on public works that employed his own supporters. This is the pattern that was exposed in Granger’s past five budgets.

The pattern was intensified by Burnham after his nationalisation of sugar and taking-over of the milling of paddy and sale of rice. He destroyed sugar by exacting a levy that scraped off all profits; and rice by buying paddy dirt cheap and exporting rice and keeping the profits to fund his pipe dreams!

So, when Granger and his gang complain about the need for “subsidies” to keep sugar afloat, they should remember the rot all started within their levy!!

But he’s succeeded, hasn’t he?? …press freedoms It’s rather pathetic to listen to Lewis and Hinds sanctimoniously calling out KN for “censoring” them while they return to the Chronic!!

Hadn’t they just quit the Chronic - nationalised by Burnham to muzzle the press - because of the PNC’s censorship??

Is censorship okay from “your own”?

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

NEWS

9

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Guyana’s delayed elections’ result deguts fiscal stimulus to support health crisis – IDB

T

he political crisis currently enshrouding Guyana will affect the country’s response to the budding health crisis, by impeding on the implementation of a fiscal policy response.

This was the position shared by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the recently released Caribbean region quarterly bulletin report, which expounded on key issues.

The institution noted that the country faces several constraints to address health needs in times of the coronavirus pandemic, the first of which is brought on by the incessant political stalemate. Without a National Assembly, the production of a fiscal response policy or simply dipping into the National Resources Fund (NRF) to support the sectors would have to wait.

There is currently no functioning Parliament in Guyana, since the 11th Sitting of the National Assembly (Parliament) was dissolved in order to pave way for the March 2, 2020 elections.

“Guyana faces several constraints to address the impending health crisis. First, the ongoing political dispute over the election results is an impediment for designing and implementing a fiscal policy response.

With Parliament currently dissolved, legislation cannot be passed which affects any potential fiscal stimulus or

drawing on the recently created Natural Resource Fund (NRF) to support the health sector, the private sector, or social policy providing relief to the vulnerable,” the IDB highlighted.

This would affect potential economic incentives to cushion the health sector or social policy by providing relief to the vulnerable. The NRF – where all Guyana oil revenues are deposited – has strict withdrawal rules in place, but does take into account the possibility of emergency financing in the event of a major natural disaster.

Notwithstanding, such withdrawals cannot be made.

The caretaker coalition Administration had committed to make funds available to strengthen the Public Health Ministry’s response, in terms of testing, facilities and intensive care capacity. But the institution cautioned that other policies are important to address stakeholders who cannot withstand fluctuations.

“Other policies that may be important to consider include expanding cash trans-

fer programs, especially if social distancing policies are strengthened and household incomes fall, which could contribute to reducing the risk of social unrest. Similar support for small and medium-sized enterprises could be considered.”

In the Bank of Guyana’s annual report for 2018, it shared that its capacity to respond through reserve requirements or policy rates is minimal or nonexistent because of the financial sector’s generally high level of liquidity and little need to borrow.

As such, the IDB contended, “The main policy response from the Bank of Guyana has asked financial institutions to provide flexibility by lowering interest rates, deferring loan payments, and promoting measures to reduce in-person transactions. Several banks have adopted these measures, including reducing opening hours and deferring loan repayments for a period of up to six months on a caseby-case basis. Supporting liquidity in deteriorating market conditions will be key.”

Back in March, Bank of Guyana Governor, Dr Gobin Ganga told Guyana Times that Government cannot access the US$55 million deposited in the NRF which is held in the New York Federal Reserve Bank. These monies were earned from the sale of the country’s first entitlement of one million barrels of crude oil from the Stabroek Block.

At that time, he reminded that the Fund is governed by an Act of Law. Further preventing the current Government from accessing the funds is the fact that the

Act lists two committees – the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee and the Investment Committee.

The BoG Governor had told this publication the Administration is prevented from accessing the fund, even if it tries to in light of the coronavirus disease and the Public Health Ordinance Act recently signed into force by caretaker President David Granger.

The political situation will only come to an end with a final declaration from the Guyana Elections Commission, paving the way for a swearing-in

of a new President. Based on the National Recount exercise, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic secured the highest number of votes, thus defeating the APNU/AFC coalition. However, the APNU/ AFC Administration has refused to accept defeat and has moved several challenges in the court of law, through its supporters, in an apparent bid to block a declaration.

However, in all of the instances, the court has dismissed their cases. The Guyana Elections Commission is scheduled to meet today to discuss the final result. (G12)

Armed bandits rob...

In the CCTV footage that was sent to this publication, two of the men barged into the supermarket fully armed, while the third person kept guard. The suspects later mugged the Chinese nationals, and held one of their female staff at gunpoint.

The woman was led to the cashier booth, along with the owner, by one of the bandits, and forced to put cash in a bag.

The footage also showed the bandits gun-butting and kicking the Chinese nationals.

Customers, who were in the supermarket at the time, were instructed to lie on the floor as the men made their demands. After handing over the cash from the register, the owner of the business was taken to a room in the supermarket, where he was forced to

FROM PAGE 2

One of the bandits leaving after committing the robbery

hand over a larger amount of cash.

After collecting the money, the three men made their escape in an awaiting motor car.

The proprietor received inju-

ries to his head and about his body.

Guyana Times was told that one person is in Police custody as investigations continue. (G9)

10 NEWS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Extreme erosion in Linden being monitored by CDC, LM&TC extreme cases, to a home at Blueberry Hill, Wismar.

According to Linden Mayor Waneka Arrindell, the LM&TC has assessed what has been happening on the ground and has worked to ensure that all relevant authorities were informed of the situation.

“We found that in a lot of the areas there has been mass erosion, especially in those areas where persons would have built on slopes of land. So we have been able to take all of the information and documentation needed for all that’s happening. We had Silvercity that has had extensive flooding and that

T

he Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC), Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) are currently monitoring the situation with regards to extreme erosion and flooding being experienced by residents in various parts of Linden.

Some of the areas which are adversely affected include Green Valley, One Mile, Buck Hill, Blueberry Hill, Wisroc, Silvercity, Silvertown, Canvas City, Amelia’s Ward, Noitgedacht and Fair’s Rust. The situation, which has worsened as a result of the inclement weather patterns, has resulted in damages to several yards, and in one of the more

Arrindell continued that while the LM&TC is not

tance.

Meanwhile,

Director

Severe erosion at Buck Hill and Blueberry Hill in Linden

is due to two drains not being dug properly or to the depth,” she explained.

equipped with the necessary finances, the RDC has stepped in to provide assis-

General of the Civil Defence Commission, Kester Craig noted that as a result of

the recent heavy rains in Linden, the soakaway at Blueberry Hill was washed away and five homes were directly and severely impacted, as he reemphasised that the situation was being monitored.

“NDIA (National Drainage and Irrigation Authority) along with the RDC will begin works to repair the area of the soakaway and provide some sandbags to residents to shore up their homes to prevent further slippages. CDC is monitoring the situation,” he stated.

Additionally, Linden Councillors met with the RDC, Mayor and officers of the CDC on Wednesday with the intention of having soakaways dug to bring some relief to residents. (G13)

NEWS

11

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Police still baffled over Lethem businessman’s death Post-colonial identities

A

few years ago, I wrote about an animated discussion my son initiated about the poet Olive Senior, whose “Gardening in the Tropics” was an assigned school text. The Jamaican, a person of mixed heritage, had used the activity of gardening as an extended trope to analyse the brutal colonisation of the Caribbean by the Europeans, and their influence in the formation of our identities.

I was reminded of this point on Emancipation Day, since colonisation had led to the importation of indentured labourers, which had further complicated the identity question.

Gardening, Senior points out, does involve “rooting out”, discarding”, “cultivating”, “nurturing”, “grafting”, “hybridity”, and so many activities that are also at work in cultures and relationships in the construction of identities.

We have all been, and continue to be, “cultivated”, whether we like it or not: Ravi Dev the point is, to cultivate agency. Even when we were uprooted from homelands in Asia, Africa and Europe, we were all already “hybrids” that had been variously constituted.

The North Indians of the Bhojpuri belt, for instance, were the detritus of continuous invasion for thousands of years, of which the Moghul invasion and its Islamic world view was only the most extensive. The music and the religions of the people were dramatically “cross fertilised”. The British presence in the century before the end of Indentureship had already begun to have its impact, if for nothing else than the famines that made millions hungry and homeless, and willing to seek their fortunes across the “Kala Pani”.

In the Caribbean, Indian, Portuguese and Chinese indentureds would encounter the Africans, who had been subjected to hundreds of years of European imposition of culture and religion, forcibly and not so forcibly. While, against all odds, the Africans had retained elements of their West African cultures, as Brackette Williams points out, the European “transformist” hegemony permitted only innocuous retentions that were derided as “low class”.

The Africans were expected to inculcate “English culture”, even though their humanity was denied, and by definition they could never be “English”. This was interesting, since most of the overseers they interacted with were lower class Irish and Scottish persons.

The indentured servants inevitably imbibed elements of Creole culture from the African creoles, who preceded them in the plantation, and who were expected to “season” them into the new dispensation. Note the “patwa” (patois), for instance, of the rural Indian.

Out of this experience, we were told at Independence that we were “One people; One Nation; One Destiny”. However, in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean, the ruling parties with practitioners of “Creole Culture” sought to counter the European transformist hegemonic cultural imposition with ideologies that privileged the formerly “low class” African culture as the “root” of the tree of “national culture”. The “one nation” was to be a “Creole Nation” with pan and calypso emblematic in TT and imitated in Guyana.

The transformist hegemonic project was now applied by the Afro-Creoles to Indians in TT, Guyana and Surname, and was intensified with later radical pushing of “Black Power”, “Negritude” and “Pan Africanism”.

But reviewing the broad sweep of Caribbean history, Senior sought to make the point that there is no “pure” origin, and no “one root” that we can discover on which to construct our Caribbean identity. She borrowed the metaphor of the “rhizome” – with its multiplicity of roots, that privilege no one root -- for Caribbean identity from the Martiniquean Edouard Glissant. With this expansive hegemonic vision, he was consciously reacting against the constructs of “negritute” and “hybridity” that been proposed to describe French Antillean identity. The first excluded all others, such as people of Indian origin and the French, and the latter still privileged the “African root”.

Rhizomatic identities incorporate all identities equally, and allow all groups in the society to express their specific interests, resolve contradictions, and fully develop the society.

A text like “Gardening in the Tropics” should help our young people move away from the binary of “African” and “Indian”, which enviably creates divisions, and towards a more fluid, permeable conception of self, in which “Guyanese” can be a mosaic rather than an hierarchical strata of dominator and dominated.

T

he police are still baffled over the mysterious death of Eon Caddock, the owner of Bush Master Tourism Company in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).

According to Regional Commander Keithon King, the police are still searching for clues to determine how the man died, and are also awaiting the post-mortem examination to help with their probe.

“There are no new developments, the body is pres-

ently in Georgetown for a post-mortem to be conducted on Monday”, he said.

Caddock’s body was found on Monday last in the vicinity of Culvert City, Lethem.

According to Police, they received information from an anonymous caller, informing them that a body was seen lying on the roadway.

Upon arrival, the man was found lying face down, clad in a grey and brown jersey along with a pair of red trousers and multi-coloured

Region Nine Commander, Keithon King

running shoes.

Upon inspection, the detectives discovered a scratch on the man’s left side cheek.

The now dead man’s body was taken to the Lethem Regional Hospital Mortuary.

Caddock is a British national who had been living in Guyana for the past 25 years.

According to persons in the community, he would normally go jogging in the area where he was found dead.

Investigations are continuing. (G9)

12 NEWS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Top Cop proceeds on pre-retirement leave …Deputy Commissioner takes over GPF

P

Deputy Commissioner Nigel Hoppie is now acting Police Commissioner

olice Commissioner Leslie James has finally proceeded on pre-retirement leave which will lead into his retirement. This comes almost one month after controversy sparked over the fact that several members in

the hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force remain on the job, despite having significant amounts of accumulated leave which would lead them into retirement. Police Commissioner James is said to have some 307 days accumulated leave. He will

reach 55, the retirement age for Public Servants, in April 2021, which means he should have gone off on pre-retirement leave on June 28, and this would have taken him straight into retirement.

When contacted on Saturday, de facto Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan confirmed that the Top Cop made the request to proceed on his pre-retirement leave and it was granted. As of August 1, Deputy Commissioner Nigel Hoppie is acting Police Commissioner.

He went on to say that the Top Cop performed “excellently and did a remarkable job in keeping the peace during the tense and stressful times of elections.”

James joined the Guyana Police Force in 1987 and was appointed Top Cop in May 2018 following the retirement of former Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud.

Meanwhile, time is also winding down for Deputy Commissioner (Operations), Maxine Graham to also follow suit on pre-retirement leave. However, this is not yet finalised.

Graham will turn 55 in November. She also has accumulated approximately 172 days’ leave and should have been sent on pre-retirement leave since June 11.

Asked about her, Ramjattan said, “I’m still to give that a thought. She’s also a Deputy Commissioner and I’ve asked the PS (Permanent Secretary) to work out how much more accumulated leave she has.

That should be done by Monday.”

With 33 years of service under her belt now, Graham was the lone female among four new Deputy Commissioners appointed in August 2018.

In early July, caretaker President David Granger

Top Cop Leslie James has proceeded on pre-retirement leave

was questioned on the reason behind having the top-ranking Police officials still on the job after Guyana Defence Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Patrick West was sent on pre-retirement leave effective July 1, to which he responded that it was an administrative decision.

While acknowledging that an instrument was passed stipulating that leave should not be accumu-

Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Maxine Graham, who is also to proceed on preretirement leave

lated and that officers within the Disciplined Services should enjoy their leave in the calendar year when it is due, Granger had claimed that the move to keep on the Top Cop was because of the “special operation” that was launched for the March 2 elections, and it had to be extended because of the prolonged post-election period.

(G12)

Police intercept minibus at Rockstone with 12 Brazilians …placed in quarantine

P

olice in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) have launched an investigation after a minibus transporting Brazilians was intercepted at the Rockstone trail.

Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Hugh Winter confirmed that Police ranks acting on intelligence intercepted a minibus with 12 Brazilians at approximately 02:00h on Thursday.

The nationals, he noted, were then escorted to the Upper Demerara Hospital (UDH) quarantine facility at Wismar, Linden, to undergo COVID-19 testing. Up to press time on Saturday, the Regional Commander indicated that officials were awaiting the COVID-19 results before handing them over to the immigration department.

“We have to wait on the medical personnel, the results and thereafter immigration would step in. The immigration department is also playing their part... we know that the border is

Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Hugh Winter

closed so obviously the immigration wouldn’t get them in the country or stamp them in because the border is closed,” Winter related.

Winter explained that so far, the COVID-19 checkpoints which were established at Bamia along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway and Mabura have been “very effective” in helping to contain the spread of the virus in the region.

“We continue pushing against those persons that come into the country illegally”, Winter said.

Region 10 has recorded a total of 11 positive COVID-19 cases and one death. (G13)

FEATURE

13

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 202O | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

By Odeen Ishmael

T

he campaign for the end of slavery gained momentum in Great Britain and it was expected that slaves in the British colonies would soon be set free. Finally, on August 28, 1833, the House of Commons in England approved the Emancipation Bill which was earlier introduced by Thomas Buxton.

The final Act, which would come into effect on August 1, 1834, stipulated that immediate and effective measures would be taken for the abolition of slavery throughout the British colonies; all children born under the passing of the Act, or under the age of six shall be free; all slaves over the age of six years would have to serve an apprenticeship of six years in the case of field slaves, and four years in the case of others; apprentices should work for not more than 45 hours per week without pay, and any additional hours for pay; apprentices should be provided with food and clothing by the plantation owner; funds should be provided for an efficient stipendiary magistracy, and for the moral and religious education of the ex-slaves; and compensation in the form of a free gift of 20 million English pounds should be paid to the slave owners for the loss of their slaves.

The Emancipation Act successfully ended one phase of a long and bitter struggle against a system which transformed people into beasts of labour with absolutely no human rights.

Actually, slave society regarded the African slaves as mules and even referred to the offspring of a European and an African female slave as a "mulatto", meaning literally a "young mule".

As one phase of Guyana's colonial society came to an end, an equally difficult period began. The slaves were told of their forthcoming freedom and waited with eager joy to throw off their cruel chains and, in some cases, even more cruel masters.

It will be recalled that the East Coast Demerara rebellion of 1823, led by Quamina and implicating Rev. John Smith, was largely fuelled by the feeling that the planters were deliberately withholding news of the impending freedom of the slaves. In 1833, however, Governor James Carmichael Smyth did not make the same mistakes as John Murray did ten years earlier when he failed to make public a circular from Britain proposing certain improvements in the conditions under which slaves lived and worked in British colonies. It was this document which the slaves mistook at that time for the Emancipation Order, a mistake which precipitated the slave revolt of 1823.

Governor Smyth, however, had informed the slaves of the freedom date fixed by Britain even before that Act was published in the colony on October 19, 1833. However, he did not explain clearly to the slaves the implications of the apprenticeship system

which was to succeed slavery.

There were some planters who were unwilling to comply with the Emancipation Act. Some Berbice planters announced their intention to remove their slaves immediately to Nickerie in Suriname before Emancipation Act came into force so as to avoid its effect.

Suriname did not abolish slavery until 1863.

It must be noted that attached to the Emancipation Act was the condition which bound most of the freed slaves to their former masters until 1840 and which required them to work on the masters' estates seven and a half hours each day for six days each week of the year. On news of their emancipation, the slaves were either too overjoyed to note this binding condition, or did not fully understand what it meant.

Their masters, who were generally bitter about it, and in opposition to emancipation, avoided all discussions and preparations for the changed status of the slaves on August 1, 1834.

The long-awaited day, Friday, August 1, 1834, finally arrived. It was a public holiday and many Africans who were now Christians attended religious services. Others danced in their homes, in their yards and in the streets and the merry-making continued late into the night.

But a rude shock awaited all the ex-slaves early the following morning when they were ordered back to the fields and other workplaces. This caused great confusion since they failed to understand how they could have gained their freedom and still be forced to work in their detested old posts.

But this condition was part of the Emancipation Act - an Apprenticeship period of six years - where the freed slaves were compelled by law to serve their old masters just as they had done when they were slaves. The masters were required to provide moral and religious education for the ex-slaves, but the planters' hostility to the Emancipation Act as a whole really meant that they would treat this six year period as an extension of slavery, even though the working hours were greatly reduced to seven and a half hours a day instead of the nine and ten hours they formerly demanded of each slave.

There was disorder on the East Coast of Demerara and grumbling throughout the colony in this first week of August. The Governor appeared personally in various places to address workers and explain the obligations which now fell upon them.

The planters called for marital law, no doubt hoping to by-pass the Emancipation Act altogether. But Governor Carmichael Smyth refused this request.

Confusion and disorder broke out on the West Coast Demerara and on August 8 four women were sentenced to the treadmill for riotous behaviour and refusal to work. Five men were sentenced to two days each on the treadmill, and thirty-nine strokes with the cat-o'nine-tails.

The Governor visited West Coast Demerara and brought some amount of order and understanding to the workers.

With the end of slavery, the plantation owners in Guyana received very high compensation from the British Government for the "loss" of their slaves. For each slave they received an average of 52 English pounds, which was the highest amount paid in any British colony. For a headman or driver, slave owners received as much as 230 English pounds. On the other hand, the ex-slaves, who had laboured to produce wealth for the planters and the colonial Government, received not a single cent in compensation.(From “The Guyana Story� by Odeen Ishmael)

14 FEATURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

A

frican culture, also known as Black culture, refers to the cultural contributions of Africans to the culture of their country, either as part of or distinct from that country’s culture. The distinct identity of African culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African people, including the Middle Passage.

Elaborate rituals and ceremonies were a significant part of African ancestral culture.

Many West African societies traditionally believed that spirits dwelled in their surrounding nature. From this disposition, they treated their environment with mindful care.

They also generally believed that a spiritual life source existed after death, and that ancestors in this spiritual realm could then me-

ditions or radical innovations in music, art, literature, religion, cuisine, and other fields.

20th-century sociologists, such as Gunnar Myrdal, believed that Africans had lost most cultural ties with Africa. But, anthropological field research by Melville Herskovits and others demonstrated that there has been a continuum of African traditions among Africans

For many years African culture developed separately from other cultures, both because of slavery and the persistence of racial discrimination in the Caribbean, as well as African slave descendants' desire to create and maintain their own traditions.

Kwe-Kwe dancing (Information and photo from guyfolkfest.org)

African culture for Guyanese is rooted in West and Central Africa, understanding its identity in the anthropological sense, conscious of its origins as largely a blend of West and Central African cultures.

Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Africans to practice their original cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived, and over time have been modified and/or blended with European cultures and other cultures that comprise the Guyanese population.

African identity was established during the slavery period, producing a dynamic culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on Guyanese culture as a whole, as well as that of the wider Caribbean.

diate between the supreme creator and the living.

Honour and prayer were displayed to these "ancient ones," the spirits of those past. West Africans also believed in spiritual possession.

In the beginning of the 18th century, Christianity began to spread across North Africa; this shift in religion began displacing traditional African spiritual practices. The enslaved Africans brought this complex religious dynamic within their culture to the Caribbean. This fusion of traditional African beliefs with Christianity provided a common bond for those practicing religion in Africa and the Caribbean.

After emancipation, unique African traditions continued to flourish, as distinctive tra-

Traditional African religious practice still carried out among the Yoruba: Obatala priests in their temple in Ife (Photographer Dierk Lange, Wikipedia)

Stages of the Kwe Kwe Celebration

A Ganda is opened by sprinkling rum on the floor and around the doors and windows, inviting the spirits of the dead to join in the celebration.

The Greeting Song “Good Night Ay” is raised by the Tutor or Caller.

That is followed by the General Invitation “Come to My Kwe Kwe” The Buying of the bridegroom , the advice on matrimonial matters, the demand for a demonstration of the couple’s Sexual skill “Show Me Yuh Science” Ends with the Departure Song “Las Wan, Las Wan

Guyanese Africans in years gone by were known to “draw a crowd” with the traditional “Kwe Kwe” or “Keh Keh” as it is called in parts of Berbice. Most African Guyanese would gather together at the home of a bride the night before the wedding in what is said to be a massive celebration of African/ creole songs and dance. Today, there is hardly any such activity, especially in the urban parts of the country; very few are practiced in the countryside.

Another practice of the African community was the well-known Comfa. Up to the 1940s, some areas were as African as could be expected in the circumstances. Even then it could be found in church hymns and symbols. It seemed focused on the Water Mumma, or goddess of the water. There were stories of fair maid giving combs to earth men for their enrichment and of the men being found with neck mysteriously broken when the union went sour. The full moon and black water were important in the timing and placing of ceremonies.

One thing leads to another, and Comfa ceremonial often leads to fortune telling. The star of the ceremony is the one who will "come through" and after that be recognised and authorised to ‘read’ a person's future, somewhat like an oracle.

It must have been in the inherited tradition. The practice runs far beyond a race community, just as ‘readers’ of other groups attract African patrons. So it is that healers, readers, workmen and women of one race attract a fol-

Kwe-Kwe dancing (Photo from Cross Colour Psychology)

of the diaspora.

The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European culture is found below the Mason-Dixon Line in the American South.

lowing that transcends race.

But as African Guyanese become more metropolitan, such things are little openly spoken of or encouraged.

FEATURE

15

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

‘From Cuffy to Critchlow: African Guyanese Fighters for Political Independence

By Hazel Woolford

O

n February 23, 1763, Cuffy led a revolution that shook this hemisphere. It undeniably contributed to the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution and the French Revolution. Cuffy was the first African Guyanese slave to attempt to establish a Republic. He gained control of the colony and ruled Berbice for over a year.

His attempts at social cohesion or unity of the Dutch and Africans in the fledgling black republic failed. Cuffy was a high achiever. He succeeded in communicating with the Dutch, with the assistance of white sympathizers. Cuffy recognized the importance of self-sufficiency. Their farms gave the revolutionaries a sense of security.

However, the Cuffy-led republic did not have a strong military base, economic stability or the international ties to defend themselves against a growing and restive Dutch enemy.

Prof Emeritus Alvin Thompson, a historian, wrote: “The slaves, attempting to shake off the thraldom of slavery, decided to beat their ploughshares into swords and exact their pound of flesh from the master class.

The fact that the revolt was ultimately unsuccessful was not due simply to the ineptitude of the slaves, but to overwhelming odds they were up against.”

The quest for freedom, and political independence, was not lost on succeeding generations. The leaders of the 1823 Demerara slave rebellion continued the struggle, with limited success. However, when the AfricanGuianese Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow organized the first registered trade union in the Commonwealth Caribbean, he laid the foundation for Guyana to be led to political independence on May 26, 1966.

Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow was born on December 18, 1884. He died on May 14, 1958. His father, James Nathaniel Critchlow, was a dock labourer foreman with Booker Brothers. James was a Barbadian.

Critchlow’s mother, Julia Elizabeth (née Daniels), who was born in Essequibo, was a housewife.

Hubert was never married, and had two sons. He was educated at Bedford Wesleyan primary school. At the age of 14, Hubert was apprenticed to the Demerara Foundry. While working there, he made a toy cannon for his own enjoyment. Subsequently, he went to work with a cigarette packaging firm as a cigar maker. But the low wages, intolerable working conditions, and long hours of work were very discouraging. Hubert became a bottle washer, and later a stopgap office boy with the Booker Brothers. He later became a dock worker on the Booker Brothers wharves. He also worked as a gold miner and electric car motorist.

Hubert was an athlete: a cricketer and footballer. In 1925, while in England, he was invited to become a professional cricketer, but refused the offer. Hubert represented the Malteenoes Cricket and Football Club. He was an excellent singer, and a member of the St. Barnabas Choir. Towards the end of his life, he became a member of the Salvation Army.

On November 28, 1905, Hubert led the dockworkers of the Sanbach Parker wharf on strike in protest against the poor working conditions. By this protest, the “Father of West Indian Trade Unionization” had begum his career as a trade unionist as well as politician.

He established the British Guiana Labour Union on January 11, 1919. The

British Guiana Labour Union was the first labour union to survive in the colony, and became the first registered trade union in the colony on July 21, 1922.

Early in 1924, the Union had requested equal wages for Indian labourers. The Union was strongly opposed to ‘piece –work’ on the estates, since it was stated that the managers could easily exploit the labourers. When the dock workers of Georgetown went on strike, they did not only obtain the support of the urban working class, but also the workers on the sugar estates. In fact, the strike had later escalated into a general strike.

On April 1, 1924, the Union led a demonstration through the streets. The members of the Union wore red hibiscus flowers in their hat bands as a show of solidarity with the estate workers. They became disorderly when the ‘centipede’ or ‘apache’ gang joined the procession. They invaded private houses and business premises.

On the following day, workers from Diamond, Farm, Providence and Peter’s Hall sugar estates on the East Bank of Demerara began to march to Georgetown accompanied by brass band music. According to Ramprashad, an engineer who gave evidence before the Ruimveldt Commission of Inquiry, the crowd comprised of all Indians in front: boys, women and young men. “They told us that they were going to see Mr. Critchlow in Georgetown,” Ramprashad said.

The members of the establishment accused the Union of incendiary behaviour.

It was suggested that the handbills, which were circulated by the Union, were emotive and contributed to the Indians’ decision to strike.

However, the Union responded that a high percentage of the Indian workers did not read nor write English, and in some cases, did not speak the language. Secondly, the administration of the estates suggested that the Indians who did not proceed on strike were intimidated and prevented from work-

ing.

During the riots, 12 persons were killed, including two women. The two women were not active participants in the riots. In the case of the woman Sanichari or Beeput, the evidence was inconclusive. She was giving water to a wounded man in the gallery when she was shot. There were two bullet holes in the room in which her body was found.

Her feet were also muddy “as if she had recently crossed the trench”. Since, it was observed that she had not participated in the riot; the Stipendiary Magistrate Reid left it an open incident.

The other female, Jasoda, was inside her house when she was shot. The coroner concluded that her death was a regrettable accident of the kind that almost invariably accompanies the use of firearms with crowds and the surprising thing is that, with so many thickly populated ranges in the vicinity, there were not more deaths of this sort.

Hubert participated in active politics since 1925. He supported Theophilus Marryshow, the “Father of West Indian Federation”, in his struggle for the region to become a united political unit. He supported and campaigned in the local government elections for the candidate in the Lodge constituency.

In 1943, Governor Sir Gordon Lethem arrived in British Guiana and introduced a new Labour Ordinance. Hubert was appointed the first labour representative to the Legislative Council in 1944. Hubert was hailed as “British Guiana’s Greatest Social Reformer”. He was widely celebrated in the African-Guianese community. In 1947, Hubert and his fellow trade unionists launched the British Guiana Labour Party.

In a very real sense, Hubert was actively involved in the early political life of Forbes Burnham, Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan and, Ashton Chase, who had fought for the political independence of Guyana.

Hubert Critchlow delivered his last Labour Day address at the May Parade of 1957. On May 14, 1958 he died. He achieved many successes for the workers. His “don’t fight, let me negotiate” underlined his bargaining with employers. These included the establishment of the eight-hour day, higher standards of living, abolition of night work in bakeries, Rent Restrictions Ordinance, Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance, Picketing Ordinance, Non-Contributory Old Age Pension Scheme, Universal Adult Suffrage, relief for the unemployed in the days of depression, housing scheme, free breakfast for school children, and the Friendly Society Ordinance.

At a meeting held at Bourda Green on April 30, 1933, Hubert had boasted, “There is not a man that can deny that Hubert Critchlow is a pioneer of labour in this country. If you want to prove it, read the Centenary Book.”

Thousands of workers turned out to bid farewell to the pioneer of trade unionism in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The funeral procession was led by the BGLU with draped banner, and the Invaders Steel Band.

The PPP members were next to follow with red, black and yellow banners, and among them were Mrs. Janet Jagan, Minister of Labour, Health and Housing; Mr. Ram Karran, Minister of Communications and Works; and Mr. Brindley Benn, Minister of Education and Community Development.

After the funeral service, the cortège passed through the streets of Georgetown.

Hazel Woolford is the registrar of the Guyana Institute of Historical Research.

16 FEATURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

Sandvoort – the village Cuffy made his home

fter some 200 years of slavery, it was Cuffy, a house slave, who made a bold attempt to end it in then British Guiana.

In 1763, he led the Magdalenenburg Uprising

a leaf but I was not able to get from the older folks what was that leaf. They would put the leaf into their mouth and you would look where they are and you will not be able to see them. They were also very scientific in handling the health system…

and after some amount of success, he declared himself Governor of Berbice.

However, when the white slave masters got help from neighbouring Suriname, Cuffy was forced to hide in a village called Sandvoot on the West Bank of the Canje River, in what is now called Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne).

While the slaves were free in 1834, they still had to work for their old masters for low wages. However, after four years of apprenticeship, the slaves were finally given their full of freedom on August 1, 1838.

This journey to freedom had started 75 years prior to Cuffy’s rebellion.

Although 250 years have already passed, Sandvoot still stands as an emblem of what our fore-parents went through pre-emancipation.

The village was bought and established in 1774 after Cuffy’s passing.

Thorold Sinclair is 81 years old and although he was not around in those days, he learned a lot from his father.

Back in the 18th century, there were four African tribes living in the village.

“The Jukas were, to me, the most scientific. They had

They were good. There was an uprising but I cannot remember in what year but during the uprising they left and went to Suriname,” Sinclair noted.

The other groups were the Oakoo, the Congo and the Kwashie.

“These three used to come together. The Oakoo, the Kwashie and the Congo. The Congo were good at drums.

They were drummers that would send messages by beating the drums and even when the balata bleeding stopped and they had to go to something else to take care of their children because in those days you had to pay for schooling.

They were able to do things that were just amazing.”

When many of the former slaves became free, they refused to work for their former masters on the sugar plantation and started collecting balata. This they got by bleeding the trees at the Upper Canje River and along the Corentyne River. Back then the men would leave in groups and

By Andrew Carmichael

A

go in search of balata, returning days after.

Beginning of hardship

The balata was exported to Europe and used for the making of shoe soles and other such products.

However, Britain soon found other cheaper material to produce shoe soles and the balata industry became unprofitable.

According to Sinclair, the men would normally ensure that they brought some balata for their children so they could make their own cricket balls.

“We would boil it and use the cork and put it in the middle so that when the ball goes into water it will float,” Sinclair explained.

to earn a living.

The bush rum industry became profitable since persons flocked the village to consume. Though illegal, even senior police officers went to Sandvoot to drink bush rum. Although there were other communities in which the alcoholic beverage was available, it was a striving business in Sandvoot.

“They use to use fruits, sugar and molasses to set up the thing and they put it in drums then they boil it and even to the policemen use to come. They come with the jeep to Sandvoot to buy bush rum. The difference was the type of fruits that you put in the system to make the wash. Once you put the fruits inside the thing, it is a different rum altogether. So, everybody used to come up here. Things have changed now. The big companies are making more rum now so people aren’t coming here for bush rum anymore,” the village elder notes.

Sandvoot was traditionally known as the village

With the balata industry no longer being profitable, many villagers, Sinclair said, left and went as far as Africa to seek employment.

His father was one such person who travelled to Africa and also to other Caribbean islands, along with all his

that strives and for its agriculture.

Even until what could be considered modern times then, in the 1980s former Prime Minister Ptolemy Reid went to the village and gave Sinclair three plants.

The sapodilla tree still stands to this day.

Today, Sandvooth is a small village with just about

fellow villagers, in search of work.

Others made bush rum

105 houses, one school, a health centre, three churches, one shop and a cemetery.

Bush rum

81-year-old Thorold Sinclair

The cemetery tells part of the village’s great history.

Sinclair did not hold back from telling stories about the cemetery. His stories are not folklore.

In one of his stories, he related an experience where he witnessed villagers entombing a man into the

same tomb his father was placed 47 years prior.

“I saw no box. In those days they used to make their own box. A person would have the wood in the house and as soon as the person dies, the villagers will come together and make the box and they would bury the person in that box. When the tomb was open there was no box.

All I saw is the suit in which the guy was buried in just there blotted up just as if someone was in it. No skull, no ankle bones or anything but the suit blotted up alone in the tomb. “ T h e place was quiet and then there was a gush of breeze that flush inside the tomb and everything just fall down to dust. I saw that

with my own eyes. I can’t forget that and then they take the box and push it.

They didn’t sweep it or anything,” he recounted.

Sinclair said he was ten years old at that time.

Over the years, Sandvoot became known as a place where deadly snakes reside.

Many villagers have died as a result of snake bites.

So of course, the village has a snake doctor.

Sinclair is that doctor.

“One of the secret thing is to use charcoal,” he said while reluctantly saying that it has to be consumed.

“You have to get it into a powder and it sucks in the poison from the body and passes through the digestive system and gone,” he revealed.

He related that this charcoal has to come from special wood. However, that is the only part of the secret Sinclair was willing to divulge.

“If you have the medicine and you can handle it right away it is an easy situation. Once you can get that pain to stop and that is what the charcoal does.

It goes into the system and sucks up the poison,” he explained.

His knowledge, he said, came from his interactions with the older folks while he was still a child. He referred to Sandvoot as being a very nice place when he was growing up.

Today, he said, younger persons do not have the same respect for the elderly as they did when he was a boy.

“The whole lifestyle has changed. Alcoholism is one of the things that ruin our society. Alcohol should be used for just the purpose it is good for,” he said while noting that hand sanitisers are made with alcohol.

FEATURE

17

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

– nothing like half of a century years ago

By Andrew Carmichael

O

ne of the most famous villages in Guyana is Port Mourant. The village is not what it used to be half a century ago. In fact, the once striving community now has a high unemployment rate and many are struggling to make ends meet.

Port Mourant is a village located in the East Berbice – Corentyne region.

This agriculturally sustained village is famous for producing one of the country’s most influential and iconic political figures, Dr Cheddi Jagan. The village has also produced several famous cricketers in the likes of Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Joe Solomon, Alvin Kallicharran, Randolph Ramnarace, Ivan Madray and John Trim.

It is a very large village made up of about 15 settlements including Free Yard, Bound Yard, Portuguese Quarter, Bangladesh, Ankerville, Clifton, Tain, Miss Phoebe and John’s.

At Ankerville where Dr Jagan was born, many families have migrated to the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. What is left now is many persons living and struggling to make ends meet.

Many of the males make a living by fishing and like 30-year-old Suresh Sarran now is not the ideal time for fishers.

“Right now, fish nah run,” he explained told the Sunday Times Magazine.

“Most people take over the savannah, so, they don’t allow people to go fishing,” his 28-year-old wife Reina Persaud added.

The mother of three explained that she would make a living by going to the Port Mourant Market and assist with shelling shrimp for which she is paid $3000 per bucket.

However, she noted that her husband would seldomly find alternative jobs which result in the children not getting all the necessities they should.

Devika Ramoutar

“This is a couple of weeks now, that my husband does go fishing and he don’t catch anything. We don’t have food store in the house. When even we get something to cook, we would cook,” the woman said as she explained the urgent need they live in.

She said even before the school closed because of COVID-19, she was unable to send her children to school regularly.

“Every day we don’t have money to send them. It hard

Food For The Poor Guyana has since chipped in and provided Mahadeo with a new house. Now there is no more wetting from the rain. She also plants a kitchen and works as a domestic worker for persons in nearby communities.

“It is not easy to send three children to school and have to maintain them without a husband. It is really hard but I am trying my best and I am able to send to school all three of them,” she added.

Both young and old at Ankerville have needs beyond what the community can offer. Devika Ramoutar 59, lived with her husband who had an accident at the turn of the century and could no longer be employed as a field worker with the Estate. In fact, he is only finding odd jobs to do periodically.

The situation has caused the grandmother to age faster than the years have gone by, but still, she has a big heart and takes care of two of her grandchildren.

“By dem poor, dem ah come by me. Ah cook and dem One of the houses in the village ah eat food and night time dem does sleep by me because pon we, the two going big school (primary school) and the me and me husband alone does dea. Just now one of he other one going nursery. Sometimes you don't have thing daughter come, she come fuh two cup rice and ah had fuh cook fuh den fuh go school and sometimes you don’t two cup and ah give she one and I cook the next one. Me husband bin fishing and have to give they ent catch nothing just dem fuh carry. now… he gone pon de road When they goan look see if he gon get any ing to school, wuk,” the elderly woman you have to said. cook lil lunch Meanwhile, mother of and give den seven Sheliza Ghani says fuh carry,” the it’s not very easy for her and woman said her husband. in her native “Things hard, my husCorentyne acband does go fishing and cent. sometimes he nah catch There are nothing. It gon hard when also many soschool gon open because you cial problems nah get things fuh send dem affecting some pickney school,” she said. members of She says whatever litthe communitle her husband makes the ty. Reina does family has to make do. not have a birth Sheliza Ghani “Me can’t afford fo buy certificate makone phone because the lil bit ing it difficult for her to transact business. She was never registered at money wah you ah wuk fo nah do fo eat,” she replied while adding that currently, she cannot afford to purchase anybirth.

“It really hard pon me to do any business with an thing other than foodstuff.

ID card, me don’t have.

Anything now is an ID card.

If you go to enrol a pickney at school is ID card…”

Reina says she is being asked to pay $10,000 to get her birth certificate but prefers to use the money to other things like purchasing food.

However, Reina is not the only one in such a situation in Sheliza Ghani and her family what was once a striving According to Ghani, the house which they live in was community. Swarswattie Mahadeo is a single mother of loaned to them by a villager who migrated. She explained three following the demise of her husband six years ago.

“My smallest baby was three months old when my hus- that for the thirteen years she has been living there, she band died and I had an old house which was just for the has no electricity and water coming to her home. She pays sun. When rain fall ah got to tie bed sheet and put a blan- $500 monthly to a neighbour for water she uses from the ket to stop me, children, from getting wet,” Mahadeo said. neighbour’s tap.

18 FEATURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

HEALTH TIPS TO MANAGE DIABETES - PART 2 drome, a common medical condition characterised by irregular menstrual periods, excessive hair growth and obesity increase the risk of contracting diabetes.

• High blood pressure: Having blood pressure over 140/90 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) is linked to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

• Abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels: Consider these diabetes prevention tips coming from the American Diabetes Association.

Dr Tariq Jagnarine, MD

I

t is difficult to control everything that can affect our health; such as: our genetic makeup, age, or even a family history of diabetes. However, steps can be implemented to help us reach our full health potential, adding years to our lives and improving its quality, even if we have been diagnosed with diabetes.

In the case of diabetes, especially Type 2 diabetes (the most common type of diabetes), prevention is very important. It is especially important to make diabetes- prevention a priority for those persons who are at high risk because of: • Weight: The more we have fatty tissue present in our bodies, the more resistant our cells become to insulin.

• Inactivity: This increases the risk of developing diabetes, while physical activity helps to control weight, uses up glucose as

energy, and makes cells more sensitive to insulin.

• Family history: Having a parent or sibling with Type 2 diabetes.

• Race: Although it is unclear, people of certain races, among which are Africans, Hispanics, Amerindians and Asians, are at higher risk of contracting diabetes.

• Age: The risk of contracting diabetes increases with age. This may be due to less exercise, reduced muscle mass, and weight gain. However, contraction of Type 2 diabetes is also increasing among children, adolescents, and younger adults.

• Gestational diabetes: Developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy increases the risk of developing prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes within ten years.

• Polycystic ovary syndrome: For women having polycystic ovary syn-

2. USE MORE FIBRE

Fibre may help: • Reduce the risk of diabetes by improving blood sugar control • Lower the risk of heart disease • Promote weight loss by helping persons to feel full Foods high in fibre include fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, and nuts.

3. WEIGHT LOSS

ings on time, help persons to be active partners with their health care team.

• Know what questions to ask.

• Write them down ahead of time.

• Let the doctor know, at the beginning of each visit, what specific things to talk about.

Consulting a doctor at least twice a year is recommended. Contracting diabetes raises the odds of developing heart diseases, so it is important to know the

9. WRITE DOWN YOUR CARE PLAN

Work with doctors to design a diabetes care plan which includes: • Names of tablets and side effects • Daily targets for blood sugar and pressure • Clear goals to achieve in 3, 5, and 10 years’ time • Signs of complications or worsening

10. QUIT SMOKING.

1. GET PHYSICAL ACTIVITY EXERCISE

There are many benefits to regular physical activity. Exercise can help you: • L o s e weight • L o w e r your blood sugar • Boost the sensitivity to insulin, which helps keep blood sugar levels within a normal range The is no need to join a gym or do cross-training; just walk, ride a bike, swim, or play active video games.

The goal should be to get 30 minutes of activity, which results in sweating and mild increased breathing.

Research shows that aerobic exercise and resistance training can help control diabetes. The greatest benefit comes from a fitness programme that includes both.

AND CONTROL

For overweight and obese persons, diabetes-prevention may hinge on weight loss. Every pound lost can improve our health. In one large study, participants who lost a modest amount of weight, around 7 percent of initial body weight, and exercised regularly, reduced the risk of developing diabetes by almost 60 percent.

4. KNOW YOUR HEALTH NUMBERS:

Through home monitoring and regular visits with a health care provider, it is easier to keep track of blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and weight.

These critical health numbers provide insight into how well an individual’s treatment plan is working to manage their diabetes and safeguard their overall health, including that of their heart.

5. WORK ALONG WITH A HEALTH CARE TEAM:

Diabetes can have multiple health implications, affecting the eyes, feet and legs, kidneys and heart; and since treating it can require special medications and a special diet, a health care team may include a number of medical professionals with various specialties helping to reach a common goal of managing the disease and its complications.

6. GET REGULAR CHECKUPS.

Keeping regular appointments with doctors; getting tested and screen-

results of cholesterol, blood pressure, and A1c (average blood sugar over 3 months).

Get a full eye exam every year, and check for problems like foot ulcers and nerve damage annually.

7. STRESS MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE

Stress can get in the way of self-care and managing diabetes. When persons are stressed, their blood sugar levels increase, which can be problematic for diabetics.

Stress can affect a person’s ability to effectively manage their diabetes, by causing them to forget to exercise, neglect eating right, or be recalcitrant in taking their medicines. It is important to find ways to relieve stress through deep breathing, yoga, or relaxing hobbies.

8. CHECK FOR DEPRESSION

People often find it difficult to know when they are depressed. Here are some common signs: • Feeling down, blue, hopeless, sad, or irritable • Not enjoying activities that used to be enjoyable • Feeling as though they are letting other people down • Difficulty concentrating • Tired all the time, no energy • No interest in food • Overeating • Trouble falling asleep • Feeling like life is not worth living

While diabetes increases the likelihood of having health problems such as heart disease, eye disease, stroke, kidney disease, circulatory blood vessel disease, nerve damage, and foot problems; smoking more greatly increases the chance of getting these problems. Smoking can also make it harder to exercise.

Develop a plan to slowly quit smoking.

11. JOIN A GROUP

Groups work magic, a problem shared is a problem solved. Because good diabetes management can be time-consuming, and sometimes overwhelming, some people find it helps to talk to someone. Doctors can probably recommend a mental health professional for persons to speak with, or persons can try a support group such as the GUYANA DIABETIC ASSOCIATION. Sharing frustrations and triumphs with people who understand what living with diabetes means can be very helpful. Moreover, other persons in the group may have great tips to share about diabetes management.

Living with diabetes can be difficult and frustrating.

Sometimes, even when persons try everything right, their blood sugar levels may rise. However, sticking with the diabetes management plan and the health tips provided can result in a positive difference in Glycaemic control, and a healthier life.

19

FEATURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

UNDERSTANDING THE RISK EXPOSURE OF PEPS

-on the local banking sector and correspondent banking relationships in the context of PEPs who have been recently subjected to US sanctions

I

Introduction n the previous column, this thematic issue was introduced, and potential implications were examined.

The article concluded that if the commercial banks do not exercise extreme caution in handling the accounts of PEPs, the risk exposure of the local financial system is such that the local banks stand to lose correspondent banking relationships.

And it was contended that the resultant effects can be equal to that of economic sanctions without the imposition of actual economic sanctions, by virtue of their simply being cut off from the international financial system.

The author is cognisant that persons may not fully understand how the expressed views presented last week are possible, to the extent where it is believed that no such risks exist. It is in this regard that today’s article seeks to address such concerns, and provide a deeper understanding of these inherent risks.

Firstly, one has to understand the full context of this issue, and the very constructs that embody the fragility of not just the local economy in this regard, but the regional financial system as well, from the perspective of “de-risking” in the Caribbean Region.

19

Discussion and analysis The termination or loss of correspondent banking relationships (CBRs) in the Caribbean became a cause for concern for the financial sector around 2015. In fact, a fact-finding de-risking survey conducted by the World Bank (WB), which examined the extent of world withdrawal from correspondent banking, its drivers, and implications for financial inclusion/exclusion, found the Caribbean to be the region most affected by declining CBRs. The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) issued a CFATF perspective report, “De-Risking in the Caribbean Region”, published in November, 2019.

Based on the findings of the CFATF report, it was noted, importantly, that “derisking is a multi-dimensional challenge that consists of operational, financial, and supervisory/regulatory issues that are detrimental to both Central Banks and Financial Institutions.”

The report also highlighted measures adopted at the supervisory and institutional levels to address de-risking; these measures represent important progress within jurisdictions to mitigate the effects of de-risking.

Notwithstanding, the report also highlighted specific gaps that are in need of more targeted measures.

Further, although there were minimal restrictions/ terminations of CBRs, the perception of the threat of de-risking is almost equal on both sides; that is, Central Banks (CBs) and Financial Institutions (FIs). Despite the relatively small number of FIs reporting the effects of de-risking and loss of CBRs, the scope of these effects is crucial enough to warrant implementation of comprehensive measures to mitigate de-risking, as well as substantial assistance from CFATF (CFATF, 2019).

According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), PEPs are classified as high risk because of their position and influence: many PEPs are in positions that potentially can be abused for the purpose of committing money laundering (ML) offences and related predicate offenses, including corruption and bribery, as well as conducting activities relating to terrorist financing. This has been confirmed by case studies and analysis (FATF Guidance, 2013).

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), in its report on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Risk Management in Emerging Market Banks, noted that correspondent banking relationships are reduced in number, especially for respondent banks that: * are located in jurisdictions perceived to be too risky; * offer products or services or have customers that pose higher risks of AML/ CFT, and therefore are more difficult to manage; and * more so, some correspondent banks are increasingly reluctant to provide correspondent banking services in certain foreign currencies in which the perceived risk of economic sanctions, the regulatory burden related to AML/CFT, or the uncertainties related to the implementation of these requirements, and the potential reputational risk in case of noncompliance, seem to be higher. This is certainly applicable to the case of Guyana, within the context of the current political crisis. (Note: these are just a few selected reasons cited from the report to corroborate the argument presented).

Conclusion Against this holistic background, it would be a grave error for anyone to believe that the risks and implications articulated in last week’s column are nonexistent. The fact that the US has announced another set of visa-restriction on more officials is a clear indication that the US is now in action mode following the developments in Guyana’s political crisis; and other countries may soon follow suit.

Sanctions are imposed in stages; and therefore, at this point in time, these risks on the financial sector are very real and moderate, if not considered high at this time; especially since the names of those officials are not publicly announced.

This naturally complicates the situation, and commercial banks would now have to exercise great caution and intensify the application of enhanced due diligence for transactions emanating from all PEPs. Additionally, within the framework of the de-risking issue within the Caribbean Region, there is another layer of contagion risk, in which the entire regional financial system is now exposed because of the situation in Guyana.

As such, if the political impasse is not resolved in Guyana, but worsens, regional and local bankers as well as regional regulators would have to start considering approaches to mitigate the contagion risk that Guyana now poses to the entire region’s financial system, and institute safeguards to prevent and/ or minimise further de-risking, since the region is already regarded as a high-risk region for de-risking.

Next week the author will examine these other dimensions in more depth.

About the Author: JC. Bhagwandin is a macro-finance and research analyst, lecturer and business & financial consultant. The views expressed are exclusively his own and do not necessarily represent those of this newspaper and the institutions he represents. For comments, send to jbbankingadvice@gmail.com.

Cookup & the common breed dog

By Paws for a Cause - Guyana

D

octor's Note: Paws for a Cause - Guyana ("Paws") is a local Animal Welfare Group operating and registered in Guyana as a Non-Profit Inc. The Group works to prevent animal cruelty, to promote humane, ethical, and responsible pet ownership, to advocate for controlling the animal population via spay and neuter campaigns, to educate the public, and to assist in cases of reported animal neglect and abuse. The Group's work extends beyond dog and cats and includes all wildlife in Guyana. Occasionally, they will contribute a "Paws Perspective" to the Sunday Times ‘Pet Care’ Column, detailing their experiences in animal welfare.

At Paws for a Cause, we often get many versions of the same message when we put dog adoption profiles up on our page - "what breed is this?" Most of the time, the answer is exactly the same - we don't know. We can hazard a guess, but all of the pups in our care are rescues, and even if we rescue a pregnant mom, there is often no clue about the breed of the father. In most cases, it is safe to say that the dog is a common breed mix.

Unfortunately, that in itself turns a lot of people off from adopting, but there are also the people who will not judge on breed. They will choose a dog based on the dog's rescue story, the way they look, or through an instinctive connection with them. In cases like these, we consider ourselves to be very lucky, especially in the case of adult rescues. Adult common breed dogs are often difficult to get adopted. They aren't fluffy, they don't have "short foot", and people tend to prefer puppies.

So what exactly is "common breed" in Guyana? People call them 'rice eaters', 'kangalangs' or 'mutts', and guesses of their predominant breed range from Basenjis to Dachshunds. They are called all sorts of creative names, but in essence, we really don't know. We delved even deeper into the genetic makeup of common breed dogs, and realized that describing them as ‘common’ is a disservice.

Last year, a friend of ours sent the DNA of one of their dogs overseas for a doggy DNA test because they wanted to shed light on their actual breed. The dog that the DNA was taken from is probably the most 'common' looking dog you'd ever see, but the results showed that she has such a unique genetic combination of literally dozens of breeds that they were unable to identify a predominant breed or even a definitive mix of the main breeds. The Company opted to call the dog a “mega mutt” and even offered a refund because of the lack of result!

What we would like to posit is that these socalled common breed dogs are the most representative of Guyanese, and not just because they exist in Guyana. We talk about Guyana as a melting pot and often refer to ourselves as a 'cookup' - a mix of generations of different races, histories and cultures. Even a Guyanese with a single dominant race in their family tree is still part of this melange because they live in Guyana and are exposed to every part of our fascinating culture. Cookup, Curry, Pepperpot - our diverse heritage extends to dogs, even though we might not have noticed it before.

Many common breed & mixed breed dogs have come through our foster homes. There may not be readily available or documented evidence, but we truly believe that a feature of the common breed is their ability to adapt, survive and thrive. We can tell you from experience - many of the common breed pups are the ones that have been the strongest, the most entertaining and the most resilient dogs. These are the dogs that survived on scraps prior to rescue, the ones that use pedestrian crossings better than some humans, the ones that know what house to go to for

food, water or temporary shelter.

These are the dogs who have survived abuse, cruelty, neglect and the ones that somehow continue to have the capacity to recover, to learn to trust and to love you.

We have even seen Husky / common breed mixes, who are able to manage our stifling heat mainly because of their common breed genes.

In our brand oriented society and world, it’s easy to create your definition of your ideal life.

This may include a house, family, car, and a dog. To many, when they picture the dog, a pitbull, husky, or a 'short foot fluffy' dog will come to mind first. At Paws, we love every dog and if you're willing to make a dog part of your family and care for it the way it deserves to be cared for, then we're happy. In general however, purchasing dogs and encouraging puppy mills is something that we can't in good conscience support. Dozens of fancy dogs are being sold at exorbitant prices when common breed ones are starving on the street. It gets decidedly murkier when you realize breeders often allow inbreeding, which causes severe genetic issues in a dog, and they often put so much stress on a mother pup that she lives her days chained and churning out puppies. There are so many dogs out there that need homes, and this brings a whole other level of sadness to this already tragic situation.

If you have a special breed dog, please don't take offense.

We strongly feel that all dogs deserve to be loved, but would also would like to reiterate - all dogs deserve to be loved. We encourage you to re-frame your thinking. Considering or adopting a rescue dog means that it is likely your dog will be mixed with common breed, but it also means that you have given a chance, a home and a life to a living creature, who like us, is a Guyanese evolutionary cookup of genet- ics, society, environment, and time.

If you'd like to offer comments, support or follow our work, find us on Facebook.com/Pawsforacause.gy, on Instagram @pawsforacause.guyana, subscribe to our YouTube Channel, drop us a line at pawsforacause.20@ gmail.com, or visit our website at https://www.pawsforacausegy.com.

Animal welfare is everyone's business. You don't have to be an animal person - you just have to be a kind person.

20 FEATURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

FEATURE

21

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

ACROSS 1 Trains for boxing 6 Bitterly pungent 11 Resin source 15 Not go with 20 Swindle 21 Peace goddess 22 Search high and low 24 Calgary Stampede 25 Generator part 26 Dissolute fellows 27 -- incognita 28 Ohio Indians 29 Zinnia or marigold 31 Tomato jelly 33 Roman love god 34 Skilled person 35 Voice, to a diva (2 wds.)

37 Greedy sorts 39 Legal rep 41 U.N. member 42 Longed for 43 Tow-away - 44 Leveled 46 Ottoman title 50 Used to own 51 Shaggy Tibet oxen 52 Falafel bean 53 Overall fronts 57 Blunter 59 Where hackles rise 60 Rock bottom 61 Glance at 62 “White Fang” writer 63 Sidekicks 64 Beginners 65 Course of action 66 Bach instrument 67 Wolf lead-in 68 Common door sign 69 Dirty streaks 72 Hamm of soccer 73 Garden hopper 74 Shores up 75 Cement component 76 Without a sole?

79 Teenager 80 Mask wearers 84 Glass ingredient 85 Potters’ ovens 86 Orange seeds 87 Chignon 88 Brawl 91 Dismantle a tent 92 Wynonna or Naomi 93 Noted 1902 erupter

95 Fleur-de- - 96 Stage awards 97 Rain gear 98 Journalist -- Greeley 99 Too 101 Story lines 102 Leaf juncture 103 Not so dry 104 Lucy Lawless role 105 Team cheers 106 Perforation 107 Actor -- Perlman 108 Dick Tracy’s wife 109 Gold unit 111 Pate de -- gras 112 Tough-talking coach 114 Badger 117 100 yrs.

118 Hunks’ assets 119 Big hit (2 wds.)

124 A moon of Jupiter 126 Mild expletive 128 Cockpit button 130 Raw recruit 131 Taunted 132 “Forget” a letter 134 Disentangle 136 Stuck in the mud 137 Gene-splicing bacteria (2 wds.)

138 Buck the system 139 Frames of mind 140 Sing -- -- of sixpence ...

141 Vice - 142 Feudal underling 143 Whittles down 144 Taste or smell DOWN 1 Get lost!

2 Ring up 3 Insurance giant 4 Painter -- Dufy 5 Geologist’s layers 6 Broadcast 7 Said hoarsely 8 Put to work again 9 Clueless 10 Ricky Ricardo 11 Portland hrs.

12 Cold era (2 wds.)

13 Benchmarks 14 Franc’s replacer 15 Originate 16 Tarzan, really 17 Leave-taking 18 Filters in

KATHLEEN SAXE

WORD GAME TODAY’S WORD -- LIGNEOUS (LIGNEOUS: LIG-nee-us: Woody.)

Average mark 49 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 68 or more words in LIGNEOUS? TODAY’S WORD -- LIGNEOUS

legion lenis leno lens lesion lien lieu line ling lingo lion loge loin lone long lose losing

lounge louse lues luge lune lung lunge igneous ingle insole isle genius genus glen glue goes gone

guile guise noel noes noise nose egis elusion ogle onus using sego sign silo sine sing singe

single sling sloe slog slue slug sluing slung snug soigne soil sole sone song soul suing sung

RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of "s," such as "bats" or "dies," are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a "d" or an "s" may not be used. For example, if "bake" is used, "baked" or "bakes" are not allowed, but "bake" and "baking" are admissible. 4.

Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

19 23 30 32 36 38 40 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 51 52 54 55 56 58 59 60 63 64 67 68 69 70 71 73 74 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 85 86 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 96 97 98 100 101 102 103 106 107

Shade-loving plant Uncommon sort (2 wds.)

It may grow on rocks Throttle Grill steaks Add- -- (extras) Former Russian ruler (var.)

Phaser blasts Hazardous gas Two-bagger (abbr.)

Sangfroid Swanson of old films Plane place Opera by Verdi New Haven campus Ticket prices Captain Kirk’s home Tusked animal The -- the limit!

Oui opposite Ancient ointment Tree sprite Sphagnum moss Blows the whistle?

Knock on this Twisted Urges Fido on XXI times C Help-wanted abbr.

Coal measures Guides a raft “Dragnet” org.

PC button LAX regulators Uh-oh!

Disposes of Earth-shaped Pecans, to Pablo Villains’ smiles Stretch fabrics Eggplant color Linen fiber Miff Part of NBA WWII craft (hyph.)

Sculpture medium Taro-root paste Formerly, formerly Flowering shrub Burrowing animal Goose, at times Acorn bearer Ceremonial fire Airport problem Flame lover Mortar trough Undertow

110 111 112 113 114 115 116 118 119 120

“Evangeline” setting More affectionate Tamper with Coffee shop lures Desert near Sinai Carroll heroine Zsa Zsa or Magda Hush money Columbus’ port Capital of Idaho

121 122 123 125 127 129 133 135

Rubber city Mortgages Window sill Family mems.

Pub pints Flinch Brownie Mountain curve SEE SOLUTION ON PAGE 19

22 FEATURE

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

NEWS

EPA BUILDS CAPACITY THROUGH WEBINARS

T

he Environmental Protection Agency has been advancing capacity building of its staff through local and international partnerships. Moreover, given the COVID-19 restrictions, during the period April to July, the Agency aggressively pursued and participated in approximately 35 webinars which were aimed at enhancing staff ability to address the growing demand for pollution control and environmental management.

These were executed through networking and collaboration with international organisations such as: the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA), International Development Bank (IDB), International Offshore Petroleum Environmental Regulators (IOPER), the Responsible Mining Foundation (RMF), Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), and several others.

Staff members have advanced their knowledge in areas such as: • Enforcing socio-economic compliance from a social distance.

• In-depth session on communication strategies, with practical case illustrations.

• Effective Project Level Grievance Mechanisms in a Changing Landscape: An Interactive Tool.

• Finance and the energy transition.

• Land Consolidation Legislation: FAO Legal Guide and its Application at Country Level.

• Gender and Mining.

• Compliance and Enforcement of Impact Assessment (EsIA) Requirements, Commitments and Related Permit Conditions.

• The Use of Remote Sensing for Mineral Exploration and Geohazards: Best Practices.

• Geo Engineering and Geo Environmental Hazards Monitoring and Management • How to ‘COVID-Proof’ your workplace - Risk Reduction Advice for Employees & Employers.

• Our biodiversity - key to our economic growth, resilience and sustainable livelihoods.

As we navigate this new reality, our success as an Agency would no doubt rely heavily upon our ability to acquire and efficiently utilise the necessary resources to perform our functions as skilled personnel

23

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

17 new COVID-19 cases recorded in 1 day …active cases now 225

A

nother 17 new COVID-19 cases were recorded as of Saturday, moving the total statistics to a worrying 430 positives.

As of Friday, the total number of cases was just 413 – meaning that this large increased accounts for only one day.

The Public Health Ministry’s daily dashboard showed that the number of deaths is still at 20. There are 225 persons in institutional isolation. Of that amount, 38 persons are in institutional quarantine and three persons in the Intensive Care Unit.

Meanwhile, 185 recoveries were recorded.

Thus far, a total of 4801 tests were conducted and 4371 of which returned negative.

Additional data shows that Guyana ranks fifth in the Caribbean Community, for the highest number of coronavirus cases within member states.

This alarming trend is also shown when the death rates are compared, to which the country leads in second place.

Statistics show that Haiti has the highest number of cases amounting to some 7378; followed by Suriname with 1650, Jamaica with 856 and the Bahamas with 484 cases. Guyana occupies the fifth spot with over 410 cases while Trinidad and Tobago remain at sixth with just 173 cases.

The country has the second-highest fatality rate of 20, and comes just under Suriname with 26.

Other countries which follow in descending order are Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, St Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis; and

Monsterrat.

Phase Four of the country’s reopening process commenced on Saturday. This stage remains the same as Phase Three but places of worship are now allowed to recommence in-person worshipping, prayers, weddings and funerals in a controlled manner.

In this regard, these religious buildings are only permitted to host 25 per cent of their total capacity and the surroundings must be sanitised as soon as the services are over.

The curfew was extended from 20:00h to 06:00h (8

pm to 6 am) until August 15, unless extended or amended by notice through the Public Health Minister after an assessment of the prevailing health conditions.

This is only applicable to Regions Five (MahaicaBerbice) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Saturdays and Sundays only; while mining areas and coordinates listed in the gazette document will follow the 18:00h to 06:00h (6 pm to 6 am) curfew timings.

Persons are still not allowed to travel into or out of these areas without authorisation from the Ministry

and it was decided that “all mining operations shall cease” – amid several calls from organisations and concerned stakeholders about the serious implications and risks. Further, the Cheddi Jagan International and Eugene F Correia Airports shall remain closed to all international flights except for outgoing flights, cargo, medevacs, special authorised flights and technical stops for fuel only. All other conditions related to public service, transportation and dining among others remain the same as was previously outlined. (G12)

Water Users’ Association expresses disgust over poor D&I in Region 6 tenance.

The excess canal which is responsible for draining both the residential and farming area was cleaned in May after Television Guyana (TVG)

For more information: 1. Call: Georgetown Office - 225-5472; Berbice Office – 337-2201/2207; Linden Office- 444-2313 2. Visit us on Facebook and Instagram; 3. Visit the EPA website: www.epaguyana.org

tion.

The excess canal runs from Number 57 to 61 Villages and provides drainage for more than 1000 homes. In addition to that, a further 1200 homes on the

52/74 Water Users Association Chairman, Nezam Rajab

T

he 52/74 Water Users’ Association (WUA) has called out the Region Six (East BerbiceCorentyne) administration for its lack of ability to maintain the drainage and irrigation system.

According to the WUA, poor maintenance could cost rice farmers large sums.

Chairman Nezam Rajab of the WUA said that one of the main areas of concern is the Excess Canal, which rice farmers in recent time have been complaining is in need of proper main-

The current state of a section of the Excess Canal

Evening News aired a story showing that the canal which runs in the residential area between Number 62 and 63 Villages was covered with vegeta-

opposite side, also depend on the canal for drainage between Number 52 and 66 Village.

TURN TO PAGE 24

24 NEWS Construction worker still seeking justice after Valentine’s Day stabbing SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM

— says Police still to arrest attacker

M

The injured man, Knujbeharry Persaud, has difficulty walking

ore than five months after being stabbed in his back and sustaining spinal injuries, a West Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) construction worker is still to get justice.

Twenty-four-year-old Knujbeharry Persaud of Plantation Waterloo, West Coast Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) related that after a trip to the airport, he stayed overnight at a friend’s home on February 13.

The following day, Valentine's Day, they started to imbibe. At about 16:00h that afternoon, he recalled a young man joined them.

“He took a glass and started to drink. I did not pay him any mind because I was already drunk and de-

cide to go and sleep. So, I go on the chair and relax.”

Persaud said at that point

was but decided to leave and go home.

“When I walking out to the gate to go, and reach by the gate, this guy walk and come behind me and he throw the shine thing on me.”

Persaud said he questioned why he was being targeted and his attacker then threw something at him which got into his eyes, making it impossible for him to see.

“I slammed into a tank and when I fall on the ground, he stab me in my back,” he recounted.

Persaud said he immediately lost sensation in his legs. He was rushed to the hospital, while his attacker fled the scene.

The injury to Knujbeharry Persaud’s back

he was disturbed as persons began throwing things on him. He could not say who it

Two bones were fractured in his back and there is a bruise to his spine. This resulted in him having to un-

dergo two surgeries over the past months. His injuries have now made it difficult for him to walk.

After being released from the hospital, he sought assistance from the police to capture his attacker but his efforts have so far been unsuccessful.

“I tell the police where he working and they tell me if they go there and they don’t find him what they should do.”

Things have changed for

Persaud, who is appealing to the police to bring his attacker to justice.

“This is bear pressure on me. Right now, I would be glad to start to walk back normal,” he lamented.

According to the 24-yearold man, he wants to be able to travel again.

“Right now, I can’t do that. My feet get numb because of the wound in my back. There is swelling inside my back. So, I have to wait until that goes down.

Right now, my feet are numb. Some mornings, I wake up and it is normal but some other mornings, it is numb.”

Persaud said he is currently spending about $20,000 monthly for medication, which he needs but cannot get through the public health system.

M e a n w h i l e , Regional Commander, Superintendent Yonette Stephen has since promised to investigate the matter. (G4)

2006 persons repatriated after COVID-19 struck

A

total of 2006 persons who were stranded overseas have been repatriated to Guyana, ever since the borders were shut to safeguard the population against COVID-19.

Through collaboration with the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority and other stakeholders, the National COVID-19 Task Force is expected to broker agreements in the future, allowing more persons to be repatriated back home.

Persons desirous of returning were informed that increased flights will be facilitated in the coming weeks.

Thus far, there have been flights from New York, Miami, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Canada, St Maarten, Jamaica, Suriname, Grenada and Curaçao.

Nevertheless, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Task Force Secretariat, Joseph Harmon explained that the manner in which they return must not endanger the health of the population.

“While we have been working to ensure that

Guyanese at home are taken care of and remain safe during this period, we have also taken stock of the number of persons who were left stuck or stranded in different parts of the world. Some were without financial and other support, while others had family emergencies and other situations that they would have liked to be there for. So, we have decided that we must get our citizens home, but in a manner that still ensures we follow all the necessary protocols and does not jeopardise the health and wellbeing of anyone or everyone,” he said.

Director General of the GCAA, Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d) Egbert Field also noted that as soon as the location is decided, they will select a date and time.

Final arrangements would be made to contact the appropriate airline. However, all repatriates must present a valid PCR test result.

“For North America, we can call upon Eastern Airlines and for the Caribbean, there is Caribbean Airlines. We

then have to look at the paperwork for the aircraft to ensure they have all the appropriate systems in place.

Once that has been settled, we must then look at the list of applications and ensure every person has a valid PCR test before they can be placed on the approved list to travel,” he explained.

Colonel Field noted that the GCAA is tasked with ensuring that the PCR tests are genuine and valid before passengers are given approval to travel. He noted that once this is done, the approved list is then sent off to the airline.

“The airline cannot sell a ticket to anyone outside of that approved list because everyone on that approved list would have gone through a process to ensure they are safe to travel.

That is why we have such a stringent system in place.

It is to ensure that someone cannot just go and purchase a ticket without undergoing the health and other checks that are in place. We have to ensure every citizen is safeguarded,” he said.. (G12)

Water Users' Association...

FROM PAGE 23

More importantly, the canal drains 9000 acres of rice land between Number 52 and 66 Village.

Following the cleaning of the canal in May it has become blocked again.

Rajab told this publication that farmers may be in danger of losing their crop, while pointing an accusing finger at the Regional Democratic Council which has spent millions of dollars to clean the canal but has not put any system in place to ensure that it stays that way.

“The canal is silted again and I called the Regional Chairman and asked him about manual maintenance and he told me that he is not too much involved in it; the REO [Regional Executive Officer] is responsible and she would just pass the con-

tract to whoever she wants.

Some of these people don’t even know where the canal is and they give them the contract and most times the people never show up don’t show up to clean the canal,” the WUA Chairman told this newspaper.

Meanwhile, Regional Chairman David Armogan in a comment on the issue said that he has since requested for the REO to withdraw the contract that was given out for manual maintenance of the Excess Canal.

However, the WUA Chairman, Rajab said his fear is the lengthy time it might take to get another contractor that will be willing to do the work at the same price now that it is clogged.

Despite the canal being clogged, farmers between

Number 52 and 66 Village did not experience flooding even though the MayJune rains continue into July. The canal only serves drainage purposes.

Even though Guyana is almost at the end of what has been an extended MayJune rainy season and the Excess Canal is for drainage, Rajab said when the rain stops the farmers will have a greater need for drainage.

“In another three to four weeks all farmers will be releasing water from their rice fields because it will be bearing season so they will have to release it. That is the fear; if they don’t have manual maintenance, they might have to spend millions to put in a machine to pump water out,” Rajab explained. (Andrew Carmichael)

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

25

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

Guyanese, our possibilities are limitless with Dr Irfaan Ali Dear Editor, Guyanese have seen an electoral process that went over one hundred and fifty days. We bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy.

We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colours of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional -- what makes us Guyanese -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated one people, one nation one destiny.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Guyanese are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The challenge of the next five years is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our Guyana civilisation. Our imagination and our initiative and our indignation will determine whether we build

a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For in our time, under the leadership of Dr Irfaan Ali, every Guyanese has the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the great society Let us, each Guyanese now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is our lasting birthright and birthplace with common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

And represent our greatest hope. We all as citizens. Young and old have the power to set this country’s course. We as citizens have the obligation to shape the debates of our time -- not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defence of our most ancient values and enduring ideals Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge

the meaning of those words coming together as one Guyanese with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured

by His people here on Earth.

When Guyana gained independence from England in 1966, the unity embrace was between Dr Cheddi Jagan and Mr Forbes Burnham.

There must be a reason why those two gentlemen embraced each other, they did not fight to replace the tyranny of a Queen with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

And for more than fifty-four years, we have.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to

move forward together.

Together, as Guyanese, we are determined that a modern economy requires a transportation system, bridges, highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers. Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

Through it all, we must never relinquish our scepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through Government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character as Guyanese and we must come together and support our ninth Executive President, Dr Irfaan Ali. He will be sworn-in in the next

GECOM must act now to emancipate all Guyana

Dear Editor, I take this opportunity to embrace and extend Emancipation greetings to all Guyana while saluting particularly, our AfroGuyanese brothers and sisters!

In many Caribbean countries and others around the world, we acknowledge the occasion on the first day of August each year, sometimes in a unique and celebratory manner. In the process, we give solemn recognition and due reverence to the significant emancipation of our Afro-Guyanese ancestry from over 200 years of slavery. History is replete with the sufferings of that period which our nation certainly will never forget. This is given its later link with, and the subsequent evolution of an also subterfuge indenture-ship of Guyanese East Indians, that lessened the demand for slave labour while helping to create the distinctive Guyanese foundation.

For Guyana, however, this anniversary evokes a deep sense of aforethought and sombre internalisation, especially for our political leadership and our collective citizenry. The necessity at this critical juncture emerges from the obligation to have in place, a legitimately elected Government following the December 2018 No-Confidence Motion and the yet to be completed polls of March 2, 2020. Along the way, significant damage to the country’s internal and international image has been perpetuated, particularly through desperate power gouging measures and abuse of the court procedures so much that calls for supportive international

interventions by the opposition had to be relied on.

It is indeed unfortunate that our people are now experiencing perhaps the most flagrant and vitriolic internal efforts in decades by the Granger-led APNU/AFC forces, aimed at hijacking the democratic process and the demonstrated will of the Guyanese towards their choice of a Government. It has resulted in the most damaging exposure of troubling ethnic-based wounds, constantly fuelled by irresponsible and false propagandistic rhetoric during the silly elections season.

Emphasis on nation healing is required given the recognition that the success of such measures threatens to expand newer areas of suppression bondage that will now significantly affect all citizens.

Now that three Appeal Court Judges have unanimously thrown out the last of the exhaustive slew of legal cases to stop elections declarations, the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission must now act swiftly. Frankly, the nation’s patience has worn thin and the people are quite fed up with a lack of effective effort to address the almost unrestrained increases of COVID-19 health pandemic cases across Guyana.

The international community has refused to support the blatantly cheating, daylight thieving of the election by the Granger cabal, realising circumstance of grave national concern. Justice Claudette Singh and her Commissioners must act now and put an end to the five months old political election impasse, and in ensuring there are no further

delays in correcting the illegitimacy in Guyana.

Importantly, there is no existing judicial review preventing or restraining GECOM Chairwoman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh from swiftly bringing these elections to a closure. Chief Justice Roxane George’s High Court rulings established that only the results of the recount must be used to make the official declaration of March 2, 2020 elections, and this was unanimously supported by the Court of Appeal Judges.

In context, there can be no more pretence of ignorance or uncertainty by the CEO, Keith Lowenfield, since Appellate Court gave their unflinching support to the Chief Justice’s ruling that he does not have an independent constitutional mandate under Article 177 of the Constitution; actually, it is the Chairperson and the Commission that have the Constitutional mandate.

Accordingly, Mr Lowenfield is a functionary of GECOM according to Article 161(A) of the Constitution, as well as Sections 2 and 7 of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA).

This abuse of the courts by the PNC/AFC must stop now given that everyone nationally and internationally is aware of the final recount results. Enough is enough!

It is time for caretaker President David Granger to withdraw his bulldogs, reach out now and congratulate Dr Irfaan Ali so that there is a smooth transformation of ‘Power’ from the APNU/AFC to the PPP/C. Our citizens at home and Guyana’s partners in the international community have justifiably rejected the unac-

ceptable radicalism.

Mr Granger, the just-concluded Court of Appeal case highlights the comical nature of the desperate impositions and the laughing stock paintbrush used to label our people internationally. In particular, the world is laughing at boiler brusher Basil Willy and his stupid Cross-Appeal. You are aware and it is clear now that there would be no effective traction even from Guyana’s Military and Police given the attenuation of relationships since 2015, when there was absolute rejection at the organisation’s annual Christmas function.

Our Guyanese are justifiably getting very impatient, and most are demanding that GECOM make the declaration. The COVID-19 epidemic is having a serious effect on this nation and all the deals and massive corruption are now in the public domain. The more than two billion UN hospital finishing deal is the ending, while the D’Urban slush funds expose new corrupt activities, but none of these can equate to the bondage sufferings of the nation if this charade is continued.

We, therefore, call on the GECOM Chairwoman to remove these knees from the necks of our citizens.

Now that the twenty-four hours Appeal Court stay (for unconfirmed purposes) are exceeded without any substantial appeal, the nation looks to you Mr Granger to behave like a former President and concede to Dr Irfaan Ali in the facilitation of a transition of Government.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

few days. But we must always understand that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the Guyanese citizen can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone No single person can train all the teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.

Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people. This generation of Guyanese has been tested by crises of 2020, General and Regional Elections that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. One hundred and fifty days of electoral "saga" is now ending. Our economic recovery will begin with Dr Ali and the People's Progressive Party/Civic. Guyanese, our possibilities are limitless, "for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. We are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together. For we, the people of Guyana must understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that Guyana’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of all Guyanese.

We know that we will thrive when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labour liberate families from the brink of hardship. We must be true

to ourselves and countrymen, woman and more importantly, our young people.

We understand that there are many outworn programmes that are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake and support our new Government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single Guyanese That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our success.

The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But as Guyanese, we cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise.

That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure -- our forests and waterways, our cropland, our mining areas We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of healthcare in Guyana, we must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent under the PNC, in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.

Sincerely, David Adams

26

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

guyanatimesgy.com

Regional

Facebook puts global block on Brazil's Bolsonaro supporters

F

acebook said on Saturday it has put a global block on certain accounts controlled by supporters of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro implicated in a fake news inquiry, a day after it was fined for not complying with a Supreme Court Judge’s order to do so.

A spokesperson for Facebook said the order was “extreme” and threatens “freedom of expression outside of Brazil’s jurisdiction”,

but said the company has agreed to the order.

“Given the threat of criminal liability to a local employee, at this point, we see no other alternative than complying with the decision by blocking the accounts globally, while we appeal to the Supreme Court,” the spokesperson said.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ruled on Thursday that Facebook and Twitter failed to com-

ply with orders to block the accounts because they were only blocked within Brazil, but remained accessible with foreign IP addresses.

On Friday, he ruled that Facebook must pay a 1.92 million reais (US$367,710) fine for not complying and face further daily fines of 100,000 reais per day if it does not block the accounts in question globally.

Before the fine was announced, Facebook said on

Friday that it would appeal the decision. The world’s largest social network said it respects the laws of countries where it operates, but that “Brazilian law recognises the limits of its jurisdiction.”

The Judge’s fine only addressed Facebook’s non-compliance. It was not clear whether Twitter would face a similar fine. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Hurricane Isaias batters Bahamas on way to Florida coast

H

urricane Isaias has ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas and strengthened slightly while heading towards the coast of Florida in the United States.

Isaias was carrying top sustained winds of 140km per hour (85 miles per hour) and was located about 80km (50 miles) south of the Bahamas capital, Nassau, at 8 am (12:00 GMT) on Saturday heading northwest, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The storm, a Category 1 on the five-step SaffirSimpson scale, was approaching Andros Island in the Bahamas and was due

to pass over or near islands in the central and northwest Bahamas later on Saturday, bringing a danger of damaging storm surges of up to 1.5 metres (five feet) over normal tide levels, the NHC said.

A hurricane warning was in effect on Saturday for the northwest Bahamas but was no longer in effect for the central Bahamas, authorities there said.

Trevor Basden, the director of the Bahamas meteorology department advised that residents "continue to hunker down".

On at least two islands in the country, Abaco and Grand Bahama, which were battered by Category 5 Hurricane Dorian in August 2019, some residents were

Hurricane Isaias hit the Bahamas on Saturday. Many residents are still living in temporary shelters from last year's Hurricane Dorian

still living in temporary structures and had to be evacuated as Isaias approached.

On Thursday, while still a tropical storm, Isaias toppled trees, destroyed crops and caused widespread flooding and small landslides in the Dominican

T&T gets PPE donation from Korea

Republic and Puerto Rico, where hundreds of thousands of people were left without power and water.

At least two people were killed in the Dominican Republic as a result of the storm, with one man electrocuted by a fallen power line.

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

From right: His Excellency Ambassador Moonup Sung; Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Brenda Jeffers; and the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Roshan Parasram (Image courtesy the Embassy of the Republic of Korea)

T

his country’s COVID-19 fighting ability has been boosted with a substantial donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies and finances, courtesy the Government of the Republic of Korea.

The much-needed equipment was handed over on Friday 31 July 2020, to Chief Medical Officer, Dr Roshan Parasram and Deputy Permanent Secretary Brenda Jeffers, at the Ministry of Health,

by His Excellency Moonup Sung, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea.

An official statement from the Embassy reports that the donation consisted of PPE suits, face shields, and hand sanitisers to be utilised in the treatment of COVID-19 cases in Trinidad and Tobago.

“It is our hope that this donation will contribute to overcoming some of the challenges caused

by COVID-19 and will be a strong testimony of our long-standing friendship between our two countries and two peoples,” said Ambassador Sung.

The financial donation of US$100,000 in humanitarian support is being done through the Caricom Secretariat, and goes towards the COVID-19 emergency and recovery efforts in Trinidad and Tobago.

“We also hope that this donation will provide much-needed support to the Ministry of Health in safeguarding the public of Trinidad and Tobago while alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Ambassador noted. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian)

Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest coronavirus surge in July, worst in recent days Mexico's death toll becomes

T

he number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest jumped 28 per cent in July from a year ago, official data showed on Saturday, as some environmentalists warned a jump this week could signal a repeat of last year’s surging destruction of the world’s largest rainforest.

Brazil’s space research agency Inpe recorded 6803 fires in the Amazon last month, up from 5318 in July

2019.

Although that is a threeyear high for July, the figure pales in comparison to last year’s peak of 30,900 fires in August – a 12-year high for that month.

Still, environmental groups say there are worrying signs of what may come, with the final days of the month showing a sharp spike. More than 1000 fires were registered on July 30, the highest number for a single day

in July since 2005, according to an analysis by advocacy group Greenpeace Brasil.

Environmental advocates blame right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for emboldening illegal loggers, miners and land speculators to destroy the forest with his vision of economic development for the region. Bolsonaro defends his plans to introduce mining and farming in protected reserves as a way to lift the region out of poverty.

This year, the President authorised a military deployment from May to November to combat deforestation and forest fires. He has also banned setting fires in the region for 120 days.

Criminals generally extract valuable wood from the jungle before setting fire to the land to increase its value for farming and ranching.

Natural fires are very rare in the Amazon. (Excerpt from Reuters)

T&T Opposition warns of court action if voters forced to wear masks to vote

L

eader of the main opposition, United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad Bissessar said the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has no authority by law to tell voters they must wear masks to vote in the August 10 General Election as the country deals with the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Is it going to be the Presiding Officer who says, you are exhibiting symp-

toms, you can't vote? You will put a doctor in every station? What will you do, import them from Cuba?” she told supporters on Thursday night as she questioned the criteria to be used by the EBC in turning voters away from Polling Stations for exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.

She told the virtual meeting in Chaguanas, central Trinidad that the election guidelines can be used to debar UNC voters and

steal the elections.

The UNC is contesting 39 of the 41 seats at stake in the election and its main challenge will be the ruling People's National Movement (ONM) of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

The UNC leader has blamed the Government for failing in its management of COVID-19, saying it was “blaming everyone else for rising COVID cases. They blame nationals returning from overseas and they are

even blaming me.”

Persad Bissessar said that the authorities have not tested sufficient people since the pandemic was first detected here in March.

She advised UNC members to hit the road on and ensure the election machinery is in place for the start of Monday's special voting exercise because the Government has failed to bring international observers. (Excerpt from Jamaica Observer)

world's third-highest

M

exico has become the country with the third-highest death toll with coronavirus, with only the US and Brazil recording greater numbers.

It has now suffered at least 46,688 deaths during the pandemic, with a total of 424,637 infections.

Previously the United Kingdom had the third-highest toll, and registered 46,204 deaths as of Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the effects of the pandemic will be felt "for decades to come".

In Mexico, local authorities have previously said they believe the real number of infections is likely to be significantly higher than those reported.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is eager to restart the country's flagging economy. His Government announced a phased plan to lift restrictions in May. In Mexico City, the capital, hundreds of thousands

of factory workers returned to their jobs in mid-June.

Some non-essential businesses were then allowed to reopen at the start of July in the city, the epicentre of the country's epidemic.

But critics say Obrador was slow to impose lockdown measures and has lifted them too quickly.

Most of the Mexican economy stopped on March 23 but some industries that were declared key to the functioning of the nation and were exempt from the restrictions.

On Friday ten State Governors chastised the Government's handling of the outbreak and called for the resignation of Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell - an epidemiologist and Mexico's coronavirus tsar.

More than 17.5 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide, along with nearly 679,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. (Excerpt from BBC News)

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

Around the world

OILNEWS OIL NEWS Oil set for fragile recovery as economies limp towards normal – Reuters poll

O

il prices are set for a slow crawl upwards this year as the gradual easing of coronavirus-led restrictions buoy demand, although a second COVID-19 wave could slow the pace of recovery, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.

The survey of 43 analysts and economists forecast benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 to average US$41.50 a barrel in 2020, up slightly from the US$40.41 consensus in last month’s survey and compared with around US$42 average for the benchmark thus far this year. It is expected to average US$49.85 in 2021.

The 2020 outlook for West Texas Intermediate CLc1 rose to US$37.51 per barrel from June’s US$36.10.

Oil is “caught up in a step-wise re-balancing process” with the “pieces moving in the right direction” on the supply side, said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity research at BNP Paribas.

“It’s in demand recovery where the uncertainty lies, with COVID-related developments generating concerns that the pace of re-opening may be impeded.”

The poll projected global demand to contract by between 7.2 and 8.5 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, versus last month’s 6.5-8.7 million bpd prediction.

A promising vaccine for the virus could, however, fasttrack economic recovery and in turn boost oil prices, analysts said.

“A breakthrough of the $40-$45 range is possible if the comeback of the global economy will be faster and stronger than expected,” LBBW analyst Frank Schallenberger said.

The International Energy Agency raised its 2020 demand forecast earlier this month to 92.1 million bpd.

Brent prices have rebounded sharply since plunging to an over 20-year low in April, helped by production cuts by OPEC and its allies starting in May, apart from the gradual lifting of lockdowns, prompting the producer group to decide on easing the record supply reductions from August.

“The decision to ease curbs provides them (OPEC) with an easy solution to reverse them if the demand recovery suddenly stalls,” said OANDA Senior Market Analyst Edward Moya. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Russia plans mass coronavirus vaccination campaign in October

R

ussian health authorities are preparing to start a mass vaccination campaign against coronavirus in October, the Health Minister has said.

Russian media quoted Mikhail Murashko as saying that doctors and teachers would be the first to receive the vaccine.

Reuters, citing anonymous sources, said Russia's first potential vaccine would be approved by regulators this month.

However, some experts are concerned at Russia's fast-track approach.

On Friday, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, said he hoped that Russia and China - were "actually testing the vaccine" before administering them to anyone.

Dr Fauci has said that the US should have a "safe and effective" vaccine by the end of this year.

Scores of possible coronavirus vaccines are being

27

developed around the world and more than 20 are currently in clinical trials.

Murashko, quoted by Interfax news agency, said that the Gamaleya Institute, a research facility in Moscow, had finished clinical trials of a vaccine and that paperwork was being prepared to register it.

"We plan wider vaccinations for October," he said, adding that teachers and doctors would be the first to receive it.

Last month, Russian scientists said that early-stage trials of an adenovirus-based vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute had been completed and that the results were a success.

Last month the UK, US and Canada security services said a Russian hacking group had targeted various organisations involved in COVID-19 vaccine development, with the likely intention of stealing information. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Thousands march in Berlin against coronavirus curbs

T

housands marched in Berlin on Saturday to protest against measures imposed in Germany to stem the coronavirus pandemic, saying they violated people’s rights and freedoms.

The gathering, estimated by police at 17,000, included libertarians, constitutional loyalists and anti-vaccination activists. There was also a small far-right presence with some marchers carrying Germany’s black, white and red imperial flag.

“Our demand is to return to democracy,” said one protester who declined to give his name. “The mask that enslaves us must go.”

Few people at the protest wore masks

The protests followed a rallying call from Michael Ballweg, an entrepreneur and political outsider who has organised similar rallies in Stuttgart and is running to become mayor of the

southwestern city.

Police filed a complaint against the organiser for failing to ensure marchers wore masks and kept their distance. Mainstream politicians criticised the protest-

ers, with Social Democrat co-leader Saskia Esken calling them “covidiots”.

After Germany’s initial success in curbing the pandemic, infections are rising again. More than 200,000 people have caught COVID-19 and nearly 1000 have died from it.

Most people in Germany have respected measures that include wearing face masks in shops, while the Government has just imposed mandatory tests for holidaymakers returning from high-risk areas.

But a vocal minority is chafing against the restrictions. (Excerpt from Reuters)

UAE starts first nuclear reactor at controversial Barakah plant

T

he United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Saturday that it has started operations in the first of four reactors at the Barakah nuclear power station - the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which is building and operating the plant with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) said

in a press release that its subsidiary Nawah Energy Company "has successfully started up Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, located in the Al Dhafrah Region of Abu Dhabi".

That signals that Unit 1, which had fuel rods loaded in March, has achieved "criticality" - a sustained fission chain reaction.

"The start-up of Unit 1 marks the first time that

the reactor safely produces heat, which is used to create steam, turning a turbine to generate electricity," said ENEC. Barakah, which was originally scheduled to open in 2017, has been dogged by delays and is billions of dollars over budget. It has also raised myriad concerns among nuclear energy veterans who are concerned about the potential risks Barakah could visit upon

the Arabian Peninsula, from an environmental catastrophe to a nuclear arms race.

Paul Dorfman, an honorary senior research fellow at the Energy Institute, University College London and founder and chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, has criticised the Barakah reactors' "cheap and cheerful" design that he says cuts corners on safety. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

Hong Kong “issues arrest warrants” for exiled democracy activists

P

olice in Hong Kong have ordered the arrest of several pro-democracy activists living in exile on suspicion of violating a China-imposed national security law, according to Chinese state media.

CCTV said late on Friday the six are wanted on suspicion of secession or colluding with foreign forces, crimes the new law punishes with up to life in prison.

It named them as Nathan Law, Wayne Chan Ka-kui, Honcques Laus, Simon Cheng and Ray Wong Toi-yeung. Samuel Chu, an American citizen living in the United States, was also on the list.

Hong Kong Police declined to comment.

The arrest warrants mark the first time the city's police have used the extraterritorial power in the new law to go after activists who are not in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Chu, speaking to Al Jazeera from the US city of Los Angeles, described the warrant for his arrest as "outrageous" and said it showed "how desperate and how scared" China is of in-

ternational pressure.

"It's such an outlandish claim that they somehow have jurisdiction over an American citizen lobbying the American Government," said Chu, who runs the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a Washington, DCbased advocacy group.

"The kind of global bullying and censorship, not only of citizens of other countries, but businesses … it's starting to create a united front line, globally, pushing back," Chu said, adding: "Today's move, particularly, shows they are scared of losing control. They know that if Hong Kong can continue to be a place of resistance, it threatens their control all over the mainland."

(Excerpt from Al Jazeera)

er revised, said the magnitude of the quake was 6.3.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

The Philippines’ volcanology agency said it was expecting damage and aftershocks, but there was no tsunami threat due to the nature of the tectonic,

nearshore quake.

“No destructive tsunami threat exists based on available data,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported.

The southern coastal province of Sarangani registered intensity two while

cities in South Cotabato recorded intensity one, the agency said.

The region is home to 1.2 million people, or around 1 per cent of the Philippine population, according to data from the statistics agency. (Excerpt from Reuters)

A man wearing a face mask holds up a placard during a protest against Hong Kong's deteriorating freedoms outside China's embassy in London, UK [John Sibley/Reuters]

Earthquake measuring 6.4 strikes Mindanao, Philippines – EMSC

A

n earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck Mindanao, Philippines, at a depth of 473 kilometres (293.91 miles) on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

An initial report, lat-

28

guyanatimesgy.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

Archie

ARIES (March 21April 19)

Physical fitness will alleviate stress. Don’t let your emotions interfere with how you earn your living. Consider how much debt you are willing to take on before you spend money.

TAURUS A heart-to-heart talk will (April 20- help you formulate longMay 20) term plans. Don’t let essential documents lapse. An adjustment to your living space will add to your comfort, but don’t go overbudget.

GEMINI Do something energet(MAY 28- ic that challenges you to be June 20) your very best and strive for perfection. Spend time with a loved one or someone who shares your interests.

CANCER Do your best to get along (June 21- with others. Arguing will July 22) lead to isolation and unfinished business. Concentrate on projects that bring you joy and keep you out of trouble.

LEO (July 23Aug. 22)

Dilbert

A change of plans will VIRGO lead to a new adventure.

(Aug. 23Take an online course or volSept. 22) unteer for a service that will help you connect with people searching for common interests and personal gain.

LIBRA (Sept. 23Oct. 23)

SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22)

Peanuts

Eliminate what’s no longer of value to you. Don’t let anyone dictate how you should live your life.

Recognize what you don’t need, and progress will be yours.

Take care of responsibilities and move on to more enjoyable pastimes. Take pride in your appearance, make plans with a loved one and don’t let anyone make unreasonable demands of you.

You’ll crave knowledge.

Research the best way to make your dreams come true. Don’t let others’ actions cause uncertainty. Go it alone if necessary.

SAGITTARIUS Fix your surroundings (Nov. 23and lower your overhead.

Dec. 21) Shared expenses will lead to a falling out if you can’t agree on how best to allocate funds. Choose peace over discord.

CAPRICORN Make a change that will (Dec. 22add to your comfort, ease Jan. 19) stress or bring you closer to the people you love most. An agreement will finalize, and an opportunity will unfold.

Calvin and Hobbes

AQUARIUS Emotions will surface if you disagree with someone.

(Jan. 20Focus on making your life Feb. 19) better. Personal gains are within reach if you spend more time on self-improvement and romance.

PISCES Rely on experience to (Feb. 20- find a way to overcome a Mar. 20) situation concerning excessive or indulgent behavior. Reach out to people you trust to tell you the truth.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

Lewis Hamilton storms to pole position for British Grand Prix at

Guyanese referees to participate in virtual seminar

S

teve Ninvalle, President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) and Vice President of the Americas Boxing Confederation (AMBC), has organised a two-day virtual seminar for referees/ judges of the English-speaking Caribbean, Haiti, Suriname and Curacao.

The seminar will be conducted by Chairman of the AIBA Referee/Judges Commission, Ray Silvas of the USA, and will run from August 8 to 9. Thus far, 149 participants from 17 countries have registered for the seminar.

Guyana will be represented by eight officials.

The local team will be led by ABIA One Star referees Richard Braithwaite and Lawrence Assanah, and the country's first and only AIBA-certified International Technical Officer (ITO), Elton Chase.

Jermaine Craig, Colin Rodney, Nicola Yhap, Shanice Agard and Denola Bristol are the other participants.

This seminar follows close on the heels of a coaches’ seminar that was run by the AMBC a few weeks ago. At that seminar, Guyana was represented by Terrence Poole, MS; Sebert Blake, Clive Atwell, Joseph Murray and Orlan Rogers.

Ninvalle has said the upcoming seminar was discussed with Silvas when they had met in Panama in January. He said, "Mr. Silvas was very eager to have this happen, and we would have had cogent discussions in Panama. However, the advent of COVID-19

Silverstone

GBA President, Steve Ninvalle

has forced us to make it a virtual one."

As Chairman of the Caribbean Steering Committee, Ninvalle added that a seminar to update coaches on the technical aspects of scoring of fights will be conducted soon after this one. He said, "If we are to train our fighters to win, then it is important that our coaches understand what the referees and judges are looking for. A lot has changed from the 80s and 90s."

Orlando Magic's Jonathan Isaac is first player not to kneel for Anthem since restart of NBA

O

rlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac stood for the National Anthem before his team’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets, and became the first NBA player not to kneel during the National Anthem since the league resumed on Thursday.

On Friday, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and assistant coach Becky Hammon also stood for the Anthem.

On Thursday, players from the four teams in action all knelt during the pre-match anthem. Isaac, who chose not to wear a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, said: "Absolutely! I believe Black Lives Matter."

He added: "A lot went into my decision…kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt doesn't go hand-in-hand (with) supporting Black lives."

Isaac had, earlier in the week, told his teammates about his decision, but they all chose to kneel before their 128-118 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

"That's a personal decision," said Magic coach Steve Clifford. "We're all supporting each other in

29

this. And if guys are not comfortable kneeling and they want to stand, nobody has a problem with that.

I support him. His team-mates support him. The organisation supports him. That's part of living in our country."

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich stood for the Anthem before their match against the Sacramento Kings.

Explaining his decision to stand, Popovich, who like Hammon wore a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, said: "I prefer to keep that to myself. Everybody has to make a personal decision; the league has been great about that. Everybody has the freedom to react any way that they want. For whatever reasons that I have, I reacted the way I wanted to."

Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan added: "(Their decision to stand was) out of a positive side of their heart. Same way we kneel. Don't take away nothing from those guys." (Sourced from BBC.COM and modified)

L

ewis Hamilton took pole for the British Grand Prix with a dominant performance at Silverstone. He beat his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas into second place, but the pair were in a battle of their own for the front row of the grid.

Max Verstappen was in third for Red Bull a full second back, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth and McLaren’s Lando Norris an impressive fifth.

Hamilton saved his best for last. He had not finished fastest in a session all weekend, until the final runs in Q3, and, indeed, had shown a rare moment of weakness in spinning off in Q2. When it mattered, however, the Briton had Silverstone at his fingertips once more.

His first run in the final session was his best of the day, and Bottas came close, but a tenth back could not match it. Having laid down the gauntlet on the final hot runs, Hamilton delivered a strike of unerring accuracy. He went quicker, with a time of 1min 24.303sec. Bottas made a marginal error, and was three-tenths off. The rest of the field were left in a competition of their own.

Hamilton now has a remarkable 91 career pole positions, and his seventh at Silverstone extends his record for taking the top spot at the British Grand Prix. He is already the most successful driver at the race with six victories.

He and Mercedes have been dominant at Silverstone since the turbo hybrid era began in 2014. Hamilton has taken victory in all of the five races Mercedes have won here since.

Mercedes are increasingly looking to be in a class of their own. Their car enjoyed the advantage on the short but fast challenge of Austria, and also through the tight slower corners of Hungary. On the high-speed sweeps of Silverstone’s fast corners, which have played to their strengths so often in the past, they were once more untouchable.

Hamilton now has three poles from four races, while the team have three wins from three. Discussion in the paddock has already moved to whether Mercedes could secure a clean sweep of victories this season.

Hamilton leads the championship, being five points clear of Bottas.

Niko Hülkenberg, drafted in as a last-minute replacement at Racing Point for Sergio Pérez, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, acquitted himself well. His 13th place was solid, given that he has not raced since the last round of last season in December, and has had to familiarise himself with his team’s car from a standing start.

Ferrari had warned that their power deficit would prove costly at Silverstone, and indeed, they struggled. Sebastian Vettel had technical issues across practice, and although the Scuderia had made steps forwards with aero upgrades in Austria and Hungary, the gap to Mercedes, Red Bull, and now even Racing Point, remains. With car and engine development frozen for 2021, their chairman, John Elkann, warned gloomily this week that he did not expect them to be competitive until 2022.

Red Bull, too, have struggled to quite hook their car up all weekend. It is demanding in terms of setup and stability, and the drivers are finding it tricky to push to the maximum. The team have acknowledged they have some way to go in finessing it. Their Honda engine is performing well, but at a track where power is so crucial to the team, they were simply unable to bridge the gap Mercedes have established at the front.

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was sixth. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was in seventh, with Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon in eighth and ninth for Renault. Vettel’s trying weekend continued with only 10th for Ferrari.

George Russell put his Williams into Q2 for the third race in succession, finishing in 15th place; his teammate Nicholas Latifi was in 20th. Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly was in 11th, with teammate Daniil Kvyat, who will receive a five-place grid penalty for taking a new gearbox, being in 14th place. Alexander Albon will be disappointed with taking only 12th for Red Bull.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen were in 17th and 18th, with Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean in 16th and 19th. (The Guardian)

30

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

South Africa’s tours to West Indies and Sri Lanka postponed indefinitely West Indies has been postponed indefinitely. We are struggling to find a time, with the IPL being fitted in,” Smith said. “It looks like our players are going to be needed from the beginning of September, Government permitting and trav-

West Indies as in other parts of the world, the rising threat in South Africa has shut that country’s international borders. It means that 5 South Africans couldn’t make it to the Caribbean for the CPL which starts on August 18, and the partic-

CLASSIFIED ADS FOR RENT Bottom Flat to Rent 25 Oronoque / North Road, Bourda. Either for Domestic / Business use. Fully Furnished A.C, Windows / Door Grilled or Mesh 4 Rooms Tel. 2267012

SERVICE Shalom Enterprise - 2 Coral Street, Stabroek. You could also obtain an International Driving Permit covering 131 Countries. Call: 2277560/619-0106/659-3381. Follow us on Facebook.

SPIRITUALITY Solutions to All problems such as – Domestic, Job, Relationships such as :- Marriage , Love Relations.

Removal of blockages and Bad Luck. Call for Appointment – 592 696 8222. Address: Georgetown or Vreed-en-Hoop.

With more bilateral series postponed, South African players will have to wait longer for international cricket

S

outh Africa men’s tours to the West Indies and Sri Lanka have been postponed indefinitely, CSA Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, has confirmed.

The tour to the Caribbean, comprising two Tests and five T20Is, was originally slated for JulyAugust; and the tour to Sri Lanka, comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is, was scheduled for June.

They both had been postponed earlier because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cricket West Indies’ Chief

Briana Williams is new Digicel brand ambassador J

amaican sprint sensation Brianna Williams has been signed as a brand ambassador for telecommunications giant Digicel.

The 18-year-old joins track and field legends Usain Bolt and ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce, as well as dancehall icon Rodney ‘Bounty Killer’ Price, who already represent the Caribbean’s leading telecommunications provider.

“Bold. Strong. Brave. Briana speeds over to take her place in our league of Brand Ambassadors.

Help us welcome Briana Williams @briana.nichole,” Digicel posted on Instagram Friday.

“With extreme delight and boundless confidence, we welcome Briana as our newest brand ambassador.

She is truly an inspiration to many, and we are very optimistic about what this means for the future of our relationship with our customers as she helps us to accelerate along this new path to becoming their digital lifestyle partner,” Nasha-Monique Douglas, Chief Marketing Officer for Digicel Jamaica, added.

In her new role, Williams will help keep Digicel’s customers engaged with its suite of apps, while she engages the wider community through mentorship and her performances on the track.

“This is a dream come true for me, and so I feel humbled and grateful to be representing such an iconic brand with such a rich history of supporting athletics in Jamaica,”

URGENTLY NEEDED

Executive, Johnny Grave, had recently said the CWI were looking at September to host South Africa for either five T20Is or two Tests, but there was a slim gap between the CPL, which ends on September 10 in Trinidad, and the IPL, which is set to start on September 19 in the UAE. Smith said in a press conference on Saturday that CSA players “will be needed” at the IPL, which ended the possibility of the bilateral series happening soon. “(The tour to the)

Williams said of this latest milestone in her burgeoning career. “I look forward to representing Digicel the best way I can, alongside the other amazing ambassadors across sports and entertainment.”

At the age of 16, Williams - who is coached by Ato Boldon and represented by US-based agents HSI Sports, as well as Jamaica-based brand managers LEEP Marketing – won the 2018 World U20 sprint double in Tampere, Finland. Her winning time of 22.50secs in the 200m was a personal best and championship record.

She also won the NACAC U18 100m title in Mexico, and the Pan Am U20 100m title in Costa Rica in 2019.

During that span, she also won six gold medals at the Carifta Games in the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands respectively, and was awarded the coveted Austin Sealy Award as the Games’ MVP on both occasions. In doing so, she became the first Jamaican, since Usain Bolt in 2004, to win back-to-back awards.

Williams also holds the national junior record of 11.02s, set in New Mexico in June 2019.

Special Olympics champion Alphanso Cunningham and reggae storyteller Jesse Royal are also brand ambassadors for Digicel.

This is the Nike-sponsored Williams’s second endorsement deal this month, having signed with GraceKennedy on July 1.

(Sportsmax)

Anyone who calls up any devine force and manifest full. Please contact #695-3292

el permitting. Sri Lanka (tour has) also (been postponed).

“I expect that once things get up and running, our team, on the men’s side…I would say from November onwards, if all goes well. It will be a really busy period for South African cricket, probably playing in times that we haven’t played before, and trying to cram in a lot of the missed tours,” Smith explained.

Even though COVID-19 cases aren’t as high in Sri Lanka and the

ipation of any South African player in the IPL, apart from Imran Tahir, also remains uncertain.

Tahir had been in Pakistan for the PSL in March, when many international borders started closing, and he is the only South African who set to play in the CPL. Whether it’s the men for the IPL or the women for the tour to England, all players will need Government’s permission to get out of South Africa. (ESPN Cricinfo)

Spanish health ministers tell Madrid Open organisers not to hold event

T

he Madrid Open looks to be under threat, after organisers were advised by the Spanish Health Ministry not to hold the event because of the city’s “deteriorating” coronavirus situation.

The clay-court event is set to start in the Spanish capital on 12 September, but organisers say they are “analysing and closely evaluating all the possible options”.

Spanish world number two, Rafael Nadal, is among the players who have signed up to participate in the Madrid Open.

Spain has recorded more than 288,000 cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, and there have been 28,445 deaths, according to the latest figures on Friday.

Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) show the rate of infection in Spain is again rising rapidly.

“Due to the increase in cases of COVID-19 in Madrid in recent days, the organisers stated their concerns about being able to stage

the tournament free from health complications that might affect the players, fans and staff,” a Madrid Open statement has said. “In view of this situation, the organisers requested the help of Antonio Zapatero, Deputy Secretary of Public Health, and were advised not to stage the tournament, due to the current trend of COVID-19 cases.”

Tournament owner Ion Tiriac will make the final decision on whether to hold the event, which is set to be held as part of a reduced European clay-court season leading up to the French Open.

The French Open is scheduled to start on 27 September, with organisers hoping to allow up to 60% of crowd capacity at Roland Garros.

The professional tours will resume when the WTA event in Palermo begins. The ATP Tour returns later this month with the Cincinnati Masters, which will be held in a safety bubble in New York from 22 August, immediately before the US Open takes place at Flushing Meadows on 31 August. (BBC.COM)

223-7230-1 (Ext 55)

223-7230-1 (Ext 55)

NOW!

GUYANATIMESGY.COM

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

T

Guyanese players depart for CPL duty on August 2-3

he Guyana Amazon Warriors players will travel to the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago on August 2-3 via Caribbean Premier League-chartered flights, and will go straight into quarantine at the Trinidad Hilton for the Government-mandated 14 days.

Players resident in Trinidad & Tobago will join the “quarantine bubble” on August 10, seven days into quarantine.

Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair, Ashmead Nedd and Anthony Bramble will depart Guyana’s shores, while Chandrapaul Hemraj will also join the camp.

GAW Manager Omar Khan has said the absence of fans will do little to dampen the energy and intensity his players will bring to the matches when the tournament bowls off on August 18 across both venues in Trinidad and Tobago.

The consistent GAW, runners-up to the Barbados Tridents last year, will be looking to win the tournament this year. Last

season, the Warriors had their best chance to win this tournament for the first time when they won all their

matches in the group stage, but they fell short in the final, which was also held in Trinidad.

“We look forward to maintaining that level of performance from last year, when we went unbeaten in the preliminary rounds,” said Khan. “This year, we want to make sure we do not falter in the final. With all matches playing in Trinidad at two venues: Queen’s Park Oval and Brian Lara Cricket Academy, it will give us an opportunity to assess the conditions better,” Khan told a Trinidad and Tobago publication earlier this week.

With or without fans, Khan has said, the rivalries will still be

Guyana Amazon Warriors

intense, with Caribbean players always bringing their passion and pride to the matches.

“At the end of the day, it is competitive cricket; and these cricketers want to make a name for themselves and build their reputations. This is also the first

T20 tournament post COVID-19, and with the IPL coming up after CPL, everyone will want to make an impression. So, I think this year’s tournament will be very intense. In fact, I think it will be a lot more competitive, and the cricket will

31

be of a very high standard,” Khan predicted.

“When you look at it, there (is rivalry) among the Caribbean players, and, over the years, that has built up. The big-name players are still around —Andre Russell with the Tallawahs; Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo. (They) are still there (with TKR); and we have (Shimron) Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, and young Sherfane Rutherford and Nicholas Pooran with us at Guyana Amazon Warriors,” he continued.

“You also have Rayad Emrit and Denesh Ramdin now with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots; and when they come up against the other (their former) teams, they will want to prove a point. So, I think this year’s tournament will be a highly competitive and highly entertaining tournament, despite the fact there will be no crowd,” he added.

CPL bubble won’t endanger the public — PM Dr Keith Rowley

C

ricketers coming into the country to take part in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament which bowls off on August 18 have been warned

by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley that they must abide by the strict COVID-19 protocol that they have signed, because they will not be able to leave the ‘bubble’ and run away for a drink.

The Prime Minister made this announcement during the question-and-answer session of the Ministry of Health’s weekly coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic press conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s on Friday.

Prime Minister Rowley said, “Only this morning, the Minister of National Security and the Minister of Health were instructed to make sure that it is written in the arrangements: that if any player breaches those protocols, such person would come under exclusion, and would not be allowed to participate in the country’s affairs.”

He said, “The CPL is a bubble that will not be affecting the population, and hence a player cannot leave that bubble and

go down the road for a drink. We are very serious about this.

“Everything that will go on around the CPL will go on in a bubble that does not interact with the national population.

They would be coming into the country under the protocols of entry, all having tested negative before. And even in the hotel, groups of seven [will be required], and after seven days, they will move on.”

He continued, “They will then go to the venue, where they will not be able to mix with the population. It is just like the way we reopened factories and cloth stores. It is being operated in a bubble, and it will be just that - away from the population.”

He added that the CPL will be paying for these cricketers’ presence in the country.

“CPL will be paying for their presence here, and for their services. It is something we need at the moment.”

At the moment, most of the officials and international players have arrived in St. Lucia, where they are being housed by Sandals Resorts International. They will then be brought over to Trinidad on August 3 on a special CPL Charter Flight. They

will then go straight to the Hilton Hotel, where they will be in self-isolation for seven days, before being allowed to join us with their entire squad to prepare for the tournament. After seven days, they will be tested again before being allowed to assemble in their groups.

The Hero CPL T20 tournament will have matches played at both the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.

The six franchises are: Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, St Lucia Zouks, and Trinbago Knight Riders.

The competition, which bowls off on August 18, ends on September 10. The opening match: between the Trinbago Knight Riders and the Guyana Amazon Warriors, will be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando, from 10am. It will be followed by defending champions, Barbados Tridents, coming up against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots from 5:30 pm.

(TT Guardian)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020

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

guyanatimesgy.com

Pg 31

Guyanese players depart for CPL duty on August 2-3 Pg 30

South Africa’s tours to West Indies and Sri Lanka CPL bubble won’t postponed endanger the public — PM Dr Keith Rowley indefinitely Page 31

GUYANA TIMES - www.guyanatimesgy.com, email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, NEWS HOTLINE: 231-8063 EDITORIAL: 223-7230, 223-7231, 231-0544, 225-7761 SPORT: sport@guyanatimesgy.com SALES AND MARKETING: 231-8064 - lezas@guyanatimesgy.com - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GUYANA TIMES INC.